Emma stepped down the stairs into the basement of the Salvatore boarding house and made her way over to Alaric's temporary cell.
"Hey," she said quietly as she looked at the man she once thought was so strong, reduced to nothing more than a cot and a small cell.
"Still me," he laughed slightly.
Emma reached down and unlocked Alaric's cellar so she could step inside.
"You know, you really shouldn't be in here, it defeats the purpose of the lock down in the first place," Alaric reminded her.
Emma shrugged, "Well you still have to have the basics and a few books to read."
Alaric bent down and picked up one of the books, "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?"
"Ugh," Emma ran her hands through her hair, "Damon thinks he is so funny."
She could hear the vampire snickering upstairs as they discovered his gift, Emma rolled her eyes.
"At least one of us still has a sense of humor."
"You don't have to stay in here, Bonnie can do a spell, maybe just confine you to the house instead of a glorified closet," Emma laughed slightly, trying to lighten the mood.
"Em, last time I was free I almost killed you,"
"Well, you did kill me, but," Emma held up her ring, "I'm fine, that's the beauty of this new superpower thing."
"What's Klaus going to do if you can't find the other stake?" Alaric asked.
Emma shrugged, "Wage war, murder people, typical Klaus crap."
Stefan popped his head into the cellar door, "Hey Emma, Damon and Elena are taking off."
"Okay, I'll be right there," Emma smiled.
"Damon and Elena are traveling together? Without you?" Alaric seemed confused.
"Stefan's fine with it and you need me here," Emma explained the reasoning she had been given.
Emma gave Alaric a half hug and headed back upstairs after closing and locking the cellar door again. As Emma entered the foyer Damon was bringing down a couple of bags from upstairs, as soon as their eyes met they both couldn't help but smile. Stefan was already sitting on the couch waiting for Elena.
"Have you heard from Klaus?" Damon prodded his brother.
"Not yet, but I'm sure I will," Stefan spun one of the white oak stakes in his hand, "he is expecting me to deliver two stakes, not one."
Damon set his bags next to the hallway that led outside, "Well, that's going to be disappointing for him."
"I'll get it out of him," Stefan crossed him arms, "I just need some time."
"I like that confidence brother, I don't share it, but I like it," Damon put his arm around Emma's shoulders, "maybe I should take both girls, in case things go sideways."
"You don't think I can do it?" Stefan challenged.
"Well, your good again, you're in control. You get the girl but," Damon paused as Elena entered the room, "speaking of. You ever flown first class Elena?"
Elena popped her hip to the side, "Who did you have to compel for that?"
Damon scoffed at her, "Please, I use miles."
Emma laughed quietly at Damon's side, he pulled her into a tight hug and picked her up off of her feet to kiss her. Beside them, the picture couldn't be more opposite. Stefan and Elena shared an awkward glance.
"Be safe," Stefan said quietly.
Elena nodded before picking up her bag and walking out the door.
"I'll be back as soon as I can," Damon promised Emma, "I love you."
"I love you too, keep yourself out of too much trouble," Emma kissed him one last time before releasing him and letting him set her down.
Damon winked at her, "I'll do my best babe."
Damon followed Elena out the door.
Stefan and Emma looked at each other, but where Emma wore the warm glow of love, Stefan was wearing the stoic face of someone trying to hold the last remnants of their life together.
Emma stepped past Stefan and walked over to the fireplace. She took off her ring and put it in her pocket before sitting down in front of the flames, she closed her eyes to concentrate for a moment before opening them. The power in the fire seemed to flow through her as she held her hand up, the flame moving away from it as she moved. She felt bold and empowered, and without Damon there to stop her, she decided to try something new. Her hand scooped into the flame and she was able to hold a small ball of fire. It danced in her hands as she passed it back and forth, she closed her hand and the ball extinguished.
"Hey Emma," Stefan broke Emma's concentration, making the fire that had once avoided her hand, attack it.
"Ouch," Emma pulled her hand back, a burn had formed on the outside, "dammit."
Stefan's eyes grew wide, "Sorry, I'm sorry."
"It's fine," she watched as her hand healed, still amazed by it, she held her hand up to show Stefan, "good as new. What's up?"
"Any suggestions on getting Alaric's alter ego to show?"
"Let's go get him drunk," Emma suggested, putting on her ring before heading over to Damon's liquor cabinet.
"I'm game," Stefan shrugged as he grabbed three glasses.
Both of them walked down stairs and back to the cellar. Alaric was laying on his cot with a book spread across his chest.
"Do you know how hard it is to fall asleep when that is what you are supposed to do?" He complained.
"That is why we brought you something to help," Emma held up a bottle of whiskey as he entered the cellar.
Alaric laughed to himself, "You know it is a lot less pathetic when I don't drink alone."
Stefan entered behind Emma and held up the three glasses and smirked, "Way ahead of you."
"So, a road trip?" Alaric asked while Stefan poured everyone their first drinks.
Stefan shrugged, "Yea, I needed to stay here."
"Okay, but why two of you? It doesn't take much to babysit me and wait for a psychotic break," Alaric accepted his glass from Stefan and immediately took a sip.
Emma took her glass too and sat down on the ground, "We are on limited time, trust me, I would like to avoid have to watch Damon torture you to a breaking point."
"Do you really think Damon would do that?" Alaric asked.
"What do you think?" Emma rolled her eyes as she took a sip.
"Look, Elena needed to go on that road trip with Damon. No matter what I go through to get her back; fighting my bloodlust, trying to gain control of my life again," Stefan looked down at the ground, "none of that matters if she has feelings for somebody else."
Emma choked on her drink, leaving a severe burning in her throat that made her cough, "I'm sorry, what? Who in the hell would she have feelings for?"
"They should be getting to Jeremy soon," Alaric tried to change the subject quickly, Emma side eyed him.
Stefan nodded, "Elena is worried about him, knowing that she can't count on his ring anymore."
"Who knows? Maybe his alter ego is a pot smoking, hippie pacifist," Alaric joked.
"Yeah, maybe," Stefan sighed.
Alaric shrugged, "I never thought mine would be a militant, hostile killer."
"I could have guessed that," Emma sat back using her elbows for support, "your wife left you to become a vampire, your last girlfriend was killed by one, and your best friend is a bloodsucking asshole."
Both Stefan and Alaric looked at Emma, shocked that she had described Damon in that way.
"What?" She defended, "I love him, but I'm not ignorant. He's nice to me."
All three of them couldn't help but laugh at Damon's expense.
Everyone was quiet for a while, continuing to drink and wait patiently for Alaric to become anti-Alaric. The bottle was nearly gone by the time Emma had chewed on their earlier statement and her unanswered question enough to want an answer.
"Who does Elena have feelings for," she looked up at Stefan who leaned against the wall.
Stefan looked down at her pitifully, "Damon."
"What?" Emma sat up, suddenly alert, "So you let them go on a road trip together, to what exactly? Let her decide if she was going to move in on him?"
"I just want Elena to be sure that I am who she wants," Stefan tried to rationalize.
"By using your brother as the experiment?" Emma shook her head in disbelief, "Do you really trust him so little that you think he would go behind your back and try to steal Elena from you? Not to mention betray me."
"Before you came along, that is exactly what he was doing Emma," Stefan explained.
"Well, this is depressing," Klaus rounded the corner into the cell, twirling a stake in his hand, "isn't it? By the way, I found this up stairs. So by my count, there should be one more."
"Yeah," Stefan glanced at a slightly drunk Alaric, "that's gonna take some time."
"Why?" Klaus pointed at Alaric, "Because you're waiting on that one to pass out. No thanks, I'll just kill him."
Emma stood up, "Then you'll never know the location of the last stake."
Klaus shrugged, "I can live with that."
"Well, I can't," Stefan stood up straight, "when we staked Finn, we discovered that killing an Original vampire kills its entire bloodline. Now, I don't know which one of you I'm descended from, but I'd really rather not find out by dying, so why don't we just find the stake, destroy it, so we can all be safe?"
"So, the fate of the entire vampire race depends on you finding a stake? And to get it we need him to pass out, which means that I feel totally justified doing this," all Emma saw was a blur and heard a quick snapping sound before Alaric hit the ground, dead, "there, sleeping like a baby."
Emma sat at the edge of the bed as she waited for Damon to answer the phone.
"Hey there beautiful," Damon's voice calmed Emma's nerves almost instantly.
"Hey yourself," Emma laughed.
"Any sign of Evil-laric?" Damon half heartedly joked.
"No," Emma plopped back on the bed and sighed, "only dead Alaric."
"Uh, shouldn't you be more upset?"
"He had his ring on, Klaus is not very patient."
Damon growled slightly at the thought of Klaus so close to Emma, "Kol must have told him we were in Denver. How long has Ric been out?"
"A while, hopefully when he wakes up it will be Evil-laric," Emma smirked as she used Damon's joke.
"And if he isn't?"
"I don't want to think about it. Were you able to contact Rose's ghost?"
"Yeah but we don't have any answers yet, so we are just stuck here in this motel room until she gets back to us."
"A, uh," Emma hesitated, "a motel?"
"Yeah, we had to get away from Kol. I've got to go Em, I'll call you when I know more, okay?"
"Love you," Emma said trying not to let Stefan's words make her doubt Damon.
"Yeah, I love you too babe," Damon hung up the phone and slid it back into his pocket.
A cold whiskey bottle waited in the fridge for Damon as he slid on a shirt before grabbing it. He glanced over to where Elena slept only to find her quickly close her eyes when she saw him look at her. Damon sighed and headed outside, he leaned against the rail of the walkway in front of their second floor room, he twisted off the cap of his whiskey bottle and took a quick swig. Behind him the door opened, he looked over his shoulder to see Elena wrapped up in her coat, staring at him as if she were waiting for him to do something.
"You never told me what you did, for Rose," she said quietly.
Damon took another drink, "It wasn't about you."
Elena stepped up next to Damon, "Why don't you let people see the good in you?"
"Because when people see good, they expect good," Damon looked down at Elena, letting her know that he was referring to her, "I don't want to have to live up to anyones expectations."
"Even Emma?" Elena challenged.
"Emma sees what I am and excepts me for that Elena," Damon took another drink, "she hasn't tried to change anything about me."
"There is nothing wrong with bettering yourself," Elena argued.
"Maybe not," Damon shrugged, "but the other day in the alley, you walked away upset and pissed. Emma only asked I knew what I was doing and trusted me when I said I did. She didn't tell me that I wasn't the right person to help my own brother."
Damon pushed off the rail and turned to walk back into the room, but Jeremy opened it before he reached it.
"Rose found Mary, she lives in Kansas," he told them.
"Well, damn," Damon said as he put the cap back on his whiskey bottle, "Emma is gonna be so mad that she missed a chance to swing by that bunker thing she is obsessed with."
Jeremy smiled at Damon, "So take her when we get back dumbass."
Damon patted Jeremy on his shoulder as he passed the teen, "Good idea, no wonder all the ghost girls want you."
Damon started packing his bag and getting everything ready to hit the road.