A/N: Please don't hate me for Elena's diary entry in BOTD, it will become important later and I do have to add Stefan related stuff in parts, because she *did* love him. Anyway, despite that I hope you enjoy today's episode(s).
The Ties That Bind & Bringing Out The Dead
"So Niklaus...what'd I miss" – "...Previously on The Vampire Diaries"
Bonnie has psychic-witch-dreams telling her that she needs her long-lost mother's help to open the coffin. Damon tracks down her mom (Abby) and drops the bombshell that he and Elena "kissed...now it's weird". Bonnie and Elena take a trip to see Abby.
Tyler calls in Caroline's father to help him break the sire bond, a painful process which involves breaking all the bones in his body, multiple times. Tyler transforms and attacks Bill Forbes, landing him in hospital and making him one of the few residents to actually be attacked by an animal in this town.
Damon believes that 'new girl' in town Meredith Fell had something to do with the latest murder and he goes to confront her in a veiled attempt at protecting Ric. Meredith vervains Damon before blood-jacking him.
Bonnie meets her mother and is disappointed by her inability to practice magic, Abby tells Elena and Bonnie that she ran away after casting the desiccation spell on Mikael to protect Elena when he came to Mystic Falls searching for her.
Abby kidnaps Bonnie and Jamie shoots Stefan with wooden bullets and ties Elena up but she manages to free herself and incapacitate Jamie. Elena pulls the bullets out of Stefan and gives him a dose of the truth.
"There's something I have to tell you and it's not because I feel guilty that it happened...I kissed Damon", after some time Stefan gives Elena a weak apology for threatening to drive her off the bridge and tells her that she is 'better' than him and Damon.
Meredith tells Ric that she uses vampire blood to heal her patients and she heals Caroline's dad, Ric in turn, lets Meredith know that he is a 'semi-retired' vampire hunter.
Bonnie alerts Damon to what is happening and he returns the coffins to Klaus, but he has a couple of surprises up his sleeve, he managed to keep the locked coffin and un-daggered one of the Originals.
Back at home Stefan punches Damon in the face and Damon shows him the dagger which he removed from...Elijah.
Bringing Out The Dead
"When I catch my breath, it's you I breathe
You're everything I know that makes me believe
I'm not alone"
Okay, so yesterday didn't exactly go according to plan but fear not, all is not lost. We still have the locked box and I may have un-daggered Elijah. Okay there's no may about it. I did it. I definitely did it.
You know I figured, better the devil you know than the ones you don't right? And it's not like I had a huge amount of choice in the matter. Out of them all I'm hoping that Elijah is the most likely to be pissed off with Klaus after he killed him; in his rather unconventional way of 'reuniting' Elijah with the rest of his family. They really have a way with words, the Originals.
Point is, I slipped Elijah a note and I'm on my way to meet him when 'Lena calls to tell me that Liz Forbes stopped by with the stake that killed Brian Walters, her stake, to be precise.
"So you're the main suspect huh?" according to the Sheriff Elena's fingerprints are the only ones on the weapon and while the thought did cross my mind that she's not the only one in the world with those fingerprints; I discarded it equally quickly.
There's not a chance Katherine is in Mystic Falls murdering humans with stakes, and she'd have absolutely nothing to gain by doing so anyway.
"Well why don't you just ask Ric if his dirty little doctor had access to the weapons?" – "You're on speaker phone dick" oopsie, my bad. Only I don't care; the bitch blood-jacked me!
"It wasn't Meredith" Elena pipes up, "It's not Meredith okay? I refuse to believe that your luck with women is that tragic" she's kinda got a point to be honest, that really would be tragic, sorta hilarious, but tragic all the same.
"It's Klaus, it has to be; he's screwing with us" I don't really believe that but in lieu of any other suspects he's as good a choice as any; especially if we're discarding the psycho doctor.
"What if it was Stefan? He was crazy that night...he was capable of pretty much anything" hah, way to throw your boyfriend under the bus Elena. Though it does perversely please me that she hasn't even considered me as a suspect, it wasn't me. Just to clear up any confusion anyone might have on the matter.
"Ah, makes me nostalgic for the time when Stefan was a bunny snacking pacifist" not that I think it was my brother either, why would he kill Brian Walters? That makes no sense. "Anyway, gotta go" – "Hey where are you?" – "Tea with an old friend"
Elijah, looking a whole lot more alive now; let's hope this doesn't prove to be one of my stupidest ideas to date.
"My favourite Original, back from the dead" again, there's only so many of them to choose from, thankfully. "You left something in my jacket pocket" oh yeah, that'd be my 'yay you're alive again' note.
"Dear Elijah,
Let's get together. Plot the destruction of your brother.
XOXO"
"Damon" yep that'd be me and my sweet note writing skills, I got good handwriting; it's a sign of the times.
"Was I right to un-dagger you? Or are we gonna have a problem?" 'cause honestly, I don't think it'd be overly hard to find a human willing enough to put him down again.
"I'm here, let's talk" okay great, "Let's start with an easy question; any idea what kind of Klaus-killing weapon could be magically sealed in a mystery coffin?" he doesn't, or at the very least he claims he doesn't.
However, Stefan has Bonnie and her mom down in the Lockwood Caves trying to figure out how to open the thing so we just need to buy a little time. To that end Elijah and I set up a friendly little dinner-party for myself, Stefan and Klaus. You know the kind, a good old-fashioned gentleman's dinner, no hidden agendas over here. 'Course I have to actually get Stefan to agree to come to dinner first.
"Get dressed we're going out" – "Yeah sorry not interested" oh I'm sorry, did you hear a question in my statement? No? Thought not. "Elijah and I have scheduled a very old-fashioned sit down with you and Klaus" I glance down at the shirts I'm holding in my hand "I suggest you go with the black; makes you look all villainy" and we all know how much Stefan loves that look these days.
"Klaus won't make a deal Damon" good, I don't want him to. "All we're doing is buying a little time to give our wicked witches a chance to pop the top off the coffin" Stefan moans at me for rescuing Elijah but un-daggering him was the right move.
"After what Klaus did to him, he's in vengeance mode, it's perfect" – "There's nothing smart about trusting Elijah Damon. He screwed us over the last time he promised to kill Klaus" yeah well I've not exactly forgotten that, and if I'm not mistaken I did mention back then that we couldn't trust Elijah but did anyone wanna listen to me then? Nooo. Now though? I figure trusting Elijah's worth a shot.
"Right now I trust Elijah about as much as I trust you" – Well I guess that works both ways doesn't it?" he asks as he turns to face me.
Ah, I see, sorry I thought we were talking about Klaus and Elijah not "about me kissing Elena" which, I already got punched in the face for thank you very much. And I let him have that one, figured it was only fair; but I'll be damned if I let him make me feel like shit for it.
"Just remember if it wasn't for Klaus you wouldn't have become such a dick and that kiss would never have happened" lies. I'm lying. Yeah that kiss was always gonna happen, one way or another. But reminding him of Klaus took from him will get him on board with the dinner-party plan. "So get ready and get happy. We're going to negotiate a fake truce and I don't want your attitude screwin' it up"
"Niklaus, our guests have arrived" Elijah opens the door at Klaus's fancy new house and lets us in. "Damon, Stefan; Elijah tells me you seek an audience" 'seek an audience'? Really? What does he think he is; a king? Yeah it's gonna be a long night. Let's hope the witches work quick; I give Elijah a questioning look; "it's better to indulge him" well okay then.
"I didn't come here to eat Klaus. In fact, I didn't wanna come here at all but I was told I had to 'cause you would hear us out" huh, I guess I wasn't very clear on the whole 'get happy' part of my speech to Stef, was I?
"Hmm, well you can sit, and eat...or I can reach down your throats and pull out your insides. Choice is yours" right well, given those options, I'm gonna go with 'sit down and eat' every time. Thankfully Stefan hasn't added 'suicidal' to his list of new personality traits. Although there's still time, but for now, we sit.
"Eat. I thought we agreed that we would leave the grumpy Stefan at home" yeah this has to be the worlds' most awkward dinner party ever; at least the food is damn good. Stefan asks where Barbie Klaus is, "Last I checked she was still daggered because you were afraid to face her" really brother? Are you trying to piss him off?
"Hey Stef; remember when you killed dad? Might wanna dial down the judgement til' dessert" at the very least. Yep. Lo-ong night; who's great idea was this again? Don't. Don't answer that.
"Stefan, where is the lovely Elena tonight?" oh. Shit. "I dunno, ask Damon" please, please don't ask Damon. Klaus starts laughing and Elijah just looks confused, naturally. "I'm sorry you missed so much; uh trouble in paradise" Klaus tells his brother, yeah, because that really explains the situation.
"One more word about Elena, and this dinner is over" oh fabulous, Stefan's getting all pissy again, "you know what? Probably best just to keep Elena in the 'do-not-discuss' pile" Or. Not.
Klaus starts talking about the "lure of the Petrova doppelganger" and I assume he's referring to Katherine until he mentions someone called "Tatia". There's another one? Good god how many of them are there?
Apparently Tatia was the "originator of the Petrova line" so that's...good, right? That means there's only Elena and Katherine left, right? Because honestly I don't know if I can handle any more of these doppelgangers running around.
Clearly there's some tension between the Original brothers as far as this Tatia girl is concerned though; "so you both loved the same girl?" Stefan deduces. Elijah says that their mother 'took' the girl, which I guess is just a polite way of saying 'killed', and used her blood to turn them. Yeah Mama Original sounds like a delight.
"Tatia wouldn't make a decision between the two of us so for a time Niklaus and I grew...estranged" well I know that story well my friend. "But in the end we recognised the sacred bond of family" – "Family above all" huh. That part of the story I'm not as familiar with.
And what do you do, when you consider the girl in question to be a part of your family? Family is not just bound by blood; it takes a lot more than that to make a family.
Yeah, this is taking too long. How long has it been? Oh man, it's only been an hour! How is that even possible? I feel like we've been sitting at this table forever. Then I get a message from Sabrina to let me know that they're finally getting somewhere "...the terms of this proposal" oh good, we get to the 'deal' making stage of the evening.
"That's very simple" I say, "Klaus gets his coffin back, in exchange he and the Original extended family leave Mystic Falls forever. Me, Stefan and Elena live happily ever after. No grudges" the end.
"The deal sounds fair brother" of course it does, to Elijah. Klaus'll never go for it in a million years, but we don't need him to.
"I don't think you understand, Elena's doppelganger blood ensures that I will always have more hybrids. I will never leave her behind" you know I really hope that our faith in this locked coffin is not misplaced. Otherwise we're gonna have even bigger problems.
"...How long before one of you turns her into a vampire?" well that'd be a never, it's not what she wants. As unfortunate as that may be.
"Or worse, how long before she dies caught between your feuding? You see each one of you truly believes that you're the one who can protect her and that is simply a delusion...gentlemen, the worst thing for Elena Gilbert is...the two of you" fuck. you. fuck.
Oh god that was not planned. And I know he's only saying it because he's trying to rile us up but I have to get out of here, the air has become a little suffocating all of a sudden.
"I'm gonna get some air" before I add 'suicidal' to my list of personality traits. 'Cause for sure if I stay in this room someone's gonna die. Spoiler: It's gonna be me after I don't manage to kill the un-killable.
Okay, fresh air. Breathe. Man I do not handle angry all that well when Elena's not around. The problem; the problem is that I can't bear the thought that he might be right. If I look too closely at what he said then I might find truth in it and I don't want to. I Can't. I Won't.
Elijah follows me outside after a couple of minutes and manages to successfully lure me back inside, sticking with the plan, anger in check; we're back on track. "What do you say Klaus; it's time for you to put something on the table"
"Okay. I offer Elena's future happiness. You see what she needs right now is to be rid of you lot and to fall in love with a human; maybe that high school boy..." – "Matt Donovan, really?" didn't they already try that?
Matt Donovan will never be enough for Elena. Never be able to give her the things she wants. The things she needs. The things she craves.
"Yeah, why not?" um...for all the reasons I just thought of? "They'll marry, live a long life, pop out a perfect family" – "And continue the Petrova bloodline..."
"After you hand me back the coffin I'll ensure her safety for the rest of her natural life. You know it's what's best for her. So what do you say Stefan? Hmm? Do we have a deal?"
Stefan walks past me towards Klaus, "What are you doing?" what's he doing? He's not actually gonna...he's shaking his hand. What the fuck? "Nice try Klaus, but no deal" oh thank fuck. And now he's burning, my brother is burning. Well that escalated quickly.
Klaus breaks Stefan's legs and before the bones can finish cracking I'm running towards him but Elijah stops me in my tracks by throwing me into the wall and half-strangling me. "What're you doin'?" Stefan's screams are becoming painful to listen to "Stop" – "Now bring me my coffin before I burn him alive" – "I'll get it" god. dammit.
But Elijah follows me outside and he has a few tricks of his own up his sleeve; he's un-daggered the rest of his family so Klaus is in for a lovely surprise which makes up for what he said earlier at least a little bit.
"Elijah, why haven't you left?" Klaus asks when he realises that we've come back "Well where are your manners, brother? We forgot dessert" Elijah lifts the napkin from the tray to reveal the daggers. "I've learned not to trust your vulgar promises Klaus, we're doing this on my terms."
"Kol"
"Finn don't" Finn does. Stabs Klaus, in the hand.
"Rebekah" – "This is for our mother" yeah...about Rebekah, might wanna keep a close eye on Elena for a while, although I already gave Elijah the heads-up on that one as well. You can never have too many people protecting Elena, I've found.
"You're free to go" Elijah says, yeah, c'mon Stef, let's leave them to it, shall we? "This is family business."
Stefan and I are heading for the Lockwood Caves to see what's happening with the witches and the coffin. "Well you were right about Elijah; un-daggering him was a smart move" well thank you Stefan, for admitting that I can in fact, get some things right.
He tries to thank me for saying him from Klaus but "you don't get to thank me until I pay you back for all those times you saved me" – "Could have left me there" well why would I do that?
"Klaus would've killed me and you woulda had Elena all to yourself" huh, he doesn't actually think I'd do that right? He's still my broth-Elena. Elena is calling me but I send her to voicemail.
"I didn't do it on your account" let him think what he wants, life's easier that way.
"I love her Damon" you think I don't know that?
"So do I" so damn much.
I walk away from Stefan because I just need a minute. I don't know how this situation with Elena is gonna end but the one thing I know for sure is that someone's gonna get hurt. That's inevitable. And as much as I don't want to; if I were gonna venture a guess, I'd say that person's probably gonna be me. Certainly if history is any indication at least; but that doesn't change anything. I'm still gonna fight for her, no matter what or who my opposition is.
Brother catches up with me in the caves where we find two unconscious witches and one very empty Original coffin. Yeah, it's just been that kind of night. I guess it would be too much to hope that whoever was in the coffin just went straight off to kill Klaus huh?
Yeah. Let's not fool ourselves. We're never that lucky.
Dear Diary,
Last night I told Stefan that I kissed Damon, because even though I didn't initiate it, I wanted it. I didn't stop it. Stefan said that I am better than him, better than Damon. But doesn't he understand? I'm not. What makes me so special? I'm no better than anyone else; I'm just an 18 year old girl.
It's the other way around really, Damon is better than me. He deserves so much more than what I can give him. And have you seen him? He's the most beautiful man I've ever laid eyes on; he's the most beautiful man anyone has ever laid eyes on. What did I ever do to become so much 'better' than him?
Stefan puts me on a pedestal, he doesn't seem to really see me, not the way Damon always has at least. But none of that matters because I realised that I still love Stefan. Even after everything he's done, I've realised that you can't just shut those feelings out. Or at least I can't. So it's still there.
Things are different now, changed and there's...Damon. There's Damon who I have all these mixed, emotions and...unexplainable feelings for.
I've changed, like Stefan said, but we've all had to change, and yeah, things are different but it doesn't change that I loved him.
I accused Stefan of killing Brian Walters today, because I don't really know what he's capable of anymore and the night that he died, Stefan was completely off the rails. Stefan asked me if I asked Damon if he killed anybody lately, but I didn't. It didn't even cross my mind that it might have been Damon. I know it wasn't.
When Damon kills someone, there tends to be a reason for it, I'm not saying it's okay, I don't condone it, but I know he doesn't just go around killing people for the sake of it; not anymore at least. When Damon kills someone, it's usually to protect someone he loves.
Somebody killed Caroline's dad, only he had vampire blood in his system so he came back but he decided not to complete the transition. I feel so bad for Care, despite what her dad did to her, he's still her dad and she loves him. And I understand how awful it is to lose your dad; especially when we're so young. Sometimes, you just need your dad.
Matt walked me home from Caroline's house and all of the lights were out when we got here and there was blood and then we found Alaric. Someone attacked Ric! And he was dying, he was going to die and oh god, I had to kill him. Because I'm supernatural so the ring would bring him back.
So I had to do it. But waiting for him to wake up? That was the longest wait of my life. I was so scared that it wouldn't work, that I would have just killed him. But it did work. He's going to be fine. I tried to call Damon for help but he didn't answer and Matt stayed with me instead.
I was so scared; I can't lose any more family. I can't lose anyone else. There's just been...too much. Too much loss. Too much death. Too much grief. I don't know if I could handle any more of it.
Elena