"Elena Gilbert! Get your ass up right now or else I will drag you out of that bed myself" Caroline Forbes said as she placed her hands on her hips, hovering over Elena's bed. A groan came from Elena's lips as she twisted around in her bed and grabbed her pillow forcefully and placed it over her head. She could hear Caroline walking over to her window and pulling back the curtains and opening the windows and then she heard the birds sing.

"Caroline, go away" she muttered under her pillow as she felt Caroline tugging on her Duvet and tried to kick the blonde away without taking her head out from under the pillow. She heard Caroline's sigh and marched to the door and it closed with a slam which made Elena place her head above the pillow and nuzzle into it. She knew nobody would be affected by that slam. Her aunt and brother were in Denver attending a family wedding, and her parents? They died over six months ago. As Elena was eighteen she was given the pleasure of staying at home and having a friend over. She would have had Stefan over but they had broken up a week before hand, leaving her to join his brother in the army. As Elena quickly fell into a slumber she was unexpectedly awoken by Caroline jumping on her.

" .Now. I told Jenna that I would look after you and I also told my mom we would be in the fun run today" Caroline said into Elena's ear and she tried to shove the girl away with her free hand as the other was trapped under both of their bodies. Elena rolled her eyes, she didn't want to participate in the stupid run around the town, heck she didn't even want to get up, and she just wanted to sleep.

"I would get up but you're lying on me!" Elena said in a serious tone that made Caroline wince, she was worried for her best friend. She had lost her parents, fell in love, got her heart broken and now she doesn't care about anything anymore. As Caroline got off Elena she walked over to her wardrobe and grabbed a pink sports bra and black shorts, which she found surprisingly nice coming from Elena's closet. She threw the clothing at her and demanded she would get up. As Elena rose from the bed she sighed and tied her hair up in a high pony tail before staring at a miserable person in the mirror and all she could think was how had her life seem to have hit rock bottom. After eating porridge and brushing her teeth Elena tried to dragged her sorry ass down the stairs and then paused, why was she sorry? Her gloomy mood was still in her system and when she reached the bottom of the stair case she could tell by the expression on Caroline's face she knew the blond wasn't going to stop until Elena Gilbert really smiled or laugh, until the horrible mask of someone else washed away.

Once Elena drank her second cup of coffee she walked with Caroline to the town square, Caroline insisted that it was better to walk than drive so they could stretch out their muscles. When they got there, numbers were issued for each runner. As the girls stayed on the left the boys remained on the right and that's how she saw him. Blue eyes, black hair and only wearing grey tracksuit bottoms and slowly jogging on the spot. He looked up her up and down which made her notice what he was doing and she scowled at him,

"Hey, Great day for a run, right?" he said kindly towards her and she rolled her eyes. And looked ahead of her until she felt two hands gripping her shoulder and she felt soft nails touching her collarbone and then a soft whisper, 'He's hot, so smile a little!" Caroline said in a demanding voice and Elena rolled her eyes,

"Yeah great weather, so great we some people don't even wear t-shirts" she said in honest tone as she knew the guy was so full of himself and then she hearing Caroline sigh behind her and then felt a kick at the back of her ankles, Elena turned around and gave the blonde a confused look and Caroline nudged to get to Elena's side and she was able to look her in the eyes.

"Hey, I'm Caroline" she said sticking her hand in front of Elena and he took it shaking her hand.

"Antony. Do ye live here?" he said casually and Caroline nodded her head and Elena caught a glace of her smile that always spoke for its self, screaming the words 'You and my friend would look good'.

"Yeah, I live about five minutes from here while Elena here" Caroline said placing her palm out flatly and put it under Elena's chin, "Lives at 2104 Maple street, the white house with the porch and swing" Caroline said raising her eyebrows at him and Elena sighed.

"Thank you Caroline, for tell this stranger where I live, now he can come and kill me at night" She turned to the guy, ''Antony'' and titled her head to the side and smirked,

"Do you want me to make you a coffee before you burgle my home?" she asked in her annoyed, so much for a fun run.

"Lighten up Elena" Caroline said leaning into Elena's shoulder, Caroline promised herself today would be fun and everyone would enjoy it, especially Elena. Since the whole Stefan and Elena love story got the last pages ripped out and burned she was worried for her best friend. She started acting like another person, someone who didn't care about anything such as friends, family and even hotties that came to small town fun runs pretty much half naked. Caroline wanted to get to know Antony more and even have a coffee with him or a little more, but she promised Jenna she would look after Elena and to Caroline looking after someone was defined as feed, watered, enough of sleep, exercise and have a social life.

"So Antony do you live here? I think Elena and I would remember a face like yours, right Elena?" she said as the brunette looked ahead of her into space. Antony stopped doing little jogs on the spot and turned to Caroline and Elena,

"I'm new..ish. I live outside of town but I go on a lot of business travels. I have houses in Spain, Italy, Ireland and China." He said in an impressive way and impressive way and Caroline 'ooh' at the idea but Elena ignored everything watching something in the distance which made Caroline flip, she wanted to help Elena bags this guy ad she wasn't putting in any effort.

"That's cool isn't it Elena? Living in some many places" Caroline said nudging her and Elena flipped out of her haze,

"I think I saw Stefan" she admitted trying to look around the corner and Caroline bit her tongue trying to control her words and crossed her arms and nodded her head.

"Elena, look at me" she said grabbing the brunette's shoulders and turning her so they were looking into each other's eyes, "Stefan is gone. He's gone to the army and he won't be coming home, well he might be but he won't be with you 'cause he broke up with you! Okay." Caroline said flapping her hands around the air like a crazy bird but then saw Antony's head drop to the ground in as the awkward tension filled and then she saw Elena's lip quiver, and her eyes get teary.

"Lena I'm so sorry, I didn't mean any of that. It's just you're not moving on and we're all worried. You had an amazing love story but sometimes they don't work out for the best" she said as the girl looked up at her like she was a child and was told the dog was dead as she fought the tears back,

"Love stories like you had don't last until you're a little older, look at Taylor Swift" she said and Elena laughed a little and Caroline's eyes lit up and pulled her into a strong hug.

"Bad Ex?" He asked and Caroline shook her head,

"Sweet Ex, bad ending" she told him honestly and he nodded his head before tapping Elena on her shoulder, And she looked up at him and smiled softly,

"Elena, I'm so sorry about that. How about I cook both of you girls dinner tonight" He said and Elena nodded her head, they had been surviving on pizza and takeout food since Jenna and Jeremy back over a week ago. Caroline looked down to Elena who she shrugged her shoulders and smiled and Caroline squealed.

"You can come over at seven" she chuckled before letting Elena go and smiled at him again before hearing calling out a warning.

"Where's ?" He said looking at Elena who shrugged her shoulders in confusion and Caroline coughed twice until they turned to her and she smiled,

"He's gone out of town with Tyler, supposedly Tyler's aunt died so is mayor for the week. I helped her organize this" Caroline said looking at the woman who stood on a podium on the other side of the running track by the begging and gave a short wave, and the woman waved back, and she looked back to see both of them looking at her in confusion,

"I slept with her son, she walked in… I need to get on her good side" she admitted before they heard a gun go off. Caroline started a light jog and turned to her side to see the black haired man running along with her until he looked back and she did too seeing a delayed Elena.

"Oh my god, Elena come on" She laughed stretching her hand out towards her best friend and they ran together. They passed the school were everyone had taken the time to relax and drinking to refresh, and to Elena's eye everyone was there but one blue eyed man.

"Antony's cute, what do you think?" Caroline said getting two bottles of water from the minerals and water cooler, handing a bottle to Elena who shrugged and drank back as much as possible, which was more than half of the bottle.

"He's a little attractive I guess" she said looking at Caroline who gave her a look that made Elena burst out laughing and made her hold her sides as she continued to laugh,

"Okay, he's hot but too hot" She admitted to Caroline who gave her the ' told you so' look, and Elena pushed her over with her foot as they sat down on the ground. Caroline grabbed the water bottle and opened it again and threw it at her getting her all wet which caused her to jump at Caroline and pinned her to the ground.

"Say sorry Caroline Forbes!" Elena said leaning over the girl and then shuffling around so she was sitting on the girl's back as she laughed below her and confirming a 'never' and Elena shook her head and laughed,

"That's it your sleeping on the couch tonight!" she said still sitting on her and then felt Caroline's arm tickling her side which made the girl slide off abruptly which made everyone that was in their view look at them and that's when they got up and took the dust off themselves,

"Why, you and Antony going be busy upstairs" Caroline said with her perfect smile and rose her eyebrows and Elena rolled her eyes and pushed her forwards before they set off running again.

Damon, or Antony the two new subjects known he as, kept a steady pace a head of them to make sure they could keep up. He could have finished the fun run fifteen seconds after it started but he needed to know those two subjects would finish within a certain time. He could hear their conversation from the second they started to run, from the conversation about Tyler's mom changed to getting over parents death, but what annoyed him the most was the way they talked about Stefan. Damon knew his brother was going around America recruiting humans or vampires for the war and made it pretty clear to Stefan to stay away from Mystic Falls, but he failed to do so which Damon noted in his head. Once he turned by the school he saw it was a pit stop for everyone who participated except Damon who didn't need to socialize with them or even get a drink. He notice nobody was running ahead of him but a black haired girl which he swiftly brought her behind a building for what she thought was a quickie turned out to be her last breath. He drained her dry and put her in the dumpster so she would be somebody else's problem. As he walked away from the dead girl he could easily hear what Caroline and Elena were talking about by the school which made him smirk, their topic was him. He leaned against the wall for several minutes as he heard them talk, at that moment he realized he likes Caroline's idea for himself and Elena. As he saw two people run past him he ran up behind them feeling a bit peckish but realized wit was them. As he ran up in between them Elena stumbled to the side in surprise he grabbed her fore arm so she wouldn't fall and she thanked him while Caroline ran behind them.

"You guys go ahead, I'll be a few minutes" Caroline said resting her hands on her pink colour knees. Damon watched Elena tense up as she ran a little slower so he did the same, as she ran fast he did the same and then she stopped.

"I think I'll wait for Caroline, You can run onwards" she said and he smiled at her, she was scared or else very loyal, and that's when he sensed it, she was both. As Elena turned around to see if a blonde head was bouncing towards her but that didn't happen.

"Na, I'll wait so you won't collapse too" he said with a smug smile and she rolled her eyes placing her hand on her hip and that was when she realised she was tired too, like Caroline. But Damon wouldn't leave her, he knew the blonde could make it, she was only acting this way so they could 'talk'. Elena nodded at his words, before turning on her heels and running towards the finishing line and away from him. Damon watched her speed off with determination and he smirked, determination to get away from him.

"Third place and Caroline came fifth" Elena said on the phone to Aunt Jenna at half ten. She was literally clasped on her bed after taking one of the best showers of her life. Caroline was in Jenna's and was completely freshened up to the point where she was able to help down stairs to cook. Jenna on the other line talked about how beautiful Denver was and the wedding was spectacular, and Jeremy even admitted it was good. Elena laughed down the phone until she heard laughing in the back ground,

"Listen Jenna, you go and enjoy the party. I'll talk to you tomorrow okay?" Elena chirped down the phone as she smelt Italian and found herself walking to her door, but forcefully turned back when she discovered she was still only wearing a towel. Caroline called her name and Elena quickly put on black pyjama bottoms and a white tank top before skipping down the stairs. As Elena entered the kitchen she saw Caroline sitting on the table and Elena pulled her off it. Damon was quietly by the counter chopping up some sort of vegetables while Elena was messing with Caroline.

"I think here would be good" Caroline said placing her finger behind her left ear and Elena nodded her head in agreement, Caroline was getting her third tattoo tomorrow and she couldn't wait, she planned on getting two flowers to accompany her bird on her wrist and her star on her ankle. Elena nodded her head once again and sighed,

"I think if Jenna found out I wanted one she would kill me" Elena admitted and Caroline's eye lit up before raising her thank top to her ribs bones and poked her hip bone,

"Right here, she'd never know and she's your guardian not your mom, plus your eighteen Elena! Do what you want" Caroline protested and Elena shrug her shoulders, she would never rebel against her. Damon looked up at the girls and he notice how uncomfortable she was and he sighed.

"Caroline, can I have some help over here" he said coldly and Caroline dropped Elena's top and walked over to him and she smiled, he grabbed her wrist as Caroline was about to protest and call to Elena who was in the living room she looked into Damon's blue eyes and felt her body freeze.

"You will leave, you'll explain to Elena that your father rang and he needs you to come home, you will not mention anything about me to anyone. If people ask Elena was planning to leave the country as she didn't like it at home, do you understand" Damon said and Caroline nodded her head, and confirmed it by saying ' I understand'. He watched her pull out her phone and like that she pretended she was on the phone. Caroline gasped and walked over to Elena at a rapid speed,

"Elena, I got to go. Daddy rang and he's in trouble at home and he needs me" she stated grabbing her bag off the table, quickly hugging Elena and ran out the door which lead Elena standing there in complete confusion.

Elena sat quietly at the table with Damon sitting across from her, barely touching his food, unlike her who could not get enough. She notice how her plate was pretty much empty except the few onions bits that was randomly scattered on the plate, not only did she hate onions she was allergic. She discovered this when she was four and she ate them unknown in a beef burger and was rushed to hospitable, since then she was careful with food.

"So Antony, where did you place? I didn't see you with a medal" Elena asked trying to make a conversation and he smirked at her pulling a golden medal out of his leather jacket pocket,

"First, right before some guy called Matt, and then you and blonde" he said with a smirk and Elena's friendly look turned to anger, and she placed both her knife and fork on the table before trying to calm her nerves. She pushed the plate in front of her away and took a deep breath,

"Listen here Antony, nobody, and I mean nobody, calls Caroline blonde or else" She said getting off her chair and walked to the fridge to get a jug of water out but secretly reached for her phone which charged beside it, she stretched her arm out trying to seek out her phone but she felt eyes burning into the back of her head,

"Looking for this?" the voice said right behind her and she gasped as she felt him right behind her, her back against her chest and she tried to figure out why Caroline would leave her so fast like that, a lone with a guy they don't even know for over twenty hour.

"Give it to me, now. Because I know Caroline's dad lives in Boston and only comes to see her twice a year… and it's not her birthday or Christmas" Elena said calmly as possible as she felt the hair on her neck rise. She heard the opened fridge beep and that was the reminder that it was open straight for two minutes. She looked down at the floor until she felt his hand on her shoulder and he looked into her eyes,

"Your going to come with me now, no screaming" He said compellingly looking into her eyes and her eyes were laced with fear, as grabbed her wrist he dragged her to the back door and opened it with one hand and Elena jumped, she locked that.. Well she thought she did. As he opened the door she pushed him away and kneed him as fast as possible before running up the stairs and went straight to her parents' room. She went to her mom's wardrobe and ripped it open and closed it again and stayed silent as possible. She could hear him walk around the house and that's when she felt the box beside her, she opened it quietly and felt something sharp and she then accepted the fact. He came first and didn't seem out of energy at all at the run, he done an eye thing in a compelling way and he broke the door lock.. He was a vampire.

"Elena, hid and seek is over" The word filled the house in a thunderous roar, and before she knew it the doors opened and in front of her was a man with a face indescribable but she knew it from a picture she had seen before her parents died... when they were on the council…

"You're Damon!" she yelled in fear trying to back into the corner but it was no use, there was no Narnia.