Summary: Damon was happily married Olivia Scott until she died mysteriously in 1863. After Elena's death, Olivia spirits the newborn vampire away to safety until the time comes when they must return. Unfortunately for them, the time is now…Post 3x22.

A/N: This takes place a little over a year after "The Departed."

I watched as Elena fought against the hands that were closed in an iron grip around her neck, slowly tightening as she struggled. Even when she broke her captor's fingers, he didn't release her. She was gasping for breath that she didn't need; that was the problem. When she stopped trying to breathe, my brother would release her. "Olivia—" She choked, locking eyes with me.

I shook my head, peering through the dimly lit basement at the newly turned vampire, "He'll let you go when you stop."

Her brow furrowed as Nate's grip tightened, "St—op—" Elena struggled to speak, "—what?"

I sighed, trailing my hand along the ragged, cement wall as I walked closer to my pupil, "Breathing."

The newborns were always the same; confused, scared, and defiant. Though I had to admit, Elena had adjusted rather well, considering her situation. It had been sixteen months since she was turned by an inexperienced, naive doctor that had a habit of saving people that would have been better off dead. From what Elena had divulged to me before she'd completed the transition, I knew for a fact that death would have been a blessing to the poor girl.

Though I, myself, am not a vampire, I know enough to help the new additions learn to control their instincts; actually, more than I'd like to.

Instead of the traditional 'they-find-me,' I'd found Elena. Correction: I'd stumbled upon Elena. Sixteen months ago, I witnessed a girl in the prime of her life go smashing off of a bridge and into ice-cold water. I'd watched as the blond vampire that had caused the accident stood over the edge that they'd crashed off of. She seemed a tinge sorry, but there was something else hiding in the planes of her expression; pain. Not for the poor souls she'd probably just killed, but for something else…someone else. We both heard Stefan (I learned the identity of her savior later from Elena) approach; the blond did the smart thing and ran off. I stayed and watched, lingering at the edge of the trees, curious to see the outcome.

Stefan dove in immediately and after a few minutes, emerged from the water with a sopping wet young man hauled over his shoulder. Stefan lowered him gently down onto the bank of the river and without another look back, he dove in for Elena. Stefan looked so familiar, but I just couldn't place him…

Stefan broke the water's surface again, this time cradling Elena gently to him. Stefan put Elena down beside the boy, who at this point was making an attempt at breathing through all of the water he'd inhaled during the crash. From Elena though, there was nothing. Not the slightest twitch. After less than a second, Stefan began to try to resuscitate his dead lover.

"Elena?" The human boy gasped, breathing ragged from trying to filter the water out of his lungs, "Elena? Stefan? What happened?" He stared, eyes wide as Stefan continued to attempt to revive Elena.

Breaking from the task for what could barely qualify as an instant, Stefan tore a slim white phone from his sopping wet pocket and threw it at the boy, "Call 911."

I listened closely; all that was audible besides the raspy breaths coming from the human boy as he dialed the three-digit number was a feint crack as what I assumed was one of Elena's ribs giving way beneath Stefan's desperation. "Hmm." And I'd expected nothing interesting ever happened in this pint sized little town…

A deep, lightly accented voice came from behind my right ear, "What is it?" I nearly jumped a foot in the air at the sound of my half-brother's voice.

I cleared my throat, doing away with what had nearly been a high pitched squeak, "Nothing much…but it's interesting." I turned to face him, pursing my lips as I thought. Nate swept his hand through his hair, brushing it out of his silver eyes before taking a few steps toward the accident to get a better look at what was going on. "I'm going to see how this turns out." I decided at the same time that the words came out of my mouth.

"What business do you have muddling in human affairs, Sis?" He asked as he turned back to face me.

"None. I'm just…" I searched for the word, "…curious." I smiled mischievously as I began to walk back toward the car.

Nate followed me, "Curiosity killed the cat, you know." He said smartly, falling into step with me.

I smirked and clipped him lightly on the shoulder as we reached the car, "One, I'm not a cat and two, I'm already dead."

When any normal person thinks about death, a few of the following might pop into mind; finality, loss, unfinished business, purgatory, the light at the end of the tunnel, etc. Well, none of those apply to me or my half-brother. Why? We're cursed to forever walk the earth in search of (and I quote) 'those with whom we belong.' According to the coven of witches that cursed us 217 years ago, this hell that we've been living in is a gift, the abilities (strength, heightened senses, healing) that they forced on us are gifts, blah, blah, new-agey-frolic-in-the-forest-blah.

Nate and I arrived at the hospital before the ambulance carting Elena's body did. It was solemn as they rolled the stretcher with the black body bag through the automatic doors and into one of the elevators. It was just as the stainless steel doors slid shut that I realized why I was so interested in the girl; she was in transition. I must have noticed the change subconsciously at the lake, but now it was definite. Someone had given her vampire blood.

Dragging Nate with me, we navigated the halls until I found the conversation that I was searching for.

"Wait! You need to know—When Jeremy brought her in here earlier tonight, her injuries were worse than I let on…" We'd found a dark haired doctor that was speaking intensely with a leather clad male vampire. From our vantage point of about twenty feet away, I could read her name tag: Dr. Meredith Fell. She continued, "It wasn't a concussion. It was a cerebral hemorrhage. Bleeding on the brain!"

I couldn't see the face of the nearly-hysteric vampire that she was speaking to, but as soon as I heard his voice, I knew exactly who he was. "What are you saying?" If my heart was pulsing, it would have stopped right there.

"You've got to be kidding me…" Nate was quicker on the recovery than me. Then again, if the spouse that he'd assumed was dead turned up in the hospital of an itty bitty town fussing over an apparently dead young woman, he probably would have been a little slack-jawed too. Stefan…I hadn't recognized the youngest Salvatore before; he'd been fourteen (and human) the last time I'd seen him.

Almost unconsciously, I took a step toward Damon, my former husband. I was jealous for an instant before I realized that it'd been nearly a century and a half since I'd 'died;' if anyone deserved to be happy, it was Damon…"No!" Nate hissed, taking me by the shoulders and tugging me into one of the breezeways, "I am not letting you do this to yourself again!"

We were happy, no matter the small amount of time we'd had together. Damon and I were married in the summer of 1861. I can honestly admit that the two years that I'd spent with Damon were the happiest of my life…but then everything went wrong. Horribly wrong—

My silver eyes locked with my brother's, "Do what?"

"Torture yourself with something that can never be!" He shook me lightly, "Don't you see? You were happy with Damon, but somewhere in the back of your mind, you knew that it wouldn't last. You were doomed from the beginning." He spoke the next words softly, but in a tone that told me that he wasn't kidding, "I'll be damned if I let this happen again." Breaking away from his gaze, I moved to stare out of the window while he continued, more gently this time, "You're all I've got left, Liv…"

I rounded on him, "You think I don't know that? I just wish—"

"What?"

By the looks that I now noticed that we were getting, it seemed that our little tiff had earned us some unwanted attention from a few of the doctors working in the glass encased lab to our left. I glared as another white coated man slid his key card into the door and entered the lab. I turned to Nathan with a slight smile on my face… "I have an idea…"

Ten minutes later, I had successfully snuck into the morgue. I had strict instructions from Nathan, who was now waiting in the car: get in, get the girl, and get out. The girl from the car accident, Elena, was still damp from her deadly plunge into the river. Her head was propped up and her hair was brushed back, revealing the soft, elegant features that hadn't been visible at the riverbank. Damon loved this girl; I heard it in his voice. Looking at her still, calm, peaceful body, I could no longer be jealous of Elena. She was pure; I could see it. She [had] made Damon happy.

Reaching down gently, I touched her arm. I had to yank my arm back instantly. The pure energy that the vampire blood she'd ingested was giving her as it transformed her body was like sticking my finger into a light socket. It was waiting for human blood; the spark that would set her aflame…

"Success!" Nathan exclaimed, letting Elena drop to the floor as he turned around, "And it only took two months." He muttered to me under his breath as he left the basement the answer the phone that had been incessantly buzzing for the past five minutes.

"Gimme a break." Elena said as she heaved herself up off of the ground and blurred over to my side, "I haven't been dead for as long as you have." She rolled her eyes and headed for the fridge, taking out a bag of blood and downing it like a Capri-Sun.

"How attractive." I smirked as she tossed the blood bag aside, making a motion for her to wipe her mouth; there were a few drops of blood on her lower lip.

"So, have you thought about what I asked you earlier?" Elena asked, returning to her human guise as she took her hair down and ran her hands through it a few times before having a seat on the stairs in front of me.

I exhaled loudly, "Don't make me be the bad guy here, Elena." That earned me a frustrated sigh. "Alright, look—I understand that you miss your brother and your friends…but if you go back—"

"I'll be putting them in danger, I know…" Looking me in the eye, she continued, "It's been over a year, Olivia. I've already missed so much of Jeremy's life…" Her chin quivered as she held back tears, "I don't want him to get hurt, but I can't stand this any longer! Maybe we could go to Mystic Falls and I could just—just check on them." Turning on full doe-eye mode, Elena turned completely to face me, pleading, "I wouldn't even have to talk to them—I just need to see that they're all okay." Here comes the grand finale. "And you could see Damon." She added softly.

Clenching my jaw, took a calming breath before answering her, "And I'm going to give you the same answer that I always give you. N—"

"Yes." My jaw literally dropped at my brother's breathless interjection from the top of the stairs.

"Excuse me?" I asked, getting to my feet at the same time that Elena's eyes lit up with pure joy.

"That was Victor on the phone. Something big is going down in Mystic Falls and he wants us there—like now." Victor; he may have the moral compass of a deranged psychopath, but he's the best vampire hunter in North America.

Elena looked anxiously to me, urging me silently to agree. Keeping my eyes locked on my brother, I said, "Pack a bag; we leave in an hour."

R&R Please.