"Stefan?" Damon asked again, mind blank. He shook his head quickly a few times, trying to think. "What are you – how are you…?" Taking a closer look at his brother, Damon tensed. The defensive set of his shoulders, crossed arms and suspicious expression? This wasn't Stefan. At least not the one Damon would have given pretty much anything to see.

Damon's mind raced. What the hell was he supposed to do now? His brother was looking him up and down cautiously. The look of disgust prominent in his eyes made it pretty clear that whatever conversation they were about to have wouldn't be a pleasant one.

Crap – Bonnie! Damon cursed inwardly. The thought of how disastrous it would be if Stefan set eyes on her had him about ready to explode. Almost reflexively, Damon reached for his phone to warn her to stay at Sheila's before remembering that 1983 was a little out of Verizon's network range.

His thoughts were interrupted by his brother. "Not happy to see me, Damon?" Stefan asked sarcastically. "And here I thought we'd have a nice little family reunion."

Damon cleared his throat. "What are you doing here, brother?" God, how was he going to play this? 1983 Stefan all but hated his guts. Ah well, when in doubt? Be a sarcastic asshole. Words to live by.

Stefan raised his eyebrows. "Oh! So…you're admitting that we're brothers now?" Snorting in derision, he continued, "I got a call from the family as soon as you showed up. What the hell are you doing here, Damon? You hate Mystic Falls!"

"What are you talking about?" Damon smirked. "Haven't you ever heard the expression 'home is where the heart is?'"

Stefan narrowed his eyes. "Seriously, Damon. What the hell are you up to? I thought you'd have left a trail of bodies lining the streets by now – but I haven't been able to find so much as a missing person. So why did you come back here? There must be a reason."

Damon rolled his eyes. Stefan determined to puzzle out his motives for being in town. Déjà vu much?

"If that's your ass backwards way of asking me to go hunting with you Stefan, then you don't need to be so shy. I'd be happy to help you round up some dinner."

"From what I hear, you brought your dinner with you," Stefan said suspiciously. "They told me you brought someone along. A girl?" He pointed toward the cot. "Is that where she's sleeping? I'm surprised you need it. Since when did you stop playing with your food?"

Damon scowled. So he knew about Bonnie. That was all they needed – him trying to track her down so that he could compel on her merry way to 'safety.' God, this was a disaster.

"What can I say, brother?" Damon said with a dramatic shrug. "All your mopey, judgmental ways have finally rubbed off on me. I'm a changed man!"

Stefan growled under his breath. "I came here to make sure you don't do anything to attract notice from the wrong people. I'm not leaving until you tell me what the hell you're up to."

As he opened his mouth to reply, Damon heard the familiar sound of his car heading up the driveway. His eyes darted frantically around the room as he tried to decide how the hell to get out of this. There was absolutely no way he could let Stefan see Bonnie.

"Well, Stefan," Damon said brightly as he clapped his hands together. "As fun as this little bonding session has been, I'm afraid having the morality police as a babysitter would be a little inconvenient for me at the moment. So…" he trailed off with a shrug before hurtling over and snapping Stefan's neck.

He took off down the stairs and out to catch Bonnie before she came inside. Throwing himself into the passenger seat, he barely glanced at her before snapping, "Get us out of here. Right now."

Whatever Bonnie saw in his expression must have been pretty alarming, because she didn't even yell at him for being an asshole before flooring it back down the driveway.

Once they were a few blocks away, she pulled onto the side of the road. "What the hell is going on, Damon?" she asked shakily. "The look on your face…" she shook her head. "What happened?"

"Yeah, we have a problem," Damon started grimly. "A big one." He turned to face her before continuing, finally meeting her eyes. "Stefan's here."

For a brief moment, delight flashed through Bonnie's eyes before she connected the dots and her jaw dropped. "You don't mean…you're saying…" she gulped in air, trying to get a grip. "You're actually telling me that this time's version of Stefan is here?"

"Full of questions about why I'm in Mystic Falls and why I brought my own personal human blood bag to town with me," Damon said with a nod.

"Crap! He knows about me?" Bonnie cried. She gripped the steering wheel and chanted "This isn't good, this isn't good, this isn't good," over and over.

"No kidding!" Damon winced. "You know him, Bonnie," he rolled his eyes, "well – you technically don't, but I assure you, 1983 Stefan is just as self-righteous as the post-Y2K version. He's convinced that I'm here to cause trouble, and he won't be satisfied until he's sniffed out what we're up to."

"So what do we do?" Bonnie said worriedly. "I mean, we can't let him get suspicious that you're…different from past you. That could mess up your futures!"

"Yeah, and if he pokes his nose in too deep, you and I won't get to have a future!" Damon snapped.

"We have to get out of here!" Bonnie declared urgently. "We have to figure all this out and disappear before he has a chance to mess it all up."

"Then let's get to it," Damon said firmly. "To grandmother's house we freaking go."


After hearing Damon's idea about using doppelganger blood to strengthen the spell, Sheila shrugged. "If I understand everything you've told me about doppelgangers correctly…I don't think that's the reason you should use their blood."

Surprised, Bonnie looked up from the grimoire she'd been combing through. "But you do think we need their blood?"

Sheila nodded. "To use as touchstones."

"Meaning?" Damon asked.

Bonnie was already nodding. "She's saying that their blood will give us a tie to our time – something to draw us back."

"Right," Sheila agreed. "It'll act as an anchor."

Seeing the face Bonnie made, Damon raised an eyebrow at Sheila. "Cool it on the "a" word, will you? Trigger word and all."

Sheila rolled her eyes, but otherwise ignored him. Turning to Bonnie, she continued, "You'll have the power of your ancestors connecting you to the house, no matter what the year. If you're really insisting on taking this vampire back with you-"

Damon interrupted, "We are – we're insisting!"

"…I think he needs a physical connection as well."

"A physical connection? You mean my brother," Damon said in understanding.

"Correct."

"Okay…but you said 'their' blood. Why do we need Elena's?"

"Emotional touchstones are powerful in their own right. Especially since you both seem to love this Elena. It will give you yet another connection to your time – as well as giving you a tie to each other. Less chance one of you will veer off course."

"That could actually happen?" Damon said in a strangled voice.

"I have no idea," Sheila said with a shrug. "Time travel spells aren't exactly my area of expertise. Either way, it's better safe than sorry."

"I'll say!" Damon muttered nervously. It'd be just his luck to end up stuck in some alternate universe alone.

"This is progress," Sheila spoke confidently, "If a witch from your time casts an opening spell using Elena's blood, she could then use Stefan to start a reverse-location spell. He could stand within the opening spell circle and act as a beacon." Sheila rolled her shoulders. "Once we figure out how to get you two in a position to leave this time, you can use Damon's blood to draw yourselves to that beacon."

"That makes sense," Bonnie said, "But 'getting in a position to leave this time' is kinda the sticking point. I think we need to focus on figuring out what the witches meant by saying that we couldn't get directly back to our time."

"Yeah…about that," Damon started. "I was thinking on that before being rudely interrupted by my least favorite brother. Remember what you said about Katherine being sucked away somewhere? You had no control over it, but she just disappeared. Kinda like everyone started disappearing during the collapse…"

"You're wondering where they went," Bonnie said.

"Yeah," Damon said. "I mean…let's not get all spiritual here, but do you think they went to some kind of hell-like place?"

"So what if they did?" Bonnie smiled sweetly at him. "Want me to send you there?"

"What I want," Damon said sardonically, "is to know how many dimensions like that there are. If it's some kind of…I don't know, void?"

"Why does it matter? We don't want to go there!" Bonnie said impatiently. "What does it have to do with anything?"

"Prepare to have your mind blown by my brilliance, oh doubting one," Damon started grandly. "Because if there is a realm like that? I'm guessing time probably isn't too big of a factor there. Like – maybe doesn't exist at all."

"So what are you saying? You think we should just go dimension hopping until we land in the right one?" Bonnie asked. "Brilliant isn't the word I'd use."

Sheila had been studying Damon intently ever since he'd used the word 'void,' and she finally spoke up. "Actually child, I think your vampire might be on to something."

"Really?" Bonnie and Damon asked simultaneously in astonishment.

"Well," Sheila said, "I've never really delved into the kind of magic we're talking about here, but I think you should pay another visit to your witch spirits. I know some of our ancestors have banned evil beings from our world in the past – and something about the word 'void,'" she shook her head slowly. "I think I've seen that written somewhere before."

"So you both think we should try to find a realm where time doesn't exist and use it as a way station between here and home?" Bonnie asked. "That sounds crazy!"

Damon threw up his hands. "We accidentally traveled back in time, Bonnie! We're being stalked by a past version of my brother! Crazy doesn't even begin to cover it. At least we're working off an actual theory now."

Bonnie sighed. "I'll go back to the house first thing in the morning. What am I supposed to ask? 'Hey, do you think you could banish us to a realm where time doesn't exist?'"

"Why not?" Damon shrugged. "I'm sure Emily would be thrilled to hear you use the words 'banish' and 'Damon' in the same sentence."

"Good point."

"Great, you do that – and I'll distract my brother. I'll lead him on a merry chase around the other side of town so he doesn't get wind of anything you're doing. I'll poke around the tomb or the Lockwood cellar or something to make him think I'm doing something shady."

"Yeah, I can't even deal with any of that," Bonnie said. "Seeing him when it's not really him? No thank you." She snorted. "Plus I'd probably be sucked into a wormhole or something for ruining the future."

"Boy, that would be terrible," Damon said with a smirk.

He definitely understood her point, though. He'd almost forgotten what it had been like between he and Stefan before they'd both made a home for themselves in present-day Mystic Falls. Seeing how much this version of Stefan hated him? He'd never missed his brother more.

"Yes, you definitely need to stay as far away from him as possible, Bonnie," Sheila warned. "The repercussions of him recognizing you-"

"Believe me, I get it." Bonnie said firmly. "I'll start staying here with you, and Damon will make sure he isn't being tailed before he gets anywhere near this house. It'll be fine."

"Yeah, because nothing ever goes wrong when someone says that," Damon warned.