A/N: thank you for the supportive reviews, tweets, etc!

With a groan, Katherine raised her throbbing head from the ground and looked around blearily. She blinked once, then twice, as everything went in and out of focus. Her gaze finally landed on Damon, who was sitting on the sofa across from her and watching her with interest.

"What's happening?" Katherine painstakingly pushed herself into a sitting position, "Why…how come I'm not healing?"

Damon tilted his head at her, "I guess mortality isn't all it's cracked up to be, is it?"

"Mortality?" she looked up at him, trying to gauge his reaction. "What are you talking about?"

"What's the last thing you remember?"

She frowned, thinking back. "Elena," she answered slowly, "We were—" Then she broke off, her eyes widening.

"And there it is," Damon shot her a half grin, "I would say payback's a bitch, but that look on your face tells me you already figured that one out."

"No," Katherine tried to get to her feet, letting out a hiss of pain as her muscles screamed in protest. "No, I can't be human! I refuse to be human!" She stumbled towards the nearest mirror, and gaped at her reflection in horror. "N-no," she said wildly, "It's vervain, tell me it's just vervain!"

Damon walked towards her, turning her around so that they were both facing the mirror. "Look at yourself, Katherine," he said into her ear, "Face your own humanity."

Her hands clenched into fists as she shoved against him furiously, "Where's Elena? I'm going to kill her!"

"She's out looking for Stefan," he said in amusement as he caught both her fists in one hand. "Don't worry, she'll be back soon enough." He pretended to ponder the issue for a minute, "Probably to kill you, because she can. But by all means, stick around to find out."

"She wouldn't dare," Katherine growled, "Now that her precious switch is back on, she would never take a human life!"

"I'm sure allowances can be made for the murderess of Jeremy Gilbert." He glanced at her as he said the words, and enjoyed the uncertainty that flashed across her face. "Tell me something, Katherine," he wandered back across the room and took a seat, inviting her to do the same. "Did you really tell Elena that you were jealous of her life?"

She didn't respond, which was all the confirmation that Damon needed.

"Wow," he commented disbelievingly, "You're going to have to explain that one to me, Kat."

Katherine scowled, "Elena was never grateful for how good she had it! She got to have prom, graduation, a normal life with friends and family—"

"Friends?" Damon interrupted, "Family?" He leaned forward on the sofa, towards Katherine. "Let me put things into perspective for you, since you seem to be verging on the bend of delusional." She shot him a scathing look, which he ignored as he began counting on his fingers. "Jenna, John Gilbert, Miranda and Grayson, Isobel, Jeremy, Alaric…"

"What about them?"

"Do you know what that list is?" Damon snapped, "The list of family members—the only family she's ever known—that weren't able to see her graduate."

Katherine pursed her lips.

"And what was the other thing you mentioned? Oh, that's right, prom." His features hardened, "You're not Rebekah; I know you don't care about a glorified school dance. What is this really about?"

There was a minute of silence before she exploded. "I have nothing, Damon! Klaus killed my entire family, he sent me on the run for years, I never got to meet my daughter, you and Stefan both fell in love with my carbon copy the second you laid eyes on her, I—"

"Created your own fate," Damon snarled, "If you weren't such a manipulative bitch, if you had shown an ounce of compassion just once in your lifetime, if maybe you weren't always LOOKING OUT FOR YOURSELF—"

"You don't know anything about me, Damon!" she shouted, "Elena wouldn't have lasted a DAY in my shoes."

It was the mention of Elena's name that calmed him down, more than anything else. He didn't reply as he poured himself another drink, very aware of the fact that Katherine was watching his every move. "I guess we'll never know," he finally said to her, "But now you get to walk in her shoes, for however long you manage to stay alive without the long list of people you've screwed over coming to collect on their revenge." He smiled at her before walking out of the room, "Good luck with that."

"I can't wait to tell everyone you're back," Elena said enthusiastically to Jeremy as they drove towards the quarry. "Stefan, Matt, Bonnie...they're going to be so happy to have you back, Jer." She reached over with one hand across the passenger seat so that she could squeeze his arm, "You have no idea what it means to have you here. I don't know how I would've survived without you."

"Yeah, we saw how well you took the news the first time around," Jeremy tried to joke, hoping that Elena hadn't seen the look on his face when she'd mentioned Bonnie's name. He took a deep breath and turned to face her with a smile, "I missed you too."

She smiled back at him, giving his arm one last squeeze before pulling to a stop on the edge of the quarry. "Come on, he should be around here somewhere."

They both got out of the car, with Jeremy trailing behind her. "Have you given any thought to how we're going to explain to people that I'm back?"

Elena paused, contemplating. The truth was, the thought hadn't occurred to her at all. She'd been too happy at having him back to realize that the entire town knew he was dead. There had been a funeral, he had a headstone in the cemetery, the school had done a memorial service...

"I guess not," he noted, raising an eyebrow at the expression on her face. "Don't worry, Elena, I'm sure we'll figure something out."

"Maybe Bonnie can do a spell to make everyone forget or something," she wondered out loud, "What do you think?"

"I think Bonnie has done enough," Jeremy said, his voice coming out sharper than he'd intended it to. When Elena looked surprised, he softened his tone. "Sorry, it's just that she's brought me back from the dead—twice—and I don't know, I already feel like I owe her so much."

Elena nodded in understanding, "No, of course you're right. I don't know where we'd be without her." She fished into her pocket for her cell phone, "That reminds me, I didn't even thank her yet for bringing you back, I should—"

"Wait!" Jeremy's hand shot out to stop her from dialing, "Um, Bonnie isn't here."

She frowned in confusion, "What do you mean she's not here?"

"I mean...she told me she was going to spend the summer with her mom. She already left."

Elena's frown deepened, "Bonnie left to go visit her mom? Tonight? But she just brought you back! Didn't she want to spend the summer with you?"

"I told her we'd skype," Jeremy lied easily, grabbing his sister's hand to distract her. "Come on, I thought we were here to find Stefan. I don't see his car anywhere, do you?"

She walked to the edge of the quarry, using her enhanced vision to do a sweep of the area. "I don't see him. Maybe we already missed him?"

"Check this out," Jeremy pointed, kneeling down onto the ground. "See these fresh tire tracks? Someone was here just before us." He let his gaze follow another trail of footprints, ones that went near the edge of the drop over the water. "And see this? Someone already dragged something heavy up to the edge. I guess he must've already finished the job." He looked up to see Elena watching him in awe. "What?"

She shook her head with a smile, "There's a part of me that always sees you as my little kid brother. Sometimes I forget just how grown up and smart you've gotten over the years. I'm so proud of you, Jer."

"Alright, alright," he said, rolling his eyes. "Can we table the mushy stuff for tonight? I mean, I'm glad to be back and everything, but there's only so much girly let's-discuss-our-feelings talk that I can tolerate."

Elena snorted, giving him a good-natured shove. "Oh shut up," she said with a laugh as they headed back to the car, "You know, you remind me of Damon sometimes."

"Now why do you have to insult me?"

She shot him a dry look, "Get into the car, Jer."

He grinned and was about to follow behind her, when he caught sight of another set of footprints that he hadn't noticed before. "That's odd."

"What?"

"It looks like there were two people here before us, not just Stefan."

Elena was about to shrug it off, when she remembered what Damon had told her. "Oh yeah, he drove down here with Lexi, I forgot."

"Lexi?" His eyes narrowed as he studied the tracks, "It doesn't look like a woman's footprints. It looks like another guy. See how it's similar to Stefan's?"

"Another guy?" Elena came back over to join him. She stared down at the ground, but failed to see what was making Jeremy look so puzzled. "Well, maybe they're from earlier when Damon dragged Vaughn down here." She tugged on his arm, "Come on, it's getting late. I don't want to leave Damon with Katherine for too long. He might end up killing her."

"Katherine?" Jeremy asked as he got into the car, "What are you talking about?"

She revved up the engine, realizing she hadn't spilled the night's events yet. "It's a long story. I'll tell you on the way back."

Katherine glared as two people walked into the living room a half hour later. But her expression flickered when she saw who one of them was. "What is he doing here?"

Damon walked down the stairs a second later, "There you are, did you find Stef—" He came to a halt about halfway down the staircase, his eyes bugging out almost comically. "Did we all somehow die while I was sleeping? Because that would seriously suck."

Elena shook her head, a smile spreading across her face. "We're not dead, we're not on the other side, nothing like that."

He joined her in the living room, looking from her to Jeremy. "Then what's going on?" he asked cautiously, "How are we seeing him?"

"The witch," Katherine breathed, "She actually pulled off the impossible. She brought him back from the other side. Permanently."

"You're alive?" Damon repeated incredulously, reaching out to grasp Jeremy's very corporeal shoulder. "You're here...how is this possible?"

"I don't know," Elena grinned, "And I don't care." She interlaced her fingers with Jeremy's, "I'm not going to question a good thing."

Damon nodded slowly, his heart twinging slightly at the look of genuine happiness blossoming across her face. All magic came at a price, but he wasn't going to remind her of that detail right now. He'd have to question Jeremy separately, later on. He immediately shot a warning look at Katherine to insure that she wouldn't say anything either, but he was in luck, as she clearly had a much more pressing matter to deal with.

"Well, Elena," Katherine gritted her teeth as she got to her feet, "The latest stunt you've pulled just proved to me that you're still the stupid, insipid, little girl that I always knew you were."

"Oh, Katherine," she smiled sweetly, "You should be thanking me, I was doing you a favor! What happened to being jealous of my life? Now you get to live it." She took a step towards her doppelganger, her eyes narrowing dangerously. "Let's see how long you survive being hunted at every turn...I might have survived everything that you, Klaus, and Silas threw at me—but that was only because everyone I loved stood by my side."

She stopped an inch away from Katherine's face, "Let's see how long you survive...with nobody having your back." Elena's voice grew cold, "That's what happens when you screw over everyone that has ever cared for you. Most of them are dead, and the ones that are alive...well, I'm pretty sure they want nothing to do with you."

Damon and Jeremy both gazed at Elena, their expressions ranging from mild surprise to slight concern. Katherine looked furious, "I want you to remember this day, Elena. I want you to remember the words that you spoke to me." She didn't back down, instead facing Elena head on as she lowered her voice threateningly, "Because I swear, I will ensure that you regret them."

"I'd like to see you try," Elena replied unconcernedly. "See, I was planning on killing you for what you did to my brother. But he's back now, and besides...I think watching you fail at being a weak human will be revenge enough." With that, she tossed her hair over her shoulder, "Now, get out."

Katherine's head snapped up, "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Get out. You don't live here." Elena gazed at her indifferently, "Just because we're not going to kill you doesn't mean that we owe you anything."

"You don't get to order me around," Katherine hissed, getting into Elena's face. "You forget your place, Gilbert."

"Alright," Damon intervened, stepping between them. "As much as I love a good cat fight, this isn't as much as a turn on as I thought it would be."

"Gross," Jeremy muttered under his breath, "I'm gonna head upstairs. Turns out that coming back from the dead really just takes a toll on a person."

Damon was focused on holding the two doppelgangers apart, so he didn't turn around to acknowledge Jeremy's sentiments. "Choose any room you'd like, there's plenty."

Katherine sneered, "Aw, shacking up with the Gilbert family, how sweet. It's everything you ever wanted, Damon." A cruel smile played at her lips, "I wonder what Stefan thinks about these new living arrangements."

"How about we ask him?" Elena shot back, turning to look at Damon impatiently. "Well, where is he?"

"What? I thought you went to go find him!"

"He'd already left by the time we got to the quarry...I thought he came back home?"

"He hasn't been here," Damon frowned, releasing Elena and Katherine from his grasp. "Where could he have gone?"