Time After Time:

"Carol Lockwood always said that togetherness in times of tragedy, leads to healing. That one community is stronger than a thousand of its members, but how does a community stay strong after losing its leader?"Beth listened patiently to the Sheriff's speech as she sat next to Caroline, who was next to Tyler. She felt horrible about Tyler losing his last parent, she knew how hard that could be. He seemed to be closed off to sympathy and just wanted to be left alone, she was surprised Caroline got him to come. What was worst was it that it sounded like Klaus did this, which wouldn't be unheard of.

Beth tried to be there for her friend, but she couldn't help but be worried for Kol too. When she had gotten back from the lake house, he wasn't there. He later called to tell her that he had to leave, but he'd check in later. That was a few days ago and she was confused and worried to why he had to dash off so quickly. "And Carol was so much more than a leader; she was an open minded friend and a concerned mother taken from us too soon by a terrible accident."

That was the breaking point for Tyler, as Caroline was tipping her candle towards Beth for her to light it, Tyler stood up. "Screw this." He mumbled as he started walking down the bleachers.

"What?" Caroline said concerned as she looked at him. "Tyler! Tyler?"

Beth sighed and placed a hand on Caroline's to stop her from going after him. She knew better than anyone that he just needed time for himself and that's what she should do. Caroline looked upset, but nodded. "Please join me in observing a minute of silence in her memory." All of them bowed their heads in respect for the former mayor.

"Thank you so much." The sheriff said as they all looked up. Caroline sighed and Beth squeezed her hand as she returned a weak smile. "In the wake of this tragedy, the town has selected an intern mayor. Many of you may already know him. Please welcome, Mr. Rudy Hopkins." They all clapped as Bonnie's father took the stand. After a speech from the new mayor, everyone fanned out.

"Hey, I'll meet up with you later, I've got to put my things up." She told Caroline, through the noise and she nodded and Beth left to go to the quieter side of the school where her locked was, thankfully. She tried calling Kol, as well, but he once again didn't answer. She was getting worried and angry, as she slammed the door shut. She turned around to see Rebekah. She was shocked, she hadn't seen her in weeks. "B-Bekah? Where have you been? I haven't seen you in weeks."

Rebekah actually seemed happy to know that she had been missed, but was also on a mission and didn't want to get distracted. "Hello, Elizabeth. I'm terribly sorry about this, love, but I may need your assistance to clear up a few things." She apologized beforehand. Beth couldn't even get a word out before she felt a searing pain in the back of head and she fell unconscious.

xxxxx

Beth opened her eyes to see that she was in a chair. She shook her head, but found that it hurt to move it. She hissed in pain. She saw that Elena and Caroline was besides her. "Sorry about the hit, love. Needed you here." Rebekah apologized as she came closer to the table, handing her a bottle of pills and water.

"There's this great things, called manners. You could've asked." Beth grumbled as she took them. Rebekah felt slightly guilty before shaking it off. She'd get fully into the apology later, she wasn't going to be fooled again, not when the cure was still out there. "Why are we here, anyways?"

"I have questions that need answer, so be a dear, don't move, while I get out another guest." She zipped off before she could reply. Beth touched the tender part of the back of her head and winced, that was definitely going to leave a bruise.

"Why are we here?" She asked.

"Who knows?" Caroline sighed. 'I think she wanted answers about the cure. Only reason why she would want all of us here at the same time. Where's her psychopathic brother to reel her in?" She mumbled placing her head on the table.

"I'm pretty sure Klaus is the reason why she's pissed." Beth sighed. Before either of them could respond, Rebekah came through the doors with Stefan, pushing him in by the arms.

"Stefan." Elena automatically stood up seeing her ex-boyfriend there.

"Did I say you could move?" Rebekah asked pointedly, and she promptly sat down. "Class is in session. You've all been compelled, you know the rules. Answer my questions honestly, no disobedience, no one leaves." She looked at them all, and then turned to April. "April, my sweet, take notes. This is how you get answers in this town. Let's start with a little quiz. IN the year 1114, my brother learned, thanks to yours truly, about a brotherhood of vampire hunters with tattoos that grew with each kill." She turned to Elena. "These tattoos revealed what, Elena?"

"A map."

She smiled. "Which led to what Caroline?"

"The cure."

"For, Elizabeth?"

"Vampirism."

Rebekah grinned at them. "Perfect, so we're all caught up. Stefan Salvatore, the last time we saw each other, you had a vampire hunter, but in order to decode the map, you needed the location of the hunters sword which you got out of me using some very dirty tricks. Assuming you found the sword, you also found the cure, and yet, you're all still vampires which means something went wrong." She looked at him suspiciously, before turning to April, who was writing. "What are you doing?"

She fumbled for her words, obviously slightly intimidated by Rebekah, though they claimed to be friends. "You asked me to um take notes." She explained.

"I wasn't being literal, darling. But not that you mentioned a flow chart would be nice, which means index cards and push pins. Go fetch." She watched April leave the room.

"You're wasting your time. We don't know anything." Stefan declared.

Rebekah scoffed. That didn't seem like someone who was in love would just give up. "So you juts gave up? I thought you would do anything to save Elena?" She taunted him. "Even if it meant taking the cure yourself, so you can grow old and die with her?" She asked, Elena turned to look at him shocked, but he refused to look at her.

"Why do you look so surprised?" She asked. Beth went to tell her, but Caroline kicked her. She shot her a look and kicked her back. Rebekah noticed. "I'm missing something/ What is it?"

"They broke up, okay?" Beth exclaimed. It wasn't like she wasn't going to find out soon enough. Rebekah seemed pleased by this news.

"Now let us go." Caroline demanded.

"Broke up" The Original asked surprising. "Wait, I'm confused. I thought Elena was your epic love, Stefan?" She asked him with a smile, but he seemed adamant on not saying a word. She sat down in April's chair next to Elena and Beth. She grew impatient. "I asked you what happened. You have to tell me."

"She slept with Damon." Beth looked over at Stefan shocked, as did Elena and Rebekah, but the only one who didn't was Caroline. She looked down guiltily, obviously the one who told him. Beth sighed and leaned back in her chair, this wasn't going to be over anytime soon.

"So vampire Elena is a trollop who likes bad boys, and that explains why Stefan reeks of alcohol, but what it doesn't explain is why sweet, loving, innocent Elena could be so heartless towards Stefan." She said with false sense of kindness. Stefan was rigid in his seat, as Elena looked at him. "How could she hurt you like that? Answer please."

"She didn't know it at the time, but she was sired to Damon." He sighed.

"The sired bond." She looked interested at that. 'That's fascinating. And what do you think about that Elena?"

"I think you're sad, bored and in desperate need of a hobby." She retorted.

"You're hiding something. Fess up." She compelled her.

"I didn't sleep with Damon because of the sire bond. I slept with Damon because I'm in love with him." She admitted before she could stop herself. Everyone looked at her shock and she'd never seen Stefan so hurt by this. Even Rebekah seemed surprised.

"What does any of this have to do with the stupid cure?" Beth asked.

"You're ride. We got off point. Stefan, how do I find the cure?" She demanded. "Unless, you'd rather talk about Damon and Elena all day."

"There's a professor. He knows where the cure is."

"Thank you, and um, where do I find this professor?" She smiled.

xxxxx

Beth was getting anxious. They'd been in the classroom all afternoon and she knew that Rebekah had something up her sleeves, she always did. She was just concerned what it was this time. She took Caroline's phone and called Tyler. "Hello Tyler, I heard my brother made a real mess of your life. Believe me I can relate. You have my condolences. In fact why don't you come down to the high school so you can accept them in person...because I have your girlfriend...maybe you have a better shot saving her than you did your mother bye now." She smiled hanging up the phone.

"Sister." Beth looked up at the familiar voice that always made her heartbeat spike. It was Kol. He peeked in through the door. He was actually here. After days of being gone, and worried about him, he was here. It made her relived to see he was okay, but angry to know that he had been fine and not bothered to call her. He grinned looking around at all of them. "Look at this. You're even worst than Klaus."

"Kol." Rebekah smiled back at her older brother. "Finally. Did you bring what I asked for?" Without a word, Kol pushed Shane into the room, he looked frazzled. "You must be Shane." She commented.

"You have got to be kidding me." Beth mumbled angrily. Kol finally looked at her and looked guilty. Rebekah looked amused at how Elizabeth could make Kol, of all people feel bad.

"Sister, we're on a tight schedule." Kol said completely ignoring his girlfriend. He wasn't in the mood to go through the reaming that he was no doubt going to get. A few minutes after they had both left, Beth stood up from her seat.

Caroline looked at her surprised. "What are you doing?"

Beth held up her bracelet that Alaric had given her. 'Vervain. I'm going to make sure that they don't kill Shane." She told them as she hurried out of the library. She quickly ducked down one of the halls as she saw Rebekah coming back at a hurried rate. Beth walked through the halls trying to find any evidence of Shane being close by. She finally heard a noise in one of the closets. She opened it to see Kol drowning Shane.

"Where is the cure?" He demanded in a calming terrifying voice.

"Kol!" She pushed him away, letting Shane pull away from the water to breathe. "What the hell is going on?" Kol growled and pulled her out of the room, making sure it was locked behind him. "What are you doing here? And why are you drowning Shane? Have you completely lost your mind?"She snapped at him.

Kol brought her into one of the empty classrooms. "What are you doing here?" He asked her. "I thought you were up at the lake house with Salvatore."

"I was and like I said I was coming back that night. And what was that in the library?" She demanded. He looked away from her, guiltily. "You completely ignored me, after you've been gone for days. I've been worried sick about you! But apparently you don't care." She turned to leave out of the classroom when he stopped her.

"Rebekah wanted my help, but didn't want all of Mystic Falls knowing, especially Nik. Considering how close you two had become, I didn't want to risk you telling him." He said grinding his teeth.

"If you had asked me not to, I wouldn't have." She told him, slightly hurt that he'd think she'd betray his trust like that. "I'm sorry that I interrupted you and your sisters plans."

Kol hated fighting with her, and he wasn't going to let her go again without talking to her. He zipped over to stop her from leaving."I don't like you getting in the middle of this. After what happened last time, despite him doing it to save your life, Nik took you away from me! I can't lose you again!" He snapped at her letting his vulnerability show.

Beth sighed and walked over to him. "You're not, Kol, but when you take off that worries me. You wouldn't answer your phone, I had no idea where you were. I know you think that you're completely invincible but you have a weapon that's out there that can kill you." She reminded him. "You're an original but you can still die and I don't want that."

Kol touched her cheek going "Darling, I'm not going anywhere. You worry too much. I can take care of myself." She sighed, knowing she was getting through to him about this. "You should go, it's going to be dangerous here."

"I'm not leaving you here, Kol, not by yourself.' She told him determined.

He chuckled, stroking her cheek. "I'm not getting rid of you, am I?" She shook her head. 'I have to finish up this task for Bekah and you're not going to want to see that." Suddenly, he looked up to hear something. "Stay here, and don't move. I'll be back." Before she could stop him, he zipped away. She groaned and sat down, hoping he'd be back soon.

After almost a half an hour of waiting Beth decided to take matters into her own hands and go to find Kol, but she wandered the halls, no idea where he was or anyone was, after seeing the library was empty. Beth heard a deep growl and bumped into Caroline, as she ran towards her. She gasped as they crashed into each other. "What is going on?" She asked

"Rebekah made Tyler shift, no one can vamp run in the school." She told her hurriedly. "Hurry, get up." She helped her up and ran the other way, as they could hear Tyler getting close to them. But they couldn't run as fast as Tyler did, soon she realized they were cornered into the lockers.

"Great." She muttered, trying to find a way out, but the only way was the way Tyler was coming. Before Caroline could start panicking, a familiar blur came by and Kol was there.

"What the bloody hell did I say about staying in the classroom?" Kol growled as he grabbed both girl's arms, she was surprised to see they were back in the classroom he originally left them in. "Elizabeth, are you hurt? Did he bite you?" He asked immediately taking Beth aside. He checked her face.

"No, it's okay. I'm fine. We're both fine." She sighed and Caroline nodded in agreement. She was surprised to see how worried Kol was about her. He didn't like anyone to see he cared, but it was rare moments like these that he was more worried about who he loved than what others thought about him. They were good together. She challenged him, as he did with her,

He sighed in relief, before turning to Caroline. "You're free of my sister's compulsion." He compelled her. He turned to Elizabeth. "I'm getting you out of here."

"Be careful." Beth told Caroline.

"You too." She agreed as she hugged her before zipping off, no doubt to find her own boyfriend.

"Come on" Kol told her, pulling her close, before zipping them outside of the school. "I've got what I came for, so we're going home. There's a lot to talk about."

"No, you're going to tell me now, because you owe me." She demanded, crossing her arms. He chuckled at her stubbornness and shook his head, as he took off his coat and put it around her arms. "And being sweet and charming isn't going to get you out of it this time." Without a word he picked her up and zipped them back home.

'"I'm sorry, darling, but we couldn't talk about it there." He said seriously closing the door behind them. It was the first time that Kol looked visibly shaken up and angry. She was worried at what Shane could've said to upset him like this.

"It's alright, just tell me." She told him gently, pulling him down to sit with her.

He sighed, as he nodded. " Rebekah needed my help after being undaggered, no doubt Nik's doing. She wanted to find the cure, being the best brother that I am, I agreed to help her. I didn't want Klaus questioning you so I didn't involve you, I'm sorry for worrying you." He told her seriously and she sighed and took his hand.

"It's okay. Go ahead."

He smiled kissing her hand. "We questioned the professor, but he wants to raise Silas. He's the first immortal being, but raising him, he would literally unleash hell upon the earth, Elizabeth. It would bring about the end of all time." He subconsciously traced her hand with his thumb. "But Rebekah is dead set on getting the cure. She doesn't believe he's real" He explained taking the white oak stake from out of his shirt. "I took this from her, it's better to be where I can see it."

"I agree." She nodded. "What are you going to do about Silas though, Kol? I mean a bunch of people want that cure, and they're stupid enough to raise Silas to get it."

"I need to stop them, Elizabeth. At any means necessary. I cannot let Silas be raised and the world destroyed. There have been many legends about Silas. I've traveled with witches at different points in history, 14th century Africa, Haiti in the 17th century, New Orleans at the turn of the century. You would've loved it." He smiled wistfully. "But they all said the same thing, Elizabeth. Raising Silas would destroy the world. I cannot let that happen." He told her seriously. Beth stroked his cheek, as he leaned into her touch. "I wish that you weren't involved in this."

She sighed. "But I am. I agreed, I'll try and talk to Damon about it, but I'm not letting you do this alone. Just be careful, okay?" She told him seriously.

"I will." Kol smiled at his brave girl and he kissed her slowly, not wanting to let her go so soon. She'd always be the one that he could always count on, even if he did something stupid. He should've know that she would stand by him, regardless of what everyone else was saying. He wouldn't lose her again, no matter what.