Chapter 16: There Goes The Neighborhood

January 15, 2010

Dear Diary,

So apparently Damon and my birth mother may or may not have had a thing. As you can guess I'm royally disgusted and actually got sick to my stomach. Elena looked pretty unsettled by it too. But, Jenna scored Mr. Satlzman as her bachelor. I hope they work everything out really soon. I would hate for it to get messed up when he's such a good guy.

"So did you and Mr. Saltzman go out after the bachelor fundraiser thing?" Ellie asked curiously as she flipped a pancake.

Jenna sighed and shook her head. "No. I think there was something he had to go and do. But he didn't seem as awkward with me. Hopefully he's had some time to adjust to everything."

"I'm sure everything with you two will get back to normal soon. I think he likes you too much for it to not." Ellie said confidently. "Plus he did seem pretty pleased for you to be the one that got him in the raffle."

"You think?" Jenna asked.

"Oh, I know." Ellie replied. "Here's some pancakes. Do you think Elena and Jer will be down soon? I don't want their food to get cold."

"Yeah probably." Jenna said. "Oh, by the way, I had someone reach out to me saying they were interested in buying your dad's old medical building. I was wondering if you wanted to come with me to show them the building. You were always interested in learning little stuff about the building."

"Someone wants to buy dad's medical building?" Ellie asked in surprise.

"I completely forgot to tell you I'd put it up for sale. I'm sorry. Is that ok with you? Selling the building? I know you guys used to play there a lot." Jenna apologized.

"No, it's fine Jen. it's not like any of us have a use for it. And if the person who wants it has good intentions for it then I'm ok with that." Ellie assured her. "But yes, I'd love to come with you to meet them. You got a name for them?"

"A woman. Her name's Pearl." Jenna said as Jeremy came down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"That's a nice name. Morning Jer, pancakes?"

"Yes please. Do we have any strawberries?" He asked.

"Some are already cut up and in the mix, the rest are in the fridge. Is Elena gonna be down soon?" Ellie asked.

"I think so. She was putting on makeup when I came down." Jeremy said as he took a seat next to Jenna.

"Ok, then she'll probably be down soon. Here you go." She said as she passed the stack of pancakes to Jeremy. "So dearest brother of mine, anything new with you?"

"Nah, not really. But I have managed to get most of my grades back up to where they're not horrible." Jeremy said through a mouthful of pancakes.

"That's great, Jeremy." Jenna praised. "I'm really proud of you for working so hard to fix them."

"I'm also proud. You should be very proud of yourself." Ellie told him. "Good morning twin, pancakes? You have no choice but to say yes, since I've already made them for you."

Elena just laughed as she said, "Pancakes would be great, thanks. Jenna can you pass the syrup?"

"Here you go."

"Thank you." Elena said as Ellie put another pancake in the stack for herself. "Ellie, are you good to drive yourself to school? I've got a few things I have to do."

"Yeah that's fine. Jer, do you want a ride?" Ellie said.

"That would be great, thanks." He said. The rest of their breakfast was filled with easy conversation and once they finished, the three teenagers grabbed their bags as Jenna put the dishes into the dishwasher. Elena pulled out first and Jeremy and Ellie followed behind her a moment later.

The ride to the school was a quick one and the siblings went their separate ways. "See you later, Jer." She said as he walked off. "Hey loser." She greeted as she looped her arm through Tyler's.

"Ouch, I'm wounded." He said sarcastically.

"How are things in hell?" She asked as they went over to his locker.

"Oh you know, same old same old. Dad's still a dick, and I avoid him at all costs." Tyler replied as he pulled out his textbook.

"Don't forget that my offer to sneak you into the house still stands whenever you need it." She told him. "Or if you just don't want to be at home."

"Thanks, Ellie." He said gratefully. "Might take you up on that at some point."

"We can watch a movie at my place." Matt was saying, drawing the attention of Tyler and Ellie as they focused on the two blondes.

"Uh, with your mom? And a six pack?" Caroline said sarcastically.

"You know, you don't really help the situation." Matt told her. "You could at least try to be nice."

"Oh, I'm sorry. It's hard for me to show kindness to people that hate me. I'm not that evolved." She told him. When Matt's attention was focused on something behind Caroline, she, along with Tyler and Ellie, turned to see what it was. Of course, it was Elena laughing as she and Stefan kissed. "So, a movie tonight?"

"Whatever you want to do is fine by me. But I'm late and I got to go, ok?"

"Ok."

"Bye." Matt said and walked off despite Caroline having moved forward to kiss him.

"Ouch, that's rough." Tyler said.

"Lockwood, I will kill you in your sleep, shut up." Ellie hissed as she hit his arm. "Your commentary is not helpful nor wanted." She watched Caroline just sighed and put on a fake smile and walked away. "Does Matt really not get it?" She asked.

"Look, I know you're protective of Caroline, but we all know that Matt's not totally over Elena. He probably never will be." Tyler said. For once, offering a genuine opinion instead of a sarcastic remark. "Matt was pretty much madly in love with Elena, even I could see it. Who knows how long it'll take for him to get over it, if he ever gets over it."

"Well that sucks." Ellie huffed.

"Yeah, yeah, everything sucks." He retorted.

"I think I'm gonna go find Caroline, see if I can help." Ellie told him. He nodded in understanding as she walked off in the direction that she'd seen Caroline go. It took awhile but she finally found the blonde staring into her locker and shaking her head. "Need help?" She asked softly. Caroline turned in surprise and Ellie confessed. "Saw the whole thing with Matt and the whole staring at Elena thing. Anything I can do?"

"I need a way to make Matt see that Elena and Stefan are good together. And that he and I are good together. So that he realizes that he's not supposed to be with Elena, he's supposed to be with me." Caroline whined.

"So you want him to be able to see you guys as a couple and Elena and Stefan as a couple at the same time?" Ellie asked. Caroline nodded and Ellie continued, "Like you guys on a date?"

"Oh my god. That's it!" Caroline said excitedly.

"Wait what?"

"We need to go on a double date. So that he can see that Elena and Stefan are supposed to be together and me and Matt are supposed to be together." Caroline said excitedly and she slammed her locker shut, walking down the hall with purpose.

"Wait! Caroline!" Ellie called as she rushed after the blonde. She couldn't help but think that there was no way that this was going to end well.

She caught up with Caroline, but the blonde had already set her sights on Stefan and Elena standing at Stefan's locker. "Hey guys." Caroline greeted cheerfully. "I was wondering if you guys wanted to do something with me and Matt tonight." She started. "I'm thinking nothing huge, just dinner at The Grill, maybe a late movie."

"You mean like a double date?" Stefan asked as he put his books into his bag.

"Two pair out on a Friday night, coupled. Yeah, a double date." Caroline confirmed.

"Do you think that's a good idea?" Elena asked skeptically.

"Why not?" Caroline asked. "And we all haven't gone out together before and I don't want it to be uncomfortable for us. Look, the couple dynamics have changed, and there's been a little awkwardness between you, Matt, and me, and I just think it's important that we get over it."

"I don't know." Elena told her.

"You know what? I… I think that sounds like a great idea." Stefan told her. Ellie's eyes went wide in surprise.

"You do?" Elena questioned.

"Yeah. yeah, a nice evening out with friends. Sounds fun, as in fun."

He must have been referencing some conversation he and Elena must have had because she grinned and said, "A double date it is."

"Ok. So, we will see you tonight."

"Ok."

"Ok." Caroline said excitedly as she pulled Ellie to walk away.

"I'm definitely not sure that this is going to end well." Ellie warned her.

"Everything will be fine. I'm sure of it." Caroline insisted, but Ellie thought there was a chance that it was just wishful thinking on the blonde's part.


After school, Ellie met Jenna at The Grill. "So when are we going to meet this Miss Pearl?" Ellie asked as she took a sip of her drink.

"Um, I was thinking we'd walk over in a few minutes. We have time to eat though." Jenna said as she dug into her fries. "How was school?"

"It was school. But apparently Elena and Stefan are going on a double date with Caroline and Matt." She said and Jenna made a face at the news. "I know, that's what I was thinking."

"Do they really think that that's the best idea? I mean Matt was pretty head over heels for Elena." Jenna asked.

"It was Caroline's idea. I think Kelly's whole statement about Caroline just being the rebound girl has really gotten under her skin." Ellie confessed. "I just hope it goes well." They finished eating quickly and once they paid, they walked over to the building. "I just realized I haven't been here since..."

"Are you ok? Do you want to leave?" Jenna asked worriedly.

"No, I'm fine. I just needed a moment." Ellie told her. Jenna nodded and gave her a bit of space, looking through the book she'd brought with her.

"Miss Sommers?" A woman called and they both turned around to see a nicely dressed woman and Anna by her side.

"Yes? Hi. Pearl?" Jenna asked as she held a hand out for Pearl to shake.

"Hi." Pearl said warmly. "This is my daughter Annabelle."

"Of course, Jeremy's friend. This is my niece, Ellie. This was her dad's building." Jenna introduced and Ellie held out her hand to shake.

"Nice to see you, Miss Sommers." Anna said.

"Oh, Jenna, please." Jenna told her.

"It's nice to meet you ma'am." Ellie said politely. Pearl looked surprised, but Ellie didn't say anything about it. "Hey Anna." Ellie said brightly as she moved over to hug the other girl. "I thought you guys were leaving town?"

Anna smiled warmly at her. "Change of plans I guess."

"This property was in my brother-in-law's family for generations. It's uh, one of the original structures in Mystic Falls. It used to be one of those old-fashioned drug store thingies." Jenna told them as she pulled the keys out of her pocket.

"You mean an apothecary?" Pearl asked.

"Yeah."

"You don't say." Pearl told her.

"Sorry if it's musty. No one's been in here for months." Jenna apologized.

"I'll use my imagination." Pearl assured her. Ellie turned back to see Anna staring at Jeremy who was walking down the street with his headphones in. "Annabelle." Pearl called.

"Coming mother." Anna said as she turned to follow them inside.

Ellie walked in after Anna and while Jenna and Pearl talked she whispered to Anna, "You should go see him. I'm sure he'd be excited that you're staying."

"You think so?" Anna whispered back.

"He'll be pretty surprised, but I think he'd be glad you're staying." Ellie said.

"Hey, Ellie, you know the fun facts about this place, what can you tell us?" Jenna asked.

Smiling, Ellie said, "Well, from what I know, this was originally an apothecary run by a woman back in during the Civil War. I suppose she must have sold it to a Gilbert because it's been in our family since around that time as well. But from what I know, everyone bought from this place for all their medical needs."

"Fascinating." Pearl said as she walked through the space. "This really is a lovely space and I am very interested in purchasing it." She told Jenna.

"That's fantastic. Feel free to continue looking around." Jenna said as she and Pearl walked further into the building. It wasn't long before Pearl and Jenna came back, both looking like they were in good spirits. "I'll get the paperwork set up and get it to you as soon as I can." She told the other woman.

"Wonderful. It is a pleasure doing business with you Miss Sommers." Pearl said as she shook Jenna's hand again. "Come along Annabelle."

"Bye Miss Sommers. Bye Ellie." Anna said as she followed after her mother.

"I think that went really well." Jenna told Ellie excitedly. "She's willing to pay a pretty penny for this place."

"That's great Jenna. She seemed like she really wanted this place. Anything in particular you want to do now?" Ellie asked.

"I think that I am going to get myself a celebratory drink back at The Grill." Jenna told her as they locked up the building.

"Well since I am definitely not old enough for that, I'll walk back with you and then head out." Ellie said as she looped her arm through Jenna's. "You gonna be ok solo drinking?" She joked.

"I'll be fine." Jenna joked as they crossed the street.

"Have fun. Don't get totally wasted." Ellie warned playfully as Jenna went on inside. She sat in her car for a moment thinking about what she wanted before putting the car in reverse and drove off in a familiar direction. The abandoned house was familiar by now as she walked inside. She was nervous, having not been back since the unexpected death of Grams. As she walked into the room where she practiced, the flames shot to life.

"You have not visited in a while." Emily said.

Ellie wanted to cry. The pain that came with the loss of Grams mixed with the pain of losing her parents and it made her feel like there was a hole in her chest. "Do you know what happened?" She sat near the flames to try and keep warm.

"Yes." Emily replied. "I am aware."

"She shouldn't have died." Ellie said helplessly.

"No. She shouldn't have." Emily agreed. "But there was nothing you could have done to prevent her death." Ellie wasn't sure if that made her feel any better about the situation.

"I could have done something if I was stronger. If I had known something was wrong." Ellie argued. There was a murmur that surrounded her. Voices of the other witches that had passed but they were never quite loud enough for her to separate them.

"Tears will not make you stronger." Emily told her. "If you let it, you will drown yourself in tears. If you want to be stronger then get up and get stronger." Ellie wiped her eyes and stood up. She couldn't lose any more people. "How strong do you want to be?"

"Strong enough to protect the people I care about." Ellie told her.

"Then you won't be learning healing spells today." Emily said. "Today is about how strong you are. If there were ever an occasion where you needed to protect yourself or others, one of the most important things to be able to do is deflection. You need to be able to protect yourself from both objects and people. You need to know how long you can hold out. Now you protect yourself from getting hit."

"Hit with what?" The words had barely come out of Ellie's mouth before she spotted a candle holder flying at her with a great deal of force behind it. Her surprised scream filled the room as her hand flung out and sent the candle holder flying back to the other side of the room. "What the hell?"

"When your life is truly in danger there is no warning. They won't announce that they are about to attack you. So neither will I. Protect yourself." Emily told her. Ellie steadied herself and when a broken piece of floorboard flew her way she held out her hand and pushed back with her own magic causing it to drop to the floor. The next attack came from behind her. There was a split second of fear when she saw the brick aimed for her head but she took it down as well. Something that looked like glass or a mirror flew at her next. Multiple small pieces at once. There was more force behind it, making it harder to stop. It dropped to the ground loudly, breaking even more. "I'm going to make this harder. You might come across people much stronger than you that wouldn't hesitate to kill you."

A metal rod flew at her. The force was more than she expected. "Motus!" She yelled and the rod flew back. The verbal spell was much stronger than her non-verbal version. Ellie could almost hear the other spirits whispering around her and if she had to guess it probably wasn't a good thing. The air around shifted with energy. They were doing something but she wasn't quite sure what. Suddenly several objects floated up and with a quick look she realized that they had circled her. The objects all moved at once, rushing towards her. "Phasmatos Motus!" She shouted with force as she slung both of her hands out to her sides. It was like the objects hit an invisible wall. They slammed into something she couldn't see before falling to the ground.

The whispering of the ghosts returned just before Emily said, "Very good. Like with all magic, the more you practice the stronger it becomes. Given that you haven't shown any indication to anyone that you are a witch, it gives you the element of surprise. That can save your life. Or someone else's. Now close your eyes. If you can feel the magic it can be even more beneficial."

"Like what I felt just before all those things came at me?" Ellie asked.

"What did you feel?"

"It almost felt like a shiver down my spine. Like the air shifted or something. The way you can sometimes feel a storm coming before it arrives." Ellie explained.

"Good. That's what you should feel. Now close your eyes." Emily told her. The young witch forced her nerves down and did as told. "I'm going to make something float. I want you to reach out with your energy and find it." Ellie felt uneasy. The witch couldn't help but be worried that she wouldn't sense it and end up getting hit. Despite that, she tried her best to find the object. She had never done anything like this in the time that she'd learned of her magic. After a few moments, she felt something behind her. Not quite like what she'd felt before, but it was something similar.

She walked towards it. Her eyes stayed firmly shut but she held up a tentative hand and followed the pull of the magic. When her hand hit something that didn't feel like a wall, she opened her eyes to see a rock floating at eye level. "Holy shit." Ellie whispered, surprised that it had worked. "That's so cool."

"Good job." Emily praised. "The more familiar you are with what magic feels like the easier it becomes to detect. Like recognizing a familiar scent." At Emily's command, they did it again. Once Ellie managed to find it, they did it again. They practiced over and over for her to sense where the objects were. Then they would have her open her eyes and deflect the objects. The repetition made it feel like time was flying by as well as going incredibly slow. It also made Ellie feel as if she'd run several miles. She'd never exerted this much energy for her magic before. It truly felt like a workout and after a while she dropped down to the ground as she tried to catch her breath.

"Dear god." She gasped as she pressed a hand to her chest. Her heartbeat hammered against her hand. "That's intense." Ellie said as she let herself fall back so that she could lay down.

"But you did well. You should be proud of yourself." Emily said warmly. A moment later it felt like the tension in Ellie's body had broken as her breathing calmed and her erratic heartbeat slowed. She realized that the witches were taking care of her and she relaxed into their magic.

"Thank you." Ellie said softly. It had only been a few minutes of rest before the sound of her ringer disrupted her peace. "What do you want?"

"Ouch. Hello to you too Ellie." Tyler replied with a laugh.

She scoffed before repeating, "What do you want?"

"Oh, I just figured you'd want to know that I'm witnessing not one trainwreck but two." He explained.

Ellie sat up, curious as to what he was talking about. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"I happen to be at The Grill, where Elena and Stefan are… with Matt and Caroline. And if that trainwreck isn't enough, your Aunt Jenna partying it up with Stefan's older brother and Matt's mom might be."

"Please tell me you're kidding. Drinking with Kelly is one thing, but Damon? Gross." Ellie groaned.

"Wanna come watch the show with me?" Tyler teased. "If we're lucky, we might see Caroline develop the ability to actually burn holes through Elena's head with how hard she's glaring."

That was enough for Ellie to stand to leave. She knew how badly Caroline wanted this date to go right. "Oh that's not good. Ok, I'll be there shortly."

"Alright. I'm in a booth in the back left."

"Ok, see you soon." Ellie said as she hung up the phone. "Um, thank you guys, for this today. I really have to be going though."

"Until next time." Emily said as a farewell. Ellie nodded and rushed up the stairs to get to her car. It was extremely dark when she went outside, which meant she'd been there far longer than she'd realized. The drive to The Grill wasn't too long and she was quick to find a parking spot.

When she got to the door, she stepped in trying to make as little noise as possible. The four on the double date were at the pool table and talking. She moved over to where Tyler was, luckily without being spotted by any of them. "How bad is it?" She asked him worriedly.

"Honestly, since I've been here there's been a lot of lingering looks between Elena and Matt." He confessed. Tyler wasn't really one to get very involved with the relationships of other people, but he also knew that Ellie tried to look out for the blonde cheerleader.

Ellie groaned as she shot her sister a dirty look. "Damn it, Elena." She sighed. "Sometimes I swear Elena is oblivious to what she's doing." She couldn't quite hear what they were saying but she watched as Caroline busted out laughing at something Matt had said. From what she could see, Elena and Matt were going back and forth talking. It seemed like they were explaining something that had happened to Stefan, but Ellie watched as Caroline's smile faded away.

"Honestly, I get Matt probably still has feelings for your sister, but even I know that looking at your ex like that while your new girlfriend is right there isn't the best idea." Tyler told her right before Caroline started to move. Elena followed after her as she passed and Ellie watched them head for the restroom.

"Should I intervene?" Ellie asked as she tapped the tabletop nervously.

"Would it really help anything? I don't know all the details of the girl world but isn't this something they have to deal with themselves?" Tyler asked.

"You know, sometimes you have moments of giving really good advice." She told him. "I just don't like not being able to help." Her attention was drawn to where Stefan was taking a shot, sinking a ball into a pocket with ease. "I mean what am I supposed to do? Elena's my sister, my twin, but Caroline is my best friend and I don't know how to help."

Tyler shrugged as he offered her a french fry. "I don't know. Maybe when you really need to do something it'll hit you and you just know. You're typically the one between us that has it together."

"I hope so." She told him. She spotted Caroline coming out of the restroom, Elena just behind her. A man suddenly grabbed Elena's arm and stopped her and Ellie jolted and sat straight up. She had never seen that man before. Why the hell was he grabbing Elena? "Who is that?" Tyler must have noticed that something had her on edge, because he too sat up straighter and looked where she looked.

"I have no idea but I don't like that he's grabbing on your sister like that." Tyler told her. Caroline called out to her friend, and the person had no choice but to let her go. Stefan wrapped his arm around Elena when she got back to him, unaware of what had just happened.

"Remind me to get Caroline like a gift basket or something. I really don't like the vibe I got from that guy." Ellie said as she kept an eye on Elena, watching as she hastily typed out a message. She must have told him that some guy had grabbed her, because Stefan quickly walked back towards where the man had been. "Wait where the hell did that guy go so fast?"

Tyler's eyes went wide in surprise when he couldn't spot the man either. "I have no idea." He told her as he kept looking for the guy. The four on the double date left very quickly after that. "That's weird isn't it?" He asked.

"Yeah it is." Ellie replied before deciding to trust that with both Stefan and Matt with Elena and Caroline that they should be safe enough that she didn't have to worry. She turned her focus to her aunt who was getting drunker by the second. Jenna was in a full conversation with Damon and Kelly, laughing brightly at whatever Damon was saying. It wasn't long before the conversation seemed to be more between Kelly and Damon as opposed to being between the three of them. "Please dear god tell me that Damon fucking Salvatore isn't hitting on Kelly Donovan."

Tyler made a face as he looked at the two of them. Kelly stepped a little closer as Damon popped a cherry stem in his mouth and another into Kelly's. "Oh they're tying cherries with their tongues, they're definitely flirting." Ellie gagged as Damon leaned forward to take the tied cherry stem from between Kelly's teeth.

"Oh my god, I think I'm gonna vomit." Ellie told him. It seemed that Jenna had also decided it was a bit much because the blonde stood and walked away, stumbling slightly as she walked. "Oh I should definitely go get her."

"Yeah." Tyler agreed as she stood up. "Let me know when you guys get home safe."

Ellie smiled fondly at her friend. "You got it, Ty." She didn't see which exit Jenna went out, so she exited the entrance she came in to go get her car. She paused next to her car to pull out her vibrating phone. "Caroline? Is everything ok?"

"I can't stand it." Caroline told her. She sounded very upset and a little angry.

"Can't stand what? Care, what happened?"

"Elena happened. Elena always happens! I'm so tired of being the back up, Ellie. Why am I never the first choice?" Caroline's defeated tone made Ellie's heart ache. Caroline deserved to know that she was someone's first choice.

"Do I need to kick Elena's ass? Because I'll do it for you. She might be my sister but you're my best friend." Ellie assured her.

"Even if you did she still wouldn't get it." Caroline told her. The fact that Caroline didn't even laugh at the joke spoke volumes about how upset she truly was over this.

"Do you want me to come get you?" Ellie offered.

Caroline hesitated and after a moment she answered, "I'm not sure. If I call you back it's probably because I want you to come get me."

"Ok, I love you." Ellie told her.

"I love you too." Caroline said before she ended the call. Ellie got into her car and pulled out from her parking spot to go find Jenna. She pulled up the corner and saw Jenna stumbling into a cab. She sighed in relief and pulled out behind the cab as it drove in the direction of their house. Once the taxi parked on the curb, Ellie pulled into the driveway and got out of the car as Jenna paid the driver.

"Oh hey." Jenna said in surprise.

"Hey, Jenna." Ellie said. "Have a good time at The Grill?"

Jenna paled slightly. "Oh god, were you there too?"

"Mmhmm. I was going to give you a ride but Caroline called me and when we got off the phone you were already getting into the cab." Ellie said.

"Can we not tell Jeremy about it, maybe?" Jenna asked as they walked up. Ellie nodded in agreement and Jenna smiled at her. "Thanks." Once she unlocked the door they went in as Jenna called, "Jeremy!"

Jeremy appeared in the kitchen doorway, looking entirely suspicious and slightly breathless as he said, "Jenna, Ellie, hey, what's uh… what's up?"

"Regret." Jenna told him. "Make sure you lock that up." She told him before heading upstairs.

He turned around to see the back door was open and Ellie gave him a funny look. "You good, Jer?"

"Hmm?" He asked as he looked back at her. "Yeah, yeah I'm good. Everything's totally good."

She didn't particularly believe him, but she decided not to push. "Ok… I think I might be going to sleep. Goodnight. Really, don't forget to lock that door."

"Yeah. yeah, goodnight. Sweet dreams." He told her as he walked over to close the door. She headed upstairs and got changed before sending Tyler a text to let him know that she and Jenna got home just fine. Despite trying to stay awake, she dozed off before she heard Elena come home.


Author's Note:

Thank you guys for over 9000 views! I really appreciate it. Also, since Ramadan is almost over, for the last time, Happy Ramadan to those who celebrate it.

To Only Reviewer: Lmfao, you're not wrong. Damon really does piss Ellie off. I also think that Elena isn't really thinking about how to not be suspicious in the long run, she's just trying to get out of conversations she doesn't want to deal with.

To Mimi: Do I remember how what played out? And yes, the Salvatores and Elena were responsible for Grams' death. I don't get why Bonnie was so loyal to her either when Bonnie was the one always getting hurt but Elena never really did anything for Bonnie. Bonnie deserves better.

To Oz: You're the best!

To RiRi: She's not going to like it. She's going to be worried more for the safety of Jenna and Jeremy than for herself. Also I loved True Blood! I've read the majority of the books and I've seen to like season 4 or 5 of the show. She'd definitely be fine with Caroline being invited in though. I think she'd had more of an issue with Damon being invited in as opposed to Stefan, because at least Stefan hasn't gone around snapping Jeremy's neck when he was in a mood.

To Guest: Oooo Ellie and Bonnie vs Elena would be fun not gonna lie. And yes, losing Sheila really hurt Ellie, so she's not gonna be happy when she finds out why Sheila died.

To MoonShadow396: Honestly, other than obviously Caroline, Ellie hasn't had much interaction with the vampires like Stefan and Damon in what I've already written. I'm definitely looking into removing the compulsion, and don't worry, Ellie's gonna be pissed when she finds out. Although, she's not going to necessarily react immediately when she finds out, but there's reasons for that. And there is a definite breaking point, and there might even be more than one. I miss Sheila too, but yes she does still have Emily. I've written to the point where she has met Elijah and I'm so nervous about if you guys are going to like it not. I guess Stefan just preferred Elena's personality and so Damon latched onto her too. Since it's pretty obvious that Ellie can't stand Damon. Also, if you're new to the story, I try to update once a week and I'm currently updating every Friday. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

To Star1X: It's not going to intentionally be a fic that bashes Elena, but Ellie also isn't going to let Elena do what she wants despite who gets hurt in the process and say nothing. She loves Elena, really she does, but she's also going to look out for the other people that she loves. Also, yes, I have thought about her being best friends with both Katherine and Rebekah. Given, her being friends with Katherine was inspired by the people in the comments that wanted it. Rebekah, however, I wanted them to be friends before I ever started writing the fic.

To Daynesky: Welcome to this story! I'm glad you're enjoying it. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

To Guest (2): I too wish that Elena would get it together, but really she was a pretty selfish character on the show. And it's true that people got hurt and died because of Elena. I'm going to have to walk a fine line between the fact that Ellie loves Elena so much, but she's got other people she'd do anything to protect as well. It's probably going to be complicated to write if I'm honest.

-Madame Magic

Posted: 5/22/20