"The mail has just arrived, my lady," Emily says through the door. She doesn't like coming in, Katherine muses. She's married herself, with children, so she knows how this works, but she refuses to come in.

"Just a moment, Emily," Katherine sighs, willing herself to get dressed. If the mailman has been by already, then the rest of the town will be waking soon. And it simply wouldn't do to find her in this state, now would it?

A hand catches her wrist as she slides off the bed, and she turns to smile at her companion.

"Come back to bed," he breathes, eyes still closed.

She smiles, and allows him to pull her closer. He slides his hand down and intertwines her fingers with his. She turns back to look at him.

"Don't ever tell me what to do," she says, all sweetness gone.

"Of course," he whispers, pupils dilating as the compulsion sweeps over him.

"Good," she smiles again, and gets back up. "Be a dear and help me into my corset, would you?"

_-_-_(-_-)_-_-_

He slips back into his room without much fuss shortly after, to get himself together. He's looking a little ravaged, as he should. She'd be offended if someone didn't look ravaged after a night with her. Those white high collared shirts and ties are such a nice fashion trend. It was so much harder to hide bites when collars gaped.

"You don't have to look so reproachful, Emily," Katherine says as she glides into the dining room. Emily keeps her eyes down, but her jaw clenches. "This would be so much easier for you if you just tried to like me." Witches have liked vampires before, it's not so unusual. But Emily resents every moment spent with her. Utterly unfair, is what that is.

"Your mail, my lady." Emily hands over a few letters.

"Don't you even what to know which one it was?" Katherine asks. If Emily isn't going to like her, she's going to have as much fun riling her up as possible.

Emily looks right at Katherine, more than reproachful, angry. "No." And then she turns and leaves.

"It was Stefan," Katherine calls after her, feeling petty. She doesn't like judge-y witches.

Katherine turns back to the mail. There's a note from Pearl to meet her in her shop, something important apparently. A letter from George Lockwood, most likely a progress report of some sort. And then –

A letter from England.

"Are you alright, Katherine?" She jumps a little, and whirls around to find Damon staring at her.

"Don't do that!"

"Sorry," he says, confused. He shouldn't be able to get the drop on her. She's a vampire. "Are – is anything wrong?"

He peers at the envelope in her hands, the one that she'd been staring at. It looks rather plain to him, although it's high quality paper. He glances up to her face. She's just staring at it, jaw clenched. She's – angry?

His father strides into the room and goes to grab the tea, when he sees Katherine.

"Katherine, my dear, you look troubled. Is anything the matter?"

"I – I don't know. Kindly give me a moment, would you?" She smiles, turning on the charm. Everything depends on what this letter says. She shouldn't have let either of them see her so rattled.

Katherine sits down and breaks the seal on the letter. The Salvatores stand back to give her some privacy, procuring cups of tea in the meanwhile. Even after she finishes reading, Katherine just sits there, jaw clenching and unclenching, with a white-knuckled grip on the letter itself.

Damon wants to go to her, to ask her what's wrong, but she might not like his prying. And the last thing he wants is to make Katherine even more upset.

And, of course, Stefan chooses that moment to sweep into the room. He's up late. Damon knows what that means.

"Father, brother," he nods to each of them. "Katherine, good morning. How did you sleep?" It's bait. Bait that Damon can't take with his father in the room. "What's this?"

"A letter," she answers him. Of course she answers him. "From my – " If she were just a little less ladylike, a little less perfect, he would call the noise she just made a snort. And the suddenly she stands, and turns to face his father. "I'm afraid I need to impose on your hospitality a little more."

"How so?" He asks, brow furrowed.

She smiles. Not her real smile, not the one she smiles just for you, and Stefan. No, this is more what she looks like right before she kills someone. "I was hoping you might be able to open up your home to one more. Apparently," she gestures with the letter still gripped far tighter than necessary in her hand, "my sister is coming to visit."

_-_-_(-_-)_-_-_

Elena Pierce hesitates slightly before she steps onto 'New World' soil for the first time. She has the feeling she won't be leaving for a long time. Well, not if Klaus has anything to say about it.

She's not surprised that her sister is not here to greet her. For one thing, she doesn't like extended carriage rides. Not when they could move so much faster on their own.

And, of course, she wouldn't have gotten the letter in time. Elena may have wrote it, but Klaus was always in charge of sending it. Enough time ahead for Kat to tell people she existed, but not enough time for her to run or do anything stupid. It's very carefully timed.

"Do you need help with your bags, my lady?" the porter asks.

"Yes, thank you," she smiles and gestures to the rented carriage.

"It's my pleasure, I assure you." He starts to move the bags. She follows him to the carriage, looking back over the sea. She wonders if she'll ever see England again. "Why is a lovely lady like yourself travelling alone?"

"I'm off to see my sister," she sighs. She knows the story. "We lost our family recently, and it's the first chance I've gotten to come visit her."

"Oh, where are you going?"

"A little town called Mystic Falls."

_-_-_(-_-)_-_-_

"So," Damon says, "you have a sister."

"A sister you never told anyone about," Stefan contributes.

Katherine just smiles, finishing her makeup. They're in her room now, all three of them, with Emily standing guard as always.

She turns to them. "How do I look?"

"Perfect," they answer together.

"As always," Damon adds, leaning in to kiss her.

"Not now, Damon," she pushes his face away. "And I didn't tell you because I didn't think it'd be important. My sister and I aren't as – close, as the two of you."

_-_-_(-_-)_-_-_

The carriage is going as fast as it can and it's still too slow. Truth be told, she hates the carriage rides more than her sister. But it really wouldn't do for her to just show up with far too many bags to have travelled on foot. And she has to arrive in style, of course.

She just hopes she gets there soon. The bumps are getting tiresome.

_-_-_(-_-)_-_-_

"Pearl," she says as she sweeps into the shop.

"Oh, Katherine, good. You got my message." Pearl's face has its serious look on. Katherine knows she's only going to add to that. "Leave us," she compels the villagers in the shop. They smile, take their packages, and leave.

"I have something you need to know as well." Katherine sighs. Another week, just one more week, and she wouldn't have to deal with this at all.

"First, we deal with this." Pearl shuts the door carefully. She shoots a look at the Salvatore brothers.

Katherine sighs. "I told you not to worry about them." She links arms with both, and smiles at her old friend. "They'd die before they told anyone."

"We would," Damon adds, disliking the distrustful look Pearl gives him.

"The council members have begun purchasing large amounts of vervain."

"Damn," Katherine curses. She plays the surprise well.

Pearl steps towards her. "It may be time for us to move on again, Katherine."

Katherine smiles, wry and twisted. "You know I don't exactly get a say in that, right? We stay until we find what we came for. Besides, they won't suspect us. We walk in the day, remember?"

"But the vervain – "

"We just need to be more careful about feeding from now on. No more kills." Pearl sighs, then nods. It'll have to do. "And now on to more pressing matters."

"What is more pressing than our survival?"

"My sister is coming to town."

Pearl whirls around. "Elena? Already?" They've only been here a few months.

"I guess we're not the only ones getting antsy," Katherine sighs. Elena could mess everything up.

"When is she coming?" Pearl draws Annabelle to her. Elena's just the scout. She just paves the way. If she's coming, then he can't be far behind.

"Supposedly her ship got in early this morning. She should be here before night."

Pearl sighs, still clutching Annabelle's hand. "How long do we have?"

"A month or two, if we're lucky." Two weeks if they're not, but it won't matter by then anyway.

"And if we don't find it?" Annabelle asks, serious as ever.

"Well," Katherine swallows roughly, "let's just say we'd better find it."

"Find what?" Stefan asks, thoroughly confused. Katherine had a tendency to forget they were there when she was in a deep conversation with Pearl.

Katherine turns back to them. "Nothing," she says brightly. "Forget this conversation ever happened," she compels.

And they do.

_-_-_(-_-)_-_-_

The carriage arrives at around six o'clock. Katherine had spent most of the day going around, casually mentioning that her sister was coming for a visit, so by now all of the important people were, of course, at the Salvatore boarding house.

Katherine hears the carriage coming before anyone else, but waits until Emily fetches her to go down to meet it. She is on Giuseppe's arm now, as he is her host. Besides, she didn't want to show favor to only one of the brothers in front of her sister. God forbid she thought she could have the other.

She shoots a look to Pearl as the carriage pulls up in front of the house. Neither is exceptionally pleased at Elena's visit.

Stefan and Damon stand just off to the side of Katherine.

"What do you think she'll be like?" Stefan asks.

"Who cares?" Damon responds. She's not Katherine, so who cares?

Stefan does, though he's not quite sure why. He just wonders – he wonders if she'll be like Katherine.

The carriage door opens, and Elena steps out into the setting sun. There's a collective intake of air, and Elena knows that Katherine must have left a little bit of information out. She always does.

"You must be Mister Salvatore," she says as she walks down the path towards the older man her sister is clinging to. "My name is Elena Pierce, and I thank you so much for opening your home to her in our time of need."

It takes him a moment to focus on what she said enough to respond. "Oh, of course, of course. It's tragic, what happened to your family. My condolences."

"Thank you," Elena says, glancing down demurely. She sees her sister scoff out of the corner of her eye. "Hello, Kat. It's been so long." Elena smiles.

"Not so long, sister, not quite so long," Katherine returns the smile with ice in her gaze.

Elena sighs, and turns back the Salvatore man. "Thank you for looking after her. I was in England when our family died, and this is the first trip back I've been able to take." They're still just standing in the walk, and hardly anyone has moved. Mister Salvatore is still just looking at her. Elena is a little fed up, mostly with Katherine for always, always, putting her in this situation. "Is there something on my face, Mister Salvatore?"

"Oh, no!" he gasps, embarrassed to have been caught staring. "It's just – Well, Katherine never mentioned you were twins."

_-_-_(-_-)_-_-_

There's a small party that night, to welcome Elena to town.

"This town really must have nothing to do, if they're holding a dance over me." Elena whispers out of the side of her mouth as she and Katherine play the perfect reunited orphans.

"Maybe it'll make you leave faster," Katherine shoots at her.

"Not exactly my choice to come here," Elena sighs. It's going to be one of those visits.

"And you wonder why I never welcome you."

"No, no, I wonder why you consistently forget to mention that I exist." Elena's just as willing to go there if Katherine is. "You know it would make it so much easier if you would just tell people about your twin sister. Make these first meetings less awkward."

"It wasn't awkward for me, dear sister." The last two words are pure malice.

"Excuse me," a young man steps in. One of the sons of her host, if Elena remembers correctly. He pauses for a moment. "I don't mean to interrupt the reunion, but I was wondering if you would grant me the honor of the first dance, Katherine?"

"Don't worry, you're not interrupting anything," Katherine smiles charmingly. "I would love to dance with you, Stefan." She doesn't even wave goodbye as he leads her to the dance floor.

"Has anyone told you about that?" Annabelle asks, suddenly right behind Elena.

"Must you always do that?" Elena asks, turning to see the girl. Annabelle smiles and nods, always pleased when she can sneak up on Elena. "It's good to see you, Anna."

"My mother's not very happy you're here." Annabelle attempts to be casual, sipping at a glass of probably mulled wine, if Elena guesses correctly.

Elena grimaces. "Yes, well, I always do cause trouble for her." Annabelle laughs at that. She likes Elena, despite everything her coming here means. Elena's the only one who always remembers she's in the room.

"I missed you," Annabelle says, catching Elena's hand for a moment.

"I missed you too," Elena says as she squeezes Annabelle's hand. "Now, what exactly is going on with my sister?"

Annabelle smiles. People rarely ask her for gossip. "Well, she's out there dancing with Stefan Salvatore right now."

"Yes, I see. Very pretty. A little young for her, maybe."

"Aaaand, waiting in the wings," Annabelle points to a man very intently watching Stefan and Katherine, "is the older brother, Damon Salvatore. Her other lover."

And there it is.

"And how obvious is she being about all of this?"

"The whole town knows they're both pining over her, but the full extent of it's still hidden. Her reputation is still mostly intact," Annabelle says as she disinterestedly picks over the remains of the food set out.

"Well, small blessings and all."

"There's more." Annabelle turns back to face Elena. "She's told them about us." Elena nearly drops her glass. "Don't worry, they're compelled to secrecy. But they know what she is. And …"

"And what, Annabelle?" Elena asks.

"She's planning on turning them." Elena snorts. "At least, that's what they think. And she's been teaching Damon at least to hunt." Annabelle takes a sip of wine. "She's been giving Damon her blood."

"And I assume she's told Pearl all this, and not exactly you?"

"You know Katherine. She tends to forget that I can hear as well as she can," Annabelle smiles.

Elena looks back to her sister, dancing far too close for convention to the young Salvatore. "Anna, what else are they compelled to do?" She can't quite ask the right question, but Annabelle understands.

"We don't know. She never tells my mother that."

Elena sighs, letting her head drop down a bit. It's never simple with Kat. "Speaking of your mother," she says, feeling the gaze from across the room, "I don't think she wants you talking to me."

Annabelle nods, pats Elena on the shoulder, and returns to her mother's side.

Elena downs her glass of wine. It's going to be a long night.

_-_-_(-_-)_-_-_

Stefan gets three dances with Katherine before Damon interrupts. Katherine accepts his offer, and Stefan finds himself on the sidelines again.

He hears a peal of laughter, and turns to see Elena Pierce entertaining the Gilbert family. It's odd to see Katherine's face used in such a different way. It occurs to him for a moment that her smile is utterly enchanting.

The thought flits away before he has time to really think it.

He looks back at Katherine and Damon. Damon's making the most of the eye-flirting of the dance, and Katherine seems especially receptive to it tonight.

Stefan thinks for a moment, and then heads decidedly over to Elena.

"Pardon me for interrupting," he says, nodding to the Gilberts, "but it's the fourth dance in, and our guest of honor hasn't had a partner yet. I was wondering if you would do me the honor of dancing with me." He holds out his hand to Elena.

"My apologies, Mister Salvatore," she says, smiling, "but I actually just promised my first dance to Mister Gilbert here. You'll have to settle for second."

"If I let you go," Johnathan Gilbert jokes, and then leads her away. Stefan follows. Damon and Katherine are still dancing together, but he watches Elena and Johnathan instead.

The dance passes slowly, a waltz. But then Elena is holding out her hand, and he is taking it.

Her bracelet bumps against his wrist a little as they dance.

"Your sister has a bracelet just like that," he notes.

Elena's smile dims a little. "Not quite just like it," she says. "Mine, as you can see, has an E. Katherine's, as I'm sure you know, has a K." It had been a way to tell them apart at a glance. Some people had insisted on that.

"What does that mean?"

"I think you know exactly what it means, Mister Salvatore."

"Please, call me Stefan."

"Are you in love with my sister?"

He's taken aback for a moment by the forwardness. "Yes."

"And how much do you love her?"

"More than anything in the world," he answers, as she searches his face for something.

"And your brother?"

"What about him?"

"Is he in love with my sister too?"

Stefan's jaw clenches. "Yes."

Elena sighs, looking away from him. "And, if I were to guess, I would say that she is, what, in love with you both?"

He stares at her, brow furrowed and eyes puzzled. "Yes."

Her smile is sad and a little bit twisted, and he doesn't understand anything. "I am so sorry, Stefan."

"What for?"

She meets his eyes, her own moist. "For everything. Now, forget this conversation," she compels.

"Of course."

"Sister," Katherine says, suddenly next to her, Damon on her arm.

"Sister," Elena answers.

"Kindly stay out of my affairs, or I'll make sure you do."

"I wouldn't have to get involved if you didn't always make such a mess, Kat."

Katherine practically spits at her. Her eyes are as hard as stone. "Stop chasing after me, Elena. And since you're always after my men, here," she brings Damon forward, "might as well take a spin with this one as well. Stefan, come dance with me." Stefan follows after her like a lost puppy, leaving Elena standing with Damon.

Neither speaks for a moment.

"Well," Elena begins, "I would rather like a little fresh air, Mister Salvatore, if you'd care to join me?" He can't tear his eyes away from Katherine. "Yes, I thought not."

She leaves him looking longingly after her sister.

_-_-_(-_-)_-_-_

"Why are you here, Elena?"

Elena puts her brush down gently. "I do not understand how Giuseppe Salvatore has not thrown you out of his house yet. You do know the whole household can hear what happens in your bedroom, right?"

"He thinks I'll marry one of them," Katherine says, sitting down on the bed as if the room was hers. "And he thinks I'm rich enough that it doesn't matter." She's smug. Katherine is often smug. "I'll repeat myself: why are you here?"

Elena turns to her sister. "Why do you think?" she asks, eyes searching Katherine's face. "You've been here months, and you haven't found a single clue? He knows you're up to something, Kat."

"Don't call me that," Katherine snaps, out reflex more than anything else.

"What are you up to?" Elena pleads, eyes wide.

Katherine smiles and her teeth look like daggers. "Nothing." Elena just gives her a look. "Anyway, don't touch my stuff. The Salvatores are mine. Don't interfere."

"Don't worry, I have no intention of having your leftovers, Kat," the name is pointed this time, a barb to get under Katherine's skin. "Besides, the house seems a little crowded. The Gilberts have kindly offered to let me stay with them for the fortnight, if I were to wish a little more space."

"You're going to stay with the Gilberts?" And now it's Katherine's turn to search Elena's face for any sign of – of something.

Elena nods, not breaking eye contact. "I will move my things tomorrow. It's what's easiest for everyone." She doesn't really want to stay and hear Katherine having very enthusiastic sex a room away. Talk about bad for the health.

"Good," Katherine says.

And then she's gone, and the door shut behind her.

Elena sighs, and goes to lie on the bed. 'Nothing.' That's a lie if ever she's heard one. Kat wouldn't be so incredibly brattish if nothing was actually going on.

And the worst part, she thinks, is that she knows I know. She's not hiding it.

The game, of course, is to keep Elena guessing until Kat screws up and it all falls on Elena's head, because Elena should have known better. Elena should have stopped it. It's an old game, and one that Elena rarely wins.

And then suddenly Elena's door is opening, and Damon Salvatore, half-dressed is stumbling into her room. He's trying very hard to be quiet, and just hiding behind the door. Elena hears someone walk past down the hall, and into the room her sister is occupying.

He closes the door very carefully, before realizing that anyone else is in the room. Elena can't help but giggle at his reaction to seeing her on the bed.

"I – I thought – " he stumbles.

"You thought the room was empty, like it was yesterday," she says, rolling her eyes. "I presume you're hiding from whoever just went into my sister's bedroom."

He shoots her a winning smile. "Well, I can't exactly get caught in there, can I?"

Elena just shakes her head. "How she manages to do it, I'll never know."

"Do what?"

Elena meets his eyes. "Play men so masterfully." He quirks his brows at her. "Never you mind. You should be able to sneak along now, it'll be safe."

He glances at the door. "How do you know that?" She smiles and taps her ear. Realization dawns quickly. "So you're – "

"Was there ever any doubt?" she asks, a little offended and a little dumbfounded.

"I suppose not," he admits.

"Well, you should hurry along, Mister Salvatore," she says, gesturing to the door again. "And do try not to be seen. It does my reputation no good to see a half-naked man coming out of my room."

"Your sister doesn't seem to mind," he says, almost reflexively.

Elena's smile turns cold, and her eyes bore into his. "I am not my sister."

The depth of emotion stops him for a moment, before he just nods, and darts out the door as quietly as he came.

The noises from Kat's bedroom start up again.

Both in one night? Really? That's just cruel.

"You know I can hear that, Kat!" Elena complains. The noises actually get louder. "I have to sleep!" No response. "I know you can hear me."

"Sorry, sis," Katherine says, across the wall, enjoying this possibly just a little too much.

Elena throws a pillow at the wall, before pulling another one over her ears.

"What I wouldn't give for a witch and some sage!"