"A Journey To Find A Lost Soul"

Chapter 10: The Return (Part 2)

A/N #1: Hey everyone! Since I just got back from vacation yesterday, I wasn't planning on posting anything so soon let alone today but I figured since this chapter was ready before I left, why not post it on Paul Wesley's 30th birthday? Happy birthday to the man who plays Stefan Salvatore! Also this is to celebrate the many wins (and surfboards) the cast scored yesterday on the 2012 Teen Choice Awards!

A/N #2: Thank you everyone who's still sticking with this story! Your support means the world to me so thank you readers, reviewers, alerters and favoriters. You guys are amazing! Now go enjoy the chapter and remember, I apologize in advance for any grammatical errors or any run-on sentences.

Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Diaries or Life With Derek. They belong to their respective owners (I thank them for creating them in the first place). Recognizable dialogue comes from VD episode 'The Return' and a little inspiration from one of it's deleted scenes.

Full Summary: Instead of visiting a dear friend alone, Damon takes along Elena just when a rogue vampire flips her car over [1x11]. As time goes on, Damon learns that it might not be Katherine that he needs in order to gain what he's missed most in the world. Will Damon finally get the ending he's been waiting for since he turned or are there just too many obstacles for him to handle? [Crossover yet VD-centric]

Remember: For Vampire Diaries, this is right after the episode where Elena sleeps with Stefan for the first time just before finding out that she's an exact physical replica to Katherine Pierce.

Vampire Diaries Timeline: starts off at the beginning of Episode #1x11 – 'Bloodlines' (with focus only on Damon and Elena)

Life With Derek Timeline: AU (due to specific changes) but it takes place when Casey and Derek (21 – 4th Year) are at Queen's University

LAST TIME:

Stefan sighed when all Elena gave him was silence. "Just stay clear of her." He stated after he placed a kiss upon her cheek. He suggested that she get some rest while he performed a perimeter sweep around the area for any vampires. She was about to argue but when he reminded her that they needed to go to the hospital to speak to John and to visit Caroline in the morning, Elena relented to the idea of going to bed.

So as the human got herself ready for bed, she couldn't help how her thoughts drifted back to the hostile atmosphere she had witnessed tonight between Casey and the Salvatore brothers. Deep down, she knew she should be thinking about their current Katherine problem and yet she just couldn't think about that particular vampire. As her eyes slowly drew heavier, another female vampire kept Elena's mind occupied with unsolved questions as she finally let the darkness consume her.

*VD*

Bonnie's breath hitched and before she could think of a suitable comeback, Damon had backed up and walked away with a victorious smirk on his face.

"I don't know what the hell you did Casey but you are the best sister ever!" He mentally thought out to his hybrid sister as he patrolled around the rooms for the bourbon. He needed a drink.

*VD*

Derek sighed. "I really hope I never come across Katherine by myself." He had half a mind to tell the vampire bitch off but his self-preservation won out and told him to stay the hell away from that vampire.

Casey laced her fingers with Derek's before she gave it a hard squeeze. "I won't let that happen. Now c'mon before Carol comes looking for us." She stated before she dragged him into the next room with her, bringing them back to the depressing event.

*DS*EG*DS*EG*DS*EG*DS*EG*DS*EG*DS*EG*DS*EG*

Day After Founder's Day (Thursday February 25, 2010):

He was not having a good day; not by a long shot. If he could, he would skip out on this sickening wake and go drink himself into a stupor but he couldn't. Damon Salvatore couldn't because as a member of the Council, he had to come by and show his support towards a grieving member. And to top it all off, his manipulative sire had just left the property to talk to his brother.

After realizing that Katherine's presence was moving away from the property, Damon stopped tracking her as he indulged himself in another drink…only to be disrupted by the arrival of her doppelganger.

Damon sighed. Today was definitely not his day.

"Hey, how are you doing?" Elena softly questioned the vampire after dismissing her family members, saying that she'd be with them in a moment. They were both hesitant but Jenna had a casserole that needed to be brought to the kitchen and Jeremy was still wary of Damon so both humans just left the duo to their business.

Damon rolled his eyes as he twirled his glass a bit. "Great Elena. Walking on sunshine, thanks for asking."

Elena sighed, not appreciating his sarcasm. "Damon."

"Elena." He immediately mocked back as he looked to her from the corner of his eye.

Her hands fiddled with the strap of her bag as she tried to figure out how to comfort the vampire. What does one say to someone who kissed your doppelganger while thinking it was you? "We should be able to talk about this. Damon, we're close enough now. I really want to know how you are doing."

Damon exhaled deeply. He didn't want to talk about it but he knew Elena and he knew that she wasn't going to let the issue go, not until she had an answer for her probing questions. Here goes. "I kissed you; I thought you kissed me back...doppelganger hijinks ensued." He explained before he turned his face to look at her straight on; conflicted blue meeting confused brown. "How do you think I'm doing?"

"I think you're hurt."

Damon scoffed. "No, I don't get hurt, Elena." He lied even though he wished his statement was true. He wished he couldn't get hurt but he can't. Even as a vampire, he still gets hurt; while physically it may not mean much but getting hurt emotionally was just too much of a hit most times.

Elena sighed as she took a few steps towards him. "No, you don't admit that you get hurt. You get angry and to cover that up, you do something stupid." She declared, not afraid that she may have overstepped the line when it came to their dynamic.

Damon, on the other hand, could sense Elena's fear, even though she was trying to put up a strong front before him. The vampire tilted his head to the side for a bit. It was only seconds later did the source of her fear dawn on him. "You're scared." When he picked up on how Elena's body had stiffened, he continued, knowing that he was on the right track. "You think Katherine is going to send me off the deep end don't you?" When he didn't get a reply, he released a humorless chuckle before he downed the rest of his bourbon. "I don't need her for that." He protested before he started to walk away but his thoughts and 'what ifs' got the best of him, so much so that he found himself turning slightly to address the brunette once again. "You know...why is it such a surprise that I would kiss you?"

Elena sighed sadly before she looked the vampire in the eyes. She didn't want to say it but she's never lied to Damon before (something she valued very much) so why start now. "That's not a surprise. I'm surprised that you thought I would kiss you back." She cringed when she noticed how Damon's body stiffened at her confession. She didn't want to hurt him but how could he think that she would kiss him? She was with Stefan…she wouldn't do that to her boyfriend or to Damon or to herself. She wasn't Katherine.

"Now I'm hurt." Damon said coldly before he turned to walk away. He ignored Bonnie's worried greeting towards Elena or how they shared Katherine's latest actions against the witch; he didn't care. All he could think about was Elena's words and the brutal honesty that came with them.

Why am I the only one that sees it? He thought to himself. He immediately shook his head of the thought. He wasn't the only one because Casey kept dropping hints about it, which he hated. Maybe he started to believe in her press too soon and that's why he's hurting the way he is. Then again he couldn't blame his sister's predictions. Without her influence, he and Elena had gotten closer over the past few weeks, especially during Stefan's human blood detox and while he hated that, he couldn't deny that he enjoyed being in her presence.

The vampire groaned when he realized how dangerous his thoughts were becoming; he needed another drink. Fast.

*DS*EG*DS*EG*DS*EG*DS*EG*DS*EG*DS*EG*DS*EG*

Meanwhile:

Casey had separated from Derek moments ago to inform Damon of the latest news about Katherine but a few voices down a deserted hallway had caught her attention. She slowly headed towards the voices and thanks to her enhanced hearing, she was able to recognize Tyler and Jeremy's voices as well as an older voice. It didn't take long for her to realize that the new voice belonged to Mason Lockwood.

In a split second decision, Casey continued towards the room; she figured now would be the perfect time to introduce herself. Fortunately (or not, she wasn't really sure), Jeremy had been indirectly dismissed from the room as the Lockwood men shared a few drinks from the late Richard Lockwood's flask.

Casey quietly inhaled to herself before she schooled her features to look like she had been searching for someone, which is how both Lockwoods saw her as she backtracked in her steps as she did a double take inside the room.

"Oh Tyler, there you are. I've been looking for you." The hybrid lied as she walked into the isolated study. While her eyes were on Tyler (who was trying to hide the flask as discreetly as he could), she could feel Mason's eyes roam over her as he leaned against the only desk in the room. It wasn't his stare that made the hybrid uncomfortable but the vibe she got from him. In a way it felt familiar to her yet it wasn't something she'd come across every day…as if she'd come across it before yet not often.

Tyler gulped. "Sorry, I've been kind of…hiding."

Casey quirked an eyebrow at the teenager as if to say 'I know what you're really doing'. "I can see that…and it's completely understandable." She stated with a small chuckle in hopes of lightening up the mood. Luckily it did as Tyler had immediately given her a grateful smile; it was small but it was something.

Mason gave an inquisitive stare between the mystery girl and his nephew. "Who's your friend Tyler?"

That seemed to snap Tyler out of it as he gave an awkward cough. "Oh uh, Casey McDonald meet my uncle Mason Lockwood."

Casey smiled at Mason as she politely offered her hand to him. He grinned as he shook her hand immediately, unaware to the fact that he had exposed a few of his secrets to the hybrid in that one brief contact between them.

Not realizing what had just happened, Tyler continued; "Casey actually came down for Founder's Day before all this happened."

"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr Lockwood." Casey said with a pleasant smile before she pulled her hand out of his. Her appearance may seem pleasant but her insides were seething after learning what she did from his touch. Her earlier deductions had been correct; she had come across someone like Mason before.

Mason smiled as he resisted the urge to clench and unclench his hand as it felt like he was zapped by some static electricity or something. "The pleasure is all mine and please, call me Mason."

Casey's pleasant smile had turned into one of sorrow as she looked him in the eyes. "I'm sorry for your loss."

Mason exhaled deeply as he nodded. "Thank you. I bet this wasn't something you expected to experience on your trip here."

"Far from it indeed." She replied with a sigh.

Mason nodded his head in agreement. "So did you come down to celebrate with family, friends…a boyfriend perhaps?" He innocently asked even though it was anything but that; he was fishing for information. He even hinted that he thought that Tyler and Casey were an item.

"Seriously Mason?" Tyler said with an incredulous look directed at his uncle. He really wanted to crawl away from this train wreck of a moment.

"What? It was a legitimate question." Mason quickly stated which only earned an amused smile from the black-haired beauty.

"Well if you must know, I came for all three." She stated with a shy smile while she remained guarded without them knowing.

"Really?" Mason wasn't expecting her to say yes to any of his options let alone all three of them. Now he couldn't help but wonder who would be listed for each option when it came to her.

Tyler sighed. "You remember Derek right?"

Mason's brow furrowed as he tried to put a face to the name. "The hockey head?" He hadn't seen his nephew since Tyler was ten years old so he wasn't really certain if he truly remembered the right names but a few details were still floating in his mind.

Casey laughed at the nickname. "I'll be sure to pass along that nickname to my boyfriend…once I can find him." She teased, noticing how Mason's eyes widened at the confirmation before she turned to address Tyler, "I was hoping that he was with you." Tyler only shook his head in the negative before she gave a dramatic sigh. "Well, it is very easy to get lost in a place like this."

Mason laughed a bit before a smirk formed on his face. "It's not so bad once you get used to it." He offered and he was relieved to see her shake her head in agreement before she spoke again;

"Well I should get back to finding my boyfriend. It was good to meet you Mason and don't hide for too long Tyler." She declared before she departed from the room.

"She seems…different." Mason commented moments later when he was sure that she wasn't near the room anymore.

Tyler couldn't help but agree to that statement. "I only met her yesterday but she seems great." He stated before he removed the flask from its hiding place in the couch and stole another sip of its contents.

*DS*EG*DS*EG*DS*EG*DS*EG*DS*EG*DS*EG*DS*EG*

Casey's mind was whirling after meeting Mason that she had to find Damon immediately. After leaving the room, Casey had stretched her senses over the property to have discovered two things; one was that Damon was angrily nursing another beer while walking on the patio that wrapped around the house and the other was that Stefan had just gotten stabbed in the abdomen with an iron stand by Katherine while on their walk around the property's pond.

With that new piece of information, Casey moved as fast as humanly possible (without drawing attention to herself) to get to Damon. Casey may have her issues with Stefan but that didn't mean she wanted him to die by the hands of that manipulative vampire bitch.

Too caught up in what she had to say, she was startled when Damon had greeted her first when she arrived in his little isolated area. "Are you checking up on me Case?"

Casey sighed as she took a few deep breaths; her body may not technically need it but the motions still calm her down. "Somebody has to." She replied as she slowly walked up to him.

"I'm fine." Damon replied through gritted teeth as his attention was focused on the property line in front of him.

She knew her next question won't be answered but she had to give it a shot. "Do you want to talk about it?" She asked; she had heard his conversation with Elena before she had implemented her 'meet Mason' plan into action.

"If I did, which I don't, I'd rather have that conversation in a more private setting." Damon pointed out before he took another sip of his bourbon.

Casey nodded as she threaded her arm through Damon's crossed one. "I understand but you do know that I'm here to listen right?"

Damon sighed; he didn't mean to sound ungrateful towards her but Elena's probing still left a bitter taste in his mouth, so to speak. "I know and I appreciate it Case but now is not really the time."

Casey gave a curt nod before she stared up at her brother. "You're right which is why I came looking for you in the first place." She stated, getting right down to business.

"If it's about Stefan saving Bonnie from Katherine, I already know." He said with a roll of his eyes. He didn't want to talk about them.

Casey nibbled her bottom lip between her blunt teeth. "Not exactly but you're on the right track."

Damon's brow furrowed before he turned to look down at the hybrid. "Go on."

Casey exhaled deeply before she rambled off her latest update. "Since I don't want to deal with him at the moment, I thought you should know that Stefan just got stabbed in the stomach by Katherine a few moments ago…or at least, that's what it sounded like."

His eyes widened at her words. "You can still hear them?" He asked while giving her an incredulous look. It always amazed him how advanced her abilities were (and at times it made him a little jealous too).

Casey gave a nonchalant shrug. "With a little bit of help but that's not important right now."

Damon huffed before he downed the rest of his bourbon. "Right, I better go check on baby brother then."

"I'll try to see if I can find any trace of Katherine." Casey piped in as she removed her arm from Damon's. She'll tell her brother about Mason later. "I'll warn Derek just in case I'm led off the property."

"Alright, be careful." Damon said, leaving a quick kiss to Casey's temple before they headed towards their intended targets.

While Damon dealt with a bloody Stefan being tended by Elena (which led to the brothers making a temporary truce so that they could stay united against Katherine), Casey gave Derek a heads-up before she left to follow Katherine (but not until a few heated words were exchanged between the couple since Derek wanted to escape the wake). Derek only relented to being 'left behind' when Casey told him about her suspicions against Mason; her boyfriend was more than happy to stay behind and spy for her.

Since Katherine had a head start before Casey, the hybrid used her instincts to track Katherine's scent but when that only took her so far (to the town's square), she had to resort to other methods; the brief moments she had collected from Mason. The hybrid then perched herself on the roof of the tallest building in the town square before she started shifting through the latest moments she acquired from the visiting Lockwood.

Apparently Mason is currently aligned with Katherine ever since his dark family secret started affecting him; he had become a werewolf. Like she had hinted to Elena back in Buffalo, Casey had encountered werewolves before but that was a very long time ago which was why the vibe/scent she got from Mason wasn't really foreign to her. With one puzzle piece solved just by knowing what Mason was (the Gilbert device affects werewolves too), Casey had uncovered another piece; why was Mason with Katherine? Werewolves and vampires were natural enemies so why would they align themselves with each other? What did they have to gain? Casey couldn't get much from her brief contact with Mason but she saw the last few times that he transformed and she saw the few nights that Mason had spent with Katherine. The hybrid cringed during those recollections but she used those flashes with Katherine as possible hints to where the very vampire was holding up. It wasn't long before the hybrid had come to realize that her conclusions would not be of any use to her since she wasn't familiar with this present day Mystic Falls. She could describe the surroundings that Mason was often in when with Katherine but she couldn't pinpoint where in Mystic Falls that location took place.

With a defeated sigh, Casey transferred all her focus onto a new subject as she whipped her phone out to send a quick text to Derek before she blurred to her next destination; it was time to check in on Jeremy.

*DS*EG*DS*EG*DS*EG*DS*EG*DS*EG*DS*EG*DS*EG*

It was all a lie. Everything he had with Katherine was a lie. It didn't matter that he was aware of it all, it didn't matter that she never compelled him to accept her or to love her, it had all been a lie because she never loved him. It had always been Stefan; his baby brother.

He was doing so well that day in keeping his control and it all came crashing down when Katherine showed up at the boarding house. He tried to walk away, to get away from her but she wouldn't let him. Instead she taunted him to making a choice and he chose to kiss her. She may have believed that he kissed her because he wasn't capable of killing her (the other option she had given him) but that wasn't why he did it. Damon kissed her to know once and for all if she was the one he was meant to spend eternity with, the one he was searching for to gain his humanity back. He may have kissed Katherine on the porch the previous night but he wanted to know with absolute certainty whether or not Katherine was the girl Casey had envisioned he'd be with decades ago. But when he kissed the vampire for the first time since he became a creature of the night (he dismissed the kiss from before), he felt nothing. No spark within him was ignited, no earth-shattering spiritual realignment, nothing. He hated to admit that his kiss with her was nothing when compared to the ones he shared with her when he was human.

Apparently the older vampire couldn't tell the difference as she got lost in the kiss. Damon did too, in hopes of getting a delayed response but when he didn't receive anything he pushed and did the most idiotic thing he could possibly think of; he asked for the truth that he knew could ultimately shatter his sanity.

And that is where we found the lost vampire as he robotically moved to his alcohol stash to drown his emotions and discoveries away. In one simple kiss, everything had been dashed for Damon; the hope he had carried with him for the last 145 years had been trampled on as Katherine's words rang through his head.

"I've never loved you, it was always Stefan."

As his mind flickered through all sorts of questions and sudden realizations, Damon slowly drained his trolley of its alcohol content, wishing more than ever that he could flip the switch.

*DS*EG*DS*EG*DS*EG*DS*EG*DS*EG*DS*EG*DS*EG*

Jeremy was exhausted by the time he ventured upstairs to his room after his run in with his dick of an Uncle John. He still couldn't get over how he was the one to stake Anna the previous night. He still couldn't even fathom his uncle's words when it came to his father Grayson. Jeremy didn't want to believe that his father would be anything like his uncle when it came to vampires.

The teenager was so lost in his thoughts to notice that someone was in his room until they spoke, startling him instantly; "Nice ring." Jeremy's head immediately jerked up from his father's ring to see Casey sitting at his desk with her feet crossed on top of his desk and her attention on the cell phone in her hands; she looked like she owned the place. The positioning actually brought Damon to mind but the human shook that thought away immediately as he tried to figure out how she got into his room. When he couldn't find an answer, he went for the direct approach.

"How'd you get in here? Don't vampires need an invitation or something?" Jeremy whispered hurried as he shut his bedroom door (not wanting John to hear him) before he went to shut his bathroom door (he didn't need Elena looking in when she decided to come home). His antics would have been for nothing as Casey had placed a temporary soundproof spell on his room (a variation of the one on her room) when she had arrived.

Casey giggled to herself as she texted Derek back with a mini-update (he had sent one to her before Jeremy had arrived about how he was heading back to the boarding house with Lockwood-news). "Elena invited me in earlier." She stated with a shrug.

Jeremy groaned. "Of course she did." He mumbled to himself before he turned to face the vampire. "Why are you here?"

Casey frowned as she planted her feet back onto the ground while pocketing her cellular device. "I wanted to make sure that you were okay Jeremy…is that so wrong?"

Jeremy's brow furrowed out of confusion. "You don't know me so why should you care about me?"He questioned, not really sure why the vampire before him gave a rat's ass about him.

Casey sighed as she slowly got up and moved towards him. It broke her heart that someone so young could feel so alone. "After what happened with Anna yesterday…I thought you might of needed someone to talk to." She explained in a soft tone.

Jeremy looked at her a little skeptically. "And you offered yourself up for that role?"

"Who better?" The hybrid teased but when she didn't get the response she was hoping for, she sighed again. "Look Jeremy, I may be a vampire but that shouldn't be a point against me." She reasoned as she started to guide him towards his bed to take a seat; he followed after a moment of hesitance.

"John says otherwise." He rebutted and it was obvious in his tone that he didn't agree with his uncle on the subject.

Casey snickered as Jeremy took a seat on his bed. "Well John doesn't know what I've been through since becoming a vampire."

He gave her an inquisitive stare when he noticed that her statement was laced in a disguised tone that he's been used to since his parents' death. That tone alone got him wanting to know more.

Noticing that she had captured his attention, Casey continued as she made her way back to her spot in Jeremy's desk chair. "Being a vampire doesn't automatically make you a monster. I mean there are humans out there that could be considered more monstrous than vampires." She argued calmly and she was pleased to see that Jeremy was nodding his head in agreement. Taking that as her chance to move onto the reason she was checking on him in the first place, Casey slowly eased into the subject. "But that doesn't mean I'd wish this life on anyone." She ended with a pointed look at the teenager which resulted in him giving her a startled look.

Jeremy gulped nervously as he tried to figure out how Casey knew about his suicide attempt the previous night. When he couldn't think of a way (because he didn't think that Elena would tell a stranger), he caved and asked her; "How'd you find out?"

"I think the better question would be why did you want to become a vampire?" She deflected; she wasn't ready to reveal that she had discovered the news through many memory jumps. She only got the confirmation of it when she had guided him towards the bed moments before.

Jeremy sighed, realizing that he wasn't going to get out of talking about his intentions with this strange vampire. He rationalized that maybe talking to her would be easier since she was basically an outsider in the situation; she wasn't biased in a way. "When I heard Anna was dead, it was…it was just too much, you know. I wanted to just turn it off and Damon said that I could."

Casey nodded along with complete understanding on her face. "Well Damon's right, I mean, you can turn your emotions off but it comes with a price Jeremy. With no emotions, a vampire is driven by their most basic instincts. They become the worst portrayals that humans have about vampires. They become the monsters that they have always been perceived as." She inhaled deeply while noticing that she had Jeremy's undivided attention which she was thrilled for because that was the point of her visit. When she heard that he was unsuccessful in becoming a vampire, she knew that she had to try to change his mind on the subject; he was too young to die. The hybrid exhaled slowly before she continued on with her pseudo-lecture. "And it doesn't last. Eventually that switch will turned back on and you would be flooded with all the emotions you've repressed and worse because they'd be magnified once you're a vampire. If you think you feel bad now Jeremy, you're going to feel a thousand times worse as a vampire and turning the emotions off won't make them go away; they will fester until that moment when the switch flips back on."

He didn't know what to say. Anna had told him things but she never went into depth of what it would be like. She always focused on the positives while she ignored the negatives; she always focused on the fact that they would be living out eternity together. With Casey, Jeremy came to realize that she wasn't holding back with him when it came to information. With everyone else, he always felt babied because he was never told anything upfront or someone else had made the decision for him when it came to these things. Yet here was Casey, a complete stranger, telling him the truth no matter how ready or not he was to hear it. It was as if she thought he was ready to make the decision for himself and it was because of that did Jeremy come to the conclusion that maybe, just maybe, this vampire wasn't so bad after all…even if she was associated with Damon in some way.

"Why become a vampire then? Why continue your life as one if it's such a horrible existence?" Jeremy ended up asking a few moments later. He hadn't really noticed that the lull in conversation was because Casey was giving him a chance to absorb all that she was telling him.

Casey gave the teenager a sad smile as she decided to tell him the same thing that she had told Elena back in Buffalo. "I never wanted to be a vampire Jeremy. I had a family; a loving husband, three adorable children and a brother who'd do anything to make me smile. But fate had other plans for me and instead of ending my life after turning, I decided to learn how to embrace my new life so that I could keep my family safe from a far." She stated while remembering her first loving family. She had watched them live out their lives to the fullest but whenever she thought of them, her mind took her back to before she became a vampire, when her children were just mere toddlers.

Jeremy sat stunned in his seat as he processed the vampire's confession. She was married? She had kids? Those two questions kept running through his mind before the rest of her words registered in his brain.

As if she was waiting for his mind to fully process her words, Casey waited before she continued. "I chose to make the best out of my situation and I've learned so much because of it." She emphasized in hopes that he'd get the message that it had taken her decades to get to where she is now when it came to being a vampire.

"Well if you could be human again, would you?" He curiously asked while making eye contact with her. With all her talks about embracing her new life and what she left behind in her old one, Jeremy wanted a concrete answer to the age old question when it came to vampires.

A soft smile instantly appeared on Casey's face. "In a heartbeat." She answered with no hesitation as she thought about the mission she and Damon had been trying to fulfill over the years.

The hybrid then couldn't help but wonder if she should mention it to Jeremy. He seemed like he could keep things to himself and if she could convince him about it, it may give him insight into Damon's predicament and ultimately, Jeremy may be helpful when it comes to Elena realizing her true match.

Making a choice that she knew she shouldn't even consider, the hybrid decided to take the risk. "Can you keep a secret Jeremy?"

Jeremy quirked an eyebrow at the black-haired beauty. "Do you really have to ask me that? I mean I did keep my knowledge about vampires to myself for quite some time." He quipped as a smirk slowly formed on his lips.

Casey laughed before she scooted the desk chair closer to Jeremy so that even if she whispered, he could still hear her. She thought it gave the atmosphere a more secretive vibe even though she knew that no one would be eavesdropping on them unless they walked into the room. "Alright, it's just…I've been searching for a way to be human again since I first turned."

Jeremy's eyes widened. "Is that even possible?" He asked in a baffled tone.

She shrugged her shoulders. "My research says it is."

Jeremy exhaled deeply as he fell back on his bed. He stared at the ceiling a bit (and he was thankful that Casey just let him) before he sprung back up again to face her. "Anna never mentioned it. She's always saying how me being a vampire is a way for us to be together forever." He rambled quickly and he knew it was a bit…irrelevant but he was glad that Casey still took the time to answer him, no matter how weird his questions seem to be.

"Not many vampires go looking for a way to turn back into a human. They think it's a one way street and usually it is but…" Casey explained before she trailed off at the end as movement in the room next door caught her attention.

"But?" Jeremy pressed in hopes that the vampire would continue with her thought but when he noticed that wasn't going to happen, he started to get nervous. He soon noticed the tense posture she was now in while she had this concentrated look on her face and Jeremy instantly knew that he did not like this look one bit. "What is it?"

Casey's brow furrowed out of confusion. "Damon's talking to Elena." She didn't understand why he was here and by the vibe she was getting off of her brother, she knew that something was off with him.

"What?" Jeremy was immediately on his feet and heading towards the joint bathroom he shared with Elena.

The hybrid was so lost in her analytical thoughts on Damon that she hadn't noticed Jeremy's movement before it was too late to stop him from instigating a scenario that she would only have mere seconds to stop.

*DS*EG*DS*EG*DS*EG*DS*EG*DS*EG*DS*EG*DS*EG*

Moments Earlier:

After draining his alcohol stash and wallowing in his self-pity, Damon managed to find himself in Elena's room; sitting on her bed as he waited for her to finish up in the bathroom. It was as if his subconscious didn't think he had suffered enough for the day and that dealing with his crap with Elena would be a great way to end the horrendous day.

Stupid subconscious.

Since he was too intoxicated to think rationally, the vampire wasn't able to disappear before he heard a gasp on his right. He didn't look at her; not when she was thanking him for looking out for her and Jeremy or when she showed concern for him when she realized that he was drunk. He didn't want to care, he wanted to remain detached when it came to the situation but his intoxicated mind wouldn't let him as memories of the last two days kept rolling through his brain. He needed answers. He knew Katherine's…and now he needed Elena's. If he was sober, he wouldn't even breech the subject because he would have the warnings yelling at him in his mind to stop but being intoxicated meant that those warnings were easily put on mute as he looked up to face the brunette that has plagued his mind.

"You are surprised that I thought you would kiss me back? You can't imagine that I'd believe you would want to?" Damon voiced out of the blue yet Elena could hear the confusion and confliction in his voice.

She didn't want to talk about this, not when he was drunk no less but he interrupted her pleas to stop as he continued to dig his own emotional grave, if you will.

"That what we've been doing here means something." He continued as he stared up at her confused expression. "You are the liar Elena. There is something going on between the two of us and you know it." He fiercely declared before he stood up and ventured towards her. She was too stunned to utter a reply so the vampire just continued, using his drunken state to further a conversation his self-preservation would have never let him make. "You're lying to me, you're lying to Stefan and most of all…you're lying to yourself. I can prove it."

Before Elena could process what was happening, Damon had crashed his lips onto hers. While she fought him on the kiss, that brief moment of contact between their lips was enough to turn Damon's world upside down. Even in his drunken state, he could feel that things were changing for him. Before he can further explore this newfound feeling, Elena managed to break free of the kiss.

"What's wrong with you?" She questioned in a panic as she tightened her grip around Damon's wrists but he continued to run them through her hair.

Damon ignored her questions as he gazed down at her. The feeling was shifting a bit inside of him and not having a clearer mind to think of the reason, he pushed for a confession. "Am I lying about this?"

Elena pushed the vampire back a bit when he tried to lean into her again; she didn't know what to do to get out of this situation. "Stop, you're better than this, come on!"

Damon scoffed as he went for another kiss again; all he could think about was the things he felt while kissing her. It was a great change from feeling nothing. "That's where you're wrong."

Elena panicked again as she tried to get out of reach of Damon but he wouldn't let her go. When he wasn't trying to kiss her, she tried to reason with him as best she could. "I care about you. Listen to me, I care about you. I do but...I love Stefan, it's always going be Stefan." She hated having to stay that to him but he needed to hear it, she wasn't going to let history repeat itself.

The vampire felt that shift happen again within him before it registered in his mind that she had just repeated the dreadful words that Katherine had said to him earlier that evening; it's always going to be Stefan. Damon's anger started to grow as questions of self-worth kept plaguing his mind.

Before this conversation could take another wrong turn, Jeremy's voice interrupted them from the bathroom's threshold. "What's going on?"

Elena made more of an effort to separate herself from Damon before she tried to dismiss her brother from dealing with a drunken Damon. "Nothing Jeremy…just go back to bed."

Jeremy wasn't convinced as he stayed rooted to his spot.

Too far gone to realize what he was doing and remembering that Jeremy had wanted to become a vampire, Damon immediately blurred across the room to pin Jeremy to the wall.

As Elena shouted for Damon to stop, everyone was stunned to see that Casey had planted herself between Damon and Jeremy. While Damon's hands were still around Jeremy's neck, Casey was pressed between them while her hands gripped over Damon's wrists tightly. At the moment the movement was enough to delay Damon but if Casey had realized what was happening sooner, she would have gotten between her brother and the human before contact was made.

"Damon don't!" Casey warned in a whisper as she stared into her brother's crazed eyes which were focused on Jeremy. With her hands on his wrists, Casey knew why her brother was acting like this. Not only was he rejected twice in one night in practically the same way but he had unknowingly activated a connection that was premature which was messing with his emotional state even more.

Jeremy gulped as best he could when it didn't look like Damon was releasing him anytime soon. The last time Jeremy saw Damon anywhere close to this state was when they found out that Katherine wasn't in the tomb.

Casey tightened her grip even further as she tried to pry Damon's hands off of Jeremy's neck. "Damon think about what you are doing. I know you are overwhelmed at the moment but don't let that control you. Don't let Katherine's words or Elena's words drive you to make a move that you will regret. Damon please…you are so close…don't let this set you back." Casey pleaded in a whisper yet Jeremy was able to hear it, making him all aware of how much Casey truly cared for the crazed vampire.

Damon blinked a couple of times, allowing Casey's words to take over his mind, before his hold on Jeremy loosened. To Elena, it didn't look like he had moved but the others knew differently.

"Where's Derek?" Damon asked quietly yet his voice had a rough quality to it. He needed to speak to Derek immediately.

"Damon." Casey said her brother's name in the typical warning way one does when they don't want to say too much.

Damon finally turned to face his sister, leaving his arms where they were even though he knew that it was causing Elena to panic again. "I just want to talk to him."

Casey's eyes softened as she saw the pleading in his eyes. "You can talk to me."

Damon sighed. "I will after I talk to Derek. Now where is he?" Noticing her hesitance, he sighed again in defeat. "Casey, I'm not going to hurt him…I wouldn't do that to you." He reassured his sister because no matter what state he was in, he'd never do anything to hurt her in any way.

Jeremy remained silent throughout this whole exchange but his views on this Salvatore vampire were slowly changing.

Casey nodded. She wasn't scared that Damon would do something to Derek; she just wished that he could confide in her on this. Knowing that that won't be the case for the time being, she caved. "He should be back in my room by now.

Damon shakes his head in acknowledge before he lowered himself towards Jeremy, ignoring the panic vibe he was getting from Elena that went with her increased heart rate. "Word of advice kid, if you question who you should trust, always go with Casey. Experience shows that she is always right in the end. Remember that." He advised the human before he blurred out of the room.

Casey sighed when the pressure on her body was alleviated. She took a step away from Jeremy before she turned to him; he was rubbing at his neck where Damon's hands were once at.

"Now can I ask you if you're okay?" The hybrid quipped with a hand on her hip.

The boy released a light laugh before he was engulfed in his worried sister's arms as she started bombarding him with questions on his well-being.

*DS*EG*DS*EG*DS*EG*DS*EG*DS*EG*DS*EG*DS*EG*

Damon stormed into the boarding house like he was a man on a mission as he yelled out for Derek.

It didn't take long for Derek to emerge from the kitchen with a half-eaten Poptart in his mouth. "What?"

Damon scowled. "Casey's room…now!" The vampire demanded before he sped down to the basement to grab a couple of blood bags; he need to sober up immediately.

By the time Damon blurred back up to the second floor, Derek was waiting for Casey's door to unlock itself. After adding his own blood into the mix, Damon was granted access into his sister's room after Derek had entered. As Derek found a seat at Casey's desk, Damon didn't hesitate in ripping open a blood bag and sucking down its contents.

Derek whistled. "Geez Damon, what's up with you?" He questioned while keeping his distance from the feeding vampire. He remember how Casey would get like this at times of stress for her and while the motions were similar, Derek wasn't sure if the reasoning behind it was the same for Damon as it was for Casey.

"I screwed up." Damon admitted after tossing the first blood bag away and going for the second one.

Derek's brow furrowed out of confusion; it wasn't often that the vampire would openly admit that he messed up so the human immediately thought of the worst case scenarios. "How exactly?"

Damon groaned as he finished off the second blood bag. "I kissed Elena." He admitted while looking Derek in the eyes and by the way the human's eyes dilated, the vampire knew that his message was received loud and clear.

Derek's jaw dropped before he blurted out the first thing that came to his mind; "Oh fuck."

Damon groaned as he thought; exactly what I'm thinking.

*DS*EG*DS*EG*DS*EG*DS*EG*DS*EG*DS*EG*DS*EG*

A/N #3: And there you have it! I definitely had fun with the alternations I included in the season 2 premiere. I hope you enjoyed them as much as I had writing it out. I'm definitely excited about the Jeremy/Casey bonding since I do have platonic plans for them. I do apologize if written canon scenes seems redundant in the story but when it comes to those scenes, they are either story markers for you or I planned to alter it to fit my story better (like how Casey ended up stopping Damon from snapping Jeremy's neck). So what did you guys think? What are your thoughts about Casey meeting Mason? About Casey's talk with Jeremy or her interference in Elena's room? Or how about Damon's need to talk to Derek (which will be further dealt with in the next chapter as well as the mention of returned humanity...and the reason behind this story's title). Either way, please leave me a review! :D

A/N #4: Just curious but has anyone watched the Comic Con panel for VD this year? I only watched the re-edited trailer for season 4 and the few new scenes add in seem exciting (especially the Salvatore confrontation) and I'm about to find the panel video. I'm just wondering what you thought of it or if you even search for stuff like that. Either way, have a great day (whether its still today or its now tomorrow for you).

Originally Published: July 23, 2012