I sigh as i walk up the stairs to the porch, crossing my arms as Elena leaves another voicemail for Bonnie. "We miss you here. Don't let your aunt drive you too crazy." Elena looks to me and i give her a knowing look. "Come home soon." I motion for her to put her feet and she lifts then and i sit down, and she rests her legs against me.
"She's grieving, E. Let her." Elena sighs, nodding as Aunt Jenna walks up.
"What are you two doing out here? It's cold. And how are you dressed like that, Alina?" She laughs, i look at my outfit of an AC/DC shirt with a black long sleeve underneath and a red and black plaid skirt with leggings and my boots.
"You know what they say..." I laugh, making Elena chuckle.
"And I'm just thinking, writing. The, uh, funeral for Bonnie's grandma, it brought back a lot about mom and dad." She frowns. "I was wondering. You said that you would do some digging about them, the adoption." Elena sighs.
Jenna nods, a small smile on her face. "Right."
"So did you?" I ask. "Dig?"
"How about both of you come inside." She smiles. Elena and I looked to each other before getting up and walking inside. "Your dad kept everything from his medical practice-- records, logs, old appointment books." She says, handing it to me. "I found an entry from the night you two were born." She flips the pages open, showing us. "Patient and birth date. Isobel Peterson."
"Do you think that's her real name?" Elena asks.
"Pregnant teenage runaway? Probably not. First name, maybe." Jenna shrugs. "But where'd she get Peterson? Classmate? Best friend? So i binged it." Jenna says, pulling up the search engine. "I searched for all the Petersons in this area born the same year around Isobel, found three-- two men and a woman, Trudie, who lived in Grove Hill, Virginia."
"That's not far from here," Elena says looking to me.
"Well, watch this," Jenna smirks, typing in Grove Hill High and then a website came up. A picture saying 'Trudie Peterson and Isobel Flemming'.
"Isobel." I sigh.
"She was a cheerleader, just like us." Elena smiles. But i don't think there is anything to smile about. We just found the woman who literally abandoned us. Jenna and Elena share a small laugh while i just sit there.
"Trudie still lives there," Jenna says quietly, she reaches over, picking up a yellow post-it and handing it over to Elena. "This is her address."
"What about Isobel?" Elena asks. Jenna looks between Elena and I and then sighs.
"I couldn't find anything about her." Elena looks to me sadly, sitting on the other side of me, grabbing the appointment book. "Listen, there's something else." Jenna sighs. Elena and I look to her and she huffs. "Mr. Saltzman, Ric, his wife was from around her, and her name was also Isobel."
I look down to the ground and then realize she said 'was'.
"Wait, 'Was' as in..." I start and Jenna looks at me sadly.
"She died." I inhale sharply, standing up and walking to my room.
"Alina!" But all that can be heard is my heels walking up the stairs and then my door slamming.
______
"Alaric's wife could have been your mother?" Stefan frowns as he stands leaning against my door. Elena refused to leave me alone because this was the 'time we needed each other most' when all i wanted to do was be alone.
"Apparently," I say, flipping the page in my book.
"It can't be true, right? I mean coincidence alone is just... insane." Elena sighs, sitting on my bed. She starts to fidget with the post-it Jenna gave us, a small frown on her face. "We have the address for her friend, Trudie."
"You guys want to talk to her?" Stefan asks confused.
"Nope."
"I don't know. I... I-- I don't know." Elena says at the same time. She looks to me slightly and frowns. "Why don't you want to talk to her?"
"Because i don't care to know her, she abandoned us." I shrug.
"But if it's true and they are the same person, that means our birth mother is dead," Elena says. "And honestly, i don't know if I'll be able to handle that."
"We don't even know her, how does this affect us?" Elena looks down and Stefan sighs.
"Guys, did Jenna tell you two anything about Alaric's wife?" Stefan asks, trying to break the tension. "How she died."
"Yep, a vampire ate her." I joke. Elena cracks a small smile but Stefan's face falls. "It's a joke, chill. And no not really, all she said was that she was killed and the case was never solved." Stefan gives a nod and Elena furrows her eyebrows.
"But, you knew that already?"
Stefan looks between Elena and i and nods. "The night at the school when he attacked me, he told me some things about her death. "
"Well--"
"No, no. It's not possible." Stefan says, walking over and sitting on the bed and taking her hand, "The coincidence is-- it's too much." Elena nods and Stefan sighs, "Listen, if you guys decide to go, talk to Isobel's friend, I'll go with you, okay?"
"I just don't know what we're gonna do yet." Elena frowns. Stefan nods and they give each other a hug as i roll my eyes, going back to my book.
"I should get going, i gotta go deal with Damon." Stefan sighs, pulling away. I look up to Stefan and gulp.
"How is he?" I ask.
Stefan sighs, looking over to me. "He's dealing in his own way." I nod and Stefan walks out the room.
___________________________________________
"Bad girl Elena," I smirk, "Skipping town without Stefan, don't you feel bad?" I ask.
"This is something we need to do, not something You, i and Stefan need to do." She huffs as we pull up to Trudie's house. "Plus, he keeps things from me, i can keep things from him."
"And this is how relationships fail," I smirk. "Trouble in paradise?"
"I don't think there ever was a paradise." She frowns.
"Well good, reality has set in. Now you won't be too disappointed." Elena pulls into the drive-way and i frown. "We're here."
"I know..." Elena says breathlessly. We start to walk up to the front door. I knock on the door, standing back in line with Elena. we stand there for a second and then Elena shakes her head. "We shouldn't b-"
The door opens and Elena turns back around. A blonde woman in a blue tracksuit opens the door and Elena smiles.
"Trudie? Tru-Trudie Peterson?" Elena asks.
"Yes." She smiles and nods.
"Uh, my name is Elena Gilbert and this is my sister Alina. And uh, We wanted to talk to you about Isobel Flemming."
"Well, i haven't heard that name in years." She says with a small laugh. Elena gives a small nod and then Trudie's face slightly falls. "How do you know her?"
"I think that, um, well..."
"Do you know if she had twins she gave up for adoption?" I ask. Trudie stands up a little taller and then her eyes widen.
"My god... You're her daughters." Trudie gives off a small laugh as Elena and i stand there. "I was just gonna make some tea. Would you both like some?"
"Sure." Elena nods with a smile.
"Uh, the kitchen's this way." She says, pointing behind her. Elena and I walk in with small smiles, looking around the house. We walk over to where Trudie leads us and then Elena gives off a small laugh.
"We weren't gonna come," Elena admits. "Or at least i didn't think we were, but i was driving and i hit this stoplight and it made me think about when i was learning how to drive and then my mom would always warn me about this blind turn on the left-hand side, and then i was thinking about my mom, and--" Elena stops and i sigh.
"We had your address. We're sorry for barging in." I smile and Trudie gives on back.
"It's no problem." She smiles. "Um, just a surprise, though." We all sit down and i frown looking around her house, something feels off. "I haven't thought about Isobel in years. "
"When was the last time you saw her?" Elena asks.
"About... 17 years ago, when she left to go have you two. We kept in touch for a while, but, well, you know, people drift apart." She shrugged.
"And you don't know where she ended up?" Elena asked, leaning forward slightly.
"She was in Florida for a while. She was on her own. I know it wasn't easy."
Elena sighed and nodded and i looked up with a small frown. "Do you know who our father is?"
Trudie's face fell slightly and i frowned. "I could never get her to fess up." She excuses. "Anyway, she finally pulled it together, got into college on a scholarship."
"Where did she go?" Elena asked with a smile.
"Somewhere in North Carolina. Duke, i think. Smart girl, smart school." Elena smiled at her and the kettle started to whistle. "Let me just grab that." As soon as she's out of the room, i turn to Elena.
"We should go."
"What? Why?" She asks confused.
"Something isn't right."
"She seems perfectly normal to me." Elena shrugs.
"That's the problem," I grumble.
"Stop being paranoid and drop it." Elena glares, rolling her eyes. I sigh, looking forward. Something's wrong here and i know it.
_________
Elena pulled up the website Jenna had found and Trudie gave off a small laugh, "Ah, they came to the games for us. The Football team hadn't won in years. We were the stars." Trudie beams. "Well, Izzie was, but i was a damn good backup."
"Alina's a cheerleader." Elena smiles, i nod slowly and Elena gives off a small laugh. "This is great. Thank you."
"Your welcome." She smiles. Trudie looks over to our cups and then us. "You two haven't touched your tea."
"Not thirsty." I shrug. Elena nudges me, giving me a look telling me to drink it. I sigh, picking it up as Elena does. I take a sip and the smell hits me, it's oddly familiar. I take another sip to get the smell and this i realize what it is.
Vervain. What would Trudie need with Vervain? Elena looks to me and i nod and she frowns.
"What is this?" Elena asks.
"Oh, it's just some herbal mixture." Trudie shrugs.
"Of Vervain?" I ask, setting my cup down. Trudie slowly looks up to us and i quirk an eyebrow. "You know."
"Know what?" Trudie asks, pretending to be confused.
"You didn't invite us in, and you're serving Vervain tea," I tell her. "You know." I glare.
"I think that you two should probably leave." She says, almost afraid. She stands up, starting to back towards the kitchen.
"Wait, what are you not telling us?" Elena asks.
"Please leave." She begs.
"Elena, get up, let's go," I say, pulling her arm and straightening out my skirt.
"Wait, but-"
"Now!" Trudie and I say in sync. Elena grabs her jacket and both of us rush out of the house. "I told you there was something off," I tell her.
"Right now isn't the time for an 'I told you so's speech, A." Elena huffs. I frown when i notice some guy standing a couple of feet away from us. "Alina? What's wrong?"
"Get in the car. Now." I grit out. She frowns and gets into the car quickly. "Drive."
"What? What was it?"
"Someone was watching us," I whisper, looking in the rearview mirror to see he's still standing there.
___________________________________________
"Damon Salvatore, i swear to god!" I yell out, walking up the stairs and into his room.
"You swear to god what?" He smirks nothing but a pair of jeans on. My eyes flicker to his abs and i sigh. "Like what you see?"
"Why don't you answer your phone?" I glare.
"I was busy." He shrugs.
I look around seeing a few bottles of bourbon lying around. "Clearly," I say rolling my eyes. "You look hammered."
"Obviously." He chuckles. "Did you know i am one of Mystic Falls finest?" he grins.
"Shocker." I muse, looking around. He smirks at me, heading over to his closet again and i sigh. "Are you okay?"
"Just peachy." He says, slipping a shirt on.
"I don't like liars Damon," I mumble. Damon turns to look at me and frowns.
"Well, what do you want me to say, Alina?" He growls.
"The truth."
"You want the truth?"
"Yes."
"Fine!" He glares, "It sucks, being used. And everyone hating you until they get what they want." He tells me, trying to button his shirt, "And then when they do, they leave! She left just like everyone else. That night, i felt so much, that now, I'm starting to feel nothing at all." He whispers. "This stupid shirt!" He growls.
"Damon..." I sigh, walking up. "Take a breath," I tell him. His blue eyes look into mine and he takes a breath. I sigh, buttoning up his shirt. "I'm sorry, i shouldn't have made you talk about it." I frown. He hums and i sigh. "I found out who my birth mother is." I tell him.
"So? She sucks, she left you." He whispers. I look up to him and stare into his eyes. "People who leave you, they don't deserve to know you."
"Damon..." I whisper. He shushes me and his hand falls to my cheek. Someone clears their throat and i pull away from Damon who sighs.
"Hello, brother." Damon sighs. "Elena."
"There you are," Elena says, looking to Damon. "What's going on here?"
"We were talking," I tell her, rolling my eyes. Damon moves to put on his jacket and then groans.
"Ugh, i need a bigger jacket." He complains. "Wow. You know, an occasional sorority girl might, um, you know, help fill you out a little bit." Stefan gives Damon a sarcastic smile as Damon walks out.
"He's fine?" I glare, realizing what Stefan had told me early was a lie.
"He's Damon." Stefan sighs.
"Maybe this heartache will be good for him." Elena tries. "It'll remind him that he has one, even if it doesn't beat."
"Wouldn't hold my breath." Stefan laughed.
"That's your brother Stefan." I glare.
"So we went to see Trudie Peterson." Elena blurts out, Stefan's face falls and he sighs. "I know, I'm sorry. I didn't plan it" She confesses.
"How was it?" Stefan sighs.
"She uh..."
"She has Vervain," I tell him. "She knows about vampire Stefan, and it can't be a coincidence."
"It isn't," Stefan says quietly.
"What?" Elena frowns.
"This is Alaric's wife." He sighs, pulling a picture out from his pocket hesitantly. Elena takes the picture from Stefan, showing it to me briefly.
"This is her. This is Isobel." Elena says with a small smile. "He gave this to you?"
"Everything he knows about vampires, he learned from her. He believes that she was killed by one." He says, looking down with a frown.
"Of course she was," I mutter.
"Oh, my god." Elena gasps at the same time.
"Listen, guys, there's a lot about Isobel that Alaric can tell you, but i need you to hold off for a little while before you talk to him." Stefan pleads.
"Why?" I ask with a frown.
"I know that it's a lot to ask of you guys, but will you do that for me?"
Elena nods and Stefan looks over to me. "Alina? Please, as friends." Stefan says hopefully.
"Fine, okay." I sigh, rolling my eyes. I pick up my bag and walk out of the room. Friends... strange. If you asked me if Stefan and i would even be close to friends weeks ago, I'd say no. But now, he's trying to help.
___________________________________________
"He's already been hit on, like, 35 times." Caroline laughs. "He's total cougar bait."
"Impressive." Elena laughs.
"More like embarrassing." Matt corrects. We all laugh, shaking our heads. I frown slightly when i see Matt's mom walking up.
"Hi, Mrs. Donovan." Caroline smiles. Matt's mom just looks at Caroline and then over to Elena.
"Elena, honey." She smiles.
"Hi, Kelly." Elena smiles, giving her a hug.
"Long time, no see."
"Wonder why that is," I mutter, Elena looks to me, telling me to say hi.
"Kelly," I say with a sarcastic smile.
"Alina." She says in the same tone. Kelly and i never really got along, she always believed i was a bad influence. I look over to Caroline who has a sad look on her face.
"How are you doing?" Elena asks, clearing her throat.
"Same old." She shrugs. "Oh. Matty tells me you broke his heart." She says with a false pout. Elena's face falls and i smirk slightly.
"Mom." Matt scolds.
"I'm just kidding." Kelly sighs. "Calm down. He found his rebound girl." I glare at Kelly. She's talking about Caroline, and I'm not okay with that.
"Excuse you?" I glare. "Last time i checked, you have no room to talk. So how about, you shut the hell up and walk away?" Kelly glares at me while Elena and Matt look at me shocked. Caroline has a small smile on her face and mouths a thank you. I give Caroline a smile and look back to Kelly, raising a brow.
"Um, oh. Here you go, Sweetheart. However many that'll buy me." She says, handing the money to Caroline who peels off the tickets and hands them to her. "I just hope i don't get bachelor 3, i dated him in high school."
"Along with the rest of Mystic Falls," I mumble under my breath, Caroline laughing slightly. Caroline hands the tickets to Kelly who gives a fake smile.
"Very exciting." She says, walking away. I roll my eyes, looking up seeing Alaric, I move my gaze back over to Caroline, giving her a smile.
"Alina, what the hell was that?" Elena glares.
"Oh, shut up." I groan. "She was being a bitch. She treats Caroline like trash and you both just stand there not saying anything." I glare. "I'm bored," I say, getting up and walking away.
__________________
With the recent anger out of my system, Caroline and I were sat next to each other at the table, watching the raffle. "And what do you do, bachelor number three?" Mrs. Lockwood asks. Caroline and i look to each other, laughing.
"Yeah, I'm a plumber."
"Well isn't that wonderful. We could always use more plumbers. Moving on. Number four, Alaric Saltzman." Elena and i look to each other and look up to Alaric. "Wow. That's quite a mouthful. What do you do, Alaric?"
"I'm a teacher at Mystic Falls High."
"Oh. beauty and brains, ladies. This one is a keeper, what do you teach?" She asks.
"History." He says with a small nod.
"History, huh? Well, give us a fun fact about Mystic Falls. Something... crazy." Ric looks over to Damon who's next to him. Damon smirks, holding a hand over his ear like he's trying to listen to him.
"Well... uh..." Ric stutters.
"He's probably just saving all the good stories for his date." She excuses. "And last, but not least, Damon Salvatore. We don't have much on you."
"Well, I'm tough to fit on a card," Damon smirks. I roll my eyes, shaking my head.
"Do you have any hobbies, like to travel?"
"Oh, yeah. L.A, New York. A couple of years ago, i was in North Carolina, near the Duke Campus, actually." Damon smirks, looking over to Alaric. "I think, I think Alaric went to school there. Didn't you, Ric?" There's a pause for a second, Alaric not looking impressed. "Yeah, cause i-- i know your wife did." I sit straight up, my face falling.
"I had a drink with her once. She was-- She was a great girl. I ever tell you that? Cause she was-- She-- Delicious." I gasp, and Elena reaches for my hand.
"I-, uh, I need to go." I gasp, I stand up, rushing to the door. Stefan grabs my arm and i shake my head. "I need to go."
"Alina, Alina wait," Stefan calls out. As soon as the cold air hits my face i take a breath and i feel tears coming to my eyes.
"Alina," Elena calls out.
"He killed her," I mutter. "Damon killed her." My voice cracks and Elena comes to touch my but i pull away. "Damon killed our mother."
"I don't know what happened. Alaric said that they never found the body." Stefan says calmly, trying to get us to call out.
"Oh, my god. Stefan." Elena gasps.
"I know. I'm sorry. I wanted to tell you both, but i just-- i wanted to know more." Stefan sighs.
"I felt bad for him, you let me feel bad for him," I say shaking my head. I didn't know Isobel, she abandoned Elena and I, but this hurts. " Hoping that this whole Katherine thing would help and fix him, change him. Oh my god, i am so stupid!"
"He doesn't know about the connection between her and you two." Stefan excuses. "I thought about confronting him, but he's already so on edge."
"Why are you protecting him?" Elena asks.
"Because it wasn't only you two hoping that he might actually change." Stefan frowns. I look away, shaking my head. I look past Stefan, seeing the guy i saw from Trudie's. "What?"
"That man, we saw him outside of Trudie's," I tell him.
"Go back inside," Stefan tells us. "Come on." Elena links arms with me as Stefan ushers us back inside. Elena and i walk back inside and she looks to me.
"Are you okay?"
"Peachy," I grumble.
"Whoa, easy there," Damon says, holding his arms out, stopping me from running into him. "Buy a ticket like everyone else." He jokes.
"Go to hell." I glare, trying to push past him, he frowns, pulling my arm back.
"What's wrong with you?"
"Did you enjoy that? Putting on a show, rubbing it into Alaric's face?"
"What?"
"You make me feel so stupid, you know?" He looks at me confused and i shake my head. "What did i ever do to you to make me feel like this? I have defended you to Elena and Stefan, and then you do this. Whenever i think i am so close to breaking through with you, you screw me over. Again. And i thought we were friends."
"Alina." Stefan warns, walking in and standing beside Elena.
"Am i missing something here?" Damon asks confused.
"You know instead of cutting me off earlier when i was talking about my birth mother, the one that left me, Her name was Isobel." The smirk returns and i choke out a sob. "I hope you rot in hell." I glare, turning around and walking out the door.
As soon as I'm outside I'm face to face with the guy from Trudie's. I gasp.
"Come on, let's get you to hom-" Stefan notices the guy, pulling Elena and i behind him.
"I have a message for you." He says looking to me.
"What?" Elena mumbles.
"Who are you?" Stefan glares.
"Stop looking." He says, looking to Elena now.
"Stop looking for what?"
"She doesn't want to know you." He says in a monotone voice. "She doesn't want to talk to you."
"Isobel?" I ask and he looks to me.
"You need to stop looking. Do you understand?"
"She's alive? Does that mean she's a--" Stefan cuts Elena off, shaking his head.
"He's under compulsion." Stefan gasps.
"Do you understand?"
"We understand." I nod.
"Good." He looks over to the street and i look to Stefan. "I'm done now." He takes a step back a truck hitting him. I scream, falling back as Elena clings onto Stefan. Stefan and Elena run over and my boot hits something, a phone. I bend down, picking it up and sliding it into my pocket.
"Come on, let's go. Come on." Stefan says, pulling Elena and i.
___________________________________________
"Here," I say, tossing the phone on Elena's bed. She looks at me confused, picking up the phone. "It's that guys phone, her number should Be on it. Call her since you want to know her so bad."
"I think we should call her, she could be alive." Elena sighs.
"Obviously she is," I say, rolling my eyes. Elena nods, picking up the phone and flipping it open. "There's only one number in it, it has to be her," I tell her, staring a the phone. Elena presses the call button and puts it on speakerphone.
She answers only after a ring. "Was there a problem? Did you find them? What's going on?" She questions rapidly. Elena looks over to me and i shrug, not knowing what to do.
"Isobel?" Elena asks, trying to see if she'll answer. After a couple seconds of silence, the line goes dead. Elena shuts the phone and hands it back to me.
"She's alive." Elena gasps, smiling.
"Cool." I shrug, taking the phone back to my room. I close my door and sigh. At least she's alive and Damon didn't kill her, but that means he turned her. It's basically the same thing. I sigh when the actual realization comes to me and i frown.
She had someone kill himself just to get a message out, i don't need a mother like that.