Hey, guys! Sorry for the delay, but I had a lot of trouble with writer's block for this chapter...which is probably why it's not the best in the world. But good news is, we're almost getting to the good episodes that I want to write.

I'm really angry...not like ready to punch a wall or anything, but I am mad. Those whole Stefan/Elena dreams of normality thing...well, I might as well tell you guys: Madeline and Damon are having something similar to that in 5x15/5x16. You'll see why and stuff, but...basically, I've had this planned since February, and seeing that episode last night just made me mad because they got to it first. But, oh, well. It really doesn't matter, it was just disheartening. I thought it was funny how Elena mentioned an "alternate reality" when talking about it.

Anyways, enjoy!

Disclaimer: Chapter 1 please :)

No Exit

"Roman Empire," questioned Stefan as he laid in a comfortable position on the couch that I sat on, his feet on my lap and my book in his hand. I opened my mouth to respond, but Katherine took the words out.

"Four seventy-six AD. Sacked by the Goths," she added. I sighed.

"Hong Dynasty."

Again, I opened my mouth, but Katherine took the words out. "Two twenty AD."

"Holy Roman Empire," continued the Salvatore.

I gritted my teeth when I wasn't given a chance to respond. "Not really an empire, but…sixteen forty-eight." I smiled to myself. Ha, I thought, oddly competitive.

Stefan sighed and removed his feet from my lap. "There goes your perfect score," he said disappointedly, straightening on the couch. Katherine's victorious smile turned into a frown.

"What?" she almost squealed. "No. That was right!" She moved from her place on a table a ways away from the couch to walk over to Stefan.

"No, no, the book says—"

"Eighteen-oh-six," I cut him off, smiling up at Katherine, who looked up at me with curious eyes. "Ha."

Katherine looked like she was about to lunge at me for a moment, but her expression got soft as she laughed. "Okay, well, that may technically be right, but it was the Peace of Westphalia that truly ended the empire." I rolled my eyes. "And that was in sixteen forty-eight. Trust me." Katherine stood straight with a triumphant smile on her face, but I caught her slight predicament with the look on Stefan's face. I laughed it off.

"Elena…might have done a very…detailed paper on the Holy Roman Empire during sophomore year," I covered for her, straightening up on the couch and flickering my gaze towards Katherine, who gave me a relieved look.

"Well…if you want to pass the test, I suggest you write down exactly what's in the textbook," Stefan offered, looking up at Katherine, who smiled down at him. But our study group was interrupted by a knock on the door, which immediately got Stefan out of his seat.

"Oh!" Stefan exclaimed, jumping off the couch. "Caroline's here. I, uh, I asked the Sheriff to help me track down Damon."

Katherine gave a slight laugh, and as Stefan left, her laugh turned into a bitter gesture. I grabbed the textbook that Stefan had left behind and pulled it towards me so I could study. "I just don't understand why we have to find him, anyway. He kidnapped my brother. Let him rot wherever the hell he wants to."

"That's the spirit," Katherine said, moving down to the couch to sit with me. "You finally understand."

"That Damon's a real jackass? Oh, yeah, I figured that out a while ago, I just didn't care about it until you told me to." I shrugged and turned the page in the textbook. "And you're sure we still have to help find him?"

Katherine didn't respond to me right away, she was too busy eavesdropping in the other room to respond to my question. Eventually, she turned to me. "Yes," she answered, almost vindictively. I raised my eyebrows in confusion and Katherine grabbed my hand, yanking me up. "We do. If you don't act like you actually care about Damon, then everyone's going to figure it out," she hissed, low enough for only me to hear.

"Well I suggest you stop showing off to his brother when it comes to history dates," I pointed out, which earned a pointed glance from Katherine.

"It was a slip up."

"Yeah, and one more of those and they figure it out. I'm not the only risk here, you know."

Katherine sighed, but she ignored my obvious point. I watched as she concentrated for a while, and then sighed. "Damon Salvatore's a pain in my ass when it's not even my ass," she mumbled, pulling me with her out of the study.

The next thing I knew, we were stopped in front of the parlor, facing Stefan, Caroline, and Audrey as they all looked up at the surprise of our entrance. "Well…Madeline and I can come with you," Katherine offered, swinging her arms and tilting her head.

"Wait, come with him where?" I asked, lost.

"To go help Damon," Stefan clarified, though it was very vague to me. Unfortunately, I couldn't ask a question before Caroline interrupted.

"Madeline…Elena…hey," Caroline began, her voice concerned as she looked between Katherine and me. I walked into the parlor to get away from the doppelgänger by my side as the vampire spoke again. "I didn't realize you two were here."

Though Caroline was the one that spoke, she wasn't the only Forbes in the room. Audrey was standing beside her, concerned as well, but…angrier. I didn't blame her, of course. I mean, Katherine was literally trying to steal her boyfriend as the girl that Stefan had fallen in love with first. I'd be just as angry if I were in that situation.

Oh, wait…I had been. Just…in Katherine's position…

Oops.

"Yeah, what are you two doing here?" Audrey asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Stefan has been helping me study," Katherine shot to her, giving her a light, warm, yet deadly smile.

"Helping us," I corrected, trying not to make my voice sound like a snap. But it was an attempt to make Audrey feel more comfortable. "Helping us study."

"Oh. Stefan, who…doesn't go to college," Audrey laughed lightly, though the hatred was showing right through that smile of hers.

"Stefan, who's an expert in history," Katherine returned. Audrey just nodded slowly, but that's when Caroline's phone rang. The blonde looked down at the Caller ID and spoke softly.

"Oh…it's…Tyler," she said, her voice small. "I haven't really spoken to him since the…um…incident."

"The incident?" Stefan filled in, raising his eyebrows. "You mean the time where he almost killed you?"

Caroline gave Stefan a glance over her eyelids, but when the phone rang again, she answered it and turned around. "Hey," she said, in a light voice. There was a pause. "No, why?" A longer pause this time. "Do you think that he's in trouble? Okay, well, I'll come right over—" Caroline was cut off in the middle of her sentence, but spoke again. "No, I…I know, but…I think that we can figure this out together. I'll see you soon." She turned around and hung up the phone.

"What happened?" I asked, confused.

"Something with Matt," Caroline said quickly. "Tyler hasn't heard from him and apparently Nadia is involved…"

"Maybe we should go with you, instead," Katherine offered us, which sort of surprised me. Giving up alone time with

"No, no." Caroline shook her head. "You two need to deal with Damon and everything…"

I would be more than happy not to, I thought with a widened expression.

"Tyler and I can handle this," Caroline continued. "Besides, it's time that we move into our next phase in our post-breakup, pre-friendship relationship timeline."

"Yeah, okay…staying out of that one," Katherine promised and turned to Stefan. "I'm going to go back to the dorm and get some clothes. Pick me up at my dorm?" she prompted.

Stefan stood from the small couch in the parlor and nodded. "Sure," he agreed as Katherine made her way to the door. Before she left, she turned to me.

"Madeline, are you coming?" she asked.

I inhaled sharply, but then I realized that there was something I needed to take care of first…without Katherine around. "Uh…you know, I don't take that long to pack. I'll hitch a ride with Stefan and get all my stuff together when we come and pick you up, okay?"

Katherine looked hesitant, but eventually, she nodded. "Okay, sure. Bye."

"Bye." And, like that, she was gone.

Stefan sighed. "Bad news is," Stefan began, looking at Caroline, "Tyler hates you. But, the good news is…" He gave an alarmed expression. "Mm…"

Caroline laughed. "It'll be fine," she assured him before sighing. "All right, I should probably start heading over to Tyler's." Caroline looked over at Audrey. "You coming?"

"Yeah," Audrey said, nodding. "Yeah, let's go." She looked over at Stefan, and he smiled at her lightly. I didn't miss the slightly worried smile that Audrey returned to Stefan, but left straight afterwards. Stefan and I watched as the sisters left, and after a moment when I was sure that Caroline was out of hearing range, I turned to Stefan.

"Do you not understand the word 'jealousy' or were you intentionally trying for it?" I asked, crossing my arms.

Stefan sighed. "She's not jealous," he countered. "We've talked about it before, Elena doesn't mean anything to me anymore."

"There's a freaking prophecy built around you two!" I argued. "If Audrey's not jealous, she deserves a gold medal."

"Nothing is going on between me and Elena," Stefan replied, walking forward and placing his hands on my shoulders. "I'm only helping her with college, you know that. You're there, too. Audrey has nothing to worry about."

"Have you told her that?"

"Of course," Stefan assured me, nodding his head.

I was silent for a while, but I ended up pursing my lips. "Stefan Salvatore, if you hurt my best friend—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Stefan stopped me, holding up his hands in protest. I waited for him as he paused and then continued, "I thought I was your best friend." He smiled at me, indicating the teasing behind the statement, and I couldn't resist but smile back at him.

"Don't screw this up."

"I won't," Stefan agreed, giving me a warm grin. "Now let me go get some clothes and we'll grab something to eat before we had out to Whitmore," he suggested and brushed past me to go upstairs.

I couldn't sleep.

Too many thoughts rumbled through my head…the danger surrounding us regarding Kol's surprising and violent presence, my fight with Damon, and—what seemed like the least important but actually mattered the most to me—Jeremy's normal life. It seemed…petty of me, I guess, to be jealous of your younger brother for having a somewhat normal lifestyle, but it was true. I was jealous, because I would never be able to have that.

For Elena, it seemed like it was all candy and kisses. She had adapted so well to finding out that Stefan was a vampire…but I hadn't. Even now, a year after we'd found out about the mythical realm that we never knew existed until Stefan's arrival, I still felt like I was just stuck in a dream, waiting to wake up.

The only real thing I had ever felt was Damon.

But, of course, our fight completely shattered that one gleam of light in my world of incessant darkness. What I didn't understand was why he was mad. So I kissed Klaus? Big deal! I did it to save him. I did it so that Klaus and Rebekah would release him after torturing him for half the day!

Really, now, our fight had changed my viewpoint on it. At first, I was shocked that he would ever think so low of me—that he would ever think that I would kiss the man who killed my Aunt Jenna just for kicks. But after I told him why I did what I did and Damon still remained angry, I became angry. He was allowed to make mistakes, like sleeping with Rebekah, and I wasn't allowed to make a mistake that was for his safety?

It wasn't even a good kiss. It was like kissing an older…more experienced…British…handsome brother.

So these thoughts reeled through my mind as I tossed and turned on the crappy motel bed, listening as Damon showered in the crappy motel bathroom. I was still awake when I heard the shower turn off, and minutes later, Damon emerged in a fresh pair of jeans and no shirt.

I didn't try to hide the fact that I was still awake, and Damon noticed it right as he walked up to the nightstand separating my bed and Jeremy's bed. Elena slept on the floor, completely out cold by now. I was the only one, besides Damon, who was still awake.

"You're not going to get some sleep?" I whispered to him, watching as he pulled the alcohol in the ice bucket out of the cooled container. Damon looked over at me and set the bottle down. He braced a hand over on the right side of my head so that he hovered over me.

"Someone's got to keep watch." He leaned down and pressed the smallest kiss to my forehead and straightened. "Get some rest, Madeline. Vampires don't need sleep. Humans do."

These were the moments I cherished, when Damon wasn't a complete asshole. In fact, when he tried, he could be the sweetest guy I'd ever met. But then there were those times of relapse for him…when he decided that he was never good enough. Those were the times I hated the most. Not because I despised him for being evil, it was because I hated watching him think like he was always second-tier.

I think that's what bothered him the most about my kiss with Klaus. Not that he'd ever admit it, but I knew. I always knew when it came to him.

Damon walked over to the table by the window, and he peered outside of it, keeping watch like he'd said, as he slipped the frame of his shirt around his shoulders, leaving it unbuttoned as he poured himself a glass of alcohol. I tried to take his advice, I really did. But the more I focused on Damon, the more it made me want to keep my eyes open.

He sat down with a sigh, propping his legs up on the chair beside him, and he stared down at his alcohol, twirling the cup in his hands. He looked as if he were contemplating something—hard, might I add. Damon swallowed once and then gulped back all of the strong alcohol that he drained straight from his cup, and when he brought it back down, I could see him look over at me again.

I sighed and realized that he had already told me to sleep once, and he wouldn't tell me again. So, I shut my eyes and tried to make my body fall asleep, but something inside of me said that he was still staring. I opened my eyes hesitantly to find that my inner gut was right, and I resisted the smallest smile when I saw that he had done the same without even seeing me grin first.

Damon laughed softly and got out of his chair, and I watched as he made his way over to me, stepping around Elena's sleeping body. "You're making it incredibly hard to be angry at you," he pointed out with a sigh as he laid back on my bed next to me, his arm tucked behind his head.

I exhaled. "You always make it incredibly hard for me to be angry at you, but you never hear me complain," I retorted.

Damon smiled and turned his head towards me. "Was that a complaint?"

"Simply a statement."

"Mm," Damon agreed, turning his head back to face the ceiling. He stayed silent for a while, and I took that as my turn to speak.

I shifted towards him and sighed. "Why, exactly, are you angry at me?" I asked, exasperated. "I did it so he'd let you go. It meant nothing to me, you know that."

"You shouldn't have done it in the first place," Damon said, shaking his head. "He was going to let me go, anyway. Stefan had it under control."

"Why is it so hard for you to let me protect you like you'll always protect me?" I asked him, my voice soft. Damon turned his head to me as I spoke. "You don't think of me as an equal, Damon, and I'm starting to wonder if you ever will."

"Because you're not an equal, Madeline, you're a—"

"Human," I finished for him, not giving him the chance to speak. With a scoff, I turned onto my back, like he was laying. "And you're a vampire. You keep making the same excuses."

"I'm not the only one who keeps making the same excuses, you know," Damon said, turning his head pointedly at me. I thought about it for a moment, but then I realized what he was talking about.

With another scoff, I shook my head. "Is sex all that matters to you?"

"How can you say that?" Damon asked almost immediately after I finished that sentence. "I have been patient, Madeline. I never go too far."

"You did," I pointed out.

Damon frowned. "How long are you going to hang that over my head?"

I snapped my head over to look at him. "Until you figure out that I won't do anything until I'm ready."

Things were silent for a while, and by now, I had turned my head back to face the ceiling. Damon said nothing, but this time, it wasn't my turn to speak, so I waited for him to.

But, instead, Damon didn't show his emotions in words. Instead, his fingers touched brushed over mine, making the nerves in my arms shoot up a tingling feeling that processed through every single part of my body. It magnified as he pulled hand into mine, a simple gesture, and I turned my head to look at him to find him staring at me.

"I want to show you just how much I love you," Damon murmured, his voice low enough so only I could hear him. "I don't understand how you can kiss a man who's not your boyfriend, yet lay here and tell me that you're not ready for me."

His eyes poured everything into mine, and I could feel myself begin to lose control—like I always did around Damon. You'd think, by now, I'd be able to control my own emotions around my boyfriend, yet, somehow, I couldn't get a handle on them.

I released my hand from his, shaking my head against the pillow. "I…I…I'm just…not, Damon," I said, my voice a shaking breath. I threw the covers off of my body and mumbled, "Find some other way to show me."

I practically ran out of there like hell—forgetting my jacket, too, by the way. So, I hastily power-walked outside in the freezing night, without any warmth of a jacket, and hitting a dead end.

So, I stopped at the soda machine that was a little ways away from our door, and I leaned against it for support. He was right, and that's what bothered me. I kissed Klaus Mikaelson for God's sake, and I still couldn't show Damon that I was completely faithful to him? My mother said that I should wait for the right guy, sure, but she never said to become a Nun.

It was when I heard the door open when I began to panic, but I decided to pretend like I didn't hear it, instead. Hopefully, it was another door…another person…

Nope. I looked through the corner of my eye to catch the slightest glimpse of Damon. Shit.

"Don't, Damon—"

"Marry me."

I straightened at the words, completely stunned. Shocked to my very core, in fact. He didn't just say what I thought he said, that had to be a…a…slip…or…or—

I turned around slowly to face Damon, and I shook my head. "W-What?"

Damon stepped closer. "You want me to show you how I feel about you in ways other than…that?" He made his way closer to me, and I found that I was lacking breath. "This is my way, Madeline. I love you, and that will never change." His finger found my chin and tilted it up. "So marry me."

"You…you don't…"

"Breathe, Madeline. Breathe."

I did as instructed, taking a few breaths. When I found a calm head, I spoke. "Damon, you…you don't do marriage. You're—"

"I know who I am," Damon cut me, off, making me look up at him. "And I know who I don't want to live without. And we both know that you want a normal life, so…let me give that to you," he suggested softly. I tried to breathe again, taking his words heavily, and Damon smiled in the slightest. "I love you. That will never change."

I don't know how it happened. I think I wanted to shut myself up—from saying something stupid or to convince myself to breathe again, but I surged forward and kissed him, straight on the mouth. All thoughts of our argument from before, from being angry with him and all that…that slipped away and never came back to me. Damon kissed me, too, with no hesitation at all. But he kissed me almost like he had something to prove, which I guess he did. Every single atom that had lingered on me ever since my kiss with Klaus had slipped far away now, and I knew that there would never be a man that would kiss quite like Damon Salvatore.

So why didn't I just say yes?

Here's why—because it was too damn good to be true. With everything we'd been through—my initial hatred, getting Katherine out of the tomb, playing with each other constantly, Klaus's arrival, the danger surrounding our beloved town, and now these stupid Originals—I had come to terms with the fact that my life would never be normal. And here Damon was, offering me everything a girl dreamed about as a child. Except, they normally dreamed about it with a human, not a vampire.

But I couldn't see it…Damon getting married. I couldn't see myself getting married, at least not at eighteen. Possibly when I'm closer to his age, but I think that was implied in his proposal. But, still, eighteen or twenty-four, I would still be around a hundred years and a few decades younger than him. And I would die, as an old lady, sick and frail, while Damon remained as beautiful as he was the day I met him. And, yes, that was a problem, but there was no solution to that. I wouldn't become a vampire, I just wouldn't. I had made my mind up a long time ago about that, even with Damon in my life. Knowing how I felt about him hadn't changed a thing.

Except…this had.

The proposal had sort of slipped through my fingers a bit, and I suddenly felt very…willing, to say the least. I kissed him harder than I'd ever kissed him before, and I think Damon was becoming aware of it. He placed a hand around my face to keep me from having all of the control, but I still fought for more.

Until Damon started to speak through my efforts. "Madeline…" I kissed him, and he let me. "We're…" I pulled his hand down from my face and interlocked it with his. "In…" I brought myself on my toes and wrapped my free arm around his neck, pulling him closer. "A…crappy…motel…"

I broke my kiss for just a moment to respond. "I don't care," I said, shaking my head as I unlocked our fingers and ran a thumb of mine across his lower lip. "I want this."

"Oh…" Damon groaned, pulling my lips back to his and kissing me with a harder force now—one that I could never manage to initiate. He held me so close that I'm pretty sure I might've been broken in half if he had not handled me carefully. Damon's legs began to move, and moved me with him across the outside hallway. My back hit something hard, and as his body pressed against mine, I could feel the hard material of a wall—or a pillar. To be honest, I couldn't bring myself to care any less than I did before.

What I wanted right now was for him to take me inside of our room and show me how much I meant to him in the way that he initially wanted. Marriage…it was on the table…it was sweet, it was kind, it was incredibly romantic, but it just wasn't me. The more I thought about it, the more I thought about actually going through with this—letting Damon consume every part of my very soul. Instead, I think we both realized that it wouldn't be possible, seeing as my siblings were both in the motel room sleeping and we very well couldn't do this…out here. So, we settled for unbelievably hot kissing—I mean, so hot that I wasn't even sure what I was doing. My mind drifted into ten billion different places, and they were all with Damon.

He pulled away, kissing my lips as if he wanted to taste every molecule that hung off of my lips. He kissed them over and over again, and I groaned.

"Uh…Mads?"

I jolted awake, only to hit my head on the roof of Stefan's tiny little sports car—obviously not made for three people and three duffel bags—to see Katherine holding up the seat so that I could get out of the car. "You okay there?" Katherine asked me, a concerned look on her face.

I breathed slowly, realizing the dream that I'd been sucked into. God, it was powerful…like, really, really powerful. And it kept me thinking…about Damon's proposal. I wish I could go back to sleep and figure out if I said yes or not.

Well…obviously not.

"Yeah…" I said, grasping her extended hand and getting out of the car. Once I got to stretch, I rubbed my head. "Ouch. Stefan, I demand you get a new car."

"This car is a classic!" argued Stefan as he walked around the nose of the car to grab the pump so he could fill his tiny clown car.

"Yeah," Katherine agreed. "And so is the, uh, Wright Brothers' plane, but you don't see people flying around in that thing."

I touched my head again and rubbed it, feeling the sting from my touch. It felt like there was a lump that would form, but I knew that might not be the case. "I'm going to go inside and get something to eat and use the restroom," I told Stefan and Katherine before beginning to walk towards the gas station convenient store. Stefan stopped me, though.

"Hold on, I'll come with," Stefan said, looking over at who he thought was Elena before coming after me. Stefan and I walked together into the store, and I immediately went to the bathroom first. We weren't all vampires with controlled bladders.

When I came out, discarding the paper towel that was lightly damp with the water from my hands, Stefan was looking through the racks of processed food, waiting for me. I sighed and walked up to him. "See anything good?"

"Does good mean healthy in this situation? Because if it does, I doubt it," he answered. I laughed in response, but looked through the racks of food for something to eat. It wasn't long before Stefan spoke again. "Hey, I think it's really…big of you to be patching things up with your sister, you know."

I sighed. If only he knew. "Yeah, well…sisters before misters," I joked, picking up some potato chips. But I wasn't anywhere near done.

"And I also think that it's very big of you to be coming with us to rescue Damon," Stefan added on. I looked over at him and watched as he spoke. "I…know it must be hard."

"Well...I'm not doing it for him," I said, relaying what Katherine had been telling me for the last few days after Damon's departure. "I'm doing it for you. You're my friend and he's your brother." I looked back at the food and grabbed a pack of Cheez-Its, too. Why the hell not?

"Look, I know that he crossed the line with Jeremy—"

I laughed. "No, Stefan, he went five hundred miles over the line with Jeremy."

Stefan took my comment under suspicion. "You've…never been this stand-offish with him before," he said, confused. "What's gotten into you?"

I turned to Stefan, finally getting a chance to explain to someone what Katherine told me to say. "Stefan, he slept with my sister." I scoffed, shaking my head. But everything that I was thinking now…with what he said to me in that dream… "And then he spent the entire summer with her."

"To protect you."

"Does it matter?" I countered, raising an eyebrow. "Damon obliterated the line when he did that. This…memory handicap wasn't making me think straight. After I saw him torture Katherine like that on her deathbed…it just all fell into place." I turned back to the food rack and grabbed a box of Pringles. "Damon and I are just two very different people—wrong for each other in every way possible. It will never work."

"You expect me to believe, after everything, that you don't care about him anymore?" Stefan asked pointedly.

I turned to him and sighed. "If I didn't care about him, I wouldn't be helping you, would I?" I countered, easing Stefan's suspicions. Stefan nodded slightly, and I gestured behind me. "Now let's go pay for this and get on the road," I suggested, turning around and walking up to the cash register.

After we paid, Stefan and I went outside and the three of us climbed back into the car again after Stefan paid for gas. But, as we tried to leave the station, the car just…wouldn't start. Stefan must've tried everything within the car's interior, but eventually, he got out of the car and walked to the back to examine the engine. Sure enough, there was a hose that was completely ripped off, stopping the car from going anywhere.

"Hey, can you hold this for a second?" Stefan asked, handing the broken hose to Katherine. She took it with grace. "Careful, it has grease on it."

"Okay."

"I have no idea how this hose ripped out, but we're not going to be able to go anywhere until I get a new one," Stefan said. I watched as Katherine eyed the hose in her hands, and then she began to rub it all over her shirt. I looked at her in confusion, but she held her finger to her lips to silence me.

Stefan sighed, completely oblivious to Katherine's attempt at…dirtying herself? "I guess I'll see if that mechanic has a spare," he thought aloud, getting up off of his knees and brushing his hands off. Katherine wiped a piece of hair out of her face with the back of her hand and Stefan looked down at her shirt in disbelief. "You weren't careful at all," he scolded.

"What?" Katherine asked, playing dumb. I just raised my eyebrows to Stefan's back, completely astounded at this. Katherine inhaled sharply out of feigned surprise regarding the black grease spot on the torso of her shirt. "I love this shirt!"

"You loved that shirt," Stefan said, pronouncing the past tense carefully.

"Great!" Katherine exclaimed frustratedly as she examined the shirt. "Awesome…that's just…awesome."

Stefan laughed and pointed at her cheek. "Now there's grease all over your face," he pointed out.

Katherine groaned, but eventually, she just resorted to laughing. I just stood by, an innocent bystander, watching as this unfolded so horrible. "Well, you've got all that…engine stuff on you and I clearly have to change." Katherine was silent for a long moment before she inhaled sharply as if she had an idea. "I saw a hotel, like, a couple streets down that way. Do you think we should get a room so that we can shower while we're waiting for the car?"

Subtle, Katherine, I thought with a roll of my eyes.

"No, I should probably stay here in case they…finish early," Stefan declined politely. Good boy, I thought to myself. I actually thought it was funny how they had this conversation with me standing by just…pretending that I wasn't there. Classy. "But you can go."

"Well, Madeline can do that," Katherine said, pointing to me so that I was actually noticed. Shocker. She gestured to me from head to toe. "I mean, look at her. She's completely spotless. She doesn't need to change or anything, right?" Katherine looked at me for conformation.

I stuttered. "Uh…yeah. Yeah, sure." I shrugged, going along with it. Katherine smiled at me with Stefan's back to her.

"Uh…" Stefan trailed off. "I don't know…I mean, if they do finish early—"

"She'll call us," Katherine finished for him, smiling. "Your phone does receive incoming calls, right? Or is it from the Hong Dynasty?" She tilted her head. "Just like your car?"

Stefan laughed, but it was more reserved than anything. "That's funny."

Katherine laughed, too, and she began to back up away from him. "Will you grab my bag?" she said before turning the other way and walking into the direction she'd pointed in that involved the hotel that she spotted.

Stefan sighed when she was gone, and he turned around at me. "You think you'll be okay with the mechanic?"

I nodded. "I'll be fine." I looked over at Katherine, who was walking away. "Will you?"

Stefan looked after Katherine as well, obviously thinking it was Elena. He sighed. "I…" he trailed off but turned to look at me. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Let me go talk to the mechanic and then I'll catch up with Elena. Call me when he finishes."

I nodded again. "Okay," I agreed, and watched as he grabbed his and Elena's bags from the car and then went out to talk to the mechanic, leaving me alone.

"Are you okay?" I asked Damon with a shaking breath as I steadied him against the table, horrified at what I'd just witnessed.

"Yeah," Damon said, but I could tell that he was lying. He groaned at some amount of pain, and I looked at where he was leaning towards. It was his arm. I flinched when I heard and saw him bend it back into place, and the bone cracked as a result. "That's better," he breathed, obviously tired out by Kol beating him half to death.

"Shit," Damon cursed under his breath and reached out to touch the cut on my forehead that resulted when Kol shoved me away from him. He ran his thumb over the wound, causing me to flinch again at the touch. "Are you okay?"

I nodded, leaning against his hand. "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." I reached up and pulled his hand into mine.

"Good," Damon whispered, his voice barely audible. We stared at each other for what felt like hours before he leaned forward and kissed me—so soft, so gentle—right on the mouth. I relaxed into the gesture, once again reveling in the way that he felt against me.

But it just wasn't right. Not right now. I was getting a head rush, and I could feel myself grow dizzy and weak. Not right now. I needed a moment to myself.

So, I pulled away from him, slipping my hand out of his and backing up. Damon stared at me, confused. "What is it?"

"I'm sorry, I just…" I breathed in and out, trying to regain a stable stance. "Not right now."

I thought he would understand, but instead, Damon just looked at me as if I'd shot him through the heart. "What do you want from me, Madeline?"

I brought my eyes up to his in surprise. "What do you mean?"

Damon stepped closer to me. "I told you that I want you show you how much you mean to me by having sex, and you said to find another way." He shook his head. "I found another way, Madeline."

I stared at him, completely astounded. "You think that proposing to me is going to fix things?" I asked, surprised at the way that this was going right now. I knew it had been too good to be true.

"I'm not saying that—"

"Well then what are you saying?" I snapped, angry now. I knew I would be getting in trouble with this relationship. All Damon Salvatore cared about was getting into my pants—I was a fool to think otherwise. He tried it before the forceful way, and now he was trying it the romantic way. "Tell me this, Damon, did you propose to me just so that I would sleep with you?" It had been bothering me ever since he said the words.

Damon's expression turned from soft to offended. "How could you think that?"

I turned around and ran a hand through my hair, desperately trying to get some air into my lungs.

"Madeline." Damon touched my arm and pulled me around to look at him. "I have respected your decision. I will always respect your decision. Me proposing to you has nothing to do with…that."

"Then why?" I challenged.

Damon straightened. "I thought it was what you wanted."

I scoffed, but it wasn't a vindictive one. He held my hands in his, rubbing circles into the back of them. I found the gesture completely distracting.

"Isn't it?" Damon asked, his voice soft again. "What you wanted?" he clarified.

I thought about it for a moment, and then I shook my head. "Not right now," I said, letting out a breath. "Maybe…maybe not…ever," I admitted.

I thought a look of relief would cross his face, but instead, Damon just recoiled into himself and sighed. "Well I was clearly mistaken, then."

"Hey," I said, taking one of my hands and bringing them up to Damon's face, pulling his attention back to me. "I love you, Damon. I just…marriage was never everything to me."

Damon nodded. "I love you, too," he said, smiling lightly. I smiled back at him, and he exhaled largely. "God, what a pair we are."

I laughed and he kissed me again, more forceful this time, but still sweet. And I didn't think I'd ever get tired of it.

The sound of my phone ringing woke me from my sleep in the front seat of the car. The mechanic was working in the back, like I had observed when he started a couple minutes after Stefan had left to go after Katherine. Through my groggy haze of finally waking, I pulled out my phone and didn't even pay attention to Caller ID when I answered it. "Mm…hello?"

"Someone sounds like they just woke up from a nap. Tired, beautiful?"

I sat up straight, immediately recognizing the voice. "Enzo," I said, sighing as I relaxed. "What is it?"

"I'm in a spot of trouble, actually."

"Good luck with that." Bastard was an accomplice to taking my brother hostage along with Damon. I didn't have to be nice to him—he also fed on me and locked me in a closet.

"Yeah, look, it involves your boyfriend."

I straightened, realizing what trouble this had to be if Enzo was calling me about Damon. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing. Besides the fact that he's about to chomp into my neck and feed until my head pops off in a grotesque but…slightly comical fashion."

Oh, shit, I cursed to myself, realizing. This was what Stefan hadn't told me—why we were going to rescue Damon. He'd been feeding off of vampires.

Which was…not good.

"Damon's feeding on vampires now?" I asked, completely shocked.

"Yep. And, since you're the only human who actually gives a damn and knows the professor trapping us inside this house until Damon kills me, I figured you could help."

"Enzo…" I trailed off, shaking my head. "My blood mimics a vampire's. If I come, Damon will want to feed off of me, too."

Enzo was silent for what seems like the longest time. "Well, that's a problem…but it still doesn't matter. I need you to get Stefan and come here as soon as you can. Now, possibly."

I wanted to speak, but instead, there was a loud voice in my ear from the phone. "DO. NOT. COME. HERE." Instantly, I realized it was Damon's voice, and another person sighed on that side of the phone.

"He doesn't want to risk feeding on you, I guess." Enzo sighed again. "That's sweet, really, but you'll be fine. Besides, if he does feed on you, I have orders to kill him."

I sighed, rubbing my forehead. When would the drama end? "All right, Enzo. Text me the address, I'll get Stefan and Elena and we'll be there soon."

"Fine. And, uh, tick tock. I've managed to restrain him, but you know how persistent Damon can be when he wants something."

I scoffed, but immediately hung up the phone. Within moments, Enzo texted me the address, and I stared at it for a moment before realizing what I needed to do.

I exited out of my text messages and called Elena's number. Katherine answered on the first ring.

"I need more time. Like, a half hour."

I shook my head, even though Katherine couldn't see it. "No, Katherine, the mechanic's not done with the car, yet. Listen, Enzo just called me. Damon's feeding off of vampires and he needs help. Wes got to him," I explained quickly.

Katherine was silent. "Damon's…feeding off of vampires?" she repeated. I didn't say anything, and Katherine inhaled sharply. "Where are they?"

"Err…Enzo texted me the address."

"Good. Keep it. When the mechanic's done, call Stefan, but don't tell him that you know where Damon is. We need a plan first."

"What do you mean 'we need a plan'? Enzo said that Damon's about to kill him!"

But the line went dead, and I was forced to realize that Katherine would have it her way or no way.

So, as she requested, I stayed put in the car until the mechanic came over to the window and said that everything was set for us to leave. I thanked him and he left, having already being paid by Stefan. All that was left was for me to call Stefan and tell him that the car was ready, which I did. It was a quick phone call, and Stefan assured me that they'd be over in a moment. But I had to use the restroom again, and the gas station restroom wasn't all that appealing. So, instead, I grabbed the keys to Stefan's car, locked it, and walked to the hotel that Katherine had seen before and went to the room number that Stefan had said they were staying at when we communicated earlier when the mechanic began. Just as I walked up to the door, Stefan walked out of it, shaken up and surprised to see me.

"H-Hey, Mads…" he said, giving me a light, tight smile.

I knotted my eyebrows, but said a greeting back. "Hey, Stefan."

"What are you doing here? I was just about to come to you."

I gestured to the hotel room. "I need to go to the bathroom and I really didn't want to go to the one in the gas station," I admitted.

Stefan nodded. "Yeah, okay. Elena's inside packing. Just meet me back at the gas station when you're both ready."

I nodded back. "Yeah. Sure," I said, and watched as he slipped past me. Something was definitely wrong. I pushed open the door of the hotel room and Katherine turned around to face me. Her hair was wet, and she had a slaphappy smile on her face. I raised my eyebrows. "What's got you in the mood?" I asked.

Katherine bit down on her lip. "Stefan kissed me," she said happily. I blinked at her. "I mean, he made that lame excuse about dating Audrey but…I mean…he still kissed me."

"Are you insane?" I said, widening my eyes. Katherine rolled hers in return. "I thought I told you to stop!"

Katherine laughed. "Problem is, sunshine, I don't listen to you. You listen to me." I sighed and crossed my arms. There was no winning with her, was there? "Hey, I have a question for you. Since your blood has that freaky regenerative power that mimics a vampire's, do you think that Damon would want to feed off of you, too?"

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. "Yeah, I mean…Audrey said that I was exactly like a vampire just…human."

Katherine shook her head. "That's just so strange. Oh, well. I have another question." She zipped up her bag and spun around to face me. "Who do you think Stefan will choose? You or Damon?"

"Err…Damon's his brother," I said, not really sure what she was asking. "So…probably him. But, then again, I mean, I'm his friend and Damon's done some really bad things in the past—"

"So it's a fifty-fifty." Katherine shrugged. "I can live with that." She flashed over to me, taking me off guard, but she held my head in place while she compelled me. "So we're going to go meet Stefan back at the gas station, get in his car, and you're going to forward the address Enzo texted you to me. I'm going to tell Stefan about the address, we're going to go see Damon, and you are not going to give up until he feeds off of you."

"I won't give up until he feeds off of me," I replied, my voice dull.

"But really sell it, you know? Make it realistic. And then, when the time is right, find the first weapon you see, and make Stefan think that it's his idea to kill Damon, but really, it's all yours. Understand?"

"Yes."

"Perfect." Katherine released me and I blinked a few times, watching as she threw the rest of her things back into her bags and zipped them up again. "Let's get going, shall we?"

I had approached the doorstep first, peering inside the house that was so quiet, so calm.

But, really, there was a raging vampire-killing vampire inside.

He muttered something that I couldn't hear, and I watched as Damon turned around to face me at the doorstep. I shifted in my stance, just outside the threshold, but Damon shook his head. "No, don't," he breathed desperately. "Do not." I could feel Stefan and Katherine come up to me as Damon pulled himself up to his feet and snarled, "I said, don't!"

I hadn't realized it before, because of the dim light, but there was a stain of red around his lips and down his chin. Blood.

Enzo's blood?

"You come in here, you ain't coming out," Damon warned.

"What exactly happened in here?" Stefan asked, confused.

"I wanted revenge," Damon said simply, looking almost ashamed. "Got stuck with the vampire virus, almost killed my last friend." He looked up at Stefan. "Typical Damon."

"Enzo texted me the address here," Katherine said, giving Damon her best soft, caring voice. But we both knew that she wasn't interested in keeping Damon alive. She wanted me to kill him. "Damon, we're here to help you."

"You can't help me." Damon shook his head. "I feed on vampires now, Elena, you and Stefan are ones. Do yourselves a favor and leave." His eyes flickered towards me. "All of you."

"Well, that's not gonna happen," Stefan retorted. In a flash, Damon ran up to the door, being stopped by the invisible barrier, and he let his veins show. They were intensified—stretching all the way down his face and giving off a scarier look. It took everything in me not to get surprised by it…or run for the hills. "I'm not afraid of you, Damon."

Damon let his eyes wander from Stefan to Katherine, and finally, to me. He gave a pained expression, but he turned on his heel and walked further into the house. Katherine nudged my elbow, and I realized what she wanted me to do—which meant that I had to comply.

I stepped forward with a shaking breath, crossing the entrance to the house and sealing myself inside. "Neither am I," I said simply as I watched Damon turn around at me. At first, I could see that he was touched by the gesture, but then he began to panic.

"No, no, no," he said quickly, grabbing my shoulders and forcing me to the threshold to bring me out. But my body wouldn't let me leave—it was sealed inside, along with him. "No!" Damon screamed, trying to shove me out of the house. Eventually, he realized that I was sealed inside, and he stepped back, his eyes widening. "Do you have any idea what you've just done? What the hell is wrong with you?"

He turned from me, walking in a different direction. "There's nothing wrong with me, Damon," I said, shaking my head as I followed him. Behind me, I could hear the shuffle of Katherine and Stefan's footsteps, and Damon realized, just as I did, that they had both come inside. "You're not a lost cause. You can fight this. You can get through this."

Damon said nothing, and I realized what I had to do. Katherine said that I needed to make him feed on me and get Stefan to kill him.

And when I saw a shard of sparkling glass on the floor, I bent down and picked it up immediately.

"Madeline," Damon croaked out, seeing what I was doing. "No, don't."

With a yelp, I dragged the glass across my wrist so that it began to drip sweet, desirable blood onto the floor. Damon gave a grunt of sickness, and turned away from me.

And, just like that, I knew that Audrey wasn't lying. My blood mimicked a vampire's…and that means that Damon's diet included my blood.

"Come on, Damon," I said softly, holding my hand out. "You're okay. You're okay, you'll be okay. You can fight this—you can resist this Damon, you just have to want it enough," I pleaded, keeping my wrist open to him.

"Get away from me, Madeline," Damon snarled.

"Madeline—" I heard Stefan speak, but Katherine pulled his arm back and protested.

"No, Stefan…he's…he's not going to," Katherine said, observing the two of us.

"Please," Damon whispered, shaking his head in the slightest as he turned away from me. Instead, I grabbed his shoulder and slowly turned him back to face me.

"Shh," I said, hushing him as I exposed my wrist. "Look at me, Damon. Look at me." I finally got him to turn around all the way, and his veins began to disappear from underneath his eyes. "You're okay…" I whispered, nodding at him. Damon looked up at me, meeting my eyes.

And that's when it happened.

He surged forward and sank his teeth into my flesh, and I let out a mixture of a cry of pain and a gasp in surprise at the motion. Stefan immediately flashed over to us, trying to pull his brother off of my body. I could feel my blood rapidly begin to leave me…flowing down Damon's throat as he fed messily. On the ground, I saw a piece of a wood by our feet, and I kicked it to Stefan, but said nothing. Stefan looked at the weapon on the ground, and Katherine spoke from behind me.

"Stefan, he's going to kill her!"

I could slowly begin to feel myself get drained, each suck from Damon's lips causing more blood to be lost within me. Everything was a blur, but instead of Stefan grabbing the wooden weapon on the ground, he grabbed a glass shard and cut into his own wrist like I had, but this time, his was pure vampire blood.

"Here, Damon," Stefan breathed. "Look over here! You smell that? Feed on me, not her." Damon broke away from my neck, and I could feel my knees go weak. Katherine moved over to me, catching me as I began to fall, weak. "That's good," Stefan exhaled. "That's good."

But right as Damon began to lean down to drink Stefan's blood, his brother gained the upper hand and snapped Damon's neck to the side, and my ex-boyfriend's body fell to the ground in the mess that he'd made.

After locking Damon up in the cellar, Stefan went upstairs to greet Caroline, who had been waiting for him. "Hey," Stefan said, stepping down into the parlor. "When'd you get here?" he asked.

Caroline held out her cup as she turned around from facing the fireplace. "One and a half of these ago," she said, gesturing to the alcohol.

"Bad day?"

Caroline sighed. "The worst," she agreed.

Stefan gave a sorrowful smile. "Uh…did you find Matt?"

"Yes. And Tyler was right." The blonde pulled out her phone and began to surf through her text messages. "Nadia's been compelling him to forget things."

"What do you mean? What kind of things?"

"Who knows?" Caroline retorted, sighing. "He tried to…message me, but…Nadia stopped him." She held out the phone for Stefan to see, and she recited it as he examined the text message. "'Help. K'. That was all I got."

"Huh," Stefan said, finding the cryptic text obviously suspicious. He handed the phone back to Caroline and she shrugged and slipped the phone back into her pocket.

"So…" she began. "My sister wants me to ask…discreetly about your trip with Elena," Caroline said with a smile as she walked over to the couch and sat down.

Stefan smiled down at her as he joined her. "And this is your way of asking discreetly?"

"Whole truth and nothing but the truth," Caroline warned him, pointing at the Salvatore. Stefan sighed. "I promise, none of it will go back to her if you don't want it to. Just because you two are dating again doesn't mean you can't tell me things."

Stefan exhaled, shaking his head. "I…messed up, Caroline," he confided, leaning over his body, bracing his elbows on his knees. Caroline listened, and didn't interrupt once. "Elena…kissed me."

Caroline widened her eyes. "Excuse me?"

"Yeah." Stefan avoided Caroline's eyes and threw up his hands. "I don't even know what happened! My car broke down, Madeline stayed behind to make sure the mechanic fixed everything, Elena and I got a hotel room so that we could shower—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Caroline stopped him, straightening. "You guys got a hotel room? With a shower?"

"Yeah, but it wasn't like that," Stefan defended. "I mean, I stopped it…obviously. Audrey and I just started dating again, and I want to be with her. But Elena just…kissed me."

"And Madeline just left you two alone?" Stefan nodded. "I just…I don't get it! Elena kissing you? She knows you're with Audrey and she's never tried something like that before." Stefan gave his friend a pointed look, and Caroline amended her statement. "I meant, not with you. Plus, we both know that that night between Damon and Elena was a drunken mistake that stupidly turned out to be something more." Caroline shook her head in disbelief. "I mean, and Madeline leaving you two alone? She wouldn't do that! After you and Elena broke up, she never liked you two together!"

"I know," Stefan agreed, nodding back at Caroline. "I know, which is why this whole thing is just…strange. And, Damon thinks there's something wrong with the both of them. He said something about Madeline never offering his blood to her and…Elena stopping me from taking Madeline away from him. He thinks that Madeline wanted me to kill him."

Caroline scoffed. "No. I mean, she might be mad at him, but…I mean, honestly, when has being mad at Damon ever resorted to her wanting him dead? She would never want him dead."

"Unless…" Stefan trailed off, and the pieces were finally coming together. "Matt texted you," he began, "'Help. K' before Nadia stopped him. K…as in Katherine. And when Katherine was dying, Nadia figured out a way to put Katherine's spirit inside Nadia's body…"

"But that didn't happen because Katherine had a change of heart."

As soon as she said the words, both Stefan and Caroline began to realize that the pieces were falling together.

"No," Caroline protested, in denial. "No…I mean…you don't think that…" But there was no good explanation. "Well, what about Madeline? That wouldn't explain her strange behavior."

"She was always Katherine's favorite," Stefan muttered, shaking his head. "If there's anyone that Katherine would go to in this town for support, it'd be her." But that still didn't explain her strange behavior. Stefan thought about her over and over again, and that's when he snapped his head up to face Caroline. "Her necklace. The vervain necklace that Damon gave her. She gave it back to him."

Caroline shook her head. "She's probably just ingesting vervain."

"What if she's not?" Stefan pushed. "What if...what if Katherine got to her? Compelled her?"

"No," Caroline protested again, shaking her head again, more vigorous this time. "No. This is Madeline and Elena we're talking about! I mean…we know them! We would've noticed!"

But Stefan was silent. Still. Because he knew that he had come to this conclusion and that it was the right one. He just had to wait for Caroline to reach that destination with him.

And she did.

"Oh, my God," Caroline whispered, shaking her head in disbelief as she realized.

But they were soon interrupted by a curious Madeline who stepped down the stairs to see Caroline and Stefan sitting in the parlor with shocked and blatantly confused expressions on their faces. Confused, herself, Madeline raised her eyebrows and spoke, gaining their attention. "What's wrong?"

Ooooooohhhhhhhh they found out! Yeah, everyone saw that coming...but still.

Please review if you can!

Love,

BellaSalvatore1918

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