"Damon told you to ask me to dance. Didn't he?" Stefan asked though he already knew the answer.
"Now why would he do that?" Caroline asked as she danced with him.
"Would you like one?" Stefan then asked as he grabbed a glass of champagne for himself and Caroline.
"Thank you." Stefan says to the person passing by with the tray of champagne.
"Okay, just tell me if you see my mom." Caroline said as she looked around her before drinking from the glass.
"You came here with Caroline didn't you?" Anastasia asked not looking at him.
"I did." Damon said nodding his head.
"I'm such a horrible friend, I promised to get her away from you but then I know you're going to go and eat someone else and you'll definitely kill them. I know you're keeping Caroline alive for a reason and if I get her away from you, you're going to kill someone else and it'll be my fault but then if I let her stay then you're going to feed from her." Anastasia said in frustration before she turned to him and asked, "Does it hurt when you feed on her?"
"It doesn't have to." Damon said truthfully.
"I said when you fed from her, did you make it hurt?" Anastasia persisted.
"At first, not afterwards." Damon said looking away from her.
"Why at first and why not afterwards?" Anastasia asked and it took him a second to understand what she was saying and he sighed giving her a pointed look but that only seemed to make her confused.
"Let's just say there was a reason, okay?" Damon asked not wanting to tell her the truth.
"What reason?" Anastasia asked curiously.
"That's for me to know and for you to dot, dot, dot." Damon said slightly mockingly.
Anastasia sighed at his answer before she said, "Fine, don't tell me. I want to know though, you do heal her right? I mean you said your blood would heal humans." Anastasia said hopefully.
"Of course I do." Damon said though he knew the truth, it was just those blasted eyes of hers that made him so weak.
"Ok, just don't hurt her Damon please? She doesn't deserve this but she wouldn't want anyone else to die if I free her and God that sounds horrible. Can you see Bonnie anywhere? I was supposed to come here as her date but I couldn't see her anywhere." Anastasia asked completely changing the subject in the middle but Damon only shook his head at her.
"You're a vampire for a reason Anastasia, find her." Damon said smirking at the embarrassed realisation on her face. She concentrated for a moment before she found out where she was, she said goodbye to Damon before making her way over there.
When she finds Bonnie she did not expect to see what she saw, Bonnie was sitting at a table just as a candle goes out randomly, she looks at it for a second and then it re-ignites as Anastasia gasps in slight shock. Bonnie turns to her in panic as she fumbled for an explanation, "Uh…it's not what you think I swear… I just…"
"You're a witch." Anastasia said as a growing smile spread on her face.
"No I'm…wait why are you smiling about this?" Bonnie asked confused.
"Come with me." Anastasia said and Bonnie followed out of curiosity, they roamed the halls getting lost twice before they finally found the bathroom.
"OK, why are we here?" Bonnie asked even more confused now.
"Here, come with me." Anastasia dragged her into a stall and now she was beginning to get perturbed. "Relax I'm not going to take advantage of you, I don't swing that way."
"That's not what I…" Bonnie began to say flustered.
"Relax Bon Bon I was just kidding." Anastasia said smiling at her teasingly before she took a deep breath and recalled what Merlin had did and opened her eyes to see Bonnie's shocked face as she stared at the orb of light in her hands and the fading glow of her eyes.
"What the….? How the…? What are…? What?" Bonnie said completely gobsmacked as the orb faded away in her hand.
"I'm a witch, like you, except mine's different from yours as your eyes don't glow gold but I have no idea about the difference regarding the limitations of our magic." Anastasia explained as Bonnie's face remained shocked. "I know it's a lot to take in and I should of probably eased you into it but I was just so excited, I had to show you."
"You…you're…you're a witch? They're…they're real?" Bonnie asked faintly as she slumped slightly against the wall.
"Yep, are you okay though? I haven't shocked you into a heart attack have I?" Anastasia joked a little concerned and Bonnie laughed at that.
"No I'm just processing." Bonnie said with a smile, not feeling as freaked out as she thought she would be, it was just nice to know that there was someone else with her, that must have been the reason she had felt that welcoming feeling whenever Anastasia was near, it was their magic, wow, she had actually admitted that in her head, she'd thought she'd at least be in denial but how could she be after staring evidence in the face.
Anastasia told Bonnie to go and have a few drinks and have some fun before she went home to rest and think about it all, she even suggested talking to her Grams as well and Bonnie agreed as she left whilst Anastasia made her way back to the party. She went past Ryan as he was talking to the Sheriff for some reason and kissed Liana's forehead.
"I should take her home now." Anastasia said about to take her from him but he stopped her.
"No, it hasn't even been an hour Ana, I'll take her home in a bit, go and have fun, you need it." Ryan encouraged her.
"No, it's alright, I've had enough fun. I really should get home." Anastasia said but he looked at her sternly.
"Ana, go have fun, you don't have to do everything by yourself anymore, you have friends now, you have me and I want to take care of her right now and as you very well know I am very stubborn so I suggest you listen." Ryan said playfully as he bopped her nose and she rolled her eyes at him before finally agreeing, he kissed her forehead before he said goodbye to the Sheriff and went to walk around the place talking to people who walked by.
"I know it's not my place to ask but are you two…" The Sheriff trailed off as Anastasia laughed slightly shaking her head.
"No, no, not at all, he's a great guy and all but he's my best friend, I don't see him that way, he's more like a brother to me." Anastasia explained smiling at the woman.
"Oh, can I talk to you for a moment?" She then asked and Anastasia nodded at her.
"Of course." Anastasia agreed.
"Ryan had called me a little while ago informing me of…" The Sheriff began cautiously before Anastasia cut her off.
"I know what he told you but it's all fine now considering Mr Tanner is gone so I don't need to worry about anything anymore." Anastasia explained.
"That's alright. I just wanted to make sure you're okay now and apologise for the awful welcome you got here, I promise it's not all like that." Sheriff said apologetically, when she had found out what happened, she hadn't believed it at first because she had known William for a long time and yet she could only see truth in Ryan's eyes and the phone call she had heard earlier had only proved that.
"I know, the people are very nice here." Anastasia said smiling at the kind woman before she realised something. "You look a lot like Caroline, I just realised."
"Oh, she's my daughter." The Sheriff said sighing slightly, their relationship was so strained she feared one day Caroline would leave her for her dad.
"Really? I see where she gets her kindness from. She's a great girl you know, even Liana's taken a liking to her, and believe me it takes a while to get in that girl's good graces, well, not in this town though. In NYC, Liana used to kick up a fuss whenever anyone besides a select few people used to touch her, she literally used to scream and cry no matter where we were, there were only a select few people she liked at first glance and began calling them auntie and uncle literally the next moment we met, it used to leave them really confused." Anastasia laughed as she remembered whilst the Sheriff laughed alongside her.
"Kids." The Sheriff said shaking her head.
"Can never understand them." Anastasia said and they both laughed at that.
"I'm guessing there's no father in the picture." Sheriff said after a second.
"Nope." Anastasia said shaking her head as she grabbed a glass from the tray thanking the person carrying it who unfortunately had to be a boy who didn't walk away until his eyes went all the way down her body giving her the creeps.
"Wait are you…" The Sheriff was about to stop her drinking.
"I'm 24, don't worry I get that a lot." Anastasia said smiling at her.
"Oh, sorry. Just had to make sure." She said apologetically.
"Believe me, if I was an underage teenager trying to have a glass of alcohol I'd be more subtle than literally grabbing a glass in front of the Sheriff herself." Anastasia joked as she took a sip.
"Or you could be a underage teenager lying to me about her age in order to sneak in a glass of alcohol." The Sheriff contradicted.
"True but I'm not." Anastasia said pulling out her ID from her purse and showing it to her.
"No, you're not. Sorry." The Sheriff agreed with a slight laugh in her voice.
"No problem…uh, shit where are my manners I don't even know your name." Anastasia realised a moment later.
"I'm Elizabeth Forbes, call me Liz." She said with a warm smile.
"I'm Anastasia, call me whatever you like, I've got a bunch of nicknames so you can choose any." Anastasia said as she took a sip from her glass.
"What about Ana?" Liz said after a second.
"That's the most popular choice." Anastasia said with a smile.
"What are the others?" Liz asked curiously.
"Jeremy calls me Anne, Care calls me Annie and Ryan and Stefan call me Ana." Anastasia explained.
"You've made quite a few friends here." Liz noticed.
"I know, I'm awesome like that." Anastasia joked and Liz laughed at her before they parted ways when someone else needed to talk to her.
Anastasia walked around before she heard Elena talking with Damon and for some inexplicable reason she didn't like that so she went closer towards them as she heard the last part of their conversation.
"Who was in the church that they wanted to save?" Elena asked.
Damon's eyes slid to Anastasia over Elena's shoulder as he said the next part, "A woman I guess. Doesn't it always come down to the love of a woman?"
"Look I'm sorry that you and Stefan have this thing between you, but I can't get in the middle of it, Damon. I just…I hope you two can work it out," Elena said to him.
"I hope so too." Damon said but his eyes never once strayed back to Elena which she noticed for she turned confused before she looked at Anastasia coming towards them.
"What are you doing here?" Elena asked rudely.
"Uh…It's a party, I'm mingling, and it led me here, my apologies if that bothers you darling but there is still the rest of the house for you to go to if you want out of my company that desperately." Anastasia said mockingly.
"Well why can't you leave?" Elena asked annoyed.
"I don't know, maybe because I don't want to, and besides, I want to talk to Damon, he's better company than most of the other guests here." Anastasia said and she actually did want to talk to him, they got along a lot for some reason and she liked spending time with him.
"I don't think he wants you here, why don't you go and talk to that friend of yours so we can talk over here." Elena said rolling her eyes, they had already finished their conversation to be honest but Anastasia just pissed her off so much.
"Careful honey, you already have one Salvatore wrapped around your little pinkie, are you really that desperate for attention that you're trying to snag the other one too? That's pretty bitchy of you to be honest." Anastasia said completely done with this girl, how the hell did they become friends in the first place?
"Why are you so mean to me?" Elena shouted out drawing other people's attention as most of the party went silent. Anastasia nearly groaned at the attention, great she went from bitchy teenager to a whining baby real fast.
"I'm being mean? Seriously? I came over here to talk to Damon assuming you had finished your conversation, you're the one who went all bitchy teenager on me, first asking me what I'm doing here, then basically telling me to get lost and then speaking for Damon and telling me he doesn't want me here, if that was true, he'd say it himself, wouldn't you Damon?" Anastasia asked turning to Damon with a raised eyebrow.
"If I didn't want to talk to someone then I would tell them politely, like now, Elena our conversation was over and right now I'd rather talk to Anastasia then an immature little teenager. I can speak up for myself thank you very much and I get really annoyed when someone else speaks for me so please don't do that again." Damon said trying not to glare at the girl before him, if only he could get away with strangling her, life would be so much easier. Tears of humiliation came to Elena's eyes as she realised how many people had heard that and she immediately stormed off.
"What happened this time?" Ryan asked coming towards them not even bothering to look at the people around them who were getting a free show.
"I don't know what her problem is with me, she's literally at my neck all the time. Literally, the smallest of things and she finds a way to snap at me like I'm the one in the wrong." Anastasia said exhausted with her constant blabber.
"Here drink this, it'll help." Ryan said as he gave her his glass, she took it and drained the entirety of its contents.
"God, I'm too old for this shit." Anastasia grumbled annoyed as she handed him the glass back before walking off, Ryan was about to follow her but Damon stopped him.
"I'll go to her, you should probably get Lilliana home, I don't think she's going to get a peaceful sleep with all the noise and she's pretty exhausted." Damon advised not knowing why he was doing so or why he cared enough to tell him that.
"You're right, I was going to but then that happened. Now that I think about it, I don't really know where to drop her since I don't want to leave her with Ana's father." Ryan said to himself realising he was going to have to stay.
"Take her to the Boarding House." Damon said after a moment.
"What?" Ryan asked confused.
"You've been to the Boarding house before haven't you? Just go there, the door's not locked so just stay with her." Damon said before he walked off to where Anastasia was as Ryan looked at his retreating back with an unknown emotion in his eyes before he followed his instructions.
"You know the Salvatore name was practically royalty in this town. Until the war. There was a battle here…" Damon explained the story he had told Elena before as he came from behind her and saw what Anastasia was looking at.
"The Battle of Willow Creek." Anastasia said immediately.
"Right." Damon said a bit surprised.
"I studied a lot about it when I was younger, this is a complete nerdy thing to say but the library was my favourite place both at school and at home. So basically in that battle, Confederate soldiers fired on a church with civilians inside." Anastasia explained.
"What the history books left out was the people that were killed. They weren't there by accident. They were vampires, so some of the founders on the confederacy side back then wanted them rounded up and burned alive. Katherine was taken and put in that church and then when we went to rescue her, we were shot, murdered by our very own father." Damon explained keeping his voice down as he told her the truth unlike the lie he spun for Elena.
"Your…your father? He killed his own children?" Anastasia gasped horrified.
"He found out we were vampire sympathizers, and according to him, we were no longer his sons since we apparently chose the wrong side." Damon said bitterly.
"I'm so sorry Damon, both of you didn't deserve that, I know nothing I can say will help but I'm sorry about what your father did and that you lost her, no one should lose someone they love, it's just cruel." Anastasia said as she fiddled with the locket around her neck, she had changed the colour of it to black with her magic so that it'd match her dress.
Damon noticed where her hand was and said, "Your family? Your friend said that…"
"Don't. I'd rather not talk about it." Anastasia immediately cut in not wanting to talk about them right now.
"Come on, you said I'd have to earn it, and I told you about me, I'm just asking for a little bit about you." Damon persuaded doing the eye thing to get her to agree and she rolled her eyes at him before she sighed.
"You know more about me then I know about you from what Ryan said to you guys." Anastasia said rolling her eyes at his excuse, he knew full well that he already knew a lot about her, he was just fishing for more.
"Ok, you're right but I promise I'll tell you what you want to know if you answer my questions." Damon bargained hopefully.
"I'll only answer if I want to." Anastasia said and he pouted. "Don't pout, it's unbecoming of a man your age."
"Rude." Damon said to her mock annoyed as Anastasia snorted at him.
"Have you ever fallen in love?" Damon asked cautiously not understanding why he wanted the answer to be a no.
"There was a time in my life that I had fallen for someone." Anastasia said after a second and Damon's jaw immediately tightened as he narrowed his eyes at her.
"Who?" Damon tried to stop himself from snapping as his hands slightly fisted where he had crossed them over his chest.
"I already told you about him, that he was supposed to go to jail, but he escaped. His name doesn't really matter but he was one of the biggest mistakes of my life." Anastasia said bitterly as Damon noticed the haunted look in her eyes.
"Wait, the guy who you said used to beat you up, rape you every single day for 6 years, the guy who was the reason you lost your firstborn, the guy who nearly killed you and Lilliana, that's the guy you fell for?" Damon asked immediately regretting his outburst as she flinched away from him looking at him with tears in her eyes.
"Don't…please…whatever you want to say to me, do not ever mention my firstborn." Anastasia practically begged him not to and he winced in guilt at making her remember that, he suddenly pictured her that night when she had sang that song, looking so broken and it only increased his guilt.
"I'm sorry, I just…you're right I shouldn't have said that, I'm sorry." Damon said truly apologetic.
"It's…It's alright, I sort of understand, I mean, it doesn't exactly make any sense but it's not like I fell in love with him when he did that, it was completely different at first, he was completely different at first. I had fallen for him when I was a junior in high school whilst he was a senior. He was literally the perfect boyfriend until I moved in with him after graduation, wanting to get away from my dad. I didn't really see the warning signs until it was too late. I wanted to leave. believe me, I wasn't so weak as to stay with him despite everything he did but then he went and threatened my dad and my friends. He gave me no choice, I had no way out." Anastasia said as tears began to form in her eyes.
"I'm sorry I brought it up." Damon said truly apologetic and just as she was about to wipe her tears, he cupped her face in his hands and wiped them for her, and he smiled at the fact that she hadn't flinched from him this time. They looked at each for a second as icy blue eyes that reminded Anastasia of the mystery that was the ocean collided with warm blue eyes that reminded Damon of two beautiful sapphires glowing in the light of the moon.
It was Anastasia who knocked herself out of it first as she stepped back from him quickly, clearing her throat as she looked away from him whilst he dropped his hands to the side looking away confused at the emotions he had felt staring into her eyes. They both were thinking the same thing, what the hell was that?
Vicki and Tyler were sitting on a bench, away from the party. Vicky was completely bored to death so she turned to Tyler and asked, "So you want to dance?"
"Me dancing? Not pretty." Tyler said scoffing at that idea.
"Maybe you could show me around. I mean, this place is amazing." Vicky suggested.
"Yeah, if you like living in a museum." Tyler contradicted again and she looked at him annoyed as she realised he was going to make excuses to do everything that meant his parents seeing them together.
"Maybe I should just strip naked and give Pastor Bill a lap dance. I mean, that's why we're hiding in a corner all night, isn't it? You're scared of how I'm going to act? You afraid of what your parents are going to think about your date from the wrong side of the tracks?" Vicky snapped.
"I don't care about what they think." Tyler said though he knew inside exactly how much he did.
"Great. Let's go say hi." Vicky said as she got up and walked inside but he pulled her back.
"Knock it off, Vick." Tyler said even though he knew he was the one at fault here but could she understand that obviously his mother was not going to approve of her and was only going to make their lives that much more harder to stop them from seeing each other.
"Or we could just, you know, sneak up to your bedroom. As long as nobody sees us, right?" Vicky carried on taunting.
"Vicki, I swear..." Tyler said getting irritated.
"What's the matter, Ty? You scared to stand up to your mommy? It's pretty pathetic." Vicky mocked him.
"Let go!" Tyler shouted just as his mother came walking towards them.
"Tyler...We didn't get a chance to say hello earlier. It's Vicki, right? Matt's sister." Carol greeted trying to keep the judgement off her face.
"Yes, ma'am." Vicky said as she tried to be polite to her.
"You'll have to forgive my son's rudeness. He gets it from his father." Carol said actually honest about that part.
"Well, that's okay, Mrs. Lockwood. Tyler and I were just saying good night." Vicky said walking away from him as Tyler watched on sighing at her retreating back.
"That's what you get when you bring the trash to the party." His mother whispered into his ear before she herself walked away.
Damon and Anastasia go out to meet Stefan and Caroline as Damon asked, "What'd we miss?"
"We were just chatting. Drink, Damon?" Stefan asked offering him a glass.
"No, thanks, I'll pass," Damon said and Anastasia immediately noticed something really tense in their exchange but she didn't comment, it wasn't her business after all, she just hoped they'd sort whatever it was out between them.
"Have you guys seen Elena?" Stefan asked curiously, he had seen what happened before and knew that Elena was at fault here but he wanted to know if she was ok, it was probably just a bad day for her.
"Nope and hopefully I never will," Anastasia mumbled the last bit into her cup of champagne but the brothers heard her loud and clear, Stefan sighed whilst Damon snorted in amusement.
"Escuse me Miss Williams?" Tyler's voice came from behind them.
"Oh hey Tyler, how many times have I told you to call me Anastasia." She said with a stern raise of her eyebrow.
"Oh, right, sorry, so well I wanted to ask If you would like to dance, I know I'm your student and all but technically, you're my teaching assistant so it's not really inappropriate, is it?" Tyler tried to persuade.
"Actually it is very inappropriate, which is why you really should leave." Damon said to the kid annoyed but Anastasia nudged him with a glare.
"Don't mind him, I was going to agree to a dance anyway, I haven't danced the entire time." Anastasia pouted. Damon glared at the exchange, he had successfully stopped so many people from even asking her to dance with a glare but unfortunately he had not seen him coming.
"Oh, well we can't have that now, can we? Let's dance." Tyler said as he held out a hand, she smiled and placed her hand in his causing Damon to grit his teeth as he glared at their joined hands as she was pulled to the middle of the dance floor. When Tyler's hand went to her waist, he nearly growled under his breath before he walked away to grab a glass.
"Stefan, do you have another dance in you?" Elena asked coming out of nowhere.
"Absolutely." Stefan said as he glanced between Anastasia and Damon once more before dancing with Elena, he had a feeling that there was something going on between them. He didn't know what it was but he just thought he saw Damon jealous of all things when the Lockwood kid had taken her to dance.
"They look so cute together." Caroline said from where she was standing next to Damon. Damon only rolled his eyes thinking that she was talking about Stefan and Elena but when he followed her line of sight, he stiffened at the fact that she had been talking about Anastasia and the Lockwood kid and he immediately snapped at her, "Just stop talking."
"Don't shoot! Only need a refill." Logan said coming up next to Jenna as she sat at the bar.
"Shooting implies caring." Jenna said completely done with him.
"Feigned indifference. I like it." Logan said, he could see through her and he knew that despite what a facade she puts up now, she was truly hurt by his younger self's actions.
"I'm over the banter, Logan. I'd really rather you just left me alone." Jenna said honestly exhausted.
"I'm sorry, Jenna. About your sister." Logan said genuinely after a moment.
"Thank you." Jenna said appreciating it but it was the same words she's heard so many times, it was beginning to get grating.
"I came to the funeral." Logan said.
"I know. I saw you." Jenna said as she remembered when she had seen him as they stood on opposite sides of the graves.
"Yeah, I didn't want to push my way in, but I wanted to be there for you. And when I heard you were staying in Mystic Falls, I thought maybe...Well, maybe I could have a second chance to make things right." Logan said and each word seemed to piss off Jenna even more.
"Her name was Monica, wasn't it?" Jenna asked before she walked away as he sighed.
"What exactly happened back there, everyone heard the commotion." Stefan prodded gently.
"Oh just Anastasia being a bitch." Elena said rolling her eyes.
"Don't call her that Elena, she's my friend." Stefan said a little sharply.
"Of course you take her side." Elena said about to pull away from the dance but he stopped her.
"There is no sides to this Elena, I'd just rather you not insult Ana in front of me, I'd be a very bad friend if I let you." Stefan tried to explain without her getting pissed off.
"Why are you even friends with her?" Elena asked annoyed.
"Because she's a great person who understands me better than most." Stefan explained with a smile on his face but Elena just scoffed at that.
"She's not as understanding as you think, I mean if she truly understood what if feels like to lose someone she would never have even thought to enter my parent's room like that." Elena said resentfully.
"It wasn't her choice Elena, your aunt was the one who persuaded her to, and even then she said no, your brother was the one who picked her up when she slept on the sofa and took her there. She even apologised later, you're the one who snapped at her when she did nothing wrong." Stefan said with his brows furrowed at her.
"Wow. Thanks. I'm sorry is she your girlfriend or am I?" Elena asked looking at him angrily.
"You are, but that doesn't mean I can't defend my friend." Stefan said defensively.
"Can we just not talk about her please?" Elena asked sighing in exasperation.
"Fine. I hope Damon didn't drive you too crazy before." Stefan changed the topic.
"No, actually, he was on good behaviour before she came. He even apologized and explained why he is the way he is and then Anastasia just had to come and ruin it." At Stefan's pointed look she rolled her eyes before saying, "Ok, I'm not going to talk about her. Apparently according to Damon, it all goes back to Katherine." Elena said pointedly.
"Hmm." This was all Stefan said, he couldn't tell her the truth even if he wanted to and considering her probing look, she clearly wanted him to.
"So tell me about her. What happened?" Elena asked, she couldn't help her curiosity.
"It's not something I like to talk about." Stefan said truthfully, it really wasn't.
"I get that. I do. I just want you to know that you can. I mean, I burden you with all of my drama, and I want you to do the same." Elena said wanting him to open up to her, it was only fair.
"I know. Thank you." Stefan said gratefully though he knew that wasn't the answer she wanted to hear.
"The truth is, Stefan...I don't really know that much about you, and I'd really love it if you would open up to me." Elena said and he immediately knew that this wasn't completely coming from her, clearly his brother had been meddling he thought as they both stopped dancing.
"Damon said something, didn't he? He likes to play games and cause trouble, Elena." Stefan tried to make her see that.
"This isn't about Damon, it's about me trying to get to know you. Look, you're the mystery guy, and I like that. But with mystery comes secrets, and this thing with Katherine." Elena said fishing for information, she wanted to know more about him but he wouldn't open up to her.
"Let it go. I don't want to talk about it." Stefan said a little more forcefully, couldn't she just be a little more understanding like Anastasia was, she never once pushed him to speak only telling him that she would always be there to hear him out.
"Well, then, say something about yourself. Anything. Otherwise, I'm left with nothing but what other people tell me." Elena said and she just realised how true that was, for God's sake, she didn't even know his favourite colour.
"Don't you see what Damon has done here? He's trying to get you to turn against me." Stefan snapped lightly, now a little angry.
"Well, then I guess it's working." Elena said bitchily as she stormed off whilst the brothers' eyes meet across the room.
"Steffie are you alright?" Anastasia asked coming towards him concerned, she had just finished her dance with Tyler before she excused herself when she saw Stefan's upset face as Elena walked away from him.
"I'm fine Ana." Stefan said as he turned his gaze away from Damon.
"You sure?" Anastasia asked not wanting to probe when he already looked so upset.
"Yeah." Stefan said shrugging his shoulders slightly
"You wanna dance?" Anastasia asked as she left out a hand for him to grab if he wanted to, he looked at her, then her hand before he hesitated for a second and then abruptly spun her around in his arms as she laughed along with him. They both danced for the next few minutes with smiles on their faces as they talked with each other, telling one another more about themselves not even noticing the burning glare on Damon's face as he saw them having fun together, with Stefan's hands on her waist and hers on his shoulders, he couldn't watch anymore as he stormed off upstairs to do what he came her to do, why he had waited so long was beyond him, this was entirely Anastasia's fault he thought as Caroline followed him.
Bonnie and Elena were inside eating ice cream as Bonnie said, "This is my fault. I planted doubt. I'm a doubt planter."
"It's not your fault. I just…I feel terrible because I said that I wouldn't get in the middle of it, and then that's exactly what I did. I got all snotty." Elena said as she put another spoon in her mouth.
"Elena, honey, there you are. I notice the watch still isn't in the collection." Carol Lockwood said coming up to Elena, she knew how much the council needed that watch.
"Oh, um, I'm sorry, Mrs. Lockwood. I, um, I couldn't find it. I guess it's still packed up in my parents' stuff somewhere." Elena said apologetically even though she knew exactly where it was.
"I see. Well, please let me know if you do find it." Carol said before she walked away wondering how they were going to get it now.
"OK." Elena said though that was the last thing she would do.
Damon walks upstairs with Caroline right behind him as she asked, "Where have you been?"
"Ah. Looking for you." Damon said as he came towards her.
"Your brother barely danced with me for five minutes…" Caroline complained.
"Okay, just a minute. Stand right...there." Damon positioned her so she was just by the door entrance and no one would see him before he starts searching through the collection.
"Um, you're not supposed to touch. What is that?" Caroline asked as Damon pulls out exactly what he was looking for.
"A very important crystal." Damon explains.
"Well, how did you know that it was there?" Caroline asks confused.
"Because I put it there." Damon replied.
"When?" Caroline asked confused as to how he could have put that there.
"A long time ago. Tonight, I'm taking it back, thanks to you." Damon said, now he could finally get Katherine back.
"Well, what's it for?" Caroline asked curiously.
"Never you mind." Damon said as he walked up to her.
"Well, you can't just steal it." Caroline said shocked that he was being so cavalier about stealing from the mayor's house.
"It's not stealing if it's mine. Come on." Damon said as he led her out.
"Well..." Caroline's voice trailed off as they walked away.
"Vodka tonic. Okay, I know that this is probably going to be strike 3, but I hope you can see it for what it is." Logan said, he couldn't stop himself from coming back to her.
"And what is it?" Jenna asked out of boredom.
"Persistence, groveling, commitment. Take your pick." Logan said hopefully.
"I fled town because of you. Fled." Jenna said angrily.
"I was young and stupid, and then things changed. Life got...real. You'd know that better than anyone." Logan said and that hit the nail on the head for her because who would have thought she'd turn from drugs and being a partygirl to a guardian of two teenagers.
"Hypothetically speaking, if allowed, how would you make things right?" Jenna asked wanting to see if he has truly changed, if she could change over the course of these few years maybe he wasn't entirely hopeless after all.
"Well, more groveling, of course. A recap of the past few years spent soul searching. Cheese fries." Logan said with a teasing smile.
"Obvious." Jenna nodded as the end part had a light smile appear on her face, he still remembered apparently, and no, she was not going to give him brownie points for that, he still had to grovel a lot more, ok, just maybe a few.
"I know my audience." Logan said with a light smirk at her, she looked at him for a second contemplating her decision before she sighed to herself knowing what her answer would be.
"Yes to lunch. Call me." Jenna said before she walked away from him as a smile spread on his face.
[The living room.]
"Look around. What's missing? The flames, the candles. Why aren't they lit? There's matches in the kitchen." Mrs Lockwood said to her before walking away.
"Bitch." Bonnie muttered under her breath before she looked at the candle and tries to light it, she sighed disappointed as it didn't work, maybe Anastasia was mistaken and she wasn't a witch but as she turns back around for a second after she was about to leave, she saw all the candles lit and she smiled lightly to herself, she couldn't wait to tell Anastasia.
Elena enters the powder room where Caroline was checking her makeup.
"Hey." Elena said as she washed her hands.
"Hey. So how are things with Stefan?" Caroline asked curiously though from what she had seen it wasn't anything good, in fact, Stefan and Anastasia were getting along so much better.
"Great. Just great." Elena said sarcastically.
"Really? Well, my radar must be off, 'cause I was getting all sorts of other vibes..." Caroline said before Elena noticed something on Caroline's neck.
"What is that?" Elena asked confused and concerned.
"Hmm?" Caroline asked confused before Elena tried to lift her scarf up and she immediately panicked as she said, "Don't!" Elena manages to lift her scarf up and she sees a bad bite mark.
"Oh god, Caroline, what happened?" Elena asked beyond concerned as she saw the size of the bite.
"Nothing, okay?!" Caroline said slapping her hands away.
"That is not nothing! Did somebody hurt you?" Elena said horrified as she saw another bite mark.
"No, okay, nothing. It just...My mom would kill me." Caroline said just as Elena pulls down her shawl and sees another bite mark on her back.
"Did Damon hurt you?" Elena asked realising he was the only one who could have.
"No! Of course not! Just leave me alone. Okay, Elena?!" Caroline snapped before she walked outside, Anastasia was drinking from a glass of champagne when she saw Caroline storm off, she was about to go to her concerned when she saw Elena walk down the stairs straight to Damon and push him, then she heard her next words and walked closer to them in concern, what happened?
"There is something seriously wrong with you. You stay away from Caroline or I will go straight to her mother, the sheriff. You got it? Stay away from her." Elena snapped at him but just as she was about to walk off Anastasia came in front of her.
"Wait, what is going on? What happened to Care?" Anastasia asked as she looked between Damon and Elena concerned.
"Why do you care?" Elena snapped but just as she was about to walk off Anastasia roughly pulled her back and grabbed her shoulders glaring into her eyes as she said, "Tell me what happened to Caroline Elena." The glare in her eyes had Elena a little fearful and she couldn't help but blurt out the truth.
"Fine. There were bruises all over her body and…" but that was all Anastasia heard before she felt the wind knocked out of her as the memories rushed to the forefront of her mind and she flinched, not even seeing when Elena had finished explaining and walked off, stuck in her own mind as she was. Damon didn't know what to say when Anastasia came and demanded and answer, he hoped Elena wouldn't say anything but when she said bruises, he saw her flinch, her eyes somewhere far off as her body began to tremble. His eyes widened as he realised what her words had inadvertently triggered, Elena just told an abuse victim that someone close to her was covered in bruises, shit, he thought as he watched on not wanting to admit how concerned he was until he noticed the fact that she didn't seem like she was breathing.
He immediately went towards her concerned as she gasped for breath but she flinched away from him looking at him with something akin to fear, something he had never wanted to see in her eyes especially directed at him. Didn't she hear the rest of what Elena said though about the bite marks, then she would understand that that was what Elena was referring to, not actual bruises, he would never hurt a girl like that. Yes, she would be pissed that he had lied before but she wouldn't be looking at him like that, she wouldn't be fearful because she'd understand but it was clear from the next words that came out her mouth as she backed away from him that she didn't.
"You're…you're just like him."
She ran off from there leaving him frozen, he just stood there staring after her in shock and what he realised was hurt.