He smiled at her melodious laugh as she rested on her elbow next to him. "We could be doing anything, Stefan." She said softly. "You could take me anywhere, but why did you choose to take me here?" She said, looking around at the quarry, as she sat up on the comfortable blanket.

"It's a fond memory of mine." He answered. "We came here on your birthday in 1863. It's where we—"

"Kissed." She completed. "For the first time." A soft smile made itself known on her lips as she looked back at him. "You remembered, didn't you?"

"These are the good moments." He said, delicately caressing her cheek. "The simple ones, the ones that matter." She played with his hair, listening to his words. "These are the moments that keep me from falling apart." Aurelia leant down to meet his lips, closing her eyes.

When she pulled away, she rested her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat as he slowly and gently ran his hands through her silky hair. "Stefan, this can't last forever." She said softly. "You need to fight by yourself instead of distracting yourself."

"I will." He said. "But let me just spend this time with you." She began to close her eyes when she let out a cough.

Sitting up, she placed a hand on her chest. She coughed a few more times, before she began to choke on something. He looked at her in horror as she began to spit out water.

"Aurelia!"

His eyes opened, and he felt his lungs begging for air. He began to hit the door of the safe again. She was right; distractions wouldn't help him fight.

!

"Damon, I know I said I'd help you find your brother, but I can't dredge this entire quarry." Liz said, looking at the large quarry. "It's enormous."

"I'm aware of that." Damon said. "I mean, clearly, that's why we wanted to dump Silas' body here- because it's big and deep and no one would find him. Now, say I'm Silas, and I want to take over my doppelganger's life. Why wouldn't I wanna dump him in a place that's big and deep and where no one would find him?"

"Damon, I already agreed to hold off on telling anyone about the Mayor's death." Liz said.

"The Mayor, who is Bonnie's father, and who Silas killed." Damon tried to reason.

"I can't devote those kinds of resources to finding one person who may or may not be down there."

"But it's a place to start." Damon said. "And if Stefan's down there, it means he's been drowning over and over again for three months, while I've been with Elena." He said. "Moreover, someone's he's in love with is with his immortal doppelganger, compelled to do God knows what, and whatever else they did during the summer. Do I need to further elaborate the source of my urgency?"

"I'll get some deputies on it."

!

Aurelia folded her legs and she leant back into her seat, waiting for Elena and Caroline to come and explain what the hell she was doing in an Applied Microbiology class, a subject not even meant for freshmen.

"Hey, sorry for dragging you into this." Elena said, taking a seat next to her. Aurelia huffed. "We found out that the professor of this class is the one who wrote down the autopsy repot for Megan. Long story short, he lied about her death and is a part of the cover-up."

"Okay..." She said. "You know, despite move-in day and everything we set up, I feel like I'm forgetting something."

"Morning everyone." The professor said, walking into the class. He was blonde, and seemed to be in his early thirties. "I'm Dr. Maxfield. First name's Wes, but you can call me Dr. Maxfield." Aurelia rolled her eyes are he talked about the history of Whitmore. She knew this; Whitmore was a hospital founded during the American Civil War, and several people died... "Which brings us to microbiology."

"Creep-y." Caroline said.

"But hot-tie." Elena added, as the two softly giggled. Aurelia elbowed them.

"The rancid smell of a decomposing human body comes from a very specific bacterium." Dr. Maxfield said. "Isn't that right, chatty girls in the back?" He looked straight at the girls, who stopped talking. Aurelia muttered several things as she looked at him. "And what is that bacteria?"

"We-we don't know." Elena said.

"Not sure of the name," Aurelia spoke up. "But I'm pretty sure that the rancid smell of decomposing bodies may be a combination of molecules which, in turn, will repel animals." She added. "The two-best categorized components should be... Cadaverine and putrescine." She answered. "Am I right, Dr. Maxfield?"

Most of the students looked at her, unaware of her information. The professor stared at her. "Right...?"

"Aurelia Parker, but you can call me Ms. Parker." She said. "One day, when you understand that you're annoying, you'll understand that." She mimicked his words from earlier.

"Well, Ms. Parker, why don't you take yourself and your freshman friends down the hall?" Aurelia smiled cunningly, before standing up.

!

"Why'd you go ahead and do that?" Elena asked Aurelia, who looked at her as if it was obvious.

"He's a dick, and I don't have that much patience." She answered, when her phone rang. He looked at the caller-ID. "I gotta take this." She said to the brunette and the blonde. "Bye, now."

"Morning, Beautiful."

"Hey, Stef." She said. "What's up?"

"Oh, nothing. Maybe except for the fact that I miss you."

"Then why didn't you come with me to college?" She asked. "I really regret saying that I can handle myself."

"Surprise." He said. She looked up from her phone and a grin spread across her lips. She kept her phone in her pocket, before pulling him in for a kiss.

She let out a soft hum, as he pulled away. "I thought you were in Mystic Falls." He nodded.

"I was, and then I thought about it." He said. "Have you seen Elena?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, so you're not here for me?" She asked, frowning.

"What? Of course I am." He said. "I thought I'd see my gorgeous girl again, and say hi to her friends." She made a sarcastic hum, wrapping her arms around his neck and he pulled her closer by her waist. "After all, I can't live without you." He added, before kissing her softly.

When she broke contact, she stuck out her bottom lip. "I'd really love to stay, and make out with you in the middle of a campus, with students walking around and a memorial less than twenty feet away from us, but I have to go get ready for the bonfire party tonight." He rolled his eyes. "Hey, not everyone looks as good as you, especially—"

"Except you." He corrected, pecking her lips again. "Ugh, please, let me come with you." She shook her head. "Why not?"

"Because I will be busy changing—"

"That's even more a reason!"

"Along with Caroline and Elena." She said. He continued to look at her, his eyes dim, when he spoke up without looking away.

"Hello Elena." The brunette cleared her throat, and the couple looked at her. Aurelia pulled away from Silas. "Aurelia, I'll talk later, okay?"

"Sure." She said. "See you later." He kissed her cheek, before whispering something in her ear and looking into her eyes. She nodded, leaving the two.

!

Caroline heard the door open and close, and she turned around, expecting it to be Aurelia, who came back because she might've forgotten her phone, but no.

"Damon! Towel! Knock!" She exclaimed, keeping the towel on her body intact.

"Caroline! No one cares! No!" He said. "Where's Elena and Aurelia?"

"I don't know about Elena, but Aurelia just left for the bonfire. She forgot her phone, though." She said, gesturing to the phone on Aurelia's bed. Damon quickly took it and kept it in his pocket. "What's wrong?"

"Silas is here, pretending to be Stefan." He said quickly.

"Wait, what?!" She asked. "Stefan dumped—"

"Join the club." He said. "Get dressed. We need to find Silas, or Elena and Aurelia, because our little hybrid is in trouble. Stefan's missing."

"Oh my God." Caroline said. "She was right. Elena's had this pit in her stomach that Stefan's been in trouble all summer."

"What?"

"And Aurelia, oh God. What did he even do to her?"

"That's what I'm worried about. Come on." He said, throwing some clothes at her. "Meet me outside."

!

Aurelia took a gulp of beer, staring at the bonfire. She let out a yelp as Caroline suddenly pulled her away, dropping her cup. "Aurelia, are you okay?!"

"Yeah, Care. I'm okay." She said, giving her a strange look. "Are you okay?"

"Ugh, come on." Caroline said, pulling her to a more secluded spot. "Did you see Silas today?"

"Silas?!" She asked in disbelief. "No! Stefan and I dumped his body in the quarry three months ago!" Caroline sighed, pulling her down to sit with her. "What happened?"

"Lia... you said that you were with Stefan the whole summer, right?" She asked. Aurelia nodded. "That's... not... Stefan."

"What you even talking about?" She asked. "Silas couldn't have fooled a hundred people in one go. We went everywhere, and several people saw the two of us." She reasoned.

"Aurelia, Damon told me everything. It's Silas. You have to listen to me!" Aurelia shook her head. "Okay, fine. Did Stefan tell you that he was going to Mystic Falls?" Aurelia nodded. "He and Damon talked, but Damon found out that it was Silas. And Silas even admitted it."

"How is the whole thing about him being psychic explainable?"

"Because Stefan's face... is his true face." Caroline answered. Aurelia, looked at her, surprised and confused. "Stefan is Silas' doppelganger, and the night you went to dump his body in the quarry, there was a fight, and he compelled you into thinking that he was Stefan."

"Then where's Stefan?" She asked.

"...I don't know."

"Then how do you expect me to believe you?"

"Look, I get that it's really hard to believe, but Damon will tell you everything." Aurelia hesitantly nodded.

!

"Aurelia, just... trust us, okay?" Caroline said. Aurelia shook her head. "It's your compulsion, that's it. We have to figure out a way to break it, okay?"

"Okay." She said, as Caroline opened the door to their dorm. Aurelia raised her eyebrows, spotting Damon shirtless and Elena on a chair opposite to him, a wooden beam impaling her leg and the chair. The two looked at the blondes, and there was a long silence.

"We forgot to establish rules for when boyfriends come over, didn't we?" Aurelia asked. Caroline nodded.

"Yep."

!

"I'll miss you." Caroline said, giving Aurelia a tight-lipped smile as she hugged her.

"Don't worry, Care bear." Damon said. "I'll take great care of her." Aurelia rolled her eyes, waving her hand quickly as she sealed Damon's lips shut.

"We're going for something I'm not so keen on doing. Don't make it worse by being cocky." She said, before she waved her hand again, letting him speak.

"Okay." He said, as she looked at her feet. "Look, Aurelia, I realize that you're having mixed thoughts, with us telling you that your boyfriend is not who you think he is, and then him compelling you to think the exact opposite." He continued. "We'll get you out of this tangle."

"Yeah." She said, before walking past him into the car, where Elena was. "Come on." Elena nodded.

Damon's phone suddenly rang. He picked it up. "Liz, hey."

"We found something."

!

Aurelia took a deep breath as she looked around the place, she thought she had dumped someone in.

The quarry looked so beautiful during the day, and she would've smiled and appreciated it if it weren't for the situation she had been brought into.

She took a step out of the car. Her eyes almost instantly landed on the large safe that was on the ground, laid out flat. "Aurelia." Liz said. "How was vacation?"

"I... don't even know anymore, Aunt Liz." She answered, walking closer to the safe. She placed her hand on it, frowning.

Moments later, the last parts of it went under water, and Aurelia let out one last cry, and her tears ceased.

Blinking several times, she took her hand back. "We didn't find anything in the quarry." Liz said. "But a deputy found this a few miles from here. He didn't open it. If Stefan's been in there for three months, chances are... he's hungry."

Damon lifted the top of the safe, revealing a man. Aurelia gasped and covered her mouth in shock at the sight of the dead body with blood all over his neck, his head probably decapitated.

"Oh my God, that's not Stefan." Elena said. Aurelia couldn't take her eyes away.

She let out a scream of agony as she felt her skin tear. Stefan froze, as the scream made his blood run cold. He could see the blood dripping through Silas' fingers.

Aurelia took a step back and lost her balance, falling before Damon caught her. Her breaths were ragged and uneven, her eyes wide and beads of sweat forming on her forehead.

"No."

~