Author's note: Update! And under 10K words – wow! :))

Thanks for support and patience, guys :)


Chapter 11

Jenna jerked back. It was so dark… Too dark to see anything but the outline of someone standing a few feet away from her, their form blending with the blackness all around them. She fought to strain her eyes to make out more but they only started to hurt. Her heart was pounding heavily and the adrenaline rushing through her body made her dizzy and distracted. The spots were dancing before her eyes and her heavy breath was puffing out in small white clouds. If there were any other sounds around, she was completely deaf to them.

She could feel the danger and darkness coming from the person before her with every cell of her body, so strong and suffocating that it was making her sick to the stomach. The animal fear was rising inside of her in waves that threatened to sweep her off of her feet any moment and carry her into the land of never-ending nightmares and pain. Everything inside of her twisted into a tight knot when the realization that it wasn't a dream sunk in.

It wasn't real. In the back of her mind Jenna knew that it wasn't happening to her. How could it? This paralyzing fear was nothing but the trick of her mind, like in the nightmares when she was seeing blood and death. It was the same, she told herself. It couldn't possibly be anything else. But this time she knew it was a lie. She knew it was real and she knew that there was no escape. She was trapped. Hell, she couldn't see a thing!

The shadow moved, or at least it seemed to her that it moved, and Jenna jerked away as if something invisible pushed her in the chest. She stumbled on uneven ground beneath her feet and lost her balance. Her arms flailed into the air as she fell, scraping the gentle skin of her knees and palms, and scooted hurriedly backwards until her back hit one of the stony walls, its rough surface digging painfully into her skin through the thin fabric of her shirt. But, to be honest, Jenna couldn't care less.

A short humorless sneer made her blood run cold in her veins and she swallowed hard past the lump in her throat as she kept gasping for air, unable to fill her lungs properly. She was starting to feel lightheaded and somewhat unfocused, as if the reality suddenly zoomed out and the edges blurred. She fought to say something, ask what the hell was going on and where she was and how she got there, but when she opened her mouth, all she could do was keep breathing heavily. Her tongue was just too thick and big and her throat seemed to be too dry to produce any sounds at all. So she kept opening and closing it like a fish that was thrown out of the water as she tried to collect her thoughts together, failing miserably.

The cold from the stone was penetrating through her clothes and her skin, and in no time her entire body was shaking violently as she tried her best to mold herself into the rock. Her fingers kept scraping painfully against the ground and stone as she searched for something to grasp onto instinctively. The fog in her head was making it hard to think. Was it because of panic or something else, Jenna didn't know. All she knew was that was probably it.

"No need to be scared," low voice hissed from the dark reaching her ears and making Jenna go completely rigid. She couldn't recognize it. Couldn't even define if it belonged to a man or a woman. It was more of a whoosh of a breath than of an actual sound, and yet too loud in absolute silence to miss it. The weird part though was that it soothed her a little, made her muscles relax and Jenna let out a long breath she didn't even notice she was holding – as if someone suddenly wrapped a blanket around her taking away all the fear and keeping her calm and sedated and pretty much dead to the entire world. Her eyes were glued to the dark figure when it stepped closer and into the pool of grayish light, finally gaining actual shape, and they grew wider when she took in the details once she could register them. Her heart plummeted down and was pounding slowly somewhere in the bottom of her stomach echoing dully in her ears. "It will be okay."


It was the sun glinting straight into her face – right through her eyelids and at the back of her skull, or so it seemed – that woke Jenna up. That, and a vague feeling of a somewhat familiar comfort that felt oddly wrong for some reason. Her limbs felt heavy in that pleasant relaxed way that made her wish she didn't have to move, ever, and her head was empty, and for the first time in a while she was decently rested. And she couldn't decide if it was a good thing or bad.

Slowly, Jenna pried her eyes open and then closed them tight instantly when the sunlight hit them and thumped her head into the pillow on a groan. Breathing in soft scent of the fabric softener lingering on the pillowcase set off some inner alarm and she wondered absently why on earth was the sun shining in her face in the first place if, technically speaking, the window was supposed to be behind her, or at least that was where it had always been as far as she remembered. Unless, of course, the whole world turned upside down while she was asleep, which wouldn't have surprised her. To be honest, it wouldn't have surprised her at all.

The wrongness of the situation struck her, and Jenna rubber her eyes trying to clear the sleepiness out of them. Opened them again, blinking and waiting for them to adjust, and then stilled when she saw Isobel Fleming Saltzman staring back at her from the framed photo on the desk a few feet away from her. Someone might have as well poured a bucked of ice-cold water on her and it wouldn't have had a better wake up effect.

Jenna sat up at lightning speed as her heart plummeted down, looking around with a mixture of confusion and cautiousness as if she wasn't sure she could trust her eyes.

Yep, no mistake. She was at Ric's, sitting on top of his bed covered with a soft checked wool plaid. The observation did nothing to explain how she got there. She looked down herself to find out that she was wearing her pajama shorts and a t-shirt, the exact same ensample she put on before going to bed the previous night, which wasn't helping the matters much either. And this was, like, the weirdest situation she'd found herself in, ever. Not that she believed it was the last one though.

"Ric?" She called in a low sleep-affected voice tossing the plaid aside and getting up. Spotted her black ballerinas on the floor by the bed but didn't give the fact that she came here wearing shoes much thought. It was the least intriguing fact at the moment. She crossed the room deliberately avoiding looking at the photo and pulled the bedroom door open. Swallowed to clear her throat and called out again, "Ric?" as she stepped outside.

The whole apartment remained completely silent with the exception of the clock ticking loudly on the wall in the hall. For some reason it sounded creepy. She padded down the corridor and into the sunlit living room. Noted that it was a little past ten in the morning and that the entire place smelled like fresh coffee. From where she was standing, Jenna saw a half-full pot and red light that meant that the coffee machine was still on.

Ooookay…..

She tried to collect her thoughts together but the black hole in her mind wasn't working all that well with the plan. She fought to remember something – anything, really – but there was nothing between going to bed and waking up here, and it seriously bothered her, to say the least. Of course waking up at Ric's was much better than waking up somewhere in Kansas. Hell, it was better than waking anywhere in the entire world, but it wasn't exactly making it any less terrifying, period. How could she not remember a thing?

Because this is how we roll, baby, Jenna told herself sourly. Lifted her arm to rake her fingers through her hair and push it away from her forehead, and froze when she noticed something strange out of the corner of her eye.

She lowered her arm down and stared at her wrist. It was bandaged. Frowning, she pulled it off feeling the anxiety grow inside of her, and then felt the ground sway beneath her feet.

"Oh my God," she breathed out as something cold and sickening settled in the pit of her stomach at the sight of two semi-circles of dried blood that formed a perfect bite-mark. A vampire one, without a doubt because... because what else could it possibly be? "Oh my God," she repeated numbly and took a small step back as if attempting to run away from her own body.

Her eyes narrowed in disbelief while her mind fought to wrap around the fact of what she was seeing. What the… how was it even possible? Hell, was it even real?

The whole situation reminded her of a very twisted nightmare, Hitchcock edition. Some part of her wondered vaguely if she was going to see dead birds and empty streets covered with pools of blood if she looked outside the window that very moment.

Yeah, go imagine that you got stuck in some freaking Matrix, Jenna flinched at the thought, and then let out an exasperated sigh. Expecting the worst, she examined her left wrist but didn't find so much as a scratch, and then studied the bite-mark again. She had to remember how it happened, hadn't she? Of course she had. It must have hurt one way or another. Except that she didn't.

It felt wrong. Everything felt wrong. Even she herself felt odd and out of place.

Jenna rubbed her forehead trying to think straight as her eyes wandered sightlessly around. If it was ten, then Ric was in the beginning of his second class if she wasn't mistaken. She'd wait for him. He had to know something, right? She did get inside somehow after all. He had to have some explanation to all of that. This poor imitation of a plan made her feel a little better, clearing her mind before the panic threw her over the edge which she knew was close. Well, at any rate it was a good start.

Absently, she wandered across the living room bathing in the early sunlight that cast streaks through the curtains, came up to the window and peeked outside, half plain restless, half wishing to be proved wrong about dead birds because, honestly, somewhere in the back of her mind she did expect to see it. But all she saw, to her endless relief, was a car turning around the corner and a young woman jogging down the street, her hoody zipped up to her throat and a golden retriever running before her on the leash. The dog barked bringing the sound back to her world.

Jenna flopped down onto the coach then pulling one knee up to her chest and tapped her fingers thoughtfully on the armrest, trying to ignore her right wrist completely and forget about the very fact of being bitten altogether for a while. Not an easy thing to do but her head was going to explode if she tried to think about everything at once.

It happened again, didn't it? It'd been quiet lately. No dreams, no sleep walking for a few days. No phone calls, or messages, or notes, or stalkers as well. The life got back to an ordinary routine. Like a calm before the storm. She should have known it was deceptive – too good to be true. Only this time it moved to a whole new level, and the thought made her stomach twist. Made her wonder how far exactly it could go, given the chance? And why, why was she here, of all places?

She let her gaze drift around the room, along the walls, past the bar counter that separated the living room from the kitchen and across the bookshelves stopping when she caught sight of something… well, something that she couldn't quite put her finger on.

Curious, Jenna pushed herself up and strolled to the far corner. Her eyes traveled along the row of books shifting down to where a neat stack of labeled folders occupied the shelf, one of them sticking out a little as if someone took it recently and then didn't bother to put it back properly.

Jenna pulled the folder out from beneath the other two that lay on top of it. A simple plastic thing with the strings wrapped around its corners to keep it close. No label. Her fingers pulled the strings off of the will of their own and the frown creased her brows.

Inside, she found newspaper clippings – some quite old and yellowish from time, others new and rather recent, copies of police protocols and notes made in neat handwriting that she recognized immediately. Holding the folder carefully in one hand, she flipped through its contents catching the titles of the articles – "Two bodies found in the woods", "A group of young campers goes missing", "Animal attacks terrorize small town in Virginia", "Young woman drained of blood discovered on the outskirts of Mystic Falls, the investigation continues" and many others. All of them connected to the area one way or another.

And then, below all of that, were the papers regarding Isobel, starting the day she went missing, and what Jenna guessed were her own notes and research results, or whatever, all clipped together and separated from the rest. All pointing at Mystic Falls.

She went through the entire stack once again paying closer attention now. That was probably what led Alaric here in the first place, his research that started with his wife's disappearance two years ago. Having all of this before her eyes, she could practically feel how bad he wanted to find her.

Jenna frowned wondering if he still was as much on it as before he'd found out the truth about Isobel. Well, he clearly wasn't over it, assuming that some of the stuff was rather new. Over it or over her, a small evil voice singsonged mischievously in her head, giving her stomach another uncomfortable twist. And didn't she know an answer to that question? She pushed it away though and focused on the papers in her hands. Boy, he did an enormous work linking all these cases to one place and, well, certain cause. Ric's persistence was admirable, to say the least. It made her worry though, too. Did his crusade even have expiration date?

She put the folder down onto the table and then looped a strand of hair around her ear as she flipped through his own notes having no idea what she was looking for, exactly. There was something lingering in the back of her mind that she couldn't grasp. For some reason all the pieces of the picture didn't want to fall together but the wrongness of the situation that bugged Jenna didn't let her just wave it off.

The click of the front door lock startled her, making her spin around as she nearly dropped everything she'd been holding.

"Crap," she muttered under her breath hurriedly stuffing the papers back into the folder and struggling with the strings. She shoved it back onto the shelf hoping it looked the same as before she poked her curious nose into it, and turned around right in time to see Alaric walk in holding a paper-bag in his hand and unzipping his jacket, his cheeks flushed from chilly air and his hair rumpled by the wind. And tried to look innocent.

He stopped short when he spotted her, his hand stilling on the zipper as he took his time to collect his thoughts together, sort of.

"Hi," Jenna offered him an uncertain smile, the hey-here-I-am-standing-in-your-living-room-in-my-pajama-after-waking-up-in-your-bed-not-a-half-an-hour-ago kind, with a slight I'm-your-ex-by-the-way subtext. She was pretty sure there was a big sign saying Awkward flashing somewhere above her head.

"Hey… you're up," was the best thing Alaric managed to come up with as he studied her if a little warily, or so it seemed to her, searching her face for something, which gave Jenna another round of questions.

"I am. And… you're not at school," she echoed stating the obvious.

Eventually, the words made their way through the chaos in his head.

"Yeah, I—I called in sick," he explained somewhat distractedly, putting the bag onto the coffee table and continuing to watch her with the expression she couldn't define. He didn't exactly say Not to leave you alone here but it went so well with the context that actual words weren't all that necessary.

Jenna nodded, glanced around the room, clenched her hands together and unclenched them again. "So, the million dollar question," she started cautiously turning to him at last, "what am I doing here?"

Clearly, the question confused him. "You don't remember?"

She blinked. "Should I?" Asked in a small miserable voice and then let out a humorless bark of a laugh. "Oh God, of course I should." She shook her head. "But the fun thing is – I don't! All I remember is going to sleep in my own bed at home, which is just crazy, right? And then I wake up here—"

"Jenna—"

"—feeling like I got lost in some Twilight Zone and wondering if I was the only living creature left on the planet. Like in these old creepy sci-fi movies, you know?"

"Jenna…"

"And it doesn't really happen to me every day. And you weren't here, and I—" Breathless, Jenna stopped abruptly when she suddenly realized that she started pacing nervously without even noticing it. She let out a long exasperated sigh and let her shoulders sag helplessly. "Sorry," she breathed out giving Ric a weak apologetic smile, "Stressing out much, I guess."

He smiled back and nodded with understanding, conceding her point. "Are you okay?"

She let out another short laugh. "Do I have to answer that?" Shifted from foot to foot restlessly and cleared her throat meeting his eyes. "So…um, what's your part of the story? And don't leave out any embarrassing juicy details." Which she was dreading to hear to be honest, but it was like with the band-aid – better tear it off in one quick move.

Her question made the corners of Ric's lips tug up a little. "You're going to get bored," he told her.

"Surprise me."

"Well," he leaned against the kitchen counter, his hands gripping plastic edge on both sides of his hips, "You showed up in the middle of the night. I don't know, some time around three." He couldn't sleep and ended up working late because it was the only thing that could effectively keep his mind busy and off of… a lot of things. "I opened the door, and you were there… and then you just passed out." He paused, waiting for the information to sink it.

"Perfect," Jenna chuckled ruefully. Of all people…! "It was supposed to be… fancier, you know?" Lame, but joking about it was helping. "I don't usually do the damsel in distress thing but…" She trailed off and shook her head.

"I thought something happened," Alaric continued watching her closer now, let his voice drop a little to a more soothing level, not really caring that he let some of the emotions slip, "but it turned out you were just deep asleep. And, technically speaking, that's it."

He did leave out some parts though. Like the one where he nearly had an honest to God heart attack when she collapsed. Or the one where he carried her to his bedroom, torn between calling ER, the Gilberts, Damon and State Troops, and then spent the rest of the night sitting by the bed and watching her sleep, adjusting the plaid every time she stirred, or pacing around the room restlessly checking on her every couple of minutes, all the while trying not to freak out to death because, truth be told, she did scare hell out of him. Man, she had no idea!

And there was no way he'd ever acknowledge the part where he found himself sitting in a crouch beside the bed at some point watching her features, and stroking her hair, and whispering some nonsense to sooth himself more than her as his heart constricted every single time he let the thought about something actually happening to her creep into his mind for the smallest fracture of a moment.

He had another punch-in-the-gut-and-carpet-pulled-out-from-beneath-his-feet moment when he saw the bite-mark on Jenna's wrist which nearly set off his panic all over again. Okay, screw that. It did set off his panic. In fact, he had a pleasure to experience a whole new extent of it. But since it was just as far as he could go, he focused on the task at hand and took care of the bleeding spot having no idea if there was anything else he could do. Like, at all.

Also, he kept secret the fact that she had a note clutched in her fist written in what Alaric guessed was Jenna's own blood, its letters smudged as if whoever wrote it didn't bother to wait for the blood to dry properly. It read "It's not the end", which left him with uneasy feeling for a million of different reasons.

Tired beyond imaginable, he fell asleep after a while half-sitting, half-lying on the chair to wake up at the break of dawn a couple of hours later with his body aching in places he had no idea a human being could feel at all and fearing that something might have happened to Jenna over this time. Or worse – to find her missing. She was still sound asleep though, to his endless overwhelming relief, looking peaceful enough to make him envy her in that department.

He called the school office to inform them in a low voice that he wouldn't be coming today and then, after a long self-debate, took a trip to the nearest bakery once he realized that he didn't have any food at his place except for a pack of frozen beans and some coffee in the cupboard. She was safe at his place. The idea arose a wave of protest inside of him at first but he needed some time to clear his mind and try to figure out what had happened at night. Not that it worked. Not only was he still clueless, but Ric managed to get to the point where any of his theories turned into a total crap. But at least he had food now.

"Well, better your place than Nebraska," Jenna noted sourly running her fingers through her hair as she took her bottom lip between her teeth, her expression thoughtful. When did her life become so crazy, anyway?

The sound of her voice snapped him out of his thoughts "Nebraska?"

"Mm, secret fear. Never mind." She made a funny face and gave him a You-don't-want-to-know-it look.

She looked rather distressed though, Alaric noted. Not on the surface. Keeping a face was one of the things she knew how to do well, he had to give her that. But there was some edginess to her and he could feel something bothering her on the inside. He winced. Yeah, and she had no reasons for that!

Still, he decided not to push. "So, would you like to have some coffee?" He asked breaking the silence that settled between them for a couple of minutes as he headed to the kitchen to start another pot shrugging out of his jacket on the way. "I've got croissants, too." Well, apparently it wasn't that hard to force his own concerns back not to make it any worse for her and keep his voice light.

"Coffee would be nice," Jenna admitted. She felt… not herself, clammy and all wrinkled, like a piece of paper rolled into a ball. "Ric?"

"Mm?

"Um… Is it okay if I take a shower?"

"Sure," Alaric looked at her over his shoulder and nodded on a small smile. "Be my guest." His face softened gaining that somewhat wondering expression that made her wish she could read his mind.

She nodded too and turned around to hide her own smile. Oh, this was definitely much better than Nebraska. Minus the freak out part, but in the end she decided she might have as well focused on the bright sides of the situation.


Twenty minutes and a mug of coffee later, Alaric turned around to the almost soundless footsteps to find Jenna entering the living room wearing his grey-and-white checked flannel button-up shirt, her hair clipped up somehow leaving a few shorter strands to frame her face. She looked around until her eyes fixed on his and let her lips curve.

Now that was a full-blown sucker punch that left him completely breathless for who knew how long and he swallowed hard, noting vaguely in the back of his mind that gawking was probably a very undignified word. Yet, it was exactly what he was doing.

She quirked her eyebrows quizzically at his scrutiny – technically speaking, it wasn't gawking as long as his jaw stayed in its place, and it was a huge success considering the view and the effect she was having on him in general – and Ric cleared his throat, slightly embarrassed and feeling the color rise up his cheeks.

"I hope it's okay," Jenna said looking pointedly down herself.

He gave her a deliberate appreciating once-over and let his lips stretch into a cheeky grin to ease the tension. "Sure, absolutely."

Amused, Jenna shook her head rewarding him with a Look-what-I-have-to-deal-with expression warming up on the inside.

On the bar counter she spotted a mug of coffee, the one that he made for her apparently, and a plate with croissants and some other pastry. She took the mug and made a cautious sip in case the coffee was hot, which it was, but at the same time it made her feel much better by the second.

"You—you really don't remember anything?" Alaric asked coming closer and stopped on the other side of the counter across from her.

"Nope," Jenna shook her head. "Unless morning news refresh my memory," she added as an afterthought. Ric's brow cocked up questioningly. "In case I slaughtered half of the town," she met his eyes then, struck by the idea. "Tell me I didn't do that."

"Not that I've noticed," Alaric assured her, chucking at her close-to-genuine horror.

"Good," she exhaled out with visible relief. "It's not like I can control this thing," added in a whoosh of breath, more to herself than to him by the sound of it.

Her words caught him off guard. "Wait—what?" Ric put his mug down and pierced her with her gaze, frowning. "Are you saying it happened before?"

Well, if it were a one-time thing, it would be too good to be true, wouldn't it?

"A couple of times," Jenna shrugged matter-of-factly as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Took another sip of coffee. Paused. "Well, maybe three," she admitted reluctantly and grabbed warm croissant from the plate, more for distraction than out of actual hunger.

Alaric's frown deepened. He kept studying her with a mixture of puzzlement and disbelief. "Why didn't you call me, Jenna?" The question came out of his mouth before he knew it, and by the time Alaric realized he actually asked it out loud, it was too late to swallow the words back.

Don't do that, Ric. Don't try to pretend that nothing changed between us, she pleaded was she supposed to answer that question?

"I didn't know it would be like that," her voice dropped as she held his gaze. "I've never—I've never left the house before. I didn't even know it could happen." She let the façade slip knowing that she did sound helpless and frightened now. "Besides, this thing—it can be anything, Ric." And here's to self-reassurance. "Like, stress, or exhaustion, or-"

"A vampire," he offered helpfully.

Jenna smirked and demonstrated him her wrist. "I'm working on that theory now."

Yeah, about that… "We should take care of this."

It took Alaric not more than half a minute to go to the bedroom and come back with the first-aid kid which he had left there last night.

"I think it's fine," Jenna sipped some more coffee and studied the bite-mark thoughtfully. "In fact, I think I am kind of getting used to it."

"It stands out," he pointed out.

Oh, right.

She let him take her hand in his. His palm was dry and little rugged against her skin, and the warmth of it went up Jenna's arm making it tingle a little. Making Alaric's proximity even more evident as she fought hard to ignore it before she said or did something ridiculously stupid. She watched him sprinkle something on the cotton pad and then felt the cool touch of it to her hand as his fingers moved surely and gently around the spot. Had a chance to study him properly for the first time in a long while and found herself holding back the wish to reach out and smooth the crease between his brows.

"I don't get it," she said after a while, frowning too. "Why would they do that?"

"Someone tried to make you their dinner," he supposed with fake easiness keeping his emotions at bay, as if they were talking about… golf, or something else neither of them gave crap about.

It was scaring him, making him want to scream in helpless fury. Now that the initial panic ebbed and he could think about something else, sort of, the whole horror of the situation sunk in making him feel sick. Someone lured Jenna out of the house. They hurt her, tried to feed off her. What if they…? God, he didn't want to go any further in his speculations or he'd lose him mind.

And then it struck him that no matter how much he'd wanted to know what had happened, it was probably better for her not to remember anything because who knew what it would make to her.

He let out a soft sigh fighting to keep his expression blank and not let any of his emotions slip. There was only one thought pounding in his head – if he ever found… wait, scratch that – when he found whoever was doing all of this to her, he'd rip them to pieces with his bare hands for only the idea of coming close to her.

"Well, I figured that," she told him, oblivious to his internal turmoil, "but I am all vervained, so… the point?"

The question was rhetorical but Alaric responded all the same, "They decided to give it a shot." He lifted his gaze to her face, losing the train of his thought, very well aware by the second how close she was standing watching him with her big blue eyes. It didn't go past him that she looked tired and these circles under her eyes pointed at the lack of proper sleep, which of course was explicable, but… Very close, in fact. His eyes went down and lingered on her lips. So close that he could just— He cleared his throat. "How are you feeling? Dizzy? Lightheaded?"

"No, why?"

"Symptoms of the blood loss."

"I feel stupid. Does it count?" She made a funny face making Ric break into a smile.

He tossed the cotton pads into the trash bin and then wrapped gauze bandage around her wrist tucking the loose ends under the layers before finally letting go of her hand.

"As good as new," told her softly catching her eyes again.

Jenna studied it closely. "Now I look like some emo teenager who cuts wrists because life sucks," she observed skeptically.

"I think it adds charm," Ric winked at her.

It was good. It felt good, just to be around him, Jenna thought suddenly, feeling bittersweet sadness. She missed this more than anything – their companionship of some sort. The way they could just be themselves around each other, and talk, and laugh. She stopped herself before her thoughts drifted any farther than that to other things that also felt good. More than good.

"I'm sorry for all this mess," she said softly. "I didn't mean to drag you into all of this, not like that—"

"I think I volunteered," Alaric reassured her in easy voice. "Does anyone know? Elena? Jeremy?"

Jenna reached out and set her hair free letting it fall on her shoulders and back. He saw that it was a plain pencil from his stationery set that kept it up, finding it oddly endearing for some reason. She gave her head a quick shake for her tresses to settle naturally and then said, "No, I failed to put it into words without sounding like I have lost my mind. Besides, I hoped it would stop, you know?" She shrugged half-heartedly fiddling with the pencil in her fingers before putting it onto the counter. "I take it you didn't happen to see my car outside, did you?"

"Nope." He shook his head. "Look, I'll take you home whenever you want."

"I cannot go anywhere like that," she groaned looking down herself with obvious displeasure. "It is disturbing enough to know that someone probably saw me wandering around the town in my pajama on my way here… and God only knows where else." She grimaced and then scowled when saw him trying to keep his lips from stretching. "And you're laughing at me."

"I just think you look good," he told her good-naturedly.

"Yeah, right." Jenna raked her fingers through her hair fluffing it a little and then padded to the living room, picked up the phone and dialed familiar number. "Hey, Elena, it's me." She chirped when Elena's phone went to the voicemail. "Um, funny story… call to Ric's when you get this."


In a couple of hours the world got back to its original place. Or at least she managed to assure herself of that. Jenna picked up the newspaper from the table beside the couch. It was the last week's issue but it wasn't the latest news that she was interested in. What caught her attention was a photo of a dark-haired girl on the front page, which looked familiar. She scanned short articles beneath it – barely a few lines – before realization came, and frowned then. Hollie Mathews.

"She was in Jeremy's class," she said catching Alaric's quizzical gaze across the room and put the newspaper back.

"Yes, I knew her," Ric cut off and corrected himself, "I know her. Hollie. She is in my class."

"Do you think it could be…" Jenna started and then trailed off leaving the question unfinished although they both knew what she was talking about.

"I don't know. I hope not," he said honestly knowing better than feeding her some false optimistic crap. Either way, vampires or not – the girl was still missing and that was a tragedy regardless of the reasons. And he knew her. It was always harder that way.

Slowly, she nodded. "Has there been any news?" She asked somewhat warily studying his face now that his gaze was glued to the photo.

"No," Alaric shook his head. "We've been—"

The knock on the door cut him off and they both whipped their heads around.

"That must be Elena." Jenna hopped off of the couch and headed to the hall, and added on a look over her shoulder, "I asked her to bring me some clothes."

"Here?" Alaric's brows shot up so high that they almost disappeared in his hairline as he followed her, just in case it was someone else. "She's not going to let you get away with this."

"Oh yeah," Jenna drawled pondering true expand of the disaster. Not that she had any choice…

She swung the door open to find a very busy-looking Elena standing outside with one of the boutique paper bags in her hand and studying thoughtfully something in the depth of the hallway. Curious, Jenna craned her neck but didn't see anything but a big flowerpot with some sort of a palm-like thing in the corner. Elena turned her head giving Jenna a pleasure of observing a full spectrum of emotions flashing across her face from worry, to confusion, to satisfaction. The latter made her lips stretch into a grin.

"Elena," Jenna sighed with relief grabbing the girl by the hand and pulling her inside. "Thanks for coming."

"Well, of course, because that's what I usually do at lunch," Elena informed her eagerly giving Jenna a pointed once-over and raising her brows meaningfully at the sight at Alaric's shirt and, well, everything. "Or because I had a full freak-out experience when you left this vague message. I thought something had happened," she said with reproach. "Something more dramatic than that, I mean."

"Elena," Ric joined them and paused at the wall, his hands crossed on his chest and his uneasiness speaking volumes.

"Oh, hey, Ric," she smiled at him.

"That's mine, right?" Jenna took the bag from the girl's hand and poked her nose inside to find her jeans, a long-sleeved t-shirt and a jacket. "Thanks."

"You're welcome. Well, I've got to be back to school now," Elena checked her watch before looking at them in turns. "I'm glad you guys got over your issues and are back together," she added. And then kicked herself mentally when Jenna's smile faded and she dropped her gaze down and Alaric looked away clearing his throat, and even the air became cooler by the second. "Or not," she muttered feeling endlessly uncomfortable, and really, really puzzled because – seriously?

"I should… there's something…" Ric mumbled before giving Elena a small nod and a wave of his hand and scramming. "I'll see you later, Elena."

"Sorry," Elena mouthed soundlessly when she met Jenna's eyes again. "I thought…" she faltered running her eyes up and down her aunt's outfit with a new sort of apprehension. "What's going on here?"

Jenna there a quick look over her shoulder. "It's hard to explain," she made a face at her niece. "Are you, guys, okay? Where's Jeremy?"

"Yeah, we're fine. I saw him in chemistry class just before I left," Elena responded absently, not letting herself be distracted. "Jenna, I'm serious," her voice was filled with worry now.

"I thought you needed to get back to school, no?" Jenna reminded her innocently.

"But—" Elena tried to object. "I come here at my lunch after that vague confusing message, and see you like this, and you won't even tell me what happened?"

"Lunch, right! Do you want Danish?" She asked and added with fake excitement, "I think we have cherry ones."

Elena's brows came together as she studied Jenna carefully. Her eyes flickered past her aunt's shoulder and into the depth of Alaric's apartment. "Look—" she started in a voice that implied that she was not going to move until she got her answers.

"It's fine," Jenna reassured her. "We'll—we'll talk later okay? Now, go to school."

"But—" she started again, still unconvinced. To hell with school, the world wouldn't end if she skipped the rest of the classes because something really bizarre was going on here. Elena cut herself off. It was Alaric for God's sake, what could possibly—

"Have a nice day, I'll see you at home!"

Jenna slammed the door shut and then closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she counted till ten in her mind before opening them again. Added mentally yet another point to the list of things she'd have to deal with. Soon. If only she could just sneak out…

"I'm sorry about that," she said when she returned to the living room and found him rearranging the books on the shelf.

Ric turned to the sound of her voice. "It's okay," he said shaking his head.

"Okay," Jenna nodded. "I should probably get dressed and—" get the hell out of here. Another knock on the door stopped her in mid-sentence. They exchanged puzzled looks. "I'll get it. It must be Elena, maybe she forgot something." Like, to make another dozen of witty comments. She put her bag onto the couch and returned to the hall, reached for the door knob and pulled it open on, "Seriously, everything's—" and chocked on her own words freezing to a spot as chill ran down her spine under the somewhat curious gaze of these dark piercing eyes.

"You must be Jenna," Isobel said casually which wasn't a question because she obviously knew perfectly well who she was talking to.

"I believe we've met already," Jenna retorted coolly, her fingers flexed on the doorknob.

"Not officially."

"It was memorable anyway."

Amused, Isobel inclined her head slightly to her shoulder studying the woman before her which made Jenna a little self-conscious reminding her of what she actually looked like, especially compared to Alaric's vampire ex in her trendy knee-long coat and with her perfect hair falling on her shoulders in heavy thick waves. She had style, Jenna couldn't deny that.

"Isobel?" Ric's voice wasn't anywhere close to welcoming when he suddenly appeared behind Jenna's back. She was too busy trying to burn Isobel with the power of her will to notice him coming. "What are you doing here?"

Neatly, he sidestepped Jenna away from the door putting himself between her and his ex wife, his eyes narrowed with suspicion and his jaw set tight. On long parting glare, Jenna walked away noting out of the corner of her eye how Alaric's wife craned her neck to follow her with her gaze.

"You little pet here has got temper," Isobel told him, smirking.

"Leave Jenna alone," Alaric tensed momentarily, his expression became dark and determined.

She ignored him though. "What's her problem?"

"You tried to kill her."

"Right," she nodded as if suddenly remembering it. "It was an accident, doesn't she know that?"

"What do you want?" He asked dryly.

"Oh, I hope I didn't interrupt anything?"

"What do you want?" Alaric repeated slowly.

"How about I come in and we will talk?" Isobel offered, not at all taken aback by his unfriendly reception.

He snickered humorlessly. "Yeah, sure. And how about you get the hell out of here?"

"She's in trouble, right?"

Ric tensed. "What do you know about it?" He asked in a low dangerous voice. The only thing that kept him from shaking the information out of her was that he didn't want to leave safe confines of his apartment. Not with Jenna inside. Well, that, and the fact that Isobel was much stronger and would hardly let him lay so much as a finger on her.

"Only that you accused me of having something to do with it," she shrugged. "Oh, don't look at me like that! You and the Salvatore brothers running around the town frantically. Too hard not to notice and put two and two together. But I can help you deal with it because, believe me, I am more resourceful than Damon or Stefan, or Damon and Stefan together. And a lot more resourceful than you."

"Why?" He asked calmly, suddenly drained of all emotions. "Why would you do that?"

"Because I love you, Ric."

He considered her words for a moment before shaking his head as his lips curved into a bitter sneer. "Drop dead, Isobel," and he slammed the door in her face.

"Think about it!" She called out from behind it which he preferred to ignore.

When he returned to the living room, Jenna had already changed into her clothes and was putting her pajama into the bag, his shirt she was wearing before lay neatly folded on the couch and her jacket was draped casually over its back.

She straightened up to the sound of his footsteps to give him a quick sliding glace – just to make sure he was alone, feeling slightly relived that he actually was – and then looked down again, suddenly finding her stuff extremely interesting.

"Can you take me home now?" Jenna asked in a flat voice, her expression blank.

"Jenna—" he started if a little helplessly.

She looked up, locked her eyes on his. "Please."

And hell if he could read her. For all he could tell, she couldn't care less. About Isobel, or him, or this whole situation. Apparently, she simply wanted to go home. Reluctantly, Ric nodded cursing Isobel mentally. "Sure."

He found his car keys, waited for Jenna to pull on her jacket and followed her outside.

The drove in silence. She kept staring out the passenger window all the way down to the Gilberts' house, and all Alaric could do was cast quick glances at her every now and then noting that she didn't so much as move in all fifteen minutes of their ride.

He left the car too and walked after Jenna along the paved pathway and up the porch steps feeling awkward and completely out of place. At the door she turned to him. Her features softened and the smile that she offered was genuine.

"Thanks," she said sincerely. "For putting up with all of that, and… for everything."

"Sure," he shrugged nonchalantly. Stuffed his hands into the pockets of his pants and cleared his throat. "Look, Jenna, I… I want you to know that I'm—that you can always call me, if you need anything or if something happens. Anytime, okay?"

She couldn't help smiling at that. "Okay," she responded hoping it did sound like Okay and not like No way in hell. "We're still friends, right?"

Ric flinched inwardly. Friends! He hated the word.

"Of course," he agreed easily, and then, "Listen, about Isobel—I'm sorry, I didn't know she'd show up and—" ruin everything, again.

"Don't," she stopped him and shook her head, and at this very moment he hated himself for that understanding that he saw on her face. Well, she was getting it all wrong but— "You don't have to explain anything to me. It's none of my business."

He felt stuck.

An awkward silence settled between them for a few painfully long moments.

Jenna looked around. "Thanks for the ride," she said again. "Um, would you—" started then.

"No, I should probably—" He trailed off nodding towards his car.

"Yeah, well, I guess I have to—" She followed his gaze before looking back at him.

"So, I'll see you later?"

"Sure." She nodded willing herself to keep breathing steadily.

She reached for the doorknob but didn't even touch it when it swung wide as John pulled it open from the inside. Surprised, he stopped short when he saw her on the doorstep and Alaric hovering somewhere in the background.

"Jenna?"

"John," she echoed in disinterested voice.

His gaze slid past her for the barest of moments but he did not acknowledge Alaric's presence in any other way. "Good," he said instead. "I wanted to talk to you."

She gave him a dark glare that she hoped told him everything she thought about the idea. Dealing with John was the last thing she was up to at the moment. "Not now," she said circling him around to get inside the house.

"It's urgent." He caught her by the elbow, his voice impatient.

But even before Jenna could turn – to kill him or something – his grasp was gone and the next moment she heard loud cracking noise somewhere to the right form her. Confused, she span around to find Ric holding John by the collar of his black leather jacket. And apparently the sound that she registered was plastic panels cracking under the impact when Alaric smacked him into the outer wall with enough force to make several dust clouds puff out from beneath the plastic and settle slowly to the porch floorboards at their feet.

"Hands off, John," he hissed, his grip growing so strong that his knuckles turned white.

"No need to be so territorial, Ric," John's voice was irritatingly calm, especially for someone who had nearly broken the house decoration with his head.

"Don't you dare ever touch her again," Alaric said slowly in a threatening voice punctuating his words, definitely making it sound like he was going to rip his head off or something, his face barely a couple of inches away from John's.

For a moment they just glared daggers at each other, before John broke the silence with, "Jenna, could you please keep him on a short leash?"

But even before the meaning of the words sunk in so that she could come with something in response, Alaric stepped back abruptly, releasing John so suddenly that the latter staggered a little, out of surprise more than anything.

"Whatever," he muttered through clenched teeth boiling on the inside, turned around and stomped away without giving any of them so much as a look.

John adjusted his jacket casually as if nothing had happened and the two of them had just had a civilized social conversation. Jenna regarded him furiously as her heart clenched at the sound of the tires screeching against the asphalt at Ric's hasty departure, and then headed insides. She intended to slam the door loud enough to make the windows shatter but John caught it in the middle as he strolled in after her.

"Are you happy now?" She asked with fake patience turning around.

"Your Romeo will get over it," he replied matter-of-factly, his face growing serious by the second. Obviously, it wasn't that ugly incident that bothered him.

"You—" she started.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" He interrupted her. "Coming home in the morning… sorry, afternoon this time, letting Jeremy and Elena run around with a bunch of blood suckers? Is that your idea of guardianship, Jenna?"

His tirade caught her off guard, and she blinked with confusion. "What brought this on? Excessive amount of caffeine?"

"Do you even know where they are now?" John went on, ignoring her.

"At school."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am!" Jenna snapped. "Are you done?"

"No." He stepped in her way when she turned towards the staircase. "My brother would want me to take care of them since you, apparently, fail. What would Miranda say if she knew what's going on here?"

It felt like a slap in the face, which hurt even more after all the events of the morning. Ha, like she didn't know it already! Miranda would have killed her, like, half a year ago! And didn't Jenna know that she was losing the battle? Well, the problem was – she wasn't Miranda, and trying to replace her was a foolish idea as is. But she was trying! She was trying so hard to make things right! And having her face rubbed into it wasn't exactly helping.

"What are you suggesting exactly, John? Tie them? Lock them in their rooms? Isolate them from the rest of the world? They are not five!"

"Whatever it takes to keep them safe and away from the vampires," he told her firmly.

"Okay then, and your idea of guardianship is what, drag them around wherever you are going?" She snorted not to let him see how hard his words hit her. "Or you'd rather lock them in some boarding school for troubled teenagers?"

"I'd do what's best for them."

"No, you'd do what's best for you," Jenna poked him in the chest. "Do you even know them?"

On that she brushed past him and stormed upstairs before she actually did or said something she'd probably regret in the future.

Once in her room, Jenna slammed the door shut so hard that it echoed in every single corner of the house. She leaned her back against it and then slid down it to the floor when her knees betrayed her, gasping for air and trying to keep breathing past her rapid heartbeat and a lump in her throat. It was nothing, she told herself. John was a jerk and she knew better than listening to whatever he was saying.

But everything was piling up lately – her stalker, and Ric, and his psycho wife, and this whole vampire situation, and a million of other things she had to deal with – and it was getting just too much. She was tired of wearing a mask and pretending that she was okay when in reality she wasn't, not even close. She felt like she was going crazy. Exhausted physically and mentally, Jenna buried her face in her knees and set the storm free letting herself cry – out of pain, and loss, and anger, and despair. But most of all, out of fear that there was no way to fix all this mess. She was scared, and she was all alone, and she needed him so much.

To be continued…


Thanks a lot for reading! I love reviews so they are always appreciated :)

I know it wasn't the best of me but I needed some pre-action before next couple of chapters that you will probably like ;) Just saying!