Elowen and Elena entered Elena's house. Damon had told them to head back while he dealt with Stefan. Esmeralda was helping Alaric up to his feet when they entered the living room.

"Ric, hey! When did you return to the living?" Elena asked as she approached him.

"Oh, just a few minutes ago," Alaric replied casually. "How is Jeremy?"

"Hating me. Hating life. Hating the fact that we can't even have a family dinner without somebody dying before dessert. Are you okay?"

Suddenly, Alaric started coughing violently into his hand and went he pulled it away, it was covered in blood.

"Oh my god!"

"Something's wrong! The ring."

Alaric collapsed on the floor and Esmeralda quickly got down to turn him over. Elowen dove down as well as Elena reached for her phone.

"Dad? Dad!" Elowen yelled worriedly. "Stay with me!"

Esmeralda grabbed onto Elowen's hand. "Healing spell. Now!"

Elowen nodded and took hold of Esmeralda's other hand and they started the spell. It wasn't enough to fully heal him, but it was enough to keep him alive while the paramedics came.

xxxx

Elena opened the front door when they showed up and let them in.

"What happened?" One of the medics asked.

"He got him by a car and he's coughing up blood," Elena explained quickly.

"Get his vitals," the second medic instructed.

"Pulse pretty weak. Looks like internal bleeding. We gotta get him out of here."

"Let's move!"

The hybrid who had hit Alaric, Tony, appeared in the open doorway.

"Let's not and say we did. Why don't you two meet us at the hospital?"

"Oh no you don't." Elowen hopped onto her feet and grabbed onto the medics by the shoulders. She cast the compulsion spell as fast as she could. "You're going to stay here and help my dad. Got it?"

She took hold of the second one and did the same while Tony watched with an angry snarl.

"What?! That's not possible. You're human!"

"Wrong. I'm a witch and my spell overrides your little mind tricks," Elowen spat. "I can also do this."

Tony grabbed onto his head and was brought down to his knees. He was yelling in pain when suddenly, he fell to the ground. Behind him on the porch was Jeremy, holding a crossbow. He had shot Tony in the back.

"Jeremy!" Elena exclaimed when she saw him. The medics had gotten Alaric onto a stretcher and were walking over Tony as Jeremy squeezed past them towards the kitchen.

"What are you doing?" Elena asked as Jeremy grabbed a meat cleaver off of the kitchen counter and went back outside. Elowen quickly grabbed Elena and covered her eyes as Jeremy chopped Tony's head off.

"Now he's dead."

Esmeralda came rushing outside to see what happened and stopped short for a moment. She shook her head and went outside to walk around Tony's body. Jeremy dropped the knife on the ground.

"We need to get to the hospital," Esmeralda said as Elena stared at Tony's body in shock. "Come on. We'll worry about this later."

xxxx

Esmeralda was sitting in the hospital room Alaric was in. Damon had come in and fed him some of his blood and when they knew he was going to be okay, Jeremy, Elena and Elowen left. Josiah had called to see if he was alright when Elowen told him what happened and Esmeralda had just gotten off the phone with him when Alaric's eyes opened.

"Hey," she softly greeted as he sat up.

Alaric smiled. "Hey."

He slowly got out of the bed and looked down at his ring. Esmeralda looked down as well.

"We'll figure out what's wrong with it," she said. "For now, let's get you home."

"Mr. Saltzman, what are you doing up?" Alaric's doctor asked as she entered the room. "You should be resting."

"As, I'm more of a walk it off kinda guy," Alaric replied. "Do I need to sign something?"

"Internal hemorrhaging, three broken ribs and a concussion. I have no idea how you're on your feet right now, but I need to run some more tests."

"I actually have some place I need to be, but thank you, Doctor…?"

"Fell. But, the patients who follow my advice get to call me Meredith."

"We appreciate your help, Doctor Fell, but we really need to get going." Esmeralda smile politely as she grabbed Alaric's hand.

"Are you the wife?" Meredith asked.

Esmeralda became slightly flustered and cleared her throat. "Ah, no. Just the girlfriend."

Esmeralda pulled Alaric along towards the door. Meredith quickly turned.

"Mr. Saltzman, what is your secret? Guardian angel, or did you sell your soul to the devil?"

Alaric turned back. "A little bit of both," he answered before leaving with Esmeralda.

Outside, Jeremy and Josiah were waiting for them.

"I thought you went home?" Esmeralda asked when she saw them.

"I did, but then I came back," Jeremy responded. "Jo offered to drive."

Esmeralda sighed. "Honey, I told you that he was okay."

"And you expected me to just stay home?" Josiah shot back.

Esmeralda smiled and ruffled his hair.

"So, the ring brought you back to life, but it didn't heal you. Does that mean it's broken?" Jeremy asked as they walked towards the parking lot.

"I don't know," Alaric responded. "It's never happened like that before. I guess I have Damon's blood to thank for the fact that I'm still walking."

"He said to say you owe him a drink," Josiah told him.

"That's funny. I'd rather have head trauma. Hey, Jeremy… you okay?"

Jeremy sighed. "Why wouldn't I be? I shot a hybrid in the back and chopped his head off with a meat cleaver. Typical Sunday, huh?"

"You can talk to me about this stuff. You can talk to all of us. You know that, right?"

"What could you tell me that I don't already know? This is the way things are. It sucks, but…" He shrugged. "I just gotta get used to it."

Jeremy walked off and Josiah sighed. "I'll get him home. Don't worry."

Esmeralda and Alaric were left by themselves. Alaric cleared his throat to get Esmeralda's attention. She looked up at him.

"Sooo… Doctor Fell thought you were my wife."

Esmeralda laughed nervously. "Heh. Yeah. Weird, right?"

"Not really. I mean, we've been together for about a year now. It feels a lot longer because of everything that happened, but we met around the start of the school year last year."

Esmeralda had a feeling she could tell where this conversation was going because of the emotions Alaric was expressing on the inside and felt herself starting to get jittery.

"When we first met, I wasn't over Isobel yet, but I knew that I liked you a lot. And then she came back from the dead, and your ex husband was turned into a vampire, but then Klaus killed them both. I accidentally adopted your daughter and we live together now. We've been through a lot and I know one things for sure. I love you, and I love your kids, and Eliana and Sydney give me a hard time sometimes, but I'd do anything for you and your family. I guess what I'm trying to say is… I'd be honored to be your husband."

Esmeralda stopped walking and so did Alaric. He faced her and waited anxiously for her to say something. Her eyes flickered up towards Alaric.

"Are you… are you asking me to marry you?" She asked tentatively.

"Do you want me to be?"

"Do you have a ring?"

"Well… no."

"Then no."

Alaric's face dropped. "Oh."

Esmeralda suddenly laughed and Alaric looked at her confusedly. "I'm kidding! I'm kidding. Ask me again. Properly this time."

Alaric took a deep breath and shook his hands to get rid of any nerves. He cleared his throat again and carefully took Esmeralda's hand in his own. "Esmeralda Jean Ramirez, will you marry me?"

Esmeralda smiled widely as she felt butterflies erupt in her stomach. She nodded her head. "Yes! I'd love to marry you."

Alaric's smile mirrored hers and he leaned forward to kiss her. Esmeralda pulled back.

"Now, about that ring…"

xxxx

Damon, Elowen, Elena and Josiah all carefully entered Jeremy's room. Jeremy was sitting on his bed.

"Hey," Elena said to gain his attention. "Can we talk?"

"Aah, what did I do now?" Jeremy asked.

"I've been thinking about what you said earlier. About how we should pack up and go."

"Elena, I didn't mean any of that."

"But, you were right. You shouldn't have to give up a normal life just because of me."

"What's going on?"

Damon came out from behind Elena. "Your sister thinks we should have another one of our talks." He sat down on Jeremy's bed next to him. "Here's the thing, Jer. You're gonna go out of town for awhile, a long while. You're gonna stay with some nice family friends in Denver. You're gonna be at a new school, you'll meet new girls, living girls. You're gonna drink a few beers, take an art class. You do whatever you want."

"Tell him he's gonna leave Mystic Falls behind and never think twice about it," Josiah spoke up. Damon looked at Elena for confirmation. She nodded. He turned back to Jeremy.

"You're gonna leave Mystic Falls behind and never think twice about it. You're gonna have a better life, Jeremy."

Elena had started crying and she left the room because she couldn't handle it anymore. Elowen and Josiah shared a look and went after her.

"I feel like a horrible person," Elena told them when she turned around in the living room. "And you," she looked at Elowen, "last time I suggested we compel Jeremy, you were against it. Why not do the same now?"

Elowen sighed. "Because if I could get Josiah out of here in order to save his life, I'd do it in a heartbeat. From one big sister to another, I understand."

"You just saved his life, Elena," Josiah spoke. "If he stayed here, his life would be in constant danger. Strange is bad. Dead is worse."

"I just can't stop thinking about what happened the last time we did this."

"He found out and he got over it," Damon said as he came down the stairs. "Again, not dead."

Elowen placed a comforting hand on Elena's shoulder. "He's so lucky to have you for his sister."

"Thank you."

"No problem."

Elowen glanced at the door. "We should get going. Are you gonna be okay by yourself?"

Elena nodded. "Yeah. Go ahead."

Elowen, Josiah and Damon all left the house. As they were talking down the porch steps, Damon sighed deeply. Elowen's eyes flickered towards him.

"Everything alright?"

Damon stopped at the bottom of the steps and contemplated something for a moment. Then, he turned to Elowen.

"You should know this, Wen. Stefan didn't screw us over. He screwed us over, but he had a good reason."

"I know," Elowen said softly. He did it to save you."

Josiah furrowed his eyebrows. "What?"

"He saved Klaus to save me," Damon replied. "Then, he stole the coffins to get even."

"There's something you should know, too." Elowen crossed her arms. "Earlier, when we went to see Stefan, he kissed me."

Josiah shook his head to collect his thoughts. "Alright, wait, if he saved Klaus to protect you, and then turned around and kissed you… what does that even mean?"

"It means that he's still in there," Elowen answered. "He wouldn't have stolen the coffins if he didn't feel anything. He's angry and vengeful. That's not a good combination, but it's something."

Both Elowen and Josiah's phones went off at the same time. It was a text from Esmeralda.

Come home as soon as you can. Alaric and I have something to tell you.

They looked at each other in confusion, but shrugged.

"Looks like that's our cue to leave. You comin'?" Josiah asked Damon, who shook his head.

"Nah. I'll see you later."

Damon leaned down and gave Elowen a quick kiss before leaving. Elowen turned to Josiah.

"Alright. Let's get home."

xxxx

"Okay, Esme, the kids are here," Eliana said when she heard the front door open and close. "What's the big news?"

Esmeralda grabbed onto Alaric's hand with a big grin on her face and watched at Elowen and Josiah trickled into the living room.

"Do you want to tell them, or should I?" She asked Alaric. Elowen's eyes widened and she covered her mouth as her power kicked in and told her what was happening. Esmeralda pointed at her. "Don't you dare ruin the surprise!"

"Surprise?" Josiah asked cluelessly. "What surprise?"

"We're getting married!"

Elowen let out the squeal she'd been holding in and ran over to hug both Esmeralda and Alaric tightly. Josiah's mouth dropped open while Sydney clapped excitedly.

"I mean, you're no Mario Lopez, but you'll have to do," Eliana commented. Josiah snorted.

"What do you know about men? You're a lesbian."

"And what do you know about men, young man? You're straight."

"Touche."

Josiah walked over to Alaric just as Elowen let him go and clapped him on the shoulder. "Welcome to the family... dad."

If it were possible, Esmeralda's smile got bigger. Alaric stared at Josiah in surprise before smiling as well.

At least through all the bad stuff that was happening, something good managed to emerge.

xxxx

Author's Note: Something I wanted to say that's definitely a spoiler, but seems to be everyone's worry right now, is that Elowen isn't going to die. That was never the plan. Marisol was just supposed to be a plot twist/curve ball, and the only reason I decided to go ahead and say this was from how many people were getting angry in the reviews. I hope this reassures some of you. Also, the updates might get a little more spaced out because I recently started a second job, so I'm a little more busy than usual. That's all :)