Chapter Twenty-Six: Shake It Out

And I'm damned if I do and I'm damned if I don't
So here's to drinks in the dark at the end of my road
And I'm ready to suffer and I'm ready to hope
It's a shot in the dark aimed right at my throat
'Cause looking for heaven, found the devil in me
Looking for heaven, found the devil in me
Well what the hell I'm gonna let it happen to me
~Florence & the Machine

Turns out they weren't in the middle of nowhere. They had made it into a town. Nilly watched out the window as Damon parked his car on the side of the street. She had her legs pulled up to her chest, chin on her knees. Nilly hadn't said much during the remainder of the trip, even though Damon attempted to start a conversation several times.

He pulled the key out of the ignition and got out of the car. Quicker than a human, he was at her door, opening it for her. She stepped out tenderly, glaring at the sun as she looked around.

"Where are we?" Nilly asked looking at the building across from them, "Bree's Bar" the sign read. "You brought me to a bar? Damon, I'm not old enough. They're not going to let me in," she said as he closed the car door behind her.

"Sure they will," he smirked. When they crossed the road to the bar, he opened the glass door for her again. As she stepped inside she saw it looked like any other bar, nothing out of the ordinary.

A large wooden counter sat to the side, with shelves of bottles on it. She did a 360 around the room. It had a dart board, karaoke machine, and an old fashion jukebox. Circular tables and stools were evenly placed.

Nilly could smell the musty woody aroma of the bar with a faint hint of alcohol. She could hear laughter and cheers coming from a group of guys, staring up at the TV as the baseball game ended. She wasn't sure what she had expected when he opened the door, nothing this normal though.

All of a sudden a voice snapped Nilly back. "No. No, it can't be. Damon, my honey pie."

Nilly turned to see a woman walking towards them, well walking towards Damon. She was tall, the stiletto heels she was wearing made her tower over Nilly. She had dark skin almost the same shade as her chestnut hair. It was curlier than Nilly's and flew over her shoulders as she stopped in front of Damon.

"Bree," Damon smiled. Then suddenly she was grabbing him and they were kissing. Well maybe kissing wasn't the correct terminology. They were devouring each other right in front of Nilly. This caused cheeks to turn red. Her eyes darted away when it became more than a kiss. She refused to call the feeling burning in her jealousy, because it wasn't. It was just very awkward and uncomfortable.

I could care less that they were practically swallowing each other's tongues a few feet a way from me, Nilly told herself.

Finally they pulled a part. With a "Mmh-mmh-mmh," Damon started to follow Bree to the bar counter. Nilly stared at them, almost in shock until Damon turned back around and grabbed Nilly's hand, as if he just remembered she was there.

A couple seconds later Nilly was sitting next to Damon at the bar, spinning nervously on her stool. Her body still hurt, but she was trying to focus on something else instead of the pain. Bree came over, flipping over shot glasses, a bottle of Tequila in her hand.

"Listen up everybody!" she shouted around the bar. "Here's to the man that broke my heart, crushed my soul, destroyed my life, and ruined any and all chances of happiness!" Bree poured the Tequila in the glass in front of everyone. "Drink up!"

Nilly watched as she flung her head back with Damon, both of them downing the shots "Ahh. Whoo!" Bree smiled, slamming the glass back on the counter. Bree turned to Nilly, filling the shot in front of her. "So, how'd he rope you in?" she asked.

Nilly lifted her eyebrows as she heard a low chuckle come from next to her. She rolled her eyes, "Believe me, I'm not roped in."

Bree winked, "Honey, if you're not roped in, you're whipped. Either way enjoy the ride."

Nilly just rubbed her eyes with the back of her hands. "Okay. Well, how did you two meet?" she asked, trying to get the subject off of her.

Bree smiled at Damon. "About 20 years ago, when I was a sweet, young freshman, I met this beautiful man, and I fell in love. And then he told me about his little secret, made me love him more." Bree said, winking at Damon. "Because, you see, I had a little secret of my own that I was dying to share with somebody."

"She's a witch," Damon cut in with a smile. And suddenly Bree wasn't having a conversation with Nilly anymore. She was looking straight at Damon.

"Changed my world, you know."

"I rocked your world," Damon smirked, stealing Nilly's untouched shot glass. Suddenly she wished the subject was back on her.

Bree turned back to Nilly. "But mostly, he's just a Walk Away Joe," she said with a sigh, then she turned back to Damon. "So, what is it that you want?"

Elena was sitting again, she couldn't stand. The shock was too much. Stefan was next to her, watching her face. None of this was making sense. How could she be adopted? Her eyes snapped up to Stefan's.

"How do you know this?" she asked shakily.

"Your birth certificate from the city records, it says Elena Gilbert, Mystic Falls General. But there's no record of your mother ever being admitted. There's no record of her ever being pregnant."

She stared at him. If her mother was never pregnant with her, if she was adopted… what about Nilly? She was her cousin, they had grown up as cousins. She was a year older than Elena. Nilin was turning 18 in the fall.

They looked exactly alike, eerily alike and the excuse had always been 'The strong Gilbert genes', but if Elena wasn't a Gilbert…? "An-and Nilly?" she asked slowly pulling out of her thoughts. "What about Nilly? We're- she's like me." Elena stammered.

Stefan shook his head. "I didn't know about Nilly until a few weeks ago, I though she was Katherine the first time I saw her, but you had your arms linked with hers. None of it made sense, then you introduced us and I talked to her. She clearly wasn't Katherine, so I went back. I started looking things over, digging into her past." He paused. "I found the same exact thing. Her name, the hospital, the signatures, but nothing else. Nothing indicating her mother was pregnant that year. The only record of Rocklynn Gilbert being in the hospital was for treatment."

"For the cancer." Elena said and Stefan nodded. "So- so are we-?"

"I believe you're sisters, Elena," he answered. Her hand went to her mouth, shock mounting in her chest. Sister… Nilly and she had always acted like sisters, ever since they were little. Maybe that's why she thought she should be more shocked over this, but the word felt right. It felt right to call Nilly her sister than her cousin. But they had spent their whole lives calling each other that.

"Our birthdays though, Nilly's older than me. Or is she?" Elena asked. Stefan looked down at his hands.

"She was born October 31st. You were born August 31st of the next year, or so the certificates say. Same day, different months, different years." Stefan said. "Your father was a doctor and you said her father is a lawyer, right?"

Elena nodded.

"Two men who knew how to deal with paperwork and evidence," he continued. "Your father took care of the hospital part and hers took care of the legal part. They could easily change a number, add a year."

Elena stared at him, confused. "What are you saying Stefan?"

He took her hands, looking her right in the eye. "I think you and Nilly were born on the same day, same month, same year," he answered. Elena blinked a couple of times, processing this. Same day, same day, same day. It kept running through her head, trying to find its way in. That's when Stefan's words made sense.

"We're twins," Elena said, eyes wide.

"Yes, Jenna. I know." Nilin said into her phone as she leaned on Damon's car. "Yes, I know I should have called and told you I was going out. I'm sorry, I— yes, Jenna. I—" She was trying to get a word in with her frantic aunt who was freaked out of her mind when Nilin didn't come home last night. Jenna was raging on when Nilly's phone beeped with another incoming call.
"Listen, Jenna, I'll be home later. Okay? My dad's on the other line, I have to take this," she rambled quickly.

"Nilin Gilbert, if you hang up on me I will—"

"Love you Jenna, bye," and with that Nilly clicked over to the other line. "Hey, Dad." Nilin breathed out, putting a hand to her forehead. "I was just about to call you back."

"Nilin, I called you four times already. It kept going to your voicemail. Is everything alright?" her father asked concerned.

"Alright? Yeah. Yeah! Everything's fine," she replied. "I was just asleep, I've been, uh, feeling a bit under the weather."

"Under the weather?" he asked. "You're not lying to me, are you?" Dammit, this is what having a lawyer for a father is like.

"What? Nooo, I'm just a little distracted, in the middle of a movie." Nilin said, as she stared across the street at Bree's Bar. "Why'd you call?"

"Just checking in on you, me being your father and all," he told her on the phone.

Nilin laughed a little, "Well, I'm fine Dad."

"Good," he continued. "Oh, and to let you know that I'm home and going back to work tomorrow."

"That's great, just don't push it. Take it slow if you need to, Dad." Nilin tried to urge her father. She heard him laugh on the other side of the phone.

"I'm a Gilbert, since when do we take anything slow?" he asked.

"Ah, the Gilbert line. Ever a curse," Nilin sighed.

"Have some respect for your ancestors, they weren't all nuts," he laughed.

"Just the majority, that's all," she mumbled. Again her father laughed.

"Alright, alright. I better let you get back to your movie. Talk to you soon, Nils," her dad said, still a bit of suspicion in his voice.

"Good idea, Dad. Love you." Nilin said, ending the call. She slipped her phone into her pocket. She had to battle Damon to get it back and now she wasn't going to let it out of her sight. Nilin looked to the entrance of the bar, through the front window she could spot Damon flirting with Bree still. Letting out a long sigh, she fixed her cropped shirt, ran her fingers through her hair and marched back in.

Damon had watched as Nilin made her way out of the bar. He reluctantly and teasingly gave her, her phone back. She'd been out by his car, pacing back and forth as she called her Aunt Jenna. He hoped she'd calm down a little, her heart had been beating at an erratic pace since she woke up. He was worried she'd go into cardiac arrest right in front of him.

There's only so much a human body can deal with until it shuts itself down. Even then he didn't feel bad for bringing her with him. She'd thank him once she relaxed. Damon turned his attention off the window and back to Bree.

"Come on, there's got to be another way," he said.

Bree just shook her head. "After all these years, you're still stuck on Katherine. Even when you have that cute little thing around?" she said, pointing her thumb towards the window. "How do you even know she's still alive?"

Damon just smiled at her, "Well, you help me get into that tomb and we'll find out."

"I already did," Bree said. "Twenty years ago, remember? Three easy steps. Comet. Crystal. Spell."

Damon dropped his smirk, getting annoyed. "There's a little problem with number two. I don't have the crystal."

Bree shrugged, "That's it Damon. There's no other way. It's Emily's spell."

He thought for a moment, irritation building in him. "What about a new spell with a new crystal that overrides Emily's?" he asked.

Bree shook her head again. "It doesn't work that way, baby. Emily's spell is absolute." She paused for a moment. "You can't get into that tomb," she said finally.

Just then Nilin came back in, halting his and Bree's discussion. She walked over to them and slid on her stool, laying her head on the bar.

"You okay?" Damon asked, leaning his elbow on the counter.

Nilin picked her head up. "Don't pretend to care," she said coldly. Then she hopped off the stool again, heading for the ladies room this time.

Damon watched as she left. He wasn't pretending anything, or at least he didn't think he was. He looked a Bree who just gave him a smug look as she wiped down the bar.

Author's Notes:

Chapter 26 for you guys :) I'm somewhat following the show'd plot line but with my own twist and turns, so tell me what you guys think please! Questions, comments, concerns leave them here! Thanks for reading.
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