Disclaimer: Anything familiar is probably owned by L.J. Smith or any of the companies that deal with the Vampire Diaries
Elena's POV
Over the last week things have been a bit crazy. She had not seen Stefan or Damon much. Stefan was still staying at his house trying to detox, while Damon was trying to figure out what's going on with her uncle. He had stopped by a few days before and mentioned the fact that her uncle had the same type of ring as Alaric as he had discovered after snapping his neck. Part of her was pissed that he had tried to kill her uncle, but she vaguely understood why. She also had to appreciate the fact he had told her about it. After all he could have not and she never would have found out. Things with him were confusing.
By the time she was getting ready for the school on Friday, she has almost figured out what seems to be so confusing about her emotions towards Damon and Stefan. When she gets to school, she is surprised to see Stefan pulling in with his red Porsche.
She walks over to say hi, and the two of them have a brief chat about how he is doing, when he tries to kiss her she turns her head to the side so he misses. They start to walk up to the school but he tells her he has to return to his car, he forgot his bag. She nods and heads in but glances back to see him staring into his trunk.
When she gets inside, she greets Bonnie but is pointedly ignored. Sighing, she heads to Alaric's class for history. As Stefan catches up she thinks to herself, I guess she still does not want to talk with me, I wonder if we will ever go back to being friends like we were?
After school Elena catches up with Bonnie as she is walking away. "Bonnie," she calls out.
Bonnie glances at her replying, "hey," but continues to walk away.
"Hey I umm tried to grab you after class but you had already taken off. How are you?"
Bonnie finally stops to look at her, her expression is cloudy, "I'm dealing, there has been a lot for me to think about."
Elena glances down, "I really missed you lately."
She gives a small shake of her head with a shrugs, "there has been so much to deal with, to consider. After the tomb and then the boarding house casting, I just didn't want to deal with it."
Elena just looks at her, her friend has changed and she misses their easy friendship. She is getting ready to talk to her when Caroline comes jogging up, "Bonnie, Bonnie, Bonnie! Thank god you're here." She throws her arms around her, giving her a hug, as she straightens up she bubbles, "I know we talked every day but I missed you. How was your visit to your aunts?"
Bonnie smiles, "I'm better, I have been trying to keep myself busy."
Grinning, Caroline enthusiastically comments, "Well I can help with that! Major wardrobe sorting needed ASAP. You need to help me pick the perfect dress for the founder's court."
Elena glances at her, titling her head sideways, "the founder's court? Did I miss something?" her voice is full of confusion. She glances between Caroline and Bonnie trying to remember what they are talking about.
Caroline glances at her, "the founder's court. You know, Miss Mystic Falls. They announced it today and both you and I are on it."
Realization hits and she gasps, "Oh my god we signed up for that so long ago. I completely forgot." Frowning, she gives a small shake of her head.
Caroline nods, smiling still before a concerned look comes across her face as she inquires, "wait, are you dropping out then?"
She shakes head, glancing at Bonnie who is still giving her a cold look. "I can't."
"No?"
Bonnie gazes at Caroline replying for her, "her mom is the one who wanted her to do it."
For a moment the three of them are silent, all looking at the floor before Caroline looks at her and gives a nod.
Damon's POV
After Stefan leaves for school he heads over to speak with Liz about a matter that she is concerned about. When he gets there, Gilbert is already there. The discussion is about the fact the hospital has been robbed of blood and it almost would not have been noticed because the attended had his mind changed but there was something off about the counts from the day before. Following several minutes of discussion Gilbert suggests that Damon and him work together to discover who is behind this. He plays along just because he does not want Liz to discover his secret and to keep an eye on Gilbert.
Once the meeting is done he heads home to think, however shortly after arrival there is a knock at his door. Intrigued because he had not heard a vehicle, he opens the door to find Ana standing there. Well that's interesting, she must not mean him any threat if the wards allowed her up to the door without a problem.
In order to not reveal the new safety measures he leans against the door, sarcastically commenting, "I suppose I should be grateful. You learned to use the bell."
Titling her head to the side she responds, "I am here on behalf of my mother."
He turns, walking into the house and she follows shutting the door. "On behalf of or in spite of?"
"I am sorry about what the other vampires did to Stefan. Abducting him, torturing him, wasn't supposed to go down like that." She tells him as she follows him into the library.
He grabs his drink and replies sardonically, "You're playing house with half of a tomb full of really pissed off vampires. What did you think was going to happen?"
She walks past him while he is talking and turns so she is facing him. "My mom was devastated, they tried to over throw her."
Giving her a look, he asks, "why isn't she the one here telling me this?"
Ana sighs turning away, "she doesn't really do apologies."
He sets his glass down and walks over to where she is standing, "well that's a coincidence, because I don't really do forgiveness so just run along. Now if you are going to continue playing house with your little vampire pets you might want to stop robbing the blood bank dry 'cause they are on to it."
Her expression turns confused as she responds, "I haven't been to the local blood bank in at least a week."
With a slightly cocky tone he replies, "then one of the others maybe."
She shakes her head, "no Damon, they are gone."
Frustrated he demands, "where did they go?"
They were not cut out for this town, after what happened with your brother my mom kicked them out and they took off." she replies, "it is just the two of us and Harper now."
His expression turns thoughtful as he figures out that it is Stefan who broke into the hospital for blood. It is not long afterwards that she leaves and he is left there with his thoughts. The rest of the afternoon seems to go in a blur as he considers the fact that s brother is lying about how well he can control the bloodlust.
When Stefan walks in after school he throws his backpack on the table by the door, Damon comes down the stairs inquiring, "How was school?"
Stefan turns to face him, replying, "Fine," before turning away.
"Yeah?" he questions, as he follows him, "same old, same old? Nothing new? No stories to bring home?" his voice is full of sarcasm as he waits to see if Stefan will admit to taking the blood.
Turning back towards him, Stefan comments, "you're making small talk, why?"
He keeps walking towards him as he answers, "You seem awful chipper lately, less doom and gloom, more pep in your step." He stops when he is directly in front of Stefan with only inches between them.
Titling his head, Stefan sarcastically answers, "and you think it's because I had drank human blood again."
Damon rolls his eyes at him muttering, "I don't need to brag, but I think I can claim some of the responsibility for this new and improved Stefan." He is still waiting for Stefan to be honest about the blood.
Smirking, Stefan tells him, "I hate to burst your bubble, but I am clean."
He then turns to walk away as Damon contradicts him, "yeah, not possible."
Stefan stops turning to look at him as he continues to lie, "not only is it possible, it is quite true."
In the most patronizing tone he can manage, Damon says, "Stefan let's be serious for a second. You spent the last century and a half being a poster child for Prozac and now you expect me to believe that this new you has nothing to do with human blood." He puts emphasis on the word nothing, filling it with distain and sarcasm.
Smirking, Stefan lies again throwing his hands up, "I'm clean," as he walks out of the room.
"You're lying," he tells Stefan, his tone going from patronizing to disbelieving.
Stefan just shrugs, "believe what you want."
A few minutes after Stefan leaves the room his phone goes off. He glances at it and is surprised to see that it is Elena calling him. "Damon's phone," he answers.
For a second there is silence before she begins to speak. "Hello Damon, I know it is kind of last minute but I have a major favor to ask of you. Can you escort me to the Miss Mystic gala tomorrow? I had no idea it was coming up and had forgotten that I signed up for it with everything that has happened since then."
There is a brief pause before he answers because he is shocked she is asking him and not his brother, "I would be greatly pleased to be your escort. Formal wear I am guessing?"
He can just about hear her smile on the phone, "thank you Damon, and yes, formal. My mom was really into the founder's day stuff, she was even Miss Mystic in her day, so I want to do it for her."
He smiles, one thing he has realized is she is very loyal to those she cares about and it does not surprise him that she wishes to honor her mother like this. "Alright, I will see you tomorrow. Get some rest, I need to deal with Stefan."
She bids him farewell. As soon as he is off of the phone he heads down to the basement because he had just heard Stefan go down there. Sure enough when he gets to the door of the room where he keeps the blood Stefan is standing there with the chest freezer wide open looking like he is about to grab a bag of blood.
Smirking he comments, "well, well, he's a liar and a thief."
The next few minutes goes quickly as they have another discussion about the fact Stefan still lacks control of his bloodlust. Stefan tries to avoid taking the blame by blaming Damon for it. When that does not work he tries to act like everything is going fine, so when Damon inquires as to what Elena thinks of it Stefan just says she doesn't need to know 'cause he is still the same. Damon snorts at that, knowing that it is false. Eventually, Stefan just walks away commenting again on how he is in control.
The following morning before he is to meet up with Elena in town in order to practice dancing, Gilbert shows up at the house. However due to the barrier around it he cannot get onto the property. Damon chuckles at that, and carefully focuses on the wards, asking them to let him in at this time but not to in the future. He feels a feather soft touch against his skin and a moment later he is letting Gilbert into the house. He allows Gilbert into the house and they verbally dance around the matter of vampires, Pearl, and the device that had been stolen from Gilberts ancestor. When the conversation gets annoying he throws Gilbert out of the house, promising to kill every single person he has to if Gilbert tells them.
Once Gilbert is gone, he gets into the car and heads to town. When he gets there they are just getting ready to line up to practice dancing. Stefan is there, standing on the side lines and seems to be surprised when he sees him. Elena on the other hand is happy that he made it and the two of them line up. He smirks at her as they begin. She cannot help but giggle at the serious expression on his face.
"You look focused," she tells him as they switch from right to left.
He grins, telling her, "This is really the simplest form of this."
She grins at him and they continue to practice. From the sidelines Stefan has a thoughtful expression as he watches them. After they get done practicing Stefan walks over to them, inquiring, "Damon?"
She turns to look at him nodding once, "Yes, Damon. I did not want to deal with you trying to get back with me so I asked him because I could and we are friends."
His expression darkens while Damon just looks at her thoughtfully. A few minutes later they see Caroline and Bonnie, Elena goes to greet her but she is standoffish and cold when Elena asks to have a word with her she initially tries to avoid it but ends up giving in.
The two girls step outside into the hall, but he can still hear them.
Elena is just about in tears as she says, "Bonnie you have to tell me what is wrong."
"It's not worth talking about," she replies in a less frosty voice.
Confusion colors Elena's voice as she asks, "what do you mean not worth it? You have barely said ten words to me, and you won't even look at Stefan or Damon." She pauses for a moment, her voice growing firmer, "is that what it is? Is it them?"
Bonnie sighs, "listen, Elena I can't just pretend like everything is okay, those two, with those girls have let the vampires out that grams was concerned about. Now they are roaming about and I have to worry about what they will do."
"I'm so sorry Bonnie, what can I do to make it better?" he hears her ask.
"That's just it. There is nothing you can do to make it better. I blame both of them, and I am not going to put you in a situation where you have to choose sides. I'm just having a hard time with it. Okay?"
Elena doesn't respond but he is sure that she nods. Sighing she comes back over and says she has to go get her stuff. Damon nods, and tells her he will see her there. Stefan takes off without saying anything. He heads home to change into something a bit more formal then he normally wears.
A short while later he is already waiting for Elena when he spots Ana walking though as if she has purpose, "in the running for Miss Mystic Falls?" he inquires sarcastically as he approaches her.
Smiling, she glances around as she replies, "sometime you have to wear uncomfortable heels to blend in." she pauses for a moment, as he moves closer, "I remember this from 1864, I was supposed to enter before everything happened."
As she is speaking he makes noises at all the right spots before commenting, "Nostalgia is a bitch."
She looks directly a head, telling him, "if you're just going to mock me can you move along please."
He leans a little closer to her after glancing around to make sure that Gilbert is not in sight. "John Gilbert thinks that your mom stole an artifact from Jonathan Gilbert back in 1864."
She shrugs, inquiring, "What are you, his errand boy?"
He scowls at her, his expression very serious. "I don't know what it is, but I don't want him to have it," he bites out before walking away, not giving her a chance to question him or comment.
Elena's POV
In the dressing area, she is getting ready with her aunt Jenna assisting her. She thanks her, but Jenna just makes an off the wall comment about her hair falling off. For a little bit they discuss when Elena had first signed up with her mom and all of the excitement that there had been and how it feels so un-exciting now.
Eventually the conversation changes and Jenna asks, "So who is your partner?"
Elena turns and look at her, replying, "Damon, I thought of asking Stefan but that would be sending mixed signals since I do not want to get back with him and that is how he would have seen it."
"Damon huh?" her aunt asks with a chuckle, "I thought you said he was an ass?"
She chuckles, answering, "He grows on you, kind of like an acquired taste." Standing, she turns to look directly at her aunt, "well I best go get changed, try not to hurt yourself or anyone else with that," she tells her motioning to the curling iron.
She goes into the other room in order to change when Damon comes in. "Hey you can't be up here," she tells him.
He walks over to her, "we need to talk, normally I would have a completely different outlook on what I am about to tell you but since it could inconvenience me, I'll" he pauses for a moment, "squeal."
She gives a small chuckle, "what are you talking about?"
His expression gets very serious as he tells her, "Stefan is still drinking human blood."
The humor she had just felt drains out of her, because he had promise he had gotten it under control yet she knew Damon had never lied to her so he probably was not lying this time either. "What?"
He shrugs, "yeah, a month ago I would have rejoiced, however with the council back on alert now is not a good time for Stefan to fly off the handle."
She shakes her head, "I know he has been a little edgy but he said that was normal."
"He has a fridge full of stolen blood bank contraband in the house." He tells her, keeping his eyes on her face.
She turns and walks over to the small loveseat, sitting down on it. "Oh my god," she gasps, shock running through her.
Damon turns to keep looking at her, "he has no idea what normal is, his entire existence isn't normal. Normal to a vampire is drinking human blood, but he has spent all of this time fighting it instead of learning how to control it. Now it is controlling him instead."
She gives a shake of her head, "I can't believe it, its Stefan we are talking about here," even she can hear the fact that she knows he is telling the truth.
"Stefan on human blood Elena, will do anything, he will say anything because he is not gonna wanna stop. Trust me."
She starts to freak out about it, moments later Stefan comes walking into the room, asking what's going on. Damon turns to glance at him telling him that he is just filling her in on his behavior. While Stefan tries to deny it, Damon dismisses himself and tells her he will be ready when it is time down stairs. For a few minutes he tries to convince her that there is nothing different about him, that there is no effect of drinking human blood but she does not buy it. It becomes more confrontational and it clicks within her that he refuses to acknowledge that there is something wrong. She is happy when Mrs. Lockwood interrupts because it gives her a chance to think and change.
When she is done changing, she joins Caroline on the balcony to wait to get called on. When Mrs. Lockwood asks if anyone has seen Amber she immediately looks for Stefan and is concerned when she cannot find him. She is just about ready to walk away when Caroline convinces her to stay. When she is announced with Damon as her escort she cannot believe how happy she is it was him she asked and not his brother.
Even though she is worried about where Stefan and Amber are, she finds herself drawn to Damon as they dance. As the song finishes she the clarity kicks in with more force than it had in weeks. It wasn't Stefan she was in love with, it was Damon.