𝖽𝖺𝖽𝖽𝗒 𝗂𝗌𝗌𝗎𝖾𝗌

━━━━━━━━━━

   Secrets and lies.

The two unceasing matters that were centred around Evelyn's life. It was like a pain killer. Giving instant relief but had side effects forever. A constant nag in the back of their minds, never refusing to leave until it could be cured, but truth is the cure and many ignore it to avoid the pain of getting hurt or to protect those they love.

The worst part of it was Evelyn never knew.

She didn't know the secrets and the lies they hid from her. She didn't know what was truly a beginning for her. She didn't know that the biggest deception would come from the people she loved.

A game had begun in which this oblivious soul had no choice but to participate in.

Tell a lie once, all the truths become questionable.

━━━━━━━━━━

( Fetus Eve )

1996

A dark purple glow illuminated on the palm of her hands, the veins also igniting up on her wrist as an energy course through her body. A 5 year old Evelyn glanced down at her hands, watching it in awe. "Cool," she whispered followed by a small giggle escaping from her lips.

She took a glance over her shoulder, her twin sister, Elena was sleeping with her entire body sprawled across the bed, light snores was the only sound filling their bedroom.

"Lena," Evelyn whispered. "You have to see this."

"Go away," Elena mumbled, burying her face into the pillow and Evelyn pouted.

Wasting no time, she jumped out of bed and grabbed hold of her teddy bear, Cookie, as she tip toed down the stairs slowly and into the living room to find her parents, Grayson and Miranda Gilbert, talking to each other in hushed tones.

"Mommy?" Evelyn's soft voice caught their attention.

"Why aren't you asleep, Eve?" Grayson asked his daughter and she shrugged, looking down at the ground whilst clinging on to her teddy bear tightly.

"Did you have a nightmare?" Miranda asked as she crouched down in front of Evelyn.

"Not today," Evelyn shook her head.

"Then what's wrong?" She asked.

Evelyn's eyes lit up. "I have something cool to show you." Bringing her right hand up, a bright glow caught their sight that was hard to ignore.

"I think I'm a superhero. Look, isn't it so pretty?" She giggled.

Their eyes widened in shock. Grayson took her hand in his, finding it difficult to believe what he was witnessing.

"It happens sometimes," she shrugged and watched as the glow disappeared from her hand.

"We need to talk to Sheila about this," Grayson murmured to his wife and she nodded.

"Eve," Miranda called her and Evelyn looked from her hands, back to her mother. "Why don't you go back to sleep and then tomorrow we can go see Bonnie. Okay?" She said with a shaky voice but instead replaced it with a bright smile.

"Okay but please can I sleep with you and daddy?" She slightly bounced on her toes, tugging on to her parents hands. "Me and Cookie want cuddles." She jutted her bottom lip out, giving them the doe eyes that they could never refuse to.

Her parents smiled and nodded. "Of course."

"Yay!" Evelyn threw her small arms around Grayson's neck and he picked her up in his arms.

━━━━━━━━━━

The next morning, Evelyn, Grayson and Miranda headed towards the car as her father placed her in a booster seat. Evelyn looked through the window and enthusiastically waved at her sister and baby brother who were being looked after by a babysitter as they watched them leave.

As soon as they parked the car in front of Bonnie's grandmother's, Sheila's, house Evelyn ran into the house as the older woman opened up the door. "Hello, Eve," she smiled down at the girl.

"Hi Grams. Bye Grams." She ran towards Bonnie, engulfing her best friend in a hug. "Bon Bon! Hi," she giggled.

"Hi, Eve. I missed you." Bonnie held her hand as she dragged her into the living room to play with her toys.

Meanwhile, Evelyn's parents and Sheila settled in the room next door.

"Her hands were glowing, Sheila." Miranda spoke her concerns and Sheila sat opposite them serving them tea with a thoughtful look on her face.

"Surely you should know the answer to this," Grayson said.

"As a matter of fact I do. I'm glad you came in time actually," Sheila murmured and looked through the open door, watching Evelyn and Bonnie running around the room, giggling and playing.

"Evelyn is supernaturally gifted." Miranda gasped and held her husband's hand tightly. "Someone–" Sheila cleared her throat. "The spirits spoke to me and told me about her. I didn't think it would show this early. They said it wouldn't," she frowned.

"How can we fix this?" Miranda asked with tears brimming in the corner of her eyes. "Is there someone who can help her?"

"I'm afraid her kind is extinct. Has been for a long time," Sheila sighed sadly.

Grayson wrapped an arm around his wife. "Well there has to be another way right?" He asked.

"I'm afraid this is now her life. You can't fix her," Sheila shook her head.

"But she's only a child. My baby," Miranda whispered.

"I'm sorry Miranda but this is who she's meant to be."

"What do we do then?" Grayson asked.

Sheila quickly glanced over to Evelyn, smiling at the girl then back to them. "Well for now, I can cast a spell to keep it in control and when it's time I will help her as much as I can."

"Thank you. Anything is fine. I just want her to have a normal life." Miranda whispered and Sheila gave the woman a look of sympathy.

That would never happen for Evelyn.

"You have to listen and understand this carefully." Sheila leaned forward in her seat. "Her powers will begin to manifest as she grows older. Her kind is very powerful and being the last one, makes her the most powerful one to ever exist. She's going to need your support, especially when it comes to her emotions, it will cause a huge impact in her. How she feels is important."

"Okay." They nodded.

"For now, I need her to wear this," she said, bringing out two items in her hands. "I casted a protection spell on this bracelet. When she turns 18, make sure she wears the ring. They gave it to her."

"Thank you," Grayson took it from her.

"Mommy!" Evelyn ran into the room with Bonnie running behind her.

"What's wrong Eve?" Miranda asked.

"My superpowers isn't working. I want to show it to Bon Bon." Evelyn stomped her feet and crossed her arms over chest, pouting. "Make it work," she demanded.

"We can show it to Bonnie another time," Grayson explained softly.

"But I want to be a superhero." Evelyn mumbled, playing with the hem of her dress. "You said I could be one."

"You already are," Sheila spoke and Evelyn turned around with a vibrant smile.

"Really Grams?" Evelyn asked and Sheila stroked her cheek, nodding.

"A very strong one."

"Can Bonnie be a superhero too?" Evelyn grabbed onto Bonnie's hand as they looked up at Sheila.

"Of course she will be," Evelyn and Bonnie squealed with excitement as they all laughed at the duo.

━━━━━━━━━━

"Is mommy mad at me?" Evelyn asked once they arrived home. She climbed up on the sofa and sat down on her father's lap.

Throughout the whole ride Evelyn could hear Miranda's sniffles and she didn't like it. Maybe she had done something wrong that upset her mother.

"What makes you say that?" Grayson asked as he stroked her hair and she shrugged, playing with her fingers.

"Because she's always happy. Did I do something wrong? I promise not to eat ice cream secretly anymore." She glanced up.

Grayson chuckled. "She's not mad at you, and have you been eating ice cream?" He raised a brow.

Evelyn gave him a sheepish grin yet there was a hint of mischievousness. "Please don't tell mommy," she pleaded.

Grayson kissed the top of her head. "I won't."

Miranda entered the room, her eyes a little puffy and red. "What are you two whispering about?" She asked but Evelyn buried her face in her father's chest, afraid she might make her cry.

"She thought you were crying because of her," he whispered to his wife.

Miranda immediately felt guilty and lifted Evelyn up and on her lap. "Hey." She tilted Evelyn's chin up to look at her. "I'm not angry at you. I've been tired lately."

"Oh okay," Evelyn pouted. "Are you feeling better? Do you want a cuddle?" She asked, whilst absently playing with the strand of Miranda's hair.

"I could use a cuddle," Miranda smiled and Evelyn wrapped her tiny arms around her, placing her cheek against her mother's.

"We got you a gift." Grayson smiled as he pulled out the bracelet from his pocket and Evelyn eyes glimmered with joy.

"Thank you," she beamed with excitement as he placed it around her wrist.

"You have to wear it at all times. Make sure you don't take it off. Only myself or mommy will take it off when it needs to be. Okay?"

"Okay," Evelyn nodded and kissed both of their cheeks. "I'm going to show this to Lena and Jemmie."

━━━━━━━━━━

"Let me just throw water on her face to wake her up," Jeremy suggested as he and Elena sat besides an unconscious Evelyn.

"Are you kidding me?!" Elena hissed, slapping him on the back of his head. "She just fainted." She smacked him again.

"Ow." He winced and moved away from her. "It was just a suggestion," he mumbled.

Evelyn quietly groaned and stirred in her sleep, her eyes slowly fluttering open when all she could make out was a light shining above her. "She's waking up," Elena whispered as she shifted closer to Evelyn, brushing her hair out her face gently.

Jeremy looked down at her, poking her on the cheek. "EJ, if you don't wake up then i'll have all of your ice cream."

Realisation struck upon her as blurred events of last night played in her mind and what she had just heard from Jeremy. "What did you just say?!" Surprising them, she quickly sat up.

"I wasn't going to eat it," Jeremy spoke up. "Please don't kick my ass."

"Oh my God. Elijah?!" Evelyn shouted out, remembering when she had met him last night.

"Hey, hey." She looked at Elena. "You're okay. You're safe. Deep breaths." Evelyn nodded, calming her rapid heartbeat down.

"I'm hungry," Evelyn only said and her siblings sighed in relief.

"Her majesty is finally awake," Jeremy teased.

"Bitch," Evelyn grumbled, slapping the back of his head.

"Ow!" Jeremy winced. "Could you both stop hitting me?" He frowned.

Evelyn took in the scene in front of her, her hands going directly to the tubes on her arms. "Why are we in the hospital?"

"Elijah brought you here. He saved you from a car that nearly hit you and then you fainted," Elena explained.

"I did?" Evelyn's tired eyes met Elena's tilting her head to the side, her eyes suddenly widening when it all came back to her clearly. "Is he here?" Evelyn shook in fear, shifting closer to Jeremy.

"Don't be afraid. He's helping us, Eve." Elena rubbed circles on the back of Evelyn's hands.

"What?" Elena explained what happened between her and Elijah and his promise to protect her from Klaus.

"I'm still scared of him," Evelyn murmured.

"He won't hurt you," Elena reassured her and Evelyn hesitantly nodded.

Jenna walked into the room, finding Evelyn awake and sighing in relief when she ran towards her niece and pulled her in a hug. "Oh i've been so worried. How are you feeling? Tired? Hungry? I'm so sorry, Eve. I should've stayed home to take care of you," she rambled.

"Please don't blame yourself. It's not your fault," Evelyn murmured and Jenna rubbed her back.

A knock on the door had them breaking apart and the door opened, revealing the doctor entering inside the room. "If it isn't my favourite doc!" Evelyn beamed.

A pair of brown eyes glistened as they directly met Evelyn's and the woman smiled back at her. "And if it isn't my favourite patient."

Suki Amano, the Gilbert's family doctor and the best friend of Miranda's, greeted them as the smile never left her face and she made her way over to Evelyn.

"Hey," Evelyn pointed to her. "You love it whenever I visit the hospital."

"Well at this point it's becoming your second home," Suki teased and Evelyn shrugged. "I need to do a check up before I can discharge you."

"We'll be back," Jenna told Evelyn as they left the room.

"How are you, Suki?" Evelyn smiled up at the doctor who she grew up seeing as family too.

"I'm doing great," Suki tilted Evelyn's chin up, flashing the penlight on her eyes and observing her vision. "You fainted due to the stress," she mumbled.

"Typical me," Evelyn nervously laughed.

"Want to explain what caused the faint scar on your neck?" Suki pointed to her neck, moving her hair to the side as she gently rubbed a thumb over it.

Evelyn then remembered about Rose and shook her head, playing with the hem on her hospital gown with a frown. Rose didn't deserve to die.

"How is he by the way?" Evelyn asked instead as she watched Suki write down on the clipboard.

"Still the same Kenji we know. He misses you all," Suki smiled.

"Yeah me too," Evelyn sighed. "I sent him a voicemail last night. Will he ever visit us?"

Suki looked at Evelyn, sighing and shaking her head. "Eve, you know I can't bring him back here. He's better off staying with his dad."

"Mhm. Don't want him to get involved in the supernatural world," Evelyn whispered cautiously.

"How about this." Suki sat down next to her in the bed. "The next time I visit him, you can come along."

"Really?!" Evelyn's eyes lit up.

Suki nodded at it with a smile of her own. "But i'll have to ask Jenna first." Evelyn nodded at that.

Jeremy entered the room, walking towards Evelyn. "Can Jeremy come with us to visit Kenji?" She asked.

Suki glanced over at Jeremy, giving him a warm smile. "Of course he can. Kenji misses his best friend the most," she said.

"Me too." Jeremy gave a nod with a tight smile. Evelyn narrowed her eyes at him, but immediately shook the thought away. She would have to ask him later.

"Right then," Suki stood up. "You are ready to go home and Eve please make sure you eat plenty. We spoke about this before," she sternly ordered and Evelyn gave her nervous laugh, nodding.

"Only if you–"

Suki immediately shook her head. "I'm still not going to prescribe ice cream as your medication," Jeremy laughed at that.

"I can't believe you would think that low of me," Evelyn crossed her arms over her chest. "I was actually going to ask if I can have your famous chicken ramen soup."

( Suki Amano )

━━━━━━━━━━

John Gilbert stood in the kitchen, watching the news as he poured himself a cup of coffee. "Good morning," he said when Elena came into the kitchen.

"What are you doing here?" Elena glared at him.

"Where's Eve?" John ignored her question. "It's time she knew the truth about Isobel."

"Not at home and Eve doesn't need to know. She's already been through a lot." Elena crossed her arms over her chest.

"It's her biological mother, Elena. She has every right to know," John stated and Elena rolled her eyes, scoffing under her breath.

"Why are you here, uncle John?" She asked him once again.

"I'm here to protect you and Eve. That's all I can say for the moment," John told his daughter.

"What do you mean that's all you can say?" Elena scoffed in disbelief. "We don't need you to protect us."

"I'll tell you more when I'm convinced I can trust you," John said with a serious tone.

Jenna and Alaric stepped inside the room. "I'm late," she said before she noticed John's presence.

"That's what you get for hitting the snooze three times," Alaric chuckled.

"What the hell?" Jenna's eyes widened when she saw John in the kitchen. "What is this dickhead doing in my kitchen?"

"Good morning to you, Jenna. Alaric," John greeted.

"It's okay that I'm confused, right? Because we were not expecting you, like, ever," Jenna drawled out with a sarcastic tone.

"Well, I got in late last night. Elena let me in." John took a sip of his coffee.

"You know, I'm probably just gonna take off," Alaric said and gave a quick glance to Elena before leaving.

"I'm still confused here," Jenna said.

"I decided to come back and stay for a while," John said.

"Not here, you're not," Jenna stated sternly.

"Actually, you can't stop me from living here," John said to Jenna. Elena sighed, hoping that he wouldn't reveal that he was her's and Evelyn's biological father.

"Actually I can, as legal guardian," Jenna crossed her arms over her chest, narrowing her eyes at the man.

"Yeah, about that– Elena, you want me to explain the situation, or would you like to do the honours?" John asked Elena, with a smirk on his face.

"Okay, what's going on?" Jenna looked between the two.

"I'm sorry, Jenna. I should have told you earlier, but–" Elena said whilst trying to find the right words.

"I'm the twins biological father," John interrupted her and left the room.

"What the fuck?!" Jenna exclaimed. "No way, the girls are too pretty to have a dad like you!"

━━━━━━━━━━

"I just knew Luka seemed weird," Evelyn said as her and Bonnie stepped out their class that had ended. "He gave off the vibes," she said, remembering meeting the boy and felt an odd sense around him.

"It's the last time I'm trusting him," Bonnie scoffed, placing her books in her locker.

Evelyn.

A voice caught her attention and she whirled around, scanning the crowd and frowning when no one called her but minding their own business.

The paranoia was really getting to her.

"Eve?" Bonnie waved her hand in front of Evelyn's face who had been now staring into space.

"Hm?" Evelyn's blinked.

"You've been doing that a lot lately," Bonnie pointed out.

"Doing what?"

"Zoning out," Bonnie said as they began to walk out of the school. "Are you okay? You can always talk to me about anything."

"Actually–" Evelyn paused and thought for a second. "Never mind. It's nothing." She shook her head.

"You sure?" Bonnie asked.

"Yes," Evelyn nodded. She knew it was an absurd thing to ask. Every child had a phase where they claimed they were a superhero or something else right?

"Jeremy's waiting for me." Evelyn embraced Bonnie in a hug.

"Bye." Bonnie smiled.

Evelyn ran up to Jeremy who had been leaning against his car waiting for her and the siblings climbed in, driving away.

Walking around arm in arm, Evelyn and Jeremy decided to check out the small memorial that was being held at the town square when Jeremy noticed John walking towards them. "You've got to be kidding me. Not him," Jeremy muttered.

"Don't be mean," Evelyn lightly scolded her brother and he wrapped his arms around her taking a different turn to avoid him but it was too late.

"Jeremy, Eve, there you both are." John stood in front of the siblings.

"Hey, uncle John." Evelyn waved at him and John smiled in return. Jeremy nudged his sister a little and she looked up at him. "I only wanted to say hi. It's rude if we don't," she whispered.

"I heard you were at the hospital last night. How are you feeling?" John asked Evelyn.

"Oh?" Evelyn murmured, surprised that he cared about her. "I'm feeling better now. Thank you for asking." John nodded at her.

"Looks like I slept through the homecoming," Jeremy murmured sarcastically and Evelyn buried her face behind his shoulder, snickering quietly.

"You didn't miss much. Let's say that no one's happy to see me would be an understatement." John sighed.

"Look, things are different now. You can't come around and start up with all this anti-vampire stuff," Jeremy said.

"I have no intention of doing that. How's that ring been treating you?" John asked his nephew, eyeing the ring on his finger.

"Look, if this is what you came for just take it and go." Jeremy took it off and handed him the ring but John stopped him.

"What kind of a man would I be if I took that from you? You want to go grab some lunch?" He asked.

"I think we'll pass," Jeremy said and John nodded, leaving them alone.

Evelyn watched John, sighing and Jeremy caught the look on her face. She always seemed to have a soft spot for everyone and knew at that moment she held pity for John. "If you want, you can go," he said.

"Are you sure?" She bit her lip and he nodded. "I mean everyone's being too harsh on him and he only asked to eat lunch with him," she rambled and Jeremy smiled.

"If it'll satisfy you then go but if he hurts you call me immediately," he told her with a stern tone.

"I can take care of myself." She rolled her eyes and he chuckled, watching as she caught up to John.

"Uncle John?" John turned around as Evelyn gave him a small smile. "Um– We could have lunch together, if that's what you'd like."

"I'd love that," he nodded, smiling in appreciation.

━━━━━━━━━━

"Why don't you hate me?" John asked and Evelyn looked up with narrowed eyes as she ate her fries. "After everything I did, you're still nice to me."

"Do you want me to hate you?" She raised a brow. "I hate what you did. It was stupid and I do dislike you. A lot. You abandoned me and Elena and that hurts so much but then a part of me is grateful you did because mom and dad loved me unconditionally and I was so lucky to have them as my parents."

"I'm sorry, Eve." His face was full of guilt and regret.

"I just can't seem to hate you. I can't hate anyone to be honest," Evelyn shrugged. She preferred the term to be strong and an extreme emotion she wouldn't wish to use at all.

"Thanks?" John asked and Evelyn nodded, laughing.

"I also felt sorry for you because no one wants to hang out with you and I was super hungry so I thought what better way than to spend father dearests money," she joked with an innocent smile on her face.

"You're selfless Evelyn. That's what I like about you," he stated. He was glad that at least one of his daughter was making an effort with him yet he knew he didn't deserve Evelyn's kindness. No one did but she always seemed to be empathetic towards everyone and offered it regardless.

Meanwhile, Elena and Damon had entered the Grill looking for John when they found him sitting with Evelyn.

"Wait. What is Eve doing with him?" Elena asked with a confused look. Her eyes widened remembering this morning's conversation. "He's going to tell her about Isobel," she panicked, walking towards them but Damon took a hold of her wrist, turning her around.

"Don't you think it's time she knew about Isobel? Stop hiding it from her," Damon said.

Elena glared at him. "She doesn't need to know about Isobel, she'll be even more devastated," she gritted and took long strides towards them.

As Elena continued to make her way over to them, John decided to bring up the matter. "Eve?"

"Yeah?"

"There's something I need to tell you," John said, clasping his hands together in front of him and Evelyn gave her full attention to him.

"Shoot." She wiped her mouth with a napkin and took a sip of her lemonade.

"It's about your biological mother."

"Oh I know about her, Elena said she died giving birth to us so she's out of the picture." She dismissed it with a wave.

John furrowed his eyebrows then heaved a deep sigh. "She's lying, Eve." He shook his head and Evelyn eyed him.

"What do you mean?" She asked. "Uncle John?"

"Your mother is Isobel."

Her eyes widened, frowning at this sudden news. "No. You're the one lying." She shook her head. "I don't believe you."

"I'm not," he said.

"Yes you are," she hissed. "Elena wouldn't lie to me. She never lies to me."

"I'm sorry but it's the truth."

Evelyn suddenly felt her chest tighten and placed a hand over her chest, rubbing over it again and against, and trying to ease the pain. "Eve?" John asked in concern watching as she took deep breaths.

"I think i'm going to throw up," she spoke after a moment.

"Uncle John." Elena appeared by their side and they tilted their heads to look at her. "What are you doing with my sister?" She asked and Evelyn had a pale, blank expression written all over her face, staring off in space. "What are you doing with him, Eve?"

"We're having lunch," Evelyn suddenly snapped as she turned to look at her. She was hurt and upset that Elena would lie about their biological mother.

"John, buddy, how have you been?" Damon asked John when he joined them, standing next to Elena and looked at Evelyn with a sympathetic smile on his face.

"I've been alright, Damon. It's good to see you," John spoke with a hint of sarcasm laced in his tone.

"We need to talk." Damon gave him a stern look and John looked back at Evelyn.

"Go ahead," she told him and John nodded, leaving his daughters alone.

"What did he say to you?" Elena asked as Evelyn stood up from her seat, grabbing her bag and placed it on her shoulder.

"Oh you know the usual that any father would ask: How am I? Am I doing good in school? Do I have a boyfriend or girlfriend? Do I know that my biological mother is Isobel?"

Elena's eyes widened. "Eve, I can explain–"

"Funny right?" Evelyn laughed dryly. "Because from what you told me, our mother died from giving birth."

Evelyn walked past her and out of the grill as Elena followed after her. "Eve," Elena began but Evelyn cut her off.

"Prove him wrong and tell me he's lying about Isobel. Is he lying, Elena. Yes or no?" Evelyn asked, tears brimming in her eyes. "Well?" She asked again when Elena remained quiet.

"No," Elena whispered, tears were falling from her face too.

"I can't believe you would lie to me about this," she scoffed in disbelief. Elena made to grab her hand. "Don't even bother explaining." Evelyn yanked her hand away.

━━━━━━━━━━

Fighting her tears away, Evelyn fumbled with her keys and ended up dropping them on the floor. A hand darted out and took them, causing her to jump. "Here," Elijah's voice said near her ear and she immediately backed away.

"Stupid man." Evelyn struck at him with a bag as he tried to stop her. "Weirdo." She continued to hit him on his head and Elijah moved away.

"Evelyn," Elijah spoke calmly, raising his hands up to show her he didn't want to harm her.

"Idiot." Evelyn kneed him in between his legs and Elijah groaned, staggering back a little.

"I'm not here to hurt you," he grunted.

"Stay away from me," she said, pulling out a pepper spray not that it would do anything to him.

Evelyn sprayed him and he wiped at his face. "Really? A pepper spray?" He had an amused smile on his face.

"I have a taser in my bag don't make me bring that out too." She continued to point it towards him. "Stop coming closer!" She yelled and tried to think of a way to escape.

"I–" Elijah began.

"Oh my God! There's someone behind you!" Evelyn pointed behind him and he turned around to see nothing.

Evelyn used this opportunity to run away from him and Elijah chuckled. "I can't believe I fell for that." He turned back around to see her nowhere in his sight.

Evelyn kept running and running until she stopped and leaned against a wall, regaining her breathing. "Loser," she huffed, closing her eyes.

When she opened them, she squealed and jumped up in surprise to see Elijah standing in front of her and raised the pepper spray in front of him again.

"Please don't take me away or bitch slap me like Trevor," she pleaded. "I'm too young to die."

I don't want to die a virgin too. Her thoughts spoke.

Elijah couldn't help but laugh. "Stop laughing," she said, now on the verge of tears.

He raised his hands up in surrender. "I don't want to hurt you."

"I've already had a horrible day, so don't play with me," she snapped with a harsh glare.

"I just want to talk. I give you my word," he said.

She eyed him for a moment and he seemed genuine about his promise. She then slowly placed the pepper spray back in her bag. "You're not going to kidnap me, are you?" She asked.

"No I won't," he shook his head.

"Pinky swear?" She held her pinky finger forward and Elijah chuckled but joined his with hers.

"Allow me to walk you back to your car." He offered his arm to her and she hesitantly took it as they began to walk back to her car.

"I want to apologise to you after the encounter we had when we met. It wasn't my intention to scare you. Both times," he said sincerely.

She scoffed, "I wasn't scared."

"I can hear your heart beating faster than it should," he stated.

"Okay. Maybe a little," she muttered under her breath.

"You seemed a little distress before. May I ask what happened?" He asked.

She took a deep breath before speaking. "I need to vent out anyways so you're the only choice I have right now," she said and Elijah nodded.

"A lot has been happening lately but my sister lied to me about my biological mother. Elena said she died whilst giving birth but my uncle who is actually my biological father said she's not dead. Well she is dead, she's a vampire but she's alive if you understand and here I go again with the rambling." She let out an awkward laugh.

"Evelyn." She looked at Elijah. "It's okay."

"Sorry." She nervously smiled. "I don't understand why Elena had to hide something like that from me. I have a right to know. This woman was my mother as well."

"I understand. She shouldn't have hidden an important detail of your life away from you." He nodded.

"Exactly."

"Family is important," he muttered. Evelyn clearly heard, stopping and stood in front of him, noticing a distressed look on his face.

"Are you okay?" She asked him. "There's something going on isn't there?" She sensed it.

Elijah frowned. "Klaus has hidden my family away from me."

"Oh no," she gasped, placing a hand over her mouth. "That's horrible. Why would he do that?"

"To hold leverage over me. But not anymore, I will get them back." His eyes held determination.

"I'm sure you'll figure it out." She placed a hand on his forearm and rubbed it. "If you'd like I could help you?" She offered and Elijah smiled. She was willing to help someone that she didn't even know very well.

"Thank you, Evelyn but this is something I need to do myself. I wouldn't want you to get hurt."

"Okay." Evelyn nodded. "So is he as scary as he sounds to be?"

"The rumours are true." Elijah slowly nodded and Evelyn tensed. Now Klaus was definitely going to kill her and her family.

"He won't harm you." Elijah noticed the way she froze and Evelyn frowned at his words. "I won't let it happen," he added hastily.

"Oh okay," she whispered. "By the way thank you for listening to me. I'm sure I sounded crazy." She rocked back and forth on her toes, shyly smiling.

"Not at all." He smiled back at her. "You needed someone to talk to. I would be more than happy to listen to you."

"Um– so can we be friends?" She asked. "Or we don't have to. It's totally fine. Actually ignore what I said."

"Of course," he nodded.

"Really?" Elijah smiled and she heaved a sigh in relief. "Do you like hugs?" She nervously played with the end of her sleeve. "It's just you look like you need one."

"They're comforting," he shrugged.

Suddenly, he was taken aback when Evelyn wrapped her arms around him and he slowly wrapped his own, patting her head gently. This girl in front of him was one of a kind.

Evelyn laughed, pulling away from him. "Thank you." Elijah said.

"So can I call you Eli?" She asked, her eyes glistening.

"You are a remarkable woman, Evelyn." He chuckled. He knew she would certainly be a match for his brother.

"I'll take that as a yes," she beamed. "And call me Eve."

━━━━━━━━━━

Evelyn stepped inside her home finding Elena sat on a stool at the kitchen. Ignoring her presence, she opened up the fridge, grabbing a water bottle and walked past her but Elena was quick to block her way.

"Eve, please speak to me." Elena pleaded. "Please."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Evelyn asked but was met with silence. "Are you deaf?!" She raised her voice, slamming the bottle on the countertop and Elena jumped up in surprise.

"I was protecting you. I'm so sorry," Elena said.

Evelyn sighed, running a hand over her face. "I love you, Elena. I love you so much and I'm grateful that you want to protect me. You're the best sister that I could ever ask for but that was not your decision to make."

"You were going through a rough time, Eve," Elena sniffled.

"It doesn't matter. You hid something important from me. I'm hurt and upset that you didn't tell me about it. I thought we didn't hide things from each other," Evelyn said, wiping her tears away.

"I wanted to protect you that's all."

"Just because i'm soft and naive doesn't mean I can't protect myself," Evelyn spoke sternly.

Elena took a step forward but Evelyn moved back, lifting a hand up to stop her. "It's been a long day and i'm tired. I need space." She ran upstairs, slamming the door shut and Elena flinched, tears threatening to fall out.

━━━━━━━━━━

"I'm not in the mood to talk," Evelyn grumbled when she heard a knock. John entered her room and she rolled her eyes.

"I know." He sat on the side of her bed. "But I thought you might want this. It was your mother's," John said and showed her a necklace.

"Isobel's?" She asked him. "I don't think I shouldn't have this," she shook her head.

"No, your mother, Miranda. I found it in a box, with some things that your dad left me. Here, it's yours now." John gave the necklace to her.

"Thank you," Evelyn murmured.

"Miranda and Grayson were your parents, and I know I'm nothing to you and Elena. You have no reason to believe me or trust me. I've done so many horrible things, but when you lost your parents, I lost my brother, my family. I lost my way. I know that I probably won't ever make things right with you, but I'm gonna do everything I can to protect you and protect this family." He pressed a kiss to her forehead and left the room.

Evelyn sniffled, tears rolling down her cheek as she looked down, gently caressing her thumb over the pendant.

She heard the door open to her room and was met with Jeremy. "Did you know about her too?" Evelyn asked.

Jeremy shook his head. "She never told me. I'm so sorry, EJ," he said.

"It's okay," Evelyn mumbled. Jeremy took a seat next to her and she rested her head against his shoulder.

━━━━━━━━━━

Later that night, Evelyn knocked on Caroline's front door with Cookie, her teddy bear, in one hand and a bag of snacks in the other. "Hey, Eve."

"Hey, I heard about what happened to you," Evelyn began and Caroline let her step inside the house. "You went through a lot yourself and I wasn't even there to help you. I've been such a terrible best friend lately."

"You could never be a terrible friend," Caroline shook her head and reassured her with a smile.

"I thought a sleepover would be a good idea because we're both a mess right now." Evelyn's eyes began to grow glossy.

"We're both a hot mess," Caroline laughed with tears in her eyes.

"I got Cookie with me." She waved the cute teddy bear in her hand.

"Brownie is waiting upstairs," Caroline said.

Evelyn laughed and lifted her other hand up with the bag. "I got snacks and ice cream and all we need is a movie or maybe we could gossip all night?"

"You're amazing." Caroline smiled.

"I know." She gave her a cheeky grin but ended up bursting out in tears. "See. Hot mess we are." She pointed between them.

Caroline sobbed and pulled her in a hug. "I don't know what I'd do without you," she whispered in her ear.

"Me too," Evelyn whispered back.

"I love you, Evie."

"I love you too, Care Bear."

Hey bitches. How have you all been?

So I decided to give an early update and I might update again this weekend. I'll let you know on my messages board if I'm updating though.

Just wanted to let you know you can imagine whatever Eve wears. To me I think those kind of outfits suits Eve because it compliments her personality.

And I know I add the picture in the middle of a chapter that's because I prefer to have the outfit just before the scene starts so you can imagine that she's wearing it from then on. It probably doesn't make sense lol.

Stay safe and I love you.