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Alaric has never been parent material. He barely even qualified as boyfriend material with the amount of emotional baggage he carried. After all, he was sleeping on his dead girlfriend’s couch instead of at his own apartment, trying to drown his problems in the steady sting of bourbon and scotch as he drifted off. Being a parent hasn’t ever even been in the cards for him. He’s always wanted kids, of course, but Isobel had been firmly set against the idea, and now Jenna was dead.
Ric wasn’t in his right mind. He was starting to actually spend time with Damon! He knew he needed to get away from everything, and soon. He needed to clean himself up and get off the Gilberts’ couch and get a life. Yes. That was what he needed more than anything.
But as he was staring at the open suitcase in front of him, his mind kept wandering to Jeremy and Elena. Jeremy who was seeing ghosts, and Elena who’s boyfriend had run off with the psychopath-one who had tried to sacrifice her, no less-so that they could go on a killing spree together.
These two kids who had no one. Their Aunt was staked, their parents drowned, their Uncle/Bio Father had given his life so Elena could live. And so they were alone. Legally, Elena could take care of them both, being that she was turning 18 soon enough, but she was so young and broken.
Begrudgingly, Ric tossed his suitcase in the closet and set about cleaning up the family room that had recently become his bedroom/study/grading-papers-space. If he was going to stay, the least he could do was help out with the cleaning. God knew Jeremy wasn’t going to do it. That kid lived like an animal.
And so Alaric stayed. It would only be for a few weeks, until they got on their feet and carried on like the Gilbert Kids always did. That’s what he told himself. That this was all temporary.
Temporary, is what he told the other teachers when they tried to joke that he was starting to act like a concerned father. Oh please. They had no idea what they were talking about. Sure, he sometimes had to help Jeremy with his Algebra Homework and yes, he did worry about the kid falling back into drugs. But that was a normal teacher/concerned adult kind of thing to do. It was like...tutoring, or something. Yes, that was all it was. He was like a substitute teacher! Just a temporary fill-in for Jenna…
And that was the only reason he stayed at all. Simply....obligation. That was all.
Alaric had learned those words like a mantra. They ran through his head as he tried to identify why he was sitting in the hallway with his back to a crying Elena’s closed bedroom door for the third night in a row, trying to coax her out with promises of hot chocolate and movies until Jeremy dragged him away and called Damon instead.
After some time, it slipped away from his mind, only reappearing every time he convinced himself that they just needed a few more weeks, and then he would leave.
Just a few more weeks. They need this.
Those two kids needed someone, and Alaric was just about all they had, so who was he to abandon them? He dismissed all doubt from his mind as he brushed past the closet with his suitcase in it and set to work trying to learn how to cook, or at least to get the fire department on speed dial for when Elena tried to.
The three of them fell into an easy routine. Wake up, get ready for school, eat breakfast, and “I’ll see you two at the end of the day, now please stay out of trouble. I’m looking at you Jeremy.”
Then he’d see them in History Class and he’d have to bust a giggling Elena and Bonnie for passing notes for the fifth time this week. He’d stay late after school to get a head start on grading papers, and then he’d head home. Over the weeks, it had somehow gone from Jenna’s House, or the Gilberts’ place, to Home.
When he arrived, Jeremy and Elena had either already ordered food, or were out waiting for him at the Grill. On nights like those, he’d head to the bar and sit in his usual seat (he swore he should get that stool engraved with his name) and drink with Damon, lazily discussing whatever time period he was currently teaching.
“Ugh, I hated the 60s. You’ll never know how much you can hate peace signs and bell bottom jeans until you’ve lived through that era.” Ric would just snort and listen as Damon rambled on about how the 80s was so much better for music and how “I really don’t get the whole Beatles Craze either. British Invasion, my ass.”
He’d usually stay quiet until his buddy accused him of not being drunk enough before he would grudgingly explain “I gotta drive Jer and Elena tonight. Maybe over the weekend.
On nights that they ate at home, Alaric and Elena would talk about their days while Jeremy chattered endlessly with seemingly no one until he was told that “I don’t care how much Anna wants to talk to you, Jeremy! We are eating! So say goodbye and talk to her later.
Then Elena would start laughing at him while he looked at them in confusion, Jeremy muttering ”Yes, Dad,” with an eye roll before stifling a reluctant grin with a mouthful of pepperoni pizza. Elena thought this was hilarious.
Of course, it wasn’t so funny to her when he practically had to chase his best friend from the house every night. Elena’s nightmares be damned, he was not having Damon stay the night in her room.
“Elena will see you tomorrow, Damon! I’m not having some guy here this late on a school night!”
“Some guy? Since when am I some guy?”
Alaric glared. “Since now, Damon. Or do I have to get Jeremy down here to keep you away from his sister?”
Damon let out a bitter chuckle. “You’re no fun when you’re a dad, ya know?” Then he left, leaving Alaric confused.
He was many things. A Teacher/Hunter/Boy Scout/Drinking Buddy and maybe a bit of a surrogate uncle/brother. But he was not a Dad. No one in their right state of sanity would put Alaric Saltzman and Dad on the same page, let alone in the same sentence.
Sure, he did tell Elena to go put on a longer skirt because “You’re sending a bad message walking around like that,” and he had to tell Jeremy to get off the X-Box so late at night, but any adult would do that.
That, unfortunately, did not stop Damon’s words from wiggling their annoying little way into his mind and sticking there.
“Breakfast’s ready!” He calls up the stairs, shoving a piece of bacon in his mouth. He heard a groan, followed by the sound of tired footsteps on the stairs. Elena comes down first, wearing a tank top and pajama shorts, a towel wrapped around her just-washed hair.
Jeremy follows behind like a zombie, and if it weren’t for the smell of bacon and pancakes to lead him like a bloodhound that just caught a scent, he probably would’ve smacked into a wall by now.
Ric hands Elena a plate and watches as she wrinkles her nose distastefully. “What’s wrong? I thought you liked chocolate chip pancakes.” He asks with a frown. “I’m not hungry,” she mumbles, plopping her plate down on the table with a clatter. Jeremy just shrugs at his expression and goes to grab the Orange Juice.
“Really? You feelin’ ok?” Alaric prods, but Elena just finishes drying her hair and drapes the towel over the back of her seat. “I ate a big dinner last night.”
Jeremy gives her an odd look. “No you didn’t. You ate a granola bar.” She shoots him a dirty glare, but it’s too late now. She’s been discovered. Alaric raises his eyebrows. “Just because Stefan is off who knows where doesn’t mean you’re getting away with not eating.” He pushes her plate closer to her and shoves a fork into her hand.
“Now eat fast and get dressed; we’re going to the Beach today.” Elena shoves a bite of pancake in her mouth, annoyed, while Jeremy just smirks like a little kid.
“You know, Jenna could never get her to listen like that.” Alaric freezes a little at the mention of her, but he knows it isn’t the time to recede into his shell. Elena only rolls her eyes, but there was tension in her posture now.
“She’d be proud of you guys, you know.” Alaric clears his throat. Elena blinks and looks away. Jeremy meets his eyes, something unidentifiable on his face. “I can’t reach her, you know...” He says softly. “She’s just not there.”
“Maybe she found Peace,” Elena suggests quietly, and Alaric rests a hand on her shoulder.
“Yeah...maybe.”
The three lapse into silence. “Alright, get ready. We’re rolling out in five minutes.” Elena and Jeremy both get up and race for the stairs. “Oh and Elena? I want those shorts no more than two inches above your knee!”
“We’re going to the beach, not church!”
“No complaints, young lady!”
He hears a groan, followed by a slamming bedroom door.
Their day is spent out in the sun and the sand. Ric stays near their things most of the time and makes sure that the two put on sunscreen. Jeremy doesn’t, of course, and he’s bright pink by the end of the day.
The three are walking across the beach towards the car, slowly. The sun is setting over the water and turning it sunset colors. Elena’s hair is wet and she’s wrapped like a burrito in a towel as she finishes the last of her ice cream sandwich.
This isn’t anything he’d imagine for himself if it had been a few years ago. Isobel had never wanted this life. She would rather have stayed in and researched over her Vampires for a paper at Duke, instead of spending time with her husband and starting a family. And he used to be fine with that. Content with any small attention he was given and ready to run off on any one of her whims.
But right here, Ric is happy. He’s happy to see Elena giggling as she tried to shove the sandwich in her mouth before any more ice cream could run down her fingers.
“Ew, now my fingers are all sticky,” she wrinkles her nose, and Alaric almost finds it comical. Jeremy rolls his eyes. “At least you don’t look like the inside of a medium rare steak.”
Alaric actually laughs that time, unable to stop himself. “If only there were something that you could’ve done about that,” he says sarcastically, brandishing his bottle of sunscreen. Jeremy groans, and he’s about to retort with something smart, but they’ve just reached the car.
“Come on, Pinky,” she laughs, poking his bright red shoulder. “Let’s head somewhere you’re less likely to bake like a cookie.” Alaric chuckles as the two siblings get in his car, and he basks in the magic of this moment for a second.
Somewhere along the lines, in between all of the misfortune and bad luck, he’d found himself something good.
Alaric is really in for it now. He’s been staring out the windshield at the world-the upside down world-for twenty, maybe thirty minutes now. He’s in a daze, and there’s something sticky dripping into his eye.
In all truth, he should’ve seen the other car coming around the bend, swerving as wildly as if they were being pursued by the FBI, but his mind had been elsewhere. Perhaps it had been on Elena’s breakdown in class when she’d been presenting her family tree...
Punching on the brakes had only slowed the inevitable collision by two seconds, just long enough to realize everything he’s been denying for the past two months of Summer.
He’s all Elena and Jeremy have. All of the jokes and the jabs at his expense were based on truth too; he was like their father. Sure, he was no Grayson Gilbert to the people of Mystic Falls, but he had blood relation to them through Isobel and as it seemed, the town had excepted him.
And now he knows that he’s failed them like everyone else in their lives. They’d trusted him and let him stay with them while he coped with the loss of someone he’d never known half as well as they did. And in return, he’d allowed himself to get distracted and to plow into that drunk driver.
He was letting himself abandon them right now. And with this thought in mind, he feels a surge of renewed strength. No more funerals for the Gilberts. After all, if he dies right then and there, who will take care of the laundry? Who will make sure Elena gets everything together for the Decade Dances, or make sure she gets a prom dress that won’t put them in debt? Who will convince the teachers to give Jeremy all of those extra credit assignments to get his grades up?
As much as he’s avoided it, it’s true. They need him just as much as he needs them.
It’s hours later, when he’s lying in a hospital bed with a bandage on his forehead, that he feels the first flicker of relief he’s felt all day. Meredith is in the hall, intercepting Jeremy and Elena so they can’t reach his room.
Damon is behind them, looking the perfect mixture of worried and pissed off. The three of them are pulling out all of the stops to get through, and though he can’t hear what they’re saying, he knows them all well enough to fill in the dialogue in his mind.
Jeremy is giving Dr. Fell that angsty teenage eye roll that he’s mastered and he’s probably planning some elaborate and conniving plan to get past that will inevitably fail, but offer good enough entertainment.
Elena is saying something, gesturing furiously with her hands and even throwing in her signature foot stomp. In the end, it’s Damon who gets them in. He throws a smirk at Meredith, smug and joking to anyone who doesn’t know him. Ric does, and he knows that it’s actually cold and calculating and gives the impression that he’s staring into your soul and knows every bad thing you’ve ever done. Coupled with that eyebrow thing he does, Meredith is stepping aside in no time.
Elena and Jeremy are already racing down the hall, but Damon doesn’t follow. He gives Ric a true, genuine smile and watches with something unrecognizable on his face as Elena tackles him in a hug.
“Hey, kid!” He greets, tearing his eyes away from the Vampire. “Ric,” Jeremy breathed out. “Thank God.”
“For a second there...”
He doesn’t finish. He doesn’t have to. They all know what the unfinished part means. He takes them both by the hand, smiling warmly. “Not yet. Can’t shake me that easily.”
It’s raining heavily the day the three of them head out to the cemetery. Contrary to every other time they’ve been there together, they aren’t there to see a Gilbert, or even a Sommers.
They’re there to visit a girl who never got a grave, never a funeral. A girl’s body that was lost in a fire after she was staked. It took them far too long to do this, and he knows it’s time, even though Jeremy obviously isn’t ready. He knows Anna’s trailing after them, saying something that visibly perks him up, even as the white flowers in his hand droop sadly.
She’s told them where she wants to be honored, and from beneath his black umbrella, Ric can see the others already gathered around. Tyler and Caroline are sharing one umbrella, while Matt and Bonnie are together under another, Damon by himself.
This time the Vampire didn’t just show up for Elena and Jeremy. He truly seemed to like Anna too, and probably regretted not being able to save her. There’s a small headstone they’re all gathered around; nothing fancy, since Elena used some of her college money for it, but it’s enough.
He imagines it’ll bring tears to Anna’s eyes to know that Jeremy really cared for her.
Because of the weather, they don’t stay long, but by the end, there’s a heap ton of flowers-white roses-gathered higher than any other grave around. Jeremy’s crying into Elena and Alaric, the three of them standing in the forefront of the group, together.
“It’s okay, kid.” It is. Because Ric knows this pain. The pain of losing Jenna, of watching Elena crouch before her grave and lay down similar white blooms. And Elena knows this pain too. Both in the loss of her family, but in the loss of the Stefan she thought she knew, along with his presence in her life.
The three of them will stick it out.