but oh what a year

[patrols]

Comments

[hereditare]

I would not be sitting here if he was.

[It does not preclude him crashing, but so long as she's not intentionally putting herself in a room with him, it's fine.]

[phonetically]

Would never have guessed you're a Hale sister.

( But, that's said to the steering wheel.

Jenna smirks, Liz questions, and then Jenna shakes her head, mouthing 'I'll tell you later.' )

[braveandstupid]

[They fall silent for the rest of the trip into Mystic Falls, and soon they pull up to the front of Damon's house. Elena and Jeremy are standing out front, having headed over when they got the text that they had landed, and have been chatting with her brother.

Mostly about party arrangements. Maybe a little about her kids. She hasn't spent much time with them yet, but it's been enough to at least get a sense of them.

She straightens when the car is pulling into the driveway, nudging her brother to get his attention. There's anxiousness in her stance, but she does throw Stiles a wave in the driver's seat and tries not to get too over-eager. Of all of them, she's the one who hasn't actually talked to Jenna yet, so she can't help but be a little nervous.]

[unpreparedness]

( Jeremy is swallowing a lot, it feels like, and he has been since Thanksgiving. What's one more. Surprise kids. But, he can play uncle. He also presses Elena on Dean's - not as gossip, but regarding how she feels - now that it's more public business.

But both pipe down when they see the car rounding the bend. Well, Elena does. Her nudge has Jeremy turning.

Stiles puts the car into park and turns back to Jenna.

"You need help with your bags?"

Jenna shakes her head, thanks Liz and tells her she'll see her in a few hours. Climbing out of the car, she gets a good look at a familiar house. It wasn't always Damon's, but she remembers it all the same. Slamming the door behind her, her eyes fall on her niece and nephew.

She has nothing to her name, so she leaves the idling car behind and makes her way up the rest of the roundabout to the porch. )

Hey you two.

[braveandstupid]

Hey.

[And because Elena has a lot of feelings, she's just going to meet Jenna halfway and pull her into a hug. She knows she probably should ask first, and she'll step back if Jenna pushes her away, but she's missed her, and there's not a small amount of guilt there for her role in how Jenna got here.

But for now, she'll just focus on the fact that Jenna is here and worry about the rest later.]

I missed you.

[unpreparedness]

( No, she gets that hug. She gets the hug right back. Opening her eyes, though, she glares up at Jeremy. )

Get down here, too, punk.

( Jeremy laughs through a few tears before joining them and making it a group hug. )

God, I missed you both. I'm so, so sorry.

[braveandstupid]

It's not your fault.

[None of it is. All of it is on Klaus and Klaus alone or at least that's what Elena tries to tell herself when the guilt gets hard.]

I'm just so glad you're here.

[unpreparedness]

Me too.

( Because at the end of it, she really is. She pulls back again. )

I talked to your mom. ( Who is okay! But, also, relevant. ) And, I hear Ric has kids?

[braveandstupid]

He did. He married Jo, who we do like, but more because she's my medical mentor.

[She would have liked Jo with or without Ric but if Ric was going to get married, he picked a good one.]

They have twins, Josie and Lizzie. None of them are in town though, so you probably won't see them.

[unpreparedness]

Following in your dad's footsteps, then.

( She'll take her niece's word for it, but it does go a long way. )

Well, partial bummer, but partial, he still feels like sort of my ex-boyfriend so I'm good to wait to cross that bridge. So, this is Damon's house, huh? As ostentatious as I'd imagine it would be. Come on. Show me around.

[braveandstupid]

[Elena nods as she steps back, leading the way inside.]

Stefan and his girlfriend are here, as well as Enzo, who's a friend, and Damon and ... our ...

[This is still weird to say.]

Technically they're our kids. But they're from another timeline.

[She makes a face.]

Life's gotten really weird lately.

[unpreparedness]

Stefan, the serial monogamist. ( Enzo, she - well, from Peace knows, but hasn't met in person, Damon and his house -- Jenna just stops in her tracks in the doorway because - huh? )

Well, a bunch of us folks are back from the dead, so let's just leave the lid of the weird for now. You could tell me you're part Klingon and I would just say, great, don't Vulcan death grip me.

( She winces. )

Dawn's here, too?

[braveandstupid]

Dawn is on her way with Mom and Dad, and I think she's going to be staying with Jeremy at the Lockwood house but she is great.

[Elena fully endorses Jeremy and Dawn, but Elena's judgement can be questionable.]

And, Stefan's girlfriend is Dawn's sister. Small world. Buffy, actually, is probably around here somewhere unless she's been recruited into party prep.

[unpreparedness]

I better get an introduction.

( Hint. Hint.

As if on cue, Buffy is heading down the stairs!

"Nope, Buffy is right here. Party prep and Buffy ended long ago when she didn't put sugar in the lemonade she prepared. And then that party was attacked by impatient vampires. Or, when her party was beset upon by literal living dead. Basically, Buffy and parties... I go, I don't plan." )

So, you must be Buffy, or you really like talking about Buffy.

( "Just quirky like that. I am. I'm Buffy. Stefan's girlfriend and Jeremy's girlfriend's sister. And, no, everyone met separate." )

I heard. Neat.

[yourtype]

[After dropping off Jenna, they head off to the Forbes house next, and leave Liz to reacquaint herself with her home. Once Serena is back in the car, they turn and head off to the pack house, pulling up into the driveway in front of the large house, cars piled in front, and Laura follows Stiles and Cora's leave as they go and let themselves inside.

At the sound of familiar voices, Erica comes down the stairs, and flashes Stiles a grin.]

Hey, Batman.

[It's falling back on an old pattern, and she hopes he'll fall with her, but she follows up with:]

Since you're a vampire now, are you actually a bat man?

[phonetically]

( It's weird, but no weirder than anything else - no weirder than being a vampire, so he relaxes. He remembers the dynamic. The playful banter. The danger he felt, but the electricity. It wasn't a lack of chemistry. )

Hey, Erica. ( He smirks to himself, wheeling his bag to the side. ) No, unfortunately, not one kind of vampire turns into a bat. But, if I reach my next Pokemon evolution, you'll be the first to know. ( Unbeknownst to him, this was discussed. ) Cora, Laura, this is Erica Reyes. Cora and Laura are Derek's sisters. And Cora's my girlfriend. Laura's actually like you.

[yourtype]

Cora and I've met.

[In the vault.

There's an uncharitable feeling about how Cora is the only one who fully survived the Alpha Pack, how it feels like she succeeded in getting out of the vault and stole Erica's life to go along with it.

She also knows that Erica got herself in this situation, in a world where none of her friends are really her friends anymore. She thought she could try and take Kali, tired of being a victim and wanting to do something about it, never mind that she was hungry and weak and hadn't felt the moon in weeks.

Cora is watching her like she doesn't know what to do with her either and Erica is honestly starting to get sick of that face, so she swallows and shakes her head.]

Anyway. Everyone's getting ready for the party. So they're around.

[Serena weaves her way around the Hales. "Hi. Serena. Is Alexander upstairs?"

Erica blinks, and tips her head to the side.]

Jackson's boyfriend. Yes. He's upstairs somewhere.

[Serena smiles and gives her arm a squeeze. "Cool. Nice meeting you." And with that up the stairs she goes.]

[phonetically]

( Shit. He swallows that regret, but of course they did. They knew each other for weeks. He can't salvage the moment, but Erica pushes on. )

Yeah. Right. Great.

( Stiles watches her go upstairs. He sighs, turning back to Cora. )

Hey, can you take our stuff upstairs? I'll meet you up there?

[yourtype]

["Yeah." Cora grabs the bags and moves to the stairs, moving past Erica with only a small glance back.

Laura takes a deep breath and moves forward into the house, following her nose. "I'm going to go find Derek."

Once both the Hale women are gone, Erica turns her attention back to Stiles.]

So how long have you and Cora been ...

[You know. She's just curious. Definitely not jealous at all.]

[phonetically]

About a month. On and off, kind of, but, yeah, a month.

( After he fucked up a few times. )

Been a vampire since last May, so. It's a new development.

[yourtype]

[That, oddly, makes her feel better. That Cora didn't just swoop in and steal her pack and her crush all at once. She does, logically, know it's been a long time. It's just a lot to adjust to.]

Is being a vampire weird?

[phonetically]

It's - a lot of awareness. And feelings. Everything, you just feel more of. All my senses are heightened. But, I've gained some equilibrium. I don't freak out at the sight or smell of blood. So, we're all making progress.

( We being... relative. )

How are you doing, I know it must be a lot. Over ten years later. We're all... older.

[yourtype]

[She nods slowly because yeah. It's a lot.]

Yeah. And you guys moved on which ... you're supposed to. I mean, I didn't think the whole world would end if I died.

[Just hers. And now she's trying to restart it again.]

I guess I just don't really know where I fit yet. But Scott said I could stay in the pack, and Hayley's really nice and so is her daughter, so I'm making friends, I guess. I'll figure it out.

[phonetically]

Hey, I want you know, we never moved on, we just moved forward. We take everything that happened in high school with us every day. Shit kept hitting the fan, but we never really lost perspective.

( Well, sometimes, but we don't talk about Theo or the Wild Hunt. )

I know how it feels, to fear being forgotten completely. And Erica, you never were.

[yourtype]

[That does mean something. It catches in her chest heavily, and she takes a shuddering breath before nodding.]

I just wish I had been there.

[That they could have grown together instead of her getting left behind. It's hard not to feel left behind, even if they never forgot her. She blinks back the tears and swallows as she looks up at him with a smile.]

It's really good to see you, though.