A/N The Vampire Diaries Settings and Characters all belong to LJ Smith and the CW. Any original characters and this story are copyright © 2011-2018 to Hopelessromanticgurl, all rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.


The next morning Lexi was just about go shower and get ready for her day when heard Stefan's phone rang from his bedroom.

"It's Elena." Stefan smiled. "Hey, Beautiful, how was your girls night?"

"Stefan, I need you."

Lexi froze and turned to Stefan, in a flash she was next to him listening to Elena.

"It's…It's Isobel she's… she's back."

"Stay there, we will be over in a minute." Stefan said. He hung up and looked to Lexi. "Let's go."

The two of them headed over to Elena's.

One the way over they got a frantic call from Caroline. Matt had gotten hurt and Caroline fed him her blood causing her to have to tell him the truth about everything he took off and nobody had heard from him since.


After arriving to Elena's house they went up to her room and she was sitting by her window leaning against the wall. Stefan could tell she was barely holding it together.

"This is bad. Between Isobel, Jenna, and now Matt…this is disaster bad." Elena said.

"We will figure this out. We will figure it all out." Lexi said.

Elena just sighed. Stefan rubbed her back.

Before more could be said John walked in. "Can I speak with you downstairs."

"I have nothing to say to you." Elena said.

"Please? It's important. Stefan you and Lexi too."

Lexi and Stefan looked to Elena. "It's up to you." Stefan said softly. "We will support whatever you decide. If you decide to go downstairs we will be right by your side the entire time."

Elena inhaled and exhaled a deep breath. "Let's go."

The three of them went downstairs. Just as they turned the corner Isobel came out of the kitchen.

"You invited her in!" Elena gasped.

"She has information on Klaus. Please just listen to her."

Elena sighed and looked to Stefan and Lexi, unsure of what to do. Stefan rubbed her back. "What do you know?" Stefan asked.

"Since I was last here, I've been doing everything possible to find Klaus. We knew our best chance was to find him before he could find you." Isobel said as they all moved to the kitchen.

"Best chance at what?" Stefan asked.

"Keeping Elena alive." John answered.

"You don't get to talk, ok, not after everything you've done." Elena said.

"Were you able to find Klaus?" Lexi asked.

"No. Nobody knows where he is but there are these rumors that are flying around. That a doppelganger exists." Isobel continued.

"Which means any vampire that wants to get in favor with Klaus will be lining up to capture you." John added.

"I'm not buying any of this." Elena said shaking her head. Maybe it was denial maybe it wasn't. She didn't know. But she did know at this moment she didn't believe anything that was being said. She looked to Isobel. "The last time that you were here, you made it clear that you didn't care about me. Now all of a sudden I'm supposed to believe that you want to help?"

"Klaus has been obsessed with finding Katherine for centuries. All it would take was any one of those 1864 tomb vampires to spread the word around that Katherine was still alive and it would bring him straight here to Mystic Falls, where you were bound to be discovered, so we killed them." John explained.

"And almost killed Lexi and Damon in the process!" Elena yelled a little louder than she meant to.

Isobel went over to Elena. "I have a safe house that I can take you to. The deed is in your name. No vampires can get in without your permission, not even me. Let me help you."

"You wanna help me?" Elena asked. "Then get out of my house!" With that Elena stormed up the stairs and back into her room slamming the door behind her.

"You heard her. We listened to you now you need to leave." Lexi said. In a flash Stefan and Lexi were gone too.


Per Elena's request they went to the Salvatore house. They were all sitting in the living room. Elena was cuddled into Stefan's side as he stroked her hair.

"Do you really think that Isobel's telling the truth that word's gotten out about the doppelganger?"

"I don't trust a word that she says, but I think we'd be stupid to ignore the warning." Stefan said.

'You know, you should just stay here. It's better for us to keep an eye on you." Damon suggested.

"What, in the house that any vampire can enter? No. Her house is safer." Stefan said.

"Well, then we'll stay there." Damon said.

"Stefan and I have it covered, Damon. You don't need to come." Lexi said.

"That's not your choice to make." Damon smirked. "It's up to Elena."

"So is that the plan? None of you will let me out of your sight again?"Elena asked.

"Let me know when you come up with a better one." Damon said.

"Fine. Then one of you 3 bodyguards is gonna have to come with me to the Lockwood luncheon." She said.

"That'd be me." Stefan smiled and kissed her head.

"Not me. I have witch stuff to attend to with Bonnie." Damon said.

"Does that mean that you're taking her to the…"

"Shh…" Damon said cutting her off.

Elena was confused, but then Katherine walked in.

"Don't get quiet on my account. If you have a plan to combat the impending vampire doom, please do tell."

Nobody said a word. Elena held back her giggles knowing how annoyed it was making her.

"Seriously, what is the plan to get us out of this mess, hmm? I delivered you a moonstone, a werewolf, and the dagger to lure and kill Klaus, a werewolf, and right now all you have is a moonstone. Or so you tell me."

"No, we have it. It's in a very safe place." Damon said.

"I've been honest with you. Time to return the favor." Katherine said.

"Let me be honest with you. Don't mistake the fact that we haven't set you on fire in your sleep for trust."

Elena giggled softly.

"Fine. Be that way." She stormed out of the room.


At the Lockwood's Stefan and Elena spoke with Caroline and still couldn't find Matt. They agreed to have Lexi help look until Elena accepted the award that she needed to and then would help too.

After that everything went by so fast. One minute she was in front of the crowd giving a speech and the next thing she remembered was seeing Katherine and then she blacked out.

Stefan didn't even realize what had happen until Katherine stabbed him with a vervain dart and tossed him into the bushes.

The second it wore off he was on the phone with Lexi and planning and searching for Elena.


After spending all day searching they came up empty. They were just about to give up when Stefan's phone rang it was Elena.

"Elena?"

"Mystic Falls cemetery. Come get me please, please help me." then she hung up.

"Lexi, Let's go!"

Stefan ran out of the house and was gone in a flash. Lexi grabbed the car and followed behind him.

They arrived to the cemetery and quickly found Elena. They both gasped at the sight. Isobel was laying on the ground burned to death and Elena was sitting on the ground next to her with her knees pulled to her chest and her arms wrapped around her legs as she rocked back and forth.

Stefan ran over to her and knelt down in front of her. "Hey, Elena, Baby, Hey, it's me. You're safe. Come on, let's get you home."

Elena didn't respond.

"Lexi!" Stefan called in a panic.

Lexi ran over and knelt down next to Stefan. "Elena? Elena can you hear me? It's Lexi."

"Sh-She's go-gone." Elena stuttered.

"It's ok. You're safe. Let's get you home. Can we carry you?"

Elena nodded.

Stefan gently lifted her up and carried her bridal style.


At the Salvatore house Elena was sitting on one of the chairs fiddling with her mother's necklace. Lexi had given it to her shortly after, on the car ride home. She had managed to stop crying and calm down with Stefan's help but she was still filled with sadness. The same sadness she felt when it adoptive mother was killed. Stefan walked in and saw her playing with the necklace.

"Is the Isobel's?"

She just nodded. "I never thought I'd feel bad about her being dead and yet…"

"She was your mother." Stefan answered.

Elena just nodded. She looked back down at the necklace. "It was so horrible Stefan." She said as her voice cracked. "She just ripped of the necklace and let herself burn, she was screaming so, so loud, and the skin was melting right off her face, her back caught fire and she was just screaming and screaming. I didn't know what to do. Everything was happening so fast. I couldn't stop her I…"

"Hey, hey, hey, shhhh. It's over. There was nothing you could have done." Stefan soothed.

"She betrayed Katherine for me. She really did care about me Stefan. The whole thing about the safe house and her wanting to protect me was real. I didn't even get a chance to thank her."

"She knows deep down that you love her. That's what matters."

Elena shook her head. "I was so horrible to her. I slammed the door in her face, I told her to get out of my house."

"Elena seriously how many teenage girls out there have slammed the door on their mother when they were angry?"

Elena giggled slightly knowing he was right. "I still don't understand something though."

"What's that?"

"Why did they let me go?"

Stefan shook her head. "I don't know, anything that John told Isobel we have to assume Klaus knows right?"

Elena just nodded.

"So he knows you aren't going to turn yourself into a vampire, he knows that you have us keeping you safe…

"He knows I'm not going to run…"

They both just looked at each other but before they could speak Damon walked back into the room along with Lexi.

"We need to take some precautions." Damon placed a stack of papers on Elena's lap. "Because we got played. All of us."

"What is this?" Elena asked.

"A deed to our house. It's in Zack's name but once you sign it, it will be in your name." Stefan explained.

"You're giving me your house?" Elena asked in shock.

"Isobel had the right idea with the safe house, you can just stay here that way you can control who can and cannot enter this house." Lexi said. "Since Zack no longer lives in Mystic Falls, he has agreed to let you own the house."

"Although I'll be super pissed if you lock me out." Damon said.

Elena just looked at Damon as he smiled at her.

"Don't give me reason to and I won't." she smirked.

"Ouch, nice." Stefan laughed.

Elena giggled. Things were starting to get a little better.


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