"THIS IS A COMPLETE—" Gasping in surprise, Aurelia shot out of bed at the voice booming through the entire house, eyes wide in a doe-like look. "—AND UTTER DISASTER!" As soon as she began to recognize the voice as that of a certain eccentric blonde, her tensed shoulders relaxed as she began to let herself rest once again.

And as soon as she shut her eyes— "Look, we're not sure of anything we've found out about." A loud groan emitted from her lips at the sound of Stefan Salvatore's voice, realizing she'd have to explain to the pair her no-show at the Miss Mystic Falls Gala the day before. What she dreaded, more, however, was having to explain to Stefan why she was acting so weirdly with Klaus when the man had interrupted their little picnic.

"YET!" Caroline constant screeches were filled with worry and panic, enough to raise Aurelia's curiosity and concern over the mysterious subject of the pair's conversation out in the living room. "Elena is—" And Aurelia once again covered her ears at the mention of the annoying subject. "I can't believe this; it's so freaking—OW!"

In a flush, the sheets were flung off and the door left ajar as Aurelia found herself just a foot away from Caroline, fingers grasping the younger's upper arm to prevent her from falling over from whatever clumsy action she had committed. "Careful." The mumble was not without the hoarse and deep morning voice that indicated she just woke up.

"I—I didn't know you were home this whole time?" Caroline's statement came out more a question than she had intended, resulting in a look of utter despair passing Aurelia's expression. "You missed the Pageant yesterday..." And then came the guilt. "I was worried; why do you keep disappearing?"

"Sorry." The elder cleared her throat, letting a glance of hers hit Stefan's to check for any expression of acknowledgement. "Lotta things took place yesterday. Schedule was emotionally packed. Didn't wanna see Elena's face—that was most of it."

"Care to explain the odd behavior with Klaus, then?" Stefan was immune to the resulting death stare Aurelia shot at him when he brought the seemingly sore subject. "What? It was suspicious—and we were both worried about your whereabouts."

"Sis, you promised." A small pout was made clear on Caroline's lips, simply throwing Aurelia further into a pit of remorse. It hurt her pride, really—she had broken affairs and hurt families to no extent for years without feeling any guilt—why was a mere no-show at a stupid event overruling it?

Ah, yes, because Caroline wanted her to be there so bad.

Aurelia just wanted to bury her face in her palms and beg her sister for forgiveness, anything to wipe away that horrible and dark expression on her sister's face. It hurt to look at. "Was it really Elena?" The knife in the woman's heart just went further in at the question. Her little lie would've made Caroline think that she cared about the stupid doppelganger too much to prioritize her own sister over it.

"No! It wasn't—I would never have stood you up for that bitc—" Aurelia laughed nervously, unsurprised at her crumble in demeanor (not embarrassed though, she was proud of how much she loved Caroline). "I didn't want to worry you, hah—Klaus and I had a little dispute, and I just needed a self-care day."

"Aurelia needing a self-care day? It must've been bad." Stefan's comment nearly came off as sarcastic, but was quickly clarified when he spoke again. "Are you okay? Why didn't you tell us?"

"Okay, what about me—" She gestured to herself. "Screams, "I spill everything I feel and am an open book, yay!"?" Stefan's unimpressed stare made her roll her eyes. "Whatever, I'm okay now—at least until I heard Elena's name come up, like, as soon as I woke up."

"Oh, um—" Stefan looked at Caroline for help when he realized they owed Aurelia as much of a catch-up as she had owed them. "We...found out about a lot of things while you weren't there—" When he saw Caroline's eyes widen once again in to-be panic, making him rush to complete the next sentence. "That we aren't sure of yet!"

"Okay..." Aurelia's tone was unsure of what vague explanation he had provided her with.

"Elena's sired to Damon!" Caroline blurted with no hesitation making Stefan wince as he expected an intense reaction from Aurelia. "It's—it's insane! Unbelievable!"

"... what." Was the only thing that left the blonde's lips, figure shortly freezing as she attempted to absorb the information thrown right at her. "What reason do you have to have had come to such a conclusion?"

"We have, like, a million, I'm not kidding—" Caroline began to say. "And you, we need you for this investigation."

"Woah, woah, woah, slow down. Why am I vital here?"

"You're a million years old—"

"Excuse you, I am not a million years old—"

"—And hence know about sire bonds way better than the both of us do." Aurelia cocked up an eyebrow as her sister continued with her sentence as if she didn't hit Aurelia's pride for the second time in the same conversation. "Hah."

"Well, I'm going to pretend you just didn't insult me." The woman blinked several times as she tried to follow her words, before pressing her lips together in dismay of the recent Mystic Falls scandal. "Are you sure she's sired to Damon? That's a one in a million chance, you both are aware of that, aren't you?"

"Well, yeah," Stefan frowned with his reply. "That's why we're not fully sure. Caroline, however, does think that something's off—especially with regard to Elena's feelings about Damon." Cocking up her eyebrow, Aurelia gestured for a further explanation. "I don't know anymore, something about her having chosen me or the possibility of fighting harder for our relationship had she not been sired."

"Didn't you break up with her?"

"Yeah, and she agreed to it—But that's not what my arguments are for this sire bond situation." He stood up, slowly stepping towards the curious blonde. "One: Elena is by all means, a normal vampire—"

"Except for the fact that she's a doppelganger." Caroline chimed in.

"Yes, but she's not an Original, nor is she a hybrid or a siphon. Makes for a normal vampire like Katherine." With a small hum from Aurelia, Stefan continued with his explanation. "Therefore, she'd have to be able to feed from animals—or even blood bags—comfortably."

"Woah, wait—she has an issue with that?" Aurelia questioned, now confused by the new information. "Damn, Elena, you really are a main character, being different from the others and whatnot..."

"She should've been fine, but Damon had insisted that she feed from the vein, and voila—she vomits everything that's not from the vein."

"Also," Caroline spoke again. "This was more minor, but Elena was hell bent on trying to convince April to wear a dress—we shared the same opinion,. It was this gorgeous and modest blue dress, as opposed to a less appropriate and a weird red dress." Pursing her lips, the young vampire broke eye contact as she recollected the preceding day's events. "But Damon came in, said he liked the red dress, and suddenly Elena likes the red dress."

"Elena's an attention wh—" As she received a glare, Aurelia coughed once. "Sorry, but have you considered the fact that Stefan's current lack of interest in her maybe sparked her need to be the center of attention and therefore jump to Damon?"

"I mean, we did consider that possibility, but Elena isn't stupid enough to be as impulsive as she was, you know? I did see her with Damon more often than before, not to mention her behavior was just... different around him. It was like she was constantly seeking his approval and ignoring our advice. Even if we agreed with him, she wouldn't listen until he got in the last word." At Stefan's explanation, Caroline pulled out her phone, initially going unnoticed by Aurelia.

"Well that's a strong argument..." Her eyes fell on her sister. "Caroline, who are you calling?"

"I need to tell Elena about this—" Aurelia quickly took the phone from the younger, pocketing it against Caroline's protests. "Why?!"

"Because," She began. "As much as I'm beginning to believe this theory, I can't be fully sure of it, and I don't want to provoke a newbie vampire who already had some amount of tension with me and now simply has all her emotions heightened, giving her quite the volatile personality." With a small smile, she looked at Caroline. "Ergo, we're not taking any risks, not yet."

"I hate to say it, Caroline," Stefan pointed out. "But Aurelia holds a strong point, even when she looks like she just hibernated—" With an offended gasp, Aurelia spun to face Stefan, who had been standing just behind her.

"Screw," She poked his chest. "You."

"Hey, you can't criticize me for taking full opportunity of our newly rebuilt relationship." She narrowed her eyes as she looked up at him. "Besides, I just called you smart no matter what state you're in, take it as a compliment."

"Sounds more like an attempt to bruise my ego—" Her hand went up to her hair, trying to straighten it out in order to appear more put together. "I don't even have a mirror to check..." Stefan laughed lightly, satisfied at lightening up the mood in the room marginally as compared to the anxiety filled atmosphere that had been suffocating him before Aurelia woke up.

"Here, let me." He quickly ran a hand over her hair before she could answer, unaware of her absolute repulsion to any hands on her hair.

Caroline, however—who was, in fact, aware of that little preference of Aurelia's—stood there with utter dumbfoundedness as she watched her sister stay still while someone she had been avoiding until recently fixed her hair. "I—I can't get used to the fact that you're both civil now...m-more than civil—what happened in the time you spent together?"

"I—um—" Aurelia gently pushed Stefan away from her form as she turned to face Caroline with a somewhat meek smile. "Wanna do my hair?"

Caroline grinned quickly at the offer, aware of how she was the only—well, almost the only—person who was allowed to have her way with Aurelia's appearance. The thought just gave her utter joy and a sense of superiority above everyone else.

Except Stefan, now. That made her glare at the Salvatore once as she pulled her sister into her room. "Woah—do you even have something in mind—?" Aurelia's voice quickly reduced in volume as Caroline pushed her past the doorframe and looked at Stefan once.

"There's Nutella and bread in the fridge, help yourself!" And she shut the door behind herself, leaving Stefan in the living room.

Processing what had just happened before him, Stefan looked down to the floor and chuckled slightly at how Aurelia had reacted to his little jab. "Oh," He mumbled once, head shooting back up once. "Caroline, hurry up! We have school in some time!"

"Oh yeah! Thanks!" Caroline's voice was quite loud through the wooden door, before Stefan's ears picked up on her words once more at a reduced volume. "Anyway, I was thinking braids, simple, and high-school-y."

"I'm almost four cen—" Aurelia's voice cut out. "I mean, yeah, sure, anything you'd like. I'm sure I'll love it."

Stefan smiled once again, unable to prevent being endeared by the woman's vulnerability to her sister's descendant.

"What's the deal with you and Stefan, by the way?" Caroline asked. "I know you two mended things, but I didn't realize you both got so close in such a short period of time."

"Well we talked," Aurelia answered with an exhale, looking at the younger through the mirror. "And we did reveal a lot of things the other was hiding. Mostly me. Just avoided him because of the guilt. I didn't want to tie myself down with emotion as soon as I set foot in Mystic Falls. But I guess I was more than harsh with the man. I owed him an apology and another chance—" She laughed. "I mean, I was in no position to give chances. He had to decide whether or not he should've given me one to not be an absolute dick to him."

"So, you've both found that closure? What you needed from 1864?" At the question, Aurelia found herself hesitant to speak, considering she hadn't a particularly specific answer to it—not one she could fully believe in, at least. "I mean, it's either that or he's harboring secret feelings for you—"

"Caroline," A playful warning fell from the heretic's lips. "We're fine, we're on good terms, and yeah, that's all, I guess."

"Are you sure that's all?" Caroline asked, and Aurelia knew that Stefan had told Caroline something that she herself had forgotten to mention. "Because Stefan told me a few weeks ago about what happened in the barn."

"W—What happened in the barn?" She asked, once again making eye contact with Caroline in the mirror. She was met by a knowing and pointed gaze.

"Don't threaten him!"

"Oh. That." She mumbled to herself. "I had a few... memories reappear to me when I died. Let's say it was the motivation I needed to pull myself back into reality and make amends with him. I looked at his perspective of things; how he, as a newly transitioned vampire who had lost someone he was in love with so suddenly, felt when he saw me the way I was after years and years. Then I figured, "I'm being unreasonable, so why not?". That, however, took some time to sink in, hence the hostility with him that you saw on my first day back."

"It's glad to see that you've both moved on then." Caroline smiled softly, pinning the first braid into Aurelia's open hair. "At least my friend and my sister can get along well now, right? Having become friends and all?" Aurelia nodded a few times as she mirrored the younger's smile. "I'm glad you're both taking your time now."

"I am, too—"

"And eventually, you'll maybe," Caroline stressed on the 'maybe'. "Show me what you both looked like in 1864?"

Her question had been innocent, with no bad intent, but Aurelia couldn't muster up a sentence that seemed appropriate for the situation. So, she kept quiet, and Caroline quietly waited for an answer.

That was, until Aurelia's phone rang on the dresser in front of the pair.

Her eyes fell on the device, expecting her emotions to lighten and the recent heavy feeling in her chest to lift itself right off at the name. However, when she felt the same even at the sight of the name on her screen, she began to question what exactly was affecting her so much about a situation that seemed so simple.

"Oh." Caroline was disappointed. "Kol." She sighed after reading the name out, falling silent for a few seconds as she pinned the second brain in the elder's hair. "I'm sorry—I shouldn't have asked... I didn't realize—" Aurelia quickly shook her head to calm Caroline down.

"No, no, I hadn't told you about him—I just assumed you knew I was still with him..." Aurelia frowned slightly as she spoke, unable to understand why she was so down from the mention of her...boyfriend?

Was that what she was supposed to call Kol? She didn't know. They never put a label—it was mostly her trying to avert from everything after she died.

Damn it, if she knew that a week of being back in Mystic Falls would do this to her, she wouldn't have come back at all.

Stefan, unknowingly, had mirrored Aurelia's expression of dismay as he heard Caroline mutter the name. He hadn't a clue why, either—he had made peace with her relationships, like he was supposed to. It had to have been done sooner or later, because she wasn't going to—

He hadn't done it out of obligation and courtesy, had he? He did it because he wanted to, right? Right?

Damn it, if he knew that a week of her being back in Mystic Falls would so quickly bring so much emotional confusion (back) to light, he would've let her avoid him and let himself live with that bothersome feel—

Never mind.

"I SERIOUSLY DON'T GET WHY YOU DON'T go to school with me." Caroline's eyebrows were crossed, letting the appropriate frown lines encroach her forehead as she glared at Aurelia. "It would be fun, you know..." As she trailed off, Aurelia stared at her pointedly, folding her arms as she leaned back against the car she had driven here.

"What? Me dropping you off whenever I can isn't enough?"

"But that's for when the younger sibling's in middle school!" She whined, making the older laugh as she ruffled the pouting blonde's hair. "Come on, please." As she dragged onto the word, Aurelia hummed and looked away in thought, as if she was actually considering registration.

"How about.... No." She responded with a deadpan face. "Caroline, I've already done the high school thing—like eleven times over—"

"No excuse," Stefan popped out from the other end of the car, shutting the door behind him. "I'm younger, and I've done it seventeen times over." Aurelia shot the man a glare, punching his shoulder once. "What?"

"You're not helping—and shouldn't you be going, too?" She gestured to Caroline's backpack. "Where's your backpack? Forgot to tell Damon to pack your lunch like the good elder brother he is?" Stefan rolled his eyes as the blonde smirked smugly at him.

"I'm going to talk to him as soon as I see him and you're going to waste your day, so you can't comment." Aurelia scoffed once. "Or, you could come with me."

"And risk seeing Elena?" She arched a brow. "I think not. Besides, didn't you already speak to Damon about the whole sire thing on the phone on the way here? I'm hoping you made sure the doppelganger wasn't listening in."

"I did, but his uncertainty bothers me, so I'll go talk to him properly."

"Your determination is fascinating. Especially for someone who's broken up with the person involved in all of this." Aurelia observed.

"Well, now that she's a vampire..." Caroline sighed. "I think you need to start being at least a little civil with her?" Aurelia laughed and shook her head several times, much to the younger's disappointment. "What? I'm being serious. I know that she's made some bad decisions, but still."

"Caroline, I am civil with her now." The heretic clarified. "You forget I saved her life back at that barn. Plus, avoiding her is good for my sanity. I don't want to deal with emotional, recently sired, volatile—"

"Hey, you guys." Aurelia blinked quickly and pressed her lips into a thin line at the voice, cursing her luck as Caroline turned to an approaching Elena—with Damon just behind her. "Aurelia, you're going to school now, too?" Aurelia clicked her tongue, meeting the doppelganger's dark brown eyes with an, "Are you kidding me?" look that Caroline was unimpressed by.

"Caroline," Aurelia huffed. "I've fallen to your feet for everything because I love you so much. But this one thing is going to be pointless. I'm much too busy or never in the mood to study along with everything else. Then there's attendance, then there's grad, then—"

"Compulsion!" Caroline interjected, excited to have come up with a solution, making Aurelia chuckle at her words.

"No, sweetie," She dismissed. "That defeats the whole purpose of trying to live a high school life; besides, you want to go to school with me, don't you? How would that be possible with the chance of poor attendance from my end?"

"...fine."

"Okay," Aurelia quickly thought of a way to make it up to her. "How about I think of that with college?" And the way the vampire's eyes lit up at her proposal was enough confirmation.

"Oh,