Book One: Panacea (A. Saltzman)

Chapter Fifty

Diana joins Alaric on a bench in the town square. He fidgets with his hands as he thinks about the things Isobel said to him, to Diana. He knows he doesn't like her simply because she's...perky. He likes her for her. For the way she makes him feel. For how smart she is. How strong. How passionate. He just can't figure out why she likes him.

"You didn't believe what she said, right?" Diana asks Alaric as she leans back and crosses one leg over the other, he lets out a breath and looks at her.

"Little bit" he answers. "I've not exactly got the best history, Diana, and my judge of character can seriously be called into question..."

"Ric" she whispers. "I still don't know much about you... Except that you value really old stuff." He smiles a little. Her eyes soften as she looks at him. "And you value me. First person to do that in a long time. So, I happen to believe you're an excellent judge of character."

"Isobel disproves that" he counters.

"Isobel now" she argues. "She wasn't always like that, right?"

"No" he agrees. "She was...kind once, compassionate...."

"Right," she tells him. "She changed, but that wasn't your fault" he smiles at her, touched by her words.

"I really want to kiss you right now" he admits, but he knows he can't. Between their friendship, X, and their public situation he can't do what he wants to do with her.

"I know" she whispers softly and searches his eyes. Both of them lean closer to one another. "Ric" she breaths before she realizes and she pulls away before they can do anything. He clears his throat and pulls back.

"You heard from X?" He asks, changing the subject, she shakes her head.

"Nope," She tells him. "I know they're out there, just...." he nods in agreement. "I think the silence is worse"

"Yeah" he agrees. "It's like I can feel them plotting" He looks at her. "Lurking" she nods in agreement. "Waiting"

"So behave better" she teases, he smiles and looks down. "This was too close" he nods in agreement. She pulls out her cell phone and glances at the new message notification.

"Derek?" Alaric asks, not hiding the jealousy in his voice, he knows it's all fine now, that Derek is her friend, but he's still jealous.

"No" she answers and gives him a look before looking down at her phone. "It's Bonnie" She states surprised and looks at him. "I have to go"

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

At the school, in a classroom, Bonnie is leafing through Emily's spellbook. Diana knocks on the doorframe causing Bonnie to look up.

"Hey" Bonnie greets and smiles at Diana.

"Hey" Diana counters as she leans up and steps into the room. "Feel like I haven't seen you in ages" Bonnie comments and hugs Diana tightly.

"Things have been crazy" Diana agrees.

"I heard about your stabbing..." Bonnie tells her as she pulls back.

"That was like a month ago, Bonnie, keep up" Diana counters with a small smirk, teasing her friend who smiles back at her. "You said you wanted to talk about something" Bonnie nods.

"I wanted you to see this," Bonnie admits and turns Emily's spell book towards her, Diana cocks her head and approaches it.

"Is that Emily's spellbook?"

"I've been going through it since Grams died. Check this out." Bonnie taps the page it's open on, Diana traces the lines of the picture on the page.