Abigail woke up to a message from Ric warning her of ANOTHER community event and she groaned. From the bit of television and internet dabbling she'd managed, it seemed that most towns didn't feel the need to come together quite this often, even for the 150th celebration of its founding. Honestly, Mystic Falls was insane with the constant need to remind her that she'd been here from the beginning it seemed.

This time, it was the Historical Society Volunteer Day.

"Why can't I volunteer to stay home?" Abigail teased, her phone on speaker as she cleaned Cat's litter pan and made sure his water dish and food was clean and full. Ric chuckled on the other end. "How likely is it that the acting mayor will be dropping in or calling to see if I'm going to be a good and active last remaining member of the Morgan family?"

"High," was his answer and she groaned again. "Town's small, Mason is her brother-in-law, chances are she's minutes away from calling or dropping by." Great.

"Then I guess I'm volunteering -" Opening the refrigerator to get a glass of juice, she asked the most important question of the day. "Where exactly am I expected to show up and offer my services?"

Damon couldn't believe that Stefan wanted to make nice with Mason Lockwood. The full moon wasn't for weeks, so what was the point? They had ages to figure out how to kill him and figure out what his master plan was for coming back to his hometown. Why make nice? But Stefan, back in his favorite role as Misery Bear, had to extend a branch of reconciliation. Ugh.

It was bad enough they were stuck in this damn park putting in time to do - he looked around - what the hell were they doing again? His eyes caught her as she stepped out of the Mini Cooper, hair braided over her shoulder and a pair of leggings with an oversized sweater covering it to her upper thighs. Brown suede boots laced up halfway to her knees and she was wearing a pair of sunglasses to shield her pale eyes from the sun, but he'd know her anywhere. Abigail Morgan had arrived for her fair share of community service. Maybe today wouldn't be a complete loss.

Abigail was clutching a plastic bottle of juice she'd grabbed from the store on the way to the forced volunteerism her hometown expected as she made her way toward what she took for the organization table. It was manned by a middle aged blonde woman, wearing a pink blouse over a white top, and as Abi grew near she saw that the other woman looked as comfortable with her lot as Abi felt.

A forced smile on her lips, she introduced herself as Sheriff Elizabeth Forbes and Abigail felt her own smile growing. "You must be Caroline's mother," offering her hand, she introduced herself and watched as the sheriff realized just who Abi was in the gaggle of people helping get the 'park' in order. "How can I be of use?"

Shifted to helping Elena and Caroline with their task, Abigail grabbed a bucket and smiled nervously at the face that looked so like the one that ruined so much for her. Caroline was more than willing to keep the conversation flowing, and it seemed that Elena and Stefan were in the midst of relationship upheaval, with a bit of Katherine tossed in for more discomfort. Abi kept her mouth shut and her eyes on her task.

"Abigail," Caroline cut in on her mindless brushing of stain against wood, having drowned out their monotonous back and forth about babies and motherhood - Stefan's inability to father any and Elena's inherent need to become a mother, to blink back to the present. "I think we need you to come with us," her eyes were focused on a spot away from where the three of them were working, but the way she said it got Abi's attention.

They climbed a hill and Caroline was muttering that she thought she'd be able to hear her mother better from the area she picked. Abigail wondered what she could have missed when she allowed herself to focus on the task at hand instead of her surroundings for a moment or three? Glancing around the clusters of people below them, through the trees, she searched to see who might be missing. No Stefan or Damon, and she knew if Elena was present, then both Salvatore men would be as well.

Whoever catered the Historical Society Volunteer Day is getting a zero out of five stars, Damon thought as he gasped out the last of the vervain laced lemonade. Right after he rips Mason Lockwood's heart out of his chest. Stefan, for once understanding where he was coming from, comes along when they see the asshole showing off his extra strength heading for the woods.

And of course it's a trap. Wooden bullets, and Liz is holding one of the guns, because why not? Two deputies and the sheriff, and more vervain, could the day get much worse?

Caroline's hearing, Abigail thought as she watched the young vampire focus, was impressive. Within moments they were off, heading toward where her own mother was torturing Stefan - clearly both Caroline and Elena's focal point, and Damon - which made Abigail's stomach twist uncomfortably and a glow of red appear in her vision that gave her only the slightest of pauses. First they came across Mason Lockwood. Traitorous hound.

He had the audacity to threaten to out Caroline to her mother and then put Elena in a clutch and threaten to break her neck.

"Be careful, necks snap real easy round here," he taunted, and the red tinge hit Abigail's vision making him flinch as Caroline moved in with a punch to his smug face. A follow up kick to his stomach and he flew through the air, hitting a tree with a sound that soothed Abi's frayed nerves for at least a moment.

The three women continued on, but Caroline stopped when they got to the entrance to what Abigail learned later was the Lockwood cellar. She feared her mother's reaction, since she was a vampire and her mother was currently torturing two of her 'kind'. They could hear the interrogation, the threats, the pain that was being inflicted on the two Salvatore men. When Sheriff Forbes told her companions to stake Damon and Stefan and set fire to their bodies, both Elena and Abigail started forward.

"I know you're afraid," Abigail turned to Caroline as Elena kept moving. "We cannot do this without you, Caroline, and she is your mother."

They could hear Elena shouting at Caroline's mother to stop, and they both took a deep breath and followed her. It was a bit of chaos and a great deal traumatic to see the cellar. Caroline moved like light, the guards stood no chance, but Abigail was focused on Damon.

As one deputy fell to the other's bullets, she was on her knees beside him, lowering the shoulder of her sweater without a single thought. "Well?" It came out sharper than she meant it, but she knew he was weak and she couldn't stand to see it. "Damon, come on now, drink." Tilting her head, she waited for the feel of his teeth, the pull of her blood leaving her to go to him, but nothing happened.

"No," it was weak, but she heard it. "I won't." Stubborn.

Another body dropped, but she didn't even glance at it. Her eyes met his and she glared at him, green meeting blue. "You are the most stubborn, annoying ass of a -" and then she leaned forward and their lips met, teeth and tongue, and his arms, weak still, but needing her, pulled her to him. His moan told her that he still loved the taste of her mouth, and while he was weak from the vervain, which thankfully none lingered in his mouth since she was allergic, and the wooden bullets still lodged in his body he found the strength to hold onto her. Pulling back, she opened her eyes as his blinked open, blue into green, and she shook her head. "NOW will you drink?"

He started to shake his head, but he saw in her eyes that she meant it. She wanted him to. So he nodded, and as she tilted her head again, he let his nose take the slow route to her throat, reminding of her scent. Burning Abigail Morgan's brand into his memory again, as if it had ever left him. And when his teeth met her neck, as he broke her skin and the first surge of her nectar met his tongue, he heard it. A sigh, not a whimper or a sound of pain, but a sigh of contentment came from deep inside of her and he finally knew that this wasn't the reason she ran.

Sheriff Forbes was not taking the entire situation very well. And by that, Abigail meant from the tip top down to the bottom. It was bad enough that Damon, who had apparently endeared himself to the Founders' Council as a member of a founding family, had been outed as a vampire, but to learn that his brother and her own daughter were also vampires, well it was more than a bit much.

Vervain was a deterrent for compulsion and while Abigail had her own version of persuasion, it wasn't something that could alter memories to the point that they needed, at least not that she'd managed to harness it yet. The only course of action, unfortunately, was to hold Elizabeth Forbes captive in the Salvatore cellar until the vervain was out of her system. A better course than she begged for, which was death at Damon's hands.

Both Damon and Caroline refused this request, much to everyone but Elizabeth's happiness, Abi found. This intrigued her, so she asked if she could visit the sheriff during her captivity. Which is how Abigail Morgan and Liz Forbes became awkward acquaintances and slowly but surely - well we'll see.

"So you're actually THE Abigail Morgan?" Liz was asking for what seemed like the fifteenth time, and Abi nodded her assurances again. "Are you -" she took a deep breath, as if to strengthen her resolve for MORE bad news. "Like THEM?"

Abigail chuckled, thinking about how she'd reacted to Damon when he first visited her when she was trapped in her own mind. "No," a soft shake of her head and a small smile playing on her lips she kept her eyes on the other woman, pacing the cellar room where she was being held until all the vervain was out of her system. "No, I'm not a vampire."

"How are you still alive then?" Fair question, Abi thought, and one that no one else had asked her. Not Elena, or Caroline. Not even Damon, actually. "You don't look any older than -" she paled, and Abigail sighed. She was insisting that Caroline wasn't her daughter anymore. That her daughter was dead and whatever animated her body wasn't HER.

"Do you know that no one has asked me that?" Abigail smiled at the woman who bore a striking resemblance to a corned and scared animal. "Over 146 years I lay in my ancestral home, having people break in and stare at me, creating some sort of air of mystery about me, but not a single person has asked how I'm still alive."

Liz stopped pacing, and stared at Abigail. Ah, finally, Abi thought, something to hold her attention. "No one?"

Abi shook her head. "Not a single one. Not even the men I lived with before I went into my 'sleep state'." A smirk started to grow, how silly men are, she thought. "One tried to kill me before that, mind you, and yet not a question of how I survived."

Now the sheriff sat, contemplating what the woman who looked so much younger than herself, but was clearly her elder by leaps and bounds was saying. "You're immortal, but not a vampire?"

Another small shake of Abi's head and her smirk returned to a smile. "No, no blood drinking for me, thank you." She sighed. "If you'd like, I'll explain what I've learned, since I've woken up." Liz nodded and Abigail took a breath and started at the beginning. "My father, Eric Morgan - at least that was the name he was known by here in Mystic Falls, came from a very powerful family. He was the only son, his two sisters - Dahlia and Esther were expected to go down a different path, but as the only son of the only son, he was destined to be the leader of his people. He married my mother, Madeline - again her name here, at least, and she was of a similar family."

"What type of family?" Liz looked confused and Abigail realized she was doing a poorer job than her parents had done in the book and letter they'd left behind. "What do you mean their names HERE?"

Abigail shook her head and bit her lip, considering how to better explain. "How much do you know about ancient Norway?" Liz's eyes widened. "Vikings and their traditions?" Nothing from Liz, so Abigail went on. "My father and mother were from different sects, my father was the leader of one, she was the daughter of another's. My father's family, their roots run deep, not just as leaders and 'royalty' for lack of a better word, but elementally, magically." Liz nodded, so she was making sense now. "His sisters, they were taken by warriors of another group, the spoils as it were. But he managed to keep track, to make amends with at least one, Esther and her husband, Mikael. At least for some time, you see, with magic as strong as ours - there's jealousy and there's also expectation that somehow we'll share it or we'll explain how ours works versus how theirs does, does that make sense?"

Liz shook her head, but she was squinting as if she were trying to think it though in her own way. "Do you mean that your father's magic was different from his sister's?"

Abigail nodded, but felt she had more to explain. "A bit. You see, my father's life, and my mother's, and mine easily snuffed out. We are immortal, by most definitions, but my parents are dead. They chose it, not their murderer, but HE doesn't know that." She was staring at Abigail like she was more confused, and Abi could relate. "My magic flows through me in a way that I cannot possibly explain it. Most witches can train others, they can share their knowledge. I've asked for help from others." Liz nodded her understanding. "I can't reciprocate. Mine is natural, it just happens. I can no sooner teach it to another, than I could teach you to have my eyes."

"You're a witch?" Liz was getting there, in a roundabout way. "An immortal witch."

"I am a descendant from the direct line of the very first witch," Abigail answered. "The first magic that struck the world, still flows through me, I guess. Again, difficult to put into words, but 'witch' will do in a pinch."

Abigail watched as the sheriff, coming to terms with so much, sat and digested this new nugget. The news that witches existed wouldn't shock her, she was on the Founders' Council, surely they knew about witches if they knew about vampires.

"Could you -" she stopped, closing her eyes and sighing. "Never mind, it's stupid."

Abigail knew, from the tone, the hopefulness that was somehow laced with hopelessness what Liz was going to ask. Her answer came out with the same type of soft denial. "I'm sorry, Liz, but there's no 'fixing' Caroline." Liz's eyes snapped open and locked onto Abi's. "She's not broken, you know that deep down inside of you."

Liz's eyes hardened, but they were glassy with unshed tears. "She's dead, Abigail, that's broken."

Abi shook her head. "Do you know how much I hated what Damon became, when it happened?" Liz had turned her head, focused on the wall, trying to tune her out now that the topic was less pleasant. "I had just witnessed what Stefan had done to my maid, his father, and the entire household - it was gruesome and it broke me to the point that I literally disappeared into my own mind." Nothing from the sheriff, but Abi could tell she was listening. "I don't actually know how long between that moment and the first time I 'saw' Damon in this room he had another witch create for me," she fingered her bracelet, a smile playing on her lips. "But all I could see, when he was in front of me, was HER."

"Who?" Liz's voice cut in and Abi's eyes met hers. "Who did you see instead of him?"

"The same monster who caused Caroline's predicament, Liz." Abi tilted her head. "Katherine Pierce." Liz looked like she was trying to place the name, and no wonder, it was on the Founders' Scroll. "She was a guest at the Salvatore home when -" a dark chuckle. "It doesn't matter, the point is, she's still wandering around, meddling in affairs that ought not be meddled in and taking choices from people who she doesn't care about."

"Caroline isn't in there anymore, Abigail," Liz sounded like she was so sure, but also like she wanted to be convinced. "She died, and then SOMETHING took up residence."

Abi shook her head. "No, Liz, no." A heavy sigh escaped her. "I met Damon Salvatore when I was five years old, and do you know what?" Liz said nothing, but her eyes were still on Abi. "He's the same stubborn, annoying, and smug man that I grew up with -"

"You forgot charming, attractive, and I think you might actually like me," Damon offered, coming down the stairs with Liz's phone in his hand. "Time for your call in, Sheriff."