Summary: All Celia Saltzman wanted was her mother back in her life. Moving to Mystic Falls and making new friends had never been part of the plan. Neither was finding new family. After finding out the truth about what happened to her mother, Celia soon discovers that it wasn't the only secret that lies within her family.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize here. TVD belongs to L.J. Smith and the CW.

Setting: TVD AU

Notes:


Two


It felt like everything around her just froze as his words echoed in her mind. Hearing that hadn't comforted her at all. Before she could react, a gasp was heard. The three of them looked down only to see Alaric trying to sit up. The Salvatores blocked Celia from her father while also checking on him. His wound seemed to have healed. Ric got to his feet glancing around in confusion only to soften when he saw his daughter.

Celia ran up to her father throwing her arms around him. "Dad! Oh my god. I thought I lost you."

"It's okay. I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere." He hugged his daughter tight.

Stefan waited with bated breath only to be surprised when veins didn't appear beneath Ric's eyes. "Huh. You really are alive and still human."

"How the hell is that possible?" Damon looked at them in disbelief.

"The only reason you're still standing is because my daughter is right here." Ric glared at him.

Celia calmed down a bit and remembered what Damon had said. "Dad, I think that we should let Damon explain what happened to Mom. He didn't kill her."

"Fine, but how do we know he is telling the truth?" He sat down on the couch with her.

She bit her lip glancing over at the older Salvatore brother. "Because as long as I've known him, he's never lied to me."

Stefan sat down on the other side of her. "Well this I want to hear."

"I didn't kill Isobel. I turned her. She wouldn't tell me how she got my number. We agreed to meet up. She asked me to turn her." He admitted swallowing hard.

"Why on earth would she ask you to do something like that?" Alaric looked over at him in disbelief.

"I don't know. Isobel was very interested in vampires. She seemed to know the whole turning process already. She kept saying it was the only way. That she had to protect her daughter."

Celia teared up a bit. "Why didn't you tell me? Why would you keep this from me?"

"Because I was protecting you! I thought you'd go looking for her if you knew she was still out there and I didn't want you to get hurt." Damon blurted out.

She wiped her tears away. "Mom was always reading about vampires, but I never thought too much of it because she was always reading paranormal stuff for her job. I don't understand. What was she protecting me from?"

"I don't know. She never said and I wasn't exactly pushing her to tell me." He shrugged his shoulders.

"Isobel never let on to me that she was concerned about protecting Celia more than usual. She gave me this ring as a gift though and said it would protect me." Ric admitted flexing his hand as he glanced down at the ring.

Stefan considered this looking over at him. "Think the ring brought you back?"

"I have no idea. I'm just grateful to be back."

Celia shook her head sighing softly. "Can we go home now? Today's just been a lot to handle."

"Yeah of course sweetheart." He pressed a kiss to her head then stood up to leave.


She tucked a loose strand of her light brown hair behind her ear and sighed as she sat outside the Grill a day later. "Hey Bon, do you think it's possible to use magic on a piece of jewelry that will resurrect someone as long as they are wearing it?"

Bonnie gave her a surprised look. "Um, I don't know. Maybe. You'd probably have to be a powerful witch to perform something like that though. Why?"

Celia bit her lip thinking it over. "Dad tried to kill Damon, but he defended himself and inadvertently staked Dad who died. Crazy thing is that he came to like five minutes later and the wound was gone."

Her brows furrowed at that. "Are you sure he's not a vampire?"

She nodded her head. "Yeah we're sure. The Salvatores checked and he's definitely human. Don't get me wrong, I am relieved that he's okay. I just don't get how, you know?"

Bonnie gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. "I'm glad he's okay too. Look, I can look through Gram's grimoires to see if she mentions anything about any kind of spells like that. You have a valid point though. It would be good to at least know the reason why he was able to resurrect."

Celia smiled gratefully at her. "Thanks Bonnie. I owe you one."

"Hey guys. So Aunt Jenna told me the craziest thing." Elena announced as she approached their table outside of the Mystic Grill with Caroline.

The Bennett witch smiled at them. "Hey. Oh did she? What's up?"

"Apparently I'm adopted. My parents were going to tell me soon, but they never got the chance." She revealed as she sat down.

The youngest Saltzman looked at her surprised. "Really? Wow that is crazy. Do you know who your biological parents are or was it a closed adoption kind of deal?"

"No and no. It wasn't really legal. From what Jenna told me, my parents really wanted a kid, but weren't having any luck. Then this pregnant teen shows up at Dad's office in labor. She gave the baby, me, to them. So Dad just lied on the paperwork." Elena explained.

"Wow. That really is crazy. So are you going to try to find your biological parents?" Caroline asked her curiously.

"I don't know. Maybe. I feel like I need some answers about the whole looking like Katherine thing and maybe they can answer them." She shrugged her shoulders.

Celia smiled at her. "I don't blame you. So did Jenna tell you anything else about them?"

"Uh no. She said she would dig through some of my parents stuff to see if she could find anything else though." Elena responded.

"I could ask my mom if she knew anything about you being adopted." Caroline offered.

"That'd be great. Thanks Care." She smiled at the bubbly blonde.

"Oh no problem. I wouldn't be surprised if mom was curious when your parents suddenly had you, but with how close our moms were, she probably at least knew that they were having trouble conceiving. Wait you don't think Jeremy's adopted too, do you?" The blonde's blue eyes widened a bit.

"No he's definitely not adopted. There are plenty of pictures of mom pregnant with him. I'll figure it all out. Oh and Uncle John is back in town. I haven't really talked to him yet, but maybe I'll see what he knows." Elena sighed.

Celia looked confused as she sipped her drink. "Why the long face? Shouldn't it be a good thing that your uncle is back in town?"

Bonnie chuckled at that. "Elena and Jeremy don't exactly get along with their uncle."

"We just don't see eye to eye. That's all." The brunette shrugged her shoulders.


"God, you look so much like her." An older blond man approached her near a balcony a few nights later at the last Founder's Day party of the year.

Celia gave him a confused look as she smoothed out her sapphire blue dress. "Excuse me?"

"I'm sorry. Where are my manners? John Gilbert. I'm Elena and Jeremy's uncle." John introduced himself.

She nodded her head letting herself relax a little. "Ah. Nice to meet you, Mr. Gilbert. I'm Celia Saltzman. Who is it that you think I look like?"

"Isobel Flemming."

Celia took a step back away from him. "Well that makes sense seeing as how I'm her daughter."

"Everything alright over here?" Damon suddenly appeared resting his hand on the small of her back.

She sighed in relief moving a bit closer to the elder Salvatore brother. "Uh, this is Elena and Jeremy's Uncle, John Gilbert. He was just telling me how I look so much like my mother."

"Somehow I'm not surprised that you're close to a vampire." He taunted.

"Oh so you do know what I'm capable of, John." Damon smirked at him.

She glanced back inside though saw no sign of Stefan which made her swear inwardly. The two men exchanged a few more taunts before Damon suddenly threw John off of the balcony. Celia gasped hesitantly glancing over the railing only to see his lifeless body sprawled out on the ground below. She grasped Damon's hand and quickly went back inside blending in with the crowd. It wasn't long afterward when they left and Damon grasped her zooming back to the boarding house.


Celia relaxed once they were inside of the Salvatore boarding house. "Was killing him really necessary? You could have just compelled him."

"He knew about vampires. John wasn't stupid, Cece. He was more than likely either on vervain or wearing it at the very least." He let her go.

Her gaze landed on the spot on the floor where her dad lay dead a few nights before. "Damon, he knew about my mother and that she had a connection to vampires."

"John was just trying to get under our skin, Celia." Damon assured her.

She sighed shaking her head a bit. "So where is Stefan?"

"Out helping Elena look into something about her birth mother, I think." He poured himself a drink and raised the glass to his lips taking a sip.

Celia snatched the glass from him taking a sip as well. "It's funny how you keep pushing him toward me when I was the one under you the other night."

"I'll be taking that. Yeah I know, but it's fun to tease him. Mm, that was a fun night. Oh god Ric is so going to kill me." Damon took the glass of bourbon back smirking at her then downed what was left in it.

A soft giggle fell from her lips. "Well what he doesn't know won't hurt him."

"No, but it might hurt me." He set the glass down.

Celia snorted laughing a bit at that. "At least it won't happen again right?"

"Right." A moment passed and then suddenly he was in front of her. "Damn it. Why do you have to look so good in that dress?"

Her reply died on her tongue as Damon captured her lips in a heated kiss. It was wrong on so many levels and yet at the moment she really didn't care as she returned the kiss. Celia only broke the kiss when the need for air arose. She hadn't even registered that he had vampire sped them over into his bedroom, but she certainly didn't seem to mind either. His lips touched her neck and she sighed contently as her dress fell to the ground.


"Well you sure weren't hard to find."

"Isobel." He turned toward his wife as he sat at the bar in the Mystic Grill.

"Hello Ric." She smiled softly at him.

"You have some nerve showing up here after what you put us through." Alaric scoffed as she sat down.

"I know. I hate that I hurt you both so much, but it was the only way. I have to protect her." Isobel replied.

"Which her?"

"You know." She looked surprised.

"Only just found out. I haven't told Celia yet." He admitted with a sigh.

"I wasn't purposefully hiding it from you. It was just a painful part of my past that I couldn't bear to bring up."

"I get that. I'm not mad at you for not telling me." Ric assured her taking a sip of his drink.

"I want to protect them both." She looked at him.

"From what? I at the very least deserve to know what you're trying to protect our daughter from."

"No. You'll get yourself killed and that's the last thing Celia needs." Isobel shook her head at him.

"Why are you here, Isobel?" Ric asked glaring at her slightly.

"I want the Gilbert device. I need it to protect them. I also wanted to see Celia." She stated honestly.

"You know, I shouldn't allow you to see her at all, but I know she would never forgive me if I did that." He sighed finishing his drink.

"I'm sorry." Isobel gave him an apologetic look.

"Yeah me too."


Celia grabbed his black shirt slipping it on. She buttoned it up then walked into the bathroom. After freshening up, she slid her underwear back on then padded out barefoot into the hall still wearing just Damon's shirt. Celia walked down the hall toward the stairs. She made her way around the boarding house to the kitchen and started to look for something to eat. The sound of someone clearing their throat caught her attention a few minutes later and she blushed when she saw who was standing there.

Stefan's brows raised as he looked her over. "I heard someone in the kitchen, but I can't say I expected it to be you."

She bit her lip leaning against a counter. "It's not what it looks like."

"No it's exactly what it looks like." Damon teased as he suddenly appeared pressing a kiss to her head.

Celia shoved him playfully. "Shut up. Make yourself useful and please make me something to eat."

"Yes dear." He smirked at her moving to make some food.

Stefan watched their banter in amusement. "Interesting."

She rolled her eyes at him. "We're not dating, Stefan. It's just sex."

"Only because I haven't taken her on a date yet." Damon grinned as he started cooking.

Celia shook her head at him. "Oh my god. I hate you."

"I'm making pasta."

Her face lit up at his words. "Oh my god. I love you."

Stefan just laughed shaking his head at them. "Really, Cece?"

Celia shrugged her shoulders. "What? Don't judge me. I love food."

He moved to grab a bottle of water. "No judgments here. Yeah we know you do."

She bit her lip again growing more serious. "Hey Stef? Please don't tell my dad about Damon and I."

Stefan glanced over at her surprised. "Oh no I'm not getting involved in that. I didn't see anything. I don't know anything."

Celia smiled at him. "Thanks Stefan. You're the best."