Book One: Panacea (A. Saltzman)

Chapter Thirty-One

Diana fishes her cell phone out of her jacket pocket as it rings, her feet carrying her down Main Street. Shopping bag in her hand. She is being careful though. X is a real threat now. They're not just someone texting her and taking photos of her. They've been in her home. In her bedroom. They've touched her. She answers her phone and presses it to her ear.

"Hey" She greets softly.

"Hey" Alaric counters. "Just...checking in" She smiles a little and nods.

"I've had no new texts" She assures him, knowing where this is going, he's been calling everyday to ask her.

"Are you out?" he asks her.

"Yeah, I've just picked up some things to fix the hole in my wall" She tells him as she walks towards where she parked her jeep. "Now I'm going straight home" She promises.

"You going home doesn't make me feel better, Diana" Alaric argues. "I really wish you'd reconsider staying with me"

"And what would I tell Jenna? Or Elena?" She asks. "It's been a week and nothing has happened....whoever it is doesn't have the balls needed to see it through" She unlocks her jeep as she approaches it, she sighs a little. "They lack the conviction"

"Okay, now you are goading them on" He offers, she shrugs a little. "If I was a betting man, I would put money on Derek" Alaric admits. "You broke up..."

"It's not Derek" she counters. "This started well before we broke up....." she reminds him as she sets her shopping into the back of her jeep and then closes the door.

"It'd be nice if we could get through one day without having to deal with any of it." Alaric whispers, Diana nods in agreement. "No vampires. No stalker."

"It's pretty hard to escape the vampire thing when one is dating my sister" She points out.

"Yeah" He agrees. "Why don't we do something?" he asks. "Something normal"

"Like what?"

"We can watch a movie at my place." He tells her, she bites her lip and smiles.

"You just want to keep an eye on me" She counters.

"No..." He pauses. "A little" She chuckles. "Okay, so I'm worried about you" She opens the driver's side door and bites the inside of her lip as she smiles. "But I do want to spend time with you..." She climbs into her jeep and nods.

"Okay" she agrees. "A movie sounds nice actually....very normal"

"So I'll see you tonight" he tells her warmly, she nods.

"Tonight" she hangs up and then sets her phone on the passenger side.

....................

Diana hums as she skips down the stairs at home. Her dress swishing around her legs as she goes. Elena raises an eyebrow from where she stands in front of the mirror by the door.

"You look nice" Elena offers. Diana does look nice. Cute dress. Fluffy hair. Make up.

"I kind of have a date" Diana admits. "It's just a movie but..."

"With Derek?" Elena asks, Diana shakes her head.

"No, we broke up" Diana admits pulling on her coat, Elena turns to her, surprised by that. "Don't worry, it was like three weeks ago now...." She waves it off. "This is someone else" Elena raises an eyebrow. "I'm not ready to talk about him yet" Diana tells her sister. "But...you look nice" Diana tells Elena. "Stefan taking you out?"

"You're changing the subject" Elena scolds slightly. Diana smirks a little. "Fine...Double date" Elena answers. "With Caroline and Matt"

"Totally knew that was going happen" Diana teases grabbing her bag. "Poor Matty" Elena smacks her arm with a smirk. "She is going to eat him alive" Elena chuckles a little. "Where are you going?" Diana asks her.

"Just the Grill" Elena offers. "Not like Mystic Falls has much to offer"

"Yeah, tell me about it" Diana agrees. "It pretty hard to find somewhere to go and not have everyone know who you are....." Elena stares at her and then smirks.

"Implying that he lives in town too" She points out, Diana shoots her a look. "So he is a townie?" Elena asks her, Diana kisses her forehead and then pulls back.

"Behave" Diana tells her. "And no orgies"

"Diana" Elena scolds, Diana laughs as she leaves the house.

.............

Alaric pulls Diana into his apartment mere seconds after she knocks, and his lips instantly find hers before the door closer. Diana smiles against his lips and then kisses him back.

"Thought you wanted to watch a movie?" she asks against his lips.

"I do...I just saw you and you looked really good" he answers and then kisses her again, pressing her back against his door. She brings her hands up behind his head.

..........

Later, Diana sits curled into Alaric's side, the two of them watching an old black and white movie on his tv, his arms around her, fingers brushing over her arm, her head on his shoulder. It's nice. Being normal together. With everything else going on, just taking time to watch a movie feels like a weight lifted from them.

............

Diana closes her bedroom door, her phone pressed to her ear as she walks towards her desk. The night sky just beyond through her window, a storm brewing.

"I'm home, teeth brushed, and ready for bed. Safe and sound." She teases, Alaric lets out a small laugh on the other end of the line.

"Good, that's good." He lets out a breath. "It was nice, just..being normal"

"Yeah, it was" she agrees as she moves to her window to look outside at the storm. Lightning flashes and Diana notices something across the street, a figure in the rain, staring up at her home. She gasps a little.

"What is it?" Alaric asks her.

"Nothing" she states.

"Diana" Alaric counters, knowing that she's lying.

"I thought I saw something" she whispers still staring out the window. "It must be the storm" She counters.

"I'm coming to get you" he offers.

"Alaric, no, you don't need to do that" She stops him. "I installed locks on my windows, and my bedroom door...nothing is getting in" She assures him warmly. "I am perfectly safe"