When Lucy woke the next morning, she found herself alone much to her annoyance. A touch of the sheets beside her told her that Damon had been gone for a while. She frowned and grabbed her phone off the nightstand beside her. Where are you? she sent.

Out.

She rolled her eyes. Oh, thanks for that, Mr. Vampire. Very helpful. She readied herself for the day before heading downstairs to find a fresh pot of coffee waiting for her along with a note from Damon telling her that he'd bring food home with him. Okay, she'd forgive the disappearing act if he was going to caffeinate and feed her.

She made her coffee and was heading toward the living room when the front door opened. Lucy glanced over expecting to see her boyfriend only to be greeted with the sight of one of her least favorite teenagers. "Elena," she said by way of greeting. She sipped her coffee before giving an insincere smile. "What the fuck are you doing in my house?"

The girl scowled. "The door was unlocked."

"Okay, but this is still private property. You can't just walk in whenever you damn well please." Lucy was going to have to talk to Damon about locking the door. He wouldn't be happy. "Do you just wander around town walking in people's houses? What's wrong with you?"

Elena rolled her eyes and sighed. "I need to see Rose. It's important."

Lucy didn't like being ignored. "Are you even going to respond to what I said?"

The girl just stared at her.

Lucy clenched her teeth and worked the muscle in her jaw. Damn this girl. "Quit coming in the house without permission, Elena. I won't give you another warning. As for Rose, she's around somewhere. I'm sure if you look hard enough you can find her."

***

It was nearly an hour later before Damon returned home, Stefan walking beside him as the two of them bickered about something. Damon handed Lucy a bag from the Grill and kissed her head without pausing his conversation. She took a bite out of her sandwich while her gaze moved between the brothers.

Finally, Lucy held up a hand. "Hold on. Are you two arguing about Katherine?"

"Yes," they said in unison.

She scrunched her nose. "Why?"

Damon dropped onto the sofa beside her and laid his arm along the back of the couch. "We went to see her this morning. Stef thinks its cruel to keep her in the tomb. I say it's what she deserves."

Stefan sighed as Caroline walked into the room and wrapped her arms around his waist. He held her against him and steered her to one of the chairs where he sat and pulled her into his lap. "It's not that simple, Damon." He turned his attention to Lucy. "He's correct in saying that I think its cruel to keep her in the tomb to desiccate surrounded by burnt vampires."

When he didn't immediately continue, Lucy frowned. "Surely you don't want to release her?"

"Thank you," Damon said with a gesture toward his brother to say 'see'.

Stefan shook his head but before he could clarify, Caroline spoke up. "Wouldn't she be more cooperative later if we did her a favor now?"

Lucy's eyes widened in surprise. "I didn't expect that from you of all people. She killed you, Care. I don't particularly want to give her the chance to do it again."

Caroline sighed. "I know but angry Katherine scares me."

"I don't want to let her out," Stefan declared loudly. "I just think maybe there is somewhere else we could keep her. Somewhere a little less morbid."

Lucy nodded her head. "Okay, Stef. I hear you, but consider this. She knew all those vampires were trapped in that tomb and left them to rot sooooo maybe we leave her to do the same."

He shook his head. "Sometimes I worry about you, Lucy. You're a little vindictive."

"It has nothing to do with me. It's called Karma and she's a bitch."

"So's Katherine," Caroline said with a little laugh before covering her mouth.

After a moment of shock that the blonde would say such a thing, Lucy laughed as well. Damon smirked and pulled his girl into his side before kissing her head again. He loved to see her happy.

Stefan looked between their girlfriends before shaking his head. "You two spend entirely too much time together."

***

Several hours later found Lucy laying with her head in Damon's lap while he played with her hair as they watched a movie. He groaned in annoyance when his phone rang. Lucy turned to look up at him, wondering who it was. "Now's not a good time, Rose. I'm busy."

Lucy scowled and her brow furrowed. The kidnapper had Damon's number. Wasn't that lovely?

"You have got to be kidding me," he said and grabbed one of her hands to pull her up into a sitting position. "Yeah, we'll be there soon."

He tossed his phone beside him and raked his hands through his hair. "Stupid, idiotic, pain in the ass doppelgangers. Sometimes, just sometimes, I wish Elena was a little more like Katherine when it came to her self-preservation instincts."

Lucy sighed and slipped on the shoes she'd kicked off when she laid down. "What did she do now?"

"She's being monumentally fucking stupid." He slipped on his jacket. "Bring your gun."

Lucy huffed a laugh as she grabbed one of her guns from the drawer of the entry hall table. She left the ammo as she had extra in both of their cars. "I kind of meant what specific thing did she do this time."

He held out a hand and interwove their fingers as she took it. "Elena conned Rose into taking her to Richmond to see Slater. He was dead when they got there but his little girlfriend showed Elena how to contact Klaus," he explained as he opened her door.

Lucy buckled in then pulled out her phone to text Elijah. "So mark the teenager down as suicidal. Got it. We should probably get her some therapy. The only saving grace we have is it's not that easy to get hold of Klaus. Even Elijah had trouble tracking him down for a while."

Damon smirked slightly but kept his attention on the road. As he should considering how fast he was going. Lucy briefly considered reminding him that she was human but opted against it when Elijah's response distracted her.

"Elijah killed Slater to prevent exactly this sort of thing. Says he overlooked the girlfriend. He'll meet us there but it will take him a while."

Damon nodded in response and increased their speed. The rest of the drive was quiet and much shorter than it should have been. They parked in front of a non-descript apartment building. Damon kept Lucy behind him and led the way to the apartment number he'd been given by Rose.

The door was cracked open when they arrived and they entered without knocking, breathing a sigh of relief when Rose and Elena came out to greet them.

Elena frowned and her gaze darted between her two would-be rescuers. "What are you doing here?"

"Saving your worthless ass. Again," Damon snapped.

Lucy tried to hide her smirk. She really did. Rose was mirroring Elena's expression but it was solely directed at Lucy. She obviously hadn't been expecting the human to come along for the ride.

"You're going to ruin everything," Elena nearly whined.

"Don't care. Let's go."

Angry Damon was kind of hot, Lucy thought. As long as it wasn't directed at her anyway.

"I'm not going anywhere." Elena stepped back as if to put Rose between them. Like that would do any good. The vampire owed her nothing. Barely even knew her. Why in the hell would she protect Elena from anything?

Lucy leaned against the wall with a sigh and crossed her arms over her chest. She didn't understand why they were even having this discussion. He was a vampire. All he had to do was pick her up and throw her over his damn shoulder. Of course, Rose could have done the same damn thing instead of calling him in the first place.

Damon's gaze flicked over to Lucy then back to Elena. "You don't have a choice."

He closed the space between them so he was glowering down at her. "Listen to me. I am not going to let you get yourself, or Lucy, killed because you're too damn stubborn to do what you're told. I'm trying to be nice about this, Elena, but I don't have to be."

"Lucy's not my problem, Damon. You're the one that brought her here. And I'm tired of being told what to do. This is my decision."

"Just for once, could you maybe concede to the fact that the vampires that are a century older than you might possibly know more about the situation than you?" Lucy asked, annoyance getting the better of her patience.

Damon flashed her a little smirk before turning back to Elena. "This is over. It's done. We're leaving."

The door burst open just as he finished speaking. Lucy straightened and pulled her weapon as three vampires strode into the apartment. She briefly considered if she should have loaded the wooden bullets over the vervain darts even as she rolled her eyes at the dramatic entrance. They'd been invited. They could have just knocked. Damon darted over to stand between her and the new threat, dragging Elena with him.

"We're here for the doppelganger," one of the men announced.

"Thank you for coming," Elena said and started to move forward until Damon stopped her.

"I will break your arm," he hissed, obviously fed up with her shit. Elijah had said he needed her alive. He said nothing about whole.

"Sorry, no doppelgangers here," Lucy said. "Fresh out. We restock on Tuesdays."

Damon snorted a laugh before he could stop it. A squelching noise interrupted any further comment and the vampire closest to the door collapsed to reveal Elijah standing behind him. He held the man's heart in his hand and dropped it to the floor with a faint look of annoyance. Rose darted past everyone and out the door. Shocker.

"They killed you. You're dead," Elena said, her voice cracking.

"For centuries now," Elijah replied with a smirk. Lucy rolled his eyes. He was entirely too fond of that joke. "Hello, Lucy. Lovely to see you again. Should we get dinner?" He shifted his attention to one of the remaining men. "Who are you?"

"Who the fuck are you?" the man shot back.

"I am Elijah."

Those three words were enough for the man to start backpedaling the attitude. It was still strange for Lucy to see people afraid of the man she'd called uncle for the vast majority of her life. She perhaps understood slightly better as she watched him rip the hearts out of the other two vampires as well. He walked over and kissed Lucy's forehead before vanishing out the door.

"What the hell was that about?" Elena demanded after a beat of silence.

"The guy you're trying to hand yourself over to doesn't appear to want you," Damon responded. "So, can we go home now?"

"No," she said and stomped her foot. "Not until I get some answers from Lucy. Why did he say hello to you and invite you to dinner? Are you sleeping with him?"

Disgust contorted Lucy's features before she could stop it. A glance at Damon showed the same look on his face. "Elijah's my uncle, you sick fuck. Eww. What is wrong with you?"

Elena huffed in annoyance. "Well, how was I supposed to know? It's not like you told anyone."

"I knew," Damon said with a shrug. "So does, Stefan." He glanced over at Lucy. "Does Caroline know?"

Lucy shrugged. "Don't remember."

Elena rubbed her temples. "If you are related to Elijah, how am I supposed to trust you? Any of you?"

"You're not," Lucy said. "The only reason we're protecting you, is Elijah asked us to. So keep pissing him off. Maybe he'll give us the day off."

Elena let out a little scream of annoyance and stomped out of the apartment.

"I call shotgun," Lucy yelled after her.

Damon chuckled as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his side. He steered her around the dead bodies and out of the apartment, shutting the door behind them. "Should we do something about that?" He gestured back to the apartment.

"Elijah will take care of it," she assured him. "Let's go home and finish our movie while I make dinner."

They stepped out of the building and into the sunlight to find Elena angrily pacing in front of the car. "Should we expect company?"

Lucy's gaze followed the doppelganger for a moment before pulling out her phone and sending her uncle a text. "Yeah. Probably a good idea."