❝𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥❞

ELENA GASPED AS A RAPID KNOCKING ON HER FRONT DOOR INTERRUPTED THE SILENCE SHE'D ENVELOPED HERSELF IN. Confusedly, she got up from the couch, and opened the front door, her eyes widening when she saw Jeremy holding Bonnie up underneath his arm.

"What happened to you guys?"

Jeremy gives his sister an apologetic look as he helps Bonnie sit down on the couch. "Caroline found us,"

Elena's eyes widen in horror. "Caroline did this? How did she even know you were alive?"

Bonnie shakes her head, wincing as her shattered bones send shooting pains through her leg. "I don't know, but she found us. She– she snapped Jeremy's neck."

Jeremy holds up his hand, flashing his Gilbert ring. "I was lucky. But Bonnie exerted herself too much, and we only got out of there because of the witches."

Elena wipes a hand over her mouth, feeling the stress seep into her bones and weigh her down. "If Caroline knows, they all do. Klaus has got to know you're alive now,"

"It doesn't matter. I can still figure out how to save you," Bonnie shook her head stubbornly, wincing again through the aches in her leg.

"I'm not worried about me anymore, Bonnie. I just– I want you guys to be safe when I'm gone." 

"We can't just let them get away with all of this, Elena," 

The girl looks at them pleadingly. "If this happens the way it's supposed to, I'll be gone soon. And if you want to do anything for me before then, I just– I want you to be safe, and be happy. Even if it means letting them go. I'm so tired of everyone fighting. I just want it to be over with." 

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Rosemary pulls her jacket on over her shoulders, pulling her long brown hair out from under it so it swishes against her back.

She glances out of the corner of her eye as they get in Damon's car, skidding through the gravel in the driveway to get to town as quickly as possible.

Katherine's silent, she has been since Damon and Klaus left, and Rosemary wouldn't call it uncomfortable so much as she would call it weird. It's odd being alone with the woman that killed you, and ruined your life for a few decades, but Rosemary meant what she said– she wasn't mad anymore.

As a vampire, she felt things more intensely, but she'd been alive long enough to know that the feelings she has are always extreme, and she's long since learned that some things you have to accept and move on, especially if you're immortal.

She heaves a sigh, but there's a pleasant smile on her lips even amidst the panic. Kol always teased her about being the calm in the storm because she had an ability to be calm, even in the worst of times. She'd saved a lot of lives being like that and living with the Mikaelsons. Their rampages were unforgivable.

"Say what you want to say, Katherine,"

Immediately, the dark haired woman snaps her head over to look at the side of Rosemary's face. The curve of her nose and how it turns up at the end, and flows right into perfect, plump lips. How her jawline is sharp, and the cut of her cheekbones is sharper. Rosemary intimidates her, she always has.

"I don't," Katherine chuckles nervously. "I don't have anything to say. I just want to make sure Caroline is safe."

"I do, too," Rosemary nods, sparing her a glance. "She's a nice girl that got wrapped up in a very cruel, unforgiving world."

Katherine sighs, the guilt of killing Caroline hitting her in full force. Even though she's been reassured a thousand times over by everyone that she's forgiven for her wrongdoings, there's something about Caroline that makes her feel bad.

But Katherine had to constantly remind herself that Caroline was her friend now, as odd as it was. Katherine never really had friends that she wasn't using for her own personal gain, but Caroline had nothing she wanted, and had no ulterior motives herself. It was, dare she say, nice, to have such an innocent exchange with someone.

Pouting miserably, she slumps in the seat. "It's my fault she's involved in all of this."

Rosemary furrows her eyebrows. "How so?"

"I killed her. I mean, I was actually trying to kill her. I didn't know she had vampire blood in her system."

"You killed me, as well," Rosemary's words are soft, but they still hit Katherine in the face like a well-deserved punch. "But it's not your fault I'm involved in this world. I could've ended my life long ago, but I chose not to because I knew I was destined for better things. No matter how angry I was with you, I realized that I was never meant to love just once, and lose it all as a human."

Katherine faces Rosemary again, her eyes soft with pity as Rosemary continues over the purr of the car.

"I love my husband, and being back in his arms is something I've dreamt of for, well, ever. But I love Rebekah, as well. She saved my life, she gave me a chance when she could've left me in that road to die, not knowing if my husband would find my body or not. Kol made me laugh when I thought I'd never again. He helped me see the joy in this life, in the life we live. Klaus, he gave me a family that I thought I'd lost forever."

She sighs again, the sound pretty as they cruise into the town. "I don't blame you for killing me, Katherine. If I didn't have what I have now, maybe I'd have killed you. But that's not how it is, and you need to stop thinking about what it could be, and start enjoying what is. You'll drive yourself mad if you linger on what you could do differently."

Rosemary turns as she pulls up to the Mystic Grill, figuring it was easier to start from there and go on. She lays a gentle hand on Katherine's knee, and squeezes it reassuringly. "My husband cares about you, he wants you to live the life you couldn't because you were running. And I'm not saying this because of Damon– I'm saying this because I know what it's like to think you're not deserving of love. But you are, and I promise, Katherine, as long as you stay with us, you'll be alright."

Katherine exhales shakily, and gives Rosemary a quivering smile. "Thank you,"

The woman nods, her lips parting in a grin. "Now, I think we're about to crash Elijah and Rose's date, so what do you say we get this show on the road?"

Katherine grins, and a laugh spills from her uncontrollably. "Let's do it."

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They all watched as Klaus paced behind the couch, his anger radiating off him in waves.

Caroline was beside Katherine, practically clinging to the girl since she returned back to the Boarding House and found her with Rosemary. Rose was perched in a satin arm chair, with Elijah standing behind her, his hand draping down and touching her shoulder every few seconds. Damon was on the couch with Rosemary's head in his lap, her feet kicked up on the armrest as they all watched the nervous hybrid grumble to himself.

Rosemary cleared her throat, finally stopping the incessant noise of his footsteps. "What if we got Rebekah to help? If I had Katherine and Rebekah with me, we wouldn't have to worry about the Bennett witch at all."

"What about Stefan?" Katherine slumps into the couch beside Caroline, her eyes shifting into something undetectable as she brings up her ex-lover. "He's probably got some twisted plan to save her, and sacrifice himself."

Damon grimaces. "I'm more worried about the vampire situation. Does anyone know where Jenna is?"

"My brother is handling her until tonight," Klaus informs them, earning a snort of laughter from Rosemary. He sighs, clearly aggravated as his eyes roll to her. "Do you want to tell me what is so funny, Rosemary?"

She waves a hand, still laughing as she shakes her head in refusal. "It's nothing– it's just– you left Kol in charge of keeping a sacrificial lamb safe for another four hours. I won't be shocked if he has a late lunch instead, and brings you some random person he turned for the ritual instead."

"I informed Kol that if he eats my sacrifice, he's getting shoved in a coffin for nine hundred years," Klaus smiles sarcastically, and Rosemary huffs a silent laugh at his quick temper. "I'm not worried about the sacrifice. Elena has clearly accepted her fate– it's just her dimwitted friends that can't seem to get over it."

Damon uses the hand that's not combing through Rosemary's hair to run through his hair exhaustedly. "I don't trust Stefan. He's not going to let this go without a fight, and I wouldn't put it past him to turn Elena."

Rose looks at him concernedly. "You don't think he'd give her vampire blood, do you? He'd only be signing his life away."

"He'd do it for Elena."

Elijah bites back a sigh. "No matter, if Elena dies in the sacrifice, that's all you need to break the curse, right Niklaus?"

He clenches his fist on the table, his eyes flashing a dangerous yellow. "I've waited a thousand years for this. It better be all I need, or there will be hell to pay."

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author's note; i know what you're thinking. "but liz, if Elena dies for real how will klaus end up making his hybrids?" and the answer to that is I do what I want 

edited and published; 12.4.23.

- liz