A/N: Happy Father's Day everyone! Hope you had a great one!

This chapter was originally longer but I ran out of time to tweak and get it all down, so it's about half as long now.

Only four more weeks of Season 1, and I want to thank you all for your reviews and support! I always look forward to reading them, you are some of the sweetest and most supportive people I'd had the pleasure of unofficially meeting lol

Remember, 100 reviews and the final chapter will include some minor spoilers and a preview for Katy Verse Season 2!

Love ya'lls! :D

Chapter 22
Control

***1 Week Later***

For the last week, everyone had fallen into an awkward routine; Damon spent his time usually drinking and taunting Stefan as always, Katy-still staying at the Gilberts- avoided Damon at all costs refusing to even talk to him, and Stefan tried continuous exercise to help curb his blood lust.

It worked for about a day, but slowly decreased in effectiveness; all that did though was make Stefan work out harder and longer.

One week after the fiasco, he was continuing his usual coping method as music blared in his room. Soon enough causing his brother to enter, swirling a tumbler of blood in his hand.

"Could you turn it up a little bit? It's not annoying yet."

"Sorry." He replied turning the stereo off, then busied himself with push ups.

"When are you going back to school?"

"Soon."

Damon rolled his eyes, "Oh come on, just drink already." He said, holding a glass of blood by Stefan's face, "Come on, this self-detox is not natural."

"Can you get that away from me please?"

"How long did it take you to wean yourself of it last time you indulged?"

No response.

"That's not good."

"I'll be fine; it just takes a little bit of time."

"I don't get it; you know, you don't have to kill to survive. That's what blood banks are for. I haven't killed a human in… God, way too long."

"Oh, I'm impressed."

"It's completely self-serving. I'm trying to get the town off the trail of vampires which is not very easy considering that there is an entire tomb of them running around."

"What are we planning on doing about that?" Stefan asked, finally taking a few breaths.

"We are not going to do much of anything if you don't have your strength. There's nothing wrong with partaking in a healthy diet of human blood from a blood bank. You're not actually killing anyone."

"I have my reasons."

"Well, what are those holier than thou reasons? You know, we never actually discussed this. You know, I'd-I'd love to hear this story."

"You're really enjoying this, aren't you? Watching me struggle?"

"Very much so." He smirked.

"I hate to break it to you Damon but… I actually have it under complete control."

"You do? Well, the, you should just carry on, making the rest of us vampires look bad."

He smirked again, backing out of the room, "Have a great day Stefan."

When he left, Stefan's eyes went to the glass of blood left on the desk, a hungry look briefly touching his face. He swallowed, desperate to remain still in his place. But he felt himself lean towards it.

"Oh, hey, almost forgot something." Damon said, returning for the glass, taking a sip, "Oops."

Once again he walked out smirking. When he got to the stairs he pulled out his cell phone, waiting through the incessant dial tones before he got an answer.

"Gilbert residence."

"Hey girlie." He smirked, then his expression dropped when the call suddenly ended, "Dammit."

"Come on Jeremy, going to school! Walking out the door now!" Elena called upstairs to her brother, "Katy! You too!"

"I'm right here." The girl said entering the room, she looked up the stairs and called out, "Steve! I can smell the hair gel from down here! Move!"

Jenna came over to them, smiling pleasantly, handing Elena her thermos, "Forgot this."

"Thank you."

"Hey Jenna, thanks again for letting me bunk here."

"Oh," She brushed it off happily, "Sure, sure no problem. Is Stefan feeling any better?"

"Yeah is he?" Elena asked.

"I haven't heard." She shrugged, opening the door to reveal a man.

"Elena!"

"Uncle John! Hi."

He nodded, looking behind her, "Jenna."

"John, you made it." She replied, disdainfully.

"I said I'll be here before noon."

"Oh what you say and what you do are typically two very different things."

Katy looked awkwardly at Elena, her expression asking for some context; Elena nodded her head in John's direction with an annoyed expression, to which Katy just nodded understandingly.

Jeremy came down the stairs right after, smiling at John, "Uncle John, what's up?"

"Hey!" He greeted before Jeremy walked out the door, "I had some business in town; I thought that a visit was in order."

"How long are you staying?"

"I don't know yet." He finally noticed Katy then, "And who might you be?"

"I might be a lot of people."

"Ok, well, I'm gonna go to school, I'll see you later." Elena said, both her and Katy practically skipping through the door to the car.

"The coroner's office has officially ruled Vicki Donovan's death a drug overdose. Her family has been notified, the truth will stay in this room and we can put this behind us." Sheriff Forbes informed the council.

"Thank you Sheriff." Mayor Lockwood said, "And on to a more pressing issue, John Gilbert has asked to say a few words. Welcome back John, it's good to see you."

John stepped up to the plate, "Hello everyone, it's wonderful to see you, I wish it were under better circumstances. As a founding family member I find it's my duty to report some very distressing news."

"He's a Gilbert?" Damon whispered to the Sheriff.

"Elena's uncle. His name is John but I call him Jackass."

"A hospital blood bank in the neighboring county of Amherst has reported several break ins over the past two weeks. 7 hunters, 4 campers and 2 states employees have been reported missing as well. All of this within a 75 mile radius of Mystic Falls."

"Okay okay, no need to get alarmed right at this moment."

"Meaning he doesn't want to cancel the Founder's Day kickoff party." Sheriff whispered.

"You think all of your problems are over but I'm here to tell you, nothing's been solved."

Damon looked at John suspiciously, not liking where he was going with this. But he didn't have much time with his thoughts before Sheriff Forbes pulled him out.

"Damon, can we talk?"

"Sure, what's up?"

She sighed before continuing, "My contact, the one that got Katy here; she's getting questioned by social services."

"What does that mean?"

"It means we may have to cut her time here." She admitted.

"But you were promised four months, it's been almost 2 and a half!"

"I know, but you don't understand; the circumstances in which she was brought here are illegal! Not to mention initiated by cops!"

Damon took a second to breath, "How much time do we have?"

"If we're lucky, maybe a week or two."

At school, Katy, Dex, and Joelle sat outside trying to study-though not succeeding, as Joelle had taught them how to play with a dreidel which was incredibly addicting.

"Whoo!" Joelle smiled, "Gimmel! I win!"

Katy let out a small grunt of disappointment, but then smiled, "I still can't believe you're Jewish."

"Her being named Joelle Silvermen didn't tip you off?" Dex remarked, taking another puff of her cigarette and putting in one token.

"It's just that she looks Irish, they're usually Catholic or Episcopalian or something."

"Well what are you?" Joelle asked, spinning the top, which landed on 'nun'.

"I'm a Religious Mutt. My parents were Catholic, I was baptized and given communion in an Episcopalian Church, but we used to generally attend Baptist Sermons every Sunday and my mom said I'm Christian."

"I forget, what's the difference between those religions again?"

"There is absolutely no difference!" Katy groaned.

"Not true." Dex said, collecting her newly won tokens, "Episcopalians allow priests to be women and get married, Catholics and Christians disagree about who should be head of the Church-The Pope or the Bishop, and I'm not sure but Baptists have a thing about alcohol."

"Okay so there are political differences, religiously there are none." Katy sighed, "What are you anyway Dex?"

"Atheist, but when Dad and Mema are around I'm Catholic." She said lighting a new cigarette, and then she turned to Katy with her pack, "You want one?"

"No I'm good."

Dex turned to Joelle, "Jock princess, what about you?"

"No thank you." She whispered nervously.

Katy watched as she took another puff and reluctantly said, "Dex, you're not using right now-"

"No, it's cigarette." She assured, "I save the real stuff for home now."

"Okay." She said, "Look, I hate to sound preachy, but-"

"If you try the whole 'I care about you and what you do to your body' thing, I'm outta here bitch." She snapped.

Katy held her hands up in surrender, "Hey, don't get violent, I'm just worried."

"Well, don't be." She said, aggravated as she took another puff.

"Okay!" Joelle said, trying to diffuse the tension, "We really should study now, I have a History test coming up and I can't fail this one."

"Alright, come on." Katy said taking the textbook, "Let's start with the easy ones first. What's the significance of July 4th?"

Joelle gave an unsure look and said slowly, "The day we discovered America?"

Dex gave her a look, "Joelle do me a favor and never reproduce."

"Dammit!" Katy said when her mother's ring accidentally hit the floor.

"What's this?" Dex asked, picking it up.

"My mom's ring." She explained, "I really need to find a chain for it, I wear it on my thumb."

"Pretty." She remarked, then caught a whiff of the aroma, "Smells weird, what's in it?"

"An herb mom liked, vervain."

"What?" Dex said with a look of panic on her face.

"Vervain, something wrong?"

"Yeah, I'm allergic-" she rushed, shoving the ring in Katy's hand and running off to the bathroom.

"Sorry!" Katy called after her, and then saw Joelle look at her with a sympathetic look.

"I'm worried about her too." She admitted.

"Why does she even take it? I know it's not my business, and I can't judge but I just don't get it."

"Bianca told me she uses it to lose weight."

"The Tales of Bianca the Bard." Katy rolled her eyes, "Have you seen Dex? She's a twig."

"Now." Joelle nodded, "I knew her a little back in 4th and 5th, she was-um… A big girl."

Katy gave an awkward nod and pressed her to focus on homework instead.

"I've no interest in the Founder's Day kickoff party." Jeremy remarked during dinner.

"Sure you do its tradition."

"It will be our role to break the tradition." Jenna told John.

"The Gilberts have been a part of this town for a hundred and fifty years." He preached, "We're one of the founding families and with that distinction comes certain obligations including going to the party. One day, when you can appreciate the significance, I'll tell you all about your heritage."

"Hmm, the Gilbert family legacy." Jenna mused, "I forgot how sacred it was. I'm not a Gilbert so I was never cool enough to hear it."

"Why does she hate you?" Jeremy asked.

"We used to sleep together."

Jenna suddenly threw something at John's head, Jeremy, though a bit shocked, had to hold back laughter at his aunt's actions.

"I'm standing right here." Jenna scolded.

"What? We're all adults here."

She turned her head to Katy, who was not holding back her snorts of laughter, and gave John a look. Katy looked up at them all and gave them a look, "I take offense to that."

Jeremy and Jenna only shook their heads slightly, while John asked her, "So Katy, what's your story?"

"She's Damon's kid." Jenna answered nonchalantly.

"Damon Salvatore?" He questioned, "He's married?"

"No, and he's not my dad."

"What is he then?"

"None of your business." She remarked, grabbing her cup of coffee and walking into the living room in a huff, soon followed by Jeremy.

"Why does he have a kid?"

"Nice John." Jenna sneered.

"She's adopted?"

"It's an option now."

"How did she get here then?"

"I don't know John, clearly its private."

"And you're not suspicious at all?"

Jenna took a moment, but said hesitantly, "No…"

In the living room, Katy let out a small frustrated groan sipping her coffee as Jeremy entered and sat next to her on the couch.

"Hey, Katy, sorry about them." He said, "It must be a touchy subject right now I imagine."

"Yeah, your uncle… Real peach."

He laughed slightly, "Well, you don't have to be rude."

"I'm rude to everybody, what douchy pedestal sets him apart?"

"Well you're not rude to me or Jenna."

She crossed her arms giving him a look, "Jenna's putting a temporary roof over my head." Her eyes narrowed slightly, "As for you dilweed, that can change if you like."

"Hey! I'm just saying!" He put his hands up in fake surrender, "You still thinking about the adoption?"

"Yup."

"Well, look, I've never been in that position, but I have lost my parents-"

"Elena's already given me the passive/aggressive 'live your life' speech. I get it, I've gotta get over it." She sighed, annoyed.

"No, that's not what I was gonna say." He looked at her to see her interest seemed slightly peaked, he went on, "I was gonna say, you've taken it a lot better than I did."

"What did you do?"

"Drugs, drinking, the works." Jeremy shrugged, "Anything that got my mind off it."

Katy nodded, thinking briefly of Dex, "When did you stop?"

"Not long ago. But, it has gotten better since I stopped 'being under the influence'." He said with the fingers, "What pissed me off, before, was that everyone tells you it's okay to grieve, but they have a squeaky clean idea of grief."

"Ice cream, Titanic, and sweats." She nodded.

"Ice cream is good for the munchies." He laughed, "But, when you go for my approach, they'll feel bad for awhile, and then decide you're just a bad kid and judge. Apparently there's an expiration date to grief."

"Oh yes, I'm familiar." She said sarcastically.

"Yeah but, I've realized, it's all bullshit." He said, "How, when, etc. People just don't get that, there is never a day in your life, which you don't want to break down. It's not that douche loner that wallows then says 'they're in a better place'. It's a lifetime struggle, something we do need to learn to fight, but it doesn't go away…"

Katy sat in silence for a minute, mulling over his words.

"Now, I can't imagine being you, having all that and then some guy comes along and wants a parental role. I don't know how I'd take that." He told her, "Look, I'm not gonna tell you what to do about the adoption, but don't think accepting will make you 'get over it'."

"Thanks." She gave a half smile, "You old softie."

"I feel like we're in a commercial." He smiled.

"Hmm…" She looked at her cup of coffee, then looked in front of her smiling widely, "This message was brought to you by Folgers; giving you the energy to deal with assholes, everyday."

Jer laughed and took the cup from her, "Folgers, because no family is functional."

Again they smiled at no one in front of them and laughed, "We would be the hammiest commercial actors ever!"

"Not true. Have you seen the crazy Progressive bitch? Screw the boogeyman THAT'S the scary face I don't wanna find under my bed!" she exclaimed, then realized, "Dammit! I'm outta clothes here. Do me a favor and cover for me?"

Jer nodded, fist-bumping her before she snuck out to the Boarding House.

She hopped up on the porch towards the door, stopping only to take in the mail. Katy did this often enough that she felt bad not to take it in since she wouldn't even say hi.

But in the mail she saw a package with a familiar label on the top. Curiosity winning out, she opened it to reveal adoption papers inside, all neatly stapled together.

She sighed and groaned, knowing she couldn't hide for long anymore.

A/N: I expect my check in the mail this week Folgers Company lol jk