A/N: Hello, all! I hope you read my profile updates, or you'll be hella confused right now. I've been doing a big readthrough of my MANY TVD notes and realized I missed quite a few things on the latest chapters, which I forgot to add. So, I have added more to chapter 44 and renamed the chapter, so please read it. I've also updated a new chapter that may have some parts of the previous chapter in it. Hope that all makes sense. xoxo

GILBERT HOUSEHOLD

Aella had an uncomfortable sleep that night; without Stefan holding her, her rest was rough. The words of Jenna, Stefan, and Elijah shattered her dreams. Jenna's sadness, Stefan's frustration, Elijah's matter-of-fact attitude;

"I hope it was worth it."

"I can't do this."

"Elena must die."

"Build his own race."

She saw the destruction of the natural order and the chaos that followed it. And death. So much death.

With a gasp, Aella shot up from the bed. Instantly her hand reached out for Stefan, for comfort, but he wasn't there. The sheets were cold.

"-I'm here."

Aella jumped; her green eyes darted to Stefan's corner, where her boyfriend sat, a book in his lap, closed. His attention was entirely on her. She wiped the sleep from her eyes, "I thought you were angry with me?"

Stefan placed his book on the table next to him. He was quiet as if he was choosing how to phrase his following sentence, "I was angry at first. Now, I'm confused... and a little hurt, to be honest."

As she sat up, the covers fell to Aella's waist revealing she was sleeping in one of Stefan's tees. Stefan could see the hurt in her emerald eyes from his words, "I'm sorry."

"Then tell me what happened with Elijah," Stefan shifted to the end of his chair. "We've never kept secrets from one another."

Crawling from her spot to the end of the bed so their faces were inches apart. Aella stared into Stefan's hurt eyes as she earnestly told him, "Then know, I would only do this because it's the only way." Tears formed, "I don't think we can win this one, Stefan, not without Elijah's help."

"I don't believe that," Stefan firmly shook his head, falling back into his chair. "What we've faced so far-"

"-is nothing compared to Klaus," Aella cut him off, tone unwavering. She got off the bed and knelt before Stefan, lowering her face to rest upon his tense hands. "Everything we've faced so far; Katherine, Damon, the tomb vampires, Frederick, the Council... They are nothing compared to Klaus." She kissed his hand, "Klaus is older, stronger, and more powerful than anything we've faced, Stefan. And Elijah is the only one that knows Klaus's one weakness. Please trust me."

Stefan sighed heavily, hating that this was happening to them. He lovingly moved his hands to encircle her face and gently pulled her face upwards so they were close again. The tears had spilled from her eyes, and his thumbs wiped them away, "I can't believe that." The trust he had in her - in them - was unwavering, "We can face anything when we face it together."

Once her face was clear of tears, Stefan pulled away, "Do you remember that day in the hospital when Caroline had recovered from Damon's blood, and Bonnie disagreed with our decision?" Perplexed, Aella nodded, and he continued, "You told her, 'We worked together. We did everything together. Because we are stronger when we are together than we are on our own.' Where is that Aella now?"

Aella's head fell, and the tears began to fall again. She remembered that afternoon so clearly, the afternoon the final cracks started to appear in her relationship with her cousin. She hoped Stefan bringing it up wasn't some kind of omen. But then she remembered the nightmare she'd awoken from, the death and destruction; she just knew that couldn't be allowed.

With a shake of her head, Aella returned to her bed; she answered Stefan, "That Aella would agree with me now if she knew what I knew."

Stefan didn't respond; instead, he watched her return to bed and close her eyes. Neither slept the rest of the night, and neither spoke any further.

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In the next room, Elena didn't have the best sleep either. The images of Aella's sad cries and Bonnie's deceitfulness keeping her awake. When she had tossed and turned for far too long, she sat up with a groan, putting her lamp on before picking up her phone and calling Bonnie.

"Elena?"

Elena sighed in silent relief when Bonnie answered after only the second ring; it seemed her best friend wasn't sleeping this night either. Instead of a greeting, Elena jumped into what was on her mind, "I saw you take the moonstone."

Bonnie was quiet for a few seconds, "Did you tell Aella?"

Elena refrained from rolling her eyes; once again, Bonnie had gone against all their wishes, and her only worry was Aella. "I thought about it...." Elena admitted, but having Aella cry in her arms had her second-guessing, primarily since Aella had seemingly formed a partnership with Elijah. "Are you sure this is what can stop Klaus?"

"Yes," Bonnie answered without hesitation. "It's what is binding the Sun and the Moon Curse. Remove the spell from the stone, and now the stone has become useless."

Elena frowned," 'Has become?' Bonnie, did you already remove the curse?"

Hadn't Aella said that was risky?

"I had help," Bonnie answered resolutely. "The moonstone is no longer an issue."

"You had help? I'm pretty sure that wasn't Sheila." Elena questioned Bonnie. "You know Elijah has a witch working for him, right?" Bonnie didn't answer, and Elena pushed, "Aella says that removing the spell could be problematic, yet this family of magic users comes into town and says the opposite?"

"Aella could be wrong?"

Elena laughed grimly. Was Bonnie on a mission to destroy her relationship with Aella again? "Aella had been doing nothing but finding a way to reverse this curse. She's looked in her parent's books and her grandparents' books; even her uncle isn't sure. Yet this family is?" She heard an annoying sound come from Bonnie's throat but pushed on, "Don't you find it odd they knew about the moonstone, the curse, and have removed it only hours after you stole it from Aella's room? Yet it's taken weeks for Aella to find even the briefest information."

"It's destroyed Elena," Elena raised a brow at Bonnie's sharp tone. "Luka and I removed the curse; now we can concentrate on Klaus instead of worrying about a silly stone."

When Elena heard beeping, she pulled back her phone in disbelief. Suddenly Elena wished she had stopped Bonnie or told someone. Sliding back into bed, she placed her phone on her side table and switched her lamp off. Elena knew she wasn't going to have any sleep after that call.

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The following day was a tense one for Stefan and Aella. While they still moved in sync around her room as they got ready for the day, neither one had spoken a word since last night. Stefan finished strapping on his watch and looked over to Aella, who knelt on the floor in her closet, looking for a specific shoe she wanted to wear that day.

Biting the bullet, Stefan finally spoke, "You're running late. Are you sure you need that specific pair of shoes on?"

Feeling a little spiteful due to her lack of sleep, Aella nodded, "Yes, Caroline wanted us to match as President and Vice President of the Booster Club." She threw another odd shoe behind her, hiding a wince as it knocked her water bottle off her side table. "It's Caroline's first school event since she was turned; I want this to go perfect."

Stefan held back a sigh of annoyance at Aella's tone, and instead of helping her, he made his way to the door, "Well... I wanted to talk to Ric about something before the meeting. So, I'm going to head out now before we're both late."

Aella's lips pursed at the dig, then realized what he first said. Pulling out of the wardrobe, she raised an eyebrow at him, "Ric? Why are you meeting Ric?"

Stefan said nothing at first, then his gaze met hers, and he shifted, "Look, I can't just pretend everything is okay."

Rolling her eyes, Aella realized they'd returned to square one, "Stefan, I made a deal with Elijah."

"Right," her boyfriend nodded in agreement. "You made a deal with him. I didn't make one. You should keep your deal."

Taking a deep breath, Aella returned to her wardrobe, searching for her lost shoe. Stefan was right about one thing, she was late, and now she needed to find a show while not ruining her relationship with her boyfriend. "This is the best option, Stefan. I don't want anyone to get hurt."

"When have I ever wanted somebody to get hurt?"

Even in the wardrobe, Aella could hear the hurt in Stefan's voice. Pulling back to apologize immediately, Aella could only feel hurt when she saw her door open, and Stefan was gone.

Holding back the tears threatening to fall, Aella slammed her hand on her bed, "Damnit!"

However, emotions and a new firepower were not yet in check. One minute Aella's new Lilo and Stitch blanket was spread tidily over her bed; the next, Lilo's face was engulfed in flames.

"Shit!" Aella exclaimed and tried patting the flames away, but they kept spreading. Soon, Stitch's face was surrounded, and that's when the fire alarm decided to make its presence known.

Plugging her ears with her fingers, Aella only shouted, "Jenna!"

"I'm here!" Jenna ran into Aella's bedroom, holding a portable fire extinguisher. "I got it" The guardian lived up to her name as she sprayed the bedspread and stopped the flames with a wide grin. When she'd wafted the smoke out of the window, and the fire detector had stopped its incessant ringing, Jenna barely glanced at Aella as she wiped the nonexistent dirt from her shoulder and strolled out, simply saying, "Guardian to the rescue, bitches."

Aella took a deep breath, coughing when smoke filled her lungs. She glared down at the ruined bedspread; Stefan had bought it for her; it was her favorite. Ignoring the burnt fabric, Aella continued with her search and ignored the tension that was continuing to build between her and Stefan.

MYSTIC FALLS HIGH SCHOOL

Everyone was preparing the Booster Club Barbecue as Caroline walked over to Tyler, finally able to speak to him after the previous night. "How are you feeling?"

Tyler shrugged lightly, eyes looking everywhere except her, "I'm okay. I'm sore; every muscle aches."

"You did it," Caroline tried to convince him of what a great job he did. "You know, you... your first full moon, and you didn't hurt anyone. It'll get easier. You'll get better at it, learn to control it, and it won't hurt so much."

Tyler ignored the compliments, his lips pressed firmly together, "Well, we don't know any of that for sure."

Caroline narrowed her gaze, not liking this negative energy, "No, but small victories, Tyler. Last night was a victory. Let's take it."

That seemed to knock some sense into Tyler; rubbing the back of his neck, "Yeah, Jeremy told me when he called to check up on me. I can't believe what Jules did." He hesitantly added, "Maybe it was an accident?"

Caroline forced a smile; Jules was beginning to be an unusual subject with Tyler, "I don't think so, but you can't control what Jules does."

Tyler nodded shortly in what Caroline hoped was agreement. He shifted on the spot, "Look, I really want to thank you. I don't know what I would have done without you being there."

A faint blush appeared on Caroline's cheeks, "Yeah, it's no problem. Just, uh...next month, we should probably reinforce the wall because you almost got me that one time, and it just would have been, um...."

Tyler's eyes widened, "Shit! Yeah. I didn't even think."

"Yup." Caroline rocked on her heels as she tastelessly joked, "One bite and it's... you know, curtains for me."

Tyler opened his mouth to convince Caroline to stop helping him, to protect herself, when Matt walked over to them, ending their conversation. The blonde teen wrung his hands together, "Caroline, you got a second?"

Tyler gave a short nod to his best friend, "Hey, Matt."

Gracelessly, Matt did not respond, his eyes firmly on Caroline. Caroline's eyes darted between the two boys before she nodded to Matt, "Yeah, sure."

"I'll see you guys later," Tyler awkwardly waved before he walked away.

As soon as Tyler was far away to no longer hear their conversation, or at least Caroline hoped, she turned to Matt, "What was that?" She motioned in the direction Tyler left. "I told you, nothing is going on between Tyler and me. We were just talking...."

Matt gave a half-shrug and smiled a little too carefree for Caroline, "And I believe you. Look, Caroline, you're a lot of things, but you're not a liar. You've always been straight with me; I believe you."

Caroline's brow furrowed, "Well, good."

"And that's why I want to be straight with you," Matt continued, stepping closer to her. "Because I- I think we got some wires crossed here."

Caroline's demeanor perked up; finally, they were talking and not arguing. "Oh, okay."

Happy out how the conversation was going, Caroline missed Matt's second step, which made him even closer to her, "And you know how tongue-tied I get, and I don't like this. Whatever this is that's going on between us and I... I just want to-"

To Caroline's utter surprise, Matt closed the gap between them and kissed her firmly on the mouth. Against her better judgment, Caroline's eyes closed, and enjoyed the touch of his lips on hers again until she remembered everything he had put her through. She pushed him away, "You can't."

Matt was baffled, "Why?"

Caroline just shook her head, and tears began to form a coating over her eyes; I've got to prepare for the Booster Club Barbecue; it's my first since I...." She stepped back from Matt as he realized what she was saying.

With one final look, Caroline walked away; she hated how much she wanted yet hated that kiss.