Book Four: Solitude (A. Saltzman)

Chapter Seven

Damon is sitting at the Grill bar, drinking alone. Liz Forbes comes up next to him and pulls out a chair. Damon clenches his jaw and tightens his hold on his drink as she is about to take Alaric's seat at his side.

"That seat's taken." Damon scolds her. Liz throws down a newspaper in front of Damon and moves to his other side. Damon takes the paper and reads the headline. "'Faulty gas line leads to tragic explosion at Young farm.'" He throws the paper down. "Really?"

"Better than 'Town Council blown up. Police have no suspects.'" Liz counters. "Unless the perpetrator is right next to me." Liz looks up at Damon. Damon takes a swig of his drink.

"Well, don't look at me. I always take credit for killing people." Liz continues to stare at Damon. Damon puts down his drink. "Seriously, stop looking at me like that, Liz. If I was going to kill twelve people, I wouldn't blow them up, I'd have a dinner party."

"The explosion was sparked from inside. This wasn't an accident."

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Damon points out. Connor enters the Grill and sees Sheriff Forbes talking to Damon. "The Council's dead, Liz. I see that as a win."

"I've known some of the Council since I was a kid. They were my friends." Liz points out.

"Well, your friends tried to kill your daughter." Damon counters. Damon sees Connor approaching. "Who's the new guy?"

"Excuse me, Sheriff." Connor greets Liz. "Hi, um, I was wondering if I could speak to you for a minute about the explosion at the Young farm."

"I'm sorry, Mr..?" Liz asks.

"Oh, Connor Jordan." Connor holds his hand out to her. He is wearing a black glove. Liz takes his hand and shakes it.

"Are you with the insurance investigators?"

"No, no, I'm more of an independent contractor." Connor looks at Damon as Diana enters the Grill with the twins in a pram. "Can we speak in private?" Connor asks Liz.

"Sure."

"Thanks" Connor walks away. Liz looks at Damon and follows Connor.

"Nice to meet you too, Mr. Busybody Guy," Damon mumbles to himself. Connor passes Diana, his eyes turning to follow her as she walks away. A blanket falls from the pram and to the floor. Connor glances at it then picks it up before he moves to Diana.

"You dropped this" Connor holds out the blanket to Diana who glances at it and then to him.

"Thanks" She whispers and takes it from him. They share a look before he walks away. Diana glances down at the blanket thoughtful, she looks up and at Connor a frown forming on her face.

"What was that?" Ghost!Alaric asks over her shoulder, his eyes flickering between Diana and Connor.

"Hey, Watchdog" Damon calls her over, Diana sighs and ignores him moving to a booth instead. Damon makes a face. He doesn't blame her for staying away from them, he gets it. She's in pain, she's hurting and wants to be away from the people that she believes are responsible for that hurt. Damon stands and heads towards the table. "You're outside" he teases a little as she shrugs out of her jacket. "Thought you were barricading yourself in your apartment"

"That was the plan" She points out flatly. "But Derek is there and refuses to leave...." She complains. "People seem to be struggling to understand that I wish to be left alone" She shoots Damon a look. He sets the newspaper down in front of her. "Tragic" She offers with absolutely no feelings.

"When you said you'd dealt with the Council" He scolds.

"You think I did this?" She asks him as she touches the paper.

"Yeah, I do" Damon admits.

"It was sparked from the inside, meaning that I would have to be like....vampire fast, which I'm not, to escape...."

"How did you know it was sparked from the inside?" He asks her.

"I got the official report" She answers. "You know as the only surviving member of the Council" She points out as she pulls out her laptop from her bag. He drops into the seat across from her and she growls a little. "Are you serious?" she asks him.

"Look, don't take it out on me" He scolds her, she raises an eyebrow at him.

"He was your friend" She counters. "And you let him die"

"That's not what happened" Damon argues leaning closer to her. "It couldn't be stopped, Diana...he was connected to Elena, so when she died...."

"Right...so it really is all her fault" She points out, Damon leans back and stares at her. He should have just let her keep being angry at him. "Nice to know my current feelings of anger are very well placed"

"You haven't asked about her, about how she is coping...." he tells her. "With everything"

"Should I?" she asks him as she opens her laptop. "Are you actually still hoping that I care? Deep, deep, deep, deep down?" she looks at him. "I don't..." she shrugs a little. "Goodbye, Damon," She tells him and gives him a look. He stares at her. "Go away" she pushes. He stands and shakes his head before he heads back to the bar. Diana glares at his back before turning to her laptop.