Surprising Lover (TVDxOC) (Complete)

Cold as Ice

Flash-Forward, three years from now.
"Hello Wall Flower bar!"
The audience screams.
"So tonight myself, Charlie, Cami and our workers are having a musical night."
The audience screams louder.
"Tonight as well we are doing musical themed drinks."

Nora has just appeared at the toy drive and walks up to Bonnie and Grace with a gift in her hands. It's clear she wants to befriend them, but she's unsure of how to do so.
"You appear tired."
Bonnie, visibly irritated, turns to Nora with a fake smile on her face.
"Nora. How unexpected. What are you doing here?"
"Uh, I have a toy... for a tot."
Nora holds out her toy, the board game Sorry!, and Bonnie gives her another mocking smile.
"You shouldn't have."
Nora shrugs bashfully.
"I didn't, actually. It was a passive aggressive gift for when Mary Louse came crawling back to me, but that hasn't happened, so..."
"[nods] Still very generous of you."
"I know."
Bonnie assumes that their exchange is now over, but when Nora doesn't leave, Bonnie's tone becomes more sarcastic.
"Okay. You delivered it. Yay! That's the end."
Nora seems sad that she's been dismissed and frowns.
"But how will the tot know the toy's from me?"
"I'll tell them."
Nora still remains where she's standing, and Grace gives Nora a look.
"And you're still not leaving..."
Nora seems nervous and hesitates for a moment before she replies.
"I want to be more involved. See, I recently enrolled in classes, and..."
"[surprised] You're going to school here? Why?"
"Because I was curious about college and, well... Mary Louise hated the idea, so..."
"[nods] Spite."
"That's a good reason for higher education."
Nora looks frustrated that Grace and Bonnie aren't more open to attempts at bonding.
"Look, you clearly need help."
"[scoffs] Not from an evil Heretic who kidnapped my friend."
Grace waves.
"Are you going to let that old news get in the way of a little charity? And I'm not evil."
Bonnie sighs before pointing across the room.
"Collection booth. The far one, like, way over there."
Nora looks at where Bonnie is pointing and starts to walk in that direction as Bonnie shoos her away.
"Yeah. You see it? See?"
Bonnie gently shoves Nora in that direction and watches her as she heads toward the collection booth.

Nora is in the middle of collecting a gift from a college student when Bonnie and Grace approach her. However, she pauses for a moment to take in Nora's attitude toward the student.
"Here you go."
"[scoffs] That's your gift? Stickers? Did you stop by the gas station on the way over, or just fish them from the rubbish?"
The college student, offended, walks away, and Bonnie looks at Nora with a mixture of amusement and exasperation when she joins her.
"Professor Dowling or Marcus?"
"[confused] Excuse me?"
"You're taking freshman English, right?"
"Who's your professor? Please tell me it's Dowling and not Marcus."
"I can deal with difficult people."
"Oh, I know you can. Which is why I'm saying take Dowling. I don't want Professor Marcus to end up dead. I'm joking... sort of."
"Let me guess-- hot cocoa and vervain?"
"Close. Bourbon."
"I'm sorry I was harsh earlier. I heard you listened to Valerie and that you sided with Lily against Julian. I mean, you must be attempting to turn over a new leaf, and you clearly don't have anyone else..."
"[rolls her eyes] Lovely. A pity friend. Just what I always wanted."
"[shrugs] A pity friend is still a friend."
"What do you need from me?"
"...Excuse me?"
"I wasn't born yesterday. It's all right. I want to do some charity. I might as well start."
"[sighs] Have you heard of a town called Sunbury?"

At WHITMORE COLLEGE, Bonnie, Grace and Nora are sitting at a nearby table as Bonnie explains what she learned from Damon.
"So then they followed him to Ridley Park, Old Saybrook, and finally Sunbury."
"[alarmed] They need to leave. Immediately. Julian is not one who enjoys solitude. Those towns are places he used to live."

Nora is passing out toys from the toy drive to the pediatric patients and has just approached a young girl in her room. Grace is stood in the door way.
"Can I have one of the boy toys?"
"[smiles] Of course you can! You can be anything you want."
"Don't let society tell you differently."
Bonnie walks in while Nora is helping the girl and watches as she picks out a football and starts to play with it. Nora turns, and when she sees Bonnie, she rolls her eyes. Grace turns between them.
"What? Surprised I'm not massacring the leukemia patients?"
"[jokingly] It's still early."
The three girls start to walk down the hallway together.
"[quietly] Christmas was always my favorite holiday. When I was growing up, it was much different than all this. I would have been happy with a hoop and a stick! But still, being surrounded by your loved ones..."
Nora suddenly sees a doll in her sack of toys that has blonde hair and blue eyes.
"This looks like her..."
Bonnie realizes what she means and rolls her eyes in exasperation, which doesn't escape Nora's notice.
"What?"
"[sighs] You and Mary Louise broke up. She made her choice. It was a bad one."
"[sadly] But..."
"[cuts her off] No "buts," okay? You need to move on and become your own person."
"You can only do that if you're living in the present, not the past, which means you need to stop thinking about her and talking about her, okay? She's dead to you."
Just then, a hurt Mary Louise appears behind Nora and calls out to her.
"Am I?"
Nora looks shocked to see her, and Mary Louise squirms awkwardly.
"Can we talk?"

Grace returns to her room after the toy drive to find a crying Nora sitting on her bed. She looks surprised for a moment before giving the Heretic a sympathetic look.
"Guess it didn't go well..."
"She called me a charity case."
Grace takes in the tears trailing down Nora's cheeks and tries to comfort her.
"Why don't I get you a tissue?"
Nora holds up a bundle of cloth in her hands.
"Oh, it's all right. I used one of your hideous tops."
"[chuckles] Which is now your hideous top."
Grace sits down next to Nora on the bed and looks at her for a moment before speaking.
"Can I ask you what might seem like a mean question?"
"[shrugs] Fire away. It's not like I'm in a fragile state or anything."
"[sighs] What do you see in her? Aside from the fact that she looks like a blonde Angelina Jolie?"
Nora laughs weakly at this comment.
"She's loving, protective, kind..."
"But just to you."
"[nods] That's fair. She does always think of me first. Maybe I'm spoiled, or old-fashioned, but it's nice having that one person who doesn't need anything from you. Who just loves you and thinks you're the most amazing, beautiful girl in the whole world, you know?"
Grace seems to disagree with this remark, but smiles anyway, and Nora suddenly becomes self-conscious.
"Maybe... Maybe you don't."
"I don't need someone to tell me I'm pretty."
"[smiles] Nobody needs it. That doesn't mean it doesn't feel good to hear it."
Grace smiles at her affectionately, and Nora seems genuinely touched by her sympathetic reaction. It almost looks as though Nora is starting to develop feelings for Grace.
"Thank you for today. You're a very kind person, and... beautiful. Even if you do wear hideous tops."
Grace and Nora both giggle and smile at each other as Nora stands to leave. However, before she makes it to the door, Nora's phone buzzes, and she checks it to find a text message from Julian that reads, "They've taken ML hostage. Thought you should know." Nora's eyes widen in horror, and she turns to look at Grace with a betrayed expression.
"I guess I was wrong."
Grace, who has no knowledge of Stefan's plan, nor did she play any part in it, looks at her in confusion.
"What?"
"You and your friends are not kind at all."
Grace stands to her feet to try to figure out what is going on, but Nora roughly grabs Grace by the arm and siphons her magic until she falls unconscious onto the floor.