Author's Note: Welcome to season two! I'm actually pretty proud of how this one turned out and I hope you guys like it. Here's a quick reminder of everybody's faceclaims.

Elowen: Victoria Justice

Josiah: Blake Michael

Esmeralda: Gina Rodriguez

Luis: Ryan Guzman

There will be new OCs appearing in s2 and I'm sure you'll like them. Enjoy everyone!

xxxx

Stefan and Elowen stood there in a very, very prolonged lapse of silence. His face had a broad range of emotions on it. Sadness, confusion, but most importantly, betrayal. The look of hurt that clouded his eyes, directed at her, crushed Elowen, but she knew she had no right to feel that way. This was her fault.

"There's nothing I can say to make this any better. I know that," she spoke quietly. "This was exactly what you feared would happen and…. I almost made it come true." She glanced back inside the hospital. Josiah was sitting down with Matt, who had his arm wrapped around his shoulders. Tyler was on the phone a few feet away. He seemed distressed.

"I think it was…. In the moment of things. He wasn't putting up a front like he usually does. He was just…. Damon. No tricks or sarcasm or smart remarks." Elowen shook her head. "None of this will make it any better. I'll understand if you want space."

Stefan was still staring at her with that same miserable look. She had to avert her eyes. It made her feel more and more guilty the longer he looked at her like that.

"Stefan…. Say something." She willed herself to look back at him. "Anything. Please."

Another couple of minutes passed. Sighing, Elowen finally gave up. She didn't blame him for giving her the silent treatment. She started to walk back towards the hospital doors when he, at last, spoke up.

"Y'know…. The worst part is, I'm not that surprised," He mumbled. Elowen turned back around. Stefan gave a bitter laugh and met her eyes. "I think that's the part that hurts the most."

"Stefan…" Elowen took a few steps back towards him, but he backed away. She took the hint and stopped. Stefan saw Tyler rushing towards the door behind Elowen's shoulder and took off. She watched him disappear, her stomach in knots to the point that she didn't even process Tyler's arrival until he crashed into her.

"Shit, sorry." He grabbed her shoulders to steady them both. "Look, I've gotta go. Keep me posted, okay?" Tyler let go and continued his haste run out of the hospital.

Elowen didn't go back into the hospital until Tyler had left.

xxxx

Hours had passed. Neither Matt, Josiah or Elowen knew exactly how long it had been, but it felt like an eternity. Caroline was still in surgery. It seemed as if the doctor's kept finding more and more things wrong in the operating room.

Bonnie arrived and spotted them immediately. She hurried over and caught their attention.

"How is she?"

"She's not good." Josiah shook his head. "We haven't heard news in forever. They're still in surgery."

Bonnie squatted down in front of Matt. "What happened?"

Matt shrugged his shoulders hopelessly. Even he wasn't quite sure what had happened and he had been in the car! "We were driving," he started to explain. "... And then Tyler heard this noise and next thing I know, we were crashing."

Elowen looked over at this new piece of news. "Tyler never said anything about a noise." Her and Josiah glanced at one another. The Gilbert device was only supposed to affect vampires. If the noise was the same one Stefan heard…. Why was Tyler able to hear it, too?

"He said it was some kind of migraine or something, but…. There was no noise. Whatever it was, it made him lose control of the car and… well, here we are." Matt shook his head. "I don't understand. Caroline was fine. I was fine. Tyler was fine. And then she just… collapsed."

Elowen saw Elena approaching them and met her halfway. Bonnie was right behind her.

"Hey…" she greeted grimly. "How is Caroline?"

"She's weak," Elowen explained glumly. "They don't know if she's gonna make it."

"What?" Elena started to choke up within seconds. She'd known Caroline since they were in diapers. She was one of her closest friends. To hear that she might die… No, she thought. Don't think that way. Bonnie embraced her tightly.

"Isn't there something that you can do?" Elena asked as she pulled back. "Like a spell or something?"

"She doesn't know how, do you?" Damon asked Bonnie condescendingly. He came up behind Elowen and stood not even a foot away. She could feel his body heat radiating off of him. She did her best to stand her ground.

"No, I don't," Bonnie admitted.

"No, you don't," repeated Damon. "It took Emily years to learn a spell like that."

"Well, I can take down a vampire," Bonnie threatened. "That spell was easy to learn."

"Hi, hello, yeah, I'm still here." Elowen waved at everyone to draw attention to herself. "I don't think I can do a spell like that on my own. However… maybe, if me, Josiah and my mom work together, we could make a dent. It would be enough for Caroline to be able to heal on her own."

Elowen could practically feel Damon obnoxiously shaking his head from behind her. "One person is believable. Three standing around her bed like some sort of cult? Too conspicuous."

"What do you propose we do then?" She finally turned around and faced him. She had been trying to ignore him as best as she could, but he always seemed to know exactly how to get a reaction. Damn him.

"I can give her some of my blood."

"No, no way," Elena immediately protested. Neither of them paid her any mind. Instead, they never broke eye contact with each other.

"Do it," Elowen agreed. She knew that he was only offering to help because Caroline was a close friend of hers, but it still showed that he could care. Both of them knew that.

"Are you crazy?" Elena questioned rhetorically. "It's too risky!"

"This is Caroline we're talking about, Elena." Elowen's eyes left Damon's at last. She was looking at Elena now. "Do you see any other option here? We can't just let her die."

"I'm with Elowen on this," Bonnie agreed. She wanted Elena to know that there was no room for arguing. She seemed to get the hint. "Do it."

"If I do this, you and me," Damon gestured between him and Bonnie, "call a truce?"

"No," Bonnie rejected. "But you and I both know you'll do it anyway. For Elowen."

Bonnie left stubbornly without another word. Elena cleared her throat and turned to Elowen.

"I'm sorry I took Stefan away from the hospital. It's just that some stuff happened with Jeremy and I freaked out. I didn't know who else to call."

A small crease formed in between Elowen's eyebrows. Elena didn't seem to notice, but Damon caught it. He tilted his head in curiosity.

"Um… it's um, fine. Is Jeremy okay?" She played along. She didn't want to go around letting everyone in on her and Stefan's business. This was easier.

"Yeah," Elena said with a sigh of relief. "Thank god."

"That's… good."

Sensing the awkward atmosphere, Elena pointed back towards Bonnie, Matt and Josiah. "I'm gonna see if there's any news."

After she left, Damon smirked down at Elowen.

"Trouble in paradise?"

Elowen scowled. "Don't rub it in, dickwad."

Damon placed a hand on his chest in faux hurt. "Are you saying it was my fault?"

"Yes," Elowen stated. "Happy?" She knew that it was partially her fault, too. It was both of theirs. Except, she really didn't want to talk about it anymore. In an attempt to run away, Elowen tried to head back to the others. Damon caught her arm and pulled her back.

"Hey, okay, okay. I'll be serious for two seconds," he promised. "I know it's probably the last thing you want to do right now, but we should really talk about what almost happened tonight."

"No, we really don't, Damon!" The words came out louder than she intended. A few nurses looked over at the noise and she could feel Josiah burning a hole in her back. She took a deep breath and lowered her voice. "You didn't see Stefan's face when I told him. We hurt him. I hurt him. I understand that you don't care how your actions affect other people, but I do. We may not have actually kissed, but that's not what matters to him. He thought he could trust me not to go there and I nearly did. That's what matters."

"Mom?" Elowen heard Josiah question from behind her. On reflex, she turned around. Esmeralda looked troubled. Conflicted. It's like she was fighting a battle of emotions inside. She hastily grabbed Josiah by the shoulder and hurried towards Elowen. She was confused, but met her mother halfway nonetheless. Esmeralda pulled them both off to the side.

"Mom, what's wrong?" Elowen asked worriedly. "What happened?"

Esmeralda was at a loss for words. When she picked up her phone, she was expecting an update about Caroline. Hearing that her ex-husband had been stabbed and was in critical condition was the last thing she ever thought she would experience. How the hell was she supposed to explain this?

"Mom?"

Esmeralda broke out of her thoughts and found both of her kids staring at her in anticipation. She opened her mouth and tried to explain the situation as best as she could.

"Luis…. Was attacked by someone. He was stabbed. Doctors don't know if he's gonna pull through."

Silence.

"Is... is this some kind of sick joke?" Josiah gave a forced laugh. "Because that's a really messed up thing to pull."

"I don't think she's joking, Jo…." Based off of Esmeralda's facial expression and the usual tug at the bottom of her stomach, Elowen could tell this was serious. Josiah's face went blank.

"You're serious?"

Esmeralda nodded her head. "He lost a lot of blood. Apparently the knife used hit a major artery and he almost bled out in the ambulance. He's in surgery right now."

Neither Josiah nor Elowen knew how to react to this news. This man was responsible for almost, if not every, bad thing that ever happened in their life. He hurt them. Physically, emotionally and mentally. They left their life in Atlanta behind because of him. Elowen couldn't stand anyone yelling around her anymore, let alone at her. She was either indifferent about violence or ignored it at all costs. She still suffered from nightmares.

Josiah was at a constant battle with his anger issues. His first instinct was always to fight. Fight to protect Elowen and Esmeralda from Luis, fight when anyone looked at him wrong. Fight, fight, fight. He was terrified that one day, he would end up just like his dad.

And Esmeralda…. Sometimes, she would still find herself crying whenever she was alone. She blamed herself for Luis's behavior. If she were just a better wife, none of this ever would've happened. She feels lasting guilt; it was her fault her babies got hurt.

But all of them would sometimes think about when before things got bad. Before the yelling, the arguing, the punishing. They used to be so happy. And that was why, deep down, all of them found themselves worried for Luis.

Damon stood off to the side, listening in. He was distracted when Jenna showed up and started asking about John. He was injured, too? That couldn't be a coincidence.

"Where have you been?" Elena was asking.

"At the fire department," Jenna replied. "I had to fill out a report, remember? I told you earlier."

"No, you didn't." Elena shook her head.

"Yes, I did."

"No, Jenna. You didn't."

"Yes, I did," Jenna repeated, frustrated. Damon slowly started to put the pieces together. Both John and Luis were in the hospital, possibly attacked at the same time and with the same weapon. Elena had no memory of anything Jenna told her. And, now that he thought about it…. When he left her house after offering to wipe Jeremy's memory, her hair was curled. It was pin straight now.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me."

xxxx

After telling Elowen that Katherine was in town, her and Damon rushed back to Elena's house to warn Stefan. Except, when they passed the threshold, Stefan was sprawled out on the floor. He stood the second he saw them.

"What happened?" Elowen asked worriedly. She took a step towards him, but decided against it. They were both probably the last people he wanted to see right now.

"Katherine happened," Damon stated.

Stefan and Damon moved to the kitchen. Jeremy had briefly come down to ask what all the commotion was. Elowen got him to go back to his room and explained what happened. To say he was confused was an understatement.

"Wait, so, Elena has some evil twin roaming around Mystic Falls? And we have no idea what she wants?"

"That sums it up pretty well."

Jeremy plopped on his bed and held his head. "This doesn't make any sense."

Elowen came to sit in the chair at his desk. "Nope."

Jeremy sighed and sat up. He chewed on his bottom lip for a moment. "Can I… ask you something?"

"Sure." Elowen shrugged. "Shoot."

"Am I the one who really wanted to forget?"

Elowen leaned forward in the chair and rested her elbows on her thighs. "I think you already know the answer to that, Jeremy."

Jeremy stared at the ground. "I'm sorry," he muttered after a long while. "For how I've been treating you and Jo and for everything I said. I didn't mean it when I said you should go to hell."

Elowen gave a sympathetic smile. "It's okay. You were confused and overwhelmed. You felt betrayed. It was only a natural reaction."

"Maybe. But when I found out the truth, something in the back of my head… flipped. Like a switch. It told me that I wanted it all along. And yet, I still gave everyone the cold shoulder."

"Hey…. I said it's okay. That was your way of processing everything. It was a lot of information to take in." She patted Jeremy on the shoulder and got up. "I'm gonna head back downstairs."

She'd just reached the door when Jeremy spoke up again.

"Thank you."

"For what?" She asked, turning to face him.

"For always being honest with me. Everyone always wants to treat me like a kid. You don't. It's a nice change."

She smiled. "You're welcome, Jeremy."

When she made it back down to the kitchen, she let out a big sigh. "Jeremy's up to speed. Not sure how Elena will like that." She crossed her arms. "The bad news is, Katherine's been invited in."

"No, the bad news is that Katherine's here in the first place," Damon corrected. "At least we know she doesn't want anyone dead or they would be already."

Everything suddenly clicked. Elowen slowly shook her head. "Katherine was the one who attacked John and Luis. And I think…. She's the one who killed Vicki and Lexi. Think about it. They were coming back to town for whatever reason and then they're dead? And Katherine strolls into town a few weeks later? That can't be a coincidence."

"Okay, correction. Katherine wants people dead. Not much of a surprise there."

"Right," Stefan intervened. "And we need to find out what those other plans are and not provoke her in the process." He shot a look to Damon, who smirked in response. Stefan rolled his eyes. "What happened tonight when you thought she was Elena?"

"Not much, really." Damon shrugged. "Other than the fact that she tried to kiss me," he casually added at the end.

"The same way you tried to kiss Elowen?"

"Don't be obvious, Stefan." Damon taunted. "Can you really blame me? Look at her." He nodded his head towards Elowen. "She's a keeper, Stef. Besides, she didn't exactly seem to protest."

Stefan started towards Damon, his jaw tightened with bottled up anger. Elowen quickly stood in between them and stared Stefan in the eyes. "Stop. We don't have time for this right now." She looked at Damon. "And you. Stop being a prick for once. There's more serious stuff at hand."

Stefan backed down but continued to glare at Damon.

"We've got to figure out a game plan then." His eyes flickered to Elowen. "John might know something."

"I'm sorry, Stefan, but you're gonna have to do that on your own," Elowen said with a bite to her words. "He brought my dad to town, tried to kill you and was prepared to let me and Jo die in that fire. I don't care if he knows anything. He can rot in hell."

"I've got a better idea." Damon grabbed an apple off of the island and walked towards Elowen and Stefan. "I'm just gonna ignore the bitch." He tossed the piece of fruit at Elowen, who caught it easily. "If Katherine thinks she's being ignored, it'll lure her out. Problem solved."

"And then what?"

"Stake her, rip her head off, something poetic. We'll see."

Damon disappeared out the front door without another word. Elowen stood there for a moment before following in his footsteps. She wasn't going to force Stefan to talk to her when he probably didn't want to. She made it halfway when Stefan called out to her.

"Elowen."

She turned around and had to tell herself not to get her hopes up. "Yeah?"

"Get home safe."

"Um, yeah, thanks," she awkwardly replied. "See you around."

She left. Stefan stared at the front door for a long moment. He still had a lot to think about.

xxxx

Elowen had gone back to the hospital. Her and Josiah stayed at the hospital overnight. She knew that he would want to stay and she also knew Esmeralda wouldn't let him do it on his own. Somehow, they managed to sleep in the waiting room.

Bonnie woke them both up early in the morning. "Hey. You two have been here all night?"

Elowen gave a long yawn while Josiah stretched beside her. She nodded. "Yeah. We waited for Damon to show up and then we crashed once we knew she was okay."

"So, she's much better now?" Bonnie asked hopefully.

Elowen nodded her head. "The blood should've hit her system hours ago."

Josiah had already gotten up and entered Caroline's room. She was wincing slightly from the tight hug he'd given her when Elowen and Bonnie caught up.

"Careful, Jo. Still a little sore."

"Sorry," he sheepishly apologized. "I'm just so glad to see you okay. Last night was scary."

"Aww." Caroline pouted at him sympathetically. She tapped at her jutted out lip. "Maybe a kiss will make it better."

Josiah laughed at her silliness, but still leaned in nonetheless. Elowen made a sound of disgust and wedged her way in between them.

"Okay, lovebirds, move. It's my turn." Elowen wrapped her arms around Caroline and did her best to be as gentle as she could. "Don't ever do something like this again, alright?"

"I'll try, but no promises." Caroline noticed Bonnie in the corner and tilted her head in concern. "Bonnie, why are you crying?"

Elowen pulled back and turned to see what she was talking about. Sure enough, tears were falling down Bonnie's cheeks. She sniffled and shook her head.

"I'm just so, so happy that everything turned out okay."

"Oh!" Caroline gushed. "I love you guys."

"We love you, too, Care," Elowen replied. The four of them embraced in a big group hug.

xxxx

Afterwards, when Bonnie had left, Caroline turned knowingly to the two siblings in the room. "Alright, spill. What did you do, put a spell on me?"

Elowen and Josiah shot one another with an uneasy glance. They hadn't thought about how to tell her that she'd been fed vampire blood and the risks that came with it. Well, now was better than never. Caroline continued to look at them expectantly.

"Well?"

Josiah took a tentative step forward. "A healing spell wouldn't have done much with the condition you were in. It was pretty bad, Care."

"Okay…" Caroline furrowed her eyebrows. Based off of their behavior, she wasn't really sure what to expect. "So, what did you do, then?"

Josiah glanced at Elowen again. He didn't know how to say the words. He hoped that she would step in and help. Caroline laughed nervously.

"C'mon, guys. It can't be that bad. It's not like you fed me some dangerous fungus or put a weird concoction with major side effects on my face, right?"

"Not exactly…" Elowen pulled Josiah out of the way and took his spot. "We used vampire blood to heal you."

Caroline's face contorted into a repulsed frown. "Ew."

"That's not all, though." Elowen paused as she tried to form the correct words. "If you die with it in your system, you'll become a vampire yourself."

Caroline's eyebrows shot up towards her hairline. "Oh." She blinked as she tried to process this information. "But, I'll be fine, right? Nothing will happen to me?"

"I highly doubt it," Elowen reassured. "You're safe here in the hospital and the blood should be out of your system by tomorrow. We just thought you ought to know."

"No, no, thank you for telling me. If I found out you guys withheld a huge detail like that, I would kill you."

They all laughed. Josiah approached her bed and gently grabbed her chin. "In the end, I think the risk is worth it. You could've died if we didn't do anything."

Caroline took hold of his hand with a smile. "And I appreciate that you did what you had to do in order to save me. That's a difficult choice to make."

Suddenly, Elowen felt like she was intruding on something as Josiah leaned down to kiss her again. As quietly as she could, she backed out of the room and closed the door with a quiet click. She needed to go home and get a fresh pair of clothes anyway.

She made it about halfway to the exit when her eyes caught sight of the directional sign. It said that the Emergency Room was down the hall to her left. Her mind wandered back to last night. Esmeralda said that Luis was there in worse condition than Caroline had been. Against her better judgement, Elowen started to wander down the hall. She'd just made it the correct room when the door opened. She came face to face with Stefan.

The two stared at each other in silence. Peering over his shoulder, she could see both John and Luis's beds across from one another. John was looking at Stefan with wide, fearful eyes. Luis was unconscious, in a coma.

"What are you doing here?" Stefan asked lowly. Elowen crossed her arms and shrugged.

"I don't know."

Stefan glanced back into the room at Luis's unmoving form. He understood what she must be feeling. Trying so hard to hate someone, but being unable to. It was a textbook case of Stockholm Syndrome for her. He moved out of the way.

"You know why." He nodded his head in Luis's direction. "... I can, um, go in there with you," he awkwardly cleared his throat. "If you want."

Elowen's eyes darted back to Luis again. She knew she couldn't do this alone. It was a terrible idea to begin with. "I'd like that."

Both of them entered the room. Elowen paused for a second in front of Luis's bed. She took a deep breath before coming to stand next to him. She was quiet for a long moment. Then, tears started to well up in her eyes. She tried to blink them away, but they just kept coming. It wasn't until she let out a loud sob that Stefan wrapped his arms around her. John watched intently from his bed.

"I'm sorry."

They both turned to the source of the voice. John was trying to sit up. He winced and grit his teeth together, but managed to do it.

"If I had known…" He grunted in pain. "The type of person he really was, I wouldn't have let him come. He said your mother took off with you and your brother and that he just wanted to see his kids again. He really had me fooled. I'm sorry."

Elowen gave a bitter laugh. "He had everyone fooled. Nobody could believe it when we brought in picture proof during court. He immediately lost his job. No one would would accept him for residency. I don't even know if he was able to continue the whole surgeon thing. Frankly, I don't care." She sniffled as she watched Luis breath steadily. "Or at least, that's what I keep telling myself." She angrily wiped at her tears with the sleeves of her shirt. "I shouldn't have come here. It was a mistake. I need to go."

Stefan gently took hold of her arms and guided her out of the room. It wasn't until the door clicked shut that she let out a breath of relief. She wiped away the remainder of her tears and started back down the hall.

"Elowen, wait," Stefan called out. She stopped and heard the sound of his footsteps coming towards her. He tugged on her wrist and turned her into his arms. He hugged her tightly as she started sobbing into his chest. "Shhh," he shushed, running his hands down her back. "It's okay. I've got you. It's gonna be okay."

They stayed like that for a long while, holding each other in the middle of the hallway.