Forever

Stefan, duh.

Elizabeth Forbes was waiting further from the house than I expected. Seems she didn't want any vampire eavesdroppers.

"You wanna tell me what this meeting is about, little Gilbert?"

"You were the only way any of the brothers would let me out that door." I adjusted the grip on the bottom of my dress, silently cursing Rebekah for giving me heels to wear.

My feet hurt something fierce.

"I'm honored." Damon muttered sarcastically.

"Just, she's probably going to ask me questions about the bond so if you could give us a little bit of space-"

"Oh no, I'm not risking setting off the hornets nest that's in that house, if they think I'm guarding you, I'm going to do it. Plus I'm curious."

Great.

"Whatever. This was the best I was going to get anyway." I put on a smile as we approached the Sheriff. "You wanted to talk to me?"

"When you asked me if arranged marriages were happy I didn't know you were talking about you!"

I was painfully aware of Damon listening. "It's fine now, we talked about it."

"Woah woah. We were all operating on the assumption that this is what you wanted." There it was. Damon crossed his arms. "Because if it's not, we can try to break the bond."

"Can everyone take a minute." I turned to the eldest Salvatore. "Kol himself tried to break it and couldn't." Now Mrs Forbes. "I'm okay now, really. It might not have been the life I would have chosen for myself but I can't change it, so I can live with it."

"Isn't he thousands of years old?"

Damon made a gesture to show his support.

"Technically speaking, yes. He is, but he was turned at what we'd call eighteen. Just like in a hundred years, I'll still be eighteen and Damon will still be twenty six."

"How do you even know that." He pulled back.

"Stefan, duh."

"Traitor."

"Let's get back on topic." Mrs Forbes took a step toward us. "Drew, you're okay, you're safe?"

"As safe as I can be." This life was going to happen no matter what I did. The Mikaelsons would've come for me regardless.

"Because if this isn't what you want, I can pull some strings and get you out of town."

"And live a life on the run? No thank you. Do you know how difficult it was to give them the slip for even a few days? The last time I did it, one of my friends was tortured. Plus they all know I wouldn't leave Elena and Jeremy here alone. It'd only be a matter of time before I returned to them." I couldn't guarantee that if I bolted I'd be allowed to see my family or that they'd even be alive.

The Mikaelson boys were too unpredictable.

"Kathrine lasted five hundred years." Damon crossed his arms.

"And Klaus killed her entire family." I shot back. "I wouldn't take that risk, even if I wanted to leave, which I don't."

"We'd get them somewhere safe, but you'd have to say your goodbyes, forever." The gears were turning in the Sheriff's head, I could see it.

"Nope, nope. I'm not doing this."

"Drew, we're trying to give you options." Mrs Forbes insisted.

"No, you're trying to get everyone I love killed. Every single Mikaelson has a temper that runs just below the surface. Do you know what would happen if they heard us talking about this. Kol is the only one I could maybe talk down." And it was only a matter of time before Klaus found out about the woman in the woods' plan. The more I did to lessen the blow, the better. "Even he's unpredictable. I'm fine where I am, let's just leave it at that."

The two stewed on my rant.

"Fine. I'm going to be checking on you though, no more disappearing randomly." Mrs Forbes pointed a finger at me.

I could tell her that those instances usually weren't my fault, but why get her worked up again. "Noted, and just as a general rule, please for the love of god, do not mention this conversation to anyone. Not Stefan, not Caroline and certainly not any of my siblings. This stays between the three of us." I made eye contact with Damon. "Right?"

"I won't tell a soul."

Good enough.

"Alright, now let's go back to the party before they come looking for us."