After leaving Klaus' house, Damon and Jessa helped the group transport a very hard to control Ripper Stefan back to the boarding house. His urges were still strong and Elena's theory that she could somehow love the urges away sounded like a bad idea to Jessa and Damon assured her that she was completely right in that assumption.
"Yeah, Stefan's former best friend Lexi was more of a tough love type. I killed her." He said, looking shamefaced. "She knew how to shame him out of it. Elena doesn't know how to do it, and I know I'm going to suck at it."
Jessa tried to think of something. "Let me think about it. Today was a big day for us. We won one battle give it a minute."
Katherine was given a similar ultimatum as the Mikaelsons. No surprise, she ran. Jessa was relieved. Seeing two of the same face was just too much for her. And to be honest, she didn't have enough energy to deal with that much angst.
A few hours after finishing up with the main drama of the day, Damon and Jessa had settled into their house for an evening at home, when the doorbell rang. Jessa smiled as she realized who it was. She walked to the door and opened it to welcome in Liz and Caroline.
"Come on in, ladies." She said, welcoming them into the parlor. Damon offered them both something to drink, understanding what was coming. "So are you ready?" She asking Caroline.
The young woman smiled and nodded. Holding out her hand. While she knew that Jessa didn't need to touch her, Jessa realized that Caroline needed her to. Smiling reassuringly, she gently took her hand, and pulled the coldness and all that came with the vampire self that took residence within Liz's daughter. Gently she felt Caroline's mortal self settle fully back within herself completely.
There were tears in Liz's eyes when Jessa was finished, and Caroline was smiling through her own. Jessa smiled at both women as they hugged her. She invited them to have dinner with them, but realized that the two of them needed mother daughter time. They begged off after profusely thanking her.
Waving from the front door, she leaned back against Damon. Smiling and thinking about what a good day it had been. Finally something had gone fully well. He smiled over top of her head as they watched outside their front door. Their home. It was so weird to think about how far they had come from that first phone call that brought her home to Mystic Falls. It made her chuckle.
"Penny for your thoughts." He said quietly, as though he were afraid of breaking the peace of their moment.
"Just thinking about how far we've come from the call that brought me back here." She said, turning in his arms, thinking she preferred the view from this angle. "I was so angry to be forced back here, and now I can't think of anywhere I'd rather be."
"Really?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. "Nowhere? So you want to honeymoon here?"
"Sure," She answered, shrugging her shoulders. "I mean who goes tourist on their honeymoon?"
His laugh broke the silence he'd struggled to maintain. And he scooped her up into his arms and carried her into the house. Kicking the door closed behind them. Their laughter echoing behind them into the twilight.
48 HOURS LATER~~~~~
Stefan's detox was not going well. And that was a massive understatement. He'd broken loose at one point and Damon had gotten a horrified call from Liz late at night that would have raised the dead. He and Jessa had skulked through the town literally beating bushes looking for him, because they had at least managed to get Elena to take his daylight ring from him.
Finding him was easy, containing him was painful. Even with Jessa and Damon's enhanced strength, because with his new extra immortality he got more perks, Stefan had Ripper edge. Elena wouldn't allow them to starve him, as she called it. No matter how anyone tried to explain it to her, she wouldn't listen. Jessa was racking her brain attempting to think of any way to break through, magically. It wasn't coming easily and it was wreaking havoc on everyone.
"There have to be other Rippers," Jessa was talking to Ric. "Haven't you read anything on others?"
"Yeah," he replied. "About killing them. I was a hunter, sort of. It wasn't about rehabilitating. Usually if they have this affliction it's more of a 'put them down fast' type of thing."
Jessa smacked her head on her kitchen table. They were having this meeting at their house. It wasn't the best idea to have it at the boarding house. Elena wasn't open to ideas that didn't involve hugging and cuddling a monster. She had her mother's book on the table hoping a new section might poof into existence. Other than the one about her relationship, that is. None had, at least not yet.
"Could you enter messages into his mind?" Damon asked. "You talk to me. And you've sent messages to Ric and Tyler."
Jessa looked up considering. "What would I say? 'Bunny blood is better than people blood.'" She asked, curious. "I usually know what message I need to send, and the person I'm sending it to. So I know the tone that works. What works with Stefan usually?"
Damon and Ric looked at each other like they hadn't really thought about it like that. Then they sat there considering it.
"Maybe if we looked at one of his journals?" Ric considered. "He has a roomful of them. Pick one and maybe that'll give Jessa an idea."
Damon shrugged and agreed. He'd grab one when he ran out for a status update. Ric was heading over too. Jessa agreed to stay put. Going to the house was just overwhelming. Elena was almost manic and her thoughts were all over the place. Staying put worked.
"I'll be right back with one of Stefan's very deep journals, filled with all his inner angst." Damon said, straight-faced, yet eyes twinkling. "Then, you and I are going to either work on our list, or talk about the wedding."
She smiled. Either one was pretty important. She kissed him and pushed him to the door. "Get going so you can get back!" She said. "I love you, Mr. Salvatore."
"I love you, future Mrs. Salvatore!" He growled.
48 HOURS LATER~~~~~~~
After studying Stefan's journal, Jessa realized that he had a lot of issues with self esteem. He didn't really feel like he deserved much and he really didn't feel like Damon did. Well, that shame sucks, but don't spread it around. Looking at it she realized that's probably why being with Elena worked for him so well. She wanted someone who wanted redemption and if anyone felt he needed to redeem himself, that was Stefan Salvatore.
That meant, if she could tap into his psyche and talk through into the inner part of him, past the Ripper part into the part that needs to redeem what the Ripper does she could probably bring him out. How could she do it? She'd need to go down into the basement of the boarding house. Touch wouldn't be needed, because at first she just needed to see him. After the first time, she might not even need to see him. That plan set, she told Damon.
"OK I'll go with you." He said, as they were laying in bed, cuddling. Her head on his chest, listening to his voice rumble through the skin.
"You can't." She said, knowing he'd hate that. "He'll react to seeing you. I need him to not react. Him reacting to me is bad enough. I need him to be almost blank."
He was internally grumbling, she knew, but she also knew that he'd give in. "I'll be right upstairs."
"I know." She smiled. "I wouldn't have it any other way."
"Now, about the wedding," he said, going back to his favorite topic lately. "Are you sure you want to have it in Mystic Falls?"
"Where would you like to have it, Damon?" She asked, wondering if he wanted a destination wedding.
"I'd have it anywhere you want it, babe. You're the world traveler. I've traveled too, I just want to make sure we have your dream wedding." He said, worried.
"Are you going to be at the altar?" She asked, making sure.
"Yes," he said, a smile in his voice.
"Then we can be married on the moon for all I care." She said, snuggling tighter in his arms.
"Didn't you ever dream about your wedding?" He asked curious. He thought all women did. "About your dress and how it would look?"
She shrugged. "When I was really young, yes. I thought about a boy I knew, in his dress uniform, coming home from war. And then life happened. When the uncertainty of what I was happened it just didn't matter anymore."
He smiled that she casually admitted he was her dream then too. Even if it hadn't worked out. "Do you want a period wedding? Antebellum is somewhat taboo now, but I'll move heaven and earth if need be."
She giggled, thinking about him making a wedding all wrong just to give her what she wanted. "God no, let's not go back in time. Let's just make it about us, Damon. Who we are now. Our friends, now. Our life, now."
"Do you want me to plan it?" He asked, concerned, but willing.
She really laughed at that. Thinking about how overwhelmed or terrifying he'd be. Dear lord, the poor florists alone.
"No, I'll take care of it." She said, reigning in her laughter. "I haven't done anything like this in awhile. I want to see if I still have the chops to do it. Do you mind if we do it here at home?"
He smiled, thinking the house was the perfect venue. The grounds were beautiful and the house itself was a showpiece.
"It's perfect." He said, kissing her.
"Let's set a date." She said, thinking that with a date, she'd have a timeline.
"Well, you're skipping ahead a bit." He said, stopping her in her tracks.
"I am?" She said, looking into his eyes confused.
"Yep," he said, with a hard P. "You see, I haven't actually proposed."
Her eyes widened, and he slipped out of the bed and walked to chest of drawers that he'd claimed as his own. Reaching inside he pulled out a small velvet box. He walked to where she still lay on their bed and crouched beside her. Opening the box, inside lay a silver ring with a sapphire stone surrounded by pearls and small diamonds. It was a perfect antique that Damon had bought before he'd left for the war. He'd hidden it and kept it safe and it was always going to be Jessa's.
"This ring, was one that I bought before I left you to go to war." He started, pulling it free from the small box. He carefully lifted her left hand in his. "I was going to come home to you a hero, or so I thought. I was going to come home, prove to my father that I was worthy of the family name, and take you for my wife. You were always supposed to be mine Jessa Warren. And I was always supposed to be yours. Now if you'll officially do me the honor of becoming my wife, I'll happily spend the rest of forever trying to make you as happy as you make me."
Happy tears streamed down Jessa's face as she nodded, but she fought them. "Absolutely, yes, Damon. I love you and those seem like simple words far too simple. I will love you for eternity." He slid the ring on her finger and finally they were promised the future they'd fought against and too hard for.
24 HOURS LATER~~~~~~~
The next day Jessa and Damon made their way to the boarding house to attempt to break through to Stefan. Elena had been warned and Ric was keeping her at bay. Damon was upstairs in the library while Jessa started downstairs. Stefan heard her descent and could smell her as well.
"Ah, a visitor. And a new one. I haven't seen you in a long time, old friend." He said, sounding weirdly conversational. He tried an intimate tone, which was off the mark, given their past.
"Hello, Stefan." Jessa said, taking the chair that Elena had positioned near the cell he was in. Jessa had pulled it well away from his reach. "How are you today?"
"Oh, you know, same old, same old." He said, while internally he was considering why she was there. He was wondering how to work her visit to his advantage. He recalled her allergy to vervain so he knew she wasn't wearing, drinking or using any. He knew she was stronger than him and other humans, and he knew she couldn't be compelled. Altogether a disappointment as a visitor.
"Let's chat, Stefan." She said, hoping she could keep his mouth occupied while she crept into his mind. "Is there anything I could bring you to help you pass the time?"
"A dark haired little something might help me KILL some time," he said crudely. And Jessa fought against rolling her eyes.
"I think we both know that's what got you into this mess, Stefan." She admonished. Her thoughts dug into his mind trying to find where poor little Stefan lived. The one that Giuseppe Salvatore kept in check. "You can't keep your appetite under control and that means that you have to stay down here like a caged animal. Don't you think that's a problem?"
She was trying to find the nugget of him the needed redemption, and she knew the Ripper that was in front of her could give a shit, but deep inside, somewhere was the one that did. So she kept it up, she reminded him that every single time he drank a drop of human blood he went batshit crazy. Normal vampires went on binders and came back to normal, not Stefan, he took one drop and wham bam let's start ripping apart coeds.
Suddenly she felt it, she felt the nugget of fear within him. It was locked down in a corner of his psyche, deep in a corner under the darkest need of terror, but there it was starting to grow. She hadn't realized that the Ripper in front of her was screaming at her because she was so focused on her task.
"You haven't got the guts to even come near the Ripper because you know he'd tear you apart you bitch!" Stefan was screaming, with foam coming from his mouth. It was like seeing a crazed animal and she had no idea what she said that brought it on.
It didn't really matter, she knew how to unlock it now and she needn't come down again. As she turned to leave, her engagement ring caught the light and his mania grew.
"You're engaged?!" He screeched. "You're supposed to belong to me! Father said you were MINE!"
Damon appeared at the top of the staircase as she rushed to the top. She wasn't afraid, she was simply unnerved. She'd been so lost in Stefan's head that she truly had no idea what he'd been saying in the void. She allowed Damon to hug her to him, and told him she was happy she didn't have to go back downstairs.
3 HOURS LATER~~~~~~
While still at the boarding house, Jessa continued to work upstairs at unlocking Stefan's inner redemption. Downstairs, he was still raving. The ring had made him unhinged. No one quite understood it. Stefan and Jessa hadn't had a relationship. Everyone knew that.
Elena was sulking, but Ric was telling her that Jessa wasn't to blame. No one was to blame. Stefan was in a bloodlust that was Ripper based. And that was clearly Klaus caused. Killing Klaus wouldn't have fixed it either.
As Jessa continued to coax the inner Stefan to the surface, urging him to understand that he could be redeemed. That anything could be forgiven and that ELENA loved him. He slowly came through clearer and clearer. As this part of Stefan gained control, the raving Ripper Stefan quieted. Slowly, but surely, as the hours passed, it happened. By the end of the night, Stefan fell asleep. Jessa was quietly optimistic.
Exhausted, she and Damon agreed to sleep at the boarding house. They asked that Stefan stay in his cell and when he woke, they would be as well. When he did, it was with happiness that they realized it worked. Stefan was back. He was ashamed, of course, and apologetic, but he was back.
True to their word, Jessa and Damon elicited promises from everyone that they'd call before visiting then, having completed this final part of their hero mission went home.