A/N: I decided to update before Tuesday as I've written up through Chapter 10, so I wanted to post another chapter. If I get five new reviews OR five new follows, I'll post the next chapter! (If I don't reach that by Tuesday, I'll still update then, don't worry!) Please feel free to be critical if you think my writing style or grammar could be improved, I've really enjoyed getting back into writing so far but definitely feel I'm a bit rusty.

To the guest reviewer who asked if I would consider Pretty Little Liars fanfiction with an OC, I potentially would in the future as that's the TV show I used to write fics for, but I want to stick with writing one fic at a time right now because that's how I got overwhelmed before. Happy reading!

Song: Time is a Runaway

Artist: The Alternative Quotes

Roll your windows down
The summer's nearly gone
And only hours stand between you
And the cold that's coming on

And you count your questions
In the sky lit blue
And every color there is
Telling you

Time is a runaway
Coming for you
Time is a runaway
Coming for you

We arrived to the fundraiser and I learned that it was a bachelor auction. Buy a ticket for a chance to win a night with one of the many handsome men of Mystic Falls. I had to laugh at the absurdity of it, but given all the attractive men I had met since moving here it was a rather smart choice of fundraiser.

"Tickets for the raffle are now on sale. All proceeds benefit the annual Founders Day celebration." Mrs. Lockwood stood on stage speaking into a microphone, perfectly coiffed and clearly loving the attention she was getting.

Elena was right; the only danger I was in around Mrs. Lockwood was the danger of going blind if I stared at her bleached white teeth for too long. She was the stereotypical trophy wife, perfect body, perfect blow out, tied all together with a strand of pearls on top. People were just starting to file into the grill, and Elena and I were standing next to Caroline and Matt, who was on busboy duty for the event.

"He's already been hit on like thirty-five times. He's total cougar bait." Caroline was absolutely beaming with pride that her boyfriend was so desirable.

Elena looked at me and smirked. "Impressive."

"More like embarrassing." Matt rolled his eyes.

Caroline perked up at the sight of an older woman with deep auburn hair who was wearing big gold hoops and far too much eyeliner. "Hi Mrs. Donovan!"

"Elena, honey." The woman who I gathered to be Matt's mom completely ignored Caroline.

"Hi Kelly." Elena grimaced as Kelly Donovan pulled her into a painfully awkward hug.

"Long time no see." Kelly smiled.

"How are you doing?" Elena asked.

"Oh same old." Kelly said. "Oh, Matty tells me you broke his heart."

"Mom." Matt warned.

"Just kidding, calm down." Kelly motioned with her hand as if to brush off Matt's comment. "He found his rebound girl."

I followed Kelly's eyes over to Caroline, who was visibly down struck at her comment. I opened my mouth to say something, but Kelly cut me off.

"Oh, here you are sweetheart." She handed Caroline a bill, addressing her for the first time since she had approached us. "However many that'll buy. I just hope I don't get bachelor 3, I dated him in high school. Not impressive. In any way."

Elena made a very obvious effort to avoid eye contact with Caroline, as Kelly Donovan walked away, leaving us all in a very awkward silence. Matt cleared his throat and made some excuse about seeing a table that needed clearing. Elena looked over at our teacher, Mr. Saltzman, who was one of the bachelors in the auction. Mr. Saltzman immediately walked off upon seeing Elena.

"Hey um, I'll be right back." Elena said. "I just realized I left something in my car."

"Do you want me to come with you?" I offered.

Elena shook her head. "No it's okay, you should stay here and hang out with Caroline."

I mustered my best sympathetic glance towards Caroline as Elena walked off, "Well that was . . ."

"Super fun." Caroline said. "I love being reminded that I'm always the second choice next to Elena. She doesn't even try."

The second Caroline uttered that sentence, I saw her in a completely different light. She acted the way she did to mask her insecurity. When I came to town, she was worried that she would now have to compete with me too, not just Elena.

"Caroline . . . listen." I said. "Elena is kind, and generous, and undeniably beautiful,"

Caroline scoffed. "Yeah, I don't need you to remind me."

I put my hand on her shoulder. "But so are you. Caroline, you're absolutely kick ass. You don't need to compare yourself to her, or see her as competition. I was absolutely terrified of you my first day at Mystic Falls."

Caroline smiled at the thought of being intimidating. "Really?"

"Really." I nodded. "And when Matt looks at you . . . it's like no one else is in the room. Not me, not Elena, no one. He only has eyes for you."

"Wow. Thank you. You know, you're not so bad, new girl." Caroline said, nudging my shoulder. "So, do you have eyes for any of the bachelors?"

"Oh yeah." I teased. "I've got my fingers crossed for Mr. Saltzman. I've always wanted to live out that teacher-student fantasy."

"Lucy!" Caroline shushed me while laughing. "Keep your voice down."

I reached into my pocket. "That reminds me, my mom gave me this to donate. Just keep it, I don't need to be entered in the raffle."

"Are you sure?" Caroline asked.

I nodded, and our bonding moment was interrupted as a couple of middle-aged women had approached Caroline to buy tickets for the raffle. I scanned the room, and my eyes fell upon a wall where Mrs. Lockwood was clearly having a steamy conversation with Damon. I had no clue how Damon had even made it here in his state, and I wasn't sure I wanted to.

"I've got the big date planned." Damon said, referencing the Bachelor #5 sticker on his chest. "It's a romantic dinner, secluded spot, somewhere woodsy." Wait a second. Was he flirting with her? Does he just flirt with everyone and anyone?

"You're making me think I should buy a ticket." Mrs. Lockwood said, putting on a flirtatious smile. I did my best not to look revolted.

"Well you are in charge, you could always rig it. Pardon me." Damon put a hand on her arm and seductively rubbed it, before walking over to speak to the Sheriff, Caroline's mom.

He was out of earshot, but I still eyed him with a mixture of intrigue and disgust. I wondered if his aimless womanizing was a result of his heartbreak, or if Katherine had left him because he behaved like this. Damon and Sheriff Forbes retreated to a corner, where the Sheriff looked over her shoulder before showing Damon the contents of a file.

They exchanged a few words, and the color left Damon's face. He began to look around the room, and I quickly averted my eyes so that he wouldn't catch me staring at him. I glanced out of the corner of my eyes, and saw him looking at Mr. Saltzman, a smile crossing his face.

What was it with Mr. Saltzman? First he and Elena had some unspoken drama, and now Damon clearly had some interest in him. I kicked myself as soon as the thought crossed my mind. Elena said she left something in her car, so I believed her. Maybe Damon was just curious about how his little brother was doing in school. That had to be it, right?

As if she knew I was thinking about her, Elena came up behind me and looped her arm with mine.

"Hey," She said. "Sorry about that. I think they're getting started soon, we should get a seat close to the stage."

Elena and I grabbed a seat next to her Aunt Jenna, who clearly was hoping to win a date as she had on a lovely plum dress. Stefan was nowhere to be found, but Elena didn't seem concerned by it. I found my mind wandering back to the file Sheriff Forbes had shown Damon, and zoned out so much that I completely missed the introduction of the first two bachelors.

"So what do you do, bachelor number three?" Mrs. Lockwood's sickly sweet voice interrupted my thoughts. It blew my mind that the woman could so shamelessly flirt with multiple men in front of the whole town, as if everyone didn't know she was the Mayor's wife.

"I'm a plumber." Bachelor number three said, earning a chuckle from the audience.

"Well isn't that wonderful." Mrs. Lockwood said with a smile that let us know she did not find that wonderful. "We could all use more plumbers. Moving on. Number four, Alaric Saltzman. Wow that's quite a mouthful. What do you do Alaric?"

I nudged Elena, and nodded at Jenna, who was looking at Mr. Saltzman with goo-goo eyes. Elena shoved Jenna, who laughed. Her face turned pink, clearly a bit flustered that she was caught making eyes at Elena's teacher.

"I'm a teacher at Mystic Falls high." Alaric said.

"Oh beauty and brains, ladies. This one's a keeper." Mrs. Lockwood said. I pretended to gag, and Elena had to put her hand over her mouth to stop a laugh from escaping.

"What do you teach?" Mrs. Lockwood asked.

"History." Mr. Saltzman replied, a man of many words.

"History." Mrs. Lockwood repeated. "Well, give us a fun fact about Mystic Falls, something crazy."

Mr. Saltzman looked uncomfortable with the question. His eyes shifted from Mrs. Lockwood, to Damon, who was stood to the right of him. Elena drew in a sharp breath, and I found myself wondering for the second time that night what was going on between the three of them. Damon raised his eyebrows and mimed that he was listening intently for what Alaric had to say.

"Ah, well . . ." Mr. Saltzman trailed off.

"He's probably saving his best stories for his date." Mrs. Lockwood said, saving face. "And last, but not least, Damon Salvatore . . . we don't have much on you."

"Well, I'm tough to fit on a card." Damon said with a wink to the audience.

I could practically hear the heartbeats of every woman around me as they watched Damon on stage. Every man up there was attractive, but none of them could even hope to compare to Damon. Elena waved, and at first I thought it was to Damon, but then I saw that Stefan had appeared, out of nowhere again, and was making his way over to us.

"Do you have any hobbies? Like to travel?" Mrs. Lockwood asked.

Damon perked up. "Oh yeah, LA, New York, couple of years ago I was in North Carolina, near the Duke Campus actually. I think – I think Alaric went to school there. Didn't you Rick?"

Mr. Saltzman glared at Damon, and I felt Elena tense up next to me. I turned to ask her what was going on, but she just shook her head at me.

"Yeah, cause I know your wife did." Damon said. "I had a drink with her once. She was – she was a great girl. I ever tell you that? Cause she was, she . . . delicious."

Elena gasped. I had to share her disgust. Either Mr. Saltzman's wife was incredibly young, or Damon really did have a thing for older women. I wasn't sure which one was worse.

"Are you okay?" Jenna turned to Elena, whose eyes were watering.

"I just need some air." Elena stood up, and ran out of the grill.

I looked at Stefan, who immediately turned to follow Elena. I mumbled something to Jenna, and went to follow the two of them.

"Elena!" I called after her, finding her outside pacing the sidewalk.

"I . . . I . . ." Elena sputtered, struggling to hold back tears. Stefan put his arm around her. "I can't. Lucy you should go back inside."

"No I'm not leaving you, not like this." I protested. "You're there for me, I'm there for you."

Stefan let go of Elena, and put his hand on my shoulder, looking me in the eye, "Go back inside and forget about this. We will find you and take you home when we're done talking."

"I already tried that." A voice behind me said. "That's not going to work."

I turned around to see Damon emerging from the grill, a smirk on his face. Stefan glared at Damon, and I could have sworn I heard a growl emerge from his throat.

"Tried what?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"Telling you what to do." Damon shrugged. "You'll find she's . . . stubborn, brother."

Stefan looked me up and down, and then nodded, as if something had clicked inside his mind.

"You what?" Elena yelled. "Damon stay away from her, she has nothing to do with this."

"Nothing to do with what?" I asked.

Elena brought her hands to her temples. "Lucy, I don't know how to say this. I lied to you earlier."

"Lied to me about what?" I searched Elena's face, wondering what lie she could have possible told me that was so horrible in the week I had known her.

"When I was talking to my Aunt Jenna about Isobel, and I told you it was just a school project. I lied." Elena choked out a sob. "I found out I was adopted about a month ago. Isobel was my birth mother. And Damon . . . Damon . . ."

"Knew her." Damon stepped in. "And so did Alaric. She was his wife."

"Was?" I asked, although from Elena's distress, I already knew the answer.

"They don't know what happened." Stefan answered. "Alaric said they never found the body. I'm sorry – I wanted to tell you but I just – I wanted to know more."

"I was feeling sorry for you." Elena shoved Damon. "Hoping that this Katherine thing would change you. I'm so stupid."

"Elena he didn't know about your connection to her. He thought she was just Alaric's wife." Stefan said.

"Why are you protecting him?" Elena looked at Stefan, it was the first time I had ever seen her look at him with anything but love for him.

"Yeah Stefan, why are you protecting me? I'm just the big bad brother who lies about women he's met in bars." Damon smirked. I wasn't sure if he was talking about me or Isobel. Or both.

"Because you're not the only one hoping he might actually change." Stefan said.

Elena fell silent. I looked between the three of them, Stefan looking pained, Elena looking heartbroken, and Damon looking as if a truck had just hit him. I struggled to grasp what was going on. Elena was adopted; her birth mother was named Isobel, and happened to be Mr. Saltzman's wife.

Did that mean Mr. Saltzman was Elena's birth father? And what did Damon have to do with this? Clearly he dated Isobel or something. Wait . . . did that mean . . . could Damon be Elena's dad? No, no that wasn't possible. There's no way Damon was old enough to be Elena's father. So why was she so upset that Damon knew Isobel?

"That man." Elena broke the silence. "I saw that man outside of Trudie's."

"Who's Tru-" I began to ask.

"Let's get back inside." Stefan cut me off. "All of us."

I followed Elena inside, and Stefan stepped behind me, cutting Damon off. I looked over my shoulder to see an older man, clearly eyeing the four of us. I felt a chill run down my spine, but chalked it up to the chilly fall night.

"Sorry, all out of jackets to give you." Damon murmured in my ear.

I turned to face him, and he was already gone. Elena and Stefan broke away from me as well, leaving me alone to watch the end of the raffle. It suddenly seemed so uninteresting compared to the questions that were left spinning in my head.

"And bachelor three goes to number 37458." Mrs. Lockwood said up on stage.

"That's me." Kelly Donovan stood up and stumbled towards the stage.

"Ah, Kelly Donovan. Lovely." Mrs. Lockwood forced a smile as Kelly plucked the ticket out of her hand. "You and the plumber should have so much fun."

I watched as Kelly walked over to Caroline. I had no clue what she was saying, but I could tell from Caroline's face that it wasn't anything nice. I mentally prepared myself to give Caroline another pep talk. I shot her another sympathetic smile, and returned my attention to the stage for the announcement of the last two winners.

"37649." Mrs. Lockwood read out loud.

"That's me!" Jenna called from her now almost empty table, a smile spreading across her face.

Mrs. Lockwood smiled and looked between Jenna and Mr. Saltzman, "Congratulations. And bachelor number five, Damon Salvatore. 37552, would you look at that? 37552, what are the chances? Me. Where'd he go?"

The audience groaned in protest, and I couldn't say I blamed them. It was clear that Mrs. Lockwood had taken Damon's advice to rig the raffle. What was unclear was exactly why he suggested that she do so. A loud crash outside interrupted my thoughts.

I ran outside to follow the commotion. A truck had hit a man, right in the middle of the square. Elena was clinging to Stefan, holding onto something.

"Elena is that . . ." I couldn't tear my eyes from what was left of the man.

Elena nodded. "The man."

Stefan ushered us back towards Elena's car. "Come on, let's get out of here."

Stefan got behind the wheel, as Elena was understandably to shaken to drive. I wondered how Stefan was able to remain so stoic even after witnessing death so up close. I could barely steady my hands in the back seat. Not a single word was spoken as they drove me back to my house.

"Here we are." Elena said, as Stefan slowed to a stop in front of my house. "I'm so sorry about tonight. It was just supposed to be a fun night out . . . none of this . . . whatever this was."

"Elena you have nothing to be sorry for." I said.

Elena shook her head. "I'll make it up to you."

"Nothing to make up." I shrugged. "But I'll take any excuse for a girls night."

Elena forced a smile, and waved goodbye to me as I walked up my front porch. Stefan didn't even look at me, clenching the steering wheel and lost in thought as always. I took a deep breath in attempt to compose myself before facing my parents.

"Mom? Dad?" I called out. "I'm home!"

"We're in here honey." My mom's voice led me into the living room. "How was the fundraiser?"

"It was good." I lied.

They didn't need to know about the drama with Elena, and they especially didn't need to know about the man who was hit by a truck. That would only worry them. They'd just go on and on about how it would have been me, and I just couldn't take that right now.

"Are you sure?" Mom asked, as if she could read my mind. "You look a little pale."

"Yeah I'm fine," I said. "I think I just ate something a little funny, my stomach doesn't feel so good."

"Oh you poor thing," My mom gushed. "Why don't you go upstairs and lie down. I'll bring you some peppermint tea in a little bit."

"Are you sure?" I looked back and forth between my parents. "I know I promised you guys a movie night."

"Go cupcake," My dad waved. "We can watch a movie any time. We don't want you to get sick all over the new sofa anyways."

I chucked a bit at his teasing. I retreated up the stairs, and gladly changed into my favorite flannel pajama pants and a sweatshirt. I turned off the lights and stared out my window at the quiet town below me, wondering how such a simple place could carry so many dark secrets.

I sat up in bed, and opened my phone. I typed in a number, and waited as the phone rang. When no one answered, I jumped up and slipped a pair of shoes on, and ran back downstairs.

"Lucy?" My mom called out.

"Mom, dad," I said. "I just realized I left something in Elena's car. I need to go get it, I'll be back in a bit."

"Are you sure you're feeling okay?" Mom asked. "I can drive you if you want. Or you can just go tomorrow?"

"No that's okay," I said. "I think Elena's busy tomorrow. I'll be back in an hour, I'll be fine."

I dashed out the door before they could protest, and sent Elena a quick text. I needed to talk to her.

In my dreams I see in red
She cannot stay
And the summer leaves you
Like the girl who gets away

We sit here stranded
In a careless hue
And every color that is
Telling you

Time is a runaway
It's coming for you
Time is a runaway
Coming for you

A/N: Thoughts? Why do you think Lucy needs to talk to Elena? Do you think she knows? Find out in the next chapter. -XO, Eden.