Book Three: Ineffable (A. Saltzman)

Chapter Four

Alaric shrugs out of his jacket as he shuts Diana's bedroom door. Letting out a breath he drapes it over the back of her desk chair then kicks off his boots. She is already asleep, not that he blames her. The whole day has been exhausting enough for him let along someone carrying around two tiny people. He undresses for bed and then climbs in. He sighs softly and turns over to embrace Diana but instead....he finds Damon laying there. 

"Arrgh!! Damon!" Alaric shouts and jumps out of bed. Diana jerks awake from her side of the bed, she sits up and sighs a little.

"Oh hey, buddy" Damon greets, his arms behind his head, comfy in Diana's bed.

"No" Alaric scolds. "I'm not doing this with you again" Alaric grabs Damon's ankle and then yanks, trying to pull him out of bed. "It's been too long a day....and I just want to sleep with my wife"

"No" Damon pouts and grabs the bed frame to hold on and then realizes what Alaric said. "Wait....what?" he asks.

"Oh, this bodes well for the terrible twos" Diana mumbles touching her bump as she envisions Alaric wrestling with toddlers who want to sleep in their bed. It's going to be hilarious. 

"Damon" Alaric warns him. "Let go of the bed"

"No" Damon shakes his head, petulantly.

"Ric" Diana stops him, she gives him a look, Alaric drops Damon's foot and gives her a look back.

"Coddling," He tells her as he motions between her and Damon.

"Something's wrong" She counters as she touches Damon's shoulder. "Damon?" he looks at her and lets out a breath. "What happened?" she asks him.

"Andie's dead" Damon admits, both Diana and Alaric stare at him. "Yeah, Stefan...killed her....." Diana and Alaric share a look. "He's supposed to be the good brother...." he argues. "What the hell?" he asks them. Alaric sighs.

"I'll get the whiskey" He offers, Diana hums in agreement. Damon stares at her, she turns to him.

"He called you his wife" Damon points out, she nods.

"Yeah, he did" She mumbles, he raises an eyebrow. "Slip of the tongue, he's tired...it happens" He narrows his eyes at her, she stares back at him with steely unwavering eyes. "I'm going to help Ric" She states and climbs out of bed, Damon frowns at her as she flees the room.

.........

Diana pads into the kitchen where Alaric is opening the glass cupboard, he looks at her and shrugs a little noting her expression.

"It just slipped out" He offers as he grabs a couple of glasses from the cupboard, she shoots him a look and presses her finger to her lips and then points upstairs. "I wasn't even thinking" he whispers. "I'm tired" he adds, she moves closer to him.

"Okay...this is what we're going to do..." She takes the bottle of whiskey from the counter and holds it out to him. "You are going to get Damon so drunk he won't remember that you called me your wife...."

"That's your plan?" he asks her.

"Do you have a better one?" She counters, they share a look, he sighs and then shakes his head.

"No" He answers and takes the bottle from her. He leans closer and kisses her before grabbing the glasses and heading upstairs. Diana touches her bump and takes a deep breath.

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

Diana steps over a sleeping Damon on her bedroom floor to get to her bed where Alaric sits waiting for her, she raises an eyebrow at him in question, he shrugs, they won't know if Damon forgot until the morning, he pats the bed next to him and she smiles and climbs in with him. He curls around her back, his hand resting protectively over her bump. He kisses her head and closes his eyes. The two of them falling asleep curled into one another.

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

Diana wakes before Alaric and slips out of bed, she glances to the floor where Damon had been the night before but he's gone. She sighs a little and then heads for the bathroom.

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

Alaric groans and buries his head into the pillows as someone knocks on Diana's bedroom door, too early in the morning to deal with this, plus Damon insisted that they both drink rather than just Damon. Diana touches his back and then climbs out of bed to see who's knocking on her door. Diana opens the door to find that it is Elena on the other side.

"Since when do you knock?" Diana asks as she leans in the doorway.

"I'm adulting" Elena answers. "I need you to tell me what you know about Stefan and Tennessee." Alaric wakes more now, he glances at Diana.

"Elena" Diana scolds.

"I know you know more..." Elena counter. "Come on, Di. Whatever Damon knows, you know."

"Ask Damon." Diana counters.

"Yeah, but Damon's not exactly in the mood to help right now."

"For good reason. Because it's not safe for you. Stefan's off the rails."

"Yeah, but he's still holding on to his humanity, which means he can still be saved," Elena tells her.

"And why do you have to be the one to save him?"

"Because he would never give up on me. If anyone understands that, Di...it's you," Diana groans at the tactic Elena is using here. "I'm not gonna give up on him," Elena firmly tells her. "Tell me what you know, Di. Please." Elena begs of her. Diana takes a breath and closes her eyes as she considers this.

"Fine" Diana lets out. "They've been tracking werewolves, he and Klaus. All over the eastern seaboard. We thought we had them outside of Memphis..." She admits and then sighs. "Look...if you want in, fine, but tomorrow...because me and Ric have our gender scan scheduled for today....and we've already rescheduled it once, I'm not doing it again" Diana gives her a look. "This is important to us" Elena nods a little. "And I know Stefan is important to you too, but just give us today"

"Okay," Elena whispers.

"Thank you" Diana counters.

"Can I come with you?" Elena asks her. "Just..." Diana glances at Alaric who shrugs a little. "Think it might take my mind off of everything with Stefan, and whatever is going on with Jeremy" she motions behind her at Jeremy's bedroom door. Diana hums in agreement that something is going on with their little brother. "And put it on something good. Something exciting"

"We'd love for you to join us" Alaric admits, Elena smiles. 

"Thanks, Ric" Elena tells him. 

"It's at 12" Diana offers to Elena. "Be ready or you'll get left behind" Elena nods and moves away from the door, Diana sighs and closes the door.