Book Three: Ineffable (A. Saltzman)

Chapter Twenty-Four

Alaric yawns a little as he moves towards the bedroom he shares with Diana. He was surprisingly the first one awake, Diana and the babies have been waking up before 5am every morning since she hit her third trimester but it seems to have caught up with her and she's slept longer. He touches the doorframe and peers inside. Diana is awake now. Sat on the bed and she's crying. Alaric steps into the room and closes the door behind him.

"Diana?" he asks, she sniffles and turns herself away from him. "You okay?" Alaric asks her, she nods and brushes away her tears.

"Yeah" She whispers.

"Diana" he states and sits next to her on their bed.

"It's stupid" She complains, he frowns at her.

"Is this about what happened with Eva?" he asks, she nods.

"I just...woke up and missed her, and I know that's stupid after everything she did to us...."

"But you saw a part of her that reminded you of the old her" He points out. "And you're hormonal, and sleep deprived" she nods in agreement and looks up at him. "It's okay" he whispers. "If you want to cry....then cry" he strokes her cheek. "I won't tell anyone" he whispers, she laughs a little and smiles at him.

"I'm okay" she assures him. "Moments over..." he touches her chin and gives her a sad smile. Her phone pings with a new message and Diana pulls away from Alaric. She grabs the cell phone from the bedside table and glances at the screen. "It's Damon" She offers. "He wants me to take over some weapons for their...Mikael plan" He hums a little as he climbs from the bed to pull on a shirt. He glances at Diana who is staring at her bump.

"You miss it" Alaric points out. "Being elbow deep in vampire fights"

"Yeah" She answers. "It's who I am" she touches her baby bump. "And you know I am excited for this" She assures him. "I really am....But just knowing that my friends are in trouble....and I'm stuck reading books and deciphering images" she shakes her head and lets out a breath.

"You want me to take over the weapons?" he asks.

"No, I need to take a walk" She admits as she climbs out of the bed. "I can't stay in bed all day" She smirks at him seeing the look on his face. "As much as you would like me to" he smiles and takes her face in his hands.

"If it would keep you and them safe....I would tie you to the bed" He admits, her eyes shift slightly. And he realises what he has said, he remembers what happened to her with Klaus. "Sorry" he whispers. "I forgot....I shouldn't have said that"

"It's okay" she tells him. "I know what you meant..." she pushes up onto her tiptoes and kisses him softly. "And I know it wasn't malicious" she assures him as she pulls back. "I'll be okay driving to the boarding house and back....What about you? What do you have planned for today?"

"Oooo exciting stuff" he teases, she smiles at him. "I've got your credit card and I am going to online shop for baby clothes" she hums a little and touches his chest. He covers her hand with his. "You still want that jumpsuit for them?" she nods and leans into his chest, Alaric wraps his arms around her and kisses her head.

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

Diana sets a bag of weapons onto Damon's bed as he steps up behind her to see what she has brought with her.

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

Later, Elena has joined Damon and Diana as they prepare the weapons.

"We can't trust Rebekah not to turn on us." Elena points out.

"Oh really? Cause these Original vampires are usually so reliable." Diana mumbles, Damon smirks and shares a look with her, she shrugs a little.

"Bonnie was right. Rebekah may be mad at Klaus now but - he is her brother." Elena counters.

"Her lying, mama- killing, dagger- happy brother." Damon counters.

"Wolfsbane is ready." Diana adds setting the grenade down on the bed.

"There are too many things that can go wrong with this plan. Too many people that can make it go wrong."

"Well, I am formulating a secret contingency plan." Damon tells Elena.

"Really? What is it?"

"Well, if I told you, then it wouldn't be a secret." Damon counters as Stefan enters the room.

"I need to borrow a tie." Stefan states.

"You have your own ties." Damon scolds.

"Hm...I'm a 162 years old and I'm going to a Homecoming Dance. I need better ties."

"You could not go." Elena points out.

"I'm compelled to protect you. And if I look at your track record at high school dances - it's pretty tragic. With my luck you'll go and get yourself murdered by the Homecoming Queen..." Stefan leaves. Elena picks up a wolfsbane grenade, Diana hits her hand.

"No" Diana scolds her.

"I know how to do it! You taught me!" Elena tells her, Diana takes the grenade away from her.

"Elena! If this thing blows up in our face- just remember: only two of us heals quickly." Diana counters as Stefan returns.

"Ah, please tell me that you have a better plan than wolfsbane grenades?" Stefan asks.

"Never your mind, brother. The less you know the better." Damon answers.

"My freedom from Klaus rests entirely upon you two executing your plan perfectly. So, excuse me if I'm a bit cynical."

"Your the one that we should be worried about. If Klaus asks you one wrong question- whole thing falls apart."

"You do have reason to worry, but if I look back in our history of epic plan failures, it's usually because one of us let our humanity get in the way. Upon taking odds on how this thing goes down, it's certainly not gonna be me who screws it up. I'll see you at Homecoming. I can't wait." Stefan tells them and leaves.

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

"Love me tender, love me sweet." Diana sings as she readjusts some things in the nursery, she's nervous and can't sit till, hence the need for some form of activity. "Never let me go. You have made my life complete. And I love you so. Love me tender, love me true. All my dreams fulfill. For my darlin', I love you. And I always will" Diana touches her bump as she sways. Alaric watches her softly from the doorway but he can sense the worry she has for what is going to happen with her family, her friends.

"They'll be fine" He tells her, she looks at him.

"I think that would be worse" She tells him, he frowns at her.

"Worse?" He asks as he walks towards her.

"If it goes to plan perfectly....Then it proves they don't need me anymore" She admits. Alaric moves closer to her. "If they can do this without me....." he threads his fingers with hers at her side. "Then...what is my purpose?"

"I need you" he assures her. "I will always need you by my side" she smiles at him. "And our children will always need you..." he kisses the back of her hand. "It's different now, Diana, but...it's not bad different, I hope" She shakes her head in agreement. "You still have a family who needs you" he places his free hand on her bump. She smiles warmly at him. "It's just a little different to what you thought"

"I love you so much" She tells him, he smiles against the back of her hand.