A/N: Okay, we're now up to chapter 10. There's not much DE in this one - I had to give Katherine the chance to really get her claws in - but I promise, it will be coming soon! And, OMG, over 100 reviews! I love you guys so much, I am speechless! So, I hope you enjoy this next installment, and please review!

It was Jeremy and Anna's last night in Mystic Falls, and everyone had decided to go to The Grill for dinner as a proper send off. Caroline was there, as well as Bonnie, and Jenna and Ric, and Matt too. Vicki was working, but she kept coming over whenever she had a spare minute to join in the fun. Caroline, who seemed to have noticed that Elena wasn't really feeling the party atmosphere – although she was trying her best to put on a good show – ordered a bottle of Tequila, and they all did shots while trying to play pool.

"He'll be back before you know it, 'Lena," Caroline whispered to her friend as they took a quick bathroom break.

The alcohol currently coursing through her system made Elena think for a moment that she meant Damon, but then she realised she was actually referring to Jeremy. She was enormously grateful that her friend had no idea what was going on – or what almost went on, or went on and then stopped, or whatever. The Tequila was making her head fuzzy. She had to repeatedly remind herself not to blurt anything out. Trying to hold on to a secret from your best friend while drunk was incredibly hard, Elena realised. Especially when that friend could usually sniff out gossip from a hundred mile radius.

"I know," she nodded, checking her make up in the bathroom mirror. "It's just been nice, having the house full of people again. I'm going to miss it, that's all."

"You'll still have Bonnie though," Caroline gave her friend a hug, managing to smear bright pink lipstick up Elena's arm. "Oops, sorry!"

This was true, she did have Bonnie who, amazingly enough, had stopped being quite so boring recently. No longer able to talk about Luka, the girl had actually become almost fun, and she and Elena had spent a few evenings together, eating take out and laughing at made for TV movies. They had even planned on going shopping with Caroline tomorrow, after Elena had dropped Jeremy and Anna at the airport. The blond was insisting on revamping Bonnie's wardrobe. "Out with the sucky boyfriend, in with the Prada knock-offs!" Caroline had exclaimed brightly.

The girls left the bathroom and went to join their family back at the pool table, only to find that they'd moved on to dancing. Jeremy and his girlfriend were doing something that could only be described as a weird limbo dance, but was probably supposed to be the tango. Jenna and Ric were holding each other, their dance moves far too slow for the current song, but they looked so wrapped up in each other that they probably wouldn't notice if the band suddenly started playing the Mickey Mouse theme tune. Elena smiled, glad that her remaining family members had found people who made them happy. Her smile turned wistful as she remembered her own less than stellar dating adventures recently. Speaking of dating...

"Oh, my God!" Caroline suddenly burst out, grabbing Elena's arm tightly and whirling her around on the spot, facing them away from the bar.

"What?"

"That... slut Amber is here!" Caroline's voice was getting higher and higher with every word she spoke. Soon she would be speaking in a pitch that only dogs could hear. "And... you won't believe this! Guess who she's sitting with!"

Elena sneaked a glance over her shoulder in the direction of the bar. The girl that Caroline had found with Tyler on the night of the hotel opening was indeed sitting at the bar, looking very cosy with the guy lounging in the stool next to her. Elena's gaze flicked over him once, before coming back to rest on him as he turned around.

"That's Henry!"

"Yup. Seems Amber isn't a one guy at a time kind of girl," Caroline sneered. "God, I was having such a nice time too! Why can't they go away?" She whined, stamping her high heeled foot slightly.

"Leave it to me." Vicki came up behind them, changed out of her uniform now that her shift was over. The two girls watched as she strode right up to the couple sitting at the bar and inserted herself between them, causing Amber to drop her hand away from Henry's leg.

"Hey, sweetie!" Vicki said, running her hands up Henry's chest and grabbing hold of the lapels of his jacket. "I've got great news!" The music died down, and her voice was loud enough to carry to Elena and Caroline standing in the corner. "The doctor said the swelling and the itching should go down soon, but we've got to keep using the ointment." She let go of his jacket, shoving him slightly, and he wobbled on his stool. Then she turned to Amber and smiled. "She's cute, baby!" She leaned forward and placed a hand on the other girl's shoulder, letting her fingers trail slightly over Amber's bare skin. "We were just going home. Wanna come join us?" She winked meaningfully.

Amber shot a disgusted look at Henry, before running across the dance floor over to the pool tables, where Tyler and a few friends had taken over a table. Elena and Caroline watched as she leaned over and whispered in his ear, before he took a stumbling step back, clearly horrified. Henry made a quick escape, before Tyler could find out from him what kind of STI he might have given them, and ran through the front doors.

"Well, that takes care of that." Vicki slid back up to them, nodding her head proudly. Caroline and Elena looked at each other for a moment, and burst into giggles. Jeremy, who hadn't heard all the commotion, came to see what was going on, but neither of the girls could catch their breath long enough to tell him what had happened. Elena saw Bonnie approaching them through the crowded dance floor, and she attempted to sober herself up, nudging Caroline with her elbow. They might now be almost friends with her roommate, but she didn't think she would find what Vicki had done to her brother all that amusing.

"Hey, Bon," Elena said, taking a deep breath and swallowing down the remainder of her giggles. "Have you had a good time tonight?"

"I have, actually," Bonnie said, a small smile transforming her normally sombre expression into something actually quite beautiful. "I was asked out by someone. I have a date next weekend!"

"Bonnie, that's fantastic! I'm so pleased for you!" Elena was too. This was a good sign that Bonnie had finally moved on from the disaster that had been her last relationship, and she would hopefully become someone Elena truly enjoyed being friends with.

"We have to go shopping tomorrow now!" Caroline exclaimed, clapping her hands together excitedly. "We have to find you the perfect outfit for you to knock him dead!"

Bonnie looked a bit daunted by this, so Elena slung her arm around the girl's shoulders. "Don't worry, I'll be there, I won't let her pick anything too revealing." She hugged her in reassurance.

Bonnie gave her a grateful smile, while Caroline huffed in annoyance. "You always spoil my fun!" She pouted.

Elena slung her other arm over Caroline's shoulders, the alcohol she had consumed making her feel very friendly all of a sudden. "Come on, let's get Jeremy and Anna home, we need to be up early for them to catch their flight."

Together the three girls rounded up Jeremy and Anna, helped Jenna and Ric into a taxi, and said goodbye to Matt and Vicki, Elena giving the girl an extra hug for doing them all a favour. Then the five of them poured into their own taxi, and headed home for the night.

Elena stumbled around her room the next morning, trying to get ready while dealing with an enormous hangover. Caroline had insisted they carry on drinking when they got home, and the five of them had danced around the living room for a few more hours, before tumbling into bed.

Holding her head in one hand while searching for aspirin in the medicine cabinet with the other, Elena used her shoulder to bang on the door that separated Jeremy's room from the bathroom. "Jer! Anna! Come on, we gotta go!"

Caroline groaned at the sound of her voice, turning over in Elena's bed. "Were you always this loud in the mornings?"

"Hurry up and get dressed, we need to leave soon." Elena gulped down two aspirin with a glass of water and went to her closet to find something to wear.

"Why? It's not like I have a plane to catch." Caroline flopped back down on the pillows.

Elena picked up a cushion from the floor and threw it at her best friend, who yelped. "No, but we do have shopping plans for straight after, so get moving!"

Caroline sighed, but got up, searching through her own drawer in Elena's chest for some clothes. She picked up a pale green top and bubble gum pink skirt and held them out with a delighted smile. "Ooh, I forgot about these!" She gave the clothes a quick hug, before running off to find a free bathroom to use.

Elena quickly pulled on some skinny black jeans and a cream polo neck sweater, brushing her hair back from her face and pulling it up in a messy ponytail. Then she went round to Jeremy's bedroom door and knocked loudly. When she heard sounds of movement coming from inside the room, she moved to go downstairs, shouting over her shoulder. "I'm putting on some coffee. Be down in 10 minutes!"

"Yes Mom!" Caroline's voice floated out to her from the guest bathroom.

Downstairs, she found Bonnie already hunched over a mug of coffee. The girl had only recently started drinking again, and the alcohol seemed to affect her worse than everyone else. Silently, she refilled the coffee machine and made herself a cup, sipping it slowly, letting the caffeine work its magic.

"Ready to shop, girls?" Caroline came bounding into the kitchen, and both Elena and Bonnie winced at her cheerfulness.

The sound of Jeremy bumping a couple of suitcases down the stairs came to them, and Elena looked around for her purse. Grabbing it, she walked through the hallway to the front door. "Talk later. Caffeine now." She said to Caroline, as they all left the house with travel mugs full of coffee.

Saying goodbye to Jeremy hadn't been as hard as the last time. Maybe it was because this time she knew he had someone with him out there, or maybe she had just become used to him being off on his own. Either way, this time she was able to wave him off with a genuine smile, and enjoy her day out shopping with Bonnie and Caroline.

And they did have a great time together. Bonnie was coming out of her shell more and more, as Caroline prodded and persisted in her usual Caroline way. Elena picked out a beautiful deep red dress for Bonnie to wear on her date, and Caroline busied herself finding matching accessories and make up. Before they knew it, it was time to go home, so that Elena wouldn't be late for her first shift back at work since New Year.

As she pulled into the parking lot, her eyes were instantly drawn to the sleek dark grey Mercedes parked outside Damon's apartment. Guess she is staying, she thought to herself. She couldn't really blame him for letting her back in. After all, here was his chance to spend time with the daughter he thought he'd lost. Even if she wasn't actually his child, the bond between them was still there. He had spent three months believing that she was his, loving her as though she was his. It would be hard for him to resist the chance of being able to get that back. Elena understood this feeling all too well. A few months after her parents had died, she had found out that she had been adopted. She was hurt that they hadn't told her, but she would still give everything she owned to have them back again.

Sighing, she got out of the car, and headed into the restaurant to help set up for the evening shift. Although the week away hadn't made her feelings for Damon become any less, she had managed to gain some perspective. He was with Katherine now, he had a family, and she just had to learn to deal with that and move on.

When she got into the kitchen, she found an irate chef shouting at Becky. "I can't make the coulis without the fresh raspberries!" He smacked a bowl off the counter, kicking at it as it clanged onto the floor.

"I've called Andy, he's on his way back with them, he should be here any minute." Becky rubbed soothing circles on Trevor's back, rolling her eyes in Elena's direction at the temperamental chef's outburst.

"I'll go and see if he's coming," Elena said, backing out through the kitchen door, nodding as Becky mouthed a 'thank you' at her. She walked out into the courtyard just as Andy the fresh vegetables delivery guy jumped out of his van.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Elena, I just forgot them, I wasn't thinking!" Andy gabbled at her, his face bright red from embarrassment, shoving the container of raspberries into her arms.

"Andy it's okay, you're here now," Elena rubbed his arm, trying to calm him. He was such a sweetie.

"Will you tell Damon I'm sorry?" Andy continued to ramble, obviously worried he would lose his contract with the restaurant.

"Damon doesn't even know," Elena said soothingly. "Why don't we keep it that way, okay?" She winked at him, and Andy smiled.

He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, a blood curdling scream came from the direction of the antiques store. Both Elena and Andy rushed over to the door, to find Katherine holding Millie high up in her arms.

Andy's dog Daisy danced around by her feet, obviously thinking the whole thing was a game and trying to play.

"Argh!" Katherine screamed again, kicking out at the dog with her leather booted foot. "Get away, you horrible thing!" She screamed at Daisy, just as Damon came sprinting out from the back of the shop.

"What happened?" Damon asked, looking from Elena to Millie, quickly reaching out his hand to check if the baby was okay. "What's going on?"

Andy grabbed Daisy's collar, pulling her back. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! She must have got out the van while I was delivering the raspberries..."

Elena tried to calm the situation down, to help out Andy, who looked as though he was about to have a heart attack. "It's okay, nobody was hurt, why don't we all just-"

"Nobody was hurt? That's hardly the point, is it?" Katherine interrupted her shrilly. "I put my daughter down for a minute, and that, that beast comes slobbering all over her!"

"Millie was on the ground?" Damon frowned. "Katherine, cars drive in here all the time! What were you thinking?"

"Oh, so it's all my fault, is it? I put my daughter down for two seconds – two seconds – and when I turned back she had crawled off! You know how quickly she can move when she wants too."

Damon nodded. "But not quickly enough to get out of the way of any cars."

Katherine's voice turned shriller still. "I was listening out for cars! My God, do you think I want my baby to get hurt? If I'd heard an engine, I'd have been right there! But to let a dog on the loose is just... irresponsible." She gave Andy a glare, making him back further away from the group by the door.

Damon sighed. "Look, let's just calm down, nothing happened, and Millie's fine."

"Nothing happened? God she reeks! Smell her," Katherine ordered. "That disgusting dog slobbered all over my baby – and it's not even a pedigree!"

Elena tried again, feeling the need to come to Andy's defence. "Katherine, Daisy's the sweetest, gentlest dog you could ever meet. I promise you, she wouldn't ever hurt anyone. Millie would never come to any harm with her." Her tone was placating, meant to make Katherine feel better, but Katherine was beside herself and beyond reassurance.

"No harm? Are you serious? A stinking filthy dog crawling with germs licks my daughter's face, and you think that's safe?" Katherine's eyes widened in distaste. "My God, and I thought you seemed like such a responsible person! If that's how you feel I won't be asking you to babysit for us again."

Elena had had enough by this point. "Excellent," she said coldly, giving the woman in front of her a glare. "Because I wouldn't do it anyway." She turned and walked back to the restaurant, the container of raspberries still in her hands. Oh and by the way, Damon deserves so much better than you.

A/N: So there we are - katherine just keeps getting better and better, doesn't she? ;) We're coming up on the home stretch now, another 3/4 chapters, plus a short epilogue. Oh, and Daisy, I'm sorry I used your name for a dog, but it's actually the name of my next door neighbour's dog, so I used that! :)