A/N: I'm back!
Matt found her out in the backyard.
Stopping, he stared at her for a minute. Life in Mystic Falls had been perfectly normal for the first sixteen years of his life, and then they came; the Salvatore brothers had been the beginning of the end to the peaceful, small town facade the community of Mystic Falls had built. Gone was the life he had imagined; marrying his childhood best friend, having two to four kids and finally being a respectable member of the town instead of some white trash kid of the town screw up. His sister had died, been resurrected and killed again. His mother had hit on his closest friend before leaving town again, and Matt had watched each and everyone of his friends die in this town. That was Matt's curse, to remain the only normal part of his home town; that was Matt's blessing.
He had known after that summer with Rebekah that he would grow old in Mystic Falls as he was forced to watch everyone he loved remain the same. While time would move forward for him, it would stay still for the others. The scenery would change; the styles and technology, but they would be trapped exactly as they were today for centuries. Matt would know hurt and eventually death but he would eventually know peace. This town had killed the dreams he once had but Matt was still able to make new dreams.
One of those dreams had been to settle down with Emma. Like a lot of other dreams it had died. Matt had wanted normal for once; to stay out of all the drama caused by the supernatural but Emma couldn't do that. She hadn't been able to put her duties as a witch aside not that Matt really expected her to. He had seen Bonnie battle to the ends of the Earth to keep the balance of nature, and Matt had realized he couldn't and shouldn't stop Emma either. He just couldn't be there with her while she did it and in the end Matt had been the one to end their engagement. There hadn't been anyone serious in his life since then, and here was this young sixteen year old girl who looked at him like she knew all the secrets of his universe.
Walking towards her, he took a deep breath as she turned her head looking directly at him. "Why'd they send you," she asked. "I thought you were trying to deter my little school girl crush."
"Phyl seemed to think I would make a much better shoulder to cry on. Also, she could tell how ticked off you were by their little act of recklessness. Are you really angry at them for staying to help you fight those darklighters?"
Denny looked away, moving towards a swinging bench that hung from a large oak tree. Sitting, she began kicking her feet just enough to make the bench sway. "Kind of," she answered remotely and stared up into his eyes. "You guys only know a little bit about the supernatural. I don't want it to sound like I'm undermining everything you've been through, but my family is like the ruling monarchy of good magic. I mean, we don't actually rule but we protect and watch over all good magic. We've been through a lot because of it."
"And that's what's got you in this funk," he asked in disbelief. "I mean, I've only known you for a couple of days and I don't want to seem like I know everything about you but you're the kind of person who seems fearless and doesn't let anything break her that easily. There has to be more to the story," he said sitting down next to her.
Denny turned to look at him. "My family has this huge weight to bare, and with everyday I'm faced with this gigantic responsibility it becomes more clear to me that our only destiny is to die. My ancestors have devoted their lives to the craft and protecting the innocent but who will protect us? Sooner or later this life is going to kill us and I want more," her voice shook with her declaration. "I want more than to wait to die."
Matt wrapped an arm around her and Denny scooted closer into his embrace. "It's okay to want more," he told her. "You should. None of us should have to risk our lives," he told her and the two sat outside for an hour as they tried to figure out what it was they were allowed to want and take from this world.
"What is taking them so long," Caroline huffed as she stalked to the attic windows, trying to catch a glimpse of Denny and Matt as the twins set up the "I'm going to go get them."
"Leave them be," Phyl said firmly. "Whatever is bothering Denny could effect her powers and she is the only one who can summon Bonnie. If you want to see your friend on a more permanent basis then you need to let Denny work through this."
"Yeah, Barbie," Damon butted in from his place on the settee. "I would think you could relate, I mean didn't you also go through that post-puberty rage known as the teenage years? I seem to remember boy drama, daddy issues-"
"Damon," Elena warned, "leave Caroline alone or we'll start discussing your 'psycho-killer' phase."
"Is that different from his 'world class dick' phase, because I don't think he ever outgrew that," Caroline quipped and Damon pretended to laugh in the background.
"The day Damon stops being a dick is the day Stefan stops brooding," Elena pointed out and Stefan looked at her as if to say, 'Really? You're gonna throw me under the bus too?'. It made Elena and Caroline laugh hysterically and the Salvatore brothers moved to stand next to each other, not thrilled about the girls making fun of them.
"See," Damon told his brother, "this is why I like to avoid these reunions. At some point or another the girls band together at our expense and then they yell at me when someone ends up with a broken neck."
"All because of your fragile little ego," Caroline pointed out.
"Yes," Elena agreed, "but we've been working on that," she bounded over and gave him a kiss, stepping on her tippy toes as he took her face in his hands. Stefan looked to Phylicia as she flipped through the pages of a large book, wondering if they would ever be like that.
He joined her and looked over her shoulder to see if he could read what she was looking at. "What is this?"
"It's my Book of Shadows," Phyl told him. "Our family has written and recorded a large amount of spells that help us do everything from vanquish demons to switching bodies and visiting past lives. It's famous through out the witching community and the original is kept in our family manor."
"So it's like a grimoire," he said.
"Well, grimoires are typically associated with dark magic but yes, the idea is the same. The Halliwell Book of Shadows is far from regular books of shadows in that it protects itself. Only good can touch it and only Halliwells can take it out of the manor."
"The book can protect itself?" Stefan was impressed and in awe.
"It's imbued with Halliwell magic. Evil has tried to get the book before and some have even come close, but there's too much knowledge in the book and we could never allow that happen. Since the family has grown exponentially since the last generation, the Aunts have created personal copies for everyone that we can take with us to school or our own houses," Phyl explained. "Aunt Piper actually cast a spell so that anytime a spell is added to one book it is added to all of them."
"And what spell are you looking at right now?"
"It's a summoning spell. It will allow Bonnie to be summoned into a physical body. The spell works by linking her to Denny, and only Denny will be able to send her back."
"And once Bonnie is here we can use her knowledge from the other side to figure out how to put an end to Klaus's laws," he summarized.
"Exactly," the blonde smiled and tucked a strand of her rose gold hair behind her ears. "It will probably be weeks before we're ready to make a move. We'll need to come up with a strategy, defensive and offensive spells as well as immobilize any of Klaus's allies; get more witches on our side. It will take time," she said.
"I've got all the time in the world," the vampire grinned and Phyl could have sworn she was going to swoon. "It'll be nice to have the time to get to know you."
