for the rest of us death will be a relief

[praevaricatio]

Comments

[meanestgirl]

I don't know. It feels so weird. I'm worried I'm going to trip up and mention that the wrong person is dead.

[And then set off a tidal wave of family fights.]

[scrutinously]

They can't help who's in our world and who isn't. I know why you're worried, but I'd rather endure a little awkwardness than police ourselves completely.

Just do your best.

They'll ask about us. Our lives. Focus on that.

[meanestgirl]

I'll try.

If Uncle Stefan is still alive do you think he and Aunt Caroline still got married?

[scrutinously]

I don't think so, he's traveling with someone named Buffy. And Caroline's doing all this emotional damage control, but she's also not in Mystic Falls right now. I'm not saying they couldn't have two different missions, but from what we heard, they always made a good team.

You can always ask. Talk to Dad.

[meanestgirl]

Maybe. Maybe tomorrow.

[And she'll probably leave things there for right now, at least with Grayson. She lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling, and then ... because she's curious and she can't stop asking questions. In end, she reaches for her phone because she's still not sure she can face her father who is not her father and ask these questions, so she texts him instead. To Damon:]

If I ask you a bunch of questions about how things are here based on what I know about my world will you answer them?

[unforgivably]

I will.

[meanestgirl]

[Okay. Let's start with the most relevant then.]

Did Uncle Stefan and Aunt Caroline get married?

[unforgivably]

Not in this universe. Things were awkward for a summer before we had Heretic problems.

[meanestgirl]

[Okay. So that's something.]

Is Aunt Caroline still the twins mom?

[unforgivably]

Jo is the twins' mom.

Caroline was the twins mom in your universe? ...Caroline and Alaric Saltzman?

[meanestgirl]

Not their biomom. But she carried them after their biomom died and like ... literally birthed them so she basically became their mom.

She and Uncle Ric are not together.

But hey no weird vampire body horror in this universe. That's probably a win.

[unforgivably]

... She carried the twins.

[meanestgirl]

I don't know all the details but basically their biomom's crazy brother attacked the wedding and she was dying so her coven saved the twins by transferring them into the nearest available womb that just so happened to be Aunt Caroline.

I try not to look too hard at the magic stuff because it really just seems like an ethical nightmare I don't want to know about.

[unforgivably]

Yeah, that doesn't sound consenting. So. No. Jo is alive in this universe.

[meanestgirl]

Huh. Okay.

[There's a pause as she tries to figure out how much she wants to know about her mother's life before she gets started.]

I know you said he's her boyfriend, but Mom doesn't have any other kids with this guy right?

[No weird alternate universe siblings?]

[unforgivably]

Neither of us have kids.

... Dean does have a kid, but it's not Elena's.

[meanestgirl]

[Woof. That's a bullet dodged. She stares at her phone for a minute before she continues.]

And she really likes him? Dean, I mean.

[unforgivably]

They're together. She moved in with him. She likes him. She probably loves him, but I'm not in that loop.

[meanestgirl]

[Oh. Okay. And with a swerve into intensely personal questions:]

Are you in love with Freya?

[She caught her name when he was trying to get them to stop ganging up on him, said he would explain her. He never got around to the explaining, but she still wants to know.]

[unforgivably]

No, we just started spending time together. It's new.

[meanestgirl]

Okay.

[Another pause.]

I'm sorry we crashed your date. And that I accused you of cheating on your Elena.

[She was wrong, she can admit it, even if she's not good at face-to-face conversations right now.]

[unforgivably]

It's fine. Really. You didn't know any better, and you were confronted with who you thought was your dad betraying your mom.

( It's not how he would have acted, but he is not her. )

Not that that doesn't make me your dad.

[meanestgirl]

You're kind of not though.

[It feels mean, to say it that way, but it's also true.]

I mean, my dad isn't a vampire. He's not living your life. It's kind not fair of me to expect you to be my dad just because you have the same name and the same face.

[Oh, that doesn't feel right either. She's just going to keep rambling.]

Not that you haven't been great especially when you were just saddled with two kids out of nowhere. I'm not saying it because you did anything wrong. Just ... I don't know.

[unforgivably]

Same DNA, probably. We haven't ruled that out.

Hey, we're all learning this as we go. If I can do better, let me know. Hopefully, tomorrow there will be more answers.

[meanestgirl]

[Its hard. It's hard to talk to him and not have him be her dad. Have that kind of understanding that comes with being with the person who raised you, who knows you. She doesn't mean to take it out on this Damon Salvatore, but it's hard to manage the expectations when he doesn't behave the way she expects him to.

When he doesn't know how to anticipate her needs.

When all she wants more than anything is to just go home to her dad, and she's terrified she'll never get back there and just be more people her parents have lost.

But he's right. Maybe tomorrow will be better.]

Yeah. Maybe.