A/N This is meant to be short story maybe depends on how well its received. I hit a bit of writers block working on "Taking the Long Way Around" and this my attempt to jump start the synapses. Please review and tell me what you think. Should I continue? I''m envisioning up to ten chapters at the most.

A/N small edit I noticed that i accidentally cut out a bit of dialog that without would seem confusing. My apologies.

Gilbert Residence

Elena woke with a start, bolting upright as she reflexively touched the space above where her heart was frantically beating. Feeling the space between her breasts, she couldn't find the offending object that been plagued her dreams recently. The odd yet familiar phantom pain quickly fading before she cursed her stupid luck when she'd realized that she had been woken up from the same damn dream ever since she encountered Elijah several weeks ago.

"Stupid dream!" She grumbled, before laying back down hoping to quickly fall back asleep.

Mystic Falls High School

Alaric/Klaus strolled into his history class after nearly a thousand years. He was so ready to break the curse his own mother placed on him at the behest of the man that had hunted him and his siblings just as long. At least for him, he was finally getting what he desired the most. That's not true and you know it. Shut up, she's gone and has been for just as long! But the memory of seeing her cold body carelessly tossed to the earthen floor even now threated to send him in a blind rage.

"Hello, class. What are we learning today?" Alaric/Klaus asked, flipping through his meat puppet's history text. He chastised himself for not at least compelling the mortal for his cover, but he was too anxious to lay eyes on his precious doppelgänger.

"With the decade dance tonight, we've been covering the sixties all week," a rather annoying teenage girl called out, which made him want to snap her neck. Some manners, these kids now these days don't even wait to be called on.

"Right. The sixties," Alaric/Klaus drawled out. Why couldn't it at least have been the roaring twenties? Life is so unfair sometimes. Looking up from his borrowed class notes, which weren't much of help anyway, he froze when he saw his intended prey. He'd be a fool to admit that even he wasn't immune to her allure; his older brother hadn't been either. But unlike Katerina, he refused to fall under her charms; he had lost the one woman he wanted when his mother used her to curse him. He never told any of his siblings, but after they helped bury his mother, he'd privately buried Tatia's remains and cried for the last time over them.

"The, uh, ahem..." he barely got out and turned to the board in a move to hide his face. He tried not to smile when he caught sight of his wingman, too. Picking up a piece of chalk, he started to write on the board.

"The sixties. I wish there was something good I could say about the sixties, but... Actually, they kind of sucked. Except for the Beatles, of course. They made it bearable. Uh, what else was there? The Cuban missile thing, the... we walked on the moon. There was Watergate."

"Watergate was the seventies, Ric. I-I mean, Mr. Saltzman," Elena said then looked away, feeling embarrassed by accidentally being too familiar with a teacher.

"Right," he drawled out. His little doppelgänger seemed to think highly of her teacher, he mused privately. "It all kind of mushes together up here, the sixties, seventies. Thank you, Elena."

Fifty-five minutes later.

The class bell rang, and the class dissolved into controlled chaos as books and papers were shoved into book bags and teenagers leapt to vacate the room as if the devil himself were chasing them. Alaric/Klaus wasn't paying attention to them; he was busy entertaining himself with leaving some rather cryptic taunting notes for his meat puppet to puzzle out afterwards.

So he was rather surprised to find that he wasn't alone when he looked up to find Elena Gilbert standing there worrying her lower lip. When he saw the lapis lazuli pendant hanging around her neck, Alaric/Klaus's fist clenched tight. Had she pulled a Katerina on him? Then her scent filled his nose and, although it was harder with his borrowed body, he relaxed imperceptibly when the very human scent finally registered against his vampire senses.

"Elena, how can I help you?"

"Ric, I'm sorry about earlier I didn't wake up very well this morning. Stupid dreams!" Elena confessed, looking to make sure that Stefan had left as he'd promised her via text she'd sent him before the bell rang.

"Sure, are you worried that something is going to happen during the decades dance? We are going to protect you. You do know that, right?" Alaric/Klaus stated; he half believed his own lie. Her reaction to his promise wasn't what he expected.

"I wish all of you wouldn't do that!" Elena snapped.

"What!?" Alaric/Klaus asked. He didn't have to act, being confused. Didn't she expect her friends and family to save her?

"This!" she threw up her arms, motioning between them.

"Sorry Ric, I know you all think that you can save me, especially Damon and Stefan. But the one thing I learned from talking to Katherine is that I either run or accept my fate. I'm not Katherine! I will not put my friends and family at risk! I would rather die than let that happen!" she almost yelled, only remembering that he was still her teacher despite their connection to each other.

"I... I don't understand then. What do you want to talk about? And why me? Why not Stefan or Damon?"

Elena barked out a laugh. "Stefan keeps telling me not to worry, that he is going to take care of everything, and if I question it, Damon calls me stupid or belittles my questions. I hate that." She paced away before turning back to face the man that could be step father if things had gone differently in her train wreck filled life.

"I... I need to run by you a few questions and thoughts I've had ever since I met Elijah. But promise not to tell anyone else, especially the people trying to protect me. Can you do that?"

Intrigued, Alaric/Klaus nodded and went to close the door, pulling up a chair to sit next to his strange doppelgänger.

"It's your show. What's your question?"

Elena sat there looking at her birth mother's daylight pendant before asking a question that had been plaguing her ever since her little chat with Katherine when she was still trapped in the tomb.

"Ric, it's this Sun and Moon Curse. Doesn't it seem too good to be true to you?" Elena asked in all seriousness she could muster.

"I... I'm not sure if I'm following you," he asked, wondering what did his buzzkill of a brother tell her? "What makes you say it's that? Did Elijah say something to you?"

"No Elijah was daggered before he could really tell me anything, but he does factor into this just indirectly, just a gut feeling and the odd dreams I keep having since I met him."

"Go on I'm listening."

"Okay, as we understand it, by breaking the curse it is supposed to give vampires the ability to walk in the sun, but if done in favor of the werewolves, it gives them freedom from changing during a full moon every month. It just sounds too good to be true it's almost like the perfect con on everybody."

Alaric/Klaus felt warm and, to distract himself, reached for his water bottle.

"Are you okay Ric?"

"Yes... What makes you think it's a con? What brought this on?"

"Don't laugh, but I was absently watching 'The Sting' when I was trying not to think about everything else going on in my life. I don't know if it's just me, but some things are just not adding up?"

When she couldn't see Rick normal reaction, she cleared her throat again.

"Um... The whole Sun and Moon curse I mean." She elaborated.

"What about it?"

"Well, for starters, vampires with access to a receptive witch can have a daylight ring or pendant made for them, or possibility of someone in need of one. So I was thinking, why not the same for werewolves too, but in their case, uh... call it a moonlight charm that helps them control the shift. I never heard of them, but anything is possible, right?"

"I've never considered that possibility." Alaric/Klaus muttered aloud before refocusing on her again. Bloody hell, this girl is apparently smarter than Katerina It has to been her eyes. Elena and Katerina's progenitor of their bloodline had often taken for granted, too. I'd better be careful now.

"Right. So why isn't every Tom, Dick and Jane vampire that has crossed my path made the connection and turned my happy behind over to Klaus from the start?" Wait Please!" She shook her head when he held up a hand. Dropping his hand back on to the nearby desk, he waited.

"Rose, one of the vampires that kidnapped me, said the moonstone bound the curse in place, but it was the doppelgänger- ergo me- that is ultimately needed to break the curse. And although I'm no witch, a charmed rock sounds much easier to replace than say a living being. Someone so rare that only occurs every few hundred years and, based on what Elijah and Katherine all but said, it's family only. Like it or not, I'm the last Petrova doppelgänger. Once I'm gone, that's it!"

"Okay, but it only explains why Damon and Stefan want to protect you."

"Ric... You promised." Elena said crossly.

"Sorry please continue."

"I think the whole Sun and Moon curse is a cunning effort to find the two items needed to break it. Call me an idiot or what, but the first impressions I have of Klaus is not that of a vampire equivalent of a humanitarian," Elena stopped when Ric started to laugh. She had a weird feeling of deja vu. Shaking it off, she glared daggers at the man.

"Ric!" she hissed.

"Sorry I couldn't resist. Maybe you're right, but he could be a great humanitarian?" he laughed.

"If you believe that I have some beach front property that is ten miles out at sea for sale then. Please Ric, I'm serious. One of the first things Elijah told me was that his goal is not to break the curse, but I think it goes deeper than that. It just seems more personal for him and call it a gut feeling, but I think it the same for Klaus as well."

"How so?" Alaric/Klaus found himself asking. You're not like Katerina, that's for sure.

"Okay, listen, a vampire is faster, stronger, and a number of other things, but their weakness is vervain, sunlight, venom from a werewolf bite, and finally, if they are unlucky enough, a wood stake in the heart. Elijah seemed to shrug that off, and if it's a factor of age, then maybe for Klaus as well. Werewolves are similar, but not quite there. But the werewolf's advantage is only available when they change," Elena paused, looking at her friend. He seemed flustered; she privately hoped that none of this got back to Stefan or Damon.

"I know this sounds out there, but maybe Klaus wants to combine the two halves, one being a vampire and the other werewolf. Not for all vampires or werewolves, but only for him. Think about it as a hybrid that can change and maybe have the venom of a werewolf, too. Which might offer him an immunity to themselves."

How the hell did she put all this together? It's not the full truth, but it's close enough. Just who are you, Elena Gilbert? He was lost in his thoughts when he felt a jab in his ribs. Looking up, he realized that Elena was trying to get his attention.

"Sorry, I was going over what you hypothesized. It sounds possible, but this seems really out there. What made you come up with it?"

"You're going to laugh," she huffed, but she relented and muttered a single word that even he almost missed. "Underworld."

"Your idea is based on a movie? Why not Twilight?" Alaric/Klaus playfully suggested, and he still managed to keep a straight face.

"NOT Funny Ric! I'm really surprised Stephanie Meyers hasn't become some vampire's snack. And as much as I love Stefan, if he sparkled even the tinniest bit, I think sex would be only possible in the dark," she smirked. Which did earn a laugh from him. It's a pity you have to die. You remind me so much of- NO! Focus, this is too important to let my useless emotions get in the way.

Her expression sobered, then she looked at him, waiting till he stopped laughing before dropping her next bombshell. Damon would probably think she was losing it and maybe she was, but anything was possible.

"Okay, operating under the assumption that all this is to make Klaus into some sort of Vampire Werewolf Hybrid. Whatever witch that created the curse or spell must have wanted to make it really hard to break or cast. And since when did a witch intentionally create a huge advantage for him, Hmm? She made it hard for him to break and I wouldn't put it past her to put a gotcha in it even if he did."

NO! Not possible he'd thought of everything, hadn't he? Every witch he ever consulted with about his curse had always said the same thing. But what did Kol say once? Witches stick together no matter what. If that is the case- Wait, did Elena address the witch as she?

"Elena, I know Bonnie is a witch but isn't it rather presumptuous of you to think that the witch who created this curse, or as you suggest spell, was a woman?" Alaric/Klaus asked. It didn't hurt to ask, but what she said next shocked him to his very core.

"Remember when I said I've been having weird dreams. Well, ever since the night I met Elijah, my dreams are filled with a family of five boys and one girl. And one of those boys is Elijah, and the other named Nicholas, I think, but he has the most beautiful blue eyes. Anyway, they are both vying for the affection of another girl and don't laugh, but that girl is me, but not me. Does that make sense? Ric, are you alright? You look pale."

"E... Elena, what else do you remember about these dreams? Do you remember her name?" Alaric/Klaus pressed.

"Uh... Sure. Ahem, well, they call me, I mean the girl, Tatia. I remember a great tragedy befalling this family and their mother coming to me for help. She needed a few pints of my blood, nothing that would harm me. But it's the last part of the dream, or I should say nightmare, that always wakes me up." Elena was studying her hands and didn't notice Alaric/Klaus' ashen color.

"Go on Elena," he breathed.

"She comes to me sometime later needing my help. I have no reason to believe otherwise. She takes me into her house and has me lay down on my back in a circle made of salt. Before I can ask what she needs from me, she pulls out a stone stake with a hollowed out core and plunges it into my chest. The hollowed core is so she can collect my blood as I bleed death. But I don't think she knew that hearing is the last sense to go in the dying process because I don't think she ever meant for whoever Tatia was to hear." her voice was soft. She couldn't bring herself to look at him. Damon would be laughing off his ass right now.

"Wh... What do you I mean Tatia hear the witch say what?" Alaric/Klaus choked out and for an instant Elena thought it sounded more like a sob, but she didn't blame him. She'd cried the first time she dreamed it, too.

"Something like... 'My Abomination will not be able to make more of him without you, whore!' Then I always wake up," Elena sniffed. Two things happened that she didn't quite understand why. Ric was standing by his desk shuffling papers into his folder and an overhead fluorescent light suddenly exploded in the back of the class, startling them both.

"Ric, are you okay? What happened to the light?"

"Um, yes, I think I need to head back to my place and pick up something I forgot." He studied the dead light with a furrowed brow before shaking his head. "That light has needed replacement for weeks now I keep telling building maintenance that it's going to die but-" He shrugs.

"Um, yes, I think I need to head back to my place and pick up something I forgot." He studied the dead light with a furrowed brow before shaking his head. "That light has needed a replacement for weeks now. I keep telling building maintenance that it's going to die, but-" he shrugged.

"Um... sure. Hey, I gotta go before I miss lunch. Thanks for listening to me and not belittling me or telling me not to worry about it. I hope you find whatever you forgot."

She turned, fumbling with the door before leaving him alone to his thoughts. Is it possible? Could she be trying to screw me over after all this time? It wouldn't be the first time she put a failsafe in a spell. But it was a stray thought of his own that sent him off to compel his way out of this place and back to his temporary home. Could Elena be Tatia?