A/N: I'm terribly sorry this story has sat here untouched for so long. I lost my grandmother to her long battle with cancer and it hit us all pretty hard. I finally got my muse back and thanks again to those who are enjoying this journey with me.

xxxxxx

Elena noted that Damon kept his distance for the next week. Luckily the dreams of the brothers seemed to have run their course and a strange wall had been drawn up between them and her. She harbored an intense feeling of something skimming on anger and jealousy at all of the hidden moments between the brothers and Katherine. She knew it wasn't fair to feel this way, she wasn't meant for these memories.

It was clear in the memories of Katherine's role in the plots against Klaus were more self-preserving than helpful but that didn't surprise Elena. It surprised her that there was a part inside of Katherine that cared very much for Damon's well-being when the mood struck her.

It was even more dizzying to see the memory of Katherine going through what she went through with Klaus and watching Stefan turn Ripper for his brother. She felt Katherine's anxiety as if it were her own, and a heavy sadness at watching a boy she loved and turned so long ago, become a monster. Katherine had made the decision with ease when Klaus let her free and handed her his blood to cure Damon. She heard with Katherine's ears the sound of her own voice up the stairs of the boarding house and the sight of herself was strange. Katherine felt anger towards her, almost jealousy at the sight of her leaning against Damon on the bed. Even so, there was no malice in her heart when she seemed to throw her words at Elena; there was a hope for Damon. She wanted Damon to be alive and to be happy. It was a fleeting moment and a rarity in her usual sour thoughts. Loving them both seemed like a normal idea to Katherine even though the concept was illicit to Elena.

The next memory to appear to her did so in a way that physically hurt Elena. She was sitting at the kitchen table, sucking down a blood bag Damon had placed outside of her door earlier that morning. She had sniffed the bag to determine whose hands left it for her. Nine times out of ten it was Damon.

Her eyes grew heavy after the last drop hit her throat and the zing of energy fizzled away. She was transported to the search for the cure. She as Katherine was trailing the group through the woods, quickly formulating a plan to snatch and run with the cure. She needed that cure, she needed to keep it from Klaus at all costs. The ritual could kill them all. In the cave she saw Jeremy…

"Elena…ELENA…" Damon's voice coupled with his hands shaking her shoulders.

Her eyes popped open and her vision slowly focused on his eyes hovering above her face. She tried to sit up quickly, looked around her and wondered why she was on the kitchen floor.

"Damon…Where's Jeremy?" Elena croaked, grasping the side of her head that hit the floor too hard.

Xxxxx

Damon pursed his lips and swallowed thickly. What did she mean where was Jeremy. She knew fully well he was a pile of ashes along with her family home. Her eyes were so wide he was afraid they'd fall out of their sockets if he didn't put her at ease.

"Let's get you upstairs…" he murmured, pulling her up by the elbow.

She complied, gaining her strength with each step as her body healed quickly from the fall. He watched her profile as she tried to peer behind her as he followed her up the stairs. She had the usual look of exhaustion but now worry and confusion knotted her face.

Once she was in her room he urged her into her bed with gentle but firm hands at her shoulders. She was so damn pale. He regretted the distance he had put between them this week but knew it had to be done. He needed to figure out what was happening for all of their sakes and the best way to do so was to not let anything cloud his intuition. There was something happening beyond a series of memories. There was something to be afraid of if Katherine was behaving like a jumpy little house cat.

"Elena, what happened before you fell?" Damon asked, keeping his voice even and eyes locked on hers.

She swallowed slowly, the sound dry and uncomfortable to his ears. She opened her mouth to talk, but closed it again, her bottom eyelids scrunching upwards in thought. She looked more like her human self than she had in a long time. It reminded him of the time she caught the flu and he snuck into her bedroom after Stefan had left. Her hair had been just as stringy and under her eyes just as dark.

Elena pulled her old cheerleading hoodie tighter around her body and let her head lean against the headboard as she finally spoke, "It was a memory of Katherine tracking us to get to the cure. The last thing I saw was Jeremy's face and then there was nothing. It hurt, like hot metal in my skull…then I woke up."

Damon kept his face still even though his brain was in overdrive. She had been compelled to forget what happened to Jeremy. Why? By who? It had to be Elijah. His mind quickly snapped together Elijah seeking out Elena once she had turned. He had disappeared when Elena went to the restroom that night at the club. He could have easily swept in there and swept her mind clean of anything he wanted. He could have been the one to force her into turning her humanity back on.

He had to handle this delicately. Katherine was obviously in cahoots with Elijah and there was something the both of them were trying desperately to contain. Of all the originals, Elijah was the only one he trusted to do the right thing in the end…but he couldn't be sure Elena's best interests were number one if something more near and dear to Elijah was at stake.

He couldn't let Elena know she'd been compelled, that was a given. There wasn't anything they could do about it anyway. He'd have to lie. It wasn't the first time, and it wouldn't be the last. He couldn't risk her losing it all over again. Not now. Not until he knew what was going on and how to keep her safe.

"Maybe it was a memory Katherine can't remember all of herself. Jeremy is away from all of this, let's just focus on getting through this," Damon tried his soothing voice.

It seemed to work, her body immediately relaxed and she drifted within minutes, her head rolling to the side.

He watched her for a while, his vision blurring her face into the background as his mind continued to traipse over the facts that he had so far. After Katherine had ganked the cure she must have gone to Elijah with it. He sought out Elena after learning that she had turned and decided it necessary to turn her humanity back on and to delete anything tying Katherine to Jeremy's death…and the fact that Jeremy was dead at all. He needed Elena in her compassionate form. He needed Elena to trust Katherine enough to confide in her through these memories. He needed Elena to keep a secret.

He thought of the frantic calls Katherine seemed to be making to Elijah and how she was desperate to find out if Elena had retrieved a particular memory. It only made sense that Katherine had been compelled as well. This was a very hard task to undertake since Katherine's cold heart was always pumping vervain through her veins. Elijah must have gone to great lengths to earn her trust first; also a tough feat to conquer.

He'd keep his mouth shut—for now. It was easier to figure things out when people get comfortable. That's when they slip.

Xxxx

When Damon retreated from the room, Elena let her eyes pop open. He must have been in deep thought because he had been fooled by her fake sleeping. She tore out of the bed and rummaged through her things until she found her phone. She dialed Jeremy's number at least a dozen times before giving up and tossing her phone to the side.

She was tired and her brain was slow these days but she dialed another number, certain she would find out the truth. She knew something wasn't right, she felt it with every heavy thump of her heart.

"Hey you, I haven't heard from you in a while…" Matt's voice caused her to sigh in relief.

"Matt, I need you to come get me," Elena hissed in the phone.

There was a long pause on the other end of the phone, causing Elena to grip it tighter.

"Matt?" she tried again, almost in tears, "where's Jeremy?"

She knew he answered her but the pain in her skull took over and she woke up an hour later in her doppelganger's grasp.

Xxxx

"I want to speak with Elijah," Elena tried again, tears pooling in her eyes.

Katherine kept shaking her head at each request, insisting that he couldn't be reached.

"Don't you think I've tried? He is gone Elena, I can't reach him," she hissed, raking a hand through her curls in frustration.

"Why won't anyone tell me what happened to Jeremy. I can't see the memory. What did you do to him?!" Elena's voice reached an octave too high.

"Keep your voice down for fuck's sake girl, our lives are on the line here. What did you see?!" Katherine said in barely a whisper, but the venom behind the words spoke volumes.

"You stole the cure and I saw my brother there too. Then it goes blank and it hurts in the space where it should be in my head," Elena explained, not hiding her tears any longer.

Katherine rolled her eyes and growled, "that's all?!"

"I'm not speaking another word until somebody tells me where the hell my brother is," Elena shouted, red in the face and back against the wall.

On cue, the brothers entered the room cautiously. Stefan opened his mouth to speak but Damon beat them all to it. He locked eyes with Katherine for a moment, willing her to play along.

"Elena, Katherine didn't do anything to Jeremy. He's not in any pain, he's just away right now," Damon ignored the sharp intake of breath that his brother pulled in beside him.

Katherine couldn't help but snap her head towards him, surprise written ever so briefly across her features. What did he know? Why was he protecting her and lying to Elena?

Elena didn't buy it, she became frantic and turned to Stefan, stalking up to him and taking his face in both her hands. She peered into his eyes and said between tears, "Please Stefan…"

Before Stefan could open his mouth, Katherine sped behind Elena and snapped her neck with a sickening pop.