Damon was in the next town over arranging their lodgings. Elena knew why he insisted on doing it on his own. He cut corners and would compel anyone and everyone on the staff. It included everything from the men not looking at her to ensuring their every comfort was seen to. She would always scoff and roll her eyes, and he had just taken to doing it with her out of the way.

Rosa, Emily's half-Italian daughter, stood quietly by Elena's side. She looked at Elena with more awe and reverence than Bonnie or Emily had. She supposed it was because she held Rosa the day she was born. She had come into the girl's life from the beginning.

It was always odd keeping assumed roles straight in front of strangers. While Elena was much older, Rosa was forty-seven; she looked to be the elder.

Elena sighed, "Emily was really just too powerful of a witch." She twisted her mouth into a smirk. "That destiny spell…." She was speaking in Italian. She knew no one was close enough to hear her and that Rosa spoke English too, but it had been their habit to speak in a foreign language when they were discussing personal matters.

Rosa nodded and, speaking in Italian too, said, "Giuseppe didn't live long, did he?"

"Two extra days," Elena replied. "It will be interesting to find out what happened."

Rosa immediately said, "I'll ask around with the servants."

"Are there any?" Elena asked. "The South lost the war and…. you have to know that most of them weren't servants, really."

"They are still a prominent family. I maintain I'm right. They will have actual servants by now."

Elena nodded and frowned at the grave next to Giuseppe's. "His bastard son will be in charge of the estate. Stefan…" She wiped an errant tear away. "He didn't live as long as I hoped. I tried to save him, and it looks like I failed." The grave marker said he died in 1875 at 27 years old.

"He might have found love and had children by then," Rosa countered. "I will find out what happened to him too."

"Thank you." Elena then took her hand in hers. "You know that you have all this wealth, and you could travel the world and not be caught up in this."

Rosa scoffed, "America is foreign to me, even though this is home to you. I am traveling. Plus, where can I find more excitement? Vampires exist; how can I go on living with the ignorant masses?"

"You always were a snob," Elena teased.

"It's my best quality, according to Damon. Well, that and my acerbic sense of humor." Rosa smiled and took Elena's hand and squeezed it encouragingly.

Elena was pensive, lost in thought about Emily, and said, "He used to make your mom so mad when he would give you sweets every time you said something snarky."

Rosa drew her attention and said, "I miss her too."

"Of course you do. I'm sorry if you think… You're her daughter, and she loved you so much!"

"Still, there was always so much guilt in her for leaving my siblings."

Elena nodded, "it was the hardest thing I ever watched her do. She was just too wise as a witch to stay. She knew that the balance had to be maintained."

"And she felt a debt to Bonnie for sacrificing herself to send you back."

"That too."

Rosa drew her away from the graves and towards the woods. "And now we move forward, making everything right. She trusted us to do that."

"She trusted Damon and me to do this. Yes, she trusts you too, but she never asked this of you."

"I feel responsible for my siblings too. I want to help protect them. This is my path."

Elena said, "Bonnie sent me to the past in a snap decision. She did it perfectly; she's so powerful. And look how many paths that altered the direction of."

"I wouldn't exist without her. Mom would have been dead in Mystic Falls and never have met my father. I owe Bonnie a lot."

"She isn't even born yet and…."

"You miss her," Rosa stated.

"Our mothers were friends before we were born. I met her when I was in the cradle. We grew up together, she was my best friend, and we fought the horrible together. She gave up her life because she trusted me so much. And still, what I miss the most about her was laughing and talking about boys." Elena plucked a wildflower near her and looked at it. "I have so much I want to do for her. We already saved Enzo."

Rosa grabbed the flower and crushed it in her palm, and held her hand open, showing the destroyed petals. "This is what we do to everyone in our way. You won't fail; it isn't in you. And Damon won't let you down."

Elena gave her a wry smile, "you have his fierceness in you."

"Thank you."

Damon loved a town that had no clue vampires existed. He had the whole staff compelled, even down to the stable boys; the youngest was six. Racism was still prevalent in the south, but not one of them could now see Rosa's color. The men couldn't notice how beautiful Elena was either. They could only react to her respectfully, and he made sure they would do everything or anything she asked.

Damon and Elena had the best room at the hotel, and Rosa had the second best. Everything was plush and richly appointed, and champagne was to be chilling in their rooms at all times.

He watched the hotel staff scramble to get everything put away and tucked into drawers and situated; he smiled. This was the life he was able to provide for the woman who saved him. He heard stories about how his life had been without her. How bitter and hurt he had been. He couldn't fathom spending 150 years devoted to a woman like Katherine. No, he knew everything good he had was because of Elena.

Despite her change in his life, Damon wasn't entirely different. He still had a past of abuse that affected him. He also was still fierce in his love and how he protected. His body count wasn't small. It wasn't anything like I had been in the other timeline, but it was bloody. He was more than eager to kill anyone that bothered Elena. He had, quite often.

It was something he liked about Rosa. He was "Uncle Damon" to her growing up, and she liked to emulate him. He had the respect of the town, and she found that fascinating. While her father was devoted entirely to her mother, before he met her, he had slept with too many of the other men's wives for him ever to gain universal respect. She started copying his protectiveness of Elena when she was young. And now, she was an "aneurysm first, ask questions maybe" kind of witch.

The Council in Mystic falls met weekly; they were always vigilant and always on alert. It didn't matter that they hadn't seen a vampire in town since they'd burned them and the church.

Burning a church –talk about awkward. The neighboring towns were not fans of church burning. Not for any reason. One of the other mayors had glared at Mayor Lockwood and said, "you burn witches at the stake! You don't burn down the church. How deranged are you?!"

They had formal documents in place outlining how they should get rid of vampires and witches. Burning was kept only for witches. The problem was what to do with the vampires.

Their answer had been the Augustine Society.