CHAPTER THIRTEEN | STAY

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EVEN THOUGH KAI'S SIPHONING HAD WORKED, LIZ WAS STILL DYING. Every single day was precious to the Forbes woman, and she wanted to make sure that she had absolutely no unfinished business when she finally left the world. Damon and Evelyn had offered to assist, whilst Stefan and Caroline were busy preparing the Forbes' family Lakehouse for Liz's visit.

"Not to be blunt, but I think dying gets you a ticket out of work," Damon spoke with a light smirk as he and Evelyn entered the Sheriff's office. "Just saying. How are you feeling?"

"Like I'm not gonna leave this job with unfinished business." Liz sighed, then motioned to the files pile up on her desk in front of her. "I have all these open cases."

"Well, that's why we've come to see you. We're here to help." Evelyn spoke with a genuine smile whilst Damon began flicking through some of the files.

"Uh, yeah! This one was me." He informed her, then tossed the file aside and grabbed another. "Me. Also." Damon smirked and studied the picture of the victim. "Ooh, this one was Stefan's."

Evelyn glanced over his shoulder and quickly scanned the police report. "Uh. You're such a liar."

"Oh, wait. No. Me. Yeah." Damon agreed with his fiancé, then tossed the file away from him.

"I always had a sneaking suspicion." She chuckled softly, then picked up another case file. "What about this one?"

"Wait, hang on. Is this what I think it is?" Evelyn's eyes widened when she saw the contents of the folder. "Elena's parents? That's an open investigation?"

"Well, at the time, I was taking care of Elena and Jeremy, and I didn't want to drag them through more heartache. Then, when I was finally ready to reopen the wound, Elena had moved on and you and I had become friends, and I worried that—"

"What? That I was involved?" Damon finished her sentence for her, and the Sheriff's silence was deafening. "Liz, no. No, I promise you."

Liz nodded and exhaled deeply, then she grabbed her phone from the middle of her desk. "Miranda left me this message two hours before they got in that car, two hours before they drove off that road for no reason."

"Liz, it's Miranda Gilbert. I have something urgent to talk to you about. Please call me back as soon as you can."

"That sounds— intriguing." Evelyn trailed off with a raised eyebrow.

"I'll be damned." Damon mused. "Looks like you've got a good, old-fashioned, sheriff-y whodunit on your hands. You know, this would be a lot more fun if I had some—"

"—Top right-hand drawer." Liz immediately cut him off. almost as if she knew what he was alluding to.

Damon raised an eyebrow as he walked toward the drawer and pulled out a bottle of Whisky. "Well look at that. This is why you are a terrible sheriff."

"No. I'm a terrible sheriff because one of my best friends is the perp in half my open cases." She chuckled until he offered her some of the bottle. "Not until I finish this."

Damon shrugged nonchalantly before taking a sip and then offering some to Evelyn who stood next to him with a grin on her face. Liz watched the couple interact with a smile on her face, she enjoyed seeing that Damon was finally happy.

"Wait, so the night that Elena's parent's car went off the road, you were in Mystic Falls?" Evelyn asked after she took a swig of the whisky, then handed it back to Damon. "Stefan, too?"

"So you both just happened to be in town the night her parents died." The Sheriff pointed out with a suspicious look. "Why?"

Damon shifted awkwardly "Well, believe it or not, I once had a Mommy, too. She died around that day. In the years that my emotions were on, I would stop by, and leave flowers at her grave."

"Oh." The brunette vampire let out a heavy sigh as she hugged him from the side, and rested her head on his shoulder. "Oh, Damon. I'm so sorry."

"You never talk about her." Liz frowned with a look of confusion on her face.

"Not much to say. She died, old-timey disease: Consumption." Damon shrugged, then placed a gentle kiss on the top of Evelyn's head.

"Why do I feel like you're leaving something out?" The Sheriff questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Tell you, what? Why don't we use your investigative instincts to solve this?" Damon questioned with a small smile and pointed her attention toward the Gilbert file. "Come here. Check this out, alright? So, why were the Gilbert's taking Wickery Bridge when Old Miller Road was clearly ten minutes faster? And, why are there no skid marks at the scene of the accident? And, why was the trunk full of luggage as if they were going out of town?"

"Have you spent some time working as a detective or something? Where'd you get all of that from." Evelyn impressively chuckled.

"There's a lot you have yet to learn about me, Eve." Damon nodded with a smirk, just as he dialed Elena's number.

"What, Damon? I'm bonding with my brother." The doppelganger answered with an irritated tone of voice.

"I want to run something by you. Is there a chance you can get to the Sheriff's office?" The Salvatore questioned curiously down the phone as Evelyn began to flick through the files again.

"I'm not so sure it's a good idea to be around the Sheriff right now. Jeremy and I smoked your going-away present."

Damon paused with eyes wide. "Are you stoned?"

"No." Elena chuckled softly. "I'm lightly buzzed."

"Okay. Well, you need some eye drops, a squirt of perfume, and half a pizza. This is important."

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"Honestly, I don't remember why we took that route home, and I had no idea that there was luggage in the trunk." Elena trailed off after Liz explained the fact that the Gilbert's death was still an open case, and there were a lot of unanswered questions.

"What about the skid marks? Any reason your dad would just drive off the road like he was trying to avoid something without braking?" Liz looked at the vampire.

"I was texting with Bonnie when it happened. Embarrassing, I know."

"It's kinda bizarre this if I'm honest," Evelyn muttered while the doppelganger nodded in agreement. "So, what about the voicemail your Mom left Liz?"

"I wasn't home that night." Elena shook her head, shrugged, and glanced between the three. "You really think there's something up with my parents' crash?"

"I don't know, but given the way this town works, I wouldn't be surprised," Liz stated but she saw how distraught Elena looked. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Elena. I know I should've brought this up sooner, but in those first few weeks after your parents died, I—"

"—No. You took care of Jeremy and I. I remember. Poor Jenna was trying and failing, but you let us stay at your place. You took us to school, made us dinner." Elena smiled with appreciation.

Damon's eyes widened, then he glanced over to Liz in shock. "Wait, you cook?"

"You really tried." Elena let out a small laugh. "I'll see if Jeremy knows anything."

"Thanks" Liz nodded his the girl dismissed herself.

Damon exhaled loudly as he kissed Evelyn's forehead, then he turned back to Liz. "Hey, you okay?"

"Yep. Yep. I'm good." She answered back, as she lifted her head from her hands. She tilted her head toward Damon, whose phone started to ring as he dismissed himself from the room.

"Liz, are you sure?" Evelyn pressed once more. "Damon and I can take you home if this is too much."

"I'm fine, Evelyn, I promise. Thank you for being here today, it's a really big help." Liz nodded reassuringly.

"There's nowhere I'd rather be."

"So, the message was a joke," Damon explained as he slid his phone into his back pocket and sauntered back into the room. "Miranda wanted you to bust Jeremy for smoking pot."

"So it's nothing out of the ordinary?" Evelyn raised an eyebrow whilst Damon shook his head. "Nothing supernatural?"

"Well, what about everything else? I mean, the route, the skid marks? What about the luggage?" Liz asked eagerly.

"There was a storm the day before. Jeremy's dad was planning a secret trip to their lake house, and the storm rained them out."

"The storm. Yeah. Oh, the storm that dropped a power line across Old Miller Road, explaining why they took Wickery Bridge which had a drainage issue before its renovation, meaning the road was probably still slick." The Sheriff sighed as she began to piece everything together.

"Slick roads, no skid marks." Evelyn nodded slowly.

"The storm, that was the reason. Mystery solved." She mumbled with a heavy sigh. "Would you mind calling Caroline, and telling her she can surprise me tomorrow? I'm not really feeling up to it tonight."

"Absolutely." Damon agreed. "I'll go get the car."

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Damon and Evelyn took Liz back to her home, and Evelyn helped her get ready for bed. Damon wandered into the bedroom and once he saw Liv, he smirked. "Oh. nice PJ situation. You look hot." He teased.

"Oh, I do not have the energy to tell you how deeply that disturbs me." Liz scoffed and sent the vampire a glare.

"Oh, I got you. I'll tell him later, don't you worry." Evelyn remarked with a smile.

"You wanted more today, didn't you? About the accident?" Damon sat down on the edge of the bed while the Austin vampire remained seated next to Liz.

"If there had been a supernatural reason they died, it would've been easier, would've been a reason. As it is, it was just an accident." Liz breathed out. "It was a stupid accident."

"No." Damon shook his head. "You wanted someone to blame."

"I did everything right, Damon. I lived a good life. I took care of my family. I just—"

"I know. Sometimes really terrible things happen to amazing people." Damon gave her a strained smile that contained both sympathy and sadness.

"I have to admit there is a certain amount of peace knowing that I'll be one of the only people in Mystic Falls to die an ordinary death." Liz blurted out with a little chuckle, despite the tears that still fell down her cheeks. "I'm exceptionally ordinary. I'm okay with that. Caroline is anything but. She was meant to be extraordinary, and she needs to know how proud I am of her."

"Yeah, she will." Damon nodded.

"You can tell her yourself." Evelyn followed on from the vampire.

"Come on, lay down in this bed and get some rest." Damon helped the woman lay back down in the bed as she finally managed to stop crying.

Liz turned to her left, and looked at Evelyn with bloodshot eyes, "I just wanted to thank you, as well. You make Damon a better person, you have since you came back into his life. I can see how much he means to you and how much you mean to him. He's so in love with you, Evelyn. Also, please take care of Caroline. I don't know how she's going to handle my death, but please make sure she doesn't do anything stupid. She's my baby girl, I want her to be happy with the rest of her life, even though I won't be there to—"

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Caroline Forbes frantically burst through the hospital rooms with a look of terror on her face. "Elizabeth Forbes, what room is she in?!" She yelled toward the receptionist but immediately turned around to see Damon and Evelyn stood behind her in the waiting room. "What happened?"

"She fell asleep. Damon and I couldn't wake her up. They said she went into a coma." Evelyn explained but it was clear that all Caroline cared about was finding her Mom.

"They said they could make her comfortable," Damon called out toward the blonde vampire, who was frantically glancing into each hospital room to find her mother.

"She's not comfortable, she's dying!" Caroline snapped back at the pair just as she set her sights on her Mom's hospital room. As she took a slow step inside the room, she cupped her hand over her mouth. "I didn't get to say goodbye. I didn't get to say goodbye to my Mom."

"Oh, my God." Tears filled Evelyn's eyes as she heard Caroline's desperate sobs for her Mom. Damon stepped forward and pulled the brunette vampire into his embrace, just as Stefan stepped out of the room to give Caroline some privacy.

"Tyler, hey, It's Stefan. You might want to head back to Mystic Falls. Caroline's Mom isn't doing too hot. I'll call you with updates." Stefan spoke down the phone just as Evelyn and Damon wandered over to him. "How much longer?"

"Not long. The hospital says she has a DNR, so." The eldest Salvatore finally puffed out. "I'm gonna get some air." Damon then walked off without saying another word.

Stefan looked over at Evelyn, almost as if he were debating which of the two should go after Damon. "It's okay, I'll go after him. Just— just stay with, Care." She assured the younger vampire.

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