Warnings: Mature rating, adult content, sensitive subject matter, language, violence, character death (*new warning)

I still don't own TVD. I'm just borrowing the characters for a bit. I'll put them back, I promise.


"What are you doing here?" Jackson leaned against the front door.

Quinn took a deep breath and smiled. "Today's the first day of Spring Break. The snow finally melted, and..." She stepped close and placed her hand atop Jackson's chest. "I want a running partner."

"We can't."

"Are you actually worried about the dogs? Come on. I mean, seriously. There's something called overkill." She rolled her eyes. "That was back in November. They can't still be here. They had to move on when it was so cold."

"I don't know." He shook his head. "Someone died."

"And do we even know the dogs did it? It could have been a homeless guy. Then the dogs just took advantage of it."

"Great mental image, there. Thanks."

"I thought I was the girl in this relationship."

"I don't typically think about bodies before breakfast."

"Sorry. I would be really appreciative." She smiled suggestively at him. "Maybe I could help you think of a different kind of body."

Jackson frowned and shook his head in defeat. He turned and pointed back into the house. "Can you wait a couple of hours? I'm on kid duty."

"Where's Kennedy? Can't she watch them? We won't be gone that long." Quinn peeked at Madison and Reagan playing video games in the living room.

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that." He touched her face and stroked her cheek. Leaning close to her, his lips brushed against her ear, he whispered, "You know we always end up in the clearing." He backed away and gave her a crooked grin and let out a long breath. "Mom drove Kennedy to get her braces off. It's just me and the munchkins."

"I heard that!" Madison yelled from the living room. "I am not a munchkin!"

Quinn laughed. "No, you're not." She looked back at Jackson. "That one hears everything."

"She does." Jackson nodded. "Do you want to come in?" He gestured over his shoulder. "We can go after Mom and Kennedy get back."

"I guess that would be ok. It's more fun to run with a partner."

"Especially when we have to stop for a little break."

"No." She shook her head. "No breaks today. My time wasn't good enough at the last meet. You know that. I have to get in shape for next weekend. The NYU scout is going to be there; and she said if I have a good time, the scholarship is mine." Quinn reached into her pocket and pulled out her car keys. Pointing the keys at the car, it locked with a honk. "So, what are we playing?" Quinn took a seat on the brown leather couch and looked at the television.


"Thanks so much for coming over, John." Elena shut the door as John stepped into the living room. "I think you may have saved Jackson's life." When Jenna had called to let Elena know she wouldn't be able to watch the Elena's kids while she was at her weekly doctor's appointment, saying she was slightly annoyed was putting it mildly. Jackson would be lucky if he were un-grounded in time from prom in six weeks.

John shook his head dismissively. "It wasn't any trouble. I was already in town for the council meeting." He cocked his head to the side. "I expected to see you there."

"Not today." She waved vaguely at the stairs. "I wanted to stay home with them this morning since I had the appointment this afternoon."

"Which I don't want to make you late for. How are you doing?" He glanced down at her stomach.

Elena shrugged. "Other than being the general size of a house already, I'm doing fine." She bit her lip. "We do the sonogram today."

"Ah, so that's why Damon left before the meeting was over." He glanced at his watch. "He's probably going to beat you there. Well, then, you need to get going."

Elena hesitated in the doorway.

"Really, we'll be fine. Elena, I'm ready for a marathon game of Monopoly with the boys. I promised them the last time I came over."

"Then you'd better be ready to lose." Nathan came running into the foyer with his Disney Monopoly game in his hands.

John laughed. "I always am."


Damon looked up as Elena sped into the room. "I already signed us in." He stood and walked to Elena's side. "Take a breath. Dr. Meyers had to go deliver a baby. She's running late. I told Marcie that was no problem." He leaned over and kissed her cheek as they moved together to take a seat in the waiting room.

"Phew!" Elena leaned over and held her head in her hands. She sat up and smiled. "I never thought I'd say I was happy John was in town." During the past few weeks, he'd made more stops at the Salvatore house than he had over the last 5 years - and Elena couldn't really complain because he'd been an immense help on nights Damon had to work. In fact, he was at the house so often, she had a strong suspicion that Damon might actually be calling to invite him.

"Did Jenna say why she had to cancel?" Damon took Elena's hand in his.

"Something about Jackson." Elena shrugged her shoulders. "She was pretty vague. He'd gone somewhere with Quinn. I'm not really sure if she knew where they'd gotten off to," Elena winced, "and I'm not sure if she wanted to know based on Madison's description of how they were acting this morning."

"As long as it doesn't mean Quinn will be here in a few months."

Elena elbowed Damon in his side. "We're talking about Jackson and Quinn."

"I know." An uncertain twinge hit Damon's stomach. Of all the next generation of Salvatores, Gilberts, and Saltzmans, Jackson was the most responsible. Looking at his wife's face, he could see that he needed to think of some type of distraction if she was going to be able to relax at all. Since her blood pressure was already on the high side at the last appointment, he needed to get her mind off whatever her nephew might be doing. "So, have we decided?"

Elena's smile could have lit the room as she bobbed her head up and down. "I want to know."

"You're sure?" Damon raised an eyebrow. The "do we find out or don't we find out" debate had been raging in the Salvatore household for the past month.

"Don't you want to know?" Elena looked at him in dismay, her eyes widened in shock. He guessed he couldn't blame her, since he'd been decidedly on team "we need to know what color to paint the nursery" and she'd been the holdout. Today, he'd be willing to do whatever she wanted just to get her to stop thinking about Jackson disappearing with Quinn.

"Of course I do." He stroked her arm. "I need to know if we have the right color paint or if I need to get Ric to stop by the hardware store."

"We're not painting today."

"Just checking."

"Elena?" Dr. Meyers' nurse, Marcie beckoned from the doorway. "Are you ready?"

Damon reached out and helped Elena out of her chair. "Oh, I'm definitely ready." She slid her hand over her belly. "I just hope this one cooperates."

"We've been having pretty good luck today. Here, why don't you step on up?" Marcie stopped in front of the scale.

Elena squinted her eyes closed. "Oh, I don't even want to know."

Marcie gave an encouraging laugh as she filled out Elena's chart. She looked at the numbers for a moment. "You're still way below most of our moms' weight gains. You should tell me your secret."

"Just spend a couple months without being able to keep food down, and it seems to be pretty easy." Damon said.

"Really?" Marcie looked horrified. "I think I'll take gaining a little extra weight. Are you feeling better now?"

Elena nodded. "Much better, thanks."

"Here you go. Have a seat." Marcie fitted the blood pressure cuff over Elena's arm. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at the numbers before recording them in her chart.

"Something wrong?" Damon looked sharply at her.

"Oh no, just making sure I read everything right." She gave an overly wide smile as she motioned to the examination room with Elena's chart. "If you'll just wait in here, Dr. Meyers should be here in just a minute."

Just as Elena took her place on the examination table, Damon's phone buzzed in his pocket. "Forgot to turn it off." He pulled it out and looked to see who was calling. Liz? Mouthing an apology to Elena, he answered. "Hello?"

Elena watched as Damon's brow furrowed with concern. "Right now I'm at the doctor's with Elena." He paused and glanced at the clock on the wall. "I understand. You're sure? Exactly what did they find?" The door opened and Dr. Meyers stepped into the room. "I can be there in...20 minutes." He ended the call with a frown.

"What's wrong?'

Damon gave her a barely perceptible shake of his head as he answered. "Just town stuff."

"Do you need to go?"

Damon was torn. They'd been eagerly anticipating this moment for weeks, but he couldn't ignore Liz's call. He nodded glumly as he took her hand.

"Tell you what..." Dr. Meyers looked at the clock. "You two waited for me. If you can give me five minutes, I'll do the sonogram first and the exam second. Will that work?"


"I am going to kill your brother." Jenna stared at her phone. She'd sent him ten messages, and he had yet to return any of them. He'd been gone for at least two hours.

"Mom?" Madison stepped into the room.

"What is it?" Jenna answered more sharply than she intended. She keyed Jackson's number into her phone. After the fourth ring, his voice mail picked up. Again. "Sorry. Do you need something?"

Madison shifted from side to side as she chewed her lip.

"Madison?" Something was clearly bothering her daughter. She tilted her head and looked at her daughter with curiosity. "Do you know something?"

"I wasn't supposed to hear it." Madison looked guilty.

"Is it about Jackson? Do you know where he might be?"

Madison jerked her head once in a nod.

"Then we'll make an exception." Jenna forced herself to give her daughter her calmest expression. "What did you hear?"

Madison looked at the floor and whispered.

"I totally didn't understand that."

Madison lifted her face but still didn't meet her mother's eyes. "They went running."

"Well, we knew that. That's where they said they were going." Jenna nervously ran her fingers through her hair.

"That's not all." Madison shook her head. "They weren't going to the track like he said." She closed her eyes and spat out the next words. "QuinnwantedtogorunninginthewoodsandJacksonsaidyes."

Jenna blinked at her daughter. "One more time?"

"Quinn said she wanted to go running in the woods." Madison cringed. "Jackson said yes." Madison's face crumpled, her conflict about getting her brother in trouble clearly apparent in her eyes.

"They did what?" Jenna's face flushed red.

"They went to the clearing."

"No, he wouldn't do that." But the unsettled feeling in Jenna's stomach told her otherwise. "Ric!" She hurried through the house and stepped into the bathroom where Alaric's head was hidden in the cabinet under the sink. "Ric!"

"Ow!" He jumped and hit his head on the underside of the sink. He slid back until he was sitting on his heels and placed his tools on his lap. "What is it?" He rubbed the back of his head.

"Madison knows where Jackson went."


"So, any guesses?" Dr. Meyers studied the television mounted to the wall.

Elena nodded. "Damon thinks he knows."

"Well, Dad, what do you think?"

"Definite girl." He grinned as the baby's foot came into view. The little one wiggled his or her toes.

"And what makes you think that?"

"With Brayden, Elena was sick exactly twice. Once on the morning of the wedding and once on the honeymoon. Claire was a different story." According to what Stefan had told him, Elena had lived in the bathroom those first few months. "We all remember the twins." She'd been so sick they'd actually had to admit her to the hospital because she'd been dehydrated.

"And?"

"She still hasn't gained the weight she lost at the beginning."

Dr. Meyers should never play cards. She laughed at Damon. "Maybe I should have you working for me. It would definitely help when our little ones are trying to be shy." She nodded at Elena. "Your husband's right. It's a girl."

"Emma is going to be thrilled." She'd already been practicing dressing her dolls. If she had her way, this little one would be wearing a lot of dresses.

"And so is her dad." Damon leaned down and kissed Elena's forehead. "But I really have to go. Sorry." He gave her hand a tight squeeze. Something in his voice set her on edge, no excitement about the sonogram's results could cut through the distinct sound of nervous tension he was trying to hide. "Call me when your appointment's over. If you can't get me, leave a message, and I'll get back with you."

He never let her phone calls go to voice mail. Ever.

"I will." Elena frowned slightly as he left the room. He'd been distracted since he took Liz's call. She knew he was trying to hide it, but something was very wrong. She'd call him, but she planned to find out what had happened - not to fill him in on the results of her appointment.

"Let's take some pictures. Lean back and relax. This might take a few minutes." Dr. Meyers squirted more of the warm jell on Elena's exposed stomach. While she slid the instrument and stared up at the screen, she began to speak. "So, let's chat about your blood pressure."

"It was nothing." Elena shook her head.

"Did you see it? One sixty-five over ninety is hardly nothing, Elena. You're at twenty weeks. That's too early to be having trouble with it."

"Really. I'll be fine. I was just in a hurry this morning. Jenna cancelled on babysitting and I practically ran through the parking lot. I just hadn't had time for it to calm down."

"We'll have to keep a watch on it. You're 37 now, Elena. This one isn't going to be as easy as when you were expecting in your twenties. I want you to come back in next week to get it checked, but until then, no more jogging through parking garages. Understand?"

Elena laughed - adequately chastised, "I understand."


Elena stepped from the elevator and turned to leave the building, but decided a trip to the restroom might be in order first. She walked to the bathrooms in the lobby only to discover they were out of order. She hesitated. Going home without a pit stop was not going to be possible. For once, she was thankful that her doctor's office was just a few steps away from the hospital lobby. Opening the glass door, she walked into the underground passageway that ran under the street and linked the two buildings.

"What are we going to tell them?" A familiar voice was up ahead.

"The same thing we've told everyone else. Rabid dogs."

"Damon, Liz?" Elena rounded the corner and came face to face with her husband and the sheriff.

"Elena." Sheriff Forbes' eyes widened. "What are you doing here?"

"The bathroom was closed. A problem with the plumbing." She motioned behind her. "I came across to use this one." She locked eyes with Damon. "What's going on? Why are you here? You said you were meeting Liz. You didn't say she was at the hospital."

Liz looked back and forth between the couple, clearly uncomfortable. "I'll leave you two alone." She turned and walked into the hospital's lobby.

"Damon?

Damon turned to Elena. He'd love to be able to dismiss her concerns with a simple town business excuse, but this wasn't just about the town.

"Oh God." The edges of her vision blurred. "There was an attack. Wasn't there?" She'd known something was wrong when Damon had spoken to Liz earlier, but she'd been so distracted by her doctor's appointment she had pushed it out of her mind.

Damon took a deep breath as his jaw visibly tensed. "Not here." He wasn't about to tell her this news without a chair in arm's reach. "Come on." He glanced through the doorway and changed his mind. He didn't want a crowd around them. He turned back to her and took her hand. "Yes, there was another attack."

Elena felt her heart race in her chest. "And?" She could tell there was still more to the story.

"Jackson and Quinn went running this morning." He watched as a look of fear clouded her face. "Jackson should be fine. Jenna puts vervain in his coffee. Whoever attacked him… Well, they didn't like the vervain. " Her hands begin to tremble as she backed away and shook her head. Damon gripped her arms to steady her. "Elena."

"No." She didn't want to hear it.

He pulled her close to him and wrapped her in his arms. "Quinn's gone."