I'm sorry that the chapter I'm writing based on the mid-season finale is getting longer and more complicated than I thought it would be, so here's a quick missing scene from episode 3 that I've been thinking about for a while for you to read while you're waiting!

The title for this (that I only just thought of a second ago-am I the only one who struggles with chapter titles?) comes from Radiohead's "Creep."

And a very Merry Christmas to everyone celebrating!

Where had everyone gone, MG wondered.

He'd spent so much time with Dana trying to make Lizzie jealous, but now he couldn't see her anywhere.

In fact, as he looked around, he couldn't see Josie either. And Hope was missing as well.

He could understand why Lizzie had left, after Connor had thrown that milkshake all over her.

MG was kicking himself for not standing up for her, for standing there and ignoring her as that entire group of bullies made her their sole target.

He'd been so preoccupied with his plan to get Lizzie's attention that he'd ended up paying her no attention at all, and it had ended up hurting her and, ironically, making his entire plan futile without her there to witness it.

He was starting to regret taking Penelope's advice.

Sure, Lizzie's defensive reaction to Dana speaking to him had been a good sign that she cared about him, or at least felt possessive over him (which MG had no objections to, for the record), but now he worried that she would think that she was just another conquest, just another name on a list, that she could have been anyone—instead of being the one.

Lizzie hated feeling like she wasn't important, like she didn't matter. And it wasn't exactly an irrational fear, since she was a twin—spending her entire life sharing everything and competing over her parents' attention, her mother was frequently out of the country, and her father clearly prioritized Hope over his own daughters—and though MG would never say anything to his friend, he found it equally obvious that Josie was Alaric's favorite of the twins: the one who reminded him of his late wife in temperament, in appearance, even in their shared name, while Lizzie only served as a reminder of the worst the Gemini Coven had to offer.

So in MG's opinion at least, Lizzie had every reason to be insecure, even though those insecurities were what had gotten them all into trouble in the first place.

He wasn't sure how they'd all seemed to have forgotten that he had vampire hearing, but it hadn't seemed to occur to anyone that he knew what Dana had said to Lizzie that had prompted her to decide to use magic to win the game at all costs, and what she had said that had made Lizzie punch her, and MG agreed with Lizzie's assessment that she'd been provoked.

The catty remarks that Dana and Lizzie threw back and forth about each other's appearance or popularity were one thing, but criticizing Lizzie for her mental illness crossed a line.

Lizzie was so ashamed of her bipolar disorder and of the symptoms that went with it, which made her feel impossibly different from other students in a way that meant they would never be able to completely relate to her. Even her own twin sister couldn't fully understand the way Lizzie's mind worked, the way her emotions were so intense, the way she lost control.

MG had listened to Josie make excuses for Lizzie, had watched as she cleaned up the messes that Lizzie's tantrums often left in their wake, but even though Josie was the most sympathetic, even she still seemed to think of Lizzie's illness as a problem that needed to be solved, or at least hidden, rather than something that was just a part of Lizzie was, like her blue eyes or her sweet tooth.

Lizzie's father and sister acted like her illness was their burden to bear as well, even though they had no idea what it was like to feel like your own mind didn't work the way everyone else's did, like theirs was normal and yours was wrong.

Like they were healthy and normal, and you were broken.

MG didn't think that he had rose-colored glasses on when it came to Lizzie. He knew that she could be self-centered, dramatic, emotional, unobservant, critical, superficial; but he also knew that she was more than just the shallow mean girl that so many other students at the school had written her off as.

He had been looking for Lizzie when he'd found Kaleb feeding from Dana.

He'd thought she might have stalked off to hide on the bus so that she wouldn't have to see or talk to anyone.

Instead, Kaleb was the one taking advantage of the privacy the empty bus offered.

MG reluctantly agreed to keep Kaleb's secret, but he felt uneasy about the whole thing. He knew that his friend saw him as a goody-two-shoes, but the rule against feeding on humans seemed like one that needed to be followed to make sure the school's secrets were kept safe.

But he didn't want to get on Kaleb's bad side, and as guilty as he felt over it, saving Dana from losing some blood didn't seem worth the risk.

MG resolved to monitor the situation, make sure that Kaleb didn't call attention to himself or feed from someone he shouldn't.

But he still hadn't found Lizzie.

He now felt comfortable assuming that she'd gone back to the school. But although MG thought that Lizzie wasn't at fault for the fight at the game yesterday, the headmaster clearly didn't see it that way, so he found it hard to believe that Dr. Saltzman hadn't insisted that Lizzie return to face the rest of their punishment with the rest of them.

And why had Josie and Hope been allowed to leave too?

And on that note, why was Hope even there? She wasn't even at the game, and as Lizzie had pointed out, Hope never got in trouble for anything, even when she broke the rules.

But Josie was a rule-follower. So if she'd blatantly shirked her punishment and left, it must have been for a very good reason.

And for one of the Saltzman twins to voluntarily go anywhere with Hope Mikaelson, there had to be something very strange and sinister going on.

When the sun started to set and the remaining Salvatore School students had given up even the appearance of doing anything productive, MG approached Dorian, who was sitting alone at a table outside the Mystic Grill, to find out what was happening and when they could go back to school.

"What is going on? Where's everyone gone?" MG asked Dorian.

"What are you talking about?" Dorian returned suspiciously.

"Both of the twins and Hope are gone," MG told him.

"Lizzie ran out of here like a bat out of Hell hours ago, in one of those moods where anyone who crosses her ends up on her hit list, so I let her go to change clothes and complain to her dad about how mean the Mystic Falls High kids were to her. I thought he'd make her come back, but I guess not," Dorian answered. "Josie wanted to check on her, and I needed to get some research to her dad, so I sent her back to the school. Of the three of them, Josie was the only one who asked permission to leave."

"So when are we done here?" MG asked. "It'll be dark soon."

Dorian looked up, as if he'd been sitting there for so long he hadn't even noticed the passage of time.

"All right, we can start loading up the bus now," Dorian replied, loud enough that the vampires and werewolves, with their enhanced hearing abilities, would be able to hear him. "It isn't like any of you have accomplished anything anyway," he grumbled more quietly.

MG almost laughed out loud. He'd spent a little time cleaning up some graffiti, but only because he'd known Lizzie wasn't going to, and even so, he'd still abandoned his post after only a few minutes. The only other people he'd seen actually make an effort were Josie and Hope, before they'd left early.

Still, for a group of people who hadn't actually done much work, the students seemed very excited to get to go back home.

After returning the equipment they'd only pretended to use away, pairs of students in navy and grey filled up the rows of seats in the bus, chattering away animatedly without a care in the world.

They probably hadn't even noticed the three missing girls, and those that had wouldn't have cared. The student body of the Salvatore School was small enough that everyone knew everyone else, but Hope's deliberate emotional withdrawal from everyone meant she didn't exactly have a lot of friends, Josie was quiet enough that she could regularly fade into the background even though she was well-liked among her classmates, and Lizzie… well, Lizzie was misunderstood and underappreciated by people who didn't know her but thought they did.

MG sat in the front row of seats next to the door, where no one ever wanted to sit—the elementary school notion that the cool kids sat in the back of the bus and the nerds sat up front apparently still rang true even for teenagers who attended a school for supernatural creatures—and waited for Dorian to take his seat on the bus and give permission for them to go back to school.

Dorian, however, seemed to be in no hurry. He leisurely walked up and down the aisle of the bus, taking attendance, though he didn't mention Lizzie, Josie, or Hope, probably not wanting to cause a fuss over their absence.

MG grew more and more impatient with Dorian's methodical pace, sighing in relief when Dorian finally took his seat behind the bus driver and instructed him to drive them back to the school.

MG was the first one off the bus when it came to a stop in the driveway less than ten minutes later.

He forcefully pushed open the doors, only to find the entrance hall empty.

"Jo?" he called out. "Lizzie? Josie?"

He heard hushed voices coming from the Great Hall and followed them.

"You can't tell him anything," Alaric ordered.

"Why? So that he can come as close to dying as Lizzie did? Or would you risk your life to save any of your students except your daughters?" Josie challenged bitterly.

Lizzie had nearly…?

MG didn't care if he was welcome, or if he stumbled upon whatever secret the headmaster seemed determined to keep from him, he needed to see for himself that she was okay.

"Who am I kidding, of course that's an honor only reserved for Hope," Josie muttered. Her father was surely unable to hear, but MG's vampire hearing caught her complaint easily.

The scene in the Great Hall as MG rushed over the threshold certainly didn't look suspicious, at least at first.

Josie was sitting on the floor next to Lizzie, who seemed to be lying down, though most of her midsection was blocked from his view by Josie's body, so MG couldn't see if she was injured.

Hope had her back to him, so all MG could see was her copper-colored hair falling over the back of her navy blue shirt as she swept up what looked like rock into a dustpan.

Alaric stood over the three girls, until it evidently became clear to him that none of them were speaking to him, so he announced that he was going to his office.

No one responded.

"Oh, MG," Alaric greeted as he saw him standing in the doorway. "I didn't know everyone was back. In that case, I should check in with Dorian so we can discuss what happened today."

"I should come too," Hope declared.

Alaric sent an uncertain look at his daughters.

"Um, I don't think that's necessary, but thank you, Hope," Alaric responded.

Hope shot a disbelieving look at him before fixing the twins with an angry glare.

"You two really won't be happy unless I have nothing, will you?" Hope snapped. "Well, I hate to break it to you, but it's good for the school to have someone as powerful as me around to protect it."

Then Hope stormed out of the room, and Alaric shrugged and followed a moment later.

MG stepped closer to Josie and Lizzie.

"Hey," he greeted quietly.

"Hey, MG. Sorry about all of that," Josie replied.

"What happened? It must have been something pretty big for you to get so angry," MG wondered.

Instead of answering, Josie moved so that MG could see Lizzie behind her.

The bottom of the navy sweater she wore—which was strange in and of itself, since Lizzie only rarely wore navy because Hope wore it all the time, so Lizzie preferred to wear grey, white, and red—was torn off, and the exposed skin of her abdomen was marked with fading grey lines, like scratches from a cat's claws, but bigger and deeper.

She was more still than MG had ever seen her. MG was used to seeing Lizzie constantly on the move—planning something, talking to someone, making her way around the school like she owned it—but now she was lying very still, as if moving was a challenging task.

"What happened?" MG asked.

"She was attacked by a gargoyle," Josie answered.

"A gargoyle?" MG repeated incredulously.

"Yes. Like from The Hunchback of Notre Dame," Josie explained. "A statue brought to life. Apparently this one was in the garden when Lizzie got back. One of the primary school students that was out there, Pedro, told us that Lizzie tried to get them inside to safety, but he followed them, so she siphoned some magic from him and sent him to find Dad while she did the spell, but the gargoyle attacked her before she could get away."

MG was impressed. If only everyone who thought Lizzie was nothing more than a shallow mean girl could see how selfless and quick-thinking she'd been, sacrificing herself to make sure that another student was safe.

"What was the spell she did?" MG asked.

"A containment spell," Josie answered. "I had to take it down so that Hope and I could get back inside. She was trying to make sure the gargoyle couldn't escape and hurt anyone else."

MG had thought he was impressed with Lizzie before, but that was nothing compared to how he felt now. She hadn't just sacrificed herself to save one other student, she'd risked her own life to save all of the students who were out doing community service, everyone who lived in Mystic Falls, and whoever else the gargoyle might have been able to hurt if no one was able to stop him.

"And still, people at this school say that she's selfish," MG shook his head.

"Exactly," Josie rolled her eyes.

Lizzie finally stirred, trying to sit up.

"Is she okay?" MG asked, embarrassingly frantically. "Does she need…" he trailed off, extending his hand.

"That isn't a bad idea," Josie said. "Here, Lizzie, take MG's hand. Magic will help you recover faster."

Lizzie nodded weakly as MG knelt and placed his hand in hers.

He felt the familiar sensation of the magic that kept him alive leaving his body in small waves. Josie had siphoned his magic in the past, and Lizzie siphoned from him fairly regularly, to the point that she'd even stopped asking for his permission, although now that he thought about it, MG wasn't sure if Lizzie had ever asked his permission before siphoning from him.

Which might seem presumptuous and invasive to someone else, but MG was glad that he was spared the mortifyingly eager response he would have given if she'd asked.

After a few minutes, Lizzie seemed to be feeling better. She was able to move easily and stand up, checking for herself to see that the scratch marks the gargoyle had left on her stomach were gone.

"I'm going to go take a shower and change into some comfy clothes," Lizzie announced.

"Okay, we'll be here," Josie told her.

Once she'd walked away, MG asked Josie, "How did you know that she was in trouble and you needed to come back? Dorian told me that you insisted you needed to see her when I was looking for you."

"You were looking for me?" Josie asked.

"Well, all three of you, really," MG admitted. "I figured if you or Lizzie voluntarily went anywhere with Hope, it had to be something major."

Josie chuckled.

"That's true. And moments before you showed up, Dad threw himself between her and the gargoyle when it tried to attack her, so needless to say, we aren't on good terms right now," Josie said. "It was a twin connection sort of thing. We can feel each other's pain. At first I thought it was a completely reasonable reaction to you and Dana, but then I realized it was Lizzie."

MG winced at the reminder of what he'd done, and the judgmental tone in which Josie mentioned it.

"Yeah, that was not my best decision," MG confessed.

"You think?" Josie raised her eyebrows. "You're such a good guy, MG, why are you always choosing the wrong girls? Penelope, and now Dana; I wish you would date a girl who is as nice as you are, someone who actually deserves you."

MG sighed.

"Well, like I told you, I'm just passing the time with girls who are available. The kind of girls you want me to be with, don't even look my way, trust me."

"And what about the girl you want to be with?" Josie questioned.

MG choked out a laugh.

"So far out of my league we aren't even playing the same game," he insisted. "She's like, a movie star, and I'm the guy who holds a fan in front of her on hot days, and on rare occasions she'll say thank you and actually get my name right, and it makes my whole year."

"Well," Josie started as she stood up. "All I can say is follow your heart, until your heart says it's had enough, and then you have to stop for the sake of your own sanity. Just keep being the kind, caring person that you are, and show her that you care, that she's important to you. I think that's all people really want, right? To feel special and important to the people they care about? But what do I know. There aren't a lot of people fully committed to Team Saltzman Twins lately, especially since Team Hope is an option."

"Hey, that is not fair, I am the captain of Team Saltzman Twins," MG laughed.

"Then stay away from Dana! You know how much Lizzie hates her!" Josie exclaimed.

Which Penelope had insisted was a good thing for him, but MG decided to take Josie's advice this time.

"Jo, you should know that Lizzie only punched her because she insulted you. She started the fight yesterday because she was standing up for you," MG said. "Which is probably why she felt so hurt when you sided with Hope over her today."

"Well, I won't be doing that again," Josie promised. "We needed to work together to defeat the gargoyle and save Lizzie, but I don't think I can be friends with someone who my own dad loves more than me."

"Hey, if you're discussing what you're getting me for my birthday, stop, I'm back!" Lizzie announced, now wearing a white hoodie, grey leggings, and slippers.

"Your birthday's coming up? I had completely forgotten," MG teased.

Lizzie pouted.

"Come on, you know I would never forget my favorite twins' birthday," MG said.

Before the twins could respond, a note floated towards them, informing them that there was an assembly in the Great Hall in ten minutes.

Lizzie and Josie claimed seats in the front and started talking and laughing together.

MG sat further back, not wanting to intrude, but as he listened to Alaric tell the student body about the gargoyle and the dragon, he found himself mulling over Josie's words, and decided that after the assembly was over, he would do something to show Lizzie how important she was to him, and how much he cared.

The next chapter, based on MG's storyline in the latest episode, will be uploaded as soon as I finish writing it. Thank you for your patience!

And I'm not sure if anyone will be interested, but I thought I would offer: if there are any scenes from the show, or chapters here, that you'd like me to write a chapter or a continuation/sequel for, please let me know and I will add it to my list of future chapters! Thanks!