This is an AU take on season 3. In this, the Sun and the Moon curse was true. No silly little hybrids, no ridiculous siring Deus Ex Machina. Just good old fashioned werewolves and vampires.

I think this is, easily, my best work in fanfic ever. I guess having a broken ankle pushed me into some kind of higher state of writing conciousness or something. Lawz. Consider this your delayed Christmas Present.

****/Juleswood: Bonds not Easily Broken****

Tyler hates this.

Standing around his house. Twiddling his thumbs. He can't even call up his friends because…well, they weren't his friends anymore. Matt hates him now that he's with Caroline, or maybe because he's a werewolf or maybe because secretly he always hated him. He hasn't really talked to anyone else since breaking the curse, he's been spending every moment of free time with either his mother or Caroline. And now he's sitting in his bedroom, counting cracks in the wall that he made when he dished out a severe beating to it the day after he found out his father had died. He should be out there, fighting the good fight with Caroline and Elena and even Damon. He should be making a contribution, pouring through old history books. Grilling his mom for ancient Mystic Falls vampire lore. Something. Anything.

"Don't worry about this Tyler. I don't want you in the middle of it."

Caroline wants him to be safe, he understands that. He likes that. Most of the time he likes that she's been going all crazy overprotective vampire girlfriend. It's sweet and endearing and cute and most of all it lets him know that she cares about him. For the first time in a long time, someone other than his mother (and yes, he begrudgingly admits his father too) really, truly cares about him. Not just how strong he was, not just what advantage he gives to the football team or the fact that he was the mayor's son. Caroline loves him just for him.

He's never had that before.

And it makes him hope. Hope that maybe, just maybe he might get a shot at being happy. More than anyone else, Caroline saved him. She saved him from himself, from the person he used to be and the thing he used to become. That being said…

"This isn't your fight, Tyler."

Wasn't it though?

Klaus had spent that last seven hundred years tracking down and exterminating werewolves. Tyler was a werewolf. Ergo, he was on Klaus' hit list. He knew it, Caroline knew it, everyone else did too. More than that though, if Caroline was helping Elena and Damon then that meant that when the time came to throw down with the biggest, baddest vampire to ever walk the Earth then Caroline would be on the front lines. She was in danger, she was at risk. When it came right down to it, he would rather die quick fighting at her side than wither and die slow knowing she died in the fight Klaus while he sat around Lockwood manor watching his mom's tivo'd episodes of Desperate Housewives. He had argued with Caroline until he was blue in the face but in the end he had finally relented even though he knows he could be useful. He was stronger than a human even in his human form. He was faster, he had werewolf senses. Jules had said he was a naturally gifted tracker, so maybe if they needed to find someone? Alaric was helping them, and he was only human albeit a very skilled vampire hunter. Yet surely his enhanced abilities made him just as useful to the cause as Alaric's skills in vampire hunting? And then, there was that other thing.

The curse was broken.

Tyler could transform at will.

He didn't want to, knew that just because the curse was broken it didn't mean the transformation would be any less painful or frightening or downright humiliating. Knew that he still couldn't really control himself in wolf form but Damon and Elena were clever. Surely they could come up with something? Lock him in a room with one of Klaus' underlings and threaten to let him go werewolf on them if they didn't spill? Toss Klaus into a pit and then dump him in there too while he was in the final stage of transformation? Something? Anything? Tyler hated being a werewolf, hated the transformation. His greatest fear is that somehow, some way the curse will come back. He got lucky that night, he had apparently followed the scent of Damon's already festering werewolf bite to the scene of the sacrifice. Klaus had been distracted in the fight with Elijah and his witch was being used as a chew toy by Damon. Jenna, Jules and Elena had already been sacrificed that meant that the final step of the ritual had to be completed and regardless of who had started it all that mattered was who finished it. The moonstone was the lock that bound everything together, it had to be destroyed for the curse to be broken and even in his wolf form, he had had the presence of mind to know what must be done. He ignored his instinct to destroy vampires, ignored his gnawing hunger and rage and lunacy and shattered the moonstone with a single blow.

Okay, so maybe he was just as much a danger to the good guys as the bad guys when he was like that but so is Damon. Tyler thinks back to the time Jeremy told him Damon snapped his neck just because Elena wouldn't sleep with him or whatever and Caroline's mom had told him about Damon trying to eat her dad even though her dad was kind of a asshole.

Yet the group obviously trusts Damon more than him?

Why?

And now Mystic Falls apparently has an infestation of ghosts to worry about. Great. Okay, maybe he couldn't punch out a ghost but still, why wasn't he allowed to help out?

"The best thing you can do now is stay safe, Tyler. Please, for me?"

"For you, Caroline." he says to the darkness of the room.

He is not prepared when the darkness answer him.

"Of course, it's always for Caroline isn't it?"

It's a voice he hasn't heard in three months. A voice he was both heartbroken and relieved to discover he'd never hear again.

"Jules?"

Yeah, herp derp Tyler. Ghost infestation. Everyone was probably getting visits from dead-loved ones- friends. No, acquaintances. Because that's all Jules was to him.

"Damn good to see you, rich boy."

He stands, and looks around the room and discovers her leaning against the far wall. Smiling at him, and he's amazed that somehow he managed to forget how beautiful she really was. Not beautiful in the same way Caroline was. Caroline is all soft and sweet, warm apple pie and sherbet ice cream. A life on the run from vampire made Jules all hard edges and rusty saw blades. Her body wasn't as voluptuous as Caroline's, spending most of her time hungry and fighting for her life had burned off Jules' curves. Her skin had been a map of scars, and her body tightly muscled and wiry. In life Jules had been like tough, weather beaten leather.

Still, she's a beautiful girl. Now a beautiful ghost. Those blue-gray eyes of hers are like the rocks on the shore of a river, and no amount of hard living could steal their luster away. Even in death, they're like portals to another world. An older, primal world that's beautiful and frightening in equal measure. He hasn't spared Jules a second thought since the day he burned her body on a funeral pyre in accordance with werewolf tradition and of course her wishes. Jules had helped him, even though he had been loathe to admit it because he knows that Jules hurt Caroline and that is something that she could never redeem herself for. Yet standing there, looking at her for the first time in months for a split second, his heart breaks for her all over again.

Because in spite of everything, at her heart Jules might have cared about him too?

Or because in his heart, he knows that he could really only be all of what he was, good and bad, animal and man, when he was driving down that empty road with Jules at his side? Not just lovers, not just siblings, but werewolves. Packmates. Together.

The knife in his heart twists when for the briefest second Jules' eyes water and the smug, unflappable look of superiority on her face wavers. It's both joy and sadness and she says:

"You see me." and it's like every prayer she ever made has been answered at once. There's so much relief, so much happiness in those three little words that Tyler feels his throat constrict.

"Jules, what's going on?" he manages to say, maybe the words are a little more choked than he wants them but Jules doesn't seem to register that.

In that moment, everything snaps back to status quo and Jules' face returns to its neutral self assured expression. He tilts her head forward and answers that it's all the witches fault that the dead are returning to life.

Okay. Weird even for him, but he doesn't have the time to digest the news.

"Why are you here?" He asks.

"Unfinished business." Jules shrugs. "And I'm here to offer you my congratulations. You got the girl, broke the curse…"

"Everything you always said I couldn't do on my own." Tyler reminds her, a bit angrily. Old arguments rushing up to the surface of his mind.

Jules smiles looks down and says words he'd never thought he'd hear her say.

"I was wrong. About Caroline." it kills her to say this, the words are sticking like molasses in her throat but her werewolf honor compels her to settle this matter with Tyler. "She does love you."

Tyler doesn't know what to say. Even after learning he was a werewolf and the town was populated with vampires and witches Tyler had to admit there were certain things he couldn't wrap his head around. Call it narrow minded, call it just plain stupid but there are still some things that take him by surprise. Jules admitting she was wrong about Caroline is one of those things he'd never believe if she hadn't said it right to his face.

"So…you approve?" Tyler asks, and even he himself is taken aback by the hopeful tone in his voice. He can't deny it though, some part of him wants Jules' blessing. "Of us? Me and Caroline?"

She looks up at him with a piercing glare but says nothing.

Her silence speaks volumes.

Tyler grits his teeth. He should have known. Nothing breeds contempt faster than oppression, and nothing breeds bigotry quite like contempt. Jules never had a day in her life after triggering her curse where she wasn't hunted by vampires and witches working for Klaus or Elijah. Some wounds just never heal. He's angry at her for still refusing to accept Caroline, and he's sad for her that her life was made into such hell by werewolf-hunting vampires that even when she admits she's wrong she still can't help but fear and hate Caroline.

And he's furious at himself for empathizing with her, even after everything she's done.

And he's furious at himself for all the things they did together. When the lights were out. When not even the full moon lit the sky to keep them company. When they were cold and alone and needed.

But that was then. This is now. Jules is dead. Caroline is alive. The past and behind him and the future is in front of him. Jules is behind him and Caroline is with him.

Except that even though she's dead Jules is standing in front of him as beautiful and fierce and real as the day he found her on his doorstep.

Except that Caroline's not alive, not really. Not anymore.

Today his past is staring him dead in the eye and Caroline's nowhere in sight, and…well, Tyler's always like the way she looked in those jeans.

He shuts his eyes and looks down, sick with himself. That's the old him talking. Not the new him, not the one that Caroline loves. The New Tyler Lockwood is a sweet and sensitive guy, who says his pleases and thank yous. He doesn't let the fact that Damon murdered his uncle bother him because Damon is Elena's friend and helping them look for Stefan. He doesn't let the fact that vampires are murdering werewolves bother him. He doesn't go look for other werewolves. He doesn't worry about his race's proud history, and how their culture and way of life is slowing dying out with every beating heart torn from every chest.

He has Caroline. Why should he worry about that stuff?

He looks up at Jules and he suddenly can't account for where the sudden stab of shame comes from. From the echoes of his memory comes the first salvo in the first-but certainly not the last-argument the two ever had.

"I don't care about the others, I hate being a werewolf! I hate transforming every full moon! I hate that I turn into a monster! I hate it, Jules!"

"There's more to being a werewolf than turning into a wolf, Tyler."

Looking back, he'd acted exactly like what he'd been his entire life during the early days. A spoiled child. A spoiled child who was for the first time in his privileged existence being told 'no' by a figure of authority.

How had she put up with him?

By slapping him down, putting him in his place. Reminding him the whys and wherefores. She gave him structure, balance, discipline. She taught him how to hunt, how to track, how to fight. How to kill. She showed him how to live a life far away from the prestige and the luxury and all the little creature comforts of Mystic Falls where the name Lockwood meant everything to a rough and brutal and savage world where the name Lockwood meant nothing.

She had taught him so much, in so short a period of time.

"So, what? She's your friend now?"

"She's been helping me."

But she still had had so much left to teach him. In those months he had been away, most of his education had been geared towards survival tactics and keeping his temper under control. Yet Klaus had murdered her before she had a chance to teach him anything more. Oh, she had tried to insill in him werewolf values and beliefes. Honor to the pack, loyalty to one another, and the reasons why they were what they were and did what they did but he hadn't wanted to hear it. Necessity had forced him to leave home with Jules, but in his mind werewolves were the ones who had kidnapped and tortured Caroline and tried his kill Elena. Werewolves were the ones who had messed up his chances with her and forced him to leave Mystic Falls. He may have been a werewolf, but that didn't mean he was one of them. That didn't mean he wanted to be one of the pack, that he wanted to share in the glory. He hadn't wanted to take the good with the bad, he'd only had ears for his own self loathing.

Now, as the one of the last scions of an ancient glory stares him in the face from beyond the grave he knows he's ashamed of himself for rejecting his heritage. Jules had wanted to be his mentor, to teach him about things beyond just managing all the negative things about being a werewolf she had wanted to teach him about everything else. She had wanted to take him in, make him one of them. Induct him into an old and rich and vast culture that was being exterminated for the sole crime of being stronger and faster and more lethal. Not even his own father had done that. Oh, he had spoken about the Lockwood family and how it should be honored and lived up to, but the words had never meant anything then. They were just more words Richard had used to beat down his own when he failed to live up to his expectations.

Her next words destroy any hope he has of swallowing his pride and asking her to continue his education.

"I don't have much time, Tyler. I'm trapped here as a ghost. I need to settle this so I can move on."

Ah yes; unfinished business, moving on. He's seen Ghost.

She's going to say what she has to say, or have him do something for her and she'll be gone forever. The only other werewolf he knows. Gone.

But it'll be okay, because he'll have Caroline.

"If you want me to avenge your death Alaric is working on that, but I can't kill Klaus for you Jules." Tyler insisted, closing himself off. Letting some of that Old Tyler defensiveness and hostility rise into his personality for the first time in three months.

God help him, it feels good to speak harshly to someone again.

"Who says? The doppelganger? The hunter? Damon?" Jules spits the name. "Who is telling you you're not good enough to fight the single greatest enemy the werewolf race has ever had?"

"Caroline." Tyler insists defiantly, puffing out his chest. "She doesn't want me to get hurt, and when she asks me to do something I do it."

"Funny, I don't remember you being so unfailingly obedient when you were with me." Jules says with a scoff.

The words hang in the air between them for a mement before Tyler says quietly.

"If I was maybe you'd still be alive." he voice is hoarse, broken.

Pained.

Jules lower lips trembles a bit, and she tilts her head to the side.

"I mean, I lost Mason. I lost you…" Tyler shakes his head and took a shallow breath to try and quiet the first tremors deep in his chest the are heralding the beginning of sobs. Then his chest expands as he takes a deep breath, as if defying his emotions to slip his control. "I will not lose Caroline to another one of my stupid mistakes. She knows what's best for me."

"She's your girlfriend Tyler." Jules insists, voice ringing. "She's not your mother. She's supposed to be your equal, not your superior."

Tyler shakes his head even though a tiny voice in his brain has just awakened, or maybe it was always there and he had just been blocking it out. It tells him she's right. Just as often as Jules was wrong about things, she was right too. He sits down on his bed, feeling nauseous.

"That's why I broke it off with you. Because I knew that I couldn't be your mate and your teacher at the same time." Jules says. "Because I knew that in the long run if I let our libido run off with my common sense it would only hurt you and I have only ever wanted to help you."

At the word 'mate' Tyler can't help but flinch. Oh yes, there had been times when they had…well, it had been a lonely time for both of them. Jules so loudly proclaiming it though…gave it impact and it brought have touch and kiss and moan slamming back to his mind hard enough to make his teeth rattle as though it had physically struck him she sits down next to him, and to his surprise the bed shifts beneath her weight. Not as much as though she was actually alive but enough, as though to tell Tyler if there was any lingering doubt in his mind, that yes she is here. This is happening.

This is, maybe, the faint fluttering echo of a second chance.

Tyler swallows hard and even though his lips are parched he avoids licking them because he's afraid of how she might take that.

"And for the record Tyler, I don't want you to think that I blame you for my death. Because I don't. You did what you had to do coming here to ensure your mother's safety. You looked after your own…like a true werewolf would."

Tyler can't even look at her. Those words, the sincerity of them…the enormity of what they mean to him don't hit him at first. But they will, and when they do he won't be able to keep himself from breaking down. Now though, all that fills him up is self loathing and doubt.

"I…" Jules takes a moment, fighting to find the words, fighting to let Tyler know her truth. "…I am proud that my death meant something, Tyler. That you made sure my death meant something."

Tyler looks up at her and starts shaking his head, the beginning of a thousand different ways to voice his protests all fighting for a way to erupt from his tongue. She silences them all by roughly jamming a dirty sock he didn't see her pick up into his mouth. His bulging eyes narrow, and Jules laughs. It's the first time he's ever heard it not tainted by bitterness or derision.

In that moment, it's one of the most beautiful things he's ever heard.

Her smile fades a bit, but the corners of her mouth never quite turn downward as she takes the sock out and tosses it onto the bed and says:

"And I'm here to say… I mean the thing I need to say to…I'm proud of you." Jules can't stop the tears that mist the corners of her gray-blue eyes any more than Tyler can hold back the ones that start to well from his brown ones. "I am so proud of you. You saved them Tyler. You saved all of them."

Tyler wants to say something then, anything.

All he can do is nod and blind rapidly, to try and hide the fact that he's not crying. Jules smile returns, is warped by her trembling lower lip and she grabs him by the back of his neck, pulls him towards her and leans in.

Not for a kiss though.

Tyler lets her pull him closer and as she does so tilts his head down and they both gently press their foreheads together, leaning on one another, eyes closed. One thing he did pick up, one old werewolf tradition Jules had forced him to honor. An old way of two werewolves showing affection, respect, and intimacy to one another. It wasn't romantic though. Hell, it wasn't even sexual. It was just…them.

Werewolves.

Together.

A pack.

He reaches up and runs his hand through her hair. It's not as smoothe and silky as Caroline's, but he finds himself not thinking of her at the moment and then…just like that…

She's gone.

Jules slips through his fingers like sand and Tyler opens his eyes and he is so. Fucking. Gutted. For a moment it's like Klaus ripped his heart out too but then…something happens. Even though the light level in the room doesn't change it looks…feels brighter. As though some light he couldn't quite see had suddenly filled the room in the moment Jules disappeared. Tyler looks up as -even though he's indoors and the windows are closed- a breeze that smells of every pine forest that ever existed gently brushes his cheek and stirs his hair and he knows.

Jules has found her way home. Her fight is over.

But his is just beginning.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Caroline asks, worry and fear and maybe just the tiniest bit of pride in her eyes.

Tyler looks up at everyone around him. Elena, Alaric, Bonnie and Damon. Damon's lips curl and he looks directly into Tyler's eyes, letting his loathing and contempt for werewolves in general and Tyler in particular poison the air between them in ways not even his snarky comments and hissed threats could. Tyler holds his gaze until Damon scoffs in disgust and turns to pour himself another brandy.

"Yeah." Tyler says looking down at Caroline. "Yeah, I am."

Tyler picks up the phone and opens the phone book in Jules' pack's old trailer. He starts to dial the first name in the phone book. It rings twice before:

"Jules?" an amazed voice on the other end of the voice asks.

"No, it's Tyler. Tyler Lockwood…we met when Jules and I visited your pack in the Rocky Mountains to…uh…gah…transform with you?"

A pause.

"…The Tyler Lockwood?" and at that there's muttering from others on the other end of the line, some of it sounds surprised and excited.

Tyler doesn't quite grasp the meaning of that but Damon does and he lets out a furious, amazed bark of a laugh and then slams his drink down on the desk. Everyone but Caroline turns to shoot him a look, she just reaches out and squeezes his hande. He squeezes back and answers yes.

"Is this some short of prank? Ray? Is this you?" a new voice demands into the phone, a woman.

"No. No this is Tyler Lockwood. From Mystic Falls."

"…The Tyler Lockwood from Mystic Falls?" the voice asks stupidly, echoing the other's question.

Damon makes a rude gesture and then plops down in the chair next to him. Elena admonishes him.

"No, I will not! The little punk almost kills me and now he's the werewolf messiah?" Damon shouts.

Tyler turns to the vampire, angry and confused and tired of Damon's shit in general. Caroline reaches up and gently places her hand on his cheek. All the rage drains from Tyler's body and he returns to the task at hand.

"And now we're going to invite more mongrels into town?" Damon asks, Elena steps forward and kicks him in the shin. Tyler ignores them.

"Yeah, uh. Look…I don't know if this is a good time but…"

"Yes."

"What?"

"Whatever you want. Yes."

Tyler looks up at the others, and suddenly the enormity of how much power he's been given just drops into his lap. A chill crawls down his spine, and his sack tightens up.

"We have a situation in Mystic Falls…a…Original Vampire kind of situation." Tyler says. "We-I need your help." There's silence, the alpha female relays it to her beta, who relays it to the rest of her pack. The reaction is mixed. Some want to run as fast as they can in the opposite direction, others are chomping at the bit to cross their blades with one of the mythical progenitors of all vampires.

"We'll discuss it there." The alpha says. There is protest from the beta, and a few others but the alpha ignores them. "We'll be there in three days." Tyler sputters a thank you and hangs up the phone. The others begin to talk amongst themselves. Caroline is just looking at him. He looks back at her.

"Are we ready?" Caroline asks quietly.

Tyler can't help but shrug helplessly.

Later, outside they hug and kiss and don't make out for fuck like the horny teenagers they are they just…hold each other.

And Tyler leans his forehead against hers.

Beneath the full moon that no longer holds werewolves enslaved, a gentle breeze that smells of every pine forest that ever existed gently washes over them.