Disclaimer: I do not own the Vampire Diaries and never will, but I do own Charlene Davis and Megan Swann and any other characters I come up with.

Author's Note: Hope you love the updated version! :D

Adam Massey, who had two kids and a wife, was hiking through the woods near the old church with his hands around the straps of his backpack. He stopped in his tracks though when he heard a noise from behind him. Adam turned around and saw a man who wore clothes that were obviously not from this century, but he shrugged it off. Adam let out a breath of relief that he had been holding in.

"Geez, you scared me." He breathed.

The man just continued to stare at Adam for a few minutes as he walked closer and finally spoke. "Do you know what day it is?" he asked.

Adam looked at him confused but replied to his question anyway, "Saturday."

"And what year?"

"It's 2010." Adam said. The man looked stressed and he couldn't help but look at him with concern in his eyes. "You okay?"

The man nodded, "Thank you."

"Wait, what's your name?" Adam questioned, realizing that he didn't know the man's name.

The man met his gaze. "It's Harper, sir."

"How did you get out here? And why are you dressed like?"

Harper didn't say anything for a moment. "You seem like a very nice person…I'm sorry…"

Adam was confused. What was he sorry for? He voiced his thought out loud. "Sorry for what?"

That was the last thing Adam remembered before getting attack by Harper. He screamed out in pain and Harper, once Adam was drained of blood, dropped him to the ground and took out his clothes. Once he had the clothes on, something suddenly started ringing. Harper searched his pockets before finally find some weird object that kept on ringing. He tossed it to the ground and left, leaving Adam lying there.

Charlene sat outside in the cold with warm jacket on and a blue scarf around her neck on the porch. Elena was out there with her, but wasn't nearly as warm as she was. Though her sister was able to deal with the cold much better than she could.

They sat together on the porch swing. Charlene nursing a tumbler of fresh blood, thanks to Damon's secret stash, and Elena on the phone with Bonnie, or well she was leaving a message for her.

Bonnie and Megan were gone for Grams' funeral, and her sister hadn't been able to get a hold of Bonnie, so she was once again leaving a message for her. Charlene, on the other hand, had talked to Megan just a few hours ago and learned that Bonnie was taking Grams' extremely hard. Megan was too, of course, but wasn't as much as Bonnie was, and according to her, Bonnie wasn't even speaking to her. She was obviously blaming Megan for Grams' death, and she didn't have to say anything.

Charlene felt bad for them both and wished she could, but there was nothing she could do. Not with her being here in Mystic Falls.

"Still no luck?" Charlene asked as Elena finished up her message.

Her sister sighed, putting her phone off to the side and grabbing her diary. "No, she's still not answering her phone. Have you spoke to her?"

Charlene shook her head. "No, I haven't, but I talked to Megan. Bonnie's taking it really hard."

Elena nodded with a sad smile. "Yeah…they were really close."

"Yeah…" Charlene took a sip out of her cup, and the warm taste of blood went down her throat, causing her to sigh in pleasure. She noticed Elena watching her from the corner of her eye and saw her sister was looking a little uncomfortable. There wasn't any judgement, but Charlene felt it. "Er, sorry…does this bother you?"

She quickly shook her head. "No, of course not. It's still just a little strange, that's all."

Before Charlene could say anything else on the subject, Jenna appeared, smiling at the sight of them. "What are you guys doing out here?" she asked as she stepped onto the porch. "It's cold out here."

"Thinking. Writing." Elena answered first, pulling her journal close to her.

"And I'm here, because I have nothing better to do." Charlene told her aunt. With Megan gone, there wasn't much fun to be had really.

"That too." Elena agreed, then added, "The, uh, funeral for Bonnie and Megan's grandmother, it brought back a lot about mom and dad. So, we were wondering…you said that you would do some digging about them, the adoption."

"Right."

Elena looked at Jenna hopefully. "So, did you? Dig?"

She said nothing for a moment. "Come inside."

Charlene shared a look with Elena before following Jenna inside the house. The blonde wondered what their aunt found out. They moved to the dinning room table, and Jenna pulled out her laptop, sitting down the table's surface and opening it open as Charlene and Elena stood on either side of their aunt.

Charlene took off her jacket and scarf, putting it over the nearby chair. She couldn't wait to hear what Jenna found out, not only about Elena's birth parents but her and Megan's as well.

"Your dad kept everything from his medical practice." Jenna finally spoke. "Records, logs, old appointment books." She pulled out a journal and opened it, showing a page to Elena. "Patient and a birthdate. Isobel Peterson."

"Do you think that's her real name?" Elena asked curiously.

"Pregnant teenage runaway? Probably not. First name, maybe. But where did she get Peterson? Classmate? Best friend? So, I binged it." Jenna pulled up the internet and typed in Isobel Peterson in the search engine. "I searched for all the Petersons in the area born in the same year as Isobel, found 3 – two men and a woman, Trudie, who lived in Grove Hill, Virginia."

"That's not far from here." Elena said in awe as she smiled over at Charlene, who smiled back.

Jenna was smiling too. "Well, watch this." She typed something else in the search engine and pulled up an image, which showed a young blonde and two young brunettes. All three wearing cheerleading uniforms. Charlene looked down at the description and it stated the girl's names. Trudy Peterson, Isobel and Amanda Fleming.

"Isobel? She was a cheerleader." Elena said, her eyes sparkling.

"Trudy still lives in." Jenna handed her a post-it note. "This is her address."

Elena took it from her. "What about Isobel?"

"I couldn't find anything about her." Elena looked disheartened as she sat down on the table. Charlene smiled sadly and she patted her sister on the shoulder in comfort. Jenna didn't say anything for a moment. "Listen. There's something else. Mr. Saltzman, Ric, his wife was from around here, and her name was Isobel."

"Wait, 'was.' As in…" Elena trailed off.

Jenna smiled at her niece sadly. "She died."

This made Elena glance down at the table, and Charlene changed the subject, pointing to the other brunette in the picture.

"So, this is Isobel's sister?" she asked.

"It is…and your and Megan's birthmother."

Charlene looked at her, startled. "Really?" She looked over at Elena and her sister looked at her. So, they really were all related. They were cousins. That was one question answered as she looked back over at Jenna. "Do you know anything about her?"

"Just that she got pregnant around the same time as Isobel, and your dad was the who delivered you, Elena, and Megan…and that she died in a car accident a couple years ago…" Jenna said softly. "I'm sorry, honey."

Charlene didn't say anything, but she felt Elena's hand grab her own, squeezing it tightly. It was silent as they both mourned their birthmothers.

A little while later, they were up in Elena's room with Stefan, talking about the new information they got. Megan was there too, but on speaker phone.

"I can't believe it." Her best friend mumbled. "So, Elena's birth mom is Mr. Saltzman's deceased wife?"

"We're not exactly sure." Charlene admitted. It would be weird if it was.

"Yeah." Elena agreed, then she sighed. "I mean, the coincidence alone is just crazy." She turned around to look at Charlene and Stefan, holding the post-it note up. "I have the address for her friend Trudie."

"You wanna talk to her." Stefan figured.

Elena sighed again as she ran her fingers through her brown hair. "I don't know…I really don't…if it's true and they are the same person, that means that my birthmother is dead, and I don't know if I could handle that."

Charlene could understand that. She knew she wouldn't be able to handle it, but then again, she did learn the woman that gave birth to her was dead and still didn't know what to think about it.

"But it could not be true." Charlene told her sister, going up to her and putting an arm around Elena's shoulders.

"Yeah, like you said it could be just be some crazy coincidence." Megan added. "Right Stefan?" She asked, wanting to see what he thought about it.

Stefan didn't say anything for a moment. "Did Jenna tell you anything about Alaric's wife? How she died?"

Elena shook her head. "No, just that she was killed, and that the case was never solved."

Stefan just nodded, and Charlene got the impression that he already knew that.

"You already knew that, didn't you?" she asked, knowing she was right just by the look on his face.

"The night at the school when he attacked me, he told me some things about her death."

"Well…" Elena started to say something.

But Charlene cut her off, shaking her head as she turned her sister around, putting both hands on her shoulders. "Don't, Elena. It can't be true. It's not possible for Mr. Saltzman's wife to be your birthmother. I wouldn't worry about it." She paused for a moment. "But if you want to go and talk to Trudie, you know I would go with you and be there every step of the way."

"And even if I'm not there, I'll be there with you in spirit." Megan added. "You won't have to do it alone."

Elena smiled slightly, enjoying the support she was getting. "I know…but I don't know what I'm going to do yet."

Charlene nodded in understanding as Stefan spoke up.

"I should get going." He said, "I gotta deal with Damon."

At the mention of his brother, Charlene blushed internally, remembering how they almost kissed, but on the outside, she frowned in concern.

"How is Damon doing anyway?" she asked Stefan, unable to keep the concern from coming out.

Stefan seemed to think over his words before he said them. "He's…he's dealing in his own way."

'Meaning feeding on people and causing chaos.' Charlene thought to herself with a sigh.

Music blared around the living room of the Salvatore boarding house as Damon fed on one sorority girl that he compelled last night. Other girls were dancing around him that all had bite marks on them while he swayed back and forth with the girl he was feeling on in his arms.

"How do I taste?" The girl giggled as Damon pulled away from her neck, blood all over his mouth.

"Oh, so much better than your friends," he whispered seductively in her ear, and the girl giggled again. "But shh. Don't tell them. They might get jealous."

Suddenly, the lights came on, and Stefan entered the room. Damon could see it was his brother, even with his vision blurry because of the brightness.

"No!" He groaned. "Buzz kill Bob!" Of course, he had to show up just when he was having fun. So, like his brother, ruining the moment. Stefan turned the music off before coming over to him and Damon peered up at him with bleary eyes. "Greetings." He still had the girl in his arms, still swaying to the music even if there was none.

"Can we talk?" Stefan asked.

"Yeah."

"Without the Tri-Delts." Stefan added, glancing at all the girls in the room.

"Anything you have to say to me; you can say in front of them. They're really good at keeping secrets." Damon leered down at the girl in his arms with a wide smirk.

Stefan gave him a look, and he sighed. A few moments later, they were alone, well by themselves since the girls were still in the room, just lodging down on the couch. And now instead of having a girl in his arms, Damon had bottle of booze in his hand. Bourbon to be exact.

"You're worried about me. That's nice." Damon smiled at his brother lazily. "Don't be. There's no need. I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be? I spent the last 145 years with one goal: get in that tomb. I succeeded. Granted Abigail wasn't in there to be rescued, but why dwell?" Like Charlene said, it was time to move on. At first, he thought the whole idea was stupid, but he had time to think about it and it was time to move on. As much as you could being as old as he was. "You know, it's so liberating not having a master plan, because I can do whatever the hell I want."

"That's kind of what I'm afraid of." Stefan said bluntly.

Damon rolled his eyes. "Relax. I haven't killed anyone in…" He sighed. "Too long."

Stefan nodded towards the girls in the living room. "And the girls?"

"Will end up in their dorms with headaches, think they blacked out. Business as usual. Predictable you didn't pull me over for a pep talk, that's been Charlene's job." Stefan didn't say anything about that, but he did wonder what the blonde vampire had said to his brother last night. "So, drink up." Damon pushed the bottle of bourbon against Stefan's chest. "Spill it, brother."

Stefan grabbed the bottle but didn't drink it as he dropped his arm to his side before getting to the real reason why he was here. "There was a woman you may have known a few years back named Isobel in North Carolina at Duke."

Damon snorted, giving him an exasperated look. His past was really not a discussion he felt up to having right now, and he told his brother so. "You wanna discuss the women of my past right now? Seriously?"

"You killed her."

"What's your point?"

"I just…just wanna know if you remember anything about her."

Damon rolled his eyes. "Oh, it's like a needle in the haystack, Stefan."

"Well, think hard, it's important."

There was a pause, then Damon grasped his brother's shoulder and leaned in to whisper in his ear. "Nothing is important, not anymore." He pulled back, grabbing the bottle from Stefan. "Great chat. I have to go and exploit some women in the name of grief, which I'm sure you understand. 'TTFN,' said the Tri-Delt." He chuckled at his own joke as he walked back over to the sorority girls.

Jenna stood outside of the Grill with Alaric, who was helping her put up a banner for the Founder's Fundraiser. It was definitely a lot easier getting it up with a man there, especially a man she had a huge crush on and one who was being raffled off for the fundraiser. It made her forget the fact that he might be the husband of Elena's dead birthmother.

"I don't know." Alaric was saying as they hung it up. "It's just weird, you know, being raffled off like a Disney Cruise."

Jenna laughed. "In this town, fundraising is like indentured servitude." She joked, but she was being completely serious. "You don't have a choice. Besides, you're a bachelor, and you're eligible, so there you go?" She stood on her tiptoes, trying and failing to get her side of the banner pinned up.

Alaric moved to the side she was working on. "Here. Let me help you with that."

With his help, they were able to get it up and Jenna smiled up at him. He smiled back. 'God, he had a gorgeous smile.' She thought dreamily.

Just then, he leaned in and kissed her. It was a surprise, but she kissed him back, of course. Jenna looked at him, out of breath, when he pulled back from her.

"Oh, god." She breathed. "I can't believe I'm gonna do this…"

"What?"

"I am totally going to ruin this moment, but I…I have to tell you. Elena recently found out she was adopted, and she's been looking for her birthmother…whose name was Isobel."

Alaric looked at her, taken aback. "Isobel? Like my wife?" Jenna nodded as she bit her bottom lip. After a moment, he shook his head. "Isobel never had a baby."

"Are you sure? Not before you were together?"

"Nope. No way."

Jenna sighed heavily as she took out her mobile and showed him the picture she had brought up. "This is Elena's birthmother."

Alaric looked completely alarmed and she winced at the sight of it. "Ah, she, uh…she never told me." He managed to say. "I, uh, I'm gonna go. Yeah, I'm…I'm gonna go…" He awkwardly walked away, and Jenna watched after him, sighing heavily.

She really shouldn't have said anything.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Lena?" Charlene asked concerned as she stood outside of Trudie's house with Elena. They went over there on a whim and she wanted to make sure her sister was sure about this. Though she had already asked this multiple times already.

"For the thousandth time, yes, I'm sure I want to do this." Elena answered again, the same answer she gave the other times Charlene had asked. "You don't have to worry about me, Charlie. I want to do this. I need to talk to someone who knew my birthmother."

Charlene was silent for a moment. "Okay, if you're sure."

"I am." Though she said that, Elena hesitated on knocking on the door, but she finally did it.

It wasn't long until a woman opened the door. It was Trudie, and she looked like her younger self, but of course older than she had been. However, she was still pretty.

"Trudie? Tru-Trudie Peterson?" Elena asked nervously, just to make sure.

"Yes?"

"Uh, my name is Elena Gilbert, and this is my sister, Charlene Gilbert." Charlene waved at Trudie. "I, uh, wanted to talk to you about Isobel Fleming."

"And about Amanda Fleming." Charlene added, because she wanted to know about her and Megan's birthmother.

Trudie looked amazed. "Well, I haven't heard those names in ages. How do you know them?"

"I think, um, well…do you know if Isobel had a baby that she gave up for adoption?"

"My god. You're Isobel's daughter." Trudie glanced over at Charlene. "And you're Amanda's daughter…wait, wasn't there another one?"

Charlene gave a nod. "Yeah…but she's out of town."

Trudie shook her head, probably unable to believe this was happening right now. Then she gave a soft laugh.

"I was just gonna make tea." Trudie gestured inside. "Would you two like to come inside and have some?"

Charlene shared a look with Elena before she looked back over at Trudie with a smile. "Yeah sure, that would be nice."

"Uh, kitchen's this way." Trudie moved away from the door to let them in before closing the door behind them.

She went into the kitchen to start the tie. Charlene removed her jacket and scarf as Elena did the same with hers.

"She seems nice." Charlene said, and Elena nodded in agreement. But not saying it out, she had this bad feeling about her sister's birthmother's childhood best friend, but she didn't know what it was. However, she felt like she should have.

Elena spoke, loud enough where Trudie could hear her from the kitchen. "I wasn't going to come." She started. "I didn't think I was, but I was driving with Charlene, and I hit this spotlight, and it made me think about when I was learning how to drive and then our mom would always warn me about this blind turn on the life-side."

Charlene smiled at that. She remembered that well. Miranda had warned her about that left side too when she was learning how to drive. It was another fond memory and made her tear up at the thought of it.

"And then, I was thinking about my birth mom, and I – had your address. I'm sorry for barging in."

"We both are." Charlene added.

Trudie walked out of the kitchen and into the room with them. "It's no problem." She reassured. "Um, just a surprise." They sat down at the table in the dining room. "I haven't thought about Isobel and Amanda in years."

"When was the last time you saw Isobel?" Elena asked curiously.

"About seventeen years ago when she left to have you. We kept in touch for a while…but…well, you know, people drift apart."

Charlene cleared her throat to get Trudie's attention and she looked at her. "What about Amanda?"

"Well, I haven't seen her in a long time. Her and Isobel weren't very close after becoming parents, so they went their separate ways after Amanda had you and Megan, and I hadn't heard from her since. I learned about the car accident in the newspaper."

"Oh…" Charlene looked down at the table. She was hoping to hear better news.

"What about Isobel?" Elena questioned, changing the subject. "You don't know where she ended up?"

"She was in Florida for a while. She was on her own. I know it wasn't easy."

"Do you have any idea who my father is?"

"And what about mine and Megan?" Charlene asked as well. Maybe Trudie at least knew that.

Trudie shook her head. "I could never get them to fess up." She answered. "Anyway, Isobel finally pulled it together, got into college on a scholarship."

"Where did she go?"

"Somewhere in North Carolina. Duke, I think. Smart girl, smart school."

Elena smiled.

Charlene couldn't help but feel a little jealous. Elena was getting all this information about her birthmother while she was sitting on the sidelines, getting nothing about hers. She was happy for her sister, she really was, but she hated that she came here with the hopes of learning stuff about her birthmother and he was going to go back with nothing. Nothing to tell Megan. Her thoughts were broken by the sound of the tea kettle sounding.

"Let me just grab that." Trudie said with a smile before getting up and heading into the kitchen.

Once she was gone, Elena turned to Charlene. "Are you okay?"

She forced a smile. "Yeah, just fine, Elena." She knew she sounded forced too, but Elena didn't say anything, so she figured her sister believed her. At least Charlene hoped Elena did.

"So, it's been a few months, where have you've been?" Matt Donavan asked his newly returned mother, Kelly, as he stood at the stove cooking breakfast.

Kelly didn't look at her son as she stood in front of one of the cabinets in the small kitchen, "Ah, you know, here and there." She answered. Never one place too long." She shrugged her shoulders casually. "You know Pete."

Matt rolled his eyes. "No, actually I don't…" he said. "Because you never brought him around."

There was an awkward silence as Kelly turned around. "So…" she said as she headed over to her son, "The blonde's the new flavor of the week, huh? Sorry I scared her off."

"She's not a flavor, mom, I like her." Matt crossed his arms as he faced his mom, who was now by the small kitchen table.

"So, she's the one?" Kelly teased but it sounded bitter.

Matt shrugged his shoulders. "No, probably not." He admitted as he turned to face the stove again. "But maybe."

Kelly headed over to the refrigerator, taking out a bottle of vodka. "Mattie, seriously, Lezzie Forbes' daughter." She made a noise of disgust as she sat down.

Matt turned around and looked at her, annoyed. "Mom, seriously? Knock it off."

Kelly held up her glass. "Ice please?" she asked in a fake sweet voice.

Matt sighed as he grabbed her glass and opened up the refrigerator. There was a picture on there that showed him, Vicki, and Kelly on it. They didn't look very happy in the picture.

"So…" Matt said as he sat down his mom's drink on the table. He went back over to the stove. "Have you've seen Vic?"

She shook her head. "No." She replied as she poured her drink into her glass. "But don't worry. She'll come home eventually…when she needs something. I played that game before."

"Are you playing it now?"

Kelly looked surprised at the harshness in Matt's voice. "No."

"Then what are you doing here?"

"You're trying to say I need a reason to come back." Matt sighed turning away from his mom and Kelly smiled, "Sit down eat with me."

Matt sat her plate of food down before sitting down in the seat across from his mom. Kelly leaned forward her hand on her chin.

"Tell me everything I've missed, hmm."

This made him smile. Maybe it was a good thing that his mom was back.

TBC...

In...

A Few Good Men, Part 2...