Try {One | Alaric Saltzman}

The Resurgence

When Abigail gasped awake, Alaric was at her side. It was just them in an upstairs room of the boarding house, illuminated by the glow of lamps on bedside tables. His shoulders were tight, his cheeks were wet, and the sadness in his eyes was almost too much to bear. But he was there, and he was the only one she wanted to see.

"Hey." He smiled softly as he tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. "Do you remember what happened?"

"Yes..." Klaus's grip. Stefan's face. Elena's scream. "Which is why I need you to be okay with the choice I am making."

"Well, the alternative... I would rather not think about that." He forced her to look at him. "Besides, I loved you before you were a vampire and I'm pretty sure I will still love you when you are one."

"Pretty sure?"

"Yeah." When he chuckled softly, she knew he was going to make a joke, and, if she was honest with herself, she needed him to. "At least ninety-two percent."

He kissed her forehead, overwhelming the voice in the back of her head. It was still there though, as he pulled her into his arms, telling her that there was more to the conversation to be had.

Damon replaced Alaric, with furrowed eyebrows and a frown. "There she is."

"I know what's going on in your head, but this is not your fault."

"How is this not my fault?" He stared her down, waiting for her to change her mind. "You died with my blood in your system, trying to get my brother to resist Klaus' compulsion. And none of that would have happened if I didn't go around messing with perfectly good plans!"

"Think about what would have happened if you didn't! John would still be dead. Tyler would be dead. C-Caroline would be dead." She stood up, fighting the urge to raise her voice. "If you want me to blame you, don't. Because I am not going to do that."

"I figured you would say something like that, but it doesn't change the fact that I'm sorry." He walked toward her, hesitantly breaching the inevitable, "And I know what you're thinking right now, so before you ask: everyone is okay. But they won't be if you-"

"I'm going to do it, Damon."

Her first taste of human blood felt wrong. But almost as soon as it became unbearable, it turned into something she had never felt before. It wasn't a frenzy, or the way Stefan described it in the gym, it was something entirely different.

Every feeling she ever had intensified.

Every one of her senses was enhanced.

And the world opened up before her.

Elena and Jeremy were waiting outside when she got home. They were sitting on the porch swing, spending their last summer night waiting for their sister. She could tell they had been crying, making her wonder if it would always be like this, if she would always be the reason their hearts were beating at an irregular pace.

The way they looked at her was different. She tried not to let it bother her, but there was something in their eyes that would never go away: fear. And yet they hugged her, giving her their trust without any tangible proof that she deserved it.

"I knew you'd want this." Elena held up her necklace. "Bonnie fixed it."

She clasped it around her neck, an heirloom that would never be passed down. "Thank you."

"Well..." Jeremy smirked, trying his best to hide the way he was really feeling. "I guess you'll always be around to threaten to send me to boarding school now, won't you?"

"Yeah, Jer. I will be." She faced the front door, fighting the tears in her eyes. "This is your house now, Elena. You have to invite me in."

With an asymmetric smile, Elena stepped inside. "Abigail, you can come in."