You are my Freedom

A Tense Morning

Damon is shocked to hear her voice turning to see her standing on the landing of the stairs looking over the scene.

Damon tosses Alaric to the floor. Alaric gasps for air and places his hands over his wound. Damon throws the stake down, grabs his drink, and sits down on the sofa as he watches Alaric take one last breath before he dies.

"Guess it was only a matter of time huh? Before you saw the real me. Get a good look? Or do you need to see more?"

"She's seen enough," Stefan speaks announcing himself

Damon rolls his eyes

"What is this Guess who's Coming to Dinner?"

Damon takes a swig from his glass as he looks at Alaric's dead body. Stefan walks into the room and looks at Alaric. He rushes over to the body and kneels down next to it, checking for a pulse. Clara still stands by the stairs her face frozen in shock.

"What happened? What did you do?!" Stefan cries.

"Do what? He attacked me." Damon replies.

Stefan sits up and looks at Damon.

"Damon." He says in a way that demands he tells him the whole truth.

Damon huffs, "All I did was tell him the truth. His wife didn't want him anymore. It's not my fault he couldn't handle it."

Stefan narrows his eyes at his brother, "Like how you're gonna handle it when Clara wakes up and realizes being with you is a sentence no one should have to serve!"

"You know what? Isobel came to me. She found me. And if she's related to Elena, that means she's related to Katherine. Maybe Katherine sent her to me..."

Before he can say another word Clara speaks up

"ENOUGH!" Both of the Salvatore's are shocked by her outburst.

"The both of you just enough! I don't know what happened between the two of you but it's enough all of this hate and hostility just stop!" She walks into the room and grabs the blood bags Damon was supposed to be getting for her.

"Damon, you'll be finding someplace else to sleep tonight, Stefan [points to Alaric] I'm assuming you'll take care of this. The two of you will be present for breakfast sharply at 7 or so help me I will burn this house down!" With that, she leaves leaving them speechless.

Damon gets up and leaves the room. Stefan, exhausted by Damon's actions and then being scolded like a schoolboy sits down next to Alaric's body. Suddenly, Stefan sees Alaric's fingers move. He furrows his brow and leans over Alaric. Suddenly, Alaric gasps back to life, panting heavily. He sits up, confused.

"What happened? What's going on?"

Stefan is shocked, "You were just...Did Damon turn you?"

Alaric shakes his head, "No. I - I went for him and then he, uh-- he stabbed me."

"No, no, no. You must have vampire blood in your system. Somebody slipped it to you."

Alaric flexes his fingers "No. It's, uh, it's something else."

"Then how?" Stefan asks not knowing how else Alaric could be alive.

"I, uh..." Alaric looks down at the ring on his right hand.

"Isobel."

**The next morning**

Breakfast was extremely tense. Clara arrived a minute after seven and luckily both Salvatore men chose to show up on time and were waiting for her.

"Stefan you and I are going to spend the day together, you are going to teach me how to hunt." She says informing her brother in law.

"What?!" Damon asks completely shocked by her demand.

Clara takes a deep breath and places both her palms on the table to stabilize herself,

"Damon, last night you implied that being with me was a burden, that you were not free to be who you really are now because you have to put on a show to make sure I stay with you. You are going to spend today thinking about that and how you would feel if you learned the love of your life is with you out of obligation and duty and then you are going to come up with something brilliant to make it up to me because I HAVE NEVER JUDGED YOU OR TURNED YOU AWAY AND YOU WILL NOT TREAT ME LIKE SOME HAPLESS GIRL YOU ARE STUCK WITH UNTIL SHE FINALLY WISES UP!"

After a few seconds of letting the dust clear Clara continues...

"Now that we all have an itinerary for today I will return to my books and continue to catch up and Stefan I will expect you to be ready to go at sundown, if not I will come looking for you and you don't want that. Good day gentlemen."

Clara left the kitchen leaving the two Salvatore brothers in shocked silence. Finally, Stefan spoke up.

"So that's your wife?" Stefan asks.

"Yup."