Disclaimer: I do not own the Vampire Diaries or any of it's characters.

Unrecognizable Regrets

Sauntering into the bright, noisy lobby of the closest Marriot to Mystic Falls her employer could find, Lila realized how completely useless and irritating humans could be. She caught the end of one conversation between two fully grown men on the subject of which football team would win tomorrow night. Just the fact that they wanted to predict something that didn't even concern them and their shallow banter was so useless and time-wasting she had to leave the vicinity before she would stab her ears out with those hotel pens lying around everywhere.

Growing up knowing the supernatural powers she held, she always had anything but a normal, human life. Though many of her friends thought witches were just human too, Lila knew they held powers more worthy than the easily weakened vampire and werewolf. They were higher beings that deserved so much more than they were given.

She spotted her employer, him insisting she call him Mr. Brown, in one of the far corners, writing in some kind of leather-bound book. A few steps closer and she realized it must have been a journal. Huh. To think this extremely morbid and almost scary-looking guy was the owner of a diary.

As soon as he caught sight of her, though, he set down the book. She cursed, meaning to catch a glance at what he was writing. He smirked, showing off the full, moist (yes, his devastatingly dreamy appearance even made her think words like moist ) lips he had, and slipped her a jade-colored envelope with no writing on the front, just as he's been doing for the past two weeks. He watched her take it then continued writing in his journal, flipping it so that there was no way she could read it. She only knew him by the writing his letters showed, but boy, were they literature. It might have been that because the guy was gorgeous, she automatically loved anything of his, but still, who wouldn't? Cropped black hair, swirling blue eyes, and the slim frame of an actor all made up Mr. Brown. Of course, a first name would be nice, but she could be patient…

While walking away, she caught a glimpse of him look up from his diary and winked. She felt a blush crawl up her cheeks, clashing with her new hair color. Trying to occupy herself with something else, she ripped open the envelope and took out her new assignment.

A picture of a girl with medium blond hair and a pageant-winning smile who was leaning next to another girl with longer brown hair in curls with mocha skin was the first thing that was in the envelope. They looked like they were at a party at the high school which she recently started to work at. Though she worked at it for the job Mr. Brown gave her, of course. Undercover work was one of the pros of doing what she did. That and the magic, of course.

Next came another cropped picture of a young man with blond hair and blue eyes looking out from a booth in the restaurant nearby. She stuffed the pictures in her coat pocket, digging out the older one of the Tyler boy and throwing it in the trashcan before the sliding doors leading out.

A sheet of paper was last, which specified in Mr. Brown's elegant script the circumstances and time she was supposed to complete this task. Paper-clipped at the end of the sheet was her payment.

She watched the humans in the back parking lot of the crowded hotel, handing around a joint, and shook her head in amusement. Paying to kill yourself, that's what the humans did. Then she looked down at the large sum of money she held and grinned, stalking closer to the teenagers.

Damon slowly pressed his lips to Elena, with her savoring the soft pressure. She could taste a trace of peppermint on his lips, the sharp flavor spread through her mouth as she tried to deepen the kiss. But Damon didn't want to rush, surprisingly. He just continued slowly, even as she slid her tongue across his bottom lip.

After she couldn't take any more, she slid her hands onto his wide shoulders, reveling in the feel of him, and forced his mouth to open with her tongue. It was like a dam broke forth, causing Damon to groan and wrap his arms around her. He continued to deepen the kiss further, until she could feel him start to push her down onto the couch.

He froze, though, looking toward the door. The deadbolt unlocked as Jenna walked in, with Alaric in tow. Before they could see Damon, though, he took off.

Elena sat up, her mind clearing out the thoughts she ignored while kissing Damon. Guilt pulsed through her, along with a smidge of regret and confusion. Though the passion of the kiss still made her heart beat and her skin heated, she had enough clarity to click on the TV and appear to be watching it before Jenna noticed.

She could hear their laughter move upstairs, leaving to their privacy without even noticing her. She took a deep breath to calm herself, looking around to see if he was lurking anywhere nearby. Disappointment coursed through as she realized he completely left, followed by guilt that she was disappointed. Her emotions were a muddle in her head, clouding every thought that came.

Searching for clarity from her thoughts, she headed toward the French doors leading to the backyard. Opening the doors, a warm summer gale erupted around her, blowing her hair away from her face. She looked at the night sky from the deck that extended from the doors leading to the kitchen, taking up a third of the yard. The sky was half covered in inky clouds, threatening that a thunderstorm will come; the rest was covered in dim stars. The light from the house was making it difficult to see them so she looked around the yard. Taking in the giant and old evergreen tree in the far left corner covered in shadows, she realized there was a dark silhouette under the branches of it. Before she could see who it was, it disappeared.

She turned back to the house, only to be met by him. Damon. His lips quirked into a smile, then before she could say a word, he grasped her arms. When he kissed her, this time he shoved his lips against hers with renewed fervor. She heard the moan, not realizing it was hers, and wrapped her arms around his neck, almost strangling him. He held the small of her back, pulling her closer to him.

This time she could hear the thoughts rampaging through her head like a war. If she didn't stop this and they continued, what would they do? Go up to her bedroom? No, because she couldn't do the same thing Stefan did, but worse because she knew exactly who she was kissing. Yes, she felt hurt by what he did, but that wasn't an excuse to go kissing, and if they continued - sleeping with, his brother.

Neither of them deserved that, especially Damon. She didn't know if she was only making out with him because she wanted to get back at Stefan. No. She wanted to do this for a very long time, though it may have been subconsciously. She knew this because it wasn't pride that she was feeling as his lips began skimming her neck, it was longing and hope that it would continue well past the night.

Elena knew that it couldn't, though, because she would never forgive herself for doing something as stupid as this in the passion of the moment. So she broke away from him when he started kissing her lips again, causing him to look at her in confusion.

"Damon…"

He must have realized she wouldn't go that far, because he tilted her chin up, and then sped away once again. She stepped down onto the bottom step and sat, thinking through what happened that night. A drop skimmed her throat, reminding her of the necklace Stefan gave her; the one Damon was kissing moments ago. Another drop came down, until it was pouring, fitting Elena's mood impeccably.

Light rain dripped from the windows, the sky was dark with clouds, making it hard for Stefan to know what time of the day or night it was. He ran his hand across the end table next to his bed, searching for his watch. Putting it close to his face, he read the time as 9:45 am.

Pulling himself up, he realized two things: Elena was next to him, sleeping, and Damon was sorting through his papers and letters on his desk.

He pecked Elena on her bare shoulder, and then went over to where his pants lay on the chair next to his desk. Shoving them on, he gave his brother a questioning look.

Damon waved him off. "Don't look at me like that. The door was open and we have bigger problems than your petty jealousy."

Stefan crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Like what, exactly?"

Damon rolled his eyes. "Like maybe the fact that you slept with the enemy and she's lying in that bed. Or that your girlfriend saw you sleeping with that enemy that's lying in that bed."

"I stopped believing you a while-" Stefan froze mid-sentence, thinking of the strange way she acted last night, not remembering anything Elena and him did together. "Oh, no."

They both glanced at the girl on the bed, jumping in surprise when her eyelids opened. Katherine stretched then gave a quizzical gaze when she noticed theirs.

Damon spoke up when he realized Stefan couldn't utter a word. "Get out of this town, Katherine. This is you last warning before we-"

"-What?" She smiled suggestively. "What are you going to do, Damon? Kiss me again?" She saw Damon's expression and laughed. "Yes, that was me, not that replica of me. You really think you can replace me with that sweet and nice human knock-off?"

Before either of them could answer, she sped off, taking her clothes with her.

Stefan walked over to the large window, staring off into the gray fog, miserable. He wasn't even mad at Damon - well, not yet - for thinking he was kissing Elena. Nothing could be worse than not realizing you weren't sleeping with your girlfriend, and having her watch you sleep with someone besides her.

Damon clapped his hand onto Stefan's shoulder. "Wow, we really messed up. Maybe I should brood with you too." He wrapped his arm around Stefan. "We could be the brooding brothers: vampires on a quest to atone for our terrible sins, moping along the way. Hmm, I like it."

Stefan didn't even look at his brother. "Get. Out. Now."

Damon raised his hands, palms forward. "No problem. I'll leave you to your moping."

Stefan took a few minutes to do just that then he set off to his girlfriend's house.

Elena changed the channel to the news, letting the monotone sound lull her to sleep. Last night, she couldn't. Sleep, that is. Thoughts of Damon, Stefan, and school kept her up until it was five in the morning, and the sun woke her up at around nine.

Now it was ten thirty and she still couldn't get away from the thoughts and emotions that would not go away. She was thankful it was the Friday of Labor Day weekend, so she could sleep in because there was no school.

The doorbell rang just as she was almost asleep, so she went to open the door in a daze. Looking up, she realized it was Stefan. She almost groaned. His hands were stuffed in his pockets and his head was hanging in guilt, but she barely noticed. Guilt for kissing Damon flooded through her, along with guilt that she didn't regret kissing Damon. She was about to shut the door, but Stefan stuck his hand out before she could move it an inch.

He gave her his pleading look. "Can I come in and explain?"

This time she did groan, but opened the door further to let him in. They sat at the kitchen table, in sight of the TV. Neither spoke, they just looked everywhere but at each other. She didn't want to speak about it, because what she did was so much worse than what he did.

After the awkward silence became too much, she sighed and finally spoke. "Look, you really didn't know it was her… You didn't, did you?" He shook his head. "So, there really wasn't anything horrible you did. The only problem here is what I did…"

An image caught the edge of her vision on the TV. It was Caroline and Matt.

"Matt and Caroline."

"You did… Matt and Caroline? Okay, that is a problem." Stefan said.

Elena grabbed his arm. "No, look."

On the news it showed a picture of them then it showed a clip of Matt's car, completely flipped over on the side of the road. It went back to the news anchor, who was explaining that they didn't know the exact cause of the accident, but the rain was a major factor.

Elena stood up from the table, almost knocking it down, grabbed Stefan hand, and ran to the door. The drama between them would have to wait.

A knock sounded through the small, sterile hospital room. Bonnie turned to see Stefan and Elena walk through the door behind her. She pursued her lips, then turned back to Caroline. She was lying down, completely motionless, on the pure white sheets. Her face was as pale as the white walls surrounding them, and her lips were set in a grimace. There were only a few cuts and bruises on her, Matt taking most of the injuries, but her head wound was ten times worse than the one from the accident in May.

All three of them, Matt, Caroline, and Tyler, were back in this very same hospital. Last time, though, the worst they went away with was extremely mild concussions. This time, each of them was unconscious and was sporting many cuts and bruises.

Elena came up behind her, rubbing her shoulder in comfort. They both knew Caroline was more of Bonnie's friend than Elena's, so it hit her more than Elena.

She turned to Elena, smiling sadly. "I'll leave you guys to your privacy."

Elena shook her head. "No, you don't have to-"

"Yes. I need to get out of this room anyway. I've been in here way too long for comfort." Bonnie walked toward the door then remembered something. "Oh, and I'm sorry for not calling you. I only got the call this morning from Mrs. Forbes, and I just forgot."

"No, it's okay. It's not your fault."

Bonnie gave a half-smile then went on her way toward Matt's room. Looking down on his crumpled form on the bed, she felt tears prickle their way to the edge of her eyelids. He looked so small, covered in bandages and bruises.

She left immediately, searching for the cafeteria. Wandering the almost empty and dark hallways, she saw a figure at the end of the corridor. Thinking it was a nurse, she continued, turning to the right. She froze. At the end of that hallway was the exact same shadow of a figure, and she realized no other doctors or nurses were passing her.

Turning around, she was met with their new English teacher, Miss Cavanaugh.

A/N: Sorry, again, for the wait... Writer's block and vacation will do that. And I really appreciate the reviews, thank you guys for them.