Chapter 13

After some much needed studying and dinner, it was time to get down to the girl talk portion of the evening. Elena had everything set up in the living room, which included two cartons of ice cream, bags of chips, candy and other snack food. Jenna was staying the night at Alaric's and Jeremy was out with his friends, so the girls had the house to themselves. Elena preferred it that way, not needing any prying ears or eavesdropping going on, especially since Dacia wanted to be discreet.

Dacia immediately went for the ice cream, wearing a cream colored tank top with black pajama pants and cream colored socks so her feet didn't get cold. She'd showered after dinner while Elena got everything set up in the living room, though Dacia didn't realize just how much Elena had bought for their girl's night…until now. Elena had already showered after Stefan left earlier to go have the 'family business' talk with Damon, so she didn't need another one. She decided not to mention anything about that to Dacia, not until Elena gathered more intelligence anyway.

Stefan's reaction to Elena slicing her finger hadn't left Elena's mind either, not for a second. It was almost as if blood repulsed Stefan, which wouldn't be completely out of the ordinary. Elena never thought of Stefan as someone who had a weakness though, but apparently he did and it was the red liquid that flowed through the human body. Sighing, Elena sat down on the couch next to Dacia, noting her friend was deep in thought and nudged her for attention.

"Sorry." Dacia mumbled when she jumped, too deep in thought about Tyler Lockwood again. "You didn't have to go to all this trouble, Lena."

"Yes I did." Elena argued with a smile, handing Dacia a spoon and her own carton of ice cream while starting in on hers. "It's been too long since we last did this, Dace."

"Can't argue with that." Dacia took a bite of the peanut butter ice cream and grinned, her brown eyes twinkling since it was her favorite flavor. "Thanks Lena, I really needed this tonight." Her life had been turned upside down in the span of a few days and Dacia couldn't talk about half of it, which annoyed her to no end. "I swear to god, if there's one more thing that goes wrong in my life, I'm gonna hit somebody."

Elena blinked, taking her time to swallow her bite of double chocolate fudge ice cream and decided to choose her words carefully. "What's been going on, Dacia?" She asked softly, trying to sound nonchalant even though her curiosity burned about Tyler Lockwood.

"Better question: What HASN'T gone wrong in my life lately? Seriously, I go to the Lockwood party, against my better judgment, only for Tyler freaking Lockwood, of all people, to tell me that, the first man I ever gave my heart too, cheated on me with one of my ex-best friends. Then he kisses me and makes my brain all foggy, only to insult me through a text message of all things! Then – THEN, oh it gets better than that! Then he shows up at my house and I end up plowing him in the nose with my fist!" Dacia held her bandaged hand up as proof of everything she just said, flexing it a little and winced before going back to eating her ice cream.

It took Elena several long minutes to digest all of that information, not believing what Tyler Lockwood did to Dacia. She didn't need to know how he insulted Dacia through text message. The fact he did irked her and Elena suddenly wanted to break more bones in his body. Elena had to take several big bites of ice cream just to cool her steaming blood a little and didn't care if she got a brain freeze from eating it too fast.

"And on top of all that, he still has to talk to my sister about us dating and I told him to hold off until things calmed down a little in our lives."

Dacia knew Elena's curiosity would eventually win out and she'd ask about what was going on. As much as she wanted to tell her best friend everything going on with her family, Dacia also couldn't betray Dahna's wishes. Her big sister had done and sacrificed a lot for her, so the least Dacia could do was keep the secret about staying at the Salvatore mansion for protection.

"Wait, why does Tyler need your sister's permission to date you?" Elena asked, folding her arms in front of her chest, after setting her ice cream down, frowning. "You're almost eighteen…"

"I know." Dacia sighed, lowering her eyes to her lap and clasped her hands together. "Dahna doesn't like Tyler at all. We had a talk about him the night of the Lockwood party and she made it clear she didn't want me anywhere near Tyler. She thinks it's Tyler's fault Caroline and I aren't friends anymore."

"So she has no idea about what Mike did to you?" Elena watched as Dacia shook her head and fought back a groan, going right back to eating her ice cream.

"And she's never going to find out." Dacia eyeballed Elena, silently ordering her not to say a word to Dahna about Mike cheating on her with Caroline. "Anyway, I'm the one who told Tyler I couldn't date him until he got my sister's permission. I wanted to see if he'd actually go through with it and he's going to…as soon as I give him the green light."

That part confused Elena to no avail. "So what's going on with your sister that's so important you have to postpone Tyler from talking to her?" To Elena's knowledge, Dahna's life was relatively quiet, revolving around going to work and taking care of Dacia. Even though Dacia could take care of herself and would be eighteen very soon, something she'd already pointed out earlier. "I mean, her job can't be THAT stressful…"

"You have no idea what kind of stress my sister is under right now!" Dacia snapped, standing up from the couch abruptly and tossed her ice cream container on the table, stalking into the kitchen.

This was getting harder not to just tell Elena what was going on. She knew Elena wouldn't talk to anyone about it, but Dacia couldn't take that risk. When she made a promise to someone, Dacia did everything in her power to keep it, especially when it came to Dahna. Dacia felt she owed Dahna that much respect to keep what was going on secret until it was safe to come out with the truth. Then again, Elena was part of their family and Dacia considered her a sister…maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea if Elena knew everything.

Elena didn't follow Dacia right away, wanting to give her time to cool down because she hadn't expected that outburst. Dacia was usually the levelheaded one and had to calm Elena down several times throughout their friendship whenever they got in sticky situations. So this was definitely a role reversal, one that Elena wasn't sure how to handle. She was tempted to call Stefan over because he seemed to be able to speak to people and get through to them in the most bizarre, yet effective, ways.

Chewing her bottom lip, Elena made a snap decision and pulled her cell phone out, sending him a quick text. 'I hope Dacia doesn't get mad at me for this.' She thought, nodding when she received a text a few seconds later from Stefan, letting her know he was on his way over.

~!~

Stefan was in the study when he received a rather interesting text message from his girlfriend, requesting his presence. I need you, please come over. That was a very vague text, especially coming from Elena Gilbert and Stefan suddenly wondered if she was in trouble.

He could hear laughter coming from the kitchen and knew Damon was keeping Dahna Fell company while she cooked. Apparently, Damon's plan to raid the Fell household was being put on hold for the evening after Dahna practically begged Damon to let her cook dinner for him. Hell, even Stefan wouldn't pass up a home-cooked meal, though he maintained his distance and left them alone…for the most part.

"Damn it." Stefan sighed, knowing he would have to leave the mansion and Dahna Fell completely alone with his manipulative big brother.

Neither thought settled well with him, though Stefan was more worried for the human woman that had no idea of Damon's true intentions than their home. Damon would never destroy the mansion, that much Stefan knew, but he was afraid of leaving Dahna alone. What if Damon tried something while he was gone? What if, the second Stefan stepped out the front door and drove off, Damon decided to stop playing the nice guy act and resort to violence against Dahna?

On my way, be there in a few. Stefan texted back, not about to let his girlfriend down and had to put her first before anyone else, especially when it came to her safety.

He knew Elena wouldn't request him to come over unless it was vital since she was supposed to be spending the night with Dahna's little sister, Dacia. Cursing again, Stefan tossed his brown bomber jacket on and stalked out of the study, flying down the hallway toward the front door. He stopped short when another shriek of laughter echoed in his ears from the kitchen and decided to let big brother know he was leaving for a while. Laughter was a good sign and it made Stefan wonder just what Damon was doing to make Dahna laugh that hard.

No matter how hard she tried, Dahna couldn't stop laughing at Damon, who currently had a photo album open on the counter while she sliced vegetables. She decided to make a dish called Chicken Primavera, one of her favorites and hoped Damon would enjoy it too. He'd just got done telling her a story about when he and Stefan were younger in grade school, all the hell they raised. It reminded her of how she and Dacia would take turns making their parents' lives miserable when they were alive. Dahna would sneak out to be with Mike while Dacia covered for her with Jenna's help.

"I can't believe you actually did that!" Dahna crowed, shaking her head as she put the sliced carrots in the bowl and started on the broccoli. "I would never peg Stefan to do something like tip a cow on its side."

Stefan heard that and immediately rushed into the kitchen with wide green eyes, eyebrows furrowed. "What exactly are you telling her, big brother?" He demanded, eyeballing the photo album and folded his arms in front of his chest, looking very shrewd. "Because let me set a few things straight, I'm not the one who went cow tripping and pissed Dad off, you did."

"Oh come off it, little brother, we both know that's a lie. I was too busy worrying about my studies while you wanted to gallivant all over the place and I had to cover for you." Damon replied with a smirk, his blue eyes gleaming wickedly. "Going somewhere?"

"Yeah, Elena texted and asked me to come see her." Stefan replied, watching as Dahna immediately stopped cutting, lovely worried emerald eyes locking with his. "She didn't mention Dacia, if that's what you're wondering, Miss Fell."

"Dahna, please." She requested softly, setting the knife down on the counter and wiped her hands off on the apron currently tied around her waist. "What DID she say then? Because, last I knew, Dacia was staying the night with her."

"She still is." Stefan assured her, suddenly regretting blurting out where he was going. "I think Elena wants to talk to me about what happened between us earlier though. I won't be long; I don't want to take up too much of their time."

Dahna seemed to believe him and stepped away, going back to cutting the broccoli. "Stefan, you would tell me if something was going on with Dacia, wouldn't you?" She had to ask, not looking at him because she could feel his intense green eyes staring at her. "I mean, I know you're only seventeen…" The stories Damon told her made Stefan seem much older than what he was, though Damon had said Stefan was just shy of thirteen during his rebellious phase.

Stefan nodded, lying through his teeth at the next words that came out of his mouth. "Yes, if I knew something, I would tell you Dahna. I honestly believe this has to do with what happened between me and Elena earlier." Damn it, why did he have to say that twice? Now Damon was staring at him intensely and Stefan knew big brother wouldn't let him leave without spilling his guts. "You have nothing to worry about when it comes to Dacia." Stefan hoped, remembering what Elena told him earlier about Tyler Lockwood.

"I'll walk you out, Stef." Damon offered, already heading past him out of the kitchen and flashed an easy smile in Dahna's way to assure her everything was fine. "I'll be right back and tell you some more stories about our childhood, Dahna."

"Looking forward to it." Dahna murmured softly, watching the brothers walk out and decided to send Dacia a quick text to make sure she was alright.

"What the hell is going on?" Damon demanded as soon as they were out of earshot, standing near the front door. "You're not leaving until you tell me what the hell happened between you and Elena earlier."

"Fine, you wanna know so bad, I'll tell you." Stefan growled, shoving Damon a few feet away from him and tore a hand through his short dishwater blonde hair. "It wasn't a big deal, but…she got a paper cut and started bleeding…in front of me…" He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against the wooden door, still having the memory of Elena's blood in his nostrils. "Her blood…I nearly lost control and attacked her, so I left abruptly and I know that's what she wants to talk to me about. I'm not gonna tell her the truth, not yet…"

"When then?" Damon pressed, his thick black eyebrows furrowed and wasn't sure if he approved of Stefan going to see Elena so soon after this incident. "Stefan, tread carefully about the decisions you make with Elena because she'll more than likely laugh in your face if you just blurt out you're a vampire."

"I know that." Stefan grunted, knowing Damon was right and felt sick to his stomach about going to see Elena. "She needs me though. What if she's in trouble, Damon? I'm not risking it." He looked down when his cell phone buzzed, another text from Elena asking if he was on his way. "Damn it, I have to go. Just…keep this between us, alright? And stop with the stories before you end up blurting the damn year it really happened in."

"Relax brother; they're just a few harmless stories that are making her laugh. Would you rather I torture her instead?" Damon shot back in a low voice, raising a brow when Stefan glared back at him in response. "That's what I thought. Now go see your little morsel and, remember, not a word about them staying here."

"I already promised, didn't I?" Stefan growled, shoving Damon a little before stalking out the front door, slamming it shut behind him.

Damon smirked, knowing his little brother would keep his mouth shut and went back to join Dahna in the kitchen, hoping he could control himself now that they were completely alone.