Author's note: I'm sorry I'm behind on answering reviews. I'm still fighting through some post-surgical issues. My time at the computer is kind of limited, but I want to keep the story moving along. Thanks to those of you who are reviewing. I do read each of them. Thanks.

I don't have a ton to say about this chapter. Yes, it is heavy. And a lot happens... Sadly, the next section of chapters will all be more somber than earlier in the story. Hey, this is TVD, though, it can never stay overly cheerful for too long.

Warnings - Mature, sensitive subject matter, adult content, language, violence, character death

"Are you going to be okay?" Damon studied Elena's pale face without letting go of her arm. He never predicted Elena would have been using the corridor after her doctor's visit.

She focused on the more important question right now. "Does Jenna know yet?"

Damon nodded. "I'm the one who told them." He called Liz as soon as he was out of the building. She said they'd already cleared the scene in the woods. Matt was riding along in the ambulance with Jackson to the hospital. He was hurt, but his wounds didn't seem to be life-threatening.

"Are they here?"

"Are you sure you're up to this?" When Jenna and Alaric met with the doctor in charge of Jackson's care, he'd implied they would have a long wait until they could see their son.

"I have to be." She kissed his cheek and slid her hand down his arm. "Go do your mayor stuff. I know someone will want you to make a statement. I need to stay with Jenna." She squinted her eyes closed and shook her head. "The kids."

"I'll call John and see if he can stay another hour." He pulled his phone from his pocket.

Elena pushed the glass door open and entered the lobby. Thankfully, there was a lull in activity, and she didn't have to encounter too many familiar faces on her way to the surgery waiting area. Liz Forbes and Quinn's family was nowhere to be seen, and for that, she was extremely thankful. She didn't think she was up to seeing them right now.

Rounding the corner, she caught sight of Jenna and Ric. Jenna sat on the plastic chair farthest from the door. She stared at the far wall but didn't seem to be looking at anything. Alaric stood next to her, using the wall for support, with his left hand on her shoulder. As Elena watched, Jenna reached up and took hold of her husband's hand.

Alaric turned and noticed her presence in the room. "Elena."

"How did you get here so fast?" Jenna studied her niece with confusion.

"I was already here." She took the seat next to Jenna. "Doctor's appointment next door."

Jenna nodded slowly. "Your sonogram. I forgot." She forced a smile. "How did it go?"

"Great." Elena wasn't sure it was right for her to still have any happiness left, not on a day like this. She fought to manage a smile. "It's a girl."

"Does Damon know yet?" Jenna's voice trembled slightly.

"Yes. He was there for the sonogram." Elena watched as her aunt fought for control. "Jenna, I'm so sorry." That was all it took. Jenna broke down in Elena's arms. Elena held her aunt tightly as they rocked back and forth. "Damon said Jackson's going to be alright."

"He will be." Alaric nodded. He knelt next to Jenna. "Jenna, shhh. He's going to be alright."

"I know, but..."

"No, we can't think about that now." Alaric shook his head.

Jackson's eyes cracked open and he looked around the room in confusion. Everything was so blurry. How did he get here? Where was here?

"Here you go." Jenna placed his glasses on his face.

He blinked a few times as he realized he was in a hospital bed. "What happened?" He didn't sound like himself. He swallowed and his throat seared with pain.

"You're going to be fine." Jenna ignored his question.

Jackson looked out the window. Pitch black. He shifted in the bed and saw his father and Damon standing in the doorway. "I'll be right back. I promised Elena I'd call when he woke up." Damon ducked out of the room and walked down the hallway to make the call.

"Mom?" Jackson's voice was hoarse, and he reached up to rub his bandaged throat until Jenna pulled his hand away. "We were running. I stopped to tie my shoe." His eyes darted around the room. "I heard a noise in the bushes. I jumped up but I couldn't find her. I kept running but she was just gone. I could hear her. Quinn was screaming and crying and then she just stopped." He turned and looked at Alaric. "Something grabbed me from behind. It bit me and gagged. Then it sounded like it was choking. And then I heard it again. It growled and threw me into the tree."

"Did you see the animal?" Jenna didn't want to hear the answer.

"Not an animal." Jackson shook his head. "I'm not that dumb. It grabbed me from behind. I never saw whatever it was, but it was big. It couldn't have been a dog. The hands. They. They looked like a person's hands. But who would be that crazy?"

"Why did you do it?" Alaric closed in on the bed. "You knew you weren't supposed to go in the woods. You never break the rules. Why this one?" Alaric's voice echoed into the hallway until he was pulled from behind.

Damon threw his friend against the wall. "Stop it!" He pinned Alaric to the wall. "Listen to yourself. Do you think Jackson wanted this to happen?"

"Where's Quinn?" Jackson's voice shook as the spoke to his mother.

"Jackson...I..." Jenna spoke through her tears. "I'm so sorry."

"No. No!" A nurse at the desk looked up in response to Jackson's screams.

"Listen to him." Damon lowered his voice. "No, they shouldn't have gone in the woods. Yes, he should have listened to us. But we're the ones to blame. You. Me. Liz. Everyone who's lied to them about what's out there. If he'd known what was waiting, do you really think he would have ever risked it? Animal attacks." Damon's voice trailed off. "You can fight back against an animal. But this? This is all on me." Alaric stared at his friend - troubled by the amount of guilt he saw on Damon's face. "I'll leave y'all alone."

Elena held tightly to Emma's hand as they walked along the curving gravel driveway. They'd been one of the last families to leave the church, and Damon was forced to park quite a distance from the graveside.

"We have to walk all the way over there?" Nathan's voice carried along the breeze. "It's cold. And I think it's going to rain."

"Shh!" Three family members all turned in sync to shush him.

"Why do we have to be quiet?" Nathan's questions persisted at a barely lower volume.

"Because that's what you do at a funeral." Kennedy explained even though she was running short of patience. The tension in the Saltzman car was overwhelming, and she'd sought refuge with her aunt and uncle's family. Elena had been more than happy to put her to use helping corral her brood while Damon was in mayor-mode. He'd walked ahead while Elena had waited until the last possible second to let her family leave the car.

As the group crested the low hill and closed in on the rows of chairs, Elena's footsteps slowed. She hadn't been ready for this. Immediately to the right of Quinn's gravesite sat a far too familiar sight - a charcoal gravestone labeled Salvatore. She'd brought Claire here a handful of times when she was younger, but she'd never really discussed Stefan with her other children.

"Mom, that's our name! That's really cool! Do you think we're related?" Brayden pointed at the headstone as Elena wished the ground would open up and swallow her.

"Yes." Elena leaned down and grabbed his hand, pulling him along the pathway. "Be quiet." She felt Damon's eyes on her as the group finally reached the graveside. He leaned down and whispered something to Quinn's father and shook the tired-looking man's hand before he walked away from the front row.

"But do you think we know him?" Thankfully, Brayden had the sense to whisper as he continued to point at Stefan's headstone.

"Brayden, just be quiet. Yes, we know him." Claire hissed at her brother.

Elena nodded as she held a finger to her lips. "I'll explain later." Looking around, she discovered with dismay that all the chairs were full. Since they had no other alternative, they stood at the edge of the assembled group. The minister took his place next to the white casket adorned pink roses and began to speak, but Elena tuned him out. She'd spent too many hours matter how hard she tried, she couldn't ignore Stefan's graveside.

Just as tears began to cloud her eyes, she felt strong arms wrap themselves around her. Leaning gratefully against Damon, she wiped her cheeks as she realized it was almost exactly 10 years ago that she'd stood here to say goodbye to Stefan. She looked down and saw Claire - her eyes fixed on the gravestone. When Claire realized her mother had noticed where she was looking, she quickly turned her attention back to the minister speaking.

"Do you need to go?" Damon whispered so softly only Elena could hear him.

"No." Elena shook her head. "It's important that we stay." She motioned in Alaric and Jenna's direction. No one in the town really blamed Jackson, but she knew what it was like to be the subject of whispers. The Saltzmans needed their support more than ever.

"Are you okay?" Elena paused in the doorway to Claire's room. The other children were sad about Quinn, but Elena didn't think the full implications had hit them yet.

Quinn was gone.

She wasn't coming back.

Today as Emma stared at the glittery polish on her nails, Elena had to fight back tears as she realized just how close her youngest daughter was to Jackson's girlfriend. Emma seemed to understand that Quinn was gone, but she knew her daughter didn't yet understand the permanence of the situation.

"Claire?" She noticed what Claire was looking at. "I thought you took those albums back to Jenna.

Claire turned a page and looked up. The puppy was curled up against Claire's leg, and Claire absently rubbed her fingers through the dog's cinnamon-colored fur. "Most of them, but she said we could keep these. They're really yours."

"Are they?" Elena took a seat on the bed beside her daughter. Molly blinked up in annoyance as Elena shook the bed.

Claire nodded and flipped another page. She pursed her lips and her brow furrowed. "That's my real dad, isn't it?"

Claire pointed to a picture of Stefan wearing a light brown shirt under his black jacket. He was standing behind Elena, giving her a rare smile. Judging by what she was wearing, Jenna must have snapped the picture while she was chaperoning the 50s dance.

Elena gave a sad smile and nodded. "That's Stefan." She glanced around the room, feeling guilty. The picture of Stefan on Claire's nightstand had been replaced long ago. She thought about the rest of the pictures in the house...she didn't think Stefan was in any of them.

"He was Dad's brother." A hint of an accusation hung in her voice.

"Claire, you know that." Elena was sure what answer her daughter was searching for, but she did know she was far too emotionally drained to be having this discussion right now. Sadly, she could already tell it was exactly when Claire did need to talk about it.

Claire shook her head. "But I don't understand." Her deep green eyes peered into Elena's. "You love my dad, don't you?" She tapped the picture. "How could you have loved him too?"

Elena sat still. She hadn't been prepared for that question - not today. Maybe she'd been ready for questions about Quinn or Mystic Falls' unusually high animal attack count or why Jackson seemed so angry at everyone right now. But not questions about Elena's relationships with the Salvatore brothers.

"I mean...I see you with Dad. You're going to have another baby...but why was he second? You married him..." Claire pointed angrily at Stefan's picture. "You married him first. Why not Daddy? Why couldn't he be MY dad?"

"Claire, that's such a complicated question. There's not an easy answer for that."

"Then tell me...something. You never talk about him. Ever!"

"I'm sorry." Elena felt her eyes begin to fill. "I didn't know you wanted to talk about him. I tried a few times when you were younger, and…" Elena paused, knowing that she'd never been fair to her daughter in not discussing this topic. "I honestly thought it was easier that way."

"Maybe easier for you." Her solemn girl had definitely inherited her father's temper. "I don't know anything about him."

"I used to try to tell you. You always left the room when I talked about your dad."

"Not my dad. Damon's my dad."

"I know that. I know that Damon's the dad you've always known, but I'm not sure what else to call Stefan…because he was your dad too. What do you want to know?"

Claire chewed her lip and drummed her finger on the album cover. "How did you meet?"

Elena reached for a tissue off Claire's nightstand. I was unconscious in the back seat of my parents' car. Your dad dove in and saved me, but my parents drowned. She knew she couldn't give the real answer - that would lead to too many questions. Instead, she decided to tell her daughter about the first time she met Stefan. "It was the first day of school my junior year. Our parents had died in May, and your Uncle Jeremy was having a hard time with it. He was doing some things he shouldn't, and I'd followed him into the boys' bathroom at school. After yelling at Jeremy for a while, I stormed out of the bathroom and walked right into your dad."

"You met Stefan coming out of the boys' bathroom?" Elena noticed her daughter's use of Stefan's proper name instead of calling him her father.

"Yep." Elena nodded as she laughed in an attempt to diffuse the tension in the room. When did her daughter turn into an angsty pre-teen?

"No wonder you've never told me that story before." Claire giggled.

"Not really my proudest moment. Was Dad there too?"

"No. Damon had already graduated."

Claire flipped to the end of the album. She pointed to a picture of Stefan holding Elena in his arms as Elena proudly displayed a shining solitaire ring on her left hand. "Tell me about this one."

Elena slid the book in front of her. She took a deep breath. "Your dad..."

"He's not my dad. I've never met him."

"Alright," Elena answered softly. She corrected herself. "Stefan had just asked me to marry him." She closed her eyes and thought back to that night. "It was Christmas Eve. I was a freshman in college. We were at Aunt Jenna's house. She and Alaric had been married for a year, and it was our first Christmas as a family. We'd just finished dinner and I realized your dad...Stefan... and I were the only two left in the living room. We were sitting under the tree in front of the fireplace. He took my hand and got down on one knee. I said yes before he'd finished asking the question. Turns out, everyone else was in on it. They'd all been standing around the corner in the kitchen waiting for him to ask the question. He'd asked Alaric and Jenna for permission the day before and they hadn't said a word. Jenna took that picture right after he slid the ring on my finger. "

"Was Dad there?"

Elena nodded. She remembered the look on Damon's face when he saw the ring on Elena's hand. Even today, she couldn't escape the memory of the shadow of sadness in those blue eyes.

"What did he say?"

"I was happy for my brother." Elena jumped in surprise. She hadn't realized Damon had joined him. "He'd made an excellent choice."

"Did you ever wonder if you married the wrong one first?" Claire was beyond persistent as she looked up at Damon.

"Never." Elena didn't hesitate in the slightest as she wrapped her arm around her daughter. "Because then I wouldn't have you."

"She really put you through the wringer up there." Damon stood in the middle of the kitchen and pulled Elena to him. He felt the tension in her shoulders as he held her against his chest.

"I should have been expecting it." She sighed. "She kept staring at the gravestone through the whole funeral. Of all the places in the cemetery, why there?" She rolled her eyes.

"She's been asking a lot of questions lately." Claire was growing up, much to his chagrin. She'd noticed the fact she was the only family member with light hair and green eyes years ago, but the news of the baby seemed to only reinforce the fact that Damon wasn't truly her dad. He'd been fielding questions about Stefan almost every night now. It was only a matter of time before she finally broke down and talked with Elena.

Damon stroked her hair. "But I still wish she'd picked a different day. How are you holding up? I know you didn't sleep well last night."

"If I can just get rid of this headache, I'll be fine." She pulled away and reached for the bottle of Tylenol.

"Why don't you go lay down while I fix dinner?" Damon gently turned her back to face him. He cupped her face in his hands and looked at her. He didn't like what he saw. He understood the bloodshot eyes, but the deep circles bothered him. He'd noticed her rubbing her hands earlier in the day and now her rings were suspiciously absent.

"No, if I sleep now, I won't sleep tonight."

"If you won't sleep, at least go sit down and rest for a while. You were on your feet the whole service. Alaric, John, and Jeremy are going to come over tonight. I know they're wanting to talk about what we're going to do. It's going to be a long night."

John, Jeremy, Alaric, Damon, and Elena sat in the Salvatore living room. The true secret council, they sat scattered around the room and stared at each other.

"If we had an idea of why they're back, it might give us an edge." John took a sip of his coffee.

"This is Mystic Falls...that seems to be as good of a reason as any." Jeremy pursed his lips and shrugged his shoulders.

Damon nodded in agreement. "Of course, we do know one thing." He waited for the attention of those in the room. "Whoever this is, they have to be wearing a daylight ring." He paused as the implication of that statement set in. "Not even Rose or Lexi had one of those."

"They have to know a Bennett witch." Alaric shifted in his chair.

"Or Katherine." Elena let out a long sigh. "Which doesn't really narrow it down."

"The only spell for the rings is still in Bonnie's grimoire. She still has it, right?" Jeremy turned to Elena.

"I think so. I'll call her tomorrow." Elena leaned forward and held her head in her hands.

"It's the only one that we know of, but let's be honest, there are other powerful witches out there. They might have found someone who wasn't a Bennett who knew the spell too." John spoke, from his spot next to the fireplace.

Everyone in the room jumped as a soft knock could be heard from the door. It was after ten o'clock - far too late for casual visitors. "I'll get it." Damon slowly stood and looked through the window next to the door. He unlocked the deadbolt and opened the front door a crack. "Jackson."

"What are you doing here?" Alaric asked as Damon let his son in the house.

"Mom told me this is where you'd gone." Something had changed in Jackson's expression. He was no longer sad. He was angry. "I want to know what's going on. Don't try to tell me it was a dog. A dog couldn't do this." He tore the bandage away from his neck. "And a dog couldn't send me flying into a tree." He motioned with his arm in the sling. "There's something else going on here, and I want in."

"Not a chance." Alaric stood and crossed his arms.

"You're not old enough." John agreed.

Jeremy looked back and forth at the two older men. "He's older than I was."

"Or I was." Elena softly added.

"It's not like you had much of a choice." Damon stood behind Elena and rubbed her shoulder.

"Stop talking around me. I know you're lying..to me...to everyone in the town. I heard you at the hospital." He stared accusingly at Damon and Alaric. "Do you really think I'd have let Quinn talk me into going into the woods if I'd have known something was really out there waiting for us."

"No, we don't." Alaric shook his head. If anything, his son was overly cautious. He knew he'd never have risked Quinn's safety - her life - if he'd realized there was truly a danger out there. Elena and Jeremy were right, they were deeply entrenched in the supernatural world embedded within Mystic Falls by the time they were Jackson's age. If he really thought about it, Kennedy is even older now than Jeremy was back then. Jenna was going to give him hell for what he was about to do. "Have a seat. You're going to want to be sitting down for this."

Elena turned her head and looked at the clock. Almost three. She was going to pay for this in the morning.

After Jackson's arrival at the house, it was after one when they'd finally been able to go to bed. The emotional impact of the day bearing down on her, she was exhausted; but she couldn't get comfortable. This little one seemed to only find one comfortable resting place tonight - squarely in the middle of her bladder. Damon had tossed and turned for an hour after they came to bed. His breathing had only recently become the deep, regular pattern she associated with his sleep. As something sharp poked into her ribs, she realized that sleep wasn't going to be coming any time soon. Instead of taking the chance of waking Damon, she cautiously pulled his hand off her belly before she slid out of bed and padded down the hall to her office. She had some edits due to Val next week - might as well try to work on them while the house was quiet.

As she slid back the cushioned office chair, she knew the edits weren't going to happen. She'd forgotten that she'd placed the family albums here after her conversation with Claire.

She stared at the stack warily. Some of them were old. She recognized her baby album at the bottom of the pile. As she ran her finger over the toffee-colored album on top, she realized she hadn't looked at some of these since her parents died.

Now was as good a time as any.

Picking up the first album, she placed it on the desk in front of her. It opened with a creak, and she laughed out loud at the first picture. She couldn't have been more than a year old. She stood next to a stroller as she wore a furry white bunny costume with a pink bow tie. A bright orange carrot strapped into the stroller seemed less than pleased to be part of the neighborhood Halloween parade. Jeremy's face was such a bright shade of red, he looked as if he were wearing face paint. His mouth was open wide in a silent scream. Somehow, she didn't think it was that silent when the picture was taken. She held her hand over her mouth so her laughter didn't wake anyone. Jeremy seriously needed to see that picture...or maybe Grayson did.

As she paged through the book, she remembered why her mother was in charge of the records for the Mystic Falls Historical Society. Each photo was meticulously documented - telling who was in the picture and when it was taken. She spun the chair around and looked at the box in her storage closet. With a hint of guilt, she knew that her mother wouldn't have approved of her method of record keeping.

She came to the end of that album and picked up the next. As she opened the red leather book, she flinched as the first photo tumbled into her lap. Picking it up, she sighed with relief. How did Emma's cheerleading picture get in here? She placed it to the side and turned her attention back to the first page in the album. Sadly, she realized the picture had fallen out at some point through the years.

Her eyes focused on her mother's neat writing.

Elena - first day of cheerleading - Mystic Falls Recreational Center

She stared at the words on the page before she reached for the picture she'd just set aside on her desk. Not wanting to believe what she was seeing, she blinked down at the picture.

Dark brown hair curled into bouncing pigtails.

Chocolate brown eyes with long lashes that rested against her cheek.

Caught mid-giggle, a single dimple was visible on her cheek.

Elena sprinted for the bathroom as reality took hold of her. She understood. She knew why the vampires were back, and it made her blood run cold. After she was certain nothing was left in her stomach, she slowly stood back up and walked to the office - mentally begging the picture to have changed.

But it hadn't.

With trembling fingers she took hold of the photo and made the journey to their bedroom.

"Damon." She shook his shoulder. "Damon." She flicked on the bedside lamp.

"Elena, what's wrong?" He sat up so quickly that he bumped his head on the headboard.

"I know why they're here." She let the picture flutter through her fingers and come to rest on the bed beside Damon.