Damon's POV
She won't stop crying. She won't stop, and the shaking sobs wrack her delicate frame so violently they will break her apart any second. I've tried everything. Fuck, that's a lie, but at least I brought her here to the boarding house. I made her a fire in the grate, got her an ugly, ratty old afghan to warm her up… I even made a few very funny comments, if I do say so myself, with no effect. Can't she see that I'm trying here? That maybe her tears hurt me too? Could she possibly think that she is the only one affected by this turn of events? My idiotically selfless little brother is trapped down in that musty, disgusting hole, doomed to starve and shrivel alongside the heartless bitch who made us wiener-cousins and laughed about it. Yeah, he's a pain in the ass sanctimonious little shit, but he's my brother… and he doesn't deserve that fate.
How could she think this doesn't bother me? Is she just like Katherine? Selfish enough to believe that her gasps and cries aren't more heavy weights piled on top of the load of shit I'm already carrying on my shoulders? Sure, my shoulders are strong as hell, but this crying might just be the straw that breaks my back. I don't want to leave her alone, but I'll be too tempted to smack her if I look at her. I'll stare into the fire instead…
"Damon! *sob* What are we going to do? *choke*"
Oh fuck me. This has been going on for almost an hour on a loop, like a bad song you can't get off the brain. Oh Damon we have to help him! Oh Damon we can't just leave him there! Oh Damon what if she hurts him! Oh Damon what are we going to do! This stilted, amnesia tic diatribe of hers is more annoying than 1982, when every radio station played the fucking Safety Dance every other minute.
We can dance if we want to, we can leave your friends behind. Cause' your friend don't dance, and if they don't dance, well they're no friends of mine. Hell. The Safety Dance is actually less annoying than her pleading. At least it has a beat to it.
"Damon! We can't just leave him in there with Katherine!"
"Oh, that's it. That's IT Elena! SHUT. UP."
"What? Damon! How could you be so cruel to me! To your brother!"
"Fucking hell. I'm two seconds away from eating you for dinner, woman! Seriously, be quiet."
*sobs*
"I'm going to need anger management after this…"
"Damon –"
"Oopsie daisy! I'm gonna' have to stop you riiiight there. If you whine at me just one more time Elena, you'll regret it."
"I'm not whining Damon, I'm up-"
"Yes you are."
"Excuse me?"
"Whining. You're whining. Shut up."
"I am not!"
"Not whining or not shutting up? 'Cause one version of that statement is a blatant lie and the other version will make me leave your sorry skinny ass here all alone in this big house while I head to Sorority Row."
"You're an asshole."
"Tell me something I don't already know. Or better yet don't. I know! Let's play the quiet game. It'll be fun."
Elena was seething up at me from the couch. She was so angry that her tiny knuckles were white, twisting the already battered blanket spread over her into lumps of mangled, tatty yarn. But she kept her mouth shut, and that was a win in my book.
Bourbon sounded like a good idea. Bourbon and the quiet game would make this interminable night go by faster. Orange and red firelight danced and refracted across the cut crystal decanters on the sideboard, twinkling around the tabletop and walls like it was a mystical Booze Wonderland. I easily unstopped my favorite liquor and poured a very generous measure into a waiting Waterford glass.
"I'll take one of those." Elena's request echoed in the room as she spoke the same words Katherine had. An urge to kill shocked through me, but she isn't Katherine. Not Katherine, not Katherine. Elena. She's Elena.
"Sure Miss Elena." I smoothly poured another glass of bourbon and turned to hand it to a soggy, puffy eyed human girl buried beneath a heap of unraveling 1800s crochet.
2 Hours Later
"Come on! You cheated!" Elena giggled with flushed pink cheeks.
"I certainly did not! I'm merely better at this game than you are, kitten."
Elena doubled over with laughter. "No, you're just fas-uh-faster than I am and you are cheating!"
"Nope-ity no. It isn't my fault that your reflexes are slower than mine! Even so, you're still winning. See?" I gestured down to the legal pad we had been using to keep score. So far, Elena had won three games of UNO and I had won two.
"I guess…" She swayed drunkenly on the pillow she was using as a floor cushion. The ugly afghan she'd been using as a life preserver/punching bag was abandoned on the couch in a sad-looking heap as we sat nearly side by side on the floor around the coffee table.
"And perhaps beside the point, but how would better reflexes help me win at this game?"
She shot me a sideways glare and went back to squinting at her cards. "I'm not sure, but you win at everything so I am sure you're cheating."
Hmm. Interesting. "You are winning you know, in case you forgot what I said a minute ago."
"I knowww! But you win at errything else Damon. S'not fair!" She giggled again and reached for her empty glass. "Dang it. Refill?"
I smirked at her and reached for the decanter of whiskey. "Here kitten. Let me get that for you." I filled her empty glass and she took a swallow.
"That's different from the last drink."
"We finished off the bourbon. It's whiskey. Do you like it?"
"Sure. S'ok. Burns different, if that makes sense. Thanks Damon."
"My pleasure. I'm just happy we're having fun finally."
"Can I ask you something?"
"Of course. Whether I answer or not is another thing entirely."
"Ass." She spoiled her insult with a smile. "Why are you calling me kitten?"
Oh, have I been doing that? I suppose I have. I quickly looked down and gather her cards, shuffling the deck for the next game and avoiding her chocolate gaze. But she keeps looking at me expectantly, waiting.
"Fine. Because you remind me of one. You think you're a big badass lion, and act like it. Like you can win any fight, like you're bigger than you are. But you're not. You might have sharp claws, but they're small and mostly harmless. You might feel scary sometimes, but your anger is actually adorable. Cute and angry about it… like a kitten who thinks it is a lion."
"That's condescending."
"Perhaps, but it's cute too. Admit it. It's cute and you like it."
"You're a jerk."
"But I'm a sexy jerk. See? We're compromising!"
"Why do I spend time with you again?"
"I know why, but I'm not telling."
"I'm not even going to ask…"
"No, but you want to know. Even though you already do know."
"Stop trying to fuck with my head Damon! Are you trying to say that I like this? That I like putting up with your asshole comments and your endless conceit?"
"For the record, you said it, not me."
"Oh god. This is a trap isn't it? I keep talking and you twist it around to what you want me to say!"
"Put the claws away, kitten. I'm not twisting anything and I'm not trapping you. Just saying that yes, you do like being around me and my endless charm. But it's not the real reason."
Elena took a big gulp of whiskey before scooting forward, getting in my face… inches away. I could smell the dried tears on her cheeks and hear her heartbeat hitch as she stared at me. "Ok, then what is the real reason, Damon? I'll bite."
"You don't bite, I bite. And it's simple. You are in love with me."
Elena's face contorted with fury and she exploded. "ASSHOLE! HOW DARE YOU!" She moved to punch my jaw, but her movements were sluggish with alcohol, and I grabbed her fist easily.
"I told you to never do that again." I leaned toward her threateningly, baring my teeth. I'll be damned if this girl would hurt me ever again. I'll be damned if she even thinks about it after this night. She doesn't move. She doesn't back down. Her small fist is still exerting pressure in my palm, as though she's still trying to strike me.
"I hate you."
"Always the consummate liar."
"I do hate you…"
"Sure."
"But…"
"But?"
"I can't take it anymore. I can't take you. You're too MUCH! You've got too much to you, too much personality, too much fire, too much everything. If I let myself go, you'll overwhelm me. You're right, ok! I am a kitten… a scared one."
Stunned, I released her fist which hovered for a second and then fell to her lap. Did she just say why she couldn't be with me? Why she denies loving me? Because I am… too much? I'm not too much! I am who I am, and that is why she needs me.
"What you might think is too much might be exactly the amount you need, Elena."
She had been looking down, examining the carpet before my words snapped her eyes up to mine. Something in them changed… softened and shined. Her hands rose up to touch the sides of my face and ghost gently across my temples, my cheeks, my lips, my neck.
"You must be right. You're always right." And then, slowly, she kissed me. The smooth warm silk of her lips felt like fire and tasted sweet like honey and liquor, and when they moved over me I felt a glow building in my chest. Joy. It was joy – complete and utter happiness. I caught her tongue on a sigh and sucked it into my mouth, caressing it and savoring the taste of her, while my fingers threaded through her heavy hair and crushed the strands with tight fists. I wasn't about to let her go.
Elena moaned as our tongues plunged in and out of each other's mouths, our lips molded together. I had to touch her, had to feel her everywhere. So I did.
A glorious hour full oh "oh god!"s, "fuck fuck fuck!"s,"AAAAahhhhhHHH!"s, and scores of back scratches later, Elena and I were panting and naked, tangled up on the carpet as a sweaty pile of limbs and ripped old afghan.
"I love you Damon."
"I told you so."
Even fucked nearly boneless, my little kitten still had the strength to smack my ass. Hard. "You don't have to be so smug about it."
I leaned over her and pushed down the ratty blanket, exposing her beautiful naked chest. "Yes I do", I sang as I nipped on a rosy pink peak, making her gasp. Her back arched off the carpet as I sucked.
"You could… ugh… at least say it back."
I released her hardening nipple from my lips with a pop. "I said it to you first."
"You did not!"
"I did. A few days ago in fact. I even shed a tear. It was all very prime-time drama romantic."
"I don't remember…" Her eyes glazed over, as though she was looking far away. "My necklace…"
"Caught me, did you?"
"You compelled me to forget it?"
"Yes."
I expected her to be angry, to ask questions… but she didn't. Instead, Elena stroked my face and looked deeply into my eyes. "Tell me again so I remember it this time."
How could I not give this woman everything I had to give? For the rest of my existence she would be mine, whether she liked it or not. "I love you, Elena." Her gorgeous face lit up, like a light had switched on under her skin, and she smiled brighter than the sun.
"Then love me some more Damon, because I'm not tired yet."
A/N: Fun, right? :D Tell me what you thought of this week's episode. I think I improved it a teeny bit, if you can overlook the unbeta'd-ness of it all! *wink*