TWO

John met us at the airport and when I saw him I hesitated. I wasn't sure if I should hug him like a normal daughter or just shake his hand like friend he hadn't seen in a year. I settled on something in between and gave a half hug. He only nodded at Damon before we went to baggage claim to get our stuff. If we hadn't been living at hotels, we would have left most of our things there. "I hate flying," I said as we waited for our things.

"Yes, well, we may be able to run incredibly fast, but we still can't walk on water."

I looked at Damon and nudged him lightly. "Have you ever tried?"

"By all means, be my guest," he teased before putting an arm around my shoulder.

"How are you?" I asked John.

He shrugged, "Things haven't changed much around here."

"Seeing anyone?" I asked and then immediately felt awkward.

"No," he said with a light smile. He was having trouble thinking of things to say to me as well and I couldn't wait until we were back at the boarding house. "As you requested, Jenna doesn't know you're here yet."

"Anyone else know?"

He shook his head. "Alaric is making dinner tonight at the house. We'll go there first so you can see everyone." He paused and I waited for him to continue. "How is the...uh...mind reading?"

I smiled at the way his voice became too low for human ears. "It's fine. I still have weak moments here and there, but for the most part it's under control."

"She doesn't know the full extent though," Damon said as he grabbed my bag from the carousel.

I shook my head in agreement. "I don't think we should talk about this here," I said as I looked around, beginning to feel tidbits of thoughts flowing through my head.

Both men nodded and we didn't say a word until we were in John's car and driving away from the Richmond airport. "Where did you guys go?" he asked and I felt a little guilty having only kept in touch with Bonnie, Jenna, and Jeremy.

"Paris, Rome, Dublin, Moscow..." I said listing off the major cities we had been to. Out of all of them, Dublin had been the shortest and I was glad for it.

"That's it? Gone for a year and that's the only places you go to?" he asked, throwing a teasing look at me in the passenger seat.

"Well, we stayed there for a good four months at a time. Besides, you get to experience each city from unusual places because 'off limits' spots don't apply to vampires," I said with a smirk. "Oh, is Bonnie going to be there tonight?"

He shook his head. "Just us, Jeremy, Anna, Pearl, Alaric, Jenna, and Harper."

Damon laughed as he lounged in the backseat. "So everyone else will be there."

The rest of the ride was filled with nothing but the radio and I couldn't help but wonder if Stefan was still in town. Last I had heard was that he left shortly after we did, but I had my doubts. We pulled up the house about an hour and a half later and I was feeling restless. I got out and stretched, smiling as Damon did the same. We left our things in the car and headed up the steps to the door. I stepped inside and felt a wave of nostalgia wash over me at the feeling of being home. The bowl Jenna was holding when she saw me fell from her hands and would have shattered if Harper hadn't caught it. "Elena!" Jenna cried and before I could say hello, she was hugging me tightly.

"Hi," I said as she pulled back.

"You didn't tell me that you were coming," she said as she moved her hands over me, checking to see if I was real. "And you," she said, whipping around to see John. "You are a horrible person for not telling me."

She pulled me into another hug and I watched John smile before walking into the kitchen. "Surprise," I said lightly and she laughed. I had missed her terribly and as I hugged her back, I tried not to squeeze too tightly.

She let go and stunned me as she hugged Damon almost as hard as she had hugged me. He looked very surprised and it took a moment before he put his arms around her as well. "Told you she loves me," he said to me with a smirk.

She laughed as she pulled back and tapped him lightly on the chest. "You must be hungry," she said and then stopped. "Sorry."

"We know what you meant," I said and grasped her shoulder. "It smells wonderful."

Jenna looked up the stairs and yelled for Jeremy before returning to the kitchen. I crossed my arms and waited for him to come down. He and Anna were straightening their clothes as they got to the top of the stairs and they both stopped at the sight of Damon and I. "Elena?" he said in disbelief.

I smiled widely at the fact that they had been too engrossed in each other to notice our presence or Jenna's outburst. He bolted down the stairs and gathered me into his arms. From the force of it I could tell he was having a regular dose of Anna's blood, but he was still human. "I told you I would be back for graduation."

"I know, I just- I'm glad you're back," he said as he pulled away.

"Hi Anna," I said and waved a little in her direction.

"Hi," she replied and returned my wave, giving Damon a light nod before we all walked to the dining room and set up.

"It's good to see you," Alaric said before he sat down, and it warmed my heart when I realized he was talking to both of us and not just me.

Dinner was mostly centered on the adventures Damon and I had been on this past year. Jenna was more interested in pictures than my descriptions and I promised her I would get the camera after dinner. "I hope everyone's still got room. I made dessert," Jenna said as she and Alaric cleared the table. Everyone exchanged worried glances before a uniformed mumble rose from the table. "Oh whatever," Jenna added as she carried things to the kitchen, smiling as she did so.

After an alright dessert, everyone broke away from the table to start new conversations. "Pearl, can I talk to you?" I asked when I caught her attention.

She followed me outside on the front porch. "What can I do for you Elena?"

She wasn't very fond of me and I was sure that was because of my resemblance to Katherine. "Does the name Roarke or Klaus mean anything to you?"

She was thoughtful for a moment and began shaking her head. "Should they?"

I shrugged. "I've been having dreams of Katherine's past and those two names are always said. I just wanted to know if she mentioned anything to you since she was your best friend."

"She never told me about her past."

I thought for a moment and then nodded, knowing I wasn't going to get any information out of her. "If you think of anything, will you tell me?"

"Of course," she said and as I moved to follow her inside, my phone rang.

"Hello?" I answered without looking.

"When do you come back?" Matt asked.

"I'm at my house right now. How did you know I was coming back?" I asked, looking around the backyard.

"For graduation. It's all Jeremy's been talking about. How long have you been back?"

"A few hours at most," I answered and smiled at the thought of Jeremy being that excited over my return and knowing he would never admit that out loud. "I was going to call everyone else tomorrow."

"I'm on my way home, I could just come to your house."

"We're going to be leaving soon," I informed him. "Why don't we have lunch tomorrow? My treat."

He laughed, "Just you and I?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, just you and I. I'll call you in the morning."

"I'm opening tomorrow and I get off at two. Why don't you just come to the Grill then?"

My eyes widened and I shook my head. "There are other places to eat you know."

"Discount," he replied and then cursed. "Well...since you-"

"Nope, Grill at two. Bye," I said and hung up before he could say anything else. I turned and went inside to find Damon right there, sitting on the steps waiting for me. "Ready?" I asked.

In the blink of an eye he was on his feet and at my side. "Yes."

"Let me say goodbye and then we can go," I said and headed back to the living room. "Aunt Jenna? Damon and I are going to go."

"So soon?"

"We'll be in town," I assured her.

"For how long?" she asked and I could only stare at her. "Alright, I'm so glad you came back," she said and hugged me again.

"Thank you for dinner," I said to Alaric before hugging Jeremy from behind. "I'll see you later." I found John coming from the downstairs bathroom and I did what I wanted to do at the airport and gave him a real hug. "Thanks for picking us up," I said and then went to Damon at the door and we got our things from the car.

Carrying our bags took our walk to the boarding house a few extra minutes, but the moment we stepped inside, we dropped everything to the ground and just looked around. I was sensing to see if Stefan was here and I knew Damon was too. The minute we knew the house was empty he closed the door by slamming my back against it. I groaned as he kissed me roughly and I jumped to wrap my legs around his waist. He carried me up the stairs, pausing along the way to kiss me against the wall. When we got to the bedroom, the door was open and he stopped to set me down. "What the fuck?" he asked.

I was angry for him stopping, but when I turned around, I saw why. His bedroom had been torn upside down and everything was in pieces scattered around the room. "Who would do something like this?"

He just looked at me. "You're really asking me that question? It's right up his alley; pathetic and very, very lame."

I rolled my eyes and moved down the hall. I shoved Stefan's door open and pointed. "I don't think he would do the same thing to his room. Maybe it was Tyler? I did tell him he could use the house when he needed to. Just in case."

He was still convinced it was Stefan as he inspected is room. He paused to sniff the air and looked puzzled. "I don't smell anything."

"That's good right?"

"No, it means someone was covering their tracks," he said and moved to shut the door.

I stopped him as I saw something floating in the room. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but things are still settling in here meaning this was done recently, right?"

He looked around one last time before cupping my face. "Unfortunately."

I groaned and stepped away from the room. "Great. Now who's after us?"

He must have seen something in the room because he went inside. I stayed where I was, still unable to go into Stefan's room without a lot of courage. He came back with the portrait of Katherine that had been missing for some time now. It had what looked like a bullet hole in the and writing in a foreign language smeared on the bottom in what my aching fangs were telling me was fresh blood. "Correction; someone is after you."