A/N:

Disclaimer: I claim no ownership of the Vampire Diaries.

SEASON 1: The Struggle

Their relationship is inevitable.

Protect yourself.

They will wear lapis lazuli.

Sophia eyed the notes warily. They were written in her handwriting, but she has no memory of writing them.

The first one appeared a week prior to school starting, the other two in the following days.

The most recent one turned up after the first day of school. After a quick internet search, she found out that lapis lazuli was a deep blue gemstone, and it looked awfully similar to the gem on Stephan Salvatore's ring.

"How's Elena doing?" asked Matt, a slight crack in his voice as he looked at her and Bonnie imploringly.

Sophia exchanged a helpless glance with Bonnie, not having it in her to tell him that he should consider moving on. Elena's feelings towards Matt had cooled considerably even before the car accident.

Looking at Matt's puppy dog blue eyes, she wondered if perhaps she should have waited until Elena was done getting ready to go to the Grill. Instead, she decided to walk the 30 minutes it took to get there because she was eager to get out of the house, and away from the notes she didn't have it in her to burn or throw away.

Thankfully, Bonnie took the lead and told Matt that Elena needed more time. Sophie winced internally. Matt was a sweet guy, and she was beginning to wonder if she should just put him out of his misery herself.

As if she could read her mind, Elena walked into the diner that very second, her face beaming. She was in immediate proximity to the new guy at school, the one Caroline, and to a lesser degree, Bonnie kept going on about. Something about seeing them together took her breath away.

Sophia's first good look at Stephen Salvatore was that evening at the Grill, having had no classes with him herself during the day. While Caroline was vying for his attention, it was clear he only had eyes for Elena.

As her sister and friends questioned Stephan about his life prior to Mystic Falls, Sophia was feeling some major deja vu. He looked so familiar to her, she must have met him some point before this.

By happenstance, as Stephan patiently answered the girl's questions, her eyes drifted to the ring on his hand.

Lapis lazuli.

Sophia's body tensed as her nervous system went into overdrive. She suddenly felt faint.

"Excuse me, are you okay?" asked Stephan kindly, his mossy green eyes alarmed.

God, he really is really dreamy, thought Sophia in the back of her mind. And yet, she felt no inkling of attraction for him. Thank god.

"Sophie what's-" Sophia stood up from the table and cut off Elena's question.

"I'm fine, I just got light headed for a second. Really it's nothing, I just haven't had anything to eat all day." assured Sophia as she excused herself to go to the bathroom, hurrying away before her friends thought to follow her.

When she got back to the table, Elena had ordered her a sandwich and watched with eagle eyes to ensure she ate it all.

Sophie didn't feel like going to the bonfire the next night, but Elena insisted she did, saying it was tradition. With Elena and Matt on the outs, Sophia figured she'd better go to keep an eye on her sister and little brother, who would also be attending this year. For the first time in a while, it wasn't Elena she had to keep an eye on.

Sophia feels cold all over when she sees Vicki's still body lying on the forest floor, her neck stained with blood. She had already felt faint and clammy at the sight of Elena and Stephan talking earlier. Every time Sophie sees them together, it gives her the eeriest sense of foreboding.

Forever keeping an eye out on her sister and brother, she had trailed after them when she saw Elena stalk after Jeremy into the woods.

When they get Vicki back to the bonfire, her eyes immediately snap to Stephan Salvatore, new guy in town. She sees him staring at Vicki with horror, before essentially fleeing from the scene of the crime. Alarm bells go off in her head as she narrows her eyes at him.

Suspicious, but he couldn't have this. He spent the better of the evening stuck in Elena's gravitational orbit.

She insists on staying behind to drive Bonnie and Caroline home, having noticed that Bonnie was a bit tipsy. She stops by the Grill on the way back so the girls can sober up.

"Sooo, of course Elena manages to snag the new guy in town." Caroline slurred, her pale face flushed red.

"Is there anyone that's caught your eye, Sophie?" Bonnie asks in an attempt to distract Caroline.

Sophie smiles and shrugs.

"No one's caught my eye. Other than Stephan, its same old, same old in Mystic Falls."

Bonnie nods, already familiar with the lack of prospects at their high school.

At most, Sophie has made out with the occasional cute guy here and there at one of the many parties she and Elena have attended, but she has yet to meet a guy that makes her want more.

The sense of trepidation Stephan instilled in her has nothing on tall, dark, and dangerous back at the Grill.

When they were getting ready to leave, she initially meant to follow Bonnie, wanting to help pay for the bill.

As she stood up from the table, something at the corner of the eye made her feel ill at ease. She turned to see an impossibly handsome man with hair she swears is darker than her own. At the very least, he looks to be in his late 20s, and he is making a serious play for Caroline. His ice-blue eyes stood out in sharp contrast to his hair. Unlike with his brother, as she would find out later on, her eyes instinctually snapped to the lapis lazuli ring on his hand. It's all she can do to keep herself from trembling, and she feels her heart beating rapidly in her chest.

He seems hell bent on keeping Caroline's attention, but she swears for a second his eyes flash to her direction.

Unsure of what to make of her body's reaction, Sophia decides that at the very least, she is not a fan of how this guy is preying on a drunk, crying, high school-aged girl. Sophia averts her gaze and pulls Caroline up from the table and forces her to meet Bonnie at the register.

"Soo, you and Stephan?" Sophie inquires one evening while she and Elena are getting ready for bed.

"You really like him, I can tell." As evidenced by how Elena unconsciously smiles at the mere mention of his name.

"He's… different. He's an orphan so he knows how I, how we feel. He makes me feel.. I don't know how to describe it. I can't say that I've ever felt this way about even Matt" Elena shrugs helplessly.

"I know that's terrible to say, but Stephan.." Elena trails off.

Sophia smiles comfortingly at her.

"I'm just glad that you're finally being honest about what, or should I say who, you want. And you don't have to explain yourself to me. As long as you're safe and happy, then I'm happy."

Their relationship is inevitable.

After that night at the Bonfire, Sophia stuck to Caroline like glue. Part of it had to do with how the sight of Elena mooning over Stephen was starting to leave her feeling nauseous. As much as she wanted to be happy that her sister was pulling herself from her grief, seeing her and Stephen together left her unsettled.

That being said, she also felt Caroline's safety was compromised. For the life of her, she couldn't articulate why.

"You will tell Blondie you suddenly remembered how you were supposed to meet your sister here, and she will give you a ride home."

Sophia was just about to meet Caroline outside of the Mystic Grill, where they had a late dinner during the night of the comet. She had just talked Caroline into letting her spend the night at her place. She knew her mom would be working late and she didn't like the idea of her friend being alone tonight.

"I will tell Caroline that I'm about to meet Elena, and she'll give me a ride home." said Sophia numbly. The ice blue-eyed man from yesterday had intercepted her and pinned her still with his predatory gaze.

When she stepped outside after his command, Caroline was already settled into her car and had pulled up in front of the Grill.

"Can we get out of here, this parking is giving me the creeps." She said, her voice impatient.

Sophia nodded and compressed her lips.

"I was supposed to meet Elena at the Grill, but I'll just text her that I'm spending the night with you instead." the words tumbled quickly out of Sophia halfway through their drive. It had taken all of her willpower to get into Caroline's car earlier, but she had a significantly easier time manipulating his command to work for her purposes.

Was I hypnotized?

Caroline just looked at her with raised eyes brows.

" Ooo-kayyy" the blonde drawled out, a bit miffed. Sophia had interrupted Caroline's recent babbling of the blue eye man she seen met at the Grill.

The whole ride to Caroline's house she felt on edge.

She strong-armed Caroline into her house once they arrived. A foreign intuition told her they would be safe for the night, and the tension in her shoulders immediately deflated.

Once they were finally inside, Caroline snapped.

"Jesus, what is your childhood trauma?" the blonde demanded aggressively as she massaged her wrist. Sophia's grip had left it bright red.

Biting back a smile at Caroline's reference, Sophia suddenly felt torn between either laughing or crying hysterically.

Thinking quickly, Sophie found herself saying "You know that man you kept looking for? I did see him that night you did. I also saw him earlier in the summer. He- he tried to force me to leave with him one night when I stayed late at the Mystic Grill by myself. Luckily another girl stepped in to rescue me but… He's a huge creep.

"

Sophia gets ready with Elena for the Founder Families party that night. Of course, her gorgeous sister manages to pull off the orange dress she bought for the occasion, one that reminds Sophia of a sunset.

Sophia originally wanted to wear a simple black dress since she generally doesn't like to put too much effort into getting ready for the numerous founding family gatherings. However, Elena talks her into wearing one of her dresses that she's never seen before. A lacy, dark green dress that flares out at her knees.

"What do you know, fits like a glove. If I didn't know any better, I would think you bought it specifically for me," says Sophie as she side-eyes Elena while they're both in the bathroom.

"Yea that's lucky," says Elena with exaggerated casualness.

"You should with the dark red lipstick. Oh! And borrow my black chunky heels, they're right by the door" she adds on.

"Uh-huh," says Sophie

Her lips twitch up involuntarily and Elena smiles smugly at her reflection as she touches up her makeup.

It is lucky that they were the same height and wore the same shoe size. And while they both had their mother's willowy figure, Sophia's build was the slightest bit thinner than Elena's curvier proportions.

Later that night at the party, Elena corners her and confronts her about Damon's assault. Based on Caroline's description, Elena put together that it was Stephen's brother who assaulted her.

" Ah, Caroline finally told you," Sophia says wryly. While she had sworn Caroline to secrecy, she knew it was a matter of time before Caroline broke.

"Please, can we not talk about this here." Sophia raises her eyebrows and nods at the crowd of people across from them. She managed to placate Elena by promising to tell her everything when they return home.

"How on earth did you manage to resist my compulsion?" He breathed softly against her lips. She was backed into a shadowy corner, her back pressed against a tree on the Lockwood property. He had caught her off guard when she stepped outside to look for Caroline.

She was frozen in terror, unsure of what her next move should be.

"Well, no matter," he said before arching her head to gain easy access to her neck.

Her scream was stuck in her throat as she saw his face morph into a thing of nightmares.

There you are, something in her said when she saw Damon's face transform into something monstrous. She felt his elongated, needle-like teeth pierce her neck. There were two warring sides inside her. One part was acutely horrified of what her body was being subjected to, while a new, foreign part of her felt that Damon's attack was very old hat.

In less than a minute he immediately began sputtering.

Stephan Salvatore was suddenly right behind Damon, and she could have sworn he struck Damon in the neck with a syringe. Damon then tumbled to the ground.

"You're safe now, you're safe," said Stephan soothingly as he guided her out of the alcove of trees. Sophia was stunned, only barely managing to hold back from crying.

"His face, he looked like.."

Stephen then stood in front of her, her back towards the mansion, and met her eyes straight on.

"It was just your imagination. You-"

His voice was cut off by Elena's.

"Sophie!" exclaimed Elena, who was standing on the mansion porch.

Elena ran to where Sophia stood on the lawn. As soon as her sister's arm encircled her, Sophia broke down into tears, her shoulders racketing with sobs.

Elena practically undressed and redressed Sophia for bed that night, like she was a kid.

"How…" Elena murmured, seemingly without thinking. She was cleaning up the dried blood on Sophia's neck, where Damon had bitten her.

Sophia winced at the sting, but the pain was drowned out by the shock of what she had seen.

My imagination, it was only my imagination.

Sophia's mind clung to what Stephen told her, despite knowing deep down that it wasn't true.

"Sofija."

Betty turned to the voice that seemed to come from a shadowy corner in the Speakeasy where she found work.

"Pardon.." trailed Betty, when she felt her body tremble in shock. It was all she could do to not drop her tray of drinks.

"Audrey… how?" Betty asked as she looked into the doe brown eyes of a friend who had died an untimely death.

"Well, this is curious, and what is your name?" Audrey said, looking at Betty as though she was a puzzle

"Betty Paxton, it's me Audrey," said Betty. She could feel her heart beating violently in her chest.

'That's not Audrey' a voice within her said.

Betty angled her feet so that she could escape into the crowd just behind her.

"Ah ah ah." Audrey tsked, before her faced into that of a demon.

Sophia woke up screaming. Less than a minute later Elena was in her bed, comforting her and telling her that it was only a dream.

For a week after Damon's assault, Sophia had a nightmare nearly every night. Damon had been the star of them the first two nights, but they soon began to feature people she had never met, all of them luring her in and attacking her. This night was the first time it was Elena who was about to kill her.

While the nightmares died down soon after that, they flared up every time Sophia was made aware of yet another animal attack.

Elena had begun acting on edge after her sudden break up with Stephan. Sophia had asked multiple times what happened, but Elena shrugged her off saying some nonsense of how it wasn't meant to be.

And every time she did Sophia immediately thought of that note.

They are inevitable.

Sophia attempted to retreat into the facade of the girl she used to be before her parents died. A bubbly, cheerful, naive little idiot. It didn't feel right anymore, it didn't feel like her, but it got her through the day.

Meanwhile, the sudden appearance of a productive and pleasant Jeremy didn't completely sit well with Sophia, who felt that he seemed a little too well adjusted after Vicki's sudden and ill-explained disappearance.

And yet... Sophia missed her little brother. He had pushed her and Elena away throughout the summer. Since he wasn't completely opposed to her company now, she volunteered to help find the family journals and read them herself out of curiosity.

"I can't believe our uncle wrote vampire stories." snorted Jeremy.

"Don't pretend you didn't make me and Elena take you with us to see Twilight". teased Sophie.

"That trailer was totally misleading, and you and Elena told me it was about a turf war between vampires," said Jeremy in mock defensiveness.

"In a manner of speaking." Sophia thought out loud as her eyes drifted back to worn down pages of her ancestor's journal, feeling a shiver run up her spine.

Vampires in Mystic Falls.

'Bingo!' a voice in Sophia's head thought. She thought back to that night at the Lockwood's, to Damon.

No! It was just my imagination. Sophia insisted to the voice who told her otherwise.

Unfortunately, Sophia missed confirmation of Bonnie's alleged Wicca powers at her sister's sleepover. She had left school early that day for a dentist appointment and then accompanied Aunt Jenna who offered to give her a tour of her campus. Afterward, they studied together at the library and then stayed in the college town for a late dinner.

When telling the story later on, Caroline claimed it was a mean prank conducted by Bonnie and Elena. Well, after freaking about why Matt was acting so weird about their impromptu sleepover, of course. Caroline made Sophie promise not to breathe a word to Elena about her and Matt. Sophia promised, nonplussed about Elena's reaction to their possible relationship. She'll be happy for them, and Matt seems like he would be good for Caroline once he got over his crap.

When she questioned her sister and friend about the night of the sleepover, Bonnie and Elena more or less confirmed Caroline's version of events.

But… the look in Bonnie's eyes echoed how Sophia was feeling all the time now. A little less naive about the going on in their small town, and a bit haunted. And frankly, Sophia could not get a good read on what was going on with her sister lately. She knew Elena was a little too good at omitting the truth when she felt the situation called for it. She had a feeling there was more to what happened at the sleepover that night, but they changed the subject pretty quickly.

Sophia is mildly disappointed when Elena and Stephan get back together but is not surprised by it.

By happenstance, she meets Jeremy's stalker friend Anna, and barely manages to hold back a groan at the blue gemmed ring on her arm.

But she seems so sweet to be a vampire, thought Sophia, who was rather charmed by Anna. Then she immediately reminded herself that vampires don't exist. But still, something about Anna left Sophia with the impression that Jeremy's friend was trying a little too hard to … to what end, she wasn't sure.

"Hi guys, I'm back…" Sophia's voice quieted at the sight of Stephan Salvatore's brother in her living room, playing video games and acting chummy with her little brother.

"Sorry Sophie, Damon sort of invited himself over," said Elena hesitantly.

"Hi there, Soo-phie" greeted Damon, turning his head all the way around to see her and gave her a smile that was all teeth.

"It's Sophia, actually," Sophie said mildly, before excusing herself upstairs.

She threw her things on her bed and began pacing the length of her room. Elena met her there soon after.

"Are you ok-"

"What the hell is he doing here Elena? And why would you let him around Jeremy? Do you not remem-" Sophia choked on her words and sat on the window seal. Elena sat down next to her.

"I'm so sorry Sophie, I wasn't thinking… Well, clearly I just wasn't thinking. It's just that I've gotten to know Damon better over the past few weeks. I know it's not an excuse, but he was out of it the night he attacked you." Elena then went on to explain how Damon had drug issues and was strung out on something when he first came to Mystic Falls. Stephan got him into a program, and for the most part, he was doing better.

Bull- forking- shit.

"If you want to be friends with the guy who attacked your sister, that's your business. Please do me the favor of keeping him as far away from me as possible," said Sophia, stung by Elena's thoughtlessness.

'She's lying' something in her hissed, and she violently flinched as Elena tried to move in closer to her.

Elena backed off, apologized again, and said she would keep Damon away.

At one point Elena gifts everyone in the Gilbert household with new bracelets, one even Jeremy was willing to wear.

Her sister pulled her aside a while after and made her promise to never take it off. Elena grovels to Sophia again for her actions, and this time Sophia forgives her. Sophia didn't have it in her to keep up her anger towards Elena. She rationalized that it made sense for Elena would get to know her boyfriend's family, and it was in Elena's nature to be kind and understanding of other's shortfalls.

Sophia's reality felt fragile. Her mind and body were short-circuiting. The frequency at which her body went into fight or flight mode couldn't be healthy, and she wasn't entirely sure what provoked it. Then there were the notes to consider.

Protect yourself.

They will wear lapis lazuli.

The contents of the notes she kept hidden haunted her. Protect herself from what? So far, Damon, Stephan, and Anna were the only people she came across who wore lapis lazuli. What did it mean?

Then her mind would take her back to Damon attacking her. Which reminded her of her dreams, and while they initially became hazier the longer she was awake, the demon faces stuck with her.

'Vampires' something in her teased mockingly.

Every time these thoughts came back to her, she wanted to bury everything she saw under a layer of denial. But, she felt a literal pushback in her head. A resistance. A form of self-preservation that wouldn't let her be.

Sophia must've not been as subtle as she thought when she met Aunt Jenna's new guy at the Grill. She didn't have any classes with him, but she recognized him as Jeremy and Elena's, a little too the attractive, history teacher. He caught her staring at the ring on his hand, smiled self deprecatingly, and went into a speel on how it was a family heirloom. While she had an inkling that wasn't the whole truth, at least it wasn't lapis lazuli gemstone.

The death of Bonnie's grandmother somehow led to a breakdown between Elena and Bonnie. Suddenly Bonnie was spending more time with her and Caroline.

"Bonnie, can I ask... I mean, what's going on between you and Elena? She's been pretty closed off lately."

Bonnie hazel- green eyes looked at Sophie with pity.

"I'd rather not talk about it. It's not Elena's fault- what happened- but I just can't be around her right now." Bonnie said.

Sophia ceased questioning Bonnie because it was in poor taste to harass a friend who just lost a loved one to death. But she was so sick of lies and half-truths.

You already know the truth, but choose denial, it whispers again.

Uncle John Gilbert was back in Mystic Falls. Sophia remembered being quite fond of him as a child. After her parents died, her opinion of him plummeted quite suddenly, mostly due to his antagonism towards Aunt Jenna.

It was around the time of Uncle John's arrival that Elena revealed to her and Jeremy that she was adopted. While Sophia took it in stride, it was a bit of a shock since she grew up believing that Elena was her twin sister. Fraternal twin, but still.

"Hey, Jeremy, do you where Aunt Jenna… what's wrong on?" Sophia trailed off. Sophia had had a bad migraine and opted to skip the latest founding family event. She had just gotten back from a walk to clear her head and heard movement in Jeremy's room, signaling that he was back.

Jeremy had left his bedroom door cracked open, so she simply knocked on it as a heads up before walking in. When she did, Jeremy scrambled up from his bed, his eyes burning in anger as she stared at her. She noticed he was gripping the book in hands so tight, his knuckles were white.

"Is that Elena's journal?" Sophia questioned.

Jeremy closed and opened his mouth a few times before everything spilled out. About how Vicki's death didn't sit well with him, how the police wanted to write it off as an OD even though the evidence didn't line up. He then mentioned how Elena said something to him at the party that raised his suspicions, she had said an it had done something to Vicki.

"There's no easy way to say this, and I know it sounds crazy, but vampires exist. Think of all the animal attacks that have been happening, think of the journals we've read. Johnathon Gilbert wasn't writing short stories. They're real, I've- seen one…" he trailed off, not quite able to make eye contact with her.

For further proof, he shoved Elena's diary in her hands, opened to the page where she apparently found out that Stephan Salvatore was a vampire.

Jeremy had apparently already known where Elena's diary was hidden due to investigations and invasions of privacy he made in middle school. Tonight, he went and found it again in the very same spot.

His entire body shaking, he told her about how Elena had Damon Salvatore, another vampire, manipulate his memories to encourage him to get over Vicki with something called compulsion.

At first, Sophia wanted to doubt everything she was being told. Out of curiosity, she skimmed through the passages until she found an entry where Elena wrote about her confrontation with Damon, about his attack towards Sophie during the night of the Lockwood party.

Damon thinks Sophie is resistant to compulsion, but that couldn't be possible. Even at half strength, Stephan's compulsion seems to have worked. If only he could have taken the memory completely away, Sophie still has nightmares.

Sophia probably could have gone on quite a bit longer lying to herself about the truth, and play off Elena's diary as her sister trying her hand at writing poorly written young adult fiction.

But one look at her little brother, and she knew that she wouldn't. She couldn't bury her head in the sand any longer.

Placing a hand to her neck where she was bit by a vampire, Sophia looked Jeremy in the eye

"I believe you."

Sophia explained her own encounter with Damon, and how she now thinks Stephan must have compelled her to think that what happened to her was her imagination. He did compel me, but it didn't quite take. Something to file away for later.

While Jeremy had his own reasons to hold a grudge against the nearly century and a half-year-old homicidal vampire, his anger over her attack nearly pushed him over the edge.

Sophia reminded him how stupid it would be to confront Damon, and made him promise to stay away from him.

She wondered out loud if they should confront Elena with their newfound knowledge, but then Jeremy made her promise that she wouldn't. He was worried that Elena would set the Salvatore brothers on them again with their compulsion.

Both Elena and Sophia had been signed up for Miss Mystic Falls at their mother's insistence. Sophia had immediately withdrawn her name when it was brought to her attention and withdrew from the affair entirely.

She felt guilty that she was helping Caroline with her Miss Mystic Falls Activities, and even more so when Bonnie did as well. Who was helping Elena prepare? It should have been her, Elena, and their mom.

But then bitterness overcame her when she thought about all the information that Elena had withheld.

What about what you're hiding? , the voice challenged.

I'm hiding that I'm slowly going insane, that's just self-preservation, Sophia rationalized.

Unfortunately, Aunt Jenna had insisted she attend the event to support Elena, which she had to do since as far as Elena knew, she had no reason to be mad at her.

Sophia felt a bit ill at seeing Elena on Damon's arm, and the joy in her sister's eyes during their dance. Where was Stephan?

And yet another attack after the announcement of Miss Mystic Falls.

Things had become tense between Uncle John and Elena, and Sophie is unsure what to make of it.

At one point during his out-welcomed stay, her uncle questioned her on her thoughts about their ancestors' journals. Sophia plays dumb and says that they make great horror stories. He glances at the bracelet Elena gifted her and ominously reminds her that as the eldest Gilbert among her siblings, it'll be up to her to keep up the family's traditions.

About two weeks after that odd conversation, Jeremy and John disappear for the better part of the day. Sophia notices that Elena seems a touch frantic by their disappearance, but Elena insists she stay in with Aunt Jenna.

Sophia takes a breath, remembers her promise to Jeremy, and steels herself against confronting Elena about her shady behavior.

Later that evening Jeremy and Uncle John return home. They act like nothing was wrong, but they both seem agitated.

Sophia walks up the stairs just in time to overhear Jeremy admit to Elena that he knew about vampires, and how angry he was that she lied to him

Jeremy makes eye contact with her over Elena's shoulders and questions Elena on how she could befriend the person who attacked their sister.

Elena immediately whips around to see Sophia, her eyes wide with distraught.

Jeremy lays into Elena, saying that he knows all this because he read it in her journal, and how he shared everything with Sophia.

Elena says sorry, but she glances quickly between Jeremy and Sohpia, as if unsure who to make the apology to.

Jeremy shuts his door.

The silence was thick. In Sophia's mind, Jeremy's accusation is echoed.

"You know, the reason I believed Jeremy so quickly about vampires was because of what Damon did to me. And the next thing I know, you let him be buddy-buddy with Jeremy and he's your escort for Miss Mystic Falls! What the hell Elena ?!"

Sophia finishes off her question louder than she intended to, breathing hard. Her skin felt overheated and she felt the urge to strip off her clothes and get into a cold shower

After looking widely at Elena, she turns to go into their shared bedroom.

Elena follows her.

"It's not what you think. There's so much to this that you don't understand. I've only-"

"And whose fault is it that I don't understand. You know how disturbed I was after Damon's bite, after seeing his face... It really didn't occur to you to tell me, if only to offer me some peace of mind."

"I didn't think confirming the monster that gave you nightmares for weeks would have given you peace. I did everything I could to make sure Damon never hurt you again, I -"

"Why do you spend any time with him at all! And I don't know how to trust someone who lacks all common sense. You're dating a 150-year-old vampire, I mean really, how do you see that relationship ending. You're friendly with his homicidal brother who quite literally almost ate your sister, and it was your idea to gaslight our little brother!"

They went back and forth a while longer that night before Sophia grabbed what she needed to go to sleep in the living room. Their tempers were so high that night, there was no way they would resolve anything then.

It was a bit tough to manage since they shared a room, but Sophia did everything in her power over to avoid Elena the next few days.

"Can I talk to you?" asks Stephan. Sophia is sitting alone on a park bench in the town square.

Sophia just looks at him. He takes that as a sign to go ahead and take a seat beside her, about a yard stick's length away from her.

"I know that you know. I want to apologize for Damon's actions-"

"Why are you apologizing?" asks Sophia, feeling provoked.

"I- I know how much danger he can pose. I should have taken better precautions when he first came to town. But Elena had nothing to do with Damon's actions. She only tolerates him for my sake, to keep him at bay… or, she did." pauses Stephan, looking thrown off by his own words.

Sophia wonders if he also thought back to Miss Mystic Falls. Elena sure looked like she did more than just tolerate Damon then.

"Anyways-"

"Stephan, just stop. I have good reason to be mad at Elena. She's been lying to me for months. She's been lying to my brother for months. She's had you and your brother Jedi- mind trick us. This angers is just not going to go away." said Sophie, pinching the bridge of her nose and shutting her eyes for a brief moment.

"I- I had to try, I only know too well how these sibling fights can escalate," said Stephan with a small, sad smile.

Sophia smiled a little back, involuntarily, of course.

"You must really love her," she stated. She found Stephan surprisingly easy to talk to, which was rather odd considering how unnerving she found him when she first met him.

"I do." smiled Stephan. Sophia just nodded. As tempted as she was to question Stephan further about vampires, she still couldn't tolerate his presence for too long. He provoked the voice, and a new side effect of having a voice in her head that talked back to her was that it was starting to give her headaches.

"Can you please leave now? I was sorta here first," said Sophia gently, smiling more openly now.

"Right, of course," said Stephan as he got up to leave, his expression friendly.

At one point she managed to corner Jeremy and question him about his relationship with Anna. He said that they were just friends, and he wasn't in any danger from her. Having to take him at his word, she left it alone.

Still, it was far from ideal that both her siblings were involved with vampires.

Before she knew, Founder's Day was upon them. While she was sorely tempted to skip the event, she decided to attend the parade at the very least. She stood with Jenna and Alaric and laughed with them as Jeremy's war reenactment float passed by

Coming up soon was the Miss Mystic Falls float, where a beaming Caroline was placed at the top. Sophia gave Elena a stiff nod when she waved in her direction and noticed when Elena's smile fell just a fraction.

"So, I've stayed out of it for a while, frankly praying and hoping that you guys will work everything out on your own, but it seems that hasn't happened yet," said Aunt Jenna gently. Alaric had stepped away to take a call.

"What are you talking about?" Sophia tried.

Based on the no nonsense look her aunt was giving her, she failed.

"Look, I really don't want to go into specifics, but me and Elena got into a.. disagreement awhile ago, and frankly, I'm still mad about it. But I promise we'll get past it sooner or later, I won't stay mad at her forever." Said Sofia.

Her Aunt Jenna stared at her for a few seconds, before nodding in approval.

"Alright, then I'll take your word for it. I remember bickering with your mom all too well." Aunt Jenna commented.

"Did you fight often?".

"It never got too bad. A lot of damage was probably done by our parents, always comparing me to her and holding me to her standard," said Aunt Jenna with a faraway look in her eye.

"How's that psychology degree working out for you Aunt Jenna?" teased Sophia with a small smile, and eliciting a snort from her aunt.

After the parade, Sophia goes back home with Jenna. After inquiring why her aunt wasn't staying with Alaric, Jenna said he apparently was backed up on grading papers.

Sophia's allergies had gotten the best of her at the parade. She took some Benadryl from the kitchen and went up to her room. She started re-reading an old favorite book of hers when the words started to get hazy and she had blink multiple times to keep herself awake. Before she knew, she was the victim of an impromptu nap.

Sophia woke up in a suddenly dark room. By the looks of it, she had been asleep for a little over two hours. She coughed, noting how uncomfortably dry her throat was, and decided to head downstairs to the kitchen where she overheard Elena and her uncle talking.

Hovering outside one of the entryways to the kitchen, Sophia pretty much overheard the entire conversation. Something about John sending someone named Isobel to Damon, with the end result being that she turned into a vampire.

Wasn't that Elena's birth mother's name? Well, it seemed that she was left out of the loop on quite a few things.

Clearing her throat, Sophia entered the kitchen just in time to see Elena use a knife to cut through John's fingers.

Sophia froze where she stood and stared at horror in Elena.

No, not Elena, a voice in her head shared.

Before she knew it, not Elena was suddenly right in front of her. She grasped Sophia's throat, cutting off most of her airway, and held her against the wall.

"And who might you be?" Not Elena asked, her eyes calculating. Always calculating.

"Katerina" Sophia rasped in a foreign accent. Where did that come from?

Not Elena's eyes narrowed, and flexed her fingers tighter, completing cutting off her airway.

Then the imposter rolled her eyes and slammed Sophia's head against the wall. Sophia went out like a light.

A/N: And that's season 1, folks. I didn't want to spend too long on it and did my best to fit it into one chapter.

I feel like I should mention that the title of this chapter, and of this story, were inspired (cough* taken* cough) by L.J. Smith books due to lack of creativity and as an homage to her work. If you don't know, she signed a bad contract and was screwed over by her publisher, or something to that effect. Her ghostwriters do not do her justice.

Once again, sorry for poor grammar, spelling, cliches, and deviations from cannon.