Written 2013 by VeGirl

Sure Klaus' phone had rung a lot of times during the weeks we spent in this country, but I hadn't thought that much about it. Suddenly one day he said that Ester had found out our loop hole. It was a couple of weeks into the new year and at first I didn't understand what he was talking about.

"We need to get out of here."

"What, do you mean another leap in time?"

"Oh, my God, I'm gonna grow old if we keep pressing the forward button on this freaking remote; isn't there a rewind?"

Klaus just glared at us.

"Is this what our life will be; just run and hide?" Anna's voice was flat and monotonous and frankly she sounded shocked. "Like forever?"

Klaus was amazingly sweet to my friend. "You've been under duress for some time now, luv; that'll ease up." If I didn't know better, I would have thought that the two of them were beginning to develop deeper feelings for one another. "But we really need to find a loophole somewhere here in the next few days."

The witches circle had explained to us about the upcoming date of Imbolc, the next Wiccan holiday when the transitioning was doable, but Anna was scared of performing this ritual.

"We're in this together!" Klaus said. "We'll do everything we can, and you'll do what you can."

Despite our research of this town and all walks Damon and I took, we couldn't find any suspicious place for time-laps at all.

The one thing that had sent the slightest shivers was when Damon and I went to the Wasa-ship museum to look at the huge ship that sunk on its first journey.

"This ship is even older than me?" Damon had joked, as we amazed walked around looking at all the preserved details.

"Amazingly enough." I joked. "It sank 1628 and resurfaced again in the seventies."

"Wow!"

"Yeah, a relic like you, baby."

* * * * *

Finally we travelled down to the south of Sweden, to Anna's and my hometown again and the night in question we did all the arrangements necessary, including breaking into the old schoolhouse, where we had heard the humming rock in the first place. The air was thick and I felt the tension even if I didn't have witches blood running through my veins.

Due to the fact that we had woken up on the cold ground twice after the last transitioning, we decided to take this event inside, instead of waking up in a pile of snow outside. The old schoolhouse was only lit up by the moon and candle lights. Klaus did several surveillance rounds around the house despite the freezing cold weather.

The actual procedure worked pretty much as it had the last two times we had tried it, with candles in a circle and specific words being chanted. We were all helping setting everything up, like we had last time, the slight difference that Anna was the one to read the words straight from her iPhone screen instead of Amariya and her ancient grimoire.

Even this time the buzzing sounds from the rocks beneath us were increasing until it reached a deafening roar, and I remember telling myself I never wanted to go through that chaotic turmoil another time.

When I woke up, Damon was already awake, having placed my head carefully in his lap. "Hi Sweetie." He whispered softly. "Are you okay?"

I nodded, but when I looked around I couldn't see Anna and Klaus anywhere. "What happened, where are they?" I bolted upright. "Are we alone?"

Damon chuckled soft. "Just temporarily, they've gone to check on stuff."

I got on my feet quickly and was fast at the door, with Damon walking slightly calmer behind me. We could feel the temperature change when we got out, but we didn't really know if that was coincidental or if we had moved forward even this time.

Things looked about the same, but the snow was gone, and I thought I could feel a slight feeling of spring in the air. Weren't birds chirping a little more hopeful than last night?

We walked out towards the centre of town in the dawn light to find out where our friends were, and what date it was. We met only an occasional person out walking the dog in the early morning before we caught eyes with Anna and Klaus.

"Hey, it worked!" Anna had a big smile on her face. "It's March the fifth."

We hugged each other. "Job well done!" I replied with a huge smile.

"I've booked us flights back." Klaus informed us and we headed straight for the train-station where our bags were locked in the long term deposit boxes for us to pick up. The next step was clear; just get on the train.

One if the perks of living in the southern Sweden is that we can just get on the train and end up in Denmark, get off at Kastrup; their airport and be out of the country. This convenience made me think about how this part of the country had belonged to Denmark for long periods of time historically, and this bridge made that bond stronger again.

Thanks' to this fabulous communication it didn't take too long for us to get on a flight back to Atlanta. In opposite to our last flight, this time it felt as if we were going home. Even if we were tired, we were still positive and talked a little about the future instead of constantly living in the here and now. Everybody's talking about the perks of being here and now, but let me tell you; after only being able to live for the moment on the run, it was a whole new feeling to plan for next week, or for next month, it was exhilarating.

After the nap in Damon's arms on the flight we were going down for landing in Atlanta, and I felt almost as jittery as I did that first time when I arrived here. Outside was perfect spring and Klaus car was still parked in the same spot, as if we had just been gone for two weeks or something.

I couldn't help myself but to take a few deep breaths of the warm spring air, glad to get away from the cold winter and the snow. In the car came the next sensitive moment, when we got closer to our destination. That last curve I might even have held my breath and grasp Damon's hand before the sign 'Welcome to Mystic Falls' came into view.

A joyous yelp escaped from Anna and me, and we all laughed at our success, or more specific; Anna's new powers.

Anna decided to stay with Klaus when he stopped to drop Damon and me off at the Boarding house. I needed to take another deep breath and glance up towards the sun peaking through the leaves of the huge trees. Damon smiled at me as he grabbed my hand and we walked in through the huge door to his home.

"Honey, we're home!" He called and I giggled, relived that everything had worked out, and to finally being home again.

"Damon?" Stefan came hurrying down to meet us with a hug. "It's so good to have you back!" He said as he gave me a warm hug as well.

"Yeah, I'm glad to see you!" I replied, feeling jittery as a child on Christmas morning.

Once again I took a deep breath; this old house had this amazing scent of old books, smoke from the fireplace in combination with the lemon fresh wood polisher. Yeah it wasn't Damon that polished or cleaned the house, but this little lady from town came once or twice a week to take care of that. This is a huge house, and I didn't envy her one bit.

"How have you been, how's Elena?" I asked curious about the same time Stefan asked us how we've been. We laughed a bit and Damon and I told that we had a great time. "Yeah, we celebrated Christmas with Emma's family."

"And Damon and Klaus have been interviewed on TV." I revealed giggling. "And we were treated as celebrities as long as they said they were Ian Somerhalder and Joseph Morgan."

"So, things worked out fine with Klaus?" Stefan asked as if he had been worried. I couldn't really blame him though; things had been very different when Klaus and Stefan had their road-trip.

"So how's Elena doing?"

"She's... fine..." Stefan was a bit vague in his answer. "She's a bit sad though... That'll be better now that you're home."

"She's not here?" Damon asked.

"No, she's with Jeremy; they've been spending a lot of their time making up for old times." Stefan explained and I couldn't believe how sad he looked.

"It's so good to be back." I said and hugged him again.

After having put our stuff back in Damon's room, we sat down on the couch with Stefan to talk; Elena barged in through the door as soon as Stefan called her. "You're back!" She yelled and hugged both Damon and me. "It's been too long!" She complained.

Damon poured himself a whiskey. "Can you believe they don't have liquor at the supermarket in Sweden, you have to go to special liquor-stores, which hardly are open." Damon complained to his brother. "That is such a big brother society!"

"Yeah, but we have bars!" I laughed. "You managed to get drunk anyway." I teased him and he retaliated by tickling me in the most intimate and relaxed way. I noted how the ambiance of the room got chillier when we sat back with his arm around my neck.

"I'm glad that everything went well." Stefan said.

"Yes and that you're still alive after spending six months with Klaus." Elena commented.

"It wasn't six months, it was only two." I objected, and then I remembered the time-aspect. "...at least for us... So what's been going on in this town?"

"Well, Carol Lockwood is dead; somebody drowned her in the fountain just before you left."

"What?" Damon yelled. "She's dead? Who did it?"

"We thought Klaus had a finger in that game, since it happened around the time when Tyler and the hybrids tried to kill him."

"That's why he was so eager to come with us?" I gasped.

"Yeah, and April found out about the vampires in this town."

"What, who?" All this info was making my head spin.

"Caroline had an off day, with Hayley trying to steal Tyler from her, so she forgot to check for a Vervain bracelet before she tried to compel April."

"What?" I couldn't believe it. There was apparently a lot stuff that Stefan had to deal with on his own, and I felt really bad for him.

"Can we help?" As soon as that sentence came out, I heard how lame it sounded. "I'm sorry; it just seemed like a little much to deal with."

"Didn't you have enough trouble to deal with; Klaus and Anna and everything?" Elena had the compassionate tone of voice that she always had as a human. I couldn't help but to glance between her and Damon, but I couldn't see any trace of feelings between them. Unfortunately I saw sadness in her eyes that wasn't there before.

"What would you say about a night out?" I suggested with a smirk and got a curious eye back.

"I thought you'd wanna stay away for a moment." Stefan answered.

"We've got time for that." I said with a dry laugh. "And if we need more; I'll just ask Stefan to turn me." I joked, making them all gasp.

"Don't say that!" Elena yelled at the same time Damon just glared at me.

Stefan was the only one that actually got the funny joke. "Yeah if we're lucky; you'll be sired to me. That would be a funny twist wouldn't it?" And that was when Damon really glared at him.

"Hey, don't give your brother such loving looks, baby." I teased him. "Don't kill the messenger!"

"But I do believe in killing the messenger, you know why? It sends a message." He used his threatening voice.

"Yes, but not your brother, darling." I slid my arms around him giving him one of my flirty looks.

By now I had distracted him enough to get a smile. "You can sleep well, baby; I promise not to kill my brother if he turns you. Hey he turned me!"

"Stop talking about turning her!" Elena interrupted angry. "That is not a joke Emma!"

"Who's joking?" I asked challenging and the joking ambiance was al of a sudden dead serious again.

"I can't believe that we're even having this conversation!" She said appalled.

"Why; I need to keep my options open! It's important to weigh the positive against the negative." I knew that I was being provocative.

She was getting really worked up and I noted that she was on the verge of a rage-fit. "Don't you get that you can never have a family or children!" By now she was screaming and her eyes were turning red. Damon and Stefan was about to take a protective step between us, but my own anger made me take a few quick steps right up to her vampire-face.

"Did you miss the fact that I was raped and can never have children?" I asked in a collected dark way.

She halted abruptly and her face turned back to her beautiful human expression and then tears started to stream down her cheeks.

"You and I have different starting points here, Elena!" I said in a firm tone. "I can't have what you dreamed of, and I wish I could help you become human again, but I will not let Klaus' mother kill my friend, not even for your sake. I'm sorry." My tone became softer eventually and the sentence ended with us hugging each other.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know." She whispered.

"It wasn't your fault."

The mood between us got even more strained after that incident. We did our best to work through it and chat about what had happened both in Mystic Falls and what we had been through, but there was still things to clear out between Elena and I and I had to see her for some one on one time. "Elena, can I please talk to you for a minute?"

Stefan and Damon looked a little worried, at us as we walked out through the door.

"Elena, I know you're going through a real life crisis here, and I wish I could help you, I really do."

She exhaled heavy. "Yeah, I know Emma. I'm sorry to put you in between all of this." She hung her head in an exasperated way. "I just wish this never happened." She had tears in her eyes and I put my arms around her.

"Yes I know, sweetie. I wish I could help you, but I don't know how." I mumbled in an effort to support her. "I just don't want Anna to die, and I don't want you to die either."

She looked at me with tear-filled eyes. "I don't want Anna to die either."

"I know honey!" I did my best to comfort her again. "I know!"

We sat down on the wall just outside the front door with arms around each other as long as the sun kept the wall somewhat warm, but when we ended up in the shade I started to freeze.

"At least that is a good thing of being a vampire; I'm not cold anymore." Elena sighed and I gave her an encouraging smile.

"That's good Elena, and you never have to do work out anymore, right?"

She smiled. "No diets ever again... Unless you count the red liquid one..." she added curtly.

I gave her another hug. "I've missed you!"

"Yeah, me too; I'm really glad that you're back."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Hi guys, now they're finally back in Mystic Falls!

Please let me know what you think,

Love you all! // V.G.