𝐼𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑒𝑠~ 𝐾.𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑘𝑒𝑟

Getting over love isn't as simple as getting over a crush

"Here ya go." I grin passing Liz her coffee, "thank you." She smiles sweetly after taking a sip, we were supposed to be watching friends today but Liz has decided to revisit the open cases before giving up her badge and I was gonna help her.

"Ok so the case, what is it?" I question as I sit behind her desk and throw my legs up, "the Gilbert case." She informs as she pushes my legs back down, "the Gilbert case?" I echo not really knowing what the case entailed, "Elena's parents death." She says making my eyebrows raise, I didn't know the girls parents were dead, "you suspect it was fowl play?" I ask leaning back ingesting the news, I felt kind of bad about being such a dick to Elena I didn't know she was an orphan.

"I mean it was ruled an accident but knowing what I know about the supernatural yeah, it seems likely." I nod along and reach for the file, "what happened?" I ask, "Elena and her parents drove of wickery bridge, they drowned but fortunately Elena survived." Wow I didn't know that Elena was there when they died either, "who do you think could've done it?" As she opens her mouth to reply, Damon walks in, "Not to be blunt, but I think dying gets you a ticket out of work. Just saying." He smirks leaning against the door frame. "How you feeling?" Damon asks seriously, "Like I'm not gonna leave this job with unfinished business. I have all these open cases." She tells him gesturing to the table with the open files.

"Well, let me see if I can help you close a couple of them. Uhh! Yeah. This one was me. Me. Also me. Ooh, this one was Stefan's. Oh, wait. No. Me. Yeah." I roll my eyes as he flicks through the files quickly, proclaiming that many deaths were by his hand. "I always had a sneaking suspicion." Liz says before handing over the one I was looking at. "What about this one?" Damon looks through it before looking up inquisitively, "Elena's parents. Didn't know there was an open investigation." He says making Liz shrug, "Well, at the time, I was taking care of Elena and Jeremy, and I didn't want to drag them through more heartache. Then when I was finally ready to reopen the wound, Elena had moved on, and you and I had become friends, and I worried that..."

"What, that I was involved?" He asks wide eyed, "Liz, no. No, I promise you." I mean damon seemed to be genuine so I believed him. "Miranda left me this message two hours before they got in that car, two hours before they drove off that road for no reason." Liz says before pressing down on the telephone, "Liz, it's Miranda Gilbert. I have something urgent to talk to you about. Please call me back as soon as you can." My eyebrows raise as we listen to the tape, "I'll be damned. Looks like you got a good, old-fashioned, sheriffy whodunit on your hands." I'm not sure I wanted to stay if Damon was gonna be here the whole time, I came for my time with Liz I didn't want the extra headache that came with Damon.

"You know, this would be a lot more fun if I had some-" Damon starts to say, "Top right-hand drawer." Liz cuts him off already knowing what he wanted, "Well, look at that. This is why you are a terrible sheriff." I look up from the case file I was reading, "No. I'm a terrible sheriff because one of my best friends is the perp in half my open cases." She tells him with a small smile, "I think you're being a bit generous there Liz, he's definitely the perp for three quarters of the cases." I hum closing another and adding it to the Damon pile as he shoots me a sarcastic smile.

"Can I ask you something about that night? You saw Elena, and Stefan pulled her out of the car." Liz says making my eyebrows raise again, I didn't know that Stefan was the one that saved Elena, damn I was really out of the loop on my brothers lives. "Yeah. Stefan, always a one-upper." Damon shrugs making me roll my eyes, "So you both just happened to be in town the night her parents died. Why?"

"Well, believe it or not, Liz, I once had a mommy, too. She died around that day." I feel my mood drop a bit as I think of my mom, I really missed her, my mom was everything to the three of us growing up and I was always jealous that Damon got to spend more time with her. "In the years that my emotions were "on," I would stop by and leave flowers at her grave. You never talk about her. Not much to say. She died, old-timey disease... Consumption." He shrugs it off as I think of her, "Why do I feel like you're leaving something out?" Liz asks noticing Damon's demeanour, I think he was missing the part that he bailed on delivering the eulogy like he was supposed to.

"Tell you what. Why don't we use your investigative instincts to solve this? Come here. Check this out. All right. So why were the Gilberts taking Wickery bridge when old Miller road was clearly 10 minutes faster, and why are there no skid marks at the scene of the accident, and why was the trunk full of luggage as if they were going out of town?" Damon says making Liz think deeply, "Something did happen that night."

After Elena doesn't answer Liz's call Damon leaves the room to try and get a hold of her, "you can go you know." Liz hums making me look up at her, "I don't want to though." She smiles softly, "if there's one thing that I've learned about you is that you spend the most time with me when you're upset or uncomfortable." My eyebrows furrow, "that's not true." I deny, "it is honey, I think you do it subconsciously but you come to me when you want to feel better and I don't mind because I love spending time with you, but don't you think you should face whatever you're trying to hide from?" I sigh, "guess you really are a great detective." I say looking up.

"I've fallen in love with him," her eyebrows raise, "you have?" I nod dropping my head into my hands, "and he doesn't feel the same way. So I'm keeping my distance hoping that it lessens the feelings." I explain, "and you know he doesn't feel the same way how?" I shrug, "I just know, why would he?" She shakes her head, "have you spoke to him about it." I shake my head, "no and there's no way I'm going to, I'm just going to wait until this passes."

"Getting over love isn't as simple as getting over a crush," Liz hums shooting me a knowing glance, "I say go for it, what's the worse that could happen?" I look to her incredulously. "Um I could get rejected, our friendship could be ruined, he could get overwhelmed by the emotions and stab me." Her eyebrows raise at the last one, "but think about what's the best that could happen, he could like you back," I shake my head, "what if I don't want him to like me back?" She blinks for a second, "what?" She asks me with a small confused laugh. "You don't mean that." She says in bit of an unsure tone, "no I do, nothing good ever comes out of loving me." I tell her making her frown, "is this about Theodore?" I shake my head, "no...I don't know maybe." I shrug, "it's not your fault that he died." She tells me again, "but if I hadn't taken him he would've been alive."

"You didn't know that the titanic was going to sink." I shrug, "it's not even just Theo, there's Harry." She looks confused, "but Harry didn't die?" She says, "no even though I wish he did, but he left me, and I can't handle being left not again and not by Kai." She takes my hand in hers, "you don't know that he's going to leave you, you don't know anything until you try." I look at her a second, "but I'm scared." I admit in a small voice, "it's ok to be scared, but if it doesn't work out then it's for the best and if it does that's even better." I nod, "thank you." I murmur wrapping my arms around her, "no problem honey."

"Ok now go to him." I give her another nod although this time it's a bit unsure, "ok but, we still need to continue with the box set, I need to know if Chandler manages to propose." I say grabbing my jacket and making my way to the door, as Liz makes her way back to her desk, "you know it Violet, our binge sessions have a special place in my heart." She smiles, "now go." I reach for the handle, "bye." I say as she busies herself with her work, "see you soon honey, love you." Liz says absentmindedly making me stop for a second as a small smile made its way to my face. "Love you too."