for the rest of us death will be a relief

[praevaricatio]

Comments

[quesadilla]

Sandy's in your corner. Kirsten will be soon enough.

And, I'm not afraid of meeting your mother, Caroline. And, when we do get back down here, we can go to Chino and visit mine. She's in a home, but I want you to meet her.

But, right now, call Jeremy. And then we will map out the best route from here to Beacon Hills and get back in touch with her and make a plan.

( Ryan lets Caroline stay in project mode, pulling out his own phone and stepping down onto the winding driveway. He walks a few feet away so he can focus on Serena, dialing her number.

Jeremy, exhausted, gets off the phone with his girlfriend and then sees someone else is calling him.

"Caroline?" )

[vampireboulevard]

Hey, Jeremy.

[He sounds so tired, she feels bad. But it needs to be done.]

Are you okay? No grievous bodily harm in storming the castle?

[Let's start there and work their way up to wrangling his mother.]

[barely]

Almost, but I owe Elijah one, now, I'm guessing. But, yeah, overall I'm okay. Is... everything okay with you?

( It can't be about Elena. )

This isn't about Matt, right, cause he has a temporary phone. I can get you his number.

[vampireboulevard]

This is not about Matt and ... no, I think it's pretty safe that I'm in the not okay category.

[Mostly because she can feel herself fucking up left right and center and being a terrible friend even if she's completely across the country from anything that's happening, but she's trying to give herself grace after being thrown a huge curveball.]

Three more returned people showed up in Beacon Hills. One of them was my mom.

[Which is why she is not okay.]

I'm not sure who the second one is but the third was Jenna. And she's a vampire.

[barely]

Caroline, what's wrong?

( And why is she calling him about it? He knows his sister just went to sleep, she messaged him that. Bonnie's been on the group text. She's around. )

Your - the sheriff? ( And then ) ...Jenna?

[vampireboulevard]

Yeah. And she's understandably having a hard time and she's had basically no vampire training, so ... Stiles and my mom are trying to keep her calm, but she wants to talk to you guys, more specifically your mom because I told her that your parents were back too.

[She takes a deep breath.]

I'm going to get a number for people to call her and you're welcome to use it, but you sound exhausted and I think Miranda is the one she really wants to talk to so can you prep your Mom for me? In the sense that Jenna is a vampire, and she's probably going to talk about it so I really need her to be warm, maternal, soothing Miranda Gilbert for a couple hours until I get there and check her vampire issues while she's doing it.

[A pause.]

And I'm probably saying this all wrong but I just ... I really need to get to my mom, and I don't know if I can effectively manage Miranda's feelings right now.

[barely]

I'll manage my mom's feelings and I really don't think Jenna's going to go telling her she's a vampire, but I'll do my best to field what I can. Does this need to happen now or can I do this when I wake up?

( So many assumptions. He's offended on behalf of several people, but he's also very tired. )

[vampireboulevard]

[Yeah, Caroline's batting a thousand tonight. She runs a hand through her hair because Jeremy's right, she doesn't know that Jenna is going to say anything, but speaking as someone who was on the other hand of Miranda's judgement and how much it hurts, she doesn't want Jenna to deal with the same right now.]

Now, please. I just need her to talk to her while we're driving to Beacon Hills. That's going to take a few hours.

[barely]

Okay, I'll call my mom now.

( He holds the phone against his forehead, then brings it back to his ear. )

I have Jenna handled and it sounds like she has a squad up there with her, so, worry about your mom, okay. She's going to be happy to see you. I have my family. She's yours. I can only imagine how happy she'll be to see you.

( He's not trying to not send her frustration back.

And after hanging up with Caroline, he first calls his girlfriend back. Because he needs a little pep talk and his sister is asleep. As much as Caroline's putting on him, Jenna and his mom and his dad, they are his baggage. So he needs to be the one. )

[ooglyboogleys]

["Okay. I'm sorry, Jeremy."

She knows she's not doing her best right now, and she'll make it up to him.

Dawn fumbles for her phone when she hears it ringing, perking up as she answers.]

Hey. Everything still okay?

[barely]

( Yeah, he knows he just called. He's not normally this needy. )

Kind of, Caroline's freaking out because we had three more drops in Beacon Hills. Her mother, someone else, and my aunt Jenna.

[ooglyboogleys]

It really is raining dead people.

[A pause.]

Sorry, probably insensitive to the poor recently resurrected. I'm not sure I blame Caroline for freaking out. If my mom spontaneously resurrected, I'd probably freak out too. But I think you're calling about Jenna?

[barely]

Yeah, she uh, wants me to prep my mom and then get her in touch because Jenna asked for her. But, she's worried about Jenna being a vampire and freaking her out. And, she thinks I'm the guy that has to talk her through it and talk Jenna down which means another lie or preempting the truth. And I have to do all this before sleep. ( A beat. ) And I can't remember if Elena told her about Jenna, because she did tell them about Klaus' ritual. I just need, like, a little confidence boost because this is going to be a lot.

( None of them have any of their Bingo cards today. And, still, they wouldn't have seen this coming. )

[seirenes]

[Serena answers on the second ring, a familiar cheerful voice coming through.]

Hey, Ryan! Happy winter holiday of your choosing.

[Because it is that time of year, and given the timing she doesn't think he's a "Yule" person, so best to cover your bases.]

[quesadilla]

Happy Chrismukkah, from Newport Beach. I'm here with Caroline. Are you also in California?

( Nice, but business. He already thanked you for the contribution to his finger that keeps him not burning to a crisp. )

[seirenes]

Oh, a merged holiday. Love that.

[More inclusivity would make the world a better place. She doesn't skip a beat at the question though.]

Today is your lucky day. I'm in Santa Monica. What can I do for you?

[quesadilla]

Yeah, it's my brother's tradition.

( And it's very cool and very sweet. )

I think Caroline's trying to connect to get a new vampire a daylight ring.

[seirenes]

Got it. Are you guys coming to me or am I meeting you somewhere? I may have to grab some supplies.

[Mostly the jewelry portion of the spell as she did not bring her lapis lazuli collection on this particular job.]

[quesadilla]

Santa Monica's on the way, so we're coming to you? But, you need to be there in person with the new vampire, right? She's up in Beacon Hills. It's in Northern California. Any chance we can pick you up on the way?

( Now he's trying to fix everything. )

[seirenes]

Oooh, Beacon Hills. There's a tree there I've been wanting to check out.

[A beat.]

Which sounds very weird, but I'll tell you about it as we go. I'll track down some lapis lazuli jewelry and drop you a pin for where to pick me up.

[quesadilla]

Yeah, there are trees.

( Anything as incentive. )

I'll tell Caroline. Thank you, Serena.

( He hangs up, waiting for her to finish. )

[vampireboulevard]

["You got it. See you soon."

And shortly after he hangs up, he'll get a text with a pin for where they should meet.

Caroline passes on the phone number for Jenna to Jeremy before moving over to Ryan with a sigh. She's going to have to do a big apology tour when all this is settled, but it's fine. It's a problem for future Caroline.]

Jeremy's handling his mom and Jenna. Did you get ahold of Serena?

[She knows he was talking to someone but she wasn't actually listening.]

[quesadilla]

( Ryan saves the pin, turning back and raising her phone. )

Serena's in Santa Monica.

( His smile falters, though, coming forward to hold Caroline again. Her priority is the project. His priority is her. )

What can I do? What's the most important thing right now.

[vampireboulevard]

Tell me that my friends will forgive me for saying all the wrong things today and I'm not a terrible person?

[Because she's feeling like she is right now and she trusts Ryan to either tell her her brain is lying to her, or lie to her to get her on the road.]

[quesadilla]

Your friends have nothing to forgive, because they know that along with Jenna and this second werewolf, your mom is also waiting in Beacon Hills, alive. And they've known you all their lives, so they can hear it in your voice when you've gone into Fix-It mode and you're pushing away how you really feel to help them. Which is a long and convoluted way of saying: you can feel it. Unless, that might delay things and you want to keep moving. Keep moving down your checklist.