July Fic 2: No Distractions Allowed
Title: No Distractions Allowed
Fandom: The Vampire Diaries
Prompt: From Jet(ficwriterjet) - Alaric/Jeremy
Summary: As far as Jeremy is concerned, he’s just fine. Everyone else would disagree with him.
Words: 4,621
Characters: Jeremy Gilbert, Alaric Saltzman, Elena Gilbert
Disclaimer: The following includes characters that are not originally mine. Alas, this does me great sorrow, but I will take no claim to them.
As far as Jeremy Gilbert was concerned, he is perfectly fine. Sure, both of his girlfriends are now dead, and his sister is still chasing after vampires that love her, and he’s been left orphaned once again.
Getting ready for school now was strange.
Alaric was sleeping on the couch in their house. Not that Jeremy minded. He knew that the guy was missing his aunt Jenna something fierce too. Probably blamed himself even.
Jeremy certainly knew that feeling.
It was still just the first days of school, and while things were normal, they weren’t normal. Nothing would ever be.
Jeremy didn’t know what was worse, when Elena tried to play “mom” and bagged his lunch, or when Ric tossed them a few bucks as he left them at the school.
He was seriously considered walking himself to school, avoid both scenarios.
“Thanks,” he sighed, taking the five from Ric and slipping out of car.
Elena stayed behind. He just knew they were talking about him. Jeremy isn’t well, they would say. Have you seen how tired he looks, or did you hear him get up again last night?
He knew they talked about him. Elena and Alaric. Elena and Damon. Elena and Bonnie. Most of the kids in his class. They all had something to say about him.
Isn’t he the boytoy of that girl that died? He had already once heard some kids say. Yeah, the other girl replied. Vickie Something. Matt’s sister. And then the conversation would likely turn. Matt Donovan? He’s hot.
But Jeremy didn’t care. They could talk about him. They could even talk about Vickie. And he knew that Matt couldn’t care what anyone was saying about him. He had way too many things to worry about.
And not one of them included the fact that Vickie was still talking to him. How could she? She was still too busy talking to Jeremy. As was Anna.
His dead girlfriends. His dead girlfriends that wouldn’t let him get a moments rest.
All he could do was think about them. Think and remember and feel.
Mom and Dad. Vickie. Anna.
Aunt Jenna.
“Gilbert!”
The loud call of his name and the sharp rap of the pointer on his desk brought Jeremy out of his thoughts.
Looking around, Jeremy spotted an irritated looking Ric before him. And the rest of the kids were glancing at him too. Most giving him odd looks.
He was in Ric’s class now. Or rather, Mr. Saltzman. Fourth period history.
Jeremy couldn’t even remember how he got there.
“Yeah?” Jeremy sighed, trying to get his head out of the clouds. “Sorry.”
But Ric just stared at him for a few moments more.
“See me after class,” he said, before turning around and heading back to the front of the class.
Jeremy sighed, but nodded. Not that Ric saw it. Not that it mattered.
Jeremy looked down at his notebook. Inside of it, he could tell that even subconsciously, he had been initially trying to process what was being taught.
But then, his focus had shifted to Anna. And Vickie. And with them, a lot of memories. Memories he didn’t want. But none of the real ones. The ones that mattered most, wouldn’t help.
“Ooh,” he tried to ignore from beside him. “The serious face. It must be something serious.” She scoffed. She almost always tried to lighten the mood.
But she wasn’t real. She was dead. Anna was dead. And so was Vickie.
And Jeremy was alone.
*~*~*As the bell rang, Alaric focused his attention on the only teen who seemed completely oblivious to the sound.
With a deep, heavy sigh, Ric walked over to the only kid he could feel like was his son. (Yeah, his life was pretty complicated now.)
“You want to tell me what’s going on?”
But Jeremy just sat at his desk, doodling in his notebook.
Alaric sat down in the seat in front of Jeremy, turned to look back and leaning his chin on the rested hands on the desk.
He cleared his throat.
Jeremy barely glanced up and away from the notebook. Then he looked right back down.
“If you think that’s going to be enough to stop me,” Ric said, trying to force action by his tone. “You clearly haven’t gotten to know me as well as I thought you had.”
Jeremy sighed. At least it meant that the kid was listening.
“Jeremy, I know this isn’t exactly easy, kid.”
Jeremy scoffed.
“I know,” he continued, trying to take no offense. (And seriously, he was the parental figure to teenagers. How did that even happen?) “That things are no way near easy right now. You’ve had a lot of people taken from you, and I’m not going to pretend that it’s something you’re supposed to just bounce back from. I know I haven’t.
“But, Jeremy, you can’t just give up.”
“Give up?” Jeremy spat, his pencil markings darkening as he pressed harder down on the instrument. “Yeah, that’s right. I’ve given up.” And he scoffed again.
“Well,” sighed RIc, “you’re not the same kid I met.”
“I was two dead girlfriends, and one dead aunt short of a real personality,” came the sarcastic reply. “Sorry it’s no longer up to your standards.”
Alaric groaned. He leaned back and crossed his arms. There was only so much time that he had to try and get some kind of shakedown out of the kid. And the way he was seeing it, it wasn’t going to happen before his next class.
“Where you headed next?”
Startled by the change of questioning, Jeremy looked up.
“Gym,” he glared, glancing over his shoulder before he kept to his notebook.
“And then lunch,” Ric finished, he was slowly starting to get the whole parenting thing down, at least where school was concerned.
It was something that he could understand. Even the vampire thing he could understand.
Really, things weren’t too hard to understand. They just piled up on top of each other so fast, that he didn’t even know where to begin.
He could only imagine Jeremy was feeling ten times that, what with the teenage mood swings and all.
“Yeah,” came the half reply.
“I have my free period and my lunch period after this on. How about you and me cut out for a little bit?”
That finally got Jeremy’s full attention. Unlike his sister, who seemed to constantly be leaving the school grounds for one thing or another, Jeremy was pretty much relegated to the school. Or the house. Or anywhere else that was not in the middle of things.
Even though the kid wanted nothing more than to be in the middle of things.
“What?”
“A break. Leave the grounds. Have lunch the next town over,” shrugged Alaric.
“Are you serious?” frowned Jeremy.
“No,” he sighed. “I enjoy pulling your leg.”
Jeremy rolled his eyes. It was the most human response Ric had gotten out of him in days.
“Well?”
Jeremy looked back down, and Ric thought that he had lost him. But then he nodded. And Ric had hope.
*~*~*Lunch was a quiet affair.
Jeremy ate only when Alaric prodded him to do so. He had bought the kids the meatiest burger, sides of fried onions and a large coke. The kid would be beaming pleased, if he wasn’t so freaking depressing.
“Jer,” Ric said for the tenth time, placing his own burger down to grab Jeremy’s hand as it continued to dunk his onions into ketchup. “Eat.”
Jeremy sighed. He took the onion and placed it in his mouth. A quick chew and swallow, and he was back to staring at another fried friend.
“Jeremy,” he started. “The whole point of lunch is to eat, kid. So eat.”
“I am eating,” he mumbled, placing another onion into his mouth.
They were sitting in the furthest back corner of the restaurant. Ric would have preferred somewhere closer to the windows, but Jeremy had spoken up with his request to the host before Ric. And it wasn’t such a big deal, it just made Ric notice how far from the happy, helpful kid he had met the teen had fallen.
“You want to tell me what’s up?” Ric said, grabbing a bit from his burger.
“Ric,” he sighed.
“You and I both know what I mean. I didn’t take you here under false pretenses. You need to talk about it, kid. Your sister and I, we need to talk about it. And I’m not saying that we’re some kind of example as to what grieving is like, but we’re there for each other; and we’re there for you too. You’re the only one that’s keeping yourself so closed up.”
“What is there to say,” shrugged Jeremy. “Everyone’s dead and there’s nothing any one of us can do. So there’s nothing to talk about.”
Ric watched as Jeremy picked up his burger and took his second bit in almost seven minutes. Jeremy looked anxious. He kept scanning the room, as if he was expecting someone or something to show up.
Not that Ric didn’t feel the same way. What with Klaus on the loose and all. But he didn’t want to think about all of that. He just wanted to think about Jeremy, and helping this kid that he had taken in as if he was his own.
That didn’t mean he didn’t have a stake up his sleeve and some vervain in little, poppable packets in his pockets.
“There’s a lot to talk about.” Ric tried to keep the conversation tone calm, without making Jeremy feel too crowded. “How you’re feeling, what you’re thinking. There are more than just things left behind when someone you care about dies.” At this, Jeremy looked up and glared at him. “Elena and I have been going through your aunt Jenna’s things. It hasn’t been easy, or quick. I don’t think we’ve done more than one box of things in all of this time, but no one expects us to. No one bounces back so quickly, especially when there’s a lot of thoughts, and feelings to go through.
“When my wife died,” Ric sighed, shaking his head at to those memories. “I won’t lie, I was a wreck. I drank, a lot. A hell of a lot. I missed her, and I blamed myself for a lot of it. I didn’t know a lot of the details, but I started going through her research, and then I started getting answers. And then I started getting mad.”
Ric noticed his hands starting to fist up in anger. It was silly, knowing the things he knew now, but talking about before made him feel them again, like a fresh wound.
“I never would have thought, could have imagined, that I would turn up here and how much my life would change.” Ric grabbed at his own fries. He thought back over the past few years and shook his head.
“I came to Mystic Falls to find and kill Damon,” Ric said. “Did you know that? I found out about him, through her work. And I trained and got ready to kill him. And I thought I was ready. I thought I could take him. And even if I had? Even if I had killed him and hadn’t become friends with the guy; then what? I still wouldn’t have had my wife back.”
“You see Jeremy,” sighed Ric. “It’s not about forgetting them. It’s not about ignoring them. It’s not even about moving on. It’s just about living. Because you’re still alive. They’re not, but you are. There’s nothing we can change about that. You have a long life ahead of you, Jer. And this, this pain and lose you feel, it’s always going to be a part of you. But you can’t let that be the only part of you, kid. You can’t let yourself be reduced to just what you’ve lost.”
“Don’t you get it,” Jeremy sighed, glaring down at his burger. “They took Anna from me. From my arms! I couldn’t stop them, Ric. And Vickie, too. I couldn’t help her. She was just lost, you know? And she got me, she didn’t try and make me something I couldn’t be anymore. She just let me be.
“And Aunt Jenna? And my parents? They were just trying to do the right thing. Take care of us and protect us. And they’re all gone.”
“I know it feels that way, Jeremy-
“Feels that way!” Jeremy scoffed and shook his head. “Everyone’s gone. And if they’re not dead yet - with you and Elena running around, trying to save the city or whatever.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” frowned Ric, ignoring the interruption.
“It means,” Jeremy said, pushing his chair back and moving to stand up. “This is bullshit, RIc. And you know it.”
And he moved quickly to the doors soon after. Alaric would have followed him, but a very quick waitress stopped him to pay the bill.
“Right,” he sighed. Pulling out a few twenty dollar bills. Then he turned and grabbed both of the burgers and placed them on one plate, and walked himself out with it all.
*~*~*Jeremy didn’t know where he was going. He wasn’t even all that mad with Ric. He knew the guy was trying to help. And even though he was a teacher, Saltzman was out of his element being a parent.
“Why are you going so fast, Jere?”
He picked up his pace.
“Oh, are you trying to get away from me?” her sweet voice almost laughed behind him. “That’s sweet Jeremy.”
Taking a sharp corner, Jeremy headed down a busy street.
“Am I supposed to lose you among these people?” she said, right beside him.
“Stop,” he said low digging his hands into his pockets.
“I would stop, but then, you’d keep going,” she nudged his arm with her elbow.
He felt nothing.
“Please,” he glanced quickly at her.
“I just want to talk, Jeremy,” she pouted at him. “Do you know how hard it is to have a decent conversation on the other side? No you don’t!”
“Vickie, please,” he groaned.
“You’re the one that can’t stop thinking about me, Jeremy!” she frowned. “You’re the one that won’t let me go!”
Frowning, Jeremy looked at her. She looked angry. It was rare to see Vickie mad. But most of the time she was drunk or high, so he figured, in a way, she was always mad.
“And now you think I’m a nutcase,” she scoffed.
“I didn’t say that,” he mumbled, shouldering his way through the small crowd that was waiting on the walking light. Jeremy chose to chance it.
“You didn’t have to,” she spat back. “You’d be surprised how many things become clear when, you know, you’re dead.”
“I’m not dead,” He growled back.
“Not Yet.”
*~*~*It was the sound of screeching tires that drew him in that direction. Instinctually, he knew it was Jeremy.
“Just great,” Ric groaned. Turning in the opposite direction that he was going, he ran towards the sound, and what he hoped was Jeremy, fine and well.
*~*~*Jeremy couldn’t believe his bad luck.
Well, he certainly knew he had bad luck. He just hadn’t thought it would get any worse.
He was, of course, wrong.
“Not Yet,” Vickie had said.
He had turned his head to glare at her, but instead found her looking away from him. And towards an approaching vehicle.
It was moving faster than him. He tried to get out of its way, but he just couldn’t do it.
Luckily, the guy’s breaks worked overtime.
Jeremy was struck from the side, just enough to send him to the ground. His elbow banged first against the concrete, and if it hadn’t been for the jacket, he was pretty sure he would be scrapped up.
The driver hopped out of the vehicle as Jeremy was getting back up.
“Hey kid, you alright?” the man asked him.
“Yeah,” scoffed Jeremy. “Great driving, guy!”
“Aren’t you just a sweetie?” laughed Vickie.
The man however, stopped looking concerned and instead looked startled and pissed.
“Listen kid, I had the green light.”
“And that gives you the right to drive around recklessly?” glared Jeremy.
“What are you? High or something?” the guy asked, angered that this kid was talking to him with such disregard.
“Hey! Fuck off, jackass,” Jeremy spat back.
“You know what?” and the guy started pulling out his cell phone. “You, boy, need some serious help.”
“I’m not the one running into people,” Jeremy frowned back. “What about you? You drunk or something?”
The looked angered now. He turned, lowering his cell phone, and was likely going to unleash a myriad of insults and curses to this fresh kid - when Ric arrived.
“Jeremy!”
Jeremy watched as Ric walked passed the crowd of people now crossing the street.
“What happened?!” Ric came to stand beside them. “Jer? You okay?”
“Oooo,” Vickie shook her head, walking around the three men. But only Jeremy could take note. “Looks like you’ve upset someone else today, Gilbert.”
“Your son here?” the man jabbed a finger in Jeremy’s direction. “Walked right into the street. And he has the nerve to question if I was drunk driving!”
“Well this jerk’s saying I was drugged up!”
“Jeremy,” sighed Ric. “Look sir,” he turned towards the man. “I’m sorry about all of this. I’m sure you’ve got to get going.
“As long as your car is fine, I’d like to take him and get him checked out.”
“I’m fine, Ric,” Jeremy rolled his eyes.
Ric turned and glared at Jeremy, who took a step back at the intensity. This was a sight different than the man he had been sharing lunch with.
The man turned and looked at his car. It didn’t even have a scratch on it. With a deep, calming breath, he turned and conceded to Ric with a nod.
“Alright, okay,” he pocketed his cell phone. “Though, I think you need to get his head checked more than anything. Kid looks fine to me, but,” and he started to shook his head.
Ric nodded and too looked at Jeremy with mild disdain.
“Yeah,” sighed Ric. “I get what you mean.”
The man gave them both a look over. He seemed to consider what was being said, and with a heavy sigh turned and walked to his car.
*~*~*Alaric grabbed Jeremy by the arm, leading him to the other end of the street. It was more like dragging, and Ric couldn’t believe that Jeremy was turning into this kind of kid. He barely knew the teen that was beside him.
“What are you doing?” Jeremy asked him as he was still left holding onto him, leading him back towards the restaurant and his car.
“Well, I can’t exactly trust that you’re not going to run off on me again, can I?”
“Ric,” groaned Jeremy. “Come on.”
“Keep walking, Jeremy,” Ric said, not bothering to look back at him. “I’m not in the mood to deal with you just yet.”
*~*~* “And that’s my cue to scram,” Vickie laughed. She skipped ahead of them, turned to wave her fingers goodbye at him. And disappeared.
“Unbelievable,” muttered Jeremy.
“Well, yeah,” remarked Ric. “But, there you have it.”
“What did you do?” came Anna’s soft voice.
“Oh, come on!” groaned Jeremy, looking over his shoulder to see Anna dashing to keep up.
“You know what,” Ric stopped, pulling Jeremy close to his side. “I could really use a hell of a lot less attitude from you right now, Jeremy. And trust me, you do not want to make me madder than I am. Got it?”
Jeremy nodded. He glanced over at Anna, but said nothing else to her. She looked terrible, well worried, and he wondered how much she knew about what was going on.
“Sorry,” he said, though he wasn’t certain to which one he was talking to.
*~*~*Getting to the car, Ric opened the backseat and tried not to shove the teen inside.
Once inside the car, he tried to remind himself that he was trying to help Jeremy. The Gilberts had suffered through a lot of things in the past few years. The two remaining Gilberts were just kids.
He really didn’t know what he thought he was going to do, but he knew that he couldn’t just leave Jeremy, either of them, to their own resources.
“I think,” Alaric said getting the car in gear. He wasn’t ever sure where he had ended up leaving their burgers. “We should head home. You and I have a lot to talk about.”
*~*~*Ric couldn’t help pacing. It was driving Jeremy a bit insane, but he wasn’t about to say anything.
Anna was standing, quietly, watching from the corner.
“And to just walk off like that!” Ric was lecturing him. “I mean what were you thinking! That wasn’t exactly Mystic Falls, Jeremy! You don’t know every street corner and avenue and everyone you meet isn’t going to be a lifelong friend!
“I’m not a baby either,” he retaliated. “I’m sixteen.”
“Oh! Is that the going age for stupidity now? Because it sure ain’t for adulthood! I’m responsible for you, Jere! I took you out of school, took you for lunch, with the further understanding that I would be watching out for you!”
“I don’t need you over my shoulder all the time, Ric!” he leaned forward, angry words spewing out.
Anna looked startled. And it was kind of a funny thought. What was she worried about? After all, thought Jeremy, she was already dead.
“Well, you need someone!” Ric spat back. “And I’m all you’ve got!”
“Well I don’t need you! Jeremy yelled, getting to his feet.
Hours later, he would probably think back and try to rationalize this better. Maybe he was talking more to Anna, and Vickie, than to Ric. Maybe he was even talking to his parents, and Jenna, and everyone else who had ever left him.
But that wasn’t how Ric saw it.
Jeremy wasn’t sure what did it. Why either. One moment, he was ready to shoulder pass Alaric, and then next he was right back on the couch.
Except that this time, he wasn’t sitting on the couch. Ric was. And Jeremy was positioned over Ric.
“The hell!” he managed to yell out. He had never, ever been in this position before. Even as southern as they were, his parents had never even thought of laying a hand on him. Elena and he had fought growing up, and she was - up until really almost two years - bigger than him, so he got his ass handed to him a lot.
But to literally have it beat on and dished out against him? He had grown up, hearing threats in school, hearing people’s stories, but never on him before.
Still, he could only think of one thing that Alaric would want to do, placing him over his muscular thighs like that.
And it wasn’t a pretty sight.
“Oh dear!” he heard Anna gasp.
No, no no! he thought. You cannot be here! He cannot be doing this and they can’t watch this!
He wasn’t sure if she left then. Or if she left at all. Maybe Anna just walked away.
And just maybe, as the position went from awkward to holy-shit-that-hurts, he no longer really cared.
“Ric!”
“I’ve had it!” Ric was saying, laying down smack after smack. “Your attitude. Your rudeness. Your self-imposed seclusion. Hell,” Ric stopped for a moment. “You haven’t showered in a week, Jeremy! And believe me, we’ve noticed!”
“Alright, you’re mad,” Jeremy gritted, closing his eyes as the smacks resumed. “You have every right to be!”
“I know I do!” Ric tightened his arm around Jeremy’s waist. “I do. Your sister does. Your friends don’t know whether to help you out, or get out of your way! You’re pissing everyone off, Jeremy - and that’s not like you. Not. One. Bit!”
“JEESH!” Jeremy punched at Ric’s leg. “Ease up will you! Please!”
“No, I don’t think I will,” RIc continued. “You’re teachers have started complaining already! We haven’t even been back a month, and I’m getting stopped in the halls because of your crap ass attitude towards everyone! Hell, if I wasn’t in charge of you, I would have already had to call in someone about you.
“But no! What do I do? I get you out of school! I take you out to lunch! I try to talk to your stubborn, teenaged head - and you run out in front of a car!”
“That’s not how it happened!” Jeremy started kicking out against the assault. (No pun intended.) He couldn’t believe this was still going on. “I get you’re mad! But RIc, you don’t have to hit me for it!”
“I’m not!” Ric stopped with a heavy sigh. He leaned back against the couch cushions and lifted his arms, running them through his hair. “I’m not mad at you.”
Jeremy took the opportunity to push himself off of the position. He wiped at his teary eyes, hissing as his butt came into contact with the couch. He glanced through his eyelashes at RIc.
“I’m not mad at you Jeremy,” he repeated, sounding tired and lost. “I’m worried about you, kid.”
Jeremy used his shirt sleeve to wipe at his eyes, then at his nose. Ric grimaced.
“Dude, get a tissue,” he teased.
“I can’t move,” hiccupped Jeremy. He reached up and wiped more tears from his face.
“Then I guess I did my part right,” Ric reached out and grabbed at Jeremy’s chin. “Kid, I wasn’t trying to hit you or beat you or scare you. I really wasn’t. But, you’ve got me all confused and worried, and honestly - all I could think about, was how much I don’t want to lose you too.
“It might sound strange, or unbelievable - we’ve barely known each other but a few years. But you and Elena? This whole mess that is Mystic Falls? I can’t imagine myself without it. I can’t think of not having that anymore.
“Losing my wife was hard. It damn near crushed me. But losing you? Or Elena? Or even Damon/ I don’t think I could do that.”
“It’s hard,” Jeremy said, looking away from the depths of grief portraying in Alaric’s eyes. “Losing people you love.”
“But at least we got to love them,” Ric patted at his cheek and leaned back against the couch. “That’s what makes it all hurt, but those are the good parts to. You loved them all, and you love so deeply Jeremy. It’s a great thing about you - but you can’t let it end you.”
Jeremy sighed. He glanced over to where he had last seen Anna. She wasn’t there anymore, and he was glad about that.
“You’re right,” he sighed. “I’ve got to get better control of this,” he wiped at his eyes.
Ric smiled. “There’s the thoughtful kid we all love and missed.” Jeremy smiled back. “You okay?”
Jeremy nodded, looking down at his fingers. They were still tinted with the leftover pencil debris from his drawings earlier in the day.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine.”
“Good,” Ric stood up. leaning down to kiss the top of Jeremy’s head. “I know you are. Now, come on. We’ve got to get back there in fifteen minutes.”
Jeremy shook his head, disbelief. “You’re kidding right?”
“Uh uh.”
“Ric! I can’t go to school.”
Ric stopped at the table, grabbing his keys.
“Yeah, baby, you are.”
“I can’t!” he groaned, his eyes going wide.
“Come on,” Ric nudged his head towards the doors. “I’ll even let you lay out in the backseat.”
End.
Fandom: The Vampire Diaries
Prompt: From Jet(ficwriterjet) - Alaric/Jeremy
Summary: As far as Jeremy is concerned, he’s just fine. Everyone else would disagree with him.
Words: 4,621
Characters: Jeremy Gilbert, Alaric Saltzman, Elena Gilbert
Disclaimer: The following includes characters that are not originally mine. Alas, this does me great sorrow, but I will take no claim to them.
As far as Jeremy Gilbert was concerned, he is perfectly fine. Sure, both of his girlfriends are now dead, and his sister is still chasing after vampires that love her, and he’s been left orphaned once again.
Getting ready for school now was strange.
Alaric was sleeping on the couch in their house. Not that Jeremy minded. He knew that the guy was missing his aunt Jenna something fierce too. Probably blamed himself even.
Jeremy certainly knew that feeling.
It was still just the first days of school, and while things were normal, they weren’t normal. Nothing would ever be.
Jeremy didn’t know what was worse, when Elena tried to play “mom” and bagged his lunch, or when Ric tossed them a few bucks as he left them at the school.
He was seriously considered walking himself to school, avoid both scenarios.
“Thanks,” he sighed, taking the five from Ric and slipping out of car.
Elena stayed behind. He just knew they were talking about him. Jeremy isn’t well, they would say. Have you seen how tired he looks, or did you hear him get up again last night?
He knew they talked about him. Elena and Alaric. Elena and Damon. Elena and Bonnie. Most of the kids in his class. They all had something to say about him.
Isn’t he the boytoy of that girl that died? He had already once heard some kids say. Yeah, the other girl replied. Vickie Something. Matt’s sister. And then the conversation would likely turn. Matt Donovan? He’s hot.
But Jeremy didn’t care. They could talk about him. They could even talk about Vickie. And he knew that Matt couldn’t care what anyone was saying about him. He had way too many things to worry about.
And not one of them included the fact that Vickie was still talking to him. How could she? She was still too busy talking to Jeremy. As was Anna.
His dead girlfriends. His dead girlfriends that wouldn’t let him get a moments rest.
All he could do was think about them. Think and remember and feel.
Mom and Dad. Vickie. Anna.
Aunt Jenna.
“Gilbert!”
The loud call of his name and the sharp rap of the pointer on his desk brought Jeremy out of his thoughts.
Looking around, Jeremy spotted an irritated looking Ric before him. And the rest of the kids were glancing at him too. Most giving him odd looks.
He was in Ric’s class now. Or rather, Mr. Saltzman. Fourth period history.
Jeremy couldn’t even remember how he got there.
“Yeah?” Jeremy sighed, trying to get his head out of the clouds. “Sorry.”
But Ric just stared at him for a few moments more.
“See me after class,” he said, before turning around and heading back to the front of the class.
Jeremy sighed, but nodded. Not that Ric saw it. Not that it mattered.
Jeremy looked down at his notebook. Inside of it, he could tell that even subconsciously, he had been initially trying to process what was being taught.
But then, his focus had shifted to Anna. And Vickie. And with them, a lot of memories. Memories he didn’t want. But none of the real ones. The ones that mattered most, wouldn’t help.
“Ooh,” he tried to ignore from beside him. “The serious face. It must be something serious.” She scoffed. She almost always tried to lighten the mood.
But she wasn’t real. She was dead. Anna was dead. And so was Vickie.
And Jeremy was alone.
*~*~*As the bell rang, Alaric focused his attention on the only teen who seemed completely oblivious to the sound.
With a deep, heavy sigh, Ric walked over to the only kid he could feel like was his son. (Yeah, his life was pretty complicated now.)
“You want to tell me what’s going on?”
But Jeremy just sat at his desk, doodling in his notebook.
Alaric sat down in the seat in front of Jeremy, turned to look back and leaning his chin on the rested hands on the desk.
He cleared his throat.
Jeremy barely glanced up and away from the notebook. Then he looked right back down.
“If you think that’s going to be enough to stop me,” Ric said, trying to force action by his tone. “You clearly haven’t gotten to know me as well as I thought you had.”
Jeremy sighed. At least it meant that the kid was listening.
“Jeremy, I know this isn’t exactly easy, kid.”
Jeremy scoffed.
“I know,” he continued, trying to take no offense. (And seriously, he was the parental figure to teenagers. How did that even happen?) “That things are no way near easy right now. You’ve had a lot of people taken from you, and I’m not going to pretend that it’s something you’re supposed to just bounce back from. I know I haven’t.
“But, Jeremy, you can’t just give up.”
“Give up?” Jeremy spat, his pencil markings darkening as he pressed harder down on the instrument. “Yeah, that’s right. I’ve given up.” And he scoffed again.
“Well,” sighed RIc, “you’re not the same kid I met.”
“I was two dead girlfriends, and one dead aunt short of a real personality,” came the sarcastic reply. “Sorry it’s no longer up to your standards.”
Alaric groaned. He leaned back and crossed his arms. There was only so much time that he had to try and get some kind of shakedown out of the kid. And the way he was seeing it, it wasn’t going to happen before his next class.
“Where you headed next?”
Startled by the change of questioning, Jeremy looked up.
“Gym,” he glared, glancing over his shoulder before he kept to his notebook.
“And then lunch,” Ric finished, he was slowly starting to get the whole parenting thing down, at least where school was concerned.
It was something that he could understand. Even the vampire thing he could understand.
Really, things weren’t too hard to understand. They just piled up on top of each other so fast, that he didn’t even know where to begin.
He could only imagine Jeremy was feeling ten times that, what with the teenage mood swings and all.
“Yeah,” came the half reply.
“I have my free period and my lunch period after this on. How about you and me cut out for a little bit?”
That finally got Jeremy’s full attention. Unlike his sister, who seemed to constantly be leaving the school grounds for one thing or another, Jeremy was pretty much relegated to the school. Or the house. Or anywhere else that was not in the middle of things.
Even though the kid wanted nothing more than to be in the middle of things.
“What?”
“A break. Leave the grounds. Have lunch the next town over,” shrugged Alaric.
“Are you serious?” frowned Jeremy.
“No,” he sighed. “I enjoy pulling your leg.”
Jeremy rolled his eyes. It was the most human response Ric had gotten out of him in days.
“Well?”
Jeremy looked back down, and Ric thought that he had lost him. But then he nodded. And Ric had hope.
*~*~*Lunch was a quiet affair.
Jeremy ate only when Alaric prodded him to do so. He had bought the kids the meatiest burger, sides of fried onions and a large coke. The kid would be beaming pleased, if he wasn’t so freaking depressing.
“Jer,” Ric said for the tenth time, placing his own burger down to grab Jeremy’s hand as it continued to dunk his onions into ketchup. “Eat.”
Jeremy sighed. He took the onion and placed it in his mouth. A quick chew and swallow, and he was back to staring at another fried friend.
“Jeremy,” he started. “The whole point of lunch is to eat, kid. So eat.”
“I am eating,” he mumbled, placing another onion into his mouth.
They were sitting in the furthest back corner of the restaurant. Ric would have preferred somewhere closer to the windows, but Jeremy had spoken up with his request to the host before Ric. And it wasn’t such a big deal, it just made Ric notice how far from the happy, helpful kid he had met the teen had fallen.
“You want to tell me what’s up?” Ric said, grabbing a bit from his burger.
“Ric,” he sighed.
“You and I both know what I mean. I didn’t take you here under false pretenses. You need to talk about it, kid. Your sister and I, we need to talk about it. And I’m not saying that we’re some kind of example as to what grieving is like, but we’re there for each other; and we’re there for you too. You’re the only one that’s keeping yourself so closed up.”
“What is there to say,” shrugged Jeremy. “Everyone’s dead and there’s nothing any one of us can do. So there’s nothing to talk about.”
Ric watched as Jeremy picked up his burger and took his second bit in almost seven minutes. Jeremy looked anxious. He kept scanning the room, as if he was expecting someone or something to show up.
Not that Ric didn’t feel the same way. What with Klaus on the loose and all. But he didn’t want to think about all of that. He just wanted to think about Jeremy, and helping this kid that he had taken in as if he was his own.
That didn’t mean he didn’t have a stake up his sleeve and some vervain in little, poppable packets in his pockets.
“There’s a lot to talk about.” Ric tried to keep the conversation tone calm, without making Jeremy feel too crowded. “How you’re feeling, what you’re thinking. There are more than just things left behind when someone you care about dies.” At this, Jeremy looked up and glared at him. “Elena and I have been going through your aunt Jenna’s things. It hasn’t been easy, or quick. I don’t think we’ve done more than one box of things in all of this time, but no one expects us to. No one bounces back so quickly, especially when there’s a lot of thoughts, and feelings to go through.
“When my wife died,” Ric sighed, shaking his head at to those memories. “I won’t lie, I was a wreck. I drank, a lot. A hell of a lot. I missed her, and I blamed myself for a lot of it. I didn’t know a lot of the details, but I started going through her research, and then I started getting answers. And then I started getting mad.”
Ric noticed his hands starting to fist up in anger. It was silly, knowing the things he knew now, but talking about before made him feel them again, like a fresh wound.
“I never would have thought, could have imagined, that I would turn up here and how much my life would change.” Ric grabbed at his own fries. He thought back over the past few years and shook his head.
“I came to Mystic Falls to find and kill Damon,” Ric said. “Did you know that? I found out about him, through her work. And I trained and got ready to kill him. And I thought I was ready. I thought I could take him. And even if I had? Even if I had killed him and hadn’t become friends with the guy; then what? I still wouldn’t have had my wife back.”
“You see Jeremy,” sighed Ric. “It’s not about forgetting them. It’s not about ignoring them. It’s not even about moving on. It’s just about living. Because you’re still alive. They’re not, but you are. There’s nothing we can change about that. You have a long life ahead of you, Jer. And this, this pain and lose you feel, it’s always going to be a part of you. But you can’t let that be the only part of you, kid. You can’t let yourself be reduced to just what you’ve lost.”
“Don’t you get it,” Jeremy sighed, glaring down at his burger. “They took Anna from me. From my arms! I couldn’t stop them, Ric. And Vickie, too. I couldn’t help her. She was just lost, you know? And she got me, she didn’t try and make me something I couldn’t be anymore. She just let me be.
“And Aunt Jenna? And my parents? They were just trying to do the right thing. Take care of us and protect us. And they’re all gone.”
“I know it feels that way, Jeremy-
“Feels that way!” Jeremy scoffed and shook his head. “Everyone’s gone. And if they’re not dead yet - with you and Elena running around, trying to save the city or whatever.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” frowned Ric, ignoring the interruption.
“It means,” Jeremy said, pushing his chair back and moving to stand up. “This is bullshit, RIc. And you know it.”
And he moved quickly to the doors soon after. Alaric would have followed him, but a very quick waitress stopped him to pay the bill.
“Right,” he sighed. Pulling out a few twenty dollar bills. Then he turned and grabbed both of the burgers and placed them on one plate, and walked himself out with it all.
*~*~*Jeremy didn’t know where he was going. He wasn’t even all that mad with Ric. He knew the guy was trying to help. And even though he was a teacher, Saltzman was out of his element being a parent.
“Why are you going so fast, Jere?”
He picked up his pace.
“Oh, are you trying to get away from me?” her sweet voice almost laughed behind him. “That’s sweet Jeremy.”
Taking a sharp corner, Jeremy headed down a busy street.
“Am I supposed to lose you among these people?” she said, right beside him.
“Stop,” he said low digging his hands into his pockets.
“I would stop, but then, you’d keep going,” she nudged his arm with her elbow.
He felt nothing.
“Please,” he glanced quickly at her.
“I just want to talk, Jeremy,” she pouted at him. “Do you know how hard it is to have a decent conversation on the other side? No you don’t!”
“Vickie, please,” he groaned.
“You’re the one that can’t stop thinking about me, Jeremy!” she frowned. “You’re the one that won’t let me go!”
Frowning, Jeremy looked at her. She looked angry. It was rare to see Vickie mad. But most of the time she was drunk or high, so he figured, in a way, she was always mad.
“And now you think I’m a nutcase,” she scoffed.
“I didn’t say that,” he mumbled, shouldering his way through the small crowd that was waiting on the walking light. Jeremy chose to chance it.
“You didn’t have to,” she spat back. “You’d be surprised how many things become clear when, you know, you’re dead.”
“I’m not dead,” He growled back.
“Not Yet.”
*~*~*It was the sound of screeching tires that drew him in that direction. Instinctually, he knew it was Jeremy.
“Just great,” Ric groaned. Turning in the opposite direction that he was going, he ran towards the sound, and what he hoped was Jeremy, fine and well.
*~*~*Jeremy couldn’t believe his bad luck.
Well, he certainly knew he had bad luck. He just hadn’t thought it would get any worse.
He was, of course, wrong.
“Not Yet,” Vickie had said.
He had turned his head to glare at her, but instead found her looking away from him. And towards an approaching vehicle.
It was moving faster than him. He tried to get out of its way, but he just couldn’t do it.
Luckily, the guy’s breaks worked overtime.
Jeremy was struck from the side, just enough to send him to the ground. His elbow banged first against the concrete, and if it hadn’t been for the jacket, he was pretty sure he would be scrapped up.
The driver hopped out of the vehicle as Jeremy was getting back up.
“Hey kid, you alright?” the man asked him.
“Yeah,” scoffed Jeremy. “Great driving, guy!”
“Aren’t you just a sweetie?” laughed Vickie.
The man however, stopped looking concerned and instead looked startled and pissed.
“Listen kid, I had the green light.”
“And that gives you the right to drive around recklessly?” glared Jeremy.
“What are you? High or something?” the guy asked, angered that this kid was talking to him with such disregard.
“Hey! Fuck off, jackass,” Jeremy spat back.
“You know what?” and the guy started pulling out his cell phone. “You, boy, need some serious help.”
“I’m not the one running into people,” Jeremy frowned back. “What about you? You drunk or something?”
The looked angered now. He turned, lowering his cell phone, and was likely going to unleash a myriad of insults and curses to this fresh kid - when Ric arrived.
“Jeremy!”
Jeremy watched as Ric walked passed the crowd of people now crossing the street.
“What happened?!” Ric came to stand beside them. “Jer? You okay?”
“Oooo,” Vickie shook her head, walking around the three men. But only Jeremy could take note. “Looks like you’ve upset someone else today, Gilbert.”
“Your son here?” the man jabbed a finger in Jeremy’s direction. “Walked right into the street. And he has the nerve to question if I was drunk driving!”
“Well this jerk’s saying I was drugged up!”
“Jeremy,” sighed Ric. “Look sir,” he turned towards the man. “I’m sorry about all of this. I’m sure you’ve got to get going.
“As long as your car is fine, I’d like to take him and get him checked out.”
“I’m fine, Ric,” Jeremy rolled his eyes.
Ric turned and glared at Jeremy, who took a step back at the intensity. This was a sight different than the man he had been sharing lunch with.
The man turned and looked at his car. It didn’t even have a scratch on it. With a deep, calming breath, he turned and conceded to Ric with a nod.
“Alright, okay,” he pocketed his cell phone. “Though, I think you need to get his head checked more than anything. Kid looks fine to me, but,” and he started to shook his head.
Ric nodded and too looked at Jeremy with mild disdain.
“Yeah,” sighed Ric. “I get what you mean.”
The man gave them both a look over. He seemed to consider what was being said, and with a heavy sigh turned and walked to his car.
*~*~*Alaric grabbed Jeremy by the arm, leading him to the other end of the street. It was more like dragging, and Ric couldn’t believe that Jeremy was turning into this kind of kid. He barely knew the teen that was beside him.
“What are you doing?” Jeremy asked him as he was still left holding onto him, leading him back towards the restaurant and his car.
“Well, I can’t exactly trust that you’re not going to run off on me again, can I?”
“Ric,” groaned Jeremy. “Come on.”
“Keep walking, Jeremy,” Ric said, not bothering to look back at him. “I’m not in the mood to deal with you just yet.”
*~*~* “And that’s my cue to scram,” Vickie laughed. She skipped ahead of them, turned to wave her fingers goodbye at him. And disappeared.
“Unbelievable,” muttered Jeremy.
“Well, yeah,” remarked Ric. “But, there you have it.”
“What did you do?” came Anna’s soft voice.
“Oh, come on!” groaned Jeremy, looking over his shoulder to see Anna dashing to keep up.
“You know what,” Ric stopped, pulling Jeremy close to his side. “I could really use a hell of a lot less attitude from you right now, Jeremy. And trust me, you do not want to make me madder than I am. Got it?”
Jeremy nodded. He glanced over at Anna, but said nothing else to her. She looked terrible, well worried, and he wondered how much she knew about what was going on.
“Sorry,” he said, though he wasn’t certain to which one he was talking to.
*~*~*Getting to the car, Ric opened the backseat and tried not to shove the teen inside.
Once inside the car, he tried to remind himself that he was trying to help Jeremy. The Gilberts had suffered through a lot of things in the past few years. The two remaining Gilberts were just kids.
He really didn’t know what he thought he was going to do, but he knew that he couldn’t just leave Jeremy, either of them, to their own resources.
“I think,” Alaric said getting the car in gear. He wasn’t ever sure where he had ended up leaving their burgers. “We should head home. You and I have a lot to talk about.”
*~*~*Ric couldn’t help pacing. It was driving Jeremy a bit insane, but he wasn’t about to say anything.
Anna was standing, quietly, watching from the corner.
“And to just walk off like that!” Ric was lecturing him. “I mean what were you thinking! That wasn’t exactly Mystic Falls, Jeremy! You don’t know every street corner and avenue and everyone you meet isn’t going to be a lifelong friend!
“I’m not a baby either,” he retaliated. “I’m sixteen.”
“Oh! Is that the going age for stupidity now? Because it sure ain’t for adulthood! I’m responsible for you, Jere! I took you out of school, took you for lunch, with the further understanding that I would be watching out for you!”
“I don’t need you over my shoulder all the time, Ric!” he leaned forward, angry words spewing out.
Anna looked startled. And it was kind of a funny thought. What was she worried about? After all, thought Jeremy, she was already dead.
“Well, you need someone!” Ric spat back. “And I’m all you’ve got!”
“Well I don’t need you! Jeremy yelled, getting to his feet.
Hours later, he would probably think back and try to rationalize this better. Maybe he was talking more to Anna, and Vickie, than to Ric. Maybe he was even talking to his parents, and Jenna, and everyone else who had ever left him.
But that wasn’t how Ric saw it.
Jeremy wasn’t sure what did it. Why either. One moment, he was ready to shoulder pass Alaric, and then next he was right back on the couch.
Except that this time, he wasn’t sitting on the couch. Ric was. And Jeremy was positioned over Ric.
“The hell!” he managed to yell out. He had never, ever been in this position before. Even as southern as they were, his parents had never even thought of laying a hand on him. Elena and he had fought growing up, and she was - up until really almost two years - bigger than him, so he got his ass handed to him a lot.
But to literally have it beat on and dished out against him? He had grown up, hearing threats in school, hearing people’s stories, but never on him before.
Still, he could only think of one thing that Alaric would want to do, placing him over his muscular thighs like that.
And it wasn’t a pretty sight.
“Oh dear!” he heard Anna gasp.
No, no no! he thought. You cannot be here! He cannot be doing this and they can’t watch this!
He wasn’t sure if she left then. Or if she left at all. Maybe Anna just walked away.
And just maybe, as the position went from awkward to holy-shit-that-hurts, he no longer really cared.
“Ric!”
“I’ve had it!” Ric was saying, laying down smack after smack. “Your attitude. Your rudeness. Your self-imposed seclusion. Hell,” Ric stopped for a moment. “You haven’t showered in a week, Jeremy! And believe me, we’ve noticed!”
“Alright, you’re mad,” Jeremy gritted, closing his eyes as the smacks resumed. “You have every right to be!”
“I know I do!” Ric tightened his arm around Jeremy’s waist. “I do. Your sister does. Your friends don’t know whether to help you out, or get out of your way! You’re pissing everyone off, Jeremy - and that’s not like you. Not. One. Bit!”
“JEESH!” Jeremy punched at Ric’s leg. “Ease up will you! Please!”
“No, I don’t think I will,” RIc continued. “You’re teachers have started complaining already! We haven’t even been back a month, and I’m getting stopped in the halls because of your crap ass attitude towards everyone! Hell, if I wasn’t in charge of you, I would have already had to call in someone about you.
“But no! What do I do? I get you out of school! I take you out to lunch! I try to talk to your stubborn, teenaged head - and you run out in front of a car!”
“That’s not how it happened!” Jeremy started kicking out against the assault. (No pun intended.) He couldn’t believe this was still going on. “I get you’re mad! But RIc, you don’t have to hit me for it!”
“I’m not!” Ric stopped with a heavy sigh. He leaned back against the couch cushions and lifted his arms, running them through his hair. “I’m not mad at you.”
Jeremy took the opportunity to push himself off of the position. He wiped at his teary eyes, hissing as his butt came into contact with the couch. He glanced through his eyelashes at RIc.
“I’m not mad at you Jeremy,” he repeated, sounding tired and lost. “I’m worried about you, kid.”
Jeremy used his shirt sleeve to wipe at his eyes, then at his nose. Ric grimaced.
“Dude, get a tissue,” he teased.
“I can’t move,” hiccupped Jeremy. He reached up and wiped more tears from his face.
“Then I guess I did my part right,” Ric reached out and grabbed at Jeremy’s chin. “Kid, I wasn’t trying to hit you or beat you or scare you. I really wasn’t. But, you’ve got me all confused and worried, and honestly - all I could think about, was how much I don’t want to lose you too.
“It might sound strange, or unbelievable - we’ve barely known each other but a few years. But you and Elena? This whole mess that is Mystic Falls? I can’t imagine myself without it. I can’t think of not having that anymore.
“Losing my wife was hard. It damn near crushed me. But losing you? Or Elena? Or even Damon/ I don’t think I could do that.”
“It’s hard,” Jeremy said, looking away from the depths of grief portraying in Alaric’s eyes. “Losing people you love.”
“But at least we got to love them,” Ric patted at his cheek and leaned back against the couch. “That’s what makes it all hurt, but those are the good parts to. You loved them all, and you love so deeply Jeremy. It’s a great thing about you - but you can’t let it end you.”
Jeremy sighed. He glanced over to where he had last seen Anna. She wasn’t there anymore, and he was glad about that.
“You’re right,” he sighed. “I’ve got to get better control of this,” he wiped at his eyes.
Ric smiled. “There’s the thoughtful kid we all love and missed.” Jeremy smiled back. “You okay?”
Jeremy nodded, looking down at his fingers. They were still tinted with the leftover pencil debris from his drawings earlier in the day.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine.”
“Good,” Ric stood up. leaning down to kiss the top of Jeremy’s head. “I know you are. Now, come on. We’ve got to get back there in fifteen minutes.”
Jeremy shook his head, disbelief. “You’re kidding right?”
“Uh uh.”
“Ric! I can’t go to school.”
Ric stopped at the table, grabbing his keys.
“Yeah, baby, you are.”
“I can’t!” he groaned, his eyes going wide.
“Come on,” Ric nudged his head towards the doors. “I’ll even let you lay out in the backseat.”
End.