Tenacity - Elijah Mikaelson

Three Annoying Musketeers

The car ride from bum fuck nowhere to Mystic Falls was awkward, irritating and did absolutely nothing to improve my mood or my feelings towards Salvatore One and Two and the doppelganger that nearly blew off my face. 

Initially, Damon had wanted to leave me there after hearing me tell Elena to fuck off, but after I threatened to demolish his car, he was suddenly a lot more welcoming. Until we were actually on the road home. 

Flashback 

"You could be a little more appreciative of our efforts, pipsqueak. We did just save your life, for whatever that's worth." Damon commented from the driver's seat, earning a sigh from his brother in the passenger's side. 

"She is thankful, right Allison? She's just in shock. Leave her alone." Elena answered for me, but if she thought coming to my defence with that half-assed comment would earn my forgiveness, she was sorely mistaken. 

"Firstly, I'm fully capable of speaking for myself, despite nearly have my face blown off; thank you for that, Elena. Secondly, I'm pretty sure that Stefan dislodged something in my spine when he pushed me down a flight of stairs... I thought you were the nice brother?" I started, getting a little off track. 

"He is," Damon responded with a smirk. 

"Well, you must be a right fucking prick then, but I digress. Now, why exactly should I be thanking you?" I finished with a rhetorical question and for a moment, the car was filled with silence as they realized that I hadn't spoken a single lie. 

Elena and Stefan had the good graces to look ashamed of their actions, but I was yet to hear anything that resembled an apology. How do you even say sorry for something like that,, though? Nearly painting a room with my innards wasn't exactly a hey, my bad, apology.

"Well, I didn't do anything wrong," The silence was broken with Damon's carefree comment, followed by a casual shrug. Technically, he wasn't wrong, but I wasn't about to tell him that. His attitude pissed me off. 

"Yeah, well, looking at your face makes me want to stab out my eyes," I responded with my own shrug, which just resulted in another long-winded sigh from the brooding Salvatore and a heated glare from the eldest. 

"Speaking of eyes might want to get yours checked; I'm flawless. Name one woman who wouldn't jump at the chance to have their world rocked?" He shot back cockily, catching my gaze in the mirror and shooting me a wink absolutely brimming with arrogance. 

"Excluding myself? Elena Gilbert... Do I get brownie points if I keep going?" I shot back and was momentarily surprised to hear a snort from Stefan that he quickly tried to mask as a cough. He wasn't fooling anyone. 

"What are you laughing at, Steven?" I snapped, still bitter about the aching bruises decorating my body. I was going to have to find a way to hide them from William. He was a real worrywart, considering he was six. 

"It's Stefan." Elena bit out, obviously fed up with my antagonistic commentary. Well, unluckily for her, I didn't care what she thought. 

"You say that as if it holds some kind of significance." I retorted, not even remotely apologetic for my behaviour or my harsh words. If it weren't for the fact I wanted to get back to William as quickly as possible, I would've hitchhiked back.

"Maybe we should all just try and be quiet?" Stefan compromised, obviously trying to mellow out the rising tension. 

"Great idea, Stanley." 

Finally, after what felt like a century, I was racing up the uneven cobblestone path towards my neighbour's bright yellow house and banging on the door with more force than was necessary, hands wringing together nervously. 

"Oh, there you are, Allison. I was getting a little worried when you didn't show up last night." The familiar soft voice of Dorothy Autumn, Dot, graced my ears as the old, battered door slowly opened up. 

Dot was seventy one with white, whispy hair that curled just above her frail shoulders and kind, soulful blue eyes that held so much wisdom and understanding that I always felt safe. Over the years, her appearance may have changed but her sense of humour remained intact and not once did she make me feel like a burden. 

I had never met my grandparents, on either side of my family, but that didn't really matter to me because I had Dot. 

She was more of a Grandparent than any of them could ever be. 

I couldn't count the amount of times I had stayed at her house when I was younger, or how many times I had knocked on her door when William was sick. She always had the answers to my questions, and always had the time for us. 

"I'm so sorry, Dot, I got caught with Caroline last night and my phone died during the night." I explained, hating that I had to lie to someone so close to me. 

"Don't worry about it, Honey, William and I kept ourselves entertained. Why don't you come inside for a cup of tea while William sorts his bag? You look a little pale." Dot stated gently, the back of her weathered hand grazing my forehead with worry. 

"That sounds great, Dot. Thank you." With a sigh of relief, I let Dot lead me inside her homey abode, her soft hand clasped tenderly in my own.