Hi everyone :/ Sorry for not posting in what feels like forever, but life still kind of sucks :P Not really back to full health yet, unfortunately. This un-characteristic drought sucks a lot of energy out of people, too. I hope you like this chapter though, even if it's way overdue and all that. Cheers!

Disclaimer: I don't own The Vampire Diaries


Lunch hour on Saturdays was the busiest time of the week at the Grill. It was a place for teens to hang out and for anyone looking for a cup of coffee or a lunch with friends.

''Here you go,'' I said with a smile as I served a couple their food. ''Enjoy your meal!''

I glanced quickly at the door. He wasn't here yet. If he was coming... I didn't know what to do, really. I only got to clear my head enough to think about it sometimes, because, as always, I just turned on some kind of autopilot when the restaurant was this crowded; swiping dishes as I went past tables to get the ready orders, and keeping everything besides work out of my head.

I walked into the kitchen to drop off some dishes for Pete, and when I came back out I scanned the room for any new customers. Mr. Saltzman, Damon and a woman I recognised from TV were sitting by one of Sarah's tables, but otherwise there was no one else. Damon looked up and winked at me. He'd probably heard that I had to go to his and Stefan's house after work to get the vervain.

Averting my eyes from him to the door again, as it opened, my breath hitched in my throat. It wasn't him, though, the freaking hundred-dollar-tipper, and I shook it off and went back to work. With all the people here, I shouldn't let myself get distracted and lose focus.


There was a steep hill before I could turn onto the road that would take me to the Salvatore house, so I got off the bike to walk up. My footsteps didn't make any sound on the paved road; the only sound heard was the spinning of the wheels. There weren't even any afternoon birds chirping.

This was exactly how it'd been when I went to the Lockwood's to find my purse.

I was just about to climb on my bike again, when I heard a gust of wind.

''Good afternoon.''

When I looked up he was right in front of me, hands in his pockets and un-readable features.

''Hi...'' I tightened my grip on the steer.

''Have you decided?''

''You don't really give me much time to think...'' I replied.

''You are going to see the Salvatores, I presume?''

Even if I would've debated whether to tell him or not, the only reason anyone would be on this road was to go to them.

''Yes,'' I replied shortly. ''I'm actually in a bit of a hurry...''

''I'll accompany you.''

''There's really no need,'' I mumbled and started walking away from him.

''What is your business with them?'' Elijah's voice rang from behind me.

''My business is none of yours,'' I retorted through gritted teeth. Having him this close had every muscle in my body tense, every nerve on alert.

''You will come to see that it is,'' he stated matter-of-factly, as if it was obvious. It was to him, apparently, but if Elena and the others didn't know either, then how should I?

The hill was getting the better of me, and I tried to contain my heavy breaths as best I could. I was half-way to the top.

''Perhaps you could remind them, that any unjust intentions tonight would leave us in quite a severe situation,'' he looked at me solemnly.

''Tonight?'' I asked and glanced at him, walking effortlessly a few feet away.

''We are having dinner.''

''Oh,'' I frowned.

''Alaric and Damon and their accompanying lady friends - even if I doubt that the ladies have anything to do with it. And if their intentions are less than honourable...'' Elijah trailed off. He didn't have to finish his sentence, I got the idea.

Having dinner? That really did sound like something planned. Of course Elijah would be suspicious. I bit my bottom lip and pressed on, finally reaching the top of the hill. The road continued onwards, but to my left the trees parted and revealed a wide dirt road leading deep into the forest.

I didn't want to stop and catch my breath, because that would mark me out as extremely human, and walking next to Elijah that wasn't something I was too keen on. So, even though my lungs felt like they where exploding and my strained breaths came out a little ragged, I still got on my bike and began pedalling slowly.

Elijah, of course, kept my sloth-like pace without any effort at all.

''You are quite strong-willed, aren't you?'' Elijah spoke out of the blue.

I discreetly wiped off some cold sweat from my forehead and tried to take a few deep breaths before answering. ''How do you mean?''

He flicked his chin towards me, without meeting my eyes. ''Oh, just in general.''

After that, he didn't say anything until we got to the Salvatores' driveway. Being silent with him was almost worse than him trying to extract information from me. It was just really, really tense and what was worse was that he was so good at keeping a straight face that no one could possibly tell what he was thinking about.

''I should probably turn around here,'' Elijah said and smiled slyly at the manor in front of us as I jumped off my bike on slightly wobbly legs. ''Do not forget what I said, Evangeline. About tonight, and about our deal.''

''It's not a deal yet,'' I reminded him cooly. His dark eyes narrowed, but in some kind of strange amusement.

''Take care, Evangeline.''

''You too,'' I said before realising it. It came as an automated response, and my eyes widened slightly in surprise over my response. Looking at Elijah, the corner of his mouth turned upwards in a smile before he turned around and strolled back as casually as he'd appeared.


I knocked on the massive wooden door and seconds later it opened to reveal Stefan's greeting smile.

''Hi, come in. Elena told me you were coming.''

I kept my jacket on. Stefan showed me into the living room, where Damon stood looking grumpy, as he often seemed to do.

''What was he doing with you?'' Damon snarled and stared out the window to see if he'd gone.

''He just showed up,'' I replied. ''It's not like I can help it.''

Stefan frowned and looked at me, thinking.

''What is it?'' I asked curiously.

''Nothing,'' he snapped out of it quickly. ''It's nothing. Sit down, I'll go and grab some.'' He scurried off into the hallway to get vervain from somewhere, leaving me with Damon. I sat down and placed my hands in my lap.

''So...'' I began, because sitting in silence with Damon was even worse than having to keep a conversation, much like with Elijah. ''There's a dinner party tonight?''

''Oh, you heard about that?'' Damon said. ''Yeah, well, actually...''

''Elijah told me to warn you,'' I blurted out quickly.

''Oh,'' Damon tsked. ''He's already told us that like...'' he stopped and scrunched his face ''… two times.''

''Well, are you planning something?'' I frowned. I didn't know either him nor Stefan too well yet, and knowing that Elijah was... well, hundreds of years older than them didn't ease any concerns. In comparison, Elijah must be infinitely more powerful.

''Now, now,'' Damon tsked. ''Let's keep our noses out of other's business, shall we?''

I glared at him. ''Do you know what he'll probably do to you if you break your word?''

''Like I said,'' Damon snapped. ''Stay out of it.''

I scowled at him, but stayed quiet after that. Just because Elijah kept following me around, somewhat harmlessly, didn't mean that I'd forgotten what happened to me and Elena.

Just when the silence was about to become unbearable, Stefan came back with a plastic bag containing something green. I immediately sat up a little straighter and eyed it curiously when he sat down next to me on the sofa.

''So that's...''

''Vervain, yes,'' Stefan filled out for me.

''You had to eat it, right?'' I tried to recall and suddenly felt a chill of worry run down my spine. ''There's no way that I will be able to put it in her food everyday. Some days we don't even see each other, 'cause she's working and I'm working and...''

''Don't worry,'' Stefan said, and I could see his hand twitch when he wanted to calm me but realised he shouldn't put his hand over mine. ''You can put it in a necklace or bracelet instead.''

''That works?'' I'd probably been told that before, but I really didn't remember.

''Yes. As long as its in or on your body.''

''Oh,'' I breathed, feeling a little relieved. ''Okay.'' I bit my lip and looked away from him. Damon didn't seem to care that Elijah would be on high alert at the get-together they were throwing. I sighed. ''Stefan, I don't know what of if you're even planning on something tonight, but Elijah was very specific... you guys won't do anything reckless, will you?''

Stefan smiled. ''Don't worry.''

My gut instinctively told me he was lying, which meant that he probably was. I shook it off. Even if I did worry, I didn't feel like it was my place to push it further and if I did they wouldn't listen to me anyway.

''So... in some sort of jewellery?'' I changed the subject and shook the bag Stefan had given me.

''Oh, um, yeah,'' he smiled again.

''It works like a charm,'' Damon sang from the window and I rolled my eyes at it.

''Okay then,'' I practically jumped off the sofa to get out of there. ''Well.. thanks. For this.'' Once again, shaking the bag of green leaves.

''No problem,'' Stefan assured. ''You off to work?''

I shook my head. ''Nope. Done for the day.''

When I was back outside and riding my bike through the woods I got a really bad feeling in my stomach again, like something bad was going down. Whatever they were planning, it couldn't be good.


When I got home, my mother sat in the kitchen reading. I took of my jacket, hung it up and went to the sink to wash my hands.

''Hey, honey,'' she greeted, not looking up from her magazine.

''Hi,'' I said, and dried my hands off before sitting down next to her, picking up the nearest piece of paper to skim through.

I had to go buy some kind of jewellery. The store I knew she liked wasn't open during weekends, so first thing after work on Monday, I told myself. Until then, I had to try and get it in her food somehow.

''Hey, mum?'' She looked up with a warm smile. ''I can cook tonight.''

''Evangeline, we can make something together,'' she suggested.

''No,'' I pressed, trying not to sound too eager. ''You've done so much this past week, at home. I'll take care of it.''

She nodded and left it at that, thankfully. I thought of the bag of vervain in my pocket. I'd have to sneak it into whatever I was making somehow. I might be able to crush it and put it in a lasagne or something...

An hour later I'd gotten the lasagne into the oven and was sitting by the table going through my phone. Mum had gone into the living room and the sound of some kind of Real Housewives echoed through the hallway and throughout the house.

I scrolled down my newsfeed. Some old high school friends had posted pictures of what looked like a weekend trip somewhere warm. A girl from my French class posed with her boyfriend in front of a beautiful sunset. A ring glittered on her left hand. I turned the screen off and put the phone away.

Someday, maybe, I could travel around as well. After I'd saved up for college. That day felt so far away though... I pinched the bridge of my nose. I shouldn't let myself get caught up in those kind of thoughts, I knew I shouldn't.

My mother's shout made me snap out of it. It took me a second or two to realise that nothing had happened, and she was just shouting at the TV.

The timer went off a little while later and my mum came into the kitchen quicker than I thought she would, with a show on and all. As we sat down, I couldn't get rid of the nervous itching all over my body.

I glanced at her when she put the first bite in her mouth. I kind of expected her to frown at the taste of it, but she didn't. Quickly looking away, I took a bite as well. I thought it would taste strange, but it was just like any other batch of lasagne I'd made.

One day down, one to go. Maybe I could slip it into her coffee?

''You're not listening, are you?'' my mother chuckled.

I blinked. ''Huh?''

''I was just telling you about how crazy Rheanna was, you know, that whole thing with Anna-Beth?'' she swallowed the bite she had in her mouth, ''but you were somewhere else.''

''Sorry,'' I grimaced. I hadn't even heard her talking.

''No worries,'' she said with a small smile. ''This was really good.'' Right after she said that, I saw her forehead wrinkle and her eyebrows begin to furrow – which meant that she was just about to say something that I probably didn't want to talk about.

''I have to tell you something,'' she began and looked at me with worry in her eyes. When I didn't interrupt her, she kept on going. ''I know that you agreed to give your money up, honey, but I can't help but feel that you're just working way too hard nowadays. You barely have any spare time and I know you don't go out much-''

''Mum-''

''-which really doesn't seem fair and I've thought about it for a long time now, that even though you're an adult you really put too much on your shoulders-''

''Mum-''

''-especially with everything you can do and-''

''Mum, please!''

Even if she didn't cry, her sadness made tears trickle down my cheeks.

''I'm sorry, I just...'' she choked. ''I feel like such a bad mother.''

I reached over the table and put my hand on her sleeve-covered arm. ''You're not a bad mother. And I won't be working as much from now on, the English teacher's back, remember?''

''You're still my little girl, you know?'' she sighed, and chuckled suddenly, wiping her eyes. ''Oh, look at me. Gosh.'' Her hands shook when she brought her fork up to her mouth. ''Maybe we could do something on Monday? I don't know, shopping or something. Something fun.''

When I looked at my mother, I realised that I hadn't really stopped to see how she was doing lately. I mean, she was probably right to worry about me having too much going on (although she didn't know half of it), but she worked harder than I did. There were dark circles under her eyes that had been there before, and when I looked closer her smiles seemed strained and not as genuine as I thought.

''Absolutely,'' I replied.

That might give me an opportunity to pass by the jewellers and either pick something out or nudge her to buy something. It was probably a better idea to pick something that she would wear everyday, like a gift from myself. Apart from that, it could be nice to try and get away from everything for a while... Unless 'everything' showed up, that is.

Mum looked a little happier the rest of the night. Okay, maybe not happier, but at least more at ease. I really wouldn't have noticed if I didn't look closer. I had been so closed off, both emotionally and otherwise. When I had too much on my plate, the easiest thing was to keep everything out because too many impressions could make me so, so tired and emotional, and if it was too much I couldn't control it.

The compassion in me wanted to put everyone but myself first, and even when I probably should do the opposite, it was like something in me wouldn't let me. Stupid gift. I knew that was the problem, I wasn't just kind or whatever, that part of me was because of something bigger. Something I didn't consider healthy.

Nothing showed up on my computer search either, and because this day had been so completely exhausting, all I could to was throw myself on the bed and fall asleep immediately.


Just to point out: I haven't really watched any Real Housewives of *someplace* (only parts of like, three episodes or something), so I just made a couple of names up (hopefully, otherwise, it's not them that's referred to) :P