Chapter Text
Of all the times Jenna had been to Alaric's apartment, this was by far the least enjoyable. She didn't like the stale feeling she was getting from the place and Damon's hesitance to touch the door - vampire or no - didn't really help. She shot him a look and knocked on the door, realizing where her place in this plan had come. She was able to cross the threshold where he couldn't. Also, her voice would be less threatening than his, should Klaus actually be there.
"Ric? Are you here?"
Her nerves hammered through her veins. Could Damon really do anything if Klaus was still in there?
Damon seemed disinterested in waiting, so he casually glanced around to be sure no one was nearby. Reaching for the doorknob, he just as casually broke the lock so the door swung open when Jenna pushed it. This revealed a young woman who looked so closely like Elena that Jenna gasped softly.
"Thank God," Katherine sighed.
"Wow… she really does look exactly like Elena," Jenna murmured, not really keen on moving any closer.
"Yep. Thought you might be dead," Damon commented to Katherine.
"Unfortunately not," the other vampire replied dryly. "What are you doing here?"
"We came to see you," Damon answered, glancing back at Jenna. "If you're worried, you can leave. It won't be the first time I've had to walk home."
Jenna paused, looking from one vampire to the other. "Right. I'll see you back at the house." She let her eyes rest on Katherine once more before she headed out to the car again. Jenna wasn't even sure how to react to any of this anymore, especially where Katherine and Elena were concerned. She sighed to herself as she pulled out of the parking lot, not really feeling up to going straight back yet. When Stefan had come to pick her up, she'd left part of her thesis research in her room; she clearly remembered discovering a huge portion of her notes missing. Maybe she could go back to get them, even if she did risk running into John again. Pursing her lips tightly together, she turned the car in the direction of the house she had slowly come to consider hers instead of her sister and brother-in-law's. Funny how time would change things...
John was apparently gone when she got there and she was quite glad for that. She didn't want to deal with him today, too. Still, something didn't feel right as she entered the house, so she called Stefan, figuring he'd be done with Bonnie and Jeremy by now.
"Jenna?"
She didn't hear any voices with him, so she figured he was alone. "Any word from Elena?"
At the very least, talking to someone while she looked for the rest of her thesis notes would be beneficial to her state of mind. Times like this, she almost wished she'd inherited her sister's organizational skills.
"Still nothing. What about you? Is something wrong?"
"No, I just-"
Jenna cut herself off as she heard footsteps outside her door. Ignoring Stefan calling her, she glanced through the doorway.
"I'm at the house. I wanted to drab the notes that I left."
"Jenna, it's not safe for you there."
She was starting to see what he meant as she turned back to her search. Finding the folder she needed, she grabbed it and turned to leave. A sharp yelp escaped her as she nearly ran headlong into someone and her eyes widened in fear.
"Jenna? Jenna!" her phone screeched at her, but all she could do was stare at the person in front of her. It was almost surreal to think that the oldest vampire in history was currently borrowing her boyfriend's body.
"Klaus," she breathed, feeling her heart hammering in her chest as she backed up a few steps. "What do you want? Elena's not here."
"I know," he murmured, looking her over. Jenna suppressed a shiver as she backed up. "I guess they told you who I am?"
"Yeah. I'm up to speed."
If only she could get around him.
"Then I really don't need to waste time, do I?"
Hearing someone with completely different tone and inflection use Alaric's voice made her almost sick. "What do you want?" she repeated, trying to keep as much distance between them as possible.
"I have plans for you, Jenna," came the reply as Klaus took a few steps forward. She backed up further, eyes moving around to see how much room she had to move.
"Yeah, well, I'm not interested," she told him, far more confident-sounding than she felt.
"You don't need to be. You just need to-"
She cut him off by lunging for the bed, intending to climb over it and out the door. He caught her while she was still on it, grabbing her ankle and tripping her so she fell onto the mattress.
"-stay put," he finished, as though nothing at all had happened.
"She said she's not interested."
Jenna had never been so relieved to hear Stefan's voice. She didn't get a chance to see him before she felt Klaus' grasp on her ankle lift. She scrambled up so she could see Stefan holding Klaus at knifepoint against the wall.
"Go, Jenna!" Stefan commanded, not taking his eyes off Klaus.
Jenna wasn't sure she wanted to leave until she knew Alaric's body was safe. "Don't kill him, Stefan!" she pleaded. The last thing she wanted was to see her boyfriend dead on the floor of her room.
"I said go!" he yelled back.
She got a glimpse of his vampire mask and that was all the encouragement she needed. Jenna took off down the stairs and outside to her car. In all the shuffle, she'd dropped her thesis notes, but she no longer cared. Getting them back wasn't worth her life.
#
Jenna made it back to the boarding house in record time and soon enough she'd bolted inside and up the stairs to the room she'd been given while she stayed there. A minute later, she heard Stefan knocking on her door and she opened it slowly, not so eager to talk, but needing some measure of comfort about what had just happened.
"What did you do to him?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. Tears pricked her eyes, but she tried to force them away. She didn't want to hear that Stefan had been forced to kill Alaric in her bedroom… and yet she had to know.
"Just knocked him out," Stefan answered, clearly looking Jenna over to be sure she was okay. "Are you all right? Do you need me to call Elena?"
Jenna shook her head. "No. She's got enough to deal with. I'll be fine."
"It's a shock, I know," Stefan murmured, searching her eyes in concern. "But if you need anything at all, please ask. We're all here to help each other. Even Damon."
Jenna offered a soft laugh and nodded, wiping at her eyes. "Thank you, Stefan. When Elena gets home, will you be sure to tell me?"
He inclined his head and moved back to the door, understanding her dismissal as the desire to be alone. "You bet."
Even with that assurance, Jenna didn't know how well everything was going to go. Who knew what Elena was up to? But maybe whatever she was planning would work and all this would be over. Jenna had to hope, because that was all she could do.
#
The fight downstairs much later caught Jenna's attention, but she didn't actually go anywhere until Stefan came up to tell her that Elena was back and Elijah had left. Even then, Jenna didn't really feel up to going anywhere yet, so she just sat upstairs with all of her thesis research scattered on various surfaces, unable to concentrate. A knock on her door snapped her from her thoughts and she finally stood, walking over to pull the door open.
"Jenna?" It was Elena, thankfully. "Stefan said I needed to talk to you." She frowned as Jenna stepped back to let her in. "What happened?"
Jenna shut the door on a sigh. "I ran into Ric today. Stefan had to get me out of that."
"Oh my God," Elena breathed, worry creasing her face. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Jenna answered, trying for a brave smile. "It was just… strange to see him like that."
"I know, Jenna," Elena assured her, moving to give her aunt a hug. "But Klaus can't keep him like that forever."
Jenna didn't answer; her choked sob said enough. To see her boyfriend like that, completely different, had just about killed her. She didn't want to think of him like that forever. She couldn't.
"It'll be okay, Jenna," Elena whispered as they stood there. "It'll be okay."
Jenna had to hope she was right.