Abigail stayed as far away from Damon and his circle as she could, but Alaric was part of HER circle. Once her cell phone was charged she checked on Jenna - since she was important to him, she was important to Abi. He assured her that Jenna was doing well and asked how his friend was fairing, promising to get back to him on that, she sighed at the missed texts and calls from both Marcel and Gloria.
"I let my phone die last night," he groaned in response. "Yes, it's a bit overwhelming to see how much I missed." She told him she was happy to hear that his lady love was feeling better and that she'd send some of the cookies that Jenna seemed so fond of over soon, and then said her parting.
The issue at hand, she thought, as she walked from the kitchen to the living room was whether she should answer Marcel or Gloria first. Both had gotten more disgruntled and anxious the longer she hadn't answered them, so she went with the one she'd met first.
"I'm sorry," she broke through his lecture about how he'd been very close to sending one of his closest soldiers to come check on her in Mystic Falls since he hadn't heard a word from her in over twenty-four hours. "I forgot to charge my phone and -" She stopped and took a very deep breath. "Elijah is on his way here."
"Leave, Abi, come back to New Orleans." He didn't sound teasing or scolding, he sounded serious. "Get in that miniature car of yours and bring that damn cat you're so fond of and come back here so I can keep an eye on you."
She shook her head and stood at the picture window, looking through the lace curtains she watched Cat lounging in the swing. Damon must have let him out when he left. "You know I won't do that, Marcel." She could hear him preparing his next argument. "This is my home, and I won't run away on the chance that he MIGHT hurt me." It didn't make sense to her that he would want to. "He's never shown any type of aggression toward me, I told you -"
"In your DREAMS, Abigail." He sounded like he was losing patience. "You met him once, that you can vaguely remember, and that was so long ago that you can't even be sure that you remember it perfectly. I KNOW him, Abi. I know him and his entire family and I know they are DANGEROUS."
"They gave you this life, Marcel," she reminded him, and he groaned. "You are still here, still alive and the KING of the Quarter because of them."
"Don't do this, Abi, don't fall into a trap of thinking that they aren't as bad as they are," he pleaded. "I don't want you to be the next loss to a LONG line of losses."
"I won't be," she promised, reminding him that she wasn't nearly as fragile as she looked. "I do love that you care so much. And I don't take it for granted," she didn't, the fact that he and Gloria adopted her so easily and quickly warmed her deeply. "But I won't be forced from my home, Marcel. I won't."
"And you're curious," he muttered. "You're curious about him, Abi, don't tell me you aren't."
"I won't tell you I'm not," she agreed. "Wouldn't you be, if you were me?"
"I don't know," he admitted. "I don't know because all I can see when I think of him, or the others, is what I KNOW about them." He sighed. "Be safe, please. And keep your phone charged. And -"
"Call and text you," she smiled, watching as Cat noticed her watching him through the curtains. He hopped off the swing and she met him at the front door so he could come back inside. "I will, I promise."
"You'd better." Marcel grumbled. "I'm attached to you, Abigail Morgan, you're like the little sister I never wanted."
She laughed as they said goodbye and she mentally prepared for a similar call with Gloria.
Abigail dealt with her backlog of messages while Damon and his group were dealing with - well let's see. Elena seemed to have a death wish. Literally.
While he and Rose, the one that had kidnapped Elena to give her to Elijah, to find out what they could about the "sun and moon curse" crap from someone she swore would know more - little Miss "I've Lived Long Enough" talked Caroline into opening Katherine's time out tomb so they could have a chat and Caroline ran off to keep Stefan busy.
Elijah proved that he had a KILLER ability to hit damn near ANYTHING with a handful of coins and kill pretty much anyone too, so that worked out majestically. The curse sounded like a fairytale told to werewolves and vampires to keep them ready to kill one another on sight while also searching for the moonstone.
All in all, it was as much fun of a road trip as the LAST road trip he'd taken. Which ended with compelling Elena and losing Abigail. So FUN.
Grocery shopping, Abigail thought as she parked her car, was one of the necessary evils that ranked as high on her list of things to do as cleaning Cat's litter box. She had to eat, but buying the ingredients was as enjoyable as watching paint dry. Car parked, she made it into the cool interior of the store and grabbed a shopping cart, bag in the small cradle at the top, list in hand, she started to the produce section first.
She was studying the fresh herbs, wondering if she really wanted to bother with them at all since she was cooking for one, when a voice said "excuse me."
"I'm sorry," she shook herself out of her internal battle, and looked up to see a man wanting to reach past me. "Let me just," I moved the cart out of his way.
"You look like you're trying to make a difficult decision," his smile changed the seriousness of his entire countenance. "Maybe I can help?"
Abigail shook her head with a smile. "I was mostly debating the logic of buying fresh herbs when I'm cooking for one." He was studying her. "The cost versus the necessity."
"Fresh tastes better, and if YOU don't deserve it than who does?" Abi had to admit, his argument made a sort of sense. "I'm sorry, I'm a complete stranger butting my two cents in -"
"No, please." Abigail held out her free hand, the one not holding her shopping list. "I'm Abigail Morgan," her smile grew when he took her hand in his and she felt the magic flowing from his dry warm skin.
"Dr. Jonas Martin," his own smile mirrored her. "A pleasure to meet you, Miss Morgan." He didn't seem surprised by the flow of her magic, so she wondered if perhaps he wasn't aware of his own. He released her hand, but didn't seem quite ready to end their conversation. "My son, Luka and I just moved here."
"I recently relocated here myself," Abigail lied smoothly. "Although my family was one of the founding families, so my roots grow deep here."
"I see," he nodded. "And where did you live before Mystic Falls?"
"Chicago," it came easily, perhaps because she spoke to Gloria last. "And before that New Orleans. My family traveled a lot."
"Well, let's hope that this is the last move for both of us," he smiled and she returned it. "I should let you get back to your shopping."
"And I yours." His eyes narrowed slightly and she wondered why. "Cat will be wondering where I am with his dinner."
"You have a friend named Cat?" He looked curious and Abi giggled.
"A cat named Cat actually. I wasn't very original in naming him, but he doesn't hold it against me." She grabbed the handle of her cart and pushed past the herbs, thinking she'd come back once she thought more on them. "Have a lovely day, Dr. Martin."
"You too, Miss Morgan."
Cat and Abi had a quiet night. She revelled in it. Dinner, then a book that wasn't her grimoire, followed by actual mindless television. Without distraction - without forced interruption due to founding family compulsory volunteerism. And then, when she crawled into bed that night, she knew she would be able to sleep the entire night without being interrupted by Damon's visit - by Cat's terrible warning screech - by anything other than nightmares that might come.
Damon, Stefan, and Bonnie knew that they HAD to get the moonstone from Katherine - the issue was HOW.
"Maybe I could ask Abi -" Bonnie started, but Damon's jaw went rigid and both Bonnie and Stefan stared at him.
"Abigail Morgan stays out of this," he said, his voice surprisingly level. "And everything from here on out."
Stefan studied his brother. Normally, if something had gone bad for Damon, Damon the Dick would come out in full blazing glory, but this? This was new. "Abigail is powerful, Damon," he offered, trying for logic. "If she has a way that this could work, easily -"
"No," he didn't raise his voice, and that was probably why they didn't argue with him. He sounded - different. And Stefan couldn't put his finger on it.
"OK," Bonnie sighed. "I should be able to lift the boundary spell and knock Katherine to her knees long enough for Stefan to rush in and grab it -"
Jeremy isn't buying it. He's seen her weakened by a locator spell, this spell is far more difficult and going to use far more power. She should have seen that he would do something heroically stupid. They all should have. But they didn't and he managed to get in and toss out the moonstone, but also stuck with Katherine - a prisoner and a foodsource.
Abigail is working on a baking project in her kitchen. "I know it's a mess," she tells Cat, who is slightly more white than normally, thanks to the flour that is somehow everywhere. "But wouldn't YOU rather have FRESH cookies than even bakery bought?" His blue ringed green eyes are staring at her like he'd rather not be coated in a thin layer of flour, but what do cat's know?
While she's mixing up the batter for her cookies, a flash and flicker cross her vision forcing her to stop stirring. Muttering to herself and shutting her eyes, instead of forcing the images away, it helps focus them.
Elena and the woman - Rose - with a woman and a laptop. Elena's asking the woman Abigail doesn't know to send a message to Klaus - a deal. She, the doppelganger, is willing to surrender. Abigail struggles to make sense. What? Why would Klaus want the doppelganger and why would Elena surrender? She explains as Rose argues against it - Klaus, Katherine told her, would kill everyone she loves to get to her. She wants to sacrifice herself for the people she loves.
Abigail feels her lunch roiling in her stomach, threatening to revisit her in the worst way possible. How horrible and how stupid of Elena to give in and give up?
She doesn't know how long passes, she doesn't even notice the two men showing up after Damon - when did he arrive? These two men - Klaus' henchmen come to collect his bounty - are met by Elijah, and they meet a fast and suitably gruesome end. Elijah is gone as fast as he came and Abigail feels it again. That pull and tug, the curiosity about him, the fascination and urge to know more.
By the time Damon and Elena return, Stefan has played Hero Hair again and has taken Jeremy's place with Katherine. Damon doesn't find it shocking. That's Stefan for you, always ready to take himself out of the line of "helpful" duty to do the "right" thing. He promises him that he'll keep Elena safe, even if she does have the biggest death wish of any teenage girl who isn't going through a noticeable goth phase ever.
He tries very hard to NOT think about Abigail Morgan, but now that she pushed him out of her life for good - and he knew she meant it this time, the way she wouldn't even look at him sealed it, it seemed like she was front and center more than ever before.