Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to the television series or the book series. All I am doing it temporarily borrowing the characters.

A/N: First of all, thank you so much for the overwhelming (positive) reception of the last chapter! I appreciate it so much and take all of your words to heart. I am glad that people are finding pleasure in this story besides me, though may it be one or a hundred reviews, I will continue on with this story (at my own pace) because my obsession for this show and these characters has not faded yet and I like to write. This chapter, well, I've decided to create my own version of the plotline so some things may be different from the show, though not that drastically. Bonnie, however, does know about the whole vampire dealio.

Belonging

"I promise never no more…"

The next morning, Elena woke up in Stefan's bed, where she belonged. She didn't linger between the pillows too long, knowing that last night's slip up with Damon would start screening over and over in her head, only it wasn't a scene from some movie. It was real life.

The worst thing was that it hadn't even been an accident or an action that could be accused by her slight drunken state, like the time before. She had made a conscious decision to tease reluctantly and kiss him, having been unsuccessful in denying her craving for something more tangible. She had been the initiator for the second time and this time he had given him, having put up more of a fight than she thought he would. She had finally managed to pierce through his armor, dismantling it piece by piece because she wanted him in front of her with all of his defenses down.

But he wasn't her white knight, nor would he ever be in the traditional sense, perhaps only in the way a distorted and darker version of a fairytale could offer her… Nor was she that girl in the wholesome princess dress, chaste and oblivious to how the world really worked. And she certainly didn't think she was the type of girl who made out with her boyfriend's brother when he wasn't around.

It were her dreams… They had tortured her for nights now and last night, Damon had been close enough to touch and reel in, using the charms she usually did not have to depend on. Not with Stefan. He cared for her deeply without any added effort on her side, and Damon… Elena remembered when he so desperately seemed to want her, trying his hand at compelling her whenever she was near.

That was then, when his affection for Katherine had been at his strongest and she was the closest thing he had to her and he was trying to spite his brother, getting what wasn't his. But he had given up the chase and now she missed it, especially since she could now feel things towards him. It was okay after having seen his more human side more than once. He had saved her many of times and he cared for her, she knew he did; otherwise, he wouldn't be so much like a white knight in his actions.

She got out of bed, Stefan nowhere in sight. Elena decided to skip the shower this morning and exchanged the tank top for one of Stefan's button up shirts, tying it in the back so it clung just a little and showed just enough skin. She put on her Uggs and made her way down the stairs, her heart heavier than usual. She was nervous to see both brothers, afraid that Damon would cease to keep her secret out of spite, and afraid that Stefan would sense something to be terribly wrong. She had to talk to both of them, sooner rather than later, especially Damon. She shook her head. Damon shouldn't be her number one priority, it should be Stefan.

She made her way to the bottom of the stairs and rounded the corner into the living room, which was where she froze, her face contorting into a delayed shriek at the sight in front of her. Elena clasped a hand over her mouth, her eyes as wide as they would go as she stumbled backwards, away from the four or five women that lay strewn across the living room. Their pale skin left a haunting impression, perhaps even more so than the bite marks she saw all over their exposed body parts.

She turned her eyes away, as she did her body and crashed right into Damon, Stefan right behind him. "Morning sunshine," were Damon's greeting words, a sharp contrast to what she had just run into.

Before he could reach for her arms to properly steady her, she was already on the move, flying into Stefan's arms. "Stefan, the living room, there are bodies—" "

Actually, technically they are bodies," Damon remarked while raising a finger, "but as for what you are implying, they aren't dead, just drained," he finished, placing his finger on his bottom lip while throwing her a glance, amusement glimmering where it shouldn't. It made Elena second guess his good side, if he truly had one, a side that would be good enough to love, or maybe she should simply take the bad with the good… She shook her head and brought her eyes up to Stefan's concerned ones. "Drained?" she asked.

"Not fully though."

Stefan shot his brother a look before taking a hold of Elena and leading her a little further from his brother and crime scene. "Elena, listen, you weren't meant to see that," he began, nodding in the direction of the living room. "They're not dead," he reassured her. "He didn't drain them completely; they'll be okay in a few hours."

Elena brought a hand to her forehead and nodded. "What about the bite marks…?"

"What can I say, I like variety," Damon said with a casual shrug. "The vampire goes for the neck, what's new about that? I like to surprise them, keep them on their feet."

Elena turned slightly to look at him. "Why? To feed because usually you—"

Damon sighed and interrupted, "Look, I don't know what the big controversy is here. Vampire. Blood." He held out both of his hands to underline the point he was making. "It's a natural process. It's not like I killed any of them."

"But you could have!"

"And? Human beings are weak and I am a higher species."

"That doesn't mean you have the right to simply take their lives, Damon. And, just for the record, you are a visitor in their world."

"Then why don't more of them try to kill us?" he asked while taking a step toward her. "I'll tell you why, because the attraction we have toward human beings, they have the same one. And how could they not with me being an irresistibly handsome specimen and all. Isn't that your attraction to—"

"Damon," Elena cut him off, overwhelmed by the situation between them and his unexpected behavior of which the proof lay in the living room, although it shouldn't have come as a surprise. It was how he was, chose to be.

Damon smiled at her knowingly, before shrugging and turning back around. "I was just having some fun of my own, since you two forgot to invite me to your bedroom party. If I was more like Stefan, I'd be offended."

"Damon, enough!" Stefan raised his voice, after having his patience tested for too long. "Look, I know you're not like me and have this need for human blood—"

"Spare me the speech little brother," Damon replied, rolling his eyes as he turned to face Stefan. "I didn't kill any of them and they won't remember a thing when they leave here, so, really, where's the harm in my actions?"

"They're human beings, Damon," Stefan told him in a softer tone.

"And not your toys to play with," Elena added.

Damon nodded his head while licking his bottom lip, fighting against the urge to reveal her hypocrisy to Stefan, how she had been toying with him behind his brother's back. "I think it's time for you to go home," he directed harshly at Elena instead.

She lowered her head in what he assumed was shame or guilt of some sort and gave him a single nod. "I didn't mean to overstay my welcome."

"Elena…" Stefan began, but she silenced him with a reassuring smile. "It's okay. He's right; I came over last night without any warning and he had to put up with me when you weren't here," she carefully worded."Plus, it's later than I thought it was and I still need to meet up with Bonnie before going home."

"You sure?"

She nodded and leaned in to give him a kiss, Damon having left the room by the time the kiss ended. "Thanks for having me last night," she said to Stefan and headed for the front door, Damon holding it open for her. "Thanks for having me tonight," he said with a wink, closing the door before she could say or do anything.

~*~

With her stomach tied in knots and an unsteady mind, she met up with Bonnie at Mystic Grill. Her dark haired friend was already in place when she arrived, sipping what looked like some kind of herbal tea. Ever the witch, Elena thought kindly as she went to give her best friend a warm hug. "Thanks for meeting me, and for covering for me with Aunt Jenna," Elena added as she sat down.

"What are best friends for? Besides, now you owe me." Bonnie took a sip of her tea and gestured towards Elena's outfit. "Nice shirt. Stefan's?" Elena nodded and Bonnie let out a sigh, her eyes gazing off into space dreamily. "I wish I had what you and Stefan had… You and him are like destined to be, star crossed and all that. It's so romantic, of course we will have to exchange the vampire bit with dark, brooding, and mysterious…"

Elena couldn't help but laugh at her friend's warped romantic notions and even forgot about her problems for a few seconds, though it didn't last because it only made her think of Stefan and how devoted he was to her. She ordered a drink and pulled at her shirt, her expression torn as she looked back at Bonnie. "Bonnie," she sighed, "what's wrong with me?"

"Okay, wait, did I miss something?" Elena sighed again and dropped her head into her hands. "I did something terrible; actually I did a couple of terrible things." She lifted her head from her hands to look over at Bonnie. "If I tell you, you promise you won't be too judgmental?"

"Is my name Caroline?" Bonnie good naturedly joked. She shrugged. "Besides, when you told me you ran with vampires, I didn't judge."

"You judged a little," Elena accused.

Bonnie lifted one of her fingers. "I judged your relationship with Damon, never the one you had with Stefan." Elena shifted her eyes away guiltily and Bonnie caught on, her eyes narrowing as she leaned in closer to her best friend. "Elena, what's going on? Tell me."

Elena folded her hands together on the table. "Well… remember the spontaneous road trip Damon took me on?"

"You mean when he kidnapped you after you had just been in a dangerous car crash caused by we still don't know who?" Bonnie nodded. "I have a vague recollection. What about it?"

"I went voluntarily," Elena quickly added in defense of Damon, something to which Bonnie raised her eyebrows. "The thing is, I was all over the place emotionally and I had some beers, and, I kind of kissed Damon."

Bonnie's mouth opened in a silent gasp, her eyes even wider. "Elena. Did he compel you?"

Elena shook her head, automatically reaching for her necklace. "No, and I can't say for a hundred percent that it was the alcohol either. It was me, Bonnie. I had this sudden urge to kiss him, so I did. And before you say that it came out of nowhere; it didn't." She nervously pulled a hand through her hair. "I've been dreaming about him, for a few nights in a row now. Again, last night…"

"Wait, so you didn't go to see Stefan last night?"

Elena nodded, shook her head, and then nodded again. "I went for Stefan, but he wasn't there, so—"

"So you spent the night with Damon instead?!"

Elena began shaking her head again. "Not like that, not exactly anyway. I decided to stay and wait for Stefan, but then I did something terrible again." She paused briefly, squeezing her hands together again. "I went to take a shower to, you know, cool down." Bonnie's eyes widened even further. "And after I basically paraded around half naked in front of him and didn't get the attention I sought, I kissed him again, rather aggressively as well," Elena rambled on and let her head drop between her hands again. "What's wrong with me, Bonnie?"

"You're torn," Bonnie stated the obvious simply. "A part of you is in love with Stefan, but the other is attracted to… Damon."

Elena nodded. "I know, but it's Damon and he's not like Stefan."

"Maybe that's why you like him?"

"Bonnie, he's evil."

"Not completely though, is he," Bonnie pointed out. "I mean, you're still alive."

Elena shot her a look and Bonnie smiled. "Matters of the heart are the most complicated and absurd there are. Your heart doesn't need a reason, it'll keep beating nonetheless. How's that for being judgmental," Bonnie finished.

"I'm very proud of you, even though I still don't know what to do. I mean, is my sudden obsession with Damon just a whim?"

"Time will tell."

"I was kind of hoping for something witchier, like you reading my palm or casting an un-love spell."

"Oh, no." Bonnie shook her head. "I'm not meddling with that. In fact, I don't want to meddle with that. It's Damon."

"I know and that makes me appreciate your support even more. Thanks Bon and thanks for covering for me last night." She looked at her watch. "I should get home."

Bonnie nodded. "I'll leave with you." She finished her tea and the two girls left the Mystic Grill, now carrying the same secret.

~*~

Elena had to park her car across from her house because there was another car in the usual spot. She made a face as she got out of the car, hating the break in one of her last remaining daily routines. Normalcy only returned to her reality through these routines. The man that had previously been leaning against his car came up to her as she approached the house. She forced a smile on her face as she greeted him.

"Excuse me," he said. "My car broke down and I can't seem to figure out what's wrong with it. I'm not really a mechanic," he lightly joked. "This hasn't been my day and the battery of my cell phone is dead, so would you mind if I used your phone?" He had followed her up to the front door now.

Elena simply nodded, knowing how important the kindness of strangers really was. Stefan and Damon were that to her once. She nodded again. "Yeah, sure. Let me just run in and get my cell phone." She unlocked the door and headed inside, dropping her bag on a table to look for her phone. She found it and walked back over to the door opening to hand it to him. "Here it is."

He hesitated to take it and finally pulled his hand back completely. "Actually, would you mind if I just used your regular phone? Calling from a cell phone is expensive and I don't want to be any more of an inconvenience."

"Oh, don't worry. It's fine. More than fine even," Elena insisted and handed him the phone once more, but he didn't take it. Instead he looked her straight in the eyes, causing her to feel extreme discomfort. "You don't understand, I really need to come in. I was trying to be nice about it, paying you a courtesy, but I should've known we are way beyond that. Aren't we Katherine?"

A jolt of electricity going up her spine, made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and her entire body tensed up, taking a more defensive stance, though she tried to feign recognition of any kind. "I'm sorry. I think you've got the wrong person. I'm not Katherine."

"Elena," he said her name, surprising her. "Whatever name you may have taken on to suit your new disguise, it doesn't matter."

"I think you should leave," Elena told him, intending on shutting the door on him, but something stopped her from doing so. She found herself unable to move. She desperately wanted to, but couldn't. Instead, it was as if an incredible magnet force was drawing her. She instantly recognized what he was doing to her, but she didn't understand how this could be happening, since she was wearing the necklace. She touched it and the man clicked his tongue a few times while shaking his head. "A little vervain might stop most vampires, the younger and weaker ones, but I am their senior by a few hundred years so I have learned to acquire a taste for it. Now, I think you should invite me in, like the good hostess you are."

Elena shook her head, even though it took her so much energy to control her own free will that it scared her. She opened her mouth, but instead of inviting him in like he wanted her to, she yelled for Jeremy, who for once actually listened and responded to her. She heard him come down the stairs and she looked over her shoulder, relieved to see him, although when she turned back around the man was already on his way back to his car.

"What's up?" Jeremy asked his sister. And she shook her head. "I'm not sure, but see that guy over there, whatever you do, don't let him into the house."

"I wasn't going to. I can't believe you even spoke to him."

"Why?"

"In the last hour, he's driven by our house at least four times."

"He told me his car broke down."

"How gullible of you ," Jeremy commented before leaving the room.

Elena closed the door and dialed Stefan's number.

Please review please? Comments, questions, and critique are all very welcome and very much appreciated. I hope I'm not making too much of a mess of this story, so please continue reading and reviewing, and hang in there until my next update.