The whole town had practically turned out for Founder's Day. Stefan was waiting for Elena. "Was that really the style back then?" He turned around, startled.

"What are you doing here, Damon?"

"Carol Lockwood asked me to help supervise."

"Really? Last I checked, she couldn't stand you."

"Okay, actually, it was Jeremy who asked. He said he'd be running late." Damon told him.

"I've been thinking of how to break it to her."

"Yeah, I know. At least she's better than you're last…"

"Don't even go there, Damon. You know she's not Katherine." Stefan said. They turned around to find Elena wearing a beautiful gold dress. Her hair was in curls.

"Hey."

Jeremy was still in his room getting ready. Anna came into the room. "Wow."

"I know, I look stupid. I'm part of the parade, though." Jeremy explained. "Anyway, how are you doing? I feel really bad about things."

"It wasn't your fault, you're uncle's the one who did it." Anna pointed out.

"I know. He hates all vampires, there's just no reasoning with him." Jeremy said.

"Are you worried?"

"Yeah, but I understand in a way. We all want the tomb vampires gone and we all want to protect Mystic Falls."

"You really think we'll be able to get out of range before the device goes off?" Anna asked.

"If Damon gets the timing from John and Bonnie signals us in time, we should be okay." Jeremy told her.

"Once this is over, we should probably leave town."

"Anna, I can't leave my sister." Jeremy pointed out.

"I knew you'd say that." Anna said. "Still, this place won't be safe for me for a while, even after they're gone."

"I guess that's the one good thing about being a vampire, eventually we'll meet again." Jeremy said. "Anyway, wanna check out the parade?"

"I can't, I've got some investigating of my own to do. Meet you later?" He nodded, agreeing with her. Jeremy walked over to her and kissed her before she left.

"Is that even possible?" Elena asked. She was talking with Stefan outside the school.

"There's no proof, but he and Isobel dated and he brought her in for the delivery."

"Man, I've always hated John, but now…"

"Sorry, I just thought you might want to know this." Stefan said.

"I'm glad you told me, but I really hope it's not true. I can't just stand up to him without him finding out." Elena said.

"You should ask about it when you're ready to. I'll be with you if you want." Elena smiled, then looked away.

"As though I don't have enough issues with the family. Jeremy's worried sick over Anna, considering John killed Pearl. I don't want him to go through that kind of pain, not after he already had to end his relationship with Vicki."

"Well, he has a good reason to do it. She nearly lost it when she found out the truth about him."

A few minutes later, she found her brother outside. "Jeremy, there you are. You look great."

"Let's just get this over with." Jeremy said.

"Jeremy, she'll be okay. We all know she's on our side." Elena said.

"Yeah, but she could get caught by the tomb vampires." Jeremy pointed out. "Besides, I have no idea how we're all going to make it out of here in time."

"Jer, trust me. We'll make it."

"I really hope you're right this time, because this could be a disaster." Jeremy said. "We have to go. Everyone else is in position."

It wasn't long before the parade started. Bonnie was in the crowd, watching. She was a little worried about the plan backfiring, but knew she had to get the others out in time. Then she noticed someone familiar in the crowd. "Excuse me, sorry." She said as she made her way through classmates and townspeople. "What are you doing here?"

"John just called a meeting. I wanted to see if you could keep an eye on things here." Damon said.

"No problem. Besides, I've been looking out for the others all day." Bonnie told him.

"Thanks." He started to leave, but then turned back. "If it means anything, I don't want anything to happen to your friends, either." He left.

That afternoon, Elena met Damon at the Grill. She'd changed out of her dress and back into her normal clothes. "I am so glad to be out of that dress." She said.

"Yeah, I heard it actually belonged to someone."

"So, what's up?"

"They're planning to set off the device during the fireworks display." He told her.

"That's good to know." Elena said. "I'll let the others know." She noticed Jeremy sitting in the corner. "Excuse me." She went over to him. "Hey, did you hear that? I mean, not that you'd eavesdrop on purpose."

"Yeah, I heard." Jeremy said. "I'll call them." He left the Grill.

He was about to call Bonnie, when he heard Damon coming up behind him. "I know you're there."

"Look, I know you want to protect Anna, but you need to know we might not be able to save everyone."

"Like that's going to stop me from trying." Jeremy said.

"Don't make the same mistake I did, Jer. I feel for her, but there might be nothing we can do about it."

"Don't even say that." Jeremy told him.

"What's going on over here?" Stefan asked.

"Nothing, we're good." Jeremy said. He left.

"What were you thinking?" Stefan asked as soon as Jeremy was gone.

"I was just telling the truth."

"Look, letting go of Vicki was hard enough for him." Stefan explained. "You know how he feels about Anna, he'd do anything to try and save her."

"I just want to prevent him from getting hurt."

"You mean you don't want him to feel the way you did when you found out Kat wasn't there." Stefan said. He walked away before Damon could say anything else.

That night, Damon was walking around town and was surprised to run into Anna. "What are you doing here?"

"The tomb vampires are planning to attack tonight." Anna told him.

"How do you know?"

"I went undercover and found out." Anna said. "They want the Founding Families dead."

"When is it supposed to start?"

"When the fireworks go off." Anna told him.

"That's when John's setting off the invention." Damon said. "You need to get out of here."

"I know. I'm meeting up with Jeremy." Anna told him. "But we need a distraction so they don't know what's going on."

"I'm on it." Damon said. "You just get out of here." He noticed Alaric a few feet away. "Rick!"

"Yeah?"

"The tomb vampires are here. I might need some back-up."

"Got it." While Alaric ran to his car to get his weapons, Damon called Stefan and Elena.

"Hello?" Elena asked.

"Where are you guys?"

"I'm at home with Stefan." Elena told him.

"Is Jeremy with you guys?"

"No, but he said he'd be here in five minutes. If he's not here in ten, I'll call you."

At the Grill, Anna ran into Jeremy. "You're here."

"Yeah, we gotta go, now." Anna said.

"What's going on?"

"The tomb vampires are all over town square and the device could go off at any minute!" Anna said.

"Okay, calm down. I can get us out of here." Jeremy said.

"But there are police everywhere and you can't drive."

"I'm gonna have to break a few rules, then." Jeremy told her. "Trust me." They ran out of the Grill.

At the town square, Bonnie noticed the tomb vampires around. Suddenly, she got a very bad feeling. The device had been activated.

Back in Elena's room, she'd been writing in her diary, when she got a text from Bonnie. "It's happening now." She looked concerned.

"Jeremy's still out there, isn't he?" Stefan realized.

"Yeah, I'm going to try and find him."

"If you go now, they'll catch you." Elena hesitated. She knew he was right.

Meanwhile, in town, Alaric and Damon noticed several people had collapsed. "What is going on?" Alaric asked.

"The device was activated. Come on, give me a hand here."

Outside the Grill, Jeremy and Anna had both collapsed in pain. "That really hurts!" Anna yelled to him, clutching her head.

"I know. I thought we'd have more time to get out of here before…" Suddenly, Jeremy passed out.

"Jeremy…" She fainted next to him.

Back in town square, Alaric was helping the others. "Think you can handle things here?" Damon told him.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to find Jeremy." He told him. Without another word, he left the town square as fast as he could.