Keeping Me All Pins and Needles

From the song: Heart Shaped Glasses by Marilyn Manson

Pairing: Human Damon/Elena

Rating: M

Disclaimer: I hope L.J. Smith or the CW doesn't pull an "Anne Rice" because I LOVE writing FanFiction about it! I don't own it, if I did, Ian Somerhalder would probably NEVER have clothes on! :D

…you laugh like I'm kidding…

Chapter 2: She Reminds Me of the One I Knew…

Elena's POV:

Ow. That was my first thought. I opened my eyes and slowly sat up, wincing. I couldn't tell if the headache was from the hangover or the time travel.

Time travel?

I looked around. I was lying in a bed in an unfamiliar room. Naked. I sighed. This brought back way too many memories. The creaking doorknob made my heart and jump and I whipped my head around to see who was coming in. The door opened and immediately closed again.

"I'm so sorry, Miss!" A woman said. "My mistress and I found you lying in the woods, wearing no clothes. We wanted to make sure you were all right."

I quickly wrapped the white sheets around my bare shoulders and said, "You can come in."

The woman was only a few years older than me with skin the color of cinnamon, her dark hair pinned up what looked like a bonnet. She curtseyed and smiled shyly. "I am Carys." "Carys" was wearing a light blue dress with frills and a small short sleeved jacket to match. (Picture on my LiveJournal – link on my profile.)

"Are you…a slave?"I mentally smacked myself for that comment. How was I supposed to know how sensitive people were about that sort of thing? "I'm sorry, I didn't-"

She smiled. "It's alright. I take no offense to your curiosity. I can tell you are not from here."

"Heh. No." Did I see a hint of knowing in her eyes?

"Yes, I am a slave, Miss…"

"Elena." It probably isn't a good idea to use my last name; Johnathan Gilbert seemed bat-shit crazy.

"Elena." She repeated. "My Mistress told me to bring up attire for you to wear." She slipped out of the room quickly, and then she returned, holding a purple dress in her arms. "Do you like this gown?" She held it up for me to see.

"Yes!" I said honestly. I've always kind of liked Victorian dresses – ever since I'd done a "Gone with the Wind" play in 8th grade and had to research the era.

"Good." Carys smiled. "May I…put it on you?"

"Oh, um…sure. I mean – yes. Yes. Thank you, Carys."

External POV:

"I don't care how she got there; I just want to know how to get her back!" Damon yelled at Bonnie.

"I don't know how, so stop yelling at me!"

Damon's anger got the better of him and suddenly his fangs lengthened.

"Damon, stop." Stefan put a hand on his back. "Bonnie, how exactly did Elena get to the 19th century without a witch?"

She turned her attention to the other vampire. "I don't know, but…I think she was able to use the vervain in her necklace." She opened the spell book. "The vervain mixed with natural running water is used. If you take something from that time, you will end up near whoever's belonging you took."

"Natural running water?" Damon asked, causing Bonnie to roll her eyes.

"Yes. Like…water running from a river or stream or something."

"Well, what could she have taken from the 1800s?"

After a moment of thinking, Damon shrugged. "I have no idea."

"Maybe we should check our rooms."

"What's the point?"

"Because," Bonnie turned to Damon. "If we know how she got there – or with what, then maybe we can get her back sooner. In the meantime, I'll look through here to see if I can find anything else."

Stefan and Damon immediately ran upstairs and into their rooms. Damon wasn't very sentimental, so there weren't many things she could have taken. Stefan looked through his books, journals, pictures – anything that could have been missing. His mind went to a conversation he and Elena had a few days ago.

"Do you guys keep anything from your past?"

"I do, but I doubt Damon does."

"Why not?"

"Damon isn't very…fond of his past."

"So he didn't keep anything?"

"Well, I know for sure he kept a letter our mother wrote before she died – a little before we turned."

"Where is it?"

"I'm not sure. Probably hidden in his room somewhere."

Damon walked into his room and sighed. What could Elena have taken from in here? He bent down and looked through a few of his old books. Nothing. He stood and walked over to his dresser. He opened the black box that held the silver dagger he'd been given in 1864 by his grandfather before he died.

Damon smirked. I guess before we both died, huh?

He put the dagger back and glanced around his room. He couldn't think of anything else he'd kept. It wasn't like he kept mementos of his past. What was the point? His memories didn't fade like a human's would. And sometimes that wasn't always a good thing. There were some things he wished he could have forgotten – like his mother's death for example. There was always a part of him – a part he kept deeply buried way down – that was glad his mother died before he turned into a vampire.

Damon walked over to his closet and opened it, reaching into the oak box he'd kept well-hidden. He knew his mother's words on the letter by heart now. It was dated July of 1863. He opened the box carefully and clenched his teeth. She had it.

He stood and threw the box at the wall, the force causing the box to break apart, splinters of wood falling to the floor. Why would she have taken something of his? How did she even know it was here? It was bad enough that she felt the need to fucking relive the past, and it was obvious she would meet the human version of him – his better half (at least that's how she'll see him.) but now she had to take something that his mother – one of his only weaknesses – had given him so she could venture off to "meet the parents?"

"Damon, I think-" Stefan stopped. "What happened?"

"I know what Elena took."

"I think I do, too."

The two of them ran down the stairs and appeared in front of Bonnie, making her jump.

"We think she took-"

"No," Damon interjected. "I know she took a letter of mine."

"Oh." Bonnie's eyes widened.

"What is it?" Stefan frowned.

"Um…" She flipped back a couple of pages. "It says that whoever's thing she took to go to the past she'll have a…connection to that person."

"Wait, what?" Stefan looked at the book.

"See, a lot of witches used it to meet old relatives but in Elena's case…she wanted to meet the two of you. And since she took Damon's letter, she'll appear near your guys' house in whatever year…"

"1863." Damon said.

"Then she'll appear near your house in 1863, and she'll feel…an almost…magnetic pull towards…uh…'Human Damon.'"

Damon remained quiet as Bonnie spoke, which was out of character in itself, but as soon as she was done explaining, he suddenly flashed across the room, grabbing Bonnie and pushing her against the wall angrily. "Get her back. Now!" And in that second, he was gone.