N: I know this is super short, but I wanted to have the DE convo in the same chapter.

As usual, this is not beta-ed so all the mistakes are mine and I am truly sorry about this. Hope you'll enjoy the horribly short chapter and leave me a review to let me know what you think.

Fire and smoke

Elena was walking fast towards the brightly illuminated McDonald's across the street. She looked around and her attention was captured by two girls sitting just in the dark corner or the restaurant. One of them was smoking – what Elena thought was not a normal cigarette. The other girl looked no older than seventeen and Elena felt chills down her spine.

Right before she reached the door, one of the girls yelled at her, "Hey, you! Keep your skinny ass out of here or I'll kill you!" Elena chose to ignore the girl and she focused of opening the heavy door. She spotted Jeremy as soon as she walked in. Her anger was growing as she was advancing towards him. By the time she was by his side, her cheeks were red, she felt like strangling her friend and hug him at the same time.

"Outside, now!" she ordered and Jeremy smiled. He took his sweet time to gather his things from the tiny, round table and they made their way outside.

"What the hell were you thinking making me meet you here at this time of night?" she asked,

"Someone's not happy to see a good friend." Jeremy lit out a joint, offering her some.

"Jeremy you don't understand. It's past midnight and I'm not in the room, if Damon finds out –"

"You mean the man that thinks you are his wife? Or does he know who you are?"

"No he doesn't and he must not know; you don't understand…"

"I'm all ears."

"Not here, not now. It's a long story and I must go back to the hotel. It's about Damon's life, stay out of it Jeremy it's dangerous," Elena whispered hoping that her ex colleague will understand.

"When did you decide to do it?"

"At the hospital. They have mistaken me for Katherine Salvatore. At first I wasn't able to tell them since I had bandages all over my face and I couldn't speak."

"And what you were able to talk why did you keep quiet?"

"I told you I don't have time to explain this to you Jer. Just ask Alaric."

"That old bastard knows?"

"Not since long, maybe a few weeks. I had to tell someone."

"So that's why he's been covering Damon Salvatore like crazy and he has Tyler and I follow the two of you everywhere. He wanted me to keep an eye on you."

"I guess." Elena moved a little, coming face to face with Jeremy.

"Jer, how did you know it was me?"

"Well," he started. He let out the smoke from his joint. "It is the way you behaved in front of the camera. The way you tucked your hair behind your ear and the way you bit your bottom lip. I suspected it even from the first time I filmed you as you just got out of the hospital."

"It was a shock seeing you there and at the ranch."

"After seeing you at the Salvatore's I was almost sure it was you. I noticed there was something different in the way Mrs. Katherine Salvatore was acting. I only filmed her once, about three years ago, but I remembered that she had no clue what to do, you did. You knew how to pose, you took my directions like a pro and even the mistakes you did seemed controlled, intentional."

"I should've known you'd figure it out, after all you are the best at what you do."

"Flattery won't help you now Elena. I still want an explanation for –"

"Oh God!"

"What?" he asked seeing Elena's worried face. He turned around subtly, expecting to see Damon Salvatore or anyone from his family walking towards them, but what he saw was a cop.

***Lucky13***

Damon knocked on his brother's door twice before he finally answered. "You summon me here and then you make me wait in front of the door? That's not very nice of you Steffie."

"Wha, relax would you. I was in the bathroom. Why are you in such a bad mood?"

"I am not in a bad mood." He just didn't want to be there. The only place he wanted to be was in his room talking to his wife. She had been acting strange all day. During dinner she asked him about a man in the crowd with white hair – someone from her past he guessed. Whoever that guy was must've talked to her when she went to the bathroom because when she got back her face was white, her hands were shaking and she wouldn't stop looking around and biting her bottom lip. Something or better said someone scared his wife and he wanted to know about it. He didn't care about anything his brother might say, he was sure it had something to do with the campaign and in this particular moment Damon wasn't interested in that. The only reason Damon said "ok" when his brother told him he needed to talk to him was for the slight possibility that it wasn't about the campaign and if his brother needed him, he had to be there. "I am just tired Stefan," he finally finished his sentence.

Stefan walked towards the chair that was near the bathroom and pulled a white envelope out of his inside pocked. He looked at it for a second and then just handed it to Damon.

"Who gave you this?" Damon asked after he read the note hiding inside the envelope Stefan gave him.

"The brunette waitress; the one who had been very attentive to you through the whole dinner time."

"Why did she hand this to you?"

"Would you had have preferred she gave it to you or to your wife?"

"Preferred? What the hell Stefan?"

"Look, it might me good for you to accept her invitation."

"Aren't you forgetting something? I am married, Stefan!"

"Only in theory. Don't be mad Damon. I just know that whatever is going on between Katherine and you is not what it should be. I know that for any man, even you, it would be heard to function at full capacity when his dick isn't happy."

"Speaking from experience?" Stefan stopped talking and took a step back. "Sorry, that was too much. It's just that…everyone's into my business lately and it's starting to get frustrating."

"I understand."

"No you don't. Look Stefan, I really appreciate what you and Elijah are trying to do, but no matter how sexually frustrated I am, I won't do that. I am not going to cheat on my wife."

"Always the loyal one. I have always admired that in you," Stefan said as he poured himself a drink. "Maybe she'd settle for second best, do you mind?" Stefan asked taking the envelope from the desk.

"Have at it," Damon said making his way towards the door. "Good night, little brother."

"Good night, Damon."

Damon opened the door to his room and called his wife's name even before turning on the lights. "Katherine?" he got no answer. After trying a few more times and made his way through the room, he realized that his wife wasn't there.

***Lucky13***

"For the name of God Jer, put that out," Elena begged referring to Jeremy's cigarette. To her release, he let the cigarette fall between them and crushed it with his foot. As the policeman stopped to make some room in front of the entrance at McDonald's, Elena waved her hand, letting Jeremy know she wanted them to go. They took the corned and headed towards the hotel.

"Jer, you have to promise not to reveal my true identity to anyone. It's really important."

"Klaus would probably pay a fortune for this information," he said and Elena stopped abruptly.

"You can't…" she mumbled.

"Chill, Elena, you're turning colors."

"Chill? Jeremy this is not a joke."

"I won't tell anyone, but I'll need a way better explanation than what you gave me."

"I know and I will explain, I promise, just not now. It was great seeing you Jer. I would totally hug you right now, but –"

"Undercover mission and all, I get it. If you need help, just yell loud enough I'll be near."

"Thanks."

After they said their good byes, they went in opposite directions. Just after she crossed the street towards the hotel she looked up. Damon was standing in front of the door looking at her like she had just murdered someone.