A/N: So, as I'm writing this it's Friday the 27th (?), and hopefully that'll be when you're reading it. I felt so bad about the cliffhanger I decided that I would try and get another chapter up so you didn't have to wait.

Also, thanks to laugh4life, who writes amazing fics for Pretty Little Liars and VD, and who beta-ed this :) my old beta, MJ McCaul, has been gone for a while. I'm sure you've seen enough of my spelling errors to know I desperately need betas.

Elena's POV

I screamed as Caroline's fangs pierced my throat. I'd never actually been bitten before—Stefan had made sure I was safe at every moment—and it hurt. I thought that Caroline would puncture my windpipe, so I screamed as loud as I could. "HELP!"

For the painful second and a half that I thought no one would come, I felt my heart speeding up rapidly, compensating for the adrenaline and the blood loss. I tried to push Caroline away, but she held me against the wall until the wood paneling was cutting into my back painfully.

And then she was off me, and a figure in the darkness was holding her down. "Stop it, Caroline!"

"She killed me!" Caroline screeched, her bloodstained face coming into view. Her eyes were crazed, but scared… she thought that if she didn't kill me she would die. I felt a pang of sympathy, soon followed by a flood, and I was terrified that the man who I realized was Damon would hurt her.

"You have to calm down." He ordered sternly. "Elena didn't kill you, okay? She doesn't have enough strength to be a vampire."

She was still crying and struggling. "She… she…" she gulped. "She made me drink her blood and then her eyes were red and she killed me!"

"Yes, but that person was strong, and Elena isn't."

"No…" said Caroline. She looked at me. "So… a v-vampire killed me?"

I pressed a hand to my neck, trying to stop the flow of blood as I carefully walked towards her. "Katherine. I'm her doppelganger."

Caroline's shallow breathing was beginning to slow. "You're bleeding… does that mean you're not a vampire?"

I looked to Damon.

"Not necessarily." He said. "But if she was a vampire she would be healed by now."

"Oh." Caroline said. "Then… will you let me up?"

Damon looked at me and then back at her. "Will you promise not to hurt Elena?"

"Yes."

He got off her, eyeing her closely as she got to her feet and wiped blood and tears from her face. I ventured closer and held out a hand. "C'mon… we should get you inside."

She sniffed and nodded, letting me pull her close and gently steer her to the house. I saw Damon staring at me, and he gestured at my neck and then at his nose. I knew he was afraid the smell of my blood would set Caroline off, but I mouthed "Just follow me" and opened the door. "Damon, Caroline… would you like to come in?"

"Yes, thank you." Damon said, stepping into my house. Caroline looked confused but walked inside anyway.

I took Caroline to the bathroom and tried to help clean her off, but she made me leave when my neck started to bother her, so I headed to the kitchen. Damon was standing at the sink.

"You okay?" he asked. The genuine concern touched me… but this was Damon. He seemed like a caring person. I sometimes wondered why he was always helping me.

"Uh…." I gingerly felt my neck, and my hand came away red. "I've been better. If it's bothering you, I can leave—"

"No, I'm fine." He said quickly.

"Good." I walked past him, reaching in the cabinet for bandages.

He asked, "You need help?"

"I'm fine, don't worry about it." I said, sighing. "Perks of having a boyfriend that's a vampire; you always have enough of this." I waved the gauze in the air. "Oh, and experience with puling stakes out of people."

He laughed and relaxed just the slightest. "Yeah, that tends to happen a lot."

I pressed the gauze to my neck and put some tape on it to hold it in place. "Uh-huh… so… what are we going to do about Caroline?"

"What do you mean?"

"We have to help her!"

He gave me one of those serious looks; a gaze reminiscent of Stefan's. "Elena…"

"Don't tell me that there's nothing we can do, or that she's dangerous, or that I could get hurt again, because I don't care." I said. Tears formed in the corners of me eyes. "She's my friend, Damon."

I was so scared that he would tell me I was wrong. I didn't know why, but I did. "I know… and I'll help her as much as I can."

Relief flooded through my body, and I dropped into the closest chair. "Really?"

"Yeah, though if I were you, I'd have Stefan help. He's better at the whole vampire-reforming thing."

I nodded, sniffing and hastily wiping away my tears. I had seen Caroline coming down the stairs, and I didn't want her to be upset. "Caroline. You feel better?"

"A little." She said. "I'm just—"

"—scared?" Damon offered. "I get that. But you'll be fine."

She shook her head. "What will my Mom say?"

"Yeah." Damon had serious-face again. "About her…"

I sat there for nearly an hour and a half while Damon explained everything; how her mom killed vampires as part of her job, how Katherine was my doppelganger, and how Stefan could probably help her learn how to control being a vampire. He was so patient with her… he almost reminded me of Stefan for a minute.

Then he looked up, at the door. "That would be Stefan… listen, Caroline, you can't tell him I was here, okay?"

"Why not?" she asked, sounding a little more like herself.

Damon looked at the door, more nervous now. "There's so many reasons and I promise I'll tell you them some other time, but I really should go." Then he was gone, leaving only a cold breeze behind him.

As predicted, Stefan knocked at the door. "Elena?" I heard the slightest hint of fear.

I got up and ran to the door, and when I opened it I saw Stefan glancing around at the porch. I only them realized the alarming large blood spatter on the wall where Caroline had held me. "Stefan."

"Elena, what happened? I smelled your blood everywhere, and I thought that it was…" he got a far-away expression and shook his head. "I thought I saw someone I knew at the parade, and I thought that he might have tried to hurt you."

"Sorry, that was me." Caroline said from behind me. I turned my head and saw her inching up towards us. Stefan seemed to see what was going on.

"You were turned?"

"By Katherine." Said Caroline. "And she says 'Stay the hell out of my way' … or at least that's what she said to tell you."

"Katherine?" Stefan asked. "She's here?"

"Apparently." Caroline said. She crept closer, but made sure to stay on the opposite side of my neck. She was glancing warily at Stefan like he might snap, just because she hurt me.

Instead he sighed and walked in, closing the door behind us.

Damon was right, as usual. Stefan promised that he would protect Caroline, and make sure she didn't hurt anyone. She hadn't killed anyone yet—the man Katherine left her had already been dead, and Caroline felt guilty about drinking his blood, but she hadn't killed him—and he promised her he would do everything in his power to make sure she never killed anyone. I could already see she would be fine.

"What about… you know…" she gestured at the window. "Sun, and the whole burning-in-the-sun thing?"

"We can ask Bonnie to make you a daylight ring." He said.

Caroline's face crumpled. "Oh God, Bonnie! What will she say when she finds out that I died?"

I came to sit next to her and wrapped an arm around her. "She'll love you all the same."

Caroline leaned her head on my shoulder. "I'm scared to go home. What if Mom finds out? Do you think she would kill me?"

"Of course not, Caroline, how could you say that?" I said, though in my heart I had no idea what Sheriff Forbes would do. Honestly, I was afraid that she would kill Caroline, thinking her daughter was dead. Of course, I would never tell Caroline that. "You shouldn't tell her unless you have to, though, because it'll be easier for her if you're just her Caroline."

"Her Caroline." She mimicked in a falsetto voice. "Since when has she cared about anything?"

I glanced at Stefan and he shrugged. "I'm sure she does."

She didn't ay anything, just flopped back onto the bed, dragging me with her. "Can I stay here?"

"Actually, I was hoping I might be able to take you to the boardinghouse?" asked Stefan. "Just for a night or two, so I can show you how to control you cravings, and to hunt—"

"Okay, okay!" she said, stopping him in mid-explanation. "Just as long as I don't have to go home."

She left with him, and Stefan stopped by the bed to lean in and kiss me. "Be safe, okay? If you see Katherine, call me right away."

"Promise." I said, smiling. He was content with that, and followed an impatiently waiting Caroline down the stairs. I heard her start to say something about killing innocent animals and being a serial killer. I groaned in annoyance. Stefan was going to have his hands full for a while.

I laid on the bed for a long time, staring at the ceiling. I had always wondered if Mom knew about the vampires, seeing as she was an ancestor to one of the founding families. Had she been like Sheriff Forbes? I wondered what she would have said about Stefan, if she would have wanted to kill him or of she would have trusted him.

Before I knew it tears were swimming in my eyes and ragged sobs were escaping my throat. I didn't know why I was crying—maybe it was thinking about my parents, or because Caroline had become a vampire, or because I had been carrying so much on my shoulders for so long. I gripped the sheets on my bed and shook, letting go of everything, all the worries that I wouldn't be strong enough to keep Jeremy going.

I felt like I was at the edge of despair when I felt a hand slip in between my hand the sheets, and I started. Two familiar blue eyes burned into mine. "D-Damon?" I choked out.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, nothing at all, I-I'm fine…" I hedged, jerkily sitting up and drawing my knees to my chest. "Why w-would you say that?"

"You're crying, for one." He said, his other hand brushing the tearstains on my face. "And your friend became a vampire today."

"I'm fine." I repeated. There was no way I was having a mental breakdown in front of Damon. I swallowed the lump in my throat and quickly wiped my face. "Did you need something?"

"Stefan left; I wanted to know if he's going to help Caroline."

"Yeah." I realized he was still holding my hand and jumped off the bed. "Look, it's been a long night…"

"I'll let you get to sleep." He said. He got up and headed to the door.

"Wait!"

"What?"

I grabbed a slip of paper off the nightstand and scribbled a number down on it in colored pencil—probably Jeremy's. "If you ever want to call me… if Stefan's around and you need to talk to me."

A faint smile crept up at his lips. "I'll remember that. Goodbye, Elena."

I shook off the feeling he gave me as I got ready for bed. It was nothing. It had to be nothing, the way he looked at me, and the way he always tried to help me and was gentle with me…

Right?

A/N: Well… hope you liked that. I know there were at least three times there Damon could have kissed Elena… you'll have to wait a while for that.