Chapter 4: Family Ties

September 22, 2009

Dear Diary,

Apparently, they've found the animal attacking all these people, Coach Tanner included. A mountain lion they say. It just seems strange to me, that a mountain lion would only go for the neck, no cuts anywhere else on Tanner. But what do I know, I've never dealt with a mountain lion. The stuff keeps happening… I don't know what's going on with me. Maybe I should go and talk to her? Or should I wait? I don't know. I guess I'll wing it….

"To repeat, the animal terrorizing Mystic Falls has been caught." The reporter on the tv said and Ellie scowled at the sight of the familiar face.

"Scum ball… scum bucket." Jenna was insulting the man.

"Who are you talking to?" Elena asked.

"Him." Jenna and Ellie told her.

"The news guy?"

"Also known as Logan 'Scum' Fell. Did your mom ever tell you why I moved away from Mystic Falls?" Jenna questioned.

"Oh, no way." Elena laughed. "You and him? He's cute."

"He is not cute." Jenna denied. "There's nothing cute about him."

"There is, however, something particularly scummy about him." Ellie confirmed. "What are you doing with that?" Ellie asked as her sister polished off the Gilbert watch.

"I went yesterday and got it from the safe deposit box. Mom had told Mrs. Lockwood that she would loan it to the Founder's Council for their heritage display." Elena told them as she kept cleaning it.

Jenna picked up an old wedding ring and asked, "Is that Grandma Beth's wedding ring?"

"Originally, it was Great-Great-Grandma Mary's wedding ring." Elena informed her.

When Jeremy walked in he picked up one of the antiques. "How much do you think this stuff is worth you know, like, on eBay?" He questioned.

Elena snatched it from his hands and told him, "You're not gonna find out."

"That stuff is mom and dad's. You can't just give it away." He argued.

"I'm not giving it away. It's called a loan Jeremy." Elena told him when the doorbell rang. The younger Gilbert twin went to answer the door as Ellie went to her brother at the fridge.

"Jer, she's just doing it because it's something mom had planned to do. They'll give everything back, I promise." Ellie tried to tell him, but he just shrugged. When she reached her room, her phone was vibrating loudly on the nightstand. "Your favorite Gilbert speaking, how may I help you?" She said teasingly as she answered.

"Hey! Do you wanna come to The Grill with me and Bonnie?" Caroline asked her.

"Sure, pretty sure Elena is making out with Stefan in her room, so that's gross and I don't want to be anywhere near that." Ellie told her as she made a gagging noise.

"I'll make sure to get all the details on that later, but that's perfect because I'm here." Caroline said and a car horn honked outside.

Ellie scoffed. "Love how you just assumed I'd say yes." She said as she grabbed her bag.

"Why wouldn't you say yes? You love me." Caroline informed her.

"Goodbye." Ellie said with a roll of her eyes as she hung up the phone. The perky blonde was sitting in her car grinning at her friend as she got in the car. "I can go back inside Blondie." She faux-threatened.

Caroline scoffed. "No you won't. So who are you taking to the Founder's Ball?"

"I don't have a clue, honestly." Ellie said with a shrug.

"Oh! You could take Nick from math! He's totally into you." Caroline said with a nod.

"That's actually disgusting, Caroline. He's been giving me creepy looks since eighth grade, hard pass." Ellie's nose wrinkled up at the thought. "Why don't you go with Caleb in band?"

"As if. I'm pretty sure he's a drug dealer and no offense to Jeremy, but Caleb looks like one of those creepy dealers that stands outside your room at night." Caroline told her. "Besides, I already have a date."

"With who?" Ellie asked as they met Bonnie outside The Grill.

"With who what?" Bonnie questioned as they headed inside.

"I was asking Care who she's going to the Founder's Party with." Ellie explained.

Grinning, Caroline told them, "I'm going with Damon."

"You're taking Damon to the Founder's Party?" Bonnie complained. "What about me?"

"Go with Elena."

"She's asking Stefan." Bonnie told her.

"Okay, go by yourself."

"Gee, thanks." Bonnie said sarcastically as Ellie threw a napkin at the blonde.

"Go with me, Bonnie. Caroline keeps trying to get me to go with some random ass jock anyways." Ellie offered and her friend nodded gratefully. "What about your mom? Is she okay with you bringing Damon?"

Caroline just rolled her eyes. "And I'm supposed to care why?"

"He's older, sexy, danger guy." Bonnie said.

"Plus he kinda seems like a dickhead." Ellie added.

"'Older, sexy, danger guy'? What is that an official witch Twitter tweet?" Caroline asked sarcastically, opting to ignore Ellie's statement.

"No more witch jokes, okay? That whole Mr. Tanner prediction thing has me freaked." Bonnie admitted.

"Okay." Caroline agreed, as bitchy as she might act she wouldn't want to actually hurt her friend. "And Damon's not dangerous or a dickhead. You know, he just has a lot of issues with his brother. You know, like major deep-rooted drama."

"Like?"

"I'm not really supposed to say anything."

"Caroline Forbes, when have you ever kept a secret in your life?" Bonnie asked.

"Okay. But you guys can't tell Elena." Bonnie and Ellie sat up straighter in anticipation. "Ok, so you guys know how they were talking about Stefan's ex, Katherine?" The girls nodded. "Well apparently she dated both Stefan and Damon, which I mean, can you blame the girl for having good taste? Anyways, after however much time passed, she ended up breaking up with Stefan and chose Damon and Stefan like went bat-shit crazy. He did all this horrible shit and some crazy manipulation, told Katherine all these lies and stuff until finally he spun the lies so well she believed him and dumped Damon. She turned against Damon too. If that's how he acts when he gets dumped, I'm glad I got the other brother."

Ellie's brows furrowed at the story, although Bonnie seemed to buy it. "Seems fake but okay." Ellie said with a shrug. "What? Stefan doesn't seem like that guy to me, but I mean I can't fault you for something you were told."

By the time that Bonnie came to their house to get ready, Ellie could see that what she'd been told had been eating at her the whole time and she knew Elena would spot it too. When the doorbell rang, Jeremy beat the girls too it. Tyler stood before them talking about a box. "It's right here." Elena said as she strode towards them. "Please be careful."

"Yeah, be careful with it, dick." Jeremy sassed.

"Hey. Not now, okay, guys? Please?" Elena pleaded.

"I'm fine, he's just being a punk." Tyler said.

"I got your punk." Jeremy informed him.

Ellie put her hand on her brother's arm to try and stop anything stupid from happening. "Look, Tyler maybe you should go. Tell your mom that we'll see her tonight." Elena told the Lockwood boy.

As Elena walked off and Jeremy started to close the door, Tyler pushed it back and asked, "Hey, would it make a difference if I told you I actually like Vicki?"

"Not even if you meant it." Jeremy responded before shutting the door in his face.

After he'd gone back upstairs, the twins went back to the kitchen where Bonnie said, "Delicate Flower versus Naughty Vixen."

"Tough call, can we mix them?" Elena asked.

"Look at you, gettin all pretty for your date." Bonnie grinned.

Ellie pretended to sniffle. "My little baby is all grown up now."

"You seem happy-ish." Bonnie added as Elena brought over the paper towel.

"I am ish." Elena confirmed. "Tonight's gonna be a good night. But don't let that stop you from telling me whatever it is you wanted to tell me as soon as you walked in the door."

"What if I tell you in the morning?" Bonnie tried. "I don't want to ruin the night."

"Bonnie, out with it."

"Ok," Bonnie caved. "But it has to go in the vault because Caroline will kill me if it gets back to Damon that she squealed. Apparently, Stefan has a very interesting back story." Elena made a noise of agreement and Bonnie asked, "Do you know what happened with his ex-girlfriend Katherine?"

"I know that they both dated her and that's why they have issues." Elena told her.

"Yeah, they both dated her, only she chose Damon and that drove Stefan mad. So he did horrible things to try and break them up. He manipulated Katherine. He filled her head with all these lies until finally it worked and she turned against Damon." Bonnie admitted.

"I don't know why she'd pick him when Stefan is obviously the better choice." Ellie scoffed. There was no way anyone in their right mind would choose Damon over Stefan.

"That sounds like one person's side of the story meaning Damon's." Elena said.

"Ah finally! One point to you for not buying that crap." Ellie commended her.

"I just wanted you to know." Bonnie shrugged.

"Anyway, his past relationships are none of my business." Elena added.

"Unless he's a calculating, manipulative liar." Bonnie said as she started a clear coat on her nails. "That is your business."

"Stefan is none of those things." Elena denied.

"Agreed." Ellie chimed in.

"Yeah? How do you know?" Bonnie questioned.

Elena had no answer and her sister just sighed. "Come on, Bonnie. Stefan's not the type, bad feeling aside, he's been nothing but good to Elena. You said it felt like death when you touched him yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Well, couldn't that death that you felt be from losing his parents and his girlfriend? Surely losing people you love like that leave a mark?" Ellie suggested as they painted their nails.

Bonnie looked up in surprise. "Huh… I hadn't thought about that." She admitted. Eventually their conversation went back to their normal routine of gossip and the shows they'd been watching as they painted their nails before moving upstairs to do their hair.

The phone started to ring from Elena's bedroom and she moved to answer it. "Hello? Hi, Mrs. Lockwood. What do you mean? It is? Are you sure? 'Cause I saw it. Let me check. Mmhmm. I will find it and bring it. Okay. Bye."

"What's wrong?" Bonnie asked.

As soon as Ellie realized what was happening she groaned. "Elena don't."

Her sister stormed into Jeremy's room and slapped the headphones off his head. "Ahhh! God, what now?" Jeremy asked as he struggled to get the headphones off.

"The pocket watch. Where is it?" Elena questioned.

"Oh, w-what watch?"

"The one you stole from mom's box." Elena accused. "Look, Mrs. Lockwood just called me freaking out. It was on the list, Jeremy, and she can't find it and she thinks she's the one who lost it."

"Maybe she did." Jeremy suggested. "Maybe, uh, maybe Tyler took it."

"Don't even play that card. Jeremy, you took it. If I go online am I gonna find it on eBay? Is that how you pay for your pot?" Elena sassed.

"Elena!" Ellie hissed. "Out of line."

"Screw you." Jeremy said as he pushed himself out of his seat. He pulled it out of its hiding spot and told her, "I would never sell this, okay?"

"Then why did you take it?"

"Because it's supposed to be mine." He informed her. "Dad said it goes to the first born son. His father gave it to him and now what?"

He slammed it into her palm and it seemed that Elena finally realized that she'd messed up. "And he was gonna give it to you." She said softly.

"Yeah." Jeremy told her bluntly. Elena walked out of the room without looking back and Jeremy moved to pull his headphones back on.

"Look, Jeremy, it's still yours, okay?" Elena said as she paused in the doorway. "Mom, promised Mrs. Lockwood. What do you want me to do?"

"Just take it and get out."

"You'll get the watch back, Jer. I promise." Ellie told him after Elena had left but he just waved her off.

Once they'd all finally managed to get dressed, Ellie saw Elena eyeing the watch with regret. She watched as Elena silently left the watch on Jeremy's desk before coming back out. "How mad do you think she's gonna be?"

"She's not going to be mad, Elena. Besides you did the right thing." Ellie told her. "Is Stefan coming to pick you up?"

"Yeah." Elena said.

"Ok. Then me and Bonnie are probably going to go ahead and head that way. I'll see you there yeah?" Ellie questioned. Once her twin nodded, she added, "Ok, don't forget to lock the door."

"You ready, Ellie?" Bonnie asked.

"Mmhmm, let's go my beautiful date." Ellie joked with a grin and the girls laughed as Bonnie and Ellie headed for her car.

"So, she gave it back to him, hmm?" Bonnie inquired.

"Yup, and I didn't even have to say anything to her about it. I think she realized she messed up once she remembered that dad was supposed to give it to him. I just wish she would ease up on him. He's trying." Ellie admitted. The drive to the Lockwood mansion was a quick one and the duo locked arms and fell in line to be greeted by Mr. and Mrs. Lockwood like everyone else. "Elena, how did you guys even beat us here?" Ellie asked as she fell in line behind her sister.

"I knew a shortcut, found it when I was driving around to get to know the town again." Stefan admitted.

"Ah, cute and a gas saver, keep that one Elena." Ellie said sagely. As they approached another familiar face appeared, "Aunt Jenna! Don't you look pretty!" Her aunt fell in line with her and Bonnie as the three chatted away as they moved towards the front.


The hours passed and eventually the twins found themselves arm in arm as they stared longingly at their parent's wedding rings. Ellie felt Elena shift as Stefan approached and the Salvatore asked softly, "Your parents?"

They nodded as Elena told him, "There's a lot of history here."

As they looked about the room, Ellie found something that caught her eye. She started to read, "'The Founding Families of Mystic Falls welcomes you to the inaugural Founder's Council Celebration.'"

"Wow, look, it's the original guest registry." Elena added. "Look at all these familiar names. Sheriff William Forbes, Mayor Benjamin Lockwood." Looking through the list she paused. "Is that… Damon Salvatore? And Stefan Salvatore?"

Ellie searched for the names on the list and found them, Stefan above Damon but sure enough there they were. It was so strange. What were the chances that the original Salvatore brothers were also Stefan and Damon? "The original Salvatore brothers." Damon said from behind them as he and Caroline approached. "Our ancestors. Tragic story, actually."

"We don't need to bore them with stories of the past." Stefan told him.

"It's not boring, Stefan." Elena said. "I'd love to hear more about your family."

Damon somehow seemed smug but Caroline announced, "Well, I'm bored. I wanna dance and Damon won't dance with me." Damon agreed to that. "Could I just borrow your date?"

Elena fumbled for what to say but Stefan politely declined, "I don't really dance."

"Oh, sure he does. You should see him. Waltz, the jitterbug, the moonwalk. He does it all." Damon corrected.

"You wouldn't mind, would you, Elena?" Caroline questioned.

Knowing she couldn't say no, Elena replied, "It's up to Stefan."

"Well, sorry, but I'm not gonna take no for an answer." Caroline said with a chuckle as she pulled him away.

Once they left, Damon turned to Elena and said, "I wanna apologize to you for being such a world class jerk the other night when I tried to kiss you." Ellie turned to him, startled that he'd tried it and startled that Elena hadn't said anything. "There's no excuse. My therapist says I'm… acting out, trying to punish Stefan."

"For what?" Elena questioned.

"It's all in the past. I don't even want to bring it up. Let's just say that the men in the Salvatore family have been cursed with sibling rivalry. And it all started with the original Salvatore brothers." Damon told Elena as Ellie stayed in hearing range, not particularly trusting the older Salvatore. "The Salvatore names was practically royalty in this town until the war, there was a battle here-"

"The Battle of Willow Creek." Elena said with a nod.

"Right."

"I know, we talked about it in class. Confederate soldiers fired on a church with civilians inside."

"What the history books left out was that the people that were killed, they weren't there by accident. They were believed to be Union sympathizers. So some of the founders on the confederacy side back then wanted them rounded and burned alive." Damon explained as he walked over to a model church. "Stefan and Damon had someone they loved very much in that church. And when they went to rescue them they were shot. Murdered in cold blood."

"Who was in the church that they wanted to save?"

"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." Elena told him. "I just… I hope you two can work it out."

"I hope so too." Damon said softly.

Ellie scoffed and walked off. She found Stefan still dancing with Caroline and looking entirely unsure of what to do with himself. "Excuse me, Caroline. It's my turn to steal the good Salvatore." Ellie said as she pulled Stefan from Caroline and stepped into the dance. He looked appreciative as Caroline left. "She's one of my best friends but she can be a bit much, I know."

Stefan smiled at her. "She's not too bad." He joked.

"Oh, I'll be sure to tell her that." Ellie replied. "But seriously, your brother seems to be trying to get into Elena's head. And apparently he-" She cut herself off not sure if she should mention anything.

"What?" Stefan asked. "What did he do?"

When she saw how genuinely concerned about what Damon could have done she just sighed and admitted, "Apparently, he tried to kiss Elena the other night. I don't know if you knew, but that seems really dickish so I figured you should know."

Stefan sighed and moved over to where Caroline was drinking a glass of champagne, a few moments later, Damon and Elena approached with the former asking, "What'd we miss?"

"We were just chatting." Stefan replied. "Drink, Damon?"

Damon eyed the drink before saying, "No thanks, I'll pass."

Elena must have sensed the tension because she turned to her boyfriend to ask, "Stefan, do you have another dance in you?"

He smiled brightly at her. "Absolutely."

"They look so cute together." Caroline said fondly as Ellie was walking away.

She spotted Bonnie in the crowd and as she approached, she saw her aunt walking away from Logan Fell as quickly as she could without causing a scene. "Logan." She called and the older man turned to her. "Whatever you said to Jenna, can you not?" He seemed surprised as she stepped closer. "Cheat once and that trust is gone genius and Jenna isn't stupid." She continued on before he could protest. "Hello my gorgeous date."

"Thank god, if I had to deal with one more dude trying to hit on me I was gonna explode." Bonnie said in relief.

"Be relieved for your savior is here!" Ellie said as she led them to go get a drink. "God, I really don't like Damon." She admitted. "Something about him just gives me very very bad vibes. But how about we try to actually have some fun and go get some food, yeah?"

They got food for themselves and sat at one of the benches when Elena came over to them looking upset. "I had a fight with Stefan." She said sadly as Ellie moved so that she and Elena could share her food.

"This is my fault." Bonnie sighed. "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 told them.

"Elena, honey, there you are." Mrs. Lockwood said as she came and sat on the chair next to them. "I notice the watch still isn't in the collection."

Ellie watched as Elena tried to come up with something, her sister finally managing to reply, "Oh, um, I'm sorry, Mrs. Lockwood. I, um, I couldn't find it. I guess it-it's still packed up in my parent's stuff somewhere."

"I see." Mrs. Lockwood said. "Well, please let me know if you do find it."

"Okay." Elena agreed and the older woman just nodded.

Once she was gone, Ellie turned to her sister. "My advice Elena, and please for once listen to it, is to apologize to Stefan. It's Damon messing with you. Try and go find him yeah?"

Elena nodded. "You're right. I'm going to go to the bathroom really quick and then I'm going to try and go find Stefan and apologize to him."

The two other girls just nodded at her as she stood and left them. Ellie raised a piece of cake and said, "Here's to hoping that Elena and Stefan fix their problems."

Bonnie raised a piece of her cake and bumped her fork to Ellie's. "Cheers to that."


Author's Note:

Thank you to everyone reading this story please leave a comment and let me know what you guys think so far! If you're enjoying the story don't forget to favorite and follow!

To BookNerd73 thank you for reviewing last chapter and I hope you like this chapter as well! Let me know what you thought.

To ObsessedFangirl96 I'm really glad that you loved the interactions between Jeremy and Ellie! She loves him so much and she's very protective of him. I'm also glad you're liking the other interactions with the other characters. And when it comes to how Elena handled Bonnie's concern I didn't like it either. Even if she didn't believe Bonnie she could have handled it way better.

-Madame Magic

Posted 2/27/20