Chapter 20 – Lesson Learned in Time

~Elena's POV~

I let Stefan drag me through the door, giggling. The hotel had kicked us out at 9, so we decided to come back here for … an extension on our night together, shall we say? He pulled me into his arms and kissed me hard. Our tongues entwined as his ran his hand over my bum. We broke off and he gave my butt a little squeeze. I laughed and slapped his in return. He was a lot more confident now than he was when I first slept with him. I liked it.

"Come on then, bad boy." I batted my eyelashes at his provocatively. "What more have you got?" We'd been going at it pretty hard.

"More than you!" He flipped back and I slipped a hand in his back pocket.

"We'll see about that!" I toyed with the buttons at the top of my shirt coyly. He kissed me again, slyly undoing another button on my shirt. I giggled again as we broke apart.

"We had better go warn Damon." Stefan sighed.

"Or kick him out." I grinned mischievously. WE ran up the stairs together (he let me win) and stood outside Damon's door. Without knocking, we burst in. The scene there struck me, hard. Damon was in bed, shirtless (and maybe more-less) with a dark haired girls lying in his arms. He had been playing with the girls hair, but when we came in he turned to us and snarled. Her eyes shot towards the door and I realised in shock that I knew her!

"Rhiannon, get away from him!" I shrieked at the same time that Stefan growled

"Damon, don't you dare touch her!" This didn't have the planned effect. Instead of Rhiannon waking up from the trance that Damon had obviously put her in, and come running to me, Rhiannon just sat up (fully clothed, I noted with relief) and ran her hand through her short, purple curls. She looked pretty pissed off. Damon just looked mad.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Damon snarled.

"I could ask you the same." I retorted, furious that he could take advantage of a girl in her state. "Ree, come over here now." Rhiannon sighed and swung her legs out of the bed. Damon stood up, with trousers still on, thank God.

"Can't you just bugger off and leave us in peace? I only just woke up!" Didn't she understand that I was doing her a favour? Damon had really messed her mind up – I was going to kill. Not sure how, but I was. I shot him a filthy look, and was surprised at how he was stood. He was sort of angling himself round where Rhiannon, on the edge of sliding into a crouch to defend her. Weird.

"We need to talk." I grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the door. I shot a look at Stefan and he nodded – he would talk to Damon. I gave Damon a parting death stare and he smiled fleetingly. Jesus, how far was he stuck up his own arse? I turned back to Rhiannon and saw her smiling at Damon as the door swung shut; a warm, tender smile, not one from a girl in a trance. I marched her down to the living room and sat her on the sofa. I took a deep breath to calm myself. Here goes my morning with Stefan.

"Why the hell are you here? Why were you with Damon? I told you to keep the hell away from him!" I shot out the questions like gunfire, but she didn't flinch. She sat there looking totally calm and to be honest – bored.

"I am here because Jenna set me free early and I wanted to see Damon."

"Why the hell did you want to see Damon?" She shot me a disparaging look.

"What the hell did it look like? I love him and he loves me." She said this totally matter of fact and deadpan, but I could hear the tension in her voice.

"What? You and Damon? Seriously? Are you out of your mind? Damon is incapable of loving anyone but himself!" I wanted to shake the girl – how could she be so stupid?

"You're wrong." Rhiannon said simply. I gave a small scream of frustration, then decided to change tack. I sat down next to her and took her hands.

"No, hunny. Damon, is evil. He can control you into doing stuff you don't want to, or make you think that you feel a certain way about him. It's a lie. Everything he has said to you is a lie!" I spoke gently, as if talking to a child.

"No. I trust him and he trusts me. I would put my life in his hands without second thought." She spoke through clenched teeth.

"If he trusted you, he would have told you everything – and you wouldn't be here now." I saw something inside her snap and she stood up, pushing my hands away, hers clenched into fists at her sides.

"He has told me everything and I've told him everything."

"No, he hasn't – he doesn't dare!" I was on my feet now.

"I know he's a vampire. I know he's killed more people to count and that most of them were just killed for his own gain. I know about Katherine and how both he and Stefan loved her, or thought they did. I know she turned them both and how she was the spitting image of you." She paused and took a breath. I stared at her, shock all over her face. "I know exactly what he likes to have for dinner and I know that he loved to annoy Stefan just cos Stefan had you. Don't you see?" He voice softened. "I'm in love. Can't you try to be happy for me?" It took me a couple of seconds to talk.

"If he told you all that, why did you stay?"

"He told me a month ago, Elena! A month!" She was using her hands a lot. I realised I had crossed a line. "That night you abandoned me at that party? Remember? That night you took me to a party and then fucked off with Stefan. I had no car and not enough money for a taxi. I thought I should hang around the pond to sober up a bit before I got a bus. Some drunk idiots decided to pick a fight with me. They ended up seriously winded and with a broken nose. I ended up chucked in the bloody pond, which, can I mention, is a hell of a lot deeper than it looks." Rhiannon had obviously bottled all this up for weeks. All her anger and irritation at me came pouring out like a river, or more accurate, a tsunami. "So I got out and realised I would have to get a taxi and pay double when I got home. I was waiting for the taxi I had called when Damon pulled up." She shot me a filthy look. "Who always seemed more kind and thoughtful than you, Elena. I went back to his and we told each other everything. Did you know that Damon is the only fucking person who knows my whole story? He's the only one I've trusted and loved enough. He's changed, Elena, and he's changed because of me." Rhiannon turned away and as she did I was shocked at the glint of tears in her eyes. She had basically just blamed me for it all. Gee, thanks(!)

"How many times have you stayed round here?" I asked cautiously – I didn't want her blowing off again.

"I've slept round here three times, including last night." Rhiannon answered sharply, still obviously pissed off.

"How could you be so stupid?" I breathed in spite of myself. I held my breath, waiting for the onslaught. It didn't come.

"Oh yeah? Says the girl who is screwing a vampire?" She retorted dryly. I gasped and blushed – I had walked into that one.

"Stefan's different!"

"Uh-huh?" She raised one eyebrow, a habit I swore she had got off Damon. "How was your night? I understand you were out of town?" I blushed even deeper.

"Good, thankyou." I replied tightly and the ghost of a smile crossed her face.

"Now do you understand? You love Stefan. I love Damon. Sure, Damon may be a bit more bad-ass…alright, a lot more bad-ass than Stefan, but what would the world be like if everyone was the same?" She was talking softly now. "Don't you see?" She repeated. Then, lightbulb.

"Oh. You do love him and he loves you, he's not controlling you or anything." Epiphany time!

"Well, he can be pretty persuasive when he wants to be…" We laughed and went upstairs to see if our boyfriends had finished yet.

BTW The next chappie will be Stefan POV – I thought its would be quite good if I did more chapters from other peoples POV. Tell me what you think and REEEEVVVIIIEEEEWWWWWWWWWW! I am hyyyypnooootiiiiiissinnnngggg yooooooouuuuuuuuuuu!

ThisLooksLikeAJobForMe

Saskia

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX