Chapter 34
"Who is this girl?" Damon asks as he lifts Dana's head from the stone fountain. Sitting on the ledge next to the corpse, he glances at her young, lifeless face as her brown hair cascades past the coagulated stump of her neck. He almost pities the poor girl. Almost. He's too busy with time travelers, future sire bonds, and brothers on ripper binges to feel anything about the dead girl. Besides, Carol Lockwood is having enough feelings for everyone.
Elena and Caroline cringe at Carol's wailing from the back porch. Even with their backs to the house, they sympathize with the older woman's struggle to pull herself back together after finding the body. Sheriff Forbes did her best to calm her long-time friend, but when Damon and the time travelers arrived, she left to slow down her deputies and give the vampires enough time to do their own investigation.
"She was a girl in our grade," Caroline says, her eyes down cast as she wrings out her hands and blinks at a glimmer of tears.
"Why her?" Damon stands and sets Dana's head next to her body. "She doesn't look special to me."
Elena shrugs and shoves her hands into her jacket. "As far as we know, she isn't. I don't even remember what happened to her after high school."
"That's because Stefan killed her in our timeline too," Caroline says. "It was at the beginning of our senior year, remember?"
"Oh, yeah." Elena's lips curve down and her brow furls. "Poor Dana."
Damon eyes her lack luster response and wonders if time has dulled her to this type of loss or if she's using the mental wall he helped rebuild. He's not sure which option he'd prefer. He cringes at the idea of Elena losing a bit of herself to the harsh realities of living forever, but it happens to every vampire eventually. Alternatively, the idea that Elena leans on a mental barrier and selective humanity for such a trivial loss is terrifying.
Not that he's one to talk, since his future self is probably the one that taught her how to do it. Given the choice, he'd shove every unpleasant feeling he's ever experienced behind his blockade. Unfortunately over the years something always jumped the fence when he overburdened it, and he'd been forced to confront the emotional issues he'd tried to dodge. Still, the wall keeps most of his emotional baggage at bay including the death of his best friend and his staring roles in five years worth of torture porn. He wonders how much Elena has walled away and how long before something slips through her mental cracks. For now at least, she's keeping her demons at bay.
"Do you think it means something that Stefan killed her in our timeline? Like he picked Dana on purpose?" Elena asks.
Caroline presses her lips into a thin line as she considers the question, while Damon glances over the girls' shoulders with a raised eyebrow. They can all hear Carol now on her phone conversing with Sheriff Forbes between sniffles. Liz tries to assure Carol that it's perfectly normal for Caroline, Elena, and Damon to view the body before the cops or family. Damon smirks at Carol's insistence that she isn't stupid enough to believe that and Liz has some explaining to do. Carol claims that it's obvious that another vampire is on the loose, so Liz and her trusted deputies better track it down. Damon waves at Carol, and she offers a courtesy smile in return then tears into Sheriff Forbes again.
"We better wrap this up," he says twirling his finger at Caroline. "Your mom can only delay due process for so long. It sounds like she's on her way back with the rest of the department following her lead."
"Klaus told him," she says.
"What?"
"He must have." Caroline sighs and explains. "In our timeline, Stefan killed this girl because Klaus compelled him to do it. He compelled away his humanity and sicced him after her like a blood-thirsty dog."
"That was after Stefan refused to kill me, even under compulsion," Elena says.
"So this girl died in your time because Stefan refused to kill Elena?" Damon frowns. "This guy likes his mind games, doesn't he?"
"You mean, Klaus? Yeah, he likes to feel superior. But this isn't Klaus. This has Stefan written all over it." Caroline waves a hand toward the fountain, and Elena agrees.
"Yeah, Klaus may have told him about Dana, but this was all Stefan's doing."
Shifting to stand shoulder to shoulder with Caroline, Damon crosses his arms and frowns at the dead girl. "But why dump her here? Ripper Stefan is a douche, but I don't remember him ever propping his victims up for display."
"My guess is that he wants Elena to feel bad. He wants her to feel like she's the reason people die in Mystic Falls."
Elena nods with a sigh then pauses as she remembers another death from her past that involved a fountain. Is it a coincidence, or is it a message?
Damon snorts, eyeing Elena. "That's stupid. It's not your fault that Klaus is a psychopath."
"Are you sure about that?" Stefan asks a few feet from the porch. All three vampires turn to face him, and Elena gasps, splaying her hands out wide.
"Don't hurt her," she begs, but Stefan smirks over Carol's shoulder. The older woman stands stiff as a board with Stefan behind her. With his left arm draped across her chest, his fingers caress the side of her throat, and Carol takes a shaky breath, trying not to tremble.
"Come on, Elena. She's going to die anyway. Klaus filled me. I know how all your friends and family die. And every death is your fault."
Damon tosses his shoulders and sucks on his teeth. "How do you figure?"
"Klaus and his family kills everyone of importance in this town. And the only reason they came her was for Elena. Hell, it's the only reason we stayed, Damon. Without her, Mystic Falls is just another small town in middle America."
"That's not true," she whispers.
"Oh it is. If you take one second to actually think about how your actions affect those around you for once. And I mean, really think about it. Not that insincere, woe- is-me, I'm-so-kind, and I-don't-want-to-burden-anyone-with-my-stupidly-dangerous-decisions, but-please-help-me bull crap."
"I almost forgot how much of dick you can be when you're like this," Caroline mutters, and Stefan glares at her as the veins under his eyes darken.
"You know I'm right, Care. We'd all be better off if Elena Gilbert were never born."
"Without her, none of it matters, Stefan," Damon says.
"Of course you'd think that." Stefan snarls at his brother and slips his whole hand around Carol's throat. She squirms, and Caroline waves her arms.
"Woah, woah, let's just forget about Elena for a second. Let's talk about you. What do you want out of all this mess?"
"Or did Klaus just compel you to wreak as much havoc as possible?" Damon asks.
"No."
"So what did he compel you to do?"
Stefan smirks. "I can't say."
"How about some hints? Are you allowed to kill anyone you want?"
Stefan's smirk grows into a grin that sets all three vampires on edge. "What I want out of this mess is for the Salvatores to suffer."
He shifts both hands to either side of Carol's head, but before he can yank the life from her body, a wooden bullet burst through his back and into his lower abdomen. Surprised, he jerks away and collapses to his knees as a second and third bullet slam into his buttocks and thigh. He screams at the pain, while Elena snatches Carol and vamp speeds her to safety.
Sheriff Forbes stands on the porch with her smoking gun pinned on Stefan, and Damon raises his eyebrows at her. "Nice shootin', Sheriff."
"Next time, I'm aiming for his heart," she says in her cop voice, and Damon dips his head in acknowledgement.
Stefan thrashes on the ground as blood seeps into the dirt around him. He can feel one splintered bullet shredding his gut, and another scraping against his hip. The third seems to have been a through-and-through gunshot, but it left behind several slivers of wood impaled in his thigh that feel like tiny needles stabbing his sciatic nerve. Fighting the urge to vomit from the pain, he mutters a few unmentionable insults toward Liz, and Damon kicks him in the side.
"Language, little brother." He flips Stefan onto his back and stands over him. "So what were you saying earlier? I feel like you were on the verge of a villain speech. You know, the one where you tell us all your evil plans."
"Not a chance," Stefan manages, while trying to dig the slivers from his leg.
Damon slaps Stefan's hand away from the wound on his thigh and stabs his fingers into the destroyed muscle. Blood gushes, and both Caroline and Liz cringe, but neither says a word to stop him.
"Come on, you know you want to spill all of Klaus' secrets. Tells us what he's planning."
Stefan screams and struggles against Damon, but his wild thrashing is useless against the wood embedded in his body. "I can't say!"
Damon sighs and pulls his fingers from the tender wound, and Stefan calms into a whimper.
"Great," Caroline mutters. "Klaus compelled him not to talk."
"What about that button or plug or something? For his humanity? Can you get that turned back on?" Liz asks, finally holstering her gun.
"That's up to him. We can't make him do it." Damon crouches over his little brother again. "How about it, Stefan? Don't you want to feel something other than anger and hatred? Especially for stupid, imaginary reasons."
Stefan snarls, jerking his face up to meet Damon. "They're not stupid reasons, and they're certainly not imaginary. You've wanted Elena since you met her. You always try to take what's mine."
"This is all over a girl?" Sheriff Forbes snorts and tosses her hands out in defeat. "I don't have time for this. I've got to head off my deputies."
Caroline watches her mother hustle toward the house as red and blue lights bounce off it from the front yard. Liz won't be able to delay her deputies for long. Caroline needs to cut to the meat of things quickly or move Stefan to the boarding house. She doesn't want to lock him up, but they may not have a choice. She looks down at him, still in a glaring contest with his brother about who owned the toy first.
"You sound like a child," Caroline says, kneeling next to her faux husband. "Especially in the large scheme of things. So you and Elena don't end up together. Trust me, you'll get over it."
"You sure about that, Caroline?" he says, snapping his head around to stare into her blue-green eyes with his emerald. "Are you sure that I don't pretend to move on with my life and with someone new, all the while still holding a small torch for my old high-school flame?"
"Absolutely, without a doubt, yes."
He blinks, surprised by her certainty. That kind of biting remark would have shaken to the core the Caroline he knows. Perhaps 200 years has taught the ditsy blonde some confidence. He'll have to think of something more piercing next time.
Damon stands and hunches his shoulders. "Come on, you're making too big a deal out of this. You're mad about something that's never going to happen. It's not even what you think. Elena doesn't fall in love with me. She loves you. As long as she has a choice, it'll always be you."
"She married you!"
Damon sighs and closes his eyes. He braces for what he has to say next. "She's sired to me, Stefan. She doesn't have a choice."
Caroline snaps her head around to gape at Damon, who stands above her and Stefan with his eyes sealed shut and visibly cringing from his own words.
"What?" Stefan says, and Caroline spots his surprise.
This might work. She nods at her faux husband. "Of course, why else would Elena chose Damon over you? What girl would do that?"
Damon's eyes snap open, and he glares at the back of Caroline's head with a silent snarl. Stefan, on the other hand, laps up this new information like a man dying of thirst.
Of course. That explains everything. Elena would never choose to betray me like that. She loves me.
Caroline holds her breath as she watches the expressions flitter across Stefan's face. After two centuries at his side, she can interpret each look in microseconds. First he's surprised, incredulous, then relieved. She hopes to spot something akin to regret or guilt to signal that his humanity is returning, but instead his relief melts into a seething glare.
"You let her spend the last 200 years sired to Damon?"
Caroline shakes her head, opening her mouth to speak, but Damon interrupts. "You know that a sire bond can't be broken. Not even magic can do it."
Stefan lurches at his brother before screaming at the wooden bullets still tearing his body apart. Damon steps out of reach, and Caroline jumps to her feet. She can't help but feel sorry for the younger Salvatore as he squirms on the ground. It must be awful to believe that you failed the woman you love by allowing her to live in a loveless marriage, sired to another man. But Stefan isn't feeling the regret, guilt, sadness, or pain of that failure, instead she can see that he's channeling the rage and hatred necessary to blame them.
"You should've found a way to break it. You should've sent her away. You should've done anything...anything but take advantage of her."
Damon swallows and nods, looking away. He can't meet his brother's gaze because he agrees. How could he have let this happen? How could his future self accept this...accept her like that?
Sounds from the house pull Caroline's attention away. She can hear her mother and the deputies shuffling through the home.
"Okay, well this backfired, and we've run out of time. Let's get you out of here."
"We'll take care of him," Tyler says from the other side of the fountain, and all three vampires look at him in surprise.
"Where'd you come from?" Damon asks. Tyler smiles as the veins under his eyes darken and his irises glow gold. Damon frowns. "What the hell?"
"He's a hybrid now," Caroline explains while staring at her ex-boyfriend. "Are you okay with being sired to Klaus? The Tyler I knew wasn't."
He shrugs. "I'm just here for Stefan. Don't make me hurt either of you."
Both vampires snort in unison.
"You can try, Wolf-boy," Damon says.
"He's staying with us," Caroline says.
Tyler shakes his head twice then lifts his chin toward the porch. Two unfamiliar hybrids stand on either side of the back door and large windows. Caroline spots Liz through one window as she points at things while talking to her deputies and strolls toward the back door.
"It's your choice, Caroline. Your mother or Stefan."
Damon steps toward the porch, ready for a fight, but Caroline holds out an arm to stop him. She flips hair to glare at Tyler over her shoulder. "Take him and go. But you tell Klaus that I'll never forgive him for this. He knows how I feel about threats toward my family."
Several hours and two bottles of whiskey later, Damon leans into a pretty redhead as she tries to line up her shot on the pool table. She giggles when his hand slides down her hips, and the blonde on the opposite side of the table pouts at the lack of attention. Damon smiles at her, and she bats her eyes at him. The Mystic Grill may lack the active nightlife to which he grew accustom in bigger cities like New York, but it makes up for it in eager young ladies from the local college. Why anyone would drive all the way to Mystic Falls from Whitmore College is beyond him, but he intends to make the most of it on a night like this.
He spent most of the day searching the town, again, for Stefan and the murder twins just to come up empty-handed. Again. After ripping out his own heart for the sake of making Elena feel better and then trying to convince his brother to drink the cool-aide of humanity by revealing his most shameful crime, which he hasn't even committed yet, Damon decided to take the night off. Elena is safe with Sabrina, the teenage witch, and Blondie, the baby vampire. Elena doesn't need Damon's bodyguard services, and she's made it clear that she doesn't want him for anything else. So he's enjoying the few things in life that never let him down: whiskey, women, and blood.
As the redhead pulls her pool stick back to make her shot, she arches her back and presses her butt against Damon, and he grins. He leans down against her and drapes his lips along the exposed artery in her neck, flicking his tongue out to taste her skin. She gasps and misses her shot. The cue ball careens across the table and comes to stop in front of the blonde, who ignores it. Instead she slips in next to Damon, running a hand under his leather jacket and up his chest.
"I'm feeling left out." She sticks her lip out, and Damon stretches upward to kiss her, enjoying the feel of her curvy body against his. The redhead presses into him from behind, and he grins. "This is my kind of sandwich."
"How about we take this to your place," the redhead says, ignoring the other people in the restaurant trying not to stare at the PDA.
Between the alcohol running through his veins and the blood and sex in which he's soon to indulge, he expects the dull ache of rejection and self-hatred to ease into a haze of dopamine induced euphoria. At least until morning.
"Sounds good to me," he says, slurring his words. "I'll pay the tab and meet you out front. Try not to disappear because I'm awfully hungry."
The women giggle at his innuendo, not realizing the truth of his statement. He breaks free of them after a couple more kisses and sidles up to the bar while they visit the bathroom. He rests on the cushioned stool and motions to the bartender drying a glass on the opposite end of the bar. Wetting his lips, Damon notes a faint taste of cherry lip balm and smirks, but it falters when intruding thoughts of Elena spring forward. He wonders which flavor she prefers to wear and whether her lips are as soft as they look.
I'll never find out. He reminds himself and shoves away the sinking, self-loathing blob that threatens to suffocate him. He wants to shove it behind the mental wall that is his humanity switch and bathe in the emptiness it would leave him, but doing so might take with it all the good feelings he associates with Elena. He cherishes the fluttering that blooms in his chest when she smiles at him and the flame of affection she lights in him when she surprises him with a kind word instead of the condemnation or cold indifference he expects. He refuses to give up this connection with Elena, deciding the heartache is worth it. But tonight he's determined to blow off some steam and enjoy the reprieve until morning.
Realizing that the bartender has yet to acknowledge him, Damon huffs and taps on the bar. He waves again at the young man, but the bartender remains focused on cleaning the same glass on the other end of the bar. He twists the cup in his hand, running a cloth over the smooth edges over and over again while his eyes dart back and forth between the glass and a man sitting two barstools down from Damon. His buzz disappears when Damon recognizes compulsion in the bartender's behavior. He eyes the stranger at the bar before glancing around the restaurant. He spots several people staring at him like he's a steer they've herded into the chute for slaughter. Two stand at each exit and a fourth near the bathrooms.
Damon sighs and props his elbows on the bar. He frowns at the stranger, who stares at his drink with a curled finger pressed against his lips in thought.
"You know, I just want to drink and have a good time. Is one night really too much to ask?" Damon says.
The stranger drops his hand to his glass and smirks. "In this town? Perhaps."
His English accent grates across Damon's nerves, and he sucks on his teeth. "Klaus, I presume."
"You've always been one of good taste, at least when it came to a good drink." Klaus raises his green eyes to watch in the mirror over the bar as one of his minions escorts the blonde and redhead from the bathroom to the exit. "But it seems you haven't learned to refine your taste in women yet."
"Maybe I've decided some women aren't worth the hassle."
Klaus twists around to stare at him with an unamused expression, and Damon feels like an immature child caught in a lie but refusing to admit the truth. He swallows, wishing he had a drink in his hand.
"For two hundred years, I've watched you go to the ends of the Earth for the love of one woman. No matter how badly you screw up or how many terrible acts you commit, Elena always forgives you. I'll admit that I've envied your ability to steal your brother's girl, minus the moral implications."
"Yeah, those can be a bitch."
"I asked you once about your secret to convincing Elena to forgive you over and over again," Klaus says then sips from his glass.
Damon stares at the hybrid, wrestling with his eagerness to hear the answer, but also dreading it. He doesn't want to hear about the sire bond. The shame of it encompasses his heart, but the worst of it is the glimmer of temptation that he keeps snuffing out. Doing what Damon does best, he hides his turmoil behind sarcasm.
"Let me guess, it has to do with my endless charm and unflinching ability to listen to Taylor Swift."
"If you have to be bad, be bad with purpose. That's what you told me, and I think you were right. I believe Elena is drawn to the idea that you do whatever it takes to keep her and your loved ones alive." Klaus sets his glass down. "It's taken me a while to truly see the wisdom in your motto, but recently I've taken it heart."
"Is that what all this time travel is about? Are you laying all your cards on the table for Caroline, hoping to steal her from...my brother apparently." Damon isn't sure whether he's relieved that Klaus didn't mention the sire bond or disappointed to learn of its affects on Elena. Of course, she continues to forgive him of every murderous decision he makes in the future; she has no choice. No wonder her psyche seemed so damaged during his visit to her mindscape, and it explains why she seems to rely heavily on her mental wall that acts as her humanity buffer.
"It's strange," Klaus says in an upbeat tone that unsettles Damon more than he'd like to admit. "Technically, this is the first time we've met. And still, I find myself in quiet the quandary. You see, Damon. I promised you last we spoke, that the next time I laid eyes upon you, I'd rip your heart out."
Klaus flashes his amber gaze, and the veins under his eyes darken in true hybrid fashion while Damon's stomach drops. He shoves his fear aside and leans against the bar with a shrug.
"Yeah, I get that sometimes."
Klaus smiles. "You're not surprised. That means Caroline is sharing her knowledge of the future with you. She can be quite thorough at times, but on occasion she likes to play things close to the chest. I wasn't sure which route she'd take with you."
"Is there a third option because the first two seem to be blowing up in her face. You know, since you're still here running amuck with her psycho children."
"Glib as ever, I see." Klaus swallows what remains in his glass, and the bartender jumps to refill it, still ignoring Damon, who tries to stay calm despite his growing sense of doom. "Anyway, back to my dilemma. Should I or should I not hold you accountable for your future self's choices? Should I rip your heart out as promised? If I do, does that mean I'm no longer obligated to do the same next time I run into your future version? What do you think?"
Damon stands, readying to fight or flight. He isn't sure which. "I vote that we be friends. I'm always on the lookout for another drinking buddy."
"Yes, I suppose you usually are, but that's not in the cards, I'm afraid." Klaus sighs and finishes another drink.
An instant later, he stands between Damon and the dozen or so innocent people milling about the restaurant. Oddly enough, Damon notices the wooden bar jamming into his back before he recognizes the sensation of Klaus' hand wrapped around his vulnerable heart. He looks down to confirm the hybrid's lean arm protruding from his chest, and he recognizes the feeling of warm blood seeping down his stomach. The wave of pain would've brought him to his knees if Klaus wasn't holding him upright.
"Now, now. Don't you want to keep your dignity in death?" Klaus whispers, and Damon stares up at him as he struggles to form words around the pain and lack of breath.
"What do you want?"
"Now we're getting somewhere."
Elena descends the staircase at the boarding house and spots Caroline stepping into the foyer from the other side of the hallway. The blonde pretends not to notice her before shuffling outside, and Elena follows her with a sigh.
"Still mad at me, I take it," she says when they both sit on the brick terrace of the carport.
Caroline snorts and shakes her heard. At first, she doesn't want to look at Elena, but then she jerks around to glare at her sister-in-law. "Yes, of course, I'm still mad at you. You left, Elena. You just took Damon and left town. Oh, but not before burning down your house, again."
"That was our choice, Caroline. We needed to.." Elena's words catch in her throat and tears well as an unexpected wave of loss and sorrow smacks into her. She cringes against it, slamming her eyes shut. After thrusting it all back behind her humanity buffer, she takes a deep breath. "We needed space."
"For fifty year?! You didn't call or write. Not even a hashtag."
"I visited."
"Last Christmas doesn't count. You where here for a total of three hours before darting back to your hideaway in New Zealand."
"What about when the munchkins first opened the time portals? I came home for that, and look how it turned out."
"That was the first time I'd seen you in practically four decades. You didn't even answer our desperate call for help when the entire town was about to be destroyed."
Elena manages to stop her eyes from rolling. "Mystic Falls is fine."
"Because Hope was there to help, but we could've really used you and Damon. We needed your help. You are our family."
"We weren't in a position to help anyone. We were running around without our humanity. Both of us. We caused a lot of harm, Caroline, and it was wrong, but I..." Elena wants to tell her that she doesn't regret it, but she can't. She can't bring herself to discard the pain and loss she inflicted on innocent people. "I regret the pain we caused but not the time we took away from here."
Caroline studies her sister as Elena stares at her hands, rubbing them together as though to strip them of the invisible blood that stains them. Caroline knows that Elena's body count grew over the forty years that she and Damon spent without their humanities, but she also knows most of her anguish is from one death that will haunt both Elena and Damon for eternity. She and Stefan feel the loss as well, but in a different way. Caroline sends a small prayer to thank God that while her girls may be running amok, they are alive.
Caroline slips a hand over Elena's, drawing her brown gaze to meet blue-green. "I'm glad that you're here."
Elena exhales with a grateful smile and leans against Caroline's shoulder, who welcomes her with a hug. When they return to their seats on the brick, Caroline glances at her watch.
"What time did Damon say he'd be here?"
"Anytime now." Elena points at a car inching up the driveway. "Looks like the others are here."
"Who all did he invite?"
"I don't know. He just said that he learned something that he thought would be useful against the twins and wanted to tell everyone about it in person. He also said something about not wanting to repeat himself."
Caroline snorts. "Well he failed, since he called and said the exact same thing to me and probably them as well."
The two women stand to watch the car filled with their younger versions pull up. Caroline's head pops up when she recalls something interesting.
"I heard you met a psychic?"
"Ha, yeah two actually. It was not a pleasant experience. If you ever hear the names, Sybil or Seline, just don't."
"That bad, huh?"
"They were cannibalistic immortals with mind control."
"Oh, that is bad."
"Mm hmm," Elena says with a nod.
Human Elena, present-day Caroline, and Bonnie climb out of Elena's new SUV and join the time travelers in the grassy circle near the car port. Human Elena keeps Caroline company ten feet from their counterparts, while Bonnie stands between them to minimize the awkward divide. Caroline pokes at the invisible barrier keeping her at bay, while Elena wishes she had the shield. She's not yet ready to dive back into visions of the future, since she's still trying to come to terms with the few she's already seen.
"Does anyone know what this is about?" she asks.
"No," Bonnie says, "but I'm hoping whatever it is works better than Damon's compass idea. I've spent the last few hours working on it, but I've got nothing to show for it."
Future Caroline frowns. "Really? I thought it was great idea. I'm surprised that you're having so much trouble. What book are you using for reference?"
"The only one I have." Bonnie shrugs. "Emily's grimoire."
"That's good. She did some groundbreaking spell work for her time. Are you pushing the magic or pulling it to the compass? What are you using to bind it?"
Bonnie raises her eyebrows in surprise, and present Caroline scowls. "What do you know about magic?"
"I raised two witches. I wanted them to feel connected to their culture, so I did a lot of research. The Bennet coven gave me a peak into their library a couple of times, but I also tracked down a few grimoires for my own collection. Since none of the covens I spoke to would teach them to control their...gifts, their father and I had to learn with them."
"Speaking of their father," present Caroline says with a smile. "How about a hint?"
Vampire Elena's eyebrows shoot up, and she grins. "Yeah, Caroline, how about a hint about your dreamboat? Is he charming, debonair, dangerous?"
Caroline sucks on her cheek while eyeing her sister-in-law, who bites back her laughter. The blonde crosses her arms and says, "I'm not telling."
"Oh, come on," present Caroline whines. "If it's meant to be, me knowing can't stop it."
"That's not true," human Elena says. "You knowing could change everything. What if you find out only to be disappointed? What if he's not the kind of person you want to spend your life, or eternity, with? Besides, don't you want to be with Matt?"
Bonnie and Caroline glance at each before the blonde shrugs with a disappointed droop to her lips. "Of course, I'm sad that Matt and I don't end up together. I really care about him. I'm not sure that I'm in love with him, but I hoped that I could be one day. But I'm also glad that he might end up with Bonnie. If they make each other happy and beautiful babies together, I'm going to be so happy for them."
Caroline wraps her arms around the shorter girl. "You're my best friend, Bonnie, and I want you to be happy."
"Thanks, Care. I don't know if Matt and I are in the cards for this timeline, but it's good to know that we have your blessing," she says with a giggle.
"Besides, it sounds like I'm really happy with my future husband, so everyone wins."
Vampire Elena and future Caroline glance at each other and shrug. The baby vampire wasn't wrong. Even if some feelings were hurt in the beginning, all four parties ended up happier for it.
Human Elena chews on her lip and tries to see the wisdom in her friend's words. If she falls in love with Damon in the future, does Stefan eventually move on to find love with someone else? She recalls each memory strike, trying to find a hint of Stefan's happiness.
He wore a wedding ring to Jeremy's wedding, so he married someone. Just not me. He said that he was the happiest he'd ever been, but he didn't mention another woman. Except Caroline. When the girls were little and woke future me up for breakfast, Stefan was there too. But why? It was Caroline's house. I remember in the memory of the bar in Atlanta, Caroline and Stefan were good friends. They made up after a fight because Stefan was really bothered that Caroline was mad at him. Bonnie and Damon even commented on them, like they knew something Stefan hadn't realized yet...
Comprehension hits Elena like a bag of bricks.
They were falling in love in Atlanta. Stefan and Caroline get married and raise their daughters together. That's why Caroline doesn't want to reveal who she married. It's Stefan, my boyfriend.
Elena stares at future Caroline with wide, disbelieving eyes as she tries to wrap her mind around this new reality. Her first response is a wave of betrayal, but the memory of Stefan's blissfully content expression while ushering his young daughters to breakfast stalls her indignation.
"Is he happy?" Elena asks, and everyone turns to her. She steps closer to future Caroline and crosses her arms with a stern expression. "You're obviously happy with him...your husband. Is he happy with you...and your family?"
Future Caroline pauses at the human's question. She spots the accusation in her brown eyes, but also the confusion and heartbreak. Realizing that this Elena has learned the truth, Caroline softens and offers the young woman a simple and direct answer in hopes of softening the blow.
"Yes."
Elena jerks away. She wants to implode under the crushing weight of loosing Stefan and him moving on without her, but her best friend's gentle voice lightens her anguish.
"Our family is happy. Dysfunctional as all hell, but certainly happy. Plus, I couldn't ask for better in-laws."
"His parents are alive?" Present Caroline asks.
"No, he has a brother and sister-in-law," vampire Elena says. She winks at her younger counterpart. "But they're kind of crazy."
"So I'm going to marry into a family of vampires? Cool."
Human Elena smiles at the unwitting blonde. Caroline doesn't understand that her happily ever after is at Elena's expense, and Elena doesn't want to burst her friend's bubble. She doesn't want to taint Caroline's hope in a happy future. Is it wrong for Elena to still want Stefan, to still love him knowing he's meant to be with someone else? Does she still love him? Even after he attacked her? Elena shakes her head at the inner questions she has yet to answer and the emotions she can't quite claim. For now, there's at least one thing she knows for certain.
"I'm happy for you, Caroline." She hugs her long-time friend. "I hope you get everything you want in life."
"Me, too," Bonnie says, then eyes future Caroline. "Do you think, maybe, you can come by tomorrow? I could use your help with the compass."
"Of course."
Vampire Elena watches her sister-in-law nod, glad that their love lives aren't nearly as dramatic as when they were baby vampires. Of course, she doesn't really remember the most dramatic aspects of her early journey with Damon, but her recent peeks into their past are memories she'll treasure forever. Hopefully, her younger version can come to terms with a future that's very different from what she'd planned; otherwise she'll miss out on the best perk of immortality, spending it with the love of your life. An ache builds in her chest at the thought of her husband, and she wishes he were here. Elena rubs her hands over her arms to warm them against a cool, night breeze as a helicopter hums in the distance, barely audible over the sounds of the woods surrounding the house.
"Where is Damon? He said to meet him here ten minutes ago." She pulls her cell phone from her jacket, ready to dial him, but a familiar engine growls from the road. Elena looks up and smiles at the blue Camaro pulling into the drive.
"Speak of the devil," Bonnie says.
Future Caroline rolls her eyes skyward. "Fashionably late, of course."
Damon parks his car on the driveway close to the girls, but leaves it running. The engine rumbles idly behind him as he strolls toward them with his hands in his jacket pockets.
"What's up, ladies? Is this a girls only meeting? If so, does it involve jell-o?"
"You called us here, remember?" Present Caroline says. "Do you know how hard it is to convince my mom to let me leave the house? She's really freaking out about Stefan running around killing innocent girls."
Damon shrugs. "Yeah, Stefan has been MIA since our pow-wow at the Lockwood estate."
Everyone grimaces at the reminder of Stefan's victim and Carol's near death experience, and for a few moments, no one breaks the silence that falls upon the group as they listen to the odd harmonization of the Camaro's engine and an owl calling from the nearby trees. Finally Elena steps forward, forcing Damon to meet your gaze.
"So why did you call us all here?"
Elena expects him to say something snarky or flirty or dive into his serious demeanor that usually involves plotting someone's death; instead Damon shrugs again.
"I learned something that I think will be useful against the twins, and I want to tell everyone about it in person. You know how I hate repeating myself."
Vampire Elena blinks at his response as the hairs on her neck stand on end. He said something very similar to her on the phone. Very similar.
"Okay, well what is it?" Future Caroline asks.
Damon smirks at the blonde, obviously wanting to drag things out, and she groans. "Ugh, why do you have to so dramatic all the time?"
Vampire Elena steps close to Damon and stares at him, studying his every move. He ignores her and tosses his head at Bonnie.
"Any luck with that compass?"
"Not yet," she answers.
"So Sabrina, the teenage witch, is a dud. Again. Big surprise." Damon flashes his blue eyes. "Did you bring it with you?"
Bonnie sneers at him and shakes her head.
"Where is it?"
"Someplace safe."
He snorts and opens his mouth to say something unkind and snarky, but Future Caroline interrupts him.
"Come on, spit it out. What did you learn?"
He frowns at the blonde but answers. "I met Klaus today." Caroline's eyes grow wide, and he smirks. "He's an interesting fellow. And scary."
"You mean the guy that wants to sacrifice me?" Human Elena asks.
"No, not that one. I met the one that already sacrificed her." He points a thumb at vampire Elena, who continues to stare at him. She bites her lip while her eyes dance across his form, searching for something to confirm her suspicion.
Present Caroline frowns. "Elena, why are you being so weird?"
Her eyes dart to Caroline and back to Damon. "He's the one being weird. Damon, what did you and Klaus talk about?"
"I can't say."
Vampire Elena stiffens at his admission, and future Caroline gasps.
"Aren't you taking vervain?"
Damon shrugs. "I never got around to it."
"I don't understand. What are you talking about?" Bonnie asks.
Vampire Elena shakes her head and takes a deep breath. A sense of exposure crawls across her skin, and she twirls around to scan the front yard and the long driveway. She checks the perimeter of the woods, but she doesn't find anything alarming. She expands her vampire hearing to listen for telltale signs of Klaus, Hope, or maybe the twins. She can't hear much over the Camaro's growling engine and a nearby news helicopter.
"Damon, what's going on? What did Klaus compel you to do?"
"I can't say."
"What's that noise?" Bonnie asks. "Is that a helicopter?"
Present Caroline uses a hand to guard her face from the dust and wind that the spinning blades throw against them. "What's it doing up there? Why is it so close to the house?"
Elena watches the chopper circle the boarding house, eyeing the large printed letters that indicate an unfamiliar news channel. She looks back at Damon to glare at him. She knows the havoc her husband can wreck if given a cause, but he would never purposely draw the attention of human media. Nor would Klaus.
"Who is that? Why did you call us all here?"
Damon's bottom lip twitches; then he grimaces under an invisible pain, and his body stiffens. His head jerks back and forth until his mouth finally opens.
"I learned something that I think will be useful against the twins..."
Human Elena gasps at his obvious struggle against compulsion and steps toward him. She calls his name and reaches for him. He snaps his head to her upon hearing the concern in her voice. Her brown doe eyes meet his icy blue, and he manages to speak one more word.
"Run."
A flash bang drops from the helicopter, and Bonnie screams. Vampire Elena stumbles to the ground in a blind stupor. She tries to vamp speed toward the house, or at least in the direction that she thinks the house resides. But she slams into present Caroline, and they both skid across the grass.
"I can't see!" Someone yells.
Struggling to regain the air that was knocked from her lungs, Elena hears hard thumps against the soft grass all around her, and she freezes. She closes her eyes to listen, and when she hears the familiar sound of boots scrapping against the ground, Elena rolls to her left, but she isn't fast enough to avoid the dart that stabs into her back. She jumps to her feet and yanks the syringe free, ignoring the searing pain of vervain creeping through her blood stream. Two centuries of resistance keeps her on her feet, but it doesn't dampen the pain.
Elena swings her leg against the puffing sounds of tranquilizer guns to her right, and her foot collides against a soft human clad in tactical gear. He yells as he's tossed across the yard, but two more vervain darts, shot from the opposite direction, strike Elena in the chest. She stumbles to her knees as the spots in her vision recede enough for her to see several humans, donned in soldier-like gear, pointing guns at her friends.
Future Caroline has her hand in one man's chest while three others shoot half a dozen vervain darts into her back. Bonnie lashes out wildly with her magic, knocking two humans aside, while another tags her with a tranquilizer dart in the leg. Damon and present Caroline lie unconscious next to Elena, who pulls a dart from her thigh then slumps face-first into the grass. As future Caroline falls then Bonnie, vampire Elena collapses onto her back. She spots the helicopter still hovering above them with ropes dangling from the open doors. Before the darkness sucks her into oblivion, she wonders how Klaus convinced the Armory to help him.