Ten

.

I sense my phone buzz in my pocket and I take a discreet peek. Luke Parker – How are things going?

I smile and look around. We're all sitting in the main room at our family estate. Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday because it always felt like we were an ordinary family. I look at the clan members who could make it to our annual reunion and feel like we're nothing more than a big family; one with weird witch-fight-anecdotes that we share, but still a whole bunch of people who take pleasure in cooking batches of food while talking all at once and laughing.

No one has talked to me about my mission or how I lost my witch. I got the basic 'so how's your mission coming along, Andy?' to which I answered 'Pretty good,' and we moved on to the next person. They talk on and on and I mostly watch and listen. I know I haven't been doing anything wrong per se but I tend to feel like an outlaw. I glance at my dad. Was this how he felt for years? Was his mind often going somewhere else; far off to Portland, Oregon, wondering about his old friend but not daring to share it with us?

Another question has creeped to my mind during the last few days and I haven't been able to shake it: did mom know? I am suddenly very conscious of Luke' ring, sitting on a chain under my sweater. I take another look at everybody around; if they all knew that our ancestors and late clan members are sitting with us right now, how would they react? Would they thank me for saving them from oblivion or would they rise to their feet and use supernatural speed and strengths to neutralize me, accusing me of taking part by alliance?

We take a break right before dessert, so Lucien and Lorraine can go outside and have a cigar, while everybody take their turn to the bathrooms or stretch out a bit. Alice is listening to Simone's old anecdotes, patient and intent, while Jared is busy playing with the young kids; they are always super impressed when our first lieutenant takes time for them. I get up and walk toward a window in order to text Luke that everything is going well and return the question.

The news of Damon coming back from the dead kept us talking for hours that first night. It turns out the vampire didn't really die when he got stuck on the collapsing Other Side. He woke up one day in a deserted version of the world. For the last six months, he's been trapped in a loop of the same day, reliving it over and over again. He hasn't given his friends much explanation about what he went through; he was rather impatient to reunite with Elena. I wonder how she reacted, since she asked Professor Saltzman to compel her good memories of him away so she wouldn't drown in her grief. All Luke was able to tell me, is that Bonnie wasn't there with him – wherever he was. According to the vampire, my Bennett witch found peace, which is more or less a relief.

When Luke texts back that he'll call me later, I frown, already imagining the worst. That's when my dad walks up to me and sighs.

"Thanksgiving was your mother's favorite holiday."

"I know. It's mine too."

"I know." His hands are in his pockets and he keeps shifting his weight from foot to foot while I try not to focus on his breathing. He's been doing good for years but I won't shake this old habit. "You and I never really talked about… our argument," he finally says.

Ah. THE argument. The one we had when I visited over summer and Alice told me the only way she'd ever gotten to meet with the Gemini leader was because dad called his old buddy Josh Parker and vouched for her. I peek over my shoulder and look back at him.

"Do you really want to do this while the entire clan is in the room?" I ask discreetly. I know they're all busy chatting and no one can hear us because of all the noise and the music but still.

He shrugs. "I'm not sure why your sister hasn't told them yet, but they'll know eventually. They'll know what I did."

I frown at his distant voice and imitate him for a while, watching through the window. Did he ever forgive himself for going against clan's rules and making a secret alliance with a witch? I had never thought of that but now I wonder.

"I know what it looks like but I didn't betray the clan."

"Dad–"

"No, I think you need to hear this, Andy. I am not a traitor, I have never been. I only developed a friendship with two twin witches when I was in college. Kind of the same setting as yours actually: I was assessing them before their merge."

Now it's my turn to shift weight from foot to foot. He has no idea how similar our situations actually are. "I didn't sell classified information, never. It was more of a cooperation. Josh would let me know if anyone from his coven needed to go back on tracks and I agreed to protect them if a big bad threat ever came their way, that's it. It was working in good intelligence, Andy, and it worked. For years. Josh and I are not as close as we used to be but he did call me when…" He trails off and closes his eyes.

"When his own son went astray," I finish. My throat hurts and I really want to tell him about Luke and Liv and how we ended up in the exact same situation; I want to tell him about mom and let him know that it's all gonna be okay. But then I remember how he kept it a secret from everybody, and I realize he was not just protecting himself; he was protecting us and his friend as well. Because the more people know of a secret, the more risks at having it spilled.

"It's alright, dad. I'm not mad at you anymore."

"No?"

I shake my head. "I understand why you did it."

"Wow," he winces, not ready for that. "I haven't heard those words since your mother said them."

My head whips to him. "She knew?"

"Of course, she knew." He flashes me a grin. "You don't expect me to keep my biggest secret from her. And had I, she would have found me out in a heartbeat."

"What did she think?"

"Honestly? She found it amazing." My eyes widen and he chuckles, "Laura wasn't uptight about the rules, Andy. She respected the clan of course, but while the elders would have deemed my secret alliance with Josh an aberration and a reckless risk, your mother thought it was rather practical."

"Practical how?"

"I don't know if I should be telling you this…" he winces. "With the suspension you almost got–"

"Come on, what did mom think?"

He sighs and shakes his head. "You were too young to remember this but… she was a progressist, your mother. She didn't just want to sternly police witches around when they did bad; she was also in favor of protecting them when they were good. Her main argument was that if we kept taking out evil witches but didn't openly defend good ones when they needed it, then there wouldn't be any witches left one day." I stare at him, incapable of uttering a word.

"When I heard you defend your witches at the commission… it felt like I was hearing her. She thought it was fantastic that I actually had a peaceful in with the Gemini coven when I told her about Josh. He'd recently become leader after merging with his brother and he was very intent on coven duty and not going astray. I don't know, I thought that I wouldn't need to worry about monitoring them because they had one hell of a leader, who knew what was at stake. And Josh knew he could call me for protection if he needed it."

He shrugs again and I want him to know; I need him to know that I am thinking exactly the same thing. I want to scream, 'Let's do this! Let's assign each coven leader a Ligthbringer friend so we can have a life! No more going undercover for entire weeks or months!'

But I purse my lips and he resumes talking, "I'm sure this could work, to be honest; even though the elders were more than reluctant when she started talking about it. We were still allowed to discreetly intervene when one of our witches was in danger, back then."

"What happened?" I ask. "How come we're not allowed to even do that anymore?" And I instantly remember the circumstances of her death, the vampire that tore her throat because she was standing in the way between him and her witch.

"Your mother owned her beliefs, Andy. It was no secret that she'd saved one of her witches once. Some admired her and were starting to think like her; others despised her decisions. When she died, this idea of a Lightbringer interfering, even for good reasons, died with her. We went back to being witches' shadows."

He sighs and contemplates the sky darkening outside. We don't talk for a while, until he says, "I miss her, you know. And thinking that she's gone forever with the Other Side–"

"She's not," I breathe and his head whips to me.

"What do you mean, she's not?"

I open my mouth and close it, trying to decide what I can share. Taking a page out of my dad's book appears to be the better solution. I simply smile, "She wasn't there when the Other Side collapsed."

"How would you know– Where would she be?"

"She found peace."

He stares at me for a minute, probably wondering whether I'm saying this to make him feel better or if I actually know it to be true. Lucien's voice calling us all for dessert breaks our bubble of silence and I head back to my slot around the table.

.

%

.

"My sister is here; here at Whitmore."

I grip my phone more tightly and frown. "Luke, I know. That's the whole point."

"No– I mean, of course Liv is here but I'm talking about my other sister; the one that survived family-murder-night."

"I thought you guys were the only survivors," I say, thinking about my dad who wouldn't even tell the entire thing.

"Jo made a deal with our coven and left. We haven't had contact in eighteen years; we didn't even know she was in Virginia."

Jo. As in Josette Laughlin? I hold my breath. Should I tell him that I knew about her? But then he'd be pissed about me not telling him. He's telling me now, let's keep it that way until I get to see him.

"…is a badass, bossy doctor at Whitmore Med," he says with enthusiasm. "She supervises Elena and Liam's pre-med year and she's so awesome."

"How did she end up in Virginia in the first place?"

"Our grandma knew Bonnie's grandmother, Sheila Bennett. Our family always had an in at Whitmore; she said Sheila took her under her wing when she left."

"Wow."

"I know!" He sounds so happy, I can't help but smile. Apparently, Liv wasn't so thrilled. It only reminded her that she and Luke were the second set of twins in their family. They were the spare set; only alive because their dad didn't want Josette and her twin Malachai to merge.

Other than that, Luke tells me how Damon, Stefan and Alaric skipped Friendsgiving dinner because they were heading to Portland, Oregon, to pay a visit to Luke's father. Apparently, Damon didn't say the entire truth about coming back from the dead – shocker – and Bonnie is still alive, inconveniently trapped in the prison world where the Gemini put Malachai, eighteen years ago.

They were looking for a magical artifact that could open the portal and let her out but Joshua Parker stood strongly against it; there was no way he was taking the risk to let his son out as well. According to him, the guy would go to Jo first thing in order to merge and she didn't have it in her to win.

"Could he still become coven leader after all this time?" I ask, sitting down on my bed.

"If he were to merge, yes. And my dad said we can't just let the coven – and the world – deal with the whims of a madman who kills people around; to which I agree."

"Right, so what can we do? I mean, Bonnie is still in there; she's alive. We need to get her back."

"I know. Right now, I only see one solution: we wait for our twenty-second birthday, we do the merge, and the stronger one–"

"Luke," I cut him off, knowing damn well which one of them is the stronger one.

"The stronger one opens the portal. Kai will be facing a powerful coven leader and there won't be any merge left for him to complete. We get Bonnie out, close the portal real quick and toss the key."

"Sounds like a good plan."

"Yeah, well, I'm pretty sure Damon is gonna try and pull something… He doesn't want to hear it, you know. All he cares about is winning Elena back. He must think that bringing her best friend back from the dead will earn him points."

"That would be a pretty good gift," I admit, "Considering she doesn't remember loving him in the first place."

A couple days ago, after Luke told me Damon was back, some crazy vampire hunter in Mystic Falls kidnapped him and Enzo. After overcoming dangerous obstacles in order to save them, the party ended up at the town's border with Alaric nearly dying again, because the Spirit Magic maintaining him undead as a vampire was wearing off. Good thing Doctor Jo happened to be with him then: she saved him before his injury killed him for good. However, he'd spent too much time within the town's border and the magic had completely worn off. He's not a vampire anymore, meaning he can't compel Elena's happy memories with Damon back.

"Anyway, we can't open the portal without the ascendant, and Jo's hidden it somewhere safe. We only need to sit and wait."

"I can't believe so much happened over a week."

"Right? When do you come back?"

"I leave tomorrow."

"Good. It doesn't feel right not to have you here, to be honest."

I only smile, appreciating that he misses me as much as I miss him.

"Oh, and I was over the phone with my dad earlier."

"Really?"

"Yeah, with all that happened, he wanted to check up on us. He'll probably come around some time before the merge and he's been debating sending a couple witches over to Whitmore in the meantime. Just to make sure everything plays smooth."

"Thanks for telling me," I say sincerely, my heart full of gratitude for my friend. I remember all too well how I freaked out when I first saw Jo.

"Well, I'd rather you know beforehand instead of going all witch hunter and kill before asking."

"I would never do that."

"I know," he chuckles. "But you must know that my coven– our family is super dysfunctional, to be honest. If anyone comes, they won't be making friends with a possible witch hunter. They'll kill before asking."

"Sweet. I can't wait to meet your family."

"It's not solid. I've been trying to talk my dad out of it. We don't need anyone following us around."

"Ouch."

"I mean, beside you."

"I know what you meant," I smile before sighing. "I can't wait for all this to be over."

"Me too. And at the same time… I so don't want this to be over."

"I know."

We stop speaking, letting our upcoming grief fill the silence.