CHAPTER SIXTEEN

"No." Jay shakes her head. "No. There has to be something that we can do for him."

"We're looking, but, kid... I don't know." Damon says, and she shakes her head as she paces back and forth in hers and Kim's bedroom. "I mean, he's not possessed, we can't have him flip a switch. Who knows what compulsion would do to..."

"It sounds to me like you're saying we either let Ric's evil alter ego run amok or we..." She turns to face him, and he sighs. "No."

"Look, Jay, I have no idea how this is going to go. It'll probably come down to whatever Ric wants us to do." He tells her. "Either way, the plan for us, here, at the moment, is to get you and Jeremy so that we can—"

"No." Jay turns for the door and opens it, heading out into the living room. She walks past her friends and both of her siblings, and heads straight out the front door.

"You know, I think that actually went better than I expected it to." Damon says as he walks into the living room.

"You told her about Ric?" Elena asks, and he nods.

"Mhm. Happy birthday, Jay. By the way, the only father-figure that you've ever had is probably going to die." He moves for the door.

"Do you have to be such a dick?" Jeremy questions.

"Simmer down, princess. That's not how I told her." He says. "Not that there's any good way to give news like this."

"Where are you going?"

"He's my best friend, her father-figure — I'm gonna go bond. Pack your stuff, we're leaving." He closes the door behind him, leaving three stunned teenagers standing in the living room; Jeremy figured as much.

A few minutes later, Jay walks back into the house and she quickly shuts the front door behind her before leaning against it. She forces a slightly panicked smile as she glances around at the four in the room — Jeremy went to pack his things.

"Where's Damon?" Elena asks, obviously confused.

"Oh, uh... Yeah, he's gonna meet you later." The youngest nods. "He's...talking to Kol." She says, and her sister raises her eyebrows.

"Now?"

"Mhm." Jay clears her throat. "Anyway, uh... Before we were so rudely interrupted, Damon said that we're supposed to... Elena, I'm not moving back to Mystic Falls with you. And contrary to what Damon's superficial mind thinks, it's not 'cause some of the guys here don't wear shirts. I—"

"I know." Elena nods. "Believe me, I get it. I wish I could leave too, but I can't."

"You could." She argues, and her older sister shakes her head as she walks over to her.

"My life, my friends... They're in Mystic Falls. You're better off here, where you actually decided to let yourself make friends."

"Actually, they kinda decided that for me." Jay smirks. "Winning an argument against Kim is impossible."

"Tell me about it." Jared agrees, and she chuckles as she glances over at the two of them.

"You built yourself a better home here than you had back in Mystic Falls." Elena regains her younger sister's attention. "You're right where you should be, Jay. So stay here, have fun, live, be happy, fall in love with a good guy...and maybe call a little more often. So I can hear your voice."

The brunette laughs. "I will, I promise." She nods as she hugs her sister.

"Saying goodbye without me?" Jeremy asks as he walks back into the living room. He hugs Kim, says bye to the two Quileute boys, then he walks over to Jay.

"You're leavin' me, huh?" She asks, and he nods.

"I like it here, but I've got some things that I have to take care of there." He tells her.

"Someone that you should talk to?"

"If she doesn't hate me." He says, and she shakes her head.

"She doesn't." Jay says. "But if you ever hurt her again, I will kick your ass. I'm serious."

"Oh, I know." He nods. "You're a lot like Marie, except she'd have killed me already."

"Damn straight." She chuckles.

"Come here." He hugs her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. "If you get drunk at that party on Friday, stay close to Paul. I don't know what's going on with you two, but I do know that he won't let anything happen to you." He says just loud enough for her to hear.

"I can take care of myself, thank you very much. I'm my own hero." She says, and he chuckles as he kisses the side of her head before pulling back to look down at her.

"Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone, alright?"

"Can't. You're taking all the stupid with you." She says, and he smirks.

"Bye, Jay."

"Bye, Jer."

The door opens, and Damon leans into the house. "Time to go." He says quickly as he looks around, and then his gaze settles on Jay. "Couldn't convince you to come home, huh?"

"I am home." The little brunette tells him, and he nods.

"It's not the same without you, rugrat, but I suppose we'll manage." He smirks when she glares at him. "See you around." He says as he turns to leave.

"Not in my bedroom next time!"

"We'll see!" He calls over his shoulder, and she shakes her head.

"Go, before I kill him."

"Stay inside until we know that Kol followed us out of town." Elena whispers as she hugs her again, and the younger girl nods.

"Mhm."

The oldest of the siblings follows Damon out as Jeremy picks up his bags and slings his duffle over his shoulder. Kim walks over to Jay as he heads for the door, but then he stops to look back at his younger sister. Jay offers him a small smile as Kim drapes her arm over her shoulders, and he smiles. Jeremy glances between the three Quileutes, and he knows that he's leaving her in good hands. They all care about her, and they'll take care of her while she's with them.

—

Jay's sitting in the passenger seat of Bella's rusted, orange truck with her feet up on the dashboard, and she's drumming on her thighs to the beat of the rock song that's playing. It was a bit of a fight with the older girl, but she finally convinced Bella to let her play one of her cassette tapes. She knows that Bella only agreed because it's Led Zeppelin — the older of the two has an aversion to anything and everything that's too romance based. It helps that Bella's too lost in her thoughts to listen to the radio.

"I'm surprised that you're condoning this." Bella eventually says as she drives down the wet highway, and Jay chuckles.

"First: I'm not your mom. Second: my problem in Port Angeles wasn't the motorcycle. It was the random loser sitting on it." The younger girl tells her, and she nods.

"So, you have no problem with the bike rebuild?" She glances at her as Jay moves the piece of her hair that blew into her face because of the blasting heater.

"Not as long as he can teach us how to drive them properly." Jay shrugs. "There's plenty in life that's dangerous, Bella, doesn't mean you gotta hide from everything. You just have to be smart about it." She reasons.

Soon enough, the two girls are pulling up outside of Jacob's house, and he walks out of the red barn, having heard the familiar rumble on the truck's engine. The teenage boy drops the wrench that he's carrying and jogs over to greet the two of them, obviously happy to see Bella judging by the way he picks her up and spins her around as the two hug.

"Jay." He smiles as he looks at the younger of the two. "Embry talks about you a lot." He tells her, and a smile spreads across her face as well.

"We, uh, brought you something." Bella says as she motions to the truck behind them. "It's a little crazy."

"Actually, Bella's gone totally insane." Jay says, and he chuckles as the older girl lowers the tailgate on the truck and then uncovers the two motorcycles in the back.

"Wow. Scrap metal." He nods as he glances between the two girls. "You shouldn't have."

"I saved it from the junkyard." Bella tells him, and he nods as Jay laughs at his reaction. "I think they'll probably cost more to fix than they're worth, but then I thought that if I had a mechanic friend to help me out, then..." She trails off.

"Ah, me being the mechanic type friend." He nods, a smile on his face.

"Yes, she wants you to fix the bikes 'cause she's lost her mind..." Jay says, regaining the older boy's attention. "And I was hoping that you could teach me."

"You want to learn how to fix bikes?" He asks, and she shrugs.

"Seems interesting, and I need a new hobby." She tells him, and he nods.

"Since when are you into motorcycles?" Jake asks Bella.

"Since now." The older girl nods, and he hesitates for a moment. "I get it if you think this is really stupid and reckless."

"Yeah, I mean, it's completely stupid and reckless." He agrees.

"But that's the fun of it." Jay smirks, and he chuckles as he looks at her again.

"Alright. When do we start?" He asks, and her smirk turns to a grin.

"Now!" She jumps up and down a few times, making the other two laugh as they watch her.

"Don't hurt yourself." Jake shakes his head at her as he walks forward. He throws the tarp off of the front of the bikes and then starts to pull the first one out.

"Oh, hey, be careful. Those things are actually really..." Bella starts as he lifts one from the truck bed. "...heavy, so..."

"Hot damn, it's the Hulk." Jay mutters as he sets the bike down in front of the two girls.

"Jake, you're, like, buff." Bella chuckles, and the younger girl quirks an eyebrow as she looks over at her. "How did that happen? You're, like, sixteen. I don't get it."

"Mhm." He smirks. "Age is just a number, baby. What are you, like, forty now?"

"Feels like that sometimes." She mumbles as he starts steering the motorcycle toward the entrance of the barn.

"You think you can actually fix them up?" Jay asks as she follows after the older two.

"I should be able to." Jake nods. "I won't know for sure until we get them inside, and I see what condition the engines are in. We also have to take into consideration any parts that might be missing."

"But you'll know what parts we'd need if they are missing, right?"

"Mhm."

"Then we should be able to get them." She shrugs. "This is gonna be fun." The little brunette smiles, and Jake chuckles as he glances at her over his shoulder. Both he and Bella are rather amused by her enthusiasm with this whole project.