[3x12; The Ties That Bind]

Lucy hovered outside of Jeremy's room, watching as he packed his phone charger and laptop into his bag. He had only minutes until he had to leave with Alaric to make his flight to Denver and Lucy was dreading saying goodbye to him.

"I can feel you staring, you know," Jeremy commented as he zipped up his bag and turned around to face her. "It's creepy."

"Well, I don't want to forget your ugly mug," Lucy smiled teasingly as she stepped into his room; Jeremy rolled his eyes with a smile. "You have everything packed? Clean underwear? Heavy jacket? I heard it gets cold in Denver."

"Stop being a mother hen," Jeremy grinned. "I have everything, including a jacket."

"What about a hat and gloves?"

"Stop worrying," he told her. "Everything is going to be fine, Lou. I'll be fine."

Lucy scoffed, her eyes stinging. "My baby brother is moving away. Allow me to be worried, please."

"I'm only ten months younger than you."

"Exactly," Lucy grinned and walked forward, pulling him into a tight hug. "Don't get into trouble."

"I won't."

"Make sure you study."

"I will."

"Be safe."

"I will, Luce."

Lucy sniffed wetly as she squeezed him tighter. "I'm going to miss you, Jerebear."

Jeremy kissed the top of her head. "I'll miss you, too," he admitted as he pulled away and smiled sadly at her tears. "I'll call once a week."

"Twice a week and numerous texts in between," Lucy corrected him with a slight smile; Jeremy chuckled. "I love you, Jere."

"Love you too, Lucy," Jeremy promised before checking his watch. "I gotta go. Ric's waiting for me. Are you coming down?"

"No," Lucy shook her head and grabbed his bag off his bed, handing it to him. "I don't want to watch you leave."

Jeremy shook his head in amusement and went to leave his room, Lucy following him. "Be careful, Luce," he told her as he shut his door. "I'll see you at Christmas."

Lucy nodded in agreement. "At Christmas."

"I've been having these dreams for days now," Bonnie told Lucy and Elena as the three of them stood in the basement of the witch house. "It's like the witches are trying to send me a message."

When Bonnie came to Lucy the day after Jeremy left Mystic Falls, telling her that she needed her and Elena's help with the coffins, Lucy was reluctant. Stefan was adamant about Elena not knowing about them—he said she would try to take charge—and she was already avoiding Stefan at the moment. It didn't help that every time she looked at Elena, she was punched in the gut with guilt.

But Bonnie was insistent, so Lucy gave in and took her sister to the witch house where the spirits were hiding Lucy's siblings.

Elena crossed her arms over her chest, looking at the coffins in shock. "I just can't believe you guys have kept this from me this whole time."

"Stefan thought if you knew about the coffins, Klaus could threaten people to get the information out of you," Lucy told her.

Elena nodded with a sigh, silently admitting that Stefan had a point. "So, this is the rest of your family?"

"Yeah, Elijah's in this one," Lucy pointed to the coffin on the far right. "Kol's in the middle and Finn's there," she gestured to the coffin on the left.

"And this one," Bonnie walked over to the fourth coffin. "is the one we can't open. We don't know who's in it or what's in it, only that I think my dream's telling me that it can be used against Klaus."

The sound of someone coming down the stairs made the three girls look that way. Lucy awkwardly shifted as Stefan appeared, his eyes darting from Elena to Lucy and then to Bonnie.

"What the hell are you doing?" he asked Bonnie and Lucy, obviously irritated that Elena knew about the coffins.

"I needed her to know about the coffin," Bonnie spoke up defensively.

"And I needed you to keep her out of it, Bonnie."

Lucy rolled her eyes as Elena snapped at Stefan, "So what are you going to do, Stefan?" she glared at him. "Are you going to compel me to forget?"

"No, I'm not you, Elena," Stefan retorted harshly.

"Okay, okay," Lucy sighed, breaking up Stefan and Elena's glaring contest. "Elena, Stefan didn't want you to know because you have loose lips. Stefan, Bonnie thinks she knows who can open the coffin."

Elena sent her a glare and Stefan looked unimpressed. "What does that have to do with telling Elena?"

"I need Elena to help me find her," Bonnie spoke up.

"Find who?" Stefan raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"I couldn't place her face at first," Bonnie walked over to Lucy and Elena, pulling a picture from her pocket. "then I realized…"

Lucy and Elena looked over the photo Bonnie held out for them to see. Lucy gasped softly as she recognized the picture that Grams used to have on her fireplace mantle. It was Bonnie and her mom before she left.

"Oh, my God, Bonnie…" Elena looked at her best friend with wide eyes.

Stefan impatiently pulled the picture from Elena's hand and looked it over. "Who is this?"

Bonnie bit her lip. "It's my mom."

Lucy shuffled through the papers in front of her, trying to find a profile that matched the picture Bonnie had of her mom. There were more than a hundred Abby Bennett's in the United States, which meant that she, Bonnie, and Elena hadn't even put a dent in their piles.

"Los Alamitos?"

Bonnie peered at the paper Elena held up to her. "Um, too old?"

"Honolulu?"

"Ugh, I wish," Bonnie scoffed. "How many of these are there?"

"A lot," Lucy sighed as she flipped onto another page. "I asked Deputy Ryan to pull up every single Abby Bennett in the country."

Bonnie nodded and smiled at the Gilbert sisters. "I know we haven't been able to really…that things have been weird because of Jeremy," she acknowledged. "So thank you guys for helping me with this. I know you have a lot to deal with."

Lucy smiled back at her, knowing that there was no way she'd let Bonnie go through this alone. It had to be one of the hardest things to look for your mother who left you when you were young and Lucy wanted to be there to support her friend.

"There's nothing more important, Bonnie," Elena assured her.

"It's surreal," Bonnie sighed. "Having to track down a woman who bailed on her own kid."

"You know you don't have to, right?" Elena gave Bonnie a pointed look. "Let Stefan obsess over opening up the coffin. It doesn't have to fall on you."

"The coffin is spelled shut and Lucy can't siphon it," Bonnie shook her head. "That makes it a witch problem, so it does fall on me. I was bound to see my mother again sooner or later."

"Sooner," Damon called as he walked through the front door. "Abby Bennett-Wilson," he read from the folder in his hand. "Monroe, North Carolina. Born in Mystic Falls Hospital, graduated from Mystic Falls High—blah, blah, blah."

Bonnie grabbed the folder from him, looking at it anxiously.

"A little compulsion helps to speed up the research process," Damon boasted.

Bonnie opened the folder and looked at the picture on the first page. "This is her."

"Yep, road trip," Damon smirked. "I call shotgun."

"Yeah…no," Elena shook her head.

"Why? You want me to hang out in the back with you?" Damon winked at her.

"No, you're not going, Damon," Lucy spoke up, rolling her eyes.

"Neither are you, Lucy," Elena told her.

"Why? I'm the one who found her."

"Why can't I go?"

Elena rolled her eyes at the complaints from her sister and oldest Salvatore. "Look, Bonnie hasn't seen her mom in over fifteen years," she told Damon. "We don't need your snarky commentary narrating the experience."

"Well, that doesn't explain why I can't go," Lucy raised a finger to get Elena's attention.

"I need you to watch Stefan and Damon so they don't screw anything up."

"Ugh, why does that always fall to me?"

"I don't need a babysitter," Damon objected. "Well, unless you're offering…"

Elena sent him an annoyed look, though her eyes quickly softened. "Shut up."

Lucy furrowed her eyebrows as Damon and Elena stared at each other like they had forgotten that she and Bonnie were in the room. She knew that Damon and Elena had feelings for each other and were getting closer but something else had to have happened. They were oozing sexual tension.

Bonnie seemed to have the same train of though. "What's going on with you two?"

"We kissed and now it's weird," Damon told her before looking back at Elena. "Have a great trip."

Lucy gaped at Elena as Damon left the house, trying to think rationally and not judge her sister. She didn't have much room to be judgmental because she had feelings for Elena's boyfriend—or ex-boyfriend, who really knew—but at least she hadn't physically acted on her feelings.

What the hell was Elena thinking?

"Um," Elena awkwardly looked between Lucy and Bonnie. "We should probably go…"

"Yeah," Lucy's tone hardened along with her eyes as she stared at her sister. "Monroe's pretty far. Good luck, Bon."

Bonnie gave her a small smile before hurrying out of the house, Elena on her heels. Lucy exhaled sharply as she walked into the living room and turned on the television, turning it to re-runs of the Office to take her mind off of things.

She was in the middle of her fifth episode when Stefan walked into the house, not bothering to knock. Lucy stiffened as he walked into the living room and gave her a questioning look.

"Where are Elena and Bonnie?"

"I don't know," Lucy replied innocently as a commercial interrupted her show.

She definitely didn't want to talk to him. Beside the obvious awkwardness between them since the night of Caroline's birthday, she hated keeping secrets from him. She knew that Stefan wouldn't be happy about Elena and Damon kissing and she was not the person who was going to tell him. It wasn't her place.

Stefan rolled his eyes. "I know you're lying."

"I thought I was a good liar?" Lucy stood up and walked to the kitchen for a snack; Stefan followed her, watching as she grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl on the island. "If I was lying, I mean."

"I know you too well," Stefan said simply. "and Elena's not here, so where is she?"

"She and Bonnie went to Whitmore with Joel," Lucy said from the top of her head.

"Mmhm, sure," Stefan hummed and pulled his phone out of his pocket to call Elena. "I guess you don't mind if I call Elena."

Lucy rolled her eyes. "You do whatever you want, Stefan."

"What?" Elena answered the call as Stefan put his phone on speaker.

"Where are you?"

"Bonnie and I are going to spend the night at the lake house while we wait for Sheriff Forbes to give us some more addresses."

As soon as Elena spoke and ruined the lie Lucy told Stefan, Lucy looked away from the vampire, who was giving her an annoyed glare.

"You're kidding me, right?" Stefan asked.

His question was more toward Lucy than Elena, but Elena answered anyway. "No, Stefan, I'm not. We need a night off from your insanity."

"Klaus is getting antsy," Stefan turned away from the kitchen island and paced toward the dining table. "He knows I'm stalling him. We need to move faster."

"Well, we're doing everything we can," Elena said, annoyed. "So, could you maybe not call every five minutes?"

Lucy narrowed her eyes at Stefan as he looked down at the table covered in papers about the Abby Bennett's of the United States. She rushed toward him as she remembered that Bonnie's mom's profile was still on the table for him to see. Stefan picked up the paper just as Lucy reached for it, scooting out of the way so she couldn't grab it from him.

"Sure, Elena," Stefan read the address on the paper. "Whatever you say."

He hung up the phone and turned to Lucy with raised eyebrows as he handed her the paper. "They're at Whitmore, huh?"

"Bonnie hasn't seen her mother since she walked out on her fifteen years ago," Lucy defended herself, Bonnie, and Elena. "She didn't need you ruining it."

"I don't give a damn about that."

"Well, I do," Lucy stared at him firmly.

Stefan scoffed and turned around, heading to the front door.

"Where are you going?" Lucy followed him.

"I'm going to Monroe."

"No, you're not!"

"Yes, I am," Stefan raised his eyebrows at her in disbelief. "and I don't think you can stop me, so…"

"Ugh," Lucy scoffed, shaking her head. "You're being such a dick."

"Yeah, I know," he rolled his eyes and opened the door. "You and Damon need to watch over the coffins while I'm gone. Don't let Klaus get them."

As he left the house and shut the door behind him, Lucy yelled, "I'm really tired of people telling me what to do!"

Because Lucy was an idiot, she watched over the coffins by herself, paranoid that Klaus would show up at any minute and kill her for hiding their siblings from him. Luckily, Joel joined her halfway through her four-hour shift and they were able to clear the awkwardness between them that had been brewing since he compelled Jeremy to leave Mystic Falls.

It was nice that she and Joel were back to their normal relationship because they had always been close. When Joel was having problems, Lucy was there to give him advice. When Lucy felt lost or conflicted, Joel was there to help her in any way he could. Lucy regretted that they hadn't spent much time together lately, so she wanted to fix that.

Luckily, Alaric called them as the sun was starting to set, asking them over to his condo for dinner. That was how Lucy found herself in Alaric's kitchen, an apron tied around her waist, as she cooked burgers and fries.

"Onions are chopped," Joel declared as he settled his knife on the cutting board in front of him. "Next?"

"Mix them into the meat," Lucy advised as she set up Alaric's fryer. "Then you can form them into patties."

Joel nodded and got to work, scrapping the onions into the bowl of seasoned ground beef. As he picked up a handful of the meat, Alaric walked over to the island, looking over everything curiously.

"Are you sure you don't need help?"

"Nope!" Lucy grinned at him. "You're not the only one capable in the kitchen, you know."

"Our dad taught Lucy how to make this and now she's teaching me," Joel placed a hamburger patty onto the cutting board. "The recipe's pretty simple, actually."

"Do you have any recipes that are special to you, Ric?" Lucy looked at Alaric questioningly.

She hoped that he did. Lucy loved to cook and that was one of the main ways she bonded with her dad. She knew from experience that Alaric could cook, too, and she wanted to learn the way he did things. That way cooking could be something she shared with both of her dads.

Alaric smiled. "You know how to barbeque?"

"Like the sauce?"

"No, I'm talking smoked meats, cornbread, fried okra, coleslaw with mayonnaise," Alaric explained. "Every class Texas barbeque staple."

Lucy raised an eyebrow at him. "I thought you were from Boston."

"I am," Alaric confirmed. "but my dad was from Texas. He went to Boston for college and met my mom. I was born and raised there."

"Oh," Lucy appreciated the fact that she was learning more about her biological paternal family. "cool."

Alaric chuckled. "Yeah, cool," he mocked her playfully. "Now, put me to work."

"Fine," Lucy gave in and scooted toward Joel. "You can fry."

"Excellent."

An hour later, as they were finishing up their meal, Damon walked through the door uninvited. Alaric sighed as Lucy and Joel exchanged annoyed looks, none of them very happy to see the oldest Salvatore brother—especially when it was his turn to watch the coffins.

"What are you doing here?" Alaric asked Damon as he wandered through the kitchen, picking up a few fries and stuffing them in his mouth.

"Ah, looking for a bunny," Damon replied coyly, picking up the extra burger they made and taking a bite. "You're good for now."

"Are you still obsessed with Meredith?" Lucy spoke up, knowing how frustrated Alaric was about his relationship with his new fling. He had told her and Joel that she seemed normal but Damon had told him that her ex-boyfriend had showed up dead.

Damon shrugged and gave her a sarcastic smile.

"Don't you have an original vampire to worry about?" Alaric added.

"For your information, your doctor vervained me," Damon retorted as he took the empty seat next to Joel. "and then she blood-jacked me."

"What?" Alaric narrowed his eyes.

Joel raised his eyebrows in surprise. "When did you even see her?"

"When I went to the hospital to accuse her of killing her ex-boyfriend," Damon told them. "Which, by the way, is a very sensitive subject."

Alaric sighed angrily, his eyes narrowing. "Damon, what the hell are you doing?" he stood up and brought his plate over to the sink.

Damon gave him an affronted look. "Why are you mad at me?"

"I told you I'd handle this!" Alaric exclaimed as Lucy's phone buzzed.

"I proved your theory," Damon shrugged simply. "Diagnosed psycho case. You're welcome."

Lucy gasped as she read the text message Bonnie sent her. "Guys, we have a problem," she informed Alaric, Damon, and Joel. "Bonnie says Klaus knows where the coffins are."

Damon stood up, ready for action. "So we move them."

"We'll only have time to move the locked one," Joel joined him by the door. "I think the anti-vampire cave will do."

"Good thinking, JoJo," Damon complimented him.

"Wait," Lucy called as he opened the door. "I have an idea…"