InsaneJournal

Who: Jeremy Gilbert and Elena Gilbert
When: Backdated: Just after Elena returned
Where: The Gilbert House
What: Two Gilbert siblings reuniting
Rating/Warnings: Family Friendly.
Status: Complete

Jeremy had intended to see his sister when he’d first found out that she was back in Orange County, but with classes starting and trying to find a new job that fit his class schedule, Jeremy hadn’t gotten a chance to. Now that start of classes had settled a little, Jeremy had decided to drop in on Elena.

It had been sometime since Jeremy had been back at the family home and considering the anniversary of their parents’ deaths, which had happened in that house, had just passed, Jeremy didn’t particularly want to be there, but he would rather see Elena someplace where they could talk privately instead of in public.

Reaching the house, he parked in the driveway and headed up to the porch, briefly recalling the night their lives had changed. Pushing those memories aside, he stepped up to the door and rang the bell.

Like most Saturdays, Elena was studying up in her room. She knew that it was strange that she had not taken on their parents’ bedroom at this point, but the brunette honestly couldn’t bring herself to touch any of it. Besides, she reminded herself, Jenna could always come back too and she needed a place to stay unless she wanted Katherine’s room. It was a decent excuse to keep the place as it was and Elena had taken to sitting in there once and awhile if only to pretend that at any more they would burst through the door and sweep her up in a tight hug. Elena bit her lip as thoughts of that nature tended to bring on the storm of tears and uncontrollable sobbing and Elena could not afford to be an emotional wreck right now. She had to keep it together for school and for the little family she had left in this world.

Hearing the bell ring, Elena pushed herself up from the bed and walked over to the window. If she had a guess, she figured it would probably be her brother. Jeremy had said he would be stopping by at some point. God knows it was definitely not Katherine and she doubted Katherine would be popping up outside this house for quite sometime since their last encounter. Smiling as she caught sight of Jeremy, the brunette flipped her straight brown hair behind her shoulders and headed downstairs to open the door and let him in. Technically, he had a key, but she knew he figured that it was best not to walk right in when he didn’t live here anymore. Elena didn’t really consider it her house now either. It would always belong to their parents despite being split between the three siblings.

Unlocking the door, Elena tugged it open and gave her brother bright smile. “Hey Jer. Long time no see, huh?” she greeted. Without hesitation, she reached out and pulled him into a tight hug. Considering all he had lived through, all they had, she never took a chance to not hug him. To Elena, his life was precious to her and she would not hesitate to say she valued it high above her own. Then again, even with Kat’s callous nature and cold personality towards her sister, Elena could very have said the same thing. For her, family and friends were everything and after she lost her parents, she swore she would never take any relationship for granted ever. Stepping back after a moment, she shifted aside to allow him access into the house. “Come on in. Can I get you anything?” Elena shut the door behind him and clicked the lock back into place.

Jeremy did have keys and any other time he probably would have simply let himself in, but since this was the first time seeing his sister in awhile, he had thought it better to ring the bell this time. Upon seeing his sister, he was reminded of just how different Elena and Katherine were. Not only their personalities and the way they dressed, but just the way they carried themselves and despite being identical twins, he had always been able to tell them apart.

“Hey, Elena.” He returned the hug, briefly thinking about the fact that, unlike with Katherine, he didn’t have the urge to kill her. Not yet anyway. Being a Hunter definitely had its downsides, but at least he knew how to handle that urge and hadn’t actually tried to kill Katherine or any of the other vampires he’d come across. “It’s really good to see you.”

He smiled as he let her go and moved into the house, briefly glancing around at the interior, “I’m good. Unless you have something to drink.” He wasn’t exactly thirsty, but if they were going to do some catching up, he should probably have a drink to prevent his throat from drying up.

“It’s good to see you too, Jer,” Elena replied sincerely. Especially after the disturbing dreams she’d been having lately, she was relieved to see him in person. Though she had only experienced a few dreams so far, she was already finding the line between reality and the dreams blurring. Damon biting Caroline was a perfect example of it. The feelings such an experience invoked in Elena were intense and even if they were just dreams, they felt so real to Elena at that point. She felt the anger from her dream self as surely as if she was the one who’d discovered the bites on her best friend. In many ways, it scared her because in her entire life she’d never experienced a dream that ever felt so real and so powerful. It was the same with her feelings with dream Jeremy. She felt every bit as lost, upset, saddened, and pained at what was happening to her brother in that world as she had in this one.

Moving into the kitchen, Elena attempted to push thoughts about the dreams away. She couldn’t focus on something that was not real when her actual life was happening around her. “I’ll grab two bottles of water for us,” she replied, figuring much the same as her brother when it came to the obvious: they would be talking a lot. Elena led the way into the living room and took a seat on the couch. “So, how have you been?” the brunette asked, putting down the bottles and unscrewing the cap off her own. It was surprising that Jer had ended up coming over to the house after Katherine. She knew neither sibling particularly liked this place and Elena couldn’t blame them. It was rough, especially since the anniversary of their parents’ passing had recently passed. It was one of the reasons Elena stayed out of town as long as she had; like every year since she lost them, it was difficult to be in the house.

Jeremy followed Elena into the kitchen and leaned against the center island, “I’ve been pretty good. Just been working and getting back into school and all of that.” Jeremy had spent the summer working on a construction site and now that classes were starting again, he was going to need to find another job that fit better with his schedule. He had already started looking into a few places and had some options, so he wasn’t too worried about not working at the moment. “How about you? Have you been settling back in okay?” Jeremy wondered how Elena felt being in the house alone considering the last time she had lived there, Jeremy was still living there as well so she hadn’t been alone.

Elena unscrewed the top on one of the bottles and took a small sip. Settling? She wasn’t so sure she would ever be settled in California again. The dreams were definitely keeping her on her toes and considering the content, that was not the least bit surprising to her. You couldn’t quite relax when thoughts of random animal attacks kept arising in your mind. School provided a decent distraction, but there was only so much studying could do against content that remained so powerful and potent even after she opened her eyes. That was why she was hoping to find a job soon and with that added distraction maybe she could finally find a way to deal with the dreams and function in the living world at the same time. She had to be able to do it because everyone else that she knew was doing it. If they could handle the trauma she’d been dealing with every night than she could to, right? Granted, they were not in the midst of medical school, but that didn’t matter. Life was stressful regardless of what you did, wasn’t it?

Jeremy’s question pulled her from her thoughts and she nodded quickly. “Yeah, yeah it hasn’t been bad. More quiet than usual,” she replied with a shrug. “It’s nothing I can’t handle though. I guess the quiet is good because of all the studying I have to do…” And there was certainly a lot of that, wasn’t there? Just not enough to keep thoughts of the dreams completely at bay. “Otherwise, I’m okay.” Elena knew that question was meant to be a lot heavier than his tone made it sound. He knew she was dreaming and there was no doubt in her mind that he was thinking about all of that when he was asking the question.

Jeremy had followed Elena into the living room after she retrieved the bottles of water and had taken a seat beside her on the couch. He didn’t open his own bottle just yet, but held it in his hands as he listened to his sister talking. He knew that coming back to Orange County had been different for each of his sisters and they had each had their own ways of settling in, “Hopefully it stays quiet. You deserve that time to settle in and get used to things.” He didn’t know exactly where she was in the dreams, but guessed that it was still somewhere around the beginning, which really hadn’t been any better than the shit that happened to them later on.

“Should I be expecting something crazy to happen?” Elena asked, meaning it mostly in jest and nothing else. Though, the thought did cross her mind that your brother might just be serious...serious like Katherine was about the dreams. Still, vampires in Orange County? Yeah, Elena remained strongly skeptical about that every happening despite what the people she knew so well believed. As it was, she was still trying to wrap her head around receiving a gift from the dreams. It should have been impossible, right? Yet, when she woke up, there was necklace on her night stand in all the detail from her dreams and as she put it on, well, it felt like deja vu, but dream Elena and her did experience it the same way? She guessed it was because of the dreams that she felt like that and how after, she felt she was always meant to have it somehow.

“Uh, yeah. Pretty much.” There were so many crazy things that Jeremy could tell Elena at that moment, but he didn’t want to overwhelm his sister just yet. He knew that she was going to see the crazy stuff for herself eventually, but there was more than enough time to tell her all about it. Right now, he just wanted to spend some time with her, “It’s all kind of hard to explain, so how about I get into it later?” He leaned back on the couch, glancing around the living room, “It feels like it’s been forever since I was here last.” It had been quite a few months since Jeremy had last been in the Gilbert home, but oddly enough, despite everything that had happened there, it still felt like home in a way.

Elena was definitely hoping for a different answer, but considering what the dreams had showed her so far, it was a fitting one. Things had only progressed negatively in Mystic Falls and the good moments were far from each other, if there was any at all. So far, Stefan seemed to be the bit of light Elena needed in her life right now. It was strange because he was something similar in this life too. She felt she could trust him in her dreams despite just meeting him. No, she couldn’t explain why she felt that way, but it was reminiscent of here and that comforted Elena somewhat. With the dreams, she needed as much comfort as she could get right now.

“You can spare me the details,” Elena reassured with a small smile. “I’ll get there eventually and when I do, I’m sure I’ll wish I didn’t.” She sensed that when Jeremy finally got to some of those moments in the dreams he wished he hadn’t either. “And it kind of has been. I’ve been gone all summer and I doubt you had much reason to hang around this place…” Elena trailed off.

Jeremy just hoped that when Elena did start getting to the really bad stuff she took it better than he had. Considering everything that was going on in the waking world when he’d gotten there, he’d almost had a mental breakdown, but luckily he hadn’t and things had gotten better once he’d become a Medium and also wasn’t dealing directly with Damon any longer. “You can call me or come or whatever anytime. I’ve dreamt almost all of it, so nothing is going to surprise me or upset me.”

He took a sip of his water and nodded, “Yeah. I can’t really remember the last time I was here.” The house was in Jenna’s name now and she also hadn’t wanted to sell it so it had simply stayed empty for the last couple of months or so. “But I’ll have more reason to come by now.” He smiled at his sister.

It was a promise Elena could not make, not even to herself. On the outside, she was the picture of perfect control and calm, but the situation could define how it all turned out in the end. So far, she’d been able to keep it together, but what if things became worse and from their words, she knew they would. No, Elena had no idea how she would come to react and that part scared her more than most any other parts of the dreams. “Thanks, Jer, but I don’t want to intrude in your life,” Elena replied with a small smile. “I’m a big girl and I can handle myself.” Well, she could for the most part anyway.

At the mention of him coming by, Elena nodded quickly. “Please do. It gets kind of lonely around here sometimes,” she replied with a light shrug. “It’s great for studying, but well, otherwise you start to think too much about stuff, you know?”

“Elena, you’d never be intruding on my life. I’m here for you whenever you need it,” He really hoped that when the time came, she would take him up on that, because the last thing any of them needed was to deal with the dream alone.

He glanced around the living room a moment before turning back to Elena, “You should think about getting a roommate or something. I mean, there’s plenty of room. I’ll even clean out my old room.” He’d taken most of his stuff when he’d moved in with Myrcella, but there were still some things left in his closet and around the room that he could pack up if Elena decided to get a roommate.

“Thanks, Jer,” Elena replied with a grateful smile. Still, she didn’t want to burden him with her dreams when God knows he was dealing with his own. She could handle herself or at least, she had to believe that she somehow could against all of this craziness. “Maybe? I don’t know. It doesn’t feel right having anyone else live in the house, but family.” Yes, Elena knew she sounded a bit crazy, but it was how she felt. This place was for family and bringing in a stranger? Elena wasn’t sure about it. ‘I guess I better get back to my cage and start studying again,” Elena pushed herself up from the couch, grabbing her bottle of water with her.

“Feel free to stop by whenever you want,” the brunette added with a smile and leaned in to hug her brother. “You know you’re always welcome here.”