02. Memorial

"You're making a big mistake" Damon told Stefan, who had taken upon himself to teach Elena how to feed.

"No, I'm not" Stefan said, "If I can get Elena used to animal blood right out the gate--".

"You're reaching" Damon interrupted.

"--maybe she'll bypass all the things we went through" Stefan finished.

"Delusional" Damon said.

"Maybe she actually has a shot at this" Stefan argued.

"Wrong, you're just wrong, Stefan" Damon said.

"She won't be able to handle it if she hurts someone, Damon" Stefan snapped, "Her compassion is her Achilles heel and everything is magnified right now".

"Then you better hope she's not a fan of Bambi" Damon mocked.

"As much as I don't give a shit about Elena Gilbert" Brayden said, entering Stefan's room, "I'm going to have to agree with Damon here, she's a new vampire, she needs to learn snatch, eat and erase, not from animal blood but from human blood".

"Oh come on Brayden, you and Damon both know what happens, you name a vampire who didn't kill at least one person when they were new" Stefan said.

"You name me one who went on a bunny diet and didn't kill dozens" Damon retorted.

"If she kills someone, she'll crumble" Stefan said, refusing to back down, "How much pain you think she can take before she shuts off her humanity switch?

"Stefan, if you make her down this animal diet route, then she will kill someone" Brayden snapped, "There's no question to it, you're not helping her bloodlust, you're just putting a pause on it and one day because of that she's going to lose it and hurt a lot of people".

"She can't learn to control the bloodlust if she's never actually experienced the bloodlust" Damon added, "It's a cheat, it's like giving a kid a calculator before they know math".

"Hey" Elena greeted, entering Stefan's room and frowned seeing the tense atmosphere, "What's going on?".

"Just having a little disagreement about process" Stefan informed.

Elena looked between Damon and Brayden, "You guys are still not on board with the animal plan?" she asked.

"Nope" Damon replied, "I say rip off the proverbial Band-Aid and let it bleed".

Brayden sighed, he faced the newly turned vampire, "I'll be honest, whatever you chose, I don't care, I don't really care about you" he said, causing a slight hurt expression to come on Elena's face, "But you are a vampire now, hiding from it, denying it, it's not going to help you, it's just going to cause you to lose control, you're a vampire, so start acting like one".

Brayden then walked away, leaving Elena with Stefan and Damon.

***

Brayden and Caroline were now in the woods, sparring together.

Caroline tried to punch Brayden with her right hand but Brayden quickly grabbed her wrist and span her around, causing her back to clash with his chest, and Brayden captured her wrist by her chest.

"Hey" Brayden whispered, kissing Caroline's ear.

"Brayden" Caroline warned, closing her eyes after feeling the middle Salvatore's touch.

"Caroline" Brayden teased, kissing down Caroline's neck.

"Stop" Caroline whispered, arching her neck.

"I don't think you want me to" Brayden said, lightly biting Caroline's neck.

Caroline suddenly turned around and smashed her lips on to Brayden's, who gladly kissed her back, he put his hands on Caroline's thighs and she used the opportunity to jump and wrap her legs around Brayden's waist, Brayden then speeded them towards a tree and leaned Caroline against it, Brayden then helped Caroline stand, he then proceeded to slowly unzip her jacket, but before he could take it off of her, Caroline suddenly pushed him away from her.

"Caroline?" a confused Brayden asked, wondering why Caroline pushed him away.

"Oh my god" a panicked Caroline said, running her hand through her messed up hair, "I brought you here to talk but instead I was about to have sex with you, god! What is wrong with me?!".

"Okay, relax" Brayden said, stepping closer to Caroline, feeling very confused, "What's going on?".

Caroline looked at Brayden, a guilty expression on her face, "I kissed Klaus" she blurted out.

Brayden looked at Caroline in shock, "I'm sorry, what?!".

"When Klaus was in your body, I kissed him" Caroline said, turning her back to Brayden, not wanting to see his disappointed expression, "I'm sorry Brayden, I am so sorry".

"Caroline, listen--".

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you" Caroline interrupted.

"Caroline--".

"I'll leave now" Caroline once again interrupted.

"Wait--", but a guilty Caroline didn't listen to Brayden, she used her vampire speed to run away, "Unbelievable, she didn't even listen to me" Brayden whispered, about to run after his girlfriend, wanting to let her know he wasn't mad at her, he was mad at Klaus, but not Caroline, she didn't know it was Klaus, she kissed him thinking he was Brayden, and Brayden couldn't be mad at her for that, but that doesn't mean he didn't want to find the original hybrid and rip him limb from limb.

Just as Brayden was about to run towards Caroline, he suddenly heard someone puking, confusing him, wanting to know who it was and if they were okay, Brayden speeded towards the noise only to see Elena puking out the animal blood she just had.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" a confused Brayden asked, this was the first time he had seen a vampire puke out blood.

A panicked Elena looked at Brayden, "I don't know" she cried, "Brayden, I don't know what's wrong with me, I can't keep the animal blood down".

Brayden sighed, he removed his jacket and gave it to Elena so she could hide her bloody shirt, "You need human blood Elena, from the vein, this animal blood is never going to help you".

"I can't drink from the vein" Elena said, standing up and wearing Brayden's jacket, "I don't want to hurt anyone".

"Not drinking from the vein, not learning control is what's going to cause you to lose control Elena" Brayden retorted, he then shrugged, "The choice is yours".

***

Brayden was in his room, getting ready for the memorial the town was holding for the council who died in the fire at the Young Farm.

As Brayden was fixing his shirt, his phone started ringing, thinking Caroline had stopped ignoring him, an eager Brayden quickly grabbed his phone, he sighed when he realised it wasn't Caroline calling him, it was Elena.

"This better be important" Brayden said, answering his phone.

"Brayden" Elena cried, suddenly alerting Brayden, who was confused as to why Elena was crying.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" a confused Brayden asked.

"I'm locked in the church bathroom Brayden, I need your help" Elena sobbed.

"Tell me" Brayden said, knowing Elena was struggling with her new vampirism.

***

Brayden walked towards the church, one of Caroline's dresses in his hand, while on the phone with Elena, "Alright I'm here, where are you?".

"I'm in the basement bathroom" Elena informed, cleaning up the bathroom after vomiting out all the animal blood she drank, suddenly the doorknob rattling caught her attention, "Is that you at the door?".

"I'm not there yet" Brayden said, quickening his pace, "Elena don't you dare open that damn door, I swear to god, if you expose us on on your first day as a vampire, you and I are going to have a serious problem".

"Sorry, there's someone in here!" Elena yelled, as someone knocked on the door, "Brayden, hurry".

"I'm coming as quick as I can Elena, I can't really use my super speed infront of these humans, can I now?" Brayden snapped, running towards the basement bathroom, he rushed down the stairs only to come face to face with the man his brother was suspicious of and Liz informed him had too much of a interest about the fire at the young farm, ignoring the man, Brayden knocked on the bathroom door, "Elena, it's me".

A panicked Elena, slightly opened the door and took a breath of relief seeing Brayden, "Oh, Brayden, thank god" she said, taking the spare dress from him, she peeked out the bathroom and looked at the curious man, "Sorry, I spilled coffee all over my dress".

"Just go change" Brayden said, pushing Elena into the bathroom and shutting the door.

"We have not met, I'm Connor Jordan", Connor forwarded his hand towards Brayden.

Brayden looked at the black glove Connor was wearing in suspicion, he knew from Stefan that a hunter had attacked Tyler today after finding out that he was a vampire when Tyler shook his hand and his vervain soaked glove burned him, Brayden looked at Connor and realised there was a chance he was the hunter, which is why there was no way Brayden was going to shake his hand and risk exposing him.

"Brayden, people phobic" Brayden introduced, not shaking Connor's hand, he then looked at the closed door, "Are you nearly done, Elena?!".

"Yeah, just a minute!" Elena said.

Brayden sighed in annoyance, he then turned to the hunter infront of him, "I've never seen you in this town, which means you're new here, so what brings you to our small town?" he asked curiously, wondering why this man was here in Mystic Falls.

"Actually, I'm in environmental clean up" Connor replied.

"Oh, really" Brayden said, resisting the urge to kill Connor right in this church.

"Heard you had a but of a pollution problem" Connor added.

"Yeah, I'll be honest, I don't keep a track of the pollution in Mystic Falls" Brayden said, "I mean, I never had trouble breathing, so I didn't even know we had a problem".

"You do" Connor said, "And I'm here to take care of it".

"So sorry that took so long" Elena said, finally coming out of the bathroom.

"No problem" Connor assured.

"Well, hope you like Mystic Falls" Brayden told Connor, "We welcome you visitors with open arms, don't forget to visit the falls, it has an amazing scenery".

After giving Connor a sarcastic smile, Brayden walked away from him and Elena quickly followed.

***

"Did you bring the blood bag?" Elena asked Brayden, as they walked outside.

"First of all, hold your own bag" Brayden said, shoving Elena's bag into her hands, "And second of all, stop saying that out loud, do you want people to come after us with stakes?", once they were away from everyone and behind a tree, Brayden pulled a blood bag from his jacket, "Drink".

Elena quickly grabbed the blood bag from Brayden's hand and started drinking it while Brayden made sure no one was looking at them, suddenly Elena puked out the blood she just drank.

"What in the world" a confused Brayden whispered.

"No, I can't" Elena cried, "It tastes like--what's wrong with me?".

"How am I meant to know?" an equally confused Brayden asked, "Nothing is ever easy with you is it, Elena? I think it's your doppelganger blood, it might be rejecting the transition, but then that won't make sense because Katherine is a also a doppelganger and her body accepted her vampirisim just fine, so it might just be a you thing".

Elena looked at Brayden in worry, "I'm dying aren't I?".

"Most likely" Brayden replied, realising there was no point in sugar coating things for the doppelganger, "Unless you go and drink from the vein".

Elena immediately shook her head, "No" she protested, "No, no, I can't risk killing anyone, Brayden, maybe I'm better off dead".

"For me?" Brayden asked, "Most definitely, but you're forgetting you have a little brother, who has no one but you left, at least for him, you're gonna have to live, Elena".

"Brayden?!".

Brayden turned around, only to come face to face with Caroline.

"Caroline, it's not what it looks like" Elena immediately defended.

Both Brayden and Caroline looked at Elena in confusion, "What the hell are you on about?" Brayden asked.

"I just don't want Caroline to misunderstand you" Elena replied.

"Why will I misunderstand him?" Caroline asked confused, "I trust Brayden more then anyone in this world".

"You need to get your head checked" Brayden told Elena, he then turned to Caroline, "Are you done ignoring me?".

"Are you done being mad at me?" Caroline asked, giving Brayden a sheepish look.

"If you had stayed to listen to me, then you would have known that I was never mad at you" Brayden replied, walking over to Caroline.

"Really?" Caroline asked.

"Really" Brayden said, tucking a strand of hair behind Caroline's ear, "I'm mad at Klaus, not you, why will I be mad at you? You thought you were kissing me".

Caroline let out a relieved laugh, "I was so worried".

"You have nothing to be worried about" Brayden assured.

Caroline smiled at her soulmate, she then grabbed his face and smashed her lips on to his, "I love you" she whispered, after breaking the kiss.

"I love you too" Brayden said, "But you still have to make it up to me for ruining our morning together".

Caroline chuckled, "I will" she assured.

"Good" Brayden said, lacing his fingers with Caroline's, he then looked to the side where Stefan was coming with Fae, "Stefan!" he yelled, gaining his brother's attention.

"What?" Stefan asked.

Brayden pointed towards an awkward Elena, "She has something to admit to you".

"Brayden" a shocked Elena said.

Brayden shrugged, "I tried to help you but clearly it's not working".

"Wait, what's going on?" a confused Fae asked.

"Elena here can't keep any blood down" Brayden informed.

Stefan looked at Elena, "You told me you were fine".

"Clearly, she lied to you" Brayden said, grabbing a shocked Caroline's hand and taking her inside the church, leaving Stefan to deal with Elena's situation.

***

"You are an idiot" Brayden told Tyler, as he and Caroline sat next to him.

"I'm just being sensitive to the community's loss" Tyler defended.

"You do realise a hunter is out to get you, right?" Brayden asked.

"I'm not letting a hunter stop me from being where I'm supposed to be" Tyler replied.

"So you're being suicidal?" Fae asked, as her and Stefan sat on the other side of Tyler.

"No, I'm just ignoring the problem" Tyler retorted.

"Sounds healthy" Kaitlynn said, sitting next Stefan as Damon sat next to her.

"If he shows his face, all of us will kick his ass" Caroline stated.

"Don't talk like that, I might get turned on" Brayden told Caroline.

"Dude" Tyler complained.

"Really?" Damon asked Brayden, while Stefan shook his head.

"What?" Brayden asked.

"We are in a church, Brayden" Fae scolded.

"And?" Brayden asked.

"So keep the dirty talk for the bedroom" Kaitlynn said, Brayden simply rolled his eyes in response.

The group of friends quietened down once Carol walked over to the podium.

"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" Carol said, "I know that April Young wanted to say a few words about her dad, uh, April? April, are you still here, honey?", But April didn't come forward, "Is there anyone else who would like to share a recollection or a memory about Pastor Young?".

When no one stood up, Elena decided to speak in memory of the Pastor, immediately causing Brayden to face palm, "She's going to get us all exposed" he whispered, as Elena slowing started walking towards the stage.

"She's doing a good thing" Fae defended.

"What?" Brayden asked, "By getting us exposed?".

"Will you for once be sensitive?" Fae asked.

"Will you for once stop defending her?" Brayden snapped.

"Guys, stop" Caroline said, stopping Fae and Brayden's argument before it could escalate.

"She doesn't look so good" Damon observed.

"Maybe if Brayden told me that she was rejecting all food sources we could have helped her" Stefan said.

"Anything else you will like to blame on me?" an annoyed Brayden asked, "Honestly, you should be mad at her, not me, it's not my fault she trust you more then me".

"Which is the most bizarre thing in the world" Kaitlynn said.

"Agreed" both Fae and Caroline whispered.

"When I talked to April earlier, she was kind of nervous about coming up to speak and now I'm up here, I'm kind of nervous too" Elena said, addressing the crowd, "The worst day of loving someone is the day that you lose them".

Suddenly all of the vampires, including Elena, started smelling blood.

"Do you smell that?" Caroline asked.

"Blood" Tyler realised.

"Nobody move" Damon ordered.

"It's trap" Brayden realised, "As soon as one of us move we're dead, so stay put".

"You guys, Elena isn't going to be able to control herself" a worried Fae said.

"On it" Brayden said, grabbing his phone and texting Jeremy to get Elena off the stage.

Just as Elena was about to lose control, Jeremy grabbed his sister and helped her back to her seat, which was about five aisles away from everyone else.

"Please turn to page 42 in your hymn book, let us join together in song".

"The blood you guys, the blood, I can smell it, there's so much" Elena said, clinging on to her brother, the vampires hearing her because of their super hearing.

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

"What's wrong with you?" a confused Matt asked.

"I'm hungry, I haven't fed" Elena informed.

"So leave" Matt said.

"Don't you dare move Elena" Brayden snapped, knowing Elena can hear him, "Stay freaking put, the hunter is watching all of us right now".

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

"I'm joining" Kaitlynn said.

"You two do that, and you risk exposing all of us" Stefan said.

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

"Guys, I'm losing it" a panicked Elena informed.

"Before Damon exposes us, the doppelganger is going to end up exposing us" Brayden told Stefan.

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

"Don't do it, Damon, please" Stefan said.

"For once, I agree with Stefan, don't be an idiot" Brayden told Damon.

"Three, two, one, bye" Damon said, ignoring his brothers and turning to leave, however before he could, Matt's voice stopped him.

"Elena, feed from me" Matt said, "It's okay, everyone will think you're upset, just feed from me", after a moment of thinking, Elena hugged Matt and hid her face in his neck, "It's okay, you're okay, I'm here"

Elena bit into Matt's neck and started drinking his blood, after she was done, she whispered, "Thank you".

"Great, that's one problem solved, what about the other one?" Brayden asked.

"Where are you going?" Fae asked, confused seeing Tyler walk out of his seat.

Tyler looked at Fae, "This hunter's toys won't kill me".

Fae looked at Tyler wide eyed, "No, Tyler, wait!".

But Tyler ignored Fae and went up on stage, "Excuse me, I just wanted to say a few words about Pastor Young" he said into the microphone.

"What the hell do we do now?" Kaitlynn asked.

"He's right" Brayden said, "The hunter can't kill him, he's perfect bait".

"Back in first grade, I was a brat who couldn't be bothered with team sports" Tyler said, as everyone sat down, "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, by giving yourself up for the sake of--", everyone suddenly started screaming when someone shot at Tyler.

"Fae, Kaitlynn go to Tyler, Caroline, you go find whoever is bleeding, Stefan take Elena home, Damon, you and I are on hunter duty" Brayden said, using this distraction to their advantage.

Everyone nodded and using the crowd's hysteria to their advantage, quickly spilt up.

Fae and Kaitlynn ran over to Tyler, Fae turned him around and ripped the stake out of his chest, immediately causing Tyler to gasp and start coughing.

"I'm gonna kill that bastard" a furious Tyler stated.

"Damon and Brayden have got that covered" Kaitlynn assured.

"I have to call an ambulance" Carol said.

"Relax Carol, he's fine" Fae assured.

"The whole town just watched you got shot, I'm calling an ambulance" Carol told Tyler, making the other three realise she was right.

***

Connor quickly ran towards his truck, he got in but before he could drive off, the door of his truck was ripped off and Brayden pulled him out and slammed Connor on to the ground, who immediately got his gun out and rapidly shot at Brayden, but he ignored the pain and ripped the gun out of Connor's hands and grabbed him by the collars, but Connor quickly flipped them and came on top of Brayden and tried to stake him but Brayden prevented him.

"Brayden!" Damon yelled.

Hearing Damon's voice cause Connor to get off Brayden and get into his truck and quickly drive away.

"I hate hunters" Brayden complained as Damon bent down and started taking the wooden bullets out of his brother.

***

At night, Stefan called everyone to the school.

"What are we doing here?" a confused Damon asked, walking over to the group.

"We're finishing the memorial we didn't get to have earlier" Stefan informed, grabbing some paper lanterns and handing it to everyone, "We need to start healing Damon, we've all lost so much, especially recently, we think we're numb to it, we push it away, we make a joke out of it, ignore how we feel, never just let ourselves grieve".

"So you're lighting lanterns?" Damon asked, clearly not on board with the plan.

"Yeah" Stefan replied, "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've got more important things to be doing then this" Damon protested.

"Not tonight, we don't" Stefan stated.

Damon looked towards his twin, hoping he would say something be he stayed quiet, causing Damon to scoff in disbelief.

"This is for my Uncle Zach" Stefan said, lighting his lantern up, "My friend Lexi, for Alaric".

"This is for my mom, Emily Bennett" Fae said, lighting her lantern up and then handing the lighter over to Matt

"This is for Vicki" Matt said, lighting his lantern up, then handing the lighter over to Caroline.

"This for my dad" Caroline said, lighting her lantern up and then giving the lighter to Brayden.

"This is for my mom" Brayden said, making both Stefan and Damon look at him, "And for my best friend, Lexi".

Next up, it was Jeremy, who looked at Elena, "This is for our parents, for Vicki, Anna, Jenna and Alaric".

Jeremy held the lighter out for Damon, "No way, I'm not doing that" Damon said, walking away.

"Here" Kaitlynn said, taking the lighter from Jeremy, "This is for my parents, and all the friends I've lost along the way".

Kaitlynn handed the lighter over to Bonnie, "This is for my grams" she said.

Lastly, it was Elena's turn, "This um, is for my mom, my dad and Jenna, everyone that we've all lost, everyone that this town has lost, and for me, I guess".

One by one everyone let go of their lanterns and watched as they went up in the sky, Fae looked at Stefan, who laced their fingers together, while Caroline put her head on Brayden's chest while he put his arm around her, and everyone stood watching the lanterns float away from them.

***

Presenting 4x02 of They Don't Know About Us!

How was the chapter?

Thoughts on Caroline telling Brayden about her kissing Klaus?

Thoughts on Brayden helping Elena?

Thoughts on Brayden meeting and attacking Connor?

Thoughts on the groups memorial for everyone they've lost?