(1) Just Magic (D. Salvatore)

Chapter Seventy-Two

Cassandra lays in her bed, blankets pulled up over her head. She doesn't want to get up. She doesn't want to do anything. Her phone rings on the side but she doesn't want to get it. She's ignoring it because she knows who it is going to be. It's going to be Damon. He's been calling. A lot. Texting too. But she just deletes them without reading them. Her bedroom door opens and Elena walks in, she picks up the phone and glances at the screen. Damon. Again. She sets the phone down and turns to her sister, who she knows is not sleeping. It's the same every morning since. A week now. Elena comes in. Sits with Cassandra for a while. Then she eventually gets up and gets ready for the day. Moves through the day like a zombie, but she gets up and does it. Cassandra lets out a breath and climbs from her bed, Elena watching her as she grabs her clothes for the day and then leaves. Heading into the bathroom. Elena pulls out her own cell phone and texts Stefan that there is no change. She is just the same as she was yesterday, and the day before that.

............

Damon stares down at his cell phone as another call goes unanswered. He's not surprised or disappointed. It was a long shot. He didn't think she would just pick it up and talk to him. That would be way too easy for everything that has been going on.

"Is she still ignoring your telegrams?" Damon smirks a little and looks at Ally who sits on his bed reading from a book, she doesn't even look up as she talks. She's been here the last week. Getting comfy. Stealing all the hot water. She's pretty obsessed with the shower at the minute.

"Calls, Al, it's phone calls" He corrects her. "And yes, she is" He lets out a breath as he sets his phone down again.

"Maybe you should try a telegram" She teases and he shoots her a look, she just gives a toothy smirk.

"I'm not any good at this stuff" Damon complains. "At the actual.....apology stuff"

"Is there not anything you know she likes or needs....?" She offers, he cocks his head as he thinks about that. "Like..." She turns her hand frowns. She's still struggling with the 21st century and its things and terminology. He's been trying but she's easily distracted. "What are those things? The moving pictures?" She struggles to find the right word.

"Movies" He offers. She hums a little.

"Movies" She repeats and then goes back to her book. Damon gives her a look, because she explained nothing there.

"Al" He pushes, she blinks and looks at him. "What were you going to say?" She frowns at him and then tilts her head.

"I....oh!" She leans back a little. "Take her to the movies"

"She has to talk to me to do that" He counters and sits on the bed with her. She closes her book.

"Do you want me to talk to her?" She asks. "Psychic to psychic-vampire..." She offers, he smirks and shakes his head.

"Thanks, but we're trying not to freak her out" He points out.

"Why would I freak her out?"

"You're a little crazy" He admits, she tilts her head.

"Yes, 145 years starving in a deep dark hole...." She reminds him. "Even you would be a little....crazy"

"I mean you were always...weird, Ally, but you full-on cracked down there, didn't you?" He teases, she kicks him off the bed and scrunches up her nose.

"Maybe I will go see your girlfriend anyway" She mumbles and picks her book back up. "Just for that"

"She's not my girlfriend" He argues as he stands, she gives him a look over the top of her book. "Okay, I'm going to pick a few things up, you want anything else?" He asks her as he picks up a shopping list from the side.

"Flowers" She answers. "I would like some flowers" He smiles and nods. He would have anyway. "Yel.."

"Yellow ones" He interrupts her and gives her a look over his shoulder. "I remember" He assures her, she smiles and nods. She then cocks her head.

"Get her flowers" She then states as she climbs from his bed, her feet bare as she moves closer to him. "Everyone loves flowers...or a knife, oh get her a knife"

"Al" He stops her. "Females don't get knives nowadays"

"Oh...I liked that tradition. Kol used to bring me knives....pretty ones" She mumbles and then shrugs. "I am going to partake in a shower," She tells him and then walks away.

"You just..." He starts but she leaves the room before he can finish, he sighs. "You just had one...but whatever...Hey, Al!"

"What?" She shouts back.

"Stay in the house" He offers. "And...Please, please, if for some reason you do go outside, don't talk to Cas..." He just sighs again hearing her singing instead of actually getting an answer.

...............

Elena pulls a few books from her locker, Stefan at her side. It's been a long morning already for Elena. Dealing with Cassandra in the mood she is in is exhausting, but she'll do it, because she loves her sister. And she knows Cassandra is hurting.

"Damon hasn't said a word to me. Every time I try to talk to him he shuts me down. And he is being weirdly protective of his bedroom..." Stefan admits with a frown.

"Do you think he's still trying to find Katherine?" Elena asks him.

"I don't know. He waited a hundred and forty-five years only to find out that Katherine wasn't where he thought she was. I mean it's gotta hurt, right?"

"And it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy" Elena grumbles as she looks down the corridor at where Cassandra is at her locker. Stefan follows her gaze and nods.

"You have every reason to be upset with him"

"I'm not upset" Elena argues. "I'm angry with him" Stefan understands that. Elena cares, deeply, about her sister, and Damon hurt her. 

"Have you thought any more about what you're going to do?" Stefan asks her.

"About what? Isobel, my vampire birth mother, who's related to my vampire ancestors Ally and Katherine, who screwed over your vampire brother?" Elena counters. "Nah...I haven't thought about it at all"

"I'm sorry I brought it up"

"It'd just be nice if we could get through one day without having to deal with any of it. No vampire mother or brother"

"No vampires at all?"

"No vampires but you. I just want to get us back to normal stuff like school and homework and here's a thought: fun" Elena points out. "Cassie needs to have fun again" She then adds and then appears thoughtful.

"Oh no," Stefan teases a little. "Should I be worried about what's going through that pretty little head of yours?" She elbows him a little and then they walk away together.