A/N: As usual I don't own Vampire Diaries or any canon characters. So holy crap, there are over 175 people following this story! Thanks for the support guys, I'm having a blast writing for these characters. I can't wait for this show to get back on the air, anyone out there watching the reruns too? Sorry that it's been longer between updates, on the plus side the new book is coming along well, just over 25K words so far this week.

Damon paused, gathering the stillness around him, he extended his senses. One by one he removed the external stimuli, the chirp of the birds, the soft chatter of voices in the house, the rustle of the wind through the trees, until it was just him in utter silence. Frustration tore through him as he found no sign of her, not even the barest scent that she'd been there, only the imprints of the people in Elena's house.

Somehow he had to pick up her trail.

He'd never tried to track her like this before. When they'd first been together, he'd been human; and not a terribly observant human at that. She had waltzed in and out of his life as she pleased, always in control, always the one to say goodbye, she'd always left him wanting more. Perhaps that was why she'd managed to burn herself into his blood, because he'd always had the feeling that there was something more to her, something just out of reach that if he could only catch it would show him her true self.

For years he'd been under the assumption that she was trapped beneath the church and he'd become obsessed with freeing her. When it had been revealed that she'd duped them all, Damon was self aware enough to realize that his ego was bruised more than anything else. Stefan's involvement with Katherine had been a thorn in his side, but he'd recognized it for what it was, her need to corrupt Stefan, make him want her. He'd never labored under the impression that Katherine had actually loved Stefan. He had however thought that she'd loved him in her own way and her disappearance all these years had rankled.

But now…? What did he feel for her now? A few months ago he could have readily answered that question, even a few weeks ago when he'd learned she was out there somewhere, deliberately apart. But now… He liked to think that he could remain strong against her influence, put the safety of Elena and her family above all else, but in all honesty… he had no idea.

Devoid of his usual means of tracking, Damon was forced to try deductive reasoning instead. Where would Katherine set up her center of power? There were any number of available properties in town that would do for her purposes, especially if she still had the ring. It would be smartest for her to pick someplace a little out of the way unless she wanted questions as to why Elena Gilbert was setting up household somewhere else. An idea came to him then, but it seemed too simple. Still, what did he have to lose? Like a flash he was off, stopping just outside the property where lights blazed within even though it wasn't all that dark outside yet.

It was too easy. Damon's brows knit together in a frown as he stared at the sizable property. What would Katherine be doing at Isabelle's place, knowing that Damon had been there before? Isabelle had left town, her little goodbye scene with Elena had convinced him of that. So who was in her house if not Katherine?

Slowly he approached the house, taking great pains to keep quiet. There were definitely people moving in the house, but he couldn't quite tell who until he heard an exhausted call for help coming from the direction of the cellar and he recognized it as John's voice.

What an asshat, he'd gotten what he deserved, Damon smirked to himself. If ever a guy deserved to be tortured by vampires it was him, he was only sorry he hadn't been invited to the party. Fairly certain of who was inside the house now, he boldly strode up to the front door and rang the bell, affecting a casual stance but hating the way his palms had already started to sweat the moment she came into view.

She answered the door, no trace of surprise on her face as her lips curved into a smile. "Hello lover."

*** back from commercial***

"I think it's this way." Elena's voice was low and urgent, her heart thudding wildly in her chest as she led Alaric down the hall, following the overhead signs to the morgue. The idea of actually going into the morgue creeped her out, let alone touching a dead body, but she had to keep reminding herself that Jeremy wasn't dead. At least she hoped to god he wasn't, or this would all be for nothing.

"Relax, slow down a little, ok?" Alaric hissed at her side, tugging gently on her sleeve.

"Right, sorry." She flashed him a nervous smile.

"It's ok, I'm a little freaked out too." He gave her what she thought was supposed to be a reassuring look.

There was a desk barring the entry way to the morgue but nobody was manning it. "What are we supposed to do? Wait here or just go in?" She whispered.

"Let's just try and slip in, see if we can get in and out without seeing anyone, that'd be our best option." Alaric grabbed her elbow firmly and steered her around the desk."

"Hey… where do you think you two are going?" A voice called out behind them and they froze guiltily.

Elena turned and tried to make her expression as miserable as she could. "We're here to get my brother released, I was told he was brought down here already?" She replied to the man who was already moving back behind the desk, setting down the sandwich, soda and cake he was juggling in his arms. "You'll have to sign in here." He shoved the ledger towards them. "I'll have to call for the coroner, get all the forms ready. What was your brother's name?"

"Jeremy Gilbert." She replied, hastily scribbling her signature onto the log.

"Ok, I'll be right back." He promised, taking one sip of the soda before disappearing behind the double doors.

Elena drummed her fingers against the counter impatiently. After twenty minutes of waiting, even Alaric was starting to get antsy. "What could be taking so long?" She wondered aloud.

"I have no idea, maybe he's already started to wake up?"

"I thought that didn't happen till after dark?"

Alaric shrugged. "Don't ask me, this is all new to me." He muttered. "Maybe we should…" He left off as the doors swung open and a very nervous looking attendant beckoned to them.

"Ah Miss Gilbert? If you'll just come with me…" Without waiting for a reply he disappeared back through the doors, leaving them to follow.

Elena and Alaric traded looks and followed after him, moving through a long corridor that passed an open room that looked like the morgue itself, but the attendant led them past that to the Coroner's office. Once there the attendant beat a hasty retreat without another word.

The coroner was a balding little man wearing an open lab coat over a rumpled suit. Round spectacles were perched on his head just above his eyebrows as though he'd pushed them there and promptly forgotten about them. "Miss Gilbert, please do come in and have a seat." He greeted them with a tight lipped smile.

Elena did as she was told, waiting for Alaric to sit beside her. "You have some paperwork for us to fill out?"

"Ah no…" He looked acutely uncomfortable just then, as if he wasn't quite sure how to proceed. "Miss Gilbert, I'm afraid your brother's body has been… misplaced."

"You lost his body?" Her mouth dropped open in shock while her thoughts raced ahead as to what this might mean.

"I'm very sorry Miss, I can assure you we'll find your brother just as soon as we possibly can. It's possible he was sent up to another department by mistake but we will find him, rest assured of that." He replied confidently.

"I… I don't even know what to say." She stammered. That was true enough, and Alaric put a comforting arm around her shoulders.

"You will call us, just as soon as you locate him?" Alaric spoke up. "We'll want to bring him home as soon as possible and there will be no autopsy performed."

"Well an autopsy is standard procedure for all deaths…"

"It's against our religious beliefs." Elena spoke up. "We already know how he died, we just want to put this all behind us and let him rest in peace."

"Ah… of course." The little man replied. "I'll need you to sign a release to that effect." He shuffled through some papers on his desk until he found the one he wanted.

"I'll sign whatever you want, I just want my brother home in time for the wake." She agreed.

The signing of papers was quickly done, he seemed eager to get them out of his office before it occurred to them to put in a complaint with the hospital administration. Soon enough Ric and Elena were out in the hall again, a slightly dazed look on her face as they stepped into the elevator.

"What do we do now? Go home and wait?" What would Jenna do if Jeremy showed up at the door?

"Probably. We should check on Bonnie's progress anyway and I'd like to get back to Jenna."

Elena's face softened as she looked over at him. "You really like her don't you?" She smiled gently.

"Yeah, I do. I hate that we're keeping this from her, but… it's probably safer for her if she stays in the dark." He sighed.

"Here's to hoping we come to a time when things get back to normal… well normal for us." If having a vampire for a boyfriend could be considered normal. With that thought Elena pulled out her cellphone again. She'd switched it off once entering the hospital per the posted signs, but now she turned it back on to see if she'd missed any calls. "Still nothing from Stefan." She frowned. God, what if he knew… somehow knew that she'd kissed Damon. Or had Damon run to him, gloating about it all the way? The idea wasn't outside of the realm of possibility even with everything going on.

Alaric said nothing, the less he was involved with that particular triangle the better as far as he was concerned.

They stepped out as the elevator doors opened, and looked up in surprise as she spied Matt in the waiting room in the same instant that she spotted her.

"Elena?" Matt was instantly on his feet, sweeping her into a crushing hug. "Oh thank god you're here. Can you believe something like this has happened?"

Elena hugged him back, a little surprised by the force of his hug, he seemed to be clinging to her as though she was a life raft. "No, I'm still kind of in shock actually." She replied, "The past twenty four hours have just been… crazy." That was an understatement.

"I keep thinking she's going to come out of it, open those baby blues and smile up at me but… the longer she's out…" He hung his head miserably.

It dawned on her that she had no idea what he was talking about, she'd assumed he meant Jeremy. "Who's going to come out of what?" She stared back at him blankly.

His head came up in surprise. "Caroline of course, isn't that why you're here?" It was his turn to stare at her blankly.

"I'll be right back." Alaric promised, moving to the information desk.

"No… my god, what happened to Caroline?"

"We were in a car wreck last night, on the way back from the Founder's Day celebration. Tyler… I don't know what happened but he freaked out, lost control and we crashed. We're both ok, but Caroline… she hasn't woken up since." He recounted miserably.

"Oh Matt… I'm so sorry." She enfolded him into a hug once more. "She'll be ok, I know it. She's too stubborn to give up this close to prom, right?" Elena gave him a hopeful smile.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." He chuckled, shaking his head. "So, if you weren't here about Caroline, why are you here?" He wondered belatedly.

Elena took a deep breath. "Jeremy, he committed suicide last night." She said, hating saying it out loud even if he wasn't really and truly gone.

Matt stared back at her in utter shock. "I… can't believe it. I thought he was doing better, wasn't he doing better?"

It hurt to talk about it, whether or not Jeremy had been trying to turn himself, he'd still given up on life. "He was for a little while, at least I thought he was… but he kept that part of himself hidden." She shook her head, tears spilling down her cheeks with self recrimination. "I should have been there for him, I should have seen that he wasn't okay."

Matt held her tight again, rubbing her back soothingly. "It's not your fault Elena. It's nobody's fault but his. He took the easy way out."

How long they stood there she wasn't sure, but when Elena opened her eyes, she spotted Stefan watching them, a stricken look on his face. She made a move to let go of Matt but he was gone in an instant, and she started to doubt if he'd been there in the first place or if her mind had been playing tricks on her. She pulled away from Matt regardless, swiping at her cheeks with the back of her sleeve.

"I'll be ok. I should really get home to Jenna though, she's pretty torn up about it."

"Yeah ok. Call me later though if you want to talk, ok?" Matt gave her hand a squeeze before he let her go.

"I will." She promised, giving him a little wave before she headed over to where Alaric stood by the registration desk.

"Ready?" He asked gently.

"Yeah, let's get back before something else goes wrong."

*** back from commercial***

"It took you long enough to find me, you know how I hate waiting." Katherine smiled, stepping back to allow him to enter the house.

"Well you know what they say, turnabout is fair play. Especially since you've kept me waiting for… let's see now…" He made a show of checking his watch, "about a hundred and fifty years now." Damon smirked, moving deeper into the house, listening carefully to try and determine how many others were waiting in its depths.

"Don't be like that." She pouted prettily, shutting the door and leaning back against it. "Why don't you come over here and give me a kiss?"

"You honestly think that I still want to kiss you after you left me twisting in the wind all of these years?" He raised a single brow.

"Would it help if I pretended to be poor sweet Elena?" She smiled, affecting a soft, breathy voice.

His jaw tightened as he fought for control of his emotions. "Yeah about that, thanks for screwing that up for me, do you know how much work I put into setting that up? Hours of giving her those sad, tortured puppy dog looks, my little heart felt speech and then you stick your nose in and it wasn't even her? Way to ruin the moment…" He scowled.

Katherine's head canted to one side as she studied him carefully. "So you expect me to believe that the little tender moment I hijacked wasn't sincere? Come on Damon, you're good, but you're not that good." She scoffed.

In one swift movement he had her pinned against the door with his body. "You have no idea what I am anymore Katherine." He growled, hand pressing against the deceptively soft skin at her throat.

Unconcerned, Katherine smiled up at him sweetly. "I know everything about you. I made you." She all but purred, rubbing back against him.

"You've never seen me for what I truly am." Damon bit back, fighting desperately to keep from responding to her touch, but his traitorous body had other ideas. He pressed harder against her windpipe, knowing he was hurting her.

"Well finally." Katherine sighed, her lips curving into a satisfied smile despite the pain. "Somebody interesting."

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