Over the next few weeks, the group continued to train with help from the others. Liz had been covering for the group at work, stating there were no new incidents since spring. Elena, Jeremy, and Matt continued to practice basic fighting techniques and learned how to use the weapons with Ric's help. Things really going well. Or so Maria thought.

It'd been about three weeks since they started training with her old friends and everyone was starting to feel the pressure. Nothing had breached the barrier yet, so Katherine and her friends hadn't shown up, but everyone was still on edge.

That was when the group had agreed to take a break and a few days off from training. "How are you doing, Lauren?" Maria asked when she met up with her old friends. The three of them were living at Sheila Bennett's former home. She and Bonnie talked it out and she agreed to let them stay there, but she moved all the magic artifacts and spell books to her place.

"I'm really improving." Lauren said. "Bonnie taught me how to channel energy from the earth."

"It seems to be her strongest element connection." Allison said.

"I know." Maria said. "I went through the same thing." She told them, remembering her days practicing with Emily.

"Speaking of, how'd Bonnie learn it?"

"Well, she actually started by drawing energy from candle flames." Maria explained. "I didn't meet her until after she started developing her powers, but she told me that her accidental spells would cause small fires and candles to light if she stared really hard or if she was angry."

"Wow. I wouldn't have wanted to know her in those days." Nate said.

"Hey, watch it, Nate, you realize you're in her Gran's home and that she too was a powerful witch?" Maria pointed out.

"Yeah, speaking of, when are we going to meet her?" Allison asked.

"Ali, she's not coming back." Maria told her. "Unless you want to try a séance." The others looked surprised. She explained a brief version of what'd happened, leaving out all the stuff about the tomb.

"Even before then, I promised her that I would help Bonnie and train her, even protect her if necessary." Maria finished. "I kept my promise and you all know I'd protect any and all of my friends."

"I'm sorry." Allison said. "I didn't know."

"I feel so bad for her." Lauren said.

"It happened about six months ago." Maria said. "And things just got worse after that."

"Still, it's scary when you feel like you're all alone." Nate said. "Even I know that." Allison put her hand over his.

"True, but at least Maria was there to help her afterward."

"Why wouldn't she? After all, didn't Emily train her?" Lauren pointed out. "It kinda makes them related."

"Well, for all I know, we could be." Maria said. "After all, we're both witches with a common past, and even though we may not be blood related, it almost feels like we're sisters."

"True, but that has nothing on us." Lauren said. "We're kinda like sisters, too. Like how all witches consider each other family."

"Well, I consider pretty much all of my Mystic Falls friends to be family." Maria said. "In fact, before I came here, I didn't know where I really belonged. It's as though this place brought me here."

"Yeah, I kinda felt that, too. When we all arrived here." Lauren said.

"So did I." Allison said. Nate nodded in agreement.

The next day, Caroline and Tyler met in town. "Hey."

"Hey."

"What are you doing out here?"

"Well, I was going to meet Allison at the mall." Caroline said. "You wanna come?"

"I wouldn't want to interrupt your girl bonding." Tyler told her.

"Oh, come on. It could be fun." Caroline said. "Besides, I wanted to talk to you about my mom helping us."

"I'll meet you there." Tyler said.

"Cool." Caroline said. She watched as he left.

"I saw that." She turned around to find Allison waiting for her. "You were so flirting with him."

"Uh, no, I wasn't." Caroline said.

"Care, it's okay if you like him." Allison told her.

"Yeah, but it's just so weird. I mean, yeah, I like him, but I also still like Matt." Caroline said. "He's probably still a little freaked about the whole "my ex is a vampire" thing."

"Actually, he seems to be getting over it." Allison said. "At least, that's what Maria and Elena have been saying."

"I just don't want things to be awkward between us." Caroline said.

"They won't be." Allison said. "Let's go." Caroline hesitated. "Come on, a little retail therapy never hurt anyone." She smiled and left with Allison.

Nate ran into Matt outside the Grill. "Hey."

"Hey."

"How's it been?" Nate asked. "I haven't seen you in a while."

"Well, I've been busy between working here and training."

"I see." Nate said. "Hey, I know how weird this is. Believe me, I was scared of the supernatural stuff at first too."

"I'm not scared, I'm just in shock. I can't believe that my friends didn't tell me any of this."

"From what I've heard, it was pretty much all sprung on them, too." Nate said. "Caroline didn't find out until after Katherine changed her. Bonnie and Tyler's powers run in their families, though they didn't know they had powers until later. The Gilberts only found out because they met the Salvatores."

"Yeah, Elena pretty much explained it from the beginning. But what about Maria? Is she really related to Bonnie?"

"We're not sure, all we know is that she knew Emily and was sort of raised by her." Nate said. "We know nothing about her real life before she changed, other than that somehow, she ended up half vampire, half witch when it happened."

"Are you meeting Ty here or something?"

"Look, man. Maybe you should just spend some time with your friends again." Nate said. "Trust me, I know what it's like to feel out of the loop." Just then, he spotted Tyler walking over to them.

"Hey, guys. What's up?"

"Not much, just talking."

"Yeah, it's been kind of slow here lately." Matt said. "Anyway, I have to get ready for work."

"Hey, is it okay if we hang out sometime?" Tyler asked.

"Sure, just let me know when." Matt headed inside.

"Is he still upset?"

"No, I think he's just surprised." Nate said. "So what's up?"

"Care wants me to meet her to talk about recent developments her mom found." Tyler said.

"Well, that's good news, isn't it?"

"Yeah, though it still feels weird between us." Tyler explained.

"Look, Ty, I know she likes you. She's just unsure because she also likes Matt." Nate said. "It's never an easy position to be in."

"Yeah, it's hard for me, too. Matt's my best friend and I don't want to hurt him, but I really like Care a lot."

"Maybe you two should just talk it out." Nate said. "I'm sure she likes you, too. Besides, from what I've heard, she could probably hold her own against you. Unless it were a full moon or something."

"Speaking of which, isn't there one coming up soon?"

"You'll be fine, Tyler." Nate said. "Cause I'm going to be right there with you when it happens this time."

The rest of the group was in the park. "I always loved going to the park when I was a kid." Lauren said. "I always felt connected to nature, you know?"

"Really? I felt the same way back when I was in the garden as a kid. The girls and I used to play back there all the time." Bonnie said.

"Yeah, same here." Lauren said. "I might be the youngest of the group, but I'm strong."

"How'd you meet them anyway?"

"They came to Georgia last summer." Lauren said. "I'd gone to visit my aunts and found out my sister had been the one taking care of me. It became our home when the Originals were in Mystic Falls."

"And when you discovered your powers?"

"We were in hiding. Maria was telling me to stay safe. I could tell she was trying to protect me from something. I ended up casting some kind of shield spell to prevent them from getting in. It was like a nature barrier went up, or something. That's how we found out I was a witch."

"Whoa." Bonnie said. "Kind of intense, isn't it?"

"Not as much as setting a car on fire."

"Yeah, only it happened in public."

"I want to try something." Lauren walked over to a patch of grass and put her hand over a leaflet. Within seconds, it bloomed into a flower.

"Whoa. That was amazing." She turned and saw that Elena had joined them.

"It was nothing, really." She said.

"Hey, don't sell yourself short, Lauren. You're good with magic."

"Thanks." Lauren blushed.

"She's really shy, you guys." Bonnie said. "Anyway, what are you doing here?"

"We were kind of hoping to run into Maria here." Elena said. "There's something we wanted to talk to her about."

"Well, I haven't seen her." Bonnie said. "We came here to go over a few nature spells. Maybe Allison knows where she is."

"Hey, it's fine." Elena said. "I'm sure we can always call her."

At the mall, Caroline and Tyler met in the food court. "So what did you want to talk about?"

"Mom said it's been quiet lately." Caroline said. "Which is why I'm worried. She's got the others searching the perimeter of the town for vampire activity."

"Yeah, I know it's hard. We'll get through this." Tyler said. "I ran into Matt this morning."

"Really? How is he?"

"Still getting over it, I think."

"Oh."

"Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah, it's just…I feel like he can't stand me these days." Caroline said. "I don't even care that we're not together anymore, I just couldn't stand it if he hated me forever."

"He doesn't hate you, Caroline." Tyler said.

"How's it going?" Nate asked. He and Allison were watching them from a distance.

"I don't know." Allison said. "It just feels awkward right now."

"Anyway, I know he's the first guy you've been with that you've really liked." Tyler said. "Maybe it'll work out, maybe it won't. But any guy would be lucky to have you as a friend. Maybe more."

"You really think that's true?" Caroline asked.

"Of course." Tyler said.

"Thanks, Tyler." She smiled. "You know, we may have had our differences, but you're a really good friend, Tyler." She kissed him on the cheek before getting up.

"You leaving?"

"Yeah. I promised I'd meet Mom at the office today." Caroline said.

"I don't want to hold you up."

"See you later, Ty!" She called as she left.

"So, how'd it go?" Allison asked as she caught up to her.

"I think we'll be able to handle anything." Caroline said.

"I saw what happened in there, you like him."

"Okay, fine. I like him. So what?"

"He's so into you, Care. Why don't you see that?"

"Look, I like Tyler, but I'm not ready to start dating right now."

"How'd it go?"

"I think you were right, man. But it still feels too soon."

"Hey, from what I saw, she's not looking for a relationship right now, anyway." Nate said. "But still, I think she really likes you."

"Yeah, I think you're right." Tyler told him.

Meanwhile, Maria was in her room. She liked that the others were bonding, but was worried since they all had such different personalities. Sighing, she closed her journal and was putting it away when there was a knock at her door. "You can come in. I know you're there."

"Hey, are you okay?" She turned around and found herself face to face with her boyfriend.

"Yeah, I guess I'm just a little worried about things." Maria said. "Like this whole thing, what if it doesn't work out? What happens if we're still not strong enough to face them?"

"I used to have the same doubts back before…you know." Maria nodded. "One of the things I learned from fighting there is that when you're in the middle of a fight, you don't have time to think, you just do it."

"Still, the problem is that Katherine could outsmart us again." Maria said. "I've been thinking of some new strategies on how we can take them down and somehow get her by herself. I didn't get any warnings yet, though."

"How does that work, anyway?" Damon asked. "Communicating with them in the dream world?"

"I always assumed it was because I was a witch." Maria said. "But it didn't really start happening until after I turned. When everything else got heightened, I guess my psychic abilities did, too." She looked at him. "For now all I've got is figuring out how we're going to get through this."

"Well, you're doing a great job of it so far." Damon told her. Maria said something in a foreign language he didn't understand. He was used to it. Sometimes when she was nervous, she'd start speaking in a different language.

According to what she'd told him, she spoke five languages besides English: Japanese, Italian, French, and American Sign Language, plus a little Spanish.

"You're doing it again, Mi Bello Fiore." He told her.

Maria apologized.

"Nessun bisogno di scusarsi" He told her. "E' una delle cose che mi piace è."

"Che cosa si intende?" She asked, blushing. That was another quality he loved about her. Somehow, it made her even more pretty.

"Si" He answered honestly. Not that he could ever lie to the woman he loved most. She wrapped her arms around him. He returned her embrace.

"Te amo, Damon."

"Ti amo, troppo, Maria." She leaned her head against his chest.

"Excuse me." They turned to the doorway. "I hate to interrupt, but we have a slight problem." Stefan told them. He headed downstairs.

"We better go. We can continue later on." Maria said.

"Sounds like a date." She playfully hit his arm.

"If you say so." They started to head for the doorway. "Hang on." She turned around and lightly kissed Damon. "Now let's go." They headed downstairs. Well, technically, Maria practically had to drag him by the arm. The kiss had caught him by surprise.

They found Elena and Bonnie in the living room. "What's going on?" Maria asked.

"Katherine got into my dreams." Elena said.

"How's that possible? You never take that off." Damon pointed out.

"Well, apparently, she found a way to get in." Bonnie told them.

"Might want to tell them the rest of it." Stefan said.

"Anyway, she threatened me. She said if I didn't break up with Stefan, she's going to go after Jeremy."

"It's more serious than that." Bonnie added. "She managed to get in while she was on vervain."

"Because she's immune to it." Maria realized.

"I don't want to put everyone else in danger, but if I do what she says, then…"

"May I?" Maria sat down next to her. She touched Elena's arm and gasped.

"You okay?" Stefan asked.

"Fine. Just wasn't prepared for that shock." Maria told him.

"So what's up?" Damon asked.

"She's only messing with you. From what I can tell, she had to project herself into the dream from somewhere pretty far away, which is almost impossible for a normal vampire to do, even with help." Maria told them. "It obviously took a lot of power to do it and if it's one thing I know, no matter how old the vampire is, even if it's just for few seconds, using that much energy will cause them to burn out."

"What if she messes with the others?"

"That's not going to be a problem." Maria said. "We can put a protection spell on everyone. That way, even if she attempts it again, it'll be like she hit an invisible barrier."

"You know how to do that?" Bonnie asked.

"I wouldn't suggest it otherwise."

"How do you know she won't try to attack us directly?" Damon asked.

"Because when I touched Elena, I found her location." Maria told him. "She's exactly fifteen thousand miles away from town."

"You could tell that just from touching her?" Bonnie asked.

"It's taken practice, but yeah. Comes in handy when I take on enemies that've attacked my human friends."

"Well, we're far from being a normal group." Stefan pointed out.

"I don't think any of us were normal in the first place." Elena said. "I mean, I'm a doppelganger, half my friends are vampires or vampire hunters, Bonnie's a witch, Tyler's a werewolf, and Maria's a witch and a vampire."

"And somehow, we all just sort of fit." Maria said. "Okay, so I think we can manage the protection spell and then we're just going to have to be really careful. Okay, ready?"

"Yeah." They did the spell. Maria focused on protecting all of her friends. She nearly collapsed when they were done.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I just wasn't expecting to use that much power at once." Maria told them.

"Maybe you should lie down." Damon said.

"Yeah, you look kind of tired after that one." Stefan agreed.

"Alright, I'm going. But I want to call a meeting tomorrow."

"No problem. We can get everyone here." Elena said.

Maria headed upstairs and lay back on her bed. She just couldn't shake the feeling that the meeting would be a disaster.

A/N: Man, that was a tough chapter, especially since the web translator I used kept kicking me offline. This is what Maria and Damon were saying during their brief scene together.

Mi Bello Fiore-My Beautiful Flower

Nessun bisogno di scusarsi-No need to apologize

E' una delle cose che mi piace è.-It's one of the things I like about you

Che cosa si intende?-Do you mean it?

Si-Yes

Te amo-I love you

Ti amo, troppo- I love you, too

Anyway, seems like Maria's getting another one of her predictions again. Let's hope she can manage to keep the peace at the meeting. I will try to get the next chapter up ASAP, but the internet connection's been really slow lately.