Mia stood in the mirror as she curled her hair, reflecting on the events of the past few weeks. After deciding not to kill Damon Salvatore she moved in with the brothers, this meant she was constantly being dragged into their drama.

From dealing with Stefan and his bloodlust issues to being forced by Caroline to compete in the Miss Mystic Falls pageant, it was safe to say that Mia had made Mystic Falls her home again and this time she was determined to keep it that way.

She'd managed to fit in perfectly and it became a lot easier once Elena and the Salvatores had found out who she really was. Stefan and Elena instantly warmed up to her. Damon, however took some time but even he couldn't resist Mia's charm and endearing qualities. She had been a huge help when Stefan was kidnapped and Damon enjoyed having her around, she was great at listening and also a lot of fun when she was drunk.

However, the bond Mia was most proud of was the one she had made with Caroline. The two had become best friends, they rarely spent time apart. Mia would stay at Caroline's house so often that Liz Forbes, Caroline's mother, had suggested they make a key for her. Mia had always discouraged herself from making friends with humans but now she had many human friends including Matt and Tyler.

She had also managed to make friends with Bonnie Bennett, despite the witch having her issues with vampires. They had all become her family and she wanted to protect them.

Finishing of her hair, she twirled around and looked at herself in the mirror. It was Founder's Day so the students were dressing up in clothes from that time period. And because Mia was part of the Miss Mystic Falls court she would also have to stand on a float and take part in the parade. 

It was going to be a good day, they had nothing to worry about. They deserved to have fun after everything they had gone through. John Gilbert, Elena's uncle, had returned to town and made it his mission to get rid of the vampires which led to Isobel also paying a visit. She kidnapped Jeremy in order to get Damon to hand over the Gilbert device that Pearl had given to him. The Gilbert device was a weapon that could be used against vampires but Bonnie had deactivated it, or so they thought.

~~~~

"Wow" Damon exclaimed as Mia approached the Salvatore brothers and Elena "The Petrova girls are outshining everyone today."

Elena rolled her eyes whilst Stefan shifted uncomfortably, he didn't like it when Damon would flirt with Elena but for some reason he was also uncomfortable when the same was done to Mia. "Yeah, you look really beautiful Mia." he said quickly. Whilst Mia was blushing at his compliment he turned to Elena "There's something I need to tell you."

Damon and Mia looked at each other, both of them knowing that what Stefan wanted to tell Elena was that there was chance John Gilbert was actually her father. "Let's go" Mia mouthed silently to Damon, he nodded and the two hurried off, neither of them wanting to be apart of that conversation.

 "So" Damon started "How'd you think she's gonna take the news?"

"Honestly I have no idea" Mia shrugged "I mean, if it was me and I found out John Gilbert was my father I would probably have a mental breakdown. Especially if I've spent my whole life thinking he was my uncle." 

"Yep, talk about daddy issues." he chuckled.

Mia looked back and saw Elena and Stefan kissing. She grimaced "Thank god she got her looks from her mom. Can you imagine Elena with John's face?" The two burst into a fit of hysterics as they pictured it, earning them questionable looks from the people around them. Hearing someone call out her name, Mia turned and saw Caroline who was frantically waving her over. 

"Okay, look" she turned to Damon "I know you have no other friends but you're gonna have to find something to do whilst i go talk to Caroline."

"I'll just stand here, waiting for you, desperately hoping for your return." Damon grinned as Mia began to slowly walk away.

"I'm not coming back Damon," she spoke dramatically whilst pretending to wipe away tears. "This is goodbye."

Damon pressed a hand to his heart "I'll never let go Mia. I'll never let go." Mia rolled her eyes and laughed. Damon would constantly tease her about the fake story she told him when they had first met. He would randomly say Titanic references to get a reaction out of her, it seemed like a lifetime had passed since she came back to town. She'd never thought that there was a chance she could've left him alive and now they were actually friends. She hadn't completely forgiven him for what he did to Lexi and she didn't think she ever would but at least they were civil.

"You look amazing." Caroline squealed as she hugged the Petrova girl. She pulled away from the hug and handed her a camera "Can you take pictures of me and Matt please?" She positioned Mia in front of them as she posed.

"Say cheese!" Mia smiled as she looked at the couple.

As she was about to take the photo the blonde moved and faced Matt "Oh wait! Hide your cast, it's not era-appropriate!"

 "Seriously?" Matt questioned looking at the girl as if she'd gone mad.

"Yes!" she scolded, looking rather offended that her boyfriend didn't understand the seriousness of the situation.

 "Okay, fine." he sighed as the two changed poses so his cast was concealed.

From the corner of her eye Mia saw Tyler approach them, she just hoped that the boys wouldn't make a scene.

"I want one with Mia now." Caroline beamed brightly also hoping that Matt wouldn't attack Tyler or do something crazy.

"Here, I can take it." Tyler took the camera from Mia.

Matt glared at him "I'll be on the float." he informed Caroline and walked off.

Tyler looked at Caroline in defeat and sighed "I said I was sorry." 

"You made out with his mother and then you beat him to a pulp. You're gonna have to do a little bit better than sorry." Caroline explained to him.

He turned to Mia, hoping for some support. "She's right Ty" Mia said.

"Great." Tyler threw his hands up "Well, what am I meant to do?"

"Well for starters, you can make yourself useful and take our photo." Mia teased. The two girls posed whilst Tyler took pictures of them.

"Come on girls." Carol Lockwood approached them. "It's time to get on your float. Tyler you go with Mia and Caroline, why are you still here? Matt's been standing on the float for ages." She ushered the three of them off "Hurry, you should've been there five minutes ago!" she scolded.

They got on the float and positioned themselves. Caroline and Matt were at the very top, Stefan and Elena were in the middle and Mia and Tyler were at the bottom. Tina and Blair Fell refused to take part in the parade because neither of them had won. Mia didn't care though, she absolutely despised the Fell family. She knew that it was unfair to hate them for what their ancestors did but that didn't stop her and the stories Jenna had told her about Logan Fell just solidified her hate for them.

"Em, you gotta help me with Matt" Tyler whispered to Mia.

"Okay" she whispered back "I guess I do kinda owe you for being my Miss Mystic escort."

"Yeah you do" he nudged her playfully "Otherwise I'd be on the cool battle float and not stuck here looking like a dick."

"Come on" she sighed "You look handsome."

"I know" he said grinning "I just wanted to hear you say it." 

The parade began and the floats started to move. "That's our cue." Mia placed his arm around her waist "Let's put on a show."

 "And for a little local history, Mr. Saltzman's students have recreated Virginia's Battle of Willow Creek." Carol commentated. Jeremy was laying on the ground of the float acting dead whilst Finn Hudson pretended to shoot him. Mia could hear Tyler complaining about how much cooler their float was and how he wanted to be on it.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our stunning Miss Mystic Falls Court and their handsome escorts." People waved and cheered as if royalty had arrived, if there's ones thing Mystic Falls was good at, it was glorifying their founding families.

"I hate this." Tyler spoke through gritted teeth.

"Suck it up." Mia replied in a singsong voice hoping that no one could see through the fake smile plastered on her face. She spotted Bonnie in the crowd and waved more enthusiastically at her friend, Bonnie waved back but she was feeling guilty. She had lied and made them believe that she'd deactivated the device. She should hate vampires, vampires were the reason her Grams was dead but as she saw Mia, who was looking at her with so much love, she didn't feel one ounce of hate. Mia was going to die and it was her fault.

"This is Caroline Forbes, Miss Mystic Falls." The crowd cheered even louder, Mia looked up and saw Caroline, who was wearing a face of pure joy. 

"Aren't they beautiful?" Carol's voice in the mic was slowly starting to get on Mia's nerves. "And their escorts are so handsome."

"Hell yeah we are." Tyler poked Mia's side to try and get her to laugh.

"Stop it, dick." she swatted his hand away "Cut it out! Your mom's watching." Tyler laughed and continued to annoy her until he saw the glare his mother was sending his way. Mia could see Damon talking to Bonnie and was hoping that he wouldn't say anything to upset her. Bonnie had helped them out a lot and if it wasn't for her they would've been in huge trouble. What they didn't know was that the tomb vampires were planning an attack against the town and that the council was plotting against the vampires.

After the parade had ended music started playing and people were dancing. But it wasn't normal party dancing, they were waltzing and those who couldn't waltz slow danced. Mia stood alone on the side as she watched Caroline and Matt with their arms wrapped around each other moving to the music.

"May I have this dance Miss Pierce?" a voice spoke from behind her. She turned to see Stefan holding his hand out.

"Why of course Mr Salvatore." She took his hand and he led her to the dance floor. He spun her around and pulled her in close as they began to sway.

"I haven't had a chance to ask you how you felt." Mia said softly. Stefan raised an eyebrow in confusion. "About the Damon and Elena situation" she finished.

"I don't know. He's my brother and I'm supposed to trust him but I don't." he told her "It just feels like Katherine all over again."

"Elena's not Katherine, Stef. She loves you, anyone can see that and I don't think she would ever do that to you."

"It's not Elena I'm worried about" he sighed.

"It's okay. Just leave Damon to me" she beamed.

"Thanks Mia."

"Anytime." she rested her head on his shoulder as they continued to dance.

~~~~

They had all changed from the 1860s attire. Mia was sat in the Grill with Caroline and Matt when she saw Damon following Jeremy so she trailed behind him. 

She watched as Damon had grabbed Jeremy by the arm "Cut her some slack."

"She erased my memories," Jeremy rebuked.

"No, I did!" Damon shot back "She was protecting you."

"It wasn't her call to make," he tried to leave but Damon grabbed his arm and pulled him back roughly.

"Damon" Mia said warningly.

"Stay out of this Pierce," his eyes moved over to Mia "I'm just trying to have a friendly conversation."

"Well, it doesn't look very friendly from where I'm standing." 

"Let go of me before I cause a scene." Jeremy snapped.

Damon was quick to respond back "You'll be unconscious before you even got a word out."

Stefan appeared and looked at Damon "Let him go." When Damon released Jeremy he stepped in between the two and placed a hand on Jeremy's arm. "Are you alright?"

Jeremy replied and Stefan looked back at Damon and spoke "What my brother is trying to say is, don't blame Elena for this. Damon turned Vicki, I killed her. She was a threat to you, and she was a threat to your sister. I'm sorry that it happened, I wish that it hadn't." 

"Saint Stefan to the rescue" Damon whispered to Mia, bringing her back from her thoughts. She looked at him unamused and slapped the back of his head, hoping that he didn't notice her staring at Stefan.

"You shouldn't have made me forget" Jeremy walked away leaving the three vampires stood there.

"Good cop, bad cop." Damon raised his eyebrows "I like it."

"What am I?" Mia asked smiling.

"You can be sexy cop" he smirked.

 "What are you doing?" Stefan asked his brother.

"He's being a punk."

"So you thought being an even bigger one would stop him?" Mia mocked.

"Elena's relationship with her brother is none of your business." Stefan told him "So stay out of it!"

"Oh, there's only one do-gooder role available." he held his hand up and laughed "My bad. I'm sorry."

"Get over yourself." Stefan shook his head "We both know you're not doing this for the right reasons."

"You see, there you go with that little jealousy act again. What are the right reasons, Stefan?" he spoke dramatically "Enlighten me, please!" 

 "Well, see Damon, it's only real when it comes from your desire to do the right thing for nothing in return, and I know that it is an entirely foreign concept to you." Damon crossed his arms and nodded his head acting as if he was listening intently. "I completely understand that you wouldn't get it." Stefan finished and left.

"And what is it that I supposedly want?" Damon asked Mia.

"You know what it is." she shook her head and began to walk away "Just stop trying to get it or someone's gonna get hurt."

~~~~

Having just been informed by Anna about the tomb vampires plan Damon found Alaric and called out to him. "You keep those nifty little vampire darts in the car?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"Because this square is crawling with tomb vampires. I think we might need a stake or two." Damon said.

"Yeah, got it." Alaric responded and left to get his things.
Damon turned and saw Stefan, Elena and Mia walking together laughing. He approached them and grabbed Mia's hand, pulling her closer to him.

"What are you doing?" She asked him looking down at his fingers that were laced with hers.

"Saving your lives," he responded, walking alongside them "Fifteen words or less...Tomb vamps are here. Founding families are their target." he turned to Stefan and looked at him warningly "Get them out of here, now!"

"Wait, where are you going?" Stefan asked as Damon began to leave.

"That's more than fifteen words, Stefan" he voiced back.

"Let's get you two home." Stefan held both their hands and started to walk away until Elena paused.
"Wait, Jeremy is out here somewhere."

 "Let's go find him, come on! Mia you go look over there, me and Elena will check by the floats. We meet back up at the square." Stefan ordered. 
Mia nodded and made her way through the crowd, her eyes scanning for the Gilbert boy.

Time had passed and she still couldn't find Jeremy, her search was interrupted when she got a call from Caroline. "Hey Care, whats up?"

"Something weird is going on." she spoke quickly "Mayor Lockwood just came in the Grill screaming at Tyler telling him to go home. Me and Matt are going with him. Shall we pick you up?"

"No I'm fine Care, don't worry. I'm going with Stefan." This was good, now that Caroline was safe Mia had one less thing to worry about. "Love you."

"Love you too" she hung up the call.

"Mia" Elena approached her with Stefan trailing behind. "Did you find him?"

Do you see him next to me?  She bit her lip trying not to voice out her thoughts.

"No," she turned her attention to Stefan "But Caroline just called me and said Mayor Lockwood made them leave. Clearly they know wha-" her words were cut off by this excruciating pain that appeared her head. She fell to the floor, gripping her hair screaming, the thud that followed shortly after told her that Stefan had done the same.

""Stefan, what's going on?" Elena kneeled down and looked at him worried. "What's happening?"

"My head!" Stefan shouted.

"What?" Elena asked, confused as to what was happening. She looked over and saw Mia on the floor.

"Bonnie!" Mia choked out "She didn't deactivate the device."

"What? No!" Elena retorted "We watched her do it, she deactivated it."

"Well clearly she didn't Elena!" Mia shouted back, if she wasn't in complete agony she was certain that she would've strangled the doppelganger.

A deputy was approaching them with a syringe of vervain until Alaric cut him off "Hey, I got these two. There's one over there." he handed him a stake "Take this, go! Go! Go!"

"Get up" he grabbed Stefan by the arm and helped him up as Elena did the same to Mia.

"I don't know what happened," Elena moved the hair out of Mia's face and stroked her cheek, trying to comfort her "They just dropped."

"Yeah, they're not the only ones." Alaric led them down the stairs "The cops have gotten everyone who's gone down, injecting them with vervain."

"What?" Elena paused and looked at her two loved ones who were yelling in pain and then it hit her. "They're rounding up the vampires."

All of a sudden the pain stopped. Mia slumped down onto the stairs, her chest heaving as she tried to regain her strength. 

"Are you okay?" Elena sat in between the two vampires.

"It was like needles were piercing my skull and it just stopped." Stefan told her as Alaric when up to survey the area.

"I saw at least five vampires go down." He sat next to Mia and rubbed her back, "They're taking them to your family's old building."

"It's the Gilbert's device." Mia spoke up as they looked at her "It has to be."

"But how did he get it to work? Elena asked "Bonnie unspelled it."

"Maybe she didn't." Mia said. 

"She did, we saw her do it!" Elena rebuked, getting irritated that Mia was questioning Bonnie's actions.

"No, no, no, she's right." Stefan chimed in "Think about it. We asked Bonnie to deactivate a device that could protect people against vampires."

"So we could protect you." Elena rubbed his shoulder and placed her other hand on Mia's knee. "So we could protect both of you."

"And Damon. Vampires. We asked her to protect vampires." he paused as an important question rang in his head, "Where is Damon?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen him since this started" Alaric said.

"Shit" Mia whispered frustratingly "We have to find him."

Elena turned to Alaric "Can you get my brother, take him home?" Alaric agreed and left as he went to find Jeremy.

The three of them were walking towards the old Gilbert building when Mia heard faint screams "Wait! I can hear them," she told the two. Along with the screams was the sound of fire crackling. Her eyes widened in shock as she turned to Stefan, who wore the same expression on his face, he could hear it too.

"The building's on fire" he shouted. They all took off in a run as they saw John stood there.

"Where's Damon!" Elena asked.

"With the rest of them, where he should be." He turned around and faced them "It's over for Damon."

"You're crazy!" Elena shook her head.

"Why? Because I'm doing what should have been done a hundred and forty five years ago? This is the right thing, Elena." He looked at Stefan and Mia in disgust, "These creatures are a mistake, they shouldn't be allowed to live."

Mia's eye narrowed into a glare "How about you take the ring off and say that again." Dark veins formed under her eyes. As she was about to step forward Stefan held his arm out in front of her and shook his head.

"Go ahead," John noticed Stefan looking at the building, "you won't make it out. It'll save me the trouble of killing you myself."

Stefan's eyes moved to Elena "You know the building well, is there another way in?"
"Utility door," she pointed "there's one around the side."

Stefan ran off with Mia trailing behind him. He ignored Bonnie's warnings and ran into the building but as Mia tried to follow him the Bennett witch grabbed her arm.

"Mia, you can't go in there!" Bonnie pleaded.

"Bonnie, what are you doing?" she tried to gently moved Bonnie's hand but the witch's grip remained tight. She didn't want to use her full strength because she knew that would lead to Bonnie's arm ripping off.

"I'm sorry I lied to you." Bonnie said. She closer her eyes and began to recite a spell. "Ex spiritum intacullum, in terrum incendium, phesmatos salvis adisdum!"
 

Elena turned the corner and ran towards them. "Mia, what are you doing? We have to get in there!"

"Shhhh, shut up"  Mia's eyes remained fixated on Bonnie "She's doing something."

Bonnie stopped chanting, she let go of Mia's arm and looked at Elena.

"Bonnie, what is it?" Elena asked "Are they gonna be okay?" The Bennett witch remained silent then Stefan sped out carrying Damon. The Petrova girls ran to them, the four of them hugged.

"Thank God" Mia heaved out a sigh as she embraced Damon. She turned around and mouthed a "thank you" to Bonnie, who simply smiled and walked away.

"Careful, Pierce" Damon chuckled, she could feel his chest vibrate as he continued to laugh "For a minute there you almost looked worried about me."

"Fuck off" she muttered against his shoulder.

Mia and Damon sat on the bench as Stefan and Elena made their way to the Grill. "Anna's dead" Damon stated, looking at Mia sadly. "I wanted to save her but I didn't do anything."

"There was nothing you could do" Mia reassured him, she leaned in closer to him and placed a hand on his knee. He threw his arm around her shoulder and pressed a kiss to the side of her head as they sat in silence.

"I gotta go tell Jeremy," he spoke suddenly, standing up "Wanna come with?"

"I'm okay" she replied softly "Just gonna sit here for a while." After he left, she threw her head back and sighed in exhaustion. Sat there, reflecting on the fact that she could've died that day.

"Mystic Falls, the town where nothing bad happens" she mumbled sarcastically to herself "What a load of bullshit."

She felt a vibration in her pocket as her phone began to ring, taking it out she looked as "Matt" flashed on her screen.

"Hi Matty." 

"Hey Mia" he sounded sad, as if he's been crying.

"Whats wrong? Are you okay?" she asked, noticing the tone of his voice.

"Yeah, I'm okay," he sniffled "It's Caroline."

"Wait, what do you mean? What happened to Care? Is she okay?" she felt her chest tightening as she spoke. He stayed silent trying to think of the best way to tell her.

"Matt!" she shouted "What happened to Caroline?"

"There was an accident."

CASTING CHANGE: Salma Hayek as Carol Lockwood.

A/N: Hellooo my Darlingssss. 

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, i have to admit its a lot harder writing chapters for episodes that already exist but i hope i did a good job. 

This is one of my favourite episodes though.

Next chapter will be The Return, season 2 is one of my favourite seasons so I cant wait to start writing it. We're gonna have all the new characters come in like Elijah, Katherine and Klaus.

Cant wait for you too see how Mia interacts with all of them.

Thank you so much for reading, plz remember to vote.

Also try to recommend this book to others, I'm grateful for my current readers but i would love if more people saw it.

Love you xxx

Published: 10th January 2022