NEXT DAY

GILBERT HOUSE

On the day of the party, a mini spa was created for the four best friends, who had made their own beauty salon in the Gilbert household. Pedicures, manicures, facials, and hairstyling areas were all set up within the front room.

The party would be starting late afternoon and would be going on late into the night, especially as it would be the 150th anniversary of Mystic Falls' founders.

"What did I say about beauty sleep Elena?" Caroline tutted as she started covering up the dark ring under Elena's eyes.

"Sorry, bad dream," Elena shrugged, trying to forget that awful dream she had.

"What was it about?" Bonnie asked her as she blew on the nude nails Aella had just finished painting.

"It was really freaky," Elena sighed, wanting to shake her head but unable to from the vice grip of her blonde best friend.

Aella put the nude OPI polish away and smirked, "Okay... now you have to tell us what it was about? The infinite possibilities are flying through my mind right now."

Elena took a deep breath, her eyes closed from Caroline putting shadow on them, "I'm in bed and hear a noise, so go and investigate-"

"-As you do," Aella chimed in from where she laid with Bonnie on the couch.

"And this news segment is on with Logan," Elena continued as if Aella hadn't said a word.

"He's reporting my death, that I've been attacked by a wild animal and drained of my blood."

Aella sat up at this as Caroline's fingers stopped blending in the brown eyes shade, her eyes meeting Aella's. Bonnie missed the look of caution passed between the two best friends as she continued to blow her nails dry.

"Then a voice says, 'You know what's coming next,' and he bites me."

"He bites you?" Bonnie turned back into the conversation, eyes wide open, once more missing the looks of shock passing between Caroline and Aella.

Elena opened her eyes, noticing Caroline had stopped, nodding at Bonnie, "And even weirder, if that's possible, it sounded like Damon."

"Stefan's brother?" Bonnie questioned.

"Yeah," Elena nodded, closing her eyes once more as a paler Caroline started on her eyes again. "I don't trust him."

"Too right," Aella agreed, jumping off the couch, desiring to get this conversation moved on.

"What color dress are you thinking about, C?" Knowing what Elena and Bonnie had chosen.

Caroline gasped out loud, and Aella knew she had moved onto the right topic, "I found the most beautiful yellow dress that I thought would stand out so well."

"Because no one looks better than Caroline Forbes," Bonnie teased wink at a grinning Aella.

"Duh!" Caroline sighed, thinking that was a factual statement. "It has these white and blue flowers and leaves, it's to die for!"

"Well, that's Caroline's nail choice," Bonnie motioned towards the two varnishes the girls had deemed perfect for the festivities. "Delicate flower for C. I, of course, chose Naughty vixen, what about you two?"

"Tough call," Elena frowned as Caroline finished with her makeup. "Can we mix them?"

"I'm not sure," Aella glanced between the two, looking at them both. "Delicate Vixen sounds a bit weird."

"And 'Uh-oh Roll Down the Window' isn't?" Elena hit back, picking up the black bottle in her hands. "Isn't that your favorite color?"

Ring Ring

"Saved by the bell," Aella smirked, picking up Elena's ringing phone from the bed, glancing at the screen before throwing it to Elena. "Or by the Mad Mayor's Wife."

"Hi, Mrs. Lockwood," Elena greeted their soon to be host glaring at Aella. The three girls sat watching Elena knowing what Mrs. Lockwood was calling about. "What do you mean a Pocket Watch is missing? Oh, that one. Yes, I know I said I would donate everything it's just- yes, I know it's just-"

Seeing her best friend having trouble with the obviously annoyed Mrs. Lockwood, Aella jumped up and took the phone from her, quickly moving to the other side of the room as Elena tried to get the phone back. "Hi, Mrs. Lockwood, it's Aella. Unfortunately, the pocket watch was given to the person Mr. Gilbert wanted it to go to. It's now a very precious piece to that person, and they would rather it be with them than on display. Sorry for the confusion," Aella wanted to laugh out loud as Carol Lockwood tried to interrupt her. "Have a good evening, Mrs. Lockwood, and we'll see you soon." And Aella hung up.

Elena went pale as Aella threw her the phone back, "You just hung up on Mayor Lockwood's wife."

"I did," Aella smirked, sitting down on Elena's vacant chair; it was her time to become pretty. "And it felt awesome."

But that feeling of excellence didn't last thirty seconds before her phone vibrated in her pocket.

Stefan: Damon figured out the vervain was in the scotch

Looked like Plan B was up to her.

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(Elena and Bonnie's dress same as the episode)

"C'mon girls, time to go," Jenna shouted up the stairs to the four girls.

Caroline finished tying Elena's sash around her waist with a smile, "Perfect."

"How good do we look right now?" Bonnie grinned as all four girls stood together, each in their own dresses.

A sunset color and design for Elena. A bold yellow and blue patterned dress for Caroline. A bright white dress with a trimming of flowers for Aella. And a subtle but sophisticated cream dress for Bonnie. Each dress suiting each girl perfectly and perfect for the early October celebration.

"Good?" Caroline smirked as she gathered her clutch, each girl doing the same. "We look hot!"

"Well, this gal in this hot dress has to pee," Aella announced, motioning with her eyes for Caroline to follow her.

"Me too!" Caroline exclaimed a little too forcefully, making Aella quietly groan to herself as Elena and Bonnie raised their eyebrows at her.

"Maybe you should let Caroline go first, A," Elena lightly laughed before going back to packing the essentials in her clutch.

"Will do," Aella smiled tightly before taking hold of Caroline's wrist and pulling her to the bathroom. Quickly turning on the blonde, Aella hit her with her white clutch, "What was that?"

"Ow!" Caroline moaned, hitting Aella's clutch away with her own. "You caught me off guard, couldn't you have pre-warned me? We've been here all day!"

Aella raised her eyebrow at her best friend, "Because you're as subtle as a gynecologist wearing a gas mask. Anyway..." Aella quickly continued before Caroline could retort, "How would you feel about getting revenge on Damon?"

Caroline stared at her best friend for a few moments before she smirked at her, "I would feel amazing."

"Great!" Aella exclaimed before getting her phone out and showing Caroline the texts she had been receiving from Stefan. "Stefan tried to catch Damon by putting liquid vervain in his drink, but my boyfriend and his uncle-"

"-Are worse liars than those Pretty Little ones," Caroline finished for her with a nod reading how Stefan's Plan A had failed like a lead balloon.

Aella took the phone back with a nod placing it back in her clutch, "Exactly. Now Stefan's going to try again tonight with the last of Zach's vervain, and that's where we come in."

Caroline grinned, "Oh, I love it when I'm involved with your evil plans."

LOCKWOOD MANOR

Arriving at the Lockwood's Manor with her best friends and Jenna, Aella immediately spotted her boyfriend casually leaning on one of the Lockwood trees.

Bonnie leaned between the front seats where Jenna and Elena sat, frowning at him, "I'm sorry, Aella, but how can Stefan look that hot all of the time?"

"Amen to that," Jenna nodded, unaware a smirking Stefan could hear their conversation.

Aella snorted, getting out of the car, "Try not to pay him too many compliments, I like his head that size."

"Why?" Bonnie shrugged, getting out after Aella and adjusting her dress, "It's not like he can hear me."

Aella swore she could hear Stefan snort as she made her way over to her vampire boyfriend.

"So?" She turned as she walked towards his leaned position, her dress floating around her as the wind gently carried it up. "How do I look?"

Stefan pushed himself off the tree and encircled his arms around her waist, bringing her close to him, "Is majestic a little too much?"

"Never," Aella laughed, placing her arms around his neck and pulling him down for a kiss.

"Mmm," Aella mumbled, rubbing her lipgloss lips together as they pulled away, quickly pulling one hand down from his neck and rubbing the shiny gloss off his lips. That hand then made its way to the blue shirt and grey jacket he had on, smoothing out the invisible crinkles on his well-defined chest, "You look good too."

Stefan took advantage of their closeness and pulled the liquid vervain out of his jacket pocket, showing it Aella, "Zach gave me his last batch."

"Well, we better not mess it up," Aella raised a brow, Stefan, not picking up on her emphasis of 'we.'

"Stefan! Aella!" Caroline shouted from her place in line with their entourage. "We're nearly at the door."

"Girls! You look smashing," Mrs. Lockwood grinned as she welcomed the group in.

"Thank you, Mrs. Lockwood," Aella grinned as she and Stefan stood motionless at the front door, aware of her boyfriend's current problem. "This is my boyfriend, Stefan."

"Oh, well, come on in," Carol waved them in, smiling as Stefan stepped closer to her, unaware of his relief at how easy that way. "You are so handsome, Stefan."

"Well, I'm a sucker for cute, romantic fella's!" Aella sarcastically bragged as a grinning Stefan took her arm in his again.

The smile fell from Carol Lockwood's face, "Boys don't like funny girls, Aella," she tutted before looking at the next guests.

"Noted," Aella nodded, stifling her grin as she and Stefan walked into the house, chuckling to themselves.

Arriving at the bar, Aella spotted Caroline and Liz 'chatting' in the corner. Stefan looked over her shoulder after he had ordered them drinks and quickly picked up on the tension between Caroline and the Sheriff.

"That seems tense," he motioned to the two women, trying to ignore the words his supernatural hearing was picking up.

"Yeah," Aella replied, distracted by the apparent fight going on. "I'm not surprised, to be honest." She turned to Stefan and suddenly realized he was standing next to her on the side the vervain was in his pocket. "Caroline likes to use it to her advantage that her moms the Sheriff," she explained. She allowed her powers to manipulate the air in the room. She slowly lifted the vervain from an unaware Stefan's pocket. "But when it's social events like this, she kinda wants her mom to be like the other moms and actually dress up."

The viall raised itself from his pocket and moved from Stefan to Aella's open hand. Stefan nodded at the explanation, eyes darting from Aella to Caroline.

Just as the bottle landed itself in Aella's hand, he asked, "And who is Stevan?"

"What?!" Aella jumped, eyes wide, as she closed her fist tight, thinking she may have been caught. "Stevan?" She looked to Caroline and laughed nervously, "Oh, Stevan." She nodded, ignoring Stefan's bemused face at her reaction, "Stevan is Caroline's dad's boyfriend."

"Boyfriend?" Stefan repeated eyebrows raised.

"Yup," She quickly retorted with a sharp nod. "Caroline likes him, and he has a daughter a few years younger than Caroline, which she just adores and is already planning her entire high school life."

Stefan chuckled, "Sounds like Caroline."

"So how good does this look?" Jenna asked as she walked towards the two grabbing a large glass of white wine as the waiter walked by.

"Amazing," Aella smiled as Stefan nodded in agreement. She looked at Jenna's glass with a smirk, "Care to share?"

Jenna laughed out loud, "Care to bail me out of jail when I'm caught by the Sheriff, who is standing just behind me, by the way, when she arrests me?"

"So that's a no?" Aella squinted unsurely.

"That's a hell no, mini-me," Jenna smirked until she saw a familiar face walking over to. "Oh my god!" She groaned and quickly swallowed the whole glass as Aella and Stefan's eyes widened at the action. "Is this karma for saying no to the town's precious, Aella Bennett?" She mumbled to herself, causing both teens to look over their shoulders and recognize the news reporter heading their way.

Aella scowled at the reporter and stepped forward, "Leave it to me, Jenna." Just as Logan approached them and opened his mouth, eyes locked with Jenna's, Aella stepped in his way, blocking his view, "No way, Jose! This mujer is not interested!"

Logan frowned at the small brunette, "Um, down Chachi. Who are you?"

"Aella," Jenna sighed, moving between the two. "As much as I celebrate the fact you finally learned something in your Spanish class, I can deal with him."

"Are you sure?" Stefan asked instead of Aella, who was now glaring at Logan.

"Yes," Jenna nodded at Stefan, relieved he was there to deal with Aella. "Why don't you two go look at the antiques?"

"Okay," Aella nodded slowly as Stefan took her hand and started leading her up the stairs where the antiques were laid out. Thinking Stefan wasn't looking, she quickly turned to Logan and pointed her to fingers from her eyes to Logan and back to her eyes, mouthing, 'I'm watching you.'

Until Stefan pulled her close to him as he smirked down at her, pulling her close, "Saw that."

Logan watched the pair leave, confused as hell to who the tiny chihuahua was. Wanting to forget that happened, he turned to Jenna flashing his newsreader smile at her, "Jenna."

"Logan," Jenna replied monotonously.

"It's good to see you," ignoring her tone.

But Jenna wasn't having any of it, as she reached for another glass of white wine passing her by, "I thought I might see you here."

"You knew it," he smirked, thinking he was finally getting somewhere.

Jenna gulped the whole glass down in one, wincing and revealing at the fact she was already feeling a little drunk. She passed the empty glass to Logan and leaned forward to him, copying his smirk, "I dreaded."

And she walked away.

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"The founding families in Mystic Falls welcomes you to the inaugural founder's council celebration." Aella read from the old document Stefan had just pointed her to. "Wow, look, it's the original guest registry. Look at all these familiar names—Sheriff William Forbes, Mayor Benjamin Lockwood. D? Damon Salvatore? And... Stefan Salvatore?" She quickly looked up at Stefan with a broad smile, "That's your signature?"

"That's the 'original' Salvatore brothers signatures."

"Ugh." Aella sighed at the interruption. Seeing a smirking Damon on the glass reflection, she and Stefan quickly turned to face him. "What are you doing here?"

Damon smirked, stepping closer to her, bowing slightly, "As a new permanent resident to this town, I couldn't just miss this very celebratory event, could I?"

"Yes," Stefan and Aella said simultaneously.

"How did you get in here, Damon?" Stefan asked with a frown.

"Um," Damon pursed his lips as his eyes scanned the room. "Just some random local high school girl, Mary? Mollie? Missie?-"

"Millie? Millie Fell?" Aella quickly questioned her own lips pursed, only in anger.

"That's it!" Damon snapped his fingers and pointed at the brunette, "Millie. Lovely, innocent, Millie. Anyway, The Salvatore name was practically royalty in this town. Until the war. There was a battle here-"

"-Well, I'm suddenly bored of history," Aella interrupted Damon with a smirk and turned to Stefan. "Shall we partake in some fancy dancing to relish in a ball like fantasy?"

Stefan held his arm out to her, ignoring the glare burning into the back of his head from his elder brother, "It would be my pleasure."

Damon glared at the two as they retreated downstairs until he saw another familiar brunette, one he had been waiting to see since he arrived. He slowly walked over to her as she gazed down at two rings, a white name card just behind them reading 'ON LOAN FROM THE GILBERT FAMILY.'

"Your parents?" Damon asked, taking pleasure when she jumped in surprise.

"Damon," She sighed as her heart slowed down from the shock at his sudden appearance.

She looked down at the rings again and nodded, smiling at the rings, "There's a lot of history here."

Damon nodded with her, and she moved on to the next heirloom, "I want to apologize to you for being such a world-class jerk the other night when I tried to kiss you." She looked up in shock at his words and tried to say 'it was nothing,' but he shook his head before she could, "There's no excuse. My therapist says I'm... acting out, trying to punish Stefan."

Elena frowned as they stepped in front of the original manifest for the founding families, ignoring Damon's sly smile, "For what?"

"It's all in the past," he waved off. "I don't even want to bring it up. Let's just say that the men in the Salvatore family have been cursed with sibling rivalry." He looked up to the manifest and pointed out two names Elena knew very well, "And it all started with the original Salvatore brothers."

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Stefan led Aella to the dance floor, placing her arms around his neck, pulling her closer to him, the music slow and romantic. Aella smiled gently at her boyfriend before lowering her arms and stepping even closer, laying her head on his shoulder, holding onto his hand and resting it on his muscled chest, her left hand playing with the back of his golden hair.

"Can we stay like this forever?" She asked, eyes closed, as they swayed on the dance floor.

Stefan kissed the top of her head, smiling at her question, "As you wish."

Aella tried to conceal her smile in his shoulder at the familiar words, "Okay, now you're just pushing it, quoting one of my favorite movies."

Stefan shrugged, "It's a good movie. Not exactly 'To Kill a Mockingbird,' but a good movie."

"Hmmm?" Aella debated the two for a moment before nodding in agreement, "Okay, I can agree with that."

"I'm glad," Stefan chuckled as he stepped away from Aella and spun her around, catching her in his arms once more.

"Ooohhhh fancy," she smiled, adjusting her hold once more.

"Wait till you see my finish," Stefan smiled, raising his eyebrows up and down. As the music ended, he stepped away once more, spinning her around before dipping her backward, finishing the dance.

A gentle applause greeted them as Stefan still held her in that dip, Aella with no doubt her mind he would drop her. As he lifted her back up, she caught a glimpse of Elena and Damon chatting.

Raising her brow at the two, she saw Damon go off to where the bar was located and realized this was her chance. Spotting Elena coming her way, she looked back to Stefan as he moved his arms to dance with her again. Stopping his arms, she smiled as he looked to her, confused, "Ladies Room break?"

Stefan nodded and started to walk back from the dancing floor when Aella stopped and pointed to Elena, "No, don't stop dancing." She looked to Elena and called her over, "Elena!"

Elena frowned, making her way over in their direction, "I just had the weirdest conversation with Damon."

Seeing this as her opportunity, Aella raised her brows in surprise, "You did? That's strange, dance with Stefan-" she pushed Elena into Stefan's bemused stance "-as he is the perfect person to understand a weird Damon, while I got to the little girl's room."

Before Elena or Stefan could say anything, Aella disappeared, leaving a blushing Elena with Stefan. She smiled politely at him, "Is this okay with you?"

Stefan nodded immediately; he thought he was used to Aella's strange behavior by now, obviously not, "Of course, if you're sure?"

Elena nodded softly and stepped into his waiting arms, a large but comfortable gap between them as they danced to a slightly more upbeat song.

"I hope Damon didn't drive you too crazy?" Stefan asked, thinking of what Elena had just told him and his girlfriend.

Elena shook her head, smiling slightly, "No, actually, he was on good behavior. He even apologized and explained why he is the way he is. Something about a history with a girl called Katherine."

"Hmm," Stefan nodded tightly, hoping Elena didn't feel him miss a step when she mentioned Katherine.

"So tell me about her," Elena asked a little too casually that had Stefan on tenterhooks. "What happened?"

Stefan shrugged as their dance became less dancing and more standing, "It's not something I like to talk about."

Elena pulled back, smiling, leaving her face, "Why? Because you have a history with her too."

Stefan tried to dismiss the claims with a relaxed smile, but Elena was having none of it, "And that's all it is... history."

"I hope that's the truth, Stefan," She frowned slightly, stepping back into his arms as people started to point at the tension between the two and lack of dancing. "Aella really likes you, and I would do anything to protect her."