.

So this is what you meant

When you said that you were spent

And now it's time to build from the bottom of the pit, right to the top

Don't hold back

[…]

It's time to begin, isn't it?

I get a little bit bigger but then I'll admit

I'm just the same as I was

Now don't you understand

I'm never changing who I am

So this is where you fell

And I am left to sell

The path to heaven runs through miles of clouded hell right to the top

Don't look back

Turning to rags and giving the commodities a rain check

It's time – Imagine Dragons

A.N.: Happy New Year! I hope that you guys enjoy this one because I did definitely enjoyed writing it. We see Olivia develop and plenty of other stuff that I won't spoil :)

Thanks for all those that subscribed, favorited and commented. You guys rock my socks off.

Olivia was hunched over her desk as she flips through one of the grimoires that Alex had given her days prior. She wasn't using them for what he intended but instead to try to see if she could resolve her latest issue: Tanner. After everything that had happened today and yesterday had been resolved - the awkward conversation with Stefan, Alex and her being slightly at odds, the headaches and discomfort from all of the above - she realized that she hadn't come with a game plan to deal with Tanner's death. First, she in no away in form endanger her life to save his or anyone else's for that matter; second the guy had to leave and third, she had two days to accomplish it - and a few more hours if she didn't sleep today. Now, if she was a vampire, she could easily compel him to go somewhere else before he even crossed paths with Damon but she wasn't. However, she was a witch and in theory she could perform a spell to do something similar but that couldn't be easy - at least finding the damned spell.

When she was skimming the pages trying to find words as compulsion, control and mind, she began to wonder how in the Queen's good name this family had so many spell books. That wasn't normal as far as she knew... She was aware that she should concern herself with that - at some point - it wasn't like she knew a whole lot about the Jackson's origins. Thus far none of the more prominent witch linages had been mentioned tied to theirs but she had knowledge of at least 10 Grimoires in the house - she was currently in the possession of three whereas Alex had two, the rest where either with Cass, Daphne or James. And those hadn't been written by the Jackson's siblings (those ten plus the eight - if everyone had their own, till this day she had only seen Cassandra's - would make a grand total of 18 if there weren't others that she didn't have knowledge about). Also, they weren't old as if they had been passed down from generation to generation, correction, they didn't look that old. Sure, a couple of pages were smudged but it hadn't been written in the past century... so what was up with that?

Alas, she had other things to worry about and whatever was the reason for having so many witch books lying around wasn't the priority. She needed to find something to make Tanner go away, alive, so that Alaric could come to the city. Sure, he could always find another reason besides a teaching position but the fact that he was their History Teacher did have its point. Like, not drawing more suspicion from Damon, when he was possessed by Klaus and he even influenced - being the role he played big or small up for debate - Jeremy in the beginning with his attitude change. And she also really, really wanted to do something about Tanner.

Before coming to this world she had always thought of herself as a good person. She abided laws, never strayed too far from her path and for the most part, tried to be a reasonably good person without being a doormat. She always thought of herself as a person that would try to prevent someone's death if she could... now she wasn't so sure and it did made her feel all sorts of guilt. She had left Vicky alone - after a failed rescue attempt which would most likely lead to her death like it happened in the show - to be tossed around between vampires and she could have done something. She could have stayed with the girl to dissuade Damon from doing shit. But, then again, Damon was Damon and Damon on the first season did whatever the fuck he wanted and, despite everything, Olivia really didn't want to die. So, she discovered that she wasn't selfless or the kind of person that would give her life to save another... maybe, well, maybe she would but not if that person didn't really mean a lot to her. Perhaps if instead of Vicki it had been Caroline she would have done something, bloody hell, she seriously hoped that she would have acted... because Caroline was amazing and she didn't want her blonde friend to go through what she had in the show with Damon and whatnot. Saving Tanner, as long as she didn't came in contact with Damon (he still scared the piss out of her) was a way to ease up the way she felt. Sure, it wasn't the most pure reason but, she assumed, that it was as good as anything else. She almost laughed at that thought, if the Scooby gang had heard this she would have definitely suffer some sort of repercussion - probably in the form of some rather angry rant.

So far, she hadn't found anything remotely useful for the task at hands. If she wanted five ways to light a candle or control a flame - or another element really - she would have found the right grimoire... It made her wonder why had, whoever written it, had been so obsessed with element. It was definitely making her really anxious and starting to think that maybe she would be powerless to prevent Tanner's death. It wasn't like she liked the guy, he was an ass - all of the interactions she had with him had left her wishing she could punch him - but no one deserved to be drained in a parking lot. Okay, maybe a few people deserved - four or five came to mind - but she couldn't be that person... it made her feel so conflicted.

The sudden knocks on her door make her jump out of the chair as if she was trying to escape her skin. Thinking that maybe it was Alex for round two of yesterday's argument - that hadn't been really concluded - or because he had found out about her chat with Stefan, she sighs.

"Come in."

It wasn't Alex or Tom. It was Daphne and Daphne was peering curiously at her. "Homework?"

It was too late to hide the grimoires - that would only make the older Jackson question her and she didn't want that. She shakes her head. "Already finished." And that was by no means a lie. Daphne was now looking at her with her eyebrows furrowed. "Uh... trying to find something to help with... memories."

Daphne sighs and for a moment she fear that she'd hear some sort of lecture. Instead, and looking rather dejectedly, the woman walks to the bed. "We've gone through them all. Is that why you were acting weird during the dinner?"

She didn't remember acting out so she chose not to comment. Sure, she hadn't been speaking because she was too busy trying to come up with something - anything - to try to save Tanner's hide - and now, she had a Jackson butting in her business. She'd like to say that she was surprised or even that it didn't happened often enough to be annoying. Both were untrue. "I know, I just wanted to check... I... don't know, I thought that maybe it would make sense," she says instead of starting an argument. First she couldn't say the truth and she couldn't even say the lie that Alex believed - that she was going through them because she had visions. She hoped that at this the older sibling would scold her and then be off - not that it was ever easy dealing with them when they were butting in.

"You need closure," Daphne mumbles gently giving her 'you poor girl' look. "Things aren't going to magically return to where they were, trust me we tried everything we knew... But I get it, you want to double check." She nods weakly, if anything she was committing to the lie. Good grief, if she didn't stop lying so much she'd give everyone rope enough to hang herself. "There's nothing in there about that. We would never let you guys come to contact with dangerous stuff."

Even if it was debatable (five ways of starting a fire with their minds sounded dangerous enough) Olivia felt like she should have predicted it. The family was clearly secretive and protective, they wouldn't leave any sort of spell that would allow teenagers to control someone's mind. "Now that you say that, sounds so obvious."

Daphne offers her a small smile. "Okay, how about you come with me to my room and I'll let you go through my grimoire. Everything we tried was there, I'll even let you flip it so you can see we didn't miss anything."

She wasn't sure that there was going to be something useful there... but at least she would have tried. Also, she was in to deep to pull off now, one way or another - whatever the reason - she would have to go with Daphne. "Okay."

"I'll be there the entire time-"

"Obviously," Olivia interrupts rolling her eyes.

"And not taking notes," Daphne finished. Which meant that she would have to either try to memories the spell if she found it or try to get it later. "Deal?"

"Deal. Thanks."

Daphne waves her off as she gets up. "You've been on good behavior." She flashes her a sad smile. "The best I've seen when you aren't bickering with us so... I'm cutting you some slack."

She quietly follows Daphne to her bedroom to find it exactly like it had been all the other times she had been in there - mainly when she had laundry duties. The walls were white - very much like in her bedroom - being the difference that there was no decorations hanging. The room was also a bit bigger than hers - she always wondered how did they managed to find a house big enough for everyone to have their own rooms and how had they paid for it, because it couldn't be cheap - and had more furniture. Like always, there wasn't a thing out of place and that was already something that Olivia expected. Both Cassandra and Daphne were rather organized and neat.

Daphne points to the bed as she walks to the small bookshelf she had. She pulls a rather inconspicuous hardcover book. It looked like a plain organizer - even if a somewhat beat up one - it wasn't as big as the ones back in her bedroom. Daphne sits next to her and hands her the item. Olivia flips through the pages with her attention divided: half paying attention to what was written and half looking for the same words she had been previously looking. Whenever she remained in the same page long, Daphne would explain what the ritual entailed and how they thought it could have helped her. They had done far more than she had suspected, and she had recognized the several rituals that they did with (or was on more accurate?) her when she got there. Hell, if she wasn't aware that they only wish her good things she'd freak out - not that she wasn't, she was rather spooked that they had done so many things behind her back.

She was starting to lose hope that there was anything there - she was half way through the section Daphne had pointed out and nothing - when she suddenly came across a teared up page (it was the only thing that didn't seem like it had been written by Daphne) that said coercion spell. She immediately paused - if she was in her right state of mind or if she merely had more control over herself, she wouldn't have reacted so physically, her momentary freeze was bound to bring up something - Daphne sighs as she places her hand over hers.

"We didn't do anything to you," she declares with a very serious tone of voice. "No did someone else."

Olivia looks dumbly at her. She was cursing in her mind but her only option was now to go along with it. "How do you know?"

Daphne removes the book from her hands - and the torn page after tucking it inside at some random section - and flips the pages. When she finds whatever it was she was looking for she hands Olivia the book. "There are ways to reverse it and this only affects humans. We really don't know what you did-"

Olivia immediately scoffs, clenching the book. "I didn't do anything."

"I'm not lecturing you," Daphne reasons with a tired look. "But you did, you simply don't remember it anymore. We've gone through everything you had access but didn't find anything that could cause this." She suddenly stops. "Doesn't matter now. The point is, we tried everything that we could think of but something did damage your mind. We don't know what nor how to fix it and we do have a pretty extensive library," she adds. "Hell if I know what you were trying to do."

"I didn't," Olivia insists.

Daphne grimaces. "Ivy the other option would be that someone did this to you. We didn't and neither did the other witches in town," she points out calmly. "I know you didn't mean to cause this with whatever you did..."

"Can we not talk about this?" Olivia pinches the bridge of her nose. "I really want to stop having these arguments, I feel like we're all just repeating ourselves."

"James told me you had a chat with him." Of course he did, Olivia thinks with a roll of eyes. "Hear me out. We know that you're confused and probably scared, but you got us. So, don't be so closed off... we're here for each other, okay?" Olivia nods halfheartedly. "Now, you want to go through the spells with me or you want to call it a day?"

Olivia was tired and the conversation had left her cranky. At least she had found the spell. "I'm making a tea... I don't think I'll discover anything new," she adds quietly.

"I think hell's freezing over." When Olivia looks at Daphne the older woman laughs. "I never thought that I'd miss you making noise. Just cheer up, sometimes looking at you makes me depressed."

Olivia shakes her head. "I'm pretending you didn't say that... I'm making a tea," she states as she gets up. "Thank you for showing me your grimoire," she says pleasantly.

Daphne nods as she closes it. She gets up from the bed at the same time Olivia does. "My door is always open, you can always come here."

A sudden feeling of mischief washes through Olivia. How nice of her. "I'll keep that in mind." And well, it was nice - even if the woman hadn't meant it in that way - to know that when she returned to get a look at the spell it would be done with Daphne's invitation/ approval.

The main reason why she didn't run to her room to plot how she'd go on about to get that spell was because she had to know when wouldn't be anyone at home. She certainly wouldn't be able to get inside of the room unnoticed with Jacksons traipsing around and she really didn't need more things to fix. And she had just the tool to know when would the coast be clear, the whiteboard in the kitchen where Cassandra insisted to document everyone's activities and chores. The tea was merely a decoy in case she got caught in the kitchen because if there ever was a family that would question her about her interest in a basic chore/activity board it was the Jacksons. Halfway through, she realized that spending time in this universe and with these people was making her somewhat paranoid and she couldn't decide if that was good or not.

Looking at the whiteboard - that was even color coded - she realized that the best time would be tomorrow at lunch. She just had to 'forget' something in case she ran into someone. Feeling and hoping that things went according to plan, she returns to the room enjoying the feeling of the hot cup against her hands. Maybe things were getting better and soon this mess would be dealt with. Of course that that put a damper on her spirits. Soon she was going to have to deal with something else and then something else, until she either went back, died or left the town to a secluded mountain. Shaking the suddenly gloomy thoughts she returns to the bed.

The day started off as it usual. Olivia spent at least five minutes trying to convince herself to stop doing this every morning. It was clear that she had to do something to go to her house - she wouldn't magically wake up there - and going through the disappointment of waking up 'here' instead of 'there' was simply making her bitter. She dreaded the mornings and the nights and it had to stop, she couldn't go on about this. She had to... cope. She was here now and maybe with time, and access to more things and knowledgeable people, she would find a way to return and for now... she would have to really decided (and commit to that decision) of what should she do with her foreknowledge. Maybe if she started planning things instead of leaving things for the last minute, everything would go more smoothly - or at least save her some future disappointment. She had to decide when to intervene and when not to and prepare for the times she would.

With that, she jumped out of the bed, gave herself a small pep talk whilst she was looking at the mirror - what made her feel beyond silly - that mostly consisted of: you can do this, you're not going to die, you're going to make things better (hopefully), you can really do this and you're here now so you better enjoy the ride. She was in one of her favorite shows and even if she didn't want to go there in the first place - since it was really dangerous for a human to be walking around with so many big bads there at some points - she had an opportunity. Plus, she had never been one to shy away from a challenge. She could totally do this... she hoped.

With renewed vigor and a plan for the day - and a subsequent plan to test the spell before using it on Tanner - she dressed herself. She had a plan, she was feeling optimistic and like she was getting somewhere – or, at the very least, like she had some sort of purpose. So today she'd triumph against whatever the world threw at her.

She didn't know if it was because she was eager for lunch hour but time seemed to go more slowly. She couldn't help but to huff and puff almost constantly and tap her feet impatiently whenever she was in class. That sort of behavior made Tom and Caroline shot her curious looks during the morning.

"You okay?"

She smiles at Caroline. "Yeah, the day is just dragging itself, innit?"

Caroline flashes her an amused smile. "High school in a nutshell. Still, you seem... on edge?"

"I forgot my English assignment," she tells Caroline figuring that it was better if she already set up her disappearance for lunch. "I rather if I didn't have to go home for it."

"We can go with you," Care offers.

This always backfires. "Or you could have lunch with your boyfriend without a third wheel," she counters with a smile. "You guys are always with me and... I love you to pieces, but I really need a break from all the love."

Caroline slaps her arm halfheartedly. "We don't mind that, you know that." When Olivia gives her a pointed look, Caroline giggles. "Okay, okay. It would be nice to have lunch with him alone for a change. But I still need my BFF."

"I'm going home not away from the country," she tells her. "I'm not going anywhere." She gave herself a mental pat in the back when she didn't sound bitter, maybe the weird pep talk in the mirror did wonders.

Caroline grins. "I'd track you down," she promises. "You'd never be able to hide from me."

"I don't doubt it. You have this uncanny ability to always find me," Olivia says half mockingly and half seriously.

"Good. You've been warned." After a few seconds, both of the girls laugh at their silliness.

When Tom arrives she glances at the pair and smiles. "Why are you two laughing?"

Caroline automatically pecks his lips. "Libbie is going home during lunch." Tom immediately raises an eyebrow as he looks at her, prompting a nod on her part. "She forgot her homework."

"You gotta be more careful," he chides her.

"You should be thanking me. You're having lunch with your girlfriend, alone."

Caroline rolls her eyes. "It's like we've been trying to get you to leave us."

"Which we didn't. The three of us always spent a lot of time together," Tom continues.

Those two sometimes were hard work. "Why can't you appreciate the little things? I'm not saying that I feel unwelcomed just that you should enjoy. Have a romantic lunch or whatever it is that you do when I'm not around. Get a good snog, hold hands... do coupley stuff, outdoors family appropriate coupley stuff," She teases. "All those things that are completely and utterly inappropriate in my presence."

"You're terrible," Tom mumbles with an embarrassed expression

"You guys are certainly lively," Elena comments as she approaches the group with Stefan on tow.

For a moment Olivia's teasing smile flatters when Stefan and she look at each other. "Libbie's just telling me to do family appropriate couple stuff and I'm not one to pass up on that," Caroline jokes as she gently nudges Olivia noticing that the girl had quietened down.

Elena looks at Olivia with an expression that clearly stated that this wasn't the first time this had happened. "Oh, family appropriated?" Elena teases.

Shaking out the weirdness, she nods with forced enthusiasm. She couldn't act weird and make people question her. "Of course, we don't want to traumatized the kids or make them ask uncomfortable questions to their parents. Nor do I want to be related to someone or best friends with the sort of people that takes the innocence straight out of a kid."

"Olivia Jackson, looking out for family values since this morning," Caroline declares with a grin. "Cassandra would be proud."

"Of course, I aim to be an example of proper manners," she says doing her best impression of a British butler. "The paragon of moral and values that our society sorely needs. The youngsters need to be reminded how act with civilized company."

Caroline, Tom and Elena chuckle at her antics. "You certainly are in a good mood," Stefan comments.

Elena smiles. "If you were here longer, you'd see the irony of her words."

"How dare you?" Olivia places a hand over her chest pretending to be heartbroken and offended. "I have been nothing but a good example for you all."

"Of course," Caroline complies with a teasing smile. "Like that time on Halloween that you picked a fight with a kid over candies. I think you stole candy from him."

Didn't exactly sound like something Olivia would do, but hell if she knew what the other had been up to. "That was a simple misunderstanding, I would never do something so vulgar. Now, I must be off before you try to sully my good name." Holding her head high in a fairly good impression of someone conceited, she strutted way smiling as she heard Caroline giggle and Tom laughing.

When finally the time to go home came, Olivia practically sprigged out of her chair and borderline ran to the door. She knew she had to act inconspicuously, but she could barely contain herself. Also, the faster she did this lesser would be the chance of her getting caught. She chuckled manically when she entered the house and no one was there and took no time walking and entering Daphne's bedroom. Much to her surprise, the book had been exactly where she had seen Daphne place it and she quickly found the page she was looking for - she made a mental note of coming here again to get other spells - not to waste time, she rapidly took a couple of pictures of the page and emailed it to herself so she could delete it from the phone. Even if this far things had progressed well, she was still afraid of getting caught. She stored the book and observed the room to see if something had come out of place then she left the room and walked to her to retrieve the forgotten notebook.

Since she was aware that she was unlucky, she knew that things had gone too well and she was starting to wonder just what would the universe through at her when she stumbled into Cass. The older woman immediately looked at her with suspicion.

"Why are you home?"

She raises her hand making the notebook visible and controls her face so she didn't laugh. Oh, being paranoid paid! "Forgot this. I have English after lunch-"

"I know." The older woman sighs. "Nothing wrong? You aren't sick?"

She frowns. "No. I'm alright." Before Cassandra had a change to keep questioning her, she raises an eyebrow. "How about you?"

Cassandra looks mildly surprised at her before sighing tiredly. "It's being one of those days. I just want them to catch the vampire-"

That alarmed her. Had Damon done something or was this still about the things he had done on the past weeks. "Something happened?"

"The corpses are piling up." She sighs again. "Look, nothing you should worry about. We're safe," Cass promises. "If the vampire comes close to us, I'll make it regret ever setting foot here." By her tone Cassandra was dead serious. "You want to have lunch with me?"

"Uh."

Cass raises her hands. "No arguments. I just wanna know what you've been up to."

She didn't felt like she had much of a choice. "Sure. Here?"

"Not in the mood to cook. Just give me a second, I came to get something." Without providing an explanation, Cassandra rushed upstairs. When she returned, Olivia was still in the same spot, the only difference was that she had stored the book. "Ready?"

"Yeah."

The lunch wasn't as awkward as Olivia had predicted. They had gone to The Grill (unsurprisingly, sometimes she thought that it was the only place where people ate in this city) and sat outside. The conversation was kept causal: there were no chats about Olivia's feelings, no inquiries about her, Tom and Alex's dynamics or anything of the sort, no questions about vampires or other supernatural events. They mainly spoke about school and the upcoming game in which Alex and Tom would play. Cassandra wouldn't attend, Olivia learned, but Daphne would be there in her stead with a recording camera - she didn't know if this was good news or not and suddenly, saving Tanner became more important. She definitely didn't want Daphne or any of her siblings stumbling into Damon. Once they finished their meal, Cassandra dropped her off at school just in time for the next class.

Very much like she had done all week, Olivia after school remained at the benches observing practice. After Alex's and Stefan's tumble in the woods on the previous day, she hoped that everything would be more calm and till some extent, she was correct. Neither Alex nor Tyler seemed to be making passes to purposely tackle him - she wondered if Tanner place them always in opposing teams because he wanted to see Stefan get the wind knocked out of him - but, it physical contact existed she could see that Alex put all of his strength behind it. For the most part, Stefan didn't look like he was going to snap Alex in two. She had hopped, really hoped that it would calm down... but she should have predicted it. Alex had a bit of a nasty temper.

"Do you know how long it will take him to... let it go?"

She almost falls down the benches when she heard Stefan's voice so close. When Tanner switched the teams, placing them in the same she started doing her homework since Alex wouldn't tackle him now. "Bloody hell," she exclaims as she places her hand over her heart. She could feel the loud thumps on her palm. "Don't appear out of thin air," she adds in a much lower tone.

He smiles sheepishly. "It wasn't my intention." She didn't know whether to believe him or not. "Breath in and out," he instructs her calmly. "Like me."

She laughs. "I'm alright," she says after a bit. "You startled me."

"Sorry."

She shakes her head, dismissing the event. "About Liam... I really don't know." She smiles apologetically. "He's got a bit of a..."

"Anger issue?"

She reluctantly nods. "I'm sure that once he realizes that you aren't snacking on children in hidden corners that he'll calm down."

Stefan gives her a 'don't say those things so casually' face before stating, "I really don't know. Just wish he stopped tackling me." She rolls her eyes. She was ready to tell him not to be a baby since he could heal faster that she could say bananas when she grew confused. Why was he speaking to her? "Olivia?"

She blinks her eyes. "Uh, apart from inquiring about Liam's apparent need to tackling whenever you have the ball." She pauses. "That sounds so disturbing... I don't even... Doesn't matter. Did you need something?"

"No."

For a few uncomfortable seconds no one says anything. While Olivia was nervously glancing, trying to spot Alex - she really didn't need him catching her and Stefan speaking and blow up a storm - meaning that she really wanted him to... go... Stefan looked like he wanted to say something but didn't know how to go on about it. He didn't have his questions answered the other day if anything he left with more questions than when the conversation started.

"I wanted to get to know you better," he announces suddenly making Olivia look startled and maybe even a bit scared to him. The girl was proving to be slightly stranger than he had first anticipated.

"Why?"

He didn't know if he should appreciate her bluntness or chide her. However, he figured that in her shoes, he'd act (and ask) the same. "You know a lot about me... I even don't know how much and the only things I know about you are your name, that you have a big family, two brothers that attend this school," he starts listing. "One of which has a -" she raises her hand stopping him.

She sighs. This sounded like a disaster in the making. "I understand," she mumbles a bit awkwardly. "I really rather not speak about what I know... half the time I feel like I'm going to end up dead because of it." He was taken back but the sudden seriousness and conviction of her words. Just what the hell had the girl seen? "You honestly make me a little nervous," she adds sighing when a sudden look of offense flashes in his face. "It's not you, per say. It's... uh... your relatives. I feel that the odds of stumbling in the piece of dancing sunshine that is Damon when you're around are high... which means that the odds of me dying are also high."

"He's not one to... frequent high schools," Stefan says with a hint of a smile.

"I don't know, he seems like the sort to enjoy snacking on a cheerleader," she counters with a raises eyebrow.

He sighs. "I thought that this was going to be easy." He flashes her a smile. "I'm a little rusty on how to make friends but I'm pretty sure that this isn't going according to what I remember."

Despite herself she smiles. "Sure, if we forget about your fangs, my family's tendency to chant spells, your brother murdering habits or mine's rage... this would be really easy. A walk in the park."

"Nothing like a complicated situation to help people bond," he states.

She nods. She still didn't get why he was making an effort. "Can't I just promise that I won't reveal your deepest secrets, like we are the best of girl friends, and we let the chips fall where they may?"

"I don't know," he tells her. "I haven't had a good sleepover in centuries. And people rave about my popcorn making skills, you are missing out here girl friend."

She looks to him dumb folded making him smile. Did...? Was he joking? "Sure, let's talk about crushes while we braid each other's hair."

"Fine by me. A friend of mine told me I was excellent with hair... not so good as when it comes to paint nails," he shares as if he was telling her his most shameful secret.

She snorts. "Stefan this is getting weird."

"A bit," he agrees with a smile. "You started it though."

She raises an eyebrow. "Aren't you too old to use that argument?"

"Fair enough." He suddenly stops and his nose slightly twitches. "You're safe for now. We'll resume this at a later date... Be ready because next time I'll bring a list of why you should totally be my friend."

She shakes her head guessing that he probably heard Alex coming over. "Thirty or less... and I want them with cursive handwrite. Oh, bring charts too."

He laughs. "I'll see you later Olivia."

He leaves before she had a change of saying something. He just, flashes away. God, she missed the time where he kept the appearance of being human because if he kept popping out of thin air she was sure that her heart would explode. Then again, if she was correct and Alex was coming, she wanted him to be as fast as he could. She didn't need to witness an argument that could easily escalate to 'I'm trying to kill you' kind of thing.

She was storing her things when her brother, accompanied by Tyler, came to get her. Apparently they were going to the Grill and Alex invited her to join them. She decided - she really wasn't in the mood to watch them play pool or whatever it was that they were planning, she had her own plots to devise - stating that she was a bit tired and simply wanted to go home, eat, shower and sleep. Unsurprisingly, Alex offered to drop her home and even if she declined (twice) he and Tyler followed her. They included her (or did their best to) in their silly, often offensive to passersby, conversation and when she got home - and they finally left - she was a bit surprised at Tyler's behavior. They didn't exchange their usual offenses and he had been, over all, a rather nice guy. She chalked it up for frightening him in the previous day. Because if not in a million years she could see herself becoming friends with Tyler from season one or the 'I want to kill a baby 'Tyler. Maybe she was being harsh and, with the right influence he'd never get to the 'baby killing' urges in the first place.

It had been hard for her not to rush to her bedroom and finally see the spell she had gotten her hands on. However, she couldn't. She had to go on about her business like she usually did or the Jacksons would most likely butt in her business, so that meant that she had to do her chores - today she had laundry and helping out in the kitchen - wait for dinner and then she'd be free to see the spell and if it was something she could use - for a few minutes, dread filled her veins as she imagined that she had all that work for nothing.

"Hey," Daphne calls her out making Olivia reprimand herself. "What's the matter Ivy?"

She does her best to control her expression - she couldn't see worried or annoyed because she didn't want to give away nothing. So, she furrows her eyebrows and tilts her head, doing her best to seem confused. "Hum?"

"You were spacing out," Daphne points out.

"I was thinking."

"Everything alright?"

She rolls her eyes. "Yes, it was homework. I remembered that I had to write a 10 pages essay," she states with a calm tone hoping that Daphne would leave her be.

Daphne offers her a smile. "The tragedy of being a teenagers: homework."

Olivia laughs and shakes her head. "I thought that it was parental authority."

"Oh, yes," Daphne agrees. "Chores too."

"Yes, so it's more like tragedies," Olivia concludes. "Oh! I completely forgot about internal turmoil and general angst."

Daphne laughs lightly as she shakes her head. "Guess we had luck. None of you are mopey, angsty teens... and you don't act out that bad."

Feeling that her words were a bit out of place - it was a weird that she was complimenting them (Olivia, Tom and Alex) - Olivia raises an eyebrow. "What brought this on?"

"I spent the afternoon with Jenna," Daphne answers with a sigh. "Jeremy is really acting out and she doesn't know what to do... Bad grades, leaving the house without warning anyone and substance abuse." She turns slightly to Olivia and grimaces. "Sure, you guys do bad things, but it was never that bad."

It was improbable that in a family like this someone got to the point that Jeremy had reached even if it was because that there was always someone breathing down your neck. Also, everyone was held accountable for their actions and there were obligations and responsibilities - sure, they came in the form of chores but it was good to have structure. "I'm sure he'll get his act together."

"I know but I do hope that he doesn't do anything that will mark his life forever because he will, eventually, regret it," Daphne states.

"Jeremy Gilbert: a cautionary tale for teenagers that don't want to screw up."

Daphne looks at her with her eyebrows furrowed. Olivia thought that she had said something horribly wrong that would prompt the older Jackson to scold her... or even a rant of how her words weren't appreciated but after a twitch of lips, Daphne laughed. "Guess so." Daphne grimaces. "She's also to blame, you know."

Olivia raises an eyebrow. She wasn't expecting to hear something like that, from everything she had gathered Daphne and Jenna were friends. "An adult saying that another adult is messing up? I think that I went to an alternate dimension where equality exists," she trails off.

Daphne rolls her eyes as she shakes her head. "She's clearly grasping at straws and the kid really doesn't fear the consequences for his actions. She told him stories of how she had been a stoner herself. I don't know what she was thinking."

Olivia laughs. When she watched the show, she never understood why Jeremy had that much lenience for acting out. "Wanted him to know she could relate? Or even make pot uncool?"

"I doubt that saying 'Hey, I used to smoke pot' would make him stop smoking pot."

"I don't know. It would make me want to stop smoking pot... even if it was to stop these conversations," Olivia teases making Daphne snort.

On that moment James enters the house. It seemed like he had heard part of the conversation because he was looking weirdly to them. "For a second I thought that this was the wrong house but no. You two are my sisters."

He walks to Olivia and plants a kiss on her forehead as Daphne explains, "We were speaking about Jeremy."

James grimaces. "That kid is a wreck." He glances at the whiteboard before looking at Daphne. "Cass working in late?"

"That vampire business is putting everyone at edge," Daphne mumbles as she stealthily glances at Olivia. "So, who's making dinner?"

"I think you just volunteered yourself," James says with a smile. "I recommend Ivy as a sous chef."

Olivia snorts. "I'll start charging."

"I can work with that," James mumbles with a mischievous grin. "2 cents per hour?"

"This is child labor," she says as she tries her hardest not to smile. "I demand 4 cents!"

Daphne rolls her eyes with a small smile. "Compromise people. 3 cents." She then walks to them. "Now shake it off and I'll draft the contract."

James extends his hand and so does Olivia. "There. I expect my wages at the end of the month."

"I'm glad that you are in a good mood," James comments. "Now, I'll finish this up while you two go make the man of the house some food."

Daphne twats him in the shoulder. "We all know that Cass, the man of the house, is at work."

Olivia blinks twice before burst in laughter. "God and they say that the teenagers are the silly ones."

"Hey!" James crosses his arms over his chest. "I am young at heart."

Daphne rolls her eyes. "Let's go before it gets worse." After giving him a look she smiles. "I'm just glad that Carl isn't here to make this worse."

The rest of the evening went in that fashion. When Tom and Alex finally got home they found Olivia and James bickering in the kitchen regarding cupcakes they had made. The two teenagers didn't really understand what was going on, Olivia was telling him not to go near the food while he was offering an increase of pay. Not only was that weird by itself but also they hadn't grown used to see their sister silent - or at least not swatting their older brother's hands away when he tried to touch food... then there was Daphne, who was telling them that these things had to go through her first so she could put them in the contract.

"Okay, what is going on?" Alex looks to Olivia.

She smiles before answering him, "I'm a paid worker now."

"5 cents increase of pay?" Daphne looks at James, who nods.

"I'm even willing to give you another cent increase and TV perks. You can choose the next family movie if you give me one cupcake," he tries to convince her. "What do you say? 6 cents and a movie?"

Alex glances at Tom, who was smiling, before settling on Olivia. "You've been drinking something?"

"No." She waves off her hand.

Daphne smiles. "Oh, let them be. We're in a good mood."

"You guys should pay us since we did all of your chores," James adds.

"Oh, this is creeping me out," Alex mumbles as Olivia walks to him.

She pats his arm. "Here blueberry muffin." She extends one to him and another to Tom.

Tom smiles as he accepts the treat. "You cooked?"

"She did thus the increase of pay," Daphne states.

James had managed to get her hands on one of the cupcakes and was now smiling. "Oh, you're going to have kitchen duties more often."

"Oh, enough." Daphne looks to them. "Go wash up so we can have dinner. Cass' working in late."

With the cupcake still in his hands, Alex gives another glance to his family before shaking his head and walking away. Even if it was weird, he was sort of happy that everyone was in a good mood. If certainty beat having everyone arguing or tense, like it had been the norm on the past months.

Since Tom and Alex where the ones that ended up in charge of cleaning up - Daphne stated that it was only fair since they had done the rest - Olivia bid everyone a good night and went to her bedroom. The previous good mood was starting to drown in the anxiety that appeared. She feared that since she hadn't read the spell maybe it wouldn't help her case... Her hands were slightly trembling as she quickly typed in her password and when she finally managed to open up the picture she sighed in relief. It was simple enough, she was going to need something from the target and to say a incantation and then the person would do whatever it was she said, then she just had to burn the object - those five ways of lighting a fire now sounded useful. Now, she just had to practice the incantation, test it out before going to Tanner. Getting something of his wouldn't be easy, she was sure, while she could steal a hair from a random person to test it out with Tanner things wouldn't so straight forward - maybe she could get her hands on his hat?

That night, maybe it was because of what she was planning or even the anxiety, her dreams where restless. She saw countless of grimoires scattered around the floor as she tried to find something in them. She would frenetically go through pages feeling scared of being caught and when it seemed that she finally found whatever it was that she was looking, she jolted awake.

With a sigh - followed by a groan when she realized that it was five thirty in the morning - she decided to remain up instead of going back to sleep. She lit a candle to do the silencing spell as Alex had taught her and practiced the incantation a few more times. She was scared that saying the wrong thing would have a bad effect - like death or breaking someone's mind - instead of simply failing. She also wondered why they had the spell on their possession in the first place. However, that wasn't important at the moment, what mattered was mastering the incantation - intoning it like she did with the other spells that she had been taught and enunciating everything clearly.

When she finally reached the school - she had left early than Tom and Alex so they didn't caught her plans - she glanced around trying to find someone to test it. She suppressed the feelings of how was this wrong - she honestly felt like some sort of villain lurking around for a victim - because the end game was saving someone. Sure, her intentions were good in the end but she was certain that there were plenty of people around - mainly the ones composed of the core cast - that would disagree with what she had planned, or rather, with how she was choosing to execute it. She wasn't them and she was working with what she had, so she pushed that from her mind and approached one of her classmates.

"Hey."

The guy looked a bit startled. Once he sees that it was her, just her, he furrows his eyebrows with a small smile. "Hey. You need something?"

She did but she couldn't really say 'just one of your hairs would do just fine'. With a friendly smile she nods her head. "Where did you buy that coat?" The guy gave her a confused expression. "Tom's birthday is coming up and I think that he'd like one of those." It was by no means a good lie but she had never been excellent at lying... at the very least she didn't look completely strange.

The guy visibly relaxes. "Oh, I ordered it online. I can give you the site... Word of warning, order it two sizes larger."

She nods, trying to maintain the facade. "Can I ask something weird?" She gives him a bashful smile. The guy nods his head with some hesitancy. "Uh, could I touch it? I want to check if the fabric is as smooth as it looks."

The guy smiles, like he was founding her endearing - at least now that the weird thing wasn't that weird. "Of course." He extends his arm to her. "Who'd knew that my jacket would be such a conversation starter?"

She grins as she runs her hands on his sleeve. Now, she just had to reach the lapel and pull one of his hairs. "It's a great jacket," she states with the grin in its place. "Pretty sure that Tom will like it." She was not, but the guy didn't need to know that. "And sorry if this was too weird."

"Nah, don't sweat it," the guy tells her. "So, what do you think?"

He had allowed his arm to fall and she knew that her window to get one of his hairs was closing down. So, praying that it would work, she reaches for his collar and tugs a couple of hair accidentally making him flinch. "Sorry." She cringes as she quickly places the hand that had a couple of hairs inside of her pocket. "I'm an idiot."

The guy shakes his head. "It was an accident," he mumbles as he rubs his head.

"I'm going go before I embarrass myself further." She casts her eyes down, as if she was mortified, and walks away.

"It's okay," the guy says as he rushes to her. She looks up confused why he didn't just let her go. He had a smile on his lips. "I'm not pissed."

"Thank you." She forces a smile to hide her annoyance. "Oh, there's Tom and Care. Could you keep this between us? I want to surprise him."

"You got it Olivia."

It looked like he was going to say something else, but she didn't give him a chance. "Thank you! See you later," she says loudly as she walks to Tom and Caroline.

Now she just needed to find something to make him do so she knew it worked. Something harmless, like dancing in the middle of the hall? Uh, maybe that would severely affect his reputation... maybe tie something to his arm? Or blinking a whole lot? Or speak in a different language... but that couldn't work. What if he needed to know the language in the first place? Oh, she didn't have to do something that big... maybe she just had to make him do something whenever he saw her, like a sign or something... Something unusual so no smiles or anything - the guy could randomly smile when he saw her so it had to be something he wouldn't normally do but not as big as to alert other people.

"Libbie!" She blinks and looks to Care. Care looked worried and somewhat annoyed. "You totally spaced out on us..."

She smiles sheepishly. "Sorry. What were you saying?"

Caroline sighs. "Are you going to the Grill with us after practice?"

Olivia had no idea how things would work - like if the spell worked still she have to get something of Tanner - so she didn't know if she'd have time to go. "I'll answer to that later," she tells her blonde friend that immediately raises an eyebrow. "Uh, I got to go to the library and-"

"Can't you do that later?" Caroline insists. "C'mon, it's going to be fun."

"It's been a while since we did something after school," Tom adds.

Olivia internally groans. Oh, she hated when they teamed up on her. "I'm not saying that I'm not going... I just have to finish this up first. If all goes well, I'll meet you there."

Caroline sighs. "You've been acting so weird. Since when do you care so much about homework?"

"Care," Olivia whines. "Please."

"Fine!" The blonde mutters exasperated. "But as my BFF, you owe me some quality time."

With a roll of eyes she mumbles, "Of course. Now if you two excuse me, I'm going to pee."

And without giving them time to say anything else, she dashes away having in mind the perfect thing. There were a couple of people inside the bathroom so she waits till everyone leaves. It looked like the bathroom had become her go to place to do weird things and she hoped that this didn't become a thing in the future - god, her life was so weird. Alas, this wasn't like a movie, so she had to wait almost twenty minutes to have privacy and it was clear that she only had privacy because the bell had rung.

She pulls out a candle from her bag and ignites it using spell number three - it merely needed her to focus hard enough and visualize the flames. Once it was lit, she chants the spell holding the several hairs on her hand and picturing the guy she had stolen them from. A couple of seconds later she says what she wished he'd do once he saw her - or rather the next two times he saw her; he was to raise his hand and his left hand, close it in a fist and bump it against his chest - now she just had to wait.

She should have predicted that this was going to attract some attention, because what she made him do was by no means normal. The next time she saw the guy, after a poorly planned escape from Tom and Caroline - she didn't want them to witness - Alex stumbled into her. She was looking at the guy that was doing exactly as she had pictured right in the middle of the hall. She was cringing because she might have as well made him break into dance by the looks he was getting.

"Was that for you?"

She looks to Alex cursing her luck as she reluctantly waves back to the guy as if she was terribly confused. "I think so," she mumbles with what she hoped that it was an uncertain tone. After the fiasco with Stefan, she didn't want to involve Alex - plus, this one was rather dangerous so it was for the best he didn't participate. "Wonder what that was..."

"If he does something tell me." He glares to the guy that was now looking confused and rushing away. "Anyway, want to come to the Grill this afternoon?"

"Care already invited me," she states. "I'm going to stop by the library and go there."

"Nerd," he teases with a smile. "See you at lunch then. Later maggot."

"Later."

At least it had worked - she regretted making him do that weird salutation and she still had to witness it one more time - now she just had to make a plan of how she'd get something of Tanner's. Maybe during practice she could swing by his office because she definitely couldn't pull the stunt she had this morning and pluck a few of his hairs out.

She had tried to avoid the guy so she could catch him when they were both alone because she really didn't need to have someone wondering about it. However, she had what she was starting to consider notoriously bad luck, she ran into the guy when she was with Caroline. Caroline obviously picked up and started questioning and Olivia pulled the same act she had played with Alex - like she had absolutely no idea of what was that and that the guy had probably smoked something. If she were a better person she would feel worse than she was, on the other hand, this had been done to save a life so she didn't allow herself to feel diabolical. She'd save that for a time she did something truly bad.

The matter was settled when Caroline declared that the weirdo probably had a crush on her. Olivia was quick to change the subject to the outing that they had planned for this afternoon - she claimed that she'd drop by the library now so that she could join them. The lie worked as she intended and she was free to go to Tanner's office.

When she got to the office she felt incredibly foolish, she had gone there as if leaving doors open was the norm. The door was locked and there was no way - at least that she was aware - to just enter. There was no window, not that she'd climb a building and she wasn't going to waste magic to force someone to give her a key to it. She had to preserve what she had to do the spell and deal with whatever complications that could arise – also, she couldn't rouse suspicion from her loving and extremely paranoid family.

Decided to not let this completely ruin her plans, she goes to the parking lot - maybe he'd forgotten the door open. That was also unsuccessful. She was having some sort of melt down, wondering how in god's good name she was supposed to get something of Tanner's when her last idea appeared. Okay, so she couldn't get her hands on something from either his office or his car, but Tanner was at the field training the guys. So, that was going to be her last attempt. It was way more risky than the others, but, it wasn't like she had any other ideas. Plus, betting on accidents, like open doors, had been silly. This was not a movie and there were no forces conspiring to make her life any easier.

When she got there she considered that maybe her shitty luck wasn't that bad. On one of the benches was Tanner's coat unattended. Paying attention to Tanner and the team, she quickly opens her bag - thanking the heavens that it was big - and slowly walks to it. Since there was a vampire currently on the field and she had no clue about how good he actually heard stuff, or even if a rapid heartbeat would make him look at her, she tries to think of other stuff besides the fact that she was committing theft. God, it only took four months for her to become a deviant... Admittedly, having seen the series more than once, she was aware that stealing a mere jacket wouldn't even rank the top fifty things a person could do wrong here. Hell, she was pretty sure that by the end of her stay she will have raked up a list of less than honorable things she'll have to do in order to stay alive that will make her shudder. Things that she was pretty sure that would make her grandparents feel disappointment. Things that would make her feel even worse of a person than she already felt.

She had just managed to stuff the jacket on her bag when Tanner realized that she was there. "Do you need something Miss Jackson?"

"No," she mumbles startled. At least he hadn't caught her in the act. "Just watching my-"

"This is practice not counseling, I'm not here to listen to you. Go to the benches and don't distract anyone," he mutters making her question why on hell was she going through the trouble of saving him. "C'mon people, try to suck less!"

She was in the crowd with Daphne and James watching Alex and Tom. Things were definitely different and not just because Tanner wasn't going to die - she had made it in a way that after this speech he'd leave town under the guise of a family emergency and never return - but Elena was still a cheerleader. She didn't know if that was going to impact or change anything major in the future events or even why exactly Elena was still there. What had happened to change that? Was it because Caroline hadn't been under the influence of Damon?

She had done all that she could and now she wasn't going to leave James and Daphne's side because she really didn't want to accidentally stumble into Damon. Of course that that particular plan is foiled almost right away when she notices that Tyler was advancing at a rapid speed towards Jeremy. She had completely forgotten about that and she was debating whether to do something or not when Jeremy threw the first punch and Alex started advancing in their direction.

"Bloody hell," she mutters as she walks there before this evolved to a full scale brawl. "Knock it off," she yells when Alex is tossed to the side by Jeremy when he tried to break off the fight.

Alex doesn't pay attention to the guy he had accidentally hit and focus on Jeremy. "I'm trying to stop this asshole," Alex mutters with his eyes narrowed. "But maybe you deserve a good pounding."

"You're just a dick like him," Jeremy says angrily as he straighten ups and advances to Tyler. "You need your friends help."

"I'm going to end you Gilbert," Tyler growls.

One of the guys that had been previously sitting next to Jeremy bumps against Alex when he tries to get close. Alex merely smirks. "Oh, that's it." And punches the guy straight in the face.

She warps her hand around Alex's wrist before he could do more damage. "Stop it Liam!" He punches the guy one last time and lets him fall to the ground. He was panting as he looked at her as if he was completely out of control. "Breath," she instructs him trying to maintain a calm tone. Jeremy's and Tyler's brawl was forgotten and it seem like it would go down like it had on the show, her priority was to make sure that Alex wouldn't do anything stupid. "In and out." He seemed like he was calming down but when the guy that he had knocked down got up, groaning in pain, he snarled and kicked him in the legs making him fall. "Liam, please," she mumbles as she grabs his arm. "Stop it."

"He was going to start something," he mutters.

"What do were you thinking," Daphne mumbles as she finally reaches them. She does both of them a quick scan before turning to the other two. "Show's over kids, go away," she says in her best stern voice.

James sighs. "No fights, we had this conversation," he tells him as he twits his head. "You gotta control your temper."

Alex swats his hands away. "I'm fine. Go bother someone else."

"We're having a conversation when we get home," Daphne told him. "You can't act like this."

Olivia sighs. "This doesn't help," she states looking at the older siblings. "Go check Jeremy, he was bleeding." She turns to Alex. "Let's walk it off?"

"Anything to get away."

With his hand firmly holding hers, they leave. When Tom tries to approach them, Alex speeds up making Olivia raise her hand and shake her head. Maybe anger issues wasn't enough to describe what was going on, he looked as rabid as a wild beast. Almost as if he lost complete and total control.

Alex stops once they were at a distance from all the confusion. "You're gonna lecture me?"

Olivia sighs. "No, I'm aware that you're going to hear enough about that so I won't add."

He snorts. "Dead on."

"Hey." She bumps her hip against his and smiles. "You were trying to break the fight... you just got sidetracked."

He laughs. "Doubt that it will cut the lecture short."

"It won't," she says. Her gaze falls to his hands and she gently picks one of his hands. "You're hurt?"

"Had worse in the gym," he answers her honestly. "Don't know what the hell that guy's issue was... I really wasn't trying to start something," he tells her. By his expression Olivia knew that he was being truthful and that he wanted her to believe him.

Olivia nods, she was fully aware of that since she had witnessed most of it. "I know. I'll try to tell them that. I'm almost sure that it won't work but, hey, it might."

He shakes his head. "It's not. But thanks."

"Now, you got a game to win," she declares with an encouraging smile. "Maybe they'll forget all about it."

"Oh, I'm never that lucky," he remarks. "But if you tell me we're going to win, I'll believe you."

"I'm sure that the worst part of the night is over." She really, really hoped so.

They both returned to where James and Daphne were. The older siblings looked at her, making her nod with a small smile on her lips trying to convey that everything was better. Alex doesn't give them much attention, walking to the team after apologizing for his behavior.

"You know what happened?"

She did, hell, she even knew why this had started in the first place. But she couldn't really divulge that. She knew things that she had no way of knowing since it had happened behind the scenes. "Tyler and Jeremy were fighting. Liam tried to break it off but got shoved, I think he hit the guy he was fighting with... and you pretty much saw the rest. When the guy bumped Liam, he snapped." James sighs and rubs his head. "He was trying to break it off."

"Don't worry, we'll take that into consideration," James tells her.

"Let's look for seats," Daphne says with a tired tone, however, James doesn't walk with them right away.

"I think I'll grab us a drink. A soda for you?" He was looking to Olivia who shakes her head.

"Water is fine," she answers.

"You shouldn't have gone there," Daphne states after a couple of seconds of silence. "One of them could have hit you... even if Alex would have never hurt you, accidents happen."

Olivia snorts. She should have seen it coming. "And if I didn't, the guy would probably have a broken nose. Liam calmed down because I was there."

"I give you that," Daphne concedes. "But did you stop to think what would have happened if someone harmed you by accident? I promise you that Alex would have lost it completely."

Olivia looks at the ground knowing that she had a point. "I had to do something... I didn't want him to end up hurt."

"You are way more fragile than him," Daphne reminds her giving her a meaningful look. "So, don't do this, okay?"

She knew she was lying, but she said the words all the same, "Okay." One would have to physically prevent her from interfering if Alex was in danger.

The rest of the night was better. Daphne and James didn't speak about the fight nor had any other about what she had done – she was sure that Daphne wasn't the only with the opinion that she had acted foolishly. Right before the game started a teacher appeared and warned the team that Tanner had left due to a family emergency. It was clear that no one really liked the guy. The teacher's voice was monotone, as if he didn't care, and the guys on the team merely muttered that now they had no coach. And things progressed, the guy remained there speaking with the team and to her (mild) surprise, they did manage to win the game.

The game must have been so good - she still didn't understand a thing about American Football - that James was over the moon and convinced Daphne to allow the 'kids' to celebrate with the rest of the team - and if Alex was lucky, it was good enough for them to forget what had happened. Heck, he even hugged both of them a couple of times looking like the proud older brother – that, perhaps, had one too many drinks.

Feeling like she had really won something, and not because the school's team had won, she joined Alex, Tom and Caroline in celebrations that mostly consisted of everyone doing really, really loud noises. Olivia was ecstatic, she hadn't seen Damon, Tanner hadn't died and she really felt like she could definitely handle this. This was what she considered the second success in this world, the first being that Damon and Caroline hadn't crossed paths. Even if Tanner was a jackass, not hearing the loud sirens that had announced his death (or even seeing Matt freaking out) did leave a pleasant taste in her mouth.

"So, I don't have the list I promised you." Stefan extends her a closed bottle of beer. "But I bring a gift."

She was taking a pause from the celebrations. Even if she was happy with how the night had turned, all the jumping, howling and randomly shouting had tired her. When Tom and Caroline started to make out, she excused herself and sat nearby as she observed the festivities. Once she saw Stefan she looked to the crowd of people trying to spot her brothers - mainly Alex - but they seemed to be busy so she wasn't expecting any interruptions. Tom was dancing with Caroline now, looking like the personification of a couple in love, while Alex was drinking with a few of his team mates.

She laughs as she turns her attention to him. "How nice of you. Usually people bribe people when they mess up," she told him as he opened the bottle to hand her. She accepts it before thanking him and taking a sip.

He seemed like he had one for himself and once he opened it, he clinked it against hers. "Told you I was rusty." By his good mood she wondered if Damon had appeared at all. "But I'll keep it in mind."

"I've heard that you were fundamental in today's win," She relayed what she had heard Tyler say to her brother - more like muttered with another choice of words that weren't nearly as pleasant. "Congratulations."

Stefan bends his head in acknowledgement. "Why thank you. Your brother?"

"Tyler, Liam agreed though," she adds.

Stefan sighs. "Is he okay? I noticed that he also got in a fight..."

"You know that he's a tough one," Olivia reminds him.

Stefan grimaces. "I might be rusty but even I know that friends don't bring up... that sort of thing up."

"You looking at this all wrong," she whispers. With all the noise it was impossible to someone overhear her words. "If he got away in one piece from you, I'm pretty sure he could handle a normal teenager." It a much normal tone she adds, "If anything it was a compliment." She then smiles when she notices Elena walking to them. She gets up and dusts her jeans. "Thank you for the beer."

"There you are," Elena tells him sweetly. When she notices Olivia she frowns. She had a worried look on her face. "Are you alright? You were also in the middle of that stupid fight."

"I'm mint," Olivia replies giving the brunet a smile. "Now, I'm going to leave you two lovebirds and remember, only family appropriate couple stuff."

Elena laughs and shakes her head. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Have a good night Olivia."

The feelings of victory wouldn't last if Olivia was aware of what had taken place in the other part of the city. Since Damon hadn't killed Tanner in a fit of rage in an attempt to prove to Stefan that he had, by no means, a shred of humanity in him, he had gotten in a fight with his brother before disappearing. His rage by no means had been sated and instead of leaving one body in his trail, he left several. The first of which had been a man with tanned skin, brown eyes and dark hair that was wearing a red jacket and had been trying to leave the city in a hurry.