Unwanted Destiny (Hiatus subjective to editing)

II. Getting Back to Normal

Chapter Two: Getting Back to Normal.
Occurring: Before 3x05.
Set: Downtown Mystic Falls.
Song: Say (All I Need) by One Republic.

- = -
'Do you know where your heart is?
Do you think you can find it?
Or did you trade it for something, somewhere better just to have it'
- = -

"Hey there was a bed on the lawn yesterday when I came home and now it's gone. What's that all about?" Elena asked her sister the next morning while she made a cup of coffee.

"Oh, I sold it," Maya answered simply, not willing to divulge further until she'd gotten some caffeine in her system.

"You, sold it?" She asked slowly, confused.

"Yeah. It was in perfect condition but I wanted an upgrade. Make it feel like my room, rather just a guest room, ya know?" She said spinning around to face her twin as she leant back against the kitchen counter to regard her.

"But where did you sleep last night?" She asked with furrowed brows.

"On the couch. It's as good a place as any."

"Right." She said slightly distracted. "Is Jer up yet?"

"Nah, he was still snoring when I came down. I haven't seen though, where is she? Thought I would have bumped into her by now."

Elena strode to the freshly brewed coffee, carefully not to meet her sister's eye as she busied herself with breakfast in distraction.

"Oh um, she gets up early to work and comes home late." Was the answer she eventually gave.

"Oh," Maya said slightly disappointed.

"Yeah."

Silence hung between the two girls that had once shared a womb, like a suffocating shroud. Maya shifted awkwardly as she stared into the depths of her coffee cup.

"How did he take it?" Maya spoke up suddenly, "Jeremy, I mean. When our parents died." She finally looked up from the swirling darkness of her morning beverage.

Elena's bronzite coloured eyes darkened at the question as grief gripped her heart anew at the reminder.

"Not good." For a minute it seemed as though that was all she could say, as her twin stared at her imploringly she found the strength to continue. "He turned to drugs, in the beginning, I was too consumed by my own grief that I was no use to him. And by the time I had struggled back to normal, it was too late. It had been on for too long, he was dependent on the chemicals he consumed to help keep the pain at bay that I couldn't reason with him." She let out a bitter chuckle, so unlike her. "After all, how do you reason with a broken heart." She looked to her sister as she spoke those words.

It had been something her sister had told her a long time ago. When Caroline had been inconsolable by the departure of her father. Elena had felt helpless when she'd rejected her help and instead threw herself into committees and extracurriculars.

Elena had always wanted to help everyone but for once she didn't know how. So she had sat in the big oak tree in their yard and tried to pointlessly think of something that might help. When her younger sister had spotted her she had climbed the tree effortlessly to perch next to her as she imparted her words of wisdom.

It was something that had stayed with Elena for a long time. Because try as she might, she had been useless to Caroline during that period of grief. But Margaret? Margaret had made her smile while everyone else had looked on in shock. Because sometimes what the heart really needs, rather than being reminded of it's shattered state, is to be reminded of the good in the world.