10. The New Deal

"So Mikael's dead?" Kol asked.

"Yeap" Aria replied.

"And Rebekah knows about me and Nik killing our mother?" Kol asked.

"Yeap" Aria replied.

"Does she hate us?" Kol asked, slightly scared.

"Of course not" Aria said, "She doesn't hate you for killing your mother, she's just hurt that you and Nik didn't tell her the truth".

"We didn't want her to hate us" Kol admitted.

"Your her brothers, she would never hate you" Aria said, "You can never hate family".

"Yeah" Kol whispered, "So, we were close to meeting each other in real life, but Stefan Salvatore stole my coffin?".

"Yours, Elijah's and Finn's" Aria replied.

"Great, just great" Kol mumbled, anger shown clearly on his face, him and Aria were so close to reuniting but someone came and ruined it, once again.

"Hey, listen to me" Aria said, making Kol face her, "I'm going to get you back, I'm going to get all your bodies back".

"Just, promise me you won't do anything stupid" Kol said.

Aria sighed, "I promise I won't do anything stupid, but I'm not going to stop until I get your body back, you did so much for me, now it's my turn to do something for you".

"I saved you for selfish reasons " Kol admitted, "I did that spell, because I refused to live without you".

Aria gave Kol a small smile, and placed her hand on top of his, "Selfish reasons or not, you saved me, and now I'm going to save you, and no ones going to stop me".

Kol looked down at their hands, frowning when he couldn't feel Aria's touch, "It would be nice to feel your touch after a thousand years apart".

"I promise you Kol, I'm going to find your body and I'm going to undagger you, I'm going to reunite you with your family" Aria promised.

Kol didn't say anything, just gave Aria a small smile, he knew no matter what he said, Aria won't stop until she reunites the Mikaelson's, the only fear Kol had, was the people that would hurt her to make sure she doesn't succeed.

***

"All right, you have your choice, bloody mary, screwdriver, brunch in a bottle" Damon told Aria and Alaric, as they sat in the bar at Mystic Grill.

Aria ignored Damon and kept glaring at Elena and Bonnie, who were also at the Grill, while Ric was busy grading papers.

"They know something, they have to know something" Aria mumbled.

"Come on guys, I can't drink this by myself" Damon complained, "I mean, I can, but then somebody's getting naked, maybe you Ria?".

"You know what, I'm just going to ask them, maybe even torture the information out of them" Aria said, ignoring Damon and getting off the bar stool, but before she could get far, Damon wrapped his arm around Aria's stomach and pulled her into his lap.

"You need to calm down Ria" Damon said, placing a quick kiss on Aria's shoulder, "Going off at them right now isn't going to do anything, instead they might warn Stefan and make it even harder for us to find the extended Mikaelson family".

 "I can't just sit here and do nothing Damon" Aria snapped, "I promised Kol I'm going to find his body and I can't break my promise".

"And you will" Damon assured, ignoring the small feeling of jealousy surfing in his heart, "But you need to be rational about this, if you do something irrational, we might lose all our chances at getting them back".

Aria sighed, she knew Damon was right, she couldn't be hasty with this, they needed to be careful because unfortunately Stefan had the upper hand on them, if they pissed him off, he could do something that would making it impossible for them to reunite the Mikaelson's.

Aria leaned her back against Damon's chest, and sighed, "Your right".

"When am I not? Now here, drink up" Damon said, handing Aria a glass of bourbon.

"Gladly" Aria said, downing her drink, making Damon smirk.

"That's why we are perfect for each other" Damon said, refilling Aria's glass.

Aria chuckled, "We are perfect for each other, because we are alcoholics?".

"I wouldn't say we are alcoholics, I'd say we know how to have fun, unlike some people" Damon taunted, looking towards Alaric, who hadn't lifted his head from his papers, "I can't believe you're making me and Ria drink alone".

"I'm busy" Alaric said.

"Come on, we're celebrating" Damon said, "And you're doing homework?".

"Why are we celebrating again?" Aria asked confused.

"We saved your best friend from his evil father" Damon replied.

"Yeah, but then your brother stole his family" Aria reminded.

"Ria, we won before, and we will win again, so just relax and celebrate" Damon said, "Now join us Ric".

"This may come as a shock, but I am not here to hang out with you" Alaric said, "I'm here to see Jeremy, who is an hour late for his shift".

Damon scoffed, "Kids today, where are their values?".

Alaric showed Damon and Aria, Jeremy's mid term paper on American History, "That's his midterm paper, copied it straight off the internet, didn't even try to hide it".

"Ooh, somebody's getting grounded" Damon teased, while Aria started reading Jeremy's paper.

"Did you say your waiting for Jeremy, as in Jeremy Gilbert?" The bartender asked.

"Yeah" Alaric said.

"He was fired last week" The bartender revealed, shocking Alaric and Aria.

"Oops" Damon commented.

Aria sighed, "It's this whole situation with Elena, his never been at such a bad place with her, it's causing him to spiral".

"We need to talk to him before he just throws his life away" Alaric said.

"Already on it" Aria said, texting Jeremy, telling him they needed to talk.

***

"Okay, so I bought some sodas, chips and a bunch of chocolates" Aria said, placing all the food on Jeremy's bed.

Jeremy looked at the food in confusion, "Why did you bring all this again?".

"Because we haven't sat down and just been us for a while Jer" Aria replied, "We've been so busy in our separate lives, that we haven't had our talks in a very long time, thought it was long overdue".

Jeremy smiled at Aria, "The last time we had one of our talks were before Mom and Dad's death".

"Like I said, this is long overdue" Aria said.

"So, what do you want to talk about?" Jeremy asked, opening a chip packet.

"You can start with telling me why you didn't tell me or Alaric about you getting fired from the Grill?" Aria asked, getting straight to the point.

Jeremy frowned, "How did you found out?".

"The bartender told us" Aria replied, "And Ric told me that you copied your midterm paper right from the internet, Jer what's going on with you?".

Jeremy sighed, "I've been busy".

"Busy doing what?" Aria asked.

"Training" Jeremy replied, "I've been training how to fight".

"Alone?" Aria asked confused.

"Yeah" Jeremy replied.

"Why though?" Aria asked confused.

Jeremy sighed, "I want to help you Aria, I want to help you get the Mikaelson's back, but the truth is, I can't do things you guys can do, you have magic, Damon and Caroline have super strength, Ric is a trained hunter, and then there's me, I want to help, but I can't, and I hate it, I hate feeling so useless, which is why I started training, I want to learn how to fight so I can protect you, help you".

"Jer, you are not useless, never think like that" Aria said, shocked that Jeremy thought like this, "You are so important to me, you're family, you're not useless".

"I sure feel useless" Jeremy mumbled.

"Well you shouldn't" Aria said, "And why didn't you go to Ric to train you, his training me".

Jeremy sighed, "I don't know, I guess I didn't want him to know why I wanted to learn how to fight".

"Look Jer, I get at times feeling useless, trust me there's times I've felt like that, even with my magic, but you can't throw your life away because of that, you wanna join the fight, then join it, but not by throwing your life away" Aria said, "You need to get your priorities straight, and you can start by trying to get your job back at the Grill, oh and also redoing your midterm paper, and then your going to go to Ric and ask him to train you, because we both know, there's no one better then him".

Jeremy gave Aria a small smile, "Thanks for listening to me, without any judgement".

"Thanks for talking to me" Aria said, "Jer, next time you feel like this, please come and talk to me, okay?".

"I will" Jeremy promised, "So, chocolate?".

"Obviously" Aria said, making Jeremy laugh.

***

"There you are" Elena said, walking over to Aria, as soon as she entered the Grill.

Aria groaned, "What the hell do you want?".

"Jeremy's not answering my calls, his supposed to be at work but Ric just told me that he got fired, do you know where he is?" Elena asked, as much as she hated admitting it, Jeremy opened up to Aria much more then he opened up to her.

"I do" Aria replied simply.

"Well, where is he?" Elena asked.

"Yeah, I'm not telling you" Aria replied.

"Aria, this is my brother we are talking about" Elena snapped, "You need to tell me where he is, he's spiraling, ever since Bonnie broke up with him he's moody, and he's not really talking to anyone".

Aria chuckled, "You have it so wrong".

"What?" Elena asked confused.

"Jeremy isn't spiraling because of Bonnie, his going through something else, oh and his not talking to you, but I assure you, his talking to me" Aria said, giving Elena a taunting smile.

"If not Bonnie, then why else is he spiraling?" Elena asked confused, "And why would he talk to you and not me?".

"Maybe because he doesn't want to get judged by his judgmental sister, that's the last thing he needs right now Elena" Aria replied, "And I'm not telling you what's happening to him, it's not my place, all you need to know is that his going to be okay".

Before Elena could say anything, Klaus walked over to the two girls, "Don't mind me".

"Klaus" Elena whispered shocked.

"Hey Nik" Aria waved.

"Oh look, it's the bestie" Damon said, walking over to them, having heard Elena and Aria's interaction, and feeling extremely proud of Aria for sticking up to Elena.

"Are you really going to threaten me infront of everyone?" Elena asked, glaring at Klaus, making Aria roll her eyes.

"I don't know what you're talking about" Klaus replied, "I just came to my local pub to grab a drink with a mate, get a round, then, would you, Tony?".

Elena looked at Tony in shock, she recognised him as the guy she bumped into in the morning when she was on a run.

"Why are you here?" Elena asked.

"Truth is, I've grown to like your little town, thinking I might fancy a home here" Klaus replied, "I imagine you're wondering, how does this affect you? And the answer is, not in the slightest, as long as I get what I want and everyone behaves themselves you can go on living your little lives however you choose, you have my word".

"What more could you possibly want?" Elena snapped.

"How about his family?" Aria snapped back.

"Tell us where to find my little brother" Damon said.

"Stefan skipped down right after we failed to kill Klaus" Elena informed.

"Of course he did" Aria mumbled.

"Well, you see, that is a shame" Klaus said, hitting a dart on to the dartboard, "Your boyfriend stole from me, I need him found so I can take back what's mine".

"That sounds like a Klaus and Stefan problem" Elena said.

"Well, this is us broadening the scope, sweetheart" Klaus said.

After glaring at Klaus, Elena walked away from him, not wanting to be near him any longer then necessary.

"Here" Aria said, handing Klaus a paper.

"What is this?" Klaus asked confused.

"A list of people you can't hurt" Aria replied, "Under any circumstances".

Klaus looked at Aria in amusement, "You made a list?".

"Of course she did, she's Aria" Damon teased.

"Look, these people on the list are the people who are on your side, so you can't hurt them, am I clear?" Aria asked.

Klaus chuckled, "Crystal".

***

"Why do you keep calling me!?" Aria snapped, sitting in the middle of Damon's bed, "When someone doesn't answer your call Elena, you really should get the hint that they don't want to talk to you".

"Klaus went after Bonnie" Elena revealed.

"What?" Aria asked confused, as Damon entered the room.

"One of Klaus's hybrids ran Bonnie over" Elena said.

"Is she okay?" Aria asked, slightly worried.

"Yeah, Stefan gave her his blood" Elena replied.

"So I was right, you do know where Stefan is" Aria snapped.

"I didn't lie to you Aria, I really didn't know where Stefan was, he came when I called him about Bonnie's condition" Elena said, "But I didn't call you to talk about Stefan, I called you so you can know what your so called friend is capable of, he tried to kill Bonnie".

Aria sighed, "This isn't Nik's fault Elena, Stefan stole his family, instead of taunting me, you should be telling him off".

"Your still going to defend him?" Elena asked shocked, "He hurt Bonnie".

"And you and Bonnie hurt me" Aria snapped, "Or did you forget that?".

"Aria--".

"No Elena" Aria snapped, "I don't know when your going to stop trying to prove Nik as the bad guy, when in reality, Nik's done nothing to you, it's you whose again and again tried to kill him, it's you whose the villain Elena, not Nik".

Without hearing Elena's reply, Aria hanged up on her.

"So Klaus went after Bonnie, huh?" Damon asked, laying his head on Aria's lap.

"Yeah, I didn't write her on the list" Aria said, a guilty look on her face.

"Your seriously not feeling guilty, are you?" Damon asked shocked.

Aria sighed, "She hurt me, so by not writing her name on the list, I figured it was us being even, she deserved whatever happened to her, but now that Nik did go after her, I feel so bad".

Damon sat up and faced Aria, "Ria, you didn't start this, they started this, and honestly Bonnie got what she deserved, it was karma".

"Do we really need to hurt people to get the coffins back?" Aria asked.

"Yes, if you really want the coffins back" Damon replied.

"I'm sorry" Aria said suddenly.

"What for?" Damon asked confused.

"Because of me, you have to go against your brother" Aria replied.

"Ria, me and Stefan have been against each other for the past hundred and forty five years, this isn't your fault" Damon said.

"Promise?" Aria asked.

"I promise" Damon replied, "Now, no more feeling guilty, whatever happens to Stefan, Elena and Bonnie, it's their own fault, it's not on you, okay?".

"Okay" Aria whispered.

"Good" Damon said, pulling Aria closer, "Now, how about we change the topic?".

Before Aria could reply, Caroline and Rebekah barged into the room.

"Stop!" Caroline yelled.

Damon groaned, "What do you two want?".

"We came to give you something" Rebekah said, smirking at the couple.

"What?" Aria asked confused, not liking the looks on their faces.

Caroline and Rebekah gave each other a cheeky smile, and then handed Damon something, making Aria look at them wide eyed.

"Oh my god" Aria said, hiding her face with her hands.

"Protection?" Damon said confused, "You're giving us protection?".

"Aria can get pregnant with a vampire, so unless you want mini Damon and Aria's running around, you need these" Caroline said, smirking at Aria's embarrassed state.

"Get out!" Aria yelled, throwing a pillow at the girls, making both of them laugh.

"And our job here is done, let's go" Rebekah said, grabbing Caroline's hand and taking her out of the room.

"So, mini Damon or Aria?" Damon asked, smirking at Aria, "I don't mind that".

"Stop" Aria said, grabbing a pillow and covering her face.

"Oh come on Ria, we've done a lot and you never blushed then, but the thought of babies make you blush?" Damon teased, "You know what, now thinking about it, we should probably start the process of having a mini us, like right now".

Aria pushed Damon down to the bed and straddled him, she used her hand and covered his mouth, "Do you not have a filter?".

Damon removed Aria's hand from his mouth, "Not with you straddling me like this".

"I can't with you" Aria laughed, trying to get off Damon, but instead, he flipped them over and came on top of Aria.

"You still love me" Damon teased.

Aria smiled, "Unfortunately, I do".

Damon smiled and attached his lips on to Aria's.

***

"What is this place?" Aria asked confused, walking alongside Rebekah and Klaus.

"It's the new Mikaelson home" Klaus replied, "Figured we would need a place after we reunited".

"But there is nothing here except a bunch of bricks" Rebekah said.

"Give it some time Rebekah, soon enough this will be our home" Klaus said.

"So after we get everyone's bodies back, you will be living in Mystic Falls?" Aria asked.

"Of course, unless you don't want us to" Klaus replied.

"Don't be stupid Nik" Aria said, "Of course I want you guys to stay, instead I was scared you were planning to leave after everyone was undaggered".

"Oh please, Kol would never leave you" Rebekah teased.

Aria chuckled, "So do I get a room here?".

"Of course you do" Klaus replied.

"Good, otherwise I would have stolen your room" Aria teased.

Klaus chuckled, "I wouldn't put it past you".

Rebekah smiled at Klaus and Aria, "This feels surreal, after a thousand years we are finally going to have a home".

"With our humanity right by our side" Klaus said, making Aria smile.

"Always and forever?" Aria asked, making Klaus and Rebekah smile.

"Always and forever" Klaus and Rebekah said simultaneously.

***

"Hello?" Aria answered, stepping outside of the Mikaelson's house.

"Hey Aria" Jeremy said.

"Jer, everything okay?" Aria asked.

"I called to tell you that I'm leaving Mystic Falls" Jeremy informed, shocking Aria.

"Excuse me?" Aria asked.

"I can't stay in Mystic Falls anymore, it's too dangerous for me here, I need a normal life, which is why I'm going to go live in Denver with some relatives" Jeremy replied.

"But you said you wanted to help, you said you wanted to fight, why did you suddenly change your mind?" Aria asked confused.

"I--" Jeremy tried to think why he changed his mind, but came up with nothing, "I don't know, I just know that I need to leave Mystic Falls as soon as possible".

"But Jer--".

"Look Aria, I got to go, I need to pack, but meet me before I leave?" Jeremy asked.

"Mhmm" Aria said, not trusting her voice, in fear of breaking down.

"Okay, see you soon Aria" Jeremy said, hanging up.

"Aria".

Aria turned around, to see Stefan standing behind her.

"You have some guts coming infront of me" Aria spat, really not wanting to deal with Stefan right now, "Specially when Klaus and Rebekah can come anytime and kill you".

"I'm not here to fight with you Aria, I wanted to tell you about Jeremy leaving, but guess he already told you" Stefan said, making Aria frown.

"How do you know about Jeremy leaving?" Aria asked, but suddenly realisation crossed over her, "You compelled him, didn't you? That's why Jeremy doesn't know why he wants to leave".

Stefan sighed, "After Bonnie's accident, Elena didn't want Jeremy in the middle of all this, she was scared Klaus was going to hurt him to get to her, so she told me to compel him to leave Mystic Falls".

"Nik was never going to hurt Jeremy" Aria snapped, "You had no right, none of you's did, did you forget what happened when we last compelled him, do you not remember how hurt he was, has Elena's love blinded you so much that you didn't take in consideration what this would do to him, to me!?".

"I didn't do this for Elena" Stefan admitted, making Aria frown.

"What?" Aria asked confused.

"I did this for you Aria" Stefan said, "I know how close you and Jeremy are, I was hoping by doing this I wouldn't have to feel guilty anymore".

"No" Aria snapped, "You don't get such an easy out, you should feel guilty, you abounded me, you hurt me over and over again, and by compelling Jeremy to leave, you didn't do me a favour, you just hurt me once again!".

"I wasn't talking about all that, whether you believe me or not, I'm always going to feel guilty for hurting you, and I know no matter what I do, I won't be able to fix it" Stefan said, "By compelling Jeremy, I was hoping I was helping you, I was hoping I wouldn't have to feel guilty for wanting what I want".

"Stefan, your not making any sense" Aria said confused, "What is it that you want?".

"You" Stefan confessed, shocking Aria.

"What?" Aria asked.

"I know your my brother's girl and all, and I know it's wrong" Stefan replied, "But I couldn't help myself from falling in love with you".

Aria looked at Stefan in shock, she didn't know what to say or what to do, she was not excepting this at all.

Realising Aria wasn't going to say anything, Stefan turned to leave, but then suddenly stopped.

"Actually you know what" Stefan said, turning to Aria, "If I'm going to spend my time feeling guilty, it's going to be about this".

Before Aria could register anything, Stefan walked over to Aria and pulled her into a kiss, shocking her.

After recovering from her shock, Aria quickly pushed Stefan away from her.

"What the hell Stefan!" Aria snapped, glaring at the youngest Salvatore brother, "You can't just kiss me like this, you're with Elena, and I'm in love with Damon, your brother, and I'm always going to be in love with him, not you!".

Before Stefan could say anything, Aria walked away from him, her heart pounding with guilt, she didn't know how to tell Damon about his brother kissing him, she just hoped he didn't misunderstand her.

***

"Ria?" Damon asked confused, he was confused cause Aria knocked on the door, she never did that, she had a habit of just barging in.

"Can I come in?" Aria asked, looking down at her feet.

"Ria, you basically live here, of course you can come in" Damon replied, confused with Aria's behavior.

"I need to tell you something" Aria whispered, sitting infront of the fireplace with Damon, "But I don't know how you will react to it".

"Ria, what's bothering you?" Damon asked confused.

"Stefan kissed me" Aria blurted out.

"He did what?!" Damon asked shocked.

"He came to inform me about him compelling Jeremy to leave Mystic Falls, he said he did it for me, he said he was hoping after doing this he wouldn't have to feel guilty" Aria informed, avoiding eye contact with Damon and just looking down at her lap.

"Guilty for what?" Damon asked, though he had an idea.

"For falling in love with his brother girl" Aria replied, "And then he just kissed me, I didn't kiss him back though, I promise, I pushed him away and made it clear that I'm in love with you, I just needed to tell you before you found out through someone else".

Damon didn't say anything, just kept staring at the fireplace infront of them, anger shown clearly on his face.

"Please say something" Aria pleaded, Damon's silence scaring her.

"I need some air" Damon said, standing up and walking out of the Boarding House.

After Damon left, Aria finally broke down, she was so scared that she had lost Damon forever, and just the thought scared the hell out of her.

***

Presenting chapter ten people, hope you guys liked it.

Thoughts on the small Kol and Aria moment in the beginning of the chapter?

Thoughts on Jeremy opening up to Aria?

Thoughts on Klaus going after Bonnie instead of Jeremy?

Thoughts on Klaus, Rebekah and Aria's little always and forever moment?

Thoughts on Stefan compelling Jeremy to leave Mystic Falls instead of Damon?

Thoughts on Stefan kissing Aria and Aria finally finding out about Stefan being in love with her?

Thoughts on Aria telling Damon about the kiss and his reaction?

Okay, so originally in this episode Klaus went after Jeremy, but Alaric took the hit for him and ended up in the hospital, where he met Meredith, in this book that didn't happen, so how would you like me to introduce Meredith in this book?

Next chapter: Caroline's birthday!