AN: I can't believe it took me two damn years to finish this thing. It's ridiculous. This shouldn't have taken me two years to update, but what can you do when your muse abandons ship? I apologize for the long ass wait. I usually go without updating for a few months at the most, not two years. Most of you probably thought I abandoned this story, but I made a promise when I started writing to never abandon my fics. Yeah I might get a little sidetracked or my muse might abandon me, but I promise I eventually finish all my stories. Eternal and Where the Wild Things Are are the only works in progress I have left so once I have some down time I'll get back to those asap.

I'm pretty sure the anticipation of Glee's 100th episode is what's got my creative juices flowing. You guys have no idea how excited I am for it. Like seriously. I mean, Quinn's back (Yay!), there's going to be an Unholy Trinity/Britney Spears number (I can't even...) and a QUICK DUET.

Do you all know how long I've waited for Quinn and Puck (My OTP) to sing a duet?

FIVE FREAKIN' SEASONS that's how long.

Needless to say I am a very, very happy camper right now. Even more so because the 100th episode just happens to be scheduled to air on my birthday (okay, well technically part 2 of it is or the 101st episode - whatever the hell they're calling it). Point is things are going good for me so far into this new year and I sincerely hope the same could be said for all of you!

Anyways, before I further embarrass myself, please Read. Enjoy. Review!

"Do you really think this is going to work?" Damon inquires, taking his eyes off the road to glance back at Quinn.

She turns her attention away from the window and shrugs. "It's the only plan we have so far. It has to work."

"But how do we even know that the little witch knows how to open up the tomb?" he wonders, brow furrowed skeptically.

"We don't." she sighs, shaking her head wearily. She leans back in her seat, her gaze flickering to him. "But it doesn't hurt in asking, right?"

"Even if she did know how to open up that tomb - which I highly doubt she does -what makes you think that she would be willing to help us? I mean she hates us."

Quinn scoffs and shoots him a pointed look. "Correction: she hates you, Damon. You're the one who attacked her after all. While I saved her." she reminds, smirking slightly.

Damon rolls his eyes, already shaking his head. "That doesn't matter. She's a witch. A Bennett witch at that and they hate vampires."

Quinn considers this for a moment before responding with, "We just have to explain to her how dangerous Katherine is and the threat she could pose to everyone, not just us." she says simply.

"That sounds awfully optimistic, Blondie." Damon scoffs. "But even if we do manage to get that tomb open, how do you expect us to get Katherine in it? I hardly doubt she'll be willing to walk in there on her own."

Quinn rolls her eyes for a second then replies. "That's where Stefan comes in. Though how he intends to get Katherine to Mystic Falls I don't know." she continues, answering his unspoken question. "He just said he'd take care of it."

"Speaking of which, you two still on the outs?" he inquires curiously, glancing back at her expectantly. Quinn turns away, opting to focus her attention on the open road instead.

"Damn. And I had so thought you were going to last forever." When Quinn turns to glare at him, she finds Damon shaking his head in mock disappointment. "That's what you get for getting married at seventeen."he sighs, tsking knowingly.

"Could you just shut up and keep driving?" Quinn snaps irritably, shooting him a scathing glance before reaching over and turning up the volume on the radio.

Damon chuckles to himself, finding her hostility more amusing than anything. "Hey, don't take your anger out on me. Save that for my little brother."

"I knew I should've done this on my own." she mutters to herself, falling back against her seat and exhaling deeply. "It would've been so much easier…"

His brow furrows for a moment as he turns to regard her questioningly. "Yeah, why did you invite me to tag along on your little mission anyways?"

"Because I need your help unfortunately." she retorts.

"Is that the only reason you asked me?" he smirks, one eyebrow raised suggestively.

"Yes." she nods, turning her head and rolling her eyes at him. "Now get that look out of your eyes, I'm still married to your brother."

"For now." he returns, his gaze falling back to the road ahead of them.

—

"You want me to do what?" Bonnie Bennett stares at them like they've each grown an extra set of heads.

Quinn sighs. "Look, Katherine is-"

"An manipulative psycho slut vampire." Damon interrupts, cutting her off completely.

"She's the one who turned Stefan and Damon." Quinn continues, ignoring Damon. "She's incredibly dangerous and has no regard for human life. She killed my two best friends out of spite and now they're vampires because of her. She won't stop until she gets what she wants."

"Which is Stefan." Bonnie clarifies.

"Yeah." Quinn says with a reluctant nod. "She wants him and will do whatever she can to torment us until she gets her way. Which is why we have to stop her. "

"Something we can only do with your help." Damon sighs, sounding annoyed. "So can you open the tomb or not?"

Bonnie fumbles with a response for a second. "I don't know." she replies, raising her shoulders uncertainly. "What you want me to do sounds really advanced and I've only dabbled here and there…"

"See I told you!" Damon exclaims to Quinn, frustrated.

Quinn shakes her head at him before quickly looking to Bonnie. "Bonnie, please. We're begging you." She holds up her hand to Damon's face when he opens his mouth to object. "You're the only one who can help us. If Katherine's left to her own devices God only knows what destruction she'll bring about. Believe me if we had any other options we wouldn't be asking this of you but we don't."

Damon stares curiously at Bonnie out of the corner of his eye to see if Quinn's little plea was getting them anywhere with the Bennett witch.

Bonnie keeps silent for the longest time, her lips pursed in thought. "My grandmother's a witch," she starts quietly, "If she helped me with the spell I'm sure we could open the tomb together." She lifts her gaze and meets Quinn's excited gaze with a faint smile.

"So you'll help us?" Quinn has to clarify.

Bonnie nods. "Yeah, I will. But as for my grams." Bonnie gives a small shrug. "I can't do this without her and if she doesn't agree to help…"

"Not Sheila." Damon whines, throwing his head back with a groan. "She hates me."

Quinn shakes her head, sighing heavily. "Why doesn't that surprise me?" She turns toward Damon with a pointed stare. "You are not coming with me to talk to Bonnie's grandmother. We need her to agree to help and our chances of that happening are much better if you're not there being, well you."

"Fine with me." he scoffs, already poised to leave. "I'd rather grab a drink anyways." he says, gesturing to the Mystic Grill across the street. "Call me when you've sealed the deal, Blondie."

—

Stefan idly taps his fingers against the table, waiting patiently by himself in a diner on outskirts of town. It's the middle of the afternoon so the place is somewhat bustling with lunchtime patrons. His gaze flickers down to his phone for a brief second and when he lifts his head he finds Katherine sitting down on the opposite side of the booth.

"Katherine." he acknowledges, sliding his phone back in his pocket. "I have to say I was beginning to think you might not show."

"Wasn't going to." she replies, glancing around and making a face of distaste. "And now I'm wishing I hadn't. Why on earth did you ask me to meet you here at this dive? I can practically feel the stench of grease latching onto my clothing as I speak."

Scoffing slightly, he reminds, "This is Ohio. You really expect there to be any better?" He questions, eyebrow quirked. "Anyhow this was the only place I knew of that I wouldn't have to worry about running into Quinn or any of her friends. Anyone of them sees me out with another girl and they'll lose their heads. Then try to remove mine."

"Ah yes, Santana told me about that. Trouble in paradise for the newlyweds." Stefan's lips twitch slightly when Katherine feigns a sympathetic expression. "I'd say I'm sorry but I'm not." she smirks.

"Neither am I." he responds, briefly waving his - bare - left hand. "That's why I brought you here."

"A married man who no longer wears his wedding band." Katherine remarks, glancing at his hand before leaning back in her seat with slight intrigue. "Now I can't imagine where this is going."

"We made a mistake." Stefan starts, picking up the signed papers he had sitting next to him and putting them on the table, sliding them over to Katherine.

Katherine takes one glance at them before her gaze flickers upward. "Divorce papers?" she questions, brow arched.

He nods. "The only reason I married Quinn was because at the time she was dying of cancer. Her last wish was to be married in the church that her parents had been and what can I say, I wanted to fulfill that wish." he explains with a shrug. "Then she goes and decides she doesn't want to die and asks me to turn her. I saw no harm in it so I did."

"But…" she begins, knowing it was coming.

"But…I'm over a century old and she's only seventeen." he responds. "Granted she's beautiful but it takes more than physical attraction to make a marriage work. Don't get me wrong I care about Quinn, but we had no right to get married. She's so young and I was…delusional. I thought starting a future with her could help me to forget my past…" he drifts off for a moment, shaking his head. "You being here just reminded me that you can never truly escape your past. It was never going to work out between us." he sighs. "We both want different things."

"And what do you want Stefan?" Katherine inquires, gazing at him curiously.

Stefan shakes his head. "Not this." he replies, gesturing around them. "Not a life in some dull as dirt small town in the middle of Ohio. I don't want to spend my days finishing up high school, pretending like I care about her friends or their glee club. I'm a hundred and sixty-two for god's sake." he says quietly, leaning forward.

Katherine studies him through narrowed eyes before bringing up casually, "You know Stefan not too long ago you were practically processing your undying love for her to me at prom. Now you expect me to just believe that you two are done? Just like that?"

"Aren't you the one who told me to dump her ass, divorce her, get rid of her?" he returns, brow raised.

"I didn't think you'd actually do it." Katherine scoffs, amused. "That would take the fun out of things, Stefan."

"Well sorry to ruin your fun Katherine but what's done is done." he says sarcastically. "I can't go on living a lie. I've been doing that my entire vampire existence ever since I-" He stops himself, shaking his head. "Never mind."

"Ever since you what?" She can't help but ask, curious.

"Ever since I lost you." he admits quietly, lifting his gaze to meet hers. Katherine's expression flickers. "The only reason I turned off my humanity in the first place was because I couldn't handle the grief that came from not being able to save you."

Tentatively, he reaches out and places a hand over hers, his thumb starting to caress the back of her hand as he continues. "Whether you believe me or not, I still care about you Katherine. I tried to deny my feelings because I resented you for what you did, turning me into a vampire and faking your death, but you're my first love." he says earnestly, holding her gaze. "And first loves don't go away that easily. If they did you and I wouldn't be here."

"It's always been you, Stefan." Katherine whispers, her guarded expression faltering into that of a sincere one. One which reminded Stefan a great deal of the Katherine he knew when he was human all those years ago. "Always."

Stefan slowly leans forward across the table, his eyes searching hers as their faces draw nearer to one another. Their lips barely brush one another's before two hands come up from behind Katherine and grab her head, effectively snapping her neck. Her head drops against the table with a dull thud at which time Stefan lifts his gaze to find Lexi, kneeling on the seat behind Katherine's, smiling cheekily at him. "Someone order a bitch a la carte?"

Grinning, Stefan quickly gets out of his seat, knowing they had to act fast before Katherine awoke. "How did no one see that?" He can't help but wonder, glancing around at the unsuspecting diner as Lexi pulls Katherine's lifeless body out of the booth and hoists the girl over her shoulder.

"Compelled everyone in this joint not to pay us any attention." Lexi responds shortly, moving sideways through the doorway. Stefan jogs ahead of her and opens the back door of his car, where then Lexi tosses Katherine in like garbage man would a trash bag. As Stefan rounds the car to the driver's side Lexi slides in the back with Katherine.

"You brought the vervain?"

Lexi nods from the back seat. "Yep." To prove it she grabs Katherine by the hair and raises one of the vervain syringes she had brought with her and unceremoniously jabs it into Katherine's neck. She repeats this with two more vervain syringes. With Katherine one could never be too careful.

Lexi shoves the unconscious Katherine aside and props her boots up on the seat divider, leaning back against her seat. "Now put the pedal to the medal lover boy and crank up the Bon Jovi." she demands with a glib smile, her hands coming up to rest behind her head. "We gotta long drive ahead of us."

—

Some hours later Stefan finds himself rocking out to You Give Love a Bad Name like it was 1986 all over again. Lifting his gaze to the rearview mirror, he grins at the sight of Lexi doing the same, hair whipping, head thrashing along to the guitar solo.

"Hey," she says suddenly, prompting him to lower the volume on the radio, "This number's been calling for a while." Stefan glances over his shoulder realizing she had Katherine's buzzing phone in her grasp. "Should I answer it?"

"Not unless you can do a spot on Katherine Pierce impersonation." he responds, taking the phone for a second to glance at the unfamiliar number before handing it back. "Just ignore it. How's Katherine?"

Lexi takes a look back at the body beginning to stir at her feet and without hesitation, picks Katherine's head up, giving it another harsh twist, snapping her neck for what seemed like the hundredth time since they hit the road. "She's all good."

Katherine's body slumps back to the floor and Lexi resumes her previous reclined position, smiling satisfactorily. "You'd think by now doing that would get old. But it doesn't." she chuckles. She taps Stefan's arm with her boot, gesturing for him to turn the music back up. "C'mon, Jeeves. Crank up the tunes."

Stefan shakes his head, smiling to himself, and reaches for the dial but before he can raise the volume, his phone starts buzzing on the passenger side seat. Assuming it was Damon with news on the Bennett witch, he reaches for his phone quickly and puts it up to his ear. "Damon?"

"Try again, Salvatore."

Brow furrowing at the unfamiliar voice, Stefan take a quick glance at the screen to see that the number he was talking to was the same number that had been calling Katherine all afternoon. "Who is this?" he questions, pressing the phone back against his ear.

"An acquaintance of Katherine's." the male voice responds. "She informed us that she was going to meet you Salvatore and said if she wasn't back in an hour to make sure and collect should you decide to try anything against her."

Confused, he asks, "Collect what exactly?"

"Check your phone and find out." Stefan does so without hesitation and finds that the caller had sent him a video of what looked to be two hostages with pillowcases over their heads. "Could you get anymore cliché?" Lexi scoffs from over his shoulder. Stefan hushes her in time to see the captors pull the pillowcases over their heads to reveal Finn and Rachel.

"Bring us Katherine alive and we won't harm a hair on your friends' heads."

Stefan shares a quick look with Lexi before responding with a nod. "Alright. Where do we meet?"

—

"I cleared the debris away, set the torches like you asked." Quinn announces to Sheila and Bonnie, promptly emerging from the tomb under Fell's Church. "We can get down there now."

Bonnie nods and while she helps her grams down to the tomb, Quinn glances around the woods, eyes searching through the darkness.

"Looking for me, Blondie?"

Startled, Quinn whips around to find Damon standing right behind her. "Where have you been?" she demands, scowling at the sight of his ever-present smirk playing across his lips.

"Got a little held up at the Grill." he shrugs, amused. When Quinn shakes her head, Damon turns back to the church ruins. "Witches down there already?" he figures.

Quinn nods and quickly goes after him when he sets out to join the Bennett witches down under the church. "Wait, Damon-"

Before she can remind him to behave in the presence of the witches (particularly Sheila's) Damon joins them down in the tomb. "Hi there." He greets the elder witch with a quick smile before meeting Bonnie's gaze with a smirk. "Hello again, Bonnie."

"Damon…" Quinn shoots him a warning glance.

"Make no mistake, Mr. Salvatore, you are no friend to us." Shelia begins, giving Damon a hard look. "The only reason we are here is because your companion here made a compelling case."

Quinn can't help but smile proudly when Damon glances back at her. "See? And you doubted my skills of persuasion."

"Let's just get this over with, shall we? We will open the tomb. You will throw in Katherine. Then this will all be over."

"And how exactly do you guys plan on getting a five-hundred year old vampire down here?" Bonnie inquires, dubious.

"Stefan's on it." Quinn responds in a reassuring tone. Bonnie nods at this and turns back to help her grandmother prepare for the incantation. Damon meanwhile shoots her a look that basically reads, He better be.

—

Stefan sighs. "Should've known that Katherine had more minions working for her." he murmurs, trekking through the woods of Mystic Falls alongside Lexi, who had Katherine draped over her shoulder.

"Don't worry about it." Lexi says easily, untroubled. "She probably hired the first goons she could find off the street. Probably aren't even a century old yet. We can take them no problem."

Stefan still looks doubtful. "Regardless we should probably inform Damon and Quinn about what's transpired. If we can't get Finn and Rachel back and keep Katherine we're going to run into problems. And even more so if Katherine wakes up and we're not able to sedate her."

"I've been injecting her with vervain every half hour since we left the diner." Lexi reminds. "Even if she does happen to wake up while we're taking care of her goons, she'll be too weak to do anything about it."

"I wouldn't underestimate Katherine if I were you, Lexi." Stefan advises seriously, stopping short when he suddenly picks up on the other presences close by. "Sense that?"

Lexi nods, turning around in a slow circle. "Three by the sounds of it. Should be easy enough." she says, shrugging Katherine off her shoulder and letting her lifeless heap fall to the ground at her feet. "Let's do this."

Stefan and Lexi turn their heads to the side at the sound of crunching leaves and twigs, poised for a fight, only to be met with gunfire. Before they can even think to react, their bodies are riddled with wooden bullets, the two of them dropping to the ground with a dull thud.

One of Katherine's minions takes a cautious step forward before giving a curt nod to the others. "Take them to the cellar." he orders, watching as the two grab a hold of Stefan and Lexi before reverting his attention to Katherine and dutifully scooping her up in his arms.

—

Back at the tomb, Sheila and Bonnie are in the middle of reciting the incantation required to open the tomb when Quinn and Damon pick up on the distant sound of gunshots being fired. Both their heads snap toward the entrance before glancing back at one another. "Stefan and Lexi have run into trouble." Damon presumes, heaving a sigh. "Figures." He rolls his eyes, exasperated before heading toward the entrance. "You stay here and protect the witches, make sure they get that tomb open."

Quinn shakes her head and grabs a hold of his arm, preventing him from leaving. "No, you stay. I'll go."

"I'm older therefore stronger than you are, Quinn." Damon reminds, his tone teetering on impatient. "If anyone's going to be playing the rescue ranger it's gonna to be me. Besides Stefan would kill me if something happened to you."

"Nothing's going to happen to me, Damon." Quinn promises definitely. "Trust me."

Damon pauses and takes her in for a quiet second, his steely blue eyes narrowing suspiciously. "What are you up to, Blondie?"

"Just trust me, Damon." Quinn says again with a small quirk of her lips before blurring out of the tomb.

—

Quinn rushes through the woods at top speed, tracking the scents of Stefan and Lexi she had picked up some miles back. She brings herself to a halt when comes to the end of the trail, their scents leading to what looks to be old property remains. Glancing around, she takes a cautious step toward the descending stairwell that led underground. But before she walks down it, her body stiffens in response to the presence behind her. She turns around slowly unsurprised to find Katherine standing right behind her.

"Katherine." she acknowledges, smirking slightly. "Have a nice nap?"

"I've been ingesting vervain for centuries building up an immunity to it so those vervain injections didn't really have their intended effect." Katherine informs her, unamused. "However having my neck snapped repeatedly by that wench Lexi is another story so kudos on that. You successfully got me to Mystic Falls. Now the burning question is: why?" Blurring forward, Katherine slams Quinn into the nearest tree, nails digging into her skin, fingers crushing her neck. "Now what pray tell are you and your little Scooby gang plotting? Hmm?"

"What do you think?" Quinn scoffs, teeth clenching as Katherine proceeded to crush her windpipe. Wincing, her eyes shut painfully tight.

"Katherine!" Quinn's eyes flash open and over Katherine's shoulder she can make out two guys -vampires - poised to attack with their firearms.

Katherine hisses, frustrated, and glances back at them over her shoulder, her grip on Quinn slightly slacking. Quinn tries to pry the girl's hand off her but Katherine just slams her back against the tree with more force. "I thought I told you two morons to stay in the cellar!"

"We heard the commotion -" The vampire's words are cut off by the sudden force that comes crashing down onto his shoulders, tearing his head clean off like a Barbie doll.

"Cavalry's arrived." Santana announces triumphantly hopping off the headless corpse before it falls to the ground - beside her Brittany does the same.

"What the-?"

Taking advantage of the momentary distraction, Quinn pries Katherine's hand from around her neck and sends her flying into another tree. Unsurprisingly Katherine recovers quickly. "Well well well." she drawls, pushing herself upright with a forced smile. "If it isn't tweedle dee and tweedle dum."

"Three against one, Katherine." Santana smirks, folding her arms across her chest as Quinn joins her and Brittany.

Katherine casts them a disbelieving glance. "You really think I can't take all three of you?" she scoffs. "Combined you three aren't even a full year old. I'm over five hundred years old."

"What we lack in age we make up in awesomeness." Santana retorts, unintimidated. "We're the Unholy Trinity you dumb psychotic bitch. We get shit done."

Amused more than anything, Katherine raises her shoulders. "Fine. It's your funerals." Without further warning she lunges for the three of them - well, Quinn specifically (for obvious reasons) - and goes for the kill.

Completely prepared for her attack, they meet her head on with their own strategy. The Unholy Trinity may not have much vampire fighting experience (though Lexi has given them a crash course in the past) but having been cheerleaders since middle school, they know a thing or two about working as a team. Something which they think is going to come in very handy when dealing with one Katherine Pierce.

While Katherine lunges for Quinn, Santana sweeps her legs out from underneath her and Brittany slams her on the ground. Before Quinn can get in on the action, Katherine gets back to her feet and effortlessly launches Brittany out of her path, sending her flying into the trees. Santana snarls at this, her vamp face coming on, and grabs Katherine's wrist, twisting her arm while Quinn delivers a powerful blow to Katherine's jaw.

The four of them are nothing but blurs whirling around the area, moving and fighting at a speed that no human could even begin to keep pace with. Though the Unholy Trinity had the advantage in numbers, Katherine had the advantage in strength and was easily combating every punch, kick, and face claw (Santana gets her nails done every week for a reason) they threw her way. Fortunately they are not easily deterred by this.

Quinn grunts when she's forcefully thrown and lands on her shoulder. She quickly staggers back to her feet and shoves her shoulder against the tree closest to her, popping it back into place. Brittany jumps on Katherine's back from behind but the older vampire simply throws her forward. Santana takes this opportunity to ram her head into Katherine's stomach, sending her flying back onto the ground. "That always was my go-to move as a kid." Santana grins, whipping out a stake out of her pocket and pouncing on Katherine.

Katherine quickly rolls over and gets to her feet, sending a devastating kick to Santana's stomach. Brittany picks up the stake Santana had dropped and tosses it to Quinn, who had just come up behind Katherine and slammed her back into the ground. Quinn manages to get her in the shoulder with the stake before Katherine pushes her legs up and sends her crashing into Santana. Katherine pushes herself upright and yanks the stake out of her shoulder. "Not my heart, sweetheart." she mocks, waving the stake tauntingly.

"Wasn't aiming for your heart, sweetheart." Quinn responds in the same tone, helping Santana to her feet.

Katherine chokes on a gasp suddenly, her eyes going wide as her hand flew to the sight of her already healing wound. "What-?"

"Turns out witchy grandmas have a ton of awesome tricks up their sleeves." Santana smirks, brushing herself off and letting her hands fall to her hips. "All you had to do was touch it." she says, gesturing to the stake.

Katherine, still choking and violently gasping for air, drops to her knees before falling into an unconscious heap on the ground.

"The almighty Katherine Pierce taken down by three cheerleaders." Santana scoffs, the three of them circling around her body.

"Ex-cheerleaders. Technically." Quinn corrects, glancing back at her.

"What do we do now?" Brittany inquires, brow furrowed.

"Make sure Stefan and Lexi are okay." Quinn begins, pointing over to the stairwell leading to the underground cellar.

"Where are you going?" Santana wonders.

"To deliver a present to Damon." Quinn responds, nodding back to the lifeless Katherine. "Meet us at Fell's Church. Stefan will know where it is."

Santana and Brittany nod, obediently blurring over to the cellar while Quinn grabs a hold of Katherine and throws her over her shoulder, then taking off in the opposite direction.

—

Katherine awakens some time later, disorientated and confused by the unfamiliar surroundings she found herself with. Fumbling around in the darkness, she eventually catches a glimpse of a little light and instantly blurs toward it. Damon is the first one to greet her. "Hello, Katherine."

Brow furrowed, she asks groggily, "Where am I?"

"Where you should have been all along." Damon retorts coldly. She lunges forward only to be blocked by the seal preventing any vampire from leaving the tomb.

Glancing behind him, she glares at the three baby vampires who were responsible for putting her in here. "You should have killed me." she says roughly, sneering.

"Death would have been too kind."

"Payback's a bitch and so are you." Santana smirks, stepping forward and sauntering up to Katherine. "Here." She tosses an ipod with headphones into the tomb at Katherine's feet. "An ipod solely dedicated the vocal styling's of one Rachel Barbra Berry. Including her tour de force performance of Run Joey Run." she snickers. "Have fun in solitary confinement, Katherine."

"Goodbye, Katherine." Damon says one last time, lifting the tomb door slightly and proceeding to slide it across the entrance, despite Katherine's pleas not to.

"You can't do this!" she screams. "Damon, please. Don't. I promise I won't hurt anyone, I'll leave and never come back - please!"

Damon ignores her and closes the tomb completely, leaving Katherine to pound her fists in rage on the other side of the door, screaming and cursing them to hell and back.

Damon steps back from the door, his gaze lingering, before turning around and exhaling wearily. "I need a drink."

"Can't believe it's finally over." Quinn murmurs, sharing a glance with Santana and Brittany.

"I can." Santana scoffs, uncrossing her arms and following Damon out of the tomb. "That bitch never stood a chance against all of us."

"We were like the Justice League." Brittany agrees, smiling happily. "Only better looking."

Reaching the top of the stairwell, Quinn looks around and immediately sighs in relief when Stefan comes jogging over to them. "Stefan." She runs over to him without hesitation and jumps into his arms, then quickly pulls back when she feels him wince. "Sorry," she apologizes, realizing he might not be completely healed from the wounds Katherine's goons inflicted.

"I took Bonnie and Sheila home." he begins, taking notice of Damon's questioning glance when he saw that the Bennett witches were nowhere to be found. "Lexi's fine." he states, turning back to Quinn. "She has Finn and Rachel-"

"Finn and Rachel?" Quinn repeats, eyes going wide with concern. "What are they doing here? Are they okay?"

Stefan nods assuredly. "They're fine. Katherine had her suspicions of me asking to meet up so she had them kidnapped as leverage just incase anything happened to her. Don't worry, Lexi's going to compel them to forget this whole ordeal ever happened when she returns them to Lima."

Quinn relaxes slightly, then after sharing another relieved look with Stefan, wraps her arms back around him. "Thank God you're alright." she breathes, hugging him tightly. "When I heard the gunshots…"

"It's okay, I'm fine." he soothes, pressing a kiss to her lips. "Just need to get a little more blood in me and I'll be back to normal." He rests his forehead against hers and Quinn closes her eyes in response, reveling in the feeling of having Stefan here in her arms and knowing Katherine was locked away in a tomb she had no chances of escaping from.

"Here." She finally pulls away after a few blessed moments and Stefan watches with curiosity as she pulls her necklace out from under her shirt, where his wedding band hung from the chain.

"Thank you for keeping it safe." he says with a genuinely affectionate smile, as she unclasps the chain and slides the ring off, handing it back to him. He slips the band on his third finger and wiggles his fingers a little, lips quirking at the sight of it.

They share another kiss, this one slower, deeper. From behind them Santana makes a disgusted noise and with a sigh, they reluctantly pull apart to shoot her a look. The Latina just rolls her eyes at them while Brittany looks on with a cheery smile.

"So, Damon," Quinn leans into Stefan's side while he addresses his brother, who to her surprise, was still hanging around. She would have thought for sure he would have left already to celebrate on his own. "What's the game plan now? You gonna come back to Lima with us?"

Damon ponders this for a moment before shaking his head. "Nah. I think I'll, I don't know, stay around here for a little while longer." he responds, glancing around.

Stefan's brow furrows skeptically. "Really?"

"Girls here are a lot cuter than they were in 1864." Damon nods allusively, smiling knowingly.

Quinn purses her lips together, frowning. "Damon," she warns, stepping forward. "The only reason I was able to get Bonnie's grandmother to agree to help was if I promised her you would leave town when this was all over. She knows about you harassing Bonnie."

"Well not my problem, Blondie." Damon shrugs indifferently. "You shouldn't make promises you can't keep." He leans into her, his penetrating gaze holding hers. "I'm staying in Mystic Falls. So deal with it."

"Damon -" Stefan begins, only to get cut off.

"Relax you two would ya?" Damon huffs, annoyed. "I'm not gonna go on a killing spree or harass the little Bennett witch anymore. I have more important things on my mind."

Quinn's brow quirks warily. "Like?"

Damon smirks. "That is for me to know and for you to dot dot dot…"

Quinn quietly regards him for a moment, a telltale smirk slowly making its way across her lips. "It's a girl, isn't it?" Her eyes narrow playfully. "Is she the reason you spent all your time at the Mystic Grill today?" she teases.

Damon's smirk falters for a second before he scoffs, shaking her off. "That's ridiculous."

Quinn rolls her eyes. "Please, Damon. I may be a blonde but I'm dumb. There was a little extra sparkle in your eyes when you came to the tomb earlier that certainly wasn't there when you left for the Grill."

Damon snorts. "That so-called sparkle was due to my immense enthusiasm that came from the prospect of finally getting back at Katherine." he promptly informs her, shaking his head at her.

"Whatever, Damon." Quinn shrugs, still smiling to herself. "Just try not to kill the poor girl, would you?" Turning, she gestures to Santana and Brittany, "Come on, let's go home."

"It's about freakin' time." Santana scoffs, eagerly pushing herself off the boulder she'd been sitting on.

"Bye ladies." Damon waves.

Santana simply flips him the bird over her shoulder while Brittany waves back at him brightly and says in return, "Bye, Damon!"

Stefan lingers back while the girls go ahead of him and turns around to face Damon. Sighing, Damon crosses over to his brother, lessening the distance between them.

"If you ever want to meet up again," Stefan holds a hand out, "you have my number. And Quinn's."

"Likewise, brother." Damon nods, jutting out his hand and shaking Stefan's firmly.

"Try not to get in any trouble." Stefan grins, reaching for him and pulling him in for a one-armed hug that has him clapping Damon's back hard with affection.

"Oh you know I will." Damon smirks, responding in kind before pulling away. He walks back into the woods with one last wave over his shoulder before disappearing from sight.

—

About a month later…

Stefan exits the elevator and walks down the carpeted hallway, pocketing a white envelope in his blazer as he goes. He isn't even near the room yet but with his heightened sense of hearing, he picks up on the screaming and yelling from across the hall. Alarmed, he rushes over to the door, opening it with ease (he isn't sure if he had been locked or not) and skids to a halt at the sight he's met with.

He knew Santana was upset about the New Directions placing 12th at Nationals but he didn't think things would come down to this.

"Escucha! Soy de Lima Heights Adjacents y yo tengo orgullo! Sabes lo que pasa en Lima Heights Adjacents? Cosas Malas!" Santana, struggling against Brittany and Quinn's hold like a caged panther - or enraged vampire - lunges for Rachel Berry with murderous eyes.

Lexi, who had come to New York to show her support, sits on the edge of one of the beds, video recording the whole spectacle on her phone with an entertained grin. "This is great. Just great."

"Santana knock it off." Quinn huffs, roughly yanking the Latina back while she continues to chew out Rachel for ruining their chances of winning thanks to her onstage smooch with Finn.

"You know you guys still have next year to try again." he says to Santana directly.

"This freakin' sucks." Santana growls out, yanking her arm out of Quinn's grasp. "I work my ass off and for what? For twelfth freakin' place! No me gusta!"

Rolling her eyes, Quinn turns to Brittany. "Britt why don't you take Santana down to the lobby to cool down?"

Brittany nods agreeingly and takes the still grumbling Santana's hand, tugging the other girl toward the door.

Quinn plops down on the edge of one of the beds and heaves a sigh before glancing back up at Stefan, brow furrowed. "Where'd you disappear off to?"

Wordlessly, Stefan pulls the envelope from out of his blazer pocket, holds it up for a second before handing it over to an unsuspecting Rachel.

Rachel looks at him, confused, and warily takes the envelope. "What is it?" she questions, frowning deeply.

"Open it and find out." Stefan smiles, stuffing his hands in his pockets in an anticipatory manner.

Rachel does so and Quinn watches, bemused, as the shorter girl's eyes tripled in size upon examining the envelope's contents. An ear shattering scream follows, effectively startling the two blondes on the bed. Quinn pushes herself upright and asks curiously, "What is it?"

"Stefan got us all tickets to see Wicked!" Rachel shrieks, her eyes alight like fireworks on the fourth of July. Without warning she spins around and all but pounces on Stefan in her excitement, kissing him full on the lips.

Brow quirking, Quinn blurs over to the pair and effortlessly pries the brunette off of Stefan before she can realize what she was doing. "Uh, Rachel." She clears her throat and says calmly, "Please don't kiss my husband."

"Ohmygod, I'm so sorry Quinn." Rachel apologizes, wide-eyed and flustered. "I don't know what happened."

"I know what happened. You kissed my husband."

Rachel balks at the look the blonde was giving her, it bringing her back to Quinn's old HBIC days. Quinn notices this and grins. "I'm only messing with you, Rachel." she laughs, wrapping her arm around Rachel's shoulders goodheartedly. "But seriously, don't ever do that again." she adds quietly, her smile fading.

Rachel exhales deeply and nods, chuckling slightly. "I'm going to go tell the others." she says quickly, still bouncing with excitement. "Kurt oh my god he's going to lose his mind! Thank you so much, Stefan!" She beams, turning to Stefan. "What better way to end our trip than with trip to see one of the greatest Broadway musicals of all time?"

"How about with a Nationals championship?" Lexi quips, earning a hard stare from Rachel. Turning around in a huff, she storms out of the room in true Rachel Berry form.

Lexi rolls her eyes and reluctantly pushes herself off of the bed. "I'm gonna go check on the Wonder Twins. Make sure Santana's not biting the heads off the people in lobby."

Stefan and Quinn wait for her to leave the room before turning back to one another. "Thank you for the tickets." Quinn says gratefully, stepping forward and wrapping her arms his neck.

"It was nothing." he shrugs, his hands automatically moving to her waist. "You guys deserve it. You did really well today. I'm proud." Placing a tender kiss to her forehead, he then takes her hand and beckons her to follow him.

"I'm proud of us too." Quinn responds with a nod, closing the hotel room door behind her on their way out. "Even though we didn't place we still gave it our all. We've come a long way since our third place finish at last year's regionals."

Stefan nods, leaning into her as she wraps her arm around his. Together they walk in a contented silence down the hallway toward the elevator. They ride up to the very top of the hotel and walk out onto the rooftop. Quinn unlinks their arms and skips forward, spinning around and inhaling the cool air. Stefan smiles at the sight and follows her over to the edge. He comes up beside her and peers over the side with her, the two of them instantly catching sight of Santana and Lexi arguing down below by the hot dog vendor.

Shaking his head, he pulls back and sits down on the ledge with Quinn, their feet dangling in the air together. Quinn leans into his side, resting her head against his shoulder as they watch the sun start its slow descent down into the earth, the fading light projecting various shades of orange and some purple in the sky above them.

"You ever think you'd be here?" he wonders, staring out ahead at the myriad of skyscrapers that made up New York City.

"No." She shakes her head against her shoulder. "At the start of the school I didn't expect to make it to Christmas let alone to Nationals six months later."

He turns his head down to see her. "I don't think I've properly thanked you." he begins, prompting her to turn her head questioningly. He smiles at this and elaborates. "Because of you I was able to turn my humanity back on, because of you I mended my relationship with my brother - well to an extent," he chuckles. "You helped me get rid of my psycho ex…" He strokes her hair and kisses her forehead, his eyes meeting hers. "Thank you, Quinn. For helping me, for choosing me. For always being there for me. I honestly don't know where I'd be without you."

"Probably in some small town massacring its inhabitants." she says easily, smiling teasingly.

"You joke but it's true. That's probably exactly what I would be doing."

Quinn shakes her head and touches his chin, forcing him to meet her gaze and silently willing him to not think about the what ifs. "Thank you." he says with grateful sigh, lightly bumping his nose with hers.

"No, thank you." she says softly, lifting her gaze to his. "If it wasn't for you, Stefan Salvatore, I would not be standing here - well, sitting technically - today. You gave me a second chance at life, something I will always be eternally grateful for."

"You did the same for me, Slim." he murmurs as his mouth closes over hers, the last of the sunlight fading into the horizon as they embrace.

AN: I always say this but it's true, I'm horrible at endings. Gah. Whatever. I'll probably come back to it and fix it when something better comes to me.

Anyways, thank you all for reading, reviewing, favoriting, alerting this story - all the support means a lot to me!

Thanks again for reading!