Hello and Goodbye Again:

Beth was in a large room. It was a room that seemed familiar but she couldn't place her finger on it. She couldn't speak and she couldn't move. She started to panic Suddenly, a tall, faceless man walked towards her, but she wasn't supposed to be afraid. He wasn't going to hurt her. Or so she thought. Before she could scream or cry out, he rushed towards her and snapped her neck and everything went dark.

Beth woke up gasping for air. She automatically touched her throat and only felt her talisman there. She sighed and put her head in her hands as she tried to catch her breathe. These nightmares have been the same since she came back home. Always dying by a faceless man. She tried to shake it out of her head as she got out of bed.

"Morning." Elena greeted her cheerfully as she walked into the kitchen where Elena and Alaric were. Beth groaned and she looked amused as she went to the cupboard searching for medicine.

"No one speak, please. The sun is too bright this morning." Beth complained as she looked for a bottle of aspirin. Elena handed it to her and she gave her an appreciative nod and sat down next to Alaric, who was having the same symptoms as her. Between the drinks and fight she had with Damon, she wasn't feeling well at all. "I have a horrible headache. Are you hung over?" She asked Alaric.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I also, whiskey dialed Meredith last night." He told her and Beth couldn't help by laugh. It was surprising to say the least to see him kissing her when she walked in last night but she just wanted him to be happy. "And I won't remember what happened until these pills kick in."

The doorbell rang and Beth went to answer it. It was sheriff Forbes. "Sheriff Forbes, hi. Is everything okay?" She asked concerned as she stepped out onto the porch. Elena came out behind her, with Alaric by her side, who stood next to Beth.

"I wish I could say it was Beth. This is an unconventional conversation we're about to have. So I hope you'll all protect me on it." She said looking at the two girls and Alaric. They nodded.

"Of course."

"I assume you've all heard out medical examiner was murdered the night of the Wickery Bridge fundraiser?"

Alaric nodded. "Yeah, Brian Walters. Why?"

The Sheriff sighed. "We've been investigating. Someone drove this stake through his heart." She held up a familiar looking stake. Alaric took it and looked at it.

"That's one of ours." He remembered. "I mean this is the set from your parents lake house."

"That's why I'm here." She told him. "I haven't told anyone but forensics ran it for prints and found only one clean set." She looked over at Elena. "Yours."

"What?" She asked incredulously.

xxxxx

Beth walked back downstairs where Alaric and Elena were talking to Damon over the phone. She really didn't want to speak to him but it was important to tell him what the Sheriff told them. "She doesn't think I did it. She's just trying to find out why somebody used one of my family weapons to kill a council member." She reminded Damon over the phone with a sigh. Alaric sat across from Beth as she walked up to the table and around the phone.

"Why don't you ask Ric if his dirty little doctor had access to the weapons?" He asked. Beth knew they probably already filled him in.

"You're on speaker phone, Dick." She snapped at him, though it was for more her benefit than Ric's. Alaric just chuckled. She took the words right out of her mouth.

"Oh look who finally decided to join the party." He replied snarkily. Beth rolled her eyes. She was hoping he wouldn't say anything to Ric about what happened with Klaus, and luckily he didn't. "I'm just saying first suspects usually the right one. Don't get so defensive."

"Brian Walters was killed days ago, right? I didn't show Meredith this stuff until last night!" Alaric reasoned with him. Neither of them really wanted it to be her but they couldn't ignore the evidence, but on the other hand, it didn't seem very likely it was her.

"It wasn't Meredith." Beth decided.

"But Brian Walters was her ex-boyfriend and Ric saw them fighting that night." He reminded her impatiently.

"It's not Meredith. Okay? I refuse to believe your luck with woman is that tragic." She said to Alaric who gave her a small smile. "It's not her, Damon." She said over the phone firmly.

"Like you have such a good judge of character." He scoffed at her.

"Better than yours, asshole." She snapped back at him. Damon was about to retort when Alaric took him off of speakerphone and handed it to Elena. If he let Damon talk, they were going to be fighting the whole time. "What?" She asked. He sighed and pulled her out of the room. "He was the one started it."

"Yeah, but this is Damon. He's just trying to get under your skin and I know you guys aren't exactly on the best of terms right now, so you probably should keep the phone fighting to a minimum." He told her. There was more to the story than either of them were telling him but he knew she'd come to him when she wanted to talk. She sighed and nodded.

"All right, you're right." She agreed. Her phone vibrated. It was a text from Tyler telling her he needs her. "I'm going to go out for a little while before I go see Caroline, okay?" She asked him with a smile. She wasn't lying. She told Caroline that she would meet up with her at the hospital since he got hurt last night. He still didn't trust Tyler and he had good reason but he needed her right now.

"Just be careful, ok? With this serial killer out, I don't want you to be alone too much." He warned her. He knew that she could take care of herself, but they didn't know if this guy was supernatural or not. He needed her to take precautions.

"I will. I'll be with Caroline later too." She assured him. She pecked his cheek before grabbing her jacket from the coat. With a wave of goodbye she left the Gilbert house.

xxxxx

Beth walked into the woods, to where she needed to meet Tyler. There was a certain clearing that they usually met at when they needed to talk or blow off steam by doing target practice. She saw him sitting on a log, looking distressed but he smiled as soon as he saw her. "Hey, is everything ok?" She asked him worried as he stood up and she hugged him.

"Yeah, everything's fine. I just needed to talk to you." He told her pulling back from the hug. She sat down next to him on the log. He was silent for a moment before he began to speak. "Listen, I almost killed Caroline. I bit her, Beth. That was something I never wanted to do. I hurt her and I had no control over it."

"It wasn't your fault, Tyler. It was Klaus' and Caroline knows that." She assured him.

"I know that, but she was still hurt. If you weren't there to help her, I don't know what I would have done. I could hurt someone else, Caroline again or you or the others. I don't want to do that." He told her truthfully. Beth stayed silent and just gave his hand a squeeze. "So I went to Caroline's dad. He said he could help me find a way to break the sire bond. I have to shift continuously until I feel almost no pain." He sighed.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Ty?" Beth asked worried. He had told her how it was horrible to turn, especially against your own will. She hated that he would have to go through this but she knew why he wanted to. He wanted to have control over himself, to not owe Klaus anything. He nodded. "Okay, then, we'll get through it. Together. It'll be okay, Tyler. If you want to do this I'll help you. No matter what." She promised him.

He smiled at her. It was still strange that after all he's done and almost hurt Ric, that she still would be his friend. And help him. "That's the thing. And I don't want you to tell Caroline. Let me, but I can't stay here, Beth. If I get out, I could hurt somebody again. I hurt Damon before and we lost you. I can't have that happen again, so I'm going to leave town for a while." He told her.

"No! No way, Tyler, you can't leave!" She said surprised. He was one of the only ones she could really talk to. Damon was angry with her. She wasn't as close to Elena and Stefan wasn't himself. He was the only one who would understand. "Come on, Tyler. We can do it here! We'll find a way! But you can't leave again."

Tyler felt bad for leaving her but he knew he had to. It was better for all of them. "Beth, I have to. If I don't, it could get worst. I have to get this under control. I don't want to hurt anyone else. I don't want to accidentally shift and hurt someone or kill someone! You have to understand that I have to do this." He insisted as he turned to her. Beth ran a hand over her hair, anxiously. She didn't want him to leave, but it was his choice and she would do the same if she were him.

"Okay. I understand." She sighed. He gave her a grateful smile. "You better call, ok? Whenever you can, you call me! Don't let it be like last time and just disappear off the face of the earth. If I don't hear from you, when you get back, I'll kick your ass!" She threatened half-heartedly. "Just be safe, okay?" He nodded, somberly as he brought his best friend into a hug, not knowing this was going to be the least upsetting moment of her day.

xxxxx

"What?" Beth said into the phone. She didn't realize that she had been with Tyler so long that it night had fallen. She was now walking around the town square, talking to Elena.

'Yeah I know! Apparently the stake that Caroline's dad got stabbed with was one of ours! It was from my parent's stash. So we think that it could have really been Meredith since she was arguing with him and her ex.' Elena told her over the phone.

Beth sighed and sat down at one of the benches. This day was getting worst by the minute. "How is she doing?" She asked worried. She knew that her dad wasn't going to complete the transition. It would be tough for Caroline to go through that.

'Hanging in there, I think. I see you now! We'll go check on her.' She told her as she hung up. Beth saw her familiar car pulling up to her.

Beth bent down to grab her bag and when she stood up a familiar original vampire stood in front of her. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw Elijah. He was standing there looking tall and intimidating as he always did. "Oh my God! What the hell are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry I frightened you." He apologized sincerely.

"H-how are you even here?" Beth asked still startled. She was trying to get her heart to stop racing for a moment and the last time she saw him was when he betrayed them and then Klaus daggered him. Elena started to get out of the car. "You know, I don't even care right now. I have somewhere I have to be." She told him trying to move past him, but he grabbed her arm.

"You have to listen to me, Elizabeth. I came here to apologize to you for what I did." He said to her seriously. Damon already warned him that Beth wasn't going to be his biggest fan when he got back. If anyone knew about her temper it was Damon. He actually warned him to stay away from her, but he had to apologize to her at least. She scoffed and pulled her hand out of his hold.

"Really? For what? Betraying us? Lying to me about what I trusted you to tell me the truth about? Or compelling me to forget what was in my grimoire!" She snapped at him. Elena could see that Beth getting riled up so she walked over to them, hoping to stop them.

"What's going on? Elijah?"

But, both Elijah and Beth were more focused on each other. He wanted her from harm and he did that the best way he knew how. She would have been too stubborn to actually reason with him. "You have to understand, I was just trying to keep you safe."

"You lied to me! And compelled me! I had a choice and you made it, that wasn't your decision to make!" She yelled at him. All the anger and frustration from learning the truth was finally coming out at him.

"It was for your own good, Elizabeth." He told her sharply. He didn't understand why she was still angry. She rolled her eyes and moved to walk away from him, but he grabbed her arm and jerked her back. "We both know that you would have stupidly gone instead if you had known and probably died. I did what I had to do."

Those words were what made her snap. Without thinking, Beth whipped her hand and slapped Elijah across the face. Elena gasped, putting her hands to her mouth. It was not only that Beth did that, it was that Elijah had the power to kill her without even moving. Before either of them could make a move, Elena grabbed Beth by her hand and led her away from a shocked Elijah. Beth willingly got in the car still fuming mad. Elena got in the driver's seat.