((Hey all. Thanks for waiting. I'm back! It's all coming back in spurts, so bear with me. I'm hoping to have the next chapter up in another day or two. Until then, Enjoy!))

"Jonathan Gilbert…" Liliya said in a low voice as she furrowed her eyebrows in concentration, "that's why you had Nik call me here? You wish me to contact him on the other side?"

"Yes," Misha acknowledged, now sitting down on the couch next to her, lowering his voice, as he was aware that his vampire hunter brother could be listening, "he was a supernatural inventor who once lived in Mystic Falls. We need his help to fight Dominic."

"I see…" Liliya replied, "Does he have any living kin?"

"Elena and her brother, Jeremy…" Misha continued in the low tone

"But, they aren't here…" Liliya realized

"No…" Misha answered, his curiosity suddenly peaked by her response, "Why?"

"Well, I'm not a witch, Misha. I wouldn't be able to locate, let alone make contact with Johnathan Gilbert's spirit, unless I have a strong connection with a being of shared bloodlines or even just someone with whom he had a deep, bonding, attachment—"

Suddenly, the parlor doors swung open and Damon Salvatore walked through, dressed, sober and much more coherent than the last time anyone saw him.

"Hey all…so...what did I miss? Something go down? Cause' Rebekah and Klaus just passed me in the hall and he looks like he's seen a ghost—"

Immediately, Damon stopped just a few feet inside the threshold as his eyes fell on the original doppelganger and the others watched as he cocked his head in a mixture of amusement and disbelief before finally being able to form a word…

Well, a name, really.

"K-Katherine?" he reasoned softly, raising an eyebrow as he studied her

Liliya sighed then turned to Misha.

"I really must meet this 'Katherine' one day," she said, "She must resemble me even more than Elena does, especially if everyone in Mystic Falls seems to think that I am her every time I appear—"

"Trust us," Kol interjected, "There may be a resemblance, but you are nothing like her. Let's just say that she's something of a 'man eater'…and we'll leave it at that."

"Nicely put diabolical little brother," Damon pointed out with a smirk

"Thank you..." Kol acknowledged, "I thought it wrapped things up quite well."

"What is this 'man-eater' you speak of?" Liliya inquired innocently, looking around the room and Misha smirked as he turned back to face Damon, changing the subject.

"I don't believe you two have properly met," the warlock said, catching the older Salvatore's attention, "Damon, this is Liliya Petrova…the original doppelganger. And Liliya," he continued, turning back to the dark, Romanian beauty while gesturing a hand toward the older Salvatore brother, "This is Damon Salvatore."

Liliya smiled at him and Damon just about fell over.

He could have sworn with her dark, tight curls and piercing eyes, she was a dead-ringer for Katherine.
But, there was something else about her that, if she had straighter hair and just a slightly lighter tone to her skin—a product of John Gilbert's DNA—would have passed her for Elena.

It was the kindness in her face…

And that smile…

His heart fluttered.

Damn Petrova Doppelgangers.

No wonder the Salvatore and Mikaelson brothers were doomed over the centuries.

Suddenly, Damon found himself wondering if she was the cause of Klaus' apparent distress, but before he could think further on the subject, Misha's voice interrupted and pulled him out of his trance.

"Damon, Klaus called Liliya to us. She is going to try to contact Johnathan Gilbert for us. I have some questions for him regarding our friend outside."

"But, you're forgetting that I need a link," Liliya gently reminded him, "Someone to tie me to Johnathan Gilbert—"

"Well, if you remember," Kol interjected, lowering his own voice as his eyes connected with Misha's, "Elena's still off with Elijah and it's too dangerous to bring Jeremy here."

"Misha could do it," Kaspar stepped forward, looking from his brother to the original doppelganger, "He was Johnathan Gilbert's manservant for years…"

"We were close, yes," Misha confirmed, narrowing his eyes in thought as he looked down to his hands clasped in his lap, "But, I don't know if my connection would work—"

"You heard Liliya before, it doesn't necessarily have to be DNA —" Kaspar protested

Suddenly, before his brother could finish, a realization came to him and Misha's head jerked up from where he had been looking down at his hands, immediately catching everyone's attention as they now followed the focus of his gaze…

"Damon," the warlock stated in a stern and reverent tone that caused the older Salvatore Brother to stop in his tracks less than a foot from the threshold of the doorway where he had been quietly trying to make his escape.

Damon let out a defeated sigh before turning back to face them all as they studied him, curiously.

All except Misha, who raised himself stoically from the couch and stealthily made his way across the room toward the vampire.

"Let me see your hands," Misha said in a low, commanding, tone as he approached

Damon opened his mouth for a moment to protest, but quickly stopped himself as he slowly brought his hands up from where they had been resting at his sides and held them out to the warlock as he came to stand in from of him.

Misha took in a deep breath to focus his energies, then raised a hand and waived it over Damon's open palms.

"Aperire secreta praeteritum…" he stated in clear Latin

Suddenly, everyone in the room gasped, except Misha and Damon, when the warlock's spell revealed Damon's hands stained crimson and dripping with human blood so real drops of it were falling onto the hardwood floor.

"What the Hell is going on?" Kol whispered, stunned and completely confused as he quickly shared a glance with Kaspar, who immediately stepped forward with a look of awe.

"It's Johnathan Gilbert's blood…" the second warlock observed aloud, "Albiet, it's over two hundred years old, but blood is blood. Damon's marked—"

"It's him," Liliya said with a small smile, raising herself up from the couch now and stepping forward, "He's our link."

"What?" Kol gasped, looking even more confused as his eyes darted around the room, then fell on the warlock and the vampire near the doorway, now staring at each other in silence, "How? What? How?"

"I'd-I'd forgotten…" Misha finally spoke in a breathless voice, his eyes now locked with Damon's

"I haven't…" Damon replied, his nostrils flaring as he looked down to the blood of Elena's great-great-uncle now revealed on his hands, "I never will. And it wasn't the first time. I owed him."

Misha narrowed his eyes in confusion for a moment before taking another step toward the vampire.

"May I?" the warlock asked as he tentatively raised his right hand up toward the side of Damon's head, letting it hang there in mid-air as Damon sucked in a breath, then lifted his head and slowly nodded his consent, seeming to know Misha's intent.

Misha gently laid his first three fingertips on the side of Damon's face and rode the connection that suddenly flared between their minds, his body jolting as he filtered Damon's memories of Johnathan Gilbert from centuries before and they flashed quickly before him.

After a few seconds that felt like eons, Misha finally pulled his hand back and gasped, Damon's emotions from his memories having flooded consequently into his consciousness.

"Oh…my…God…" Misha swallowed, trying to catch his breath and keep the tears from welling up in his eyes as he willed himself to control Damon's overwhelming emotions inside him, "You knew him...but it's more than that...he cared for you and you also felt for him...so much so that you saved him…twice."

Damon closed his eyes as he nodded again, lowering his still blood-stained hands.

"Like I said…" he replied, trying to keep his voice even and his face emotionless, "I owed him."

# # # # # # #

"Nik…" Rebekah called in a soothing voice as she followed her brother down the front hall and into the kitchen, where she now saw the older Original pacing between the island in the center of the room and the breakfast nook like a caged animal, breathing erratically and running his hands through his hair as his pale skin flushed with anger, grief, and uncertainty.

"Niklaus?" Rebekah whispered, now standing in the threshold as she watched her brother move aimlessly about the room, helpless and unsure what she could do.

Finally after a few moments, Klaus sucked in a deep breath and stopped pacing, suddenly turning back from where he now stood in the center of the room to face her.

Rebekah took in a frightened breath as she beheld the wild look in her brother's eyes, but he didn't move to harm her or unleash his frustration on her like she thought he would.

Instead, she watched as, suddenly, the wild, angry and frustrated look on her brother's face melted away and she beheld something she hadn't seen in over a thousand years.

Niklaus.

Her human brother, Niklaus…

His true face…

His sweet, kind, vulnerable face…

The face she had beheld every day before they became vampires.

"Rebekah…" Klaus gasped, quickly losing control of his emotions as his face filled with grief and sadness, "Bekah…"

Suddenly, she found herself moving at vampire speed toward him, taking his face gently in her hands as she stared into the depth of his deep sea blue eyes, now brimming with tears.

"It's okay…" she whispered against his skin as she brought his forehead down to her lips and kissed it, then pulled him into an embrace, "I'm here. You're okay…"

"I loved her, Bekah…" he sobbed non-sensically, a thousand years worth of pain finally come to the surface as he buried his face into his sister's shoulder, "and I let her go…I had to let her go..."

"I know," Rebekah said softly, her heart breaking as she clutched her older brother closer, stroking the back of his hair.

"I killed her…" Klaus sobbed harder as his knees buckled and he brought his sister down onto the kitchen tile with him, "I loved her and I killed her…I killed her…"

Rebekah closed her eyes as she sat back and pulled Klaus further into her arms, kissing his temple as she whispered, "It's okay…that was centuries ago…it's over now. I'm here…you're okay…it's over."

Suddenly, she heard a low gasp and felt Klaus slowly lift up his head from where he had buried it between her neck and her collarbone.

With one hand, he wiped the wetness from under his eyes and over the bridge of his nose as his gaze focused intently on her, then reached out with same hand and stroked her cheek lovingly, smirking with suppressed emotion as Rebekah reached up and clasped her hand firmly around his in support.

"No…" he whispered, trying to keep his voice even and his face placid, but Rebekah could see his lip visibly tremble as he formed the words, "It's never over…not for me. Don't you see? Being a hybrid wasn't my curse. The shame, the guilt, the unrequited love that still burns in my heart for her…that is my true curse, sister…it always was."

# # # # # # #

"Damn…" Elijah whispered as he pulled is phone from his ear, his sister's voice on her voice mail floating in the distance before he hit the end button his phone.

"Bad news?" Vivienne inquired as she came to stand at his side on the back veranda

"Not necessarily…just no news," Elijah replied, then sighed as he shoved his phone back into his jean pocket, then turned his gaze toward his elderly housekeeper, "been that way for two days."

"And you're worried…" Vivienne stated

"Of course I'm worried," Elijah said, "My best friend, his brother, Damon Salvatore and my siblings are trapped in a house by my old, thought to be dead apprentice who is also a demonically possessed vampire hunter. We are at an impass. They are trying to figure out what to do...I have no idea what to do...and no one is calling me or Elena or answering their phone...right now,'worried' is an understatement."

"Can I do something to help?" Vivienne asked, placing a hand on his shoulder

"No…it's alright," Elijah said, giving her a sad smile, "I just wish I'd heard something by now and that I wasn't so distracted by…other things…so that I could be of more use to them."

"By 'other things', you mean, Elena?" Vivienne inquired

Elijah nodded, "I do love her, Vivienne, and now that I know that she feels the same way, I just wish that we could leave…go somewhere…away from Mystic Falls and all my family drama and just leave this all behind and…"

"And… what?" Vivienne asked playfully

"Oh, get your mind out of the gutter…" Elijah scoffed with a smile as he leaned back on the railing and crossed his arms over his chest

"I'm French, my darling…" Vivienne responded with a rueful smile of her own as she took a seat on the railing next to him, "My mind is always ze gutter."

Elijah chuckled in response, then let out a heavy sigh and closed his eyes as he hung his head.

"I just meant that I wish Elena and I could have time to get to know each other...travel... have fun…"

"Isn't that what you two are doing now?" Vivienne interjected, "Even in the midst of all the chaos?"

Elijah lifted his head and narrowed his eyes as his gaze shifted back to her

"I never thought of it like that…" he mused, then cocked his head in amusement, "Vampire lessons, unbearable tension and life and death drama aside, I suppose we are."

"Mmm…hmmm…" Vivenne cooed, giving the vampire a playful smack on the arm

"What?" Elijah scoffed, unfolding his arms

"Nothing…" she replied, "It's just nice to see you happy, that's all. Even if it's in the midst of chaos..."

"And impending doom," Elijah added with a sigh, "Don't forget the impeding doom."

"Oh, sorry," Vivienne smirked, "Of course. It wouldn't be your siblings if there wasn't 'impending doom'."

"Yep. That never seems to change," Elijah replied

Then a moment of silence fell between them before Elijah spoke

"Am I happy?" the original suddenly asked, somewhat in disbelief

"I think you are… I can certainly tell that you are different when you are with...more engaging and more open..." Vivienne beamed as she slid closer to Elijah on the rail and took one of his cheeks in her fingers, giving it a playful pinch, "I'm so proud of my little vampire."

"Ah…stop…" Elijah laughed, pulling out of her grasp and pushing off the railing

"Where are you going?" Vivienne inquired

"To check on Elena," he responded as he started to make his way toward the back door into the house, "She made me promise to call the others and see where things stood. Guess I'll have to deliver the bad news...and maybe a blood bag or two."

"Well, if she keeps it down, let me know and I'll get started on dinner for you two while I'm here," Vivienne said as she moved down off the banister and straightened her dress, then smiled as she watched Elijah cross over the threshold and teased, "But, in the meantime, have fun...checking on Elena…"

"Ugh! Not when you make it sound all dirty like that!" the original cried from inside the house.