After the séance, Caroline began spending more time with Matt than she did with Elena and Bonnie. Elena and Bonnie weren't sure what to do about this.

"Do you think she hates us now?" Elena asked worriedly.

"We tried!" Bonnie said defensively. "We told her the truth, and she didn't believe us. What else can we do?"

"There's got to be something!" Elena protested. "She's been our friend forever and we're just trying to look out for her. I don't want to lose a friendship over this."

Bonnie sighed. "Well, better she hangs out with someone nice like Matt than a homicidal vampire like Damon."

"True," Elena conceded.

Bonnie raised her eyebrows. "Finally done defending him?"

"He was horrible to her, I'm not gonna deny that," Elena replied. "I don't think he's pure evil, and I don't think he would hurt me on purpose, but I definitely don't want him anywhere near Caroline either."

"Good to know common sense hasn't fled you completely."

After school, Stefan came home to find Damon waiting for him in his room, looking distinctly unimpressed. "So, when were you planning to tell Elena she's adopted?"

Stefan stopped in his tracks. "What are you talking about?"

Damon held up a sheaf of papers. "Medical records for Miranda Sommers-Gilbert. Pregnancy checkups throughout 1994, but conspicuously lacking for 1992. Records I found in your desk, with a handy little footer saying you printed them in July. Two months before you and Elena 'met'. Now, I thought perhaps you had done something else with the records from 1992, but a trip to the hospital confirmed that no such records exist. Miranda was never pregnant with Elena, even though Elena's birth certificate names her parents as Miranda and Grayson Gilbert. And you've known this all along, but for some reason, you haven't seen fit to tell her."

Stefan sighed. "I haven't found the right moment to tell her."

"After months, you 'haven't found the right moment'," Damon said flatly, clearly not buying it.

"Well I couldn't just spring it on her out of the blue!" Stefan said defensively. "I wanted to get to know her before dropping that kind of bombshell—a task you made rather difficult—and then…"

"And then what?"

"She's had a rough time of it," Stefan said quietly. "I don't want to add more to her plate."

Damon narrowed his eyes. "Don't want to add more to her plate, or don't want to admit you were looking into her private life before you even officially met? Which brings me to another point, by the way—how did you know about her? I know I never mentioned a Katherine lookalike to you."

"It was the night her parents' car went off Wickery Bridge," Stefan admitted. "I was hunting in the woods nearby, and I heard the accident. I was the one who pulled her out of the water, and I saw how much she looked like Katherine. I spent the summer making sure she wasn't."

Damon raised an eyebrow. "It took you all summer? All I did was talk to her, and it took me about thirty seconds to figure out that she was a completely different person."

At that moment, the doorbell rang. The brothers shared a look, then headed downstairs to answer the door.

Half an hour later, Elena walked up to Damon outside the Grill. "I'm here," she stated. "Why did you want to see me?"

"Well, two reasons, really," Damon replied, fiddling with something in one hand. "A, I discovered some fascinating information about your possible connection to Katherine, and B, I need your help."

"You found something about Katherine?" Elena repeated, interested.

"You want the bombshell before or after we deal with the new vampire who's been leaving bodies around town?"

Elena took a step backwards. "You turned someone else?"

Damon shook his head. "Wasn't me. Haven't got a clue who it is. The Sheriff just came over and told me all about it."

Elena swallowed. "Why do you need my help to deal with a vampire?"

Damon held up the object in his hand, which looked suspiciously like the pocketwatch that Jeremy had made such a big deal about. "This is a very special compass. It tells you if there's a vampire nearby. Unfortunately, that's not much help to me, since it'll just point right at me."

Elena frowned. "I read about that in my ancestor's journal. It belonged to Johnathan Gilbert. How'd you get it?"

"Took it from Logan Fell after I killed him," Damon said casually.

Elena took another step backwards. "You killed Logan?"

Damon rolled his eyes. "Oh, don't get all self-righteous. He shot Stefan and would have killed both of us. Totally justifiable homicide."

"When was this?" Elena demanded, confused.

"The night Vicki completed her transition," Damon replied. The color drained from Elena's face, and he frowned. "What?"

"Logan came to our house last night," Elena revealed shakily. "You sure you didn't turn him?"

"Positive," Damon replied, surprised. "Some other vampire must have given him blood before I killed him. Which makes me even more interested in finding him or whoever else is in town."

"All right, I'll help," Elena agreed, taking the compass.

"Call me when you find something," Damon instructed. "Don't engage. You've already gotten hurt once because of me."

"I'll call," Elena promised.

The sun was setting by the time Elena got a hit on the compass that definitely wasn't Damon or Stefan. It led her to a warehouse near the edge of town. She called Damon, and he showed up almost instantly.

"I'll take it from here," he said. "And you might want to talk to Stefan. He knows more than he's been letting on."

"He knows something and he hasn't told me?" Elena repeated, surprised.

"Quite a lot, actually. Feel free to tell him what a terrible person he is."

Elena frowned. "Thanks. Did you want the compass back?"

Damon shrugged. "Keep it. I'd just have to ask you any time I want to track a vampire, and technically it belongs to the Gilberts anyway."

After a quick dinner, Elena headed to the career fair with Jenna and Jeremy. She immediately set about searching for Stefan, but she found Matt first. "Hey," she said. "How's Caroline?"

Matt groaned. "Aw, man, not you too."

Elena frowned in confusion. "What?"

"Tyler was getting on my case about it earlier," Matt explained. "Caroline and I are just friends, it's not a big deal."

"…I seriously just meant 'how's Caroline'," Elena responded, somewhat taken aback. "She's hardly talking to me and Bonnie."

"Oh," Matt said awkwardly. "She's doing okay. Did you guys try to patch things up?"

Elena sighed. "We tried. Things got…weird, and I think Caroline thought we were making fun of her. We weren't, I swear."

"Weird how?"

"I don't wanna talk about it. Have you seen Stefan anywhere?"

"I think I saw him here earlier." Matt frowned. "Are you and he…?"

Elena shook her head. "No. I just have something I need to talk to him about."

"Oh." Matt looked up. "Well, there he is. Hey, Stefan."

"Hey," Stefan replied. "Elena, we need to talk."

"Yeah, I think we do," Elena agreed.

Stefan led her to a currently empty classroom. Once inside, he took a deep breath. "Has Damon told you?"

Elena folded her arms. "He told me you know something about Katherine that you haven't told me, but he was too busy hunting the new vampire to give me details."

"Not about Katherine specifically," Stefan clarified. "But your resemblance was too strong for there not to be a connection, so I did some digging."

Elena narrowed her eyes. "Is that why you were practically stalking me at the beginning of the year?"

"No, no, I really was interested in you," Stefan said hurriedly. "I'd done the digging before that."

"You did the digging…before we met?" Elena repeated, confused.

Stefan looked awkward. "Yeah, about that…"

Before he could say anything further, Jenna walked up to them. "Hide me," she said through gritted teeth.

"What's going on?" Elena asked worriedly.

"The Scum Fell has landed."

Elena's eyes widened. "Logan's here?!"

"Wait, Logan Fell?" Stefan cut in, sounding surprised.

"Yeah, apparently he's back," Elena replied, giving Stefan a significant look. He immediately left the room, and Elena turned to her aunt. "Jenna, do not, under any circumstances, talk to Logan again. I'm serious."

"Fine by me," Jenna agreed, carefully poking her head out of the doorway. Alaric nearly walked into her.

"Hey, Elena. Jenna," he greeted.

"Hey. Um, excuse me." Elena pushed past them to leave the room. She found a quiet spot, pulled out her phone and called Damon.

He picked up after several rings. "What?" he said irritably.

"Logan's at the school."

"Oh." Damon sounded surprised. "Well, I guess that means I don't need to ask you to do round two with the compass."

"Was he the vampire at the warehouse?"

"Yep." There was a noise that sounded worryingly like a grunt of pain. "And he still had plenty of wooden bullets."

Elena's eyes widened. "Oh my god, are you okay?"

"I will be, once I rip him limb from limb." There was a pause. "Is Stefan there? Does he know?"

"Yeah, he knows."

"Okay. Let him handle things until I get there."

"Okay." Elena hung up and returned to the main part of the career fair, almost immediately running into Stefan. "Hey. What happened to Logan?"

"He tried to blackmail me into telling him how to walk in the sun. I'm gonna call Damon, let him know what's going on."

Elena shook her head. "I just told him, he's on his way."

"Oh." Stefan looked slightly surprised by that, but quickly recovered. "Guess I'd better track down Logan again."

Logan seemed to have vanished from the career fair. Matt eventually informed Stefan and Elena that Logan had driven off with Caroline. Stefan set off in pursuit, while Elena waited anxiously at the school. Finally, after what felt like forever, Stefan returned.

"Caroline's okay," he reported. "I took her home. She was shaken up, but all she knows is that Logan attacked her. Nothing else. Damon's dealing with Logan."

Elena sighed. "Bonnie and I tried to tell her, the other night. I think maybe she doesn't want to know."

"Probably for the best."

Elena scowled at him. "And I suppose you held back whatever you haven't told me because it was 'for the best'?"

"Look, Elena…" Stefan shut his eyes and took a deep breath. "You should know…the first day of school, when we met, it wasn't for the first time. On May 23, 2009, I was hunting in the woods near Wickery Bridge when I heard an accident."

"Oh my god," Elena whispered.

"I was fast getting there, but not fast enough," Stefan continued. "The car was already submerged. Your dad…he was still conscious. I was able to get to him, but he wouldn't let me help him until I helped you."

"Oh my god," Elena whispered again, tearing up. "When I woke up in the hospital, nobody could figure out how I got out of the car. They said it was a miracle."

"I went back for them," Stefan pressed on. "But it was too late. I couldn't—I couldn't save them. When I pulled you out, I looked at your face. You looked like Katherine. I couldn't believe the resemblance. After that, I spent months making sure that you weren't her. I watched you. I learned everything that I could about you."

Elena's eyes widened and she backed away. "You spent the entire summer stalking me?"

"I had to be sure before I approached you."

Elena scowled. "So, what, you find a girl who looks just like your ex, spend months spying on her to determine that she's a completely different person, and then decide to introduce yourself and start flirting?"

"I liked what I saw and wanted to get to know you properly," Stefan said defensively. "But there's more. Elena…you were adopted."

Elena's eyes widened again. Her knees trembled, and she slowly slid to the ground. "Wha—how do you know?"

Stefan sat down next to her. "Your birth certificate from the city records. It says Elena Gilbert, Mystic Falls General. But there's no record of your mother ever being admitted. There's no record of her ever being pregnant."

Elena swallowed, shaken. "So…so who are my real parents?"

Stefan shook his head. "I don't know. There was no record of them either."

"You didn't look?" Elena asked acerbically.

"For me to go any further, I would have had to look into the Pierce family, and I couldn't do that. It's too much of a risk. If someone found out I was asking about Katherine…"

Elena swallowed again, glaring at him. "And when exactly were you planning to tell me this? I know I look like Katherine. I know what you are, what she was—is. What more were you waiting for?"

"I…I couldn't find the right moment. I'm sorry."

Elena snorted bitterly. "Or maybe you were never going to tell me. Just like you didn't bother telling me that I bear a more than passing resemblance to your ex-girlfriend. Just like you didn't mention that you used to be a bad vampire, too. Just like you conveniently let me think Katherine turned both you and Damon, when you're as much to blame for Damon turning as she is. You know, Damon may be a murderer, but at least he's straightforward about it!" Elena pushed herself to her feet and stormed away.

Chagrinned, Stefan groaned and leaned back against the wall. He was supposed to be the honest, trustworthy brother, and Damon was supposed to be the manipulative liar. Yet somehow, the roles had reversed where Elena was concerned. Elena was once again angry at him, and this time, he knew Damon hadn't been filling her head with lies. No, Damon had simply told her the truth, over and over, while Stefan had failed to do the same. Bitterly, he hoped his brother appreciated the trust that Elena seemed to place in him.

Elena headed back into the crowd, only to spot Jenna and freeze. If she really was adopted, Jenna must have known. And that meant Jenna had lied to her too. Not wanting to deal with any more lies and secrets, Elena went to her car and started the engine. She wasn't entirely sure where she was going, she just knew she needed to get away from everything. She drove aimlessly, holding back tears.

Then, suddenly, a hooded figure appeared in the middle of the road. Elena slammed on her brakes, but it was too late. Her car plowed into the man, and the world turned upside down.

When Elena regained her bearings, she realized that her car had flipped. Her seatbelt was keeping her imprisoned in her seat, but that wasn't her biggest problem just now. The man she'd hit was getting up, his bones audibly snapping back into place. He stalked toward her. Elena struggled fruitlessly against her seatbelt, panic washing over her. The man reached her car and started to bend down. Elena screamed.