CHAPTER FOURTEEN | LET HER GO
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EVELYN KNEW THAT CAROLINE FORBES OFTEN NEEDED A TASK TO KEEP HER DISTRACTED, BUT SHE WAS CONCERNED. Liz had passed just over twenty-four hours ago, and already Caroline was intent on planning the funeral and giving her mother the perfect send-off. Evelyn would do whatever Caroline asked of her, given she was her best friend, but she couldn't help but be concerned.
"You've all asked what you can do to help. There are five days worth of projects on here. We are going to do them in one. We can break the rules and cut through the red tape. I expect my Mom to be properly celebrated and buried by the end of the day." Caroline nodded to the rest of her friends, who had all gathered in the parlor to discuss the plans for Liz's funeral.
"Sure, Care." Matt Donovan gave Caroline a sure smile. He admired Liz and cared about her just as much as he did Caroline. "Whatever you need."
Caroline appreciatively smiled toward Matt, then let her eyes fall onto the doppelganger. "Elena, Evelyn. You're both coming with me."
"Where are we going?" Elena tilted her head with a supportive smile on her face.
"Casket shopping."
"Oh. That's—" Evelyn was completely thrown off balance by Caroline's straight-faced response, but she shrugged it off. "Okay. Let's do it." As the Austin and Gilbert girl both got up to their feet to grab their jackets, they exchanged worried looks about Caroline's mental state.
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After she had spent the entire day with Caroline and Elena, putting the finishing touches to the seemingly perfect send-off that Elizabeth Forbes deserved, Evelyn and Elena headed back home to get ready for the ceremony.
Evelyn wandered from the bathroom into their bedroom, where Damon was stood fixing his tie in the mirror. "Damon, does this look okay? I literally cannot find anything that looks good enough for a funeral. Honestly, I think I'm projecting and—" The sound of Evelyn's voice immediately attracted his attention, and the moment he turned to face her, he was truly mesmerized just by her presence. "Oh, that good, huh?"
"More than." Damon nodded as he held his hand out to grab hers. He gently pulled her closer and let his hand fall at her waist. "You look beautiful, baby." He beamed.
"Well, I see the eulogy is coming along swimmingly," Stefan commented from the doorway as the couple looked over their shoulders at him.
Damon let a small grumble escape his lips at the mention of the eulogy that Liz had asked Damon to write just moments before she slipped into her coma. "It's percolating."
Stefan rolled his eyes then finally entered the room with his hands in his pockets. "Listen, I need your advice, both of you." Stefan turned to his brother. "And I need you to not be a dick about it because I have no one else to ask."
"You know, maybe you should just ask me because Damon doesn't really do sensible-advice." Evelyn shrugged, then grabbed hold of a red lipstick and began to go over her lips in the mirror.
"Oh, this sounds promising," Damon smirked as he turned around with his eyebrows raised.
"What did I just say?" Stefan sighed, just as Damon gestured him to continue. "Alright, look. Something happened between Caroline and me."
"Oh! Finally." Damon grinned and rubbed his hands together with a smirk, just as Evelyn rolled her eyes.
"Ignore him. Just carry on."
"And then her mom died, and I haven't had a chance to talk to her about it, and I don't know the best way to handle it."
"Oh." Damon dully spoke with a shrug. "Pull the ripcord."
As the unexpected response fell from Damon's lips without a minute of hesitation, both Stefan and Evelyn's eyes widened. "What?"
"Well, she's not the one. If she was, you wouldn't have to ask. You've been in love twice in your life, Stefan. Setting aside that it was technically the same face, does that feel like this?" Damon asked, but Stefan remained silent. "Not all love is true, brother. Caroline wants the real deal, and if you don't, pull the ripcord before you make things worse. Just not today. Let her have today." Damon advised just before he kissed Evelyn's forehead, then wandered out of his room.
"Ignore him. It's the whole funeral thing, I think it's taking it's toll on him more than he'll ever let on, to be honest." An irritated grunt left Evelyn's lips just as she set her lipstick down on the counter, then turned to the Salvatore. "You want my advice?"
A heavy sigh left Stefan's lips while a pleading look reflected in his eyes once he glanced at Evelyn. "Please."
"If you truly like Caroline, then pursue it. If you don't, then you need to set the record straight because I think she's felt like this for a while, Stefan. But, that being said, Caroline is one of my best friends, and I would like nothing more than for that girl to be happy. Even more so now." Evelyn let a heavy sigh escape her lips. "But, whatever you decide to do, just be sure. But, let her have today for her Mom, okay?"
"Thank you, Eve." Stefan thankfully smiled toward the brunette vampire, who nodded.
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"We are here today to pay our tribute and our respect to a pillar of our community. Our sister. Our protector; Sheriff Elizabeth Forbes. We are also here today to show our love and support for Liz's family and friends." The Pastor leading Liz's send-off gestured to her friends and family that were seated in the front rows of the church. "Not only have we sensed our own personal feelings of loss over her passing, but our hearts are drawn to our faith."
One by one, the deputies that were dotted around the rows, all stood up to their feet and headed over to the casket. They hung a large American flag just over the top of Liz's casket, then nodded proudly. "Calling Sheriff Forbes. This is the last call for Sheriff Forbes." One deputy spoke into his radio."No response. Radio number 2-6 is out of service after twelve years and four months of police service. Gone, but never forgotten. Center!"
The deputies eventually all returned to their seats, and it was time for Damon to finally give the eulogy that Liz had asked to him do. Evelyn knew how important it was that Damon got it right, considering he had been losing sleep over it ever since Liz's death. Once he reached the podium and took a deep breath, Evelyn smiled supportively toward him.
"Liz Forbes was my friend. In her last moments, she asked me to pass along a message to her daughter, but I cut her off before she could say too much. I told her she could tell Caroline herself, but she didn't get that chance." The Salvatore's eyes were firmly placed on Caroline, who grabbed hold of Evelyn's hand for support. "Your mom wanted you to know how proud of you she was, and she should be. You're a beautiful, strong woman, a generous friend, and a bright light in a sea of dark. She said you were extraordinary, and you are, and so was she. Liz was a hero to this town. She was a hero to all of you. And she was a hero to me." With one final glance, he looked at Liz's casket. "Goodbye, Sheriff. You will be missed."
Damon returned back to his seat next to Evelyn, who supportively placed her hand in his and rubbed his skin with her thumb. "That was beautiful," Evelyn whispered softly.
"Thank you all for coming. This is for my Mom." Caroline nervously spoke once she reached the podium. She clamped her eyes shut, and prepared to sing. "Go in peace. Go in kindness. Go in love. Go in faith. Leave the day. The day behind us. The day is done. Go in grace. Let us go into the dark. Not afraid. Not alone. Let us hope by some good pleasure. Safely to arrive at home."
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After the funeral, came the wake. Caroline and Elena had spent the majority of the evening thanking people for attending Liz's funeral, whilst Evelyn and Damon remained at the open bar drowning their sorrows after the great loss the town had suffered. "You did good today, you know that?" Evelyn told Damon, shortly after he downed a shot of Whisky. "She'd have been proud."
"Thanks, baby." Damon softly spoke back just as Stefan wandered beside Evelyn and joined them at the bar.
"So, what broke through the writer's block?" The younger Salvatore raised an eyebrow toward Damon. He had been struggling to find the write words for the eulogy all day, but when it came down to it, it seemed perfect.
"I just needed to be reminded that the goodbye wasn't about me," Damon mumbled quietly, then turned his attention to Stefan. "I failed you by not doing the eulogy at our mother's funeral. I didn't wanna fail anyone today."
"Well, there's no chance of that." Evelyn gave her fiancé a supportive smile just as her index finger danced around the rim of her glass. "So, come on, Stef, what have you decided to do, hm?"
"Well, I've had a breakthrough. I realize that I may not be able to explain what I feel for her, but it is something. And yeah, maybe all love isn't true love in the messed-up way that we've experienced it but, I think this could turn into something even better."
A flicker of a smile swept across Damon's lips as he nodded slowly. "Well, then, brother, stop wasting your time sitting here with us. I think she could use a piece of news like that today."
"Yeah. I guess she could." Stefan gave the vampire's a small smile before he jumped off of the barstool and out of the Grill, which just left Evelyn and Damon at the bar together.
Damon let a heavy sigh escape his lips, almost as if he were about to leave the bar too, but Evelyn grabbed him by the forearm. "No. Wait. I think we should have one more drink."
"And here I thought I was the bad influence." A small chuckle left Damon's lips as he smiled adoringly at his fiancé.
Evelyn grabbed a bottle of Whisky and poured it into the two empty shot glasses that were sat on the bar in front of them. Damon grabbed hold of his, whilst she held hers. "To Elizabeth Forbes." Evelyn nodded as she watched the smile on Damon's lips immediately grow.
"To Elizabeth Forbes." The pair of vampires clinked their glasses together, downed the shot, and then wandered out of the Grill.
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"God. I don't think you understand how badly I've been wanting to take these damn heels off!" Evelyn Austin exasperatedly sighed as she kicked her heels off the moment she and Damon stepped into the Salvatore house. "My feet are killing me."
"You're complaining about heels?" Damon raised an eyebrow toward the woman, who nodded back. "Get your ass in the kitchen and sober up."
"Wha—" Evelyn suddenly gasped as she felt Damon's hands grab her waist from behind whilst he guided her into the kitchen for a coffee. Small chuckles and laughter escaped the couple's lips until they saw a figure stood in their kitchen. "Oh, my God. Bonnie?"
"The one and only." The Bennett witch responded with a light chuckle as soon as she saw Damon's eyes widen.
The Salvatore vampire let out a laugh, opened his arms wide for a hug which Bonnie immediately ran into. The witch jumped up and wrapped her legs around his waist as chuckles left their lips. "Oh, you made it!" He beamed before he set Bonnie back down on the ground.
"I can't believe you're here!" Evelyn yelled out, excitedly whilst she pulled Bonnie into her hold. "God. I'm so glad you're here!"
"Me, too." Bonnie nodded in agreement as she slowly pulled herself from the brunette vampire's hold. "And I brought these," She held a stack of pictures she'd brought back from 1903.
"Oh my, God!" Evelyn squealed out of pure excitement when she grabbed the pictures that were of Damon. As she flicked between the pictures, she noticed a few of her, Damon, and Stefan as children. "Bon I don't understand. You were in Damon's house in a 1903 prison world?."
Bonnie nodded slowly and pulled out the tape recorder she had been using to document her journey through prison worlds. "Watch this. I didn't know it was still on when I got pulled out."
Damon took it from her and closely watched the video whilst Evelyn watched over his shoulder. He rolled his eyes at the content. "Congratulations, you shot some walls."
"Just wait."
After a few moments of patiently waiting, a woman with bright blue eyes and long dark hair appeared on the video. "Who are you?" She asked, her eyes fixed on Bonnie in the video.
"Who are you?" Bonnie questioned back in the video.
The minute Damon heard the woman's voice from the tape recorder, his brows knitted together and he tugged the recorder from Bonnie's hold. "What is this?"
"There. Stop!" Evelyn yelled out he did as she told him and got a clear view of the woman in the video. Once the video was paused, a heavy silence befell the group whilst Damon's eyes were fixed on the screen. "No way. I can't be, can it?"
"Oh, my God?"
"What?" Bonnie questioned.
"That's my mother."
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