a/n: Thanks for all the love on the last chapter, here's another one <3 Remember to comment and vote - Bea xx

03:00 AM – Whitmore Hospital

The first thing Damon did was shove vampire blood in MJ's mouth and hope for the best.

Her heart did start beating again...

But she didn't wake up.

Her body was limp in his arms, eyes rolled back in her head, heartbeat so faint she might as well have been dead. He honestly couldn't tell if it had started beating again because the blood was helping or because of her magic. Faced with that dilemma, Damon made the smartest choice he could.

He took her to Whitmore Hospital

"I need a doctor," He yelled, bursting through the door, "Now!"

"Damon?" Jo was by the nurse's station, a clipboard in hand.

"Thank god," He held MJ forward.

"Oh my god," Her eyes went wide, "Get her on a gurney."

She pulled out a pager to alert her team.

"Who is she?"

Damon lay her down, pressing his ear to her chest to search for the disappearing pulse, "Your boyfriend's kid."

Jo froze.

"I've given her blood, but – "

Her heart stopped again.

"She's been having heart attacks on a loop for the past five minutes."

Despite vampire speed, it had taken him five minutes to get there. The first burst had cued another one to start. And again. And again.

Damon had paused to make sure it restarted, trying to cover as much ground in as little time as possible, breaks in between.

"I'll..." Jo stared at the face, "Okay."

She jumped to action.

"Defibrillator's round the next corner."

While Damon grabbed it, she put a finger under MJ's nose.

"She's not breathing – " Jo turned the machine on the second it was in her hand, listening to the buzz build-up then shoving it on MJ's chest.

She gasped up, grabbing at the air, Jo pulling back but softening her voice.

"It's all gonna be okay."

MJ hit back against the gurney, unresponsive.

"It's gone again," Damon's eyes were bulging out, "Her heart – "

"Five, four, three, two..." Jo did it again, and MJ screamed back up, "I promise – "

"Let – " She couldn't breathe, "No – "

"Here," Jo pulled her up to sitting, opened her mouth, then shined a torch down it from her scrub pocket.

The moment Jo saw her throat, she slammed her hand into MJ's back.

Beetles were spat out, crawling across her stomach once they landed to race down the metal legs and to the floor, nearby patients screaming. Some hiked their legs up in chairs, others shoved themselves into walls and the next corridors, the front desk man calling even more people to come help.

Jo didn't hesitate to move behind her, ignoring the noise, arms around her waist as she firmly beat her fists into MJ's belly button five times.

More and more insects came out.

Another five.

It just kept coming – but at least that round were all dead.

The last five pumps?

Heads and legs, until finally, no more, and it seemed like her airwaves were clear.

Damon stared at the mess, "What the hell?"

"Thank god you're reacting like that too," Jo breathed out in relief.

MJ, on the other hand, still wasn't breathing.

Well, she was.

Gasping breathes as her lungs shrivelled up, never refilling properly.

"Something's blocking the airwaves – Warner!" She spotted the first response to her page, "I need a chest scan now...and something to make her gag."

"Gag?" The guy looked at the bugs swarming towards the door, "Yeah – I'll - I'll go prep that."

"Jo," Damon was biting into her wrist, "It's stopping again."

MJ went slack against the metal gurney.

"Stop," She didn't let him feed her, "Once should've been enough – I'll see what I can do."

Two more people from her team appeared to wheel MJ, movement shocking her heart back on.

"Thank you," Jo called after them, mentally planning everything else she needed to do, focusing on Damon, "Do you know what's wrong with her?"

"No idea."

"Where'd she come from?"

"A..." He didn't know how much Ric had told Jo about their lives, "It's complicated."

"That's not helpful."

"I'm not good at being helpful!"

Jo closed her eyes.

There was a patient who needed her.

04:30 AM – Whitmore Hospital

MJ had been put through a CT scan, then an MRI, giving Jo a look at her chest, and her brain. It had been a difficult process considering her heart kept stopping and starting. A few of her colleagues were simply labelling it extreme heart palpitations, or a heart attack 'gone wrong' – because a heart attack wasn't wrong enough according to them, she knew it was more.

The scans themselves took around forty minutes each, and the images were ready straight away, but the usual wait time hospitals had for getting results was completely dismissed, given the mess of it all.

Jo could look at them and make snap judgements on what to do.

It was hardly her first time doing that, so she had faith in herself to make the right ones, which was why she was in an operating room, Damon standing behind the glass, working his way through a list of phone numbers.

Ric and Stefan had been the first two on his list and the first two to arrive, Ric practically sticking to the screen to watch the second he got there.

They stood in near silence for about ten minutes, Damon letting them read the file Jo had strategically left outside. Once that was given back to him, he caught them up on a few of the prison world details he'd previously left out, and explained how she'd poofed into existence in the cemetery, only one of them really listening.

"That's MJ."

Even while reading, Ric's eyes kept jumping back to the glass, the words falling out.

"...That's...MJ..."

Stefan's arms were crossed, the one able to listen and watch.

"MJ."

"You remember her name," Damon burst, "Congratulations."

Stefan punched him.

"Brother," Damon nursed the spot.

"You said you were alone."

"Where is she!" Caroline skidded into the corridor, Tyler and Elena just behind her, "Where – "

They saw where Ric looking.

"MJ..." Caroline pressed her hand into the glass, "She's – she's alive?"

"What the hell!" Tyler also punched him, "Ah –"

He was left shaking his fist out, the act hurting him more than the vampire.

"You – you told us she was dead!" He went to charge at him, Caroline stopping him, "You said – "

"I say a lot of things!"

"She's really back?" Elena whispered, staring at MJ on the operating table, a group of people around her

Tyler stopped squirming to get at the vampire, drifting to the window too.

A team, MJ, and mountains of equipment.

He started to tremble, "What's going on?"

"I can't hear her heartbeat," Caroline didn't risk blinking, "Why can't I hear her heartbeat?"

It came back in.

"Oh look," Enzo's voice filled the airwaves, causing all of them to tense, "The whole gang is here."

He'd almost killed Matt, then actually killed Tripp, so he wasn't exactly welcome.

"Who invited him?" Jeremy and Matt were walking in from the opposite direction.

"The same person who 'invited' all of you."

Damon.

Matt put a hand on Ty's shoulder, opting to ignore him, "She's in there?"

"Jo's treating her," Ric answered.

"Her heart keeps stopping," Stefan added, "But Damon fed her blood."

Everyone froze.

"If she dies in there," Damon turned from the screen to walk towards a chair, "She's waking up."

His response to stress was to be a harsh dick about it, pretending he hadn't been manic himself when he'd first got there

"You're all being overdramatic."

Jeremy's turn to punch him in the face, the hunter strength actually making it hurt.

"Jer – " Elena started

"You left them behind and told us they were dead!" He ignored his sister completely, "MJ's dying – Bonnie's nowhere to be seen – and you lied and acted like everything was fine!"

"I thought they were dead!"

"Bullshit."

"You don't know – "

"You were more bothered about getting your old life back then making sure they got to live one – and I'm – "

Elena grabbed the back of his shirt, "Jeremy!"

"Seriously?" He spun at her, "You literally don't remember him. Why are you defending him?"

"The last time I saw them?" Damon answered before Elena had to, "Bonnie was shot, and MJ was dying too!"

Ric's lack of attention before everyone's arrival meaning he asked, "What?"

"We..." Damon inhaled, "We were in a prison world with a sociopath."

Silence.

"He was a siphoner, like Sabrina, and he knew how to get home."

Before, Damon had told them he'd been in a prison world limbo, finding a witch artefact to get out.

"They both played hero to keep him back," He sat down, "Clearly, Bonnie's done it again, hence why only MJ's here."

As he spoke, MJ started to wake up.

A machine was over her face, pumping anaesthetics into her body, but the vampire blood in her system made it practically useless. Anaesthetics were drugs trying to send her to sleep, while the blood worked on healing anything not natural in her body - waking her up. The two things were practically at war in her, eyes too blurry to see, falling prey to the controlled sleep, making the collection of dark figures above her completely unidentifiable, but the blood?

She could feel pain across her entire body like someone was cutting her open, a metal scratching too loud in her ear.

She couldn't remember where she was or how she got there.

A hospital.

A figure performing some kind of medical procedure on her.

Kai.

As MJ screamed everything made of glass shattered.

She yanked the drip out of her arm and shot a hand to the left, a collection of utensils stabbing through one of the bodies he'd conjured to trick and torture her.

"Let me out!"

Her eyes were completely white, the witch screams louder than ever, room shaking, lights exploding out of their fittings in the ceiling, concrete dust crumbling down with them. Too many people were talking. Too many dead people wanted MJ to hear exactly what they thought she needed to do and exactly what they thought of her.

"Shut up – shut up – SHUT UP!"

"Hey – " A woman with dark hair tried to grab her, but MJ sent an arc of air out, pinning the doctors to the walls.

She leapt through the shattered glass screen, head snapping left then right.

She couldn't see anything other than a burning bright white, corridor lights losing all power as electricity transferred into her, strings of thin bolts very visible to the crowd she'd burst into the middle of.

"I'm not doing this again!" She yelled at the sky.

"MJ!" Stefan reacted first, "Calm down."

She could see him.

"No, no, nada, Kai, you can't – I'm not," She stammered, shoving back, "Why – "

When she turned, she was faced with Caroline and Ric.

"I don't wanna hurt them anymore," Her knees gave out, sinking to the floor, every window snapping off their hinges, "Stop making me – I know – SHUT UP!"

She slammed her forehead into the floor, trying to get all the noise to go quiet, only causing the lights to flash back on, then turn to fire, flames raining down from above.

A male nurse ran into the corridor, "What's going on?"

"Leave. Me. Alone."

As MJ screeched, her hands shot towards the guy, melting him to nothing. A pile of bones were left to prove he'd ever existed.

One way to make everyone freeze.

"That's new..." Damon murmured.

"Stop making me see them," She begged, "I cant hurt them anymore."

"MJ," Tyler stepped forward, "It's okay, MJ."

"It's not okay."

"Listen to me," He moved again, "You're not gonna hurt me."

"He's gonna make me," She scrunched her eyes up and shook her head, "Over and over."

It had to be Kai.

It was another version of his nightmares – she could feel it in her soul.

"Someone call the police," One of the other doctors from the room was rushing towards her, "I'll knock her out."

"I said, stop it!"

As his hand touched her, every part of the man's body snapped in half, bone and muscle alike, adding him to the corpse collection she was unintentionally building.

"Stop trying to trick me," MJ's face was covered with bruises and blood, "I know it's not real."

Jo was behind the broken glass, watching on, no idea what to do for the first time in a really long time.

Ric shook his head at her, "Don't."

He was not about to let her be the next person to try and breakthrough to her.

"MJ," Tyler tried again, "I don't understand what you're saying."

"Please don't," She shuffled messily along the floor, "I don't – "

Her back hit Jeremy.

He'd moved and crouched down, arms under her armpits to yank her to her feet as he stood up, strong enough to hold against her fighting.

"No!" She kicked out, "Stop – I – but it – "

Jeremy dropped her as a shooting pain rushed out of his body, her eyes turning from completely white to glowing white.

He hadn't been turned to nothing, but he'd felt something and decided not to push it.

Outside of Mystic Falls, he had magic in him.

"I don't wanna siphon anybody else."

"MJ!" Tyler rushed to try and support her now someone had managed to do so without dying, only to experience the exact same thing.

A searing pain through his entire body, MJ screaming at the feeling of magic entering her veins.

Touching MJ made her siphon them.

It also made her cry harder.

And it made rain crash through the destroyed windows, the weather changing in response to them.

"She needs to let it out," Stefan yelled over the chaos, "I'll get her out of town – "

"No," Caroline realised something, talking to Stefan for the first time since he'd found out about her feelings, "This isn't that!"

The debris was crumpling up, hovering in the air and ready to explode.

"Leave me alone," MJ tried to hit something they couldn't see.

"Care?" Tyler prompted.

"She's magic low, not high!"

Elena stared at her, "What?"

"When – when MJ was little, if she didn't siphon stuff, she'd pass out, no control over her body, and she'd unintentionally siphon her brother, or her mum, or even New Orleans itself to wake up! She's trying to wake up!"

"You're sure?" Matt was frozen in his spot at the sight of the bones.

"Do you see any black veins on her arm?" Caroline gestured wildly.

"MJ," Stefan instantly walked towards her, "It's okay."

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" She desperately tried to escape him, "I don't want to be you!"

Stefan almost hesitated at that declaration, deciding to brush it off as witchy madness.

"You're going to siphon me."

"No," The word was a sob more than anything else, "I don't – I don't want to do it again."

"MJ," He grabbed her hand, using vampire strength to keep it there; even when his knees threatened to give way, the power torn from his body.

"I won't do it!"

He was telekinetically barrelled into the opposite wall, eyes turning back to human, a familiar orange.

"MJ!" Tyler was the only person in her line of vision.

She stilled.

She could properly see him.

No blur. No shadow.

"I don't wanna hurt you, Ty."

"You're not going to," He tried to step forward, but one look from her had magic sealing his feet in place.

"He wants me to hurt you."

"MJ," Ric finally found his voice, "You don't want magic?"

She was trembling at the sight of him, the zombie version clawing his way down the High School corridor flashing through her mind like a strobe light, Jenna and John on either side, bodies slowly falling to pieces the closer they got to her.

"Wake up, MJ."

No more magic low, and she was somewhat stable in front of them.

"You're safe," He marched towards her, "You're not going to siphon me."

As she ran out of corridor to back down, his arms went around her.

"Feel that? No magic."

She grasped at his back, going to shove away until she realised he was right.

Kai's second go in her head had had an Original Vampire Ric.

Human.

"Yeah," He stroked the back of her head, feeling her completely fall into him, "You're here. And you're safe."

She rubbed her crying eyes on his shoulder.

"You're in control."

"I'm not."

"You. Are."

She half-raised her head, taking in everyone's faces.

Damon, Stefan, Elena, Jeremy, Caroline, Tyler, Matt, and Enzo.

All staring at her.

Ric's arms keeping her up.

Human arms.

Her voice broke, "This is real?"

"Real."

She stepped back, ice shards stabbing into her as she took in the destroyed corridor, head thumping and breaths becoming shallow and desperate.

Real life.

Three people in hospital uniforms were dead, and it hadn't been a Kai hallucination.

She swayed, gravity not on her side as she staggered to the floor, weeping till her throat and cheeks were raw, eyes unable to close, limbs too dead to move again.

"I'm human, MJ," Ric's hand was on her shoulder, "You can't siphon me."

Her body was on the brink of a spasm. She could feel it in the way her joints pulsated, pure panic overriding every other part of her, fizzing like a drink's can that had been left in a bag and shook about the place.

"You can't hurt me."

"That's the problem though," She curled into a ball on the floor, "I can."

She was a time bomb.

And she'd left Bonnie behind with a sociopath.

And she was going to kill everyone in that hospital if she didn't get herself together.

"Klaus."

Everyone straightened up.

"Call Klaus."

The heartbeat picking up was clear to all the vampires in the room.

"I need you to call Klaus – " She felt her body seizing up, "Llamada Klaus."

Her heart wasn't stopping that time, but her lungs were.

"Isch Kath Kla – perso – "

The strained in and out as her lungs refused to expand was clear, even for the people without supernatural hearing.

"Casl urg – "

Black foam leaking out of her mouth.

"No," Caroline was by her side, adjusting her body to give her CPR.

"She'll wake up," Damon reminded her.

"A vampire." Jeremy protested.

"Better than being dead."

"I..." Jo finally came out from the surgery room, three people huddled in corners, one dead, utensil's pinning him to the wall, "I'm getting her on a ventilator."

She needed to keep her head on straight.

"Someone start compelling people, someone else find someone who can clear all this up."

She tried to pick MJ up, Tyler and Jeremy instantly taking over that job, following her instructions as they rushed MJ to a different area of the hospital.

07:00 AM – The Abbatoir

Hayley was standing on the balcony of the nursery, looking over The Quarter, taking a moment to herself. For the first time in a long time, she finally felt like she had some semblance of clarity. It wasn't perfect, her baby was hidden rather than in her crib, but it was something. The silence wasn't good though. It let her think about a few too many things.

"Hey," Sam stepped out from the balcony door of the next room.

There was something incredibly unsafe about putting the nursery next to the MJ's magic room, but it wasn't like anyone was using it anymore.

Hayley curled her lips in.

Sam came closer, "You doing okay?"

"I'm really tired?"

"That sounded like a question."

"My...my baby, and MJ, and now all these people," She shook her head, "And I know we're getting rid of them, but it just feels like everything is happening so slowly."

Her hands came up, fingers scraping from her cheeks into her hair, pushing it back.

"You probably already know this," He leant on the railing next to her, "But it's the transition."

"I figured," She let her hands flop down.

"I remember when I first turned," Sam exhaled slowly, "I felt this itch. Like there was so much to do, and it was all happening at point-five speed."

His voice went up a little.

"Obviously, it's not the same – I was just terrified about getting killed, you're mourning..."

Hayley rested against him a little, "Thanks for coming back."

"Eh," He shrugged, "We need the pack back. That means I've gotta work with The Mikaelson's for a few months? I'll run with it."

"You're a hybrid, Sam. You're not getting off Klaus's call list anytime soon."

"I can't be here forever, Hayley," He shook his head, "I can't get on board with the way they live their lives."

"You have forever. You really think you can stay on your high horse all that time?"

"I think I should at least try."

"Are you ever gonna try and be a vampire?"

"Are you?"

"Touche."

Silence.

"Am I a disappointment?"

"What do you mean?"

"When you turned," Her voice was quiet, "You didn't go on witch hunt murder sprees."

"When I turned, I had a lot of people both breathing down my neck and watching my back."

It was a fun combo.

"Plus, it wasn't like anyone really...wronged me?"

Hayley laughed at his awkwardness around the dramatic phrasing.

"It's fine, Hayley," He assured her, "You'll get to wherever you need to be, mentally. It's just gonna take some time. And, probably some good forest air once all of this is all sorted."

Sam liked the city, but he didn't think The Compound was good for them. It was really easy to go to the dark place when you lived in a house with a torture chamber in the basement.

One that was in use.

At that exact moment.

They could both hear the screams Klaus was getting out of his witch hostage as they watched the early morning traffic drive by beneath them.

Hayley looked to the room he'd come from, "I really miss her."

"Yeah," Sam smiled sadly, "She'd be proud of us."

"For torturing witches?"

"For working together, even if it's reluctant," He paused for another scream, "And probably short-lived."

Hayley smiled at that too, "She would."

Neither of them knew how long the team would last, but they didn't need forever.

Hayley just needed until Hope was safe.

Sam just...he wasn't sure yet.

It still hadn't fully hit him that he was an immortal hybrid who had forever to be pulled in and out of the Mikaelson web.

The screaming stopped, Klaus's stomps replacing it.

Hayley looked behind her as he made his way up the stairs.

"Go deal with him," Sam winked, taking her spot and looking over the city on his own.

Breathing it in.

What the hell was he doing?

He was getting his pack back, and then...he'd go from there. He'd hopefully make the peace last too. For the friend who'd had his back.

08:00 AM – Whitmore Hospital

Covering up a witch meltdown in the middle of a public hospital kept everyone very occupied for a good few hours. Stefan and Damon were in charge of the murders; Caroline and Elena compelling anyone who'd seen anything to relax and forget. Matt was pretending to be a volunteer, directing anyone who came their way in the other direction until the cleaners showed up.

If MJ woke up in control, she could fix her damage with the flick of a wrist. But no one knew when she was going to wake up.

And no one knew if she was going to wake up a witch.

Jo moving her to a more secluded area only encouraged them to divide up further, especially once their jobs were done. The hospital was big. They could have mini team meetings in every corridor while the people they disagreed with did the same thing in a different one.

Tyler was on the floor, back against the closed door to the private room Jo was using, refusing to move until he was allowed to sit with her. Giving MJ magic seemed to simultaneously help and make things harder. Contact with Stefan had given her the magic to subconsciously activate the runes drawn up her arms. One of them was healing, so it kept her alive, but, like the blood, it counteracted most of the pain meds.

Since one of them was also a silencing rune, it stopped their supernatural ears from listening in.

Caroline sunk down next to him, "Can I please have a hug?"

His arm went over her shoulder, pulling her in properly for the first time since they'd broken up.

Caroline started to softly cry.

"She's gonna wake up."

"Without magic," She shook her head, "She'll be devasted."

"She'll be...," Tyler put his chin up, "She'll be fine."

"Ty – "

"She's not gonna die, she's gonna heal, and she's gonna be fine."

"But – "

"How am I the sure one right now?" He teased, "You were right, Care."

She snuffled.

"You said she wasn't dead – you," Ty's voice wavered, "You never stopped fighting to find her. And you were right."

"But I didn't find her," She hid her face in him, "And she's dying all over again."

"Ric said no," Jeremy walked towards them, pausing when he saw Caroline's face.

They weren't exactly friends, so he'd never seen her cry before.

She quickly wiped the tears away.

"Um," He blinked, "I..."

He sat down opposite them on the floor.

"Ric doesn't want anybody to contact Klaus."

Ah yes, the topic that had them holding team meetings. MJ's request had caused a massive problem for the group.

"I figured you guys would be the people who'd know how to anyway."

For the first time in months, Jeremy seemed like he had a purpose in life.

"I mean," Ty shuffled slightly, "I still have MJ's old phone, so yeah, I have his number."

Caroline did too, but she thought best not to mention that with Ty's arm over her shoulder, "I – I told him I'd call if we had any leads – I'll – I can do it."

"Matt said no, too," Jeremy admitted, "I didn't bother asking Elena, and I couldn't find Stefan or Damon."

"Do I get a vote?" Enzo had loitered without any of them even noticing.

Slowly, the trio pushed up to their feet.

"Because, I'd say that girl is definitely dying," He pointed to the door, "And you should probably try and follow through on death bed requests."

Jeremy was glaring at him, "You can stay out of this."

"I'm here to see her upgrade," Enzo was mocking him with his tone, "Then I'll be out of your hair."

"She's not going to die," Stefan came from a different corridor, two coffees in his hands.

Caroline looked away from them both to focus on the door separating MJ from view.

"We don't need to call Klaus because it's not a deathbed request."

The firmness of his voice was meant to be comforting.

"Because it's MJ," He bobbed, "She'll survive. She always does. Then she can go see him."

"Says the man who took off," Enzo challenged, "And forgot about her."

"I didn't forget," Stefan scowled, "I tried to live."

Enzo rolled his eyes.

"If you really knew anything about MJ, you'd know that's what she would've wanted me to do."

"Weak excuse."

Stefan turned from him, "Everyone but you votes no, Jeremy."

"Actually," Tyler spoke up, "I vote yes."

"You do?"

He rubbed his face, "Didn't you see her eyes back then?"

Three people were dead.

"She was terrified – "

"And you think bringing in the guy who killed your mother is going to help with that?"

"Terrified of hurting us, Stefan," He defended, "She thought the universe was going to make her kill us."

Her ramblings had given away that much.

"I don't want Klaus here."

Why would he?

"The last thing I wanna do is see his face ever again – but that doesn't change the fact that, for some reason, she thinks she's going to kill us. You know who she can't kill? The guy who's literally indestructible."

"If Klaus was in there with her, you have to think she'd relax," Caroline agreed, "If Ric doesn't want Klaus, we can ask for Elijah – just, someone she knows she's safe to be around."

"She's safe with us."

"She's stronger than all of you put together," Jeremy shot that declaration down, "Whenever something's not easy for you, you stake it. I'm not letting you 'stake' her."

"We don't."

"Vicki."

"You're reactions when I turned," Caroline added.

"Mason," Tyler continued, "All of the sired hybrids."

"She'll slip up, Damon will try to kill her, she'll end up killing him," Jeremey spelt it out, "She asked for Klaus for a reason."

It wasn't like Jeremy wanted Klaus around either – he hated the guy, but...

"She doesn't want to hurt anybody. She can't actually hurt him."

She could, but that was a whole other can of worms.

"Turn him to bones? He's Klaus Mikaelson. He'd grow back."

Stefan really thought about it.

"This is the vampire you told me about?" Enzo asked Caroline, "The guy she was living with?"

They'd all lowkey forgot he was there again.

"Yeah."

"Most dangerous family on the planet?" He considered it, "Definitely call him."

"Maybe Elijah," Stefan caved, "Or Rebekah."

Caroline shifted.

"Ric's already in shell shock about the fact she might die – he'd literally have a heart attack if Klaus walked through the door."

No one responded.

He held the second coffee towards Caroline, "I was bringing this to you?"

She bit her cheek.

"I wanted to talk?"

"My best friend is in that room," Caroline's voice was flat, "She is the only thing I'm thinking about until she's back in a normal bed."

He clicked his teeth, bowed his head, and retreated away.

"I'm almost impressed," Enzo mused, "Did outing the crush kill it?"

"God," Caroline scoffed, "Go bug Damon or something."

She sat herself down on the chairs opposite the door, arms crossed, eyebrows creased.

16:00 PM – The Bayou

Hayley and Sam were wandering through a slightly familiar area of The Bayou. It wasn't by the old shacks The Crescents used to use as a base – that would've been too obvious of a hiding spot, but Jackson also hadn't wanted to set up home too far from the places he'd grown attached to.

He'd chosen a more remote and cloaked part, among thinker trees, but by the river.

They were looking for him as part of their plan to regain control of the wolves.

That morning, they'd received word that Oliver would be killed at midnight, revenge for betraying Finn and Esther, so they'd gone to Marcel and Gia for help. Even if the vampires didn't care about Ollie, he'd been with Elijah, and they did all care about finding him.

Except, Marcel would only help if they had a definite way to get the wolves on Finn's side under their control, and Hayley thought finding Jackson was the way to do that.

Sam had spent most of his summer with Jackson, so he knew where to go; he just hadn't thought to bring him in earlier 'cos he kinda viewed Hayley as the alpha more than Jackson.

Then again, they were both hybrids. They needed an 'actual' wolf to get through to the pack.

Hayley looked over the tin trailer, grass growing through the wheels and rust on the sides.

"You were living here?"

"I couldn't live at home without revealing my siblings..."

"And getting them on the wolf list," Hayley nodded, "Fair enough."

"It got a bit too stuffy at times," He admitted, "So I'd crash in other spots to get some me time."

She fought off a smile.

"Sometimes I'd risk going back into the city, but I tried to play it safe. Didn't really visit anyone else."

Hayley raised an eyebrow, "Not even Davina?"

"I saw her twice," He rubbed his neck, "She thought I was trying to ditch her now MJ was dead."

Since she had a voice in her head, making her think he'd only hung out with her because of MJ

"Which makes me feel crappy."

Hayley carefully scanned him.

"But I'll deal with that when she gets back," He brushed off, "She didn't need to be associated with me when the witches were already breathing down her neck."

"That's true."

Sam carefully thought through his next sentence, "I don't think they know I'm a hybrid..."

"Esther and Finn?"

He nodded.

"The wolves would've told them?" Hayley frowned, "Wouldn't they."

"Only a few of them know."

Jackson had since the house fire, but Oliver had only found out when the moonlight ring fallout happened, and Aiden hadn't known before their wolf-kid rescue mission.

"Genevieve knew – that's why she poisoned me," He thought back to that night, "But Francesca didn't – she thought Gen was just trying to get a final bit of revenge against MJ specifically."

"If they don't know...we could use that."

He half-nodded, "Not that I wanna pretend to be on their side – "

There was a noise, and Hayley spun on her heel, catching two arrows and tossing them to the floor.

"Is that your best shot?" She called out to a figure among the trees, "You're gonna have to do a lot better than that if you're gonna kill a hybrid!"

Sam just sighed, "Not cool, Ansel."

The man came properly into view, dark grey hair, stubble, and a casual blue flannel. An outfit that did not match the vibe of the terrifyingly long dagger he was pulling out from a sheath or the handcrafted bow over his shoulder.

He glanced at Hayley, then focused on Sam.

"Talking of people who don't know certain pieces of information about me," Sam said to tell Hayley to reign in the hybrid comments, "She's one of us."

Ansel eyed her suspiciously.

There was another noise, a squeaking as the trailer door opened.

"She is," Jackson's gruff voice.

Hayley's posture immediately softened as she saw him, "Jack?"

"Hayley," He tried for a smile, "I see you've met my friend Ansel."

Said man was still holding the dagger up, "You two know her?"

"She was supposed to be my wife," Jackson broke the ice.

They moved their conversation behind the trailer, a fire pit burning with some chairs and logs around it. Jackson and Hayley sat next to each other, leaning forward so they could catch up while Ansel watched from a log, sharpening his knife.

Sam was walking back and forth behind them, checking his phone to keep a tab on times, and text Davina.

Klaus had broken the news that the guy Davina was hiding out with was his brother Kol, news Marcel was freaking out about, meaning it was more important than ever that they got her back to the city and away from him. Sam wasn't even asking where she was anymore, just texting every few hours to try and get any 'proof of life' from her.

"After Francesca Guerrera took over the wolves, she offered me a moonlight ring as long as I'd call her Alpha," Jackson explained, "I declined. So, a couple of her brothers dragged me out here and left me for dead. By the time I healed up, word had spread about what happened to you and to your baby."

Hayley focused on the ground.

"We were all called back to the city a few days later, and I thought, well...we all thought it was going to be a chance to fight them...then it wasn't."

Tyler and Caroline announcing MJ's death.

"And I realised it was over," His eyes were distant, "And I just drifted."

He looked to the man on the log.

"That's when I met Ansel."

Sam had only joined him in August.

"He's been teaching me the old ways, the traditions. What it means to be a wolf."

"You mean by living out in the ass-end of nowhere?"

"Easy," Jackson said carefully, "Your 'kind' makes him ornery."

Sam had gotten really good at tapping into the wolf side of his nature, months sitting in The Bayou, going through all the hippie tricks MJ had told him about. Focusing solely on that meant he radiated wolf, and only someone who really knew what a hybrid felt like would have a chance at noticing he was one.

"My kind?" Hayley frowned, "Jack, whatever you and your friend think of me, my kind is the wolves."

"Which is why I brought her here," Sam brought himself back into the conversation.

"Even though they pledged allegiance to a witch, all that means is they need an Alpha," Hayley needed to get through to him, "Ollie needs one, too."

"I heard about that," Jackson clicked his teeth, "Thing is...Ollie betrayed me. He plotted with the Guerrera's. He spilt his own people's blood."

"He was trying to make up for that."

"It doesn't matter. Witches have him," Jackson said bluntly, "He's dead. Not that I care."

"God, Jack," Sam shook his head, "I've let you lick your wounded pride all summer; it's time to get your crap together and save your friend."

"Friends don't do that to each other."

"Fine, then get it together and save a member of your pack."

The sound of the fire crackling.

"End of the day, you're the Alpha. It doesn't matter how you feel about him because he's still a Crescent. You're supposed to protect The Crescents."

"The Crescents don't exist anymore."

"I say they do."

"And I say you're wrong."

"You don't want to be the Alpha? Fine," Hayley snapped, "We'll save Ollie without you."

She stood up to leave, Ansel standing up too.

"You got a problem, old man?"

"I have no love of vampires," His face at her was sour, "But I will not allow a wolf to be killed by witches."

He walked past Hayley, heading to the path out of The Bayou.

Hayley shot Jackson a dirty look, "At least someone's interested."

As they walked through the woods, Sam stayed between Hayley and Ansel to try and drop the tension. Ansel was a nice person, so he wouldn't just kill her, but it was still very awkward considering she clearly made him uncomfortable, and Hayley tended to get punchy when she got uncomfortable.

Hayley had also called Marcel to tell him to get going with a distraction.

"Tell me you have your Alpha?"

"He's out of commission, but I got the next best thing."

Not entirely accurate.

"I'm assuming you have a plan to keep Finn occupied?"

Ansel perked up at the name, looking between Hayley and Sam, slightly confused by just what he was walking into.

"Yeah... Yeah, I think I might have an idea."

"That doesn't sound too convincing," Sam commented.

"Neither does 'I have the next best thing,' but beggars can't be choosers."

"Just keep him gone," Hayley put a hand up, "We'll do our part."

18:00 PM – Whitmore Hospital

Ten hours later, fifteen hours since MJ appeared in the graveyard, more people joined the trio outside her door. Tyler was still on the floor leaning against it, Matt by his side now, Jeremy staring at his phone next to Caroline in the chairs, her reading as many brochures as she could to try and keep herself calm.

Jo had taken an unconscious MJ somewhere for most of the time they'd been waiting, deliberately not looking at them, so they didn't have a chance to ask any questions. Then she'd brought her back, two people setting up equipment inside the room, so it was ready and waiting for them.

Elena arrived with a collection of her textbooks for Caroline to read.

Damon was holding Ms Cuddles, the bag MJ had come through with at his feet, unable to be opened by anyone other than her or Bonnie.

Stefan and Ric were talking lowly to each other, and Enzo had vanished completely.

Jo came out, sending Tyler and Matt tumbling back, exhaustion all over her face.

"Where to start," She shut the door, standing in the centre of the group, "The surgery went well."

Damon choked on his own coffee, "The what?"

"When she woke up, we'd been prepping her for lung surgery."

They'd all known that, but they'd also figured that when she'd been wheeled away, the plan had changed.

"There was a build-up of pus between her left lung and the inner surface of her chest. We needed to remove it, which we could do without full surgery, but she needed more help to get the lung to expand properly again. Her right lung had collapsed, so we put a tube between her rids to drain escaped air then used a chemical to repair the break so it could hopefully reexpand on its own."

"Hopefully?" Elena noted.

"...We ended up needing to put her through a second MRI."

Stefan was following pretty well, "And it told you?"

"That she needed a brain operation."

No one let themselves look at Tyler as his skin turned paler and paler.

"Her earlier scan didn't show us much; the second...several points were seizing up, causing her to forget how to breathe and affecting her ability to talk."

Silence.

"I'm not a neurosurgeon, so I handed her over to a colleague who performed a series of cuts on her brain. Vampire blood can't heal everything; whatever is going on in her body is one of them. I had to go straight to science, or she would've died."

Unknown to them, the magic would've kept her alive, but in that state of permanent near death for as long as it took for her body to heal.

"But she's okay now?" Jeremy checked.

"I've hooked her up to an extreme overdose of sedative to keep her sleeping," Jo spoke calmly, "When she wakes up, we'll be putting her through breathing therapy and running a number of tests to check the surgery didn't damage any cognitive processes, but her heart beat is steady."

Ric fell to a chair in relief.

"Now," Jo straighten out her doctor's coat, "I have a few questions – those of you who are planning to stay – "

"Can I go in yet?" Ty asked instantly.

"Yes," Jo gave him a stern look, "But, do not touch her. The surgery scars are incredibly easy to infect, and a brain infection is the last thing she needs right now."

Tyler nodded.

He went to walk in, then stopped.

He looked at Matt, "You drove here?"

"Yeah."

"Can I borrow your car?"

"Why?"

"She – she's gonna need candles...or, or, her pillow, or something – and a change of clothes – and my jersey, the jersey," Tyler's voice was a million miles away, "It's on the desk chair – "

"Dude," Matt stopped him, "I'll go grab the stuff. You stay here."

He nodded in thanks, then went straight to a chair in the corner of the room, leaving the rest of the group in the corridor.

"She's not gonna be awake until tonight," Jo looked pointedly at Elena, "You have class early tomorrow, and an assignment due."

Elena looked at the rest of the group, "But..."

"I'm staying," Caroline.

Stefan, "Me too."

"I'm in," Jeremy's feet were planted in the corridor.

"Jer – "

"She was my friend, remember," He spoke harsher than he meant to, "...Sorry."

"I'll – I'll come back with food," Elena nodded.

"I'll drive," Damon was staring at the bear in his hands.

She shook her head, "I'll be fine."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Okay then," Damon's lack of push back surprised all of them.

He took a seat, stood up again, put the bear down, then headed for a walk.

Jo took a sharp breath in, "So...my questions."

She was mainly looking at Ric.

"Damon said she was your kid?"

Ric's mouth opened, then shut.

"Does that mean you have her medical records?"

"Not the question I was expecting."

"I'm trying to stay on task," Jo tried for a thumbs up, "I've been trying to get the Mystic Falls Hospital to transfer her papers over all morning – they told me her full ones aren't allowed to be disclosed?"

"Crap," Caroline sat up, "That's – I can get you them."

"Oh?"

"Yeah," She nodded quickly, pulling out her phone, "Mine and Tyler's mum got them removed from the hospital system – long story."

MJ had survived too many impossible situations.

"My mum's the Sheriff; she's the only person with access now."

There was a beep.

"Here," Caroline showed Jo her phone, "I can email them to you."

Jo took the phone to flick through, "These aren't right either."

Caroline looked over her shoulder, "Yeah, they are."

"There's no past surgery record on here – she's had a spleen removal."

Ric processed that, "Her spleen?"

"She has a scar," Jo motioned to a spot on the left side, under her rib, "Looks like it's been healing for about two years."

"MJ doesn't have a scar there," Caroline took the phone back.

"She does."

"No, she doesn't," Caroline argued, "We went bikini shopping together. She doesn't have any scars...on her body."

The hasty clarification made them all uncomfortable.

"Well, she does now," Jo assured them.

Silence.

"We'll come back to it later," She dismissed, not wanting to panic them, "What happened to her face?"

They all shared a look.

"The top of her head reopened, and we've treated it, but it's nice to know what you're treating."

"Her brother cut her face up," Jeremy answered honestly.

Jo's eyes went wide, "What?"

"Witch sacrifice gone wrong."

"Oh my god," Jo looked back at the door.

Caroline's phone started ringing.

"It's my mum; she wants to know what's going on."

"Answer," Ric encouraged.

Caroline hurried off to the next corner.

Jeremy, Stefan, Ric, and Jo.

"I'm gonna wait in there too," Jeremy motioned to the door.

"I'm going to make sure Damon's not doing something stupid," Stefan picked up the bear and tossed it to Jeremy so he could take it into MJ with her bag.

Ric and Jo.

They were staring at each other.

Jo slowly sat next to him, "And you have a daughter?"

"Not exactly."

She didn't know whether to tense or relax, "Not exactly?"

"She's not my kid – I mean, she's ninete – she's technically twenty – I'm only thirty-six!"

She laughed, "That's why I was being careful."

"She doesn't even look like me," He gestured forward.

"She could have all her mother's features – and you told me you spoke middle-level Spanish despite being completely white."

"...Learnt it."

"For her?"

He nodded.

Jo's feature's softened.

"Her parents are..." He went to say dead, then backtracked, "Complicated?"

"Complicated?"

"She thought they were dead. Her mother is. Turned out her elder brother had their father compelled to forget they existed, and now he has a new family. Something MJ only found out last year."

"Wow."

The section of hospital they were in was completely empty thanks to compulsion, meaning they only had each other to look at.

"She's not usually like that," Ric spoke, "She didn't mean to hurt anyone."

Jo's face dropped.

"I hate saying that because it feels like I'm trying to brush it off, but – "

"It's okay," She bit her lip, closed her eyes, then nodded, "I heard most of what she said...She thought she was in a nightmare...it's what the supernatural world does to people. That's why I left it behind."

"Sorry to drag you back in."

"I kissed you remember," She nudged him, "You tried to compel me away."

He smiled fondly.

"What else should you have already told me about her?"

"She's...something else."

"Very helpful."

"Smartest person you'll ever meet, decided not to go to Uni but got a job as a photographer and graphic designer for some paper in New Orleans."

He'd been watching her, even if he hadn't let her see him.

"She's an arts person."

"Arts plural?"

"Mainly art, but her mother was a music teacher, taught her a lot of stuff...she could definitely be a musician if she wanted to."

"And you took her in?"

"She was seventeen – but she was so small," Ric closed her eyes, "And alone. And she didn't trust anybody...not really."

His voice cracked, tears welling up.

"She saved my life over and over, and the one time she couldn't..."

Jo took his hand.

"She died making sure I got to live," He shook his head, "How is that how it works?"

He had been following the same plan as Tyler, both of them trying to move forward without really talking about it. Because talking about it would unearth a lot of emotions they didn't want to deal with.

"I wouldn't say she's my kid," He didn't want to cry, "I'm more the drunk-uncle who somehow got guardianship of her, but damn, once I did, I just wanted to keep her safe."

"She's back now."

"And she's dying."

"She's going to be fine."

"But what happened?"

"She'll wake up, and she'll tell you."

20:00 PM – Lafeyette Cemetery

The cemetery was as creepy as ever. It always had at least one witch floating around, which was enough to keep the other supernatural creatures away, but ever since it'd been turned into the werewolf-witch base of operations, its scare factor had gone through the roof.

It must've been charmed too.

The fog floating on the paths between the mausoleums was meant to make their lives harder, Finn knowing he couldn't just say that a wolf was gonna die without someone trying to save them, but Hayley slipped through it without even a second of hesitation. Hybrid ears were better than wolf ones. She'd hear anyone trying to get the jump on them before the guards would hear her.

The aim was the Lycée.

Passing the familiar tombs near the entrance, going through the lower walkway she'd once been kept captive in before meeting Elijah for the first time, eventually coming out near the glass house to find Ollie hanging from the ceiling in the centre of a mass of different plants.

"Ollie!" She rushed to his side, "Ollie – wake up!"

He was bloody, eyes unfocused, but still alive.

"The hell are you doing?"

"Rescuing you," Sam started to grab at the chains, "Duh."

His head drifted towards Ansel, "Who the hell is that?"

"Someone we recruited to save your ass," Hayley looked around, "Please tell me you know where Elijah is?"

Oliver shook his head like it was the hardest thing in the world for him to do.

"They know we're here," Ansel was staring at the windows.

Hayley and Sam shared a look, zoning out to listen to the sound of feet landing, people on top of the crypts and tombs heading straight for the Lycée. It all felt incredibly disrespectful to the people buried there, but it wasn't like that was their problem. If Esther was irritating the ancestors with her set-up, even better for them in the long run.

"No time to be gentle," Sam snapped the chains, causing Ollie to drop into Hayley's grip.

They took an arm each over their shoulders. Sure, they were both strong enough to carry him on their own in theory, but Hayley moving him bridal style just didn't seem effective, not when she might need to drop him to punch somebody, and not when it just wasn't a comfortable way to hold someone whose build was bigger than yours.

Hayley pointed to the door with her head, "Let's go."

Ansel strung an arrow to his bow while Ollie shook his head, trying to move out of their grip.

"Just leave me here," He was too exhausted to move, "Go!"

"To hell with that!" Hayley scowled, "They want a fight? I'll give them a fight."

"No," Ansel's declaration had Hayley rolling her eyes, "I came with you to save one of my own, not watch as you kill scores of them."

She growled.

"Take your friend out the back, move as fast as you can. I'll hold them off here."

"He has a point, Hayley," Sam motioned to the back exit, "We wanna prove Crescents are still Crescents; we can't just kill them."

"Fine," She groaned, "Come on."

She readjusted how she was supporting Ollie.

"Quickly."

They left Ansel to play distraction. None of the wolves knew him, so it would make them hesitate. Plus, keeping Hayley out of sight was kind of a priority since Esther and Finn would definitely target her – and if Sam let her go off on her own, Klaus would kill him.

Ansel was also happy to start fighting, knowing he'd hit in places they'd heal rather than have to watch a vampire rip out hearts.

Going around the back meant they had to take a side route to get back to the main entrance. The other exits in the graveyard were all blocked off in some manner, making Hayley increasingly frustrated. It felt like a trap had been set for them, which was expected, only the trap felt unnaturally weak. The exits were blocked, but implying they couldn't have torn their way through the werewolf army was a massive underestimation of them.

Unless the point of the trap wasn't to keep them there – or even keep them from rescuing Ollie.

They were hiding behind a crypt when they heard a group walk past, Aiden leading them.

"Come out!"

Ollie had finally started to walk somewhat independently, pressing himself and his wounds against the cool stone for some relief.

"We know you're here."

Hayley looked at Sam, then nodded.

They stepped out to face them.

"Why don't you just let us go," Hayley spoke to Aiden, "And we can call it a day?"

He was clearly torn.

He wanted to help; he was happy to help – when it was just the three of them there. Not when it was in front of people who would snitch on him, turning him into the next Ollie.

"I don't think so."

"You guys really wanna do this?" Sam scoffed at the wolves, "Turn on us because a witch told you to – turn on your pack!"

Ollie staggered out and into sight.

"We shouldn't be letting another group of people tell us to kill each other."

"You're all idiots!" Ollie gripped onto one of the tomb walls to stand up straighter, "Lining up to fight hybrids?"

People started to hesitate.

"For what? So you can kill me?" He shook his head, disgusted, "I know I ain't innocent, but I never lost sight of what I was fighting for!"

He's betrayed Jackson for Francesca, a wolf.

"We were gonna be a pack! But now, we're nothing."

The three of them were gonna fight, letting the silence weigh their enemies down.

Aiden put a hand up.

Surprisingly enough, the others all stepped aside with him, letting them leave.

Maybe Finn would hang him up next, or maybe he'd never even find out the wolves had let it happen, no one really objecting to Aiden's orders; either way, it was a sign for Hayley.

Sam was right.

The pack was still there.

23:00 PM – Whitmore Hospital

Matt had come back with the stuff Tyler had suggested, as well as a few other things he thought MJ would like. The three bromigos spent a good hour decorating, despite the fact it only should've taken them ten minutes. Tyler was determined to have the candles in the right spots, trying to get his head into the 'sweet spot vibe' so MJ would feel calm when she woke up.

A thin summer blanket she liked to use at the water hole was placed over the hospital one.

They were kicked out of the room just before she woke up, so didn't get to see her reaction.

Matt headed to help close The Grill, not able to look at MJ plugged into machines any longer, the nurse who'd removed them slowly lulling her eyes open to get her starting on the breathing exercises.

Caroline, Tyler, and Stefan were all trying to listen in, Jo having wiped off the runes during the second attempt at surgery, clicking that they were what kept waking her up, body fighting to heal itself incorrectly.

They had to teach MJ to breathe again.

Ric and Damon were having a separate conversation in the next corridor, going over who Kai was and what the bear meant. Why he'd taken it back from MJ's room once he'd cooled down. How they needed to go to Portland to find the Gemini Coven to get Bonnie back.

When MJ was ferried off to a different part of the hospital, they all started hounding Jo, worried something bad had happened.

She happily let them know that MJ's recovery was dubbed 'miraculous' in the staff room.

They were running extra tests to check that she was actually okay, as well as filling in some of her vaccine gaps. MJ hadn't exactly been able to afford healthcare growing up, medical records showing that she'd gotten the correct ones as a kid and been able to get the 3-in-1 booster at fourteen, but she'd missed HPV and her MenACWY. They were three times more expensive than the 3-in-1, so that made sense for a fourteen year old to have managed to get.

They'd offered her the two vaccines, and she'd said yes, and explained that Jo's guess was correct. She no longer had a spleen, which meant two more jabs were booked in to help with that, one of which would also work to prevent any further heart failure.

Once that was all done, she slept for a little bit longer before the door was finally opened to allow visitors.

MJ lay weakly on the bed, eyes half-open, fingers playing with the corner of the pillow.

"Hey," Tyler spoke first.

He was sitting by her side, having gotten the okay from Jo to make contact.

Caroline was on the bed, Stefan leaning on the window, Jeremy standing by the door.

She almost smiled until she saw the way Caroline reached out to her.

MJ's head shook furiously, panicking.

"MJ," Caroline didn't understand what was happening, "Look at me!"

She went to yank the drip from her arm, Tyler stopping her.

"MJ!" Caroline forced her face down, "Calm down!"

"That's what you had her say last time," She was shaking, "Get off!"

She kicked, and Caroline and Tyler were shoved away from the bed by a powerful invisible force.

"I'm not doing this anymore, Kai."

"MJ!" Jeremy was in front of her, pushing her back into the bed, "Wake up."

She stilled.

Jeremy wasn't a vampire or a werewolf.

He was a hunter.

The only magic in him was ancestral, and it was good, feint, magic. Magic that caused a rush of noise to flood her senses.

For months she hadn't heard a witch spirit in her head.

She'd been safe.

Now they were back, alive and kicking alongside her.

The wind blowing through the now open window died, and she wrapped her arms around the pillow.

"Sorry."

They all exchanged a look.

"It's okay," Caroline promised her, creeping back towards the bed, "Are you feeling okay?"

MJ slumped down the bed.

"I know that's a dumb question to ask, but I thought I should anyway."

"They explained it all to me."

No one spoke up.

"Pneumothorax and Empyema."

Stefan was the only one who knew those were the terms for what had happened to her lungs.

"And some of the names for what they took out of my head."

None of them knew how to react to the quiet tone of voice.

"I think they thought I was insane," MJ's grip on the pillow tightened, "I wanted all the technical details of exactly what they did."

"Um," Tyler returned to his chair, "They said some brain stuff might be wrong?"

"I passed all the tests they gave me."

"Of course you did," Jeremy smiled.

"Memory-based games," Her voice was dry, "But they can't actually tell me if I have all my memories. Not for certain anyway."

"Wow," Caroline pressed on the bed before sitting, making sure she wasn't about to squish MJ's legs, "Do you think you still remember everything?"

"I wish I didn't."

The lack of movement she was making was jarring for them, sleepy eyes half-shutting.

"I'd happily lose almost all of my memories, but no," She inhaled, "Please tell me someone called Klaus?"

No one answered.

She curled up slightly, "Can someone please do it?"

"You're sure you need us to?" Stefan still didn't know where he fell on the vote.

MJ seemed perfectly in control, so if Jeremy's reasoning for her request was right, surely she didn't need an Original to calm her down anymore?

"I – " Her voice broke, "I wanna go home."

Tyler and Caroline shared a look.

"I wanna sleep in my bed, and then I wanna save Bonnie, and then I want this all to be over."

She buried her tears in the pillow.

MJ didn't want to leave the hospital bed, but she had to. She needed to get Bonnie home before Kai did something to her.

"I'm safe in New Orleans."

"You're safe here."

"I'm a risk here," She corrected, "There are a million ways to stop me from losing it in New Orleans."

She finally looked back at them.

"I can't control it."

"You can," Tyler didn't miss a beat, "Control was never the problem, MJ."

The other three people in the room weren't following the conversation.

It was something she'd only mentioned to Tyler.

"It was direction."

Kol.

"You talk yourself into thinking you can't do it, but you can."

Kol had been the one to actually help her.

Klaus and Katherine had wanted her to let loose to see what she was capable of, so did Kai (but he's gone to eleven, whereas they'd been more subtle about it). Everyone else tried to keep her in control. Elijah had wanted to give her a sense of control with the knotting spell he'd given her.

Kol had told her what her real problem was.

Her hyperfocus on control was what messed her up.

"You need to target the magic at the right places, and you'll be fine."

"I killed three people."

Her memories of the entire ordeal had floated in pretty quickly once the barely working pain meds had worn off.

Kol.

He'd reset her magic in Italy too.

If he was there, he would've been able to help her, but he wasn't. He'd been on The Other Side, lost to oblivion because she'd failed to find him in time and bring him back too.

She really couldn't stop herself from sobbing.

"Hey – hey," Tyler shuffled onto the bed too, cradling her, "We'll get you home."

"I'm sorry Tyler."

"You have nothing to be sorry for."

"You're home too," She stressed, "You know that, right?"

After a moment, he nodded.

"I don't wanna hurt you," She needed him to know that, "I can't – I can't be here until I'm stable."

Jeremy was fiddling with his jacket, "What do you mean by 'stable?'"

"All the magic," MJ could feel everything, "I thought coming back to life would release it, but it didn't."

"The Floare magic?" Tyler hesitantly pulled back, "The line you cut off?"

She nodded.

Caroline's eyes went wide, "It's still in you?"

She nodded again, inhaling slowly and letting her body unwind.

Every vein started to shine like a glow stick, a mishmash of gold, orange, and blue.

There was a hum in the air.

She shut it down the second it started to build, not trusting it in the slightest.

"Oh my god," Tyler half laughed, "That's..."

"Kinda cool," Jeremy was staring at her wrists.

MJ didn't agree.

"Wait," Caroline put a hand up, "I read most of your books the past few months – if you cut off the line and died – "

"No Aonso Floare's have had magic," MJ confirmed.

Caroline's hands went over her face.

"I can't use Floare spells. That's why I'm not healing properly."

"The ancestors are stopping you," Stefan realised.

"I don't understand it," MJ wanted to give up again, "I can hear normal ancestors when I siphon you guys, normal witch feelings, but when I try to cast a Floare spell, the magic's rejecting me."

She thought it would've stopped in the real world.

Her mother had been able to use it.

Her mother hadn't actually cut the power off.

"I don't wanna talk about it."

"Do you wanna talk about why you apparently don't have a spleen?" Caroline tired.

"Definitely not."

"Want to talk about being trapped with Bonnie and Damon?"

She jolted up to look at Jeremy, "I promise I'm getting her back, Jer – "

"MJ," He shook his head, "You're not going to be able to do anything until you're healed up, and if the magic isn't healing you, who knows how long that's gonna take."

"I'm getting her back."

The heart monitor fizzed out.

MJ flopped back and concentrated.

It flickered back to life.

"See," Stefan pointed, "Control."

"Please just take me to New Orleans," She closed her eyes again, "There's an ascendant there I can use to try and figure out alternate ways to save Bonnie."

"You need to rest."

"I need to save Bonnie!"

The candles they'd set up lit.

"...Sorry."

The door to the room opened.

Ric behind it.

She shuffled to sit up, eyes pinned on him.

"Can I, uh," He looked at everyone, "Can I have the room?"

No one moved.

"Please."

Slowly, they shuffled out, Ty pressing a kiss to her temple before going.

She couldn't look away.

He awkwardly cleared his throat.

"How are you human?" Her first question.

"Not the most important thing to talk about right now," Ric shut the door, "I..."

She wanted to disappear at the sight of his eye bags.

"I don't know how to have this conversation."

"What conversation?"

"The 'you blew yourself up' conversation," He was trying incredibly hard not to raise his voice, "You technically committed suicide, MJ."

She definitely wanted to disappear.

"Come on," He begged, "Please talk to me."

She couldn't.

She couldn't bring herself to talk about it with any of them.

Mystic Falls had a million other problems, and hers were always at the bottom of the pile, and if she didn't share them, she could at least justify it.

"You killed yourself," Ric started to cry.

She turned onto her side to hug the pillow.

"Look at me."

"I don't want to," She had no personality behind the voice.

"I can't see you like that, MJ," He stroked her back, "You're not going near situations like that again."

"Ric – "

"No."

"I'm fine!" She tried, "I'm still alive; I'll deal."

"What does that mean?"

"It means I'm getting Bonnie back!"

Bonnie had sacrificed herself for her, and MJ was not gonna let it slide.

"That's the only thing I can think about right now, and to do that, I need to feel like myself again, and to feel like myself," She was talking into the pillow, "I need to go to New Orleans."

"No."

"You can't just say no – "

"I'm exactly who can say no."

She tried to fight back her growl.

"Once you're cleared, you're either with me, or Caroline, or Tyler. You are not being left on your own."

She tensed.

"And you are staying out of this supernatural bullcrap," He declared, "It always pushes you off the deep end, and you can't be doing that anymore."

"No it – "

"You're not healthy, MJ."

"You don't say!"

"You need rest, and you need to reset, and you need safety," He pleaded, "Your brother was an ass, but he had a point. This life is killing you, and you don't need it."

"It's all I have."

"You are so much more than this!"

She bit her cheek.

"You are smart and talented – and you could do so much more if you just let yourself, rather than focus on holding onto all of this darkness. Ghosts, and black magic, and the pressure of being a witch."

She still didn't respond.

"I can't watch you kill yourself again," Ric was pressing his palms into the tears on his cheeks, "That's the path this life puts you on."

It wasn't that simple, but MJ couldn't find the words to explain it to him.

"Can I be alone in here then?" She pulled the blanket up higher on her body, "Before the constant surveillance begins?"

"I'm trying to help, MJ."

"I don't know what Damon told you," MJ was not in the right mental state to be told no, "But that sociopath was watching us constantly too. So, before I have to go back to that, can I have a moment of actual alone time for the first time in six months?"

Ric sighed, "I don't want you to get worse."

"I know."

"I want you to talk to me."

She wasn't going to.

She didn't want to talk about it with anybody, especially not people she'd been watching die at her hands on a loop for hours.

Kai had planted a seed in her head, and it just kept growing.

00:00 AM – Whitmore Hospital

MJ had about a second to herself before someone else opened the door.

It was actually an hour later, but it only felt like a second, mind fuzzy and body barely processing anything.

Her face was still buried in the pillow, and she didn't move to see who it was. She just waited for them to talk. Soft feet on the floor. A person gently perching on the end of the bed.

"Hey," Elena's voice.

MJ forced herself to look at her.

"How are you doing?"

She didn't know how to answer that question.

"I got you some food?" She placed the bag of takeout on the chair, "The hospital food sucks, and I thought this might make you feel better."

The smell just made her feel sick.

"Um..."

"What do you want, Elena?"

Silence.

"We're not friends – you don't care about me," She dismissed, "Don't bribe me with food, just tell me what screw up you want me to fix."

"I do care."

"Sure you do."

"MJ – "

"I've spent so much time waiting for you to apologise," She was trying so hard not to start crying again, "For killing the only person I have ever felt a romantic connection with."

Which had led to a year of a ghost boyfriend and all the damage that came with that.

"For text harassing me, saying the only reason someone would like me was because I was easy sex."

Only adding to her self-esteem issues.

"For believing Damon over me every single fucking time."

And all the dead bodies that had caused.

"And I still talk to you? I forgave Katherine when she apologised as you!"

It was pathetic.

"Her apology was good, but no one with any self-respect would've heard her out after all of that."

"M – "

"And then I put you back in your body, and I kept waiting."

The lights started to hum again.

"But you never came through."

And it hurt because Junior Year Elena would've.

And MJ held on to the best version of people, even when they cut up her face.

Because looking at Elena just made her think about her brother.

"If you had any sense of compassion, or respect for me, you wouldn't have come in here."

"I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"I killed myself."

Silence.

"I thought I could find Kol on The Other Side and bring us both back," Her throat was getting dryer each second, "Or we could find peace together."

A nice dream in the fire of her first death.

"But he's lost to oblivion, and I'm here. Staring at your face."

The venom dripping in her tone had been held back for too long.

"Knowing that the moment I get Bonnie back – because I will, you'll go off and live your happy little life with Damon, and I'll be alone all over again."

Kai's words were in her head.

"Because I'm expected to give up everything for you."

'You will never be enough – because they have decided you are less.'

All the evidence was there.

"We're not friends, Elena."

Ric was going to force her away from the supernatural life.

MJ knew he was trying to help, but it was too much to think about when a supernatural city was the only place she wanted to be.

Because she loved the people there.

Because sticking around meant remembering that Ric had gone to Elena first at graduation.

And MJ's brain had the moment she'd found that out playing on a loop.

"Whatever you want off of me? Deal with it yourself."

She didn't move.

"Get out."

The sockets around the lights started to openly spark.

"Or I will kill you."

Elena retreated before MJ could say anything else.

Her head returned to the pillow.

Fifteen minutes passed before she started to hear snippets of the conversation outside. Finally, she was healthy enough to be discharged, and no one wanted to keep her in a public place when she might explode at any second, so they needed to decide where to take her.

MJ crept out of bed to properly listen

"The dorm room," Caroline said easily, "She'll stay with me."

"She just made it perfectly clear she never wants to see me again," Elena was staring at the floor, "And considering I live there..."

"The apartment I was renting outside of Mystic Falls then."

"I want her nearby," Ric decided.

"My house," Tyler disagreed, "Her room. Her stuff."

"Plus, no magic," Matt agreed, "Jer and I will look after her."

"And I'll go home too."

"Yeah, put her in the place where she died," Stefan nodded falsely, "That's smart."

"She was crashing in your room," Damon revealed, "If she wants somewhere familiar, maybe Mystic Falls is the best bet."

"No," Ric snapped, "She's coming to my apartment."

"She has no reason to relax in Whitmore," Tyler argued, "Your place in Mystic Falls is still in her name, and you're the one saying you don't want her near anything supernatural. Take her there if you don't want her at mine."

"Or we could just take her to New Orleans," Jeremy reminded them, "You know, do the thing she's actually asking us to do."

"No."

MJ retreated.

Ric's answer on that was final.

She was on her own again.

Sure, Jeremy, Tyler, and Caroline were clearly on her side about New Orleans, but they weren't actually going to actively go against Ric, so she was on her own. She had just had surgery. It wasn't about actively going against Ric; it was about not wanting to stuff her into a car when she should probably stay near a doctor.

Their voices were going to drive her insane.

Tense, ready to yell, and arguing because of her.

Even when MJ wasn't physically causing them pain, she was driving them apart, and she didn't want to do that. She just wanted to go home.

She changed from the hospital gown to the clothes the guys had brought her as quickly as possible. They were too big for her after six months of not eating properly, but she'd make them work.

Pulling on Tyler's jersey?

The familiar fabric eased her after six months of itching skin and self-isolation.

Then she snuck out the window.

MJ didn't get very far before she got caught, walking nervously through the car park and trying to work out if she could potentially steal a strangers car.

"The amount of blood I can smell makes me pretty sure you should still be in bed, gorgeous."

A familiar face, one of the last she'd seen before it had been Damon and Bonnie on a loop.

"Enzo," Her face unintentionally softened, "What are you doing here?"

"Visiting you, obviously."

She faltered.

"As much as I don't really care what the cohort has to say about me," He smiled, offering her a hand, "I'm not about to let you run off into the night."

She crossed her arms, "I'm not going back."

"And I'm not taking you," He assured her, "I'm going to walk you around this building a few times so you can cool down. Then we'll go from there."

She eyed him up carefully.

"Come on," He came closer, "A walk will get some light back in your eyes."

MJ was exhausted, and she knew she shouldn't be driving a car given the amount of blood she'd lost.

She took his hand and let him lead her around the hospital.

MJ didn't really want to talk, but she definitely didn't want silence either, so she prompted him to catch her up on everything she'd missed.

"I left town completely, so I won't know all the details."

"Where'd you go?"

"Worked my way through a collection of witch covens."

MJ gave him an amused look.

"Not in the way you think!"

"Mhmm."

"Maybe in the way you think," He was letting her use his arm as a way to stay standing, knees shaking with each step, "Then Caroline found me, and we hunted Stefan down."

"She came to you to find Stefan?"

"She came to me to find leads on The Other Side."

MJ's mouth slowly opened.

"Like I said, I wasn't snooping around witches for the reason you think."

"You were looking for us?"

He shrugged, "We found the bastard and his new happy life, and I promised to ruin it."

"You pulled a Damon."

He kept them moving, round the side and into a stretch of greenery some visitors were using to smoke.

"So Stefan came home?"

"I turned his girlfriend."

"As you do."

"She got killed by a hunter. So Stefan set me up, Damon got captured too, Blue-Eyes was playing double agent, we were 'rescued.' I captured the hunter, got blackmailed into handing him back over, turned him, so he died as he crossed the border."

"Smart."

He smiled, "Your friends would not agree."

"Which is why I'm asking you for the catch-up – I want an unbiased recollection of events."

"Now, I'm still on a mission to ruin Stefan's life."

"You do realise that the universe is gonna make you regret that?" MJ's steps started to feel easier, "It's gonna do something to make it complicated."

"Sure it is, witch."

"It will," She promised him, "Vengeance plans never go the way you think they will."

"Well, shifting focus from me," He wanted to keep her in a better mood, "Elena erased Damon."

"...What?"

"She and Caroline discussed how you'd never approve."

"Erased him?"

"Got the ex-vampire to compel her to forget her love."

MJ's vision flashed red.

She tried to keep her calm.

They all knew she could siphon compulsion, and if that was genuinely Elena's situation, Mj could only assume that was the reason why she was suddenly getting the 'friend' treatment again. She didn't have the energy to play nice with Elena while she was literally recovering from a brain operation, which was why she snapped – but now, any trace of guilt kicking in was gone.

"If you really love someone," MJ scowled, "You don't erase them."

They were nearing the car park again.

"Are you genuinely not going to try and stop me from hounding Stefan?" He realised revenge was a better subject than Damon and Elena.

"You're doing it because he did his life reset?"

"I'm doing it because he made Caroline cry and acted like you and his own brother were forgettable."

MJ smiled a little, "I like people looking out for Caroline."

He raised an eyebrow.

"I'm feeling pretty numb atm, so it's hard to argue against you," She took his face in as they came to a stop near the hospital doors, "Thank you for not giving up."

"A face like yours is too pretty to be left dead."

She wasn't so sure anymore, given the two scars across it.

"When are you being taken home then?" He let her step back, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"I'm not."

"Oh," He looked around the car park, "Want me to take you?"

She perked up.

"I'll take that as a yes?"

"She is home," Ric marched out of the glass doors, "Now leave before I find my crossbow and shoot you with it."

Enzo's expression turned dark.

"You can't just sneak out of the window, MJ."

She was too tired to argue, swaying from stress until Enzo steadied her.

"See," He motioned to her state, "You need to stay here and rest."

"Fine."

Enzo only let Ric lead her back inside because of that answer, starting a new plot in his mind.

06:30 AM – New Orleans

Ollie had died in Jackson's arm at midnight.

Finn had used a timed ancestral hex, meaning that by the time they'd gotten back to The Bayou, there was enough time for a goodbye conversation, and then another wolf was dead.

Sam and Jackson stayed to handle the body while Hayley returned to the city. She had a text from Klaus, returning to The Compound to find him waiting with Elijah. That was a stress relief until she saw Klaus playing with Elijah's phone, contemplating whether or not to delete a voicemail he'd left explaining Kol's return.

She could hear him listening to it, talking to the unconscious Elijah as it played, justifying his anger and the argument the pair had had, which he'd unintentionally recorded.

The Mikaelson's were all inherently dramatic, but she had other things to do with her day, not waiting around to eavesdrop too much.

She was meant to be spreading the word about Ollie's funeral.

Telling people that they'd rescued him, but he'd still died. That a witch had hexed him. The witch the wolves were working for. That they were having a Crescent funeral – because they were Crescents.

Then she came back to The Bayou.

His body had been placed onto a detached benchtop, wrapped in a white sheet, then covered in alcohol before Jackson and Sam had carried him onto a small boat.

They finished off the whiskey themselves before setting the boat on fire and pushing it into the water.

His body was burning as the sun came up, and Hayley made it back to them.

"I'm so sorry, Jack."

He was the one who'd known Ollie his entire life.

"This is bull, Hayley," He was shaking with anger, "Crescent tradition says you have a funeral at dawn, and no one's here."

Hayley and Sam shared a look.

"That loyalty – " Something inside Jackson broke, the anger dissipating into sad clarity, "It's gone."

"You gave up first," Sam reminded him, "The loyalty isn't gone; people are just scared – and they need their alpha. They need you to have faith."

Jackson just headed back to the trailer.

Hayley caught his arm, "We're standing around moping over Ollie's body when there's a war to be fought."

"I refuse to believe Aiden knew he was hexed," Sam agreed, "They let us go because they wanted to save a wolf."

Jackson just shook his head.

"I understand that you have to grieve," Hayley's voice was a lot softer, "You waited for me, so I'll do the same for you. But, our people need their Alpha."

She gently pulled the bottle from his hand and put it on the table, giving him one final comforting shoulder squeeze before leaving him to mourn, Sam a second behind her.

As much as Hayley was tempted to sit with Jackson, she had a make-shift war council waiting in the city, determined to fight back against Esther while Klaus spent the day getting Elijah's mind together.

Aiden met them in Algiers.

Even though they'd wanted Jackson, it was clear he needed more time, and they were just gonna have to accept that. Waiting meant using the person who did still have a sway over the wolves 'pack mentality.'

Heading into Marcel's apartment, they were met with a groan.

"Where is your Alpha?" Marcel wanted a set-in-stone, solid solution.

"Unavailable."

"So, you brought Junior Varsity?" Marcel slumped in his chair, bored, tired, and upset (to name a few of his feelings about his city), "You know, I'm getting a little tired of you using my place as a den for wayward wolves."

"Well," Sam spoke up, "Considering we're gonna take down Finn Mikaelson today, we assumed you'd want in."

He sat up instantly, "I'm listening."

The trio of wolves took a seat on the couches to start talking.

"It's not gonna be easy," Aiden started, "He's surrounded by a pack of juiced-up wolves. No weaknesses."

"Incorrect!" Marcel smiled, "And, I have his weakness on speed dial."

The wolves exchanged confused glances.

"He's got a thing for Cami."

"Klaus will go ballistic if we get Cami involved in this," Hayley shut down.

"Klaus ain't here," Marcel reminded her, "And Cami? Well, she's got this thing about people telling her what she can and can't do."

Sam snorted.

"I trust you, of all people, understand."

Hayley laughed too.

That was when Sam's phone pinged.

"Davina!" He cheered.

Marcel tensed, "She letting up where she is yet?"

"No..." Sam sighed, "She says she's safe."

"She's with Kol Mikaelson," Marcel snapped, "She's anything but safe."

Davina was, in fact, with Kol.

She was in a motel room, putting her phone down to look at the broken mirror in front of her.

The Kandahar Root was in her hand, and she'd broken the glass to try and use representational magic to fix the ingredient. She couldn't just cast a spell on it, that would mess with its properties, but she could try and reverse the damage by changing her own damage.

"Venez Très Connu Cendre," Her voice was soft, "Venez Très Connu Cendre."

Kol appeared from the bathroom, damp hair as he buttoned up his shirt.

He watched her lift her hand up and place it on the glass, eyes closing.

The mirror was mending.

The plant root was not.

She kept her focus on chanting.

"Venez Très Connu Cendre."

Kol stepped close enough to whisper in her ear, "Still at it?"

She jumped, the mirror cracking again.

Her glare was automatically targeted at him as he leaned on the table next to her, far too close for comfort.

"I'm trying to repair the damage you did to my de-linking spell."

"Oh," He stepped away to give her space, eyes noticing the White Oak Stake on the table in front of her too.

She snatched it and walked into the wider space, "The only reason I'm still shacked up in this dump motel with you is for your freaky witch-encyclopedia brain."

"Okay," He smiled at the phrasing, "Well, here's a magical secret from the ancient legends of the Romani psychics."

She poked her head up slightly.

"Sleep, Davina," He flopped back onto one of the beds, "You've been awake for two days."

"Kind of hard to rest," She started tidying up other ingredients, "With an a-thousand-year-old psycho in the next bed."

"When you say it like that, I sound like a bit of a creeper."

MJ had called him that same title, but she'd also told him she thought he was more than that.

She'd used the term, then kissed him.

It had felt more like a starting point than a limitation on who he could be, which was what Davina's tone implied.

"Can you just stop?"

"Stop what, love?"

"Just – just – " She let out an angry noise, "Why do that? Why call me love?"

"It's just a friendly term," He put his hands up.

"Love is a friendly term?"

He rolled his eyes, "You are aware I've spent most of my life in a very different time period."

"Exactly, 'thousand-year-old psycho,'" She huffed, "Stop trying to be 'friendly.' Stop trying to be funny – and stop trying to manipulate me!"

"How am I manipulating you?"

He might've been earlier, but now the big secret was out; he didn't exactly have a reason to.

"I..." She hated herself a little bit, "Stop using me as your MJ fill-in."

A sore topic for her given her slight insecurities over her relationship with Sam connected to MJ.

"To imply you're an MJ fill-in," He sat up, "Would imply you're her."

Davina rubbed her arm.

"No one is Mira Jung Floare-Ruiz," He said each name clearly, "Thousand-Year-Old Psycho? A thousand years and I can say that with complete certainty."

She took a long breath in.

"I'm friendly because I want to be a friend Davina."

"You? Anyone with your last name? Friend?"

"Fine. Don't want to admit we could do great things together?" He shook his head, "That's a 'you' problem, Davina. Because we could."

He put his arms out.

"I can't share my secrets with you unless we trust each other."

"I don't care about your secrets, Kaleb – Kol," She looked like she might hit something, "I don't even know what to call you!"

"Kol Mikaelson," He said firmly, standing up, "I'm Kol Mikaelson. And you're a witch in a tough situation, meaning I'm exactly what you need if you want to take down Klaus without your friends dying."

There was a moment of silence as she started to consider his offer.

Before she could, Kol grabbed his arm, crying out in pain and rushing to grab the bed for support.

Davina was there on instinct, looking at his forearm.

Norse runes burned into his skin.

"What's happening?" She ran her hand over the triskelion at the top of them.

"That's Mother Dearest," Kol groaned, "Calling me home."