The next morning, Margret was up early. She was going to meet up with her friends for the Founder's Day celebration. They were all going early to help the upperclassmen out. She headed to her sister's room. "Hey, I'm glad you're here." Elena told her. "What do you think?" She was wearing a gold dress and her hair was in curls.

"You look beautiful." Margret said.

"Thanks." Elena said. She couldn't help but wonder if this was what Katherine looked like. "So, are you all set?"

"Yeah. Though Jeremy seems to be taking a long time getting ready."

"Maybe Anna stopped by and wanted to see him before the parade." Elena said.

"Well, she just lost her mother." Jenna said. "It makes sense." She finished helping Elena with her dress. "Anyway, I'm sure things will be fine."

"Yeah, me too." Elena said. Margret noticed she looked sad. Jenna left the room.

"Hey, so I heard both sides, but Jer's a little angry." Margret told her. "What could be so bad that you had to hide from him?"

"Vicki." Elena admitted. "The circumstances surrounding her death were complicated and I didn't want him to know about it."

"Was it that bad?"

"Really bad." Elena told her. "Look, we're going to be late if we keep this up. We have to be at the school in fifteen minutes."

"Got it." Margret said. She headed downstairs.

At school, everyone was getting ready. "Margie, there you are." Melody said, coming up to her side. She was carrying a camera with her.

"What's up with the camera?"

"Caroline insisted that we take a few extra pictures this year for the yearbook." Melody said. "Not that I mind, I love photography."

"Not to mention the memories we'll have from this year." Amy added, coming up to them.

"Yeah, memories of helping a neurotic girl." Rob pointed out.

"Hey, only I can talk about my cousin that way!" Amy said.

"Anyway, you're a little late."

"Yeah, I was helping Elena this morning." Margret told them. "She was having a little trouble with the dress."

"Yeah, Care had the same problem. Since Aunt Liz was busy, my mom and I had to help her." Amy said.

"Well, we better go help out before this thing starts." Rob told them.

"Good idea." The group split up into pairs and walked off.

Rob and Amy walked over to find Caroline and Matt with Bonnie at the same time Tyler headed over.

"Here, I can take it." Tyler offered.

"I'll be on the float." Matt told them. He left and Rob went after him.

"Hey, man." Rob said. "You know he didn't mean it."

"I know. I'm just…I'm angry it happened." Matt explained. "First I catch him with my mother, of all people, then he fights me. It's like, there's something not normal about that."

"Well, he's always been the aggressive type." Rob pointed out. "I mean, you two have been friends as long as I can remember."

"Real friends don't beat the crap out of each other." Matt said. "Besides, it pretty much ended when I found him with my mother, anyway." He headed up onto the float. Rob looked at him and walked away, knowing it was hopeless.

"I said I was sorry." Tyler told Caroline.

"You made out with his mother and then you beat him to a pulp. You're gonna have to do a little bit better than sorry." She pointed out. She left to go join Matt.

"Things turned out well, didn't it?" Tyler said.

"Well, no offense, you do kinda deserve it." Amy said. "I mean, Matt's a good person, and you just beat him up for no reason."

"I have no idea why it happened." Tyler explained. "All I remember is being angry and that's it."

"Maybe you should see the anger management counselor here." Amy suggested. He looked at her. "Might help. And you won't have your friends mad at you all the time."

"Thanks. You know, you're okay." Tyler told her before heading over to his float.

"I get that a lot." Amy said once he was gone. Rob came over to her side.

"You alright?"

"Yeah." Amy said. "It must be hard for you, seeing them like this."

"We've all known each other forever." Rob said. "It's a little rough."

"This is weird. Caroline's right." Amy said. "We should be enjoying the town's festivities and instead, everyone's fighting with each other."

"Let's make the most of it, then." Rob said. They walked off together.

Melody finished taking a picture as Margret came up. "Hey, might want to save some memory for the actual parade."

"Yeah, good idea." Melody said. "I think that…" She cut off, looking over Margret's shoulder. She turned and found Elena and Jeremy talking. "Should we…"

"Yeah." They walked over to them.

"Jer, please…" Elena began.

"Just don't!" Jeremy told her. "You can't fix this that easily. Something like this doesn't just get fixed." He walked away from Elena.

"Jeremy?" He turned and noticed the other girls.

"Sorry you had to see that." Jeremy said.

"It's fine." Margret said. "Look, I get that you're mad at her, but she was just trying to protect you."

"What do you know, Margie?" Jeremy asked, wondering if Elena had told her yet.

"I know that she lied about not being there when Vicki died." Margret said. "That's it, I swear."

"Okay. I have to go now." Jeremy told them. He left.

"I forgot he was part of it, too." Melody said. "Anyway, Vicki?"

"It's a long story." Margret said. "And if anyone else finds out, Elena will be in trouble, so…"

"Got it." Melody said. "I won't say a word."

"Come on. I promised we'd meet Bonnie before the parade started." Margret said. The group met up nearby.

"Hey, glad to see you made it." Rob said, noticing Alex had joined the group.

"Yeah, I was helping Tyler's group with the finishing touches."

"It's hard to believe they're fighting, huh?" Amy said.

"Maybe they're just conflicted about doing what's right." Bonnie said. She seemed a little sad. Margret remembered what Amy told her on the phone the other night.

"What happened?" Margret asked.

"Let's just say I pretended to use magic to do something I didn't." Bonnie whispered. Margret nodded, understanding. The group watched as the parade went by. Occasionally Melody would snap a picture.

"I'm glad they were able to fix that problem with the floats." Amy said.

"Yeah, good thing." Melody said. "If they hadn't, this would be a total disaster."

"No kidding." Rob said. "I'm just glad Matt was able to make it here at all."

"I just wish they weren't fighting." Margret said.

"They'll work it out, I'm sure." Bonnie told her. Then she noticed Damon was standing nearby. "What do you want?"

"Just watching the parade." He told her. Trying to keep calm, she turned around and started walking away. "Where are you going?"

"Away from you." She said. The group watched as he followed a few feet from her.

"What is her deal?" Melody asked.

"Doesn't she really not like him?" Alex pointed out.

"Yeah, seems it's something we have in common." Amy said.

"Is there anyone here that doesn't hate him?" Margret asked. "No offense, but you have to admit, this is a little ridiculous."

"Hey, he messed around with my cousin. You just don't mess with family." Amy pointed out.

"Yeah, I know." Rob said. "I'd probably kill him if he'd done something like that to Melody."

"Please, I'd have kicked the guy's ass if he so much as even looked at me." Melody said. The group started laughing at that one. "I'm serious. I am so glad I'm not in a relationship. A lot of the guys I know are jerks. No offense to you two."

"None taken, sis." Rob said.

The group headed to the Grill after the parade. "How have things been at home, anyway?" Amy asked.

"They've been…awkward, I guess." Margret said. "It's like my twin and older sister are hiding something."

"Speaking of your brother, what's up with him lately?" Melody asked. "I mean, I saw him earlier. He was telling Elena to get lost."

"I don't know." Margret told her. "I have a feeling that whatever they're fighting about has to do with whatever it is I don't know about."

"Maybe they're trying to keep you out of it for a good reason." Rob said. "I remember having to keep things quiet around Melody that one time…"

"I cannot believe you're bringing that up!" Melody told him. "That is way too personal to get into." Margret blocked out their argument and looked to Elena and Jeremy. He got up and left. She walked over to her.

"Are you okay?"

"He hates me." Elena said. "I know he'll forgive me eventually, but still, I wasn't expecting it to hurt this much."

"Well, I don't hate you." Margret told her. "In fact, you're probably the one person I don't hate right now."

"I'm sorry. I have to go. I'll meet you outside later." Elena said. She left the Grill in a hurry.

Outside, Elena tried to relax. She felt guilty that she was still keeping secrets from her sister. Would she hate her if she knew what was really going on?

That evening, Margret and Alex had left to watch the fireworks. The rest of her group were at the Grill. She was standing near Elena. "So, what's up? I thought you hated watching fireworks."

"That was when I was eight." Margret said. "Besides, it's kinda nice out here. It's better than sitting home alone."

"Yeah, I guess." Alex said. "So, how is it really going with them?"

"Honestly? I just wish I knew how to help them." Margret told him. "Jeremy's angry and Elena's upset about lying to him." She noticed Damon talking with Elena and Stefan. They split up and went in two directions.

"Whoa. What's going on?" Alex asked.

"I don't know." Margret said. "Call the others. I'm going to help them." She left Alex standing there and ran to catch up with them. "Elena!"

"Margret, please tell me you've seen Jeremy." Elena told her. She seemed really worried.

"No. I think he went to the Grill or something." Margret said. "I haven't seen him all night."

"We should head over there, then." Stefan told Elena.

"Wait, he's my brother too. I'm coming." Margret said.

"But…" Elena paused. She was really tired of arguing. "Fine, come on!"

At the Grill, the rest of the group was hanging out together. "There was this time, freshman year, when Bonnie and I were in a fight and we swore that we would never talk again." Caroline said.

"I remember that." Amy said. "But you two couldn't stay mad at each other forever. Eventually, you guys found out you had to tutor each other when you were failing different subjects and made up."

"Caroline, give it a rest."

"Dude, she has a point." Rob said. "I know you're mad at Tyler, but do you really want to throw away your friendship?"

"I couldn't imagine losing my friendship with Margret or Amy." Melody said. "Even if you two can be a little weird sometimes."

"Please, no one's as awesome as you, Melody." Amy said. Just then the group noticed Mayor Lockwood arguing with Tyler. Rob, Caroline, and Matt went over.

"Mayor, is everything okay?" Caroline asked.

"You alright, Ty?" Rob asked. Tyler nodded.

"Please Tyler, I need you to go home, now. Take your friends with you." He told them.

"Why? What's going on?" Matt asked.

"I can't explain. All of you need to get home, now. Please."

"Yeah, okay." Tyler said. The mayor handed him his car keys.

"Here, take my car, it's out back. Caroline, Matt go with him." Rob went back over to the girls.

"Hey, looks like we better get going." Rob said.

"What for?"

"I don't know, but I'm following Tyler and the others." Rob said. "You guys coming?"

"I am. My cousin's with him."

"I'm in, too." Melody said.

"Okay, let's go then." They left the Grill.

Outside, Margret and her sister were still looking for Jeremy, when Stefan suddenly fell to the ground. Elena went to his side immediately. "Stefan, what's going on? What's happening?"

"My head." He managed to get out.

"What's wrong with him?" Margret asked.

"I don't know." Elena told her. She meant it, too. She really had no idea what was going on.

Meanwhile, Rob was driving his car in town. "What do you think's going on?" Melody asked.

"I don't know. I have no idea what's going on these days." Amy told her.

"I meant up ahead. Tyler's driving his really bad."

"What is he doing?" Rob asked. Suddenly, they noticed Tyler's car swerve out of control.

"Oh, God! They're gonna hit the…"

"Rob, pull over!" Melody told him. They pulled over to the side of the road and got out just as the other car crashed into a wall.

"We better get them out of there." Amy said.

"I'm calling the hospital." Rob said. He got his phone out as Amy and Melody ran to help the others out of the car.

Back in town, Margret and Elena were still with Stefan. Margret noticed a deputy coming over, then saw Alaric talking to him. The deputy left. Then Alaric went over to them and helped get Stefan up. "Mr. Saltzman, what's…" Margret began.

"Later. Right now, we have to get him somewhere safe." He told her. The group headed to an empty stairwell.

"I don't know what happened, he just dropped." Elena told him.

"Yeah, he's not the only one. The cops have gotten everyone who's gone down, they injected them vervain."

"What?" Elena asked.

A few minutes later, Stefan had recovered. Elena was talking with him. "Are you okay?"

"It's like needles were piercing my skull and it just stopped."

"Okay, what's going on?" Margret asked. Elena hesitated. She didn't know if she would be able to handle both her siblings being mad at her. She looked over at Stefan, who nodded to her.

"Well, it's like this…" Elena began. Then Alaric came over.

"I saw at least five of them go down. They're taking them to your old family's building." He told them.

"It's the Gilbert's device. It has to be." Stefan said.

"But how did he get it to work? Bonnie un spelled it." Elena pointed out.

"Maybe she didn't." Margret said. "When I saw her today, she said she felt bad about pretending to do something she didn't."

"She knows about magic?"

"She knows Bonnie really well." Elena told him.

"She's right." Stefan said. "We asked her to deactivate a device that could protect people against something like us." Then a thought occurred. "Where's Damon?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen him since this started." Alaric said.

"Can you get my brother, take him home?" Elena asked.

"Of course."

"Margret, I need you to go with Mr. Saltzman."

"No way. I'm going with you." Margret said. "There's no way I'm just letting you go off alone again."

"We don't have time for this, Margie."

"We can argue later." Stefan said. "Let's just go." The three of them headed into town, looking for their father's office.

"So what's going on?" Margret asked.

"Stefan and Damon are vampires." Elena told her.

"Whoa." Margret said. "That's really cool."

"Yeah, and now you're uncle's got Damon trapped in your father's old office somewhere." Stefan explained.

"It's a long story and there's really no time to explain right now." Elena told her. "But we have to find Damon before he gets killed."

In town, the others had managed to get their friends out of the car and they got them out. "I'm glad you're okay." Rob said.

"Yeah, thanks to you guys." Matt pointed out.

"That was crazy." Melody said. "What do you think happened?"

"I don't know." Amy said. "But I'm worried about Care. She keeps refusing to let them check her."

"I wish I could stay, but I think I should walk back home." Melody told her. "I'll meet you later, though."

"Hey, Melody." Amy said as she started to leave. "Thanks for helping get her out of there."

"Anytime." Melody told her. She left.

Rob walked over to her. "You okay?"

"I don't know." Amy said. "I've never been this scared in my whole life. Caroline was in that car when it crashed. What if she's hurt or…"

"Hey." Rob put his hand against her cheek. "Everything will be okay. I'm sure Ty will be up any minute and if something is up with Care, she'll be taken care of. So don't worry about it."

Amy nodded and wrapped her arms around him. It was as though Rob always knew how to make her feel better and she felt a lot stronger around him. She looked up at him. They looked at each other for a few minutes before he leaned over and kissed her lips gently.

"What happened?" They broke apart at the sound of Tyler's voice. They were both blushing, not knowing if anyone else had seen them.

"Dude, don't scare me like that." Suddenly, Amy gasped.

"Caroline!" The others looked and saw Caroline passed out on the ground.

"Caroline! Guys over here!" Matt called to the medics. "Caroline, wake up!" Amy went over to her cousin's side and checked for a pulse.

"Something's wrong. It's still there, but it feels wrong." Amy told him. She looked down at Caroline. "Hang in there, Care."

Outside, Margret was running to keep up with the others. The girls were stopped by Stefan. "Wait, wait, wait, I can hear them. The building is on fire."

"What?" Elena said.

"You can hear that?" Margret asked. Elena briefly forgot she was new to all this.

"Yeah. There's a lot you should know, but I'll tell you everything later." Elena told her. They found John outside the building.

"Uncle John?" Margret asked.

"He's a vampire hunter." Elena whispered to her. She turned to John. "Where is Damon?"

"With the rest of them where he should be." John said. "It's over for Damon." Margret looked at him in surprise. It was true she didn't exactly like Damon, but she knew he didn't deserve to die either. She saw now why everyone else hated him.

"You're crazy." Elena said.

"Why? Because I'm doing what should have been done a hundred and fifty five years ago? This is the right thing, Elena."

"How is this the right thing?" Margret said. For the first time that night, he noticed her.

"You're too young to understand, Margret…"

"Don't! I'm the same age as Jeremy, and I'm old enough to know that this is wrong!" Margret yelled at him. Stefan was looking at the building.

"Go ahead, you won't make it out. It'll save me the trouble of killing you myself." Margret glared at John. She was so angry with him.

"You now the building well, is there another entrance in?" Stefan asked.

"The emergency door, it's on the side." Elena told him. Stefan headed toward the building. Elena moved to follow, but John stopped her.

"You take one more step and I'll alert those deputies that they missed a vampire." He told her.

"I'm asking you not to." Elena said.

"That doesn't mean anything to me."

"As my father it should." Elena told him. Margret looked at them, surprised.

"You know."

"I wasn't sure but now I am." Elena said. She ran toward the building. Margret looked at John.

"I don't care if you are her birth father or not. You're still a monster." She told him before following after Elena.

The girls were both surprised to see Bonnie. "Elena, you can't go in there!"

"Bonnie, what are you doing?" Elena asked.

"She's right, though. You could get really hurt if you go in." Margret pointed out.

"I'm sorry I lied to you." Bonnie told her. She grabbed Elena's arm to keep her from running in and did a spell. A few minutes later, she opened her eyes.

"Bonnie…Bonnie what is it? Are they gonna be okay?" Elena asked.

"Look!" Margret pointed. Stefan had come out of the building with Damon.

"Oh my God!" Elena ran over to them. Margret looked over at Bonnie.

"She'll forgive you. I know it." Margret said. "Thanks for saving them."

"I only did it for them." Bonnie said. "I don't trust Damon, but he is Stefan's brother. And your sister's friend." She walked away. Margret looked after her.

"Margret, are you okay?" She turned and came face to face with her concerned sister.

"Yeah, I'm fine. He didn't try to stop me." Margret told them.

At the hospital, Rob and Amy were waiting with Matt. Tyler showed up. "Hey man. I'm so sorry. Look, I don't even know what happened." Tyler told them.

"It's okay man. She'll be alright." Matt told him.

"I hope you're right, Matt." Amy said.

"Hey, Caroline's strong. She'll make it." Rob told her.

"I know. I just don't know if I will. Between this and everything that's happened and how I feel about you…" Amy cut off, realizing what she said. "Sorry, this isn't a good time for…"

"No, it's fine." Rob said. "Amy, I love you because you're always concerned for the others." Amy stared at him in shock. A few minutes later, Sheriff Forbes showed up.

"Aunt Liz."

"What's happening, is she alright?" Matt asked. Rob got to his feet as well.

"There was some internal bleeding, they're taking her into surgery." Amy felt scared. She knew internal bleeding was never a good sign.

"What else did they say? Is she gonna be okay?" Rob asked.

"They're gonna do everything they can." Sheriff Forbes said.

"I don't believe this." Amy said.

"I'm sure she'll get through this, Amy." Sheriff Forbes told her. "My daughter's stronger than you think she is." She turned to Tyler. "Tyler, have you talked to your mom?"

"I left her a message telling her I was here." He told her.

"You need to call her."

"What is it?"

"It's your dad." Amy felt Rob squeeze her hand. She looked up at him, knowing this news wasn't going to be good.

At home, Margret went to check in on Jeremy. She noticed him holding something before putting it away. "Hey."

"Oh, hey." He seemed a little upset, like he wanted her gone. It didn't take long for her to realize it.

"She was one of them, wasn't she?" Margret asked. Jeremy turned around and faced his twin sister.

"Yeah, she was. But she wasn't like them…"

"It's cool. She seemed really nice." Margret said.

Jeremy turned. "What are you doing here?" Jeremy asked. Margret turned and jumped back in surprise. Damon was there.

"Anna's dead."

"I figured that once they took her away."

"I know you cared about her." Damon told him.

"Yeah I did." Jeremy said. Margret managed to put her hand on her brother's shoulder.

"I saw her get killed. I was watching and all I could think about was… I wanted to help her but I couldn't." Damon told him. Margret looked at him.

"Why are you telling me all this?" Jeremy asked.

"I took away your suffering once before, I can do it again but it's your choice."

"Look, I know you think you took it away but it's still there." Jeremy told him. "Even if I can't remember why I still feel empty, alone and making me forget won't fix it. It won't fix what's really wrong."

"Wait, you made him forget about the Vicki incident?" Margret asked. Damon nodded.

"Anna said that don't have to feel pain, that they could turn it off if they shut out their humanity." Jeremy said.

"It's very true." Damon told him.

"Is it easier that way?"

"Is what easier?"

"Life."

"Life sucks either way Jeremy but at least if you're a vampire you don't have to feel bad about it if you don't want to."

"Is that what you did?" Jeremy asked.

"I did it for a very long time and life was a lot easier." Damon told him. He left the room.

"Hey, I may not know exactly what went down with Vicki, but I know you'll be able to move past this, Jer." Margret said.

"How do you know?"

"Because I'm going to be here to help." Margret told him. "It's what siblings do." She was surprised when Jeremy embraced her.

"Thanks, Margret."

"Anytime." Margret left the room a few minutes later. She headed downstairs and found Damon. "Hey."

"I thought you'd be back upstairs."

"I wanted to make sure you were okay." Margret told him. "I saw how Stefan was effected earlier, and after the building fire…"

"I'm fine, really." Damon told her. "I'm guessing you know about our little secret."

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone about it." Margret said. "Though it really does explain a lot about you two."

"If your sister asks, tell her I that I never came here."

"No problem."

"You know, you're okay, kid." He left the house. Margret headed back upstairs to her room. All she knew right now was that things could not get any weirder in her life.