Happy Spring Everyone! I can't believe it's already May. I had planned to get this chapter out much earlier than now, but life and a new baby intervened. I'm hoping to focus a little more on my stories while I'm on Maternity leave, but we will see how that goes!

I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Please share any thoughts you may have on the story. I love reading your comments! If you are in need of some Delena goodness, feel free to check out my short story, Fifty Shades of Elena Gilbert. It is rated Mature, so make sure you're ready for some lemony goodness if you do read it!

And now, on with the story!

Damon hadn't realized that a person could simultaneously feel as though their skin was going to melt from the boiling fever raging through his blood, and that their entire being was frozen to the core. Katherine Pierce was the one person that could set his soul on edge with a single glance. He had vowed, one drunken and rain soaked night, that if he ever saw her again it would be in hell. To be confronted with her, in this way, in this place, was enough to make him angrier than he ever thought possible.

The worst of it was how completely he knew who had set this entire meeting in motion.

"Hello Katherine." He intoned, hoping to curb the malice in his words. She smiled at him, her signature self-assured smirk. Damon felt himself struggling to keep from shaking it from her blood red lips.

"Really Damon, I would have expected a more enthusiastic greeting. Especially from you." Katherine replied, smiling and tossing her meticulously curled hair.

"Sorry. Soul sucking leaches don't warrant much of my time." He retorted. One of her eyebrows shot up in feigned surprise.

"Ouch. Such unnecessary anger."

"I think you know better than to expect a warm, fuzzy welcome from me, Katherine." Damon replied. He looked down at Elena, her eyes wide and confused as she followed their back and forth banter. "I don't know why you're here, but I'm not all that interested in finding out."

"Oh Damon, Damon, Damon." Katherine reproved. "I hardly believe that you are that clueless as to why I'm here. I mean, when I heard that our dear, sweet Elena had been entertaining you, I just had to come see for myself." Her eyes roamed over her doppelganger with a passive glance. Damon stepped forward, slightly in front of Elena, as if to shield her with his own body.

"Leave her alone Katherine. There's no need to involve her in anything." Damon pled through gritted teeth. Katherine laughed, a tinkling sound with an eerie undercurrent that could only come from a place of malicious intent.

"She's always been involved Damon. Even before she knew about any of this." The brunette replied. "She is my twin sister after all."

…X...

Elena felt sick to her stomach. Everything she could see seemed to move in slow and disjointed motion, as if she were in a flip book. Watching the woman before her was oddly like watching herself in a mirror, only she had no control over this image. It had become sentient, and stared back at her with a look of amusement.

She could feel her hand starting to throb and wiggled her fingers to get the blood to flow back into the tips. Damon jolted slightly, as if suddenly reminded of his hold on her, and relaxed his grip from the bone crushing tension that it had become. He gave her a small, reassuring squeeze and she breathed deep trying to calm herself.

"I've never met you before in my life." Elena heard herself say, "So why should I believe that you are even remotely related to me."

"You can hardly deny that we have some kind of connection, Elena" Her mirror self retorted. "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

"Really? That's what you come up with?" Damon snorted, "Very original."

"I thought it sounded incredibly fitting." Katherine replied shrugging. She began to glide her way over toward them, her movements practiced and sure. The light caught her dress with every step, causing it to shimmer like dark water. "And it absolutely has a certain ring of fact to it. Besides, it's not like you didn't know."

Elena couldn't seem to get her thoughts together, the room spun and the lights seemed to dim but she kept herself upright. What did Damon know that he hadn't told her. Had he known all along? He must have known something. There was no way that the likeness between her and Katherine could have been overlooked.

What wasn't he telling her?

...X...

Stefan stood in the doorway of the Inn watching the interactions between the three people inside. He was afraid to move, for fear that he would be brought into the fray. Caroline stood opposite him inside the foyer, staring back at him with wide eyed apprehension. The blue dress she had on looked absolutely perfect on her, hugging every curve. Inwardly he hated that Klaus was able to give her things that he couldn't, like this beautiful dress, but that didn't mean he shouldn't enjoy the view.

He felt the desire to move toward her, to put his arm around her. To comfort her in some way. But the look of betrayal that crossed her face cemented his black dress shoes to the floor.

He knew exactly what she was thinking, and he mentally kicked himself for not telling her the whole truth. The resemblance between Katherine and Elena wasn't just a fleeting, possibility. It was picture perfect. The idea that they could be twins had surfaced in his mind more than once, and he hated himself for not listening to his intuition. He just hadn't wanted it to be true, and in doing so, had essentially convinced himself that it was impossible. How could Elena not be aware that she had a twin sister if that was really the case?

He had a lot of explaining to do to Caroline, if she would even let him explain. First though, he had to talk to his brother. What the hell had Damon been thinking?! God what a mess this was becoming.

Somewhere deep in his gut, Stefan knew that Klaus must have something to do with this. But why?

...X...

Through her swirling emotions, Elena heard her disconnected voice finally speak.

"What do you mean, sister?" She asked, careful to keep her voice from cracking under the strain. Katherine's gaze flicked from Damon to Elena and her eyes narrowed in amusement.

"You didn't really think that Miranda and Grayson were actually your parents, did you? I mean, you look nothing like them." She cackled. "It was so kind of them to take you in though, when mom decided she didn't want you. They really were sickeningly nice people."

Elena clenched and unclenched her hand, working through the meaning that lay behind her doppelgangers words. She didn't appreciate the malice that Katherine placed on her parents' names, or the way she practically spat them out of her mouth. Katherine obviously never knew the people that she so vehemently disliked, or Elena would have known about it, right? Katherine was just trying to bate her. For what reason, Elena didn't know. Maybe jealousy, or possibly something else entirely.

"Leave her alone Katherine, you have no reason to lash out at Elena." Damon growled from beside her. Elena's heart flipped in surprise. She had almost forgotten he was still there. She could see Stefan standing in the doorway, just over Katherine's shoulder. They had to have known about this. How could they have kept it from her?

"Really Damon. I'm not the one that kept secrets from her." Katherine replied, echoing Elena's own thoughts. "How cruel do you have to be to stab her in the back like that? Letting her think you're actually interested, but knowing all along that it was a complete lie."

"You would know." Damon retorted, his eyes glowing with homicidal rage.

"Was it really a lie?" Elena asked softly, her eyes filling despite herself. She could see the torment in Damon's face as he struggled with how to respond. Elena shook her head, pulling away from him.

"Elena just give me a minute to explain." Damon answered, the desperation evident in his voice as he realized what her reaction meant.

"I need to get out of here." She responded, breathing heavily. Her eyes darted wildly as she searched for an exit.

Bonnie appeared as if from nowhere and forced her way between the two of them, having obviously realized what was happening. She glowered at Damon, and grabbed onto Elena. Pulling her away from the scene, they disappeared past Stefan's frozen form and into the darkness.

...X...

Caroline was angry. Actually, she was extremely far beyond the realm of angry. She was livid. And doing the only thing she knew how to do when her emotions reached boiling point, she spoke up.

"You three need to tell me what the hell is going on here." She spat, her murderous gaze resting on each Salvatore individually and finally ending on the carbon copy of her best friend. "And I mean now."

Damon nodded slowly. Glancing back toward the party, he gestured toward the locked office door he had been leading Elena when they had been intercepted. The others followed close behind, Caroline taking up the rear. As soon as everyone was inside, she shut the door. Hard.

"Talk." She demanded, looking over her captives. If this had been another time, she would have been in awe of the view from Damon's office. The sky was alight with stars, twinkling in through the floor to ceiling windows. She choked down a feeling of jealousy and focused her attention on the group in front of her.

"Don't look at me. I'm not the one that's been lying to a poor innocent girl." Katherine started, frowning.

"Cut the crap Katherine." Damon practically snarled. "Why are you even here?"

"I was invited." She replied, smiling sweetly.

"And your fiancé? Where is he?" Damon remarked, sarcasm dripping at his use of the word fiancé.

"Elijah couldn't come tonight. He's away on business." Katherine responded.

"Obviously, he doesn't know about the little game you're playing, since we all know how thrilled he would be to find you working with his little brother." Stefan chimed in.

Caroline put her fingers to her temples in a vain attempt at keeping the creeping migraine that was forming in her head to a minimum. Throwing her palms out, she opened her mouth to interrupt.

"Sorry to put a damper on the reunion." She remarked, "I don't really give a damn why you're here, but you need to explain your connection to my friend Elena."

Katherine frowned slightly, a dark look crossing behind her eyes, before composing herself and shrugging.

"Long story short? When Mom left town, she could only take one of us. I was obviously the better choice, so she left Elena with the man you know as Uncle John. I like to call him Dad." Katherine ran the thumb on her right hand under one of her nails, and raised an eyebrow. "Since dear old dad was so ill equipped to take care of a needy daughter like Elena, he left her with his brother and sister-in-law. Grayson and Miranda Gilbert."

"Wait... You're telling me that Elena's Uncle John is actually her biological father?" Caroline practically spat the name in disgust. John wasn't exactly a favorite person around the Gilbert household. How had they not known about any of this?

"You're a quick one, aren't you?" Katherine replied. "Please keep up. I don't like repeating myself."

"Fine." Caroline retorted. "Anything else you want to add?"

Katherine tapped her red lips with a finger for a moment and shook her head.

"No I think that's about it. Now if you'll excuse me." She sashayed over to the office door and pulled it open. "I have people waiting to see me, and they are much better company than the three of you."

With that, she disappeared out into the music filled hallway. The remaining occupants looked at each other with a mix of astonishment, regret, and anger. Caroline wasn't sure which to admonish first, her anger toward Stefan's lack of communication and disgust at Damon's handling of her friend's emotions overwhelming her senses.

"Caroline, we should talk about this." Stefan remarked, taking a step toward her. She shook her head and stepped backward toward the door.

"I'm not sure which of you I am angrier with right now, but what I do know is I have a very confused best friend at home that I need to talk to before I even try to figure the two of you out." Caroline finally responded, small lines forming around her eyes from the level of anguish spewing from her gaze. Without a word from either Salvatore, she spun on her heal and marched out of the room. She had more important places to be.

...X...

Elena sat on the couch, staring mindlessly into the unlit fireplace. She couldn't seem to wrap her mid around what had happened tonight. Her entire world had just been shaken to the core. Bonnie breezed into the room with a cup of what Elena could only guess what. Her dark-skinned friend handed the perfumed drink to her with a strained smile.

"Gram's recipe. It should help clear your mind a little." She sighed, sitting down next to Elena. "I can't even imagine what must be going on in your head right now."

Elena nodded, and dutifully took a sip of the concoction. Of the herbal remedies that Bonnie's Grams had unleashed on the girls though their life, this one wasn't half bad. It had a slightly sweet aftertaste, which did in fact help lift her spirits some.

The back door slammed, signaling Caroline's arrival before she entered the half-painted parlor. The blonde's face twisted in anguish, looking at her defeated friend.

"Elena, are you ok?" Caroline asked, dropping into one of the high-backed chairs. "That was a stupid question. Of course, you're not ok. God, I could kill Damon right now."

"What did he tell you?" Elena demanded, setting her mug on the glass coffee table in front of her.

"I think now might not be the best time." Caroline replied frowning. "You've just had a nasty shock. We should talk more once you've had some time to process."

"I can process better with all of the facts." Elena argued, the set of her jaw telling Caroline that this argument was not going to be easily won. The blonde sighed and nodded.

"Please remember that I'm just the messenger alright?" She replied. Elena stared at her, waiting, and Caroline cleared her throat. "Well, you were there when Katherine said that you were adopted by your parents." Elena rewarded her with a small nod. "It turns out that Uncle John is your biological father, and he asked your parents to adopt you because he wasn't sure he was cut out for the job."

"Uncle John?" Elena responded, shocked. Of all the people she could imagine as her father, he was the absolute last person that she had pictured. No wonder he had fought Jenna so hard when her parents had died. Did Jenna know? Did Jeremy? If they did, how could they have kept something this big from her? She had so many questions that needed to be answered, and every answer she received brought even more questions.

"Oh my god." Bonnie remarked from her spot on the couch. "How did they keep this a secret for so long?"

"An even better question is how Damon thought Elena wouldn't find out that his ex-girlfriend was her identical twin. I mean, with a resemblance like that, how could he not have known? What a jerk!" Caroline erupted, "I knew I should have confronted Damon when Stefan told me about Katherine but I never could have realized how much of a total scumbag he really was."

"You knew about Katherine?" Elena asked, her head snapping up to meet Caroline's gaze.

"Well I knew of her." Caroline answered, obviously perplexed by her accidental slip of the tongue. "Stefan asked me not to say anything until he knew more."

"But you still didn't tell me." Elena fumed. "You knew and you let me be completely ambushed by that woman."

"I didn't know this would happen and we didn't want to upset you until we knew all the details." Caroline dodged, attempting to calm her friend. "I didn't even realize how bad this whole thing was until I saw Katherine tonight."

"You should have told me." Elena answered, tears in her eyes. "A friend would have said something."

She stood and retreated up the stairs without a second glance.

...X...

Bonnie and Caroline winced as the bedroom door slammed a few minutes later. Bonnie sighed.

"I can't believe you didn't tell her." She remarked.

"Not you too Bonnie." Caroline answered, exasperated. "I didn't want to upset her without knowing all the facts."

"I understand why you think you shouldn't have said anything." Bonnie replied. "But that doesn't make anything better."

"I know." The blonde answered, pulling the pins out of her hair and letting it fall across her shoulders. "So what do we do now?"

"First we have to fix things between you and Elena." Bonnie quipped, kicking off her shoes and stretching. "Then we figure out how to help Elena with all of this news."

"It gets worse." Caroline cringed, thinking about her conversation in the office.

"How could it possibly get worse?" Bonnie asked.

"Klaus arranged for Katherine to be there tonight." Caroline answered, her frown deepening. "He wanted to throw us off balance and upset Elena."

"That's awful! Why would he do something like that?" Her dark-haired friend responded, appalled.

"Because, as it turns out, my decision to open this place as a Bed and Breakfast, meant that Klaus didn't get to buy it like he wanted." The blonde answered. "I've been hearing rumors about it for weeks now, but tonight finally confirmed it for me. Klaus is the type that is used to getting what he wants."

"It sounds like we have our work cut out for us." Bonnie finally remarked. "I'll grab the ice cream, and then I think we need to go upstairs and explain all this to Elena."

"I hardly think that ice cream is going to make things better between Elena and me. I lied to her." Caroline retorted.

"I'm sure it won't, but it's a good place to start. Besides, she has other people to focus her anger on right now. We just have to remind her of that." Bonnie answered before marching into the kitchen for supplies. Caroline sighed and moved to follow her.

"Here's hoping."