EDITED OCT22

"I'm not in the mood," Brea groaned.

"Tell me," Jeremy pleaded. "Come on you owe me."

"Excuse me! I do not," Brea laughed.

"Yeah, you do."

"What for?" Brea asked.

"I told Elena you stayed at Matt's last night so you wouldn't have to go on a run this morning."

"I gave you $5 for that! We're even."

"Tell me where you hid the Bambi DVD or I'm calling Elena."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Elena! I found Brea, she's up here!" he yelled and Elena came running up the stairs.

"You're dead traitor," Brea hissed.

"Brea, hey!" Elena said coming to stand in the doorway. "We thought you were at Matt's. Come on we're going for a run, it's part of Ric's training," she said pulling out Brea's workout gear and throwing them on the bed.

"I don't want to," Brea whined.

Elena laughed and threw the covers off of Brea. "Don't care. You promised Ric you'd do more work, you really slacked off this past week."

"Yeah, I know. Because Rebekah ran out on me. I'm not in the mood, Elena, there's other stuff as well, I just don't want to talk about it," Brea said pulling the covers back up.

Elena gave Jeremy a look and he left the room. "Brea. You know how sorry I am about Rebekah leaving. I feel awful."

"It's not your fault. You didn't do anything"

"I..." Elena stuttered. "The whole homecoming night plot was Damon and I's idea. We're the reason Rebekah left, we panicked her. But you have to take your mind off it. You haven't heard from her all week. I'm sorry, but we've got to get you moving. It's the best thing for you."

"Fine!" Brea groaned. "Make it an easy run, I've got training with a friend later today."

Elena sighed. "By friend, you mean Tyler. I don't think you should go, Brea. He's sired, he's dangerous."

"It's not Tyler."

"Ok, sure," Elena said sarcastically leaving her room. "Get dressed we leave in 5."

"It's really not Tyler," Brea muttered before getting ready.

"Slow down!" Brea yelled as she trailed behind her sister on their run. "I'm dying."

"You're not dying," Elena called back, not slowing down.

"Hey, I'd know," Brea puffed. "Done it a few times," she said. Elena then picked up speed and started sprinting. "Lena," Brea groaned as she tried to increase her speed also. Elena quickly ran out of puff and came to a screeching halt unexpectedly, causing Brea to crash into the back of her sister and bounce off onto the ground.

"You ok?" Elena laughed holding out her hand to pull Brea off the ground.

"I landed on my butt," Brea moaned and Elena laughed and turned around to walk home when the girls saw a suspicious-looking man running toward them.

"Let's go," Elena said nervously, she'd been very on edge lately.

"Urgh!" Brea groaned as she ran after her sister.

After running for a minute Elena looked behind her and saw the man was still behind them. "He's still there," Elena said nervously.

"So? He's probably one of those freaks who like to run in the morning."

"Let's just keep going ok, just in case," Elena said.

"Uh-huh," Brea agreed, picking her pace up. "Take the corner," Brea instructed Elena and the two zipped around the corner of a street and turned to look behind to see the man gaining on them and following them around the corner. "Bugger," Brea said panicked. Maybe Elena was right to be concerned. "Next corner, next corner," Brea said shakily, running out of energy.

"Come on," Elena grabbed Brea's hand to drag her along when she noticed her sister was slowing down. Elena dragged Brea around another street corner and the two ran as hard as they could, holding onto each other's hands for dear life. Elena quickly moved the two of them behind a tree and they spun around to see that the man was no longer behind them.

"Maybe you're just paranoid?" Brea asked puffing frantically.

"Maybe," Elena said also out of breath. "Let's keep going," she said.

"What!" Brea exclaimed and the girls turned around only to have Elena walk right into the man who had been running after them. Both girls gasped loudly and Elena moved back quickly to stand next to Brea.

"Excuse me," the man said taking out his earphones. "Should have been watching where I was going."

"Don't worry about it," Elena said nervously.

"You both have a nice day," the man said running off again.

"Hybrid?" Brea asked as the man ran off.

"I hope not," Elena stuttered. "Can we go home please?" Elena asked looking around the street.

"Yup, I'll walk you home then I got to go meet someone," Brea said.

"Please don't hang out with Tyler, he's dangerous."

"Tyler is not dangerous," Brea laughed. "He's a loser, but he's not dangerous. Besides, I'm not meeting Tyler."

"Whatever you say," Elena smiled. "Hey, you ok? You don't look great."

"I'm exhausted from all the bloody running!"

"It's more than that, your eyes, you're tired. Are you ok?"

"Nightmares."

"Makes sense," Elena sighed. "A lot's happened lately."

"Last night I dreamt about Stefan."

"Hey!" Elena complained.

"Ew. No. I dreamt it was a fight between good Stefan and bad Stefan. And I was going for bad Stefan."

Elena merely blinked. "You have weird dreams."

"Very," Brea nodded.

"I have the beer!" Brea cheered as she and Jeremy reached Tyler.

"I knew you'd come through Gilbert!"

"Yeah, well Ric goes through so many of these, I doubt he'll even notice it missing. What he will notice missing is the giant crossbow," she said looking at Jeremy.

"Oh come on! It'll be fun," he defended.

Brea glared at him before smiling. "I agree let's do it. Oh yeah, by the way, Ric wants to see you. I said you were working."

"Fine," Jeremy rolled his eyes before handing her $1.

"Don't roll your eyes. I told you. It's a $1 a day that you owe me if you want me to stay silent about you getting fired from the Grill. You don't pay me and I'll spill the beans."

"That's blackmail."

"It is not!"

"Brea," Tyler interrupted. "That sounds like blackmail."

"Dude!" Brea complained as she looked over at him. "Want a beer?"

"Yeah," he nodded and she tossed him a can.

Jeremy shot the crossbow, knocking an empty beer can off the log.

"Point to Jeremy!" Brea called out. "Do you think you could shoot a can off my head?" she asked.

"Totally," he agreed as she placed her can on top of her head.

"Absolutely not," Tyler groaned as he snatched the can away. "Seriously, how have you survived a thousand years?"

"I don't," she shook her head. "I die."

"Oh good god," Tyler scoffed. "Nice shot though," he complimented Jeremy.

"What's the point of this again?" Jeremy asked.

"The point is, I'm pissed at Caroline and Bonnie dumped your ass."

"It was a well-justified dumping though," Brea added. "What about me?"

"You're an honorary bro," Tyler smirked.

"Oi oi!" she fist-pumped the air.

"Please don't do that," Jeremy groaned.

"Got it," she nodded, taking a sip of her drink.

"The point is to get drunk and shoot stuff," Tyler finished.

"Profound," Jeremy mocked as he pulled back the bow for another shot. "Alaric finds out I took this, he's going to use it on me."

"Dude, lighten up," Brea hissed at him. "Or we won't invite you back."

"So what's the deal with that?" Tyler asked. "It's basically impossible to get a serious answer out of your sister."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Brea, he's not a ninja turtle living in your basement. You don't have a basement," Tyler groaned.

"Fair point," Brea drank more of her drink.

"He's, like, your guardian now?"

"Sort of, yeah," Jeremy agreed. "I think he feels responsible for us."

"We can't be trusted on our own," Brea smiled.

"You like him?" Tyler asked.

"Yeah. Yeah, I like him," Jeremy nodded.

"Jer and I had great plans for him. He was going to marry into the family, and become the uncle we always wanted. He was going to let us get a cat. We were going to call it Jerome."

"It was going to be a dog and it was going to be called Wilfred. I'm not having this argument again Brea."

"I'm older and wiser you have to listen to me."

"I get it you're ancient. It means your brain is rotting. Wilfred!"

Brea gasped incredulously at her brother's rudeness.

"I don't know why I asked you two to hang out together," Tyler sighed. "Just shoot it," he said to Jeremy.

"Hey, you want to move out of the way?" Jeremy asked.

Tyler just laughed. "I'm a hybrid, Gilbert. You can't kill me unless you cut off my head or rip out my heart. And you're not going to do it with that lame-ass crossbow."

Brea glared at him. "Shoot that bitch Jeremy," she encouraged her brother.

"Go ahead," Tyler agreed. "Take a shot. Unless you don't think you can hit me."

Jeremy shrugged and lined up the shot. "Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it," Brea chanted quietly.

Jeremy shot the crossbow, but Tyler caught the arrow.

"Dammit, that's cheating!" Brea protested as she stood. "No super speed allowed! That was a good shot Jer, headshot. Would've been perfect if Tyler didn't cheat."

"I didn't cheat!" Tyler denied.

"Did too!"

"Play it cool," Jeremy warned as they walked through the front door.

"You play it cool, you're the one in trouble," she whispered back at him. "We're home!" she called out loudly.

Jeremy slapped a hand over her mouth. "Seriously, if you keep yelling they'll know we've been drinking."

Brea slapped his hand away. "Shh. Don't say that out loud, you'll give us away!"

"Jer? Brea?" Elena called out. "Just in time. We're cooking."

Jeremy and Brea walked into the kitchen and Brea froze. Elena was glaring daggers at her.

"Sorry, just passing through," Jeremy said as he decided to ignore Elena.

"Oh, well, I thought we'd all stay in," Ric said, "have a meal together, like a typical, atypical family."

"Cute," Brea nodded.

"Why?" Jeremy asked confused.

"Yeah, why?" Brea agreed and Elena gave her a confused look.

"Maybe because you got fired and you didn't tell anyone," Elena said as she went back to organising the table.

"Hey!" Brea raised a finger. "He didn't tell nobody so you're wrong there," she smirked. "Oh my god, help me," she panicked as she turned to Jeremy.

"Look, can we do this later?" Jeremy asked turning to Elena. "We've made plans with Tyler. He's right outside."

"You said you weren't hanging out with Tyler," Elena accused Brea.

"Did I? I don't remember that."

"It was 5 hours ago Brea."

"Wait," Ric protested. "When did you start hanging out with Tyler Lockwood?" he asked Jeremy

"I don't know. Does it matter?"

"Yeah. Jeremy," Elena said, "it does matter. He was sired by Klaus. He's dangerous."

"Shh," Brea raised a finger to her lips.

"He can still hear you," Jeremy noted. "He's right outside. Besides, you of all people are going to lecture me on who I can and can't hang out with?" Jeremy scoffed at Elena.

"Good point," Brea shrugged.

"What is with the attitude?" Elena asked Jeremy.

"Whoop, attitude," Brea said fist-pumping the air.

"Are you drunk?" Elena asked angrily.

"No," Brea denied. "Actually, yes," she admitted. "Oh my god, I hate lying."

"Whatever, this is lame. Tyler's waiting. Coming Brea?"

"Yep," Brea said running to her brother's side.

"Brea!" Elena snapped before running after Jeremy and standing in front of him, blocking his way out. "No. Oh, no, no, no. You're not going anywhere, especially not with Tyler."

Jeremy turned to look to Ric for support. "I'm with her on this, Jer. Sorry," Ric shrugged.

"Ric!" Brea protested. "Not cool dude."

"How did you even get the alcohol?" he asked her.

"I plead the fifth," she mumbled as she slumped into a chair at the table.

"All right, you want me to stay in?" Jeremy challenged. "Let's all stay in," he said and Brea groaned. "Yo, Tyler, come on in!" he said inviting Tyler in.

"Jeremy!" Elena yelled shocked turning to the doorway as Tyler came into their house. Elena looked towards Jeremy with disappointment in her eyes and Jeremy smirked.

"Would you like some water Tyler?" Brea offered. "I haven't seen you at all today."

"Brea you already told us you were hanging out with him," Elena scowled.

"Right," Brea nodded.

"Yeah, I'll take some water, thanks," Tyler nodded as he awkwardly took a seat at the table.

"Jeremy, get Ty a glass of water," Brea ordered. Jeremy rolled his eyes but did it, filling up a glass and placing it in front of Tyler.

"Thanks," Tyler said.

"This is weird," Elena sighed. "Klaus has hybrids stalking us, now you're just sitting in our kitchen."

"Look maybe I should go," Tyler offered.

"No, stay, you're not doing anything," Jeremy defended as he set an extra place for Tyler.

"Unless you have to, you know, check in with your hybrid master," Elena mocked and Tyler chucked.

"It's not like that, Elena."

"Tell me, Tyler," Ric said as he came to sit down. "What is the difference between being sired and being compelled? Brea, drink your water," he lectured.

"God I can't believe you were my Jerome guy," Brea scowled as she drank water.

"Compulsion, that's just mind control," Tyler answered, trying to be reasonable. "Like hypnosis. Being sired is… it's like faith. You do something because you believe it's the right thing."

"So, you believe that serving Klaus is the right thing?" Elena asked.

"I don't serve him," Tyler said. "Klaus released me from a curse that was ruining my life. I owe him for that."

"What if he asked you to jump off a bridge?" Ric asked.

"He wouldn't. And even if he did, I'd be fine. I'm a hybrid."

"Ok, so what if he asked you to rip your own heart out?" Elena asked.

"Again, he wouldn't," Tyler answered, getting irritated.

"What if he did?" Elena asked.

"I don't know then I'd rip out my heart," Tyler snapped and everyone's eye's widened. "You guys sound like Caroline," he said exasperated. "Getting all freaked out over something you don't understand."

"You're right Tyler, I don't understand. Klaus has terrorised every single one of us and you're blindly loyal to him," Elena almost yelled.

"You're overthinking it," Tyler dismissed. "I can still make my own decisions."

"Don't worry Ty," Brea interrupted the argument. "I've got your back. Klaus is basically sired to me. I'd never let him bully you." Brea then looked up at her sister, who was glaring daggers at her. "Uour eyebrows look really nice today."

"Thanks," Elena said touching her brows, "it's a new brow pencil." Jeremy's phone rang and he got up and took it into the kitchen to answer it.

"Can I borrow it sometime?" Brea asked awkwardly looking around the table.

"We have different brow colours?" Elena pointed out.

"Ah good point, was worth a shot," Brea said taking a big mouth full of water so she wouldn't start rambling.

"What was that about?" Elena asked as Jeremy got back to the table after finishing his phone call.

"It was nothing," Jeremy dismissed.

"I got to go," Tyler said getting up from the table. "Um, thanks for the food offer, but, uh…"

"Next time," Ric said.

"Catch you later Brea," Tyler said before he let himself out of the house.

"Bye," she waved enthusiastically.

"Go to your room," Elena snapped, pointing upstairs.

"Got it," Brea nodded as she skipped down the hall and out the front door.

"Hello!" Brea sang as she stepped inside the mansion Klaus bought.

"Love. I'm sorry. I know why you're here," Klaus immediately apologised.

"What for?" she asked confused.

Klaus tipped his head. "What are you here for?"

"My sister was being rude so I came here to hang out," she smiled. "Do you have wine?" she asked as she walked further into the house. "Why are you sorry?" she asked as she turned around only to spot Tyler. "Tyler!" she cheered happily.

"Brea I'm so sorry," Tyler breathed before racing out of the house.

"That was weird," Brea laughed as she turned back to Klaus. She studied his face before gasping. "What did you do!" she yelled.

"I compelled Jeremy to stand in front of a car, but don't worry love Alaric got hit instead," Klaus came forward and grabbed onto her arms.

Brea froze as she looked into his eyes. Before she'd fully processed, she'd raced her hand and slapped. "Do not go after my family!" she cried. "I get that the coffins are gone, but how dare you! How dare you try to take anyone else from me!" she let a tear fall down her cheek. "Don't call me," she muttered as she stormed out of his house, and raced home.

Brea walked up to the front of her house as an ambulance drove away. Jeremy ran up to her car, he hadn't been in the house. "Woah, is that an ambulance?" Jeremy asked.

"What's going on?" Brea asked. "Oh my god, Jeremy!" Brea squeaked.

"What?"

"That's the dude," Brea said as she recognised the man standing in the entryway to their house.

"The dude?" Jeremy asked confused.

"He was following Elena and me on our run. Elena thinks he's hybrid," Brea said quickly.

"That's it," Jeremy growled. "I've had enough of this," he hissed as he loaded his crossbow.

"Jer?" Brea asked confused as he got out of his car, "Jer?" Brea called out following him. As Jeremy got closer, he shot the arrow into the hybrid's heart, knocking him out. "Oh my god!" Brea gasped, running to stand next to her brother.

"Jeremy, Brea," Elena breathed in relief as she saw them.

"He's not dead yet," Jeremy said angrily as he stepped over Tony's body and into the house. Elena turned to look at Brea, who raised her eyebrows and shrugged, she wasn't sure what her brother was doing either.

"Where are you going?" Elena asked Jeremy. Jeremy walked into the kitchen and came out holding a meat cleaver.

"What are you doing?" Brea asked nervously as he walked past her and knelt over Tony's body. "Jer, no!" Brea yelled as he brought the cleaver down on Tony's neck, cutting the hybrid's head off. Killing him. Brea and Elena screamed in shock and turned into each other hugging, trying to avoid looking at the headless body on the porch.

They both slowly turned back to look, only to be confronted with Jeremy's face covered in blood. "Now he's dead," Jeremy said as the girls stared at him in fright and shock. "We've got to get Alaric to the hospital now."

"Brea, wake up," Ric whispered gently shaking her awake.

"Ric?" Brea asked sitting up. "Are you ok? They said they had to keep you overnight."

"I'm good, I'm good kid," Ric promised."Damon fixed me up. Let's go home."

"Jer and Elena are here, we have to get them," Brea said standing up from her chair in the waiting room.

"Ric?" Jeremy asked as he got back into the waiting room. "You alright man?"

"Yeah I'm good, where were you?" Ric asked.

"Cafeteria, they have good muffins here," Jeremy shrugged.

"Where's Elena?" Ric asked.

"She took off after Brea fell asleep," Jeremy said. "Said she'd meet us back home."

"Alright," Ric nodded. "You drive here, Brea?" he asked.

"Jeremy did, I was drunk," she muttered.

They almost went the entire walk to the car in silence when Jeremy spoke up. "So the ring brought you back to life, but it didn't heal you. Does that mean it's broken?" he asked, concerned about Ric.

"I don't know," Ric shrugged. "It's never happened like that before. I guess I have Damon's blood to thank for the fact that I'm still walking."

"He said to say you owe him a drink," Jeremy smiled.

"Huh, that's funny," Ric smiled. "I'd rather have head trauma," he said and Brea chuckled. "Hey, Jeremy," Ric said stopping to stand in front of them. "You ok?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Jeremy asked rhetorically. "I shot a hybrid in the back and chopped his head off with a meat cleaver. Typical Sunday, huh?"

"You can talk to me about this stuff. You know that, right?" Ric asked seriously.

"What could you tell me that I don't already know? This is the way things are. It sucks, but I just got to get used to it," Jeremy said walking to the car.

"What about you, Brea, are you ok? We never see you anymore, you're always staying at Matt's."

"Yeah, I'm just angry Ric. I'm so, so angry. At everybody. Klaus betrayed me again."

"You need to avoid Klaus," Ric said with a frown. "He's bad news. You can't trust him."

"I don't," Brea denied. "I just... I want Kol back," she cried. "I just want him back and Stefan stole him," she sobbed. "Nik was going to let him go and then Stefan stole him."

"Hey, hey," Ric said pulling her in for a hug. "You can always talk to me. I want you to know that ok? You can tell me anything, I don't have to tell Elena or Damon or anyone, so long as you're safe, ok? That's all that matters to me."

"Hey, you ok?" Elena asked as she walked into Brea's room, sitting on the edge of her bed.

"Yeah, I'm good. Just overwhelmed," Brea sighed leaning back against the headboard.

"Ric, Damon and I came up with an idea downstairs, but I won't do it if you don't agree," Elena said.

"What is it?"

"We want to compel Jeremy," Elena said and Brea's eyes widened.

"To do what? Stay away from Tyler?" she asked.

"To leave town," Elena said sadly. "No 16-year-old should have to chop someone's head off. He said we should all pack up and go. We can't, but he can. We can save him, Brea. But to do that we've got to let him go."

"Where will he go?" Brea asked, her eyes filling with tears.

"Denver. Stay with some family friends."

"I know the ones. They're nice," Brea sniffled. "We can't take his choice away from him," she muttered as her eyes filled with tears.

"Brea. This isn't the life a kid should leave."

"No," Brea cried. "But his free will. We compelled him once before and it did not go well."

"Brea, this town isn't safe for him," Elena said quietly. "This isn't the life he should be leading."

"Do it," she agreed. "I can't be there. I can't watch it. But you're right, this is no life for a 16-year-old. We have to get him out. Do what you have to, it'll save his life," Brea nodded and Elena smiled gently and leaned forward to hug Brea before getting up and leaving.