Book Two: Aquiver (A. Saltzman)

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Artemis takes Diana's arms in her hands and smiles at her. She has to say goodbye now. Has to return to the school and see to her students. Diana will be fine, she has all these people around her. People that care about her.

"Try and stay out of trouble" Artemis offers, Diana smirks and shrugs. "Yeah, figured" Artemis sighs and glances behind Diana to where Alaric is lurking, keeping an eye on her. Artemis then smiles a little before she hugs Diana. "Congratulations" Artemis whispers in her ear.

"For what?" Diana asks.

"You'll see..." Artemis offers as she pulls back, they share a look, then Artemis turns and walks away from Diana, disappearing into the night. Alaric approaches Diana and places his hand on her shoulder, she glances back at him and lets him pull her closer, his arm wrapping around her now.

"Are you hungry?" he asks her, she nods and leans back into his hold, he presses his lips to her head and lets out a breath.

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

Alaric carries a bowl of soup from his kitchen to his living room where Diana is camped out on his couch with a blanket and a pillow, she's already asleep again. He touches her shoulder and she jerks awake and looks at him.

"Here" he holds out the bowl of soup to her, she takes it from him.

"Soup?" she asks him.

"You haven't eaten in a month, Diana, figured something easy to get you started..." she hums a little and looks down at the soup.

"It looks great" She whispers warmly.

"Old family recipe" he offers as he sits at her side, his hand finding her knee to give a small squeeze to comfort her as she eats. "You can stay here tonight, if you want" She takes a breath.

"I need my own bed" she admits. "It's just...I need my things..." he nods, understands that, she's not been home in a month, instead she was living in a dark cell, all alone.

"Would you like me to stay?" he asks her.

"Please" She rushes out before he can even finish his sentence. She needs him right now. So she doesn't lose her mind. "Please" she repeats as she gets upset, he nods and wraps an arm around her.

"Finish the soup...and I'll take you home" he offers and then kisses her head. She leans into his side.

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

Elena wakes when she hears a noise coming from inside the house, when it falls silent again Elena lays back down, turns over in her bed, and shuts her eyes. Elena is jolted out of bed, once again, when she hears a door slamming loudly. Elena gets out of bed and slowly walks across her room. She quietly opens her ajar door and walks out onto the landing. Elena looks around the landing for anything suspicious and quietly approaches Jeremy's room, looking in through his ajar door. Suddenly, Elena hears a noise from behind her. She gasps and spins around. Alaric, shirtless and in his boxers, has also been startled by Elena's unexpected appearance on the landing. Elena and Alaric both try to catch their breath after the scare.

"Elena. Ahem." Alaric lowers the ice cream bowl he's carrying towards his nether region to hide his modesty. Or what's left of it.

"I heard something," Elena admits. Alaric chuckles nervously. Elena avoids his gaze, embarrassed. Diana walks up the stairs, wearing Alaric's shirt. She runs her hand through her hair, embarrassed as well.

"That was us. I'm sorry. Wanted...ice cream" Diana mumbles.

"We didn't think anyone else was up."

"But here you are."

"We were just..." Alaric starts but then stops. Alaric sighs and holds out the ice cream bowl to Elena. "Chunky Monkey?" Elena shakes her head. "Well..." Alaric chuckles "I'm almost naked. So I'm gonna go." Alaric walks past Elena and into Diana's bedroom, shutting the door behind him. Elena starts to walk back towards her room. Diana, embarrassed, walks up the remainder of the stairs.

"I'm really really sorry." Elena turns around when she reaches her doorway.

"It's okay, Di, don't worry about it." Elena looks at her sadly. "You seem....better"

"You mean nicer?" Diana counters, Elena nods a little. "Well, I no longer want to kill everyone around me so....yeah, better. Sorry I scared you with all that..."

"It's okay" Elena assures her. "None of it was your fault" Diana gives her a tight smile and looks to her bedroom door.

"I should go...sleep, I'm still really tired" Elena nods and watches as Diana goes back to her room.

...........

Diana sits on the bed and lets out a breath and just stares at her wall. Alaric glances to her from the bed and then shuffles closer to her. They knew there would be some....effect on her mental and emotional well being. So far, all she wants to do is eat and sleep and cry. She looks at him, tears already on her cheek. He brushes them away and kisses her head.

"It's okay" he whispers and pulls her closer to him. "It's okay" he holds her as she cries.

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

Alaric pulls on his jacket at the bottom of the stairs when Bonnie and Jeremy leave the kitchen together. Alaric glances at them.

"Can you tell the others to try and keep Diana out of all this moonstone stuff, just for now?" Alaric asks them. "Just till she's feeling better"

"Sure" Bonnie assures him. "How is she doing?"

"She spent the night sleeping, crying, and eating ice cream..." Alaric admits. "But...she's not a demon anymore, so it's a win" He adjusts his jacket and then looks back at them, both Bonnie and Jeremy are smiling at him. "Why are you two smiling at me like that?" Alaric asks.

"Derek told us" Jeremy answers. Alaric groans.

"Derek has a big mouth" He scolds.

"He was just excited" Bonnie defends. "It's exciting"

"Look, just...keep quiet about it..." Alaric warns them. "And tell him to not tell anyone else...." They all hear Diana at the top of the stairs. "Shh," Alaric states.

"You going out?" Jeremy asks as Diana comes down the stairs.

"Actually, we're going to have lunch with Jenna..." Alaric tells them. "She thinks Diana just got back from Greece...." He shrugs a little and looks at Diana as she reaches his side. "You ready to go?" She nods a little.

"Here" Bonnie opens her bag and pulls out her makeup bag. Diana frowns at her. "You don't look like you've just spent a month in Greece" Bonnie explains and opens the bag to pull out a few items before she turns to Diana.