just like the boy trying to give it away

It's over.

Even though it wasn't Alaric who'd attacked Meredith, the guilt remains. It's a state Alaric perpetually stays in. Guilt over Jenna, mostly. The guilt over Isobel (and even that lessened considerably thanks to a bit of schoolyard compulsion)sits under the surface, the wife he lost to her obsessions. But, she's dead. And Jenna's dead. He's probably gotten whiplash form suspecting Meredith Fell of foul play and then realizing he was who everybody had to be worried about. He thought they'd find the solution before anything more could happen.

And then Alaric, possessed by Emily Bennett, chased Meredith Fell through the Gilbert house like some knockoff horror movie.

After a night of drinking and a week avoiding her completely, Alaric breaks his silence by dropping by the hospital. He tries to be his charming, dry self. He wants to make it up to her. It's the least he can do. He suggests dinner because coffee sounds ridiculous and he hasn't been waking up most weekends in time for lunch. It's been one of those weeks. And of course, he works.

He stops by his old apartment to pick something out that doesn't smell like alcohol. Jenna and he never really dated. They'd simply fell into a comfortable pattern. He'd sleep over. They'd never gone out a lot. It was really his most adult relationship. Even though some nights, he didn't feel like an adult. But, that meant his nicer stuff never got worn. Not, that they would be tonight. The Grill is hardly an exciting date but this is Mystic Falls and that's what they have.

He can at least lean against his car door at the end of her shift, like he just stepped out of an eighties movie.

Oh, that's what he's doing, Meredith.