Characters: Katherine, Elena, Damon, Matt, Stefan, Klaus, Rebekkah, Caroline, Tyler, Council members, Meredith, Mrs. Forbes, Mrs. Lockwood
Summary: What if Katherine was in Growing Pains when Elena was turning into a vampire? What if Klaus hadn't been there to pull Caroline and Rebekkah out in Tyler's body? What if Caroline and Rebekkah had had an unexpected helper? Read to find out.
Pairings:
Elena/Damon/Stefan
Caroline/Tyler/Klaus
Katherine/Elena (family)
Katherine/Damon
Matt/Elena
Rebekkah/Caroline (sort of friendship)
It was a beautiful day, as Elena opened her eyes to see that she was in her room at home. Stefan and Damon were in the room with her, Damon seated on a chair by the door, Stefan seated on a chair in front of her bed.
She sat up.
"You've been in and out for hours," Stefan said.
"What happened? How did you save me?" she asked.
"He didn't," Damon told her.
"Wait. What?"
Stefan explained to her what Meredith had done.
"So what? Am I dead?"
"You're in transition. You're not fully alive and you're not fully dead."
"No. I can't be."
"I have Bonnie looking into it. She might be able to reverse it."
"No. You feed or you die. There's no third door," Damon said before getting up and leaving the room.
He went downstairs to the kitchen to get a shot glass of liquor from Elena's cupboard.
Stefan came down the stairs just then and into the kitchen.
He watched his elder brother.
"You know, you can't do anything about it," Damon told his brother. "If she doesn't feed by this afternoon, she'll die tonight."
"Damon, you weren't there when Elena looked me in the eye and told me she didn't want to become a vampire. We still have a day before she has to turn."
"Whatever. Always the hero," Damon commented, grabbing his glass from the counter and slowly sipping it.
Stefan left the room, as Damon finished his drink.
Back at Elena's room, Elena was looking in her mirror, as her hearing intensified. It was so intense; she could hear the electricity running through a light bulb and she looking down at it, once she had entered the hallway outside her room.
Her younger brother, Jeremy, walked over to her from down the other end of the hallway.
"Jer," she greeted.
They hugged.
"Are you okay? I watched Vicki go through this, she was a mess. Her emotions were all over the place. All these old memories came flooding back."
Elena glanced over at the light bulb again, but turned back to face Jeremy again.
"I'm fine. I'm not Vicki."
"No, you're not. You're act like everything's okay so no one worries about you but you need help."
Elena kept glancing at the light bulb.
"I said I'm fine, okay?" she said all snappy. "I-I'm sorry. I…Have you talked to Bonnie?" she then said more herself.
"Yeah, she said when I was shot, she made some plea to the witch spirit to bring me back and they listened.
"Yeah, but the consequences were horrible."
"And what could be more horrible than you turning into a vampire? I need my sister, not another one of them."
"We're going to find a way out of this. Everything's going to be okay."
"I hope so."
Elena watched her only brother leave. She then turned around at the light bulb in the lamp and strode over to it. Then she pulled off the lampshade and crushed the light bulb in her hand.
Bonnie was in the Lockwood cellar, staring at Klaus' desiccated body which was lying in a coffin.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Klaus said.
Bonnie turned around and saw Klaus in Tyler's body entering the cellar.
"What is that doing here, Klaus? The deal we made with Tyler was that you'd leave his body and jump into someone else's the first chance you got."
"Yes, when I assumed I'd be a pile of ash. But apparently, fate and oxygen intervened and there I am."
Klaus walked towards the coffin.
"Put me back."
"I can't right now."
"Your history teacher outed Tyler and Caroline to the Council. They're on a war path and this body's vulnerable."
"I have to help Elena before she has to feed."
"Elena's dead and no longer my concern."
"You're forgetting who just saved your life."
Klaus grabbed Bonnie by the throat.
"And you're forgetting that I could rip your tongue out. Now put me back."
"If I can keep Elena human, you'll still have an endless blood supply to make your hybrids. Isn't that what you really want?"
Klaus released Bonnie.
Bonnie started to leave, but Klaus was instantly in front of her and blocked her way out.
"Same rules apply. No one knows. No one. Do you understand me, Bonnie?"
Meredith was walking down the hallway of the hospital, when Pastor Young and some deputies approached her.
She stopped.
"Pastor Young. To what do we owe the honor? And don't tell me it's your blood pressure again."
"Honestly, I wish it were."
He turned to the deputies behind them.
"Blood bank's in the basement. One of you sweep the rooms."
"Who gave you that authority?" Meredith questioned.
"The Council. They're entrusted me to secure the town and unlike some of our Founding Families, I don't have conflicting interests."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Alaric Saltzman told us everything, Meredith. Probably time to start looking for a new job."
Pastor Young left Meredith there.
Caroline was talking to Matt before there were interrupted by a deputy opening the door. But Caroline was quick and was instantly out of sight before the door even opened.
"Can I help you?" Matt asked the officer.
"Sorry."
He got on his dispatch and said, "All good here."
He exited the room and closed the door.
An officer handcuffed Carol Lockwood at the Lockwood Mansion. Pastor Young stood nearby.
"What's going on?" she asked.
The officer started to lead Carol out of her house.
"We just need to ask you a few questions about your son."
"You can't arrest me! I'm the Mayor of this town!"
"Not anymore you're not."
Sheriff Forbes was walking to the police department when Pastor Young stopped her.
"Sorry, Liz. You're not going to work today."
"What are you talking about?"
The deputies surrounded the two of them.
"They're taking your badge. You're not fit to protect us anymore."
"You have no idea what you're up against."
"On the contrary Liz, I've already taken your deputies. We've got the entire town's supply of vervain, including the stash we found in the Salvatore house. We're making our move."
Caroline was heading out of the Forbes' residence, when her mother called her.
"Where are you? And please tell me it's somewhere faraway," Liz told her daughter.
"Where am I? Uh…good question. Uh…there's just a whole lot of boring highways. Why, is everything okay?"
Suddenly, an officer snuck up behind her and stabbed her in the side of her neck with a syringe.
"Caroline, what's going on?" Liz asked.
The phone hit the porch.
Elena and Stefan were in the kitchen.
Elena took a bite of a sandwich.
"It's disgusting," Stefan commented, watching her.
"No it's, um…"
"It's disgusting," he repeated.
She spit it out onto a napkin.
"I never thought I would say this, but I can't stop thinking about blood."
"I should have saved you first. You shouldn't be going through this now."
"No, if you have saved me, then Matt would be dead. What do you think I'd be going through then?"
Stefan poured himself a drink and took a sip.
Elena got up and walked over to him.
"Stefan, listen to me. You did the right thing. You did what you always do. You respected my choice."
"And what am I supposed to do if Bonnie can't figure out a way to help you? Because then you have another choice to make. Either let yourself die or be a vampire."
"Well, then we'll cross that bridge when we get there."
Suddenly, Elena started laughing.
"Oh my God, did-did I just say "cross that bridge"?"
Elena started laughing maniacally.
"You're laughing. I'm pretty sure you don't actually think that's funny."
"I can't stop though," she said, continuing to laugh.
"Your emotions are a bit heightened today. A lot heightened."
She continued laughing but then started to cry.
He hugged her.
"Hey, shh, shh. It's okay. It's okay."
"I'm sorry. I…"
He pulled away and caressed her face.
"Listen to me. No matter what happens, I'm here for you. I can help you."
Elena looked out the window and squinted her eyes due to the brightness of the sunlight.
"Why don't you go back upstairs where it's dark? I'll clean up."
Elena started to walk away and shielded her eyes from the sun.
She walked up the stairs into her room where she started to remember something that a while back, Damon had compelled her to forget.
*Flashback*
"Cute PJ's," Damon commented, sitting on her windowsill.
"I'm tired, Damon."
Damon got up and walked over to Elena, holding up her Vervain necklace.
"I brought you this."
"I thought it was gone. Thank you."
Elena tried to take it from Damon, but he pulled it back.
"Please give it back."
"I just have to say something."
"Why do you have to say it with my necklace?"
"Because what I'm about to say is probably the most selfish thing I've ever said in my life."
"Damon, don't go there."
"No, I just have to say it once. You just need to hear it. I love you, Elena. And it's because I love you, that I can't be selfish with you. Why you can't know this? I don't deserve you, but my brother does."
Damon kissed Elena on the forehead.
"God, I wish you didn't have to forget this. But you do."
Damon compelled Elena to forget.
*End of flashback*
Elena touched her neck and looked down.
Rebekkah looked at pictures Klaus had drawn at the Original house. She picked one up and began to choke up, almost crying. She threw the pictures down and knocked the rest of them off the table in a fit of rage.
Damon entered the room behind her.
"You should know better than to sneak up on a lady."
"Good advice. Have you seen one?"
Rebekkah turned around to face him.
"Tragic about Elena. Not to make a grey cloud grayer, but does Matt even have automobile insurance?"
Rebekkah turned back around.
Damon rushed at her with the indestructible white oak stake. She grabbed his wrist and prevented him from killing her. She pushed him against a dresser and he dropped the stake.
Suddenly, someone started firing wooden bullets through the window. Damon managed to escape, but Rebekkah was shot in the heart with an arrow and fell to the ground.
Elena picked up a photo of her with her parents and looked at it a bit.
Suddenly, she heard a commotion downstairs and walked down the stairs.
"Stefan?"
"Elena, don't move."
Elena stopped on the stair case. Stefan was surrounded by officers and the Pastor. The officers all had their guns pointed towards him. Elena looked at the Pastor and back at Stefan.
Later, Rebekkah started to wake up.
When she came to, she saw that her and Caroline were in a van being transported somewhere. Caroline was sitting beside her and watching her. Rebekkah struggled to get out of the ropes that held her.
"Vervain ropes. Looks like Alaric outed us all to the Council," she told the Original sister.
"The Council? What exactly do they think they can do to me?"
Suddenly, the wheels of the van started to screech. The van flipped over. Caroline and Rebekkah went flying. The van landed on its side.
"What the hell happened?" Rebekkah questioned.
Just then, someone opened the door. Someone unexpected.
"Katherine?" Caroline said in shock.
She knelt down at her side and ripped the ropes off her, ignoring the pain from touching them. She then did the same for Rebekkah.
"No time. Come on. Let's go," Katherine said, helping them both to their feet one by one.
Then the three girls left the scene.
Damon was picking things up that had been knocked down during the commotion, when Liz walked into the Gilbert House and Meredith came into the living room where they were at from the kitchen.
"They're gone. Whoever nailed Rebekkah, took them too. Please tell me you have something. Anything," Damon said.
"I can't. The Council locked Carol and me out of our offices. Files, computers, everything," Liz answered him.
"So, the Mayor and the Sheriff never contemplated a backup plan, Liz?"
"Damon, relax. When Caroline called to say she got away; did they know where they were planning to take her?" Meredith said.
"No. Just that she was in some van in the middle of nowhere and she managed to escape," Liz answered her.
"Perfect. We've narrowed it down to nowhere," Damon implied.
Someone knocked on the front door and then Matt entered the house.
"Hey, is Elena here?"
Damon turned around and rushed towards Matt. He grabbed him by the throat and pinned him to the wall, choking him.
"In what world are you the one that gets to live?!"
Meredith tried to pull Damon off of him.
"Damon, stop! It wasn't his fault!" Meredith said.
"Let him go, Damon! Now!" Liz said.
Matt tried to pry Damon's arm off his throat.
Damon finally released him.
Just then, someone unexpected arrived along with Rebekkah and Caroline.
"Katherine," Damon said, looking at her.
"Damon," she said back. "I heard what Alaric cooked up. I'm here to help. In fact, I saved Caroline and Rebekkah. So here we are."
Liz and Caroline hugged.
Rebekkah stood against a faraway wall.
"Why would you go to such a length to help?" Damon inquired of his Sire.
"Because it means my family is in danger. I also heard from somewhere what's happening with Elena. I want to help her. But first thing first is finding where they took them."
"Yes. And how are do you suppose we do that? We don't know where the hell to look."
"I don't know. There might be a place somewhere where they could've taken them. It's out in the country where nobody would look."
She gave him a smile.
"Let's check it out."
Elena woke up in a barn on the floor. She looked around her. Vampires were coughing due to the vervain being ventilated through their cages. Elena sat up while holding her head.
"Where am I?" she questioned.
"They thought you were a vampire, so they brought you in here. Elena, are you okay?" Stefan answered from the cage adjacent to Elena's cage.
"Stefan."
Elena tried to pull herself up but was too weak to do so.
"I didn't feed."
Stefan looked worried.
Elena began to get paler.
It was a dark night as Katherine, Damon, Caroline, Rebekkah, Matt, Liz, and Meredith headed for the old ranch where the Pastor lived at.
Back in the barn, things were turning to worst for Elena and Stefan felt helpless to help her at all this time.
"Elena? You still with me?" he called to her from where he sat against the wall that divided him from Elena.
Elena sat on the other side of the wall. She was even paler and was breathing heavily.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm here. I'm okay."
"No, you're not. I can hear you breathing. Damon was right. You should have fed earlier. I'm so sorry."
"Don't be. You had hope. That's all I ever wanted you to have and you had it."
"I love you so much."
Stefan started to cry silent tears.
"I love you. No matter what happens, it's the best choice I ever made," Elena said.
She placed her hand against the wall dividing them.
"God. It sucks that I can't see you right now."
"I'm smiling."
"Me too."
Elena took her hand from the wall and closed her eyes.
While the others did the distraction to lure some of them out of the house, Katherine went to the rescue, following their scent. Which soon led her to the barn where all the vampires and Elena were being held.
She walked in and scanned the place.
Normally, she would've gotten Stefan out first, but seeing Elena, she knew she was the worst off.
She rushed over to her cage and immediately broke the lock and opened the door. Then she knelt by her.
"Elena?" she called softly.
She didn't answer.
Kat gently picked her up in her arms. She knew she was still alive, but was running out of precious time.
She looked back at Stefan, once outside of Elena's cage.
"I'll be back for you."
Stefan watched, as Kat disappeared at vamp speed with Elena in her arms, so she could save Elena for once. At least, he hoped that's what she was going to do. He didn't want to lose Elena. He loved her too much.
Once outside in the front yard, she gently layed Elena down on the ground.
Kat looked up.
"Matt!" she called to him.
He went over to them.
"You need to let her feed on you."
A few minutes later, Elena woke up as a vampire.
Kat helped her sit up.
"How do you feel?" she questioned her descendant, as everyone went over to them.
"Better. Thanks," Elena said, even though she wasn't sure what she felt about being a vampire now.
"Good. I'll be back."
And with that, she vanished into the barn to go rescue Stefan and the other vampires that had been captured.
An hour later, the Pastor and the Council were in the Pastor's house. Pastor Young released the gas hose from the back of his stove.
"Folks, by now, you know that the vampires have escaped. And it won't be long before they retaliate against us. But fear not. For I have been chosen to lead us in a movement," he told them, as he locked the door.
"What are you talking about?" one of the Council Members asked.
"Hear me, loved ones. Soon you'll be free to pass through the gates."
He pulled a lighter out of his pocket.
"And we'll all reunite in eternity."
"Seriously, Pastor, what's going on here?" the council member tried again.
"Friends. We are the beginning," Pastor Young finished.
The Pastor lit the light and the Council members screamed with fear as the kitchen was set ablaze.
Damon and Elena sat on the porch at the Salvatore boarding house.
They were silent, as they looked out into the darkness.
Finally, Elena spoke.
"Damon."
She looked at him.
He looked at her as he said, "Yeah?"
"I remember. Everything. Why didn't you tell me that it was you I meant first?"
"Well, it wouldn't had mattered anyway."
"It would've been nice to know, though."
"I guess you remember that I love you then, huh?"
"Yes."
"Now that you remember everything, do you finally know what you feel for me?"
He wished she would say that she loved him.
"I care about you, Damon. That's all I feel."
"Then you're lying to yourself and to everybody else. You can't see it yet, but I know you love me, too."
He got up and headed inside.
Stefan and Kat watched them from one of the windows in one of the upstairs rooms.