This is basically a filler chapter.
Thank you for all your nice reviews. Mel, stop purposely annoying Ana.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Time seemed to fade back into the present day and wrinkles reappeared around Elena's eyes. "Even after all these years, I can feel it closing around my throat like it was a dog collar. It's weight pulling me down. If only you could have felt it, not just seen pictures of it…"
"Well, that's the general idea," Stefan said, getting impatient. Damon glared at him and he stepped back.
"So let me get this straight," Jeremy started, "You were going to kill yourself by jumping off the Titanic?" He laughed loudly. "That's great."
"Jeremy…" Stefan warned, even as Elena laughed an almost girl-like laugh along with him.
"You only had to wait two days!" Jeremy finished. Damon rolled his eyes at his wife and the kid. Out of Elena and Damon's sight, Stefan checked his watch. It had been hours.
"Tell us more about the diamond, Elena. What did Klaus do with it after that?"
"I'm afraid I feel tired, Mr. Branson," Elena said, standing. Katherine rushed over to her grandparents, starting to roll her grandmother out in her wheelchair after Elena sat. One of the seamen wheeled Damon's chair.
"Wait! Can you give us something to work with here? Who had access to the safe? What about this Elijah guy? The valet. Did he have the combination?"
"That's enough." Katherine's tone was sharp, like the blade of a knife. As she rolled her grandmother out, Elena waved goodbye.
The arm of the crane swung one of the Mir subs out over the water. Stefan walked side by side with Trevor, who was bearing news from the von Swartzchilds. They wove among launch crew, deck cranes, and the sub maintenance guys.
"They're getting impatient."
"I'm getting impatient," Stefan said, frustrated, running a hand threw his hair, "I need more time, Trevor."
"We're burning through thirty grand a day, and we're six days over. I'm just telling you what they're told me. They said, 'They've put their hand on the pull and are starting to pull.'"
"Well, tell the hand that I need like, two more days. Just two more days. We are talking to Klaus von Swartzchild's fiancé, the one he purchased the necklace for. She had the diamond on and now we just need to know where it ended up. I just need to warm her up a bit. Okay?" Katherine stood behind him, eyebrow raised. "Hey, Katherine, can I talk to you for a bit?"
"Don't you mean warm me up a bit?"
"Please, I'm running out of time. I need your help."
"I'm not going to help force you into making my hundred, nearly hundred and one year old grandma talk. I'm here to tell you back off. My grandfather is beyond angry and he can sue you over the moon and back if he feels you're taking advantage of my grandma's knowledge."
"Katherine," Stefan pleaded, taking her hands in his, "you have to understand. This is my whole life. My wife divorced me over this hunt. Every drop of my money and Jeremy's is tied up in this. I need what's locked in your grandma's memory."
"Look, Stefan, my family got killed by some guy and his gang just because I wouldn't go out with him. My grandparents are the only people I have left and I won't have them for long. You have to let her do this her way, in her own time. She called you, so obviously she has some reason for being here."
"Make peace with the past?" Katherine shook her head.
"You don't understand. Up until that story ran on TV, neither her nor Grandpa had ever mentioned being on the Titanic, or being some Count and Countess. My dad had told me about the whole royalty aristocrat thing, but they never mentioned it."
"Then we're meeting them for the first time." Katherine gave him a hard, studying look.
"Do you really think they were there?"
"I don't know what to think. I believe they were though."
Stefan began the tape recorder again. Elena glanced at the screen showing live footage for the wreck. The rectangular windows of A deck marched past on the right.
"The next day was Saturday, and I remember thinking how good the sunlight felt." And the tale begun again.