"THERE YOU ARE!" Why did it always seem as if my sister was yelling at me? Shouldn't it be the other way around? Considering I was the older one?

I had barely even sat my foot down on the wooden floor in the hallway of the Salvatore boarding house – more like mansion – when my sister called my name from the top of the staircase to the right. Damon closed the front door behind us, and I turned to him with an almost begging look. Gee! I was truly desperate to turn to him for help. Especially after basically swearing to myself that I would never let him 'rescue' me again. That lasted long. He shook his head and – no! That bastard had an almost amused smile on his face!

That was it! Whatever understanding we had formed during our little road trip was officially over. Was I overreacting? Probably. Was I going to change my mind because I was aware of it? Nope.

Elena's stomping steps were heard as she tried to tear down the staircase with her petty sneakers on her way down. She stopped on the almost antique orange rug in front of me, arms crossed and eyes narrowed. Oh boy…

But, as a savior in need, the other Salvatore brother emerged after her and averted my sister's lecture.

"Parker!" Stefan greeted with a polite smile. "Are you–"

"Okay? Perfectly fine." I waved off. I had managed to forget that he also had the same worried tendencies that my sister possessed. "This guy on the other hand…" I spoke out of the corner of my mouth and pointed with my now perfectly healed thumb at Damon.

Both Stefan and Elena's gaze turned to the older Salvatore brother for the first time since he had entered the house. The gasoline smell had been fuming from him the entire car ride here, to the extent that I had even gotten used to the smell by now. Clearly, Stefan and Elena hadn't; they wrinkled their noses simultaneously.

"You should see the other guy," Damon brushed off and walked past them, abandoning me. Jävla förrädare.

When it was clear that Damon wasn't coming back to elaborate his answer, Stefan put a hand on Elena's shoulder and mumbled something. She nodded, and he left us to follow his brother. All men are apparently betraying pigs.

The second he was gone, Elena turned to me with a serious expression on her face.

"We need to talk." Uh-oh. Now that's never good.

"Did you fix your flat tire?" I questioned, almost desperately.

"No…" Elena furrowed her eyebrows. "But–"

"Well, what are we standing around here for then? Come on!" I turned on my heel to practically run out of the house before she could object.

It wasn't hard to find the enormous garage that came with the mansion, neither was breaking into it for, that matter. Vampires didn't seem to think they need a security system; good to know because…reasons. Quickly grabbing a toolbox from one of the shelves, a lifting jack from the floor, I ignored the suspiciously car shaped object under an old sheet and walked back out to my sister, who was standing next to her car with her arms still crossed disapprovingly in front of her chest.

"It really isn't that hard," I said and sat the toolbox down on the gravel driveway. "You have a spare tire in the back, right?" I pointed at the trunk.

"Yes, but–"

"Don't just stand around there then! Open the bloody car!"

"Parker, we really need to–" Elena tried.

"We can talk while I do this," I said stubbornly. "Come on now! Chop, chop!" I clapped my hands together, nodding exaggeratedly towards the car. Elena, finally realizing that I wasn't going to give this up, unlocked her car with a sigh.

Instantly, I began with opening the trunk to heave out the spare wheel, moving on to roll it away and dump it on the ground next to the the flat tire. Then, I put the lifting jack in place under the car and started pumping. Once it was at a reasonable height, I dug through the tool box for a wrench to loosen up the bolts that held the tire in place.

As I was busy doing all of this, Elena only stood frozen still and watched me. It wasn't until I had gotten the flat tire loose from the car, rolled it away and replaced it with the new one, that my sister finally spoke up.

"Ahem… Parks?" I stopped my movement of pumping at the lifting jack, lowering the car back down, and turned to face the brunette from my crouching place.

"Yes?" I answered and noticed the pain from the lactic acid that had formed in my thighs due to my squatting position by the car. I straightened up and wiped some oil mixed with dirt on my dark jeans. How did you get those stains out?

My musings about how to clean my jeans – debating throwing them away and buying new ones – were abandoned as I raised my gaze to spot Elena biting her lip, tapping her foot nervously whilst her gaze flew all around the place, never landing on anything for more than a second. It had been a while since I last saw her this troubled.

"What is it?" I tried sprinkling my voice with some concern as I tilted my head to the side.

"Well…" At first she hesitated, then, it seemed as if she made a decision. Elena straightened her posture and fixated her gaze firmly on me. "I have to tell you something, if I don't do it right now then things will get weird when I eventually do, but the thing is that I'm afraid that things will change between us, and I don't want that. You're my sister either way – and I love you! But here it goes…" The words came crashing out of her mouth, landing on top of each other. Elena took a deep breath and caught my gaze, holding it firmly with her warm, brown eyes. "I'm adopted," she spoke, surprisingly steadily.

I stared at her, losing perception for how long. Then, I moved towards her while hearing stuttering words raining out of her mouth.

"Stefan did some research on the Gilbert family and couldn't find any connection to the Pierces, Katherine's family that is, so it made no sense that I wasn't related to her when I look exactly like her. There's only one explanation, and he even looked it up! Miranda and Grayson's names are on my birth certificate, but mom was never pregnant with me. It all checks out–"

I interrupted her second flood of words for the night with a firm embrace. Elena stiffened in my arms as I pulled her into a tight hug, not showing any signs of ever her letting go. However, she quickly relaxed and wrapped her arms around me as well, sighing in relief.

"I thought you would react differently. Freak out or something," she mumbled into my shoulder. Being taller certainly had its advantages, I was a great hugger.

Our hearts were hammering against each other, the pace of Elena's beginning to slow down while mine was speeding up. There would be no better suited time to tell her than right now. I had to.

"I'm adopted," I spoke the exact words that had been uttered from her lips just a few moments earlier. "Too," I just had to add. The irony! Elena stiffened in my arms, but I refused to let go. I didn't want to see the look on her face.

I was actually a little bit glad that I had already practised telling someone earlier this evening, or night. Although under very different circumstances.

"I learnt Swedish because my mother spoke it," I said, completely out of the blue and breaking the silence that had settled in the car ever since we left Georgia behind us. "My birth mother," I added and turned my head to look at Damon, whose gaze was focusing on the road ahead. A slight twitch in his neck was the only thing that gave away that he had even heard me. "She… Nobody really knows about the fact that... I've never told anyone…" Oh, this was hard. "I found out about it from my parents before they died. So I left to find… them; my biological parents." I felt my voice waver slightly. I had never shared this story with anyone before. "But they were dead," I finished and turned my head to look out the side window, hinting the meadows and country road passing by in the darkness. The silence settled over us once more, almost like a warm blanket.

"My father was the most unbearable man you can imagine. Violent. Manipulative. Abusive. And if you ask me, I'll always blame him for my mother's death. And never forgive him for shooting and killing me and Stefan." I turned my head to stare at Damon. He cast a glance my way and shrugged. "I thought we were sharing stories."

This could be interesting.

"The only reason I went to London was to track down my biological parents, but I tricked my mom and dad into thinking it was a college exchange program."

"Katherine toyed around with both me and Stefan, compelling my brother to never reveal the truth about her being a vampire to anyone. But she didn't have to do the same to me, I waited for her to turn me so that we could be together. Forever." Damon's voice turned bitter towards the end. "You know how that worked out," he added. Yep; she died.

I wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but it felt like an odd exchange of sorts. Tid for tad. I spilled my secrets and Damon would spill his. A bit like we had at the Mystic Grill long ago, but now without waltzing around the truth. Honestly, I was curious about his past. But was it worth giving up mine for?

"I came in touch with some bad people, or good, depending on your perspective… They helped me find out the truth about my biological parents, and once I knew, well, I stuck around."

"My dear old brother spoke to our father about vampires. The town was crawling with them back then, the founders were paranoid and planned to burn them all alive. Stefan told our father the truth about Katherine's vampirism, even after I begged him not to. Father, as expected, became furious and had her captured. We tried to save her, but father shot us both when we were in the middle of rescuing her from being taken to the church to be burned alive. The reason she was even captured and taken away in the first place was because of my brother's jabby-mouth, and I still haven't been able to forgive him for it. I don't want to, either." A slight pause settled in the car, Damon's words getting a real chance to sink in before he cleared his throat, signaling for me to continue.

"Vicki wasn't my first kill." It was the first thing I could think of after his long, personal story, maybe it wasn't as good as his, but still. Damon allowed his gaze to leave the road for the first time since we had started this...whatever it was.

"I figured," he said and scrutinized me. His blue stare was way too intense in combination with all these personal truths. I turned away and instead let my gaze land on the painted white lines on the road straight ahead, lit up by the car's headlight. "Stefan forced me to turn."

"My sister knows nothing of the bad things I've done."

"I thought Bree could open the tomb underneath the church."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "What tomb?"

"Where Katherine and the rest of the captured vampire are sealed?" That was news indeed. "But she couldn't." That crisis averted, then.

"Obviously," I retorted in my best Alan Rickman voice, smiling slightly at my own impression. Then a thought hit me. "If you tell Elena–" I turned my head to Damon.

"You'll stake me?" He smirked, before becoming serious. "I won't. Same goes for you."

"You'll stake me?" I taunted and received an annoyed eye roll. "Don't worry, your secrets are safe with me." I patted my chest reassuringly. "If it's one thing I'm good at, then it's keeping them."

"Parks?" Elena's muffled voice spoke.

"Yes?"

"I can't breathe."

Quickly, I released her from my tight grip. "Whoops. Sorry." Avoiding her gaze was a lot harder when I no longer held her pinned against my chest.

"So…" she spoke, searching for something to fill the silence with. "I guess we're even more alike, then." I finally looked up at my sister instead of the gravel. Elena was smiling coyly, anticipating my answer.

"Yeah, you're right." I nodded, before adding, "Sis."

Nothing was going to change between us.

"So, how did you find out?"

"About your adoption or mine?" I asked and licked the spoon completely clean of ice cream. I hadn't had much of a choice but to tell Elena about the fact that I had already known she was adopted; the truth of it would have come out sooner or later. She had been a little upset about it at first, but quickly moved past it.

"Ehrm… Both?" She dug out another scoop from our shared ice cream package.

"I was just a kid when your birth mother came to dad's clinic. I had come with him to work that day. It was raining and she looked absolutely terrified. She was just sixteen." I observed my spoon instead of Elena. "She gave birth to you and disappeared a few days later. That's it, or at least all I remember. I was, like, seven at the time." Elena nodded, absorbing the new information like a spunge.

"And yours?" she finally spoke. Letting out a little sigh, I dragged the package over the table to dig out another spoonful of the peanut butter ice cream.

"There were some hints… Trouble getting out a birth certificate for a doctor's appointment, no pictures of mom ever being pregnant with me. And when they adopted you, well, it was pretty hard to not explain the process to me. So they just told me the truth at the same time. Easier that way."

"Do you know who they are?"

"Were," I corrected. The cold ice cream traveled down my throat and numbed my body.

"Oh."

"I nagged at mom and dad to tell me for a while, but they wouldn't budge. So I found out myself." I turned to catch my sister's gaze. "Trust me, Elena. Sometimes it better not knowing." She avoided my firm eyes thoroughly, and I knew what she was thinking. Why did my birth mother give me up? I had wondered the same thing for years before learning the truth, and I couldn't say I had liked the answer. A feeling told me Elena wouldn't like hers either, but she would probably go trying to find out nonetheless. She was stubborn like that.

The sound of the front door opening interrupted us, and Jenna entered the house soon after. Elena immediately grew cautious. Our aunt stopped in her step when she saw me and Elena by the dining table. Instantly, her demeanor darkened as she violently threw her bag onto the dresser and stormed into the kitchen.

"Where have you been?" The sharp question was directed towards Elena. Obviously, since I didn't even live here anymore, was a legal adult and was responsible for my own life. "I don't set a lot of rules, Elena. Not with you. I trust you to tell me the truth. Where were you? Why wouldn't you call me? I thought that we were closer than that."

"Now is not the time you want to talk to me about trust," Elena spoke in a tense tone. She got up from the table to escape Jenna by setting her eye on the staircase, leaving me with the ice cream. My sister is so nice.

Jenna blocked Elena's path with her arm, and they continued arguing about trust and yada yada, until Elena brought out the newfound adoption card. Instantly, as soon as the words were out and hanging between them, Jenna's mouth zipped itself shut and her posture stiffened. I could see her going taut even from my place over by the dining table.

"Elena, I didn't… They asked me not to tell you."

My sister looked over her shoulder at me. "That didn't stop Parks from telling me the truth." Jenna swung around to look at me as well, and I turned away in my chair immediately.

Did she have to drag me into this? And talk about double standards! I had kept Elena in the dark about this just as much as Jenna had. But Elena probably justified that by pointing at my young age at the time everything happened, or perhaps she knew better than to expect me to share serious stuff with her.

"Elena!" Jenna called after my sister, who had undoubtedly used Jenna's temporary attention on me to run up the stairs. Clever girl.

"I don't wanna hear it!" Elena's faint voice could be heard calling, before she slammed the door to her room shut.

As silently as possible, I got up from my chair, quietly moving to the freezer to put back the ice cream, throwing the used spoons into the sink on the go. However, when I turned around, Jenna was staring at me from the doorframe connected to the hallway with her hands on her hips. Dammit.

"How did she find out? Did you tell her?"

"It's complicated…" I avoided my aunt's inquiring gaze and tried going through the tv-room to reach the front door. Jenna stepped out and blocked my path. Oh, come on!

"You can't just run away from this! Tell me, Parker."

"It's really not my place to tell!" I sighed, frustrated. So much drama in this house for one night! "And does it even matter? Elena found out, I filled her in best I could. You should do the same." I bumped into Jenna's stunned shoulder, and somehow managed to make it all the way to the front door, escaping any further questioning.

Once outside, walking down the path lined with perfectly green lawns and even more perfect gardens, I pulled out a phone I'd found and snatched from a dresser at the house. Already, regret about crushing my phone earlier was starting to settle in. But this was better than nothing.

To Elena, December 4, 3:47 AM: You owe me!

To Parker, December 4, 3:47 AM: Did you make it out alright?

Quick as the reply came, there was no questioning about who was texting her. My sister knew me too well.

To Elena, December 4, 3:48 AM: Just barely. But I have to work tomorrow– Wait, today! So you owe me for that too.

To Parker, December 4, 3:49 AM: You ate my ice cream. We're even.

To Elena, December 4, 3:49 AM: Not by a long shot. Sis.

To Parker, December 4, 3:50 AM: Love you, Parks.

To Elena, December 4, 3:50 AM: Don't stay up too late smooching Stefan, alright?

To Parker, December 4, 3:50 AM: How did you...? Never mind.

Smiling, I turned to look back at the house. Even from this distance, I could tell Elena's window was slightly ajar, as well as hinting the silhouette of a man's broad back standing in the middle of the room, next to the bed. She probably wouldn't take my advice.