The sight of Tyler gave Jeremy a knot on his stomach. His emotions were mixed: on one hand he was glad to see Tyler but on the other hand these weren't the right circumstances. The situation was delicate and the wolf was going to ask questions they couldn't really answer to, which meant more secrets he would have to keep from him. He hated that. It reminded him the reason he had walked away from him before, but thinking about his Tyler-less period made it stop being an option. Dealing with the secrets was worth the guy's company in spite of the massive guilt that came with it.

"I wanted to make sure everything was okay with your sister." Tyler answered rubbing the back of his neck.

The wolf's attitude made Jeremy understand his uncomfort was showing and got transmitted to his friend. He didn't want Tyler to feel that way. Even if it wasn't the right time passing by was still nice of him.

"Well, that's nice of you" the human told him faking a smile "Thanks for checking up."

The wolf smiled, then noticed Bonnie weakened on the bed.

"What happened to her?"

First unwanted question! What was he allowed to tell him about that? Definitely not the part where Bonnie was doing too much magic. He couldn't say it was nothing either, that was totally unbelievable. Saying she passed out seemed to be okay. Though he would have to give a good explanation that wouldn't alert Tyler even more, which was hard considering she passed out...

Luckily Caroline thought all of it faster and quickly found an answer to it.

"She just had a panic attack. Waiting for Elena is pretty stressful for all of us."

Jeremy got relieved by the vampire's answer. He wanted to whisper a thank you but the werewolf also had an enhanced hearing and could hear him too. Besides it was not the end of the awkward questions.

"What do you mean "waiting for Elena"?" Tyler's voice raised "You haven't found her yet?"

Jeremy felt ready to answer this one: talking about a kidnapping didn't necessarily involved the existence of vampires and witches.

"Stefan and Damon are on their way to find her." he answered "We think she's been kidnapped. Bonnie tracked her phone and it led us to an old abandoned house."

"Really?" Tyler turned to Bonnie "I didn't know you could do that."

"So many things you don't know about me." the witch said sarcastic.

In spite of his guilt for lying Jeremy was proud of making up such a good lie. Plus they could use this one again if they would have to mention any other locator spell in front of someone who didn't know about them. Unfortunately he saw this wasn't the only lie he would have to tell when Tyler asked another question.

"But... Why didn't you guys call the police?"

"Because my mum is already busy looking for Aimee." the Sheriff's daughter answered.

"Yeah, besides we would like Jenna not to know about it." the human added.

Turned out he didn't lie this time. Though even if he wasn't lying to his friend this time it was his aunt he had to lie to. So many people they had to hide stuffs about!

"Wait, if Aimee disappeared too..." the wolf realised "Maybe that's the same guy who kill... dnapped Elena"

An awkward silence followed. The friendly reminder of Elena's potential death came back in Jeremy's mind, in addition of the guilt of keeping Aimee's death a secret too.

"Maybe." Bonnie said breaking the silence "You should go home, this isn't really your concern"

She clearly wanted Tyler out so that Caroline could be too. Plus almost all of them wants Tyler out, even if Jeremy couldn't tell if he wanted him here or not. His presence was being more awkward than comforting.

"You're joking right? It's Elena we're talking about!" Tyler exclaimed "Look, I know we've been hanging out first because she and Matt were dating but it doesn't mean I don't care about you guys! I'm worried about her, we can't lose anyone else! I'm not going anywhere until we know she's fine."

Just great! As if Elena being missing wasn't enough, Jeremy had to be stuck with someone who didn't know and a girl who hated her friend. Though having Caroline and Bonnie in the same room was pretty interesting, but it wouldn't lead to anything if no one was able to talk. Especially if they couldn't discuss Caroline's vampirism in front of Tyler. It gave Jeremy an idea.

"Maybe Bonnie should be alone with Caroline."

Schocked and angry, Bonnie gave a look of disapproval to Jeremy who totally ignored it.

"You know, so that she can recover from her panic attack in peace." he continued "Tyler, how about you and I move to Elena's room?"

"I don't think it's a good idea." the vampire answered down and uncomfortable.

That was it. There was no way he was going to let this situation go on.

"It is." he replied authoritarian "Tyler, go to Elena's room. I'll meet you when I fix this."

"Okay."

Tyler left the room, intrigued but quiet. Alone with the two girls, Jeremy closed the door and waited for the wolf to be far enough so that he could tell them what he had to say.

"Okay: Bonnie, you have to stop hating Caroline and Caroline, you have to stop letting Bonnie hate you like this."

"She killed someone!" Bonnie screamed in a whisper.

"And she just saved your life!" Jeremy answered the same way "You wouldn't have woken up if she didn't feed you with her blood."

"I was fine, just tired. I would have waken up without it eventually."

"You sure of that? Besides, you helped killing someone, we both did. And I have to make up for it by staying with Tyler because he needs me, just like Caroline needs you. And even if you don't want to admit it you need her too. I'm going to stay with Tyler whatever you say so you suck it up, stay with her and discover what a great person she has become since her transformation."

Before Bonnie found something to answer this Jeremy left the two girls by themselves. He was glad he finally did this. Whatever was going to come out from this quality time between the two ex-friends he was still satisfied he acted like a father and not like a little brother for a change.

As he walked through the corridor Bonnie ran to catch him up and grabbed his arm.

"Wait"

Jeremy turned around. She didn't seem angry anymore but regretful. Like what he just said had an impact on her.

"You and Tyler should be in your room." she said "Caroline and I are going to Elena's."

Jeremy smiled. He was proud that Bonnie took what he said under consideration. Turned out he was more influent and she was more open-minded than he thought. Plus seeing that he managed to convince the girl he liked gave him hope for getting her later.

The witch smiled back. The human was going to congrat her when he heard footsteps coming from behind him, he turned around and saw the wolf walking toward him.

"I heard you guys." Tyler justified himself "Let's go then."

Jeremy followed his friend as Bonnie walked away from them. The two boys crossed path with Caroline who was leaving Jeremy's bedroom. She smiled at the younger one, and, when they got only 1 foot away from each other, she whispered him a "Thank you" and continued her way. The boy smiled of satisfaction at this and entered his room after the wolf.

Tyler sat on Jeremy's chair while Jeremy sat on the border of his bed facing his friend. Even if he took him aside because it was necessary Jeremy enjoyed being with Tyler alone in the same room. They haven't talked yet but the simple presence of his friend was enough to trigger a change of atmosphere, like they were locked inside a bubble. Jeremy has often felt this way but on his own, this time they were two. Inside it he could feel the concern, happiness, understanding and trust (lies about vampires aside) they had between each other. It brought him back the same sensations he used to have everytime they've shared something deep they could be the only ones to understand. These moments have happened so many times they didn't need to talk anymore to feel that way. They just had to be alone with each other.

Tyler was the first one to speak.

"What's wrong with those two?"

Jeremy was glad the wolf asked something that wouldn't lead him to lying again. After all in spite of their crazy lifes they could still have a few normal-ish situations.

"Bonnie is mad at Caroline."

"Why?"

"The same reason she's been avoiding Matt."

The wanting expression on Tyler's face made Jeremy understand that on the inside he was asking more about this.

"I can't tell you more" the human answered "She swore me to secrecy."

Jeremy's discomfort about lying to Tyler went away, he understood that now they were alone he didn't have to lie anymore, just openly keeping a few secrets.

"I won't insist then. I don't know if you've seen her fight but she's incredibly strong, I wouldn't piss her off if I were human. You two got close right?" the wolf asked "If she told you her secret..."

"Actually I know this because I've been in the middle of it."

"So there's nothing going on between you two? I gotta ask, it's been worrying Matt for a while. Especially since your slow dance at the ball"

"The only thing going on between us is friendship. She made me dance with her just to make Matt jealous."

"Good" the wolf sighted of relief "He really starts being jealous you know. Seeing her with another boy makes him want to rip out his heart and throw it to her... his face."

Tyler looked really concerned about this, like he has been personnaly affected by the slow dance. Then Jeremy remembered what Caroline told him about vampires and wolves being more emotional than the average. It made him wonder how much the wolf was affected by Elena's kidnapping. More or less than him? Even if he was more emotional he was way less close to Elena than her brother was.

"How's that like?" the human asked.

"How's what like?"

"To be a werewolf. How does it feel like?"

"Are you sure this is your top priority right now?" the wolf asked concerned about Jeremy.

"It's not, but still, it's my second priority. Plus thinking about it is better than worrying myself to death."

"Well, I'm hotter than before." realising what he just said, the wolf rectified himself embarrased "And by hotter, I mean an icrease of temperature, not more attractive." then goes back to his explanation "Everything feels amplified: sensations, emotions... especially anger, and that scares me because I have a supernatural strengh and can hurt someone really bad."

"Not necessarily, you can save someone with that strengh. I wish I could be strong enough to save someone. It's not the first time Elena gets in danger, and everytime she is Stefan and Damon are always the ones saving her."

Out of desperation, Jeremy let himself fall down on the bed.

"I want to be on the field for once" he said with his broken voice "But I can't because I'm always Elena's useless worthless little brother."

The wolf got up from the chair, as upset as if he just got insulted.

"Hey, I forbid you to say that! You are not worthless."

Tyler really seemed to believe it, but Jeremy still had doubts about that.

"That's what everyone says." the human whined staring at the ceiling.

"Well, they're wrong." Tyler replied staring down at Jeremy.

The latter turned his head toward his ex-bully.

"Even you made me feel that way."

Tyler's face fell to these words.

"I was a dick back then." the former bully justified "And if I have ever said you were useless I didn't mean it." the wolf sat on the head of Jeremy's bed besides him as he continued talking "In fact, I didn't mean any of the bad things I've told you. Except for one thing: that you were getting on my nerves."

When Tyler got installed he stared at Jeremy, ashamed and afraid of what he was going to say.

"The truth is... I was jealous of you."

"How could you be jealous of me?" the human asked "You had everything you wanted: money, popularity, great body, girls..."

"Who's telling you I wanted all of this? Sure, it had its plus sides, but what I actually wanted was liberty. My situation and my parents forced me to be the way I was. You, you had loving tolerant parents who were letting you be anyone you wanted to be, a sister to keep you company in your tough moments. You didn't have a lot of girls, but these girls would date you for who you were and not what you had. I may have had admiration, but you, you had love."

"Yeah, and I've lost almost all the people I have loved. My parents are dead and so are my two girlfriends. My sister may be dead too."

Of course, Jeremy brought the topic again. He knew how delicate the subject was, so he turned to Tyler to see his reaction. His friend was looking at his feet, searching for an answer to this.

"Look, I'm not gonna tell you she's gonna be fine." the wolf replied "If there's something life taught me these past few weeks is that it can always be worse even if you think you've reach the bottom. But it always get better at some point, it has to be. I mean, my life has been falling apart since the Founder's day: I had a car accident, my father died, I found out I had a curse in my genes, my uncle left, so did you... then I killed Sarah and triggered my curse. At that moment I thought I've lost everything, It felt like I had nothing left but then, you entered in my room. Everything started to get better ever since. You gave me hope again."

"How can I be enough of a consolation after everything you've been through?"

"You are more than you think Jeremy Gilbert. Look, you were right earlier: you do have the ability to calm me down when I'm angry. Sometimes it just takes an understanding friend to make things better."

"I don't think I can get through my life if I also lose my sister, even with an understanding friend."

"I bet you thought you couldn't get through your life when your parents died, but with time you managed to, right?"

Jeremy sat up "That's the point." then met Tyler at the head of the bed as he was talking "After losing so many people that I care about, I thought it would at least teach me to save the ones I have left. I thought I grew strong and smart enough for this. But who have I saved?"

The boy stared at Tyler. The latter showed a confident face, like he knew the answer of that question Jeremy couldn't answer to himself.

"Me." the young werewolf answered with all his sincerity "You saved me."

"Yeah right. I just showed up when it was already too late."

"Even if you had been there, you couldn't have stop it. I was attacked by two drunk people, Caroline was strong enough to knock out Matt with one punch and she didn't manage to stop then both."

"Maybe if I had been with Caroline we could have each handle one person and stop this."

"Look, you're here now and that's all that matters. You may not be physically strong but you're smart and brave. I mean, you're hanging out with me knowing what I could do to you. Everytime you lose someone you stand up and try to be better."

"Like when I used to smoke and deal drugs?"

"That was your first loss. It was normal to go down like you did. Plus you were already brave before. In high school you weren't afraid of being yourself, even if it implied a lack of friends. I've secretly admired you for that. And I'm pretty sure Vicki did too. That's why she picked you."

"Then she died."

"It wasn't your fault."

Jeremy took a pause to consider everything Tyler had just told him. Nobody has spoken to him like this before, except for his father. After his death he thought nobody else would be proud of him again, especially outside his family. He has tried so hard to prove Damon he was worth something, all he could get in return were mockeries. Tyler on the other hand believed in him. He saw in Jeremy what he's been trying to show to the others, even some stuffs he hasn't realise about himself before.

"I know." the younger one replied "Thank you, for everything you said to me."

He smiled at his friend who smiled back. It only last a short moment before Jeremy's smile faded away to go back to his sad expression.

"It still doesn't change my life. I've still lost people, and even if I'm brave and mentally strong I'm still physically weak."

"Well, if you want me to change your life I can teach you how to be physically strong. We can work out together" the athlete presses his friend's inexistant biceps "Make some muscles grow over here."

Jeremy giggled, which made Tyler smile.

"That would be cool." the human answered.

"Just to warn you, it's gonna take time."

"Well, I don't think I really have any other choice." his voice broke "I just hope I will have enough time before something else happens."

The young Gilbert stared into emptiness again. Full of compassion, Tyler put his arm around his shoulder. Jeremy figured he had a raise of empathy just like Caroline did earlier. Though his touch was more gentle than hers, or even Bonnie's for that matter. That was weird since his hands were larger, but the way he had to rub his shoulder with his thumb made the gesture sweeter than the girls'. Jeremy liked it. Even though he was surprised to prefer his friend's touch than his crush's he didn't really care at that moment. He needed comfort and would take it wherever he could get.

But like Caroline, Tyler thought he got carried away and let go off him.

"Sorry, I just..."

"Feel more empathetic than before?"

"Yeah, exactly." the wolf sights.

"It's okay. Keep going, it was nice."

Relieved, Tyler put his arm around Jeremy's again. The human let himself do, watching his friend's hand then his face. They smiled at each other. The werewolf seemed oddly happy. Jeremy envied him that, these heightened emotions, the joy being amplified... After a while he began to rest his head on his friend's muscular shoulder. The wolf blenched to the moment of the contact, but the younger one put his head back and nothing happened this second time.

Then the wolf starts to gently pull away from his friend.

"Hold on..."

He layed back on his side, offering his chest to Jeremy.

"Rest on something bigger."

Startled, Jeremy laughted out of nervousness like that time Tyler offered him alcohol at his father's wake.

"What?" the wolf sounded challenging "What's your problem?"

"Nothing. It's just a bit..."

"Gay?"

Jeremy was going to say "weird", but "gay" was probably the reason why he was finding this weird.

"So what?" the older one added sarcastic "Is it gay to hug a guy who's afraid his sister could die?"

"It's not a hug, it's cuddling." Jeremy answered confused.

The younger one didn't realised the closeness they were having before his friend offered to move things further. Now that he realised it it was scaring him.

"Well, turns out I'm not the homophobic one!" Tyler said, slowly getting up "But if you want to get through this hard time by yourself..."

"No wait!"

Tyler sat back and gave a triumphant look to the defeated young Gilbert. It was a low blow to use his own tricks against him, but Tyler was right: if one of them doesn't think it's gay then it shouldn't be. Damn, cuddling each other to prove eacho other that none of them was a repressed homosexual, that was a hell of a contradiction! And probably their most stupid challenge, excluding the ones they used to have as enemies.

"Let's do this." Jeremy finally consented.

After all, if we exclude the strangeness of this, being cuddled by a guy didn't seem to feel bad. Besides the young Gilbert was in need of comfort and the rest shouldn't matter at that moment. So he laid down with Tyler and rested his head on his chest as the other one was wrapping his arms around his body.

The older one was right. Cuddling was much better than resting his head on his shoulder. The wolf's body was warm and comforting. Even though at the beginning Jeremy wished there were breasts instead of pectorals he learned to like them as well. Even though they were less comfortable he could feel Tyler's muscles making him feel protected. He could also hear his heartbeat through his chest. It was slow, regular and relaxing.

"It's gonna be okay." the wolf's voice was as relaxing as his heartbeat "Whatever happens, I will help you through it."

Jeremy believed him. He never thought he could feel something close to good during this stressful time, but his voice, his gesture... everything in the wolf could bring him back to a peaceful state on mind. The human closed his eyes to focus on these small details that could make him think about something else than his sister. He really needed that, or else he would have ended up losing his mind before the end of that day. He was wrong earlier: Tyler chose the perfect time to show up.

Jeremy heard the front door and sat up immediately.

"Elena?"

He gave a quick look to his former human pillow who fell asleep, then heard a windy sound that turned out to be Caroline running.

"Oh my God Elena! You're okay!" he heard the vampire exclaim.

Jeremy ran out of his room and saw Elena downstairs, embraced by Caroline. His heart and whole body stopped at the sight of his sister, all this fear, all this trouble they were having through the day, it was finally over. Moreover it ended with something great: Elena alive and well.

The young Gilbert ran down the stairs and stopped right in front of the two hugging girls. He was dying to embrace Elena too, but knowing she was okay made waiting his turn acceptable. Besides it wasn't the only way he had to communicate with her.

"You okay?" he asked her concerned.

"I'm okay" she answered.

Bonnie followed, slowing climbing down the stairs, still a bit weakened by her spell.

"I got your message" the former kidnapped girl told the witch.

When Bonnie arrived downstairs, Elena tried to get away from Caroline.

"Hey Care, I love you but I've got other people to hug right now"

"I don't care! I'm never letting you go like, ever!"

Elena laughted and Bonnie smiled as she walked towards them.

"Doesn't matter, I'm gonna join"

The three girls hug, which happily surprised Elena. Though she waited the end of their group hug before asking.

"Since when did you two made up?"

"Since she saved my life." the witch answered "I'll explain later"

Elena looked back at her brother who hadn't stop starring at her since she got back, and finally hugged him too! Jeremy wrapped his arms around her, maybe tight enough to suffocate her but he didn't care as long as she wouldn't comment. He really needed that. Having her around his arms, feeling her all he could made her return even more real. Like he has been afraid of hallucinating when the "only" proof he was having of her presence was the sight of her. Jeremy kissed his sister's neck. Now she's here, he feels it, he knows it.

"We should probably leave you two alone" Bonnie said "You want a ride home Caroline?"

"I'd love to" Caroline answered, happily surprised.

Elena unwrapped her arms of her brother and turned to her two best friends leaving her house.

"See you girls!" she exclaims, smiling and waving at them.

When the front door closed, Elena and Jeremy found themselves alone in the living room, which made the boy realised the absence of someone.

"Aren't Stefan and Damon with you?" he asked.

"No, I want tonight to be our night." she said placing her hands on his shoulders "Just the two of us."

Jeremy smiled of approval, then remembered they were not alone in the house yet.

"You're right" he answered "But I'm gonna have to get Tyler out first. He's asleep in my bedroom."

Learning that worried Elena more than she should.

"Hold on. What's Tyler doing here?"

"Since your car was still parked at his mansion I had to ask him a few questions. One thing led to another and we told him you've been kidnapped, so he stayed to check up on me."

"Does he know anything else?"

"Not much. He thinks a human did this and I told him we knew where you were because Bonnie hacked your phone."

Seeing he got in control of the situation reassured Elena, who smiled again.

"That made perfect sense." she congrats.

It was the first time someone else found his lie good. Jeremy smiled again, elated he got one of the few people who believed in him back in his life.