"I enrolled in this class at the art center, and it's incredible, Elena. It's a charcoal drawing class, so it's all about shading and light and dark and smudging and it's just so cool. The teacher really likes what I've done so far and is already talking about how I should be in the advanced class soon," Jeremy said in a happy tumble of words. Elena smiled against the phone, surreptitiously wiping her eyes with the tips of her fingers. He just sounded so normal, so unburdened. For the first time in years, Jeremy was getting to be a kid. "But all I've done is talk about me—are you doing okay? How's Mystic Falls?" he asked.
"It's...Mystic Falls. You know how that goes," she said, doing her best to keep the worry and tension out of her voice. The last thing she wanted to do was remind him of what he'd left behind. "But no, everything's great. I even got a B+ on my biology makeup test. Things are looking up. Listen, I don't want to keep you. I just wanted to hear your voice." Elena said.
"Yeah, I probably should go, I kinda promised I'd meet this girl..." Jeremy said.
"Then you shouldn't keep her waiting. Have fun. I love you, Jer," she said. Her heart gave a painful sideways beat. Nothing made her happier than hearing about his fresh start, his second shot at life, but she wanted so badly to see the man he was becoming.
"Love you too, 'Lena. Say 'hey' to everyone for me."
Elena ended the call, staring down at the phone in her hand. At least she knew that no matter what happened to her, Jeremy was happy. Jeremy would be safe. Had he still been in town, Elena wasn't at all sure she could be so brave about all this. With him out of the equation, it was easier to think clearly about the situation, to find the right way out of this mess instead of worrying about holding onto her one last, precious piece of family.
But right now, she couldn't think about him; couldn't think about what would happen if he lost his last blood relative. Even calling him was an indulgence, but Elena had to remember what she was fighting for: a chance to live and be with people she loved.
Elena peered into the living room, where Damon paced in front of the fireplace. Even from this distance, she could see that every muscle in his body was locked and tense, hands clenched into fists at his side. When Damon was too wound up to even drink, things must be dire. Elena dug into her backpack, withdrawing a pen and a notebook, then went to join him in the living room. She sat down and opened the notebook, drawing a neat grid on the lined page.
"What are you doing? How can you just sit there? We should be halfway to Tahiti by now," Damon said, his voice as hard and as bitter as glass.
"I'm almost used to this, sad as that is. It's not the first time I've been threatened like this." She paused, thoughtful. "It's not even the first time I've been threatened by Klaus like this."
"All the more reason why we should get out of town," Damon insisted.
"You're acting like I don't know what's at stake. I've lived what's at stake. Or don't you remember pulling those tubes out of my arm at the hospital?" Elena asked, suppressing her own shudder at the memory. Too exhausted to move, too weak to pluck the needles from her arm that siphoned her blood away, but just conscious enough to realize what horrors she was unwittingly unleashing on the world. "I know you're scared, but this isn't about you. This time, we're not giving up. Now stop pacing, you're making me nervous."
That seemed to get his attention. He blinked at her, but he relaxed fractionally, and gave a determined nod. "All right. We'll play it your way. For now." He picked up her notebook, frowning down at the grid. "What's this?"
Elena tugged the page from his hands. "This is going to help us figure out what we're going to do. We're going to write down all of our options, the pros and cons, and figure out what our best move is."
Damon nodded with grudging admiration. "A little more organized than our normal tact. We'll go with it. Option One: Give Klaus what he wants, start a new life in the south of France."
"I thought you said Tahiti," Elena said. She wrote "give Klaus the coffin" in neat block letters.
"Lady's choice. Just so long as it's in a different hemisphere," Damon said, finally coming to sit beside her.
"Okay, so. We give Klaus the coffins. Pros to that plan," Elena said, steering the conversation back on track.
"Klaus leaves us alone. We never have to see him again. We get to start over in a place with 100 percent fewer hybrids," Damon said.
Elena wrote briskly. "Right. Cons: He's never actually going to leave me alone. Not while he needs my blood to make hybrids. And we don't know what's in the coffin. There could be something awful in there," Elena said.
Damon held up a finger, starting to protest, then seemed to change his mind. "Okay, I'll give you the first point. Maybe we can just FedEx him some blood when he needs a new army. I don't really care, so long as we aren't anywhere near him. But for the second point, what could possibly be worse than Klaus and his army of hybrids?"
"If there's one thing vampires have taught me these last couple years, it's that there's always something worse. No offense," Elena said.
"None taken," Damon replied, one corner of his mouth quirking into a half smile.
"Con: Leaving behind Ric and Caroline and Bonnie and Matt and everyone," Elena said, continuing to write.
"Pro: Leaving behind Stefan, Klaus, and the whole assorted cast of hybrids and Originals," Damon said.
"I'm not writing that," Elena said.
"What, because you can't wait to spend more time with Rebekah?" Damon shot back.
"Well, no. But you didn't mean that part about Stefan," Elena said. "He's still your brother."
"Oh, I mean it, Elena. Right now I would like very much to chain my brother in the tomb for a couple of decades until he gets this bullshit out of his system," Damon said.
Elena shook her head. "Fine. I'm not going to argue with you. He's not exactly my favorite person right now, either, but you know you'd miss him."
"Maybe in a century or two," Damon said grudgingly. "Distance makes the heart grow fonder, et cetera."
Elena began to argue, but stopped herself. There was no point. If Damon wanted to keep pretending that Stefan meant so little to him, let him. This wasn't Stefan's fight anymore, after all: he'd involved them, and now they would have to deal with the consequences of his actions.
"All right. I think that's enough for that plan. Option two: We don't give Klaus the coffin. Pro: He doesn't get what he wants, the coffin stays hidden, the good guys win," Elena continued.
"Who cares, Elena? This isn't some big moral battle, this isn't about good versus evil—this is about Stefan wanting payback. Do I even need to mention the giant, massive downside to that plan?" Damon asked.
"Con: Klaus tries to capture me and keep me as a blood cow," Elena said unflinchingly. "Yeah, we have to say it. We have to know what we're facing."
"That," Damon said, his voice dangerously soft, "is not an option."
"It's not my favorite plan either, Damon, but we're putting all of the possibilities down," Elena said, writing each pro and con in its assigned column.
"Fine. If we're listing all the possibilities, then here's one: We don't give Klaus the coffin, and turn you so his blood cow plan—as you so charmingly put it—doesn't work," Damon said.
Elena paused, her pen hovering over the paper. She pursed her lips tightly, but true to her word, she wrote "vampire plan" on the page. "Okay, Damon. Con: I refuse to turn because of some plan, so you'll have to force feed me blood and then kill me. Are you ready to deal with the fallout from that? It didn't end well last time."
"Just keep throwing that back in my face, Elena. You said we'd consider all the options, and that's an option. I say it's a good compromise: You win because Klaus doesn't get his coffins; I win because you're not a vegetable. Oh wait, you win there, too. Everyone wins!" Damon cried.
"I'm not 'throwing it in your face,' I'm telling you what would happen. The fact that I would never forgive you would be a con for both of us," Elena said, struggling to keep her temper in check. She knew he was trying to help. She wasn't even terribly surprised he'd broached the idea. But he couldn't genuinely consider the idea. It wouldn't solve anything. "Also a con: Klaus would be so pissed when he found out I'd turned, he'd rip my heart out."
Damon sighed. "Yeah, you're probably right. Write it down."
Elena obliged, crossing the final t. "Any other options?"
"No, I think that pretty much covers shitty options A through C," Damon said.
"Don't you think we should get Stefan or Bonnie involved? At least Alaric," Elena suggested.
"No. Absolutely not. The last time our plan got fucked to smithereens, it was because we involved too many people. Too many moving parts. We either find a solution, or we give him the coffin. Period," Damon said. "And looking at these options, it's looking like we give him the coffin."
Elena stared down at the piece of paper, as if the options would suddenly line up and give them a clear answer. It was starting to look like Damon was right, that the only option would be to give Klaus what he wanted. "If only we could open it and find out what's in there. What could be so important to him now that we know he's got the rest of his family with him?"
Damon shrugged. "Don't know. But-" he broke off, eyes lighting with sudden inspiration. "If we can't open it, why do we think he can?"
"Why would he carry around a coffin he can't open? He must have some plan," Elena said.
"Maybe not. The dead witches seemed very concerned about keeping that coffin shut. If they wouldn't let us open it, why would they let him?" Damon sat up, a sudden smile crossing his face. "I think we might need to call in Bonnie, after all."