First of all, I want to apologise and thank you all at the same time. Since officially finishing the remaining chapters for An Elemental Difference, I've been going back to the beginning chapters to clean them up and change any error... OMG how the hell did we get to 300K reads, 9.1k votes, and 3.4 comments... like 🤯 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯

Between posting updates, planning s2, and writing up my Game of Thrones fic, I will be going back and cleaning up the earlier chapters with a fine tooth comb! There will be a few changes to conversations, but the storyline will be the same, so don't worry about going back to read thinking you're missing something new. Anyway! I have some big news at the end of this chapter, I REALLY hope you enjoy, your amazing comments and encouragement have COMPLETELY lit a fire under my arse and I am in writing heaven. Love you all!

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GILBERT HOUSEHOLD

Jeremy sighed in frustration as he ran down the stairs, someone was knocking, and he was betting it was Elena and Bonnie who had gone out to get them all food. He knew his sister had the tendency to forget her keys when she was driving with someone else.

Jeremy pulled the door open, "Thank god you're here I was starv-"

He was stopped in his tracks at the fact standing in front of him wasn't Elena and Bonnie with food, but someone he never expected, "Anna?"

Anna nervously bit her lip, "Surprised?"

Jeremy didn't answer her question and instead asked his own, "What are you doing here?"

Anna only shrugged, "I got bored of my mom asking me how a series of buttons can create a message." She held up her phone, "Technology is a confusing thing to teach when you've been around since the original telephone was invented."

Jeremy ignored her rambling and fixed his glare on her, "You know what I mean, Anna. Why are you and your mom still here? And why the hell did you start with my dad's surgery?"

"This town is the only town I remember living happily with my mother," Anna admitted, looking down to the ground. She briefly smiled up at Jeremy, "And your dad's shop used to be my mothers when it was an apothecary. Small world, right?"

Jeremy's glare faded, but the bite to his words was still there, "Too small, I think sometimes." He glanced behind Anna for any sign of Elena and Bonnie, but when he came up empty he looked back to the vampire, "Look, Anna. I'm happy you got your mom back, but the way you went all about this could have been very different if you just trusted me, or even Aella." He started closing the door, "If you see me around town, let's pretend we don't know each other."

Just before the door shut, Anna placed her foot in the door, and Jeremy cursed himself for inviting Anna in previously. Anna pleaded with him not to go, "No-no-no, please don't go."

Jeremy sighed heavily, opening the door again, "What, Anna?"

MYSTIC GRILL

Bonnie and Elena stood in front of the sinks as Caroline and Aella stared down at them, with the same look they had given Kelly and Jenna only moments before.

"So..." Caroline pursed her lips. "Whose idea was this?"

The two girls shared a glance, and with the mood Bonnie was in she just held up her hand, "I just came for the free food."

"Bonnie!" Elena turned on her best friend.

Aella let a snort out of her stiff lips, "I think this is an opportune moment to quote the great R.Green, 'Isn't that just kick-you-in-the-crotch, spit-on-your-neck fantastic.'"

Bonnie smirked at her cousin, "Well to quote J.Tribbiani, 'Food? Where?'" She then walked out of the bathroom, and Aella could not stop her mouth dropping open at Bonnie's actions.

Caroline frowned between Elena and the door Bonnie just exited out of, "Okay, what just happened? Are you guys fighting?"

Elena frowned, hurt by Bonnie's words, "She's just going through some things right now."

Aella was baffled, "And that gives her the right to throw you in front of the bus, Regina George style?"

Elena waved her hand at them, "Forget it, I'm sorry we spied on you guys."

"Well I'm not," Aella smirked from Elena to Caroline, who was now glaring at her best friend. She held out her hand, "Pay up, Blondie."

"Ugh!" Caroline pulled her purse off her shoulder, glaring at Elena as she pulled out a $10 note and slapped it into her very smug best friend's hand. "You couldn't wait for another thirty minutes?!"

Elena pointed between the two in shock, "You knew we'd come?"

Aella rolled her eyes, "If there is one smart thing Matt has said tonight is that us four, including Grumpy McGrump Face out there, is that you can never split us up. We've all spied on each other during our first dates, and as this one is mine, it was figuring out when and not if."

Elena shared a smile with Caroline; it wasn't often that Aella was too open with her emotions; with a nod, the two pulled the sarcastic teen in for a group hug. "You do love us," Elena laughed over Aella's moans of annoyance.

"Seriously starting to regret cheering you up now, E." Aella grumbled, and the two girls pulled away with smiles.

"Anyway," Elena sorted out her tousled hair, "Bonnie was right about one thing, food should be ready, and you two have a double date to get back to."

Aella opened the door for them, "It's actually been fun... well, until we noticed Jenna and Kelly drinking with Damon before we clocked you and Bonnie."

"Ugh!" Caroline exclaimed as she pushed past the two. "I'm sick of Kelly ruining things for me, let's just ignore them and continue having fun."

The housemates shared an amused glance and followed the blonde when Elena was pulled back, and a name was mentioned that she never expected to hear again, "Katherine?"

Aella narrowed her eyes at the two strangers, she knew immediately they were vampires. Her defenses raised up as Elena calmed herself, and confidently replied to the man, "I'm sorry, you have the wrong person."

"Elena?" Aella smiled tightly at her friend and took her free arm, "Food will be ready."

The male vampire glanced at Aella for only a second before he let go of Elena's hand and apologized, "My mistake."

Aella pulled Elena to her and squeezed her hand with comfort as the two joined Matt, Caroline, and Stefan at the pool table, knowing the man's eyes were following them. Aella decided to test an idea she'd had a while ago when she shared memories with Stefan, so when his eyes turned on her with a bright smile, she strode up to him, perched on her toes and kissed him.

Matt and the girls went wide-eyed at the kiss; Aella and Stefan were loving together, but this was out of the blue. Unknown to them, the two vampires that had watched the doppelganger to Katherine return to her group only to notice Stefan Salvatore there too.

Aella shared the memory of the event that had just occurred, as she pulled away, to a wolf whistle from Matt. Stefan's eyes darted to where the two vampires had noticed Elena, while Aella shrugged off Matt's whistle, "What? Can't a girl just want to kiss her boyfriend?"

"I got no problems with it," Matt smirked, only to be hit in the stomach by Caroline. The blonde wasn't oblivious to Aella's actions, unlike her hormonal boyfriend, "Why don't you get us more drinks?"

Matt nodded at his girlfriends' suggestion, "Stefan's losing anyway." He looked to Elena, "You want a drink, E?"

Elena smiled at her ex-boyfriend, "I'm okay, thanks, Matt."

As soon as the blonde left them, Stefan turned to Elena, "So, you didn't recognize him, you haven't seen him before?"

Elena just shook her head, "No, there was nothing familiar about him at all."

Caroline worried her bottom lip with her teeth, "He called her Katherine, he has to be one of the tomb vampires that escaped, right?"

Aella internally rolled her eyes, such a great date ruined by the supernatural yet again, "Right, let's call it a night. Okay? Caroline, tell Matt that I felt a headache coming so Stefan to-"

"-No," Elena shook her head as she interrupted her friend. "This about me, and he seemed more in shock than anything else. Bonnie and I will go straight home where it's protected. You have a normal night for me."

Stefan frowned, "Are you sure?"

Elena smiled between the three, "Yes. Look, if he is a tomb vampire, he's still getting used to being in another century, he'll still be here tomorrow. We'll deal with it tomorrow."

Aella wasn't too sure, and Elena could see that, "Please, A. Just ignore what happened and have a completely normal night, and come and wake me up when you get in and tell me all about it. Please?"

It was the eyes that got her in the end, and Aella nodded to Elena, "Okay. But you go straight home and tell Jeremy to be cautious."

Elena nodded and made her way over to where Bonnie was just collecting their food. As they left the Grill, Aella hoped they had made the right choice.

As Matt returned with drinks and the laughter from the 'adults' erupted again. With the recent encounter, Stefan raised his brow at the group, "How about we finish these drinks and get away from the adults?"

When Matt heard his mom's giggle echo around the Grill, he gulped his coke down in record time and turned to the others, "How about now?"

GILBERT HOUSEHOLD

"So?" Jeremy shrugged as he watched Anna shift uncomfortably in her seat. He had led her into the kitchen and had sat on the opposite side to her, but five minutes seated, and she had yet to talk. "Are you going to say anything? Or are you thinking up another lie to tell me?"

Anna stopped shifting at that point, eyes wide at his words, "I'm not going to lie to you again." She shrugged sadly, "I never actually lied to you except our first meeting and that my grandfather had a journal."

Jeremy scoffed, "And that he used to tell you stories about the Civil War." He had drawn sentiment from that because it's what his dad had done with him.

Anna let out a small laugh, "He didn't have to tell me stories, I lived them. But everything else wasn't a lie-" She started listing things off with her fingers, "I've never seen Lost Boys. I have never been in a school that wasn't deserted, and I did homeschool... it was just in a different century."

"And Ben?" Jeremy couldn't help but question. "You were flirting with me this entire time, and you were with Ben to laugh about me behind my back."

"Ben was just a means to an end," Anna cried to him. "I needed someone in a position to be my eyes and ears. Small town bartender fit the bill."

Jeremy sneered at her words, "Just how Vicki was a means to an end for Damon. You, vampires, are all the same."

"I'm not!" Anna slammed her hands on the table, "I am nothing like Damon! He just wanted to take, take, take. I just wanted my mother." Tears fell down Anna's face, "Wouldn't you do anything to bring back your mother if you had a chance?"

Jeremy thought about it; for a moment. He would do anything to have his mom or dad back, but that wasn't the point, and Anna needed to know her actions had consequences, "You became friends with me so you could give your mother my blood."

Anna nodded sadly, "Yes, I did. That was my revenge from the beginning; use the blood of the man that entombed my mother in the first place."

Jeremy was taken aback by that and frowned at her, "Jonathan Gilbert was the one..?"

Anna nodded as more tears fell down her face, her lips twisted into a wry smile, "He loved her, the whole town knew, but it couldn't be allowed, not when the color of their skins differed. And then the night they started gathering the vampires, I don't know how he knew, but one moment he was all smiles and the next he was pulling her away."

"How did you get away?" He asked.

"Emily," Anna replied. "Which is quite the conundrum as she was the one to create the seal to the tomb, I never knew whether to be grateful she got me away, or hate her for not." Anna sobbed as she remembered the feeling of loneliness for so long. "I would have rather been in that tomb and be with my mother than be without her all these years knowing she was suffering."

Jeremy didn't know what to do, helping crying girls really was not his forte, "There's a part of me so angry that we had to cover Vicki's death, that we had to hide it from Matt." At Jeremy's words, Anna looked to him, her cries softening as he opened up to her. "But there's also this other part of me that wishes I could be in the dark sometimes, I..I don't want to remember Vicki like that..."

Anna frowned, "You mean as a monster, like me?"

"No," Jeremy spoke softly as he remembered that Halloween night. "As someone who wanted to hurt me."

Anna reached across the table and took Jeremy's hands in hers, sighing internally when he didn't push them away. "When I met you, you were just a part of my plan to get my mother back, but then things changed. All the time we spent together. I would never do anything to hurt you..not now..please know that."

Jeremy played with her soft hands, she was right, they did have good times together. He bit his lip as he thought over his next words, "Yeah, I think I do know that... But," Anna's smile that had grown at his words dimmed a little, and his eyes met hers, "I was given a second chance, and I'm going to give you one too. But there's no secrets now, and if you think of hurting any of my family or friends, we're done. Got it?"

Anna squeezed his hands happily, as happy tears replaced the sad ones, "Got it."

MYSTIC GRILL

Ric honestly had no clue how he felt, but he knew one thing; if he stayed in his apartment for another moment, he would throw something breakable; probably something made of glass.

All-day he'd felt strange, he knew he had cheated death, how? He had no clue, and he couldn't walk into the hospital, saying he felt peculiar after being stabbed and resurrected by an old ring. He was a 'vampire' hunter, even though he had yet to kill a vampire, and it sounded freaky to him.

He knew he needed some food, and the lack of anything fulfilling had sent him to the Grill, hoping to ignore anyone that knew about the supernatural. Still, when he heard a familiar laugh echo the street in front of the eatery, he wondered if someone was sending him a message.

Jenna was laughing as she held a man's arm, a man Ric had never seen before, and he could see very clearly Jenna was drunk.

"Jenna!" Ric shouted to her and ran across the road to meet her and the man.

Jenna's head snapped up, and a smile filled her face, "Ric!" As he got closer, Jenna stumbled some more towards him, but Ric noticed the man didn't let go of her arm. Jenna patted his chest, "My good old' platonic friend Alaric."

"You all good here?" He asked her and paid no attention to the stranger.

Jenna looked up at him with a pout that was too hard not to smile at, "My heel broke." She then turned to the stranger and patted his chest, "And this kind man helped me before I face planted in front of the whole town!"

The stranger grinned a little too wide at Jenna that had Ric frowning, he held out his hand to him, "Alaric, I'm Jenna's friend."

The man grinned at Ric's hand for a moment before shaking the offered hand, and a chill went through Ric's spine at the coldness of the touch, "Frederick, and I guess I'm Jenna's friend too."

Jenna snorted, "Frederick had the cheesiest pickup line, and he liked the perfume that Aella made me. Now, she is definitely some witch you want to have around."

Ric's eyes widened at Jenna's slip up and laughed nervously, "I think you mean some one you want to have around, right, Jenna?"

Jenna just laughed again, "Right." When she saw her cab pull up, her eyes lit up, "That is my cab, yay me for calling someone right."

Ric pulled Jenna free from Frederick, although it took a small bit of force, and fixed a smile on his face, "I better get her to the cab, she usually calls Andy, and he knows her from school."

It was apparent Frederick didn't want her to leave, but he knew when enough was enough, he nodded at Ric and backed away, "Nice meeting you, Riccy Boy."

Ric's smile tightened, "You too, Frederick." As soon as the vampire walked away Ric helped Jenna to the car, she had gone quiet, and Ric thought she had passed out on him until she laughed and showed Ric her broken heel again, "This would make a good weapon. It may be the only way to get Aella to wear heels."

Ric grinned at the drunk woman, "I don't see Aella as the heel type of girl."

Ric opened the door, and Jenna fell into the taxi, "Hi Andy."

Andy grinned at Jenna through his rearview mirror, "Hi Jenna, home for you?"

Jenna righted herself and gave Andy a thumbs up, "You got it, dude." She then turned to Ric with a shocked face, "Oops, we're not allowed to quote Full House, but you are totally right, Aella is a boots and flats girl, helps her beat the vampires."

Once again, Ric's eyes widened; he never thought Jenna would have loose lips when it came to her having a few drinks. He was just about to correct her again when Jenna groaned, "There's too many goddamn vampires in this town!"

Andy was now frowning at the two of them, and Ric offered his best use of pop culture, "We watched Twilight earlier."

Andy nodded knowingly, "My daughters love that movie. I hoped it was a one-off, but then the sequel came out in November, and I was forced to take them... the worst 2 hours of my life, and I watched all the presidential debates! Freakin' sparkly vampires!"

Jenna giggled out loud, "I'm imagining Damon sparkling right now."

Ric's face lost it's amusement at the raven-haired man's name being mentioned, "Lots of water tonight, Jenna." He shut the door, and as the car drove away, Ric only imagined one thing regarding Damon at that very moment; dead.

A/N:
How did we all like that?
⭐️ What was your favorite moment?
⭐️ Funniest line/moment?
⭐️ Did you like this date compared the original episode date?
⭐️ Don't we all just LOVE drunk Jenna?
⭐️ Did anyone spot my two quotes, from one of my favorite shows 🧐?
⭐️ Bitchy Bonnie 😠
⭐️ Future Predictions?

🔹 On an alternative note, as I mention in the beginning, I have official written the ending of Part 1 of An Elemental Difference aghhhhhh 🙈🙊 As I edit the rest of the chapters I can officially say that there will now be an update EVERY Saturday. I'm sorry I've never really had an official schedule, but with my mental and physical issues I've never wanted to give you all a day and then let you down. But now we can do that yay 😀

🔹 Also, a few of you may have noticed that the chapter where I explained my life, my 'story' has been to its own book titled "Kintsugi - My Story". It felt time that AED and My Story become separate entities. Aella and AED were created when I was in the worst place mentally and physically, they and YOU (who read, or comment, or vote, or add to your Read Lists) helped me heal and finally be happy, really happy, for the first time in a REALLY long time. Thank you, SO, SO much.

Thank you for sticking with me, and I can guarantee that the last chapter is CRAZY, I think I could have filled a bottle with the tears I shed writing that one.

For updates on what I'm doing creative wise PLEASE check out my Instagram:

Artful_Becca
Xoxo