Chapter Nine lovelies, Enjoy!
Chapter Nine
The girls from Mystic Falls were fifteen minutes into the Vow when everyone else had decided that it would be fun to join them. The eldest Salvatore brother was busy flirting with Elena, while the younger one was doing the same with Mystic's Bonnie. Jeremy and Meredith were smushed together on the couch and Caroline was sitting in Matt's lap.
Fells' Matt was sitting on the floor with Fells' Bonnie beside him. "Where's Damon?" He whispered to her.
"Something came up." She said back quietly, "I'll fill you in later. He's with Stefan."
"And Elena?" He asked.
She paused, "I don't know."
"She's at the Grille with a friend." Caroline called to them from the couch.
"Not nice to listen in on people's conversations." Matt complained with a small smile.
Caroline merely shrugged and smiled, "Just trying to help." Just then, there was a knock on the door. Everyone froze.
"I'll get it." Damon said as he untangled himself from Elena. He quickly moved to the door and pulled it open. Everyone stared at him anxiously but he was blocking the person on the other side. "Rick." Damon said in an almost friendly tone. Everyone relaxed and went back to enjoying the movie.
Elena and Jeremy scrambled up and hurried to greet the visitor. "We've missed you!" Elena cried as she was engulfed in a hug. "I've missed you guys too." The voice was familiar and Meredith found herself glancing toward the door. It was Alaric Saltzman.
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"Get out of here Damon" Stefan warned. "Yeah no... Get off of Elena... that's no way to treat a lady" Damon frowned his dark eyes narrowed.
"I said GO!" Stefan shouted, still holding Elena down.
"Guess we have to do this the hard way little brother" Damon sighed and yanked Stefan off of Elena, throwing him across the path and into a tree. Elena scrambled up and pulled her jeans back over her waist, buttoning them quickly.
Damon tossed her car keys, "Go to Tyler's... don't go back to the boarding house... It seems I need to teach my little brother a lesson in control" Damon glared at Stefan who was stumbling up from his spot where he fell. Elena nodded and took off running towards the car, but Stefan was quick. He had her wrapped in his arms again in a second.
"LET GO!" Elena shouted elbowing him hard in the ribs. He released her, doubling over from where she hit. Elena took off again and made it into the car. She started it up, hands shaking and drove to the Lockwood house.
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Alaric felt the stare from behind him and he slowly turned, glancing around at the teenagers in the living room. His eyes fell on Meredith and their gazes met. She looked away quickly, pushing her hair across her face in that familiar way of hers and only Fells' Matt and Bonnie knew that she was blushing furiously.
The smile on Alaric's face widened and he called, "I can still see you, Meredith." She 'hmph'd' and crossed her arms, stomping over to where her friends from Fells Church were sitting. Jeremy glanced between the two curiously and then shrugged, "So what are you doing here, Rick?"
"Just came to visit." Alaric responded as he set down two full paper bags on the kitchen counter, "Annnd I brought some groceries. Since, I assume, what with this being a houseful of irresponsible teenagers, that none of you had even thought about the food shortage."
"I'll have you know." Meredith appeared beside them, glaring at Alaric, "That I was planning on going grocery shopping tommorow."
"Right." Alaric nodded, an amused grin on his face.
"What are you even doing here?" Meredith found herself snapping bitterly.
"Well," Alaric said, wrapping his arms around both Elena and Jeremy, "These two over here are like my kids."
"Yeah. Daddy Alaric." Elena giggled and pushed his arm off, "Seriously though, he's our legal guardian. He lives over at our place."
"Really?" Meredith managed, trying to hide the baffled look on her face.
"Really." Jeremy clarified before Elena and him hurried off into the kitchen to put the groceries away.
"Now it's your turn." Alaric said.
"My turn?" Meredith repeated, raising an eyebrow in confusion.
"Yes, your turn. What are you doing here?"
"Bonnie's a cousin of mine and I'm staying with her for a while." She lied smoothly.
"I wasn't aware Bonnie had a cousin."
"Yeah, well she does."
"Then why are you here and not at her house?" He challenged, surveying her polka-dotted pajamas and bunny slippers.
She opened her mouth to answer but Elena's voice from the kitchen interrupted, "Oh, Rick, stop messing with her! She knows about vampires and all that supernatural stuff."
"Yeah." Jeremy piped in, "She's actually a vampire hunter like you." Meredith would have been pissed at Jeremy for blurting her most treasured secret out to some history teacher but she was merely bewildered. Jeremy's voice rang in her head again: She's actually a vampire hunter like you.
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Elena knocked on the door to the Lockwood place and Tyler answered. "Elena?" He whispered coming onto the porch, "What are you doing here?" He asked.
"I... well..." Elena didn't know how to tell him that Stefan had tried to rape her and if it wasn't for Damon he would have succeeded, so instead she just hugged him, "I wanted to see you" She replied with a half smile.
He smiled back and hugged her tight. "You wanna stay here tonight? It's kinda late" He offered her his hand and she took it with a nod. "My room?" He asked. Elena nodded again, not trusting her voice. They laid down and within minutes Elena was asleep.
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Damon talked some sense into Stefan and maybe he hit some sense into him too, but Stefan deserved it for hurting his best friend. "Stefan what the hell were you thinking?" Damon asked Stefan as he drove the car Stefan took back to the boarding house.
"I wasn't" Stefan mumbled.
"Well at least you know that now... I sure hope you have an apology for Elena... if she'll even get near you after that" Damon smirked. Stefan glared back. Damon shrugged and they sat in silence for the rest of the drive. Stefan walked into the boarding house behind Damon and everyone gasped.
"STEFAN!? WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR FACE" Fells' Bonnie gasped.
"Don't worry about it" He mumbled.
"Where's Elena?" Caroline asked looking behind Damon as if expecting her to come into the house.
"She's at Tyler's... don't worry... She's fine now" Damon replied sitting down on the couch beside his Bonnie.
"What happened?" The group asked after Fells' Stefan disappeared up the stairs.
He only shrugged and kept his gaze locked on the television screen, "Nothing that any of you should care about." He said sharply when everybody kept staring at him.
They grumbled their disagreements but went back to whatever they had been doing before. "What happened?" Fells' Bonnie whispered to Damon, leaning closer to him.
"I'll tell you later." Was all he replied.
"No, tell me now." He shook his head.
"Tell me!" Bonnie insisted a little angrily, "Where's Elena?"
"I told you she's fine!" Damon snapped back. There was hostility in his voice and Bonnie found herself inching away from him. Damon was beyond pissed if he had the nerve to talk to her like that. They watched the rest of the movie in silence.
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At that moment, the door opened and a wounded Stefan walked in, limping along side his brother. Meredith barely glanced at him before she turned back to Alaric. "You're a vampire hunter?" She demanded with wide eyes. Alaric was gazing at Stefan thoughtfully, "Don't I know him from somewhere...? Where do I know him from?" Meredith sighed and said, "He's Joseph? Joseph Salvatore?" "Right..." Alaric said slowly as realization came to his senses, "What's he doing here?"
"He's related to the Salvatores, remember?"
"Right, right." Alaric said again, then he scratched his head and he looked at Fells' Bonnie and Matt. "Who are they? I'm really confused right now, if someone could explain..." He hurried off to find Mystic Falls Salvatore brothers, leaving Meredith to her unanswered question.
Fifteen minutes later
"So let me get this clear..." Alaric mused slowly, "You guys." He extended one arm toward the group of Fells Church, "Are them." He pointed to ones from Mystic Falls, "But from another dimension."
"Yeah."
"And you aren't actually Joseph, you're Stefan Salvatore. And you...You're Damon Salvatore. And you're Bonnie, not Stacey. You go by Chris but you're really Matt."
"Mhm."
"You're the scooby gang from another dimension, Fells Church."
"Yup."
"There's also an Elena Gilbert that's known as Katie but she's at the Lockwood mansion."
"Yeah, that's about it." Alaric glanced between the teenagers, a dazed expression on his face. Then he closed his eyes and rubbed his temples, "This just made everything more confusing than it already was."
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The next day Elena arrived at the Salvatore Boarding house early so that she could change. She managed to avoid Stefan as she walked into the room shared with Fells Bonnie and Meredith. "Hey... Guys" Elena smiled coming into the room and pulling some clothes out to wear for the day.
"Elena! What happened last night?" They both asked at the same time.
"Er... nothing... just went to see Tyler" Elena replied nervously.
"You're a terrible liar but it seems NO ONE wants to talk about it... but when you three are ready to share the big secret then we'll be ready to listen" Bonnie huffed and went back into the bathroom to change. Elena changed and walked downstairs. She saw both Damon's sitting on the couch and sat beside Fells' Damon.
"Can I talk to you in the kitchen Elena?" Fells' Damon asked.
Elena nodded and followed him into the kitchen, "Are you alright?" He asked.
"Yeah... I think so. Thank you for saving me... I can't even imagine what could have happened if you didn't show up" Elena whispered with a shudder.
"You're welcome... you're my best friend Elena... and if he gives you any problems, call me okay?" Damon looked into her blue eyes and hugged her. They then both exited the kitchen acting like their conversation had never happened.
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"Stefan's in the car waiting for us." Meredith told Elena once she'd come out of the kitchen. Elena stared at her with heavy lidded eyes. "He's driving us to school today." Fells' Bonnie explained when Elena didn't answer.
"We'll tell him to wait for a few more minutes." Mystic's Elena offered before she hurried out the door with Mystic's Bonnie, Caroline, both Matts, Jeremy, and Mystic's Stefan in tow.
"No thanks. Tyler and I are skipping school today." Elena finally replied. Bonnie crossed her arms and Meredith looked at her expectantly.
"Will you tell us what happened now, Elena?" Elena hesitated, then shook her head and rubbed the sides of her arms, shivering unconsciously, "No, I'm sorry, I can't." That was when Fells' Damon came into the living room, and, as if he had been listening the whole time, he joined them and rubbed Elena's back soothingly.
"Whatever happened to the Velicraptor Sisterhood?" Bonnie snapped before she grabbed her book-bag and stormed out the door.
Elena felt tears rise in her eyes, "How can they turn that on me... They don't even know-" Elena's voice cracked. "Shhh... It's going to be okay" Damon hugged her again to try to keep her from crying, but the tears spilled out onto his shirt.
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At school Bonnie couldn't help but notice Fells' Stefan in her first class. His face was fully healed now, like nothing happened, but he seemed different... like he was guilty of something that he couldn't control. She wanted to know what had happened last night, it was driving her crazy. She texted Meredith: Mer... What do you think happened last night?
A few minutes later came Meredith's short reply: Idk... It was bad though. Bonnie sighed, frustrated. No one knew anything except Damon, Elena, and Stefan. Was it a mistake for her to send Damon to help Stefan? If she hadn't would this be happening now? She somehow felt like it was a huge mistake to send Damon.
'What the hell happened last night!' Bonnie thought to herself. She was actually so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't notice when the teacher was calling on her to answer the question. "I'm sorry... can you repeat the question?" Bonnie asked, blushing.
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Meredith jumped when her phone vibrated with the text from Bonnie. To be honest she wasn't as worked up as Bonnie was about what happened. She was more concerned with the fact that this Alaric was a vampire hunter just like her. The Alaric from her dimension only studied vampires, but this Alaric was a hunter... he could understand her so much better. 'This is wrong' She thought to herself, 'I shouldn't be thinking of Elena and Jeremy's guardian like this... I shouldn't be thinking of him at all' Jeremy cared about her and she cared about him... but Alaric... he was so... cute and he could relate to her like no one else. Meredith shook herself out of her thoughts and concentrated on her Math lesson.
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Elena's head was on Damon's shoulder and he had one arm wrapped tightly around her own shoulders. She was shaking. This was far worse than the time Tyler Lockwood from Fells Church had tried to rape her. This time it'd been Stefan, her ex lover, the one she'd trusted with her own life, the one she'd loved more than anything in the world. Elena never thought this would happen. Anyone else, She thought to herself as she sobbed quietly, anyone else but Stefan.
She was sobbing uncontrollably, had been all day long. Elena was crying for Stefan, for the rejection she'd felt when her best friend's had turned their backs on her. She was starting to wish she was back in Fells Church where she could visit her Aunt Judith and her little sister Margaret. They always made her feel better. Instead, she was in Mystic Falls and the only comfort she could find was from Damon, the devil himself.
"All that wailing is getting on my nerves." Mystic's Damon complained as he came into the living room.
Elena didn't answer and Fells' Damon glared at him, snapping, "Nobody really cares, princess." Mystic's Damon smirked, taking out a flask and opening it. He tilted the flask toward them before taking a drink and waving at them as he made his way toward the front door.
Before he left he paused, calling over his shoulder, "I know what happened, you know. And I'm sure the others will be horrified when they find out."
"And how would they find out?" Fells' Damon shot back.
"The little birdie talks." He shrugged, "Well, more like a crow, if you know what I mean."
Then he strolled out, shutting the door behind him. Elena glanced up at Damon, her eyes wide with unshed tears.
He brushed a stray hair away from her face and started, "He wouldn't dare." Just then the door opened again.
"Back so soon?" Damon called rudely, pressing Elena closer to him.
"Yeah, actually." A female voice snapped, "Cheerleading practice was canceled. It's raining." The two of them looked up to see the girls make their way inside the house, shivering from the cold wind outside. Fells' Bonnie was the last to step in. She was shaking out of her coat when she saw them-Elena and Damon sitting very close and comfortable on the couch. Her eyes widened, then narrowed, before her chin quivered and she was pushing past the others and racing up the stairs.