Chapter 2

I don't own Legacies, The Vampire Diaries or The Originals, they belong to Julie Plec (and whoever else). I just own Dawn and any other OC that may come up later. I'm not making any profit from writing this.

This chapter isn't betaed, any mistakes are my own and English is definitely not my first language. Constructive criticism is much appreciated, flames are not.

This story was inspired by 'It Happened - Menage a Trois' by SupaaFly.

Dawn's character is heavily based on my ex-childhood friend, so it's not really a Self-Insert. It is just an excuse to write a threesome between my OC, Stefan and Damon.

Emphasis

WRITTEN

Signing

"How was the meeting?" asked Jeremy when she got home.

"Productive." she threw her bag on the floor and plopped herself on the couch beside him. "Are you going to try for Freshman Representative? I'm pretty sure you're the most well known in your year, you could easily get the votes."

"Yeah, for being yours and Elena's little brother." He laughed. "No thanks, I don't want to work for Caroline, it's too much of a bother and she's crazy."

Dawn had to agree, she hadn't expected to get so busy when she agreed to be her Vice President in first year. If she could go back, she'd probably refuse.

"I want to join the Art Club," he said.

Dawn smiled and ruffled his hair, "You're great at drawing and Tessa could help you with your painting, she's still in high school and already has some of her works in a gallery."

He smiled and nodded, "She said the same thing. It seems like someone," and here he looked at her in a mixture of amusement and admonishment, "bragged about me and showed her some of my works. She asked me to join her club."

Dawn grinned, unrepentant. "I always brag about you."

Jeremy just smiled because he knew it was true.

"Hi Dawn, how was school?" asked Jenna, coming up behind them.

"Hi Jenna, it was fine. We're organizing a friendly football match on the 12th. How did your meeting go?"

"Good. My thesis is coming along nicely." she answered. "Do I have to make dinner or…?"

Jeremy guffawed and tried to cover his mouth to stop more from coming out.

Dawn's smile became strained, "Don't worry Aunt Jenna, we're all going to the Grill so you're free from us teenagers tonight."

Jenna sagged in relief, they all knew she was a terrible cook (they all were) but she stubbornly kept trying, "Oh, thank God. I think I'll eat a pizza and go to sleep early. I'm knackered."

The door opened and Elena came in looking dazed.

"Hi Elena," chirped Jenna, "How was school?"

"Elena," interrupted Dawn, "come and sit down please."

Elena did so immediately, sitting on the couch in front of her cousins.

"Aunt Jenna," said Jeremy, staring at Elena's ripped pants, "could you grab some disinfectant and a band aid?"

"Yes, immediately," she hurried out and returned quickly with the first aid kit. She sat down beside the brunette and placed her leg in her lap to take care of the wound. "It's bleeding a lot but it's not a serious injury."

"Thanks Aunt Jenna," she whispered, smiling slightly.

Dawn cleared her throat to make Elena look at her, "Where were you, little cuz?"

"Uhm," she hesitated, "at the cemetery."

"Where's your diary?" asked Jeremy. Elena always wrote in it when she was there.

She looked around, like she just realized she didn't have it. She stood up in a hurry, "I must have left it there! I'll go get it."

"Sit down," ordered Dawn.

Mulishly, Elena did.

"You looked out of it when you came in, you're injured and you forgot your journal. Did something happen?"

Jenna looked concerned at that, while Jeremy went back to sketching in his journal like he'd been doing when Dawn came in. He already knew what happened so wasn't really interested.

"There was this crow," Elena tried to explain, "and the fog and… I freaked out."

"I'm glad nothing happened," Dawn smiled at her and waited for her to smile back. She clapped her hands, "Now, we'll swing by the cemetery before going to the Grill to get your diary, but first, why did you feel the need to see mum and dad? You haven't gone in weeks."

The only reason Elena stopped spending her afternoons there was that Dawn had forced the whole family to go out for picnics, to the lake and other little excursions. Elena had spent the whole summer moping, and she'd let her be, but they'd all be busy when school started and she wanted Elena to get some fun in before being sucked into the Salvatore's drama. (She might not love her, but she did care)

"Yeah, but… I felt like I had to." she said.

"Do you feel like they would resent you if you didn't go?" asked Jenna.

"No, no. It's just…" she hesitated, trying to gather her thoughts. "This morning I decided that today would be different, I would smile and everyone would see I was fine. New year, new me, and I met this guy and there's this connection and I think I really might start fresh."

Dawn waited to see if she would add anything before speaking, "So, this morning you decided that you wouldn't be grieving anymore, then you met the new guy who's very attractive, decided it might work and ran to visit our parents?"

Elena nodded and Jenna groaned, making the brunette look at her before being distracted by Dawn.

The pink haired girl moved to kneel down in front of her cousin and held her hands. "Elena," she started, "you can take more time. None of us or your friends will blame you for grieving more. We lost our parents Elena, we can take all the time we need."

"But you're fine," she protested.

Dawn hushed her and smiled consolingly, "You know everyone grieves differently. I cry and then live my life sometimes being hit by nostalgia. Jeremy draws, Jenna keeps herself busy and you write. And you mope." She grinned teasingly at her, "And that's okay. There's no rule saying that you have to stop when school starts. As long as you don't lock yourself in your room again like you did this summer, you can take your time. Find yourself again. You're not the same girl you were last year, and that's okay. You lived through something traumatic, we all did. It's alright to change, to think differently about things. You should take your time and find out what you want now."

"I am," she protested.

"No you're not," she admonished her. "This morning you decided to fake being alright, to pretend everything was fine, and you met this new guy. Who doesn't know you, doesn't know how you were before and can't compare the two. Who won't see you as the sad little girl who lost her parents and locked herself away because he doesn't know that girl. You're latching onto him as an excuse, a distraction from your pain and that's not okay." She rose up and kissed her brow, "You said you wanted to start fresh, to be a new you. Then do it, on your own, don't let the new guy define you." She grinned, "I heard he's attractive, but surely the new you can be more than just someone's girlfriend? Even a sexy someone."

Elena was teary eyed but smiled anyway, "He really is sexy."

Dawn smiled and went back to sit on the couch. She knew from experience that Elena would take a couple of days to think about her words and then ambush her when she least expected it with a response.

The doppelganger rubbed her eyes and stood, "I'm going upstairs to change, call me when it's time to go."

"No problem," she agreed.

As soon as Elena left Jenna exhaled loudly, "Fuck. You're good at that."

Dawn stared at her, reproachfully (she really wanted to lift an eyebrow to get her point across, but she always ended up lifting both or squinting). "You should have said all that Miss Psychology Major."

Jenna laughed, "Yeah but I tend to get technical. You're also better at talking to her and making her listen."

Dawn opened her phone and started looking up pet shelters nearby, "You need to practice. You're the adult here."

Jenna nodded, "You're right."

"Next emotional problem is yours." she suggested/ ordered.

Regardless of all evidence to the contrary, Dawn hated dealing with other people's problems. She still didn't understand how she ended up playing therapist/ big sister to half the school. She'd been nowhere near this popular or involved in her last life (because her class was so small and close knit they could be mistaken for a cult so everyone avoided the 12 of them).

Jenna agreed and went to put a frozen pizza in the oven. Jeremy was still sketching.

"What are you drawing?" she asked him.

Silently, he showed her the page. It was their living room, he was currently sketching Elena beside Jenna with Dawn on her knees in front of her. Her face was turned up towards their cousin, a kind smile on her face. Elena was teary eyed but had a hint of a smile on her face. The scene looked far more emotional than Dawn remembered it.

"Why did you say all those things? Do you actually care if she gets involved with him?" he asked her.

Dawn thought about it for a moment, she certainly hadn't intended to say all those things, but… "I always found it weird. By all accounts, Elena was grieving and had closed herself off from everyone, even her own family. Then suddenly she's all out there, running after Stefan and being stupidly in love like she hadn't been super sad just the day before? That's absurd and seeing it happen in person makes it even weirder to me."

"You don't believe in love at first sight." he said sagely.

"Neither do you." she reminded him, "Plus, there's that whole Traveler's spell thing. To me, right now, it looks like Elena latched onto the attraction from the spell and wants to lose herself in it to feel better. That wouldn't be healthy even without magic involved."

"That's true." he shrugged and went back to his sketch. "Elena will do what she wants in the end."

"Doesn't she always?" she smirked slightly.

No matter what advice she gave her, Elena was a headstrong girl that wouldn't listen unless a part of her agreed with her suggestions. If it went against what she believed in, her cousin would ignore her and do her own thing. Dawn had to become good at spinning things in a way Elena would like over the years.

Mostly because the lack of self preservation did not come up only in supernatural situations, Elena was well known for jumping first and thinking never. She would've gotten herself killed cliff diving or kidnapped by not-so-well-meaning strangers if Dawn wasn't there to stop her.

Really, how tv show Elena survived to meet Stefan was a mystery. Sometimes she wondered if her Elena didn't act more reckless than show-Elena because Miranda Gilbert obviously doted more on her biological children then her adopted one. With Dawn there, Elena wasn't the only daughter, she wasn't even her real one.

She always had the feeling that in this reality, Miranda had tried to get John to keep Elena (it was more than a feeling, she knew it was true from overhearing John accusing Greyson of manipulating him to make him give up his daughter. He'd started with "Miranda said," so she knew her new mom had tried to convince John he could be a good father. It made sense: she already had a daughter on the way and Greyson could get in real trouble by forging Elena's birth certificate, a teenage father with his family's support would have been less problematic).

The doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," she yelled out.

She opened the door and a beautiful man was on the other side.

Light brown, carefully styled hair. Warm, forest green eyes. Wide shoulders covered in a black leather jacket and tight jeans.

Fuck, Stefan Salvatore was sexier than Paul Wesley and that's saying something.

"Uhm, hi." he smiled and waved a bit. "Is Elena in?"

"Yes," she made sure to look him up and down. Yummie. "and you are?"

She regretted what she said to Elena now. Stefan Salvatore was one hell of a distraction, if her sister wanted him, she had her approval (although she'd feel better if she knew for certain what that Traveler spell did, making the doppelgangers feel attracted to each other was one thing, forcing them to fall in love was a whole other beast).

"Stefan Salvatore," he held his hand out for her to shake, which she did. "I found her journal." He held it up for her to see.

"You found it?" she made sure to inject as much doubt into her voice as she could. She really wanted to mess with him a bit.

"I was visiting family and…" he held it up again, "we bumped into each other and I found this later."

She nodded slowly, making him think that she didn't entirely believe him. "Thanks," she grabbed it, "I didn't really want to go to the cemetery for it. It's creepy at night."

He laughed a bit. He had a nice laugh (nice laugh? Ugh. She'd forgive herself since she never saw anyone this pretty in real life).

"It is," he smiled kindly at her.

She couldn't help but smile back, "Well," she looked back inside the house, trying to decide if she should call Elena downstairs now or, "we're going to the Grill now. Elena's upstairs getting ready, do you want to come with us?"

"Yeah, I'd like that," he sounded almost shy.

She scoffed to herself. A 100 year old vampire feeling shy about hanging out with teenagers. That was a good joke.

"Come in," she opened the door wider for him to pass and closed it behind him.

She went up the stairs and to Elena's room, "Hey Elena." She waited for her to turn, "Catch." She threw the diary at her and she barely caught it. "Stefan is downstairs, he found it at the cemetery."

"That was nice of him," she said.

Dawn waited, expecting more but nothing came. "Well, I invited him to come to the Grill with us so hurry up."

She left the room and closed the door. She turned around and jumped at Jeremy being right behind her.

Why did you invite him in? he signed.

Do you actually mind? she signed back.

You said he isn't dangerous. was all he said.

He isn't right now. Plus we all drank Vervain this morning. We're fine.

Dawn had started adding vervain to the coffee pot when their parents died. Jeremy was growing several pots of it in her room. Hers because that way people would suspect her and not him, but she couldn't even grow a cactus without killing it so Jeremy had to do it.

The siblings went back downstairs, Elena joining them a moment later.

§§§

The car ride had been awkward.

Elena had insisted to be in the front with Dawn and Jeremy kept badgering Stefan about the different school clubs and trying to convince him to join one. The vampire couldn't even steal glances at Elena because Jeremy had maneuvered them so that the dopplegangers were sitting right behind each other.

"Guys! Over here" yelled Caroline Forbes when they came in.

She was sitting with Bonnie, Matt and Tyler.

"Hey guys," said Dawn, drawing closer. "This is Stefan Salvatore, he's new so I invited him. Be nice."

"Hey, I'm Matt, nice to meet you," they shook hands.

"Tyler," the untriggered wolf just nodded. He had his arm thrown over Caroline's shoulder, the two of them had become an item over the summer somehow while they were both busy with cheerleading and football camp.

"Hey," chorused Bonnie and Caroline.

"So, you were born in Mystic Falls?" asked Caroline as soon as they sat down.

Jeremy had left to join his classmates near the pool table.

"Mm-Hmm," answered Stefan, "and moved when I was still young."

It was Bonnie's turn. "Parents?"

Stefan kept calm under the interrogation, "My parents passed away."

"I'm sorry." said Elena comfortingly, "we know what that feels like." She said, grabbing Dawn's hand.

"Any siblings?" It didn't look like Elena would ask so she might as well do it.

"None that I talk to." he told her. "I live with my uncle."

Dawn pounced on that "So you do have siblings."

He hesitated, before admitting it. "Yes, I have an older brother… but we don't get along."

Caroline intervened before she could ask more questions, "So, Stefan, if you're new, then you don't know about the party tomorrow."

"It's a back to school thing at the falls." explained the young witch.

Irritated at being interrupted, Dawn decided to stop the heart-eyes before they could happen, "We're all going." She gestured to the whole table, making sure to point to Elena as well.

"I'll come then," he said, looking at Elena.

"Great then," chirped Dawn, "shall we order? I'm famished."

The rest of the night was spent eating and having fun like normal teenagers, even Stefan had loosened up and played a round of pool with Matt and Tyler.