As she rushed through the house, trying to find a correct turn that would lead her into Damon's room. She thought she'd definitely earned the use of his luxurious deep tub that he told her that he used to use to unwind himself. She also believed that he deserved to be locked out of his own bed room after his performance in the car. She could hear his slow progression out of the car, his footsteps echoing behind her rushing form. Once he realized her plan of action, he'd be at her quicker than she could blink. One thing Damon hated more than anything, people trespassing on his ground and trying to conquer it as their own.

"Tatia…" He groaned as he stomped through the door in a miserable heap. "Really? I do not feel like playing this game right now."

He threw his leather jacket off to the side, falling over the top of one of the chairs in the main room.

Tatia ignored him as she kept moving, taking to the stairs like an entitled woman. With an unenthused eye roll Damon turned towards Tatia, beginning to take off after her. She had a decent head start; she was already at his door. He kicked it up a little higher, willing his feet to move even faster. Tatia sensed him behind her and slammed the door behind her, smiling at her childish game.

Damon's foot hit the door as it closed, causing the wood to shake back the other way.

"You act like your five sometimes, you know that?" Damon told the Elena look-a-like as she turned to face him with an annoyed glare.

"Don't act like you didn't find it exhilarating to see if you could beat me here, even with the lead I had." Tatia spat back at him with a teasing smile.

"You are something else, Tatia." He mumbled, taking to the bed as if she weren't standing right before him. "Can you just leave me alone? I've already been turned down by two women tonight. Can't I just be left alone to sulk in my embarrassment?"

"Shut up, Damon." She finally countered. Damon sat up erect in his bed at her response. No one had ever dared say something like that to him when he was in one of these moods. He had to admit that it stung that she'd just kicked him while he was down like that, however it didn't surprise him. Tatia was a woman full of surprises. Including an indisputable amount of courage. "I know it seems as though tonight I'm just chop full of lectures but, I think you need to hear them. Damon, you don't need to sulk like a pathetic little puppy. You think that will get you anywhere? Keep your head up, it happens to all of us."

"Coming from the person who has the most powerful mystical creature of all time strung up over her."

"I'm not kidding Damon, Elena will respond the best if she thinks that she hasn't affected you at all."

Damon's ears perked at her words. He had never thought about that before. Playing it cool and collected. Acting as if he didn't mind that she'd rejected him. It was almost like some sort of twisted game of hard to get. He liked the idea of it. It was enticing, sitting like an open invitation before him. Flustering Elena for his own personal agenda, what an idea!

He frowned.

"But will that make me happy?" Damon questioned, his sapphire eyes sparkling up at her in a dead serious nature. Tatia shifted from one foot to another, trying to sum up some sort of answer to his rhetorical question. "Tatia, I keep forgetting how young you are. Though you are older than me, you have not lived as long and I have." She furrowed her brow, staring at him in a deep attempt to understand his sudden change in opinion over her proposal. "You…you don't do that to a person that you love. You don't play games, wear a mask of fake emotion, manipulate them to your whim in the possibility that they'll succumb to you. You shouldn't hide from the person you love, unless you enjoy to torture yourself. I know I'm calling dirtiest of kettles black…"

"If you know that then why do it to yourself? Why are you constantly allowing yourself to fall into that much torture?"

A silence hung in the room for a moment as Damon stared at the floor, analyzing his answer. Tatia waited patiently for his answer, keeping her attention squared in on him. A double heart to heart in one day was incredibly rare for him and she wasn't going to pass up this chance. Damon's eyes hesitantly wandered back up to meet Tatia's with such sorrow pouring out of them.

"I'd rather feel pain then feel nothing at all, I suppose."

Tatia took a deep breath and nodded at him, trying her best to understand him. It was sad. Why did everything with Damon seem to be so sad? His entire existence was tragic and accidental. She gave him a smile, deciding that it was high time to turn the tide of this conversation. She knew that he was never entirely comfortable with laying out the secret inner workings of his heart and mind out on the line like this but, this was what he needed. He needed a friend that would beat his bottled up emotions from inside him.

Tatia felt the phone in her pocket buzz against her thigh. She dug it out and stared down at the screen. Her eyes scanned over the words at first with eager abandon but as she made it to the end of the message, disappointment swelled in her gut.

"Did you get this text too?" She asked, her eyes not leaving the words glowing up at her.

"Probably, my phone is in my coat. Why, what's up?"

She faltered a sheepish smile, putting her phone away. "They've hit some sort of snag in the spell. Why don't you head back over to Elena's to help them trouble shoot."

"You sure? Are you going to be alright here by yourself?"

"Yeah, don't worry about me. I'm probably going to take advantage of your bath." She said, helping him up off the bed and nudging him towards the door. "We both know where you'd rather be right now."

He smiled at her and began to strut out of the room with his typical swagger in his step. As he made it to the door he checked over his shoulder to see if he still had Tatia's attention.

"Is this what it's like to have a sister?" He pondered.

"I don't know; I've always been an only child. I'm pretty sure you don't make declarations of love and then forcibly kiss your sister…"

"Shut up." He laughed turning and walking out of the boarding house.

She stood there in his spacious room, never feeling smaller. Her face flushed at the memory of the way Damon indirectly called her immature. An embarrassment for an embarrassment, that seems fair.

She walked towards his bathroom, processing his wise words.

It came all at once, like a tsunami sized wave; she realized how foolish she'd been handling everything with Klaus. Why was she side stepping her feelings? It all became clear to her now. The way her and Nicklaus had done things ever since she woke up from her grave, they would throw each other curve balls at each other, watching with pain staking anticipation to see it the other would be able to hit it back.

It was all nothing but a huge game.

She was finished playing games.

She huffed out a dramatic sigh and took off in the same direction as Damon. Only she was headed elsewhere. She was going to go find Klaus and finally settle things between them once and for all.

OMG! We're getting so close! :DDD The next couple of chapters are going to be the most exciting! (in my personal opinion anyways) And I'm going to torture you guys for it. I want at least 3 reviews :PP. Hehe here I am, being a jerk. Ok, ok, see you all next time