As Caroline stormed up to Bonnie's memorial, she began pacing frantically. "I can't take it, Bonnie. I mean it! I don't…I'm not…argh!" She paused briefly to yank the ends of her hair in frustration. "None of this is okay! Elena is doing drugs and eating people and God knows what else. Stefan has turned into that weird loner uncle everyone ignores at family reunions. Matt and Jeremy are holed up in Mystic Falls and practically ignoring the rest of us. I don't know what to do! I can't fix this by myself!"

She kicked at the tree trunk. "You should be here! I need help – we all do! We need our best friend back, and God help us – we even need Damon! Where the hell are you guys?"

Caroline sank to her knees and rubbed her forehead. "God, Bonnie," she said in a quieter tone. "I know you're out there somewhere – you have to be. There is no way that you and Damon just ceased to exist. You always know what to do…I just need you to tell me."

She sat in silence a few moments longer before sighing and getting to her feet. As she turned around, she sensed a presence and whirled around, growling in surprise.

"Hey, easy there!"

Caroline relaxed at the sight of Jeremy. "Sorry, Jer. You just caught me off guard."

"Yeah," he said. "So…I didn't mean to, but I heard you talking. You really think Bonnie and Damon are out there somewhere?"

Caroline shrugged helplessly. "When the alternative is that they aren't? Hell yes, I do."

Jeremy nodded slowly. "So what can we do about it? If we're saying that they are alive, then we can't just sit back and go on with our lives. At least I can't – not anymore. We have to find them! Or at least…try. Try something. Anything."

"Well…" Caroline started hesitantly. "We haven't told anyone else because we really haven't turned up much yet, but…Ric and I have been sorting through Professor Shane's old research since he took over Shane's old office. You know Shane was obsessed with The Other Side? Well, he did some digging into the possibility of other realms too. We keep hoping we'll come across an actual believable lead somewhere in his piles of notes. It's pretty slow going, so…if you want to help, just talk to Ric."

Jeremy nodded enthusiastically. "I can't believe no one else thought to look through all that stuff! It's a great idea!"

"More like the only idea," Caroline said dryly. "And hey – please don't tell Elena, okay? She is not coping well, and the last thing she needs is something else Damon-related to fixate on. She needs to keep-"

Jeremy interrupted. "Yeah, I get it. She's acting a little nuts. I won't say anything until we find something worth talking about."

With a nod, Caroline started toward the path that led to where she'd left her car. "Well, I need to get back to campus. I'll just…leave you to it."

Jeremy smiled, "Thanks, Caroline. I'm glad you were out here."

Caroline smiled to herself as she drove back to Whitmore. Visiting Bonnie's memorial was helping already – one down, four to go. Time to get the family back together.

As soon as Jeremy got home, he fired up his laptop and opened Skype to chat with Ric. Before he could even get a word out, Ric held up a hand. "Just hold on, Jer. Caroline told me that she talked to you, and I just want to warn you. I can already tell you've got your hopes up, but seriously – all this research is a mess and a lot of it doesn't even make sense. Looking up languages and places and legends mentioned in all this stuff is…well. I'm happy to have the help, just don't expect miracles. Okay?"

Jeremy nodded. "I'm just happy to have anything even remotely concrete to focus on. Can I start tomorrow?"

Ric raised an eyebrow. "I'm sure you mean after school."

"Uh huh, right," Jeremy said with a straight face.

Ric sighed and took a long swig of his drink. "I'm not even going to ask. Just come by the office anytime tomorrow afternoon and I'll get you started. I leave everything there so Elena doesn't catch wind of any of it at home."

"Understood. She still at work?"

Ric nodded. "Normally I'd be a little worried by the long hours she puts in shadowing doctors at that clinic, but as things are now? I'm thrilled with every second she spends doing anything other than…you know," he said with a shrug instead of elaborating further.

Jeremy rolled his shoulders uncomfortably. "Yeah, I know I should probably talk to her more – but I never know what to say. She doesn't really know what to say to me either. It's just been easier…"

Ric snorted. "Tell me about it – try sharing an apartment with her. Getting me through my first few months as a vampire was a great distraction for awhile, but now I pretty much have to fake having adjustment issues when she needs something to focus on."

Jeremy laughed. "What do you do? Threaten to run out and attack the first person you come across?"

"Hey, whatever works!" Rick said with a half-smile. "Anyway, it's good to see you looking a little more alive than normal – I'm glad Caroline talked to you if it's put you in this great of a mood."

"Well, when I noticed she was there, I felt like I couldn't really interrupt so I was kinda just stuck listening to her and some of the stuff she said? Talking about how everyone is falling apart and how there is no way most of us can accept the thought that they're both just…gone. It hit me that I need to stop sitting around feeling sorry for myself and start figuring out what to do about it."

"Caroline has that effect on people, even when she doesn't mean to." RIc shook his head. "She came in here every afternoon for over a week kicking my ass to get in gear and start helping her sort through all this stuff."

Jeremy shook his head. "I never thought I'd say this, but I really wish Damon was here. He might have been a dick about it, but he was always the one that came up with plans and made decisions."

Ric looked down at his whiskey glass for several moments before looking back up at Jeremy and clearing his throat. "Yeah," he started quietly. "You know, I don't think there is anything I wouldn't do to get him back here." He ran a hand through his hair. "I know everyone misses Bonnie, but Damon? He would hate seeing Elena like this…I'm not sure what it'll take to get her back to normal, but I do know that he'd know exactly what to do."

Jeremy nodded. "Then I guess we'd better figure out where the hell they are."