TOWN SQUARE

Jeremy scowled as Jenna just about dragged him towards his dad's old office. As they passed the Grill, Jeremy squinted over at his Aunt, "Why do I have to be here?"

Jenna shook her head at his whine, "You are the man of the family now, Jeremy, excluding your idiot of an Uncle. You should be just involved as Elena is with your dad's business and what will happen with it."

Jeremy scowled, "So why isn't Elena here?"

Jenna ignored him and walked around the corner, smiling when she saw the potential buyer was already waiting. All of a sudden, she was pulled back around the corner by her nephew, "What the hell, Jeremy?"

Jeremy ignored her as he pushed her closer to the building they were next to and took a quick glance around the corner. When his initial quick glance was now confirmed with another glimpse, he looked to Jenna with his eyes wide, "That's Anna and her mom, Pearl."

Jenna fell back against the wall, ignoring the 'thump' her head made against it as she groaned out loud, "Just how many vampires are in this goddamn town?!"

Jeremy could only shrug, "As much as she made all our lives pretty much hell, she did do it to get her mom back..."

"So, they're good vampires?" Jenna hoped, "Like Stefan?"

"Maybe," Jeremy shrugged again, taking another glance around the corner. "It's been a while since the tomb was opened, and there's not been much trouble..."

Jenna smiled lightly, "Well, that sounds okay..."

Jeremy didn't seem to have heard his Aunt and continued, "But there was that dead hiker Aella, and Bonnie found. Aella said it was a man, but you don't know if he's working with Anna and Pearl..."

Jenna frowned, "Now that sounds bad..."

"But Aella did say that the man was desperate," Jeremy went on. "He seemed to really feel bad that he had to kill the man."

Jenna squinted at her nephew, "Okay, so I'm really confused, do we meet them or not?"

Jeremy's shoulder shrugged again, and Jenna wanted to scream at him to offer something other than that. Still, she was the adult in this situation, and she decided to just hit the nail on its head. Jenna could sell Grayson's clinic to vampires that could potentially go on and kill others, but then she would also have Stefan and Aella's help dealing with that problem. Or she could choose not to meet with them and wait another 6 months for someone to make another offer on the office.

Deciding that she was sick with dealing with the business, she stood up and sorted out her clothes, then looked to her nephew, "We meet with them, any issues we just say no. Any supernatural issues, we call Aella."

Jeremy's brow raised in amusement, "But she's on a double date."

"Oh please," Jenna scoffed. "Me calling her and giving her an out would make me the greatest person on the planet to her. You okay to meet with Anna?"

Jeremy thought this could be his opportunity to ditch, but would he really leave his Aunt in the company of two vampires? So with a nod, he smiled at Jenna, "Yeah, let's go do this."

"Great!" Jenna exclaimed, and they walked around the corner, both suppressing their grins when Anna's eyes widened at their presence.

Pearl turned as Jenna got closer and smiled at the two of them, holding out her hand to Jenna, "Miss Sommers?"

Jenna reached out and shook her hand, using all of her determination not to shiver at the coldness, "Yes. Hi Pearl." Jenna looked at Anna, "Nice to see you again, Anna."

Jeremy had to grin as Anna winced while Pearl glanced between Jenna and Anna, "You two know each other?"

Jenna laughed loudly as Anna joined in nervously, "Oh, we go way back. After all, how couldn't we become friends when I discovered she kidnapped my nieces and their best friend."

Jeremy choked on his laughter as Pearl laughed sheepishly, glaring over at Anna before she looked back to Jenna, "So you know about us..."

Jenna only winked at the vampire, "You betcha." She quickly turned and motioned to her brother in law's building, "This property was in my brother in law's family for generations. It's one of the original structures in Mystic Falls..."

FORBES HOUSEHOLD

Caroline was just fixing her hair when the doorbell rang, with a squeal, she turned to smile at Aella, "They're here."

Aella couldn't help but chuckle at her best friend's excitement, "They are."

Caroline ignored the deadpan of Aella's voice. Instead, she grabbed her jacket and Aella's hand, pulling the sarcastic teen from the bed where she had been reading an old Cosmo.

When Caroline pulled open her front door, she let out another squeal again when she saw Matt and Stefan standing there with flowers. "I honestly never thought I'd see the day I'd go on a double date with my best friend."

"Okay, stop making me feel so guilty." Aella smiled fondly at her best friend. She stepped forward to see her boyfriend and friend, "Hi, boys, don't you both look pretty."

Stefan stepped forward and kissed Aella on the lips, whispering as they drew apart, "Happy official first date."

Aella took the flowers and happily smelt the flowers, feeling the power of nature, pervading her being as she took in their beautiful smell. Caroline squealed excitedly over them at Matt, who could only smile on too, it was precious to see Aella this happy and content. That was until Caroline wanted her flowers and her moment with Matt, so she squeezed past the couple, pulling the flowers towards her chest and Matt's lips towards hers.

Aella led Stefan into the house so she could put the flowers in water, taking out two vases from a cupboard. Stefan watched on fondly as Aella made her way around the Forbes' kitchen purposely, a sign of the closeness of her and Caroline.

"So, what's the plan for tonight?" Aella questioned as she arranged her flowers.

Stefan wrapped his arms around Aella's waist as he watched her, "Matt's not doing too well on the cash front, so I suggested food and pool at the Grill. Then we can decide at the moment if we want to continue on after."

Aella frowned, she knew of Matt's money trouble and already had seen the ugly side of offering Matt money he could use. She was not going to breach that subject, and she knew Stefan knew that too. "That sounds nice."

Stefan kissed her head, "I forgot to tell you how beautiful you look."

Aella turned her eyes to meet Stefan's eyes full of mirth, "What, this old thing?"

But Stefan knew that the process hadn't been so easy, at least what he had heard from Matt, who had been the one receiving Caroline's excited texts as Aella got ready. "How bad was it?"

Aella grimaced, "Horrible. It was like I was getting married or something, not heading out on our first date."

"It just shows their love for you," Stefan smiled. "You are fortunate to have them."

"I know," Aella blushed lightly. "It's just not me."

Stefan nodded knowingly, "Yet you still did it, and I'm sure they appreciated it too."

"Oh, I certainly did."

The two turned at Caroline's voice, to see her watching them, flowers in hand. "Matt's starting up the truck, you ready?"

Aella took the flowers from Caroline and quickly placed them in the other vase, "All ready!"

They walked out, and as Caroline locked the door, she looked to Stefan, "So it seems you're not driving again, and my boyfriend is carpooling us."

Aella ignored the two and skipped over to Matt as Stefan smirked at the blonde, one of his favorite things to do was tease Caroline, "I figured it's a date, why not do it right? I would have driven too, but Aella's out of gas and Matt offered."

Caroline frowned as they walked towards Matt's truck, "You know, you think that for someone who was around when the car was invented, you would have one."

"Oh, I have one," Stefan smiled widely as he opened the car door for Caroline. "I just never drive it."

Stefan closed the door on a gaping Caroline and chuckled slyly as he got in the back with Aella, who could only roll her eyes at her boyfriend's teasing.

MYSTIC GRILL

It didn't take too long for them to arrive at the Grill and find an empty pool table, the boys set up the table as the girls got them all drinks. Matt decided to do a few warm-up shots while they waited for the girls, Stefan watched him line up his shot, "So, how's the work here?"

Matt's eyebrow raised as he eyes a ball, "Why? You looking for a job?"

Stefan's eyes brow mirrored Matt's, "And be at the beck and call to get Aella a burger whenever I'm working, with my own staff discount? No, thanks."

Matt took his shot, and when he missed, he glanced over at Aella as she and Caroline waited for drinks, "Yeah, I honestly don't know where she puts it." He then shrugged, shooting at the white ball from another angle, But it's not that bad. Wait staff is pretty good, and they can't keep a bartender to save their lives..."

Aella and Caroline approached the boys with their drinks, Caroline letting out a soft groan, "That took forever! And it was just 4 cokes!" 

Matt's eyes met Stefan's with a knowing grin before he pocketed the white ball and let out a small 'yes.'

Aella took a long gulp of her coke, burping softly as she set it down. She only grinned, along with the boys, as Caroline looked at her in disgust, "Aella!"

"What?" Aella laughed, "If you don't burp after you drink coke, it's either flat or not coke. It's like a sin not to burp.

Matt chuckled at Caroline's face, placing the white ball in its spot for the break shot, "C'mon, A. You of all people must know in Caroline's world burping should be against the law."

Aella let Caroline's finger pointed at her boyfriend and best friend, "I only said that Freshman year when you two had a burping contest right next to me! It was awful!"

Aella let out a loud laugh, "Oh my god, yes! We had like 6 sodas and decided to try and burp the alphabet..."

Matt's memory of the moment must have been as funny as Aella remembered because he bent over with laughter. "And we couldn't get past 'H' so Tyler was asking everyone for money so he could get us more sodas..."

"And then you..." Aella curled over the pool table with tears in her eyes, Stefan watching the two with a wide grin on his face. Aella just recovered, pointing at Matt, before letting out another laugh. "And then you threw up everywhere, plus because it was grape soda we drank, your vomit was...

The two looked at each other and laughed out together, "Bright purple!"

Caroline scowled at the two as she stepped closer to Stefa, "Great date, eh?"

Stefan could only grin on, Aella's laughter always made him feel like he was on cloud nine. Regrettably, that didn't last too long when he saw his brother step into the building and head straight for the bar.

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

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

Two games later, and the scores at 1 all for the couples, Aella watched Matt as he lined up his shot, "I gotta know Matt, dumbest question you've been asked so far?"

Matt missed the ball and passed the cue to Stefan, "Um..." He spoke in a valley accent and threw his imaginary hair from his shoulder, "Is this water gluten-free?"

Aella chuckled and copied his actions and accent, "Are the steak fajitas vegetarian?"

"So I have know," Stefan missed his shot and relinquished the cue to Caroline. "You've all been friends for a long time, but how did you guys first make friends?"

Caroline playfully glared at Aella as she strolled around the table, "I blame her."

"Please," Aella waved the blonde off. "Matt was obsessed with Elena when he was younger, it would have happened with me here or not."

Matt shook his head, "Actually, I didn't get the nerve to ask Elena out until Freshman year. Me and Tyler only were around the other girls because we felt like talking to you was like talking to one of the boys. Plus, when you saved Tyler and me in Chemistry, we just knew you were cool."

Caroline smiled proudly at Aella, while the brunette frowned at her boyfriend, "I don't know how to take that."

Stefan only pulled her into his arms, and over the top of her head asked Matt, "What happened in Chemistry?"

When Caroline potted one of their balls, Matt's arm pumped in celebration, "A, saved our butts, that's what she did."

Caroline shook her head, "Aella got you, boys, a distraction while Elena fixed your idiot mistakes."

Matt ignored Caroline's correction, "8th Grade, Tyler poured too much chemicals into this solution, which Mr. Banks told us not to do. It was our final assessment that counted for 40% of our grade."

Caroline leaned against the table, "No conferring at all, anyone caught would get a failure... of course, Aella likes to live on the dangerous side of life."

Aella proudly smiled up at Stefan.

Matt laughed at the memory, "A, seeing we were in trouble, crawls under her desk to ours while Banks is on the other side of the class and whispers, 'I have a solution.' Ty and I are seriously panicking and just nod at her until she then says, 'It involves fire.'"

Aella's proud smile remained when Stefan peered down at her, amused, "You have a serious issue."

She only shrugged.

"We quickly vetoed that idea," Matt continued, fist-pumping again when Caroline potted another ball. "Aella then crawls back to her desk and then throws this paper ball over our heads to where Elena and Bonnie were sitting. They open it, and she gets a thumbs up from Elena. She then calls out Banks' name, asking for an urgent question to be answered, and Banks' face just went white."

Stefan kissed Aella's head and chuckled against her crown, "Fourteen, and you already had academics petrified of you."

Aella looked at him, "Goals."

Stefan looked to the other couple, "So how did she distract him?"

Caroline missed the next ball and passed to cue to Aella, groaning over at Matt as she remembered Banks' face as Aella distracted him. How they made it to middle school after that moment, she had no clue. "It's just so stupid."

Aella looked at her options on the pool table and shrugged, "That's what made it so great."

Matt suddenly laughed, and as focus turned to him, they missed Elena and Bonnie entering the Grill. "It's one of those moments that you never forget because there are just no words."

APRIL 2007

"Mr. Baaaaanks?"

The eighth-grade science class of said teacher could see their usual strict/emotionless teacher tense at Aella Bennett's voice. He seemed to ignore the small brunette until she sang his name, this time, and he could almost sense her waving at him with a very large smile on her face. It had made him wonder how he or his class had even made it through the entire year with their recent transfer. As he glanced at the time on his watch, he could see even though there were only ten minutes left of the class, that didn't mean they all wouldn't die if Aella Bennett had her chance.

A teacher always had one student that made them question not only why they got into teaching, but why they chose to live at all. That student to Elias Bank was Aella Bennett... and he'd only known her for seven months.

Slowly he walked over to the brunette and noticed that her experiment with Caroline Forbes had been completed and by the color of the liquid, completed successfully. Caroline seemed to be like most of the class who were intrigued what Aella was going to ask today, but also dreading the consequences once she asked it. Students in this particular class were known for changing their clothes before the final class of the day. This was due to the number of times they'd been stained by at least one of Aella's failed experiments or successful pranks.

As he stood in front of Aella, Mr. Banks adjusted his black-framed glasses, "Yes, Miss Bennett."

Aella just smiled, and Elias wondered if the child could smell his fear, "I have a question, but I'm not sure if I should actually ask it. But if I don't ask it, then how am I to know, yet if I do ask it, others may laugh at me."

Mr. Banks was known to all the school as a teacher that liked to get straight to the point, and Aella was not one to do that. As her teacher started sprouting splotches of red on his face, it usually meant he was beginning to lose his patience with her. Elena turned to Matt and Tyler's experiment, eyes widening when she saw it was the opposite color it should have been and nodded at Bonnie to help her. This was a two-woman problem they'd have to fix.

Mr. Banks tried to be as pleasant as he could as he answered Aella, "There is no such thing as a stupid question?"

Aella didn't look too convinced, "Even if someone asked what's in a Mango Salad?"

Elias' back teeth ground at the question, and he rose his brow, "I stand corrected. Was that your question?"

"No." Aella waved him off with a laugh, "Whoever asked that question is seriously stupid and should be laughed at," She nudged her science partner and best friend, "Right, C?"

Caroline glared at her best friend, she had asked her Aella that in confidence. After Sheila had first cooked a Thai recipe, from one of her women's magazines, the meal had the mango as a side salad, and she simply wanted to know the ingredients.

"What is your question, Miss Bennett?"

Aella grinned internally as she heard the impatience in Banks' voice, "Okay, Mr. Banks. This is a reallllllly random question, but it's been bugging me for quite a while..."

"Yes?"

Students snickered around her as the red splotches started to expand over Mr. Banks' face and neck.

"So, on a microwave," Aella began, drawing out the shape of a microwave with her fingers. "If you push the 60 button, it cooks for 60 seconds or one minute." She looked to Banks, "Got me?"

He just stared, and Aella nodded, "Great! Now, if you also press the 1:00 button, it will also cook for 60 seconds or one minute. Right? Right... So my question, If you add 1:00 + 1:00, it equals 2:00, right? So your food will cook for a total of two minutes. But, this," Alla pointed at her teacher as serious as he or the class had ever seen her. "This is what is bamboozling me. If you add 60 seconds + 60 seconds, it will only cook for 1 minute and 20 seconds, cos 60 +60 is one twenty... even though 60 seconds is one minute."

Mr. Banks was now a very red/touching on the purple shade, as the students' snickers became very loud, muffled laughter. Caroline's head was hiding in her arms. A thumbs-up came from Elena, and Aella decided to round off her very long question, "So, I guess to put it in simplest terms, Mr. Banks. How come 1 minute and 1 minute equal two minutes, yet 60 seconds + 60 seconds only equal one minute and twenty seconds?"

It was quiet in the classroom as Elias Banks had a stare-off with his fourteen-year-old student when the corner of her mouth twitched in humor. It was the straw that broke the camel's back as Elias Banks silently walked out of the classroom and vowed never to return to it unless Aella Bennett, aka the Devil-Child, never stepped in it again.

Mrs. Lockwood would always wonder how Tyler suddenly went from a D in science to a B- by the end of the school year.

PRESENT DAY

Stefan could only shake his head at Aella, "How have you not been arrested?"

Aella missed her shot, and when she moved to give Matt the cue, she bumped her hip with Caroline's, "Keep your enemies close, keep you get out of jail cards closer."

Elena watched the group laugh with each other and held the menu as close to her face as she could, she glanced over at Bonnie, "Can you see them?"

Bonnie nodded with a small smile, "They just like four regular teens having a double date."

After the movie had finished and their stomachs had started rumbling, Elena had suggested that the two of them go pick up some food from the Grill. She then suggested that they spy on the group at the same time. She wanted Bonnie to see that even after the past few weeks of non-stop supernatural issues, they could all still be normal teenagers.

After the food had been ordered, they had hidden not too far from the group and watched on happily as they all laughed, Elena was also pleased to see how happy Matt was.

Matt leaned down to line up his shot as Aella turned, taking the last gulp of her coke. Their eyes focused on two different things, but their words identical as they stood up straight, "You gotta be kidding me."

Caroline's eyes followed Matt's to the group of adults drinking, including his mom. While Stefan's followed Aella's to the two girls spying on the group, that would make Robert Philip Hanssen look like a good spy.

When Aella and Stefan's eyes followed the other couple's vision, the two of them shared a look when they saw Kelly, Jenna, and Damon all sitting drinking together.

Caroline, ever the diplomat, lightly shrugged, "At least they're having fun."

Aella glared between the two terrible spies and the group of inebriated adults, "Who? Cagney and Lacey or the Freaky Friday wannabes?"

Caroline could only laugh at the situation, "They're drunk."

Stefan glowered, "With Damon."

Matt, not knowing the full history with Damon, suddenly nudged Caroline and Aella, "Remember when Elena's parents busted us here after the homecoming?"

Caroline laughed at the absolute show that was put on by their drunk selves, "Oh my god, yes!"

Stefan rose his brow at his girlfriend who condensed the situation down for him, "Got drunk, Gilberts turned up, E pretended to choke instead of being caught-

Matt jumped in as he wiped away his tears of laughter again, "-Except that her dad was a doctor, so he jumped up to save her."

Caroline finished off the story laughing, "Elena ran and slipped in front of the whole restaurant. Three stitches later, we all got a lecture from Mr. Gilbert about why alcohol was bad for us."

Aella shook her head, "I think the worst part was as Elena was moaning out on the floor in embarrassment, the Gilberts just shot us these looks of disappointment... it was rough." An idea came to her then, "Oh, we should look at the adults in a disapproving way this time?"

Matt glanced at the brunette, "I thought only parents can get the disapproving stare down?"

Aella rolled her eyes, "Matt, you deal with Tyler and your mom. I deal with Jeremy and Damon Salvatore... if anyone has got that stare down, we have."

She turned to the group and cleared her throat very loudly, arms crossed and eyebrows raised.

Stefan leaned close to Matt, "She does that too well." And Matt could only nod in agreement.

They knew the moment the adults realized they knew they were there because they were drunk and loud. Jenna tried her best to hide behind her glass of Whiskey, "Hide. We're not here."

Kelly joined her with the unsuccessful hiding behind tumbler glasses as Damon watched on, smirking, "Why? Where'd we go?"

"Children under our care, Five o'clock," Jenna hissed loudly, pointing in a random direction. "This is not good."

Kelly turned her head, and when she saw Aella glaring at them, she thought of their previous encounter and snarled at the small brunette, yet that seemed to only encourage the tiny human who then had the audacity to wave at her.

Kelly turned to Jenna, "Damn!"

Aella smiled in success as the adults seemed to simmer down in humiliation at being caught. Her attention turned to the Cher and Dionne wannabes, who had realized they had been caught and were able to clearly see the glare on Aella and Caroline's faces. Aella mouthed to the two of them, 'Bathroom, now.'

All four girls headed to the bathroom, and Matt hit Stefan's arm with a laugh, "They can't handle being in another foursome for too long."