A/N: Hey guys! Thank you so much for all the reviews! I hope you guys like this chapter! I'm sorry it's been a few days but it's been a slow week. Hopefully, I'll be able to write more this weekend so I can update quicker! Thank you all again so much!

Too Close of a Call:

Beth opened the door to Elena's house. Alaric was still unconscious on the couch and no one else was home. Beth threw down her bag and sat across from him, waiting for him to wake up as it started getting dark. After about a half an hour, Alaric started to stir. Beth ran to his side as he started to wake up. "Are you okay?" Beth asked as he begun to sit up. He held his stomach as though he was in pain.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He assured her with a small smile. "Are you okay?" He asked her concerned.

"I'm fine and so is Jeremy." She told him as they stood up. The door opened to reveal Elena walking in.

"Beth! Ric, hey! When did you return to the land of the living?" Elena asked as she put down her bag and walked over to them.

"Oh, just a few minutes ago. How's Jeremy?" He asked the girls. Beth sighed. He didn't take what happened to him well. He wanted to just leave town with all of them.

"Hating me. Hating life. Hating the fact that we can't have a family dinner without someone dying before dessert." She told him. Alaric started to cough, roughly into his hand. Beth and Elena shared a look before turning to him. "Are you okay?" He was about to wave it off when Alaric started to cough up blood in his hand.

"Oh my God!" Beth exclaimed. That usually didn't happen when he came back to life. Something went wrong.

"Something's wrong. The ring." He coughed out. Alaric fell, moaning on the floor.

"Ric!" Beth shouted as she kneeled besides him. Elena called the paramedics while Beth stayed with Alaric. After a few minutes, they finally arrived.

"What happened?" One of them asked as Elena opened the door wider to let the other one in.

"He got his by a car and…he's coughing up blood." She explained. Beth moved out of the way for them to check on him.

"Get his vitals." The other one said. He got them. Beth hugged herself as she waited for them to finish up.

"Pulse is pretty weak. Looks like internal bleeding. We've got to get him out of here." Beth got worried at that. This had never happened before with the ring. He came back and he was completely fine. She didn't realize she was shaking.

"Let's move." The other one said. They got up to get him when someone spoke behind Elena and Beth.

"Let's not and say we did." Beth turned. It was the hybrid that ran him over earlier. He turned to the paramedics. "Why don't you two meet us at the hospital?" They got up with their equipment and walked out of the house.

Elena and Beth got scared. "No! No, no, no wait! You have to help him!" Beth turned to the hybrid, angrily. "What are you doing?"

"You can still save his life." He reached out his arm and let his wrist be exposed. "Here, take my blood." He didn't move. "I can't get in. You're going to have to invite me." Neither of the girls made a move to do that. It was a trick. If he were invited then he'd have free access to come in and hurt any one of them.

"No. Why are you doing this?" Elena asked outraged.

"Klaus asked for his family. You didn't deliver." He told them. Beth was about to reply when Ric started to cough roughly again. There was more blood this time.

"Ric! Oh my God!" Beth said as she ran back to him. "Hey, I'm right here."

She told him taking his face in her hands. He still was coughing. Elena ran over to Ric to kneeling on his other side.

"He's going to die." The hybrid said from the door. They both looked up at him. "Might want to invite me." Beth and Elena were contemplating it. Neither of them wanted Ric to die and they didn't know how to get him to the hospital. Suddenly, Tony jerked in pain. Someone had shot him. He fell to the ground with an arrow in his back. Elena ran to the door. Jeremy was standing behind him with a crossbow in his hand.

"Jeremy." She sighed in relief.

"He's not dead yet." He told her as he walked in the house.

"Where are you going?" He walked past them and into the kitchen. He came back a minute later with a huge kitchen knife in his hand. "What are you doing?" She asked.

"Jeremy?" Beth asked.

He walked outside and kneeled besides the hybrid. He raised the knife and slammed it down on the hybrid's neck. Both girls yelled in shock and Elena covered her eyes. They turned back to see blood splattered on Jeremy's face and Elena was shaking. "Now he's dead." He told them, as he stood up straighter. "We've got to get Alaric to the hospital now." He said. Beth snapped out of her shock and Jeremy walked over to her. He nodded at her, saying that it was going to be okay. Beth sure hoped it would be.

xxxxx

Beth tapped her foot impatiently on the ground, as she paced around the car. She couldn't be in the hospital. She was too nervous, though she knew that Damon would heal Alaric. It was still nerve wrecking, the ring didn't work properly. It only brought him back to life and it didn't completely heal him. She was just glad they got him there on time. "He's okay." Beth jumped at the familiar voice. Damon was walking behind her. "Blood healed him right up. He's coming out now."

"He is? Thank you." She sighed in relief. It felt like she was finally able to breathe. Alaric was safe, so that was the most important thing. She'd deal with Klaus when she saw him for herself.

"Just tell Ric he owes me a drink." He told her and she nodded. He sighed and he started to walk away before stopping and turning to go, "El, I….. I didn't mean what I said. From before."

"It doesn't matter." Beth said shaking her head with a sigh. He went on to say something else but she spoke, "Damon, I can't do this. I need to make sure Alaric is okay. You get that right?"

He hesitated before nodding. "Yeah, yeah I get that. I'll see you later." He said shortly and he disappeared. It wasn't that easy to just forgive him. He hurt her and she wasn't just going to say it was okay, but she missed him. That was the worst part. Beth was knocked out of her thoughts when she saw Alaric and Jeremy coming towards her.

"Ric!" She smiled and ran into his arms. "I am so glad, you're okay." She sighed as he finally let her go. Jeremy got into the car, letting them have their moment together. "I was scared that we didn't get you to the hospital fast enough, or that Damon didn't give you enough blood or…"

"I'm fine, sweetie. I promise. I think something is wrong with the ring but the blood helped. I'll be okay, Beth." He assured her. She smiled up at him and hugged him tightly again. This was too much of a close call. She could have lost him, cause they relied on the ring too much. Because of Klaus, Alaric ended up in the hospital. He pulled back. "So, you ready to go back to the house?"

"I actually brought my car so I'm going to meet you guys there. I need to get some clothes from the apartment." She told him. He nodded and kissed the top of her head before letting her go. She didn't like lying to Alaric, but if he knew who she was going to see, he'd go ballistic and Klaus wasn't going to get off that easy.

xxxxx

"Klaus!" Beth shouted as she walked into the house. It was the only house in town that had been recently bought and she saw him in the window. He was there and she was furious. He walked into the hallway where she was. His seemingly joyful expression turned grim as he saw her angry one. She stalked up to him. His head whipped to the side as she punched him. She let out a shout of pain at the contact. It hurt more than she thought it would.

"Bloody hell!" He shouted as he grabbed his face. It apparently hurt him more, though. He glared at her and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Do you have a death wish?" He growled out. Beth pulled out of his hold.

"What are you going to do? Have me run over like Alaric was?" She snapped angrily at him. Klaus' expression changed to surprise and guilt as she took a step back. "That's what I thought." She turned to leave the house, when he appeared in front of her, blocking her pathway. He wasn't going to leave without explaining himself first.

"Alaric wasn't the one to get hit, love. I wouldn't do that to you." He told her sincerely. She scoffed at that.

"Yeah, cause trying to run over Jeremy is so much better!" She said sarcastically to him. "So, you tried to keep me distracted, by pretending to miss me and asking if I was okay so you can make sure one of them got hurt." Beth tried to push past him again but he wouldn't budge. "Get out of my way!"

"Not until you let me explain." He said firmly, backing her into a wall so she couldn't escape. "The best way to send a message was to use Jeremy. I need my family back. You understand that. I didn't lie about missing you either, you have to believe that."

"I understand that but I would never have taken it that far! And because of you Alaric ended up in the hospital! The ring wasn't working and he barely made it!" She yelled at him. Klaus looked at her shocked. He thought the ring he had was just like the younger Gilbert's. It should have brought him back to life without any problem. It was no wonder she was taking this worst than expected.

"What do you mean the ring wasn't working? He's alive, isn't he?"

"If Damon hadn't gotten there do you know what would have happened?" She shouted at him. Beth was so angry she didn't know how badly she was really shaking. Tears started to develop in her eyes, making Klaus feel guilty. Something he didn't feel a lot. "Do you know he wouldn't have made it? He wouldn't be here! What if he had…?" She couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence. Klaus reached out for her but she pushed him, but it didn't even move him. She hit his chest again, not even caring that she was freely crying now. He wrapped his arms around her bringing her to him as she struggled for a minute before letting herself just cry.

She wouldn't let herself cry before. Alaric needed her and she wasn't going to let herself do that when he needed her. But now it was all rushing to her how she could have lost him. She didn't want to be involved anymore than she wanted him involved. The only family she had left might have died. Even if Klaus didn't mean it, he still had the guy try to run over Jeremy. It was wrong to be here and letting him hold her while she cried but she just needed him to promise her that wouldn't happen again. Beth pulled back from him. "You can't hurt Alaric again, Klaus. Whatever stupid problem you're having with Stefan, leave him out of it. Understand?" She asked as she wiped her eyes. "I mean it. If you want to be my friend, you can't hurt the others. That includes Damon." No matter how angry she was at Damon, he was still her best friend. She didn't want Klaus so kill him or the others.

He nodded at her. "I give you my word, Elizabeth, I will do everything in my power to make sure that will not happen again." Klaus felt horrible that he caused her so much pain. It was the last thing he wanted was for her to have another reason to dislike him. Beth took a step back though. He still hurt Alaric so she didn't completely trust him yet. As they stood there, neither of them realized they were being watched by Stefan, who suddenly realized where Klaus' second biggest weakness lay.