05|YOU'RE UNDEAD TO ME

Gemma lingers outside of the cellar, her arms folded across her chest. Her lips press into a thin line when Damon groans in pain, the sound reverberating through the small space.

"He's awake," Stefan tells Zach. "He's weak, but it's probably best to stay out of the basement."

Gemma begins to protest but Stefan cuts her off.

"He's Damon," he reminds his sister. "I'm not sure how dangerous he still might be."

"He's locked up and doped up with vervain," Gemma narrows her eyes. "There's a metal door separating us. I'm not sure he's much of a threat."

"I heard that," Damon rasps. "Not true, Gems. I'm very much a—" he erupts into loud coughs, his body wracking with the force.

"I'm sure you are, princess," Gemma snarks back at him.

Damon's response is a loud, over dramatic cough in the direction of the door.

"Don't antagonize him," Stefan sighs.

"You're going to school?" Zach questions Stefan.

"Came here to live a life," Stefan shrugs. "It's about time I get back to that. And Elena, if she's still speaking to me."

"Why haven't you called her?" Zach wonders.

"Yes, Stefan," Gemma goads. "Why haven't you called her?"

"What am suppose to do, feed her another lie?" He glares, "I hate lying to her. I'm not good at it. She already thinks I'm hiding something."

"Well," Gemma looks at her nails. "She's not wrong."

"Aren't you supposed to be supportive?" Stefan asks, folding his arms. "Isn't that was siblings do?"

Gemma looks up, her eyebrows raised. "Now," she grins. "Where'd you get that idea? The Hallmark channel?"

"What choice do you have?" Zach breaks Gemma's moment of teasing. "You came here because you wanted to live as normal a life as you could. You knew this was going to be a part of it."

Gemma rolls her eyes, letting her arms fall limp at her sides. "Way to kill the mood, Zach." She looks at the imaginary watch on her wrist, clapping her hands together when she's finished. "It's time for my evening drink."

"It's like, ten o'clock in the morning," Stefan calls after her, his voice echoing through the cellar.

"It's five o'clock somewhere,"

•••

Gemma sits at a lone table, glass of Bourbon in hand with the bottle not too far. Her hair falls around her face, the girl thankful for the shield (of some sorts) when she sees Elena Gilbert walking through the doors of The Grill.

"Oh, please," Gemma silently groans when the Gilbert's eyes search the restaurant, meeting the green orbs of the brooding vampire. "No, no, no—"

"Gemma!" Elena cheers, strutting up to the table with a wide, surprises smile. "I didn't know you were coming."

The female Salvatore downs the last of her Bourbon, her eye contact with the human unflinching. "Neither did I," Gemma replies. "What exactly is it that you didn't know I was coming to?"

Elena blinks, "I'm meeting Stefan."

"Right," Gemma nods.

"So," Elena puts down her purse and slides into the chair across from Gemma. "Drowning your nonexistent sorrows, are you?"

"That I am, Gilbert,"

Elena drums her fingers on the table, cocking her head as she studies the vampire.

"What?" Gemma pours herself another glass.

"How'd you know you liked girls?"

The bottle of Bourbon almost slips out of Gemma's grasp, her hand seizing up at Elena's question. "Excu— excuse me?"

Elena rolls her eyes playfully, "come on, Gemma."

"Well," Gemma swallows dryly, her eyes darting up to the clock in a panic. "My um, my father was very adamant on finding me a— a boyfriend." Elena looks confused, so Gemma's quick to reiterate. "He was always trying to set me up with sons of his employees."

"He didn't just ask if that's you wanted too?"

"My father was a very traditional man," Gemma informs the brunette. "Women weren't asked, they were told."

"Well, obviously setting you up didn't work, so what happened?" Elena's eyes widen, her orbs shining with curiousness.

"I had always had an inkling that I didn't want to marry a man," Gemma admits. "While the girls around town would talk about marrying off and having children, the american dream—" Gemma mocks. "I wanted something completely different."

"When did Katherine get involved?"

"When Katherine started coming around, I was already engaged to a man that my father insisted I be with," the Salvatore grits her teeth. "I hated him, he hated me, but we stuck to it because we owed our families."

"You should've never had to be with someone you didn't love," Elena murmurs with a frown.

Gemma takes a large gulp of Bourbon, relishing in the sting of it. "Katherine saw through all of it. The lingering looks to other girls, the shy touches that weren't always allowed."

Elena leans forward, clasping her hands together. "What'd she do?"

"Katherine was like..." Gemma trails off, a small smile pulling at her lips. "Like a beacon of hope for me. Hope that I'd be free one day, hope that I wouldn't be stuck in a loveless relationship forever. Her spirit was so wild and free, shameless in the way it made her love. I envied her for it."

"You're free now though, right?" Elena gazes at Gemma with large, innocent eyes.

"Right," Gemma feels her shoulders slump in relief. "That I am."

Elena's phone shrills with the sound of an alarm, the girl's face falling when she looks at the time.

"Is he late?" Gemma wonders.

Elena looks up, hesitant in answering. "Yeah," she relents with a heavy sigh. "I even came a little late too, just so I wouldn't be here alone for too long."

"Good thing you have me," Gemma teases sarcastically, drawing lazy shapes on the table.

"It is," Elena agrees, her eyes boring into Gemma's.

"How late is he?" Gemma shifts in her chair, leaning back to get comfortable.

"Hitting the hour mark," Elena responds. "Nothing's really wrong though, which means I'm not talking boy problems with you."

"Ouch," Gemma fakes a grimace. "I know I'm not well versed with men but that doesn't mean I've never had relationship drama."

"Stefan's your brother," Elena reminds the vampire.

"Yeah," Gemma nods. "What's your point?"

"Okay," the Gilbert huffs. "Stefan's a— you'd say he's a good guy, right?"

"Absolutely not," Gemma deadpans. "He's the worst of the worst, the evil of the evil-est, the—"

"Okay, I get it," Elena glares.

"Yes, Elena," the dark headed woman drones. "I'd say my brother is a decent guy." Gemma sits up straighter, her lips pursed. "Why? Did he do something?"

"Not any one thing," Elena shrugs. She pauses, searching Gemma's face before speaking again. "He's just so secretive all the time. I think there's something that he doesn't want me to know, which makes me want to know all the more."

"Totally," Gemma hums. "I'll just go ahead and tell you."

Elena's eyes widen.

"He's a serial killer and he keeps a clown suit in his trunk," Gemma says seriously.

"Gemma," Elena frowns. "I'm serious."

"I am too," Gemma shrugs. "Look, I know my promises don't mean much, especially when they're going against my family— but if Stefan were any danger to you at all, I'd tell you."

"So you think I'm just being paranoid?"

Gemma looks up, making a face when Stefan enters The Grill. "I think you should talk to him,"

The female Salvatore stands up, grabbing the bottle of Bourbon and saluting Elena. "I'll take my leave now, if you don't mind."

"More sorrows to nurse?" Elena smiles.

"I'm surprised you had to ask."

•••

Gemma sits on the ground in the cellar, her back againt the wall across from the cellar door. She jolts in surprise when Stefan barges in, her younger brother stopping in his tracks at the sight of her.

"Are you—" He squints. "Are you reading Damon poetry?"

"Yes," Gemma answers. The woman rather enjoyed reading poetry to her siblings before her brothers turned into dicks. It wasn't beneath her to be reminiscent while her brother was locked up.

"I bet you're feeling pretty good about yourself, aren't you?" Damon rasps.

Gemma and Stefan share a look, the girl shrugging in response.

"Not particularly," Stefan says.

"You won," Damon tells him. "You got the bad guy. Now nothing could come between you and Elena. Except the truth. The lies will catch up to you, Stefan. As long as you keep lying to yourself about what you are."

"The beauty of you in there and me out here..." Stefan clenches his jaw. "Is that I can walk away."

"Wow," Gemma marvels once Stefan's gone.

"His ego, am I right?" Damon coughs.

Gemma hums, "what chapter were we on?"

Damon pauses, shuffling around. "Chapter three."

•••

"You're supposed to be working, you know?" Elena teases, flicking water at Gemma.

The vampire flinches, glaring at the human. "I don't even know how I got dragged into this."

"Stefan said you don't get out much," Elena smirks. "And you're very pale."

Gemma gapes, "I get out just enough!"

"Going out to buy more Bourbon doesn't count," Stefan chimes in from the other side of the car.

"Yes, it does," the female Salvatore argues.

Elena arches an eyebrow, handing Gemma a wet washcloth with soap on it. Without protest, Gemma grabs it and roughly slaps it onto the hood of the car, beginning to scrub.

"You're gonna get yourself fired," Elena warns.

"Isn't this for charity?" Gemma whines, slumping against the car.

"It's Caroline," Elena reminds her. "I don't think she minds firing people from charity work."

Gemma lazily wipes the car down, "wouldn't be the worst thing."

"You're getting soap in that," Elena tells the dark headed girl, pointing to her ring. Her gaze flickers to Stefan. "You too."

"Oh, it's fine." Stefan brushes it off.

"Oh," Gemma straightens up. "Here, can you—"

"Gemma," Stefan scolds as he watches the girl mockingly start to slip the ring off her finger.

"I noticed that Damon has one, too." Elena looks between the siblings strangely. "Is there a story behind it?"

"Yeah, it's the family crest from the Italian renaissance."

"Good genes," Gemma smirks.

Elena hums, meeting Gemma's eyes with an amused smile. "What's the stone?"

"It's called lapis lazuli," the youngest Salvatore replies.

"I just call it a blue rock," Gemma mutters.

"You should really take it off," Elena advises. "I could put it in my bag."

"No, it's...it's fine, really. Thanks, though."

"Okay," Elena's smile tightens. "I'm gonna get some towels."

"Way to be suspicious," Gemma snarks.

"As opposed to trying to take off my ring and burst into flames in front of a crowd," Stefan says blankly.

"Oh, come on," Gemma scoffs. "You would've saved me."

Stefan rolls his eyes, turning around and stalking off to another car.

•••

Gemma and Stefan trudge through the door of the Boarding House, a tired yawn escaping the girl's mouth. "I think I'm gonna go to bed,"

"We should check on Damon first," Stefan says, earning a bored look from his sister. "Something doesn't feel right."

Gemma furrows her eyebrows, following her brother down the stairs and toward the cellar.

"Zach!" Stefan rushes down the rest of the stairs, kneeling beside their nephew. "Oh, no, Zach..." He frowns, checking for a pulse.

"Is he dead?" Gemma stops at the bottom of the stairs.

"Yes,"

"Damon?"

"He's gone," Stefan grunts.

Stefan stands, a look of determination in his eye.

"Stefan," Gemma warns.

"This has to stop," he tells her. He turns abruptly, walking deeper into the cellar and opening a small box, grabbing the wooden stake from under the cloth.

"Stefan," Gemma's eyes widen. "You can't—"

"What?" He snaps, still continuing down the hallway. "I can't what?"

"Kill him!" Gemma exclaims, rushing after him. "He's our brother, you can't do this!"

"Watch me," he growls. He approaches the front door and swings it open, stopping short when he's met with a teary eyed Elena Gilbert.

"Elena," Gemma breathes in disbelief. Her eyes dart to the stake, clenching her jaw when she sees the human follow her line of sight. "Elena, what—"

The human girl shuffles forward, her eyes challenging Gemma's.

"What are you?"

•••

not edited.