A/N: I can't believe you guys – we've passed 150 reviews for this...mammoth journey that we're on and I couldn't be happier to be on it with you lot. Does that sound mushy? I don't care. Trust me if it weren't for you we would definitely not still be here because as much as I love doing this it's a whole lotta hard work! Can't believe we're over halfway through Season 2 though – all the closer to season 3. I dithered over whether or not to write The House Guest but in the end I decided to do it so I hope you enjoy it. Anyway that's enough from me! I own nothing, enjoy the show(s)

The Dinner Party

Elena and Stefan continue fighting over her choice and as she reads old family journals she discovers more about Stefan's past and the people he killed in 1864. Stefan tells Elena about how he met Lexi and how she saved him from his 'Ripper' days. "It sounds like you were Damon" – "I was worse"

Damon calls Stefan to fill him in on Tyler's disappearance and how he plans to kill Elijah. Damon visits Katherine in the tomb to find out if the dagger will work and Katherine manipulates Damon to make him believe that he can kill Elijah.

Damon throws a dinner party at his house for Elijah, with Jenna, John, Alaric and Andie and Alaric daggers Elijah after Elena finds out that a vampire cannot kill an Original without dying. They further learn that the dagger needs to remain in Elijah in order for him to stay dead.

Elijah finds Elena at the lake house and breaks the door down with gravel and Elena stabs herself and then Elijah with the dagger, killing him again before Stefan heals her with his blood. Damon, Stefan and Elena take Elijah back to the Salvatore house and deposit him in the basement and Elena tells the brothers that she will start fighting if they agree to do things her way from now on.

Jeremy sets up a 'date' for him and Bonnie so she can practice her spells but Dr. Martin comes and steals her magic. Damon finds Katherine in his room, escaped from the tomb.

"In addition to the moonstone, the doppelganger, the lion, the witch and the wardrobe..."

A/N 2.0: Elena wrote her diary entry before Isobel showed up at the front door.

The House Guest

"All this time I can't believe I couldn't see
Kept in the dark but you were there in front of me"

Hmmm, listening to Elena and my...brother is both distracting and unpleasant.

"Morning Damon" whoa there hold up...that's not Elena. Fucking Katherine. I rush over and pin her to the wall.

"What are you doing here? I told you to leave" – "what is your problem?" – "wearing her clothes, you think that's gonna work?" – "you think I'm Katherine? Why would you think that? Katherine's in the tomb...isn't she?" uh not...exactly? And now I'm confused. But...no. This doppelganger is Katherine, I'm sure of it.

"What the hell is going on here?" Stefan uh ye-ah. I probably should have 'fessed up that the bitch got out last night but I told her to leave and I just assumed she'd have taken off the second she could. Dammit!

"I don't know you tell me, is Katherine in the tomb or not?" Elena/Kat demands and I just know it's Katherine. I can sense it.

Stefan goes rushing off to see which doppelganger is in his room and I'm not far behind. "It's getting really easy being you" I knew it! Ten points to me please.

"What is she doing here?" the real Elena asks. "When we killed Elijah it broke the compulsion and freed the bitch from the tomb" have I mentioned how awesome Elena was last night? I mean, the stabbing herself part aside, but killing Elijah? Hot.

"I don't want you here. Get her out of here" well I already tried that Elena; we don't exactly want her around either. "You need me Elena. You all do" Bull. Shit. What the hell do we need her for? "We all want the same thing: Klaus dead" – "I don't need your help. And I don't want it" god I love it when she's angry. And against Katherine? Perfection.

"Then that's incredibly stupid of you...do you know where Klaus is? When he's coming? What he looks like?" god I wish I could just throw her out. I mean, I could, but she'd just be able to waltz right back in again. Really need a damn human for this house.

When all the dramatics are over and Stefan and Elena leave for school I come down to the basement and I'm trying to incinerate Elijah with the flame-thrower but it's really for my own frustrations more than anything else because it's certainly doing no damage to the Original, well not to anything apart from his clothes anyway.

"...you're wasting your time he's indestructible" yeah thanks, I got that. I guess she's...sticking around then, which is just, fucking fantastic.

"How do you know so much about Original vampires?" – "Spend 500 years running from one..." – "So when I told you my plan to kill Elijah why didn't you warn me I'd die if I used the dagger on him?" I suppose technically she did. She said it was a 'suicide mission' only she didn't make it very fucking clear did she?

"Oh there's so many rules it's all...very confusing" liar. "Did you know I would die?" surely she doesn't hate me that much? "Did Elijah tell you his plan? Did he have a dagger to kill Klaus with?" ah deflection, Katherine's greatest art form.

"Why are you still here?" – "Because you haven't forcibly removed me" huh well...that can be arranged. I point my handy flame-thrower in her direction "you wouldn't" oh but I would, I really would.

"Damon be smart, I want Klaus dead just as much as you do. More. If I wasn't being honest about helping I'd be long gone by now okay? You can hate me but we want the same thing. And you know I always get what I want" dammit she's making sense and I don't like it and I just know at some point it's going to backfire on us but I won't kill her. Yet. Although I'm fairly confident that this is one kill Elena wouldn't be unhappy with me for.

"I wanted out of the tomb. Didn't matter who paid the price. Of course I knew that you'd die" yeah, thought as much. Selfish bitch that she is. God how did I ever think I was in love with this girl? How could I have been so...blind? And now I'm bloody stuck with her, great.

So I need to find the site of the witch massacre that Elijah was looking for and I'm starting my search with the journals Elena and Stefan retrieved from the lake house. "What'cha up to?" – "None of your business" – "Are those the Gilbert journals" maybe if I just ignore her forever she'll disappear.

"How am I supposed to help you if you won't tell me what you're up to?" maybe not "can you tell me where a bunch of witches were massacred in this town a couple of centuries ago?" – "No" thought not "then you can't help" I don't even know why this place is so important, what's so special about dead-witch ground? But if Elijah was searching for it then so am I.

Katherine tries to grab one of the journals but I smack her hand away and she hits me back and then I grab her. Sorry Kit-Kat but there's only one doppelganger around here that's allowed to hit me and it sure as hell ain't you. I slam her down beside the piano "if it's any consolation I'm glad you're not dead" yeah I am not in the mood for seductive Katherine. She can fuck off. I let her go.

"Emily Bennett told me about the massacre. It was a big deal in witch folklore. When a witch dies violently they release a mystical energy marking the place of their death with power" huh, that's intriguing. "Elijah wanted to know the site of the massacre" – "What was he gonna do when he found it?" that's what I would like to know. "I don't know" oh thank god Stefan's home.

"What did papa witch and baby witch have to say?" and where's Elena? I'd much rather see her. "Isn't she uh...gone or dead yet?" nope unfortunately not Stef. "For the last time I'm here to help. Can we skip the secrets hmm?" I don't really care either way I just want to know what information Stefan has. "Elijah had no weapon to kill Klaus but he believed that if a witch could channel enough power...they wouldn't need one" ah things are starting to make more sense now; "like the power you get from a spot marked with a hundred dead witches?" yup, gonna need to get on journal duty. Gotta find dead-witch ground, fast.

Katherine and I have been reading journals forever, god only knows where Stefan is...off brooding somewhere I imagine and suddenly something doesn't feel quite...right. I turn to check on Katherine but she's in the same place all day so maybe I'm just being paranoid.

"Can I help you?" I ask when she comes and drapes herself across the back of my couch. "I'm bored" well I'm not here for your entertainment love, Katherine points out lines in the journal I'm reading related to Emily Bennett "...took her to the same location her ancestors were burned a hundred years ago" well great, finally something useful has come out of all this research.

"You know this whole friendly, co-operative thing? I don't buy it" she's such a little liar, I know she's only here because she wants something, I just haven't figured out what it is yet. "I'm hungry" – "You're the unwanted house guest. Go feed yourself" magically as soon as Katherine disappears, Stefan reappears, what are the chances?

"Find anything?" yep...I nod my head in the affirmative "Nope" and point to the page in the journal Katherine found, I know where the witch ground is. And then he disappears again, could he not ya' know...stick around? Help a brother out against our crazy ex?

"Damon!" that's me. What the hell's the problem now?

"Katherine" fuck...what in the...she's been...staked. How? Who? What? I pull the stake out of her, "What happened?" and where the hell is Stefan? "Damon" she says again and looks towards Elijah and holy hell someone, or make that, witches are trying to un-dagger the Original. Hell to the no! I grab my trusty flame-thrower; this thing is really coming in handy, and start waving it around. Finally Stefan arrives "What are you doin'?" – "Some kind of crazy ass psychic witch attack! Get over there and do somethin' about it" now please, on you go. Hurry.

Once I'm sure the witch attack's all done I bring Katherine some blood and drive a stake into her side for good measure. "That's for not telling me the dagger would kill me" I twist the stake just a little, "Next time? Goes in your heart" – "Is that how you treat someone...who's trying to help you?" – "You wanna help? Start talking" tell me what you know or get the hell out of my house.

"I'd love to but you're not gonna like it" oh what's new there? I don't like half the things most people say to me and I don't like most of what Katherine says. "Try me" – "Fine. John Gilbert and Isobel want you and Stefan out of Elena's life" uh-huh well that's not exactly news.

"He offered me a deal. He knew that killing Elijah would get me out of the tomb so he gave me a choice. Either I stay and help with Klaus or he kills Stefan" wow I am going to murder Papa John. Slowly. And painfully.

"But he still tried to have me killed" – "Right. That was part of the deal. I could only save one of you" ah I see "So you chose Stefan" obviously. "Of course you did" I'm not surprised by this. In any way, but it still hurts.

"You wanted the truth Damon. Would you rather I lie?" maybe? It's not about Katherine; it's just a lifetime...decades of Stefan. Stefan the good, Stefan the brave, Stefan the saint, Stefan the fucking loved. It's the resounding "It's always gonna be Stefan" in my head that I just can't escape no matter how damn hard I try.

Speak of the devil, Elena's in danger, Christ is it Tuesday already? The witch doctor is after her, out for revenge for his dead witch son I suppose. She's at the Grill with her friends so that is where I need to be. Now.

"I'm coming with you" uh no, you're not "Wait" Stop. Touching. Me

"I don't need your help. I don't want it" – "I know what we can do Damon. You have to let me do it" all right fine, change of plan, maybe I do want her help. These doppelganger hijinks I can get on board with, it will protect Elena.

I fill Stefan in on the plan and he get's Elena outside, we have to get back to her house and then Katherine takes over, it's her show from now on. When Stefan lets us know the witch is dead we go inside.

"How did you guys convince her to do this?" Elena asks "we didn't. It was actually her idea" – "Oh that's not good" – "Nope. No that's not good at all" I have got to try and figure out Katherine's angle here. It's not in the slightest about this 'deal' with John, she'd kill him faster than blinking before allowing herself to be trapped in a deal...so it's something else.

"Everything's taken care of" Stefan informs us and Katherine gives Elena her necklace back, "this doesn't change the way I feel about you" – "I don't much like you either, if we're gonna be open and frankly I'd be happy to see you dead but if we're gonna try to take on Klaus we kinda need you to be alive so I'm not a threat to you Elena. If any of you are going to believe anything, believe that" well I don't. And I'd bet my last hundred dollars that Elena doesn't either.

Oh. For. Fuck. Sake. Can a man not just read in his bedroom in peace? And when the hell did Katherine find the time to go shopping anyway. Since she's here I decide to confront her about turning in Emily Bennett back in 1864 "she was a loose end. I like mine tied up" never woulda guessed that. She's figured out that I know where the witch site is but there's not a chance I'm telling her.

"You hurt me today" – "tit for tat" – "You were mean. And very rough. And monstrous" I see sexy, seductive Katherine is coming back out to play. "You deserved it" – "I like this Damon" she's ve-ry close to me.

"Katherine" I whisper, "Katherine, there are six other bedrooms in this house" and I'm holding her face and there is nothing there, no fire, no passion, no electricity, no spark, no connection just...nothing. Doesn't mean I can't play with her though, and I pretend I'm going to kiss her, "go find one" before pushing her off me. God that feels good.

She turns around in disbelief with an audible huff before stalking off and...Yeah, when I trapped her in the tomb I knew I had let her go. I felt such relief, but now I know. For sure. Katherine means nothing to me. I'll deal with her as long as I need to if it protects Elena, helps Elena, but that's all.

Dear Diary,
Katherine got out of the tomb after I killed Elijah because the compulsion wore off and now she is staying with Damon and Stefan. Stefan thought I was Katherine! He grabbed me and pinned me up against the wall...how can he not tell the difference? Damon seems to be able to and he's not even my boyfriend! Surely Stefan should know better by now?

Katherine says she wants to help but no one believes her for a second, even after tonight. Caroline, Bonnie and I had decided to have a girls night and Jenna joined us after she and Alaric broke up, we went to the Grill for dancing but then Dr. Martin came and he was trying to...I don't even know, take me or hurt me or...something. But Katherine and I switched places, Damon said it was her idea and then she said that she's not a threat to me, but I don't like it one little bit. I don't trust her at all and I know Damon doesn't either.

I'm not sure what Stefan thinks exactly. I think Stefan likes to believe everyone who says they want to protect me; he always tries to see the best in people, which is something I love about him. But not everyone can be trusted, and especially not Katherine. Still, he should know that better than most so hopefully he's not going to be fooled by her this time.

More than anything though I'm concerned about Katherine being around Damon, she has a nasty habit of getting under his skin, upsetting him and I really don't want him going off the rails again. He's come so far and I won't let her come in and ruin it all.
Elena