[A Cell]

(Damon is alone and after some struggle, he finally gets out of the cell)

[Salvatore’s House]

(Katherine wakes up next to Stefan)

Katherine: Oh, my God!

Stefan: Hmm. Hey

Katherine: Um, don't turn around

Stefan: What are you doing?

Katherine: Um, just don't turn around

Stefan: Where are you going?

Katherine: Uh, everything's fine. Go back to bed

(Katherine is about to leave when Damon enters)

Katherine: What the hell happened to you?

Damon: Ditto. Elena's not here by any chance, is she?

Katherine: I haven't seen her, not that I've been looking

Damon: Stef, you awake?

Katherine: You know, he hasn't seen her either. I know because we were together all night

Damon: Look. I've had a really crappy couple days, ok? If you're implying what I think you're implying…

Katherine: Why? What were you thinking? That our hot, naked bodies collided in one unforgettable night of passion?

Damon: I'm gonna barf

Katherine: Great. Then my work here is done. Too-do-loo

(She leaves)

[A Lab]

(Dr. Maxfield is with Elena. She’s tied to an exam table)

Dr. Maxfield: Subject 83182 appears conscious

Elena: Where am I?

Dr. Maxfield: Why? Look familiar?

Elena: What is that thing? What are you doing to me?

Dr. Maxfield: 83182 resume prep for blood dialysis. Count from 10 , 9, 8, 7, 6, 5...

[Salvatore’s House]

(Damon enters Stefan’s room)

Stefan: Where the hell you been?

Damon: Aw, you know, being held against my will, shot in the head, now I can't find Elena. How was your evening? Anything out of the ordinary happen?

Stefan: Wait a minute. What do you mean you can't find Elena?

Damon: I mean, she's not picking up her phone, she's not in her dorm, she's nowhere in this house, which leads me to believe that Dr. creepy Ken Doll has her somewhere

Stefan: Are you talking about the Whitmore bio teacher?

Damon: Yeah, the one that operated on vampires during business hours, yeah, that one. Put your hero hair on, Stefan. Let's go get Elena

Stefan: You just said you don't know where she is

Damon: I don't, which means we're gonna have to find us some leverage. So come on

[Whitmore College]

(Aaron is alone, writing. Damon sits beside him)

Damon: Pop quiz. So your girlfriend's taken by a mad scientist. Now do you: "A," get a new girlfriend; B," call the police; Or "C," kill someone close to that mad scientist?

[A Lab]

(Maxfield is still talking in his recorder)

Maxfield: 4.1 pints drained. 83182 still shows signs of consciousness. Note that 15 years ago subject 12144 faded into unconsciousness after losing 2.9 pints. Evolution or luck? Mystery for another day

Elena: What are you doing to me?What are these tubes? Let me go!

Maxfield: Relax. I plan to once I'm through with you

Elena: My friends are gonna find me

Maxfield: Your heroic vampire friends? Did you know Aaron Whitmore spent his entire life thinking his family was haunted by some death curse? Turns out that curse was your boyfriend systematically killing every member on his family tree. I'm curious. How does one justify that in her mind?

Elena: And this, holding people against their will, how do you justify that?

Maxfield: Science

(He opens a diary and reads)

Maxfield: "June 25, 1999. Incredible findings today. After enduring 3,000 volts of electricity, the subject continues to have a heartbeat. June 26. More success. Subject was exposed to 4,000 volts today. Seizing continues after electrocution. Flesh remains hot to the touch."

Elena: You're a monster

Maxfield: This isn't my journal, Elena. These are the hand-written medical findings of Dr. Grayson Gilbert, your father

Elena: What?

Maxfield: Everything I'm doing to you, I learned from him

[Whitmore College]

(Stefan and Damon are still with Aaron)

Aaron: I have no idea where Wes took her

Stefan: Well, they're not at his lab, so where else could he hide a vampire?

Aaron: I'm sorry. Am I supposed to know who you are?

Damon: That's my brother Stefan, but I'd watch your tone with him because he's kind of in the midst of a psychotic break

Stefan: I'm sorry. I'm what?

Damon: Oh, come on. You don't think I know about you and Katherine?

Stefan: Oh, I see. You're jealous

Damon: More like disturbed. See? He's off his rocker, he's losing his mind, teetering on the brink of insanity

Aaron: How are you not dead? I shot you

Damon: Well, because you went for the head. You got to go for the heart. Go for the heart next time. Now where's Elena?

Aaron: I have no idea. All that Wes told me was to go about my life as usual

Damon: Well, you're gonna call Wes, and you're gonna tell him that if he doesn't give us Elena the next experiment that he conducts will be sewing your arms back on

[A Lab]

Elena: This is my dad's clinic. We're in the basement

Wes: Was your dad's clinic. Then your town council burned a whole bunch of vampires down here. Now it's just a condemned building in Mystic Falls where no one will find us

(His phone rings and he answers)

Wes: Aaron, hey

Aaron: Do you have Elena?

Wes: Aaron, what's wrong?

Aaron: Uh, Stefan and Damon Salvatore are gonna kill me unless you give them Elena

Wes: Damon Salvatore is locked in an impenetrable and inescapable fortified cell

Aaron: Or he's in front of me imagining what my kidney would taste like

Wes: Fine. Meet you in my classroom. Once I see you're safe, tell them I'll give them Elena

(He hangs up and goes into an another room. Enzo is there)

Wes: Enzo… Enzo, wake up. When was the last time you were out in civilization?

Enzo: What's that?

Wes: An insurance policy. Guarantees you'll come back to me. I'm giving you the day off. You and Damon have some catching up to do.

[The Woods]

(Katherine is training with Matt)

Katherine: I don't hear you counting

Matt: 3, 4, 5, 6

Katherine: Uh!

Matt: Good try

Katherine: Good try? That was horrible, Matt. Come on. I'm paying you to make me hot again, whip me into shape, and prolong this death thing as long as possible

Matt: Yeah, that will happen

Katherine: What did you say? No. Seriously. I didn't hear you. Oh, God. I'm going deaf. I'm going deaf. My entire body is falling apart. I can't breathe. I can't breathe. Wa--water! Give me some water. Faster

Matt: Deep breaths. If you're so anxious not to be dead, why don't you just have a vampire turn you?

Katherine: Tried that. Every time I ingest vampire blood, my body rejects it

(She sees someone coming)

Katherine: Who is that? I can't see

Matt: It's Nadia. I told her you were here

(Nadia rejoins them)

Nadia: "Dear Nadia, sorry I had to kill your boyfriend, but it was the motherly thing to do. Suicide, however, not very motherly of me."

Katherine: Great. So, um, Stefan obviously gave you my suicide note. What's your point?

Nadia: That's for trying to kill yourself without saying good-bye

[Whitmore College]

(Aaron, Damon and Stefan are walking)

Stefan: You want to give me a little back story as to how you know one another?

Damon: Aaron is Aaron Whitmore, and he comes from a very long line of vampire-probing, blood-testing, organ-removing freaks called Augustine

Stefan: Why do you know this?

Damon: Because I was their test subject in the fifties

Stefan: What do you mean test subject?

Damon: Meaning I donated my body to science except I was alive and it was against my will

Stefan: Wait. Hold on a minute. How do I not know about this?

Damon: Don't get all guilt-ridden, Stefan, on me. We were on the outs back then, and by the time it was over, you know, it was over

Aaron: Why don't you finish the rest of the story, Damon?

Stefan: I don't recall saying that you could talk. Did I say that he could talk?

Damon: I don't remember anything

Stefan: I didn't think so

[Salvatore’s House]

(Katherine and Nadia are back at the house)

Nadia: I get it now. If I was living here, I'd want to kill myself, too

Katherine: It was a moment of weakness. I'm over it

Nadia: In a moment of weakness, you eat chocolate or kiss the wrong boy. You don't jump off a clock tower

Katherine: Do you see this? This is raw kale. In what universe would I put this inside of my body unless I actually wanted to live another day

Nadia: Ok. Then what changed your mind?

Katherine: It's not so much a matter of what as it is who. Can I ask you something absentee mother to mildly abusive daughter?

Nadia: I'm listening

Katherine: Do you think after all the horrible things that I've done it would be possible to be forgiven?

Nadia: Of course I do. That's actually why I'm here. I may have an idea that will keep you alive longer

Katherine: I'm listening

[A Lab]

Elena: When did you meet my dad?

Wes: He was working with Augustine to turn vampire blood into a magical cure-all to fight disease, cure cancer, save the world

Elena: Do you know if he ever brought a vampire down here?I remember coming down here as a kid. There was something about this place that always creeped me out. Wes, I saw Enzo when I woke up. I know he's alive. Where is he?

Wes: He's on a little day trip. Apparently he has some unresolved business with your boyfriend

Elena: What did you do? What did you do? What did you do?

[Whitmore College]

(Aaron, Damon and Stefan arrive at the classroom)

Damon: Which one is it?

Aaron: It's right here. 21051

(They enter. Enzo is there)

Damon: Enzo!

Enzo: It's been a while, mate

Stefan: Who the hell are you?

Enzo: Lorenzo... But my friends call me Enzo. Ah. Kidding. I don't have any friends

Damon: Enzo's another Augustine vampire. Our cells were next to each other. So we're here to meet somebody-- Wes Maxfield. You know him?

Enzo: That's your first question for me? Not "how are you? How'd you survive in that fire I left you to die in"?

Aaron: Uh, does somebody want to tell me what the hell is going on here?

Enzo: I'd love to. Have a seat. Been waiting 70 years to tell my story

[A Lab]

Elena: Enzo is the Augustine vampire. He killed my roommate Megan, didn't he?

Wes: Conserve your energy. I've drained enough blood to start phase two

Elena: Let me guess. You're not gonna tell me what phase two is, are you?

Wes: If it works, you'll be the first one to know

Elena: Why did Megan have a picture of my dad on her cell phone?

Wes: Maybe because her parents helped fund your father's projects

Elena: They knew about Augustine, too?

Wes: Well, no. All they knew was that your dad had an unregulated compound that could cure most injuries

Elena: Vampire blood

Wes: Exactly, but as Megan grew up, she got suspicious, enrolled at Whitmore, roomed with Dr. Gilbert's daughter, and she went to a party at Whitmore house and put her nose where it didn't belong

Elena: She found Enzo in his cell

Wes: And being clueless to what a starving vampire will do around fresh human blood, I'm guessing she got too close

(His phone rings. He answers)

Wes: Aaron

Stefan: Where's Elena?

Wes: Who's this?

Stefan: We have Aaron, and we're trying to decide how to kill him

Wes: Funny. I have Elena, and I'm wondering how she'll function without her cerebral cortex. Touch him, and you'll never see her again

Stefan: That threat works both ways

[Whitmore College]

Enzo: Damon and I had been locked in those cells for years, tortured, beaten, humiliated, but we weren't gonna let them break us, no. We decided if we were going to escape we needed to work together. We needed each other

Stefan: He's not sending her

Enzo: Tragic. Can I continue my story now, please?

Damon: Doesn't he know we have Aaron?

Stefan: He doesn't care. He's willing to risk it

Aaron: What? Let me talk to him! He'll listen to me

Damon: What part of "he doesn't care" are you not registering?

Enzo: Where were we? Uh, ah, right. I was telling my story, and you were all politely listening. So I'd given Damon all of my blood ration so he'd have the strength to escape and save me in the process. Our plan began perfectly, didn't it? I was waiting in the cage for him to release me, waiting for my friend, my cellmate, the only soul with whom I'd connected with in all those years of captivity. Then a fire starts, burns out of control, but Damon just can't get the damn cage open. He looks me in the eye as if he doesn't even recognize me, turns around, saves himself, leaving me to die

Stefan: Well, you didn't die obviously

Enzo: No. Unfortunately I lived. I was spared by one of the scientists so I could spend another 50 years on a table being opened and closed. Now that we've all been acquainted, I'm gonna go find something to wet my whistle

Stefan: You didn't tell me about him

Damon: It was the 1950s. I'm supposed to remember every moment of my life? Do you want to kill Aaron, or should I?

Stefan: This guy was your cellmate for 5 years, you left him to die, he comes back, and you're completely unfazed?

Damon: Fine. I will

Aaron: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on, hold on, hold on. Wes gave me a bunch of files on my family history. They're in my dorm, ok? Maybe there's something in there you need, a name, I mean, another lab

Damon: That's a timely revelation

Aaron: Yeah. Well, you know, he's not gonna help me, so why should I help him?

Damon: I don't like you, I don't like your family, I don't like you messing with my relationship. If you're lying, I'm gonna take my thumbs, and I'm gonna gouge out your sad little eyes out of your sad little head!

Enzo:Ah. It's frightening what you can find on campus these days

Stefan: Knock yourself out. We're going with plan "B"

Enzo: Damon's not. Damon's staying right here. He knows all my secrets, so he knows how ornery I can get when I don't get my way

Damon: Call me if you find anything, kill him if you don't

Stefan: Come on

[Salvatore’s House]

Katherine: You didn't just propose spirit possession with a straight face?

Nadia: You said my grandfather was a Traveler, which means your father was a Traveler. Therefore, you are a Traveler. We just need to find one who can teach you how to do the passenger spell

Katherine: Hang on. I'm hardly a Traveler, ok? My father banned us from doing Traveler magic. He said it was the devil's work or something dramatic that terrified us, and then I became a vampire and never thought about it again

Nadia: But it's in your blood, which means you have the ability to keep living inside someone else's body. Gregor was a Traveler. He put his spirit inside Matte's body. So that even after his body died he lived on

Katherine: Yes! He lived on in a busboy. Good idea, Nadia. Let's put my essence in some nobody. Thing is, Stefan actually likes this body

Nadia: What are you talking about?

Katherine: Stefan and I may have rekindled an old flame last night

Nadia: I see. So when you asked me about forgiveness, you were asking about him, not me?

Katherine: Look. Maybe I don't want to die a sad, lonely 538-year-old. If I have to bow out, knowing that Stefan still cares might not be the worst way to go

Nadia: No. You had it right the first time. Go kill yourself, see if anyone misses you

[Whitmore College]

Enzo: What about cricket? That ever become a thing here?

Damon: No

Enzo: Oh, shame. Fun sport. Not that I can play. Took up drawing for a while. Of course I had no pencil, so I'd just prick my finger and paint the cell wall with my blood

Damon: What do you want? You want me to feel guilty? I couldn't save you. Now where's Elena? What's wrong with you?

Enzo: Wes injected me with poison that will stop my heart. I'll desiccate if I don't return for the antidote

Damon: All the more reason to tell me where he is. Look. You get the antidote, I'll save my girlfriend, we'll kill Wes together

Enzo: Did you even think about it after you left, the experiments, the cell, or did you just go out and live your merry life to its fullest?

Damon: Look at me. If you go back, we go back together. We finish this for good. Come on

Enzo: You're not gonna see your girl again, Damon, because I want the antidote, and Wes told me not to come back until you were dead. I imagine you just broke your clavicle. Probably a few lumbar and thoracic vertebrae. It's funny what you learn about your body when it's taken apart like a bloody automobile right before your eyes!

Damon: I'm not gonna fight you, Enzo

Enzo: What are you gonna do then, run?You're good at that

Damon: I want to find my girlfriend

Enzo: While you were out running wild, I had one single thought, that I'd have the pleasure of killing you

Damon: Enzo, look at me

Enzo: Bloody poison!

Damon: Where is she? Where's Elena.Tell me where she is!

Enzo: Or what?! You never see her again? It might be good for you to know what it's like to miss someone for the next 60 years

Damon: Enzo, look at me. Hey! Enzo! Where is she? Where is she? Enzo, hey

(Stefan and Aaron are in Aaron’s dorm)

Aaron: All the files of my family history are in here

Stefan: Hurry up. Is this all a lie, huh? If you want me to kill you, I will kill you. Do not test me

Aaron: Do it. I'm dead already. Damon's been planning my death since before I was born

Stefan: What are you talking about?

Aaron: Damon left out the best part of the Augustine story, the part after he escaped

Stefan: Talk

Aaron: It wasn't enough for Damon to kill the doctors who tortured him. He had to torture their families and their future families. He spent the last 60 years killing every one of my relatives except he's a psychopath. He leaves one alive so that they can continue the family line so that he can destroy future generations of innocent people. So go ahead and do it, kill me because I don't want to give Damon the satisfaction, so do it. Do it!

Stefan: You know, not all of us are like my brother

Aaron: Stefan? This is everything Wes gave me on Augustine. I saw Elena's last name on a few pages. Maybe it will help

[A Lab]

Flashback

(Elena is little and she’s in the basement. Her father rejoins her)

Grayson: Hey. You're not supposed to be down here. Basement's a kid-free zone, remember?

Elena: I heard someone screaming

Grayson: Oh, it's ok. Everything's fine. In fact, today's a good day, Elena

Elena: Why?

Grayson: Daddy's gonna save a little girl's life. She's just about the same age as you. Pretty cool, huh? All right. Get out of here. Doctor's orders

Elena: Ok dad

Nowadays

Wes: Good news. The sample cells mutated. My compound worked

Elena: I don't follow. You kicked me out of bio, remember?

Wes: You've heard of Pavlov? Conditioned his dog to salivate at the sound of a bell. This compound is like that bell except instead of a ding your body will salivate at the smell of vampire blood

Elena: Oh, my God. That's what you did to Jesse. You turned him into some rabid vampire who only wanted to feed on other vampires

Wes: Jesse was a fantastic case study, but he took too long to condition, and considering the size of the vampire population, a single-dose injection is much more efficient

Elena: Yeah, but he couldn't stop feeding. He tried to kill Damon

Wes: Exactly. Vampires are now one shot away from craving their own kind, and you're about to be patient zero

Elena: What? No. No, you can't do that to me. You'll turn me into a ripper

Wes: I know. Subject 83182 prepped for compound injection

Elena: No. Please. You can't do this to me

Wes: You'll be doing the world a favor, Elena. I might not be able to kill vampires...

Elena: No! Let me go!

Wes: But you will

Elena: No

(Stefan arrives)

Stefan: Elena

Elena: Stefan! Oh, God. Ohh

Stefan: Come here. Oh. You're ok. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you

Elena: Get me out of here. Come on. Come on get me out of here

[Mystic Grill]

(Matt goes out and sees Nadia at a table)

Matt: Look. We're closing, so...

Nadia: We met on a little patio like this, remember? The twinkling lights, music. That was a fun night

Matt: Yeah. I'd kind of rather just put us, um, behind us

Nadia: Fine. Will do, but I need you to hold on to this for me

Matt: The Travelers' knife? No way. I just got rid of that thing

Nadia: It's not about you. I'm leaving Mystic Falls, and I need to know it's safe

Matt: Why? and why do people want it?

Nadia: I thought I could convince Katherine to live a little longer. I was wrong, but if she changes her mind, she will need this. That's all you need to know

Matt: Well, she won't because Katherine cares about Katherine and only Katherine. If she doesn't want to do something, then she won't

Nadia: I spent 500 years searching for her. I finally find her only to lose her all over again. I don't know if I should hate her for giving up or be at her side when she dies

Matt: Listen, I get the whole crappy parenting thing. My mom kind of sucked. She was selfish, and she drank too much and never really thought about how it would affect me

Nadia: Then you know what it's like to hold on to the hope that maybe just once she'll do what you want

Matt: If she changes her mind, the knife will be with me

[Whitmore College]

(Enzo wakes up in Wes’ lab. Damon’s here)

Damon: Oh. Never mind

Enzo: What did you do now?

Damon: Well, I injected you with a bunch of these that say, "Antidote," and apparently, one of them worked

Enzo: If this is some attempt to make amends, it's a bit pathetic, mate

Damon: I don't care about amends, mate. My girlfriend's safe, so technically, I'm not suffering, and it'd really suck if you desiccated in vain... And I'm gonna tell you my side of the story. You asked me if I thought about you after I escaped, and answer is no, and I sure as hell don't feel guilty about leaving you because in order for me to save myself and leave you, I had to shut off my humanity, damn it, so I flipped the switch, and then I felt nothing, no remorse, no regret, no pain

Enzo: And now what do you feel, remorse, regret, pain? Even if I forgave you, Damon, would that make you less of a horrible person?

Damon: We're even, Enzo

Enzo: You were the most important person in my life, and you ruined me, but that's just who you are, that's who you'll always be... A monster

[Salvatore’s House]

(Elena is reading her dad’s journal when Damon enters)

Elena: It's weird. Even as a kid, there was something about that basement that creeped me out

Damon: Sure you want to give yourself nightmares reading that thing?

Elena: And I remember my dad talking about this little girl. I think he was talking about my roommate Megan. Look. "January 1999. Saw Megan King today. Megan is 7 years old. She suffers from a congenital heart defect with a life expectancy of two months. A single injection of vampire blood appears to be an effective life-saving solution." That's why Megan had a picture of my dad on her phone… because he saved her life

Damon: A hundred pages of horrific torture and you find the one happy passage

Elena: My dad used his research to save people, Damon, children, families

Damon: Yeah. And dissected vamps along the way. News flash, Elena. You are a vampire. I mean, do you honestly think that he would sit here and see you as anything more?

Elena: I don't know. He was my dad. I can't not defend him

Damon: No. I know you can't because you do it for me all the time

Elena: I'm not defending you. I'm not defending your decision to kill Aaron's entire family, to go out of town and kill the aunt while we were still together

Damon: So why are you still here? I'm bad, Elena, I am bad for you, so why wouldn't you have run away from me as far as humanly possible?

Elena: Because I love you, Damon, because I chose you, and because I stand by my choice

Damon: Well, now I'm choosing, and I'm choosing to let you go

Elena: What? No, Damon

Damon: I am choosing to not have to think about how you must feel every time some ghost from my past comes into our life. I'm choosing to relieve you of having to defend me for every awful thing I've ever done

Elena: Stop acting like I'm perfect. Damon, I've done horrible things, too. You think I'm gonna stand here and judge you after I find out that you've been tortured for 5 years?

Damon: Stop defending me! I won't change who I am. I can't... But I refuse to change you

(Stefan enters his room. Katherine’s here)

Stefan: Can I come in, or are you gonna freak out and run away again?

Katherine: I'm getting wrinkles

Stefan: Heh. Katherine Pierce's chickens come home to roost. In the form of wrinkles. It's kind of brilliant

Katherine: What's the opposite of funny? Oh, right. Not funny

Stefan: Hmm. So what are you, uh, doing in my room?

Katherine: I want to talk about last night

Stefan: Ok

Katherine: So talk

Stefan: Well, um, it was a long day, we had a moment, and we got swept up in it

Katherine: Did you memorize that from... A textbook or something?

Stefan: Katherine, what do you expect? You want me just forget everything that you've put me through for the last 147 years?

Katherine: I'm dying, Stefan

Stefan: I know you are, and I'm sure that you will figure a way out of it

Katherine: No. I mean, it's for real this time. Look at me. I'm dying. What does someone have to go through to get a little redemption around here?

Stefan: 147 years is a long time to forgive in one night

Katherine: One night... An eternity... You'd never look at me the way you look at Elena, would you? Good night, Stefan

Stefan: Hey. I'm sorry that you're dying

Katherine: Trust me. I am, too

[A Lab]

(Aaron finds Wes)

Aaron: Wes? Wes?

Wes: Aaron?

Aaron: What the hell is this place, huh?

Wes: It's one of Augustine's research labs

Aaron: Do you really think that you're helping people with this vampire crap?You sold me out! You used my life as a bargaining chip

Wes: Aaron, I'm sorry

Aaron: I never want to see you again. Get the hell out of my life

Wes: Aaron. Aaron!

[Salvatore’s House]

(Katherine is on the phone)

Katherine: So do we have a deal? You'll find me a Traveler that will teach me how to do the spell?

Nadia: I guess this means you want to live

Katherine: I'm a survivor. Staying alive is my specialty

Nadia: Mm-hmm. Assuming of course it's on your terms. Clearly Stefan inspired some profound thinking

Katherine: I think Stefan believes that a part of me can still be redeemed

Nadia: And what do you think? Is he right? Hello? Katherine? Katherine?