A/N: Thanks for all the reviews, guys! Also, how amazing was last week's episode? We're still reeling from all the new information. Quick question, how many of you would be interested in an Elijah/Katherine/Klaus story set in England in the 1500s? Please let us know in a review/PM as we're toying with this idea for after this story is finished. As always, we hope you enjoy the chapter, and please take a few seconds to let us know your thoughts. A special request to those of you who have it on Story Alert :). Please let us know your views.

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1864

Elena POV

After breakfast, I followed Jonathan Gilbert out of the house, still avoiding the eyes of both Damon and Katherine. Stefan smiled at me as I left, and I returned it, happy to see a friendly face, even if it was the Salvatore brother I'd barely spoken to since coming here. Once we were out in the fresh air – despite the rain the previous night, it was a sunny, clear day – I pushed all thoughts regarding last night away. This was not the time to worry about Damon and Katherine. The big night was under two weeks away. If I ever wanted to get home, I had to take this opportunity to learn as much as I could about the watch.

'How are you enjoying your stay with the Salvatores?' Jonathan Gilbert asked, breaking the silence. 'It must be nice to spend time with your cousin.'

'It is,' I lied as pleasantly as I could. I realised I was going to have to be careful here. If I said too much I could contradict the backstory Katherine and Emily had come up with I arrived, and that could cause trouble for all of us.

'How long has it been since you saw Katherine? Does she come out to Chicago often?' I wasn't sure exactly what it was that alerted me. The questions were asked causally, yet there was something in his tone that told me my answers were important. I also here just the slightest tinge of disbelief as he said the word Chicago, as if he didn't believe that I really came from there.

'No, she doesn't,' I said lightly. 'It's been a long time since I've seen Katherine.'

'How long?' he asked quickly. Slightly too quickly. That was the final confirmation I needed. It seemed the Council did indeed at least suspect the truth about Katherine, and as a relative that looked exactly like her, I was under suspicion as well. I pushed away the sudden burst of fear that rose in my chest. It was OK. I would be safe. The compass wouldn't point to me, and vervain wouldn't affect me. I'd be safe.

The tension as he waited for me to answer seemed to actually make the air vibrate. With no idea what the best thing to say here was, I opted for a vague 'Oh, a few years, at least.'

The look on his face made me realise my lack of a specific answer had probably just confirmed his suspicions. Crap. I needed to change the subject, fast. Needed to get it onto the pocketwatch.

'Do you happen to have the time, Mr Gilbert?' I asked, and then winced. Really clever start to this, Elena.

He smiled, although I could still see a troubled look behind it, and pulled out the pocket watch. 'It's half past nine,' he said. He was staring at me distractedly, his eyes roving my face as if he was trying to find something that would allow him to distinguish me from Katherine.

'That's an…interesting watch, Mr Gilbert,' I said, trying to sound casual, while inwardly appalled at myself. Could I sound more ridiculous? Why hadn't I planned for something like this ahead of time? 'Could I see it?'

His eyes had widened slightly when I mentioned the watch, but he handed it over without a murmur. I realised suddenly that he was quite possibly afraid of me. What did he think of the fact that I was outside in the sun? Did the Council know about daylight rings? As I took the watch, I realised exactly how unprepared I was.

'That's what happens when you spend too much time thinking about Damon,' I chastised myself silently. 'Time to focus on what's really important here.'

I examined the watch as closely as I dared, not sure what I was actually looking for. Some sort of marking that would show me how to set the date I wanted to travel to? Was the watch even a time travel device yet?

This, in hindsight, had not been my best plan, although I supposed it had been worth it, since I now knew – or thought – that the Council suspected me.

I handed the watch back, noticing how Jonathan Gilbert almost snatched it from my hand, pushing it back into his pocket as if he couldn't get it out of my sight quickly enough. Great. Apparently asking awkward questions about the watch just made me seem more suspicious.

'That's the apothecary,' he said, indicating a small building ahead with the air of someone who's glad to be able to change the subject. 'It's run by a friend of mine, a Miss Pearl.'

He continued, saying something about how she would be certain to have a poultice to clean my arm with, but I was barely listening. Pearl ran the apothecary? I'd forgotten completely about Pearl and Anna. When I'd met them in 2010, they hadn't seemed to remember me. Yet I was about to meet Pearl, it seemed. What did that mean? Did it mean that things could be changed?

My head was spinning again, as Jonathan Gilbert held open the door to the apothecary and ushered me in to a small room lined with shelves. Everywhere I looked were bottles of all shapes and sizes, full of various concoctions. None of them looked very appealing, and I resolved to throw out whatever primitive medicine I was given and rely solely on water to keep my arm clean.

'Miss Pearl's not here at the moment, I see,' Jonathan noted, looking around. Indeed, the only other person in the shop was a boy not much older than I was, clearly an apprentice.

'She's out visiting with a friend,' he spoke up, stepping forward. 'She'll be back soon if you want to wait, or I could help you.' At these words, my brain ground back into action. A friend? I knew that Katherine and Pearl had been best friends. Could Katherine be telling her all about me right now? Were they plotting against me? Or would Katherine not mention her suspicions about me to Pearl until she knew more?

Sometimes I thought the sheer number of questions cramming themselves into my brain would drive me to insanity.

'Miss Pierce here just needs something to clean a cut on her arm with,' Jonathan replied. Even in the dim light, I could see the way his eyes kept flashing towards the door – a sure sign that he wanted to get out of here.

'I'll be fine on my own, Mr Gilbert,' I said sweetly, trying to put him at ease. If I was going to have another try at figuring out the secret of the watch, it wasn't a good idea to alienate him. 'Really, if you need to go, you can. It's a very short walk home.'

He bowed and kissed my hand, as per usual, although I thought he seemed slightly more reluctant to touch me than he had before. I sighed inwardly. I was really going to have to deal with this. The Council thinking I was a vampire would only hinder my escape attempts.

I turned towards the apprentice, wanting to get out as quickly as possible, but figuring, that at this point, I probably couldn't leave without buying something.

'I scratched my arm,' I said, indicating the bandage. 'It's not too bad, but I was just wondering if you had anything to clean it with.'

'No problem,' the apprentice replied, reaching for a nearby bottle full of what looked like mud, although I guessed it was an herbal poultice. 'Use this twice a day and change the bandages when you use it.'

I thanked him, reaching into my pocket for the coins Emily had given me a few days after I'd arrived, thinking a girl with no money whatsoever would be bound to raise suspicion.

'Are you Miss Pierce's cousin from Chicago?' he asked, staring at me with interest. I nodded distractedly, focused on counting out the correct amount of money. 'You really could be her twin,' he continued. Apparently it hadn't occurred to him that I'd heard that particular line a thousand times before, and it irritated me more each time.

'I know,' I said warily, handing over the money and preparing to leave.

'Wait!' he called after me. 'Can I interest you in anything else? This new perfume? The mayor himself brought in a case of it, asked that we sell it. He brought some elixir too. Apparently it's very good at curing chills.'

I stopped short at that. The mayor had brought perfumes and elixirs into the apothecary to be sold?

I turned back, giving the apprentice my sweetest smile.

'Could I try the perfume?' I asked, holding out my wrist.

He smiled back and squirted a little on my wrist. I inhaled the smell of the perfume deeply, and there is was. Faint, but still present, I could detect the scent of vervain, mixed with that of other plants in an attempt to disguise it.

'Um, could I buy one of those bottles?' I asked, deep in thought. The apprentice was only too happy to sell me one, and a few minutes later I was walking home, still pondering the implications of what I'd just discovered.

The mayor had ensured that the vervain perfume was being sold in the apothecary. I could only assume the elixir he'd brought in also contained vervain. He was taking steps to protect the townspeople. I wondered if the vervain I'd discovered in the Salvatore garden was the only patch in town, or if every member of the Council had been growing it in secret.

I examined the little bottle of perfume closely, realising that this tiny thing was actually my only weapon against Katherine If only Jonathan Gilbert had been there to see me test it, he'd have been forced to stop suspecting me. I wondered if there was another way to show him my immunity to vervain – perhaps put on some of the perfume in front of him?

This thought led me straight back to the pocketwatch. It was clear the watch itself was no help. To learn to use it, I'd have to see Jonathan Gilbert's journals. But how? He wasn't likely to carry them around with him…they'd definitely be in his house.

It was while I was pondering this that I heard footsteps behind me. My heartbeat immediately sped up to what was becoming it's normal rate these days. Had Katherine followed me? Had Jonathan Gilbert come back to see if I really was a vampire?

Bracing myself, I spun around, holding the perfume bottle in front of me in case it really was Katherine and she looked in danger of attacking. Behind me was…

'Damon!' I exclaimed, sheepishly lowering the bottle as I realised how ridiculous I must look. 'What are you doing here?'

'I came to find you,' he said coolly, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. 'In case Jonathan Gilbert left you to make your own way home, as he apparently has, I thought it might not be a good idea for you to be wandering about on your own after last night.' He shrugged slightly. 'I may not be particularly useful against, say, Katherine, but I thought you might still prefer not to be on your own.'

Without another word, he continued walking in the direction of home. I followed, struggling slightly to keep up. I was touched that, despite his clearly still being angry with me, he would go out of his way to protect me. It reminded me of the Damon I knew in 2010.

While we were together, and away from Katherine and Stefan, I knew I had to try to make things right between us, but had no idea what to say. Various apologies drifted through my head, but none of them seemed adequate. I knew that he was right, that I should have told him everything from the start. It hadn't been fair of me to tell him only half the story.

'Damon…' I let my voice trail off, putting my hand on his arm and stopping him. He looked at me for the first time, but his face was perfectly blank, betraying no emotion.

'I don't want to hear another apology, Elena,' he said quietly. 'Or is there something else you've been keeping from me? Another betrayal, maybe? My brother, this time?'

'I wanted to show you this.' I said, holding out the perfume and resolutely ignoring his questions. I'd already resolved to tell him the full story as soon as I could, but for the moment, this was more important.

'Perfume?' he asked derisively, raising his eyebrows. 'Something you plan to use to seduce my brother, seeing as you don't seem to care which of us you're with?'

'I bought it at the apothecary, Damon.' I answered, keeping my voice civil with an effort. I knew I deserved this, painful as it was. Taking a quick look around to ensure we were alone, I continued, 'It has vervain in it. The Council are preparing for their attack. All we have to do is hold out for two more weeks, and –'

'I'm sorry, we?' he interrupted. 'When I agreed to help you, Elena, I was under the impression that you had told me the full story. Had told me everything that I was trying to prevent from happening. How do I know that I wouldn't be better off as a vampire? It could be only Stefan you're trying to protect.' His eyes were flashing with anger, and I took an involuntary step back.

'Damon, please.' I was begging now, much as I hated to stoop to this level. 'I'll tell you everything I know, I promise. I don't think I can do this alone, the Council might think I'm a vampire because I look like Katherine and I don't even know how the watch works and I'm going to have to somehow get into Jonathan Gilbert's house so I can see his journal, or I won't be able to find out.'

I'd barely registered what I was saying, desperate to somehow convince him to help me, but Damon was now staring at me as if I'd suddenly sprouted an additional head.

'How are you going to do that?' he hissed, his eyes flicking in every direction checking we were alone. 'Break in? And what do you mean the Council think you're a vampire?'

'Jonathan Gilbert was asking me all these questions about how long it's been since I've seen Katherine and he didn't seem to believe I came from Chicago, and then when I asked to see his watch he practically snatched it away from me.' I rambled, relieved that Damon had stopped yelling and no longer looked like he never wanted to see me again.

'Elena, that's bad.' He took my arm and pulled me into the shade of a nearby building. 'If they suspect you, it's going to be hard for you to get the watch and get home, especially if you start messing around trying to save Stefan and I first. What if you get captured?'

'I won't.' I looked him straight in the eye. 'That's why I need your help, Damon. There's no way I can do this alone. And I really will tell you everything. I promise.'

He dropped my arm. 'I wish I could believe you,' he muttered, stepping away from me and rubbing his temples as if he could somehow erase the memories of our fight and what he viewed as my betrayal.

I waited silently for him to make a decision. Finally, he turned back to face me.

'I'll help you,' he said quietly. 'I can't let you do this alone. But you have to tell me everything you know, this time. No more lies.'

'I promise, Damon.' I said simply, meeting his gaze.

'OK.' He took a deep breath. 'Then let's figure out how we're going to get that journal.'

'There's only one way I can think of,' I replied, unable to believe I was really going to suggest this. 'It's in Jonathan Gilbert's house, and I don't think he'll ever bring it out. So we're going to have to break in.'

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