Book Two: Aquiver (A. Saltzman)

Chapter Fifty-Two

Later; at the Gilbert House, Bonnie and Jeremy are in the kitchen discussing the events that happened at the Grill with Jonas.

"Luka...I can't believe he's dead. After what we did to him." Bonnie whispers.

"No, after what he did to you. Look, I'm sorry, I know you feel bad about all of this but I don't."

"I couldn't do anything to help. I was useless. I hated it." Stefan and Elena enter the house with Alaric. "Thank God," Bonnie states seeing Elena safe.

"It's not over yet." Stefan counters.

"What's going on?" Jeremy asks.

"He'll explain." Elena then heads upstairs.

"When did you guys get home?" Stefan asks them.

"A few minutes ago." Bonnie answers.

"Did you check the house?"

"And why would we check the house?" Jeremy counters.

"What about Diana?" Stefan asks.

"She's in her room" Jeremy answers.

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

Diana hums a little as she turns on her bathroom light and heads for the sink. Her fingers are covered in charcoal from sketching. She begins washing her hands. She shakes off the excess water before running her fingers through her hair and pulling it back into a ponytail. She glances at her reflection and sees Jonas behind her. He grabs her, she throws back her elbow into his face and spins throwing out her hand, quaking him back from her and into the wall, he falls forward with a groan. Diana concentrates her quake on him as Elena seemingly appears in the doorway, she smirks watching Diana.

...........

The house shakes slightly with Diana's quake.

"Diana" Alaric states and then hurries up the stairs.

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

Jonas' bones break beneath the weight of Diana's quake. She pushes her quake harder as he screams in pain before stopping, she pulls her hand back and stops her powers. Jonas doesn't move again. Alaric reaches the doorway and glances between Diana and Jonas.

"You okay?" he asks Diana who nods. Stefan and Bonnie arrive, Elena looks at Stefan.

"You didn't need my help after all" Stefan looks at her.

"Shut up, Katherine" He counters. Bonnie goes toward Jonas' body.

"You didn't have to kill him!" Bonnie scolds Diana.

"Yes, I did" Diana counters. Bonnie gets closer to him and goes to close his eyes but suddenly he gets up and grabs her face. She screams. Diana lets lose a quake and snaps his neck, killing him.

"Wait, Katherine?" Diana asks and turns to Stefan. "What the hell? I thought she was in the tomb still"

"Yeah about that" Stefan starts, Diana folds her arms over her chest.

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

Damon and the real Elena are waiting downstairs.

"How did you guys convince her to do this?" Elena asks Damon.

"We didn't. It was actually her idea." Damon points out.

"Wow. That's...not good."

"No. No, that's not good at all." Damon agrees. Stefan and Katherine head down the stairs.

"Everything's taken care of," Stefan assures them, Katherine pulls off Elena's necklace.

"I'm guessing you're going to want this back. But your pretty little outfit is going to need a good dry clean." Elena snatches her necklace from Katherine's hand.

"You're going to have to get her out of here before Jenna gets home," Elena tells Stefan.

"Is that all you have to say to me?"

"This doesn't change the way I feel about you."

"I don't much like you, either, if we're going to be open and frankly, I'd be happy to see you dead but if we're going to try to take on Klaus, we kinda need you to be alive. So I'm not a threat to you, Elena. If any of you are going to believe anything, believe that."

..........

Alaric holds out a bowl of ice cream to Diana on the couch, she looks up at him and smiles taking it from him.

"Elena told me what happened with Jenna" Alaric offers as he sits next to her, she glances at him.

"I know it was stupid and....a little cruel" she leans into his side, his arm wrapping around her. "I just...snapped...you should have heard what she said" he kisses her head. "I don't want her to go, Ric, but living in a house with this much friction..." She shakes her head. "It's exhausting and I'm already so tired"

"I know" he whispers and takes a breath. "If you need to, you can stay with me" she looks at him. Jenna enters the house, sees Diana on the couch, and the bypasses her and goes into the kitchen instead. Alaric nudges Diana and nods after Jenna. Diana nods and stands to head into the kitchen with Jenna.

"Don't worry, I'll pack in the morning" Jenna offers when she sees Diana.

"You don't have to go, Jenna," Diana tells her. "This is your home too..." Jenna nods a little and touches the beer bottle on the counter.

"I shouldn't have said what I did" Jenna starts. "It was uncalled for and completely out of line"

"Even if you do actually think that?" Diana asks, Jenna sighs.

"I just..."

"Snapped?" Diana offers, Jenna nods. "Guess I kind of did as well...."

"You're allowed to" Jenna offers. "Your hormones are all over the place...what was my excuse?" Jenna lets out a breath and looks at her. "It wasn't very adult of me" Jenna shrugs a little. "Can't say I am okay with this, Diana...Your parents, they just wanted more for you, saw more for you and when you told me...I saw all that disappearing"

"Just because I'm having kids doesn't mean my life is over, Jenna" Diana defends. "I can still get my GED...I can still write...."

"You won't be saying that when you are so exhausted you don't even have the energy to shower" Jenna offers. "Let alone write..." Jenna takes Diana's face in her hands. "I love you, I just want..." Diana raises an eyebrow. "I want to be okay with this" Jenna admits. "I want to be okay with you wanting this..." Jenna takes a deep breath. "I think I need to stay on campus for a while" Diana frowns at her. "Just to get my head around this...."

"Okay" Diana whispers, Jenna nods and then leaves the kitchen and heads upstairs. Diana lets out a breath and closes her eyes, her hand on her stomach. The doorbell rings, Alaric goes to stand but Diana passes him, places her hand on his shoulder. "I've got it" she assures him, he sits down again and she heads to the door. She opens it to reveal Isobel on the other side. "What the hell are you doing here?" Diana snaps. Alaric frowns from the couch and then stands to join her. His eyes widening when he sees Isobel on the other side.

"Isobel" He offers, she smiles at them both, but it's overly sweet.

"Hello, Ric. It's nice to see you again." Isobel tells him, Alaric is just kind of staring at her. "I need to speak to Elena. May I come in?" Alaric frowns and then laughs shaking his head.

"No," He tells her. "No, you're not welcome here" He and Diana share a look, he nods to her, she smirks and turns to Isobel.

"What he said" She counters and then slams the door in Isobel's face. Diana and Alaric high five one another.