Josette Parker

## Josette Kaiya Parker-Saltzman

Dr. **Josette "Jo" Laughlin** (born **Parker**) was a character who first appeared in the first episode of the sixth season in *The Vampire Diaries*. She was a witch of the Gemini Coven, daughter of Joshua Parker, twin sister to Kai and elder sister to Joey, Liv and Luke. She relinquished her magic into a knife to prevent Kai from merging with her, and, as a non-practicing witch, became a doctor at Whitmore Hospital.

Jo regained her powers after being given incentive by Kai, who escaped the 1994 Prison World that she had helped trap him in; however, Luke merged with him instead, resulting in Luke's death. Although she loathed Kai for destroying her family, she agreed to help him with his post-merge sickness by transferring her magic to him, considering the whole coven would die if he did. She later learned that she was pregnant with Alaric Saltzman's child Alaric and Jo immediately decided to wed however Kai stopped it by killing every member of the family she only survived thanks to Damon who protected her they eventually get married in a later date.

In *I Was Feeling Epic* Jo is seen watching Alaric and their daughter with a smile on her face. Jo was born in 1972 as the eldest daughter of Joshua Parker, leader of the Gemini Coven, and twin sister of Kai, a siphoner. She was presumably taught magic from a young age as her younger siblings Liv and Luke would later be.

As twins of the Gemini Coven, Jo and Kai were expected to merge. However, Joshua knew that Kai would win the merge given his powers, and knew that Kai could not lead the coven. Due to this, Joshua and his wife kept having children until another pair of twins was born.

At the age of twenty-two, Kai became aware of their parents' reasoning behind having so many children and decided to kill his siblings and merge with Jo. He stabbed Jo with a hunting knife to get her out of the way as he went after their siblings, but Jo managed to cloak the twins to protect them, promising to merge with him so long as Liv and Luke could live.

Secretly, Jo had relinquished her magic into a knife which she hid in a knife in their front yard. When Kai attempted to merge with her, he was unable to given her lack of magic, and the coven used a spell to trap Kai in a Prison World with help from family friend Sheila Bennett. Following this, Jo left the coven and attended medical school, becoming a doctor and joining the army as a medic. Eventually she left to teach at Whitmore College.

In *I'll Remember*, Jo is seen teaching some college students, among them are Elena and Liam. Jo asks the class a question and Liam raises his hand instantly but Jo picks on Elena, who answers it confidently, although going off topic. Later on in the episode, she is seen at a college party; she walks up to Alaric who has a flask of blood in his hand. She says to him "Ah, finally someone over 20" and introduces herself as Jo. She then notices the flask in his hand and asks if she could have a drink, to which Alaric answers with "Actually I'm a germaphobe", knowing that there is blood in the flask. Alaric then leaves to make a phone call to Elena.

In *Black Hole Sun*, she meets Alaric in the hospital when he brings in a hungover Jeremy. After putting Jeremy on a saline drip, Alaric asks her for some advice and she flirts with him.

In *The World Has Turned and Left Me Here*, Elena invites her to a homecoming party in the cornfield in an attempt to set her up with Alaric. She gets snuck up on and frightened by a student and mentions to Alaric that she thinks that anything supernatural is 'not cool'. After Tyler causes the accident in the cornfield, she tends to several injured patients even though she herself had injured her arm. Later at the hospital she tells Alaric that she thinks they were meant to meet. Alaric compels her to not to kiss him because the evening was a disaster, he is an alcoholic, and boring. Yet she kisses him for the first time; this proved that Jo can't be compelled.

In *The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get*, Alaric asks Elena to find out why Jo can't be compelled. Elena checks her coffee and her bracelet for vervain but Jo figures out what she is doing and tells her that she already knows that Elena and Alaric are vampires because he tried to compel her, she has terrible luck in her love life and has noticed the missing blood bags. Elena asks her if she is a witch but she doesn't comment. She confronts Alaric just as he is leaving for the Mystic falls border and they aren't able to talk so she follows him. He gets thrown into the anti-magic border and she rushes to help him and is able to treat his death wound so he becomes human. Later, he is admitted into hospital and thanks her for giving him his life back.

In *Do You Remember the First Time?*, she discharges Alaric from the hospital to be her date for the Whitmore medical fundraiser where she is being honored for patenting a battlefield medical clamp. Damon accuses her for having an advantage because she is a witch but she says that she works hard and doesn't practice magic, and later mentions that she relinquished hers for safe keeping to separate herself from a 'tragically dysfunctional' family. She and Alaric go back to her apartment after the fundraiser and he spots a scar on her abdomen when she is changing her clothes, her asks her if she was in a car accident but she says that she lost her spleen when her brother tried to gut her with a hunting knife.

In *Fade Into You*, Jo goes to Friendsgiving and runs into Liv, and doesn't recognize her. Elena asks her if she switched the Lady Whitmore actress' medical chart and she did. Luke plays a video of the twin's birthday and Jo discovers they are younger siblings who she hasn't seen in 18 years. After that, Jo reveals that they all share the same family friend--Sheila Bennett. She also says that Sheila also helped put Kai away and that Kai is her twin brother. Jo also reveals that Kai killed 4 of their brothers and sisters, but was really targeting Liv and Luke. She says that since twins are in line to be leader, Kai wouldn't stand a chance unless Liv and Luke were alive. She then tells the story of Kai and how he is the way he is. Jo and Ric are talking and since her father believes they want to let Kai out, he retaliates by trying to kill Jo so Kai wouldn't be able to merge with her. She also says the Ascendant is with her and before she can say anything else, she collapses due to Joshua casting a spell to kill her. She tells Stefan to find an old tree stump that's in front of the house and there's knife in it. She tells him it can help dissipate the cloaking spell on the house and it does after Stefan throws it. After she convulses, Elena saves her by giving her blood.

In *I Alone*, Jo and Alaric have a romantic moment, but unbeknownst to her, Damon compelled Alaric to get the truth about the Ascendant out of her since she's not saying much about it. He jokes about how her dad gave Alaric his blessing since he didn't kill him and gets to the subject about the Ascendant. She says she used to sleep with it under her bed, but it's now in her underwear drawer next to her pot. Jo soon finds out that the Ascendant is gone and asks Alaric where it is, but figures out Damon compelled him. Jo drives him across the Mystic Falls border and it is revealed Damon did compel him, but he didn't want to believe his own friend would compel him.

In *Christmas Through Your Eyes*, Jo tells Alaric she'll be late and sees the patient until the other doctor she's with collapses. Jo asks her what happened to her until Kai injects her with a sedative. Kai meets Liv and Luke, and Jo is seen unconscious and tied up. Liv tells her that she should merge and Kai stabs her with the knife she put her magic into, but it doesn't work. Since she put her magic in by choice, so it would be her choice to take it back, unless she bleeds to death. Kai tells Liv to figure out how to put the magic back into her while he gets a bandage. While Kai is gone, Liv and Jo talk about how she's had 18 years and she owes it to the coven and them to defeat Kai so he won't be in charge. Liv starts to hand the knife back to Jo, but Kai siphons some magic off of her and he gives her pain, causing her nose to bleed. Jo picks up the knife and starts absorbing her magic back into her and breaks the chains she was tied up in. Alaric puts a gun to Kai's head an is about to kill him until Jo tells him it isn't fair to Liv and Luke to merge. She tells them she's going to beat Kai and Alaric knocks Kai out with the gun instead. Jo and Alaric say they'll lock Kai up until the eclipse and they kiss.

In *Woke Up With a Monster*, Jo is seen practicing magic in the Salvatore Boarding House with Liv's help and is having trouble with it. Damon tries to have Liv help him rescue Elena who was kidnapped by Kai, but Luke takes her away. Jo decides to help and goes to the high school with Damon. After Kai walks by without seeing them, they realize Jo's invisibility spell worked. After they find Elena, Jo's nose starts to bleed, but doesn't show it to them. Damon notices Jo's nose bleeding and realizes cloaking three people is hard to her, then Kai sees them. She then runs away as she wouldn't be able to beat the way she is right now. Kai then catches up to her and he is shot in the shoulder by Jeremy with a crossbow and Alaric hugs her. Jo offers to help Elena get the blood out and Damon tells Alaric that she's not strong enough, but Alaric says they'll wait until Kai's stolen magic goes away and she'll beat him.

In *Prayer For the Dying*, Jo tries to revive a withered plant, but it doesn't and throws it into the trash. She has Duke transfer Colin's medical records over to the center and since the vampire blood didn't heal the cancer, it has spread and made into a stage 10, which Jo says doesn't even exist. Jo decides to give Liz a human blood transfusion which might stabilize her condition, but Damon gives her another option—Kai, who can siphon magic and also Kai has a price to saving Liz, which is that he wants to merge with Jo. After Damon tells her that he plans on having Luke and Liv merge instead, Kai magic snaps his neck and Jo tells him she doesn't want to run from him anymore and goes with him. They arrive at the park and start the merge, cutting their hands and chanting, until Jo passes out. Luke arrives and tells Kai that instead of him and Jo, Kai and Luke are going to merge instead. Kai tells him they're not twins, but since Kai was in the prison world and didn't age pass 22, they are technically the same age and they share the same bloodline. Kai tries to leave, but Luke magically pulls him and they start. Jo then wakes up and tells Luke to stop as they merging continues. Both of them fall to the ground and Jo runs to Luke, cradling his head in her lap, telling him to wake up. Jo tells him whoever wakes up is the winner and Luke takes a breath and opens his eyes, but realizes he is now dead. Kai comes out victorious and then disappears, leaving Jo grieving for Luke.

In *Let Her Go*, Jo is seen vomiting in the bathroom, Alaric is watching and insist on helping, Jo tells him that they are not far enough into the relationship for him to see her in the condition she is in. She tells Alaric that the Thai food they ate the night before does not agree with her, she feels like she is dying. There is a knock at the door and when Alaric answers it, it is Kai. Jo tells him that she has food poisoning but he begins to vomit blood before telling her she does not have food poisoning, she is vomiting because he is. He asks her to save him. At the hospital, Jo checks Kai's vitals and tells him there is nothing medically wrong with him, he states that is because he has a 'magical disease'. Kai begins to vomit blood again and grabs Jo's arm, beginning to absorb her magic, Alaric pulls him off and threatens to break seven bones in his hand. Kai retaliates saying if he dies, she dies, he apologizes for taking her magic but says that he is feeling better and she needs to give him her magic if he is to survive. After consulting Alaric, he tells her that he will love her with or without her magic, he made a joke telling her he is ninety-two percent certain. Jo agrees to give Kai her magic, in order to save the coven and the two prison worlds, Kai jokes that he assumes the other prison world is full of psychos like him. They begin the spell and when it is finished, Kai leaves, whispering something to Jo and telling her to have a nice life. When he is gone, Alaric asks what he whispered, she reveals that he told her she is pregnant and that is why she vomited that morning. Alaric asks her to marry him, and after explaining that she will not accept a pity proposal, she agrees.

In *A Bird in a Gilded Cage*, Jo is seeing how Sarah is doing and tells her she's at the medical center and that she lost a lot of fluids. Jo tells Alaric she's not okay turning the center into a supernatural holding cell, but he wants to make sure Elena's blood is out of her system first so there isn't another Salvatore vampire. Jo mentions Sarah goes to Duke and says it would be a nice name, which alarms Alaric as he hasn't really been thinking of names. Jo then calls Alaric and he says he has a few names and she jokes to him that someone with the name like "Alaric" shouldn't name kids. After Alaric wakes from being knocked out earlier from a vervain bomb, Jo checks his eyes with a pen light and tells him she's marrying an idiot since he could've died. She tells him she needs him alive at least 18 years to help her raise the baby, then after it's of age, he can run around and attack vampires.

In *I Never Could Love Like That*, Jo is seen helping cover up Caroline and Stefan's murder spree with Elena. Elena finally tells her about the fact that Kai is again trapped in a prison world. Jo seems overjoyed by this news but soon changes her face when she quickly responds with where's the ascendant, and that it needs to be destroyed because she didn't want her father getting his hands on it. Elena realizes that Jo is pregnant and they both have a heart to heart talk about what it is like to be human. At the end of the episode, Jo reveals that the companions that were traveling with Lily were siphoners and were turned into vampires, however they retained the ability to siphon magic and that they have an unlimited supply of magic to use as they can just siphon themselves. But with the ability to use magic, and the bloodlust, they are described as extremely deadly. She wants to destroy the ascendant because if Kai does get turned into a vampire, he mustn't be allowed to escape. He will be unstoppable.

In *Because*, she and Alaric are on watch duty at the Bed & Breakfast where Stefan and Caroline are at. She and Alaric are talking about the wedding cake and the wedding itself being a few weeks away, and they start kissing until Elena shows up. After Caroline turns her humanity back on, Jo goes in to see how she is and tells Stefan he should see how she is.

In *I'd Leave My Happy Home For You*, Elena and Bonnie surprise her with a male stripper for her bachelorette party during her last shift at work. Later, they all go to a bar, which Elena compelled everyone to go home so that it was just them. Bonnie brings up the fact of being human to Elena and they all have a heart to hear convocation about being human. Elena had to go, but Bonnie and Jo still partied on. Lily showed up looking for Bonnie, Bonnie attempted to stop her with her magic, however, didn't work well as she got stabbed in the neck. Lily pounces on Jo with her super speed and is about to feed on her when she shouts that she is pregnant. Lily then stops, and listens to the heartbeat of the baby, revealing that there was not just one heartbeat, there was two. Jo was shocked as Lily left. She then shows Alaric an ultrasound of the babies and he tells her that they're going to leave and hide from the coven so they won't get a hold of the twins.

In *I'll Wed You in the Golden Summertime*, it is the big day for her and Alaric, and she expresses wedding jitters. Later, she collapses and ends up in the hospital. She insists that Elena should not tell Alaric about the incident, although Elena already told him. As she is getting ready for the wedding, her father shows up in the room and asks her if he could walk her down the isle. During the wedding, Jo is about to tearfully say her wedding vows to Alaric, but suddenly pauses and it is discovered that she is being stabbed. She falls into Alaric's arms and her brother Kai emerges out of a cloaking spell with a bloody dagger. Jo then is protected by Damon who kills Kai.

In *I'm Thinking Of You All The While*, its shown to be a month later and they get married it is shown her baby bump after the wedding it is revealed she feels horribly about her siblings death Alaric comforts her telling her its okay to feel bad about Kai's death as well as her others she smiles and lets it go.