R3 Chapter 21: Before Sunset Part 1, a vampire diaries fanfic

Once everything in the room was packed up and the furniture was covered, she decided a new coat of paint was in order. No one else was there, and she couldn't sleep, so she thought it'd be a good idea. It would help her not to think about anything.

She was doing an excellent job of it until her second coat of paint when Stefan showed up.

"Going darker, huh?"

"It's the only paint color we have."

"I don't suppose I could talk you out of doing this so soon."

"Why? It's not like he's coming back. I have to keep moving. Otherwise, I'll start thinking, " she eyed him pointedly, rolling her brush in the paint, "which leads to feeling, and we both know I'm not good at processing feelings."

"Want a hand?"

"How likely are my chances that if I say no, you'll go away?"

He leaned against the wall and entered the room, taking that as an invitation. "I'd say about as great as your chances of forgetting what's happening to Alaric by packing away all of his things."

"I'm not trying to forget. I don't want to have to think about it."

"Avoiding it isn't dealing with it, though." He picked up the extra paintbrush, "I thought you weren't running away from your feelings anymore."

She rolled her brush in the trough. "Some feelings shouldn't be confronted. They should be smothered and buried deep," She started painting. "And that's exactly what I intend to do."

"That's going to be hard to do now that Damon's no longer compelled."

She wasn't talking about her feelings for Damon, but she knew he already knew. "Damon's made his choice. I'm learning to be okay with it. I would get much further if we could stop talking about it."

"Okay."

"You know, I'm almost done here. You don't have to stay."

"I think I'll stick around. Help finish this."

"If you want to help, you'll stay away from me like I've asked. " It wasn't good for her to be in her current emotional state if she was going to avoid making the same mistake.

That thread she was holding onto was as thin as lint now, and one misstep could end it all. He could hear it in her voice and see it on her face, so he would listen when she asked him to give her space a second time.

"Uh yeah," he awkwardly scratched his brow, "okay." He turned around and walked to the door, and she watched him. "You know I'm here for you whenever you need me."

She turned back around and finished painting but felt his eyes linger on her before she left.

She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding when she heard him walk away and set the paintbrush down. It wasn't like it was going to help distract her anymore anyway.

"Alyssa," Jeremy knocked on the open door before walking in.

She swiped away a lone tear before turning around to face him. She tried to smile and pretend everything was fine like she had done countless times before, but she couldn't.

She couldn't pretend anymore. She couldn't hide her tears. He rushed over to her, pulling her into a hug as soon as the first one fell. "Whatever it is, it's gonna be okay."

She hung on to him, the only safe lifeline she had left. Once she was up for doing so, he made her talk about whatever prompted the breakdown, as he had a feeling it had more to do with what happened to Alaric.

She told him about everything that happened to Klaus while she was away, including what happened with Stefan just before he walked in. They decided to leave the house and walk around the block to talk about it so that Elena wouldn't hear.

"You have feelings for Stefan now?"

She told him she didn't know which was the truth. "I don't know if it's real feelings or because he's been there for me. That's why I told him I needed some space."

"To figure it out?"

"Yeah, and to get over it if I do." She wrapped her arms around herself. "It'll be a lot easier if he weren't around."

"You tried that when you compelled Damon. How is what you're doing with Stefan any different?"

"Damon was still around after I compelled him. Stefan won't be. Neither will Damon, for that matter."

"Won't Elena get suspicious."

"Elena is going to have her problems with sorting out how she feels about Damon, which she denies."

"I don't think she's in denial anymore," she turned to him in question, "I saw the two of them kissing after they picked me up from Denver."

"It's not like it's the first time. She kissed him when she thought he was dying. It was just to comfort him then. The kiss in Denver was about something completely different, which Stefan doesn't need to know about."

"You're not just a little tempted to tell him about the kiss."

"Sure, me telling him would cause a rift between him and Elena, which I could use to my benefit. But it'll also hurt him; I don't want to see that happen."

"So you want her to pick Stefan?"

"What I want doesn't matter. It shouldn't matter what she wants, either. The right thing to do would be to let them both go. She'll be severely damaging their relationship with whoever she chooses."

"Is that what you would do?"

"It's what I'm doing."

"With Stefan?"

"Elena might have feelings for Damon, but we know she loves Stefan. Even if Stefan did or could feel that way about me, I could never do that to her."

"That's the real reason you're staying away from Stefan, because of Elena?"

"I've had to make many necessary but regrettable choices this last year. I don't want Stefan to be one of those regrettable choices, and I don't want to cause a bigger wedge between me and Elena or put you in the middle, which is what I would be doing."

"And if Elena chooses Damon?"

"Then I'll be here for Stefan as a friend. Anything else would bring back all the insecurities, and I am not returning to that."

They returned to the house. Elena came downstairs after hearing them come in. "You got rid of Alaric stuff."

"I couldn't sleep, so I decided to paint, change things, and it's not like he's gonna need it."

"Want some help?" Jeremy asked. She took them up on it, but the door rang before she could join them upstairs.

"I'll get it and meet you upstairs." They nod and head upstairs while she answers the door.

It's Damon holding Bonnie upright by the arms. There's a bite mark on her neck.

"We have a problem."

"I'll call Stefan."

Alyssa steps inside, and Damon helps Bonnie out. Alyssa gets Bonnie a towel to clean up the blood as they wait for Stefan.

"What do you mean he turned?" Stefan asks. "I thought you were standing guard!"

Damon replies, "Don't blame me. Blame Bonnie, the blood bank. She fed him."

"I had no idea what was happening. Okay, the witches led me there. They wanted him to feed, so he turned."

"So, where's the stake now?" Alyssa asks.

"Oh, you mean the white oak one? The one that can kill an Original and wipe out an entire line of vampires? We don't know." Damon glares at Bonnie as he speaks the last few words.

"If you are so upset with me, why did you feed me your blood to save my life?"

"Because I do stupid things, Bonnie. I do things like let my friend die with dignity when I should have just killed him."

"Alright, so how do we kill him now?" Alyssa asks.

Bonnie answers, "I've been trying to figure that out. A witch can't truly make an immortal creature; there is always a way to undo a spell."

"Alaric."

Alyssa looks at Stefan, listens in on the conversation, and finds out that Alaric has Ric and Caroline at the school and is going to kill them unless Klaus turns himself in.

Klaus returns to the house with a propane tank and a newspaper "torch." Alyssa comes to the front door.

"Put it out."

"Come outside and make me."

She steps outside. "Elena's not here. Alaric has her and Caroline, and he's going to kill them both unless you turn yourself over to him."

Klaus throws down the newspaper and drops the propane tank.

"Now, I know you're not asking me to walk into a certain death."

"I wish we could. But unfortunately, if Alaric kills you, there's a one in four chance that my friends will die too."

Damon walks out with a picket over his shoulder. "I'll take those odds."

"Well, I'm not. So why don't we figure out how to put Alaric down?" Alyssa responds.

Stefan, Damon, and Klaus began to trade ideas.

"Okay, how about Damon sneaking in and distracting Alaric while Stefan grabs Elena and carries her to safety?" Klaus suggested.

"Huh, that's a great idea. What's to stop me from getting killed instantly?" Damon asks.

"Nothing."

"Caroline's in there. Don't you have a thing for her? Or did she reject you too many times?"

Alyssa goes back inside, tired of the pestering, to converse with the only person she knew who could help her get Caroline and Elena out alive.

"Bonnie."

"I heard, and I might have an idea. My mom used a desiccation spell on Mikael that immobilized him for over 15 years."

"I was just thinking the same thing."

"If I can get it, I might be able to use it on Alaric."

"What do you need from me?"

"Even with the spell, we'll need a lot of vampire muscle to take him down."

"I'll get the children to behave long enough for a rescue mission. You get that spell."

"I call you when it's ready."

She turns around and returns to rally the men and tell them the plan.

"So, what's the witchy workaround?" Damon asks.

"That's the problem. I don't know."

The doorbell rings at the Gilbert house. Jeremy answers the door. Klaus is outside.

"What the hell do you want?"

"Now, is that any way to treat a guest?"

Alyssa comes up behind Jeremy. "What are you doing here, Klaus?"

"Well, for starters, young Jeremy here could show some manners and invite me inside."

Stefan walks over to the door and moves toward Alyssa and Jeremy.

"Jermey, go to your room." Alyssa looks at Jeremy. "Now."

Jeremy sighs and walks up the stairs.

"Hm, poor lad. Loses one questionable father figure only to be replaced by the two of you." Klaus taunts.

Damon replies. "Yeah, about that. Something happened."

"Oh, I know all about my mother's invulnerable little creation, and that's why I'm here. I'm leaving town; I need to pick up a few road trip necessities. Spare tire, flashlight, doppelgänger."

"I can't help you there." Damon claps Stefan on the shoulder, pulls him back, and shuts Klaus's door. Damon moves into the living room, and Stefan goes towards the stairs.

Stefan calls for Elena, but there's no answer. Stefan walks up the stairs and into Alaric's old room. Jeremy is here continuing to paint, but Elena is nowhere in sight.

"Where is she?"

"I don't know; she was just here a few minutes ago."

Stefan walks out of the room and down the stairs, where he meets up with Damon and Alyssa.

"Where is she?" Damon asks.

"She's not here."

Alyssa asks, "What do you mean she's not here? Where did she go?"

Bonnie walks into the living room. "What's going on?"

Damon looks out the blinds and sees Klaus pacing with the newspaper still in his hands.

"Klaus wants in; we have to keep him out."

Damon sees Klaus pull back his arm and throw the newspaper at the window with vampire strength. "Ah, duck!"

The newspaper smashes through the window and flies into the living room. Damon ducks down. Stefan grabs Bonnie, and they both duck.

Klaus is still outside, waiting. "I think you're probably gonna want to let me in!"

Klaus walks over to a neighbor's house with a white picket fence. He places his hands on the wall and looks around.

He sees a soccer ball and smiles. Back in the house, Bonnie, Jeremy, Stefan, Alyssa, and Damon stand in the kitchen.

Stefan says, "Elena's car is gone." As he notices it's not outside.

Bonnie asks, "Why wouldn't she tell anyone where she was going?"

Suddenly, the front door opens, and the soccer ball flies in. Klaus walks up the porch with two fence pickets in his hands. He hurls one of the pickets into the house, and it narrowly misses Damon's head, which gets stuck in the wall behind him. Stefan grabs Jeremy, Alyssa grabs Bonnie, and they pull them down.

"Get down!" Stefan yells at Damon.

"Missed me!" Damon pulls the picket out of the wall and throws it back at Klaus. The picket grazes over his shoulder. Klaus breaks the other picket in two and throws half of it at Damon again, but instead, he hits a picture, and it breaks.

Alyssa covers Jeremy to ensure he doesn't get hit with the glass.

"Missed me again!"

Klaus aims the last picket into the house. Stefan's phone rings, and he answers it.