Unstoppable | The Vampire Diaries

94. A New Hope

"Agh!"

"Sorry," Jo said worriedly. "Are you OK?"

Liv left the Salvatore living room, patting out the fire that was burning her shirt. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. It's just clothes... and skin."

Riley popped her head up from behind the sofa. "Are you done?" she asked Jo. "Or should I keep hiding?"

Stefan walked into the room, taking in the complete mess, the broken ornaments, the confused old/new witch and the hiding human.

"What's going on?"

"Fire spell," Jo said, looking around. "Sort of. Getting back in touch with my magic."

Stefan still looked confused. "OK... why?"

"Because in a month, Jo is gonna take on Kai in that twin merge thing and become the badass leader of the Gemini Coven," Riley told him, smiling. "Which means that she needs to practice as much as possible."

"I get that," Stefan said, accidentally stepping on a piece of broken vase. "But, why is it happening in my living room?"

"Because Ric found out about the compulsion," Riley revealed. Back when Mystic Falls was still a magic-free zone, Ric had crossed the border and Damon's compulsion had worn off. Not that it mattered; Kai got out of 1994 of his own accord, and now no one knew where he was. But the worst part was that Bonnie was still trapped there. "Damon feels guilty, so he offered your place as collateral damage."

"Right..." Stefan said warily. Then another thought occurred to him. "Shouldn't you be at the hospital?"

Riley frowned and shook her head. "Damon's taking my place." Caroline was bringing Liz home today – she didn't need another person getting under her feet.

"Well, in that case, come with me," Stefan said, ushering her out of the house. Riley frowned, following him.

"Where are we going?"

"Your place," he told her. "Your dad needs help moving Liz's entertainment center and it beats watching Jo burn my house down."

The drive to the Fletcher-Forbes residence was short and quiet. Both Riley and Stefan were silently worrying about Caroline. Right now, she was hopeful about her mom's condition, thinking that they'd find another way to save her life. But Stefan and Riley both knew it was only a matter of time before she had to accept fate. And they had no idea how their eternally optimistic best friend/sister would react to that.

Thankfully, moving the entertainment center into the living room provided a welcome distraction until Liz and Caroline came home.

"What is this?" Liz asked with an amused smile as Caroline helped her to remove her jacket. Chris mirrored her smile.

"We moved your entertainment center in here," he stated the obvious. "We hooked the surround sound to the DVD player and bought a universal remote."

"Now you can watch TV from your favorite chair," Caroline joined in, grinning from ear to ear. Riley and Stefan subtly raised their eyebrows at each other. Clearly the misplaced optimism was catching.

"Well, thanks," Liz said tiredly. "Guess it never occurred to anyone to just... move my chair?"

Riley put her hand up. "That was my idea, but apparently I think logically when I should be thinking creatively," she repeated her dad's words from earlier mockingly. Her dad was the creative one in the family, she had more of her mom's logical mindset.

"Anyway, you and Chris are gonna binge F.R.I.E.N.D.S while me and Riley are out," Caroline said, handing her mom the box set. "If you start now, we'll be back in time for Monica and Chandler's wedding."