Chapter Seven: Ready to Fall

I found a shoulder to lean on
An infallible reason to live all by itself
I took one last look from the heights that I once loved
And then I ran like hell
Wings won't take me. Heights don't phase me
So take a step, but don't look down
Now I'm standing on the rooftop ready to fall
I think I'm at the edge now but I could be wrong
I'm standing on the rooftop ready to fall
I count the times that I've been sorry
Now my compassion slowly drowns
If there's a time these walls could guard you
Then let that time be right now

~Rise Against

There she found herself again, toes hanging over the edge of a cliff, as she stared down at the water. This time she wasn't stripped down to her delicates and about to jump. No, now she stood with Damon's jacket over her shoulders and a half bottle of whiskey in her hand. It was a lot colder up on the cliff now, there was a stiff wind that kept blowing through and giving Nilin goosebumps.

The air was crisp though, hitting her face and keeping her at a nice buzz. They had only been up here for an hour or two, but Nilly was already feeling the alcohol seeping into her brain. It pleasantly numbed everything.

Putting the bottle to her lips, she tipped her head back and took another mouthful of whiskey. It burned a little going down, causing her to shudder, but then it made her feel warm inside. "Drunk enough to talk yet?" she heard Damon ask behind her.

"Nope," she answered loudly turning around. "Keep trying, though." Nilin turned back to face the rushing water. Licking her dry lips, she asked him, "Yay or nay, while I was staying at the boarding house you took me out to watch the stars one night I couldn't sleep and we drank a bottle of this."

"Yay," Damon answered her, sounding pleasingly impressed. "When'd you remember that little snippet?" he wondered.

"Thirty seconds ago, I guess the alcohol is good for something," she shrugged as she strolled over to him. He had found a roosting place on a branch of a big tree and was now a good ten feet off the ground. "How'd you even manage to get up there?" she asked. "You've had more to drink than I have."

Damon just laughed before gracefully sliding off the branch and landing right in front of her. Nilin jumped back a little, a gasp escaping her mouth. "You seem to forget that I am an old timer of a vampire."

"Right!" Nilin exclaimed, putting a mocking hand to her forehead. "Big, scary Dracula. How can I forget such a thing?" she said sarcastically then took another swig of whiskey.

"Whoa, how about we slow down a little now?" Damon suggested, reaching for the bottle in her hand.

"Hey!" Nilly slapped him away. "You're the one who wanted to get me drunk, I'm just going a long with it," she said, dodging away from him again.

"Yes, but I don't think Elena would appreciate it if I returned you home passed out and mumbling incoherently." Damon said, making another attempt for her bottle. "Again," he noted.

"Okay, that only happened one time and it was a bad night." Nilin tried to defend herself. The few weeks after her transformation into an angel weren't as glamorous as one might think. They had been hard. Her body was still going through the changes and her mind was still coping with the trauma, which was accompanied with the memory lose. So, to say the least, Nilly took up breaking in to the Salvatore liquor cabinet as a hobby. They didn't appreciate it very much.

"Let's not make it twice, got it?" Damon said, finally snatching the whisky away from her.

Nilly just narrowed her eyes at him, and crossed her arms over her chest. "Give it back," she said, marching in his direction.

She tried to shoot to the left and snag the bottle from him but she was really feeling the effects of the booze now. One foot tripped up the other and Nilin ended up stumbling on her own feet, but caught herself before she fell flat on her face.

"No way," Damon said, taking a sip from the bottle as he dodged her pathetic attempt.

"Give it back now, Damon." Nilin said more forceful, she tried to get it back again. This time she didn't catch herself when she stumbled, and fell right on her butt. Damon laughed as she got up and dusted herself off.

"Or what?" he teased. "You going to send me flying into a tree again?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

Nilin rolled her eyes as she rubbed her now sore ass cheek. Everything was moving slowly to her, the world seemed to be on an incline as she spoke. "No," she said, "I don't even know how I did that."

He was smiling at her as if she was some little kid. It infuriated Nilin to no end. She hated when he looked at her like that, as if she was too inexperienced. She could handle herself just fine, with the grace of age and the wisdom of experience… wait, who was she kidding? She was acting like a drunk fledgling right now.

"You know," he continued to mess with her. "It was really hot when you used your little powers on me," he taunted as he strolled back over to his tree again. "And I don't mean just metaphorically," he said, leaning on it. "You know, with the third degree burns you left."

"Are you done yet?" Nilin asked, her eyes still on the bottle. Damon thought he was being so clever. She wasn't having any of it. "I want my whiskey back," she said, feeling the tingle grow on her shoulder blades.

"No, actually I'm not…" he went to continue teasing her when suddenly the bottle in his hand shattered, sending glass and alcohol everywhere. Damon looked down at his now empty hand and then up at Nilin stunned. She had the same look on her face, as she covered her mouth with her hands. "How'd you…?"

"I don't know!" she said in complete and total shock, but then she started to laugh. She laughed until she was doubled over clutching her side and there were tears in her eyes. Nilin ended up falling onto the damp moss covered ground, still drunkenly giggling, and laid there.

Damon came and sat next to her, "Are you going to explain to me how you managed to do that?"

Nilin chuckled a little more, closing her eyes as the drunkenness washed over her. "I just wanted another shot of whiskey," she said as her head rolled back and forth.

"So you made it explode?" Damon asked.

"Mmm," Nilly said lazily. "I did," was all she mumbled as she ran her fingers up Damon's back. She thought she felt him shiver under her touch, but Nilin was too far gone at that point. "We should probably be more concerned about that," she chuckled again, eyes still shut.

"Don't worry, I am," he said to her.

Nilin fingers stopped in their tracks down his back. Her hand fell back and hit the dirt. "Don't be, I've got this," she mumbled to him before she passed out.

"She what?" Elena asked Damon as she followed him up the stairs of the boarding house.

"She blew up a bottle of whiskey, a very expensive bottle, I might add," Damon said again. He admitted that on the inside this concerned him more than he was letting on. He didn't need Elena dearest to know that though.

Once Nilin passed out he had scooped her up in his arms and taken her back here. She mumbled the whole time about one thing or another. None of it made sense. Calling Elena had been a move to save his ass, she'd be furious with him. She was furious with him. The way she kept her hands pressed into the skin of her arms and the sharp breaths that were whizzing through her nose were all indications.

"She knows how to do that?" Elena asked, walking up to his bed and poking the lump of blankets there. It made a groaning noise. "How'd she even get a bottle of that?" Elena shot a look at Damon.

"Nilin called me to pick her up. She was all stressed out and on edge," he started to explain. In moments like this, Elena and Nilin were two completely different people. Nilin would be biting the inside of her cheek, swaying back and forth as she sent death glares at him. Her emotions were way more combustible.

Elena just stood still with hard eyes, letting her words do the work. "So what? This is your way of helping her out?" she asked.

"Well, something like that," he answered. Elena just shook her head and turned away from him again. "Hey, don't roll those judgy little eyes of yours, I was watching after her."

"Yeah, looks like a job well done, Damon." Elena said, poking the passed out Nilin again. "Don't you realize she has school tomorrow?" she shot at him, placing a hand on her hip and making Damon wonder how his brother put up with Elena's nagging side.

"Listen," he said, walking over to her. "I'll have Nilin all better and ready to go 8 a.m. sharp tomorrow morning. She just needs to sleep it off."

"Yeah, well she can sleep it off in her own bed under my supervision." Elena said. And there it was. The other boot dropping, the one Nilin and Damon had been waiting for. They had been flying under the radar of everyone, but this was the read flag that brought attention to them.

"Or you can leave her here for the night, and she'll be hangover free for you in the morning," Damon tried to bargain. Elena actually seemed to weigh this as an option as she folded her arms over themselves to think. "It's what's best for Nilin," he tried.

"Don't push it," she said, eyeing him. "You promise she'll be okay for school?"

"I swear."

"8 a.m. sharp?"

"8 a.m. sharp." Damon smirked. He was a bit surprised how quick Elena gave in. Either they were experiencing a budding friendship, which he highly doubted, or Elena didn't want a combative Nilin on her hands.

"No," the pile of blankets suddenly moaned. "8 p.m."

"Well, look whose up," Elena said as Nilin's head popped up, one eye open and hair a mess. "Wanna explain to me why I over heard the janitors complaining about scorch marks they found in the girls bathroom right after you left?" she asked, sitting on the side of the bed, arms crossed.

"Go away," she groaned before flopping her head down again.

"Love you too," Elena said to her before turning to Damon. "You want to explain?" she asked him.

His shoulders dipped with a shrug. "I have no idea. I'm only involved in the drinking fiasco." Damon took a seat on the bed next to her, watching the two girls go back and forth. He felt Nilin's big toe nudge his leg. For some reason the simple action made him smile.

"Nilin?" Elena pushed.

"I had to let off a little steam, so what?" she mumbled into her pillow. Damon couldn't help but chuckle. She definitely was something else.

"Oh, Nil," Elena groaned loudly, smacking Nilin's side.

"Ow! God, woman." Nilly cringed, sitting up on the bed. "Please, stop yelling and hitting the drunk girl!"

"You're impossible," Elena said.

A goofy smile just spread across her face as she flopped back down on the bed. "Mmhm," Nilin mumbled back in response.

"You know you're going to have to talk to us about this, right?" Elena asked her sister. There was no response. "Right, Nilin?" she said poking her. "Nilin?"

"And she's out again," Damon said standing up and motioning to the door. "Let's let her sleep, shall we?" he asked, already prodding Elena out of his room.

"Fine," she said. "I'll see you and her tomorrow morning," she reminded, giving him another one of her pointed looks.

"Of course," Damon grinned, before he closed the door on her. The slightest movement hit his ears. "She's gone, you can open your eyes, faker," he said.

Nilin had rolled over on her back, arms spread out next to her. "I'm so smashed," she mumbled as he walked over to her.

"Last time I take you out drinking, lightweight," he laughed sitting back down next to her.

"Stop with the name calling," she sighed, her eyes fluttering shut again.

He took her one hand into his lap, playing with her fingers. They were the most human thing on her; small, slim, fragile. He traced his middle finger over the lines on her palm, all the way to the blue veins that lay right under the thin skin of her wrist.

"It's not like you've never seen it before," Nilin mumbled next to him. It caused Damon to look down at her. Her eyes were still closed, her breathing slow under the influence of alcohol.

"What's that mean?" he asked her.

She made a movement that he guessed was her attempt at shrugging. "You've seen Katherine before," she explained.

A shot went through his chest. They had made it this long without her name being brought up again. Damon knew it was just a matter of time. He just never thought Katherine would pop through Nilin's drunken mind.

"It's not a secret," Nilin continued. "I mean, I know that she means a lot to you."

"Meant," Damon corrected. "She meant a lot to me."

Nilin snorted, peeking up at him. "Liar, liar, pants on fire," she mumbled. Her eyes were squinted and he figured that the light from the window was bothering her. Damon got up and walked over to shut the curtains. In that time Nilly had scooted up on the bed, putting her head on the pillow.

She was squeezing the bridge of nose. "The room's spinning," she told him as he sat down on the edge next to her. He laughed, pulling the blankets up to her chin. Honestly, he hated when he compared the two of them. The thought made him uneasy. Often times he caught himself thinking of Katherine when he was with Nilin.

It was a natural reaction. He figured it to be curiosity more than anything, but how could he explain that to Nilin. "People have the ability to love others differently," Damon told her softly. Come morning, she wouldn't remember any of this anyway. "I would be lying if I said I didn't love Katherine. I did, at one point, very much, but you are a love I've yet to fully discover yet."

Nilin's hand suddenly shot out and grabbed his. She held the back of it to her cheek as she let out a breathy sigh. "I love… you, don't leave me," she let out a breath. "Don't leave me, Damon. I know, don't…" her mumbling trailed off as the whiskey pulled her back under.

He had to sit there for a moment, watching her chest rise, shudder and fall again. Even when Nilin didn't mean it, she pulled him in. How could he ever think of Katherine when he was with Nilin? In that moment he couldn't find an answer.

Finally he slipped his hand out of her grip, kissed the top of her head and left the room, hoping Nilin would stay asleep for a while this time.

Author's Notes:

Hey guys! Sorry I've been so slow to update, I suck, I know XD But here is the next chapter, I hope you like it! Thank you all for the new followers and reviews, I love them, so keep 'em coming. Hope to see you soon!
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RLS

Get the Song:

Ready to Fall by Rise Against

YouTube DOT com /watch?v=jnmlw38KzxE