"A few hours later, the bar owner, whose name was Zachariah, and Elena, who had introduced herself as Katherine so she could remain anonymous, pulled up and parked outside of a house in Washington DC. He turned to Elena. "While you are here, you will keep an open mind, worry less about everything, do whatever feels good in the moment, and have a good time. You won't do anything you really don't want to do," he compelled.

Elena nodded and Zachariah got out of the car. Coming around to Elena's door, he opened it and held out a hand to help her out. Taking it, she thanked him and stepped out on to the street.

The next day, Saturday, Caroline was sitting in the Grill. She checked her phone for what seemed like the tenth time. 9:10 pm. Elena was now 40 minutes late for their dinner plans and Caroline was becoming increasingly worried. She had already left two voice-mails. Once again, Caroline called Elena's phone.

"Hello." The voice was deep and slightly raspy.

"Who the hell is this?" Caroline questioned, her voice instantly taking on a tone that boded very bad things for the person on the other end of the line.

"Hey, hey. Let me start by saying that Katherine was a very willing partner in this whole trip." He didn't know who this Caroline person was, but she had called three times and Alexander was wary, remembering Zachariah's warning that if she wasn't back by Sunday people would come looking for her. Apparently they had started a bit early. He shuddered slightly. The last thing he wanted was an Original on his tail.

Katherine? Why would he think Elena was Katherine? Whatever the reason, she didn't want him to know who Elena really was. "What trip?" Caroline asked suspiciously.
"Katherine came to my friend's bar, very upset I might add, and he offered to lend an ear. Instead, she asked him to get her the hell out of Mystic Falls. She told me when she got here that she wanted to quit caring for a while and have some fun. She gave us three rules and said anything else was free game.
"What rules?"
He paused, then decided honesty would likely be the best option, "Zach had to get her out of Mystic Falls, we weren't allowed to mess with her memory, and we had to bring her back to Mystic Falls by Sunday afternoon, safe and sound."

He had to know Elena was human, because only Originals could compel vampires, but he still thought she was Katherine? What the hell? Out loud she said, "Son of a bitch. Where are you and why isn't Katherine answering her own phone?"

"Washington DC and she is sleeping. She partied with us for almost 24 hours and just passed out an hour ago."

"Who is 'us'? What's the address? And by party you mean she's been drinking?" She was going to kick Elena's ass.

"243 Wisconsin Ave. And 'us' is some of my friends and their human companions. I run a house for vampires and humans that know about us and want to join in the fun. No, she hasn't been drinking. With compulsion, no one needs alcohol to loosen up and have a blast. She's just very tired."

"Son of a bitch," Caroline said again. "I'll be there as soon as I can to get her."

With that, she hung up and called Bonnie. "Hey, Car," Bonnie answered.

p style="max-height: 999999px;""We have a problem."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;". . ./p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"The drive took forever. Neither Bonnie nor Caroline spoke much. They were both too wrapped up in their own thoughts about what they might find when they reached Elena. They had thought she was getting better. Over the last week, she had seemed to be pulling out of the depression that she had been in since the night that she visited Stefan and came back with a sprained wrist and bruises all over. Just like before that night with Stefan she had seemed almost happy in a way she hadn't been since being told Damon had died. Just when it seemed like Elena would get her head above water and move on, something bad happened that sucked her back down./p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"They didn't know what had happened this time and, quite frankly, they weren't sure they wanted to know. But, of course, they would find out and help her move past whatever it is. And they prayed to God that it would be the last disaster for at least the next ten years. They had all earned a break./p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"Finally, they pulled up to 243 Wisconsin Ave. They looked at each other for a moment, bracing themselves for whatever happened next. Caroline called Elena's phone again. Alexander answered./p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""I am assuming that is your car that just parked across the street?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Great deduction. Sherlock, is it?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Alexander, actually. Please, come in."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""If it's all the same to you, we would like you to just send Katherine out to us."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Don't trust us?" His tone was laced with laughter. "I'm afraid that she partied a little too much and ate too little. I am having trouble getting her on her feet. I can carry her out though, if you'd like."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Fine." With that, she hung up on him again. "He is bringing her out to us," Caroline told Bonnie./p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""I didn't expect this to be so easy," Bonnie responded. "It makes me nervous. Nothing is ever this easy with vampires and Elena."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"A man emerged from the house, carrying Elena. "Hopefully this is the first," Caroline told Bonnie before climbing out of the car. As soon as the man carrying Elena got close, Caroline began walking towards him. She gently took Elena out of his arms and, walking backwards so that she never let him out of her sight, she moved back towards the car./p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"Alexander chuckled. "Paranoid much?"

"It's not paranoia when they're actually out to get you," Caroline retorted. "And considering the numerous bite marks, I'd say you're one of the ones out to get us."

"I simply gave Elena the fun she asked for. She was fully aware of what happens in the house before she even arrived." Caroline shuddered as she carefully placed Elena in the backseat of her car.

There was simply no way that Elena knowingly went into that place, freely letting them feed on her. But a small voice in the back of her mind pointed out that Elena hadn't been herself in a long time. Shutting the car door, Caroline quickly banished the voice and snarled at the vampire, "If I ever catch you sniffing around her again, you're dead." As she climbed into her car, she heard Alexander respond, "Of course, little lady. But I can't promise your friend won't come sniffin' around me."

Caroline slammed her door, not willing to dignify that with a response. As they began to drive away, Elena stirred. Blearily looking up at Bonnie, who was turned around in her seat looking at her with concern, she mumbled, "Damn, I was kinda hoping all that fun would kill me." Then she slipped back into unconsciousness.

...

He sat on a balcony of his hotel room, gazing out at the pretty, white Italian shore. A woman came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his middle. She kissed the side of his neck and a small smile settled on his lips. He was turning towards her to get a proper kiss when his phone rang. "Let it go to voicemail, lover," the woman said silkily./p

He pulled the phone out of his pocket, glancing at the caller ID as he did so. Leaning forward, he pressed a quick kiss to the woman's lips. "I have to get this, cara, but it won't take long. Then we can ignore the world for a few hours," he promised with a wicked smile. He then stepped out of her embrace and answered the call. "Hey Andy, what's up?"

"Your men just reported in to me. No Klaus. No suspicious activity."

"Good. And you? How are you?"

"Doing just fine. Got a hot story I'm following." He could hear the smile in her voice. He was glad she was happy. He was working so hard to be happy too.

"Good luck with it."

"Yeah, thanks. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Okay." With that, he hung up. For just a moment, he let his mind drift to a woman with dark hair, beautiful brown eyes, and a killer smile. He felt the familiar tightening in his chest the accompanied thoughts of her and quickly diverted his attention to the blonde woman sprawled naked on his bed.

"Come on, amore mio," she purred.

He smiled and, moving to the bed, he forgot all about Mystic Falls. He wouldn't think of it again until tomorrow, when Andy called him back. Two minutes a day is all he allowed himself to think of his brother's girl. The girl that had all but told him to get the hell out of town. The girl he loved more than anything else in the world.