I know this took forever to get updated, but here it is now! Next chapter we return to our regular formatting and the trio is reunited. Thanks for reading and reviewing!

Gilbert Family Values

Jeremy follows Elena and Damon into the house, none of them speaking. Well, Damon speaks, but Jeremy's trying to tune him out as much as he can. Then he's reminded that he should keep as close an eye on Damon as possible, but it's just so fucking hard to do when every word that comes out of his mouth makes Jeremy want to drive a stake through his heart all over again. But Elena's there, and she's definitely not sending Damon on his merry way so Jeremy's hesitant to do anything that may knock their fragile understanding off its axis.

Getting back to the house was harder than it should have been. They were met by vampires on the way. Jeremy's reluctant to admit it, but they wouldn't have made it back without Damon's help. With just the two of them, they wouldn't have managed. If it had been Kol, instead of the few vampires they got, they would have been killed.

"Place looks the same," Damon says, doing a loop around the front room. He shrugs off his jacket and drapes it across the back of one of the chairs.

"Yeah," Elena agrees, hovering near the sofa where she watches Damon do his circuit. Jeremy goes into the kitchen. He leans against the counter, elbows on top, to watch them. His stake feels like it's burning a hole in his back pocket, the pointed end just dying to go into something.

Damon turns back to Elena and flashes a smile. He steps closer to her, until there's only about a foot of space that separates them. "So do you," he says, reaching out to touch Elena's face.

Jeremy turns his back. He feels in his pocket for his phone and comes away with nothing but air.

Fuck.

"Elena," Jeremy says, glaring at the row of cupboards and refusing to look anywhere near them again, "can I use your phone?"

He thinks he can feel Damon's annoyance, but Elena hurries over to press her phone into his hand. Jeremy doesn't look at her face. He only sees her hair out of the corner of his eye as it swishes over her shoulder as she turns back to Damon. Jeremy makes a beeline for the back door. He won't have to look at either of them out there.

Scanning the yard, he sits on the back porch. He can't see or hear anyone out here, but anyone could be close. And in this town, anyone means someone with fangs and bloodlust. He dials Tyler first. There's no telling what kind of panic he's worked himself into with Jeremy missing, and Jeremy tries not to imagine Tyler dealing with his own group of vampires on his own. Jeremy had wanted to go back to the school, but was hesitant with Damon in tow. Hopefully Tyler's still with Bonnie. If they're together, they're safe.

"Just pick up the phone, Lockwood."

"Elena?"

"It's me," Jeremy says.

"You're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Jeremy says. "Katherine grabbed me then there were vampires. Kol's line, some from the alley, Damon."

"Damon?"

It would be nice if the things they killed just stayed dead. It would definitely make for less stressful living.

"Yeah, Damon," Jeremy confirms. "Stefan's probably here, too, but we haven't seen him yet."

If he can get through this night without seeing Stefan, it'll be a good night, even with all this shit happening.

"Did Damon try something?"

"No," Jeremy says. "I'm sure he will. He's with Elena right now so he's on his best behavior, but I've got my stake and lots of other stuff. There were some more vampires, but we're all alive. I was kind of hoping one of them would take Damon out, but no such luck. I can't kill him myself with Elena here. She's probably going to be offended all over again."

And they've come so far since.

"Probably," Tyler agrees. "Be careful."

"Yeah, yeah," Jeremy sighs. "There are so many people who want to kill me, but I'm okay. I lost my phone so I couldn't call you." And he's going to have to buy a new one with all the money he doesn't have.

"I've got your phone."

"Good," he says. "I can't afford a new one. Where's Bonnie?"

"Still at the school," Tyler says. "I think she's okay. Some of Kol's line were here. They almost ripped me apart, but my pack came through."

"You're with the pack?" Jeremy says. "Your ghosts are definitely better than mine."

"Jeremy!"

He turns around to see through the glass. Elena's facing the front door. It's wide open, but Damon lunges forward to slam it shut. There's someone on the other side of it, but Jeremy doesn't know who. Not a vampire surely. A shut door wouldn't do anything against them.

Glass breaks on the other end of the room and then comes Damon's voice. "Fuck."

"Jeremy?" Tyler questions.

"We've got it," Jeremy assures him, standing up.

"I can help you!"

"We've got it."

Tyler sounds reluctant and frustrated, but what else is new? "Look out for Kol," he says.

"Believe me, I'm looking out."

Jeremy slides Elena's phone into his pocket and pulls his gun from the waistband of his jeans. His hand is on the door handle when he hears the creaking of wood behind him. He spins around to point his gun at the person behind him.

Not a vampire.

A hunter.

"Connor," Jeremy says.

He's standing on the bottom step, his hands raised just slightly. They're empty, but Jeremy knows that doesn't mean he's harmless.

Connor gives his head a short nod. "Jeremy. That's my gun."

"Mine now."

There's more glass breaking from inside the house, and Jeremy fights the urge to look over his shoulder. Looking away from Connor isn't an option. There's a lot a hunter can do with a distracted opponent, and Jeremy's not about to fall into that hole. "Who's in there?" Jeremy demands.

"One of our brothers," Connor answers. "You've met before. Or maybe you don't remember, it's been awhile. Vaughn."

Jeremy remembers him, but Connor must not think so. "You and your buddy, Matt killed him when he showed up here. He came to kill Damon and Stefan, remember?"

"Yeah," Jeremy says.

"It's interesting that you killed him for doing the same thing you would later go on to do yourself," Connor says. He moves up a step, and Jeremy holds up a hand.

"I'll shoot," he warns.

"If you do then I can't help you."

"You can't help me anyway."

"There are vampires headed this way. Vaughn and I will help you kill them."

"Vaughn will be dead soon," Jeremy says. It's Vaughn versus Elena and Damon.

"No he won't," Connor says certainly. "But you'll be. Those vampires are coming."

From the house, Elena calls. "Jeremy! Come on!"

"Those vampires are here," Connor says, with a slight smile.

Jeremy pulls his stake from his back pocket and tosses it to him. When he goes back into the house, Damon and Elena don't even see him. They're too busy trying not to get torn apart by the vampires coming in through the front door. They're a steady stream, all fanged out and feral and thirsting for blood. He's sure he's seen some of them before, but he doesn't have the time to pinpoint which alley it was.

Jeremy raises the gun and puts down one. Two. Three. They fall one after the other. The fourth catches on and moves fast enough that the bullet goes straight past him, and he slams into Jeremy so hard that it feels like the whole house shakes when he hits the floor.

Jeremy ignores the grinding of teeth above him, the hot breath against his cheek and the hands pulling at his clothes and clawing at his skin, and he tightens his hold on the gun. He presses the barrel to the vampire's temple and pulls the trigger. When the vampire slumps forward, Jeremy shoves him off and rolls to point the gun at his heart and send a bullet into it.

Jeremy sees Connor out of the corner of his eye, stabbing the stake through the heart of a curly haired vampire. Vaughn's on the other side of the room, throwing another vampire to the ground, and Damon's wiping off a bloody hand on his jeans. Jeremy turns, searching for Elena. There are so many vampires he can't see her, not at first, not until he sees the glint of the meat cleaver as it swings through the air, slicing cleanly through the neck of a vampire and sending his head flying off to bounce along the floor.

Nice.

Jeremy straightens up, looking for the next vampire, but there doesn't seem to be anymore. The floor is littered with bodies. They'll have a hell of a time cleaning this up. He drops his gun into the chair and combs his fingers through his hair, wondering how long this is going to go on for.

Elena places the meat cleaver on the counter and steps over the bodies of a few of the vampires. "Are you okay?"

Jeremy nods. "You?"

"Fine."

Jeremy sees Connor as if he's moving in slow motion, rising up over Elena's shoulder and throwing his stake. It turns in the air, flipping end over end. "Elena!"

She turns and her movement sends the stake into the wrong side of her chest. If she'd stayed in her spot, it would have surely hit her heart. She reaches to pull it out, and Jeremy lunges himself at Connor. He sees Jeremy coming and is ready to catch him. He throws him down on top of the coffee table which shatters on the impact and showers Jeremy in glass.

Some of it cuts into his palms, but Jeremy grips the largest piece he can see. The edge digs into his hand and makes him bleed, but he doesn't care. He has to pull himself out of the tangle of the metal frame, crawling along the carpet until he can stand, putting the throbbing of his spine out of his mind.

Somewhere to the right Jeremy hears Vaughn cry out. He and Damon are fighting, but Jeremy doesn't know when that started. At least Jeremy doesn't have to deal with Connor and Vaughn.

It's been awhile since Jeremy's fought someone who isn't so much stronger than him. Fighting Connor is just like punching anyone else, and it's refreshing to know that Connor's not going to come back at him with fangs.

Still, Connor's no slouch. He's a bit bigger than Jeremy is. He's been at this longer, and it shows. He maneuvers away from Jeremy's swipes with the glass, and when he catches Jeremy's arm, he dislocates the shoulder easily. Jeremy releases the glass and it falls to the floor.

Jeremy swallows down his pained cry and kicks out, catching Connor at the ankle. They both fall, and Jeremy tries to forget the improper placement of his shoulder to elbow Connor in the nose. The pain isn't as easy to forget.

Jeremy rolls away from Connor, reaching for another piece of glass. They're all too small to do any real damage so he gives that up. Instead he goes for the lamp on the table alongside the armchair, lifting it to throw it at Connor as he's getting to his feet. He blocks the brunt of the impact, but it distracts him enough for Jeremy to follow with a kick to Connor's stomach.

While he's doubled over, Jeremy raises a knee into Connor's face and hears the cracking of his nose. Connor must also be good at ignoring the pain he must be in. Jeremy sees the shine of the glass shard before Connor buries the pointed edge in his leg.

Fuck.

His leg gives underneath him and he falls, but he pushes himself backward, toward the chair where he left his gun. It's right there, all he's got to do is reach it.

Elena speeds past him to tackle Connor to the floor. She's fast, but Connor keeps away from her hands as best he can, careful not to let her get a grip on his neck. He smacks her hands away and lands a punch to Elena's throat that leaves her choking even though she doesn't need to breathe.

Jeremy's back hits the chair, and he reaches behind him. His fingers ghost over the barrel of the gun. When he gets it, he aims it at Connor's chest. A wooden bullet is still a bullet.

For a moment, Connor goes still, glaring at Jeremy as if he's daring him to follow through. Jeremy's hesitation must give him some kind of confidence because he steps forward, and Jeremy squeezes the trigger. A hole appears at the front of Connor's shirt followed by a spreading bloom of red. He hits the floor with a thump.

Jeremy lowers his arm as he leans back against the chair, breathing hard.

When he turns his head, he's staring at Vaughn and he jumps before he realizes he's dead, too. His blond hair is stained red with blood, and there's more blood in his mustache. His eyes stare lifeless at him. Damon blinks down at Jeremy briefly before walking away.

Jeremy's still got Elena's phone. He slumps into one of the chairs at the table and pulls it out to call Bonnie.

"Hi," she says. "How's it going?"

"Good," he says conversationally. "Taking care of business, you know. Hunters, vampires, hunters."

"Hunters?"

"Yes, my brothers in stakes," Jeremy says. "They really know how to hold a grudge, but don't worry about it, we're fine. How are you?"

"I'm fine," Bonnie says. "We're gonna help you soon, okay? Just hang in there."

"I'm hanging."

"What about Damon?" Bonnie asks.

"He's...here."

"What's he doing?"

"He's helping Elena clean up a mess," Jeremy says, his gaze cutting to the backyard where the two of them are carrying the bodies outside, "but we keep getting vampires in here so it's just going to get messed up again. I think they're just using it as an excuse not to be near me." He sighs as he stands to turn on the faucet, watching the water splash into the sink and spiral down the drain. "I don't know what Elena's...I don't know what he's telling her, and I don't know what she's thinking. I can't leave her here alone with all this stuff going on, but if Damon's gonna try something, I can't stay here."

Ramona said Silas had come to Elena, had offered her Stefan and Damon again. She said no so that must mean she's kind of over it, right? But that was when Stefan and Damon were very dead, not walking around again.

Maybe she's changed her mind with Damon right here in front of her.

"We'll figure something out," Bonnie says, "to get rid of him before he gets the chance to do anything. Just keep your distance. Don't be alone with him. Stay where Elena can see you. He won't kill you right in front of her."

"One time he did."

"I remember. Just hold onto your stake."

Jeremy laughs. "I didn't consider doing that."

"I saw Stefan earlier," Bonnie tells him.

"I don't know which one of us has it worse," Jeremy says. "What did he want?"

"To hear his own voice, but it's done."

"Is he dead?"

"No."

Jeremy sighs heavily. "So he'll be making a stop here to see Elena."

He hopes more than anything that Damon either leaves or gets killed before Stefan arrives. He can't deal with both of them at the same time. After all this time, with the two of them being dead, having them back is a transition Jeremy doesn't want to have to make.

"I should probably go," he says. "I should like, fortify the house or something. I'll see you later?"

"If we survive the night."

"We will," Jeremy says. "We've lived this long. Nothing can kill us now."

"Don't jinx it," Bonnie says. "I'll see you later? Come by my house when this is all done?"

"Yeah," he says. If this night's ever over. "Bye."

Jeremy rolls Connor out onto the back porch, trying not to look too closely at the tattoo on his arm. It makes him feel bad somehow. They're not that different after all. Hunters are hunters, after all. They had the same goals, though killing Elena certainly wasn't on Jeremy's list. If Connor had thrown that stake at Damon, maybe Connor would be helping him roll Damon's ass out here instead.

Jeremy massages his sore shoulder while he looks. He hasn't asked Elena to let him have some of her blood yet, but he should. If more vampires come at them, he should be ready. And the limp he's working with won't help either, but he feels weird asking Elena with Damon there.

Damon tosses Vaughn onto the ground and turns back to the house, mounting the steps. He sidesteps Connor to continue inside. He doesn't speak to Jeremy. He hasn't since the woods. Jeremy doesn't know if he should be worried about that or not. Does it mean Damon's more or less dangerous? He couldn't shut up before they killed him, but now he's holding his tongue, reserving his words for Elena.

"Jeremy."

Or maybe not.

"What?" Jeremy says, turning around.

Damon stands in the doorway with his arms folded and his eyes narrowed, looking at Jeremy as if he's waiting for him to do something. But Jeremy's not going to do anything. He won't provoke it, won't start it. Damon will do that on his own. If he has to kill Damon again tonight, he's not going to make it possible for Elena to blame him for it. If Damon dies again tonight, it'll be because of Damon.

"Nice work," Damon says. Then he turns and goes back into the house.

Fucking asshole, Jeremy thinks, turning back to Connor's body. He kicks him down the stairs and onto the grass. They'll have to burn them. How they'll explain the fire to the neighbors, he doesn't know, but he doesn't care either anymore.

Something sharp touches him in his chest, the promise of a coming threat.

Jeremy turns and sees the blur of Damon's fangs before they're buried in his throat, and he's falling. The pain in his neck is more pressing not to mention Damon's fingers tugging at Jeremy's hand. He feels the ring sliding off his finger, but he doesn't see where Damon throws it. He blinks at that moment, and it's hard to get his eyelids back up.

He's so over vampires, especially the part where he gets bitten by them.

"Jeremy!"

It sounds like Matt. Where did Matt come from?

"No," Jeremy hears himself say. Damon will kill Matt without a second thought. But he still feels Matt's hands, rolling him over and pressing some kind of cloth to his neck. Jeremy takes away his bloody, trembling fingers and helps Matt hold it in place.

Matt's face swims over him. He's panicking. Jeremy can't blame him. He's panicking, too.

He's very aware of his missing ring and the chunk of throat that is missing. Damon leans over him and Matt, his mouth still bloody. He wipes the blood on the back of his hand and licks away what remains.

"It's okay, Jer," Matt says, pushing down harder on his neck. "Elena! Elena!"

Yes, Elena. Where's Elena? He can't remember if he heard her in the house, where she went. Did she go upstairs? Why did she go upstairs? Come back down. Come back down.

Please.

Come back down.

There's a gunshot, and Jeremy feels Matt flinch above him. His hold on Jeremy's neck slackens then comes back stronger than before.

"Leave," Elena says. "Or I will kill you."

She's talking to Damon. Jeremy wants to turn his head to see, but it hurts too badly.

Elena fires again, and Damon's answering cry tells Jeremy she hit him. It isn't fatal though because Damon speaks.

"I'm going," he says.

Damon's footsteps move away, down the steps. When the sound fades, Elena's wrist is in his mouth and blood coating his tongue in an instant. But it's not going to work. He's too far gone. He can feel himself dying. Elena realizes at the same time he does. The gun falls with a clatter to her side.

"Get his ring!" she says. Matt takes Jeremy's hand and presses it firmly to his neck, as if some of his strength will pass to Jeremy. When Matt breaks away, Jeremy's fingers go slack despite his best intentions. Matt's looking in the grass, and Elena examines the porch. "Where is it? Where is it?"

There's a flurry of movement, steps on the wooden boards, shadows that flit across the side of the house. Matt's and Elena's.

Jeremy's head feels foggy, and his body feels cold. He should have asked Elena for that blood sooner.

"I can't find it," Elena's saying, more to herself than to him. "I can't find it."

Elena's still looking, looking over the steps, around the potted plants, underneath the porch swing. She moves to the threshold, looking over into the house. It's not there. Maybe Damon threw it over into the next yard, maybe he took it with him. Who knows?

Who knows?

Jeremy's just so tired.

Elena comes back to press against his neck where his grip is faltering. "Just hold on a little longer. We'll find it."

"It won't be so bad," he says, "being a vampire." She'll help him. Tyler will help him. He'll be fine.

Elena smiles as she touches his face.

"I can't find it," Matt calls. "I can't find it!"

"I've got it." Someone else is on the steps. His voice is familiar. So familiar, but Jeremy's mind is too far gone. He feels like he's running in circles, chasing after threads that he can barely see much less grasp.

The someone kneels at Jeremy's side, taking his hand away from his neck to slide the ring onto his finger. Jeremy tries to turn his head, but it's hard to do. The pain is incredible. The someone leans further over him, dark blond hair and thin lips, a smile that for once actually appears genuine.

John Gilbert rests a hand on Jeremy's forehead. "You're gonna be okay."

This dying thing is really getting old.

Jeremy opens his eyes and he's staring at the ceiling. He's on the couch, his head propped up on the pillows. He feels...alive. When he balls his hand into a fist, he feels his ring, and he smiles and hopes this resurrection won't be the one that drives him to madness. He sits up and sees Elena and John at the window.

"What are you looking at?" he asks, pushing himself to his feet.

Elena turns around and closes the space between them with a few steps to fling her arms around his neck in a hug. Then she pulls away and turns his head to the side so she can examine his neck, as if she expects the bite to still be there. "I'm so glad you're okay," she says, hugging him again.

"Me, too," he says. "What's out there?"

Elena pulls him toward the window. The one on the other end of the room has been covered with a plastic garbage bag and tape. That's going to be costly to replace.

There's a woman standing across the street with her hands in the pockets of the coat she wears. It's too warm outside for it, but she doesn't seem to mind. Her hair is dark and straight and her skin pale, illuminated by the street lamp she stands beneath.

"It's Isobel," John says. As he says her name, she turns and starts off down the street.

"I guess she doesn't want to come in," Jeremy says.

John smiles weakly and reaches out to touch Jeremy's shoulder. "Feeling okay?"

Jeremy nods. "What did I miss?"

"There haven't been anymore vampires," Elena says, letting the curtain fall closed, "but...come see." She takes Jeremy's hand and pulls him toward the back door. He can smell smoke as he gets closer, and the smell of burning flesh smacks him in the face like it's something solid when he opens the door.

There's a fire outside and bodies are being heaped onto it. There are people standing around it. Matt's there alongside Alaric who squirts more lighter fluid onto the flames, making them leap higher. "Step back, Jenna," Alaric says. "I don't wanna get you."

Jenna's tugged gently away by another woman.

"Mom?" Jeremy says, feeling Elena's hand fall away. He almost stumbles down the steps as he goes to hug her.

Miranda Gilbert laughs into his ear, and he can't even remember the last time he heard that sound. She's just as warm, just as soft and there as he remembers, as he'd hoped she'd be again after the accident. The same dark hair, hanging long. Shorter than Elena's, but it was Miranda that made Elena want to grow hers out anyway.

It takes Jeremy a moment to make out the man on the other side of the yard, who heaves another body onto the fire and wipes his hands off on his pants. Grayson doesn't very much resemble John, but Jeremy remembers how everyone used to say Jeremy was definitely his father's son. They're the ones who look alike.

"Jer," Grayson says, rounding the fire. "That ring's one hell of an heirloom, isn't it?"

Jeremy helps them with the fire. He's more occupied with the casual lingering of his dead family members, surrounding the fire like they're at a barbecue and not burning the bodies of vampires they had to kill tonight. Alaric throws the last one on, and finishes off the lighter fluid. Jeremy squints against the glare of the flames.

"Jeremy," Elena says, coming down the porch steps. She's been sitting on the bench with Miranda and Jenna, watching them. She extends her phone to him. "It's Bonnie."

Alaric flashes a knowing smile as Jeremy takes the phone from her. "Hey. Got some good news for me?"

"We're going to kill the vampires."

That is the best news.

"Thank God," Jeremy says. "Damon's gone, but we haven't seen Stefan yet. And I don't want to after the shit Damon just pulled."

"You might be spared Stefan," she says. "That's why I'm calling. We're going to set them all on fire, but make sure Elena doesn't leave the house, okay? I can shield her better if she stays in one place."

Elena's still standing next to him, and she nods before she leaves, probably realizing that her eavesdropping could be called rude.

"She's not going anywhere," Jeremy assures her. "That whole bonfire thing isn't going to do much to an Original though, is it?"

"No," Bonnie says. "It'll burn them, kill them temporarily but...Has Kol tried something?"

"Not yet," Jeremy says, "that's what worries me. We don't have a way to kill him without the white oak stake." And Rebekah has that. Jeremy doubts she'll hand it over, even if they could find her. "Don't worry about it," he says quickly. "You do your thing, we'll do ours. Okay?"

"Okay," Bonnie says, though she doesn't sound totally convinced.

After he hangs up, Jeremy returns Elena's phone to her.

There are enough of them here to take on Kol, even without any vervain to use. Him, Elena, Matt, Alaric, even Jenna with her vampire strength, and John has to know how to use a stake. They just need to stall Kol long enough for the veil to be closed. If they can manage to snap his neck just once and keep it until this whole thing is over, they'll be fine. That is, if he even comes. What could be taking him so long anyway?

Jeremy glimpses a flicker of movement in the dark, slipping into shadow.

"Get in the house!"

No one asks for any explanation, but they all move for the back door. Jeremy brings up the rear, taking the steps two at a time. He knows it's Kol when a hand closes around his ankle and pulls. He falls, his hands clapping against the porch. When he turns over, Kol fixes him with a smile.

"Hello, old friend."

Jeremy kicks him in the face with both feet.

Kol lets him go, more out of surprise than actual pain. Jeremy crawls into the house anyway, relieved when he's over the threshold and being pulled up by Elena's reaching hand. Jenna closes the door in his face, but Kol breaks through it and sends Jenna flying through the air. She hits the wall, but is back on her feet in milliseconds, speeding across the room to make a grab for Kol, but he reaches to twist her head around. She falls in a heap that Kol steps over.

Matt aims Jeremy's gun at Kol's chest. The two rounds he fires hardly do anything except annoy him. Then the gun fires nothing. It's out. Kol goes for Matt next, but Alaric gets in the way. At least he got to keep the whole super strong vampire thing in death. That helps. But Kol manages to get away from him.

"Now this fight may actually be interesting," Kol says.

"Were you embarrassed before?" Jeremy says. "Getting killed by a human and new vampire?"

Kol cracks a smile. "The past is in the past, darling. That'll soon be rectified anyway."

A bloody arrowhead protrudes from Kol's throat, followed by another that juts through his shoulder. Kol pulls that one out first. The one at his throat is trickier.

"Jeremy," Grayson says. "Use this," he says, pressing the meat cleaver into Jeremy's hands. "Take his head off."

"He'll see it coming."

"No, he won't," Grayson promises. "John will handle it. When you get your chance, take it."

John. Where is John?

Jeremy can't see him, and he doesn't know where he went.

The meat cleaver is a good weight. If he swings it right, puts enough of his weight behind it, he can take Kol's head right off. He doesn't know if that'll be as good as killing him or not, but it'll definitely buy them some time. He just has to make it count.

Jeremy sees the front door open. Caroline stands in the threshold, looking horrified at what she finds. Kol gets the arrow out of his throat, but he's caught off guard as Caroline launches herself at him. He shakes off his surprise to swat her away like a fly.

Meanwhile, Jeremy's still looking for this chance he's supposed to be seeing. He sees John at the bottom of the stairs with Elena, who yanks something from his hands. A small plastic baggie with something inside it. Herbs of some kind. She dumps them into her hand, making a quiet hissing sound as they touch her skin.

Vervain.

"Elena, let me-" John begins, but Elena's already running to pick up where Caroline left off. She can't expect to get any further than she did, but she goes anyway. Locking her arms around Kol's neck, she shoves her hands into his face, into his eyes.

Kol's face is red and he's screaming, but he still manages to hit Elena hard enough to get her off of him. Jeremy doesn't know if she's conscious or not when he lunges for Kol, who rubs furiously at his eyes in a vain attempt to clear his vision.

If Kol even can, he doesn't get the chance before Jeremy swings the cleaver at his neck. It's not the cleanest cut. He has to do it a second time, moving out of Kol's reach before he can try to grab for the handle. Blood spatters onto Jeremy's shirt and face, and Kol falls to the floor. His head rolls a couple feet away to rest at Miranda's feet.

They cover Kol's body with a sheet and put his head on the other side of the room, just in case some kind of reattachment thing starts happening. They take turns checking to make sure it's not growing back.

"That was...great," Jenna says, massaging her neck and swallowing down the blood Elena offers her.

"You did great," Alaric says encouragingly.

"Yeah, right," Jenna says. "Pour me some wine?"

Alaric gets up to find some as the doorbell rings.

"I'll get it," Caroline says. "It can't be any vengeful vampires. They're not big on etiquette are they?"

"What are you gonna major in?" Grayson asks Elena before he dumps some glass into the trash.

"English."

"I never thought you'd be the tattoo type," Miranda says, eyeing Jeremy's Mark. The corner of her mouth are turned upward into a smile.

"I could have seen him getting one," Jenna says, folding her legs underneath her body. "It would be a little redundant now. And I don't know where you'd put it."

"Guys," Caroline says from the door. She looks pale.

"Who is it?" Jeremy asks.

"It's Stefan," she says. "Should I open it?"

Elena stands. "I'll do it."

Jeremy stands as she does to stand near the door. If Stefan's there to hurt him, it's better to minimize the damage. They don't need anything happening to the rest of them not after Kol's just knocked them around. Elena opens the door just slightly and puts all her weight against it, as if that'll keep Stefan from forcing his way in here if he wants to.

Jeremy can see clear over her head to Stefan, who only looks at him briefly before dropping his gaze to Elena. "Hi," he says.

"Hi," she says. "You can't come in. Damon was already here. He went after Jeremy, and we're not having any repeats so-"

"Okay," he says. "I don't care about Jeremy. I care about you."

Some things never change.

John is on the other side of the door, his knuckles white because he's gripping his stake so hard.

A few more minutes and Bonnie will be putting Stefan and all the other vampires to the torch. Just a few more minutes.

"I just wanted to see you," he says.

Elena gives her head a curt nod.

"It's good to see you," Stefan continues. "I've missed you."

Elena nods her head again but doesn't speak. Maybe it's awkward with Jeremy standing right here. He takes a step back, glancing to Caroline who is perched on the arm of the chair next to Matt. The rest of the family is on the couch, Alaric passing Jenna her wine which she doesn't drink.

"Are you okay?" Stefan asks. "Do you need help? I know the other vampires are-"

"We can handle it," Elena assures him. "You should go."

Stefan looks down at the porch and swallows his words. "Okay," he agrees. "I'm glad you're alright."

Elena moves to close the door, but Stefan blocks it with the toe of his shoe. Jeremy's hand leaps to the gun, now reloaded and back in the waistband of his jeans.

"I love you," Stefan says. "I'll always love you."

Jeremy keeps his hand on his gun as he looks toward his parents as they

Elena isn't saying anything, but Jeremy turns back around at the sound of her gasp. She lets the door fall open. Stefan is burning. He seems surprised at first, like he doesn't quite believe what's happening to him, but he begins to scream.

Elena steps backward so suddenly she bumps into Jeremy's arm.

Behind him, Jeremy hears Matt curse and a scurry of movement. There's heat to the front and the back of him. Kol must be burning, too, but Jeremy doesn't look away from Stefan.

Grayson and Matt are putting out the fire, but the flames are persistent. They busy themselves instead with making sure it doesn't spread anywhere else.

Stefan's curling himself into a ball on the porch when Elena closes the door.

Jeremy wonders how possible it would be to bring them back. Or how impossible. They're sitting in the living room together. Jenna's drinking her wine and Elena's on the floor next to their mom, showing her prom pictures on her cell phone and telling her about school. Caroline and Matt are gone. They left to reunite with her parents and the deputies. Jenna's pouring more wine and Grayson's examining the back door to see how fucked up it is.

It's all so normal except for the fact that most of the people in this room are dead.

But what if it doesn't have to stay that way?

"I'm proud of you," John says as Jeremy joins him on the couch. "I know my approval isn't one of those things you've spent your whole life working for, but I'm still proud."

"You're only proud because I killed Stefan and Damon," Jeremy says, but he's smiling.

John laughs. "I don't deny it. If I can't be proud of you for taking them out, what can I be proud of you for?"

"My grades."

"I'm proud of you for those, too."

Elena's phone is ringing in Jeremy's pocket. "Hold on. It's Bonnie." He stands to go into the kitchen.

"Oh, it's Bonnie?" Alaric says. "Hear that, Jenna? It's Bonnie."

"Who is it?" Jenna says, pouring more wine into her glass. "Bonnie?"

"Bonnie?" Miranda says.

It turns into an obnoxious chorus of "Bonnie", and Jeremy rolls his eyes. "I'm walking away," he says as Jenna and Miranda toast one another over their laughing. He heads upstairs instead, just to make sure they won't eavesdrop.

"Hey," he says, laughing a little.

"Hi," Bonnie says. "I'm calling Tyler."

Of the three-ways they've had (well, that one) this one's pretty tame. He almost says so to Bonnie, but that might embarrass her so he holds his tongue, and he's not positive no one downstairs is listening.

"Finally," Tyler says, when he answers. "I've been calling."

"I know," Bonnie says. "We've been busy."

"Same," Jeremy says.

"I wanted to ask you about the whole bringing back the dead thing," Tyler says. "How does that work?"

At least they're on the same page about that. It takes Bonnie a long time to respond. That means it's bad.

"It doesn't," she says.

"Silas said-" Tyler says.

Fucking Silas.

"If they come back, they become enslaved to the witch who resurrected them," Bonnie explains. "Silas. Me. They can't come back. They won't be...them. Silas lied."

Jeremy can still hear his family downstairs. His dead family.

"Of course he did," he says bitterly.

"I have to stop him," Bonnie says. "Aja and the other witches are back, too. They're with Silas now. If he resurrects them, he has all of their power at his disposal. They'll just be the first. With their power he can lower the veil again and again and again until he gets as many people as he wants."

"You need to use the cure," Tyler says.

Jeremy's figured that as well. She's asking their permission.

"I can stop him. I've figured out a way to get him to take it, and I think it'll work. If I do it fast enough, he won't have time to fight back."

Jeremy stays quiet, waiting for Tyler to say something first. He's waiting for the disappointment to ebb away, to become something else, anything else. Perhaps gratitude because he got even this small amount of time with his family again. But disappointment is persistent and unyielding, and it refuses to go.

"I need your answer," Bonnie says, when neither of them have said anything.

"Use it," Jeremy says. "We can't let Silas win."

"Klaus knows about Kol," Tyler says.

"He was always going to find out," Jeremy says. "We can't let Silas do this though. If we do, it won't matter what Klaus does to us. We don't even know what Silas will do. We'll find another way. There's gotta be another way."

Tyler must not be as optimistic because he's not speaking. Maybe his disappointment is even harder to shake than Jeremy's. If his whole pack is there with him, Jeremy can't blame him. There have been so many people they've been forced to say goodbye to because of Klaus, and they're going to have to do it again. He almost thinks it may have been better not to see them at all, not to have this time. It just reopens the old wounds.

"Tyler?" Bonnie says. "Are you still there?"

"Do it."

"Are you sure?" Bonnie asks.

Don't ask him that, Jeremy thinks. He'll change his mind. Jeremy might change his mind, too. "Yeah. Use it."

"I have to close the veil," she says. "It has to be as soon as I kill him or else he'll stay here. But I'll give you as much time as I can," she adds.

"Thanks," Tyler says. "Be careful."

"I will," she promises. "Bye."

Tyler hangs up but Jeremy's stays on the line, waiting to see if Bonnie has anything else to say. She does. "We'll figure something else out," she promises. He can tell she believes it. There's always another way, there has to be one.

"I know," he says. It can't be over, not after everything they've gone through to get here. "I should go. My family's here. I want to say goodbye."

Goodbye ends up being nothing more than sitting together in the living room. The wine is all gone, the glasses are empty, and they're sitting in silence, just waiting for them all to disappear. Jeremy's on the floor where the coffee table used to be, but it's warped frame has been moved to the side of the room, leaving plenty of space for Jeremy to sit.

"Thanks for coming," Elena says, where she sits in the curve of Miranda's arm on the couch. She looks like she's a little kid again, back when they were both small enough to be fit into all the crevices of this house and tiny enough to burrow into their parents' arms and feel safe.

"I wish you could stay," Jeremy says.

It's nice having parents around. He feels like a kid again, not like so much of an adult, not like so much is resting on him. But when they're gone, he'll feel that way all over again. He and Elena will go back to taking care of themselves.

"Take care of each other," Miranda says, like she can hear what he's thinking. "Okay?" She touches Jeremy's hand.

"We will," Jeremy promises.

Miranda smiles and leans forward to kiss his forehead and then Elena's. Maybe she feels like it's coming, like something is changing. She leans back against the couch. "Love you."

Elena wipes her eyes even though the tears haven't started falling yet. By the time she lowers her hand back to her lap, the living room is empty, and it's just them and the broken windows, trashed door, and empty wine glasses.

Elena reaches for his hand and entwines their fingers.