A/N: Thank you all so much for the reviews! I appreciate every last one of them! Kol will definitely be coming up in the chapter after this one. I hope you guys like it. There will definitely be a confrontation between Damon and Beth within the next few episodes. And plenty of Beth and Kol scenes. Thank you all again and I hope you guys like this chapter!
Too Many Deaths:
"Okay…what the hell was that?" Elena asked once they were finally settled in the car. That was unexpected.
"I-I just lost it. He lied and compelled me and then he just did that!" Beth defended herself. Both Elena and her knew he crossed a line when he compelled her.
"I know, but that was dangerous, Beth. He could have hurt you." She told her.
"I know. I just lost it." She repeated. Elena understood, seeing as trust was a big thing for her and he broke that. They sat in silence until they got to Caroline's house. Caroline was sitting down on the stairs outside. They exchanged a knowing look and got out of the car. Beth sat on one side of Care, while Elena sat on the other.
She smiled at her friends. "Did you hear back from Tyler yet?" Elena asked her softly after a few moments of silence.
"No. And I've left messages for him everywhere. So, does Alaric really think that that Dr. Fell did it?" Caroline asked them. They exchanged a look. Beth had talked to Alaric and he seemed kind of convinced that she could be a suspect, but didn't want her to be.
"He doesn't know what to think." Beth answered.
"What about you?"
Elena and Caroline looked to her. "I wish the girl Alaric liked wasn't in the middle of all of this. He deserves to be happy." She told them truthfully. That was all she really wanted for Alaric to finally be happy after losing Jenna. "But yeah, she looks guilty."
"It's why I told your mom." Elena added to Caroline.
"My mom's sitting in there with my dad. And I don't think they've been in the same room this long since I was ten years old." She said to them in disbelief. She was still trying to cope with the fact of why they were together again. "Is there any chance that Tyler did it?" That surprised both of her friends.
"What?"
"If Klaus was trying to mess with you and he's sired to Klaus and I mean, he does everything he's told." Caroline reasoned. She really didn't want it to be Tyler, but she had to look at all the suspects. Beth knew for sure that Tyler wouldn't do that, and that Klaus wouldn't send him after her father to do that.
"No way."
"I don't think Tyler did it." Elena agreed with her.
"I can't just let my father die." She said out of the blue. Beth squeezed her hand. It was all sinking in that she was going to lose her father and it wasn't her choice. "You know, I'm…I'm going to force feed him." She decided, but they all knew she couldn't do that.
"Hey…he doesn't want to, Caroline. The only thing your dad has is his choice." Elena reminded her gently.
Caroline started crying. "I hated him so much for what he did to me. So much! Now all I want to do is save his life." She sobbed out. She shouldn't want to after what he did to her, but she didn't want him to die.
"Of course you do. He's your dad." Beth told her with a gentle squeeze of her hand.
"What was the hardest part for you guys?" She asked the girls. If anyone knew what it felt to lose someone they did. They had both lost their parents and Beth's father left her. They would know exactly how Caroline would be feeling. "Losing a parent?"
"Knowing that you're not going to seem them again or talk to them or just really be with them." Beth admitted quietly. Caroline squeezed her hand back, gently.
"Realizing all the things that they wouldn't be there for." Elena added scooting over to the girls. "Things that…that you just need them for, you know?" Caroline nodded, letting a few more tears come out. Beth wrapped her arms around Caroline as she leaned on her. Elena leaned over and rubbed her arm up and down gently, both of the girls doing their best to comfort their best friends. Suddenly, a shadow fell over them and they looked up to see a familiar face.
"Hey." Matt said to Caroline. She sniffled and looked up at him with a sad smile and greeted him the same way. The girls let her go as she got up and walked over to hug Matt. Beth and Elena watched as Matt consoled their friend.
xxxxx
Matt was walking besides Beth as they walked up the stairs to the Gilbert house. Elena was behind them. "Thanks for coming with us back home and for coming to see Caroline." Beth thanked him.
"It's no problem. None of us should have to live this way." He told her as Elena went ahead and opened the door. As they walked in they discovered that the lights were all out. Beth tried flipping the light switch on and off, but it wasn't working. She thought that was weird. "Maybe the electricity is out?" Matt suggested.
They walked into the kitchen. Elena walked over to a cupboard near the fridge. "Here." She said and took out a few flashlights, handing them to her friends. They turned them on. "Beth, will you go check near the counter, I think I have some candles around there?" Beth nodded and walked over to find them, but instead found a puddle of blood.
She let out a gasp and put her hand over her mouth. "Oh my God!" She exclaimed. Matt and Elena ran over to her and saw the same and had the same reaction.
"What the hell?" Matt said confused. Beth moved her flashlight to the hallway outside of the kitchen. There were bloody handprints. Next to them there were knives. They each quickly grabbed one for a weapon. Matt was besides her as Beth and Elena walked out of the kitchen, keeping close by to each other. They followed the bloody handprints out of the kitchen, where they were plastered on the wall, up the stairs. Beth slowly walked up the step, afraid of what she might find. Her heart beat faster, in anticipation of what would be up there. She reached the top step and felt her heart drop into her stomach as she gasped. Alaric was in the doorway of his room, with a knife through his stomach.
"Ric!" She yelled as she ran over to him and let the knife fall. She dropped to her knees as Elena and Matt followed her. Beth was shaking just seeing him like that. "Oh my God, Ric! Oh God!" She placed her hands on the dagger, meaning to pull it out but he yelled in pain and she stopped.
"No! Leave it in. Leave it in!" Matt told her quickly and she looked up at him. "He's lost too much blood." He got up and quickly dug in his pockets for his phone. "I'm going to call 911."
Beth took Ric's face in her hands. "Ric, look at me. Stay with me. T-talk to me, ok? Who did this to you?" She asked her voice shaking. She just needed him to stay awake as she tried to keep calm. Elena was on his other side.
"Ric?" Elena asked again.
"I don't know." Alaric mumbled out.
Beth nodded and she looked down. There was blood. "Oh, God! Matt, there's a lot of blood here!" She told him tearing up.
"I know, Beth! I know." He told her trying to get the paramedics on the line. Beth was tearing up, but had to concentrate on keeping Alaric awake. She wiped the blood away from his cheek.
Alaric turned to Beth, "You have to let Elena kill me."
"What?" She said in shock. She didn't understand, but she wasn't thinking it through. She was too upset. He nodded, trying to get her to understand and he turned to Elena.
"You have to kill me." He told her seriously. "I'll be fine." Beth checked his hand and was starting to understand.
"Wait, wait, wait. Matt, hang up." Beth told him and he slowly put the phone down. "Alaric's right. He has to die a supernatural death so he can come back to life. He'll be healed. You have to do it, Elena." Beth told her seriously and she nodded.
"But how do you know who did this was supernatural?" Matt asked.
"That's what he's saying. We don't, but...I'm the doppelganger." Elena explained as she picked up the knife from the kitchen that Beth dropped on the floor. "That makes me supernatural."
"Elena, no! This is messed up."
"He's dying, Matt." Beth cried out to him. Matt looked at her. She didn't want this to see him stabbed, but it saved Alaric. He backed off. "Do it." She told Elena, who nodded. She hesitated before lifting the knife above her head and plunging it into his chest making Beth wince.
Beth sat by Alaric. He was still out. She was silently praying that he'd wake up soon. It had been almost an hour since Elena had stabbed him. She was hoping that the ring didn't completely stop working. She didn't want to lose Alaric too. Matt came back up the stairs. "He still out?" He asked her softly and she just nodded. Elena was downstairs talking to Caroline.
"Will you stay with me until he wakes up?" She asked him quietly.
"Of course." He nodded, agreeing. He wouldn't ever let her go through this alone. Matt sat down next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. She leaned on him.
"I can't lose him." Beth told Matt as tears fell out of her eyes. He looked down at her. "I can't lose my only family. H-he's all I have left." She cried out and he tightened his hold on her, letting her cry on his shirt, doing his best to try and comfort her.
They sat there like that for a another half an hour. Elena was with them now but she was sitting on the other side of Alaric. Her phone rang. She mouthed it was the sheriff and they nodded, letting her take the call downstairs. Suddenly, Alaric woke up coughing. Beth gasped and crawled over to him and grabbed his hand. "You're okay! You're okay. I-it's going to be okay, Ric." She promised him squeezing his hand. He gave her a weak smile. He wasn't at his best, but he was alive and that's all the hope she needed.
