Damon watched from the back of the boarding house as Caroline knocked on the front door. Silly human, just walk on in. Damon chuckled as he climbed into his car and pulled around to the front of the property. He rolled down his window and smiled at Caroline. "Need something sexy?" He asked, the familiar leer in his eyes, as he looked her up and down. Not bad. He can see why Stefan tried to use her to forget about Elena when he first got here.

"If you do, you might want to go on in." He laughed. "My little brother seems to be in need of some help." He winked at her, and floored the Ferrari, sending a cloud of dust flying towards Caroline.

Caroline creaked the door open and hit something with a light thump. She peaked in and saw Stefan sprawled out on the ground at the bottom of the stairs. She looked at him then the stairs then him again.

"Stefan?" she called softly. "Are you awake." she bent down and felt for a pulse. Stupid. She hit her forehead with her hand. Vampires don't have pulses. They don't breathe either. How was she supposed to tell if he was o.k? He had a good-sized lump on this head but no bleeding. He's a vampire. Surely a tumble down the stairs couldn't be that bad. Where was Elena? Had Damon pushed him? For crying out loud! Where the hell was Elena? What kind of girl leaves her boyfriend at the bottom of the stairs unconscious? She thought with smirk...maybe she was fooling around with Damon. One guy was never enough for that girl. A whole school of guys wasn't enough. She reached down a shook Stefan. She squatted by him to get enough leverage to turn him over. His eyes were shut. He was out cold.

"Stefan! Wake up" she slapped his face on both cheeks. "Hello? Earth to Stefan!"

Stefan looked around and saw nothing. Everything was pitch black but he knew that there was someone else there with him. He could sense their presence. The air was stale and he could smell blood all around him. 'Where am I?' Stefan thought still looking around.

He heard a muffled sound to his left. It sounded as if someone were trying to get his attention. Stefan put one foot in front of the other feeling with his feet as he walked toward the sound. Moving along, he finally kicked something. He reached down and felt with his hands. It was a person! He felt a leg and then reached for where he thought the head would be. It was slumped over as if the person was ill or hurt. He felt behind the neck and followed to where the arms were. They were pulled back and tied together.... tied to what felt like a metal gate!

Suddenly, he heard a sound like stone moving across stone. He looked up as light started flooding all around him from above. He saw someone stand in front of the light and jump down to where Stefan stood. It was Elena; no wait...not Elena.... Katherine? She looked at him and smiled. Stefan looked at her in disbelief and then turned to the person tied to the gate. 'Oh God', Stefan thought. 'It's me!!!'

Stefan opened his eyes and sat bolt upright, panting. He looked around, wide eyed trying to figure out where he was. He saw Caroline squatting next to him with a worried look in her face.

She sighed in relief.

"Welcome back. Nice tumble you took." she stood up. Brushed her pant knees off and offered her hand to the visibly shaken Stefan. "Don't worry. Unlike you, i dont bite." she grinned.

Stefan looked up at Caroline in confusion. He took her hand and pulled himself to his feet, leaning against the wall for support. "What happened to me? Where is Elena?" he said putting his hand to the bump on his head. The dizziness started to overcome him once again. "I think I need to lie down", he said staring up the stairs toward his bedroom.

Caroline helped Stefan to his feet.

"I don't know where Elena is. I just got here. I saw Damon zoom off."

She looked at him with almost pity. She then remembered her bag.

"I brought some clothes for Elena. And I got these steaks for someone else. But you can have them. They are barely cooked. Still bleeding. Maybe you can make a meat smoothie or...ugh." she smiled. "Come on you...lets go." she swung his heavy arm over her shoulders. not an easy task since she was much taller.

Stefan forced a smile at Caroline's joke and started up the stairs. He tried not to put all of his weight on her by using the rail to pull himself up. Once they reached his room, he fell to the bed and closed his eyes. The whole room felt as if it were spinning. He spoke, figuring that Caroline deserved a bit of an explanation.

"I don't know what is wrong but I keep feeling dizzy I lost consciousness after an arguement with Damon. Elena left and Damon followed her. I came to and heard Elena downstairs. I wanted to go and talk to her; to explain, but I guess I lost consciousness before I reached the bottom. She must have already left by that time."

The dizzy feeling started to dissipate as Stefan lay on the bed. It was then he remembered what he had seen while he was passed out. A feeling of panic rose inside of him. 'She's dead though', he thought to himself. 'But, then so was Elena and now SHE'S here'.

Stefan slowly sat up, and looked into Caroline's eyes. There was a strange look about her that Stefan couldn't quite figure out. Maybe she was a bit wary about being alone with a vampire? 'I'll worry about that later', he thought. "We need to find Elena. It's not safe for her to be out there alone".

He stood up carefully and walked over to the door, feeling the dizziness come back. 'No time to deal with this now', he thought. 'I have to find Elena'. He steadied himself and faced Caroline. "Are you coming or not?"

Elena had slipped out of the boarding house right before Stefan had taken his tumble down the stairs, moving to the line of trees on the edge of the forest and making herself as invisible as possible in their shadows.

She watched Damon's brief exchange with Caroline, not quite able to make out what he was saying. There were some things that being a vampire were good for. Elena waited just long enough to make sure that Damon wasn't planning on preying on Caroline, who had lost enough blood for a while in her opinion, before retreating back in the forest to be alone with her thoughts.

Caroline shrugged. "I'll drive."

She followed Stefan out to her car. "You don't think Damon would honestly hurt her? Do you?" she jumped in to the driver's seat and hit the lock button for the passenger side.

Stefan got into Caroline's car. "He may be the least of my worries right now", he said. He tried to project his mind to see if he could sense Elena nearby, but couldn't. The pain and dizziness were affecting his Powers. He sighed in frustration.

"Let's make our way over to her old house and then around to Bonnie's and Meredith's houses. She would probably go somewhere familiar if she were upset." He tried to think what he would have done in her situation. Hell, he had tried to go home shortly after becoming a vampire, only to have the servants run in fear of him. He knew people went to what was familiar to them. Or at least he hoped they still did...

Alaric boarded the plane and waited in his seat until it was time for take off. It had been a couple of months since he had been gone and he couldn't wait to get home to see Meredith again. He hadn't really spoken to her in a few weeks maybe months? God he couldn't even remember how long. They had been playing phone tag for some time now. Every time he called her, he got the answering machine and visa versa. He hoped that everything was okay with her. Fell's Church had not exactly been the safest place to live when he had arrived. With all the murders, the crazy dogs, the vampires... Alaric remembered consoling Meredith when Elena had passed away six months prior. It was a shame; he had started to really like Elena. She was so innocent and had no idea what she was really getting herself into when she met Stefan.

'Stefan...' Alaric thought. He wondered where Stefan was right now. Last he had seen of the green-eyed vampire, he was heading back home to Italy with his brother after Elena had died. 'I wonder if he is still there?' he thought. 'I would really like to see him again. For a vampire, he wasn't really all that bad a guy. It was his brother, Damon, that left much to be desired'.

Alaric thought back to memories of when he had first met the two vampires. 'Funny how two brothers who share the same fate, can be so totally different. How they can deal with that fate in two very extreme ways. One giving in to his nature and one trying so hard to fight it', he thought. He really admired Stefan for his will power and self control to be able to fight his nature the way he did. It showed Alaric that even VAMPIRES could have compassion for human beings. 'Hell, he showed more compassion to others than most people did to each other', Alaric thought.

He put his head back as the plane took off. 'Not long now', he thought in anticipation. He closed his eyes and imagined what Meredith's reaction would be when she saw him and smiled to himself...

Alaric picked up his luggage as it came around the carousel at the airport. He walked outside and hailed a taxi. "Fells Church please", he said to the cabbie. The driver looked at him for a second, eyes wide and then nodded in acknowledgement. 'Hmmm, word must have gotten around about that little town', he thought. It was about an hour to Fells Church from the airport. As they entered the town the cab driver seemed to get uneasy, locking his door and rolling up his window.

'Wow, can we say paranoid. I should tell him that the vampires around here are quite nice once you get to know them', Alaric thought, laughing to himself.

He told the cabbie to drive him to the Best Western hotel in town. The cabbie pulled up to the front doors and quoted the fare. Alaric paid him and got out of the car. As he did the cabbie popped the trunk. 'I guess he's not getting out to do this for me', he thought. He picked up his luggage and closed the trunk and the taxi immediately sped away heading back the way it had come.

Alaric booked himself into the hotel and went to his room. Putting his luggage on the floor, he crashed onto the bed. "Whew, what a long flight", he said aloud. He tried closing his eyes to rest but could not help thinking of Meredith. He was here and he wanted to see her. Badly. He picked up the phone and dialed her number again. It rang and rang until the machine picked up. "Hi Mer. It's me Alaric. I am in town now and I am really looking forward to seeing you. I am at the Best Western in room 104. See ya later, bye."

Disappointed, he hung up the phone and just closed his eyes.

Matt nodded to Meredith's list of courses and looked up from the magazine when she mentioned gym. "No I don't think it's a requirement for everyone. It depends on the degree you want. The school staff is weird about that. Be a Paralegal you don't need to take gym but get a bachelor's in Science and you do. I don't know, you decide whether or not you want to take gym. There's choices like aerobic, swim, tennis and so on. Give the lady at the desk your application and she'll give you a card to fill out your class choices on." Matt looked back down at the magazine and waited patiently for Meredith to finish.

Bonnie had been in and out so quickly he figured she must have mailed her application in before graduation. 'It's a wonder she remember college at all with everything going on around here.' he thought with a smile. He was proud of Bonnie; she seemed to be adjusting her head on straight little by little. 'Maybe one of these days she'll get it out of her head that she is supposed to die young and beautiful and start really living.' Matt had watched her blossom into the woman that she was becoming this year. She had grown stronger and more determined and he supposed that was a good thing. Pushing thoughts of Bonnie and the events of the past year out if his mind he looked back through the magazine and started reading an article about Carborators.

Meredith walked over to the lady at the desk and received a card. Walking back to Matt and sitting down, she said, "You know, this isn't fair! Handing in an application, only to have to choose classes. Why can't I just tell them what I want to be when I grow up and *they* choose the courses I should take?" Mumbling to herself, she set her mind to choosing her own classes. "Paralegal or parapsychology?? Hm.isn't a paralegal someone who works with lawyers?? Blech! I don't want to do that. I'll do parapsychology. Um...maybe I can do aerobics? Yeah, that sounds good!" She walks back up to the lady at the desk and hands her the card. "Is this filled out right? Are all of my classes okay?" Upon hearing an affirmative answer, she smiled beatifically and said, "Thanks. Have a nice day!" She strolls over to Matt and pretends to be impatient. "Matt, are you gonna sit there all day? We've got places to go, people to see. And I'm not getting any younger!" Smiling impishly, she started tapping her foot against the floor.

Matt sat the magazine back on the table and stood up. Placing his hands his pockets and shrugged. "Ready when you are. You said you wanted to stop back by your house. Let's go." he made his way to the door and opened it, holding it open for Meredith as she went through. They headed back to the parking lot. Matt glimpsed briefly at the spot where Bonnie's Cherokee had been before he got back into Meredith's car. Handing her the keys he waited in the passenger seat for her to start the car. He had driven her car to the college so she could see where to go and where to park. Now as he relaxed into the seat he realized that he was looking forward to going to college.

Meredith grabbed the keys from Matt and unlocked the driver's side door. "Matt thanks for driving here. I probably would have gotten lost." She put the car in gear and off they went. When they got to her house, she parked the car and got out. They walked up to her door and then walked in.

The red light was flashing on her answering machine. *I wonder who that could be. * "Hold on, I've got messages!"

"You have two messages...

'"Hi Mer, it's Alaric. I just wanted to tell you that I miss you and that I will see you really soon. I am leaving here. Tomorrow."

"Hi Mer. It's me Alaric. I am in town now and I am really looking forward to seeing you. I am at the Best Western in room 104. See ya later, bye."

"Wow! Alaric is back!! Okay. So, I'll go grab some clothes, drop it off at the boarding house, and then go see Alaric!!! I'll be back!!" She dash up the stairs, grabbed some clothes, and then ran back downstairs. All the while thinking warm, happy thoughts.

"Ya, ready?? Oh, wait! Do you want to go in my car, or drive separately?? But, I warn you: I'll be in a rush to leave. I won't be able to stay long if I drop you off back here. C'mon, already!! Let's go!"

Bonnie studied her sister for a moment. She couldn't help but worry about Mary after the incident earlier. "Yeah, we'll go to the mail. There's a nail salon right next to a clothing story. We can both get our nails done. It'll be fun." Leaning over as she drove she turned on the radio and grinned as Cher's Believe played through the speakers. She sang along with it as they cruised to the mall. Pulling in the parking lot she was surprised to find a spot near the entrance. 'Must be my lucky day.' she thought cheerfully as she pulled into the vacant box. Coming to a stop she turned off the radio and got out of the Cherokee. She already felt the buzz of excitement she got when she usually shopped.

She knew she could have gone back to the store she went to the day before but the mall was a place to go that was public. There wasn't any danger in the mall. Too many people to witness anything if anything should happen. She only hoped Mary didn't have an episode while they were shopping. Getting looks at school when your best friend died was one thing but getting them while your sister is wigging out is another. As they made their way to the salon inside the mall Bonnie glanced about. The place wasn't a busy as she figured it would be on a summer day. 'They're all probably at Virginia Beach.' she realized as the walked into the salon and sat down. She told the manicurist she wanted French tips and relaxed in the seat as the girl went about beautifying Bonnie's nails.

"What for you?" the little oriental woman asked. She reminded Mary of an elf. She was slender and beautiful, but shorter than most people. "I don't know," she looked down at her nails. "I've never had them done before."

The woman's face brightened. "You get hand paint design?"

"How much is it?"

"Twenty-five for full set. Twenty for hand paint. You want?"

Mary smiled at Bonnie, "That's what we're here for right?" She nodded, "Yeah, I'll have that."

Her head had begun to spin from the harsh vapors in the nail salon. The polish removers and acrylic setter was making her light headed. To her delight the light-headedness passed when the woman took her to the back of the salon to paint her nails. She watched with amazement as the woman's small and steady hand guided a tiny brush over her fingernails, one by one. Red. Green. Blue. Gold. Barely an hour had gone by when the woman asked, "You like? Rhinestone? You want Rhinestone?" Lost in her thoughts, Mary nodded and the oriental woman went back to work.

Finally the Mary met Bonnie back at the register. "How much do I owe you?" Mary asked with a smile.

"Ninety dollar."

Mary nodded and handed the woman a one hundred dollar bill and told the woman to keep the change.

"Ninety dollars?! What on earth did the woman do? Give you platinum nails?!"

Mary smiled and showed Bonnie her nails. Each nail had an ornate oriental peacock with a rhinestone for the eye. They were gorgeous. She simply smiled and said, "I owed it to myself and to you." She then hand Bonnie back the money she had given the woman. "While I was in the back I told her that I was paying for you."

"Oh!" Bonnie said as she raised her brows in shock. "That settles it then I'll have to get you back by buying you an outfit. Daddy gave me money the other night. Figured I deserved it from all the stress of school and graduating. Not to mention the Sue and Vickie incidents," she added the last with a shudder as they walked out of the salon and into the clothing store next door. 'Ah the mall, isn't it a convenient place to spend a lot of money in such a short time.' she thought was a grin. Walking to a rack of green halter-tops she giggled when she saw one with white rhinestones on it that spelled 'bad girl'. 'Meredith and Elena would flip if I wore something like that.' she thought then shrugged, 'They'll deal.' she added as she snatched it off the rack then her eyes were drawn to the low riding jeans.

'To show the belly or to not show the belly, that is the question.' She trailed a newly manicured nail tip across the selection. 'What the hell? Too show and to show with style.' She pulled a pair of jeans of the rack that had a row of rhinestones along the waist that would go well with the rhinestones on the halter. Glancing back behind her to Mary she headed to the try-on booth at the back of the store. 'Mary's going to freak!' she thought with a grin. About 5 minutes later she walked out of the booth clad in the new outfit and turned in front of the mirror. She liked it. Green was becoming her favorite color. She grimaced as she thought of her pink dress she wore the year before. 'What was I thinking?' She looked down at her feet and realized that she needed a pair of shoes to go with it. She couldn't wear these sandals forever, no matter how comfortable they were.

Luckily the store had a section that contained shoes. 'Marvelous.' she thought with a smile as she studied the row of leather ankle boots in front of her. Picking shoes had gone from a fun event to one of checking resourcefulness. 'Now which pair can I run successfully in?' she caught herself thinking. Sure Klaus was gone and it didn't look like Tyler was going to make a move anytime soon but there was always the chance that something else completely screwed up could happen and she didn't really feel like falling on her face when the time came to make a sudden exit.

Bonnie spotted a pair of black ankle boots that had just enough heel with a generous amount of support and decided to try them on. She was delighted to find that they fitted her perfectly. Going back to the mirror she did a quick once over at her reflection and headed back to see what Mary thought. She smiled as she came upon her sister at the jeans rack. "Well what do you think?" she asked as she slowly turned around. "I think the bad girl halter is completely cute don't you?"

Damon drove around Fell's Church aimlessly. He was bored. Little town, little people. He wasn't 'hungry' per say. The young girl the night before had pleased him in more ways than one.

Stefan was a bore, Elena was not quite the challenge he wanted yet, Caroline was a ditz, and he could care less about Matt and Meredith. That left Bonnie.

Damon sensed her nearby, and when he drove past the slightly crowded Mall, he spotted the Cherokee she had driven to the boarding house earlier.

He maneuvered the car into the spot across from it and felt his upper lip curl in distaste. "I'm going in a mall." He said sarcastically to the steering wheel. He pulled his sunglasses off the visor above him, and slipped the black frames onto his face. He ran his fingers through his hair to straighten it, and climbed out of the car.

The sun tingles against his skin, a slight pain, like a needle barely poking against him. Stefan didn't have that problem, him and his love of animal blood. Damon walked at a pace quicker than normal, but far from fast.

"Isn't that...no it can't be..." He heard a girl's voice say off to the side. He turned his head as he walked, and pulled the sunglasses down slightly. He winked at the girl, pushed the glasses back up and entered the mall.

"I told you it wasn't him." The boy standing with the girl said. "Stefan Salvatore isn't stupid enough to come back to this town. Not after he killed Elena."

The girl nodded. "He looked a lot like him, but you're right, it wasn't him." She took one last glance after the boy and climbed into her boyfriend's car.

Damon followed Bonnie's presence to a clothing shop, and saw her standing near another girl. 'Must be a sister', he thought. He hadn't sensed any presences in Bonnie's house other than her parents, but the girls looked similar.

He approached Bonnie from behind; it seemed to becoming the standard. He grabbed her, and dipped her low to the ground. He planted one swift kiss on her lips before he stood her back up. He stepped back and took in her appearance.

"Ciao Bonnie. Osservate assolutamente stordenti in quell'attrezzatura. Abbastanza la ragazza difettosa."

Bonnie's mind was reeling. She dazedly looked from her sister to Damon. 'Why the hell did he do that here? In public?!' It took her a moment to realize he was speaking to her, in Italian. Shaking her head she held up a hand. "I don't know what you just said and maybe in a couple of weeks I will but thanks... I guess." She suddenly felt very self-conscious in the little halter-top and low riding pants. 'Why is he looking at me like that?' she thought as a blush crept across her face. She longed to find a long coat or something and hide in it. She resisted the urge to bring her fingertips to her mouth. 'Damn it. He did it again!' she thought angrily and turned away from him to look at her sister. "So have you found anything you like?" Bonnie asked her sister in a slightly shaky voice.

Holding the tiny dress close to her chest, "Yes I do." Something about this man was mesmerizing. Her velvety brown eyes glittered with fascination. Realizing that Mary wasn't focused Bonnie snapped her fingers a couple times. Mary blinked back into reality. "It's nothing really," she said with a frown. She held up the dress. The dress was black velvet with crimson satin trim. Just holding it up it appeared far too small for either sister.

Bonnie shooed Mary into a dressing booth. "Put it on." She slipped into the dress with little effort. She stepped out of the booth with a doubtful look on her face. The hem of the dress stopped at mid-thigh. The deep red satin trim wrapped from down the chest to the lower hem in a criss-cross pattern that flattered her figure. The spaghetti straps refused to stay on her shoulders.

Mary sighed, "It's pretty, but it's not me. I have no place to wear it. I'm just a jeans and shirt girl anyway. Thought it would be cute to try on anyway. I'll just put it back on the rack." After smashing her own hopes she returned to the changing booth and climbed back into her own familiar clothing.

"It's just not me anyways," she whispered to herself. The hauntingly handsome man floated back to her thoughts. He resembled Stefan quite a bit. Obviously Bonnie knew him, she'd have to ask her about him later. Maybe he'll be free for a bite. "No," she thought out loud.

"What was that?" Bonnie asked.

"Nothing...just...nothing."

As Bonnie waited for Mary to finish changing back she studied Damon with a small smile. 'Why are you here?' she asked in her mind. She knew he could hear her he always seemed to anyways. She began walking towards him; squaring her shoulders she held her head up high. She flashed him a smile as she walked by him and to the cash register. She paid the lady for the outfit and notified her that she was going to wear it out. 'It's a pity Mary decided not to get that dress I would have loved to borrow it from her.' she thought with a grin and turned back to Damon. "So what did you do all night? Torture young maidens until they sold your their souls for a cheap price?" she asked him, trying to hide a small amount of bitterness that was showing in her voice. 'Why should it matter to me what he does with his free time.' she scolded herself angrily.

She looked in the direction of the changing rooms as Mary stepped back out clad in her jeans and t-shirt and made her way back towards them. "Really Mar I think you should get that dress. It looked great on you and I bet if I was really nice you'd let me borrow it right?" she tried to give her sister her best charming smile. She glanced back at Damon and wondered what he was thinking. 'Here he is in the middle of a clothing store with two sisters. I'm sure this is his idea of a great time.' she thought sarcastically. 'He's probably here at the mall to scope out the fast food.' Bonnie looked out the store window to see a couple of girls she recognized from school. 'Oh look there goes some now.' She tried to suppress a laugh as she noticed what they were wearing. Shirts way to tight and shorts that seemed more like painted on underwear. The really funny part was that they were stopped in the middle of the entrance staring openly at Damon. 'Oh could they be anymore obvious.' She turned away from them with a smirk.

Damon smiled down at her, leaning one elbow on the counter in a lounging position. "You make me seem cheap and dirty." He said cocking one elegantly shaped black eyebrow at her. He ran his finger up Bonnie's arm from her wrist to her elbow, and back down again. "Perhaps I should change the way I say hello to you, you act like you don't like it." He leaned closer to her, and whispered to where she could only hear. "But we both know you like it, Bonnie."

He flicked the end of one of his canine teeth as Mary approached them. His teeth appeared normal when he wished, elongating into sharp points only when he willed them to do so. Yet even now, they tingled, itching to slide into fresh flesh. "Yes, Mary, take my word on it, you should buy the dress. It's very, shall we say, inviting."