I do not own Vampire Diaries
The next morning, Anastasia woke up early as usual and began getting ready for her job, she felt fine enough to go now, her hip didn't hurt at all so she grabbed the clothes she had packed in her overnight bag and quickly changed in the bathroom before doing her hair in a cute messy bun.
Once she did, she realised that she couldn't go since Liana didn't have anyone to drop her off to preschool since she didn't have a car of her own. She suddenly heard her phone ringing and answered it when she saw that it was Ryan.
"Hey Ry, what's up?" Anastasia asked curiously.
"Mind telling me where you are right now?" He asked.
"Uh I'm at Stefan's house, why?" Anastasia said confused.
"Great, give me the address." Ryan answered.
"Why?" Anastasia said even more confused.
"Just give it to me." Ryan said and she shrugged to herself before giving him the address and he thanked her before he ended the call. She looked at her phone confused before she shook her head and sighed as she woke up Liana.
"Mommy?" Liana said drowsily as she rubbed her eyes adorably.
"Hmm. It's time to get up baby." Anastasia said softly.
"But I wanna go back to sweep mommy, I was having this nice dream and guess what?" Liana said to her mother happily.
"What?" Anastasia asked with a loving smile on her face.
"No, you supposed to guess." Liana whined with a cute pout on her lips.
"Ok fine, let's see, hmm, oh, I know, you rode a unicorn." Anastasia said even though she knew exactly what had happened in her dream, she had been the one to give her it after all.
"No, siwwy, unicorns aren't real." Liana said shaking her head.
"But that's the thing about dreams baby, nothing has to be. You can let your imagination run wild, anything you want can appear and you know what the best part is, none of it has to be real." Anastasia said gently as she pushed a strand of her hair behind her daughter's ear.
"Well, I had a dream about Sofia the First, it was so fun…" And then Liana went on talking about her favourite cartoon in the world, non-stop, until she heard a knock on her door so she called for whoever it was to come in.
"Hey Ana, hey Liana." Stefan said as he entered the room holding the box that contained the bracelet he had wanted to give to Liana.
"Hey Uncle Steffie." Liana said as she bounded over to him happily, smiling up at him endearingly as she hugged his leg. He smiled before gently brushing a hand through her messy bed head, noticing that her slight bruises have mostly faded, they were barely noticeable and he was happy about that, the cute kid didn't deserve to be marred because of the heartless actions of another. He pulled her off him gently before crouching down on his knees in front of her.
"Hey, I got something for you, do you wanna see it?" Stefan asked the little girl with a smile on his face and she suddenly looked weary before she looked at her mother, who smiled at her and nodded as she wondered what Stefan wanted to give her daughter.
"Um… okay Uncle Steffie." Liana said shyly and he smiled before he showed her the bracelet he had chosen. It had black and silver beads one after the other, the black bigger than the silver, leading to a silver heart where he had stored the vervain inside. Liana gasped as she saw it and said, "It's so pwetty."
"Yes it is, that's why I chose it for you." Stefan said as he gave her the bracelet, which she took hesitantly.
"Thank you Uncle Steffie, but why did you give me this?" Liana said as she titled her head to the side curiously like an adorable puppy.
"Because you've grown on me and I rather like you Liana so I brought you a gift, do you like it?" Stefan asked the adorable little girl.
"I love it but I like you too, should I get you something?" Liana asked curiously.
"No, not at all, but I would like to ask you to do one thing for me." Stefan said and she looked at him attentively.
"What thing?" Liana asked as she put on the bracelet happily.
"I want you to promise me that you'll never take that off." Stefan said and Anastasia looked at him curiously, there was something serious in the way he said that that had her a little concerned.
"Ok, I pwomise." Liana said before she hugged him and ran off to the bathroom.
"Liana your clothes are in the bag besides the bed." Anastasia called out and she came running back before she picked up the bag and ran back to the bathroom, the two of them watching her in amusement.
"What was that?" Anastasia asked him as soon as she left.
"What was what?" Stefan asked innocently.
"Oh cut the innocent act, you know I don't buy it, what was so special about that necklace that you told her to never take it off?" Anastasia asked firmly, she wanted to know why.
"That necklace contains vervain, as I told you before when worn or consumed it provides immunity to compulsion and your daughter is living in a house with two vampires, one with his humanity off…"
"His what?" Anastasia asked confused.
"Vampires have a switch in their heads called a humanity switch, it basically turns off your emotions you don't feel anything. You can turn it back on but it would take a long time." Stefan informed her. "But anyway, what I was saying was, I gave it to her because I needed to keep her safe, just in case anything happens." Stefan explained and she smiled at his thoughtfulness before she hesitantly stepped forwards and hugged him, he was shocked at that before he wrapped his arms around her, he felt her stiffen against him and just as he was about to let go, she relaxed in his arms before saying, "Thank you," as he answered, "You're welcome."
"Sorry to break up…whatever this is but your friend's outside." Damon said as he appeared at her door trying not to scowl at her in his brother's arms. Anastasia pulled away from Stefan as she looked at him in confusion.
"Friend? As in Ryan? Oh, that's why he asked me for your address." Anastasia said to herself in realisation before Liana came out the bathroom wearing what Anastasia had picked for her.
"Mommy I'm ready, can you do my hair pwease?" She asked before she noticed Damon in the room, "Uncle Damie!" She went and hugged his leg the way she had done to Stefan and Damon couldn't help but pick her up in his arms.
"Well isn't someone looking adorable today." Damon said, she truly did, she was wearing a cute white romper with different coloured flowers all over the place, it was an off the shoulder from one side where there was instead a thin strap over her shoulder and frills at the top of her dress curving upwards from where the strap ends at one shoulder to the top of the other one as well as a brown belt in the middle. She was also wearing cute little shoes with flowers adorned on the outside, all in all, she looked adorable.
"Thank you Uncle Damie." Liana giggled happily before she wiggled out of his arms and he put her down as she ran to her mommy holding a brush and a bow. Anastasia glared at Damon the entire time he was holding her, after what happened yesterday, she didn't trust him one bit especially with the most precious thing in her life but she didn't want to tell Liana that because she didn't want her to lose trust in men like she did, she was too young for that. She would keep an eye on Liana whenever Damon was around though, right now she was only hoping that he wouldn't really hurt a kid.
"Can one of you call Ryan inside please?" Anastasia asked as she sat on the couch in her room and put Liana in her lap as she brushed through the tangles in her hair trying her best not to hurt her. Stefan went to open the door since Damon wasn't budging, it would only take a second anyway and Anastasia would do anything to protect herself and moreso, her kid, so he didn't feel worried as he opened the door to see Ryan standing next to a kid of his own.
"Stefan, nice to see you again, where's Ana?" Ryan asked as he picked up his kid, Daniel.
"She's inside with Liana." Stefan answered as he opened the door for them before closing it as he led them upstairs to where Anastasia was still doing Liana's hair though Damon was nowhere in sight.
As soon as Stefan left, Anastasia had then used her magic to straighten Liana's hair, she didn't want to hurt her after all and then she began to style it not once looking at Damon, which he rolled his eyes at, seriously, the silent treatment, not that he could blame her but come on, she had cursed him, quite painfully might he add, so water under the bridge and all that. Though he knew that that was wishful thinking, she had the least trust in men and he really hadn't helped with that at all so it would take ages for her to even think of trusting him, and therefore even longer to get Katherine out the tomb. He scowled to himself as he realised what a setback he had made before he walked downstairs to grab a drink, he didn't think vamp speeding away and showing what he was to a kid would be a good idea, he refused to get cursed again.
"Ana." Ryan greeted as he walked towards the mother and daughter with his own kid who he had put down as soon as they entered the room.
"Ry what are you doing here?" Anastasia asked as she finished tying the bow on Liana's hair, before getting up as she put Liana down on the floor, she looked so cute. She had done three plaits at the side of her head before they all joined at the other side over the rest of her hair at the other side where she had tied on a bow.
"Well I knew your dad wouldn't be able to drop off Liana so I came earlier so that I can take her with me and Dan." Ryan said as his son looked around the room.
"So this is your son, he's adorable." Anastasia said smiling at the kid, who began smirking and that told Anastasia all she needed to know. This one was a cheeky one and she now felt sorry for Ryan, the amount of mischief he must cause was shown as plain as day on his face.
"I swear people really need to stop saying that, it's really getting to his head, this is totally Olivia's fault, she pampered and spoiled him rotten and now he thinks he's God's gift to mankind, which I assure you he's not." Ryan bemoaned as the others laughed and his son pouted.
"Hi." Liana waved shyly at the other kid, she'd seen him before in school.
"Hi, what's your name?" Daniel asked curiously.
"Liwwiana." She tried to say, she got one L right but the others were still ws.
"Liwwiana? That's a weird name." He said and Liana looked at him with a hurt expression on her face so he quickly backtracked and said, "I meant in a good way, I've never heard that kind of name before."
"Her name's Lilliana Dan. Now I know what you meant when you said boys can be pretty tactless." Ryan whispered the last part to Anastasia.
"Good to know." Anastasia said with a smile on her face.
"Then why did she say Liwwiana?" Daniel asked confused.
"Remember when you couldn't say your Ss right, until recently, well other children have difficulties with other letters." Ryan informed his son.
"Oh, makes sense. Lilliana is a pretty name by the way." Daniel said to the girl before him.
"Thank you." Liana said with a shy smile on her face before she asked, "What's your name?"
"Daniel, nice to meet you." He said holding out a hand and they all watched her flinch away from him slightly and he lowered it confused before she hesitantly stepped forwards and shook his hand which Daniel smiled at before they began talking about random things and playing around the room. The others couldn't help but find the scene adorable, first with their cute little kid voices, combined with what they were saying it was just so sweet.
"How much time do we have before they should be there?" Anastasia asked as she dug in her bag for the stuff she had packed yesterday knowing that the Salvatore's didn't need food to survive and therefore wouldn't have any so she brought enough stuff to make food by herself, she had had an idea last night about what to make her and she got everything she needed.
"When I said I came early, I might have come a little too early, we have more than an hour left." Ryan said looking at his watch a little shocked and she nodded at that, that was more than enough time.
"Ok do you both mind looking after Liana for me as I go downstairs and make something for her?" Anastasia asked them and they immediately nodded with a smile and she went downstairs to find the kitchen, only to see Damon in the living room. She sighed and asked, "Mind telling me where the kitchen is Damon?"
He turned to look at her and said, "I don't know, do you mind forgiving me for what happened yesterday?"
"Not a chance." She immediately said.
"Look, I made a mistake and I'm sorry." Damon said and she scoffed at that, she could literally see the insincerity in his eyes.
"Are you going to tell me where the blasted kitchen is or not?" Anastasia snapped annoyed and he sighed before he pointed to where it was and she sarcastically, "Why thank you." She set the bag down before she preheated the oven and then began cutting the brioche roll she had brought into cubes. Once the oven reached 350 degrees she put the bread in the oven as Damon wandered over curiously, he cooked himself so he was curious about what she was doing. He watched as she began whisking eggs, cream, sugar, vanilla, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl before adding powdered cinnamon and nutmeg as well as a splash of vanilla. She had realised he was watching her but didn't bother stopping as she turned around and took the now dried out brioche cubes out of the oven before she added them to the bowl and began mixing them making sure to add an even coating on each one.
"What are you making?" Damon asked confused, he had never seen this recipe before.
"You'll see." Anastasia said before she pulled out a cake tin she had packed just in case and lightly greased it before putting the bread cubes and batter inside the tin spreading them out evenly. She then pulled out some aluminium foil and wrapped it around the tin before digging in her bag and pulling out the Instant Pot and the trivet she had packed as Damon stared baffled.
"How did all that fit in there?" Damon asked shocked, there was no way all of that fit inside.
"I used a spell to make the bag have more space from the inside and another to make sure it wouldn't weigh anything." Anastasia explained as she placed the trivet at the bottom of the pot and then poured in a glass of water.
"That's possible?" Damon asked, her magic was surprising him more and more every day and she was becoming more and more useful.
"Apparently, all I have to do is will something to happen and it does." Anastasia explained shrugging her shoulders as she lifted the foil covered pan and put it inside, she closed the lid and the valve before setting it to cook on high pressure for 30 minutes. She packed everything else away since she now didn't need it anymore, now feeling uncomfortable with Damon's staring.
"Take a picture it'll last longer." Anastasia snapped as she opened the cabinets and finally found the plates only it was a little hard for her to reach so she stepped on her tiptoes to reach them before a hand grabbed them from behind her and in shock she stumbled slightly having been on her tiptoes as she felt his presence behind her, his chest pressing against her back as he lifted the plates in one hand, his other drifting to her waist slightly when she leant into his chest accidentally. She felt suffocated and she immediately slapped his hand away before manoeuvring herself out of there, her heartbeat accelerating as well as her breathing as she leant against the counter. She closed her eyes and counted to 10 a couple times in her head before she finally managed to calm down as Damon watched her trembling decrease, actually feeling what he recognised as guilt, he had only meant to help her reach the plates and annoy her a little more, not trigger a panic attack.
Anastasia walked out the kitchen and towards the living room pouring herself a glass of bourbon and drinking the entire contents before she slammed the glass back on the table and walked towards the fire staring at it for a while not knowing Damon coming up behind her. She rubbed her head to clear the images, James used to love scaring her purposefully doing what Damon had just did, except not to help but to scare her so that she would drop a plate and he could beat her up, well he would do that anyway but he loved to first make her terrified.
"Hey Ana, I'm sorry, are you alright?" Damon asked as soon as he saw her begin trembling again, her hand was literally shaking.
"Perfect, just perfect. It's funny how you, a vampire, with no humanity, no emotions whatsoever, actually treats me better than a human had done, when he could feel everything." Anastasia said bitterly and the thought actually had some of her anger at him drain out of her, she had faced worse, James was a far worse man than Damon ever was so after living with that, it was hard not to forgive easily.
"I'm one of a kind." Damon said smirking at her trying to, well he didn't know what he was trying to do, he just wanted her to smile or laugh, anything besides the sad and resentful face she had on now and thankfully it worked, he saw the corner of her lips turn up before she sat down in front of the fire. He hesitated for a second before he sat down next to her, making sure to keep some space between them not wanting to trigger anything again as he held the drink in his hand.
"What are you thinking?" Damon asked curiously as he took a sip before offering it to her and she looked at it for a second and took the glass as she took a sip of her own.
"You know, James used to drink too. I've rarely seen him sober actually, it's probably what made him more violent, especially at night." Anastasia said not realising the strength of the grip she had had on the glass as she thought about the memories, until it broke in her hands, piercing her hands with the glass shards.
"Woah, woah, woah. Here let me." Damon said before he gently took her hand and pulled out the pieces, she didn't even wince once, her mind somewhere else. Once he was done he looked at her hand confused as he asked, "Why aren't you healing? You didn't heal before either, there has to be a reason."
"There is a reason, I'm a vampire and a witch, which is not supposed to be possible so basically I had to have other weaknesses, not healing is one of them." Anastasia said as she tried to pull her hand back from him.
"What if I gave you my blood?" Damon asked her refusing to let go of her hand, the pieces had embedded pretty deep and the blood was still flowing, he told himself it was because he didn't want to ruin his carpet, yes that had to be it, there was no other reason.
"I'm sorry, your what?" Anastasia asked, did she just hear what she think she heard?
"Huh, you really are a newbie vamp aren't you? Well, vampire blood heals humans but since you're different it might work on you." Damon said as he looked at the cuts on her hands and she followed his eyes and realised why he suggested to do that, the blood was pooling in both their hand and had started dripping on the floor. She sighed then as she agreed to what Damon suggested but as he bit into his wrist and came closer to her she leaned away.
"Absolutely not, can't you put it in a glass." Anastasia said refusing to be that close to him, that would just be weird. He rolled his eyes but just as he was about to get up and get a cup, one zoomed right in front of him and he turned to Anastasia only to see the gold in her eyes fading back to their normal colour before she smirked at him. "Here's a glass."
"Thanks." Damon said sarcastically before he bit into his hand and squeezed it into the cup and gave it to her.
"Okay this is gross." Anastasia said grimacing as he rolled his eyes at her, she closed her own eyes before swallowing down the entire thing in one gulp before gagging at the taste. "Oh that was most definitely gross. Did it work?" She asked wiping the blood from her mouth before looking down at her cuts, she saw most of them beginning to close up but it was so slow. "Is it supposed to take this long?"
"No, but there's something clearly wrong with you." Damon said confused as he looked at the cuts partly healing, they weren't as deep now, it just looked like a bunch of paper cuts.
"There is nothing wrong with me, I'll have you know." Anastasia said mock dramatically before her eyes glowed gold and the scars vanished.
"Why didn't you do that before?" Damon asked annoyed.
"It's not a healing spell, it's a vanishing spell, it just makes them disappear to others even though I can still feel them, I just really don't want to answer questions if Ryan sees." Anastasia explained.
"He's very protective of you." Damon commented after he zoomed away to get a cloth to clean the blood off their hands and the bit on the floor.
"Yeah, we've…" Anastasia began before she suddenly stopped at the feeling in her stomach, it made her feel like she was going to be sick before it gradually got more and more painful and she gasped in shock clutching her stomach wincing at the pain.
"What's wrong?" Damon asked confused about the sudden movements and the pain on her face as she held her stomach, what on earth was happening?
"I-I…I d-don't…" Anastasia began before she groaned in pain slipping to the floor on her knees as she gasped for breath before she suddenly felt the need to be sick and she vamp sped all the way to the kitchen sink and vomited there, not expecting a whole load of blood to come bursting forth. It took a few excruciating heaves as Damon surprisingly held her hair back from her face before she nearly collapsed on the floor had Damon not held her against him. She leaned against him for a while before she used the counter in front of her to stabilise herself as she opened the tap and washed away the blood from her hands, mouth and the sink. "What the hell was that, cause I'm guessing that's not normal?"
"I have no idea." Damon said as bewildered as her.
"What the hell is going on here?" Stefan said as he appeared in the room, he had heard sounds from downstairs and had listened in, he couldn't quite make out what the hell was happening but he could hear Damon and Ana's voices and he quickly came down to see what had happened.
"Apparently Sabrina here can't consume vampire blood, she puked all mine out but the weird thing was that it did heal her, very slowly but healed nonetheless." Damon said shrugging his shoulders after explaining, he had only done it because he could see how winded up Anastasia was, clearly not in the speaking mood.
"Wait, she drank from you?" Stefan asked looking between them.
"Long story short, I accidentally let my anger out on a glass, I broke it, the shards were stuck in my hand, Damon took them out, offered me his blood, I accepted, it healed me slightly then I puked it all out." Anastasia said shrugging her shoulders as she recounted what happened.
"Well, that's concerning, can't your magic heal you Ana?" Stefan asked her.
"Nope, I can't use magic to heal myself, I don't have quick healing like the two of you and vampire blood only heals me slightly but I've already made a vow to never go near that shit again, so yeah that's just great." Anastasia said sarcastically before she walked off to the kitchen, she checked the time from her phone in her purse and realised she had a few minutes left so she took out the stuff she needed to make Liana's school lunch and quickly made a nice sandwich, some fruit on the side, yoghurt and a bottle of water and packed it into the lunchbag she had bought.
"Ugh, knew I'd forget something, you guys wouldn't happen to have an oven mitten would you?" Anastasia asked looking around in the cabinets before she turned around to see Damon standing in front of her with one.
"Thank you." She plucked it out of his hands before putting it on and pulling open the valve as the smoke came out, when it finally stopped she quickly lifted the lid and put it down on the table. "OK you both are leaving for at least 10 minutes before bringing the others, no excuses, this is a surprise." Stefan nodded before walking off upstairs to tell Ryan and the kids that Ana was nearly ready. Whilst Damon and Ana were downstairs, he had talked with Ryan, they got along great mainly because of how much they both cared about Ana.
Damon reluctantly followed when Anastasia glared at him, once she was sure they were all gone, she began setting the plates for all of them, she had made quite a lot to be honest, so there would be enough food for them all so she got 6 plates and laid them out on the table. She then peeled off the foil and then put the cake tin inside the oven at low broil for 5 minutes as she pulled out the powdered sugar, maple syrup and fresh berries with the few strawberries she had cut as well. Once the five minutes were done she took out the cake tin from the oven and placed it on the side, it was quite a big tin so she cut 6 pieces of only half the cake and placed each slice on every plate, she then sprinkled powdered sugar on each one but she left the maple syrup and fruits on the side, if they wanted. She wrapped the half leftover and opened the fridge to put it in only to see it full of blood bags so she closed it and opened the next one thank God that was empty so she placed it inside.
"Guys you can come on down now!" Anastasia called out before she heard the kids come running down first and then the others coming down after them.
Liana gasped when she saw the food before turning to her mommy with the buggest smile on her face as she squealed throwing her arms around her as she asked, "That's…"
"Your favourite I know." Anastasia bopped her nose with her finger playfully, causing Liana to wrinkle it cutely. "You all have a plate, so take it to the table."
"Yes ma'am." Ryan saluted before picking up his and his son's plate and walking to the table as Dan followed him.
"You know you didn't have to make it for us." Stefan said to her as she picked her own and Liana's plate.
"I know but I wanted too, I have more than enough anyway." Anastasia said as she smiled at him before she went to sit on the couch but Damon stopped her this time.
"Why did you make a plate for me? I thought you were angry with me." Damon said confused.
"I am angry at you but I'm not going to give everyone but you, that would be mean and besides, you helped me get the glass out of my hand, so consider this a thank you. Though don't think for a second that I forgot about Caroline." Anastasia said before she sat on the couch since there was no place at the table with the others, not noticing the look on Damon's face as he watched her. He then picked up his own plate and instead chose to sit on the couch next to them, his brother chose the same and all too soon everyone began eating on the couches. Anastasia went back to the kitchen and plucked out 6 glasses, washed them and filled them with juice for the others as Stefan helped her bring them to everyone.
"Oh my God! What is this, this is the best thing I've ever tasted." Damon said honestly, seriously the burst of flavour was absolutely delicious, he really needed to get that recipe.
"Same here, I've never tasted anything this delicious, seriously." Stefan said as he ate Ana's food.
"They're right Ana, where on earth did you learn how to cook this good, the last time I saw you, you had no idea what to do in a kitchen." Ryan said amazed as he added maple syrup to his cake, before the brothers asked for it too and he gave them the bottle, they poured it on their cake and it only just made it more delicious. They all noticed that Anastasia had flinched at the question and Ryan winced when he realised where she had learnt to cook and the memories he had just brought back for her, they all looked at her concerned but she seemed to have shaken it off as she said, "Do you remember the time it was my Birthday and I was sleeping when you came in the house and wanted to bake a cake for me, you ended up nearly setting fire to the entire kitchen, it was a mess.
"Yeah, yeah laugh it up." Ryan grumbled as the others laughed at him.
"C'mon Ry it was hilarious, especially when dad was…when he was furious." Anastasia said and they all noticed the bitterness when she changed what she had said but they didn't comment on it.
"Dad can we come here more often?" Dan asked as he ate the delicious cake, he loved it so much.
"Are you asking that because of the food or because of a certain adorable little girl?" Ryan asked and Daniel immediately turned red as he whined, "Dad!"
"Yes kiddo you were saying?" Ryan asked with a smirk on his face.
"I said I like it here and I wanna come more often, when you drop Lil off, can I come with?" Daniel asked hopefully.
"Lil?" Ryan asked trying not to smirk at his son.
"Yeah, it's easier than saying Lilliana and she didn't mind, she calls me Dannie actually so can we dad, please?" Daniel asked hopefully, he liked the girl, they were friends now and he hoped they would still be friends when they went to school.
"We'll think about it, now eat." Ryan said pointing at his plate.
"You wouldn't mind giving me the recipe would you Anastasia?" Damon asked hopefully.
"I would actually, it's my own recipe, I can't just hand it over." Anastasia said teasingly as he pouted.
"Fine but you know Anastasia if you want to move here permanently, we wouldn't mind at all." Damon then said having nearly finished his food, he started eating even more slowly just to slow down the inevitable.
"For once I agree with him." Stefan said as he finished his plate and Anastasia snorted in amusement as she picked up all the plates despite their protests of her not cleaning them, she rolled her eyes when she saw Damon protecting the last bit on his plate. She sighed before she told him to follow her and he did out of curiosity, she put the plates down in the sink and snatched the one from him because he had finally finished his before she opened the fridge door and his eyes widened in delight as he saw a half full tray of the same cake, he was about to grab some but she batted his hands away.
"Not now, Later. It will be fine for a maximum of 2 days so share some with Stefan. I will hear if you don't and I won't ever make anything for you ever again, we clear?" Anastasia said sternly and he pouted slightly though he'd never admit it, before he nodded and she closed the fridge.
"Ok guys we're gonna hit the road now, come on." Ryan said as he nodded towards the door, Anastasia picked up the lunchbag she had made for Liana and handed it to her.
"Liana, you'll be going with Ryan and Daniel to preschool today, okay?" Anastasia asked gently.
"Okay mommy." Liana said before she hugged her mother and Anastasia bent down slightly to kiss her forehead before she left with Ryan who hugged her goodbye causing Damon to scowl one again.
"Ana where are you going today?" Stefan asked curiously, he remembered what her friend had said about Tanner and he didn't want her near him.
"I'm going to your school actually." Anastasia replied and Damon immediately shook his head.
"Absolutely not, that teacher is going to be there." Damon said to her refusing to let her go there.
"So you did actually hear everything? Look, I know he's going to be there but I can't do anything right now, I'll try to steer clear of him but I really want to go there today so you're not stopping me, either of you." Anastasia said and they sighed at her stubbornness before Anastasia went and emptied her bag of things she didn't need, leaving it all here, she'll get it later before she went to school with Stefan waving goodbye to Damon who surprisingly waved back.
[Mystic Falls High School]
"Ooh. Look at you. You look hot in your jersey." Elena said as he came running to her.
"What happened? No more cheerleader?" Stefan asked as he noticed the lack of uniform.
"I quit. I'm a quitter." Elena said sighing to herself.
"No, hey, you're not a quitter. You suffered a great loss. You're not the same person. You should be looking ahead. You should be starting over. Ok? I hope you don't think this is too soon or too weird, but...I, uh, I wanted you to have this." Stefan said as he opens up a box with the necklace inside and Elena takes it out.
"Oh, my God, it's beautiful." Elena gasped in amazement, it would go with any clothes she wears.
"It's something that I've had forever, and, uh, I've never wanted to give it to anyone until now. I'd very much like it if you'd wear it for me, for...good luck." Stefan said trying to protect her from his brother's compulsion though after the breakfast he had had today with his brother and the others, it was hard to think of what he was truly capable of when he acted like a normal human being.
"Is that rose that I smell?" Elena asked sniffing the necklace when she smelled something faint coming from it.
"No, it's, uh...it's an herb. It's nice, huh?" Stefan said, she didn't need to know what it actually was and she never would.
"I love it." Elena said smiling at him and he then helps her put it on.
"And, uh, I wanted to thank you for pushing me to try out for the team. It feels really good." Stefan said, it truly was, it was nice to play again after holding himself back all these years for fear of him using too much strength and the obvious reason that it was cheating.
"We're a pair. I quit, you start." Elena joked though she was still feeling down about it, how everything had changed for her because of that one accident, how is that possible that a summer ago she had been a different person and now she's a completely different one.
"Right. We're a work in progress. We'll figure it out." Stefan said reassuringly and Elena smiled at that before she kissed him.
"And you're not in uniform because..." Caroline walks up to Elena with a raised eyebrow.
It's night now and people are tailgating and cheering for the team as Tanner says, "Wait, wait, wait, Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Wait. Let's be honest here. In the past, we used to let other teams come into our town and roll right over us! (Boos from the crowd.) But that is about to change. (Cheering.) We've got some great new talent tonight starting on the offense, and I'm gonna tell you right now, it has been a long time since I have seen a kid like this with hands like these. Let's give it up for Stefan Salvatore!" Stefan was happy about that but he then noticed Tanner's eyes straying to Anastasia one too many times, and he was literally resisting the urge to pummel the guy into a hospital bed.
"This blows. He can't start the guy. He just got here." Tyler said annoyed.
"That have been waiting for us to put a check in the win column, I have only one thing to say to you...Your Timberwolves are hungry." Tanner carried on shouting out.
Tyler walks up to Vicki and she sees him expression and asks, "Hey, babe. What's wrong?"
"Nothing." Tyler says as Tanner shouts out, "And the central high lions are what's for dinner!"
"Is that Jeremy?" Tyler notices him and he immediately began walking towards him.
"Wait, no! Ty! No. Leave him alone." Vicky shouted out and Anastasia was closer to them because of how far she was trying to stay away from Tanner and she started walking towards them in concern.
"Oh, what do you care? Don't look so down. You can have her when I'm done." Tyler taunts and Jeremy rises to the bait and immediately strikes him before they both begin to fight.
"Tyler, stop it! Tyler! Tyler, stop! Stop it! Stop, you're hurting him! Tyler! Tyler, stop! Tyler! Stop it! Tyler, stop!" Vicky carries on shouting but just as Tyler is about to throw another punch Anastasia grabs his wrist and twists it behind his back as she says, "Hey, he's down! Enough!" before pushing him in the other direction. Tyler gets angry at whoever had stopped him so he swung his fist around in rage only for his eyes to widen when its caught by Anastasia.
"Unless you want a repeat of what happened last time I suggest you back off." Anastasia threatened and Tyler was about to walk away when Jeremy grabs a broken glass bottle and strikes at him, Anastasia quickly pushes him out the way and it strikes her in her upper arm before it sliced down Stefan's hand which had quickly manoeuvred her out the way.
"Jeremy, no!" Elena screams out shocked.
"Tyler, knock it off! Stop!" Matt shouts angrily.
Anastasia groans holding her arm It felt like it was on fire, there was definitely a piece stuck in there, she knew that feeling well. When James used to drink at home, in his anger, he would throw the empty bottles at her, sometimes she dodged them, others…well, you get the gist. Stefan's hand was bleeding too but he could care less, he could heal, Ana couldn't so he immediately went towards her concerned as Tyler looked at the only teacher he actually began to like beyond shocked, why on earth would she do that?
"What the hell, Jeremy? Put your head up, you're bleeding." Elena said immediately going towards him.
"I'm fine! She's not though, oh my god, what have I done?" Jeremy said horrified he had been wanting to thank her for what she did for Vicki but instead he had literally stabbed her with a beer bottle.
"She'll be fine, you on the other hand." Elena said frustrated.
"Just stop, ok? I thought the girl was your friend, you don't even look the least bit concerned, I stabbed her, do you understand that?" Jeremy asks her before storming away.
"Wait, whatever your name is, look it's fine, you were drunk and both of you were acting irrationally. Though I'm warning you that this could have ended up way worse than it did, be careful what you do next time or it might be someone's life next." Anastasia said to him before she walked away as Jeremy looked at her in remorse, she was right, this could have been way worse, though the blood dripping down from her hands where she held it against the wound he had caused made him want to puke, he couldn't believe he had done that, he thought as he walked away.
