MYSTIC FALLS

"Seriously! What is with today!?"

Aella was driving again; only this time, she was speaking with Stefan and updating him on the Bonnie situation. He then informed her that when he and Elena had gone to the High School to get the journal from Alaric, the history teacher had tried to make a kebab out of Stefan before they realized someone had stolen the journal while they had been 'discussing' Alaric being a hunter, and him knowing there was supernatural in Mystic Falls.

"The positive thing is that Ric made copies."

Aella raised a brow, "Ric? Dude tries to kill you, and now you're on nickname basis with him?"

Elena smirked over at Stefan as he drove them back to the house, watching as he rolled his eyes at his girlfriend's words. However, a smile was very much present, "It's just easier to pronounce than Alaric, and I think Mr.Saltzman is a bit redundant, don't you think?"

Aella hummed, "Fair point. So what are we going to tell Damon?"

Stefan shook his head, "Leave me to deal with Damon, you keep looking for Bonnie. Any idea where you're going next?"

"The Grill," Aella nodded as she turned onto Main Street. "Caroline said Ben works as the bartender there and that's the last place anyone actually saw Bonnie. Matt should be there too, so I can get a bit of info from him before I talk to Ben."

"Just remember to use 'please' and 'thank you' before you start to threaten," Stefan smirked over at Elena. She laughed, knowing Aella was always the one to go in hard first when questioning someone rather than asking nicely. It was the protectiveness coming out of Aella that none of them ever minded. And it got the job done.

"Haha," Aella replied in a deadpan tone. She was silent for a minute, and Stefan was about to take the phone off of the speaker and speak to his girlfriend privately. Her voice, a lot more vulnerable, came over the speakers, "What if he doesn't know? What if she's hurt and all this time I've been mad at her?"

Elena's eyes filled with tears, not only at the tears she could hear in Aella's tone, but as the worry for Bonnie started to grow since Aella had told them Bonnie hadn't been home last night.

Stefan pulled the car over to the side of the road, unaware that Aella had pulled over following the build-up of emotions.

"You can't think like that," Stefan shook his head. "The 'What if's' will only make you worry more. Just find Ben and ask him, and if he doesn't know, we stop the search for the journal, the grimoire, the tomb, and we start looking for Bonnie. But until then, we can only hope that she's having a really good time with Ben."

Aella tearfully laughed, thankful for her boyfriend and his words, "Oh, it better be a good time. We'll be feasting on it for months, right, E?"

Elena nodded through tears and said immediately, "You know it, A."

"I'm at the Grill now," Aella wiped her tears as she turned her car off. "I'll call you when I know more."

Stefan softly spoke to her, "I love you, and I'm always here."

"I love you too, so much," Aella lovingly replied.

When Aella had hung up, Stefan was quiet as he stared at the steering wheel, and Elena took a moment to really observe him, "You're so good for her."

Stefan smiled and chuckled lightly before his eyes met hers, "More like she's the best thing that ever happened to me."

MYSTIC GRILL

Once Aella had wiped away her tears and made sure her eyes were no longer puffy, point to Caroline for always making her keep an emergency makeup kit in her car, Aella made her way into the Mystic Grill.

When she saw Matt at the bar wiping the counter down, she put on her game face and skipped to the bar, smile nice and wide, "Matty!"

Matt's head shot up, "El... hey!" He stepped from the counter and pulled her into a hug. A strong hug that Aella really needed at that moment, and felt sad when he pulled away. "What are you doing here?"

"What? I can't visit my favorite footballer, who also happens to be dating my best friend!" Aella hopped onto a stool as Matt went back behind the counter and started wiping away the dried suds on the glasses.

Matt looked at her, funnily, "But I'm the only footballer you know that is also dating your best friend?"

"Exactly!" Aella slapped the counter, she leaned forward, "Any chance of a free shot of Vodka?"

Matt chuckled, "And get me fired? Nice try."

Aella smiled widely, "I had to try!"

Matt continued to clean glasses, "You're not the first?"

"Tyler?" Aella raised her brow.

Matt simply nodded, they both knew his best friend very well. He then looked back to Aella, "Now, what's really up?" Aella opened up her mouth, but Matt held up his hand, "As much as I love you, A, you are here alone and seemed to be a little stressed. So what can I do?"

Aella just sighed and looked at the blonde, "Oh Matty, you're such a good person." She hated what life had given him. "Bonnie went out with your friend Ben last night, and we haven't heard from her since. I'm getting a little worried."

When Matt saw the worry fill Aella's eyes, his hands placed the towel and glass back down and set them down on Aella's. He squeezed them to hopefully provide some comfort, "I'm sure she's okay, El. If there's one thing I know about the Bennett ladies, they're a strong bunch of women."

"Thanks, Matty," Aella squeezed them back.

Matt pulled back and got his phone out of his pants, "Ben gave me his number when I asked for extra shifts," Matt told her as he went through his phone. When he got Ben's number up, he forwarded it Aella, who jumped as her phone buzzed in her pocket. "Ben shifts starts in an hour, so if you can't get through, I can bet he'll be here."

Aella jumped off the stool and ran around the counter, pulling Matt into a strong hug, "Thanks, Matty."

"I'm always here for my friends, El." Matt nodded. "Let me know what happens with Bonnie."

Aella nodded and started walking away when she realized if something fishy was going on with Ben, she didn't want Matt to start anything. Just in case this was supernaturally related, she turned back to her friend, "Hey, Matt?" Matt looked up to her, "When Ben comes in, don't say anything. Bonnie's probably with Grams, and I don't want to embarrass her in front of the guy she likes. That okay?"

Matt, so ignorant to what was happening in his town, his friend circle, and his family just nodded, "Got it, A."

As soon as Aella returned to her car she was calling the number Matt had texted her,

"Hey, you've reached Ben. Leave a message after the tone..."

BEEP

Aella hung up the phone, and as she started her car up again, she muttered to herself, "God, I hope Ben is as boring as his voicemail."

She was officially out of mortal options, now she knew she needed to use her magic.

Turning her car around, she headed to the only person who could help her... Grams.

GILBERT HOUSEHOLD

"My father never approved of anyone I dated, which only made me want them more. Of course."

Jenna smirked at Damon over her glass of wine as he sliced the tomatoes in front of her, "Of course. And what were the dating etiquettes back then?"

Damon pointed the knife at her, "You mean courtship?" He continued chopping tomatoes, "Boring, dull, and way too modest."

"Hey! I've seen The Other Boleyn Girl!" Jenna exclaimed as she sipped her wine. "You aristocrats aren't that modest!"

"They were when you had a father like Guiseppe Salvatore," Damon grumbled, picking up the chopped tomatoes and adding them to the sauce he was making. "What about you?"

Jenna gulped down the rest of the wine, "There were a few guys. Logan isn't the only loser I've dated."

Damon quickly set to refill Jenna's glass, a sly smile on his face, "Never been so glad to have the supernatural in your life, right?"

"I don't know," Jenna grumbled. "Apparently he's in the Bahamas working on his tan. He may have taken the high road once, but he's still very entitled, that one. Marches to his own drum." She took another large gulp of wine, happily feeling the effects changing her mood, even when talking about Logan. "He's a Fell. They're all snooty."

Damon chuckled and turned to stir the pot of sauce when he heard the front door open and shut.

"Aunt Jenna, you here?"

Jenna smiled at her niece's voice and shouted back, "We're back here."

"We're?" Elena questioned, her voice getting excited as she thought Aella may have returned home with Bonnie. "Is Aella here..." Only to enter the kitchen and deflate when she saw Damon in her kitchen, cooking. "Oh... What's he doing here?"

Jenna pulled Elena down to sit next to her as Damon just smirked over his shoulder at Elena then returned to cooking. Elena was quick to see her Aunt wasn't all there as she noticed the half-empty wine bottle on the counter and the slight slur to her words.

"Look," Jenna turned to her niece. "Damon can be an ass, but he's making homemade lasagne." Jenna's eyes were wide as she smiled brightly at her niece, "Homemade lasagne! When was the last time we had homemade lasagne?! And it smells SO good!"

Elena took hold of her Aunt's hand, "I think you may be a little drunk, Aunt Jenna. We're not fans of Damon since he kidnapped me."

Jenna waved Elena's hand away and leaned in closer to whisper, "But he's is ridiculously hot!"

"Shh!" Elena put her hand on Jenna's chuckling mouth.

But Damon had already turned around, smirk wide on his face as he pointed the wooden spoon at Jenna, "I heard that!"

Elena groaned as Jenna laughed louder, pulling Elena's hand off her mouth, "Because you're a-" she looked around suspiciously then whispered loudly again, "-Vampire!"

Damon laughed with Jenna and Elena just groaned out loud, "No, because he's an ass!"

Jenna gasped at her niece's words, while Damon held his chest, "Such strong words Elena, I'm wounded."

Jenna nodded furiously, "Bad Elena." She then turned a slight shade of green and stumbled off the stool, "Ohhhh, bad alcohol!"

Quickly Jenna was running upstairs, and Elena raised her brow at Damon, who held his laughter, "You pleased with yourself for getting Jenna drunk?!"

Damon just waved her off, "Where's my brother? Do you have the journal?"

Elena wanted to tell Damon to go jump off a cliff. Still, she knew Stefan and Aella wanted to build bridges with the elder Salvatore so that he would eventually leave them all in peace. "He's speaking to Caroline about Aella."

Damon returned to his sauce to keep Elena from seeing the slight frown on his face, Jenna had told him Bonnie was missing and Aella was getting worried. He purposely made his tone aloof as he questioned the brunette, "What's the drama with Pixie today? Realized she'll never grow anymore?"

But Elena could hear the slight worry in his tone instead and frowned. Why was Damon suddenly worried about Aella?

..............................................

..............................................

It was quiet as Elena observed Damon cooking, he seemed so at home in her kitchen, and she didn't like it at all. Her thoughts on the situation were halted when Damon suddenly asked, "Is it real?"

Elena frowned as Damon carried on cooking, "Is what real?"

"This renewed sense of brotherhood," He took the spoon out of the pot and tasted the sauce. "Can I trust him?"

Elena was quiet, which caused Damon to look at her in surprise for not answering immediately, but she was just waiting to look into his eyes as she replied, "Yes, you can trust him."

Elena got up and walked to the table to place the napkins when Damon sped over to her. Elena was quick to turn around and glared up at him for being so close to her, "Can I trust him? Them?"

Elena scowled at Damon's tone; she now knew that tone very well, "I'm wearing vervain, Damon. It's not going to work."

"I'm not compelling you," Damon sighed out. "I just want you to answer me. Honestly."

Elena stared at him again but sighed when she saw the vulnerability in his eyes, "If there is anyone on this Earth that you can trust, it's Aella. Trust them."

Damon was quiet as he stared back at her, then suddenly returned back to his cooking.

GRAMS HOUSEHOLD

Sheila was quiet after Aella had gone through her morning activities. She could hear and see the worry growing within Aella for her cousin, and Sheila confided in herself that she too was becoming worried for her other grandchild.

Aella pulled her bag onto the table, "So I did think if the Ben idea was a dead end, I would come here to do a locating spell." She pulled out Bonnie's hairbrush she'd taken from her room and placed it on the table, she then reached for her purse and pulled out a picture of two of them from last Christmas and placed it next to the brush. She finished by placing a map of Mystic Falls by the other two items.

Grams leaned over to her sewing box and pulled out a large needle, before leaning over to her candles and picking up the lighter designated to light them at night time.

"You want to shed blood, or should I?" Grams smirked as she sterilized the needle with the fire.

Aella put away her bag before turning back to Sheila, biting her lip, "I thought yours would be the strongest since you have a closer blood relation than me."

"Mmhmm," Sheila smirked, hoping to ease the tension within Aella. "You just don't like me, stick you with this big needle."

Aella quickly jumped on that statement as Sheila knew she would, "Can you blame me? You and that needle are lethal sometimes. I'm sure you use more force than necessary!"

Sheila raised her brow as she stabbed her finger, the blood pouring onto the map, "Don't break my favorite vase before we practice a blood spell then."

"I knew we should have had you committed, you psychopath"!" Aella grumbled before picked up Bonnie's hairbrush, making sure to touch the hairs within it, then taking Sheila's hand and placing it down on Bonnie's picture.

The two witches closed their eyes and chanted out loud, "Phasmatos Tribum Nas Ex Veras."

The two witches felt the power within themselves move and opened their eyes to see the blood on the map move. Without a streak, firmly to one place, a place that had Sheila raising her brow at her granddaughter. "Must have been some date!"

The blood had landed on Mystic Falls Motel.

Aella rolled her eyes as she stood up, "If she's been getting freaky all this time with Ben while we've all been worried, I'll give her something to worry about."

Sheila took hold of Aella's hand, and in her anger, Aella missed the shake in Sheila's. Sheila smiled tightly at her headstrong granddaughter, "Don't be too hard on her for having some fun."

Aella stopped for a moment, taking in Sheila's words before nodding, "Fine, but she better gets at least six weekends in a row with you playing Calamity Jane on repeat!"

Sheila pulled back sharply, brow raised, "And what's wrong with my Doris Day?"

Realizing her mistake, Aella's eyes widened, and she was quick to pick up her bag and head to the door, "Bonnie said she hated them, which is terrible because Doris can do no wrong, right Grams?" As she ran out, Aella shouted over her shoulder, "I'll call you when I find her, love you, Grams."

Sheila chuckled at the lie her granddaughter had just told her. She stood to wash the map of its blood when the magic inside her shifted, sending her falling back onto the couch, suddenly feeling very tired and very weak.

A/N: Sorry this is late, I was supposed to post on the weekend, but I forgot, please forgive me. I have been heavily invested in two stories to deal with the pain of Carpal Tunnel, the worst thing to get when I was on such a roll with writing. Once again, I would love to know your thoughts, it was interesting hearing them for the last chapter, so I may make this a regular occurrence:

🔹 Jenna and Damon's convo

🔹 Will Stefan and Elena betray Damon?

🔹 Will Grams tell someone of her weakness?

🔹 Thoughts/Predictions for the next chapter/episode

Xoxo