Summer has set in with its usual severity.

- Samuel Taylor Coleridge

"Bonnie, I can't even remember what we talked about, how am I supposed to remember how I ruined his life?" Elena said, rifling through her closet for something to wear.

"Did he like, roofie you or something?" Bonnie asked and Elena turned to glare at her best friend.

"Bonnie, I went home with Damon that night." She said.

"You little bitch." Bonnie spat. "You were my ride home and you ditched me to have sex with Damon?" Elena gave a short laugh at her best friend.

"We didn't have sex that night. Thanks to Jeremy." Bonnie frowned but nudged the conversation on.

"So what are you going to do?" She asked.

Elena contemplated. Klaus was a complete mystery to her. She hadn't heard the name since the beginning of summer when Tyler introduced them. Maybe she met him when she was drunk again some other day and didn't remember.

"I don't know. I mean, what can I do? Klaus tried to kill me. Who's to say he won't try again when he gets out?" Elena asked. The thought was unnerving.

"He had so many opportunities to do it before Sheriff Forbes found him, why didn't he then?" Bonnie asked, looking up as Jeremy joined them in the room, sitting on the bed behind Bonnie's lying form and playing with her hair. "Maybe he won't do anything."

"But maybe he will, and I'm sorry but I'm not partial to having someone try to kill my sister." Jeremy stated, and Elena rolled her eyes, shuffling through the summer dresses again.

"Why don't you go down to the station? Ask the Sheriff if you can speak to him. You know, safely so he can't hurt you." Bonnie suggested and Elena shrugged.

"That's actually not a bad idea, Bon." Elena agreed, taking out a white dress and shooing Jeremy from the room so that she could change.

"Do you ever knock?" Damon asked, looking up at Katherine, who was making her way through his bedroom to join him on the bed.

"Well, you always leave your doors unlocked, it's practically an invitation." Katherine shrugged, attempting to read the title of the book Damon was reading. He lifted up the cover so she could read it out loud. "Call of the Wild. Jack London." Katherine gave a considerate nod and looked back up to him.

"What do you want? Why are you always wandering around my house?" Damon asked, setting the book down to look at her.

"I get bored. This town's so small." Katherine said, tracing patterns on his bed sheets.

"Then leave it." Damon suggested but she shook her head hastily.

"I just got here, why would I want to leave? Plus, I'd just miss you." She said, crawling over top of him to straddle him seductively. Damon rolled his eyes and gripped her waist.

"Yeah, as great as this is, I'm trying to repair a relationship and having sex with you wouldn't really help me out." Damon muttered, picking her up and moving her off of him.

"Oh come on. No one will know about it." She said, running her hands along his thighs, and as much as he wanted her, he slapped her hands away.

"I don't think so, princess." He said, getting extremely close to her face after standing up. He tilted her pouting face up to look at him. "Go try Stefan." Damon whispered, pushing her chest so she fell back against the bed.

"So, the Lockwood's are having another one of those dinners tonight and Carol expects us to all be there, is that okay?" Jenna asked the two minors in front of her. She didn't understand why they had to have so many stupid get-togethers. There was one like, every other week, and she understood how small this town was, but are Founders Parties necessary?

"Oh come on. There was one a few weeks ago." Jeremy groaned, pushing his sister out of the way of the drawer he'd been attempting to get into for five minutes. She finally budged and moved away.

"Really?" Elena asked. "I don't have a date though, who am I supposed to bring?"

"I call Bonnie!" Jeremy yelled and she pushed hard on his chest.

"Come on! She's my best friend." Elena complained.

"Why can't you just go with Damon?" Jeremy asked, and Jenna turned to leave the house because she was tired of hearing the two bicker all the time. Since Jeremy had gotten home, the house had grown considerably louder, what with the two constantly fighting.

"Because we're not together anymore."

"Well, take Caroline." Jeremy suggested.

"She's going with Tyler."

"So go alone." Jeremy finally said, swatting his sister's head before running up the stairs.

The police station was buzzing with people when Elena and Damon entered later that afternoon. Elena had called Damon and asked if he'd accompany her, and Damon was pleasantly surprised and over in a matter of minutes. Anything to get away from Katherine who followed him everywhere he went.

"Sheriff." Damon flagged her down as she was walking past them in the main office.

"Damon, Elena. Come with me." She said, and Damon gave Elena the slightest of nudges on her lower back to get her moving in the direction of the blond woman. "Okay, so there are no cameras in the room, but there are officers just outside. He can't touch you because the rooms are divided by the glass wall. Damon, you can go in with her but you can't talk to him, only Elena can." Sheriff explained and opened the door to the room.

There was a boy sitting behind the glass at a desk. Elena instantly remembered him. His dusty hair, the violent look in his eyes when he finally spotted her. She took in a breath and entered the room reluctantly. She inched in, feeling Damon close behind her. He placed an encouraging hand on her shoulder and steered her towards the chair across from Klaus. There were rows of the little cubicles, with two other people in the room with them, talking to someone on the opposite end of the glass. Klaus looked like a normal boy. Tattered clothing and brushed back hair. She picked up the phone, her eyes connecting with his. It was like a force field, she couldn't look away, even as he moved to grab his phone, their eyes stayed locked.

"Klaus." Elena enunciated, and she felt Damon's hand on her knee, but he was quiet.

"Elena." He said. He didn't look at all surprised that she'd come to visit. Maybe he'd been told, or maybe he was waiting for her to come. "You look nice today. Did you get all dressed up for me?" Klaus asked and Elena heard an eminent growl come from Damon.

"What do you want with me?" Elena asked, avoiding his question and straightening out her dress.

Klaus gave a short laugh and leaned closer to the glass. "I don't want anything with you."

"Then why did you try to kill me?" She asked, looking to Damon, whose infuriated glare was stuck on Klaus.

"You murdered my parents." Klaus said. So there was something real about Jeremy's dream. Klaus did think she killed his parents.

"So that's it? You're just crazy?" Elena asked. "I think I would know if I killed someone." She looked confident enough but Klaus saw right through to the little girl who was terrified of the masochistic teenager.

"You do know. It was more of an… accidental murder." Klaus raised his eyebrows at her and her face fell. She took in a shaky breath and frowned.

"What- do you-" Elena couldn't form a coherent sentence. Elena became stiff, her whole body shrinking away from Klaus and the glass wall. Her mouth was open and she was breathing heavily, a frown knitting through her perfectly sculpted eyebrows.

"You know who, Elena." Klaus smirked. His pupils were dilated to the point where she couldn't see them in the mysterious orbs of his.

Elena looked to Damon, who was utterly confused and then she looked down at her feet. She was trying to talk but words weren't coming out.

"That night, when you killed your parents, you killed mine too." Klaus stated giving a venomous look that scared Elena so much that she started crying. Damon stood, knocking on the glass door to the guard, who buzzed open the door finally. She felt his hand grip her arm and tug on her, then she heard the clanging of the telephone on the metal of the desk. Damon kept saying her name as he dragged her out of the room, but her eyes remained on Klaus who was watching her intently.

She couldn't breath. It was as if someone had her pinned to the wall, their hands pressing hard against her neck so that she suffocated to death. Instead, she was hidden deep in the sheets and blankets of Damon's cold bed, sobbing. She didn't know why she was so emotional, or she did, but she didn't want it to be true. She didn't want to think about it anymore. She didn't want to move or breathe right now. While DNA testing was being done, Elena couldn't do anything but wait. Klaus… Her brother. He couldn't have been. There were no documents or pictures or anything that told them it was true. But why make up such an elaborate lie? Elena felt the absence of Damon's body as soon as he set her down on his bed and left the room, but she knew this was what she needed.

The quiet and the time to think this through, so she buried herself deep in the sheet of Damon's large bed. Everything smelled like him. Like aftershave and peppermint and spice. It was hard to concentrate on anything right now. She'd never seen such bitterness in Damon's eyes. Such regret in anyone's eyes. The door creaked open but she couldn't look because she was trapped under mounds of pillows.

"Elena?" A female voice asked. Elena pushed the pillows and blankets away from her face to look up at the slim figure in the doorway. She was hesitant to enter, Elena could tell. Her curly brown hair fell in ripples down her shoulders. Elena wanted to throw up.

"Damon's not here and I'm sorry but I don't feel like making out with anyone right now." Elena spat, sitting up against the dark wood headboard. Katherine grimaced and finally entered the room, sitting on the edge of the bed. She held out a mug filled with a hot substance towards Elena, but she turned her head away from it.

"Drink it." She was persistent so Elena took the mug from her outstretched hand and drank from it. Coffee. "Damon told me about your visit to the station. He's not home, that's why I'm here. He would have killed me before letting me talk to you."

"With good reason." Elena said. "What do you want?"

"Look Elena, I'm just trying to be nice." Katherine stood up, and Elena knew the other girl was about to start ranting. "I'm not going to say sorry for what Damon and I did, because I'm not. But Damon loves you, and he's sorry, so I think it's in your best interest to forgive him."

"What's in it for you? I know enough about people like you to know you only do something that benefits yourself. What would me being with Damon do for you?" Elena asked. Katherine gave a smirk, then moved towards the door, looking back at her.

"It'll keep you from fucking everything up for me." Katherine said before closing the door.

Elena stared after the girl for a while. She didn't understand. But her thoughts were rudely interrupted when Damon entered the room.

"Elena." He said, moving closer to her. "How are you doing?"

"Where were you?" She asked, staring down at her coffee and avoiding his gaze.

"I went back to the station. Elena, the results came back a few minutes ago. You're parents are Klaus'." Damon stated.

Elena frowned in deep thought.

"No that's impossible." Elena started but Damon cut her off with the shake of a head. "Then why was he never with us? Why did my parents keep us apart? Why would I never have met my own brother?" Elena asked him.

"You were adopted." Damon said bluntly. There didn't seem to be a bit of remorse in his eyes, though Elena's were tearing up.

"What? No."

"Elena-" Damon started as soon as she got out of the bed.

"No, I'm going home." Elena said quickly. She needed to see Jenna, Jenna would know everything.

The house was quiet when Elena got home, but Elena knew her aunt was around. Her car was in the drive way.

"Jenna?" She called, and soon enough she heard the girl coming down the stairs.

"Elena, hey how did it go?" Jenna asked, but when she noticed Elena's puffy eyes and the anger in her voice she stopped immediately.

"Did you know?" She asked. Jenna opened her mouth to talk but Elena just gave a cold laugh. "You knew. Why didn't you tell me?"

"They told me not to! They didn't want you to know."

"Why?"

"Because Klaus was diagnosed with personality disorder and schizophrenia from a young age, he's been in mental institutions his entire life. They were embarrassed and they knew this was how you'd react. I got a call saying he escaped from the institution a few weeks ago." Jenna looked down at her feet. "I didn't want you involved."

"He didn't seem schizophrenic both times I met him." Elena stated, and her Aunt nodded.

"He wouldn't have. It fades in and out. Just before your parents died his doctor told them that it was lessening. It was a rare case, not many had heard of a disappearing disease like that. But, Elena, he's not stable."

"So who are my parents?" she asked, "My birth certificate said Miranda and Grayson Gilbert on them."

"Grayson was a doctor, he had access to the records and he changed it." Jenna explained, but that wasn't the answer Elena was looking for. "Your uncle John, your father's brother. He's your biological dad."

"So who's my mother?" Elena asked sternly. Jenna shook her head.

"Her name was Isobel Flemming. She…. died giving birth to you." Jenna said, and Elena sucked in a huge breath. "I'm sorry Elena; they didn't want you to know because everything was so messed up." Jenna stated.

That didn't stop Elena from being mad.

"Tell Carol Lockwood I'm sorry I couldn't attend the dinner, I just don't feel well." Elena said before running up the stairs.

"So we're not siblings?" Jeremy asked after Elena had calmed down. It was a couple hours before the Lockwood dinner and the two were sitting in her room talking. He couldn't believe that Elena wasn't his sister. After sixteen years of thinking they were brother and sister and now they find out they aren't.

"Cousins." Elena gave a forced smile. "I think… I think Klaus is right. He has every reason to be pissed at me. It's my fault our parents… your parents are dead. I was so drunk at that party."

"Elena, don't think like that. It's not your fault, it never has been."

"Yes. It has."

"So I take it Elena's not going to the founder's party tonight?" Stefan asked his older brother curiously.

"Doubt it." Damon shrugged. "Why?"

"Well I was just wondering who you were going to take." Stefan shrugged. Damon looked over at the boy.

"You, little brother. I think we should do some of that brotherly bonding that dad always said would be good for us." Damon threw an arm over Stefan's shoulder and he shrugged it off like Damon was infected or something. The older Salvatore gave a laugh as the younger one growled.

"Then who's going to take me?" Katherine asked, entering the room. She had on a tight black dress, long sleeved and reaching half way to her knees. The boys just stared at her for a few moments.

"God, do you want to just live here?" Damon asked and Katherine gave a smile and nodded.

"I grabbed the room right next to yours, hope you don't mind Damon." The sad thing about her comment was that she wasn't lying. Katherine decided it was time to nuzzle her way into the boarding house under the Salvatore's noses. "So, what do you say Damon? How about I'll be your date and Stefan can fly solo." Katherine gave Stefan a look of disgust and he squinted at her childishly.

"Great." She smiled before he could object and she skipped past the brothers and out the door.

"Does she get more impossible every day?" Damon asked, staring after where the girl left.

"Yep." Stefan popped the 'p' on his lips. "Hey, so, don't hate me but I have to tell you something."

"Why would I hate you?" Damon turned on his brother and Stefan was instantly startled by the fierceness of his eyes.

"You know what? Never mind, it's not important. We should go, Katherine's waiting." Stefan hurried along the other boy.

"This party is dull." Caroline stated bluntly, looking over at Tyler who was buzzed off the wine he was drinking.

"I couldn't agree with you more." He said, slightly annoyed by Caroline's constant complaining. The two had been casually dating for a couple weeks now and Caroline was ecstatic. But Tyler wasn't. He always pretended she was Elena, and as sad as it was, it worked. It'd be an understatement to say that he still liked Elena a lot. He always thought about her, Caroline was just a toy to distract himself from going after her again. He'd been beat down last time he'd tried.

"So let's like, leave." She suggested.

"Caroline, my mom's throwing the party, don't you think it'd be a little suspicious if her son was missing?" Tyler, who currently had remnants of a black eye and cuts on his lip, stared at the blonde.

"Well…" Caroline started.

"Shut up." He said just before Katherine walked in on Damon's arm, Stefan trailing behind them.

"God, you're here?" Damon asked stupidly, looking down at Katherine who gave him a slightly scolding look.

"I live here. Tyler Lockwood, Lockwood estate." Tyler vocalized and Caroline lounged on the pillar behind him.

"Right…"

"Who's this? Already moved off of Elena? Dude, I thought you two were inseparable." Tyler looked down at the brunette curiously for a second two long, his eyes trailing up and down her body.

Katherine lifted two fingers to point them towards her dark brown irises. "Eyes up here, Lockwood." She raised an eyebrow, extending a hand towards the boy. "Katherine." She smirked.

Tyler shook it then dropped his hand. "Well, please, come in." He said sarcastically, throwing a glare at Damon who just rolled his eyes and pushed Katherine and Stefan through the party.

Katherine's heels clicked all the way through the party, and soon Damon got annoyed and swatted her hand off of his upper arm. The party had gathered into another room, so he pushed her up hard against the crème colored walls of the house. She gave a short laugh and he pressed her even further.

"What are you trying to accomplish?" He asked as she skimmed her hand down his tie and back up it again.

"What do you mean, Mr. Salvatore?" She asked flirtatiously, but he hit her head back against the wall roughly and she growled.

"What do you want Katherine?"

"I'm not lying, Damon, I actually want you." She raised an eyebrow at him.

"No. You're lying." He stated after a moment and she finally gave in.

"It wasn't the Salvatore brothers I was running from, believe it or not, you aren't that scary." Katherine said, her smile disappearing.

"Then who were you running from?"

"Klaus."

Wow, i know this is sort of bad and i'm probably the only one who does this, but i haven't anything planned out ahead of time. None of this story was planned. And i think it's working okay, but i'm still not sure what's going on with Katherine. Anyways, i hated this chapter it really sucked, but stay tuned i guess, because i think they'll get better. maybe. i dont know.

leave your opinions and comments in the reviews, much appreciate.

( did anyone catch how i dropped my username in the story? re-read Klaus' words to Elena )