Deep Water ▹ Kol Mikaelson

Return To Mystic Falls

"I swear to god if I don't get a break from the supernatural, I'll take this ring off and somersault into the freaking sun." Lynn Forbes hissed.

Her clear green eyes peered into the screen of her phone as she sat on a bench in her hometown. The bus had just dropped her off and rather than head for the sheriff's station she flopped her lazy ass onto the nearest bench and face-timed her friendly neighborhood witch.

"Can I profit off of your spontaneous combustion? It's hard out here for an art major." Claire found the entire thing hilarious. "Besides what type of, you know who, wants to get away from what they are?"

"Me." Lynn spoke in a duh tone. "I am too old for that drama. My fragile little heart can't take it. I'll die, you know." She attempted to mask her chipper tone with one of an old woman. This caused Claire to burst into laughter that was contagious enough to break Lynn.

"Well, grams I hate to break it to ya but you're in for the long haul." Claire shook her head, her laughter dying down. "Lucky me I get out in sixty years."

"Are you kidding? You're not getting off this ride until you're a hundred and two then you get off." Lynn reminded her as in the background Claire's girlfriend arrived, shouting something Korean that made Claire scoff.

"Ooh the girl's back, tell Dev I love her and go fix whatever you broke."

"Why do you automatically assume I broke something?" Claire pouted as she stood and passed the phone to a beaming Dev.

"Hey Lynnie!" Dev shouted in her best English. She waved quickly as Claire shouted a farewell.

"Hey Devvy!" Lynn waved back just as quickly. "I won't keep you, go get Claire and don't let her pouty face keep you from shouting in Korean."

Lynn winked as Dev smirked. It was a well-known fact that Claire was a sucker for when Dev spoke Korean, even if she was shouting. With a final wave and farewell, Lynn ended the face-time and pocketed her phone.

Standing she stretched, grabbed her duffle bag, backpack and suitcase and headed for the police station. Mystic Falls was exactly as she had left it, not that a ten year old could leave much of a mark. The clock tower was still ancient and captivating, the Mystic Grill was still filled with possible day drinkers more than people eating lunch.

If she traveled further she'd find all of the houses she spent time in to be the exact same. Not much changed in Mystic Falls, which was exactly why the now nineteen year old returned home. She needed normalcy, a sense of what it was like to take it a day at a time and deal with normal, human trouble.

As she reached the station she found her only Aunt heading out, dressed in uniform and scowling. If Liz Forbes wasn't scowling she was smiling. Lynn was fairly certain her aunt didn't have any other expressions which explained where she got her two main moods.

Before the older woman could climb into her cruiser, Lynn appeared at her side, shouting her name as she dropped her bags by the cruiser. Liz shrieked, jumping back and reaching to un-holster her gun but pausing as her eyes landed on a much grown up Lynn Forbes.

"Lynnie?" Liz breathed.

She hadn't expected to see the college student back around in Mystic. Especially, with Lynn's mother having passed away two days before her high school graduation. Still, she found her only niece standing in front of her.

Her strawberry red hair was a bit lighter and shorter, reaching just above her shoulders in waves. Her clear green eyes were a mirror image of her mother's; shining with clarity and an internal light only they could muster.

"Aunt Liz." Lynn wiggled her fingers, gesturing for her aunt to give her a hug.

"I don't bite, come on! I haven't seen you since I was seventeen and in case you weren't keeping track, that's been two years come Halloween."

"It's a bit hard to forget your only nieces' upcoming nineteenth birthday." Liz rolled her eyes as she stepped into the hug.

As she hugged Lynn she realized that, like her mother, she was as short as she had been when she was seventeen. After a moment she pulled back and looked to the bags surrounding Lynn. She gestured to the bags and found Lynn blinking in mild surprise.

"So I might've forgotten to call and ask if I could stay." Lynn laughed sheepishly.

"You are too much like your scatterbrained mother." Liz laughed, shaking her head and picking up the suitcase.

"Come on, Caroline's at school and I've got work to do, so you'll have plenty of time to unpack." She opened the backdoor of her cruiser and tossed the suitcase inside, moving back and letting Lynn do the same.

"I won't stay for too long." Lynn lied just as they were pulling up in front of a home that had as many memories as her own childhood home. Like everything else, nothing had changed and Lynn was thankful.

"Please, it's not like I want you gone in three days." Liz rolled her eyes as she put the car into park.

"Are you going to be okay or do you need help?" She narrowed her eyes as Lynn offered a blank look. She held her hands up and laughed.

"I'll be fine, Aunt Liz." Lynn assured her, unbuckling and climbing out. "Just don't get shot. It'd really suck if you got shot when I came back." She made a finger gun at Liz only to receive one as well.

Moving quickly she grabbed her things from the backseat and waved her off. Once the cruiser was out of sight she used her unnatural speed to head to the back of the house. She launched herself up to the second window of the guest bedroom, that window was never, ever locked.

Sliding it open and climbing inside, Lynn flicked the light on to see that it was exactly as she recalled. Before she settled in, she headed downstairs where she unlocked the front door and went to get her things.

She made quick work of unpacking, placing her clothes in the proper places and tossing her suitcase and duffle bag at the bottom of the closet she allowed herself a moment.

In her mind's eye she could see her younger self with her younger cousin and their best friends giggling and running in and out of the bedrooms in a game of tag. The scent of cookies wafted throughout the entire home as her mother baked while her Aunt and Uncle fought behind closed doors.

Shaking her head, she felt the memories fade and she rolled her shoulders. She hadn't cried two years ago and she wouldn't cry now, especially not since she got away from the drama back in Maine and was home. Then again, if Lynn had known that the trouble she dealt with in Maine was nothing to future events, she might've stayed on the bus and went to who knows where.