#okay caroline get off your soap box now--

[raw-lesbian-energy]

Fight At The Museum

Summary: Anne, Caroline, and the Plantars try to rob a museum for an artifact mysteriously connected to Amphibia.

Fandom: Amphibia (The Wild Soul AU)

Pairing: None

Features: Self-Insert Character

Word Count: 5,686

Warnings: Body mutilation (on a robot)

—————————————————————

It had been a few days since the robot incident at the supermarket, and Anne was wearing herself thin.

The teen sat hunched on her bed, laptop propped up on her knees, eyes glued to the screen as she typed away. She checked forums, articles, videos; anything and everything she could find about inter-dimensional travel. Before she knew it, light was creeping in through her window as the sun rose up into the sky.

“Anne!” Her mom’s voice startled her out of her trance. “Breakfast!” She glanced out through her open door at first, but she soon noticed that none of the Plantars were in her room anymore. Letting out a small sigh, she set her laptop down and got up, trudging down the stairs and getting herself some breakfast. After grabbing a bowl and filling it with cereal, she made her way to the living room where the Plantars were binging a soap opera on TV. Sprig and Polly were on the floor while Hop Pop took one side of the couch, allowing the teen to sit on the other side and let out a tired groan.

“Whoa, someone didn’t sleep.” Sprig commented, looking up at her.

“Nope. I spent all night researching ways to get you guys home.” Anne replied groggily. “And possibly the night before that.”

“You? Researching?” Mrs. Boonchuy said as she entered the room, sitting on the arm of the couch. “Who are you, and what have you done with my daughter?” There was a slightly mocking tone in her voice, but Anne was far too tired for humour.

“Har har.” She replied flatly. Anne’s mother stopped smiling at her daughter’s tone, but ended up heading back to the kitchen as Anne turned her focus to the Plantars.

“So, I was thinking,” the teen started, “what if there’s a second calamity box, here on Earth? So I mapped out every thrift store within a fifty mile radius, and if we leave right now-”

“Pass.” Polly interrupted, waving her off. “Primthistle Manor isn’t gonna binge itself.”

“Everyone quiet!” Hop Pop cut in. “Lord Frankerton is confessing his love for Lady Franklin!” Anne looked up at the TV with bleary eyes, hardly processing the flowery confession as the Plantars watched with excitement. Soon after, the credits were rolling, and the Plantars were all smiling with teary eyes.

“Amazing!” Hop Pop exclaimed.

“I’m shook.” Polly murmured.

“And it only took three seasons!” Sprig added. Anne felt her frustration building, and she let out a harsh sigh.

“Why does it feel like I’m the only one trying to find a way back to Amphibia?” She blurted, pushing her bangs out of her face. All three Plantars exchanged looks, but soon Sprig was on his feet and over by Anne’s side.

“Anne, we have been trying.” He told her. “But it’s okay to take a day off to recharge every now and then.”

“There’s no time, you guys!” Anne retorted. “Come on, let’s get back to research.” Before any of them could reply, the sudden sound of the TV turning off caught their attentions and they looked up to see Mrs. Boonchuy holding the remote.

“Since you seem to enjoy research so much now,” she said, “what if you four spend a day at the museum and wrote a report? You’ve got a lot of make-up schoolwork to do, after all.”

“Aww, do we have to?” Anne and the Plantars all whined in unison. Mrs. Boonchuy didn’t budge.

“Yes.” She replied. “I’m also cleaning the house; there’s slime everywhere, and I’m not pointing fingers, but I need you all out of the way.” As if to emphasize her point, a large glob of slime suddenly detached itself from the ceiling, falling and landing with a ‘splat’ on the living room carpet.

“Gross, Anne.” Polly said. Anne shot a glare her direction, but didn’t say anything.

“Okay, Caroline will be here for you in ten minutes, so Plantars, go get your disguises.” Mrs. Boonchuy spoke again, prompting a look of surprise from Anne.

“Wait, Caroline’s coming?” She asked.

“Yes, I had called her in advance to come take you guys for the day.” Anne’s mom replied. “Just let her know I said to go to the museum, alright?” Anne merely nodded, watching as her mom walked back into the kitchen, leaving her and the Plantars in the living room.

“Say,” Sprig said, lowering his voice a little, “maybe we can just…not tell Caroline about the museum and go somewhere more-”

“Anne, just to be safe, I sent her another text.” Mrs. Boonchuy interrupted. “There’s no backing out of this.” After hearing this, both Anne and the Plantars let out annoyed sighs, speaking their feelings in unison.

“Dangit.”

——————

“Alright, here we are.”

Caroline pulled into a parking spot and stopped the car, turning it off and opening her door. Anne and the Plantars also got out, and the Plantars took a moment to ensure their disguises were on properly. Anne still had a tired look, prompting Caroline to walk over and put a hand on her shoulder.

“Hey, come on.” She said, trying to be optimistic. “The museum isn’t that bad. It’s got all sorts of fun and interactive stuff.”

“Oh yeah?” Polly piped up, carrying a tone of suspicion. “And how would you know?”

“Because I actually come here quite often.” Caroline replied, donning a smirk. In one quick movement, she pulled a small book out of the bag she had brought, opening it and revealing pages covered in sketches and drawings.

“Whoa.” All four said in awe, admiring the artwork.

“Did you draw these?” Sprig asked.

“Yep!” Caroline replied, smiling proudly. “Been drawing for as long as I can remember. I tried going to college for it, but…well, let’s just say animators do not get enough credit for how hard they work.” There was a small pause after her statement, which mostly consisted of confused looks from the Plantars.

“Uhh, what’s an animator?” Polly asked. Caroline blinked.

“Y’know what, forget it.” She replied. “Come on, we’ve got a museum to explore.” Both Anne and the Plantars followed as the young woman headed for the building, climbing up the steps and pushing the front door open. Inside, they were greeted by a towering main hall, decorated with banners, directory signs, and massive dinosaur skeletons. The Plantars stared at the displays in awe, while Anne still had her same tired expression and Caroline merely trotted over to the t-rex skeleton to draw it.

“Whoa, looks like you guys used to have a monster problem, too.” Sprig commented, walking up to stand next to Caroline. Anne, Polly, and Hop Pop soon joined the duo, and the five of them studied the dinosaurs for a while longer before moving on. They headed down one of the building’s many large hallways, soon finding an exhibit on space and the solar system. The Plantars were easily amazed by the display, but Anne and Caroline remained pretty indifferent. In the centre of it all was a slowly rotating globe, which actually caused a look of confusion to appear on Hop Pop’s face.

“Wait, your people think the world is round?” He exclaimed. Caroline’s expression changed instantly.

“I’m sorry, what?” She blurted. She wasn’t able to say anything further, though, as Polly suddenly caught sight of something and quickly left the room. The young woman followed to ensure she didn’t get lost, which prompted Anne, Sprig, and Hop Pop to trail along after. The trio soon found Polly and Caroline talking by a display of cavemen, and Polly seemed to enjoy the violent concept that came with them.

“See?” Hop Pop spoke as he stopped next to Anne. “We can have a fun one-off just like we did before. Right Anne?” The teen didn’t give a response, causing Hop Pop to look up and notice she had pulled out her laptop to research again.

“Anne!” He called, snapping her back to reality.

“What?” She blurted, quickly closing her laptop.

“You’ve gotta take a break from all this research!” He told her. Anne’s expression changed, a glint of annoyance in her eyes.

“Don’t worry, HP.” She said, waving him off. “I’m fine, I’m fine.” Hop Pop wasn’t convinced, his brow furrowing in worry as he looked at the dark circles under Anne’s eyes.

“Burning yourself out isn’t gonna help us get back to Amphibia.” He warned. Anne paused as she seemed to process the words, but she had her eyes locked on something else.

“Amphibia.” She echoed. Hop Pop quirked an eyebrow.

“Yes, that’s what I said.” He replied. Anne hardly heard him, kneeling down to his level while still keeping her eyes on whatever she had spotted.

“No, look.” She told him, pointing. Hop Pop followed her finger to see a large ceramic pot in a display case, and detailed on the side was a Viking ship full of people staring at a floating bipedal frog. The frog had one hand outstretched in front of them, displaying what was none other than the Calamity Box. Both Anne and Hop Pop were quick to walk over, leading Sprig, Polly, and Caroline to follow and see the pot as well.

“Call me crazy,” Sprig started, “but that looks like…”

“One of us!” Polly finished.

“I don’t believe it.” Anne murmured in shock. “Could this be the clue we’ve been looking for?”

“Didn’t expect to see frogs in here, eh?”

The sudden voice startled all five as they spun around, finding a woman standing almost directly behind them. She had dark skin and curly black hair tied in a bun, red-rimmed glasses, and a yellow shirt patterned with dinosaur bones.

“What? Frogs? Huh?” Anne blurted, straightening up as the Plantars tucked themselves behind her. The woman merely blinked, and Caroline looked at Anne with concern in her eyes. It took a moment for the teen to catch up, but she soon realized what the woman had meant.

“Ohh, you’re talking about the pot.” She said at last.

“Sure, what did you think I was talking about?” The woman replied. “Name’s Dr. Jan. I’m a curator here, and an avid lover of all things ancient.” She winked at Hop Pop as she said this, and Caroline had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. Thankfully none of them noticed, and Dr. Jan walked over to the display holding the large pot.

“So, staring at this pot, eh?” She said. “Interesting, isn’t it? The frog here is depicted in a very unconventional fashion; bipedal!” She pulled Anne close to her as she talked, pointing at the frog designed on the pot. “It must’ve been some kind of deity.”

“That’s not the only unconventional thing.” Caroline’s voice suddenly cut in, and both Anne and Dr. Jan looked to see her standing next to them.

“Oh?” Dr. Jan looked at her with intrigue. The statement also caught the Plantars’ interests, causing them to move closer, too.

“Well, look at the people here.” Caroline said, kneeling down and pointing. “They’re depicted as if they’re from the Viking age, but Vikings never made anything from ceramic. They used either wood or bone since it was a lot more durable. That can only mean this was either a huge historical event…”

“Or this pot wasn’t made by the Vikings at all.” Anne finished the thought for her. Caroline met the teen’s gaze, and both of them held the same knowing look in their eyes.

“A brilliant observation!” Dr. Jan’s voice cut in, grinning brightly at Caroline. “It is true that ceramic was never used much by Vikings. Do I have an avid history fan on my hands?”

“Oh, uh,” Caroline’s expression turned sheepish as she rubbed the back of her neck, “more like an avid ‘Viking’s Guide To Training Dragons’ fan, actually.” Despite the response, Dr. Jan’s smile only widened.

“Ah, a fantasy lover, I see!” She said enthusiastically. “I’m a fan of cryptids myself; UFO’s and all that. You know, between you and me, sometimes I like to theorize the design is actually a frog-shaped alien from another dimension!” At this, all five of them stiffened, glancing between each other before Caroline managed a small laugh.

“Hah, yeah, that’d really be something!” She managed, her tone somewhat forced. Thankfully, Dr. Jan didn’t notice.

“Sure would!” She replied. “Anyway, you got any other questions?” Despite the earlier tension, Sprig actually raised his hand.

“Actually,” he started, “do you know anything about portals to other-”

“Nope!” Anne cut him off, quickly covering his mouth with her hand. “None at all! Actually, I hate history. And museums! Yuck.” Caroline shot a wide-eyed look at the teen, but noticing the slight panic in her eyes, she remained silent.

“Aw, that’s too bad.” Dr. Jan said, frowning slightly. “And kind of insulting. Well, if you ever change your mind, just holler ‘Dr. Jan!’ and I’ll fly in like an information super hero!” The group stared at her silently for a moment, causing the curator’s smile to falter.

“Uh- Dr. Jan, away!” She exclaimed, making a ‘whoosh’ sound effect as she left the room. After she had gone, Anne’s body relaxed somewhat, allowing Sprig to pull himself out of her grip.

“Hey, why’d you blow her off?” He asked. “Maybe she knows something.”

“What?” Anne exclaimed. “Come on, dude. We don’t know anything about that lady. How do you know we can trust her?”

“Paranoid much?” Polly spoke up. Caroline furrowed her brow, stepping out to stand in front of the group.

“Okay, guys,” she started, “as unnecessarily rude as Anne was to Dr. Jan, she does have a point. The more people who know about you guys, the greater the risk you’re in. We can’t just tell someone everything after only meeting them once.”

“We did with you.” Sprig argued. Caroline’s expression hardened, and the glare she cast at the small frog made him clam up fast.

“But that thing’s our first real clue!” Hop Pop interjected.

“Agreed; we can’t just drop it.” Anne said, her expression growing stern. “What if there’s a map painted on the bottom, or a secret code that only shows up under blacklight?” Caroline turned her focus to the teen, noticing a contemplative look in her eyes and quickly realizing what she was thinking.

“Well, if you don’t wanna ask that Dr. Jan for help,“ Hop Pop spoke first, his tone soon turning sarcastic, “what are we gonna do? Rob the museum?”

——————

“I still can’t believe we’re robbing the museum.”

“Shhh!”

After being dropped off back at home by Caroline, Anne and the Plantars had quickly made their way up to Anne’s room to get their plan ready. Caroline had also given Anne her sketchbook, which, the teen found out, had a map of the museum layout and all its’ security cameras marked on it. The young woman hadn’t been able to come in with them, however, since Anne’s parents still believed she had no knowledge of the Plantars’ true selves.

“Anne?” Mrs. Boonchuy spoke as she poked her head in through the doorway. “You guys okay in here?”

“All good!” Anne replied, pulling a smile. “Just finishing that report!” Anne’s mother narrowed her eyes skeptically.

“Don’t believe you, but okay.” She said, backing away and closing the door. The group waited in silence for a moment, listening as Mrs. Boonchuy headed back downstairs and out of earshot.

“Looks like she bought it.” Polly said in relief. Sprig turned his gaze back to Anne, only to find the teen had dozed off sitting up.

“Anne!” He called. Anne quickly snapped awake.

“Wha? Where was I?” She blurted, working to regain her thoughts. “Oh, yeah- we did way more dangerous stuff in Amphibia. At least nothing here’s gonna spit acid at us.”

“That you know of.” Polly said, folding her arms. Anne merely rolled her eyes, getting to her feet and heading for her closet.

“Come on, guys.” She said, opening the closet door. “If you don’t break a few rules for this, how are we ever gonna get back?” The Plantars exchanged glances, holding a silent conversation before Sprig looked back up.

“So, what’s the plan?” He asked. Anne merely grinned, pulling some black hoodies from the back of her closet and holding them up. The Plantars quickly caught on, and soon all of them were dressed in dark clothes to disguise themselves. Hop Pop and Sprig both wore black hoodies, while Anne took a dark purple t-shirt and black beanie. Polly found her hoodie to be way too big, though, leading Anne to grab a pair of scissors and cut it short.

“Oh, I am very into this.” Polly said excitedly as she looked in the mirror. Anne smiled proudly at her work.

“Now, for our ride.” She said, taking out her phone. She pulled up Caroline’s contact and sent her a text, and not fifteen seconds later, there was a soft tap at Anne’s bedroom window. The teen’s expression turned to confusion, but as she walked over and hauled it open, she found the young woman sitting on the roof ledge just under her window.

“Caroline?!” She exclaimed in surprise. Caroline smiled at her, and Anne took a moment to notice her new outfit. She was dressed like a proper ninja; a black body suit covered her lanky frame along with light armour for protection. The looks of a face covering hung around her neck, and a belt with small pouches on it was secured around her waist.

“Heya.” She said casually. Anne was still awestruck, processing the sight before her.

“How long have you been up here?” She managed at last.

“Not long.” Caroline replied. “Figured it’d draw less attention to fetch you guys on foot. I parked about a block from here.” At this point, the Plantars had stuck their heads out the window too, and the four exchanged glances before looking back at Caroline. They all shared a look of agreement, and after ensuring Anne’s parents wouldn’t catch them, the group quietly climbed out the window. All five of them were quick to jump down, and once the house was out of sight, they followed Caroline to her car and headed off.

——————

The city was surprisingly quiet as the five reached the museum, with Caroline once again parking a block away to avoid suspicion. They carefully crept up to the front steps, ducking behind a plant-covered wall to keep out of sight.

“Okay, first; we gotta distract the guards.” Anne said, keeping her voice down. “Hop Pop?”

“On it.” Hop Pop replied. He reached over and began rummaging through Anne’s backpack, putting on some kind of costume before stepping out of his hiding place.

“Meow!” He called, hopping up the steps in front of the guards. “I’m a cat!” The guards stared at him in confusion as he batted at one of their shoes, but before they could decide what to do, he grabbed the very same shoe, took it right off the guard’s foot, and ran away.

“Hey! My shoe!” The first guard called.

“After that fabulous cat!” The second cried. Both of them quickly ran off after him, the one-shoed guard hopping to keep up, allowing Anne, Sprig, Polly, and Caroline to walk right up to the doors.

“Now Polly, you get us inside.” Anne told her, holding out her hand. Polly quickly jumped onto her palm, and in one swift movement, Anne tossed her up to the vent grate above them. The pollywog had no troubles getting into the vent, and after about a minute of scuffling, the museum’s front door swung open.

“Sup, fools?” Polly said proudly. The trio smiled at her arrival, quickly making their way into the building.

“Lastly; Sprig, you take out all the cameras.” Anne instructed.

“Oh, I can help with that.” Caroline piped up. She reached into one of her belt pouches, pulling out a set of throwing knives that made Anne’s eyes widen. Caroline hardly noticed, turning her attention to Sprig instead and giving him a challenging smile.

“Hey Sprig, bet I can take out more cameras than you!” She said. Sprig was quick to match her energy, and Caroline put her mask on as the two raced off into the museum. Sprig climbed the walls and used his tongue to take out the cameras he found, while Caroline kept under cover and threw her knives with intimidating accuracy. Both of them made sure to keep out of sight, only being on camera for a split second at most before all of them were disabled.

“Heh, not bad, kiddo.” Caroline lowered her mask and smiled as they moved to the next room. Sprig grinned at the praise, while Anne was still processing what she had just witnessed.

“Dude, when did you learn to do that?” She asked, drawing Caroline’s attention.

“Oh, that?” Caroline said, pointing a thumb at one of the disabled cameras. “Well, let’s just say having over a hundred hours clocked on 'Contract Cuts' finally paid off.” All three gave her a confused look, but before any of them could say anything, Hop Pop suddenly ran in dressed in his hoodie disguise again.

“Those guards got tired of chasing me and stopped at a coffee shop.” He said. “We got a good twenty minutes.”

“Nicely done!” Anne replied, giving him a thumbs up. “Now, all we have to do is… is…” the teen’s words trailed as she suddenly fell forward, prompting Caroline to step in and catch her before she hit the floor. Anne had ended up falling asleep right there, soft snores being heard as she hung limp like a rag doll.

“Hey! Anne!” Polly called, jumping onto Caroline’s shoulder and tapping Anne’s head. “Not a good time to nap!” The action quickly startled the teen awake, pulling herself out of Caroline’s grip and straightening up.

“Right! Sorry.” She said, a groggy tone in her voice. “Let’s do this thing!” Caroline and the Plantars exchanged looks of concern, but said nothing as they followed Anne to the next room. They could see the pot in its’ display case at the other end, but the way to it was blocked by a mass of security lasers.

“Oof.” Anne managed, still groggy. “That’s a lot of lasers.”

“Don’t worry.” Polly said, cracking her neck. “I got this.” The other four watched as Polly walked straight through, her small size allowing her to bypass the lasers with no trouble. She soon reached the display case, and jumping right at it, she latched onto the glass and cut a hole right through it with her teeth. After tossing the cut piece aside, she grabbed the pot with her tongue, pulling it out of the display and holding it up triumphantly.

“Wow, that was easy.” Sprig commented.

“This isn’t a movie, Sprig.” Anne replied. “Not everything has a dramatic twist.”

CRASH!

All five of them looked over in panic as something came barrelling through the skylight, showering the room in shards of broken glass. The group soon realized it was the same robot from the market, and as it rose to its’ full height, it passed through the lasers and set off the alarms.

“Not you again!” Anne cried. The frog-bot raised a clawed hand and swiped at Polly, prompting her to jump out of the way and rush back to the group. All of them started screaming, stealth forgotten as Anne stuffed the pot in her bag and bolted. The metal beast raced after them, firing off lasers from its’ eyes to take them out.

“This way!” Caroline called, rushing down one of the halls. The Plantars were quick to follow, but Anne tripped and fell hard. She leapt back to her feet, but in her panic, she turned and sprinted another in direction. The teen ducked into a sarcophagus to hide, but the robot found her and ripped the lid right off. Anne cried out as she took off running, and the bot tossed the sarcophagus aside to follow.

“Hey!” A voice shouted, causing the frog-bot to stop. It turned to see the Plantars charging straight at it. They were stacked on top of each other, Sprig wearing knight’s armour with two swords, and Polly with a mace.

“Leave Anne ALONE!” Polly yelled, launching the mace at it. The robot caught it midair, whirling its’ arm around and hurling it right back at them. The weapon hit the armour Sprig was wearing, knocking him back with enough force that sent all three flying. The robot soon directed its’ attention back to Anne, rapidly firing shot after shot. She scrambled to dodge, one barely missing her chest. She looked back once, then suddenly bumped into something and found herself in front of a guillotine display. The sharp blade loomed above, and as Anne turned around, she realized she was stuck between it and the frog-bot. Seeing her trapped, the bot changed one of its’ hands into a drill, reeling it back before launching it full force at Anne’s head.

“Anne!” The teen heard someone shout her name before she was harshly pulled to the right, the drill rushing past her and colliding with the wall. The force caused the robot’s arm to get stuck, allowing Anne to look up and see that Caroline had been the one to pull her out of the way.

“Eat the rich!” Hop Pop’s voice suddenly rang out. Both girls saw him standing on the side of the guillotine, and he dropped the blade right on the robot’s stuck arm. The crunch of metal and the bot’s screech echoed through the room, but it gave them all just enough time to escape.

“It’s still not down!” Sprig cried. “Anne, how are we gonna stop this thing?” Anne looked up and down the hallway for an answer, but as her eyes landed on a mosasaur skeleton hanging from the ceiling, she stopped.

“I think I just got an idea.”

BAM!

In an instant, a shot hit the balcony railing and blasted it to pieces. The shock of it scattered all five of them, but Anne ended up being too close to the edge and was knocked over it.

“Whoa whoa WHOA-!” The teen cried as she flailed, trying to grab onto something. She barely managed to catch the balcony ledge, but she struggled to keep a hold with her fatigue weighing her down.

“ANNE!” The cry rang out from both Caroline and the Plantars, but the former’s attention was soon drawn as the robot emerged and started making its’ way to the ledge. A gasp of panic escaped her, but she suddenly noticed a large, double-ended spear next to her and got an idea.

“Hey oil breath!” She shouted. The bot suddenly froze mid stride, turning its’ attention just as the young woman slammed into it. The metal beast stumbled back, allowing Caroline to put herself between it and Anne with the spear at the ready.

“Why don’t you fight someone who can handle their sleep deprivation?” She challenged. Anne’s eyes widened at the woman’s actions, while the robot seemed to take her words personally, raising its’ arm and swinging. Caroline met it halfway, blocking the swipe and slashing at it. Claws met spear. Clashing metal echoed through the hall. The bot was fast. Swipe. Block. Dodge. Caroline kept up. She couldn’t let it win- she wouldn’t let it.

Meanwhile, the Plantars rushed over to the ledge, finding Anne just barely clinging to the side. Her arm was shaking, beads of sweat on her forehead as she relied on the last bit of strength she had.

“Give us your hand!” Hop Pop cried. The teen looked up at them and quickly raised her free arm, allowing the Plantars to grab hold and pull. The bot ended up noticing and growled, firing off laser shots that Caroline couldn’t block in time. They ended up barely missing the Plantars, but one collided with one of the mosasaur’s support ropes and snapped it. The whole skeleton went crashing down, shaking the building and making the Plantars lose their grip on Anne.

“Whoa!” The teen yelled as she began falling again, managing to snag one of the museum’s banners at the last second to slow herself. The banner strained and ripped from the sudden weight on it, but it had been just enough to allow Anne to land somewhat safely on the main floor. The Plantars quickly went after her, and the whole scene had distracted Caroline just enough for the bot to land a hit on her. She was knocked hard across the balcony, hitting her back and barely managing to recover as the robot pounced and pinned her.

“FREEZE!”

All action stopped as the museum’s main door was kicked open, revealing Dr. Jan and the two guards from earlier.

“Put your hands in the-…air..?” The two guards stared at the scene before them in confusion, while Dr. Jan’s eyes went up to the balcony where Caroline and the robot were. In an instant, the bot activated its’ cloaking, and Caroline felt the weight of it on her chest vanish as it fled the scene.

“No way.” Dr. Jan muttered. “A robot..?” She turned her eyes back to Anne and the Plantars, focusing mostly on Hop Pop as his hood had come off in the chaos. Anne seemed to notice it too, a look of panic crossing her features.

“Guys! Your disguises!” She said, quickly pulling Hop Pop’s hood over his face. Dr. Jan had already seen him clearly though, her eyes sparkling as she gasped in awe.

“Frog aliens!” She whispered excitedly.

“What the-? What is going on here?” One of the guards exclaimed. Anne and the Plantars froze while Caroline quickly got up, but much to her surprise, Dr. Jan stepped in first.

“I-I can’t believe I forgot!” She said. “Mitchell, Rodney, this has been a terrible misunderstanding. These are…performers! Rehearsing an exciting historical re-enactment…of some kind. We’ll clean this mess up tomorrow; you two can go home. I’ll take it from here.” Much to the group’s surprise, both guards let out sighs of relief.

“Whew! Thank goodness!” Rodney exclaimed, turning for the door.

“I knew it.” Mitchell added, following him out. “Night, Dr. Jan!” All six of them waited for the two guards to leave, which also gave Caroline time to climb down from the balcony and join the Plantars.

“Oh hey, Dr. Jan!” Anne said, trying to keep as casual a tone as possible. “So, there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for all this.”

“And I can’t wait to hear it!” Dr. Jan replied excitedly, turning to face the teen. “Frog aliens? Robots? Spill it, kid! This is a dream come true!” Anne’s expression turned wary, and she glanced over her shoulder to see the Plantars all looking up at her.

“We can’t do this on our own, Anne.” Hop Pop said. “Maybe it’s time we tried trusting someone.” Anne still seemed hesitant, turning her gaze over to Caroline to get her opinion.

“It’s your choice, kiddo.” The young woman told her. The teen took a breath before returning her focus to Dr. Jan, who was still donning an excited smile.

“Alright,” she said at last, “it’s kind of a long story.”

——————

After finishing her long explanation, Anne, Caroline, and the Plantars found they had been escorted over to Dr. Jan’s office. The curator had been listening intently to the whole story, hanging on Anne’s every word to the point she had forgotten to unlock the door.

“Wow, sounds like you’ve been through a lot.” She said, finally getting the door open. “I see why you’re in such a rush, but why the heist? Why didn’t you just ask me?”

“Uh…it made sense earlier.” Anne replied. “If I’m honest, I’m sort of running on empty right now.”

“She hasn’t slept in days.” Sprig clarified. Dr. Jan frowned.

“Well, that’s no good.” She said. “Here, let me show you something.” She walked over to one of the many filing cabinets in the room, stopping next to a small display dome that was filled with dirt. All five of them went to look at it, and Caroline took a mental note of the plaque that read ‘Not-So Clever Girl’ at the bottom.

“Back when I was younger, I would stay up for days on a dig.” Dr. Jan explained. “I couldn’t go home knowing we were so close. But one time, I got sloppy with a dynamite charge, and well…this was a triceratops.” She pointed at the pile of dirt and dust in the dome, and all five of them grimaced at the realization.

“So, what you’re saying is,” Anne started, “if I keep this up, I may do more harm than good.”

“Now you’re getting it.” Caroline replied, walking up and ruffling her hair. “Oh, and before I forget; Dr. Jan, if you need someone to cover the damages that were caused, I’d be more than happy to. It wouldn’t be a problem.” Dr. Jan blinked in surprise.

“Oh, don’t worry about that!” She replied. “The museum’s got an insurance policy and stored replicas for incidents like this. Here, I’ll make you a deal instead; I’ll keep your secret and help you research this artifact if you make sure that one gets home and gets some sleep.” She pointed at Anne as she spoke, causing a small smile to form on the teen’s face.

“Deal.” She replied. “Thanks, Dr. Jan. Real quick though, before we go-” the teen moved over to the desk, lowering herself down so she was eye level with the pot, “-do you have a blacklight? I wanna check and see if this baby has any secret codes on it.”

“Blacklight?” Dr. Jan echoed, getting up from her desk and putting a hand on Anne’s shoulder. “Kid, go sleep. Take a day off; the world will still be spinning tomorrow.” She guided the group out of her office, but Hop Pop’s face turned sour.

“Still not sold on this ‘spinning globe’ theory.” He mumbled. Caroline sharply turned her gaze to him.

“Hop Pop, I will make you walk home.”

#shy anon writes #amphibia #amphibia self-insert #anne boonchuy #amphibia au #amphibia caroline #amphibia anne #sprig plantar #amphibia oc #amphibia sprig #amphibia hop pop #amphibia polly #amphibia dr jan #polly plantar #dr jan #hop pop plantar #amphibia: the wild soul

[thebrotherssalvatore321]

Keeping Secrets Ch. 27

Keeping Secrets Masterlist

Pairings: Damon x Oc, Tyler x Oc for a hot minute, Elijah x Oc for a hotter minute, Klaus x Oc endgame. Warning: Mental and physical abuse in some chapters.

Alaric spoke to one of his buddies at Duke University and got Katie into a three week medical internship program for students who want to pursue a career in the medical field. While she was there, away from Mystic Falls and the vampire/werewolf craziness, she started to change. She felt free and more herself than she had in a long time. It only made her more eager and excited to get into college and out of Mystic Falls.

Her third day there they were given a tour of the nearby hospital’s neonatal unit and nursery. “Babies who are not held, nuzzled, and hugged enough can stop growing and if the situation lasts long enough, the baby may even die.” The instructor who was leading around the group of students told them where they stood in the middle of the room full of clear hospital bassinets and incubators, a few of which held babies. “Baby Smith here is a prime example.” She told them as she walked over to a bassinet with a baby inside wrapped up like a burrito in a white hospital blanket. “Her father signed all rights over before she was born and her mother passed away during the birth.”

“So she’s orphaned.” Katie was talking more to herself than the nurse, but she caught the nurse’s attention.

“Yes.” The instructor answered. “What is your name?”

“Katie.” She answered.

“Katie, would you like to hold her?” she asked, putting Katie on the spot. “She needs all the love she can get.” Katie just nodded and stepped through the group to the hospital bassinet. “Do you know how to hold her?”

“Yes, Ma’am.” Katie answered with a smile down at the baby as she gently slid her hand under her head and another under her back. As she picked up the tiny baby and moved her into the crook of her arm, making sure to support her head, it started crying. “Hey, sweetheart, no tears.” Katie told the baby softly, temporarily forgetting about the other people in the room. “I got you, it’s alright.” She started gently bouncing the baby, humming a lullaby and the baby’s cries quieted.

“You have the magic touch. Baby Smith usually cries the whole time she’s being held.” The instructor told her with an impressed look. “Does anyone else want to give it a try?” Katie almost didn’t want to let the baby go, but she knew she had too.

--That night—

~Dream~

Elijah opened the door of their cabin, letting Fiona, who was cradling a six month old baby in her arms, inside. “He is absolutely perfect.” Hannah gushed as she caught sight of the little boy’s dark complected face that was surrounded by a soft hand made blanket.

Elijah moved behind her and took a peek at the baby over her shoulder. “Hannah is right, as usual.” He told Fiona then looked at Hannah with a look that said he was kidding with her. “May I?” he asked with a motion to the baby.

“Of course.” Fiona told him then passed him the baby.

The sight of Elijah, a strong man that some would call a monster, holding something as small and fragile as a baby caused Hannah’s heart to skip a beat. Fiona saw the look on her friend’s face and nudged her shoulder with hers. “Do you need this?” she asked holding burp cloth out to her.

Hannah blushed and slapped it away. “Oh stop it.”

“You know,” Fiona started with a look between Elijah and Hannah as she sat down at the dining table, “Julie over at the inn is in bad health and looking for someone to take in her two year old if you two would like to consider it.”

“Oh, Fiona, I don’t…” Hanna drawled with an unsure look at Elijah.

“We will talk about it.” he told Fiona surprising the hell out of Hannah. Elijah’s eyes found Hannah’s before he looked back down at the baby in his arms and started talking to him in a soft voice that made Hannah smile.

~End of Dream~

The whole time she was gone she dreamt of Elijah.

TVDTVDTVD

Katie walked into the boarding house to find that, nothing had changed. That was until she walked into the parlor and saw Damon, covered in soap suds while wrapping a red throw blanket around his hips and Elena stood across from him covering her eyes. “What’s going on here?” she asked a little shocked at the scene.

“Elena doesn’t know how to knock.” Damon answered with a smirk. “I thought she was you.”

“He’s covered now. You can put your hand down.” Katie told Elena who peeked through her fingers then dropped her hand as Damon walked over and kissed Katie on the cheek.

“Sheriff Forbes gave us another location to check.” Elena told Damon as she pulled a slip of paper out of her pocket then held it out to him as Katie ducked under his arm and he wrapped it around her shoulders. “Memphis.”

“Another dead end, you mean?” he asked as he took it from her.

“You don’t know that.” Elena told him.

“You’re right, Elena. This could be the one.” Damon told her. “After almost two months this could be the clue that tells us Stefan’s alive and well and living in Graceland.”

“Fine. I’ll go by myself.” Elena took the paper from him and walked around him, but he whooshed in front of her and took the paper.

“And let Klaus know that you’re tracking him? He thinks you’re dead. Let’s keep it that way.” He told her as he looked at the paper.

“It’s a new lead, Damon.” Elena argued. “We haven’t had one in a while.”

“Okay. I’ll check it out. If I find anything, I’ll call you.” he told her then turned around and walked off leaving Katie alone with Elena.

“So, how was med. camp?” Elena asked with a sigh and an aggravated look on her face.

“Good. I’m going to be a pediatrician.” She answered getting a raised brow look from Elena.

“Really?” Elena said as she pulled the ponytail holder out of her hair making it fall around her shoulders.

“Yep.” She said with a shrug as she watched Elena gather her hair back up and tie it back up into a ponytail. “Are you excited about your birthday party tonight?”

“I don’t even want a party. Caroline is-”

“Being Caroline?” Katie asked with a smile and Elena nodded. “It’s happening, so the least you can do is make an appearance and eat a piece of the cake I’m making you.”

“Wait, you’re making the cake?” Elena asked as Katie headed into the kitchen to get to work.

“Yep, you said no gifts so I’m making you something you can’t say no to and it’s not technically a gift if everyone enjoys it.” she told her as she started looking around the kitchen for cake pans.

“Since when do you cook?” Elena asked as she sat down in one of the barstools.

“If you ask Elijah you might have to run to the store and buy a second one, but that was before these were invented.” She told her as she grabbed the chicken shaped timer and set in within arms reach. “So I guess the answer to your question would be since freshman year, home economics.” Katie said as she slammed a cabinet door shut. “How is it possible that there isn’t a single cake pan is this big ass kitchen?” she turned around to see Elena looking at her. “What?”

“Do you miss him?” she asked, making Katie give her a confused shake of her head. “Elijah. That’s at least the fiftieth time you’ve mentioned him this summer.”

“I’ve been at a medical camp half the summer and a lot of medical emergencies happened when we were together. It’s just drumming up old memories.” She answered truthfully as she tapped her ear and pointed up.

“Have you heard from Bonnie recently?” Elena asked, getting the hint that Katie wanted to change the subject.

“I talked to her this morning. She compared her father’s family to wet paint that never dries.” Katie answered as she pulled her car keys out of her pocket. “I have to go buy cake pans you wanna tag along or…”

“No, Caroline is on her way over with Tyler to decorate.” Elena answered so Katie waved over her shoulder and left.

TVDTVDTVD

Katie worked on the cake all day and was putting the finishing touches on it when people started showing up for the party. “Are you done with that yet?” Caroline asked as she walked into the kitchen to see Katie still slaving away over the cake.

Katie ignored her and finished writing Elena’s name in cursive with black icing. “Done.” She stood up and motioned to the cake with the hand that wasn’t holding the icing bag. “What do you think?”

Caroline walked around the white three tiered, topsy turvy cake covered with pink and black poke-a-dots glaring at it with her appraising eyes. “A professional could have done it better, but I think Elena will like it.”

“Okay, now that I have your seal of approval I’m going to go get dressed. Make sure no one messes with this please.” Katie didn’t wait to hear what Caroline had to say as she headed up to her room to change.

She was straightening the neckline of her white, spaghetti strap sundress with a scoop neck and a floral print of small red flowers, when Damon walked into her room. “I missed you.” he wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his head on her shoulder.

As Katie turned in his arms a hard box in his pocket brushed her leg. “What’s this?” she asked, tapping it with her finger.

“Elena’s birthday gift.” He answered as he stood up straight and pulled a small black box out of his pocket then opened it for her to see Elena’s necklace that Stefan had given her laying on a pad of white fluff. “Alaric found it in his apartment. I thought it might make her feel like she still has a piece of Stefan.”

“That’s sweet of you.” Katie thought out loud then walked over to her dresser and grabbed a pair of small silver hoop earrings off of it. “So how was the road trip?”

“Interesting.” He told her. “Stefan killed two people, but the interesting part is there was a secret werewolf holding cell under the house.” He didn’t give her a chance to say anything before he said, “I’ll meet you down at the party.” as he tucked the box back into his pocket and left the room. Katie couldn’t help letting her ears follow Damon up to Stefan’s room where Elena had been getting ready. “I got you something.” She heard him tell her. “I know I promised not to buy you anything. So don’t worry I didn’t pay for it.”

“You stole it?” Elena asked and Katie rolled her eyes.

“No.” Damon told her with a scoff. “I found it.”

“My necklace.” Elena said quietly. “I thought I’d never see it again.”

“Alaric found it in his loft. I figured you’d be happy to get it back.” he told her.

“I am happy.” Katie could hear the sad, but slightly happy tone in Elena’s voice. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Damon told her.

Katie left her bedroom just as she heard them walking by and a little jealousy shot through her when she saw Elena’s arm looped through Damon’s. He could see it on her face so he held his other arm out to her. She took it, but as soon as they were at the bottom of the stairs she let go and headed to the kitchen to make sure no one had messed with the cake. However when she got in the kitchen she found that it was gone.

Worried she headed to the parlor where she saw Elena and Caroline getting a cup of beer from the keg in the corner. “Caroline!” Katie called getting Caroline’s attention so as soon as she could Caroline and Elena headed over to her where she stood on the steps.

“I moved the cake to the laundry room.” she told her then offered her a cup of beer.

“Thank god.” Katie sighed as she took the cup from her. “Where’s Damon?”

“I think I saw him go outside with Alaric.” Elena answered.

“Happy birthday by the way.” Katie told Elena then looked at Caroline. “I’m gonna go see if Damon wants to dance.”

She found Damon and Alaric out back sitting on the brick half wall between the cement and the grass. “How was the internship at Duke?” Alaric asked when he saw her walk up. “Did you decide if med. school was right for you?”

“Yep. You’re looking at a future pediatrician.” She told him with a proud smile.

“My girl, the future doctor.” Damon said as he grabbed her hips and pulled her to stand between his knees as he pulled her in for a kiss.

“Hey, can you keep the p.d.a. to a minimum please?” Ric complained and Katie laughed as she moved to sit beside Damon on the brick wall.

Before she could ask Damon to dance Elena walked out, said “Drink”, grabbed the glass of bourbon out of Damon’s hand and took a large drink. “Jeremy’s smoking again.”

“Is his stash any good?” Damon asked, getting a slap on the arm from Katie.

“You’re an ass.” Elena told him with a pissed off look then turned her eyes to Alaric. “Talk to him, please. He looks up to you.” she put the glass in Damon’s hand spilling it everywhere.

“You’re screwed.” Damon told Alaric who just shook his head.

Katie nudged Damon with her shoulder to get his attention and he looked over at her. “Wanna dance?��

“Na, I’m good.” He told her then refilled his glass with the bottle that was sitting between him and Alaric.

Katie sighed in disappointment. “Okay then. I’m going to go get another beer.” She said more to herself than him as she hopped down off the wall and headed inside. She had gotten a refill and was headed to her room to change shoes because the ones she was wearing were impractically high heeled when she saw Caroline leaning on the wall watching Tyler and Slutty Sophie dancing as she drank straight from the bottle. “Would you two just hook up already and get it over with?” Katie asked, getting Caroline’s attention.

“He’s had all summer to do something about us.” Caroline told her. “Besides, it’s…complicated.”

“Okay,” Katie started as she walked up the steps to stand beside her and watch people dancing on the dance floor, “weren’t you the one that told him you didn’t want to go there after he kissed you?” Katie asked, getting a look from Caroline across her shoulder. “You are also the one that said and I quote, It’s easy. Boy likes girl, girl likes boy. Sex.”

Caroline laughed remembering that she told Elena the same thing when she first met Stefan. “That’s not exactly one of my best quotes.”

“Either way the ball is in your court now. Pick it up and take a shot.” Katie told her with a smile and a pat on her shoulder as she headed up to her room. She expected to find some random couple making out on her bed, but instead she found Stefan, sitting at her desk reading her journal. “Stefan?”

He looked up at her with an emotionless face then whooshed over to her and stabbed her in the neck with a vervain dart causing her body to grow weak. It affected her more than it should have considering she ran out of vervain two weeks into her trip and hadn’t had a chance to drink any since she got back. She stumbled to her bed and grabbed the post of the footboard, holding herself up. “Hello, Katie.”

“Why are you doing this?” She groaned.

“Because I need to send a clear message to my brother.” He told her as he pulled his phone out of his pocket.

“What message?” she asked quietly.

“He and Elena need to let me go.” He told her in a matter of fact tone “Just like you need to let him go.”

“What?” she asked with a weak frown.

“I thought I heard you kiss Elijah before we went to Klaus.” He grabbed her journal and held it up. “I was right. You need to let Damon go. The longer you draw this out the more it’s going to hurt him.” He told her as he pushed buttons on his phone. Before he could hit the call button Damon walked into the room and Stefan grabbed Katie, holding her back to his chest with his arm wrapped around her chest. “Hello brother.”

“Stefan.” Damon greeted him worriedly. “What did you do to her?”

“Vervain.” He answered as if it was obvious.

“I swear if you hurt her…” Damon threatened.

“Now that I have your attention.” Stefan said, making Damon look back at him. “I need you to stop following me. It’s causing some…problems.”

Katie, growing weaker and weaker as the vervain spread through her system, couldn’t hold her head up any longer and it fell limply back onto Stefan’s shoulder. “With who, Klaus? I’m supposed to care what he thinks?” Unlike Katie, Damon could see the stake in Stefan’s hand and knew that if he made even one move toward her Stefan would stab her and possibly kill her.

“What you’re supposed to do…is let me go.” Stefan answered as Katie’s eye’s slipped shut, slowly losing consciousness.

“I’ve got a birthday girl downstairs that isn’t going to let me do that.” Damon answered.

Stefan stabbed her in the side with the thick stake making her wake up and scream. “I said…let me go.” He let Katie fall to the floor then whooshed out the window.

Damon pulled the stake out of her side making her scream again before she passed out. Damon sighed and picked her up in his arms. He laid her on her bed and brushed her hair out of her face. He tore a clean page from the notebook on her desk, wrote her a note and left it on her bedside table in case she woke up and he wasn’t there. Reluctantly he headed down stairs to make sure Stefan hadn’t gotten to Elena.

When Katie woke up she saw the note. “Went to find Elena.” She read then tossed the paper to the side as she stood up and walked over to her door. The party was still going on, but as she pulled the door open Damon and Elena’s voice’s hit her ears and she stopped. “All summer, every single time I came to you with a lead you made me feel like an idiot for having hope.” She heard Elena saying.

“You were an idiot. We both were.” Damon told her as Katie made her way toward Damon’s room.

“Tell me what you know.” Elena demanded and Katie could tell just by the tone of her voice that she was really upset with him as she should be.

“I know you need to get back to your party, Elena.” He told her dismissively.

“We’re supposed to be in this together. Why didn’t you tell me you’ve been tracking Klaus’ victims?” Elena told him.

“Because they’re not Klaus’ victims, Elena, they’re Stefan’s!” Damon snapped at her.

“What?”

“He’s left a trail of body parts up and down the eastern seaboard.” Damon told her, his voice agitated.

“No. You’re wrong.”

“I’ve seen it happen before. He’s flipped the switch, to full-blown ripper!” Damon practically yelled at her and Katie wanted to step in, but she knew Elena needed to hear what he was telling her.

“Stop it Damon.”

“No you stop, Elena. Stop looking for him. Stop waiting for him to come home. Just stop!” instead of standing out in the hallway eavesdropping Katie went back to her room to wait for them to get done arguing. “Stefan’s gone and he’s not coming back. Not in your lifetime.”

Katie didn’t know where Damon went from there, but he didn’t come to her. So she headed down to the party that was almost over and started compelling people with the line, “you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here”.

She was picking up the plastic cups and trash that lay around when she heard Damon destroying Stefan’s room. Deciding that it would be best if she didn’t interrupt she kept cleaning. She was picking up the study when Damon found her. “What are you doin’?”

“Cleaning. This place is disgusting.” She shoved a plate with half a piece of cake on it into the black trash bag she held in her hand.

“That’s what maids and compulsion are for.” He took the trash bag out of her hand and tossed it to the floor. “Come shower with me. You still have blood on your shirt.” His hands found her hips and pulled her into him. “How long have you been awake?”

“Since you and Elena started fighting about you keeping secrets from her all summer.” She answered as she lifted her eyes to his. “I guess I really could use a shower.”

TVDTVDTVD

“Are you okay?” Katie’s eyes didn’t look at his, but at her hand that rested on his chest, knowing their conversations like these usually went better without eye contact. “I heard you in Stefan’s room earlier.”

“It’s been a long time since Stefan and I have been as close as we have been recently. I screwed everything up.” He answered.

“You didn’t screw everything up.” She told him as she trailed her fingers down the center dip of his abs. “It wasn’t your fault Tyler bit you. I never thanked you for saving him and Caroline. I know you mainly did it to try to stop the sacrifice, but it still means a lot.”

“You need to stop…just stop trying to make me feel better about this.” Damon snapped at her. “Stefan is gone because of me.”

“Stefan may be gone and he may be off the rails, but he is alive.” Katie sat up and looked at him with insistent, stubborn eyes. “Had you not done what you did not knowing you would get bit, my friends would be dead. Dead, Damon. It sucks that Elena may never see Stefan again, but one of these days you and I will and well go Lexi 2.0 on his ass as soon as we do.”

“Katie, he vervained you and staked you in the side.” Damon argued.

“But he didn’t kill me. If he was really as gone as he wants us to believe he would have killed me.” She argued. “I will help you get him back even if it means I get staked in the side a thousand times over. Hope isn’t lost, Damon, not yet.”

“Either way I’m done chasing him.” Damon’s words made Katie breathe in a deep breath then led it out as she nodded.

TVDTVDTVD

Katie woke up from another Elijah dream to the smell of burning paper and sat up in bed with a sigh as she saw Damon throwing his research on Klaus and Stefan into the lit fireplace. “Are you sure you want to do that?” Katie said as she grabbed one of his shirts out of his dresser and pulled it over her head. “Maybe you should sleep on it. You might change your mind and decide to not give up on him.”

“I have slept on it, Katie. Last night, nothing’s changed and nothing is going to change. So Let it go.” He told her, not looking at her.

“Okay.” She sighed as she held her hands up in surrender then headed to her room to get dressed.

TVDTVDTVD

She was sitting on the couch in the living room reading a book when Damon walked over and sat down next to her. When she didn’t look up from her book he started walking his fingers up her hand and over her arm. She smiled but didn’t look at him so he grabbed the book out of her hand and tossed it across the room. She laughed as he grabbed her by her shoulders and moved her to straddle his lap. “Are you bored?” she asked as he slid his hands up her sides. He hummed as she started unbuttoning his shirt then grabbed his sides and caught his lips in a kiss.

He had moved her around to lie on the couch when his phone started ringing. He ignored it, but as soon as it was done ringing it started up again. So he pulled it out of his back pocket with an aggravated groan and answered it. “Bad time Ric.” Damon told him as Katie started kissing his neck, not paying attention to Alaric. “She what?” Damon’s change in tone made her stop and pull back to look at his eyes, wide with worry and aggravation. “Yeah we’re headed your way.” Damon told him as he got off of Katie and hung up the phone. “Stefan and Klaus are in the Smoky Mountains. Elena talked Alaric into going with her to find Stefan.” he told her as he headed to the door.

“Is she insane?” Katie asked as she stood up and rushed after him.

“She has to be because I’m about two seconds away from locking her in a padded cell.” He said as he walked over to his car and pulled the door open as Katie opened the passenger door. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m going with you.” she told him as if it were obvious.

“No. Tonight is a full moon and we will be in werewolf country. It’s too dangerous.” He told her over the roof of the blue mustang.

“All the more reason for me to come with you.” she argued and he took a deep breath and let it out in a huff. “I’m not going to just sit here and not help make sure my friend gets her stupid ass back here in one piece.”

“Fine, just…don’t do anything stupid.” He told her and jerked his head for her to get in the car.

TVDTVDTVD

When they found Alaric and Elena halfway up the mountain, Damon, still pissed at Elena, pushed her off the ledge she was standing on into the water below. “Damon, Katie, what…? How are you even here?” Elena asked, soaked from head to toe as she stood waist deep in the muddy water.

“Thanks for the tip, brother.” Damon told Alaric over his shoulder.

“You sold me out.” Elena asked Alaric with her hands held out to the sides over the water.

“You think I’d take you to a mountain range of werewolves on a full moon without backup?” Alaric asked, getting a pissed look from Elena.

“Just get out of the water so we can go home.” Katie told her with an aggravated tone.

“No.” Elena answered making Katie sigh and pinch the bridge of her nose.

“Get out of the water, Elena.” Damon told her with more force.

“No. If I get out of the water you’re going to make me go home.” She stated the obvious as Katie dropped her hand from her face and rolled her eyes.

“Yes, because I’m not an idiot like you.” Damon told her as he propped his arm up on the tree beside him.

“Right now, you’re both acting like idiots.” Alaric spoke up, over their arguing.

“You gave up on him, Damon.” Elena told him standing her ground in the water.

“I didn’t give up on him, Elena.” Damon told her as he walked a little close to the small ledge. “I faced reality. Now get out of the water.”

“No!” Elena argued as she crossed her arms over her chest.

“What’s your big plan Elena?” Damon asked as he hopped down to her level. “You gonna walk into a campsite full of werewolves,” he started walking out into the water, “roast a marshmallow, and wait for Stefan to stop by?”

“My plan is to find him and help him.” Elena argued. Seeing as how this was going to take a while Katie walked over to a tree and leaned back against it, content to watch them argue. “This is the closest that we’ve been to him since he left. I’m not going home.”

“Klaus thinks you died when he broke the curse. That makes you safe.” Damon told her with a glare. “This?” he asked with his hands held out to the sides. “This is not safe.”

“I’m not leaving before we find him.” Elena told him.

“It’s a full moon tonight, Elena.” Damon told her really getting aggravated.

“Then we’ll find him before then.” Elena told him and as a moment of silence passed Katie realized something. Damon was actually listening to Elena and considering letting her stay. Normally Damon didn’t listen to anyone but himself, and on the rare occasion, Katie. “Damon, please.” Another moment passed Katie turned her eyes up at Alaric to see if he was noticing the same thing Katie was, that Elena had more power over Damon than they thought. He looked at her then down at Damon and Elena then back at her.

“Ok.” Damon caved. “Okay, but we are out of here before the moon is full and we’re wolf bait.”

“I promise.” Elena nodded.

“Are you freaking kidding me?” Katie asked, jealous anger bubbling to the surface. “The plan was to bring her home not go on a hike in werewolf territory. I’ve lived in Irish werewolf territory as a human and I gotta say I’m not liking it any more as a vampire that could die from a single nip.”

“If you don’t want to be here, go home.” Elena snapped at her.

“Unfortunately I’m just as stubborn and stupid as you are, so no. I’m not going home unless you’re coming too.”

“Not happening.” Elena told her stubbornly.

“Then let’s stop wasting daylight.” Alaric spoke up with a look between the two girls.

They had been walking in silence for an hour when Alaric, who was walking behind Damon and Elena spoke up again. “So you lived in Ireland?” Katie knew he was trying to break the tension and she decided to let him.

“In the 1800’s, yeah.” She nodded.

“Why didn’t you just move out of werewolf territory?” he asked just to keep her talking.

“Because I was a struggling single mother with nowhere else to go.” She answered. “They killed my sister one full moon. Bit my son another, and one would have ripped me to shreds on another. Elijah saved us both.” She saw Damon look back at her at the mention of Elijah. “Before Elijah showed up I wasn’t even aware werewolves were a thing. I just thought there was an overpopulation of wolves.”

“How you doin?” Damon asked Elena when he noticed she was getting winded.

“Fine.” She told him aggravatedly.

“You know I can help you.” he told her.

“No thanks.” She replied as they climbed a small hill.

“Just one little whoosh.” He told her as he moved his arms out in front of him like superman.

“Yeah, with my luck, you’d drop me.” Elena said with a groan as she took a large step up.

Alaric looked at Katie who was still walking beside him. “You’re not whooshing me.”

Katie laughed with a shake of her head at the thought of how awkward it would be to have to grab him and whoosh him that far. She loved him as a teacher and friend of friends, but it would have to be an emergency for that to happen.

They had been walking for what felt like forever when Alaric said, “We’ve got about a mile left.”

“And the sun isn’t far from setting.” Katie told them, getting antsy.

“I can see that, Katie.” Elena told her with an attitude. “The moon doesn’t reach its apex for a while. We have time.”

Damon’s walking slowed, sensing someone else around them so Katie opened her ears and heard someone’s shambled footsteps and beating heart. She was about to say something when a guy in jeans and a red flannel shirt over a grey t-shirt stepped out of the woods. He had blood on his face, dripping from his eyes and down his throat and his t-shirt. When he saw them he looked up and said, “Vampire”.

In a flash he grabbed Damon, spun him around and pinned him to a nearby tree. Damon was keeping him from biting him with his hand on his throat. In a flash Katie grabbed the werewolf guy around his waist and slammed him on the ground. She pinned him down with her body and placed her converse clad foot under his chin to keep him from biting her. “Someone wanna help me out here?” Katie asked, surprised that the werewolf seemed to be on the verge of overpowering her when most werewolves couldn’t take a vampire out of wolf form.

Alaric grabbed a wolfsbane dart out of his backpack and stuck the guy in the neck with it, weakening him enough that Katie could stand up, but she kept her foot on the guy's neck as Damon and Alaric started tying him up. “Let me guess. Hybrid.” Alaric said getting a look from all three of them. She only moved her foot when Damon tapped her ankle then picked the guy up from the ground. After using everything they had the guy was tied to a tree, but still managing to fight. Nothing seemed to be holding him down for long. “Alright, that’s the last of the vervain.” Rick said as he tied vervain soaked ropes around the guy. “We don’t have enough stuff to hold him. I don’t think we’re gonna make that ridge before the full moon.”

“If we can get him to talk we don’t have to.” Elena was reaching her hand out to the hybrid guy when he took in a deep breath, lifted his head and screamed out as his neck started twitching, the sickening sound of breaking bones filled the air around him.

“Is he turning?” Damon asked with a frown as he looked up at the setting sun.

“It’s impossible. It’s still daylight.” Elena said as she too turned her eyes up to the sky.

“Tell him that.” Alaric popped off.

“There aren’t supposed to be werewolves out here until the moon is full.” Elena said freaking out as Damon placed his hands on the hybrid’s shoulders keeping him pinned to the tree.

“Those ropes and us are nothing to a wolf, much less a hybrid with wolf and vampire strength.” Katie told Elena and Alaric as the hybrid leaned forward trying to bite Damon.

“We’ve got to get out of here.” Elena said and Katie breathed a small sigh of relief that Elena was starting to see the light on this whole adventure of hers. “Damon, we’ve gotta get out of these mountains, now!” she shoved Damon and he took his hands off of the hybrid as they all made a run for it.

Katie wished with everything in her that she could just whoosh away to safety and a dark part of her thought about it, but she couldn’t leave Elena and Alaric behind. So she stuck with the group. The sun had completely set when Elena tripped over a tree root and they all stopped and turned to look at her to see a wolf staring her down where she sat on the ground.

Katie’s eyes looked at the wolf, then Damon who knew what she was thinking just by looking at her eyes. Damon mouthed the word no at her. She was about to whistle at the wolf to get it’s attention before she ran when Damon said, “Here doggie, doggie.” and zipped away with the wolf on his trail.

“Son of a bitch, Damon.” Katie cursed him as Elena stood up.

“Come on. Let’s keep moving.” Alaric waved his hand for them to follow him.

“We can’t leave Damon.” Elena argued.

“He can handle himself. Let’s move.” Alaric argued.

Elena looked at Katie. “Go after him.”

“I can’t Elena. So let’s go before I throw you over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes and carry you down kicking and screaming.” Katie told her as she put her hand on Elena’s back and gave her a small push to get moving.

“I’m the reason he’s out here, Katie.” Elena argued.

“I’m the reason he’s out here.” Alaric snapped at them. “I told them where we were and I’m telling you to keep moving!” Elena hesitated, but started walking down the mountain.

Katie was leaning against Alaric’s car waiting for Damon, seriously considering going to find him when he came out of the woods and she whooshed over to him. “Are you okay, were you bit?” she asked, getting an aggravated look from him.

“I’m fine, Katie Cat.” He sighed as they started walking toward Alaric and Elena who were getting out of the car as they neared them.

“Damon, are you okay? Did you-” Elena asked as she rushed over to him.

“I’m fine, bite free. Get back in the car, please.” Damon told her as he put his hand on her chest and pushed her back.

“Can you just give me a minute to appreciate that you’re not dead?” she asked.

“I’ll give you ten seconds, 9, 8...” he grabbed her by her shoulders and turned her around. “Hey Ric, did you happen to see where I parked my car?” he pushed her toward her car.

“Damon, stop being such a caveman.” Elena complained as he opened her door and pushed her into the car then shut it behind her.

TVDTVDTVD

“What happened out there?” Katie asked as they headed into the boarding house, Katie walking behind Damon. “You haven’t said a word since we got in the car.” He turned and looked at her with wide pissed off eyes. “You’re mad at me. Why am I not surprised?”

“Probably because you know I’m pissed at you for even thinking about letting that wolf chase you. Do you have some sort of death wish?” he asked as he walked closer and closer to her. “If you keep putting yourself in harm's way you’re going to end up dead and you know it.”

“What I know,” she started as she took a step back, “is that my best friend, my family, was in danger and I will die before I let my family die knowing there was something I could have done to prevent it! If you call that a death wish then fine. I have a death wish!” Damon just stared at her.

“No. I refuse to let you get yourself killed just because you think you will come back in god knows how many years.” He told her with rage in his eyes.

Katie took a deep breath and held it as she placed her hands on her hips and looked down at the ornate rug that covered the floor. Those three words, I refuse to. They started ninety percent of the sentences that her grandfather had ever said to her and in that moment, in the tone of voice Damon was using with her, she got jerked back in time and heard her grandfather’s voice in her head. Then once again heard her first father’s voice telling her ‘you will do this’ or ‘you will not do that’. “Damon,” she let the breath out and looked up at him, “I have been told all my life, in both of my lives, what I can and can’t, will and will not do. Please don’t be another one of those people who refuse to let me do something. What I do with my life, my choices, are mine to make.”

Damon didn’t say a word as he walked to the front door, opened it, walked out and slammed it behind him causing Katie to jump and the pictures on the wall to shake. With a heavy sigh she dragged herself upstairs to her room and took a shower. When she was done she threw on some cheer shorts and a tank top then sat down at her desk and let her hair fall around her shoulders in loose wet ringlets. She grabbed a pen and opened her journal to a fresh page.

“I don’t know what I’m doing anymore. I love Damon, I do, but when he says things to me like he did tonight it makes me wonder if why I put up with it. When we first got together it was just for the fun of it. Then I saw how good of a person he could be and I fell for him. Even though I knew we wouldn’t last…I fell. He’s fun to be with, but here lately it feels more like we spend more time fighting to have a relationship than we do actually having one. When we’re not fighting about Katherine or Elijah we’re finding something else to argue about. I’ve never actually seen a functioning relationship, but I’m pretty damn sure this is not what one is supposed to be like.” She lifted the pen from the paper, debating on if she even wanted to write down what she was thinking and feeling. If she wrote it down, she’d have to accept it and it would become all too real. But she forced herself to put pen back to paper. “I’ve been dreaming about Elijah. I know it’s no longer the spell making me have dreams. It’s me. It’s my subconscious pushing me to be with him. To follow my heart and stop pushing back everything I feel for him. I love Damon. He has been with me through everything and we’ve been through so much, but it feels like we are slipping apart and I don’t know what to do.” Getting aggravated she threw the pen on the desk and slammed the journal shut.

She thought she heard something and she followed the sound to Damon’s room where he was getting out of the shower. “What?” Damon asked as he wrapped the towel around him.

“Where’d you go?” she asked timidly.

“I needed some fresh air.”

“You know I can tell when you’re lying to me right?” she asked as she leaned on the door frame.

“I went to Elena’s okay?” he told her then turned to his dresser and pulled the drawer open.

“Why didn’t you just tell me that in the first place?”

“Because I know how jealous of her you can be.” He told her in a choppy tone without making eye contact.

Katie bit her lips closed and nodded. “Okay. Goodnight I guess.” She went to her room, flipped off the light switch, slid into bed and closed her eyes. The image of Damon on his deathbed filled her mind as his words echoed through her head, “Thank you for choosing me. You have no idea how much that means to me.” Feeling the stabbing pain of her heart breaking, she rolled over and pressed her face into her pillow then covered her head with the second one she never used and sandwiched her head between then as she let the tears flow.

On any other night, Damon would have come to her in the middle of the night, claiming that he couldn’t sleep without her, but tonight…he didn’t.

#damon salvatore #damon salvatore fanfiction #damon salvatore x oc #damonxoc #tyler lockwood #tyler lockwood fanfiction #tyler lockwood x oc #tylerxoc #elijah mikaelson #elijah mikaelson fanfiction #elijah mikaelson x oc #elijahxoc #Klaus mikaelson #klaus mikaelson fanfiction #klaus mikaelson x oc #klausxoc #tvd #tvd fanfiction #the vampire diaries #the vampire diaries fanfiction

[itshouldnthappentoadogwalker]

WE’RE BACK!!!!  BIGGER (that’s probably due to my chocolate addiction!) AND BETTER (hopefully!).

It’s great to be back at work, after the Government lifted the restrictions in England regarding “professional” dog care, including dog walking and dog grooming.  It’s been over 2 months and I’ve cleaned my house from top to bottom and bottom to top, I’ve even been working in the garden!  However, I must admit I’ve been putting off tackling the attic and the garage, mostly because of the spiders!!  In particular, the attic looks like a set from “Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom!”.  Not only that, there are some big Ninja spiders up there, not the normal small house spiders, the type that don’t back off when you approach them, in fact they start coming towards you!!  I even considered rigging up a small hoist so I could get Boo up in the attic as back up but even I didn’t think that was fair on Boo but it was a close call. 

On my very first walk back at work with Ben and Kali last week I was stopped by my friend Eddie who asked where I’d been over the last couple of months?  I replied, “nowhere”.  He looked puzzled and asked me how I’d managed to get out of the country?  I was puzzled his remark,  “Eddie, did you hear what I said?  I’ve been nowhere!”.  Then the penny dropped and a dim light bulb went off in my brain!!  Eddie was obviously trying to be funny!!  “Okay buddy, what are you getting at?”. I could see by his expression he was pleased with himself!  Eddie  replied, “Well, if you’d tried harder at school and paid attention in the geography lessons you’d know, like I do, that there is in fact a place called Nowhere and it’s located in Oklahoma in the good old US of A”.  Had to be in the States, I thought!  “Okay Eddie, I’ll give you that one!!”.  But not wanting to be outdone, I asked Eddie (who happens to be Scottish) “If he’d heard of the Scotsman who’d been giving away £50 notes to the English, Welsh and Irish?”  Eddie replied, “No”, I simply looked at him and said, “Me neither!” and walked off.  I reckon that was a one all draw!!

This installment is really to let all my followers (by that, I mean my youngest daughter Tor) know that I’m back working with Caroline and that we’re both looking forward to walking and looking all the dogs that are put into our cares.  Whilst I’ve been cleaning the house, working in the garden and fighting spiders Caroline has been really busy and productive, not only has she completed and passed a number of “dog care” courses, including one on dog psychology.  Caroline believes this particular course may prove very useful when owners actually go back to work and their dogs are left on their own, after almost 3 months were the dogs have become used to their owners being in the house 24/7.  She also took delivery of a grooming pod last week.  This is a purposes built pod for dog grooming, it even has a built in bath and hairdryer and is big enough to live in!!  It had to be put in situ by crane.  This entailed the pod being lifted over Caroline’s house and dropped (not literally) into the back garden.  

Caroline has already used the new pod, as there are a lot of dogs in Northleach who desperately need their coats grooming, almost as many as ladies who need to go to the hairdressers and gentlemen too!!! 

As you’d expect a lot of people have been walking their own dogs during the lockdown, as a result of the restrictions placed on dog walkers and the spare time they found themselves with.  It was great to see so many dogs out with their owners.  Dogs are like children in a number of ways!  Like children, the most valuable things you can give your pet are your love and your time.  However, you can see from this photo that some dog owners haven’t quite mastered the “art” of dog walking.  Let’s just call the guy Pete, for namesake and his dog, Rolo.  Obviously, Pete went out with Rolo with the intention of having an enjoyable walk for both of them but look carefully at the photo, the head collar is around Pete’s head and the lead dangling aimlessly in front of him!  It just cries out, “Help!”, like an unfolding nightmare or as I like to describe it, “Dog Owner in Distress!” or DOD for short.  

But don’t worry Pete, help in always close at hand and you can call us to get help for yourself and Rolo anytime.  So if you feel you or your dog need help, you know where we are.  Actually, I think I might have been a DOD myself on one of my walks with Boo but you’ll have to be the judge of that!  Boo and I were out on a walk over the weekend when we stopped on a bridge to take in the scenery, have a rest and a drink and for Boo to have the odd biscuit or 2.  I poured Boo’s water into his bowl and gave him a biscuit.  I really should have seen this coming but Boo was caught in 2 minds, he was very thirsty but he also wanted the biscuit!  He decided to try and have both!  But all he succeeded in doing was drop the biscuit into the water.  Boo was not to be beaten and before I could offer assistance he tried to get the biscuit out of the bowl using his paw but in doing so, he not only turned the bowl over but he knocked my walking stick into the river.  A small group of people were watching us with some interest.  Fortunately, I managed to scramble down the bank and retrieve my stick without getting wet.  Now back on the bridge, I topped up Boo’s bowl with water but after a couple slurps Boo’s interest turned to the remaining biscuits in the rucksack.  Boo was so determined to get to them that he got his head and front paws stuck in the bag and because he couldn’t see where he was going he almost fell off the bridge and into the river!!  I was shouting at Boo “down”, “down Boo!!”  There was panic in my voice and just when I thought he was going to fall off the bridge he went down but he was still stuck in rucksack.  The group of people were now laughing at his antics, so I decided to beat a hasty retreat!  I pulled Boo out of the rucksack and picked up his bowl of water to throw it into the river.  However, not being a sea fairing man (otherwise I would have joined the Royal Navy) I forget to take note which way the wind was blowing!!  I throw the water into the air and watched as it blew straight back over me, cold water with a hint of dog saliva and soggy biscuit crumbs.  Having typed this story I think this was a DOD!! 

Now I’d like to finish off my reminding all dog walkers of the need to take responsibility for their dog and its’ actions, particularly at this time of year when there are a lot of sheep and cows in the field with their young.  It is very important that you keep your dog on a lead when you’re waling through a field with these animals.  A farmer is quite within his legal rights to shoot a dog that is worrying or actually chasing his stock.  There are plenty of signs on gates reminding owners to keep their dog under control and on a lead, so there’s no defence saying to the farmer, “this is the first time it’s happened!” or “I didn’t know I had to keep my dog on a lead!”.  I’m afraid that if you’re actually talking to a farmer it’s probably too late for his animals or your dog!.  Not only that, please respect the farmer’s land, keep to the footpaths, bridleways and rights of way.  Please lock all the gates after you have gone through them, even if there are no animals in the field.  I always take a plastic shopping bag with me, to pick up any bottles or cans I find along the way.  The vast majority of people do take their rubbish home but a small mindless minority leave it scattered over the fields, which is dangerous to animals and humans alike.  A cow can easily smash a bottle in the grass and injure itself, in the same way that a child running across the field can fall on the broken glass.  It’s just common sense really, take your rubbish home.  Right, that’s my “soap box” address over.

Now, have you heard the one about the 3 legged dog that walked into a Wild West bar and said, “I’m looking for the man who shot my paw!”.

I hope you enjoyed this installment.  The next is entitled, “I Counted Them Out And I Counted Them All Back”.

[the-revisionist]

The Argentinian Maneuver, chapter 2

Note: There is some angst in this chapter, but no specific mention of abuse (sexual, physical, or otherwise). After this chapter it will be better, promise. 

ii. Entertaining Mrs. Greenwood

As follows the current pattern of her interior life, Gillian usually finds herself depressed and discouraged after these dinners with Caroline—even more so when she dwells on the ludicrous banality of being a middle-aged woman acting like a infatuated teenaged cow. Her ideal conception of a midlife crisis had involved a Porsche and cabana boys, and not this. She attempts convincing herself that it’s hopeless to even fantasize about anything beyond a friendship and that she should just leave it. She’s obviously not Caroline’s type anyway and besides that, Caroline needs a genuinely good, useful, worthwhile partner—not someone who ticks off all the boxes on an audition form for The X Factor: brain-dead trailer trash, drunken slapper, damaged goods. Olga may not appear the ideal long-term mate either, but at least she has a seemingly endless supply of wine, charm, and rather flawless skin. 

She had foolishly hung her hopes on the basis of one meager incident anyway, which occurred the day after she informed her father and Celia that Robbie was gone and they were getting divorced. One evening after supper she drove over to Caroline’s house to make the announcement and found their parents sitting expectantly in the kitchen awaiting her arrival, as if anticipating some sort of highly entertaining one-woman theater show—like she’s Carrie Fisher, bless, but without the talent and even worse taste in men. 

Caroline, already aware of breakup, also lingered in the kitchen. She leaned against the counter while nibbling digestives and with the same hawkish anticipation of impending emotional, intellectual, and psychological carnage that she displayed while watching University Challenge.

  The pressure was all a bit much and Gillian attempted calming herself by clasping her hands like a host at an awards show. “I’m glad you’re all here.” 

“You asked us to be here,” Celia reminded her. “And besides, we live here.”

“What’s wrong?” Alan blurted. “Are you ill?”

“I’m fine, Dad.” 

“Is Raff ill? Is Calam all right?” 

“No,” Gillian said irritably, “no one is sick—”

Celia barely restrained a sigh. “Is this going to take long, dear? Our little theater group is having a conference call later this evening to discuss our fall production. We may do Joe Orton!”

Caroline squinted at her. “Mum, have you ever read Joe Orton?” 

  “I know he’s controversial, but really, I’m quite open-minded.” 

Alan exhaled and made a show of looking around the room.

“What? I am!” 

Pinching her brow, Gillian was a second away from shouty swearing when Caroline intervened. “All right,” she said in her best headmistress tone while gently shoving Gillian into a chair, “Gillian needs to talk with you about something, so let’s all settle down and listen to her.” 

She gnawed on her fingernails, realized that they kind of hurt when she did that and maybe she should stop doing that not just for now but maybe forefuckingever, then Caroline provided the happy distraction of a cuppa. She slurped the tea quickly, took a breath, and plowed through: “Okay, I wanted to tell you—I mean, I’m all right, really, but, um, it’s Robbie and I—well, it’s, it’s over. We’re getting divorced and he’s moving out, leaving. Well, actually, he’s, he’s left already. He’s emigrating. To Canada.”

The moment did not have the huge dramatic impact she anticipated, probably because they knew as well as anyone that things were not right, had never right between her and Robbie since the day they married. And even before then. 

“Oh,” Celia said. She sipped her tea. 

Alan, however, managed a bit more surprise, as well as the additional bonus of genuine concern. “But why? Did something happen?” 

“No, not really, it’s just, you know, a build-up of a bunch of things.” 

Alan persisted. “Like what?” 

“Like, like—” Helpless, she glanced back at Caroline, who gave an exaggerated, what can I do, you never listen to me and as a result you’re in the shit now and I hereby retire as your unofficial life coach shrug.

“It’s—he fell in love with someone else.” Gillian blurted out the lie.

Then Caroline mimed blowing her brains out by pointing two fingers at her own head and dropping the imaginary hammer of her thumb.

     Alan looked gobsmacked but unfortunately Celia was now interested in the soap opera unfolding before her: “Really?” she squealed. 

“Yeah, see, that’s, that’s why he’s moving to Canada. She lives there. She’s law enforcement too—it’s how they met. On a chat board for um, coppers and the like. She’s, ah, a Canadian Mountie. Her name is Molson—Gladys Molson.” 

Increasingly alarmed, Caroline frantically whisked her hand across her throat and mouthed shut it down at Gillian. 

“How did you find out?” Celia asked. 

Alas, it was too late and Gillian was off to the races. “On computer, he was, he was, dumb enough to leave his email open one day and I saw it. Bloody eejit. They were having, you know, sex online—cybersex. I confronted him and he admitted it. He swore he would dump her and that we would try to work on things, and we did—we tried. I mean, we really, really worked so very, very hard on it—the relationship. I tried but I felt humiliated. I mean, he, he—” Gillian lowered her voice. “—he wanted me to do certain things that reminded him of her.” 

Celia leaned forward. Alan recoiled. Caroline ate more biscuits.

“Like, he, he—he wanted me dress up as a Mountie. And God help me, I did. The whole bit. The hat, the red uni. Spurs—yeah. Spurs. Spurs and everything.”

Celia murmured, “That’s quite a bit of information, Gillian.” Alan made a dyspeptic sound of distress. Caroline frowned into the void of the empty biscuit box. 

“But it was hopeless, just hopeless.” Gillian took a deep breath. “So I told him to go! Go to Saskatchewan to be with her.” She flung out an arm in what she hoped was the general direction of Saskatchewan. “’Cause I thought it were no good, keeping him here, hanging on to him, us both being unhappy. I kept thinking, you know, of um—you know, what Sting says.” She paused dramatically. 

“‘De do do do, de da da da?’” offered Caroline from the peanut gallery. 

Gillian glared at her. “If you love someone,” she intoned slowly, “set them free.” A dramatic downward head turn—immaculately copied from Mary Astor playing the femme fatale in The Maltese Falcon and conveying shame, vulnerability, and the desire for an Oscar—signaled the end of the performance.

There was no applause, but Celia patted her hand and said, “You did the right thing, love.”

Scowling, Alan folded his arms. “Why, that bloody tosser!” 

This seemed the final and most appropriate word on the matter. 

Thirty seconds of silence in mourning of Gillian’s now-terminated marriage followed, before Caroline offered more tea to everyone. Gillian wanted either a good stiff drink or the opportunity to roll around in a padded room and scream until hoarse, but dutifully she drank her tea while her father and Celia commenced discussion of matters Canadian. 

“Do Mounties still wear spurs? Ride horses and such?” Alan mused.

“I don’t know,” replied Celia, “but it’s got me in mind of that old song—do you know the one I’m thinking of, love? The one about spurs, one of those cowboy fellas sang it—”

“Oh, I know which one you mean—think it was Gene Autry!”

Then to Gillian’s consummate horror, they both started to sing it:

I’ve got spurs that jingle jangle jingle As I go ridin’ merrily along And they sing, ‘Oh ain’t you glad you’re single?’ And that song ain’t so very far from wrong

By the time they decided to go play it on the piano in the other room, Gillian was face down on the kitchen table groaning and yearning for imminent death, whiskey, or both. 

“Think you’ll get a BAFTA for that performance, Dame Gillian. At least the worst is over now,” Caroline said. 

“You’ve got a bloody fucking geriatric musical going on in your house and you think the worst is over?”

“Kind of a catchy tune, don’t you think? It could be your theme song. But guess what—I’ve got a prezzie for you.” Caroline opened the refrigerator and started rummaging around in it, all while singing along tunelessly—oh ain’t you glad you’re single?—to the accompaniment of the voices and piano from the living room. As the digging intensified she bent over and not that Gillian needed confirmation—well yes, she desperately needed it, so very very much—but this simple gesture granted ample, curvy corroboration that Caroline’s ass looked as stunning in jeans as it did in a tight posh bitch skirt.

God hates me, Gillian thought. “Oh yes, you do have something for me all right.” As she said this aloud, she amended her previous thought to, God hates me and I’m a pillock.

“What?” 

“Gesundheit.”  

“Shit, I thought I threw out that yogurt—wait, wait, here we go, ah!” Caroline pulled a bottle out of the fridge and triumphantly slammed it on the table in front of Gillian. “Check it!”

It was a bottle of Dom Perignon, glistening and enchanted, glowing and throbbing like a bounty of trapped fireflies and sweating as gloriously as David Beckham in an ad campaign where he’s playing footy in his underwear and most likely high off his tits because he has realized he has no singular purpose in life anymore except to reflect upon the psychological damage he inflicted upon his children because of their daft names. 

“Told Olga we needed something good to celebrate your divorce,” Caroline said. “Pretty sweet, eh?”  

   “It is.” Gillian nodded at the bottle, which she now wanted to marry more than she ever wanted to marry an actual living person in her entire life. “What depraved sex act did you have to do for that?” she asked Caroline.  She did not really want to know. Well, she did. But she didn’t. Well. 

“Oh, nothing too traumatic,” Caroline replied breezily. “Just dressed up as a Canadian Mountie. Spurs and everything! I hear it’s all the rage now.” 

Gillian’s mouth twitched. She drummed the table. “Left m’self wide open for that, didn’t I?”

“You did indeed. Your imagination is truly frightening at times.” Caroline pulled out champagne flutes from a cupboard. “Come on, grab the bottle, let’s go outside. Hurry—my mother can smell champagne at twenty paces.” 

“It’s cold out.”

“Oh listen to you, super-butch farmer whining about the cold.” Caroline grabbed her hand and tugged and again Gillian thought of fireflies, except this time she imagined them wreaking glowing havoc in her stomach, in her veins, and setting forth on a fluttery mission to besiege the chambers of her heart and she supposed Caroline was right, she had a ridiculous imagination. 

Outside they popped the cork with happy shouts and the champagne froth glinted silver-pale against the deep blue scrim of evening. Gillian greedily gulped from the bottle while Caroline went inside to fetch her something warm to wear. She brought out some huge, bright, puffy-ish jacket, obviously Lawrence’s because it reeked of teenage boy. After two glasses, and while comically swaddled in the ridiculous coat, Gillian lay down on the picnic table and stared up at the stars. Caroline was saying something about the stars and how the night sky seemed brighter here than in Harrogate, how she liked bringing Flora out here to look at the stars sometimes, and how doing so was sometimes the best part of her day—and here Gillian was all too aware of holding her breath, as if a plume of air would rend the fabric of moment beyond repair, but even in her happiness she was too acutely aware of that last bit from Caroline, that sometimes the day’s end was its best part. 

“Is work all right?” she asked with characteristic bluntness. 

“Yeah. It’s fine.” Fine was never fine with Caroline, but she did not interrupt. “It’s a challenge. I need that. But hey, I think I have street cred at last.”

Gillian sputtered with laughter. “S-street cred?”

“Yeah. Street cred.”

“You go on a drug run with your students?”

“No, just told one of them to fuck off. Felt very satisfying. If I’d still been at Sulgrave I would’ve been sacked on the spot.” 

“Street cred. Streeeeet cred.” 

“Yeah.” This said somewhat defensively. 

“Caz?”

“What?”

A giggle as frothily potent as the champagne just consumed bubbled through Gillian. “The thing about street cred is, is, the second you say ‘street cred’—you don’t fucking have any.” 

By the time she finished the sentence she was laughing so hard she nearly rolled off the picnic table and would have if not for Caroline, doubled over with laughter, leaning against her and blocking the descent. 

Then the inevitable Celia bellow from a doorway only prolonged the laughing fit: “What on earth are you two doing out there? It’s freezing out!”

It was freezing, and once inside a decision was made to consume more alcohol, this time a Chablis and Caroline went on about the notes of citrus and pear and its minerality and salinity and that pretty much put a nail in the coffin of street cred.  Driving home was then completely out of the question, so Caroline offered her the guest room—or “the tomb,” as Celia called it, because it was so relentlessly cold and drab—but she fell asleep alone on the couch after everyone had gone to bed and while watching the version of Wuthering Heights with Lawrence Olivier and Merle Oberon.  She conked out just after Edgar and Cathy married, the last thing she thought before surrendering to sleep being poor David Niven. 

In the morning she woke to the sound of snoring, which immediately brought homicidal thoughts of Robbie to mind until she remembered that he was gone, gone, blessedly gone for good—and realized she was sleeping in the embrace of a certain snoring someone who felt soft and strong and smelled nice and who obviously had breasts of the nice, pillowy variety. A stiff tilt of her head and a sleepy squint verified that yes, not only was she on Caroline’s couch, but also on Caroline. And without the faintest idea of how the hell that happened. 

Untangling herself gracefully and without waking her hostess would be an impossibility. Particularly when a panic attack set in. Gillian twitched, squirmed, and flailed as she tried to slip out of Caroline’s arms. Caroline awoke with a snort and muttered “hobnobs,” then grunted in pain as Gillian then elbowed her in the stomach; Gillian flailed and squirmed some more, nearly lost her balance, and as she blindly reached for support accidentally latched onto Caroline’s face and narrowly avoided poking a very lovely blue eye. But even half asleep Caroline steadied her until she breathlessly clambered to the platonic lifeboat at the other end of the sofa. 

“Jesus Christ.” Caroline sat up, groaned, and rubbed at her back. She wore quite nice pajamas, a navy blue jacquard print with tiny white diamond shapes that screamed Harrods. Bleary-eyed, she stared at Gillian. “That was like trying to take a cat to the vet.”  

“Sorry. S-sorry.” Gillian scrubbed at her face vigorously; it was too early in the morning for compulsive apology. “Why—why’re you out here?”

“Well, it is my sofa in my house,” Caroline joked. 

Gillian said nothing; she was far too busy scavenging the rubbish bin of memory looking for a scrap of explanation as to why this horrible wonderful thing, waking up in Caroline’s arms, had occurred. 

“Couldn’t sleep, I came out to see if you were still watching that movie, because I have to say, Merle Oberon was pretty sexy back then.” 

Caroline always provided too much detail in her lies. Also, during the part of the film that Caroline had watched last night, she referred to Merle-Oberon-as-Cathy as a “pea-brained twat.” 

Disbelieving and wary, Gillian shook her head. 

Caroline smothered a yawn with her hand. She flopped back into the couch’s embrace. “You don’t remember?” she asked gently. 

“Fuck sakes, Caroline, if I remembered, I wouldn’t be asking you, would I?” she snarled, and then felt so ashamed that this time she could not even muster up the obligatory but worthless sorry. 

Caroline chose not to respond in kind. They sat on the couch quietly for a long minute in which Gillian decided the best thing might be to slink out the door right now and apologize later. 

“You were crying,” Caroline finally said. 

At this—confirmation of her nightmares bleeding uncontrollably into the lives of others—Gillian curled into herself. 

“First I thought it was Flora. You know how it is when they’re that age. Always puts you on edge a bit, turns you into a light sleeper. But it wasn’t her I was hearing. It was you.” On the pretense of stretching again, Caroline managed to scoot closer to her; Gillian realized there was no other safe retreat from physical closeness at this point except, perhaps, another country. 

“I wasn’t sure if you were awake or still dreaming,” Caroline continued, “they say you have to be careful about not waking someone out of a nightmare or a similar state like that. So I just sat with you, and you quieted down eventually, and, well, I guess must have fallen asleep out here.” 

While holding me. All night long. You beautiful liar. 

The rarified fugue state of Gillian’s nightmares contained details so deeply buried that she thinks even her subconscious doesn’t know what the hell is going on. Months ago after a particularly bad one she woke to find Robbie sitting on the edge of the bed, gawping at her with the helpless, almost childlike incomprehension of a man with no true demons, no formidable ghosts. This lack of depth became even more apparent to her whenever he attempted comfort afterward; his embrace smothered her so that she felt as if she were reliving it, this thing she could not quite remember, because it elicited that same feeling—a blind, terrorizing free-fall into suffocation.  

“I don’t always remember them,” Gillian replied slowly. “Details and such. And when I’ve been drinking—” She forced a rough laugh. “—barely remember having them. It becomes all part of the hangover then, dry mouth, head hurting.” 

“Does your head hurt now?” 

Caroline was now slouched even further down and ever so close. Their shoulders touched. They were burrowed together into the safety of the overstuffed couch like soldiers in a foxhole, the drumfire of the past blazing over their heads and at enough of a remove that the ugliness got lost and took a circuitous path leading to this time and place, this house, this woman and, if only briefly and amazingly, had contorted itself into confounding beauty somewhere along the way. 

“N-no,” Gillian stammered.

“Good.” She reached out and brushed her knuckles against Gillian’s cheek. 

Gillian’s eyelids fluttered and that mere touch sent her mind spiraling off in a million directions—sunshine, fireworks, fields of daisies, fields of puppies and kittens, kaleidoscopes, rainbows, champagne fountains, no wait, gin fountains, no wait, rivers of wine and pizzas as big as flying saucers coming to take over the earth, and oh God if I get this insane over something like this, imagine, just imagine, what actual kissing would do? 

Caroline tilted her head and gazed at her quite intently. If it had been anyone else in the world looking at her like that, Gillian would have interpreted the look as longing or actual desire, or at least something tantamount to these states. But it’s Caroline, who is as elegantly complex as the chemical equations that she has admired and studied all her life. Caroline, who lost great happiness but gained a child in the cruelest bargain of her life. Caroline, who deserves far better than anything Gillian can offer. 

Then clamor from the kitchen—the whistle of the kettle, rattling dishes, Celia’s singsong teasing and Flora’s delighted laugh—as the house woke up around them, and the sunlight along the wall tilted at windmills of clouds and time. 

  Caroline looked away quickly but rose from the sofa languidly. Gillian watched as she stood, arched upward on the balls of her bare feet, and tucked her hands into the small of her stiff back. She rolled her shoulders and shook her shaggy, uncombed hair with such force that Gillian smiled and thought of a sheep dog. In morning light and sans makeup the fine lines around Caroline’s eyes and mouth gained delicate prominence and Celia was right, she’d put on some weight recently, but who the fuck cared, she was beautiful, always beautiful, more beautiful and more important to Gillian than anything else and she wanted nothing more than to be lucky enough to wake up to the sight of this woman every morning for the rest of her life. But all she had was this morning. Even allowing time’s prohibitive schemes, it still seemed an extravagance she did not deserve.  

  “Breakfast?” she said.

“I’ll help,” Gillian offered. She too got up. 

With immaculate aim and mocking glare, Caroline fixed her index finger upon the target of Gillian’s sternum and pressed, and it brought to Gillian’s infatuated mind that bloody old ABC song: Shoot that poison arrow through my heart. Tenderly she pushed and pushed that poison arrow until Gillian got the message and flopped into the heavenly bog of the sofa once more. 

“Not today,” Caroline said. “You’re a guest.” She grabbed the remote from the end table and tossed it into Gillian’s lap. “All that is required of you this morning is watching cartoons with Flora.” 

It sounded perfect, of course, but Gillian played along and groused about it. “If that is some sort of commentary on my intellectual capabilities—”

Caroline smiled and she was undone.

“—then you’re dead on as usual.”

#ltih #are we cool vincent #the one with the good champagne #Caroline x Gillian

[thebrotherssalvatore321]

Keeping Secrets Ch. 16

Keeping Secrets Masterlist

Pairings: Damonxoc, Tylerxoc, Elijahxoc, Klausxoc endgame. Warning: Mentions of mental and physical abuse.

Katie stood in her bedroom looking at herself in the full length mirror. Her dark red hair was pinned in a sideswiped style, the nicest thing about her look for her date tonight. Tyler had told her to wear something casual. So she simply wore distressed dark wash skinny jeans, red flats and a black long sleeved Henley shirt.

She was applying a thin layer of clear lip gloss when her text chime dinged and she looked at her phone to see a message from Tyler, “Change of plans. Meet me at the Grill.”

Katie texted back, “Okay, leaving now.” Then tossed her lip gloss in her bag, grabbed her keys and headed out.

When she pulled up to the grill she noticed it looked busy for a Sunday night, but she brushed it off and headed inside to meet Tyler. As soon as she stepped inside everyone yelled “Happy birthday!” as they blew horns, twirled noise makers and popped of party poppers. Katie yelped and jumped back, completely taken off guard causing everyone to laugh.

“Sorry, I got roped in at the last minute.” Tyler said with a shrug as he stepped out of the crowd. “I blame them.” He said with a point at Bonnie, Caroline and Elena standing a few feet away from them with smiles on their faces.

“Hey, don’t blame us.” Bonnie laughed and held her hands up in surrender

“Yeah, we know you hate surprises.” Caroline added.

“We were just going to give you your gifts at school tomorrow like we always do.” Elena said with a guilty look.

“Then whose idea was it?” Katie asked with a look around.

“That would be me.” Damon spoke up as he strutted out of the crowd with a cocky smirk on his face. “I wasn’t aware that you hated surprises.” he told her as he walked over to her. When Damon got too close for comfort, Tyler wrapped his arm around Katie’s waist. Damon looking at Katie, cut his eyes over at Tyler “Give me a minute with the birthday girl?”

Tyler looked at Katie, silently asking her if she wanted to be left alone with him. “I’ll just be a minute.” she said awkwardly and he kissed her then walked off. When she was out of sight she looked up at Damon.

“Happy birthday.” He told her with a smile as he showed her a metal clasp envelop.

“What is that?” she asked as she tried to take it from him, but he jerked it up out of her reach.

“Your birthday present.” He told her with a look that told her it was the obvious answer.

“Yeah I realize that, but what’s in it?” she asked getting playfully snippy with him.

“It’s a surprise that you’re going to have to wait till the end of the night for.” He told her as he brought it back down to her level. “So I’m going to ask you not to bring your boyfriend home with you tonight, because I want to be with you when you open it.” he told her as he held the envelop out to her. She started to take it, but he pulled it back. “Deal?”

“Deal.” She told him and he handed her the envelope. “I’ll go put it in the car and I promise I won’t peak at it.”

When she got in from putting the envelop in her car she met up with her friends where they stood at a table with a few gifts on it. “Open them.” Caroline told her cheerfully then announced to the room that it was time for gifts.

“I’m going to murder Damon.” Katie mumbled under her breath as the people that had brought gifts gathered around, which wasn’t a lot of people. Most of the people in the grill, making it so packed were just there for the party atmosphere, not because they knew or cared about Katie.

“This one’s from us.” Elena told her as she picked up a white, oblong box with a teal bow tied around it.

Katie untied the bow and took the lid off the box revealing a bracelet with three different colored star charms hanging on the chain. “Best friends are like stars. You may not always see them, but they’re always there.” She read the inscription on the underside of the lid out loud. “Aw, you guys…” she got engulfed in a group hug. “Thank you.” she told them as they let go of her then turned back to the gift table as Bonnie walked off to join the onlookers and Elena moved to stand with Stefan and watch her open the rest of her gifts.

Caroline picked up a square brown box with a navy blue bow tied around it. “That’s from me.” Tyler spoke up and walked over to stand beside her while she opened it. “I was going to give it to you on our date tonight but then this happened.” He said with a motion to the room.

“It defiantly smells good.” Katie comment as she untied the bow then lifted the flaps of the box the revealing 10 thin bars of soap. She took out the card and read, “Enjoy these little leftovers of our handmade all natural soaps.” She smiled at Tyler. “Who told you I like hand made soap?” he pointed to Caroline who just shrugged. She looked back at Tyler and pressed a lingering kiss to his lips. “Thank you.”

“One more.” Caroline told Katie, as she picked up a thin, rectangle, unwrapped white gift box. “Who’s this one from?” Caroline asked looking on the box for any indication of who it was from, but she found nothing. “Okay, well, here’s this one.” She shrugged and handed the box to Katie.

She popped open the scotch tape that was holding the box closed and took the lid off. White glittery tissue paper covered the gift so she lifted it up revealing a framed picture of Katie, Tyler, Caroline, Matt, Elena, Stefan and Bonnie that had been taken at the Christmas festival. The picture was framed in a thick, silver, metal frame with rhinestones inset into it. “I really wish I knew who this was from.” Katie said feeling an overwhelming amount of love for everyone in the picture who were also watching her open her gifts. None of them seemed to give any indication of who it was from. So Katie set the photo back in the box and stacked the other, smaller gift boxes on top of it.

Seeing that she was about to take the gifts to her car to get them out of the way, Damon stepped up and took them from her. “I’ve got that, you enjoy the party. Pretty sure Caroline’s about to shove cake down your throat.” He said with a nod at Caroline.

She was bringing out a cake with cobalt blue icing flowers on the corners of it. Caroline lit the candles and everyone in the restaurant started singing happy birthday. Katie blew out the candles setting off another round of horns, noisemakers and party poppers.

While everyone else ate cake Katie and Tyler danced. They took a break to eat dinner with her friends then when the night was over Tyler walked with her to her car, kissed her good night then they went their separate ways. Katie wished that she hadn’t told Damon that she wouldn’t bring Tyler home with her, she had been looking forward to spending time with him, but she had promised. So she went home alone.

When she walked into her room and set her gifts down on her bed. She was about to open the envelope Damon had given her when she heard a knock on her window. Damon was standing on her roof, outside her window. Katie walked over and opened it. “Since when do you knock?”

“You’ll see. Now, invite me in so we can open your gift.” he said then smirked at her.

“Okay…” she drawled. “Damon Salvatore will you please get your ass inside my house so that I may open my birthday gift?” she asked with sarcasm dripping from her words.

“Thank you smart ass.” He told her as he ducked inside then sat down on her bed. He patted the spot next to him so she sat down. He watched her lift up the metal tabs of the clasp then pull out a stack of papers. “There was a reason I didn’t want you to open this at the party.” He warned her as she looked at the first piece of paper.

“You got the house put in my name?” she asked with a look from the paper to him.

“Yep.” He popped the p at the end of the word. “You are officially legally able to kick your grand father out of your house.”

“I think I’ll keep him around for a little while. He pays some of the bills that I can’t.” she told him with a frown.

“Keep going.” He motioned to the papers.

As she flipped through copies of news articles from New Orleans and reports from private investigators she started realizing what this was and why Damon hadn’t wanted her to look at it at the party. “Oh my god.” Katie covered her mouth at the image of her mother’s dead body. A wooden stake was sticking out of her chest, her skin blue with protruding veins. As she continued through the paper work she found out that her mothers body had been shipped to the Mystic Falls mortuary where it was incinerated and disposed of. “All it says about my father is that he’s still missing and has an empty grave in the Mystic Falls cemetery.” She pointed out with a confused look at Damon.

He took the envelope from her and looked inside then pulled out a color photo of her father exiting a brightly lit bar in New Orleans. Damon pointed at the time stamp in the bottom corner. “I took this myself.”

“My father’s still alive?” she asked with a wide eyes smile.

“Yes and no.” he answered glumly making Katie’s smile fade and her heart sink.

“He’s a vampire.” She said more than asked and he nodded. “You obviously got close enough to snap this picture. Did you talk to him?”

“I didn’t let him know I knew you.” he said with a frown. “I casually mentioned that I hated making myself stay away from my human family.” He explained. “I got him drunk enough that he mentioned his daughter, Scarlett.”

A tear slipped down her cheek at the memory of her father chasing her down the hall as a little girl, calling her Scarlett as she ran away screaming and giggling. “He always called me his Scarlett.”

“Katie he…” Damon started reluctantly as she wiped the tear and put on a strong face, “He made it clear that he would never have anything to do with you. He said you were better off without him. That it wasn’t safe for you to have a vampire in your life and he hoped you never learned about us.”

Katie’s brows creased as she struggled to keep confused, hurt tears from falling. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” she asked.

“I don’t know.” Damon told her with a pained look.

She stood up, placing her hand over the pendant that hung around her neck as she started pacing the room. “How…how could he just…” she was losing the battle with her tears, taking beep breaths in a futile attempt to calm herself. “How could he leave me here?” she could no longer talk or pace as tears flooded her face and sobs shook her shoulders.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Damon stood up and placed his hand on her shoulder, “come here.” She wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her face into the crook of his neck. He threaded his fingers into her hair, cupping the back of her head as he shushed her soothingly. After a few minutes he scooped her up and laid her on her bed. “Be right back.” he told her quietly then went to her bathroom and grabbed a soft wash rag and wet it. When he walked back into her room he saw that she had sat up and was leaning against the head board with her knees pulled up. Her arms rested across them. “Didn’t mean to make you cry on your birthday.” He told her as he handed her the rag and sat down beside her.

“It’s my party. I’ll cry if I want to.” She joked flatly as she took off her glasses and wiped her face. Damon smiled a little and rubbed the small of her back. Katie tilted her head back, resting in against the headboard behind her and draped the rag over her face. When the rag got warm, she took it off of her face and tossed it into the clothes basket across the room. Damon looked down at her as she leaned over resting her head on his shoulder. “It’s always felt like there was this huge blank space in my life, not knowing if my parents were alive or lying dead in a ditch somewhere…” As she spoke Damon moved them around so they were lying across the bed. “I used to tell myself that they got dragged into some cult or mafia madness and couldn’t come back for me because they had been placed in witness protection.” She snuggled into his side placing her hand on the expensive black button up shirt that covered his chest. He slid his slender hand over hers holding it in place. “It’s a stupid story I know, but now I don’t have to come up with stories. I don’t know the whole true one, but I at least know the ending.” She tilted her head up to look him in the eyes. “Thank you for filling in some of that blank.”

He gave her a small smile as he cupped her cheek in his hand. “You’re welcome.” When she laid her head back down on his shoulder he kissed the top of her head and wrapped his arms around her. Things fell quiet as they both got lost in thought and the feel of each other. So Katie was confused when Damon said, “It was Stefan by the way.”

“What?” she asked with a frown up at him.

“The famed picture. It was from Stefan.” He elaborated. “He didn’t want to upset his jealous little girlfriend or your boyfriend.”

“Huh, never would’ve guessed it was from him.” She said as she sat up, pulled the box out from under the others that sat on the foot of her bed and pulled the photo out.

Damon sat up and looked at it over her shoulder. “Gotta admit, I’m kinda bummed I’m not in that picture.” Katie looked at him over her shoulder with a frown. “What?”

I just realized that I don’t have a single picture of us.” She stated.

“Here.” Damon grabbed her phone, pulled up the camera then leaned in and pressed his cheek to hers as he snapped a picture. She laughed as he propped his chin up on her shoulder and took another one. She was turning to kiss him on the cheek and he was about to kiss her on hers when their lips brushed. They both paused and looked into each others eyes for a second. Katie’s slipped closed as he closed the few centimeters of space between their lips causing her heart to race.

Without meaning to Damon snapped a picture then the phone slipped from his hand to her bed as he wrapped both of his arms around her waist. All too soon the fog cleared from Katie’s mind and she looked away from Damon, breaking the kiss. “Damon I-”

“You love Tyler.” He finished for her and she nodded. “I know. I’d have to be blind to not see it.”

“I’m sorry.” She whispered, her eyes getting misty as she closed them and pressed her forehead to his. “You told me to stop stringing you along and choose. I choose him. I choose normal and simple.”

“You’re happy. Don’t be sorry for that Katie Cat.” He whispered then pulled his head back to see her open her eyes and give him a look that asked if he was okay. “I’m not going to go murder anyone if that’s what that worried look is about.” She just rolled her eyes and gave him another look that told him to be serious. “I know how to admit defeat.”

“Who are you trying to fool?” she asked sarcastically.

“Okay so I’m a selfish, sore loser.” He admitted and she cracked a small smile. “But I love you. So I’ll settle for friends.” He said as he tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. Her eyes slipped closed when he brushed his thumb over her cheek bone and she heard the whoosh of him leaving through the window. She opened her eyes to see the curtains blowing in the wind.

She picked up her phone to see the picture of them kissing on the screen. An ache shot through her chest at the sight she had never seen before. Knowing she couldn’t keep it on her phone for Tyler to possibly see she emailed it to herself, saved it to her computer then deleted it from her phone.

~Eight Days Later~

She stood in the dressing room of the founder’s hall taking the rollers out of her hair while wearing a corset and puffy skirt to fill out the white and green dress that Scarlett O'hara wore to the party at the beginning of Gone with the Wind. After she finished her hair complete with green bows that matched the dress on each side of her head where her hair was pinned up to look like Scarlett's, she put on the dress and headed outside.

As she headed to the float her eyes found Damon and Stefan staring at Elena in her time era dress making Katie realize that they both were probably feeling like they had been jerked back in time. She ignored them and was walking past them when she heard Damon call out in an Irish accent, "Katie Scarlett!" She found herself smiling as she stopped and turned around to see him walking toward her. "You took the theme and your name a little far don’t you think?”

"I've always wanted an excuse to wear this dress." She said with a smile down at her outfit.

"The 1800s really suit you." He told her as he walked closer and adjusted one of the green bows making her roll her eyes. "Seriously if you were alive back then every man within a fifty mile radius would've been fighting to be your beau."

"And would you have been one of them?" She asked being coy.

"Absolutely." He told her with a cocky smile.

"Liar." She told him making his smile fall. "You wouldn't have seen me for Katherine standing in the way." She walked around him to Tyler who was walking over to them. "Hey handsome." She told him as she looked him up and down taking in his grey soldier’s uniform for the float for the history class. "You know, all ladies love a man in uniform."

"Oh yeah?" He asked as he leaned down and kissed her.

"Are you sure you can't be on the founders court float with me?" She asked with a frown.

"You know I can't. Mr. Saltzman's grading all of us on it." He said with a shake of his head. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine. The guy that escorted Caroline for the pageant has agreed to stand up there with me." She sighed.

"Guys, get on your floats." Tyler’s mom told them as she walked by.

"Yes ma'am." Katie sighed then kissed Tyler one more time before she headed to the float where Caroline was standing higher than the rest of them. Elena and Stefan stood on the pillar below Caroline while Katie and her substitute escort stood one down from them.

TVDTVDTVD

When the parade was over Katie went to the founder’s hall and changed into street clothes then met up with Tyler and enjoyed the festival. Eventually when they had their fill of cotton candy they went to the grill and started playing pool.

"You know, one of these days I'm going to beat you." Katie said after she stood up from failing to sink a ball.

Tyler was going to say something back, but he saw Katie make a face and place her hand over her mouth. “Are you okay?” he asked, but she shook her head no and made a run for the bathroom.

Katie barely made it into a stall before her dinner came back up. With a groan she stood up and flushed the toilet. "What the hell was that about?" She thought to herself trying to figure out what was wrong with her. She felt fine until a waitress walked by with a sizzling plate of fajitas and the smell wafted in her face. She loved fajitas. Why would the smell make her sick? "Oh my god." The fact that mother nature was two weeks late hit her like a punch to the gut and she placed her hand over her lower stomach. "Okay, Katie, get it together. Don’t freak out, it could be nothing. Having a lot of sex can throw off a period and there is a stomach bug going around."

She was washing her hands, when Caroline came in. "Hey, Tyler sent me in to check on you."

"I'm fine." Katie said, putting on a fake, but believable smile as she turned off the water and grabbed some paper towels. "Pretty sure I just ate too much cotton candy." She lied and tossed the paper towel into the trash as they walked out of the bathroom. Caroline went back to Matt and Katie met Tyler at the pool tables.

"Hey are you okay?" Tyler asked as he slid his hand around her waist.

"Yeah, I just got a little sick to my stomach." She said as she waved him off. "I'm fine now." She gave him a smile and grabbed her pool stick.

Tyler got quiet when he saw his dad walking over. "What are you doing here? I told you to go home." His father asked.

"I decided not to." Tyler told him with a defiant tone.

"If I tell you to do something you do it!" The mayor snapped while grabbing Tyler's arm, hard.

"Get off me." Tyler jerked his arm from his father.

"Mayor, is everything okay?" Caroline asked as she rushed over with Matt not far behind.

The mayor looked at Caroline and Matt then looked at his son. While he wasn't looking at her, Caroline mouthed, "Are you okay?" to Katie who nodded.

"Please, Tyler, I need you to go home. Now. Take you're friends with you." He told Tyler softer and calmer now that he knew he had an audience.

"Why, what's the problem?" Katie asked confused.

"I can't explain." He said as he looked around at the four of them. "But all of you need to get home. Please."

"Yeah, okay." Tyler told him skeptically.

"Here, take my car." Tyler's dad placed his keys in Tyler's hand. "It’s out back." Tyler nodded and placed his hand on Katie's back. "Caroline, Matt, go with them." Caroline and Matt nodded and grabbed their things.

They were on their way to Tyler's house with Tyler driving, Caroline in the front passenger seat because she hated sitting in the back of a car and Matt and Katie in the back when Tyler asked, "What the hell is that?"

"What the hell is what?" Katie asked scooting to the middle to see out the front glass, thinking Tyler saw something in the road.

"That noise." Tyler answered then grabbed his head with both hands, groaning in unbearable pain.

"Caroline the wheel!" Matt yelled from beside Katie.

Caroline grabbed the wheel and tried to get control of the increasingly speeding car, but she failed and the car crashed into a brick wall. Katie saw the fleeting image of Caroline's screaming face as she flew past her from the back seat and crashed into the front glass. That was the last image she saw before her world turned black, like someone flipped a light switch.

TVDTVDTVD

Tyler and Matt were sitting in the waiting room when Sheriff Forbes came out of the double doors that Katie and Caroline had disappeared through on stretchers.

"What's happening? Is Caroline alright?" Matt asked as he stood up and Tyler followed.

"Um, there was some internal bleeding. They're taking her into surgery." She answered, shaken up.

"What else did they say? Is she going to be okay?" Matt asked.

"They're going to do everything they can." She answered knowing it was hospital slang for it doesn't look too good.

"What about Katie?" Tyler asked and Sheriff Forbes eyes started to get misty. "Please don't tell me she's..." Tyler asked as his eyes watered, but he didn't cry.

"She's...alive. She's suffered a traumatic brain injury and her..." she paused to get her voice under control. "Her neck is broken. If she wakes up there’s a chance she’ll be paralyzed."

"Oh god..." Tyler sank down into the chair not knowing what else to do.

"Tyler, have you talked to your mom?" Sheriff Forbs asked.

"I left her a message telling her I was here." He answered in shock.

"You need to call her." She told him, hating that he was going to possibly lose his dad and his girlfriend on the same night.

"What is it?" Tyler asked.

"It’s your dad." Sheriff Forbs answered sounding like she was going to break down.

TVDTVDTVD

"Bonnie." Elena called as she found her friend pacing the hospital hallway. "How are they?"

"Caroline's out of surgery, but she’s weak. They don’t know if she's going to make it." Bonnie answered. "Katie's unconscious. They won’t know anything for sure until she wakes up, but they don't think she will."

Damon, who was watching them, felt an invisible dagger stab into his chest.

"What?" Elena asked as she placed her hand on her stomach and Bonnie pulled her in for a hug. "Isn't there something you could do, like, a...a spell or something?" Elena asked as they let go of each other.

"She doesn't know how." Damon spoke up as he walked over to them. "Do you?"

"No." Bonnie answered. "I don’t."

"No you don’t." Damon said walking closer. "Because it took Emily years to learn a spell like that."

"Yeah well, I can take down a vampire. That spell was easy to learn." Bonnie bit back.

Damon turned to Elena. "I can give them some blood."

"No, no way." Elena argued.

"Just enough to heal them. They will be safe in the hospital, it will be out of her system in a day... they'll be better, Elena." Damon argued back.

"It's too risky. I can't agree to that." Elena stood her ground.

"I was only asking on the behalf of Caroline. You can't stop me from giving Katie my blood." Damon told her with one of his pissed off smirks.

"Do it." Bonnie spoke up making the two of them look at her like she was crazy given her stance on vampires. "This is Caroline and Katie. Okay? We can't let them die." She looked at Damon. "Do it."

"If I do this for them, you and me call a truce?" Damon asked.

"No, but you'll do it anyway...for Katie." Bonnie told him with a knowing glare.

TVDTVDTVD

Damon walked into Katie's ICU room, his eyes landed on her bruised and badly cut up face and body lying motionless in the bed. A ventilator tube was sticking out of her mouth, a machine making her chest raise and fall. "Katie Cat..." he sighed, resting his hand on her forehead brushing her red waves out of her face.

He was biting his wrist when he heard it, a small rapidly beating heart that made him freeze in place. "Oh...no..." he groaned and grabbed the rails of the bed leaning over it, placing his forehead on her stomach, the small heartbeat growing louder. “How could you be so stupid?”

With a pain twisted face he bit his wrist and held it over her face, dripping his blood into her mouth.

TVDTVDTVD

Katie woke up in the middle of the night gagging on the tube that was down her throat. Panicking, her heart rate spiked causing the monitor to start beeping, altering the nurse. Tears ran down her cheeks as they put a shot of something in her arm and her world turned black again.

The next time she woke up, she found the tube gone. The only thing attached to her now was the I.V. in her arm. Feeling like she had swallowed shards of glass, she pressed her fingertips to her neck. A passing nurse saw her moving and stopped in her tracks. "Ma'am." She called with raspy words. The nurse walked in. "Can you tell me what happened?"

"Um, let me go get your doctor." the nurse told her with an odd look.

Before Katie knew it a doctor and two nurses came in and started throwing around the words miracle, broken neck and severe brain trauma. "Can someone please tell me what is going on?" She asked getting mad at being talked at and about as if she wasn't there.

The doctor told the nurses to leave then sat down on the stool in the room and rolled over to sit near her head. "We can't figure out how you have healed." He started.

"Healed from what?" She asked as he handed her a Styrofoam cup if ice chips.

"What's the last thing you remember?" He asked for a second time.

"I told you. I was in a car with my friends and the driver thought he saw something in the road so I scooted to the middle of the back seat to see what he was talking about." She explained, agitated with him.

"That car crashed and you went through the windshield." He explained and Katie's jaw slacked. "Just 12 hours ago. You suffered a broken neck and a very traumatic brain injury. You shouldn't even be able to move your head right now."

"You're telling me I'm supposed to be...what, paralyzed?" Katie asked, confused.

"Yes, but you're not and we don’t know why or how." He told her with an astonished head shake.

Katie's eyes went wide with realization. The only explanation to her recovery was that Damon or Stefan had given her blood. "What about my friends?"

"The boys in the car with you were fine, but your friend Caroline is experiencing the same miraculous recovery as you." He told her with a confused shake of his head. "For right now were running blood tests."

"So when can I get up and walk around?" She asked already getting tired of being in the bed.

"Just take it easy for now. Okay?" he asked as he patted her arm.

"Okay, where are my personal belongings?" She asked looking around for her things as she realized her necklace was no longer on her neck.

"I'll get a nurse to bring them to you." He told her as he stood up. "Do you have any other questions before I leave?"

"Yes." She told him with a dry mouth and a weight on her chest. "I think I'm pregnant."

"Okay. We'll do a blood test to check." He told her with a nod then left.

A few minutes later a nurse walked in with a white plastic bag that contained her phone, purse and jewelry. She explained that the clothes she had been wearing were disposed of. She was putting her necklace back on when Bonnie walked in with a smile. "Hey." She said as she walked in and gave Katie a hug. "How are you?" She asked as she let her go.

"Apparently my recovery is miraculous." Katie told her with an eye roll and Bonnie gave her a knowing smile. "So who did it?" Katie asked quietly.

"Damon." Bonnie answered as tears pooled in her eyes.

"Aw come on. Don't get mushy on me Bonnie Bennett." Katie told her with a playful warning tone.

"I'm sorry..." Bonnie said as she wiped a tear. "It's just...we almost lost you."

"Well you didn't. I'm fine. Sore, but fine." She said as she put a finger on each side of Bonnie's lips and pushed up the corners. Bonnie smacked her hand away but smiled.

"There's something you need to know." Bonnie said, her smile falling.

"What?" Katie drawled.

"Tyler's dad died." She told her solemnly.

"How?" Katie asked.

Bonnie told her about the Gilbert device that the mayor and John used to incapacitate the vampires in Mystic Falls. She also told her about how she lied about removing the spell from the device and without meaning too caused the death of the mayor and the near death of two of her best friends along with Damon and Stefan. "Are you mad?" Bonnie asked, ashamed of herself.

"No, Bonnie, I'm not mad." Katie told her with a shake of her head. "I know how you feel about vampires, I get it."

"I'm so sorry."

"Bon...it’s fine...stop apologizing." Katie told her with a look that said she was going to punch her if didn't stop.

"Okay, okay." Bonnie told her in surrender. "I'm going to go check on Caroline." She told her and gave her another hug. "Call me if you need anything."

A few hours later her doctor knocked on the door then let himself inside. "Well, Miss Finnegan, all of you're blood work came back perfectly normal." He told her as he stopped to stand beside her bed.

"And the pregnancy test?" She asked reluctantly not really wanting to know the answer.

"You are pregnant." His words took her breath away. "We're going to have an ultrasound done to figure out how far along you are and make sure everything is okay. Do you have any questions or concerns?"

Katie could only manage to shake her head no. As soon as the doctor closed the door behind him she broke. Tears flooded her cheeks. She felt like a complete and total idiot. How could she, responsible and on top of her future Katie, screw up so tremendously?

She was staring off into space, quiet tears slipping down her cheeks, when a nurse walked in, pulling an ultrasound machine on wheels behind her. "Hey, I'm here to..." she stopped seeing the tears on Katie's face. "Are you okay?"

"No, but I will be eventually." Katie answered then pulled her hospital gown up, exposing her lower stomach while her waist down was covered by the tan hospital blanket. "Let's just get this over with."

The ultrasound tech. checked her wrist band and asked for her birth date then started the ultrasound. It took a few minutes, but eventually Katie saw a little black circle with a little flickering grey circle floating around in it. "It looks like you're at about three weeks.” Katie heard the nurse, but all she could do was stare at the little flicker on the small screen. After watching her take some measurements then wipe the clear gel off of her stomach the tech. turned to her and handed her a print out of the ultrasound. “Is there anything I can get you?” she asked.

“Can you let someone know that I won’t be accepting visitors?” she asked and the tech nodded.

TVDTVDTVD

That night, Katie was woken up when someone jerked the pillow out from under her head. Her eyes landed on Elena with her pillow in her hands and an odd smile on her face. "Elena what the hell?"

"Nope, try again." She told her with a tone she'd never heard from her friend before.

When she noticed that Elena’s vervain necklace was missing puzzle pieces in her brain snapped into place. "Katherine?"

"In the flesh." She told her with a sway of her body. "I have a message for Damon."

"Then tell him yourself." She told her with a glare.

With a whoosh Katherine tossed the pillow aside and grabbed Katie's head in her hands. Katie tried to get her hands off of her but she was no match for Katherine. "Tell him I said, you're welcome." With a twitch of her hands Katie's neck snapped, killing her instantly.

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