Thank you blueeyeddevil06, for being my beta.
Emily sighed and leaned back, "that's a lot to take in. You went through all of that, and you're not…well, Katherine. I would have thought it would make you bitter."
"No. I had Bonnie through all of it and really, and I'm not saying this because she's your descendant, but I wouldn't have made it through without her."
"And Damon," she added. "He always fought for you."
Elena smiled thinking about him and nodded, "It's going to be hard seeing him like he is now." The smile slipped off her face, and she grew very serious. "Now that he's human and naive. Once I thought I'd like that better —him better as a human. He thought I would prefer a human Damon too, but now that I'm about to meet him, I don't think I will. I'm completely in love with a badass vampire that would do anything to protect me. How do I go back to him before he was the man I fell in love with?" It was a rhetorical question, and Emily knew that.
Instead, Emily gave her a look and said, "ladies don't swear in this time period. You have to be careful."
"Ladies also don't have sex like rabbits, but Katherine slept with them both–a whole lot."
"Not in front of their father," she chided. She then paused and her face went slack, "wait, she didn't, did she?"
Elena chuckled. "No. He knows about vampires and would kill her if she slipped up. Lucky for me, I took a page out of her book and I've built up a tolerance to vervain. He likes to make tea out of it and test his guests."
"So no swearing." She then smiled, "I take it you plan on continuing the sex part."
"Yes, but only with one brother. Gosh, he's a virgin right now!" She laughed. "How weird is that?!"
"For our time period?"
"No, for him." She shook her head. She tried to cheer herself up. "It won't be much longer, and he'll be mine again. And, unlike Katherine, I won't hurt him. She almost destroyed him. He waited for her for a hundred and fifty years, and she told him she never loved him."
"Speaking of Katherine, you'll need to go by her name. They are expecting a miss Katherine Pierce."
Elena deflated. "Then I'll go by her name and try not to shudder each time. I have pretended to be her in the past…well my past. This will be easier, they never met her. I don't have to pretend to be a b-... a heartless woman," she said, catching herself from swearing.
She then added, "lucky for me, I know quite a bit of their history. I can improve things for them now."
Emily smiled, "you really aren't a bit like her."
"I'm really not."
When Elena arrived, she stepped out of the carriage after Emily and let her fix her dress. Stefan was there, looking entranced and gaping at her. It was like the first day she met him at school all over again. Yet this time, he really was the innocent human she thought he was then. This time though, it didn't stir anything in her heart.
He walked up to her, "You must be Miss Pierce."
She bowed her head demurely and held out her hand, "Please, call me Katherine."
He took her hand, kissed it, and said, "I'm Stefan Salvatore; we've been expecting you."
Just then an older man walked out of the house, she figured it must be Giuseppe. She was right, "welcome to our home, I'm Giuseppe Salvatore. I'm delighted to welcome you to my home, Miss Pierce." She purposely didn't give him permission to use her first name. She already despised him. After all, he killed his own sons in cold blood. He disgusted her.
"Thank you for your generous invitation to have me stay with you. I would have been completely lost without your kindness," she demurred, placing her hand delicately across her heart.
He smiled, as he ushered her to his home, "I'll let the servants show you to your room. I'm sure you need to rest after your long trip."
"It felt like my journey took forever, thank you." She then followed the servant, smiling to herself. It took over one hundred and fifty years.
While Emily put her things away, Elena rested. As odd as it was to have a servant, she wouldn't have a clue how to dress or where things went without one. "You're my lifeline," she ended up saying. "I'd be lost without you. I wouldn't know how to do any of that."
"I'm happy to help you. Really, for the first time, my life is my own, and I choose to help you and save my descendant and her love."
Elena cast her eyes to the floor, "I pulled the stake from his heart. I knew we couldn't bear to look at it any longer, and she wouldn't let go of his hand. She didn't until she decided to give up her life and send me back."
Emily smiled wistfully. "I'm glad she's loved so much. It's nice to know the Bennetts survive."
"Damon ensured that. You helped him out, and he promised to protect your descendants. I give you my pledge now. I will be there for them over the generations." She gave a gentle smile, "After all, I might have to wait a hundred and fifty years, but I need to see Bonnie again."
Emily closed a drawer and said, "okay, all of your things are put away. You rest, it's expected of you, so you might as well. I'll be back to help you dress for dinner."
"Thank you."
"And I'll see what I can find out about Damon. I was surprised he wasn't here to greet you," Emily said as she turned to leave.
"I wasn't. His father hates him and would have sent him off to do something. Giuseppe wants Stefan to marry Miss Pierce and get ahold of her inheritance."
"Oh," Emily then sighed. "He won't have to wait for so long to be loved now. That will be good."
"He's already loved; he just doesn't know it yet."
Before Emily left, Elena stopped her. "Just know you don't have to do anything you don't want to. This is a ruse as far as I'm concerned. You're pretending you still serve me, but all you have to do is ask, and I'd do anything for you. This goes both ways."
Emily smiled, "you set me free. And this I do to thank the woman who did that for me. That and to protect those related to me."
At dinner, it was explained to Elena that Damon was off having dinner at the house of one of his friends. She smiled and thanked Giuseppe nicely for the information.
Elena walked outside the following morning, and Damon and Stefan were tossing a football back and forth to each other. She smiled and walked down the steps, getting their attention. "Hello, boys, can I play too?"
She caught Damon's eyes, and she smiled. It felt like everything was now right in her world. She wouldn't let his life end by Klaus staking him and pulling out his heart.
She grabbed the ball from Stefan, and he said, "you shouldn't play with that; the game can get rough."
"I can handle myself just fine." She then tossed the ball to Damon who caught it with a look of awe on his face. She looked at him, and added, "I love to play." She watched him swallow hard and toss the ball back to her; she caught it and then threw it to Stefan.
After a few tosses, Elena moved to the side and said she'd watch them play. She didn't want to get caught being able to throw a football in front of Giuseppe. She had a plan for him, and she needed to be every bit the society lady he expected her to be.
So Stefan reminded them they needed to clean up for dinner; Damon said he was going in with him. She caught his eye and shook her head, placing her finger over her mouth when Stefan's back was turned. She then waited by the rear door that Damon snuck out of to throw off his brother. She startled him, it was a strange feeling for her to be able to do that.
"You wanted to speak with me?" He asked, with adoration in his eyes.
She shook her head, and he looked confused. She listened with her vampire hearing—no one was nearby. She then leaned in and kissed him, deepening it instantly. He moaned into her mouth and wrapped his arms around her.
They broke the kiss so he could breathe, and she looked up at him with seduction in mind and said, "I wasn't thinking of speaking at all." She then trailed a finger down his chest. She felt his pulse race, it felt so weird to her, and she smiled. She then kissed him again, pressing herself to his warm body. It felt good.
When they parted for air again, he breathed out and smiled. "Wow, Katherine, I-"
She placed her finger over his mouth, and stopped him, "when we're alone, call me Elena. I'll explain later why, but please."
"I'll do anything for you, Elena."
She smiled at him, "now what were you going to say?"
"Elena, I can't believe you kissed me."
She got a playful look on her face, "then you'll be blown away by what I plan on doing with you tonight. You do want me in your bed, right? I promise, unlike our game, it will get rough."
His eyes popped open, and his eyebrows shot up, "yeah. I-I really want that. Are you sure? You're a guest in this house."
She kissed his neck and felt his heart beating fast, "I'm sure." She then whispered into his ear, "don't bother with clothes; we won't need them for what I want from you."
He breathed out harshly, "whatever you wish, Elena."
She smiled, "I'm about to get just that tonight." She flicked her eyes down and raked them up over his body.