Beauty of the Dark Chapter 20 - It Is What It Is, a vampire diaries fanfic

A/N: Hi guys! Sorry it's been SO long. I started my senior year of college three weeks ago and it's been very busy. The good news is that you don't need to tell me how much of a trash gremlin I am, as I already know. Thank you SO much for your patience and support. I can't believe this has 125 follows. You guys are the best! Thank you as always to KimmyWSmith for proofreading for me.

Also I met Ian Somerhalder and it was so awesome! If anyone wants to see my pictures with him feel free to DM me; I don't really want to post me Instagram username on here but I'm definitely down to share the photos as they're super exciting. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter. XO, Eden.

Song: It Is What It Is

Band: Lifehouse

I was only looking for a shortcut home

But it's complicated

So complicated

Somewhere in this city is a road I know

Where we could make it

But maybe there's no making it now

Too long we've been denying

Now we're both tired of trying

We hit a wall and we can't get over it

Nothing to relive, it's

Water under the bridge

You said it, I get it, I guess it is what it is

It only took Damon minutes to get to me after I hung up the phone. He got out of his car, worry etched on his face as he took in my appearance. The moment I locked eyes with him, I took in a sharp inhale and choked out a sob. At a speed too quick for me to register, he was suddenly right in front of me.

"What happened?" He demanded to know. "Whose blood is that?"

I just shook my head; my face wet with tears, and threw my arms around his neck. For a split second, he stiffened at the gesture, and then he wrapped his arms around me in return. I squeezed my eyes shut and buried my face in his shoulder, wishing I could block out the rest of the world.

"Hey, hey. It's okay. Whatever it is, we'll fix it." He tried to assure me.

Unable to calm my breathing, I felt myself getting dizzy and thought for sure that I would collapse if it weren't for Damon's arms gripping me tightly. I just wanted to sink into him. But I knew that we couldn't stay here in the middle of the street forever. At any second, Isobel could change her mind about giving me twenty-four hours, and come back and snap my neck.

"Lucy, you're scaring me." He pulled back just a little bit. "What's wrong?"

I looked up at him. "Is everyone at your house? They need to know."

He nodded. "Come on, let's go."

Keeping an arm around me, he led me to the passenger seat of his car and opened the door for me. In a daze, I got in and pulled the seatbelt around myself. Thankfully, Damon picked up on the fact that this wasn't the time for his usual driving antics, and drove a little less chaotic than usual as we made our way to his house.

Once at the Salvatore mansion, he opened the front door and motioned for me to be quiet. He took my hand and led me towards the steps.

"Why are we going upstairs?" I whispered. "Where is everyone?"

"They're in the library." Damon replied. "But you're going to give Elena and Stefan a heart attack if you walk in there looking like that."

Though I knew the way by now, I let him lead me towards his bedroom and into the bathroom. He grabbed a washcloth and ran it under water before handing it to me."

"Here." He said. "I'll be right back."

I stared in the mirror as I wiped Isobel's blood off of me. She really managed to make quite a mess, staining a good portion of my face, neck, and shirt. My shirt was ruined, and by the time I cleaned the blood off of my skin, the washcloth was as well. I had a strong suspicion that this wasn't the first item of Damon's that was ruined cleaning up blood.

Damon came back into the room and handed me a black shirt, turning around to let me change. Wordlessly, I slipped on the Henley and discarded my shirt and washcloth in the waste bin. I rolled up the sleeves on the shirt, throwing one last glance in the mirror. At least now I didn't look like I had just gone on a killing spree.

"Alright." I sighed. "Let's go."

Damon looped his arm around my shoulders, giving me a comforting squeeze as he did so. We walked into the library to find Stefan, Elena, and Bonnie all huddled together having an intense conversation that was too quiet for me to pick up on. I felt a slight pang in my chest at the sight of Bonnie. I got sent home while she was invited here? Sure, she was a witch, but Jeremy was my family. Plus, none of this would have happened if they had just let me come with them in the first place. Apparently, Ric had yet to arrive.

Stefan was the first to look up, no doubt his senses picking up on the sound of our footsteps, and he cleared his throat to alert the others to our presence. Elena and Bonnie both looked over, their brows immediately scrunching at the sight of Damon and I together.

"Lucy?" Elena was clearly surprised to see me. "What are you doing here? Is everything okay?"

I shook my head. "Isobel."

"Isobel what? You heard from Isobel? Did she say anything about Jeremy?" Elena immediately bombarded me with questions at the mention of Isobel.

"Isobel was at my house. When I got home." I said. "She compelled my mom and she-"

"Isobel was in your house?" Damon's head snapped towards Stefan. "Tell me you didn't just leave her alone knowing we have a murderous no-humanity vampire on the loose."

"We were a little preoccupied with the fact that she just kidnapped Jeremy." Stefan shot back. "Which you would know, if you picked up the phone."

"Next time send an email." Damon leered at Stefan.

"Would you two stop for two seconds?" Elena snapped. "Lucy, what did Isobel want?"

"Well, when I saw her I ran out of the house, hoping to get her away from my mom . . ." I could feel tears starting to form in my eyes again at the memory of Isobel's threat. "She wants the device by tomorrow, or else . . . or else . . ."

"Or else what?" Elena pressed me to continue, despite me being rather choked up with tears.

"No." Damon sounded, and I knew that he had connected the dots. "Tell me she didn't."

I nodded. "She did."

Three confused pairs of eyes watched us as we had this exchange. Only Damon had been there to see the blood on my face; the rest of them were fully in the dark.

Of course, Elena was the first to break the silence. "What did she do?"

"She fed me her blood." I practically whispered. "She threatened to turn me into a vampire."

Elena and Bonnie both gasped; it was the first noise I had heard from Bonnie. As the two other humans in the room, they fully understood the gravity of the threat, and what I had to lose.

"Lucy, what exactly did she say to you?" Damon practically growled.

"She said you have 24 hours to give her the device, or she'll snap my neck. Because she believes in killing the messenger." I recited Isobel's words before choking out another sob.

"God DAMNIT." Damon yelled.

He turned away and drove his fist towards the nearest wall, which just happened to be a wall of books. With a loud crack as he broke one of the shelves, dozens of books came tumbling to the ground.

"God that little . . ." Damon fumed. "I am going to kill her. I swear to god I will kill her."

"Brother." Stefan warned, no doubt wishing to stop Damon before he destroyed their entire home in his rage.

"What are we going to do?" I asked, as Damon resumed his position by my side, his chest still rapidly rising and falling with rage. "We can't kill Isobel."

Everyone gave me a questioning look, to which Elena filled in for me. "Ric. We can't kill Isobel because of Ric. We have to give her the device. It's the only option."

"Absolutely not." Damon replied to that notion.

"Just hear me out-" Elena tried to reason with him before he cut her off.

"I'm not gonna give the device to Isobel, so she can give it to John, who's going to turn around and kill me." Damon remained firm in his stance. "I like being a living dead person."

"But it'll be useless. Bonnie can take the power away." Elena explained.

So that's why Bonnie's witchy presence was required. They had come up with a way to render the device useless, making it safe to hand over to Isobel. Though I strongly doubted that once she and John realized it didn't work that they would just give up and peacefully leave town, it was a solution that could buy us time.

"I don't trust her." Damon glared at Bonnie.

"I can remove the original spell." Bonnie crossed her arms and spoke to Damon with a defiance that was shocking coming from a person who I gathered to typically be rather quiet.

Elena nodded. "John and Isobel will never know."

Damon pressed his lips into a firm line for just a second, as if he was actually considering the proposition, and then shook his head. "No. No, I'll get Jeremy my own way, and we'll guard Lucy until the blood is out of her system."

"Really? How are you gonna do that, hm?" Stefan interjected. "Because Isobel is a vampire, and Jeremy could be dead the second you walk in the door."

"And even if you do get Jeremy out safely, then what? She's been invited in; my house isn't safe. You two can't guard me forever." I put my hand on his arm. "Please, Damon. You know this is our best option right now."

Damon exhaled and looked to Bonnie, his brow twitching ever so slightly. "Are you even up for this? I mean no offense; you're no Emily Bennett. Emily knew what she was doing."

"I've been practicing." Bonnie glared at him, understandably offended by his implications.

"It's not piano lessons, honey." Damon snapped.

"What's your favorite book?" Bonnie demanded as she paced over to him, assuming a stand off position.

Damon rolled his eyes. "What?"

"Name a book. Any book." She replied.

"Name a book? How about . . . "Call of the Wild", Jack London." Damon entertained her request.

Bonnie gave Damon one more stony glare before turning away from him and closing her eyes in concentration. From the pile of books that Damon had knocked over, a leather bound book flew towards him. Barely even glancing at it, Damon reached out to catch it.

"Jack London." He examined the cover. "Great parlor trick."

"We're doing this, Damon." Elena snapped at him. "And we're doing it my way. Now give me the device. We're wasting time."

"I don't trust you." Damon addressed Bonnie. "I tried to kill you."

Wait, what? Damon tried to kill Bonnie? Clearly, this had happened before I arrived in town. But why? It was apparent that vampires and witches had some deep rooted bad blood, but Bonnie didn't seem like the type of person who could warrant anger, even from Damon. More importantly, why had no one told me about this?

"Hmm, you're right. You can't trust me." Bonnie agreed.

"But you can trust me." Elena mustered an expression towards Damon that was so affectionate it made my blood boil. "Please. If not for Jeremy and me, do it for Lucy. You know this is the best option."

Damon searched Elena's face for the slightest intimation that she was lying to him. She remained wide-eyed, subtly batting her eyelashes. I couldn't believe that she was attempting to use her resemblance to Katherine to sway Damon, especially in front of Stefan. I looked to Stefan, who had the same concern etched on his face at the interaction between his brother and his girlfriend. Sensing my gaze, he looked to me and we had a silent exchange. It was the first interaction I had with Stefan that didn't leave me churning with discomfort since that night in the woods.

With a pained expression on his face, Damon reached into his pocket and pressed the small metal device into Elena's outstretched palm. I didn't miss that he gave her hand a slight squeeze as he did so, and I was sure that Stefan didn't either.

"Thank you." Elena's voice was so strained it was barely more audible than a whisper.

Damon's gaze on her never faltered, though his jaw became tenser and his eyes turned a bit steely. He didn't reply, and instead turned away from her. For a moment, I thought that he was going to storm out of the room, but he just stood behind me, almost as if using me as a shield between him and Elena.

"Okay." Bonnie took the liberty of breaking the more than awkward silence. "Let's get started."

Elena snapped out of her staring contest with Damon. "What do you need from us?"

"Candles." Bonnie said, before shooting another wary glance at Damon. "And quiet."

"Damon, why don't you go get some candles for Bonnie?" Stefan instructed Damon before he could come up with a snarky response to Bonnie.

"Fine. Someone call the teacher. We'll need him to arrange a meeting with Isobel." Damon practically spat her name out as he turned to leave the room.

"He's already on the way here." Stefan called after Damon.

Bonnie began shuffling through a rather old looking book that I assumed had some instructions for how to remove the spell. I took the little intermission as an opportunity to plop myself down on the couch. To say it had been a long day would be an understatement. It seemed that I'd had a lot of long days here in Mystic Falls. Stefan followed me to the couch, and sat in the little space that I had left open. Odd, he's been pretty respectful about leaving me my space.

"Lucy, I can't apologize to you enough," He began. "Damon was right, I should have made sure you got inside safely. This shouldn't have happened."

I sighed. "It's not your fault, Stefan. You guys were focused on Jeremy. We all were."

As I spoke, I realized that I really did mean what I was saying. It would be so easy to blame Stefan for not being there to protect me from Isobel, but as much discomfort as I felt towards Stefan, I couldn't bring myself to be angry with him for something that wasn't his fault. There was no denying that there was a giant ice block between us, but I could feel it slowly chipping away.

"That's no excuse." Elena sat on the arm of the sofa next to me. "We should have also been thinking of you. You're family too."

"It's okay, really." I actually managed to smile a bit, mostly at Elena's inclusion of me as her family. "We're fixing it. Thanks to Bonnie."

Bonnie glanced up for just a moment from her book to shoot us something that resembled a smile. This was the second time she was using her witch powers to save my life, and I barely even knew her. I hoped now that the rift between her and Elena had passed that I would get the chance to know her better. She had already proven herself to be an amazing friend; I could only hope to return the favor.

"It's not okay." Elena shook her head. "None of this is okay."

"Well, obviously." I replied dryly. "But none of us could have expected Isobel to be at my house. I sure didn't."

"We should have. She made a point to say that she would catch up with you later while we were at school." Elena reminded me.

"Yeah, that didn't make any sense to me." I commented. "She seemed so offended that John didn't tell her I was in town, but why the hell would she even care?"

"Am I the only one around here who has the ability to put two and two together?" Damon questioned as he strolled back into the room, holding the candles that Bonnie had requested.

"What are you talking about?" Elena asked, already appearing exasperated at his presence.

"Isobel. Hello?" He replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "She dated John when she was fifteen. She gets pregnant and ends up at the doctor's office of John's brother. Now what do you think John's role is in all of this, huh? I mean, go ahead, think about it. I'll wait."

I stared blankly at him. I didn't even have to look at Stefan and Elena to know that their expression matched mine. I wasn't stupid; I knew what Damon was implying. I just couldn't believe that he was suggesting it in such a tactless way.

"You get it? You there yet?" Damon pressed.

"So you think that John is Elena's father?" Stefan took the burden of answering him.

Damon's face formed a wicked grin. "Ding ding ding."

"What proof do you have?" Stefan frowned.

"I don't need the proof. That's a DNA test for John, Elena, and Maury Povich." Damon retorted.

"But that's not possible." Elena said. "John is Lucy's dad."

Damon raised an eyebrow. "Isn't it possible?"

"So you're saying. . ." Elena pondered his statement. "You think that Lucy and I are sisters."

"Not just sisters." I shook my head. "Twins."

"That's not possible." Elena repeated.

As much as I wanted to agree with her, I had to entertain the possibility. We were both adopted. Elena didn't know who her birth father was. John refused to tell me who my birth mother was. What if it was true? What if that was the reason Elena and I had formed a near instantaneous friendship upon meeting? If that was why I could never stay mad at her? If that was why Damon said I too, reminded him of Katherine?

"Elena," I spoke cautiously. "When is your birthday?"

"June twenty second." She answered. "When is yours?"

"June twenty second." I whispered.

How was this possible? How could we have missed this? In the short time that I had known Elena, so much had happened that I felt so bonded to her. I hadn't realized that I didn't even know her birthday.

As shocking as it was, deep down it all made sense. John's shared sentiment towards Elena and I now made sense. The fact that he wanted us to leave Mystic Falls made sense. My bond with Elena made sense.

Yet, I was left with so many new questions. Why were Elena and I separated at birth? Did my parents know about her? I couldn't accept that my parents allowed me to be separated from my twin, but the likelihood that they did was very high. The worst question of all though, was why Isobel would be willing to turn her own daughter into a vampire, just for some old device?

"So it's true." Elena stared blankly at the floor. "You and I are twins. Isobel's your mom too."

I just nodded in reply. I knew she must have been struggling to process this as well. She hated John, and I was beginning to despise him more and more by the second. What gave him the right to keep the fact that Isobel was my mother a secret from me? That Elena was my twin sister?

Damon cleared his throat, and I looked up to see him uncomfortable looking across the room. I followed his eyes to see . . . Ric. Shit. His face was sheet white, and understandably so. He'd just walked in on a conversation that revealed that he has not one, but two step-daughters that his vampire ex-wife had kept a secret from him. That sentence alone was a lot to process.

"Hi. Um . . . the door was unlocked . . ." He mumbled awkwardly. "If this is a bad time I can come back . . ."

"No, you're here at a great time." Bonnie answered while deliberately avoiding eye contact with Elena and I. "We were just about to get started."

"You should really learn to knock, brother." Damon was still grimacing, but his voice was laden with sarcasm.

I glared at him. This wasn't the time for cracking jokes. He knew that Ric was coming over, too, and still thought that this was the best time to bring up his theory on Elena and I. To say that I was pissed at him for how he brought that up would be a massive understatement. Damon was always there for me, and I trusted him more than anyone in the room, barring maybe Elena, but god, he could be an ass.

"The lights, Damon." Bonnie instructed.

Knowing that there was a plethora of things that would need to be discussed later, we all gathered around to turn our attention to Bonnie. After looking at the book in front of her, Bonnie took a metal disc out of a small compact, and set it on the table.

Bonnie held her hands out, and the disc began to levitate. This was my first time witnessing her magic in a fully conscious state, and I was awestruck. Bonnie closed her eyes in concentration, and the lights in the room all began to flicker. The flames in the fireplace behind her shot up so high that I could feel the heat from them, even from my position over five feet away. As Bonnie opened her eyes, the lights went back to normal and the disc fell back onto the table.

"Done." Bonnie said, as casually as if she had just finished a glass of water. "Can I go now?"

"You can, but you don't have to." Elena replied.

Bonnie looked between Damon and Stefan. "Yeah, I'm gonna go."

She left the room so quickly I wasn't sure if she even heard the "thank yous" that Elena and I called after her. If she did, she sure didn't acknowledge it.

"Great." Damon rolled her eyes, knowing that his vampiric presence was the reason that Bonnie didn't want to stay. "Now what?"

Elena picked up the disc, eyeing it carefully as if looking for some intimation that it no longer worked. "Now we give it to Isobel."

Damon turned to Ric with a sardonic grin on his face. "Hey buddy, how do you feel about giving your ex wife a call?"

"Would anyone mind explaining to me what the hell is going on?" Ric asked.

"Isobel kidnapped Jeremy, and force fed Lucy her blood with the promise of killing them both if she doesn't get what she wants. So we're going to give it to her. Only, it's not what she wants because witchy did her witchy-woo and now it no longer works. It's quite riveting, really. Call her." Damon's eyes narrowed; he was clearly getting impatient.

"Fine." Ric finally agreed, and pulled out his phone. "Isobel? I'm with Elena. She has something for you. Mhmm. Ok."

He hung up, and looked at Elena. "Half an hour. Town Square."

"Great." Damon clapped his hands together. "Field trip. Everybody, let's go."

I recoiled at his suggestion. "I am not going."

Damon frowned. "Don't be ridiculous. Of course you are."

I crossed my arms. "I don't want to see Isobel."

"It's the safest place for you. Stefan and I will be there, she can't hurt you." Damon tried to argue with me. "You can't go home; if she changes her mind, she's already been invited in. You definitely can't stay here; anyone can come in."

"You can come with me, Lucy." Ric offered. "I sure as hell don't want to see Isobel either."

Damon opened his mouth to protest, but paused when he saw my glare. Though he was more than capable of throwing me over his shoulder and forcing me to come with him, he was smart enough to know that that wouldn't benefit anybody. From what I gathered, there was no one that knew how to fight a vampire better than Ric. I'd definitely be safe at his apartment.

"We'll pick you up as soon as we're done." The way that Damon spoke indicated that it was non-negotiable.

"You should spend the night at my house tonight." Elena said. "You know, just in case."

Just in case Isobel realizes we tricked her and decides to come snap my neck. Yeah, that was probably a good idea. When I met Elena's eye to nod in agreement, I knew that wasn't all there was to it. We definitely needed to have a talk about our newfound sisterhood.

"Right." Ric cleared his throat. "We should all get going then."

We all went to the front of the Salvatore manor, where Elena and Ric's cars were parked. I gave Elena one last apologetic look as I got into Ric's white SUV. I felt kind of bad that I was leaving her to face Isobel alone, but the feeling of dread I felt at the mere thought of seeing Isobel again outweighed the feeling of guilt.

As Ric opened the door to get in his car, Damon put a hand on his shoulder, and gave him a very warning glare. "If anything happens to her . . ."

"I'll be fine, Damon. You'll be with the real danger." I cut him off and forced a smile. "I'll see you guys in a little bit."

The drive was understandably awkward. I highly doubted that babysitting a student who had vampire blood in her system was on Ric's desired agenda for the evening. Though at this point, I barely thought of him as a teacher. Not only was he tangled up in this world of supernatural conflict, but he also had significant ties to my birth mother.

"So," I finally broke the silence. "I guess you're kind of my biological step dad, huh."

He raised an eyebrow. "You do realize that's a massive oxymoron, right?"

"What are you an English teacher now too?" I rolled my eyes. "You know what I mean."

"Yeah, Isobel never told me she had a daughter, let alone two." He sighed. "But apparently she never told me a lot of things."

"Hey, not knowing about our existence does not excuse being an absent step father. Don't expect anything from me on Father's Day." I fully intended on sending him a Happy Father's Day balloon.

"Really? You're joking about this?" He tried to sound angry, but I could tell that he was fighting the urge to smile.

"Oh come on, you've got to admit it's kind of funny." I prodded. "Plus it's better than sitting around moping about how awful Isobel is."

"She left me to turn into a vampire. I'm allowed to mope." He defended.

"She threatened to kill me and turn me into one." I shot back.

"Ok, you win that one." He agreed. "Alright, we're here."

He pulled into the lot of a small apartment building, and stopped to get a duffel bag out of the backseat before heading inside. I followed him up to the second floor and into his apartment, number nine. The apartment itself was cozy, with an air of rustic charm to it. If it were in Brooklyn, the exposed brick and hardwood floor would have been intentional (and expensive) style choices. But I had a feeling that this was just the way the building was originally designed.

I plopped down on the couch and gave him a devilish grin. "So, dad. What do you wanna do?"

"Absolutely not." Ric gave me a stern glance. "I know you think this is funny, but you're not calling me dad."

"Ok, fine, Richard." I smirked.

He shook his head. "Alaric. Ric. Mr. Saltzman when we're in class. Pick one."

With an exasperated sigh, Ric tossed his bag on the couch next to me, where it landed with a clank, before heading towards the kitchen and pulling a bottle out of the cabinet. I had to smile at his drink of choice, bourbon. It further solidified my theory that he and Damon would become best of friends.

"Can I get you anything to drink? Water? Or . . ." He trailed off, eyeing the bottle in his hand. " . . . Water?"

I laughed at the implication that Ric only had water and whiskey in his apartment. "Water's fine, thanks."

He sauntered back over to hand me a glass of water, and opened the duffel bag on the couch. I had to stifle a gasp when I saw what was inside. The bag was full of weapons; weapons that I could only assume were made to be used against vampires. I recognized a crossbow, and a plethora of wooden stakes, but some of the things, like a glass jar full of clear liquid, I had never seen before in my life.

"Damn." I let out a low whistle. "I knew you could take a vampire, but you bring a whole new meaning to the phrase packing heat."

Ric grimaced. "Yeah well, when I get a call from Stefan saying there's trouble, I figure I'd better come prepared."

"Do you think you could . . ." I hesitated for a moment. "Do you think you could teach me how to use some of this stuff?"

He gave me an incredulous look. "Look . . . if you're looking for some sort of weird step dad bonding . . . I'm really not the guy for that. I'm sorry."

"No, no it's not that." I shook my head, fighting back a smirk at the awkwardness. "It's just . . . what happened today . . . I don't want it to happen again. Damon and Stefan can't always be around to protect me. More importantly, I don't want to need to be protected."

He nodded slowly. "I am sorry about what Isobel did to you. But are you sure this is what you want? Killing a vampire . . . well, they're still a living dead thing. It sticks with you."

So Ric definitely has killed a vampire, or maybe even multiple vampires. The hollow look in his eyes was haunting, not that I could blame him. If it came down to it, I wasn't sure I would be able to kill Isobel, especially not after what I learned today. But that didn't mean I was okay with letting her kill me, either.

"Not kill. I mean, not unless I absolutely had to. I just want to be able to put up a fight." I reasoned.

He sighed in resignation. "I suppose that's fair. But it's been a long day, and you're safe for now. So let's save this for another time."

I smiled and nodded, knowing that I had gotten my way. I knew that Ric wasn't trying to put me off; he knew that I wouldn't forget his promise and would keep pushing until he kept it. He unlocked a closet door to reveal an even larger arsenal of weapons, and began to put away everything that was in the bag.

"Could you at least tell me what some of this stuff is?" I requested, as I watched with intense curiosity.

Ric hesitated for a moment, before holding up each item as he put it away. "Wooden stake . . . self explanatory. I have a few different things that can fire stakes as well. Vervain darts . . . really useful for slowing down a vampire. Vervain grenades . . . these will pretty much take out any vampire long enough for you to get away or stake them."

"Vervain grenades?" I stared at the little glass jars he was holding up. "Where did you get all of this stuff?"

"I made most of it." He replied. "Can't exactly walk into Wal-Mart and ask for weapons to kill a vampire."

"You made it? Damn Ric, you're kind of badass." I smiled.

"I did what I had to do." He shut and locked the closet door. "How are you feeling?"

I shrugged. "Worried, mostly."

"About Isobel coming back?" He asked, sitting down next to me on the couch.

"More about Elena seeing Isobel." I admitted.

"Elena will be fine. She has Stefan and Damon with her. Those boys are a force to be reckoned with." Ric assured me.

I nodded, knowing he was right. Still, I wished that time would pass just a little faster. I just wanted to know that Elena and Jeremy were safe, and be able to talk to Elena about everything that happened today. Sensing that I was still uneasy, Ric turned on the TV and handed me a throw blanket.

"Take it easy." He instructed. "They'll be here soon."

I curled up in the corner of the couch, and turned my attention to The Office. It wasn't my favorite show, but it was lighthearted and easy to watch, which is exactly what I needed. Despite everything weighing on my mind, I actually started to doze off at one point. The moment I heard a knock on the door, I snapped out of my slumber and jolted upright.

"Lucy! Wait! What if it's not them?" Ric tried to slow me as I ran to the door.

I ignored him, and flung the door open to see Elena, Stefan, and Damon standing there. I immediately attacked Elena with a hug that she returned with slightly less vigor. Looking over Elena's shoulder, I noticed that Stefan and Damon both looked rather uncomfortable.

"What's wrong?" I asked, pulling back from Elena. "Is Jeremy okay?"

"Jeremy's home. He's safe." Elena quickly assuaged my fears. "Nothing's wrong. Isobel is just . . . unpleasant. Sorry, Ric."

I turned around to see that Ric had caught up with me. He gave a nod and a forced smile that looked more like a grimace to the boys. Damon stepped into the apartment, and I felt a little bit of warmth at the fact that Ric had previously invited him in.

"Thanks for keeping her alive, brother." Damon clapped Ric on the shoulder. "Great choice, letting her answer the door alone."

"I knew it was you guys." I tapped my forehead. "Twintuition."

Ric looked at me and shook his head. "You are something else, kid."

"We should really get going." Elena ignored my comment. "I have a lot of explaining to do to Jeremy when I get home."

"Right." I looked at Damon. "You coming?"

Damon's eyes scanned the room, landing on the bottle of bourbon that Ric left on the counter. "Pass. I think I'll have a drink or two with my buddy here."

"Did I invite you?" Ric raised an eyebrow.

Damon held his arms out. "Vampire invitations are non-rescindable. I can come over any time I please."

I rolled my eyes, knowing that Damon was likely avoiding a conversation with me about the bomb that he dropped earlier. It looked like it would just be Stefan, Elena, and me. That shouldn't be awkward at all.

"Right. Enjoy your boys night then." I gave them a little wave. "Thanks for your help, Ric. I'll see you at Founder's Day, I'm sure."

With one last pleading glance; Ric closed the door on us. I was glad that the two were hanging out, even if it was just an act of avoidance on Damon's end. They both needed friends; they just had to get over the whole "Damon turned Ric's wife into a vampire" thing.

I trailed behind Stefan and Elena as I followed them to the car. They were quiet, and it wasn't a comfortable silence. I climbed into the backseat of Elena's car, wondering what exactly had happened with Isobel. The second that we pulled up in front of Elena's house, she unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the car door.

"I have to talk to Jeremy." She explained before darting into the house.

I sat in shock for a moment before getting out of the car and hoping into the front seat. Stefan's brow furrowed as he looked at me in confusion. Normally I would be running after Elena, avoiding any time alone with him.

"Time for a chat. Is everything okay with you guys?" I asked, knowing full well that something was up.

"Everything's fine. Why wouldn't it be?" Stefan countered.

"Come on Stefan. We were both there earlier. We both saw Elena . . ." I shifted uncomfortably, not really sure what exactly we saw. "We saw how weird it was when Elena was trying to get Damon to give her the device."

Stefan sighed, recalling the moment for a second before speaking. "Elena wanted the device for you and Jeremy's safety. She was willing to play up the fact that she looks like Katherine to get it."

"Yeah, but doesn't that worry you?" I questioned.

He shrugged. "It did for a moment. But not anymore."

"Why not?" I was puzzled at his nonchalance.

"Just something that Isobel said that made me reconsider things." He replied, as if I would leave it at that.

"What did she say?" I pried.

Stefan looked at the house as if he forgot that Elena was a human who couldn't hear our conversation. "You should really be having this conversation with Elena."

"Maybe I should be." I replied. "But I'm having it with you."

He pondered that for a moment, no doubt realizing how significant it was that I was sitting alone in a car talking with him after everything that had happened between us. I had the same realization. I wouldn't go so far as to say that no part of me was scared of him, but I fully trusted that he wasn't going to attack me while we sat outside of Elena's house.

"She said that Damon's in love with you." Stefan finally said.

"What? Damon's not in love with me." I immediately shut him down.

That just wasn't possible. I mean he cared about me, obviously. He had shown as much on multiple occasions, including today. He could be incessantly flirtatious, but he was like that with everyone. That was just part of his suave mannerisms. It was so obvious that he was still in love with Katherine. Even after a century and a half, his entire world still revolved around her.

"Think about it, Lucy." Stefan implored. "He doesn't even pick up the phone when I call, but when you need him he's there. He only handed the device over when you were in danger."

"But when Elena-"

"When Elena asked him for the device he saw that she was willing to do anything to protect you and Jeremy, and he realized that he was willing to do the same for you." Stefan cut me off.

"He told you that?" I asked.

Stefan shook his head. "He didn't need to. I know my brother. I know it looked like . . . something else. But I could tell by his face when Isobel said it that it was true. It makes everything else make sense."

"So that's why he's avoiding us tonight." I deduced. "Because of what Isobel said."

He nodded. "I think he thought he was doing a better job at hiding it. He definitely didn't want any of us to know."

That much was obvious to me. I already knew that he didn't want any shred of his humanity to show to anyone. Everything else though . . . that was going to take a minute or two to process.

"Then why is Elena being so weird?" I left the if she doesn't have feelings for Damon off of the question.

"It's been a long day for her." Stefan offered. "For you too. You've both had a lot thrown at you; I don't know how you're handling it so well."

"I wouldn't exactly call breaking down crying multiple times 'handling it well', Stefan." I joked.

"Ok, that's fair." He let out a small chuckle. "You should really get inside, though. You two have a lot to talk about."

"You're right." I agreed. "You're not so bad, Stefan. You know, when you're not being a bloodthirsty monster."

He grimaced at my attempt at a joke. "I'll be here if you need me."

I knew that the "here" was quite literal. He would definitely be keeping a watch over us all night, with everything that had happened today. For a brief moment, I worried about my parents being alone in a house that Isobel had been invited into, but I pushed those thoughts aside. Even if she somehow figured out the device didn't work tonight, I doubted they would be the first people she came after.

I walked into the house, making sure to lock the door behind me. No one was downstairs, which I was more than thankful for. I definitely wasn't ready to talk to John if he was still lurking around. I could tell from the hushed voices behind Jeremy's door that Elena was still in there talking to him, so I decided to get in the shower.

It felt so nice to finally wash the day off of me. Even though I washed all of the blood off of me much earlier, I still felt disgusting. Plus, I needed the alone time to think about what Stefan had told me.

Even if what Isobel said was true, I didn't know what to do with this information. Damon was . . . well, Damon. He was the person I called when I needed someone today. I felt safe with him, always. And I could have fun with him, when the world wasn't falling apart around us. There was no denying the draw I felt towards him.

But even if it was true, if he did love me, I wasn't sure if I could be with him. It would be so complicated. He was a vampire. I'm seventeen, and I fully intend to turn eighteen, nineteen, and twenty . . . eventually I would catch up with him. Life would catch up to me. I felt safe in his arms, but letting myself love him felt like it would be the most dangerous thing in the world.

None of that mattered for now. He hadn't said anything to me, and I was sure that Stefan wouldn't tell him about our conversation. So I could ignore it, and pretend that everything was normal. Well, as normal as friendship with a vampire could be.

When I got out of the shower I shrugged back into the shirt Damon had given me, and the sweatpants I had taken from Elena's dresser. She was sitting on her bed, still looking rather forlorn.

"Hey." I sat next to her. "How's Jeremy?"

"He's pretty mad at me. For a lot of things. But he's fine." She sighed. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine, I guess." I shrugged. "I want to tell Jeremy. That we're twins. If he's my brother, I want him to know."

"You're right." She agreed, much to my surprise. "He deserves to know. But I want to talk to John first, make sure it's true. I don't want to confuse him."

"Do you think it's not true?" I asked.

"It's not that I don't think it's true. There's just been so many lies . . . I just want to hear the truth straight from John." She explained.

"If he even tells us the truth." I scoffed.

"Yeah. Our parents kind of suck." Elena laughed.

"Our parents." I echoed. "Kind of weird, huh."

"As weird as it is . . . it kind of makes sense." She reasoned. "I mean, we became friends so quickly. I've known Bonnie and Caroline for as long as I can remember, but the second you come into my life it felt like I've known you just as long."

"Yeah, that part does make sense." I smiled, glad that she felt the same bond that I felt towards her.

"But?" She pried.

"I just can't believe I have a twin that I was adopted without." I said. "Like, I refuse to believe that my parents knew about you and didn't adopt you. But how could they have not known?"

"I feel the same way. Are you going to talk to them about it?" She asked, and I was hit with the realization that she would never get to talk to her parents about her adoption.

"Maybe." I shrugged. "I don't know. If they really didn't know about you, they're going to be absolutely furious. I don't want to bring that upon anyone, even John."

"We'll get answers. I promise." She assured me. "But we should go to bed. Today's been way too much, and tomorrow's not going to be much easier."

"What, not excited for Founder's Day?" I teased as I pulled the covers over myself.

She groaned. "Caroline has me wearing this costume that I can't even breathe in for the float. I love her, but we have very different taste."

"Please, no Caroline talk before bed. I don't want any nightmares." I barely knew the steps for the cheer routine that I was supposed to be leading tomorrow.

Elena laughed. "Maybe we'll have fun. Goodnight, Lucy."

"Goodnight, mirror-me." I replied.

She laughed again. "You're ridiculous."

I was only trying to bury the pain

But I made you cry and

I can't stop the crying

Was only trying to save me but I lost you again