Margret was up late the next morning. After getting dressed and pulling her hair back in a headband, she headed downstairs and ran into Alaric. "Hey."
"Hey. How'd you sleep last night?"
"I kept tossing and turning. I couldn't stop thinking about the other night." Margret admitted.
"Yeah, same here." They entered the kitchen to find Elena and Damon cooking.
"Hey, Ric." Damon said. "Margret."
"What's up?" Alaric asked them.
"What time do you want to go to the Lockwood party?" Elena asked Alaric.
"Ah. Those founders parties aren't really my thing." Alaric pointed out.
"Well, I'm going. Melody finally agreed to come to one of these events." Margret said.
"Show up," Damon told Alaric. "There's going to be nine other people that brought chili."
"Hey! It's an old family recipe, okay?" Elena pointed out.
"Yeah! I know. I knew your old family. They made sucky chili." Elena laughed. Even Margret couldn't help but smile at his comment.
"Why are you here, exactly?" Alaric asked Damon.
"She knows."
"He thinks I'm going to break." Elena sighed. "I'm not going to break. I am just going to keep making chili, pretend like I didn't just spend the entire summer looking for someone who didn't want to be found." Margret looked at her. She knew she was doing it again.
"Damon, can we talk?" Margret asked. Everyone in the room looked at her.
"I guess."
They walked into the living room. "Look, about my sister, I think she's doing that thing again."
"What thing?"
"You know, the thing where she hides her sadness so the rest of us aren't effected." Margret said. "Maybe it's an older sibling thing, but I doubt it."
"I know what you mean. You're not the only one who sees it." Damon told her. "The worst part about this is I want to help her. I don't know how to do that when she's in this state."
"None of us do, Damon. It's hard to speak with her when she shuts everyone out." Margret admitted.
"I know. But she can't go on like this."
"You know, she's not the only one who does this."
"I don't need to hear the speech." Damon said, moving to leave.
"I always wondered, though, how did you stop doing it?" Margret asked, freezing him in his tracks. He turned to her slowly.
"Let's just say a high school sophomore helped me see things differently." He finally told her. "I'll see you guys later." He left.
Margret felt herself blushing, so she took a deep breath, and headed upstairs.
"She is definitely in denial over what happened on that road trip." Margret said over the phone.
"Yeah, she's not the only one. Caroline had been upset the other night, and she still can't come to terms with whatever happened with Uncle Bill." Amy said. "Then again, that might be the appropriate response, because even I hate him now and I don't know what he did."
"Maybe that's for the best." Margret said. Elena had been on the phone late last night with Caroline, who kept going on about how her dad found out she was a vampire and kept burning her whenever she vamped out.
"So what if you're uncle's back in town or if your sister's having love problems?" Melody said to them.
"Well, it's not that easy, Mel." Margret said.
"We're worried about our families." Amy pointed out. "You're so lucky you're not one of the Founding ones."
"Well, I say that we should take a break from all the drama." Melody said. "We're going to put our issues behind us at the barbeque."
"I can agree to that." Amy said. "And I think I know something that can help. My cousin's headed over to your place, Margie, and she's bringing a surprise with her."
Just then, the doorbell rang. "I'm guessing that's her." Margret said. "So, I'll see you guys there?"
"Yep. Oh, and remember that Alex is picking us up. Mrs. Lockwood asked Rob to help set up."
Margret hung up the phone and headed downstairs. When she got down, she saw her siblings and Caroline gathered around
"Bonnie!" Margret ran over to her. "When did you get back?"
"Flew in last night. I made Caroline swear not to tell anyone." Bonnie told her, putting an arm on her shoulder. "How are you, Margie?"
"Everything's going great. Thanks to some of the sample kits you sent, I've been bursting with new ideas." Margret told her.
"Well, I'm glad things are going well with two of you guys, anyway." Bonnie said. Jeremy put his arm around her shoulder.
"Hey, things will get better." Jeremy said. "We have to believe that." The girls smiled.
"Since when did you get so smart?" Caroline asked.
"Hey, you mess with one twin, Care, you mess with both of us." Margret pointed out. Everyone laughed.
"Come on, you can tell us all about your trip." Elena said as the group headed into the living room.
A few minutes later, Bonnie finished telling them about her summer. "The problem with my dad's normal side of the family is normal made for a really boring summer." Bonnie said.
"After the last few days, I would kill for a normal family." Caroline told her. Margret put a hand on her shoulder.
"Well, you always have us." Margret pointed out.
"Thanks, Margie." Caroline said. "At least you don't have to hide it from your cousins." She helped Elena out. "Since when did you learn how to cook?"
"Damon helped a little." Elena told them.
"Damon's helping you cook now?" Bonnie asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Both of you stop judging. He's just trying to be a good... ow!" Elena flinched suddenly. Caroline jumped back.
"Did I splash you?" She asked, concerned.
"No, no, my necklace." Elena said, removing it and holding it in her hand. Margret could see a small burn near her collar bone. "It burned me."
"Now that's weird." Margret said. "Has this ever happened before?"
"No." Elena said.
"Maybe it's a sign you shouldn't be wearing it." Caroline suggested.
"Caroline..."
"What, I'm just saying. If you're going to be "cooking" without Stefan…" Caroline said.
"Look, Damon has done nothing but help us all summer." Margret pointed out. "How about you stop judging every little thing we do?"
"Let me see it." Bonnie said. Elena handed the necklace to Bonnie. Bonnie touched it and flinched as though she'd been shocked. Elena dropped it then. The group looked at each other in silence, not sure of what to make of this.
A few hours later, the girls had finally made it to the party. Margret was still with the older girls when Bonnie walked over. "I have an identification spell that might be able to tell me what magic affected the necklace." Bonnie said as Elena handed the necklace to her. "It's going to take a while, so tell me if anyone's coming, okay?"
"No problem." Margret said. Caroline turned to Elena.
"So you're not, like, switching Salvatores, are you?" Margret turned to her, shocked by her statement.
"Caroline..." Bonnie began.
"Stay focused." Caroline said.
"As your friend who worries for you daily, what is the deal with you and Damon?" Caroline asked her.
"There is no deal. He's been just as focused on finding Stefan as I have." Elena pointed out.
"Yeah, but that doesn't make him any less Damon. If my own father, who I love dearly, can't change me, No one's changing Damon. Not even you."
"So what?" Margret said. "I mean, yeah, he can be out of line sometimes, but he shouldn't have to change who he is. Even though some of the smaller changes have stuck."
"Look, why are we even talking about this?" Elena asked.
"Uh…guys?" They all turned to Bonnie only to see that Elena's necklace was levitating.
"What are you doing?" Caroline asked.
"I'm not doing anything. It has its own magic." Bonnie told them.
"Um…I think I'll leave this mystery to you guys." Margret said. "The others are probably going to wonder why I'm late."
Elsewhere, the others were all sitting on the grass close to the gazebo. Melody was tuning her acoustic guitar when Margret found them. "Hey, we were just wondering when you'd show up."
"Yeah, I kind of got caught up with Bonnie returning." Margret said, sitting down between her and Alex.
"Really? She's back from vacation?" Rob asked.
"Yeah. And speaking of which, how did you know she was back?" Margret asked Amy.
"I was eavesdropping on Caroline while she was on the phone with her." Amy admitted. "She wanted to keep it secret so that you guys would be surprised."
"So, what's been going on here?"
"You haven't missed much." Alex told her. "Apparently Rob's been practicing some card tricks lately."
"Really? Robert Parks, of all people, is actually good at it?" Margret asked.
"Well, we'll see." Rob said, pulling a deck out of the pocket of his jeans. "Pick a card, any card." Margret rolled her eyes, but took a card from the deck. She glanced at it. She'd drawn the Queen of Hearts. "Make sure no one else sees your card and place it back in the deck."
Margret did as Rob had instructed her. Then, he reshuffled the deck and picked the card from the top of the deck. "Is this your card?" He showed it to the whole group. It was the Queen of Hearts. Margret looked impressed.
"Wow, who knew you were good at card tricks?" Melody said.
"Shut up, you know I've been wanting to learn since I was nine." Rob pointed out.
"I think it's cool." Amy said, though she hadn't really been paying attention.
"Are you okay?" Margret asked. Then she remembered the other day. "It's Bill, isn't it?"
"Yeah. I thought I saw him while I was in town." Amy said. "I'm really worried about how his being here is effecting my family."
"Is it that bad?" Alex asked her.
"Are you kidding? Care won't even talk to me, and Aunt Liz is keeping quiet about everything, not that that's new." Amy said. "She always gets like that when she's in work mode." The others looked at each other and knew they had to get her mind off it.
"Hey, I've been working on a couple of new tunes." Melody said. "You guys want to hear it?" Everyone agreed.
"Good thing you brought that acoustic with you today." Amy said.
"Please, she always brings it when it's particularly nice out." Rob said. "She brought it to the park with her at least three times over the summer that I know of."
"Hey, you never know when inspiration will hit you." Melody pointed out. She began to strum her guitar, playing a very upbeat tune that made Margret think of the days the group had spent at the park. One day they'd gone there to relax and tossed a frisbee around for a few hours. Another time they'd gone at night to go stargazing. The wind had been almost as light and gentle as the song Melody was playing.
Margret unexpectedly found herself leaning against Alex and blushed. "Hey." She said.
"I'm glad you're here." Alex said. "How's everything going with your family?"
"Well, Elena's trying to put on a brave face and I've barely spoken to my twin all summer." Margret told him. "Some days are better than others, but it feels like there's a wall dividing us."
"Things will get better with you guys." Alex said. "You three can manage almost anything the world can throw at you."
"Only because we have help." Margret pointed out, smiling. He kissed her forehead.
Melody strummed the last few notes of her song and glanced at the group. "That was amazing, Melody." Amy said.
"I've been working on it for a long time." Melody said, smiling. She loved it when she could make her music make people feel good.
"You're definitely going to be a pro one day." Rob agreed.
"Thanks a lot, bro." Melody said.
"So, Amy, how's the new design sketch coming?" Rob asked. Amy had done a series of clothing sketches over the summer.
"Honestly, I'm kind of blocked." Amy told him. "I was trying to do a pattern on a dress, but it's been a struggle to figure out which pattern to go with, cause I don't want to do anything that's already been overdone…"
"Sounds like she's back to her old self." Alex said. Margret nodded.
After a few hours of hanging out, the group was getting ready to leave. Margret and Amy found Elena and Caroline talking. "Did Stefan ever tell you where he got the necklace?" Caroline asked.
"No. And I never asked." Elena told her. "Hopefully Bonnie will be able to figure it out."
"I hope so, cause I can't shake this bad feeling I'm getting." Margret said. Alaric came over then.
"Please tell me it's time to go."
"Beyond. Where's Damon?" Elena asked.
"Probably off somewhere doing bad things to good people." The whole group stared at her. "Consider me the honesty police." She said.
"Considering he's been helping my aunt…your mother," Amy pointed out. "I have to disagree with that statement." But Caroline had stopped listening. She looked nervous.
"What is it?" Elena asked.
"What the matter?"
"It's my dad." Caroline said. All four of them turned and saw Bill head into the mansion.
"It really is him. I thought you were exaggerating the other day." Amy said, looking surprised and feeling worried for her.
"Why would he even show up here?" Elena asked.
"I don't know. But I can't..." Caroline began.
"I get it. I'll call you later." Elena said.
"And you know I've got your back at home, just in case." Amy told her. Caroline smiled, then ran into the building.
"Okay, what's that all about?" Alaric asked.
"Speaking of doing bad things to good people..." Elena said.
"I swear, Uncle Bill can be a real pain in the…" Amy began.
"Amy!" Margret said.
"What, you know it's true." Amy pointed out.
"You know, why don't we go back to your place?" Margret said. "I just need to get away from all of this for a while."
"Yeah, I know what you mean." Amy told her. "You know, I think I have that karaoke game somewhere."
"As long as it gets our minds off our family problems, I don't care what we do." Margret said as she led Amy away from the group.
About two hours later, Caroline texted the girls to meet them in town. They found her with Elena. "Hey. How are you guys?"
"Well, we got into a fight." Caroline said.
"About what?" Margret asked. Caroline looked at her. "Oh." She said, understanding.
"The good news is that Dad's leaving town."
"Oh, thank God!" Amy said. "Cause if I had to run into him one more time…"
"Relax, Amy. It's over." Caroline told her.
Margret walked over to where Elena was sitting. "Hey. Are you okay?"
"Not really." Elena admitted.
"What happened?"
"Oh, the usual. I got Damon angry with me, again, and Caroline thinks that I'm attracted to him." Elena explained.
"Okay, the first part I understand, but I think Caroline's reading too much into this." Margret said.
"Yeah, but part of me wonders if Care's right. And if it is true, it almost feels like…"
"Like you're giving up on Stefan?" Margret said, finishing her thought. "Lena, even if you are attracted to Damon, it doesn't mean you're turning your back on his brother."
"I know, but things have been complicated lately. I haven't felt this confused since the night I woke up in the hospital." Elena said.
"You're not alone. You still have me." Margret said. "I'm sure this will work out somehow. Both of them are an important part of your life, and bonds like that don't disappear for good."
"Thanks, Margret."
"I might be new at the relationship thing, but I know a lot about my family." Margret told her. Elena smiled slightly. "Don't worry about this whole Damon thing. I'm sure you guys will make up soon."
"I really hope you're right. I don't think I'd ever seen him this angry."
"He worries about you." Margret said. "Just like the rest of us. He might go too far sometimes, but I guess that's just who he is."
"I know, it was stupid to try and change him."
"Well, I think he has changed, just not in the way you think." Margret told her. "At first, I thought he was this guy who did bad things to people, but after everything we went through last year, it looks like he's become a little more understanding and developed compassion."
"Wait, did you really just use the word compassion to describe Damon?" Elena asked.
"Well, I only call it like I see it. I mean, he's been trying to save his brother, his best friend is Ric, and after today, I think he actually has respect for Caroline." Margret told her. Elena smiled and put an arm around her shoulder.
"You know, I think you're right. When did my sister get to be so smart?"
"I learned from the best sister in the world." Margret said. They hugged each other tightly. After a few long minutes, they pulled away from each other.
"We should probably get home before Ric wakes up." Elena said. Margret raised an eyebrow. "Long story."
"We can cut through the park." Margret said. "We'd get back home faster than we would if we walked from the Grill."
"How'd you find out about that shortcut?" Elena asked, surprised she even knew about it.
"Alex showed it to me on our first date." Margret told her as they started walking toward the park.