CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

"You're not supposed to be here." Nyx says as she sits next to Dean at the bar.

"No, but the risk is worth it to see you." He says as he leans toward her, and she smiles as she kisses him. "You know, part of me actually wouldn't mind if Henrikson showed up and arrested me. I hate the thought of you pretending to be with someone else and actually making it look convincing."

"Uh-huh." She raises her eyebrows. "And when you're locked up for good this time, and the only piece of you our children have are the stories that I tell them? And that's if I don't get arrested for aiding and abetting, not to mention harboring​ a fugitive?"

"I don't think you'd be arrested, but you can bed me if you want." He smiles as he grabs her by her waist and pulls her closer to him, she slides off of her stool as he holds her against him.

"Always with your mind in the gutter." She chuckles as she puts her hand over his mouth so he has to stop kissing her cheek.

"Hey, you're back." Matt says as he walks over to them. "It's good to see you, man."

"Yeah, you too." Dean says as he looks at him. "And, hey, thanks for helping Nyx get the FBI off her back. It means a lot."

"Oh, uh..." He glances at Nyx, and she grits her teeth as she looks down. "Yeah, of course. I'd do anything for Nycole. She was never just my sister's best friend, or my girlfriend's sister. She's my best friend too." He says as he shakes Dean's outstretched hand. "I should probably get back to work."

"So..." Nyx looks at Dean, taking a deep breath. "Still hate me?"

Dean looks at her. "For calling me a thoughtless dick, right before taking the twins and leaving me?" He asks, and she nods. "No, I had it coming. You were right."

"No, I wasn't." She shakes her head. "I know you think about the twins as much as I do."

"But​ I wasn't​ putting them first. I was putting my dad first...like I always have."

"You were his son for twenty-seven years before you became a father." She says as she places her hand on the side of his face.

"Doesn't matter. They come first. They come before everything and everyone. They come before you and me." He says. "With the life they're bound to have because of us, I think we owe them at least that much."

She smiles. "As long as we're on the same page." She leans forward and kisses him.

"How cute." They pull apart at the sound of a familiar voice.

"What do you want, Elena?" Nyx asks as she looks at her sister.

"Family meeting. At the Salvatore house."

"Why?"

"Doesn't matter." She says. "Go. Or I'll start killing everyone in this restaurant. Starting with sweet little Matt." She looks over at where he's cleaning a table, completely oblivious to the threat on his life.

"Fine." Nycole nods. "We're going."

—

"What's going on?" Stefan asks as Nycole and Dean walk through their front door.

"We've been summoned." Nyx says. "Where the hell is Elena?"

"She's not here." Carter tells her as he stands up from the couch. He's been staying at the Boarding House since Elena burned down her family's house.

"Guess again." Elena says as she pushes Damon into the room;  he stands up straight and crosses his arms over his chest.

"You wanted us here. We're here." Dean says. "What do you want?"

"To make myself clear." She says. "Stefan and Damon want to shove the cure down my throat to force me to turn my emotions back on. I'm sure they didn't take my threat after killing that waitress seriously​, so I'm adding to my point."

"Are you gonna get to it today, or..." Nyx raises her eyebrows as she looks at Elena.

None of them see it coming, so they don't have a chance to anticipate it, but the next thing they know, Elena has her arm around Dean's throat. They're now a few feet away from the others as they all watch her carefully, waiting for her next move. She bites her wrist and forces Dean to drink her blood.

"Elena, we get it." Nyx says through clenched teeth, shifting frantically as she looks at them. "You don't want the cure. Fine, don't take it. Just let him go."

"I don't think so." She shakes her head as she looks at her sister. "So, here's how this is going to go. Either Nyx's flipping her switch or Dean's getting his neck snapped."

"Elena, come on, don't do something that you're gonna regret." Carter says.

"That's exactly the point. How is the Elena you all love gonna cope with her emotions if she prevents her niece and nephew from growing up with two parents? I mean, we all know Deano here won't complete the transition. He'd be a worse vampire than me and Nycole. And Nyx probably won't flip that switch back until at least a hundred years after the twins both bite it. So, who's it gonna be? Mommy or Daddy?"

"Elena, come on." Stefan shakes his​ head, trying to find a way to save him. "You're better than this. Just let him go."

"She wants this — to not feel anything." She says, looking at Nyx. "You said so yourself, remember? You and Damon were talking about me and my humanity, you asked him not to let me kill anyone. He failed, shocker."

"Don't let her get to you." Damon says.

"Yeah, that was part of the conversation too." Elena laughs. "Right after Nyx said she didn't want to feel the pain of losing Jeremy or hating herself. So, turn it off."

"Nycole, don't." Dean says, and Elena tightens her grip on his throat. His face starts turning red as she cuts off his air flow.

"Come on, Nyx. Let them have at least one human parent." She smiles. "What kind of a mother would you be if you didn't at least give their father a fighting chance?"

"Nyx..."

"Be a better mother than you were a sister."

"Elena—" Carter starts.

"Do you remember the last thing you said to him?" Elena asks, her eyes still on her sister. "The very last thing you ever said to Jeremy. What was it?"

"Shut up." Nyx says through clenched teeth, tears in her dark brown eyes.

"What did you say, Nycole? Or I'll just cut to the chase and snap Dean's neck now."

"I called him an idiot." She says. "I told him to stop being stupid and to let the whole thing go. I said that finding the cure wasn't worth it if he had to become someone he wasn't to do it."

"And then you avoided him for a week, never answered his calls." Elena continues. "I had to tell him that everything would be alright." She laughs. "Too bad it wasn't."

"You bi—"

"You have three seconds to decide." She says, and the Salvatore brothers glance at each other, neither of them have a plan. "Two... One—"

"Okay!" Nyx takes a step forward as Elena's about to snap Dean's back.

"Nycole." Damon takes a step toward her, and she shakes her head as she backs away.

"I'm sorry." She says as she looks at Dean.

"No..."

Nycole closes her eyes, not wanting to see his face as she does it. The others watch as the fear and sadness disappears from her expression, leaving her looking entirely...indifferent.

Elena drops Dean when Nyx opens her eyes and looks at them. There isn't a trace of anything that made Nycole who she was. No love or compassion as she wipes the tears from under her emotionless eyes. She doesn't have a care in the world for any of them.

"Huh... So, that's what I looked like after Klaus compelled Stefan to flip his switch." Elena says as she looks down at Dean. He has tears in his green eyes as he stares at Nycole, and he's never felt more alone or broken. "It's kinda pathetic."

"You really are a bitch, you know that?" Nyx says, and Elena looks at her and shrugs.

"Well, I do hope I've made my point now." She says as she looks at the four men in the room.

"Someone should probably call Caroline and Sam, tell them that Mama's not coming home tonight." Nycole looks at Dean. "Or at all. At least, not in your lifetime."

"Which really isn't saying much." Her sister says. "I mean, how many times has he almost died while you guys were hunting?"

Nyx looks at Damon then. "I bet you're​ happy."

"Not in the slightest." He says, and she just smiles.

"Alright, well, I'm done here." Elena says and then disappears, the door slamming is the only indication of which direction she went.

Nyx walks over to Dean and kneels down in front of him. "How does it feel? Knowing that the girl you love gave up her humanity so that you could live? After choosing to become a vampire so her children could know her? I bet that stings a little." She smirks. "Well, I guess I'll see you around, handsome." She pats his chest before standing up and leaving the house.