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Elena set the water on the boil for her tea. The kitten shaped infuser was ready to be deployed and once the kettle whistled she poured the water out with shaking hands. A soft meow broke her out of her thoughts and she turned to see Mr Worcestershire staring at her with his tail in the wind, swishing from one side to the other. It was almost enough to make her laugh.

Almost.

She hadn't laughed much, or at all really, since the night her parents died.

Since her life had gone to shit.

She should have known, should have expected it. Hadn't she heard Bonnie's Grandmama tell her that this was the year when the comet would return bringing tragedy with it? Hadn't she realised it when the benign stranger, Damon, who wanted to talk about relationships had turned out to be a fucking vampire who tried to compel her memories of him away?

She should have made her parents take some other road. Should have never called them to pick her up.

Should have, would have, could have.

Didn't change anything though.

Now, she was seventeen, post her first birthday without her parents there to 'surprise' her, and preparing for her first day of junior year. Now, she was all alone in the house because Jeremy and Jenna were out.

It was the worst summer ever. Elena was honestly glad it was coming to an end and she would have school to distract her. But it worried her too.

Her brother worried her especially.

Already she had had to give her little, itty-bitty, baby brother a lecture on how his following Vicki around like a puppy bordered on sexual harassment and that stalking was wrong. Elena still couldn't believe that that was something she actually had to say.

It was made worse by the fact that Aunt Jenna was clearly unprepared for taking care of them. She had been living off cup noodles and alcohol for the past so many years, only stopping when she came down to visit them, and even now, she was still grieving her sister just like they were doing their parents. They couldn't expect her to take care of them.

How could she fix this? How could she fix the madness that their lives had become? Elena just didn't know what to do.

"Miss Sara would know what to do", she said to Mr Worcestershire who licked his paw in silent response.

"I'm glad you think so highly of me," came the answer in the musical voice Elena had been dying to hear for the past so many years said and the mug full of vervain and lemon tea Elena was sipping slipped from her hands, crashing to the ground. Ignoring the burn of the hot beverage seeping through her socks, Elena rushed to throw herself at Miss Sara and burst into the ugly sobs she had been holding back for months, relieved.

Time taught Sara many tricks, one being a level of multitasking that went beyond the norm. On one level, she listened to Elena tell her of what had happened to her parents and Sara grieved for Elena's innocence, was relieved that Elena had survived, worried about how her guardian wasn't in the best of places to take care of her.

On another level she marvelled at how much Elena had grown. She was Tatia's doppelganger, of course, but now she was in the bloom of her youth and looked just as Sara's sister had done when she died. Elena was seventeen now. Sara remembered when Tatia was seventeen, she was giving birth to Taavi. She herself had only been nine at the time. And then, another year later, Tatia was dead.

And on yet another level, she scanned the house for the Little Magic she had done that needed to be renewed. The dreamcatcher needed to be cleansed, so very full of terrible things. Elena had been having too many nightmares, poor dear.

But smart girl. People got complacent about things, especially things they had never encountered before. That Elena had been smart enough to take vervain every day just on the off chance of meeting a vampire was far more than Sara could have expected. Some people needed to see to believe, and consequently, fear. But her Elena just went on believing. It was wonderful and rare, especially in this modern world.

Still in her arms, although not sobbing anymore, Elena shrugged when Sara said this.

"I have a lot of reminders of things most people don't believe in," The meow from the cat she had named Mr Worcestershire made that obvious and Sara turned to look at him.

He was the first piece of magic she had done in centuries that had drawn from herself and not from nature. Oh, Sara had asked for Nature's blessings and been given them, of course, but the paper cat had come to life with a bit of herself in it. Sara had never needed to renew the magic in him after which was most surprising. She had given him life, Elena had nurtured him and now, he was an entity of his own.

Elena sighed again, "Anyway, it's the mundane side of things that are giving me a stomach ache, not the vervain. Haven't even seen the vampire around much for all he said he was 'back in town'." She burrowed herself into Sara's collarbone, sniffing. "I miss Dad's pancakes."

"I'm fairly certain they came from a box." Sara couldn't help but say. She had seen the box out on the counter one day when she was sneaking into the house.

"I know but they don't taste the same," Elena grumbled. "Will you stay?"

"Might be a wee bit difficult to explain the magical woman living in your house, kitten." Elena pulled away, floundering. She paced the floor muttering under her breath, 'Maybe the Lockwood, Caroline likes to pick up strays, Bonnie's grandmama'-and it was that which had Sara spiralling into a int of panic. Getting her living arrangements fixed up with a Bennett witch was the worst things she could think of. "I can get myself a place nearby, don't worry." She said quickly before Elena could drag her to a Bennett's attention.

"So," Elena said, eyes wide and shiny, "You'll stay."

And Sara who hadn't spent more than a week in Mystic Falls since her nephew's death sighed. "I'll stay."

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