AN: Hey, everyone! So sorry for the late update! I've been busy for the last couple of weeks entertaining house guests. I'm free now, so I decided to get this out to you all! It's a long one, and hopefully worth the wait :)

xoxo

CHAPTER 6:

It's nearly six when we're all piling into Grayson's SUV. He's turned on the radio, and "Everybody Talks" fills the car. We're all heading over to some restaurant that he's discovered while Jer and I were away at school.

"So, what kind of food is here?" Jenna asks as she straps her seatbelt around her in the passenger seat beside Grayson. Jer slams the door on my left as he hops in and straps himself in.

"Probably sushi, if Grayson's picking," he snorts. I giggle, but stop when I catch Grayson's eye in the rearview mirror. I see a smile aimed back at me. He knows we're joking.

"Actually, it's a cute little place that's not too far from here," Grayson announces.

"How far's 'not too far' to you?" Jenna asks.

"Maybe ten minutes away," Grayson shrugs as the engine starts.

As Grayson pulls out of the driveway, I sigh as I lean back against the plush seats.

"Elena,"

My eyes pop open when something hard jabs my ribs. I look around. Jeremy's grinning at me from the left. Instantly, I remember that we're on our way to dinner. We must've arrived. I don't feel the car moving.

"What happened?" I ask, sitting up.

"You fell asleep," Grayson says.

"Oh," I nod and as I stretch, I 'accidentally' hit Jeremy in the head.

"Ah, what was that for?" he asks as he rubs his head.

"Whoops," I giggle, feigning innocence. "My bad,"

"Guys, kind of starving," Jenna says, and when I look at her, she's rubbing her stomach as if to emphasize her point.

"Alright," I say, climbing out of the car behind Jer.

When my feet hit the cement ground, I look up to a small diner that reads the sign 'Groovy's'. I've been here before. I remember this place was the restaurant that Damon and I waited for Kat at last night.

"You alright, Elena?" Jenna's voice startles me as she drags me to the present, and I look at her concerned face in front of me.

"Yeah," I nod. "I'm fine. Let's go,"

"So, judging by the fact that I didn't get a frantic call from Isobel at three in the morning, I take it Kat was found last night?"

I am sipping on my water staring over at the jukebox, which is playing "I Love Rock N' Roll". Memories flood into my mind from last night. The dancing, and the fight between Kat and Damon. I shake my head. How does he put up with her?

"Elena,"

Grayson's harsh tone rips me from my thoughts as I look up at him with wide eyes. He's regarding me expectantly.

"Sorry," I say, remembering what he asked thankfully. "Yeah, we found her,"

"Where was she?" Jer asks beside me.

"I don't know," I say, which is partially true. She didn't tell Damon and I where she was.

"Ah," Jenna says softly, and when I look over at her, I see a hint of skepticism on her face.

"Elena?"

At the sound of my name, I turn to see the sandy-haired man who Damon introduced to me last night. I think his name was Ray, or something like that.

"Oh, hi," I attempt a smile. Surely the three people seated at the table will be hounding me for information on Ric. They will probably think that I'm dating him.

Oh, dear.

As he smiles back, I get a glimps of his name tag.

"Ric," I say, before I seem impolite.

Thank god for name tags.

"What are you doing here?" Ric asks, and I see him look at Jenna.

"Oh, my family and I are just out to dinner," I say. I literally feel Grayson and Jer's gazes on me. Jenna's is on Ric, otherwise I'd be in even more trouble.

"Who's this?" he asks, looking at Jenna.

"Oh, My aunt Jenna." I smile, and she holds out her hand immediately for Ric to take. Jenna's practically melting at his feet. At least I won't be the one to be accused of having a crush on Ric.

"And that's my brother Jeremy and my uncle Grayson," I tell him, and the three of them simultaneously wave.

"Well, enjoy yourselves, and if there's anything I can get you all, let me know," Ric smiles, and suddenly, we're alone again.

"You've been here before,"

I look over, and Jeremy's regarding me suspiciously.

Crap.

"I have," I say, sighing. Better to tell the truth than to lie and have them find out.

"When?" Jeremy asks insistently.

"Last night," I say. I want to get off of this topic, but I can't think of something that's more intriguing than my late night visit here.

"So, someone's got a sweet eye for Ric," I smile, turning to Jenna before Jeremy can quiz me more. Jenna's creamy skin turns rosy as she registers my words.

"I'm going to plead the fifth on that one," Jenna murmurs, and I dig in to my food again.

At around five, we're back at the house. Grayson and Jer are out shopping for some fishing gear. There's a lake out around here where they love to go fishing. It's also opener, so they've found a reason to get excited. Jenna's downstairs watching Tv or something. I need to talk to her.

I make my way downstairs, and when I enter the living room, I see she's on her computer, checking her email. When the floor squeaks as I approach her from behind, she jumps.

"Dear god," she laughs softly, her hand over her chest. "Do not sneak up on me like that, Elena," she admonishes.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," I smile apologetically.

As Jenna resumes her email reading, I take a deep breath as I walk around to sit beside her on the couch.

"Jenna, can I ask you something?" I say.

"Of course," she sighs as she turns to me.

Here goes.

"My dad, he mentioned once to Jer and I that he had a canoe at the lake house." I say. "Do you know when he got it?"

Jenna sighs. "It was a gift from his work. I think they gave it to him around when he and your mom got married."

"When did they get married?" I ask.

"1990." she says, and suddenly, her eyes narrow. "Why?"

"Just curious," I shrug. "Thanks," I say, and make my way toward the stairs. Jenna's voice, however, stops me in my tracks.

"There's a box," she says. "If you have more questions, it'll hold more answers than I do."

I don't hesitate to turn around. "Sure," I nod.

Jenna stands up. "It's just in here." she says, and I watch her head over to a cabinet and grab a cardboard box. "Please don't tell Grayson that I'm giving it to you," she says as she holds out the box to me.

I nod as I grab it. "Your secret's safe with me," I giggle.

"Have fun," Jenna says, and I make my way upstairs, lock my door and dig through the box that contains the answers to many questions.

My mind is fuzzed. I've been browsing an old scrapbook of my parents for two hours. Every picture, I tear up. It's overwhelming how much I miss them. They look so happy in each one. There's pictures from their trips to the lake house, and then there's wedding pictures. Mom looked so beautiful in her lacy white gown. I remember her telling me that she would pass down the dress to Kat and I when our time came. As I turn the page, a photo of Mom and Dad with another couple at the lake house stops me.

It's dated around 1988, so they weren't married yet. I wonder who the couple is. They look close, though. Something tells me that this isn't just a random pass-by picture.

And I see it. The canoe. In the corner.

Dad bought it before Jenna thought he did.

"Elena,"

Crap. Jeremy's voice calls me as he knocks at my door. I scramble to shove everything from the box under my bed, and stand up to unlock my door.

"Yeah," I say, attempting nonchalance.

"Since when do you close your door?" he narrows his eyes at me.

"It's not important," I dismiss him. "What did you want?"

"It is if Grayson knows," Jeremy threatens. "He hates it when we lock the doors,"

"What did you want?" I sigh, getting irritated.

"Grayson wanted to let you know that Isobel called. Kat's having some birthday party at some bar and wants you to come." he says. "Seeing as you two are twins."

No, Isobel wanted Kat to invite me.

"Alright, I'll text Kat," I say, and when I go to shut my door, Jeremy's hand pushes it back.

"What?" I ask.

"What are you doing?" He wonders. "You're acting weird,"

"I'm not acting weird." I shake my head.

"That's what people who are acting weird say," he counters.

"God, Jer, please, I'm really tired, so please, go," I beg, and to my surprise, he leaves.

I shut my door and lean against it, sighing. That was close. I don't want Jer involved in this. I don't even want to tell Kat, but I know that I should. I can't ever find the time to do so, so I might be in this alone.

A loud and strong thud hits my door and I'm tossed onto the ground as it opens. Jeremy storms in, and he's suddenly ransacking my room.

"Jer!" I cry, scrambling to my feet. 'What are you-?"

Just then, we both see it. A picture of our parents, sticking out from underneath my bed.

Crap. How did I not see that?

At the same time, Jer and I lunge for it. Jeremy, however, beats me, and he scans it rapidly.

"Why do you have this?" he asks sternly. "It was in mom and dad's box, why do you have it?"

"Jer, I-"

Wait, how did he know where it was?

"H-how did you know that it was in mom and dad's box?" I ask nervously.

Jeremy seems to have realized his mistake, and he sighs.

"Grayson told me he had a box from the house. I went looking for it once, and I found this picture inside of it. I went back the next night out get more, but it was gone." he sighs. "I think Grayson moved it. Which means," Jeremy says, moving closer toward me. "If this picture was in that box, then you have the box."

I swallow.

"Elena-"

"Fine, I have it!" I snap. "Alright?"

"Why do you have it?" Jeremy snaps back.

"Because I'm looking for answers!" I blurt.

"What?" Jeremy says softly, and that's when I realize what I've said.

Crap. There's no way of getting out of this.

"Jeremy, I-"

"Damn it, Elena, if you don't tell me what you are up to, then I will go tell Grayson that you have this box, which, judging by the fact that this photo was under your bed, the box is under there as well."

I take a deep breath as I walk over to my door and quietly shut it. Jeremy shoots me a look of confusion.

"What are you-?"

"A few years ago, when I was in college, someone sent me this," I tell him, reaching underneath my bed for my MacBook. I open it, and once I'm signed in, I pull up the email and move so Jeremy can read it.

"Who sent you this?" he asks as he leans in to scan the email.

I shrug. "I don't know. There's a video," I tell him, and he clicks on the file.

I watch Jeremy's face display several emotions as he watches the vintage shot of our parents at the lake house.

"What is this?"

"I think someone was watching them, Jer," I tell him. Jeremy whips his head toward me.

"What do you mean?"

"I forwarded the email to Bonnie down at the station. She agrees with me. We have no idea why or who was doing this, but given this came with that email, someone is trying to tell us that mom and dad didn't just disappear," I tell him. "They were being watched, and they were probably taken by whoever filmed this footage of them."

"Oh, my god," Jeremy breathes. "How long had this been going on?"

"Look at mom's ring finger." I tell him, and Jeremy leans in to see closer.

"She's not wearing her wedding ring," he breathes.

"Which means that this was before they were married, let alone before you, Kat and I," I explain.

"We have to show this to the police, or Grayson and Jenna," Jeremy says.

I shake my head as I slam my laptop shut. Jeremy looks at me in confusion.

"You can't tell anyone," I say desperately. "If anyone who's not supposed to know about this figures out what I'm trying to do, then I don't even know what the consequences could be." I implore him. "This is too dangerous to go to the police,"

"But they could do something about this, they could-"

I shake my head. "No, Jer. I have to find out what happened, and I have to break some rules in order to do so. Please, just don't tell anyone." I beg.

"This is why you came back, isn't it?" Jeremy says quietly.

I nod. "Yes."

"I won't tell anyone," He agrees. I let out a sigh of relief.

"On one condition."

My eyes fly to his, and Jeremy regards me warily.

"I want in."

AN:PLEASE FAVE/FOLLOW/ REVIEW :)

PS: Please check out my other TVD/DE stories Bitten: The Marked,it's sequels Bitten: The Hunted & Bitten: The Saved, The Other Side of Me, Star Crossed and Shelter. I'dREALLY appreciate it :)

Soundtrack that inspired/mentioned in this chapter:

Theme Song: Bad Things ~ Meiko

Everybody Talks ~ Neon Trees

I Love Rock N' Roll ~ Joan Jett & The Blackhearts

Requiem On Water ~ Imperial Mammoth

Night ~ Zola Jesus