Caroline's crush Jesse had been turned into a vampire, and then Dr. Wes Maxfield had turned him into a vampire feeding Ripper, and Elena had to kill him to save Damon's life.
Meanwhile, Stefan had to save Katherine from killing herself by jumping off the clock tower in Town Square.
Now, Stefan had Katherine sitting in the parlor, writing in a diary.
Katherine was slightly irritated. "Dear diary, so here I am, alive. Stefan saved me from killing myself. Now he's got me on suicide watch. He says it would be therapeutic for me to write down my feelings about the fact that I'm dying and there's nothing I can do about it. Deep thoughts, mortal coil, blah, blah, blah. My hand's tired." She tore the page out frot the diary, crushing it and throwing it over her shoulder. Stefan was pacing. "What kind of sentimental idiot writes down everything they feel? Is this what the prophecy meant when it said that all the Doppelgangers were drawn together like magnets? Because if it is, I want my money back."
"I'm just trying to make sure you don't slit your wrists," Stefan told her.
"Well, this whole neurotic granny vibe doesn't exactly make me want to live," Katherine told him. "Do you really have nothing better to do than stand there all day and watch me write in cursive?"
"I'm trying to make sure you don't kill yourself," Stefan told her.
"And how are you going to do that?" I asked, making them realize I was there. "You know, since you're still having your little panic attacks?"
"I'm fine," Stefan told me.
"Yeah," I said sarcastically. "Of course. You are the picture of mental health, Stefan, after being locked for three months in a safe at the bottom of a quarry."
"I am dealing with it, Nikki," Stefan told me.
"I know," I told him. "I mean, I heard you 'dealing with it' earlier today in the library. It sounded like you freaked out and broke a chair, maybe even two. I'm just hoping that you didn't break my favorite reading chair. I'm worried about you, Stefan. This isn't what you're supposed to be going through. And you haven't been listening to a thing that I say." There was a knock on the door. I looked toward the door. "And, so, I may have called for back up."
Stefan gave me a suspicious look, walking toward the door and opening it to reveal Caroline standing outside, smiling widely. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm your sober sponser, and I heard that you needed help," Caroline told him.
"Really?" Stefan asked.
"And I got my mom to drop off something for us to use," Caroline told us, stepped aside to reveal the safe that Stefan had been locked in. Stefan stared at it in horror. "Don't worry. I sanitized it."
~~~~~
Caroline, Stefan and I stood in the parlor, in front of the safe, which was already lying on the floor.
"I spent three months drowning in this thing," Stefan told us. "What the hell were you thinking?"
"I was thinking it's time for you to deal with the source of your PTSD," Caroline told him.
"And you're sure you're not just sublimating your feelings about what happened to Jesse last night?" I asked.
Caroline turned away from us. "Feelings? What feelings would I have about my best friend killing the guy I was crushing on?"
"He was out of control, and Elena did what she had to do," Stefan told her.
"No," Caroline told him. "Elena did what she thought she had to do just like she also thought . . ." She turned to face us. "That Damon was good boyfriend material. Now you see where I'm going with this?"
"Anyways . . ." Stefan trailed off awkwardly. "Aren't you a drama major? What do you know about PTSD?"
"This wasn't my idea," Caroline told him.
Stefan turned to face me.
I smiled innocently. "Well, I know that you tried to deal with it your own way, and you failed, so now . . ." I opened the safe. "We're gonna try it my way."
Stefan stared at the open safe. He looked at me.
I gave him a reassuring smile.
~~~~~
Katherine, Caroline and I were standing outside of the safe.
Stefan was locked inside, his voice muffled. "Caroline! Nikki! Do you even know what you're doing?"
"Yes," Caroline answered. "Well, it's in my textbook." She flipped through the pages of a book. "Let me find it."
Katherine watched, her arms crossed over her chest, a curious but mischievous expression on her face. "Have you two ever, um--ahem--you know?"
Katherine looked at Caroline meaningfully, starting to pace toward us.
Caroline looked at her in confusion. "No, I don't."
"Oh, come on, you know," Katherine told her, smirking. "Have you?"
"Oh, my God!" Caroline said. "Katherine, seriously?"
Caroline scoffed in disbelief.
"That wasn't exactly a yes or a no," Katherine told her.
"We are friends," Caroline told her.
"Your loss," Katherine told her. "He's great in bed."
"Oh, God," I said. "I am so not listening to this."
Caroline looked at her text book, pointing to something on the page. "Here. Okay, Stefan. Prolonged Exposure Therapy. 'In vivo expsoure gradually introduces elements of prior trauma, e.g., physical objects, comma, certain aspects of duress, comma--'"
Katherine: Oh, come on, you know. (suddenly smirks at her) Have you?
I closed the book in annoyance, walking ahead of her. "Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Got it, got it, got it."
"Stop talking," Katherine told us. "The words that are coming out of your mouths are giving me a headache."
"Nikki!" Stefan's muffled voice called. "Nikki!"
"I'm just trying to help Stefan understand what I'm doing," Caroline told us.
"Acting like a school teacher isn't going to make him feel any better," Katherine told us.
"He needs to get over the root of his problem," I told them. "'Cause right now the score is safe: one, Stefan: zero. So how do you help the guy that always comes to the rescue? Stefan's the hero. That's who he is at his core. He can't always come through for himself, but he can always come through for everyone else."
Katherine looked thoughtful, smiling at Caroline and me. "I've got an idea."
~~~~~
Caroline and I had locked Katherine in there with Stefan.
"So, try not to be mad at me," Katherine's muffled voice told him. "I got in here when you were unconscious, and then Caroline and Nicola locked us inside. It was the only way."
"Let me out of here!" Stefan's muffled voice told us. "Caroline! Nikki!"
"I know it's a little extreme, but the baby steps approach wasn't working," I told him, looking at Caroline.
"I thought it would work," Caroline told me.
"See?" Katherine's muffled voice asked. "That's why I need you not to get mad at me because when you get mad, you get anxious and violent, and you rip people's heads off, but I'm gonna help you fix that."
"Get me out of here before I hurt her!" Stefan's muffled voice told us.
"That's the whole point, Stefan," Katherine told him. "You need to get over your PSTD triggers, okay? Or else you will kill me."
"You're risking your life," Stefan told him.
"I'm already dying, you idiot," Katherine told him. "You're the one who wants to keep me alive. It's my turn to help you now."
"I can't be in here," Stefan told us. "Please."
"You're Stefan Salvatore," Katherine told him. "Suck it up."
Even from out here, I could tell that Stefan was in an anxious daze. "No, no, no."
~~~~~
I looked at the safe curiously. "How's it going in there?"
Stefan was breathing heavily. "I feel--I feel--I feel like I'm dying."
"So I've been using this time to think," Katherine told him. "I think there is actually a little bit of truth to this Doppelganger prophecy. I think you're still in love with Elena. I think you're miserable over the fact that she chose Damon over you and that you wanna get out of this one-horse town and as far away from their happiness as possible, and yet somewhere, you keep finding excuses to stay in Mystic Falls. I think I'm just that latest excuse."
"I'm going to kill you," Stefan told her.
"Good," Katherine told him. "Yeah. Get it all out, Stefan. I think this is healthy. Although, don't forget you loved me before you hated me."
"Any reason why you chose to have this conversation with me locked in a safe?" Stefan asked.
"Yes!" Katherine answered. "So that I can show you that the safe isn't the problem."
"How could you say that to me?" Stefan asked.
"The problem is you're not facing you're real issues," Katherine told him. "The death you felt in the safe, the pain of dying over and over again. It's easier for you to focus on the physical pain that the emotional heartbreak of Elena leaving you. Your problem is you're not in touch with the reality of the moment, so let's bring you back to the present, shall we? In this moment, are you going to feed on me or are you gonna save my life? Fight it, Stefan, fight it. I'm here, I'm here. I'm with you. We're together."
Moments of silence passed.
Caroline opened the safe. "It was so quiet, I got worried."
Stefan stood to get out of the safe, offering his hand to help pull Katherine out. Katherine took it, letting him help her out, quickly withdrawing it the moment she got out, pushing her hair back nervously.
Stefan walked toward Caroline and me, looking at Katherine with confusion. Finally looking at Caroline and me, he gave us a reassuring smile.
I smiled. "See?" I hit Stefan's chest, wrapping my arms around him. "You made it out alive."
Stefan wrapped his arms around me, looking at Katherine behind me.
I noticed the way they looked at each other differently than before.
~~~~~
Caroline was alone, trying to life the safe to take it out of the house, struggling, standing up in frustration. "A little help here! I mean, I know I'm a vampire, but this thing is really heavy."
I walked closer. "Here."
We both lifted it with as much strength as we had, standing it up.
Caroline sighed gratefully. "Thank you."
"No, thank you," I told her. "You helped Stefan. He's better now."
"You mean, we helped Stefan," Caroline told me.
I smiled.
~~~~~
Caroline walked toward me. "I'm probably going to stay at my Mom's tonight. I think I am officially homesick. So I'll let you know when I'm--" She cut herself off, looking shocked and horrified. "Oh. My. God."
"What?" I asked.
"Stefan and Katherine," Caroline told me.
I turned away, groaning in disgust. "I'm gonna be sick."
Caroline nodded. "Yeah."