...

What were you to do when you found yourself trapped in a house with your friends and parents, and suddenly you learned that your father, the first man that you ever wanted to marry, at the young age of five, when you learned that that man had gone to hell after his death and was back only because he had become an ally of your one true enemy?

What were you to do? Elena had no friggin' clue. She sat pressed against Damon, as if he could somehow shield her from the truth, and stared at her father.

He was sitting next to her mom, both looking tired, spent, both noticeably quiet now, after they'd had a fight earlier. She hadn't been able to hear what it was about, but she had an inkling. It wasn't hard to find a reason why her mom could have been upset. After all, she'd just learned a few very horrible details about her dear husband's life.

Elena felt nauseous. She wasn't sure whether it was because Katherine still hadn't allowed them to eat, or because of other, less physical reasons. Probably a mixture of both. She heard her stomach grumble, just as Damon next to her tightened his grip on her more.

"As 'nourishing' as your presence and your oh so fascinating account of your hell-life is, Katherine, can we at least order a pizza to go with it? I don't know about you, but my stomach is starting to growl so loudly that soon I won't be able to hear you anymore. And I mean, wouldn't that be a travesty?" Damon eventually interrupted a long monologue of Katherine's.

She whirled around and grinned at him. She wagged a finger in his face.

"What did I say about being interrupted?"

"Katherine. Unless you want to starve us, food would be a good idea. None of us are of any use to you if you don't give us food, and sleep." It was Stefan, who had dared to interrupt her yet again, and Elena was honestly worried about what her doppelgänger would do next.

"You too, Stefan?"

He stared at her, resignedly, then pointed at his watch. "It's four in the morning. You haven't let us eat or sleep. Most of us have been without food for a long time, and without sleep for even longer. You may have forgotten what it's like to be human, but..."

She broke into a smile. She was so close to him now that her dress brushed against his legs. She touched his lips, gently drawing a line around his mouth.

"Poor poor humans," she said with a pout as Stefan grabbed her hand. He looked angry.

"Katherine, don't you remember the path you were on? You are not a bad person, you're trying to make everyone believe you are, but I know better."

"Save your energy, handsome."

"I know you aren't. I know there's a heart in you somewhere, and while I don't know what happened to you in 'hell,' I know you don't need all of us here. Let them go, and I promise I'll go with you. Wherever you want."

"Don't even try, Stefan, she's hopeless," his brother grumbled, annoyed, while Katherine stopped in her tracks, contemplating Stefan's offer.

From where she sat, Elena could see that Stefan had actually managed to get to her. She saw Katherine lean forward until her lips almost touched Stefan's, as if to kiss him, but then she started whispering something, all the while looking up into his eyes.

Elena had no idea what she was saying, or what the younger Salvatore replied, but she did hear her finally announce, "Alright, Damon, since you were the one to bring it up, why don't you go and get us all that pizza?" She turned to smirk at him, and winked at Elena. Elena knew that the doppelgänger was playing with them. Of course she was.

Katherine knew Damon wouldn't want to leave Elena. She also knew that Damon was a hothead, and she knew that Damon had a special relationship to almost everyone in the room. Including her. Getting him to go would mess with the most people, and most of all with him.

And she loved to mess with him.

"Ever heard of delivery?" Damon said as a way of declining, but Katherine just grinned at him.

"Ever heard of rising delivery fees? I'm not gonna pay a random delivery guy for something I can get myself."

"Right. Like you're gonna pay for the food." Damon rolled his eyes. But he regretted it instantly when Katherine gave Cade a sign and suddenly Elena was choking right next to him. Her lips turned purple as she was gasping for air.

Damon jumped up and tried to help her, as both he and Stefan and a very ashen Grayson Gilbert started screaming for Katherine and Cade to stop.

To their surprise the choking stopped immediately and Katherine started laughing.

"So, pizza?" She chirped, beaming. "Shoo shoo, Damon Salvatore, your guests are starving - and we don't want anyone to die while you're gone, do we? Which is why dear Arcadius here will keep Ms. Gilbert extra close till you're back."

Damon got up and got in her face, but Cade shook his head, suddenly sitting right next to Elena, putting an arm around her shoulders. She tried to get away, but was frozen to the spot.

Could this day get any worse? Elena wondered. Her life was supposed to finally start for real after having woken up from her involuntary Kai-induced slumber. Instead, it was a horror show. She looked to Damon, terrified and so very upset, with no outlet for all her pent up anger and frustration and pain, and fear.

"I'm gonna find you and kill you if you so much as break one of her hairs off," Damon gritted out.

He was surprised to find Elena's dad step to his aid by saying, "This was not our deal, Katherine, if you hurt her again-"

"Geez. You all are no fun. Do you want this pizza or no?"

"I'll go," Stefan volunteered. "Let Elena go, Katherine. I'll get us food. But you need to let her go now."

"Always the wrong brother doing the wrong things." She sighed. "But fine. Cade, kindly step aside from our dear Elena here. Stefan can go and get the food. You got 30 minutes before I will start hurting someone, and that might as well be your brother." She nodded to Cade, "Okay, lift the barrier so Stef here can leave. - Aaaand: go!"

Stefan glared at her. But he didn't say anything and sprinted out. He knew this was just a game to Katherine. He better hurried. Stupid freaking human bodies and their needs. - And that wasn't even taking Valerie and Caroline into consideration. He should try and get some bloodbags on the way, if there was time, otherwise the two vampires could become a threat to them all.

He was also worried that poor Valerie was still out cold. She was only there because of him, after all. That spell around the house was not to be messed with, that much was clear.

...

When Stefan got back with the pizza - barely in time - Katherine made them all come down to the dining area and sit there like "civilized people."

"Let's see… Elena, why don't you sit over there with sweet Damon, your dad can sit next to you. Oh," her grin turned gleeful,"then dear Bonnie may sit right there," she pointed to the two seats opposite, "so that her handsome date can chat with Grayson."

Bonnie's eyes shot daggers at her.

"No!" She said, but Enzo laid a hand on her arm and shook his head ever so slightly. He was worried about her, about what Katherine might do if Bonnie showed outright disobedience, and about what Bonnie might do to herself if she got riled up again.

Bonnie looked at him intently, then whispered, for only him to hear, "Are you sure?" And he gave her a stare and a nod as his sole answer before they both sat down opposite Elena, her dad, and Damon.

Damon raised his eyebrows at Enzo. At almost five in the morning, they all didn't look so fresh anymore, but his former Augustine vampire companion looked even worse than Damon himself did, and that was saying something since he had had a heart attack just a week ago.

Enzo made a face at him.

...

When they all finally ate their pizza in almost absolute quiet, except for Caroline, who had for some reason been allowed to stay upstairs with the sleeping twins, Katherine quickly got bored with them all, and she sat down at the table right next to Grayson Gilbert and his wife.

"Grayson, tell me a little about your plans when all this is over?" she said, but she wasn't looking at him so much than at Elena, Bonnie, and Enzo.

The girls glared at her. But Enzo stared at his paper plate and didn't grace her with his attention. He hadn't touched the food in front of him. Bonnie was worried about him. He had almost fallen asleep earlier, but then had made himself stay up. Again. He wouldn't be able to function much longer as the lack of sleep was catching up with him. She knew that the dreams were the reason he didn't want to sleep for long, and she hoped she'd find a way to make them stop, at least the ones with physical repercussions. Because his dreams were just that bad.

Being forced to sit at the same table as his tormentor didn't help matters, either. Bonnie knew it wouldn't take much for Enzo to finally snap under the current circumstances.

But of course, Katherine couldn't care less.

"Katherine, can we not do this now?" Grayson was saying under his breath; he sounded upset. "I thought you got what you wanted. Let me and my family go."

Damon suddenly snorted.

"Care to explain what's so funny?" Grayson addressed him, a mild annoyance visible on his face that couldn't quite mask the anger rising in him.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe that you apparently thought Katherine would honor whatever deal you struck with her? Because, I hate to break it to you, but that's just not who she is… She is Elena only in looks, Papa Gilbert. Deep down she's more like you." Damon pointed at the other man, grinning, but Grayson's expression was unreadable.

"I'm right here, Damon," Katherine chided, "you don't talk about people like they're not there. But I'll give you a pass. For old times' sake. And because I missed your snark a little here and there. Anyways, Grayson. I fully intent on honoring our deal, I'm just curious. The dynamics at this table are kind of…" she looked to Enzo, "tense?"

She smiled and made to touch Enzo's face with her hand when he stood up abruptly and grabbed her wrist, hard. His eyes flickered, but he didn't say anything. Bonnie gently implored him to let go.

"You should listen to your girlfriend, or I might reconsider being so…" she pretended to be searching for a word, "friendly with all of you - I mean, Cade here could definitely drain young Bonnie's powers, if I told him to."

Enzo bristled, but did let go of her then. He couldn't risk endangering Bonnie's life, not even for his sense of pride, or righteousness, or honor. He slowly sat back down, catching Damon's eye. He shook his head at him, a small gesture that no one else noticed, just like Damon's half nod in reply.

Katherine stood up and bent down to where Bonnie was sitting. "I mean," she went on as if nothing had happened, "you know how it is, right, Bon Bon? It's so easy when you got a man wrapped around your little finger, they'll do everything you want. So, boys, if you don't play nice, I won't. - Anyways. Where were we? Right. Grayson, your plans?"

Elena's dad looked at her, uncomfortably. "When will you let us leave, Katherine?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "Oh my goodness. Fine. You tell me your plans and then you and your family can leave. Sans Damon, just so you know. He's mine."

"I only want Miranda, Elena. And him." He pointed at Enzo, as everyone around him tensed.

It was like everything suddenly caught up with Enzo and his sleep deprived brain. Grayson freaking Gilbert thought he could make deals involving him?! No way in hell was he ever going to let that man take him anywhere again. Not as long as he still had any fight left in him.

And just like that, Enzo finally snapped. Without so much as a warning, he lunged across the table and grabbed Elena's dad by the throat, making the other man start to choke and sputter.

"Enzo!" Bonnie, Damon, and Elena yelled at the same time, but he ignored them all. He finally had that man by the jugular, literally, and he was not willing to let go until Grayson Gilbert had breathed his last breath. The man's hands grappled for something to hold onto, he dug his fingers into Enzo's still sore arm, but Enzo didn't even flinch.

"Come on, man, you don't want to do this," Damon implored him, torn between aiding his friend and standing by his girlfriend - and thus her family. "Not in front of the girls. Enzo…"

"Damon. Don't," Enzo hissed, never taking his eyes off Grayson's. The man's struggle was dying down, but he was still alive, staring at Enzo with an unreadable expression, but with traces of fear.

It didn't feel satisfying. Enzo just felt strangely dead inside.

He sensed Bonnie beside him, and she was true to her word. She didn't try to interfere, and he was so overwhelmingly grateful, even in that moment, that he had found her. Someone to truly stand by his side. Someone to question him, challenge him, yes, but someone that was in his corner when it really mattered. And right then it was such a moment.

She and Elena had locked gazes, almost as if an inner conversation was going on between them.

"Please. Enzo… He's my dad," Elena eventually addressed him, crying, while Damon had changed his approach to trying to keep Elena from witnessing what was happening and also making her petrified mother move.

"I'm sorry, Elena," Enzo allowed without looking at her, but he wasn't going to stop. He couldn't. It was an inner force that drove him, and while he didn't want to cause her pain, he simply could not give this up.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Damon try to usher a flailing Elena away, while he also dragged a frozen Miranda back with him. Then all he heard was a loud noise and he felt an immense power tear him away. Then he was falling, falling, filled with pain, until everything went black.

...

It was as if everyone had forgotten about her for a bit there. She didn't like being ignored for some random personal feud, or whatever the hell Grayson Gilbert had gotten himself into. Seriously. What were these people thinking, busying themselves with their own trivial problems instead of her?!

She gave Cade a sign, weary, and yawned. "Stop this," she said. And it was kind of meant for all of them. "Enough!"

With an invisible force Grayson and Enzo were separated and Enzo flew far into the wall, then slumped down, unconscious, before he even knew what had happened.

"Enzo!" Bonnie screamed. She wanted to run to him, but something held her in place. Something seemed to bore into her mind, her powers. She felt blood run down her nose. Again. No...

Cade winked at her, cocking his head as if to challenge her to a fight. It was him, then, Bonnie figured, who rooted her to the spot. She needed to fight this, she needed to come up with a spell, something to use against him. She looked at her friends, at Enzo's slumped form, at Elena's dad, at Katherine. It felt like so much depended on her; and her mind blanked.

...

Grayson had been left falling to his knees, clutching his neck and wheezing for much needed air.

Elena had yelled out, Stefan had screamed at Katherine to stop, and Damon was holding his girlfriend in his arms, all frozen on the spot by Cade's magic.

That heretic was still unconscious on the couch, the professor as useless and absent as ever, Elena's mom was hysterical, Grayson's boytoy was out cold, and Katherine was finally the center of attention again. "Good," she said, "much better."

She walked slowly over to Grayson and extended a hand to help him up.

"Like I said," she told him as he stared at her wide eyed, "You can have that one."

She pointed at Enzo with a flick of her free hand, noticing how the Bennett witch fought harder against her invisible bounds upon seeing that. She grinned at the girl.

"Sorry, Bon Bon. I know you like him. But, a promise is a promise. Grayson here helped me tremendously a while back, and I kind of really want to reward him for that." She smiled. "Besides, I have no use for your boyfriend here. What do you want him for, anyway, Gray? If you don't mind my asking."

Bonnie was ready to run amok. This was not going to happen. Katherine thought she could just let Grayson Gilbert leave with Enzo?! Out of the corner of her eye she suddenly noticed the latter get back up again, slowly, and unnoticed by anyone else. She was ready to start crying in earnest, this time with relief.

"It doesn't matter because I won't be going anywhere with him," Enzo muttered when he suddenly appeared right behind Katherine and put his hands around her neck. "Tell your…henchman over there to get out of Bonnie's head, and let everyone go, or you'll be the one to die here first."

Katherine laughed. A bright happy sound, that starkly contrasted with the whole situation. "No, Lorenzo," she whispered his name, almost like a verbalized caress, "as a matter of fact I happen to know that you'll now willingly go with Grayson over there. You'll help him get Elena to his car, while Damon will politely wait here, with his brother, with me… and none of you will put up a fight. And why, you may ask… I tell you why." She turned in his grip, looking up. Her hair was falling down her back, her dress was sparkling in the dawning morning light, the first rays of sun, the last light of the moon. It was a special moment, long awaited.

Her eyes flickered with an inner fire.

"Girls!" She called, and suddenly the twins came hopping down the stairs, "It's time now. The big surprise. For mommy and daddy, right? Did you put mommy to sleep for a bit, like we talked about?"

The two young girls nodded, smiling. But then Josie noticed the dark atmosphere, the blood on Bonnie's face, and the angry man grabbing the princess, and she got scared. "Kathy?" She whispered, suddenly unsure, "Daddy?"

But Alaric was incapacitated by Cade's spell, he couldn't even talk. The look on his face was priceless, thought Katherine.

"It's alright, little ones," she said, "You will make this all better. Remember what I taught you?"

They nodded again, clutching each other now.

"Good. Then go ahead."

Cade looked at her, a question in his eyes that she answered with a wide smile. And then the girls walked closer, and closer, and they grabbed the surprised man's arms and began chanting a spell.

"No. Katherine! What-?!" Cade blurted out as he realized what was happening. She had betrayed him. He had gotten Katherine Pierce out of hell, he had helped her with these people, and she had betrayed him?

He was powerful, and strong, but he had also been battling Bonnie on a psychic plane for a while now and the little siphons had surprised him with their touch. He tried to shake them off, to fight them, but whatever they were doing, whatever spell they were chanting, it was too quick and efficient, and he couldn't… he just couldn't. No, he thought, this wasn't happening. It couldn't be. After all this time, to think two little girls would be his downfall...

He was slowly getting drained, until his skin stretched over his bones, and his bones started breaking. His body… it imploded in on itself without so much as a sound, but a burst of light that settled on Katherine, and as quickly as it had appeared, it vanished within her.

Then… an eerie silence encompassed everything.

Katherine gently took Enzo's hands and loosened his grip. She smiled at him mildly. He was unable to say or do anything, just like most everyone else. She told him sweetly, "You'll let me go now. You'll go with Grayson Gilbert, you'll help him get Elena to the car. You won't fight this, because if you do, if either you or Elena ever show up near Mystic Falls again, near these people, I'll kill your pretty girl." She looked over to where Elena was standing, addressing her, too. "And I'll kill Damon," she said.

It felt so good to be able to compel someone again. It felt good seeing the agitated pain in this man's eyes, and in her doppelgänger's. Katherine breathed in, then exhaled deeply.

"Nobody move," she said, raising a hand, then she concentrated on Elena's father. "A deal is a deal, Grayson," she told him, "Despite what Damon may have tried to make you believe, I will hold my end up. In return, you'll promise to keep your daughter as far away from here as possible. If she ever crosses my path again, she'll die. Is that clear?"

He nodded, shocked, but quickly started to walk over to Elena.

"Dad, I'm not leaving with you. Neither is Enzo." Elena hissed, clinging to Damon's arm.

"Sweetheart, I'm afraid that is not your decision to make," Grayson replied. He sounded somewhat regretful.

"What do you even want, dad?! Why are you back? Why did you make a plan with her?! Couldn't you have just stayed dead?!" Tears were brimming in Elena's eyes, and her dad looked stricken.

"I just wanted you to be safe, sweetheart. That's the only reason I ever even made this deal!"

In the background, Katherine faked a yawn, then waved her hand in Enzo's direction.

"Get her out of here. And please be quick." She turned to face her doppelgänger. "And you: no fighting dear Enzo, or any of this. The rest of you will remain in this beautiful boarding house until Grayson and his dear little troupe have been gone at least two days."

She beamed at them all.

Then Enzo walked over to Elena, both visibly upset and glaring at Katherine. They were fully aware of the compulsion, which made it that much worse. Enzo exchanged a glance with Elena, mouthing an "I'm sorry" before hoisting her over his shoulder and proceeding to take her outside while Damon and Bonnie could only stand there, frozen, and watch.

Grayson Gilbert quickly got his wife, looking back to Katherine, but unable to say anything.

"Don't do that, Katherine." Stefan's attempt at persuading her sounded lame to his own ears. His brothers shot him a glance, raising an eyebrow as if to say, "Really?"

"Enzo!" Bonnie was crying.

"Don't look at her, handsome," Katherine ordered, and he had to do as she said. It was as if his heart was being slowly squeezed and crushed inside of him.

"Elena!" Damon yelled for her, but he couldn't move.

"Katherine, no!" Both Salvatores implored her, to no avail. "Stop this!"

"Aw, this is not a very happy family reunion, is it?" Katherine noted, putting on a fake sad pout.

Damon glared at her. He had had enough. "Stop this, Katherine. I get it. You wanted to have some fun. Good. You got it. Now tell us about your plan, your… your stupid revenge, and let's try to move on."

"Damon, Damon, Damon. Don't you see? I already got all I wanted," Katherine walked over to him, getting very close to his face. He flinched. "You're all gonna do exactly what I want from now on. I can compel each and everyone of you cute little humans, just like I did your friend right here. I got all the power. I got immortality... - What you all just saw, was a transfer spell. A power transfer from poor old Arcadius over there to me. It wasn't easy to find that spell. It wasn't easy to bide my time and wait patiently for this day, with the sun and the moon up at the same time on the longest day of the year."

She sighed. There had been so many details to consider. She still couldn't quite believe that it had finally all worked out.

"It takes a lot of magic to make it work, but these two cuties right here did the trick." She waved over to the unsuspecting twins. How excited she'd been when Cade had first told her about them.

She beamed, kissing Damon forcefully on the mouth.

"Everyone: Say hi to your new queen of hell."

...

This one was not easy. I wrote myself into a corner a couple of times and had to find my way out. Hopefully this isn't too messy...

Thank you, Anna, for the feedback. Yes, we will see more of Miranda's feelings at some point.

And thank you, 'Guest': I kinda liked season 8, too, but when episode 11 ended, I wasn't too happy. Bonnie and Enzo are my favorite couple of them all, even though they don't seem to be that well liked by many. :) I wish we'd gotten those stupid three years with lots of time to see their relationship actually develop.