Chapter 23

The Return

I walked into the Gilbert house with Elena still trying to understand the fact Caroline was in hospital, I had hung up so quickly I didn't even get the details of what had happened or if she was going to be okay. "Jeremy? Are you up?" Elena calls, wanting to check on her brother before we left again. A noise of something I couldn't quite identify comes from the kitchen and I walk towards it, leaving Elena heading up the stairs. Nothing could really prepare me for what I saw.

"Oh my God, John," I breathe seeing him lying on the kitchen floor, bleeding out. I react instantly rushing over to try stop the bleeding by putting my jacket on the wound, pulling out my phone I quickly dial 911.

"911, what's your emergency," the voice on the other end says far too cheerful.

"I-I need an ambulance, please to 2104 maple street," I tell them, trying to get the shake out of my voice. John looks at me, panic in his eyes as he whispers two words that I can't work out. "What?" I question.

"Behind you," he says louder this time. I turn my head quickly but the spot behind me is empty, seeing the knife covered in blood beside me I grab it, walking slowly towards the hallway. I can hear Elena from upstairs her voice frantic as she calls her brother's name. My mind takes me to the worse scenario that Jeremy might be dead as I rush up there to see Jeremy awakening Elena looking at him in shock.

John was in the hospital, Caroline was in the hospital it was all just too much. Caroline was in surgery but they didn't know, weren't sure if she was going to make it. I sat in silence next to Matt as we waited for news of any kind. Out of the corner of my eye I see Bonnie walking over, "How is she?" she questions us, concerned.

"She's not good, Bon," Matt answers before I can say a word.

"What happened?" Bonnie asks, an answer I would actually quite like the answer to as well.

"We were driving and Tyler heard this noise," Matt begins but I stop him, "a noise," I repeat, sharing a glance with Bonnie. "He got this migraine or something and he lost control of the car and I thought that Caroline was fine and then she wasn't so," Matt stops unable to keep talking. I sigh standing up as I see Elena entering, quickly walking over as she pulls me into a hug.

"How is she?" she asks me.

"She's weak, they don't know if she's going to make it," I admit as Bonnie joins us.

Elena looks over to Bonnie, "Isn't there something you do? Like a spell or something?" she questions, and I look over at Bonnie to hopeful for her answer.

"She doesn't know how, do you?" Damon says, joining our conversation.

"No I don't," Bonnie confesses, the hope in my heart quickly disappearing.

"No you don't because it took Emily years to learn a spell like that," Damon confirms, him and Bonnie sharing a look of distrust.

"Well I can take down a vampire, that spell was easy to learn," she reminds him.

"I can give Caroline some blood," Damon suggests.

"No you can't," I argue, I couldn't let Caroline run that risk it wasn't fair.

"No just enough to heal her. It will be safe in the hospital and it will be out of her system in a day," he promises me and as tempting as it sounds it was still too much of a risk.

"Its too risky," Elena tells him before I can say it.

"Do it," Bonnie orders him, ignoring us, "this is Caroline we can't let her die, do it."

"If I do this, you and me, call a truce?" he questions her almost hopeful.

"No," Bonnie replies instantly, "but you'll do it anyway for Elouise," she tells him, leaving with Elena beside her. Leaving me in the one place I didn't want to be alone with Damon. I felt bad for leaving after the whole kiss thing but now on top of everything that happened it was too much.

"I know this is probably the last thing you want to do right now but we should talk about what happened tonight," Damon tells me, confirming my worst fears.

I shake my head, "It is the worst time and besides we have bigger issues a tomb vampire broke in and almost killed John," I tell him.

"What? When? What are you talking about? After I left?" Damon gives me a tirade of questions.

I frown at him, "You were there?" I ask confused.

"Come on, Elouise, you know I was," he says to me, as if I should understand what he was talking about.

"When where you at the house?" I question wondering what I missed.

"Really? Earlier on the porch we were talking, actually you were talking, feelings were exposed, you kissed me, I kissed you back, come on Elouise," Damon tells me, and I frown wondering why he thought now was even a remote appropriate time to play a joke on me.

"You know what I don't have time for this Damon," I snap at him, both annoyed and angry.

"If you want to forget what happened fine, but I can't," Damon replies, causing me to feel even more confused.

"Elouise, I came as soon as I got your and Elena's message, how is John?" Jenna asks me as she comes over.

"Um fine I think, where have you been?" I question her, Elena had been worried when Jenna hadn't shown up straight away.

"At the fire department, I had to fill out a report, I told you and Elena earlier," she tells me.

"No you didn't," I say shaking my head, wondering if maybe I had been sleep walking.

"Yes I did," Jenna argues with me.

"No Jenna you didn't," I retort, it didn't happen I knew it.

"Mmm, you've got to be kidding me," Damon says I turn to look at him but he just walks away.

I step into the Gilbert house with Elena and Damon not happy about being away from the hospital at all, but at least this distracted me. I spot Stefan on the floor, just getting up as he sees us. "Stefan," Elena calls confused.

"Elena," Stefan replies grabbing her hand.

"What happened?" she questions him concerned.

"Katherine and Rose happened," Damon announces, the words sending me into a new fit of worry. Tonight could not get any worse. "Did she say what she wanted?" Damon questions Stefan as we stand in the kitchen while Elena goes up to talk to Jeremy.

"No," Stefan shakes his head, seeming to still be in shock.

"Women certainly knows how to make an entrance," Damon chuckles more to himself, and I frown wondering if he's impressed or not.

"She said that at least Rose managed to fool one of us, what does that mean?" Stefan suddenly asks and I frown having a rather good idea what it meant from me and Damon's earlier conversation.

"She pretended to be Elouise when I showed up here earlier," Damon admits and I narrow my eyes, unbelieving that she had fooled him.

"I told Jeremy, I can't lie to him anymore," Elena says as she enters the kitchen, falling into Stefan's embrace.

"Are you alright?" Stefan asks gently.

"No, I'm not alright. I thought that with all the tomb vampires gone things would get better," she confesses as her and Stefan separate. It was like she had taken the words from my lips, but somehow things had never be worse.

"I know, we all did," Stefan attempts to comfort her.

Elena shakes her head, "Katherine and Rose were in the house, that means they were invited in, what are we going to do?" she asks concerned.

"Move," Damon tells her.

"Very helpful, thank you," Elena snaps taking a seat as if everything was to much for her, I felt the same.

"Katherine and Rose want you dead; there's zero you can do about it; you would both be dead but you're not. So clearly they have other plans," Damon points out, which I'll admit made sense but did nothing to comfort me.

"Right and we need to figure out what those plans are and not provoke them in the process. What happened tonight when you thought she was Elouise?" Stefan asks, the smallest hint of worry in his voice.

"To risk another frown line encroaching on your very crowded forehead. We," here Damon pauses, "kissed," he finally admits.

"And of course you thought it was me," I mutter under my breath. Of course it was entirely possible, I mean I knew what I felt for Damon, but I had pushed that aside and he should know when its me.

"What do you mean you kissed?" Stefan questions his brother, his voice dangerous.

"Well, you know, when two lips pucker and they go," Damon says puckering his lips and making kissing sounds like a five year old. Stefan rushes toward him angry, which kind of surprised me, but Damon speeds over to stand beside me. "Don't be obvious Stefan," he warns making me even more angry.

I stand up between the two of them, "Stefan he kissed Rose not me, I know you're concerned about me, but you know I wouldn't do that," it was a lie of course but the last thing I needed was Stefan and Damon fighting. Besides I didn't care if it hurt Damon, he hurt me, he shouldn't of kissed Rose.

"John must know something, there must have been a reason they tried to kill him," Elena muses, breaking the tense silence.

"Its Katherine and Rose," Damon says shrugging, "they love to play games and you're fooling yourself if you think you're going to find out what they've been up to before they want you to know," Damon tells us.

Stefan shakes his head, "No actually Elena's right, John could know something through Isobel or Olivia. They were in touch with Katherine so maybe we can go to the hospital and get him to talk," Stefan suggests, and I nod it seemed a good a plan as any.

"I've got a better idea," Damon argues.

"What's that?" I question, looking into his blue eyes and hoping he's being serious.

"I'm just going to ignore the bitches," he tells me.

"Is that smart?" Elena asks from behind me sounding concerned.

"If they think they're being ignored they'll make a move," he informs us.

"And then what?" I question, what was Damon really prepared to do to them.

"Stake them, rip their head off, something poetic, we'll see," he says before leaving, making me feel a thousand times worse.

I find myself waking at a soft shake on the shoulder, I look up surprised to see Bonnie looking down at me. "Been here all night?" she asks me, "thought you might need this," she says offering me a coffee. I take it thankful, I was tired and last night hadn't been the best sleep ever. I gazed around from mum but realized she must of moved sometime in the night in the room Caroline was in, and didn't want to wake me.

"Thanks," I murmur, "I mean for everything," I add, glad that she had managed to convince us to give her vampire blood and against my anger right now, still glad she had helped save Damon.

Bonnie smiles, "That's alright, how is she?" she questions.

"Um don't know," I admit, feeling like the worse sister in the world.

"Why don't you come in and see her," Matt suggests as he walks over. I smile, taking a sip of my coffee before following him into Caroline's room. Her eyes are open and she looks fine, like nothing's happened at all.

"Oh my God, Caroline, you're okay," I say in shock, even though I knew, tears were falling down before I could stop them. I rush over to her placing my coffee down, giving her a hug.

Caroline laughs as she hugs me back, "Elouise, I'm fine," she promises me.

"I know, I know," I murmur, releasing her, "its just I was so worried and clearly an emotional mess," I mutter more to myself.

She stares past me to look at Bonnie and Matt, "Oh I love all you guys," she exclaims seeing their faces. I laugh at her expression as we all pull her into a hug, I was just glad to have my sister, alive and well. Actually I was glad to have both of them.

I met Elena back at her house where I was meant to prepare to go to this whole Lockwood thing, I still wasn't entirely sure why I was going. "Hey," Elena greets me as she walks into her bedroom, where I had been waiting.

"Jenna let me in," I explain, pulling my light brown hair around my fingers.

"Stefan forced John to leave town, he didn't tell us anything," Elena admits to me.

"Good," I snap, the last thing I wanted was my failure of a biological father to be around.

"Funny that's what I said," Elena mutters at my words.

I smile at her my eyes bright, "Elena we're sisters," I exclaim, standing up and grabbing her arms. It was the first time either one of us had actually said it.

Elena grins back at me, giving me another hug, "I know, its crazy," she admits, then seeing my face she adds, "good crazy."

"Good crazy," I agree, my eyes passing Elena to catch the time, "and we're late," I declare, grabbing my stuff as me and Elena both hurry downstairs.

Elena's phone rings and she answers it, "Bonnie, I'm know I'm late, I'm getting in the car now, be there in five," she promises as we jump in the car with Jenna and Jeremy.

"Looks like the whole town has turned out," Jenna comments as we approach the Lockwood mansion.

"Yeah well he was the mayor," Elena says, looking around at everyone.

"Why don't they save it for the funeral?" Jeremy questions.

Jenna shrugs, "That's what people do. The Lockwoods were here for us when we went through this. I'll be quick; we'll drop off the food and pay our respects and go," Jenna promises.

"In and out, great plan," I agree, the sooner I was back at the hospital the better I would feel. I had promised Caroline a host of stuff from home and the longer I took the more I was going to pay for it. I spot Damon and stop in my tracks, "I'll be right there," I say to Elena, feeling this need to talk to him. "Hey, how are you doing?" I question him, actually concerned. Don't get me wrong I was still angry but I kind of worried about he must feel.

"Great Elouise, walking on sunshine, thanks for asking," he replies sarcastically.

I sigh, "Damon," I say, couldn't he just be honest.

"Elouise," he responds.

"You know why can't we talk about this we're friends Damon. I really want to know how you're doing," I tell him earnestly.

He looks at me and I fight the urge to look away, "That's the problem Elouise I don't want to be just be your friend, I thought you felt the same way, doppelganger hijinks ensued. How do you think I'm doing?" he asks me.

"I think you're hurt," I reply honestly, trying to ignore the fact that I caused that hurt.

"No, I don't get hurt Elouise," Damon argues.

I nod, "You're right, you don't admit that you get hurt. You get angry and cover it up and then you do something stupid," I tell him, praying this time he wouldn't.

"You're scared. You think Katherine and Rose are going to send me off the deep end don't you? I don't need them for that," he retorts, walking away before stopping and looking at me. "You know why is it such a surprise that I thought you would kiss me?" he questions me.

I sigh, "That's not the surprise, I'm surprised that you didn't know it wasn't me. That you thought that I was in anyway confident enough to spell out my feelings and kiss you without being a hundred percent sure that you felt the same way. I thought you knew me Damon but clearly I have never be more wrong," I snap at him, my anger boiling over.

"Now I'm hurt," Damon admits.

"Good," I hiss walking away from him.

"You should be more careful," Damon warns, "Elouise is just inside." Rose turns to face him, grabbing his hand as he pulls him across the grounds of the Lockwood estate, grinning as she looked at him.

"I've missed you Damon," she declares, pulling him into a hug before he can do anything about it.

"Of course you have," he spat, not willing to forgive her.

"You're angry," she comments a frown on her face, "its about last night I'm sorry it was just so tempting," Rose giggles, twirling around so the short white dress she had blew in the gentle breeze. Her hair was curled properly, unlike the natural thick curls Elouise let hers sit in. A sparkle was in her brown eyes as she looks at Damon, "Don't be mad," she begs him, laughing at his face.

"What are you doing here?" Damon asks, trying to find answers, although weakened by her presence.

She laughs again, "I came to see you," she tells him, her voice a few tones lighter than Elouise's. Damon put aside the list of subtle differences between the two.

"Where have you been?" he tries asking.

Rose frowns, "Damon you're taking all the fun out of this, I'm here now aren't I? Look Elouise is all human and cute and all but I think its time you and I took this trip we always planned," Rose suggest to him, her playful demeanour gone.

"Why does that sound like a threat?" Damon asks her.

Rose narrows her eyes, "Damon I don't know what you're talking about," she replies innocently.

Damon forces her against the tree hands on her throat, "What are you and Katherine playing at?" he asks again, angry now. Rose eyes go cold as she flips their situation around snapping off a branch and stabbing it into Damon's stomach.

"That hurt Damon, I'm not the biggest fan of betrayal. You search for me for 145 years and you can't even pretend to be happy to see me," she snaps, "maybe I should take Elouise out of the picture," she suggest earning a growl from Damon. She laughs, "My god you're pathetic," she comments, "all over a human. I'm disappointed." With that Rose disappears in a flash leaving Damon to pull out the branch.

I stand next to Elena and Stefan, as Elena wipes the blood off Stefan's wound with a cloth. I couldn't believe it Katherine had been here. "Damon what happened," I question as he walks over blood covering his shirt.

"Rose happened," he says, "we've got crazy bitches on the loose," he tells Stefan. Apparently Rose had been here too, damn it she was running around pretending to be me.

"God this is not happening," I mutter to myself, "are you alright?" I ask Damon.

"It was just a graze," he promises.

"That's not what I was asking," I reply, I hadn't been referring to the physical pain.

"I know," Damon confirms.

I nod, "We should find Jeremy," I tell Elena, part of me sensing that Stefan and Damon needed to talk about whatever in the world was going on.

I take a last look at my face wondering what it would feel like if I ever met Rose, would it be like looking in the mirror. I shake my head stepping out of the bathroom, into Elena's room jumping when I see Damon. "Oh god, you scared me," I exclaim, holding my heart.

"Just doing my part in the neighbourhood watch," he tells me.

"Thanks for looking out for us," I pause here, "for me," I finally say.

"That's me, your trusty bodyguard, calm in a crisis," Damon replies, his words sounding slurred.

"Have you been drinking?" I ask him concerned. Damon holds his fingers up giving me the sign for a little. "And you're upset, great combo," I mutter afraid at what might happen.

"No, I'm not upset. Upset is an emotion specific to those who care," Damon argues with me, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Come on Damon, I know you, you care," I tell him.

Damon looks up into my eyes, "You think that I don't know you, but I expected you to know what I felt about you. I mean isn't this what we've being doing here. You're so busy trying to run away from what going's on between the two of us," he tells me.

"Damon," I warn, I could not go into this tonight.

"You'll find any reason to be angry with me, so that you don't have to face your feelings," Damon says to me and it upset me a bit how right he was. Maybe I was wrong, maybe he did know me better than I thought.

He walks towards me, "No," I warn, knowing what he was going to do next. He places his hands on my face, pulling me into a kiss. I can't stand the way it makes me feel, all giddy inside, but its also wrong. I push him away, "No Damon okay, I care about you a lot, but Damon you're my friend. I need you to be my friend right now, I can't take anything else," I say to him desperately hoping he'll understand.

"Elouise, are you alright," the voice comes from Jeremy as he pokes his head in from the hallway, obviously hearing whats going on.

"Nothing you should go to bed, you've had a bad day," I advise him, remembering his attempt to become a vampire.

"No Elouise," Damon says looking at Jeremy, "he wants to become a vampire." He rushes toward Jeremy pushing him against the wall.

"No, Damon stop," I yell as Elena runs in, trying to pull Damon off her brother.

Damon pushes Elena away, choking Jeremy, "You want to shut out the pain? It's the easiest thing in the world. The part of you that cares just goes away, all you have to do is flip the switch and snap," with those words Damon snaps his neck.

"No," Elena cries, desperate running to Jeremy's side. I rush to be beside her, glaring at Damon in anger as he walks away. I stare at Jeremy's hand, showing Elena the ring, the one that brought John and Alaric back to life. She sighs in relief, though the tears still came.

"He saw the ring, that's why he did. He knew," Stefan seeks to explain as Elena still held Jeremy in her arms.

"No he didn't," I snap, I knew he didn't.

"Its Katherine and Rose. They've got under his skin, they're undoing everything good about him," Stefan says tiredly.

"That's just it Stefan, there is nothing good about him anymore. He made his decision, if he wants to shut it out be hated, that's exactly what he's going to get," I growl, meaning every word I said, "I hate him."

"I know," Stefan says taking a step towards me.

"No you don't get it I hate him," I cry, shaking my head as I run out of the room unable to deal with the onrush of emotions.

Caroline opens her eyes, a noise drawing her from her sleep. She looks up in surprise to see Elouise and Elena standing beside her bed. "Elouise? Elena?" she questions confused, wondering why they were here.

"Hey Caroline," Rose greets her.

"What are you doing here?" she asks the both of them.

"My name is Rose and this is Katherine. We were hoping you would give the Salvatore brothers a message from us," Rose says to her.

"What are you talking about? What message?" Caroline questions not understanding a word of what they were saying.

Katherine smiles moving to the other side of the bed, "Game on," she tells Caroline, grabbing one of the pillows and placing it over her face as she screams and struggles. Eventually she stops running out of air supply, Katherine places the pillow back smiling over at Rose. Rose smiles too, fixing Caroline's hair for her before walking out beside her mother.

Season 2 has begun yay :) and I feel as though its going to be an interesting one for Elouise...:) Hope everyone's enjoying it!