The amount of new people who left reviews last chapter T.T y'all are all v cool and v sweet, thank you!

As for this chapter, again, time is a social construct, right? So if things end up a little whoopsie daisy then my bad. Hope you enjoy!

I'd said goodnight to Damon as we approached my house, the lights and the curtains were still open and I didn't exactly want my parents asking why I was walking home with some guy. It might actually make it worse that they probably know him from the council business and such...

The door shuts behind me gently, and I lock it knowing that no one else will be going out so late tonight.

"Hey, honey," Mom says from the kitchen, smiling at me as I approach. "How was the dance?"

I wrap my arms around her in a hug, surprising her maybe but not enough for her to ask questions. I always feel like I needed a hug from my mom after we deal with supernatural drama. "It was fine," I tell her, grabbing a seat at the table. "Alex is an even bigger jerk than before now, never gonna talk to him again."

"See these immature high school boys? They'll grow up someday. But honestly," she starts, and immediately I can tell where this is going, "I don't understand why you and Tyler don't give things a try, go on a date and just see what happens! Just the two of you, I mean."

"We go on dates quite a lot, according to you," I say, not doing very well in holding back the sarcasm. "We aren't like that Mom, although considering my recent dating life, I almost wish we were. Would make things way less complicated..."

She comes over, rubbing my shoulders gently. "Have you...heard from Lana?"

I sighed, picking some dirt from underneath my nails, not really wanting to answer that.

"Well," Mom says knowingly, "That answers that, then." I close my eyes to stop them from rolling, not wanting to get into an argument right before bed. "I haven't heard anything from the rest of her family either, no one has. I wonder where they went, they're not in trouble, hopefully."

Sometimes it's difficult listening to my parents talk about Lana and her family when they don't know what happened that night, what pain they had put me through. It's frustrating because it makes me think about her, wondering if everything between us was fake, or if after discussing things with her family it was decided that I'd be put down like some sick animal.

Either way, that night was terrifying and humiliating, and I hope to never experience anything like it ever again.

Although, not knowing where they went, if they've left for good or if they have gone to get more resources, more people, to try again in the future...it's unnerving.

I try not to think about it too much, focusing on the present over everything else, but I'm just afraid the past will catch up to me... as it has probably done in every other lifetime of mine.

"I'm going to bed," I say, getting up and kissing my mom on the cheek. "Good night."

"Night, sweetie."

I grab a bottle of water from the fridge, peeking my head into the living room to wish my dad a good night before heading up the stairs. While getting ready for bed, taking off all my makeup and removing all the bobby pins from my head, I sent a couple of texts to my friends.

Elena, I messaged to double-check how she was doing after tonight's events, she had gone through a bit more than me, actually witnessing the apparent torture and death of the vampire that had harassed her. I messaged Bonnie about how she and that guy from the bar were getting on, hearing from Caroline that they had gone to the Grill after ditching the dance.

I messaged Tyler about tonight's events, basically ranting to him about what an asshole Alex was, and that he and Matt were right all along. I may have also copy and pasted that very same rant to Caroline, only adding that she is no longer allowed to set me on any more dates after that disaster.

A few messages came back: Elena was fine, she actually felt pretty good all things considered, Bonnie happily informed me that she went and asked that guy out herself! Amazing! Caroline was very apologetic and promised to never set me up with a grade-A asshole every again, however, the wording makes me worry that she'll try this whole set up scheme again. And Tyler...well, he sent back his own rant which contained quite a few chosen words that my late grandmother would be horrified to hear.

Glad to know that everyone else's night went alright and that they were otherwise feeling pretty good, I got to sleep without much trouble.

Hm, no trouble at all...

Wait. Aw crap, another one of these dreams? Give me Kiera Knightly, give me Orlando Bloom, give me pirates! I'm getting sick and tired of all these vampires, I swear.

"Honey, can you help me with my dress?" a woman's voice calls from the next room over. I make my way out of what must have been the closet after putting away some very heavy, but very beautiful dresses, and you know what? This is fine, this dream is great, we don't need no pirates tonight.

Nervously, I make my way over to where a blonde lady stands in the mirror, fixing her hair, completely fine with having her back exposed to a gentleman. I catch myself in the mirror briefly, a plain black suit and tie, dark eyes to match dark skin, hair cut short and a bruise forming underneath my left eye.

"Dear?"

"I'm here," I reply quickly, coming up behind her to start strapping her into one contraption of a dress, dear lord, how did anyone get anything done with these things?

But despite my current confusion, my fingers seem to know the strings and tying it all together very well.

Her voice breaks through any thoughts I was having, as she turns to face me, placing a gentle hand on my face. "You're hurt, who done this to you?"

"No one."

"You know not to lie to me, dear," she says with a sigh, "Please, tell me?" My silence seems to bring her sadness, although I see a glimmer of frustration too. "Fine, at least let me heal you, it won't look good for the dinner tonight."

"My lady, I'm...unsure about whether I should attend tonight," I seem to say, getting cut off as she bites into her wrist and forces it to my mouth. She's a vampire, clearly, does that mean I'm compelled if I'm this calm? She must trust me to some extent to do that so casually.

"If my brothers can go out and bring whoever they wish, then so can I," she says confidently, placing her hands on my chest.

"What if...they react badly. To me, I mean. I'm not exactly what they would hope as a suitor for with you."

"They might, but it will only be because I found you first."

"I do wish you'd stop being so cryptic, dear."

"I will," she says, pulling me closer into a hug, allowing me to rest my chin on the top of her head. "Tonight, I promise. Everything will be explained tonight..."

"I swear, Skye, next time I see him I'm kicking his ass."

I smiled up at Tyler as he paced side to side, absolutely raging still apparently from last night. It's nice to know I'm cared about. "Ty, it's fine, I promise, nothing happened."

"Yeah, and nothing will happen again after I break his kneecaps."

This was going to take a while...might as well recap what today has been like so far!

I'd gotten up after that particular dream, even though it was early in the morning. It was vivid, so I know it must have been some sort of memory, and it wasn't exactly scary, nothing bad happened, but it left me feeling uneasy somehow...

Plus, it gave me plenty of time to get ready and continue searching for the journal which may or may not exist. I didn't want to risk raising any suspicion with my parents in searching for this one super-specific journal, so this was a solo mission on my part. After maybe an hour, I had managed to find a couple of old journals.

I couldn't remember the exact date or year that these events occurred in though, so I guess I had to take all of them to the boarding house.

And that's exactly what I did.

"You're up bright and early this morning," Damon said when I'd knocked on the door, looking more confused than anything else. Considering how much I sleep, the confusion is fair, even my dad was confused when he realised I was up before noon on the weekend.

"I've got some news concerning journal duty," I informed him, passing him the tote bag full of my families old musty journals as I walked by him to the kitchen, keen on some that coffee I can already smell.

"Sh!" he whispered, pointing upstairs when I gave him a weird look.

Raising an eyebrow I asked, "What?"

And then a mini game of charades took place, involving Damon acting as if he were a couple of teenagers madly in love to the point I could guess who was upstairs.

"You don't want the happy couple to know we might have a lead?" I asked, confused.

"Not yet at least, I don't fully trust them."

"Does this make me one of the bad guys now?"

"Not from my perspective," Damon said with a smirk far too sinister for this time of day. "Coffee?"

We spent a little while going over the journals, I now had the right dates from Damon and we easily narrowed the pile down to two journals. Hopefully, this will get us started at least. Because I was curious as well, Damon let me have his dad's journal to browse through.

"Why do you wanna read that anyway?" he'd asked, handing it over.

I shrugged, smiling, "I wanna see if you and Stefan are mentioned anywhere. See if you were as annoying as you are now."

"Haha, very funny," he said, rolling his eyes. I'm not even a page in when he proposed the idea... "...do you wanna go annoy them?"

Knowing exactly who he was referring to, and not wanting to get further onto Elena's bad side, I said, "Not really."

"Sure you do, come on."

I never had a choice really.

Just as Stefan, very adorably cuddling up to Elena I must add, said, "I could get used to this..." I felt almost bad as...well...

"Rise and shine, sleepyheads!" Damon said, flinging the door open and dragging me into the room along with him.

"Damon!"

"Get out!"

"Don't be so modest, if I see something I haven't seen before I'll throw a dollar at it."

He got a smack from me for that comment. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to be a part of this."

"Anyway," Damon said, "We have some very important business to get along with."

"And it has to be right now?" Elena quipped, very rightfully quite upset.

"Well, we have lots to do, now that we're all friends and working towards a common goal," Damon had replied, definitely not sounding like he believed this truce. To be fair, the glance Stefan and Elena had shared made me believe they didn't think too highly of this truce either.

After explaining what a grimoire was to Elena, she was put on journal duty for the Gilbert journal. Which lead to the question, "What about Skye? She's also a founding family member."

"I've been looking already," I admit, sharing a glance with Damon, the look he was giving basically saying not to reveal much else. "Still looking, to be honest. I'm going over to Tyler's today though to see if there's anything in his families library."

"That's...smart," Stefan said, almost reluctantly. The more time we spend discussing this journal business, the more I'm suspecting they don't actually want to help Damon get Katherine out of the tomb, and for the sake of keeping the peace, I'm opting to play oblivious to this fact and hopefully wait out the hostility.

And then Stefan brought up a good point. "What about our mystery vampire? Dimwit obviously wasn't working alone, so whoever's out there knows who we are."

"And I don't like that disadvantage, so," Damon said, smacking his hands together. "Chop, chop! Let's go, Skye!"

I rolled my eyes as I was lead out of the room I was forcefully dragged into not ten minutes ago.

"You know, I really like this menage a foursome thing we've got going on - "

"Stop."

Before I could give Damon a serious talking to about etiquette he probably should already know when it comes to interrupting couples in the early morning, he places a finger to my lips and for a minute skye dot exe stopped working, only to realise he was listening in on what they are saying after we had left.

And after all that, I left to go to Tyler's. Even he was shocked I showed up on time considering he was still in his pyjamas. After that recap, I think he's finally calmed down!

"So," I smile calmly, "Toast time?"

"Toast time," he agrees, nodding his head and leading the way to the kitchen.

Cheese on toast may in fact be the greatest gift to mankind, and no I will not take any criticism in that statement.

We make a small pile of toast, cheese and ham and even jam options, before sitting down at the kitchen counter to eat up.

"Have you spent much time with Matt lately?" I asked, peeling the crusts off my slice of toast.

"Not really, he's been working a lot lately," Tyler replies, practically hoovering up two slices at once. "Why?"

I shrugged, "I dunno, it's been a while since we all hung out is all."

"He's got a girlfriend now, Skye, man has changed."

"Stop teasing him, he's happy," I say, flicking my crusts at him. "When is there some sports game on that we can all watch."

Tyler raises an eyebrow which means I'm about to get mocked. "Some sports game?"

"I watch them, I just don't keep up with them..." I shrug. "Just...set up a night where we're all free, can even have a few drinks, order something in, the works."

"Sounds good, I'll text him to see when he's off work."

"Good, now, be honest with me...has Caroline said anything else about setting me up with anyone?"

"...um."

"Damnit."

Future me problem...future me...

Or that's what I keep telling myself at least.

As Tyler goes to get changed and ready, I use the opportunity to go and snoop around the library. How come the Salvatores and Lockwoods get libraries but the Hamptons, Gilberts and Forbes get regular ole houses.

I shouldn't complain, but man I can be just a little jealous.

The Lockwood's own personal library isn't as grand as the one in the Salvatore boarding house, it is, however, a little easier to navigate and in no time at all I've found a whole section of journals. With the dates still fresh in my mind from this morning, I power through and try to find any within that time.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like there is a journal of an old Lockwood. At least none that I can find.

I send a message to Damon first, letting him know that the Lockwoods were probably a bust and asking for any updates on the journals I'd handed to him earlier. I contemplate sending a message to Elena, and eventually give in because I refuse to believe we are on opposite sides just yet.

"Alright, I'm ready, let's get going!" Tyler says, jogging down the stairs.

"Can this be more of a walk than a jog?" I say, practically begging for my life.

"So long as I don't have to carry you, we can go any pace you want," he replies, grabbing his keys from the counter and heading towards the garage. It's been a while since either of us went on a journey to the lake, and there are always fun things to do there. With summer coming to a close, it's only a matter of time before it's too cold to do any of those things.

During my super duper fun day out with Tyler, our duet in the car gets interrupted by my phone ringing. Elena. Wonder what this is about.

"Hey, what's up?" I ask, shrugging at Tyler's raised eyebrow.

"Did you know Damon invited himself in for dinner? Be honest Skye." I hear Elena say.

"What? I've been out with Tyler all day, still am, technically. Say hey, Ty."

He rolls his eyes. "I'm not a dog, Skye."

"Okay, okay, sorry. It was just a shock to come home to was all," she sighs. I wonder why she's so stressed. "When are you going to be back? Wanna come round for dinner?"

"Um, we've only just kinda left the lake so go on and have fun without me," I say, also taking note of how dirty my clothes and hair had gotten during our mini-hike. "How's journal business been going?"

A pause, hesitation with Damon being nearby or because it's me asking? It's getting hard to tell these days. "Jeremy had used the journal in one of his reports. He lent it to Mr Saltzman, so Stefan has gone to ask him about it."

God, I hope the word 'ask' is literal in this case, we don't need another dead history teacher or any more torture in our school halls. School is traumatising enough with all of this added in.

"Well, hopefully, he finds something, anyway, I'll talk to you later. We need to get the gossip out of Bonnie."

"Oh yeah, her date is tonight!"

A couple of goodbyes, a grumble from Tyler later, and we're back to our carpool karaoke. Or at least, I thought we were.

"What was that all about?" Tyler asks, making me wonder how much I'm gonna have to lie about.

"Damon, Stefan's older brother, is looking for this old family heirloom thing and he's already checked his own family journals, no luck," I explained, technically not telling much of a lie.

"What is it he's looking for? Maybe my mom knows something about it," Tyler offers, "Hell, she might even have it on display somewhere."

At this point, I wouldn't be too surprised. It would be kind of fun to stage a full-on heist. God, I've been turned into a criminal... Oh well, it was bound to happen at some point in this economy.

"I don't really know, to be honest, another old book I think," I shrug, opening up my messages on my phone. "If we come to a dead-end, you'll be the first to know."

I send a quick text to Damon asking what on earth he thinks he's doing infiltrating the Gilbert household without Elena knowing, and then another one to Bonnie just to ask how it's going because I'm nosey and I can't help myself.

"So," oh no, don't like the sound of that. "What's the deal with you and this Damon guy?"

...oh god, Caroline's corrupted my boy. "What do you mean by that?"

"I dunno, but I do know you've been spending an awful lot of time with him," Tyler says. I get a side glance off him, combined with a wiggling of the shoulders. "You into older guys now?"

I don't usually when he's driving, but I smack him, probably causing myself more pain than him. "Shut it! You've been hanging around with Caroline too much."

"Hey, you know me, I don't really care. I'm hardly one to talk."

"Just because Miss Layne talks to you after class does not mean you have a chance, Ty!"

"Let me dream, Skye...let me dream..." he sighs blissfully, and for a moment I think I've managed to wiggle out of this conversation. Obviously not. "But seriously, I think I've only seen him a few times but hey, he's a pretty good looking guy."

"You're welcome to come out at any point, I'll never stop loving you for who you are."

"Shut it," he says, rolling his eyes. "So, you're avoiding answering any of my questions, how bad is it?"

I raise an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"

"Oh boy, it must be bad!" he laughs.

"No! I just don't know what you mean!" I protest, shaking my hands in front of me.

"Come on, Skye, don't be blind to your own emotions... You like him a little bit at least, right?"

I take a minute to actually think that over, looking out the window of the moving vehicle and wondering how much damage would I take if I jumped out right now. And I guess maybe actually taking the time to go over how when we first met I did find him attractive enough to talk to at the bonfire, even to kiss without even knowing his name, to then having some buddy-flirty acquaintanceship to, well, all the vampire drama.

Can't really deny that we get along like a house on fire, in a good way, we work well together despite our differences...

And even though I'm fully committed to getting Katherine out of the tomb, my heart aches a little every time I think about him leaving with Elena's lookalike, probably forgetting how short human life is and forgetting all about me and I know life will move on eventually but...

Oh god, if I'm putting this much thought into it...

I slump back into my seat and sigh, "Fuck."

"And she's finally got there."

By the time we got home, it was so late that Tyler only stayed for a short dinner of leftover fajitas before heading home to get showered and changed. Kieron was happy enough to tell us both how dirty we looked, Mom more politely telling us to leave our shoes outside. Dad joked about whether we fell down a hill or not, not knowing we nearly almost did but neither of us was gonna bring up that potential fatality.

As soon as I'd cleared up, I headed upstairs to get showered and changed for bed. It had been a long day.

Considering my recent revelation in the car, I sent a reluctant text to Damon about how things were coming along before hopping in the shower.

When I checked to see the reply, it only said "OUTSIDE" so I can pretty much guess what that means.

Grabbing a hoody to have some defence against the cold outside, I opened my bedroom window and looked around the dark.

"Dameo, oh Dameo, where art for thou, Dameo?" I said quietly, filled heavily with sarcasm.

"Right here, Skyliet."

I turned to my right to see Damon had appeared on the edge of the window sill, usual smirk in place. I raise an eyebrow at him.

"What? I'm sorry, the names Skye and Juliet don't exactly blend well together."

"What're you doing here at this time?" I asked exasperated.

"To pick you up, of course," he said and wiggled my old family journal at me. "I know where the grimoire is."

That sounds positive! "Really? That's awesome! Where is it?"

"Buried with my father," he said, handing me the journal through the barrier still in place between us. "Are you ever going to invite me in?"

I take the journal from him and place it on my bedside table, "Only if you're lucky. And don't try changing the subject, are you saying you want to go graverobbing? At this time?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying. Chop, chop, get your shoes on."

"Dude, this is becoming more Scooby-Doo horror than you can imagine, can't we wait until tomorrow morning? When it's light?" I asked, hoping I wasn't gonna have to shower again after what I assume will be a good hours worth of digging in the mud.

"Nope, Stefan and Elena might have had another lead with the Gilbert journal," said Damon, and clapped his hands similar to how he had done it this morning while annoying the happy couple. "So, chop, chop!"

Rolling my eyes, I turn back indoors to grab a pair of socks and old trainers, not bothering to change out of my pyjama bottoms or hoody. "So wait, if you already had this information from the old Hampton journal why did you go bother Elena for the Gilbert journal earlier?"

"I hadn't read through the whole thing yet, and I wanted to keep an eye on them to see if I could trust them." I hear him sigh, taking a second to glance over to see him looking up at the sky. "I don't think I can...Elena lied to me."

I feel my phone buzz in the hoody pocket, but I ignore it.

I sighed, knowing that despite everything he's been through and the front he's put up that it must still suck to not be able to trust your own brother, your only living relative. I can't even imagine what that must feel like. "I'm sorry."

And then he's back, smirking as usual. "Don't be, I found out who else is keen to get the tomb open, I'll tell you about that later. Plus, once I have Katherine back I don't really care whether or not Stefan trusts me. Now - "

"I know, I know," I said, rolling my eyes. "Chop, chop, whatever."

Quickly, I finish tying up my shoes and turning the light in my room off. I walk towards the window and slip out beside Damon. Now my beating heart? That is definitely the being a little afraid of heights because wow, you don't realise how tall your house is until you're sitting on the windowsill.

Damon wraps an arm around me as I turn to close the window behind me, leaving it slightly ajar for later. After giving him a nod, I feel myself being lifted through the air and then the rush through the woods.

I don't think I'll ever get tired of this feeling. It's almost a shame to think it might never happen again. So I take the time to embrace it, remembering what it feels like to be held securely, feeling and seeing the world move by at an incredible speed.

And then the adrenaline rush you feel after as your body eventually catches up.

Damon places me to my feet and it then occurs to me.

"Do we have anything to dig with?"

"Let's find the place first, then we'll worry about the digging part," he said, walking towards where the remnants of an old house once stood. I wonder...is this his old house?

Before I can even think to ask, we see light...fire to be more specific.

And two figures leaning over a big old dirty book.

Stefan. Elena. The grimoire, I assume.

"Well, well, well," Damon sais loudly, announcing our presence and making me question whether I really have become one of the bad guys. "What are you two doing here?"

And in a moment of panic...

"I texted Elena!" I said quickly, making whatever it was Stefan was about to say redundant. All eyes turned to me. Stefan in confusion, Elena in realisation and Damon...god, is that betrayal? "While I was getting ready, I messaged saying to come help. I didn't exactly want to get all muddy again, ya know."

"Yeah!" Elena said, thankfully backing me up, and drawing the attention back to her. "We've not been here that long, it's lucky the coffin wasn't buried that deep, right Stefan?"

Stefan, reluctantly it seems, agrees, nodding.

"Great job though, guys," I say, walking over to Stefan and extending my hand for the book. Hopefully, he can tell how desperate I am to keep the peace. "Can we have the grimoire then?"

Even more reluctantly it seems, Stefan passes the grimoire into my hands, only to then take it out a second later.

"No."

"Stefan," I say in a warning tone. Come on, don't do it, man.

He gets out of the literal hole he's dug himself into and faces Damon. "No, I can't let you have her back, Damon."

"And why the hell not, Stefan? Can only you be happy?" Damon retorts, sneering at him.

And that's when I snatch the grimoire from Stefan, using the fact he was an inch away from the hole to push him off balance and back into the hole.

I quickly turn around and pass it to Damon who all but snatches it from me without a thank you.

God, why do I feel like I've managed to piss off everybody while trying to keep the peace, this is specifically why I don't try and keep the peace, damnit!

"You know," Damon said, speaking to me for the first time we got here. "Out of everyone in this damn town, I thought I could at least trust you."

I blinked, not liking the way he was talking. "You can trust me, Damon...look, we've got the grimoire we're one step closer to - "

"We are not one step closer to anything," he snapped, making me take a step back, not used to this. "This is never an us issue, you gain nothing getting Katherine out of the tomb! I half bet you've been working with these two the whole time.

"What?" I say in shock, not sure what else to say.

"God, you had me fooled, Skye."

"I didn't! I'm not trying to fool anyone!" I yell, feeling my eyes start to sting. "I'm trying to keep the peace, damnit! I hate being in the middle of this conflict, but I want to help you, Damon!"

"Bullshit!" he yells, swinging an arm making me take another step back. "I can't rely on anybody but myself, it seems. Screw you."

And that's it, I've had enough. "Know what, screw you, Damon! I've done everything in my power to help you these past few weeks! I was coming out at god knows what time to help dig up a god damn grave! And you think that was what, all an act?" I hate my voice cracking as I yell again, "Screw you!"

Turning around, I stomp away towards where I can see Elena has parked the car, jumping into the backseat and letting out a sob, desperately trying to stop myself from full-on crying. Screw this, screw him, screw this!

A few minutes later the front doors to the car open and Elena and Stefan jump in.

"Are you okay, Skye?" Elena asks reluctantly.

Wiping away any remanents of tears, I turn to look out the window. "Can Stefan give me a lift up to my window? I'm locked out."

Stefan nods, "Sure thing."

I sighed, closing my eyes as Elena starts the car. I really messed up tonight, huh...damnit.

Wordcount: 5,380
Proofread: yee boiz!

And I oop, only a touch of drama. I hope I played things out realistic enough. If not, well, it's fanfiction so. I hope you enjoyed the shenanigans none the less! Had a bit more Tyler in this chapter, missed that boy.

Next chapter is the big tomb reveal! Exciting times ahead so...

Leave a cheeky wee review! Takes 2 seconds but gives me serotonin for dayyyys

I reply to you lovely people

LadyScatty - Plot twist, the birthmark is actually a honing-in device that attracts absolute psychos, supernatural or not. I'm kidding, but rip Skye's love life huh. I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter tho! Thank you sm for reviewing!

kit - I'm glad Skye being bi made you happy! I figured well, why not leave all options open:) Thank you so much for leaving such a lovely review! It makes me happy knowing folk like you are enjoying the plot I've come up with. I really do hope you stick around for the twists I have planned for when future characters show up!

Tihiroro - Omg already rooting for the hybrid boi, and he hasn't even appeared yet! I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far and stick around to see what goes down with Klaus and co. Thank you for reviewing lovely!

Guest - haha, Alex probably deserved a good punch. As for Damon and Skye's camaraderie, there's um...been a slight hiccup. They'll sort it out, probably. Ah! I don't wanna give much else away, but as always, thank you some much for leaving such an awesome review! And I hope you're taking care of yourself throughout all this too