As Joy slept in the portable crib within view of the group, the newly reunited lot continued to drink at Katherine's expense. Bonnie who was sat on the arm of Jeremy's chair raises her glass "My Grams died trying to close the tomb she wasn't in."
"Tyler's curse was triggered by her." Caroline pipes up as she comes back upstairs after going to check on Jessie. Buffy couldn't help but nod and hands her a shot "Drink!"
"Katherine's the one that sent Jenna to Klaus for the ritual." Buffy tells them, as they all take a shot, Klaus was a bit of a touchy subject when it came to this group now. Mainly due to the sleeping girl currently in her crib.
As they all lower their glasses again Matt grabs the now empty bottle of bourbon on the table "We're gonna need more booze." Ever the bartender Matt moves to go get everyone a refill from the cellar while Buffy tries to think of more reasons to hate Katherine.
"She and Mary messed with our heads as some weird foreplay game between them in 1864." Stefan points out making Damon groan in disgust and down his own shot with his brother.
Elena snorts slightly before reaching for her own shot "She tried to kill me at least twice."
"She did kill me." Caroline argues before frowning as a thought occurs to her "Although I'm weirdly better off."
Buffy couldn't help but laugh at that remembering back to the very human Caroline "Not gonna lie. Human you, scary."
With that Damon raises his own glass tapping it with Buffy's "Agreed."
While the others were drinking away Xander was sat on a chair at Katherine's bedside watching her sadly, she looked weak: she was pale, her hair was completely grey now and she could hardly move.
As he sits there he sighs as he hears laughing from downstairs, at least they were having fun. The dying ex-vampire groans as she turns to him "They're talking about me, aren't they?"
Xander lets out a small chuckle as he leans forward in his chair resting his elbows on his knees "How should I know? My hearing is almost as bad as yours. Which thank god, if you had grown up in the Harris household...let me tell you being almost deaf...way more appealing than you would think."
Katherine lets out a small laugh as she watches her only friend try and make her feel better, shaking her head she sighs glancing down at her hand "Does my hand look wrinkled to you?"
The human leans forward in his seat before raising his own hand to show her his "Just badly un-moisturized like mine."
Katherine sighs watching him closely, she knew what he was doing, he was trying to make her feel better, but at this point, there was nothing he could do "If I start to sag anywhere, you take a knife and you jam it into my carotid artery immediately, okay?"
Xander stares at her with wide eyes before shaking his head "Can't be that bad. You know there was this demon guy in Sunnydale. All of his skin was saggy. He lived sort of happily. Lots of kitten poker though."
"Alexander." Katherine says sternly not in the mood for his jokes, she was serious here if she was going to die, she sure as hell was going to die looking as fabulous as possible.
"You're a little vain, anyone ever tell you that?" He couldn't help but ask making her glare at him before shaking her head in amusement and smiling brightly at him "Once or twice."
While the group continues to somewhat reminisce about the horrors that Katherine Pierce had brought upon their lives, Buffy was sat on the floor with Joy sitting happily as the little girl continued to crawl all over her.
Stefan who was sat opposite her smiles as he picks up the white wooden knight "I take it this is the new favorite?" He asks just as the little girl crawls over to him and takes it promptly trying to shove it into her mouth.
Buffy smiles as she watches Stefan tickle Joy's stomach, the little girl giggling madly as he does, she couldn't help but feel so much joy at this moment. All she ever wanted was for her daughter to be safe and loved, and knowing that this little girl had armies and so many people who cared about her... It warmed the Slayer's heart.
"Yeah." She whispers watching as Stefan picks up the little girl who tugs on his hair happily kicking her legs and he holds her in the air "She won't even touch Mr. Gordo anymore. I think he was hurt."
"Oh, I'm sure." The almost 200-year-old vampire teases before lowering Joy back down and looking over at the blonde who was smiling at him "What?"
"Nothing." Buffy whispers but she couldn't wipe the smile from her face as she watches Joy tapping the wooden knight against Stefan's leg begging for more attention, letting out a small laugh she shakes her head "She likes you."
"I guess she's pretty great too." He says with a small smile before turning to glance back at the beautiful blonde in front of him, as he watches her he couldn't help but feel his own smile brighten. At this moment he knew this was everything he could ever want. Just being with her and Joy...he had never felt such peace in his time on this planet.
"Any word on when you have to go back yet?" He asks curiously, honestly praying to spend as much time with his two favorite girls as possible.
Buffy sighs at the dreaded question as she checks her phone to see the hourly updates from the father of her child "Nik's trying to get this wedding together as soon as possible. And in order for the wolves, to be team me...I need to be there to bless the union or something like that. When Oz explained it I was still a little, wigged out about the whole thing."
Leaning forward the blonde takes Joy's stuffed animal from the little girl's mouth laughing as Joy tries to reach for it only to giggle as Buffy taps her nose with her own, smiling Buffy glances back at Stefan before sighing "I guess we just enjoy it for now."
Stefan watches her sadly, he could see the torn look in her eyes, it was clear as day that despite how much she loved being back in Mystic Falls, she felt out of place. And he couldn't blame her, in New Orleans she had people who saw her for who she was as a whole person not just as the person she had been. He could see though that she felt guilty because he knew deep down a part of her wanted to leave here. She had been edging to get out of Mystic Falls for years, even before she got pregnant. She had never planned to stay but she also didn't want to hurt the people she loved.
Reaching over he takes her hand in his own; knowing that he would probably follow her to the end of the earth. He didn't need Mystic Falls, he just needed the three of them, even if it meant dealing with Klaus on a more permanent basis "We'll figure it out."
Buffy smiles squeezing his hand back however before she could say another word Damon pipes up from the couch "Hey Buff, didn't Katherine and Mary sacrifice a whole village to curse you or something?"
Buffy shakes her head in amusement as she stands picking up her daughter placing the little girl on her hip as she turns towards her raven haired best friend "Something like that. I think. Although Mary and I actually get along now...it's way weird."
Damon snorts before grabbing his shot glass "I'll take that as a yes." With that he downs his shot just as a certain human walks into the room and sighs at the sight of Elena and her friends getting drunk and cheering to Katherine's demise.
"Seriously?"
Damon groans in annoyance, rolling his eyes he turns to the Banshee "Elena, explain to your boyfriend that he shouldn't let the sight of a frail human Elena lookalike...discourage him from remembering all the horrors of her psychotic bitch behavior that you have told him about."
As Xander shakes his head in disbelief Elena merely downs her shot refusing to look over at her boyfriend "Tried that already."
Xander groans and rubs his jaw in frustration, he knew Elena wasn't happy about his newfound friendship with Katherine, she had made that pretty clear during their yelling match last night. However, before he could say anything else his eyes widen as he spots Buffy and Joy also stood in the room "How come no one told me Buffster and mini-Buffster were here?!" He exclaims before quickly making his way over to his oldest friend in the room.
Buffy smiles hugging him tightly before sighing "Xander..."
The human groans knowing what she was hinting at "You're team-celebrate Katherine dying too." Sighing the human turns to look in-between everyone in the room "Look, I know you all hate her and everything but I've spent time with her these past few weeks. Before she was that psychotic bitch...she was just a kid, who was shunned and hurt like we have all been."
Before anyone could say a thing Joy screams in Buffy's arm and suddenly all of them were on their feet as the light bulbs begin flashing madly, Buffy couldn't help but wince as she tries to soothe her all powerful child "Joy not now."
Damon groans dropping his head to the table as the room flashes in and out of darkness "I have no missed that. I still stand by what I said..." he says lifting his head to glance at Stefan "That kid is gonna kill us when she turns 16."
"She was fine a second ago." Elena states turning to Buffy in confusion who kisses her daughter's head before her eyes land on that Vampire Nadia entering the room, and given the last time Buffy had seen the European vampire the bitch had thrown Angel dust on her, it was easy to say she wasn't a fan "Maybe that's her Slayer evil compass going off. She gets that from me." She points out before handing Joy over to Stefan and quickly speeding over to Nadia grabbing her by the throat as she slams her up against the wall.
"Throwing Angel dust at me...one thing. Upsetting my kid, big no, no. Why am I not ripping her head off?" The blonde hisses tightening her grasp on Nadia who desperately struggles pointlessly against the blonde's grip, unable to escape.
Xander groans and slams his hand to his face realizing just how much he had forgotten to tell the others "She's Katherine's daughter."
Buffy's eyes widen in disbelief before rubbing her forehead in exhaustion, this was so not how she planned to spend the day "This is getting creepy. Even for me." Sighing the blonde turns back to Katherine's spawn and slams her head against the wall again ignoring Xander's yell for her to stop.
Buffy merely smirks "So, here's how this is gonna go, you're gonna tell us why you're here or I'm going to practice my head-chopping techniques. So which game you wanna play?"
Nadia grasps desperately at Buffy's hand trying to pry herself free but the blonde merely smiles brightly at her, sighing Nadia nods "I found a way to save my mother's life. I need help."
"Oh I'm sorry, that's incorrect. But you do get me jamming something sharp and wooden through your heart...in 3...2..."
"I have Matt!" Nadia explains making Buffy's eyes widen as she quickly glances around the room before groaning, Matt had gone down to the cellar to get more booze but hadn't come back.
Releasing Nadia she drops the gasping vampire to the ground glaring down at her "Where is he?"
Nadia coughs loudly as she rubs her now healing neck, glaring up at the Original she couldn't stop the grin that crosses her face "I found that old safe your little boyfriend spent the summer drowning in...put Matt inside of it. And buried it on the property."
Pausing the vampire pulls a small ring out of her jacket making Buffy's eyes widen as she spots the Gilbert Ring that used to belong to Alaric "Without this?"
Grabbing Nadia by the jaw Buffy picks her up causing the vampire to hover above the floor her feet dangling "Where is he?"
Nadia merely laughs, "I knew you may try and compel me. So I had two humans bury him for me and I told them not to return till Katherine was saved. Oops."
As Stefan and Elena had gone with Nadia on their little save Katherine mission, Xander was upstairs playing bodyguard while Bonnie, Jeremy, and Caroline had gone to search the property in hopes of finding Matt.
Which just left Buffy and Damon in the boarding house.
As Damon continued to drink himself into oblivion Buffy was rocking a tired little Joy in her arms in her old bedroom as she listened to Klaus relay all the information he had just thrown at her.
"You wanna throw the wedding at the compound?" She repeats his words still in utter shock, she knew Klaus well enough to know that there was no way he was doing this out of the goodness of his heart, or as some sort of thanks for all Hayley and Oz had done for them. He was planning something, he always was.
"I'm thinking it's going to be quite the affair, my Queen."
Buffy rolls her eyes in annoyance before standing and carefully lowering her now sleeping daughter into the crib in the middle of the room "Nik, what are you planning?"
"I'm simply acting as a host Luv." The hybrid teases making Buffy groan at the tone of his voice, yep definitely planning something, that was an evil Klaus plan voice "These wolves are soon to become The Slayer's wolves. So I thought best do it in our home."
Buffy inhales tightly at his words knowing exactly the reason he had phrased it that way, sitting down on her bed she couldn't help but run a nervous hand through her hair. For weeks she had sensed him hinting at her moving to New Orleans, he had just yet to outright state it.
Deciding to skirt around the already sensitive topic, the blonde focuses them back "When do you need me there?"
"Be prepared at a moment's notice. Your wolf friend and I are just ironing out the final details. So tell me...how is the demise of Katarina Petrova progressing? It's a pity I cannot be there to relish in her demise myself."
At his words, Buffy lets out a small laugh and lays back on what she still considered the most comfortable bed she had ever slept in. Laying her head against the soft pillow she thinks for a moment before letting out an amused breath "Haven't seen her yet. But she's big with the age, wrinkles grey hair the works."
Klaus seemingly chuckles in amusement at her words, obviously thrilled that the doppelganger he had chased for 500 years, who had manipulated his sister, would finally be meeting death's door "At least mess with her head a little Luv. I say a few memories of her dead family as well as her miserable life will be the best way to send Katarina off."
At his words Buffy couldn't help but laugh, he truly was a twisted mind sometimes "You're insane."
"I need a traveler." Nadia reveals to Stefan and Elena as she leads the volunteers through the woods she had driven them to in her search to save Katherine.
When both Elena and Stefan frown in confusion Nadia sighs in annoyance before glancing back at the Banshee "Katherine was born into a traveler bloodline. While her aunt was like you, a Banshee. Her father was a traveler. This means Katherine is too since she doesn't have the Banshee gene. She can make herself a passenger in someone else's body...if a traveler teaches her how to do it."
Elena arches a brow as she thinks back to the situation with Matt "Like your boyfriend, Gregor hopped a ride in Matt's body?" She asks curiously before remembering back to what Xander had told her about during his day with Katherine and Nadia "Until Katherine killed him, of course. Your mother killed your boyfriend. Why are we saving her again?"
Stefan groans in annoyance hating that he had been dragged in on this, all he wanted was to spend the day with Buffy and Joy, he certainly did not plan on spending his day with arguing Petrova women "Can we just get this over with?" As he speaks Nadia suddenly comes to a halt as she stops right in front of a rundown old farmhouse with boarded-up windows "We're here."
Elena couldn't help but sigh, she didn't want to help Katherine take over some innocent person's body, the woman had lived 500 years, was that not enough already? "I can just help you let her take over some innocent person's life."
"You won't be." Nadia reveals "I'm going to make her a passenger in my body."
Buffy sighs as she places the baby monitor in her back pocket before turning to look back to where Damon was currently about to smother a sleeping Katherine with a pillow.
"Buffy." Xander hisses desperately, he wasn't stupid enough to try and stop Damon knowing he would get his neck snapped, and as he didn't have one of those fancy Gilbert rings he wouldn't be coming back if he did. However he knew Buffy could stop him.
Buffy groans in annoyance before turning to glance at her best friend "Damon stop."
Damon lets out a huff in annoyance turning to glance back at the stunning blonde haired Slayer "Really?"
Buffy merely smirks slightly before revealing the bottle of bourbon from behind her back "Joy's asleep which means this mama needs booze."
The elder vampire couldn't help but chuckle before slowly he drops his eyes back to Katherine, glaring down at the now human doppelganger with so much hatred it actually reminded Buffy a little of Klaus.
As he continues to glare at her he couldn't help but clench his jaw "Every awful thing I've ever done is linked to her. Despite the fact I wanted Mary it was all Katherine. She taught me how to kill. How to enjoy it. She ruined me. And I can't take any of that back."
Buffy takes a deep breath before moving over to him, throwing an arm over his shoulder she leans her head on his shoulder both of them looking down at the ex-vampire in disgust "You seem pretty awesome to me." She whispers before taking his hand and squeezing it tightly "She's not worth it Dame. She's just not."
"Not exactly the Ritz." Stefan mumbles as he and Elena follow Nadia into the run down farmhouse, honestly the place looked about ready to fall apart at any second given how many holes were in the ceiling.
Nadia sighs as she leads them through the dark house before stopping to turn and face the two doppelgangers "Travelers don't have much. They're always on the move. But on the plus side, sometimes their services can be bought." She tells them as a small smirk begins to appear on her face.
When both doppelgangers frown in confusion Nadia merely smirks as she spots a woman appear behind the vampire and the banshee. The Traveler who had agreed to her terms "I found one who named the right price."
The traveler merely glances in-between Stefan and Elena not tearing her gaze from the two of them "You brought them."
Nadia smiles as she watches the traveler stare at the doppelgangers in fascination "Yes Mia. Are you ready to make the deal?"
At this point Elena and Stefan both tense up neither one of them liking the looks being exchanged between Nadia and Mia, something wasn't right here both of them could feel it.
"What's going on?" Elena hisses glaring at the two ready to send a sonic scream at them at a moment's notice.
Stefan merely watches Mia closely before it finally clicks, it wasn't some regular trade Nadia was talking about, she was trading them over to the Travelers for Katherine "I have a feeling the right price for the deal was us."
Nadia merely shrugs "I'm sorry but they asked for doppelgangers. I don't know why." With that Nadia speeds over to Elena slamming her head against the wall before tossing her unconscious body to Stefan and without another beat she speeds away, leaving the couple at the mercy of the travelers.
Sitting in the parlor room with a glass of bourbon in her hands Buffy continues to stare across the table at Damon with wide eyes. He had just finished filling her in on the re-emergence of Augustine and his old friend Enzo who had now disappeared once again.
Taking a sip of her glass the blonde sighs before looking at her best friend with worried eyes "Enzo as in?"
"Augustine Enzo. Left him to die Enzo. One in the same." He says with a nod before downing his drink Buffy doing the same before he begins refilling their glasses. He had to admit it felt great having her back, especially with all of this going on, given she was the only person that knew the whole truth about the situation it was nice to have someone to talk to about it.
The blonde sighs as she takes her newly refilled glass and looks up staring into his ice blue orbs "Damon, I'm so sorry..."
"No worries." He waves her off with a forced grin making her arch a brow before titling her head at him making it very clear she didn't believe a word of it.
Sighing the raven haired vampire rubs his jaw before he changes the subject "I didn't tell Elena." He assures her "She thinks I told you about all this when we were in St Louis."
Buffy lets out a small amused laugh, thinking back to the real day she had actually found out the truth about what had happened to him in the 50's. She had already been angry and finding out what the Whitmore's had done to him, had just made her double pissed "So she doesn't know..."
"That you and I hunted down Aaron's aunt at the start of the Summer? Nope." He tells her with a smirk making her shake her head.
Leaning back into the cool leather of the couch the blonde sighs thinking back to the start of the Summer, it had been before she had gone to Sunnydale, she had come back from Italy to meet Damon and he had told her everything. Which then led to them down a path where Buffy had hunted down Aaron's aunt for Damon.
Honestly she knew the old her would feel horrible and guilty but now days all those emotions were faded, she admits she did horrible things, mainly to protect the people she loved. But that day, she didn't care. She had just lost Joy and finding out what Damon had been through had sent her over the edge. She had wanted to help him.
"I don't regret it." She tells him making him frown slightly "A few years ago I would have...but...you know sometimes I don't recognize myself anymore but wanna hear the sad thing..."
"You like who you are now." Damon tells her as a bright smile covers his face when she nods "You like the power. The control."
"I never got to be in control." She admits thinking back to all the people who had tried to control her over the years "But now I do." Pausing she leans forward clinking her glass with his own before sighing "But thank you for not telling Elena."
"You know she's gonna give you some whole big speech if she ever finds out right." He tells her downing his drink before again quickly refilling it "The whole Buffy revenge isn't the answer bla bla."
Buffy couldn't help but snort in amusement at his words, but the sad thing was every word of it was right, Elena had such a pure heart untouched by darkness. Buffy didn't.
At least not any more.
While her sister seemed to forget, Buffy didn't, she knew that she was half demon now, she had killed and done horrible things, but all for a reason...mostly.
Elena would never truly understand her, Elena had never been tortured or used as a pawn, she had never killed, nor had she suffered in the ways that the others had. She still held Buffy up to some pedestal without knowing that the blonde had jumped off it long ago.
"I'm a hybrid Damon. I'm immortal. I'm the only one of my kind, I have a demon side that digs at me every second, killing specifically to protect those I care about. That's natural to me now. One day she'll see it, but I know my sister well enough to know she'll deny it. But I'm not human, I'm done pretending."
Damon couldn't help but smile at her words thinking back to how scared she had been when she came back from the dead, now in her true form. She had wanted to die but now here she was, finally the person she was always meant to be "To the Queen Slayer." He teases raising his glass making Buffy groan and slap his head with a pillow.
Glaring at him slightly she couldn't help but laugh as she goes to grab another drink "But no lie, if I see Wes, I'm ripping out his spine, or I could give him to Mary for ritual sacrifice maybe."
"Oh I like that." The vampire laughs enjoying the image of Mary sacrificing Wes on an alter of some kind, now that was something he would love to see.
Before the two could continue their drinking party the baby monitor by Buffy pipes up as the sound of a crying Joy fills the room, Buffy groans and rubs her knees before standing "Someone's awake."
"Let me get Joey." The vampire offers as he stands before placing his hands on Buffy's shoulders "I think it's time you get to torture Katherine a little."
Buffy couldn't help but exhale a small amused breath "What is it with the men in my life wanting me to torture people? You should all start a damn club!"
