During Elena's mission to hand herself over to Klaus-- or as Damon was calling it, her suicide mission-- the Gilbert twins had apparently missed a lot. While they were away in Richmond, the group decided to go ahead with their plan to get the moonstone from Katherine, which ended with Stefan locked inside of the tomb with her. So, while trying to make sure neither twin attempted to sneak off again, Damon was also trying to find a way to get his brother free.
Audrey was in her room that morning, a book in her hand she'd been reading the majority of the night, curled up comfortably in her bay window. "I brought you coffee." Audrey lifted her head from the page she was reading, smiling at her little brother as he walked inside.
After Caroline, Jeremy was the next person Audrey knew she could always count on in her life. They were a lot closer than he was with Elena, a bond that only got stronger after their parents died. Each of the Gilbert children dealt with the passing in different ways, Jeremy taking the loss the hardest of them all. In the times Caroline wasn't there, Jeremy became Audrey's shoulder to cry on, and she in turn became his. She never forced him to talk if he didn't want, or try to coddle him, even when he start using drugs as a coping mechanism. Audrey just assured him she was there, whenever he needed her, and didn't judge him for his choices.
The last thing she wanted to do was push him further down a dark path.
"Thanks, Jer." She smiled, carefully taking the cup from his hands. "Bonnie still here?"
"Yeah, she's talking to Elena." He nodded, sitting down beside her. "You don't have any plans today, do you?"
"No." She shook her head, and rose a brow as a look of relief passed over his face. "What's going on?"
"Look, don't be mad." Jeremy began, holding his hands up innocently to her. With a sigh, Audrey closed the book in her lap and got to her feet, crossing her arms over her chest. "But with Elena acting the way she is, Damon and Bonnie decided it was best we take some precautions."
"What precautions?"
"Boundary spell." He admitted, earning a look of disbelief from his older sister. "It's just in case Elena tries to run off again. With everything else going on, there won't always be someone around to keep an eye on her."
"Why did I have to be included in this narrative?" Audrey asked. "I didn't know what her plan was when we went to Richmond. I was just as unaware as the rest of you, ergo, I see no need for me to be under house arrest."
"Like I said, it's just a precaution." He repeated, earning yet another sigh. "It won't be that bad. I'm staying home all day, we can keep one another company."
"Alright, fine." She gave in after a moment, which made him smile. "But don't complain when I send you to the Grill for takeout later." Audrey warned him seriously. "If I'm stuck under house arrest, I've earned myself a cheeseburger. Oh, and a oreo milkshake."
"Deal." Jeremy agreed, getting back to his feet himself. He made his way toward her door to leave, before he paused for a moment, looking back at his sister. "Rey?"
"Yeah?"
"You're not going to try and do it as well, are you?" He asked, making her furrow her brow in confusion. "Try and hand yourself over for the sacrifice?"
Her face fell slightly, as she took in the look on his face. It hit her in that moment, that during all of this, neither her or Elena had considered Jeremy's feelings. There was a chance one of his sister's could die, and both of them were focused on which one of them it would be, instead of the family that they'd be leaving behind. The little brother they'd be leaving behind, who'd already lost so much in his life, who didn't want to lose one of his sister's on top of it all.
"Jer..." She trailed off, walking forward and grabbing his hands. "Look, everything is really complicated right now, but I'm not going anywhere. Not yet, at least. I'm not going to say never, as I don't know if that's a promise I can keep. None of us can keep that promise at the moment." He bit his lip, nodding as he looked down. "But, no, I'm not going to try and hand myself over."
With a nod, Jeremy kissed his sister on the forehead, before making his way over to Elena's room. She watched him go with a small smile, before closing her door over, not wanting to hear Elena's reaction to the boundary spell news.
* * * * * * * * * *
"You should really lock your door."
Audrey rolled her eyes at the oldest Salvatore, coming down the stairs as he walked into the house. He smirked as he looked over at Elena, who sat on the couch with a deep frown, hugging a pillow against her chest. As expected, she'd taken the news of the boundary spell badly, and had been protesting against it ever since. Yet, after hearing she'd tried to sneak off with the moonstone beforehand, Audrey had came to the same conclusion everyone else had.
For the time being, the boundary spell was a good measure to have in place.
"Oh, come on, pouty." Damon rolled his eyes at her. "At least give me two points for ingenuity."
Elena's frown deepened. "Do you think this is funny?"
"Yes Elena." He nodded, sarcasm thick in his voice. "I find hilarity in the lengths that I have to go to repeatedly save your life."
"What does Stefan say about this?" She rose a brow at him.
"We had a good laugh." He brushed off simply.
"And what did he say about Elijah still being alive?"
Audrey noticed the look on Damon's face, as she stood round the back of the couch, messing with strands of her twins hair. "Oh." She realized quickly, as he sat down beside the eldest sister. "You haven't told him, have you?"
"What?" Elena blinked. "Why not?"
"Thanks for that." Damon glared back at Audrey, who merely gave him a faux smile in response. "Well A: he can't do anything about it; and B:...what I just said." He defended with a slight shrug. Jeremy walks in at that moment, sitting down the other side of Elena. "Where's Bonnie?"
"I thought she was meeting you." Jeremy answered.
"No." Damon replied. "She's on moonstone duty and I'm Elena patrol."
"And who's on Tyler Lockwood and the full moon?" Jeremy asked him.
"Vampire Barbie asked me if she could handle it, and I said, why not?" He shrugged. "Figured if she screwed up, he'll bite her and then I'll be rid of two of my problems."
"Damon!" Audrey scowled, slapping him on the shoulder from behind.
"Oh, calm down, little one." He brushed her off, earning himself yet another glare. "I'm only kidding...kind of."
Ignoring the bickering taking place, Elena looked at the three around her in disbelief. "Hold on a second. Tonight's the full moon?"
"Yep." Damon nods, pulling his phone from his pocket as it started to ring. "But you were too absorbed with all your suicidal tendencies to notice." Getting to his feet, he walked away to answer the call, Audrey quickly taking his seat as he did.
Neither of the three paid much attention to his phone call, Jeremy shifting so he was laid back on the couch, a pillow propping his head up. He lifted his legs up, resting them across his sister's laps, a bemused smirk on his lips as he did so. Audrey shook her head at him, but didn't complain, and instead took the pillow Elena had resting behind her head to use. It wasn't hard to see Elena becoming increasingly more frustrated with her younger siblings, but she just huffed instead of doing anything, making them snicker.
"Change of plans." Damon announced as he walked back over to them, pointing at the Gilbert boy. "You babysit." He then began to walk back toward the door, his smirk reappearing as his eyes met Elena's. "Hey you know, you should get out, enjoy the sun. Oh wait, you can't."
Both Jeremy and Audrey snickered once again, as Elena threw the pillow she was hugging at the Salvatore, who chuckled an dodged it as he left. Her frown falling onto Jeremy, she huffed once more, before pushing him off of the couch. Spotting her sister then look at her, Audrey just scoffed.
"Don't even try it."
* * * * * * * * * *
The day dwindled by slowly in the Gilbert household. Audrey tried to preoccupy her time the best that she could, but any novelty being trapped inside had slowly faded, and was replaced with the never ending feeling of boredom. She managed to get caught up on school work, which admittedly, had fallen to the bottom of her to-do list recently. She then went back to reading, until she managed to lose interest in that, and did literally anything else that she could think of. Reorganised her closet and shelves, changed and made the sheets on her bed, and vacuumed her carpet.
Small, ordinary tasks Audrey usually put off until she had no other choice.
"Hey, Care, it's me." Audrey phone was pressed between her shoulder and ear, as she pulled her wet hair up into a ponytail. After a slow dinner, she gave up trying to get anything done, and decided to run herself a bath. "I'm just checking in. I know you're helping Tyler with the full moon tonight, so please be careful. I know you're more than capable of handling it, but I wouldn't be a good friend if I didn't worry. Call me tomorrow." And with that, she hung up and put her phone down by the sink.
Ditching the towel wrapped around her, she changed into the grey sweats she'd laid out, and made her way back into her bedroom.
"You have quiet the taste in books."
She froze where she was stood, slowly looking around until her eyes found his, just staring for a moment. Elijah sat in the armchair she had in the corner, the book she was reading earlier in his hands, flicking through the pages. "How did you...?"
"Jenna invited me inside." He answered. "Mrs Lockwood introduced us. Your aunt is a very welcoming woman."
"She doesn't know who she's inviting inside, unlike some of us." Audrey slowly nodded. "Why are you here?"
"I just had a interesting discussion with your sister." Elijah told her, placing the book down on the table beside him. "I thought it time the two of us should do the same."
"Okay." She nodded once again, her wariness to her voice making him chuckle slightly.
"There's no need to be frightened." He assured her. "As I told Elena, I mean your family no harm. Nor am I here to take you to Klaus, if that's what you're thinking."
"I figured." She nodded, finally forcing herself to move from her bathroom doorway. "I mean, that's why you killed those vampires, isn't it? You don't want to take us to Klaus, you haven't from the start." She sat down on the edge of her bed, looking over at him in interest. "So what do you want with us?"
"There was a time my interests aligned with the ones Klaus has." He began honestly. "Over the years, we have reached a...difference of opinion. My goal isn't to help him break the curse, my goal is to stop him and kill him."
"That doesn't answer my question."
Elijah lips twitched in amusement, nodding. "To use your sister as bait. Lure Klaus out of hiding, and once we have, I'll kill him like I said. I made a deal with your sister, as long as she keeps it, no one she cares about will come to any harm. I will make sure that they are kept safe."
Audrey listened to his words carefully. "What about me?"
"I assume, by now, the fact twin doppelgangers should be impossible has been pointed out to you?" He guessed, earning a nod of confirmation. "Upon meeting you both, I did some research into what this would mean for the sacrifice. Being the first born of you both, it is Elena nature intended to be the next doppelganger, which places the fate of the sacrifice upon her alone. If you were to take her place, there is no guarantee that your blood would work."
"So, that makes me what?" Audrey asked, frustration in her voice. "The anomaly nature never intended to make? A useless one, at that."
"I wouldn't say that." Elijah shook his head, rising to his feet. He moved closer to her, which didn't seem to phase Audrey in the slightest. Much like back at the abandoned house, any fear she had for him had disappeared. "There is something about you, Miss Gilbert. Something different. I just can't tell what yet."
There it was once again. That feeling the bubbled in the pit of stomach, only when she near him. The one she was sure took away her fear, that made her intrigued by the original before her. She didn't understand what it was, it was a feeling she couldn't place, but she knew it was a feeling. Her eyes locked with his, and she felt intensify greatly.
The urge to talk about it rose, but she pushed it back down, deciding to change the subject from herself specifically. "You're going to keep everyone safe?"
He nodded. "I have witches that will help. I always keep my word, and so long as your sister keeps hers, no one you love will come to any harm." He paused for a moment. "Do be sure to keep yourself safe, out of trouble. Just because you're different to your sister, it doesn't make your life worth any less than hers."
She couldn't help but scoff. "Tell that to St-" But before she could finish, she felt a small gust of air hit, and he was gone from sight.
My shortest chapter of this book so far, but with Audrey and Elena under house arrest this episode, there wasn't much more I could do with it. But Audrey and Elijah finally spoke, and that is just beginning of so much for them. Writing them interact going forward will be a lot of fun, just as that was to write. We also learned some more about Audrey's role within everything involving the curse, and there is not much more I can say about it, without spoiling what I have planned.
So I'm going to use that as a good excuse to stop rambling.
I hope you all enjoyed!