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Summary: Post 3x22. Bonnie realizes that she's lost control over what's happened in Mystic Falls and after making a quick decision, she calls for help. Help ends up being "Evelina Austen", a familiar face coming back to Mystic Falls. Why does she look so much like a doppelgänger and why did she answer the spell? And why, oh why, does she consort with the bad guys? Damon/OC slight Klaus/OC

Chapter Three – Trust Issues

"You locked her in the bathroom?" Elena asked skeptically, Damon only shrugged his shoulders in response. He stood up from the couch, sensing the confrontation with a sigh.

"Damon, she's a witch. You really think that she won't just get out anyway?" Caroline asked with a roll of her eyes. Bonnie did the same before snagging the chair farthest from Damon, who had now placed himself near the fire, his signature glass of whiskey in his hand.

"Maybe, if she's actually a witch," he pointed at her, almost spilling some of his drink in the process. "I'm not really taking bets on it."

"Did you at least give her the clothes I gave you?" Elena asked with a sigh. It was sad that everyone knew Damon would get his way with his little experiment, but no one really had the energy to try and fight him for it – and he would put up a fight.

"I think I threw them in there. But if she comes down here looking like you, I swear-"

"What d'you swear?" All of the people in the living room turned to see Evelina walking down the stairs looking smug – and in Elena's clothes. She looked at them all disinterestedly from behind a curtain recently washed hair. She gave Damon a particularly dark glare before pulling her arm back and throwing something at his face. Catching it in his hand with a bit of a wince, he took a look at the blood that had gathered where it had pricked him in the palm and raised an eyebrow. It was a safety pin.

"These old locks are easy to pick open. They didn't start making places hard to break into until the early 2200's. So if you're going to test my magic, you have to try with better challenges than that."

"Well, at least you'll be amusing." Damon frowned, tossing the safety pin onto the table. "Alright, whose turn is it to test the phony?"

"How about mine?" Evelina asked with a raised eyebrow. It unnerved him how much she really looked like Katherine now that she was in Elena's clothes – as Katherine had been not long before – and the taunting glare behind her eyes. He had been right all along: she barely resembled Elena at all. Not with her rough, sarcastic demeanor that screamed of Katherine.

"I'm all for it," Stefan voiced, standing from his chair.

"Good to hear...but you can't be part of it," she smiled cynically. "None of the vampires can."

"What? No!" Caroline looked dismayed. "That's everyone but Bonnie and that's not fair – I want proof too!"

"Sorry Care, those are my terms. If you would have brought one of my sisters, you could watch their magic like TV, but since you brought me..." She shrugged animatedly, turning her gaze over to Bonnie. Elena couldn't help but feel a little unnerved by the casual nickname she had already given to Caroline. It just felt too intimate. Then again, if she did know Caroline years down the road, it was a good start to proving it, wasn't it? "Are you in or out?"

"I'm in," Bonnie all but jumped at the chance, standing up to follow Evelina up the stairs. When she saw everyone's nervous faces in front of her she smiled encouragingly at them. "I'll be alright, guys. If she can't do magic, I can. And if she can do magic, then she really is here to help us like I asked for."

No one looked very convinced as Evelina turned on her socked foot and started walking again, mumbling about Elena's 'vintage' clothes the whole way.

"Wait, Evelina-"

"Eww," she sneered immediately. "Please god no, it's Evie."

"Evie," Stefan repeated. "What are you going to do?"

"Call in some more helpful reinforcements." She said seriously. "Now let's go."

Bonnie didn't argue anymore before she started jumping the stairs to meet the non-doppelganger. The others stared at each other nervously.

"Trust her?" Stefan turned to look at them.

"Nope," Damon popped his 'p' and turned back to his glass of whiskey. "I maintain you're all stupid and I think we should start looking for a good place to bury her."

"We need to trust Bonnie," Elena said sternly. "Bonnie trusts her, so we have to trust her. If what she's saying is true, she's as innocent as the rest of us are."

"And if she's lying?" Caroline couldn't help but asking.

"Which she is," Damon pointed out, loudly putting his empty glass back on the table.

"Then we deal with it," Elena sighed. "Don't you want to at least imagine the idea of having some help? Having another Bennett witch could do so much – especially if she really is telling the truth. Because if she is, Evie's already loyal to us."

"She sounds like a sarcastic bitch, to me." Damon grumbled, pouring another glass of whiskey.

Elena couldn't come close to holding back her smile. "That's funny, because I was going to say she reminds me a lot of you. We should probably handle her the same way – you're pretty similar."

"Not even close," Damon swirled his drink again. "For instance: I have a nice buzz."

"Good point, hopefully we don't have another drunk on our hands." Caroline pointed out. Damon was not impressed with the comment but stopped glaring when he got an equally fierce glare from the brunette that had stepped between the two.

"Don't mess this up, Damon. Evel-Evie could really help us out. Don't drive her away just because you're a jerk."

"You expect so much of me," Damon's sarcasm was biting.

"We should talk about that too," Stefan stood up and leaned against the chair, his eyes now focused on Damon. "Why do we think she is close with all of us but she's never met you?"

"I'd like to think future-me smartened up and got away from you death-magnets," Damon smiled somewhat dreamily. "Oh, what a day that will be."

"And if that's not the case?" Stefan said a little more darkly. Caroline creased her eyebrows.

"What do you mean?"

"Have any of you wondered if maybe she hasn't met him because he's not around? And if it's possible that him not being around was not his choice?" Stefan asked looking at each of them carefully. "What if Damon doesn't make it to the future she's seen?"

"Are you saying that you think I die before you idiots?" Damon scoffed. "Please."

"Stefan's right, I mean, it is a possibility..." Damon could see Elena's mind creating gruesome images for her. He almost didn't mind her worrying.

"You never know..."

"No, I do know. And I know I'll do anything to survive – including leave all you and your little friends behind. I'm done with this conversation." Damon didn't even want to finish his drink anymore before he put it down and went toward the door.

"Where are you going?" Caroline asked nervously.

"Out. Some of us have lives to live – that's probably why that little brat never met me, anyway." And with a quick detour to grab his leather jacket from the closet, Damon was gone.

"I think we have a problem," Stefan said as soon as he was gone. "I'm serious about what I said. I think it's a bad sign that Evie hasn't seen Damon around in her time – I think we should try and dig more into it."

"But there isn't much we can do about it, is there? I mean, she hadn't even heard of him – it's not like we could stop it from happening if she doesn't know what or when something bad were to happen." Elena frowned. "He's not going to let us go around protecting him for any given amount of time."

"Maybe we shouldn't be protecting him," Caroline said nervously. "I mean, maybe I've just watched too many movies but...isn't it kind of a rule that you shouldn't try to change the future?"

All three of them looked around at each other nervously, the idea seemed damning, ludicrous, and inexplicable all at once. What would happen if they didn't protect Damon – would he die? Would he be able to get himself out of any situation he got himself into? He hadn't always in the past. Would Damon just run away? It was obviously a possibility that he really had smartened up and run away from Mystic Falls. It was also a possibility that he had not come back because he couldn't draw attention to himself being in the same place and never aging...but then why wouldn't Evie had at least heard of him? All three of them were still in this pensive state when Bonnie shuffled down the stairs, looking very concentrated at something or other. Evie was close behind her.

"Bonnie!" Elena sighed, relieved for some break of tension. "How'd it go? Can she do magic?"

"She's a witch," Bonnie nodded.

"Great! Well, what happened? Did she call for help?" Elena asked with a large smile, looking up to Evie happily. Evie, shockingly, gave a small smile back.

"She did."

"Well, what'd she do? Who's coming?" Caroline, also came up where Elena stood, closer than where she had been earlier, and gave Evie a smile. She gave the same tight smile but looked away so that she wouldn't catch either girls eye.

"Sorry guys but I had to take a blood vow...I can't tell you what happened up there." Bonnie looked back at Evie, who by now was studying the mahogany railings of the stairs above her head.

"'You can't tell us'?" Caroline repeated in shock. "Bonnie, we're part of this too. We're your best friends!"

"Apparently we're her friends," Elena added with a nod toward Evie, who looked at her a little sadly.

"You are. But I have to keep in mind that you're also very young vampires who don't have a check over your emotions," Evie's voice sounded cooler and Elena watched as her face melted back into a hard expression – it was almost shocking how reminiscent it was to Damon. But being distracted by that or not, she was quick to explain how she did not like that there were secrets being kept from her. Evie only shrugged her shoulders noncommittally. "Sorry guys, you'll have to be kept in the dark until I can be sure you can take it."

"It's fair," Bonnie assured Evie, looking over her shoulder as they had some sort of private agreement. She looked back to her friends before nodding her head and saying it again, "it's fair."

"I'm going upstairs to sleep. Tomorrow we should probably get cracking on figuring out where in history I am and what to prepare for next. I remember a lot of the stories from the early 2000s and you guys don't normally get long breaks between disasters," Evie said with a slight sigh, watching while they all nodded a little morosely. "And tell Damon that if he locks me in the bathroom again, this time I'll throw the safety pin in his eye."

"Goodnight, Evie," Bonnie smiled softly. Again, shockingly, Evie's rough and tough demeanor disappeared for just a quick second when she gave Bonnie a smile – a tight and nervous one, but a smile nonetheless – before she turned and kicked it in high gear to her bedroom.

"You can't tell us?" Caroline repeated a little more darkly now that the new witch was gone. "What kind of friend are you?"

"A worried one," Bonnie responded. "She'll be a help, but it's definitely not what I was expecting."

"Not what you're expecting?" Stefan asked skeptically. "And she made you take a vow of silence?"

"Something like that," Bonnie shook her head, letting out a deep sigh as she walked to the couch and fell down on it, exhaustion written over her features.

"Why can't you tell us what happened, Bonnie?" Elena asked worriedly. "Are you sure we can trust her?"

"I told you already: Evie's the real deal," Bonnie confirmed. "But I can't explain why. I already told you why I can't and...ugh – I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Elena sighed, leaning against the railing and looking at Stefan and Caroline. "It's just one more thing we need to figure out before the world starts falling apart again, right?"

Damon didn't even want to finish the drink in his hand. His scotch on the rocks had melted and been left looking like a watery soup that no longer smelt like a way to forget his problems. The grill was busy for a Thursday night, but most of the people sitting there were annoying teenagers that were out with groups of friends. He could hear all of their petty conversations – none of them even knew that people were dying under their noses. Then again, half the time they just ended up coming back to life anyway, so it barely seemed worth it to freak them all out.

"Get him another," a soft voice said from beside him. He didn't need to turn his head to watch the blonde vampire sit beside him to know who it was. Instead of gracing her with his time, he watched to make sure that the bartender didn't use the cheap stuff for his drink.

"You should know better than to talk to me right now, Rebekah."

"And you should know better than to threaten me right now," Rebekah said simply, taking a sip of some fruity drink. The coconut smelt revolting. "I watched my brother be staked."

"Yeah and he deserved it," Damon muttered. "I saved your ass from being staked too. In return I would have preferred you not killing Elena just to prove you're sad."

"I did it to spare us all from death," Rebekah explained with a low voice. "You forget that the only way Alaric could die was if Elena died first."

"And at the time you killed her did you happen to know she'd had vampire blood?" Rebekah took a sip of her drink, not backing down from his glare, but not saying a word against it. "Thought not."

"Now we don't have to worry about your lineage dying," she sounded nearly defensive. "You, Caroline, Elena, and even Stefan will all be safe and sound now that Alaric is dead."

"Are you leaving town?"

She shook her head, frowning a little. "I think I'll clean things up here a bit, first."

"Because you do such a good job," he said sarcastically.

"I'm staying anyway, Damon."

"Then I'm still at risk of killing whichever one started my bloodline, aren't I?" Damon sneered back at her. She raised her eyebrows, not amused by his threat, but rather surprised by it. She watched him for a moment with narrowed eyes, sizing up the threat before shaking her head.

"You wouldn't risk that of Elena."

"Well, it wouldn't be for Elena. I'd be killing you because I felt like it." Rebekah snorted, but took a sip of her drink to avoid saying anything more that could insult him. She knew that he could never manage to kill her, but she didn't really want to have to make him try.

"We all thought that Klaus fathered your bloodline, Damon." Rebekah said deliberately, making sure he was paying attention. "But that he didn't means we don't know who did – whoever turned Mary must have been turned by one of us. It wouldn't be smart to kill any of us not knowing that."

"You know," Damon growled, finishing off his drink. "You ruined my buzz. And if another girl ruins my buzz today, I will kill someone."

Without needing to say anything else to the Original, Damon stood up and walked out of the bar. He'd let Rebekah pay his tab, even if she would just compel the bartender to forget the drinks had been ordered. It was a small service after she had turned Elena into a vampire.

Well no, technically he had done that – though not intentionally. It wasn't fair that Elena thought it was his fault for turning her when his blood had been taken from him. And it wasn't his fault that Dr. Idiot had decided to clear whatever cerebral damage she had with his blood...but Elena still blamed him. She'd screamed it after it had been explained to her and she'd given him the cold shoulder ever since.

The walk home was nicer than he would have thought a walk all the way back to the Salvatore boarding house would be – maybe it was because there wasn't any danger for once? He tried to think it all through but it was almost too much to take in over the short amount of time it had happened in: Klaus was dead. The hybrids must have been dead, too. The Originals were settling down after their brothers death. Alaric – super vampire and vampire slayer Alaric – was dead. The only witches in town were currently staying under his roof.

Ironically, it was like there was no danger at all.

How long would that last?

"Damon, you're back." Elena seemed shocked when he walked in, looking up from a big, dusty tome that was sitting in her lap. He raised an eyebrow.

"Isn't it past your bedtime?"

"I was just doing some research," she closed the book and tucked it a bit behind her. Using some of the supernatural speed that Elena didn't quite understand enough to stop him, he picked the book up and looked at the old cover. It was one of his father's old books, one of the ones that had a treasury of everyone in Mystic Falls. Some of the pages looked newer – Stefan seemed to have kept it updated.

"Fun research."

"I'm looking up the name 'Austen'," she grabbed the book back from him. "So far I haven't found anything."

"Oh," he smirked. "So I guess you don't quite trust little Evie-Bo-Peep either."

"It's not that I don't trust her," she said defensively, tucking the book into her chest. "It's that it just seems so...I mean, I have a baby when I'm 22? And it just so happens to turn into this girl from the future who is a Bennett witch and related to me and who comes out to help us?" She sighed. "I was just trying to see if I would know who I'm apparently supposed to have a baby with in her world."

"In her world of pretend? Probably no one," Damon took the book from her again, leafing through the pages. He had used to love the game of counting how many of these people he'd killed.

"Fine, you don't believe her. But let's say, just hypothetically, that she was telling the truth."

"Hypothetically?" Damon repeated, glancing up at her as she sighed.

"Yes."

"Then, hypothetically, she's generations younger than you and the person you sleep with probably isn't named Austen and is probably not in this book..." he paused, pointing at the book with raised eyebrows. "Oh wait, yes I am."

"Damon," she growled, taking a step back when he winked at her.

"What? I am, look." He pointed out his own name, right beside Stefan's and underneath his father's. It had been faded over time, but his name was still there – the only sign besides memories that he had ever been normal. Elena rolled her eyes at him before sighing and moving to lean against the back of the couch.

"I'm just worried."

"You're always worried," Damon waved off, flipping through the book again.

"What if I really wasn't supposed to turn into a vampire and Evie dies because of it?"

"Evie's going to die because of a vampire, but I doubt it's going to be your fault." Damon smirked, watching as Elena's face fell from worry and into a look of irritated determination.

"Damon, promise me you won't kill Evie."

"I will not." It was simple and it was true, Damon would be the one to kill Evie if she stepped out of line. And he would damn well enjoy it.

"Damon, promise me." Elena's voice was even more serious now. It was like she was trying to imitate him – it was almost cute, were he not so frustrated that everyone kept trying to humanize him and keep him from killing when he was mad. They needed to stop expecting so much from him – he liked killing. It was in his nature to kill. So he wanted to kill Evie. Because he knew that Evie was a liar and would get them all into more trouble than they would already get themselves into without her help.

"I promise I won't kill Evie...as long as she doesn't screw us over."

"That's the best I'll get?" Elena asked with a sigh.

"That's better than I'd give less sexy people," he offered with a smirk. She rolled her eyes.

"Well, if it's the best I'll get, I guess it's fair. But you shouldn't just go around threatening her. It'll make her feel like-" but Elena didn't get to finish before there was a loud knock on the door. Both she and Damon turned to look at the door in suspicion but neither of them seemed to be able to move while they listened for sound on the other side of the door. There was nothing – no heartbeat, no breathing, no movement.

"Since when were we so popular?"

Another silence.

"It's a vampire, isn't it?" Elena asked quietly. Damon wanted to laugh at her for whispering – if it were a vampire, it would be able to hear her very clearly. He refrained, knowing how delicate being able to talk to her already was.

"Probably another squatter – I don't care how big my house is, I like being here alone."

Elena looked at Damon with a frown before standing to head for the door. Before she could, Damon was sure to get to the door first. As much as they were at odds since she blamed him for everything and he was upset that she was so against him, Damon couldn't help the instinct to protect the bitch.

He looked at Elena, trying to tell her to stay back – but she fought his glare to come stand over his shoulder, just as Bonnie had the night before. He was quick when he pulled open the door, trying to catch whoever was there off guard. But when he saw the person on the other side of the door – at ease and lounging against the doorway he had to furrow his eyebrows. He was tempted to look behind his shoulder to see the mirror image of who he was currently looking in the eye...no, not a mirror image. He knew those eyes well and the mischief in them could never be mirrored in Elena's.

Katherine.

"Great," Damon smiled sarcastically. "Now I get to kill Evie."

Did Evie really bring Katherine to help? Oh dear, she'll be in deep trouble if she did. Tell me what you all think!

To my reviewers from the last chapter:

Laurafxox: I'm glad you like it. There will be a lot of questions like the ones you've already asked, but the mystery of what happens to Damon is unnerving, isn't it? Thank you for reviewing, hope you liked this chapter as well!

alwaysxlove: It does happen ALL the time. I was a fan of Stefan when he was ripper-Stefan, because when he's normal-Stefan he's so 2-dimensional. I'm glad that you like my portrayals of the characters, hopefully you like how the story evolves. Thanks for reviewing!

KyaraSalvatore: I'm glad you like it, thanks for the review :)

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