17. Break On Through

"What are you looking for exactly?" Aria asked Meredith, as she prepared to do a MRI on Alaric.

"I don't know, a tumor, vascular anomalies" Meredith listed, "Anything physical that might explain his behavior, if it's medical, I can treat it".

"What happens if it's not?" Aria asked, worry shown clearly on her face and voice.

"Well, then we'll deal with that too" Meredith assured.

"Meredith, when did you start suspecting Alaric?" Aria asked curiously, "How did you realise that it was Alaric going around and killing founding family members?".

"It was after he told me about his ring, I remembered a story my grandmother had told me about Samantha Gilbert and her secret journal" Meredith informed, "I don't know if you know this, but we Fells are notorious busybodies".

"Oh trust me, I know" Aria said, remembering Logan and Tori Fell, and their annoying habit of getting into everyone's business, "But what I don't get, if you knew the whole time, then why did you protect him?".

"Two reasons, one, his important to you" Meredith said, giving Aria a small smile.

"What's number two?" Aria asked curiously.

"Because I'm a doctor" Meredith replied, "I don't like to see someone hurt by something they have no control over, and because when he and I first met, I felt like, I don't know, I just kind of wanna help him".

"Because you like him?" Aria asked, raising her eyebrow.

Meredith chuckled, "Maybe".

Aria smiled, "Meredith I--I'm sorry", Meredith looked at Aria in confusion, "For the way I acted yesterday, you were just trying to protect Alaric from himself, but I went off at you for no reason, so I'm sorry".

"It's okay Aria" Meredith said, "You were just a concerned daughter, if I was in your place, I would have done the same".

Aria gave Meredith a small smile and both the girls turned to look at Alaric through the glass window.

"Everything all right in there?" Meredith asked through the microphone.

"Yeah" Alaric replied, after a moment of silence, causing Aria to frown, something didn't feel right, she felt like Alaric wasn't okay, "Everything's okay".

***

"So, Meredith claims everything is normal in your reports" Aria said, walking into Alaric's hospital room.

"Well, everything is normal because there is nothing wrong with me" Alaric snapped, "I didn't kill Brian Walters, I didn't kill Bill Forbes, and I sure as hell didn't shove a hunting knife into my stomach", Alaric looked down at the Gilbert ring, "Or I did, and I've gone insane just like Samantha Gilbert who--", Alaric picked up the Gilbert ring, "--wore that ring".

"Listen to me Ric, I made that ring for you, whatever's happening to you, it's my fault so I'm going to fix it, I promise" Aria said.

"You can't blame everything wrong on you Aria" Alaric said.

"Yes I can, this is how we work, I blame things on me and you tell me that it's not my fault" Aria said, "And if something happens to you, whose going to tell me to stop carrying the world on my shoulders? I'm going to fix this, I used Emily Bennett's spell to make that ring, maybe if I talk to Bonnie she will have an idea on how to help you".

"You're not talking to Bonnie" Alaric snapped.

"Ric, I have to" Aria said.

"No you don't Aria" Alaric said, "Did you forget the role Bonnie played in waking Esther up? You're not talking to her about this, end of discussion".

Aria sighed, she knew Alaric wasn't going to let her talk to Bonnie, not after everything.

"Fine, I won't talk to Bonnie" Aria mumbled.

"Good" Alaric said.

"But I'm going to go through every grimoire I can, I'm going to find some way to help you" Aria promised.

"I know you will, but till then, I need you to take this" Alaric said, placing the Gilbert ring in Aria's hand, "I don't want it anymore".

Before Aria could say anything, Damon walked into the hospital room.

"You ready to ditch this house of horrors?" Damon asked Alaric, "Ooh, you look terrible".

Alaric chuckled, "Yeah, let me check out of here".

After Alaric left, Aria turned to Damon a smile on her face, but the smile was replaced with a frown when Damon left without even glancing at her.

***

"Damon, hold up!" Aria yelled, running after the older Salvatore.

"Don't worry about Ric, I'll take him out for chicken soup, get him a little martini, make sure he doesn't kill anybody" Damon assured Aria, all while not looking towards her.

"Damon, stop!" Aria yelled, holding Damon's wrist and stopping him from walking away from her, "What's going on Damon, why have you been ignoring me for the past few days?".

"I haven't been ignoring you Ria" Damon lied.

"Yes you are, the only time you've not ignored me was when I stabbed myself" Aria said, "Do I need to stab myself again, so you stop ignoring me?".

"Can we not talk about this right now?" Damon asked.

"If not now, then when?" Aria asked.

"How about never?" Damon asked, trying to walk away from Aria, but she stood infront of him, blocking his way.

"No" Aria snapped, "You don't get to walk away from this Damon, not this time, tell me what's wrong, now!".

"You want to know what's wrong, then listen!" Damon snapped, "I'm not an idiot Aria, I've seen the looks you and Kol exchange when you think no ones looking, Stefan was right, you never forget your first love, you've not forgotten Kol, you still love him, maybe even more then me".

Aria looked at Damon in shock, she had no idea he felt like that, guilt was rising in her heart for letting Damon feel like this.

"Damon, I love you" Aria said.

"Maybe, but you also love him" Damon whispered.

"No I--".

"I can't do this anymore Aria" Damon interrupted, not letting Aria finish her sentence, "I can't spend the rest of my life wondering who you love more, once you figure it out, come tell me, till then, I need to be left alone".

"No, Damon wait" Aria tried, but it was too late, Damon had already speeded away, leaving behind a devastated Aria, who didn't know how to react.

***

"There you are" Caroline said, running over to her sister, who was sitting on their shared bedroom, "Ric called me, he said you dropped him home, but you seemed upset, wait, are you crying?", Caroline kneeled infront Aria, to see tears streaming down her face, "Aria, what happened? Why are you crying?".

"He broke up with me" Aria sobbed, shocking Caroline.

"What?" Caroline whispered.

"Damon broke up with me Care" Aria cried, "He said that I love Kol more then him, but I don't, I swear I don't, I love him, I've always loved him".

"Shh, come here" Caroline said, pulling Aria into a hug, "It's going to be okay".

"I love him Caroline, I can't lose him" Aria cried.

"You're not going to" Caroline promised, "Every relationship goes through problems, but not every relationship conquers the problem, watch, you and Damon are going to get past this, his feeling a bit insecure but once he opens his eyes, once he realises what he did, watch him come running back to you".

Aria didn't say anything, she wanted to believe Caroline, she really did, but the way Damon looked at her, Aria was terrified for their future.

***

"Care, I don't want to be here, please let me go home" Aria pleaded, as Caroline dragged her to the Wickery Bridge construction where Rebekah, Kol and Stefan were also present.

"No Aria" Caroline said, dragging Aria to where Rebekah was, "You need to distract yourself, what other way then to help your Original family".

"There you two are" Rebekah said, walking over to the two sisters, with Kol right by her side.

"Everything okay?" Kol asked Aria, seeing her upset expression.

Aria looked at Kol, and she wanted to burst into tears, but controlled herself, "I--".

"She's a bit emotional, but don't worry, she will be fine" Caroline assured.

Rebekah nodded, though her and Kol didn't believe Caroline, they knew the two sisters would eventually tell them, so they let it go for now.

"So, any luck in finding, you know what?" Caroline asked, not wanting to say white oak tree, in case someone heard her.

"Not yet" Kol replied, extremely annoyed.

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me" Rebekah said, looking towards Stefan and a red head.

"Whose that with Stefan?" Caroline asked curiously.

"Sage" Kol replied, "Finn's long lost love, come on, let's go create some trouble".

Before any of the girls could protest, Kol had walked over to the duo.

"Well would you look at that" Kol said, gaining Stefan and Sage's attention, "It's the two obsessive lovers, who don't know when to give up".

"I would be careful Kol, she used to beat men for sport" Stefan said, glaring at the Original.

"Oh please, I'm not you, she can't touch me" Kol taunted.

"Sage" Rebekah spat, walking over to the trio, Caroline and Aria deciding to stay behind, but both made sure they could still hear the conversation.

"Rebekah, Kol, what a happy surprise" Sage said sarcastically, making Stefan wonder how the trio knew each other.

"What are you doing here Sage?" Rebekah asked.

"Well, I heard Finn was finally freed from that casket your rageaholic brother Klaus carted him around in" Sage replied, making both Caroline and Aria frown, they didn't like Sage calling Klaus rageaholic.

"Unlucky for you, Finn's gone" Kol taunted, Finn and Elijah had gone to find their mother before she attacked again, "Maybe he knew you were coming, so he ran".

"No, he probably went looking for me" Sage said, making Kol and Rebekah chuckle, only they knew what Finn was doing, and it was definitely not looking for Sage.

"Or, quite possibly, he forgot all about you" Rebekah taunted.

"I doubt that" Sage said, refusing to believe Rebekah and Kol's words.

"No?" Kol asked, "If you remember someone, you mention them at least once, which Finn never did, guess you came all the way here for absolutely nothing".

"Have a nice life" Rebekah said, walking away with her brother.

"God, I hate those Originals" Sage said, glaring at the retreating figures of the Mikaelson siblings.

***

After Kol and Rebekah taunted Sage, Aria decided she wanted to go home, she didn't want to be anywhere right now, but before going home, she told Caroline to go to the Boarding House, to grab the book Stefan found on Samantha Gilbert, she needed to help Alaric, she figured Damon was still with Alaric, but still she didn't want to risk coming face to face with him just yet.

Caroline grabbed the book and was about to walk out the house, when she noticed someone in the living room, Caroline knew exactly who that was.

"You, Demon!" Caroline yelled, walking over to Damon, who was busy drowning his sorrows in alcohol.

Damon sighed, he knew Caroline knew what he did, it was a matter of time when she came to scold him, "Blondie".

"Don't blondie me, you dickhead!" Caroline yelled, "Why the hell did you break up with Aria?!".

"If Aria told you about me breaking up with her, then she also told you why" Damon replied, downing his drink.

Caroline glared at Damon, "Do you realise how lucky you are? I've never seen someone love someone as much as Aria loves you, yet you went ahead and hurt her, Damon, she's at my house bawling her eyes out because she loves you so much, if she loved Kol, she would have never been so devastated, she would have ran into Kol's arms, not try to understand where she went wrong".

"Kol and Aria have a history me and Aria will never have!" Damon snapped, "It's always going to be Kol".

Caroline sighed, "Damon, I know in the past, people have chosen Stefan over you, but this is Aria we are talking about, she has always chosen you, from day one, for her it's always been you, even Kol knows that, why do you think he hasn't made a move on her? He waited a thousand years for her, but when she returned, Kol didn't try to make a move on her because even he saw how much she loves you, open your eyes Damon, open it before you lose Aria because of your own stupidity, not because of Kol".

Caroline left the Boarding House, leaving behind a conflicted Damon, who was wondering did he screw up by listening to Stefan?

***

"Ric, what are you doing here?" Aria asked, confused seeing Alaric at the Forbes house, "I thought you were with Meredith".

"I was, but I wanted to give you something" Alaric said, going into the Forbes living room, which was littered with various grimoires, "I see you've been busy".

"Yeah, I think I found a spell that might help you, but I'm not sure yet" Aria said, moving some grimoires and making room for Alaric, "Anyways, what did you need to give me?".

"I want you to have this" Alaric said, handing Aria a piece of paper, "This is a list of my back accounts, passwords, where to find my will and how to contact my family, just in case this doesn't go my way".

"I'm not taking that" Aria said, shaking her head.

"Aria" Alaric said, "I need to know that you are gonna be okay".

"How am I meant to be okay without you?" Aria snapped, tears welling in her eyes.

"Aria, please for my ease, just take this" Alaric said.

"But I found a spell, I can fix this, I don't want your passwords" Aria said.

"But I want you to have them" Alaric said, putting the paper in Aria's hand, "I know you're going to do everything in your power to save me, but we need to be ready in case something goes wrong".

"I can't lose you to" Aria whispered.

"I'll try to stay for as long as I can" Alaric promised, hugging Aria.

"Promise?" Aria whispered.

"I promise" Alaric whispered.

***

"What is it with everyone turning up here?" Aria asked, opening the door for Kol.

"I have some information for you" Kol replied, confused with Aria's sour mood.

"What kind of information?" Aria asked.

"Well, Caroline told me what you were doing, since Rebekah is with Stefan trying to find the tree, I had nothing better then to do then do a little bit more digging on Samantha Gilbert" Kol replied.

"What kind of digging?" Aria asked curiously.

"Well, the founding families of Mystic Falls were very good in destroying records that harmed their reputation, but despite that, I found a few newspaper articles" Kol replied, "According to them, Samantha Gilbert killed two people while she was in the mental institution, one being a nurse, the other being a guard".

"Why is that surprising news though?" Aria asked confused, "She was a psychopath, shouldn't that be excepted from her?".

"Here's the catch though, she was under suicide watch" Kol revealed, "Nothing was on her, no personal effects, no jewellery".

Aria looked at Kol in shock, "She still had violent behavior, despite not wearing the ring?".

"Yeap" Kol replied.

"Kol" Aria said, worry shown in her voice, "Alaric's with Meredith right now, alone".

Kol looked at Aria in shock, "We need to go, now!".

And with that, Kol and Aria rushed out the door, hoping they weren't late.

***

Aria and Kol entered Alaric's apartment and immediately Kol was met with the smell of blood, he quickly grabbed Aria's hand, stopping her from walking further.

"I smell blood" Kol whispered, "Stay here".

Kol walked into the kitchen, where he saw shattered cups and blood stains.

Aria was stood at the front door, when Alaric came out of his room, a towel wrapped around his hand.

"Hey, there" He greeted, immediately Aria felt something odd about the person infront of him.

"Ric, where's Meredith?" Aria asked.

"Oh she got called, uh, in to the hospital for a last minute surgery" Alaric replied, "But she'll be back later".

"Right" Aria said, looking at Alaric in suspicion, "What happened to your hand?".

"Oh, I broke a coffee cup and sliced my hand open trying to pick up the pieces" Alaric replied, "But, uh, I'll live", Alaric walked over to Aria, his eyes landing on something behind her.

Aria followed his gaze to see a bloody knife on the corner, Aria and Alaric glanced at each other, and suddenly Alaric went to lunge at Aria, when Kol came behind him and held him by his neck.

"Don't kill him" Aria warned.

"I'll try" Kol said, eventually rendering Alaric unconscious.

After Alaric was unconscious, Kol looked towards his bathroom, "Ri, come with me, I'm going to need you".

Aria didn't ask any questions just followed Kol into Alaric's bathroom, Kol kicked the locked door open, and both Aria and Kol were met with a bloody Meredith.

"Meredith!" Aria yelled, running into the bedroom to help her, while Kol stayed behind, the amount of blood overwhelming him.

Aria looked towards Kol to see veins appearing under his eyes, "Kol" Aria warned.

Kol looked at Aria then back at Meredith, after a moment, he bit into his wrist, and fed Meredith his blood, making Aria look at him with a proud expression on her face.

***

"You sure this spell's going to work?" Aria asked Kol, looking at a unconscious Alaric.

"It should" Kol replied, "Sometimes the same thing happens with witches who lose themselves to dark magic, they lose control over their magic, and they start acting out their darkest impulses, this spell usually works on them, it should work on Alaric".

"Thanks for helping me today" Aria said, "I really appericate it and I'm sorry for being in a horrible mood before".

"It's fine, but are you going to tell me why are you on a emotional rollarcoaster today?" Kol asked.

Aria went to reply, but the reason for her emotional behavior walked into the room.

"Hey" Damon whispered, Kol nodded at him, while Aria looked away, "I, uh, I came to check on Ric, I can leave if you want".

Kol looked between Damon and Aria and frowned seeing the tension between them, "Actually" Kol said, before Aria could say anything, "I have to help Rebekah with something, you should stay here with Ri, you know in case when Alaric wakes up his still in psycho mode".

"No Kol wait--" Aria tried to get Kol to stay but he speeded away, leaving Damon and Aria alone.

"Ria--".

"Before you start making any assumptions, let me tell you, Kol was just helping me with Alaric, nothing else" Aria interrupted.

Damon went to talk, but Alaric woke up with a groan.

"Ric?" Aria asked, not sure which Alaric woke up.

"What are you two doing here?" Alaric asked confused.

"I'm just making sure the spell didn't turn you into a toad or a block of salt" Damon replied.

"Huh?" Alaric asked confused.

"I did a little spell, it's nothing big so don't panic" Aria assured, "It's just to keep the killer you, away from normal you".

Alaric groaned in pain, his hand was killing him, "Did something happen?".

"Let's just say you've got an alter ego hell bent on killing Council members" Damon replied, "So now, you're on house arrest".

"It's not house arrest, it's just a safety precaution to make sure the spell worked" Aria interjected.

Alaric looked around, "Wait, where's Meredith?".

Aria and Damon exchanged a uneasy look.

"She'll be fine, Ric" Damon assured.

"Yeah, till she recovers, you're going to need to recover as well, by the help of these" Aria said, showing Alaric a jar of herbs.

"What are those?" Alaric asked confused.

"These herbs are the binding element of the spell I did on you" Aria replied, "You need to take them twice a day, regularly, I'll get you some more once your low".

Alaric listened to Aria thoroughly, he didn't want to take any chances, next time he could hurt Aria, and if that happens he doesn't know if he will be able to forgive himself.

***

"Hello?".

"Hey, stranger" Aria greeted.

"Hey, you finally have time for me?" Jeremy teased.

"Shut it, Jer" Aria laughed, "In my defense, you haven't had time for me either".

"I always have time for you Aria, you know that" Jeremy said.

"I know" Aria whispered, "So, flunking any classes yet?".

"Have some belief in me" Jeremy joked.

"I'm just making sure" Aria said.

"Well, I'm not flunking any classes" Jeremy said, "But I did get a dog".

"Dog?" Aria asked, "I always thought of you to be more of a cat person".

"Shut up, you know I hate cats" Jeremy said.

Aria chuckled, "Yeah I do" she whispered, "Hey Jer, have you talked to Ric lately?".

"Uh, no, why?" Jeremy asked confused, "Wait, is everything okay?".

Aria wanted to tell Jeremy everything that was happening with Alaric, she knew if she considered Alaric as her father, then so did Jeremy, that's why Aria called him to inform him about everything, but hearing his happy voice, made Aria question everything, she wondered if she wanted to take Jeremy's happiness from her.

"Everything's fine" Aria said, trying to stop her tears, "I just missed annoying you".

"Okay, hey, can I call you later?" Jeremy asked, "I'm actually on my way out with some friends".

"Yeah, of course" Aria whispered, "Go have fun, be normal, be happy, just, remember I miss you, okay?".

"Yeah" Jeremy whispered, "I miss you and your annoying antics".

Aria chuckled, "Bye Jer".

"Bye Aria" Jeremy said, hanging up on Aria.

Aria started at her phone and let tears spill, her life was falling apart, she felt like she was losing everyone she cared about, Jeremy was miles away from her, Finn and Elijah were also gone, Alaric was maybe going to leave her, and then there was Damon.

Aria didn't know how to fix everything, she didn't know what to do, she didn't know how things were ever going to go back to normal.

***

Stefan entered the Gilbert house, with a sign in hand.

"Why do you look so happy?" Elena asked Stefan, "Your plan to seduce answers out of Rebekah failed".

To find out what Rebekah was doing, Stefan, with the help of Sage, decided to seduce Rebekah and get into her head to find out what she was up to, where he learnt about the other white oak tree, and when the tree was cut down, it's wood was used to make the Wickery Bridge, but before Stefan could get to the wood, Rebekah, and Sage, who found out about Originals being linked, burnt the wood.

Stefan removed the cover from the sign, "Presenting to you a historical sign made out of the same white oak tree as the Wickery Bridge".

Elena looked at the sign in shock, "They all think the wood is gone".

"We finally have a weapon" Stefan said, "The game's back on Elena, it's time to kill some Originals".

***

Presenting 3x17 of The Vampire Diaries . . .

Thoughts on Damon and Aria breaking up? All Daria fans, don't hate me, I just felt their relationship needed a bit drama, I promise this isn't permanent, it's very temporary, but it was needed, don't hate me >.<

Buttt, is Caroline's words going to have any effect on Damon?

Thought's on Alaric's promise to Aria, of trying to survive as long as he can?

Thoughts on Aria and Jeremy's conversation? Felt like it was needed since Aria never got to say goodbye to him.

IMPORTANT NOTE: I said this on my message board but I felt like I need to say it here as well. I know now that Damon and Aria have broken up, some people are excepting something to happen between Kol and Aria, and that was my plan, but now thinking about it, it doesn't fit my story, Aria has been going around saying how much she loves Damon, it will be awful of her to then go makeout or do something with Kol now. For all Kol and Aria fans, very soon a book is going coming out on them, so you will get you Karia moments there, here I can't imagine Kol or Aria doing anything, I'm so sorry for disappointing you guys.

ALSOO, the amazing, wonderful, beautiful, blooming_amethyst made more aesthetics for this book, they are so pretty, I love both of them so much, I can't chose my favourite one, thank you so much for this.