Taroline (Tyler/Caroline)

Growing Pains

It was a beautiful day, as Elena opened her eyes to see that she was in her room at home. Stefan and Damon were in the room with her, Damon seated on a chair by the door, Stefan seated on a chair in front of her bed.
She sat up.
"You've been in and out for hours," Stefan said.
"What happened? How did you save me?" she asked.
"He didn't," Damon told her.
"Wait. What?"
Stefan explained to her what Meredith had done.
"So what? Am I dead?"
"You're in transition. You're not fully alive and you're not fully dead."
"No. I can't be."
"I have Bonnie looking into it. She might be able to reverse it."
"No. You feed or you die. There's no third door," Damon said before getting up and leaving the room.

He went downstairs to the kitchen to get a shot glass of liquor from Elena's cupboard.
Stefan came down the stairs just then and into the kitchen.
He watched his elder brother.
"You know, you can't do anything about it," Damon told his brother. "If she doesn't feed by this afternoon, she'll die tonight."
"Damon, you weren't there when Elena looked me in the eye and told me she didn't want to become a vampire. We still have a day before she has to turn."
"Whatever. Always the hero," Damon commented, grabbing his glass from the counter and slowly sipping it.
Stefan left the room, as Damon finished his drink.

Back at Elena's room, Elena was looking in her mirror, as her hearing intensified. It was so intense; she could hear the electricity running through a light bulb and she looking down at it, once she had entered the hallway outside her room.
Her younger brother, Jeremy, walked over to her from down the other end of the hallway.
"Jer," she greeted.
They hugged.
"Are you okay? I watched Vicki go through this, she was a mess. Her emotions were all over the place. All these old memories came flooding back."
Elena glanced over at the light bulb again, but turned back to face Jeremy again.
"I'm fine. I'm not Vicki."
"No, you're not. You're act like everything's okay so no one worries about you but you need help."
Elena kept glancing at the light bulb.
"I said I'm fine, okay?" she said all snappy. "I-I'm sorry. I...Have you talked to Bonnie?" she then said more herself.
"Yeah, she said when I was shot, she made some plea to the witch spirit to bring me back and they listened.
"Yeah, but the consequences were horrible."
"And what could be more horrible than you turning into a vampire? I need my sister, not another one of them."

"We're going to find a way out of this. Everything's going to be okay."
"I hope so."
Elena watched her only brother leave. She then turned around at the light bulb in the lamp and strode over to it. Then she pulled off the lampshade and crushed the light bulb in her hand.

Bonnie was in the Lockwood cellar, staring at Klaus' desiccated body which was lying in a coffin.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Klaus said.
Bonnie turned around and saw Klaus in Tyler's body entering the cellar.
"What is that doing here, Klaus? The deal we made with Tyler was that you'd leave his body and jump into someone else's the first chance you got."
"Yes, when I assumed I'd be a pile of ash. But apparently, fate and oxygen intervened and there I am."
Klaus walked towards the coffin.
"Put me back."
"I can't right now."
"Your history teacher outed Tyler and Caroline to the Council. They're on a war path and this body's vulnerable."
"I have to help Elena before she has to feed."
"Elena's dead and no longer my concern."
"You're forgetting who just saved your life."
Klaus grabbed Bonnie by the throat.
"And you're forgetting that I could rip your tongue out. Now put me back."
"If I can keep Elena human, you'll still have an endless blood supply to make your hybrids. Isn't that what you really want?"
Klaus released Bonnie.
Bonnie started to leave, but Klaus was instantly in front of her and blocked her way out.
"Same rules apply. No one knows. No one. Do you understand me, Bonnie?"