"Hey, Lena. What's up?" Emily answers her sister a while later.

"Emily, I…I need you to come pick me up. I'm…at the road near Stefan's place, and I…I," her sister sounded to be in tears.

"Hey, hey. What's wrong?" Emily shuts her laptop screen and straightens on her bed.

"It's…I, I was at Stefan's, and I found, a picture!" she gasps and cries some more, causing her sister's chest to ache. "Of Katherine. And! She looks just like me, Emily! She looks exactly like me! She's me!" Emily's eyes widen at what she was being told, rising from her bed.

"Okay. Okay. Just calm down, okay? I'm on my way."

Quickly getting dressed, Emily treks down the stairs. "Hey, where are you going?!" Jenna asks in bewilderment from the couch opposite the tv.

"To pick up Elena," Emily shortly answers before rushing out.

Ten minutes on the road, and in a fairly anxious state,

Emily is taken off guard, when, out of nowhere,

a figure appears in front of the car.

…It is too late for her to avoid collision,

the vehicle trips, and flips over,

rolling against the ground several times before taking a hard halt, upside down.

Emily's head finally stops spinning, and her vision slowly fixes on the reverted scene. Her chest is heavy, and she is coughing for breath. She is eyeing around frantically, and catches sight of the figure, misshaped on the ground, and broken at mad angles.

Then, he moves.

His bones sickly snap back into place,

and he gets to his feet.

Emily's breathing quickens as she aims for her seatbelt in an attempt to break free and bolt for it.

The man remade,

approaches her…

Damon, who was nearby, waiting for a Logan Fell that never showed up,

he hears the commotion, and rushes over to investigate.

He recognizes the car, and catches sight of the hooded man approaching it.

The man seems to have spotted him, and zoomed away with what was unmistakably vampire speed.

Damon is snapped out of it when he hears the moan of pain from within the totaled car. He rushes forward and bends down to catch sight of the driver.

It was definitely Emily, a discovery that greatly disturbs Damon, filling him to the prim with concern.

"Aah!" she screams, then breathes sharply upon acknowledging the face before her.

"How ya doin' in there?" he asks sarcastically, masking his worry.

"Damon," she utters in relief, eyeing him with fear still in her eyes. He avoids her gaze and assesses her situation.

"You look stuck," he states.

"It's my seatbelt. I can't get it!" she say in a panicked tone as he rises and rips open the door, shushing her softly.

"Let me get you out of there," he says, kneeling down again. "I want you to put your hands on the roof," he instructs calmly. Emily slowly complies. "Just like that," he nods. "You ready? One. Two," he grabs the belt, and on three, he tears it open. Emily falls loose, and Damon quickly places his hands beneath her. "I got you." He starts to pull her out slowly, then picks her up bridal-style. "Are you okay? Can you stand? Is anything broken?" his questions came faster than he meant, he was more worked up than he wanted to be. Emily slowly shakes her head in response. He nods as he looks her over, and notices the cut on her forehead, then carefully tries to put her on her feet, but she slips, and nearly falls again. Damon's grip on her tightens securely. "Whoa." Her eyes shut. "You're fading fast. Emily," Damon calls. She momentarily opens them and hums in reply. "Emily. Look at me," Damon supports her head and touches her cheek, his thumb sliding down to her lips. "Focus. Look at me," she finally does. "Ok."

"I…I need to get to Elena. She's waiting," Emily says semi-consciously, just before completely collapsing.

XXX

"Where are you?" Stefan asks Damon through the phone.

"I'm headed out of town. Why?" Damon answers from behind the driver's seat in his car, a passed out Emily beside him.

"What happened with Logan?" Damon frowns at the question.

What happened with Logan?

Let's see. Damon got on the road when he heard ruckus in his trunk, parked the car, injected Logan with vervain to weaken him, and started interrogating him right after sending the sheriff his coordinates.

Damon insisted on knowing who had turned Logan, and Logan insisted he had no idea.

Finding no use for Logan alive, Damon was near ending him when he suddenly blabbered out that there was another way to get in the tomb under the church,

to get to her.

Their conversation is cut short when Damon hears the sheriff's car fast approaching. He gets Logan to punch him and escape to make the runaway look convincing for Liz.

He and Logan were to meet at the church, but Logan never showed up. Then Damon got a call from Liz, thanking him for killing Logan,

even though he didn't.

They found his body by the old Fell warehouse, where he'd been hoarding victims, and disposed of him.

…Who killed him?!

That was when he heard Emily's car, and had to deal with that instead.

"Took care of it. Like I said I would," Damon answers Stefan, who then sighs shakily from the other end of the line. Damon's brows furrow. "What's the matter with you?" he asks curiously.

"…Elena found out…about Katherine…that she looks like her," he hesitantly replied. Damon's eyes widen.

Then, he smirks.

He glances at the Gilbert's sister beside him.

"Well, that must have been ugly. Can't wait to see what Emily'll do when she sees Elena," he grins.

"What are you talking about?" Stefan warily asks.

"Well," his grin melts. "It is getting annoying, but I' pretty sure there is more than one vampire in town. One of them almost attacked Emily last night. Her car got totaled, but I managed to get to her before whoever it was saw me and ran off," he explains. Stefan sighs from heavy tension.

"Is she okay?" Damon glances at her again with furrowed brows.

"I don't know. She hasn't woken up yet. I don't think it's anything serious though."

"She's with you?"

"Yep."

"Did you say you were heading out of town?!"

"Just for a bit. Something I need to check."

"And you took her with you."

"She looked like she could use a break. Besides. Means she's safe."

"…Damon…Why do you care if she's safe or not?" Damon pulls a weird face.

"I don't," he says confidently. Obviously, Stefan doesn't buy it.

"Damon. Bring her back. Does her family know she's with you?"

"She can tell them when she wakes up. I'd love to stay and chat but…I simply don't want to," Damon smiles coyly. "So: bye," he hangs up and throws the phone onto the dashboard. He unintentionally glances at Emily again, momentarily wishing he'd just driven her back home.

No turning back now.

XXX

About an hour later, she finally wakes up.

Damon notices, and waits for her to come to her senses as she took in the scene outside the window in certain confusion, before facing him.

"Damon," she acknowledges, somewhat relaxing.

"Morning," he smiles coyly. 'Morning?' she wondered, looking at her exteriors again.

It was indeed, morning. The sun had just started rising. They seemed to be out of town, surrounded by farm-lands and trees.

"Where…are we?" she faces him again.

"Georgia," he replies, facing the road again. Her eyes widen.

"What? Are you serious?" she asks warily.

"Very," he smirks. Her eyes further widen.

"Damon!" she exclaims. "What? Okay. Stop. Just. Stop for a minute," she tells. Damon rolls his eyes.

"Fine," he pulls over.

She unbuckles her seatbelt and climbs out of the car. The air outside was swift, and warm. The view was a sight for sore eyes; the greenery, the country fencing, the barn nearby. She felt weak though; worn out. She rests a hand on the door while the other buried into her hair as she carefully rubbed her head. "Ow," she groaned.

"You okay?" he asks. Emily looks up to find him right beside her, miniature concern evident in his eyes. She nods.

"I'm fine. Wha…What happened? That…guy?" Damon looks out into the horizon.

"No idea. Yet," he answers. Emily notices her surroundings again. She turns to Damon with a hint of frustration.

"Damon. What are we doing here? You took me out of town!"

"Relax. I'll take you back. Soon as I get what I need."

"Which is?"

"Information from someone. Look. Consider it a day off from…everything…College. Family drama."

"My family. Do…Do they know where I am?"

Damon squints his eyes uncomfortably.

"Well…"

"Damon!"

"Okay, so Stefan knows. Your sister's been calling, and your aunt. I was kinda worried if I picked up the phone, Elena would freak, so you texted her that you were okay, and that you'd be back at the end of the day," he smiles. She is not pleased.

"Damon. Give me my phone," she demanded. He grins and nears her, resting his arm on the top of his car.

"Or what?" he teases.

"Damon," she whines tiredly.

"Damon," he pouts in imitation. She raises a non-amused brow and crosses her arms. "Ooh. Intimidating."

"Damon. Seriously. I'm too tired to play."

"Play? Sounds dirty," he grins. Emily looks away tiredly. Damon rolls his eyes. "Oh, alright. Fine. Here," he fishes it out of his pocket and hands it to her. "Prepare for a headache," he warns in sarcasm. She snatches it from him and walks a few feet past him as she dialed Elena. Damon smirked and leaned against the car, arms crossed and listening in on the conversation.

"Emily! Is that you?!"

"Yeah, Elena. It's me," Emily smiles lightly.

"Oh thank god! It's been four hours! I was so worried! Where are you? Why weren't you answering your phone?! Wh-"

"I know. I'm sorry. Something happened. I'll explain when I get back."

"Get back from where? Where are you?"

"I'm…" 'In Georgia? That's a bad idea,' "with Damon." 'Shit. That wasn't better,' Emily winces.

"What?! What are you doing?!" Elena angrily asked. Emily hears Damon chuckle and turns to glare at him. She sighs and decides to explain.

"There was…a vampire, and he almost attacked me. Damon saved me," she quietly says, feeling her stomach churn at that nervously,

as though she'd just acknowledged that he did.

Damon mouths her a 'you're welcome' humorously. She ignores him as she resumes. "We'll be back soon."

"Back from where?" Emily didn't want to tell her, because a) she knew Elena would freak out, b) she didn't entirely know why they were in Georgia, and not giving Elena a reason wasn't better, c) …it's just a bad idea.

"Just tell Jenna I stayed over at Roxane's. I gotta go."

"Wait. But-"

"Elena. I'll call you later. Okay?"

"…Fine…Be careful. Please."

"I will," she hangs up.

"Let's go," Damon rounded his car and beckoned from the driver's seat. Emily sighed once more and followed.

"Here," he hands her a coffee as she buckles up. "Figured you could use this," he says.

"Thanks," she takes it, the warm foam cup blissful between her chilled hands. She takes a sip. It's bitter without milk, but anythin will do. "So…How long? For us to get…wherever, and get back? Where are we going, anyways?" she asks.

"We're going to a little place right outside of Atlanta. And, what's the rush, Em? So what if you're away for a couple of hours? The world won't fall apart. Remember when you told me oh how you dreamed of leaving town?" he sarcastically said.

"Uh, not like this. Besides. I'm surprised you remember that, considering you were just using me to get to Stefan," she shoots back.

"Aw. You're just upset because you found out I didn't actually wanna be your boyfriend."

"Boyfriend?! The guy hung up on the ex who dated both him and his brother at the same time?! No thank you," she retorts. Damon cocks a brows and shoots her a glare. She realized she was harsh and that she'd hit a nerve. She inhales from tension. "Look, I'm sorry. Alright? I didn't mean that. You just have a habit of making people yell, Damon!" she defends. He eases up.

"Hmph. You should see how that works in bed," he smirks. She cringes.

"You're disgusting, you know that, right?" He grins.

XXXXX