Hello, everyone! Ugh, this chapter took me FOREVER to update, I mean seriously, I just did not want to write this chapter. I don't know why, but oh well.

Anyways, please review at the end! And if you can, please vote on my profile poll after you're done.

By the way, if you didn't get a notification or something, I just wanted to let you guys know that I uploaded a new story a couple days ago. It's called Save the Day and it goes off of Season 1 of TVD, and I'm hoping it'll continue. But I really need you guys to read and review so if you can, that'd be AWESOME! No doppelgänger as a main character, I promise :)

Enjoy the chapter, everyone, you deserve it!

Disclaimer: Refer to The Return.

The End of the Affair

As he poured himself a glass of bourbon, Damon heard his phone ring from his back pocket. He set the bourbon down on the tray and whipped out his phone to answer the unknown call.

"You're interrupting my drink," he told the person on the other line.

"You miss me?"

Damon sighed. "Katherine," he mumbled. Figures. "Where are you?"

"Lurking outside your window, pining away," Katherine teased, her voice seductive on the other side of the line. She laughed after the statement.

"What do you want?"

"I'm homesick," she admitted. "What have I missed?"

"Well, Stefan's still Klaus's little prisoner, Elena still thinks she can save him, Klaus compelled Rachel to remember, he left her here with me, and now Rachel's hell-bent on finding Klaus and getting back together with him," Damon summarized. "Oh, and no one's thought about you since you left."

"Ouch," Katherine admitted. "That must be rough. But what about you? Now that you've given up on your brother and I'm sure you're not fully invested on finding Klaus, you're plotting some sort of way of moving in on Rachel?"

"I didn't give up on Stefan," Damon defended. "And, frankly, I'd love to find Klaus. Obviously, he didn't just leave her here so she could say her goodbyes and such; he left her here with me for a reason. And I'm thinking that if I find him and Stefan, Rachel will realize that he just doesn't want her anymore." Damon sighed. "I just don't know where they are."

"Hmm," Katherine hummed on the other side.

Damon frowned as he realized. "But you do," he started. "Are you trailing them?" Damon demanded.

"A hybrid who wants me dead and his sidekick who's off the rails?" Katherine taunted. "I couldn't be further away."

"Which means you know exactly where they are."

"All I know is that Klaus pitched a fit when his hybrids didn't work and now he's looking for some answers."

"How do you know that?" Damon drowned bourbon that he poured into a glass.

"Spend five hundred years running and…there will be a few people looking out for you."

"Is that what you're doing?" Damon asked. "Looking out for my brother?"

"Maybe," Katherine admitted. "Maybe not. I'm conflicted," she sighed.

"Where are they?" Damon demanded.

London, 1988

As hard as it was, I shoved the man's body off of mine, though the taste of his blood was fresh in my mouth. I had to keep him alive – because if I didn't, I knew I would feel nothing but regret. I let my eyes relax as I relished in the taste of the human blood in my mouth, but felt no guilt because I did not kill anyone. I hadn't killed anyone since my time with Damon.

Klaus stared at me from the couch of his living room, surrounded by four dead bodies. Though they were not my dead bodies, I felt a stab of guilt as I turned around to face him. But what really mattered was that my track record was hardly spotted.

"You don't kill," Klaus observed. "I've noticed that in the past few weeks."

I shrugged at him. "Just because we're vampires doesn't mean we have to kill," I pointed out. The men I have fed on were wandering around the room, forbidden by my compulsion to call for help or speak in any way.

"But that's the best part," he raved. "The feed…it's just a pretext, love. The real rush is when you kill."

"We've had this conversation before."

"You mean…last night?" His lips turned up in a smile. I shook my head and laughed, unable to resist the smile that emerged from my lips.

"That was a mistake," I told him firmly. "You know that. I told you, I don't date vampires."

"Who said anything about a date, sweetheart?" Klaus teased me. I crossed my arms.

"I don't have sex with vampires, either, thank you," I snapped. He raised his eyebrows at me.

"That's peculiar," he admitted. "Why not?"

"That's none of your business."

"I hate to break it to you," he started, "You kissed me last night. You know that."

I opened my mouth to protest, but it was kind of true. Before I could respond, he grabbed my arm from where I was standing and pulled me down onto him so I was straddling his waist. I shivered as his hands rested on my thighs and the scent of blood overwhelmed my nostrils.

"My dear Rachel," he whispered, playing with my hair. "Such a tease."

"I'm not yours."

"Of course not." But it wasn't convincing.

"Why are you doing this?" I demanded, finding strength to grab his hand that stroked the ends of my hair. "You're just as heartless as I am. Isn't being friends with me enough?"

"Absolutely not," he said, as if he were offended. "I spent every waking moment of my day with you. The least you could do for me in return is show me a good time."

"I'm not open for business," I spat and climbed off of him, despite Klaus's strong hold. He sighed from the couch.

"When are you going to give it up and just turn it all off, Rach?" he asked with a heavy sigh. "You would be so much more fun with that pesky humanity switch off."

I shook my head but said nothing. My humanity was the only thing that was keeping me from turning into Damon, and I didn't want to do that. I would not be like him. Ever.

I turned around to leave, but Klaus was right in front of me, blocking my way. "You never did tell me why you're such a prude with men," he taunted.

"I…" I trailed off. "It's complicated," I said sternly. "Trust me, you don't want to know."

"I beg to differ."

I groaned loudly. "It's my life," I snapped at him, though it did not have one bit of an effect on the vampire before me. "You want to know why I don't kill humans? Why I don't just turn emotionless and don't care anymore? You can't know. I rarely even think about it myself, so why would I tell you?"

"Because you trust me," Klaus said, without a doubt in his mind. He stepped forward and I didn't move. "Like now. You can easily leave. I won't stop you. But you want this, don't you? Because you feel safe."

I shook my head. "I'm done talking about this," I told him firmly and took his advice, slamming the door on my way out.

Rachel rolled over in her sleep as she dreamed about the memory. But in the real world, she ended up rolling into Damon, her head on his chest. Damon smiled smugly to himself.

"Mm. Rise and shine, sleepyhead," Damon whispered to her. Rachel groaned in her sleep and groggily woke up, her head tilting up to see Damon. He raised his eyebrows at her and she was confused for the slightest second before she realized the position she was in. Rachel gasped and sat straight in the bed, scooting away from Damon as much as she could. Damon smirked.

"What are you doing?" Rachel demanded. "Get out! I was sleeping!"

"You know you were dreaming about me," Damon told her. "Explains the drool."

Rachel shot him a sour look. "Yeah, the irony of that statement," she shot, angry. He raised his eyebrows at her, but she ignored it and looked over to the clock beside her. "Six a.m.?" she demanded. "Seriously? Do you really haven nothing better to do at six a.m.?"

"Fine," Damon responded. "Don't come with me to bring Stefan and Klaus back." He smiled. "See ya." He began to get out of bed, but she stopped him.

"Wait, wait, wait. What?" Rachel asked. "What are you talking about? Where is he?"

"Windy City."

"He's in Chicago? How do you know?"

"Came to me in a dream," Damon teased. "I was naked. You would've loved it." His smile turned straight and serious. "Start packing," he instructed and walked over to her dresser.

Rachel slid out of her bed vertically. "Is he okay?"

"Well, let's just say he's not there to meet Oprah," Damon sighed. "Ooh," he said as he held up a pair of underwear she kept in her top drawer. He looked at her in the mirror. "Put these in the 'yes' pile." Rachel immediately got up from the bed and snatched the panties out of his hand and put them back in her drawer, shutting it. Damon just smirked at her and turned.

"I'll go wake Elena."

"Sure hope we find him," Damon said as the three of them sat in his car on the highway to Chicago. Rachel played with the necklace on her neck, thinking as she looked out the window. "It would suck if the last memento of Stefan was that crappy old necklace of yours, Elena."

"It's an antique, Damon," Elena snapped. "Like you," she teased.

"Hmm," Damon hummed. Elena turned to Rachel.

"Hey, Rach," she started. Rachel looked back at Elena and hummed in response. "You've never told me where your necklace came from," she inquired.

Rachel was silent for a moment, and Damon tried to avoid her gaze by looking in the rearview mirror to distract himself. She cleared her throat for a moment and told the story.

"Uh…Klaus gave it to me," she admitted. Damon still avoided her gaze. "When he told me he loved me for the first time."

"That's really…sweet," Elena admitted. "If he didn't kill my aunt last spring, I might even say it was romantic," she added sourly. But, overall, Elena was being quite good about not giving Rachel a hard time about being in love with the man who killed her aunt.

That didn't change the fact that Elena still wanted Rachel to be with Damon instead.

"Because the first thing an all-powerful hybrid has to worry about is getting his girlfriend diamond necklaces, right?" Damon challenged, not looking at Rachel. She shot him a glare even though he wasn't looking at her.

"You want to be jealous?" she shot. "Fine. Be jealous. It won't change anything."

"It never does," he sang. Before she could respond, Damon pulled out something from a bag in the backseat and gave it to Elena, his eyes still on the road. "Read this," he instructed the human. "Paints a pretty little picture of Stefan's first experience in Chicago," Damon explained.

"It's Stefan's diary," Elena countered. "I'm not gonna invade his private thoughts," she said, appalled.

"You need to be prepared for what you're about to see," Damon argued in a light tone.

"I've seen Stefan in his darkest periods," Elena responded. "I can handle it," she promised and put the diary back on the seat. Damon reached behind and grabbed it, ignoring Elena's wishes.

"Here's one," he said as he opened the diary and began to read. "'March twelfth, nineteen twenty-two. I've blacked out days. I wake up in strangers' blood in places I don't recognize with women I don't remember.'" Damon paused to gasp. "I'm shocked!" He turned to Rachel. "Stefan's not a virgin?"

Rachel grimaced at him. "Why?' she asked simply. "Why do you have to be such an asshole?"

Damon shrugged. "It's in my nature," he admitted.

Elena snatched the diary from Damon's hand from behind his seat. "Eyes on the road, Grandma."

"Fine," Damon said, turning his head to watch the road. "Back to my game. Tell me if you see a Florida plate."

"Stefan could live anywhere in Chicago and he chose this?" Elena asked, confused as they walked through an old hallway in an old tattered building.

"There used to be an all-girls high school around the corner," Damon explained, "but it shut down for attendance issues. Weird."

Rachel gave him a look. "Why are you still trying to scare her into giving up?" Rachel asked him. "She'll be fine, just get over it, Damon," she ordered.

Damon just turned to her and held a finger to his lips before he hushed her. "Shh." She shot him a glare, but said nothing. Damon turned to the door and put his hand on the knob before he twisted it off and broke the handle, letting the door easily slide open for him. Damon, Rachel, and Elena easily walked into the room with no troubles.

"Here we are," Damon announced. "Stefan's second-personality home."

Elena looked around, curious. "He obviously hasn't' been here," she noted.

"Tour's not over yet," Damon informed as he walked over to the kitchen area and moved to the pantry. His hands felt around the sides until he finally found a lever, and it squeaked once before Damon pulled the shelf away from the wall, revealing a secret room. He jerked his head towards the two doppelgängers in Stefan's apartment while he walked inside of the secret crook, turning on a light bulb that hung from the ceiling.

"Stefan hid his alcohol," Rachel said slowly. "What a monster."

Damon jerked his head inside and shrugged. "Look harder," he commanded. Slowly, Elena made her way in first, and Rachel followed.

"It's a list of names," Elena said.

"Mm-hm," Damon agreed. Rachel realized what it was the second she saw it, and Damon turned his head to her and put a finger to her lips. Elena slowly began to realize.

"Are these all of his victims?" she asked.

"Still handling it?" Damon asked roughly before exiting the secret closet. Elena let her breath catch a little, trying to get used to it. Rachel stepped in, saving Elena from the harsh treatment of the Salvatore.

"What were you doing in the nineteen twenties?" Rachel snapped. "Paving the way for women's liberation?" She paused. "Because we all know how you're a fan of that, aren't you, Damon."

Unfortunately, the insult didn't harm him. Instead, he answered her question. "I was around," he answered. "Chicago's a big city." He turned around and looked at Elena. "Stefan was a cocky ripper douche. But I could avoid him and still indulge in a few Daisy Buchanans of my own," he remarked, looking at Rachel for a split second with a larger smile. She scoffed, disgusted. When Damon turned away, Rachel opened her mouth.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"His old stomping ground," Damon informed her and turned around. "You coming?"

"Sure," she agreed, nodding. Rachel followed Damon out and so did Elena.

"No," Damon said as he opened the door. "Not you. I only meant Rachel."

"What?" Elena exclaimed. "Why not?"

"You stay here and whip up an actual plan," Damon suggested. "I'll come back when I find Stefan." He held the door open for Rachel, and reluctantly, she stepped out into the hallway. Damon left Elena in the apartment as he shut the door and brushed past Rachel with no second glance.

"And the reason you're taking me is…?" she prompted as she followed after him.

"You're the perfect distraction for Klaus if we run into him," Damon answered. Rachel scoffed.

"So I'm the distraction now?" she said in disbelief. "One moment you're telling me that you want me to remember how I feel about you and in the next you're pawning me off to my boyfriend as bait."

"Oh, I can assure you," Damon said, although he didn't look at her as they exited the building. "I won't go down without a fight."

She gripped his arm and turned him back to her, but Damon immediately took his arm back. "There will be no fight," Rachel told him firmly. "Klaus is stronger than you, he'll kill you in an instant. I barely got through to him the last time he tried."

She expected Damon to say something back, to argue with her. But, instead, he just gave her one of his infamous smirks, and turned away to his car.

In a way, it was an argument, she realized. He would get in a fight over Klaus with her.

But the problem was, he would lose, and Rachel didn't doubt it one bit.

Fifteen minutes later, Damon and Rachel ended up walking into a loud, crowded bar, looking around for signs of the other Salvatore brother or the handsome Original that were bound to be somewhere. Damon stopped in his tracks near the bar, where he looked at an old African-American woman who was taking a rag and wiping down the counter.

"Well, look what the wind blew in," the woman said as she caught Damon in her eye. "Last I heard, you hated this place.

"Gloria?" Damon asked, walking up to the bar. With a confused expression, Rachel followed him and watched as he continued. "Damn. If I knew you were going to age like this, I would've stuck around," he admitted. Rachel rolled her eyes, but Gloria didn't notice.

Gloria laughed. "I always did like you better." She turned and went to the other side of the bar. "But I see your brother is still running in the wrong crowd."

Damon narrowed his eyes. "You've seen him?"

"With Klaus." Rachel took in a deep breath. "Bad combo." She poured a drink into a glass.

"You know where they went?" Damon inquired.

Gloria sighed. "They'll be back here later tonight," she told them, and Rachel had to stop herself from smiling like an idiot. Finally. She had finally found Klaus. Damon snuck a glance at the doppelgänger and, involuntarily, she looked at him as well. Damon turned his eyes when Gloria started talking again. "They're out running a little errand for me," Gloria admitted and pushed two glasses of bourbon to Damon and Rachel.

"Gloria…" Damon trailed off as he caught the bartender's hand while she pushed him his drink. With a smile, Damon looked up at Gloria. "Don't be a tease," he instructed. "What kind of errand?"

Gloria chuckled under her breath and played with Damon's fingers. "I don't think so. You may be cute, but you're still a vampire." She ripped her hand away from Damon's, and turned away, saying nothing more.

"Thank you for the dress," Rachel said to Damon as they approached the hallway of Stefan's apartment. She was referring to the dress Damon bought for her after their encounter with Gloria, after Damon had realized that Elena needed something better to wear for her rendezvous with Stefan later in the night. The dress was a simple bodycon dress; three quarters of it black and one quarter of it pale pink with butterflies on the top. She also switched out her shoes for a new pair of black ones with holes cut into them in an intricate design. She wore the dress out of the store and did her hair while in the shop, putting the brown mess into a side braid. While she was at it, she picked out a dress for Elena so Damon wouldn't have to.

Damon nodded slowly. "You're welcome," he said carefully. "It…uh…" he trailed off. "Looks good on you." Before he said anything else to show his fragile emotions, he opened the door and stepped inside, the garment bag holding Elena's dress on his back. Rachel stepped in after him, shutting the door.

"Finally!" Elena breathed. "I called you an hour ago."

Damon shoved the garment bag to her. "Make yourself presentable," he ordered. "I know where Stefan's gonna be tonight."

Elena stared at him, open-mouthed. "I told you that I was practically discovered by Klaus and you're worried about what I'm wearing?" She looked over at Rachel. "What are you wearing? Seriously!"

Rachel frowned. "Don't ever question buying outfits," she instructed. "You want Stefan to come home, you have to give him a reason to."

Elena stared, open-mouthed. "Damon!" she whimpered.

He shrugged. "I had an hour to realize what a bad idea it was to leave you here alone, process it, and move on," he told her. When she didn't answer, he sighed. "Are you okay?" he asked.

She inhaled deeply. "Yeah," she said eventually.

"Then what the hell is your problem?" Rachel snapped. "Go. Get changed. We really don't have all night."

Elena flinched just a little bit before turning and going to get changed, and Rachel exhaled deeply. She didn't mean to snap, she just didn't have time for silly games anymore. After three months of not seeing Klaus, she would finally see him, and they would be together finally. He compelled her to remember for a reason.

"Well, you're just a ball of sunshine," Damon quipped after Elena left the room. Rachel spun to face Damon.

"I…I didn't mean to snap," she said honestly. "Tonight's kind of…big for me. I understand she wants to get Stefan back, and I can help her do that. If she listens to me," Rachel added.

Damon nodded and got up from his seat, but his face was slightly angry. "Make sure you keep him distracted for as long as you can," he instructed her. Rachel nodded.

"Okay."

"No slip ups. No telling him about Elena. You keep him distracted or I will."

"No, Damon," Rachel countered. "You're not getting in the middle of this. Klaus will hurt you."

"Oh, it's not like you care," Damon snapped. His voice was so harsh, it made her stop for a moment. He could tell from her expression that she was afraid, and he dialed it down. "Just…please," he began again. "Tell me you can do this? Keep him distracted for as long as it takes?" Damon prompted. She nodded once.

"I can do this."

"I'm going to go get a drink," Stefan told Klaus as he spotted Rachel and Damon inside of the bar, looking at him. "A real one."

Damon and Rachel looked at each other for a split moment before he left and she remained. Stefan passed Rachel on his way out, acknowledging her in the slightest, and left outside to meet Damon. With a large and heavy sigh, she waited for a few seconds before walking over to the bar.

"February sixteenth," Rachel said as she approached the bar and Klaus stiffened in his seat. "Nineteen eighty-eight, I kissed you for the first time and asked you to forget about it." Klaus didn't turn to face her. "February seventeenth, we fought and I left your house, and we stayed away from each other for a week until you came up to me again and apologized for being so harsh." She inhaled again. "One week, Klaus. One week you couldn't stay away from me. And you've done it for three months now." Klaus let out a laugh under his breath. "Why?"

"To be clear, I stayed away from you much longer than that," Klaus said as he turned to face her, still drinking his drink. "Fifteen years to be exact." He looked over at Rachel. "What are you doing here, Rachel?" he asked in a harsh tone.

She scoffed. "As if it isn't obvious, Klaus," Rachel retorted. He rolled his eyes.

"What?" he asked. "You wanted to come here and yell at me for leaving you behind in Mystic Falls while I took Stefan with me?" Klaus smiled. "Jealous, love?"

She tilted her head and frowned. "If that's what you really think I'm here for, you don't know me at all."

He tilted his glass towards her and got out of his seat at the bar. "That's just the thing," he said, walking towards the tables. "I don't."

Rachel, who didn't sit down on a stool in the first place, walked over to Klaus. "I didn't come here to yell at you," she said while his back was turned to her, braced to leave. "I came here to get you back. To come with you, Klaus." Rachel paused. "But…I do want to know why you left me behind."

Klaus laughed once more and spun around on his heel. "Why I left you behind?" he asked, as if it was a rhetorical question. "I compelled you for fifteen years and you want to ask me why I left you behind?"

She sighed. "I know why you left me behind," she countered. "I understand it. I don't like it, but I understand it." Rachel took a step closer. "But I don't understand why you left me wi—back in Mystic Falls." She caught herself before she was about to say "with Damon".

But, unfortunately, Klaus caught it for her. "I left you with Damon because I need you to move on," he said. "I gave you your memories back so you could remember what it felt like with me and get over it and stop nagging me about it," he said harshly. Rachel did a double take, confused.

"You…you don't mean that," she said slowly. "Do you?" she asked, dropping her eyes.

For a moment, Klaus thought about answering yes. He easily could've done it – it would've been as easy as downing the shot in his hand. But, instead, he felt himself weaken. He always weakened when it came to her.

It was the one thing he hated, but it was one thing he loved.

With his vampire speed, he fled over to her and kissed her, deep and hard, like it should've been the first time they kissed before he compelled her. His hands drifted to her waist, and Rachel was not objecting to the kiss at all, and he knew she wouldn't. Her hands reached up to wrap around his neck, and he kept them there, letting all the anger he felt out through that one kiss. No, she didn't object to it at all.

That was, until, he pulled away, his forehead touching hers and their panting grew by the second. But, he obviously had a reason for pulling away.

"I see they've opened the doors to the riffraff now," Klaus said to the Salvatore brother that stood at the door, staring at Klaus and Rachel, who were just inches apart. Rachel let her eyes flicker to the door, and Klaus's hands slid from her waist as she turned to face Damon, a heartbroken expression on his face masked by the anger and hatred he felt.

He let his eyes flicker to Rachel, but he turned to look at Klaus.

"Oh, honey, I've been called worse," Damon quipped, giving Klaus a smile. Klaus laughed, hanging his head, before he looked up at Rachel, who was heartbroken at the sight of Damon at the door. She didn't want to hurt him – no, that was what she wanted the least. It wasn't supposed to happen like that.

But it did.

"You never give up, do you?" Klaus asked, continuing the conversation.

"Give me my brother back and you'll never have to see me again," Damon suggested.

"Well, I am torn," Klaus admitted. "I mean, I promised Stefan I wouldn't let you die, but how many freebies did I really sign up for?"

"Klaus…" Rachel trailed off.

"And clearly you want to die, otherwise you wouldn't be here, so…" Klaus continued. Damon threw his hands up in the air.

"What can I say?" he countered. "I'm a thrill seeker."

In a moment, Klaus flashed to Damon and gripped him by the throat, choking the weaker vampire. Rachel shook her head.

"Klaus, please," she started, but she wasn't getting through to it. They already started a full-blown fight. Klaus threw Damon across the room so the vampire broke a table with his body. Klaus snapped off the wooden leg of a chair and spun it in the air, pressing down on Damon's chest to keep him stable while he raised the stake in his hand. "Stop!" Rachel shrieked, flashing over to Damon and Klaus, trying to stop the fight. But before she could intervene, the wooden stake in Klaus's hand turned into flames, and Klaus dropped it on the floor with a grunt.

Rachel turned her head to see Gloria, pissed off.

"Really?" Klaus groaned.

"Not in my bar," Gloria warned him. "You take it outside."

Damon tried to get up, but Klaus pinned him down again. "You won't have to negotiate your brother's freedom," Klaus told Damon. "When I'm done with him, he won't want to go back."

"Get up," Rachel said, her voice angry. Klaus looked up at her and she stared at him with red eyes. "Now," she ordered. Klaus let a smile slide onto his face as he jumped up and let Damon go. Damon stood behind Rachel, watching as he stared again.

"As for you." Klaus sighed. "What am I going to do with you?" He reached out and touched her face, and she flinched in just the slightest. "Actually, my love, I have a present for you."

Rachel raised her eyebrows for a moment, but all was explained when Klaus smiled at her and told someone to come out of hiding. Rachel looked around, confused, but when she saw who it was, she let out a gasp.

"Grace," she said slowly, in disbelief.

Florida, 2003

"I'm dying," the seventeen-year-old girl said to Rachel as she sat down on her bed, folding her hands in her lap. "I'm dying, Rachel, and there's nothing anyone can do."

Rachel stared, open-mouthed, at her best friend. It had been a year since their first meeting. Rachel knew that Grace Parks had cancer, but it was supposedly treatable.

"I'm going to have to cut my hair off," Grace said, sobbing slightly. "And get an oxygen tank and spend the last year of my life in a hospital." Rachel felt tears threaten at her own eyes. The girl buried her head into her hands, her brown/blonde hair falling over her face. "I don't want to die, Rachel, I don't want to die."

Immediately, Rachel rushed over to Grace's bed, trying to stay strong to comfort her friend. In her life, there was no one important – no one she could see die and have to mourn over afterwards, knowing that she would live an eternity and they would not.

But now…now she would have to mourn her best friend, and the truth was, she wasn't ready to. Sure, she had Katherine, but Katherine didn't understand. Katherine killed sometimes. Rachel didn't. Grace knew about the vampire's secret, but she was supportive. Rachel didn't kill anyone. She never did.

She didn't even feed on anyone anymore. Not after the holes in her memory formed.

Grace looked up at Rachel from sobbing. "Can you heal me?" she asked. "With vampire blood?"

Rachel inhaled and held back a sob. "Grace…I don't think it would heal you completely. The cancer just might keep coming back. You'd have to take regular feedings…it's too dangerous, you could turn into a vampire with just a snap of the neck."

"Then do it," Grace exclaimed. "Turn me into a vampire. The cancer will be gone then."

Rachel shook her head. "Grace, please. You don't want this. You don't want to be a vampire, I promise you. It's a living hell."

"But it's the only way I'll live!"

"I'd rather die then stay a vampire for eternity," Rachel said sternly, shaking her head and resisting from letting the dam break on her tears. "Trust me, you don't want this. I won't do it, anyways."

"Please, Rachel," Grace sobbed. "I'm begging you."

It took her a moment to answer, because she felt for the slightest moment that she could do it. But in the next, she realized that it was condemning someone to an eternity of misery, just like Damon did to her.

It was something she was physically incapable of doing.

"No," Rachel said. "End of discussion, Grace. I would rather kill you than turn you." As she got up to leave the room, Grace grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

Grace looked at the doppelgänger with cold eyes. "Then kill me."

The vampire emerged from the back of the bar, looking just as she did when Rachel Cameron killed her back in the late nineties. The same blond/brunette hair, the same olive-brown colored eyes.

"Hi, Rachel," Grace said slowly, quiet. Rachel turned her head to Klaus.

"You had her this whole time?" she growled.

Klaus held up his hands. "Let's not get angry here," Klaus replied. "She's here as the subject of a deal. One that I know you'll take."

Rachel stared at him, hard and cold for a moment, confused as to why he would do it and angry because she knew the reason would be something horrible. "What deal?"

"You need to leave," Klaus instructed her, and looked at Damon. "Both of you. No more trips to find Stefan, no more trips to find me." He looked back at Rachel. "When I want you, I will find you. But for now, I want you to be in Mystic Falls." Klaus paused. "And, in return, I hand little Miss Grace over to you with no hesitation."

Klaus flashed over to Grace and bit her neck, tearing the flesh with an added effect of Grace screaming. Rachel let out a small scream as well, and Klaus looked over at her. "And if you choose to decline my offer to take her healthy, she will die in a matter of days and her blood is on your hands, once again."

"Rachel," Damon started, walking up to her. Rachel waved her hand at him and moved to Klaus, pissed off.

"I'll take you deal," she said slowly. "Heal her and let her go."

Klaus nodded to the doppelgänger. "As you wish," he said, and she didn't miss the déjà vu of the statement. He bit into his hand and pressed the wrist to Grace's mouth to feed her his blood, and the bite was instantly cured, and Grace would not die any time soon.

"Where are we going, again?" Grace asked from the backseat of Damon's car while Damon was doing something outside. Only Elena, Rachel, and Grace were in the car for the time being. Elena was disheartened, but Rachel was heartbroken. She toyed with the necklace on her collarbone, debating whether or not to throw it out of the window and into the night or to keep it on her neck, safe and sound.

She chose option two as Elena told Grace. "Mystic Falls," Elena said, trying to hold back a cry. "It's…um…a town in Virginia. Small town," she explained.

"Ah," Grace said and paused for a moment. "Um…is it the wrong time to ask about the whole…Rachel and the human look alike thing or…?" Grace asked, looking in the rearview mirror to see Rachel. Rachel, in a monotone, responded.

"Not now," she said. "Damon will take you back to the boarding house and he'll explain everything to you." She just wasn't up for it at the moment. At that exact time, Damon climbed into the car and shut his door, sighing heavily. He turned to look at Rachel, who just didn't want to look at him…or anyone for that matter.

"Are you okay?" he asked her, quiet.

"Just drive," she told him, inhaling sharply. To be honest, she didn't know what she expected when she saw Klaus for the first time.

But if there was something she did expect, it was most certainly not how things went down that night.

What'd you think? Still Team Klachel? :) I'm just kidding, you know it's not the end of the line for them yet. Klaus has trusting issues, and they kind of just exploded in this chapter.

I didn't do the Damon scene at the end…I didn't really want to lighten the mood at the end with Katherine and everything after that ridiculously sad chapter. I'm not happy with it at all but…you know, I guess it is what it is.

So, Grace is back! Yay! More into her storyline later on in the story.

Anyways, please review! And please go vote on my poll on my profile! Oh, and (sorry for the long list of requests) PLEASE go check out my new story, Save the Day if you haven't already. It goes off of Season 1 of TVD and I really would love it if you guys would read it!

Love,

KatherineSalvatore1918

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