The Saltzman Girl// Sequel to The Other Gilbert Girl

Bad Moon Rising

A/N: Above is an adorable photo of Kaylee and Danielle at the LAPride parade a few days ago. Just blessing your feed...

I grab my bag and make my way down the stairs and outside.
     "Hey, wait for me!" I yell at them.
    "Oh, Phoebe." Elena says and looks to Ric and Stefan. "You honestly really don't want to come. It'll be a boring day of packing stuff up." Elena tells me.
    "Are you kidding. Ric's my dad, and his wife, Isobel, was my mom. And she was some super cool chick who studied the supernatural. I want to see her life's work. Plus if Elena gets to go I should be able to go to, right Ric?" I ask him. He looks back at Elena then at me.
   "I mean I guess." He says.
   "Cool." I say and hop in the car in the seat behind Ric. "I brought snacks." I say as I hold up my bag, Ric smiles at me from the front. I put in my headphones and turn on my music.

   "So Isobel was officially employed by the anthropology department given that most paranormal phenomena is rooted in folklore." Ric explains to us.
   "That's so cool." I say and smile and him.
   "Excuse me. Hi, I'm Alaric Saltzman. I called earlier." He says to a women behind the desk.
   "Yes. Of course. I'm Vanessa Monroe, research assistant--comparative folklore. Let me just grab Isobel's keys." She tells us.
   "I'm sorry. These are my friends Elena and Damon. And my uh--" He stops as he looks at me.
   "Daughter. Phoebe." I tell her and give Ric a smile and he returns it.
   "Yes. I hope this isn't too much of an imposition." He tells her.
    "Please. Isobel's office is right through there." She says.
    "Actually, where could I find a restroom?" I ask her.
    "Oh um, down that hall, on the left." She tells me.

After I'm done peeing I wash my hands. I wish Damon wasn't right about drinking all that Mt Dew on the way here. I go out and make my way into Isobel's office.
    "Oh my god, There's so much research here. How did she find so much on stuff that didn't exist?" I ask out loud.
    "You don't believe in the paranormal?" Isobel's assistant asks me.
    "I mean, no offense to your work or anything but no I don't. I'm kinda just here to learn more about Isobel herself if I'm being honest." I tell her and Elena takes her away to ask something. I start to look around at books. I find one with a lather binding. I take it and open it up.

Dear Diary,
    
     I met up with NM again tonight. I'm glad Beks introduced us. We went down and traveled the caves. I love traveling all the hidden places in the village. NM knows all the best places, claiming it's because he's lived here longer.

Dear Diary,
 
     I had dinner with NM and his family. It isn't the first time but it's different now that we're seeing each other. He's different, he doesn't tease me as much anymore. E found out and NM says we can trust him. I just don't know what I would do if their mom found out. She doesn't like me like their father does.

    "Hey, what'd you find?"  Vanessa asks walking over to me.
   "I'm not sure. It looks like a journal of some sorts." I tell her.
    "Oh yeah. We actually have a few more that we determined were by the same person. We got them and they were threaded together so we actually got them binding done ourselves. They're the journals of Naomi Deighton. We think she lived her with the first settlers but we're not certain. I can get the rest of them if you'd like?" She asks.
    "Yeah that would be great." I tell her and she goes off to get the rest. She comes back a few minutes later with a stack of about 8 books.
    "Wow, she really did journal." I say in surprise.
    "Yeah, she did have a lot to write. I don't think I looked these over more than once. You're welcome to keep them if you'd like. I'm sure Isobel would like you to have them." She tells me.
   "Thanks. Have any idea what order these go in?" I ask her.
    "Yes, actually we do. Lucky for us she actually numbered her journals. There's 9 so you have to look through but on the bottom of each page is a number and then they keep going throughout the books. Naomi made it real simple." She tells me. I thank her again and put them in my bag. I spend the rest of the evening looking for anything else that speaks to me. When we get ready to leave I walk ahead and give Ric some privacy to say thanks to Vanessa. He says goodbye and catches up with me.
    "I think she likes you." I tell him and he just laughs. "I find it cute, she has a little crush on my dad." I say bumping my shoulder into his as we walk. He stops and turns to face me.
    "You can call me that, ya know. You don't just have to refer to me as your dad. You can call me it, when your ready." He tells me.
    "Thanks, but I'm kind of still getting used to referring to you as my dad. I just don't think I'm ready. But... It's nice to know that when I'm ready I can." I tell him with a smile and he smiles a genuine smile back and we walk to the car.

When I get home I take a shower and when I walk back into my room, Hunter is laying on my bed. Asleep. I smile and walk over to him. I shake his shoulder and he wakes up.
    "Hey, I was waiting.. and I must have fallen asleep." He tells me as he wakes up and I laugh. "Hey! You take long showers okay." He says with a laugh. "So how was it today? See anything good?" He asks me and I go over to his bag and pull out the first journal of Naomi.
   "Actually, Yeah. There are these journals that this girl, Naomi Deighton wrote. There's like 9 of them and the later ones like 7,8 and 9 are about her and this person KM. And I don't know much of anything else because I only skimmed but I can't wait to read them." I tell him and lay down next to him.
     "That's good. And your mother, Isobel, she had these?" He asks.
     "Yeah, and her assistant, Vanessa, gave them to me. She said that Isobel would have wanted me to have them." I tell him with a bigger smile. "I feel like I have something that was hers. You know? It was apart of her research and now it's mine." I explain and lay my head on his chest.
    "I'm glad. You deserve to feel connected to her."  He tells me.
    "Can you stay the night?" I ask him.
   "Will Jenna care?" He asks.
   "Nah, Ric might though. He asked me to call him Dad today." I tell him.
   "Really?" He asks and I go into it with him.