The next day Mr. Saltzman had asked both Flemming girls to meet him after school. He seemed normal and Ros really couldn't figure out what he had wanted with her. Though she was really comfortable with the English course, she didn't apply herself to it like she had done with history.
"Well first can I offer you some tea?" he asked, immediately perking Lynnie's interest. "I had just brewed a pot for myself."
"Is it caffeinated?" Ros asked, she had started getting a supply from Giles over the last few months and seemed eager to get another supplier.
"It's herbal?" he offered, weakly, noting the not crazed expression the curly haired twin gave, but the overtly eager one.
She sighed but nodded, "Sure, if there'll be enough."
"Lyn?" Ric asked. The thing about Lyn though was she was just starting to like tea, before, when she was really a teenager she hated the stuff with a passion, but as she aged she started to like it but only with ample sugar. But she knew that this herbal tea was and just sighed knowing it would make him more comfortable.
"Do you have sugar?" she asked resigned to having nasty flower tea.
"Course!" he said with a smile pouring both a cup.
Ros smiled and said thank you as she took a sip, "Lynnie loves her sugar."
"And you love your caffeine," Lyn shot back.
Ros shrugged and scrunched her nose at the bitter flavor, "maybe if you mix it with some black tea it would even out the whole earthy taste?" she offered as she took a spoon of sugar to the concoction, well after Lynnie had dumped nearly half into the cup.
"I'll keep that in mind," he said with a sigh, taking a sip as well. "So girls I was wondering if I could perhaps set up a meeting with your grandmother and perhaps talk to you about your mother."
Lyn gave a sigh but Ros had already threw her head back. "Okay first we live with our Aunt, second our mother took off again and third why?" Ros asked, apparently irritated by the bad tea.
"Took off again?" he asked with confusion.
"Ros, I think he was a friend of our mother." Lynnie gave a sigh and shot her sister a perplexed sort of look. "Calm down."
She took a deep breath and nodded, but leaned back and looked to Lyn. Lynnie realized she probably was still having issues with her hospitalization, and the fact that she wasn't a huge fan of the actress who was their mother. "If you want to set up a meeting with our Aunt you're welcome to, but mother took off a while ago."
"How long ago?" he asked with hurt in his eyes.
"Recently?" she said with a shrug. "It was a rather traumatic event and honestly it's hard for us to think about."
"I'm sorry," he stated, obvious his mind was spinning. "I had thought Isobel was dead."
"She's just really good at disappearing."
"And, can I ask, when did she have you girls?"
Lyn gave him a hard look trying to think of something real to say. "She was maybe seventeen when she had us, it wasn't a good experience, she had to flee from our donor."
He snorted, "I'm surprised she had to flee, she was more of a fighter," he stated somewhat fondly.
"Well she stole a lot of his artifacts, enough to pay for college."
He snorted, but nodded his head, "Now that I believe."
"How did you know her?" Ros asked suddenly, watching intently, as he pondered what to say.
He winced and put his hands together, fiddling with his ring, "We were married actually."
"Whoah," Ros leaned back but Lyn seemed impassive. "What exactly does this mean?" she asked after a long minute of comprehending it.
"Well she never told me about you two, and we had agreed that she wouldn't be having our children."
"You were married and she never told you," Ros scoffed, irritated at the woman who had essentially left three kids and didn't ever bother to tell the man she loved married and then left to be a vampire.
Lyn kicked her sister as Ric seemed to work through what she had said. He gave a cough, so to clear his throat and looked back to the girls, "Your mother liked to keep things to herself more so than not."
Ros snorted, but didn't reply.
Ric nodded his head, seeming to understand something in particular. "You're mad at her."
"NO! Of course not!" Ros stated sarcastically.
"Jeeze Ros, can you be any more childish?" Lyn asked with a sigh.
"No, no, your sister has a right to be upset."
Ros took a breath and tried to think things a bit through before she just blurted things out and made a mess with her teacher. She growled out in irritation, "So what does this mean?"
"Two years ago, your mother disappeared, I thought she was dead," Ric had stated with sadness.
"I'm sorry," Ros stated sadly, figuring that her bio-mother had betrayed this man into thinking she had died when obviously she had run off to join the vampire circus.
"You'll have to excuse Ros," Lynnie stated, "Ros doesn't have the best relationship with our mother, we both, actually, don't really have a great relationship with her, but Ros," Lynie shrugged as if that was all there was to say about it. And really it kinda was all she could say on it.
Mentally Lynnie went through the ramifications of involving him in their group but Ric was oblivious to her ponderings and gave Ros a sad smile. Ros gave a huff in response, "So what does this all mean. We don't really have any means to contact her."
"It means that," he shrugged unsure of what to say.
"You're worried, especially since we tend to be surrounded by what you suspect are vampires." Lyn stated with a sigh.
Ros shot her a wide eyed look, and began sputtering, and Ric was taken aback. "Dude!" Ros chided her sister.
"Ros will you text everyone for a meeting."
"A full blown or just the regulars?" Ros asked, deciding to let it go for a minute.
Lynnie seemed to ponder that for a moment as Ros pulled out her phone, "I think we'll just keep it on the regular side."
Ros nodded and began sending a meet up text, snorting when Stefan shot a message back. Joy built up at what could occur from this, Ros was nearly giddy.
"Okay, so?" Ros stated turning to her sister.
"Care to drive us home for a meeting?" Lyn asked.
"But uh," he stated with confusion.
"It's the only way to get information." Lyn stated with a smile.
He sighed and ran his hand through his hair, "And others will be there?"
"Nearly everyone who knows or is involved in the supernatural things going on in this town will be there," Lyn responded.
"I was more concerned that another adult would be present."
Ros and Lyn chuckled, "At least two, but if you'd rather we could ask Mr. Giles."
"He's involved!" Ric stated with excitement. Obviously thrilled that he had apparently been correct.
"Duh," Ros stated with a sigh, "so should I ask Giles for a ride?"
"It's not necessary," he said with a sigh, going into his desk, grabbing his keys and bag. "Are you girls ready?"
"Sure," Lyn stated standing up after giving her sister a nod.
Ros had a weird smirk on her face that Lyn couldn't really decipher, but shrugged and made her way to the out of the room. She turned to Ric and waited for him to lead the way.
"Girls," Mr. Giles came forward, giving Mr. Saltzman a nod. "I hear there is another break in secrecy?"
"Yeah," Ros stated perkily, practically bouncing on her toes, "This time it's all Lynnie's fault."
That actually seemed to surprise the older man, "Really?"
"I had no part in it," Ros said preening.
"Very good," Giles said stuffily, causing Ros to preen while smuggly smiling at her sister.
"So we'll meet you at home too," Lynnie stated trying to calm her blossoming blush. It was becoming a bit easier to be around the proper sexy Britt, but those eyes always kept her off balance. Especially when he looked at her with disappointment.
Ros was in for a surprise when Lynnie hip bumped her to the backseat. With little care, Ros sat in the back while Lynnie got in the front with their English teacher.
Pulling up to the house the girls weren't all that surprised to see that Care's, Bonnie's and Stefan's cars in the driveway.
"Is Stefan a vampire?" Ric asked, holding the steering wheel just a bit too tight.
"I really think it would be more beneficial for you if you hear about what's going on before you start making people out as bad guys or not." Ros stated getting out of the car and heading into the house.
It was fall so the sun was setting faster than Ros was used too or felt comfortable with. But it wasn't night time yet. Better to get inside than risk meeting the guy who strangled her to the hospital.
Lynnie and Ric followed her in closely tailed by Giles. "I too have some information," the historian stated with a sigh.
"So we should probably run through the bases before we delve into that," Ros stated with a sigh.
"I agree," Giles responded with a sigh.
"I appreciate the sentiment but I'm not sure if you are aware of what they can do." Ric stated after a moment of being sat in one of the two single chairs.
"Oh?" Ros stated sitting in the middle of Stefan and Xander, while Buffy sat in Angel's lap on the love seat besides a sitting Care with Bonnie sitting on the arm rest. Joyce was sitting in the other single chair.
"Vampires, right?" he asked, looking around and keeping a longer darker look at Stefan more so than the others. "They're dangerous!"
"Lynnie," Ros stated with a sigh, "Since you're the one who spilled the beans you get to be the one to explain it to him."
"Lynnie is the one?" Stefan asked looking at the two sisters in surprise. "Really?" he asked with a smirk on his face. Ros was absolutely preening with joy, while Lyn was nearly squirmed uncomfortably. Stefan smirked but didn't say anything more.
"I thought this was all some big big secret thing?" Care asked. "Like you scolded Ros non stop over her keeping her mouth shut."
"Why yes, Care, she really did scold me non stop with threats of violence too," Ros stated with a huge smile.
"Okay feisty breeches, let your sister get started on the splainy," Xander stated putting his hand on Ros's shoulder.
"I'd like to reiterate I am your English teacher," Ric stated a pained look on his face.
"Don't bother, the children have their own language," Giles responded with pain and exasperation. "They have no decency for the English language."
Xander just smiled wide, but motioned for Lyn to speak.
xxbvvdxx
After Alaric was informed and seemed to have a full understanding over it all he brought up something that left the Sumers and Flemmings a bit more uncomfortable than they had ever been before.
"So what happened with Isobel? You know that she is close to getting pronounced deceased right?"
"Uh, she kinda is dead," Ros stated with cool apathy.
"She's your mother," Joyce stated with a bit of irritation, that came from having similar discussions like this one from time to time.
"She left us," Ros stated with very little emotion in her voice. "She only came back to mourn one daughter and realized how ill off Lynnie was. She may love her children, but she is too selfish to put any other love infront of her love to herself."
"Ros," Lynnie groaned out.
"Mourn her daughter?" Alaric asked, a hurt tiny voice.
"Elena Gilbert," Ros casually threw out, "I know you feel at least similar about this Lyn, right?" Ros asked as if that were the more important factor mentioned.
Lyn held her forehead in irritation, "Gilbert," Alaric stated in a weak voice.
"Oh," Ros paused and paled some, turning to Alaric in worry.
"Oh," Lyn stated with malice.
"And the reigning champion," Stefan whispered somewhat loudly to Ros, causing the pale girl to shift to a more maroon shade.
Lynnie had a bright huge grin on her face, before she moved to a more serious facial feature and turned to look at Alaric with a sigh. "Okay so, our mom had a little girl when she was sixteen and took off after leaving her with a loving family, Elena Gilbert.
"She then," Lyn continued, "went to L.A. and got a sugar daddy, he was our father. Through means that are really really bad she ran away from him and had us, leaving us with her mom."
"My mother passed earlier this year, and because Lolly-I mean Isobel ran off and disappeared and my older sister isn't capable of handling the girls, nor was my father. Since the girls father was unknown at the time and we had no real way of contacting Lolly, I became their legal guardian. We were going to move to Cali but Mystic Falls had better options than Sunnydale."
"So Jeremy isn't-
"There is no blood relation between Isobel and Jeremy Gilbert," Lynnie stated with ease.
"Cuz if they did, that would be gross with how bad Jer flirts with Lynnie."
Lynnie blushed which seemed to cause Ros to preen with a well hit verbal attack.
"So vampires are not only real but good and I have stepdaughters, I had no idea about," Alaric said with a voice that held more concentration than mandatory.
"Pretty much," Ros said with a shrug,leaning her head back and looking up, "What do we all want for dinner?"
"Really?" Xander asked with seemingly excitement.
"Oh Betty Crocker, you gonna make enough for everyone?" Damon asked, giving her a blatantly fake, almost scary smile and then leaned on the doorway to the living room. The smile turned to a harder look, his eyes flaring in what seemed like irritation, "Oh, you have a new teacher for a pet now?" Damon asked as he gave Ric an intense glare with his cool icy eyes.
"I need you to invite a friend or two in," Damon stated after smiling at the newcomers uncomfortableness.
"Damon," Stefan said concerned look on his face, as he stood, almost in a posturing way to prepare for a fight.
"Oh Sweetie?" a female voice called out causing the rest of the group to become concerned.
"And, also a bitch," Damon added with another hard smile.
"Lexi?" Stefan called out seemingly recognizing the voice, and moving to the door.
Lynnie didn't bother to speak but instead went to the door, not surprised to find that most followed her out. It was a bit weird to find that it was already dark out, it was only six now, but the sun was down.
Lynnie instantly recognized Lexi and the bartender who betrayed Damon in the show. Lexi was being spun around by a happy Stefan.
Ros made her way to move forward, but instead of exiting the house, Lyn held her back. At her sisters confused look, Lynnie pointed out Anna and Noah, a tall dark and beautiful woman as well as another handsome man in the background.
"So," Damon stated pushing pushing himself forward and leaning against the door frame. "Are you going to do the whole inviting thing?"
Lynnie snorted, "Are you kidding, that one nearly killed my sister!"
"I promise I won't do it again," the vampire stated with a kicked puppy look on his face.
"No way in hell am I inviting them in here," Lyn stated again, "we can all go to the Grill or something."
"I can just as easily snap her neck when she exists this house." Noah said with a smirk, his head tilted down and his eyes holding a sick joy that chilled Lyn along with many of the other mortals in the doorway.
"Hey," Damon stated somewhat firmly. "Only I can kill the play things in this toybox, bud."
The guy snorted but didn't say anything.
Ros only cringed and moved further back; seeing the man who very nearly squeezed the life out of her definitely brought her up short. She moved further into the house, but kept close enough to hear what was said, her hands twisting and wringing out of nerves.
"Rosalind," Ric stated, pulling back with a frown on his face full of concern. He watched as the twisty and pulling at her own hands stopped but instead they seemed to tuck themselves under her chin as she put on what was obviously a brave face.
"Hmm?" she turned to him, her chin resting on her hands as she moved further back some more. "What?"
"Are you okay?" he asked.
She nodded but didn't move forward or anything else.
"It was one of them that did that," Ric asked pointing to the door where Stefan's brother had announced other vampires were stuck outside. He wasn't all too sure they were safe and was going through his mind trying to think of ways to get the girls out of this situation.
"Did what?" she asked, her hands falling to her sides and a smile washing over her face. However, even though she looked pretty normal and not in a nervous, terrified fit, you could still see it in her eyes.
"Your neck," Ric watched somewhat satisfied as her hands went back to her neck, "the bruises."
"What?" she asked trying to play it off, but she was not a pro like Izzy. Izzy had shown the tale tell signs of a makeup coverup. They would people watch sometimes, usually in the morning or evening before the big study sessions began. She would point out the bad makeup jobs and would even go so far as to point out the tell tale signs.
Izzy was a pro with makeup, it was apparent that her daughter didn't hold that talent.
AN- Only one more chapter left. Thank you for all the follows and favorites!