"Is there anyway I can do a DNA test or something to know whose it is?" Maya asked hopping off the hospital bed.

"You would need to bring them here or just some form of DNA, such as hair, from the person you suspect to be the father," Meredith explained.

"Okay, I'll see what I can do," Maya said as she headed to the door.

"Out of sheer curiosity, who do you think it is?"

"You'll find out if I can get their hair."

Maya left the hospital in no hurry to get to the memorial for the people who died at the Pastor's Ranch. She had stayed the night at the hospital so Meredith could run any tests that she had.

As soon as she arrived, she found Matt and Elena laying out memorial pamphlets on the pews of the church.

"How are you feeling? A little strung out?" Matt asked out of guilt because she was the way she was because of him.

"I'm fine. It's just my emotions are all over the place. Everything's heightened. I mean just the sight of all the names of the dead makes me want to cry for a week."

"You get used to it," Maya said joining in on the conversation.

"It doesn't feel that way, how are you doing this and not turning it off?" Elena asked.

"I give myself 5 minutes of pity a day."

"You what?" Matt asked confused.

"5 minutes, I cry, I complain about how much my life sucks and wish that I could go back and then I stop."

"And it works?" Elena said intrigued.

"Yep. Also, you know, you didn't have to volunteer."

"People died. People we've known our whole lives, so yeah, I did."

"Is that April?" Maya said looking at the girl who sat at the front of the church.

"Yeah," Matt confirmed.

"Oh, wow," Elena said following Maya over to her.

"Hey there," Elena spoke first.

"Hey. Long time, no see. Not since..."

"My parent's funeral."

"Yeah," April confirmed accepting Maya's and Elena's hugs.

"Are you gonna survive this?" Maya asked.

"They want me to speak. I guess all the kids who lost somebody can. What am I supposed to say? I'm sorry my dad didn't fix the gas line? But, if I don't say anything then...I mean, what if nobody does? My dad and I didn't always get along or anything but, everybody still deserves to have nice things said about them at their own funeral, you know? I mean, for my mom's funeral, everybody said these really nice things."

"You say what you want to say or you don't say anything at all. And don't worry about your dad, everyone in this town loved him."

"Yeah," April said choking up, "Until two days ago."

"Even still," Elena said grabbing her hand before suddenly pulling away and jumping up. "I'm sorry, I...I have to go."

"We'll be right back," Maya said to April quickly before rushing off after Elena.

"Elena, let me in," Maya said knocking on the basement bathroom door.

"Is your friend okay?" A strange man spoke from behind her.

"Uh, yeah," Maya said turning to face him, "she's fine, she doesn't do well with death and started freaking out and spilled coffee on her dress."

"I'm Connor," the man said, putting his hand out to shake hers.

She eyed his hand warily and caught the stench of vervain, "Sorry, I'm not a fan of the whole touching thing, I'm Maya."

"As in Lockwood?"

"Uh, yeah, at least that's what I've been told my whole life."

Elena opened the door partially and Maya waved a quick goodbye and entered the bathroom with Elena and locked the door behind her.

"Oh my God," Maya said looking at the blood coated toilet and mirror. She held her stomach feeling slightly nauseous but held it down, "What happened?"

"I don't know what's wrong with me."

"What are you talking about?"

"I can't keep animal blood down, bagged blood tastes like hot garbage and well, this is Damon's blood."

"You drank Damon's blood?"

"Yeah, I'm slowly dedicating, I was desperate."

"Don't tell Stefan."

"Why?"

"Just don't."

"Okay, what are we gonna do?"

"Clean the toilet, I got the mirror, put all of the paper towels in your bag."

"What about the dress?"

"Let's just go one step at a time."

"Why did you run out like that?" Maya finally asked the question that she had been waiting to ask.

"I could smell her blood. How do you handle the bloodlust?"

"I don't know, I just keep myself busy all of the time, I've never really came across a situation where I wanted to suck someone dry."

After scrubbing the blood off of everything the last thing left was the dress issue. The door knob began to shake and Maya hoped it was Damon with a new dress but it wasn't.

"Are you girls alright in there?" Connor asked.

"Yeah, just one moment!" Maya shouted back.

"Take off your dress," she said as she began to take off her own.

"What?" Elena asked confused.

"I'm going to give you my dress."

"What will you wear?"

"Let's just say it's a good thing I wore my cute underwear today."

Elena raised her eyebrow but chose not to comment and do as told. Maya threw the blood stained dress into the bag and waited for Elena to put her dress on.

"You ready?" Maya asked to make sure.

She nodded and they left the bathroom.

"Sorry about the wait," Maya said to Connor who shot her a confused yet intrigued look at her sudden change in wardrobe.

Maya and Elena made their way up the stairs and ran into Damon who looked at Maya confused.

"Took you long enough," Maya said unzipping the bag that held the dress and slipping it on, "Mr.Vervain back there was getting suspicious so I gave Elena my dress."

"Mr.Vervain?" Damon asked confused.

"I don't know who he is exactly but he said his name was Connor and his scent is drenched in vervain. My guess is it's the same Connor that shot Tyler, meaning, he's a hunter."

"What is he doing here?"

"I don't know maybe trying to kill vampires?"

"Yet another genius conclusion from the one and only Maya Lockwood," Damon joked as they headed back to the main area.

Damon and Elena went outside to figure out the blood problem leaving Maya alone. She eventually made her way to where Jeremy, Matt, Caroline and Tyler sat.

"April was looking for you," Matt said once he saw Maya.

"Where is she?"

"I don't know."

"What are you doing here?" Maya said once she noticed Tyler's presence. "A psychopath tried to kill you and that psychopath just happens to be here."

Elena joined, cutting the conversation short. Stefan sat a few rows behind them after making sure Elena was okay.

"Before we begin the Mass, we'd like to open the floor to anyone who would like to share a memory about our late friends on the Town Council. I know that April Young wanted to say a few words about her dad. April? April, are you still here, honey?" Mayor Lockwood spoke at the podium.

"Is there anyone else who would like to share a recollection or a memory about Pastor Young?" she continued when April didn't stand up.

No one seemed to want to speak so Maya stood up before Elena was forced to.

"Come on up, Maya," her mother encouraged.

"Why is she up there?" Damon asked Stefan as he took a seat next to him.

"So Elena wouldn't have to."

"I uh, when I talked to April earlier she was kind of nervous about coming up to speak. And now that I'm up here, I'm kind of nervous too," Maya said looking out at everyone, "The worst day of loving someone is the day that you lose them."

Maya froze when the strong stench of blood entered the air. Every vampire in the room appeared to notice as well.

"Do you smell that?" Caroline whispered to Tyler.

"Blood," Tyler confirmed.

Maya inhaled deeply trying to control herself.

"Nobody move. Don't turn around, it's a trap," Damon said staring straight ahead at Maya.

Maya saw a drop of blood drip down from the ceiling and land in the holy water bowl and gripped the podium. She attempted to control the veins that threatened to emerge from her face but it only got harder.

"I um...," Maya continued trying to form the right words when someone's arms were around hers.

"You're fine, I got you," Damon said leading her down the steps and back to her pew. Stefan had entered the pew as well and was standing next to Elena. The only person having a harder time with the stench of blood was Elena.

"Please turn to page forty two in your hymn book. Let us join together in a song," the Priest said from the podium.

Elena leaned on Stefan for support, "The blood. Stefan, the blood, I can smell it. There's so much."

"It's alright; just remember what we talked about. Focus, push back, come on you can do this."

"What's wrong with her?" Matt asked.

"She's hungry. She hasn't fed."

"So, get her out of here."

"I can't. There's somebody watching us."

"I'm gonna go rip his head off now," Damon stated.

"You do that, Damon, and you risk exposing all of us."

"Well, I think the risk will be slightly diminished when I, you know, rip his head off."

"Stefan, I'm losing it," Elena said.

"You have ten seconds before I go old fashioned on the new guy."

"Don't do it, Damon. Please."

"Three, two, one. Bye."

"Wait, wait, wait, wait," Matt began causing Damon to sit back down, "Elena, feed from me."

Everyone looked at him like he was crazy.

"It's okay, everyone will think you're upset. Just feed from me."

Stefan allows Elena to go to Matt. "It's okay. You'll be okay," Matt said as Elena moved to his neck to drink.

"Oh god, I'm going to throw up," Maya said gripping the pew in front of her.

"Don't be so dramatic," Damon said from next to her.

"No, I mean it," Maya said placing one arm across her torso and the other on her mouth to stop herself.

Tyler pushed his way out of the pew and walked up the aisle confusing everyone greatly.

"Excuse me. I just wanted to say a few words about Pastor Young," Tyler said at the podium, "Back in first grade, I was a brat who couldn't be bothered with team sports. Didn't care much about anything that didn't affect me. But he was the one who made me understand how important it is to be part of a team; a community. Of giving yourself up for the sake of..."

Tyler was cut off when he was shot in the chest. Maya couldn't fight back the vile that forced its way up her throat and threw up all over her and Damon's shoes.

Damon's eyes widened at the vomit that coated his shoes before making his way out with the rest of the crowd to find Connor.

Caroline, Elena, Stefan, and Carol made their way to the front. Maya remained in the pew, one hand rested on her stomach and the other on the pew in front of her as she stared at the mess she had created unable to move.

As soon as Maya could muster up enough energy to get upstairs, she joined Caroline and Elena.

"Nope, I'm going to throw up again," Maya said walking over to the edge and looking over at the scene.

"She's an orphan. Just like you. She's scared. Just like you were," Caroline says trying to reason with Elena.

"Please, don't hurt me. Please," April begged through tears.

"No one's gonna hurt you. No one's gonna hurt you," Caroline said soothing before standing up. "She needs you. You can make her forget all of this."

"Why did he do this?'

"No, I-I can't, Caroline. You have to do it," Elena said.

"No. The only way you're going to learn is if you do it yourself."

"No, I can't."

"Yes, you can. You just need to believe what you're telling her. Okay?"

"April, listen to me," Maya heard Elena say. She assumed that she was compelling her. "Everything's gonna be okay. You're gonna get through this. Just like I got through it. I'm going to help you. I promise."

"I'm gonna be okay. You're gonna help me," April repeated.

"You watched the funeral from up here so that you could grieve alone. It was a beautiful service. People said really nice things," Elena compelled.

Maya went home to clean up when she received a text from Stefan to meet him at school. She walked back downstairs and found Liam waiting.

"Hey," she said quietly joining him in the kitchen, "is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I just wanted to let you know that I'm leaving tomorrow night. My pack needs me."

"Makes sense. Uh, I'm heading somewhere now, you wanna join?"

"I'd like that."

Liam and Maya emerge from her car and join Damon and Bonnie who had just left their own cars.

"What are we doing here?" Maya asked the two.

"I don't know. Ask Stefan," Bonnie said with a shrug as the four joined Caroline, Stefan, Matt, and Jeremy at the picnic tables outside of the school.

"Stefan, what are we doing?" Damon asked.

"We're finishing the memorial we didn't get to have earlier," Stefan said handing one of the many lanterns to Elena.

"We need to start healing, Damon. We've all lost so much, especially recently. I think we're numb to it. We push it away, we make a joke out of it, ignore how we feel. We've never just let ourselves grieve."

"So, you're lighting lanterns?"

"Yeah. Yeah, we need to do this."

"What we need to do is find out who this hunter is and what he knows about the death of the Council. We have more important things to be doing right now than this."

"Not tonight, we don't," Stefan disagreed causing Damon to scoff. "This is for my uncle Zach and my friend Lexi and for Alaric."

He lit his lantern and handed the lighter to Matt.

"This is for Vicki," Matt said lighting his before Caroline took the lighter.

"This is for my dad. And Tyler's."

Jeremy stood and took the lighter before looking at Elena, "This is for our parents," he turned to Matt before continuing, "For Vicki. Anna. Jenna. And Alaric."

Jeremy lit his lantern and attempted to pass the lighter to Damon but he refused. "No way. I'm not doing that," Damon said before storming off to his car.

"Damon!" Maya shouted after him but he ignored her and drove off.

She turned and looked at Liam, "Can you get a ride from Tyler? I have to go after him. We can talk tomorrow."

"Yeah, no problem," Liam said before hugging her. Maya took this as her opportunity and pulled a hair from his head.

"See ya," she said before walking off to her car and driving where she knew Damon would be.

Maya arrives at the cemetery to find Damon sitting on a bench with a bottle of bourbon and talking to Alaric's gravestone.

"They're floating lanterns in the sky, can you believe that? A Japanese lantern is the symbol of letting go of the past. Well, here's a news flash: we're not Japanese!" Damon said before taking a swig of bourbon, "Do you know what they are? Children. Like lighting a candle is going to make everything okay or even saying a prayer or pretending Elena is not going to end up just like the rest of us murderous vampires. Stupid, delusional, exasperating, little children. I know what you're going to say: 'It makes them feel better, Damon.' So what? For how long? A minute, a day? What difference does it make?"

Damon stands up and walks closer to it, "Because in the end, when you lose somebody; every candle, every prayer is not going to make up for the fact that the only thing that you have left is a hole in your life where that somebody that you cared about used to be. And a rock with a birthday carved into it that I'm pretty sure is wrong."

Taking a seat on the tombstone Damon finished "So, thanks, friend. Thanks for leaving me here to babysit, because I should have been long gone by now. I didn't get the girl, remember? I'm just stuck here fighting with my brother and taking care of the kids. You owe me big."

Damon stood up and finally noticed Maya leaning against the tree, "How long have you been there?"

"Long enough to know that I'm not the only one who likes to come here and talk to him."

"Want some?" he said offering her the bourbon.

"Can't."

"What do you mean 'can't'?"

"I'm pregnant."

Damon spit out the bourbon that he had just drank, "I'm sorry, what?"

"I'm pregnant. Not sure how exactly. I mean I know how but not how. It's not possible but it is? Meredith confirmed it. It's two babies, but not twins, also another confusing factor in this whole thing. My life has kind of gotten out of hand lately."

"You wanna talk about it?" Damon suggested surprising both Maya and himself.

"Uh, yeah, I actually kind of do."

"Go ahead then."

"Where do I start? I have the heightened emotions and bloodlust of a vampire, the anger of a werewolf, and the powers of a witch, which scares the living crap out of me. I'm a tribrid which I didn't even know existed. My cravings for blood are only worse now that I'm eating for three."

"Who's the dad?"

"It has to be Liam, the only other person I slept with is Klaus and it can't be him," Maya said stopping when she realized what she had just said, "I had no intention of saying that out loud."

"I'm not that surprised. The sexual tension between you two was suffocating and the way you reacted to his death was not a reaction most people have to someone they are supposed to hate. When did it happen?"

"The night before I left for the mountains."

"Is that why you left?"

"Partially, I just needed a break from everything. I had also pissed off a powerful witch."

"Who you killed, how are you dealing with that?"

"I'm surprisingly okay with it, I think it's because she was technically already dead and she deserved to suffer."

"Back to this whole baby thing. Two babies but they aren't twins?"

"Yeah, Meredith called it 'uterus didelphys' basically, I have to uteri."

Damon started to laugh, "Uteri, that's a funny word."

"You're ridiculous," Maya said laughing slightly.

After a few seconds of laughter the two fell into a comfortable silence.

"He's here you know," Maya said abruptly causing Damon to look at her in confusion.

"What?"

"Alaric, he's here, on the other side, but he's watching over us."

"How do you know that?"

"I don't know, I can just, sense him."

Alaric smiled at the two before getting up and walking away. He knew that, even from the other side, they knew he was watching over them and that he always would be.