"Alaric?" Elena And Valerie we're walking down to the basement in the Salvatores house. "Yep. Still me." Elena unlocks the door and enters the cell. Alaric is sitting on a cot in the room.

"You know, you shouldn't be in here. It defeats the point of the whole being locked in a cellar thing." Elena drops the bag on the ground. "Well, you still need the basics. Toothbrush, clothes, some boring books to help you sleep." Alaric picks up one of the books and hands it to Valerie.

"Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?" Valerie frowned "What? No, I grabbed....Damon." Drops the book on the floor. "Thinks he's hilarious."

Alaric laughed quietly "At least one of us still has a sense of humor." Elena sighed "Are you sure that you...? I mean you don't have to be kept in here."

Alaric sighed "Ah, no, this is...this is the right place for me to be. At least until you guys can convince my highly uncooperative alter ego to fess up to where I or he hid the white oak stake." Elena sighed "We looked everywhere. You....the other you, hid it well." Alaric sighed as well "What's Klaus gonna do if you can't find it?"

Valerie explained "It's the only thing that will kill him, so wage war, murder people, you know Klaus stuff." Elena pulls up a chair and sits down in it.

"Listen, Stefan is gonna watch over you for a little while. Now that Klaus knows where Jeremy is, it's not safe so, Damon and I are gonna go to Denver to pick him up."

Alaric chuckled "Why do you say that like you're waiting for me to disapprove?"

"I don't know. Me and Damon. Traveling across the country." Alaric grew serious "I guess I'm more curious to hear what Stefan has to say about it." Elena sighed "Actually, it was his idea. He thinks that I have some unresolved feelings for Damon." "Do you?"

Valerie rolled her eyes "of course she does"

Elena glared at her, "I guess that's why I'm going on this trip. So I can figure it out."

Valerie decided to go home and get some sleep, recently she hasn't been able to sleep long enough, being wrapped in the supernatural problems.

---

Valerie, Caroline and Elena are walking through the gym hall which is being decorated for the 20s Decade Dance. Caroline has a clipboard and is in charge of the preparations as Rebekah is missing.

"So, Alaric is trying to pull himself together, why is that a bad thing?" Elena sighed "I just...I wish there was something I could do."

Elena picks up a chandelier. "Where do you want me to hang this thing?" Caroline scoffed "You know what, if Rebekah wanted to hang this monstrousity she should have shown up to do it herself." She hands the chandelier to a passingby student.

"Just no!" Caroline sees Matt and Jeremy hanging up stars in the ceiling. "What are you doing? You can't just hang them! They're supposed to trickle down." Matt hit jeremy playfully "Trickle, duh!"

"Look at them all bromancy." Elena smiled up at them "Yeah I asked Matt to help Jeremy readjust. He got him his old job back at the Grill." Caroline smiled "That was nice of him." Elena sighed "Jeremy has got a lot on his mind. The whole thing with Alaric has got him really stressed out."

"You sure it has nothing to do with witnessing you and Damon getting hot and heavy in a skeevy motel?" Elena frowned at Valerie "I didn't tell you that so you could torture me with it." Caroline shook her playfully "Aww, what are friends for? So who are you bringing to the dance?"

Elena wraps a feather boa around her neck. "What do you mean? I thought you, Bonnie, Valerie and I were going as girl dates." Caroline smiled suggestively "Hm, Bonnie has a date." Valerie threw her arms up and whined "What?!" Caroline laughed "Jamie called and wanted to see her so she asked him."

Elena raised her eyebrows "Hmm." Valerie frowned "traitor!" They laughed at her "why don't you get a date?" Valerie laughed then turned serious "like who?" Caroline smiled "hmm, what about a certain hybrid?" Valerie scoffed "I thought you hated him, now you're trying to get me to go on a date with him?"

She sighed at her attempt, Caroline then turned to Elena "So here's a thought, why don't you ask Stefan?" Elena gasped "I can't ask him on a date, I just made out with his brother." Caroline frowned "All the more reason! Look you're supposed to be figuring out what you want, that's what Stefan wanted you to do, right?"

Elena sighed "Yeah, but-" Caroline cut her off "But nothing! I've watched The Bachelor, okay? Fair is fair. It is Stefan's turn." Valerie scoffed "Yeah and you're not biased or anything." Caroline laughed "I'm sorry, but Stefan is your epic love. And I'm not going down without a fight"

Valerie glared at her "well, I have to disagree, Damon is the one for her, and I'm her sister, so what I say goes."

---

Valerie was getting ready with Elena for the ball, when the doorbell rang, Valerie smiled "that'll be your date!" She nudged her. Elena giggled and walked down the stairs. "Bye Lena" she smiled at her "bye Val!"

Valerie heard the door slam and stood up from the bed. She checked herself in the mirror and grabbed her purse. She ran down the stairs and opened the door.

Valerie gasped in shock when her body collided with something. She looked up to see Klaus. "Hello sweetheart" he smirked at her. "er- hello? What are you doing here?" He smiled "Well, Rebekah and I are leaving tonight, and she wanted to go to the dance, so I decided to let her." She raised her eyebrows "that still doesn't answer my question"

"I wanted to ask if you would be my date." Shocked Valerie looked up at him, "um sure, just let me grab my phone" he nodded and smiled.

---

Valerie and Klaus were slow dancing in the gym with everyone surrounding them. Valerie felt a strange feeling of comfort whenever she was around him. She gently rested her head on his shoulder as they swayed to the song.

"You would've loved the 1920s. The girls were reckless, sexy, fun. They literally used to dance until they dropped." Valerie smiled.

"I'm leaving town tomorrow. I'd invite you to come with me but we both know you're not ready to accept my offer. Perhaps one day, in a year, or even in a century you'll turn up at my door and let me show you what the world has to offer." Valerie picked her head up and nodded "I have to be there for my friends, maybe if you weren't a hybrid, and Elena wasn't the doppelgänger, then maybe I'd say yes, but..."

"But I am and I can't change that." He then walked off, leaving Valerie by herself in the middle of the dance floor. She felt guilty, then realised she shouldn't, he's the one person who's brought hell to her family.

Valerie received a text from Damon saying to meet in a classroom. "What's taking so long?! All boundary spells have a loop hole."

Valerie and Matt enter the room. "People are walking right out of the dance, past the barrier." Valerie furrowed her eyebrows "What barrier?"

Damon sighed and explained "vampire barrier" Valerie nodded. "Matt and I can leave, we can stop Esther ourselves. We just gotta find out where she is." Valerie shook her head no. "It's suicide, Jeremy." Klaus rushes over and grabs Jamie by the throat and starts to strangle him.

"Suicide would be disappointing me! Now work your magic, witch, or I'll start killing people you fancy." Valerie glared at Klaus. "Let him go!" Klaus smirked "Not until you get us out of here." Stefan walked towards Klaus "Ah, don't be stupid, Klaus. Bonnie doesn't give a damn about us. The only reason she's helping us right now is to save Caroline and Tyler. You start killing the people she cares about, she'll tell us all to go to hell."

Klaus lets go of Jamie. "Here. Jeremy made a little Gilbert blood donation for your locator spell." Bonnie sighed "I have to do this with you two lurking over me?" Damon turned to her "You're still mad at me for what happened to Abby. Let me apologize. I'm sorry Elijah forced us to turn your mother into a vampire to save Elena's life. Didn't exactly have a choice."

Bonnie scoffed "There's always a choice. Whenever you make one someone else suffers." Klaus scowls "Let's cut the dramatics and begin, shall we?" Bonnie pours the blood onto the map and starts chanting. The blood forms a circular pool that doesn't move. "Esther is fighting me."

Klaus shook his head in disbelief "Esther couldn't possibly have this much power. Unless she's channelling something." A puzzled expression took over Bonnie's face "A hotspot?" Klaus looked up in recognition. "Get the humans ready. I know where she is."