Jenna, Elena, Jeremy and I were walking through the Square to watch gone with the Wind with the girls.

"You brought me to see a girl movie." Jer told us.

"We had to get out of the house, Jer. This is our 3-hour distraction from reality." Elena told him as she spread the blanket and sat down on it.

"Is that what we're doing? Pretending like our lives aren't screwed?" Jer asked us.

"We need to do this, ok? Breathe, eat, sleep, wake up, and do it all over again until one day, it's just not as hard anymore." I told him sitting down slowly.

"Hey!" Care said walking toward us. "There you guys are. Who's hungry?" she asked sitting next to Elena and I.

"Are we really doing this?" Jer asked us.

"Yes, we are really doing this. We are going to take a page from Scarlett. We made it through the war. I know you guys went through hell, and my mom knows I am a vampire, so basically it's like Atlanta has burned. And yet, in spite of everything, we persevere." Care told us and he and Jenna sat with us.

"All right." Jer told us. "What are we eating?"

"Something good." Care told us pulling food out of the baskets she brought with her.


We were ready to watch the movie when Stefan walked up to us.

"Hey." he greeted us.

"Hey! Look who couldn't resist an epic romance." Jenna said looking at him.

"Will you and Nicole come take a walk with me?" he asked Elena and I. We both got up and left with him.

"I'm breaking the rules, you know. Movie night's supposed to be a distraction. Tomorrow we can return to our regularly scheduled drama." Elena told him.

"I know. I wish this could wait, but it can't. Listen, um, the other night when Damon was helping Tyler, something happened. Tyler was starting to transform, and Damon was bitten." Stefan told us.

"What? Is it... is he gonna..." I asked him but I couldn't finish my sentence.

"Yeah." he told us.

"Oh, my God. And he came to the house this morning and... and tried to apologize. I practically slammed the door in his face." Elena told us.

"He told me not to tell you, but I figured if you wanted to talk to him, I... I wouldn't wait." Stefan told us.

"Stefan…" Elena began saying but Stefan interrupted him.

"It's not over. There might be a cure, but I have to find Klaus to get it." Stefan told us.

"Nik?" I asked him. "How can Nik help?"

"He may know a cure. If there's a chance I owe it to Damon to find it." he told us. e and Elena hugged each other tightly.

"I'm going with you." I told him. Stefan just nodded to me before turning to Elena.

"Go talk to him. Just tell him that there's still hope." Stefan told her and we left.


Stefan and I walked into the apartment and saw Katherine sitting on the bed.

"Hello, Katherine." I said smiling at her.

"Two days, I've been waiting. I'm supposed to be free of Klaus' compulsion by now. He's supposed to be dead!" she said avoiding my eyes.

"We ran into complications." Stefan told her.

"Complications?" she asked him.

"Doesn't really matter. I just need to find him. Do you have any idea where he might be?" Stefan asked her. She pushed us against the wall and asked us to shut up.

"Klaus, you're back. Look who decided to come for a visit." Katherine pulled us away from the wall so he could see us.

"You just keep popping up, don't you?" Nik asked Stefan holding his hand out for me. I took it and he hugged me tightly.

"I need your help... For my brother." Stefan told him.

"Well, whatever it is, it's gonna have to wait a tick. You see, I have an obligation to my brother that requires my immediate attention." Nik told Stefan letting go of me.

"You understand how important family is, or you wouldn't be here. My brother gave me his word that he would reunite me with my own." Elijah told us.

"And so I shall." Nik said. I suddenly saw a dagger come out of Elijah's chest and I jumped back from him. I then watched him die just as any vampire would. He fell to the floor and Nik pushed Stefan against a wall. "Now, what am I gonna do with you?" Nik stabbed him with a stake in the chest and I gasped in shock. "Do you feel that? It's scraping against your heart. The slightest little movement and you're dead."

"He's just trying to help his brother." I said to Nik.

"The witches said you had a cure. Make me a deal. Just give me the cure, and I'll do whatever you want." Stefan told him. Nik took the stake out of him and Stefan fell to the floor. Nik poured himself a glass of blood and sat at the island.

"Trouble is I don't know if you'd be any good to me the way you are now. You are just shy of useless." Nik told Stefan. "I heard about this one vampire, crazy bloke, always on and off the wagon for decades. When he was off, he was magnificent. 1917, he went into Monterrey and wiped out an entire migrant village... A true ripper. Sound familiar?" Nik asked him.

"I haven't been that way in a very long time." Stefan told him.

"Well, that's the vampire I can make a deal with. That is the kind of talent that I can use when I leave this town." Nik told him standing across from him. "Katerina, come here." Katherine came closer to him and put her hand in his outstretched one. His face changed and he bit her wrist.

"Katherine!" I went to her and looked at her wrist.

"No. No... No. No. No." she begged. He bit his wrist and forced Katherine to drink from his wrist. she and I watched as her wound healed and we looked to Stefan.

"You want your cure? There it is." Nik told us.

"Your blood is the cure." I said looking in shock at him.

"Gotta love Mother Nature." he told us smirking. "Now... Let's talk, the three of us. Nikky would you get me that vial over there?" he asked me and I collected the vial before giving it to him. He put his blood into it as we watched him. "There it is. You want to save your brother? How 'bout a decade-long bender? And I have big plans for you when we leave this town. As for you Nikky. You stay with me, even after the baby is born. You can call your family and give them updates on you and the baby, but you stay with me." he told us.

"I'm not like that anymore." Stefan told him.

"Well, that's too bad. You would have made a hell of a wingman." Nik told him then he started pouring some blood down the sink.

"Wait." Stefan told him and he stopped.

"Now that's more like it. I want you to join me for a drink." Nik told him, sliding him a blood bag. Stefan took it and looked at it.

"Nik. Don't do this." I told him as Stefan took a sip from the bag.

"Finish it. All of it. You do everything I say, and I save your brother. That's the deal for you." Nik told Stefan. Stefan drank it all and threw the bag to the ground. Nik smirked and threw him another bag. "Again." Stefan drank.


The floor had a lot of blood bags on the ground and Stefan was drinking one.

"You're very cooperative. It's almost as if you're enjoying it." Nik told him, giving him another bag.

"No more. Not until you give him the cure." I told Nik.

"Not until we make a deal. It's your choice, Nikky, Stefan. You two can either remain here living your life in Mystic Falls, or you can leave town with me, and save your Damon's life." Stefan took the bag and drank from it.

"I'll go with you." I told him.

"That's the spirit." he told us. He took the vial with his blood and looked at Katherine. "Sweetheart, take this over to Damon and come right back." he said compelling her.

"You want me to leave?" Katherine asked him.

"No!" Stefan shouted at them.

"Yes and if I were you..." he didn't finish before she vanished. "I'd hurry." He sat on a chair and pulled me onto his lap.

"She'll never take it to him. She'll never take it to him." Stefan repeated to himself.


Nik took us to a warehouse and placed Elijah in a coffin.

"I suppose, brother, you've been reunited with our family." Nik told him. He closed the coffin and looked at two men. "Put him with the others. We're leaving town tonight." they put him with other coffins and Stefan received a text. "So... Did Katerina make it in time?"

"You won't be seeing her again, you know." I told him.

"Because she's on vervain? I've been around a long time, Stefan. I rarely get played for a fool. Besides, she won't get far. You'll help me see to that." Nik told me.

"What is it you really want from us?" Stefan asked him.

"All will be explained in time. Once we leave this tragic little town." Nik told him.

"Then are we done here? Can we go?" Stefan asked him.

"Not quite. You see, I have a gift for you." Nik told him and a girl showed up. "Come here, sweetheart. Don't be afraid." The girl joined us and Nik looked to Stefan. "See, I wanna make sure you honor our deal... That you'll be of use to me." He bit her neck and drank from her. "I could have compelled her to behave, but a real ripper enjoys the hunt." He let her go and she ran screaming. Stefan stopped her and ripped into her neck until she was dead.

"Now we can go." Nik said taking my hand and pulling me with him.