09. Cold As Ice

As it snowed down on them, Damon with the help of Kol carried Lily's casket towards the grave they had compelled some people to dig for them near the Salvatore's crypt.

"Well, this is it?" Damon asked, seeing Nora, Valerie and Aria walk over to them, all dressed in their black funeral coats, "This is the whole funeral party?", Damon looked at Nora, "Where's your girlfriend?".

Nora glared at Damon, "Not your concern".

"Trouble in paradise?" Damon teased.

"Can say the same thing about you and Aria" Nora snapped, making the two soulmates glance at each other, ever since their argument neither one of them has talked to each other, both of them were too stubborn to apologise, and neither thought what they said or did was wrong.

"What about Julian?" Kol asked curiously, "Where the bloody hell is he?".

"I haven't heard from either of them in days" Nora informed, "I sided with Lily, or did you forget?".

"It's just us, Beau couldn't bring himself to say goodbye" Valerie said.

"Ah, I'm sure he just couldn't find the right words to say" Damon mocked, making Aria shake her head at him, "All right, let's get 'er done".

"Stop" Aria said, before Damon and Kol could put Lily in her grave, "We can't just bury her like this, we should say something first".

"No, we shouldn't" Damon said.

"Yes, we should" Nora retorted, stepping forward and looking at Lily's casket, "When I was a girl, I loved my mother deeply, she loved me too, until she found out about my little siphoning problem, if she only knew that was just one of the things that made me different, when she turned her back on me, I thought I'd never find that kind of love again, you proved me wrong, thank you Lily".

"Next" Damon said, as Nora stepped back.

This time Valerie stepped forward, "You knew me at my brightest and my darkest" she started, "No matter what my mood, you always saw the light in me", Valerie touched the casket, "I'll miss you Lily", once Valerie was done, she looked at Damon, "We'll leave you alone".

Damon waved as Nora and Valerie walked away together, once they were gone, Aria turned to Damon, "Life is giving you a second chance Damon" she said, "You didn't deliver your mother's eulogy back then, but you can do it now".

Damon looked at Aria, "Good point" he said, "How's this?", Damon cleared his throat, "Lily, you were a terrible mother when you were alive, and you were a terrible mother when you were dead", Damon tapped the casket, he then turned to Aria, "You're right, that does feel good".

Aria glared at Damon, "I sincerely hope you never hear kids say the same thing to you when they grow up Damon" she snapped.

Damon glared at Aria, "My kids will never say that to me because I will be better, I will do better by them then Lily did by me" he snapped back.

"How?" Aria asked, "By being bitter? By teaching them how to hold on to their hatred instead of letting go?", Aria shook her head in frustration, she then turned to Kol, "I'll see you later".

"Ri, wait hold on" Kol started.

"I have nothing left to say to him" Aria interrupted.

Aria gave Damon one last glance and then walked away.

***

"I can't believe Rebekah and Caroline convinced me to help them in this toy drive instead of joining you" Aria complained into the phone, looking at the piles of gifts infront of her.

"First of all, Rebekah and Caroline didn't convince you, that was done by yourself because you didn't want to face Damon because you children are playing the silent game" Kol said from the other side.

"I am not a child" Aria said.

"Second of all, didn't you once tell me you liked doing all that stuff at Christmas?" Kol asked, ignoring Aria's words.

"I love doing all this but it's kind of hard to enjoy this when you have five very naughty toddlers running around the place" Aria said, keeping an eye on the kids, who were all running around the place with their tiny toddler legs.

"Are you sure you don't want me to be there?" Kol asked, "I'm pretty good with your kids".

Aria sighed, "You're the best with my kids but you can't come here".

"Why not?" Kol asked.

"Because you're chasing after an jerk who should have dead a long time ago" Aria replied, "You are needed more there then here".

Kol sighed, "You know this whole thing would have been done so much earlier if your fiance stopped going into every bar we pass by" he complained.

"It's a pub crawl Kol, that's the whole point" Damon said, walking behind Kol, "Don't be such a Grinch, or you'll get coal in your stocking".

Aria rolled her eyes hearing Damon's words, "And that is my que to hang up, be safe and don't worry I'll give your love to the triplets".

"And I'll give your love to Damon" Kol teased.

"No need, I'm still mad at him" Aria said, hanging up on a amused Kol.

"You won't guess what I just caught Rebekah doing" Caroline said, rushing over to her sister.

"What?" Aria asked confused.

"She was mixing a blood bar with a jar of marshmallow fluff in our room" Caroline replied.

"Ah, the good old pregnancy cravings have started" Aria realised.

"Yeap" Caroline said, picking Hope up in her arms, who had run over to her mother as soon as she saw her.

"Where's Rebekah now?" Aria asked curiously, smiling at Hope.

"At a birthing class with Alaric" Caroline replied.

"You signed them up?" Aria asked, a knowing look on her face.

"Of course I did, we don't know how Rebekah's going to give birth" Caroline said, "They need to be prepared".

"I'm pretty sure she will give birth the same way we did" Aria said, as Asher ran and crashed into her legs, "Woah, hey there buddy" Aria greeted, smiling at her son, she picked him up in her arms and kissed his cheek, making him giggle

"This is going to be the best Christmas ever!" Caroline said excitedly, "It's our kids first Christmas together, I am so excited".

Aria chuckled, "Me too" she said, smiling at her son, "This Christmas is going to be special".

A sad smile suddenly formed on Caroline's face, "I just wish mom was here to see this" she whispered.

Aria gave Caroline a small smile, feeling as sad as her, "She might not physically be here, but I know her and my mom are watching over all us together".

"You know, in all this, I'm glad that after all these year, mom and Amelia mom finally get to be together" Caroline said.

"Yeah me too, I know they both must have missed each other a lot" Aria said, making Caroline nod in agreement.

***

"Hey, hey, hey, no hitting each other" Aria said, running over to her sons who had somehow managed to rip some bobbles from the bottom of Christmas tree and were now hitting each other with it, "I should have just sent you two with Damon and Kol" Aria whispered, taking the bobbles from Asher and Alec, who in return started smiling at their mother, "Of course you find this funny, you two are exactly like your father you know, all of you find troubling me extremely fun", Asher and Alec in return clapped their hands and started giggling making Aria chuckle.

"You look tired".

Aria turned around and saw Nora standing behind her, "Nora?" she asked confused, "I did not expect to see you anytime soon, what are you even doing here?".

"Uh, I have a toy for a tot" Nora replied, she then looked at Asher and Alec, "Where's your daughter?".

"Somewhere with Hope and Jayden giving Caroline a panic attack" Aria replied, making Nora chuckle, "Also, you didn't have to bring anything, I mean, no offense, but no one expects you to give something".

"I know" Nora said, "Actually, it was a passive-aggressive gift for when Mary Louise came crawling back to me but that hasn't happened, so".

Aria nodded in understanding, after making sure Alec and Asher were okay, she stood up and took the gift from Nora's hands, "Well, either way, I think this is a really nice gesture".

"I know" Nora simply said, as Aria walked over to place Nora's donation by the other gifts, "By the way, how will the tot know the toy is from me?".

"They won't" Aria replied, "The kids are going to think all these presents came from Santa himself".

"That's weird" Nora commented.

"This whole thing is about bringing a smile on the faces of the kids who aren't as fortunate as us, and if believing in Santa for one day will do that, then why the hell not?" Aria said, making Nora nod in understanding, "Anyways, is there anything else I can help you with?".

"Actually, yes" Nora said, "I want to be more involved, see I recently enrolled in classes, and--".

"Wait, hold up" Aria interrupted, "You're going to school here, at Whitmore? Why would you do that?".

"Because I was curious about college and, well, Mary Louise hated the idea, so" Nora replied.

"So you're going to school out of spite?" Aria asked, slightly amused.

"Look, you and Caroline clearly need help" Nora said, looking around the chaotic place, courtesy of the triplets and the twins.

Aria narrowed her eyes at Nora, "And how do I know that this isn't some kind of evil plan of yours?" she asked.

"Well you don't know that" Nora replied, making Aria give her a pointed look, "But come on, are you really going to let your suspicion get in the way of a little charity?", someone walked over to the two girls and handed Aria a bunch of gifts, "And I'm evil they say".

Aria looked at Nora, trying really hard not to laugh, she then placed the pile of gifts into Nora's arms, "Congratulations then, you are in charge of the collection booth, the far one", Aria grabbed a Santa hat and placed it over Nora's head, "Don't mess up Nora, otherwise my sister will kill you, and I don't mean figuratively, I mean literally".

Nora nodded and happily walked over to the collection booth, while a confused Caroline walked over to her sister.

"Do I even ask?" Caroline asked Aria, having seen Nora walk away.

"Nope" Aria replied.

"Thought so" Caroline whispered, "But I am going to ask why is the Christmas tree missing some of it's bobbles".

"Ask the culprits yourself" Aria said, pointing towards her sons, who were now back at the Christmas tree.

Seeing the scene infront of her, immediately caused Caroline to face palm while Aria started laughing.

***

Aria sat on the table, a smile on face seeing Hope and Mia rolling on the carpet together, looking at them, Aria felt like she was looking at a her and Caroline, remembering seen pictures of her and Caroline doing the exact same thing when they were babies.

Aria's admiring session was broken when her phone started ringing, looking at her phone, she realised Kol was calling her, "How's pub crawling with a side mission of killing going?" she asked, answering her phone.

"It was going decent until we entered a pub full of dead people" Kol informed, "And it's really odd not being the one who caused this massacre".

"Wait, Julian killed a pub full of people?" Aria asked shocked.

"Yeap" Kol replied, "Which is why we need your help".

"Kol, I already did a locater spell for you both" Aria reminded, "I don't how else I can help you guys".

"Your locater spell leaded us right into a Santa infested hell hole, Damon's words not mine" Kol said, "But we were wondering if there was any way you could do a spell that would tell you exactly where in Sunbury, Julian is, like maybe give us an address or something and just speed things up you know".

"Kol, as a former witch, you know that locater spells don't work that way" Aria said.

"But you're you" Kol argued, "Come on Ri, help me here, you have to have some kind of information?".

Aria sighed, she looked around when her eyes suddenly landed on Nora, "Dammit" she whispered, guilt rising in her heart when she realised what she had to do, "Okay, I think there might be something I can do, I'll either call or text you with the details of either Julian's whereabouts or my failed plan".

"You're the best" Kol said.

"I know" Aria said, hanging up on a chuckling Kol.

***

"That's your gift?" Nora asked, as a man handed her a pack of stickers, "Stickers? Did you stop by the gas station on the way over or just fish them from the rubbish?".

The man looked at Nora in slight shock and a little bit of embarrassment, and then quickly walked away, allowing Aria to walk over to Nora.

"So who did you get?" Aria asked curiously.

"Excuse me?" Nora asked confused.

"You're a freshman at Whitmore now" Aria reminded, "Meaning you're taking Freshman English, since it's kind of mandatory, so I wondering which professor did you get? Dowling or Markus? Though for all of our sakes, I hope it's Dowling and not Markus".

"I can deal with difficult people" Nora assured.

"I'm sure you can, which is why I'm hoping you'd take Dowling, think of it as my revenge for what you did to my sister" Aria said, making Nora look at her in amusement, "I'm just kidding, well kind of", Aria held her cup out for Nora, "Want some?".

"Let me guess, hot cocoa and vervain?" Nora asked, not trusting Aria fully.

"You realise I'm a vampire right?" Aria asked.

"I never said the vervain was for you" Nora retorted.

"That's fair enough" Aria said, "But it's not hot cocoa or vervain, it's bourbon".

Nora looked at Aria, "Aren't you watching over your kids?".

"It's one cup Nora, it takes a lot more then this to get me drunk" Aria replied, she held her cup out once again, "Here, think of it as a small peace offering", Nora smiled and took the cup from Aria and took a sip from it, "I know you listened to Valerie and sided with Lily against Julian so it means your kind of trustworthy and if you're here also means you have no where else to go, right?".

"Lovely, a pity friend, just what I always wanted" Nora said sarcastically.

"Pity or not, everyone needs a friend, Nora" Aria said, "Especially in college, a place where sometimes it can get really lonely".

Nora gave Aria a knowing look, "What do you need from me?".

"Pardon?" Aria asked.

"I wasn't born yesterday, it's all right" Nora said, "I want to do some charity, I might as well start".

Aria gave Nora a sheepish look, "Okay, I do need something from you, but the friend thing was real".

"It's concerning that I believe you" Nora said.

Aria chuckled in response, "Look, do you by any chance know anything about a town called Sunbury?" she asked.

***

Aria and Nora sat together at a table, Aria filling Nora in on their search for Julian.

"So Kol and Damon followed Julian to Ridley Park, Old Saybrook and then finally Sunbury" Aria informed.

"They need to leave immediately" Nora told Aria, confusing her, "Julian is not one who enjoys solitude, those towns are places he used to live".

Aria's eyes went wide in shock, realising that Julian wasn't alone, she quickly grabbed her phone and dialed Kol's number, but he didn't pick up, she then called Damon, but he also didn't pick up.

Aria looked at Nora in panic, "They're not picking up" she informed.

"It might because Julian and his friends have already found them" Nora said.

Aria shook her head, "Kol is an original, Damon is nearly two hundred years old, they've got this".

"And if they don't?" Nora asked.

"Don't say that" Aria snapped, refusing to believe anything would happen to Kol or Damon, "They've got this, okay? They are going to kill Julian and then they are going come back and I'm going to apologise to Damon and tell him that I love him and everything is going to be just fine".

Nora gave a panicking Aria a sympathetic smile, "For your sake Aria, I sure hope so" she whispered.

***

Aria stood in the hospital corridor, watching Nora interact with one of the patients.

"Can I have one of the boy toys?" a patient asked.

"Of course, you can, you can be anything you want" Nora said, handing the girl a football, "Don't let society tell you differently", Nora then turned around and faced Aria, "What?" she asked, as the two girls walked down the corridors, "Surprised I'm not massacring the leukemia patients?".

"No, I'm wondering why you brought me here?" Aria asked.

"Because you were on a verge of a panic attack, thinking about all the ways things could go wrong for Damon and Kol, you needed a distraction and I needed a buddy" Nora replied.

Aria gave Nora a grateful smile, "You know, you're not as bad as I thought you were".

"Thank you" Nora said, giving Aria a smile, "Fun fact about me, Christmas was always my favorite holiday, when I was growing up, it was much different than all this, I would've been happy with a hoop and a stick, but still, being surrounded by your loved ones", Nora looked down at her Santa sack, a barbie doll with blonde hair peaking out from it, "This looks just like her" a heartbroken Nora whispered.

Aria shook her head at Nora, she quickly grabbed the doll and hid it behind her back, "Okay, if we're doing this sometimes friends, sometimes enemies thing, as your sometimes friend, I'm going to give you a reality check".

"What?" Nora asked confused.

"Nora, you and Mary Louise broke up" Aria reminded, "And it wasn't because of you, it wasn't your fault, it was hers, she made the wrong choice".

"But--".

"Nah uh" Aria interrupted, "There's no buts in this reality check, it's time to move on and learn how to become your own person, something you can't do if you keep living in the past, you need to start living in the present and stop worrying about what you used to have, look I get how painful heartbreaks are, I get how hard it is to stop thinking about the person you're in love with, but sometimes things aren't in our control, sometimes bad things happen and we can't stop them, all we can do is focus on us, on our present, on our future, so stop thinking and talking about Mary Louise, for today, let's just pretend she's dead to you".

"Am I?" Mary Louise asked, coming behind Nora, gaining both hers and Aria's attention, "Can we talk?" she asked Nora.

"And that's my que" Aria whispered, taking the Santa sack from Nora and walking away to distribute the remaining gifts, leaving Nora and Mary Louise to talk things out between them.

***

"Alright Alec, I think it's time for a nap" Aria said, picking Alec up in his arms, while Asher and Mia were with Caroline, still playing with Jayden and Hope, Aria walked with a crying Alec in her arms, towards hers, Caroline's and Rebekah's dorm room, entering it, she was slightly shocked seeing Nora sitting on her bed, crying.

"Is this a bad time?" Nora asked, gesturing towards a crying Alec.

"No, it's fine" Aria replied, "He just needs his stuff toy, but by your reaction, I'm guessing the talk between you and Mary Louise went bad?".

"She called me a charity case" Nora cried, as Aria laid Alec on Rebekah's bed.

After putting pillows around Alec to make sure he doesn't fall, Aria turned to Nora, "Do you need a tissue?" she asked Nora, walking over to the triplets toys basket and pulling a stuff toy, it honestly made her laugh thinking about how much toys the triplets had all over everyone's houses and rooms.

"Oh, it's all right, I used one of the your hideous tops" Nora informed.

Aria looked up at the top in Nora's hand in amusement, "That top is not mine, that's Caroline's, word of advice, once you go from here take that and burn it and make sure my sister never finds out about this, otherwise you are so screwed".

"Noted" Nora whispered, as Aria walked over to Alec and gave him the stuff toy Damon had bought for him for his birthday, she watched with a small smile on her face as Alec grabbed the toy and put it on his chest and slowly closed his eyes, the triplets had been extra fussy today, and Aria knew it was because they missed Damon, she couldn't blame them either, she has been the same, she was honestly on the edge of losing her mind without him.

After placing a kiss on Alec's forehead, Aria turned to Nora, "I'm about to ask you a mean question" she stated, sitting next to her.

"Please, fire away, it's not like I'm in a fragile state or anything" Nora said.

"What do you see in Mary Louise?" Aria asked curiously, "And let's not talk about the fact that she might have features of a blonde Angelina Jolie".

"She's loving, protective, kind" Nora listed.

Aria sighed, "She's all those things, but only to you, and I know I'm kind of being a hypocrite since I'm in love with Damon, the suppose selfish brother, but the thing is there's huge difference between Damon and Mary Louise, at least from what I've seen" she said, "Both Damon and Mary Louise think of us first, but Damon isn't afraid to let me go out and explore the world, instead he encourages me, he tells me to go chase after everything I want, because he wants me to get whatever I want with life, he doesn't hold me back, he is the one who pushes me to be the best version of me".

"But isn't it nice having that one person who doesn't need anything from you?" Nora asked, "Who just loves you and thinks you're the most amazing, beautiful girl in the whole world?".

"Love is a very important thing in a relationship, but it's not the only thing" Aria said, "Yeah, it feels amazing to hear that I'm the most beautiful girl Damon's ever seen, it feels even more amazing to look into his eyes and see nothing but love, but you know what's more amazing? When I stand up to one of my enemies, on my own, but I look behind me and see Damon right there, not interfering but also not leaving, because he trusts me to know I'm strong enough to get through whatever life throws at me, but at the same time, whenever I turn, I know I will always see Damon, he will always have my back, I will always be able to fall back to him whenever I feel weak, that's the type of partner you need Nora and if Mary Louise can be that, then I think you should give her a second chance but if she can't, then find someone who will".

Nora sat there for a moment, thinking about Aria's words, she then nodded in understanding, she stood up and looked at Aria, "Thank you for today, you're a very kind person".

Aria gave Nora a smile, "Anytime" she said.

As Nora walked towards the door, Aria walked over to a sleeping Alec, "You look just like your father right now" she whispered to him, taking her shoes off and laying beside her son.

Just as Nora was about to open the door, she revived a message on her phone, looking at her phone she realised it was a message from Julian.

They've taken ML hostage.
Thought you should know.

Immediately a furious Nora looked towards Aria, but when she saw her admiring her son, she realised Aria couldn't have known about this, she has been calling both Damon and Kol infront of her but none of them have been answering.

Which is why Nora walked away from Aria instead of saying anything to her, knowing what she was going to do next was more then likely going to end her new friendship with Aria, but she was hoping Aria would understand, she knew the tribrid would go to the ends of the earth just for Damon, so she is hoping she would understand why she needs to make Damon and Kol suffer for hurting Mary Louise.

***

After trying to contact both Damon and Kol several times and receiving no answer from either of them, a restless Aria decided to visit Liz's grave and Caroline decided to come with her, though both of them have been avoiding it as much as they could, but the fact that this is the first Christmas without their mother was finally settling in and both the girls realised they couldn't keep avoiding it.

Which is why Caroline and Aria walked over to Liz's grave which was right next to Amelia's, hand in hand, the snow slowly falling down on the two girls.

"Hi, mom" Caroline greeted, placing a small wreath on her mother's grave, while Aria placed a white rose on to her mother's grave.

Aria looked between the between the two graves and sighed, "Me and Caroline have been trying to avoid the fact that this is the first Christmas that we will be celebrating without having either of our moms by our side, I mean, it's not my first Christmas without you mom, but it is the first one where I won't have anyone to call mom and that sucks".

Caroline and Aria sat on the bench near the graves, "Hope and Jayden are growing up, now I get when you used to tell me that time flies when you have kids, because to me it was yesterday that I gave birth them to and now they're already one" Caroline said.

"Asher, Alec and Mia seem to be getting more naughtier as they grow older" Aria said, "Honestly, now I get how you two felt when me and Caroline were always causing trouble, I know we weren't twins but we were always attached to the hip, always getting into trouble, always making you two chase us around the whole town".

"We hope wherever you two are, you're looking down at us, somehow, someway you two are guiding us to do right by our children the way you guys did by us" Caroline said.

"I don't know what I'm doing half the time" an emotional Aria admitted, "But then I remember how mom helped me grow into a child and then after her how Liz mom helped me grow into an adult, I remember everything you two taught me and try to do the same with my children, I just hope I don't screw this up".

"All me and Aria want to do is just on our kitchen counter while you and Amelia mom burn our dinner and ask you two a million questions" Caroline cried.

"We miss you" Aria cried, tears spilling down her cheeks, "Both of you, please keep watching over us, please make sure we do right by our kids".

Caroline put her arm around a sobbing Aria and pulled her into a hug, the two sisters didn't know how long they sat at their mother's graves crying, all they knew was that this is exactly what they needed.

***

After crying at their mother's graves for god knows how long, Aria and Caroline walked over to their car, while Caroline was calling Klaus to check on the kids, Aria was looking at her phone impatiently, waiting for Damon and Kol's call but the longer she waited, the more her heart said that something had gone wrong.

Just as Aria was about to sit in the passenger seat of the car, her phone started ringing, she breathed a sigh of relief, thinking it was either Kol or Damon, but that relief quickly went away when she realised it wasn't Damon or Kol, it was Enzo.

"Now's not the time Enzo" Aria said, answering her phone while getting into the passenger seat while Caroline got into the driver's seat.

"Julian stabbed Damon with the phoenix sword, and then Nora went after Kol with the sword" a panicked Enzo informed, shocking the two sisters.

"What the hell are you saying Enzo?!" an extremely worried Aria asked.

"Because of Julian and Nora, both Damon and Kol's are trapped in the phoenix stone" Enzo revealed.

***

Presenting 7x09 of The Vampire Diaries . . .

How was the chapter?

Thoughts on Aria and Damon giving each other the silent treatment?

Thoughts on Aria and Nora's new friendship?

Thoughts on Aria talking about Damon to Nora?

Thoughts on Damon and Kol's soul being trapped into the phoenix stone because of Julian and Nora?