Damon Salvatore: I will always choose you.

Reminiscing

EDITED// 01-04-22

It had been a few weeks since the whole incident with Damon and we'd been unusually distant with each other. To be honest, I'd been distant with a lot of people since Grams' funeral but I hadn't even spoken to Damon since Christmas Eve.

I spent most of my days in my bedroom, driving around town or going to the football field to let out some built up emotions. Matt would come with me from time to time but we never talked about anything other than small talk. I think he knew I didn't want to talk about my feelings.

Yet another person who I thought of as a parental figure had died.

But I wasn't allowing myself to wollow in my self pity - people die, life goes on - so I decided to keep my mind busy and not allow myself to think about or feel the sadness.

I found myself rewriting things like scripts or wiki pages to keep my mind occupied while constantly having music play in he background to distract me from the unsettling silence. 

Thinking definitely wasn't a good option for my mental health at the moment.

Today I was researching the Civil War when Jenna called me downstairs. I reluctantly turned off my music before leaving my 'cave' which I hadn't left in three days.

When I got downstairs Jenna was sat at the table with her laptop set up in front of her with Elena stood next to her. I gave them a confused look which resulted in Jenna explaining what she called me down for.

"Your dad kept everything from his medical practice—records, logs, old appointment books." She opened up a folder and showed us one of the pages. "I found an entry from the night you two were born. Patient and a birth date. Isobel Peterson."

Wow. I definitely wasn't expecting that.

"Do you think that's her real name?" Elena asked.

"Pregnant teenage runaway? Probably not. First name, maybe. But where'd she get Peterson? Classmate? Best friend? So I binged it. I searched for all the Petersons in this area born the same year as Isobel, found three to two men and a woman, Trudie, who lived in Grove Hill, Virginia."

"That's not far from here." Elena said, looking up at me shocked.

"Well, watch this." Jenna searched up a year book from Grove Hill's class of 1993.

"Isobel."

There she was. Our Mother. Standing there in her cheerleading uniform.

"She was a cheerleader." Elena said cockily.

I rolled my eyes but couldn't stop the smile that was on my face as I studied my Mother's features.

"Trudie still lives there." Jenna picked up a yellow post-it note and passed it to me. "This is her address."

"What about Isobel?" Elena asked as she peered over at the address written on the paper.

"I couldn't find anything about her." Jenna said reluctantly, hoping to not dishearten us. "Listen. There's something else. Mr. Saltzman, Ric, his wife was from around here, and her name was also Isobel."

"Hold up. Mr. Saltzman could potentially be our Dad?" I raised my brows with a slight grimace.

Don't get me wrong - Alaric is a nice guy but it would be really strange if he was our Dad.

"I don't think so. He said they met in college which was after you were born." Jenna explained.

Elena looked like the gears were turning in her head. "Wait. "Was," as in..."