Elena stared up at the ceiling, trying to slow her racing mind. By now, Damon would be out of the city and on the road back to their home town. She would have to stay here and drag herself through the normal routine without him. With her mind refusing to shut back off Elena decided to get up, shower, and just head into work early. At least her job could distract her for most of the day.
"Elena!" Mary greeted her with a big smile as soon as she had walked through the door. She was already waiting on a table of three. For the most part, the place was pretty empty. Surely the crowd would pick up as the morning progressed. Elena put her things down in the back break room. Not too long after Mary came rushing in drilling her with questions.
"What are you doing here so early? Your shift isn't for another hour. Where's Damon? He's always with you. Are you fighting?"
" I have nothing better to do this morning sadly. No, he left earlier this morning. He went back to Virginia to see some family I think. He should be back in a few days. Nothing to worry about," Elena sighed.
"Well what are you doing tonight? Do you want to go out? Have a girls night maybe," Mary smiled brightly and cocked her eyebrow.
"Uh, sure I guess. Not the go out part. I'd rather stay in, but I'd love for you to come over. We can watch some movies or something."
"You're in a sleepless city, boyfriendless, and you want to stay in with me and watch movies. You need a night of fun. Come on. I won't let you do anything bad, but you need some fun too," Mary pushed.
" I'll think about it."
Elena tied an apron around her waist and headed out into the dining area. Another couple had come in and taken a seat. Plastering a fake smile across her face, Elena approached them. She took their orders and relayed them back to the kitchen. Work was slow. No customers were pouring in like they usually had. They were lucky to have even three tables filled at one time all morning. This wasn't as distracting as she needed it to be. She took her break a little after the lunch rush dissolved. Again, there wasn't much of a turn out, but she needed to a few minutes to call Damon. She dialed his number. After the fifth ring she was tempted to hang up. Obviously he was busy right now.
"Hey, Elena," His voice was stoic. Elena clutched the phone back to her face.
" Damon, hey, have you made it back yet. I just went on lunch and thought I'd call."
"Yeah, I'm here, but the person I came here to see isn't, so right now this is pretty pointless," he hissed.
"What do you mean? What now?"
"Stefan. I came back to help him, but he's not here. He's taken off with Sage. One of the absolute worst things that could happen. If I would've come up sooner, and not just blown him off this wouldn't have happened. Now I'll be lucky to even find them."
"I'm sorry. Is there anything I can do? I'd like to help," Elena urged.
" You're hours away from me babe, you can't do anything. Just stay there and stay out of trouble, I have enough to worry about right now. I'm going to dig around here for a little longer and see if I can find out where they went off to. I'll call you later."
"Easy enough. Be careful. Love you."
"You too." The line went dead. Elena picked at her lunch. Her heart ached knowing Damon wouldn't be there to walk her home tonight. He wouldn't be there to make her dinner, or cuddle her to sleep tonight. Not tonight, not tomorrow night, and maybe not even the night after that. Mary came in shortly and saw her pushing around her ketchup with a french fry.
"So are we on for tonight? Maybe we can go out to the bar down the road. I go there quite a bit, it's not too wild," Mary smiled.
"I told Damon I was just going to stay in. He's stressed out and I don't want him to worry about me too."
"Oh Elena, just come with me for an hour and then we can go back to your place and be boring. I promise no trouble. He won't even know any better," Mary pleaded. Elena rolled her eyes and nodded finally.
"Okay, okay. Just one hour. Then straight home to watch movies. Deal?"
"Deal," she squealed, clapping her hands together.
At closing time the girls cleaned the tables, mopped the floor, and closed the register. Mary locked the door behind her and they both rushed home to get ready for their hour out. Elena showered, curled her hair, and picked out a cute sundress. As she finished applying her makeup there were three quick raps at her front door. Elena padded to the door and slid the chain lock off the latch. She swung the door open to reveal Mary in her blue crop top and black high top shorts. Her red curly hair spiraled out of control beautifully. The smile on her face didn't match her party get up. Her eyes were brimmed bright red, and her typical contagious smile was missing.
"Come in, come in, what's wrong. Do we need to cancel girls night," Elena's forehead furrowed with concern.
"I'm so sorry Elena. They-I couldn't say no." Mary hesitated out in the hallway.
"What are you talking about? Come in here. You're safe here."
"Thank you Elena. Don't mind if we do," A shrill, pointed voice replied. Mary fell out of the way to reveal a small, dark haired, doe eyed woman walking through the threshold. Elena staggered backwards wanting to scream, but she knew better than that. She kept her mouth shut. Mary laid motionless out in the hallway.
"You are one pain in the ass to find Miss Gilbert. Thanks to Mary out there I finally caught a break. She shared some very important things with me. Too bad she won't be alive long enough for me to buy her a drink," Katherine stuck out her lip in a mock pout.
"Katherine, leave. You got your revenge. You've killed two of my friends, isn't that enough?"
"Poor, sweet, Elena. Just think of how many of my friends your father and his associates killed over the years. We are nowhere near finished. Don't worry, though, I'm not here to kill you yet. I just wanted to prove to you that no matter where you go. No matter how hard you try. I will always find you. You can't run from me. And every single person you care about will end up dead because of you. Even Damon," Katherine supplemented her speech with a menacing, arrogant glare.
"Just kill me Katherine. End this. You don't need to drag it out," Elena spat.
"Nah, that's not nearly as fun. I like the chase. You always have to worry about when I'll pop up and who might be next." Katherine ran her hand along the curtains in the living room. She picked up a framed picture of Elena and Damon and examined it.
"Scratch that. I won't kill Damon. He's too much of a looker. Besides he has to have someone after I kill you. Might as well be me, again." Katherine played special emphasis to the last word.
"He would never want you. He only did before because he was bored," Elena growled.
"What are you to him, Elena. Why do you think he wants anything to do with you? You can't honestly believe that you are the absolute only woman he's ever loved in his 170 give or take years. You don't know about our history. I knew him way before we were together in Augustine. In fact, I'm the one who turned him. He never told you that did he. Wonder what else he hides from you," Katherine was reveling in her power over Elena. Tears streaked down her face.
"You're lying," is all she could manage to choke out.
"This is getting boring. I'll leave you with your new information. I'll be back though. Don't be afraid to run again. I'll keep up. I promise," Katherine winked. She stalked to the door and sauntered out, dragging her fingers along the doorway as she rounded the corner.
Elena waited a few minutes to make sure she was really gone before she ran out to her friend still in the hallway. She drug her into the apartment and locked the door behind them. Elena was still crying frantically, but she managed to check Mary's light pulse and call an ambulance. There was no use in trying to call Damon for help. He was too far away to do anything. She still wasn't even sure what she wanted to say to him. All she could do now was sit with her friend and wait for the paramedics to show up.