(act two, chapter fifteen: the house guest)

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Elena, Bonnie, Caroline, and Buffy were lounging around the kitchen, discussing dinner options. Caroline tilted her head, holding up her phone. "Chinese food or pizza?"

Elena raised an eyebrow, as if the answer was obvious. "Like you even need to ask."

"Pizza. No contest." Buffy added with a grin.

Caroline chuckled and reached for her tablet, but as she picked it up, her face froze for a moment. She was staring at an old picture of her and Matt, her fingers lingering over the screen.

Bonnie noticed and gently took the tablet from her. "I'll do it."

Caroline snapped out of it with a forced smile. "Thanks."

Meanwhile, Elena turned to Bonnie, shifting the conversation. "Do you think Jonas is being sincire?"

Bonnie frowned, leaning against the counter. "I don't know what to believe. I think he's at a loss. He's not sure who to trust."

Elena sighs. "Join the club."

Caroline, ever the optimist, tried to lift the mood. "Okay, but can we focus on something lighter for a second? Like... what movie are we watching tonight? I vote for The Notebook."

Elena chuckled. "Seriously, Caroline? How many times have you seen that?"

Buffy smiled. "Yeah, she not really feeling up for a Nicholas Sparks cryfest right now."

Caroline huffed, feigning offense. "That is so not the point, guys! It's a classic!"

Before anyone could respond, Jenna walks into the kitchen, her eyes slightly tired.

"Hey." Elena and Buffy both greeted her warmly.

Jenna looked around at the group. "What's going on?"

Elena gestured to the room as she sat down. "Girls' night."

Jenna smiled faintly, though there was tension in her expression. "Oh."

Elena leaned forward, concerned. "How are you doing?"

Jenna exhaled, leaning against the doorframe. "You heard about my fight with Ric?"

Buffy nodded. "Yeah, he feels awful about it."

Jenna raised an eyebrow. "Is this some kind of disguised attempt to cheer me up?"

Elena exchanged a glance with the girls, then shook her head. "No, really. We're just hanging out. But if you need to talk, we're all here."

Buffy nodded. "Mom, you look like you could really use some pizza and a talk right now. We're ordering."

Caroline, trying to lighten the mood as well as her best friend, chimed in. "Because I am a winner when it comes to successful relationships.."

Jenna glanced between them, her curiosity piqued. "You too?"

Caroline sighed dramatically. "You have no idea."

Jenna moved to the fridge as she spoke. "It's this whole Isobel thing. Ric's been hiding something from me. I just... I don't know what to think anymore."

Caroline, ever the devil's advocate, spoke again, knowing what exactly Alaric was hiding from Jenna. "Maybe he's trying to protect you? There could be a good reason he's not telling you everything."

Jenna pulled a bottle of water from the fridge and shook her head. "That's not his decision to make. I deserve to know the truth. Everybody does."

Buffy nodded in agreement. 

"Sometimes it's harder than that." Caroline said.

Jenna sighed, frustrated. "Not if it's somebody you care about, it isn't."

Caroline, sensing the need to shift gears again, clapped her hands, brightening up from the depressing conversation. "You know what we need? Dancing. There is a band at the Grill."

Bonnie's eyes lit up. "Oh, I'm so in."

Jenna, surprisingly, nodded. "You know what? So am I."

Elena grinned. "Definitely."

Buffy smiled wildly.  "Alright, count me in."

Caroline beamed, happy to have rallied the group. "Great! Let's go have some fun!"

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The five girls walked into the Grill, all feeling lighter after their decision to hit the town. The music was upbeat, and they started to sway and dance together, letting go of the tension from earlier. Jenna was laughing because of a joke that her daughter told her on the way here, but her smile quickly faded when she spotted Alaric walking in, looking just as troubled as she was feeling.

"I need a drink," Jenna muttered, heading for the bar.

As Jenna walked off, Caroline spotted Matt passing by. "Hey, Matt!" She called out, her voice hopeful, but Matt just ignored her, walking right past without even a glance.

"Well, things just got real awkward." Bonnie whispered to Buffy, shooting a sympathetic look toward Caroline, who stared after Matt.

"He told me the ball's in your court," Bonnie spoke louder as Matt passed them once more. But again, the Donovan walked by, not even glancing at Caroline.

Caroline sighed heavily. "Yeah, but I can't do anything about it."

Bonnie frowned. "Why not? All you ever talk about is how much you care about him."

Caroline hesitated, her voice quieter now. "Yeah, but I'm still keeping so many secrets. It's not fair to him."

As they talked, Elena's gaze shifted toward the bar where Alaric stood alone, nursing his drink after what must've been another fight with her aunt.

"Alaric's in the same boat with Jenna." Elena said softly, thinking aloud. "Maybe that's our mistake, trying to protect the people we love by keeping them out of the truth. But in the end, we're just hurting them more."

Caroline glanced toward the band as they finished their song, applause ringing through the Grill. Her expression shifted like she was getting an idea. She took off her jacket and handed it to Buffy.

"Where are you going?" Elena asked, but Buffy had a hunch what Caroline was about to do.

Before anyone could stop her, Caroline was on the stage, grabbing the microphone from the lead singer of the band.

"Hey, everybody! Let's hear it for the band! Aren't they awesome?" Caroline shouted into the mic, her voice echoing through the bar. The crowd cheered and clapped in response.

Buffy raised an eyebrow. "This isn't gonna end well." Jenna muttered as she joined the girls again, her eyes still darting between Alaric and the stage.

The rest of the girls stood frozen, watching as Caroline began to ramble into the microphone. "So, there's this guy," She started, her voice louder than usual. "and he told me to tell him how I feel about him. Like it's so easy! Just because I talk a lot doesn't mean I always know what I'm actually talking about, okay? Like right now, I'm feeling loopy, and I don't even know how to express myself."

The band's singer tried to ease the mic out of Caroline's hand, but she pulled it back, determined to finish her plan to let Matt know how she felt.

"I can sing, you know!" Caroline declared, her eyes bright with mischief. "Yeah, I'm gonna sing." She turned to the man once more. "You are gonna let me live out my rock star fantasies and you are gonna be my back up." She compelled him. 

"What'll it be?" He asked and as she came up with a song, the blonde whispered something in the singer's ear. He nodded, obediently as he turned to put on the music."

The music began to play again, a familiar tune, and Caroline threw herself into the performance.

"She's good." Jenna commented.

"Yeah." Buffy spoke, putting her thumbs up to let Caroline know she was doing good.

While Caroline sang her heart out, Buffy noticed Jenna stealing glances at Alaric every couple of seconds, her frustration mixed with longing. Buffy gently nudged Elena.

The song wrapped up a few minutes later with Caroline singing the final note, earning applause from the crowd. As the cheers died down, Matt suddenly stepped up onto the stage, making way to Caroline. Without saying a word, he cupped her face in his hands and kissed her.

The crowd erupted again, this time with Elena, Bonnie, Buffy, and Jenna cheering the loudest.

"Finally!" Bonnie laughed, clapping along with the rest of the Grill.

"Looks like things are turning around." Buffy added with a grin, watching the two lovebirds on stage.

Jenna raised her drink in a toast, looking more at ease now. "Well, at least somebody's relationship is on the right track."

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Elena and Buffy made their way into the restroom, both girls were happy that Caroline's realtionship was fixed again, even though the Forbes girl hadn't told Matt about what she was, Jenna was slightly feeling better, Bonnie was smiling and Elena even managed to take her thoughts of Katherine, who was now free and roaming the streets of Mystic Falls, probably with a smug expression on her face. And Buffy had finally taken her mind of Elijah for a bit. 

Yesterday after she went home, thinking that Elijah was dead, she had received a phone call from Alaric, who was waiting on the other side of the line for her to pick up so that he could tell her that Elijah wasn't dead, but the girl had ignored the ringing like a piece of history homework, so Alaric had send Mason over to the Gilbert house to tell her, already knowing that she was not gonna open when she saw him standing in front of the door.

As the door of the bathroom in the Grill went open and the girls walked in, Matt and Caroline's lips parted as they looked with shocked eyes at the two cousin, but Caroline's arms were still wrapped around Matt's neck.

"Sorry!" Elena apologized with a chuckled as she walked back out of the restroom.

"Use protection!" Buffy spoke, wiggling her eyebrows at her best friend as she walked out after Elena. 

"Buffy!" Caroline called out after her as she heard Matt laughing.

As the two walked back to their seats, they passed Bonnie on her way to use the restroom.

"I wouldn't!" Elena spoke, pulling Bonnie back. "Caroline and Matt are-"

"Definitely going to do the dirty, and I don't you're gonna want to walk in on that." Buffy added.

"In the bathroom?" Bonnie asked, her eyes wide.

"Hmm." Buffy hummed.

Bonnie looked over to Elena. 

"If they're happy, I'm happy." The Gilbert girl spoke as they continued their way to their seats.

"Hey, speaking  of happy, would it freak you out if I started dating your brother?" Bonnie asked Elena and both cousin's turned around in unison, both wearing a look of surprise, not having seen that one coming.

"You're into my brother?" Elena asked confused.

"I know it's weird, but he's been so good and strong. He makes me happy and I really can't tell what you're thinking...Right now." Bonnie quickly spoke, but she had no idea if Elena was getting mad at her or was happy for her.

"I'm thinking that my brother has had more pain in his life than a hundred people's worth of pain, and he deserves to be with someone as amazing as you." Elena spoke as Bonnie smiled at her.

"Really?"

"Really." Elena nodded and out of happiness the Bennett witch hugged her.

As her phone rang, Elena pulled back. "Hey, Stefan." She pressed the phone to her ear. "I'm at the Grill." She answered his question, but she didn't understand his next question. "I can't hear you." She looked up at Bonnie and Buffy. "Hold on." She said to them as she took her leave to go outside so that she could hear her boyfriend better.

Bonnie looked over Buffy's shoulder to see Jonas entering.

"I'm going over to the bar. If you need my, you'll know where I am." Buffy spoke, walking away from Bonnie over to her mother, to make sure she wasn't drinking too much.

As Buffy made her way to the bar, she found Jenna staring into her drink, swirling the contents around without taking a sip. Buffy slid onto the stool next to her, her eyes scanning the bar for a moment before settling on her mother.

"Hey, you good?" Buffy asked gently, leaning in slightly to get her attention.

Jenna sighed, setting her glass down and offering a weak smile. "I'm fine. Just thinking. I just don't get it, Buff. I don't get why he won't just tell me the truth."

Buffy, seeing how much it was hurting her mom to have this fight with Alaric, started speaking. "Listen mom, there's something you should know-" The blonde cut herself off when the lights all around the Grill went out. "Okay, did someone forget to pay the electric bill?" The blonde joked but she knew that something was wrong.

And something clearly was when Alaric came walking over to his girlfriend and daughter. "I think it's time we get out of here." He said to them.

"Were are the others?" Buffy wondered out loud with worry.

"We have to find them. Where's Elena?" Jenna added as Alaric guided the two over to the exit, which was almost impossible to get to since everyone was making a run for it when fire spread around the room.

"Elena's with Stefan." Alaric spoke to Jenna, but looked at Buffy when she slipped out of his grip, sprinting up a small set of stairs, weaving through the chaos, her eyes desperately scanning for her friends. Her stomach dropped when she spotted Bonnie on the ground, unconscious. Without a second thought, Buffy knelt down beside her, checking for any sign of life.

"Bonnie!" Buffy called out, gently shaking her. She glanced around, looking for help, but people were too busy fleeing in panic to notice what was happening in the corner.

"Bonnie, wake up." She urged, panic rising in her chest as she tried to wake her friend. She knew Bonnie was powerful, but something had knocked her out, and Buffy had no idea who had done this since she didn't have any idea of Jonas looking for her and Elena.

After what felt like an eternity, Bonnie finally stirred. Her eyelids fluttered before opening fully, a dazed look in her eyes. She blinked, trying to focus on Buffy's face.

"Buffy?" Bonnie mumbled weakly, her voice barely above a whisper. She tried to sit up, but winced and pressed a hand to her head.

Relief washed over Buffy, but it didn't last long. "Thank God." She breathed, glancing nervously at the flames growing larger across the room. "Bonnie, what happened? Who did this to you?"

Bonnie shook her head, trying to piece everything together. "Jonas." She whispered. "He's after you and Elena." Bonnie tried to stand, leaning heavily on Buffy for support. "He's trying to bring back his daughter. He thinks we can help him and he's not giving us a choice."

"Come on, we have to get out of here." Buffy said, her tone urgent but steady as she helped Bonnie to her feet. 

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The basement of the Salvatore house was cold and dimly lit, the silence so heavy it felt suffocating. Buffy descended the creaky wooden stairs slowly, her footsteps barely making a sound. She had no idea why she was so careful with her steps, nobody was here anyway, she knew that when she dropped off Bonnie at the Gilbert house since the girl wanted to speak to Jeremy.

The eerie quiet of the space was broken only by the faint hum of the furnace, and as she reached the bottom of the stairs, Buffy paused, her eyes adjusting to the darkness. She took a deep breath, steadying herself as she opened one of the door, her eyes immediately finding Elijah's body, with a burned suit from all the fire that Damon had used to kill him. 

Well, try and kill him. 

Her heart raced as she stepped closer to where Elijah lay. The faint flicker of the single bulb overhead cast long shadows across the room, making his lifeless form appear even more distant. But Buffy didn't flinch. She had been here before. She'd seen him like this, daggered and still, frozen in time back at the abandoned house and yesterday at dinner.

"Elijah." She whispered, her voice breaking the silence. "I don't know if you can hear me. Maybe you can't." She bit her lip, unsure why she was talking to him like this. He wasn't even conscious. But something made her speak to him now.

Buffy leaned closer, her hand pushing some of the hairs in front of his eyes away. "Everyone keeps saying you're dangerous. And maybe you are. But I'm not afraid of you. That probably doesn't mean a lot, but I really hope I'm right." She let the words hang in the air, her mind swirling with memories of the way he looked at her, like when he made that silent promise yesterday to keep her safe from Klaus.

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Words: 2714

Posted: October 13, 2024

Thank you so much for reading again! Be sure to comment. I love reading them and it keeps me motivated! I love you guys!!

Mwah mwah

Katherine