After eating lunch as a family at my parents' house, Clark and I got changed into our swimsuits and headed down to the swimming hole alone. The parents and grandparents wanted to catch up a bit more, so that left just Clark and I.
When we got to the swimming hole, Tyler was already there, blowing up some inner tubes. After putting sunscreen on Clark, I sent him into the water and I applied sunscreen to myself. "Hey Ty, can you get my back?"
"Absolutely."
"And don't miss a spot, I don't want to burn."
"Of course, you know this swimsuit makes you look like an old lady," the jock proclaimed, beginning to apply sunscreen to my back.
"Whatever, I happen to like the pattern. If it makes me look like an old lady, so be it."
"Hey, I didn't say I didn't like it. I happen to be into older women."
I scrunched my nose, "Too much info, Ty. I honestly don't need to know about your fetishes."
"Alright then, what about yours, Miss Fell? What do you look for in a guy?"
I thought about it for a moment, my mind wandering to Damon, "I don't know, I guess I find myself drawn to monsters."
"Monsters?"
I shrugged as I felt Tyler's hands leave my back, "Yeah, I mean I don't love monsters, but I find myself drawn to them because despite the horrible things they've done, they used to be human too, and a part of them still is. I want to know more about them and become the person they can rely on considering they push everyone else away because for them it's easier to be hated."
Tyler gave me a crazy look and then laughed, "You've been binge watching a TV show, haven't you? Monsters don't exist and as for horrible, crazy, psychotic people who kill people for fun; I bet you'd run away screaming if you ever came across one."
Tyler walked away to go play with Clark in the water as I sighed to myself, "I already won that bet."
I was about to hop in myself, but heard cars pull up behind me; both Gilbert vehicles, Matt's truck, and Caroline's little car. I waved and walked over to hug Elena as she got out of her car. "Hey, I'm so glad you could come."
She smiled, "Yeah, I needed a little break from Stefan and what better way then spending the afternoon at the swimming hole with friends before it gets too cold."
I chuckled, "Exactly, did Jeremy come willingly?"
"Yeah, he hasn't got a chance to see Clark yet."
I nodded, "Alrighty, and what about Jenna?"
"Didn't want to be home alone."
I snickered, "Alright, see ya in a bit." I walked over, hugging Caroline, "Thanks for coming!"
"Always! I even brought a cooler of snacks and non-alcoholic beverages."
"You rock, Care."
I went to grab the cooler out of her truck and Matt ran over, "Woah, what do you think you're doing? Let the men do the heavy lifting." I rolled my eyes, but stepped aside as Matt yelled, "Hey Ty! Come help with the cooler, man."
"Coming," he shouted back.
As Tyler came out of the water, Jeremy dove in and took his place playing with Clark. I smiled at the two, Clark had always loved Jeremy and saw him as an older brother. I'm pretty sure Jeremy saw Clark as a younger brother too. I walked back over to Elena as she was helping Jenna set up her beach chair, "Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?"
"Yeah, sure."
We walked a little way and I asked, "How's Jeremy doing? You know, with the whole vampire and losing Vicki thing?"
Elena's face fell, "He doesn't know."
"What do you mean? I thought you would have explained everything to him."
"Look, Tabitha, Jeremy was a mess and I didn't want him to hurt anymore, so I had Damon compel him."
I frowned, stepping back, "Why would you do that? Elena, he deserves to know the truth."
"If that's true then why haven't you told Matt or Caroline?"
I scoffed, "Okay, first of all Elena, the whole reason why I was working with Damon and letting him feed on me was because I didn't want him to hurt Caroline. And I was going to tell Matt, but you and your boyfriend had already decided on a cover story. I may have lied, but I'm not messing with people's minds. I'm actually trying to keep this town from imploding on itself."
I went to walk away, but Elena grabbed my arm, "What do you mean?"
I took a calming breath before starting, "The day Damon killed Lexi I was brought into the interrogation room and lied to the Sheriff about what I knew in order to protect Stefan. I'm protecting Bonnie from Damon because she has something that Damon needs, which I gave to her. I made a deal with Damon in order to keep him from killing people. You know it just feels like lately I'm being pulled in so many directions and don't know how each day is going to turn out." I looked at her and then look to everyone gathered around the cooler, "I love a lot of people in this town and it's becoming harder to protect them. However, my priority right now, is to protect Clark and make sure he and my grandparents make it through the holidays and out of Mystic Falls alive and unharmed. Once the holidays end, I have no clue what I'm going to do."
Elena took my hand, "I'll help you. Please, Tabs, let me help."
I smiled at her, "Let's get through the holidays first."
She nodded and we walked back over to the group. Tyler looked at the both of us, "Hey, why haven't the two of you gotten in the water yet?"
Elena answered, "We just had to talk about a few things."
I saw a mischievous look flash across Tyler's face as he asked, "Hey Clark did you have fun playing in the water?"
"YEAH!"
"Shouldn't everyone get in the water? At least once?"
"YEAH!"
Caroline scoffed, "Not me, I'm working on my tan."
Jenna smirked behind her sunglasses, "Don't even think about it boys. I'm the adult here."
Tyler then looked at Matt and Jeremy, who both seemed to understand Tyler's face and I asked, "What are you guys up to?"
Suddenly Tyler yelled, "Get'em!"
I screamed as Tyler burst toward me. I tried to run, but he caught me and threw me over his shoulder. I started giggling, "Tyler! Put me down! TY!"
I looked up to see Jeremy finally grab Elena as Matt shouldered Caroline. On the shore Jenna had Clark in her lap and both were laughing hysterically. Tyler finally got into the water and threw me in.
The cool water rushing over me felt so good. I reached the surface and splashed Tyler, "You ass!" In retaliation, I stood up and tackled him. We began splashing each other and even Caroline joined in, after reprimanding Matt for messing up her hair. We played chicken fight for a little while, but stopped because everyone got tired of Tyler and I winning.
After taking a break around 4 pm to enjoy some snack and drinks from Caroline's cooler, we played and swam for another couple of hours. As the sun began to set, I thought it was time to get Clark home for bed. I gave everyone hugs and thanked them for a wonderful day. On the drive home, Clark fell asleep in the backseat and I smiled to myself. Today was a good day, everyone needed good days.
I had been in bed for about three hours when my phone started ringing. Not wanting to wake Clark, I grabbed it and answered it, walking out of the bedroom, "Ugh, hello?
"Tabitha?"
"Bonnie? What's wrong? Are you okay?"
"No! I was having a nightmare and I woke up in the middle of the woods!"
"Woah, Bonnie, calm down. I'm coming to get you okay? Do you know if you're by anything? What can you see?" I grabbed my car keys, hopping in my car and put Bonnie on speaker.
"Um, I see a lot of trees and I'm by some old ruins. Parts of it are scorched."
I nodded, "Okay, Bonnie, I know where you are. Take slow breaths, I'm on my way."
"Okay."
After a bit I asked, "What sort of nightmare were you having?
"I've been having the same one ever since you gave me the necklace. It's my ancestor, Emily Bennett, telling me that something bad is coming."
I turned onto the back-road closest to the ruins of the old Fell church and gabbed my phone, getting out of the car. I also grabbed my flashlight and wooden bullet gun from the glove box and said, "Do you know what that means?"
"No! That's why I'm freaking out!"
I got to the ruins seeing Bonnie and hanging up, "BONNIE!"
She turned toward me and burst into my arms, "Oh thank god you're here! I was so scared!"
I wrapped my arms around her as she cried a little, "Hey, it's okay. I'm here. Come on, let's get you out of here."
I got her into the passenger's seat and asked, "Do you want me to take you to Sheila?"
"No, she'll just tell me to embrace Emily's presence, but I just want her to leave me alone."
"Do you want me to take you to your dad's?"
"No, he worries about me enough already."
I nodded, "Alright, my place then. Which is perfect because Clark hasn't spent any good quality time with Auntie Bonnie yet."
"Sorry I didn't come to the swimming hole today. I kinda didn't want to see Caroline, she keeps asking for the necklace."
I froze, "She wants the necklace? Why? She shouldn't even know the necklace even exists."
"Well I can only assume that since Damon can't get to you, he got to Caroline."
I sighed, "Dammit, I'll have to fix that."
"How are you going to fix it?"
"Threats. Bargaining. Blackmail. Whatever weapon I have in my arsenal. Damon cannot use people like pawns anymore, at least not in my town around my son."
We pulled up to my house and I told Bonnie, "Go take a shower, I'll get some clothes for you to borrow."
"Thanks Tabitha."
I sighed, getting out clothes as she disappeared into the bathroom. In order to fulfill my promise to Damon I needed the necklace, but I didn't know how I could get it away from her peacefully.
So as we settled down on either side of Clark, I fell into a dreamless sleep wondering how to exactly resolve the ever mounting problem.