Abigail moved into Elena's doorway as soon as she gasped awake, but Stefan was the one who explained it all to her. He said it all slowly, from the choice Meredith made to heal her with Damon's blood to Rebekah's act of retaliation that sent Matt's truck off of Wickery Bridge. Not that it would make a difference.
"I was ready to die. I was supposed to die. I don't... I don't want to be-" Elena cut herself off, vigorously shaking her head. "I can't be a vampire! If there's something that Bonnie can do, we have to try."
Stefan took her hand. "We will. We'll try everything."
"Your choice, Elena..."
"Abigail, I can't."
"Bea, I-" He pulled her against his chest, smoothing her hair down as he whispered, "My dark side was dangerous enough as a human. I can't be a vampire."
"Hey," Damon called after her as they walked into Klaus' mansion. "Get your head in the game."
There were paintings everywhere, some destroyed, some intact, all signed with the same initials. Tables were smashed, paint was splattered, and there were brushes scattered across the floor.
Rebekah's form jerked to a stop at the base of the stairs. "You should know better than to sneak up on a lady."
"Good advice." He tilted his head to the side. "Have you seen one?"
"You have to understand, Alaric killed my brother." She faced them. "He was trying to kill me. I had to do something to stop him."
"You did to my sister what your brother did to me," Abigail growled. "You took from her all that you want: a human life."
"At least you still have her! I will never see my brother again!"
"Yes, you will!" She yelled. "Bonnie did a spell to protect him. Which you would have known if you would have run to a safe place instead of killing my sister!"
"What are you going to do? Kill me?"
"She won't," Damon seethed, "but I will."
He rushed at her with the indestructible white oak stake. Suddenly, wooden bullets came through the window. Just as Rebekah fell to the ground, temporarily dead, Abigail and Damon sped out of the house.
"And I love you, Abigail. I love you so much that it makes me wonder if I'll ever be able to live without you."
She rested her forehead against his. "I love you, too, Alaric."
The Gilbert residence was empty with signs of a struggle when they returned. "They're gone. Whoever nailed Rebekah, took them too. Please tell me you have something. Anything."
Liz walked inside. "I can't. The Council locked Carol and me out of our offices. Files, computers, everything."
Abigail laughed darkly. "So, the mayor and the sheriff never contemplated a backup plan?"
"Relax," Meredith blurted.
"Relax? You want us to relax when the lives of people we love are at stake?"
She ignored her. "When Caroline called to say she got away; did she know where they were planning to take her?"
Liz shook her head. "Just that she was in some van in the middle of nowhere and she managed to escape."
"Perfect," Damon sang. "We've narrowed it down to nowhere."
"Nowhere," he laughed out. "It doesn't sound like nowhere."
"Fine. I'm at Matt's. On the back porch." She looked up at the sky. "I would much rather be with you."
"You're drunk."
"A little."
"Go back inside." He sounded unsure, of what she didn't know. "Sing a drinking song, win a round of beer pong, and call me in the morning."
Damon had Matt pinned against the wall. "In what world are you the one that gets to live?!"
"Damon!" Abigail threw him backwards. "It wasn't his fault!"
Liz paced the living room. "With your vervain and Alaric's weapons; they could be anywhere."
"Come on, guys, think." Damon looked around at them. "It takes a lot to hold a vampire. Reinforced steel, iron doors."
Matt cut through the silence, "The Pastor has a cattle ranch. Those pens could easily be modified. It's remote and secluded."
"Well, guess what?" Damon pulled Matt to the front door. "Looks like you get a chance to prove how sorry you really are."
"So, what?" Matt asked as they walked toward the pastor's farmhouse. "We just storm the place with zero weapons?"
"Nah, we don't need weapons." Damon sunk his teeth into Matt's neck. "Just bait."
Abigail threw a rock at the door. "Anybody home?"
Pastor Young walked outside. "Let him go. The boy's innocent."
"Well, that's the point." Damon grabbed Matt by the scruff of his shirt. "Give us Stefan and Elena, he's all yours."
"Come on, Pastor," Abigail taunted. "You know we'll kill him."
"I want to kill him."
Suddenly, Abigail and Damon were shot. It hurt, she registered that, but it was the kind of pain that went numb. And then she was healed.
They stayed in the grass, on either side of Matt, as two officers came around the corner with their guns drawn. Damon killed one, Abigail killed the other. It was so fast, so easy. So easy.
"And if it does, if someday you give into what rules you, I will be right here because it doesn't change anything."
"Go ahead and kill me!" Matt groaned as Damon kicked him. "You can't possibly hate me more than I hate myself."
"Oh, yes I can." Damon put his foot on Matt's throat. "It should have been you."
Before she could pull him back, someone rushed toward him out of nowhere. It was Elena. She was a vampire.
"Besides, I loved you before you were a vampire and I'm pretty sure I will still love you when you are one."
"Pretty sure?"
"Yeah." When he chuckled softly, she knew he was going to make a joke, and, if she was honest with herself, she needed him to. "At least ninety-two percent."
"'Faulty gas line leads to tragic explosion at Young farm.'" Damon threw the paper onto the counter, bringing the chaos of the Grill back into focus. "Really?"
"Better than 'Town Council blown up. Police have no suspects.'" Liz looked him up and down. "Unless the perpetrator is right next to me."
"Well, don't look at me. I always take credit for killing people." He finished his drink. "Seriously, stop looking at me like that, Liz. If I was going to kill twelve people, I wouldn't blow them up, I'd have a dinner party."
"Frequent dinner parties. Themed, of course."
Memories of him were everywhere. In places she didn't expect. In places they didn't belong.
"The explosion was sparked from inside," she elaborated. "This wasn't an accident."
"You say that like it's a bad thing." Abigail slammed her glass onto the counter. "The Council is dead, Liz. I see that as a win."
"I've known some of the Council since I was a kid. They were my friends."
"Well, your friends tried to kill us. My sister. His brother." She poured Damon another round. "Your daughter."
It clicked for Liz as looked at the empty seat between them, why she didn't recognize the girl sitting in front of her. "I'm so sorry for what you're going through, Abigail. No one should have to lose as much as you have."
A stranger approached them. "Excuse me, Sheriff. Hi, um, I was wondering if I could speak to you for a minute about the explosion at the Young farm."
She tore her eyes from the bottle Abigail had taken to drinking from. "I'm sorry, Mr..."
He held his gloved hand out to her. "Connor Jordan."
She shook his hand. "Are you with the insurance investigators?"
"No, no, I'm more of an independent contractor." He looked at Damon and Abigail. "Can we speak in private?"
"Nice to meet you too, Mr. Busybody Guy." He turned to Abigail. "You doing okay?"
"Don't ask questions you don't want answers to."
"Abigail-"
"Did you do it?" Elena asked, pulling out the stool between them.
Abigail reached out to stop her. "That seat's taken."
"But there's no one here."
"Well, I'm just going to pretend like there's someone there." She looked up at her with red, puffy eyes. "Because the alternative is just too damn depressing."
Elena moved to the other side of Damon. "Did you set off the explosion that killed the Town Council?"
"Am I wearing my 'I Blew Up the Council' t-shirt, why does everybody keep asking me that"
"Did you?"
"No. I was with Abigail," he sniffled. "Anything else?"
She hesitated. "Yes, something's wrong. I can't keep any of the animal blood down."
"Well, there's a shock."
"I think I need your help."
"Of course, you do." He motioned around the restaurant. "Pick your meal."
"No. No human blood." She swallowed hard. "Stefan's right, I have to at least try to get through this without hurting anyone."
"Fine, come on."
"Fate?"
"Yeah, it was fate." She leaned into his touch, the warmth of it as welcoming as the first time. "And fate has never been very good to me."
"Fate has never been very good to me either, but it gave me you." He kissed her forehead. "So, I say we spend the rest of our lives taking it on together."
Abigail felt exactly the same way she did as Alaric died in her arms. Even as Damon dragged her toward Mystic Falls Church for the memorial for explosion victims, she couldn't think of anything else. She couldn't think of anything else because this was the hard part.
"Damon, I-I am about to lose it." She tugged away from him. "I can't, I can't be here. I can't do this."
He turned around to face her. "Your sister needs our help, so yes you can do this."
Connor was sitting on the couch outside of the bathroom. Abigail blinked at him, hardly recognizing him as the man from the Grill. As the man who attacked Tyler.
"You again," Damon dragged out. "Stalking small town funerals?"
"Oh, thank God." Elena looked out of the door at Connor. "Sorry, I-I spilt coffee all over my dress."
Abigail pushed her way into the bathroom, garment bag in hand. There was blood everywhere, the sink, the toilet, the walls. Things were worse than anyone was making them out to be.
Damon's voice came through the door. "Everything okay in there?"
"Yeah, just a minute!" Elena helped Abigail stuff all of the bloody tissues into the bag. They stepped into the hallway, gripping each other's hands. "I'm so sorry that took so long."
Connor nodded once. "No problem."
"Well, enjoy your stay. We love visitors and the scenery is to die for." Damon gasped. "Funeral pun. Too soon. Sorry."
Outside of the church, Elena asked, "Did you bring the blood bag?"
"Would you mind saying that a little louder?" Damon led them behind a tree. "Here."
When she spit the blood out it was almost as if he was expecting it.
"It tastes like..." She grimaced. "What's wrong with me?"
"I don't know, maybe it's your doppelgänger blood." He wiped her chin. "Maybe you're rejecting the transition."
"I'm dying, aren't I?"
"No, you're not dying. Don't, don't say that." Abigail shook her head frantically. "If anything happens to you-"
"Don't you think like that." He was talking to both of them, but he grabbed Elena's shoulders. "You'll be fine."
The church bells rang, calling them inside.
"Before we begin the Mass, we'd like to open the floor to anyone who would like to share a memory about our late friends on the Town Council. I know that April Young wanted to say a few words about her dad. April? April, are you still here, honey?" Carol looked around the church. "Is there anyone else who would like to share a recollection or a memory about Pastor Young?"
Abigail didn't even realize that Elena had moved from her side until she was standing at the front of the chapel. "I, uh, when I talked to April earlier, she was kind of nervous about coming up to speak. And now that I'm up here, I'm kind of nervous too." She gripped the sides of the podium. "The worst day of loving someone is the day that you lose them."
The grief, the guilt, the... blood. There was a lot of blood coming from inside of the church. The veins crawled out from under her eyes, forcing her to bow her head. Forcing her to close her eyes.
"Nobody move," Damon said so that only those with supernatural hearing could hear him. "Don't turn around, it's a trap."
The priest took his place. "Please turn to page forty-two in your hymn book. Let us join together in a song."
"What's wrong with her?" Matt asked as Elena gripped on to Stefan.
"She's hungry," Abigail whispered. "She hasn't fed."
"So, get her out of here."
"There's somebody watching us."
Damon leaned forward from the row behind them. "I'm gonna go rip his head off now."
"You do that, Damon, and you risk exposing all of us," Stefan warned.
"Well, I think the risk will be slightly diminished when I, you know, rip his head off."
The scent of blood grew stronger as Elena moved into Abigail's arms.
"You have ten seconds before I go old fashioned on the new guy."
"Don't do it, Damon. Please."
"Three, two, one. Bye."
"Wait. Elena, feed from me." Every set of vampire eyes landed on Matt. "It's okay, everyone will think you're upset. Just feed from me."
Abigail nodded encouragingly as she let Matt take Elena into his arms.
"Thank you." She pulled away from him, wiping the blood from her mouth. "The blood. I can still smell it. It's got to be April. We have to help her."
"Excuse me." Tyler was at the podium. "I just wanted to say a few words about Pastor Young."
"What do we do?"
Abigail sat down. "Nothing the Hunter is after him. If we do something now we'll all be dead."
"Back in first grade, I was a brat who couldn't be bothered with team sports. Didn't care much about anything that didn't affect me. But he was the one who made me understand how important it is to be part of a team; a community. Of giving yourself up for the sake of-"
Connor shot Tyler, erupting the church into screams as people ducked into the aisles and rushed outside. Damon was the only one of them to follow the crowd. The rest of them ran up to the stage, gathering around their hybrid friend with quick plans for a cover up.
"I'm gonna kill that bastard," Tyler groaned.
"Damon's way ahead of you. Stay here, I have to help him."
Stefan started to leave, but Elena grabbed his hand. "What about April?"
"I got it." Abigail pulled Elena to her feet. "Go."
Up in the balcony, April was tied up, gagged, and bleeding. "She's not dead, but if you feed on her you will kill her!"
"Let go of me!" She fought against her grasp. "Let go of me!"
"Look at her! Look at her, Elena! It's April. April Young. She's not a warm body for you to feed on." As Elena slowly turned back to normal, she released her. "She's an orphan. Just like us. She's scared. Just like we were."
Abigail bent down next to April, untied her, and fed her her blood.
She gasped awake; terror stricken. "Please, don't hurt me. Please."
"No one's gonna hurt you." She stood up. "You can make her forget all of this."
"No, I-I can't, Abigail." She clutched her stomach. "You have to do it."
"The only way you're going to learn is if you do it yourself." She motioned her forward. "You just need to believe what you're telling her. Okay?"
"April, listen to me. Everything's gonna be okay. You're gonna get through this. Just like we got through it." Elena leaned forward. "I'm going to help you. I promise."
"I'm gonna be okay," she repeated. "You're gonna help me."
"You watched the funeral from up here so that you could grieve alone. It was a beautiful service. People said really nice things."
Once night had fallen, Caroline, Stefan, Elena, Matt, Jeremy, Bonnie, Damon, and Abigail gathered outside of the school.
"We're finishing the memorial we didn't get to have earlier." Stefan handed Elena a lantern. "We need to start healing. We've all lost so much, especially recently. I think we're numb to it. We push it away, we make a joke out of it, ignore how we feel. We've never just let ourselves grieve."
Damon scoffed. "So, you're lighting lanterns?"
"Yeah, we need to do this." He lit his lantern. "This is for my uncle Zach and my friend Lexi. And for Alaric."
Matt lit his lantern. "This is for Vicki."
"This is for my dad. And Tyler's." Caroline passed the lighter to Bonnie.
"This is for my Grams."
"This is for our parents. John. Jenna. Alaric." Jeremy looked from his sisters to Matt. "For Vicki."
Abigail was crying before she lit her lantern, but she was able to speak through her tears, "This is for my parents. For Jenna and John. F-for Alaric."
Damon backed away from them. "No way. I'm not doing that."
Elena gently took the lighter from her. "This, um, is for my mom, my dad, Jenna, everyone that you've all lost, everyone that this town has lost. And for me, I guess."
They stood together, hand in hand, watching the lanterns as they floated off into the night sky.
Abigail enter the loft alone. The past came rushing at her. Every look, every laugh, every kiss, every I love you. Everything.
From the front door to the kitchen.
"Okay, fine." He held his glass to his lips. "First kiss?"
"Freshman year. QB1. Under the bleachers. He was a senior. I felt very cool." She poured herself another glass of bourbon. "Caroline, of course, saw the whole thing and told everyone before I had the chance to."
"No way."
"Way." She laughed at the look on his face. "I didn't think it would turn into anything. I mean, everyone had a crush on him. But whatever chance I had was wiped away right then."
His soft smile eased the blush in her checks. "Well, I guess I should thank her, or him, maybe even both of them."
"Is there anyone I should be thanking?" She asked.
"My next-door neighbor," he chuckled. "We were thirteen, totally missed her lips the first time. Definitely meant to be."
Interlocking their fingers, she said, "That's adorable."
"Embarrassing, it's embarrassing." His laugh turned into a sigh. "Just like when I peed myself in right field during a Little League game."
She leaned across the counter, placing a quick kiss on his cheek. "Happens to the best of us."
"What is your most embarrassing childhood memory?" He asked.
"Oh, God." She took a long swig straight from the bottle. "When I was ten my parents hosted a Fourth of July celebration at the lake house. We were sitting on the dock watching the fireworks from across the way, and, for some reason, I thought it would be a brilliant idea to get as close to the edge as possible. But, alas, I fell right into the water, wearing my favorite summer dress, in front of every soon to be important person in town."
"See..." He leaned in, definitely not missing her lips. "That is adorable."
From the kitchen to the living room.
She looked over the top of her book, meeting Alaric's eyes. "I love you."
He reached for his annotated copy of 'Tender is the Night,' marking her page with his fingers. "You're not Rosemary."
"I know."
"Do you?" He climbed on top of her. "Because I need you to."
"I know what this is." She ran her hands down his back, pulling his body against hers. "This is all I have ever wanted."
"I," he whispered, "love you."
"And I love you."
From the living room to the bedroom.
"Whitmore was always the plan. I mean, it's where my parents went, where everyone in my family went. So, I don't know, I guess I'll go there." She rolled onto her side to face him. "Figure out what the hell I'm actually supposed to do with my life."
"You may not find the answer there, you know."
"Well, it's where my dad fell in love with medicine. Where my mom fell in love with my dad, really fell in love with him. It's where Jenna-" She cut herself off, inching closer to him. "It just... it worked for them. Besides, there's nowhere else to go around here."
"Don't stay here."
"I have to."
"Why?" He searched her face, looking for the slightest change. "If Elena is set on Whitmore and you know Jeremy will be taken care of, why?"
"It's not about them." As if it should have been obvious, she said, "It's about you."
"No, no. Don't let me hold you back... I know what that feeling can do to a relationship and it's not good."
"You didn't rush me into anything, and you're not holding me back, Ric. You are the only thing I have ever been sure of." She kissed him, pulling him into her arms. "When Klaus first got here, when I didn't know if you were alive or dead, I realized... I realized that if I lost you, I'd just run. And I don't know if I would ever come back."
"Don't say that." He caressed her face. "This is your home."
"You're my home, Ric."