Disclaimer – I do not own The Vampire Diaries or any its characters. *sigh* That depresses me.

Author's Note – Thank you for the continued overwhelming responses I've received. It's very gratifying and very humbling. I try to respond to all of my reviewers, so I apologize if I missed anyone. I'll catch you eventually – just ask Vanessa ;)

This chapter covers a lot of ground – lots of plot and a few answers to some questions that have been floating around in your reviews. Thank you to my lovely friend/unpaid beta pandora03 (I'll buy you something pretty in L.A) for checking this over for me.


Elena was exhausted.

After her driving lesson, they had gone to the hardware store and Damon had installed the new locks, while she rushed around getting ready for work. Realizing she was going to be late, Damon gave her the new key to the front door and offered to drive her to work. She could have easily driven herself, but accepted his offer with a smile. If he dropped her off, he would have to pick her up and Elena liked the thought of having something to look forward to during her shift at work.

That had been almost eight hours ago, and her shift had flown by. Vicki was out sick with a bad cold and Elena had been covering double her usual number of tables. As the night began to wane and the crowd lessened, she began to feel how tired she truly was. She poured herself a glass of water and as she drank it she discovered that her throat was sore. Pressing her hand to her forehead, she was annoyed to find that it felt a bit warm. The last thing she wanted was to get sick and she silently cursed Vicki, blaming her for the impending illness.

She huffed out an aggravated sigh and set her water down. As she returned to her section, she noticed a guy sitting at a table alone in the corner. Damon's table, she thought with an inward smile as she headed over and greeted him brightly, "Hi. What can I get you?"

His eyes were kind, but they clung to her in a way that felt overly familiar. "Coffee, please. Black."

She forced a tight smile, "Be right back with that." Elena grabbed a mug from the wait station and filled it neatly. As she walked back, her eyes swung to the clock over the bar. Damon would be here in less than an hour and the knowledge put a tiny spring in her step. She set the coffee down and followed up with the requisite, "Can I get you anything else?"

Shaking his head softly, he picked up the cup and answered, "This is fine. Thanks." Elena turned to leave when he called out to her quietly, "You're Elena, right?"

Her guard was up instantly, the events of the past few days making her cautious. Her voice bordered on cold as her spine straightened. "I am. Do we know each other?"

He looked down and smiled to himself. "In a roundabout way. I'm Damon's brother."

"Oh," her posture relaxed and she gave him a warmer smile. "You must be Stefan. Nice to meet you." She extended her hand and he shook it, his fingers curling around hers. As she pulled her hand back, the tips of his fingers brushed over her palm and the action unsettled her.

He looked nothing like Damon. Though he was handsome, he didn't possess the startling beauty and innate sensuality that seemed to pour unchecked from his brother. "Are you meeting Damon here?" she looked around as she asked, hoping that he would be coming earlier than she had expected.

"Mmm," he shrugged noncommittally with a small smile. "I just wanted to introduce myself. How long have you and Damon been seeing each other?" His tone was friendly, but Elena sensed something lurking beneath his benign question, like her answer carried more importance than it should have.

It was on the tip of her tongue to blurt out that they'd only known each other a week, but something stopped her. "Not long," she told him with a defensive edge in her voice, "but it feels like I've known him forever."

Stefan's eyes widened at her answer and his hand tightened around his cup as he shook his head. "It may feel that way, but you haven't. You really don't know him at all."

The defensiveness that she was already feeling amplified ten-fold at his assertion. She was beginning to understand why Damon had reacted so badly the previous night when she had suggested the possibility of meeting his brother. His words from this morning flashed through her mind, imbuing her with confidence. "I do know him," she asserted. "And I really don't see how what goes on between me and your brother is any of your concern."

Stefan stared at her with a surprising amount of intensity. "It is my concern, Elena. You need to stop seeing him."

She flinched at his words, taken aback. "Excuse me? What gives you the right to say something like that?" she whispered incredulously.

"Damon can be," he paused, searching for the right word, "dangerous."

She rolled her eyes and shook her head at his statement. She'd never felt as safe with anyone as she did with Damon. "That's ridiculous. No wonder he didn't want me to meet you," she murmured. Fixing him with a detached stare she said. "I have to get back to work," and walked away before he could respond.


Damon arrived at The Grill shortly before Elena's shift ended. He parked in the mostly empty lot and walked around to the front.

"Damon."

He turned to see a young girl leaning against a wall, regarding him with a cool confidence that was startlingly out of place on someone so young. She looked familiar and he flipped through his mental Rolodex, trying to place her. "I know you….," he said quietly, narrowing his eyes at her.

"You do," she confirmed. "You just haven't seen me since 1864."

Recognition snapped into place. "Annabelle?"

She pushed off the wall and closed the distance separating them. "It's just Anna now," she corrected lightly. "I'm surprised you even remember me, you were always so wrapped up in Katherine," she said with a smirk.

Damon shrugged, ignoring her little dig. "What are you doing back in town? Come to visit your mother's grave?" he retorted with a nasty smirk of his own.

She smiled fully at his attempt to bait her. "Hardly. I'm here for the same reason you are – Elena."

Without hesitation, Damon smashed her into the brick wall, his hand clamped around her throat keeping her in place. "What do you know about Elena?" he growled out murderously.

Utterly nonplussed, Anna wrapped her hand around Damon's forearm and placidly crushed his bones before knocking him to the ground with enough force to create a fissure in the blacktop. "Have you forgotten that I'm older than you?"

He sprang to his feet quickly, shaking his arm. The rapid healing felt like pins and needles against his skin. "I don't remember you being such a bitch," he said with a touch of admiration before he leveled her with a glare. "I'll ask you again - what do you know about Elena?" he bit out.

Anna smiled and relaxed back against the wall, crossing her arms. "A hell of a lot more than you do." The smile dropped from her face and her voice became deadly. "I saw you with her last night, Damon. She's not Katherine – leave her alone," she ground out.

"You were at her house last night?" He covered the pavement in three long strides and peered down at her menacingly. "Did you break into her house last week?"

Looking at him dispassionately, she answered his questions in a mechanical fashion, "Yes, I was at her house last night and no, I did not break into her house."

"How do you even know her, and furthermore, why the hell do you care?"

Anna was perfectly still as she glared up at him. "I owe her." Her veneer of calm shattered as she shouted in his face, "I owe her brother!"

Damon stepped back and cocked his head in confusion. "You knew her brother?"

"Yes. And he wouldn't want to see his sister used as a human substitute for your poor excuse of an ex-girlfriend," she spat at him, eyes blazing.

Furious now, Damon got back in her face. "Elena is not a replacement for Katherine. I got over that bitch when I saw her in New York a few years ago."

Anna's eyes widened. "That's why you weren't here, "she whispered to herself. "You knew she wasn't in the tomb," she finished quietly.

"You knew about the tomb?"

Anna sighed heavily and rolled her eyes. "Yes, I knew – you thought you were the only one, didn't you?" From his expression she knew she had hit the nail on the head. "You weren't the only one Emily told," she informed him imperiously

"I'm losing my patience, Annabelle," he said snidely. "Tell me what you know about Elena."

"Fine." She walked over to his car and sat down heavily on the hood, smiling when she felt it dent beneath her. "I came back to get my mother out of the tomb not long after the comet passed. I thought you would be here too – for Katherine. I'd been counting on your help actually," she muttered to herself.

Damon nodded at this. It had always been his plan to come back, and he had spent 144 years researching how to free Katherine. But after seeing her, he hadn't given the tomb a second thought.

Anna's eyes were downcast as she continued. "I knew I'd need the Gilbert journals, so I conveniently befriended Jeremy Gilbert. After I got Jonathan Gilbert's journal, I was able to track down Emily's grimoire. Then it was just a matter of hiring a less than scrupulous witch and she was able release the seal on the tomb." She slid down off the hood of his car and began to pace. "I had even planned on using Jeremy's blood to revive my mother - poetic justice and all that, but I….couldn't."

"You fell in love with him, didn't you?" Damon deduced.

She nodded her assent without meeting his eyes. "I just wanted my mother back. What I hadn't bothered to consider were the other vampires in the tomb. I had been so focused on getting her out; they just never crossed my mind."

Damon's blood ran cold as he began to suspect where this was heading. "What did they do?"

There was a tremor in her voice as she spoke. "I should have known they'd be hell-bent on revenge, but…." She paused to swipe at her wet cheeks. "They went after the founding families. Shortly after the tomb was opened Frederick killed Elena's aunt." She gestured towards the front of the restaurant. "He drained her practically in the middle of the street. She hung on for a couple of days before she died." She huffed out a tremulous sigh. "I tried to get Jeremy to leave town with me, but he wouldn't leave Elena. They got him a few weeks later," she finished in a husky voice.

Damon's immediate reaction was panic – to get Elena and run. It took him a moment to remember that this had all happened over two years ago. "You said they went after the founding families. Why didn't they go after Elena?"

"Why don't you ask your brother?" she spat venomously before stepping into his personal space. "I mean it Damon – leave her alone or I will tell her what you are."

Smirking, he raised a disbelieving eyebrow. "What makes you think she'll believe you?"

She gave him a condescending smile. "She's a Gilbert, you idiot - a member of the founding families. Her uncle told her the truth after Jeremy was killed. She knows about vampires."

A rock settled in his gut as he realized she was telling the truth. The vervain necklace, her vague accounts of her aunt's and brother's deaths. Elena knew. And she would hate him when she found out what he was.

Anna watched reality sink into his eyes with a triumphant smile. "Back off, Damon, or I'll expose you." She patted him on the shoulder as she walked away. "Your choice."


Elena had studiously avoided Stefan for the rest of her shift, ignoring him as he fiddled with his empty cup. She had no intention of offering him a refill and a few minutes before ten, she clocked out and retrieved her purse from the back room. She sat at the bar, sipping a ginger ale, and waited for Damon. The pain in her throat had intensified and she thought she was running a low-grade fever.

The stool next to her was dragged out noisily and she exhaled loudly when she saw Stefan sit down next to her.

"I obviously upset you earlier and I'm sorry for that," he said sincerely.

"You should be." Elena slid off the stool and picked up her purse, deciding she'd rather wait for Damon outside. "Your brother's been nothing but kind to me." She took a final sip of her ginger ale and turned to leave, but Stefan's hand closed around her elbow.

"I know you don't want to hear it, Elena, but I'm telling you the truth. Don't get involved with my brother," his voice was low and urgent, almost desperate.

Elena went to yank her arm from his loose grasp, when she felt someone at her back.

"You're a bit late with that advice, little brother," Damon ground out while shooting daggers at his hand on Elena's arm. "Let go of her."

Damon couldn't remember the last time he had been so close to losing control. He had already been on edge after talking to Anna and when he walked through the door to see Stefan grabbing Elena and warning her to stay away from him, he had seen red. Stefan had obviously seen Elena before, knew about her. And according to Anna, he knew why she'd been spared the same fate that had met her aunt and her brother. Had Elena not been standing between them, Damon would have extracted that information from him right then, regardless of who else might have seen.

Stefan removed his hand from her arm and Elena sank back against Damon's chest. Feeling her relax against him, the flames of his rage died down a bit, but did not extinguish. His voice was unusually soft when he tipped his head to hers. "Are you ready to go?"

In contrast, Elena's voice was icy. "Yes," she said while giving Stefan a pointed look.

He gave Stefan a warning smile. "I'll see you at home," he hissed, the threat implicit in his tone. Damon took Elena's hand, noting that it felt warmer than it should have and led her outside. As he opened the car door for her, he got a better look at her and took her face in his hands, scanning her flushed cheeks and the dull cast to her eyes. "Are you coming down with something?"

Elena nodded miserably, "I think so. Vicki's out sick and I might be getting what she has."

Damon kissed her forehead as she got into the car. "You're too warm."

She waited until he got in and closed his door, needing the privacy before she asked, "What's wrong with your brother? Why would he say that you're dangerous?" Her eyes searched his face, needing to gauge his reaction.

Damon inhaled sharply and his fingers flexed around the steering wheel. She knew he was angry and was surprised when his vibrant eyes swung to hers, looking at her with more affection than she thought possible. "I would never hurt you, Elena."

Unable to tear her eyes away from his, she laid her hand over his rigid bicep and squeezed tightly, anchoring herself to him. "I know that," she assured him.

Hearing her say that gave him a shred of hope that she wouldn't completely despise him when she found out what he was. "Stefan and I have a complicated relationship, he doesn't trust me anymore than I trust him," he explained. She seemed to accept his explanation and he started the car, wanting to get her home.

They drove to her house in silence and as Damon followed her into the house she looked at him quizzically. "I'm surprised you even told him about me, considering your past with him."

Damon groaned inwardly. Of course she would think that he had told Stefan about her – it would be the only explanation for why he'd shown up, eager to meet her. Not wanting to lie to her anymore than he had to, he shrugged casually and changed the subject. "You should get some sleep, you're not feeling well."

She had been so looking forward to seeing him all evening and she silently fumed at his brother for casting a pall over their time together. Not willing to let Stefan or her cold ruin her night, she twined her fingers through his. "Will you stay for awhile? Maybe until I fall asleep?"

Damon smirked at her, his good humor returning. "Elena, if you're trying to seduce me, you don't have to be so coy about it." He looked around theatrically. "Where do you want me? The couch?" He leaned close, "Your bed?" he teased.

She laughed at his arrogance. "You're such an ass sometimes," she breathed out on a sigh as she stood up to kiss him only to pull away at the last minute.

"What's wrong?" Damon asked.

Smiling apologetically she said, "I don't want to get you sick," she pouted. She loved kissing him and her eyes stayed locked on his mouth, disappointed.

"I won't get sick," he promised before pulling her to him and closing his mouth over hers. He kissed her endlessly, his tongue dipping into her mouth again and again. It was unspeakably intimate and neither of them tried to push it into something more sexual. Finally breaking away, Damon realized that he had pulled Elena so close, her feet were no longer touching the ground and he set her down with a shaky sigh. Her eyes were fastened to his with the tenderest expression and Damon was thunderstruck by the realization that he was in love with her. He didn't just like her, or care about her – he loved her.

As the powerful wave of emotion washed over him, his fingers tightened on her waist and he pressed a soft kiss to her mouth. His fingers shook as he took her hand and he fought to keep his voice even, "Come on, let's get you to bed."

Elena fell asleep quickly, but Damon hated to leave her. He watched her sleep for hours, afraid he may not get many more chances like this. In the early morning hours before dawn, he kissed her sleeping mouth and rose from her bed.

It was time to talk to Stefan.