Author's note: Thanks for all the lovely responses to the previous chapter, everyone!
Sorry it's been a while. I've been a bit blocked about how to handle a certain character, but I think I figured it out! For me, writing several stories helps, because it ensures that the inspiration keeps flowing – I just have to follow it to see where it goes. :D And ultimately, all the stories feed and inspire each other!
Much to Elena's amusement, Caroline's annoyance, Bonnie's bewilderment, and Jeremy's curiosity, Damon adamantly refused to let go of the talking-bottle-of-bourbon while he seated Gummi comfortably on his lap. A few of the room's occupants had already been exposed to Damon's seemingly tenacious attachment to the plush bear – as he was to practically anything that let him ridicule those around him to this heart's content.
"Of course, Caroline doesn't respect safe spaces, Damon," Damon said in a high-pitched voice, placing Gummi in front of his face and wiggling his little arms. "That's because she's a neurotic control freak whose entire reason for existence is micro-managing other people's lives! She would have majored in Micro-Management, but then they'd make her teach the class and there aren't enough binders in the world for that! Think of the trees!"
"Gummi!" Damon pulled back with the most dramatic version of exasperation anyone in the room has ever seen, his hand covering his mouth in an exaggerated display of horror and admonition. "How can you say that!? Caroline is just trying to curb her raging anxiety by arranging everyone's lives and popping achievement pills!"
Caroline glared, but tried to control herself given that this was, after all, her idea, and she would act like a responsible adult and adhere to her own rules, thank you very much, even if Damon insisted on acting rude and immature.
"And let's not forget our secretive Witchy!" Damon continued as Gummi. "Who likes to mess with powers way beyond her understanding but then get all judgy –"
"Damon!" Elena hissed under her breath, while the room's remaining occupants glared and fought the occasional smirk that they desperately tried to hide from each other. "Stop it."
"It's not me," Damon said innocently. "It's your bear.
"Then there's Slacker Van Helsing," Damon continue in his usual Gummi timbre, flailing the adorable plushie's arms in front of his face, "who hypocritically insists on knowing everything and then keeps Witchy's big death secret! Oh no! Does Little Gilbert actually know how to think for himself, or does he let Bon-Bon's brain take over all the hard work?"
"Stop being such a dick, Damon," Jeremy finally spoke, though there was a hint of reflection in his eyes, with the statement perhaps lacking the appropriate level of heat, then a smirk. "Nothing to say to Elena?"
"I wouldn't want Damon to undergo forced celibacy!" Damon-as-Gummi revealed with an upward lilt, prompting a snicker from Elena.
"I'm glad Gummi knows the score, because that's exactly what would happen," Elena mock-threatened.
"Elena is perfect, and would never withhold –"
"TMI!" Jeremy groaned, covering his ears. "That's my sister. Ew!"
"Can you please take this seriously?" Caroline asked, exasperated.
"No, because this is ridiculous, and if I'm forced to participate in this madness, I'll do it on my terms" Damon finally said in his own voice, putting the bear down. "Out of all the people in the world unqualified to host therapy sessions, Middle Management Incarnate tops the list," he said flippantly. "Except maybe the world's most histrionic Original Hybrid. You two have gotten chummy, haven't you?" he asked with eyebrows drawn in feigned innocent interest.
"First of all, I'm CEO energy –" Caroline corrected with an indignantly raised index finger, only to be interrupted by the resident poltergeist.
"I can't believe that I'm actually with Paparazzi Barbie –" Katherine sighed, rolling her eyes for effect. "As fascinating as I'm sure Damon thinks his quips are, we don't have time for this."
"Journalist," Caroline corrected her through gritted teeth. "But Katherine's right," Caroline said, looking very much like she was dying on the inside as she let the various parts of her body create the requisite sounds that formed those words. "I am right. And we need to move this along. Katherine, you have the metaphorical bourbon bottle, since Damon refuses to let go of it," she said, shooting Damon a dirty look, who just smirked at her in response and took a long swig out of said bourbon bottle. "You have the floor, Katherine," Caroline urged, turning toward the poltergeist again. "It's time for apologies. If the goal of your bond with Bonnie is cooperation, then it's time to start earning it," she said primly.
Qetsiyah's fires were hushed with the force required to power her spell, but at last it was complete. She couldn't believe that these imbeciles actually allowed Silas to have the Cure. The man she loved, and mourned, and scored, and adored, and obsessed over for the last two millennia was on the verge of discovering that traitorous strumpet, Amara, and all her hard work would potentially be undone.
This was her last chance. She blew the embers of the fire into the sleeping man's face – a face she once loved so dearly, and perhaps still did.
If the dreams she sent Amara's doppelgangers hadn't been effective in drawing them here alone, then perhaps her own connection to her descendant, who was clearly trying to remove the cloak she placed on the young man, would suffice. Cute. Did this inexperienced little wannabe, so far out of her league, really think she could go against the all-powerful Qestsiyah? She smirked superciliously. She'd use the young witch's hubris against her and lure them herself.
Bonnie Bennett would think she overcame a powerful spell and bring them all here.
"Fine," Katherine sighed, getting sick of having to fight against the floor swallowing her up. "Elena," she said with faux sweetness, addressing her doppelganger. "I'm sorry I've given you so much to live up to. You've been graciously bestowed a face and body too gorgeous to fit your boring, goodie-goodie personality –"
"Anyone who equates 'being a sociopath' to 'interesting' definitely takes the Cersei Lannister school of thought a little too seriously," Elena said flippantly, then drew her eyebrows together in faux concentration. "Ooh, wait! Wasn't she outwitted in every turn, and only survived long enough out of dumb luck and sheer vitriol?"
"Oh, making pop culture quips now, are we? You two really have been spending a lot of time together, haven't you?" Katherine asked, then turned to Damon, the smirk on her face edging a bit of cruelty. "Damon, I'm sorry you'll probably make her as terrible as you are."
Damon remained outwardly expressionless, except for the slight clench of his jaw and the haunted look that settled in his eyes for a brief moment, letting Katherine know that she hit him exactly where he was most vulnerable – again. "She'd still have nothing on you, Kitty-Kat," he said easily, though Elena was disheartened that he didn't contradict her statement. Maybe this 'group therapy session 'wasn't the best idea, after all.
"Caroline! I'm sorry I helped bring out the best in you," Katherine said with a sardonically growing grin, then scrunched her face with false contrition to elaborate. "It's a low bar."
Caroline just rolled her eyes, deciding to be the adult this time and not respond.
"Bonnie, I'm sorry that you're stuck with the best company a judgy martyr like you could ever hope for," Katherine beamed, the smile on her face contorting when she felt her heels sink into the floor.
Bonnie, however, noticed this immediately through their bond, and just smiled at her challengingly. "You don't say? Go on, then, Katherine. You still have Jeremy left, and this exercise is just working impeccably so far. Maybe you'll be gone once and for all once it's over."
Katherine began to feel the beginnings of palpitations before the rational part of her reminded herself that she probably didn't have a functional heart anymore. Do poltergeists even have those? A phantom heartbeat? "Jer-Jer," she turned to Jeremy desperately. "Sorry I killed you," she said, sincere for the first time all day, and was rewarded by freely standing on the floor again, practically sinking onto it in sweet relief.
The room was suddenly filled with an uncomfortable silence as its occupants watched Katherine wrestle with gravity, some for the first time – making her predicament entirely too clear. It was only broken by the sudden shuffling of papers as Bonnie's spell concluded, prompting her to quickly make her way over to the makeshift map.
"Stefan's at the quarry," Bonnie announced solemnly.
"Which is where I thought he was in the first place," Damon argued pointedly. "We could have left half an hour ago and saved ourselves Blondie's sad attempt at Vamp, Interrupted."
Elena just rolled her eyes, her entire demeanor singing with affection as she gathered one of Damon's arms in both of hers and leaned into him. "Yeah, let's not act like you didn't jump at the excuse to use Gummi again."
"Gummi and I have a very special relationship, Elena, and you need to respect it. Jealously isn't attractive on anyone," Damon replied, looking oh-so-serious, then leaned in to whisper conspiratorially. "He's had some very concerning things to say about you, so I'd be on my best behavior."
"Scratch that," Bonnie said, alarmed, as she saw the blood trail split into two distinct lines – one moving considerably faster than the other. "Stefan was at the quarry. He's on the move."
"Well, where's he going?" Katherine asked, still nonplussed about being forced to apologize to everyone – not that anyone actually bought into her thickly-veiled barbs posing as contrition.
"Looks like to town – the next town over? Someone is messing with this locator spell, still," Bonnie frowned. "If I didn't know better, I'd say it was a Bennett witch. The signature is frighteningly familiar."
"Wow, a Bennett witch screwing with a vampire," Katherine deadpanned. "Who could have possibly guessed?"
Ignoring Katherine and stifling a retort that it was usually vampires who screwed with Bennett witches, Bonnie drew her eyebrows together, scrutinizing the blood trail on the map, which seemed to move back and forth. She'd never seen anything like this. "It's almost showing a history of where he was – like someone wants us to follow it. This feels like a trap," she said, her heart constricting with dread.
"Trap or not, he's my brother. I'm going after him," Damon declared with entirely too much passion for his liking. No that wouldn't do. "The woods around the house have become a bit overpopulated. All the local Bugses and Daffies have become too bold without their trusty tyrant around, and I'm afraid their minds might atrophy if they have it too easy and don't have to work so hard to outwit him. I'm an animal activist, Elena. I'm doing this for them."
Elena narrowed her eyes playfully, her lips just teasing a smile. "I didn't realize Mystic Falls was so full of Looney Tunes-style booby traps."
"Plenty!" Damon said distractedly, taking a few knives and stakes to conceal on his person. If Bonnie was right and this was a trap, he had to be prepared. "It's a hotbed of full body drainage of the world's cuddliest critters and other creepy serial killer fads. They had to adapt."
"Does this make Stefan the world's foremost expect in dealing with cartoony death traps?" Elena smiled.
"Moping is not a critical thinking skill, Elena," Damon countered with a roll of his eyes, through inwardly he fought to hide his trepidation. "Bugs would outsmart Stef in a heartbeat, even without possessing a third dimension."
"It looks like they just went into some place in Route 29," Bonnie murmured, not even remotely paying attention to anything by the map and watching the two trails, side-by-side. One clearly led further into the woods, but the other almost seemed to be tracing the journey of the former.
"Joe's Bar," Katherine said confidently, in wonder. "I had a dream about it.
"I had the same dream," Elena breathed, somewhat alarmed. "Joe's Bar on Route 29. Stefan walked in, confused, alarmed, disheveled."
"And earlier in the Summer, too?" Katherine prodded.
"Yeah, there have been a few - but the feeling was always the same," Elena nodded, her earlier animosity forgotten. Why were she and Katherine sharing dreams? When she had a few of Stefan over the Summer being in pain, she just assumed it was her guilt taunting her over breaking his heart. As a result, it was so difficult for her to give into her own happiness, despite that Summer having been the best of her life so far. She'd worked so hard to allow herself happiness again – to accept the joy of living, joie de vivre – after the accident. She'd loved the proud and relieved look on Damon's face when he thought that she'd shaken off the worst of her survivor's guilt so much that she couldn't bring herself to tell him just how much of it was still there. How much helping rescue those at Whitmore was helping her heal her own trauma and come to terms with the vampirism that was forced on her – what she once thought was a fate worse than death. Except now she found the good parts – helping others, healing others – a love that was eternal.
He'd helped her so much – truly. He helped her embrace life and see herself as worthy of living again. He helped her almost learn to love herself again, because the love he clearly held for her – the vulnerability he showed when there was no one else around, that was just for her – was so brilliant it was almost blinding, so all-consuming that it felt like everything else just faded into the background and all that existed in the whole of the cosmos was the love they felt. She couldn't ever remember being so happy as in those moments. But there was only so much he could do.
She knew the rest was up to her.
Damon listened to the conversation with a sinking heart. Elena told him she'd had one dream about Stefan but neglected to mention the frequency. Did she regret being with him? He knew she'd eventually come to her senses about him and his own unworthiness, but he really thought he'd have at least a little more time with her. She'd somehow managed to pull the information on the Augustine Society from him, but he'd yet to tell her about his ongoing vendetta against the Whitmores. What would she say if she knew that he continued to murder members of that family to this day? No time to dwell on it now. Time to save the brother and lose the girl, he thought with a scowl. It was always just a matter of time, anyway.
Elena came up beside him and slid her hand into his. "Are you okay?" she asked, feeling the slightest twinge of guilt for not telling him about all the dreams, but he'd reacted so badly that first time, even though he tried to hide the pain he clearly felt, that she was reluctant to ever bring it up again. She could plainly see how much it hurt him – dug into the deepest insecurities he had about the validity of her love for him – that she thought it would be easier to just never mention it again.
Combined with his refusal to disagree with Katherine earlier that he'd 'make her terrible,' she was starting to worry again. He always concealed it well, but she'd come to learn his moods and expressions – the places where he hides – a bit better over the Summer, and she could see the tempest raging behind his stormy eyes, despite the smirk on his face.
He let his eyelids flutter closed, trying to savor the feeling of her hand in his. "Peachy, Elena. Let's just go get Stef." He didn't want to have this discussion now – not in front of everyone. A part of him wondered what the point of that forthcoming talk even was. It was the part of him always knew he was just a phase – a fun one, but a temporary excursion, nevertheless. What was it that Elena said to him once? Ooh, how can he ever forget? It'll always be –
"Both trails are the same spot in the woods now," Bonnie said with a resolved nod, interrupting both thoughts and scattered conversation.
"Then we have our destination," Damon said in a tone might much lighter than the conflict within him, scoffing at how absurd he'd become. Of course, he'd save Stefan at the expense of his own heart. Wasn't he supposed to be the selfish one? He smiled thinly. He could never be selfish with the people he loved, and he knew it. Damon squeezed Elena's hand, savoring the feel of its warmth – the way it fit his perfectly – wondering just how many more of these life held for him. "Time to bring Hero Hair back home."
Sorry Damon went a bit mean with Gummi, but he's still pretty riled up, and he doesn't like being forced to do these things, so he'll find a way to make it fun for him. :D
So, for the sake of the story, we'll say that Qetsiyah started with the shared dreams a bit earlier in the Summer. :D This is mostly because Silas isn't really around to exploit that anymore. He got his Cure a lot earlier here. So, they had a similar moment to the dream as in canon, where at first Damon didn't want to know, but then changed his mind, except it happened a few months earlier.
Qetsiyah's being tricky, but what she wants will become more apparent in the next chapter. I also kind of want to stress that she's not a really big character in the story. The Augustines are definitely the Big Bads here, and they're not keen on sharing that stage with anyone. With that said, they're also much more powerful and with a bigger budget here than in canon.
Katherine is really bitchy now, but she will get better. Honestly. It's just kind of a slow process with her. :D
It's normal for S5 Damon to still have Stefan insecurity, especially with Qetsiyah sending Elena and Katherine shared dreams (though he's not currently thinking of the latter). It's a process.
I started a new story called Random Walk (after the Math term!) in which Valerie turns the sleeping Elena into a Specter for the duration of her magical coma, allowing her to leave the space between life and death, becoming unstuck in time, and visit Damon during various parts of his life. When a Specter disappears, however, so does all memory and evidence of her. Or does it?
The first visit is on the night of Miss Mystic Falls, but neither of them know what's going on. (And they probably won't for a while – therein lies the mystery.)
I've been super busy, and therefore, sleep-deprived lately, and RW is the story that came out. :D It's a bit on the angsty side, but empathetically so. The first few chapters can be read as thematic one-shots before the story really starts to pick up (probably after chapter 3 or so.)
I'll probably pick Timey Wimey back up regularly soon, too, when I have time to do a quick re-read to get back into its very specific vibe. :D
Thank you all for being utterly delightful. Much love. :)