Try {One | Alaric Saltzman}

Bad Moon Rising

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Abigail asked Elena as they walked down the front porch steps.

"Which part?" Elena asked in return. "Digging through my birth mother's life work or going to Duke with Damon?"

She wasn't sure of her answer. "Either, both."

"Well, I'm not sure about the first part but then again Ric is a good buffer so we can bond in our anti-Damon solidarity." The stopped on the sidewalk as Abigail got into the car, but she could still hear her say, "I wish you were coming though."

"You know what? Maybe we should wait a couple days, huh?" Stefan asked. "Wait until Caroline is less of a danger and then I could go with you."

"It's okay that I'm going, right?" Elena's hands snaked their way around him. "And be honest because if it's not then I can just stay here and we can take care of Caroline."

"Listen, I want you to go okay? I do." He pulled her closer. "You have questions about your lineage and about Katherine and... Look, I'm not gonna let the fact that Damon is going keep you from an opportunity to get some answers."

She swayed on the sidewalk. "You hate it though."

He gave her a quick kiss. "I hate it but I love you."

She returned his quick kiss, this one longer than the last, before she said, "I love you, too."

"Sorry you can't come too, Stef." Damon stuck his head out of the window. "Oh, and don't worry. I'll take real good care of Elena."

Elena pulled Stefan into a kiss that was designed to make Damon jealous, and judging by the way Damon averted his eyes, it worked.

"Okay," Damon called. "Time to go."

Stefan waved them off. "Goodbye."

Damon turned to the backseat as they crossed the Virginia state line into North Carolina. "How are you two doing back there? You know, this whole pretending to hate me thing is getting a little silly."

Alaric peered at them through the rearview mirror, at Abigail, quirking a brow.

"We're not pretending," she said, not quite relaying her feelings the way she wanted to. "You killed our brother."

"There is a huge asterisk next to that statement." He motioned around them. "He came back to life."

"Yeah." Elena leaned forward to make eye contact with him. "Thanks to a ring that you didn't know he was wearing."

He furrowed his eyebrows. "Why are you so sure I didn't know?"

"Did you?" She asked.

"Yes," he answered.

Without hesitation, she said, "You're lying."

"Elena, I saw the ring!" He exclaimed. "It's a big tacky thing. Hard to miss."

Stepping onto the Duke campus felt like stepping back in time, especially with the veracity at which Alaric told them stories. It wasn't surprising that he stayed for so long, not when it was the first place he felt like himself.

"So, Isobel was officially employed by the anthropology department given that most paranormal phenomena is rooted in folklore," he explained as they walked into the anthropology building. "Excuse me, hi. I'm Alaric Saltzman, I called earlier."

"Yes, of course. I'm Vanessa Monroe, research assistant, comparative folklore." She looked behind him, giving them a strange look. "Uh, let me just grab Isobel's keys."

Picking up on her skepticism, he introduced the rest of the group, "These are my friends Abigail, Elena, and Damon. I hope this isn't too much of an imposition."