AN: Huge thanks to all the reviewers! It made my day! Here is the next chapter. I hope you like it!


Chapter two

"Elena!" Stefan cried out running out the door to her. Katherine followed closely behind him.

"I didn't.. I" Stefan stuttered.

"You lied to me" She managed to say "All along.. our entire relationship was based on a lie."

"No it isn't Elena... it isn't.."

"I heard everything Stefan." She said her voice growing stronger "You came here because she sent you"

"I just wanted to make sure you were protected Elena. The Peirce bloodline is important to me. I have watched it closely over the years." Katherine said looking straight at her doppelganger with interest.

Elena just gaped at her look alike. Her mouth slightly open her eyes confused and hurt as she tried to grasp what had just happened.

"You.. you.." Damon looked from Katherine to Stefan to Elena his face a mix of emotions.

"I'm sorry you had to hear all of that but it's high time you knew the truth" Katherine said glancing at Damon a little sadly.

"You told me I was your first choice... that we could have eternal life together... you could be yourself with me..." Damon accused pain oozing out of his eyes.

"I told you what you wanted to hear" Kathrine snapped. "I'm sorry about hurting you. Had I known my little trysts with you would ultimately cost me the only person I could be vulnerable around and show my humanity too. I would have done things differently"

"Katherine..." Stefan said sadly.

"Oh shut up Stefan!" Damon snapped Katherine's words opening up raw scars. "You knew.. you did this whole time. You never bothered to tell me the bitch was alive?"

"I was afraid" Stefan said looking down "Of how you would handle it. You weren't the most stable vampire all the time. I thought.. I couldn't handle it if I caused you to go on some killing spree."

"Oh come off it Stefan!" Elena yelled moving so she was standing next to Damon supporting her friend despite the betrayal she herself was feeling at the moment.

"You cant just decide what people get to know for their own good. Your a freaking vampire not God. Damon could have moved on. A long time ago. You let us open that damn tomb. We put the whole town in danger just to protect your secret!" Elena was shaking she was furious.

"145 years I searched" Damon said to no one in particular. "For nothing."

He turned his gaze to Katherine "You weren't even worth it"

"Neither were you" She spat back coldy.

"Well Stefan he's over it now. He don't have to worry about it anymore. He knows the truth are you going to continue to deny me?" Katherine turned her head to Stefan her eyes softening just enough for him to see.

"Katherine...you know the answer to that" Stefan said looking at Elena.

"Elena please can we go somewhere and talk?"

"No" She said crossing her arms "You broke my trust Stefan."

Bu..

"Again" She added cutting him off. Damon found himself putting his hand on her shoulder. Despite the million emotions racing through him all he could think of was offering her some kind of comfort.

Stefan grimaced but held his comments back as to not upset Elena more. The fur of them stood their right outside the large house. Elena and Damon side by side facing off with Katherine and Stefan. The air was heavy with tension.

"You sent Stefan here to protect me?" Elena finally said looking at Katherine her eyes wanting answers.

"Please Elena let me explain everything to you" Stefan begged.

"No I don't want Stefan's truth" Elena said "I want to hear the Katherine's version"

Katherine laughed in spite of the tension. "You a very interesting little human. So much Peirce in you but mixed with Gilbert" Katherine crinkled her nose a little.

"You killed John" Elena accused fire burning in her eyes at the memory.

"Yes. I did but he screwed things up. He wasn't supposed to kill Peral or Annabelle. He even tried to kill Stefan and Damon. he had to be dealt with. Had I not done it Damon would have eventually anyway. " Katherine glanced at Damon "Now you don't have to kill her father. You should thank me"

"Plus now you have the ring. Isobel was an idiot giving rings to her two men but not her daughter. She has no maternal instinct. That's why I took over and made sure you were protected" Katherine said looking at Elena again.

"Of course had Stefan not messed up and let you guys open that tomb..." Katherine said dramatically.

"I would still be chasing after you like an idiot" Damon murmured.

"Right that.. look it's not my fault that you twisted what we had. Damon I know I made a lot of empty promises to you, But you knew your place. You knew you were the man on the side. You decided to rewrite history not me." Katherine said.

"How can you be so cruel?" Elena hissed at her standing closer to Damon. She could feel how tight his body was he was holding himself tightly against the wave of anger and hurt that was hitting him.

"she's a nasty little bitch" Damon muttered.

"Please let's not get like this. It's really not my style" Katherine said waving her hands. "Besides Damon. I know you loved me in some way. But for the most part it was an obsession a lust for my lifestyle an escape from your pain. A way to be first to beat Stefan. You hated always being the second choice."

"Just stop" Damon growled "I don't want to hear anymore"

"Katherine please stop" Stefan pleaded. "Elena.. please come over here. I don't know what he is going to do" Stefan had worry etched into his face as he looked at his angry brother so close too close Elena in his state.

"I will stand whenever I want" Elena huffed. "I trust him"

"He's so angry Elena... I was afraid of what he would do when he learned the truth. Please move away"

"No!" she spat out "That's your problem Stefan. You always think the worst of everyone. he's upset that doesn't mean he's going to hurt me"

"He's still here you know." Damon spat out moving a little from Elena's body. "And he can defend himself"

Elena grimaced and Damon softened his gaze towards her before glaring again st Stefan.

"I'm pissed Stefan. Very pissed. Because you decided I couldn't know the truth. You went ahead and decided what I was going to do and make my decisions or me. Does that mean I would hurt Elena? No of course not. You should now by now I wouldn't hurt her"

"I agree you should" Katherine said icily glancing st Stefan. Her lips curled into a smile.

"Stefan you really should see how your brother has changed" Katherine said "I mean that night on the porch. When Damon thought I was Elena. When he bared his soul to me he never once looked at me like that."

Elena gasped. Damon took a step back from her and looked at Katherine warningly. The one lie the one thing he wasn't honest with Elena about and now he was going to lose her too.

"No" Damon started to say but Katherine cut him off.

"And you never once kissed me like that either with so much love" She smiled innocently.

"You what!" Stefan rushed Damon pushing him into the wall and almost knocking Elena over in the process.

Katherine caught her arm and steadied her. Elena glared at Katherine.

Damon felt Stefan's hand hit his throat but was focused on Elena. Her reaction to Katherine's revelation. Would she be angry? Upset he lied to her too.

"You" Elena said angrily her voice barley a whisper "How could you steal that moment from me?"

Damon felt an emotion he couldn't place take over his body. What did she mean by that? Stefan's grip tightened and Damon used his power to fight back. He flipped Stefan over and took control clawing at his brother's throat.

Katherine's eyes glanced over at Damon and Stefan. "Get off him!" Katherine yelled pushing Damon backwards. Damon fell to the ground and realized how weak he must look. He was humiliated and raw. Unable to take anymore he ran off into the house. Even Elena could hear his door slamming from outside. She shuddered thinking about the pain he was in.

"I'm leaving" She said trying to keep her strength up long enough to get out of there.

"Elena please..." Stefan begged. "I only wanted to protect you. Then I fell in love with you. I didn't want to lose you"

"Stefan I have to go. I need to be away from you right now. This is to much. It's just to much." Elena's eyes started to fill with tears again.

"Stefan back off." Katherine said taking Elena's arm. "I'll take her home"

"I don't want anything from you!" Elena spat out in horror.

"Hey.. I'm just trying to be a good grandmother" Katherine laughed.

"Don't you see what you have done here? To Damon? To me and Stefan.. you just don't care.. you may have wanted to protect me. But emotionally you left a mess of everything" Elena accused fire back in her eyes.

"I tend to do that" Katherine said flippantly "But I don't mean to... not always anyway."

"Things could have been different" She looked at Stefan again and he looked away unable to meet Katherine's gaze.

"I made a mistake" Katherine admitted suddenly looking at no one in particular. "I should have never sent Stefan here. I didn't need to worry about Damon. Actually he has done a better job protecting you then Stefan"

Elena sighed "Please just someone give me a car to borrow. I need to go home"

"Elena let me drive you." Stefan begged.

"Oh Stefan you are just insufferable with her" Katherine said tossing Damon's car keys which were lying on the ground.

"Don't follow me" Elena said looking Stefan in the eyes her brown eyes angry and broken. "Don't call me or write me .. just leave me alone. I will call you when I'm ready to talk"

She whirled away and hurried to Damon's car. Trying to grasp everything that just happened she felt like her whole world just came crashing down.


Elena got home feeling weary and wrecked. Jenna was in the kitchen.

"Elena?" She called "Can you come in here it's important"

"Okay" Elena sighed "Not like the day could get much worse anyway"

"Elena sit" Her aunt said sitting at the table looking serious. She had a brochure in front of her.

Elena sat warily as her aunt handed her the brochure. It was for for a camp for depressed teenagers.

"Sometimes it helps if they can get away from it all. This place helps them rebuild their lives again. It would be great for Jeremy" Jenna said quietly.

Elena held back a sob. "Will we get to see him?"

"No.. not for the summer. He will be home in the fall. But we can go there on visitors day and see him once a month"

Elena sighed regretting how badly she had failed him as a sister.

"Does he want it?"

"He didn't refuse it" Jenna replied. "Elena it will be good for him"

"Okay" Elena agreed. "If it will help him." She didnt have it in her to fight anymore anyway.

"Are you okay?" Jenna asked seeing her swollen eyes and haggard appearance.

"No.. it's been a really rough day. " Elena sighed heading up to her room.


Damon packed a bag and raced out of the house. Katherine was gone and Stefan was brooding in the living room. Damon ignored his brother's questions as he flew out of the house. His car was gone... Elena she must have took it home with her. He thought. As he started running for her house.

He knocked on the front door and she answered it right away his keys in her hand.

He looked at her broken tear stained face and felt sympathy for her overtake the anger in his heart.

"I thought maybe you could use another 5 minutes..." He said motioning to his bag on the porch.

"Can we make it 10?" she said simply gesturing to the two bags behind her.


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