Elena woke up to sunlight filling her room. As she lay in bed trying to erase the effects of a long nights sleep from her face, a feeling of dread coursed through her. Her groggy mind began to remember yesterday's events, as well as those of the past month. Every morning was like this; Elena would wake up with a strange sense of sadness, not remembering why she should be so sad. But just like every other morning, after a few moments she would remember why her heart felt like it had been ripped from her chest. The sacrifice, Damon's almost death, Stefan's deal with Klaus, and the continuing failed attempt at finding Stefan would all fly through Elena's mind in a matter of seconds. But just like every other morning, she would tell herself to suck it up. No matter how depressed or alone or terrified she felt, people needed her. More importantly Stefan needed her. So just like every morning, Elena rose from bed ignoring the tiny voice telling her to give up hope.

She glanced at the red numbers on her alarm clock reading 11:08 am, telling her that she had gotten a little too much sleep. Slightly frustrated with herself for the late start she was getting on her day, she quickly walked to the bathroom she and Jeremy shared intent on taking a quick shower. She stripped off her tank top and pajama shorts, and was about to do the same with her bra and underwear, when she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Elena had always been very petite with just the right amount of curves, but lately she was losing quite a bit of weight, and it showed. She could see her ribs slightly protruding from herabdominal. Ignoring her reflection and the dropping feeling in her stomach every time she saw how thin she was getting, she stepped into the hot water of the shower.

After dressing in a pair of blue jean shorts, a dark blue cami, and a sleeveless white cardigan, Elena went to the bathroom to get to work on her hair. She blow dried it and straightened a few imperfect pieces with her flat iron before braiding a small section of hair and stretching it across her head like a headband. Satisfied with her reflection, she brushed her teeth and grabbed a pair of white flip flops as she headed downstairs.

Elena walked into the kitchen and saw Ric standing by the sink with his back to her. She smiled a bit at seeing him, but the smiled faded just as fast as it came when Ric turned to face her. She could tell he had been drinking. A lot.

"Good afternoon Rick," Elena said in the best happy voice she could pull off.

"Yeah it's great," he mumbled back, not trying in the least bit to control his depressed and hung over sounding voice. Since losing Jenna, Rick had been drinking earlier and earlier as well as more and more.

Elena had noticed these changes, but didn't have the heart to say anything to him just yet. It had only been a month since the ritual, since the death of Jenna, and to be quite frank, she couldn't blame him for his current behavior and distractedness. Sometimes she fantasized about doing the same, although she never really did try drowning her sorrows in alcohol. It didn't much seem to work for Rick, anyway.

Deciding that an apple sufficed for her breakfast, Elena grabbed a green one from the basket on the kitchen table, as well as her keys from the hall table, and headed toward the boarding house. On the drive over Elena couldn't help but letting her thoughts slip to those of Stefan; memories of him particularly before the sacrifice that threatened her life. The drive became one of reminiscing and even smiling for a few moments while she thought of the time she and Stefan had first kissed and of the time Stefan took her to the top of the ferris wheel in the dead of night. As she pulled into the boarding house driveway, however, the aching feeling in her gut came right back. She missed Stefan with everything she possessed and no amount of reminiscing could ever do his absence justice.

Elena walked straight through the door without knocking, out of habit, and strode past all of the ancient, yet breathtaking, furnishings into the living room (well she thought she should maybe call it a parlor since the house seemed to be stuck in the 1800s) where Damon was standing with a drink in his hand.

"You must have had a really exhausting night," Damon sneered, innuendo dripping in his comment.

With that Elena shot him a look of disapproval.

"Relax Elena. I know for now we have more pressing matters at hand like locating Stefan the bunny slayer."

"Have you or Ric found any leads? Anything at all?" Elena asked with a twinge of desperation in her voice. It had been a month and they hadn't found any 'animal attacks' that could be linked to Stefan and Klaus, assuming that they are still together that is. There were animal attacks here and there but nothing unusual that screamed 'bad tempered original and Stefan the Ripper.'

"Nope," Damon said, putting an annoying emphasis on the p.

Elena hadn't expected an answer any different than the one she received, but she had still hoped for something slightly better. There was no sign of Stefan or Klaus anywhere. Damon had been to several states, compelling police officers to give him information on all of the recent animal attacks. He had even tried finding Katherine since she always kept tabs on Stefan's whereabouts, but none of his sources knew anything about where she had went. Elena was desperate for news, but it looked as though Klaus and Stefan were staying way off the radar. The worst part was that Elena felt so helpless. Damon did all the investigating, for obvious reasons, and had refused to let Elena out of his sight for the past month, and doing nothing did not sit well with her.

"Damon I have to do something. I have to find him. He wouldn't give up on me, I can't give up on him," Elena begged. She couldn't take the feeling of helplessness much longer.

"No. Klaus thinks you are dead, and the second he finds out otherwise he will snap your neck without a second thought."

"I'm willing to take the risk, I have been-"

"You are not going on a kamikaze mission Elena," Damon snapped, cutting her off mid-sentence. He was sick of her incessant attempts of suicide missions, and was not about to let her face off Klaus, the psychopathic hybrid original that thought she was dead. No fucking way.

"Damon, it's my life," Elena stated quietly, almost afraid to have say it. She and Damon had had this same fight over and over. She was willing to risk anything to save the ones she loved, but he wouldn't let her, and she knew that when it came down to it, he had the vampire strength capable of keeping her from leaving.

"Yeah well, I'm keeping you from screwing it up. You'll thank me later," Damon grunted ending the conversation.

Frustrated, Elena glared at him and stormed out the door, determined to make today worthwhile. If Damon wasn't going to let her help him find Stefan, then she would just have to do a little digging on her own, and she had a brilliant idea.

Elena drove straight home, going over the speed limit due to a mixture of excitement and anxiety. Her plan had sounded brilliant ten minutes ago, but now she was starting to find flaws. Despite this, she marched straight to her shared bathroom and pulled out her curling iron. While her curling iron heated up, she went through her closet to find the most form fitting, sexy pairs of jeans she owned, and a very revealing, low cut shirt that Caroline had once bought her as a joke.

Forty-five minutes later Elena's, hair was a wild tangle of curls, her eyes were lined with dark black liner, and her lips were curved in a smirk that would rival Damon's. To finish the look she pulled on a black leather jacket and a pair of sleek, calf high, heeled black boots. Looking in her full length mirror, Elena almost gasped at the resemblance she held to her doppelganger. She looked stunning to most girls' standards, but to herself, Elena looked like the representation of manipulation, selfishness, and pride. Shaking her head and trying her best to keep her cool no matter what, she sent Damon a text that read, "Going to Caroline's for some forced bonding time. If I live through it, we are going to have a talk. I am sick of sitting on the sidelines." Next she texted Caroline, "I am going to the lake house this weekend to try and clear my head, but I'm sick of Damon tracking my every move, so I told him I'm spending the weekend with you. I know he will back off if he thinks I'm with you, and I just need a little time to myself, ya know? Cover for me?" Elena knew it was wrong to play Caroline against Damon like that, but she was running out of options, so she texted Jeremy her plan to "spend time with Caroline" and got into her car, knowing very well Caroline would cover for her in a heartbeat.

Elena discreetly parked her car about three miles from the boarding house in the woods and walked the rest of the way. This gave her time to think about just how she was going to pull this off. It would take a miracle for Damon to believe she was Katherine, let alone for him to buy the story she was about to feed him, but pretending to be Katherine showing up to give away Stefan's approximate location seemed to be the only way Elena could get Damon out of town long enough for her to get something done. So for three miles, she walked with her head held high, hips moving from left to right trying her hardest to get the impersonation of her self-centered doppelganger down pat.