The Salvatore Jewel

Chapter 20

After finding out what happened with Jeremy, Ellie grew distant from him since she was upset that he had broken his promise to her. She was too afraid to find out about what happened to her other friends but she eventually did find out through Matt. The teenage girl sat in a booth with Matt across from her as she worked on her homework. Matt took a deep breath and said, "So, have you talked to Jeremy yet?" Ellie sighed and replied, "I really don't know if I'm going to, Matt. He broke a promise. He promised me that he wouldn't use drugs again and he broke it. I'm just not ready yet." Matt nodded in understanding and said, giving Ellie a look, "Don't wait to talk to him forever, El. You guys have feelings for each other. *Ellie looked at him with a raised eyebrow* You guys may not see it but I do and so does everyone else. I know love when I see it. You just have to take the chance and never let it go before it's too late." Ellie only stared at Matt with disbelief and sighed. Matt noticed that his break was over and said to Ellie, "Well, my break's over. If you want, you and I can just go and hang out somewhere later when my shift ends." Ellie didn't respond but nodded, since shew as taking in what Matt had told her. Matt gave Ellie a comforting smile and pat her shoulder gently as he stood to work his next shift. Ellie decided to continue her stay at the Mystic Grill, knowing that if her friends tried to get her to be friends again with Jeremy and she didn't want to, Matt would step in to defend her.

Just as she predicted, Caroline came in with Bonnie close behind her and made their way over to Ellie. Caroline instantly took the spot Matt was once in and said to Ellie, "What happened between you and Jeremy? Bonnie and I just met Jeremy on our way through town and he said that you knew." Ellie sighed and replied, as she tried to focus on getting her homework finish, "Not now, Caroline. I have a lot of homework and most of it is due in two days. This is also a subject I do not want to talk about right now." Matt then took notice of Caroline trying to get Ellie to talk about what happened and made his way over to the three girls. Matt cleared his throat and said, "Caroline, Ellie has a lot on her plate right now and she's just not ready to forgive and forget yet." Caroline stared at Matt with shock but turned back to look at her best friend to see that she really did look a little stressed out. The blonde haired girl finally nodded and left the grill with Bonnie, who gave Ellie a sympathetic smile. Ellie turned and gave Matt a small smile as a thanks, which he returned with a smile. Matt went back to his shift, leaving Ellie to finish working on her homework. While Ellie was working on her homework, she realized that she hadn't received a worried text or call from her father recently. The teenager began to connect the dots when she thought about her uncle kept walking out of the basement with a solemn look on his face and how her dad hasn't been around. Her eyes widened and she quickly gathered her belongings. Matt noticed this and said, walking over to her since his shift was finished, "You okay, Ellie?" Ellie held her backpack strap on her shoulder and replied, "I should've seen the signs. Dad hasn't been around and I haven't gotten a text from him, or a call." Matt's eyes widened and said, grabbing his jacket, "Here, I'll go with you."

With that, Matt and Ellie raced to the Salvatore Boardinghouse to find that Stefan wasn't around. Ellie raced inside to the basement, with Matt close behind her. Ellie stopped in her tracks when she found her father in a cell as if he was some criminal. Matt stopped behind her and his heart dropped when he saw his friend's distraught look. Ellie rushed over to the cell and said, trying to get her father to wake up, "Dad. It's me, Ellie. Matt and I are going to get you out of here." Matt said to Ellie, not finding any keys, "Ellie, I don't see any keys." Ellie sighed and ran her hand through her brown hair. A moan sounded from the cell and a voice said, "Ellie?" Ellie raced over to her father and replied, smiling, "Yeah, Daddy. It's me. We're going to get you out of here and you'll be okay. Okay?" Damon groaned and muttered, weakly, "Okay." All this time, Matt was looking for a key but wasn't having any luck. Ellie came up with an idea and decided to go search her uncle's room. She opened the door quietly and popped her head through the door crack, to make sure that her uncle wasn't in there. The teenage girl then stepped into the room, scanning over the area. Ellie then spotted a key on her uncle's nightstand and went to grab it. Just as she grabbed it, the door to her uncle's bathroom door opened and Stefan walked out, after taking a shower. Ellie raced back down to the basement where she found Matt trying to break the key lock by force. Matt turned to Ellie and said to her, "Did you find a key?" Ellie nodded and replied, "Yeah but we have to be quick. Uncle Stefan was in the bathroom when I grabbed the key. He'll be down in here any minute." Ellie unlocked the cell and grabbed her father, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. Matt said, "Here, let me. I'll be able to get him out faster than you. You stay back and distract Stefan."

Ellie nodded and quickly raced out of the basement to find her uncle in the kitchen. Stefan saw Ellie walk into the kitchen and turned to face her. He smiled and said to Ellie, "Hey, El. What are you doing?" Ellie smiled, almost forcefully, and replied, "Oh, nothing. I thought I left my sketchbook in the kitchen and I came to look for it and I was hoping you can help me look for it." Stefan shrugged his shoulders and said, "Sure." As the two were looking for Ellie's 'missing sketchbook', Matt carried Damon outside of the house, nodding at Ellie. Ellie let out a loud sighed and replied, "Well, no luck. Thanks though, Uncle Stefan. I just remembered that I was supposed to meet Matt at the grill so I'm gonna go ahead and leave." Stefan raised his eyebrow and said, "Okay.........have fun?" Ellie waved goodbye at her uncle before rushing over to Matt who had just got her father into his car. Ellie got into the front passenger seat and said to him, "How's he doing?" Matt pulled out of the driveway and replied, "Not good. He needs blood and fast. Don't the Mikaelsons have some blood or something?" Ellie said, "I don't know but I'll send Rebekah a text." She did just that and they headed over to the Mikaelsons where they were greeted by Rebekah. Rebekah came running over to Ellie, with a blood bag in hand, and said to the girl, "Care to explain to me what's going on?" Ellie took the blood bag and replied, "I'll explain once we get my dad better. Now, come over here and help us." Rebekah sighed but helped Matt carried the older unconscious Salvatore into the house. Matt carefully placed Damon on the couch in the living room and moved out of the way when Ellie came running over to him. Matt and Rebekah both moved out of the way to give Ellie and her father some space as Ellie fed her father the blood from the blood bag.

As Ellie gave the blood from the bag to her father, Damon's eyes slowly opened and immediately placed his hand on Ellie's throat, thinking that she was Stefan. Ellie let out a scream and said, "Dad, it's me! It's Ellie!" Matt went to step forward to help Ellie but was stopped by Rebekah. Damon's hold on Ellie loosened and his eyes widened when he saw that it was indeed Ellie instead of his idiot of a younger brother. Ellie started to cough once the pressure on her throat was gone. Damon sighed in relief and said, "Oh, my God. Ellie, are you okay? I thought you were Stefan." Ellie nodded and replied, "I'm okay, Dad. It's not your fault." Damon brought his daughter into his arms and smiled. Ellie released from the embrace a couple minutes later and said to her father, "Dad, why did Uncle Stefan put you in a basement?" Damon replied, "He thought he was doing the right thing. I was out of control with my killings." Ellie crossed her arms and said, "And you realize that we have blood bags all over the house." Damon smirked and replied, "Come on, El. Can't your old man have a little bit of fun?" Ellie raised her eyebrow and said, "Not if it means killing almost the entire town. One part of me believes that maybe Uncle Stefan did the right thing by putting you in that cell but another part of me believes that there was another way of doing this." Damon's smirk fell and replied, "Where is your dear uncle anyways?" Ellie turned to look at Matt then turned to Damon and said, "If my prediction is correct, he's at home and had just realized that you are out of the cell and will probably send me a text or call, asking if I had anything to do with your disappearance." Just as she said that, the brunette girl's phone went off and she turned to see that it was a text from Stefan, asking about Damon. Before Ellie could continue, Damon disappeared in a blink of an eye. The teenage girl let out a frustrated groan, standing from the couch. She turned to Matt and said to him, "I've got to get to the mansion before Dad and Uncle Stefan kill themselves." Matt nodded and replied, "Let me come with you." With that, Matt and Ellie raced out of the house and quickly got into Matt's car. Rebekah still stood in the living room and said, appalled, "And no one ever thought to thank me. Wow."