Epilogue to Part VIII – Home

Elena was able to sleep on the return flight. Actually, the short night followed by a very long day caught up with her before they were even in the cars leaving the Proctor neighbor's house. She woke up briefly as Damon carried her to the car and when she had to make the trek from the car to the small jet. Mostly though, she slept.

Bonnie slept on the return flight as well. Neither heard Katherine as she came to the back of the jet while it was in the air and whispered to Damon and Alaric.

"I haven't heard from Marcus and couldn't reach him before we boarded."

"Is that unusual?" Alaric asked. He was getting sleepy, but perked up.

"Very much so. He is meticulous about checking in on schedule, as well as answering when called."

"Do you think something's wrong?" Isobel asked.

"I think we need to be careful. Damon, when we land, would you be willing to call Stefan?"

"Why?" Damon asked. "Won't you just call Marcus?"

"Yes, but I thought we could try several things at once. I would also like Alaric to call Jenna." Katherine said, looking at Alaric.

"I'll do that," he replied. "I would do that anyway."

"No." Damon said drawing the eyes of the others to him. "You wouldn't wake her up at this time of the morning."

Alaric hesitated. Maybe he was right.

"But you'll call Stefan?" Katherine asked Damon again.

"Call Marcus. If something is wrong, we may not want anyone to know we're back."

Katherine looked at Isobel. "He may be right," Isobel said.

Katherine thought for a minute before saying "Very well. I'll call Marcus when we land. If he still does not answer, Isobel, Alaric and I will take Bonnie home and then visit Elena's home. Damon, will you be willing to take Elena somewhere else until you hear from us?"

Damon smirked. "I'll take her somewhere else. I may turn off our phones as well."

Katherine looked a little irritated briefly before regaining control of herself. "Our other two will be with you, though unseen by Elena."

"Not necessary." Damon said.

"Still, they will be with you." Katherine replied, the annoyed look back.

"I can't go inside the Gilbert house," Isobel said quickly, mostly to break the Damon/Katherine stalemate.

"She hasn't invited you?" Katherine asked, surprised.

Isobel shook her head. "She'll ask my advice, go anywhere with me, but won't invite me in - not that it's come up lately."

"There will be plenty to do outside if we need to go there." Katherine said. Isobel nodded as Katherine returned to her seat.

Damon returned to watching Elena as she slept. He wanted nothing more for her than for her to go to her safe home where she could rest after the ordeal she had suffered. It wasn't looking likely.

Elena found herself waking up with her head on Damon's lap – again. She opened her eyes, but laid still, trying to remember why she was there – what had happened.

They were outside, the sun shining brightly. She couldn't remember lying down this time. She couldn't remember anything after being with him on a swing - after the horrific sight in the bedroom.

She did not want to think about that, so instead of trying to remember, she moved her head slightly to see if she could figure out where they were. Probably not in town – there were trees nearby, but no buildings.

She closed her eyes to see if she could sleep again, but she only saw the bedroom with its corpse and bloody writing. She pushed herself up into a sitting position and looked at him. His eyes were closed, but she felt his arm move around her. She let him pull her next to him.

"Where are we?" Elena asked, moving to stretch herself wherever she could without moving away from him.

"Near Mystic Falls." Damon said, keeping his eyes closed.

"Did I sleep all of the way back?" Elena asked.

"Pretty much." Damon said. His arm held her tightly, but his eyes remained closed. He did not move.

Elena wasn't thinking clearly yet, but something came to mind. "Why didn't you just take me home?"

Damon did open his eyes now, and smirked. "Not liking the company?"

"No," Elena said, quickly. "You know better. I just want to see them."

Then she saw him approach – one of the vampires that had been on the trip with them.

"Soon." Damon said as he gently pulled his arm from her and went to talk to the other vampire.

She just watched. She was still tired, too tired to go to the vampires and try to listen to what they said. So she waited for Damon to come back, when she would insist that he take her home.

Peachie X is still here with her Beta. I like her better than the muse...