Common Misapprehension

by Aikou

"You would have liked me in 1864." In search of a gift for Elena, Damon urges Bonnie to use magic in effort to help him remember where he had hidden his mother's jewelry box in 1864. Instead, the spell erases all of Damon's memories after he hid the box. While Bonnie looks for a way to fix the problem, Elena & Co must re-adjust Damon to modern times, vampirism, and other discoveries about his present life, they come to terms with their own previous judgements of Damon. Set after S:3, E:9, Christmas time.

II. Katherine's Dead

"What do you mean he's Damon from 1864? Did he time travel… or something?" Elena paced the hallway near the restrooms of the Mystic Grille.

"No, no, no," Bonnie's voice on the phone responded, "He asked me to do a spell so he could remember something from his past, and now he can't remember anything after that memory we tried to reclaim. He's the same Damon… except only with the memories of his life from 1864 and before it."

"Freaky," Elena could not think of any other response, "Okay, if what you're saying is true then it might be best I head over there to help him adjust to the culture shock he'll probably be having."

"Good idea, I didn't even think about that."

Elena hung up the phone and began to walk towards the exit of the Grille, however stopped on the sidewalk. She picked up her phone and called one of the previously saved unknown numbers in her phone. It rang three times, then went to voicemail. She inhaled deeply, and thought about the many times before when she had called this number and never received any response. Still, she hoped.

"Stefan… If this is still your number… and if you even care at all… This is Elena… Well, Bonnie did some ritual on Damon that erased every memory he had before 1864. Not sure how you feel about it, I guess, I'm not even really sure how serious this will be…" she stopped, deciding there was really no point in her leaving a message to the rogue number, then hung up the phone.

Damon put the the white cellphone back down on the table, "Apologies, Miss Caroline, I cannot seem to get the device to talk to someone."

Caroline walked to the dining room, "Haven't you ever used a telephone? Like one of those old ones?"

Damon shook his head, "I have not heard of such a thing…"

"Telephones weren't even invented until like 10 years later, Caroline," Bonnie's voice yelled from the other room.

"Oh," Caroline replied, "Well that's okay, we'll just figure that out later."

Damon got up and walked toward the hallway where a large mirror hung and caught sight of his reflection. He stared incredulously at the man with blue eyes and messy black hair, and the long sleeve sweater. He immediately strolled toward the living room to address Caroline and Bonnie, "Quickly! May I request use of a hairbrush and a washbowl?"

"A hairbrush and a what bowl?" Caroline squinted at him.

Bonnie sighed in exasperation, "He means a sink," she got up and put one of her grimoires down, "Come on, Damon, follow me."

On the way to Bonnie's house, Elena's purse began vibrating loudly. She braked at the red light, and immediately rummaged through the contents of her bag, pulling out her phone. Her heart raced when her she looked at the screen and saw the same rogue number she had called earlier. She answered out of breath, "Stefan?"

"Well, hello Elena," a sly feminine voice replied.

"Katherine."

"The one and only."

"What are you doing with Stefan?" Elena began to boil within.

"Elena, dear, is that anyway to greet a friend?"

"We aren't friends, Katherine."

"You don't need to worry about Stefan, he's busy playing Harley Quinn to Klaus's Joker at the moment. I just happened to confiscate his phone the last time I saw him."

"Why don't I believe you?" Elena put the car in gear, and continued to drive home.

"Believe what you want, Elena. I listened to your voicemail. So, if Damon thinks he is from 1864, then he may very well be a liability to us now."

"How so?"

"The Damon I knew in 1864 was a little more foolish in the do-anything-for-love department…"

"How is it any different from today?"

Katherine snickered for a moment, "Look, you might as well be changing his diapers. He is in no condition to be out looking for Stefan and I, so I warn you now. You must at all costs, prevent him to come looking for us. Tell him that we are dead, tell him whatever you need to. Meanwhile, that little witch of yours better restore his memory. Unfortunately, the difference between the Damon of today and the Damon of yesterday happens to be the experience, the knowledge, and his tact for survival. Without any of those, he's as good as dead. Which, to be honest, is not very useful for any of us."

Elena was silent.

"I'll be in touch," Katherine's melodic voice proceeded the beep of disconnection.

Elena rang the doorbell, and swallowed the apprehension in her throat. What on earth should she say? She knew he would certainly ask her about Katherine and Stefan… The door swung open, "Elena!' Bonnie hugged her instantly, "Thank you for coming."

"No problem," she took off her coat at the door and stepped forward.

She heard the sound of a toilet flushing, and a muffled male voice shout out, "Extraordinary!"

She raised an eyebrow at Bonnie, who looked a bit speechless, "Is this for real?"

Bonnie nodded, and Damon came out of the main floor bathroom, turning towards Elena. His jaw dropped, as did Elena's. He had combed and parted his hair to the side rather neatly. "Katherine," he uttered, and immediately rushed to her side, placed a hand on her cheek, his lips diving in to kiss Elena passionately.

Bonnie and Caroline continued to stand there stupefied. Startled, Elena pushed Damon off of her, "Wait, Damon! I'm not!" she looked up at his shocked eyes, "I'm not Katherine…!"

Damon's eyebrows furrowed, "What do you mean, Katherine?"

"Damon… Katherine… is dead."

Bonnie stifled a gasp, and looked at Caroline.

"I do not understand, you are standing in front of me," Damon backed away from Elena, looking her up and down.

"Damon, please listen. I know this whole thing is a shock to you, but my name is Elena Gilbert. I am one of Katherine's descendants, so maybe that explains why we look so alike..."

"I thought for a moment, perhaps, you had survived the centuries… You are after all, immortal."

Elena glanced at Caroline, who nodded and ran toward the other room, then Elena stepped towards the dubious man, "No, Damon… You are."

Caroline came back into the room and held up a medical blood pouch in front of Damon's face. Veins pulsated around his eyes as the scleras turned crimson with hunger. Elena stepped backward, her hand shifted through her purse and pulled out a mirror compact to reflect Damon's image toward him. He gasped, and jumped backward at accelerated speed, "How can this be?" he asked shakily, his eyes returning to normal.

Elena walked towards Damon on the stairs, and hesitantly began to speak, "Since you still thought you were human, I'm going to assume you don't know that Katherine had you turned into a vampire to save your life."

Damon swallowed the dread in his throat, "She did…?"

"But she died, Damon. She burned in the church with all the other vampires of Mystic Falls, when your father called the hunt in 1864."

"My father…?" his eyes began to well with tears, and he turned away from them to hide it, "What about my brother, Stefan? Did you know him?"

Elena paused, and glanced at Caroline and Bonnie, who were completely confused but decided it was best not to interrupt. She continued slowly, "You told me that… your brother had died trying to save her."

"I see," he wiped his eyes, and stared at the wooden banister.

"Damon, you have been living here for a while in Mystic Falls," Bonnie picked up where Elena left off, "You wanted me to help you remember where you had hidden something of your mother's."

"Her jewelry box," he answered.

"Yes, and the ritual seems to have gone wrong. I'm going to find a way to get your memories back. In the meantime, I know this is all a shock to you, but please trust us."

He nodded glumly, then sharply looked back at Elena. "So you are a human then?"

"Yes," Elena replied.

He stood up, staring at her expressionlessly. Elena could not conceive at all what he was thinking, and shifted uncomfortably. He softly swept up her hand and brought it to his lips, "It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Elena Gilbert. I apologize for my advances earlier, you are unmistakably identical to Katherine. As you may know we were very… close…" he paused, "Otherwise, I appreciate the revelations you have brought me."

She nodded, tentatively sliding her hand from his grasp, "It's alright, I figured this might happen... I am sorry if it causes you pain."

"I'll get over it," he hastily turned away, "As Miss Caroline and Miss Bonnie explained to me earlier, it's been 146 years. The only reason these facts prevail grief upon me is because they seem to have happened only yesterday, due to the oversights of the ritual I requested from Miss Bonnie. Now, if you'll let me have a moment," he walked off.

"Okay, Elena, now can you tell me what the hell is going on?" Bonnie asked fiercely.

Elena glanced around the Mystic Grille, and sat down at one of the tables, "Where is Damon?"

"He's with Caroline," Bonnie sat down across from her, "She has to re-teach him how to behave as a vampire."

Elena drummed her fingers on the table, "Well that'll be interesting."

"Elena, why did you lie to Damon?"

She exhaled slowly, "I tried to call Stefan earlier. But I ended up talking to Katherine instead."

"Really?" Bonnie raised a brow, "What did she have to say?"

Elena continued, "Katherine told me that I needed to make sure Damon didn't try to go looking for them. So I lied to him to prevent that. And… I think she's right. If he doesn't even know how to act as a vampire, or know anything that's going on, I just think that it'd be a lot of work trying to keep him alive and chase him around if he thinks he's got something to chase."

Bonnie shrugged, "Well… sounds reasonable. If he did know, it'd probably be very difficult to convince him not to go looking for Klaus-cronie-Ripper Stefan or diabolical Katherine."

Elena flinched at Bonnie's statement. Matt stopped by the table and put two glasses down, pouring water, "Hey guys, how's your evening?"

Elena smiled, "Hey Matt, it's been fine."

He nodded to Bonnie, and set down the menus, "Let me know when you're ready."

As he walked away, Elena put her head in her hands, "Bonnie… Do you think we can trust this Damon?"

"I don't know, Elena. I don't know anything about what he was like in 1864. To be honest, we're all still on careful guard around him. There's a possibility he could be worse."

"Hmm," Elena emitted thoughtfully.

Bonnie took a sip from her water, and surveyed her best friend, "What is it?"

Elena's hands slid to the back of her neck as she lifted her elbows to rest on the table and leaned forward, "When Damon was… on his deathbed. He said something to me."

"What did he say?"

"He said that I should have met him in 1864."

"Why?"

"He said that I would have liked him."

Author's Note: I have been working hard to research the Damon of 1864 in flashback episodes, and there's a back and forth when writing to keep him in-character, as some flashbacks he is rather forward, and others, respectful and timid. Please review and let me know what you think :) I gladly accept criticism as well. Next chapter should be very fun ;)