08. Fade Into You

"Happy thanksgiving people!" Aria yelled, entering the living room of her dorm building.

"For someone who just got out of the hospital, you sure are energetic" Rebekah laughed, placing Asher into his booster seat by the table and next to his siblings.

"I am absolutely fine" Aria assured, "And cheer up Beks, it's the triplets first thanksgiving, today is  a day full of celebration, nothing can go wrong".

"Except the fact Damon might murder Noah, who I still don't get why you invited" Caroline said, entering the room, very pregnant.

"Many reasons" Aria said, kissing Mia's cheeks, who started giggling.

"Name one" Caroline challenged, smiling at Mia.

"Number one, it's bloody thanksgiving and Noah was going to celebrate it all alone" Aria said, "And number two, Damon and Noah know each other, and from the way Damon was talking about him once I woke up, it was obvious he doesn't trust him, which makes think maybe Noah doesn't trust Damon either, and I trust both of them, so both of them need to come face to face and talk and realise both of them are trustworthy".

"Hey guys" Alaric greeted, as him and Jo entered the room.

"Finally" Aria said, "Jo, please say you brought the turkey".

"I brought the turkey" Jo assured.

"Oh thank god" Aria said, "You're a life saver".

"Alright, who are waiting on?" Rebekah asked.

"Damon, Nik, Elijah, Finn, Kol, Noah, Luke and Liv" Aria listed.

"Wait what happened to April and Jeremy?" Caroline asked confused.

"They are cleaning up the whole Tripp mess back home" Aria replied, "And Mom can't come either because she has to work".

"Ugh, my feet hurt" Caroline complained, making everyone laugh.

"Then sit down" Rebekah said, "The party is going to start soon".

"I love holidays!" Aria said, putting her arm around Rebekah's shoulder, making her laugh.

***

"I brought the stuffing" Liv announced, as she entered the room.

"I'll take that" Jo said, taking the stuffing from Liv, and looking at her in confusion, she looked so familiar to her, "Hi, I'm Jo, you look--have we met before?".

"Liv and no" Liv replied, "But you're dating my Occult Studies professor, which I guess somehow earned you an invite to Thanksgiving dinner".

"Nice to meet you too" Jo said, slightly shocked with Liv's attitude.

"Liv!" Aria yelled, running over to the blonde girl and pulling her into a hug, "Happy thanksgiving!".

"Ow, Aria, my ear" Liv complained.

"Opps, sorry" Aria said, breaking the hug.

"Why are you so happy?" Liv asked, "Last I heard, you were in the hospital".

"Because it's thanksgiving, and Ri, loves holidays" Kol informed, entering the room.

"You're late" Aria said, hugging Kol.

"I had to get all the things Caroline demanded" Kol defended.

"Please tell me you got me peanut butter" Caroline said.

"Everything is in here" Kol assured, handing Caroline the bag.

"Oh thank god" Caroline said, grabbing the peanut butter jar from the bag.

"Wait, where's the others?" Aria asked Kol.

"Damon and Nik have gone to pick Elijah and Finn from the airport" Kol replied.

"They took a plane here?" Aria asked amused.

"Of course they did" Rebekah replied, "Have you meet those two?".

"Right" Aria whispered, she then turned to an amused Liv, "And where's your brother?".

"He's outside testing a new filter on his phone" Liv replied, "He's making me this stupid retrospective video for our birthday, twenty-two, go, us".

"I hope I'm not late" Noah said, entering the room.

"Noah" Aria smiled, "You're right on time".

"Is that the guy Damon has been complaining about?" Kol whispered to Rebekah.

"Yeap" Rebekah replied.

"I brought red wine" Noah said, "I wasn't sure what type of wine you liked and figured everyone likes red wine".

"Well, lucky for you, I like all and any type of alcohol" Aria teased, grabbing the bottle from him.

Noah chuckled, "That's nice to know" he said.

"I don't like him" Kol whispered, glaring at Noah.

"Why?" Rebekah asked.

"Because it's obvious he's interested in Aria" Caroline replied, eating her peanut butter.

"No, cause it's obvious he's shady" Kol retorted.

"Liar, liar" Caroline sang.

"Pants on fire" Rebekah continued, making Kol roll his eyes in annoyance at the two.

***

"All right" Caroline called out, once everyone had arrived, "If everyone could gather around the table at their assigned seats, then we will each share something that we are thankful for in a hundred words or less".

"Uh, anyone wanna see some embarrassing baby videos of Liv?" Luke asked.

"Oh, you know what, now would actually be an excellent time just to shut down anything with an on/off button" Caroline said.

"After this" Kol assured, as him, Enzo, Liv and Noah gathered around Luke, looking at baby videos of Liv.

"Oh, please, let the food get cold" Caroline snapped, "Whatever that is far more important".

"Yes, it is, gorgeous" Enzo said, making Caroline glare at him.

"Your pregnant girlfriend is about to lose it" Damon told Klaus.

"I'm going to make sure she doesn't" Klaus said, going over to Caroline, who was glaring at Luke, Enzo, Kol and Liv.

"Have they said their first words yet?" Elijah asked, carrying Mia, while Finn carried Alec, and Damon carried Asher.

"Not yet" Damon replied, "But Aria thinks they will soon".

"Let's hope it's a sensible word" Finn said.

"They are mine and Aria's kids, there's no way their first word is going be something sensible" Damon said, making the other two Originals chuckle in agreement.

Jo, Aria and Rebekah entered the room, more food in their hands, Jo looked at Luke's phone in confusion when she heard her voice coming from the video.

"What are you watching?" Jo asked curiously.

"I swear that sounds like you" Aria said, putting the food on the table.

"That's cause that is my voice" Jo realised, making the twins look at her in shock, "I took that video eighteen years ago at a birthday party for the twins".

"Oh, my god" Liv whispered, realisation crossing over her.

"Lucas and Olivia?" Jo asked, an hopeful expression on her face.

"Jo as in Josette?" Luke asked.

"What the bloody hell is going on?" Rebekah asked confused.

"I'm their sister" Jo revealed, shocking everyone.

"I'll be damned" Alaric whispered.

***

"So, if you don't know each other, then how did you all just happen to end up at the same tiny liberal-arts school?" Caroline asked confused.

"We had a family friend here" Jo revealed, "Sheila Bennett".

"Grams?" Aria asked shocked, "You knew Grams?".

"She took me under her wing" Jo replied, "She also helped my family put Kai away".

"Wait, Kai?" Klaus asked, "As in the Kai that helped my brother and Damon come back, that Kai?".

"As in our brother, my twin" Jo revealed.

"And it gets even more complicated, lovely" Kol said, taking a sip from the bottle of wine Noah had brought.

"So there's two sets of twins in your family?" Rebekah asked.

"Yeah, there were until my coven, sorry Aria's coven, put Kai in a prison world" Luke revealed.

"Now there's just Luke and me" Liv said.

"Kai killed four of our brothers and sisters to make a point" Jo explained, "But he was really targeting Lucas and Olivia".

"Why them?" Elijah asked confused.

"Because in our coven, twins are in line to be leaders" Jo replied.

"Like after me, it's supposed to be either Asher or Alec whose going to take my place, as both of them are older then Mia" Aria realised, exchanging a worried look with Damon.

"Yeap" Liv said, "Hence our lame-ass name Gemini".

"Kai wanted to be the leader" Jo said, "But that was impossible if Lucas and Olivia were alive, so I protected them with magic, which just pissed him off more, my brother was born without his own magic, he can only draw it from others, it made him feel like a freak, my parents saw him acting out, isolating himself, and they realised that he'd never be capable of leading our coven, so they kept having children until another set of twins were born, Kai figured it out and he snapped".

***

"He was a psychopath" Liv continued, "So they sent him away, Kai went to his prison, Jo dodged a bullet, and then the leadership fell on me and Luke, but that was before we found Aria".

"Meaning now instead of me and Liv having to merge together, once Alec and Asher turn twenty two, they will have to merge their strength" Luke informed, shocking everyone, "The stronger one will win, absorbing their twin's power, and the weaker of the two will--".

"Don't say it" Damon snapped, both him and Aria remember the travelers telling them their sons fate, "Don't even mention it".

"None of my sons are going to die" Aria stated, "They are tribrids, they are the first natural born tribrids, they won't die because a stupid rule in a coven, I won't let it happen".

"We" Damon corrected, "We won't let it happen".

Aria looked at Damon, and gave him a nod, both parents determined to make sure their kids don't go through the trauma they went through, they were going to have a better life then Aria and Damon had, and the two soulmates were going make sure of it.

***

After everyone let all the information set in, they finally decided to eat their thanksgiving dinner before Caroline lost it, while everyone was laughing and eating together, Jo suddenly started yelling in pain.

"Jo, you okay?" Aria asked, suddenly worried.

"Something's wrong" Jo replied, as her vision started getting blurry.

"What is it?" Rebekah asked, as Alaric steadied the former witch.

"I think my dad--", Jo fell to the floor, holding her head in pain, "My dad is trying to kill me".

"Dammit" Aria whispered, running over to Jo who suddenly started coughing out blood.

"We can't fight our father's magic" Luke said, worried for his oldest sister, "He's too strong for us".

"Well, he's not too strong for me" Aria said, kneeling beside Jo, who Alaric had now laid on the couch, "Jo, first I'm going to stop whatever your father is doing to you then heal you with my blood, okay?", Jo simply nodded.

Aria put her hands over Jo's heart and started chanting, suddenly visions started appearing in her head, she saw a house in Portland, and inside the house was an man who was chanting, a picture of young Jo burning infront of him. Aria's chant started getting louder and the lights around her started flickering, on the other side, Joshua Parker started yelling in pain when he left a witch fight his magic, not just any witch but a Connor witch.

"No!" Joshua yelled, when Aria eventually managed to stop his spell on Jo, and alongside that she managed to do a protection spell around Jo, stopping Joshua from attacking her again.

Aria gasped and opened her eyes again, she looked at Jo and realised though the magic on her had stopped, she was now unconscious, so Aria quickly bit into her wrist and made her drink her blood.

After a moment, Jo opened her eyes with a gasp, "You okay?" a worried Alaric asked.

"I'm fine" Jo replied, "What happened?".

"Aria just stopped dad's attack on you" Liv informed.

Jo looked at Aria and gave her a smile, "Thank you" she whispered.

"Anytime" Aria said, standing up.

"You okay?" Damon asked Aria, seeing the concerned look on her face.

Aria looked at Jo, then back at Damon, she gestured towards the hallway, not wanting Jo, Luke or Liv to hear this, Damon getting the hint, followed Aria into the hallway.

"What's wrong?" Damon asked.

"Damon, when I was trying to stop Jo's dad, I got this really bad feeling" Aria replied.

"Like a banshee feeling?" Damon asked shocked.

"No, it was a witch feeling" Aria replied, "Jo's dad wasn't using natural magic to kill her, he was using black magic, and though I did manage to stop him, if he does this next time, he will be ready for me, making it even harder for me to stop him".

Damon's mind went back to when Kai had warned him and Kol about his father, he had told them that his father will never give his coven over to Aria, if to ensure the coven stays in their family, his father wouldn't mind killing Aria, and Damon feared next time the next attack won't be on Jo, but it will be on Aria and his kids.

"There is one person who might know how to stop him" Damon informed.

"Who?" Aria asked confused.

"Kai" Damon replied.

"Kai?" Aria asked shocked, "As in the same Kai who tried to kill Jo, Luke and Liv? That Kai?".

"Ria, he's also the same Kai who because of which me and Kol are currently infront of you" Damon reminded.

"How is Kai going to help us defeat his father?" Aria asked confused.

"Because Kai knew things about his father that I doubt even Jo knows" Damon replied.

"Kai wants to be the leader of the Gemini coven Damon" Aria reminded, "Last time he tried to kill his own family for it, what if this time he tries to kill me, or worse our kids?".

"He won't" Damon assured.

"And how do you know that?" Aria challenged.

"Because in the prison world, Kai told me and Kol that as long as we help him kill his father, he will leave you and our kids alone" Damon informed, "He doesn't want to be a leader anymore Ria, he just wants revenge from being named an abomination by his own father".

Abomination. Aria hated that word, she had been called that, and she knew the damage this one word did to a person, what it did to their mind and heart.

"Jo's never going to let us bring Kai back" Aria said, slowly giving in.

"Then Jo doesn't find out" Damon stated.

"You want to lie to her?" Aria asked shocked.

"It's to save her and her coven from their psychotic father" Damon replied.

Aria stood there for a moment, letting Damon's words sink in, she then looked at Damon and nodded.

"Fine" Aria said, "Let's bring Kai back".

***

"So, you never told me how it was living with Kol for four months?" Aria asked, as her and Damon sat on a couch playing with the triplets, while everyone else chatted among themselves, "What did you two even do together?".

"Bickered mostly" Damon replied, holding Mia, while her brothers were on the carpet, trying to crawl around, "Cooked, well I cooked and Kol criticized my cooking".

"That's what you get for feeding me pancakes for four months straight" Kol said, sitting next to Aria, "And they weren't even good pancakes".

"They were amazing pancakes" Damon defended, "Hey, do you remember our tetris phase?".

"Tetris phase?" Aria asked amused.

"Yeah, I beat Kol and he got mad at me" Damon replied.

"Because you cheated" Kol argued, "We also happened to talk, too much for my liking".

"Yeah, apparently there are a lot of words in the English language" Damon said.

Aria smiled at both Damon and Kol, "So it means, this whole prison world experience, made you two become even better friends, particularly family?".

"No" Both Damon and Kol said at the same, making Aria laugh.

"It's okay, you don't need to admit it, I already know it" Aria teased.

Kol grabbed a cushion and hit Aria with it.

"Hey!" Aria complained, while Damon laughed, and Mia also let out a giggle.

"Look, your daughter likes me hitting you" Kol pointed out.

Aria looked at Mia, and mouthed "Traitor", which for some reason only made Mia giggle more.

"Aren't you the most adorable baby in this world" Damon cooed, kissing his daughter's cheek.

Aria smiled at both Damon and their daughter, she then turned to her sons, and watched as Asher slowly started crawling over to his brother, "Damon, look" she pointed.

Damon looked towards his sons and a huge smile came on his face seeing his oldest son start to crawl over to his brother.

"It's not going to be long before these three start walking" Kol said, "That's when you two are going to have your hands full".

"Hey, my kids are very well behaved kids" Aria said.

"Yeah, but they also have Damon's genes" Kol reminded.

"Hey!" Damon said, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?".

"You know what it means" Kol retorted.

"Guys!" A panicked Caroline yelled, before Damon and Kol could start another argument.

"What's wrong, Care?" Aria asked worried.

"My water broke" Caroline informed, shocking everyone.

"Oh bloody hell" Klaus whispered.

***

Presenting 6x08 of The Vampire Diaries . . .

How was the chapter?

Thoughts on everyone celebrating Thanksgiving together?

Thoughts on Aria fighting Joshua Parker's magic?

Thoughts on Aria and Damon deciding to bring Kai so he can help them defeat Kai?

Thoughts on Caroline's water breaking? I wonder what she's having? 👀