...

"Hold on hold on hold on. What?!" Caroline couldn't believe what she had just heard. Elena was up, even though Bonnie was still alive? Stefan had killed Enzo, but somehow, he, too, was still alive, or rather, had been resurrected?

And Stefan was… human?!

"I'm so confused right now, Bonnie. How is this possible? What's going on? I'm," Caroline paused, rubbing her eyes. This was a lot to take in. "Ugh," she made, "I'm sorry, I've been feeling so off today. Like, someone put a filter over my life or something and muffled the sound. I'm… just not myself. I can't quite follow. Maybe I misheard you. Did you really say Elena is awake?"

Bonnie sounded quite level and calm when she spoke next. "I did, Care," she told her friend, "And there's more. But... It's hard to explain all this over the phone. Why don't we all meet up at the Armory and talk about it? I think Damon and Alaric are still there, right? We really need to talk. All of us."

Caroline ran a hand over her forehead as if to smooth the lines of worry and confusion that had appeared there. She sighed.

"Gah!" she called out. "What's going on today?! Bonnie, my head is swimming. Can we meet at the Mystic Grill instead? I know, I know. Before you say anything: it wasn't my idea. Matt was on the phone. I literally just hung up with him when you called. He said something's going on. You know how he is. He got all evasive and wouldn't say much more; he just wanted me to contact as many of our friends as possible and head on over to the Grill."

She didn't even realize that she had kept ranting on till Bonnie's exasperated yell of her name finally reached her.

"Caroline!"

"Yes. Yeah, yeesh, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Bonnie. Here you're telling me about all this and I manage to make it all about me again. Ugh. I'm really…"

She heard a sigh on the other end. "It's okay, Caroline, really. In fact, I may have an idea what's up with you, it may actually be related to whatever is going on. I'm not sure... Let's just meet at the Mystic Grill, like Matt suggested, then. We can all talk there. I... need to go. - Oh, and Caroline: please be careful."

"Always. See you in a little bit!" Caroline forced herself to sound chipper, but for some reason, the whole conversations - first Matt, then Bonnie - had left her with an uncomfortable feeling of doom.

She should be excited! Happy! Elena was back!

But there was too much else going on that she didn't understand and it didn't help that she was just not feeling herself today of all days.

...

It wouldn't take them all long to realize that profound change had happened elsewhere, too. Aside from Elena being awake despite Bonnie still being alive, and Enzo seemingly resurrected from certain death, there was more.

...

On their way to the Mystic Grill, Elena had taken her seat beside Stefan, riding shotgun, while Bonnie sat huddled close to Enzo in the back.

She kept shooting worried glances at him and couldn't bring herself to let go of his arm, even while trying to get everyone on the phone.

Once she had hung up on Caroline, she tried to reach Damon. He was in for quite the surprise.

Enzo beside her felt her warm touch against him as he looked out the window. He gave her a little squeeze as he listened to her conversation with Elena, letting their chatter soothe him into zoning out for a bit.

He still couldn't quite wrap his head around the fact that he'd had the perfect day - his bucket list day - and then he had died. There was a strange feeling of darkness inside of him that he couldn't quite permeate or even grasp, and he shivered at the thought. Had he gone on into oblivion? Only to be pulled out from there at the last minute?

He had a sudden flashback to when Bonnie had gripped his hand when the Other Side had collapsed around them. She had saved him then, and she had saved him again.

How many lives did he even have? He'd better not test his luck. After all, life didn't exactly have a track record of treating him very kindly. Bonnie truly was his anchor, his everything. She had brought him back twice. His life had been nothing good without her, just abandonment, sickness, torture, death. Then he'd met her and everything hadn't slowly started to change.

It was funny, really, how at first he had been so "unaware" of the power she held over him. It had taken them both so long to finally see more in each other, to fall in love.

"Enzo..." Stefan jolted him out of his musings before darker feelings could take over his thoughts once again. The younger Salvatore had been rather quiet in the front while the girls had talked, but now he had apparently decided to break his silence, and Enzo warily listened.

"I'm sorry for what happened."

Bonnie fell silent. Enzo felt her grip on him tighten involuntarily as Stefan cleared his throat and continued, "I'm sorry for… killing you."

"Your switch was off, Stefan. It's alright." Enzo was in a forgiving mood, or maybe he just didn't care to hear any more flat and meaningless apologies.

But Stefan hadn't gotten the memo. "No, it's not," he disagreed, "I'm… I killed you in cold blood and just because my switch was off is no apology. I still did it. You and I both are lucky that whatever happened, happened, and-"

Enzo had to suppress the urge to roll his eyes. Stefan sure liked to play the martyr. He was rather unlike his brother in that regard. With a jerk of his head, he quickly interrupted him. "I know you like to play the martyr and everything, Stefan, but let's just forget it ever happened. It's not the first time you tore my heart out."

There was a brief pause. Enzo smirked as he saw Stefan cringe a little at the memory. Of course bringing that up wasn't exactly fair, because Enzo had made Stefan tear his heart out out the first time. It still made for a good argument, or at least an entertaining one.

"In fact, your family seems to be quite fond of ripping my heart out," he suddenly continued, a little surprised at where the hell that was coming from, "either literally or figuratively. I'm seeing a trend there that Lily started; and Damon and you just kinda tagged along…"

He was only half joking now and stopped himself before it got too dark. Bonnie looked at him a little worried and reassured him with a squeeze of his arm.

"Nobody's gonna rip your heart out, ever again, Enzo," she muttered, "They'd have to get past me first. And they won't," she stated firmly. He looked her in the eyes and smiled. God, he loved her! How did he ever deserve to be with her?

She was also very hot when she was so sure of herself; powerful, and strong. He found himself falling in love with her all over again. Or even more, if that was possible.

...

Bonnie had tried her best to not blow off on Stefan. But now that he had acknowledged what he had done, she felt her anger rise again. She saw his sorrowful features in the rear view mirror and couldn't help but feel a tinge of compassion. She wanted to hold onto her anger; Stefan had killed the love of her life!

It just wasn't her, though. With a sigh, she gave in to the feeling of forgiveness. Deep down she knew that Stefan wouldn't ever have done this under normal circumstances.

She stifled a laugh. Being a vampire with the human switch on wasn't exactly a good example of "normal" either.

Thankfully, they all seemed to have silently agreed on letting the topic go, and Shen snuggled up against Enzo for the remainder of their car ride, while Elena was unsuccessfully trying to reach Damon's cell.

...

When they finally reached Mystic Falls and the Mystic Grill after a long drive of awkward silence one minute and happy laughter and chatter the next, they all were in for the next big shock…

As Stefan parked the car, they saw Matt and Damon wait in the front for them. A look of something on Matt's face: foreboding? While Damon looked positively stunned.

He had already spotted her in the car, sitting next to his brother, beautiful and exactly like the last time he saw her.

He remembered dancing with her. The touch of her hand against his shoulder. His fingers entwined with his… and her lips… he sighed as she exited the car in an almost fluid movement, her lithe body reminding him of a cat.

He had tried to prepare himself for half an eternity without her, and now here she was…

It was too bad that today of all days he had started to feel so off. Like, the spark of life had been extinguished and the world was painted in lackluster colors.

This moment deserved to be a technicolor dream, for Gods' sakes!

Oh well, he'd take it as is. As long as he got to wrap his arms around Elena!

"Damon!" She called out, and there were tears in her voice, laughter, and love. "Damon!"

She rushed over to where he was standing, waiting, frozen for a moment too long, before his legs finally got the signal to walk over to her, helping her shortening the gap between them until they collided in a tight embrace!

Elena felt his hands around her, she felt his body against hers as she clung to him, jumping up to straddle his legs in a fierce embrace that didn't quite manage to hide the sexual desire that had quickly followed her as soon as she had touched him again, and felt his breath in her hair.

Oh gosh, how she'd missed him. Yet shouldn't it have felt like a mere moment to her that they last saw each other? Regardless, just a minute spent away from him was too long, and she was just glad to have him back!

Damon, on the other hand, had missed her for way more than a minute and he was drinking her in like a dehydrated man in the desert. He pressed his lips against hers, fiercely, passionately, not a trace of gentleness. His tongue in her mouth, his hands up the back of her shirt, he forgot that they had company, until she tore free of him, exasperated, yet exhilarated, too. She smiled at him, chiding, "Not here, Damon, that'll have to wait till later."

"Argh!" He made, exaggerating his frustration as he turned around to the others, his arm still wrapped around Elena's waist as he pulled her in for another kiss before facing the others and addressing a tired looking Stefan.

"Brother. You look… how do I put it mildly: like shit."

"Thanks, Damon."

"Well. Since Bon Bon here kindly filled me in on what happened, it isn't too surprising. But geez Louise, Stefan, ripping poor Enzo's heart out again? That's just so yesterday. Couldn't you have come up with something a little more, I don't know, ingenious?"

Bonnie and Stefan both glared at him. Enzo rolled his eyes and Damon shrugged innocently

"Aw, come on. Did you all lose your sense of humor on the way back here? Bon Bon, what exactly happened with that weird shock wave you sent out, huh? Did it make everyone super serious?"

"This is not funny, Damon. Not to me. You weren't there. But I wouldn't wish this on you or anyone, seeing your loved one die in front of you like that is no joke."

Damon sobered. Bonnie was holding Enzo's hand. They exchanged a look that spoke more than words. As much as he might think it weird, he couldn't deny that these two had annoying chemistry. And while he didn't mind making fun of Enzo's demise, he didn't want to hurt Bonnie any more.

"I don't won't to interrupt your moment here, but there's something you need to know and then need to see," Matt eventually chimed in. Having had enough of the ensuing stare down of his motley supernatural group of friends, he had decided it was time to tell them of Mystic Falls' latest crazy happenings.

"Elena," he addressed his ex-girlfriend and gave her a brief warm smile. "It's good to see you. This is gonna be especially, um… strange for you…"

"Come on, Mattie, I'm on the edge of my seat with this suspension." Damon blurted out, "And I have already seen what's going on." He looked to Elena, and squeezed her hand. "Babe," he smiled warmly, a smile that he rarely showed anyone but her. It made him almost look - human. "A bunch of formerly dead people showed up and... your parents are among them." He knew he had sprung this on her without warning, but there wasn't really anything he could have said to soften the blow, so he hadn't gone with swiftness instead. He squeezed her hand. "Let's go say hi to them, shall we? They're all waiting in there."

"What?!" Elena stared at him, utter incomprehension rendering her immobile. She clung to Damon, and he felt her weight shift toward him. He was holding her up. He exchanged a glance with his brother, then looked back at her. Her beautiful brown eyes...

"I know, beautiful. This is quite the shock. We have no clue, yet, what's going on. They don't know anything, either."

"And they're not the only ones," Matt chimed in, "Jo is back, too. Tyler. Vickie…"

"Is my Grams…" Bonnie had wanted to ask all the questions, but her voice broke. Her mind was whirling with thoughts. Was this her doing? Had she somehow disrupted Cade's whole death scheme? Or the whole afterlife? What had she done? What the hell was going on?

"She's not here, I'm sorry Bon." Damon gave her a sympathetic look.

"Yet," Matt added, more hopeful. "Maybe she'll still show. Hard to say what is going on and whether it's over yet." He looked around, "But why don't we go in first."

...

It was dim and slightly gloomy inside. But the Mystic Grill bustled with life like it hadn't done in a long time, it seemed. There were people everywhere, talking, sitting, laughing.

Some were crying.

Elena needed a moment to get her bearings. This was still all so unexpected. She saw Caroline standing with Tyler. She hadn't known he had died, so this didn't even strike her as all that odd. Yet he must have been one of the returned, going by what Matt had said.

And then she saw them, at the same moment they saw her. Suddenly it was as if the crowd was silent, just a background noise to her life. Her parents. Her mom and dad. Just like they were when she had last seen them. Her chest constricted with love and pain and disbelief.

"Mom! Dad!" She called out. She felt Damon give her hand another squeeze. She looked to him, he nodded and let go. And then she ran again. For the second time today, she ran to someone that she loved more than anything.

"Elena? Honey!" Her mom said, and they all hugged each other. It was so surreal. She was so happy, yet at the same time she felt dread rise within her. Such happiness never came without a price and she was terrified of having to pay.

...

Bonnie and Enzo hadn't made it far into the room, when Enzo abruptly stopped.

"Are you alright?" Bonnie asked, sudden concern in her voice. She saw him clench his jaw, saw his muscles work. Something wasn't right. What had he seen? Who?

Enzo felt the urge to charge and had it not been for Bonnie's hand in his and the sudden shocking realization that his superspeed was apparently not working anymore, he would have followed that urge.

Because not far from where he now stood, one of his tormentors, one of the men that had poked and prodded and torn him apart for 70 years, was now hugging Bonnie's best friend.

Thanks to the two people that are actually following this story (or at least clicked on the "story alert" button. lol - This is for you. Because if it weren't for you, I'd have just kept this chapter to myself. :).