Chapter 1: Pilot

May 23, 2009

"Elena!" A whine escaped the brunette's mouth as she looked over to the tight grip Elena had on her wrist.

"No Ellie, come on, I want to go home." Elena replied as she dragged her sister farther away from the party going on.

"What does that even have to do with me? I didn't want to come to the party in the first place and now that you're not having a good time you want me to come home with you too? Elena come on! I was having fun with Bonnie and Caroline!" Ellie complained but Elena just put her phone up to her ear and waited for someone to answer.

"Hey, it's me." Elena said to whoever was on the phone as Ellie looked longingly back at the party.

"Your dad is making me play pictionary." Jenna's voice was just loud enough for Ellie to hear her from where she stood. "I suck at pictionary."

"You really do Aunt Jenna!" Ellie called and she could hear Jenna's responding laugh.

"Bite me, Grayson."

"Listen, do you think someone can come pick us up?" Elena asked, releasing Ellie to wrap her arm around her stomach.

"No! I'm all good here, Elena is just being mopey." Ellie called to Jenna as she ignored Elena's glare.

"Matt and I got into a fight. He was talking about college and marriage and all the stuff that he always talks about, and I just… I couldn't." Elena said and Ellie knew from the change of tone she was talking to their mother now and she stepped up behind Elena so she could hear their mother more clearly.

"He doesn't really care about that yet, honey. He's just trying to figure out how you feel about him right now." Their mom told her.

"I don't know how I feel."

"Yes, you do. You're just afraid to say it."

"Yeah, but I don't want to lose him."

"You're not gonna lose him, honey. You're setting him free." Elena was nodding along to their mother and after a moment, the conversation was over.

"Mom said that she and dad are gonna come and pick us up." Elena told her as they kept walking farther away from the party.

"Fine, but I just want to remind you that I've been telling you for over a month to stop stringing Matt along, but of course it's only good advice when coming from mom." Ellie reminded her before pulling out her phone to call Caroline.

"I can't believe Elena is making you leave the party just because she wants to leave!" Caroline groaned. "I was so close to getting you hooked up with Greg until she dragged you off."

"It wasn't gonna happen anyways Care, but nice try. Anyways are we going to have that sleepover next weekend?" Ellie asked as she messed with a string on her sleeve.

"Definitely! We can watch Twilight! I can not wait for New Moon to come out." Caroline said excitedly and a loud cheer erupted from her end of the line.

Ellie looked up and as she pulled the ear back a bit from the loudness and spotted a strange, unfamiliar man approaching Elena. "Caroline! Hey Care, I gotta go, I'll talk to you later." Despite Caroline asking why she was hanging up suddenly, she just flipped her phone shut and moved quickly to her sister. "Elena!" She called and she could see Elena's shoulders sag in relief of not being alone.

The man seemed stunned by her appearance and she thought that she heard him mutter the name Katherine under his breath, but she couldn't be sure. "Ellie." Elena said as she moved to stand closer to her sister. "This is my sister, Ellie."

He definitely seemed confused by the two of them. Maybe he was crazy? Or on drugs? "Oh. You two… you both just look… I'm sorry. The two of you just really remind me of someone. I'm Damon."

"Well, Damon, maybe we have a long lost triplet that you met somewhere." Ellie's sass slipped out before she could help herself. She rolled her eyes slightly at Elena's worried look, obviously her twin didn't feel safe around this man.

"Not to be rude or anything, Damon, but it's kinda creepy that you're out here in the middle of nowhere." Elena told him.

"You're one to talk." He retorted. "You two are out here all by yourselves."

"It's Mystic Falls. Nothing bad ever happens here." Elena said as an explanation. "I got into a fight with my boyfriend."

Ellie shot her a quizzical look. Why on earth was she telling her problems to a random stranger that they'd never even seen in Mystic Falls before? "About what? May I ask?" Damon questioned and Ellie couldn't shake the feeling she had that screamed this guy was either weird or a serial killer, both maybe. No normal adult man wanted to listen to a random teenage girl's boy problems.

"Life." Elena said with a shake of her head. "The future. He's got it all mapped out."

"And you don't want it?" Damon guessed.

"I don't know what I want." Elena said and Ellie mentally clocked out of the conversation and despite that she could still hear the vaguely flirting tone her sister had adopted as she spoke with the random man. Instead she turned to look for her parents but made sure to keep them in her line of sight, just in case Damon turned out to be crazy.

Elena was asking Damon what he wanted as Ellie spotted their parent's car driving up. As they honked the horn, Ellie said, "Elena, there they are."

"I want you to get everything you're looking for, but right now I want you to forget that this happened. I can't have people knowing I'm in town yet." Damon said and Ellie turned to look at him in confusion and saw Elena staring at him in a trance like state.

"Ele-"

He was in front of her before she could finish her sister's name. "You'll also forget that this happened and you'll go on blissfully ignorant to this conversation. Good night, Ellie… Elena." Ellie blinked, confused for a split second before she saw her parents' car behind them.

"So, did you girls have a good time at the party you skipped family night for?" Their mom asked, clearly not upset but very much teasing.

"Oh, it was a blast until Elena kidnapped me because she didn't want to be here anymore." Ellie teased and Elena shoved her arm and stuck out her tongue in retaliation.

"Be nice girls." Their father scolded lightly, and Ellie could see the smile he was fighting.

"Well it is her fault dad! She was the one that made me come with her in the first place." Elena gasped dramatically as Ellie ratted her out and their parents were grinning in the front.

Miranda looked serious for a moment and then said, "Well then, I suppose her punishment should be that she has to be on Aunt Jenna's team for pictionary then." Miranda and Ellie shared a mischievous grin with one another as Elena groaned.

"Ah yes, should be Jenna, Elena, and Jeremy." Grayson said to Elena's dismay.

They were all joking around on the drive and with a sudden urge to express her affection, Ellie leaned forward between the driver's seat and the passenger's seat and said, "Mom, dad, you guys know that I love you so much, right?"

Miranda looked at her daughter and placed a hand on her cheek. "I love you too sweetheart, more than anything in this world." Miranda pressed a kiss to Ellie's cheek before looking back at Elena, "And I love you more than anything too Elena." The other girl was texting away on her phone, no doubt with Bonnie, but she returned the affection.

Grayson looked at Ellie with a bright smile. Pressing a kiss to her cheek as well he told her, "I love you to infinity Ellie." He repeated the sentiment to Elena and then it was a gasp and screams and the terrifying feeling of falling as the car flew off the bridge unexpectedly. Ellie could hear her mother's scream as they hit the water, but she'd hit her head and it was hard to open her eyes to look at her mom. She felt the water filling up in the car and her parents saying they loved her and screaming for her to wake up, to open her eyes, but she couldn't. A cold realization that she was going to die washed over her and despite being sixteen, she couldn't find it in her to be afraid. She just hoped that Jeremy and Jenna would be ok after the four of them in the car were dead. And then… all at once… everything faded away.

September 7, 2009

Dear Diary,

Today is the first day of the school year, which means it's back to sympathetic looks of people who don't know me enough to talk to me, and the customary 'how are you' and 'how are you feeling' from people that do. It won't be easy, I know. I'm more worried about Elena and Jeremy than I am for myself. Elena… She's been practicing how to smile so that people believe she's fine. She told me that her smile will say 'I'm fine, thank you' and 'yes, I feel much better'. She tells me that she won't be the sad little girl that lost her parents and that she'll start fresh, be someone new. I'm not entirely sure that it's a healthy healing method for her.

She's been pushing herself to be how she was before, and no matter how much I tell her that it's alright for her to not be, she still does it. I think what happened, and her attempts to be normal on top of that, have brought out the bossier parts of her personality, but I'm here to try and bring it down when she goes too far. And then there's Jeremy… he's even worse. My sweet baby brother has taken to drugs and alcohol like a fish to water. Whether it's weed, or prescription pills, or cheap alcohol, or the expensive stuff, he takes whatever he can get. But I know that if I do nothing but harp on him that it'll just make it worse. Elena, I don't think she's realized that. So for now I guess she's the bad cop to my good cop.

As for me… I'm working on it. I'm not the same person I was before the accident, but I'll be ok. No matter what I'm going to make sure that Elena and Jeremy get better, heaven knows Jenna is gonna need the help. But I guess that's all for now, I gotta get downstairs.

"Good morning Aunt Jenna." Ellie said with a grin as she pressed a kiss to the blonde's cheek.

"Good morning, I'm gonna make you guys breakfast." Jenna said as she opened up the cabinets and Ellie went to start the coffee.

As the coffee filled up, Ellie watched her aunt stare into the fridge. Just as the coffee finished, Elena appeared and Jenna stated, "Toast, I can make toast."

"It's all about the coffee Aunt Jenna." Elena informed her as Ellie passed her twin an already filled cup of coffee.

"Is there coffee?" Jeremy asked as he strolled in.

"Your first day of school and I'm totally unprepared." Jenna said as she dug through her bag and Jeremy stole the coffee cup from Elena's hand. Ellie grinned at Elena's annoyed look as she poured her sister another cup. "Lunch money?"

"I'm good." Elena said as Jeremy snatched the money from Jenna's hands and split it when Ellie held up her palm.

"Anything else?" Jenna questioned. "A number two pencil? What am I missing?"

"Don't you have a big presentation today?" Ellie questioned as Elena nodded along.

"I'm meeting with my thesis advisor at… now. Crap!" Jenna said as she hastily pulled down her hair from the messy bun it had been in.

"Then go, we'll be fine." Ellie assured her and with a sigh, Jenna was out the door in a rush.

Elena turned to Jeremy, who was sipping on his coffee. "You ok?"

Jeremy scoffed at her. "Don't start." He walked off, taking his coffee with him and Ellie noticed the news on TV, an update on some couple named Darren Malloy and Brooke Fenton, before turning to Elena.

"He's gonna be fine, Elena, stuff just takes time." Ellie consoled her twin, who nodded dejectedly and sipped her coffee. They grabbed their things when Bonnie honked the horn and Ellie called out to Jeremy, "We're gone! Do not skip school!"

Despite being happy to see Bonnie, she kind of checked out of the conversation and just stared out of the window, at least, until she heard Bonnie say, "So Grams is telling me I'm psychic. Our ancestors were from Salem, which isn't all that, I know, crazy, but she's going on and on about it, and I'm like, put this woman in a home already! But then I started thinking, I predicted Obama and I predicted Heath Ledger, and I still think Florida will break off and turn into tiny resort islands. Elena!" Bonnie called and Ellie saw her sister snap to attention. "Back in the car."

"I did it again, didn't I? I..I'm sorry, Bonnie. You were telling me that-"

"That I'm psychic now." Bonnie supplied.

"Right." Elena said dubiously. "Ok, then predict something. About me."

Bonnie huffed dramatically before saying, "I see-" Something hit the window and all three of them gasped as Bonnie hit the breaks. The seatbelt choked Ellie as she jerked forward before she was slammed back into her seat. The tires squealed as the car skidded to a stop. "What was that?" Bonnie asked frantically. "Oh my god! Elena, are you ok?"

"It's ok, I'm fine." Elena replied as she tried to slow her breathing.

"Ellie?" Bonnie asked and Ellie could see how upset her friend was about what happened.

"I'm good."

"It was like a bird or something. It came out of nowhere." Bonnie said in a rush, the guilt written all over her face.

"Really, we can't be freaked out by cars for the rest of our lives." Elena said and Ellie felt a swell of pride for her twin, she was really trying to get better and comfort Bonnie at the same time.

"I predict this year is going to be kick ass. And I predict that all the sad and dark times are over and the two of you are going to be beyond happy." Bonnie declared and Elena smiled softly at her friend. After a beat, they pulled back onto the road and kept going. As they walked down the hallway Bonnie said, "Major lack of male real estate. Look at the shower curtain on Kelly Beach. She looks… can I still say 'tranny mess'?"

"No, that's over." Elena decided as she leaned against the lockers.

"Ahh, find a man, coin a phrase, it's a busy year." Bonnie grinned before her attention was drawn to something behind the twins. They turned in unison to see Matt looking longingly at Elena. She gave him a wave and he just turned and pulled his history book from his locker before walking off.

With a sad sigh, Elena turned back to Bonnie and complained, "He hates me."

"That's not hate. That's 'you dumped me, but I'm too cool to show it, but secretly I'm listening to Air Supply's Greatest Hits." Bonnie informed her and despite feeling bad for Matt, Ellie couldn't stop her choked laughter.

"Ellie! Oh my god! How are you?" Caroline asked as she swept Ellie up into a fierce hug. "Elena!" After she hugged them both she pulled back and said, "Oh, it's so good to see you." She turned to look at Bonnie. "How are they? Are they good?"

"Caroline, we're right here. And we're fine. Thank you." Elena responded.

"Really?" Caroline questioned.

"Yes. Much better." Elena continued and Ellie suppressed a sigh from how fake it sounded.

"Oh, you poor thing." Caroline said as she hugged Elena again.

"Ok, Caroline." Elena huffed out, obviously being hugged too tightly.

Caroline pulled back, "Ok, see you guys later?" She questioned

"Ok, bye." Elena said, a fake smile plastered all over her face. "No comment. I'm not going to say anything."

The trio walked down the hallway and Bonnie pulled them to a stop, staring into the office. "Hold up, who's this?"

"All I see is back." Ellie and Elena replied.

"It's a hot back." Bonnie corrected and the twins laughed. "I'm sensing Seattle, and he plays the guitar."

Elena scoffed. "You're really gonna run this whole psychic thing into the ground, huh?"

"Pretty much." Bonnie admitted.

"Jeremy, good batch man." Someone called and the twins looked up to see their brother turning down the hallway.

"I'll be right back."

"Elena, don't." Ellie warned, hot on the heels of her twin as she stormed after him.

"Whoa, pants down chick." Some guy said as Elena grabbed Jeremy's face.

"Great. It's the first day of school and you're stoned." Elena scolded.

"No, I'm not."

"Where is it? Is it on you?" Elena said frantically, searching through Jeremy's pockets as he tried to fight her off.

"Stop, alright? You need to chill yourself, alright?"

"Chill myself? What is that, stoner talk? Dude, you are so cool." Elena said condescendingly.

"Look, stop! I don't have anything on me. Are you crazy?" Jeremy asked her.

"You haven't seen crazy, Jeremy!" Elena snapped despite Ellie's pleas for her to stop. "I gave you a summer pass, but I am done watching you destroy yourself." Jeremy made a move to leave, but Elena pushed him back down. "No, no, no, you know what? Go ahead, keep it up, but just know that I am going to be there to ruin your buzz every time. You got it?" The toilet flushed and some guy stepped out, quickly leaving the bathroom to avoid the family drama. "Jeremy, I know who you are. And it's not this person. So don't be this person."

"I don't need this." Jeremy hissed, clearly angry at Elena's confrontation and stormed out of the bathroom.

"Elena." Ellie said with a shake of her head.

"I don't want to hear it." Elena said before heading out of the bathroom as well. By the time Ellie stepped out of the bathroom, Elena and a guy that could only be the new guy were in some sort of staring contest.

He looked between the twins and then at the bathroom door. "Um… is this the men's room?" He asked them, although he seemed more focused on Elena. Ellie couldn't help but roll her eyes a little. Who wasn't focused more on Elena? She listened to Elena stutter in front of the very attractive boy, before simply telling him that it was a long story. Elena moved to step out of his way, only for him to step in the same direction. Ellie watched their little dance until the boy finally just stopped and signaled for Elena to go ahead. He smiled at Ellie and waited for her to pass as well.

They turned to look back at him before they turned down the hallway, to see him staring back at them as well. As soon as they did, Ellie busted out into a fit of giggles as Elena blushed. "Oh my god! You totally have a crush on him, Elena!"

"I interacted with him for like half a second and I couldn't even say anything." Elena complained.

"Exactly! Oh my god I can't wait to tell Bonnie." Ellie said in delight as Elena groaned.

"Once our home state of Virginia joined the Confederacy in 1861, it created a tremendous amount of tension within the state. People in Virginia's northwest region had different ideals than those from the traditional deep south. Then Virginia divided in 1863 with the northwest region joining the Union." Tanner was teaching as Ellie quickly scribbled down her notes, glancing over to her sister just as she turned back towards the front and smiling after looking over at the new boy. Ellie could see him staring at Elena while she pretended to pay attention.

Bonnie obviously noticed because Elena opened a message from the girl that read: 'HAWT-E. STARING U.' Elena only grinned as she leaned forward in her seat.

By the time class ended, Ellie was about to bang her head on her desk from the back and forth staring between her twin and the new guy. By the time school was out, she felt like she'd seen or bumped into said new guy about a thousand times. Maybe it was because he was new that she was more aware of him, but it was kind of bizarre nonetheless. By the time the sun started to set, Caroline had destroyed her plans of just relaxing at home and finishing the book she'd been reading.

So here she was at The Grill with Caroline and Bonnie as Caroline spilled all the information she'd gathered on their newest student and Elena's potential new beau. "His name is Stefan Salvatore. He lives with his uncle up at the old Salvatore Boarding House. He hasn't lived here since he was a kid. Military family, so they moved around a lot. He's a gemini, and his favorite color is blue." Caroline told them.

Bonnie was beyond surprised at the amount of information. "You got all of that in one day?" Bonnie questioned.

Ellie scoffed, "Please, you should never doubt Caroline and her ability to discover things."

"Oh, please, I got all of that between third and fourth period." Caroline added smugly. "We're planning a June wedding." Ellie laughed at that and Caroline just grinned at her. "You'll be the maid of honor, of course."

"I'd be honored." Ellie replied and then Caroline was off to greet some other people.

Eventually Bonnie and Ellie found themselves sitting with Matt. He, of course, didn't wait long to ask what was so obviously on his mind. "How's Elena doing?"

"Her mom and dad died. How do you think?" Bonnie told him, before she seemed to realize that Ellie was sitting there as well and looked terribly apologetic. "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have said it like that."

Ellie waved her off. "You aren't wrong." Looking at Matt she added, "She's putting on a good face, but it's only been four months. She's been more preoccupied with making everyone think she's ok rather than actually being ok."

"Has she said anything about me?" Matt asked pitifully.

"Oh, no." The two girls refused immediately. "So not getting in the middle. You pick up the phone and call her." Bonnie told him.

"I feel weird calling her. She broke up with me."

"Give it more time, Matt." Bonnie suggested with a shrug. Of course, Elena's god awful timing meant that she strolled through the door, looking entirely content and happy being with Stefan.

"More time, huh?" Ellie sighed as she watched Matt stand up and walk over to them, and if she hadn't known Matt so well she would have been afraid that he was going to start something. "Hey, I'm Matt, nice to meet you." He greeted and held out his hand for Stefan to shake.

"Hi. Stefan."

"Hey." Elena said brightly, although Ellie could see the awkwardness.

"Hey." Matt repeated before walking off.

Elena and Stefan made their way over to Ellie and Bonnie where they made the introductions. Caroline was quick to pull up a seat beside Bonnie and jumped headfirst into her quizzing of Stefan. "So, you were born in Mystic Falls?"

"Mmhmm, and moved when I was still young." Stefan replied.

"Parents?"

"My parents passed away." He told her and Ellie felt a sharp pang of empathy. It wasn't an easy thing to deal with and she didn't know if she'd be able to so easily admit that strangers like he did.

He glanced at Elena and from the corner of her eye she could see Bonnie give him a suspicious look as Elena told him, "I'm sorry. Any siblings?"

"None that I talk to. I live with my uncle."

Caroline noticed the way Stefan seemed to be more focused on Elena, rather than her, so she cut in. "So, Stefan, if you're new, then you don't know about the party tomorrow."

"It's a back to school thing at The Falls." Ellie supplied.

"Are the two of you going?" Stefan asked her as his focus bounced between her and Elena.

Before Elena or Ellie could even be surprised, Bonnie gleefully informed him, "Of course they are." His focus was back to being solely on Elena and she sent Bonnie a pleased smile as he smiled softly at her. The rest of the evening was spent with the majority of Stefan's attention being on Elena and Caroline desperately trying to get him to focus on her.

Sitting in history with Tanner, who for whatever reason seemed to really dislike the Gilberts was bad enough for Ellie, but him droning on about the Civil War was somehow worse than normal and she was desperate for anything to distract her from bashing her head against the desk. "The Battle of Willow Creek took place right at the end of the war in our very own Mystic Falls. How many casualties resulted in this battle?" He asked. "Ms. Bennett?" Bonnie jerked her head up to look at him from where she was taking notes.

"Um… a lot?" She guessed and Ellie snorted under her breath. "I'm not sure. Like a whole lot."

"Cute becomes dumb in an instant, Ms. Bennett." Tanner told her and Ellie rolled her eyes. He was a huge jackass and she wasn't really sure why he was a teacher. "Mr. Donovan." Pour Matt was the next victim. "Would you like to take this opportunity to overcome your embedded jock stereotype?"

"It's ok, Mr. Tanner, I'm cool with it." Matt informed him.

Several kids in class chuckled, but Tanner had already picked his next target. "Elena?" He questioned. "Surely you can enlighten us about one of the town's most significantly historical events?"

"I'm sorry, I… I don't know." Elena admitted.

"I was willing to be lenient last year for obvious reason, Elena, but the personal excuses ended with summer break." Tanner said and Ellie felt pure rage burning a hole in her chest.

She opened her mouth to rip Tanner a new one, but Stefan had already started talking. "There were 346 casualties, unless you're counting local civilians." Stefan looked supremely unimpressed with their teacher, and it was enough to pull Ellie out of her blind rage.

"That's correct. Mister…" Tanner trailed off.

"Salvatore." Stefan supplied.

"Salvatore… any relation to the original settlers here at Mystic Falls?"

"Distant."

"Well, very good. Except of course, there were no civilian casualties in this battle." Tanner corrected.

"Actually, there were 27, sir." Stefan told him and Ellie, along with everyone else, seemed to sit up in their seats a little bit more. No one corrected Tanner, ever. "Confederate soldiers, they fired on the church believing it to be housing weapons. They were wrong. It was a night of great loss. The Founder's Archives are, uh, stored in Civil Hall if you'd like to brush up on your facts, Mr. Tanner." Ellie was certain her jaw was on the floor. She could see Elena have a similar reaction and she decided then and there that she very much liked this guy.

After school finally ended, Caroline had picked Ellie up to take her to the party, and eventually Ellie had found her way to her sister and Bonnie. "Just admit it, Elena." Bonnie told her.

"Oh, ok, so he's a little pretty." Elena conceded.

"He has that romance novel stare." Bonnie informed her. "Stefan looked deep into her eyes, piercing her very soul." Bonnie said dramatically, causing the duo to burst into laughter. "So where is he?"

"I don't know." Elena shrugged. "You tell me, you're the psychic one."

"Right! I forgot. Ok, give me a sec. Grams says I have to concentrate." Bonnie said as she closed her eyes.

"Wait! You need a crystal ball." Elena said mock-seriously. "Ta-da." She said as she picked up a beer bottle. Bonnie grinned and went to take the bottle, when her eyes shot wide open and she froze, almost like she was in a trance. Elena and Ellie looked at each other with concern before Bonnie yanked her hand away violently. "What?"

"That was weird." Bonnie said. "When I touched you, I saw a crow."

"What?" The twins asked.

"A crow. There was fog, a man." Bonnie continued before shaking her head. "I'm drunk." She excused. "It's the drinking. There's nothing psychic about it. Yeah? Ok, I'm gonna get a refill." Bonnie said before making her quick escape. Elena looked quite freaked out, which Ellie found confusing.

"Ok... Bonnie!" Elena called after their friend but she just kept going.

When they turned back the other way, Stefan was standing before them. "Hi." He greeted, his soft smile directed at Elena.

"Hi." She said, grinning brightly.

"I did it again, didn't I?" Stefan asked and Ellie was confused. When had it happened the first time?

"Yeah." Elena confirmed.

"I'm sorry." He seemed to notice Elena's mood. "You're upset about something."

"Oh, uh, no it's.. It's Bonnie. She's…" Elena trailed off and seemed to decide to change the subject. "You know what? Never mind, you're… you're here."

"I'm here." He confirmed.

"And I am going to be anywhere but here." Ellie said before she dashed off. She found Matt hanging with some of the guys from the football team and sat down next to him. "You ok?"

Matt slung his arm around her shoulders. "Yeah, I'm good, just you know…" He trailed off and they allowed Caroline to come and drag them off.

"Are you trying to eavesdrop Care?" Ellie asked as she spotted Elena and Stefan on the bridge. "We're never gonna hear anything from here."

"Well, maybe I can see what they're saying or something." She said, and it wasn't long before Stefan went off quickly and Elena was alone for a moment before walking off in the same direction. Then, like clockwork, Caroline and Matt left as well.

"I wish Matt would realize that he shouldn't put himself through this." Ellie complained as she and Bonnie strolled back towards the main party.

"Elena was his first love, is it really surprising that he wants her back?" Bonnie asked softly.

Shaking her head, Ellie said, "No, it's not, but him being so in love with her made him not see that she wasn't into him anymore months before she finally broke up with him."

"Well if Caroline had it her way, Stefan would be all hers."

"Can you blame her? He's gorgeous and definitely has that mystery guy vibe going on." Ellie shrugged. "Even still, Matt is like an all around good guy, he deserves better." Bonnie nodded in agreement. By the time the duo wandered back to the main party, Elena and Stefan were talking again. Ellie saw her sister's change in mood and followed her gaze to see Jeremy drunkenly walking into the woods. When Elena moved to go after Jeremy, she was quick to follow.

"Jeremy." Elena called. "Jeremy! Jeremy, where the hell are you going?"

Ellie kept Elena upright when she nearly tripped on a branch as Jeremy snapped, "I don't want to hear it!"

"Yeah, well too bad." Elena said, but stopped short as Jeremy turned and fell.

"Vicki? No." Jeremy gasped as they found her body, a bloodied wound on her neck. "Oh my god, it's Vicki."

"Oh my god." Elena had a look of pure terror on her face as Jeremy's shaking hand reached down to check for a pulse.

Vicki gasped awake and Ellie began to frantically tell Jeremy to pick her up. "Somebody help!" Ellie screamed as they helped to make sure Jeremy didn't lose his grip.

Matt's voice reached through the crowd. "Vicki? Vicki, what the hell?" He yelled as he ran towards them.

"What happened to her?" Tyler asked as the newly formed group got her onto a table.

"Somebody call an ambulance!" Matt screamed.

"Everybody back up! Give her some space!" Tyler commanded.

"It's her neck. Something bit her." Elena explained frantically. "She's losing a lot of blood. It's bad."

"Put this on her neck." Someone said and Ellie took the offered item, pressing it firmly against the wound.

"Elena hold it in place." Ellie ordered as she let go and pulled off the old tank top she wore from under her shirt. "Put this on top to try and slow it down."

"Vicki, Vicki, come on, open your eyes, look at me." Matt begged. People were speaking frantically around her, but Ellie was focused on keeping a track of Vicki's pulse. It was slower than it should be and it terrified her, she couldn't handle another person dying so soon.

She wasn't sure when the authorities arrived, but Vicki was whisked off but paramedics and she found herself standing with Elena, watching as Matt climbed into the ambulance after Vicki. There were police cars and ambulances and animal control units everywhere, but Bonnie's voice pulled her focus from the ambulance taking Matt and Vicki away. "Hey, we're gonna go mainline coffee, wait for news." Bonnie told them.

"I gotta take Jeremy home." Elena replied as she glanced back to her drunk and scared brother.

"Elena," Bonnie said seriously, "there's no way I'm psychic. I know that. But whatever I saw, or I think I saw, I have this feeling…"

"Bonnie, what?"

"That it's just the beginning." Bonnie admitted.

Their friend started to walk off when Ellie called out, "Wait, let me go with you, I wanna make sure Care gets sobered up before she gets home." Turning to Elena, she reminded her, "Whatever you say to Jer, go easy on him." Elena nodded and Ellie went off with her two friends. The car ride to The Grill was mostly silent, save for the very soft music playing from the radio. Caroline was sometimes a whiny drunk so she wouldn't have liked the silence much nor would she have liked normal music.

When they got to their destination, the three of them sat at a table, coffee in front of all of them, as Bonnie and Ellie waited for the blonde to sober up. Caroline had already drunk all of her coffee, so Ellie wordlessly gave the blonde hers as well. "Are you sober yet?" Bonnie asked Caroline, who had buried her head in her hands.

The blonde inhaled sharply, looking up, before sighing. "No." She huffed, before burying her face in her hands again.

"Keep drinking. I gotta get you and Ellie home. I gotta get me home." Bonnie said with a soft laugh.

"Why didn't he go for me?" Caroline asked suddenly, and Ellie knew immediately she meant Stefan. "You know, how come, the guys that I want never want me?"

"I'm not touching that." Bonnie said with a shake of her head.

"I'm inappropriate. I always say the wrong thing. And… Elena always says the right thing." Caroline explained. "She doesn't even try! And he just picks her. And she's always the one that everyone picks, for everything. And I try so hard, and… I'm never the one."

"It's not a competition, Caroline." Bonnie replied.

Caroline paused for a moment, before she glanced at Bonnie. "Yeah, it is." She corrected and Ellie couldn't help the swell of empathy she felt. Bonnie might not have known what Caroline was talking about, but she very much did. The blonde might have seemed uptight and bitchy to most people, but Ellie knew the insecurities that lurked underneath the facade and she knew how much the other girl struggled with being in Elena's shadow.

With a sigh, Bonnie just said, "I'm gonna go pay the bill. You wanna come Ellie?" Nodding, Ellie followed Bonnie to the counter and silently prayed that tomorrow would be better.

Author's Note:

Hey guys, this is the first story that I've posted in years. So I'm pretty nervous and I hope you enjoyed it. I plan on updating by next week at the latest. Please leave a review and let me know what you thought! See you all soon!

-Madame Magic