The First Rescue Party

Katherine and the other vampire were running – they were well out of Bonnie's sight. She was going to ask Katherine to have one of them carry her – she thought she might be of some use, if she could get close enough.

She ended up not asking – Elena needed someone with her as soon as possible. And it was a long shot anyway. So she followed them as fast as she could while trying to keep her sense of where Elena was.

She was also thinking that maybe she could try something from where she was. She could use her power very effectively at close range against specific vampires. Could she figure out a way to do it from a distance?

The Demolition Party

Stefan had done it. The house was burning. He found it a little shocking – what he had become. Not that he had never done this kind of thing before. He had, but certainly not since he had found Elena. Would she approve?

He got rid of that thought immediately, replacing it with what Isobel had told him. The house only held vampires trying to hurt Elena.

Stefan thought the fire would not spread – he had been careful. His car was moved to a safe location, he had even soaked a couple places with water that looked risky before starting the fire. And it seemed to be behaving.

He would notify authorities before leaving, but first he had to decide what to do about the tunnel. It was blocked but not well. He did not know if it would burn – probably not. He had found explosives in the shed, so he was going to try to use them take the tunnel out or at least permanently seal it up. The explosives were in place. He had already done so much damage, this should be easy for him to do. For some reason, it wasn't. He knew what Isobel had said, but he could never be sure. Could he remove the vampires' last escape?

The Second Rescue Party

Elena had to do something. Damon was barely holding the other vampire off – if he was doing that much. From time to time, Damon seemed to have been beat, and the other vampire would turn towards her. But he never got very close to her before Damon was back.

She didn't know if he could keep it up. She needed a way to help. She looked for something she could at least make a stake out of, but everything she saw looked either so small that she thought it would cause no damage, or so large that she would never be able to break it to try to create a point.

She finally decided on a smaller large branch. She found a place where she could lean it at a 45 degree angle and jumped on it with her full body weight. It broke. The result wasn't pretty, but it was something she could hold, and if she should get it in the right place with enough force, she thought she could do some damage.

She turned back to the noises of the fight. She thought about trying to go behind the other vampire, but if he saw her and attacked, would Damon be able to recover in time to help her? Could she put him in that position?

She decided instead to try to get behind Damon. Maybe she could pass him her stake or find another way to help.

But as she turned to him, she could see it was getting worse. He was taking a beating. Not that he was down and out or anything, he was still up fighting. But he was slow, and did not look good.

That made the decision for her. She tried to find a way to get behind the other vampire without being seen. And she did, at least she hoped she did. He could have just been ignoring her.

She raised her stake and began to charge forward. Suddenly she was pushed aside and the stake was out of her hand. Maybe he was on to her after all.

Then she saw Isobel shoving the stake into the vampire's back. It had the desired effect. He struggled against the stake and her, but eventually fell to the ground.

Elena was quickly at Damon's side. He was standing and apparently resting. There were blood and bruises, but she thought he had never looked so good. She was deciding whether to try to comfort him with her touch when he darted another direction. She turned and saw he was headed for another vampire.

Isobel was faster. She managed to catch and hold him. "He's one of Katherine's Damon. Settle down. You need to rest."

Katherine did appear next to the other vampire. Only then did Damon relax. Without speaking to any of them, he walked to some nearby running water and started to clean the blood and other mess off of himself.

Katherine walked towards Isobel, who had moved back to watch the staked vampire. Katherine found his finger and pulled the ring off, inserting it into one of her pockets. Since they were in direct sunlight, the vampire was soon gone.

"Give me a minute with Elena," Katherine said to Isobel who nodded in response and turned to watch them.

Elena had not moved, she may not even have seen Katherine remove the ring. She was just staring at Damon.

Katherine stood next to her and looked at Damon as well. "He'll be fine," Katherine said, "it looks like you managed to get into his shirt, though."

That made Elena smile. She had completely forgotten that the bandages she was wearing were his shirt. She turned to look at Katherine. It still creeped her out with the mirror image. She thought she might get used to it, but not yet. How did twins deal?

"Sorry about all of this," Elena said. She wasn't sure why, maybe just being polite.

"You know it was my mistake," Katherine said. "You are still new to me. I need to think about precautions with you more than I do with anybody else I work with. I overestimated his loyalty and underestimated the protection I needed to provide to you. You look like you feel good. Do you?"

"I do. A little sore where the bandage is on my head is all."

Katherine nodded. "I hope I haven't lost your trust in me. Your safety has always been my greatest concern. I will not let you down again."

"You didn't let me down. I was in good hands. It all worked out." Elena said.

"Do you know why they attacked you?"

"He said something about hearing rumors that you had a human double. I guess he suspected me from the beginning."

"Rumors." Katherine said as she turned back to look at Damon. Then she smirked. "Now that he's cleaned up, I'm kind of glad you took his shirt."

She turned back to Elena just in time to see a bit of a shocked face. "You've done as I asked. Anyone who threatened you will be destroyed."

"Already done," came a voice from behind them. Bonnie was there. "Stefan called, he said he burned the house down with the vampires in it. He's on his way here now."

"You look cheery," Elena said.

Bonnie hugged her. "I am so glad to see you're OK. And anytime vampires kill each other is fine with me."

Elena pulled away from her and nodded her head towards Katherine then made a "shush" sign with her finger.

"No, it's fine." Katherine said. "Bonnie is just relieved that you are safe. We all are."

Damon was approaching now. The blood was gone, but there were still bruises and other marks.

Katherine nodded for Isobel to join them. She spoke to her and Damon "You've done all I could ask. You kept Elena safe. I am grateful,"

"And I am furious," Damon said. "She should never have been there. You can't risk her like that. She pledged to serve and protect you, not to be sacrificed by you."

"Damon," Elena began before being cut off by Katherine.

"No, Elena, he's right. I've told you and now I will tell Damon. It was my mistake. It will not happen again."

Stefan was approaching now. "Did I miss anything?" he asked as walked to Elena and hugged her. She returned his hug only slightly.

"Time to return." Katherine said. "Elena, do you want to go back with Stefan, or...?"

Stefan gave Katherine and then Elena a quizzical look. "Don't you?"

Elena nodded. "Yes, but go ahead a little. I need to ask Katherine something in private."

He gave her an annoyed look, but finally turned and started to walk away.

Elena did not speak to Katherine, she just looked at Damon with pleading eyes. She whispered, afraid Stefan might hear. "I have to, at least this time. Please."

Bonnie was staring, as were the others, no clue as to what was happening.

Damon spoke softly in response. "You know what I need, Elena. You'll either give it to me, or not."

"I will, Damon. You have all the time there is. Please just give me a little."

Damon nodded. "I do have all the time there is. I just don't know how much time you have."

Katherine spoke now. "Would you like to go back with Elena and Stefan, Bonnie?"

"Yeah," Bonnie said pulling Elena away from Damon's eyes and starting to follow Stefan.

"And you could come back with me…if you want." Katherine said to Damon.

Elena heard. It was the last few words that caught her attention. She had never heard Katherine use that tone with anyone. She turned around to try to see his response, but Katherine was talking to Isobel. She had missed Damon's nod of agreement.

Bonnie pulled her towards the waiting Stefan again. Stefan misread her expression, and tried to comfort her. "It's over Elena, and it's still early. We'll be home by suppertime."

The Deciders

Katherine had sent Isobel and the other vampire back with her car, telling them she would meet them in Mystic Falls. She and Damon watched as Elena left with Stefan and Bonnie. Elena occasionally looked back at them.

"You're going to get her to choose you," Katherine said. "And then the old Damon would break her heart - before ripping it out."

Damon looked at Katherine now. "And you're going to get me to choose you. And will you then break my heart? Is that who you are now? You knew where I was for 145 years and you avoided me."

"No, Damon, I was not avoiding you – at least not for all of it. For some of it I was deciding."

"Deciding what?"

"Deciding about you."

Damon wasn't sure he believed her. "You were deciding about me without me there?"

"Sometimes the person you are thinking about is too distracting for you to make a good decision. Sometimes you need to be alone to decide."

"And what was your decision?" Damon asked, though he thought he knew.

"I'm here. My decision is made. You need to make yours."

"Yeah. Though I'm told I have all the time there is." Damon hesitated, then stated the obvious. "You gave your car to Isobel. The one you gave me to use was burned. We don't have a car do we?"

"We can get one if you want, Damon. It depends on if you want us to get back to Mystic Falls quickly, or if you are willing for us to take our time."

End of Part III, Home by Suppertime. The Epilogue introduces Part IV...