A/N: Thank you to KimmyWSmith for proofreading for me again. I hope you guys love this chapter it might be my favorite one I've written so far. Let me know your thoughts! XO, Eden.

Song: Punching in a Dream

Artist: The Naked and Famous

All the lights go down as I crawl into the spaces
Fight, flight, or the screams, life tearing at the seams

Wait, I don't ever want to be here
Like punching in a dream, breathing life into my nightmare

"If I have to go, you have to go." Damon tugged at my arm. "Come on, it'll be fun."

"You don't have to go, you're choosing to go." I held my ground at the bottom of the stairs. "And I am choosing to not believe that it will be fun."

"You chose to sign up to volunteer weeks ago." Damon pointed out.

"Yeah, that was back when Elena wasn't being all moody with me." I grumbled.

"I could always just pick you up and drag you out the door." Damon suggested.

"Mo-om!" I called out. "Damon's threatening me?"

"Is he now." Mom poked her head in from the kitchen. "If he's threatening you to go to the Historical Society Volunteer Day that you signed up for, I'm on his side. It's nice to see you doing community service."

I sighed. "I can't believe I'm being teamed up against in my own home."

Mom laughed. "You know I'd love to go with you, but your father and I have to finish packing."

Ah yes, the business trip. Dad had to go to New York City to interview some witnesses for a big case his firm was working on, and he offered to take mom with him. My request to join them was denied, as the trip coincided with the school week. I could have joined them for the weekend, but there was some masquerade thing that the Lockwood's were hosting, and I'd be damned if I missed the opportunity to wear a fancy dress for a date with my boyfriend.

"So do I have your permission to drag her out the door?" Damon asked.

"Permission granted." Mom replied.

I squealed in protest as he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder. Aside from them teaming up against me, I really enjoyed that my mom was so fond of Damon. My dad really hadn't gotten the chance to get to know Damon yet, he had been so busy with the case this week that I had barely even seen him. That was probably for the best; if it took me a while to warm up to Damon, who knows how long it will take my dad.

"Chin up." Damon looked over at me while driving. "You get to see Elena and your best friend Stefan."

I sighed, rolling my eyes at his facetiousness. The past couple of days at school had been beyond awkward. Apparently if Stefan and Elena were fighting, that meant Stefan wasn't talking to me. Not that he talked much in the first place. But before this I actually thought we were becoming good friends.

All that would be fine, obviously I'm team Elena, except I still didn't know why they were fighting. Elena just asked me to drop it everytime I asked, Bonnie was as in the dark as I was, Caroline told me it was better if I asked Stefan or Elena, and Stefan always managed to dodge me before I could even get close enough to ask.

"Stefan really hasn't said anything to you?" I asked.

"What, in one of our late night hangouts?" Damon replied.

I laughed. "Right, I forgot your evenings were reserved for Mason Lockwood now."

"Mason Lockwood and you." Damon said.

I would almost be jealous of Mason if I weren't so happy that he and Damon were friends. True, it had only been a few days. But two out of the three nights since we all went to the bar together, they had met up again for drinks. As far as I knew, the grill hadn't been torn to pieces, so it seemed like they were still getting along well after their solo hangouts.

It honestly worked in my favor. After a particularly unsettling rendition of my usual nightmare where I swerved off the bridge to avoid a wolf, I had woken up sobbing in the early hours of Monday morning. If Damon had been there, I wouldn't have been able to explain that away easily. Or maybe if he had been there I wouldn't have had the nightmare at all.

"Looks like Stefan's moving in on your man." I commented as we got out of the car.

"Mason!" Damon called out, walking over to join Stefan and Mason. "Looks like you've finally met the other, less handsome, less interesting Salvatore brother."

"Very funny." Stefan replied.

"Normally I'd defend my best friend against such slanderous statements, but seeing as he's been avoiding me at school all week, I'm just going to say no comment." I said.

"Lucy, good to see you." Mason gave me a one armed hug, balancing a box with his other arm. "We've missed you the last couple of nights."

I shrugged. "I thought I would give you boys the chance to hang out without me. It's rude of me to keep embarrassing you, seeing as I can drink you both under the table."

Damon shook his head, hiding a smile. "So, what exactly are we doing here?"

"Oh you didn't hear Carol? 'Thanks to the generous donation of the Fell family. We are now standing on the site of our newest public park.'" Mason mimicked Carol's usual tone. "That's code for 'make this place look nice or else.'"

Damon chuckled. "Not a fan of the sister in law?"

"No. I love the Stepford Wives." Mason deadpanned. "Alright, I better bring this over. Can you guys grab the rest of the boxes?"

"Absolutely." Damon replied.

It took me all of ten seconds of standing there after Mason walked away to realize that Stefan was waiting for me to leave so he could talk to Damon, so I excused myself to go find Elena. I found her and Caroline painting one of the newly built pavilions. They were deep in conversation until Caroline spun around when she heard me approaching, and they immediately stopped talking.

"Lucy, hey!" Caroline attempted to mask the discomfort of their silence.

"Hi guys." I reached for a paintbrush. "How's it going?"

"Oh you know, just painting away." Caroline let out a strained laugh.

"Right." I nodded.

"So, I was just telling Elena that we should all go shopping after school tomorrow to get dresses for the masquerade." Caroline said lightly.

"Um, yeah, sure." I agreed.

"I was just going to wear something I already have." Elena said.

"Oh come on, Elena." Caroline whined. "Don't be a downer just because you and Stefan aren't going together. Me and Bonnie are both single, it'll be fun going just us girls. Sorry, Lucy."

"Fine, I'll go with you." Elena sighed, and looked away from both of us.

I followed her gaze and saw Stefan leaning over one of the workbenches. He must have felt her staring, because he looked up and stared back at her for a moment before averting his gaze.

"Uh, oh. Longing looks are being exchanged." Caroline said.

Elena put her paintbrush down. "I'm gonna go talk to him."

'No, Elena. I think it's a bad idea." Caroline protested.

Elena ignored her and marched over to Stefan. However, I didn't get the chance to watch their interaction as Damon came up to us, picked up the paintbrush that Elena neglected, and put a splotch of brown paint right on the center of my nose.

"Lucy, would you stop goofing around? We're supposed to be working here." He winked.

"I'm gonna get you back for that." I grumbled.

"Damon." Caroline huffed. "How nice to see you."

"Caroline." Damon faced her with a stiff smile. "Why are you being such a bitch to your mom?"

Caroline rolled her eyes. "Don't worry about it."

That must've been enough of Damon for one day, as she then moved on to paint another pillar a good fifteen feet away. She could definitely still hear us, but didn't have to participate in a conversation with him. While Damon watched her haughtily walk away, I took the opportunity to reach up and paint a section of his cheek.

"Bold move, tormenting someone about a hundred times stronger than you." He smirked down at me.

I narrowed my eyes playfully. "It's payback. Why were you talking to the sheriff?"

"Mason wants to claim his seat on the council, but she's not having it. He asked me to put in a good word." He explained.

"Oh? So he's planning on staying here?" I asked.

Damon shrugged. "I guess so."

"You guess so?" I glanced at him to try and read his expression. "I thought you guys were getting along."

"We are." Damon replied. "Stefan's still wary of him, after the whole incident in the woods. We just have to get past the next full moon before declaring that it will all be smooth sailing."

"Nothing is ever smooth sailing in this town." I said.

"Speaking of," Damon nudged me. "I think your sister needs you. That fake fight got pretty heated."

I looked over to see Elena storming away from Stefan. Glad to see that went well. I set my paintbrush down and took off after her. Volunteer day didn't look like it was going to be very productive after all.

"Elena!" I stepped in front of her. "Talk to me. What is going on with you and Stefan?"

She crossed her arms. "I already told you, I don't want to talk about it."

"If you don't want to talk about Stefan then fine but stop giving me the cold shoulder." I said.

"Not here." She mouthed silently.

"You've been dodging me all week." I added, trying to subtly nod my head so she knew that I understood.

"I know, I just needed some time to think." She replied. "I think it's time for us to tell Jeremy."

"That we're sisters?" I asked.

She nodded. "I know we talked about it before, and then things got really crazy, and well, things are still crazy but I was just talking to him this morning and it felt so normal and I don't want to ruin that by keeping a secret from him for longer than I have to."

"Yeah, that makes sense." I said. "When?"

"Tonight?" Elena suggested. "You could come over after we're done here and we can tell Jenna and Jeremy at once?"

"Sure." I replied.

Hopefully my voice came off more confident than I felt. It wasn't like they would hate me. They already knew me and, as far as I could tell, liked me. Right now it was just this secret that existed only in our little circle that knew about the supernatural world. But after telling Jenna and Jeremy, it was only logical that we would tell my parents next.

"Okay." She nodded, before walking off.

I didn't bother to follow her; we weren't going to have any productive conversation while Elena knew we were being listened to by our vampire friends- or friend. When I turned to go back to painting, I saw that Damon had left and Caroline was now the only one within earshot. Knowing that she wasn't going to be much of a conversationalist either, I went looking for Damon and found him chatting with Mason at a picnic table.

"Glad to see you two are being productive." I slid into the seat next to Damon.

"We can't do too much work; people might start to get suspicious of our superhuman strength." Damon countered. "How's Elena?"

"A ball of sunshine." I said. "She wants to tell Jeremy about . . . you know."

"That you're twins?" Damon filled in.

"Shhh!" I jerked my head towards Mason, who was looking very unphased by this revelation.

Damon shrugged. "I already told him."

"Damon." I hissed.

"Don't worry, I can keep a secret." Mason chuckled. "It's kinda my thing."

"Right." I rolled my eyes. "Glad you two are bonding over my life story."

"Speaking of bonding, when are your parents going out of town again?" Damon winked.

I sunk my head into my hands, mortified at his implication. "Their flight is tomorrow morning."

"You should throw a party." Mason suggested.

"She would, but two of her three friends aren't getting along very well right now, so it would be a pretty awkward party." Damon said.

I sat back up to glare at him. "I have more than three friends."

"Let's see," Damon pondered. "Elena, Stefan, Caroline. Yep, that's three."

"Elena, Stefan, Caroline, you, Matt, Bonnie, Mason . . ." I trailed off.

Okay, so maybe my social circle in Mystic Falls wasn't quite as large as it used to be back in Lynchburg. But I've been a little too preoccupied to participate in many normal high school activities. I almost mentioned Tyler just to have an extra name on the list, but they would have both known that was a lie.

Damon shook his head. "Okay, first of all, I'm not your friend, I'm your boyfriend. Second, you and Bonnie are not friends."

"We have had our differences, but we've reconciled them. In fact, we're going shopping together tomorrow." If Caroline's invitation was legitimate, and not just a way to distract me from whatever she and Elena were discussing.

"Are you now?" Damon raised an eyebrow. "Well I'll be sure to come over afterwards to make sure she hasn't incinerated you."

"You know, parties are a great way to gain popularity." Mason said.

"I'm going to tell Jenna that you're attempting to corrupt her niece." I glared at him. "Right after I tell her that I'm her niece."

The anticipation of telling Jenna and Jeremy that I was their family member made the rest of volunteering go shockingly fast. Plus, hanging out with Damon and Mason the entire time made the work much less of a drag. Though I did end up with quite a bit of paint on my clothes.

Before I knew it, Carol Lockwood was giving a speech thanking everyone for a day of hard work and reminding us of the upcoming masquerade ball this weekend. Elena told me to meet her at her house, and I was somewhat relieved to see that Jenna and Jeremy weren't back yet when I arrived, giving us the chance to regroup. I followed Elena up to her bedroom, where she pulled me into a tight hug the second she closed the door.

"I'm so sorry." She said.

I pulled away from the hug to look at her distressed face. "Elena, what's been going on?"

"Katherine threatened Stefan to break up with me. And I don't know why, but Caroline's spying on us for her so we have to pretend we're actually fighting. I'm not even supposed to tell you but I couldn't . . . I had to tell someone. I couldn't lie to you." She spilled out to me.

"Wait slow down, Caroline's working with Katherine?" I asked. "But Katherine's the one who turned her, why would she do that?"

"I don't know." Elena shook her head. "But when she came with me to see if Stefan was okay during the barbecue she kept trying to delay us and gave me this speech about how things were never going to work out between us. I knew something was up."

"That's so awful." I went to sit down on Elena's bed.

"She has to have a reason." Elena sighed. "It's Katherine we're talking about here. I'm sure she threatened someone that Caroline loves."

"I hate her." I said.

"She's horrible." Elena agreed, flopping down next to me on the bed. "She was there. At Stefan's."

"You met her?" I asked. "What was it like?"

"Creepy." Elena admitted. "You've seen her; she looks exactly like me. I don't get it."

"Clearly Stefan has a type." I tried to joke.

She groaned. "Our fighting is supposed to be fake, but at the same time I can't help but wonder if he loves me, or if he just loves that I look like Katherine but I'm not . . ."

"Evil." I nodded. "I know the circumstances are weird, but trust me Elena, that boy loves you. It actually kind of grosses me out sometimes."

Elena actually giggled a little bit at that. "God, why are our lives so complicated?"

"You tell me." I shrugged. "Is that the Petrova book?"

Her eyes followed mine to the book on her nightstand. "Oh yeah. I keep forgetting you haven't even looked at it yet."

She grabbed the book and handed it to me. I traced along the Petrova on the cover before flipping it open. It was strange to look at the pages and know that they were full of my family history but to not be able to read a single word. Even so, just touching the pages and knowing that they connected me to five centuries ago felt so special.

"Not really much for us to go off of there." Elena reached over to turn to a page. "There is this, which is kind of neat."

"Wow." I whispered.

Tucked in the middle of the book was a loose sheet of parchment with two and a half faces on it. Katherine was unmistakable; the drawing must have been made not long before she turned. I could only assume the other two people pictured were her parents. The man had a rough face, but the same thick, dark hair that had been passed down through generations. The woman shared Katherine and Elena's large round eyes, but the page was torn cutting off a lot of her cheek and shoulder. I gingerly touched the severed edge, almost afraid that I would damage it further, but far too entranced to keep my hands away from it.

"Not many people can say they have a five hundred year old family photo album, huh?" Elena said.

"Elena?" The door slammed downstairs. "We're home."

"Shit." I looked at Elena. "It's Jenna. We don't even know what we're going to say."

Elena put her hand over mine. "Relax. She already loves you, it's going to be fine. Come on, let's go."

Taking a deep breath, I closed the book and followed Elena out of the room. I could hear my heart racing. She was right; Jenna had already shown that she cared about me. It was Jeremy I was more worried about than anything.

"You called for a family meeting?" Jenna asked as we walked down the stairs. "Oh, hi Lucy. I didn't know you were here."

"Um, yeah. It kinda involves her. Why don't we all sit?" Elena awkwardly motioned towards the living room.

"What's going on?" Jenna took a seat on the couch. "Lucy, are you pregnant?"

"What? No. God no. Damon and I haven't even-" I paused, looking at Jeremy's mortified expression. "Nevermind. No. Definitely not pregnant."

"Oh my god." Elena rubbed her forehead. "Why would you even ask that?"

"I don't know." Jenna shrugged meekly. "I just imagine if I were a teenage girl in that situation I'd seek help from another adult before telling my parents."

"Why exactly am I here?" Jeremy very much sounded like he would like to be excused from the conversation.

"Because this involves you. It involves our whole family." Elena said.

"What involves our whole family?" Jenna asked. "Elena you're not making any sense."

Elena took a deep breath. "Okay, Jenna, you obviously know I was adopted. Jeremy, I told you after I found out."

"Yeah, and?" Jeremy replied.

"So there was no father recorded on my birth certificate. But I found out recently who my birth father is." Elena closed her eyes for a moment. "John Gilbert."

"What?" Jeremy exclaimed. "John Gilbert? As in Uncle John?"

"Oh my god, I need a glass of wine." Jenna groaned.

"Wait, wait. That's not all." Elena said. "Lucy?"

"I was adopted too. My parents told me when I was sixteen. The whole thing was handled by my birth father." I reached out for Elena and she squeezed my hand. "What I didn't know was that he separated me from my twin at birth. John Gilbert is my father. Elena and I are twins."

The silence in the room made my ears ring. For a moment, I thought Jeremy was actually going to laugh. All of the color had left Jenna's face. She was sitting so still that I wasn't even sure if she was breathing.

"Are you serious?" Jenna's voice was barely audible. "This isn't some kind of joke?"

"Of course they're being serious." Jeremy cut in. "Look at them. Is it really that hard to believe?"

"Trust me, my jokes are much better than this." I said.

"And he really separated you. That bastard." Jenna shook her head. "How long have you known?"

"Not long." Elena answered. "We found out kind of around Founder's Day."

Jenna abruptly got up from the couch that she and Jeremy were sitting on. I thought she was going to go pour that aforementioned glass of wine, but instead she came over to me and Elena and pulled me into a hug. The light vanilla scent of her perfume engulfed me as I sunk into her arms, staying in the soft hug until she pulled away.

"That's it?" I asked. "You're not mad?"

"Why would I be mad?" Jenna lightly touched the side of my face. "Lord knows this family could use another member."

"Yeah, as long as you're not a narc like Elena I'm cool with having you as a sister." Jeremy said.

Elena threw a pillow at him. "Someone has to look out for you."

"Sounds like you've got two someone's looking out for you now." Jenna smiled at Jeremy. "Lucy, do you need to be home? You should stay for dinner."

I nodded. "Um, yeah. I mean, no. I can stay. Let me just text my parents."

Dinner was a lot less awkward than I anticipated. It really felt like just another normal night hanging out with Elena and her family, only now they were our family. Well, they always were our family, but now they knew it. Thankfully, Jenna never brought up Damon. While I certainly wasn't going to bring up the issue myself, I wondered if perhaps Mason taking a liking to Damon was helping Jenna warm up to him as well.

Jeremy remained pretty quiet, but that wasn't unusual for him. Still, Elena and I were worried that he might be angry with us for not telling him sooner, so we went to his room to go chat with him before I left.

He cracked open his bedroom door after we knocked on it. "What's up?"

"Can we come in?" Elena asked, following into the room after he nodded. "Are you sure you're okay with all of this?"

"Do I have a choice?" Jeremy retorted.

"It's just a lot to take in, we wanted to make sure you were okay." Elena replied.

Jeremy laughed. "You more than anyone should know that finding out I have another sister doesn't even make it into the top five strangest things that have happened to me in the past month. Trust me, I'm fine."

"Good." Elena smiled. "So listen, we were going to hang out a Lucy's tomorrow,"

"We were?" I asked.

Elena shot me a knowing look. "Yes, remember you invited me, Stefan, and Damon to come over after you and I are done shopping tomorrow since your parents won't be home."

"Right." I nodded, making a mental note to inform Damon that our date night was getting crashed.

"Anyways, Jer, you should come." Elena suggested. "It would give you and Lucy the chance to get to know each other better, plus you've never really hung out with Stefan either."

"Yeah, sure. Sounds good." Jeremy said.

"Great. Oh, and can you do me a favor?" Elena asked.

"What?" Jeremy looked a bit wary.

"Stefan and I are pretending to be fighting right now because of Katherine." Elena explained. "So can you just like, not mention to anyone that we're actually fine? You never know who might be listening."

Jeremy rolled his eyes. "Yep, because all I do is sit around talking about your love life."

"Okay, Jer. Goodnight." Elena shook her head.

"I'm heading out, so bye." I said.

"Right, see you tomorrow." He gave a little wave.

"So does this mean you're going to tell Damon the truth about what's going on with you and Stefan?" I whispered, closing Jeremy's door behind us as we stepped into the hallway.

Elena shrugged. "He already knows we aren't actually fighting anyways."

I just smiled. Damon could pretend that he and Stefan were rivals all he wanted, but he could read Stefan like a book. Even I hadn't been fully convinced that the fighting was fake after Damon told me. I bade Jenna farewell, and Elena walked me out to my car where she gave me another hug.

"Thank you for today." She said. "I love you."

I squeezed her back. "I love you too."

If it falls apart I will surely wake it
Bright lights turn me green, this is worse than it seems

Wait, I don't ever want to be here

Like punching in a dream, breathing life into my nightmare

I mentally grumbled at my parents for leaving all the lights off when they left as I carried my shopping bag into my dark house. Caroline had managed to talk me into getting a red dress with intricate black beading along the bodice. It was a lot flashier than anything I would normally wear, but the fact that I would be wearing a mask made me feel a lot more bold. Plus, it was my and Damon's first Mystic Falls event as a real couple. We had to make an entrance.

I flipped on the kitchen light and immediately jumped back at what I saw. Damon was nonchalantly sitting on the counter. He appeared to be rather entertained by my frightened reaction.

"Boo." He said.

"Damon." I huffed, dropping my bag. "What are you doing? How did you even get in here?"

"I have my ways." He smirked. "Forgive me, I just wanted a moment alone before the masses arrive."

I shook my head but didn't have time to form a rebuttal before he jumped off the counter and flashed over to me. The moment I looked up at him my upturned lips met his. My heart rate still hadn't lowered from him surprising me, and this certainly wasn't going to do anything to help the matter.

"Such a shame." He tsked, pulling away from me. "You have this whole house to yourself and we can't even enjoy it."

"Don't blame me, blame Elena." I poked his cheek. "It was her idea."

"Trust me, I will be getting her and Stefan back for this one." He winked.

I crinkled my nose at the thought of Damon interfering with Stefan and Elena's romantic life. "Come on, it'll be fun!"

"I can guarantee it will be fun." Damon wiggled his eyebrows, pulling out a bottle of bourbon he evidently had stashed in the cabinet.

"Oh my god, Elena's going to kill you." I giggled.

"Elena should take a page out of your book and have some fun once in a while." Damon pulled me in for one more kiss, but tore away when the doorbell rang. "Speak of the devil."

"Hey guys." I opened the front door to greet Stefan, Elena, and Jeremy, stepping aside to let them in.

"Uh, Lucy?" Stefan cleared his throat, still standing on the porch.

"Mm, that sucks, buddy. Should have considered this scenario before keeping me out of the loop all week." I said. "Hopefully you can hear the TV from out here."

"Lucy." Elena warned.

"I'm kidding! I'm kidding." I snickered. "Stefan Salvatore, the dearest of my two friends, my future brother in law, the moral beacon for all of us, would you like to come inside?"

Stefan shook his head and smiled, crossing the threshold into my house. "So Elena mentioned something called Maria Cart?"

"Mario Kart." I corrected him. "And I'm going to kick your ass at it."

"Yeah right. You're only going to kick his ass because he doesn't even know what it is." Jeremy said.

"Jeremy Gilbert, are you implying that I have an unfair advantage?" I feigned offense. "If anything, Stefan and Damon have the advantage seeing as they were around when the car was invented. They must be driving experts by now."

Damon sauntered over, taking a swig out of the bottle he had brought. "You're forgetting that only one of us has failed to adapt to the modern world. I will annihilate every last one of you."

"You brought bourbon?" Elena questioned him.

"Is that a problem?" Damon countered.

Elena held out her hand. "Only if you're not sharing."

After a moment's pause to make sure he really heard her correctly, Damon passed the bottle to her and she took a deep drink before handing it to me. Really, I had to commend her for her ability to keep a straight face, because that stuff burned. I know bourbon is supposed to be an acquired taste, but I'm not sure if that's a taste I could acquire even if I lived for a century and a half.

Elena looked like she was going to stop me when I handed the bottle to Jeremy, but I caught her eye and shook my head. She forced a smile that turned a little more genuine when Stefan rubbed her shoulder. Once Stefan took a swig, I decided to get us some glasses so we could drink like civilized people.

Stefan, despite not quite possessing his brother's ability to assimilate into the twenty first century, quickly managed to not only grasp but excel at Mario Kart. I was right; the vampires did have an unfair advantage. Stefan and Damon had reflexes that surpassed mine on even my most alert days at least ten fold.

Elena and I quickly decided to team up to make up for there only being four controllers, and to give us a fighting chance. Between the two of us, we could at least decide who would be better on each track. This soon turned into Jeremy convincing Stefan to try the hardest tracks so that he could watch Elena and I fight over who had to do it.

"No way. I refuse to accept that you've never played this before!" I yelled after Stefan managed to complete Rainbow Road without falling off once.

"I thought you said you were going to kick our asses?" Jeremy reminded me.

"Yeah, well . . . usually I don't drink and drive." I grumbled, holding up my glass before taking another sip.

"New rule: everytime Lucy or Elena falls off the track, everybody has to take a drink." Jeremy suggested.

"We're all gonna die." Elena giggled.

Damon shrugged. "I'm already dead."

"Dead to me." I leaned against him and crossed my arms. "I'm pretty sure you're supposed to let your girlfriend win."

Damon laughed. "Lucy, I'd have to put the controller down to even give you a chance."

I shook my head. "That's just disrespectful."

"Come on guys." Stefan said. "I have to do all of these at least once. What good is living for a hundred and sixty years if I haven't experienced every single Mario Kart track."

"Did he just make a joke?" I whispered to Damon.

"He did, and he can also hear you." Damon whispered back.

I turned to see Stefan looking at me with a rather amused expression. Listen, it's not my fault that Stefan has a more muted sense of humor. Like, really muted. So muted it's barely there. But hey, not everyone can possess my level of comedic genius.

"Elena give me the controller!" I sat up with a jolt.

"Okay?" Elena handed it to me, confused by my burst of energy.

"I like this one." I explained sheepishly. "The bouncy mushrooms are fun."

"The bouncing what?" Stefan asked.

"Oh, so now your vampire hearing has flaws." I mumbled. "You'll see."

"And drink." Jeremy commanded when my car bounced off of the first mushroom and immediately fell into the abyss.

It really wasn't a fair drinking game that Jeremy developed. Each drink only made me more prone to falling off of the track, and it just became a vicious struggle of trying to maintain control of a virtual vehicle. Alas, Stefan and Damon bested me once again. By about ten places.

"I thought you said you liked this one." Damon commented.

"I do!" I insisted.

"Do you finish last on all your favorite tracks?" He questioned.

"For real. I've met two year olds with better hand eye coordination." Jeremy teased.

I glared at him. "Jeremy, if you keep disrespecting me in my own home, I'm going to have to rescind your invitation."

Elena rolled her eyes. "He's not a vampire, Lucy. He doesn't need to be invited in."

"And even if he were, our invitations are non-rescindable." Damon reminded me.

"Yeah Lucy. I know you've never had a little brother before, so you don't know how this works, but I'm supposed to be mean to you." Jeremy said.

I dropped the controller, and tried to pass it off as a fumble caused by my slight intoxication. It wasn't his fault; there was no way he could have known. Still, that stung more than a little bit. Elena sighed, looking at Jeremy with disappointment.

"What?" Jeremy snapped at her. "What'd I do now?"

"Jeremy, Lucy ha-"

"Elena don't." I cut her off.

"What?" Elena turned to me. "You don't want him to- Jeremy's family, Lucy."

In an attempt to avoid eye contact with every other person in the room, I diverted all of my attention to chewing on the inside of my lip. I could still feel Elena's staring at me, searching for some intimation as to what I was thinking. Damon was motionless beside me. I didn't need to look at him to know that his eyes were boring into the back of my head, desperately waiting for some explanation. Cautiously, I looked up at Elena to see her shift her gaze from me to Damon.

"Oh my god." Elena's face instantly filled with regret. "You haven't told him. Lucy, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to . . ."

"Told me what?" Damon asked.

"Nothing." My voice barely came out louder than a whisper.

"Obviously it's not nothing. What's going on?" He pressed.

Jeremy stood up. "I should go."

"No, Jeremy. You don't have to." I protested.

"I'll drive you home." Stefan offered.

I stared at Elena, mentally willing her not to get up and follow them. If she left, I would have no choice but to face the conversation that I so desperately wanted to avoid. She remained seated next to me while Jeremy awkwardly shuffled out with Stefan in tow, but apparently was not willing to aid me any further than that.

"I'll be outside." She said. "You guys need to talk."

I stood up, my eyes stinging. "I'm going upstairs."

Averting my eyes away from Damon, I left him behind me on the couch to walk over to the stairs. Praying to whatever god was out there that he would just let me alone to process my emotions, I felt the tears escape from my eyes leaving icy trails along my cheeks.

"Told me what?" Damon called out when I reached the first step.

I turned. He was standing right there, not even two feet away from me. If I could make out the cracks in his leather jacket, he could surely see the red veins that became prominent in my eyes every time I cried. His eyes, his beautiful eyes, were absolutely piercing into me. This was it. This was the exact thing that I never wanted to happen. This was the bubble bursting.

"I had a brother." I choked out.

"Oh baby," His face melted into an expression of distress. "I know."

He reached out to me, and the moment his hand touched my arm I collapsed into him. I just wanted to find comfort in his touch. The way his hands were gripping me would usually have me so firmly centered that gravity itself couldn't sway me. But right now even his firm grasp couldn't stop the feeling that the universe was shifting uncontrollably around me.

"How?" I whispered into his neck. "How could you know?"

Damon lifted my head, forcing me to look at him. He traced his thumbs underneath my eyes, wiping away a fragment of my tears before bringing his hands to the back of my head. I thought he was just going to pull me back against him. But then I no longer felt his touch on my skin, and he held my necklace up in front of me.

"What?" My voice cracked.

"Look at me." He commanded, caressing my face. "Do you remember the day you invited me into your home?"

I nodded. "You came to get your jacket from me."

"We sat on your bed. We talked. I told you to forget it." He spoke low and clear. "I need you to remember that now."

I blinked. All we had talked about was Caroline and Matt's pseudo fight from the previous night. Only . . . no. I pinched my eyes together, straining to remember a single word from that conversation. It made my head hurt. There was so much pressure inside my brain that I thought I might pass out. But I couldn't remember. The conversation wasn't there anymore. Only Damon was there.

He held the necklace by the delicate chain as he examined the flowers etched on the surface. Not sure what to say to fill the silence, I turned my attention to his ring. It was a signet ring, with a large blue stone that had some sort of family crest in the center. I twisted it back and forth; I had never seen something like it before. He closed his hand over mine, and I looked up to see his head tilted, a curious expression on his face.

"Tell me the truth Lucy." His eyes darkened as he spoke to me. They entranced me, icy and mysterious. "What do you really think of me?"

"You're the most attractive man I've ever met in my life. But you're so mysterious. I know almost nothing about you, and that scares me." I admitted.

The words came out before I could stop them. It wasn't what I wanted to say. I wanted to say, You're Stefan's older brother and Elena seems to be wary of you and I'm still trying to figure out why. But the truth came out instead. Damon smirked at my response, and I felt my face flush. He knew how I felt about him now.

"That's too easy." He said, and leaned closer. "What's your darkest secret?"

"I killed my brother." I whispered.

"Woah. Too dark." His tone was teasing, and I could have swore I saw him smirk, but his eyes widened, and he leaned away from me.

I felt my heart jolt. I had never said it out loud. I shouldn't have said it out loud. Damon couldn't know. No one should know. My breathing became shallow. The room felt like it was spinning, and I kept looking around the walls for something to focus on. Damon put his hand under my chin and tilted my face so I was looking at him again.

"Shh, it's okay." He whispered, running his hand up and down my neck. "There's no need to get upset."

His voice was so soothing. The second he spoke I felt calm. My heart rate slowed, and I took a deep breath. I just stared at him, into his eyes. Damon furrowed his brow, and looked down at the piece of jewelry dangling from his fingers. He nodded at it, as if it had spoken some secret to him that I couldn't hear. Gently, he lowered the necklace back into my hand.

"Listen to me. You're going to put this back on, and you're not going to take it off if anyone asks you too." He instructed. "Forget that I asked you anything. I came over to get my jacket, told you that I thought your necklace looked like a family heirloom, and then we talked about Matt and Caroline's fight. Do you understand?"

I nodded, and slowly fastened my necklace back around my neck. I set my hands back down, and Damon placed his hand over mine. His thumb traced around the stone of his ring that was still on my finger. I looked at him, exploring his face intently.

"I'm sorry, what did you just say?" I asked. "I just zoned out for a moment."

I opened my eyes to see him studying me, waiting for a reaction. His hand was still holding my face. I pushed it away, and grasped at the air until I felt the metal of my necklace in my palm.

I took a step away from him. "You can leave."

"I'm not going anywhere." He said.

"Leave!" I repeated. "God, just leave. Or yell. Or something. Go ahead. Tell me what a goddamn hypocrite I am for ever getting angry with you for the things that you've done when this entire time you've known that I'm a murderer."

"Lucy," He shook his head. "No you're not."

"How can you say that?" I shot back. "I told you, I killed my brother!"

"Because I know you!" He shouted. "I know you, baby. I don't know what happened, but I know it wasn't your fault."

"Yes it was!" I screamed. "It was my fault. It was my fucking fault. I shouldn't have been driving. I shouldn't have tried to find my father in the first place. I never should have been on that bridge. It's my fault."

I sunk onto the steps. It was far too much to continue standing when I wasn't even sure how I was managing to exist in this moment. Damon sat next to me, putting one arm around me and grazing his fingertips along my forearm.

"Look at you." He said. "You're a mess. You didn't want this, not even a little bit. It was an accident. It's not your fault."

"My parents hate me." I cried.

"No they don't." He took my hand in his. "I've met your parents. They absolutely love you."

"How could they not?" I shot back. "They finally got to have the child they always wanted and now he's dead because of me. There wasn't even a proper funeral. We buried an empty casket."

"They don't hate you." He repeated. "I promise."

"Do you hate me?" I asked.

"No. No no no. Look at me Lucy." He pleaded. "I could never hate you. Never."

Damon brought his lips to the side of my head, resting there with me in his arms. And that was it. There was no doubt in my mind that Damon Salvatore was the one for me. This man who had lived multiple lifetimes plagued by darkness, who came into my life haunted and hollow, was prepared to swallow up every part of me, every shadow that lingered in my mind. I loved Damon Salvatore.

"Come on," He whispered. "Let's get you upstairs."

With a tenderness that only cemented every affection I had towards him in my heart, Damon picked me up and carried me to my bedroom. He brought me my favorite pair of sweatpants, and left me alone to change, returning with a glass of water. I rested my head against his torso, closing my eyes while he ran his hands over my hair.

"Stefan's back." He informed me. "Do you want me to go get Elena?"

Elena. "No. No Damon you can't. I can't see her."

"What? Why not?" Damon asked. "She knows. Lucy, you need her right now."

I shot up and began to pace around the room, clutching my sides. Damon might be able to accept me, but Elena would never be able to. Maybe if I were only responsible for the death of my brother, her brother, whom I had denied her the chance of ever even meeting. But no. Her parents.

"Lucy," Damon placed a hand on my shoulder to stop me from moving around. "You're scaring me. What's wrong?"

"Elena." I whimpered. "Her parents. The bridge. There was another car. It was the same bridge. She'd never forgive me. I can't lose her, Damon."

"What? You think Elena and her parents were in the same car accident?" Damon asked.

"It was the same bridge." I repeated. "The same month. They told me there was another car-"

"It wasn't her parents." Damon cut me off.

I shook my head. "It's too much of a coincidence."

"It wasn't them." Damon insisted.

"How could you know that?" I sniffed.

"Because there wasn't another car when they went off the bridge." Stefan said.

I turned to see him standing in the doorway, Elena right behind him. "Stefan?"

"I'm sorry. I heard you from outside." Stefan explained. "I didn't mean to listen, but I couldn't let you believe that. It wasn't the same accident."

"Stefan was there, Lucy." Elena said. "He saved my life. You know that. There was no one else involved."

"No. That's not possible." I protested. "You're just saying that."

Stefan sighed. "Lucy, I care about you deeply, I really do. But I would not lie to Elena for your sake. I am telling you the truth. You weren't there."

I fell back onto my bed. Elena pushed Stefan aside and came over to sit next to me. She hugged me, and that was the comfort I needed. My sister. I didn't kill her parents. I could breathe.

"I can't believe you've been holding that in this entire time." She mumbled into my shoulder.

"I'm sorry." I said. "I didn't want to lie to you. I just couldn't lose you."

"No, that wouldn't happen." Elena broke the hug to meet my eye. "Lucy, even if you had been there, it wouldn't have been your fault. Just like it isn't your fault that Brandon died."

I pressed my hands against my eyes. "God, I really messed up with Jeremy."

"Jeremy's fine." Stefan assured me.

"I'll explain everything to him. If you want me to." Elena offered.

I nodded. Jeremy deserved to know why I completely froze up on him our first time hanging out as siblings. I wouldn't blame him if he never wanted to speak to me again.

"I think you need to go to bed." Elena suggested. "Scoot over."

"Excuse me?" Damon interjected. "I'm going to protest you on that one."

"Fine, Damon." Elena rolled her eyes. "You can crash our sleepover, just this once."

Damon grumbled something under his breath that caused a small smile to flash across Stefan's face, but laid down on the other side of me. While squished between two of the people I cared about most in the world and knowing that I no longer had any secrets to keep from them, I felt at least half of my turmoil from the evening begin to dissipate.

"Okay, I'll see you guys tomorrow." Stefan said.

"Stefan." I groaned. "Don't be annoying."

"Yeah, Stefan." Elena patted the little bit of empty bed beside her. "Don't be annoying."

Stefan grimaced. Clearly affection was not his strong suit if anyone other than Elena was involved. Come to think of it, Stefan probably had never even had a sleepover before. As reserved as he was, I strongly doubted it.

"Come on, Stef." Damon grinned. "It'll be just like when you made me sleep in your bed when you were five because you were scared of the dark. Only now we've got two smoking hot girls between us."

"I can leave." Elena warned.

"Even better." Damon countered.

I elbowed him. Elena laughed. So did Stefan. Then, he laid down in the little bit of available space, and right there, barely able to move in my own bed, I closed my eyes and drifted into the soundest sleep I'd had in almost a year.

They'll get through, they'll get you
In the place that you fear it the most
In the corner, where it's warmer
In the face that you wish was a ghost