Chapter Thirty-Eight: Damon's Decision
It had been a very, very long night. Stefan had made a run for it without his daylight ring, but Elena had found him at the quarry where he had made Damon turned just before sunrise. He had been gazing forlornly across the water, remembering. Somehow, she had talked him into putting his ring back on and coming home. When they got back, Damon had gone to bed. Exhausted, Elena had crawled in beside him and was asleep before her head hit the pillow. When she woke up again, for a moment she didn't know where she was until she realised that her head was resting on Damon's chest and that he was snoozing into her hair. Smiling, she nuzzled into his neck, breathing in his smell and allowing herself to enjoy the moment.
"Hey," Damon had felt her stirrings and he opened his eyes to look at her.
"What happened yesterday?" She remembered everything, of course, but she couldn't believe that so much could go on in one day. Damon had hardly been able to explain to her what'd happened at the apartment which supposedly belonged to Isobel before she had found herself chasing Stefan down.
"Everything," Damon replied, sensing her thoughts.
"And today I have to go help build the Miss Mystic float for the Founders Day parade," Elena sighed. Damon chuckled.
"I bet normal things have started feeling weird to you, haven't they?" Elena nodded, pushing herself into a sitting position.
"I have to do them though. I have to get on with my human life, right?" She stretched her muscles as she stood up. She tried to make herself feel some kind of enthusiasm about the upcoming parade. When had she become so brooding? The Elena Gilbert she once had known had enjoyed taking part in town events and dressing up for them.
"Yeah," Damon said, "Being human, glad I don't have to do that." She rolled her eyes at him. "So my field trip with the History teacher yielded no results at all, except that it involves your favourite uncle somehow."
"What is he up to?" Elena asked, pulling on her shoes. She was still in yesterday's clothes and make up but it would have to do for the day.
"I have no idea but I'd love if you could find out for me," Damon's eyes sparkled. Elena smiled ruefully at him, recalling her last conversation with John. She wasn't sure how much he'd be willing to divulge after she threatened him.
"I'll see. And I'm running late," She added, checking the time on her phone and noting the three missed calls from Caroline already.
"Have fun with the Mystic Queen, I know I did."
On her way out of the house, Elena was surprised to find Stefan also leaving. He had never come back out to speak to her the night before, but he looked healthier than he had done and had cleaned himself up, meaning that he had fed. Elena hoped that meant that he was back on the wagon and coming back to his usual self.
"Can't risk the wrath of Caroline," He shrugged, and she knew that he didn't want to discuss the subject right then.
"Need a ride?" Elena offered. When they arrived at the school they found that most people were congregated in the cafeteria, receiving instruction from Alaric on who would be doing what for the float. The theme was the history of Mystic Falls this year and Elena felt like she had a window into the back of Caroline's head, seeing the Scarlett O'Hara hoop skirts and attitude blossoming before her mind's eye. She smiled at the thought but then she and Stefan were called over by Alaric.
"Good, you're here," He said, "I need to talk to you." Alaric led them down a hallway to his own empty classroom. Their footsteps echoed off the corridor walls, feeling eerie in a way that only being at school on a Saturday morning could. Elena took a seat on a desk and Stefan folded his arms, looking confused. A moment later, the door opened again and Damon strode in.
"Sorry I'm late, my dog ate my uh…"
"Thanks for coming, Damon," Rick said, ending Damon's imminent sarcasm.
"What's going on?" Stefan asked.
"I saw Isobel last night," Alaric replied. Elena locked eyes with Damon and she could see that he was equally surprised as she was. She also glanced at Stefan out the corner of her eye. His expression hadn't changed but he was staring at Alaric with even more intensity.
"Isobel is in town?" Damon clarified. Alaric nodded.
"I went to the Grill after our little wasted journey and she walked in and demanded I set up a meeting between her and Elena." Elena swallowed this news, not knowing how to feel. Not long ago, when she had first found out she was adopted, she would have given anything to meet her birth mother, but that was before she found out that she was the kind of person who would abandon her husband to become a vampire and have people killed in order to protect her whereabouts. That wasn't the type of person Elena wanted as a mother. Yet, curiosity still lingered, even though she knew what she was going to find…
"Did you ask her about Uncle John?" Damon inquired. "Are they working together?"
"I didn't ask," Alaric confessed.
"The invention?"
"Didn't ask," He repeated.
"Does she know about the tomb vampires?" Damon took a dangerous step closer to Alaric, who didn't flinch.
"I don't know," Rick ground out through gritted teeth.
"Did words completely escape you?" Elena's hand twitched as she fought the urge to try and hold Damon back, but she didn't need to; Alaric wasn't fazed.
"I was a little distracted by my dead vampire wife." Damon huffed and turned away from Alaric, annoyed but clearly conceding the point. Nobody said anything for a few moments and Elena watched Damon, whose eyes were on his feet as he thought. Eventually, he looked up at her. "You don't have to see her if you don't want to."
"I don't have much of a choice. We know what she could be capable of," Elena sighed. Now that the initial shock was over, she had made up her mind: she never ever wanted to meet Isobel Fleming. Miranda Gilbert was her mother, and had raised her and cared for her until she died. Isobel was a psycho. But what she wanted may still not be the right thing to do.
"Nobody knows what she wants or what she's doing here," Stefan said, making her jump. For a moment, she had forgotten he and Alaric were also in the room, "And my guess is that she's threatened to go on a killing spree if she doesn't get what she wants?" Alaric confirmed this with a nod:
"That was it, almost word for word." Elena looked back at Damon.
"I'll go. Who knows, I might even regret it if I don't."
"Thanks for coming with me," Elena murmured to Damon as they entered the Mystic Grill.
"Stefan thinks that we should be more covert and not let her know I'm here with you," Damon informed her. Elena shook her head.
"She already knows who you are because you've met and if she's working with John then she knows pretty much everything." They sat down at a table and Elena glanced apprehensively around, and she saw her approaching. Isobel was beautiful. She had dark hair, pale skin and big eyes. However, the expression on her face was cold and hard. She took a seat opposite them.
"You really do look exactly like her. It's eerie," Isobel said without further ado.
"You've met Katherine?" Elena asked. She made sure not to glance at Damon; he had suspected as much, she knew, but that wouldn't lessen the blow for him to know that Katherine was even closer by than he'd thought.
"She found me after I turned. Genetic curiosity I suppose. She would be fascinated by you," Isobel's eyes moved across Elena's face, making her feel uncomfortable. Ignoring this, she too took the time to take in the details of Isobel's appearance; a strange stone in a necklace she wore that was clearly how she walked about in the daylight. Everything else was ordinary.
"Who's my father?" Elena demanded.
"A teenage waste of space," Isobel returned.
"A name would be nice." Elena was glad that her voice remained steady- she doubted that it would if Damon hadn't been sat right beside her. Isobel just smiled at this and said no more on the subject, much to Elena's frustration. Her mother's attention flickered over to Damon and she hated the way Isobel looked at him- with hunger. It just seemed so wrong.
"So you chose Damon over Stefan. Good choice, I must say. Although, Stefan's cute. Why not enjoy them both, like Katherine did?" Isobel asked. Elena was too shocked to speak. "I told Rick that I wanted to meet you alone."
"You don't always get what you want," Damon spoke for the first time. His voice was low.
"You didn't bring me here just to catch up," Elena said, recovering from her shock.
"Oh I was curious about you," Isobel smiled without any warmth, "But mostly I'm here looking for the same thing that your uncle is- Johnathon Gilbert's invention." Elena fought to keep her expression blank, "It's a shame that Pearl lady had to die because she didn't give me any answers, really."
"You killed Pearl?" Damon sounded angry.
"Actually, John did."
"How do you know John?" Elena demanded.
"Questions," Isobel said. "I know you have the invention, Damon. I was going to get Elena to get it from you, but I may as well cut out the middle man now you're here."
"I don't have it," Damon lied. Isobel clearly didn't believe him, "And even if I did, you and John Gilbert would lose your hands if you tried to take it."
"Pearl gave the invention to Elena to give to you. She told John that just before he staked her." Isobel was watching them closely, but Elena felt that she was becoming an expert at hiding her emotion. Damon was as smooth as still water, "You have a choice. Give the invention to me, or the blood will be on your hands." Elena's heart was in her throat.
"Was that a threat?" Damon leant forward across the table towards Isobel, "A word of advice, Isobel: I made you and I can break you. I make the threats around here." Elena looked at him and she was able to see, for the first time in a while, the menace in him. Damon was terrifying when he wanted to be.
"Fine," Isobel smiled sweetly, "If you won't give it to me maybe you'd be willing to hand it over to Katherine." Isobel smirked satisfactorily when Elena twitched at this. She was looking at Damon, almost terrified that he would be swayed by Isobel's implicit offer. But she needn't have been worried.
"The only way I want to see Katherine again is if you bring me her cold, dead body. You're going to have to live with not getting what you want this time." Damon stood up and pulled Elena up with him by the arm, "Come on."
Damon could have snapped a table leg and staked Isobel in that moment. He could see the tears welling up in Elena's kind brown eyes and he only wanted her to hold it together so they could get out the door before Isobel saw how crushed Elena was. Despite her earlier insistence she didn't even want to meet her mother because she knew what she would find, Damon could tell that she was still devastated that even when they finally met face to face, Isobel clearly still felt nothing for the daughter she had abandoned. It made him furious that anybody would dare to hurt Elena, but there was nothing he could do in the middle of the Mystic Grill.
Matters were not made better on their way out. Bonnie was entering just as Damon and Elena reached the door. The two girls locked eyes and Elena paused. Bonnie even looked like she was going to say something; but then, the witch's eyes flickered to Damon and her face set. Elena moved past her, not looking back at her best friend. Once outside, Damon walked a little closer to Elena. Across the street, they could see Stefan and Alaric waiting on a bench in the square.
"What was that with the Wicked Witch of the West?" He asked her, his voice a murmur.
"Nothing," Elena said, her voice strained as she struggled to hold back the tears. Damon grabbed her wrist and forced her to stop and turn back towards him, "Damon…"
"Elena, you just met your evil bitch birth mother for the first time. You do not have to pretend not to be upset." He fixed her with a stern look and Elena cracked after a few seconds. She blinked and allowed a few tears to fall.
"I just… I didn't expect any different, you know… I just…"
"Wish it had been," Damon finished. Elena nodded.
"Yeah," She agreed sadly. He drew her into his arms, holding her had against his chest, stroking her soft brown hair. Elena held onto him for a minute as she pulled herself together. Damon held her until she was done; her tears didn't show against his dark shirt.
"Okay?" He asked, and she nodded, "Alright, let's go." He dropped her off back at the school, where she was still required to help build the Founders Day float. It seemed strange to send her off to do something so mundane and normal after everything that had just transpired, and as he drove away Damon found himself wishing, not for the first time, that his compulsion hadn't broken the night they'd met- that, or that they had never met at all, for Elena's sake. It was unfair that she was tangled up in everything.
As soon as he got home, he retrieved the Gilbert device. One thing was for sure and that was that he had to get rid of this as soon as possible, before Isobel could track it down, and more importantly so that John Gilbert couldn't use it to kill him. He wasn't sure that was what it did, of course, but there weren't many other possibilities that would make somebody like John want it so badly. And if this really did involve Katherine…
"She's trying to come back," Damon muttered to himself. He was stood overlooking the same quarry that Emily had taken himself and Stefan to after they had entered transition in 1864. Not much had changed except for the fact that the old cabin was gone. Elena had been exhausted from talking Stefan out of killing himself at this very spot just hours before. He wasn't sure what reasons Katherine would have for coming back after all this time; it certainly wasn't for him. Maybe for Stefan? In all honesty, he was surprised that she hadn't tried to contact either of them in the 145 years that she had been gone. Whichever one she'd wanted, she could have explained. Especially if she had chosen Damon. Once, he would have forgiven her anything… but not now. She had deceived him for too long, put his life on pause for over a century as he waited for the time that he would be able to bring her back. Any thoughts of a romantic reunion had vanished the night he realised they were not in the tomb. At first he had been distraught and heartbroken but now, he hated her. And he was not going to make her life easier by handing over this device. If she wanted it, she would have to come and get it from him herself.
Damon removed the device from his pocket and looked at it for a second, remembering the man who had invented it, Johnathon Gilbert. His father had been close friends with him and he had been a kind man, though Damon had stopped thinking so when he found out their plans to kill every vampire in Mystic Falls. Sighing, he went back to his car and retrieved a plastic bag before grabbing a rock from the side of the quarry. He placed it with the device into the bag and hurled it with all of his vamp strength into the water. Whoever wanted it would have to get it back themselves. He had finally made up his mind about Katherine Pierce.
A/N: Sorry I didn't get this up in the past couple of days! I've been really busy and this just seemed to take me an unusually long amount of time to write. I hope you guys like it though! Also, happy new year everybody, and thanks to everyone who has reviewed, followed and favourited this story, it means the world! It's been a good 2015.