Chapter Text
On the second day back at school, Alice decided to speed up her timeline for getting rid of Mr. Tanner. Jeremy entered her class right after History, and she could sense that he was on the verge of tears. It was okay to discipline students, but not ridicule them. With his mother alive to ground him for smoking pot and Tori being a completely different person not luring him into the stoner crowd, Jeremy was still an innocent virgin hanging around with the artsy kids. He didn't deserve a grown man picking on him for decisions he made in 8th grade. So when she arrived at the Salvatore Boarding House to feed Damon, she made her request.
"I need you to compell the History teacher, Mr. Tanner to give up teaching and leave town."
"Sure, done," Damon replied with ease.
"You're not even gonna ask why?"
"Not really. I've learned not to question your methods. Your explanations end in a headache. Plus, Stefan mentioned what a douche he was to Matt, your cousin, and the doppleganger in class today."
"Well, thanks babe."
"Of course. Now I overheard you telling Stefan to be nice to your cousin's friend Caroline at the Bonfire party tonight. Not to question you, but what was that about?"
"Well, Caroline has self-esteem issues. She pretends to be confident, but she really relies on external validation. To her, Stefan is a hot new guy who can validate her beauty. Until she learns to love herself, she can't handle rejection. And who knows, maybe one day she'll be your sister-in-law. I have it on good authority that she'd make an excellent vampire."
"Ooh. So you're plotting Stefan's love life on top of everything else?"
Alice laughed in return. "Are we gonna keep talking about Stefan, or are you thirsty?" She smirked as she pushed her hair aside, revealing her long neck.
---
The next couple of days ran smoothly. Mr. Tanner turned in his resignation and the school called in a substitute teacher to cover his classes. It was the day of the Comet Festival when Alice called a group meeting. Tori arrived with Tyler while Damon brought Stefan and Gia. Hayley answered the door as Alice brought her secret bottle of bourbon for Damon.
After passing out the teenagers a can of soda and Damon his glass of bourbon, she began. "Okay, as you are all aware, Elena is the doppleganger of a 500-year-old vampire with a lot of enemies. Now that she perfectly resembles Katherine, a lot of vampires will come to notice her. At the moment, at least two already have. Their names are Anna and Noah. Noah is simply an obsessed vampire that should be easy to handle, but Anna is a girl with a mission. My ancestor, Emily made the mistake of telling her the truth about her mother, Pearl. Pearl was one of the vampires Emily protected and entombed under Fell's Church. Anna will stop at nothing to release her mother and the other vampires dessicated along side her. We need to keep a close eye on the Gilberts until we can rid of anyone threatening their safety. Jenna Somers has already returned to college, so that's one less person we'll need to keep an eye on."
"Al, what about Bonnie? Your cousin is best friend's with Elena. Don't you think we should warn her about what's going on?" Hayley asked with concern.
"I agree that she should be made aware of what's happening, but she shouldn't be involved. I'll talk with my Aunt Sheila and Abby. They don't agree with helping vampires, so they should be assets to our mission for the time being."
"When are we going to tell Elena that she's adopted and all this other stuff?" Tyler questioned.
"I think the adoption bit will work itself out. Mr. Tanner's incoming replacement happens to be married to Elena's birth mother. A couple of months ago, I manipulated things at Whittemore College. With Professor Shane's death, Elena's birth mother will be taking over his position in the Occult department. With her husband working at the same high school as her daughter attends, I doubt the secret will be kept for much longer." Alice explained.
"And the fact that she's vampire bait?" Damon asked.
"She just lost her father, I think a couple more months of ignorance would do her some good." Tori commented.
"I agree. The Original family won't catch wind of her for another 6 months. We should give her more time to grieve before giving her things to worry about." Gia stated.
"Then it's a plan. We wait until Founder's Day rolls around before we give the big reveal." Alice decided.
With less than 200 days until Elijah's arrival, there was still much more to be done.
---
Matt Donovan formed a quick bond with Stefan Salvatore. Feeling appreciative of him saving Elena's life, he welcomed him into the school. Tyler and Stefan quickly noted his athleticism and encouraged him to join the football team. When Tyler and Matt came to the Boarding House to work on their History project, Matt was excited to learn Stefan was also into making model cars. As the two blondes built the models, Tyler utilized his artistic skills to design them. As Elena entered her acceptance phase of grief and Matt no longer believed himself in love with her, Matt was able to rejoin the closeness of his childhood friends. Life was wonderfully mundane.
Finally with enough vervain to harvest, Alice crafted necklaces and bracelets for the remaining humans in her life. After revealing to her aunts that vampires had returned to Mystic Falls and were seeking Elena, they sat down as a family to inform Bonnie. With Bonnie in the know, Alice explained the purpose of vervain and had her gift the jewelry to Caroline, Elena, Jeremy, and Miranda. Tori gifted one to Matt, while the human Salvatores had already been taken care of the second Damon and Stefan returned to town. Damon was not happy to be advised to start consuming small amounts on a daily basis, while Stefan did it without hesitation.
The days passed quickly. Jeremy had begun showing remarkable talent in art, and with Alice's encouragement, he began taking a weekend class at Whittemore College to improve his artwork. While on Campus, he came across Gia. After sharing a cup of coffee, they became formerly aqaunited. Instead of being intimidated, Jeremy was impressed that a girl his age was already in College. Coming from the same town, he started carpooling with Gia to get to Art Class. Over a few weeks, he developed a crush on her, while Gia continued seeing him as an innocent little kid.
As the ordinary things went on, danger was still at the front of the group's mind. Even with everyone on the lookout for Noah and Anna, they had not yet been located. Luckily, The Founder's Ball was pleasantly uneventful. Alice was escorted by Damon, Hayley by Tyler, Gia by Jeremy, and Tori by Stefan. Meanwhile Matt, Caroline, Bonnie, and Elena attended as a group. The only thing of note was the Mayor performing an inquisition of Damon upon learning he was his daughter's date. With this, it became more well known by the townspeople that Alice was indeed his illegitimate child.
Another month passed with no sign of vampiric threats. The teenagers attended a Halloween Party as Damon and Alice inflated balloons to surprise Stefan the following morning. Having reconciled a decade prior, Lexi had informed Damon she would be arriving in town before sunrise to celebrate her best friend's birthday. Not wanting to rouse the guests of the Boarding House, Alice consented to Lexi spending the day at her house. After stuffing the 162 balloons into trash bags, Alice and Damon made their way to her home to wait for Lexi's arrival. Around 1am, Hayley stumbled home from the party, gave Alice a kiss on the cheek, and wondered to her bed. Knowing she was home safe, Alice and Damon fell asleep on the couch.
At 5:30am, the pair woke from their short slumber to the doorbell ringing. Together, they rose to greet the guest. As Damon opened the door, Alice grabbed a jewelry box from her curio cabinet and held it firmly in her hand.
"Hi! Welcome, come in." Alice smiled at the blonde. Lexi raised her eyebrows at the easy welcome as she walked through the threshold.
"You must be Alice." Lexi smiled at her host. "Nobody warned me you'd be taller than me." She joked.
"Yeah, I get that a lot. I'm the same height as most guys around here, it intrigues people."
"Well you totally own it." Lexi complimented. "Not to sound picky, but its an hour until sunrise and you have a lot of windows..."
"Yes! I actually have a gift for you!" Alice interrupted her before handing her the jewelry box. Lexi looked at it with surprise. "You may not be aware, but my ancestor is the one that made Stefan and Damon their daylight rings. Knowing how loyal you've been to Stefan and forgiving to Damon, I made these for you and your boyfriend." Alice explained as Lexi opened the box to reveal matching lapis lazuli rings.
"Oh my god! These are real?!" Lexi exclaimed.
"Yup! 60 more minutes and you'll be able to spend as much time in the sun as you want without so much as a sunburn."
"You're amazing!" Lexi cheered as she engulfed Alice in a hug.
After Lexi calmed down, she poured her a glass of bourbon and began explaining dopplegangers and the Original Family.
"Wow. Give me Katherine and I'd beat that bitche's ass, but the Originals? Yikes. There's a big difference between 150 years older and 650." Lexi replied.
"Fortunately, for now, the only vamps in town could easily be taken down by you. Do you think after today you could help us find them and put an end to their obsessions?"
"Little Katherine Followers? Absolutely."
---
As the sun rose, Lexi stuck her hand out to the rays flowing in through the windows. With a smile, she admired the way her skin remained impervious to the natural light. Smirking, she turned to the door and opened it wide as she bathed in sunlight for the first time in three and a half centuries.
"You ready to surprise Stefan?" Alice inquired.
"Definitely."