Disclaimer: I don't own the Vampire Diaries.

When the Fireworks Start: Part Two

Elena heard the body clutter and the noise shocked her into life. She could see her brother's girlfriend freeze in fear and she remembered that Jeremy was in the house as well- Alaric said he had left Jeremy in his room... "Anna, go check on Jeremy"

"I should go- you're only human"

"And so is Jeremy, go" said Elena, pointing as she slowly edged towards the kitchen and whoever had fallen. She wasn't prepared for the sight of her biological father and Stefan's killer bleeding out in the kitchen, the bloody knife not far from his prone form. She knew she was supposed to be upset and grab the phone to call for help but Elena couldn't. She just stood, unable to move and watched the bloodstain grow bigger as if transfixed. Elena broke out of her reverie when she heard Anna yell that Jeremy was okay.

As much as Elena wanted to let the man not fit to be her father die, she couldn't and she grabbed a towel and the phone. Elena pressed the towel to John's wound to slow the bleeding and dialled.

"911, what's your emergency?"

Elena couldn't hesitate. "I need an ambulance to 2104 Maple Street..." she trailed off when John struggled to speak and she frowned, leaning closer and then Elena spun around on him midsentence. She blinked and she couldn't make a sound.

She had known Katherine was her mirror image and had prepared herself for what it would be one day to meet her vampire ancestor.

All Elena could do was breath rapidly, it was like the air in the room would vanish and she needed to hoard the air. Hoard it so that when it was gone she would have a few more seconds to come to grips with herself.

"He deserves to die" Katherine casually said, making no attempt to get closer to Elena. There was no playfulness in the vampire when she looked at John, the vampire who had torn Stefan and Damon apart clearly had only one desire with him.

In contrast, Katherine's glances to Elena were inquisitive with the hint of sorrow and Elena felt empathy for her vampiric double. She had abandoned the brothers and left them... but Katherine had loved Stefan, Elena believed that.

Elena gathered up her courage. "I know he does Katherine and what's happened to Stefan hurt me and you lost him too... I understand"

Katherine narrowed her eyes and in the blink of an eye she was crouching down towards Elena, a hand caressing her cheek in an eerie imitation of the love a mother would show a daughter. "No Elena, you don't" Then the vampire blurred into the air and out the front door, it slammed behind her as Jeremy and Anna came down.

"I know Carol Lockwood is going to want answers but all I can think about right now is Caroline" Liz Forbes was crying and Damon took her into his arms and he could hear his platitudes and he meant them. But he felt hollow inside and when the sheriff pulled away, Liz stared at him strangely and Damon didn't need his damn reflection to notice the tears.

He knew that it was a risk to tell Liz that his brother had died and that it could lead her to vampires. But whether she knew the truth or not, she was his friend and the one who knew what it was like to have a responsibility and let her emotions and pride get in the way. Damon had studied the mother and daughter and how tense and distant they were, it was like watching a human version of his relationship with Stefan after his little brother had forced him to feed.

Damon couldn't take that pride and hatred back, the follow through on putting Stefan through misery and pain when he had always known that his brother had done it to not be alone... even if Stefan wouldn't admit it. "That device of John's- it must have been on a higher audio frequency that humans can't hear but it was fallible to anyone who could hear better... Stefan went down when that device went off... he's always hears like a bat... he heard it and when they thought he was a vampire..."

A pair of hospital staff walked past them and Liz waited until they had passed. "I didn't know Damon and I was going on when you've-"

"Hey... hey, it's not your fault- you tried to stop John because it was a dangerous plan when we should have had Stefan, Caroline and the members of our families safe rather than bait. He's the reason my brother died and I have to live knowing that one of the vampires could have regained consciousness and done something..." Trailing off, Damon felt shame for lying to Liz, twisting it around for her to know but he had to. Someone had to remember that Stefan had died and that his brother deserved to be mourned, Damon didn't want to feel the hurt alone. He had to do something for Caroline though. Annoying and hyper neurotic the bauble headed blonde might be, she was Liz's daughter and Damon wasn't going to let John get to do this to his friend.

He walked from the Sheriff under the pretence of seeing to Caroline while she dealt with the horror fallout from this night and crossed paths with the other reason for Stefan's death trying to comfort Elena and walked straight past them. "I'm going to save her- if you have a problem with that Bonnie, well I really don't care because I'm just dying to repay you for everything you've done" threatened Damon and he could see Elena was struggling between wanting to defend Bonnie and being upset with her.

Damon didn't care for Bonnie's guilt ridden nod of agreement... it was Elena who said the golden words that before tonight, he would have used as a victory to use against Stefan when he next marked his territory. You can have Elena, Stefan- just be back in your brooding and eating woodland animals glory, he thought.

"Do it"

Her Jeremy was asleep and Anna happily watched him, like a kid in a candy store only it was the person she loved. A Gilbert and the irony- her mother had understood in the end and Anna wished that the original John Gilbert could have been like Jeremy. Not turning away but embracing Mama when the compass pointed to her and helping her get away.

The door downstairs unlocked and Anna couldn't help the anger at the interruption when she came down the stairs and saw Elena closing the door.

But there was something off about Elena and her hair was Anna's first tip off and she snarled. "Katherine"

Giggling, Katherine looked pleased. "You don't sound surprised Annabelle... how's Jeremy?" she asked provoking a shot of white hot rage from Anna who went straight for the throat and hurled Katherine into the couch. "You shouldn't be so sensitive at your age- I'm not going to hurt Jeremy Gilbert my dear little Annabelle, you love him and that's good enough for me"

Scoffing, Anna kept her guard up. "I loved Mama and you had her killed by Jonathan Gilbert or was that just for the irony" The scorn wasn't for Katherine alone when Anna shared the need to scorn herself for her one time motivations in befriending and courting Jeremy. For the irony of using his Gilbert blood to restore her mother.

"Annabelle, you are how old, a little old to be needing your mother- I must admit getting rid of Pearl was regretful but it was the only way to... well to safeguard your pretty new life with Jeremy among other things" said Katherine and they both heard the sound of the car pulling up. Before Anna could stop Katherine, she was gone.

Elena winced as Damon stalked backwards and forwards, fury etched into his features that would have terrified her if she could feel more than the empty void she had felt since Damon had carried Stefan's body away. "She tried to kill John- she wasn't after this"

"No, of course not- Katherine loves to play games and she played one to get rid of the tomb vampires- only way 'Uncle' John could have gotten his hands on the device and she got burnt when he added rules" sneered Damon and the tiny dark veins spider webbed from his eyes in a rare loss of control. "I'm going to ignore her, draw her out..."

"And then what Damon, she's older than you and she hasn't and I can't-" Elena pleaded with the older Salvatore brother, pleading with him not to do it. She couldn't lose Damon to anything because he was important to her, her friend and whatever else Elena wouldn't allow herself to feel, Damon getting killed was too much. "Please Damon"

Inside the boarding house, it was harder to fight her grief when Elena knew that upstairs in his bedroom, Stefan's body was laying on his bed. The one that they had kissed on, the one they had- and Elena couldn't go through saying good bye to his body.

Anna was curled up on the lounge with Jeremy beside her and Elena didn't begrudge her brother his ending.

"She's right- Katherine is too strong" interjected Jeremy hesitantly as if unsure of his place in all of this and then Elena's brother became more confident. It was his job to be strong in all of this. "You can't do it alone"

"If he can even do it" Anna matched Damon's glare and crossed her arms. "You love Katherine and you couldn't drive a splinter through her"

"You were right yesterday Anna but not now, not when Katherine cost me this- I will find her, stake her, rip her head off- something poetic in Stefan's memory" swore Damon and there wasn't hesitation or weakness in him but his voice hitched slightly when he said Stefan's name, the memory of his brother enough the resolve him to do what he had to do. What he should have done. "But now I'm going to the crematorium with Stefan- my brother and I didn't get a funeral when we died in 1864... Stefan's going to get one; he wanted to be human so badly. I can at least give him this last human rite"

Elena nodded. "Then I'm going with you"

He couldn't stand the sight of them. John Gilbert watched as his nephew came into his hospital room hand in hand with the vampire who would eventually destroy Jeremy and turn him into a monster or leave him in hell, like his Isobel. He should have staked her alongside her mother and then again Stefan Salvatore.

To Be Continued...

I can only write this so often since most days I'm creatively drained through working on my second book and editing the first. It's a pet project, unedited besides a simple spell-check and read through and will only run for so long and get updated when I'm not zonked out. Thank you guys for being so patient and just rest assured knowing it will get completed even if it takes awhile. And the last scene will run into the next chapter when we see Jeremy and Anna question John on Katherine's return and Katherine and Damon meet again... expect major variations.

Please review because reviews are like chocolate, you don't need them but they are good all the same.

- Allison