Unfolding Dreams (a Vampire Diaries fan-fiction)

Home sweet home

Written 2012 by VeGirl

Stefan met us in the driveway. "Hi Emma, where have you been all day, Damon has been out of his mind!" He pulled me in for a big hug.

"Hi Stef', it's been such a weird day! I was totally freaking out!" Damon rounded the car with my friend Anna, whose eyes were huge. "Oh, this is my friend Anna, Anna, this is Stefan, Damon's brother."

Anna just stared between Stefan, Damon and me at first, and then finally she got words out. "You've got to be kidding me? What kind of a joke is this, and how have you managed to pull this off?" she stared cocky at me.

The three of us stared back at her and I bet you could almost see the question marks on our foreheads.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Anna has the DVD:s from season one and two." It didn't take many seconds for the two of them to know exactly what I meant.

Stefan nodded contemplative.

Anna was reluctant to walk into the house, just as I had been, thinking that this was only a film set. I took her hand and pulled her along and saw in the corner of my eye Damon's smiling face. It was obvious that he found this hilarious.

From the parlour, Elena came walking. "Emma!" she exclaimed and hurried up to me with a big hug. "Where did you go, girl?"

"I'll explain, let me just sit down. Oh, this is Anna, my friend from Sweden."

"Hi Anna, welcome, I'm Elena." She proffered her hand towards my friend, but Anna just stared at her.

"Anna you're being rude again," I said discretely between my teeth. "I'm sorry, but you know how I was when I first met you at the Grill."

Elena lighted up and nodded with a smile. "Aha, so you don't believe we exist either?"

Anna just stared at her and then she started to look around in the room with her eyes wide open.

"This was one way of getting out of the cleaning chores," Stefan teased me a bit sarcastic, but I saw the humour in his eyes.

I was a bit puzzled at first, but soon I got it.
"Oh, after the party? Was that really last night? It felt like weeks ago," I added sourly. "Lexi left?" I made a disappointed face when he nodded.

"Yes, she was going to find her boyfriend."

I heard a loud thump and saw the startled looks on Stefan and Elena's face.

Damon just snickered. "What are we going to do with her?"

It was Anna who had fainted again and Damon already had her in his arms. "Where shall I put her? In the dungeon downstairs would be fun."

"Damon!" both Elena and I chastised, but Stefan snickered. We both glared at him.

"What? I thought it was funny," he said and got a smile from his brother.

We decided to put her in the room Lexi had stayed in, to perhaps try easing her into this different reality. Damon and Stefan's bedroom she would recognise from TV, but not this one.

"Did you see Caroline and Klaus last night?" I whispered to Elena when we walked behind the guys up to the room.

"No, what did they do?"

I smiled secretively. "There's something going on between them..."

"He has compelled her, like he did with you?" she looked appalled.

I smiled. "No this is way worse; it looked like they cared for each other."

Elena gaped. "But how could you tell she wasn't compelled?"

"She tried to hide it. I have a feeling she wouldn't do that if she was compelled."

"No, she wouldn't. You didn't when I met you with Klaus," Damon said and I could hear the pain in his words. He had laid Anna down and turned toward us.

I walked close to him and put my hands on his cheeks. "I am so sorry for the pain I caused you." I saw in the corner of my eye that Elena discreetly left us. "It felt like I was in some kind of fog; I saw your pain and wanted to take it away, but I didn't understand why. I didn't know who you were, and I didn't realise I was the one causing that pain." We hadn't talked about it with everything going on. The pain in his eyes subsided and showed so much compassion as we stood there, watching each other.

Anna stirred in bed and moaned. "What happened?" she asked in Swedish.

I broke free from Damon. "As long as we're in this country, we should speak English, it's only fair and you need the practise," I lectured her and heard a silent snicker somewhere in the house. I guessed it was Damon; he had disappeared as soon as Anna started to move.

She rubbed her face and sat up abruptly. "Where am I?" She looked around in the room.

I tried once again to explain but she glared at me. "We're supposed to stay here?"

"I am!" I had a hard time to keep calm. I didn't want her to be some kind of clinch between Damon and me.

"But I don't even have a toothbrush!"

We both heard the pinging sound of a toothbrush being dropped in a glass inside the on suite bathroom. I smiled, but it subsided as I returned my look at her.
It felt like some kind of a staring-contest, which I finally surrendered by rising from the edge of her bed and leave the room. "You can leave if you want, but I'm staying here." The tone of my voice was not the kindest.

"Hey, where are you going?" she yelled to my back.

"It's late; I'm going to bed next door, in Damon's room."

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