It was a week or so since we had been in the tomb. As I expected, I came home to Damon and a group of sorority chicks. I flipped on the lights.

"Buzzkill!" Damon complained. I went over to the stereo and turned off the music. All the girls groaned.

"Can we talk?" I asked him.

"Yeah."

"Without the drunk girls, preferably."

"Anything you have to say to me, you can say in front of them. They're really good at keeping secrets."

"Damon…" He rolled his eyes at me and we went over to a corner to talk. I couldn't get one word out before he was talking instead.

"You're worried about me, aren't you little sis? That's nice. But don't be. There's no need. I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be? I spent the last one hundred and forty five years with one goal: get in that tomb. I succeeded! Granted, Katherine wasn't in that tomb, but why dwell? You know, it's liberating not having a master plan because I can do whatever I want!"

"You're fine? You're drunk, you have like seven college girls in our living room and you haven't been out of the house since the tomb. And as for being able to do whatever you want, that's what I'm afraid of!" I hissed.

"Relax. I haven't killed anyone in…" He sighed. "Too long."

"Those girls?" I nodded towards the sorority chicks.

"Will end up in their dorms with a headache thinking they've blacked out. Business as usual. Predictable you didn't pull me over for a pep talk. You're too serious for your age." He looked me over in drunken disappointment. "So drink up and spill it, sister." He pushed the bottle of booze he was holding into my chest. I took it and put it on the table beside me without hesitation.

"There's a woman you may have known a few years back named Isobel in North Carolina at Duke." I decided it was better not to tell him I was here for Stefan. If I had learned anything about my brother in my lifetime it was that he responded better to me than to Stefan.

"You wanna discuss the women of my past now? Seriously?" He asked.

"You killed her."

"What's your point?"

"I just wanna know if you remember anything about her?"

"That's a needle in a haystack, young Elisabeth Marie Salvatore…"

"How drunk are you to refer to me like that? It is not eighteen sixty four anymore, Damon! Snap out of it!" I snapped my fingers in front of his face. "And think hard, it's important." I added the second sentence as an afterthought, remembering why I was talking to him in his state of mind.

"Nothing is important. Not anymore." He whispered. He grabbed the bottle of booze from the table beside me.

"Damon, do not go off the deep end!" I warned in a growl.

"The deep end is so far in my past, I hardly remember going off it, sis. Great chat, but I've got to get back to my girls." He walked off. I rolled my eyes and then walked out of the house again, leaving him to do what Damon did best: be a first class jerk. I texted Stefan as I walked down the long driveway.

Damon wasn't being helpful. You got anything?

I sat down on a tree stump to re-tie the laces of my high-tops while I waited. My phone buzzed seconds later, signaling a text had been received.

I think that Elena's birth mother might be Alaric's dead wife.

I hoped he knew how to sugarcoat this when he told Elena… Wow… Is there anything this town that can be considered normal?

What are you going to do?

I straightened up again and paced as I waited for his response.

I'm meeting Alaric at the town square. You want to help?

I grinned to myself.

Wouldn't miss it. BRT. That means be right there, for the record.

I'm smart enough to know what it means, Beth.

Just checking, big bro. I know you're behind on the times.

I laughed at our texts and then darted to the town square. I purposely went up behind Alaric as he spoke to Stefan and grabbed his shoulder. He jumped and spun around.

"Oh, good… Ms. Warm-and-Fuzzy is here too!" He said sarcastically. I shrugged.

"Been called worse. What are we talking about?" I asked.

"About his wife Isobel being Elena's birth mother." Stefan told me.

"Ah… So where do you stand, Mr. Van Helsing?" I asked. His lip twitched, wanting to smile at my new nickname for him, but contained it.

"I think that it's true, as much as I hate it because she never told me... Does Elena know about this?" Alaric asked Stefan. Stefan folded his arms across his chest and sighed.

"About your wife?" Stefan asked.

"About everything… About you, about her-." He jerked his head towards me. I smirked. "about your brother."

"She knows what I am and she knows that you know about vampires." Stefan said.

"Does she know about Damon and Isobel?"

"No. I couldn't tell her; not until I was sure."

"You said you'd help me!" Alaric snapped.

"I asked Damon without saying too much. He doesn't remember." I told him. He turned to me, a stern-disapproving-teacher look I thought was very annoying.

"Ask him again." He said coldly, like it was an order that he expected to be done right away with a click of my heels, a salute and a 'yes sir!'.

"Damon is not stable right now." I returned his cold tone.

"You know, he murdered my wife, or at the very least made a meal out of here. When has he been stable?"

"I am telling you not to push this." I warned. I of all people knew what Damon was capable of when he gets pissed off. Alaric, however, obviously didn't.

"Give me a reason not to!"

"You're survival. How's that for a reason?" I snapped.

"Look, if anyone can handle this, it's Beth. Damon likes her a lot more than he likes me and he'll talk to her if he knows anything. She'll handle it, but right now I need you to let it go." Stefan told him.

"Is that what you tell Elena. 'Let it go'?" Alaric asked. They moved until they were mere inches apart.

"Leave Elena out of this!" Stefan warned quietly. I rolled my eyes and moved in between them, shoving them away from each other.

"Not that I don't love the whole alpha-male-contest-thing, but you two need a major time-out!" I told them. They both stiffened, but backed away from each other.

"I need to know what happened. I think you would want to know too." Alaric told Stefan. I stepped in between them again so that Alaric would look at me.

"Look, I know you don't like not being the one to handle Damon, but I will tell you everything I get from him. To get him to remember, I need something more than just a name. I need a picture of her or something that I could show Damon to help him remember." I told him. Alaric dug into his wallet and handed me a small picture of her. I took it.

"Thank you. I'll get this back to you." I promised. He nodded and walked off. I looked around and saw Jeremy heading into the Grill.

"I will get right on this-." I held up the picture of Isobel for Stefan to see. "-after I go talk to Jeremy." I hurried into the Grill after Jeremy and quickly caught up to him.

"Hey." He turned with a smile already on his face.

"Hey, Beth."

"What's going on here?" I asked, motioning towards all the people and the stage set up in the Grill.

"Ah, an auction for the most eligible bachelors of Mystic Falls… You get to buy tickets and hopefully you get a date with one of the men. I believe you need to be over eighteen to enter, however." He told me.

"Wouldn't enter anyway. None of the men in mystic falls really caught my eye." I told him.

"Then I guess I'm not considered a man." He was prying for information, seeing if I really liked him. I gave him my best smirk, something I'd learned form Damon.

"Or I don't like you that way… You need to figure that out yourself." I said mysteriously. He grinned at me.

"Well, I need to go find my big brother. Have a good day." I hurried out of the Grill again and headed back towards the Salvatore house.

"Damon!" I called as soon as I got inside the house. He came into view from the living room, putting on a nice jacket. I raised an eyebrow.

"You're looking at one of the most eligible bachelors of Mystic Falls." He said smugly.

"Did everyone else die?" I teased. He smirked.

"Ha ha, so funny." I held out the picture to him, stepping closer so he could see it.

"This is the woman, Isobel, from North Carolina. Remember her now?" I asked.

"Who wants to know?"

"I do."

"Who else wants to know?"

"Did you kill her?"

"Sorry. Don't know. And I have to go. The Real Housewives of Mystic Falls are waiting!" He darted out of the house. I rolled my eyes.

"Thanks for the help, moron!" I said under my breath. I walked up stairs to Damon's bedroom. I did promise Alaric information and I was a perfect snoop… It took ten minutes before I realized he had no journals or self-notes or anything about his past. I groaned. This was a waste of time. I headed towards the Grill. I knew Stefan and Alaric would be there so maybe I would get a chance to talk to them again.

I got into the Grill just as they were introducing Damon on stage. The mayor's wife, Carol Lockwood, was the one introducing him.

"We don't have much on you." I walked over to Jeremy and stood by him. He gave me a small smile but we said nothing as we watched Damon.

"Well, I'm though to fit on a card." Damon said smugly.

"Is your brother always like this?" Jeremy whispered to me. I folded my arms across my chest.

"You have no idea."

"Do you have any hobbies? Do you like to travel?" Carol asked.

"Oh yeah. L.A, New York… A couple of years ago I was in North Carolina. Near Duke campus, actually. I think… I think that Ric went there too. Didn't you Ric?" Damon asked.

"Damon… Don't you dare… Please…" I hadn't realized I'd said this aloud until I saw Jeremy giving me a questioning look. I didn't answer or try to explain. I headed for Stefan. We exchanged a knowing look.

"Yeah, cause I know your wife did!" Damon said. Stefan and I glanced at Elena. She was looker paler than normal. Stefan made his way towards her. I started making my way towards the stage.

"I had a drink with her once. She was a great girl. Did I ever tell you that? Cause she was… delicious." Damon went on. I was already going up the steps to the stage.

"He's drunk. Not the best date, fair warning." I told the crowd. I stood on my toes to whisper into Damon's ear.

"Shut. Up." I warned. He just smirked. I pulled him off the stage while Carol Lockwood awkwardly moved onto another guy to talk to him some more. Elena bumped into Damon as I tried to get him out of the Grill.

"Whoa, easy there. Buy a ticket like everyone else." He said, trying to flirt.

"Damon!" I hissed.

"Did you enjoy that? Rubbing it in to Mr. Saltzman?" She demanded.

"What?" Damon asked.

"Just as I was starting to think there was something redeemable in you!" Elena snapped. Stefan walked up behind us, shaking his head warningly at Elena. Damon looked at me confused. I gave him a cold stare in return.

"Am I missing something here?" Damon asked Elena.

"Did I forget to mention earlier when we were talking about my birth mother? That one that gave me up?" Damon raised an eyebrow.

"Her name was Isobel!" Damon's smirk faltered.

"So go ahead. Reminisce about how you killed her!" Elena hurried off, purposely bumping into his shoulder as she walked past him. Stefan went after her. I dropped Damon's arm. There was no point pulled him out of the Grill anymore.

"Next time I want information about someone, you might want to think before you talk about how you killed them!" He walked out of the Grill. I took a deep breath to calm myself and then followed. We went back to the Salvatore house. He went into the living room and poured himself a drink.

"Really?" I asked.

"What else would you like me to do, Beth?" He asked.

"Go to Elena. Talk to her!" I suggested.

"Why? I don't care about here!"

"Yes you do!" I cried. I walked over to him. "You care about her more than you want to. You love her. You just don't want to admit to yourself so you fool yourself by making yourself think you love Katherine. You don't!"

"Are you really this stupid?" He asked.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"Not you." He snapped.

"Guess so." Alaric's voice came. I turned. He was standing behind us, a stake in hand. I could see a plan brewing in Damon's eyes.

"Alaric, don't!" I warned.

"I think he wants a fight, little sister. And you'd just get in the way." He grabbed my neck again and then it all went black.

I woke up on the floor with a sore neck. I knew at once what had happened. Damon had snapped my neck. I looked around quickly, trying to see if Damon was sill in the room. I saw Alaric's dead body a few feet away. Stefan was kneeling over it, but when he saw I was awake, he ran over to me.

"Where's Damon?" I asked.

"He left. What happened?" He asked.

"He… he snapped my neck. Stefan, he's never done anything to hurt me before! He killed vampires that did less to me!" I sobbed.

"I know… He's… different without Katherine. But he can be saved, just like I could be when I was a ripper. It's okay." He pulled me to my feet. I buried my head in his chest for a second and then stood on my tip-toes to put my chin on his shoulder and look over him. As I watched Alaric's body, his fingers twitched.

"Stefan… Did you see…?" Of course he didn't see that; he had his back to Alaric's body. I pulled away and walked over to Alaric, half wondering if I had been imagining that. I kneeled down and leaned over him. Suddenly Alaric gasped and jerked up in a sitting position, very much alive. I jumped back, startled. Stefan hurried over.

"What happened? What's going on?" Alaric asked.

"But… you were just… Did… Did Damon turn you?" I asked.

"No. I… I went for him and then he…uh, he stabbed me..." He said.

"No… No… You must have had vampire blood in your system. Someone must've slipped you some." I told him. He shook his head.

"No… It's something else." He said.

"Then how?" Stefan demanded.

"Um…" He looked down at the ring he had on. I wasn't sure how I didn't notice it before; it was a big bulky thing, not unlike Stefan and Damon's daylight rings.

"Isobel… This ring protected me!" Alaric said, twisting it around on his finger.

"That's impossible." Stefan protested.

"I know…"

"Okay, since you're not dead and I don't have to bury you out back I need to go find Damon before he does something else stupid." Stefan walked out the front door, shutting it with more force than was necessary. Alaric got to his feet and then started to fall. Some old instinct made me grab his arm to help him steady himself.

"Thanks." He mumbled. I just nodded and let his arm go once he wasn't swaying anymore.

"You look surprisingly healthy considering…" He trailed off.

"Considering Damon snapped my neck?" I rubbed my neck, remembering how sore it was.

"Yeah… But I'm…never mind." He decided against saying whatever he was going to say and instead busied himself with finding the stake he'd lost.

"Well, if you're not going to say, I will." I told him. I saw the stake under an end table and leaned down to grab it. I straightened back up and held the stake out to him.

"I'm glad Damon didn't actually kill you." I told him. He smiled slightly and took the stake from me.

"And I'm glad that your crazy, murderous, vampire brother didn't actually kill you." He returned. I smiled, mostly because of how uncomfortable he looked saying it.

"Thank you, Mr.-."

"Alaric." He corrected my quickly. I smiled again.

"We're on a first name basis now? Then thank you, Alaric." I told him. He nodded again and headed out the door. I heard his car start a couple minutes later. I looked around at the living room and then headed upstairs to my bedroom.