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Homecoming

It had been a month since Vicki had turned and was staying with the Salvatores.

At first, Matt would try to call or text her. She never answered though and he eventually gave up, figuring she would come home whenever she was ready. With it just being the two of them now, it was a little crazier around the house for Jade and Matt. They worried for Vicki, or at least Jade put off the front that she was since she got to see Vicki every other day. The real source of the chaos though was that they were down a paycheck. It was just the two of them now, paying for the house, utilities, food.

"Maybe we should get an apartment," Matt said as Jade was running around that morning, the usual craziness before work setting in. At least it was Saturday and she didn't have to worry about Matt and school.

"What?" Jade asked, her mouth half full of a bagel she was trying to inhale. "Why?"

"We don't need the room for mom anymore," Matt observed; at this point, there wasn't much of a chance Kelly was coming back. "Vicki's disappeared for who knows how long." Jade hoped it wouldn't be much longer until Vicki was back. She was doing well with the things Damon was teaching her, knowing that her daylight ring was on the line. With everything changing around her, Vicki was eager to get back to her old life as best she could.

"It would be a lot cheaper," Matt finished off.

"Let me worry about that stuff," Jade told him. "You're the teen, I'm the adult."

"Barely," Matt commented, getting a look from his sister. "I can get more shifts at the grille if you want."

"You don't need to do that Matty," Jade said, tossing out the rest of her breakfast. "We're fine." Matt sighed, giving up the fight for now.

"Do you care if I drop you off at work?" Matt asked now, wanting his truck that day. "I have plans with Caroline this afternoon." In the last few weeks, he had started going out with Caroline, moving to get over Elena which made Jade happy.

"I got my car fixed," Jade shook her head, grabbing her car keys from the counter.

"Since when?" Matt asked skeptically; they didn't have the money for that.

"Since Damon fixed it yesterday," Jade shrugged, seeing that look on Matt's face. "What?" she asked in exasperation now.

"You don't think it's weird that he's hanging around so much?" Matt asked. Damon came over to the house a few times since Vicki ran away, and he knew that Jade was spending time over there, with Damon picking her up from work and then dropping her off at the house. What Matt didn't know was she was seeing Vicki at the Salvatore house.

"He's being nice," Jade brushed it off. With what was going on with Vicki, there was hardly room for her to think about a relationship with anyone, let alone a vampire. He wasn't just a vampire, he was the one that turned her sister. Even knowing all of that though, it was hard to ignore the butterflies in her stomach every time he looked at her. It was crazy how one guy could have that effect on her, especially after everything that happened.

"Maybe he just wants to sleep with you again," Matt commented in annoyance and Jade rolled her eyes at him.

"He isn't just some guy I slept with," Jade informed him. "We were serious."

"If you think he's so great, why'd you ever break up with him?" Matt asked now.

"Time for work," Jade told Matt now.

"I'm serious Jay," Matt said, following her to the front door. "I don't think he's a good guy." He shook his head. "I'll kill him if he hurts you," he said now.

"That's very sweet Matty," Jade told him seriously. "But, I'm a big girl. And it's ok!" She wasn't sure who she was trying to convince. "Everything is going to be fine." With that, she opened the door and saw someone struggling with their keys, a bag at their feet.

"Well, finally," she said, a bit annoyed. "Can't believe you changed the locks around here."

"Mom?" Jade asked with raised eye brows, Kelly walking right into the house like she owned the place.

"The one and only," Kelly commented, dropping her bag by the couch before waltzing into the kitchen. "Matty, could you take my bag please?"

"Ah, sure," Matt shrugged, giving Jade a confused look before taking Kelly's bag upstairs. Jade followed Kelly to the kitchen, where her mom already had her head in the freezer.

"You don't have anything to drink around here?" Kelly asked Jade, closing the freezer now.

"Water," Jade said sarcastically.

"I'm looking for something a little stronger than that sweetie," Kelly smiled at her.

"Well, Matt's too young," Jade listed off. "Vicki prefers pills anyway, and I don't drink anymore."

"Since when?" Kelly asked.

"Since I've been told I'm like you," Jade fake smiled back; Kelly rolled her eyes.

"Speaking of, where is your sister?" Kelly asked now, taking a seat at the kitchen table.

"She took off," Jade lied, lying becoming second nature to her now. "Guess the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree."

"I get it Jade, you're not happy to have me back," Kelly told her. It didn't surprise Jade that Kelly didn't give Vicki running away a second thought. "It's my first day back though, can we at least fake nice to each other?" She smiled, pushing out the chair next to her. "Sit, talk to me."

"I can't, I have work," Jade told her.

"Skip it," Kelly shrugged.

"I can't," Jade said.

"Fine," Kelly said, Matt returning now. He almost expected Jade to have thrown Kelly to the floor in a fight, she disliked their mom that much. They hardly got along when Jade was a teenager, but now that Kelly had walked out on Matt and Vicki, their relationship was more than strained. "I'll find out everything from Matt."

"Fine," Jade agreed through clenched teeth, leaving the house and slamming the door.

Jade was annoyed at every thing at work, snapping at anyone that tried to talk to her. She just wanted to get this day over with, though she wasn't sure what she was going to do when she got back to the house. There were a few scenarios of what she could do to get Kelly out of the house. Deep down, she wasn't sure she could throw Kelly out. After all, she had started to let Damon back into her life.

"Ah!" Jade jumped, Damon creeping up behind her at the hospital, pulling her into one of the side hallways. "I thought you were going to stop doing that!" Jade accused, pushing him a little.

"But it's so funny," Damon smirked at her; there were the butterflies. "Listen, I wanted to talk to you about Vicki."

"Is she ok?" Jade asked, worry hinting in her voice.

"Fine," Damon promised. "And, I finally met up with Bree, so I got her a daylight ring." He smiled at her. "I think Vicki can come home now."

"Not yet," Jade shook her head quickly and Damon looked at her in surprise.

"I thought you'd be happy," he said in confusion.

"No, I am," Jade said. "And I'm so glad she's doing well but..." She shook her head. "You said her emotions are going crazy right now, right? That she needs stability?"

"Yeah," Damon nodded. "The longer she goes, the easier she'll be able to handle-"

"My mother's back," Jade stopped him. "Who knows how long until she takes off again. It's always really hard on Vic..."

"I get it," Damon agreed now. "We'll hold off awhile, make sure Vicki's going to be ok, see what happens with your mom." Jade nodded appreciatively. "How are you?"

"What?"

"With your mom being back," he clarified.

"Annoyed mostly," she replied and he nodded.

"If anyone can handle it, it's you," Damon assured her, seeing how strong she really was over the last few weeks.

"We'll see," Jade rolled her eyes. "You might have another body to get rid of." Damon snorted a laugh. "Um...the sheriff isn't suspecting anything, right?"

"Not since Lexi," Damon promised her. Worried that the town council was close to figuring out who the vampires were, including Vicki, Damon made a move to frame another vampire for everything, killing her and earning the trust of the council. Stefan was furious as Lexi had been a friend of his, but Damon wasn't worried about anything else but making sure Jade and her family were ok, that they were taken care of.

"Trust me Jade," Damon told her.

"I do," she nodded and he smiled.

Jade went home after work, exhausted from her shift at the hospital. Matt had gone to work and left a note saying Kelly went with him, interviewing for the bartender position at the grille. Realizing Kelly might be serious about staying, Jade started debating about whether or not Vicki should come home. She missed her sister and knew that Matt did too, but it had only been a few weeks since she became a vampire; who knew how well she'd be able to control herself if someone wasn't there coaching her.

"Hello?" Jade answered her phone lazily, watching some re-run on tv.

"Hey," Damon said. "You're going to want to come down to the grille."

"...why?" Jade asked hesitantly.

She left the house immediately, going down to the grille. Damon said he had gone there to meet with his brother when he spotted Matt arguing with a woman at the bar. When he went over to see what was going on, he found out that it was Jade's mom. He realized that Jade wasn't kidding about her mom's reputation. She flirted with Damon and immediately offered him a shot, drinking with Jenna as well. When Jade got there, the three of them were sitting at the end of the bar together.

"Mom," Jade said seriously.

"Oh no," Kelly said, ducking her head behind Jenna. "It's my judgey daughter."

"I thought you came here for an interview," Jade said, ignoring the comment.

"Well, Roberta blew me off," Kelly shrugged, tossing back a shot.

"That's not surprising, considering you blew-"

"Ok!" Jenna interrupted now, stifling a giggle.

"Did you call her?" Kelly asked Jenna who shook her head.

"Seriously mom, Matt works here," Jade complained. "You can't just get hammered at the bar."

"Did he call you?" Kelly asked and Jade rolled her eyes, involuntarily looking to Damon like he could help her. "Wait," Kelly smiled, seeing how Damon looked at Jade. "Did you call my daughter?"

"Mom-"

"Kelly-"

"You did!" Kelly grinned. "Are you two together?"

"That's really not your business," Jade said and Kelly rolled her eyes, looking to Damon now.

"Are you her boyfriend?" Kelly murmured now, though she wasn't managing to be that quiet.

"Ah, not yet," Damon smirked, casting a glance at Jade who bit her lip, he hoped it was to fight off a smile. "I'm trying though."

"Well, try harder," Kelly told him, taking another drink. "Someone's gotta help her relax."

"Ok," Jade said, preparing to leave.

"You're so uptight honey," Kelly told her.

"Uh huh," Jade said, grabbing her mom's keys off the bar and handing her some cash. "This is for a cab ride only."

"Thanks mom," Kelly said sarcastically, placing the money in her purse. Jade left the bar now, giving up on getting her mom to leave and Damon went to follow her. "Hey," Kelly stopped Damon and he turned around. "Go get her." She grinned. "Make her smile."

"I'll try," Damon winked at her before heading out of the bar.

Damon caught up with Jade outside, where she asked if she could go see Vicki. Damon agreed that it was a good idea, knowing Vicki was getting tired of staying at the Salvatore house and really wanted to go home. Getting into her own car, she followed Damon out to the Salvatore boarding house. At first when Vicki was staying here, they had her staying downstairs. As she got better at controlling herself though, she moved upstairs to one of the guest rooms. It was hard, no doubt, especially with her addictive personality. She missed living with Matt and Jade though, she missed seeing Jeremy but was happy Damon compelled him to forget Vicki attacked him.

"Hey," Jade peeked her head into the guest room where Vicki was staying.

"Hey Jade!" Vicki smiled, surprised her sister was there. Damon came in close behind Jade, who sat on the bed with her sister. "Is something wrong?"

"No," Jade shook her head. "Damon and I were talking and...he got your daylight ring."

"Seriously?" Vicki smiled big, knowing what this meant. "Guys, I promise, I'm going to do so good." She looked at Jade. "He taught me how drinking and eating helps curb cravings, and how to erase people's memories so I don't get caught, but I'm just going to use bags from the hospital since-" She was ready to list off everything she learned so she could go home.

"No, I know," Jade nodded reassuringly. "Damon said you're doing a great job. I'm just worried..."

"Don't worry Jade!" Vicki said quickly. "I'll be so careful."

"I need to talk to you about something first," Jade stopped her and Vicki nodded. "Mom came back today."

"Seriously?" Vicki asked now.

"She's wasted at the grille right now," Jade rolled her eyes. "I know it's harder right now, with everything you're feeling, and I just want to make sure-"

"I won't let mom bug me," Vicki interrupted, giving Jade her puppy eyes. "Please, it's so boring here!"

"Hey," Damon faked offense.

"Stefan's boring," Vicki clarified. "And Damon's taught me everything. I miss Matty, and you. Besides," she continued now. "Mom and I barely bothered each other before." She smirked. "That was mostly you and her fighting."

"I just don't want it to upset you," Jade reasoned.

"If it starts to, I'll leave," Vicki promised. "I can't really learn how to control it until I get out there."

"Ah," Jade hesitated, looking at her sister who was pleading with her eyes, then to Damon who just shrugged like he thought Vicki would be all right. "...ok."

"Yes!" Vicki grinned, hugging her sister tight. "Thanks Jade, thanks, thanks, thanks!"

"Ahem," Damon joked, pulling Vicki's daylight ring from his pocket.

"Thank you Damon!" Vicki said now, getting up to hug him before taking her ring and putting it on. "Oh my God, this is the best! Thank you guys so much!"

"Get ready," Jade said, getting up from the bed now. "We can head home now, probably beat Matt and mom back to the house."

"Yes!" Vicki said happily, grabbing her bag and starting to pack. "Thank you guys! Ah!" She was so excited as she packed everything into her suitcase. "Damon, seriously, you're the best for teaching me this stuff," she said, stuffing some shirts into her bag. "He's the best Jade."

"Um, yeah I know," Jade agreed, glancing over at Damon.

"She should tone down eventually," Damon murmured quietly as Vicki kept bouncing around the room, packing her things away. "She's just really excited to get home."

"Well, she's not wrong," Jade half smiled at him. "Thanks for helping her."

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