Author's Note:

First off, this chapter might read a bit choppy because there were a lot of line/scene breaks. Second, this one is kinda rushed imo. It was a very Elena centered ep and it was kinda hard to basically write her out of the chapter. That's also why it's a bit on the shorter side. I also believe next chapter is on the shorter side as well because again, very Elena centered. Anyway, onward to the filler chapter!

Elowen woke up the next morning with a pounding migraine. She groaned and covered her face with her pillow, trying to block the light out. She laid there for a few minutes before there was a knock on her door.

"Honey? Are you awake?" It was Esmeralda. Most likely she sensed the puny mood (and migraine) Elowen had and came to check on her. Elowen heard her door open and close, then felt her bed dip from the weight of her mom sitting on the edge.

Elowen ripped the pillow off her face and sighed, squinting her eyes to try and shut out as much light as possible. Esmeralda brushed some hair out of her face and leaned down to touch her lips to her forehead.

"You don't feel warm, mija. I'll fix you up something for your head and-" Esmeralda stopped mid sentence, staring at Elowen's nightstand. Elowen turned to see what she was staring at and saw the crystals she'd found the night before. "Where did you find those?" Esmeralda asked, getting up and walking around the bed to pick up the amethyst crystal.

Elowen forced herself to sit up. "Last night, at the party. I think Damon had them. I was going to ask you about them. Are they important?"

Esmeralda looked up at her daughter. "This crystal," she raised her hand that held the amethyst one. "It belonged to one of our ancestors."

Later that day, Esmeralda filled Elowen and Josiah in about their ancestor who previously owned the amethyst crystal.

"Her name was Esperanza. She was one of, if not the first, of our family to migrate to America. She was pregnant with a son who she later named Javier when she came over. The father is unknown." Esmeralda had pulled an old grimoire out of a chest that was kept in her study and cleared a space on her desk. She sifted through the pages as she talked, eventually stopping on a page with a picture on it. "This was her."

Elowen and Josiah leaned over the desk to get a closer look. The woman pictured was beautiful, with dark hair that was pinned up in a bun. She was wearing a white, long sleeve dress that went all the way to the ground. In her arms was a baby boy no older than a year.

Esmeralda reached forward and pointed out the amulet hanging around her neck. It was the same amethyst crystal that was now sitting on the desk next to the grimoire.

"What about the other crystal, though? The amber one. Who did that belong to?" Without missing a beat to Josiah's question, Esmeralda turned the page. There was another picture, though this time the baby was gone and instead replaced with another woman standing next to Esperanza.

"Emily Bennett."

Sure enough, Emily was wearing an amber amulet.

"So that means….. We should return this to Sheila and Bonnie." Elowen picked up the amber crystal and turned it over in her hands.

"Leave that to me." Esmeralda put her hand out and Elowen placed the crystal in her palm. "I'll get ahold of Sheila later today."

That was four days ago.

Stefan occasionally sent Elowen updates via text message, keeping her in the loop about what was going on with Damon.

'Injected him with more vervain just in case. He's unconscious still.'

'Woke up for a bit today. Not much happened.'

'Said he was going to kill me when he gets out. Like to see him try.'

'Hey. Coming back to school today.'

Elowen stared down at her phone, slightly surprised. She was expecting him to be gone for at least the rest of the week, but decided this was good news. Elowen had done her best dodging Elena at school. Yesterday she didn't have much luck, however, when Elena managed to corner her during passing period.

("Please tell me you've handled Damon like you and Stefan said you would."

"Stefan's working on it, promise. How is Jenna, um, holding up?"

Elena had sighed and ran a hand down her face. "She's hanging in there. She's still a bit confused about what happened but she knows Damon hurt her."

"That's good. It's a start."

"Yeah.")

Elowen stuffed her phone in her bag and continued getting ready for school. When she walked into the halls, Caroline thrust a flier into her hands.

"You're still coming to sexy suds, right?"

"You wouldn't let me back out even if I wanted to."

"Good point. Is Josiah coming?"

"I don't know. Why don't you ask him yourself? You're the one dating him."

"We're not dating! He hasn't asked me out yet."

"So the founder's party wasn't a date?"

Caroline opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out. Her face turned red and she hit Elowen on the shoulder. "Not fair!"

"Why? Because I'm right?"

"Am I missing something?"

Elowen and Caroline turned to find Elena standing next to them. Caroline saw this as her opportunity and ducked out of the way.

"See you later!"

Elowen shook her head as Caroline retreated. "What's up?"

"It's Jenna."

Elowen's face became serious. "What's wrong?"

"She's acting like nothing happened," Elena hopelessly shrugged. "She should be going to therapy or seek some sort of help but instead she's going on a date with that Logan Fell guy."

"I thought she wanted nothing to do with him?"

"So did I. I guess she thinks that if she sees someone different it'll take her mind off of things."

"I don't really know what to tell you. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Have you heard from Stefan?"

"Damon's gone, don't worry."

Both girls turned and saw Stefan approaching them. Elowen broke out in a smile and he smiled back, leaning in to peck her lips. Elena awkwardly cleared her throat.

"I'll see you guys in class."

Elowen grimaced slightly in embarrassment. "Whoops. I didn't mean to scare her off. Is it safe for you to be at school right now?"

"Damon has enough vervain in his system to keep him down for a few days. It's fine. What's this?" Stefan plucked the flier from her hands. "Sexy suds?"

"It's this fundraiser the school is holding in memory of Tanner. Caroline's already gotten the football team and the band looped in."

"Ah, so neither of us have a choice in going."

"Nope."

"Nice," Stefan said sarcastically, handing the flier back. "Guess I'll have to work on my situps and hope for the best."

When school got out, Elowen said her goodbyes to Stefan and went to search for Josiah.

"Elowen!"

The girl in question turned and found Bonnie jogging up to her. "Hey," she greeted breathlessly, catching her breath. Elowen was surprised to see the amber amulet hanging from Bonnie's neck. "I wanted to talk to you."

"What about?"

"This," Bonnie lifted her necklace up. "How did you find it? Grams just told me that your mom gave it to her and that you're the one who found it. If this has been lost for such a long time, why did it suddenly reappear?"

Elowen shrugged. "Honestly? I don't know. I think it has something to do with Damon, though."

Bonnie tensed slightly at the name. "I stopped by Elena's this morning to see how Jenna was doing. Damon really did a number on her. Please tell me he's been taken care of."

"He's where he can't hurt anyone anymore."

"Good."

The next day, Elowen met up with Caroline early in the afternoon to help set up for Sexy Suds.

"Is Josiah sure he doesn't wanna come?"

"Your desperation is showing." Elowen glanced at Caroline and snickered at her dejected pouting. "You should really just start asking him these things directly. I can't be the messenger forever. Besides, what happened to assertive, confident Caroline?"

"That didn't work out so well with Stefan…. Or, with any past crush, really." Caroline sighed. "I really like Josiah and I don't wanna mess it up. I've decided that the Elena method might work much better than my usual, 'Look at me' tricks."

"The Elena method?" Elowen echoed.

Caroline nodded. "Mm-hm. She never tries and boys just flock to her! So maybe if I act more girl-next-door this time it'll work."

"Caroline….." Elowen set her paintbrush down and turned to the blonde. Caroline had busied herself with the car wash signs as if she hadn't said anything. "Caroline," Elowen tried again. "Look at me."

Finally, Caroline stopped and slowly turned to face Elowen.

"Don't act like someone you're not. Josiah won't fall for the real you that way. I hate to sound like a middle aged mom but, be yourself." She set a hand on Caroline's shoulder. "For what it's worth, Jo really likes you, too."

Caroline looked up at Elowen through her eyelashes. "You think so?"

"I know so. Now c'mon, it's almost time for you to boss people around."

About an hour later, while Elowen was in the middle of handing a customer their change, Stefan snuck up behind her. The customer's eyes darted towards him and he put his index finger to his lips. His hands reached out and covered her eyes.

"Couldn't your big entrance wait until after I was done doing my job?"

"Now where's the fun in that?" Stefan uncovered her eyes, grinning. Elowen turned to narrow her eyes at him, glowering. They both knew she was only kidding, though. She shook her head and turned back to the customer.

"Sorry about him. Your car should be ready in about 15 minutes." Once the customer had left, Elowen finally turned to properly face Stefan. She immediately noticed his zipped up jacket and winced. "Hate to break it to you, but that has to come off. Unless you want Caroline to…."

Stefan rolled his eyes and unzipped his jacket. Underneath was a white muscle tank top that would definitely be nonexistent once it got wet. Elowen sized him up.

"Huh."

"What?"

"I dunno, I just wasn't expecting you to actually dress the part."

"Okay, I'm ba..! Oh, hi Stefan." Caroline gave him a quick once over. She nodded. "I approve." She turned to Elowen. "I'll take over from here. Go back to car washing."

Stefan set his jacket on the back of the chair and followed Elowen to a car. Bonnie, Matt and a girl named Tiki were standing at the car across from the one Elowen had walked to.

"... Just to be clear, your car's a P.O.S. I mean, we can wash it, but it's still a P.O.S." Tiki was saying to a customer rather obnoxiously.

"You don't have to be rude," Elowen butt in, turning to the customer with an apologetic smile. "We'll have your car looking good as new, don't worry."

"Rude is uglying up the road with that piece of junk.." Tiki muttered under her breath, rolling her eyes as she went to grab a bucket of water. It suddenly splashed up at her and drenched her clothes. "Whoa! What the hell?"

Elowen caught Bonnie's eye and raised her eyebrows. Bonnie shrugged innocently and carried on as if nothing had happened. Stefan nodded his head towards a new car that pulled up and they headed towards it.

"Hey. Need help?"

It was Elena. Elowen faltered slightly at the sight of her. After all, they didn't have the best friendship, considering all Elowen seemed to do was tell her how to be a better sister to Jeremy and Jenna had been used by Stefan's asshole brother. Not to mention they just didn't know how to talk to each other without Caroline or Bonnie present.

Stefan, sensing something off, stepped in. "Sure. You can take the back windows."

There was a slight awkward silence between them all as they washed the car. After a few seconds, Elena cleared her throat.

"I, um, wanted to thank you and Josiah for giving me advice about Jeremy."

"Josiah?"

"Yeah…. He gave me an earful the night of the comet."

Realization dawned on her face as she remembered Josiah saying he'd take care of Jeremy. "Oh…. He didn't offend you or anything, did he? He can have a temper sometimes."

"No, actually. It kinda made me think about what kind of sister I was being. I'll be honest, at first I was bothered that you two were trying to tell me how to handle my own brother, but then I realized you must've been doing it for a reason. So, thanks."

Elowen slowly nodded her head. "No problem…"

Before the could fall back into unpleasant car washing, Elena turned to Stefan and gestured to his ring. "Damon has one similar, doesn't he?"

"Yeah, they're family heirlooms," Stefan lied, glancing at Elowen as to signal her to change the subject. She nodded her head in understanding.

"Well, shouldn't you take it off? You're getting soap in it and I'm sure your parents wouldn't like to see the family heirloom in anything but mint condition."

"My parents passed away. I actually live with my uncle."

Elena was about to apologize when Elowen cut in.

"Shit! I just realized we forgot dry towels."

Elena looked around a saw that she was right.

"I'll go get some." She offered, heading off to go find Caroline. Of course, that meant she was left in charge of the money while Caroline went to get some for them.

"Excuse me." An old man walked up to the table and pointed somewhere behind her. "Who is that young man?"

Elena furrowed her eyebrows and turned in her seat to see who he was talking about. "Oh. That's Stefan. Why do you ask?"

The man seemed dazed as he stared at Stefan. "He, uh, just looks like someone I used to know. But… he can't be." He shook his head. "He hasn't aged a day," he muttered under his breath. Elena still caught it, though.

"Who hasn't? Stefan?" Elena glanced back at Stefan and Elowen. Elowen had just flicked soap at Stefan's face. "Who does he remind you of?"

"When I first moved here, I stayed at the Salvatore Boarding House. There was a young man named Stefan who was passing through to visit his uncle. Nobody even knew he was there until the attack."

"Attack?"

"His uncle was killed. Mauled by an animal."

"As far as I know, Stefan's uncle is still alive, sir."

"Oh, no, I'm talking about decades ago. You'd think this town would have their wildlife regulated by now."

"Um, I'm sorry, but, are you sure that the man you saw, the one you knew, his name was Stefan Salvatore?"

"Yes. I remember his ring and his brother-"

"Damon?"

"Yeah. Stefan and Damon Salvatore."

"When was this?"

"It was early June, 1953. Yeah, June, 1953."

"Alright, here are your towels." Caroline returned and handed her the fresh towels. "Now go finish your job."

"Uh, yeah, thanks." Elena took the towels and walked back over to Stefan and Elowen. She passed them over to Stefan. "Hey, I have to ask my aunt Jenna something, I'll be right back," she said absentmindedly and walked off again.

Eventually, she found Logan Fell instead of Jenna, which didn't matter anyway considering he was who she was looking for.

"Where's Jenna?"

"Said she had to use the restroom." He shrugged. "Elena, right?"

"Yeah. Listen, do you think you could do me a favor? I have this paper that's due in a few days and I figured that you had access to old news stories. It'd be a life saver."

Logan contemplated this for a moment. "Do you think it would help me get back in Jenna's good graces?"

"Potentially."

"Well then, I can definitely help. I'm heading to the station soon. You can come with."

"Thank you so much."

"No problem."

"Elena's been gone for awhile," Stefan pointed out as they finished drying their fourth or fifth car of the day.

"I hope she found her aunt Jenna." Once the words left her mouth, a bad, dark feeling settled at the bottom of Elowen's stomach. She stopped what she was doing and started looking around, as if she would find whatever she was looking for.

Seeing her on alert made Stefan perk up. If she thought there was something wrong, then there was something wrong.

"What is it?"

"I don't know yet." She finished scanning the area and met Stefan's eyes. "When's the last time you checked on Damon?"

Catching on, Stefan set his jaw. "I don't like where this is going."

"Neither do I."

They shared a look, nodded and split up. Elowen quickly found Caroline.

"Hey, I have to leave early. Family emergency."

"What? Well, who's gonna drive me home?"

"Ask Bonnie? I dunno. I'm so sorry for having to bail. Bye!"

Elowen hastily ran off and dug her keys out of her pocket. Stefan was already there waiting for her. She unlocked the doors and they both jumped in.

"Let's hope my instincts are wrong."

She knew they weren't, though. They never were.

It was dark by the time they reached the boarding house. Stefan had vamp sped out of the car before it came to a full stop. Elowen almost forgot to turn off the car and take her keys with her because she was in such a hurry. She couldn't find Stefan when she finally got into the house.

"Stefan?" She called out, pushing the door closed behind her. Walking further in, she came across a dead crow. She put a hand over her mouth. "Stefan?" She called again after she managed to pull herself away from the crow.

"Down here," he finally replied. Elowen made her way towards his voice and found herself walking down stairs and heading into some sort of basement. She turned the corner and found Stefan cradling someone. She stopped dead in her tracks.

"Is he…..?"

Stefan nodded grimly. "Yeah. Damon's gone, too."

Elowen had to turn away from the scene. The odd angle that Zach's neck was in was making her sick to her stomach.

"I'm going after him."

"What?"

"He's weak right now. If I can track him down he'll be easy to take out." Stefan walked passed her and disappeared around another corner.

She followed behind him. "I'm coming with you."

"No. It's too dangerous."

"Stefan, I'm a witch! I can help you find him faster. Besides, you said yourself that he's weak."

Stefan opened a box and looked through it for a moment before bringing out a stake. "Are you sure you want to be there when I drive this through his heart?"

Elowen hesitated at the sight of the stake.

"That's what I thought." He turned and started heading back up the stairs. It took a second for Elowen's brain to catch up with what was going on. She scrambled after him.

"Wait! Stefan, wait!"

His legs were longer than hers and his strides were much bigger, so he was a foot or two in front of her. He reached the door and swung it open before she could catch up.

Elena was standing outside, a determined look on her face.

"What are you?"