Kol settled me into the back seat and fished a first aid kit from the glove compartment.

"You keep a first aid kit on you?"

"It's a recent thing. Considering the way you seem to attract danger, we thought it would help." He knelt on the seat next to me. "You're already healing but this ought to help a little."

"You seem to be making a habit of patching me up."

"Well I'm trying to make amends. And you are oddly coherent for someone who just got their head bashed in."

"Vamp blood. World's best pick me up."

"That's not it…" he murmured, more to himself than to me.

"Oh?" He looked up, as if only just realizing he'd spoken aloud.

"You're not strong because of the blood or the connection. You were strong before all this. It's who you are."

"Well good to know that I can take a hit." He rolled his eyes.

"I'm trying to give you a compliment here."

"Sorry… thanks."

"Welcome." He sat back. "All done. Let's get you home."

As he made to get out of the car and move to the front, I reached out and touched his arm, stopping him. He looked at me, surprised by the sudden contact.

"Kol… could you… not tell the others what happened? I mean, chances are they already know but… on the slim chance they don't… I'd really rather we kept this between us."

"Okay. Can I ask why?"

"It's just I know that they'll panic and I'll spend the next month under house arrest."

"Well someone did attack you Elena. Maybe they'd be right to be panicked?"

"Someone attack me every other week. It's a side effect of being the doppelganger. I don't want it to stop me living my life."

He regarded me in silence for a minute and I wondered if he was going to say no.

"You are insane, little sister. But alright. I won't say anything… but I can't guarantee that they won't find out."

"Thanks Kol."

We drove back to the house. Elijah appeared at the door as we pulled up, his face distressed. The second the car stopped he was opening the passenger side door, his hands reaching out to check me for injuries.

"Are you okay? We felt your pain."

"I'm fine. I… slipped."

"Slipped?" His forehead creased and he raised an eyebrow in disbelief. I wracked my brain, struggling to come up with a believable excuse.

"It was my fault," Kol said, coming round to our side of the car. "I went to pick Elena up and she was in the library and I decided to pull a prank on her. I spooked her a bit, she fell over and hurt herself. Completely my fault. I'm sorry." Elijah eyed us both for a minute, clearly trying to decide whether or not to believe Kol.

"Alright… be more careful in future. No more pranks. She's breakable." He turned and went back inside. I shot Kol a grateful look, secretly surprised that Elijah had bought it. We headed inside and I made for the stairs, intending to hide in my room to avoid any awkward questions about my accident.

"Oh, Elena, I forgot. You got a letter" Elijah called after me. I looked up and frowned.

"A letter?" I never got mail. Which wasn't surprising since no one who would write to me would know that I'd moved.

"Yeah. It was dropped off this afternoon." He retrieved it and handed it over to me. I tucked it into my pocket and headed upstairs. I managed to avoid the other siblings and quickly got to my room, closing the door behind me. I curled up on the bed and fished the letter back out. It had been hand delivered, there was no address on the front just my name. I tore it open. The letter itself was small, written on a scrap of paper from a notebook.

Hey Elena!

Sorry about the random letter but I realized I didn't get your phone number when I dropped you off. I know I could probably arrange our dinner with you at school but I wasn't sure when I'd see you (it's a lot bigger than my old school). My number's on the back. Text me?

Ciaran

I flipped over the paper and saw his number scrawled across haphazardly. I smiled slightly to myself and grabbed my phone. I sent Ciaran a quick text and settled down to do what remained of my homework. There was a light knock at the door and it opened almost immediately.

"Hey Elena," Rebekah said.

"Hi Bekah."

"So… who's the guy?" she asked, perching on the edge of my bed.

"Guy?"

She nodded at the letter on the bed.

"I was the one who was here when it arrived. He's kind of cute. What's his name?"

"Ciaran. He gave me a lift home the other night."

"What did it say?"

"He gave me his phone number so we could meet for dinner." She made a face. "What?"

"You've met my brother right? If he hears you are going on a date, he will not be happy."

"It's not a date, it's just dinner."

"Yeah, you say 'dinner with a boy' and he'll hear 'date'. He gets really protective. It was ridiculously hard to find a guy he didn't disapprove of. I mean, there's no guarantee he'll be the same with you but… knowing him and you and your relationship and his decision to treat you like a sister… albeit one he has sex with… it's likely." I groaned softly.

"What do I do?"

"Tell Ciaran your brother won't let you out? Or just stop talking to him."

"That's not fair. He didn't do anything wrong."

"Okay… I guess I could help you out. I'll give it some thought."

"Thanks Bexs." She raised an eyebrow.

"Bexs?"

"I'm trying it out. No good?"

"No… I like it… I've just never had a nickname before… it's kind of nice." She smiled slightly and got up "Dinner's ready."

"Thanks Bexs. I'll be right down."

A/N: Yes, it's short but I wanted to get into writing again and I felt it'd be easier once I had a fresh chapter to start on.