AN: Next Chapter! Enjoy! And thank you for the million story alerts and favorites!

Now

"I really don't appreciate either of you telling my business to other people, but especially my ex-boyfriend. An ex boyfriend who is a dick."

"But all your boyfriends are dicks." Jeremy said bluntly.

"But this one," she blew out a breath and plopped down beside him. Elena put her hand on Jenna's shoulder. "This one is the worst."

"Why? What did he do?" Elena said, looking concerned.

Jenna smiled sadly. "He broke my heart into a million pieces. There was nothing left to give anyone." She sighed. "Maybe that was why Logan cheated, and Alaric didn't work out. Because I was so…messed up from Mason. I've just fallen out of the…loop, I guess."

"I'm sorry Aunt Jenna." Jeremy said, resting his head on her shoulder.

"It's okay Jeremy, it's over and done with. All we can do is move on." Jenna smiled brightly (she always was a good actress when it came to all things Mason).

"Alright, see you guys later. I'm going to the Grill." Jeremy said, standing up and walking to the door. "And by the way, Jenna?"

"What?"

He grinned. "I'm still Team Mason."

"You little-"

Then (age 16 and 17)

"Hey LJ." Mason said smoothly. "Want to go out with me on Friday?"

Jenna rolled her eyes, and opened her locker. "Funny. Yeah, um, thank you for the offer, but no. I'm good. Move along to your next victim, please." No one could ever say she wasn't polite while being rude.

"Aw, LJ don't be like that!" He said with a smirk. She slammed her locker shut, and glared at him.

"Stop calling me that! You know I hate it! It wasn't cute when I was six, and it sure as hell isn't cute now!" He'd leaned down sometime, so his face was close to hers. Really only inches away.

"And if I don't?" he whispered.

"I…I uh," she stammered. He grinned even bigger and pecked her on the cheek.

"See you Friday, Little Jenna." He taunted, sauntering off.

Now

When she saw his truck in the school parking lot, she immediately knew who Jeremy had gotten into a fight with, and that this was not going to end well. Sighing, she walked into the school, taking the familiar hallway to the principles office. When she opened the door, sitting outside of the office were three students: Tyler, Jeremy and one other large student holding a bag of ice to his bruised face.

"Jenna, I-"

"Jeremy, don't. Just don't."

"Really Miss J, he didn't-"

"Tyler, I used to baby-sit you, and that's why I have given you the benefit of the doubt these past few months you've been bullying Jeremy. Please don't make me regret it by speaking right now." With that she opened the door, walked in and quickly shut it behind her. Sure enough, Mason Lockwood sat in one of the two chairs in front of Principle Turner's desk.

"Sir, I am so sorry." she said honestly as she sat down.

"So am I, Miss Sommers. As I was just telling Mr. Lockwood, I have seen our old students more and more lately. Let me tell you the situation."

Apparently, Tyler and Jeremy had not been fighting. At least, not each other. For some reason, the other boy, Aaron, had dumped his girlfriend, Jordan, publicly (i.e. in the cafeteria during lunch) and called her a whore and plenty of other awful names. Jeremy had gotten mad, because Jordan was a good friend of his, and he told the guy (Aaron) to not be such a dick. This resulted in Aaron throwing a punch, and Tyler stepping in to help Jeremy out.

"All Mr. Lockwood and Mr. Gilbert will be suspended for five days, while Mr. Davis will be suspended for seven."

"Is there any other way Jeremy can be punished? He's been suspended so much already, and just when he's doing good, he's suspended again. I just-"

"Hey, what about Tyler? He was just helping out his buddy!"

"If you knew anything about Jeremy and Tyler, you would know that they are not 'buddies'. At least they weren't the last time Jeremy and I spoke." Jenna said bitterly. Jeremy still didn't open up to her as much as she would like. Which is, not at all.

"I'm sorry, Miss Sommers, Mr. Lockwood. Rules are rules. Both young men have the work they will miss, so make sure they do it over the next few days. Have a nice afternoon."

"Thank you sir. You too." Jenna said as she left the room.

"Jeremy, come on." She kept walking as Jeremy hurried to walk beside her. When they got outside, trailed by the Lockwoods, Jeremy touched her shoulder.

"Jenna-"

"Stop!" Jenna shouted, whirling around to face him. He stepped back, looking ashamed, as Tyler and Mason watched.

"Just stop it Jeremy! I am so tired of you doing this, getting into fights, skipping class, drinking and whatever stupid crap you do! I am tired! God," she buried her face in her hands, tearing up. "I don't know what to do anymore. I'm a failure as a parent. I can't do anything right."

"Hey, it's not your fault, I-"

"Just get in the car, Jeremy. Wait, don't." she said quickly. "Just walk home. You don't want to spend time with me or Elena, so your not going to. And you know what?" she added throwing her hands up. "I don't even care if you come home late tonight, or drunk, or high. Just don't die in a car crash, because I don't think Elena could take it."

She turned and hurried to her car, leaving Jeremy and the Lockwood's shocked behind her.

After watching her drive off, Mason turned to Jeremy.

"C'mon. We'll give you a ride."

In the truck it was quiet. Too quiet. Tyler was fidgeting, Mason was staring at the road, and Jeremy was staring at his lap, trying and failing not to cry.

"Hey." Mason said. Both boys looked at him. "How about I drop you guys off at the grill, and you come home in a couple hours. I'll see if I can talk to LJ, calm her down, and we'll go from there. Sound okay?" Both boys nodded.

It was surreal, walking into the Gilbert house again after nearly ten years. It was different, more modern looking, but somehow still the same. He followed the sound of sobbing upstairs, right into Jenna's old room. Which is still her room, he thought, pleased. It's nice to know some things never change.

"Jenna? You mind if I come in?" Sniffles answered him, so he took that as a go ahead. Jenna was curled on her bed, on top of the covers clutching and Scooby Doo stuffed animal. One that he'd won her on their first date. He sat down at the edge of the bed, close, but not touching.

"Jenna, what's been going on? Why are you and Jeremy having so much trouble?"

"Because no matter how hard I try, I can't make an awful situation better, because I'm not enough. I'm not Miranda. I should have known." She said, trying to wipe her eyes.

"That's not true Jenna. You're doing a good job, babe. Better than a lot of people, including me and a lot of people in my family and this town. And you are more than enough." She sat up, and stared at him. disbelieving.

"This coming from you? Wow, thank you, the person who's telling me I'm enough is the one who left me!"

Then (ages 18 and 19)

"Jenna, I need to talk to you." Mason said seriously.

"What's going on?" He hadn't talked to her for two days. Not one word.

"I'm leaving. Tomorrow, actually, and I wanted to deal with this before I left."

"Deal with this? And you're leaving? Why?"

"That's not really any of your business." He said harshly. She backed up a little, as if waiting for a blow. He sighed, looking impatient and tired.

"I'm leaving, and I don't want any loose ends."

She nodded slowly. "Like me."

"Yes."

"O-Okay."

"I just...don't love you anymore. And I mean, we're teenagers. It's not like you expected this to last forever. I didn't."

"Okay, Mason, you can stop. I get it. You don't care, and maybe you never did. I get it. Please stop, just go."

And he did.

Now

"I'm sorry, you didn't deserve that-well, you did, but not right now." Jenna shook her head.

"You're right though." Mason said, resting his hand on her leg. It was so big, he could almost wrap one hand around her thigh.

"Yeah, I am, but I am not getting into this with you now." Jenna got off the bed and walked to the window, staring out.

"Well, I think we should go into this now." He'd heard things over the years. About her, and how she was after he left.

"Well, I don't. Please, leave Mason. I appreciate you coming by, but I really don't see the point in you still being here." He grabbed her arm, and turned her to face him.

"You know why I'm here Jenna? Because you're mine. You always have been, but I just didn't see it then." She tried to pull away from him, but he held her in place. "You are mine Jenna."

"Then why did you leave me?"

"I was a stupid, scared teenager."

She yanked herself away from him, anger coursing through her.

"You were scared? You? I was the one who was terrified that I was pregnant, and then you left, and I was scared and-"

"Pregnant?"

"I wasn't, but I thought I might be, and when I took the test it came up positive, but when I went to the doctor, they said it was negative."

"When did this happen? After I left?" his voice was deceptively soft.

"I took the test the week before you left, and went to the doctor the day after."

"And then?"

Jenna looked down, ashamed. "What are you talking about?"

"The drugs, Jenna. The drinking. Logan Fell. What happened to you?" He shook his head, body stiff. "Why did you do that?"

"Because you were gone, my parents were gone, and it hurt! It hurt, Mason, and I couldn't take it." She looked at him then, tears in her eyes, and he felt ashamed. "My heart was ripped ot of my chest, and I couldn't do anything to fix it. But then there was alcohol, there were drugs. And there was Logan, knowing I wasn't over you, and probably never would be, who dated me any way. He cheated on me, but still. He was there. You weren't."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have left you, but there was so much going on at home, things that I went through that I couldn't tell you."

"Sorry can't fix it. All we can do," she sighed, "All we can do is move on." She rubbed her eyes tiredly, and looked at him calmly. The ranting and tears were over, now they could talk calmly, but he didn't want to. He just wanted to hold her.

"Can we just..." he sighed, and sat on the bed. "Can we just lay here? Like we used to?" She nodded and he held out his hand. She took it and laid down beside him, nestling her head on his chest. His arms wrapped around her, holding her closely and firmly. He seemed alittle possesive, as if afraid someone would appear and yank her away from him.

"I'm sorry Jenna. For everything." He kissed the top of her head.

"I'm sorry too." She rubbed her hand across his chest, earning a low chuckle.

"Now. What's up with this Alaric guy? Tell me everything." He said in a deep voice. She laughed, and snuggled closer.

"Well, we were sort of dating, but now it's over because he's still in love wth his wife."

"Ah. You always could pick 'em, LJ." He smiled when she didn't correct him. Maybe there was hope for them.

Then again, he thought as he saw the sun going down outside, maybe not.

Full Moon's in two days. Better get ready.