Disclaimer: See prologue. some dialogue is taken right from the episodes, cuz it's hard not to ya know?

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There's a time and place for everything, for everyone
We can push with all our might, but nothing's gonna come
Oh no, nothing's gonna change
And if I asked you not to try
Oh could you let it be...

I wanna hold you and say
We can't throw this all away
Tell me you won't go, you won't go
Do you have to hear me say
I can't stop lovin' you
And no matter what you say or do
You know my heart is true, oh
I can't stop lovin' you

You can change your friends, your place in life
You can change your mind
We can change the things we say
And do it anytime

... ... ...

Kenzie's eyes popped open and she was looking up at the ceiling of Damon's car.

"Kenzie's alive." Damon said from the driver's seat.

Elena turned around to peer at her. "What were you thinking? Angering Klaus like that."

She shrugged as she sat up. "Why not? I had nothing better to do."

"One day, you're not going to come back, Red." Damon told her with a small glare.

"Where are we?" She asked, rotating her neck.

"To see Stefan." Elena replied as she opened the door.

Kenzie got out of the back seat and looked at the witches house with a sigh. "So how did you find out he was here?"

"Bonnie told me."

"Of course." She said with a small sigh.

"Did you know?" Damon asked.

"Well are we going to go get him or what?" Kenzie asked, avoiding the question.

Damon glared at her before turning to follow Elena into the house. They called out for Stefan as Kenzie brought up the rear, jumping back when she saw Damon began to sizzle. He moved out of the sunlight, commenting that the spirits were not a big fan and messing with his daylight ring. Kenzie held a hand under a beam of light and when she didn't burn, she stepped in further, pushing past them and down the steps to where she could hear Stefan, ignoring Elena and Damon calling her back. She reached the bottom step, quickly ducking as Stefan shot out a hand to grab her. She grabbed his arm, trapping it between her arm and body as she pulled him closer.

"Well that wasn't very nice, was it?" She asked before letting him go and pushing him back.

He smirked at her. "What are you doing here Kenz?"

"They don't seem to be too fond of Damon, do they?" She asked, sticking her hand into a sunbeam. "Are they selective?"

"Yes." Stefan replied, sticking his hand into the sun as well. "I had a feeling you'd show up sooner or later, so I made sure they knew I liked you."

"Annnnd there it is. Thank you for ruining my cover. Everyone's been asking me where you are, thinking I've been keeping tabs on you."

"Because everyone knows how well you can hide the truth. Elena is coming. Have you told my brother yet?"

She shook her head. "You get to have that convo with him, not me. Don't be a dick. I'll bring you something to eat soon."

He nodded before telling her he was fine for the moment and she turned to go back up the stairs, passing Elena and motioning with her head towards Stefan. She left the house and walked outside, dropping to the ground as Damon came running at her. She softly swore as she kicked to her feet, knowing she had just screwed up.

"How did you do that?" Damon snarled at her as he turned and grabbed her arms.

Kenzie merely lifted an eyebrow. "I know you, Damon Salvatore. You just learned I've been hiding something from you, you tend to act first and think later, well the thinking part is usually optional, so I knew it was safer to duck as soon as I cleared the house."

"How could you not tell me?" He hissed.

"Because I made a promise to keep my mouth shut. So Bonnie really spilled the beans?"

He nodded.

"That chick sucks at keeping secrets almost as much as Caroline does." Kenzie muttered.

"What was my brother talking about? Tell me what?" He asked as Elena came out of the house, her cheeks flushed with anger.

"I've had it with him." Elena snapped, unknowingly saving Kenzie from having to answer.

Damon sighed. "I'll go talk to him."

"You can't get in." Elena reminded him. "The witches won't let you."

"Here." He pulled out his car keys and put them into Elena's hand. "Take my car keys. You go deal with your brother, I'll deal with mine." He turned towards the house, stopping in front of the door and taking a deep breath, giving a small shake of his head before he stepped inside. The girls could hear him screaming out in pain and Kenzie didn't know whether to feel bad, or laugh at him. She was still so conflicted.

"Are you coming with me?" Elena asked her.

She shook her head, sitting down in front of the door. "Nah, Damon's not done yelling at me. Plus I'll make sure they don't kill each other."

"I'll talk to you later." Elena told her with a sad smile before walking away.

Kenzie waved, her ear already turned towards the conversation in the house as Damon reached the basement. Moments later, she stood up just as Damon threw Stefan out of the house. The younger brother stumbled out and Damon kicked him hard in the stomach, sending him to the ground. He broke off a branch and followed his brother to the ground, staking him in the stomach.

"That is for screwing up my plan! You stop me from killing Klaus and you steal his family. Why? Doesn't make sense." He twisted the stake further into Stefan's stomach. "Answer me."

"Stop." Kenzie yelled, grabbing Damon's arm. "Just stop."

He easily shook her off "He ruined my plan." Damon snarled. "I had him, Stefan. Why did you screw it up?"

"That's what he was talking about. That's what he was asking if I told you or not. He did that on purpose. He was saving your life." Kenzie told him.

"She's right. I did it to save you." Stefan confirmed, pushing Damon off of him.

"What?" Damon asked in disbelief looking up at the sky. "No. No way, you didn't do this for me."

Kenzie kneeled down, helping Stefan into a sitting position.

"He was one step ahead of us." Stefan explained before gritting his teeth as Kenzie yanked out the stake, letting it drop to the ground. "If Klaus died, his hybrids would have killed you."

"When are you going to get it through your head?" Damon asked, kneeling in front of his brother, one hand grasping the stake. "Stop saving me."

Kenzie threw herself in front of Stefan, hoping to stop more stabbings from happening and thinking Damon would stop when he realized it was her. But with everyone, herself included, moving far too fast for the human eye, Damon didn't stop in time, the wood piercing Kenzie in the stomach. She let out a small shriek of pain, falling back against Stefan, who gently lowered her down in his arms.

"Red. I'm sorry, I didn't think you would move that fast. How did you move that fast?" Damon asked, appearing above her.

She ignored him, instead looking up at Stefan. "It hurts."

Stefan glanced down at her in concern before glancing at Damon. When he met Kenzie's eyes again, she gave a small shake of her head.

"I'm going to pull it out, okay? I'll be careful." He promised her, his hand grasping the stake.

She nodded, crying as he did so, her hands coming to cover the wound as her blood gushed out. She was going to start healing soon but she also needed blood.

"Give her blood." Stefan told her. "You staked me so you're going to have to help her."

Damon opened a vein on his wrist and pushed it towards her. Kenzie's eyes rolled up to look at Stefan, begging for a distraction and he complied, talking to his brother while Kenzie leaned her head down and accepted his wrist, trying to force back the veins around her eyes. She only took a little, enough to make it look like he was healing her before pushing him away and breathing slowly to force herself back to normal.

"I'm going to get some blood." Stefan muttered, moving Kenzie to Damon's lap as he struggled to his feet.

"You can't get in the way, Red." Damon muttered to her, wiping at the blood around her mouth.

"You guys can't fight." She said with a frown. "We need to work together."

"We wouldn't have to if my idiot brother would have just let me kill Klaus."

"But then you'd be dead." She pointed out.

"I thought you didn't care."

Kenzie glared up at him. "I thought that was the problem, I do care, too much."

"Then stop punishing me." He snapped.

Kenzie sighed pushing herself to a sitting position. "I'm punishing you? You love Elena. So don't say I'm punishing you, I will not be second best to her or anyone. You need to figure Elena out before anything happens."

Damon smirked as he raised an eyebrow at her. "Something already did happen."

She rolled her eyes, knowing he was referring to their sexcepades from earlier. "Yeah, well it really shouldn't have."

"Why not?"

She was saved from answering by Stefan reappearing and she briefly wondered if he did that on purpose to help her.

"Go talk to your brother." She said instead. "I'll wait here."

"This isn't over."

She gave a sad smile. "maybe it needs to be."

Damon leaned in close to her. "It's never going to be over, you'll see that."

She didn't reply as he stood up and went to talk to his brother. They were talking quietly but Kenzie could hear them clearly as they discussed what to do now and coming to an agreement that there had to be another way to kill Klaus. Damon argued that he wanted in and Stefan finally relented, his only stipulation was to not have Elena involved. When the elder brother agreed, he looked towards Kenzie, obviously questioning her involvement but Stefan only shrugged, saying she was already involved before motioning them to follow him into the house, telling Damon not to worry about the witches. The three entered the house, returning to the empty basement.

"What? Klaus is allergic to dust?" Damon asked in disbelief.

"Look again." Stefan told him.

Before their eyes, four coffins appeared and Kenzie grinned. She knew they were there but hadn't been able to see them before.

"Witch spirits hate Klaus as much as we do. They´re using their powers to hide the coffins." Stefan explained.

"So even if Klaus comes in here…" Damon began.

"He won't be able to see them." Kenzie finished, her grin growing.

…. …. ….

Damon and Kenzie left Stefan at the house, beginning the walk back to town. When Elena called, saying she needed Damon's help, he easily picked up the redhead, using his supernatural speed to get to Elena's. When they arrived, the porch was covered in blood, a headless body on top of it. The head was a few feet away and Kenzie recognized him as one of Klaus' minion. The one who had been at the Grill with him earlier.

"What happened?" Kenzie asked.

"Alaric was hit by a car earlier trying to save Jeremy and when he woke up, the ring wasn't working right. He collapsed and when the paramedics got here, Klaus' minion compelled them to leave, trying to get me to let him in. Jeremy showed up and killed him from behind. Can you please do something with the body?" Elena directed the last part to Damon, who nodded and picked up the body and head, taking it to his car.

"Did you want to come in for a bit?" Elena hesitantly asked.

Kenzie shrugged, now that she had the invite. "Sure, why not?" She sat at the table while Elena cleaned the porch, not bothering to help her. She wasn't about to get all dirty to clean up some blood that she wouldn't get to enjoy.

"I have to confess something." Elena murmured when she was done with the porch and was rinsing out the cloths in the sink.

"What?" Kenzie asked with a sigh, unsure if she wanted to hear it or not.

"I gave Rebekah to Klaus, in exchange for Jeremy's safety."

Kenzie raised an eyebrow, "Really?"

"You're not mad?" Elena asked.

"Why would I be? It's not me she wants to kill."

"Red's right, Rebekah's going to come right for you, she wants you dead." Both girls turned to see Damon standing at the entrance to the kitchen.

"Is he taken care of?" the brunette asked, avoiding the question.

"At the bottom of Steven's quarry and I stopped by to help Alaric as well but stop trying to disitract me. What the hell were you thinking?"

"Klaus won't let her near me because he needs me." She explained.

"And you suddenly trust him?"

Elena shook her head. "No I don't trust him. But what other choice do I have? I don't trust Stefan. Do you think he's just gonna give up the coffins?"

Kenzie watched closely, wondering if Damon was going to go against his brother's wishes.

"No, my brother is sort of running his own show now."

"Yeah. My brother just chopped off someone's head! It's not right. It's not fair. He's 16 years old. He shouldn't have to live like this." She sounded on the verge of tears and Kenzie did feel bad about that part but the truth was, none of them deserved to live like this. She didn't deserve to be dead and stuck at eighteen forever.

"There has to be another way, we have to fix this." Elena continued.

"We will." Damon promised her.

"What are you going to do?" Kenzie warily asked.

The brunette shook her head before sending Kenzie a pleading look. "I'm going to send him away."

"He won't go."

"I know, so Damon will help."

"He's going to hate you."

"I don't care." Elena said. "He'll be safe."

The front door opened and Jeremy and Ric walked in. Kenzie sat there, listening to them head towards the kitchen.

"Ric, how are you feeling?" Elena asked.

"Been better, I guess." He replied with a shrug. "But we need to talk to Kenzie."

"Why?" The redhead asked.

"It's about your ring, it's like ours."

"I know." She softly replied, fingering the ring that was on a necklace.

"There might be something wrong with them. It brought me back to life but it didn't heal me."

Kenzie frowned. "Maybe they can only do that so much."

"Yeah, well if that's the case, you need to be careful. You've died probably just as much as me."

"I'll take that into consideration. But I should get going." She stood up, giving Jeremy a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"What's that for?" he asked.

"Because I've been a terrible friend. Goodbye Jeremy."

She left, listening to them talk about her, Jeremy asking what was wrong with her and Damon saying they had to have a talk. She left, she didn't want to be around for it. She understood why Elena wanted to keep her brother safe but still thought it was unfair to compel him to make him leave.

Kenzie walked back to her house, noting her dad was absent as she went up to her room and laid on her bed, staring up at the ceiling. She didn't know how long she was there before she heard the front door open and a slight swoosh as Damon raced up to her room, stopping in the doorway.

"Have you ever thought about compelling me to leave Mystic Falls?" She asked, still looking up.

"No." He replied, stepping further into the room. "I'm too selfish, I would rather have you here with me, so I can keep an eye on you."

She moved only her eyes to glance at him before looking back up. "Why haven't you let me go yet, Damon?"

"Is that what you want?" He sat on the bed beside her.

"Yes."

"Really?"

"No…. maybe… I don't know." She sighed. "I just know that you're dangerous."

"This whole town in dangerous." He reminded her.

"I'm not talking about that kind of danger."

"Then what are you talking about Red?"

She shook her head, tears filling her eyes as she kept looking up. One escaped and he leaned over her to wipe it away.

"Do you want me to let you go?" He reiterated.

"And if I said yes?" She whispered, her lower lip trembling as he stared down at her.

"I still wouldn't believe you."

"You're going to hurt me, I can't do it again."

One hand came up to caress her cheek. "I didn't mean to do it the first time, I swear to you, I didn't."

"Everything's different now."

"Then we'll deal. We always do."

"I'm tired." She murmured.

"You want to sleep?"

"Yeah."

"Want me to stay?"

She stared at him for a few minutes, unsure of how to answer before she finally nodded, moving over so he could lie down beside her. One arm came up to wrap around her and she turned towards him, cuddling into his side as she fell asleep.

… … …

"It's actually very simple." Katherine told her as they sat at a bar, drinking. "You sit here and look cute, and eventually they'll come to you."

Sure enough, two guys were heading towards them, both leering at the girls.

"See, you learn pretty quickly which guys are scumbags. These are scumbags."

"'Cause they're leering at us?" Kenzie dully asked. "If you ask me, they're just drunk and want to get laid."

"Then play along, okay? I'll show you."

The guys bought them drink after drink to the point where any normal human girl would be drunk, so following Katherine's lead, Kenzie pretended to be drunk. After last call, the girls were stumbling as the boys led them out to a car.

"You can't drive." Katherine giggled to the guy holding her up.

"Who said anything about driving, baby." He replied with a lecherous grin.

"Ohhh, what are we going to do."

"You'll see, we got big plans for you babes." He turned around to wink at his buddy.

Upon reaching the car, their demeanors changed, the guy with Katherine pushing her in the front seat while the guy with Kenzie pushed her into the back. They immediately descended on them, one hand covering their mouths as one hand reached for their belt buckles.

"okay, seriously?" The older Vampire asked after she pushed the guy off her and sat up.

"Shut up Bitch, it's time for us to have fun."

"If by us you mean Red and myself, then you're absolutely right." She vamped out and grabbed him sinking her fangs into his neck.

They guy on top of Kenzie looked up, ready to help his friend when the smell of blood overwhelmed Kenzie and she reached out and grabbed him, sinking her fangs into his neck.

She wasn't aware of anything else until Katherine was pulling her away from the guy.

"Red, it's done, you drained him."

Those words pulled Kenzie out of her trance as she wiped at her mouth and looked at the guy.

"Did I- Did I kill him?" She asked in disbelief.

"Yes." Katherine replied.

"Oh god." She whispered, one hand holding her stomach as she tried not to throw up.

"Who cares, he was scum, he was going to rape you."

"That still doesn't give me a right to kill him." Kenzie cried. "I killed him. I'm a monster."

"You're a vampire, there's a difference."

Kenzie could only stare down at the body in horror.

… … …