I tried
I tried really fucking hard.
But somehow Caroline always finds a way to convince pretty much everyone to do what she wants. And that's how I ended up at school, helping build the Miss Mystic Float
I'm kind of third wheeling Stefan and Elena as we walk up to Ric in the crowded cafeteria.
"Hey, Mr. Saltzman." Elena greets.
"Hey, we need to talk." Hello to you too, Saltzman.
•••
Ric got ambushed last night, pretty much refusing to give us many details until Damon walked in.
"Damon, thanks for coming." That's a better greeting than we got.
"Sorry, I'm late. My dog ate my, uh..." he starts his joke before giving up. "Never mind. What's with all the furrowed brows?"
"I saw Isobel last night." Alaric says simply.
"Isobel's here?" Damon asks, only getting a nod as a response. "In town?" No, in fucking Antartica. "Did you ask her about Uncle John? Are they working together?"
"No." Ric answers.
"No, they're not?" Damon asks, needing clarification.
"No, I didn't ask." Ric replies quickly.
"What about the invention?" I chime in.
"Didn't ask."
"Did she know about the tomb vampires?" Damon asks.
"I don't know."
"Did words completely escape you?" I snap, getting kind of frustrated with his lack of knowledge.
"No, I was a little too distracted by my dead vampire wife to ask any questions." Alaric claps back. Understandable but still.
"What did she want?" Damon asks. The one quedaría has already answered.
"She wants to see me, Damon." Elena answers.
"Alaric is supposed to arrange a meeting. We don't know why or what she wants." Stefan adds.
"You don't have to see her if you don't want to." Damon says. Stefan and I are both thrown off by his sudden change in attitude.
"I don't really have a choice." Elena responds.
"She's threatened to go on a killing spree." Alaric adds, his voice lower than before.
"Oh." Damon's voice couldn't be more sarcastic. "I take it that's not okay with you guys." Because we're in school, I'm being nice, and not sprinting over for the sheer purpose of smacking some sort of sense into him
"I want to do it. I want to meet her." Elena chimes in. "If I don't, I know I'll regret it."
•••
We came up with a plan, for now Elena will sit alone in the Grill, waiting for Isobel to make an appearance, while Stefan sits off in case anything goes wrong.
Damon's not exactly happy with our spot waiting outside.
"We should be in there." He complains.
"No. Isobel made it clear we're not to step foot inside." Alaric scolds, not even looking at the Grill.
"I'm not gonna kill her in a crowded restaurant." Damon responds.
"You're not gonna kill her, period." Why not?
"She ruined your life and you still want to protect her?" I ask, genuinely confused.
"She's my wife." Alaric defends, getting a look from both Damon and I. "Was. Was my wife. I looked for the woman I married, but she wasn't there. Whoever that is is cold and detached."
"Yeah." Damon scoffs. "She's given up her humanity."
"Yeah, see I don't get that." Ric starts. "Stefan has his humanity. He's a good guy. Hell, you're a dick and you kill people, but I still see something human in you. But with her, there was nothing."
"You can turn it off." I explain. "Like a button you can press. I mean, Stefan's different. He wants the whole human experience. He wants to feel every episode of How I Met Your Mother, so he shuts his feelings out."
"The problem is, as a vampire, your instinct is not to feel." Damon jumps in. "Isobel chose the easier road. No guilt and shame. No regret. I mean, come on. If you could turn it off, wouldn't you?"
"You haven't." Ric inaccurately accuses. Wrong sibling, dude.
"Of course I have, Ric. That's why I'm so fun to be around. Right, Sis?"
•••
Damon went to go confront Isobel last night, and after past experiences I refused to go. He got home pretty late, though once again after past experiences I knew better than to ask why.
Luckily I have forced labor to distract me from the Isobel situation. Kind of.
Out of nowhere there's some commotion outside. I look out to the float to see Matt stuck underneath. Some of the guys have it handled though, unfortunately.
•••
Apparently Isobel made an appearance, which is what caused the float to fall onto Matt. All this told to us by a very worried Elena. And apparently the Gilbert invention Isobel is so sought after is also part of a weapon against vampires.
"Where's the device?" Bonnie asks, the only one of us sitting at a desk in Ric's classroom.
"Damon has it." I answer, my focus more on Elena's pacing.
"He's gonna be difficult to reason with." Stefan adds.
"Then we'll go to him. I'll talk to him." Elena volunteers.
"He's not just gonna hand it over, especially if it's harmful to vampires." Stefan reasons.
"What if it's not?" But it is. You said so.
•••
"Absolutely not." Fuck.
"Just hear me out." Elena asks. Yeah, because Damon is capable of that.
"I'm not gonna give the device to Isobel so she can give it to John who's gonna turn around and kill me." He predicts "I like being a living dead person."
"But it'll be useless. Bonnie can take it's power away." Elena convinces, why is she so enthusiastic, she's like a bad TV ad.
"I don't trust her." Damon replies.
"I can remove the original spell." Bonnie assures.
"John and Isobel will never know." Elena continues.
"No. No, I'll get Jeremy my own way." Damon argues.
"Really? How are you gonna do that?" Stefan questions. "Because Isobel is a vampire, and Jeremy can be dead the second you walk in the door."
"Are you even up for this?" Damon asks Bonnie, ignoring Stefan. "I mean, no offense. You're no Emily Bennett. Emily knew what she was doing."
"I've been practicing." Bonnie defends.
"It's not piano lessons, Honey." Can I smack him? Yes? Ok. Unfortunately, the only response was a glare.
"What's your favorite book?" Bonnie asks, undoubtedly about to prove herself.
"What?"
"Name a book." She clarifies. "Any book."
"Name a book. How about 'Call of The Wild', Jack London?" Bonnie walks towards a book case, and within a few seconds a book flew into Damon's hand. "Jack London. Great parlor trick."
"We're doing this, Damon." Elena chimes in. "And we're gonna do it my way. Now, give me the device."
"We're wasting time." I urge after a few seconds.
"I don't trust you. I tried to kill you." Damon informs Bonnie.
"You're right. You can't trust me." Bonnie agrees.
"But you can trust me." Elena joins, sticking her hand out for Damon to put the device in. And he does. "Thank you."
Elena gives Bonnie the device and she immediately gets to work, lighting candles at a desk and starts taking a piece off, setting it gently onto the desk.
She places her hands in the air above the piece and soon the lights start slowly switching in and off, followed by the flames of the candles as well as the fireplace growing within seconds. By now the piece Bonnie had taken off was levitating between her hands. When out of nowhere everything returns to normal.
"Done." She says as if she hadn't just freaked pretty much all of us out.
"Great. Now what?" Damon asks sarcastically as Elena takes the invention from Bonnie.
"Now we give it to Isobel." Elena informs. This is not a good idea.
•••
Stefan, Damon, and I are all a decent distance from where Elena is meeting Isobel to hand over the magic-less Gilbert invention.
"Where's the device?" I can hear Isobel ask, her most likely having sprinted to wherever she stood for dramatic effect.
"Where's my brother?" I hear Elena reply.
"This isn't a negation. Where's the invention?" Isobel asks once again.
"Where is my brother?" Elena's holding her ground, though just for backup we all start in our short walk to where the two women were.
"Do you really think that I came alone?" Isobel asks, we're getting close enough to see 2 of Isobel's minions walk up behind Elena.
"Do you really think that I came alone?" Elena replies. Isobel turns around to see us, now only a few feet away.
"For god sales, call home." Isobel instructs.
"What?" Elena asks.
"Call home, ask to speak to your brother Jeremy." Elena does as Isobel says.
"Hello?" Jeremy's voice comes through the phone.
"Jeremy. Are you okay?" Elena asks.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Uncle John, uh, hit his head. It was an accident." Jeremy explains, most likely lying.
"We're all laughing." Jenna's voice comes through.
"I'll be home soon, alright?" Elena assures before hanging up. "You were never going to hurt him."
"No. I was going to kill him." Of course she was "don't look from any redeeming qualities in me. I don't have any."
"But you took a risk with Damon. How did you know that he was going to give it to me?" Elena asks.
"'Cause he's in love with you." I can't help but side eye Damon, who gives no visual cue as to whether or not Isobel is lying.
Isobel reaches out her hand for the invention. Which Elena begrudgingly hands over.
"Thank you." She says, slapping the small metal circle into her biological mother's hand.
"For what?" Isobel asks, her voice threatening.
"For being such a monumental disappointment. It keeps the memory of my real mother perfectly intact." I didn't think Elena was capable of being such a bitch. I couldn't be prouder.
"Good bye, Elena. As long as you have a Salvatore in each arm, you're doomed." Ouch. "Katherine was smart. She got out. But we all know that you're not Katherine."
Isobel struts away, her minions following behind her like lost puppies. Stefan walks away from us, going up to Elena to hug her. They each take a second, looking back at us, well mainly at Damon.
•••
"Would you like one?" Damon offers as Stefan walks into the living room, pouring his own glass. "Say it. Whatever it is, purge, get it out."
"It's about what Isobel said." Stefan says, leaning over the railing.
"What about it?" Damon asks, acting clueless.
"Well, I know that you and Elena bonded, and I know that she cares about you, and, uh, I know you care about her."
"Well, this is going in an interesting direction." Damon encourages.
"Spit it out, Stefan." I call out, getting annoyed.
"I'm just concerned about Elena being hurt." All that build up for nothing! Nothing! "She considers you a friend."
"Same here. Elena's a very good friend." Damon agrees. "Actually, she might qualify as my only friend. Is that a problem?"
"Excuse me?" I ask, slightly offended
"Sisters don't count." Dick.
"So, at the risk of sounding like a , um, like a jealous boyfriend," Stefan starts.
"Oh, there's no risk. You do." I cut off.
"History will not be repeating itself where Elena's concerned. Okay, Damon?" Stefan asks.
"Sure." Damon shrugs, not taking it seriously. "Sure."
"Do you understand?" Stefan asks again, now standing directly in front of Damon.
"Hey, whatever you say, man. I mean, honestly, we're just friends. And as her friend, I wasn't looking forward to telling her the truth, anyway. So, I'll let you do it." What is he about to stir up?
"What truth?" Stefan asks, vocalizing the question I only mentally asked.
"About John. 'Cause I know you guys don't like to keep secrets from each other." Damon pours himself another glass while he speaks.
"What are you talking about?" Now I'm the one asking the questions
"Am I the only one around here who has the ability to put two and two together?" Damon questions. "Isobel. Hello? She dated John when she was 15. She gets pregnant, and ends up at the doctors office of John's brother. Now, what do you think is John's role in all of this, huh? I mean, go ahead, think a skit it. Anybody?" He gets no response, mainly because I'm still trying to process what he's about to say. "I'll wait. You get it? You there yet? Hmm?"
"So, you think that John is Elena's father?" Hold on, pretty sure I just had a fucking stroke. Give me a second.
"Ding ding ding ding!" Damon exclaims, I don't think he's ever been happier to hear Stefan speak.
"What proof do you have?" Stefan scoffs. Was he even fucking listening?
"I don't need any proof. I have the DNA tests for John, Elena, and Maury Povich to deal with. But K know how well you deal with these big bombshells, so sleep tight." Damon says, starting to walk away. "Oh, and when you do tell Elena, and she needs a friend to talk to about anything I'm here for her."
He 100% has a crush on her. I have never heard the words 'I'm here for her' or anything remotely close uttered from Damon's mouth, even when he was relatively nice!
It's scary.