...

Now

...

When Tyler had found himself immobile and unable to do anything about it, just like the rest of them, he'd realized that he wasn't willing to deal with all of this again.

He hadn't really admitted it to himself before, and his dear friends apparently hadn't found anything off about it, either, but the way he got killed? It had been a suicide of sorts. Suicide by vampire.

After all, he was a werewolf. He was strong, he was deadly to vampires! But for some reason he'd chosen to succumb to life, or death, and let Damon Salvatore kill him. It was only fitting, seeing that he wasn't the only Lockwood family member Damon had killed.

This, to him, was over already. He felt a pang of guilt and regret for Matt, his best friend, who'd had to endure way too much for anyone to deal with. But he couldn't make himself stay for him, either. Sometimes, nothing was enough to keep you hanging on. Even if it should be.

With that thought in mind, he decided that the best way to help his friends was to sacrifice himself. Someone had to try and fight Katherine, even if it was probably going to be futile. Better it'd be him than any of the others, who all still had that spark of life in them that he somehow lacked.

Whatever had been resurrected and brought back from that hell place, it wasn't good. It wasn't who he wanted to be. This must have been what Vickie had felt like before…

Vickie. He had treated her like shit. He regretted that, too. He sighed. He closed his eyes, he flexed his muscles, the moon wasn't right, so he'd have to do it the old-fashioned way, and it was probably gonna end badly, but he didn't really care. At least that way he'd spare one of the others that fate.

So once the spell got lifted and turmoil ensued, Tyler waited for his opportunity. He had one chance. He better made it count.

Bonnie was a sobbing, heaving mess on the floor, with Stefan trying to console her, because Damon was too out of it to function and do anything other than scream at Katherine and tear apart the place. He was compelled to not go after her, but he tried to fight it, and it was obvious how that nearly broke him apart.

There was Caroline, cuddling her two babies close. Caroline, still as pretty as ever. Maybe if it had worked out better between them… But he couldn't allow those thoughts.

Ric was finally trying to usher them all out of the room. Because they were all free to go about the house now, as long as that didn't mean going after Elena and her family, and Enzo.

Stefan was trying to get Bonnie up, to no avail, so he focused on Valerie, instead, who was slowly starting to come to, now that the spell around the house had completely dissipated.

And Matt. Poor Matt was torn up again between all these people, Tyler heard him say something to him, asking if he was okay, and he automatically nodded, staring.

"I'll check on Bonnie," Matt announced, and Tyler started walking.

"You take care, Matt," he said, locking gazes with his friend one last time, and then...

He started running. Katherine was not paying attention to anyone other than Damon at the moment, Damon who threw a major tantrum, taunting her, cursing her, getting in her face, with Stefan shooting worried glances over in his direction, telling him to calm down.

When Stefan finally got up and rushed over to Damon, right before the older Salvatore would have had a decent opportunity to hit the self proclaimed queen of hell over the head with that same candle holder he'd been hit with earlier, Tyler made his move.

He was on her before anyone could say or do anything, before Katherine had time to try out her new powers. And he sunk the knife he'd always kept on him deep inside her neck. A startled look, a moment of triumph, absolute quiet, and after that, nothing for one blissful second.

Katherine had pressed a hand to her neck, but when she took it away, no blood marked it. She pulled the knife out with a swift movement of her hand, and the blade, too, was clean.

"Immortal, remember? Don't do that shit again. Anyone of you," was all she said, and she grinned and raised a hand.

"I had to try." Tyler shrugged. He didn't look defeated, and that did take his opponent by surprise. She looked a little angry…

He didn't get to enjoy that look for very long, though, because right then he felt a huge force tug at him, a storm approach, as a hole opened right to his side, pulling him in.

This then, was oblivion. It was as if dark smoke blanketed everything, the voices of the people he'd spent his life with slowly got drowned out, the lights and colors dimmed, and only darkness remained, and with one last giant whoosh, he got sucked in, a startled look on his face the last thing anyone saw of him.

And Matt yelling his name the last thing he'd ever hear on that plane of existence...

...

For a long time it was awkwardly quiet in the car. It was as if whatever Katherine had done to them prevented them not only from fighting back, but also from talking. In the end it was Miranda who broke the silence. She'd sat in the passenger seat, next to her husband, shooting glances at him every so often, and checked on her daughter in the rear view mirror. They were all awfully quiet.

Elena hadn't looked at her father since the… incident at Damon's house. Miranda worried about her. She was also absolutely not comfortable with that strange man that had attacked her husband twice already sitting right next to her girl. Admittedly he didn't look like much of a threat. Ashen and silent, he sat there and stared out the side window, ignoring them all.

Miranda sighed. "Elena, honey," she started, and looked at her daughter's reflection in the rear view mirror. "I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. I should have listened to you and honored your wish. I… I really had no idea…"

She couldn't bring herself to say it. The whole idea was still so revolting. Her husband had made a deal with that devilish woman that was the spitting image of her daughter. He'd been in hell?! They had been in hell?! He'd done atrocious things. Unspeakable things. Deep down, though, she had known he had a darkness inside him. She had just never thought he could have acted on any of it. She stopped herself right there.

"I'm so so sorry."

"It's alright, mom. I know you didn't know… You're not the one that needs to apologize. Dad does. And not just to me. But frankly, an apology wouldn't even begin to cut it."

"Goddammit, Elena!" Grayson unexpectedly exploded. He never cursed; and he never lost his countenance. Miranda looked at him in shock. Had she ever known this man, then? He gripped the steering wheel hard as he drove them through the countryside, farther and farther away from their home.

"When I first spotted Katherine in that… that place, I thought it was you, okay?" He explained with a resigned sigh. "I thought it was you…" He paused, thinking for a moment before looking at his daughter in the rearview mirror. "Can you even begin to imagine what that felt like? It was cruel! My baby, my flesh and blood, my beautiful daughter, in hell?! It was… torture!"

Enzo behind him snorted and rolled his eyes, but Grayson tried to ignore it. He was, however, acutely aware of Elena placing a hand on the former vampire's arm. It made him uncomfortable, to say the least.

"Of course I quickly realized it wasn't actually you. That it was Katherine Pierce. She told me a bit of her story, of how you factored in; although she left many blanks and I never got the whole picture. I don't know what her exact reasons were, but Katherine made it very clear that she was going to… to bust out of that hell sphere we were all trapped in, and, well, that she was going back to Mystic Falls and that whatever trick she was going to use meant that you couldn't be where she was. Something about the doppelgänger magic, it didn'quite make sense to me. But I was willing to take it at face value. I was willing to barter with her. My help in getting Arcadius to fall for her and open up a door for her out of that place, and she'd take me with her and allow you to live. I was to take you away. As far away as possible. Of course I said I'd do it. Elena… Call me a bad person all you want. I have no regrets. Because I'd do anything for you, honey. You're my baby girl!"

Yet again, Elena was left feeling helpless and torn. She recognized the father she'd known all her life. She felt love for him. Stupid stupid love. She couldn't help it. She wanted to hate him so bad. She really did. But…

The car was rumbling on the uneven road. It had started raining. She could see dark thunderclouds rising. She glanced over to where Enzo sat. Bonnie's Enzo. They were in this together. They were in this car against their wills, far away from their significant others, yet unable to do anything about it. It was like walking into the thunderstorm with their eyes wide open.

Her dad… he had done all this for her.

No. She shook her head and rubbed her eyes. She wished she could believe that, but it was not true. At least not completely. Because if he had only done all this for her, then why had he made Enzo part of his deal?

She looked to the side again, watching Enzo as he silently fought his own demons. She noticed his jaw muscles work, his clenched fists, the tension in his whole body. Suddenly, she saw him on that gurney again, next to her, and a darkness opened up inside of her.

Grayson Gilbert might have been a great dad. But he was a horrible human being.

...

[Three years ago...]

...

It was shortly after he had left her, after that beautiful New Year's Eve surprise. After Bonnie had anticipated a kiss, maybe even more. But then he had left and she had slowly deflated.

She still wasn't sure whether she loved how gentlemanly he had behaved, or whether she hated him for toying with her like that. There had been sexual tension, right? She hadn't just imagined it? It wasn't a one sided thing?

It had been a wonderful night. Unexpected, but wonderful. The lights, how he had listened to her, the flowers, the dancing; and gosh, if she didn't like a handsome man in a nice suit. (And yes, he was handsome.)

...

Now here they were, discussing how to go on. He was telling her about his "cousin," the one they'd put in a mental institution. They had gone over it a million times. Bonnie had offered to go undercover and be placed there as well.

Enzo had been adamant about it being a stupid idea. He got so agitated whenever she brought it up again, but to her it seemed like the one thing they could do.

He was in the kitchen, busying himself with chopping herbs, getting dinner ready. She closed her eyes torn a moment, wondering when her life - their lives - had started to become so domestic, so homely? With a sigh she sat down opposite him, watching him for a while.

She had given up offering help. They both had quickly realized that she sucked at cooking and was prone to clumsiness which had at one time ended up in her almost cutting off her index finger. She flinched at the memory.

"I'm gonna do it," she informed him, and he looked up, for a moment out of the loop on what she was talking about. "Virginia," Bonnie explained, "I have a contact, a doctor, who'll get me in."

"Bonnie, I don't think this is the way…" He looked rather unhappy, and it was kinda… cute? What had he done to her, making her think he was cute… Bonnie bit her lip.

"It's alright. He'll get me in. He'll get me out again, too."

"I don't want you locked away in there. We don't even know how violent Virginia can get. All we have to go by is Alexandria's account, and, frankly, I don't trust her."

"I know."

He glanced at her, then turned away to pour pasta into a pot. She saw the tension in his body, but said nothing.

"I can't allow you to do it."

"Excuse me?" She scoffed. "You don't have to allow me anything. I'm perfectly capable of making my own decisions, thank you very much."

She was annoyed with him. He was still so patronizing at times. It really angered her. She was not helpless. She didn't need him.

"I know, love. You're a force to be reckoned with."

Always with that joking undertone; like everything was just a game to him. Bonnie rolled her eyes.

He was still facing the stove when he quietly added, "I know what it means to be locked up in a place with no way of getting out..."

Her features softened. Suddenly she understood.

"I won't be locked up. Not really. I'll just have to say the magic word and the doc will get me out, Enzo. It's just a ruse."

"I know," he allowed. "But nothing is fail safe. I…" He abruptly turned to face her, staring down at her, his eyes dark and full of a passion she had only had glimpses of before. "I don't want you in danger, Bonnie Bennett."

She smiled. She placed her hands on the countertop in front of her and slowly rose up to walk over to him.

"And I thank you for that, Lorenzo St. John. But I can take care of myself, and besides, I got you to watch out for me. Right?"

She was standing right in front of him then, glancing up, her smile wide. His features softened, and she found herself touching his shirt right above his heart.

"You smell good," she said. She'd meant the herbs, but somehow there was more to it. He did smell really good. And he felt really good too.

The next thing she knew, she jumped up as he flung his arms around her, lifting her up for a kiss. Not gentle at all, but fierce. Strong. Passionate.

Ten they tumbled out of the kitchen and over to the couch, tugging and tearing off their clothes as they went…

She felt his hands in her hair, felt them travel down her spine as her teeth tugged at his lips. He tasted good, too. She wanted all of him, and she wanted it now.

When his fingers gently caressed the wetness between her legs, she moaned deeply, but quickly moved to grab him where he strained against her, hard and ready.

"I want you inside," she breathed and he smirked.

"Not into the slow approach?"

"Just not right now," she allowed before she kept him from continuing to talk by kissing him again. She didn't have to tell him twice.

...

When they were done, lying naked and intertwined on the couch, there was just the briefest moment of awkwardness. Enzo was playing with her hair absently where she was resting on his chest.

"This was... unexpected," he admitted, and she looked up to him curiously. He was quick to add, "But good."

He looked so cocky, even now, while her cheeks flushed with sudden embarrassment. Had she just thrown herself at him? She took a deep breath, readying herself for what she was about to admit.

"Was it?" She asked. "Because, honestly, I had already expected this to happen on New Year's Eve..."

Their gazes met, and she saw Enzo smirk at her.

"I wanted to," he allowed. "I just wasn't sure..."

"So I am to believe that Enzo St. John suddenly developed a gentleman complex?" She raised an eyebrow, but smiled.

He shook his head.

"Only when I really care about someone," he breathed, making her swallow a gasp. "Like you, Bonnie Bennett..."

...

...

Finding her brother hadn't been as easy as she had hoped, and eventually, he found her.

Jo felt a horrible horrible fear upon seeing him approach her, in the middle of the street, in bright daylight.

There was nothing left of Luke in him. Luke must have had moved on to a better place. That's what she told herself anyway.

"You know you're just back because of me, right?" were his first words to her, spoken with a smirk on his face. He was still all cocky attitude and boasting confidence.

"Kai…"

He raised his arms as if in surrender, "Don't look so scared, sister. I'm not here to hurt you. I may still need you?" It sounded like a question. "Did you hear, by the way: you are a mom now!"

She felt her neck crawl with fear. So he'd heard. And he was probably back because of them, her girls.

"Congratulations! Let me give you a hug!" He swaggered over to her and just put his arms around her, lifting her off the floor a tiny bit. She was wary, but didn't want to put up a fight just yet.

"I need you to help me," she finally managed, and he raised an eyebrow at her.

"Oh? For real? My help? Ah, this should be good. Come on, walk with me a bit, sis. Strolling through this town will be like walking down memory lane. A nice little moment between siblings." He squeezed her against him as they started walking. "Help, you said? Please go on…"

She inhaled deeply, keeping the air in her lungs a while. Was this really a good idea? Was she just playing into whatever he wanted to do here to begin with?

"It's Katherine. You know her, right? Katherine Pierce. She's back and she… I don't know what exactly she's up to but she's been hanging out at the Salvatore's house."

"Salvatore! Is Damon there?" Kai interrupted. He sounded genuinely happy.

"They're all there. Damon, Stefan… the - my girls. Alaric… They are trapped. She won't let them out. She's… she's very powerful now, Kai. Full of magic. I need you to help me get my girls, my family, out of there. In return, you'll get all her magic to siphon off."

"Huh." Kai scrunched up his face, thinking.

Jo tried to gauge what could be going on inside of him, but she had no idea. Was he tempted? He was so power-hungry after all, it was her one incentive to get him to help her. She could only hope he'd go for it.

"Trapped, you say? Like prisoners?" he asked, and she nodded. "Bonnie, too? Bonnie Bennett?"

"Yes…"

He beamed. "Okay, I'm sold. Let's go over there now, shall we?"

This was going too fast, too easy. Why was he so eager to help? Was she falling into a trap?

"We don't even have a plan yet, Kai. Shouldn't we… I mean…"

"What else is there to plan, sis? We'll go over there, I'll siphon off all of Katherine's precious magic. You take your girls - and daddy. And I get the rest. Deal?"

She stared at him. He was planning something of his own, she knew it. She knew she couldn't trust him. But all she wanted was her family. It would be so easy to get rid of her awkward family constellation at the same time, once and for all. So easy...

"I'll need Caroline, too, she's in there with them, she's part of my family now, too." She surprised herself. It was out before she could think it to the end.

He pouted a little, but said, "Okay. Caroline, too. The rest are mine, though!"

She gave him one last nod, and just like that they went on their way, walking all the way over to the Salvatore house.

Eight months later...

...

"You know. Sleep is a fascinating bodily need, is it not? We live so little of our lives actually conscious."

He had donned his white lab coat, and was now putting on his gloves. Sometimes he wondered why he even bothered. It didn't really matter whether he was sterile or not. It could actually add some pleasure if he got the subject exposed to more germs, bacteria, pain. Pain was always good.

But that wasn't him. That wasn't Dr. Grayson Gilbert. No. He was a stickler for details and he wanted to keep up the appearance of a good doctor. If only for his own sake.

Nobody else cared.

But he wasn't there for any invasive procedures today anyways. Yet. He just wanted to check the subject's vitals, see how he was doing after week nineteen of sleep deprivation.

They'd put him on one of the examination tables, fixated his arms and legs, a band across the chest and neck. He couldn't move much. Vervain made the material they'd used toxic to the subject's skin, and it looked raw and burned in places.

Grayson had to suppress the urge to clean off the dead flakes of skin to make it look smoother. It was one of his pet peeves. But he was not to mess more with the subject than necessary. Not today. This was all about sleep.

The subject had his eyes closed. It was understandable. The moment of examination was the only time they turned off the loud music and stopped the electric shocks, and the cold water, and the glaring flickering lights.

The body simply took what it craved, even if it only lasted a minute.

The tests were over quickly; Grayson took his headphones and looked up to the window gallery, where his colleague was waiting to turn the music back on. Grayson showed him five fingers. The other man nodded back.

Five minutes to talk with the subject.

He touched the man's shoulder. He was still out. Another nod to the colleague, and they shocked him. His body jolted off the table. A flicker of eyelids. He was awake again.

"Hello, Enzo."

The subject turned his head away from Grayson. Even after all this time, he still tried to fight against his bounds. On one wrist, Grayson could actually see the bone peeking through. He sighed.

"This is almost over. Just one more week. To make it an even ten weeks of sleep deprivation as a human, ten weeks as a vampire…"

Grayson waited. Would the man show a reaction at this point? But he was disappointed. There was nothing.

He sighed, then continued, "A week more, that's nothing in the grand scheme of things, right? This particular study has helped us tremendously with a project regarding counterintelligence that was funded by the CIA. The CIA, Enzo! We've come a long way since our beginnings, haven't we? And you've been a big part of that."

He wasn't sure the subject was even listening, but he went on anyways. He needed to let it out somewhere, or it would consume him; and as sad as it was, the subject was the only one he could talk to about this. His own wife and daughter, he couldn't bring any of this home to them.

"I'm grateful that we got to rebuild the Society. I'm grateful Katherine gave me that. She knew I just needed one starting point and that it couldn't just be anywhere, and not with just anyone. It had to be with you."

Still no reaction. But Grayson didn't mind. He wondered what Enzo must be thinking. He'd tried so hard to fight, just like Elena… But in the end whatever Katherine had done to their minds had been stronger. It had been so easy for Grayson to chain Enzo up again. And Elena… well.

"Elena's adjusted well, under the circumstances," he recounted and laughed a humorless laugh. "I think I finally got her to understand the severity of the situation. Why I had to do what I did. She hasn't been crying as much anymore. She stopped going on about Damon, about how he will find her and come get her, 'save her.' She stopped asking about you." He lifted up his headphones. It was time. "Honestly, I miss the good old days when she was dating young Matt Donovan. He was good for her. He was human. With him, she would have never gone down that path…" He trailed off for a moment, lost in thought. "Anyways. I'll let you enjoy the music now, and we will talk again in a week."

As he put his headphones on, he nodded up to the other man and the music started back up. Then the lightshow. Grayson suddenly felt strangely numb inside. This used to give him so much excitement. So much energy, so much exhilaration.

He was looking forward for this to end in a week, too. He didn't like working for people who funded them. It restricted his work too much. He couldn't follow his needs as much. He shook his head, fighting off his demons. Those had to stay here, too.

It was time to head home, to go see Miranda and Elena, enjoy the peace with them; and maybe take them both out to dinner.

Italian sounded good.