InsaneJournal

Who: Jeremy Gilbert & Elena Gilbert
When: Backdated: Very Early March
Where: Gilbert House
What: Jeremy finds out that Elena has been hanging out with Klaus
Rating/Warnings: Family Friendly
Status: Complete

The day spent with Klaus had gone very well. Though she’d protested she didn’t know how to and couldn’t paint at all, he’d stubbornly insisted on proving her wrong, even guiding her brush across the canvas. Hours later she hadn’t yet been able to wipe the smile from her face. To be fair she hadn’t even really tried.

Sitting in the living room with a glass of wine, she studied the canvas propped up against the wall. It actually turned out better than she’d expected it would. Good enough that she didn’t want to just put it in the back of a closet. But it likely would be relegated to her bedroom.

Hearing the door open, Elena called out. “Jer? Is that you?”

Jeremy had had EMT training that afternoon and upon getting home he’d taken Dragon out for a walk so he hadn’t seen either of his sisters during the day, but he hadn’t expected Katherine to be home early; Elena however, he wasn’t the least bit surprised to see her in the living room as he walked into the house, letting Dragon off his leash, “Yeah, it’s me.” Hearing Elena’s voice, Dragon barked and ran into the living room ahead of Jeremy to greet her. “Go lay down.” He said, smirking as he followed the dog into the room.

“Hi cutie,” Elena cooed, scratching the dog behind the ears before Dragon obeyed orders, going to lay down. “How’d your day go?” Jeremy seemed to be enjoying EMT training which Elena couldn’t be more pleased about. It was good that he’d found something he was passionate about.

Dragon barked at Elena, in response, before he went to lay down while Jeremy flopped down on the couch near Elena, “It was good. How about you? Got a lot going on at the clinic?” Jeremy was glad that Elena had gotten a job at the dreamer run clinic cause it meant that she wouldn’t get quite as run down as she might if she worked in the regular hospital.


“About the same as usual,” she shrugged. “But it is nice that I have something of a regular schedule after my residency.” She could count on certain down time. “So I get to have some hobbies.” Restricted though they may be.

“Oh? And what hobbies do you have, Elena?” Jeremy smirked as he turned a little on the couch to more easily look at his sister, “Have you picked up something new?” It was hard sometimes, keeping up with what his sisters were doing because there were times when their paths barely crossed, despite the fact that they all lived in the same house because their schedules were so different these days. Jeremy wanted to figure out a way to remedy that.

“I’m trying at least,” Elena shrugged a bit bashfully. “I did a painting.” She gestured to the canvas propped up against the wall. “I didn’t think I had any talent but I think it actually came out pretty well.””

Jeremy’s brows rose slightly at Elena’s admission and he glanced towards the canvas she’d gestured towards, “Painting? Really? How did that happen? I never knew that you were interested in painting.” Jeremy had filled a couple of sketch pads over the years and the dreams had gifted him with his dream counterpart’s sketch pads, but he’d never known that Elena had any interest in art. “What did you paint?”

A shrug in response. Jeremy wasn’t wrong. She had never been the artistic one in the family. Even Kat had showed more interest than she did. Elena had always been more interested in the STEM world. Medicine had called to her more than Literature or Art.

“It’s just a still-life. And I wasn’t really. I just happened to mention that I had no artistic talent and next thing I knew Klaus was determined to prove me wrong.”

Jeremy was about to ask if still-life meant there had been a nude model when Elena said that name and he turned his head towards his sister, “Klaus? Klaus Mikaelson? What’re you doing painting with him?” Jeremy had worked at Klaus’ gallery before he’d started EMT training, which was a completely different thing than Elena hanging out with him.

Shit. She’d forgotten that Jeremy didn’t know about that. “Umm..it just kinda happened. It’s not new. I mean, the painting is but I met him months ago before I started dreaming.”

Jeremy’s brow furrowed slightly as he watched his sister, “Wait, what exactly do you mean? What just kind of happened?” He wasn’t entirely sure what Elena was getting at, but by the way she was talking Jeremy had a feeling her and Klaus were more than friends and that idea didn’t sit well with him. Not after all the things that Klaus had done to them in the dreams.

“Running into each other,” she answered. “We’ve been hanging out.” She wouldn’t go as far as to say that they had been dating. In fact he’d only recently really confirmed that he had some feelings for her.

Jeremy was still wary about anything to do with Klaus and hearing that Elena was hanging out with him made it even worse. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? To hang out? I mean, you know what he’s like in the dreams, right? You know what he did.” Of course Jeremy knew that not everyone was like they were in the dreams, but there was always that chance that the dreams could influence someone’s actions.

“I’m pretty sure Kat did just as bad or worse in the dreams.” In fact Katherine had been the reason why their Aunt Jenna had been killed. She’d lured her out and right to Klaus. “He’s been nice to me.”

While Jeremy knew how bad Katherine had been in the dreams, he supposed that at times he wore rose colored glasses when it came to his other sister. He simply didn’t want to believe that the dreams could ever influence her to do the things she’d done in the dreams; like feed him to an ancient vampire. “Fine, you have a point.” He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, “I just worry about Klaus cause of all the stuff he did. I know others were just as bad, but somehow Klaus always seems like the worst.” And that was saying a lot considering the things Damon had done and he was supposed to be one of the good guys.

“I know,” she assured him. “Between Jenna and the Sacrifice and everything else that he did in Mystic Falls...he was really bad in the dreams. But he seems like a different person here. I’m trying to give him the benefit of the doubt.”

Jeremy sighed, “I know. Just...be careful.” He’d seen too much death and just general bad things happen to those he loved, in the dreams, and he didn’t want anything to happen to anyone outside of them because of them, “I mean, I know you will, but I just have to say it.” He trusted Elena and knew that if she saw one sign that something was off she’d do something about it.

“Because you’re my brother and you have to look out for me,” she answered with a smile. “Just like I have to look out for you. And I promise. I’ll be careful, Jer.”