CHAPTER ONE: the return
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"I can't believe Stefan and Damon almost died," Jensen Gilbert speaks, closing the door behind him.
"Jeremy? Are you up?" Elena yells up the stairs, when she hears a noise in the kitchen. Jensen and Elena carefully walk towards the kitchen.
They enters to find John on the floor, bleeding badly. Jensen rushes over to him and tries to stop the bleeding. "Elena call 911!"
"911, what's your emergency?"
Elena is panicked. "Hi, I-I need an ambulance to 2104 Maple Street."
Jensen pressed the kitchen towel to the wound.
John, who sees Katherine watching; whispers. "Behind you."
Katherine stared at the back of Jensen's, shocked to see half of a familiar face.
"What?" Elena asked.
"Behind you!" John says, louder this time.
Elena and Jensen turn around but they sees no one there. "Elena, hold the towel," Jensen orders, grabbing the bloody knife and cautiously approaches the hallway.
Katherine speeds around, frightening the two, before she runs out the door. Elena is terrified, and then she remembers Jeremy.
"Jeremy!" Elena races up the stairs to his room. "Jeremy! Jeremy!"
"Elena, wait!" Jensen yelled up, pressing the towel to John's wound. "Hold it," he took John's hands placing it over the wound, taking the knife and pushing it into John's hand before taking another knife and running up stairs. "Jeremy! Elena!"
"Please, Jeremy, wake up!" Elena shakes Jeremy frantically and he wakes up with a gasp.
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John is taken away in the ambulance. Stefan arrives at the house. The officer tries to keep Stefan from entering.
"He's okay," Elena nods.
Stefan follows Elena upstairs to Jeremy's room. "What happened?" Stefan asked, following the twins up the stairs.
"He said that Anna gave him her blood and then he took these pills and now..." Elena handed him the bottle of pills. "I mean he looks fine but then again so do you. So, I just...I don't know."
Stefan throws the bottle pills onto the bed, before he takes Jeremy's face in his hands and examines his eyes. "Come here. Look at me. Shh."
Jeremy tried to get out of the vampire's grasp. "I'm fine, okay? I feel exactly the same."
"Should I call a paramedic up here? What should I do?" Jensen paced the room, nervously biting at his fingers.
Stefan looks at Jeremy's eyes. "No, he's fine."
"You mean I'm not a vampire?" Jeremy questioned with an oddly upset tone of voice. "Damn it!"
Elena's head snapped back towards Jeremy, as did Jensen. "Don't say that Jeremy! Jer, why would you want that?"
"Did you hear about Anna, what happened to her tonight?" Jeremy stood up. "She's dead."
Stefan moved forward, pushing Jeremy back onto the bed. He grabs Jeremy's face in his hands, forcing him to look at him. "Jeremy, Jeremy. Come here, sit down. I am very sorry about Anna, but it's very important that you listen to me right now. With every passing moment, Anna's blood is leaving your system. If you try to kill yourself right now, you could really die."
Jeremy looks away. But, Stefan made slapped the side of his face. "Hey! Do you understand me?!"
"Don't fucking hit him!" Jensen yelled at the vampire.
"Stefan..." Elena started.
"Yeah, I understand." Jeremy lowly spoke.
"Good." Stefan gets up and stands next to the twins.
"What about the pills that he took?" Jensen asked, continuing to bit at the skin at the end of his nails.
"He didn't take enough to die so Anna's blood actually healed him of that." Stefan told him.
A policeman knocks on the doorframe of Jeremy's room. "Miss and Mister Gilbert?"
"I'll be right there." Elena replied.
"Yeah, give us one minute," Jensen says.
"You need to be at the hospital," Stefan tells them.
"But..." they both start.
"No, no, no, I'll stay here with Jeremy."
"No, I don't need a babysitter." Jeremy speaks up.
"Yes, you do." Elena immediately told him.
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"Bonnie. How's Caroline?" Elena questioned.
"She's weak. They don't know if she's going to make it." Bonnie answered.
"What?" Bonnie embraces the two. Damon is near and peers over at them.
"Is there something that you can do? Like a spell or something?" Elena asked.
"She doesn't know how, do you?" Damon walked up to them.
"No, I don't." Bonnie admitted.
"No, you don't because it took Emily years to learn a spell like that."
"Well, I can take down a vampire, that spell was easy to learn."
"I can give Caroline some blood." Damon suggested.
"No, no way."
"Without her knowing? No."
The twins disagreed.
"No, just enough to heal her. She will be safe in the hospital and it will be out of her system in a day, she will be better Elena." Damon replied.
"It's too risky, I can't agree to that."
"Do it." Bonnie speaks, she sees the twins expressions. "This is Caroline. We can't let her die. Do it."
"If I do this, you and me, call a truce?" Damon asked Bonnie.
"No. But you'll do it anyway. For Elena." Bonnie then walked away.
"I know this is probably the last thing you want to do right now but we should talk about what happened tonight." Damon says, looking at Elena.
"Yeah, one of the tomb vampires got into the house and almost killed John." Elena sighed.
"What? When? What are you talking about? After I left?"
"You were at the house?" Jensen asked.
"You were there?" Elena questioned.
Damon side-eyed Jensen. "Come on, Elena, you know I was."
"When were you at the house?"
"Really? Earlier, on the porch, we were talking, all cathartic, feelings exposed. Come on, we kissed, Elena."
"You kissed him?" Jensen asked, disbelief.
"No! I didn't!" Elena told her brother. "Okay, I don't have time for this Damon."
"If you want to forget what happened fine but I can't."
Jenna arrives. Damon moves away while Jenna glares at him, but listens in.
"Elena, I came as soon as I got your message. How is John?" Jenna inquired of, panicked.
"Where have you been?" Elena asked.
"At the fire department, I had to fill out a report. I told you earlier."
Jensen turned to Jenna, confused.
"No, you didn't." Elena shakes her head.
"Yes, I did."
"No, Jenna, you didn't."
"Yes, I did."
Jensen looked back and forth at the two, confused.
"Oh!" Damon suddenly says, which makes Jensen, Jenna and Elena look at him with confusion. "Mmm, you got to be kidding me."
Damon realizes that he has said that out loud. He looks at the three of them before he walks away.
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Damon, Jensen, and Elena had gone back to the Gilbert residence. Stefan is on the floor, confusing them.
"Stefan?" Elena questioned.
"Elena." Stefan breathes out.
"What happened?"
"Katherine happened." Damon speaks.
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The two Salvatore brothers were in the kitchen while the twins were telling Jeremy about everything.
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"We told Jeremy," Elena announced to the Salvatore brothers. "We can't lie to him anymore."
"Are you alright?" Stefan walked closer to Elena, glancing between the two.
"No, I'm not alright. I thought that with all the tomb vampires gone things would get better." Elena answered.
"I know. We all did." Stefan answered, he glanced at Jensen. "Are you alright?"
"Oh, you know, internally panicking," Jensen goes for sarcastic tone, but if just sounds tired to his ears.
"Katherine was in this house, that means she's been invited in, what are we gonna do?" Elena asked.
"Move." Damon speaks.
"Very helpful, thank you."
"Katherine wants you dead; there's zero you can do about it; you would be dead but you're not. So clearly she has other plans." Damon pause, then looked to Jensen. "Did she see you?"
"Right and we need to find out what those other plans are and not provoke her in the process. What happened tonight when you thought she was Elena?" Stefan asked.
"To risk another frown line encroaching on a very crowded forehead. We...kissed." Damon answered.
"And you thought it was me?" Elena asked, disbelief.
"What do you mean you kissed?" Stefan questioned.
"Well, you know, when two lips pucker and they go." He puckers his lips and makes kissing noises. Stefan rushes at him with his super speed but Damon uses his super speed as well and stands next to Elena. "Don't be obvious, Stefan."
Stefan starts towards Damon again but Elena gets up and puts her hand in front of Stefan. "Stefan wait, he kissed Katherine, not me," Elena looks at Damon. "I wouldn't do that. We don't have time for this guys."
"Later." Stefan stared at Damon, angrily.
"John must know something. There has to be a reason why Katherine tried to kill him." Elena says.
"She's Katherine. She loves to play games and you're fooling yourself if you think you're going to find out what she's been up to before she wants you to know." Damon explained.
"No, actually Elena's right, John could know something through Isobel. Your mother, she was in touch with Katherine so maybe we can go to the hospital and get him to talk." Stefan speaks up.
"I've got a better idea." Damon muttered.
"What's that?" Jensen questioned.
"I'm just gonna ignore the bitch. See you."
"Is that smart?"
"If Katherine thinks she's been ignored it will lure her out, she'll make a move." Damon says. "That, or we could use Jensen."
Jensen scrunched up his face, offended. "The fuck you mean by use?"
"Yeah? And then what?" Stefan asked. "We are not putting Jensen in danger."
"Please, he looks exactly like her brother, who died in front of her, she'll be distracted. Then we Stake her, rip her head off, something poetic. We'll see." Damon walks out.
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Jensen, Elena, and Stefan all walk down the hall of Mystic Falls Hospital, heading towards John's room.
"Ready for this?" Stefan asked the both of them.
They enter the room together. "John?" Elena asked.
He opens his eyes and panics when he sees Elena. He tries to press the button to call the nurse, but Stefan grabs his hand and takes it away from him.
"I'm Elena. I'm not - I'm not Katherine." Elena tells him.
"We know she did this to you." Stefan announced.
"We need to know why." Jensen told him.
"Where is she?" John asked.
"You tell us," Stefan replied.
"I don't know."
John tries to sit up but Stefan pushes him back down. "You're a little too weak to play tough guy. Why don't you just sit back and answer a few questions?"
Elena places the Gilbert ring into John's hand.
"Please, tell us why she's here. What does she want?"
John doesn't respond.
"She'll try again; we can't help you if you don't confide in us." Stefan told.
"In you?" John looked at Stefan.
"In your children then."
"My daughter or son should have driven a stake through your heart by now." He looks at Elena and Jensen. "I never spoke with Katherine directly, she never trusted me." He looks at Stefan. "So either kill me or get out because I can't stand the sight of you with my daughter and son."
"You see the world with such hatred. It's gonna get you killed." Elena tells him.
"Almost did," Jensen adds as he and Elena walk out of the room.
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They walk out of the hospital.
"Hey, I just have to swing by home to pick up Jenna and Jeremy so we can go to the Lockwoods'. How did you leave it in there, John?" Elena asked.
"I...I asked him to leave town." Stefan said..
They stop walking and look at each other.
"Asked? You threatened him."
"Yeah, I threatened him."
"Awesome," Jensen grinned.
LGood. I want him gone, Stefan. I know that I shouldn't feel that way but I don't want someone like that in my life. Or Jeremy's life." Elena says.
"I know."
She embraces him. "So what now?"
"Now, I need to go find Damon." Stefan let's go of Elena.
"Please Stefan, don't fight with him."
"No Elena, he tried to kiss you. I'm not okay with that."
"I agree with Stefan. That's just a shitty, brother move," Jensen speaks.
Elena sighed. "That's not the problem, Katherine is. She's already messing with both of your heads and Damon is not stable when it comes to her. The last thing we need is to make things worse."
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They are walking towards the car when Elena gets a phone call. "Hello?" She paused. "Bonnie, I know I'm late. I'm getting in the car now. I'll be there in five."
Elena then hangs up.
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"Looks like the whole town has turned out." Jensen comments when they had arrived at the Lockwood mansion.
"Yeah. Well he is...he was the mayor." Elena answered
"Why don't they save it for the funeral?" Jeremy questioned.
"That's what people do. The Lockwoods were here for us when we went through this. It'll be quick; we'll drop off the food and pay our respects and go." Jenna says.
"It's that rude?" Jensen asked.
"In and out? It sounds like a plan." Jeremy agreed with Jenna.
Elena sees Damon. "You guys go ahead, I'll be right there, okay?" She goes toward Damon.
"Want back up?" Jensen asked.
Damon rolled his eyes. Elena smiled. "I'm fine. Go."
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A few hours later, at the Gilbert house. Jensen sat in his room, slowly thinking over everything that Stefan and Damon have said about Katherine.
He is brought out of his thoughts when he hears Elena's slightly raised voice. He quickly goes over to her room, walking into see Jeremy at the door as well.
"Elena, what's going on in here?" Jeremy asked.
Damon and Elena look at him. Elena pulls her wrists out of Damon's grasp. "Nothing, Jeremy. It's okay, just go back to bed." Elena told her younger brother.
"No, it's not okay, Elena." Damon turns to look at Jeremy and then at Elena. "He wants to be a vampire."
He rushes at Jeremy and pushes him against the wall. Jensen swung at Damon, who grabbed the fist and swung him over, Jensen rolled over the bed, falling to the floor.
"No, Damon, stop it!" Elena yelled.
"You want to shut out the pain? It's the easiest thing in the world. The part of you that cares just goes away, all you have to do is flip the switch and snap!"
"Damon! NO!!" Elena yelled, She rushes over to Jeremy and cries.
Jensen gets up, only to see Damon snaps Jeremy's neck. Jeremy falls to the floor, dead. Jensen moved forward, junking over the bed, grabbing onto Jeremy's body, lifting him up.
Damon looks at her and leaves. Elena clutches Jeremy in horror and then she notices John's magical ring on Jeremy's finger. She realizes he isn't permanently dead.
Jensen holds Jeremy to his chest, head tucked underneath his chin. Elena is lowly whispering how Jeremy as John's ring.
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Jensen still held Jeremy to his chest. Stefan has arrived at one point. Jensen wasn't sure when.
"He saw the ring, that's why he did it. He knew." Stefan says.
"No. He didn't." Jensen carders his fingers through Jeremy's hair.
"He didn't see the ring." Elena says.
"It's Katherine. She got under his skin. She undid everything that was good about him."
"There's nothing good about him. Stefan, not anymore. He's decided what he wants. He doesn't want to feel, he wants to be hated, it's just easier that way. He got his wish."
"Damon is and always will be a pyscho path who only cares about himself," Jensen spoke, a hand still pressed to Jeremy's neck, hoping that soon, he's feel the pulse bumping.
"I hate him, Stefan." Elena cries.
Stefan kneels down next to her and comforts her. He placed a hand on both the twin's shoulder. "I know. I know." He kisses Elena on the shoulder.
Jeremy suddenly wakes up gasping. Stefan takes his face and looks in his eyes. Jensen still doesn't let go of him.
"Is he okay? Stefan, is he okay?" Elena asked.
"He's okay. Shhh, you're okay." Stefan tried to comfort the three siblings.
"He killed me! Damon killed me!" Jeremy gasped.
Elena embraces him and smiles. "It's okay. Oh God."
The Three siblings were all hugging each other.
Jensen swears that he will kill Damon.
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