The Vampire Diaries.

Eighteen: The Murder of One.

The next day, Ellie arrived at Ric's apartment with coffee and food and knocked on his door. Damon answered...

"Hello, sunshine."

Where's Alaric? How is he?" She asked.

"Indecent. But fine. You heard Stefan. He doesn't want you to see Ric."

"I don't care. Does that mean there were no issues last night?" She asked, staring at him.

"Nope. Slept like a baby. Alaric woke up. No headlines about dead Council members."

"Then why do I get the feeling like you're trying to hide something from me?" She asked.

"Well, because you're being all paranoid and control freaky? What'd you bring me?"

She looked at him.

"Ooh, chocolate muffins. You know what they say? The way to a psycho killer's heart is through his stomach."

"They aren't for you." She said, snatching the bag back.

"Fine. Keep convincing yourself that you're mad at me."

"I don't need to." She huffed.

"But sadly, Ric's gonna have to miss Ellie's time today. Sorry, Stefan says."

"When have you ever listened to Stefan?" She asked, scoffing.

"Since now."

"Just take it, give it to him, and tell him I miss him." She says.

"With pleasure."

He took the things from her.

"Please." She said, giving him a look.

"Oh, have a great day, Ellie. Thank you for stopping by."

He shut the door and locked it.

With Damon, he stood behind the door and heard Ellie's footsteps...

"I don't think you had to be so harsh towards her." Ric said.

"Walking down the stairs. Opening the front door... and she's gone." Damon said.

"Damon, I've got hearing too. I can hear her. And I hate lying to her. So let's get on with it." Stefan says.

Ric uses a machine to make stakes from the sign.

Still with Ric, Stefan, and Damon...

Ric kept cutting, Damon used a knife to shape the stakes, and Stefan inspected them.

"This needs a sharper point." Stefan said, handing it back to Damon.

"Yeah, you're probably right. Got it." Damon said, inspecting the stake.

"We finally have the stakes to kill an Original. I'm not gonna miss because you can't whittle." Stefan tells him.

"I said, I got it. Stop micromanaging." Said Damon.

"If you guys got this under control, I'm gonna call the Sheriff. I want to turn myself in." Ric said.

Stefan turned around and looked at him.

"No, you don't." Damon said.