The following morning, Payton didn't have class till later and after a crazy night last night, she was camped back out in her Dad's office, trying to get some studying in before she headed off for the day. She had just finished explaining to her Dad about Damon coming back from the dead and thankfully dodging questions from her Dad about why she was even with Stefan in the first place.

Thankfully her Dad then went on to explain how he tried to compel last night after she had hit on him, but him not wanting to go there because he didn't want to hurt her and hide his vampire life from her, compelled her to back off and instead she did the opposite and kissed him. Whilst Payton was thrilled to hear they had a moment, she was also super confused as to how Jo didn't get compelled.

But before they could delve deeper into their conspiracy, Elena came storming through the door looking flustered, clearly having found out the news that her ex-boyfriend, who she had no idea she had feelings for because her memories were wiped was back from the dead and now she wanted to make sure Alaric didn't force her to remember.

"I don't want to see him!" Elena exclaimed in a stubborn tone.

Alaric sighed and tried to ease her angst about this, "I get it. But that's how you feel now, Elena."

"Yeah, he's right. You would have done anything to see Damon before." Payton pointed out.

"If you thought there was a chance you'd see Damon again you'd never have asked me to compel away your memories of loving him." Alaric then added, trying to make the girl see some sense in this situation.

"Damon is going to kill him, Elena!" Payton exclaimed when the girl failed to respond to her Dad with an alternative solution.

"He's unkillable." The brunette pointed out with a slight glare.

"Doesn't mean he won't try." Alaric jumped back into the conversation with a slight worry in his tone.

"What's gonna happen when I do see him?" Elena began to question them, as she went on further, "he's a psychotic killer!"

"You feel that way because I erased all the good parts." Alaric reminder her.

"And let me tell you, when I saw him last night, despite how much hatred and disgust I have for the guy, even I was relieved to see him back," Payton admitted in an embarrassed manner.

"I don't see anything that could balance out the good parts or bring me relief!" Elena exclaimed, putting her hand on her head in frustration.

Payton and Alaric shared a small glance between the two of them, as Elena looked between them both and then made Alaric promise, "promise me you won't lift the compulsion."

Alaric sighed and failed to answer her, thinking it was a bad idea, so when Elena stepped forward and demanded, "Promise me!"

"Hey!" Payton rose to her feet, not liking how aggressive Elena was being towards her Dad, "enough."

Alaric didn't want to see the two of them fighting over him, so quickly stepped in and gave into Elena's persuasion, "I won't, ok?"

"Not until you ask him too," Payton added with a slight arrogant smile.

"Thank you," Elena said, ignoring Payton's sudden change in attitude at her as she went to turn back.

"But, Elena," Alaric said grabbing her attention and getting Elena to look back at him, "I hope you ask me."

"I have to go," Elena ignored his hope, as she went to head to the door once more, "I have a shift at the hospital."

"Since when?" He asked with a frown.

She snapped her head around and exclaimed, "Since Damon came back and I'm trying to avoid him."

"Fine," Alaric huffed, clearly finding this stressful enough, "but if you're avoiding people add Jo to your list."

"He compelled her to forget their date and it didn't work," Payton explained when Elena frowned in confusion.

"What do you mean?" Elena frowned, thinking this didn't add up.

"Well, either she's on vervain or there's some other reason but she can't be compelled," Alaric added.

"See if you can find out why," Payton suggested, thinking it was the least Elena could do after coming in here the way she had.

"Ok," Elena nodded before she found herself then asking them for yet another favour, "could you call Jeremy? I had to tell him about Bonnie over the phone."

"I take it didn't go well," Payton remarked, after seeing Elena's uneasy expression.

After Elena left to head to the hospital, Payton went to go grab her and her Dad some breakfast, other than the blood bags they had been binging on before Elena had come on through. She went to the diner to pick them up a takeaway breakfast, her opting for a granola pot and her Dad going for a breakfast sandwich, as well as a take-out coffee each.

When Payton returned back to the office, she was thrilled to see two of her best friends sat inside, Matt and Caroline were talking with her Dad as she came on through. She was excited to see Matt again after their time got cut short last night, Payton had really missed him over the summer and since starting college.

"Matt!" Payton beamed, coming through into the room and laying the breakfast goods down onto the table, as she found herself bending down to squeeze him excitedly.

"Hey, P." Matt grinned back, welcoming her embrace, by wrapping his arms around her.

"Hey, Care," Payton greeted the girl, as she leant back up and offered the girl a happy smile, "what are you guys doing here?"

"Matt just told us that Enzo has been locked up the past couple of days by the vampire hunter," Caroline explained.

"What? Really?" She frowned back, picking up a coffee cup and handing it over to her Dad.

He took it from her as Caroline went off on one at Matt, "Yeah why didn't you tell us Enzo had been locked up?"

"I didn't know anybody was missing him," Matt answered back helplessly.

Payton took her coffee and took a sip out of the cup, as Caroline sighed, "Matt."

"I'm sorry. I was confused about which vampires we like and which ones we don't." He tried to justify himself.

"Ok well, what about Ivy? Is she there too?" Caroline then questioned.

"Who's Ivy?" Payton asked in confusion.

"She's the vampire that Stefan was helping," Alaric answered.

"Right." She lowered her head slightly at the mention of Stefan.

"Tripp drove her and two others across the border last night," Matt admitted in an uneasy tone.

"Oh god," Caroline exclaimed, shaking her head as she did.

"Well do you know where Tripp is now?" Alaric questioned.

"Running down another lead but he didn't tell me what," Matt explained.

"Can you find out?" Alaric asked, before going on to explain, "we need to know who his next target is."

"If Enzo talks it will be you guys," Matt warned the three of them.

"Well, that's not gonna happen, because we're going to bust him out, right?" Caroline said hopefully.

Payton nervously eyed her Dad, thinking it would best if Enzo was kept far away from all of them, but Caroline liked the guy for some odd reason and Damon was back, so it now meant more people were rooting for the guy. Although she never liked the guy. She had nothing good to say about him. But she never really had the chance to get anything good from him because whenever she had been around him it had been drama filled.

"If for no other reason than so I can kick his ass for getting caught," Caroline added in a frustrated tone.

"Any idea on how he got his hands on him?" Alaric asked Matt.

"He didn't," Payton snapped her head round to see Stefan now casually walking into the room, not even like the majority in the room were on bad terms with him, as she felt her stomach begin to churn to see him again after last night, "I turned him in."

Payton felt Matt's and Caroline's eyes fall onto her, almost like they wondered if she knew about this, that Stefan had been up to this behind their backs, because not so long ago she had been keeping secrets for the guy. But Payton was just as surprised as they were to find out Stefan had turned Enzo into the hunter.

After Stefan's shock announcement and everyone basically having a go at him bar Payton and Matt, who was pretty fed up of being stuck in the middle of this and Matt who wasn't exactly that bothered about Enzo being locked up, aside from his other friends possibly getting out, they managed to come up with a plan for their next moves.

Thankfully Payton was keeping far out of it, not just because of Stefan, but also because she had class to get to and could have done without the drama after everything lately.

Once everyone had departed ways, Payton was going to head to the library for a couple of hours to get her head down on some work she had missed, when Payton felt Stefan catch up with her and begin to walk with her out of the building.

"What do you want?" She asked him as they walked together.

"Just checking you're alright after last night." Stefan went on to say.

Payton stopped in her tracks and looked back at him uneasily, "You mean when we ended up in bed together after you poured your heart out to me about Damon?"

Stefan lowered his head and awkwardly nodded, thinking he thought it would have gone better, but to be honest, after last night, things seemed to be even more of a mess between them.

After Damon's shock arrival last night, Payton had housed the two brothers out of sorrow at the fact they had no place to call home anymore, so whilst Damon took the couch to try get some sleep before he reintroduced himself to everyone again in the morning, Stefan had no other choice than to join Payton in bed. She had offered to go stay at her Dad's place, but Stefan insisted she stuck around, not wanting her to have to leave again.

The two had ended up having a deep conversation about things, it was almost like Damon coming back was enough for him to open up more and be honest with her for the first time in months. It was a relief to hear him talking so freely about his feelings but she wished it could have been under different circumstances. As the two of them laid there, the more they realised just how much they missed being close, which soon quickly lead from one thing to another.

They ended up sleeping together. Something Payton had been so against the other night when Stefan and she had a moment. But she had managed to push him out before it had lead to anything. But last night, after drinking, Damon coming back and Stefan being honest with her, she couldn't help but give into the desire she had to be with him.

When they work up the next morning, Payton hadn't even given Stefan a chance to greet her and question last night, she had scrambled herself together and gone to meet her Dad, not knowing what to do or think on the matter. Because her head was a mess right now. And so was Stefan's.

"Look, Stefan," She sighed, not wanting to give him the speech, "I'm not going to say last night was a mistake because it wasn't. Not for me anyway."

"No, it wasn't for me either." Stefan agreed with her.

"But, I just...I don't know," Payton shook her head, looking into the distance as she thought, "maybe we just need some space to figure out what we both really want."

"I think we both know what we want." He tried to tell her.

She looked back at him, thinking he suddenly had so much confidence in them, it almost made her feel sick to think he had toyed with her like this. Payton couldn't let him just come back in so easily. She deserved better than that.

"I have to get going, Stefan," Payton told him, before brushing past him and going back to her journey to the library.

Stefan watched her walk away, frustrated at himself for what he had done, but he knew that he couldn't keep doing this with her, so he had to be patient and give her some space, but it was just if he could stay away, because he hadn't stopped thinking about her for days now and felt so much guilt, that he felt he had to make it up to her.

Walking through the hall towards the library, Payton felt her cell phone buzz in her jacket pocket and she pulled it out, seeing an unknown number had sent her a text message again for the fist time in a couple of days, but even though it had been a while since the last one, it still brought up the same amount of unease and paranoia.

'I'll be seeing you.'

She frowned back at the text on her phone, wondering what the hell it could mean, but just the fact they could see her or would be seeing her, scared her so much. Payton had tried to forget and push them out, thinking they would get bored and back off eventually, but now they were sending her more serious and threatening messages, she couldn't forget about it.

Shoving her cell phone back away, Payton quickly spun around on her heel and headed straight back to her Dad's office, knowing she couldn't face the day with someone watching her every move. She couldn't do it. Not today at least. Payton needed some safety and a place of assurance, rather than one of unknown and paranoia.

Just as she was coming down the hall back to her Dad's office, he was coming the opposite way and was surprised to see her coming back towards him, but that soon quickly changed to concern when he saw the frightened look on her face.

Reaching out and grabbing her wrist, he pulled her aside and asked, "What's going on P?"

"That weird physcho stalker," Payton began, her breathing heavy as she looked around anxiously, "they won't' leave me alone."

"Payton, I think now is the time we do something about it," Alaric suggested, not liking how this was affecting her nor how someone was doing this to her.

"No," She quickly shook her head, looking back at him with a distressed look, "no, we do nothing right now, I just need some time to figure things out."

"You can't keep running off and skipping class like this." He pointed out to her with a sigh.

"I know, I know," Payton nodded back at him, as she went to convince him, "but I just need one day to decide what to do. I just want to make sure I'm making the right choice."

"Fine," He sighed, going to turn around and head back to his office, "come on."

"Thank you." She flashed a small smile back at him, before going to follow him.

Coming through into his office, both of them were taken back when they saw Damon sat comfortably in Ric's desk chair, his feet up on the desk and a bottle of bourbon open.

"Professor Saltzman," Damon greeted his best friend before his eyes locked with Payton where he gave her a nod, "daughter of Professor Saltzman."

"Damon." Payton nodded back at him, knowing this was the first time he and her Dad had reunited since Alaric wiped Elena's memories.

"What, you couldn't compel yourself a PhD?" Damon began to say to Alaric, as he poured himself a glass of bourbon.

"I can't believe you're back!" Alaric commented with a smirk.

"I am," Damon scoffed lightly, as he poured a drink for his friend.

Payton smiled lightly at the reunion happening in front of her, as Alaric took a seat in front of the desk and took the drink from Damon, whilst Payton closed the door up and went to take the seat behind her Dad.

"So how the hell are you?" Alaric asked him.

"Well, let's see Ric, I clawed my way out of some retro pocket universe," Damon began to explain to him, before he dropped the dig at his friend, "only to find that I needed to compel myself a new change of clothes because this anti-hamster ball is keeping me from going home. Then I find out my best friend rather than doing anything about it, decided it was the best use of his time to compell my beautiful and lovely girlfriend to forget that she ever loved me."

"Ouch," Payton remarked, sinking back in her seat waiting for the impact.

"I'm great, Ric. Thanks for asking." Damon finished.

"Look, Damon..." He went to justify himself, but Damon cut him off.

"I know she was a train wreck without me but a full mind-erase," Damon continued on, as Payton raised her brows up, "seriously?"

"She loved you too much. And it was killing her." Alaric pointed out.

"Well, I'm flattered. But I'm back." Damon held up his glass with a big smile, before swinging his legs around and getting up, "so let's get this un-compulsion on the books?"

"Fine. As soon as Elena tells me that's what she wants." Alaric answered.

"Right." Damon frowned.

"I told you this would happen." Payton found herself interjecting with a slight sigh.

She really didn't want her Dad to do this in the first place because she knew when Damon came back, if he was to come back, he would not be happy and he would take it out on the girl.

"Here's the thing, she's not gonna want to be uncompelled," Damon went on to explain to them both, rising onto his feet and getting up to walk round to them, "if she can't remember why she'd wanna be uncompelled. Chicken, egg," He said sitting down on the top of the desk, raising his hands up and down.

"I know. And I'm sorry." Alaric said back to him.

"Yeah, he is. He didn't even want to do it in the first place." Payton added, sticking up for him.

Damon scoffed, "Sorry? She won't even see me, Ric."

"I get it, Damon," Alaric responded.

"He won't do anything when she's happy and he won't take that away from her," Payton explained on behalf of him.

"Not until she asks me too." Alaric finished.

"It's not that I don't want Elena to be happy, I just want her to be happy with me." Damon expressed his demands.

"We'll work on her, right?" Payton suggested, thinking this would help ease the pressure off her Dad, as she looked back at him.

Alaric kept silent, unsure of what to say on the matter because he wanted to please both Elena and Damon.

"Shouldn't you be in class?" Damon questioned Payton.

"Yes, but I got a creep ass text from my stalker." She grumbled, knowing when Stefan had caught Damon up on things he had informed him that Payton had started college again.

"What stalker?" He frowned.

"Payton's been getting these weird texts and calls since the summer," Alaric explained.

"Are you sure it's not my brother?" Damon joked.

Payton felt her chest tighten at the mention of Stefan, as she uneasily shuffled in her seat and said, "God, no!"

"I always tell Stefan to make sure you're less quiet..." The older brother began to say to taunt her.

"Damon!" Payton quickly cut him off before he could go on more, not wanting her Dad to hear that kind of thing, especially when he had no idea she slept with him last night.

"I'm just saying!" Damon held up his hands in defence, as Payton avoided her Dad's look on her and Damon grabbed the bottle of bourbon, before getting the hell out of there.

When Damon had left the room, she nervously turned to look at her Dad, who was still looking hard at her and he asked her, "Is there something I should know?"

"Dad..." She sighed, running her fingers through her hair, "we're not having this conversation."

"I thought you and Stefan were over." He remarked.

"We are...we were..." Payton rambled over her words, not really knowing what was going on.

"Maybe it's not just your stalker you need to think long and hard about," Alaric said to her with a sad smile.

"You're right." Payton breathed.

He couldn't have been more right. Her head was a mess. Payton had no idea what she was going to do. Stefan had been an emotional rollercoaster ever since the beginning. It hadn't been easy between them. But it had been worth it for the most of it.

After a long day of the two of them sitting out in the office, sharing food and drinks, as well as engaging in conversation whilst they got on with their work, Payton found herself nearly dropping off before the sound of Alaric's cell phone ringing loudly on the office desk made her jump back in her seat and roll her head up to look at her Dad.

He leant across to pick it up, after he had also been lounging in his chair, his feet up on the desk, so casual and lazy, almost like he was finding it hard to stay awake, it had been a long day.

As soon as Alaric answered it and Elena's distressed tone boomed down the other end of the line, Payton knew something awful had happened, it made her sit up in her seat with concern and Alaric to also set himself up. From what Payton could hear, Damon had been taken by the vampire hunter, who was planning on driving them and Enzo over the border that night.

Payton felt worried to grow over her at what was going on and whether the vampire hunter would eventually catch up with them all, as she quickly rose to her feet along with her Dad, who was trying to ease Elena on the other end of the phone, "Elena, calm down. Just find Caroline and get to Old Miller Road. We'll get him back."

Hanging up the phone, Payton turned to him and raised her brows up with worry, "What's going on?"

"By the look on your face, I'm sure you already have a good idea," Alaric said as he began to take out his keys and gather his bag together.

"Yes, something about Damon," Payton answered him, picking up her jacket and her own phone.

"He's been taken. We need to go meet Stefan and somehow get Damon back." Alaric explained.

"W-w-hy Stefan?" Payton found herself saying, as they walked over to the door together.

"Because he wants his brother back and one of us needs to try to find them from one side of the route. Elena is going to find Caroline to try and go to Old Millar road to try to trap them there," Alaric explained before he unlocked the door and turned to look at her uneasy expression, "if you'd rather not go because of Stefan..."

"No. I'm coming." She said in a more confident tone, as they quickly went out of the door and Payton hovered as Alaric locked it up.

"I had an interesting conversation with Elena."

Spinning their heads around, they suddenly came face to face with Jo they both wondered how long she had been standing there, her arms folded, almost like she was on a mission.

"Yeah, and I want to hear all about it just not right now," Alaric responded back to her, going back to locking up.

"What's the rush? Occult studies emergency? Father-daughter outing?" Jo questioned.

Payton drew in a breathe and went to make a remark, when her Dad beat her to it, "Yeah, we have someplace we need to be so if you don't mind."

Her Dad went to walk past her and Payton went to follow behind, but Jo trapped them and said, "Why don't you just compel me out of the way?"

"Oh god..." Payton muttered under her breathe, thinking not only was this bad that Jo was going into this but of all the times she had to.

"Look, don't you think it's about time we level with each other," Jo, said to him after Alaric sighed loudly at her remark.

"Ok, how's this," Alaric began, not wanting to get frustrated at her, but they were in a hurry and he was panicking inside, "my best friend, he just came back from the dead but now I have to save him from a vampire hunter before he is driven across an antimagic border and killed again so here's some friendly advice. It's probably a good idea to stay far away from me as possible."

Shoving the key into his pocket, Alaric turned on his heel and began to march up the hall, causing Payton to shone a stunned Jo, an apologetic smile before she jogged down the hall to go catch up with him.

On-campus, they found Stefan and they jumped into Alaric's car, Payton deciding to sit in the back away from Stefan's watchful eyes because right now she had to focus on helping rather than thinking about Stefan and their relationship, whatever the hell relationship they even had left.

When they got to the border, they all climbed out of the car and huddled around the bonnet, the atmosphere was tense not just because of the seriousness of what they were doing, trying to save Damon and get him out of this alive only just now getting him back, but also the fact that the last time any of the three of them were around each other it wasn't great.

Alaric had threatened Stefan because of the way he had been treating Payton, then there was the fact that Payton had slept with Stefan after Damon's return and her head was even more screwed than before. Stefan on-the-other-hand didn't know what to do or say, he wanted to make amends with both of them but didn't know how or if this was even appropriate.

He looked over the engine of Alaric's car pulling on some of the inside before he pulled something out and tossed it on top, Payton gave her Dad a weird look, as Alaric did the same, then glanced back at Stefan, the tension just growing more-and-more thick, Payton really hoped her Dad wouldn't say something to make this whole situation worse.

"Do you have to take apart the whole engine?" Alaric questioned as Stefan continued to mess with the engine parts.

Payton folded her arms awkwardly, as Alaric continued on after Stefan's tense silence, "We just need to lure Tripp in so we can grab them."

Stefan ignored Alaric's words and continued on messing with the engine, as Payton nervously began to chew her bottom lip and glanced over at her Dad, who was still staring hard at Stefan, she didn't know whether to be terrified of this situation, her Dad and her ex-whatever you want to call him being together or the fact there could be a hunter turning up any minute.

"You know, this situation isn't ideal, you know, the three of us stood here," Alaric began to say, as Payton finally felt her eyes shift onto Stefan, who instantly felt her hard gaze fall onto him, causing his chest to tighten, "but the fact that Damon has been taken isn't your fault, Stefan."

"Pretty much is." Stefan sighed, knowing he had brought the vampire hunter onto their backs, so he felt like he was all to blame.

Payton would have jumped into the conversation, made him rethink what he was saying and try to get him to think positive, but that wasn't her role anymore and she didn't know what was appropriate anymore when it came to being around Stefan, one minute she was hating him and throwing him out, the next minute she was falling for him harder and jumping straight into bed with him.

"Look, you're not the only one who gave up." Alaric admitted for the first time.

Stefan finally turned his head to look at Alaric, who gave him a sympathetic smile, as the man continued on, "you know every second for the last four months all I can think about is when I'm going to get my next sip of blood. When am I gonna screw up and hurt somebody? Why did I come back to life to just be this..." He paused, looking down at the ground, "this thing."

Payton felt her heart-break hearing her Dad talking so openly about how he had been feeling the past few months. She understood briefly the pain he was going through emotionally about transitioning into a vampire but he had never fully opened up to her about nor had he expressed his emotions for too long before he would brush them under the carpet again.

Hearing him talk like this was making her feel some form of her own guilt. She had been so busy focusing on her own life and trying to keep Stefan on track, that she felt like she had neglected her Dad. Of course, she had been there for him when he had first turned helping him through it and teaching him the ways, but then the more Stefan began to distance himself from the others, so did she and she allowed Alaric to go on his own, forgetting that he might have still needed her whilst she was wrapped up in her own drama.

"I used to hunter vampires and now I suddenly was one," Alaric went on to say, as Payton looked back at her Dad with sadness, the same sad expression that had crawled over Stefan's expression moments before, "searching for Damon was the only thing that could take my mind off you know..."

Alaric let out a large exhale, as Payton lowered her head in guilt that she hadn't been the one to drag this out of him before, she felt like she had really let him down, he had been there for her through her recent problems and hearing him say all this made her realise how alone he must have been.

"But...basically I was going through the emotions as a distraction," He continued, as he admitted, "because honestly, Stefan, I had given up too."

Stefan gave him a long look at first before he slowly nodded his head in appreciation for Alaric admitting that and being so honest with him after everything, as well as wanting to help him feel better about how he had handled the whole Damon being gone thing. It was refreshing for Payton to hear them try to be civil with each other, but at the same time, she couldn't ignore how much guilt she now had.

Suddenly the sound of a vehicle approaching from behind them, alerted their gazes off one another and onto the lights approaching them, Alaric began to move forwards, causing Payton to feel her anxiety grow higher at how much risk this situation was under, but also the fact her Dad was putting himself out there.

"Stefan, you go sit in the car with Payton, he knows what Stefan looks like and I don't want Payton to be alone through this." Alaric instructed, as Payton awkwardly glanced over to Stefan.

He nodded back, thinking it seemed a sensible decision and he didn't want to leave Payton alone in-case something happened, before ushering Payton to get inside, the two of them climbed into the car together whilst Alaric flagged down the car.

"Go tell Elena he's here." Alaric then told them, before they closed up the doors.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Payton admitted when they got into the car and she pulled out her phone to text Elena.

"Your Dad should have stayed in the car. I could have handled it." Stefan said back to her.

"No! Tripp know's what you look like, Stefan. This is the more sensible decision even if I hate the idea of my Dad putting himself out there." She sighed lightly after finishing her text.

"Yeah but he thinks I'm on his side." He tried to tell her otherwise watching Alaric through the window as he began to engage in conversation with Tripp.

"Not unless Enzo ratted you out." Payton warned, slipping her phone back into her pocket.

"...I'm trying to get my daughter and her fiance to a wedding reception but our car has just stopped. Do you think you could give us a ride?" Alaric's voice spoke outside, as he held conversation with Tripp.

She nervously glanced over at Stefan, thinking not only was this whole situation nerve-wracking but the fact Alaric had volunterly put the two of them together, made Payton feel even more unease about this whole Stefan situation.

Suddenly Payton felt her stomach drop when she saw her Dad punch through the glass window of the driver's door, the glass shattering around as he grabbed hold of Tripp by the scruff of his collar and punched him hard in the face, she would never get used to seeing her Dad fight someone else.

A gasp quickly escaped her lips when she saw Tripp pull out a gun and fire it into her Dad's arm, causing her to immediately go to surge forward and jump out of the car to protect him, but Stefan quickly held her back, not wanting to put herself at risk, he didn't want her to end up in the same prodicerment.

Before Stefan could get the chance to get out of the car and run over to help Alaric, Tripp slammed on the accelerator with Alaric still attached to the side of the vehicle, causing the car to suddenly come racing towards them, within seconds Payton felt Stefan grab hold of her arm and drag her out of the car for safety, before Tripp's truck hit into the front of the car, causing it to spin and fly across the border with Alaric still attached to it.

Payton who had been laying on the side of the road on the grass with Stefan, lifted her head up and quickly got onto her feet, her eyes searching the area for her Dad, who she found laying on the ground across the other side of the road but on the border, his body pretty much lifeless from the other side.

"Oh my god, Dad!" Payton gasped in horror as she went to race forward and go over to him, but she instantly felt Stefan behind her, wrapping his arm around her body to stop her from going anywhere.

"You can't cross the border!" Stefan warned her, as she managed to push him off her and anxiously stare across at her Dad in horror.

"He's stuck over there, Stefan! He's been shot! He needs us to save him! I can't just leave him over there to die. The magic will be hurting him even more!" Payton explained frantically, as she kept her gaze stuck on her Dad's body.

"Stay here! I will get them all!" Stefan told her, going to go past her as she found herself chasing after him.

"No! What the hell? You just told me not to and now you're going to go risk yourself for all three of them! At least let me help, Stefan. You won't survive rescusing all three on your own. It's far too powerful!" Payton tried to make him see sense as she followed him closer to the border.

The sound of her Dad coughing and gasping in the distance caused Payton's heart to pound faster and harder, as Stefan turned to look at her, "I'm not having it on my concious that you risked yourself!"

"And I am not letting you do this alone! Let me do what I want, ok?" She told him sternly, right now all she cared about was saving her Dad, he needed her more than ever right now and she would not be selfish this time.

Stefan glanced back at her knowing she wasn't going to take no for an answer, so instead of fighting her and wasting any more time, he held out his hand to her, Payton looked down at it nervously before taking it in her own and putting her foot forward, encouraging Stefan to step forward to, before the both of them hit the border.

As soon as they both walked across, the magic that ran through their veins and what held them as vampire beings began to unravel. Stefan's gun-shot began to open on his stomach, whilst Payton felt a sharp pain hit the back of her neck where Katherine had beaten her up before turning her, the two of them began to groan and gasp in pain.

Stefan's hand slowly unlinked from Payton's as he clutched his wound, but continued to stagger forward as Payton began to breathe heavy to try get through the pain that was going through her body and to fight off anymore that was sucombing her.

Stefan spotted some of the trucks piping on the ground, so bent down to grab it and he began to stagger over to the truck to open up the back door with it, Tripp was nowhere in sight right now, but all Payton was focused on was getting everyone out of there especially her Dad who was still far away from where she was, the weaker her body became the less she felt like she could actually save him.

"D-d-dad!" Payton tried to call out to him, as he continued to groan in pain across the other side of the road.

Before she suddenly felt her stomach drop when she spotted someone come from down the road, her eyes squinted as she tried to make out who it was, the person crouched down to Alaric's body and began to apply compression to his wound, it quickly came to light that Jo had followed them here, she was actually there, on the other side of the border, fixing up her Dad.

Suddenly she felt the weakness she had been trying to fight overcome her as the strength she had been holding onto her Dad dropped, causing her to drop onto the ground and gasp for air. Upon hearing Payton's movements grow weaker, Stefan turned his head round to look over at the girl who had collapsed onto the pavement below.

"P-p-a-y-ton!" Stefan tried to gasp out as he tried to open up the back of the truck at the same time.

She could hear Stefan calling her name, but Payton was far too weak now to yell back, she wasn't the best at healing at the best of times, let alone when her vampire powers were being stripped from her. Payton didn't even care if she didn't make it out of this now, as long as Jo was helping to save her Dad then she didn't care, she just wanted him to be safe.

As Stefan managed to break through the back of the truck, he looked back at his brother and Enzo chained up in the back of the truck, then onto Payton who was still laying there on the ground trying to not let the lack of magic overwhelm her more than it already had. He was in two minds. To save the girl he loved. Or to save the brother he only just got back.

It was a tough decision and one he did not want to make.

"No, no, no..." Damon urged his brother after seeing him looking back outside, "go to her."

"I'm not loosing either of you again," Stefan told him before he went to bust him out of him and Enzo out of their chains.

Once he had done that, he quickly chucked the pole behind him, then grabbed both of them up off their ground, helping them back onto their feet, "Come on, get up, come on, help each other, I have to help her."

Leaving the two of them to grab onto each other, Stefan continued his walk toward's Payton who was still collapsed on the ground, holding on in there but barely. The closer he got to her, the stronger he felt the magic stripping away his vamperism, no wonder she had found it so hard to stay on her feet, it was unbearable.

As Stefan managed to reach her, he broke down onto the ground alongside her, when she saw his body fall down beside her own, she found herself reaching out to him, "S-s-stefan."

"S-s-stay with me." He told her comfortingly, before he began to try hold his body up from the ground.

She allowed him to help her back onto her feet, the two of them incredibly weak and tired, as they stumbled around and began to try to head back to the border, Payton's blurry eyes could barely make out Alaric and Jo any more, but she could still see the Doctor working away at him, hoping and praying that she had done enough to save him, she didn't know what she was doing nor if it would work, but she had to have hope because she didn't have anything else, she had failed him yet again by not being strong enough to help him.

As they grew closer to the border, Damon stepped back across the border once more after getting to safety before with Enzo to help pull the two of them back onto the other side. When Payton felt her foot hit the border, she gasped in relief and also shock that the pain suddenly vanished from her body, the weakness began to slowly vanish as she found herself clutching onto the side of Stefan.

He found himself holding onto her back, the feeling of having her by his side after her being down on the ground for so long was a relief and the comfort he now felt to have her by his side was something he had been craving for days now. Payton sighed into him, as she found herself slowly turning around but keeping close, looking over at her Dad, who was still being looked over by Jo.

She stepped slightly forward and tucked her hair away from her ear, trying to use her vampire hearing to listen into what was going on, Jo was explaining to him how much of a douche he had been trying to compel her to forget about their date, but then suddenly her Dad began to gasp and cough up a loud of blood, causing Payton to also gasp and surge forward.

Stefan quickly held her back, not wanting to risk herself all over again, "Payton, don't."

"Stefan...I can't lose him again..." The fear began to hit Payton hard, whilst she had been down, she didn't even have the energy to think about losing her Dad, she didn't have the energy to think about what it would feel like to go through that heartbreak again, but now she was standing here completely helpless, it was beginning to hit her harder than ever what could happen here.

"You won't. I promise." He tried to reassure her, although he knew that last time that promise didn't work.

"I only just got him back!" Payton cried out, as they watched as Jo begin to thump on his chest to get his heart working properly.

"Alaric!" The sound of Jo's desperate voice called out, causing Payton to begin to cry from across the other side of the border, she couldn't believe this was happening again, she didn't want to believe this was happening again, it shouldn't have been happening, it wasn't how this was supposed to be.

Stefan anxiously rubbed his hands across her back, trying to comfort and soothe her, his chin rested on her forehead, as he allowed her to cry on him, the three men standing around the girl, watching on anxiously as Jo tried to fight to save Alaric's life.

When things suddenly went quiet, Payton found herself stepping out of Stefan's arms and racing forward, not forward enough to go over the border, but far enough to be close enough to it. Stefan went to reach out to grab her before she did anything stupid, but instead, he watched her as she brought her hands over her face and began to mumble, "No, no, no, no..."

It wasn't until Payton heard the sound of her Dad's gasps seconds later, that she found herself collapsing onto her knee's in relief to hear him breathing again, the panic and fear washing away from her, hearing him breathe again was the best sound right now. Stefan allowed Payton to have her moment, knowing they probably had already over-stepped it tonight, but he also wanted to give her that space, because she sure as hell needed it right now.

Silently tears continued to stream down Payton's face, as she clutched her hands together, watching as Jo managed to get her phone out of her pocket and call for an ambulance, as they heard Alaric question, "What's, what's...something's wrong!"

Jo ordered him not to move, but Alaric was still insisting that something was wrong, as Payton found herself slowly turning back round to face Stefan, a realisation hitting her hard that whilst it was the biggest relief to have her Dad alive, it didn't make sense that he was because in theory he shouldn't have been, no vampire would survive being over an anti-magic border for that long unless something else had happened.

"He's not supposed to be alive." Payton found herself saying to the three other vampires looking back at her and the scene ahead.

The three of them quickly caught onto what she was getting at, Stefan looked confused and a little taken back by this, whilst Damon looked slightly pissed off, knowing if this was the case, then his shot at happiness was over.


Author note: Hey guys! I hope you're all well and keeping safe during everything that is going on in the world right now. Here is another new part. Truth be told, I had actually written quite a few parts to this story in advanced, but after a lot of consideration I decided to go a completely different route and I'm having to write all the future chapters that now get uploaded including this one. I had the original idea for a good couple of years but I wasn't happy with how the story was panning out so I have decided to change it and am now going for something different :) I hope you still like it and enjoy it anyway.

Special thanks to HPuni101 for reviewing the last part and catching up with the story. It means the world to read your reviews :) so thank you so much and thank you to everyone who continues to read. I appreciate it.

I'd love to know your thoughts on this part!

Thanks so much.

Keep safe!

Best wishes,

guiltypleasurexo