The one day Frankie didn't have to work, the one day she didn't have to do anything, was of course the one day that she was woken by Damon Salvatore banging on her door at 9am. He pounded on her door until she groaned and pulled herself out of bed, he didn't even try and call first, instead he came to her the moment he'd heard the news.

Frankie was annoyed as she dragged herself out of bed, grumpy as she tugged on trousers and pissed when she saw Damon leaning against the doorframe with a grin at her disheveled appearance.

"Better be good doucheface," Frankie growled as he brushed by her into the room, "Today's my day off and I wanted to sleep in so what's your deal waking me up when you knew I planned to do nothing."

"Thought you might want to know your big brother's been shot, healed and arrested," Damon replied nonchalantly as he strolled through the apartment picking up a book on the counter and flicking through it, "My apologies, I'll let you get back to wasting your day away."

"Wait," she sighed, "Explain," when Damon didn't turn back to face her she groaned, "please."

"Ric's dirty doctor has him framed," he told her, "Get dressed, I'll explain on the way."

She moved quickly after that, tugging a sweater on and shoving her phone in her pocket, missing the note that had been left on the dining table in the night. From there Damon drove them to the police station and Sheriff Forbes brought them downstairs to the jail cells where Alaric was trapped behind bars.

"So you're arresting him for what this nut job Dr. Fell says?" asked Damon.

"He can't be a serial killer," Frankie cut in next in exasperation, "I've been able to beat him in a fight since I was twelve. Just because he thinks he's a hunter doesn't mean he's murderous psycho material."

"I'm not arresting him, I'm detaining him," the Sheriff responded, holding her hands up, "The cell is for his own good. Ric, you were shot, Dr Fell used vampire blood to heal you."

"After she shot him?" Frankie snapped, throwing her hands up in exasperation, "She literally shot him then healed him to make up some story. You've gotta know it's fucked that you're just taking what she says at face value when he's the one who got the bullet wound."

Frankie was pissed, her brother had been shot, framed and thrown in jail, how could be the one who'd been hurt and be the bad guy. Just because the doctor healed him, didn't release her from the blame of shooting someone, at the very least she should be in a cell beside him. Assault was still assault even if you stitched the wound up afterwards and it was ridiculous that she was the one who's word was taken because Ric had passed out from the wound she had caused.

"He came at her with a knife," the Sheriff snapped back.

"Yeah," Alaric replied angrily, "with a knife I had found hidden in her things!"

"Are we gonna ignore the part where he is one of the killers victims," Frankie cut in again, "I mean my brother was practically stabbed to death like days ago."

"Dr Fell suggested his wounds could have been self inflicted."

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me," Frankie muttered under her breath as Damon grabbed her arm and pulled her back from the argument before she got so worked up she lunged at the Sheriff.

"You think I stabbed myself?" Alaric shouted in outrage.

"Look," she held her hands up again in defence as she looked between the two furious siblings, "I think I don't know what to think. I've got nothing, except murder weapons from your stash and a respected member of a founding family pointing a very long finger."

Alaric's face was screwed up in frustration, "She's setting me up, I'm being framed here."

"Well," she replied cooly, "that may be so, but I don't have any proof of that."

"Well then we'll find some," Damon replied, he could see if he didn't jump in soon that either Alaric or Frankie were going to flip out with their anger and he didn't exactly want a second Saltzman sibling getting arrested that day.

"No," the Sheriff replied, "No, just stay out of this Damon, Frankie. I know you care but you getting involved in this is only going to make matters worse."

"Listen Liz," Damon tried to defend them, frowning as she cut him off.

"I have three cells, I can put all three of you away. Don't Damon, I mean it."

"You can't be serious," Frankie replied, "He's a fucking victim and you're locking him up. Why isn't she in a cell for shooting him?"

"Let's go tiny Saltzman, leave it," Damon told her, grabbing her arm and tugging her away at the argumentative glare she was giving the Sheriff, "Let's get a drink and cool off."

"I'm not a Saltzman," she snapped, tugging her arm away as they saw Elena enter the police station, "Check on your girl I need to make a call."

Frankie called Elijah twice before she gave up. After how he'd left last night and what had happened with his mother she felt worried about him, she'd been surprised when he turned up on her doorstep and now that he'd gone AWOL she felt nervous, concerned for his wellbeing.

She could feel the familiar bubble of anxiety pooling in her stomach and she needed to do something before it boiled over, she couldn't be worried about Elijah and Alaric, she was going to burst. She needed to fix Alaric first, she needed to get him out and then she could check on Elijah, she needed to fix it before it consumed her. She needed to check on him too so she could push him out of her head, she didn't like caring about someone she'd barely just met.

"Elijah," she said quietly into the voicemail hoping Damon was too focused on his argument with Elena to listen in, "I just wanted to know if you're all. . . good after last night, you still seemed messed in the head when you left. Call me back so I know your brother hasn't killed you again."

"You and loverboy getting on the outs so soon?" Damon teased as he swanned over.

"Just because you and Elena are fighting don't take it out on me," Frankie snapped, "I'm gonna go find Meredith but I left my board at home, can I borrow your car."

"Uh, no you're not," Damon replied with a laugh, "Don't get me wrong I'd love to rip our Dr False Accusations throat, ooh or her tongue, but-"

"Then let's go," she cut him off, pushing by him and groaning when he sped in front of her.

"Hold it," he said, "You heard Liz, stay out of it."

"You're not seriously going to stay out of it are you?" Frankie rolled her eyes, "Who are you?"

"Of course I'm not little Saltzman," Damon grinned wrapping an arm around her shoulders, "We're just leaving the obvious alleys to the others."

Damons suggestion of a new alleyway unsurprisingly led to them sitting in Frankie's workplace on a day she didn't work, with Damon attempting to buy her copious amounts of alcohol. Stefan had come too though he seemed more anxious than both she and Damon combined, tapping his ring anxiously along the roof of the table as he tried to soothe himself.

"You know," Damon said to Stefan, "quitting blood cold turkey after a ripper binge might not be the best approach. Every time you play that all-or-nothing game, you eventually leave a trail of bodies. So, I'm thinking, now is a good time to pay our old friend moderation a visit."

"The three of them," Stefan replied ignoring Damons taunts and returning to Alaric's case which they'd just been discussing, "They were all on the Founders Council, Damon. That's what they have in common, the medical examiner, Bill Forbes and Alaric."

"But why them?" Frankie asked, "The medical examiner and Ric weren't even founding family members."

"She's right," Damon agreed, "If you're gonna slaughter council members, go A-List. At least when it happened in 1912 they killed a Salvatore."

"Which Salvatore would that be?" Rebekah asked, coming up behind them and wrapping her arms around Frankie's waist as she rested her chin on her shoulder, "Frankie darling I miss you, Nik is such a bore."

-

Rebekah had been questioning Damon and Stefan about the murders and about their family history for at least fifteen minutes and Frankie was bored of it, she wasn't sure what she'd expected when Damon told her they were searching for the proper killer but it wasn't this. Sitting in a bar at 2pm wasn't exactly the picture of mental stability she wanted to put off into the world and really she wanted to be doing something not just waiting around for answers about her brother.

"'Bekah," Frankie groaned, "This is not distracting me, I feel like I'm stuck with your brother hunting werewolves again, what answers are you trying to dig out of Damon right now?"

"I'm just researching the town history," Rebekah replied innocently, "I grew up here after all."

"You know you don't have to disguise your true motives Blondie-Bex," Damon replied with a cocky smirk, "if you want more sex, just ask for it."

"Not enough liquor in the world," Rebekah replied cooly causing Frankie to choke on her laughter at how quickly Damon's face fell.

"Oh come on," he replied, "it was too good for you to be this hostile."

"Seems you're not the sex god you think you are Damon," Frankie told him with a laugh, "What an unsurprising revelation."

"Oh sweetheart," Damon leaned in close to Frankie who's lips had spun up into a grin of amusement, "Why don't we go back to mine and I'll change your mind."

"Hmm," Frankie replied with a mock frown on her face as she looked him up and down, "I've actually got standards, the bar is low I'll admit, but certainly not that low. Sorry Bex, we all have moments of weakness, I get it, sorry that yours had to be Damon."

Suddenly Stefan stood from his seat, grabbing the glass and bottle and moving away from Rebekah to sit on Damon and Frankie's other side. He'd been fidgeting all the while and it seemed his brothers flirting with both girls had pushed him over the edge.

"You'll have to excuse my little brother," Damon explained to Rebekah, "He's jonesing for some O positive."

"I'm not jonesing," Stefan replied, ignoring the unconvinced stares of Damon and Frankie as they snatched the bottle back to refill their own glasses.

"So did they ever catch the Founders Council killer in 1912?" Rebekah asked, shifting over in her seat so she now sat beside Frankie.

"Nope," Damon told her, "Wrote it all off on vampires."

"Maybe it was a vampire," said Frankie.

"Yeah, yeah," Stefan agreed sarcastically, ignoring Frankies hand that flew out to hit him on the back of his head "maybe it was a vampire, Damon."

"Don't think for a second you didn't cross my mind dear brother," Damon said sweetly glancing at Stefans still fidgeting fingers, "But these murders weren't your style, were they? Plus there were no other vampires circulating then."

"Well there was one other vampire. Remember Sage?"

A text beeped in on Frankies phone and she tugged it out hoping to hear from her brother. It wasn't of course, he was still locked up but it was Elena and she wanted to help get him out.

Matt and I have a plan to find proof Ric is innocent, are you in?

Glancing up at Damons flirty eyes to Rebekah, Stefans antsy fingers and Rebekah's obvious ulterior motive it was an easy decision to make, sliding from the seat and leaving without more than a wave.

where am i meeting you?

-

"I gotta say Matty," Frankie told him as the door swung open to Meredith Fell's apartment, "Watching you pick that lock just made you about ten times hotter."

"Ten?" he laughed in surprise.

"I mean ten times zero is still zero," Frankie shrugged nonchalantly, "but if you weren't a kid oh boy, definitely you'd be cute."

"Okay I'm nearly eighteen, you're only like five years older than me it's not that weird."

"Seven," Frankie told him with a grin as they began to search the apartment, "Which is about six years too many for a high school kid no matter what Damon says, sorry bud."

"Okay look," Elena cut in with a laugh at their banter, "I don't know how much longer Meredith is gonna be in surgery we should see what we can find before she gets back."

"Don't you think the police already combed through this place?" asked Matt, "She handed over everything she had."

"Yeah," agreed Frankie, "But we're looking for the evidence she didn't hand over."

"And you're sure that it's her we should be investigating?" he asked.

"I know him Matt," said Elena, noticing Frankies shoulders tense nervously as she worried about her brother, "He's innocent. And I know that Meredith's a Fell, founding family. Which means," here Elena trailed off, glancing around the room and spotting a closet. She pulled the door open, finally pressing open a hidden panel at the back, "Skeletons in the closet. Just like a true founder."

"This town is super fucked up," Frankie muttered as they all crouched down to look through the box Matt pulled out.

"Brian Walters. Bill Forbes," Elena said, pulling folders out with the victims names on them, "Alaric Saltzman."

"There's everything here," said Frankie, pulling the file from her hand and flicking through, "Medical records, these are old court documents, how does she have these?"

"What's this?" Matt asked, tugging a book from the box. It was old and worn with yellowed pages that were thick from wear and use.

"It's an old Gilbert journal," Elena said in surprise, pulling it from him and opening the binding to stare inside in disbelief.

"Why are one of your old family journals in her closet?" asked Frankie.

"I-" Elena started then broke off weakly.

"Didn't you say the medical examiners time of death was between one and three am?" asked Matt, looking at the papers in one of the folders.

"Yeah," Frankie said, "Why?"

"Because the county coroners office says that's wrong," he told them, handing the paper to Frankie and Elena who leaned over it together.

Before there was a chance for any of them to reply they froze, hearing footsteps down the corridor. Frantically, the three of them rushed about the apartment, straightening items and returning the box to its place before tumbling into the closet, just as the locked clicked on the door and a new body entered the apartment.

Elena, Matt, and Frankie were hiding in the closet, they were quiet and they were still and finally as the door clicked shut behind the intruder, the breaths they'd been holding were released. Frankie had a grin on her face at the close call when she pressed the door open to let them out, the smile falling from her face they saw Meredith waiting for them, particularly unimpressed.

-

"What were you thinking?" Sheriff Forbes yelled.

Meredith had called her once she'd found the three of them hiding in her apartment and then forced them to wait like little kids for the Sheriff to pick them up and drag them back to the station. If not for the fact she was pretty sure they'd just committed a felony, Frankie would be pissed.

"I know that we had no right," Elena said defensively, Frankie had to suppress a laugh at this but at the glower that plastered the Sheriff's face she was able to keep it in.

"No right?" Sheriff Forbes yelled, "You broke the law."

"But we did find something that clears Ric," Frankie cut in, trying to keep her voice steady, "It gives him an alibi in the murder of the medical examiner."

"Do you mean this?" the Sheriff held up a pice of paper furiously.

"What is that?" asked Elena.

"A letter from the county coroner's office correcting the error in the time of death of Brian Walters. Meredith Fell received it today. She brought it to me several hours ago, full of apologies for accusing an innocent man.

"Why would she have a copy hidden in her closet?" Matt asked, he'd been silent through much of the ordeal, embarrassed about getting caught but frustrated by the lies that the case seemed to be wrapped up in.

"I can't ask those questions, Matt, because the very fact that you broke into her home to find it. Do you know how much I'm already protecting the three of you. Frankie, I told you to drop it.

"I'm sorry," Frankie told her, "I couldn't leave him there."

"Just get out of my office and go home," she sighed, "Please. Alaric will be released as soon as the letter is authenticated."

Frankie didn't wait for Ric to get released, she considered sitting in the lobby of the police station but at the glare the Sheriff gave her she reluctantly returned home, Elena promising to get Alaric to call her once he made it back.

Her night was relaxing after that, she fiddled around the apartment, taking some time to reply to work emails she'd been gathering in her inbox about freelance projects and to reply to friends she'd neglected since she left California. Alaric did call her but only briefly to tell her that he was fine, she'd been the one to end the call telling him she'd talk to him tomorrow since he seemed so odd that she presumed he must be exhausted after the day he'd had.

She'd finished dinner by the time she finally caught sight of the note on the dining table, she'd eaten on the couch as she watched tv and it was only as she tidied up for the evening that she saw the crisp cream envelope with her name written in perfect penmanship. Tugging it open, it contained an equally pristine handwritten letter.

Dear Frankie,

Thank you for the kindness you have shown me even after all that my family has put you and yours through. Today I did things I abhor to protect the one thing I value most, my family, the regret for the pain I've caused is something I will carry with me always. My bond with my family allows me make choices that I know are wrong, I cannot allow myself to continue to justify abhorrent behaviour and as such I must leave.

I would never want my connection to you to force you into something you do not desire but please know that if you ever need anything I will be there for you.

You have my number, please call if you wish,

Yours,

Elijah.

Frankie was surprised by the note that Elijah had clearly left sometime after he'd visited her apartment the night before. The honesty in it was something she wasn't used to and though she worried about him she felt glad that he was leaving if it was something that made him happier.

Tucking the letter in between the pages of her notebook, Frankie pulled out her phone to text him. While she wouldn't want him to stay, especially knowing how he felt he could do awful things for his family, she didn't want him to disappear from her life entirely.

hey, i got your note.

glad you're ok