————
I wake from my dreamless sleep to the feeling of a large hand gently shaking my shoulder.
"Ivy." An all too familiar voice whispers.
My eyes shoot open, taking in a sight that makes me question my sanity.
"Elijah?" I let out a broken whisper.
I waste no time, pulling him into a bone crushing hug.
"I thought you were dead." I sob into his shoulder, as one of his hand rakes through my hair and the other draws comforting patterns on my back.
"To be fair, I was, for some time." He chuckles. I pull back from the hug with tear stained cheeks.
"Elijah, I promise, I had nothing to do with that. I had no idea." I cry frantically.
"I know, sweetheart. I know." He pulls me back into the hug. "You're heart is far too pure to pull something like that."
"I missed you so much."
"And I you." He replies, putting a smile on my face.
"Now for the reason I came in here." He pauses.
"Elena and I are going out to discuss the arrangements of our deal. I would very much enjoy your company."
"I don't know..." I hesitate at the thought of Elena.
"If it's about Elena, I can assure you, no insulting comments will be delt in my presence." He says, as if reading my mind.
"I know that. You're a great friend Eli. But I just don't think I'm up for that today. I had a rough time yesterday."
"I understand. Would you perhaps like to go to dinner with me tonight?" He offers.
"I'd love to!" I exclaim happily.
"Perfect." He smiles.
"Bye Eli!"
"Goodbye Ivy" he gives me a small wave.
As he walks toward the door, a brilliant idea strikes me.
"Wait, wait, wait." I whisper shout, causing him to immediately spin around.
"Yes?"
"Pick out my outfit for me! It'll be fun." I grin.
This was my favorite game to play with friends. I felt like a Barbie.
"Alright." He laughs.
————
Once I had dressed and done my morning routine, I trotted down the stairs to find Stefan rushing out of the door.
The rare emotion of anger fills me as my eyes rest upon Damon.
"Hey!" I call at him.
"What is it?" He asks worriedly, taking in my harsh tone of voice that I almost never use.
"Did you know?"
"Know what?" He questions, frantically trying to locate the problem.
"That Elijah wasn't fully dead?" My voice trembles.
"Baby, listen..."
"No! You let me think that he was gone forever. How could you do that?"
He looks at me guiltily.
"I was in so much pain, and you just let me go through that, knowing he could be revived." At this point I'm barely holding back the tears
"I'm so sorry Baby." Is the only response he can manage to come up with.
"I'm so mad at you right now."
"I know. And that's fine. But think of it this way, at least you have Elijah back."
I can't help but smile a little at the mention of my friend.
"See? There's that award winning smile." He grins.
"Don't even think you're off the hook yet mister! I'm expecting tons, and I mean tons, of presents in return for my forgiveness." I negotiate.
"I thought as much. I even have your first one right here!" His voice raises at the end of his sentence, as if he were talking to a child.
"Ooh what is it? Let me see!" I run up to him, grabbing the small box he's holding out.
I open it to reveal a beautiful gold necklace.
"I know your vervain necklace broke a few days ago, so I thought i'd get you a new one." He explains the gift.
"Oh Damon, it's gorgeous!" I smile.
"Now, Andie and I are going on a little adventure. Would you like to join?"
"Sure." I shrug following after him to the car.
————
Andie, Damon, and I stood at Alaric's apartment door, hesitantly.
"I don't think this is a good idea." Andie says, worried.
"Investigative journalism...we're investigating." Damon tells her.
"Alaric? Are you home? It's Andie...star, Jenna's friend." She calls out to him through the door.
After no response, Damon decides to open the door himself.
I was very surprised to see Katherine standing on the other side.
"Thank god." Katherine sighs in relief.
Andie enters the room, but I stay outside with Damon for the moment.
"Are you okay?" I ask worriedly, as she had obviously not wanted to be there.
"I-" Katherine starts to answer, but is cut off by Damon.
"Baby, what did we say about being nice to Katherine?"
"Uh...don't?" I recall the earlier conversation.
"Very good." He pats my head proudly. I swat his hand away with a grin.
"Wow, she looks exactly like Elena." Andie speaks, gaining both of our attention.
"Yep"
"Yep"
Damon and I answer at the same time.
"Jinx!" I yell out as fast as I could.
"No. I told you we weren't doing that anymore." Damon tries to shut me down.
"No! Absolutely not. You owe me one candy of my choosing!" I shout in protest.
"You get so hyper when you have sugar." He groans.
"I'm sorry, but those are the rules mister." I point my finger at him.
"Fine." He sighs in defeat.
I clap and and smile, excitedly.
"I thought you might be dead." Damon says, turning his attention back to Katherine.
"Unfortunately not." She replies.
————
"What are you doing here?" Katherine questions us after I stepped into the room.
"We are here to rescue you." Andie responds.
"No, sweetie. We are here to see if she deserves to be rescued." Damon corrects.
"No, no, no. Please can we rescue her? It would be so fun!" I beg him, jumping around a little.
"Why are you acting like that? You haven't even eaten any candy yet." Damon asks, with a slightly annoyed expression.
"Sorry. I just get so excited about the candy, I get a pre-sugar rush." I explain with a smile.
My comment earns a small chuckle from Katherine, but causes Damon to groan and put his head in his hands.
"Anyway, let's get back to the matter at hand." Damon says, holding a vial of vervain.
""Is that..." Katherine starts.
"Vervain? Your salvation." Damon finishes her sentence.
"It's not going to undo anything." Katherine states.
"There's always a loophole. Did he tell you to stay in this apartment until he said it was okay to leave?" Damon questions.
She goes to speak but finds herself unable to.
"You can't say. Did he tell you to do absolutely everything he says until the end of time?" Damon proves his point further.
"No." Katherine replies.
"There's your loophole. Drink this and it'll prevent any further compulsion." He says, holding up the vervain.
She comes closer to take it, but she is unable to cross the threshold.
"Give it to me." Katherine says with an edge to her voice.
I don't really feel like being Katherine's trade offer for the vervain, so I slyly squeeze out the door to stand behind Damon.
"Answer one question first. You double-crossed us with Isobel. Why?" Damon asks.
"I didn't think you could stand a chance against Klaus, so I was looking out for myself." She answers honestly.
"And where did that get you? Here." He tosses the vervain to her. "Be careful with that. If he finds out you have it, you're never getting out of here."
Katherine downs the vervain with a cough.
"You owe me. And I will collect." Damon warns. He looks at Andie, while grabbing my hand.
"Come on." He says, about to lead us both away.
"Nice to meet you." Andie tells Katherine before closing the door behind her.
—————
After that, Damon took me to a gas station and handed me a ten dollar bill, knowing it would cover any candy that I chose.
"Thank you!" I grin, running off to go find my treat.
I picked out a sizable bag of sour patch kids, and paid for it. I skipped back to the car excitedly.
"Find what you were looking for?" Damon asks with a chuckle.
"Yes I did. Thank you so much, D." I smile widely at him.
"You're welcome, Baby." He laughs, driving out of the parking lot.
———
I had downed the entire bag halfway through the trip home, which didn't take very long...
I spent the rest of the car ride bouncing in my seat and singing to the radio, thoroughly annoying Damon.
However, after I had skipped around the Salvatore house for fifteen minutes, I experienced a very rough sugar crash, and sluggishly walked up the stairs to my designated guest bedroom.
I took a very long nap, only waking to the sound of voices talking loudly and with a hint of anger.
I trot down the stairs in a hurry to see what the problem was.
As I entered the room where the Salvatore's resided I hear Stefan say something shocking.
"You're right. Thank you for being in love with my girlfriend."
Damon puts his glass on the table beside him and gets up.
"Woah...what's going on?" I ask worriedly.
"And there it is." Damon says, ignoring my presence.
"There it is. You know, you can be in love with Elena all you want...If it means that you'll protect her. But I have the one thing that you never will." Stefan retorts.
"Oh, yeah? What's that?" Damon questions harshly.
"Her respect." Stefan answers simply, causing my eyes to widen.
To my surprise Damon punches Stefan so hard that he flies into a bookshelf and breaks it. He gets up and rushes over to Damon. They grab each other by the shoulders, trying to harm one another. Suddenly Elena and Elijah enter the room.
"Stop!" Elena yells, causing them to break apart. They both pause, looking at Elijah.
"Now you've invited him in?" Damon asks sharply.
"Elijah and I have renewed the terms of our deal." Elena explains.
"Really?" Damon questions, suspicious of the original.
"The two of you will come to no harm at my hands. I only ask for one thing in return." Elijah answers calmly.
"What?" Damon asks.
"An apology." Elijah states simply.
I cover my mouth to hold back a chuckle.
"A what?" Damon questions again.
Stefan walks closer to the group.
"I'm sorry for the part that I played in your death. I was protecting Elena. I will always protect Elena."
"I understand." Elijah replies. All eyes turn to look at Damon.
"The sacrifice is going to happen, Damon. Bonnie will be able to kill Klaus without hurting herself and Elijah knows how to save my life. I told you I'd find another way. And I did." Elena tries to explain.
"Is that true?" Damon asks, looking to Elijah.
"It is." He answers.
Damon then looks at Elena. "And you're trusting
him?"
"I am." She replies confidently.
"You can all go to hell." Damon spits out, angrily walking away.
I call his name and move to go after him but Stefan gently holds onto my wrist, shaking his head.
"He's angry with me right now. But he'll come around." Stefan tells Elijah.
"Perhaps." Elijah responds shortly.
His eyes then turn to me as he sends me a gentle smile. "Are you ready for our dinner?"
"Yes." I grin, taking the hand he's extending out to me.
This earns confused looks from the two people remaining in the room, but I pay them no mind as Elijah leads me out the door.
————
After about thirty minutes of convincing Elijah to take me to the grill instead of a fancy restaurant we finally arrived.
It's not that I wouldn't enjoy an expensive meal. It's more so the fact I know I would embarrass the hell out of myself. I didn't know any proper etiquette for such fancy places.
Elijah took me to a table in the far corner of the building, allowing us some privacy.
"So how was your day?" I ask, genuinely interested.
"Not horrible. Lots of story telling." He smiles.
"What stories?" I ask.
"The ones of Klaus faking the sun and moon curse. I should probably tell you that he is my brother. I'd like to be completely honest with you." He speaks in a gentle tone.
It takes me a second to form a response, as I would have never guessed the two could be related.
"Oh..." is the only thing I could come up with.
"I understand if you'd like to distance yourself from me." He says, looking slightly upset.
"No, of course not. I would never hold what your brother does against you. You are an amazing friend Eli." I reassure him, grabbing his hand.
"Thank you." He smiles greatfully.
"Now I myself had a pretty good day as well." I restart the conversation.
"Oh really?"
"Yes. I got free candy!"
————
Hey babies 💖
Sorry no Klaus content this chapter, but he'll be here soon, don't you worry. Also which characters would you like to see Ivy interact with more?