AN: Here is the ninth chapter all for you! This said I need to warn you: there will be another chapter after this and maybe an epilogue, but then this story will have to end. I had at first decided that I wanted this story to have max 5 chapters, if I got this far is only thanks to your support, so I guess you have to congratulate yourselves!

Don't worry I already have ideas for other stories so this won't be the last you heard of me!

PS: tomorrow is TVD day! Tough since I'm from Italy I will have to wait for Friday to watch the episode : (


"So what you're trying to say is that Enzo and Rick have been competing against each other to make me choose who's my best friend?" Damon asked doubtfully to Elena who was currently perched behind him on his new motorbike.

For the past thirty minutes or so, Elena had been explaining to him everything that had happened during the last few weeks, finally shedding some light on his friends weird behavior. She had to admit that maybe it hadn't been the best idea telling him everything while he was driving, but she had the feeling that it was best to get on the road to go to their friends quickly. If Rick and Enzo were forced to spend more time stuck in that house they might end up killing each other. For good.

So here they were, driving on a road in the middle of Mystic Falls's forest. She had to say that she was amazed by how well Damon was taking the news. He had kept his driving steady while he listened to her, vamp hearing really had its perks allowing her to talk without having to shout over the motorbike's engine, and he hadn't interrupted her. Not a single time.

She had been sure that he was at least going to intervene once in a while to let her know how absurd were the things she was saying, instead he had remained completely silent. At least until now.

"That's exactly what I'm saying." She answered, relieved that he was at least talking. For a moment she had thought he had gone into shock or something.

Once again Damon fell into silence. She didn't push the issue knowing that he needed time to think about what he had just learned. It was normal to be at least a little bit thrown off by such news. Plus Damon tended to underestimate himself when it came to his personal relationships, always thinking of himself as a lost cause.

After ten minutes of nothing but the rumbling of the motorbike, Elena decided to say something to asses the situation.

"A penny for your thoughts?" She lightly said, trying to let him know that this wasn't the kind of situation that had to be treated as a crisis. It was just something that happened in everyday life.

Damon cleared is throat before answering. "Are you sure this is what has been going on?" He asked, once again feeling insecure. "I mean, it doesn't sound like something they would do." Not over me, was left unsaid but Elena heard him anyway.

She tightened the hold she had on his hips. "I am pretty sure, Damon." She stated with determination. "If you don't believe me you can ask Caroline and Bonnie, they know what's been going on."

"Wait a second." He spoke. "Blondie and Judgy are in on this too?" He sounded kind of upset by the, again, unexpected news.

Elena grimaced. "If it makes you feel better Jeremy, Matt and Tyler don't know anything." She shyly attempted to sooth him.

"Great." He mumbled. "And you didn't think I needed to be made aware of the situation?" There was a hint of accusation in his voice and Elena knew she had to thread carefully. One wrong word and he would feel humiliated, like they had wanted to simply have a laugh at his expenses.

"Look," she started calmly "when you told me that they were behaving strangely I admit that I wanted to know the reason for their weird behavior. So I called Bonnie and Caroline to help me find out what was going on. When I finally got it I thought it was going to be fun watching how they fought over you without you even noticing. But," she said quickly when she felt him tense beneath her hands, "I didn't choose to not say anything to you because I wanted to laugh at you." She kindly said with a soft voice. "I hoped that if things went on for a while, maybe you would understand what they were trying to do."

When she felt him relax a bit she decided to go for the killing blow, hoping that he wouldn't get too scared by what she was saying.

Encircling his waist with her arms she said, "I wanted you to see that there are people that love you, Damon. I wanted you to know that you're not considered the bad guy anymore, that you're as much part of our weird family as I am." She had to make him understand. "And yeah, maybe Rick and Enzo are behaving like children on this, but they're only doing it because they care so much about you that they each want the honor of being you best friend."

After her little speech she remained silent, letting him consider what she had just said. She knew that it was hard for him to understand that. A century and a half wasted waiting for a woman that never loved him, a father that thought of him as nothing more than a disappointment and a brother that unknowingly helped cementing the idea that he was the bad brother didn't help.

She knew that she had played her part in reinforcing his insecurities, but know she had all the time in the world to help him overcome them. She could show him that all those people had been wrong when judging him. And she'd be damned if she let anyone, including Damon himself, convince him again that he wasn't worthy of love.

After a while, Damon softly said, "What am I supposed to do then?" He said with maybe a little hint of fear. He didn't want to choose, he had already said that.

She gently hugged him. "Well, if you are willing to trust me I may have a plan to set everything alright." She smiled.

"I always trust you." He immediately replied in a strong voice.

"Then you have nothing to worry about." She echoed the same words he had said to her all that time ago.


"How long are we supposed to stay here, witch?" Inquired Enzo starting to feel restless. He wasn't fond of staying trapped in the same place for long periods of time.

Bonnie sighed heavily, just like she had done countless times before since her phone call to Elena, and turned toward him leaning on the doorway without entering the house. She was so tired of having to repeat herself over and over again just because he was impatient.

"Maybe you didn't understand me the first twenty times I answered that question." She growled really sick of the situation. "Elena said not to let you leave until she said so. I can only imagine that she's on her way here, so you'll be able to harass her instead of me." She finished almost shouting.

Caroline regarded her warily, almost waiting for her to set Enzo on fire. She knew that Bonnie, despite her calm appearance most of the time, was not someone to be messed with. It would have been fun though to see how Enzo would react to her brain-thingy, she thought with a small smile.

Enzo stared angrily at Bonnie, clenching his hands into fists wanting nothing more than to wring her little neck until it snapped. Why couldn't she just lift her spell so he could finally be alone for a while? He had already had to bear spending an entire day in the company of Alaric the Vampire Professor, now he had to just wait here in the company of a judgy witch and a gorgeous blonde that seemed intent on ignoring him?

He turned toward Alaric — who was sitting on the ground resting his back against the staircase that led to the second floor just a bit to the right of the entrance — raising his eyebrow disbelieving.

"Aren't you gonna say something?" He wanted to know. "Last time I checked you weren't so fond of my presence."

Alaric didn't even turn to look at him, preferring to continue staring at the ceiling. "I still want to kick your ass and if you don't stop talking, believe me, I will." He muttered with an apathetic voice. "But to answer your question, no I wont say anything. I will just wait here for Elena and probably Damon to arrive."

Enzo clicked his tongue and stomped into the living room, too fed up to remain in their presence. Caroline watched him go with a smile.

"That was cool, Alaric." She beamed at him, implicitly thanking him for the much needed silence that Enzo's disappearance granted them.

Alaric slightly smiled in return. "You're welcome." He said in a low voice. "You see what I had to deal with?"

"Well you better be prepared then." Intervened Bonnie looking straight at him. "When Elena gets here you can be sure that she won't let you go until she's satisfied with the progress you and Enzo will make."

Alaric grimaced, knowing all too well that Bonnie was right. When Elena wanted something she usually got it, especially if that something involved people she cared about. Since their situation involved Damon he was sure things weren't over yet.

After another twenty minutes spent in blissful silence, they finally heard the distant sound of a motorbike's engine.

"They're here." Said Caroline for Bonnie's benefit since she was the only non-vampire there.

When they finally appeared on the barely there road that lead to the house, Enzo joined them again in the entrance while Alaric stood up and planted himself to the left of Enzo. The two briefly looked at each other before staring ahead of them at two figures who were approaching the house.

Once in front of them Elena and Damon quickly exchanged greeting with Bonnie and Caroline before turning toward the two vampire inside the house. A tense silence descended upon the presents. Damon was the one who decided to talk first.

"You two are idiots." He deadpanned looking at them. "What's this absurdity of competing to choose who's my best friend?" He asked with a disbelieving voice. He was still getting used to the notion himself.

Alaric immediately jumped at the opportunity to defend himself. "It was Enzo's idea, not mine." He quickly said.

Enzo immediately turned toward the treacherous vampire standing by his side. "Excuse me?" He exclaimed. "I didn't hear you say anything against it, in fact I distinctly remember you agreeing with me." He countered with a smug smile.

"Yeah well, if you had just backed off like I told you to we wouldn't be in this mess now." Alaric immediately reacted at the accusation.

"Right, so you could turn Damon into some kind of bloody pacifist who lives in Rainbowland were unicorns and leprechauns live together in peace." Joked Enzo trying to get a rise out of the younger vampire.

Easy to say he succeeded since Alaric immediately raised his hands as if wanting to wrap them around his neck. "You little..." He started, only to get interrupted by a woman's voice.

"Enough!" Shouted Elena, thereby stopping Alaric in his quest for vengeance.

Everyone turned to look at her, including Damon who had been looking at his friend wondering how he could have missed what was happening, since the two of them had been behaving like this for quite sometime now.

Once she was sure everyone was paying attention to her she finally decided to speak. "This ends now. You two are behaving like children and frankly the situation, while funny in the beginning, had escalated quickly." She stated. "So now it's time for Plan B."

Caroline jumped up at the opportunity to intervene. "You mean you want to use the thing?" She asked excitedly, unable to contain herself.

Elena turned to her friend with a smile. "It seems like I have no choice." She said.

"Ehm."

Their attention was directed to Damon who had raised his hand as if asking for permission to talk.

"Can someone please explain to me what this Plan B is?" He inquired, feeling the need to be in the loop after weeks of unforgivable obliviousness.

Alaric and Enzo both nodded completely agreeing with their friend, looking at each other when they noticed that they had moved in perfect synchronization only to roll their eyes and focus on Elena.

The brunette softly sighed staring at Damon. "This is where the trust part comes in." She kindly said. "I just need you, all three of you, to trust me and do as I say."

Both Damon and Alaric felt inclined to do as she said, knowing that she would never do anything horrible to them. Enzo though was another matter altogether.

"And why would I trust you?" He suspiciously asked.

"Because one: I won't let you out of here if you don't." She said raising one finger to enumerate her points. "Two: it's the only way for this competition to reach an end. And third: I'm not asking you, I am ordering you to do this."

Enzo clenched his fists and reluctantly nodded, noticing the smiles on Damon and Alaric's faces.

"Good, then you two will meet with me and Damon tomorrow morning at 10 AM at the Boarding House." She commanded.

That said she nodded in Bonnie's direction to let her know she could lift the spell, reached for Damon's hand and started to steer him in the direction of his bike, wanting to go home.

They had a long day ahead of them.