Meredith gave herself a mental shake and sat up straighter. She was being ridiculous, worrying about Alaric's relationship with his col eague. She was pretty sure she was being ridiculous, anyway. Fairly sure. She gripped the arms of the swing more tightly. She was a vampire hunter. She had a duty to protect her town, and she had, with her friends, protected it wel already. She wasn't just an ordinary teenager, and if she needed to prove that to Alaric again, she was confident she could, Dr. Celia Connor or no Dr. Celia Connor.
Matt's rattletrap of an old Ford sedan chugged up to the curb, Bonnie in front with Matt, Stefan and Elena sitting close together in the back. Meredith rose and crossed the lawn toward it.
"Is everything okay?" said Bonnie, round eyed, when she opened the door. "Your face looks like you're heading off to battle."
Meredith smoothed her features into impassivity and scrambled for an explanation that wasn't, I'm worried about whether my boyfriend still likes me. Quickly and easily, she realized there was another reason she was tense, a true one.
"Bonnie, I have a duty to help look out for everyone now,"
Meredith said simply. "Damon's dead. Stefan doesn't want to hurt humans, and that handicaps him. Elena's Powers are gone. Even though the kitsune were defeated, we stil need protection. We'l always need to be careful."
Stefan tightened his arm around Elena's shoulders. "The things that make Fel 's Church so appealing to the supernatural, the ley lines that have attracted al kinds of beings here for generations, are al stil here. I can sense them. And other people, other creatures, wil sense them, too."
Bonnie's voice rose in alarm. "So it's al going to happen again?"
Stefan rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I don't think so. But something else might. Meredith's right, we have to be vigilant." He dropped a kiss onto Elena's shoulder and rested his cheek against her hair. There was no question, Meredith thought wryly, why this particular supernatural being was drawn to Fel 's Church, anyway, and it wasn't because of the ley lines running through the area. Elena toyed with a single dark red rose, something Stefan must have brought her. "Is that the only reason you're worried, Meredith?" she asked lightly. "Your duty to Fel 's Church?"
Meredith felt herself flush a little, but her voice was dry and calm. "I think that's reason enough, don't you?"
Elena grinned. "Oh, it's reason enough, I suppose. But could there be another one?" She winked at Bonnie, whose anxious expression lightened in response. "Who do we know who wil be fascinated by al the tales you have to tel ?
Especially when he finds out that the story's not over yet?"
Bonnie turned al the way around in her seat, her smile growing. "Oh. Oh. I see. He won't be able to think of anything else, wil he? Or anyone else."
Now Stefan's shoulders relaxed, and up in the driver's seat Matt let out a chuckle and shook his head. "You three,"
he said affectionately. "Us guys never stood a chance."
Meredith looked straight ahead and lifted her chin slightly, ignoring them al . Elena and Bonnie knew her too wel , and the three of them had spent enough time scheming together that she should have known they'd see through her plan in a minute. But she didn't have to admit to it.
The solemn mood in the car had lifted, though. Meredith realized they were al doing it on purpose, reaching out gently and careful y with jokes and lighthearted teasing, trying to ease the pain Elena and Stefan must both be feeling.
Damon was dead. And while Meredith had developed a cautious, wary respect for the unpredictable vampire during their time in the Dark Dimension, and Bonnie had felt, Meredith thought, something warmer, Elena had loved him. Real y loved him. And even though Damon and Stefan's relationship had been rocky, to say the least, for centuries, he had been Stefan's brother. Stefan and Elena were hurting, and everyone knew it.
After a minute, Matt's eyes flicked up to the rearview mirror to glance at Stefan. "Hey," he said, "I forgot to tel you. In this reality you didn't disappear on Hal oween - you stayed the starting wide receiver and we took the footbal team al the way to the state championships." He grinned, and Stefan's face opened in simple pleasure. Meredith had almost forgotten that Stefan had played with Matt on their high school footbal team before their history teacher, Mr. Tanner, died at the Hal oween haunted house and everything went to hel . She had forgotten he and Matt had been real friends, playing sports and hanging out, despite the fact that they'd both loved Elena. And maybe still do both love Elena? she wondered, and glanced quickly at the back of Matt's head from under her eyelashes. She wasn't sure how Matt felt, but he had always struck her as the kind of guy who, when he fel in love, stayed in love. But he was also the kind of guy who would always be too honorable to try to break up a relationship, no matter what he felt.
"And," Matt went on, "as the quarterback of the state champions, I guess I'm a pretty good prospect for col eges." He paused and broke out in a wide, proud smile.
"Apparently, I have a ful athletic scholarship to Kent State."
Bonnie squealed, Elena clapped, and Meredith and Stefan burst out with congratulations.
"Me, me now!" Bonnie said. "I guess I studied harder in this reality. Which was probably easier, since one of my best friends didn't die first semester and was available to help tutor me."
"Hey!" Elena said. "Meredith was always a better tutor than me. You can't blame it on me."
"Anyway," Bonnie continued, "I got into a four-year col ege! I didn't even bother to apply to any in our other life because my GPA was not high. I was going to take nursing classes at the community col ege like Mary did, even though I'm not sure I'm real y cut out to be a nurse because, yuck, blood and other fluids. But, anyway, my mom was saying this morning that we should go shopping for my room at Dalcrest before Labor Day." She shrugged a little.
"I mean, I know it's not Harvard, but I'm pretty excited."
Meredith joined in the congratulations quietly. She had, in fact, gotten into Harvard.
"Ooh. And! And!" Bonnie was bouncing in her seat with excitement. "I ran into Vickie Bennett this morning. She's definitely not dead! I think she was surprised when I hugged her. I forgot we weren't real y friends."