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1864

Elena POV

I took a deep breath. I couldn't lie to him. Even knowing what this knowledge would do to him. Honesty was one thing Damon and I had between us.

'I have Stefan's necklace because…in 2010 he and I were….are together. He gave me it when we first starting dating, before I even knew the truth about him.' I said quietly, staring at the quilt on the bed because I couldn't bring myself to look him in the eye. 'I'm so sorry Damon, I didn't tell you because I didn't want to hurt you.'

He listened in silence, forcing me to look up to see his reaction. The expression on his face made me reach for him, but he scrambled backwards off the bed, out of my reach.

'I can't believe this, Elena,' he said. Although his voice was quiet, it shook slightly and I could hear the pain behind it. 'I thought….that you wouldn't lie to me. I thought….that you were the first person who didn't choose my brother.'

'Damon, I'm sorry,' I said desperately, not knowing what to do, what to say, to make this better.

'So since you've come here, you've just been using me to pass the time until you could get back to Stefan?' He was angry now, and the words exploded out of him like bullets. 'Why? You were bored? You wanted someone to help you stand up to Katherine? Why?'

'Damon, it wasn't like that….I didn't mean for this happen.' Tears were pouring down my face now, and I regretted telling the truth. I should have lied. It would've been kinder to both of us. 'I didn't expect…for things to be like this between us. In 2010, you're one of my best friends, and when I ended up here….I needed a friend, Damon.'

His face softened for an instant, then went hard again. 'So when I asked you earlier if you'd rather be with Stefan and you said no, you were lying?'

'No!' I exclaimed. My voice was shaking and I was on the verge of breaking down, a reaction that even confrontations with Katherine hadn't inspired in me. 'I didn't lie to you. When you asked, I thought I'd have to, but the truth surprised me. I told you, I didn't expect this.'

'Didn't expect what, exactly?' he asked, staring right into my eyes.

'I didn't expect…to have these feelings for you.' I said quietly. 'In 2010, you're different, Damon. Katherine's betrayal changed you. Sometimes I think there's something between us then, but not like this. Not like tonight. Damon, tonight you made me feel the happiest I've felt since I came here.'

I could see how much he wanted to believe me, and thought for a second that maybe he'd come around, that things would be OK between us. Then his face shut down, as if he'd come to a decision.

'So, the happiest you've felt since you left your relationship with Stefan behind?' he asked harshly. 'I'm sorry, Elena, but I'm not going be your substitute for my brother until you get home.'

With that, he left the room, slamming the door and leaving me staring after him in shock, tears still running down my face. I wanted to go after him, to explain, but the look on his face as he'd left stopped me. He'd looked like he never wanted to see me again. Dimly, I understood how much I must have hurt him, and the knowledge broke my heart.

I lay down then, sobbing into the pillows. I hadn't cried since coming into the past, despite everything I'd been through. Somehow, it was this fight with Damon that made me break down. Even multiple confrontations with Katherine hadn't….

Katherine. I sat bolt upright, wiping my eyes. She might be with Stefan now, but she was angry. She wanted information, and she was going to get it. She was likely to come after me. Tonight. No one would interrupt. She'd be able to figure out I was protected by my vervain necklace, remove it and interrogate me.

I scrambled off the bed, and paced around the room, pushing all thoughts of Damon out of my mind. There was nothing I could do about our fight for the moment. I had to focus on the current problem. Unfortunately, there was also nothing I could do to prevent Katherine from coming for me. All I could do was come up with a plan to implement if she did.

I looked around the room, taking in my surroundings, trying to see if there was anything I could use as a makeshift weapon. I knew I didn't stand a chance if Katherine really wanted to hurt me – which she might, as a method of getting information – but I was not going to go down without a fight.

Stalling for time, I shoved the dresser against the door, wincing at the noise it made. I could only hope that Katherine was occupied with Stefan, and wouldn't be listening. I had to laugh when this thought occurred – I couldn't believe I'd gotten to the point where I hoped my boyfriend was with someone else, particularly my homicidal doppelganger.

Remembering my struggle against Noah at school and the way I'd stabbed him with pencils – it seemed like years ago – I looked around my room again, searching for any sharp wooden object. Nothing jumped out at me. I crossed to the window and threw it open, studying the tree that stood just outside it and trying to decide if I could possibly reach out and snap off a stick. It didn't seem likely, considering how strong and sturdy each branch looked.

A noise from the hallway sent me hurtling back to the door, leaning over the dresser and pressing my ear against it.

'Good night, Stefan,' I heard Katherine call sweetly. 'I'm just going to check on Elena, and then I'll be going to bed.'

Stefan called something in reply, but I didn't hear what it was because I was sprinting back across the room to the window. I knew that the discussion between Katherine and I would have to occur sometime, but I did not intend for it to be now. It was the middle of the night. Katherine could easily overpower me. No one would be awake to come to my aid. If she came in now, there was nothing I could do.

I needed was to ingest vervain before Katherine could get to me. Not only would that protect me from compulsion, it would stop Katherine from being able to drink my blood. Of course, there were other ways she could hurt me, but I didn't dwell on them. There was nothing I could do to stop them. Damon had promised to find some vervain tomorrow. I didn't know if he would want to give me some, after the way we'd left things, but waiting was my best shot. I just had to avoid Katherine until tomorrow.

I could hear her footsteps approaching my door as I climbed out onto the windowsill. Grabbing the tree for support, I pulled myself out onto a sturdy branch, then clambered down as quickly as I could, dropping to the ground.

Once there, I realised exactly how stupid this plan had been. Yes, nothing good could have come from my staying in my bedroom and waiting for Katherine, so I'd followed my instinct to run. But what, exactly, was I supposed to do now? It was the middle of the night, and I was outside in a nightgown, completely barefoot. Katherine was a vampire. She would be able to hear my every move, and would, I knew, be able to catch me in seconds. Still, I had to try.

The first thing to do was get away from this window before Katherine reached it and saw me. With that thought, I hitched up my nightgown and ran, not knowing where I was going, only trying to put distance between myself and the window. Instead of going around the front of the house, where Damon and I usually walked, I ran around the back, where the trees were thicker, hoping they would hide me.

Pure terror spurring me on, I ran until I reached the very back corner of the Salvatore property, ducking under a clump of trees that grew up against the fence, and there I finally stopped, covering my mouth to try and hide the sound of my breathing. It was a freezing cold night, and I could feel a few drops of rain hitting my skin, but barely noticed. I kept as still as I could, straining my ears, listening for even the slightest sound that could indicate that Katherine had come after me. I couldn't hear anything, but that was most likely because I was deafened by my own heartbeat.

Nothing came. I inched nearer to the edge of the trees. Was Katherine out there somewhere, waiting for me to come out? Was she trying to terrify me as much as possible? I inched further out, but my nightgown caught on a tree root and I fell flat on my face, scraping my arm against the tree as I fell.

For a second, I simply lay there, expecting Katherine to grab me any second. Again, nothing came. Gingerly, I pulled myself into a sitting position, only then noticing the plants I'd fallen onto. The moon was full, and provided enough light for me to see the characteristic purple colour of the seeds. Vervain.

I hadn't expected to find any here, but supposed I really had no reason to be surprised. Giuseppe Salvatore would eventually, expose Katherine by poisoning the blood of both his sons with vervain, after all. Somehow, though, I hadn't expected it to be growing here, where Katherine might so easily find it. Then again, she had no reason to explore remote corners of the Salvatore property.

I stared at it for a second, unable to believe my luck. Then I uprooted a couple of plants, tore off the roots, and shoved the seeds into my mouth, not caring in the slightest about washing or diluting them first. All I cared about was ingesting this plant as quickly as I possibly could.

I forced myself to swallow the plant – it tasted disgusting undiluted – then picked several more, taking them from the edges of the patch so that it would go unnoticed, and shoved them in my pocket. It was only then that I noticed the blood running down my arm from where I'd scraped it against the tree.

My heart stopped. Blood would only bring Katherine out faster. She wouldn't be able to resist feeding on me…but wait. Why hadn't she come out yet? My arm had been bleeding for a while. Could she possibly have decided to wait until tomorrow to come after me?

Taking a deep breath, I plunged out from the little grove of trees. It had started to rain properly, and I was drenched with freezing cold water within seconds, but Katherine did not appear. I shivered, hugging myself in an attempt to keep warm – of course my arm was throbbing now that I'd noticed the cut – and debated what to do next. I apparently had a choice between staying out here all night and climbing back up to the room and hoping Katherine would not be in there.

The weather decided it for me. I had no wish to freeze to death, and started making my way back to the tree I'd climbed down, still expecting Katherine to jump out of the shadows at any second. It wasn't until I reached the tree that I worked out what her plan had been.

The window to my room was now shut, and had been, I had no doubt, locked from the inside. So that was Katherine's plan. Instead of interrogating me tonight, she was going to get revenge for my going to the ball with Damon by forcing me to stay out here all night in the freezing cold and rain, then probably come and find me in the morning.

Fury filled me, driving out the cold and fear. I'd run from Katherine tonight, yes, but now, with vervain in my blood, I was more than ready to fight back. I was not going to wait out here for her to let me in. I would find a way back inside this house. I needed to. In addition to settling this between Katherine and I, I had to speak to Damon. I had to let him know how sorry I was for not telling him about my relationship with Stefan.

Damon. He was the only chance I had to get inside tonight. His bedroom, I knew, was right next to mine. Unable to believe I was really doing this, I bent to pick up some of the pebbles that lay in between the lawn and the wall of the house. Feeling very much like a character in a book or some sort of play – Romeo and Juliet came to mind – I flung them at Damon's window, crossing my fingers that Katherine wouldn't know what the noise was and would just put it down to someone still getting ready for bed.

Nothing happened, so, gritting my teeth against the pain throwing caused my injured arm, I tried again. This time, I could see signs of movement, and the curtain began to lift.

I took a deep breath. I knew he was angry – and hurt- but I had to hope that when he saw me trapped outside, soaking wet and bleeding, he would at least let me in. And maybe, just maybe, he would listen to me.

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