Surprising Lover (TVDxOC) (Complete)

Prayer For the Dying

Grace wakes hearing some noise. She goes downstairs to see what the noise is; suddenly Colin appears in the door.
"Grace Branson-Parker."
"Colin."
"What the hell did you do to me?"
After a while.
"Hey."
"Hey."
"(Caroline enters) Mom's still sleeping. Don't wake her up."
"What happened?"
"I don't know. H-he was fine when we left him at Duke, remember?"
"He was running around and pain-free and scarfing down all that disgusting vending machine food."
"Yeah? Well, clearly, he's not fine now. Wait. I thought you compelled him to forget everything after you fed him your blood. How did he find you?"
"I don't know."
"What if this blood isn't even his? Is there any chance that your mom signed the house over to you?"
"I don't know."
"Maybe."
"She's been running around like crazy, saying she need to get her ducks in a row or..."
Stefan opens the window; Colin's face starts to burn.
"He's a vampire, which means after you fed him your blood..."
"He died."

"(came in with Caroline and Grace) Because Grace fed me her blood last night. So the same thing is gonna happen to me."

Grace is at a vending machine freaking out.
"(comes over) Hi."
"Hey. The coffee machine's broken. Seriously, what kind of hospital is this? If you can't fix a coffee machine, then how are you supposed to be able to fix people?"
"Sure you don't need some real food? There's probably a machine around here that vends (whispers) O-positive."
"(sighs and leans against the vending machine) I screwed up. Big time. Why did I feed her that blood?"
"You were trying to help."
"No, I was trying to fix something that I had no business trying to fix. It's like textbook definition of control freak from Hell."
"Listen, you are an optimist. (Grace sighs) You wanna believe that anything is possible and that is exactly what your mom needs to hear right now. Okay?"
Exclamations of pain from Colin's room.
"That's Colin's room."
Colin is stabbing himself in the chest with a metal bar; Grace and Stefan enter, closing the door behind them.
"I can't die. (pulls the bar from his chest and drops it on the floor) Why can't I die?"
"Hey, hey. Calm down, calm down. It's okay. It's okay."
"It's not okay. I'm in agony. I can hear my tumors growing!"
"Okay, we'll try to help, but just please stop hurting yourself."
"(vamps over to Grace and grabs her arms) You wanna help me? Help me die."
Colin collapses and Damon is standing behind him, holding Colin's heart.
"Why the hell did you do that?"
"He made a wish, I granted it."
"God."
"The blood transfusion didn't work. So you didn't just kill him, Blond Witchy."
"That's enough, Damon."
"No, it's fine. You know, he's just saying what everyone else is thinking. I killed mine and Caroline's mom."
Grace leaves, slamming the door behind her.

Caroline vamp speeds after Grace.
"Hey Gracie, I know you blame yourself but this was both our faults, if I hadn't given you-"
"Caroline stop trying to take the blame this was all me, you mom is dying because of me. I-"
"Our Mom."
"What?"
"Our Mom is dying because we were stupid and put hope in a magical solution for a human problem."
"But-"
"No buts now let's go get some flowers, she like sunflowers by the way."
"Okay but can we make a pact?"
"Sure what is it?"
"If she dies because of this can we make a pact that if either one of us want to turn off our humanity we both do."
"Sure sounds like a deal."
Grace walks off to the flower shop. While Caroline vamp-speeds to fins Stefan.

Grace is browsing flowers; Stefan comes in.
"Good, you're here. I actually need a second opinion. I kind of like this because sunflowers are her favorite flower, but at the same time, I was also thinking maybe they're a little too over-the-top cheerful for a memorial service. (walks over to the roses) So this was the second option, um, because roses are classic, right? I mean, especially in this shade of pink. Obviously, I would change out the vase, but--"
Grace looks over to Stefan, who is just watching her.
"If you're thinking of saying something to make me feel better, don't. I don't deserve to feel better."
"I wasn't."
"Good."
"I was actually thinking that you have far more important things to do than plan a memorial service for your mother. Who's still alive, by the way."
"Yeah, but all of this still needs to be done, right? She's not gonna want to live out the rest of her life as a vampire in excruciating pain. So I should do something that I'm good at, instead of making everything worse. Which arrangement?"
"Grace, you took a risk. It didn't pay off, but you did it out of love. You made your mother sicker, okay? But what are you gonna do now? Are you just gonna bury your head in the sand?"
"I don't--I don't know what to say to her."
"You don't have to say anything to her. Just sit with her. And Caroline."
"(on the verge of tears) I can't. I can't even face her."
"Look, when I was young, my mom, she got really sick. And instead of spending time with her, I did everything I could to avoid her. Like picking out her favorite flowers or walking into town to get the tea that she liked. And I pretended like I was doing it for her, but I wasn't. I was just afraid to see her like that. And then my dad, he uh, he sent her away and she died. I would give anything to have one more day with her."
"What if she can't forgive me?"
"She doesn't think there's anything to forgive. She just wants you to be with them."
Grace sighs and takes Stefan's hand; they leave the flower shop together.

Caroline and Grace come in, see what's happening and runs over to their mom.
"No, no! Mom, mom! (shaking her mom) Mom, mommy! No, mom, no."
"(crying) Don't leave us, please."
"Please, no. Please don't leave us, mom."
Liz wakes up and her heart monitor starts beeping again.
"Mom?"
"Liz, Mom?"
"It's okay, babies, I'm right here."
"(crying) Mom."
"Ohh, it's okay. I'm right here. I'm right here, babies. It's okay, it's okay."

Liz is just waking up; Caroline and Grace are sitting on the edge of her bed.
"Hi mom."
"Hi Caroline. Hello, stranger."
"Hi."
"Are you okay?"
"(nods) I've just been sitting here, trying to figure out what to say. I guess I should lead with: I'm sorry for almost killing you."
"(laughs) Oh, sweetheart, please. You know me, I'm the world's unluckiest gambler."
"I'm just sorry that I wasn't here. I couldn't--"
"No, no, no, no."
"This wasn't your fault. I need you to stop beating yourself up. Can you do that for me?"
"Okay."
"Can you say it like you mean it?"
"I will."
"Mom, you put the house in our names."
"(nods) Couple weeks ago. Just in case anything..."
"Yeah. Well, I don't--I'm not ready for that yet."
"I'm sorry. And I promise you: I will stick around as long as I can. Okay?"
"(nods) Okay."
"Come here. (they all hug)"
Stefan comes in with a cup of coffee.
"Hey."
"Hey."
"Where'd you get that?"
"I guess someone fixed the coffee machine. (gives Grace the coffee)"
"That smells amazing. I would give you a million dollars for a decaf latte. What do you say? Would you mind getting one for your poor, sick mom?"
"We can do that. We'll be right back. (gets up and leaves the room with Grace)"
"(to Stefan) So, looks like we can cross miracle cure off the list."
"Must be some other option."
"I need you promise me something."
"Okay."
"When I'm gone, Grace is gonna need you. Caroline is also going to need you and Elena. Even if they don't know it. Their gonna need someone to help them move on with their life. Someone to just make them smile. (crying) Promise me that you will do that, Stefan."
"(takes Liz's hand) I promise."
Caroline and Grace are outside the door, listening.