a/n: thank you to everyone who has continued to read and review! I'll definitely aim to have it finished before new episodes return (which is not too far away now!) Enjoy ;)

"Are you sure you're still up for this?" Bonnie asked, watching as Caroline finished stuffing her duffel bag and lugged it out of her room. "I know this isn't something you exactly wanted to do in the first place…and now with the news of your dad and Katherine…"

"I'd rather be doing something than sitting around and doing nothing," Caroline tossed the duffel bag off the top of the stairs and then blurred to the other end to catch it, ignoring Bonnie as she rolled her eyes. "What?" she let a small smile cross her lips, "I didn't feel like carrying it downstairs."

"Hey," Jeremy came out of her living room and nodded towards the driveway, "I think Rebekah just got here."

"Yup," Caroline peered out the window in mock excitement, "There she is. My arch nemesis."

"You don't have to do this if you don't want to," Jeremy followed her outside onto the porch, with Bonnie on his heels. "One of us can go instead."

"No," Caroline sighed, "As I much as I hate to admit it, this has to be me. I'm no match for her strength, but I don't want her to be able to take advantage of you guys." She gave Bonnie a one-armed hug and then squeezed Jeremy's shoulder, "I'll be fine. Trust me." She glanced over to where Rebekah was waiting impatiently and smiled halfheartedly, "Besides, I've always wanted to go to Chicago."

"Well, be careful," Bonnie said worriedly as Caroline loaded her luggage into the trunk and then climbed into the passenger seat, "Call us if anything happens. From what Elena and Damon said, Klaus is pretty pissed off right now. He'll be looking for someone to take his anger out on."

"I can handle my brother," Rebekah rolled down her window to glare at Jeremy and Bonnie, "Just make sure you lot find Stefan and those coffins."

"And let me know when you hear anything about my dad," Caroline called as the car pulled out of the driveway, "See you guys soon!"

Jeremy watched the car disappear down the street before he turned hesitantly towards Bonnie, "Looks like it's just you and me now."

She shrugged, shifting her bag on her shoulder as she made her way down the porch steps and to her car. "Where did Alaric go?"

"He's gotten obsessed with trying to figure out what those remaining hieroglyphic pictures from the cave are about," Jeremy grinned at her, but it faded away when she didn't smile back. "Bonnie, look, I know I screwed up. I get that." He paused, "But if you need help with anything...I just hate sitting back and doing nothing while something this big is going down, you know?"

Bonnie considered his words for a second before heaving a sigh. She then fumbled with the contents of her bag for a second and pulled out a long chain. In the sunlight, the diamonds in the hourglass pendant glinted brightly. "Have you seen this before?"

"Whoa," Jeremy breathed, holding the pendant against the palm of his hand, "What is that?"

"It's for the gemini spell," Bonnie explained, a hint of pride in her tone. "Damon and I thought of it—"

"You and Damon?" Jeremy interrupted incredulously, "Working together on something? And actually agreeing on it?"

"Yes, hell has apparently frozen over," she allowed him a small smile, before her expression became serious once more. "There's another necklace, one that looks identical to this one."

"Gemini," Jeremy mused, "Latin for twins, right? So you made two necklaces that look exactly the same? Where's the other one?"

"I told Damon to give it to Elena."

"Really? I haven't seen her wear it...are you sure he gave it to her?"

Bonnie nodded, "Klaus has it now. I know he'll be using it to track her, to see what we're all up to. That is, if he's able to find himself another witch."

"That shouldn't be a problem for him," Jeremy frowned, "What's the point of the spell?"

"There are twelve diamonds in the hourglass," Bonnie held it up further so they could both look into it, "When Klaus uses a location spell on Elena's necklace, I'll be able to use the gemini powers of the chains to see exactly what he's up to as well. Each time he does a spell, one of the diamonds will turn..."

"Red?" Jeremy guessed, as they both caught sight of the one red diamond at the same time. "Does that mean he's already checked up on Elena?"

"I guess it does," Bonnie smiled grimly, "Now, it's time for us to see what Klaus is up to."

"Invite us in," Damon ordered, growing frustrated when Katherine only continued to smirk at them. "Either you invite me in right now, or I'll—"

Elena gasped out loud as two vervain darts came flying out of nowhere and hit Damon squarely in the chest. "What the hell?" she caught him as he staggered backwards and fell unconscious. She looked up at Katherine in anger, "What have you done?"

"Actually, that was me," Bill Forbes stepped out from behind Katherine, looking less than pleased. "What are you doing here, Elena?" He peered around her to look in his driveway, "Is my daughter with you?"

"No, Caroline is...busy," Elena shot a significant look in Katherine's direction, "Damon and I decided to come instead."

"Why?"

"Because we thought you were in trouble!" Elena exclaimed, beginning to grow annoyed. "We saw that Katherine was here and we were afraid that she was...you know."

Katherine placed one hand on her hip as rolled her eyes, "Please. Why would I kill the only human known to have developed a way to resist Compulsion?"

"Oh, I don't know," Elena snapped as she was forced to lower to her knees, unable to support Damon's weight any longer. "Maybe because you take pleasure in going around and ruining lives just for your own amusement?"

"Play nice now, Elena," Katherine said warningly, "You don't know the lengths I've gone to in order to save your precious Salvatores."

"I know what you've done," she hissed back, "And I know perfectly well that you didn't do any of it for me, or for them. It was for yourself, just like everything inevitably turns out to be."

"Whatever it is that you think you know, you're wrong."

"I doubt it."

"Then you don't know the whole story," Katherine said evenly, "Not unless you've found Stefan, which, by the looks of things, you haven't."

"Only because you somehow made him into your little puppet!" Elena clenched her fists to her sides, "I don't know how you convinced him to steal those damned coffins, but—"

"Oh for heaven's sake," Bill Forbes nearly growled at her, "Could we not stage a loud conversation on my porch about vampires and coffins? Jesus, get inside!"

Elena looked up at him in surprise, "What?"

"I invite Damon inside," he ushered at them impatiently, "Just get in before the neighbors get suspicious."

"Come on then," Katherine looked bored as she reached down to help Elena lift Damon to his feet. "We can put him on the sofa until he wakes up," she dragged him easily down the hall as Elena locked the door behind them. "There's some blood in the freezer for when he comes to, if you want to get that."

Growing more and more confused, Elena turned to look at Caroline's dad. "Has she...Compelled you or something?"

"No, even she can't break through the defenses I've built into my mind," Bill sat down across from her, "But I'm sure you're wondering why I agreed to help her." He hesitated, "It's a long story, starting with the fact that she pretended to be you when she first showed up on my doorstep. I realized my mistake as soon as I invited her in, but by then it was too late."

"And then she threatened you into helping her?"

"You underestimate me, Elena," Katherine leaned across the sofa that Damon was lying on, a grin playing at her lips. "It actually didn't take many threats. I merely told him the truth about Klaus and Stefan—and how no one in Mystic Falls will be safe until Klaus dies."

Damon stirred at that moment, opening one eye and looking blearily at Bill. "Funny," he deadpanned, "I didn't think you much cared for anyone in Mystic Falls, least of all your own flesh and blood."

"I love my daughter," Bill responded stiffly, though his words stuck in his throat (a fact that neither Elena nor Damon missed). "And I do love Liz. Everything I've done is to keep them safe."

"Oh yeah," Damon said sarcastically, snatching the blood packet that Katherine held out to him and downing its contents in one gulp. "Everyone just swings through Mystic Falls, singing tales of how everything they've done is to help the family that they've long ago abandoned."

Elena bit her lip and looked down, knowing that he was alluding to more than one person. She glanced back up to see Katherine looking slightly uncomfortable, and Mr. Forbes even more so. "I know that we'll never see eye to eye, Damon. But I firmly believe that everything I've done is right."

"Of course you do."

"Okay, just stop," Elena shook her head, "We're talking in circles here. Damon and I have been tracking Katherine for a while now...so why don't we just stick with the real reason we're here?"

"Which is?"

Damon leaned forward, his eyes flashing, "What really happened at Homecoming?"

"Well," Katherine crossed her legs, "What do you think you know?"

"We know that Klaus spoke to you at the dance," Elena said through gritted teeth, "Except he thought he was speaking to me. I'm guessing that he somehow threatened Damon's life in order to stop the plan from being carried out." She paused, but Katherine didn't say anything to correct her. "So then you went to Stefan and got him to stop Damon from killing Klaus."

Damon tapped his fingers impatiently against the armrest of the sofa, "Nothing to add here, Kat?"

"I'd say you've gotten most of it right," Katherine shrugged indifferently. "Klaus told me that his hybrids had already been instructed to kill you, Damon—that is, if anything happened to him. I couldn't let that happen, so I woke Stefan up and told him what he needed to do."

"Why?" Elena pressed, "Why wouldn't you just tell us? We could've figured out something together...you didn't have to get Stefan involved!"

"Actually, I did," Katherine snapped, "I needed him to prove to himself that his humanity was still there, Elena. And he did...he saved Damon; his love for his brother was still there."

"And why was that so important to you?" Elena retorted, "I thought you spent all this time trying to get Stefan to leave this human life behind?"

"On the contrary, Elena," Katherine answered delicately, "I fell in love with Stefan when he was human. It is his humanity that I wanted to save." She paused, "I wanted him to remember who he was."

"Moving right past that pack of lies," Damon brushed off her comments scathingly, "Let's focus on this little suicide mission that you decided to send Stefan on...I mean, if you claim to love him so much, I'm not quite sure why you sent him off to his death."

"So overdramatic," Katherine huffed, "And I'll have you know that he hardly required persuading. We both wanted revenge for what Klaus had done to us...he took my family from me, and he took Stefan's entire life away from him. Is it so difficult to believe that we wanted Klaus to get his retribution for that?"

Damon abruptly blurred forward, his hand closing around Katherine's throat in anger. "Well isn't that great?" he hissed furiously, "Because of you and Stefan stupidly deciding to get revenge, you've now sent Klaus after all of us! He's already holding Tyler hostage until we hand over those coffins—"

"I know," Katherine shoved Damon off, "I already told Stefan about it."

Elena frowned, "Wait, how did you know?"

"That bartender I Compelled," she answered dismissively, "Max, remember him?" She didn't wait for an answer and instead tilted her head at them, "Well, I've told you what you wanted to know. How about a little quid pro quo?"

"We don't owe you anything," Damon growled, "But if you must know, we've undaggered Rebekah. She and Caroline are on their way to meet Klaus and Tyler right now. They're in Chicago."

Katherine's expression flickered, "Why would you do that? Aren't you afraid she'll betray you?"

"It's a risk we're willing to take," Elena answered coldly, "Now why don't you do something useful and tell us where Stefan hid the coffins?"

"I can honestly say I have no idea where the coffins are hidden."

"Fine," Damon slammed her into the wall, "Then you know where Stefan is hiding."

Katherine laughed, a seductive look alighting in her features as she grabbed both of Damon's arms. "You know I always liked it when you played rough," she purred, raising an eyebrow in amusement when Damon immediately let go of her and stepped closer to Elena. "Well, well," she strutted towards them, "Have you finally come to the realization that you love them both, Elena? It certainly took you long enough..."

Elena flushed, first with anger and then with something else. She carefully avoided looking at Damon, and instead focused on Katherine. "The only reason I'm tracking Stefan is because his actions have put everyone I love and care about in danger." She took a deep breath and then emphasized again, "And that's the only reason." She swallowed, her voice strengthening as she went on, "And I've come to realize that I don't owe him anything. I did everything I could to save him, and it wasn't enough. I've learned that I need to let him go. Everything that I thought he was..." Her breath hitched here, but the words came easily enough, "He's not that person anymore. He's gone, and whoever he was...he's not coming back."

Katherine, for once, looked caught off guard. "Are you telling me that you're giving up on him?"

"No," Elena answered slowly, "I don't give up on people. I know that Stefan isn't lost forever. I just..." She glanced at Damon once before returning her gaze to Katherine, "I've just realized that I won't be the one who saves him." Completely spent, she tiredly sat back down and rubbed her hands over her face. "Where is he, Katherine?" she asked wearily, "We have to know."

Damon took a step towards Katherine threateningly, but she held up a hand to stop him. Her expression was conflicted, but she reluctantly responded, "Let's just say that it's a small world, after all."

"What?" Elena looked up sharply, "Is he here?"

"No...But perhaps your little friend Caroline will run into him soon enough."

Elena and Damon exchanged glances as they realized what Katherine meant.

Chicago.