"Elijah?" Elena said, stunned. Everyone was surprised as the Original vampire entered the clearing.
"How…how is this possible?" Bonnie asked. "I thought you got taken out with Klaus in that fire."
"Clearly not." Damon said. She glanced at him, unable to believe him right now.
"You had something to do with it, didn't you?" Stefan asked. Everyone but Katherine turned to Maria.
"If you're implying that I let him escape before enclosing the fire around his brother, you'd be right." Maria said.
"Okay, that part I understand." Caroline said. "What I don't understand is what you're doing here or how you even found us out here."
"Don't look at me, I had nothing to do with this one." Maria said.
"No one called me here." He explained. "I've been just outside of your town for a long time now. Some careless new vampire said something about joining a vampire army. It didn't take me long to figure out who was behind it."
"But why are you here now?" Nate asked.
"I agree with this guy." Damon said. "We've already taken them down."
"Look, it doesn't matter how he got here." Maria said. "Though I will admit, we could've used the extra hand earlier."
"By the time I had shown up, you'd finished them off or had made the rest of them flee."
"Not like it was easy to track them down." Allison said. "I think I broke the heel on my boot."
"Let me see the other one." Caroline said. Ali pulled her other boot off and handed it to her. Then, Caroline broke the other heel off. "Here, now they match."
"Um…thanks. I think."
"Okay, if we're done with this…" Maria said. "I believe he can help clear things up."
"You were going to save me from the sacrifice?" Katherine asked, getting to her feet.
"I was."
"But why?" Katherine asked. "I'll admit, finding out about vampires back then was a shock…" The rest of the group looked at each other, remembering their own reactions to finding out. "But why would you want to save me?"
"Because you were still a young girl and didn't deserve to be caught up in all this…" He was trying find the right word to say. "…darkness." He finally decided on. "Then you took off."
"What did you expect? From my perspective, it looked like the people I was starting to feel close to were actually monsters that my parents used to tell stories about." Katherine said.
"You think we weren't scared, either?" Caroline pointed out. "Imagine waking up in bed finding out you're a vampire!"
"Hey, you weren't the one running from one for five centuries." Katherine pointed out.
"Katherine, you were saying?" Maria said. If they all started arguing again, there was no way this was going to end well.
However, it was Elijah who spoke up next. "I understand you're reaction, but if you had let me help you, we wouldn't have been in this mess to start with."
"You know what the worst part about it was?" Katherine said. "I finally thought I'd found someone who understood me spend the next five hundred years on the run. Then I find out that I jumped the gun on everything."
Since Maria was the only one looking at her at the time, she was the only one who saw her turn red in embarrassment. "Hey, we've all made stupid mistakes." Maria said, putting a hand on her shoulder. She glanced next to them. "But it's never too late to fix them."
"Why are you so nice to me? I just tried to get you and your friends killed."
Then Maria said the one thing to change her perspective. "Because Emily taught me to be better than that, Katherine."
She looked at her. "Your aunt certainly taught you well."
"I think you can get up now."
"Actually, there's a stake in the back of my leg." Maria turned to the group.
"Care to explain?"
"That was my bad." Tyler said.
"Okay, we're doing this the old school way. I need two of you over here to help me out." Maria said. She helped Katherine get to her feet and held her, supporting her until Allison and Caroline could help her.
She pulled the stake out of the back of her leg. "Thanks."
After a few minutes, everyone was starting to head back to town. "Hey, guys." Everyone turned to face Katherine. "I just wanted to apologize for, well, everything."
"To be fair, any of us probably would've done the same if we were in your shoes." Allison pointed out.
"Just try not to cause any more trouble around here." Jeremy said.
"That's the other thing." Katherine said. "I'm leaving."
"Correction, we're leaving." Elijah said. He took her hand in his.
"Ugh, seriously…" Allison whispered. Maria heard them.
"You guys can speculate later." Maria whispered, shutting everyone up.
"I want to help him find his family." Katherine said. "I've heard rumors for years about where the siblings could be. Besides, I figure it's the first step to me trying to become a better person."
"In that case, I wish both of you the best of luck." Elena said.
"Thanks. And the rest of you, you might want to keep an eye on these two." Kat said, gesturing to both Elena and Maria. "There are others out there that might try to come after them."
"Don't worry about it." Stefan said.
"We'll always protect our friends." Bonnie added.
"That goes for all of us, then." Lauren said.
"Wait, you guys are staying?" Tyler asked.
"We're a team now. We've gotta stick together." Nate said.
"You're guys are the best." Maria said, hugging them.
Katherine walked over to Damon. "I'm glad you're not dead."
"I'm lucky I survived. Maria helped me."
"I'm really sorry about everything I did." Katherine said. "I really hurt you more than the others."
"Don't worry about it."
"Mary's a great girl." Katherine said.
"You knew?"
"I heard rumors, but I didn't think they were true." Katherine told him. "You're lucky to have her after the complete the bitch I was. You should stick with her."
"I will. So, I guess this is it."
"Hey, anytime you guys need my help, I'll be back before you know it." She kissed him on the cheek. "Goodbye, Damon." She started to walk away, following after Elijah.
He felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked back and saw Maria. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"I know it was hard…"
"Please, she's not the girl I'm in love with." Maria smiled, putting her arms around him.
"Are you okay?" Caroline sat down next to Tyler.
"Yeah, I guess I'm still a little upset over the whole thing."
"What do you mean? Sure, we let her go, but at least she's not going to be causing trouble anymore."
"I know. I still wish they hadn't gotten involved, though." Caroline knew he was thinking about Mason and the others.
"Hey, we'll be fine." Caroline pointed out. "Besides, he'd want you to move on from this." Tyler looked at her, smiling.
"So what happens with us?" He asked her. "Matt's a great guy…"
"I know he is, Ty, but I can't be with him." She said.
"Because you're a vampire?"
"Because I'm in love with someone else."
Tyler stared at her, surprised. "Wait, what…"
"You're such an idiot." She said, smiling. She kissed him, cutting off whatever he was about to say.
The rest of the group were watching short distance away. "I just knew they were right for each other." Allison said. Nate had his arms around her. He kissed her on the cheek.
Lauren turned away, blushing. "I know, it's kind of weird." She noticed Jeremy.
"Please, I could just use a moment." Lauren said. "It's strange being the only one that's single." She looked over his shoulder. "You should go. You're girlfriend's waiting." She walked away. Jeremy looked behind him and saw Bonnie standing near the trees, looking at him.
"Hey." Lauren looked up and saw Matt.
"Hey."
"You did good out there."
"Thanks. I could still use more practice, though."
"Still, you seemed to pick up on it pretty quickly when you went powerless for a few minutes." Matt said.
"You think it's the first fight I've been in?" Lauren asked. "I was a blue belt and Ali taught me a few things."
"Speaking of which, what happens with you guys now?" Elena asked from the back of the group. They all gathered around.
"I have no idea." Allison said. "I suppose we could always go back, but it wouldn't be the same without Maria."
"And we know that this town's her home now."
"Actually, you guys don't have to worry about it." Maria said. "A couple weeks ago, Bonnie, Damon, and I made some arrangements."
"You mean they're staying?" Jeremy asked.
"Yes."
"You're the best, Maria." Lauren said, hugging her.
"I can't believe you helped her arrange it." Elena said.
"It was actually Damon's idea." Bonnie told her.
"Still…"
"Well, they're like her family. I knew she'd be crushed if they all separated again, especially after everything our little group just went through." Damon explained.
"It's amazing that you did this for her." Stefan said. "You really love her, don't you?"
"As much as you love Elena." He told him. Stefan hit him in the arm. He returned the favor. Elena rolled her eyes.
"Seriously. Boys."
"I know." Maria said.
"Hate to interrupt, does anyone know which direction we go from here?" Caroline asked. She and Tyler were holding hands.
"This way." Maria said.
A few hours later, the group had separated. Maria walked into the living room at the Boarding House, to find Stefan and Elena in the middle of a make-out session on the couch. "Sorry. I was looking for Damon." She said.
"I think he went upstairs." Elena told her. Maria thanked her, then sped out of the room. "They're great together."
"I think so too."
"That thing where she fell in the middle of healing Katherine, what do you think that was about?" Elena asked him.
"I have no idea. If she remembers any of it, she'll let us know as soon as she can." He told her. She nodded.
Maria found Damon out on the balcony outside his room. "Hey," She walked closer to the window. "How are you doing with all this?"
"I'm doing fine." He told her. She stepped outside to stand next to him. "Really, I'm okay."
"Yeah, I know."
"I'm more worried about you. What happened to you back there?" Damon asked her.
"I'll tell you about it tomorrow. Right now, let's just enjoy the view." She said, stepping closer to the railing. The stars were really bright out. A half moon shone in the distance.
She felt him place a hand on her shoulder. "You were amazing today." He told her.
"Hey, if you guys hadn't been there, I wouldn't have been able to use that healing spell at all." She pointed out, putting her hand on top of his. He let go of her hand and brushed a strand of hair out of her face.
A breeze blew and she shivered. Then, she felt something heavy around her shoulders. She glanced back and saw that Damon had given her his jacket. He was smiling. She smiled back and slipped into it. "How do you move in this thing?" She asked. It was a little big on her and when she stepped back, she nearly tripped.
"I don't know. Maybe I'm just used to it." He helped support her. She looked back out at the sky.
"It's really beautiful out, isn't it?"
"It's nothing if you've seen the sunrise from the lakefront." Damon told her. He kissed the top of her head.
"You'll have to show me sometime." She said, smiling. "Maybe we could go there one night after the others get settled."
"It's a date, then." She turned to him. Despite the jacket being really heavy around her arms, she managed to get them around him.
"I love you so much, Damon. There's no way I would've gotten through any of this without you."
"I love you, too, Maria. I'm glad you came into my life. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me." They looked at each other. He pulled her into a gentle and romantic kiss. The pair continued to kiss under the moonlight. With the fight over, they could finally just relax.
A/N: Sorry it took so long to update this one. Anyway, there's only one more chapter left to go. I'm thinking of doing two or three more stories for this series in particular. I already have an idea that introduces a mysterious new character and explores a little more into Maria's past. What do you think? Let me know in your review.