(Earth - The following night)

Godric's eyes snap open as he pushed open the door of his coffin.

He flashed upstairs in the blink of an eye as Pam, Eric, Nora, Isabel and Joe all looked relieved to see him awake.

"Godric" Isabel says, relieved to see him alright now. "You had us worried" she comments, making reference to his collapse on the previous night.

"I apologise" he says, "I do not know what came over me" he comments.

"Marina fucking Sinclair happened" Pam says with a bitter scowl before quickly bowing her head in apology when Godric turned to face her with a harsh look in his eyes.

"Maker–" Eric opened his mouth to apologise for Pam but his next words are cut off by the sight of a bright burst of light coming from the backyard as the vampires all leapt into action, thinking that perhaps The Authority had arrived to finish them off.

However, their readiness to attack turns to shock when they catch sight of 3 hooded figures coming out of a portal of bright light standing in the middle of the backyard as the one at the fore lowered her hood.

Joseph gasps at the sight of his sister.

"Marina" Godric whispered breathlessly at the sight of her, feeling slightly dizzied from her mere proximity as she offered them a smile.

"Godric" she also whispered when she caught sight of him. "Godric!" she shouted joyously as she ran over to him and he also ran to her, bridging the gap between them in a matter of seconds as he held her close when they crashed into one another.

It was really her.

He could physically touch her!

His beloved Marina.

His grá mo chroí.

"Mo grá" she said, lifting her eyes to meet his eyes too before kissing him as he also kissed her back. "Grá mo shaol, it is truly you" she said before drawing back from their heated kiss to touch his face in slight disbelief.

"It is me, grá mo chroí" he replies.

His heart was bursting with joy to see her again and feel her in his arms again.

Sam and Jade lowered their hoods with smile as they watched the couple's reunion.

Neither of them appeared to remember that the others were present until Sam cleared her throat as Rina drew back from Godric with a smile and turned to face the others when they started to slowly approach where she stood with Godric.

"Joe!" she says, calling for her twin brother as he ran over to her, taking her into his arms and spinning her around happily as she giggled at this.

"You foolish, headstrong woman! You did it!" he says, looking the happiest that any of them have ever seen him before. "You did it, Rina!" he added before giving his sister what would have been a bone crushing if he didn't recall his strength. "You defeated Sumelion" he says, placing her back onto the ground and kissing her forehead as she smiled up at her brother.

"We should probably head inside" Rina says, "so I can tell you about everything that's happened since we last saw each other" she says as he nodded at this.

She makes her way back to Godric, reaching her hand out for him and taking his hand into her own when he offered his hand with a smile after Joe has released her.

The vampire flashed into the house with her as Eric smirked at the two sisters.

Isabel and Joe follow them, leaving Pam, Eric and Nora behind.

"Well, well, well" he starts with his signature Eric Northman smirk, "fancy seeing you two again" he says, even though his eyes remain on Sam.

"Cool it, vampire. We're not here for you" she says to him with an eyeroll as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Not that I haven't missed these banters but maybe now isn't the time for you two to flirt" Jade says to the two of them as Sam scoffed at this before the two sisters headed into the house, with Eric grinning at Sam when she walked past him.

"Oh great" Pam groans when she sees his grin before she, Eric and Nora flashed into the house where they find Rina seated on a couch with Godric, both of them looking at one another in a sickeningly loving manner.

The sight of it makes Pam want to barf.

Isabel and Joe sat across from the couple and the Kingsley sisters were just entering the room when the trio flashed into the room.

Eric grabs a seat in the single couch to Godric and Rina's left while Pam sat in the single couch next to him as Nora stood in the space between Eric and Pam's couches.

"Where are Mac and Jules?" Rina asks, noticing that they weren't there.

"It's a long story, mo grá" Godric says to her.

"We have time" Rina replies.

"Though one can't help but wonder how much" Eric quipped from where he sat as Rina arches a brow at this.

What is that supposed to mean?

"A lot has happened in a short while, sis" Joe speaks up as she turned to face him at this.

"Of course it has" Sam says with a sigh, "okay, lay it on us" she says as Joe started to explain everything that had happened since he, Nora and Pam were taken by the Authority.

⚜️Dig Down Deep⚜️

"It's suspicious that they just let you go" Sam comments after Joe had finished with his story. "There's definitely more to this" she says.

"I agree" Jade comments, "These people don't seem the type of let things like this slide" she remarks.

"The Guardian fears Godric's influence and connections" Eric says, "he knows that to go up against Godric is to go up against all the ancient vampires that are acquainted with Godric" he states.

"I think that it goes without saying that they are spying on us" Rina remarks from her spot beside Godric with a heavy sigh.

They can never seem to catch a break.

If it's not Sumelion then it's the Vampire Authority and its leaders.

"Can nothing be done?" Godric asks the Kingsley sisters, feeling Rina's exhaustion and defeat through their mate bond as he gave her hand a light, comforting squeeze. 

"We could put up an illusion spell for the time being" Sam says to him.

"What will that do?" Nora speaks up.

"It will create an illusion on this house that will be impossible for anyone else to see through" Jade reveals, "except for those that we allow to see the truth behind the illusion" she added.

"That sounds good" Rina says to them as the two sisters nodded at this.

⚜️Dig Down Deep⚜️

Sam and Jade revealed that their illusion spell would require them to spell all four corners of the property and given that the property is so extensive and large Sam took one side while Jade took the other.

Joe offered to go with them in order to help them get from one corner to the next with his hyper speed.

"What happened to you two when you were in Azareeka?" he asks Sam since he could hear that Jade was still busy with her spell in her corner.

"What do you mean?" Sam asks him coolly before closing her eyes and muttering a spell as the barrier for the spell went up.

"You and Jade seem...different" he noted.

"Different how?" Sam questions him as she opened her eyes to give him a cool facial expression.

"I don't know" Joe says, "I can't really articulate it" he replies, watching her carefully.

"You're imagining things, Joseph" she replies.

"I thought we weren't keeping secrets from each anymore" he retorts, crossing his arms over his chest with a frown at this.

"I don't want to talk about it" Sam says to him as Joe held his hands up in surrender at this.

⚜️Dig Down Deep⚜️

"Is something wrong, mo grá?" Godric asks Rina when they made their way into her bedroom only for her to freeze at the door.

"I can't explain it" she says.

"Try" he suggests kindly as he takes her hand and gave it a featherlight kiss.

"Seeing all of this feels so...strange now" she admits, gesturing to everything in the room. "I feel strangely disconnected from all of it" she says, turning to face him. "I feel like the Marina who walked into this room and fell in love with everything in it isn't the same person I am anymore" she adds.

It's only been nearly 2 weeks since they last saw each other and yet it felt like it's been lifetimes for both of them.

"We can have it all replaced if it is no longer to your heart's content" he says as she offered him a grateful smile at his attempt to cheer her up.

"Don't change it" she says, "maybe I'm just being crazy" she said with a sigh.

"It is as your brother stated, grá mo chroí" Godric says, pulling her into his arms as she lifted her head to face him, "a lot has changed in a brief amount of time."

"Can we go to your room instead? I don't want to be in here" she confessed to him as he nodded at this before taking off with her in the blink of an eye as they materialized in his bedroom. "I've missed you" she says, cupping his face with a small smile when they were in his room.

"Not as much as I have missed you, grá mo chroí" he says to her, caressing her face as she leaned into his touch.

She had been terrified that she might never see him again when Sumelion took her.

Part of her was in disbelief that they made it.

She felt like she might be dreaming and might wake up only to find herself back in that dreaded room that they kept her in at Sumelion's castle.

"Where are you?" Godric asks Rina when he cupped her face as she met his eyes.

She tries to offer him a smile but Godric can see that it didn't reach her eyes like all of her smiles usually did.

"I failed you" he says in a tone of regret. "Forgive me" he begs her, resting his forehead against hers.

"You didn't fail me, my love" she replies. "There is nothing to forgive."

⚜️Dig Down Deep⚜️

"You okay?" Jade asks Sam when she entered the kitchen and found Sam drinking a glass of water at the kitchen sink, staring out of the window in deep thought. "Samaat" she repeated when it seemed like the other woman hadn't heard a word that she said.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Sam replies coolly when she turned to face her sister, leaning against the kitchen sink.

"Samaat" Jade says firmly. "You don't have to pretend with me" she says.

"I'll open up when you do the same with me, Jadenna" she retorts, indirectly calling her sister out on her hypocrisy.

"You're in a mood. We'll talk more when you're calmer" Jade says as she poured herself a glass of water before walking off as Sam watched her leave.

She exhaled deeply when her sister was gone as she rubbed the bridge of her nose with a sigh, fighting back the flashes that filled her head whenever she closed her eyes.

"Trouble in sisterville?" a familiar voice questions as Sam exhaled deeply at this – as if asking for patience – before opening her eyes to meet the eyes of one annoying vampire viking.

"Don't you have someone else to bother?" she asks snarkily, "Nora, maybe?" she suggests venomously.

"Jealous doesn't become you, Sam Kingsley" Eric says with a smirk as Sam scoffed at this.

"You wish, vampire" she retorts before gulping down the rest of her water and placing her glass in the sink. "Goodnight" she says, walking off as Eric stared after her, wondering what had happened to the fire that he used to see in her eyes.

⚜️Dig Down Deep⚜️

(On the following day)

Rina rose from her spot beside the sleeping Godric and slowly drew back from him but not before giving him a chaste kiss, which awakened the sleeping vampire.

"Go back to sleep" she whispered, knowing that he'll get the bleeds if he didn't as he nodded at this before going back to sleep as she slowly made her way out of his room before heading to the kitchen where she found Jade leaning against the kitchen counter, drinking something from a mug while Sam ate breakfast.

Neither of them said a word to one another, which Rina finds strange as she arched a brow at this.

They swivel to face her at the same time when she entered the kitchen.

"Morning" she greets them.

"Hey" Sam replies casually while Jade merely inclines her head toward her in response. "You hungry?" she added in question.

"Not really, no" Rina declined politely when she grabbed a cup and poured herself some coffee instead.

She took a sip of it and exhaled deeply as she looked between the Kingsley sisters once more when silence filled the room again.

"Are you guys okay?" she questioned them, taking them aback at this as they both looked to her in surprise at the question.

"Yes. Why wouldn't we be?" Jade asks her.

"Because I'm not okay and I doubt you are either" Rina replied honestly. "I feel...I don't exactly know how I feel" she trailed off with a sad sigh.

"Has something happened, Rina?" Sam asks in concern.

"I just keep asking myself...where to from here, y'know?" Rina confessed to them, "things aren't the same anymore."

"Ain't that the truth" Jade admits.

"Do you guys feel it too?" Rina asked them.

"Yeah" Sam admits.

Nothing else needed to be said after this as the three women sat in silence, each of them thinking of their own recent experiences.

⚜️Dig Down Deep⚜️

Joe made his way into his and Rina's old apartment later that night, taking in the sight of all the familiar things.

The slurs that had been left for her by the Fellowship had been painted over but everything else remained the same.

He walked until he found her in her old room. She was lying on the floor as she stared up at the ceiling but didn't say a word when he entered.

The message that had been left for her by Steve Newlin and his supporters in what seemed like eons ago had also been painted over.

"Sam and Jade told me that I'd find you here" he says, sliding onto the ground beside her, making her turn to face him. "The sheriff was worried sick when they revealed that you said you wanted to be alone" he added.

"I wanted to feel like I used to, Joe" she confesses to her twin. "but I don't know how to be the Rina I was before" she added.

"You aren't the Rina you were before" he points out to her, "I'm not the Joseph I was in the past either" he added.

He knows that the reason she feels this way is because of everything that's happened with Sumelion, Remus and everything else.

She was having an existential crisis.

"Do you wonder..." Rina starts as she sat up and turns to face him, "what our lives would have been like if..."

"If mom hadn't left and dad hadn't died?" he finished for her as she nodded at this. "Yeah" he admitted to her, "I thought about it a lot when I was being held by the Authority" he confesses. "When you're forced to spend time with nothing but your thoughts you tend to think about a lot" he teases lightly.

"I saw her, y'know" Rina reveals, making him tense at this, "Mom" she added. "She asked me to tell you that she's sorry. That she took the option that she felt would keep us safe" she informs him, watching him for his reaction to this.

"She took the option that was the easiest for her" he corrects in emphasis, "But I don't want to get into that" he states is dismissal, "she made her choice" he concludes simply. 

It was clear that their mother was not a topic of conversation that they wanted to properly broach.

⚜️Dig Down Deep⚜️

"Hey stranger" Nia greets Joe when he made his way into her music shop, "wow it's been a while, huh?"

"It...It has" he admits, "I'm sorry about...last time" he added, clearing his throat nervously. "But I'd like to take you up on that date...if you like" he added awkwardly.

"Oh" Nia says as her face falls. "I'm... I'm actually seeing someone now" she reveals solemnly.

"Oh" Joe says in disappointment. "I'm sorry. I didn't–"

"I'm just screwing with you" Nia cut in with a laugh, "that's my revenge for you not coming by sooner" she added, making him chuckle at this. "You wanna go on that date now?"

"W-What about your shop?"

"Kenny!" she shouted as a pale skinned vampire with blonde, curly hair that fell into his aquamarine blue eyes appeared from the storeroom, popping his head in the doorway.

"Yeah?" he replies.

"I'm going on a date. Can you guard the shop while I'm gone?" she asked him.

"You got it" he replies as Nia grabbed her coat and made her way around the cash register.

"Let's go" she says to Joe, slipping into her coat.

"Don't be rude, Nia. Introduce me" Kenny said, flashing over to her previous seat behind the cash register in the blink of an eye.

"Kenny, Joseph. Joseph, this is my roommate and the pest I call my best friend, Kenny" she introduced teasingly, making both men chuckle at this as Joe shook Kenny's hand.

"It's nice to meet you" he says to the other vampire.

"You too, man" Kenny replied. "She's been waiting for you to come back by the way" he shared as Nia growled playfully at this.

"Thank you for that, Kenny" she commented in dry, deadpan tone as she narrowed her eyes at him. "Let's go, Joseph" she said to him, hooking  her arm in his and making him flustered at this as they said their byes to an amused Kenny.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't, lovebirds!" he called out with a smug smirk as Nia flipped him off, making him laugh.

A/N: Kenny is played by Russian actor Vasiliy Stepanov