N: I believe by this point you guys are tired of hearing how sorry I am and about my problems or anything that might have stopped me from writing this so I'll spear you. Just enjoy the chapter before last. As usual, I am looking forward to reading your reviews.

Just a little reminder from last chapter: Damon found Elena and Stefan in the kitchen late at night, Elena explained and she thinks Damon believed her. She went to see Alaric and was followed by a black Nissan, the Nissan smashed into her car and the last thing we know Damon is trying to convince the hospital staff to let him know how his wife is.

Busted

"Damon, there you are. What happened?" Stefan came running a few minutes after his wife's doctor assured him that she will be okay.

Damon was standing in front of the window, looking outside, his mind still on the last few sentences exchanged between the old doctor and himself.

"The bruises are going to last a few weeks and she only suffered one major cut. She is not in any danger, but she did lose some blood so I prepared her for a blood transfusion, we are just waiting for the blood from Victoria's Hospital."

"You guys don't have blood here?"

"Not AB negative. Your wife's blood type is very rare. We will let you know the moment she wakes up, that's a promise."

"Thank you doctor," Damon mumbled and automatically shook the doctor's hand.

The problem was that Katherine had a blood transfusion before, one he witnessed, when their daughter was born. He clearly remembered his wife's blood type being B positive. It had been written on the bag and on the chart at the end of her bed. Damon was no expert, but he was pretty sure that a person's blood type doesn't change.

"Isn't that your car getting picked up, Stef?" Damon asked absent minded, completely ignoring Stefan's question.

"What?" Stefan took a few steps towards his brother. He thought something terrible must have happen for his brother to be so out of it, it was as if he wasn't even there.

"The black Nissan outside, it's your car. You parked in a restricted area."

"Yeah, so? I was in a hurry. Damon is everything alright? How's Katherine?" At this point it became clear to Stefan that his brother was not alright.

How is Katherine? The question echoed in Damon's mind. Probably long dead, he thought. Or maybe she was in on it, maybe she got tired of him and ran away using the plane crash as an excuse. Everything that happened since the accident started to make sense. Her docility, her diplomacy and her shyness, they were so uncharacteristic of Katherine. He should've figured it out long ago, he should have realized that there was no way someone could change so drastically in so little time, especially not his wife. What now? Damon asked himself. He thought about going to the police, but a part of him wanted to protect her, to give her a chance to explain. Just when he was about to tell his brother about his new discovery, the doctor came rushing through the big doors holding the "restricted area" sign.

"Mr. Salvatore, your wife is awake and she's asked to see you," the doctor said and Damon nodded. She took one look back at his brother who smiled slightly.

"I'll wait here," he said and took a seat. "I will call everyone and tell them Katherine's ok, everyone's been worried sick."

Damon didn't say anything; he just followed the doctor through the doors. At the end of a long hall, they finally reached her room. He allowed the doctor to go in first and check to make sure everything was in order and after the doctor left satisfied, he got in and closed the door behind him.

"I know you are not my wife, who are you?" he asked keeping his distance from the bed as if she had something contagious.

Elena knew that sooner or later she would have to answer this particular question. A part of her hoped it will be later rather than sooner, but she knew it was coming. Somehow, all the rehearsed explanations sounded half insane. He clearly would not believe her if she told him she started to fall in love with him even before she saw his face. One glance towards Damon and she knew. There was a good chance he will never forgive her. Her heart started beating fester and immediately, the rhythmic beeping sound from the monitor on her left side picked up speed as well.

He was determined to keep his eyes on her, show no emotion, but when he heard the heart monitor sound speed up, he couldn't help but glance towards it. A part of him still hoped all this was some sort of misunderstanding and the woman lying in bed was Katherine Salvatore, his wife and the mother of his child. He hoped that by some miracle she did have a change of heart and loved him just as much as he loved her. Of course, he knew better. Somewhere deep inside his heart he'd always known, but the idea had seemed too impossible for him to even acknowledge it.

"Where's my wife?" Damon asked and Elena's fingers clenched around the shits. 'Why do you care? She's been horrible to you and to your daughter, she broke your heart, she didn't love you, not the way I love you.' Maybe she had been wrong and Damon was not falling in love with her, maybe it was always Katherine and it will always be Katherine. She should know better than anyone that when it came to love, reason and logic had no place in it. Elena could tell by the way Damon's chest was raising and falling that he was getting angrier with every passing second, but for some reason she could not talk. She opened her mouth a few times hoping that the words will come to her, but no sound came out. "Who are you?"

"Damon, please…" she took a deep breath and again, she found herself unable to put the words dispersed around in her mind together.

"Maybe the police will have a better chance in getting the information out of you. Who are you, damnit?" Damon was almost shouting at this point. He waited patiently for hours for the doctor to tell him it was alright for him to go in and talk to her and now he wanted his questions answered.

"Elena Gilbert."

"Who?"

"Elena Gilbert, that's who I am."

"Elena…the reporter?" She nodded.

"And where's my wife?"

"Dead. Your wife is dead Damon, I am sorry."

"Since the plane_"

"Yes," Elena answered before Damon had the chance to finish his sentence.

"So all this time," Damon passed his hand through his hair a few times. So he had been right, after the accident the woman he got was not the one he married.

"There was a mix up. I was holding Anna, I guess that's why they thought I was your wife," Elena started in a lower tone. "I woke up, I couldn't see, I couldn't move, I was in so much pain. Everyone was calling me Katherine, it sounded wrong, but I was under medication, pain and fear, I didn't realize what it must've happen until much later."

"And when you did, why didn't you say something?"

"I couldn't talk, remember?" Elena let out a soft moan as she tried to reposition herself in bed. Damon clenched his teeth to keep himself from rushing by her side to help her.

"What about after, once you were able to talk, why didn't you say anything?" he asked.

"I_" Elena stopped for a second and Damon took a step closer. "This is going to sound_"

"I don't care how the hell is going to sound, talk!"

"I had to remain Katherine for a while because…because someone wants to kill you!" she finally let out in one breath.

"What?"

"When I was in the hospital," she began, placing her hand on her throbbing thigh," someone came to my room."

"Someone who?"

"I don't know. Please, Damon just hear me out before you ask any more questions." Damon made a light hand movement and she went on. "Someone came in, but I couldn't see who. I was bandaged, I could only see with one eye and the room was in semi-dark. He addressed my as Katherine and warned me not to make any deathbed confessions. He said that the plan will go on despite of the accident and that you will never live to take office."

For a moment Damon remained silent, then a smile tugged in the corner of his lips. "That is one hell of a story, I'll give you that. You expect me to believe it?"

"It's the truth!"

"The doctor says he can release you tomorrow, I will ask for you to be released in police custody."

"Damon, please don't! Look, I don't blame you for what you must be thinking about me in this moment."

"You can't even begin to imagine what I think about you right now."

She bit her lip. It wasn't like she could blame him. "I am not lying about this, Damon. Someone plans to assassinate you before you take office_"

"I'm not even elected!" he cut her off.

"As good as, it seems" She said softly.

Damon took a few steps towards her bed. He seemed to regret the decision right away because he let out a deep breath and pulled back. "I can't believe I am standing here listening to this nonsense. Are you really trying to convince me that a stranger came to your room in the hospital," Damon stopped mid-sentence when he noticed Elena shaking her head vigorously.

"Not a stranger, Damon." She said quickly and Damon raised an eyebrow, looking at her as if now she had really lost it. "Well think, no one besides close family members were aloud in my chambers, you made sure of it and there were guards day and night to make sure it stayed like that. Not to mention the nurses, always ready to come in my room at the smallest sign of trouble."

"You really are insane," Damon said after a long pause.

"There are notes, I can show them to you. I checked, they were all typed at the ranch."

"Notes?" Damon asked puzzled.

"Yes, letting me…well, Katherine know that the plan was still on. The last one informed me it will happen on Election Day."

Damon scoffed, "You could've written those yourself, in case you got caught."

"I didn't."

"From what you say, it seems that my wife wanted me dead." It wasn't a question, nor a statement, but Elena answered it anyway.

"She did."

"Why? My wife was not interested in politics. Katherine might have been a spoiled, manipulative bitch, but she was no murderer."

"This was never political Damon, it was always personal. Katherine was prepared for you, molded to your liking. Who introduced you two?"

"Stefan," he said with a small shrug. "When she applied for the firm. Her credentials were flawless."

"Someone made sure they were. Look, if you don't believe me about Katherine, ask your mother."

"What's my mother got to do with this?"

"She had a private investigator look into Katherine's past. She has a file on Katherine, everything is there. What she did before she met you, the different names she used. Your mother threatened me with it thinking I was Katherine."

"My mother threatened you?" Damon asked and for the first time since the beginning of their conversation, he sounded surprised.

"Yeah. She said she will expose me…well, Katherine to you if I hurt you again."

For the first time in half an hour, finally something made sense. It did sound like his mother to do that in order to protect him as she would have done for Stefan, Damon could bet on it.

"Okay, let's say for the sake of argument that all this assassination plot is real. Do you expect me to believe that you put yourself in harm's way out of the goodness of your heart? Why didn't you alert me month ago?"

"Would you have believed me then more than you believe me now?" Damon didn't answer. "No, you wouldn't have. I was alone in this. I couldn't trust anyone close to you, because one of them could be the one wanting you dead, I couldn't tell you. Plus, do you think that when the person, whoever it was – is – found out he had been confessing to the plans to Elena Gilbert, television reporter would have just let it go?"

"News reporter," Damon mumbled.

Elena realised what Damon must've been thinking in a split second. "No, Damon_"

"So you did all this for a story? Imagine what it would mean for your career, the big scandal inside the Salvatore family!"

"It's not that. Look, I would lie if I say I didn't think about it. At first, this reason had played an important part in my decision to keep quiet about the switch, but that changed. I got to know you and Anna."

"So how long were you planning to play the role of my wife for? We were going to fuck with the lights off for the rest of our lives? You thought you would never find yourself in the need of a blood transfusion? I still can't believe I didn't realize your blood type was different from Katherine's the first time at the hospital. You must've had dozens of blood transfusions."

"It's…you weren't looking for it, Damon. There were many signs, I am sure, but for you I was Katherine and any other explanation was simply not possible."

"Were you going to live a lie forever?"

"No, just until I made sure you were safe."

"Forget about me, I would've survived, but what about Anna? She came to care for you, you think she just wouldn't notice your absence? And after all she's been through. You say you care about me," he paused and Elena whispered a muffled 'I love you' that went unnoticed by Damon. "You would've broken her heart. Why would you do that to her? To me?"

Elena started crying softly. She just couldn't hold the tears in anymore, they were burning her eyes. Did he think for a second her heart would've remained intact when she left? She wouldn't have had a heart, her heart belonged now to him…to him and his beautiful daughter.

"So, any suspects? My parents maybe? My brother? No, I know, Rebekah. She was still mad at me for that time she asked to borrow my Camaro and I refused to land it to her. Teenagers are known to hold grudges."

"Stop it!" Elena yelled with all the force she could gather. "Stop, this is not a joke. The threat is real_" the soft knock on the door interrupted Elena.

"Come in," Damon said and once the door opened, Elena's heart stopped.