CHAPTER 9
Nora groaned and rolled over on the grass when her phone rang.
She pulled it from the pocket of her discarded jeans which were just in reach, and answered.
"Hello?"
"Nora? Where have you been? I've been trying to call you." Bonnie said with a good amount of irritation.
Nora sat up and took in her surroundings then grinned as she remembered Mary Louise and herself heading for the privacy of the forest.
Nora grabbed her top and held it to her chest although it was a little late for modesty.
"We er...got sidetracked."
"All night?"
Nora bit her lip and then heard Mary Lou stir behind her.
"Yes. Now why did you call?"
Bonnie sighed as if her reason for calling was obvious.
"Valerie's awake and has been for some time."
Mary Louise sat up behind Nora and kissed her shoulder as Nora rested her head back and closed her eyes. She just wanted to drop her phone and forget all about their problems but Bonnie's voice brought her back.
"Nora!"
Nora growled low in her throat and Mary Louise grinned.
"What?" Nora barked.
"Come back to the house. You want Mary Louise to get her memory back, don't you?"
Nora nodded and then realised she should respond.
"Yes, of course I do. I'm sorry, we'll be back shortly."
Bonnie disconnected without another word and Nora glanced over her shoulder at Mary Louise.
"We have to go home now."
The blonde pouted and Nora smiled warmly at her girlfriend.
God, she was adorable! Nora thought, wishing that they could just stay here all day.
But then she did want Mary Lou to get her memory back so they really had no choice.
Back at the house, Nora and Mary Louise found Bonnie standing in the center of the room. Valerie was very much awake but Stefan was no where to be found.
Nora opened her mouth when Bonnie spoke up and explained;
"Valerie will take the spell off of Mary Louise if I help her to bring Stefan back. Damon just took his body back to my place. We'll perfrom the spell there but I'm not gonna lie, having you two to help would increase our chances."
Nora glared at Valerie and folded her arms.
"Why should we help her?"
Bonnie gave Nora a hard look.
"Because like you with Mary Louise, she would do anything to bring Stefan back. Tell me that if you were in her position, you wouldn't have done everything in your power for Mary Louise, good or bad."
Nora clenched her teeth. Bonnie was right. Nora would kill, maim, torture, lie, cheat and steal for Mary Louise. She'd do anything if she was in Valerie's place.
She sighed and then turned her haughty gaze on Valerie who was still tied to the chair.
"Fine. Take the spell off and we'll help you."
"Nora! You can't seriously be considering helping her!" Mary Louise exclaimed.
Nora looked at the blonde, unfolding her arms to take the blonde's hand in her own.
"I'd do anything for you, you know that. I'm getting you back, I don't care what price I have to pay."
She then looked back at Valerie.
"You heard me, do it."
Valerie closed her eyes slowly and spoke the incantation in a hushed voice.
Mary Louise jerked like an electric current was running through her and then a golden glow seemed to pull itself away from her body, almost like an aura that was shifting.
Then Valerie opened her eyes.
"It's done."
Nora glanced at Bonnie who nodded in confirmation that it was indeed done.
Bonnie then set everything up while Nora and Mary Lou took their places.
Nora gripped Mary Lou's hand tightly while the blonde smiled and gave Nora's hand a reassuring squeeze.
Bonnie took both their hands and started conjuring the spell. It took a lot of strength and Nora joined in, helping her.
Mary Louise repeated the same actions as last time and just like last time, fell onto her side, unconcious.
Nora looked worried and then looked at Bonnie as the witch opened her eyes.
"Same as last time; wait till she wakes up. Don't force her awake."
Bonnie stood and went over to Valerie to untie her.
Nora's head shot up.
"Not until we know it's worked."
Bonnie frowned at the brunette.
"It won't matter, Nora. Valerie doesn't have anything to do with this anymore. The spell was taken off, we tried. Now we wait. I'm going to take Valerie back with me and when Mary Louise wakes up, meet us back at mine and we'll work on getting Damon back. Deal?"
Nora licked her lips and then lowered her eyes, nodding as she did.
Bonnie gave a small sigh of relief and then untied Valerie.
The witch and Heretic left the two vampires alone.
Now all Nora could do was wait.
...
Mary Lou's blue-green eyes opened and she looked around the room.
She was on the couch again.
Nora. Her mind reached out for her girlfriend and she sat up quickly, looking for her. She panicked when she couldn't find her and then a warm smile touched her lips as she found Nora asleep on the chair opposite.
She stood and walked slowly over to Nora, crouching down in front of the sleeping vampire.
She brushed a finger slowly and gently down the side of Nora's face and the brunette's eyes flickered open.
Green eyes met blue-green ones and she sat up slowly; afraid that Mary Lou wasn't really back. That it hadn't worked this time either.
"Mary Lou?" Nora asked, her voice shaking.
The blonde kept a stoic expression on her face then her lips split into a smile as she spoke a few lines of the poem that Nora used to recite to her every morning since they first met.
"Come live with me and be my love..."
Nora's eyes filled with tears and she lent forward, kissing Mary Lou and then holding her tightly.
"It's you. It's really you." Nora whispered into blonde hair.
Mary Louise chuckled.
"It was always was me, my love. I just couldn't remember anything."
Nora pulled back a little to look into Mary Lou's eyes.
"But you can now?"
The blonde nodded.
"Care to test me?" She asked with a wink.
Nora rolled her eyes.
"I would but Valerie told you everything."
"Not everything."
Nora raised an eyebrow.
"There is something she doesn't know."
Nora thought about it and then grinned.
Of course! Only Mary Lou and herself knew this one.
Nora smiled slightly.
"What did I give you in the gas station?"
Mary Louise smiled knowingly and took hold of Nora's hands.
"You gave me an engagement ring made from candy, and I told you that there is no one else I would rather explore this dreadful world with than you."
Nora smiled brightly.
"You do remember." She said softly.
The blonde vampire nodded and then her eyes darkened.
"I also remember everything that Valerie did." She snarled.
Nora stood, along with Mary Louise and nodded.
"That reminds me, we have to go to Bonnie's and help bring Stefan back."
Nora headed for the door while Mary Louise stayed where she was.
The brunette turned back.
"Mare?"
"She nearly destroyed us, Nora. What makes you think I want to help her?"
"We made a deal with her."
"Yes, I remember, but since when did we cower down to people who do wrong by us? She manipulated me, she blackmailed you. As far as I'm concerned, Stefan can stay dead."
Nora let out a breath. She didn't want to argue. She just wanted to uphold their arrangement and then go somewhere, anywhere else with Mary Lou and start again.
Everything she'd been envisioning, she wanted and she wanted to do it peacefully, without the fear of anyone coming after them.
"I am tired of being hunted, Mare. Who's to say that if we don't help her, she won't send Damon after us anyway?"
"Then we'll kill him." Mary Lou replied with a shrug.
"We can't do that. As much as I hate the arrogant bastard, he is still Lily's son. Which is another reason that we should help bring Stefan back. We owe it to her. To her memory."
"Nora, I understand that we have loyalty to Lily, dead or not, but I just want to focus on us. Everyone else can go to hell as far as I'm concerned."
Nora frowned a little.
"You don't mean that..."
"Don't I? What has anyone done for us, Nora. Even if we help Valerie and bring Stefan back, he's still not going to allow us to live as we want."
"So we'll leave Mystic Falls! Start off somewhere new! Please, Mare, can we just do the stupid spell and then leave? That's all I want."
The blonde sighed and then looked up at Nora.
"Fine but Valerie will pay for what she has done."
Nora shrugged, seeing it asn empty threat, and headed for the door again, this time with Mary Louise following her.
