A hard-knock life, is it?
CAROLINE: Don't walk there.
Ugh. I just washed that.
My apologies, Cinderella.
-What are you doing? -Stefan and I had a moment.
Things broke in the process. I'm returning Scull Bar to the way we found it.
The point of flipping your humanity switch is you don't care how you leave things.
(SIGHS) I go to school here, Enzo.
I want to keep going to school here.
The second that I draw any suspicions,
break-ins, broken property, dead bodies,
people will try to interrupt my routine.
Then I will end up rotting in a cell somewhere,
instead of what I should be doing,
which is preparing for my audition tomorrow.
You, Caroline Forbes, vampire without humanity,
auditioning for the school play.
Musical.
And obviously. Duh. I'm a drama major.
What are you doing here?
Find My Phone led me here.
It didn't explain why your sticky fingers needed it last night.
You're the only one with Sarah Salvatore's number.
Why would you need it?
To use her life as leverage
to convince Stefan to shut his humanity switch off too.
That's both clever and deeply unsettling.
-Tell me she's still alive. -She's alive.
Assuming she survived any infections resulting from Liam's amateur surgery.
Which means Stefan's humanity is a thing of the past.
Like I said, I will stop at nothing to maintain my routine.
So I suggest that you stay away.
Now, if you don't mind.
I need to prepare for my audition.
How was the rave?
STEFAN: Oh, you know,
loud, lame, rave-like.
Anything I should know?
Anything you'd like to talk about, bro to bro?
Where do we keep our weapons?
-Pardon? -Crossbows, vervain grenades.
All that hunter crap Jeremy was into.
Ah, yes, the throne.
-(DAMON GRUNTS) -(STEFAN CHUCKLES)
Elena told on me. Shocker.
Not a good time for a humanity flip, brother.
-(BONES BREAK) -(DAMON GRUNTS)
Do yourself a favor.
Stay out of my way today.
-(BONES CRACK) -(DAMON GROANS)
(ENGINE REVS)
JO: Whoa. Easy.
Where am I?
You're at Whitmore Medical Center. I'm Dr. Laughlin.
-Last night... -You had a little bit too much to drink.
A professor found you passed out in the quad.
I sort of remember that.
It was like a spring break kickoff rave.
-I should get home. -Actually, I need you to sit tight.
We need to look after you for a while. You lost a lot of fluids last night. Okay?
JO: For the record,
I am not okay with turning my hospital into a supernatural holding cell.
Look, it's the first day of spring break, the campus is a ghost town.
We need to keep her out of harm's way until Elena's blood is out of her system.
Unless, of course, you wanna invite another Salvatore vampire to our wedding.
I'm starting to think that eloping is the way to go.
(CHUCKLES) Yeah. Yeah, me too.
She's been compelled to forget last night. Soon she'll be back at Duke, safe,
with no idea what happened and no one the wiser.
Huh. Duke.
That's not bad.
It's a little obnoxious, but kind of in a cute way.
-You know? Little Duke. -(STUTTERS) Wait.
We're thinking baby names?
-You haven't been? -No.
-I have. No, I have. I totally have. -Name one.
(SIGHS)
Josette Jr.
(CHUCKLES) Get out of here.
-I have rounds. -Okay.
(GRUNTING)
Damon.
What are you doing?
Looking for a healthy outlet for my rage.
Haven't found it yet.
Stefan without his humanity is one artery away from Stefan the Ripper.
And every day that goes by is one year
of guilt waiting for him on the other side.
Yeah, well...
Not to add to our growing pile of bad news,
but we didn't just lose Stefan.
We lost our chance to spark Caroline's humanity.
Turns out he was her emotional trigger.
No, thanks.
Take it away from me
because I'm seconds away from using it on this.
Yeah.
Who is that?
This is Lillian Salvatore.
-Your mother is alive? -Yup.
Turns out she's been in a prison-world snapshot of 1903 for over a century.
-Your mother is alive. -Oh, yeah, alive and well.
Not in the pine box that I thought I buried her in, in 1858.
And apparently, she's a vampire. Not just any kind of vampire...
Damon, your mother is alive.
She's a ripper, Elena.
Makes perfect sense.
Stefan was always such a mama's boy.
How much of a mama's boy?
He would've hanged himself with Mother's apron strings if it meant her approval.
We both would. We loved her.
She was our world.
What?
No. No way.
This is our way to get Stefan back.
You can't tell me that his mother isn't an emotional trigger.
She killed so many people
that an entire coven of witches built her a permanent time-out.
Don't fix one ripper problem by unleashing another ripper.
Think about it. If this works, we don't just get Stefan and Caroline back.
We get your mother back.
Aren't you even a little curious to see her?
-I might know a few witches that can help. -BONNIE: I'm not helping you.
Ow.
I hate Kai. You know that. First thing you did when I got back
was throw him in my face to fake-apologize.
Yeah, and then I real-apologized for being a dick.
And here you are, less than 24 hours later,
asking me to work with him.
Bonnie, we need Kai to get to 1903.
And we need Bennett blood to do the damn spell.
Listen, we go in, we grab my mom,
she flips Stefan's switch, he triggers Caroline, emotional dominoes.
Hey, everybody wins.
(EXHALES)
If I give you my blood, will you just get out of my face?
Probably.
Although...
I think you're gonna want to join us.
Stick with me, Bonnie Bennett.
I might just have the answer to all your prayers.
You want the 1903 ascendant.
Sure, just let me reach in my pocket and pull it out.
If you're sincerely looking for a way
to make up for the hell that you put me through,
this is it.
(TAPPING ON TABLE)
Okay, the problem is, the Gemini kept the existence
of the 1903 prison world a secret for generations.
To find the key to that particular jail cell,
I'd have to navigate ancient texts,
undo layers of magical cloaking spells and...
Wait.
Oh, that's weird.
(KAI CHUCKLES)
It was in my pocket.
When Damon told me about Mama Salvatore, I started looking.
And if I wanted to, I could get her out.
Newly minted leader of the Gemini Coven, I don't even need a celestial event
to zap us there.
Okay, so, what's the catch?
I'll go if you go.
Come on, it could be fun.
You know, 1903, the Gilded Age.
You ever dream about time travel?
I would rather die of cholera than spend an afternoon with you.
You're way more likely to die at the hands of your pal Caroline.
I bet it'll be over something stupid, like she stops doing laundry
and you make some snippy comment, and she snips off your tongue.
I mean, if only there were some way to reunite her with her humanity.
(SINGING) But that wouldn't change the fact
That wouldn't speed the time
Once the foundation's cracked
And I'm
Still hurting
(MUSIC STOPS)
Hello?
Pretty sure I crushed that. (CHUCKLES)
(GASPS)
STEFAN: Moving. Truly.
Although it did lack a certain authenticity.
What the hell are you doing? That was the director.
And you are a vampire without humanity singing about heartbreak.
-It's a performance, Stefan. -It sure is, Caroline.
Especially this carefully crafted good-student routine.
Straight and narrow.
Anything to keep you from making a mistake you might regret one year from now,
when you flip your switch back on.
Oh, except the whole ruining-my-life part.
If your humanity's off, then you shouldn't really care how I deal.
No, that's where you're wrong.
Because like you, I'm prone to doing bad things when my humanity is off.
But unlike you, I don't have an elaborate system to keep me in check.
-Well, that's not my problem. -Well, I'm making it your problem.
If my life is gonna fall apart when my humanity starts flooding back,
then so is yours.
When I'm done with you...
You'll be drowning in mistakes.
This is seriously about revenge?
Yes, it is.
And this?
This is a control freak's worst nightmare.
This is me undoing your routine.
This is me...
Forcing you to let go...
One day at a time...
...until you break.
Damn. Crocodile Dundee called. He wants his knife back.
Yeah, you know, he's no longer a thing, and neither is that joke.
Ouch.
Is this presentable attire by 1903 standards?
Whoa. Who said you're coming?
To meet the woman who gave birth to the two epic loves of my life?
Me.
KAI: Powerful as I am, there's a limit to
how many people I can transport with this spell.
Which is why there's two of us.
(INHALES SHARPLY)
-Shall we? -Fine, let's go get Mom.
(KAI SPEAKING IN MAGICAL LANGUAGE)
Well, isn't this a picturesque slice of hell?
You guys go ahead. We'll start the locator spell on the ascendant.
Kai had the ascendant. Why do we have to find another one?
The ascendant can't travel between worlds. We gotta find its mirror image in 1903.
Page 10 of the world-jumping rule book.
-Shall we? -I don't want to leave you alone with him.
I'll be fine. He's good now, remember?
New leaf.
KAI: "New leaf"?
-You believe me? -Hell no.
Damon and Elena need to meet his mom alone.
So shut up and let's find the ascendant.
Oh, shoot. Is your bike okay?
-Do you need money for the bus? -Seriously?
I just had to stuff the director's body into a furnace.
Know how hard it was to get an audition during spring break?
Oh, come on, it was easy for you, Caroline.
You just shed some tears about your mom's funeral,
play the cancer card and, boom, your precious routine is back on track.
-Am I wrong? -This is your only warning.
Go away.
Neat, organized Caroline
staying within the lines.
Good at control, terrible at revenge.
I dismantled your bike.
I tore your director's head off with my teeth.
Oh, my God, Caroline, did you literally just unbolt this damn thing?
It'll take me, what, 10 minutes to put this back together?
You're an embarrassment to humanity-free vampires everywhere.
(CHUCKLES SOFTLY)
(CELL PHONE RINGS)
-Okay, so I've got a few. You ready? -JO: Actually, I thought about it.
Anyone named Alaric should not be allowed to name another human.
-I didn't name me. -True.
Okay, you can have veto power.
Good, then I veto Duke.
(KNOCK ON DOOR)
Let me call you right back.
What are you doing here?
Hoping you've got enough vervain
to get Blondie and her cohort
to the Salvatore cellar without further drama.
You do realize I'm a human, right?
Up against two vampires without remorse?
Ah. I see.
Your girl's got a bun in the oven and now you've gone all gun-shy.
Vamp hearing.
You know, I'd actually like my child to grow up with a father.
Yeah, granted, a cowardly father.
Probably play catch and run from the ball.
Or go fishing and flee from the fish.
I have weapons in my apartment.
Can we just take a second to acknowledge
how insane it is that we're standing in the house that you grew up in?
Aw, Damon, you were so adorable.
DAMON: Oh, thanks.
Except that's Stefan.
This...
Is me.
We're not here to socialize. We get the ascendant, we find my mother.
After she flips Stefan's switch, we figure out what we'll do with her.
-Or you can give her another chance. -A chance to what?
Eviscerate another literal boatload of people?
Stefan was a ripper.
-You never gave up on him. -And where was Lily from 1858 to 1903?
She was blood-binging through Europe while Stefan and I carried the loss.
Not exactly maternal, Elena.
As far as I'm concerned, my mother died when we buried her empty coffin.
Woman we're looking for is just a tool to get my brother back.
LILY: Damon?
Hello, Mother.
There was a time I marked days on a calendar.
I gave up after a few years,
but judging by your bizarre attire...
You've been in here over a century.
I would've come by sooner,
but I thought you were safe and sound in the family crypt.
My bad.
Technically, I did die in 1858,
after a nurse in the TB ward fed me vampire blood.
And you never thought to stop by and clear things up?
How did you end up here, Mrs. Salvatore?
-Mrs. Salvatore? -(WHISPERS) I don't know what to call her.
Please, call me Lily.
It was October 31st, 1903.
I had just arrived at New York Harbor.
The night sky was alive with this beautiful shimmering light.
Then out of nowhere, a coven of witches attacked.
When I awoke, they were gone.
Everyone was gone.
That night the sky danced with colors again,
and it's done so every night since.
It's called prison. You must have pissed off a lot of people.
That life seems like forever ago.
You on a diet?
I depleted every slaughterhouse within walking distance
and every butcher shop along
the hellish trek from New York to Mystic Falls.
This is the last of the blood here.
Two drops a week just to stay awake.
That sounds miserable.
I manage.
I heard you and your brother turned during the war.
Mmm-hmm.
-Your father must have been horrified. -DAMON: He was.
And then Stefan ripped his throat out.
(LAUGHS)
I apologize. That's cruel to laugh. But good for Stefan.
-I truly hated that man. -DAMON: Oh, I know you did.
So much so that you left your kids with him,
faked your own death, and went out to join the ripper coalition.
Well, it's nice to see that you've grown into yourself, Damon.
How's your brother?
(RATTLING NEARBY)
Hello?
Is anyone there?
(SIGHS) Damn it, Stefan, what do you want?
I brought you a little peace offering.
I figure with all that singing and furnace stuffing,
you must be parched.
(GRUNTS)
See, now this is how a vampire with no humanity is supposed to act.
I'm inflicting actual pain.
-Leave me alone. -Why? Thinking about giving in?
Letting go? Breaking code?
Stefan, stop.
Come on, Caroline. Just let go.
I promise it will feel good.
I'm not gonna let you ruin my life.
Okay, then I'll end it.
(GROANS)
You have really nice palms.
(SPEAKING IN MAGICAL LANGUAGE)
Do you know why I'm here?
Because my guilt keeps me up at night.
(SIGHS)
I don't expect you to believe me, but I need you to give me one more chance.
Bonnie, listen to me!
Sorry, I...
-Oh, God. I didn't mean to do that. -But you did it anyway.
Because even if you're telling the truth,
the old you is still inside of you.
The ascendant is this way.
And you believe that I can reconnect Stefan with his humanity?
The last memory Stefan has of you is a vision of an angel
telling him everything is gonna be okay.
DAMON: So you're gonna be an angel again.
He doesn't need to know how screwed up you really are.
Of course I'll help. I'd love nothing more than to see him again.
-(TAPS TABLE) -Pack your bags.
Wonderful.
-I'll alert the others. -ELENA: Hmm?
You'll alert who now?
You knew so much about me,
I assumed you'd heard of my traveling companions.
What traveling companions?
Everyone.
Meet my son, Damon.
He's here to take us home.
There you are. Definite role model material.
Damon spent five years in a cell with you without killing himself?
A fellow smart-ass. I can see why you're his drinking buddy.
Knock off the hard stuff while you're breast-feeding.
What are you even doing here? I thought you hated Stefan.
Yeah, I do. In fact I have a whole elaborate revenge scheme against him.
But unfortunately, in order to truly hurt someone, they have to care.
You want Stefan's humanity back to remind him how much you two hate each other?
Games are more fun with two players.
Last night an innocent girl had an involuntary splenectomy
because you brought her into your life. Now, if that is your idea of fun,
you need to take a long look in the mirror.
And what?
Reevaluate my flippant disregard for human life?
No, just confront your deep, obvious loneliness.
Oh. Got me there.
Yeah, I'm just a sad nobody up to no good,
while you're at home ticking off your life milestones. Girl, kid, death.
Sounds lovely.
What are you doing?
It's called spring break.
It's called practice.
Is he okay?
He's fine.
(GIRL GRUNTS)
Nice going, you jackass.
Second lesson in losing control, no saving strangers.
CAROLINE: Go hide in your room. I'll deal with you later.
So to summarize...
Letting go means being an idiot,
increasing your chances of getting caught
and worst of all, actively making choices...
(CAROLINE GASPS)
Shh.
Uh, Enzo?
Bollocks.
(SOFT JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING OVER SPEAKERS)
These vampires have been trapped here with you the whole time?
We went everywhere together.
They happened to be on the boat that night, poor souls.
These poor souls don't happen to have
the same affinity for rolling heads, do they?
On the contrary.
These people saved me from that part of myself.
I was banished here because I was a monster.
I drank with no remorse from whatever human I could sink my teeth into.
But, locked in this cage, I was forced to confront the animal that I had become.
And as we ran out of resources,
my friends sacrificed their rations for me.
And I knew if I drank everything, as every bone in my body demanded,
there wouldn't be enough to wake them.
So I learned to control my bloodlust.
For them.
These people made me feel human again.
I'll fetch the last of the blood so we can revive them.
Not only is she a ripper, she's an insane ripper.
-Maybe she feels responsible for them. -Are you kidding me?
She has a vampire dollhouse.
Damon.
Isn't this the ascendant?
Yeah.
Why isn't Bonnie here?
Because Bonnie's not looking for the ascendant, Elena.
The spell feels stronger.
The ascendant must be around here somewhere.
-Why would the ascendant be here? -I don't know. I didn't put it here.
If you don't think I'm capable of change, why spend a day with me?
Why bring me out to the middle of nowhere? I could gut you all over again,
and your friends would never even hear you scream.
Because maybe you're right.
Maybe deep down there's a part of me
that believes there's a sliver of good in you.
(CHUCKLES)
Then you would be right.
Looking, looking.
Nope, they didn't hide the ascendant in a random pile of...
(GROANING)
KAI: Bonnie.
What are you doing?
Gaining your trust, then stabbing you in the back.
-Feels pretty sucky, doesn't it? -Please, don't.
Don't what? Don't leave you here all alone?
Drive you to the point of wanting to end your life?
I almost killed myself because of you!
Bonnie, please, believe me. I've changed.
I know.
So have I.
(KNIFE THUDS)
At least they're still breathing.
Damon must be up to something good if he sent the B-team.
What do you say we send him a little message?
What are you doing?
Stopping you from leaving two dead bodies.
Not to mention killing Elena's former guardian and your brother's best friend.
Did you like being locked up and tortured to get your humanity back?
It must be so exhausting overthinking everything.
Denying your own urge to kill
and just be done with them.
(GUN COCKS)
Back away.
Fine.
If that's what you want.
Hey.
Hey, where are you going?
(WHIMPERING)
STEFAN: I know everything about you.
I taught you how to control your bloodlust, remember?
-Stand still and don't scream. -What are you doing?
The thing that you keep resisting.
If you're trying to tempt me, it's not working.
I don't have to try.
Deep down, you and I are exactly the same, Caroline.
Come on, you can break routine for a second, right?
She has a really pretty neck.
Your vampire menagerie is gonna have to take the next train out.
We're down a witch.
You wanna leave them behind?
No, Damon, you can't save me without saving them.
We'll come back for them. Promise. Let's go.
Damon, look outside. Is that the aurora borealis?
Also known as our ticket out of here.
-You got it? -Yeah.
-Okay. -DAMON: You gotta be kidding me.
Go, start the damn spell.
I'll go get her.
LILY: Time to wake up.
(DAMON GRUNTS)
-No. -I said, they're not coming.
-What have you done? -We'll see them at the reunion.
Let's go.
You don't understand, I will not leave them.
Too bad.
They are my family.
These people are my family.
These freaks may be your family, but Stefan Salvatore is mine.
And if you don't wanna help him, I will leave you here to rot.
Do you understand me?
(BONNIE SPEAKING IN MAGICAL LANGUAGE)
Damon.
Bonnie!
Nice negligee.
Enzo, hey.
Um, did I call you last night?
I have a text from you to meet up,
but I don't remember ever seeing you.
Look, Sarah,
it was a mistake bringing you into my life.
Then why did you?
Call it deep and obvious loneliness.
Well, the truth is, you've been a pawn
in a game that I've now lost interest in playing.
But you're no ordinary girl, Sarah Salvatore.
You deserve better.
Sarah Salvatore?
Why would you call me that?
JO: Mmm-hmm.
-Oh, boy. This is bad. -What?
-I'm marrying an idiot. -(GRUNTS)
-You could have died today. -As opposed to any other day?
Eighteen years. That's how long I need you to be alive.
Help me raise this baby.
Then we can set him or her free into the world
and you can run around with guns and vampires and be an idiot.
Okay?
Fine.
Whole world runs on those things.
Sooner you learn them the better.
-Maybe you could teach me. -That's more Stefan's thing.
Maybe he can give you a tutorial after you mother him back to sanity.
Stefan was right.
The night of my funeral, an angel did visit him.
Me.
I had just turned,
and I wanted to see my boys.
But when I leaned down to whisper into Stefan's ear,
the hunger surged.
All I could hear was the pulse in his veins.
All I could smell was the blood.
So I fled.
For your sake.
And no matter how deeply you felt my absence,
it is half as deep as I felt yours.
Good to know.
I'll let you get some sleep.
Damon.
Yes.
As much as I am looking forward to us getting to know each other again,
I fear that I can't truly be myself until
we've retrieved the ones that I left behind.
-Oh. -When will we be going back?
Soon. But don't worry.
Your prison world is not going anywhere.
Where do they keep the food?
(GASPS)
Oh, crap.
Who the hell are...
-(KAI SCREAMS) -(GLASS SHATTERS)
DAMON: We should check the inventory of the blood cooler before Lily wakes up.
You have her eyes.
You brought that back?
The only baby picture of my boyfriend in existence? Of course I brought it back.
Give me that.
I liked seeing that side of you today.
Disappointed and disillusioned?
You see that every day.
A mother's son.
She's just a means to get Stefan back.
Look, I know she's not the woman that you remember,
but give her some time.
You're lucky you're so adorable,
because your eternal optimism is super annoying.
Well, I happen to know from experience
that it's never a waste of time to look for the good in someone.
This woman left her kids to be a den mother to a vampire family.
I think we're gonna be looking for quite a while.
Well, then it's a good thing we have forever.
That wasn't terrible. (CHUCKLES)
See? Control is overrated.
I don't even remember how we got back to my room.
Where is my shirt?
It's near the girl we left bleeding out in the hallway.
(BOTH LAUGHING)
You were right.
Your way is much more fun.
(ELENA PANTING)
-Oh, hey. -What?
Bon-Bon.
Sorry.
Awkward timing.
No, no, no. It's fine.
I have to actually go check in on Ric,
to find out how things are going with Stefan and Caroline, so...
This better be good.
I just wanted to thank you for helping me find closure today.
There's a crazy lady up there that wants
to open that prison world more than anything.
But we're never going back there, right?
-No, we're not. -Good.
Because I have something for you. A gift from 1994.
I was gonna give it to you yesterday, but then you acted like an ass
and you didn't deserve it.
Well, I...
That's not what I think it is, is it?
If it wasn't for your notes on the map of Nova Scotia,
I would've never remembered there was magic on that island.
There's a good chance I wouldn't be here today.
So from my '94 road trip, I got you a little something.
DAMON: The cure.
The cure to vampirism.
I knew you were planning on getting it yourself.
You had the whole route mapped down to the kilometer.
Why are you giving me this?
Because my mom's surprisingly happy as a vampire.
And I have full faith that we'll get Caroline
back to normal the old-fashioned way.
But mostly because I know you wanted it for Elena.
What if I don't want it for her now?
That's none of my business.
I'm just finishing what you started. You can give it to her or not.
It's up to you. ng what you started. You can give it to her or not.