A tense silence stretched between the four of them. Giuseppe stood up quietly and placed a hand on Damon's shoulder. "Do you want us to go?" he said quietly causing Damon to glare at his father oddly.
Elena shook her head violently. "I'd rather you didn't," she said without meaning too, starting when she noticed the gaze of all three men on her. The first thing she noticed was the look in Damon's eyes; it was shocked and confused like Grayson and Giuseppe but there was something else just underneath – it was like a flicker of something that she couldn't quite place. She shrugged and suddenly became very interested in her nails again.
Grayson sighed and glanced at his life-long friend, unable to keep ignoring the looks between his daughter and his best friend's son. "No. Don't go you can help fill in the blanks."
"And Damon has as much of a right to know." Giuseppe said softly. Elena moved to sit beside Damon again.
"You mean you don't know?" she whispered in an undertone to him. He shook his head ever so slightly.
"I would have told you." He whispered back, leaning closer to her. "Are you sure you want me to stay for this?"
She nodded slightly, only just visible to Damon because he was watching her so closely.
Giuseppe smirked at Grayson, a knowing look on his face as he watched the two near strangers on the sofa whispered quietly to each other. He shot a look at his best friend clearly saying 'I-told-you-so'
Elena turned away from Damon but not moving any further away from him and looked expectantly at her father. Almost bursting out laughing when he just stared nonplussed at her.
"Dad." She said softly. "I have to know."
"What do you mean he's a Vengeful?" Grayson yelled down the phone to Klaus. Damn slick Brit. "You're telling me the man driving the car that almost killed my daughter was part of the Vengeful's?" he bellowed.
"No, Grayson." Klaus said through gritted teeth. "I'm saying he was connected. I do my damn research you know!"
"Then tell me what you found out!" he shouted. What was the point phoning for answers if you get none? Giuseppe sighed and grabbed the phone of him. "Fine." He said bitterly. "You try and get a straight answer then!"
"Klaus, I swear to god you better start talking." He hissed menacingly through the phone.
"I was trying to tell him, Giuseppe!" Klaus said. "He just won't listen!"
"Klaus, be serious. If Caroline was possibly a target for the Vengeful Souls would you be calm?" he said reasonably. Silence echoed through the phone. He sighed wearily. "Get to the clubhouse. Now." He ordered before hanging up. "Can you stop pacing?" he said calmly to Grayson who was currently wearing a path into his carpet.
"No." he snapped. "Don't you get it? Yesterday Miranda burned to death in the one place I thought she was safe! Which was far away from any connection that could have been made between us! Elena would have died too is she hadn't been riding!" he sat down heavily on the arm of a chair running his fingers through his hair.
"Grayson." Giuseppe said firmly, standing in front of him. "Your daughter's mother just died, she needs you to be strong. Trust me when I say nothing good comes from falling apart."
"Elena's more like me than her mother than she realizes. She won't open up to a stranger, meaning she won't open up to me." He said hurt suffusing his voice.
Giuseppe laid a reassuring hand on Grayson's shoulder. "You aren't a stranger to her."
"Yes I am." He said in such a pained voice it was hard for Giuseppe to hear.
"Where is she anyway?" he said, steering the conversation into more comfortable territory.
"Damon took her back to your place." He said, his eyes far away.
"Gray," Giuseppe started to say before the shrill ringing of Grayson's phone cut him off.
"Hello?" he answered to an unknown number.
"Grayson Gilbert? This is Pasadena Police Department." A bored male voice came through the line. He shot forwards immediately giving the call his full attention. "We may have a lead on the fire your partner perished in."
"Well?" he snapped impatiently when the man didn't continue. "Don't tell me something like that then immediately- son of a bitch!" he yelled at the phone. "That bastard put me on hold!"
Giuseppe held in a laugh. "Who was it?" he said chuckling.
"Pasadena Police Dep." He said bitterly, all laughter draining from the room. He held the phone back to his ear, praying they would give him answers soon.
"Afternoon Mr. Gilbert, I am John Somers" Somers… the name rang a bell somewhere deep in the back of his mind. "And chief investigator in your case." John paused and drew a deep breath. "One of the first places we checked for leads was the speed camera trained on the road outside the residence in question and the only vehicles leading along that road in the time period you gave us was a black van, which you say is yours, yes?" he asked, all in the same professional tone.
"Yes." He spat out through gritted teeth. He had always hated police officers; they were too impersonal to deal with cases where people needed answers.
"A black van and two motorcycles, and understand Mr. Gilbert-"
"Did you say two bikes?" he gasped, untold anger coursing through him. It was a club who had done this and he would bet his right hand that club was, or was very closely connected to the Vengeful Souls.
"Yes, Mr. Gilbert and understand I know of your connections within the biker community and this is why I have forwarded you an image of both bikes for you to confirm a name for the bikers, or the club or even just the state where they would have come from-"
Grayson motioned to Giuseppe, gesturing frantically to his laptop. "Check my e-mail!" he mouthed as clearly as possible. He must have understood because he was at his laptop in minutes searching through the unread messages.
"You do understand" he said patronizingly "that clubs can range form west to east coast of North America? I can't simply give you a state depending on which patch they have on them? It's a lot more complicated than that, and not exactly clear to read off of a speed camera image!"
"I understand Mr. Gilbert and since you mentioned it already you must know how difficult it will be to trace the biker and even if we did manage to trace him how difficult it will be to pin anything on him? And Mr. Gilbert, we, or I, know that biker attacks are rarely unprovoked. I know you will have a certain club or maybe even a certain person or chapter that could be responsible."
"And how do you know that exactly?" he said questioningly, slightly unnerved that a police officer knew so much.
"I was in a club just over ten years go before I was forced to grow up. Why do you think I asked specifically for this case? Because I can help."
"You were a member of a motorcycle club once and now you're a police officer?" he growled. It was an unknown thing to hear of. You didn't leave a M.C just to join the police force.
"I wasn't full-patch member. I was eighteen years old and mildly involved in a feeder gang for a large club."
"And you joined the force because?" Grayson asked curiously. The name Somers was still ringing bells in the back of his mind.
"I had to grow up." John said simply. "Now you know how I know things, and why I need you to look at those images."
"I will." He sighed. "I appreciate the help and I know it's almost pointless but-"
"You want answers." John said sadly. "I understand."
"Goodbye." He said finally before hanging up.
"That was suspiciously informal for a police phone call." Giuseppe said casually, as he focused in on the image on the computer screen. "And why have you got images of a Vengeful on your laptop from some guy called John Somers?" he paused and cocked his head to the side. "I swear I know that name."
Grayson cursed violently and dashed to Giuseppe's side. "John's the investigator. He said images of the only two bikes that had passed the road that leads to the house."
Giuseppe paled dramatically. "You mean it was the Vengeful Souls? Again?" he breathed painfully quietly. Grayson nodded in confirmation, sinking into the sofa. "That's too much of a coincidence, Grace." He said unnecessarily. "Why did they try and kill them?"
"I don't care why right now, Gus." Grayson said tiredly. "I just care about how they found them."
"Wait. So it was a Vengeful who tried to hit me with a car? And burned down my home?" Elena said slowly vaguely aware of the light pressure of Damon's hand resting just behind her shoulders.
"And killed Miranda." Grayson said softly, more to himself than anyone else.
Elena looked away again. Damon couldn't help but notice how uncomfortable she looked. How long would it be before she could even hear her mother's name? She had no one to talk to about her. Her father was practically a stranger to her. There was no one here she had even spent more than a week with for god's sake! He knew it would help if she talked to someone. After his own mother had passed away he'd spent hours with Stefan, not necessarily talking but just sitting with him knowing that there was at least one other person that knew how he was feeling.
Damon rubbed a hand wearily over his face. "How do you know it was one of the Souls who set the house alight?" His father and Grayson had completely glossed over that little tidbit of information. There was so much they hadn't covered yet. How had then know it was a Vengeful who burnt the house down? How did Klaus know the driver was connected to the Vengefuls? Why were they after Elena? Why had they wanted Miranda, and now Elena, dead?
"The cops sent me images of the two bikes that had passed the speed camera that night, one was Elena and one was a stranger with a Vegas Vengeful patch." Grayson explained quickly, but neither Damon nor Elena missed the look they shared. They weren't telling them everything for reasons unknown.
Elena immediately looked at him and he knew she had seen it too. He was sure she would have a lot to say about it if she got the chance.
"And Klaus?" Elena shot out sharply. Damon resisted the urge to smirk; the amount he had found out about this girl was overwhelming. She was surprisingly like Grayson, she refused to be kept in the dark and if you kept something form her she would pick up on it and apparently keep firing questions until you slipped up.
"We haven't got to that part yet." Giuseppe said soothingly, the same way he might calm Grayson if he was in the same state. Damon chuckled lightly, shooting a look at his father. Giuseppe laughed along with his son.
"What?" Elena said grinning at Damon.
"You're so like your Dad." Giuseppe answered. "Honestly, it's unreal how alike you are!" he said, looking a little like his son when he grinned so mischievously.
"Poor you." Damon whispered in her ear. She elbowed him in the ribs sharply regretting it an instant later when he prodded her from either side of her ribs causing her to squeal and cringe into him. She felt him relax behind her and casually wrap his arms around her and lean his chin onto of her head. This time she definitely didn't miss the knowing look Giuseppe shot her dad and the resigned expression Grayson wore on his face.
"Don't you dare tickle me again." Elena warned threateningly.
"You threatening me, Gilbert?" he asked, pretending to be shocked.
"Simply warning you. I'll stay here while we get our explanation if you promise not to tickle me." She said softly so her dad wouldn't overhear.
He smirked and tightening his arms slightly around her. "I'll be good." He whispered in an undertone. He looked up and locked gazes with his father's amused eyes. "Tell us how Klaus knew."
"Where the hell is Klaus?" Grayson moaned irritably. "That man has no punctuality. None."
"Or maybe he had to come from all the way across town?" Giuseppe said absent-mindedly. He was semi-used to this side of Grayson, the panicked, over obsessive 'Dad' side of him. It came out before and after every visit to Elena.
"How come you're always the reasonable one, Gus?" Klaus asked slyly as he walked into the office, dumping his helmet on a table. "Don't yell at me, Gray. I will show you what I know in precisely two seconds." He snapped clearly sick of the man's constant irritation towards him. He sat down in front of the laptop and began typing frantically. "This is what I was doing this whole time." He said with his eyes trained on the screen. "The driver's name was Logan Miller who happened to be one of my mother's good friend's sons so I recognized him from when I was younger. He was a few years older than me but went to the same school." He spoke quickly, still typing rapidly at the laptop.
"Is this going anywhere?" Grayson snapped, cracking his knuckles the way he always did when he was tense.
"Logan Miller, Carlton High School Reunion, 2010." Giuseppe read aloud from the search box. "How is this relevant?"
Klaus dismissed him with a wave of his hands as he brought up several pages on a school website and a couple articles, obviously searching for something. He let out a noise of victory as he clicked on an article and scrolled down until he found a picture of five people with the caption. "Left to right: Klaus and Elijah Michelson, Logan Miller, his wife Rebekah and brother in law Finn Adams."
"Where the hell is this going, Klaus?" Giuseppe asked, finally getting annoyed with the countless stream of non-lead.
"This took me all day. Do you want to know how many bloody names I searched in connection to Logan? It took me nearly three damn hours to find the name Finn Adams which-" he trailed off gesturing to the screen as he clicked on a final link, bringing up a news article from five years ago. "As you can see if pretty useful."
"Adams brothers Finn and Kol refuse to comment on brother, Michael's arrest last month." Read the headline.
"How did you get access to this article?" Giuseppe asked incredulously. "I thought old stories were removed from the searches after a year or two? Don't you need the direct link after that?"
Klaus nodded in agreement. "They are but the second name Adams isn't all that common around here so I called an old friend of mine who works in the force now. He let me have a look around the records."
"And he knows you're a Vagrant?" Grayson asked, mildly amused by how many cops were willing to help out a biker.
"Course, we were in the Riot Bunch together. He's only a couple years older than me." Klaus said casually. "He left when his Dad died and he had to take care of his little sister."
"So he gave you access to the records where you found this." Giuseppe said slowly. "Did you see anything else?"
"Nope. There might be more but the guy who helped me got a lead on some major case he's working on and needed his computer for e-mails and office for privacy or something."
Giuseppe could practically hear the wheel turning in Grayson's head as he thought hard about something, trying to fit pieces of everything together.
"Did you hear anything about the case he's working on?" Giuseppe asked just to sate his curiosity.
"Something about a fire I think."
A stunned silence spread across the room. "You're welcome. I did spend my whole day working on this." Klaus said rather bitterly as he stood to leave.
"Thank you Klaus." Giuseppe said, roughly clapping him on the shoulder.
"No problem." He replied flippantly as he headed for the door.
"Don't tell Damon. I know you guys are close but don't say anything to him." Grayson said suddenly.
"Why not?" Klaus and Giuseppe both asked at the same time.
"Because he will tell Elena." Grayson said sadly. "And right now she doesn't need more life changing stuff happening to her."
"I won't. Just call if you need anything." He said as he left the room.
"Gray, what have you figured out?" Giuseppe asked sharply, knowing the look his friend wore on his face.
Grayson waved his hand and grabbed his phone and hitting the redial and putting it on speaker phone.
"Hello?" John answered from the other end of the line.
"John Somers, Riot Bunch recruit of 2001." He said steadily, internally daring for a contradiction. He heard Giuseppe curse in realization somewhere next to him.
"Someone does their research." John sighed.
"Isn't giving civilians access to confidential police records breaking some sort of rule?" Grayson asked smugly, grinning slightly. John had been a Rioter; he had helped Klaus and was open to helping him. He could be trusted as far as he could tell.
John cursed good-naturedly. "I forgot about Klaus." He said simply.
"You were a Rioter John, you can guess as well as I can who started that fire."
"Yes, but I have no knowledge of who you might have pissed off so badly they spent a heck of a long time searching for your family."
"I've pissed off a lot of people, I'm sure you know that."
"Yep, but who would search for long enough to find a trail that connected you to that house? Or even this county?"
"You ask like you already know the answer." Giuseppe commented.
"And I'm sure you know it too." John said casually. "The Vengefuls."
"I've pissed off a lot of them too." Grayson said smirking, slowly easing into more relaxed conversation.
"It's a start." John said sighing. "If I tell you not to tell anyone can I trust you won't? My sister depends on this job to stay in school and if I lose it she loses her future."
Giuseppe looked at him with pained eyes. It wasn't natural for him to keep things from Damon. Anything club related was shared with his son. Even Elena's existence had been trusted to the young man. Surely he could be trusted with the knowledge of a sympathizer cop?
"Not unless absolutely essential." Giuseppe said reluctantly. "Bye John."
"I'll call you with new leads, Gray." He said, causing a jolt to run through both men. He really was on their side, once a biker; always a biker. "Bye Gus." He added before hanging up.
"Imagine if Klaus hadn't recognized Logan." Damon said darkly. "Then we'd be screwed."
"He would have got his name though." Elena pointed out. "So he still would have stumbled on that article eventually."
"I know, but it would have taken longer." Damon murmured.
"It was sheer luck." Grayson said darkly.
"It doesn't all add up." Elena said frowning at her Dad. "How could he have managed to get access to a news article from all those years ago?" She noticed her Dad stiffen slightly. "I was doing a journalism course, Dad. You can only get access to news articles previous to three years through the news station or the police department." Grayson's jaw tensed even more. He hated lying to his daughter, he knew that much already.
"It's Klaus." Damon chuckled. "Caroline probably snuck him into her mum's work or he charmed his way into a news station."
Giuseppe chuckled lightly, emphasizing the likeness between him and Damon once more. "He's right. That does sound like Klaus."
"It does, doesn't it?" Grayson said grinning, flashing a look at Giuseppe briefly. Damon was never too inquisitive; he'd stopped asking questions when the answers got scary. Elena on the other hand seemed like she would dig and dig and dig until she found what she was looking for – no matter the consequences.
"Is that all?" Elena asked wearily. She was comfortable lying in Damon's arms and was on the verge of dropping off to sleep.
"Yeah, for now that's all we know."
"Is that everything you know?" Elena asked sharply, watching the two men's reaction closely. Grayson looked away and told her that 'Of course that's everything' and Giuseppe stiffened slightly and glanced at Damon with a tensed jaw.
She pulled herself out of Damon's arms much to his dismay and stretched her arms above her head. She had been sitting curled up for hours while Giuseppe and Grayson talked and answered her and Damon's hundreds of questions. Damon stood up behind her and placed her hands on her shoulders and steered her towards the door.
"I'm hungry." He said from behind her. "And I'm guessing so are you."
"Starving." She said and they made their way into the courtyard.
"Good." He said as he shoved on a helmet and swung his leg over a dark grey bike. "Come on. We're getting takeout."
"This isn't you're bike is it?" she said, circling it appreciatively. "It's ni-i-i-ce."
"It's mine, having your Dad President of a motorcycle club has it's advantages." He said grinning as he grabbed her hand and pulled her over. "Spare helmet is over there." He pointed to a shelf in the back corner of the room. "Go put it on, we're ordering takeout."
"You're bossy you know that." She said dryly as she pulled on the helmet and jumped on the bike behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist tightly.
"I've been told." He said smugly, managing to make everything bad she said about him sound good. She shook her head and prodded his ribs before he started the bike and flashed them away into the city.
"You've got a nice place." Elena said appreciatively as she sat curled up on his couch munching on Chinese food.
"Thank you." He said grinning as he sat down next to her, now dressed in a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. "Here." He said, chucking a dark t-shirt at her.
She picked it up and raised her eyebrows questioningly at him. "What's this for?"
"To sleep in," he said, grabbing her food off of her and eating it himself. "You can stay here for as long as you need and go to whatever Gray got you when you get it set up."
She sighed and stuck her tongue out at him as she stood up and made her way to the bathroom. He stared after her, still eating her Chinese. This was all new to him. He didn't have friends that were girls… he just didn't. He had countless one-night stands that meant nothing to him and were never thought of again. He didn't sit in on Friday nights and order Chinese take away with girls. He just didn't. Man, she was gorgeous though. Absolutely. He almost choked on his food when she emerged from his bathroom dressed in his t-shirt with only her underwear on underneath. She joined him on the couch and grabbed an unopened carton and began eating it with her amazingly long legs tucked beneath her.
"My place better be as nice as this." She said casually looking around the room.
Damon snorted and nudged her with his foot "No chance."
"You know you're getting roped in on helping me move everything around right?" she said grinning evilly. He sighed and leant his head back against the back of his sofa.
"I thought you felt bad about me spending all my time with you?"
She shrugged and put her food down. "I figure you'll leave when you get sick of me."
He pulled his head up and looked at her. "Don't hold your breath then." He said, grinning widely at her.
"You should smile more." She commented absent-mindedly. "It's nice."
He froze and raised his eyebrows at her, causing her to laugh in embarrassment. "Well you should laugh more. It's nice." He scooted closer to her and rested his head in her lap. "You don't have to sleep on the sofa again you know." He said, trying his hardest not to sound like he was trying to hit on her.
"You just want me in your bed so you can try sleep with me." She said seriously, but her eyes told him she was playing with him; they sparkled with humor, dancing in the faint light of his apartment.
"Nah." He said with his eyes closed. "I just don't want to sleep on the sofa and I'm kind of used to having you around…" he trailed off and let his comment sit for a few moments.
"Well, I wouldn't want you to suffer would I?" she asked rhetorically and she stood up, making his head moved from it's very comfortable position. She held a hand out impatiently to him. He took it gently and towed her to his bedroom before collapsing onto his bed. It felt like heaven after two nights on a sofa. Elena climbed on after him and curled up in his side. His arm curved around her and pulled her close purely out of reflex. She relaxed in his arms and let her eyes drift close.
He couldn't help but wonder what it as about this girl that made it possible for him to actually talk to her and laugh with her and actually get to know her. He would never admit it to anyone or even say it out loud but there was something strangely comforting about the way her head rolled perfectly into the crook of his neck and the way his cheek rested on the top of her head in just the right way.
"Damon." She said quietly, her voice not clouded with sleep at all. "Do you think there's something they're hiding from us?"
He sighed and rolled his head further over so his lips were practically touching her hair. "Yep." He said softly. "But we'll talk in the morning." He said quietly.
"Yeah." She whispered. "Night Damon." She murmured against his neck, her lips moving against his skin in a whisper of a kiss.
"Yeah." He murmured into her hair. "Goodnight Elena."
Okay, to me this makes sense but then again – I wrote it. That was a lot of info in one chapter.
Giuseppe and Grayson have kept John a secret from Damon and Elena so they know all the information but not necessarily how it was obtained.
I would also really appreciate opinions on this one. I thought explaining through flashback would make it a little more interesting and I could let you get a glimpse of Grayson/Giuseppe's feelings and personalities. I can of course just explain through present conversations in the future if you would prefer that. Let me know!
I wrote this in one sitting and wasn't finished until roughly 3 in the morning, sorry for any mistakes but there are only so many times you can read something without wanting to rip your eyeballs out.
-E