After the incident with the necklace (which had clearly convinced Elena that he was a stalker), Stefan knew he'd have to give her some space if he was ever to have any hope of repairing their relationship. Nonetheless, it made him antsy. He doubted Damon would leave Elena alone just because he'd successfully turned her against Stefan. Stefan considered leaving town in the hope that Damon would follow…but there was too great a risk that Damon wouldn't. So Stefan hung around, keeping a distant eye on Elena while pretending not to. He wasn't sure his pretense was successful; Elena now seemed downright scared of him, and Bonnie kept giving him the evil eye.
The Founder's Ball was approaching, and all three girls were excited. Elena and Bonnie were both date-less and planning on going with each other, but Caroline was taking Damon. Bonnie tried to talk her out of it, to no avail. Elena feared that she'd have to dodge Stefan asking to be her date, but it turned out he wasn't the one she needed to be worried about.
"So, Elena…you have a date to the Founder's Ball?" Matt asked.
Elena sighed. "Matt, it's over," she said gently.
"You said you needed time alone," Matt said stubbornly. "You've had time. And you're sure as hell not interested in Stefan, even though he's obviously into you. C'mon, Elena."
Elena shook her head. "Matt, I…"
"Ooh, do I spy a couple re-forming?" Caroline interrupted from behind them, smiling almost predatorily.
"No, you don't," Elena said firmly. "Matt, I'm sorry, but we just weren't meant to be. For your own sake, please move on."
"Right," Matt said dejectedly. "I understand. I get it." He walked away, wearing the most gut-wrenching kicked puppy expression Elena had ever seen. She felt bad, but she knew they needed a clean break.
"Ouch," Caroline commented. "That was harsh."
Elena took a deep breath. "He needed to hear it. Speaking of which, I really think you can do better than Damon."
"Ugh, don't get all jealous," Caroline complained. "You gave up your dibs. No take-backsies."
"That's not what I mean," Elena retorted. "I don't think he's as into you as you are him."
"Well, if he doesn't want me, he can dump me," Caroline snapped. "Just because your Salvatore turned out to be a stalker, that doesn't make mine a bad one." The bell rang, and Caroline flounced away.
The day of the Founder's Ball arrived. Damon brazenly marched into Stefan's room to hunt for a tie, and noticed his brother pulling out a pair of dress shoes. "Why are you going? I know you don't have a date."
"Zach finagled an invitation for me," Stefan replied. "Like hell I'm letting you go unsupervised."
"I'm an adult, Stefan, I don't need a chaperone. You, on the other hand…"
"…am also an adult, even if I do look seventeen," Stefan said firmly. "I have no idea why you're going, but I know you well enough to know it's a bad idea."
"Relax, there's no murder on tonight's agenda," Damon promised. "Might steal a dance with Elena, though. I bet she's a great dancer." Stefan took a swig from a glass of scotch, much to Damon's amusement. "My goodness, I've driven you to drink."
After arriving at the Ball, Damon kept an eye on the entrance of the mansion. He really hoped Stefan would arrive when none of the Lockwoods were at the door to invite him in…but no such luck. The Mayor happily invited Stefan in, inquiring after Zach's health. Then Elena and Bonnie arrived, immediately shooting disgusted looks at Stefan. Damon felt a bit better about that.
Later in the evening, Elena went to check out the display of items for the historical society. She found her parents' wedding rings, and gave them a sad look. Her parents should have been wearing the rings to the ball.
"Your parents?" asked a quiet voice. Elena whirled around to see Stefan standing right behind her, and she started to back away. "Wait, please, just hear me out," Stefan said quickly. "I want to apologize, for coming on so strong before. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable or anything, it's just…every time I try to start a relationship, Damon comes along and ruins it. I was tired of letting him."
Elena huffed angrily. "Oh, sure, now it's all your brother's fault. Are you really that obtuse, or do you honestly think that badmouthing him is going to get you back in my good graces?"
"Elena, please, you don't know my brother—"
"I know him about as well as I know you, and he hasn't said a bad word about you," Elena interrupted. "Not to mention he doesn't stalk me and he's perfectly open about Katherine, so if you want me to take sides in this brotherly rivalry, you're not gonna like my choice." Elena started to storm away, only to stop when something on the wall caught her eye. It was the guest registry from the original Founder's Ball in 1864. And though she'd expected to see familiar last names, what she hadn't expected to see was… "Is that Stefan Salvatore? And Damon Salvatore?"
"The original Salvatore brothers," Damon replied, approaching with Caroline. "Our ancestors. Tragic story, actually."
"We don't need to bore them with stories of the past," Stefan said quickly.
"Oh, it's not boring at all," Elena responded, looking at Damon. "I'd be fascinated to hear the story."
"Well, I'm bored," Caroline complained. "I wanna dance. And Damon won't dance with me. Stefan, do you dance?"
"Not really—" Stefan began, but Damon cut him off.
"Oh, sure he does. You should see him. Waltz, the jitterbug, the moonwalk, he does it all. Come on, Stefan, just because Elena doesn't want to dance with you, doesn't mean you need to deprive the world of your talent."
Caroline smiled. "That's all I needed to hear." She grabbed Stefan's arm and hauled him away, leaving Elena alone with Damon.
Damon cleared his throat. "I wanted to apologize for being such a world-class jerk lately. You just look so much like Katherine, and seeing you hang around Stefan…it brought up memories. But that's no excuse. Like you said, you are not Katherine. You are your own person, and you deserve to be treated as such."
"Thank you," Elena replied, smiling slightly. Even though she was almost certain that Damon was just as paranormal as Stefan, she didn't find him nearly as frightening. "So, you were telling me about your ancestors?"
Damon told her the story, how his ancestors had been shot trying to save a Union sympathizer from a burning church. And, naturally, it was a woman. "Doesn't it always come down to the love of a woman?" Damon said quietly.
"You're not over her, are you?" Elena guessed. She didn't need to clarify who she was talking about.
"No," Damon admitted. "I don't think I'll ever be."
"Have you discussed it with Caroline?" Elena asked, though she was willing to bet she knew the answer. Damon's awkward look was confirmation enough. "You know, you're really not being fair to her."
"I don't think either of us is really serious about the relationship," Damon defended. "We're just looking to have fun together."
"Maybe so, but she'll still be heartbroken if she realizes that's all she ever was to you. Just…bear that in mind."
"Duly noted."
"And…" Elena hesitated. "I hope you and Stefan can work things out."
Damon was quiet for a moment, looking wistful. "I hope so too."
Down at the dance floor, Caroline reclaimed her date, leaving Elena with Stefan. "I hope Damon didn't drive you too crazy," Stefan said worriedly.
"When are you going to get it through your head that he's not the one driving me crazy?" Elena snapped. "He was perfectly civil."
Stefan seemed annoyed. "You know, there's something I don't get. You say Damon's never said a bad word about me, but he obviously claimed I was just using you to replace Katherine. What do you call that, then?"
"Actually, he didn't," Elena retorted. "He mistook me for Katherine when we met, and when he told me you once dated a girl named Katherine…hard to draw any other conclusion."
Stefan raised an eyebrow. "I didn't mistake you for Katherine."
Elena scoffed. "Yeah, you probably heard all about me from Damon and came looking for me."
Stefan gave her a funny look. "You already knew Damon when we met?"
"'Knew' is probably too strong a word, but yes." Elena caught sight of Bonnie and hurried over to join her friend.
Stefan noticed his brother smirking at him from the other side of the dance floor. Presumably, Damon had been listening in. Stefan was rather surprised that his brother hadn't rubbed that juicy piece of information in his face before now.
Bonnie looked somewhat freaked out. "Elena, I think I just lit a candle with my mind."
"And I just found Stefan and Damon on the original guest registry from 1864," Elena replied. "Want to grab some ice cream while we talk about our freaky nights?"
"Sounds great," Bonnie agreed. "Let's hope I don't light it on fire…"
A little while later, Elena went into the powder room to freshen up. Caroline was already there, touching up her makeup. "So, how is your and Bonnie's girls' night going?" Caroline asked.
"Great. Just great."
"Really? Cause I was getting all sorts of other vibes." Caroline leaned forward to get a better look in the mirror, and her scarf shifted to reveal something odd.
"What is that?" Elena said, frowning. She reached up to remove the scarf for a better look. Caroline tried to stop her, but Elena pulled up the scarf and got a horrifically detailed view of a partially-healed bite mark. "Oh my god, Caroline, what happened?"
"It's nothing, okay?"
"That is not nothing!" Elena retorted angrily. "Did somebody…" She trailed off, remembering how Caroline had been alone with Stefan earlier. Her first thought was that Stefan must have done something, but then she realized—this injury was more than a few hours old. If either Salvatore had inflicted it…she pushed aside Caroline's dress, revealing another bite mark on her shoulder. "Did Damon hurt you?"
"No!" Caroline cried, pulling her dress back up. "Of course not! Just leave me alone! Okay, Elena? God!" She stormed out of the powder room.
Elena followed more slowly, looking for Damon. A part of her realized it was probably foolish to confront him, but she was too angry about Caroline to truly think straight. She marched straight up to Damon and shoved him in the chest. "You know, here I was thinking you're the good brother, and it turns out you're even worse than Stefan. You stay away from Caroline, you hear me?!"
Damon didn't seem to have a response to that. Elena left to look for Bonnie.
She found Bonnie in the living room, staring blankly at the multitude of candles. "Bonnie, we have a problem. I was thinking maybe Damon wasn't as bad, but I was wrong. He's been biting Caroline. Biting!"
"Biting…" Bonnie seemed to snap out of her reverie. "Oh god. Biting. And there was a Stefan and Damon Salvatore in 1864, who lost the woman they loved in a fire."
Elena frowned. "What are you getting at?"
Bonnie took a step closer to Elena and lowered her voice. "Don't you get it? The original Salvatore brothers aren't their ancestors. They're vampires!"
"But we've seen them both in the sun, and they have reflections," Elena argued. "They can't be vampires."
"Well…" Bonnie bit her lip. "Your family has journals from Civil War era ancestors, right? Maybe you should read up on the original Salvatore brothers."
"Yeah," Elena agreed, swallowing. "I think I'll do that."
Bonnie and Elena were on their way toward Bonnie's car when Bonnie had a sudden thought. "We'd better find Caroline," she muttered. "We cannot let her go home with Damon."
"Hope you can figure out how to repeat the fire trick if he tries anything," Elena muttered back. "Wait…is that…"
The girls shared a look, then hurried toward the shadowy figure on the lawn. They arrived just as Caroline regained her feet, shaking and in tears. "Caroline, are you all right?" Bonnie demanded worriedly.
"Yeah. I'm fine," Caroline responded, obviously not fine.
"What happened?" Elena pressed. "Did Damon—"
"I'm fine!" Caroline repeated, even less convincingly. "He's gone. I'm fine."
"Let's get you home," Bonnie decided.