Forever

For Better or Worse

"Good morning class," I yawned at the conjoined first period class. "Mr. R. will be right back... He is getting some coffee." One of the girls raised their hands. "Yes, Amelia?" I answered.

"I saw him earlier, like before homeroom, and he had like a huge looking gash type thing that wasn't there on friday...but it is like almost healed." I frowned, I had forgotten about that cut.

"I assure you that he's fine." I gave a slight reassuring smile. "Don't bring it up, though."

I pulled out the basketballs and let the kids have a free day while I sat on the gym floor with my back against the bleachers. I was resting my eyes when I felt something hit my foot. I opened my eyes to see a soccerball, yet I hadn't taken any out.

"GET OUT OF THE STORAGE CLOSET!" I yelled over to the open door in the corner of the gym. I really didn't feel like dealing with this type of stuff. I got up and headed toward the closet as another ball came rolling in my direction. "I said get out of here.." I repeated.

"And what are you gonna do about it?" Came Jim's voice quietly as he grabbed me from behind in a big bear hug. 

"I'm too tired to do any-" I yawned and he kissed my cheek.

"Here's your coffee...and the bell's about to ring, better go tell the kids to clean up. I don't know about you, but I'm not picking up balls during our free period." He smirked.

I pulled out of his hug and walked to the closet door and then turned around to face Jim again. "How'd you get in here without the kids seeing you anyway?" 

"You know I'm good like that." He smirked again.

I spun to face the gym. "CLEAN UP! Have a good day." The kids did as I asked and then as the bell rang I wheeled the ball cart into the closet. I sat down on one of the two chairs and sipped my coffee.

"Babe, I'm exhausted." Jim's eyes were closed and he was bringing his coffee to his lips.

"I know...I know." I grabbed his free hand and rubbed the back of it with my thumb. "You didn't sign in this morning?" 

"No." Jim yawned.

"I'll sign out and we can go home. I'm in no condition to teach right now." I rubbed my eyes. 

"Okay babe." He was starting to nod off. I shook him gently. "Ok...okay." He got up. "I'll be waiting in the car."

No way was he driving home as tired as he was. I headed to the office and signed out for the day. He was fast asleep in the passenger's seat when I got to the car. 

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He woke me up at 4 pm with a long kiss. "Ughhh," I said as he pulled away from me and headed into the bathroom.

He was taking an extra long time in there and I was starting to get lonely. I flipped on the TV just before he stormed out of the bathroom. 

"BABE, WHAT THE HELL DOES THIS MEAN?" He screamed at me and handed me a handwritten note that he found in the bathroom.

"Is this what took you so long?" I laughed.

"Yes, it is. I only read it like 20 times." He was fuming.

I read the note. 

Jim:

You will pay. You may have hurt me last night, but I came back today. Kate will be mine, and you will be dead. You have no way to stop me. People of your own kind have sided with me. Stronger vampires than you. Stronger vampires than the Salvatore's. You will pay.

-D

It was scrawled in handwriting worse than a six year old's but the words spoke to me loud and clear.

Tears welled up in my eyes and I dropped the note. I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe, the world had disappeared.  I laid down on the bed with my face in a pillow and sobbed. Jim left the room, and the faint smell of coffee wafted through the house. 

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"You know it's all my fault...right?" I said as I felt Jim sit down on the bed next to me what felt like hours later. He stroked my back and layed down.

"Relax. It's both our faults." I rolled over to see him with one hand over his eyes. 

I stood up and went into the bathroom to clean my face up. "So what are we going to do? Just sit here and wait for him to come back and get us?"

"I dont know what to do babe." He answered in a distant tone. "I just don't know."

I looked at the clock as I walked back into the bedroom, it read 7 pm. 

"I'm gonna go over to Stefan's and Damon's house." I said quietly. "They'll know what we should do."

"You're not going alone," He took his hand off his eyes before he stood up and it was clear that he was crying. "You shouldn't be wrapped up in this. If I wasn't such an idiot, our lives would be different. We wouldn't be exposed to all this danger."

He came to where I was standing near the door. I pulled his face to mine and kissed his lips softly. 

"I love you. Forever, and always." He sighed sadly as I spoke. "I don't care how much trouble we get into, we are in this together. For better or worse."

Tears were streaming down his face as I pulled him to me for another kiss. He let out a moan and pulled my body closer to his. I kissed my way to his throat as he lifted me up under my butt and took me back to the bed.

"This is what we're gonna do about it." He said through his quickening breaths.

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It was 10 pm when we finally walked out our door. 

"What do you guys want now?" Damon asked as he led us inside the house.

"Help." Jim said pleadingly. "Danny came back while we were at school. He left this note in our bathroom." 

His eyes flicked over the note. There was a laugh in them as he read.

"I got you guys good! Look at you two all worried and what not!" He was cracking up. "For a couple of teachers you aren't very bright. Think about it, why would he have come back in the morning while you werent there? He could've just shown up before you left and killed you! I wrote this."

I stormed out of the house and into my back yard. Jim followed and lit up our outdoor fireplace.

"Well babe, don't be too mad." He said lightly as he stood behind me. "Not everything that came from that note was bad." He smirked at me before massaging my shoulders. He bent down to kiss me softly.

"You know, I really, really love you." I let out in a quiet moan

"You're the most perfect girl in this world." He smiled as we kissed.

I pushed him away from me and pulled my shirt and shorts off. I giggled at him and then ran to the pool deck to jump in.

I hit the water and felt like I was on fire. Someone had spiked our pool with vervain. I tried and tried to resurface, but nothing I did worked. I was going to die in the acidic body of water. It was over.