An: MERRY CHRISTMAS my fellow readers (and to anybody out there celebrating a different holiday, merry/happy whatever holiday you are celebrating!) School is over for the semester and that means updates galore. Here is my present to all of you... Season four will be finished before i go back to school!

as always i do not own the vampire diaries

Chapter 20

Cassie woke up early that morning, she could give all the thanks to that early alarm to the work out session that Stefan and Elena were going through. She slipped on a pair of dark wash skinny jeans, a long sleeve green shirt and slipped on her black high-heeled boots.

She walked down the steps and into the kitchen, where she was surprised to see that Rebecca and Damon were already in the kitchen.

"Couldn't sleep either?" Damon commented as Cassie threw herself into the bar stool at the kitchen counter.

"I have no idea how you two manage, I don't even have super hearing" Cassie mumbled.

Rebecca patted her shoulder as a particularly loud crash could be heard from Stefan's room.

"What does she hope to accomplish anyway?" Damon asked.

"She wants to kill Katherine" Rebecca said "its all she has been talking about, how killing Katherine is going to erase everything"

Damon just raised his eyebrows, "I just thought it was some weird foreplay," Cassie said as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "Heaven forbid they actually spend some time together now that she isn't a raging bitch"

Another crash could be heard from upstairs.

"That's it" Cassie said as she stood up.

"Where are you going?" Damon asked

"I'm going to get breakfast anywhere but here" Cassie replied.

"I'm coming" Rebecca called as Cassie made her way out to the living room where she grabbed her black leather jacket and purse.

The two girls walked into the grill, it was quiet, and they had just opened so it was still slow. They made their way over to the bar where Matt was.

"Hey" he greeted them

"Morning Matt" Rebecca chirped as she sat in a seat.

"Coffee, Matt" was all Cassie replied.

Matt just laughed as went about getting the older Gilbert her coffee, by now it was common knowledge that Cassie didn't drink coffee very often but when she needed it, no conversation was going to be pleasant until she had the brown liquid coursing through her.

They ordered some breakfast and as Matt went to put in the order Rebecca turned to her.

"So are you with Damon yet?" she asked.

Cassie finished the drink she was taking with a raised eyebrow and then slowly put her coffee mug on the counter. "What does that mean?" she asked.

"It means that you two clearly have feelings for each other." Rebecca said.

Cassie sighed "its complicated Bexs," she tried to explain. "Damon's feelings were compelled away and then they were shoved right back into him. We never had a chance the first time to grow anything and then the whole thing with Nik happened"

"Do you still have feelings for Nik?" Rebecca asked.

Cassie took another drink from her coffee before answering, "I do" she admitted "but I'm trying to move passed them"

"So what's the problem?" Rebecca asked."a little romp with Damon should go a long way with that.

"Your brother and I broke up roughly a day and a half ago" Cassie said. "And I think that I need to be single for a little bit longer"

Rebecca rolled her eyes, "well, I think that's ridiculous. You two work well together and I know he has feeling for you. The question is do you have feelings for him."

Cassie picked up her mug only to realize she had finished her coffee with her earlier avoidance of the question sip.

Rebecca raised an eyebrow as Matt walked over and slid the plates in front of the girls.

Saved by the eggs, she thought to herself. Cassie took a bite out of her eggs and chewed them slowly.

she finally said, "I think that I do"

Rebecca didn't respond but she looked awfully smug as she finished her breakfast.

The girls didn't really talk as they finished their breakfasts.

"So" Matt said coming over "what are your plans for graduation?"

Matt and Rebecca launched themselves into a conversation about the different things that needed to be done for graduating, Cassie chuckled to herself. Like prom her graduation wasn't considered normal and she couldn't help but feel proud of these kids that had slowly become part of her family to have everything together was making her feel like a proud big sister to each one of them.

Her phone rang and she glanced at the number, it was Sheriff Forbes.

She picked it up and took down notes to meet her at the hospital.

"I've got to go" Cassie said, "and I want a graduation announcement from both of you" she teased them.

Matt promised she would as she walked out of the grill, she saw Caroline and Elena sitting in an outdoor table.

"How are you already done?" Caroline asked Elena,

Cassie started to head over there "well we have family friends in Denver but other than that we don't have anyone else that cares about me graduating. Besides I missed all of the deadlines for college applications so what do I have to celebrate?" Elena said.

"Well, look at the bright side" Caroline said, as Cassie finally made it the side of the table. "At least you're not pregnant"

Cassie sucked in a breath as the hurt from that comment stung. Caroline noticed Cassie standing there and she immediately jumped.

"I didn't mean that" Caroline said "I"

Cassie waved her off, "I've got to go," she said as she turned away from the girls and headed to the hospital. She tried to rationalize that Caroline didn't mean what she was saying but somehow deep inside of her that comment hurt more than she could say.

"There you are" Damon exclaimed once he heard the familiar click of Cassie's signature heels, "you just missed the doughnuts." Cassie gave him a small smile and she walked over to where Damon was standing. She could vaguely hear him talking to her, but her thoughts where other places.

"Cassie" she heard Damon's voice yell at her, she shook her head clear of the negative thoughts as she turned to face Damon. Damon was staring at her while he leaned against the counter of the check in desk, his blue eyes were focused on her and his features were etched in confusion.

"Hey" he said, "what's wrong"

Cassie just shook her head, "nothing just something Caroline said to Elena"

"What did she say?" Damon said, he turned his body towards Cassie.

"Nothing" Cassie said, "its something I wasn't suppose to hear, and I did so"

Damon took her hand "tell me"

Cassie took a deep breath, "Elena was talking about how we really only one family friend who really cares about the fact that Elena was graduating, and how she hadn't done anything really important enough to celebrate her graduating either, and Caroline was trying to cheer her up by saying that hey she may have killed people. But at least, she's not pregnant" she finished explaining.

Damon hadn't let go of her hand and he pulled her close to him, he felt her arms go around him. "Its ok, that it upset you. But I want you to know that I don't think that you starting a family is something to be considered bad." He comforted her.

Cassie smiled and pulled away from they hug. "But think about it, I was a high school cautionary tell, I was pregnant with my high school sweetheart, now I don't have anything to show for my life. An unfinished degree and I'm supporting our family with the money that our dead relatives left us." She said as she ran her hand through her hair. She gave them him a small smile.

Damon opened his mouth to say something when Stefan walked in.

"Oh good" Sheriff Forbes said seeing the three of them there. "You're all here"

The three of them stood up and followed Liz as she headed into a hospital room. "The hospitals have been keeping their blood supplies low" she started to explain. "We thought it would discourage vampires from stealing"

The four of them saw that there was a patient who was lying dead in the bed.

"We have five of them," Liz informed them.

"Silas?" Stefan asked.

"Or there is a doctor with some questionable bedside manner" Damon quipped.

Cassie looked over the man's body. "That's a lot of blood," she added "and its not like he can take them with him, it has to be drank here."

"Maybe he is gearing up?" Damon offered.

"Gearing up?" Liz asked. "For what? Any information that you can give me would be helpful, I have five grieving families to deal with."

"Silas wants to tear down the veil between life and death for supernatural creatures" Cassie told her "and once he takes the cure he can pass over and rest in peace with his true love."

"And when would said tearing down the veil be happening" Liz asked.

"At the next full moon" Stefan told her "tomorrow night"

Liz sighed; "I need to go tell my deputies" she said and walked out of the room.

The trio looked at the dead man one last time before turning to each other.

"This is bad" Cassie said.

"Well it's a good thing that we have a plan to stop him" Damon said throwing an arm around Cassie.

Cassie sighed and she leaned her head against Damon, she had a feeling that she was going to need all the support that she could get in the next few days.

"Well" Stefan said, "Silas is gearing up, what's our next step"

"I'll tell you what our next step is," Cassie said taking a step towards Stefan, " our next step is that you can take your plan of you and Elena killing Katherine and shove it up your ass. What the hell were you thinking"?

"I'm trying to give her something to channel her rage, if I can convince her to continue trying to train maybe some of her other feelings will come through before she gets a chance too." Stefan explained.

Cassie just nodded her head and headed outside the hospital, the smell was starting to get to her and she needed a breath of fresh air. She was almost to the door when the lights went out.

"What the hell?" Cassie asked looking around.

"Is it supposed to storm?" Damon asked as he looked outside, the wind was blowing like crazy and the sky had turned dark.

"Guys" Liz called to the three of them; "we have power outage reports all over town." She motioned them to follow her.

The three of them followed Liz over to a table where she had a map set up,

"So according to the electricians, the power outages originated at 3 different places in town: the Young farm, the Lockwood estate, and a blown transformer off Old Miller Road." She said pointing to the three places on the map.

"Well, these are the locations of the Silas massacres. It's the Expression triangle that was created. Bonnie must be doing something to each spot," Stefan said as he started to connect the places together on the map.

"So much for needing the full moon" Cassie said as she ran her hands through her hair. "Does anyone know what she is doing?"

"Well, we know that once each spot has been activated the whole triangle is active" Damon said "so my guess is that she would be in the middle of it, lets go find out what Sabrina the teenage witch thinks she's doing"

"One more thing" Liz added "one of the power company guys has a daughter who goes to school with Bonnie. He saw her leaving the Young farm an hour ago... with Elena."

Cassie let out a hard breath through her nose "Caroline is with Elena at the grill" she moaned.

"Which means Bonnie has gotten herself a new doppelganger friend" Damon finished her thought.

"We need to find them, now" Cassie said looking between the boys.

"So where is the middle of the triangle?" Damon asked, looking over at Stefan.

Stefan looked up at the two of them "Mystic Falls High"

"Yes Rebecca" Cassie said as she got into the Damon's car "we think it's going to happen at the high school"

Damon glanced over at Cassie, she had been acting weird all afternoon, and while what Caroline said to her could be affecting her, but this much? He didn't believe it, there was something else bothering her. And despite the veil apparently dropping a night early all he wanted to do was figure out what was bothering her, and fix it.

"No, Caroline and Elena should be enough, hang back at the grill with Matt and we'll call you if we need you guys" Cassie finished up the phone call. "Stay safe"

She hung up and turned towards Stefan and Damon; "Caroline and Elena are going to meet us there" she informed them.

Damon just nodded that he had heard what she said, and soon they showed up at the high school.

Elena was standing in the parking lot as Damon and Stefan got out of the car, Damon had opened Cassie's door and was helping her get out of the car, the wind was blowing so hard even a simple task was proving difficult.

"Where's Caroline?" Cassie yelled as they all met together, she had one hand holding her hair to one side so it wouldn't blow in her face any longer.

"She already went inside looking for Bonnie," Elena yelled back. "I think we should split up, Damon and I can look outside while you two meet up with Caroline in the school"

"Ok, let us know if you find anything" Stefan yelled.

Cassie and Stefan turned to leave when Damon grabbed Cassie's arm, he pulled her close to him so he wouldn't have to yell.

"Stay safe," he said, his eyes begging her to.

Cassie nodded "I will, " she promised "you too" she said and then she turned around and walked back to Stefan. He gabbed her arm and helped her into the school.

The two of them finally made it into the school and the doors slammed back shut with a resounding slam.

"Well that wasn't creepy" Cassie commented as she tried to straighten out her hair.

"Well what's a scary storm without a few banging doors" Stefan offered.

Cassie shot him a smile, "ok, you take the east hallway and I'll take the west" she said.

"You want to split up?" Stefan asked.

"No, but Caroline is wondering the school by herself and we need to find her" Cassie answered truthfully as she looked around the school.

"Ok" Stefan said "but call or yell the moment you see anything," he said.

Cassie nodded and headed down her hallway. She had been in the school after dark before, actually several times before this, but tonight, with the storm outside and potentially a gazillion supernatural zombies waiting to rise again just made this all the more creepy.

She walked in front of her father's old classroom and the stopped; she leaned against the doorframe of the room and looked in at the empty desks. She never thought of it as hers, it was always her dad's even when she was teaching in it for the short time she was. She loved teaching if she was honest about it. Enjoyed talking to the high school kids and actually getting through to them. But after everything had happened on the island. She just couldn't do it anymore. Her focuses were needed elsewhere, so she gave it up. And it was something she didn't think she would miss. But she did desperately, deep down she hoped that she could come back this next year, maybe after she had finished training the new recruits like she promised.

She pushed herself off of the frame and continued on her way to finding Caroline, who at this point and time Cassie was sure was with Stefan, she just didn't understand why Stefan hadn't called yet.

Speak of the devil and he shall appear, was what Cassie thought to herself as she dug for her phone in her pocket, she really hoped that no one was following her because she had forgotten to turn her ringer off.

"Hello" she answered.

"We think that Bonnie is in the basement," Stefan said.

"Ok, um I think that there is an entrance in the school" Cassie supplied.

"Elena said it's in the boiler room," Stefan told her.

Cassie looked around her surroundings as she tried to find her place in the school "ok, I'm close I'll start heading there now" she promised before hanging up.

She turned to the right and headed down the hallway, the soft click of her boots were the only sound in the hallway.

"She's strong and she's crafty" she heard Damon's voice as she turned the last corner. "And you'll die"

"Well at least I'll die trying" Elena's voice replied before she heard a groan.

Cassie ran as she turned the corner and she saw Damon bent over with something in his stomach as Elena stood over him. Elena glanced up at her sister and then vamp ran into the boiler room. Cassie ran over to Damon as he groaned.

"Here" she said as she helped him sit up "let me get it"

"Wha-?" Damon began but he stopped with a yell as Cassie grabbed the stake from his stomach and ripped it out.

"Sorry" she said as she helped him up.

Damon waved her apology away; once he had stood up he fixed his shirt. "Elena's going to try and kill Katherine," he said.

"I know" Cassie replied, "I heard her."

"Then why aren't you stopping her?" Damon asked.

Cassie sighed and leaned against the lockers "because if I'm being honest with you I have no idea what happens next, with Elena, with Silas. Anything. I'm grasping at straws and I just feel all of this pressure to always have the answer. Maybe letting Elena kill Katherine is what she needs to do to move on."

"Nobody knows what to do" Damon said "and I have to say you're doing an excellent job flying by the seat of your pants"

Cassie gave him a small smile "but for how much longer?" she whispered to nobody in particular. "I don't think I can keep coming up with the right answers very much longer"

"Well than" the both heard a voice behind them "it's a damn good thing I'm here, isn't it?"

Cassie whipped around and she felt her breath leave her as she saw her dad standing there "dad?" she whispered.

Alaric gave her a smile and took a step forward. But Damon slid in between them.

"Listen, not that we aren't excited that your back because we are really, I promise. But there are plenty of people nowadays who aren't exactly who they say they are around here" Damon said.

"Damon" Cassie said trying to step around him but Damon just took a hold of Cassie and put her behind him.

"You think I'm Silas?" Alaric asked with a chuckle "are you kidding me?"

"You see that's exactly what Silas would say and he has already mind fucked Cassie once and I'll be damned if I let it happen again." Damon almost growled out.

Alaric paused for a moment he looked at Cassie and then back at Damon protecting her. He nodded and walked over to the lockers. "Well if I was Silas," he said opening a locker "would I know about locker 42?" he asked a he pulled out a bottle.

Damon instantly relaxed his arms and Cassie ran towards her dad. She launched herself into his arms and the two of them embraced in a hug.

"I missed you," she whispered.

"I've been here this whole time," Alaric whispered back.

Cassie and Alaric broke the hug so Damon and him could have their manly hug.

"So if I can see you" Damon said and then patted his arm "and feel you, that must mean that veil have dropped"

"Well, not completely. It's only down inside the Expression triangle. If I step outside of it, it's back to ghost world." Alaric explained.

"Well then where are all of the ghosts?" Cassie asked looking between the two of them.

"Good point" Damon said pointing a finger towards Cassie, "with the veil down, shouldn't it'd be like Ghost-a-palooza around here"

"Only the ghosts that have a reason to be in Mystic Falls are here, you know the ones looking after their idiot best friends and their daughters," Alaric said.

"What we need to do is worry about the ones looking for their enemies" Cassie said.

Cassie's phone started to ring. She picked it out of her jacket pocket ignoring the looks that Damon and Alaric sent her because it still wasn't on silent.

"Hello?" she called.

"Cassie it's Matt" Matt's voice came from the other end.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Listen Rebecca just found Caroline in the back store room at the grill," he informed her "she's been here the entire time"

For the second time that day Cassie's breath had caught in her throat, she looked up at the two vampires that were listening in on the conversation, "but Caroline's is here with us" she said.

"No, she's here and that means that Silas is with you" matt said.

Cassie sighed, "This is just great," she said.

"That's not the only thing Cassie" matt said, "Robert and Faye came by the grill looking for you."

Cassie closed her eyes at hearing this, fear and panic shot through her at hearing this. It made sense that they were coming for her, if Cassie was in their positions she would come after herself as well. But there was no way that Cassie could handle this. One maybe she might be able to defend herself until they get the veil up but together? There was a reason it took the entire original family to take them down.

"Do they know where I am?" Cassie asked turning her back so she couldn't see the looks that Damon and Alaric were giving her, and so they could look the fear that was etched on hers.

"No" matt said "Rebecca told them you were across town"

Cassie let out a breath she didn't know she was holding "tell her I send my thanks, we will stop Silas and then deal with the twins" she promised. "Take care of Caroline"

"We'll handle it here" he promised.

Cassie hung up and turned to look at her father and her… Friend?

Alaric just reached forward and buried her into his chest with a hug. "I know what you are thinking," he said "and I'm not going to let you leave to handle this by yourself" he grumbled.

"And if I stay?" she questioned back "they're not stupid, they are going to figure out where we are and if anybody gets hurt because of my fight"

"Hey" Damon said "you said we would deal with them after we deal with Silas. Lets stick to that plan"

Cassie pulled out of the hug with her father but kept one arm around him. She nodded and sent a grateful smile to Damon for reassuring her.

She sniffed "Stefan needs to know" she told them "he is with Caroline"

"You do it" Damon said.

Cassie nodded and she stepped away from the boys and into a classroom, she picked up the phone and dialed Stefan. This was not going to be a fun conversation.

Alaric turned to Damon as Cassie left the hallway. He was still watching her go and Alaric smiled at that. It's true he had begrudgingly given Klaus his support, at the time you could easily see the love the two of them had. He guessed that wasn't enough to keep them together, just like his love for Isobel wasn't enough to keep his family together. He would have died again in order for the cycle of his tragic love life to be repeated for his daughter, but it seemed like the fates held a different fate for her then the one he wanted he to have.

"I can't thank you enough" Alaric finally spoke up,

Damon drew his glance from the door to Alaric.

"For watching out for her" he clarified seeing Damon's look.

"Well" Damon said "I. Am, well"

"In love with her yes I know" Alaric chuckled "watching you two is the only entertainment I have these days."

"You don't mind, your best friend falling for your daughter?" Damon asked surprised.

Alaric pursed his lips and shook his head. "Nah, besides there isn't a whole lot I could do from the other side," he said a little bitterly.

"That's not true" Damon countered "you could tell her right now that you don't think it's a good idea. That girl idolizes you and she would take everything you say and think about it"

"Do I think it is a best idea?" Alaric said "no, I want for her to be able to escape this life and go settle down where no one even knows the word vampire. But her family is here and her friends, she would never leave them. So yes, I've seen the sacrifices that you have made just being her friend. I can only imagine what you would do if you two were finally together"

"I don't think that is going to happen anytime soon," Damon said gloomily

They heard Cassie end the call and head out to the hallway.

"Stefan said that Silas should still be in the tunnels." She said, "but Bonnie is still down there"

Damon nodded "ok, so I'll go down to the tunnels, and you and Ric stay out here." He said.

"Wait" Cassie called out "it doesn't make sense for two of us to stay back, Alaric should go with you and I'll call Elena while I take another lap around the school."

Damon opened his mouth to protest.

"I'll be right behind you guys," she promised.

Damon glanced at Alaric who nodded.

"Fine" he relented.

Cassie nodded and turned away and headed around the school. She kept trying to get Elena on the phone but she wasn't picking up. She wasn't to concerned though, she probably had her phone on silent and from what Stefan was saying she was still pretty pissed that Stefan had stopped her from killing Katherine. So she was probably just pouting somewhere. Elena unfortunate took last place in Cassie's things to worry about.

A clash drew her attention, she turned around, but the hallway was empty. She took a step forward towards the sound when the same sound came from behind her again. Cassie whipped around again, "Hey there Cassie" Faye said as stood in front of her "its been a while"

Cassie took a step back when she felt herself collide with a body behind her. "Oh come on now" Robert's voice said as he gripped on of her arms. He threw her into the lockers across the hallway. Cassie's back exploded with pain as Robert flashed over to her, he picked her up three inches off of the ground by her throat "where are you going?" he asked. Cassie clawed fruitlessly at Robert's hand "we have some catching up to do"

AN: oh no a cliffhanger, at the end of the chapter! what a shock, i would love to hear your thoughts on whats going to happen between them or your predictions for how the season's going to end. I enjoy seeing what you want to happen and i can say that once or twice, your feedback has made its way into the story ;) just put those thoughts and feelings into that pretty little box below!