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Parenthood

The next morning, Jade was taking both Matt and Vicki home after a long night at the hospital. Thankfully, after having been up most of the night, Jade did have that day off from working. After dropping the girls off at home, Matt went into school. Jade had been trying hard not to be over bearing but she had to know what Vicki was getting into. Even if this was just an accident like Matt said, Vicki was spiraling further out of control.

"Hi mom," Jade said, leaving a voice mail as she had sent Vicki upstairs to bed to rest. "Look, I don't know where you are," she started off with an involuntary eye roll, not sure of her mom's current boyfriend's name at the moment; something with a P. "Or, if this is even your number anymore. But, Vicki got attacked by some animal last night. She was in the hospital all night. So..." Jade sighed. "Pretend to be a good mom and call her." As Jade was hanging up, she heard screaming upstairs in Vicki's bedroom.

"Vicki!" Jade was calling, running up the stairs. When she got to her room, Vicki was on her bed, freaking out and screaming. "Vic, hey Vicki," Jade said, climbing onto the bed, trying to get her to calm down. She seemed to be hallucinating, like she was fighting someone.

"The vampire, Jade!" Vicki was screaming. "Make him stop!"

"Hey!" Jade said, pinning her and getting Vicki to look at her for the first time. Vicki finally seemed to calm, at least she stopped fighting her sister though she was looking around the room now with worry. "It's just me," Jade promised her, moving away so Vicki could sit up. "Just me and you."

"What's happening to me?" Vicki whimpered, holding her head as she curled her knees up to her chest.

"You just had a bad dream," Jade was telling her, though it was looking more like a high gone bad. She intended to to root through Vicki's purse the moment she got downstairs, though she hated that thought. "Do you need anything?"

"No," Vicki murmured softly. "Thanks."

"Sure thing," Jade squeezed her hand, getting up to go now. "I'll be downstairs, all right?"

Going to the kitchen now, Jade grabbed Vicki's bag and turned it upside down, the contents spilling over the table. Soon enough, she came across the orange prescription bottle with percocet printed on the label. The name above it though was what surprised her; Elena Gilbert. While she knew Elena wouldn't have given her pain killers to Vicki, she could think of one person in the Gilbert house who might.

"Dammit," Jade cursed herself.

She hated that she was doing this, she would be beyond angry if the roles were reversed and she was Vicki. This was what she had to do now. She wasn't just Vicki and Matt's sister anymore, she was their guardian, a fill in mom since theirs couldn't even answer the phone. Placing the pills in her own purse now, intending to go over to the Gilbert house and talk to Jenna, she waited on Matt to get home from school so Vicki wouldn't have to be alone. With it being lunchtime now, she was surprised to hear someone at the door. She now hoped that it wasn't two people; Sheriff Forbes and Damon.

"Hi," the young man on the other side of the door greeted her with a soft smile.

"Um, hi," Jade said. "Do I know you?"

"Oh sorry," he apologized. "My name's Stefan Salvatore, I go to school with Vicki."

"Salvatore?" Jade asked with raised eye brows and he nodded. "You're Damon's brother?"

"You know Damon?" Stefan asked now, with just as much confusion as her.

Stefan had come back to Mystic Falls, hoping to start over as well as get to know Elena. His older brother Damon had shown up in town shortly after, causing nothing but trouble. Since he had been back Vicki was attacked and two different couples had gone missing. With the comet celebration that night, Stefan was almost afraid of what his brother had planned. He was at the house now because he was hoping to compel Vicki to forget about the whole ordeal with Damon.

"Ah, yeah," Jade shook her head. "Long story." She half smiled at Stefan. "I'm sorry, do you wanna come in?"

"I just wanted to check on her during lunch," Stefan lied as Jade let him into the house. "Bring her the first part of her assignments."

"Oh, that's really nice of you," Jade told him. "I think she's still awake, if you wanna go up. Last door on the left."

"Thanks," Stefan told her, going upstairs to take care of what his brother got them into. Shortly after Stefan arrived, Matt returned home as well, saying he was too worried about Vicki.

"I think you just missed your friend," Jade commented, hearing the front door open and close again. She thought that it was odd that Stefan didn't say goodbye, but he seemed quiet.

"Who?" Matt asked curiously.

"Stefan," Jade answered and she noticed Matt's expression. "So, not your friend?"

"Elena's been hanging out with him," Matt explained.

"Well, we hate him then," Jade smiled and Matt shook his head but laughed. "Listen, since you're here, do you mind staying with Vicki? I need to go talk to Jenna."

"Yeah sure," Matt nodded. "No problem."

"Thanks Matt," Jade told him, getting her keys and leaving the house.

Jade didn't even know what to say to Jenna as she pulled up to the house, glad to see her car outside. She knew that Jenna was in a similar boat, having to take care of two teenagers and having no idea what she was doing. She didn't think that this was Jenna's fault at all, but she knew the news wasn't going to make her feel any better.

"Hey!" Jenna grinned when she answered the door. Kelly has used to babysit Jenna and then, when Jenna was old enough, she was babysitting Jade. "Come in, what are you doing here?"

"I really need to talk to you," Jade was saying as she followed Jenna to the kitchen, her school stuff all over the kitchen table.

"Well, I'm happy for the interruption," Jenna smiled at her, motioning for her to sit at the table with her. "Because this thesis really-"

"Jeremy's dealing to Vicki," Jade blurted out; Jenna looked at her with shock.

"What?" Jenna asked her and Jade handed her the bottle.

"I found this in Vicki's stuff," Jade explained. "She's been having these crazy hallucinations the last few days." Jenna sighed as she looked at the bottle. "And, trust me, I know Vicki's not the greatest influence either. But-"

"No, I know," Jenna stopped her. "I'll deal with Jeremy when he gets home." She rattled the bottle. "Thanks for telling me." Jade made a face.

"Parenthood sucks," Jade commented.

"Ugh, it really does," Jenna groaned, taking her head in her hands.

When Jade got home from the Gilberts', Vicki was up and acting more like her old self. Jade was happy when she heard Vicki around the house, talking to Matt about having plans that night for the comet celebration. Jade wanted to talk to her about the pills, but she wanted to wait until Matt wasn't around so they could talk alone. Unfortunately, Vicki came across her purse to look for her pills and couldn't find them.

"Jade!" Vicki shouted. "Did you go through my stuff?"

"Vic," Jade said, coming downstairs now. "I-"

"I can't believe that you would invade my privacy like that!" Vicki was arguing with her.

"I wouldn't have to if you wouldn't come home strung out and hallucinating about vampires," Jade snapped back.

"That is so unfair," Vicki said now. "You've stumbled into this house drunk or high, like, a hundred times."

"Yeah, well I didn't have anyone that cared what I did or when I came home," Jade argued.

"Whatever," Vicki rolled her eyes now. "I'm so out of here."

"Vicki-"

"I'm eighteen, you can't tell me what to do!" Vicki shouted at her before slamming the front door shut. Jade groaned, turning around and spotting Matt, who had come out to break up the fight before Vicki stormed off.

"Should we go after her?" Matt asked.

"It'll only make piss her off more," Jade shook her head, knowing her sister was like her and would need to cool off. "We'll just catch up with her tonight."

Leaving the car, Jade and Matt walked into town to the comet celebration. They got there after nightfall, with most people gathered in the grass of the town square with their candles, looking up at the comet. Jade immediately spotted Elena talking with Stefan and she hoped Matt didn't notice. His other friends though, Caroline, Bonnie, and Tyler, were all over in that direction as well.

"Do you see Vicki with them?" Matt asked, looking around that area.

"No," Jade sighed. "Look, you go hang out with your friends. I can track down Vicki."

"I don't know," Matt said, still looking around the crowd.

"I do," Jade said, getting him to look at her. "You're seventeen Matty, go have fun." She motioned to herself. "Let me do the worried adult thing."

"You're twenty-two Jay," Matt said, using the name he gave her as a kid when he couldn't pronounce his D's very well. He meant that Jade was still too young to be worried about all the adult things on her plate, that he saw how hard it was for her and he felt bad, not that he could help what his mother had done.

"Yeah well, your sister makes me feel about forty sometimes," Jade replied.

"My sister?" Matt half laughed and she smiled.

"Times like these, I call the half," Jade joked. "Go, have fun. I'll text you when I find her."

"K," Matt nodded, heading over to where his friends were.

Spotting Damon on the outer edge of the crowd, Jade turned and walked the other way. Wondering if Vicki was seeing people from work, Jade headed over towards the Mystic Grille. She noticed some of her friends from high school, her best friends Lucy Fell and Kat Forbes being among them. She had been home for three months and only got to hang out with them a few times, working a lot though since she had school payments as well as a house now.

"Avoiding me?" Damon asked, appearing out of no where and making Jade jump a little. He was always good at doing that and Jade didn't know how he always managed to sneak up on her.

"I'm not doing a very good job apparently," Jade rolled her eyes, continuing to walk along the sidewalk in search for her sister, with Damon falling in step beside her.

"You're missing the comet," he commented casually, not that he cared about it.

"I'm currently missing a sibling," Jade said without amusement, walking into the grille and looking around at the people in there. Nothing. Sighing, she went back outside and Damon continued to follow her.

"That's not her?" Damon nodded at Caroline who was busy talking to Matt and Bonnie about something. He, of course, knew who her sister was ever since he had discovered she was the one he attacked the night of the falls party. He wanted to track her down, not just to help Jade, but to make sure Stefan's compulsion had worked.

"No," Jade continued, picking up her pace a little.

"I just assumed," Damon went up, keeping up with her. "She's with your brother, and." He made a motion at his head. "The hair."

"Yeah, I'm related to all the blondes in Mystic Falls," Jade rolled her eyes, frustrated now that she wasn't finding Vicki and that Damon was still following her. She stopped abruptly, turning to him. "What are you doing Damon?"

"Helping you find your sister," Damon shrugged now. "Vicki, right?"

"I don't want your help," Jade snapped at him. "I don't want to talk or...pretend to be friends, or whatever you're doing," she said, waving him off. "Just leave me alone." She walked away, deciding to try to call Jeremy in case he knew where she was. She had seen Tyler, the guy Vicki really liked, but he was with a few other girls and Jade knew he didn't actually care where she was.

"Hey," Matt said and Damon turned to look at him. "Look man, I don't know how you know my sister-"

"I've slept with her," Damon answered with a smirk and Matt tried to ignore it.

"She doesn't seem to want you around," Matt went on. "You need to leave her alone."

"Aw," Damon said now. "Protective little brother, how cute." Matt opened his mouth to say something but Damon stopped him right away. "Relax, I'm not going hurt your sister." It was never his intent to hurt Jade, though as Stefan said, wherever he went people got hurt. Matt turned to say something again as Damon walked away but he had already managed to disappear in the crowd.

Matt and his friends now had split up to aid in the search for Vicki now that he was getting even more worried, with Vicki missing now since the afternoon. Stefan had joined in on the search, hearing Vicki's voice in the distance. Damon was with her, on the roof of some building a few streets over from the town square. Stefan hurried up there, afraid Damon was going to hurt her. Now that Damon had found her though, he was in the middle of compelling her to forget about vampires entirely. When Damon looked over at Stefan, he kind of expected him to be surprised but instead he had a smirk on his face.

"What?" Damon asked his brother, standing up while Vicki was still sitting on the ground, gathering her spinning thoughts. Where was she and who were these guys?

"Was this for Jade?" Stefan asked him, curious who this girl was to his brother. She obviously meant a lot, as Stefan would normally expect Damon to kill this girl or try to get Stefan to do it. Instead he was getting her to forget about vampires.

"Do you know my sister?" Vicki asked now, still disoriented.

"I'm a friend of hers," Damon told her as Vicki got up now. "You've been wandering around lost and we're going to go find her."

"She must be important," Stefan commented as Damon was walking away now with Vicki.

Stefan always expected worse from Damon, not that there weren't already four people killed in alleged animal attacks. Vicki was almost the fifth and Stefan was sure Damon would find this girl and kill her anyway, finishing what he started. It was very unlike Damon to let someone go and forget, especially when he was trying to cause trouble for Stefan. Whoever Jade was or what she meant to Damon, Stefan was grateful for her because there was no way for Damon to expose Stefan without exposing himself as a vampire, which Jade obviously didn't know about.

"Jade!" Vicki shouted as the crowd at the celebration had thinned out, getting her sister's attention.

"Hey," Jade said in surprise, glad she had found her sister, though she wasn't too thrilled about who she was with.

"I'm so sorry," Vicki was telling her now, Matt coming over now that he had seen them outside the grille. "I took these pills and I...I don't know how I ended up here."

"You're..." Jade meant to question the apology, but stopped herself. It wasn't like Vicki to genuinely apologize about worrying her sister. Normally she would show up still high and mutter something half ass about how it wouldn't happen again. Damon, of course, had been the one to tell Vicki to apologize. "You're ok," Jade said now. "And that's what matters."

"Your friend Damon found me," Vicki grinned, nodding over to where the older Salvatore was standing; Damon half waved to Jade. "He's really cute," Vicki lowered her voice. "How do you know him?"

"Ah, not important," Jade shook her head at her sister. "Let's just get you home, all right?"

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