The Drive
"Drama? With Stefan?" Damon asked as Elena sat next to him in the car.
"Yes."
"Tired of it?" he asked as he began the drive.
She glanced at him, but just nodded.
"You have a choice, you know. Probably a number of choices."
Elena kept looking straight ahead.
"You tell me it's an hour to pick up Isobel. You can talk to me if you want."
"I know." Elena said. She kept staring ahead.
"There's a lot to be said – by both of us," he prodded.
She did look at him now. But not for long.
"OK, I'll start. I've done a lot to you Elena that I need to apologize for."
"You've apologized."
Damon ignored that. "When I came here, it was all about destroying whatever Stefan wanted, or Mystic Falls itself, or both. You were caught up in that and I did and said things to you I shouldn't have. I am sorry about that."
"Anything you ever said or did that was a problem, you made up for long ago. It's history and we're past that. Lately, all you've done is help me. And trust me. And sometimes I have let you down, I have betrayed your trust. And it almost killed you."
"It didn't."
"No, but how can you keep trusting me?" She was looking at him now, leaving the road-watching to him.
"I don't have to – not right now. Now you are trusting me."
"Which makes it worse. I've let you down. Why do you still care? Why do you help me?"
"Because you need it. Because you asked me to. And you know how I feel about you."
"I need your trust, you trust me. I need protection, you protect me. I need help, you help me. I've done nothing for you."
"Except save my life several times. Keeping score?"
"Losing track of the score. Which is good. I'm getting way behind."
"And does Stefan know the score?"
Elena frowned at him. "Does Katherine?"
"How should I know? She only talks to you."
"Not about you. What did you do when she was pretending to be me?"
"What did Stefan do?"
"He's not sharing. Which makes me think the worst."
"I wouldn't worry. Katherine never liked him that much."
"But you, Damon. What did you do with her that you thought you were doing with me?"
"You've asked this before, Elena. Still not sharing."
"Damon," Elena said. "You said you're giving me a choice. How can I choose when you don't talk to me. Play your cards. Let's see what you've got."
Damon sighed. "I'll show you my cards if you show me yours. Deal?"
"Yeah. Deal."
"Katherine stays away from me for more than 100 years. When she comes back, it's all about you. It's as if she's saying 'I don't want Damon unless he is interested in someone else'. She's all I ever wanted, until you showed up."
"And…"
"I never claimed to be good, Elena. You may think I have changed, but I'll still kill if I have to, steal if I want to, lie if it get's me what I want."
"You don't lie to me."
"No, not to you. And you know just about everything I've ever done – I did it over and over."
"And it's done," Elena said. "You can't change it. You can choose your future. And you still haven't answered my question."
"I kissed her."
"Meaning you would have kissed me. That's not so bad – not that I'd let you get away with it."
"Meaning she did let me get away with it. This creature I've loved more than anything and hated more than anything wanted me to do it. And she got me to do that. And now I'm left with cryptic messages about deciding between you and her."
"And have you? Decided, I mean?"
"Only one of you is here. Have you decided?"
"I made my choice long ago. I decided to stay with this, with him, until I was sure what was there."
"That's history, Elena. The kind you said is behind us. I'm not the only one who can choose the future."
"Yeah. Some choices are hard. There she is." Elena pointed to Isobel who was waiting at the side of the road.
"Even hard choices have to be made," Damon said as he stopped.
"Hello Elena. Nice to see you again, Damon." Isobel said.
"I doubt that." Damon said.
"Is he back up to his full strength yet?" Isobel asked Elena. "I might be able to take him out if he's not behaving himself."
"Might be dangerous for you to try." Damon smirked.
"Oh stop. My best friend and my grandma are already ready to kill each other. I don't need my mother and my boy…my non-boyfriend to go at it."
Isobel was actually smiling now.
"Lets just get to work." Elena said. "Katherine said a delivery."
"Did you see her again?" Damon asked as he resumed driving.
"No – phone call."
"Can you call her back?"
"It wouldn't be her phone." Isobel answered for her. "It could have been the phone of her breakfast, someone she charmed, or had a tryst with."
Damon actually scowled.
"Oh, hit a nerve did I?" Isobel asked.
"Don't please." Elena interrupted. "Just tell me what she meant by 'delivery'."
Isobel responded by giving Elena a small blue box. Elena looked inside.
"Is that the ring she took from the vampire she killed …. " And then she gasped.
"Is that his finger?"
"Yes and yes. Katherine never gives a gift without sending a warning. You didn't see her take them?"
Elena closed the box and shook her head. "I was too busy looking away to see exactly what she did. But shouldn't she be doing this herself?"
"I was told you are to assume the Katherine persona."
"Oh great. Is this going to be my only job from now on?"
"I'm sure she's just trying out new ways to use her resources."
Elena laughed to herself. "I'm a resource now."
"It's not a bad thing to be, Elena. If you're dealing with Katherine, it's probably the least you want to be. You know you'll have to remove your necklace."
"Yeah. I've got find a better place to keep my vervain."
"We'll be right there with you." Damon said. "And I am back up to full strength. Nothing will hurt you."
"Agreed," Isobel said. "We won't let anything near you. It would be true if we were with Katherine anyway."
"She's doing whoever this is a favor." Elena said. "Surely he would be grateful, not attack."
Damon and Isobel looked at each other.
"Are you going to let her think that?" Damon finally asked Isobel.
Isobel sighed and spoke. "Elena, dealing with Katherine has a price. You know that. She does not do favors, she creates obligations. There is virtually no one wearing a ring like that that would not kill her, if they could, just to get rid of whatever price they have paid."
"You wear her necklace. Damon and Stefan wear her rings."
"OK, maybe there's three of us that wouldn't kill her if we could. And I'm not sure about Damon or Stefan."
"Do you think she would send me to someone who's dangerous?"
"I don't know what she would do." Isobel said. "Has she risked you before?"
"I don't think so. And she makes a big deal about keeping me safe."
"There is no one working for Katherine that is safe."
Elena shook her head. Damon and Isobel could tell that Elena was upset. She just stared at the box.
"It'll be OK Elena." Damon finally said.
"I can't believe I left it that way with Stefan. What if I don't come back? Will that be his last memory of me?"
"Don't worry. You're going back." Isobel said. "Katherine has always come back. And I don't think she has had to spill much blood to do it."
