On Purpose

Time to go home

A year and 3 months have passed, the twins have just had their 18-year-old birthday. Josie and Caroline had decided to stay in Europe after Caroline's call with Alaric. Caroline could finally relax after 16 years trying to find a solution and Josie had been going to a mundane school while Caroline became a recruiter for the school. Both were very happy with their current lives; Josie had just graduated from high school.

They were both currently sitting in the living room, when Caroline handed her an envelope, "what is it?", Josie asked as she took the envelope, slowly opening it. "It's your graduation gift a pair of ticket flights to Mystic".

Caroline could see that Josie's shoulder's tensed when she said that. Caroline reached out to grab one of her hands into her own, "listen, sweetheart, I know you said you needed time, but I think it has been long enough. You can't just postpone the inevitable, so I say, let's face them together".

"I know mom, but it's much easier to avoid it all". Josie took a look at the tickets to see when they were leaving, which were soon. "I should go and begin to pack", Josie said as she stood up and went to her room. Deep inside she knew that her mother was right and arguing with her, wouldn't change things.

...

Caroline had told Alaric that they were going to come Mystic falls. Alaric was currently on his way to Lizzie's room, he wanted to tell her the good news.

He knocked on the door, "come in", he entered to see, Lizzie, Mg, Hope, and Penelope trying to fix a 1000 piece puzzle, he smiled at the view, but then he remembered why he had come to the room in the first place. "Lizzie can we talk under four eyes?", he asked. Lizzie who was so focused on trying to fix the puzzle, "can't you just say it, dad, if I get distracted now, I'll never finish this".

"It's about Josie and your mom", Alaric would like to have avoided it saying it in front of the others, since it still was a touchy subject.

Lizzie looks surprised at her dad, before taking a deep breath, but before she could say anything, Penelope butted in, "it's okay, Mr. Saltzman we will leave you two to it", "that sounds like a good idea", Hope piped up.

"No guys wait. We all care about her, you also deserve to hear what he has to say", then she motioned for her dad to continue.

"Okay, so the thing is that Josie is returning with Caroline, she didn't say when they would be here, except that they are coming this week and I just wanted to let you know since things ended the way they did. Also maybe you shouldn't ask her about her power or anything related to that. From what I have been hearing from Caroline, Josie has moved on, and has just graduated high school like you guys". Alaric could see that they were all shocked but also figured that he should leave so they could process it.

He got up and left the room. "Well I thought there would at least go 10 years before had a reunion", Mg joked, trying to ease the tension in the room, "not the time", Lizzie hissed back at him. 'Sorry', he mouthed back.

"Oh wow", Hope said before continuing, "I knew we eventually would have to see her again, I just didn't know that it would be so soon yknow", "yeah", Lizzie agreed.

"Could you please excuse me guys", Penelope said as she stood up and left the room. Mg was getting on his feet ready to follow her, but Lizzie grabbed his wrist, "leave her be, just give her some time, she did take it harder than any of us", she added.

...

Penelope was curled up in the corner of the library when Alaric found her. They have gotten close since last year; he saw her as a daughter whom he cared for really much. He hesitated, before saying, "do you want to talk about it kiddo", Penelope looked up from the book she was reading, "no". He walked closer to her and sat down beside her, "unless, we are drinking a glass of bourbon of more, then I won't mind talking about it", she gave him a genuine smile, his laughter echoed through the library, "sure, I guess I can make an exception".

There were both in Alaric's office, Penelope on her third glass and Alaric on his second, he had taking drinking down a notch and was now looking worriedly at Penelope.

She drank the rest of her bourbon, "could you pour me another glass?", she said while holding her cup up, "I think you have had enough", Alaric said as he took the cup from her.

She sighed, "I don't know how I should feel. I know things ended between us a long time ago, but I just can't move on, I think I still need closure because I don't feel like I got it when she left or when we broke up. And I think that's why it has been so hard for me to move on properly and now that I know that she is coming. I don't know to feel. Should I feel relieved, should I feel sad, happy?".

Alaric got up and moved closer to Penelope to pull her into a hug, "I don't know, I don't think you would want my advice when it comes to love, every woman that I have loved is dead now. I-", a knock on the door interrupted them, Alaric looked up, curious to see who it could be at this hour, "come in".

The door slowly opened and Caroline came into view with Josie behind her. He stood up and looked at them shocked, "Caroline, you're here already".

Caroline just chuckled, "yeah, we missed home, so we took an earlier flight".

"Hi dad", Josie said taking a step forward so she was standing next to Caroline instead of behind her. Penelope looked just as shocked as Alaric had.
They were standing in awkward silence, no one knew what they should say, so Caroline opened her mouth, "It's to me- ".

"I should probably go and leave you guys to it, it seems like you have a lot to discuss", Penelope said as she walked out of the office, her arm brushed Josie's on the way out.