Chapter 15
Elena gasps when the two vampires release her mind, and they all snap back to reality. She glances around the boarding house to find her bearings, and Stefan touches her arm to steady her.
"Easy, you're okay."
"Woah," she says as she clings to her boyfriend. "How long were we…gone…or whatever?"
"A few minutes." Stefan searches her eyes for something to indicate what she'd seen, but Elena presses her face into his chest and wraps her arms around him. With her eyes closed, Elena savors the warmth of his strong arms around her and his unique smell that somehow always reminds her of the damp cemetery where they meet. She revels in the familiarity of his embrace and tries to piece together all the puzzle pieces from the future memory. Watching an excerpt from her life in the future was not as enlightening as she'd hoped. In fact, it was down right confusing.
I'm so glad that Bonnie and Caroline are still my best friends.
No-magic barrier? 1994 prison world? What the heck are they talking about?
I must've already lost my memories at this point. Why would Damon tell Bonnie about this bar and what it means to him? They hate each other, don't they? Surely the world hasn't changed that much.
Who's the new guy with the accent? Why would I …or she…try to run away? She seems bothered by Damon's presence. Stefan barely acknowledged her. He seems more concerned about Caroline than me…her. But this Elena doesn't seem bothered by it. Maybe she's more secure with their relationship. They've been together for years at this point, right?
Why does everyone seem so disappointed? Was something supposed to happen?
Cotton candy vodka? That sounds disgusting.
Is Damon flirting with her? Not really. He just seemed so open and vulnerable for a moment. I don't think I've ever seen him like that. She's noticing it too.
Obviously Caroline is mad at Stefan, and he's not happy about it. I'm surprised that he cares so much. They must have grown to be better friends because I don't think my Stefan would care this much about Caroline's ire. How often does Stefan call Caroline?
No he knows how it feels? Did he ignore Caroline, and now she's getting revenge? That sounds like Caroline. They must be good friends for such an absence to upset each other.
Who is this guy? Oh, his name is Enzo. Uh oh, Damon's upset. But why? Fireworks?
Oh, he's upset Elena can't remember him. Or just the bad parts. Stefan is drinking too. He must also be upset. I'm sure I lost memories about him as well.
Damon was dead!? He died!? Oh, my God. Damon is going to die. He died and came back to a me with no memories of our friendship. I can't let this happen.
Enzo is Damon's friend. I didn't know Damon had friends.
Bonnie is Damon's friend!? No way.
So Damon was dead and in a retro, pocket world? Is that the 1994 prison world? That would mean Bonnie was dead too. And they were alone together for four months.
Stefan ran off to play house? Damon said he gave up on him. Poor Stefan, he lost his brother. We must have tried to move on together. Is that why he didn't call Caroline?
Elena destroyed her memories? No, they were taken. He's just mad about and lashing out. Typical Damon.
Well, at least some things never change. Caroline still despises Damon.
Damon doesn't like Enzo hitting on Bonnie. Is he jealous?
It's bothering me that Stefan seems different with me in the future. He isn't very intimate with her. He doesn't glance at her lovingly or touch her arm when he leaves like my Stefan does with me. He seems more focused on Caroline than anything else. Maybe our spark is gone. Are we just too comfortable with each other?
Bonnie and Damon like to gossip? What doesn't Stefan know? Her dad's cabin? What happened there? Looks like Damon is still trying to flirt with me when the opportunity arises. Ugh, he's doing that eye thing. He doesn't still have a thing for me, does he? Future me, you're not buying into it, are you? You do remember that's Damon, right? Wait, she's forgot things about him. Maybe she doesn't remember...no wait, that's not right. She remembers all the bad stuff. Good, she's not buying into his flirty game. You love Stefan. Always Stefan.
Bonnie, you traitor. Wow, they seem to be having a lot of fun. They seem to really like each other. Are they…no way, Bonnie hates Damon. At least she does now. But in the future she doesn't. Is that because they were in that prison world together? Are they more than friends now? They seem really close. Too close.
Stefan is back. He's so sweet. He's really bothered by Caroline's cold shoulder. So they do touch. Good, I was starting to wonder if they were having relationship issues. It does line up with what future me said about Ric's wedding. And that hasn't happened yet, right? So maybe they are having issues, but will work it out at the wedding. They obviously still care about each other, even if they are distracted by other issues. They seem so comfortable with each other. Wait, what happened? Why'd she pull away? Stefan didn't even notice.
Wow, that's really sweet that he makes such as scene to make Caroline happy. He's such a good friend. Maybe after they make up, he'll be less distracted and will make the same effort with future me. Still, shouldn't he be more concerned with making his girlfriend happy? But future me doesn't seem bothered by his distraction. She seems happy for him and Caroline.
Drowning? Trapped in a safe? She didn't look for him? Why wouldn't Caroline look for him? Certainly, I did. Why did it take so long to find him? Wow, they forgave each other easily.
Damon's mad at future me. Why would he be mad at her? It's not like she chose to lose her memories. Why isn't he mad at the person that compelled her? Why aren't they trying to remove the compulsion?
She's sorry? Why is she sorry? A mistake. Oh no, she ran away from her grief. Damon died, and she ran away from her grief. Her memories weren't taken from her, she gave them up. She had her memories compelled away, so she wouldn't have to grieve Damon's death. Then Damon came back, and now he's mad she doesn't remember anything good about him.
Is he going to help her? Of course, he's her friend. Good. That explains why this Elena gets along with my Damon. They are friends. Just good friends. Like Caroline and Stefan.
"Well, anything exciting happen? Is this secret worth all the hush-hush?" Damon asks from his comfy position on the overstuffed couch.
"I…don't know," Elena says. She pulls away from the safety of Stefan's arms and looks to the 200-year-old vampires in confusion.
"You don't know?" Stefan echoes, and Damon throws his arms up in exasperation.
"There was a lot going on…"
Damon stands from his seat on the couch and strolls toward Elena and Stefan like a prowling jaguar. "I think it's safe to say that the big secret has something to do with me or Stefan."
Elena watches him advance across the room with his trademark smirk and considers his remark. If the secret is about Damon or Stefan, it must be Damon's death or Stefan's summer in the quarry. Her heart breaks at the thought of either one of them suffering through such ordeals. Mid-way across the room Damon stops in his tracks at the look of despair on Elena's face. Her mouth opens as though she's going to say something, but Caroline clears her throat. Elena's brown eyes shift to the blonde and then to the brunette.
"You said it wasn't anything bad," Elena says. The two girls frown in confusion and glance at each other.
"It's not," vampire Elena says.
"Then I don't know what the secret is because the only things I learned from that memory about Damon and Stefan were just horrible. And you need to tell us how to keep them from happening."
"I'm really starting to worry now," Damon says and glances at Stefan, but the younger Salvatore refuses to meet his brother's gaze. Damon realizes that Stefan knows something he doesn't.
Stefan places a comforting hand on Elena's shoulder and turns her to face him. Her frantic brown eyes meet his calm green, and he runs his hands over her back.
"Elena, it's okay. Whatever it is, we will handle it. We already know that we get through it, right?"
Elena nods her head as his rationalization. He's right. Ignoring the references to past incidences of death, imprisonment, and drowning, everyone seemed happy in the memory. Even Damon, excluding his argument with future Elena.
"You're right." Elena lies her head against his chest and listens to the slow beat of his heart. "We'll be okay. We'll survive."
With a confused frown vampire Elena watches the scene unfurl then turns to Caroline and whispers. "I don't think we're talking about the same secret."
"Nope," Caroline says. "She's too distracted by everything else. Which, I mean, I don't blame her. We had a lot going on at that point. And she's still just a seventeen-year-old girl caught between two Salvatore brothers."
"Yeah, I remember those days. Oh, wait, no I don't." Elena snickers at her own joke until Caroline flashes a humorless expression. "How long does this triangle last exactly?"
"You're lucky it only lasted as long as it did. When you made your choice clear, he moved on. Yeah, it was awkward for a while, but he respected your choice and moved on. He didn't vow to let you indulge your first love with a promise to be your last. He didn't practically stalk you for 200 years and then brainwash your kids into opening a time portal to do God knows what."
Damon looks over his shoulder at the blonde as she fumes next to Elena. He raises an eyebrow at the whispered tirade and glances at his brother to find Stefan watching Caroline with the same confused interest. Both Salvatores silently note her reference to Damon eventually accepting Elena's choice in brothers and moving on. Tensions ease inside Stefan that he didn't realize existed, and he meets Damon's gaze for an instant before refocusing on Caroline.
Damon notices the subtle change in his younger brother and grinds his teeth. Elena's already claimed Stefan as her one and only, but to have it cemented and practically written into stone is down right depressing. But Damon shakes it off. It's nothing new. He's never truly believed that he has a chance of stealing Elena away. It's always Stefan. She'll always love Stefan. So Damon will settle for her friendship. Or at least not having her hate him. Right now, Damon's intrigued by the idiots that somehow find Caroline tolerable.
"So not only did you sucker one man into marry you… And I can only assume this guy is a few cans short of six pack," Damon says, but Caroline cuts him off.
"Why would you assume that?"
"Because he married you." Damon shrugs. "So I count one poor soul, but now there's a second? What kind of lunatic would find you interesting enough to obsess over for one day, never the less, 200 years?"
"Klaus," Elena says with a veiled attempt to hide her amusement.
"Wait, the hybrid guy that kills me?" human Elena asks, and Caroline sighs.
"Yes. It's an unbreakable triangle that rears its ugly head every few decades. I mean, it's proved useful on occasion. You know, when we need a favor."
"You've strung this guy along for 200 years for the occasional favor?" Stefan asks.
"No, of course not. He just doesn't give up on anything. Or anyone. But I won't lie. His crush has proven helpful in dire situations. Hell, Klaus' infatuation with me is the only reason he refrained from killing Damon on at least six occasions."
"Eight," Elena says.
"Why does he want to kill me?"
"Everyone wants to kill you at some point, Damon. It's practically a right of passage," Caroline says.
Elena levels a warning stare on him. "You also take great pride in antagonizing Klaus whenever possible. In fact, I think the last time you two met, he promised to kill you during your next run in."
"And I haven't managed to change his mind on that yet. So I'd steer clear of him, just in case."
"Thanks for the heads up." Damon tips his glass at the blonde.
Caroline returns a nod before glancing at Elena. "I think you're owed a memory. I really want to see this 'memory strike' in action."
"Are you ready?" Elena grins at her counterpart across the room and steps forward. Human Elena untangles herself from Stefan and nods her head.
"Atlanta, right?"
"Right."
As the doppelgängers inch closer to each other, a rumbling from the ground gurgles up through the floor boards. Each step causes the ground to reverberate louder until the walls shudder from the motion. Glasses and books stumble from the shelving, and windows crack. Paintings on the wall slam into the floorboards, and Damon growls at the mess in his living room. When a floor board at Elena's feet cracks, she yelps in surprise and glances back at her boyfriend. Seeing her anxiety, Stefan moves to pull her back, but Damon stops him.
"Don't. Trust me you don't want to get in the way," he yells over the noise. "Can you two hurry it up? You're destroying my house!"
Vampire Elena flashes Damon an amused smile. Human Elena tries to hide her anxiety behind a frown, but as always, Damon sees right through her. He smirks at her, and Elena's anxiety seems to ease a bit to be replaced by a whisper of amusement. She tries desperately to snuff it out with a severe frown. Even in the chaos, Damon is amazed by this woman.
When vampire Elena offers her counterpart a hand, human Elena pauses. Staring into identical brown eyes, Elena feels a sense of understanding from the older doppelgänger, but she ignores it and pushes down the butterflies Damon's smile unleashed. It doesn't mean anything. Elena loves Stefan, and they'll be together forever, or at least for the next 200 years. Smiling at that thought, Elena grabs her counterpart's hand and the loud rumbling stops.
"It stopped," Stefan says, looking around at the mess that was once the boarding house.
"Yeah." Caroline waves at the two doppelgängers standing motionless in the center of the living room. Both Elenas stare emptily at each other as though the world around them doesn't exist. "Their touch must have released the power."
"What do you mean?"
"She means," Damon releases his brother to examine the damage the doppelgänger magic wrought, "when the doppelgängers from two different timelines get too close, strange things happen."
"Doppelgängers are supernatural occurrences meant to balance the Universe. They are powerful sources of natural magic. So when these two get close enough, their two separate energies from two separate universes kind of amplify each other in a way that was never supposed to happen because the doppelgängers were never supposed to exist and certainly never supposed to time travel. Lucky for us, their touch channels the power into the compulsion, overloading it until it snaps."
"Wait, what?" Damon glares at Caroline in confusion. "That made absolutely no sense."
"What do you mean, they weren't supposed to exist?" Stefan asks.
"Doppelgängers were forced into existence to balance the immortal curse. There has be a mortal version in contrast to the immortal original," Caroline says. "Ugh, I hate explaining these things. Basically, a witch cast a spell of immortality 2000 years ago, so the Universe creates exact copies of him to maintain balance."
"And these copies, or doppelgängers, are mega powerful? Elena's never shown signs of that kind of power," Stefan says.
"No, it's not that kind of power. Her blood is powerful, not her."
"Right, you already covered that. I'm more interested in the 'him' of it all," Damon says as he inspects his inventory of liquor for surviving bottles.
"What?" Caroline asks, turning to look at him.
"You said, the Universe creates copies of 'him'," Damon says. He snatches up a broken bottle, and the sorrow Caroline sees in his eyes almost makes her feel bad for him. Then he opens his mouth. "I know for a fact that Katherine was all woman. I can only assume the same for Elene. Right, little brother?"
Stefan scowls but remains silent. Damon has a point, and he wants to hear Caroline's explanation.
"Yeah, the immortal was an uber powerful and…uber insane…witch named Cyrus. He wanted immortality for himself and his lover, Amara. Unfortunately for him, he spent his 2000 years desiccating in a cave convinced she was dead. And I recommend leaving him there. He was a pain-in-the-ass."
"Sucks to be him." Damon pours a glass of bourbon from one of the remaining bottles.
"So Elena is an exact copy of Amara? Where is she?" Stefan asks, stepping closer to Caroline.
"I don't know where she is, but I know she's insane, so leave her alone."
"Dangerous?"
"No, just batshit crazy."
Stefan chuckles, and Caroline can't stop the big smile that spreads across her face. Damon glances up from his glass to see the exchange and notes a red tint in Caroline's cheeks. He nurses his drink in thought and considers the odd reaction. When the doppelgängers snap out of their day dream, Stefan rushes to his girlfriend's side. Caroline's smile disappears to be replaced by mild irritation.
She's jealous, Damon realizes. She hides it well, better than he'd think Caroline capable, but it's definitely there. Married with two kids, a powerful stalker, and a secret crush on your best friend's boyfriend. You've been busy, Blondie.
Vampire Elena snaps back from her memory download with a gentle smile and turns away from her counterpart as Stefan rushes to her side. Atlanta was a lovely memory that feels wonderful to have back. She knows now that it was the first time that she realized Damon could be fun. Even then, he showed concern for her during her fight with Stefan and didn't hesitate to save her from Lexi's boyfriend. Granted, Elena ended up doing most of the saving. Elena remembers Damon describing the memory to her when the compulsion wouldn't allow him to show her his memory of the trip. She knows it meant a lot to him that she considered him worth saving, even though Lexi deserved revenge. She also remembers everything Damon did over the last 200 years to make it up to Stefan for killing her.
The trip to Atlanta was the first time since her parents died that Elena partied. Before their death, she was a regular party girl with Caroline and loved to have fun. Afterwards, partying and fun didn't interest her. Elena just wanted to fill the hole that her parent's death had cause in her heart. She just wanted to feel alive again.
Elena looks at the man that does just that. Stefan may have filled the role for a moment, but it's Damon that's inspired her for centuries. Through every happy and horrific day, he's never failed her. She smiles at him until she notices him watching Caroline. She recognizes the mischievous smirk teasing his lips, while he sips from his bourbon. Damon knows something juicy about Caroline.
Glancing at her, Elena realizes that Caroline's jealousy is breaking through her façade. Elena rushes to Damon's side and snatches the bourbon from his hand. Startled, Damon glares at the brunette, but doesn't move away. He wants his glass back; it's the only one that survived the doppelgänger storm. When Damon reaches for it, Elena jerks it away and presses her free hand against his chest. Surprised by the touch, Damon's blue eye snap to her brown.
After setting the glass down, Elena places a finger to her mouth. Damon tries not to get distracted by the warmth of her hand against him nor the way her lips pucker as they part; instead he focuses on the meaning of her shushing motion. Elena nods her head toward Caroline as the blonde stews while watching Stefan fussing over his girlfriend. When Damon realizes that Elena wants him to remain silent about his discovery, he opens his mouth to ask why. Why remain silent, and why isn't she bothered by her best friend's betrayal?
Elena's fingers against his lips stop him, and she looks up at him with imploring eyes. She doesn't want anyone to hear him asking about it. But why? Damon doesn't care. With Elena so close to him and her fingers touching his skin, he'd do anything to please her. And oh, could he please her. So many things he could do to please her, to make her scream his name in ecstasy. He could lay her over the liquor cabinet and make her beg for release.
When Elena pulls her fingers away, his tongue darts out instinctively to wet his lips, and it grazes her fingertips. The feel of his tongue on her sen skin sends a shock wave through her starving senses. She's reminded of other sensations, of his tongue on her body, across her stomach, sucking on her nipples, and in more intimate areas. Without thought, she presses the length of her body against him. Through the fog of lust masking her brain, Elena stops her lips a hair from his and stares at their wetness.
The sensation of Elena's taut body against the length of him fries Damon's mind. Her breasts press against his chest as she breathes. Her thigh slinks across his groin, sending a shock wave of pleasure up his spine. Her lips are a breath from his, and he wants so bad to taste them, but he doesn't. Instead he watches the desire and need raging in Elena's eyes before painfully closing his own.
She is not my Elena.
He slips his hands onto her hips with the intent to push her away, but the gasp that slips from her lips drives his eyes open. Instead he pins her against the liquor cabinet with his hips and dives in for a kiss. With a whoosh, Elena is gone. Caroline pins her against the wall with a hand at her neck and a deep growl.
"What are you doing?" she says to Elena.
Stefan and his girlfriend look up at the commotion, he calls out. "Caroline, what are you doing? What happened?"
Caroline glares at Elena and considers her options. The shame and regret on Elena's face is obvious, but the fact that she isn't fighting Caroline's attack is far more telling. How could Elena act so selfishly? How could she forget so easily that this isn't her Damon? But can Caroline really blame her? There have been several moments when she's forgotten that this Stefan isn't her husband. Still, Elena needs to keep it together.
"Nothing," Caroline says and releases her friend. "Elena and I just had a small disagreement."
"About what?" Human Elena asks.
"On whether she should go home with you or not. I think she should see her family while she has the chance."
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