SHOUT OUTS/ANSWERS

Winxgirl1997: Sorry this isn't as soon as you wanted. Hope you enjoy regardless.

DISCLAIMER

Vampire Diaries belongs to L.J. Smith and the CW. Once Upon A Time belongs to ABC Studios and whoever else is affiliated with the show.

Caroline winced as Elena screamed once more. She hated hearing this, but knew it was necessary. Damon was trying to make her feel things again. But she wasn't wanting to, not that the blonde-haired vampire blamed her for not wanting to feel anything. Her brother had been killed. Who would want to feel anything after something like that? But they needed Elena to be back to her old self. She missed her friend and just wanted her back. Please let this work. Please let Damon get her back, she thought to herself. Then, she let out a small scoff at the thought. That was certainly a switch. She was usually hoping that Damon's plans wouldn't work. Of course, he wasn't usually trying to get a vampire to turn to their emotions back on. But he was this time and that was why she wanted what he was attempting to work. If it worked, she'd have Elena back. And that's all she wanted: one of her best friends back. With an unnecessary sigh, she stood up and headed for another part of the house, hoping that it would be far away enough that she wouldn't hear the screams, curses, and threats. Elena had been pretty stubborn as a human and of course that had been magnified as a vampire. So now it was just a battle of wills. Hopefully, Damon would be able to outlast her. Back downstairs, Damon was still trying to get Elena to feel anything, even rage or fear. So far though, there hadn't been anything, no matter how many times he had hurt her. Come on, Elena. Come back to us, he thought to himself. He was really missing his friend. He wanted her back. No, he needed her back. He hadn't realized just how strong their friendship had grown until he had lost it. Well, not lost it exactly. When she was herself, they were still friends, but when she was like this, they didn't mean anything to one another and that killed him. Well, he wasn't going to accept it. He was going to make sure he did everything he could think of to get her to feel again. Then, he cocked his head, obviously mulling over everything he had been doing. He had been trying to bring out the pain, anger, and rage in ways Lexi did to Stefan. But maybe that wasn't the answer he thought it was. Maybe with her, he needed to work on annoying her. Yeah, that sounded like a good idea. He just needed to get her involved in their regular banter.

"You know I can do this all day and night. Neither one of us is getting any older," Damon commented.

"Give it up, Damon. You'll never break me," Elena told him.

"Oh I'm sure I will. After all, I am irresistible," he smirked. Elena just stared at him stonily. She wasn't sure what he was playing at but she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of breaking. "Oh come on, give me a little smile. You know you want to," he teased.

"I'll give you a smile as soon as you release me," she responded.

"Oh, I'd love to release you. But first, you gotta turn your emotions back on. I can't let you out while you're playing zombie," he stated. Elena's eyes flickered and Damon felt hope rise up in him. She hadn't moved in an inch since he had started all of this. Was she starting to feel something?

"Is that what you want? For me to feel? What's the point? Everyone I love is dead," Elena answered.

"I think that you're forgetting that Caroline, Bonnie, me, Matt, and my brother are still here. We love you and you love us. We just want you back to normal," Damon corrected. Please, Elena. Come back to us. I know you're in pain, but please, let us help you cope, he implored. He couldn't believe that he was actually doing this. He was the king of flipping the switch and yet he was trying to get her to undo what she had done. Then again, she hadn't exactly flipped the switch. More like-blacked it out or something.

"And what's normal? Me whining about how tragic my life is? Admit it, Damon. You like me better like this," Elena stated. I know I do, she thought to herself. Everything had been gotten so much better since she had abandoned her emotions. She didn't care about anything and more importantly, she didn't hurt anymore. Hearing this, Damon let out a small growl of frustration.

"NO! I liked you with your emotions! I liked the way you laughed at Stefan's jokes, the way you put me in my place with just a glare! You're a shell Elena! This isn't you!" he told her. Why couldn't she just see that she had been better with her emotions? "This isn't who we fell in love with! Do you think Jeremy would want you going on this way?" he asked. Okay, that was probably a low blow, but he had a feeling that he was right: Jeremy wouldn't like seeing Elena like this. And if that was what it took to get her back to normal, he'd utilize it.

"What do I care about what he thinks? He's dead," she reminded. I can't believe he's harping on this. I don't want to talk about Jeremy, she thought to himself. That had been the whole point of her turning off her emotions, so she didn't have to deal with it.

"That's right, your brother is dead. How does that make you feel?" he pressed.

"I don't feel anything. I've turned everything off, remember?" she reminded.

"And why did you do that? Because the pain was too much? You were feeling pain, and I can totally understand that. If this had happened to Stefan-" he said.

"It didn't happen to Stefan! It happened to Jeremy!" she interrupted angrily. I can't believe he's doing this! I don't want to think about it! she thought to herself. She had shut off her emotions so she wouldn't have to deal with the image of Jeremy lying motionless on the ground. Anger! Yes! Okay, we have an emotion! the older vampire thought to himself. Granted, he hadn't thought they'd be starting out with this particular emotion, but it was something to work with. Now all he had to do was make sure that she let in her other emotions.

"And you're angry about that, aren't you? You hate the fact that you weren't able to save him. That you let Katherine kill him?" he pressed and her eyes darkened.

"How dare you?" she demanded. I don't believe him! I'm going to drive a stake through his heart! she raged to herself. How could Damon say that? She hadn't let Katherine kill her brother! That bitch had snapped her neck and then had run off and killed him. "You know I didn't let her do anything of the sort! It was all that bitch's fault! If it wasn't for Katherine, Jeremy wouldn't be dead!" she shouted. Then, her eyes widened. Dead. Jeremy was dead. No. No, no, no, no. She couldn't deal with this. It was why she had shut off her emotions! Why had Damon done this? Why had he made her feel again?

"Hey, hey, hey. It's okay. You're going to be okay," he told her, seeing the change. He was going to have to be careful as he didn't want her to turn it off again.

"Okay!? How can it be okay? My brother is dead!" Elena exclaimed tearfully. "I'm alone now. I'm all alone now," she said, tears starting to form.

"But you have us. And we'll find a way to get him back. I swear it," he told her, kneeling beside her and placing a hand on her wrist. Not that he had any idea of how to do that without sacrificing someone, but he'd find a way. He then glanced behind him to see Caroline, who had quickly come back to the room once Elena had started yelling at him.

"Damon's right. We'll find a way to bring him back," the blonde-haired vampire agreed, coming up and then kneeling on the other side of her friend, laying her hand on the girl's other wrist. "And we'll make that bitch pay for hurting you," she declared, her eyes flashing.

"Why'd you make me feel? I didn't want to feel this! I didn't want to feel anything!" the brunette stated, choking back a sob. Why had he done this? Everything had been so much better. Why had he ruined it all?

"Not even the anger you have?" the male vampire asked. "You've always been a fighter, Elena. Don't stop now," he told her as he quickly undid the straps. At his words, the young vampire looked up at him. Fighter. She was a fighter. He was right. She had always fought. And yes, Jeremy's death had devastated her, but this wasn't the time to give up. She had to keep fighting. If she kept fighting, she could get her revenge on Katherine. Yeah, revenge sounded good. She'd make the older vampire pay for killing her brother.

"I hate her! I want to make her pay! I want to drive a stake through her heart and watch as she petrifies!" she hissed, her eyes flashing. Okay, anger is good. But I need to stop her before she does something stupid, he thought to himself.

"Okay, take it from someone who knows: focusing on revenge won't get you anywhere. If you went after Katherine, she'd most likely kill you. She nearly killed me and Stefan, remember?" he reminded. Elena looked at Damon, letting the words sink in. He was right. Katherine was immensely stronger than she was and could kill her if she wanted to. But could she really let her get away with killing her brother? As if he knew what she was thinking, Damon grabbed her hand. "I'm not saying we let her get away with but don't actively seek her out. It won't end well," he reminded. She nodded and gave him a shaky smile. "Thank you," she said softly. She then glanced at Caroline. "And I'm sorry for what I said. I know you miss Tyler," she apologized.

"I'm not going to deny that you hurt my feelings, but I get that you were just trying to push me away," she responded. Yeah, if it had been anyone else or if the situation had been different, she would've held onto her anger, but Elena was one of her best friends and it looked like she had gotten her back, so she'd push her hurt feelings aside and just be happy that her best friend was back.

"Well, thank you for not letting me," Elena stated. If she had truly lost her friend, she wasn't sure what she'd do, so yeah, she was grateful that her attitude hadn't chased her away.

"No problem," Caroline replied. She was just glad that Damon's plan had worked and that she had one of her best friend's back. Meanwhile, in Storybrooke, still in Mr. Gold's house, Emma and Stefan had told the others how the two of them had met, explaining that they had met when Emma had been a teen, and that a witch had used a spell to try to kill her, and Stefan had used his blood to heal the damage, which was how they had discovered the effects of magic and his blood on her, though they didn't know the reason for it.

"And the whole "Pet" thing?" David questioned.

"It's a bond created between a vampire and a human. I don't generally follow vampire protocol, but she was being hassled and it was the only way to save her life," Stefan responded a bit uncomfortably. He wasn't sure what to tell him exactly. He hadn't really planned on creating that bond between him and Emma, but it had been the only way to save her life.

"Look, the important thing is that I'm okay now and we can focus on stopping Hook and Cora," Emma stated. And hoping that we don't have to take on Peter Pan, Stefan thought to himself. However, he didn't say this out loud. He didn't want anyone knowing about his connection with the imp. He had kept it a secret for over a century, and he was going to keep that secret for another century if he had to.

"Agreed," Regina stated. "It won't be easy. My mother is-she's worse than I was," she told them.

"And you were pretty bad," Mary Margaret mused, concern lacing her voice. Regina had been a tough adversary and if she was worried about her mother, they'd be wise to listen to her. Hearing this, David pulled Mary Margaret close to him and she let herself revel in his strength. Then, she drew in a breath as she squared her shoulders. "It's obvious that they're desperate to stop us even though Hook obviously meant to infect Rumplestiltskin and not Emma. We need to figure out what our next move is going to be," she declared.

"Well, if it involves magic, I'm out. I don't want to have any more to do with it," Emma replied with a shake of her head. She didn't want what had just happened to her to happen again.

"Don't worry. I won't let anything happen to you," Stefan assured, putting a hand on her shoulder. He didn't blame her for being nervous-he was too-but he would make damn sure that she made it out of everything all right.

"I'm not really using magic anymore, but if I can do anything to help, I'm in," Bonnie stated and everyone looked at her in confusion.

"You've been trying to give it up too?" David questioned.

"Not exactly," Bonnie answered.

"It's a long story that we don't have time for. What do you want to do about this Cora woman and Hook?" Stefan stated and instantly, everyone instantly began talking, coming up with ideas and then discarding them. While this was going on, Regina frowned. Mary Margaret was right to be concerned about facing her mother. She of all people knew just how bad the woman could be. I can't let her get away with this. Maybe I can talk to her, she thought to herself. She didn't want to fight her mother and if she could make her see reason, she could put a stop to this. And if she stopped Cora and her plans, she could work on restoring her relationship with Henry. Yeah, that would be good. She knew she had a lot to make up for and Henry was willing to take a chance on her, which had led to the others taking a chance on her, though they were a lot more wary than the boy. And she couldn't really blame them. She had been given so many chances before and then she had blown them. Well, she wasn't going to make that same mistake again. She needed to make things right. Unnoticed by the others, she slinked out of the room and then began walking across the street. She needed to figure out where Hook and her mother were. It was the only way to make things right. And she wanted to do that so badly! She was tired of being known as the Evil Queen. That hadn't gotten her anywhere. The vengeance she had thought she wanted didn't mean anything to her now. No, now all she wanted to do was make amends. And hopefully, the others would let her…for Henry's sake if nothing else. These thoughts were interrupted as she noticed a cloud of purple smoke in front of her. Instantly, she tensed, getting into a defensive stance, willing to use magic to defend herself if necessary. Yes, she had promised to quit her magic, but certainly, they'd give her a pass if she was defending herself. To her surprise, a woman with brown hair and a cold, calculating look on her features materialized right in front of her.

"Looking for me?" she asked.

"Mother," the former queen whispered.