Cynthia was positively giddy by the end of her negotiations with Elijah Mikaelson. Despite all the time she had spent fretting over the meeting (and planning, more heavily with Damon than with Lee but three heads were better than one), it had also been exhilarating to meet him. She was another step closer, finally finally closer to getting home. Or at least finding out if it was possible.
No. No, she was not going to indulge in the possibility that she couldn't get back. If the creators of the show had gotten so much right about this parallel universe, it couldn't be by complete chance, right? True, the physics of parallel universe travel made no sense past the quantum level (and quantum and classic rules didn't play together, to her understanding?) Magic existed in this dimension though, and Cynthia would be hard pressed to claim she was still certain it did not exist in her own.
Something had landed her here, after all.
Elijah had escorted her out of the house. It was her house, technically, but the Bransons had better know she had no intention of paying property taxes for them. She liked them enough to manipulate events so Lexi wasn't staked to throw off the vampire threat, not enough to deal with bureaucracy bull on their behalf. She didn't have the income to pay for it anyway!
The elder vampire's old world charm, and the very real risk of her death, had kept Cynthia on her best behavior the entire day. Making the fudge had been just as much about playing a good host – and offering more gifts to the not an actual fae but close enough to it – as it had been a ploy to keep her hands occupied and her mind busy. There had been no telling when Elijah would show up, after all. She had spent the night on an air mattress surrounded by cardboard and a strange nostalgia for all of her own moving escapades.
Standing on the front porch, one hand still resting lightly on Elijah's arm she raised two fingers to her lips and whistled. (She felt very much as if she were summoning unruly pets, and honestly it was enjoyable.) Lee was good natured about everything, but she could practically see Damon evaluating everything. So she waved with her free hand and shot the man a wink before returning her attention to Elijah. "May I introduce my friends? This," she gestured, "is Mr. Lee Branson, and this is Mr. Damon Salvatore. Lee, Damon, if I could have the stakes?"
"So this is the mysterious Elijah," Cynthia rocked back on her heels when he slapped his stake a little too exuberantly into her hand. She had to focus on not using the original vampire as a balance. He wasn't a barre. Damon was wearing his most charming smile; Cynthia shivered a little and spoke up again as she slowly removed her hand from the crook of his elbow. "The rest of the wood I have is at home. Would you be amenable to picking it up there?"
Elijah's gaze followed her movement before scrutinizing her. "You have until tomorrow morning, Miss Gilbert." Her eyes widened in surprise, utterly startled by even that amount of leniency. Even with Rose and Trevor not being directly here and with her needing him, Cynthia had fully expected him to be keeping a direct eye on her and her compatriots. The fact he hadn't set her off balance more than Damon's jostling had. "I do hope I don't need to explain what will happen should I find you lied to or betrayed me in any way."
"No one hurts your family and lives." She kept her voice light just as he had, but the memory of precisely what had – would? – spawn that line was sobering indeed.
"Mr. Branson, Mr. Salvatore." Elijah had lifted his attention from her as he pocketed the new stakes. (Where was he keeping them? His suit didn't show any lines. Was it magic?) He stepped lightly off the front porch, his face inscrutable when he paused. "One more question, Miss Gilbert." After their hour or two long interrogation, really, what was one more between friends? Or not friends, as the case may be. "How old are you?"
Ah. That was a question she should know the answer to, wasn't it?
"Sixteen? Maybe seventeen?" Jeremy was fifteen right now, right? What was the age gap between the supposed siblings again? She should know something this basic. The answer satisfied Elijah, much to her relief. She didn't understand the significance of her physical age; Lee didn't seem to understand how she couldn't know the answer. "Until tomorrow."
Cynthia didn't see the original leave, but the rush of air and Damon's immediate steadying hand on her shoulder made it obvious that he had. "Care to share with the class?"
She wanted to just sit and process everything, but it wasn't to be. Only Damon had any idea of the full magnitude of importance she had assigned this meeting; Lee knew she thought she needed it, but that was all really.
"Rosemarie has a full pardon," she began, meeting Lee's gaze first. If and when she made it home, Cynthia would be doing a lot of praying for forgiveness over all the devil deals she was making here. Not to mention the fact she was actively and passively participating in so much death. "I didn't have the means to gain Trevor the same."
No, Cynthia did not give a damn that she had technically never been told the name of Lexi's friends that had been responsible for getting in touch with Elijah in the first place. The Bransons were potential loose ends, knowing some of her plans while being far more trusting of Stefan than her. Now that she'd communicated with Elijah, Cynthia wasn't quite as worried. He could try his best to stop the sacrifice, but what would be the point?
Klaus would be highly motivated for the doppelganger to live a long human life.
"On the down side, one of the Mikaelson's have access to your home. On the plus side, no one else can get in?" And surely they had other places to stay should they actually end up on Elijah's list. Or they could have her sign over ownership, it hardly bothered her. "Speaking of homes, can we go, Pikachu?" Before she had to give a full report to Lee. Let Damon handle that part. His idea of tact was still more than she felt capable of just now. She still had to play third wheel on a date tonight.
"Got a hot date?" He was so lucky that she liked him too much to stab him with her pencil. And that she had been using a mechanical pencil to doodle (while she waited) in the first place. "Not until tomorrow morning," she smiled beatifically up at him as he did start walking away from the house with her, presumably to his car. "Unless you're willing to make my appointment with Jenna a double date tonight?" That would be amazing. More than, even.
"Nice try." Damn it. "Somebody has to check on the pets you insisted we adopt."
Cynthia squinted a little at him. It wasn't like they had been fed. Pearl would have found her way out in no time if so, she was sure. Not that making sure no one had wandered in would be a bad thing, it just left her alone with Logan and Jenna on date number who knows what. She hadn't seen the man at their house yet, but Damon had snuck her out before midnight. Still, theoretically, Scumfell hadn't quite made it to the house yet. Another lovely bonus of Caroline being in the know before Elena; no awkward conversation to have the Gilberts and Fells trading favors over.
Or maybe he wasn't actually after that stupid watch, but why else would he suddenly be interested in Jenna?
"Fine, fine. Be a responsible adult; you're such a spoilsport when you decide to be admirable." Grumbling further insult compliments, Cynthia let herself into the passenger side of Damon's car. She would need to be responsible later and catch up on a boat load of make up work. Heck if it wasn't worth it though. Damon's eyes were crinkled with amusement when he slid into the driver's side. Tapping his ear, he nodded toward's Lee's stationary form. The Salvatore had only parked a few houses down, and Lee remained on his new house's porch. "So, how'd you negotiate the flower child's freedom?"
Damn it, he would have to go and make covering up her mistake fun.
"With the white oak in my possession, or our possession rather. He asked after her, and I put two and two together." All true, although Cynthia was helpfully leaving out the part where she already knew their names and their crime for that matter. "Trevor's name wasn't mentioned until after I'd struck the deal." Technically, it hadn't been mentioned at all. Not that she would have attempted to negotiate for him anyway, she had her own business to attend to as well. Such a pity that she'd left her fudge in the Branson's new home, or she'd have shoved a piece in Damon's mouth now to stop the inquisition from continuing.
He stopped on his own in short order and started up the car, which Cynthia took to mean that their audience had left them. Just in time too, they would barely make it back to Mystic Falls in time if Damon followed the speed limit.
(He didn't.)
.
.
It was with great reluctance that Cynthia walked through the doors of the Mystic Grill. What she wanted to do was keep sleeping on Damon's arm. He'd turned the radio down and let her crash after she had updated him on everything. That nap had been wonderful, even with the discomfort of the gear shift. As utterly lame – and foolish – as it sounded, she trusted the blue eyed vampire. Logan Fell? Not so much.
He cleaned up well. No surprise there, most of the show's main and recurring cast were aesthetically pleasing. The man still set her teeth on edge.
Skipping up to her aunt, Cynthia put on her best smile. "Have no fear, children. Your chaperone is here!"
"Chaperone?" Logan looked between Cynthia and Jenna. "Worried that you won't be able to keep your hands off of me, Jenna?"
"Every time you speak, I just hear 'Punch Me',' Jenna snarked back. "She's here to make sure I don't."
She so knew that Jenna was a perfect aunt. They both had issues with responding to stress with the violence. Never mind that was probably a lie and that Jenna's biggest weakness wasn't self control but her insistence on giving everyone chance upon chance.
Cynthia grabbed both of their wrists and decided to drag them to a seat before the tension between the two theoretical adults choked her. "Okay, food time! Also question, and it's a daily double." Cynthia waited with her hands propped up on her hips as both her aunt and her aunt's poor choice of potential boyfriend sat under her glare. "Have you ever met me before, Mr. Fell?"
She smiled at the utter confusion both gave her and flounced into the seat next to Jenna, all the better to whisper in her ear. Not that Cynthia could blame her aunt too much. Her favorite men in this universe were remorseless serial killers. Logan cheating in the past was rather tame in comparison.
Totally still a valid reason not to date him though.
"I… I might have? When you were around nine." Logan squinted at her, an amused grin forming that she still wanted to smack off. "Are you trying to give me a shovel talk?"
Was he trying to imply she wasn't intimidating at all? How dare he be right about anything. Jenna distracted Cynthia from her sudden staring contest with the broadcast journalist by loudly thanking their server for the menus.
"If I was threatening you, Scumfell, you would know it," Cynthia informed him lightly. She'd ask Damon to back her up if she actually needed to be threatening. Never mind her existential crisis right now. The girl placed her order with a polite smile, then placed her hands on the wooden table between her and Logan. "Alright, I admit. That wasn't the question Aunt Jenna wanted me to ask."
Said aunt was smacking her with a napkin right now; Logan looked delighted at the admission Jenna had a hand in this. "Go ahead and shoot, kiddo."
At least it was better than Cyndy. She took a deep breath, released. "Right, Jenna and I were hoping you'd settle a dispute for us. We wouldn't be coming to you, if you weren't so conveniently suddenly making yourself available." Shots fired. Cynthia smiled prettily, hoping she looked innocent but willing to settle for devious. "See, I believe vampires are real. She's convinced that Occam's Razor suggests there's no such thing. After all the existence of vampires would mean that there is a decades, centuries long town conspiracy. And, of course, that's on top of vampirism somehow being a legitimate thing and not just fantasy."
She reclined into her chair further the longer she spoke. By the end, some of her attention was diverted by a dark haired trouble maker chatting with Vicki at the hostess' station. Logan's flabbergasted nervous laugh was enough for Cynthia to refocus however. "Wow, you have a really good imagination."
"Mn, you think so?" She thanked their waitress profusely for her drink, ripped off one end of the paper wrapper, and blew the rest towards their current interviewee playfully. "What do you think, Aunt Jenna?"
"For a television personality, you're terrible at selling your story."
Her soda pop was almost as delicious as the expression on her new aunt's face.
She couldn't tell who was sweet talking Vicki, but the kid looked vaguely familiar. She drank more of her soda determinedly, tuning out as Jenna dominated the conversation with her not quite but sort of boyfriend. Why did Mystic Falls have to be just as full of life threatening drama as it was general teenage stupidity?
Living in a deadly soap opera was not of the fun.
"Why would you even consider giving credence to her ideas?"
"Why do you think posing a new question will make me forget that you haven't given me a straight answer?"
At least she was getting a cheeseburger and fries out of this.
.
.
As it turned out, Logan was not invited home that night. He did push for it, saying he could cook and make things up to Jenna, explain better. Jenna didn't take the bait, and Cynthia wasn't about to try and sway her position. Sucks to be you, Scumfell. What she wanted to do was ask him if he was only using her aunt for some stupid device, or if he was actually genuinely interested in her. It might not have changed Cynthia's opinion on the man overly much, but it certainly would have provided some worthwhile context.
They bickered lightly over what memories consisted of on the short drive home. Going up against a psychology major in their own field might not have been one of Cynthia's smartest decision, but it was the preferable outcome. Given that they'd gotten on this tangent when Jenna asked about her initial question to the Fell.
The girl knew that she should really just grow a spine and check old photo albums. As much as she agreed with Damon that it didn't matter whether or not Cynthia 1.0 was real (or really a Gilbert), it still nagged at her.
Her justification for not checking was that she wouldn't believe it anyway. She'd read 1.0's diary and still held her doubts.
Cynthia wasn't sure any answer would make sense to her.
So discussing the fragility and flexibility of the human mind it was.
Entering the foyer, Cynthia toed off her shoes and finally felt herself relax again. She'd been on stage almost all day aside from her brief car ride nap. Being in the presence of Logan Fell as he lied his heart out over a cause he dedicated his life to was stressful. So was his inevitable attempts at apologizing and backtracking once Cynthia questioned whether or not Gilberts were no longer welcome on the council, and if so for what reason.
The girl was about to sink into the comfort of a couch when she was summarily hauled upstairs by the wrist.
"Ow! What the hell, Elena?" She jerked her hand free, rubbing at the tender muscle as her not twin closed her bedroom door. Elena had managed to squeeze over her bracelet, and the metal digging into her flesh had not been a particularly pleasant sensation. "What's your damage?"
Elena had crossed her arms across her chest and looked across her room to where Bonnie was perched on the bed. "I'm worried about you."
"We are worried about you," Bonnie corrected. "This is a friend intervention."
Cynthia looked between both and noticed their distinct lack of letters or scripts. "Umn… not that I don't, sort of, appreciate the sentiment, but I'm pretty sure Jeremy is the one who needs an intervention. Not me. Where's Caroline?"
"Caroline," her not twin huffed, "doesn't see anything wrong. You've been spending plenty of one on one time with her."
Oh-kay….
"Cyndy, where were you today?"
"You're going to need to be a bit more specific on the time if you expect an answer." She finally lowered her hands in defeat as she looked around the room. "The Heisenberg principle should not apply to me, for obvious reasons."
Bonnie either didn't recognize or didn't appreciate Cynthia's sense of humor. "You skipped school today without saying anything to any of us. We were worried something might have happened to you."
"And you didn't just… I don't know. Ask Aunt Jenna?" Was Elena under the impression they were tied at the hip twins that shared friends and hid nothing from each other? Because there was no way that was going to happen. It was only thanks to Damon that she had anything resembling acceptable clothes these days. Something that had gathered no commentary from the gang, Elena included. So she skipped a day of school two weeks in a row? Wasn't school considered more optional than mandatory in this world?
"Why would you tell Jenna but not me?"
"Aunt Jenna is our guardian. Also known as the person responsible should I be in trouble for truancy, and the person most capable of securing me an excused absence. Seeing as she's an adult and entrusted with our care. Why would I tell you?"
She felt bad for Elena. Really, Cynthia did. The girl's doe eyes brimmed with hurt at her rejection, but she still wasn't sure why she had been dragged up here to begin with. "If that's all. I can leave you two to whatever it is you get up to behind closed doors normally."
"No. That's not all." Elena burst out. "Cynthia, I already lost mom and dad. Jeremy is… I don't even know. You were basically gone all summer, and just when I thought I got you back. You're so closed off from me. You barely talk to me at all unless someone else is in the room." That did explain Bonnie's presence better. "I can't lose you too, Cyn. You said you wouldn't shut me out."
Elena might have asked her not to, but Cynthia was reasonably certain she had not verbally agreed to any such thing.
"Elena…. You have to accept that I do not have to account for my whereabouts with you. Okay? Every time I've gone anywhere, you've questioned me on it. Now, I don't know if you're just being really pushy and expecting me to have good gossip, if you think you are entitled to all of my life stories when I don't press to know what you and Stefan do. I mostly choose to pretend you're off in a private book club." She winked lightly at an unamused Bonnie. "Maybe sharing drinks under a cabana. But this, this has to stop. I'm allowed my secrets. We all are. That doesn't make them lies. That doesn't make them shutting you out. If I want to spend all day with Damon, then I can."
"But you can't!" Elena's voice rose in pitch. "Don't you see how irresponsible you're being? Ditching school just so you can hang around with someone who seems to spend his days constantly drunk now?"
Cynthia shrugged, trying to ignore the intensity of the girls' attention. She knew that both Elena and Bonnie were acting out of concern, both trying to protect her in their own way. That just wasn't how she was willing to play ball. "There was a hiccup in his master plan. It happens to all of us."
Elena was in her face now, repressed tears visible, enough to make her feel more than a modicum of guilt. She's a fictional character, Cynthia chanted to herself. Every day here that was harder to believe. "Master plan? Since when do you even think like that, Cyn? You were back as happy go lucky girl for all of like three minutes. Now you are constantly going on field trips with someone that you swear isn't your boyfriend… and you just expect me to accept that? Accept not knowing anything else about you? Are.. are you punishing me?"
She squinted in confusion first at the doppelganger and then at the Bennett witch. "Why do you think I would be punishing you?"
"Because… because it's my fault Mom and Dad died! You've never liked all the drinking or the parties I go to. And I threw a fit to go and see Matt even thought it was family night, just.. just to want to go right back home. And they wouldn't have even been on that stupid bridge, much less have driven over it, if it wasn't for me. Then you spent all summer contemplating whether or not you wanted to have a future? Why wouldn't you want to… to get back at me?"
Bonnie spoke up again, "We want our friend back."
If they meant Cynthia 1.0, then she strongly agreed. The rest, however, she should have expected. As exhausting as it was.
"Elena. I don't blame you for the deaths of your – our – parents. You didn't drive them off the road. You didn't stop them from being rescued." Frankly, she didn't like the little she remembered of Grayson anyway. "All you did was get upset and turn to your parents for help."
Maybe that was part of Elena's inability to step out of the adult and in charge role. The last time she asked for help, the adults involved died.
"I'm… I may never go back to being someone who sneaks into your room at night to tell you everything on my mind, or whatever. That's not because I hate you, or because I'm punishing you, or even because I blame you. I'm just not that girl anymore."
Can they please stop having conversations like this now? Probably not. She was stubborn as a teenager, and Elena made her look fairly flexible.
"Why not?" Bonnie looked just as lost as Elena. "We miss you. You're fine talking with Caroline. Why not us?"
Caroline understood what it felt like to be the outsider. That was why.
"Even if I could explain…. Would you believe me?" Cynthia backed up to the bathroom door, thanking the powers that be that it was now her room on the other side of the Jack and Jill suite. "You didn't about vampires. Damon believes me. That's why I like spending so much time with him. That and… it's just like you and Stefan, you know?" Twin and best friend exchanged glances, and Cynthia mentally stepped on her own foot. "I mean, you like him a little because he doesn't have any particular expectations of you. He doesn't want you to be anyone but who you are now. Not cheerleader girl or community service girl or anything but… you."
She decided to politely ignore the significant looks being shot her way.
"Speaking of Damon, I should be meeting him soon." Cynthia tapped the side of her nose mischievously as Elena gasped. "Cynthia Gilbert, you are not sneaking back out of the house. You just spent the whole day with him!"
"All I said was I could do that if I wanted," Cynthia grinned, although she kept her tone petulant. "What I actually did was help some of Damon's acquaintances move." She didn't want to deal with the whole 'Stefan didn't say Lexi was moving!' conversation right now. "And then suffer through Aunt Jenna's agonizing attempt at a date with Logan Scumfell."
Gossiping really did melt Bonnie and Elena. Fine. She'd think about sharing more in the future. Bonnie was leaning forward slightly as if she were fascinated. "I take it you don't approve?"
"I think he's using her," Cynthia admitted bluntly. "I haven't said anything because I don't have any proof. He was disturbingly keen on getting invited over. I can't imagine why. If you wanted time with someone you were attracted to, and you had a house like the Fell's… would you push to visit the house with three minors in it? Or to have your paramour visit you?"
The bathroom door opened from behind her, and Cynthia fell backwards with an embarrassed squeak, hitting tile and legs. Elena was kind enough to cover her laugh. "I think you're meant to catch her." Maybe not so kind. Lifting herself back up, she groaned a little at just how amused Damon looked.
"You have to stop just falling over me in public, kitten. People will talk."
Smug blue eyed vampire in his leather coat.
"This is why no one believes me when I tell them we aren't dating," she complained as he helped her fully to her feet with a tug at one arm. "Is the intervention over, or…?"
"Have fun, kitten." Cynthia grabbed a hand towel, bunched it up, and tossed it at the two snickering teenagers.
.
.
Was it bad that talking with Damon made her feel better? He'd dumped a duffel bag full of wood on top of her bed before fetching her. Cynthia had to admit that he had done a good job; even knowing where it came from, she couldn't tell that it had been a sign at one point in its life.
She had grumbled to him while doing math problems and BSing an outline for yet another essay. Family dynamics that weren't yours sucked. Being paranoid about everything also sucked. (Damon, naturally, just told her to live a little.)
"I just want to be home. To be with Orion, for all of this to be over."
"You say that like spending time with me is a terrible chore," Damon quipped as he leaned against her pillows, no doubt correcting her history homework with sarcastic comments. Cynthia rolled her eyes at him. "As if you wouldn't have left me in a heartbeat if Katherine really was in that tomb."
"Of course I wouldn't." He sounded so serious that Cynthia snapped her binder closed and turned to stare at him. "You wanted to see Europe with me first."
She could only manage a weak smile at that.
Damon pulled her away from her homework, holding her secure with one arm and tucking her hair behind her ears with his free hand. "Tell me about him. Your one true love." He didn't need to sound so sarcastic about it just because his had only been out for herself.
"Orion.… For me, he's one of those people that when you first see them, learn about them, you desperately want to get to know better. He's smart and funny and one of the most loving people I've ever met." She leaned back against Damon's shoulder, no longer pretending to want to do any of the hell that was high school busy work. "He's also reserved with people he doesn't know, but if you're someone he considers family he'd do anything for you."
"You don't seem the sort of girl who would go for the reserved type."
She snorted a little. "Really? Have I struck you as horribly impatient every time you go off who knows where?"
Damon rested his chin on top of her head, smirking into her hair. "Yes. Every time I go somewhere else, you start flirting with my brother or distant nephew or – "
Cynthia reached over and flicked him on the shoulder. "I'm shameless when I'm bored. I get it."
"Mhmn. It's very entertaining."
"I'm happy I can be of service then."
She very carefully said nothing when Damon started threading his fingers through her hair. It was wonderfully soothing, and she didn't want to convince him to stop by pointing out how nice and domestic he was being.
"What happens if you can't go back?" Damon asked at length, startling her from the dreamy haze he'd put her in. It took a good deal of effort to straighten up and look at him properly. "What do you mean?"
"If you can't go back to Orion," he spoke slowly, raising his voice slightly as if that would help him get his point across better. (It didn't. She had heard him just fine the first time.) "What will you do?"
Other than be incredibly miserable? Cynthia shifted uncomfortably at the very idea of failure.
"Why do you ask?"
"Gee, I don't know. It's not like I have any experience with someone I love being stolen away from me the night of a comet." His voice practically dripped sarcasm. Cynthia, for her part, stiffened at the comparison. It wasn't that she disagreed with Damon, their shared loss was something she had happily leveraged to build a rapport with the man in the beginning. It was the significance he placed on the comet.
Damon continued talking as if he hadn't just stabbed her in the heart. "At least, I assume the night we met was the first night you were here. Am I wrong? Did you hole yourself up in your room waiting to come play fangirl?"
No, damn it all. She hadn't been.
"They could be totally unrelated." Cynthia hoped they were, but if anything aside from Expression could power the breaching of worlds, then it would be channeling a comet. Most of the Mikaelsons had died at some point and been brought back in their original bodies without needing some rare celestial event, hadn't they?
"Could be," Damon agreed easily. Too easily. "But I doubt it. I think you know it too, because you've gone out of your way to make living here more bearable. You have had plenty of opportunities to ask a witch for help by now on your own."
She hadn't wanted to be disbelieved or told it was dark magic that couldn't be helped or seen as a threat. There was a difference!
"I guess I'll be planning for a miracle." Her lips thinned to a straight line. Neither the Salvatores nor the Mikaelsons ever let reality stand in their way. Now would not be a good time for them to start. "And that trip to Europe."
She felt as much as heard Damon's amusement.
.
.
Morning came far too soon. Damon summarily deciding to crash in her room was beneficial in that he woke her up in enough time to take a shower, but it also had the rather negative effect of leaving a very nosy vampire around to raid her drawers and comment on everything. He approved of her shoes, disapproved of her undergarments, thought her black lace gloves were 'adorable', and tried to convince her to wear the outfit he'd picked out for the day.
"Oh come on, Cynthia! What's the point in having all these clothes if you don't wear them? Besides, where is your Halloween spirit?"
"Buried with the cup of tea you spilled on the clothes, I was going to wear today." She grumped, tugging on khakis and a red floral top and continuing to ignore Damon's attempts to sway her otherwise. "I am not going to school dressed like a flapper. And Samhain is weeks away. Besides, I do have an important meeting with someone this morning."
"You made that deal before you thought you might need to wait a hundred and forty five years to go home," Damon pointed out helpfully. Cynthia scoffed a little. "It's terribly convenient that you waited until last night to bring that little point up. But if you are right, then that's all the more reason to play nice. I don't want to be enemies with the Mikaelsons anymore than you should."
"Is there anything you can't suck the fun out of?"
Yes, Damon. Complain she preferred to get them mutual allies instead of reacting impulsively from the possibility it might be even harder to go home than she'd originally thought. Screw that.
Cynthia considered his question anyway, then shrugged. "Leaf peeping."
The doorbell rang before Damon could do more than smile disarmingly at her. Cynthia fixed a new scarf around her neck, grabbed her jacket and both bags, then practically ran down the stairs. She still didn't beat Elena to the door, however.
"You're… not Stefan," Elena blinked in confusion. Cynthia couldn't blame her. It wasn't every day that a stranger showed up on your porch in such a nice suit.
"No, I am not," Elijah smiled politely, all of his attention on Elena until Cynthia slid next to her and set the duffel bag down in the doorway. He eyed the bag for a brief moment, then looked back up to meet the shorter girl's eyes. "I'm assuming by your ages that you would both be Miss Gilbert, not the Ms. Sommers I am given to understand has taken up residence here?"
Elena took a half step away from the door, her hand finally leaving the door knob when she did so. "What do you want with Aunt Jenna?"
"Nothing, for my part," Elijah replied easily. "Forgive me. My name is Elijah Smith. I'm here to represent the interests of one Mrs. Isobel Saltzman. She is seeking custody of her twin daughters. Mrs. Saltzman alleges that the late Grayson Gilbert conspired to keep her girls from her. Now that he has passed, and his family has had some time to grieve, she wishes to remedy the situation. I was hoping to deliver these papers to Ms. Sommers in person rather than through the mail; It seemed insensitive to do otherwise."
Cynthia took a step back, as Elena informed the man that their aunt had left early this morning to get to school, and wouldn't be back until evening. Murmuring quietly as the other girl spoke, Cynthia pre-emptively invited the elder vampire inside. He was still the ally most likely to help her in her quest. (Elijah's mother and his half brother were both skilled with moving souls about.) Elijah was also the least likely to act out in anger. He'd have little enough reason to do so if he was securing possession of the doppelganger through legal means. Even if Isobel didn't actually have a case, Cynthia wouldn't be surprised if both twins found themselves in his care in no time regardless. Her – apparently actually biological – twin was still staring uncomprehendingly at their visitor. "If you find it agreeable , we can accept the papers for her and place them on her desk," she offered. "Oh, I forgot my manners. My apologies. Do you prefer coffee or tea, Mr. Smith?"
"We aren't accepting anything," Elena hissed at her. "And after everything you said, we're not inviting a stranger inside without Jenna around." Well, no. 'We' weren't. She already had. Cutting over Cynthia's attempt at pleasantries, Elena successfully grabbed the original's attention again. "What do you mean, twin daughters?"
"I'm afraid I can't discuss matters of the case with anyone uninvolved. Unless your birthday happens to be June 22nd?" He paused a moment. "Thank you for the offer, Miss Gilbert, but I won't be staying."
So that was her new birthday. Cynthia tuned out briefly, mentally calculating what her new zodiac sign was. Cancer? Or close enough. She could work with that, the girl supposed. She missed Elena's choked gasp, but did catch Damon coming downstairs and playing the responsible adult as he closed the door and spoke quietly with the elder vampire outdoors.
Times like this, she almost wished for vampiric hearing so she'd know what Damon was saying to the man, but Cynthia had enough faith in Elijah. She'd fulfilled her side of the bargain, so Rose was free. So long as she did not plot against him and prevent the reunion of his family, Elijah would at the very least, not make life more difficult than necessary for her. She couldn't be reunited with her family if she was trapped in this world's Other Side or anything else.
Cynthia could almost feel sympathetic for Silas. Almost.
"Cynthia." Belatedly, she looked up to her now shell shocked twin. "Is he… are.. are we adopted?"
She took a deep breath, then stepped forward and held the girl. Elena, after all, had fond memories of the Gilbert parents, and Elijah had heavily implied they had been kidnapped. While it wasn't the case, to her knowledge, it had to be a blow for the young teenager.
"Maybe so. I guess we'll find out tonight." Cynthia chided herself mentally for that stellarly unsupportive response. On the plus side though, it had to be better than having sex with your boyfriend and finding out you were a dead ringer for his ex. And only then discovering she was adopted. Even if it was only marginally better. "Jenna will be able to set Mr. Smith straight if he's wrong."
Gently, she pulled Elena over to sit on the staircase with her. "Are you going to be okay?"
"I… I don't know. I can't imagine Mom and Dad basically kidnapping us…."
"But if he's right," Cynthia followed up as sympathetically as she could manage. "Then we still have parents somewhere. At least one."
Blood family mattered quite a bit to Elena Gilbert. Whenever Cynthia forgot it – like she had before last night's little 'intervention' – circumstance seemed to bring her a reminder. She hadn't expected Elijah to take this angle, for all that she had mentioned Isobel negotiating with Niklaus in the original timeline. She and Elena were both old enough to have a say in who held custody of them, after all. Unless this Virginia lived in the dark ages still. But even if he only secured temporary custody, that would be more than enough of a boon should he reach out to his brother. Last time, Cynthia was fairly certain he had played historian.
Last time, she realized, Elijah thought he needed magic to kill his brother. This time around, even if he did seek to end Klaus' life, all he needed was one of the stakes she had provided him.
The front door opened, and Damon leaned into the house. "For whom it may concern, my far less attractive brother has shown up and is insisting he escort you to school. Apparently, he thinks I'm a bad influence."
Cynthia shared a grin with Elena as they both heard Stefan insist that was only because Damon was a bad influence.
"A bad influence that makes a wonderful pillow," Cynthia whispered to her twin. She had meant what she told the girl last night; Cynthia had no intentions of accounting for where she was at all times or going back to being a person that she had never been. But if it made Elena feel a little better, a little less guilty, just to talk to her a little more? That, Cynthia could do.
At least occasionally.
"He's also an incredibly annoying alarm," Elena responded, smiling a tiny bit as if to say she was forgiven. "I have no idea what you see in him."
Walking out onto the porch, Cynthia was disappointed to see that Elijah had already vanished. Not that she would have been able to speak privately with him, there were far too many busy body witnesses. Stefan was by their side the moment the front door closed, watching Elena with a truly tender amount of concern. "Are you okay? Damon said you had a visitor."
Elena brushed her hair off her neck and shrugged her backpack onto one shoulder. "Yeah, he was just here a minute ago. Where'd he go so quickly?"
"Small town," Damon shrugged off her suspicion easily. "Big shot lawyer was probably itching to leave. I can't say I blame him."
"No one is making you stay here, Damon," Stefan fixed him with a glare. "Elena has a point. If he left that quickly, then he might be a – "
"A vampire?" Her twin made a strangled sound. "You mean Damon was serious? You know? And it's true?"
"Threat," Stefan finished with a confused expression. "What did Damon say? Elena… you know you can't believe a word he says." Cynthia was curious herself, even if Stefan's assertion was hardly fair. She had been wondering when Elena and Stefan would have had this little heart to heart. Considering she had given the perpetual seventeen year old more than enough warning, Cynthia had honestly expected it to have happened sooner. For Lexi or Lee to say something at the least, given Zach rarely seemed to come out of his room enough for Elena to interact with him. That, or he stayed out of the house as much as possible and inside the homes of other Council members.
"He said your father was murdered by a vampire," Elena whispered, staring at Stefan with ill concealed horror. "I didn't want to believe it, because he also said… the last time your father saw you he thought you were a demon." A fact Stefan had not argued, while in Elena's presence. Apparently stealing the video tape had not actually been good enough. Possibly worse for the way Elena saw him. Whoops?
"Elena." Stefan took a step forward, and Cynthia wrapped an arm around Elena protectively. (Also, to keep her from fleeing too quickly.)
"Because if vampires are real," the doppelganger continued shakily. "Then that means… Stefan. Stefan, what are you?"
Somehow, Cynthia doubted they were actually going to go to school today if she didn't interfere. Stefan, the poor sod, looked heartbroken. She almost wanted to give him a hug, but given how focused he was on Elena, Cynthia wasn't sure that Stef would even notice.
"Elena. Please."
Damon whistled lightly, cutting through the angsty tension with his own devil may care vibe. "This is what happens when you choose to keep secrets, little brother. Come on, kitten. I'll give you a lift to school. I'm pretty sure you're ahead of me enough in favors by now."
"What is he talking about?" Elena's voice rose in pitch. The doppelganger wasn't stronger than Damon however, so it was no surprise which of the two won the tug of war over possession for Cynthia's arm. "Cynthia?"
She took pity on the girl, strapping herself into Damon's passenger seat. "There's a reason I was so confident when Caroline came up with her theory. I happen to be BFF's with a vamp."
"How can you be okay with this?"
Cynthia shrugged off the incredulity in Elena's voice. "Because I'm not a prejudiced dick?" she suggested with a teasing smile. "Being a vampire doesn't make him any less my friend. And someone leaving quicker than you notice doesn't make Mr. Smith a vampire either. I know lawyers get a horrible rap, but damn, you two are quick with the judgement."
Sure, Elijah was a vampire, but that didn't make her point less valid.
Damon revved the car engine and swung an arm around Cynthia's shoulders before winking at Elena and Stefan. "See you lovebirds later. Toodleloo." He wiggled his fingers in the parody of a wave before pulling out of the driveway.
.
.
She didn't immediately get out of the car when Damon pulled into the parking lot. Instead, she leaned back into her seat and turned to face the vampire. His arm had remained around her the whole trip, cocky smile turned up to a hundred watts.
"What did you and Lord Elijah speak about?" Cynthia asked curiously, trying not to sound confrontational and put the man off. She was truly curious, however, and given that Damon knew how long she had spent negotiating with the elder vampire she assumed he would understand. "Oh, nothing much to worry your pretty little head." He chuckled a little. "I simply explained that I had brought all the white oak I had collected, and I asked him what he planned on accomplishing with his little secret identity caper."
Cynthia groaned, "Please tell me you did not alienate the thousand year old vampire just because you decided you wanted to have a dick measuring contest."
"I didn't alienate the thousand year old vampire. Much." He smirked in the face of her pain. "I wanted to make sure he knew not to mess with you."
Why would Elijah hurt her when they actively held a deal? That made no sense even to her overly paranoid brain. "You are still impossible," she informed him.
"Says the one whose back up plan is to tour the world with me," Damon smiled sweetly. "People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, Cynthia."
Grumbling to herself, she got out of the car after he placed a swift kiss on her cheek and pointedly unlocked the doors. "Shut up," she said fondly. "I'll catch you later?"
"Once I escape Stefan and his woe is me routine," Damon promised. "Which will hopefully end sometime this century, but I won't hold my breath."
"Bless." Cynthia shook her head a little and headed inside to meet Caroline at her locker. For once, she had a great deal to share, and she felt grateful for how utterly long the school day would run since it would give her enough time to do so.
.
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All my thanks as ever to my wonderful readers and reviewers.
I'm publishing this a bit early, because frankly, I need a pick me up. I can't just make me happy with the push of a button.
But maybe I can help make someone else's day a little better.