Disclaimer: I own nothing here except for Leesha and her family. Everything else belongs to their respective owners.

Hey everyone! So I managed to finish this one in two weeks instead of the nearly three months the last one took, and part of that is the fact that this one's shorter because I don't like writing filler. Not entirely happy with it like I was the first couple chapters, but I liked where this ended. But I am expecting reviews after I post this asking what Leesha is and how she knows what's going on.

The next update should be out by the middle of March. And after that one, with luck, it'll be time for Founder's Day and some really long chapters because of a few things I'm doing.

NOTE: 'Gianni' is pronounced like 'Johnny'. My sister (and occasional beta-reader along with PurpleStrawberrryDreams- I love you both.) had to point out to me that not everyone knows how to pronounce my character names.

Even when she got upset at Damon, there was one thing Leesha could say for him: life was never boring with him around.

Not that it was exactly boring now, Leesha conceded as she handed Doctor Potter the neccesary files before moving down the hallway to grab a quick coffee from the breakroom, but it was a more hectic craziness instead of the enjoyable (and occasionally dangerous) insanity Damon carried with him. Today was her third double-shift this week, and it was only Wednesday.

"How're you holding up?" one of the other nurses, Amy Hudson, asked her.

"Exhausted," Leesha said. "You'd think that we'd be used to this by now."

"Damn budget cuts," the other woman muttered as she grabbed new gloves.

Leesha hmmed agreeably and knocked back the styrofoam cup of caffienated sludge, shuddering at both the horrendous taste and the jolt of caffeine the stuff gave her. She was going to need it, she decided as she glanced at the clock. She still had four hours to go until this shift was over, and the nauseous sinking feeling she would get in the pit of her stomach sometimes when something wasn't right just wouldn't go away.

What the hell was wrong?

"I worry about you, Leesh," Gianni said the next day during their weekly hour-long phone call.

"Why?" she asked. "I'm older, I should be worried about you."

"Doesn't work like that, sis," he said, ignoring her deflection. "You seem distracted, like you're half-focused on talking to me and the other half's somewhere else."

"Sorry Gianni, it's just work, and craziness..." 'And the fact that I'm pretty sure my best friend is doing something stupid, and trying to get someone to shove a pointy piece of wood through his heart.' She sighed and fell backwards onto her bed. "I'm getting too old for this," she mumbled.

"For what?" her brother asked acidly. "For telling me the truth? Because I can't think of one conversation that we've had since our freshman year of college without you lying to me."

"Gianni..." Leesha trailed off. She didn't know how to answer that.

"What happened to you that night, Leesh?" Gianni demanded. "Tell me that much at least."

"I can't," she told him. "I can't tell you because I don't want to know some days, and I can't do that to you. It's a big sister thing. I'm supposed to protect you," she added at the memory of what Elena had told her about her younger brother Jeremy.

"Fine," he snapped, and Leesha winced at the ice in his voice. He'd never talked to her like that before, only to people who hurt her or his friends - just like she talked to people who dared to look at him the wrong way. "Call me when you can. Because ten years is an awful long time to keep something this big - whatever 'this' is - a secret from your own family."

"Gianni-" she started, but he'd already hung up. She sighed and lowered the phone. "Happy birthday, little brother."

'My twin brother is pissed off at me - for good reason, too - I keep feeling like something's wrong and I don't know what it is, and I'm working a double shift again in-' Leesha checked her watch and sighed. 'Twenty minutes. Joy. Marie's gonna kill me for being late.' She grabbed her coat and bag before leaving her apartment. "Happy fucking birthday to us," she muttered.

One week and three phone calls from Elena later, Leesha was officially planning her move to Mystic Falls. She'd gotten a job at Mystic Falls Hospital, given her week's notice to Marie, finished packing her nonessentials, arranged for her furniture to be shipped along with most of her other stuff, and was now onto finding a house.

"Lisa, you are a godsend for sending me these pictures," she said into the phone as she clicked on the email. "This is the one that was built in the nineties, right? 2200 square feet?"

"Yes, on both counts," Lisa Smalley confirmed. "The other one was built two years ago, but it's about the same size."

"And more expensive," Leesha said. "Besides, I think I like the nineties one better anyway."

"I'll fax you the paperwork," Lisa said. "Make sure to get it to me as soon as you can." They exchanged pleasantries before hanging up.

"2107 Maple Street, here I come," Leesha whispered, smiling.

A few days later, the sinking feeling was back and worse than ever.

She hung up and slowly lowered the phone to her lap, not paying any attention to the piles of boxes around her. Gianni was still unhappy with her (understatement of the century) after their lost conversation, but fine. Nonna was fine. So were Mama, Da, and Eliza. So where was the feeling in her gut coming from? She bit her lip and dialed the familiar number on a hunch, hoping that she was wrong.

"Leesha, now's not a good time," Damon said.

"I woke up this morning feeling like something was wrong. My family's fine. What's happening, right now?" she asked.

"Leesha, now is not a good time," he repeated, growling.

"Too fucking bad," she snapped, short temper from lack of sleep frayed by both worry and frustration. "Tell me what the hell is going down, goddamnit."

"Stefan's missing," he bit out. "I'm in the middle of a meeting with the teacher so that we can go get him."

"There won't be enough," she muttered absently, not knowing why she said it.

"What?" Damon asked.

"I don't know why I said that," Leesha whispered, perturbed. "Go get him."

He hung up before she could, and she quickly dialed another number. "Damn automated switchboards," she muttered as she waited before straightening up when someone answered. "Hi, I'm Alicia Macdonald. We spoke on the phone a few days ago about me moving to Mystic Falls..."

Her dreams that night were foggy and indistinct, but she could have sworn that she had heard Elena calling Stefan's name.