Chapter 37

"You sure you wanna do this?" Bonnie asked Abby as they walked up the path towards the house.

"It's not too late to turn around..." Caroline added, walking with them.

"I have to do it," Abby assured them.

Bonnie and Caroline looked at each other worried and hoping for the best, although there couldn't be an actual happy outcome to the scenario.

"Ok," Bonnie sighed, looking at Abby as they reached the door.

They waited for Abby to ring the doorbell in her own time. A few seconds after she did it the door was opened by a brown-skinned man who looked to be the same age as Abby apart from his grey hair. The man looked the three women up and down, doing a double take when he got to Bonnie.

"Can I help you?" he asked in an exceptionally deep voice, clearly distracted by Bonnie's presence since he kept on glancing towards her.

"Are you Andre Scott?" Abby asked him calmly.

"Who's asking?" he responded suspiciously.

Abby took a shaky breath. "I have information about Marissa Scott."

A sense of pain became present as the man looked at them tensely. "Come inside."

#

Andre and Diane Scott still lived in Mystic Falls, but they moved to a different house shortly after their daughter, Marissa, was killed. No doubt, living in the house where their daughter had lost her life was too much for them.

They'd had two more children after Marissa's death. Both boys, one of whom was away at college, while the other was a 16 year old high school student.

The couple had the same light-brown skin tone as Abby and Bonnie. And, although they appeared to be around Abby's age, clearly grief had taken it's toll on them. They looked weary and drained. Physically they didn't look particularly old, but the vibe they gave out made it seem like they could be 100 years old.

Andre and Diane kept on glancing at Bonnie. Obviously they noticed she had a resemblance to their daughter too. It was an uncomfortable situation, but they needed closure. Their daughter wasn't coming back, but they deserved more than to live the rest of their lives without knowing the truth.

Caroline broke the unsettling silence, staring into the couple's eyes and using the vampire ability of compulsion for damage control. Bonnie and Abby had debated how they could handle the scenario and a) have Marissa's parents believe in the supernatural without getting hysterical, and b) without Abby going to prison, getting the death penalty and having the whole world believe she was an evil, psychotic murderer.

Manipulating these people's emotions was wrong, but the most important thing was for them to believe the truth. And, of course Bonnie wanted to keep her Mom safe too. Abby still had to live with her own guilt every, single day for the rest of her life. She'd been a fugitive for years, missed out on most of her own daughter's life. And she'd been held captive for almost six years. She'd been punished a lot in life. She killed the Scott's daughter while she was trying to save all of them. Hopefully the truth could help them in some small way.

"This lady," Caroline gestured to Abby, "has some important things to tell you. We need you to listen, to understand and to feel everything that you need to feel. But we also need you to find some kind of peace of mind from knowing the truth."

The Scotts stared at Caroline intrigued but silent, absorbing everything she was saying.

"There will be some things that you're going to hear that sound crazy and unbelievable, but you need to trust that they are the absolute truth. And, there will be some things that you can't ever talk about or tell anyone. But you need to know everything for it to all make sense," Caroline finished, making sure not to mention Abby's, Bonnie's or her own name.

Once she was certain that the couple were open to hearing what happened to their child Caroline looked at Abby, indicating that she could begin her story.

"Your daughter's death was an accident… It was my fault..."

#

Andre and Diane Scott listened silently, as if in a trance while Abby explained how and why their daughter died. Every now and again they would glance at Bonnie. But for the most part they seemed to be absorbing what Abby was telling them. Bonnie watched as tears filled their eyes and various emotions came into play. Anger, disbelief, sorrow and eventually understanding.

When Diane asked Abby why it took so long for her to reveal the truth to them she explained her fears for her family and how she was captured by the Armory when she returned to Mystic Falls.

"I know I was a coward. For running away from what I did and for running away from my own family," Abby told them.

Bonnie put her hand on Abby's and Abby turned to look at her. She would always be a little angry that her mother didn't let them know she was alive for so many years, but she'd never view her as a coward. Abby wasn't self-centered or completely selfish. She just didn't want to completely destroy her family, even if she did make questionable choices in the way she went about things.

Diane watched the affectionate gesture between Bonnie and Abby. Bonnie sensed envy as Diane never got to share those kind of adult moments with her daughter.

"Whatever suffering you've been through will never compensate for us losing our daughter," Diane told Abby harshly. She looked at Bonnie and her gaze softened slightly. "At least we know her death wasn't for nothing. She wasn't murdered by some evil… creature, supernatural or human. I only wish you could have killed the monster who invaded our home without our baby having to suffer."

Andre held his wife's hand as silent tears streamed down her face. He looked at Bonnie. "You must realise how much you look like her," he said to Bonnie.

"Yes," she responded, not knowing what else to say. Since the moment the Scotts saw her she sensed that they were thinking, 'Is this what Marissa would look like if she was still here now?'.

"Don't expect our forgiveness anytime soon. I know you were trying to save us but you still took our daughter away from us, even if it was an accident..." His voice broke and he coughed to try and compose himself. "Your daughter has suffered enough because of your mistake. She doesn't deserve to suffer anymore."

The silence that followed signified an understanding between Abby and Marissa's parents. They finally had the truth that they'd been seeking for 20 years. Abby had apologised more times than any of them could count as she told her story. It didn't make Marissa's death easier to deal with and it could take the Scotts the rest of their lives to forgive Abby. But they finally had closure. And in that there was a small sense of relief for everyone involved.

With everything that needed to be revealed out in the open Caroline brought the visit to an end with a little more compulsion. "I hope you can somehow find the peace that you both deserve." Seeking confirmation to continue Caroline looked at Bonnie and Abby. They nodded for her to go ahead. "I need you both to forget our faces after we're gone."

Andre and Diane nodded silently and the three women got up making their way to the front door.

Abby turned around to face the Scotts one last time as she stepped outside. "I'm so sorry," she told them again.

Then the couple watched as the women disappeared down the path and out of their lives, leaving them to process what had really happened to their daughter and understanding that her death wasn't what they had spent two decades believing was a meaningless murder.

#

Bonnie put the car in park as she pulled up outside of her Dad's house with Abby in the passenger seat. Rudy opened the front door of the house immediately, as if he had been looking out of the window, waiting for them to arrive. He was impossible to read with the serious expression on his face.

"Do you want me to wait in the car for a little while to give you guys some space?" Bonnie asked Abby.

"Hell no! You're coming with me," Abby told her. "I need all the moral support I can get right now."

Bonnie smiled at her and followed as she got out of the car. The two women walked up to the front door where Rudy was waiting for them. His eyes narrowed as Abby approached. And when she stood right in front of him he looked her up and down not saying a word.

Abby was starting to get worried by the lack of reaction. "Rudy…?"

His gaze softened then confusion passed across his face. "Just give me some time... It's hard to speak when the wife I thought was dead for the last 20 years is standing right in front of me."

"I'm sorry-" Abby began before Rudy cut her off by wrapping her up in a huge bear hug.

Bonnie's mouth opened in surprise as she watched the man she was used to seeing show about as much emotion as a dead goldfish, up until a week or so ago, holding on to Abby for dear life like a vulnerable little boy.

Abby took several seconds to realize what was happening and return his embrace.

"I'm sorry," she told him again.

"Don't worry about that right now… I can't believe you're here. We have plenty of time to talk about everything later."

Bonnie looked on as her parents were finally reunited. Without a doubt, Rudy would go through his own roller-coaster of emotions when he found out everything that had happened. But, from his present reaction Bonnie was positive that her parents had a good chance of repairing their marriage and getting some kind of happiness back in their lives.

A/N: I really debated including the scene with Abby going to the family of the child she killed, especially with the element of compulsion. It was already a dark subject, but when I was coming up with a reason serious enough for Abby to not only abandon her family, but let them think she was dead this one seemed to fit.

I'm still not 100% sure if adding compulsion to the mix was too messed up, but I went there. I wanted to give this part of the story closure and I hope I wrote the scene sensitively enough to do it justice.