Later that day, Josie knocked on Elena's door to let her know dinner was ready. She frowned when there was no answer. She knew Elena was home.

"Elena?" called Josie. "Dinner's ready."

"I'm not hungry."

"Everything okay?"

"I'm fine," replied Elena, not sounding fine at all.

Sighing, Josie continued, "I'm coming in." She waited a few seconds, thinking she'd hear a protest. When none came, she went in and shut the door behind her.

"What's wrong?" Josie asked, sitting next to Elena on her bed. "Is it Stefan?"

Elena shook her head. "Stefan… explained things. We're okay." Then she proceeded to tell Josie about how Katherine and her looked exactly alike and that's why she'd run away from Stefan, etc.

"Okay, if it's not Stefan…" Josie trailed off. "You can tell me anything, you know."

Josie was surprised to realize it was true. She considered Elena a friend, if nothing else. Elena's annoying overprotectiveness aside, Josie was upset that Elena was upset. When had that happened?

"I'm… adopted."

"What?" exclaimed Josie, though she already knew. "Adopted? How do you know?"

"Stefan told me. When he looked into my birth records to see why I looked so much like Katherine."

"Oh, Elena, I'm sorry," said Josie, pulling her into a hug. "You will always be my sister. No matter what. This doesn't change anything for me."

She felt bad saying it, but knew it was what Elena needed to hear. And Josie hating seeing her upset. But she had to remember that either way, Elena wasn't really her sister. It was stupid to get too close. She was leaving… someday. She was close to tracking down some witches in Ohio. And she had a lead in Toronto.

Josie and Elena hugged and talked for a while. They agreed to wait to tell Jeremy when the time was right.

After Logan died, some time passed without any supernatural drama in Mystic Falls. Josie tried to balance her normal life with her witch-hunting.

She'd started hanging out with Tyler as well. They'd had a blast together at the Black Eyed Peas' concert. He was fun and she enjoyed talking to him.

Then, one night, Elena was (sort of) attacked outside the Grill. The hooded vampire threatened her, though she managed to escape.

The next day, Josie was at the Grill, playing pool with Jeremy, when Anna showed up. Josie hung back after Jeremy introduced her to Anna, but he insisted they make a hasty exit.

"What was that?" Josie asked Jeremy, when they were in the car. "You didn't tell me Anna was gorgeous." They'd talked about Anna before, in the context of his vampire essay.

"I'm grateful she helped me with my paper, but I'm… just not over Vicky yet."

Josie tried not to roll her eyes. "Vicky's gone, Jer. She left without saying good-bye. I know it's hard, but you should move on too. Anna seems nice."

She's also trying to use you to avenge her vampire mother, Josie thought. But Anna turned out alright in the end.

They went home to get ready for the 50s dance. Josie was going with Tyler, as friends. As she was getting ready, Elena knocked on her door, already in her 50s outfit.

"Hey, did you need a ride?" asked Elena. "Jenna already left- she's chaperoning with Alaric."

Josie smiled. "Ooooh, you think that's like a date in old people world?"

Elena laughed. "Probably."

"Tyler's supposed to pick me up in a bit," said Josie, looking at the clock.

"Good. So… I talked to Jenna about my adoption."

"Wow, okay. Did you find out anything useful?"

"Just that my mom was a teenage runaway. Her name was Isobel. She left after giving birth to me."

"Isobel?" repeated Josie. "Are you going to try and find her?"

Elena sighed. "I don't know. For tonight, I'm just going to have fun at the dance with Stefan."

Josie smiled. "I'll see you there."

A minute later, Josie heard a commotion downstairs and arrived to see Stefan comforting Elena.

"What happened?" asked Josie.

Elena explained that the hooded vampire was on the ceiling and jumped on her. By the time she finished her explanation, Damon was there. It was the first time Josie had seen him in public since they started their nightly visits. Thankfully, he acted like the same old Damon.

They talked for a few minutes and finally came up with the plan to use Elena as bait at the dance to try and flush the vampire out. Josie didn't like the idea, but could see no other option. And she remembered it had all turned out okay, anyway.

The vampire had an invite to their house and was after Elena. He had to die, simple as that.

The doorbell rang after they had finalized the plan. Damon and Stefan tensed.

"Relax, guys," said Josie, laughing. "If he was coming back for round two I don't think he'd ring the doorbell. It's probably just Tyler."

"Tyler?" asked Damon.

"Tyler Lockwood," said Elena, while Josie went to the door. "He's Josie's date to the dance."

Josie opened the door. "Hey, Tyler," she said, giving him a hug.

"Hey, Josie," he said, smiling. "You ready to go?"

They arrived at the school and headed into the gym. "Now you know that, as my 'just as friends date', I'm entitled to at least a few dances tonight," said Josie, with mock seriousness.

"Really?" asked Tyler, grinning.

"Yes, didn't I put that in my original stipulations?" asked Josie, as they walked in. She spied Derek with a cheerleader and was surprised when she only felt a twinge of guilt and jealousy.

Tyler smiled and allowed himself to be dragged to the dance floor. They stayed on the dance floor for a few songs, soon joined by Stefan and Elena.

Josie and Elena were taking a break from dancing when Elena got a call from the hooded vampire. It was clear from their conversation that he was threatening Jeremy. Elena followed his instructions and Josie slowly backed away to find Damon. He took off as soon as Josie told him what had happened.

Elena came back to the dance after a while and found Josie, who was dancing with Tyler again. Elena just said it was taken care of and that she was going home.

Josie stayed at the dance for a little while longer, then went with Tyler to the after party. They split up there, each going to their friends. Bridget, Colin, and Tracy were doing shots in the kitchen and Josie joined them. It was after 2am that Josie snuck back into her house, driven home by a fairly sober Tracy.

"Where were you?" came a voice after she'd entered her room.

Josie nearly screamed. "Jesus Christ, Damon, what the hell? What are you doing here?"

"Well after killing the vampire tonight, I was hoping we could celebrate." He blurred over to her and started kissing her neck.

She giggled. "Sorry about that. There was an afterparty at Tyler's."

"So you were with him?"

Josie nodded. "Yeah. Next time I'll text you if I'm not going to be home. So you don't waste the trip."

"Are you two dating?" he asked, his lips still on her neck.

"No. Why?" asked Josie, moving away from him to remove her jewelry. "Our arrangement is intact for now," she chuckled.

"For now?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, until you get Katherine out of the tomb," Josie said, hoping to distract him from the Tyler subject. The last thing she needed was Damon even hinting jealousy. She thought she might have to end this soon if he kept asking about fucking Tyler.

Damon just smiled and kissed her. It didn't take long before they'd shed their clothes and he was sliding into her. Afterwards, he told her about Stefan's offer to help him get Katherine out of the tomb. Playing ignorant Josie Gilbert, she asked him what he and Katherine would do when she was free.

"I don't know," he said, putting his hands behind his head. "Travel maybe?"

"Do you ever think about what your life would have been like if you hadn't met her?"

"Well I'd be dead now."

"Okay, your life in the 1800s."

"I don't know," said Damon, turning to look at her. "There was a girl that I was supposed to marry. She was a Forbes."

"Really? It was, like, an arranged marriage?"

"Pretty much," said Damon, nodding. "Katherine's the only woman I've ever loved."

Poor Damon, she thought. Katherine didn't deserve him.

Josie sighed. "I've never been in love."

"I thought you loved what's his face? Derek?"

She frowned. "I wanted to."

"You can't force love."

"Tell me about it," she said, shaking her head. "What's wrong with me? I mean, the guy was almost perfect. He was handsome, and sweet and funny. He practically worshipped the ground I walked on."

"I told you before," said Damon, propping his head up on his hand. "You want excitement. Danger. Passion. That's why you like being with me," he smirked. "I'm not boring."

But I don't love you either, she thought. Could she ever have both? Excitement and passion, but with security and love? Pushing her too-serious drunken thoughts away, she leaned over and kissed him, letting him make her forget in the way only he could.