Chapter 27
The memory around them fades and a bright and colorful one takes it place. When human Elena realizes that a new memory surrounds them, she slips from her protectors arms and stands. Vampire Elena's stomach sinks at her loss, and she grimaces at its unexpected effect on her heart.
"What is this?" human Elena asks.
"This is Jeremy's wedding."
"What?" Elena's eyes widens and grin envelops her face. "Are you serious?"
Vampire Elena laughs and motions around the foyer of Mystic Falls' church. "It was a perfect day. Just one of many that you have to look forward to. So I'm not going to let you die today."
"This is your memory? I thought you didn't want me seeing them?"
"I think you need to…"
Memory Elena steps out from behind a closed door that leads to a side room and pulls out her cell phone. Her long brunette curls are pulled into a neat updo and her short burgundy bridesmaid dress flows around her knees. She presses a few buttons on her cell phone and huffs as she paces the length of the foyer. Human Elena frowns at her memory version, trying to pinpoint something odd about her appearance, and then she gasps.
"She's older. You're older in this memory. You've aged."
Vampire Elena nods. "I look older."
"Because of the rings." Human Elena points at the glamor ring on memory Elena's finger and smiles. "You're married."
A familiar day dream of her and Stefan living happily ever after flashes across human Elena's mind. She envisions them holding each other close with warm, happy expressions as though nothing could interfere with their bliss. For the first time, a sense of dread accompanies the image, and Elena isn't sure how to register the change.
Meanwhile, memory Elena groans when her call goes to voicemail. She doesn't bother leaving another message; instead she stomps toward the door from which she came. Before she can storm away, Jeremy, Tyler, Alaric, and Matt stumble through the front door in various states of undress.
"Jeremy." Elena vamp speeds to his side. "Where have you been?"
Jeremy doesn't flinch at his sister's vampiric movement. Instead, he bends down to allow her reaching hands to correct his bow tie. He slips the tuxedo jacket over his uneven cummerbund and tries to explain.
"Sorry, the bachelor party ran a little long."
"A little? You were supposed to be back hours ago. What kind of party lasts 22 hours anyway?"
"It didn't. We just hit traffic on the way back," Tyler says.
"Traffic? Where did you go?"
"What happens at the bachelor party, stays at the bachelor party," a middle-aged Matt says with a stern expression reserved for his kids. He's sporting a cut above his right eye that's already bruising.
"Whatever," Elena rolls her eyes and rushes to fix Jeremy's cummerbund as he adjusts his sleeve cuffs. She understands how bachelor and bachelorette parties can go suddenly and extraordinarily out of control. She can't help the small smile at the reminder of her own absurdly crazy party and the ruined wedding photos of a very blonde Damon. As much a he complained about it, Damon was able to pull it off. Sort of. Speaking of which, where is her husband?
"Where's Damon?" she asks, looking around the group of mostly dressed men.
"Uh...he was...uh," an aging Ric starts, but hesitates to look around in confusion. "I don't know. We were kind of in a hurry. I'm sure he'll show up."
"What do you mean? He was supposed to be with you guys."
"He was," Tyler says. "And then he wasn't"
"He's Damon. He doesn't exactly tell us his plans, Elena," Matt says.
"It's fine. How do I look?" Jeremy asks.
She sighs at him with her mouth curved into a bittersweet smile. "You look so grown up. I wish Mom and Dad…"
"I know." He wraps his massive arms around Elena and squeezes tight. "I wish they were here too."
"They'd be so proud of you," she says through tears of joy, sorrow, and hope.
A light voice with a heavy Latin accent bellows a greeting from the side door into the foyer, and Elena's mood sours. How can such a tiny person be so annoying? Before Jeremy notices the change in her demeanor, Elena throws on a fake smile and swirls around to greet Maria, the maid of honor.
"We start in five minutes, you should already be in your spots," Maria says to Jeremy and his groomsmen. As they shuffle obediently into the small room opposite of the bridesmaids, she catches Tyler by the arm. "Best man."
"Tyler," he says with an annoyed glance. "We've met like five times."
"I don't care about your name. I care about the rings. Do yo have them?"
He pats the pocket of his jacket. "Of course."
"Good, don't lose them. Nothing can go wrong today."
Maria watches Tyler frown at her and then disappear into the groomsmen's room before turning back to Elena. "We are short one groomsman. Where is he?"
"I'm here," Stefan says, poking his head through the main church door and closing it behind him. He no longer looks like the eternal teenager with his filled in features and laugh lines. Thanks to the spelled wedding ring on his left hand, he looks like an attractive man in his early thirties.
"You are not Damon Salvatore," Maria says.
"But I am a Salvatore." He smiles, but Elena can see the strain behind it. "Unfortunately, my brother has been detained. He won't arrive in time and doesn't want to cause a delay."
"He won't. I won't allow it. You will do. Elena, please explain to Mr. Salvatore his new duties and responsibilities. I must check on Julie," she says and turns back toward the bridesmaids' room.
"How is she?" Elena asks as her nerves stir butterflies in the depths of her stomach. She preys that Jeremy chose well and that his soon-to-be wife, Julie, will love and cherish her little brother. Elena met the girl a few months ago and two years into her relationship with Jeremy. As much as it bothered Elena that Jeremy waited so long for the introduction, she understood.
Julie was vampire hunter, who was raised by a family of vampire hunters. She'd met Jeremy on a hunting trip that turned sour. He showed up with skills beyond even their most seasoned hunters and swept Julie off her feet. It took a while for Jeremy to approach the subject of his family's vampire status, even more so for Julie to accept and agree to keep the secret from her family. Orchestrating a wedding this size that's filled with vampire hunters and a handful of vampires was not easy. Especially, since Julie's best friend and maid of honor insisted on planning the entire thing. Elena isn't sure if Maria knows the big family secret, or if she's unpleasant to everyone. But the big smile that breaks apart Maria's sour puss, softens Elena's impatience with the woman.
"She's very excited, and I will be happy to see her and Jeremy finally be together as man and wife."
Elena nods. "Me too."
"Who is that?" Stefan asks as soon as Maria returns to the bridesmaid's room.
"That is Julie's best friend. She's…a bit much."
"We should probably keep her as far from Caroline as possible," Stefan says with a soft smile and a glance toward the big church door. On the other side, over a hundred people and his wife wait for the ceremony to begin.
"Is she still upset that she wasn't asked to plan the wedding?"
"Yep."
Elena chuckles. "I'm surprised she isn't stomping around telling people what to do anyway."
"I sat her next to Bonnie and little Rudy. I'm pretty sure they'll can keep her busy until the wedding starts."
"Isn't he adorable? He's so funny too."
"Yeah, he's getting big too. Vivi is practically grown."
"I know. She's the spitting image of Bonnie at her age. We've missed so much. That's why I'm glad that we're moving back. It's time, especially with Jeremy and Julie returning. It's just something we need to do." Elena ends in a whisper as though speaking to herself rather than the youngest Salvatore brother.
"Elena." Stefan slips a hand onto her shoulder. "It's definitely the right thing to do. Bonnie only has one lifetime, so it's important that you and Caroline, and even Damon, be here to enjoy the time you have with her. The Salvatores are moving back to Mystic Falls."
"You're right. Of course you are." Elena nods. "I just…I don't know…I'm so happy right now."
"Isn't that good thing?"
"Are you happy, Stefan? I mean really happy?"
Stefan blinks at the odd question. "Yes. More so than I've been at any other point in my life. I can't imagine anything better."
"So am I. Since we all left this town behind, we've been happy. Caroline is living the dream with her husband and traveling the world." Elena locks her arm with Stefan's, and he blushes. "Ric and Jo just had their fourth child. Bonnie and Matt found out yesterday that they're having another boy. My practice is doing really well. And Damon…"
"Do you not want to come back?" Stefan interrupts, confused by Elena's obvious anxiety.
"No, that's not it at all. I really want to be here. I'm just scared, I guess."
"Despite what Damon says, Mystic Falls is not cursed. Our lives will not fall apart the moment we move back here."
"He can be pretty convincing sometimes," Elena says with an edge of uncertainty, but she shakes it off. "Where is he anyways? He didn't answer any of my calls."
"All I know is what he texted me. 'Cleaning up a mess. Need you to fill in for me at the wedding. Tell Elena I'm sorry.'"
"He couldn't have just texted me directly?" Elena shakes her head. "I don't know what's going on with him. Have you spoken to him?"
"No, not since we got back."
Elena huffs in annoyance at her husband's recent behavior. They arrived in Mystic Falls less than a week ago to prepare for the wedding, and since then, Damon has been distant and down right aggravating at times. They discussed moving back to Mystic Falls several times over the past few months and, although Damon held out for as long as possible, he finally agreed to move. They were supposed to look at real estate for her pediatric practice and a new house tomorrow, but given Damon's disappearing act, Elena suspects it won't go as planned. Instead, she'll probably be dealing with the aftermath of one of Damon's self-destructive warpaths. Elena hopes that her husband doesn't call Enzo. That man is the worst influence on him.
It's been years since Damon lost his cool and divulged in a murder spree, and Elena is confident that her husband won't spiral that far, but she's also certain that he's struggling with something. Something with which he doesn't want her. Elena hoped that he'd turn to Stefan for help, but alas that doesn't seem to be the case. As loving and affection as Damon is with her, it's infuriating how uncommunicative he can be when he's trying to work through difficult emotions. No matter how many times Elena tries to start a conversation about what might be bothering him, Damon somehow manages to avoid it. He's rarely confrontational about it; he just shrugs or makes an inappropriate joke. Once, he just walked out of the room without saying anything. Who does that?!
It doesn't matter right now. The only thing that matters is Jeremy and his bride. Elena's little brother is getting married today and nothing is going to dampen that joy and excitement.
"Whatever, Damon is Damon, and we will figure it out. Eventually," Elena says. "Thank you for filling in."
"Of course," Stefan beams, "I'd never pass up the chance to walk you down the aisle."
Elena giggles at the joke, but stops when Maria barges out of the bridesmaids' room onto a warpath. The small Latin woman storms across the foyer and pushes past Elena and Stefan to reach the groomsmen's door between them. She beats on it until Ric opens it with a frown.
"What the hell?"
"It is time. Line up. You know your places," she says and then spins back to the bridesmaid's door to swing it open as well. The groomsmen and bridesmaids pile into the foyer along with the cutest little six-year-old in the world. Vivi makes a bee line for Elena and stops to pose in her flower girl dress.
"How do I look, Aunt Ellie?"
"Beautiful." Elena says as she bends down to straighten a bow in the young girl's hair. Vivi is the perfect blend of Matt and Bonnie with her dark completion, dimpled smile, and vivacious attitude. Elena is sorry that she's missed so much of the six-year-old's life. Birthday parties and holidays just aren't enough anymore. Certain more than ever that moving back to Mystic Falls is the right thing, Elena hugs the child.
"Where's Uncle Damon?" Vivi asks.
"Sorry, baby. He's not going to make it," Matt says as he shuffles close to Elena and Stefan in the crowded foyer.
Vivi looks at her father with a practiced pout that tugs at his heart strings. "Who's going to walk Aunt Ellie down the aisle? She can't do it alone."
"Don't worry," Elena says. "Your Uncle Stefan has volunteered. He'll keep me company."
"Uncle Stefan?" Vivi frowns and then narrows her eyes at youngest Salvatore brother. "I guess you'll do."
Elena can't contain her laughter, and Matt sighs in embarrassment. One side of Stefan's mouth quirks up as he raises his eyebrows.
"Do you like my flowers?" Vivi asks, holding up her basket of colorful petals.
"I think they're pretty, just like you."
Vivi grins and blushes before Maria interrupts by snapping her fingers. The Latin woman instructs everyone on the proper line order as though anyone could've forgotten it after three rehearsals.
"Suck up," Elena whispers to Stefan. He chuckles and offers his arm when the church doors open.
Jeremy walks down the aisle with the priest, then the groomsmen follow with their assigned bridesmaid. During her turn, Elena beams proudly at her little brother and fights back tears of joy. She listens to the vows made by the young couple and remembers her own to Damon. At one point, she glances around the room in search of her husband to no avail. Instead, she notices Stefan staring at his wife.
Sitting in a flowery sundress, a thirty-one-year-old Caroline has her long, blonde hair down in curls around her shoulders. She's too distracted by the two-year-old, Rudy, sitting in her lap to notice her husband's attention. She smiles at the young child and whispers to him to make him giggle. Bonnie sits to the left of Caroline with a hand on her small baby bump and a loving, and tired, expression for her husband. Matt stands at the altar next to Tyler with Vivi at his feet and holding both her hands. She squirms as only a six-year-old can and swings against his strong arms. Eventually, he relents and picks his daughter up to cradle her. Vivi lies her head against his chest to listen to his heartbeat, and this little ritual keeps her attention for the duration of the ceremony until it's time for her to throw flowers down the aisle again.
Human Elena watches her little brother kiss his bride and then walk her outside under a shower of rice. She watches with a sense of bitter-sweet joy and tears in her eyes.
"Thank you," she says to vampire Elena, who turns to face her then gasps. Human Elena stands pale and shaky with a hand to her neck. She tires to step forward only to stumble and fall. Vampire Elena catches her and sets her on the ground. Blood pools from human Elena's grip on her neck, and vampire Elena grimaces.
"This can't be isn't real."
"The memory strike is wearing off," human Elena whispers. "I can feel the pain again. Argh! It hurts."
"It's okay. Damon is on his way."
The memory around them fades, and Elena's living room returns. Katherine's grey body reassembles against the hall wall, Lucy's headless corpse lies next to the couch, the walls are still covered in blood splatter, and Elena's warm pool of blood surrounds the girls.
"Not enough time…"
"Don't say that." Vampire Elena glances at the clock on the wall. Only 8 minutes since the attack. "There's still time. Damon will get here soon. He's always here when I need him."
With blood pooling from her neck and her future self staring into her tear-filled eyes, Elena just can't understand what seems like blind faith in the eldest Salvatore brother. And her blood deprived brain won't allow her to think about anything else.
"Why?"
"Shhh, you shouldn't speak. Just stay calm."
"Why do you believe in him? Why do you trust him?"
"Because he's Damon," vampire Elena says as she presses harder into the neck wound. "He's always there."
"Not…" The human pauses as a wave of nausea from the blood loss hits her. When it passes, she tries again. "Not at the the wedding."
"The wedding?"
"Jeremy's wedding…wasn't there…"
"He was there. He just wasn't there, there." She glances at the clock again. Come on, Damon. Please.
"I don't…I don't understand," she says. "Show me….please, help….help me…understand…"
I just want to understand.
Vampire Elena stares at her counterpart until the wind picks up around them. She nods. It's time. It's time to tell her the truth. Or show her.
Human Elena watches her living room disappear and wonders if it will be the last time she ever sees it. When the pain in her neck eases, she takes a deep breath and glances at her vampire counterpart standing a few feet away. A hundred guests mingle throughout the boarding house in their wedding attire.
"We're back…This is the reception?"
"You want to understand, so I'm going to show you. I'm going to show you why I know for certain that Damon will be here in time to save you…"
"He didn't save you," human Elena interrupts with a gentle glance. It wasn't an accusation, but an observation. "You died, several times. He didn't save you, and maybe he won't save me either."
Vampire Elena isn't sure how to respond, because the girl has a point. If Damon is her savior, why has she died so many times? The answer is simple.
"Each time I died, it was because I chose to die."
"What?"
"I chose to let Klaus sacrifice me so that he wouldn't kill my family and everyone I cared for, like he did to Katherine. I refused to run and be like her. I don't remember the details, but I know that Damon nearly died trying to stop that sacrifice. He saved Caroline and got his first werewolf bite for it."
"That's why Stefan needed the cure. That's why he left with Klaus," human Elena says, connecting the dots.
"I don't remember the night I burned, but I know that I chose to die to help Damon save Mystic Falls. I also know that Damon died that night too. And he was supposed to be resurrected along with me and everyone else. But he and Bonnie…"
"They didn't make it."
"And the night I turned, that was my choice too. Not to turn, but to die. Matt and I were trapped in his truck, and the water was everywhere. There wasn't time to save us both, so I told Stefan to save Matt. I had no idea that I had Damon's blood in my system. He wasn't even in town, and he still saved me."
"Damon's blood turned you?"
When vampire Elena nods, the younger doppelgänger drops her head to take in everything and try to give her blood-siphoned brain a chance to shift its perception of Damon. It's like someone took the tiny box of index cards labeled 'Damon' inside Elena's brain, opened it, and threw all the cards on the ground in a giant mess. Then, that jackass of a person told her brain to reorganize the box, but turned off all the lights and fried half her brain cells so that she's operating at half speed. As each card slips neatly back into the box, Elena finds that it's changing. Each card alters the color, texture, size, or placement of the box. The box, or Damon, becomes something different.
So engrossed in her internal struggle, Elena doesn't notice Caroline dragging Stefan out onto the dance floor with far too much PDA than appropriate. Matt and Tyler belly laugh at Jo's story about Ric and one of the twins' new boyfriend, while he shrugs. Bonny dances with little Rudy on the outskirts of the group while holding her phone to record her toddler's hilarious dance moves. The struggling doppelgänger also doesn't notice memory Elena dancing with Jeremy and sporting the biggest and brightest smile until a noise in Damon's room catches the vampire's attention. At the end of the song, Elena thanks her brother before making a bee line for the back bedroom.
By now, the 'Damon' box within human Elena's mind no longer fits into its original place, and she's too tired to try and force it. Instead, she looks at vampire Elena and her tone is heavy with meaning.
"It's Damon?"
Vampire Elena isn't sure what she's asking, but senses the importance of her answer. She tilts her head and twist her brow in question.
"It's Damon, not Stefan?" Human Elena says, and her vampire version nods.
"It's Damon, not Stefan."
Human Elena sucks in a breath, but doesn't have time to process the answer before a tiny voice demands her attention.
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