[3x10; The New Deal]

Morning After Homecoming

Lucy's head only ached a little when she woke up. Mostly, she was surprised by the light that flooded her room; it had been well into the night when she spoke with Mikael at the party and she couldn't remember a single thing after that.

Did Mikael succeed? Was Klaus dead?

She quickly sat up, rubbing her forehead, and gasped when she saw that Stefan sitting on her window seat. He was simply staring at her with passive eyes, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Stefan, what are you doing here?" she asked groggily. "What time is it?"

"It's ten," Stefan stood up and walked over to her bed to take a seat by her legs. "I brought you home last night."

"And you're still here?"

Stefan shrugged.

"Okay…" she sighed. "What happened last night? Did Mikael kill Klaus?"

"Not exactly…"

Lucy listened quietly as Stefan informed her of what happened the night before. Damon had succeeded in stabbing Klaus with the white oak stake but Stefan saved Klaus' life. Klaus ended up staking Mikael, who was now ash. Lucy had asked him why he saved Klaus and Stefan told her it was because Klaus had plans to make his hybrids kill Damon if he was killed.

"…and I couldn't let that happen," Stefan finished.

Lucy nodded, knowing that Stefan would rather die than have anything happen to Damon. His actions confirmed her suspicions, though. He had his humanity back on. And he had probably had it on for a while.

"How long has your humanity been on?"

Stefan wasn't surprised that she managed to figure it out on her own. Lucy was smart and she knew him more than anyone else. "A week or so," he admitted. "I know we have things to talk about. I do…but I need to do something first."

Lucy gave him a concerned look. "What is it? Can I do something to help?"

"I need you by my side, Luce," Stefan told her. "and I need you not to freak out when I tell you this. I need to explain."

Lucy nodded and promised to hear him out. She was curious about what he had done that would make her want to freak out so much.

"I stole the caskets or your Original siblings."

Lucy stared at him, trying to wrap her head around what he had just said. "What?!"

"Let me explain, okay?" Stefan grabbed her hand and linked their fingers to calm her down. "I took them to get back at Klaus but I need you to know that I will not do anything to harm them. I'll just keep them until Klaus gets out of Mystic Falls and doesn't come back."

"That's your endgame?" Lucy asked cautiously. "You just want Klaus out of our lives?"

"Yes."

"And you won't hurt Finn, Kol, and Elijah?"

"I promise I won't," Stefan nodded. "I might tell Klaus I will. Just to persuade him a little."

Lucy inhaled heavily, trying to decide what to do. From what Stefan said, he just wanted to get Klaus out of town. Nothing more. The thing was, she could tell Stefan was angry and she didn't want things to get out of hand.

"And it won't get out of hand? You won't go overboard?"

"I won't," Stefan declared. "I just want you by my side."

"Then I will be," Lucy squeezed his hand. "I told that I would always be by your side, Broody."

It had been two weeks since her conversation with Stefan the morning after homecoming. Strangely, things had been calm on both fronts; Stefan and Lucy had moved the caskets from the warehouse Stefan had stored them in at first to the basement of the old witch house. They knew Klaus had to be stewing with a plan to get his family back, under the impression that Stefan was going to dump them in the ocean, but he was quiet, too.

To Lucy's confusion, there were four coffins that Stefan stole, not three like she had thought. She had opened Elijah, Finn, and Kol's caskets to make sure they were in there and unharmed but she couldn't open the fourth one. She didn't even have an idea who could be in the fourth casket.

Despite the fact that Stefan turned his humanity back on, he wasn't back to his normal self. Most of the time he was his normal self, if not avoidant—they still hadn't talked about what happened before he left in the spring or his comments when he got back—but there were also times when he was angry and snippy. Lucy wouldn't let him get away with it; she'd let him know he was being an ass and then help him get through it.

The moodiness mostly came when he was around other people. And, really, the only other person Stefan interacted with was Joel. He wasn't outright rude to the younger vampire, but he always got annoyed. He was furious when Joel showed up at the witch house, though. He hadn't wanted anyone else to know about the coffins but Joel had followed Lucy there one day and had confronted the both of them.

Stefan was not happy with bringing Joel into the loop but one pleading look from Lucy did the trick.

Lucy slapped a card down onto the card table that she and Joel set up in the basement of the witch house. "Your turn," she told Joel, watching as he pulled a card from the draw pile and search his hand for a play. "Any day now, JoJo."

"I literally picked up my card a second ago," Joel rolled his eyes and set down two sets of four, much to Lucy's chagrin. He added another card to her run of eight and then slapped his last card into the discard pile. "I'm out."

Lucy groaned and wrote down the points she earned from the last round. Phase Ten was like golf; the less points you had, the better.

"I don't see what's so interesting about this game," Stefan huffed as Lucy started to shuffle and deal for the next round. "It's basically Rummy with colors."

"That's what makes it interesting, Broody," Lucy dealt Joel and herself ten cards each. "The colors sooth our millennial minds."

Stefan rolled his eyes at her answer but stiffened, as if he heard something. Apparently he did; he quickly informed Lucy and Joel that Bonnie had entered the house and was making her way to the basement.

The door leading to the basement opened seconds later and Bonnie walked down the stairs. Lucy and Joel started their game, anyway, letting Stefan deal with her.

"Hello, Bonnie," Stefan greeted Bonnie as though they were in a horror movie.

Bonnie whipped around to face him. "Stefan," she said, shocked. "You followed me here?"

"Yeah, it wasn't too hard," Stefan informed her. "You should probably be more careful."

"Don't listen to him, Bon," Lucy spoke up, putting a discard card in the pile; Bonnie whipped around to see her and Joel, giving them a confused look. "He's been here all morning."

Bonnie looked back to Stefan. "what do you want with me?"

"Relax, I just need your help."

"Why would I help you?" Bonnie raised her chin defiantly. "Elena said you saved Klaus' life."

"Let me fill you in on a little secret about Klaus," Stefan drawled, ignoring her comment. "He kept his family with him at all times. Daggered and stored in coffins. Now, I have them and I need you to help keep them hidden."

"You're out of your mind," Bonnie shook her head. "You're just going to make him angrier."

"His family is his one weakness," Stefan insisted. "As long as I have that, I have something over him."

Bonnie shook her head incredulously. "I don't have enough power to hide four Originals."

"That's why we're here," Lucy got up from the table and walked over to Bonnie. "I had a theory that the spirits could help you. They hate Klaus, too."

"You can figure something out," Stefan added.

Bonnie sighed. "Fine, I'll try," she agreed before looking at Lucy. "Why are you doing this with him? I didn't think you would want to get involved with something like this."

"I usually wouldn't," Lucy nodded. "but Stefan said he wouldn't hurt my siblings and I think that it would be best if Klaus left Mystic Falls. Nobody's going to get hurt."

Lucy regretted saying that to Bonnie only ten minutes later because Elena had called Joel, telling him that Jeremy was compelled by Klaus—with the help of Tyler—to stand in the middle of the street to be run-down by one of Klaus' hybrids. Jeremy was fine but Alaric took the hit for him and was currently dead on the couch in their living room.

She felt horrible that she had put her family in this situation without them even knowing it. She couldn't go along with this if Klaus was willing to kill people—she felt stupid that she even thought he wouldn't. She had to tell Stefan to give the coffins back to Klaus.

She was taking back her word but what was she supposed to do? Let Jeremy or Alaric die in order to get Klaus out of Mystic Falls?

Lucy stared at Alaric's peaceful face as she sat next to Jeremy on the floor. She had siphoned off any compulsion that Klaus might have done and held his hand tightly, assuring herself that he was okay.

Elena sat nearby with Joel in the living room; the four of them waited anxiously for their surrogate—in Lucy's case, biological—father woke up from his death nap.

The door opened and Damon walked into the house. "How is he?"

"He's dead but he had his ring," Elena reported. "Klaus' hybrid hit him so now we just wait."

Damon quickly looked over Alaric's body before turning to Jeremy. "Jeremy, why aren't you wearing vervain? Where's your bracelet?"

All eyes turned to Jeremy as he looked for the bracelet that was usually around his wrist. "I don't know."

"It was Tyler," Elena declared. "It had to have been. That's why he was hanging out with you, to get you off the vervain."

Lucy raised her eyebrows in surprise; she hadn't known that Tyler was that deep into his sire bond. Honestly, she felt bad for him. He had no control over the sire bond but everyone around him was acting like he had a choice whether or not he followed Klaus.

"Klaus is trying to send us a message," Damon muttered bitterly. "He wants us to find Stefan, who stole the coffins of all his dead family members."

Lucy schooled her expression and exchanged a quick look with Joel, who said nothing.

"Coffins?"

"Yep," Damon nodded at Elena. "So, all we have to do is find four coffins, and viola, no one else on your family's Christmas list has to die."

Jeremy pulled his hand from Lucy's and stood up, looking at Damon in disbelief. "Wait, that's your big plan?" he scoffed. "Steal back four dead Originals so this evil hybrid doesn't kill me and everyone else we know?"

"You got a better idea?"

"Yeah, let's get the fuck out of here. Pack our bags and go."

Lucy, Joel, and Elena stood up at the aggression and fear in Jeremy's voice.

"Hey, Jeremy, calm down," Elena tried to sooth him.

"No, I'm not going to calm down, Elena," he snapped at her. "This happens every time no matter what we do. You get on my case about school and work but who cares? None of us are going to make it out of this town alive."

As Jeremy stomped upstairs to his room, Elena turned to Damon. "He said he wants his family back…"

"No, I know what you're thinking," Damon shook his head firmly. "and the answer's no."

"If we give him Rebekah…"

Lucy looked at them in surprise; what were they talking about?

"Yeah, then Klaus un-daggers her and the first thing she does is kill you," Damon stated. "Frying pan, fire. Not an option."

"You daggered Rebekah?" Lucy spoke up, narrowing her eyes at Elena.

When Stefan told her of the whole plan they had come up with, he didn't say anything about daggering Rebekah, especially since she helped lure Klaus back to Mystic Falls. He thought that she was going to the dance with Matt and he hadn't seen her at all since then.

"She might have ruined our plan," Elena defended herself. "We didn't want that to happen."

"Yeah because that plan turned out so well," Lucy rolled her eyebrows.

"Oh, get off your high horse, Twitch," Damon said, annoyed. "You didn't protest when she daggered Elijah."

"Yeah because Elijah was planning on using her to kill Klaus," Lucy snapped at him. "Rebekah has done nothing to you guys."

"No one cares," Damon said slowly, infuriating Lucy.

"Guys, that's not the issue right now," Elena shook her head, unbothered by Lucy's comments. "Klaus' coffins. How many did you say there were?"

Lucy rolled her eyes and walked into the kitchen. Once she was sure that Elena or Damon didn't follow her in the room, she pulled out her phone and began to text Stefan.

Goofy: I didn't say anything but Elena and Damon might be coming for you

Broody: Okay. On it. Why'd you leave?

Goofy: Alaric was killed by a hybrid. I think we should stop. Klaus tried to kill Jeremy. No one else can get hurt.

It didn't surprise Lucy that Stefan hadn't texted her back after telling him she wanted to stop everything. She felt bad that she was bailing on him but she knew it was the right thing to do. If Jeremy and Alaric were at being threatened, she couldn't risk it.

Joel and Elena went to the Boarding House to offer Rebekah up in exchange for Jeremy's safety, Jeremy went to get revenge on Tyler, and Damon went to talk to Stefan, so that left Lucy to watch over Alaric's body.

She was a little anxious as she waited for Alaric to wake up. It was taking longer than usual but it could have been due to the range of his injuries. Getting hit by a car was no joke—ask Grey's Anatomy.

Lucy leapt forward from her seat on the coffee table as Alaric gasped softly. Hovering over him, she watched as his hazel eyes opened and blearily looked up at her.

"Hey," his voice was gruff, like he had woken from an eight-hour nap.

"I'm glad you're awake," Lucy smiled as she helped him sit up. "You really scared me. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he coughed slightly. "How's Jeremy?"

"He's okay," Lucy informed him. "I siphoned the compulsion and he's on vervain again."

"Good—" Alaric started coughing again, its intensity picking up. Blood splattered out of his mouth and onto the area rug as he hunched over, holding his stomach.

"Ric, are you okay?" Lucy exclaimed, her heart starting to race. Coughing up blood wasn't good, right?

"Something's wrong," Alaric groaned, more blood falling past his lips. "The ring…"

Lucy gasped in shock as he slumped off the couch, his eyes falling closed as he hit the rug. She quickly knelt next to him and laid him on his back with shaky hands before grabbing her phone to call an ambulance, blood staining the screen of her phone.

It only took the paramedics fifteen minutes to get to the house but Alaric hadn't gained consciousness yet. She hurriedly let the paramedics in and watched with wet and panicked eyes as they checked him over.

"What happened?" one of the paramedics asked.

"He got hit by a car and he's coughing up blood," Lucy's voice was high and almost hysterical.

The paramedic nodded at his partner. "Get his vitals."

The other paramedic quickly checked Alaric over, pressing his fingers to his throat. "Pulse is thready and weak. Looks like internal bleeding. We got to get him out of here."

"Let's move."

"Let's not and say we did."

Lucy whipped around at the new voice and saw a man standing at the threshold, staring at the two paramedics. She didn't recognize the guy at all but she could tell he was a hybrid because he started to compel the paramedics.

"Why don't you two meet us at the hospital?" the hybrid suggested.

"What?" Lucy breathed as the paramedics packed their bags and headed out of the house. "No! You have to help him!"

The paramedics ignored her and kept walking toward the ambulance.

"What are you doing?" she screeched at the hybrid.

"You can still save his life, Lucy," the hybrid informed her, raising his wrist. "Here, take my blood."

Lucy narrowed her eyes at him, knowing there was a catch.

The hybrid sighed loudly. "But I can't get in. You're going to have to invite me."

Lucy couldn't invite him in but if Alaric died and she didn't do anything to help him, she was going to be devastated.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Klaus asked for his family," the hybrid stated. "No one delivered."

Tears welled up in Lucy's eyes; this was all her fault. She should have never agreed to help Stefan with the coffins. She should had known that Klaus would get his revenge.

Alaric coughed wetly, bringing Lucy out of her dark thoughts. She immediately knelt next to him and wiped the blood off his face. "Oh, my God."

"He's dying," the hybrid said matter-of-factly. "I would invite me in, Lucy."

The sound of an arrow being shot went off and the hybrid groaned in pain as it hit him in the heart. Lucy stood up and walked to the door as the hybrid fell onto the porch and was shocked to see Jeremy standing in the front yard with a crossbow.

"Jeremy?"

"He's not dead yet," Jeremy declared as he walked into the house. He came back out seconds later, a meat cleaver in his hand.

Lucy stared at it in horror. "What are you doing?"

Jeremy didn't answer as he knelt down next to the unconscious hybrid. He lifted the cleaver in the air and Lucy only just turned away with a disgusted squeal when he brought it back down, cleanly slicing off the hybrid's head.

"Jere…" she breathed, shocked by his actions.

"Now he's dead," Jeremy said as he stood up. "Come on. We've got to get Alaric to the hospital, now."

Lucy nodded, hoping that they weren't too late.