NEW JERSEY

As they walk into the abandoned warehouse Silas had dragged them to Jeremy sighs just praying this trip was over and quick "Ok. Where is this stupid Anchor thing?"

Silas glances around the large warehouse his eyes gazing over the hundreds of crates and boxes "I have no idea."
Damon glances at the witch in confusion, he couldn't be serious, he had dragged them all the way to New Jersey and he didn't even know where the Anchor was in this place?! "What do you mean you have no idea?"

Silas merely shrugs like an innocent child "Give me some credit, man. I did psychically dive into Tessa's mind to see this specific warehouse."
Jeremy groans in annoyance before following the vampire and witch as they begin walking through the huge warehouse, he couldn't help but sigh; Buffy so owed him for this, she was supposed to be here as well and now he was stuck with dick and bigger dick "What does it look like?"

"Again, I have no idea." Silas tells them as they walk past the aisles "Tessa created it after she locked me away in a tomb for 2,000 years and left me to starve. Remember? Remote island, creepy hallucinations and that bitch the First?"
Damon's eyes widen as it clicks in his brain, this trip was supposed to be simple but alas it seemed like it was just getting more complicated by the minute. "Wait. You don't know where it is or what it looks like?"

"It binds a spell to a supernatural hell dimension. It's not gonna look like a freaking IKEA sink."


Buffy sighs as she spots an incoming call from Damon, as much as she knew she should answer with everything going on back home she just couldn't. Today could be the last day she has with her daughter for another few months for all she knew and she was positive that her family and friends could survive a couple of days without her.
Sighing she shovels down the guilt but it doesn't take long for that guilt to be forgotten as a plush animal hits her in the face, tossing the phone in the ground the blonde turns around on the blanket she was sat on in the garden to glare at Klaus "Seriously?"

Klaus chuckles as he fakes innocence "I would never Luv. She gets that violent behavior from you." He says gesturing to their daughter who was playing with the stuffed animal Buffy had previously been attacked with.

Buffy couldn't help the smile that crosses her face as he watches her with a look of believable innocence, laying on her stomach the blonde turns to her blonde-haired daughter "Did you attack mommy with the stuffed wolf?"
Joy merely giggles and shakes her head making Buffy smirk before picking up the wolf and tossing it back at Klaus hitting him right between the eyes "Yep no she's too cute to lie."
"Much like her mother." He says throwing that sexy flirty smile her way making the blonde roll her eyes and laugh "Still a flirt. I could still stake you, you know."

Klaus merely chuckles before laying down next to the blonde their daughter still crawling around them "Given what occurred after you stabbed me I'd be very open to trying that again."
Buffy's eyes widen in utter shock and her cheeks pinked in embarrassment, pressing her hand to his face she shoves him slightly knocking him onto his back while he laughs, and the infectious nature of his laugh just made her shake her head in amusement "You suck."


"Dammit, Buffy!" Damon yells into the phone as he and Jeremy stand outside of the warehouse in the middle of great big panic, if they didn't kill Silas by sundown then that crazy witch Tessa was going to kill Elena. And while yes Elena dying would be sad Damon himself was more horrified at the idea of a crying snotty Xander, that was not a sight he wanted to see in his eternity.
"Look Buff, I get it, JJ is cute and all but stop being in mom-mode and be more demon mode! Call me back!" Sighing he hangs up the phone and turns back to Jeremy who was panicking.

"We can't kill Silas." Jeremy yells in frustration "Silas is the only one that can bring Bonnie back, and he's not gonna bring her back until right before he destroys the other side."
Damon sighs as he paces back and forth if they didn't kill Silas Bonnie would be brought back but they had no idea of knowing if Elena even with her powers would survive going up against Tessa "Yeah? Well, Tessa wants to do it now. And our magic proof Slayer is halfway across the freaking country. Tessa isn't exactly the queen of patience."

"Damon, you promised." Jeremy reminds him desperation filling his voice "You promised Buffy and Elena that they would see Bonnie again."

"You don't think I'm aware of that?!" Damon exclaims as he spins around the face the hunter before sighing "But if Tessa kills Elena, guess who's not gonna make it to Bonnie's welcome home party. And should I remind you what happened last time Elena 'died'. Buffy started killing everyone!" Inhaling tightly Damon looks down for a moment hating every second of this but he had no choice "Plan's off, Jeremy. Bonnie's not coming back. Sorry."


Buffy smiles as she holds Joy in her arms as herself, Elijah and Klaus wait outside by the bonfire for Rebekah who was still inside the house.
"Look at that." Buffy says with a smile pointing at the fire making Joy giggle however at that Buffy's eyes widen slightly "Please don't set your high school on fire." She whispers kissing the little girl's forehead, she so did not want Joy to end up doing what she had to, plus the idea of Joy sneaking out of the house as a teenager as she had done was terrifying.
"Hey!" Rebekah calls as she exits the house with an old camera in her hands "Look what I found. I wonder if it'll work."

At that Klaus couldn't help but roll his eyes "Oh, bloody hell." He huffs as he places his hands on his hips and turns away from his sister.
Buffy couldn't help but snort "Drama queen!" She laughs making him turn and glare at her while she merely smiles happily enjoying his annoyance.
"Come on..." Rebekah continues "Let's try. Hey Nik, do you think you can cram us into a selfie?"

As she moves to stand with the group Buffy couldn't help but laugh as the idea of the big bag hybrid taking a selfie fills her mind "This is officially the funniest day of my life. And that's including the day I bedazzled all of Damon's jeans."

Klaus rolls his eyes before grabbing the camera and staring at it in disgust "I'm so glad I dragged my ex-lover hundreds of miles to visit only to have her insult me to my face."

At his sarcasm, Buffy merely arches a brow "When do I not insult you? If I were being nice to you then the world would be ending. But hey I'm good at the end of the world. Kind of my gig."

As Buffy and Klaus glare at each other Rebekah rolls her eyes at the sexual tension filling the air, you could cut it with a bloody knife "Come on, just take the picture."

Buffy sighs before standing next to Rebekah, while Klaus stood to her left Joy in-between the two of them, while Elijah stood to Rebekah's side.
As the flash of the camera comes Buffy couldn't help but smile, it felt strangely human to take a family photo like their worlds weren't filled with horror and pain.
As the picture develops Rebekah peaks over Nik's shoulder "See? I wish that it could always be like this."

Elijah couldn't help but smile sadly at his sister's words "If wishes were horses..."

"Beggars would ride." Klaus finishes before glancing down at the photo once more his focus on himself and Buffy with their daughter between them, it warmed his cold heart but he knew that even this photo was a danger to their child's life "You realize we'll have to burn it."
Buffy sighs as she adjusts Joy in her arms before looking at Klaus sadly "This really is a suckfest huh." She breaths before smiling sadly as she glances down at the photo.
Klaus squeezes her shoulder softly before glancing down at the photo once more "You want me to make a wish for the family, Rebekah. I wish it didn't have to be like this but it does. We can't risk it falling into the wrong hands."

"I'm the firestarter." Buffy whispers sadly before taking the photo "I'll do it." With that, she takes the photo and with a shaky hand tosses it into the bonfire watching at the only image they had of them all together burned away to nothing.
"No." Rebekah whispers causing Buffy to spin around and hands Joy over to Klaus as the little girl reachers for her father.
Buffy frowns as she spots the heartbroken look on Rebekah's face, it's what she felt like every day except that look Buffy had learned to bury under fake smiles and jokes "Rebekah it's the way it has to be."

"But we deserve this." She argues, "We've earned this. I won't let it slip away. I know what to do to stop Esther."

Buffy's eyes widen and she glances at Klaus and Elijah both of them sharing her panicked look, Klaus had filled her in on Esther's offer during the ride here but she just couldn't believe Rebekah was going to accept it "Rebekah, you can't trust her."

"If I take her deal...I can take her down with me."


Damon groans as he finds himself cornered by two of the travelers Silas warned them may try and stop them from finding the Anchor, glancing at the one in front of him he then glances behind him, and sure enough there was another supernatural creep.

"Let me guess. Travelers."

Neither of the Travelers answers as they begin their chanting "Sul opreem chele kouzlo. Sul opreem chele kouzlo. Sul opreem chele kouzlo. Sul opreem chele kouzlo."
Damon arches a brow unimpressed before stepping forward fully intent on ripping out both men's throats however as he steps through a ray of sunlight his eyes widen and a harsh howl of pain escapes him as his skin starts burning.

As the travels continue to chant Damon screams in agony and quickly yanks his burning hand out of the ray of light before huffing as he glares at the men "Why do you witches always go for the daylight ring?" Without allowing them to answer Damon speeds forward forcing his hand into one of the travel's chest grasping his heart "I was about to do your little eurotribe a favor. I want to kill Silas, too."

"That's the problem." The other traveler pipes up "We don't want him dead yet."

"Well, that's not gonna work for me." Damon says with a shrug before grabbing a blade and throwing it at the traveler behind him and ripping out the other's heart.


"Dammit." Elena huffs in annoyance as she launches her phone at the wall of Tessa's cabin in frustration as if it wasn't bad enough that Tessa had threatened to kill her if Damon didn't kill Silas but now she couldn't get ahold of Buffy. She could only hope that whatever was after Joy in New Orleans hadn't found Buffy and Klaus from wherever they had gone.
"She still not answering?" Stefan asks curiously from his place in the kitchen with Tessa, as much as he didn't want to be curious given he was still pissed for Buffy's part in the plan with Damon he couldn't stop his curiosity, no matter how much he tried.
"No." Elena huffs out still pacing, right now she had no interest in speaking to Tessa or Stefan she just wanted to get the hell out of here "I just hope they are okay."

"Could you stop your pacing?" Tessa asks almost politely "I am so nicely letting you live till Sundown, so could you not wear out my floors."
Stefan snorts in amusement before turning to Elena "So who is she with?"
"She's with that hybrid Niklaus and their daughter..." Tessa answers cutting in before a new very horrified Elena could answer, the all-powerful witch turns to face the banshee "Her name is Joyce right? The baby?"
Elena clenches her fist as Tessa speaks about her niece, this shouldn't be possible no one was supposed to know that Joy was alive "How did you-?"

"I created the other side." Tessa points out with a smile "I think I would know if the most powerful child ever born showed up. Plus Buffy's not as mind-numbingly boring as you. Her life was quite fun to spy in on. I really liked what was his name...ooh that hottie vampire Spike."

Stefan who was merely listening to the two converse frowns in confusion as he thinks back to the day he showed Buffy the photo he had found in his pocket of the two of them with her daughter.

Buffy sighs as they begin walking till they were on the clearing they had been to so many times "It has to do with our ups and downs. So we were together then we broke up sort of...I was kidnapped had my mind wiped then we spent a year apart before you found me. I was no memory, Buffy. When I got my memory back...I died...came back we got closer again. Almost got back together...then my sister died, I killed someone. Sister came back you told her something, I was pissed. Epic falling out. I...um met someone else...had a kid..."

"But things didn't work out with this other guy?" He asks curiously, for some reason he had a feeling that he really cared about this little girl, which would explain the photo a lot more like he wanted to be apart of her family. It was all kind of crazy though.

Buffy couldn't help but laugh "No. We're friends-ish."

"So where is she?" Stefan asks curiously getting back to Joy, he hadn't seen anything in the Boarding house for a kid, the only weird thing was that the room next to Buffy's was locked and Damon had been pretty adamant about not letting him open it.

At his question Buffy looks out over the skyline where she could see the entire town as well as the lake nearby, thinking about her little girl she closes her eyes tightly before sighing "She's gone.

"I thought her daughter died." He says drawing Elena's attention who was already watching him closely.
The brunette beauty merely shakes her head "No...they put her into hiding. It was the only way to keep her safe." Inhaling tightly she sighs "So you gonna tell us when you started having flashes?"
Stefan's eyes widen in a slight panic, no one knew that he had been having flashes of his old life he had made sure not to tell a damn soul, how could she have possibly figured it out after that one flash a couple of hours ago. "I don't know—"

"Buffy lost her memory once too..." Elena reminds him with a sigh "When she started having flashes of her past she had the exact same look on her face that you did. I saw it last week but fool me once...fine but you can't fool a banshee twice."

Tessa at this point drops the knife in her hand and turns away from the chopping board to stare in shock at the vampire "You've been remembering?" She asks in confusion, her spell had completely wiped his mind she was sure of it, the only person who could reverse it was herself, him having these flashes of memory...it was impossible.
Stefan groans in annoyance as both women stare at him expectedly "Just little bits...but they are always about—"

"Buffy." Tessa whispers before an almost amused smile covers her face "She really did break destiny. I never thought I'd see the day Silas and Amara's doppelgangers were kept apart by a damn vampire Slayer."

As Tessa laughs in amusement before spotting the sunset approaching and moving to call Damon Stefan clenches his jaw before stepping closer to Elena speaking loud enough for only her years "Elena, don't say a word. I got this. Look I know you think I hate you all but I don't. You're my friend and I won't let her hurt you, I promise."


"No way." Damon breaths as he hangs up on Tessa only to find himself in complete and utter shock and what she had just revealed to him while shocking it made complete and utter sense.

"What?" Jeremy asks in confusion but Damon doesn't hear him as his mind still rattles through how the hell they had never thought of this "Not possible."

"What?"

At Jeremy's question, Damon sighs before spinning around to face the hunter "Tessa may be insane, but she's a bona fide genius. 2,000 years old, immortal, indestructible. The anchor isn't a thing...it's a person. She never killed Amara."


Buffy smiles softly as she puts Joy down in her crib, smiling down at the little girl she couldn't help the small tear that escaped her knowing that no matter what they do she will never truly be safe. There will always be another threat, another monster clawing to get ahold of her.

"You alright luv?"

Hearing the familiar voice Buffy spins around and places a finger to her lips as she spots Klaus stood in the doorway "She's asleep." Buffy whispers before placing the pink blanket over Joy and quietly closing the bedroom door behind her before turning to face Klaus.
Her eyes widen slightly as she finds him stood directly in front of her looking down at her with those blue eyes of his "Um..." She stutters before trying to refocus her mind "So what's Rebekah's plan?"

Klaus sighs before running a hand over his jawline "We've spoken to Kol. He's found another host body for Rebekah. When our mother is doing to the body-swapping spell she will be weakened. It's the best chance."

"I'll come with you." She starts but Klaus immediately shakes his head "No...if something goes wrong...you need to take our daughter and run." Buffy's eyes widen in disbelief, she couldn't just stand by and wait, what if something happened to him and Rebekah she couldn't just stay here "No, Nik..."
The blonde is cut off as Klaus leans down and kisses her softly silencing her, Buffy's eyes widen in shock before for a moment she let herself enjoy the familiar embrace. Placing her hands on his chest she pulls back resting her forehead against his before sighing "You really need to stop kissing me."

Klaus merely throws her that devilishly good smile of his "Can't help it luv."


"Why did I get a call from Damon telling me you were held against your will by a witch?" Xander asks as he storms into the Salvatore boarding house just as Stefan heads upstairs and Elena stands from her seat and hugs her boyfriend "Xand, I'm fine. Stefan got me out."

"Is this mystical doppelwhat now the reason he broke you out?" Xander couldn't help but ask curiously as he drops his toolbox on the table and turns back to Elena, he hated knowing that she had been in danger, it was bad enough his best friend was constantly fighting the forces of evil but Xander himself constantly ended up dating women who got kidnapped by mean powerful women, or they were the mean powerful women.

"Calm down Demon Magnet." Damon tells the only real human left in the room as he hands Xander a glass of Bourbon "Victory in a day otherwise marred by failure."
Xander's eyes widen and he glances at everyone in confusion however their somber faces make it very clear "No Bon-Bon then?"
Elena shakes her head and leans her head on her boyfriend's shoulder "Not yet. We'll find a way."

Damon sighs before downing his glass of bourbon and standing "Well we have another issue...we're gonna need Buff back soon she's the only one immune to Tessa and Silas' magic and now that Amara is cured and human after cutting up her boyfriend she's easy to kill. So the fate of the other side where Bonnie currently resides rests on a living breathing human being that we now need to protect."

Elena frowns in confusion and turns to Xander who looked equally as confused as her "We?"

Damon doesn't say anything and merely leads Xander and Elena outside to where the car he had stolen was since Buffy still had his freaking car which she had left at the airport on her way out of town.
Pushing open the boot Damon turns to the Banshee with a small smirk "Scream Queen, meet Crazy Pants. Crazy pants, meet Scream Queen."
Elena's eyes widen in shock as there in the boot of the car, her hair all the way down to her waist while she struggled around in her long pink dress was the first Petrova Doppelganger, Amara.
As Amara spots Elena only to immediately start screaming Xander continues to stare in-between his girlfriend and the 2,000-year-old screaming human "Okay somebody pinch me."
Elena frowns and finally tears her eyes from Amara and glances at her boyfriend in confusion "What?"

"I had a dream like this once." Xander explains before a goofy smile covers his face "Only there was more music and dancing, you in a cheerleading outfit, oh and there were 3 of you."
Elena's eyes widen and she groans in disgust, her boyfriend was a freak "Ew."


Stefan frowns as he enters his room in the boarding house only to spot the still very injured Tessa sat on his bed watching him like a hawk. "What are you doing here?"

Tessa merely smirks as she watches him "It's strange. For the first time in 2,000 years, I'm not watching history repeating itself. It's a little eerie actually."
Stefan couldn't help but tense at her words he didn't like where this was going that crazed look on her face wasn't exactly helping with his uneasiness right now either "You're hurt." He realizes spotting the blood still dripping down her dress "I can heal you."

"No, no." She tells him wincing slightly at her movement "I want this wound. It's a reminder of what you really are." Carefully she pulls herself up her voice cracking slightly as she tries to ignore the searing pain coursing through her body "See, for thousands of years I have watched the same thing. Versions of you and Elena find each other. Until the Slayer came along. When she showed up you became me, the force between two destined souls, Buffy and Klaus. I thought you would understand but you're just like Silas. I made a mistake when I found you. I eased your pain. The pain I have lived for 2,000 years. Knowing the person you love is destined for another. It's a lot of pain...remember?" And with that, she raises her hand causing Stefan to scream and gasp as his own life begins flashing before his eyes. Killing his own father, forcing Damon to become a vampire. Meeting Buffy, losing her, not once but three times. But then the worst of it was the safe he had been trapped in drowning over and over again in the Quarry, for months; months of torture.

It was all back, everything he had forgotten and all he could feel was panic and pain.