THE VAMPIRE DIARIES

CHAPTER FOUR
━━━━ season one, episode four

family ties!
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

"Scum ball. Scum bucket." Jenna was standing in the kitchen, throwing insults at the TV as Athena and Elena walked into the room. The girls looked over at the Sommers woman with knitted brows, both having the same question in mind.

"Who are you talking to?" Athena was the first to ask her mother, before Jenna motioned with her head towards the television. "Him." Referring to the news reporter still speaking, Logan Fell.

"The news guy?" Elena raised a brow at her aunt, needing more information on the subject.

"Also known as Logan 'Scum' Fell." Jenna started to elaborate, making Athena tilt her head slightly at the screen. She remembered that name, from that one time her mother told her a story about her life in high school. Jenna kept her attention on her niece, who had no knowledge of the story, making her ask. "Did your mom ever tell you why I moved away from Mystic Falls?"

A chuckle escaped Elena's lips. "Oh, no way. You and him?" Her eyes danced over to the television screen and stopped on Logan. "He's cute."

"Really?" The strawberry-blonde pulled a face at her comment. "I don't see it."

"She's right. He is not cute. There's nothing cute about him." Jenna chimed in with a scoff, taking a pause before responding to Elena. "And never in a million years would him and I happen. I was already in a relationship at the time, not going to mention any names," She added, seeing the look her daughter was giving her. "and Logan tried to ruin that. Apart from the reason why that ended, 'Scum bag' is the other reason why I left."

Jenna switched off the television, before turning to the girls as Elena sat down at the table. "What are you doing with that?" She wondered, looking down at the box in the girl's hands.

As Athena entered the kitchen to make herself an iced coffee, Elena quickly explained. "Athena and I went yesterday and got it from the safe deposit box. Mom had told Mrs. Lockwood she would loan it to the Founder's Council for their heritage display."

Jenna glanced down at the box, when a particular ring took her interest, so she picked it up. "Is that Grandma Beth's wedding ring?" She stared at the jewelry in her hand, in awe.

Athena returned from the kitchen, just as Jeremy set foot into the dining room. "Originally, it was Great-Great-Grandma Mary's wedding ring." The Gilbert girl informed.

"How much do you think this stuff is worth, you know, like on eBay?" Jeremy wondered, after he grabbed a pocket watch from the box to get a look at it.

"You're not gonna find out." Athena quickly took the pocket watch out of his hand, to place it back inside the box.

Jeremy huffed quietly, and made his way towards the refrigerator, when he called over his shoulder to his older sister. "That stuff is Mom and Dad's. You can't just give it away." He objected to what she was planning on doing.

"I'm not giving it away." Elena sighed. "It's called a loan, Jeremy." That's when someone decided to ring the doorbell, turning Elena's attention away from her brother. She paused what she was doing to stand up from her chair, and passed her cousin the polishing cloth, so Athena could carry on for her as she went to get the door.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

"Fine. I'll go and ask the girls." Athena huffed out a breath as she made her way downstairs, Jeremy following behind her to get the door, since it rang moments ago. The Sommers girl was currently in need of some help on which dress to wear for the Founder's party taking place later that night, and for some reason, she decided to ask Jeremy while he was upstairs.

"Please do." Jeremy sighed in relief, watching her disappear down the hallway before he opened the front door. But, as soon as he saw Tyler standing there, he immediately tried to slam the door back in his face, but failed to do so when Tyler stopped the door with his hand.

"I'm here for my mom. I'm supposed to pick up a box of stuff—" Tyler explained to him why he was there, and it wasn't to start another fight with the boy in front of him. Elena was already walking up to the door with the box in her hands, when she interrupted. "It's right here." She held up the box to him with a warning. "Please be careful."

Jeremy couldn't help himself but chime in, with a glare aimed at the Lockwood teenager. "Yeah, be careful with it, dick."

"Hey." Elena snapped, interjecting before it could possibly escalate between them. "Not now, okay, guys? Please?"

"I'm fine. He's just being a punk." Tyler shrugged at her, just as Athena was walking back down the hallway, in time to hear Jeremy snap back. "I got your punk."

"Hey. I recall Elena telling you to cut it out." The strawberry-blonde scolded, standing in between the Gilbert's with a sigh, before directing her eyes over to Tyler. "Look, Tyler, maybe you should go. Tell your mom that we'll see her tonight."

Tyler nodded, and the two girls turned around to make their way back into the kitchen, where their friend, Bonnie, was waiting for them at the table, so they could paint their nails for the Founder's party.

"Attie, have you finally picked out a dress?" Elena wondered. She was currently stood in the kitchen to grab some paper towels, when she looked over to hear her cousin's answer.

"Yes, I have. Finally." She sighed loudly, before a smile graced her lips and she glanced over to the Bennett girl next to her. "My new date helped me decide that I should wear the dark green one."

"Ooh. Good choice." Elena grinned. "And at least you won't be going by yourself now, Bon."

Bonnie chuckled softly, before looking back down at the table, towards the selection of different nail polishes to pick out two of them. "Delicate Flower versus Naughty Vixen."

Athena groaned at her words, before rubbing her hands over her face. "Not again. I hate decision-making." She grumbled.

Elena chuckled to herself, before calling from the kitchen. "Tough call. Can we mix them?"

"Look at you getting all pretty for your date." The Bennett girl smiled at Elena as she returned from the kitchen with paper towels. "You seem happy-ish. Both of you do." She pointed out.

"I am-ish." Elena was the first to reply before she sat down at the table. "Tonight's gonna be a good night." She kept her eyes on her friend, almost as if she was searching for something. "But, don't let that stop you from telling both of us whatever it is you wanted to tell us, as soon as you walked in the door."

"What if I tell you in the morning?" Bonnie's eyes were glued to the variety of nail polishes through her words, showing she was quite hesitant to tell the Gilbert girl the news. "I don't wanna ruin the night."

"Out with it, Bon-Bon." Athena pressed, shooting her a look, which made her sigh. "Okay, but it has to go in the vault because Caroline will kill me if it gets back to Damon that she squealed." Bonnie began. "Apparently, Stefan has a very interesting back story."

"Uh-huh." The cousins both nodded, allowing the Bennett girl to continue with what she was about to say. "Do you know what happened with his ex-girlfriend, Katherine?" She directed her question towards Elena.

"I know that they both dated her and that's why they have issues." She shared only what she had been told by Stefan, before Bonnie nodded, going off from what Caroline had said. "Yeah, they both dated her, only she chose Damon and that drove Stefan mad. So, he did horrible things to try and break them up. He manipulated Katherine. He filled her head with all these lies until finally, it worked and she turned against Damon."

"That sounds like one person's side of the story, meaning Damon's." Elena said, sounding like she didn't believe a word of that story. Athena partly agreed with her. On the one hand, it didn't sound like something Stefan would do — then again, she hasn't really known the Salvatore for long.

"I just wanted you to know."

"And anyway, his past relationships are none of my business." Elena continued.

"Unless he's a calculating manipulative liar. That is your business." Bonnie was quick to mention.

"Stefan is none of those things." Elena continued to disagree with the insinuation on Stefan, before Bonnie turned to her, and arched a brow. "Yeah? How do you know?" She quickly reminded her of the fact that she hasn't known him as long as she has known them, so what proof did Elena have to back up her statement.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

In the Gilbert-Sommers Residence, the girls were getting ready for the Founder's party. Bonnie and Elena were currently in the bathroom doing their hair and make-up, while Athena was downstairs at that time, when the phone rang. The Sommers girl sighed, quickly stopping at the bottom of the stairs to shout up to Elena, considering the house phone was closer to her anyway. "I'll get it!" She walked over and picked up the phone to answer the call. "Hello? Oh, Hi, Aunt Carol."

Athena pursed her lips as she listened to her aunt express her worries about a missing pocket watch from the box she received from them. Her brows knitted, obviously confused about the topic, since she definitely recalled seeing the pocket watch in the box the day before, and Elena could vouch for that as well. "What do you mean? It is? Are you sure? Because Elena and I saw it." She raised her brows all of a sudden, like she had remembered something. She had an idea of what might have happened to it. "Let me check. Hmm. I will find it and bring it. Okay. Bye." She hung up the phone, putting it back on the holder before she made her way upstairs towards Jeremy's room.

Athena entered without knocking, and pulled his headphones off his head, causing him to groan in annoyance as he looked up at the girl. "Yes, Attie. How can I help you today?"

"The pocket watch." The strawberry-blonde wore a stern expression on her face, crossing her arms over her chest. "Where is it?"

"What watch?" Jeremy asked her, and placed his headphones down.

So, Athena quickly reminded him. "The one from your mom's box." She let out a puff of air. "Listen Jer, I'm not automatically assuming you've stole it, but I just wanted to ask you, since my aunt has just called me freaking out. It was on the list, and she can't find it and she thinks she's the one who lost it."

"Maybe she did. Maybe Tyler took it." The Gilbert boy tried to take the blame off of him, but sighed at the look on Athena's face. "Fine." He muttered under his breath, dropping the act to get up from his chair and approached the bookshelf, reaching behind the stereo to pull the pocket watch out of its hiding place. He held it up to Athena, looking almost frustrated as he insisted. "I would never sell this, you know."

"Yes, I do know." Athena's tone softened, and she allowed Jeremy to continue with whatever he was going to say. "It's supposed to be mine. My dad said it goes to the firstborn son. His father gave it to him and now what?" He quickly slapped it into her hand, before going back to his chair.

"And he was going to give it you." The strawberry blonde stared down at the object in her hand for a moment, before turning around and passed the watch back to Jeremy, who looked quite confused about what was happening. "I get it, and I'm sure your mom would've understood too, if you want to keep it. I'll just have to think of something to tell my aunt."

Athena turned on her heel to leave the bedroom, but stopped at the door when Jeremy called her name. "Attie?" She looked back at her cousin, as his lips curled up into a smile. "Thank you." She simply returned the gesture, before leaving the room completely.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

Once the social event occurred, it didn't take long before the Lockwood Residence was quickly filled with the residents of their town. Multiple waiters worked alongside them, brushing past the crowds of people — inside and outside, with trays of wine or champagne glasses rested on their hand, while they asked many adults if they wanted one.

Jenna Sommers walked by a waiter close by, who stopped to let her take a wine glass off the tray he was holding. Her lips tugged up into the smallest smile, just to send a thank you to the waiter when she carried on. "Oh dear," Jenna's gaze shot over at hearing the familiar voice, towards an amused Athena. "you don't look too happy. Are you still hiding from you know who, by any chance?" She asked, referring to Logan Fell.

"Well... trying to." Jenna sighed after taking a sip of her wine. Athena chuckled, before it died down once she glanced over her mother's shoulder and spotted the person Jenna was trying to run away from. "Unfortunately, not enough." The Sommers woman knitted her brows at her muttered words, unsure of what she meant, when Logan clarified for her. "Jenna."

At the call of her name, Jenna looked down to the floor, speaking quietly under her breath. "Oh, kill me now." She rolled her eyes, and Athena backed away from her, trying to hide the grin on her face as she watched her mother turn around to Logan, greeting him hesitantly. "Hello, Logan."

"It's good to see you." The Fell man smiled at the woman who he stepped over to give a hug to, but Jenna leaned back from his reach before he could get a chance to do so.

"I thought I might see you here."

"You knew it."

"I dreaded." Jenna corrected him. Athena hadn't realised at this point that she was still stood close by, watching the interaction.

"But were secretly hoping."

Athena arched a brow. "More like you're secretly hoping." She whispered, before deciding to leave her mother alone. She patted the woman on the shoulder, as if she was saying: Good luck, as she passed by. She was meant to go and find Bonnie to check on her, however, she found Elena first, with her eyes attended to what was on the wall in front of her. "The founding families of Mystic Falls welcomes you to the inaugural Founder's Council Celebration—"

"Ooh," Athena let out as she walked over, making Elena look back at her with a smile. "isn't that the original guest registry?"

The Gilbert girl followed her gaze, and so did the boy next to her. "Oh, yeah. And look at all these familiar names:" Her eyes scrolled down the list, reading them off aloud, "Sheriff William Forbes, Mayor Benjamin Lockwood..." The girl furrowed her brows, looking bemused when a couple of the names in particular had caught her eye. "Is that Damon Salvatore? And Stefan Salvatore?"

"The original Salvatore brothers." Another voice called from behind, so they turned their heads in that direction, to see Damon walking over, with Caroline by his side. "Our ancestors. Tragic story, actually." Unbeknownst to the girls, Damon had managed to save his brother from explaining to his girlfriend himself, how their names were on the original guest registry.

"We don't need to bore them with stories of the past." Stefan quickly stepped in, clearly trying to change the subject when he warned Damon. But, going over what Bonnie had told her and Athena earlier that day, Elena had been wanting to know more about him. "It's not boring, Stefan. I'd love to hear more about your family."

"Well, I'm bored. I wanna dance." The Forbes girl whined, and shot a pointed look towards her date for the next part. "And Damon won't dance with me." The raven-haired boy pursed his lips and let out a 'Mm-mm' at Caroline's words, who directed her eyes over to Elena. "Could I just borrow your date?"

"Oh, uh..." Elena let out an awkward chuckle, and glanced towards Stefan.

"I don't really dance." He spoke with a kind smile and a polite tone. Even though he had denied her request, his older brother quickly interjected, his words showing that Stefan was apparently being modest about how he danced.

"You wouldn't mind, would you, Elena?"

Elena took a moment to answer, letting out a sigh through her words. "It's up to Stefan."

"Well, sorry," Caroline reached her hand forward to grab Stefan. "but I'm not gonna take no for an answer."

Elena glanced over at Athena, as Stefan followed the blonde towards the dance floor, while Damon stayed behind. "I'm gonna go and find Bonnie, so I'll see you later, okay?" Athena sent her a look as if she were asking, Will you be alright?, to which Elena returned with a nod, giving her cousin the confirmation she needed to leave.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

Over an hour had passed and Elena found herself sitting with Athena and Bonnie in the corner of a room, eating ice cream as she rambled onto them about the argument she just had with Stefan on the dance floor.

"This is my fault. I planted doubt." Bonnie placed the blame on herself. "I'm a doubt-planter."

"It's not your fault." Elena disagreed. If anything, it was hers. She felt like she pushed the Salvatore too much in order to share things with her about him, but she didn't understand his claim towards his older brother, saying that he was to blame for the dispute. "I just— I feel terrible because I said I wouldn't get in the middle of it, and then that's exactly what I did. I got all snotty."

Athena went to speak, but got interrupted by her aunt, Carol Lockwood, coming into the room and headed over to where the girls were sat. "Athena, honey, there you are. I notice the watch still isn't in the collection."

"Oh," Athena realised. She assumed Carol would have come to find her at some point to ask about the pocket watch that was now back in Jeremy's possession, but she didn't know that. "I'm sorry, Aunt Carol. I couldn't find it." She gestured over to Elena with her hand, bringing her into it, and luckily for them both, Athena had discussed with her cousin about the subject earlier. "Elena and I reckon it might be still packed up in her parents' stuff somewhere."

"I see." Carol sent her niece a polite smile, before glancing between her and Elena. "Well, please let me know if either of you find it." They responded with a nod, giving her the okay before she turned on her heel and exited the room.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

"I thought I'd find you in here." Athena hummed, once she entered the powder room and found the Forbes girl standing in front of the vanity mirror, checking her make-up. "How you doing, Barbie?"

"I'm not bad." Caroline replied. "Where have you been, anyway? The last time I saw you was when I found you with Elena and Stefan by the original guest registry."

"I went to go and find Bonnie and talked with her for a bit." Athena explained.

"Ah, okay." Caroline nodded, before beginning to reapply her lip gloss.

Athena smiled lightly. "So, what about you? What have you—" She went to ask, however, cut herself off when something underneath Caroline's scarf caught her attention. "um, what is that?"

"What is what?" The blonde-haired girl furrowed her brows at her question. Though, she never got a verbal answer from the girl, as Athena made an attempt to reach for her scarf to pull it up so she could see what it was, but Caroline flinched away from her. "D-Don't."

Normally, Athena would listen to her friend, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. She ignored Caroline's protest, and managed to pull the scarf up, just enough to reveal a giant bite mark on her neck. "Oh my God," The shock on her face was visible, when Caroline flinched away from her again. "Care, what happened?"

"Nothing, okay?" The Forbes girl tried to shake it off as if it was no big deal, but it was. It definitely was. She was flushed with fear at her attempt to push the topic of conversation away from Athena, wanting her to ignore what she had seen, like she was obligated to do so.

"That is not nothing, Caroline." The strawberry-blonde girl continued, insisting that whatever she saw, was a much bigger deal than she made it out to be. "Did somebody hurt you?"

"No, okay, nothing. It just—" The girl's words got caught in her throat, and quickly replaced with a deep exhale. "My mom would kill me."

Athena peered down at the back of her cardigan, and in a split second, she reached for another one of her clothing and pulled it down — proving she was right when she saw another bite mark on the back of her shoulder. "Was Damon the one who did this? Did he hurt you?!"

"No." Caroline was quick with her reply, denying the accusation against Damon. Even though, she was right. She reached her hand down to pull the part of the cardigan that Athena had moved, back onto her shoulder. "Of course not."

"Care—" Athena sighed deeply, and went to speak again, but Caroline interrupted. "No." The blonde never normally snapped at her, which caused the frown to appear on Athena's face. It looked to her like Caroline grew annoyed by her questions, but in reality, the blonde wanted nothing more but to tell her everything, just to make him stop. Albeit, it was like she was held back from admitting it all by an invisible force, so the only thing she could do was shout. "Just leave me alone, Athena."

Caroline quickly left the room after that, and left Athena standing alone for a moment, before her eyes hardened and she stormed out the powder room, only to be met with a befuddled Elena on the other side of the door. "Hey." Her hand was pointed towards the direction that Caroline had just gone in. "I just saw Car—" She had recalled seeing her friend run down the hallway seconds ago, and was going to ask what had happened, as she managed to have heard the last part of their conversation, when Athena stopped her. The girl grabbed her hand and pulled her along with her, letting out a puff of air. "Come with me."

"What— why? Where are we going?" The Gilbert girl inquired. She watched as Athena dragged her through the residence, like she was searching for someone, until they found themselves outside on the steps. Athena scanned the crowd, until her eyes landed on one person and the corners of her lips twitched into a scowl. "Attie, what's wrong?"

Athena ignored her. "There he is." She called, and let go of Elena's hand to march over to the raven-haired boy, and immediately shoved him. "There is something seriously wrong with you. How dare you. Now, you better stay away from Caroline, or I will go straight to her mother, the Sheriff." She threatened, not caring that he was taller or much stronger than she was. "You understand me? Stay away from her." She flicked him on the forehead, before brushing past him, with Elena rushing up behind her.

"Athena," Her voice was filled with concern, after hearing her cousin threaten Damon. "what did he do to Caroline?" However, Athena didn't answer her question. Her eyes darted around the garden, searching for the other Salvatore sibling. "Do you know where your boyfriend is?"

"Umm..." Elena trailed off, looking confused as to why she was asking that, but she helped her out anyway. "I think he's over there."

Athena followed her gaze. "Come on." She sighed, telling Elena to follow her as she headed towards where Stefan was standing. "Yo, Stefano!" Athena called his name. "Over here!" He turned around as Athena and Elena approached him. "I hear you don't like your brother. So, I am here to tell you that whatever you've got against the dude, you're right."

Stefan found himself glancing towards Elena who wore a frown as she listened to Athena. Glancing back to the strawberry-blonde, his brows pinched together with concern. "What did he do?"

Athena huffed out a breath. "There are bruises or bite marks all over Caroline's body." She began to say, as Elena fell into shock at her words. "I think he's got her all confused and messed up in the head."

Elena noticed the look on his face, and her brows pinched together. "You don't look surprised."

"Umm... I'm handling it."

Athena looked taken aback at his answer, sharing a look with Elena, before the latter looked back at the boy. "Handling it?" She scoffed. "Stefan, you should be having him arrested."

"I'm gonna go look for Caroline." The strawberry-blonde muttered to Elena, not letting her reply as she walked off straight away, leaving the couple alone.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

Finally, after Elena had caught up with Athena as soon as she left Stefan, the girls managed to find Caroline standing alone in the garden. "Caroline! Oh, we've been looking everywhere for you." The Sommers girl called out to her, rushing towards her friend with her heels now in her hands. That girl had chased too many people around through the night, and now her feet were hurting.

"Are you okay?" Elena asked the blonde, who had still not yet said a single word.

"Yeah," She sounded afraid, like she was about to burst into tears. "I'm fine."

"Caroline, what happened?" Elena asked Caroline who continued to breathe heavily.

"I'm fine." She responded with the same answer, like she was trying to reassure herself more than anyone else.

"No, Care, you're shaking. Hey—"

"I'm fine. I'm fine."

"Oh, come here." Athena frowned, and her along with Elena pulled the blonde into a hug. Athena's heart broke for her friend, letting the girl cry into their shoulders. "It's okay. Just let it out. The real way."