CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

"This is supposed to be a party. Where the hell is Carter?" Jeremy asks. Everyone's at the grill to have a small celebration for the youngest Gilbert.

"He and Liv broke up after she tried to kill Kai." Nyx tells him, and he nods. "But he said to have a drink for him."

"How's he doing?"

"I don't know." She shakes her head. "He told me once that she was the best thing to happen to him since his parents died. And then she went after Kai, she wanted him to kill her because she didn't want to live without Luke. He needs time on his own."

"Yeah, I understand." He nods.

"Alright, well, I love you, little brother, but I've got to get the twins out of here. They're in a mood." She says as she leans down and kisses his cheek.

"Congrats, man." Dean pats his shoulder.

"For what? We don't even know if I'm getting my diploma yet." Jeremy says.

"Sure we do. I told Damon to compel it out of them." Nyx smiles at him. "I'll see you at the house later."

"Alright." He chuckles.

"Say bye to Grandpa." Dean says, and Ric chuckles when the twins won't cooperate.

"Don't worry, I won't take it personally." Ric tells Nyx, and she smiles at him.

"I'll talk to you later." She smiles at their friends. "Bye, guys."

"Hey, where's Sam?" Dean asks as he and Nyx take the kids back outside to his car.

"He and Lexi are helping Caroline set stuff up at her dad's old cabin. She wants to make things easier for her mom." She tells him, and he nods.

—

"What are you doing?" Stefan asks as he walks over to Nyx.

"Looking at some pictures." She says, and he sits next to her on his bed.

"Of you and Dean." He nods, and she sighs as she looks at him.

"I was looking at my baby bump." She says, and he nods.

"Right. Sorry."

"That was the biggest I ever got." She tells him, and he looks back at the photo. "It was a few days before I had them. I wasn't that big, and I was carrying twins. I wonder if I'll be smaller now."

"What if we have twins?" He asks, and she shakes her head.

"Oh, God. I cannot be twenty-one with four kids." She says, and he chuckles.

"I was kidding. What are the odds?"

"Slim, I hope." She says, and he sets the pictures down.

"Do you think it's a boy or a girl?" He asks, and she shrugs.

"I have no idea. And I can't exactly use last time as a reference." She says, and he nods.

"Which do you want?"

"I don't know, but I'd be happy with either." She smiles as she looks up at him. "Although, I don't know that I could handle raising a little Salvatore boy. You and your brother are already a handful as it is."

He chuckles. "I don't know, I think it'd be fun." He says, and she lays back on his bed.

"But, you know, Alex as an older brother to two girls — that could be interesting, and incredibly comical." She looks at him.

"Especially when they're teenagers." He says, and she laughs and then something suddenly dawns on her.

"Oh my God. At some point, I'm gonna have two Winchesters and a Salvatore as teenagers at the same time. What the hell have I gotten myself into?" She shakes her head as she looks at the ceiling, and he laughs as he lays down beside her.

"You'll have plenty of help."

"I sure as hell hope so. 'Cause it's gonna take more than a village with this combination." She says, and he rolls onto his side to face her.

"Maybe, but think about all the stories we'll have once they're passed that stage." He says, and she looks at him.

"If they don't kill us first. Or kill each other. I mean, you and Damon don't exactly get along well with Dean and Sam." She says.

"They'll have enough of the Gilbert gene to tame them." He says, and she narrows her eyes at him.

"Are you forgetting the parts where my father tried to have Dean arrested, and tried to kill you and Damon?" She asks, and he laughs. "Not to mention all the fights I get into with each of you. I mean..." She shakes her head, and he rests his hand on the side of her face, and she focuses on him.

"They'll be fine." He tells her. "We all will. We have you to keep us in check."

She smiles, and he leans over and presses his lips to hers. Her phone rings then, and she starts laughing when Stefan groans in annoyance.

"If that's Lexi..." He shakes his head as she looks at the caller ID.

"It's Damon." She tells him and then answers his call. "Hey, what's up?"

"I wanted to run something by you. Is there any chance you can get to the sheriff's office?" He asks. "It's important."

"Yeah, I'll be right over." She tells him, and then looks at Stefan as she hangs up. "I gotta go. Play nice with Dean if you're sticking around the house."

"I don't have a problem with Dean. He's the one who doesn't like me." Stefan reminds her, and she sighs.

"I know this isn't the best of situations. But he and I have the twins, and now you and I have this little one." She rubs her hand over her stomach, though there's really no bump there yet. "So, now you're both stuck with me, which means your paths will cross a lot. Because this baby is the twins' little brother or sister. So, if you two could get along, that would be great."

"He doesn't know there's a reason for us to get along. He just thinks I'm the guy dating the girl that he's in love with." He says, and she nods. "Look, I'm not gonna start any issues here. But I do think you should tell him, and the sooner the better."

"I know." She says. "I kinda just wanted this to be between us for a while. I didn't get this part last time, you know? Klaus told me and then he killed me. Meg told Dean and then she tried to kill us. And Jeremy mentioned it in front of John... We didn't get the whole part of telling our friends, and... I want it."

He nods. "I understand." He smiles as he leans down and kisses her.

"Alright, I have to go." She kisses him again and then gets up and walks out of the room.

Nyx gets to the sheriff's station, and they show her some stuff from the night that her parents died. There's an open investigation on the accident and what lead up to it.

"Do you remember why you took Wickery Bridge?" Liz asks. "Old Miller Road would've been ten minutes faster."

"Yeah, there was a storm that night. The road was washed out, and I think there was a downed power line." Nyx tells her. "We had to take the bridge, it was clear, but it was also slick... And I..."

"Nyx?"

"Elena and I were fighting in the backseat, we were arguing. She was texting, and I was in a bad mood. So, I wanted to cheer myself up, act happy to be happy." She takes a deep breath as she looks down, and Damon rests his hand on her shoulder. "My dad told me to stop, but my mom thought that it was cute. I undid my seatbelt and leaned forward to hug her. My dad turned to yell at me to sit back down, and that's when he lost control of the car. He swerved, and... And there was no traction because the bridge was wet. So, we went over." She looks at the picture of the road.

"That's why there's no skid marks." Damon says, and she nods.

"Why was the trunk full of luggage?" Liz asks. "Do you know?"

Nyx smiles. "Yeah." She chuckles. "My dad was trying to plan a surprise trip to the lake house for all of us, But he was so bad at surprises. I don't know if Elena and Jeremy knew, but I always did. I could read him like the back of my hand. He was my best friend."

"What about the voicemail?" Damon asks, and Nyx looks between the two of them.

"What voicemail?"

"Oh." Liz sighs as she turns to the phone on her desk. "Your mom left me this message two hours before the accident." She hits a button.

"Liz, it's Miranda Gilbert. I have something urgent to talk to you about. Please, call me back as soon as you can." Nyx's eyes fill with tears as she listens to her mom's voice.

"Are you alright, sweetheart?" Liz asks, and she nods.

"Yeah." Nyx nods as Damon squeezes her shoulder. "It's just... Her voice, you know?"

"I'm sorry to do this to you." She says, and Nyx shakes her head.

"No. No, it's fine. I'm actually happy to hear her, even with the strange circumstance."

"Do you know anything about the voicemail?" Damon asks, and she shakes her head.

"No. Elena and I left hours before that. We were already out with our friends at a party." She tells them. "But I'll see if Jeremy knows anything."

"I know I should've brought this up sooner, but..." Liz sighs as she leans against the desk next to where Nyx is sitting. "In those first few weeks after your parents died, I—"

"No, you took care of us. I remember. I was actually just telling Stefan about it not that long ago." Nyx says, and they both smile as they look at each other. "Poor Jenna was trying and it wasn't going very well. But you let us stay at your place, and you took Elena and Jeremy to school. You made sure that I actually showed up to my graduation, and I was going to skip the ceremony... And you made us dinner." She chuckles.

"Wait." Damon interjects. "You cook?"

The two women look at each other. "She really tried." She says with a smile, and Liz laughs. "We all appreciate everything that you did for us. And I know you kept tabs on me after I left, until I ended up at the lake house. I should've thanked you a lot sooner, 'cause... You did so much for all of us."

"It's been my pleasure." Liz says, and she smiles as she looks up at her.

"I'm gonna go talk to Jeremy. I'll call and let you know what he says." She tells them, and Liz nods as they both stand up.

—

"So, I talked to Jeremy." Nyx tells Damon over the phone. "The call was a joke. My mom and Jenna caught Jeremy smoking pot in the bathroom. So, my mom told him that she was gonna have him arrested. She wanted to scare him by calling the sheriff, but he could hear Jenna giggling on the other side of his door."

"That makes sense." He nods.

"It was an accident, Damon. That's all." She says. "Just another one of the sucky parts of a normal life."

"Yeah, I think you're right." He agrees. "I'll let her know."

She hangs up and then she hears yelling in the other room. Nyx runs out of the kitchen and into the living room as Jeremy and Ric are pulling Dean and Stefan apart.

"Hey, stop it!" Ric yells, getting between them. "That's enough!"

"What the hell is going on?" Nyx questions, and they all just look at her. "Elena?" She looks at her sister when nobody says anything.

"They were fighting..." She sighs. "...about you, Nyx." Elena tells her, and she shakes her head as she looks between the two of them.

Nyx's eyes settle on Stefan. "I specifically asked you to at least be civil; you promised."

"He started this. He brought you up, he threw the first punch." Stefan tells her, and she nods.

"Yeah, I'm sure he did. I don't doubt that at all." She says, her gaze flickering to Dean. "You know, if it were just the three of us, then this would just make me angry, and... But it's not. There are kids involved here. And now the twins are gonna ask why Daddy has a black eye and Uncle Stefan has a busted lip."

"Uncle?" Dean shakes his head. "No. Hell no. Not anymore."

"I'm not doing this. Not right now. I... I can't." She shakes her head. "Dean, pack up your stuff and find a motel. 'Cause you two clearly can't stay under the same roof. I don't know why I was delusional enough to think that you could."

"So, what? You and my kids are gonna stay here with him?" He questions.

"No. Me and our kids are gonna stay..."

"With me." Ric says, and she looks over at him. "You're gonna stay with me."

"We're gonna stay with Grandpa." She chuckles to herself and then looks back over at Dean. "I don't know what else I can do here. You and I broke up because we got into a fight, and you went on a date with another girl, and then you proceeded to coddle me. Now, you want another chance and to be forgiven — you want me to choose to be with you. Stefan wants me to choose him. You can't accept that I'm happy with him. He doesn't like that I'm still close to you. Well, you know what, this is my choice. I choose my kids. I choose me. I think maybe it's time that I spend some time on my own.

"For half my life, it was me and Tyler. Then that ended and one way or another, for the next three years it became me and you. And I always went back to you. Then we break up this time, and it's me and Stefan." She shakes her head. "I think I need to be just me for a while. Focus on the kids, and the other crap that we have going on... Because there is enough crap going on without adding this drama into the mix. And I will not have my kids be subjected to this kind of petty drama or violence. So, why don't you think about that the next time you decide to throw a punch at their uncle — because he is a part of their lives, Dean."

"So, that's it?" Stefan asks, and she looks at him to find that he has tears in his eyes. "I screw up one time and it's over?"

"This is about so much more than one screw up. I'm only twenty, and I'm losing my friggin' mind over crap that no one should have to go through." She looks between the two of them. "I didn't ask you two to be friends, or to spend any time around each other today. All I wanted was civility, and you couldn't even manage that for a couple of hours while I helped the sheriff close the cold case on my parents' accident. How the hell are we supposed to raise kids like this?"

Dean walks out of the room and goes upstairs to pack his stuff. Nyx takes a deep breath and looks at her brother.

"Don't you have a plane to catch?"

"Nyx—" Jeremy starts.

"You're not staying here. You need to get the hell out of this town." She tells him. "So, go."

"I'll be back, and we'll get your stuff over to my place." Ric tells her, and she nods.

Nyx's phone rings a few minutes later, and she reluctantly pulls it out of her pocket. "Damon, now isn't really a good time." She tells him; she's sitting on the couch in the living room.

"I'm sorry to hear that, 'cause, uh..." He sighs.

"Damon?"

"It's Liz, Nyx." He tells her. "She was getting ready for bed, and we were talking. I went to get her a drink... She fell asleep, and I couldn't wake her up. We're at the hospital now. I called Lexi, and..."

"Is Sam still with them?" She asks, and upon hearing his brother's name, Dean stops on his way to the door.

"Yeah, he's driving them here now." He says, and she nods. "I talked to her doctors..."

After filling her in on everything, Nyx hangs up and looks at Elena. She wipes tears from her cheeks and takes a deep breath.

"They're at the hospital. Damon.... Uh, he talked to Liz's doctors. They said she fell asleep and basically went into a coma. She isn't gonna wake up again." She tells them, and Elena walks over to her. "Sam's still with Caroline and Lexi, they're on their way to the hospital right now."

"You guys should go to the hospital." Vicki says, gaining their attention. She's standing in the doorway, near the hallway that leads to the stairs. "I'll pack up the twins' stuff and call Ric. He and I can get all their stuff to his place. And you can worry about yours tomorrow or something."

"Are you sure?"

"Are you kidding? Of course." She nods.

"Thanks, Vic." Nyx says, and they head for the hospital.

As soon as they get there, Elena runs inside to get to Caroline. Nyx sees Damon outside, and she walks over to him.

"How are you holding up?" She asks, and he looks at her.

"Better than you, apparently." He says as he reaches up and wipes a tear from her cheek.

"Are they here?" She asks, and he nods.

"Yeah. They're in her room with her." He looks at Stefan and Dean as they walk up behind her. "It won't be long now. Her doc says she has a DNR, so..."

"We should get inside then." Nyx says, and he nods. "Come on."

The rest of them make it into Liz's room, and they see Caroline and Lexi standing beside her bed. Lexi's showing Liz one of Caroline's favorite memories of her. It's Caroline's goodbye.

Sam's standing nearby, and Elena's standing with Matt. Tyler and Jess are a few away from them, and Damon and Nyx walk up beside her sister. Dean and Stefan move to opposite ends of the room.

The heart monitor flat lines, and Caroline opens her eyes and looks down at her mom as Lexi turns to the others. She backs away and walks over to stand with Stefan.

"She's gone." Caroline sobs, glancing behind her.

Nycole closes her eyes and looks down as Sam moves to shut off the buzzing noise on the monitor. Damon wraps his arm around Nyx, and she leans into his side. Elena reaches over and takes her sister's hand in her own.