At home, after a couple of days, Stefan, Damon and I walked into the parlor.

"We're gonna lose her," Stefan told us. 

"She needs time," Damon told us. "It's only been a couple of days." 

"Her humanity's off," I told them. "She's basically numb to everything that makes her who she is."

Damon poured himself a glass of bourbon. "She's a vampire. You're human, Nikki, you wouldn't understand." I raised my eyebrows at him. "Off switch is one of the biggest perks. If being undead gets you down . . ." He snapped his fingers. "Viola, vampire Prozac." 

Damon took a drink. 

"She burned down her family home with her brother's dead body still inside," I told him.

"Saves us the trouble of having to do it ourselves," Damon told me. "I call that a win." 

~~~~

"Worst case scenario, I'll invoke the sire bond and tell her to turn it back on," Damon told us. 

"No, her brother just died," Stefan told him. "If you force all that grief on her at once, it's going to overwhelm her. We need to give her a reason to want to turn it on." 

"Fine," Damon said. "We'll show her a good time." Stefan looked skeptical. "I know it's controversial, Stefan, but people actually like to have fun."

"You really think that's gonna work?" Stefan asked. 

I looked from Stefan to Damon. "There's only one way to find out." 

~~~~

The next morning, we walked into Damon's room.

"So that's the plan?" Damon asked skeptically. "You're gonna take her back to school?"

"Well, the fun route didn't exactly pay off, did it?" Stefan replied.

"I don't know," Damon said. "Got a free meal out of it."

"Look, do you think I want to go to school and play chaperone?" I asked. "You can't go because you're not a student."

Stefan looked at Damon. "Besides, you've got to go look for Katherine. I mean, Elena needs this Cure now more than ever."

Caroline walked into the room in a bath robe. "Not that anyone asked me, but I think taking her back to school is a great idea."

"Why are you here?" I asked. 

"Uh, blame it on your fancy water filters," Caroline told me. "Your house has the only vervain-free showers in town." 

 "Oh, yeah," Damon said. "The mayor put vervain in the water supply." He clicked his tongue. "So many people to kill."

"Yeah, my mo says it's about to get worse, so she could us a little help," Caroline told us.

Stefan looked at Damon. 

"Fine, I'll go after the psychotic Doppelganger," Damon told us. "Stefan, you wanna go talk to the Sheriff?" Stefan nodded. "Blondie, Nikki, take her to school." 

Caroline smiled.

"Brilliant," I whispered sarcastically.

"Sounds like fun," Elena told us, walking into the room, completely numb. Stefan and Damon openly stared at her body. I looked away in exasperation and annoyance. Caroline averted her eyes, smiling awkwardly. "What? It's nothing you guys haven't seen before." Elena wrapped a towel around her body, covering herself up. Stefan and Damon shared a look with nonplussed expressions. "And as for the, uh, 'going to school' idea . . . I've got nothing better to do." 

Stefan cleared his throat, looking at Damon, nodding to Elena. 

Damon walked toward Elena. "Elena, it would make me very happy if you went to school today. And studied hard. You know, get involved in whatever activities, and please, for me, no matter what, don't eat anyone. Okay?" 

Elena nodded understandingly.

~~~~

At home, I was in the library when I heard clamoring from the living room and hallways and the loud music starting to play, looking at the door in confusion, standing and walking into the party.

I stood next to Stefan. "This is insane."

"Yeah," Stefan agreed.

"It won't last," I told him. "They'll either drink all the booze and get bored, or, ah, Damon'll come home and kill everyone." 

"I can't compel them to leave," Stefan told me. "The locals are all on vervain from the town water supply."

"Yep," I agreed. 

"So what do we do?" Stefan asked.

"I don't know," I said sarcastically. "Enjoy the party, keep Elena from butchering Grove Hills' cheerleading squad. Where is she, by the way?" 

 Stefan pointed ahead of us, smiling. "Where do you think?" 

I followed his gaze to see Elena dancing on a table, bottle in hand and laughing. "I almsot forgot what that looked like." 

"What?" Stefan asked. "Elena smiling?" 

I gave him a look. "No. Fun. I mean, look at her. Yes, this is all very bad, but doesn't she make you just want to let go?" 

"Well, unfortunately, I have this little problem," Stefan told me. "When, I, uh, party too hard, I end up killing people." 

"Remember that promise I made you and Damon to be there and help pull you each back from the edge everytime you go too far?" I asked. "I meant it and I'm keeping it." 

"You know, you're the one that usually never lets herself have fun," Stefan told me. 

"I also just survived the sickness that took my mom, and I'm recovering," I told him. "Let's just say it's given me a new lease on life. So, unless you want to stand there like some stick, take your own advice and have fun. We deserve a little bit of fun." 

I took a drink of my bourbon bottle, walking away. 

~~~~

Elena had taken off. 

Caroline, Stefan and I were walking through the woods, looking for her. 

"Elena!" Caroline called.

"Where the hell is she?" I asked. 

"Right where she wants to be," Stefan told us. "This is completely calculated. She drew all those people to the house, waited for an opportunity to distract us, and now she's free." 

"I can't believe she's doing this," Caroline told us. "I mean, she hurt my mom, Stefan." 

"All right, listen," I told them. "You guys search the woods. I'll check the road. If you see her, don't hesitate. Just snap her neck, got it?" 

Caroline nodded. "Yeah." 

"Okay," Stefan told me. 

"Wait, what are you gonna do?" Caroline asked.

I pulled up my jacket sleeve to reveal the stake mechanism, showing them a vervain needle. "I've got it."

"And here I forgot why you were ever a Potential," Caroline told me.

I smirked, walking away toward the road.

~~~~

Caroline had found Elena. Elena had tried to kill Caroline. Stefan and Damon had saved her. 

Now, all of us back home, I saw Caroline in the living room, looking disappointed. "You all right?" 

 "You mean besides the fact that my best friend tried to kill me?" Caroline asked sarcastically.

I sat on the couch across from her. "Look, it's not her. You have to remember that. With her emotions off, she's the worst version of herself."

"So how do we get her back?" Caroline asked. "Or what if we can't? Why would she choose to turn her emotions back on? She's an orphan. She just lost her brother. Her life sucks, Nicola. So why would she come back to us?" 

I sighed, looking up. "Look, if I had had the choice, I would've turned it off the second that Damon killed my dad. But, then I'd miss out on all of the things that were actually worth remembering or feeling. Elena would never give up on any of us. We can't give up on her." 

"That's exactly what you said when we thought Stefan was gone forever," Caroline told me.

I nodded. "And I was right, wasn't I? If we can bring Ripper Stefan back from the depths of no-humanity, I think we can bring Elena back."

Caroline smiled a small smile.