Damon paced back and forth in front of the fireplace, his brow furrowed in concentration. "Moonstone…curse…Katherine," he murmured under his breath incomprehensibly. "Stefan…damn tomb…"

"Okay, so while Damon is doing that," Bonnie threw the aforementioned vampire a glare, "Does anyone else have any ideas?"

"How do we destroy the moonstone?" Jeremy asked, turning the stone over in his hands. "That could solve one of our problems, at least…"

"That'll be powerfully bound by magic," Alaric shook his head, glancing at Bonnie. "She won't be able to do it herself."

"Well, then we need to find another witch," Jeremy stated, his tone uncertain. He glanced at Damon, who didn't appear to be paying attention, and then flicked his gaze over to Rose. "You're old, right?"

Rose laughed at that, her eyes surprisingly warm as she studied Jeremy. "Yeah, you could say that," she agreed. "Why do you ask?"

He shrugged, "I figured if you've been around for like a 500 years, you might know a witch or two."

"Yeah, well," Rose hesitated, "When you live for that long, witches you know tend to…die."

Jeremy frowned, "Oh yeah…I forgot."

"Forgot what?" Bonnie asked sharply, "That witches aren't immortal? Or that we aren't one of the living dead?"

Rose raised an eyebrow, "For all your disdain towards vampires, don't you find it odd that you spend a greater portion of your life helping them?"

"I'm not helping them," Bonnie sniffed, "I'm—"

"Oh, give it a rest!" Damon suddenly snapped, apparently having been listening to the conversation the entire time. "You're doing it for Elena, we get it!"

"As long as you don't forget that," Bonnie returned resolutely, not looking bothered by Damon's tone.

Damon shook his head, and then resumed his pacing.

"Okay," Alaric coughed, "So. Did you guys, er, check up on Stefan?"

"Caroline dropped off a bag of supplies yesterday," Damon muttered. "Lanterns, clothes, sleeping bags…all the essentialities except for blood."

"He didn't want any?"

"No, he didn't want to have to share with the resident bitch."

Alaric merely nodded, before looking around the room sudden awareness. "Wait a second, where is Caroline?"

"Werewolf duty. The full moon is in a couple of days. Apparently, they've gone shopping for chains." Damon paused, "And the fact that I didn't crack some bondage-related joke should tell you how serious the situation is."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Okay, so to recap: Stefan is stuck in the tomb, and he's refusing to drink blood in an effort to give you guys a change against Katherine. That's noble of him, but I don't think he realizes how painful that's going to be."

"How long can vampires last without blood?" Bonnie asked curiously. "I mean, before they start to…"

"Katherine will be able to last a while," Damon answered, not looking pleased. "She's had more experience with restraining herself. Stefan, on the other hand…"

"Isn't as strong," Rose finished, "So he'll start feeling the effects sooner."

"That gives us, what, like a week to find the solution?" Jeremy asked, looking discouraged. "How are we going to find another witch in a week?"

Alaric cleared his throat, "Well, Stefan wanted me to go look through Isobel's research again, to see if there was anything about Klaus or the Originals."

"Who's Isobel?"

"Elena's mother."
"My ex-wife."
"A vampire I created."

There was silence.

Rose blinked several times, "Oh."

"Yeah, yeah, we all lead very Jerry Spring-esqe lives," Damon said impatiently after an awkward silence. "Moving on...I don't think Isobel would have known anything about Klaus, so let's not waste our time—"

"It wouldn't hurt to check," Jeremy objected. He turned to look at Alaric hopefully, "I could come with you."

"Absolutely not," Damon said firmly. "You don't need to be involved."

"Tell you what," Rose said, smiling at Jeremy. "I have a friend named Slater who's also big on research. How about you come with me to go talk to him?"

"Sure," Jeremy stood up eagerly, "Now?"

"Wait a second," Bonnie protested, "You can't just leave! What about Elena?"

"What about her? You already put that spell on the house, so she can't leave..."

Rose neared Damon, "I'll take good care of him, I promise."

"You better," Damon responded warningly.

"Then I guess I'll head out and take a look through Isobel's research," Alaric stood up as well. "Maybe I'll see if I can get Jenna to come with me..."

"Good idea," Damon called after him, "The more people out of the way, the better."

Alaric muttered something back as he shut the door behind him.

Leaving Bonnie and Damon staring at each other.

Bonnie sighed, "Okay, look. When I was going through some of my grandmother's things, I found a list of names...families. I think that might be a clue."

"Great," Damon grabbed his car keys, "Let's go."

But Bonnie shook her head, "No, I think I should stay here. There might be something useful in the grimmoire about the moonstone. Besides, I don't think it's a good idea to leave Caroline here by herself to deal with the Tyler situation."

"Fine," Damon said smoothly, "Give me the list."

Bonnie hesitated, biting her lip. "I'll give it to you, on one condition."

"What's that?"

"You have to take Elena with you."

Damon raised an eyebrow, "Excuse me?"

Bonnie shrugged, "Based on your track record of killing every supernatural being that crosses your path, consider yourself lucky that I'm giving you this list at all."

He seemed to be struggling to find a flaw in her reasoning. "Ah, but you've got Elena on lockdown in her house," he suddenly said with a smirk. "So, I can't take her."

"Wrong," she countered easily, "I'll lift the spell tonight. Then you guys can go." She smiled, "See, no problems."

Damon's eyes narrowed, and he whipped his cell phone out before punching in a few numbers. "Elena? Yeah, I'm gonna have to ask you to pack your bags." He grinned, winking at Bonnie. "Why, you ask? Because the two of us are going on a little road trip. Doesn't that sound like fun?"

*who's excited for a little Delena bonding? ;)