Disclaimer: TVD belongs to whoever receives the royalties and that sure as hell isn't me. I just pretend while I'm writing.

Summary: It starts as the taste of him hits her tongue and before all is said and done, tears and blood have been spilled and lives have been lost... but most importantly none of them will ever be the same.

Elena's journey to realization that she's in love with the other brother. AU from the moment Damon forces his blood on Elena. Prequel to Unsuccessfully Saying Goodbye, but can stand alone.

AN: Just a little warning; Elena's in a bit of an odd mood this morning... which might have been caused by my self-inflicted sleep deprivation. I was going slightly insane from no writing.

oOo

Unwillingly Succumbing to Truth

oOo

breaking up and bringing back balance

oOo

The next morning as the lot of them once again skip school in order to make up yet another battle plan at the boardinghouse, she can barely get herself to look Alaric in the eyes. It wasn't until he pointed out in front of EVERYONE that she realized that she was actually openly groping a very inebriated Damon. What the hell is wrong with her?

Sure the guy is sex on legs... all lean muscle rippling under a silky sheet of delicious mouthwatering milky white skin... oh, and those deep twin pools of clear winter sky just made to drown and loose oneself in... not to mention the sinful perfection of his every movement, even when he's so drunk he can barely stand... but he's also grieving his late girlfriend and she's supposed to be his friend and not some creepy leech trying to take advantage of him. GOOD GOD, she's so far beyond embarrassed... and what's with the wandering hands? There is something seriously wrong with her libido...

… and well crap she'd totally repressed the fact that she needs to actually break up with the suddenly very irritating other brother... she's so fucked up that it isn't even slightly funny any more... actually it's kind of disturbingly hilarious.

"Elena, what's with the evil deranged laughter?" Caroline asks looking kind of creeped out as she warily gives her childhood friend the once over.

She sighs and rubs her eyes with the heels of her hands feeling utterly embarrassed. "Oh, just practising my..."

"... Katherine impersonation. Bravo!" A velvety smooth voice cuts her off with faux enthusiasm that is accompanied by a slow clap that echoes throughout the house. "Impressive. Now you just need a skank-over and no one'll know the difference." He snarks clearly intending to rile the identical brunettes up... and wanting it to cut deeply.

But with the odd mood she's in, she stops rubbing her tired eyes to snap them to meet his. Biting her lower lip she pretends to be thinking about it. In a few swift moves she fluffs her hair, pulls her shirt further down to reveal more creamy olive skin before she rather raunchily affixes her breast in her bra to enhance her cleavage.

Striking her best bitch pose she clears her throat. "I'm ready for my close-up." She purrs mimicking and exaggerating her ancestors drawl.

The two others eyebrows shoot up in confusion or perhaps concern, but more importantly said person she's impersonating appears next to her grinning wickedly. "You are delicious." She purrs back in the very same manner. "BUT you'll never fool anyone wearing those shoes" She continues pointing at her scuffed old Chucks.

The two identical girls giggle making the two other vampires look decidedly alarmed. She's lost it completely.

"I need a drink." The raven haired hottie declares... wait... OK... fine... whatever... he's a hottie... He turns and appears suddenly in the doorway of the living-room striding determinately towards the liquor cart.

Her trampy double grins wickedly at both girls. "It's just too easy." She confides and reluctantly she has to agree that it's always been too easy to jolt the older Salvatore off centre. "Lighten up you two." The oldest of the three chides at the other two; one blond and huffing, the other brown eyed and frowning. That damned buzzing in the back of her mind is back.

Literally shaking her head to rid herself of her frown, she lets out a long shaky breath. "Not yet." She declares spotting the younger of the two vamipric brothers. "Caroline can you stay within hearing range?" She asks, catching herself off guard. It seems her subconscious is intent on keeping her safe she realizes as pain from phantom bruises on her arm make themselves known.

"Sure." The blue eyed vampiress replies eyeing her friend curiously, but knowing better than to ask any further questions.

Surprisingly her ancestor gives her shoulder a light supportive squeeze. "Good luck." She says simply before disappearing in a blur of long ebony curls.

"A word Stefan." She says in a normal voice as she starts for the library knowing he can hear her despite being on the other side of the room.

The pained crystalline gaze that follows her every movement does NOT escape her... she's going to take care of him just like she promised. First things first though.

The doe eyed beauty turns towards her... whatever it is that he is to her now and stops him from getting too close for comfort by raising a hand to stop him. "I can't do this any more." She informs him with curt softness. "I can't see it Stefan. I can't see us going anywhere and I think it's time we stop deluding ourselves by thinking this..." She gestures vaguely between them. "... is in any way a healthy relationship."

He starts talking and although she can hear all the endless words coming out of his mouth she doesn't seem to be able to actually listen to what he has to say. It's almost disturbing, but she's decided and there is nothing he could possibly say or do to make her resolve falter.

She can't help the displeased scowl and the single cocked eyebrow her features seem determined to wear as she watches the tears start to trickle down her now ex's handsome face. Isn't she supposed to be the angsty hormonal teenager and he the century and a half year old ruthless vampire... what?

Ruthless; she lets the word roll around in her buzzing mind while she watches him crying and pleading the way he's done several times before. His caring show, although saddening, does not have the same effect as it usually does. It's kind of irritating her that he's now having the emotional breakdown she expected him to have before instead of not making much effort to keep her alive. She kind of wants to slap the sobbing mess in front of her.

She slaps him.

"Get a fucking grip." The angry teenager with no self restraint spits at her once lover. "I can't deal with this shit." She huffs as he gawks at her stupidly. "There's no way you didn't see this coming and this, us breaking up, is a minor inconvenience in comparison to the shit that's been going on... is stillgoing on." She finishes pointedly and now it's quite obvious that her bitch of a mirror image is indeed her ancestor.

"It's Damon, isn't it?" The green eyed mess of a vampire predictably hisses back.

Rolling her eyes at the accusation she crosses her slender arms over her chest. "No, it's you. I deserve more." She spits at him surprising herself by what she just said and even more when she hears a clear note of disgust in her own voice. Who the hell is she?

Unfortunately she isn't quite as surprised when he looses it completely... well actually it's fortunate that she isn't since she barely manages to slide out of his path and dart towards the door shrieking loudly.

Three things happen in rapid succession. One; the door to the library slams open against a nearby wall sending a small daguerreotype sailing to the floor where it shatters. Two; a light and a dark blur enter the room and chaos ensues. Three; Stefan is being forcefully restrained by Caroline... and Katherine?

The two gorgeous vampiresses are holding him securely as he hisses at them through his unsheathed pearlies. That is, until Katherine is squeezing his throat so hard that he can no longer exhale.

She watches in silent fascination as the two haul the furiously struggling boy out of the room and towards the cellar without another word. "That went well." She mutters sarcastically to herself as she tries to understand what the hell happened to the boy she thought she loved.

"Again." A welcome voice rumbles from the doorway. "But this time emphasize that more. It'll make it sound even more sarcastic.

Chuckling in relief she rolls her big brown eyes before she settles them on the raven haired boy sipping bourbon in the doorway. She clears her throat theatrically as the buzz in the back of her mind roars violently to life. "That went well." She repeats as she tries to mimic the familiar and fluid movement pattern of the boy intently observing her with a delighted smirk.

"Much better, but you look kind of drunk." He drawls before taking another sip from his tumbler.

The now giddy teen giggles delightedly as she assumes she was pretty darn spot on with her impersonation. Her could-have-been stepfather appears behind Damon with a warning look on his face.

Smiling sheepishly and avoiding the clearly hung over man's eyes she swallows her giggles. "It's taken care of." She informs as she makes her way towards the duo.

The lighter of the two in the doorway drapes an arm over her shoulders and pulls her to his side in a very comforting and fatherly manner. "Good. If there's anything..." He trails off and there's nothing more that needs to be said. The man was... is willing to die fighting to keep her alive.

"I know." She says leaning farther into his comforting arms. "Thank you. You know it goes both ways, right?" Figuring she needs to actually tell Alaric that at least once she cranes her neck to catch his gaze to make sure he knows that she really means it. He is on her list of loved ones after all.

He nods and gives the top of her head a firm kiss before he strolls off. "Let's start cracking kiddies." He then says loudly in his best teacher voice to try to get things going.

It doesn't take long for the lot of them to decide that they'll just play it by ear and that all non-supernatural beings will be staying put at the boardinghouse to deal with its two unwilling residents... where they're supposedly out of harms way.

"I agree wholeheartedly. Only supernatural beings go on this excursion." The still living doppelgänger agrees far to quickly and innocently... but luckily only one person seems to suspect her of foul play.

Her undead double hides an amused smirk behind a slender hand as she hums in agreement.

"That's settled then. I better get Liz something to eat." The oldest Gilbert in the room says with clear relief as he turns and makes his way towards the kitchen.

Alaric shrugs and tosses his keys to the raven haired vampire that bares no trace of a hangover. "I'll trade you slayer gear for a bottle of your finest." He says as he starts backing towards the sitting room. "I'm probably fired anyway." He mutters as soon as he gets a nod from the vampire.

"Shotgun!" The straight haired brunette exclaims as she puts said hair up into a high ponytail.

Her brother huffs and crosses his arms over is broad chest. "What the hell?"

"Doppelgänger." She states simply pointing at herself while wearing a disturbingly smug grin. "Magic potion ingredient." She adds waggling her eyebrows... she really is off her rocker today.

"There isn't room." Bonnie says hesitantly as she tries to get some sort of aid from the other four preternatural beings. So much for acceptance.

The mutt clears his throat awkwardly after he strangely enough shoots the only undead boy a quick questioning glance. "My truck seats six." He says once he gets the tiniest of nods from the blue eyed boy.

oOo

The drive will be a long one and they've barely gotten half way towards the coordinates Jeremy gave them... the boy really has filled out quite a bit and gotten quite handsome... She's relieved that her bestest friend in the whole wide world gave up her claim on the front seat in order for the blonde vampiress to avoid sitting next to her murderer.

Flipping down the little visor she pretends to check her immaculate make-up for flaws. What she's actually studying quite intently are the three dark haired persons in the back. Elena's fallen asleep and her head is resting at a decidedly uncomfortable angle against Damon's shoulder. Her cocky maker seems to be as uncomfortable as the angle of the poor girls neck. It's kind of funny that he doesn't seem to know what to do.

To her utter surprise she sees her killer fish out a small pillow from god only knows where and thrust it at the highly uncomfortable boy who grimaces at her and forces the pillow back. They push the thing back and forth while hissing a each other... which is starting to make it quite hard to keep quiet... that is until Katherine bares fang and flicks a seething Damon on the nose as if he were a misbehaving puppy.

The pretty blonde quite successfully manages to suppress a bout of giggles as she nudges her other best friend to get her to look into the little vanity mirror. The cinnamon beauties eyes go round as saucers at the scene unfolding behind them.

Her once lover begrudgingly accepts the pillow and awkwardly inches it under the sleeping girls head. It's all very sweet in that same way she secretly remembers him to be capable of. If it weren't for the biting and the compelling then he'd rank quite highly on her boyfriend scale... hell, even with the biting he's fighting at the top. It's not like it wasn't ever pleasurable when he did it and they had a lot of fun... sometimes he'd even take the time to talk to her properly and help out with her home work... he's a really smart guy after all.

The curly haired doppelgänger rolls her eyes and huffs before she removes the pillow in a surprisingly gentle move. Strangely enough the other double sleeps through the whole ruckus.

With a warning glare she physically forces her pouting progeny to move his body so that it's angled towards the centre of the car before she places the pillow with Elena's head on it securely on his chest. The sleeping brunette instinctively snuggles further into him and lets out a very content sigh as she curls her legs up onto her identical ancestress lap. Apparently, she doesn't mind the littlest bit either.

With a bitter-sweet smile he obviously doesn't know that he's wearing, her secretly sweet maker tenderly brushes a stray tendril of ebony hair away from the gorgeous girls face before bestowing the crown of her head with the feather lightest of kisses. All three girls spying on the pairs tender moment silently aww as they pretend not to be as affected by the two as they are. Team Damon FTW!

She can't help but wish that things were the way they appear right at that moment. All of them a big sappy full of love family. Her very best friend and maker all heart shaped candies for each other. His maker being mother hen to the lot of them and her other best friend an all accepting and open-minded hippy wiccan... while her and her teen wolf indulge in their star crossed puppy love.

Her big blue eyes that had unfocused as she dreamt flick back up to steal one more glance. Her wonderful friend is enveloped in her enamoured sires strong arms who seems to have drifted off as well now that the love of his life is where she belongs.

The brunettes murderous double has draped her discarded jacket over her suicidal descendant and seems to be having some sort of difficulty unlacing the younger girls well worn shoes. The scene unfolding is disturbingly sweet and she can't fight the urge to snap a picture... which she does... in vamp speed.

The slumbering girl cracks open an eye after the flash of light and stares straight at her pretty blonde friend through the small mirror. She does not seem one bit tired what so ever and looks like a big ol' faker. The hypothesis is confirmed when the girl smirks and gives a cheeky wink before going right back to pretending to be asleep.

That little...

The witch grabs the vampiress pale hand and gives it a small squeeze. "Leave it." She mouths glancing meaningfully towards the back-seat.

What the HELL is going on?

"She's back." She then says out loud, but keeping her voice low and soft as if they had to mind the fake sleeping beauty in the back.

To her surprise her pupp chuckles and shoots a quick glance at the two girls sitting next to him. "I know. Isn't it great." He says mischievously sporting a very toothy grin worthy of his canine status.

It hits her then that what's happened is that she's gotten her crazy fun loving wonderful bestest friend back. "Really?" She stage whispers as her eyes light up and a broad beaming smile slides over her flawless features.

"Babe if you just stop worrying so much about everyone you'll see it right away." Tyler says sliding his warm hand into hers and entwining their fingers. Her blinding smile turns goofy as her other suddenly less uptight friend rolls her hazel eyes.

Maybe she should make wishes more often.

oOo

AN: *throws heart shaped candies* There were some left over in Caroline's mind. Voice yourselves and review!