Surprising Lover (TVDxOC) (Complete)

One Way or Another

Grace has just driven into the parking lot of a hospital in her old SUV, where she gets out and walks toward an ambulance in the bay, Paul follows to see what's going on. Just then, the back doors of the ambulance open, and Damon smiles and hops out at the sight of Grace. Behind him, two (presumably compelled) paramedics are assessing Stefan/Marty's condition, and when Grace sees them, she gives Damon an exasperated look.
"I had to improvise! The over-the-counter stuff wasn't working."
Damon turns to point at the paramedics behind him.
"That's Frank, and that's Sully."
"Hi, guys."
"Hey, how you doin'?"
"I've asked them very politely to make sure that Marty stays alive, and if he doesn't, then I will cut their thumbs off and feed them to the squirrels. Right, guys?"
Damon turns back for confirmation, and Frank and Sully roll their eyes before giving him double thumbs-up before he turns back to Grace.
"Who's this?"
"I'm Paul, Grace's body guard."
"I told you I'm your body guard against blood, Charlie will give you just enough that you go all Ripper of Wall Flower and I will have to fix it again."
"Another Ripper, you seem to have a type."
"You're not a Ripper, nor was Eliza."
"Nor is Charlie I thought you were with Charlie and Natasha."
"No I'm not with anybody.
"Okay anyways. Meanwhile, you and I will go hunt down the sociopath that has taken residence in my brother, and then Valerie will jam his soul back... in..."
Damon frowns and narrows his eyes at Grace when he realizes what (or who) is missing.
"Where's my witch?"
"[rolls his eyes] She's at a motel off Route 70, prepping for the spell."
"[confused] Prepping for the spell? What does that even mean? What could she possibly have to prep?"
"[sighs] I guess it's a little more complicated than that. At any rate, she managed to do a locator spell on the serial killer in Stefan's body."
"His name's Ambrose. Turns out, he's holed up in a frat house near Memphis College."
"[nods] Maybe he'll be so busy snacking on drunk sorority girls that this'll be an easy snatch-and-grab?"
Damon starts to walk toward the Camaro while the paramedics continue to treat Stefan/Marty in the ambulance.
"Listen, thanks for coming all this way to help out, Grace. Means a lot."
"[sarcastically] Yeah, well, I didn't exactly volunteer, Damon. Valerie sort of ambushed me."
"[shrugs] Well, you know, she probably thought you'd feel good about stepping up for an old friend. Especially since you're his ex..."
Grace gives Damon a look.
"You sure this is how you want to play it, Damon? You know, maybe you bought Marty an hour or so, but when the same thing happened to Jo... I don't know, maybe you want to consider spending your remaining time just... being with your brother."
"[scoffs] Did you seriously just suggest that I spend the afternoon saying a sappy goodbye to Stefan instead of saving his life? Getting soft, G-Witch. More than soft-- your brain has liquefied."
Damon starts to head toward his car.
"Get in."
"Come on Paul, go before you drain Stefan."
"I wish I could."
"I know."
"Grace, you too."
"No thank you any information ask Paul, I'm heading back to help Valerie."
"Grace-"
"Bye Damon, Good luck helping Stefan."

Damon is driving the Camaro as he tries to get information from Paul, who is sitting in the passenger seat.
"So, what'd I miss when I was gone? What's been happening?"
"[shrugs] Wouldn't know."
"[scoffs] Oh, come on. Maybe you never met our group, but your attractive boss? She's always in everyone's business. Which is why I find it hard to believe that she wouldn't drop some details about her best friend over string cheese and chicken nuggets."
"[sighs] Look, Damon, if you're fishing for information about Bonnie, I suggest you go straight to the source."
"I totally would, but she didn't leave a forwarding address with my storage unit. Ah, it doesn't matter. It'll give Gracie-Witchy and I something to talk about at the bar."
"[chuckles] Yeah, well, she probably won't be the one showing you round, probably a friend of hers."
Damon makes a face at him.
"Since when do you have friends besides me?"
"[exasperatedly] She made new ones. Look, I know this has been just a cat-nap for you, Damon, but it's been three years in the real world. People change. Life goes on."
"[offended] It wasn't a cat-nap, Paul. I made an excruciatingly painful descent into a near-death state so I wouldn't destroy everyone that I loved."
"[sighs] You know what? Now that we know where Ambrose is all camped out, I think I'm going to go back to my life, now. So, if you don't mind taking me to the airport, or a train station, or... even this bus stop here... Yeah, if you want to pull over..."
"And there it goes. Look, I get you're mad for Gracie, okay? I shouldn't have said goodbye in a letter. I should've flown to New York, and taken her out for drinks and line-dancing, and told her face-to-face. I'm very sorry, Paul. Just let me make it up to her and get to know you, huh?"
"Oh, you know, Damon, I'm really not interested in being part of your 12-step redemption tour."
"One more mission, for Gracie's sake, huh? I can assure you that saving my little brother will be much more fun than serving alcoholics."
"[annoyed] Yeah, well, I'm not really a big fan of your brother right now, either. He broke Grace's heart when he abandoned her."
"Worked out pretty well for you, didn't it?"
Paul, confused, makes a face at him.
"Huh?"
"[smirks] Oh, come on! Help me out. Be a hero. I mean, unless you don't think Grace cares whether Stefan lives or dies..."
Paul gives him an exasperated look as though to say, "Seriously?", but when Damon just smiles brightly at him, he sighs in defeat.