My alarm blared me awake.

"Rise and shine, Nikki. You're late for school."

Damon.

"It's summer break, dick," I said, tiredly hitting the snooze button, sitting up and looking at the time. "And 5:30. What the hell do you want? It better be something important to wake me up this early."

Damon smirked. "It is."

~

On the way to Chicago, where Klaus and Stefan were now, I sat in the backseat as Elena held her necklace.

Damon was driving, looking at the necklace. "I sure hope we find him, 'cause it would suck if the last momento of Stefan was that crappy old necklace."

"It's an antique, Damon," Elena said.

I smirked. "Like you."

"Hmm," Damon hummed sarcastically as he pulled out an old journal. "Read this. Paints a pretty little picture of Stefan's first experience in Chicago."

"It's Stefan's diary," Elena said. "I'm not going to invade his private thoughts."

"You need to be prepared for what you're both about to see," Damon told us.

"I've seen Stefan in his darkest periods," Elena said. "We both have. We can handle it."

"If you won't, I will," I said, taking the diary, opening it. "Here's one. March 12, 1922."

"Wait," Damon said. "Give us your best Stefan impression."

I scoffed, shaking my head, but humoring him, I did my best Stefan impression. "'I've blacked out days. I wake up in strangers' blood, in places I don't recognize with women I don't remember'."

Damon looked from me to Elena, mocking a gasp. "I'm shocked! Stefan's not a virgin?" He looked at me, nodding. "That was good, that was good. Wanna do another?"

Elena took the journal from me, looking at Damon. "Eyes on the road, grandpa."

"Fine," Damon said. "Back to my game. Tell me if you see a Florida plate."

I sat back, holding my head, relaxing, my eyes closing as Elena read Stefan's diary.

I fell asleep on the ride there.

~

I woke up alone in the car in front of an empty, abandoned apartment building, already getting out and going inside, knowing that Damon and Elena would be inside.

I walked up the stairs, toward them. "How long was I out?"

"A few good hours," Damon answered.

"And you didn't wake me up because . . ?" I trailed off.

"'Cause I know you haven't been sleeping the last few . . .months," Damon answered. "And you've had these insane headaches at least once a day."

"I've been sleeping fine," I lied. "And my head's fine."

"Liar," Damon said as he broke the lock to the door. "Any few hours of sleep you can get is precious, Sleepless Nikki." I rolled my eyes as he opened the door. "Here we are. Stefan's second personality home."

"He obviously hasn't been here," Elena said.

"Tour is not over yet," Damon said.

Damon went toward a built in counter-like door and opened it. There was a lot of alcohol inside.

"Stefan hid his alcohol," I said in mock. "What a monster."

"Look harder," Damon told us.

I walked in first, Elena and me looking at a wall, written on from the ceiling to the floor, in many different columns.

"It's a list of names," Elena said.

"Mm-hmm," Damon hummed.

Realization hit me. "These are all of his victims?"

"Still handling it?" Damon asked as he walked out, Elena and me following.

"What were you doing in the 1920s?" I asked sarcastically. "Paving the way for women's liberation?"

"I was around," Damon said. "Chicago's a big city. Stefan was a cocky ripper douche. But I could avoid him and still indulge in a few Daisy Buchanans of my own."

Elena looked disgusted as Damon walked for the door. "Where are you going?"

"Stefan's old stomping ground," Damon answered.

I walked toward him. "I'm coming with you."

"Okay," Damon said. He looked at Elena. "You stay here and whip up an actual plan. We'll come back when we find him."

Damon and I left to go find Stefan.

~

Damon and I went inside a place called Gloria's bar when it was busy as hell, and Damon walked toward the bartender.

"Well, look at what the wind blew in," the bartender said.

"Gloria," Damon said. "Damn! If I knew you were going to age like this, I would have stuck around."

"I always did like you better," Gloria said. "But I see your brother is still running with the wrong crowd."

"You've seen him?" I asked.

"With Klaus," Gloria answered, looking at me. "Bad combo. And who might you be?"

"Family," Damon answered. "Great-great-great . . ." He looked at me as if he was trying to remember how many greats.

"Great niece," I finished. I sighed, looking back at Gloria's amused expression. "My name's Nicola. You know where they went?"

"They'll be back here later tonight," Gloria said. "They're out running a little errand for me."

"Gloria . . ." Damon trailed off, touching her hand. "Don't be a tease. What kind of errand?"

Gloria took her hand away. "I don't think so. You may be cute, but you're still a vampire."

I smirked. Ouch.

~

Elena called and said Klaus nearly discovered her, and Stefan had potentially saved her.

Damon and I were walking in now.

Elena walked out of hiding with a vervain dart in hand. "Finally! I called you an hour ago."

Damon handed a bag to her. "Make yourselves presentable. We know where Stefan's going to be tonight."

He sat down, and Elena asked, "I told you that I was practically discovered by Klaus and you're worried about what we're wearing?"

"I had an hour of Nikki's snarky commentary pointing out what a bad idea it was to leave you here alone, process it, and move on," Damon said.

I rolled my eyes, looking at Elena. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Elena answered.

"Okay, good," Damon said. "Get dressed. You're both all road-trippy and gross."

"So you guys know where he's going to be?" Elena asked.

"Yes," I answered. "With Klaus."

"So I'll distract Klaus and one or both of you deal with Stefan," Damon said.

"Okay," Elena said. "I'll do it. Thank you."

"But you're going to have about five minutes tops before that hybrid freak rips my heart out," Damon told us. "So please, tell me you can do this."

"We can do this," I told him.

Ready or not, here we come.

~

Damon lured Stefan out of the bar, Stefan pushing Damon as soon as he got out. "What is wrong with you?!"

"What is wrong with you?" Damon asked in return. "You kill Andie one day, you save my life the next. What are you, good, bad? Pick one?"

"Klaus almost saw Elena today. You have to get her out of Chicago."

"She's not going anywhere until she's got you checked into vampire rehab and on the mend. Nikki won't either. Trust me. I've tried."

"She is the key to everything," Stefan said. "Klaus can't know that she's alive."

"What are you talking about?" Damon asked.

"She was supposed to die in the sacrifice and she didn't. Now Klaus can't create any new hybrids. His witch is seconds away from finding that out."

"Well, like I said, she's not the only stubborn as hell brunette you need to worry about," Damon said, his gaze on me as Stefan turned his head to follow his gaze.

Stefan tilted his head slightly. "I'm actually surprised neither of you have killed the other yet."

"Oh, we've tried," I admitted as I stood in front of him. I looked at Damon. "Go."

Damon went inside.

Stefan looked at me. "What's the plan, Nicola? Lock me away like you've done to Damon? Look at how well that ended."

I didn't answer the taunt about my father. "This isn't you, Stefan. You've fought through this before."

"Damon's right, you know. You're an idiot when it comes to saving one of us."

"I think we've already established that. A thousand times over."

Stefan took a step toward me. "Nicola, you and Elena have to go home and forget about me. Tell her to move on."

I hesitated as I looked behind him to Elena in a purple dress. "Tell her yourself."

~

I didn't eavesdrop on what either Stefan or Elena had to say, but I watched as Elena brought him into a hug.

She looked at me over his shoulder, and I nodded.

She raised the vervain dart above his back, about to stab him when he rushed out of the hug and caught her wrist, hurting her, demanding loud enough I could hear, "How much clearer can I make it? I don't want to come home!"

~

I didn't even try to stop Stefan as he walked away because he would know if I tried anything, and I knew if he would hurt Elena, he would definitely hurt me.

~

In Damon's car, I sat in the back again, not saying a word as Elena sat in the front, crying as she held her necklace.

Damon got in, looking back and forth between us. "You okay?"

Elena shook her head, not saying a word.

"Just drive," I told him.

We had tried to get Stefan back.

We failed.