THREE

"What are you doing here?" he asked me as he returned my hug, squeezing me with all his strength. Had I been human, he would have snapped me in half.

"Surprise," I answered and laughed as Anna walked into the room. She leaned against the wall close to Damon and smiled at the sight of Jeremy and I.

Jeremy sensed her and let me go to turn around. "You knew she was coming didn't you?"

She inclined her head. "She asked me not to tell you."

Jeremy looked at Damon who shrugged. "Women," he said casually.

"Hey, you're the one going on some secret mission."

I watched as he and Anna exchanged a knowing glance. As I opened my mouth to ask if she knew, Damon was in front of me, covering my lips with his fingers. "Elena and I have an announcement," he said quickly.

I narrowed my eyes at him for a moment and sighed. Only then did he let his hand drop to twine his fingers with mine. Anna smirked lightly as Jeremy moved to stand beside her. "Well, it's not pregnancy," she stated. Damon and I stared at her with a straight face. "Is it?" she asked quietly, her eyes widening in alarm.

Unable to hold back my smile any longer, I shook my head. "God no. Can you imagine a little Damon running around? It's bad enough with one of them."

"Hey!" Damon shouted playfully as Anna and I both laughed. "You're not exactly easy to deal with either," he returned, pulling me into his arms.

I laughed softly as he kissed me, laughing harder as Jeremy made a sound of disgust. "Dude, gross. That's my sister."

Anna shook her head as Damon released me. "Are you guys hungry?"

"Starving," I answered. I had forgotten to eat before leaving Italy.

"Hey wait, I thought you said you had an announcement," Jeremy said.

I grinned and nodded at him. "As you know, we're engaged."

Jeremy snorted as Anna said, "Yeah, as you have been for the past five years."

"Let me finish," I demanded, pretending to be hurt. I smiled brightly at the two of them before continuing. "Well, we finally set a date. It will be New Year's Eve at sunset on our private beach in Italy."

Jeremy's jaw dropped and Anna's eyes widened. It was strange, considering she was hard to impress. "Private beach?" she said at the same time Jeremy whined, "How come you haven't invited us over before?"

Damon answered them for me. "I'm only letting you all stay there for Elena's sake. I haven't invited you because it's private for a reason."

Jeremy's lip curled in disgust again. "Okay, enough with the images."

"So would that be okay with you guys? We have plenty of room for everyone to be guests at the villa. I'm making rounds, personally inviting everyone up. I'll have more details soon."

"We would be honored," Anna said and came forward to hug me. We both froze; the action was very unlike her. As she pulled away, she looked at Jeremy and Damon. "Alright, now can we get something to eat?"

"You don't have blood bags?" Damon asked. "Hunting for the four of us can be tricky."

"Not if you hit the right places," Jeremy said proudly.

Damon and I both exchanged a glance. "What exactly does that mean?" Damon asked.

"It means that there is one hell of a nightlife in London and since the clubs are packed, it makes finding prey fairly easy," Anna explained. "But Damon's right," she said, making Jeremy utterly disappointed. "I think we should split up. This gives you and Elena time to catch up."

And gives you time to talk to Damon about whatever it is that I'm not supposed to know, I thought, but kept the smile on my face. "Sounds like a good plan to me," I said.

Damon kissed my forehead before heading to the elevator. "We'll meet here and then go back to the hotel."

"There's plenty of room for you here," Jeremy said as the doors closed behind us.

"While I appreciate the offer, it's much easier for the two of us to get a hotel room," I answered, trying my best to keep from smirking.

His nose wrinkled as did Anna's. "Thank you for sharing way too much," Jeremy muttered.

"You're welcome," I teased and watched as he started tapping his fingers on the wall behind him.

Once the doors opened to the lobby, Jeremy bolted from the elevator, earning stifled laughs from the thee of us. "Have fun," Anna said to me, giving me a small smile.

"Thanks, you too," I replied and waved goodbye to her and Damon before heading outside to find Jeremy. "Alright, where to?"

His eyes darkened slightly; had I been human, I wouldn't have been able to notice it. "I have the perfect place in mind."

"No clubs," I said sternly.

His jaw fell and I could detect the beginnings of a pout. "Why not?"

"Because I'm not a normal vampire. While the effect of a drugged up human might only make you feel tipsy, it might do something drastic like kill me. It doesn't help that the drugs mask the scent of supernatural blood. Damon would kill you if I ingested any of that on your watch."

Jeremy nodded slowly with disappointment radiating off of him. "Alright, so much for that plan," he mumbled. "Would it really be so bad if you got your abilities back?"

"No," I said slowly, trying to think of how to explain it to him without making Damon sound jealous and controlling. "It's just...well, how would you feel if Anna could overpower you?"

"She's almost six hundred years older than me," he returned.

"Oh. Right." I bit my lip while I tried a different approach. "Alright, well it's a guy thing I guess. He's older, he should be faster and stronger, but he's not. He tries not to feel jealous, but I can tell that he does."

"It's not like you would use it on him," he said and made gagging noises as he saw me try to hide my smile. "Good God, do you two do anything else?"

"We-" I started but was interrupted by Jeremy's hands waving in front of my face.

"Please don't answer that."

I laughed and nodded my head. "As much as I love catching up, I think we should eat first. I wasn't kidding when I said I was starving."

Jeremy nodded and extended his hand towards me. "Follow me." The moment I put my hand in his, we sped off into the crowd in search of our next meal.


The next day, Damon and I went back to the penthouse. This time, Damon suggested that he get some time alone with Jeremy. I was starting to get suspicious. Something about the way the three of them kept speaking with their eyes told me that my brother and his girlfriend were in on whatever surprise Damon was planning. It was times like these when I truly wanted my ability to read minds back.

Once Damon and Jeremy had left, Anna and I decided to do some shopping. "So..." Anna started once we had entered the first store.

"Yes?"

Her eyes met mine, letting me know that what she was about to say was completely serious and sincere. "I know this might be a little late or completely unnecessary, but I need to apologize to you."

We both knew I had already forgiven her, but we had never really talked about it. "Anna-"

"Just here me out," she demanded and I nodded. "Much like Stefan and Damon, my first reaction to seeing you was thinking that you were Katherine. Jeremy was the only real Gilbert in town, or so I thought, so using his blood to revive my mother seemed like the perfect form of revenge on your family. I can't say that I regret what I did; I really was only thinking of getting my mother out. But now that Jeremy and I are together, I just need to apologize out loud."

I reached out and put my hand on her forearm. "I forgave you a long time ago. I know that you wanted your mother back and I knew exactly what kind of hell you were going through. Had Klaus never taken Damon from me, I would not have been able to understand what you were going through, but I do." I smiled and let my hand fall back to my side. "Everything turned out alright. Had I known what a great help Pearl would have been to me later on, I would have given her my blood willingly."

Anna smiled and inclined her head. "That means a lot to me."

"We're sisters now," I said, smiling brightly at her. "What's done is done and we've both changed since then."

She nodded and we turned our attention to the racks of clothes. "Where are you going after this?"

"The closest person on my list is Tyler."

She paused to look at me. "You sure that's a good idea?"

I shrugged. "Like I said to Damon, I would feel horrible if I personally invited everyone but him and he would feel unwanted. For all we know, my reaction to him might be nothing like it was before."

I saw Anna's eyes roll. "Yeah, somehow I doubt that. At least Damon will be there."

I shook my head. "Damon and I are parting ways here. He said he has some surprise he wants to get me for the wedding." I studied her, cursing the fact that she was so old and well practiced at keeping a straight face. "Did he say anything to you about it?"

"Of course he did," she said nonchalantly. It made me do a double take. I had been expecting her to say the opposite.

"Really?"

She shrugged and continued browsing through clothes. "We may not have considered each other friends before, but we have known each other for almost two centuries."

I nodded absently. Of course he would have told her. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"What was he like as a human?" I asked quietly, suddenly wishing that I could take it back.

She smiled, her eyes taking on that far away look as she relived the past. It made me shiver, knowing that I would be doing that one day. "He was pretty much the same. Granted, being what he is allowed him to act more on his impulses, but not much else changed." She straightened up as she pulled herself back to the present. "I'm talking about how Damon has been since the two of you got together. The way he was before that was him using the off switch. As a human he was arrogant, charming and fiercely loyal."

I nodded, trying not to think of him with Katherine. "I wish I could have seen him as a human."

"Ask Bonnie when you see her. She might know a witch who can let you see the past."

"Really?" I asked, the surprise heavy in my voice.

She nodded and grinned. "You still have so much to learn about the supernatural. Don't worry, you have plenty of time."

I took a deep breath and stared at the clothes in front of me. "Plenty of time," I mumbled to myself, thinking about possible outcomes for the future.

Drawing me out of my self induced trance, Anna shook me gently. "Come on, let's go to the next store." I nodded and followed her back out to the crowded streets.


After saying goodbye to both Anna and Jeremy, Damon and I returned to the hotel room. I promised them that I would keep them posted on dates and any other details that they needed to be aware of. I had arranged for Lucian to pick me up first thing in the morning so that I could begin my trip to the States.

Damon and I fell onto the bed with a simultaneous sigh of satisfaction; we had been out all day and had hardly seen each other. Needless to say, it felt nice to be alone with him again; especially since I would be leaving tomorrow morning. "Can you just tell me where you'll be?" I asked softly, lying on my side to trace the lines of his face. "You don't have to give me the details, I just want to know where you are."

He placed his hand over mine and kissed the inside of my palm. "I can do that," he breathed, planting a trail of kisses to my wrist.

"Anna and I talked about you today."

He froze at that. "Why?"

"I asked her what you were like as a human."

His lip curled for a split second. "Why would you want to know that?"

"Because, you've seen how I was like as a human. I was just curious and I asked her because she's one of the few people who knew you back then."

"She didn't know me very well. The only time she really saw me was when Kath-" he stopped before saying her name and sighed. "She didn't know me very well."

"She said that the way you are with me is the way you were as a human."

He stared up at the ceiling while he thought it over. "Kind of."

I smiled and hooked my leg over him, pulling myself into a sitting position. "Well, we have an eternity for you to explain your human life to me," I breathed and leaned down until I was able to kiss him. I smirked into the kiss, breaking it off only to move my lips to his ear. "I like the vampire you."

Damon used his speed to pin me beneath him on the bed. "I like the vampire you too," he replied.

The rest of the night was spend showing each other how much we liked the vampire in each of us.