Elena and Katherine sat quietly in the car in front of their house. Well Elena's house. Katherine didn't say anything because there wasn't much to say at this point. She knew Elena needed a moment to gather her thoughts about everything. Katherine couldn't imagine being in her shoes. This was something huge that you can't just make go away. Then having to face the most loving parents in the world and have to lie to their face was even harder. Elena wasn't one to lie to her parents. Only on a few occasions when Stefan was involved. Katherine was starting to see a pattern in her sister's behavior that revolved around the younger Salvatore. This was something Katherine did not like one bit.

Elena's face showed how scared she was about going inside and her parents knowing something was wrong. They could always read her like an open book. Katherine took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Elena gave her a soft smile to silently thank her for her support. She knew it was hard for Katherine to play this role and to keep quiet because in the end it wouldn't benefit Katherine. She usually didn't do something without wanting anything in return, but she always made an exception when it came to Elena and Jeremy. They were her weak spots.

"We can go back to the boarding house, or we can just drive around town for a while." Katherine offered.

Elena shook her head. "No." She took a deep breath and reached for the door handle to the car. "It's now or never."

Katherine followed her lead and got out the car retrieving their shopping bags from the back. Elena walked with her head held high as she put on her mask to pretend that everything was okay. Before entering the house she said a silent prayer hoping her mom couldn't tell something was up.

"Elena we weren't expecting you tonight." Miranda hugged her daughter.

Elena plastered on her fake smile that no one could see through. "We decided to catch an earlier flight home. Caroline didn't want to be overwhelmed with back to school things and Bonnie wanted some time with her Grams." That wasn't a total lie. "Katherine and Damon took us out for lunch and then me and Kat did some last minute shopping. It was her treat because she is such a lovely sister." Katherine snickered when their mom raised a curious eyebrow. She loved her daughter dearly but Katherine was anything but lovely most of the time. "I can't wait to show you everything we got." Elena added distracting her mom from her thoughts about Katherine being nice. No need to dwell on why Katherine was feeling generous. Their mom would pick up that something happened because Katherine was rarely ever nice without feeling guilty.

"Oh and mom we bought you some to die for shoes." Katherine grinned. "I couldn't help myself. Damon gave me some extra cash to buy me something nice and I did and then I saw these shoes and I just knew they were for you." That was believable. Katherine was always getting a new pair of shoes out of Damon. The girl had a gift when it came to him.

"I can't wait to see them." Miranda hugged Katherine. "Where is that mischievous boyfriend of yours dear?"

"He's probably drunk with Ric." Katherine rolled her eyes. "Jenna introducing those two was a pain in my ass."

Miranda laughed knowing full well how those two boys could be when they got together. "Katherine join us for dinner? Jeremy said he hasn't talked to you in over a week." Her mother said pointedly showing her disapproval of that. Katherine may have been an adult and moved out but Miranda was all about family time.

Katherine would usually decline and head to the bar to meet Damon, but Elena needed her tonight. "Sure why not? We all know I'm not cooking tonight."

"Well if Damon would ever make an honest woman out of you then maybe you would feel the need to cook for him like a wife." Grayson said entering the room hugging his two daughters.

Elena gulped upon hearing the word wife. She felt as if the ring in her pocket was on fire just burning a hole through her jeans. Her parents may have wanted Katherine to be married to Damon instead of living in sin as they so-called it, but it seemed as if the wrong sister got the ring. Elena could only imagine how red her father's face was going to turn when she told him she was married, and then the spew of curse words that would leave his mouth when she said it was with the younger Salvatore. Her mother would be left speechless with no words to try and draw the family in back to reality.

"Mom I need a glass of wine." Katherine said. "I have had a hell of a day." Katherine walked into the kitchen. Elena followed because she as well needed to secretly make her a glass. Katherine was right it had been a hell of 24 hours.

Stefan stayed locked up in his room not coming out at all. Damon wasn't going to be home anytime soon and from the looks of twitter and instagram the lovely Gilbert sisters were shopping and having dinner. Stefan wasn't ready for his brother to come home though. A drunk Damon couldn't usually bite his tongue like he did today. He was appreciating the quiet tome he was getting for the time being though with Katherine being gone as well .He was left alone in his thoughts for a moment. Stefan needed a loophole to this marriage but he knew he wouldn't be able to find one. Looking down at his finger he noticed the tattoo and sighed. This had to be all some kind of nightmare. The tattoo was bad enough because even when they did resolve this marriage problem he would still be stuck with this tattoo. To forever be connected to Elena Gilbert was becoming his worst fear. The thought of marriage at all scared him to no end. His mother would be so disappointed in him from what he could remember of her. His father surely would have killed him when he walked through the door and for once in Stefan's life he was thankful the cruel old man was not around to reprimand him. Damon was a lot like their father in a way, the shared the same bitterness and cold hearts. Damon though did have a heart deep down somewhere like Stefan but he had lost it after their mother died and their father turned into a cold man helping smooth over that cold heart he was growing. Stefan sometimes wished Damon didn't stick around to raise him like he did but he was glad like on days like today that he had. Stefan was so lost in this situation. He had blinded himself to a woman who did not belong to him anymore. She was his friend's girl. A girl Matt had intentions to marry after high school. Stefan was not ready for the chaos of it all. So he did the one thing he knew he could do. He took out his journal and began to write another chapter about Elena Gilbert, he was sure almost every page in his journal in some way had her involved in. Stefan sat in his room quietly writing tuning the world out for the rest of the evening.

The first day back at school was like any other first day except the gang was way more excited to take on the school year. Caroline was already planning the party to kick the year off. Bonnie and Elena were talking about cheerleading tryouts. Matt, Tyler and Stefan were tossing the football around while the girls looked over everyone's schedules.

"Stefan you and Elena have four classes this semester." Lexi grinned as she yanked his schedule out of Caroline's hands. Caroline huffed at Lexi's behavior. Stefan groaned at the thought of seeing Elena all day long five days a week. As if his life was bad enough already. The world was seriously against him. He was sure of it now.

Elena tensed up at this revelation. She could not imagine spending half the day in a class room with Stefan. This would be a very long year. "What about me and Matt?"

"One." Caroline winced as she told her.

"Just my damn luck." Elena mumbled. She knew she couldn't change her classes because she was taking honor classes as well as Stefan was. There wasn't much of an option she had here but to deal with the boy who made her existence a living hell half the time.

"You okay?" Bonnie asked concerned. Her friend had acted weird since Vegas. She could since she was hiding something from everyone. She didn't like the two had drifted apart was determined to fix their friendship though and get back on her track.

"Fine just a little moody. Just picturing the hell I'll be going through with a Salvatore around most of my day."

"You two weren't always like this."

"It doesn't matter what we were like, we're like this now and that's the way it's going to be."

"I'm here if you need to talk." Bonnie wasn't going to give up on her friend that easily. She was hiding something Bonnie could tell that much and she would figure it out.

"Thanks." Elena smiled hugging her friend.

The bell rang and everyone went about their normal routines when it came to school. Stefan avoided Elena like the plague until third period where they were forced to be in the same class. Alaric, Elena's uncle was their teacher which Stefan was thankful for because he usually didn't make the two interact with one another because he was keyed in on their drama. Class went off without anything going wrong. Ric was once again going to be the most liked teacher on campus. Elena gathered her things quickly running out the class to go meet up with Matt. Stefan looked at his schedule to see it was athletics he actually had next. At least it would be one hour without seeing Elena. At lunch everyone sat together but Stefan found his way at the end of the table further away than usual from Elena.

Stefan didn't want to sit anywhere near her. He couldn't risk anyone picking them apart and figuring out their secret. It was too risky at this point and quite humiliating to him. He could only imagine what Matt's reaction would be, Stefan was sure a fight would break out between the too. Stefan though knew he deserved whatever he was going to get from Matt one day. It was pretty low to not only sleep, but to marry your best friend's girl.

"Wanna make it any more obvious you two had a fight?" Caroline whispered in his ear before going to sit in the middle of everyone. Stefan sighed loudly annoyed with her keen observation. Caroline pointed to her own smile indicating that Stefan needed to smile. Stefan plastered a fake smile on to his face for a moment until Caroline engrossed herself into another conversation with Bonnie and Elena.

"She's right." Lexi shrugged sitting across from him popping a chip into her mouth.

"I just want a moment of peace." He told her rubbing his temples. "Without the blonde inputs." This was all too much to think about and honestly he had done nothing but think since he got home. A part of him still wished he was in Vegas drunk somewhere so he could ignore everyone and their watchful eyes.

"Rude." Lexi stuck her tongue out at him and Stefan shook his head at her childlike behavior. He loved and hated this girl all in one.

"Bit me." Stefan said stealing a chip from her making Lexi slap his hand and shout at him not to touch her food ever again. Of course she was playing but she didn't like sharing her food with anyone.

Elena never looked Stefan's way fully but when she did for some reason her eyes were drawn to his left hand that was wrapped around a water bottle. She no longer saw the tattoo all she saw was a band aid wrapped around it. She was glad that he was smart enough to cover it up for the time being. They needed to get that thing removed 's eyes followed hers and he met her eyes again but she broke the stare quickly. She then engaged in the conversation with Matt.

Finally the day had ended. Elena was thankful for the day to be over and to have cheerleading tryouts. It was good distraction for her. If they could just live in peace like this then keeping this marriage under wraps would be simple enough if Stefan and her kept their distance from one another.

The week came and went and before Elena and Stefan knew it they were sitting at the boarding house. Damon had given them until Sunday and today was Sunday. It was Sunday night to be exact and there was a big family dinner that Miranda had planned. Jenna and Alaric would be attending as well as Damon and Katherine. It was going to be a disaster. The whole family would be there and the two teens were just going to drop a bomb on them and watch everyone go up in flames. It was a rather miserable idea to tell the Gilberts. Stefan was not on board for it at all. In fact Elena had been at the house since that morning arguing with Stefan about going after he turned his phone off not answering her about tonight. She was beyond pissed at him for acting so immature about the situation. Elena was growing tired of him telling her he was not going. She was about to explode with anger any minute if he denied her one more time.

"I don't have to go to this thing." Stefan told her for the hundredth time that day,watching as her face changed. He knew was pushing her buttons one by one. She was not giving up on forcing him to go though. She couldn't, the thought of telling her parents alone scared her more than staying married to Stefan for a year.

"Stefan I am not telling them this alone!" Elena raised her voice. "I didn't marry myself!" Stefan wasn't phased by her yelling though. She had been doing that a lot today.

"What do you not get about this? I don't care anymore to be honest. I don't want any of this." He pointed between them. "I don't want this damn house one day, I don't want the business, I don't my trust fund and I certainly don't want you." He finished walking closer towards her.

Elena had to admit the last comment hurt but she wasn't going to show it. "You don't want it? Do you seriously think I want to be in this with you? You are a self-centered jerk! I am supposed to be marrying Matt after high school."

"Well then why didn't you marry him?" Stefan said in her face. They were so close together that she could feel his breath against her face. "Why didn't you go to him that night? We wouldn't be in this situation if you could just be a faithful girlfriend!" Stefan raised his voice and Elena flinched but she didn't dare move her feet. They were in a staring contest when Katherine busted into the room her heels letting them know she was present.

"Not another word." Katherine said in a cold tone as she entered his bedroom upon hearing their yelling. She felt sorry for whoever was going to take the married couple on because the two could not agree on anything. "Stefan I suggest you get dressed."

"I don't have to do a damn thing." Stefan said over his shoulder before looking at Elena once more.

"As your sister-in-law I'm telling you to get dressed." Katherine walked further into the room.

"As if my life could get any worse." Stefan mumbled. "Elena I don't think it's a good idea to tell your parents."

"Listen Stefan you don't have much of a say." Katherine told him.

Stefan turned around to open his mouth again and Elena grabbed his arm to stop him from speaking. Stefan looked down at were her hand was clutching his arm and decided to stop talking.

"Katherine could you please give us a minute." Elena said letting go of Stefan to step in front of him to face Katherine head on. Stefan was giving her a headache and Katherine was only going to make him act out worse. She had to get some control on this situation and Katherine being present was no way to control Stefan. He seemed to only react worse to with her around.

"Elena.." Katherine started.

"Kat, please he is not going to listen to you. The two of you arguing is giving me a headache. We don't have time for you two to bicker." Elena ran her ringers through her hair in frustration.

"Things were going just fine until you came in here, uninvited at that." Stefan crossed his arms over his chest.

Katherine's face changed to anger. This boy was way too much for her at times. "You yelling at my sister is not something I will stand for ever!"

"What I do with your sister is not your concern. She is my wife now, so I'm free to yell when I want." Stefan knew that was no way to be in a marriage or any relationship but the rise he was getting out of Katherine was well worth it he thought even if the other Gilbert in the room was slowly losing her cool again. Two sisters mad at him wasn't something he liked to deal with.

"You are a..."

"Kat stop!" Elena rose her voice with authority. "I have had enough. I've had enough of you." She pointed at Stefan and he shrugged. "And you Katherine, I appreciate your concern but you just want to be in the middle of this and it's not going to work. You always putting your nose into our business doesn't help us." Elena was literally exhausted from today already and she hadn't even gotten to the hard part yet. "Katherine please just go and I'll meet you downstairs in few. I need to talk to Stefan alone."

"Rationally and no yelling. Stefan you keep your snide remarks to yourself." Katherine warned him. Katherine flipped her hair over her shoulder and heading to the door. She wasn't mad at Elena telling her she couldn't mind her own business because it was the truth. Katherine had a knack for always being in their business even if she wasn't beneficial.

"Yes mother." Stefan called out earning a death glare from Elena and he put an innocent look on his face. Katherine walked out slamming the door.

"Stefan please listen to me okay?"

Stefan fell back on his bed not putting up a fight to listen. He had no choice but to listen to her. Stefan would always hear her out even if he didn't agree with what she was saying.

"If we tell my parents I know they will probably try to kill the both of us, but they will also be so mad and disappointed in me that they will give the judge permission to annul the marriage. It is the only shot we have at walking away Scott free on this. I know you're afraid of my dad and to be honest I am too. I didn't want this for us. I didn't plan any of this and I know if I wasn't so weak when it comes to you when I'm drunk then we wouldn't be here. You were right if I was a good girlfriend and if I could stay loyal then you wouldn't be married to me, but I am determined to fight for our freedom. To make sure this is just something we never have to think about again. But I need your help to erase this, I'm going to need you to come with me tonight and just for once stand up to my dad. Or don't stand up to him, but I need you there."

Stefan laid there in thought taking in everything she was saying. After a few minutes he felt a her lay something down beside him. Looking down at it he could see that it was a black pair of slacks, and then a black button up. How she knew that he was going blew his mind, but somehow she always could talk him into doing whatever she wanted in the end. Tonight was important to tell both families of their mistake. It was more important that they did it together.

"I'll be waiting downstairs." Stefan could hear her voice breaking indicating that she was on the verge of breaking down again. He sat up nodding his head. Elena felt relief knowing that he was going to face this with her and not make her do it alone.

Katherine looked at Elena as she came down the stairs. "So is the jackass coming or what?"

"Do you have to be so vulgar?" Elena rolled her eyes.

"Whatever." Katherine was stressing out over this as well and she wasn't sure why. It wasn't like she was the one going to get in trouble. For once in her life she was worried about someone other than herself and that bothered her to no end "Damon go make your brother come." Katherine ordered him. Damon groaned standing up from the couch finishing his drink knowing not to fight with his girlfriend. It was just easier to give her whatever she wanted in times like these.

"He doesn't have to." Stefan said coming down the stairs dressed in just what Elena had picked out for him. His hair was slightly styled showing Elena he had taken a moment to look his appearance over. "For me going I say my next trip to the bar is on you." Elena nodded not caring because she would repay him however he wanted for not making her do this alone.

"Your gift will be an annulment." Damon reminded him. Placing his hand around Katherine's waist and kissing the top of her head.

"Oh and Damon by the way leave the part out about you making deals with the enemy until we get a definite answer." Stefan told him brushing past Katherine to get a strong drink. "Now what is everyone waiting for? I have my death to attend." Damon and Stefan swallowed the rest of their drinks. Damon took his brother's lead and following him out the house. Katherine and Elena said a silent prayer because it would all be their deaths if this did not end well.