Written 2012 by VeGirl

The next morning Alaric showed up with the computer-genius and they set up an office in a room next to the kitchen, careful not to being caught by the camera that still was recording in the parlour. I had never been especially technically interested, and was a bit in awe of his handling of the computer and everything hooked up to it. Alaric seemed to be well-grounded in the computer world, because he had interesting discussions with Jay, the computer-wizard.

"So you think it would be fairly easy to find out who's doing this to us?" Stefan asked him, casually leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Well, maybe not easy," he said smiling. "But since you picked the right guy, I think we're gonna find out which IP-address they're using." He beamed confident and Alaric looked pleased with the guy, shooting follow-up questions in rapid speed. They were getting into the real technical stuff and I was way out of my league there. Instead of standing on the side, feeling like a complete idiot, I left the room.

In the parlour, Katherine and Elena sat in the couches across from each other. I first asked if I disturbed, but they said I was welcome to join them. It felt weird to sit there with these identical women. I had actually gone to school with a couple of girls who were identical twins. This was much weirder.

There wasn't much of a conversation going on, so when Damon strolled into the room and went up to the table with liquor to pour himself a whiskey, Katherine held up her finger. "I'll have one of those!"

"Right away, miss Katherine!" Damon was mocking her, but still brought her a glass of whiskey and then popped down on the couch by my side.

"So, you're still keeping this one for a pet?" She looked nonchalantly at me.

"Katerina!" Elijah reprimanded her and she immediately looked away.

What?!

Damon, Elena and I tried not to gasp. I hadn't even seen him come into the room, he had just appeared. Was Katherine really on his leash? That was too astonishing to even consider. We bit our tongues and chose not to comment.

"Elijah." Damon started to talk about something completely different. "Since I'm about to help you, and your family, I need some help in return," he said and I remembered that he had never trust Elijah's help with the sacrifice.

"How can I be of your service? I really want to!" Elijah said cynically.

"Would you please come with me?" Damon worked hard to ignore the comment and led him to the kitchen. I immediately understood what kind of help he wanted.

Left on the couch sat us three girls, with not much to talk about. Except, of course... "So Katherine, have you any clue to your relationship to Elena?"

Katherine almost choked on the whiskey and Elena stared shocked at me.

"I'm sorry, but we're all dying to know." I shrugged, actually feeling a little cocky, that was probably a mistake...

"But Emma, this might not be either the place or the time to discuss this," Elena interrupted with a look in her face that reminded me of the camera still placed in the ceiling.

"Yes, you're right Elena. I'm sorry Ii didn't mean to cause trouble," I apologized.

There was a knock on the door and I took it as my cue to leave. Outside stood Caroline and Tyler and I welcomed them inside.

Right on time Klaus came walking down the hallway and nodded at me. "Interference-girl."

"Claw-boy!" I replied cocky and it looked like he almost smiled.

"Klaus," Tyler said respectfully and I was almost expecting him to bow. Klaus pat him on the shoulder and led him into the parlour.

Caroline walked behind them, looking really annoyed with the respect emanating from her boyfriend. "What if he told him to stand in front of a speeding car, would he have to do that?" she muttered silently.

I snickered. "You of all must realize that they can hear you."

"Yes, we can." I heard Klaus say.

"Come on, let's find Elena." I hooked my arm in hers and went to the kitchen patio with her, where I knew Elena and Katherine had moved. The two look-alikes ended their conversation the minute Caroline and I came and sat down out on the patio. Caroline seemed to still be alarmed by Katherine's presence. A lot had happened between them in the past year and Caroline didn't trust her as far as she could throw her. We did our best to share a casual conversation, to ignore the tension, but it didn't go very well. Tyler came out and wanted to talk to Caroline so she got up and left us.

"Emma, Katherine told me a little about her daughter," Elena revealed what the two of them had discussed while they were alone.

"Have you been able to find out anything about her?" I asked.

"I don't know why we're talking about this with you." She glared at me. "And why weren't you surprised about a daughter of mine?" she added and I hadn't realised that this information was a surprise to everyone but me.

Ooops, I had slipped once again.

"But haven't you... Oh, no it was... I'm sorry I mixed up you with somebody else." I felt like I was trying to dig myself out of a hole. "So you had a daughter before you were turned?"

There was a suspicious look in her eyes, an even more suspicious look than before. And I thought about the times Damon had defended me against her. Was she interested in him again now, just because he and I had hit it off? I started to think about; what if Damon wanted her back? I had no claim on him. Maybe I should go and talk to him, but was I really ready to take a step away already?

"Emma, you're slipping away!"

I blinked surprised up at the girls who was glaring at me. "Oh, I'm sorry, didn't mean to be rude," I told them and tried to listen to the story of how Katherine was searching for the child that her father took from her. I could relate to her story, with the child I would never have. The sadness took such a hold on me, I hadn't thought about it in a long time.

"Emma?"

"I'm sorry. I... I think I need to go, excuse me." I left before they could see the tears that were starting to well up in my eyes. I went up to my room, no sorry, this wasn't my room, this was Damon's room and I reminded myself that I didn't belong here. I stood in front of the mirror by the sink and was trying to snap out of it.

"Emma?" It was Stefan. I hadn't seen him for most of the day, with him being cooped up with Alaric and Jay, the computer-guy. "Are you okay?"

I sniffled and dried my eyes before I looked at him.

"Yes, I'm fine," I lied, probably not convincingly, but still.

"No, you're not," he said serious and his eyes were surveying into mine. "Is there anything I could do?" I actually saw sympathy in his eyes and I heard the compassion in his voice. Wow! There was sincerity and empathy in him still.

I stretched out my hand and stroked his arm. "Thank you, really. It's something I need to talk to Damon about, but thank you."

"Shall I call him?"

I smiled a teary smile. "No, I'll be fine."

"Sure?" he asked and I nodded, and he went downstairs again.

Damon showed up as soon as Stefan was gone and he held me tight as I cried. At first he had been angry and wondered what had happened, but I explained that it had to do with what I had told him by the lake. I washed my face when the tears subsided and put some new eyeliner and mascara on before I got downstairs with my hand in Damon's.

Elena came and hugged me the instant we got into the downstairs hallway. "What happened?" She wanted to know, but I couldn't explain.

I looked at Damon for comfort. "Katherine isn't the only one who lost a child," he said hard but quiet to Elena whose eyes got huge and then she hugged me. I thanked her and explained shortly it was a long time ago and I didn't feel comfortable to talk about it. She nodded and we did our best to ignore the subject.

Damon had returned to the temporary office next to the kitchen when Bonnie showed up a while later. She had a dark-haired girl with her that I recognized, but it took me a while to come up with who she was though. It was her cousin Lucy, the witch who had helped Katherine at the masquerade. She and Katherine said hello and even though they seemed a bit chilly at first, they soon hugged each other. They had settled their score.

Elena was the one introducing me to Bonnie. "This is Emma, my new friend." We said our hello's and Elena explained fast, but really quiet that there were more to me than met the eye, that I knew things that I wasn't supposed to know. I hurried to clarify that it wasn't in a clairvoyant kind of way though, even if it seemed so. Elena promised to explain further at a later time. She casted bemused glances towards me, but I felt safe with Bonnie knowing my secret.

Damon and Elijah came back from the kitchen and walked up to us. "Elena. Witches." And that was his way of saying hello.

"You have added up on the witch-power, Bonnie. Nice to meet you, Lucy, you're a friend of Katarina's, aren't you?" Elijah asked and Lucy nodded with a little surprised look. I smiled once again at the way Elijah pronounced Katarina's name, with the ringing r:s from the tip of his tongue.

"Everything okay?" I asked Damon who I knew to be a master at deflecting questions.

"Couldn't be better." He was smiling and had his arm around my back as his attention was on Bonnie, Lucy and Elijah. Katherine left us on the patio.

"What's going to happen?" Bonnie sounded really worried.

"We don't really know," Elena said. "Elijah just said that you might be able to make some kind of magical barrier that no one would get through, is that possible?"

"Yes," Lucy said. "We can make a spell that keeps vampires in, like the one Bonnie did on the masquerade and we can make one that keeps the creepy stuff out." Lucy added with attitude and a glare at Damon.

"Damon will make sure you'll be safe," I assured. "He promised Emily a long time ago that he would protect her family." Bonnie, Lucy and Damon's head snapped up.

"Maybe I wasn't ready to reveal that secret," he said with a wry face.

"Maybe it was time..."

The cousins just stared at this black haired jeans-dressed cocky boy standing in front of them. "You really knew Emily Bennett?" That information seemed to have been lost to Bonnie.

"I told you when she was haunting you, but you didn't really listen."

"But she lived in 1860... something."

"Yes I'm old," he snarled and I started to giggle. "Maybe you should have gone with a younger guy." He glowered at me, but it faded into a smile.

"And lose my eternal stud?" I slid my arms around his waist and he held me close.

"Age is comparative..." Elijah was suddenly there with a shrug and a smile.

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Thank you, for your encuraging comments and your votes!

Enjoy! // VeGirl.

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