TVD – Bonded for Life, Chapter 12
A/N - As usual, I only own the story, my ideas, but the characters and TVD belong to others – But I'm continuing to borrow some plot points to drive the story forward. This is the most plot driven I've ever gotten, so it's a new experience/experiment for me – testing out new writing skills…Thank you so much for all the feedback and reviews! I really appreciate it! I'll get back to the Mmmm content soon enough…just needed to catch up on some "canon" bits...then the naughty bits will return both here and in "School Days". ;-)
TVD – Bonded for Life, Chapter 12
Stefan made his way quickly to the Gilbert home. He needed to catch up on Elena's progress with Jeremy and Damon. Entering the front door, he saw the entire contingent ready for action: Caroline, Tyler, Bonnie, Damon, and Elena, but no Jeremy. Where was the star of the show? Elena went to meet him in the foyer. "Where've you been so long?" It wasn't an accusation. She sounded genuinely anxious at having been apart so long.
"It's ok, I'm right here," he whispered quietly in her ear as they hugged hello before she brought him in to the others. Damon had averted his eyes from their hello. He got up to refill his drink.
"Where've you been, brother?"
"Convincing Rebecca to give us the dagger," Stefan answered entering the family room.
"But we don't need the dagger any more. We are going to stake him," Caroline added confused.
"And what if Kol shows up without the stake in his jacket?" Stefan asked.
"Good point," Caroline answered.
"Did you see Kol, Stefan?" Elena asked.
"No, just Rebecca."
"What was my last text to you?"
"You warned me that Kol wanted to compel someone to kill Jeremy and that Kol has the stake. Is that what this is about?" he asked questioningly looking at everyone.
"We just want to make sure he didn't get to anyone," Elena answered.
"He didn't get to me," Damon said. "I drank some of the town's lovely water, watered down with bourbon of course." He made the ice in his glass clink loudly. "I was with the Sheriff and came straight here."
Caroline responded next. "That was a good idea, why didn't we all do that to get back on vervain? Tyler and I were together…and," Caroline blushed when Tyler smiled at her. Ok, now everyone knew what they were doing before. "We came right over. We didn't see anyone else."
"So I'm the missing link? I didn't see him, guys. But I appreciate the due diligence. That said, it could be a human that gets compelled, you know." Stefan looked around the room.
"Don't look at me," Bonnie said. "You know witches can't be compelled."
"I was thinking more along the lines of the Sheriff or a deputy…someone with a weapon," Stefan added.
"Then we should get this done sooner than later. The sooner Kol's out of the picture the sooner anyone compelled will be freed," Elena suggested with urgency.
They all agreed. They also agreed they needed to watch what they talked about since Kol had already stopped by once earlier that day. He could easily hear them and foil the whole plan if he cared to spy on them. That said, the stereo was on in one room and the TV was on in another to obscure their conversation from eavesdroppers. They finished prepping their plan and getting Stefan up to speed.
"Where's Jeremy?" Stefan asked hopeful he'd finally make an appearance.
Bonnie answered. "Where none of you have been invited in. He'll come when it's time. Elena, make the call."
Elena took a calming breath and used Jeremy's phone to call Kol, hopeful that the number on speed dial was still current. "Jeremy Gilbert, to what do I owe the pleasure?"
"It's Elena Gilbert actually. I want to talk."
"And just what do we need to talk about, my little hybrid catalyst?"
"I want to make a deal to save my brother. Name the time and place."
"Well now, I tried to get a little hospitality from you earlier, but neither you nor young Jeremy was very welcoming. Shall we try that again?" The doorbell rang. Elena opened the door and hung up the phone.
"He's not here, so he can't invite you in."
"Pity, what do you suggest?"
"We'll talk. Here."
"With you safely inside, that's a bit impolite, don't you think?"
"I'll come out."
"That's very brave of you."
"I'm not coming out alone. Stefan and Damon are here."
"Of course they are…Ah, the ever-present allure of the Petrova Doppelganger. I never met a Salvatore who could resist." Stefan came forward into the foyer looking ever the protector. "Ah, back to this brother now are we? One can't help but wonder for how long…" Kol said with only him understanding the double entendre. He knew when Jeremy arrived that Stefan would kill him without really consciously knowing why. Elena would break at the loss and the devastation of one of her lovers killing her brother. Kol stepped aside with a grand gesture like he was their host letting them into his domain. Elena and Stefan joined Kol on the porch.
"The sire bond has been broken. I'm back to being me, well as close as I can be while not being human anymore." Elena took Stefan's hand. They shared a glance ending when Stefan encouraged her to continue. "We've decided we don't want the cure anymore. I don't want it anymore."
"Isn't true love grand," Kol mocked. "I don't believe you. And even if you don't, Klaus does. He will jam it down your throat to get more hybrids."
"Kol, I don't care what you believe, but I'm not, we are not looking for the cure anymore. I'm getting accustomed to life, to being this way. I'm meant to be with Stefan and now I will be forever. Bonnie can do a spell, she's been researching, and she says she can get Jeremy to completely stop hunting. Please Kol, let us do this for my brother…"
Bonnie slipped out the front door, sidled past Kol to stand at Stefan's side. "It's true, Kol. I know how to stop a hunter without killing him."
"Well this is interesting." Rebecca had joined the party. "So Teams Gilbert and Salvatore are no longer looking for the cure." She joined them on the porch and stood next to Kol. Putting her hands on her waist, she let her jacket fall open revealing the handle of the dagger for all to see except Kol. She took a couple steps closer to sneer at them. "Was any of it ever real? Were we ever a team working together? It's just one betrayal after another with you people. And you, I can't be a vampire, Stefan," she whined as if in imitation of Elena. "Now you are suddenly ok with it? You fickle, two timing slut."
Together Stefan and Rebecca had distracted Kol from their real motives as Rebecca ranted and pushed at Elena's chest. Stefan made it look like he was protecting Elena when he pushed back on Rebecca. It was all a ruse to allow Stefan to take the dagger and hide it behind his back.
"That's enough Rebecca!" Kol shouted but smiled at his sister's dig at Elena. Rebecca was taking advantage of the situation to let out some probably very real sentiments about Elena so it wasn't a stretch for Kol to believe her little tirade. Rebecca gave a smile and wink to Stefan and Elena before turning around to confront Kol.
"Really, Kol, you can't imagine why I'd be disappointed about not finding a cure that I learned about hundreds of years ago? That I wanted hundreds of years ago…?"
"Becca, darling…"
"Don't darling me…" At that very moment, Bonnie gave a scream and Rebecca gave a last gasp of the dying. Stefan had put the dagger in Bonnie's hand, tore her sleeve to wind it around her hand enclosed around the dagger, and pushed her hand up into Rebecca's heart from the back.
"Sorry, Bonnie," Stefan let out under his breath.
"What did you do?" Kol screamed in shock as Rebecca fell daggered into his arms.
"She wanted the cure. She brought us the dagger to use on you."
Kol seemed rather speechless as he held his sister's lifeless body. Of course it was temporary but it didn't mean he liked the situation. It took a moment for Kol to understand what Stefan had just told him. He was still distressed at this turn of events but finally he said, "I guess I should say thank you."
Elena had her arms around Bonnie who was still in shock with her part in the killing, temporarily, of Rebecca. This was not part of the plan, but it seemed to be working in their favor. They could see it on Kol's face. He was starting to believe what they'd said was true. Finally, indicating how he was holding up the body of his sister, Kol said to Stefan, "Do you mind not leaving my dead sister out on the front porch like sack of potatoes?"
"Sure, sorry." Stefan looked at Elena who nodded yes to his silent question. He took her from Kol and brought her inside to lay her on her side on the sofa in the living room. Stefan sped back to Elena's side, not wanting to leave her nor Bonnie alone with Kol.
"So, now what?" Kol asked.
"Now we figure out how to stop Klaus from searching for the cure. Are you in?"
Kol nodded slowly, still hesitant to completely trust anyone.
Jeremy's voice came from the open foyer. "Elena?" Stefan stiffened noticeably, at least to Kol, and looked like he was getting ready to make a move.
"It's ok, Jer, you can invite him in now." Kol looked at Elena rather impressed and got just a little bit more comfortable with this turn of events. Or, maybe he was pleased because the show might really be getting started now that Jeremy had arrived. She walked to the door followed by Kol, Stefan right behind, and then Bonnie. Elena stepped just inside the doorframe awaiting Jeremy's invite. "Really Jer, it's ok," Elena coaxed gently again.
Jeremy hesitated, not looking at all pleased to invite Kol inside and offered a sneer instead. Kol took the bait leering in closer to Jeremy. Elena took a step further into the house as a natural response to counter Kol's move into her personal space. Kol put his arms up on the door frame as he had earlier. "Grow a pair, mate. Even your sister has bigger ones than you."
Elena gave the sign. She could see the stake still tucked inside Kol's jacket. Suddenly, Damon, Stefan, Caroline, and Tyler each had a hold on Kol. Elena ripped the stake free of Kol's jacket and Jeremy moved in to take the stake from her and strike. Bonnie was using some kind of spell to help keep Kol pressed up against the invisible barrier that kept unwelcome vampires from entering the Gilbert home. The stake struck at Kol's heart just as Kol's eyes found Stefan's. He choked out a couple of words before screaming in agony. "But you were…"
Stefan said, "Sorry." The fiery death overcame Kol moments later. Upon his death the barrier was broken and his burning corpse fell into the foyer. The action startled the team as they nearly fell in on top of the blaze.
From the front yard, they all heard a menacing voice. "What's going on?" It was Klaus. The group on the porch stiffened then quickly sped inside jumping over and past the burning corpse.
"Quick, pull him inside!" Elena exclaimed not a moment too soon. In the commotion and confusion, and as burnt hands healed from handling the body, the group realized they'd just kept the white oak stake out of Klaus' possession.
Klaus was at the door, eerily reminiscent of Kol's previous stance, hands on the door frame and screaming to be let inside. Klaus was furious. His brother, as much as he hated him at times, didn't deserve to be killed by this ragtag bunch of impure, diluted vampires.
"Let him in," Bonnie said. When everyone stopped and looked at her like she was crazy, she again said commandingly, "Move to the kitchen and let him in." Everyone except Bonnie moved to the kitchen. Jeremy gave the invite.
"Witch, you can't hurt me. You aren't strong enough." Klaus stepped inside and vamp-sped past Bonnie and toward the group in the kitchen ready to rip out someone's throat. He found himself stopped by an invisible barrier trapping him in the Gilbert family room. He roared and struck at the invisible walls, screaming how he was going to kill them all and destroy the cure. Bonnie made some motion with her hand nearest Klaus. For a few seconds, he could not speak. It startled Klaus to be toyed with thusly. Bonnie motioned for the others to join her outside. They moved far enough away so as not to be overheard. But they could still hear Klaus who was once again screaming to be let out.
Finally, Tyler broke the silence. "Holy shit." The group all chuckled and collectively breathed a sigh of relief. "Bonnie, how did you do that?" Tyler asked.
"It's just like any barrier spell except that it's focused on a room. It will last as long as the moon is in its current phase, three maybe four days. But I can only get him to shut up for short bits. It's like I temporarily steal his words," Bonnie explained. "What I need to know is why I had to dagger Rebecca?" She looked pointedly at Stefan.
"Yeah, sorry I couldn't say anything earlier. Kol found me at the Grill with Rebecca." The group gasped. "Before he could compel me, Rebecca beat him to it. She compelled me to not succumb to any compulsion but hers and thankfully that I should feel no pain."
"Why?" Damon asked.
"Because she's known her family for 1000 years and must have realized how Kol would test if he was able to compel me. He told me to break my fingers without feeling it. So I broke them but didn't feel pain as Rebecca had taken that away. Thankfully, she kicked me under the table so that I would pretend to be in pain when Kol smashed my hand himself. She's pretty quick, that one."
"Then why did you make me dagger her?" Bonnie asked. "She was helping us."
"To break her compulsion," Elena deduced.
"Yes, but the main reason is I didn't trust Rebecca to not interfere with staking Kol. We didn't count on her showing up with the dagger in the middle of facing Kol. Did anyone else flashback to Elijah when he double-crossed us at the sacrifice? Besides, in the moment I could see Kol hadn't come around to us yet. Daggering her, in effect protecting Kol from being daggered, made him believe we were telling him the truth. Whether or not that would have made him try to reverse his attempted compulsion for me to kill Jeremy, we'll never know."
"I doubt it. He was all smiles when he heard Jeremy show up. Why didn't you tell us you were faking the compulsion?" Damon asked a little perturbed.
"Becca texted that Kol was following me. I had to play along in case he heard anything. Thankfully, someone was two steps ahead and had the stereo and TV going when I walked in…"
"That'd be me," Caroline chimed in. "At the time, to be honest, I had no idea why I thought of that. But I'm wondering if it was because my subconscious mind knew I was supposed to take over if Stefan failed to kill Jeremy." They all looked at her surprised, all except Tyler who suddenly remembered Kol interrupting him and Carolyn earlier but little else. He gasped as it came back to him. Caroline answered his confusion. "He compelled you to go to sleep."
"Man, no wonder where Katherine learned to have plan b, plan c, plan z…" Damon commented sharing a glance to Stefan and Elena. "Frickin' Originals…"
"Do you all realize there are three of them in our house right now?" Jeremy asked with heavy irony. "Granted one is dead. Another is temporarily dead. The last is, well, an asswipe." The group collectively smirked.
"Yes, now what do we do?" Elena asked the group.
Bonnie answered. "We wait for the map."
"I have to un-dagger Rebecca," Stefan said quietly.
"What? Why?" Damon howled.
"She has the headstone. We need it. She wants the cure too. She's on our side, Damon," Stefan answered.
"You are out of your mind if you think she still will be after tonight!"
"Bonnie, can you do another spell to hold Rebecca while we explain?" Stefan asked.
"I guess so, yes, I could keep her in the living room. But I don't know what will happen when the spell is dropped. She's not been invited in."
"I do. At least I know what happened when I woke Elijah. He couldn't breathe or control his movement very well. He had to get out and fast."
"Ok," Bonnie said, "So yes I could trap her. It would be like a bubble within a bubble…but then she'll have to leave when I drop the spell. Regardless, that doesn't mean we should un-dagger her." It was quiet for a moment as they all considered their next steps.
"Stefan's right." It was Jeremy who spoke. In a way, he had the most to lose. Hopefully he was only temporarily spelled and could go back to a human life sometime soon. He was the easiest target although getting stronger. Even he thought Rebecca might be of some use. "She wants the cure. She's stronger than all of us. We could use the help of an Original against Silas. I don't trust them, but if I had to bet on one helping, I'd take Rebecca over Klaus any day. Worst case, we take her out too." Jeremy held up the indestructible white oak stake. His confidence had definitely grown now that he'd taken out Kol, with help of course. "That said, while she's still daggered, let's see if we get the whole map or not. If we need another Original to get the complete map, we have her." He'd spoken so calmly, rationally.
They all looked at Jeremy with a mix of pride and concern, not to mention the anticipation of Jeremy telling them if more of the map appeared. He was the younger tag-along brother growing up before their eyes. But it was a little scary too, seeing this previously quiet soul suggesting a plan and how easy he could flip between allowing Rebecca to live or to kill her. The stronger Jeremy got, the more at risk any vampire, including his friends, would be.
Caroline chimed in with her support, but added, "I'm ok with Rebecca helping but I want us all back on vervain before we wake her."
"Good point, Car," Tyler added sliding his arm around her waist in solidarity.
Elena summed up for everyone. "We're agreed then? We all get vervain, we wait for the map, if it doesn't work or if we get the whole map, we wake Rebecca. But if we only get some of the map, we stake Rebecca." Her eyes landed on Stefan for that last bit. His compassion and past history with Rebecca would make this harder on him than others. While she loved this about him, she internally chastised her twinge of jealousy. She held Stefan's gaze until he nodded yes. The others all concurred, even Damon.
Heading back to the Gilbert house for vervain-laced bourbon for all the vamps, Jeremy suddenly stopped. Tyler and Caroline had been behind him as they walked. Tyler ran into Jeremy lightly, stopping just a second too late. "Dude?" he said wondering why Jeremy had just stopped cold. Jeremy seemed confused. Where Tyler touched his back to keep from falling over, Jeremy felt hot. Caroline was just in front of Jeremy since she hadn't been slowed by the sudden stopping of anyone in front of her.
"Jeremy? Are you ok?" She reached out for his arm and too felt how hot Jeremy was to the touch.
"Fire, fire, I'm burning…Aaaaagghhhhh!" he screamed and tore his shirt off overhead like it was on fire. But it was his own flesh he wanted to tear off. Suddenly he stopped screaming. The pain was gone and ink began to appear as if someone invisible was drawing on him. By now, the rest of the group had come back to circle around Jeremy and help. Quickly everyone realized it was the tattoo being written broadly across Jeremy. It seemed he was getting the complete map all at once which initially caused pain but now they all just watched amazed.
Jeremy heard the gasps and comments of the group. "You can see it too?" They all nodded.
Elena came forward, concern and fear for her brother etched into her face. She gently touched his arm. "Are you ok?" He nodded. He glanced at Bonnie, to ground his feelings, since Elena was so near. Bonnie came forward to help him focus just in case the appearance of the complete map made it harder for him to control his hunter instincts surrounded as he was by vampires. Jeremy seemed fine, good in fact.
Bonnie took his arm and said, "Come on, let's get you inside but put on your shirt. Neither the neighbors nor the Originals need to see this right now." Caroline handed Jeremy his shirt and they led him back in the house. Everyone followed, anxious to get vervain and decode the map.
Stefan lingered just outside the door. Elena noticed and held back. "You ok?"
"Relieved."
"Yes, we got the map." She watched his sad nod of agreement. "And…we don't have to stake Rebecca, which is really what you are relieved about…" she added realizing the real meaning behind the relief.
"Sorry. But I am glad for both."
"Don't apologize. I love you and your compassion for others."
"Even for her?"
"I'll always have a little green monster when it comes to her, but that's my problem, not yours."
Stefan softly smiled at her and touched her cheek. "You have nothing to worry about."
"Sure I do, she compelled you. She wants you. What if she solves that problem some day with compulsion?"
"She won't. She wouldn't want it that way. I know her."
"Don't remind me…" Elena said inferring the other way he knew the Original sister.
"I didn't mean it like that," he said pulling her into his arms.
"I know…it was the little green monster who said it," she said sheepishly into his chest. He chuckled at her and held her tight. "I miss you, being alone, just you and me, like the last few days." He held her tighter for just a bit longer. Both of them were wondering when they'd get to be alone again without a major strategy taking them away from coupling.
Soon they joined the others who were already drinking in the kitchen trying to ignore Klaus. Jeremy begged Bonnie to steal Klaus' words again. He thought that was awesome. The team poured drinks for a toast to the reunited couple but stopped short when they realized they didn't want to piss off Damon. Elena got a few private winks toasting her homecoming from the land of the sired. Caroline even got an arm around both Stefan and Elena at different times and squeezed her silent Team Stefan cheer to both of them.
After a couple of cough-inducing rounds of vervain-laced shots, the group could finally look in Klaus' direction if they so desired. None did. They decided it was time to wake Rebecca. Bonnie and Stefan shared a look. He followed her to the living room. Bonnie got situated and was going to start the spell. Stefan came closer. Bonnie stopped her internal prep but didn't open her eyes. "Move away Stefan. I just need Rebecca."
"I want you to trap me too," Stefan said quietly.
"What?!"
Elena and Caroline came flying around the corner echoing Bonnie's question. "Are you crazy?" Caroline wailed. Elena simply sped between Stefan and Bonnie as if blocking the spell from Stefan.
"What are you doing?" Elena said fiercely yet quietly. She looked so angry, she was so angry. "It's one thing to be compassionate, Stefan…but this…Rebecca could wake in a fit of rage and take you out."
"She won't. Elena, it will help her to trust us if I'm trapped as well. She'll know we trust her to work with us soon as she gets past Kol being gone."
Klaus laughed from the other room. "You overestimate my sister yet again, dear Stefan."
"Shut up, Klaus," Stefan hissed quietly. "Elena, don't listen to him. I know what I'm doing, please trust me." Elena gave him that look, the look that said I know what you are doing. He was reminding her of the lack of trust she had in him as the sire bond took hold. "Don't guilt me into this, Stefan. You know I trust you but I can disagree with you."
"I know, I'm sorry, but I really need to do this," Stefan said taking her face between his palms. "Please understand."
"It'll be ok, Elena," Bonnie chimed in. "I can help if needed." She gave an encouraging nod to Elena and Caroline. In the kitchen, Damon just rolled his eyes and Tyler chuckled as they took another shot and took turns flipping off Klaus.
Bonnie worked the spell and pulled the dagger from Rebecca. She joined the other girls and backed away to watch from the hall. Stefan sat next to Rebecca, took her hand, and waited. It didn't take long for the Original to stir having been daggered so recently. She gasped awake in a panic. "What happened? Was I daggered? Why?" She sat up facing Stefan and didn't see the others. She noticed Stefan holding her hand. While she liked that, it was certainly concerning.
"I'm sorry, Rebecca."
"For what? You didn't dagger me. You can't use the dagger without dying, Stefan. Did Kol do it? Where is the bastard?"
"Rebecca, Kol didn't believe that we were going to stop searching for the cure. We needed to get him to trust us. So, I earned his trust by daggering you and telling him we were supposed to dagger him. I made someone wield the dagger for me."
Rebecca pulled her hand away from Stefan violently. She whisked away from him so fast that he slipped down to his knees and off the sofa before he could try to catch up to her. Rebecca ran into the invisible barrier. Just beyond the barrier stood the girls, anxiously watching. All three of them jumped a bit at Rebecca's approach despite knowing she could not escape. "What is this? What have you done, witch? Dagger me then trap me…What is going on, someone tell me right now!"
Klaus chimed in. "Welcome to my world, Rebecca. They've trapped me, now you, and they've killed Kol. I presume you are next."
"No you aren't. Klaus, shut up," Stefan jibed right back. "Becca listen to me, plea…" Before he could finish, Rebecca had spun around and wrapped her hand around his throat crushing his windpipe as she choked him.
"Stefan!" Elena cried out.
"Rebecca, stop or I'll drop this barrier spell. Remember, you have not been invited into this home." Bonnie spoke quickly. Rebecca must have understood what would happen if she was suddenly subjected to the pain of not having been invited in. She relaxed her hold on Stefan's throat and pushed him down to the floor. She also realized she could continue to leverage access to Stefan if she needed so she decided to behave as requested for now. Staring down at Stefan, she waited expectantly for his explanation. After gasping a bit and trying to swallow, he started to explain again.
"We had to do it. We'd already used the dagger on you. Kol was acting like he was coming around but he didn't try to undo his attempted compulsion on me, or the real compulsion of Caroline and Tyler. He'd gotten to them before me. They'd have killed Jeremy. We took him down with the only weapon we had left. We got the stake and finished what we'd started."
Klaus chimed in again. "Oh, come on, tell her the real reason. You knew damned well that you were going to stake our brother. You wanted to get the map and you got it when Kol's entire line was sacrificed."
Stefan fessed up. "We knew it would be an option, yes. He wouldn't stop going for Jeremy. None of us would have gotten the map or the cure, ever, not even you." By now he was standing face to face with Rebecca hoping she'd see reason beyond any anguish over the loss of a brother. It all hinged on how badly she wanted that cure. Stefan believed she wanted it desperately and was gambling with lives, primarily his, that he was right.
"There was probably another way you know, without killing him. I know he was a crazy bastard but he was still my brother."
"I get it. Believe me, I do. I really am sorry."
Rebecca stared at him, pondering next steps. "So, let's see this map…," Rebecca announced as if she was moving on. No one moved. "Come on, chop-chop. I'm the one trapped." Stefan gave a nod to the girls to go ahead. He was fine staying in the trap for now. Elena called to Jeremy to come forward. He came to stand just outside the barrier. "I don't have X-ray vision, Hunter," she snarled.
"Why are we showing it to her anyway? You can't decode it, can you?"
"Can you?" she asked sardonically, turning her look to Stefan behind her. "Trust works both ways you know."
Stefan looked back to Jeremy, pleading mildly for Jeremy to understand. Bonnie came to Jeremy's side touching his arm. "It's ok Jeremy. She's on our side." Everyone knew he'd concede but he made a show of begrudgingly removing his shirt. Rebecca studied the markings but said little.
"We are going to need the sword to sort this out," Stefan said softly behind her.
Rebecca kept studying the markings but answered knowingly. She'd been waiting for this next topic. "True. It's only too bad I wasn't the one you chose to trust in obtaining the sword or we'd have it now." Stefan smirked knowing he deserved that dig, but it made more sense to the others why Stefan felt he'd needed to be trapped with Rebecca. He'd betrayed her and needed to make it up to her.
Klaus was sitting, looking like the cat that ate the canary. His arms were behind him, fingers laced, supporting his head as he cockily watched for anyone to step his way. He couldn't wait for someone to ask him for the sword. He had leverage once again.
(So, how'd I do on more plot/action writing with my alternate way of moving through season 4? Maybe a more believable way to get Jeremy to kill an original…?)
