A/N: Quick update :)

The twenty-fourth chapter, in which someone escapes

Elena sprinted down the expansive Champ de Mars. The wide strip of grass that extended all the way towards the Eiffel Tower was packed with people. Groups of friends, picnicking on large blankets, couples sharing a bottle of wine, kids – up way past their bedtime – playing hide and seek behind their parents' legs. Troops of National Guardsmen patrolled the area with machine guns, reinforcing the police. After only a few yards the crowds on the grass grew too dense and Elena had to move back to the sandy path on the side of the lawn to keep moving. She bit back the dull pain shooting up her leg from her ankle. She couldn't allow herself to slow down now.

When she reached the road separating the Champ de Mars from the Eiffel Tower, the spectators stood so close together that she was only able to squeeze past them one by one. Frantically, she shoved backpacks out of her way, pushed through groups of laughing tourists and inched forward until she passed the Pilier Est ticket booth on the right.

She had made it. She was underneath the Eiffel Tower. And so were hundreds of other people. She was surrounded by a sea of strange faces. Men, women, young and old, laughing, waving to each other, yelling. She had no idea how she was supposed to find her children in this mass of bodies. She got on her toes to get a better view of the crowd around her and then started moving again to get closer to the center of the gigantic structure.

Suddenly she felt a flurry of movement against her legs and when she looked down, a strawberry-blonde ponytail that had just squeezed by her disappeared behind the legs of the woman standing next to her. Elena's heart jumped and she pushed past the woman.

"Jenna!" she cried out, praying her daughter would hear her and turn around, but the child kept moving further away. She only stopped when she reached the legs of a tall, dark-haired man. Elena could only see his back, but the hairs at the nape of her neck stood up. She recognized Tyler's broad shoulders and his cropped haircut. She darted forward and reached for her daughter's hand, focused on nothing but pulling her away from her captor.

The girl shrieked as she was spun around and in an instant Elena realized the mistake she had made. Big eyes – filled with terror – stared up at her. Big eyes that were markedly not Jenna's.

"Hé!" the man, who had turned around at the girl's cry, now exclaimed. He quickly picked up his daughter and glared at Elena. "Ça va pas?"

"I'm so sorry," Elena gasped, shocked at herself. "So sorry."

She saw tears spring into the child's eyes as she slung her arms fearfully around the man's neck. Elena felt heat rise up her neck and spring into her cheeks. She had to look terrifying, her knees and hands scraped, her appearance disheveled. The shock drained all adrenaline from her body and she suddenly felt her weakened knees shiver underneath her.

What had she been thinking, coming here all by herself? How had she expected to save her children on her own?

"Jenna?" she called again, hoping against hope that her daughter would hear her and find her. "Jeremy?"

But her calls got lost in the tumult around her, in the explosions of the fireworks building up towards the grand finale behind the monument, and the cries of amazement from the crowd.

She felt crushed by the swaying mass of people around her, drowned by the enormity of the odds she was up against. She closed her eyes, only for a second. She knew she had to calm herself down. She couldn't give up now. She had made it this far. Her children were here somewhere. She couldn't allow herself to crumble, to give up.

She opened her eyes again and scanned the crowds around her. All heads were turned towards the Seine, flowing by on the western side of the Eiffel Tower, where the fireworks were now exploding in an overwhelming and mesmerizing finale. The blasts overpowered all other sounds as hundreds of sparkling flames lit up the sky.

All of a sudden her eye was caught by movement a little further to the left of her. A boy, perched on someone's shoulders, had stretched out his arm and was pointing at the fireworks. He was wearing a baseball cap, but his movement seemed familiar.

Elena's throat constricted. She couldn't see the child's face, but she was sure it was Jeremy. She pushed past the group of people next to her to get closer, feeling like she was swimming against the current.

When she was about 20 feet from the boy, he turned his face slightly to wipe his nose on his sleeve and a jolt went through her body. She wasn't mistaken this time. It was her son. Just as the last rocket of fireworks had been shot into the night sky, Elena cried out his name.

In the relative silence, her voice traveled far enough. The child's head spun around and when his eyes fell on her, a wide smile spread across it.

She could see his arm stretch out and his finger point at her, could see his lips form the words "Mommy", but the sound was swallowed up by the cheers erupting from the crowd around her. As arms were raised to applaud the fireworks, Elena saw her son being lifted from the shoulders he had been sitting on and watched him sink into the see of faces around him. Frantically, she shoved people out of her way, heading in the direction where she had seen her son disappear.

"Jeremy!" she called, trying to be heard over the tumult around her.

And suddenly there he was, squeezing out between the legs of an embracing couple. "Mommy!" he exclaimed and when Elena dropped onto her knees and opened her arms, the sensation of his little body colliding into hers took her breath away. She had missed him, but she had not been prepared for the onslaught of emotions rushing over her. She felt relief, joy, gratitude but also a deep pain stabbing at her when she allowed her mind to wonder only an inch further and consider what might have happened to him. She closed her arms tightly around him and swore to never let him go ever again.

Then she saw Jenna squeeze through the same gap and run towards her. She stretched out her right arm and pulled the little girl into the embrace she was already tightening around her son.

"I missed you, mommy," Jenna said, burying her face in the nook of Elena's neck.

Elena felt hot tears spring into her eyes. She had made it. She had found them. They were here, in her arms, and they were alright.

"I've missed you too," she whispered. "I've missed you so much."

"You guys warm my heart," Elena heard a voice from above. She lifted her eyes but clasped her children tighter to her chest.

Tyler was standing over them, his hands in the pockets of his jeans, smiling.

"I was getting worried you wouldn't make it," he said.

Elena wasn't sure what he wanted from her. Did he think she would banter with him? Did he want her forgiveness, or was he looking for her continued friendship? She wasn't able to give him any of this. All her strength went into holding onto her children.

"Well… thank you for your cooperation," he concluded, before crouching down to be at eye-level with her and the children. "Bye Jenna, bye Jeremy," he said, waving to them with a friendly smile.

Elena felt Jeremy turn slightly in her arm, attempting to pull away from her, as if to hug his uncle goodbye. But Elena couldn't bring herself to let go of her son. "Today, we wave goodbye to uncle Tyler, okay?" she said, hoping her voice sounded firmer and friendlier than she felt.

Her children seemed to feel her uneasiness, but they complied and waved as they unanimously called out "goodbye, uncle Tyler" with wide grins on their faces.

At that, Tyler stood back up, winked once at Elena and then disappeared into the crowds.

Elena looked around to see if there was anyone she would be able to alert, searched the crowds for one of the National Guardsmen she had seen earlier. But she saw only smiling faces. Already, she wouldn't be able to tell them where exactly the kidnapper had run off to. Tyler and Vicki had planned this perfectly. There was no way they would catch him here.

But they didn't have to. And she didn't have to worry about it anymore. Her job was to find her children and keep them safe. Catching Tyler and Vicki was Damon's job now. And she knew that he would succeed.

"Mommy, did you see the fireworks?" Jeremy asked, looking up at her with big, excited eyes.

"Yes, I did," she replied. "They were beautiful, weren't they?"

"So cool!" Jeremy exclaimed and then threw his hands above his head while at the same time making an explosion sound with his mouth, before letting his fingers rain back down to his sides.

A/N: Happy Holidays, everyone!