"Are you here to yell at me too?" He sighs dramatically and rolls his eyes when Caroline comes bursting into the living room.
"I'm not really in the mood." He tells her while trying to wave her away.
She doesn't move a centimeter, just crosses her arms and give him one of her iciest looks.
"I don't care." She tells him, close to yelling.
"You're clearly in a bitch mood."
She hits him in the back of his head and sits down next to him.
"Do you know where I've been all night?"
He grins.
"I have so many good answers for that, I don't even know where to begin."
She narrows her eyes at him.
"Do you think this is funny?" Do you think this is the time for making jokes." She sighs overdramatically before continuing.
"I've been comforting Bonnie, trying to calm her, trying to make things better for her. Make all of this easier."
She stops, waits for him to start explaining.
Wait for any response, some sign of remorse.
Anything at this point.
He just flips the pages in the book he's reading.
"You're not going to say anything?" she asks him impatiently.
Nothing.
"I was starting to believe you were changing. That you were starting to be better, to do better."
She takes a deep breath.
"I thought you were changing for Elena."
For a moment she thinks she can see sadness in his eyes.
But it's gone as fast as it came.
If it was ever there.
"How could you do that to Elena's best friend?"
"I know you don't care about Bonnie, but Elena…"
He throws the book at the table in front of them and cuts her off.
"I did it for Elena" He is tired of explaining it. Tired of talking about it over and over.
She looks down.
"It was the only way."
Caroline shakes her head.
"I refuse to believe that. It's always more ways, always other choices."
He moves up from where he's been sitting.
"I'm really not in the mood."
Then the front door is shut with a bang and Stefan comes walking in.
"And here comes Dr. Phil to stir things up. Great"
Damon decides it's time for another drink. Definitely time.
"Hey, Stefan" Caroline says, much more gentle and careful then the way she spoke to Damon earlier.
She looks kind of scared.
He looks sad and upset.
"You sound nervous, Caroline. "
She looks at the ground.
"I just don't know what to expect."
Stefan doesn't answer.
"You're not the only one"Damon takes his drink with him and reaches for the book.
Caroline stands up and prepares to leave.
"By the way, Fabio. How could you sleep with Rebekah?"
Damon continues to read, when no one says anything he looks up.
"Are you talking to me?"
Caroline rolls her eyes at him and crosses her arms.
"I just thought Stefan was Fabio"
Stefan almost cracks a smile.
Almost.
"I slept with her because I can do whatever the hell I want to."
End of discussion.
"But she's an original." Caroline whines.
"You're one to talk." Stefan says and stares at the blonde vampire.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Klaus." Stefan simply says.
"Yeah, I heard you wore the dress he bought you." Damon adds and grins at her.
"It's not my fault he…" She stops and looks down at her shoes.
"That he fancies me" If she was still human she would be blushing by now.
Damon bursts out in laughter.
"So the biggest, most cruel vampire on earth fancies you?" Damon asks, still laughing.
"Is that so hard to believe?" She asks annoyed.
"Yes." Damon says honestly.
Stefan smiles at her.
One of those smiles that seems to only come out in her presence.
Then Caroline has to smile too.
Maybe now she knows what to expect.
Elena's head is full of confusing and upsetting thoughts.
She feels like her head's going to explode into a million pieces.
Pieces that can't be put together.
Alaric has still not come home, and he doesn't take her calls.
She is worried. Worried something has happened to him again.
He is slowly becoming a father figure.
Someone she can come to for advice, who helps her and cares for her.
Someone she can always count on.
She doesn't want to lose that, or lose him.
And then there's what Stefan told her.
What Damon did for him.
And what it meant for her to hear it.
She sighs, everything is so complicated.
She doesn't know what to do, how to deal with it all.
But she does know that she owes Damon an apology.
Someone knocks on the door and drags Elena out of her daydreaming.
Damon.
Her heart races immediately.
It gets hard for her to speak.
"Hey" She manages to whisper.
"I was just checking to see if Alaric was here." He shows no emotion.
Of course that's why he's here.
She was stupid for believing for a second that he was there for her.
"He's not" She tells him while opening the door wider.
"But you should come in; I have something to tell you." She is nervous.
He looks conflicted.
He is.
A part of him wants to follow her inside and listen to every word escaping those delicate lips.
That's the part of him that loves talking to her; being with her, joke around with her.
Loves caring for her.
Another part of him wants to leave her there. Walk away and not look back.
That's the part of him that craves her, wants her.
Loves her.
The part that can't take this anymore. This pain of having her close, but not close enough.
The hurt of having her, but not completely.
The first part wins his inner battle.
He is never able to resist.
He follows her inside, they're both totally silent.
She sits down at the kitchen table.
He prefers to stand.
"I want you to listen, Damon. Let me talk."
"Really listen" She says and he just nods.
"I'm so sorry, Damon. Sorry for being so angry at you for turning Abby. For being mad at you for sleeping with Rebekah. " She takes a deep breath.
"But most of all I'm sorry for what I said to you at the ball. I didn't mean it; it was childish and wrong of me to say it just to end our argument. I'm sorry for taking you for granted; you have really been there for me. And I would have been lost, broken and a wreck without you."
She looks at him the whole time.
"I'm just really sorry, Damon"
He doesn't respond right away, just looks at her.
Really looks.
Pierces his way right through her.
Like no man has ever done before him.
"Why?"
"What changed?" He whispers.
"Stefan told me about the coin toss. How you sacrificed…" your chance with me.
"How you did It all for him. How you didn't want him to carry even more guilt."
She is standing now. Only a feet away from him.
A part of her wants to wrap her arms around him. Shield him from the world and all the pain in it. Take some of the guilt away and embrace him until he understands.
Understands just how much she cars for him and how much he means to her.
But she doesn't do it, because the other part of her is way too scared.
So afraid of what comes next.
"I want you to forgive me." She tells him sincerely.
"I do." He says like only he can.
"I've done much worse."
She shakes her head.
"It's not about what you've done now. It's about what I've done to hurt you." She moves a little closer to him.
Reaches out to take his hand.
He lets her hold it.
"Why do you care?" He suddenly asks.
"Why do you need my forgiveness?"
She closes her eyes and breathes out.
"I care about you. A lot"
She squeezes his hand.
"I'm your friend, Damon."
"Maybe I don't want to be your friend." His voice is desperate and he pushes her hand away.
"Maybe I want more" He only whispers now.
"I do want more, you know I do." He steps closer to her.
"Damon, I…"
"You can't"
She is crying now, he hates it when she does that.
She doesn't say anything.
She neither gives him hope nor totally shatters the little he has left.
"This…" He starts and places his hands at her wet cheeks.
"This is why I forgive you, but can't stop being mad at you."
They stand still like that for a while.
Before he removes his hands and walks away from her.
