Ha, okay, so I fibbed. I know I said expect this Sept. 14th and no later, buttttt I don't think anyone would complain too much if I let this come out a tad early. I'm impatient and I really wanted to get it out so...yeah.

My lovelies, I present to you the sequel you've all been anticipating! Enjoy, you beautiful people!

3 Kathy~

Fave Song- Come Home by OneRepublic and Sara Bareilles

I sat quietly in the waiting room of the hospital, my knee involuntarily bouncing up and down as I awaited for a doctor or a nurse- someone to come give me some good news. Hopefully good, at least.

Shortly after Katherine's name popped in my mind on the stairs back at home, I immediately went to find her only to have my suspicions confirmed when I entered the kitchen just in time to see Katherine cut Uncle John's fingers off and stab him.

She escaped at vampire speed after seeing me and while I was tending to John and calling 911, Elena came home. She was horrified by what happened, of course, but pulled through it to go check on Jeremy in case Katherine hurt him too.

Thankfully, he was alright.

And that's how I ended up here. When the ambulance arrived at the house, Elena insisted I go with Uncle John as a hospital full of people would be safer to be in than the house where a malevolent vampire had been invited in. The only reason I agreed was because she had called Stefan, who arrived just as the ambulance were carting Uncle John out, and I really was worried about Uncle John.

Jerk or not, blood or not- he was still family.

Shortly after we arrived at the hospital and he was taken back by the doctors, Bonnie, Chastity, Olivia, and Matt found me and informed me that Matt, Tyler, and Caroline were in an accident. Apparently, Tyler lost control of the car after he heard a noise and apparently got a migraine. He and Matt were both fine, but Caroline…she didn't look good. And as curious as I was about why the Gilbert device- the noise I'm assuming Tyler heard- affected him, it wasn't the time to be asking questions about that.

"This is insane," Olivia huffed as she entered the waiting room again. "The least they could do is tell us if she's still alive."

"I think they would have told us otherwise if she wasn't," Chastity numbly pointed out. "Besides, if they're doing surgery, they can't exactly give us an update every ten minutes."

"What if she doesn't make it?" Bonnie suddenly whispered.

Olivia sent her a glare.

"That's a real optimistic thought," she snapped. "This is Caroline, here. The girl could be puking blood and she would still be able to plan three town festivals, five parties, and eight school dances. She's going to be fine."

Though her tone was firm and sharp, there was still an underlying fear of the possibility that Caroline wouldn't be alright in the end.

Chastity set a hand on my shoulder.

"How are you doing?" she asked me.

"Okay, considering," I sighed. "Uncle John is going to be fine. I already know that. Caroline…she's a fighter. She has to be okay."

"What even happened with your uncle?" Olivia asked then. "You said he was here but you never said how."

That's right. I never told them what happened after I got home. About Katherine, about her attacking Uncle John….about Damon.

What was I even supposed to say happened with Damon? Now that I have my head back, that whole situation just seemed completely insane!

He was in love with Elizabeth and he yet he almost kissed me? Why would he do that? Who was I to him, even? Was I Sam or was I just a perfect carbon copy replacement for Elizabeth?

I shook my head. My relationship with Damon should be the last thing I think about right now.

"He was stabbed. It's a long story," I answered shortly, hinting that it involved the supernatural and there was someone here who was unaware of that world and I wanted to keep it that way.

I looked over at Matt, whose eyes were glistening with unshed tears, and I set a hand on his shoulder.

"Caroline's gonna be fine," I assured him softly. "She's…she's strong. She'll make it through this, I mean…she has to."

He looked back at me and sniffled. "I hope so."

I was wrong.

Caroline's surgeon told her mother, who then told us, that Caroline was weak and that, essentially, they weren't sure she was going to make it.

Bonnie was despaired by the news and though I wanted to cry enough to make a lake, I wrapped my arms around her to comfort her.

It was like a slap to the face hearing that Caroline might not make it. The heavy, sick possibility- one that I had rejected as an option since I heard she was here in the first place- that we may actually lose Caroline tonight had forced its way in.

Shortly after we got the news, Elena arrived and was equally shocked and devastated by Caroline's condition.

"Is there something that one of you can do?" she asked Bonnie and Chastity pleadingly. "Like a spell or something?"

Before either got a chance to answer, a new voice cut in.

"They don't know how," Damon spoke as he walked up to our group. "Do you?"

"No," Chastity confirmed shortly.

"I don't," Bonnie said begrudgingly.

Damon, who was unsurprised by their responses, came to a stop right beside me as he looked at the two.

"No, you don't. Because it took Emily years to learn a spell like that and even if Rapunzel here did know it, she still most likely wouldn't have enough witch juice to execute it the right way."

Chastity glared at Damon, but didn't say anything to argue.

"Oh, well, we can both take down a vampire. That spell was easy to learn," Bonnie countered.

Damon turned from Bonnie and Chastity's glares to me.

"I can give Caroline some blood," he said lowly so no one near would overhear.

I narrowed my eyebrows in thought.

"Is that a good idea?" I asked worriedly.

"No. No way," Elena shot down at the same time, shaking her head firmly.

"Just enough to heal her. She'll be safe in the hospital and it'll be out of her system in a day. She'll be better," Damon appealed to Elena.

"It's too risky," Elena argued. "I can't agree to that."

"Well, I wasn't really asking for your permission," Damon retorted.

He looked back to me, his eyes showing concern and the genuine desire to help.

I bit my lip thoughtfully. If he gave Caroline some of his blood, she would be healed. It would be a guarantee that she would be okay and make a full recovery. On the down side, if something happened in the twenty-four hours the blood was in her system…she'd be in transition and would be forced to choose between dying and becoming a vampire…

Then again, this was Caroline. As selfish as it was, I would rather let her make that choice than lose her for good.

"Do it," Bonnie said before I could say anything.

Damon, Elena, and I looked over at her in surprise.

"This is Caroline," Bonnie explained to Elena and I. "Ok? We can't let her die."

"We can take the risk," Chastity added. "It's no secret I'm not the girl's biggest fan, but I don't want her dead. So do it, Damon."

Damon shifted his eyes back to me for confirmation. I wasted no time and nodded to him.

I already trusted Damon with giving Caroline his blood. Bonnie and Chastity doing the same was just the nail in the coffin.

"If I do this, you two and me, call a truce," Damon asked said girls with some distaste and a small smirk.

"No way in hell," Chastity deadpanned.

"But you'll do it anyway," Bonnie stated confidently. "For Sam."

With that, she and Chastity left, leaving me in one of the most uncomfortable situations I've ever been in. One with my sister glaring daggers at the guy who earlier tonight kissed my cheek and almost kissed me.

I swallowed when I saw Damon look from where Bonnie was just standing to Elena.

"I know this is probably the last thing you want to do right now, but we should talk about what happened tonight," Damon said to her.

"Yeah, one of the tomb vampires got into the house and almost killed John!" she replied.

Tomb vampires? Oh right, she didn't know!

"What? What- when? What are you talking about, after I left?" Damon asked with a scrunched face.

Elena furrowed her eyebrows, clearly not knowing what he was talking about.

"You were there?" Elena asked, glancing at me from the corner of her eye.

I sighed.

"Guys…let's find a more private area. I have a couple things I should have told you earlier," I finally said.

They just wouldn't be fun to say. Especially to Elena.

After I filled Elena and Damon in on the events that occurred at the house after I got there, including the fact that it was in fact Katherine that was posing as Elena when Damon and I almost kissed, Elena insisted we get back home to make sure everything was okay and, most likely, to talk more about the almost-kiss.

Upon entering the house, the first thing I saw was Stefan pushing himself off the ground on to his feet as Damon, Elena, and I walked in.

"Stefan?" Elena said concerned.

"Elena," Stefan said back examining her closely. He looked over at me. "Sam…"

I looked around the living room, noticing how a couple picture frames were knocked over and the coffee table was tipped to the side, before I returned my gaze back to Stefan.

"Are you okay?" I asked him.

He nodded in response while Elena stuttered.

"W-what happened?" she asked fearfully.

"Katherine happened," Damon answered after seeing the look on Stefan's face.

Elena looked horrified. I knew back at the hospital when I told her about Katherine returning, she was hoping there was a possibility that she heard wrong, that it was a dream.

In a way, it sort of was. A real-life dream.

A few minutes later, Elena went upstairs to tell Jeremy about Katherine being back in town. She insisted on going alone as she was sure he was angrier with her than me at the moment and she wanted to prove to him that she had no intentions of keeping anymore secrets from him. Considering I was the one who told him all about vampires and everything that had been happening at the time, I didn't argue with her.

"Did she say what she wanted?" Damon interrogated Stefan while Elena was upstairs.

"No," Stefan answered.

"Woman certainly knows how to make an entrance," Damon muttered.

"She said she fooled one of us at least," Stefan started. "What does that- what does that mean?"

I shifted on the stool I was sitting on uncomfortably while Damon eyed me for a moment before answering Stefan.

"She pretended to be Elena, too, when I showed up earlier tonight," he said.

Stefan's face turned suspicious and he glanced between Damon and I. I cleared my throat and looked down at the counter while Elena entered the room.

"I told Jeremy," she said. "Sam was right. We can't keep these kinds of things from him anymore."

"Is he alright?" I asked, standing up. "I should go talk to him-"

"No!" Elena quickly said. Then she calmed down cleared her throat. "No, he's fine. He just…needs to sleep."

I stared at her oddly for a moment. Why did she react that way? Was she…keeping something from me? Again?

"Are you alright?" Stefan asked, clearly trying to steer the topic on to something else other than Jeremy.

"No, I'm not alright," Elena answered honestly. "I thought that with all the tomb vampires gone, thing would get better."

"Things will get better," I promised her. "We just need to figure out why Katherine came back, find out what she wants."

One thing I really didn't understand is why she came back now. She took off on Pearl and Anna before, so why come back now? Was it because she heard about what happened to Pearl? Or Anna? Did she come back out of respect?

And had she been looking for Elizabeth? I didn't mention it before to Damon and Elena, but she did mistaken me for Elizabeth when she was here earlier and she said something about looking for her for a long time. Was that the reason why she left in the first place? To go find her sister?

"Katherine was in this house," Elena realized. "Sam said that Jenna accidentally invited her in when she thought she was me. What are we going to do?"

"Move," Damon suggested with a smile.

Elena gave him an annoyed look while I merely shook my head.

"Very helpful. Thank you," Elena sarcastically thanked.

"This may sound weird, but I don't think we have as much to worry about as you may think," I spoke up. Elena looked at me like she thought I was loosing my grip on reality. "Look, she was here. She had an opportunity to kill me and she didn't. She could have killed you when you came home, but she didn't. I feel like if she really wanted us dead…then we'd be dead by now."

"She has a point," Damon agreed. "Katherine wants you dead, there's zero you can do about it, you would be dead. But you're not. So clearly she has other plans."

Elena sat down, realizing that Damon and I were right, while Stefan stood behind the chair she sat on.

"Right, and we need to find out what those plans are without provoking her in the process," he said pointedly eyeing Damon. "What happened tonight you thought she was Elena?"

I bit my lip while Damon gave his trademark smirk while Stefan and Elena looked back at him suspiciously and curiously, respectively.

"To risk another…frown line encroaching on a very crowded forehead, Sam and I…kissed."

My head snapped to him in shock and my jaw dropped. Why would he tell our siblings that we kissed?!

"What do you mean you kissed?" Stefan questioned dangerously, his eyes never wavering from Damon.

"Well, you know, when two lips pucker and they go-"

Damon, who was having far too much fun messing with Stefan, puckered his lips and made loud kissing noises, only to stop shortly after he started when Stefan snapped and blurred toward Damon. Damon was able to dodge him and speed away, now standing where Stefan once stood while Stefan stood beside me.

"Oh come on, Stefan," Damon lightly said. "No need to go protective daddy-big brother mode."

I hastily moved in between the brothers when Stefan started toward Damon again.

"We didn't actually kiss!" I quickly told him. "Okay? It was just…a peck on the cheek and that was it."

"Well, I would have kissed her if Katherine didn't come when she did."

"Damon," I sighed.

"I don't like it anymore than you do, Stefan," Elena spoke up, eyeing Damon coldly. "I don't trust Damon at all with Sam, but we don't have time for this."

"Later," Stefan said in a way that didn't leave room for argument or questions.

I put my face in my hands and shut my eyes, knowing that Damon agreed to do whatever they were going to do later. I didn't want Damon and Stefan arguing, especially not if I was going to be the cause of it. It made me feel like…Elizabeth.

"Uncle John must know something," I started, desperate to change the topic and the atmosphere from my almost kiss with Damon. "There has to be a reason why Katherine tried to kill him."

"She's Katherine," Damon simply said. "She loves to play games, and you're fooling yourself if you think you're going to find out what she's up to before she wants you to know. Only thing I'd like to know is whether or not she brought her little sister with her when she breezed back in to town."

Stefan shook his head.

"I'm sure we would have seen Elizabeth by now if she was here," he said thoughtfully. "She would have done something to let us know she was here."

"I don't think Katherine even knows where she is," I said then. "Earlier she thought I was Elizabeth and asked what I was doing here."

"She thought you were Elizabeth?" Elena asked surprised, most likely over the fact that not even Katherine could tell the difference between her sister and me.

Although I had no room to talk. It took me a few minutes to realize Katherine wasn't Elena.

"For a second before she realized I was…me."

Elena bit her lip.

"Maybe you're right," she mused. "Maybe John does know something. If not himself, then through Isobel. She was in touch with Elizabeth."

"Maybe we can go to the hospital and talk," Stefan suggested.

I looked to Elena, ignoring Damon's eye roll at the suggestion.

"I think it should be you who goes," I told her. "Your his biological daughter. He may feel more obligated to give you answers."

Elena nodded in agreement.

"I've got a better idea," Damon said.

"What's that?" Elena pressed, not sounding entirely interested.

"I'm just gonna ignore the bitch. And if Mini Bitch pops up, I'm gonna ignore that one too," he replied. "See you."

"Is that smart?" Elena asked him.

"If Katherine thinks she's being ignored, it'll lure her out. She never handled being ignored well. She'll make a move."

"Yeah? And then what?" Stefan challenged, earning another smirk from Damon.

"Stake her, rip her head off- something poetic. We'll see."

He sent me a wink before taking his leave. As soon as he was gone, I ran a hand through my hair and sighed.

I hoped that all the dangers were gone. I hoped that everything would get easier after the tomb vampires left and everyone would be safe. But something told me that the tomb vampires were just the beginning.

The next day, I went with Stefan and Elena to the hospital, but I stayed away from Uncle John's room and instead opted to visit Caroline while Stefan and Elena went to Uncle John.

While I was worried about the man I grew up calling "uncle", I couldn't shake off our last interaction. The look of total and utter hate in his eyes as he talked about Stefan and Damon, how they should both be dead, and how he tried to convince me that Damon was a killer who shouldn't be trusted…it wouldn't go away.

Honestly, just knowing he was alive was enough for me. I didn't need to see him, if anything Elena did. I preferred to check on Caroline to make sure she was healing up alright, which she was, thankfully. I mostly focused on Caroline during that time, not realizing just how rattled I was from almost losing her until after I saw her glowing smile.

Only after Stefan and Elena came to get me after what I assumed was a not so nice visit with John did I allow myself to think about him and recall the last thing he said to me.

"All I can say is that I was asked to protect you."

Why? Did Uncle John's "protection" have anything to do with the vampires who'd been showing up and saving me up until that point? Was there a possibility that Katherine knew something about that?

I could wonder all I wanted. I knew getting answers would be extremely difficult, especially considering who had them, and I had other things to worry about first. Like my sister.

"So how did things go?" I asked once we were outside.

Elena groaned. "Not good. He's just…so full of hate and it made him so hard to talk to. I could barely stomach being in the same room as him for five minutes."

I gave her a sympathetic hug, wishing there was something I could do for her but instead I was tortured with the fact that I couldn't. Uncle John…John…was Elena's biological father and he was too preoccupied with hating Stefan and Damon and being absolutely disgusted with their existence to think of what Elena really needed and was asking from him.

"How did you leave things with John anyway?" she asked Stefan once I parted from her.

"I…I asked him to leave town."

"Asked?" I picked at his choice of words. Judging by the look on his face and the tone of his voice, he didn't ask John anything.

"I threatened him," Stefan caved.

"Good," Elena huffed, even though I wasn't entirely in agreement with her. I didn't agree with John's beliefs or actions, especially trying to kill Stefan and Damon, but I didn't want to threaten him either. Once again, he was still family. "I want him gone, Stefan. I know that I shouldn't feel that way, but I don't want someone like that in my life. Or Sam's or Jeremy's."

"I know. I know," Stefan nodded understandably.

Elena embraced him and took a deep breath while I wondered.

"What now?" I asked them.

Elena pulled away from Stefan and he looked down at me in determination.

"Now, I need to go find Damon," he answered.

I stiffened. "Stefan, please don't fight with him."

"He tried to kiss you, Sam, and not in the way that he really did," he argued. "I'm not okay with it and neither is Elena."

"I understand that you guys are concerned about my relationship with Damon, but that's not the problem right now," I sighed. "Katherine is. She's already messing with everyone's heads by going around pretending to be Elena."

"And Damon isn't stable when it comes to her or Elizabeth," Elena added.

"Right," I stiffly said unconvincingly. "We just…we have to focus on Katherine and figuring out why she's here. That means sticking together and not fighting with each other."

It took him a minute, but Stefan eventually relaxed and nodded, much to my relief. Katherine being here and potentially meaning harm to the people I cared about was problem enough. I didn't want a pair of feuding Salvatore brothers on the side.

"Looks like the whole town has turned up," Aunt Jenna observed as we walked up the lawn of the Lockwood mansion.

After we left the hospital, Elena and I went back to the house to pick Aunt Jenna and Jeremy up for the memorial honoring the deceased Mayor Lockwood.

"Yeah, well he is…he was the mayor," Elena corrected herself awkwardly.

"Why don't they just save it for the funeral?" Jeremy asked irritably.

"It's what people do," Jenna sighed. "The Lockwoods were here for us when we went through this. It'll be quick. We'll drop off the food and pay our respects and go."

As she spoke and we walked up to the front porch, I caught Damon standing alone to the right with a drink in hand. I told my family to go on ahead and that I would catch up with them. While Jeremy went without a problem, Elena and Aunt Jenna were a bit more hesitant, but allowed me to walk over to him alone nonetheless.

"Hey," I greeted him. "How are you doing?"

"Great, Sam. Walkin' on sunshine, thanks for asking," he answered insincerely before taking a gulp of his drink.

I pursed my lips and gave him a look, telling him I wasn't buying his answer at all. He sighed and turned to me fully.

"I tried to kiss you…I mean, I kissed your cheek and attempted to really kiss you. Your sister pops up, interrupts us, turns out to be her doppelgänger…how do you think I'm doing?"

"I think you're confused," I said. "I think that Katherine popping back up out of nowhere is really messing with your head and…you're hurt. Because I've been being weird about what happened between us and you're taking it as a bad sign."

"I don't get hurt," he lied, which earned him another look from me.

"You get hurt. You just pretend you don't," I called him out. "Then you get angry and you do something completely reckless and regrettable."

"You're scared," he noted. "You think Katherine is gonna send me off the deep end, don't you?"

"No," I denied honestly. "I just know how much she's hurt you in the past and that you're still hurting because of what she and her sister did."

"So it's not Katherine you're afraid of. It's Elizabeth."

As soon as he said her name, I realized how afraid I really was of Elizabeth. Not afraid in the sense that I thought she was scary and would hurt me, but in the sense that I feared she would come back to town and wrap Damon around her finger all over again and break his heart.

I was afraid of what she would do as soon as she got to town because as much destruction as the tomb vampires caused and as much trouble as Katherine was causing now, I didn't want to even think about what Elizabeth could do.

"Let me ask you something- why is it such a surprise that I would kiss you?" he asked suddenly.

"It…was a shock," I admitted. "Because…you know what, now isn't really the time to talk about this."

I didn't want to tell him the real reason. I couldn't find the words to do it.

"Fine," he said. "But let me just say this…no matter what you may be thinking in that pretty little head of yours, and I have a pretty good idea of what it is, you're wrong. Never underestimate how special you are to me."

I stared up at him, unsure of how to react. On one hand, I wanted to smile and throw myself in his arms because it was the first time he really clearly stated what I meant to him. On the other hand, I had my doubts that he knew exactly what was on my mind. Worse, if he did and I turned out to be wrong…I would feel guilty for thinking it.

"Sam!"

I ripped my eyes away from Damon's and looked over my shoulder where Elena and Bonnie stood, Chastity and Olivia right behind them.

"What happened?" I asked, noticing their alarmed states.

I had a bad feeling about this…

My instinct was right. Katherine was here, posing as Elena again. She fooled Bonnie, Chastity, and Olivia up until Bonnie touched her arm and figured out who- and what- she really was. After that, Katherine attacked them and most likely would have killed them if Bonnie hadn't used her magic to open the doors of the room they were in. That was when Stefan stepped in and made Katherine leave them alone.

It was scary to think that there was someone walking around the property who looked exactly like my sister and was managing to fool everyone, even those closest to her.

Now, we were looking all around for Stefan and Katherine. Damon, Elena, and I searched out by the pond where we found Stefan. He was pressing against his abdomen, blood seeping through his shirt and fingers, and struggling to get himself up off his knees.

A picture of John flashed through my mind as I rushed over to Stefan and helped him up on the bench along with Damon. Damon soon left to see if he could find where Katherine went, leaving Elena to tend to Stefan's wound while I stood across from them, feeling like ten years were just taken off my life purely from anxiety.

"Are you gonna be okay?" Elena asked Stefan as she wiped up the blood from his stomach.

"Yeah, it'll heal."

"That's not what she meant," I informed him, knowing he dodged the question on purpose.

"I was trying to figure her out. I was playing along, I let her get to me," he admitted with shame. "She tried appealing to me through my emotions, my supposed love for her, and when that didn't work, she used Elizabeth. Apparently, she's still looking for her- which is the only thing she said that I believed. Has absolutely no idea where she is, but she's guessing she'll make an appearance soon enough when word about the tomb vampires gets to her."

At that, I blanched, but kept my cool otherwise. It was Katherine's guess, not a confirmation.

"I tried to track her, but she's gone," Damon announced as he walked back up to us. He cringed and shut his eyes, averting his head in overdramatic disgust. "Ooh, cover up, Fabio. Cute stuff here doesn't need to see that."

I rolled my eyes and so did Stefan, but he pulled down his shirt.

"We got a crazy ex on the loose," Damon continued, then smirked down at Elena. "You better watch out, looks like Katherine is trying to steal your guy."

"That's not what's happening," Stefan denied after seeing the effect the possibility had on Elena.

"Isn't it?" Damon tested.

"Even if she was, it wouldn't matter. Stefan loves Elena," I spoke up.

Elena sent me a small, thankful smile, but I could still see the anxiety in her eyes.

"Well it just makes me wonder what Elizabeth would do if she showed up," Damon shrugged. "Who would she go after? You know, since I went after Sam and everything."

"Okay, I'm gonna go check on Jenna," Elena spoke up, clearly wanting to get the hell out of there. She took my hand as she walked by me and began pulling me away with her. "Let us know when you guys are done."

With that, she quickly began leading me away from the Salvatores and back to the house. About halfway there, I began tugging back to slow her down.

"Hey," I called to her. "Elena, look at me."

Shaking slightly, Elena slowed to a stop and looked at me with a brave face, though I didn't miss the way her face scrunched up ever so slightly to keep the tears at bay.

"Come here," I whispered, pulling her in to an embrace.

She didn't say anything or protest as I wrapped my arms around her, just tightly wound her arms around me and took deep breaths to calm herself down.

Even though she didn't say it, I could tell she was worried about Katherine being around Stefan again. I knew she was worried about what Katherine would do and how much of an effect she still had on Stefan. And not even just him, but Damon too. He may have been yearning for Elizabeth for over a century, but what hold did Katherine have on him- if any?

Third POV

At the end of the day, at the Salvatore boarding house, Damon poured himself a drink and reflected on the day's events.

After Sam and Elena left him and his little brother alone, Stefan refused to fight Damon even though a playful Damon was ready for him to attack him over the youngest Gilbert.

All because Stefan knew what Damon didn't say out loud and desperately hoped to keep hidden: she made him feel. She managed to dig and find something in him that he thought died long ago and it was because of that Stefan was refusing to fight. Also because he wanted to stay united with Damon against Katherine and, when the time inevitably came, Elizabeth.

Honestly, Damon wished that Stefan would have just punched him. It would distract him from the fact that Sam has barely spoken to him since he kissed her cheek and almost kiss-kissed her.

He knew she felt something for him. She had to have. He could see it in her eyes earlier. What he didn't understand was why she was holding back. Did she honestly believe that Elizabeth had anything to do with the feelings he had for her?

Of course she did. What else could it be? She was Elizabeth's perfect replica- save for the polar opposite personalities- and Damon came to town with the intention of getting Elizabeth back all because he was in love with her for nearly a century and a half. Besides that, Katherine was back and she was known to seduce- or at least try to seduce- Damon and Stefan both.

As he walked through the living room, Damon paused when he felt a new presence and smiled sardonically to himself, knowing exactly who the intruder was.

"Very brave of you to come here," he said before turning to look at Katherine, who was perched on the furthest end of the sofa from him.

Katherine, who looked a lot healthier and much more like a glamazon version of Elena, smiled at him.

"I wanted to say goodbye," she told him.

"Why? You didn't bother with the goodbye last time. Why are you leaving so soon anyway?" he asked.

"I know where I'm not wanted," she pitifully stated.

"Don't pout," Damon said, taking a sip of his bourbon. "It's not attractive on a woman your age."

Katherine scoffed, genuinely surprised that he insulted her. "Ouch."

Damon chased the rest of his drink back, setting the empty glass down after he did, and began heading out of the room.

"Do me a favor if you ever manage to track down your sister, tell her not to bother coming to town," he called over his shoulder. "Stefan won't want anything to do with her and I sure as hell don't."

Katherine suddenly appeared in front of him with a cat-like smirk.

"Are you sure you don't?" she quizzed. "Because as I heard, you've been running around for the past century or so searching for a way to open the tomb again. In fact, I have you to thank for my freedom."

"Please. Don't bother," Damon said distastefully. "Just take your leave and don't come back now, ya hear?"

He stepped around her, only for her to step back in front of him.

"No goodbye kiss?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You know I never was one for those. Especially not with you."

"Oh that's right. You preferred spending your time with my sister dearest," Katherine rolled her eyes before smiling mischievously. "Well since she isn't here…I'd be more than happy to distract you."

"Read my lips, instead: no," Damon whispered.

Katherine scoffed and stepped closer to him, toying with the buttons of his shirt.

"All because of your little Elizabeth replacement, huh?" she hummed, giggling when he looked down at her. "I've been watching you, you know. I didn't spend all of my time looking for Elizabeth after I left Pearl and Anna. I did my research on this town. I couldn't rely solely on Isobel's intel, you know."

"Let me ask you something, as long as you're here," Damon decided after a moment. "About your sister. You knew her better than anyone, up until she had you locked in that tomb, of course. She must have talked to you about things. What was on her mind, what she thought of people, what she wanted…I just want the truth. Just once. Even if I don't hear it from her, I have to know…"

"Stop," Katherine groaned when his voice became too pleading and desperate for her taste. "Just stop. I already know your question and its answer. And the truth is…Elizabeth never loved you. She never loved Stefan, either. Elizabeth never loved anyone."

Damon swallowed thickly at her cold answer and nodded once, accepting the truth as it was. Strangely enough, it didn't hurt as much as he once thought it would. He knew exactly why, too.

"Not that it really matters to you now," Katherine went on. "You and I both know that."

Finally, Katherine moved away from Damon and started toward the door, pulling on her jacket on the way, and disappeared in to the night.

Sam's POV

After I changed in to my pajamas and brushed through all the tangles in my hair from the day, I began brushing my teeth.

As I brushed, all the day's events began playing in my head like a sports replay with commentary included. The only difference was that my commentary consisted of worry instead of just explaining the actions and critiquing the players.

I was worried about Elena. Sure, she was exposed to Katherine before, but the last time we saw her she looked ready to wither away, as if just one touch would turn her to dust. I knew Elena was more relieved than anything when she left town, but she was also distressed about what Katherine could possibly have been doing and when she was planning on coming back. Now she was back and was at full health and masquerading herself as Elena through town. She looked so much like her that even Bonnie and I were fooled.

Then there was Damon and Stefan. No matter what they said, I knew they had some sort of feelings for Katherine in the past and I knew Damon at one point was hoping that she could at least give him an idea of where Elizabeth was.

I sighed after I finished brushing my teeth. Sooner or later I was going to lose all of my hair or my sanity if I kept worrying like this.

I left the bathroom and entered my bedroom, jumping back when I saw a figure sitting quietly at the foot of my bed.

"Damon," I gasped after I recovered from the startle. "You scared me."

"Just doing my part in the neighborhood watch," he stated in an un-Damon like glumness.

I walked around to the other side of my bed. "Thanks for looking out for us. For me."

"That's me, your trusty bodyguard. Calm in crisis."

I watched him carefully with furrowed brows, noticing now how he wavered from side to side slightly and the way he talked with a bit of a slur.

"You've been drinking," I realized. He pinched his fingers together to say a little while I tentatively stepped closer to him. "And you're upset. Because of…Katherine."

"No," he sang with a smirk.

"Elizabeth? Did you think she would be back too?"

He stared at me with a new sort of intensity, like he was angry and hurt all at once and was trying to figure something out about me, before speaking.

"You've been dodging a certain topic all day. Now's the time to talk: why were you surprised that I tried to kiss you?"

"Damon. Now really isn't the time."

I really didn't want to discuss this with him after he'd been drinking.

"No, you've been running from it long enough. We're talking about this now," he firmly stated. "Tell me why."

"Damon, I-"

"Just say it, Sam."

I stayed silent for a moment, watching him in defeat as I knew he wasn't going to let this go anytime soon.

"Because…of Elizabeth," I eventually caved. "I was surprised because of your feelings for Elizabeth."

He nodded once, obviously already having guessed that was the reason. "You think you're her replacement."

"How could I not?" I said ruefully. "I look exactly like her and you've been in love with her for just over 145 years."

He stayed quiet for some time and for a second, I thought that he was really angry or hurt- maybe both- about what I said.

I stepped back in surprise when he suddenly rose to his feet, coming closer to me with a new type of fire in his beautiful blue eyes. He stopped just when our fronts were brushing against each other, craning his head downward so close that I could feel his breath fanning out on my face and smell the bourbon on him.

"You're the liar here, Sam. There's something going on here and you know it," he stated with hard eyes. "And it doesn't have anything to do with the feelings I had for Elizabeth- it has nothing to do with her, in general, and you're lying to yourself if you think it does. You know you are nothing like her and you know deep down that I would never just use you as a replacement. And I can prove it."

Before I could stop him, he grabbed my face and pulled me in. His lips were on mine in a mind numbingly loving and passionate kiss that made every muscle in my body feel like jelly and my brain feel like it was out of order. I was too busy being concerned with whether or not my heart was going to burst out of my chest that I completely forgot about the fact that he had been drinking.

When that detail came back to light, I used what strength I had to push Damon back off just enough so that he was no longer kissing me, though he kept his vice grip on me.

"Damon, stop," I begged him. "Not like this. Not when you've been drinking."

I regretted saying it as soon as I saw the hurt in his eyes, but before I could say anything else, Jeremy came in to my room.

"Sam, what's going on in here?" he asked, glaring at Damon as if he was a demon and I knew it was because he was touching me.

"Nothing, Jeremy," I assured him, pulling myself out of Damon's grasp. "Just having a little talk. It's okay-"

"No it's not okay," Damon cut me off. I looked at him in confusion. "He wants to be a vampire."

"What?" I looked from him to Jeremy. "What are you talking about?"

"Another secret your big brother and sister kept from you," Damon replied.

All of a sudden, Damon sped toward Jeremy and had him pinned against the wall by his throat. Jeremy gagged, gasping for air, as he tried prying at Damon's hand to no avail while I ran up behind him.

"Damon, stop! Let him go!" I desperately shouted, my body shaking in fear.

"You want to shut out the pain? It's the easiest thing in the world. The part of you that cares, it just goes away!" he told Jeremy lowly, sounding like he was having an complete melt down. "All you have to do is flip the switch and snap!"

At the last word, Damon snapped Jeremy's neck and let him drop to the ground before I could even blink. Everything in me disappeared as Jeremy's limp body dropped to the ground. I felt hollow, like my world just shattered, and I all I could do was scream Jeremy's name in despair.

I dropped to my knees at Jeremy's side, cradling his head tightly in my arms, as I cried and shook. I hardly noticed when Damon left and it didn't even register in my mind when Elena came rushing in.

All I could think of was how Damon snapped my brother's neck. This couldn't be real. Damon would never do that- not to Jeremy, not to me…he couldn't have done it. That couldn't have just happened!

The sad thing was that it did happen. Damon did kill Jeremy and…and…

"Sam," Elena gasped.

I blinked and snapped my eyes to Jeremy's hand she was holding, my gaze falling on the shiny silver ring on his finger. The Gilbert ring.

Relief flooded through me and I settled down a bit, though I continued holding tightly on to my brother.

He would be okay. The only questions I had now were…what did Damon mean when he said that Jeremy wanted to be a vampire? And did he see the ring?

I hoped he did. I really hoped he did.

Third POV

While Damon returned to the Salvatore boarding house, Stefan made his way to the Gilbert house after Elena called and hysterically told him that his brother just killed Jeremy. Though Jeremy would be okay, there was the possibility that Anna's blood would have an affect and put him in transition.

"He saw the ring, that's why he did it. He knew," Stefan stated, though anyone could see he wasn't fully convinced.

"He didn't see the ring," Elena denied while Sam numbly held on to Jeremy.

Sam's eyes closed, making more tears fall down her cheeks. She wanted to believe that Damon did see the ring, but there was a gut instinct telling her that he didn't.

"Katherine must have said something," Stefan tried. "She undid everything good about him."

"It was my fault," Sam spoke up then. "I set him off. I-"

"No, no, no, don't you dare blame yourself for this," Elena scolded her. "This was not you. This was all Damon's fault. There's nothing good about him, there never has been. He's decided what he wants. He doesn't want to feel, he just wants to be hated because it's easier that way for him."

Meanwhile, upon entering the living room, the full realization of what he'd really done came over Damon as he picked up his glass.

He killed Jeremy Gilbert. He killed the brother of the girl he'd fallen in love with…

Pain and regret surged through him as well as frustration and anger at himself and he threw his glass in to the fireplace, watching the glass shatter the way he knew Sam's heart did when she watched him kill her brother.

He truly screwed up now. Sam was forgiving and caring, but would she ever forgive him for this? Was this enough to make him lose her for good?

He knew he didn't deserve her, but he hoped to whatever God there was that he hadn't.

"I hate him, Stefan," Elena cried back at the Gilbert house.

While she wanted to say the same because it would certainly be easier, Sam couldn't. It was sick that she couldn't find even a shred of disdain for Damon in her, especially after what he just did, but…she just couldn't.

Suddenly, Jeremy gasped and began moving around in Sam's lap, making both her and Elena cry in relief.

"Is he okay? Is he okay?" Elena asked Stefan while Sam held on to Jeremy to calm his frantic spasms.

Stefan checked Jeremy and confirmed he was alright, as in not in transition, and assured Jeremy he was okay. Elena let out a loud sigh of relief and set her head on Jeremy's chest, hugging him tightly.

"He killed me!" a still shocked Jeremy said. "Damon killed me!"

Sam clung tightly on to him, grateful to feel him hugging her arm back, and kissed the top of his head.

"You're okay, it's okay," she cried in consolation.

That was what mattered to her right now. Damon could wait.

In a different part of town, Caroline Forbes slept in her hospital bed until she was awakened by discomfort. She opened her eyes and rubbed her face, turning to switch the TV off and jumped when she saw someone watching her.

"You scared me half to death," she said.

"Sorry about that. I just wanted to check up on you, see how you were doing."

"I'm much better," Caroline answered. "Thanks for caring, Sammy sweetheart."

"A Jersey Shore nickname?" Sam said with distaste. "Gosh, that's pathetic."

"Are you alright, Sam?" Caroline asked her, sensing the change of tone and attitude. Sam never would have said something like that.

"Sam" sighed, sitting down on the chair next to Caroline as she did.

"Have you ever had an ex, Caroline?" she asked, staring out in front of her. "What am I saying? Of course you have. Well there's the whole thing where you used to be the center of his world. Nothing was more important than you, not even himself. He would have died to be with you forever- hell, he did. You leave town for a while, come back, and then suddenly he's got a discount replacement of you and you don't mean a thing to him anymore."

"What are you talking about, Sam?" Caroline asked.

Truthfully, the girl was scaring her.

"Sam" looked at her and smiled, rising up from her chair with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Don't worry," she said. "I'm sure you'll be filled in soon enough. But first, I need you to give Stefan and Damon a message for me."

"What message?" Caroline asked.

"Sam" stood and leaned over her a little.

"Elizabeth is back," she said.

With speed to rival a panther, she snatched the pillow from the foot of Caroline's bed and pressed it over her face, suffocating Caroline. Caroline screamed and struggled, throwing her hands and arms around to move the pillow or loosen the other girl's grip, but eventually her fight died down as the last bit of oxygen left.

Caroline Forbes was dead.

Elizabeth moved the pillow away and walked out of the hospital room with a smirk on her face, leaving Caroline dead and to deal with her transition on her own.