Elowen sat on the couch, settled into Eliana's arms, with her head resting on her shoulder, while Stefan was protectively situated on Elowen's other side. Tessa was sitting at the table, looking over a menu.
"Look at all the incredible things they've dreamt up to do with food. Pineapple on pizza?"
"Is gross," Elowen mumbled quietly.
Tessa glanced over at her.
"I threatened to kill you, and you're giving me pointers about pizza?"
"You've been watching over my life like a WB teen drama, haven't you? I make friends with the bad guys. Usually not on purpose."
Tessa raised an eyebrow. "You consider me one of the bad guys?" She asked in a slow drawl.
"Uh, you did kind of threaten my life."
"Stefan and Damon have both threatened your life at least once. Do you consider them bad guys?"
"Stefan had his humanity off and Damon's just an asshole. What's your excuse?"
"By the way, how did you get here?" Eliana asked before Tessa could answer. "Like, here as in, alive. How did you come back to life?"
"Ah, yeah. That." Tessa sighed. "You can blame your friend, Bonnie and your nephew for that. They opened the door and distracted themselves when they brought Jeremy back, so I just walked right through when they died."
"You know, today Silas was going to bring my brother back to life after he got the anchor, but you told Damon, who has never put anyone's life before mine, including his own, to kill Silas before he could do that. I'm pretty sure that makes you the bad guy," Elowen snapped.
"Okay," Stefan spoke up to defuse the situation before it escalated. "Why don't we forget about the pizza? I can make something."
"If you can even remember how to cook," Elowen commented.
Stefan looked over at her. "Was I at least good?"
"Oh, you were great. You did have over a century to practice."
"Did I do the cooking because you couldn't?"
Elowen snorted. "No, I can cook just fine. You just didn't want me lifting a finger."
"At least you got the cooking gene from your mom," Eliana spoke up. "There's a reason Sydney does all the cooking and I stay out of the kitchen."
Stefan started to stand. "Well, let's see if I still got it."
xxxx
Damon was outside with Toby and Jeremy, explaining to them what Tessa had told him over the phone. Toby shook his head.
"We can't kill Silas. Silas is the only one who can bring Josiah back and he's not going to bring him back until right before he destroys the other side."
"Yeah, well Tessa wants to do it now," Damon replied. "Something tells me patience isn't her strong suit."
"Damon, you promised. You promised Elowen that she could see her brother again."
"You don't think I'm aware of that? But if Tessa kills Elowen, guess who's not gonna make it to Josiah's welcome home party? The plan's off, Toby. Josiah's not coming back. Sorry."
Damon turned and went back inside the warehouse, leaving Toby and Jeremy outside.
"Tell Toby that it's okay," Josiah said as he appeared next to Jeremy. "I've accepted the fact that I'm dead, and even though I'd love to see the look on Elowen's face when she sees me again, I'll be okay."
"Are you sure?" Jeremy asked, gaining Toby's attention.
"What is it? Is he here?" He asked, but didn't receive a reply from Jeremy.
Josiah nodded. "I'm sure."
Jeremy sighed and turned to Toby. "He said that it's okay, that he'll be okay. He's accepted his death."
"We were so close," Toby said to nothing in particular.
Josiah smiled sadly. "I know we were, now go help Damon kill Silas."
xxxx
Veronica casually walked over to Dr. Maxfield and pulled the needle from his arm, enough blood having been drained from his system, and started grabbing the beakers full of blood to clean up the evidence.
"You're oddly calm, which only adds to my complete and utter terror," Dr. Maxfield commented weakly.
"You know, you'd think I'd be a little more squeamish about torturing people, but I have since learned to separate my emotions to stop high school teenage rumors and bullying from hurting me," Veronica replied back to Dr. Maxfield, her voice indeed oddly peaceful and nonchalant.
"I thought you were the bully?" Caroline asked.
"No. I was just mean."
"I'm pretty sure teenage verbal assault and physically hurting someone are two different things," Dr. Maxfield said. "Sounds like you have apathy issues."
"So I've been told."
"You should probably see someone about that."
Veronica tilted her head a little at Dr. Maxfield. "Are you trying to psychoanalyze me, Doctor?"
"Enough of this." Caroline turned to Dr. Maxfield to compel him. "Answer my questions truthfully. What is the secret society?"
"It's called Augustine," Dr. Maxfield answered.
"Augustine? Never heard of it."
"Well, that's the whole point."
"Ask him how you become a member," Veronica suggested, pouring the blood down the sink.
Caroline looked at her over her shoulder and nodded, then went back to Dr. Maxfield.
"How do you become a member?"
"Most recruits are legacies, but some of us were chosen for our extraordinary talents," Dr. Maxfield replied.
"And what is your extraordinary talent?"
"Being brilliant."
Veronica snorted as she turned on the tap to rinse out the beakers and wash the blood down the drain.
"Inflated ego, much?"
Caroline ignored her.
"Not to mention that you're willing to lie on autopsy reports like my roommates. You knew she was killed by a vampire. Is that why you covered up her death?"
"No. I covered up her death because it wasn't just any vampire. It was the Augustine vampire."
Veronica narrowed her eyes and looked over her shoulder.
"Okay, pause. The creepy elitist society has their own vampire?"
Caroline kept her attention on Dr. Maxfield.
"Who is it?"
There was a knock at the door.
"Wes, are you in there?" A woman asked. "It's Dianne Freeman."
Caroline quickly turned to Dr. Maxfield and compelled him again.
"You were wrong. Elena Gilbert and I are not vampires, we're just regular freshmen. Elowen Ramirez and Veronica Garcia aren't involved at all. You're light headed because you just gave blood this morning. Forget everything that happened here."
Just before the door opened, Caroline ran over to Veronica, grabbed her, and sped out of the room.
xxxx
Stefan was over by the stove cooking something. Elowen was standing near him, Eliana was sitting at the table and Tessa was on the opposite side of the room. Stefan lifted the spoon in his hands to Elowen's mouth.
"Try this. Let me know what you think."
Elowen opened her mouth and let Stefan feed her some of what he was cooking. She hummed in approval.
"Looks like you still know how to cook."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
Tessa looked over at the window and saw that it was getting dark.
"Ah. Almost sundown."
She went to find her phone, turning her back to Stefan and Elowen. Elowen's eyes flickered down to the knife on the counter and her hand inched towards it, but just as her fingers started to close around the handle, Stefan stopped her.
"I've got this," he whispered. "I said that I wouldn't let anything happen to you and I meant it. Just wait for my signal, okay?"
Elowen nodded. She looked over her shoulder at Eliana and when they met each other's gaze, they nodded at each other. Elowen left the counter and walked over to Eliana, who slowly, but carefully got out of her seat so Tessa wouldn't overhear.
"Why isn't he picking up for-" Tessa started to say in annoyance before the call went through.
"What?" Damon answered with a snap.
"Is he dead yet?"
Jeremy, Toby and Elowen all met up with him and he briefly pulled the phone away to talk to them.
"There you guys are. Gear up. We're under attack."
He put the phone back to his ear.
"No, he's not dead yet. I was just ambushed by some of your inbred cousins. Any idea why travelers, who hate Silas, would want to stop me from killing him?"
"They probably want his blood."
"For what?"
"Silas drank the cure from Katherine. Now his blood is the cure."
"But they're not immortal, so who do they want it for?"
Elowen's started to widen as it hit her and Damon shot her a frown.
'Amara,' she mouthed to him, and Damon's face went slack as he started to piece it together.
"Think about it, Damon," Tessa drawled. "The travelers aren't fans of immortality. I had to bind the other side to something. Something that would last forever, something that Silas couldn't destroy. 2,000 years old, immortal, indestructible. You're a quick boy, Damon. Figure it out."
Stefan stole a glance at the window and saw that the sun had gone down completely as Tessa hung up. He grabbed the knife Elowen tried to pick up, sped at Tessa and stabbed her.
"Elowen, run!" He shouted, and Elowen quickly seized Eliana's hand and ran for the door. She pried it open and took off from the cabin, Eliana hot on her trail.
Stefan threw Tessa against the wall and sped into the night after them, leaving Tessa by herself.
xxxx
"No way," Damon mumbled after Tessa ended the call.
"What?" Toby asked.
"Tessa may be insane, but she's a bonafide genius."
"Okay, I'm a little lost."
"She never killed Amara," Elowen explained. "Think about it. 2,000 years old, immortal, indestructible. The anchor isn't a thing. It's Amara."
"Oh. Well shit."
"We don't have time to think about how smart Tessa is. We need to find Silas and kill him."
Elowen started to walk off, but Toby grabbed her arm.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. What about Josiah?"
"I don't wanna talk about it, because if I talk about it, I'm gonna have to think about it, and I don't wanna do that. All I know is, if Amara dies, then Josiah is gone forever, and that's not happening on my watch. Now let's go."
Elowen pulled her arm from Toby's grasp and walked off. Toby and Damon watched her go. Damon sighed.
"She's right. Let's just get this over with."
Without looking back at Jeremy or Toby, Damon followed Elowen.
xxxx
Stefan escorted Elowen back to the boarding house after safely dropping Eliana off at home. Elowen huffed deeply as her and Stefan walked into the foyer, pushing her curls from her face.
"Are you okay?" Stefan asked quietly, giving her a once over.
Elowen nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."
Stefan tilted his head as he looked down at Elowen, who was looking up at him with a small smile on her lips.
"What?"
"Nothing. It's just… even without your memories, you're still you."
"What do you mean?"
"Your instinct was always to protect me. Tonight proved that you haven't really changed all that much."
"Well, Tessa was gonna kill you. From what I've gathered these past few days, it's that you don't deserve that. You or your aunt."
"And for that, I thank you. Eliana's family. I already lost my brother and my dad. I don't know what I would do if I lost her, too."
Stefan smiled softly. "You're welcome."
His hand came up to brush her bangs from her face, and then he leaned forward to place a gentle kiss to her forehead.
"Have a good night," he muttered in a whisper, before turning and heading for the stairs.
With a smile lingering on her lips, Elowen met up with Damon, Toby, Jeremy and Elena in the living room. Elowen's carbon copy had disappeared on the car ride home.
"Stefan Salvatore sleeps in his own bed tonight," Damon said. "Pray tell, what'd you say to him?"
Elowen shrugged. "Nothing. I mean, he saved my life tonight, but that's normal for him. I guess he's done needing space."
"Yeah, space that you held his hand for every step of the way."
Elowen ignored this and came to sit on the arm of the couch Damon was sitting on. Toby started to hand over the bottle of bourbon in his hand to her, causing her to look at him in confusion.
"What's this for?" She asked.
"We couldn't get Josiah back. Figured you'd want a distraction."
Elowen thought back to last night and how her last 'distraction' wound up with her tongue down Veronica's throat, and she shook her head.
"No. I don't think drinking in honor of my ex alcoholic brother will do anyone any good."
Josiah, who was sitting on the couch next to Jeremy, laughed.
"I'm dead and she still acts like my sober coach. I've been clean for like… 3 years. She's allowed to live a little."
Jeremy smiled and turned to Elowen. "He says that you're allowed to live a little and he totally gives you a pass."
Elowen smiled, but the smile faded a second later.
"I'm gonna keep trying, Jo, okay? I'll find a way to bring back you and Bonnie both. It's not over."
"Well, Silas is M.I.A and out and about, which is pretty bad, and Amara's been cured, which is even worse because now she's easy to kill, so the fate of the other side, where Bonnie and Josiah currently reside, rests on a living, breathing human being that we now need to protect," Damon said.
Elena raised an eyebrow. "We need to protect?"
"Do you want Bonnie to disappear forever?" Elowen asked rhetorically. "I'm pretty sure you don't, which means Amara is officially under our care." She sighed loudly, standing up. "I'm going to bed. It's been a long day."
Leaving everyone else in the living room, Elowen disappeared up the stairs.
