The Apprentice (The Originals/The Vampire Diaries)

Chapter Thirty-Two

 When they did get up, the strangest thing happened: they were invited to a Christmas Eve dinner.

 "You can stay if want," Stefan said to Annette. "I know we don't know each other well, but you're a friendly face, and I could use as many friendly faces as possible tonight."

 Annette was happy to think she was thought of as a friendly face, although Stefan seemed to be the only one who thought so. She offered to help set everything up for the dinner, but Stefan told her not to worry about it.

 "You and Mikael are technically my guests," he said. "I've got everything under control."

 Caroline, on the other hand, seemed to be avoiding the hybrid and the Original as much as was possible. Annette assumed it had to do the ordeals of the day before.

 "She's grieving, no doubt," Mikael said. "What's best would most likely be to leave her be, until she wants company."

 That left them with nothing to do during the day. Annette soon took to wandering aimlessly around, attempting not to get in Caroline's way. Eventually, she just went upstairs, and walked over to an open door to see Stefan sitting at his desk, writing in a journal.

 "Am I interrupting anything?" she asked.

 He looked up at her, and gave her a smile. "No, you can come in. How's Mikael after yesterday?"

 "He's laid up in the guest room." Annette stepped into the room. "He...learned some things yesterday, something that really shook him up. He's not himself."

 "So, something that scared him. Anything he wouldn't mind you telling me about?"

 She shook her head. "Probably not." 

 Stefan nodded. "I figured. Just thought I'd ask." He looked down at the open journal in front of him. "I was trying to write to Elena. I don't even know what to say."

 "Where is Elena Gilbert?" Annette hadn't had time to notice the doppelganger's absence while Mikael was missing, but now there seemed to be a hole where Elena Gilbert should have been.

 "She's...well, that's a long story. The basic of it is that she's in a deep sleep, and she won't wake up for a long time. We've all been taking turns writing to her, so she can everything she missed when she wakes up. But how am I supposed to tell her this? That I sold Damon's soul and my own to Cade? And she probably wouldn't even hate me, because she isn't that kind if person. That's the worst part of it."

 Annette gently pressed her hand on his shoulder. "I'm not very good with talking about emotions and feelings, but I think the best thing would most likely be to tell her the truth. Just tell her what happened, plain and simple." 

 Stefan nodded, still looking down at the book. "Yeah. I guess that would be the right thing to do, even if it's gonna hurt." He looked up at her. "You're not at bad at giving advice, you know. It's nice to have someone around who's sort of a friend. I don't have many of those left."

 "Well, Mikael and I have no friends," said Annette, "So I wouldn't mind if we were friends."

 Stefan smiled. "Okay, then."

 The two smiled and shook on it.

~~~~~~ 

 Caroline answered the door for Alaric, Josie, and Lizzie. It was the first time Annette had seen her smile all day.

 "Is Seline coming to dinner?" one of the girls asked.

 Caroline paused, and shook her head. "No, honey."

 "Hey!" Stefan came into the hall. "I thought I heard you two. I don't think you girls have met my new friend Annette here, but I think you met her boyfriend Mikael yesterday."

 "Mikael!" The girls gave him a smile.

 "Hello, Josie, Lizzie." Mikael gave them a smile back. "How are you after yesterday?"

 "We had fun with Seline yesterday, Mommy," Lizzie said. "Mikael was there, too."

 Mikael now forced a smile. "Yes, it was a...fun road trip, wasn't it?"

 "Hey, girls, why don't you come with me," Stefan said quickly. "I have your Christmas presents upstairs."

 When the twins had left with Stefan, Caroline turned back to Alaric. "They're asking for Seline? She kidnapped them."

 Alaric shrugged. "I guess they didn't register the danger. They just keep asking for her ever since I got them back."

 "Well, I don't want them thinking she's safe," said Caroline. "I mean, who knows when she's gonna just show up. I'll talk to them."

 "No, I'll talk to them," Alaric said firmly. "Once we leave."

 "But we're supposed to have Christmas together first."

 "I don't think this is anything we should get ourselves involved in," Mikael said softly to Annette.

 "What is it?" Caroline was asking Alaric. "Did something happen?"

 Alaric sighed. "Look, I think you'll need to sit down for this."

 What Caroline had to sit down for, he didn't get to say. At the moment, the front door burst wide open, and in stepped Damon and Sybil.

 "Ho, ho, ho!" Damon cried. "Merry Christmas, Ric."

 Alaric stared at him in disbelief. "I killed you."

 "You what!?" Caroline cried.

 "Good for him," Mikael muttered.

 "He deserved it," Alaric said.

 "Yeah, he and Matt took a whack at me," Damon said. "They even buried me. I can't tell how hard it was to get all of that dirt out." He looked at Annette and Mikael. "Well, you two are just everywhere these days, aren't you?"

 "So are you," Annette replied. "When Stefan told me who was coming for dinner, there was no mention of you two."

 "He probably forgot to mention us," said Sybil. "Hello again, Mikael. I'm going to guess this is the girlfriend. She's just as much of a ray of sunshine as you."

 "When you're done insulting people," Annette said, "I believe Caroline has the drinks ready."

 Caroline had put out glasses of eggnog for the guests, one of which Mikael added to by pouring bourbon into it.

 "You sure bourbon and eggnog is a good combination?" Annette asked him.

 "In this case, yes," he said. "I'm going to need it if they're here."

 "Then, in that case," she picked up one of the glasses, "Add a little to mine, will you?"

 Stefan reentered the room. "Ric's going to stay with the girls for a little while."

 "You don't have to hide them," Damon said to Stefan. "I'm honoring the deal. We work fro Cade, munchkins go unharmed." 

 "Well, Ric's not exactly in a trusting mood," said Stefan, "And neither am I." 

 "My sister kidnapped them," Sybil said. "I saved them from a life of serving Cade when I cosigned Damon's plan. And poor Mikael, as well. Let's hope Seline doesn't come back for him to make him her little siren apprentice."

 "'Siren apprentice'?" Stefan repeated, looking at Mikael.

 "Oh, he hasn't told any of you? He's distantly related to Seline, and was born with psychic he didn't even know he owned. Imagine being that ignorant."

 "Stefan, why don't you come with me and we'll go get some of the old family tree ornaments, huh?" Damon asked. "Oh, come on, Stef. I'll tell you why I'm here." 

 With a sigh, Stefan followed Damon out of the room.

 There was an awkward silence after the Salvatore brothers left.

 "I'm going to the kitchen," Caroline said quickly, and left the room.

 "So, how are you, Mikael?" Sybil asked. "I saw you slip that bourbon into the eggnog. Seline getting to your head?"

 "I'm fine," Mikael replied. "Not that you care about my well-being."

 "On the contrary. You still have siren potential, you know. Maybe some spell that could make you a hybrid."

 "Perhaps you should go help Caroline in the kitchen," Annette suggested. "You know, chat a little while your men are upstairs." 

 "Maybe I will." Sybil got up and headed towards the kitchen.

 "I have barely spoken to that woman," Annette said, "And I already despise her."

 "I believe she does have that effect on people," Mikael said. He sighed and drank down the rest of his glass. "I hate Christmas parties. If we ever settle down and buy a house, let's never have any. Actually, let's never invite anyone besides people we actually like."

 "Definitely. You know, I feel bad for those girls. They can't be any older than four, and Seline tried to give them to the actual, literal devil." She paused, not sure if she wanted an answer to the question she was thinking of. "Say, Mikael, what do you think Seline would have done with you of Stefan and I hadn't gotten there in time?"

 He sighed. "I have no idea, and I don't want to know. I want to this all to be over with, and I want to leave Mystic Falls and not come back."

 "I would also like to leave. After this, we can go back to Europe and try to forget this whole episode even happened. Mystic Falls is clearly the place for disaster these days, and I wouldn't be surprised if anything bad happened tonight."