THE LAKE HOUSE

Aella and Elena made their way through the woods around the property, Elena listening as Aella explained the history of the Salvatore brothers. They had been outside for hours, and the weather was cold, but the tale had Elena listening earnestly.

Sadness clouded Elena's features, "I would never have thought it was Stefan who forced Damon to transition."

Aella, hands deep in her coat pockets, nodded sadly, "Stefan's never forgiven himself." She laughed humorlessly, "And Damon won't let him forget anytime soon."

"Is that why Lexi hates Damon," Elena wondered aloud. "Because he won't forgive Stefan?"

Aella snorted, "No. Lexi and Damon have their own history for Lexi to pull that hate from." She recalled what Stefan had told her, "Stefan was so full of guilt, what he'd done to Damon, his dad -even if he was an asshole- something like that is what can really harm a newly transitioned vampire. Stefan turned his humanity off."

Elena's eyes widened, "He what?"

"He turned off all his emotions," Aella explained almost painfully. Emotions were what made you human. "He had so many coming at him from all different directions, intensified by the transition he turned them all off."

Elena looked to the ground, thinking, "And when you say intensified by the transition...?"

"Sadness becomes misery," Aella listed off. "Anger becomes rage, confusion becomes despair. Hope becomes hopelessness."

Tears shimmered in Elena's eyes, "But to turn that off, you'd become a shell of a person - not even a person."

Aella shrugged, "To a vampire, I think it can be a gift... sometimes. Their emotions are stronger because they're enhanced; turn off the only thing you think is still making you weak, and you've got the perfect monster."

"Like in Jonathan's journal," Elena nodded, understanding how her uncle saw her friend as one. "When Stefan attacked the town, his humanity was turned off."

Aella smiled and was barely there as they stopped, and she faced Elena, "And now we're back to the beginning."

Elena blinked multiple times, "It's a lot."

Aella's nose crinkled as she admitted, "Stefan told me all this within days of meeting me. He wanted us to be honest and open with one another; no secrets."

Despite all she'd learned, the corner of Elena's mouth quirked up, "You two are so cute."

"I know," Aella shivered, sticking her tongue out. "We've turned into one of those couples that you hate in movies but secretly want in real life." She glanced around, "Speaking of my boyfriend, It's been far too long since I saw him, and he has a lot of making up to do since he admitted he was wrong."

Elena laughed, "I want to say 'awww,' but I know what you two are like, so say 'ew!' instead."

Aella nudged her elbow with hers, "I meant him waiting on me hand and foot, you dirty, dirty girl."

"Sure," Elena rolled her eyes. "You go ahead; I'm going to walk a little more."

"Take your time," Aella nodded and returned to the lake house. Just before she went out of view, she shouted back, "Keep your phone close; technically, you're still a kidnapping target."

Elena pulled her phone from her pocket and waved it in the air, "I got it." Elena waited until Aella was out of earshot before she found a specific contact in her phone and called it.

Only after two rings was the call answered, "Aren't you supposed to be relaxing next to a lake right now?"

Elena didn't answer; she instead asked him bluntly, "Why didn't you ever tell me it was Stefan who turned you?"

Damon was silent until he replied, full of sarcasm, "Well, Elena. How am I? I showered. I shaved. Had breakfast. Very relaxed. You?"

Elena took a deep breath, "I'm sorry. I was just shocked. I-"

"You what?" Damon interrupted harshly. "Would you have forgiven me for all the bad things I'd done because I was the one forced to turn instead of Stefan?" She was silent, "Yeah, I didn't think so."

"Is that why you hated Lexi?" Elena asked instead. "Because Stefan had someone who believed in him, and you didn't?"

This time, it was Damon, who had been silent before he asked her instead, "How much do you trust Pixie's plan?"

Elena straightened up. That was a turn she wasn't expecting, but she answered honestly, "One hundred percent."

Damon scoffed, "C'mon, nobody trusts anything one hundred percent."

"Well, I do," Elena argued. "I trust Aella with my life completely."

Damon hummed, "Little brother doesn't agree with you there."

Elena's eyes widened, "What? What are you talking about, Damon?"

"Tonight, Elena," Damon replied sharply. "I will do us all a favor and deal with our biggest issue. I'm going to kill Elijah."

"What?!" Elena exclaimed. "No, you can't do that."

"Well, I've got a nifty little dagger, courtesy of your sperm donor, that says otherwise."

"John gave it to you?" Elena asked, aghast as she looked down the path Aella walked down, silently praying for her to return, "How did John give you a dagger to kill an Original? And how do you know it's even real? We don't know what will happen if you use it, Damon."

"Oh, trust me, Elena," Elena could practically hear the smirk on his face. "I'm gonna dot all my t's. I don't want any surprises, including you telling your little witchy friend my plan."

"You're telling me to lie to her?" Elena's tone was of disbelief. "You're going against everything she asked you to do; she-"

"-She will get over it," Damon interrupted her sharply. "And she will appreciate what I've done when Elijah is dead, and we've dealt with Klaus the same way. Keep stum, Elena. Got to run. I've a murder to plan. Busy day."

Damon hung up, and Elena looked down at her phone in disbelief. Her first thought was to run to Aella and tell her what Damon was doing. Her body was ready to move, follow the path Aella had gone down, but her body stayed put.

C'mon, nobody trusts anything one hundred percent.

Elena didn't want to die, even if it was for a few moments. For the first time, Elena decided to trust Damon; her feelings about the vampire warped from the history she'd learned. As if proud of her decision, Elena's legs began walking her back to the lake house.

MYSTIC GRILL

Andie Starr wasn't an idiot when it came to Damon Salvatore. He was hot and wore a leather jacket; he was a wannabe bad boy who needed the right girl to show him that his tough exterior fooled nobody. Andie also knew that he was a regular customer at the Mystic Grill, and she would use that knowledge to her advantage.

Her amber eyes scanned the room with a drink already in her hand until she spotted her target. Pinching her cheeks to make them extra rosey, she grinned and went over to the bad boy she had to have.

When Andie reached his table, she was disappointed to see him sitting with Jenna's boyfriend, the teacher, but she knew she could use that to her advantage. Smiling brightly at the raven-haired man, she greeted him, "Hi, Damon," She barely gave the teacher a look, "Alan."

Ric's brow raised, "It's Ric."

Andie merely shrugged as she sat beside Damon without invitation, "Alan, Ric, same thing, right?"

Damon, "Right, Alan."

"You know..." Andie looked up at Damon through her eyelashes, "I had Jenna give you my number."

Damon shifted to face her, grinning smugly, "You did. I like a woman who knows what she wants."

Ric wanted to throw up. His day brightened when he saw Carol Lockwood and Elijah walk into the bar, "Speaking of women who always get what they want, look who just walked in."

Andie's eyes narrowed at Ric while Damon quickly looked over his shoulder, "Ohhh, Madame Mayor and her famous historian." Ric held back a grin at the disdain in Damon's voice as the vampire looked back at him, "How was the tour of Mystic Falls?"

Ric took a long sip of his drink, "Long."

Andie's eyes widened as she looked at Ric in a new light, "You were with Carol Lockwood this morning? Did she say anything about her son's disappearance?"

Ric's stare turned cold. "Are you asking that as someone concerned about a missing teenager or your next news story?"

Damon turned his full attention to Ric, to Andie's utter contempt, "Other than your lecture on the history of Mystic Falls, did you get anything out of Elijah?"

"Why would you need to get anything out of a historian," Andie sniffed, drinking her cocktail. "They're so boring."

"I'm a historian," Ric responded in a deadpan joke.

Andie burst into a fake laughter, looking at Damon, who followed suit a little too loudly until he got bored. His eyes narrowed on her, "How about you shut up and drink your girly drink while we talk."

Only when Andie didn't throw her 'girlie' drink in Damon's face and drank it silently did it occur to Ric that Damon had compelled her. He gave Damon a look of exhaustion, but Damon just repeated, "Well? Elijah?"

Appreciating how quiet Andie was now, Ric answered Damon, "No, it was boring. Of course, Carol thinks he's charming."

Damon's eyes gleamed, "You sounded jealous." He looked at Andie, "He sounded jealous, right?"

"Kinda do," Andie nodded with a grin to replace the dead-eye stare she'd previously worn.

Damon pouted at his friend, "Has Elijah stolen your handsome newcomer crown?"

Ric seemed to pout as he admitted, "Kinda do. Kinda am. It's different when seeing it from another point of view..."

When he trailed off, lost in his thoughts, Damon waved at Carol with a wide grin, "Ah, there's our dear Mayor with her new friend. Hi."

"Damon!" Carol exclaimed, blushing a little. "You make it sound so scandalous; I was just helping Mr. Smith here."

Damon's eyes shifted to Elijah, who was smiling so annoyingly at Carol, "I hear you two had quite a meeting of historical minds today."

Carol's eyes lit up, "Oh, it was fantastic. Mr. Smith here really knows his stuff."

"Please, Carol," Elijah smiled extra wide. "It's Elijah."

Andie leaned past Damon to Elijah, "I would love to interview you, Elijah." She fluttered her lashes, "Historians of your reputation are so knowledgeable and wise."

Ric scowled at the reporter, "Well, as much as I'd like to continue this, I've got papers to grade."

Ric put down some money and began to get up from the table when Andie pouted, "No, please. Maybe we could continue this elsewhere?" She clapped as an idea came to her to get closer to Damon, "We could continue this. What about a dinner party?"

Damon opened his mouth to silence the reporter but paused, Ric too freezing, getting up at the familiar look on his face as the plan quickly formed in the vampire's brain. Damon praised the reporter instead, "Full of good ideas. I'll be happy to host. Say tonight. Maybe?"

"Yay!" Andie clapped happily. "Can everyone come?"

"Not me," Carol smiled politely at the loud woman.

Andie smiled tightly at the mayor, "That may be a good thing after your recent situation." She ignored Carol's glare, "It's good for me. Alan?"

Ric grimaced, "Yeah, I don't know if tonight works-"

"-of course, Alan's coming," Damon interrupted the lame excuse Ric was about to make up. He turned to Elijah, ignoring his friend's glare, and raised a brow at the original."

Elijah smiled brightly at Damon, "It'd be a pleasure."

"Great!" Damon clapped while Ric fell back to his seat. Reaching across, the teacher downed the rest of Andie's girlie drink in one before realizing the drink wasn't that bad and stared at the glass with a new appreciation.

THE LAKE HOUSE

Elena felt guilty as hell. She hadn't been able to look Aella in the eye since she returned from the woods and locked herself away reading the rest of the journals.

Only when Elena's throat screamed out in thirst did she tentatively walk out of the room to the kitchen. There she found her aunt stirring her own hot drink as she looked at the window laughing. When Jenna heard Elena's footsteps, she smiled over her shoulder at the teen, "Hot drink?" When she turned back, she let out another laugh.

"Yes, please," Elena smiled shakily. "What's got you laughing so much?"

Jenna nodded her head at the window as she made Elena her drink. Elena slowly approached the window and found a smile stretching across her face, "I wondered how long it would take for Aella to be thrown into the lake."

She watched as Aella climbed up the ladder out of the water -fully clothed- onto the dock before letting out a war-like scream -thankfully silenced by the windows- as she jumped onto Stefan as he trod water. The two quickly emerged before Stefan threw her off him with a laugh.

"Apparently, Aella insulted his masculinity when he returned from chopping wood," Jenna explained with a wide smile. Laughing as Stefan went to flip from the dock, Aella obviously used her magic as he jumped, and he flailed in the air for a few seconds before he belly-flopped into the lake.

When Jenna slid the hot drink to her, Elena held it close to her chest, appreciating the warmth, "How do they do that?"

"Do what, hunny," Jenna raised a curious brow at her.

"That," Elena waved a hand to the playing couple with a tearful smile. "How can they still be happy, have fun, love - when life is unraveling so quickly?"

Jenna hummed lowly, thinking about how to answer her niece. Her gaze returned to the playing teens, Aella waving her hand, and a wave formed and crashed on top of Stefan. When Stefan emerged nonplussed, she figured it out. "I think it's because it's all they've know." Taking a sip of her tea, she expanded her thought. "Aella's had her magic her whole life; she might not have faced evil like we are now, but she's known about it; she's prepared herself for it. And Stefan? A year ago, I thought he was the evil. Stefan's life has been the supernatural for the last two centuries. He's a vampire. She's a witch. What's more supernatural than that?"

Elena turned her back on the happy couple, leaning against the counter, "I guess."

"What's on your mind?" Jenna asked directly.

Elena laughed at her aunt's bluntness. She worried her lip before asking, "If I had kept this a secret from you and you found out, would you be hurt?"

"Wow!" Jenna breathed out, pursed lips, turning her back on the counter like Elena. "Do you want the PG Guardian answer or the truth?"

Though it was a joke, Elena glanced at her aunt intensely, "The truth. Always the truth."

Jenna smirked, "I think your answer to my question answers that... But, to put it frankly? Yes." Jenna glanced at her niece with a sharp nod, "Yes. I would have been incredibly hurt. Knowing what I know now, I don't know how I let you three leave the house sometimes. But I also know that if anything did happen, like Vicki, Mason, and Aimee, I won't be in the dark; I'll know the truth. A little morbid-"

"-No," Elena's brows furrowed as she interrupted her aunt. "No, I know what you mean. You never have to wonder, what if?"

Jenna nodded, "My world has changed, and it may have become more dangerous, but also, knowing allows me to keep you, Jeremy, and Aella safer. No," Jenna soothed herself with another drink of tea. "Secrets and lies kill any relationships; no matter how careful you are, no matter if the lie is a cover to make the other person feel better, you will get caught."

Jenna smiled proudly at her niece, "I'm so proud you felt like you didn't have to lie to me. Come here, kiddo," She pulled Elena into a tight hug, unaware of how much her words had hit Elena right in the gut. The hug had also turned Elena to face the window. As she squeezed Jenna back just tightly, her eyes caught Aella and Stefan holding onto each other as they walked away from the lake. Her best friend had love and joy back in her eyes, and as a tear fell from Elena's, she knew that she'd made a huge mistake and wasn't sure how to fix it.