True Lies

(WHITMORE CAMPUS)

"Megan's memorial outside is growing by the minute." Elena said walking into the dorm room. Caroline was rifling through a box while Charlie was playing a game on her phone.

"Ugh, college kids are so dramatic. She was on campus for, like, one day. She couldn't have made that many friends." Caroline complained.

"Caroline, she's dead. You can stop competing with her." Elena told her.

"Sorry, I'm in a mood."

"You talked to Tyler?" Charlie spoke up.

"He's deferring from enrolling and deferring from returning my phone calls, so I'm deferring from having sex with him ever again." Caroline explained.

"Harsh, but effective." Charlie commented.

"How's the snooping going? Any explanation why our vervain-laced, vampire-slaughtered roommate had a picture of my dad on her phone?" Elena asked checking to make sure no one was listening.

"No."

Elena handed a folder to Caroline after remembering it. "Oh um, I went by the hospital this morning – Megan's death certificate. It says she died of suicide. No mention of the gaping vampire-bites on her neck. So, whoever signed off on the cause of death was part of the cover-up – just like the Founder's Council back home."

"You think they have a council of their own?" Charlie said putting down her phone and joining the girls. "I mean, it takes more than one person to cover up a death-by-vampire." The words 'council' and 'Whitmore' were not settling well with her.

"Dr. Wesley Maxfield." Caroline said reading the file. "If there is a council, then he's on it."

"He's also our Applied Microbiology professor. I switched our classes around, so that we could –" Elena was interrupted by Caroline.

"Applied – what, what? Uh, Elena we are supposed to be taking Intro. to Communication."

"Yeah, what happened to getting drunk and making bad decisions about boys? What happened to our fun freshman year at college?" Charlie asked her.

"I am supposed to be a drama major!" Caroline exclaimed.

"You're not going to be an anything major if we get exposed as vampires!" Elena snapped.

They all froze for a second realizing their conversation was growing in volume.

Elena smiled at the two. "We are still gonna have our fun year, guys, but we have to protect ourselves. The way Damon kept his secret in Mystic Falls was because he infiltrated the Founder's Council. So, bust out those alleged acting skills, and let's get on it okay?" Elena asked.

"I'm not a Drama major." Charlie mentioned.

"Okay then, use your skills of deception you've perfected over the last 100 years." Elena sassed.

"I'm good with that." Charlie said and they all smiled at each other.

(THE QUARRY)

Damon and Liz were standing at the quarry, where Damon thought he would be able to find Stefan when he got a call from his sister.

"Hey Mini D." He answered.

"Mini D?" She questioned.

"Yeah, for Mini-Damon. Come on, you may be Stefan's twin, but we all know you act more like me."

Charlie was quiet for a second. "Have you heard from him? From Stefan?"

"No, I haven't." Damon lied to her. He hated doing it, but he didn't want her to freak out. She was supposed to be having fun. He was going to find Stefan and kill Silas, then everything would be back to normal. Damon deterred the conversation from Stefan, "What are you up to?"

"I'm about to go to my Applied Microbiology class." Charlie told her brother.

"What?"

"Don't ask. I was just calling to see how you were, and, ya know, if you had heard from him. Obviously you haven't soo, yeah" Charlie trailed off.

"Don't worry sis. It'll be okay. Now head to class. Remember what I told you about getting an education."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Talk to you later. Stay out of trouble." Charlie told him.

"You too." He said and hung up. He was going to have to find Stefan. Fast.

(DR. MAXFIELD'S CLASS)

The three girls made their way into the lecture hall and they passed Jesse on the way to their seats.

"Hey, Blow-Off Girl. Aren't you a freshman? How are you in this class?" He asked Caroline.

"What? I love… Applied Microbiology." She stuttered. "It's like, my favorite biology. You know, little things are just so… cute."

"Are you going to the bonfire tonight? Or are you just gonna get really close and then turn around and leave again?" He asked sarcastically.

"She'll be there." Elena answered for her.

"Sweet. We'll hang." He said.

Elena gave him a thumbs up and Caroline pushed her, following Charlie to their seats. When they sat down Caroline gave Elena a look.

"What? Charlie mentioned making bad decisions about boys, which you agreed with. He's cute, he's interested, and most importantly, unlike Tyler, he's here" Elena told her.

Caroline narrowed her eyes at her while Charlie snickered in the background when Dr. Maxfield walked into the room.

"Morning, everyone. I'm Dr. Maxfield. First name is Wes, but call me 'Dr. Maxfield.' One day, when you're out of med school, you'll understand. So, you're all going to this bonfire tonight, right? Well here's a quick history lesson for you. Whitmore was founded as a hospital during the Civil War. Deadliest war in American history – over 600,000 casualties. Disease was so prevalent, that once a week they had to gather all the dead, rotting bodies, put them in a pile, and light the whole thing on fire. So tonight, when you're getting drunk and partying, stop for a second, close your eyes, and imagine the rancid smell of a hundred rotting corpses." He introduced.

"Creep-y." Caroline muttered.

"Which brings us to microbiology-" Dr. Maxfield continued.

"But hott-ie." Elena added.

"-because that rancid smell comes from a very specific bacteria. Isn't that right, chatty girls in the back?" Dr. Maxfield asked them.

The two smiling girls turned to Dr. Maxfield their smiles fading.

"And what is that bacteria?" He asked them.

Elena stuttered, "Uh, that's the, um…"

Charlie spoke up. "Bacterial decarboxylation of ornithine and lysine."

Caroline, Elena, and even Dr. Maxfield were staring at her, shocked that she knew the answer.

"How did you know that? You're a freshman." Dr. Maxfield asked.

Charlie shrugged, "I'm a bio nerd."

"I have to say I am impressed…?" He trailed off not knowing her name.

"Charlie." She answered for him.

"Why don't you stay, we can find out what else you know. But you two," He pointed to Elena and Caroline, "you can learn things like this in Bio 101, down the hall." Then he pointed to the door.

The two girls stood up and made their way to the door still slightly stunned at what just happened. They looked back at Charlie who wiggled her fingers, waving and smiled at them.

Later, Elena and Charlie were walking around campus while Elena was on the phone with Damon.

"It was mortifying, but amazing at the same time. I mean, I was so embarrassed, but the way Charlie just stepped in and showed up the teacher, it was awesome."

"Well, what do you know, my sister a geek? Why did you step up to the plate?" Damon asked knowing Charlie could hear.

"Someone had to stay in the class to keep an eye on him. And it obviously wasn't going to be the 'two chatty-girls." Charlie quoted Dr. Maxfield.

"I still don't like the way he called us out." Elena said.

"You want me to beat him up?" Damon asked.

"Not yet, we need to find out what he knows."

"Did you compel him?"

"Damon, if he knows about vampires, he's gonna know about vervain." Charlie mentioned.

"How about violence? Did you threaten him?" He asked Elena.

"No, I didn't threaten him."

"Would you at least tell me you used torture?"

"Damon!" Elena exclaimed while Charlie just laughed.

"You do realize that you are dating a reformed serial killer, right?"

Elena laughed but Charlie froze. "What would a hero do?"

"Pfft, that, I have no idea."

"Stefan?" Elena muttered seeing 'Stefan.'

"I don't know. Probably mope at him." Damon said thinking she was still talking to him.

"Stefan's here, right now." Elena told him.

"What?"

"Turn off your phone." 'Stefan' said to Elena. Charlie looked at him weird when Elena actually did hang up on Damon.

Charlie threw herself at 'Stefan' hugging her brother that's been missing all summer.

'Stefan' laughed and hugged her back. "I know you're upset that I didn't call, so I just wanted to apologize in person."

When they pulled away from each other, Charlie slapped 'Stefan,' surprising both him and Elena.

"I understand that you needed time for yourself, I get it. But you didn't call me for three months. How the hell was I supposed to know you were even alive?! I'm your sister! The least you could do was call me. So it's going to take a lot more than a crappy apology for me to forgive three months of worry." Charlie ranted to him and walked away.

'Stefan,' who was actually Silas, was so surprised by the outburst he didn't even use his mind control to stop her.

Elena just watched her friend walk away, knowing how affected she was by Stefan's disappearance, but now that Stefan was back, maybe her 'trances' where she stared off into space would stop.

(THE GIRL'S DORM ROOM)

Caroline was standing in her towel getting ready when she heard the door open. She turned around think it was Elena or Charlie but was surprised to see Damon.

"Damon! Towel, knock!" She scolded him.

"Caroline. No one cares, no. Hey, where are Charlie and Elena?" He asked not caring that Caroline was in a towel.

"I don't know. They probably went to the bonfire to get more intel on our weirdo professor." She guessed. It was a sound thought on Caroline's part, until Charlie walked into the room looking pissed off.

"Hey, what's going on?" Caroline asked her.

"Are you okay?" Damon asked.

"Did you know that our brother is here? Just out of the blue! He just shows up, expecting everything to be okay after he disappears for three months!" Charlie ranted.

"That's because it's not him. That's Silas. He's pretending to be Stefan and I'm assuming he's still with Elena. We need to find her." Damon told them quickly.

"I thought that Stefan dropped him in the quarry…" Caroline said.

"Join the club. Get dressed." Damon told her.

Charlie looked distressed and worried. "So he's not back… Oh, my god. Elena and I were right. All summer I've just had this feeling that something was wrong with Stefan."

"What?" Damon asked her.

"I don't know about Elena, but I've just had this… feeling that he's in trouble or danger. Maybe it's a twin thing I don't know, but something's wrong."

Damon threw some clothes at Caroline. "Get dressed. Meet us out there. We need to find Elena."

Damon and Charlie were walking around campus looking for Elena when they ran across Silas.

"Hello, brother. But I suppose distant nephew is probably more accurate. And distant niece, I've gotta say you sure know how to slap someone." Silas said.

Damon grabbed Silas by the neck, ignoring the slapping remark.

"Where the hell's Elena?" He snapped.

Silas mind-controlled him. "There's no need for violence Damon. You'll find her eventually."

He pulled Damon's hand from his neck, although you could see his was trying to fight it.

"There you go. Look, I get why like her. I mean, I have a soft spot for brunettes, too. What I don't get is why she likes you." Silas told him.

"That's 'cause you haven't had sex with me." Damon said.

"Woah! Sister here." Charlie complained but they ignored her.

"Hm, cockiness masking fear. How transparent." Silas smirked.

"You expect me to believe you came all this way just to talk to her?" Damon asked.

"No, that doesn't really make much sense, does it? But if I told you exactly what I did, then it would ruin the fun. Enjoy the bonfire, ladies." Silas said and walked away.

Caroline had caught up with them later in the night after the party was well underway.

"Why would Silas want to hurt her?" Caroline asked.

"Because he wants to hurt me." Damon answered.

"You know, if you just would've told the truth, all of this could've been avoided." Charlie said.

"Look, I'm sorry I didn't tell you okay. But you were already under enough stress with being here and not having talked to Stefan. I didn't want to add onto that." Damon defended.

Charlie was about to answer when Damon bumped into someone.

"Watch where you're going, douche." The guy snapped at him.

"Have you seen Elena Gilbert?" Damon asked.

"I have no idea who that is, and if I were her, I'd probably run from you, too."

"Wrong answer." Damon gripped the guy's throat but Caroline stepped in before Damon could hurt him, much to Charlie's dislike.

"Forget all this and get out of here." Caroline compelled him. After the guy walked away she turned to Damon. "You have to calm down."

"He turned the entire town square into a hunting party for Katherine. How am I supposed to calm down when every single person here could be working for Silas?" Damon protested.

The rescue squad finally found Elena with Jesse getting fire wood in the shed. Damon however, decided to take matters into his own hands and instead of walking in calmly, he zoomed in and hit Jesse over the head.

"Damon? What the hell?" Elena asked surprised.

Caroline was frustrated. "Seriously? That's Jesse. I kind of liked him."

Charlie was standing around a pit of fire wait for Caroline. She and Jesse were having a moment and she decided to give them some privacy.

She was staring into the fire when she noticed a presence beside her. "Dr. Maxfield?"

"We're not in the classroom. Call me Wes. I just saw you over here alone and thought I'd say hello." Wes greeted Charlie next to the fire.

"You're a teacher. Aren't you supposed to be trying to break up the party and thinking of other ways to embarrass new students?" Charlie asked him sarcastically.

Wes laughed at her. "I may be a teacher, but I'm still young. I can party every now and then. And sorry about your friends, but I had to be a hard-ass. It's kind of what I'm known for." Wes defended.

"Oh no don't worry about it, I loved it." Charlie said.

"Really?" Wes asked surprised that she was okay with him embarrassing her friends.

"Hell yeah. They are my friends and I love them to death, but sarcastic comments make my day. That's kind of what I'm known for." Charlie explained to him. "I'll give credit where credit is due though."

"Well thank you. I'm glad I could make your day. I have to say though I was really surprised when you answered my question correctly. I was kind of expecting to have to send out three freshman airheads, but you were surprisingly intelligent." Wes explained.

"I take offense to that." Charlie joked.

"How did you know that by the way? I mean I've never ran across a freshman who knew any of the questions you answered today. I know you said you're a bio nerd but…" Wes said not really knowing how to finish the question.

"I was kind of a loner a few years ago." Charlie said trying to skirt around the question. It's not like she could tell him she was a vampire who had years to learn this stuff.

"Really? Do you mind if I ask why?" Wes said trying to get some information out of her. Every question he asked her in his class today she answered correctly. It was the first time in his teaching experience that he was left speechless. He usually caught students off guard with the difficult questions he asked but she bested him every time.

"It was a time in my life where I felt the whole world was against me. I felt alone, like I couldn't even go to my brothers for help. But instead of turning to drugs or alcohol like most teenagers would, I turned to science. I know… dorky right?" Charlie said coming up with a lie quick. Although some of it was true. There were several points in her life where she felt the world was against her, especially her brother's, but she definitely didn't turn to science to solve it. In most cases she did turn to alcohol, (it's not like it would kill her.) Well, alcohol and blood.

Wes laughed with her. "No it's not dorky at all. I'm glad you turned to science. The world deserves a mind like yours." He said kindly.

Charlie was about to thank him when Caroline showed up. "Hey." She said shortly realizing who she was talking to. This guy embarrassed her. He didn't deserve a second of her time.

"This is the point where we leave to avoid awkwardness." Charlie said to Wes. "See you in class."

"Enjoy the party." Wes said and watched Caroline and Charlie walk away.

"What was that about?" Caroline asked Charlie.

"Who knows? He just started talking to me and asking me questions. I'm trying to get him to trust me. We need someone trying to figure out if he's involved with vampire business. It's not like you and Elena are going to be able to. Plus he's not bad to look at." Charlie said sassily.

Caroline just laughed at her as she and Charlie made their way back to the dorm room.

"You know, ever since I've known you I've never seen you with anyone." Caroline stated trying to think back on a time when Charlie had a boyfriend and couldn't think of one. "Even when Elijah showed his interest, you turned him down. I mean it's not like your ugly, hell you don't even notice the way guys look at you. So how come you don't have a boyfriend?"

"I turned down Elijah because it wasn't the right time. With everything going on in our lives I didn't feel like it was the right time to start a new relationship, plus I only saw him as a friend. Maybe when things settle down around here I'll start looking." Charlie said, really not having any intention to 'look' anytime soon.

"Have you ever been in love?" Caroline asked realizing that they've never really talked about Charlie's past relationships.

"Story for another day." Charlie smiled at Caroline.

By now they had made it back to the dorm room and walked in on a… surprising scene. Elena was in a chair with a fire poker through her leg and Damon was shirtless and tied to a chair.

"Ew." Charlie muttered.

"I think we need to set some ground rules for when boyfriends come to visit." Caroline informed the couple.

Wes made his way to Charlie who was also packing bags into the back of a car like Elena. He figured if Elena knew he forged death certificates then Charlie did too. He wanted to know what made Charlie so different. In a good way. She had a level of intelligence that he hadn't come across in a long time. The society could use a mind like hers. He also wanted to keep an eye on Elena, being Grayson Gilbert's daughter she had to know something.

"You're leaving too?" He asked approaching her and she turned around from packing bags into the trunk of her car. "And here I thought I would have to come up with tougher questions in class."

Charlie laughed. "Yeah. Problems at home that need my attention. Don't worry though, I'll be back to show you up in class."

Wes laughed too. "I look forward to it. So based on the fact that Elena is leaving too, I'm guessing that you guys are more than just roommates." He deduced.

Charlie nodded. "She's dating my older brother. We also went to the same high school. Didn't become friends until she started dating my other brother…" Charlie trailed off realizing she was rambling, trying to seem like the nervous freshman. "Yeah, we're friends."

Wes smiled kindly at her. Since the two were so close there wasn't a doubt in his mind that she also knew he was forging death certificates. "I figured. Listen, I hope this doesn't sound to forward or weird, but I'd like to talk to you about a couple of things." He said hoping she would take the hint. She proved how intelligent she was when she picked up on it straight away.

"If you're talking about if I know you're forging death certificates then yes, I do. I'd actually like to talk to you too, but there are some things I need to handle first. Rain check?" She asked him. She needed to figure out just how much she knew and if he was a danger to her and her friends.

"Absolutely. Uh, here," He said handing her his card with his office and cell number on it. "Whenever you get the chance, call me and we'll talk."

"Thanks." She said taking the card.

"Well I hope everything turns out okay for you at home. Hurry back. It's nice to have a student who actually understands what I'm talking about." Wes said.

"Thanks. I'll try." She said and watched Wes walk away. She couldn't deny that he was incredibly attractive. He was young too, for a teacher. But he wasn't her type. Her type was the opposite of his blonde hair and blue eyes: dark hair, dark eyes and a bad side. But if a little bit of flirting could get her the information she needed then who could it hurt?

"When did you and professor creepy get so close?" Damon asked as he made his way over to her car. Elena was staying by Damon's car giving the siblings a chance to talk.

"We talked last night at the bon fire. I need to figure out what he knows but I just can't focus on anything other than Stefan right now. Caroline will be able to manage things." Charlie explained to him.

"We're gonna find him Charlie. I promise." Damon said. His phone rang drawing Elena's attention over to the two and Charlie waved her over.

"Yeah." Damon answered the phone.

"We found something." Liz Forbes answered.

Liz, Damon, Elena, and Charlie approach the safe that Stefan was locked in.

"We didn't find anything in the quarry, but a deputy found this a few miles away. Didn't open it. If Stefan's been in there for three months… chances are, he's hungry." Liz explained.

Charlie opened the door of the safe only to see a bloody corpse inside.

"Oh, my god. That's not Stefan." Elena muttered turning away and covering her nose.

"Well, you were right. He was hungry. I bet he still is." Damon said.

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Thanks so much for reading!

P.S. - That part about the bacteria, I have no idea if that's the right answer. It was the best I could find online and hey, it sounds smart right? Haha :)