I do not own the Vampire Diaries

The past few days Anastasia had tried her best not to think about Damon whilst she cared for Liana, completely ignored Andrew as she's gotten used to calling him, took over the history class in the meantime since Tanner was dead, and gotten so much closer with Ryan.

She had noticed how much his past in the army was affecting him, she hadn't mentioned anything before, not wanting to make him uncomfortable, but when he had flinched at a loud sound and had a flashback in front of her, she had tried to help him as much as she could. He came to her house more often now practically staying the entire day after he dropped off Liana and his son, sometimes even the night in one of the guest bedrooms he had chosen as they each helped the other with their nightmares. Andrew hadn't been bothered by it, considering he trusted Ryan and knew they had been friends before. She had also used her magic to give Liana happy dreams so that she wouldn't be affected by both of their nightmares if they woke up screaming.

Every morning, they woke up in one another's bed finding comfort in one another, the first time she'd had a nightmare, he'd come barging in and pulled her out of it, making sure not to touch her as he did. When she had woken up in tears, he had been there to console her, and when he had woken up in a sweat, a tortured look on his face, she had held him for as long as he needed before eventually falling asleep next to him. It was the routine now for them.

She had apparently given too much away in her nightmares once though and had panicked when he had asked what she meant. Seeing that, he had assured her that she could tell him whatever had happened, he wouldn't see her any differently. She had cried at his words, he didn't know how meaningful they were to her but she still hadn't been able to tell him the truth. Later on in the day though, as Ryan made lunch, she had gone upstairs to take a shower, only to find Death, well Alexander as she's now come to call him, in her room. They had talked for a while, as he explained what her visions would now be like and apologized on behalf of his sister for making such a decision, she had been understanding knowing it hadn't been his choice to do so, and besides, pain was a very familiar friend to her, it was nothing she couldn't handle. She had then asked her for advice pertaining to what she should tell Ryan, at this rate he was going to find out about it sooner or later, and all he had said was that 'he can be trusted but be careful who you to tell.'

After he had left after talking a bit more, she quickly had a shower and had gone downstairs to see Ryan setting the food on the table. The entire dinner was spent silent, he had tried talking to her but her short answers and dismissive nods must have clued him in that she wasn't in the mood to talk so he stopped trying to make conversation and instead shot her concerned glances as they ate. She had been too busy thinking over Death's words the entire time, and right after lunch, she had taken him outside by the fire and had told him she needed to tell him something. It had taken her a while to actually find the courage to get the words out but eventually, she did, and she never looked at him once as she explained what had really happened. Once she started, the words just kept tumbling out her mouth and she didn't stop until she had finished, knowing that if she did even once, she would stop and chicken out.

Once she was done telling him everything besides the identity of the vampires, basically what her life had been like with James, how she had died, visited Death, gained powers, how Liana had come with her, and how she had come here, they sat in tense silence for a few moments before she literally begged him to say something. He had stood up abruptly causing her to flinch at the suddenness of the action, seeing that though he had been hurt thinking she had flinched from him and had immediately come and pulled her into a hug and said that he would never hurt her, not for anything, no matter how mad he was, the last thing he'd ever do was hurt her in any way. She meant much more to him than that.

He said that what he had said before was true, he would never see her any differently, if anything all he wanted to do now was find that f£%&er and kill him in the most agonizing and slowest way possible. She had asked him how he believed her in complete disbelief, he had scoffed raising an eyebrow at her as he said, 'Darling if I couldn't tell a lie from a truth then I'd be pretty bad at my job, and considering I'm a retired army General...well, you get the point.' She had understood then, he had interrogated a lot of people in his lifetime and if he couldn't tell whether they were lying or not, he could have potentially got so many of the soldiers killed and then been demoted.

After that, they had gotten impossibly close, practically sharing everything with each other, he shared what he could of his time in the war and she began to share the few parts she had missed the first time around, as they both cared for Liana. Even Daniel had come over in the mornings as Anastasia made breakfast for all of them and he and Liana had become fast friends, it was adorable to watch, to be honest.

She had met the others a couple of times during the day, getting closer to them all, well, except Elena, she was still holding on to that petty grudge and Anastasia just couldn't be bothered to deal with that bag of hormonal shit so she steered clear of her as much as possible, which was hard to do, since two of her best friends here are her best friends too. Caroline and Bonnie tried their best though and she really appreciated that, whenever Elena got too bitchy, one of them interrupted, she felt guilty that the two had to keep acting like a buffer between her and Elena but she also didn't want to stay away from them because of her bitchy attitude. She refused to lose friends like them because Elena couldn't handle her being there, it was honestly pathetic, even when she brought Liana to some of their times together and the other two gushed over her, Elena couldn't help the comments that came out her mouth and Anastasia's patience was honestly wearing thin.

She had also taken some time to talk to Stefan over the phone, not wanting to go to the Boarding House yet, just to check up on him and Damon. She had felt a smile pull at her mouth when Stefan informed her that he had emptied the entire box of biscuits before pulling herself together. There was no point feeling happy about that when she was most likely never going to see him again and yet still, she couldn't stop herself and went to the kitchen and baked a box of her recipe of brownies, she added another letter on top so that he would know who it's from. Then using her magic, she pictured the cell she had seen before and made the box appear there, not knowing why she had just done that but she just couldn't stop herself. She shrugged, oh well, at least his stay might be a bit more comfortable, she didn't really know much about how desiccation works but she didn't imagine it to be a comfortable process but for the sake of Caroline and everyone else in Mystic Falls, this had to be done.

[Gilbert Residence]

Elena wakes up in the morning and goes to the bathroom only to see Vicki inside. They both stop in shock before Vicki quickly hurries to say, "I-I'm sorry, I'm almost done."

"It-it's ok. Take your time." Elena said trying to hide her shock as she leaves the bathroom quickly.

Once Elena leaves, Vicki goes to Jeremy's room and informs him that he might have a problem, Jeremy looks up at her confused as he asks, "What did you do?"

"Oh, Elena saw me," Vicki said with a shrug.

"I'm a drug-using delinquent. A girl in bed doesn't really rank. Sorry." Jeremy said not really caring for what Elena thought but he prepared himself for the earful he was going to get inevitably, these were the times when he actually would rather have Anne as a sister. She always heard him out, and didn't treat him like a kid who didn't know what was good for him, instead, she was understanding and just provided a listening ear before giving some sound advice afterward. When Anne had come the other day with Jenna to hang out, he had been about to go outside to most likely go and smoke some pot when she greeted him with a smile. That was where the conversation escalated and an hour or so later of having fun with Jenna and Anne, she then had to leave to pick up her daughter and he went upstairs to play games completely forgetting about what he had meant to go outside and do.

Elena goes downstairs still in a slight state of shock before she sees Jenna and says, "Jenna! Are you aware of what's going on upstairs?"

"Uh-huh." Jenna nodded her head casually as if it were no big deal.

"And you have no objection?" Elena asks shocked.

"He could be craftier about it, at least make an effort to sneak her in and out. Oh, and just so you know, I won't be home for dinner." Jenna said, she had talked with Anastasia about this, and whilst she had been slightly disapproving at first, she had heard her out and said to do what she thought was good for her but she had also said with a smirk afterward to make him suffer first and that if he stays after you've mentally tortured him beyond repair then that's called commitment and maybe, just maybe, a second chance can be awarded, but she warned her that the idiot had to grovel first.

She had also said that from her experience that sometimes giving men a second chance is like handing them another bullet because they missed the first time then she winked at her and said, 'don't get shot darling, turn the tables, this isn't the 1900s anymore, woman empowerment and all' before she left to go pick up Liana leaving her feeling more confident than she ever had in a while.

"Oh, so you're actually going to do it. You're gonna go out with Logan." Elena asked not feeling too sure about her aunt going out with the man who had broken her heart.

"I'm going to show up and torture him, yes. And have you heard from Stefan?" Jenna asked concerned knowing how much his absence was bugging Elena.

"Not since he left that very vague message three days ago. "Hi, um, Elena, I, um, have something I have to do. I'll, uh, explain in a few days." Elena mimicked his way of talking.

"Haven't you called him?" Jenna asked confused.

"Nope. Not going to either." Elena said refusing to be the first one to approach the other, he's the one who had been away for this long, if he liked her as he said he did, then he should have called himself by now.

"And you're ok with everything?" Jenna asked concerned.

"No, I'm not ok with any of it. But I'm not gonna cry about it, either. You know, I was going to write in my diary this morning and then I thought, what am I going to write? Honestly, I'm not gonna be one of those pathetic girls whose world stops spinning because of some guy." Elena scoffed as she held her cup in her hands, she refused to be that girl no matter how much Stefan's absence really bothered her.

"Ok, then," Jenna said clearly not believing her.

"I'll be fine," Elena said though she sounded as if she was trying to convince herself.

[Salvatore Boarding House]

"He's awake. He's weak, but it's probably best to stay out of the basement. He's Damon. I'm not sure how dangerous he still might be." Stefan warned Zach as he prepared to leave. Anastasia had told him that he couldn't put his life on pause just because he had a rebel for a brother and had encouraged him to go to school for his sake and Elena's.

She said that Elena was becoming even more intolerable without him, even in school when she was teaching and everyone else was engaged in the lesson with smiles on their faces, Elena was daydreaming, not paying attention, or using her class time with her to write in her diary and her blatant disrespect was honestly getting on her nerves, which left Stefan confused, he knew that Elena had a problem with Ana after what had happened at the dinner but for her to act like this?

Ana told him that she'd had to say something a few times because it wasn't right to bring outside problems into her class and act the way Elena was, but that only made her apparent dislike for her grow at the embarrassment she felt at being called out but Ana said she couldn't care less right now. Even Bonnie had agreed with her having seen how Elena was treating Anastasia and when Caroline found out, she was on her side too, thankfully.

Ana had told him everything, how she worried that they would choose Elena and side with her, which she would understand, they had been friends longer after all but she had never felt so relieved when they chose to carry on their friendship despite Elena's problem with her. Stefan didn't understand why Elena would act like this and promised to talk to her about how she was treating Ana when they got back to school. Maybe she was just having a bad day he thought but he knew this had gone on longer than a day.

"You're going to school?" Zach asked shocked that he would leave right now.

"Came here to live a life. It's about time I get back to that. And Elena, if she's still speaking to me." Stefan said sighing at the last bit.

"Why haven't you called her?" Zach asked confused.

"What am I supposed to do, feed her another lie? I hate lying to her, Zach. I'm not good at it. She already thinks I'm hiding something." Stefan said really just tired of the lies and secrets he had to hold to himself.

"What choice do you have? You came here because you wanted to live as normal a life as you could. You knew this was going to be a part of it. And besides, I've seen you talk to that girl over the phone, she makes you happy and she knows about you, at least you have that," Zach said optimistically for his uncle.

"Ana is great. Honestly, she is just something else, I've never met anyone quite like her. Without her, I would have probably not gone back to school until this was dealt with, she's like a little sister to me." Stefan said fondly with such an affectionate tone that it had Zach taken aback. If he hadn't clarified what the girl had meant to him, he would have thought he loved her in more than a platonic way but it was clear it was more of a brotherly affection that he felt for the girl.

After Ryan had left this morning with Liana to go pick up Daniel and drop them off to the nursery, Anastasia got dressed and made her way to school talking to some students who had come and asked her for help. Apparently, they had heard from friends about her teaching and now wanted her help, she had said she'll talk to the school about making a study session or something at break or lunch, since she couldn't stay after school because of Liana, where she could help them with whatever they needed collectively. They had all really liked the idea and she smiled at them before making her way inside, ignoring the familiar stares on her form as she did so, it was nothing new, and being in a school full of hormonal teenagers was not going to help either so she ignored it as best she could despite how uncomfortable their leering looks made her feel.

[Forbes Residence]

Caroline is in her bedroom with Bonnie when she said, "I remember the party. Damon came up behind me, and he was kissing my neck or biting my neck. I passed out. It's like there are holes in my memory lately. It's just weird. Maybe I let him bite me." Caroline said to herself really confused and annoyed at the gaps in her memory. She had talked to Anastasia about this and she had just said that Damon was an idiot and there was no point dwelling on the mind of an idiot or she might lose a few brain cells along the way trying to understand him and why he had done what he did. That had made her laugh, you could always count on Annie to cheer you up when you needed it.

"Why would you do that?" Bonnie asked confused at where her friend had come up with something so ridiculous.

"Can we just not talk about it, ok? I don't want to talk about Damon. I don't want to talk about any of it. I just want to go back to normal. What are you doing with that candle?" Caroline asked confused when she saw it in Bonnie's hands.

"Um...nothing. What's this?" Bonnie asked placing the candle back on the desk as she gestures to the crystal. Anastasia had talked with her about her magic but at the moment she was so busy with her own life, with Liana and that hot friend of hers that Bonnie didn't want to disturb her even further by asking for her to teach her or something. Despite that though, Anastasia had given her a few tips though on a few things just for safety purposes and she really appreciated that. Her main point was the intent, apparently, she couldn't just say the words expecting the spell to work, she had to picture it working already and how it would look like if it worked whilst she performed the spell. She had been trying to do that now but with Caroline in the room, she had to hold herself back from actually doing anything, she wasn't ready for anyone except Anastasia to know yet.

"Damon gave it to me. Or he was going to give it to me. All I know is, it's mine now." Caroline shrugged.

"It's ugly," Bonnie commented, it was the most fashion-less thing Caroline owned.

"Well, get your grubby hands off it," Caroline said irritated.

[Mystic Falls High School]

"The sexy suds car wash is tomorrow and you have to be there. The football team and the band have committed. Well, not all the band. Just the ones who could pull off the bikini. I want, in your face, sexy. I mean, it's a fundraiser, for god's sake, and in no way am I going to let you get out of this Annie," Caroline said sternly to her best friend who looked at her fondly exasperated with her blazer hanging off her arm as she leant against the wall next to her friend.

"Care you know my past and despite how much I'd rather not talk about it, the scars were not only mental. I can't wear anything remotely revealing because of them," Anastasia said keeping her voice low so that only Caroline could hear her.

"Oh." Caroline said sadly before determination made its way across her face as she said, "Remember what your friend Ryan said, these scars make you who you are, you wouldn't be you right now without them so instead of feeling embarrassed or self-conscious about them, you should embrace them like the hot sexy woman that you are. The scars will give you an edgy effect that will only make you that much more enticing and if anyone judges, just think about the fact that you've been through shit and you look that hot and they've been through nothing and can never even think to compete with the beautiful badass woman standing right before them. It would basically be their jealousy talking so don't think about what others will think, you should do it for yourself first and foremost like your friend did. He had no qualms with pulling off his shirt to show his abundance of scars and he was still as hot as hell, even moreso because of them, so don't hide that beautiful bod of yours and get sexy for this fundraiser."

Anastasia had literal tears in her eyes as she looked at her friend so touched by what she said, did she have any idea what those words had meant to her? She swallowed trying to control her tears which Caroline seemed to notice for she immediately panicked as she said, "Oh shit did I say something wrong? Did I go too far? The others say I can get a bit insensitive sometimes but I swear I was just..." She was cut off when Anastasia pulled her into a hug, Caroline relaxed at this relieved that Annie hadn't been offended by what she had said.

"You're a great friend Carebear," Anastasia said in her ear before parting from her with a smile. She then kissed her forehead before saying, "I'll go to the fundraiser. I won't make any promises about a sexy 2 piece bikini set. My back...I can't...not yet at least but I'll try finding something."

"Baby steps Annie. It will take time." Caroline said reassuringly.

"Thanks, Carebear," Anastasia said with a smile on her face.

"No problem Annie," Caroline said as she smiled at her, Annie had kissed her forehead, she had never felt so happy to feel such a motherly gesture. She barely remembers the last time her mother had done so to her, it felt like she was out all the time, with no time for her, but now having Annie in her life, she doesn't even remember the feeling of being alone because whenever she felt bored, she would call Annie and she always picks up and listens no matter what. The last time she called and Annie answered, she had been putting Liana to sleep so she just waited at the other end as Annie excuses herself for a moment to softly sing to the adorable child whilst she nearly nodded off herself. Her voice was so relaxing, no wonder the kid had fallen asleep to that. The point was that Annie had never made her feel alone and she loved that.

"Unbelievable. It's like nothing happened," Elena said in disbelief as she watched Caroline converse with Anastasia as if she hadn't been abused by Damon for God knows how long.

"She's had a hard time Elena. It's not an easy thing to jump back from and this is her way of dealing with it," Bonnie scolded slightly, she knew enough from Anastasia how much this could affect someone so she'd rather not judge.

"Hey," Stefan said coming up behind them as they both turned around shocked to see him.

"Hey. You know, I gotta go. Be somewhere right now." Bonnie said uncomfortably and quickly walked away from there.

"I'm so sorry I haven't called." Stefan quickly apologized.

"No worries. I'll live." Elena sniped, her tone anything but friendly.

"I was dealing with Damon," Stefan said knowing that was as much of the truth as he could give her.

"And did you...deal with Damon?" Elena asked curiously.

"Yes. Yeah." Stefan said before he noticed Ana staring at him with a smile and a raised eyebrow asking if he was okay, he nodded at her with a smile before turning back to Elena who was looking between him and Ana with an unimpressed and annoyed expression on her face.

"You come back after four days and you're eyeing Anastasia when I'm right in front of you? Seriously?" Elena asked her tone now irritated, hurt but most of all, angry.

"Eying Ana? She asked if I was ok so I just nodded at her. I wasn't...we don't think of each other that way," Stefan said defensively.

"Yeah, tell that to her. Wait, what do you mean she asked if you were ok? She was all the way over there." Elena asked confused.

"It was obvious what she was asking when she looked at me Elena," Stefan explained.

"Really? Because that stuff only happens when you know each other for a long time. Honestly Stefan sometimes I wonder if you're her boyfriend or mine." Elena snapped annoyed.

"You have every right to be upset with me for not being here for 4 days but none of that has anything to do with Ana." Stefan defended her before he sighed as he said, "Can I explain it all to you? Please."

"Sure. When?" Elena asked.

"I gotta be home after school, but The Grill, around four o'clock?" Stefan asked hopefully.

"Ok." Elena agreed.

"Thanks," Stefan said relieved.

"Stefan, where is Damon? He has some serious apologizing to do." Caroline said walking over to them with Annie behind her.

"He's gone, Caroline," Stefan explained.

"When is he coming back?" Caroline asked not understanding why she wanted him to. Anastasia understood though, from her words before and now, it was clear Caroline always felt like a second choice after Elena so she didn't want to believe that the first man who had looked at her first, had hurt her like that. She sighed, she understood to be honest. After she had found her best friend all that long ago kissing her boyfriend, her self-esteem had been so low, it hadn't been great in the start anyway, especially after Ade's death, but after that, it was practically non-existent. That hadn't exactly been the first time, she had had a crush on someone once and had shared it with Sofie, the next thing she knew was that out of nowhere they had become boyfriend and girlfriend.

She had honestly been heartbroken before her lame excuse of a best friend guilt-tripped her into forgiving her saying that she couldn't help that she liked him and when he had asked her out, she couldn't just say no and that would she really throw their friendship away for something like this? Anastasia had forgiven her in the end despite knowing that had the roles been reversed, Sofie would never have done so.

Sofie was the popular outgoing girl whilst she was the shy socially inept one, so every guy had always noticed Sofia first, she hadn't even been a second choice, she was just never seen, and then when James had come along, he had been the first one to look at her, to notice her and that had been how it started, but after he had shown her his true colors, she had been completely heartbroken, she had loved him once after all but she had also been in denial for quite a while. This couldn't be how it turned out, the first person to finally see who she really was couldn't turn out to be such a monster but as time passed, she was proven wrong time and time again, as she added more scars to the list.

"He's not coming back. I'm sorry." Stefan's apologetic voice jolted her out of her thoughts as she refocused on the situation.

"This is a good thing, Caroline," Elena said reassuringly.

"I know that," Caroline said but her voice told a different story.

"Hey, why don't you come with me? I've got some homemade brownies with me and we can get hot chocolate from the canteen. It helps. Trust me," Anastasia suggested with a gentle smile on her face. Caroline nodded with a smile on her face as Anastasia noticed how Stefan had perked up at that and she rolled her eyes as she said, "You can have some too Steffie," before she turned away to head to the canteen to grab some hot chocolate for them.

"What about me?" Elena asked annoyed, and feeling left out. Where was she going to go in the meantime since Bonnie had walked off to God knows where.

"What about you?" Anastasia asked turning to face her with a raised eyebrow.

"You didn't even ask me. It's rude you know, especially when I'm right in front of you," Elena said scoffing at her. Caroline raised an eyebrow in complete and utter disbelief, she had been here and seen how Elena treated Annie and she thought she was going to get free brownies out of it, was she crazy? Stefan looked between them in concern and confusion, it was like before, like Elena was deliberately picking a fight with Ana and he honestly didn't know what to do.

Anastasia looked at her with an amused raised eyebrow before scoffing a laugh as she turned and walked away not even bothering to respond to the ridiculous statement. Caroline shrugged and followed after her, leaving Stefan to look between them unsurely before he said he needed to talk to Ana about something and quickly excuses himself from her feeling guilty as he did so. but those brownies weren't going to remake themselves.