A father's redemption

III. Miss Mystic Falls

John woke the next morning to the sound of silence. There was no sound of an alarm or the sound of his phone ringing. Stumbling out of bed, he headed to his wardrobe where he began to dress into a black suit, with a blue pocket square. He walked down the stairs to the kitchen where he began making himself coffee and heated up a waffle.

"What's next? Stefan and that ripper binge of his?" John asked rhetorically before groaning. "Ugh! Miss Mystic Falls! Do I really want to do this? Nah."

John sat down on his couch when a phone call came through.

"Go for Gilbert." John answered absentmindedly.

"Sir! We have another case." A slightly panicked voice called out.

"Alright. I'll head back now. Get everything ready so we can get this done as quickly as possible." John stated, getting up and heading straight for his room.

"Undersood sir!"  The voice on the other side agreed before hanging up. John quickly changed into more causal clothes with his coroner jacket, the scrubs he would wear for the autopsy in the lab already.

Speeding his way to Richmond, John began to do the autopsy when the sound of his phone ringing echoed throughout the lab.

 "Maddison. Mind answering that? On speaker. Thanks." John asked his assistant as he continued to cut into the body.

"John! Where are you?" Jenna's voice echoed throughout the lab.

"At work." John replied, the scalpal in his hands beginning to cut into the corpse before him.

"You're supposed to be here! You're driving us to the pageant, remember?" Jenna's annoyed voice replied with the sound of chattering could be heard from behind her.

"Oh yeah? I thought Alaric was." John replied, dismissively. "Maddison, the forceps."

"What's more important than this?!" Jenna snapped as she caught onto his tone of voice. John grimaced before glancing at Maddison opposite him.

"Jenna. I am in the middle of something right now." John explained as he slowly picked out a bullet from the stomach of the deceased.

"Oh, like what?" Jenna asked, sarcastically.

"A dead body! I'll be back in 3 days if you miss me that much!" John replied, raising his voice. He gestured over at Maddison to hang up before continuing the autopsy. Not too long after the autopsy was completed and the tissue fragments from the organs were sent to their forensic scientist, John headed back towards his car, leaning back in the driver's seat. Rubbing a hand over the forehead, John was interrupted by a phone call. "Gilbert."

"Uncle John!" Jeremy's voice sounded out through the car, his voice taking a panicked tone.

"Jeremy? What's wrong?" John shot up out of his seat as he questioned Jeremy.

"I -I think I'm in some trouble." Jeremy stuttered, his leg shaking as he stared at his hands.

"Where are you?" John asked, starting the car and reversing out of the lab's car park.

"The Founder's Hall. Please, Uncle John. I don't know what's happening to me." Jeremy pleaded, his hands shaking as he looked at the body before him. 

"Listen to me. Head straight home. Talk to no-one and let no-one inside your room. I'll be there as soon as I can."

John sped home, getting home in a few hours, before slamming open the Gilbert's front door.

"Hey! You're not supposed to be here!" Alaric called out from the living room. Jenna was cradled in his arms while Elena was nowhere to be found.

"Fuck off!" John yelled back as he ran up the stairs and into Jeremy's room. Standing in the doorway, John saw a sobbing Jeremy, his knees to his chest and his head on top of his knees. John sighed sadly, calling out, "Jeremy."

"Uncle John." Jeremy looked up with teary eyes, his hands now visible before him. His hand had the same marking that his now had, the black ink filling the back of his hand. 

"What happened?" John asked, as he walked towards the bed, sitting next to Jeremy.

"I... I was talking to this girl. And this guy just came up to me... I didn't mean to. I didn't mean to kill him." Jeremy stuttered, tears falling down his face. "And then all I saw was Vicki with grey veins running all over her face like that guy." Jeremy continued, pausing for breath before he began hyperventilating again. He showed John his hand and continued to speak, "Then this came on my hand and I can't get it off." Jeremy sobbed as he showed his bright red hand that he had scratched and scrubbed at in an attempt to get the black ink off him. John's arm wrapped around Jeremy's shoulder and pulled him in, Jeremy's head now in the crock of John's neck as tears continued to fall down his face. Jeremy's sobs grew louder and soon Jenna and Alaric appeared at Jeremy's bedroom, looking at John in contempt.

"What the hell did you do to him, John?" Jenna accused, glaring harshly at John.