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Samuel Elijah Gilbert was born on June 22, 1992 alongside his twin sister Elena Gilbert to biological parents Isobel Flemming and John Gilbert in Mystic Falls, Virginia.
Almost right away after birth, Isobel abandoned them with their future adoptive parents and paternal aunt and uncle Grayson Gilbert and Miranda Sommers-Gilbert. Grayson had tampered with their birth certificates to make it appear as if Miranda and Grayson were their birth parents after not being able to have their own children after trying for so long. Miranda later gave birth to his adoptive brother/paternal cousin Jeremy Gilbert.
Sam is a reincarnation, meaning he has multiple past life's. His known past lives include Cassius, Theodore, and Emmanuel Petrov. It is unknown how many others existed, though it is most likely that every other time was also aligned with the resurgence of the Petrova doppelgänger who was born alongside his reincarnations as twins.
Sam is unaware of this for a long time but often has access to memories of his life as Emmanuel, or Emmett Pierce as he was commonly know as, while sleeping. This increases largely once the Salvatore brothers come to Mystic Falls.
Sam grew up blissfully unaware that he was adopted just like his sister. Only a few people knew such as Miranda's sister, their aunt Jenna Sommers, who was a teenager at the time.
Sam's male best friend growing up was Tate Lockwood, they had been friends since they were in diapers. It was said that Sam, a curious kid, loved to explore while Tate followed behind like a lost puppy. They even played games in which they would solve fake crimes set up by Sam's parents who thought it was adorable.
While Elena and Matt Donovan often had play dates due to being really close, Sam was usually with Vicki, Matt's older sister. Vicki adored Sam. She always read stories to him, got him to play dolls with her, and even was the first one to introduce him into watching his favorite tv show.
Sam also grew up with Caroline Forbes and Bonnie Bennett. Caroline and Sam were closer like how Bonnie and Elena were. Caroline was practically attached to Sam's side, getting the boy out of his comfort zone which amused their parents.
The four often were babysat by Bonnie's Grams, Shelia Bennett. Sam found her stories about the supernatural, mainly witches, to be the greatest stories he had ever heard. While Elena and Caroline were playing dress up, Bonnie and Sam were often found sitting by Grams as she told the stories about the Bennett witches.
Sam grew up with an amazing skill of drawing. When he starteddrawing on 'autopilot'around the age of eight, he went to Grams for help due to the fact that he didn't want anyone to think he was weird or be concerned about him. Grams told him that he was some sort of psychic being guided by the spirits as he drew. A part of him believed her.
When he was around ten years old, he started having 'dreams' that were really flashbacks of his former life as Emmett Pierce. He never remembered much the next day besides the flashes he got of a girl who looked like his twin sister if she was in the eighteen hundreds.
At the age of 13, Grayson Gilbert passed down a wooden stake to him that the eldest son of each generation received. Their last name, 'Gilbert' was carved into it. Grayson told him the history of the stake, chalking it all up to be some sort of fable to let him know how important it was to his family.
In the start of Freshman Year, Sam was both on the football team as well as dating his friend Tate Lockwood. The two became the school's golden couple, both incredibly kind and popular as well as athletic.
On his sixteenth birthday, his uncle John gave him a blue and black 1980 Jeep CJ-5, which he rightfully named Roscoe.
Towards the end of sophomore year, after picking him up from a party he snuck out to go to with Caroline and broke up with Tate at, the car that held him and his parents swerved and went over the infamous Wickery Bridge. Nobody knew how Sam had survived but his siblings were glad that he did.
The three lived with Liz Forbes temporarily until their mother sister, their aunt Jenna, was ready to take them in.
Sam saw a therapist for his survivors guiltwhile he was staying with Liz but was able to convince Jenna not to make him go because he hated reliving the event over and over in therapy.
Each Gilbert sibling became closed off during that summer. Sam focused on drawing as a distraction. His friends Bonnie and Caroline as well as his sister still all hung out as a group, although they never did much talking.
Caroline was able to get through to him first, getting him to at least watch their favorite show, Supernatural, together.
Over the summer as well, Sam focused on getting his anger out by working out more than he usually did during and between football season.
