A Familiar Face

The following takes place 45 days before Day 7.

“I’m telling you, she looks identical.” He implored.

They watched the red-headed woman from afar, curiously, carefully.

“It can’t be her, Damon.” Stefan shook his head. “We were both there when she died.” There was slight sympathy in his voice. “I know it was hard on you, but you need to find a way to deal with it.” He sighed. “We both do.”

Damon tensed. “Look. This isn’t me trying to grapple with mommy issues.” He retorted. “This is me being concerned that she’s not actually dead, or that she’s got some kind of freaky doppelgänger we don’t know about. Either way we need to deal with it.” 

Stefan pinched the bridge of his nose. “Fine. I’ll get a better look at her.” Shutting his eyes gently, he blocked out the noises nearer to him, intending on honing in on the soundscape near the woman.

“Agent Walker, we’ve just received word of a new lead. Agent Moss wants us back at the FBI.”

The woman nodded. “Got it, let’s go.”

Blinking, he turned to face his brother, eyes wide.

“An FBI agent, Damon? Are you insane?”

His brother smirked, before opening his mouth to protest.

“If we get close to her, if we do anything to her, this wouldn’t just be bad for us. This is not a small town Founder’s Council, we’re talking national security. We would be risking the lives of every vampire in America. Hell, what am I saying? The world. FBI is only a small step away from Interpol, Damon. We’re not just going to screw around here.”

Damon shrugged, nonchalantly. “All we have to do is compel her, I don’t see what the big deal is.”

Stefan rolled his eyes. “What if she’s on vervain, huh? What if there’s a chance the government knows vampires exist already?”

“Can you at least just get a proper look at her before dismissing the possibility completely?”

He slumped his shoulders, knowing deep down this was also for his brother’s own emotional closure, and not just entertaining the possibility of a revived Lily Salvatore or doppelgänger. “Fine.”

They followed from a distance, knowing that an FBI van would be on high alert for tails or suspicious activity. And Damon’s Camaro wasn’t exactly your run-of-the-mill car. Parking on a side street, the brothers observed the woman exit the van.

Damon watched Stefan’s mouth fall agape. The copper hair. Piercing green eyes. Fair skin, pattered with freckles. The sense of conviction radiating from her. This woman was a dead-ringer for Lily Salvatore. 

“Believe me now?” He taunted.

—

“Agent Walker?” He asked, trying his hardest to stand visibly in the dim lighting offered by the FBI carpark.

She placed a hand to her chest, startled, pivoting to face him. “Yes? Can I help you?” Renee furrowed her brow inquisitively. Her hand slid to her gun by her side. 

Stefan cracked a half-smile, knowing the agent was completely and utterly skeptical of him. Fair enough. It was pushing ten at night and he was a stranger approaching her in an underground carpark.

“Do you have a minute?”

Renee cleared her throat, before speaking formally, firmly. “Unless it pertains to an imminent national security threat, no. If you want to make an appoi-“

“This can’t wait. But it’s not, uh, national security related.” Stefan struggled to find his words, before sighing. “It’s personal.” He stepped closer to her, hands in his pockets. “Have you ever met or spoken to a Lily Salvatore?”

Her brows knitted together, lips pressing into a thin line. Renee’s head swung. “No. Can’t say that I’ve heard the name. Do you have a picture you could show me?”

He chewed his lip, nervously. “Funny story, actually…she looks like you. A lot like you. Identical.”

“So you’re asking me if I’ve ever met another person with my face?” Renee quirked a brow.

Stefan grimaced, realising that if she wasn’t suspicious of him enough already, he was sure to look bad now. “Yeah…look I know it sounds crazy but…”

The agent began to back away, heading towards her car. Panicking, Stefan dashed over, standing just inches before her as she pivoted. Instinctively, she kicked him between the legs, kneeing his chin as he fell, groaning in pain. Running away, her heart began to race, brain desperately urging her to find her car so she could leave. The grey sedan was in sight, just a few more steps and she would be there. Renee stopped dead in her tracks when a sharp sensation entered her left calf. A croaked sound left her, as dizziness overwhelmed her mind, and her body fell to the pavement.

“Get up. She won’t be out for long. And I have a feeling she won’t be too happy when she wakes up.” Damon lowered the gun, walking past his brother to pick up the woman, locking handcuffs around her.

His brother huffed, getting himself to his feet. “Thanks...” He squinted at the array of equipment in his brother’s arsenal. Handcuffs, a gun, and by the looks of it, a tranquilliser of some kind. “Do I even want to know where you got that?”

“Oh please, Donovan won’t miss it, he’s got plenty of this stuff.”

Rolling his eyes, they got the woman into the car together, racing back to the apartment Damon was renting.

—

Blinking, she adjusted her eyes to the light. Renee felt her blood circulate, slowly reaching out to her stiff limbs. Trying to move, she heard a clink. Peering around, she realised the stiffness was due to the restraints on her wrists, her legs tied to the chair. There was a small cut on her left forearm, recently healed.

“Oh good, you’re up.” A cheery voice called. The blue-eyed Salvatore walked in front of her. Renee jerked in the chains.

“Who the hell are you?”

He smiled, devilishly. “I could ask you the same question, Lily.”

Stefan walked in, placing a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Easy, Damon. She’s human. We know that much.”

“Doesn’t mean she can’t be mom, Stefan.” He leaned in further to gaze into the woman’s eyes. Renee moved back slightly, before head-butting him, grunting. 

His brother snickered. “Seems she can kick your ass too.”

“Shut up, Stefan.”

Desperately, she tried to free herself, remembering her training, remembering all the times she’d done this in the past. She was stopped by a hand around her throat. The thick ring he wore was cold against her flesh. Damon’s angry, striking eyes stared into hers, as his mouth began to move. Renee couldn’t help but look back. They were entrancing, transfixing. But the adrenaline inside of her, the fear still seemed to be nagging away, urging her to refocus her attention to escaping.

“Ever been to a town called Mystic Falls?”

She pulled back, observing the man’s crazed expression. “What?”

“Ever ripped a bunch of people’s throats out alongside your weird, witchy Heretics?”

“Are you insane?!” 

“Damon, stop.” He warned.

“Are you sure she was vervain-free, Stefan?” Damon was growing agitated, turning back to his brother.

“Yeah, why?”

He moved his hands to grip both her shoulders, flashing his brother a peeved look. “Then why the hell is she resisting?” Quickly snapping back, Damon questioned the woman once more. “Are you or have you ever been in contact with Lily Salvatore?” He yelled.

Renee’s bottom lip wobbled, as her mouth unwillingly fell open. “No…” She said in a dazed voice. “My name is Renee Walker. I don’t know who you’re talking about.”

“Damon, enough!” Stefan yelled.

“What if it’s her, Stefan?” He roared. “What if she’s just become human or what if she’s…?” 

“And what if it’s not? We’re sitting here, terrorising an innocent person.”  He spoke at the same volume but stopped abruptly when the sound of chains jingling caught his attention. By the time Stefan whipped his head around, the front door was shutting.

Renee gasped when Stefan pinned her against the wall. She threw a punch fuelled with adrenaline, but a simple raise of his hand completely nullified it.

“Wait…please.”

“H-how did you…?”

He sighed, before speaking gently, gazing into her fretful eyes, knowing Damon had his ear pressed to the door. “We’re not trying to hurt you, I promise. Now, I’m only going to ask you one more time. Are you or do you know Lillian Salvatore?”

She shook her head again. “No…”

Stefan shut his eyes, hearing the sound of glass smashing, presumably from Damon breaking something in frustration and pain.

“I take it she was important to you?”

“Our mother, she…she left us when we were young. My brother…he hasn’t been the same since.” 

Renee tilted her head, sympathetically. “I-I’m sorry. But…hang on, you’re saying I look like your mother? I’ve got, what? Four, maybe five years on you?”

He laughed, nervously. “We’re, uh, younger than we look.”

She raised a brow, not believing him one bit. 

“Much younger.” He amended, cracking a half-smile.

Renee gingerly rubbed her throat from where Damon had strangled her. “Look, I shouldn’t be offering this, but if you want me to look through my records for her, I can do that.”

Alarm bells rang in Stefan’s head. They did not need the FBI looking into the Salvatore family.

“N-no, it’s okay.”

“Are you sure-?”

He grabbed her shoulders again, staring her straight in the eyes. “You’re going to go to work, forget you ever met either of us, and live the rest of your life normally. If anyone asks why you were late, say there was bad traffic.”

The woman nodded, able to move freely away from the apartment door, slowly, almost hesitatingly. But nonetheless, she obeyed.

When Stefan returned, his brother was stood despondently, shards of glass strewn around him. “It’s not her. Renee isn’t Lily. Mom’s gone.”

Damon slumped his shoulders. “Yeah.”

—

The following takes place 59 days after Day 7.

She’d gotten to know Kim better slowly, slowly. After all, sitting around, watching a man in a coma, mutually hoping he’d wake gave them plenty of time to do so. They weren’t always there together. It only happened when Renee happened to show up at the same time as Kim’s lunch breaks. After all, it wasn’t like she was an agent with a pressing schedule anymore.

One day she walked in to unexpectedly hear the giggles of a child. Kim was sat in her usual spot by the window, bouncing a small girl on her lap. A man, brunette, stood beside her. 

“Oh!” Kim craned to face her, reacting to the sound of the door. “Hi Renee. Good timing, we just got here.”

Renee couldn’t help but smile at Teri, noticing the blue of the toddler’s eyes. Much like her mother’s. Also like her grandfather’s.

The brunette had also turned to face her. Immediately, Renee felt a strange sensation in her gut. Like she’d seen him before. But her mind knew she hadn’t. In fact it was almost vehemently telling her she hadn’t. A confused look crept across her face.

“Hi, I’m Stephen, Kim’s husband?” His voice broke her from her stupor. She was quick to shake her head, returning his handshake. 

“Yes…yes of course…sorry, it’s just that…have we met before?”

He innocently cocked his head. “No, I don’t think so?”

Renee shrugged. “You must just have one of those faces. I’m Renee Walker, I, uh, worked alongside Jack.”

For the rest of that visit, and every interaction she had with Stephen after that, Renee noticed that the sensation appeared every time. She even went so far as to look through archived cases, wondering if he’d been placed in Witness Protection or something. 

But try as she might, Renee Walker never did figure out why seeing Stephen Wesley seemed to puzzle her so much.