I do not own The Vampire Diaries
[Forbes Residence]
Caroline was on the phone with Tiki in her bedroom when Damon's voice reached her, "Caroline. Caroline."
"No, Tiki, do not do the one-piece, ok? I've seen it on you. Trust me. Yeah, but you're going for stripper pole vibe this year." Caroline instructed.
"Caroline." His voice sounded again.
"Yeah, maybe we should wash the cars in slow motion. No." Caroline answered Tiki.
"Caroline." This time Caroline heard the voice loud and clear and looked around confused and a little scared before she heard Tiki say something, then she answered, "What? oh, um, no, sorry. Um, so I'll just see you tomorrow. Two-piece. Ok, bye."
She puts the phone away looking around to see where that voice had come from only to see a crow at her window. She tries to get the crow away from her window, it was beginning to freak her out, "Shoo, shoo! Shoo! God!"
[Salvatore Boarding House]
"I bet you're feeling pretty good about yourself, aren't you?" Damon groaned out weakly.
"Not particularly," Stefan said truthfully, this was not how he wanted their relationship to be like, this wasn't what he wanted to do, but unfortunately Damon had forced his hand. If Damon just stuck to hurting him then he wouldn't have done this, but he was hurting innocent people, he gave him no other choice.
"You won. You got the bad guy. Now nothing could come between you and Elena. Except the truth. The lies will catch up to you, Stefan. As long as you keep lying to yourself about what you are." Damon taunted.
"The beauty of you in there and me out here...is that I can walk away," Stefan said before he did just that, though there was no point because he could hear the words in his ear, telling him how true they were.
Anastasia was in her room getting ready for the car wash, she had a few outfits out but she didn't know which one to wear so she chose the least revealing one. After changing and making breakfast, she clothed Liana in summer clothes since she had to take Liana with her today. Ryan had called and said that there was no preschool today so he was spending the day with Dan at home since his ex-wife was at work. Ryan had a part time job in a garage where he could work when he wanted to get some coins but he didn't work much because adding his monthly army pension and his savings over the years with his jobs as a bodyguard or driver like he was for her, he was quite well off because the men he worked for were always rich and paid him well like her father had done. Now Ryan was probably nearly as well off as him to be honest, she hadn't been to his house yet though but she planned to. It would be fun to go with Liana on a day that Ryan had Daniel, then they could have fun together and she could spend time with Ryan.
"Mommy where are we going?" Liana questioned confused.
"You know the school I work at?" Anastasia asked bending down to tie her laces, only a slight twitch of her features showing that the stitches still affected her.
"Yeah," Liana said tilting her head to the side like a curious little puppy.
"Well, there's a fundraiser going on today and I need to be there," Anastasia said as she moved to the next show.
"Funwaiser?" Liana asked confused.
"Fundraiser. It's basically where people make money through a certain activity like a bake sale, a yard sale or what we're doing, a car wash." Anastasia explained.
"Oh. What the money for?" Liana asked.
"The school," Anastasia answered as she deemed her ready. "You look absolutely adorable."
"Thank you mommy. You look beautiful too," Liana said smiling up at her adorably.
"Thanks sweetheart." Anastasia said as they both walked outside towards the car. Anastasia buckled Liana up in the car seat before getting in herself as she said, "Soon your aunt Care and I will go shopping and get you some new clothes. My old ones look cute on you and all but I want you to have your own."
Liana just smiled at her as she looked out the car window before as usual during their rides, she asked for a song to put on and they both sung along to it all the way to the school.
[Sexy Suds Car Wash]
"No friend discounts. No freebies. No pay ya laters. We are not running a charity here. No, we are not." Caroline instructed.
"No we are not," Elena said with a smile at her friend before Stefan arrives behind her.
"Hi." Stefan said to Elena as he wondered where Ana was.
"Hey!" Elena said happy to see him, for once not with Anastasia.
"The event is called sexy suds, you know," Caroline said pointedly.
"Did we just get scolded?" Stefan asked after Caroline walked away, not knowing that she had seen Anastasia walking into the school with Liana in her arms and went towards her.
"And judged, yeah," Elena answered jokingly.
"Wow," Stefan said but there was a smile on his face.
"I'm sorry, but I guess you're going to have to take that off," Elena said trying to be seductive.
"I think you have to go first," Stefan said gesturing to her shirt with a teasing smile.
"Ok." Elena agreed before she tries to pull off her shirt, keyword 'tries.' Stefan, seeing her struggle helps her take it off not even noticing the two laughing girls who were staring at them. Caroline and Ana had seen what had happened and couldn't hold in their laughter.
"Ok, um...sorry, So not sexy. Ugh." Elena said embarrassed.
"I disagree," Stefan said before he kissed her, that's when he noticed how quiet it was and looked to the side to see Ana, Liana and Caroline walking towards them. His eyes widened when he saw what Ana was wearing and with his heightened senses, his eyes caught the faint scars over her legs. He looked away from her to control his temper because he knew exactly where they came from.
"Hi Steffie, Hi Elena," The cheer in her voice when she said Stefan's name and the drop in her voice when she mentioned Elena's was obvious to them all.
"Hey Ana," Stefan smiled at her before he looked at Liana and said, "Aren't you looking adorable Liana." She smiled at him brightly as she said, "Thanks Uncle Steffie." Before Stefan could say anything back to the kid, Elena cut in with her usual unneeded and unasked for comments.
"Anastasia what on earth are you wearing? You're a teacher, not a student, you can't just wear clothes like those. What are you trying to do, seduce your students?" Elena asked judgingly as she looked her up and down in disgust despite the jealousy she felt at how admittedly great she looked.
"Elena!" Caroline and Stefan said at the same time in shock and disapproval.
"What? It's inappropriate." Elena defended herself.
"Elena there are girls in bikinis as far as the eye can see, if I wanted to wear one I would, but even still, I wore this, which covers everything necessary so I suggest you keep your judgemental little comments to yourself because your jealousy is so obvious, you might as well write it across your forehead," Anastasia said angrily before walking off with Liana as Caroline followed her.
Caroline was in agreement with what she said, she honestly just didn't understand why Elena was behaving like such a bitch, it was clear she was jealous of Anastasia and she made it so obvious it was honestly getting annoying.
"Elena why did you say that?" Stefan asked confused and shocked.
"Of course, as always, you take her side," Elena said in a huff.
"Elena I would take your side if I could actually defend you," Stefan said angry on Anastasia's behalf, he knew it had taken a lot of time for her to decide whether to actually wear something like that. He knew how she felt about her scars and for her to show even a few of them showed how strong she was and he didn't like the fact that Elena had just ruined such a big step that she'd taken.
"Huh. Wow," Elena scoffed before walking off angrily. God she hated Anastasia, she was even coming between her and Stefan, it wasn't fair, she wanted the bitch gone and for everything to be like it used to.
"Hi Matt. Hi Bon Bon," Anastasia greeted happy to see them. Caroline had went off to finish something she needed to do and with a little persuasion took Liana with her so she came here to say hi.
"Hi Anastasia," They both said at exactly the same time before laughing it off.
"What happened over there?" Matt asked curiously.
"Uh-uh, no. None of that tortured pining stuff," Bonnie said, his curiosity about what happened for Elena to walk away from Stefan, wasn't going to end well at all if he tried to put himself back in the equation, he was only going to hurt himself in the end, because she was sure that Elena didn't love Matt anymore, she was doubtful she ever did to be honest, but obviously she was never going to tell Matt that.
"I was just asking, you guys looked like you had a fight," Matt said looking at Anastasia concerned, he had seen her pissed-off face before she walked over here so he was curious about what happened, knowing that Elena and her didn't get along at all.
"Apparently, according to her, I'm seducing the students when I'm wearing the least most revealing thing here," Anastasia said shrugging her shoulders, she couldn't even bother to understand Elena's point of view, it would take being a level of annoying she'd rather not go to.
"Well I don't know what she's thinking, though you do look really great by the way," Bonnie winked.
"You think so?" Anastasia asked a little self-conscious at the amount of skin she was exposing and because of the sun, you could see the shine of the few scars she had across her legs. She had broken glass once and James had literally thrown her body into the pile, thankfully she had somehow managed to move herself so that her upper body didn't hit the glass, but unfortunately, her legs took the brunt of it. It had been so painful to take them all out without anesthetic because he had refused to let her go to the hospital.
"Anastasia!" Bonnie said once again and it seemed to finally jolt her out of her thoughts as she looked up surprised.
"Sorry, did you say something? I was somewhere else," Anastasia said apologetically.
"What I said was that yes, you look absolutely beautiful," Bonnie said warmly.
"Gotta agree with Bonnie on this one and I'm pretty sure every guy here thinks so, considering all their stares," Matt complimented and that had her looking around confused, only to see many of the boys turn their faces away quickly when she turned to them and she looks back at Matt blushing.
"Maybe this was a little too much," Anastasia said trying to pull the hem of the shorts down to no avail.
"No, don't say that. You're beautiful, why hide it?" Bonnie said shrugging his shoulders at her.
"You're both so sweet you know?" Anastasia said smiling at the two of them.
"Thanks," They said once again at the same time and Anastasia laughed at that before Bonnie turned to Tiki and said, "Oh. Tiki. this one's yours. "
"Why do I always get the homely ones? Just to be clear, your car's a P.O.S. I mean, we can wash it, but it's still a P.O.S." Tiki said rudely.
"You don't have to be rude," Bonnie said to her.
"Rude is uglying up the road with that junk," Tiki said gesturing to the car with a sneer on her face.
"Tiki, unless you want a detention with me after school, I suggest you control your tongue," Anastasia said sternly just as Bonnie used her powers to splash water on Tiki.
"Whoa! What the hell?" Tiki said in shock at the sudden splash of water.
"Wet and wild, Tik." Matt taunted laughing at her.
Anastasia looked at Bonnie proudly, before going closer to say quietly in her ear, "I know you don't have control over it but that was great."
"Thanks," Bonnie smiled at her not feeling as anxious as she would have been had she not had someone else who could understand.
"Don't worry, if anything happens out of your control, I'll be there to help, ok?" Anastasia said reassuringly before she walked to go and find Caroline as Bonnie smiled at her back.
"All proceeds are going to the school's athletic department still healing from the tragic death of their football coach William Tanner. The citizens of Mystic Falls coming together in support of one of their own. Cut it." Logan said to the camera person, having finished narrating what he needed to say.
"Classy," Jenna said coming up towards him.
"Thank you," Logan said smiling at her.
"But you're still going to video the girls in bikinis, right?" Jenna asked knowing him too well.
"Well, 53% of Americans watch the news with the sound off," Logan said, happy that they were getting along now.
"Thank you for dinner. I had a nice time." Jenna said appreciatively.
"Do you remember the last time we were in the school parking lot?" Logan asked her with a light smirk.
"Nope. Doesn't ring a bell." Jenna said though she knew exactly what he was talking about.
"Really?" Logan asked with a slight frown.
"Nada. Especially not having sex in the minivan." Jenna said with a teasing smile on her face.
"That was a good day. What?" Logan asked before they went their separate ways.
"You're getting soap in that," Elena said gesturing to the ring on Stefan's hand. She had been pissed off at him but that didn't mean she was going to let Anastasia ruin their relationship, she refused to lose Stefan to that bitch so she apologised to him despite the fact that she wasn't sorry about what she said. Thankfully Stefan had accepted it with a smile and now they were getting along again without Anastasia here to mess everything up as she always does.
"Oh, it's fine," Stefan said dismissively.
"I noticed that Damon has one, too. Is there a story behind it?" Elena asked curiously.
"Yeah, it's the family crest from the Italian renaissance," Stefan explained.
"Hmm. What's the stone?" Elena asked nodding to the stone attached to the ring.
"It's called lapis lazuli," Stefan answered.
"Oh. You should really take it off. I could put it in my bag." Elena asked holding his hand as she tried to pry the ring off but he closed his fist slightly so that she won't be able to.
"No, it's...it's fine, really. Thanks, though," Stefan said pulling his hand back, he'd rather not fry in the light of the sun right now, or ever for that matter.
"Ok. I'm gonna get some towels," Elena said giving him a smile before walking away.
"Ok," Stefan said as he watched her walk away before turning back to the car he was cleaning.
"Hey, we're out of towels and those shimmy things," Elena said coming up to where Caroline was holding Liana as she laughed with Anastasia about something she couldn't care less about. Why was she trying to steal everything from her? It just wasn't fair, everyone loved her and her kid for some reason, even Matt, Caroline, Bonnie, and Stefan. She didn't understand why, it's not like they was anything special.
"I'll go get some more. Mind the money," Caroline said to Anastasia.
"Sure," Anastasia agreed with a smile before Caroline walked off still holding Liana. She went through the halls of the school and opens a locker to take out the towels before she suddenly sees a shadow out of the corner of her eye and then a voice enters her head, "Caroline. Caroline, help me. Caroline. Help me. Help me."
"That'll be $20. I saw you last night. You were talking to a friend of mine. At the grill?" Elena asked the guy she had remembered from yesterday, if she couldn't get answers from Stefan, she had to find them out herself.
"Well, I...I thought it was somebody I knew." He said shaking his head, there was doubt and hesitation clearly written on his face.
"Stefan Salvatore," Elena said trying to get even the smallest bit of information from him.
"Nah, it can't be. It's just my mind playing tricks on me." He said refusing to believe that despite the years that have passed, he was still the same man he had seen all those years ago, same age and same face. It just wasn't plausible.
"Where do you think you'd seen him before?" Elena asked curiously.
"When I first moved here, I stayed at the Salvatore boarding house." He informed her.
"Oh," Elena said encouraging him to carry on.
"Stefan was just passing through to visit his uncle. I mean, none of us knew he was even here until the attack." He said remembering what had happened to the boy's uncle.
"The attack?" Elena asked confused.
"His uncle got killed. Mauled by an animal in the woods." He explained.
"His uncle? Zach?" Elena asked even more confused, she had thought Stefan lived with his uncle now so how could he be dead?
"Mm-mmm. Joseph." He corrected.
"I'm sorry, sir. I don't think I'm familiar with the story." Elena said.
"Oh, how could you? I mean, this happened years ago." He said just as Tiki walked over.
"Grandpa, you gotta go. Mom wants you home. Ok?" Tiki said to him.
"Ah." He said nodding before walking off.
"He wasn't bugging you, was he? He's a little alzy-heimer." Tiki said to Elena knowing how her grandfather was.
"No, he was sweet. Hey, sir, I'm sorry. Um, are you sure that the man that you saw, that you knew, his name was Stefan Salvatore?" Elena asked walking over to the same man, needing to make sure.
"Yes. I remember his ring and his brother..." He trailed off clearly not remembering the name.
"Damon?" Elena asked.
"Yeah. Stefan and Damon Salvatore," He nodded.
"When was this?" Elena then asked him remembering how he had reacted last night at seeing Stefan's face.
"It was early June, 1953. Yeah. June, 1953." He said before he walked off leaving Elena to stand there in disbelief.
"Caroline finally freed you, huh?" Stefan asked jokingly.
"Uh, I don't know where she went. She abandoned me. Hey, I realized earlier, I had no idea that your family was from Italy." Elena asked trying to find out more information.
"No? Last name Salvatore didn't do it for you?" Stefan asked her with a raised eyebrow.
"Right. Duh. Are there any other Salvatores in Mystic Falls?" Elena asked curious.
"My uncle Zach." Stefan answered a little confused at the questioning.
"Where did everyone else go?" Elena asked trying to seem casual instead of too interested so he doesn't suspect anything.
"Kinda just spread out." Stefan shrugged.
"Hmm." Elena nodded.
"Why?" Stefan asked a little worried.
"I'm just trying to learn more about you." Elena said smiling at him.
"Hmm." Stefan smiled any worry he had erased as he looked into her eyes.
"Where are you taking me?" Jeremy asked Vicky as they walked through the woods.
"We can't hide out in your room all the time. Welcome to my other favourite party place." Vicky said as they came up to where she normally hangs out.
"What, a cemetery?" Jeremy asked not knowing if she was serious or not, life had to be pretty bleak for one of her favourite places to be a cemetery.
"Yeah. It's cool, huh?" Vicky asked as she walked up to her friends.
"Yo, Vick!" One of the boys greeted.
"What's up, Jared?" Vicky asked smiling at her friend.
"You baby-sitting, Donovan?" He asked her.
"This is Jeremy. He's cool," Vicky introduced.
"Smoke up," The boy encouraged.
"Your car was done an hour ago." Elena said knowing exactly why she stayed.
"You're saying that out loud why?" Jenna asked her niece.
"Hi. Elena, right? I think I met you once when you were 9." Logan greeted her.
"Oh," was all Elena could say.
"Your emotional maturity level when we were together," Jenna interjected.
"Ouch. Here I thought we were making progress," Logan asked mock offendedly.
"Is he enough in your good graces that I can ask him for a favor?" Elena asked her aunt.
"If I do her a favour, will I get back in your good graces?" Logan asked Jenna hopefully.
"Uh, a very reluctant maybe to both." Jenna said a small smile on her face as she looked at him.
"Done. Wait. One condition. Dinner, tonight, your house." Logan said, he needed to get that watch.
"Fine. But you're eating leftovers," Jenna said before she walked off.
"Ooh. What do you need?" Logan asked turning to Elena.
"Do you have access to old news stories, say, fifties?" Elena asked hopefully.
"Yeah, at the station. Between the archives and the Internet, we pretty much have everything." Logan informed her.
"I have this report way past due. It'd be a lifesaver." Elena said needing a reason for why she was doing this, she couldn't just say she was searching the shady past of her boyfriend, who may or may not have the same face and brother as someone who lived in 1953.
"Heading there now. Let's go." Logan said readily.
"If anyone asks, you don't know where I went. I don't want Caroline to know that I left." Elena said to him, she didn't need Stefan finding out what she was doing.
Anastasia was handling the money before she realised how much time had passed by and looked around confused, where on earth was Caroline she thought confused and concerned. She knew Caroline wouldn't have her phone on her considering what she was wearing so she waited a few more minutes before she told another girl to handle the money as she walked a little bit away and used a spell to tell her Caroline's location. She didn't even know if such a spell existed but she hoped so, and all of a sudden she could see a lit up path in front of her, leading outside of the school. What the hell? Where did she go? And with Liana? She immediately began following the path, no one noticing her leave.
[Salvatore Boarding House[
Caroline walks in a trance from the school ground towards the Salvatore Boarding House, she sets Liana down at the entrance before she walks down towards the cellar forgetting about the open door.
"Caroline, help me. Caroline. Help me." Damon asks from behind the cellar door.
"Damon? Damon? Damon? Oh, my god! What is this? How did I know that you were here?" Caroline asked freaked out and confused.
"Because I wanted you to. Very, very badly. Let me out of here. Please." Damon tried to persuade her.
"You bit me." Caroline said remembering what he did to her.
"You liked it. Remember?" Damon asked her just desperately wanting to get out of here and the smell of her blood was not helping.
"Why do I keep remembering the same things, but in different ways?" Caroline asked unsure and confused, not knowing what to think or feel right now.
"You remember what I want you to remember. And now that the vervain has passed out of your system, you won't remember what you're about to do." Damon said as she looked up at him confused.
"What am I about to do?" Caroline asked anxiously.
"You're gonna open the door. You're gonna open the door." Damon compelled her as her hand began to reach for the lock and just as she pulled it open, Zach came around the corner and quickly slammed it shut shouting, "No! No! Get out of here. Run! Run!"
Caroline quickly does as he said as Damon easily overpowers Zach and slams the door open before killing him. He then chases after Caroline, but the sun burns him before he could get out the door as Caroline ran off. As Caroline ran, she suddenly stopped as she realised Liana wasn't with her, she swallowed as she looked around and couldn't see her. She called out her name a few times but when no response came, she began shaking slightly with tears in her eyes. This couldn't be happening she thought as she looked back at the house wondering what to do.
Anastasia was running towards the Salvatore Boarding House when she saw Caroline and breathed a sigh of relief as she came towards her before noticing that Liana wasn't in her arms.
"Care?" Anastasia said wearily feeling like something was really wrong and after looking into Caroline's fearful eyes, she was even more concerned. "Care what's wrong?"
"I-I..." Caroline stuttered not knowing what to say.
"Care where's Liana?" Anastasia asked looking around and feeling a drop in her stomach.
"I-I don't...she...she was...I..." Caroline said breathing heavily as she began to panic.
"Care, where's my daughter?" Anastasia asked looking at her with wide panicked eyes.
"I don't know. She was with me I swear and then I...I left her at the Salvatore Boarding House...and the door was open," Caroline looked lost and confused as to why she would be so careless.
"You did what? Ok look just go home. I'll find her," Anastasia said trying not to get angry at her as she began to walk away.
"No, I lost her, I'll help," Caroline said shaking her head.
"No, you've done enough. Go home Caroline," Anastasia said feeling guilty at the hurt in Caroline's eyes but she had no time now to say anything, she needed to find her daughter.
"Annie I'm sor..." Caroline said stepping towards her looking moments away from crying.
"I said go Caroline. Go home," Anastasia said not looking at her, she couldn't prolong this anymore than necessary, she needed to find Liana.
Caroline looked at her friend in guilt before she did as she said and walked off, she had never felt so horrible before. She knew it had taken a lot of Annie's trust for her to leave Liana with her and yet she had just ruined it. She had lost Liana, the girl she had really come to care for, the one thing Anastasia had said was her reason for living. how careless could she be? How could she do something like that? It was her best friend's daughter for God's sake, someone she began to care for so much and yet she had lost her she thought in self loathing as she walked the rest of the way home, she didn't want to go back to school. She couldn't care less about the fundraiser, she just wanted to cry right now.
Anastasia immediately took of to the Salvatore Boarding House, she ran as fast as she could looking around her and calling to Liana hoping she was somewhere nearby but she coudln't see her anywhere and her panic was only building. She couldn't lose her. She couldn't.
She came outside the house but couldn't see her anywhere sos he hoped she might have gone inside since Liana was familiar with the place. She immediately went inside, not bothering on knocking, she just needed to find Liana. She walked inside and called out to Zach, Stefan and Damon's grand nephew hoping he might have seen Liana somewhere. What she didn't expect to see was Damon speeding in front of her, her eyes widened as she stepped back shocked, she had thought he was in the cell, what the hell?
"Damon?" Anastasia asked confused.
"No, not you. What are you doing here?" Damon asked as he tightly gripped his hair with both hands in frustration but he couldn't control himself. The smell of her blood was too strong and unlike normal humans, she smelt even better making it that much harder for him.
"What..." was all Anastasia could say before she felt the pain of his fangs sinking into her neck. She groaned in pain as he drank from her but she managed to use her strength to throw him off her before weakly trying to get to the door except he was stronger and faster so he quickly got up and pinned her against the door, before she could use her magic to do anything, she felt dark spots enter her vision as her world turned back, not before she managed to say a weak, "Damon..."