Hello, my lovely readers. For my Tom and Cami lovers, this one goes out to you. On with the show…

Chapter 25: Drown my Wrath with Love

Snow began to fall, collecting in the corners of their bedroom window. Rolling over, Tom examined his wife. He still could not believe his good luck. Cami slept, her chest moving up and down, her hands twitching, her lips making silent words in her sleep. He wished he could slip into her mind and listen to her speak. His attention turned to their daughter, sleeping in her crib, her tiny hands fluttering like her mother's.

A quiet knock on the bedroom door forced Tom out of the comfort of his bed. Baby and wife continued to sleep. Getting to his feet, Tom slipped on a pair of PJ pants. He ran a hand through his hair before striding over to the door and answering with a surly: "Yeah?" He leaned against the door, glaring at Damon for disturbing his sleep.

Damon did not seem bothered. "Get up. I'm making breakfast and they'll be here soon." As usual King Damon expected his family to fall in line when their dad wasn't at home to boss them around. There was a time that Tom would have climbed out the window, walked the ten blocks to Cami's and slipped through her window and into her bed. Damon be damned. He hated his control freak bullshit.

"Was that Damon?" Cami asked, sitting up and stretching her neck from one side to the other. She looked so pretty that Tom could only just watch her, in total and complete awe.

The first time Tom saw Cami, she was a transfer student at MF High, and had taken a job at the library, where no one would notice her. That's what she told Tom on their first date. "I could be alone with the books," she said, twisting a straw in a chocolate milkshake, her long, blonde curls falling around her face.

When Tom saw her, she stood at the library desk, checking out a book for a fellow student, some guy, who was watching her and did not seem to give a damn about the book he had asked for. Tom did not like the way the guy was sizing her up; trying to stare down her blouse. He would find this guy and scare him till he promised to never be so disrespectful to her again. She didn't deserve that crap.

The guy walked off and Tom went back to defacing the shelf of the library stack he stood in front of, his hiding place. "MF High stands for: Motherfucking Hell, we have to be high to get through a day here," he wrote in block letters, adding his signature and not caring if he got expelled for it.

"Nice sentiment," Cami said quietly.

Tom's shoulders stiffened and he turned to find her, right behind him, reading his work. "It makes sense," he mumbled.

"Um-hmm." Cami shrugged, taking books off a cart and placing them over his words. "To keep them safe," she told him, her eyes twinkling with humor.

"Sure." Tom moved out of her way so she could put more books up. "You like it here?"

"Yeah. It's quiet." Cami smiled at him and Tom felt an unfamiliar tug at his gut. He'd never liked a girl. He'd had sex but that was physical. But this girl, she was being nice to him. Didn't she know who he was and that she should fear him?

"You know I'm Tom Salvatore?" he asked her, folding his arms over his black leather clad chest.

Cami grinned. "Yeah. I know who you are."

"And you're not running?" Tom leaned over Cami, pressing into her personal space, grabbing her by the waist and pushing her against the stack. No one could see them or hear them. No one would come to her rescue. "And you're not just a little bit scared?" he smirked down at her, gripping her waist just a little too tightly.

"No. I'm not scared of you. But if you don't let go, I will knee you and I've heard that hurts like a bitch," Cami replied, tucking her hair behind her ear and smiling up at him.

Tom let out a chuckle, dropping his hands. "Right. Okay." Taking a step back, he looked down at this girl who surprised him. "You want to…umm…do something?"

Cami titled her head to the side. "Such as?"

"Go out…with me?" Tom felt his stomach twist at the thought that she would say no.

"Yes," Cami said. "Now, go away. I have a job to do and you're a distraction." She shooed him away with a wave of her hands.

Tom walked across his bedroom floor and climbed on top of his wife, pressing his lips to hers. "I love you," he told her while she let out a surprised giggle.

"I love you, too, Tommy. But someone just woke up." Her green eyes flicked to the crib.

"Hey," they greeted their daughter, who stared back at them through wet, wide blue eyes. Damon said she inherited his eye color because she liked him best.

"Its mom's eye color, you idiot," had been Tom's response.

Tom scooted backwards and off the bed. He collected his daughter who had begun to crawl. Soon she would be walking and talking instead of babbling. When did he become this much of a softy?

Cami came over, kissing Rene on the cheek before walking over to the closet. She got ready for the day while Tom played with the baby. Then she took over and he got dressed and ready, in under three minutes. "A new record," Cami teased, clapping Rene's hands. "Look at daddy, isn't he handsome?"

Their baby cooed as Tom took her. They went downstairs and entered the kitchen where a whole group of people, stood, sat and leaned against available space. Tom did not like being around all of these people. Some of them were alright. But most of them; he didn't give a damn about.

Elena Gilbert sat atop the kitchen counter, devouring pancakes like her life depended on it. "More syrup!" she demanded. Silas handed her the syrup pitcher. He got why Elena was there. She was Silas' BFF and Damon's…something or other. But the others.

Hayley Marshall sat, holding court with her fellow cheer squad bimbos: Anna Zhou, Liv Parker and that kid he couldn't remember the name of, who was in love with Damon. To add to it, Tyler Lockwood, Elijah Mikaelson, Rebekah, Kol, Klaus and Caroline Forbes were also there. Was this some kind of party? And why in the hell had Tyler freakin' Lockwood set up this meeting in the first place?

Damon manned the stove, pouring out batter and flipping pancakes onto plates. Cami took a plate, waiting in line while Tom placed Rene in her highchair. He had no idea why these people were invading his home. "What the hell is going on?" he demanded, turning to glare at the intruders.

"I figured something out the other night. At the dance," Tyler said, quietly.

Liv took his hand in hers, squeezing it while Tyler looked from Tom to Cami, his eyes stopping on Cami. This made Tom's body stiffen. He had a feeling he was not going to like what Lockwood was about to say. "Spit it out," he snarled, making his daughter begin to cry.

"It's okay, honey," Silas called, coming over to pick up the baby.

Elena chuckled, "Good thing you wear her daddy's face."

"She knows who's who," Tom snapped, glaring at Elena. She had never been one of his favorite people. Always getting Silas into trouble, when it was Tom who was the resident badass of the family.

"As I was saying," Tyler continued before the others could begin a real argument. "I remembered something from the night that Cami was hit with that car."

"And you wait until now to tell us?" Tom yelled, slapping the top of the breakfast bar.

Anna jumped, glancing at Tom, her eyes round. Yeah. That was more like it. His daughter began to wail. "I'll take her," Anna offered, holding out her arms.

Silas looked to Cami and then Tom before handing the child to Anna. She left the room. Tom moved over to Tyler, grabbing him by this shirt collar and backing him up against the kitchen counter, dangerously close to the stove top.

"Hey! Stop it!" Liv yelled, grabbing Tom by the arm and trying to pry him off of Tyler.

"Tom, stop!" Cami cried, placing a hand on his arm.

Sucking in a deep breath, Tom let go of Tyler, taking a step back, his hands up. "Talk. And you better make it good," he warned the other boy.

Tyler nodded, looking worried. "Like I said, it was the dance that made me remember that Vikki came over to see me that night. She was pissed at Damon."

"What else is new?" Damon interjected, causing Tom to glare at him. His older brother busied himself with a pancake. Elena slung an arm around him, whispering something in his ear that made him smirk at her.

Tom turned his attention back to Tyler. "Anyway, Vikki came over and she was really, really, really upset. I'd never seen her like that before. She didn't tell me what was going on. She just…"

"Spit it out, Lockwood," Klaus snapped.

"We had sex and then she took off the next morning." Tyler ended his tale.

"Because you got laid, Vikki almost killed Cami. Sounds like someone just wanted to talk about getting some," Elena mused, moving Damon in front of her and wrapping her arms and legs around him.

"Is that it, Tyler?" Elijah asked, looking deadly serious for once and not in the: I'm-going-to-beat-you-within-an-inch-of-your-life kind of serious.

"No. No, Vikki came over within half an hour of the time that Cami got hit," Tyler added. "And I asked her about where her car was, like a day later, and she said she had to get it fixed after hitting a cat."

"A cat?" Cami looked horrified. "A cat?" she began to cry and Tom could feel himself losing control.

Tom turned around and stalked out of the kitchen. "Where are you going?" Cami called after him. "Tom? Tommy? THOMAS!" she shouted after him. "Stop!" This time he did not answer her call. He took out his car keys, headed for the front door. He would find Vikki, and make her talk, confess to nearly killing his then-girlfriend and unborn daughter. If he had to beat it out of her, he would and he didn't hit women.

"Tom, man, wait." Damon caught up with him, placing his hands on Tom's shoulders. "Don't do this. You've got a kid, Tom."

"Get the hell off me!" Tom thundered, knocking Damon on the floor. "Try to stop me again and I send you to the hospital."

"Stop!" Elijah's powerful arms wrapped around Tom from behind, pulling his arms backward and above his head, holding him in place. "The girls have a plan."

Elena stepped forward with a grin. "For once Ponytail and I are working on the same side. Who said good and evil can't have a healthy, working relationship." She glanced at Hayley who rolled her eyes.

Cami came to stand in front of Tom. "Please, Tom. Let them do this for us."

"Whatever." Tom knew that if they screwed up, he'd do what had to be done.

"If Vikki did this, then we can find out," the child cheerleader said, coming to stand in the middle of the group. "See, Vikki always liked to be the center of attention and since we're cheerleaders," she pointed at Hayley, Liv and herself. "We can go visit her at Whitmore and say we're there to ask her about college and tell her that we missed her."

"Yeah, bring up old times and how it's just not the same without her," Hayley added.

Elena jumped in. "And Vik always liked a good drink. So we get her wasted and she spills her guts."

"Or Damon can seduce her and then she can confess. Women love to talk in bed," Kol offered.

Elena sneered at Kol before turning back to the rest of the group. "Or we can have Kol seduce Vikki, since he's joined the cheerleaders as a Boy Ponytail."

"The bloody hell I'm not!" Kol shouted.

"Or not," Hayley rolled her eyes.

"And where will the rest of us be while you're enacting this little plan of yours?" Tom demanded. "Sitting at home, hoping you don't fuck the whole thing up!"

"Tom, give them a chance," Cami begged him. Elijah let him go and Cami wrapped him in a tight hug.

"We'll get Stefan to set up a camera, from his collection, in Vikki's room, and you'll see the confession on your computer." Elena told them.

Tyler shook his head. "You can turn on Vikki's webcam."

"Good idea," Elena nodded. "You can do that from like anywhere?" Tyler nodded.

"Thanks, guys, for doing this for me," Cami told them.

"What happened to you was horrible," Davina said, coming over and hugging Cami. "As your friend, I just want to see you get the justice you deserve."

Cami choked on a sob and Tom stifled his rage. "I hope you get her," he told them somberly.

"We will," Elena promised.

"And who are you in all this?" Liv asked Elena.

Elena grinned. "Rah, Rah! Go Timber-hoes!"

"Timber-wolves!" Hayley shouted.

"Same dif," Elena retorted with a snort of laughter. "High ponytail, here I come."

"This is going to be a disaster," Damon muttered. Tom nodded.

The next day, Tom and Cami sat in their bedroom. Cami's uncle, Kieran, was babysitting for them for the day. They could sit back and watch the cheerleaders work on Vikki. The gang had settled on recording her with camera phones and laptop webcams on. More than one, just to have extra devices recording the same thing, in case one of them was destroyed, there would be others.

Tom felt sick when Hayley knocked on the door to Vikki's dorm room at Whitmore College. Vikki answered, looking shocked to see her old teammates gathered in her hallway. Her yoga pants, and old, off-the-shoulder Whitmore sweatshirt spoke of her not expecting company.

"Bitch," Tom groaned, his fists curling up.

"Calm down," Cami soothed him, placing a hand on his knee but she looked pale.

"Hi, guys! What are you doing here?" Vikki cried, hugging her teammates. Her eyebrows rose when she spotted Elena who appeared on someone's camera phone, her hair in a very high ponytail with a skirt that barely covered her underwear in the below twenty degree temps. Her top half was covered with a MF High zip-up sweater and her smile was so wide that Tom wondered if she'd glued it in place. She looked like the Joker.

"What is she doing here?" Vikki asked, folding her arms over her chest and glaring at Elena.

"I joined the team. Rah, rah! Go, Timberwolves!" Elena sent one leg up in the in the air, nearly kicking Damon in the face.

"Watch it!" Damon snapped, turning to glare at Elena.

"Are you on the team, too?" Vikki asked Damon who shook his head.

"Hell no. I came to see you. We all missed you, Vik," Damon's smile looked sincere enough but Tom knew how much full of shit his brother could be. Vikki seemed to buy it though.

"And who are you?" Vikki asked the girl cheerleader.

"I'm Davina. I joined this year," she told Vikki. "You were my idol."

"Oh?" Vikki relaxed and grinned at Davina before setting her sights on Kol who shifted from foot to foot. "And you? What are you doing here?"

"I…" Kol looked like he might puke.

"He's my boyfriend. We want to see the campus," Davina said, grabbing Kol's arm. He looked pleased, snuggling up to her and pulling her close.

Damon narrowed his eyes at Kol but said nothing. "Right. What can we do for fun around here?" he rubbed his hands together.

Vikki looked happy before speaking. "I have to get ready but I can take you on a tour of the campus and then we can get some drinks, on Damon."

"Sure," Damon drew the word out. He, like Vikki, loved to be the center of the universe.

Tom wanted to punch his laptop. Why couldn't they just get on with the questioning? He would never take this long. If he didn't know—from personal experience—how incompetent the local authorities were, he would have made a citizen's arrest and handed Vikki over to them to deal with. But after being falsely accused and arrested last year, Tom didn't trust the cops to do their jobs. And after that, they arrested Elijah this year, for throwing Hayley down the steps of Tom's home. Now, he doubly did not trust them. Stupid idiots. The fools he went to school with would make better investigators.

Tom and Cami began to feel drowsy, falling asleep out of sheer boredom while Vikki took the gang on her little tour. They woke up only when Elena let out a violent scream, followed by a loud laugh. Cami jerked in her sleep, pushing her short curls behind her ears. "Tom, there's something going on now," she said.

Tom sat up on his elbow, staring at the screen while Damon knocked back a shot and kissed Kol. Elena laughed so hard she fell over. A bottle of tequila sat in front of her. Vikki grabbed the bottle, took a drink before turning to Hayley who sat with a slice of lime held between her teeth. Vikki locked lips with the new head cheerleader while Kol let out a hoot of laughter.

"Okay. Okay. Enough of that," Elena cried, waving both her hands.

Kol looked disappointed. "But it was my turn, again."

"You can go again later. I know you love kissing Damon," Elena taunted him. "New game. We're playing truth or dare," Elena announced. "Only not. We're going to play a little game called: What's the Worst Thing You Ever Did? I'll go first. I once had sex with Klaus!"

"What?" Everyone stared at her, especially Damon.

"Kidding. No, I tried to have sex with Klaus, knowing he was in love with Caroline, and I was pissed at her over something really stupid like losing a game of War of the Worlds. But he was too busy painting me in the nude and didn't want to lose his concentration," Elena told them.

"He did not." Damon scoffed, shaking his head.

Elena smirked at Damon. Damon began to shift around before turning to Vikki. "Okay, Vik, your turn. What's the absolute worst thing you ever did?" he asked her.

Vikki took a big swig of the tequila. "I hit someone with my car," she said.

"Really? Who?" Anna stared at Vikki, her eyes wide before taking another drink.

"I can't say. You'd hate me," Vikki looked at Damon and Tom realized she still had a thing for his brother.

Picking up his phone, Tom texted Damon. "Get them out of there. Get her alone and make her spill." He ordered his brother.

Damon glanced at his phone and looked at the others. "You guys want to give me and Vik a moment?" he asked them.

Elena glanced at Vikki and then at Damon before shrugging. "Whatever," she snapped. She got to her feet and the rest of the group followed her out.

Damon picked up the bottle, taking a drink before handing it to Vikki. "Tell me. It's just us. Like it used to be," he said, moving to sit next to Vikki, taking her hand in his. He kissed her knuckles.

"He's good," Cami whispered to Tom, pressing her knees to her chest.

"Yup," Tom swallowed thickly, feeling like he might vomit.

Vikki stared at Damon's lips. "I…It…"

Damon stroked her hair out of her face. "Tell me. You know there's nothing that could make me stop loving you." He kissed her, long and hard before pulling back.

"It was Cami. I hit Cami. And I felt so bad, Damon. I felt so scared and sorry and when I found out she and the baby were okay, I still felt so scared and…and I hate myself," Vikki began to sob. "I hate what I did to her. But I can't turn myself in. I'm just a kid. I deserve a life. I deserve to get out of this town. Oh, Damon, I am so sorry."

Damon's finger pointed at Vikki's web cam. "You should direct your apology that way, to Cam and Tom, you remember my brother who we had to stop from coming here to kill you, don't ya?"

Vikki shot to her feet. "What? You? Oh, my God!" she ran across the room, slamming her computer closed.

Tom stared at the black screen. It was over. Finally. They knew who had hit his girl and they could send her to prison where she would rot for all he cared. "Cami?" he watched Cami get to her feet before sinking to her knees. She began to sob, beating the carpet with her closed fists.

"She almost killed me, Tom. And Rene. She almost killed us," she continued to sob while Tom sat down pressing his face into her back, rubbing her arms. "Oh, my God!"

"It's okay, baby. It's over. It's finally over." Tom pulled his wife into his arms, holding and rocking her like he rocked their daughter until she fell asleep. He picked her up and crawled into bed, snuggling up to her while the snow blanketed their house and he sank into a peaceful sleep, for the first time, in over a year.

The next two chapters are going to be depressing but things will lighten up again after that.

Peace,

Jessica