A/N: so there were probably a ton of possible answers to the trivia question, but the scene that I had in mind was the Willow/Xander moment from Season 6 of Buffy—and many of you even referenced the infamous "yellow crayon" speech! YAY :)

Let the rain wash away
All the pain of yesterday
I know my kingdom awaits
And they've forgiven my mistakes...
-Coming Home

"Mmm, so good," Caroline moaned as she bit into a chocolate croissant. "Seriously," she said to Tyler, "You're, like, a saint for bringing these over."

Tyler grinned as she polished off the pastry before reaching out for another one. He nudged the large plate towards her before shrugging, "It was the least I could do. I'm sorry I wasn't able to be here last night when you guys got back, but my mom..."

Caroline waved away his apology. "Don't worry about it. We got back at like 4 in the morning...my mom would've been freaking out, too." She paused, tilting her head as she listened to sounds from upstairs. "One of them is finally awake," she said to Tyler, referring to the four people who were scattered throughout the many bedrooms of the boarding house. "About time, too."

"So," Tyler lowered his voice, "Damon has been awake all night? Just sitting down there in the basement?"

Caroline nodded, but rolled her eyes. "I don't know what he's worried about. Stefan's been pumped full of vervain; he won't be waking up any time soon—and there's definitely no way he'd be able to get out of the cell even if he did wake up..."

"What I don't get is why you guys are keeping Klaus' body locked up down there, too," Tyler commented idly, "I mean, he's dead, right? Can't you just get rid of him?"

"Elijah wanted to drop Klaus' body to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean," Caroline explained nonchalantly, "But we didn't have time for pit-stops last night."

"You know," Tyler leaned his elbow on the kitchen table as he studied her with amusement, "You're really something."

She cocked an eyebrow, "Hmm, good something or bad something?"

He grinned at her mischievously, "I haven't decided yet."

Caroline licked the last of the chocolate off her fingers before winking at him, "Good answer." She took a sip from her coffee, and glanced up to see Tyler trying not to laugh. "What's so funny?"

"It's just, ah..." he gestured to her face, "You have a little chocolate on your—"

"Oh, no you don't," she chided, swatting his hands away, "That's like the oldest move in the book!"

"What? No, I'm serious—" Tyler wrestled with her for a few moments as she dissolved into giggles. "Okay," he relented with a grin, raising both hands in surrender. "No tricks, I swear."

Caroline squinted at him suspiciously, "If you say so."

"Alright, just hold still," he murmured, leaning forward in his chair as he gently rubbed his thumb at the corner of her mouth. She looked at him expectantly when he paused, only to draw her breath in sharply when he let his hand drop to her waist as he slid forward so that their faces were inches apart.

"Um," she swallowed, "Is it gone?" Tyler shook his head and then slowly let his tongue sweep her lower lip. She moaned again, this time for a different reason, and her lips instinctively parted as Tyler's mouth closed over hers. She let herself get lost in the kiss, a pleasurable haze filling her mind.

The kitchen door squeaked.

With a gasp, Caroline pulled away from Tyler to look over his shoulder. Elena was standing by the door, looking sheepish. "Sorry," she stammered, her face flushing. "I didn't...I just woke up, and I was looking for—"

"It's no problem," Tyler gave her a friendly smile, gesturing for her to join them. "Caroline's been telling me about the hell you guys threw down last night. I'm glad you're okay."

"Thanks," she returned the smile as she sat down with them. "So, where's everyone else? I don't really remember much from last night, to tell you the truth."

"Yeah, that would be because you passed out," Caroline informed her, "Right after Bonnie stabbed Klaus. I think it must've been from your wound? Anyway, Bonnie was already unconscious, and then Damon shot Stefan up with a ton of vervain so he passed out, too. Me and Elijah went back to get the cars and then we all drove back here. Ric and Jeremy were waiting for us when we got back and they helped carry all of you guys in."

"Everyone's here?" Elena frowned, "I didn't see anyone when I woke up."

Caroline shrugged, "Stefan and Klaus are in separate cells down in the basement; Jeremy, Bonnie, and Alaric are all sleeping somewhere upstairs; Elijah and Katherine left earlier this morning to get animal blood since Stefan won't be hunting any time soon...um, and Damon has been down in the basement all night."

"All night?" Elena repeated worriedly, "Is he okay?"

"I tried to give him some blood when I woke up this morning," Caroline said in a quiet voice, "He wouldn't drink it, though. He said he didn't want Stefan to be able to smell the human blood."

"Oh," Elena took a deep breath as she stood up, "I should probably go see him. Let me know when the others are up?"

"Sure," Caroline agreed, watching as her friend disappeared back through the door. "Be careful."

.

Elena tentatively made her way down the stairs into the basement. She walked past the large freezer and continued down the darker passageway, her eyes taking a moment to adjust to the dim lighting. She walked all the way to the end of the passage before she saw Damon sitting on the ground, across from what was presumably Stefan's cell.

She peered through the bars on the door, her gaze landing on Stefan's unconscious form. He had been cleaned up, and now he looked almost back to normal. Except, of course, that he wasn't.

"You're awake," Damon remarked into the silence, "How are you feeling?"

"Better," Elena responded quietly, her fingers tracing her invisible wound, "Thanks to you."

"It was nothing," Damon said, and it was then that she noticed that he was slurring his words. "It's what I do, you know. Save the day. White knight in shining armor and all that."

Elena crossed her arms as she turned back around to look into the cell again. "What happens now? Are we just going to keep injecting him with vervain? Keep him as far away from human blood as possible?"

"That's the general idea."

She studied Damon's expression, and then she slid to the ground next to him. "All those things that Stefan said to you last night," Elena hesitated, "He didn't mean them. You know that, right?"

"Sure," Damon replied with a self deprecating grin, "He didn't mean them because he was on human blood and he wasn't himself." Then he shrugged, "That doesn't mean that he didn't speak the truth."

"The truth? No, it's not like that," Elena said gently, "Don't take his words to heart." When he refused to look at her, she shifted so that she was directly in front of him and he was forced to meet her gaze. "You're not second best, Damon," she said firmly, "Don't let anyone, whether it be Katherine or Stefan, tell you otherwise."

He groaned, "Don't you ever get tired of lying to yourself?" Damon pushed her away and drunkenly staggered to his feet. "Stefan was right...he was gone, and Andie was gone, and that's the only reason that you and I—"

"Don't say that," Elena snapped, getting to her feet as well. "You've had a lot to drink, you're not thinking clearly." He tried to sidestep her, but she planted herself in his path and wrapped her arms around him tightly. To her surprise, he didn't pull away from her embrace. "We have something," she whispered, "You know we do."

He stiffened in her arms, and she slowly stepped back so she could see his face. His gaze was searching her expression, "I thought you didn't want Stefan to know about our...connection. Isn't that what you said?"

Elena smiled faintly, "Well, it must be pretty obvious because Stefan seemed to pick up on it, anyway." She reached out for his hands and held them in her own, "We did what we set out to do. We got Stefan back. Klaus is dead. Everything is going to be okay."

Caroline screamed.

"Rule number one," Damon muttered under his breath as they both rushed upstairs, "Never say that 'everything will be okay'. You're practically asking for trouble..."

.

There was no one in the living room, but a great deal of shouting was coming from the second floor. Elena reached the landing in record time, frantically looking around at the small group of people standing there. "What is it? What happened?"

Jeremy was leaning against the wall, looking shaken. Both Tyler and Alaric were carrying heavy towels, and Caroline and Bonnie looked stunned. Damon's gaze darted around the hallway, catching sight of the charred carpet. "Was there a fire?" he demanded, "What's going on?"

"I j-just woke up and walked out of my room," Jeremy managed to say, motioning to the door behind him. "And everything in front of me burst into flames." He swallowed, "I thought they were kidding."

"They?" Elena frowned in confusion, "What are you talking about?"

Her brother sighed, looking defeated. "Okay, don't be mad...but I might not have been entirely honest when I told you guys that I haven't seen Anna and Vicki since the night I was brought back to life."

Bonnie's eyes widened, "You've spoken to them? They're still here?"

"Well, they couldn't enter the house because you put that spell to keep out spirits," Jeremy hastened to explain, "So I guess they decided to speak to me through my dreams instead. Um, see, they were brought from the other side to bring me back to the world of the dead...so, that's what they've been trying to do."

Elena narrowed her eyes, "You mean they tried to set you on fire?"

Jeremy shifted uncomfortably, "Actually, they've done a couple things." He counted on his fingers, "They caused the car crash, you know the one where we hit Andie? Oh, and when we were searching the burial grounds for Bonnie and Elijah, they sent that flying dagger into the house. And yeah, the fire this morning..."

"Wait a second," Tyler interrupted, "They've actually been trying to kill you this whole time? But—"

"When they spoke to me in my dreams, they said that they didn't want to kill me," Jeremy answered quickly, "It just had to look like they were trying to cause non-supernatural scenarios, because of the ring and everything."

"But you're saying that what happened this morning was different from the other times?" Bonnie asked shrewdly, "How?"

"Oh yeah," Jeremy hesitated, "I was having another dream. They said that the other side wasn't happy that they were taking so long to finish the job...and also, the balance of nature was getting more and more skewed because the witches were taking matters into their own hands." He glanced up at Bonnie, "Because the witches brought me back, and then they brought Elijah back..."

"Do they know that Klaus is dead?" Alaric asked, speaking for the first time. "Shouldn't that balance the scale a bit?"

"Anna and Vicki said that Klaus being staked doesn't count as being truly dead," Jeremy muttered, "Because obviously anyone could pull the dagger out at any time, if they wanted to."

"Well, who would want to do that?" Caroline retorted, "Tell them that Klaus' body will be at the bottom of the ocean and then no one will be able to find him, let alone pull the dagger out."

"I think I'm missing something here," Elena said slowly, "What exactly do they want from us?"

Jeremy closed his eyes as he recited, "Three lives must be sent to the other side. Until the payment is made, any power the witches bring forth may be forever reversed."

"Does that mean all your spells will be reversed?" Tyler asked Bonnie, looking confused. "Or is it just the ones where you used the Power from the witches?"

"They want three permanent deaths?" Alaric frowned, "But...who?"

Damon paced back and forth, repeating the demands in his head. If any spell that used the witches' Power was supposed to be reversed, then wouldn't Jeremy and Elijah have dropped dead by now? But...no, that would be a supernatural cause and Jeremy was still wearing the ring. And the only way that Elijah could die was if he was stabbed with the dagger, which was currently in Klaus' body, anyway..."

He froze.

"Damon?" Elena was staring at him, "Is something wrong?"

Caroline suddenly looked up at him, and he knew that she had reached the same conclusion. "Klaus," they said in unison before speeding down the two flights of stairs into the basement.

"Stefan's still here," Caroline said in obvious relief, peering through the bars of the cell. "What about..."

She turned around to see Damon standing on the other side of passageway, staring into an empty cell. "Klaus is gone."

*for those of you who were wondering why Klaus "died" so quickly last chapter, it's because I had planned from the beginning to coincide the Jeremy/ghost storyline with Klaus' true death. hope you enjoyed the twist!

KEY:
Ghosts explanation = chapter 2
Andie's death + car crash = chapter 4
Flying dagger + burial ground = chapter 13