ALMOST IS NEVER ENOUGH | TVD [4]

IX • COLD AS ICE

nine. cold as ice

Mystic Falls Cemetery

Night has fallen at some point shortly after Lillian Salvatore's permanent death, and Damon, Isaac and Stefan are silently carrying Lily's coffin to the family plot where they have dug a hole to bury her. They join Nora and Valerie, the latter of whom has a bouquet of white flowers in her hands.

Damon looks unimpressed, "Well, this it? This the whole funeral party?"

Isaac looks directly at Nora indifferently, "Where's your girlfriend?"

Nora replied uncomfortably at the casual mention, "Not your concern."

"Trouble in paradise?" The icy blue-eyed vampire said in amusement.

"What about Julian? Where is he?" The twenty-three-year-old one asked.

Nora looks even more uncomfortable at the mention of the abusive man, though she gives them a purely unamused look, "I haven't heard from either of them in days. I sided with Lily, or did you forget?"

Valerie, feeling badly for Nora, cuts in before Damon can make any more comments, "It's just us." She looks over at the coffin holding their surrogate mother's deceased body, "Beau couldn't bring himself to say goodbye."

"I'm sure he just couldn't find the right words to say." Damon chuckles at his own joke before walking toward Lily's casket to place it in her grave, "Alright. Let's get her done."

"Wait. We should say something." Isaac reminded them of an eulogy.

"Yeah, you're right." Stefan sided with him, nodding a little.

Damon rolls his icy blue eyes at this reminder, "No, we shouldn't."

"Yes, we should." Nora insisted, truly appalled by Damon's behavior and walks over to Lily's grave and stands in front of it before making her eulogy, "When I was a girl, I loved my mother deeply. She loved me too, until she found out about my little siphoning problem. If she only knew that was just one of the things that made me different. When she turned her back on me, I thought I'd never find that kind of love again. You proved me wrong. Thank you, Lily. I'll never forget you." She pauses before walking away.

Damon impatiently gestures for the others to get on with it, "Next."

Valerie walks over to the coffin to say her last goodbye, "You knew me at my brightest and my darkest. No matter what my mood, you always saw the light in me. Thank you." She reaches out and touches the wooden coffin lid with her right hand, "I'll miss you, Lily." She nervously holds up her small bouquet of white flowers, and Stefan smiles weakly at the gesture.

"Cream violets. You remembered."

Valerie smiles weakly at him in return, "Of course I did."

His weak smile remains, "Thank you."

Valerie walks over to join Nora, "We'll leave you three."

The two Heretics walk away to leave for the night together to grieve, leaving Damon to look expectantly at his emotional brother, "Well?"

"How many times do you get a second chance to deliver your mother's eulogy?" Stefan mentioned, "And another chance for you to skip it."

"Good point, brother. How's this?" Damon clears his throat dramatically before leaning forward toward Lily's coffin, "Lily, you were a terrible mother when you were alive, and you were a terrible mother when you were dead." He smiles and straightens up, looking over at the both very unimpressed Stefan and Isaac with a smirk, "You're right! It does feel good. Huh."