Chapter Five
"What are you doing?!" Elena choked.
"Funny. I was about to ask you the same question," said Katherine. "Senior Prom 2011? I was wondering how the next doppelgänger was here a century and a half early."
Elena's eyes widened. "It was an act?"
"You catch on quickly. I figured the best way to learn the truth about you was to get inside your head, and to do that, I needed you to drop your guard. Now, unless you want me to put a stake through your heart, you're going to tell me why you're here."
"There is no why," said Elena, trying fruitlessly to tug Katherine's hands away from her throat. "I came here by mistake."
"You expect me to believe that?" Katherine scoffed. "How does someone travel through time by mistake?"
By having a crazy ancestor who didn't put warning labels on his inventions, Elena thought. Aloud, she said, "Look, if it was up to me, I'd be back in my time already, but Emily said she can't send me back yet. Just because Ilook like you doesn't mean I always have some diabolical plan up my sleeve like you do. All I want is to go home."
Katherine raised her eyebrows and her grip loosened enough that Elena finally succeeded in breaking free, and she immediately put as much distance between them as she could without leaving the room. Katherine followed her movement her with narrowed eyes. "Your presence here might be a mistake, but I know what I saw in that dream. I'm not sure how you managed to get both Salvatore brothers wrapped around your little finger in your time, but I have no intention of letting you try it here."
"God, could you be more like a spoiled child?" said Elena. She was playing with serious fire here, she knew, but her courage had risen a great deal in the last few moments, along with her annoyance. She wasn't some little girl Katherine could push around anymore, she was a vampire, and she didn't have to take crap from anyone. "You're, what, three hundred and fifty? Jealousy is a little beneath you, don't you think?"
If looks could kill, Elena would be dead, but she plunged on, meeting Katherine's icy glare with one of her own. "Maybe if you had stopped playing games with Damon and Stefan long enough to pick one of them, they wouldn't both be wrapped around my little finger in 2010. Trying to hold onto both of them is why you lost both of them." A bitter taste filled her mouth, and she looked down. "It's why I'm losing both of them," she finished quietly.
Katherine took a while to reply, and when she did, it was with a surprising lack of hostility. "Stefan said you chose him," she observed, "and yet you were searching for Damon."
"I was in love with Stefan," Elena admitted, deciding that continued honesty was her best bet, "but everything's different now. I'm not with him anymore, and I thought I was falling in love with Damon instead, but they're convinced it's all because of the stupid sire bond. For all I know, they could be right. And even if they aren't, it doesn't matter what I feel for Damon, because he'll never believe it's real." She offered Katherine a pained smile. "So you see? I'll have enough Salvatore love triangle drama to deal with when I get home; I don't need any more of it here."
Katherine watched her silently for a long time, before she stood up a little straighter and said, "If you'll excuse me, I must speak with Emily. I'll see you at breakfast tomorrow morning." On that enigmatic note, she left the room.
~*~
The next morning at breakfast, Elena half-expected Katherine to lunge across the table and attack her whenever they made eye contact, but she never did. She was strangely quiet and thoughtful through most of the meal, and Elena caught herself wondering more than once whether Katherine had actually taken her words to heart, but that didn't seem likely. She was probably just still making up her mind about how best to get rid of her.
![𝐁𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐞 {𝐅𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞} [𝐎𝐂 𝐗 𝐎𝐂] by RachelGreensWife](https://img.wattpad.com/cover/347063843-80-k598524.jpg)
As the day wore on, however, Katherine continued to play the role of affectionate sister flawlessly. First, she took Elena into town to place an order for her dresses. It was a much lengthier process than going shopping in the present. To start off, Elena had to get undressed until she was wearing only her underclothes, and then she had to stand still with her arms held out to the sides while Mrs. Donovan, the seamstress, took her measurements.
"Strange," Mrs. Donovan muttered.
"What?" said Elena.
"Oh, it's nothing to worry about, dear," said Mrs. Donovan, "it's just that I wasn't expecting your measurements to be so different from your sister's. Your bust measurement is the same as hers, but your hips aren't quite as wide, while your waist is a good deal wider. How very peculiar."
In other circumstances, Elena might have been offended by this, but she knew it was just because Katherine had been wearing corsets for God knew how long, while she'd only been wearing them for a few hours, so instead she seized the opportunity to do something for her aching ribs and insides. "Oh, about that," she said, "I haven't been lacing my corsets very tightly for the last few months. I still haven't fully recovered from the fire, you see, and I've found that wearing things as tight as usual doesn't really help matters."
"Well, you'll ruin your figure if you keep that up," said Mrs. Donovan sternly, "but I wouldn't want to cause you unnecessary pain. It might not look as fashionable, but I'll make your gowns to match your waistline as it is for now. Just be sure to bring them back to me as soon as you're feeling better so that I can take them in properly."
"Of course," said Elena, hiding her glee with difficulty. She looked at Katherine to see her reaction to all of this, and found her watching them with a rather triumphant gleam in her eyes. Well, thought Elena, this was pretty much a win-win. She got to wear clothes that didn't crush her and Katherine got to be the more fashionable twin.
Measurements taken, Elena was squashed back into the dress she was currently borrowing from Katherine. Next, Mrs. Donovan pulled out books of dress designs and bolts of fabric for them to look through. Once Katherine had helped her decide on four day dresses, four evening dresses, two formal gowns, a riding habit, and a few nightgowns—all of which would take Mrs. Donovan at least two weeks to complete—, they headed off to the milliner's to buy hats, and then to the cobbler's to get shoes.
Katherine easily charmed everyone they came across and Elena followed her lead, with the result that soon it seemed the entire town knew the story of the miraculous reunion of the Pierce sisters and was happy to welcome Elena with open arms. By the time they finished their shopping and got back in the carriage to return to the Salvatore mansion, Elena felt sure that they'd been invited to have tea with every lady in Mystic Falls. She really wasn't looking forward to any of it, but, as Katherine pointed out, it did take care of whatever issues Elena might have otherwise had with getting inside various houses.
Giuseppe was still out on matters of business when they arrived at the mansion, and he had taken Stefan with him. While they waited for them to get back, Katherine introduced Elena to all of the household servants. There was Jess, the cook, Annie, the maid, Joseph, the footman, George, the coachman, and Thomas, the stable hand. She also met Emily's children. Tara, the oldest at age seven, helped Jess in the kitchen, and Benjamin, age five, helped in the stables, mostly by polishing the tack, as he was too little to do much with the horses themselves. Two-year-old Addy ran around after Tara whenever Emily was too busy to tend to her.
Elena felt horrible that they all had to be stuck in this sort of life, but as there was nothing she could do about it; she merely attempted to be as friendly to all of them as possible. She tried to guess which of Emily's children Bonnie was descended from, but she couldn't be sure. She thought she could see a little of Sheila in Tara's features, at least.
