CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

After what happened with Tyler, Nycole didn't want to be in Mystic Falls anymore, so she and the boys left town. Neither Dean or Sam say anything about the fight between Tyler and Matt — either of the fights — and they're at a loss for how to make sure that she's okay.

Worse than what he saw that night, Dean's been puzzling together bits of things that've happened that he didn't entirely understand before. When they first met, Nyx was adamant about wanting to learn self-defense, but had a hard time sparring with him. He had to work to gain her trust before they made any real progress in her training.

Slowly, she's become more trusting with him, and she's opened up to him a lot more recently than she did when they were staying at her family's lake house for all those months. After they picked up Sam, she and Dean started sharing a bed in their motel rooms; it wasn't a big deal to him, but he could see her hesitance. It doesn't really seem to be a problem for her anymore.

Dean looks over at Nyx, where she's laying on their bed in their motel room, and he sees that she's staring up at the ceiling. She hasn't said much since they left, and he knows that she's embarrassed about what happened, but he doesn't know what to say to her either.

Her phone starts ringing, and she seems almost pulled out of a daze as she picks it up from the bedside table between the two beds. She looks at the caller ID, and then throws it onto the bed that Sam's sitting on. He sighs as he picks up the device to see who's calling.

"Hi, Jeremy."

"Sam. Why am I not surprised?" The younger boy shakes his head.

"She's, uh, just getting into the shower." Sam says.

"Every time I call. What a coincidence."

"She's turning into a germaphobe?" He looks at Nyx as she throws a pillow at him.

"Put her on the phone." Jeremy says, and he sighs.

"Nyx, you gotta talk to them eventually."

"No, I don't." The brunette says​ as she rolls onto her side so that her back is to him.

"He says your uncle, John, is in town."

"Sucks to be them." She mumbles and the next thing she knows, Sam's laying over her, pinning her arms down, and holding​ her phone to her ear. "Get off of me, you gigantic freak!" She says​ as she tries to move.

"Talk to your brother." He says, pinning her down with the entire weight of his body. "I can't keep lying about what you're doing, he hasn't​ believed me once."

"That's because you suck at lying." She says as she looks​ at him. "Ironically."

"John wants to see you, Cole." Jeremy's voice comes through the phone, which Sam is holding to her ear.

"John's a dick."

"Come on, you haven't seen him since the funeral." He says, and she scoffs.

"Is that what he told you?" Nycole questions.

"Is that not true?"

"Get off of me, Sam." She says, and he sits up. Nyx then takes the phone from him. "I saw John after I left Mystic Falls the first time — back in June. I thought I'd talk to him and, I don't know, maybe feel a little bit better. I mean, I know he's not Dad, but he's his brother, so I thought there had to be a similarity somewhere."

"What happened?" Jeremy asks, confused by her obvious hostility toward the man in question.

"I told him my plan. I was gonna take a year off from school, maybe even two and then go to college when Elena does. He said that if I did that, I'd be letting​ Mom and Dad down, and that he would be disappointed in me. He told me he thought that I was making a huge mistake and that I was throwing my life away and that he couldn't support that." She tells him. "He said that Gilberts are stronger than that, and I should live up to my name. So, I told him that he could shove his Gilbert legacy crap where the sun doesn't shine and I left."

"He didn't tell me that."

"Of course not. He has an image to protect." She shakes her head. "Self-righteous..."

"So, you're not gonna come home and see him?" He asks.

"I was on my way to Georgia to get a car from Caroline's dad so that I could travel like I wanted to when I met Dean in North Carolina." The older girl says. "You can tell John that disappointing him was the best damn decision that I have ever made." She tells him, and Dean smiles to himself as he listens to her.

"Alright. That'll be an interesting conversation." Jeremy sighs. "But are you okay, Nycole? Why aren't​ you answering anyone's calls? Elena and Matt have both said they can't get you on the phone. And neither can Caroline."

"What am I supposed to say to any of you, Jeremy? The last time I was in town, I got into a huge fight with Tyler outside of Matt's house right after everyone had just found out about Vicki." She says. The anger is gone, replaced by her embarrassment. "And for Matt to punch Tyler and tell him about that night... God, that night." She looks down with tears in her eyes.

"Cole, nobody is angry with you for what happened outside of Matt's. That wasn't your fault." He tells her.

"I'm not afraid that they're angry. I'm humiliated." She admits. "Tyler got angry with me and he lashed out because he's heard everyone talking around town — talking about me and some mystery guy that I'm traveling the country with. He heard that I'm having some kind of a relationship with Dean and he was hurt. This is after I broke up with him, skipped town, and have been avoiding him for months."

"You had every right to do all of those things." He says. "What he did—"

"Doesn't matter... And I don't wanna talk about what he did, not on either..." She shakes her head. "I left, he was angry, we fought the day that the police found Vicki's body. Matt's sister, my best friend, your ex-girlfriend. I turned around, and Kelly looked like she felt sorry for me. She shouldn't have had to — she had just found that her daughter died and was buried in a shallow grave just outside of town... I'm not answering the phone because I don't know what to say, Jer."

"Cole—"

"Look, I gotta go, Jeremy. Believe it or not, I check my messages. So, I'll know if you guys have to get ahold of me for something​ important. But right now, I just need some time." She says​ and then​ hangs​ up the phone.

"Nyx—"

"No." She quickly cuts Dean off as she wipes tears from her cheeks. "No."

The brunette gets up off the bed and goes outside to the parking lot to be alone. That whole conversation was humiliating too. Especially saying, in front of Dean, the part about everyone in Mystic Falls thinking that she's been dating him.

Dean sighs as he looks back at the laptop in front of him. He was looking for a job when her phone rang, hoping to get things back to normal, or at least close to it.

Nycole hasn't​ been talking much since they left, just to Sam when she's had him answer her phone, or tell them what she wants to eat. When she even bothers to eat anything at all. Sam's been trying to help her like she was there for him after Jess, but it's like she's completely closed herself off to them.

And Dean keeps replaying that night outside of Matt's over and over in his head. Hearing her as she begged Tyler to let her go, after telling him that she left Mystic Falls because she was afraid of him. He wanted to kill Tyler for hurting her. And he probably would've too if Sam hadn't grabbed him when he did. He keeps seeing how broken Nyx looked as she hugged Kelly.

"When we were in Palo Alto..." Dean starts, staring at the front door, and Sam looks over at his brother. "I was going over what little information we had, and she was trying to help me. She brought up Mom, and I snapped at her. I yelled, and she flinched away from me."

"That's not your fault." The younger boy says. "You didn't know. There was no way you could've known what happened to her."

"I should've."

"Dean—"

"There have been other things — little things." He tells him. "How do we help her?"

"I don't know." Sam shakes his head. "Give her time, space."

—

Nyx's phone starts ringing, and she sighs as she stops walking. Dean and Sam make their way over to the car, and she sits down on the curb outside of the restaurant that they just ate at.

"What now?" The brunette asks her brother after she answers the phone.

"Elena told me that you guys are adopted."

"She what?" The brunette questions.

"You know it doesn't change anything, right?" He asks. "You guys are still my sisters, no matter who your biological parents are." He says, and she sighs.

"Yes, I know that, Jeremy." She nods. "I just can't believe that she told you about this without talking to me first."

"You haven't been answering the phone."

"So what?" Her eyebrows furrow as she shakes her head. "She could've left me a voicemail saying that she wanted to tell you. That way I could call her back so we could talk about it first. I can't... I can't deal with this right now, Jer. I don't want to." Nycole tells him and then hangs up the phone.

The teenager then stuffs her phone back into her sweater pocket and pushes her hair away from her face. She sighs as she folds her arms over her knees and rests her head on them. She doesn't want to get up, or tell the boys what's going on. She doesn't want to do anything anymore.

Dean tosses the keys to the Impala over to Sam and tells him to head back to the motel without them. The older boy walks back over to Nycole and kneels down in front of her.

"Come take a walk with me." He says, and she shakes her head, not bothering to look up at him.

"I don't want to talk about it." She mutters.

"I didn't ask you to talk about it." He rests his hand on her arm. "I saw a park up the street a little ways. Let's just walk around a bit, get some fresh air. Maybe you can clear your head some."

Nyx looks at him as he stands up straight. He holds his hand out toward her, and she takes it so that he can help her to her feet. Neither of them lets go as they make their way toward the park.

Not much time is spent wandering before they end up on a bench, sitting side by side. She takes a deep breath as she leans her head against his shoulder. Her eyes land on their hands, their fingers are now intertwined, and his thumb is gently moving back and forth over her skin. The action seems absentminded on his part, but still she finds comfort in it.

Nyx can't help but think how absolutely lucky she is to have him in her life, and how much she doesn't deserve him. She thinks the world of the man sitting at her side, and she doesn't think much of herself at all.

"Do you ever think that...that our own actions are the reason that we go through so much that hurts us?" She asks suddenly.

"What, like karma?" Dean asks, and she nods. "What could you possibly have done to warrant any of this?"

"I killed Ben." She says, and his eyebrows furrow as he looks down at her.

"I'm gonna need some more information."

"There was this girl, Anna — she's a vampire who was also trying to open the tomb to get her mom out. She turned a boy from my town so that he would help her with her plan, his name was Ben McKittrick. She tricked my brother into being her friend, and they used him to get past us so that she could get into the tomb.

"Ben had Jeremy, and he was going to feed on him — kill him. Stefan knocked him on his back, and I staked him. I've known this guy my whole life, he was only two years older than me. We grew up in the same town, we had some of the same friends, we went to the same parties. Hell, I used to have a crush on him... And then I killed him. I didn't hesitate, I didn't even blink.

"He had Jeremy at his feet, and he was going to kill him. I just couldn't let my little brother get hurt... How could I kill him so easily?" She looks up at him.

"He was a vampire, Nycole. And he was going to kill your brother." Dean says as he squeezes her hand. "You did what you had to do to save Jeremy, you did what anyone would've done — what I would've done. And you didn't do anything wrong." He tells her, and she really wants to believe him. But she doesn't.

—

The hunters are on the road the next day when Caroline calls Nyx. "Hey, Care. What's up?" The brunette asks as she leans against the car window.

She can hear the smile in her friend's voice immediately. "You, me, and Elena were all chosen for the Miss Mystic Court." Caroline tells her, and her eyebrows furrow.

"I haven't lived in Mystic Falls in months." She says. "Why on earth would I be selected for that?"

"Pity." She says.

"Gee, thanks."

"That came out wrong." The blonde quickly says. "I'm sure Mrs. Lockwood will explain when you get here."

"I'm not coming, Caroline." Nyx shakes her head.

"How can you not come?" She questions. "Elena's doing it because you guys were gonna do it with your​ mom."

"My mom's gone, Care. Elena and I aren't exactly speaking, and I have no one to take me." She tells her. "I have absolutely no reason to show up for this thing."

"Do it for your mom, make up with your sister, and ask Dean to be your escort." She quickly supplies, and Nyx scoffs.

"My mom would understand why I don't want to be a part of it, I don't want to talk to Elena right now, and it's not exactly something that he would do."

"Okay, how about this? Show up or you'll have to deal with me and Carol Lockwood the next time you're in town." She says. "You can't stay away from Mystic Falls forever."

"That threat actually scares me, and that's not easy to do anymore." Nyx muses, and she chuckles. "Genuinely. That is the scariest pairing in all of Mystic Falls history."

"So you'll be here when?" The blonde asks.

"Caroline—"

"In time to learn the dance. Perfect, see you then." She says and then hangs up.

She sighs and then she and Dean make eye contact in the rearview mirror. "Mystic Falls?" He asks.

"Mystic Falls." She reluctantly tells him.

"'Cause that went so well the last time."

"Believe me, we're all gonna miss the hostage situation with the vengeful vampires."

"Why?" Sam asks as he turns and looks at her. "What are we going back for?"

"I'm...gonna be in a beauty pageant." She tells them, and they both just look at her, shocked expressions on their faces. "Yeah."