Book One: Panacea (A. Saltzman)

Chapter Forty-Five

Alaric frowns at Damon and Diana as he processes what she's just told him. Derek doesn't remember what he's done to them, doesn't remember the hurt he's caused. Alaric doesn't buy it. He looks at Diana and shakes his head a little.

"What do you mean he doesn't remember anything?" Alaric asks Diana. She sighs a little and crosses her arms over her chest.

"The first thing he asked me when he woke up was....'when did you get back from Athens?'" She answers.

"So he's faking it" Alaric offers. "Come on, Diana, he has to be faking it"

"He's not" She counters.

"And you are so sure he is telling the truth?" he asks her. "That this isn't just some part of it, some part of...."

"Yes, I know" She stops him. "I know he's telling the truth," she tells Alaric who frowns at her.

"Diana" He whispers. "Your loyalty to your friends is...it's admirable and I know you still care about him"

"This is not about that" she stops him.

"Diana" Damon states, she rolls her eyes and looks at him. The two of them share a look, she lets out a breath and nods a little before she turns back to Alaric. She has to show him. It's time to let him know about that part of her. She presses her fingers to Alaric's forehead and concentrates. Shows him everything that happened at camp, minus the powers and the demon aspect, she's not ready to share that part of her life with these people. With any of them. She shows him her memories of him. All the times they spent together from her point of view. He pulls back with a gasp and looks at her, stares at her really, because he can't believe this. She gives him a sad smile and shrugs.

"Telepathy" She explains wiggling her fingers. Alaric frowns at her.

"Yy-you read minds?" he asks her.

"It's more complicated than that...but sure" She answers. "And not unless they let me" She counters. "I never do it without permission" She assures him. "Unless they are vampires...or unconscious" She explains and motions to Derek. "And you...just then, but I didn't read...I was showing you..."

"What else?" Alaric asks Diana, she takes a breath. "What else are you keeping from us?"

"I wasn't keeping it from you" She defends. "It's my life, my story, who I am...I don't owe you, or him" She motions to Damon. "Or Elena this. There is a reason people don't know about people like me, Ric" she points out. "That reason usually comes with bullets and pain" She and Alaric stare at one another, it's the first time she's almost lost her temper with him, and she's right. She doesn't owe him an answer about who she is. He knows who she is. He likes who she is.

"Di?" Derek asks. She turns to Derek who watches them with a frown. "Are you an alien?" she smirks a little.

"No" She whispers and moves towards him. "Aliens aren't real" She offers as she takes a seat on the coffee table in front of him, he glances between the three of them and then settles on Diana.

"Did I do something?" he asks her. "Hurt you?" he adds, Diana shrugs a little and looks down.

"It's okay, Derek" She whispers. She knows it wasn't his fault, it wasn't him, not really. Someone made him do those things to her and to Alaric. Someone else is at fault here. Derek is another victim.

"How is it okay?" he argues.

"It wasn't your fault" she assures him.

"I still did it" he counters sadly. "I'm so sorry, Di" she places her hand over his and he leans forward so he can press his forehead to hers, his hand against the side of her neck. It's something from their childhood. Something they used to do to comfort one another. Alaric watches them together, his jaw tight with his barely held jealousy. He knows, he knows they have a history, they were friends, since children, of course, there is always going to be something between them.

..............

Damon joins Diana in the kitchen as she tidies up a little. He cocks his head a little and then jumps up to sit on the counter. She moves to the fridge and opens it up, reaches inside, and pulls out a beer.

"You ever seen that sort of memory thing before?" Damon asks her.

"Yeah" She answers. "Never come across at it at this level though" she adds as she hands Damon the beer, he frowns at the bottle as he takes it. "No whiskey in the house, drank it all over the holidays" she points out. "I mean it's empty, his mind is completely void of anything from the last....6 months, like...someone plucked those memories out of his head, and they did it on purpose"

"They knew you'd check" Alaric points out from the doorway. Diana glances at him.

"Derek's not X," Diana tells him. "Or he is and there is someone else behind him, pulling the strings...." she lets out a shaky breath. Alaric gives Damon a look and Damon smirks in response before he nods.

"I should go" Damon states as he slides off the counter.

"You don't have to" Diana assures him.

"I need to get back and check on Stefan anyway" Damon admits as he sets the now empty beer bottle down.

"How's he doing?" She asks, Damon blows a raspberry and shrugs. She shoots him a look.

"Don't worry about it" He tells her and then leaves.

"Yeah, cause that makes me not worry about it" She mumbles and looks at Alaric. "I'm sorry," she tells him. "This is all my fault....with Derek....and...." She shakes her head. "It's not even over" she turns and leans on the counter. He touches the small of her back and she lets out a heavy breath. They both thought it was over with Derek. But it's not. And they have no lead, no clue as to whole the real X is. "They are still out there" he leans closer and kisses her neck. She lets out a shaky breath and turns to face him.

"So we just have to wait a little longer" he offers, she frowns at him.

"I'm not going to ask you to wait, Ric" she counters. "This is my mess, my problem, my burden" She lets out a breath.

"I'll wait" he assures her, her eyes lifting to his. "I think you're amazing, even..." he touches her head. "Even with the whole...mind-reading thing. Because even for us, that's weird" She nods in agreement. They both just stand there a moment, staring at one another. Being close. And not touching one another. Not being closer. It's hard. They both jump a little with a sharp crashing noise from the living room.

"Sorry!" Derek shouts. "I was being nosy; knocked over some books" he admits and then falls silent again. Alaric lets out a breath.

"We can't really be mad at him" she admits, he nods. He knows. He feels more sorry for Derek then he feels mad at him, he's mad at the person who made Derek do those things. "Don't get me wrong, I'm still angry, just...I don't know who to be angry at anymore" He gives her a small smile and leans closer, lips brushing over hers. She lifts her hand to his chest. "Ric" She stops him with her hand on his chest. He lets out a breath. "If you...are going to wait, if we are going to wait, then I think....we should be friends" She offers. "Just friends....for now, until all of this is dealt with" she takes a shaky breath as her own emotions catch up with her. "I...Just..."

"Okay," he stops her, sees that she's struggling with this but he understands. He doesn't like it but he agrees. They can be friends. He thought a lot about how this conversation would turn out, with Derek as X the threat had gone, he and she could have tried again, but they can't. X hasn't been dealt with. They are still out there. Still a threat to her life. To his job. To them. To everything. He hugs her to his chest, his arms around her. Right now, she needs someone to hug her. To hold her. "It's okay" he whispers and kisses her head. "We'll find them" he promises her.