Chapter 25 The Lonely Road

"You're very quiet." Louie whispered to me a few hours later as we sat side by side in the empty first class part of the plane on our way to Mystic Falls and I simply leaned my head against the window and looked out into the pitch black night and didn't respond with more then just a shrug. I hadn't said much since we arrived at the airport or when we were seated an hour ago in the very expensive section that Eric insisted on paying for. I hadn't offered any resistance since I knew he would end up getting his way somehow. So I just let it happen and fell into my own thoughts, not even realizing any significant amount of time had passed until Louie nudged me with his elbow and I looked up to see him staring at me with a frown. "What's wrong?"

"I can't stop thinking about it, about what Godric did." I explained, my fingers going instantly to my neck half expecting to find his fang marks still there but there was nothing but smooth skin. "I keep replaying it in my mind and each time it's just..."

"You shouldn't do that." He interrupted, his head instantly starting to shake before he stopped to stare at me with his calm blue/green eyes. "Don't dwell on it too long. Because if you let it go on longer then it should, then it will drive you crazy. Thinking about it too much is going to scare you even more."

"I'm already terrified of him, so don't tell me I need to stop thinking about it." I found myself snapping at Louie's concerned face, feeling annoyed that he would tell me to let it go just the night after it had happened. What the hell did he know about it? "He was my best friend and he attacked for something I didn't do intentionally to hurt him. I can't just not think about it."

"I understand, I truly do. I'm only trying to help you." He told me, his hands twitching like he was fighting the urge to reach out and comfort me, but I sent him a look that kept him from moving and he just sat there with his hands on the arm rests looking at me. "I don't want you to torture yourself like this."

"You don't know a damn thing about what is going on inside of me, so stop pretending you can sympathize with me." I hissed, my arms crossing tightly around my small frame as I grew even more frustrated. It was amazing that I had gone from barely talking to wanting to pull my hair out and start yelling. It was a complete turnabout. But I was irked by this intrusion by Louie in my thoughts. I appreciated his attempt to want to help. But he was basically telling me to forget that my best friend had nearly killed me. How in the hell did he expect me to do that? "You don't know what it's like to have the friend you thought you knew hurt you in a way that you can never forgive."

"Actually I do." Louie responded through gritted teeth, his face growing tight with tension so fast that I actually couldn't look away from him when he spoke again. And when he did, I felt terrible. "Do you not remember what I have told you about my past with Godric?"

I went silent after that, feeling like I had been slapped in the face with a brick. Of course Louie could relate to the problem I had with Godric because he had been the first one to have been hurt by the vampire we both once called a friend. How could I have forgotten what Louie had told me about his past with Godric and Helen? I was so heartless to not remember that he still had his own pain to deal with and here I was getting pissed off at him when he was just trying to prove I wasn't alone in this. I wanted to hide at that moment but Louie wouldn't let me as he reached over and I felt his fingers cross over my hand.

"I want to show you something." He said when I looked up at him with startled eyes but when I quickly took back my hand, his tense face gave way to confusion. "What's wrong?"

"What exactly are you going to show me this time?" I questioned, hesitant to look into the mind of any vampire after what happened with Godric. Of course he and Louie were different as night and day but Godric had had the same calm and nice demeanor and then look what he did. So I was very cautious to jump into Louie's memories without at least questioning what I was to expect. "What am I going to see?"

"Something I've never talked about with anyone..." He answered back, his face darkening considerably as he took my hand again and looked me in the eye without blinking. "I'm going to show what happened when Helen died."

I barely had a chance to gasp before I was suddenly thrust into his head and was traveling back to a time that no one in the modern day could ever hope to see...

Flashback

It was night. The air was heavy with something I could not recognize. There was faint light coming from the fires set up around the village, offering me a chance to look around at the place surrounding me. It was set in the middle of a stretch of plains that seemed to go on forever. Even in this limited light, I could see just how empty and unscathed the horizon was. It was so different from the world I knew and I wanted a moment to look around, to take in the environment of being where so many of my own kind gathered. But I was not allowed that chance as my body was pulled away to a group of people standing by the doorway of a dusty stone building, their faces drawn tightly with sadness as I approached them. There was three of them, a grown man and woman standing with a small boy all of them dressed in white and I could sense that they were the Faeries I was suppose to be seeing, only I didn't understand why. At least not until the figure standing in front of them spoke.

"How...how did she die?" It was Louie! I couldn't believe I didn't recognize him right away. He looked the same as he did in the present day, only his linen clothing was not modern. And his face was stained with rivers of red, he had been crying and for god only knows for how long. He must have just been told about Helen and these people must have been her family. I was even more shocked by this. He was standing there in the midst of a village full of Faeries as if he too were one of them instead of their natural enemies. But he didn't look like a monster in this moment, he looked like a sad little boy that was practically chocking on his own emotions. "What happened to her?"

"Werewolves..." The man, who must have been her father said quietly, his hands gripping the shoulders of the boy standing in front of him as if to keep his own self steady. His body was tense at being near a vampire, but his face showed the agony every parent felt who had lost their child. It made me feel sick to have to stand here and watch this memory. It did not feel right to share in their pain. "She was out in the hills the other night when she was attacked. There was too many of them, she didn't stand a chance. By the time we discovered where she was, she was already fading away from us."

"And the body?" Louie couldn't even summon the strength to look at any of them. I could feel every emotion shooting through his body as if it were my own and I wanted so badly to go over there and hug him. But I was an invisible bystander, brought here to only watch the pain of these people. "What did you do with the body?"

"She was cremated the night it happened. Her body burned in a circle of stones just outside the village on that hill in the distance. It was the traditional funeral ceremony, she had the best as she completely left this world." The father said, his face trying to remain stoic, but even I could sense the pain he was fighting back. It was a different time, men weren't suppose to display their emotions like this. But he had just lost a daughter, how could he not give in to that pain. He lifted his hand and point into the horizon behind Louie and nodded. "You'll find the spot there, now leave us in peace and don't ever come back here."

"I have no reason to remain here now." Louie spoke quietly, his voice so heavy that I wanted to start sobbing on the ground. But he turned on his heels and shot off into the distance and before I could even think to follow him, I was thrown through the air after him. I felt the wind blow back my hair as I flew what only seemed like a short distance away but when I landed roughly on my feet, I saw that I could barely even see the fires of the village. They were nothing more then just specks of light, but it was not this sudden distance that held my attention. It was the sight of Louie falling to his knees beside a spot of blackened earth within a circle of stones that made a gasp escape from my lips that went unheard by him. I could feel the immense wave of despair hitting me as strongly as it seemed to be affecting him as his hands gripped the ground where Helen's body had burned. "Oh my dear sweet love. How could you leave me like this?"

I felt my own tears falling faster then I could ever hope to stop them as I was suddenly drawn away from Louie again and sent flying into a tunnel of nothing but black. I was fairly certain that I was on my way out of Louie's mind and away from that terrible memory, but then I was dropped into the middle of a field that was lit up with moonlight and right ahead of me I could see Louie standing in the midst of the grass. But instead of being surrounded by numerous figures, there was only person there with him. One person that I once thought I knew very well...

"How could you not be there Godric? How could you?" Louie seemed to be trying to scream this sentiment out loud, but he just couldn't seem to master it. His shoulders were slumped forward, unable to hold himself up properly out of grief as he stared across the field at Godric who look more then horrified at what Louie had just told him. "You were suppose to be watching over her while I was gone. You were suppose to protect her when I couldn't. But you weren't there. Why?"

"I didn't know anything could have happened. I did not know werewolves would have attacked her. It wasn't the full moon, I did not see any trouble or harm coming to her if I were to not be there." Godric explained, his face never showing the smallest trace of the monster he had been the last time I saw him in a memory with Louie. He looked very much like a scared little boy as he faced down Louie in the face of his disgrace to his friend. "I thought it would be alright. I didn't think she would have died when I slipped away to hunt..."

"Hunt! You didn't protect her because you were too overcome with hunger? If I had known you were going to shirk your duties of protecting her, then I never would have agreed to let you be the one to watch her. I would have done it myself. I never would have gone away to hunt down our maker for you. But I did that because I knew it was too hard for you and you gave me your word that you would do this for me in return. And now...she's dead. Dead because you weren't there. It's your fault." Louie looked up with a barely controlled glare on his pale young face. I had no idea how he was holding back from lashing out at Godric but he was doing it. I wouldn't have blamed him for trying to hurt Godric. After all Godric had been responsible for keeping Helen alive and he had failed. And Louie had lost the love of his life at the hands of his best friend. He could have killed Godric and no one could have judged him. But instead of moving forward to fight him, Louie shook his head and stepped back. "She made me feel human again and she taught me how to love others besides you or even just myself. We were suppose to have more time and it was cut short because of your betrayal. And I will never be able to forgive you for this."

"Then hurt me." Godric's voice was serious as he said this, causing my head to whip up in surprise as well as Louie's. "I have failed you. So hurt me so I may feel the pain you feel in addition to my own."

For a second Louie looked like he just might take him up on that offer. His hands were clenched into fists at his side, his right foot was raised off the ground as he was prepared to lunge. The look on his face, the one of pure rage and despair said he was ready to kill anything in front of him, especially Godric. But he never made the move to actually do it. In fact, he stepped even further back, his face going stoic and his hands loosening until they just hung limply at his sides as he began shaking his head.

"No...I will not fight you or wound you in any way. I want to, but I won't do it." Louie's eyes were directed at the ground so he never saw the look of disbelief pass over Godric's face, "We made a promise to Helen that we would never lash out fatally against one another. And I intend to remain honorable to that promise, even though I would love to make you feel one ounce of the agony I am feeling right now..."

"Louie..." Godric went to move after him, but Louie's darkened expression stopped him in his tracks. "Louie please.."

"As of this moment, I am breaking our friendship. Our brotherhood has been extinguished and if I never see you again, then that is quite fine with me." Louie stated coldly, his normally glimmering blue/green eyes remaining faint as if the light had been permanently shut out from them. He was backing away more quickly, his face never showing the pain I felt from him. "I would rather walk this earth alone for the remainder of my years then to cross paths with you. Our bond ceases to exist from this moment on. Good bye Godric."

And then with a new wave of heaviness coming from him, Louie turned on his heels and flashed away, leaving me to just catch a glimpse of Godric's pained face before I too was taken from that spot...

End flashback

"So you see..." Louie's voice pulled me back into the presence, his hand leaving mine as he sat back in his seat and crossed his ankles. "I understand better then you think."

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." I was so taken aback by seeing this memory that I couldn't stop apologizing. I had no idea of the extent of Godric's involvement in Helen's death. And in some moments, I had even wondered whether Godric had been the one to end her life. But this was so much worse. Godric had been Helen's friend and former lover. And more importantly, he had been Louie's best friend and vampire brother. And yet he had let his duties slip through his fingers, not by accident, but by choice. His failure had destroyed a friendship, burdened Louie with a sadness he could never escape and resulted in the loss of a life well before her time. I felt such pain for Louie in this moment when I turned to look at him. "I'm sorry he hurt you like that."

"It is what it is. She's dead and he could have stopped it from happening but he didn't. She's just gone and I'm still here, existing without her." Louie said, his eyes getting cloudy as he seemed to feel even more despair from her death now that he was reliving it because of our conversation and the way it had come about. He turned his head to look out the window across the aisle and flexed his feet outward. "I've come to terms with it even though I miss her every day and night of my life."

"Louie, I'm so …."

"Do not say you are sorry, this is not about me. I did not show you that memory to make this about me. It was to make you realize that you are not alone when it comes to dealing with Godric. But I have made a choice on how to deal with him." Louie turned his head to look at me and I got the sense that he was talking to me in a way that he rarely talk to others, so I was listening. "And now you have to come to terms with what he did to you. Don't be like me, don't torment yourself for half your life time. It only makes the pain worse."

"So what are you saying?" I frowned, feeling more confused then ever. At the beginning of this conversation he had been trying to comfort me, but it seemed like he was trying to go in the opposite direction. "Are you telling me to forgive him?"

"No, I'm telling you to do what you have to do for yourself." Louie shrugged, running his fingers through his short blonde hair. "And if you need to let him go, then it's ok to do that."

"I know that's ok, but I'm not sure what to do." I really didn't. On one hand, it would be so easy to just cut Godric out of my life. But then again, up until that night, he and I had been the best of friends and I so desperately wanted that back. But I didn't know if we could overcome that. This time I may not be able to turn back. I glanced up at Louie and sighed. "I don't know what's right anymore."

Back in Shreveport

"Eric...can we please talk about this?"

"There's nothing to talk about...now just do what I tell you to do..."

"How can you possibly stand there and not have anything to say to me after what I did? I'm not looking for forgiveness, I just want you to acknowledge me and not be so cold."

"I said I do not want to talk about."

"Well sometimes its not about what you want...sometimes its about doing something that makes you uncomfortable because it's right. And this is right...we have to talk about it."

"Jesus Christ, will you just shut the fuck up!"

Eric watched through narrowed eyes as Godric's face went slack at his outburst but his maker did not offer up more comments and went quiet as Eric stood there watching him and wishing he could have been anywhere but here. And in actuality, he could have just left chained down here all alone without any kind of interaction. But that wouldn't help anyone and it certainly wouldn't detox him any faster. That was the main thing, he wanted Allison's blood to leave Godric's system so he could kick his maker out of the house and the woman he loved could come home. He still remembered the look on her face when she told him she wanted to leave because she couldn't be here and that had shot right through him. He missed her with an aching that was so painful sometimes that he almost went to the airport to catch a plane to Mystic Falls. But he managed to hold back and focus on trying to help Godric, he didn't want to, but if it would help get Allison home sooner then he would do whatever it took.

And that's what had brought him to the basement with a carton of true bloods in the hopes that it would counter act the intoxication in Allison's blood and at least dilute it enough so that he wouldn't be a danger when he was released. But since he had come down here, Godric had been trying to make nice and strike up a conversation and all Eric could do was snap in return until finally Godric just gave up and accepted the blood when Eric handed it to him. Nothing was said between them as Godric went through bottle after bottle and it was only when there was nothing left that he spoke again.

"Eric, I know you don't want to talk about it. But you have to know how incredibly sorry I am for hurting Allison. I was so caught up in my anger and embarrassment that I couldn't even think straight. I never meant to let it go that far." Godric said quietly, his head hanging low in shame but Eric wasn't convinced that it was sincere. "I didn't think I would react that way to her accidentally seeing that memory..."

"She didn't tell me, you know. I don't know what memory she saw." Eric frowned, wondering why he hadn't pressed her harder to tell him. But she had been so obviously affected deeper then he could understand by this attack and pushing her could have been more devastating. So he was in the dark about what she could know about his maker that he didn't. "She wouldn't tell me, she didn't want anyone else to know. She was protecting you in a way, even after you almost killed her."

"That sounds like her." Godric mumbled, his face still turned downwards, but the guilt that was eating away at him came through their bond, clear as day. "I can't believe I hurt her like that."

"You didn't just hurt her. She was almost murdered, by you!"

"Eric..."

"No, you don't get to make yourself feel better right now. You get to stay down here and think about how you almost took away the only woman I ever loved. I mean, Jesus Christ!You saw her die the first time, you saw what it did to me. How could you react in a way that could have made history repeat itself?" Eric had vowed to not speak of this to his maker, but he couldn't help it once the words had started spewing from his mouth. The flood gates had opened and there was no turning back now. "If she had died again, then I would not be able to survive it. The pain is too great. And seeing you almost kill her, reminded me of what that pain feels like. So thanks a lot."

Godric tried to speak to him, but Eric had enough of this for one night and he just turned his back on his maker and left the basement, making sure to firmly slam the door behind him.

Back in Mystic Falls

"You're quiet again, that's never a good thing." Louie pointed out to me later that night as we stood inside our hotel after finally landing in a small airport near the town of Mystic Falls and were attempting to get settled before we decided what to do and where to go from here. But he did not seem to like it when I went quiet at all. "Are you nervous?"

"A little bit, but that's not why I'm silent." I replied with a smile, looking up from my suitcase to where he sat in a chair against the wall and shrugged slightly. "I'm more thinking about how grateful I am that you came with me on this trip. There's no way I would have been able to do it alone, Eric wouldn't have let me."

"It's no big deal." Louie began to disagree, shaking his head curtly. "It really isn't..."

"Yes it is, especially right now." I cut in, sitting down on the edge of the bed with my hands in my lap while I looked at this vampire who had somehow become a very important figure in my life. "I needed you to be here and you came through for me. So it is a big deal."

"I still say its not. It's just what friends do." He told me, cracking a small smile my way. "Besides, I'm sure you would do the same for me."

"I would, it would be too hard not to want to help you in anyway." I had to return the smile because I genuinely felt better then I had on the plane ride here. I ran my hands through my hair to get it out of my eyes before asking. "So...are you ready to meet my friends?"

"I think the question is more if you are ready." He shot back at me with his eyebrows raised high. "You're the one with history with these people, not me. It will be tougher for you to see them then it will be for me."

"Ok, I'm not really as ready as I thought I would be, but I don't think in this situation I get to be entirely comfortable." I pressed my lips together as I thought of the awkward reunions that were in my very near future and I shuddered at that thought of how weird it was going to be to just pop up. "I tried to give them a warning through email, because I didn't have any of their numbers anymore. But I never heard back from Elena and she probably thought it was some cruel joke."

"I would think that if I were in her shoes. A person I thought was dead contacting me and saying they really are alive. Yea, I would think it was a falsehood too." Louie chuckled, his eyes and face briefly coming alive for a moment and it made me wish that it would last longer. "You still want to go there tonight?"

"Oh yes, because if I don't do it now then I will come up with a reason not to do it at all." I knew myself all too well. If I put it off until tomorrow night, then during the day I would figure out how to avoid doing it and I didn't want this trip to be a waste. I had to do it, even if it was scary. "I wont see Elena because it is late, but at least I can see Stefan and Damon."

"What are they like?" Louie questioned, a curious expression on his face that made me remember that I had never told him about these two vampires he was going to meet. All he knew was that Stefan and Damon were real brothers turned at the same time. But that was it.

"Well you would definitely get along with Stefan great because you both are so much alike." I grinned at the thought of how excited I was to see these two interact ever since I thought to ask Louie to come along. Stefan was such an old soul, so he would be a great friend to Louie. "Stefan is a complete gentleman, kind of like you. The only difference is your age, Stefan and Damon aren't even 200 years old and well...you are considerably older then that."

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious." Louie rolled his eyes, his head cocked to the side as he laughed. "And Damon? What's he like?"

"Now that is the one you need to watch out for. He's a handful." I had to fight back a fit of giggles since this was going to be the interaction I was most going to be amused by. It wouldn't matter to Damon how old Louie was, he would still be disrespectful if he thought he could get away with it. Kind of like another vampire I knew all too well. "Damon is more an Eric type then he thinks and those two didn't get along. So you should be prepared."

"Oh that's a great warning."

15 minutes later

"You know, you have to ring the doorbell for someone to answer it. It won't open magically just because you're staring at it."

"Louie, I say this nicely, but shut up." I grumbled, furrowing my eyebrows at him as we both continued to stare at the door like we had for the past two minutes. We had left the hotel not long after I had told him about the Salvatores and the entire car ride to the house had been spent in near silence except for me giving him directions. He didn't trust me to drive since my mind was so clearly elsewhere and when he pulled into the driveway, my heart nearly leaped into my throat as I was sure the door would come tearing open at the sound of the engine, but no one appeared. The lights were on, so I was certain they were home, but Louie had to physically pull me out of the car in order to get here to the front porch but now that we were here, I found I couldn't actually make that first move. I looked up at Louie and whispered. "You do it, I can't."

"It's going to be ok, you just have to relax." Louie reminded me for what seemed like the millionth time that night already as he reached past me and punched the door bell with one finger. He stood just behind me and squeezed my shoulder with ease. "These people are your friends, right? So just remember that and it will be fine."

"Says the vampire who doesn't have to do anything..."I began to say, but I was suddenly very cut off by the door opening and by the very audible gasp coming from the dark eyed vampire now standing in the doorway in front of me. I felt my jaw quiver slightly as my eyes landed on the more gentle Salvatore brother. "Stefan..."

"This is an illusion, it cannot possibly be real." Stefan snapped, I wasn't even touching him and I could hear his thoughts screaming at me that this was a very mean joke and he wasn't going to be tricked into believing it. So when he suddenly slammed the door in my face, I wasn't totally surprised that was his reaction right off the bat. I turned my head again to catch Louie's eye and he looked almost amused by this. I could see why, a vampire he didn't know had just reacted in a very human way, so it him it was amusing. But I didn't have time for anything comical, I came here to talk to my friends and I was going to do that. I was on the verge of reaching for the bell when the door opened again and there was Stefan, looking like he would have been out of breath had he needed it. "Is it really you Allison? We saw you in your coffin, we saw you being lowered into the ground. How is possible that you're standing here?"

"It's not an illusion, I'm the real thing." I don't know why, but I almost chocked up on my words as I was looking at him for the first time in months. "This is not a joke. I am honest to God, truly alive."

"How?" Stefan's hand were frozen in mid air as he looked like he had been thinking about reaching out to touch me but had decided against it. "You were dead, you had no heartbeat. But you're here..."

"All thanks to magic my friend." I said, moving forward to hug him, my arms wrapping around him before he could step back and once we were touching, he gasped again.

"Dear God, you are real." Stefan's arms immediately raised to embrace me back, tugging me closer to him as if he were afraid I would slip away again any second. "I thought it was some kind of cruel spell."

"I'm very much alive and I promise I will explain everything. And trust me when I say there is a lot to talk about." I had to squeeze my eyes shut to keep from crying. I felt so completely overwhelmed to be back in the arms of someone I had cared about a lot when I was here and had just been reunited with for the first time since my death. I couldn't believe I had waited this long to come see him. It was crazy. I noticed Louie still standing still off to the side and I broke away from Stefan to acknowledge him. "Uh Stefan, I should really tell you who this is..."

"I'm Louie." The older vampire cut in, sending me a sly smile like he knew this was weird for me and he extended his hand like I knew he would. "Nice to meet you Stefan."

"You know about me? He knows about me?" Stefan's eyebrows hitched up so quickly that I started giggling before he looked at me. "Were you nice?"

"I'm always nice."

"That's true...most of the time." Stefan nodded with a sincere smile, stepping to the side and waving us both in to the front hall before he shut the door and came to stand in front of us with his hands clasped to his hips. "So how exactly do you guys know each other."

"He uh...use to know Godric." I had to chose my words carefully or else there would be a flood of tears that I very much would like to try and avoid. It as one thing to cry about seeing Stefan again and it was worse to cry over thinking about anything to do with my former best friend. I quickly plastered a smile on my face and looked around curiously. "So where's Damon?"

"Oh...he's off somewhere, probably doing something he shouldn't be doing.." Stefan rolled his eyes as did since that was so like Damon to not behave himself in any capacity. Stefan motioned us into the living room before asking. "So you have to explain how this is all possible. My mind is just so running rampant right now."

"I'll wait to explain everything until we're all together. It will be easier that way." I told him as Louie and I sat together on one end of one of the couches while Stefan remained on his feet with his arms crossed. "Maybe tomorrow, we can get Elena here and..."

"Oh damn, I should call her right now and get her over here."

"No don't do that. It's late, way too late to make her come over." I shook my head at Stefan but he was already moving to make his way out of the room to make that call. "Come on Stefan, don't wake her up..."

"No, I insist." Stefan waved his hand in my direction and smirked happily. "Trust me, she will want to be woken up for this."

Then he vanished from the room, leaving Louie and I to look at each other with similar smiles as we listened to Stefan trip across the floor outside the room on his way to the stairs to find his phone. Louie leaned towards me once Stefan was upstairs and said something that made me smile.

"You know what? I like this Stefan guy." Louie nodded in almost surprised approval, like he didn't think he would have had a good opinion of anyone he met tonight but he seemed to be ok with Stefan. "He seems more in touch with his humanity then most vampires."

"That's the beauty of Stefan. He sometimes forgets that he's a vampire so when he gets happy, he acts more human. Its actually very sweet." My grin got bigger as I thought about how different Stefan was from most vamps, he was kind and gentle and loyal. Sort of like how Godric use to seem to me and definitely how I saw Louie now. "But Damon on the other hand is another story entirely. He loves being a vampire a little too much."

"And I suppose that is where I find the most trouble tonight."

20 minutes later

"Oh my god, where the hell is she? I'm going to kill her!"

I barely had enough time between fighting back a smile and getting to my feet after the front door crashed open before Elena appeared in the doorway of the living room and came to a skidding stop as she took in the sight of me. She was quicker to believe it, maybe because Stefan had woken her up with this bizarre news and he wouldn't have done that it it wasn't true. So when she started walking towards me, that seemed to be enough to set off a crying fit that for once did not start with me. She reached me and within seconds, she had tightly embraced me much like Stefan had done upon seeing me. As soon as we touched, I could hear her thoughts racing inside of my own head and I had to fight back against that because I didn't want to invade her privacy, but she was crying so hard out of happiness that I doubted she would have cared had I done it willingly. And hearing her cry, made my own tears start to well up.

"Does she always do this at reunions? Or is it a new development?" Louie said quietly to Stefan as the two of them moved closer to one another to speak in hushed tones but I could still hear every word. "She cries an awful lot."

"First off, she's a girl. It's like mandatory for them to break into tears whenever something like this happens." Stefan was probably rolling his eyes but I didn't pay attention. "And she's Allison. That makes it even worse."

I was going to tell them to both shut up but the front door opened again and the sight of a new figure pulled me away from Elena and sent me into silence as it did to the rest of them as this new arrival was clothed in all black and was now leaning against the doorway with not a hint of disbelief on his face. Damon Salvatore was as unchanged as any vampire was as he took no notice of the others and strolled forward with his eyes on me.

"So for once, my brother actually had one over on me when he called." Damon frowned slightly, obviously not liking that Stefan had been telling the truth, but it soon gave way to a triumphant smile. "And I have to say that is the best looking ghost I have ever seen."

"You have not changed in the slightest." I rolled my eyes, feeling like it was just like old times before any of this happened as I shook my head at him. "And I'm not a ghost, I'm very much real."

"Yes you are." Damon stated with a devious wink before he too took me in his arms for a hug and despite how he looked just seconds ago, I could feel the surprise in his body when he touched me. He didn't show it though when he pulled back and said in typical Damon fashion. "You feel the same as you ever did."

"Damon!" I exclaimed, stepping back with my mouth hanging open as he was unfazed by this and just stuck his hands in his pockets right before I saw his eyes dart across the room to where Louie was sitting with Stefan and I watched as his eyes narrowed.

"Well, looks like you brought a gentleman caller with you..." Damon's lips curled up as he looked at Louie in disgust as I foresaw that he would. Damon was highly threatened by any vampire around me even though there was nothing left between us. Still, I saw the flames of jealousy rise up in his eyes as he looked at this much older and insanely gorgeous vampire in his living room and snorted. "What is with you and blonde vampires?"

"I happen to be her friend thank you very much. And I would advise you to be on my good side. Because if you disrespect me or her, I will rip you in half without even blinking. I'm 2000 years old, I can do that with one hand." Louie's eyes got darker as he was pulled into this cloud of testosterone driven want for power. They both felt the obvious need to prove themselves to each other since they had one thing in common and that was me. "Are we clear?"

"Says the old man vampire." Damon was not at all intimidated by Louie and I doubt any one could knock the darker haired vamp down a few pegs. But I wasn't going to stand by and wait to see if Louie would press it further.

"Ok, ok. You both need to cool it and relax. I want us all to be on the same page the first time I am back here in months and not just that, for the first time since I was brought back to life. The last thing I need is you two bitch fighting like girls." I said sternly to the both of them even though neither looked like they were even listening to me. "So both of you behave and shut up."

"Now that sounds like the old Allison." Elena pointed out with the brightest grin I had ever seen on her face as she reached out and hugged me again. "I still can't believe you are here."

"You're not the only one." I said with a sigh, squeezing her tightly. "And now that we're all here, it seems like a good time to explain myself."

1 hour later

1 hour...60 minutes...3600 seconds.

That's how long it had been since I had finished speaking and the entire group had fallen into a heavy silence that seemed as infinite as my story had been. I looked around at their faces right now as I had done when I was talking and I saw the same expressions there that had been present when they reacted to each bit of news that came tumbling out of their mouths. Stefan and Elena sat huddled together, Stefan was staring straight ahead with his dark eyes wide and his mouth not uttering a word while Elena sat with her shoulders shaking from the soft whimpers that came between sobs. Louie sat at my side, occasionally sending me a gentle look that said I had done the right thing by telling them all that had happened to me, but he was just as quiet as the others. Even Damon was silent for once, sitting in an armchair with a tight lipped frown on his face that would have burned a hole through the floor if he had that ability. They were all so stunned, so taken aback that not one of us had the nerve to break the silence that had lasted for almost over an hour. And it almost made me regret telling them. It was one thing for me to go through it, but it was just cruel of me to put this all on them.

I held nothing back, I had told them absolutely everything that had occurred since I was last alive in their presence and it was only when I was saying it out loud that I realized just how much I had survived. I told them about the moment when I first woke up in my coffin and my panic at realizing what had happened. I described the agonizing process of having to break through the wood and dig out of my own grave, feeling chocked up as I recounted that to them. I told them about meeting my birth mother and finding out how she had been the one responsible for doing the resurrection and accidentally leaving me in the ground. I explained how this whole outcome had been put into play long before the battle when Molly had been trying to take down the Dallas coven before and only stuck around pretending to be on their side when she found out they were targeting me. I told them how Molly was a half Faerie and how she had practiced witchcraft and that was how she was able to perform my resurrection and how it was because of her that I too had more magic in my blood then I originally thought. I even told them about how I had a little sister and how I was slowly starting to get to know my birth mother. I left out the part about Godric and the real reason I had come here, not wanting to divulge the truth about why I had run off. And it was after this that the silence had begun and lasted a long agonizing 60 minutes before it was Elena who was brave enough to speak up.

"I...uh...um..." Elena was struggling to find the words to convey what was going on in her head but when she looked up and met my eyes, I already knew what she was going to say. She wanted to say she was sorry for what had happened to me, she was practically crying inside her mind as we stared at each other. I shook my head at her, not wanting her to have to force herself to get those words out, I already knew what she meant. But still she felt the need to say something to me, needing an understanding. "Is uh...is all this what led you to come here?"

"No..." I felt my face tightened, getting flushed as it always did when I was on the verge of crying. I felt a strangled sob take a hold of my throat at that very second, rendering me silent as the vampires in the room shifted uncomfortably. I felt a single tear slip down my cheek before I said. "It's not reason I really came here. Something happened that I didn't tell you about."

"Like what?" Stefan asked quietly, taking Elena's hand as he spoke as she gravitated towards him for comfort. "What else could have possibly happened to you?"

"And can you explain it without crying?" Damon spoke up seriously, looking at me with the most unease. He like Eric, had never been very good with seeing me cry and when I did it around him, he got seriously disturbed. "I can't take your tears. You know that."

"Damon, shut up." Elena hissed, sending a glare at him before turning her face towards me and nodded. "Go ahead, tell us what happened."

"Um, you see when I was brought back to life by magic, I still had a connection to death. And the first time I had vampire blood since I was resurrected, it made that bond to death stronger and it gave me a new ability that I never thought was possible." I explained, clasping my hands to my knees as I was faced with the task of having to convince not only a human, but two more vampires that I could do the impossible. I didn't want to beat around the bush, so I just said it in the most obvious way. "I can read vampire minds."

"Uh, yea...right. That's a good one." Damon started laughing after I told them this, reacting in the exact way I thought he would so I wasn't surprised when he was looking at me like I was crazy. I was use to that. "You have got to be out of your damn mind. You can't read our minds, no one can. It's impossible."

"No it's not. I've experienced it for myself and as impossible as it may seem, it is very true." Louie shot back at him, jumping to my defense immediately if only for another opportunity to get under Damon's skin. "She's telling the truth, she really can read our minds if we let her."

"But it's never been done before. It...just...can't be true." Stefan was shaking his head rapidly, almost like he was trying to convince himself more then anyone else. But when he looked at me, I could see in his eyes that he believed it. "It was suppose to be..."

"Prove it." Damon interrupted his brother's tirade with a determined look in his eyes as he crossed his arms. "If what you're saying is really true, then prove it."

"Fine." I snapped, feeling a flash of frustration go through me as I settled my eyes on Damon's face. I knew I couldn't blame him for not believing me right off the bat. I was telling him the one thing that all vampires thought had been off limits to everyone. That their thoughts couldn't be read by any being, not even one of their own. And here I was going against a truth that had stood the test of time since the first vampire had roamed the earth. But I couldn't pretend like it wasn't true. I knew what I could do and I had to convince them of it too...

"She's crazy, she can't really read my mind. It's impossible. But her trying to be so convincing about it is kind of hot..."

"...it's impossible. But her trying to be so convincing about it is kind of hot." I repeated Damon's thoughts right on back to him without stumbling over any part of it. I watched as his face went blank, as if the blood had been drained from him and he actually moved back in his chair out of shock as he settled down with his mouth hanging open. I could only shrug and say. "I told you I was right."

"Holy fuck." Damon replied as loudly as if I had just told him I could turn him human again. He looked at Stefan and Elena who were wearing identical expressions of disbelief but even though they couldn't say anything, I could see that they too knew this was the truth. Damon wouldn't have reacted this way if he of all people hadn't believed it. He actually leaned forward, his face lighting up with curiosity before he asked. "So that's why you came here? Because you were worried about us hearing it from someone else?"

"No, I came here here because I saw something I wasn't suppose to see. I was alone at my house with Godric the other night and I was trying to get his attention but he was lost in his thoughts. So I grabbed his shoulder and the contact brought me into his head accidentally and I saw a memory that was more personal then I could have imagined. And he did not react well." I frowned harshly, turning my eyes down to the carpet so I wouldn't have to look at the three faces staring at me as I explained this. Louie already knew about it obviously, so he sat at my side silently and didn't look at me since he knew the burden of having an extra set of eyes on me. "Um...he was angry and he lashed out at me. He didn't seem to know what he was doing, but he did attack me. He bit me and drank my blood to the point where he almost killed me..."

"What the fuck?" Damon's hands gripped the edges of his seat as he looked like he wanted to rise up. "Godric hurt you? I'll kill him..."

"Damon, not now." Stefan snapped, but his voice didn't sound as harsh as it should have been. Instead he just sounded tired. "How did you survive that?"

"Eric showed up and threw Godric away from me, he somehow managed to get him out of the house before he was able to give me his blood. Luckily he got there right in the nick of time." I shuddered at the thought of how I felt just the other night when I thought I was going to be meeting death for the second time. It gave me chills as I could remember every single detail about those painful few minutes and it almost made me sick. I had to get away from it. "So I was fine, but Godric wasn't. You know how intoxicating Fae blood is, and mine is pure. So Godric had to be caught and Eric chained him in silver in our basement so he couldn't hurt anyone else while my blood left his system. I just didn't want to be there while he was detoxing..."

"So you left and came here." Elena finished for me, her warm brown eyes filling up with tears as she clutched Stefan's hand. "I don't blame you in the slightest."

"I just couldn't be around him after that, it was too hard." I sniffled, quickly wiping my face to hide any tears that may have fallen. I hated that I was this close to falling apart over Godric again. I hated that he had put me in this position. He was my best friend, he should have been the least likeliest of people to ever attack me. But I guess people can still surprise you. "I needed to get away but Eric didn't want me traveling alone. So I called Louie and explained what happened and he agreed to come with me for a few days and now here we are."

"I so want to kill Godric right now." Damon growled, sounding ferocious like some kind of wild animal but underneath it, I could see it was coming from a place of protectiveness. He looked at me and asked completely seriously. "Can I stake him?"

"Damon, don't be an asshole." Louie stated, narrowing his eyes at the much younger vampire and smirked. "Godric is 2,000 years old. If anyone would get staked in that showdown, then it would be you. So actually, you should go ahead and try it."

"Fuck off old man, you're getting on my nerves." Damon's hand clenched the arms of the chair even more tightly so that the sound of splintering wood could be heard. "Maybe you should take one of those iron pokers over there and shove it..."

"Enough! I don't want to hear any of this shit." I snapped, lifting my head up from staring at my feet once I had regained my composure and sent both Louie and Damon a look to cease this near fight before it could begin to escalate. "Quick, someone say something else to change the subject."

"Uh ok. You know that phone call Stefan and Damon got before the battle a few months ago? The one from me that said the town was in trouble and I was scared for my life and that they needed to come home?" Elena piped up, her face clearing itself of any possible tears as she took control of the conversation and turned it to some thing I hadn't even thought about in months. She set her eyes on my face when I began to feel confused and said with a grimace. "Yea, that was all a lie. That phone call was a fake. There was never any danger to the town or me. It was a complete fabrication on the part of those witches."

"Are you serious?" Well that certainly changed the mood in the room, but none more then me as I suddenly went from being near tears to wanting to throw something across the room. "They faked that call?"

"Oh yea, big time. They somehow were able to replicate my voice and get in touch with Stefan and Damon to make it sound like there was trouble back home and they needed to leave right away to protect me. But of course there was nothing wrong and it was only when the three of us were together and put everything on the table that we realized it was done to draw them out of Shreveport. Damon and Stefan may be young vampires, but they are still vampires and could have easily killed some of those witches. So they had to be drawn away from the battle in the easiest way imaginable, and that was by making it seem like my life was in danger."

"Oh my god, I fucking hate witches!" I was surprised that my voice came out only mildly agitated because inside I was fuming. I was furious. No I was beyond furious, I was absolutely livid. I knew these witches were cunning and evil, but to see the depths they had lowered themselves to was maddening. If they hadn't sent Stefan and Damon home then maybe the battle wouldn't have ended the way it had. Perhaps I wouldn't have died and then brought back with this more then rare ability. An ability that stole a very cherished friendship away from me because of how deep I could see into a vampire's mind. None of this would have happened had it not been for those witches. I slammed my closed fist on the couch and snapped. "I want to kill them all right now. They say the world needs to be rid of vampires, well I say it needs to be rid of witches."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but your birth mother was a witch and she brought you back. Not to mention that you have also said you have witch blood in you. So if want to kill all witches, then you would also be killing yourself." Damon pointed out smugly as if he thought he had made some great statement that I should be thanking him for. But instead I was beginning to crack a smile and that seemed to be the reaction he wanted. "Am I right or am I right?"

"You're just an asshole." I grumbled, looking at is smirking face with a shake of my head. "Ok, you may be right. Not all witches are bad. After all, one did bring me back from the dead and that alone should change my opinion of them."

"It does for me." Elena nodded in agreement, her voice getting heavy and I knew she wasn't going to be far off from crying again. So I got up as quickly as my feet would allow me and met her halfway across the room as we embraced each other tightly. I could feel her chin shaking against my shoulder as she said. "I'm so glad you came back."

"I'm glad to be back too. I wasn't finished with this life yet." I said back, squeezing my eyes shut so I wouldn't end up the same way she was. But it was no use, I felt the tears slipping down my cheeks just as I heard a disgruntled groan coming from the side of us as both Stefan and Damon came up and joined us in our hug. I could hear Damon grumbling under his breath and I looked up to catch his blue eyes and said through my watery vision. "Shut up."

"What? All I said I was that you guys cry too much." Damon shot back defensively even though I could see the smallest hint of a smile on his lips that said he wasn't about to let this situation overwhelm us even though he hated getting emotional. So he was using his own approach to it by making fun of us. "You take these things way too personally."

"Only when I'm around you." I tried to sound annoyed but I wasn't. Damon was infuriating but he meant well most of the time and just did things in his own way. So when I hugged him back, I could read his mind just as he was thinking that even though I didn't want him in the same way he wanted me, he still wasn't prepared to stand by and let me be hurt by anyone, including Godric. It was that statement that almost kept my attention on our little group and not have it drawn away by anything. Almost but not quite.

Because I was just able to make out Louie's moving form just as he reached the back door and slipped outside without saying a word to any of us.

5 minutes later

"I'm so glad you came back..."

It was this statement from Elena to Allison that had sent Louie out the door to stand on the dark porch alone and stare up at the sky that was lit up with glittering stars and think about the happiness being contained inside the house behind him. A moment that he wasn't part of.

It wasn't that he didn't want to share in the moment, it was more that he didn't feel like he belonged there with them. Those 4 had a history together that did not include him in the slightest and it would have felt intrusive to stand there with them and pretend like he was apart of it. He wasn't part of this group and it would be ridiculous to pretend like he was. He was merely an outsider observing the way vampires and humans interacted when they formed friendships, that was all. Sure Allison had asked him to come along and he may have begun to form a bond with the younger vampire Stefan, but that didn't mean anything. He was just the odd one out and he had been like that for the past 1000 years, isolating himself to the point where he was never entirely sure how to interact with other people or even vampires anymore. That's just how he was and for a while, it had never bothered him as he did not want to get close to anyone. Sure he had Allison in his life now, but their friendship wasn't rooted in years or memories. Maybe one day it would be but right now it was new and he was still working at finding a comfortable way to interact, even with her. After a thousand years of being just with himself and not even creating a progeny, he found it hard to be around other beings. It was a hard habit to break and even though he had willingly agreed to come here, he still found it difficult to interact with the others, even though he got along with them. Well, most of them. It put him on edge to have to be social, it just wasn't in the cards for him. Maybe it would one day, but right now, he was just going to suck it up and make it through this trip for Allison's sake. She wanted to, no she needed to be here with her friends and he wasn't going to cause problems for her. She was growing on him, slowly but surely.

"I'm glad to be back too."

Louie smiled to himself as he saw again the expression that had been on Allison's face when she said that. She was happier then she had been when they left to come here and it was nice to see that change happening right in front of him. She had been so withdrawn after what happened with Godric and after dealing something like that, even he had been unsure that she could come back from it. After all it had been her best friend who had attacked her and nearly killed her, no one would have blamed her for not being herself. But then a miracle had occurred, and the moment she was back with these old friends, she was her old self again and she was happy. It was great that she had so many people who cared about her. Stefan and Elena were so compassionate towards her and even that asshole Damon cared in his own way. They were all friends and even in the limited time he knew all of them, he could see the ties between them and it was obvious that no one would betray the others no matter what the circumstances. Their relationships to each other were strong and anyone could see that. It was so incredible to see.

But it also saddened him and that was the main reason he had slipped out of the house and was standing here in the dark all by himself. It was a little too much to take to see those bonds of friendship and he had to get away from it. It just reminded him too much of what he use to have a thousand years ago, back in a time when he had both Godric and Helen. It was a time that even though Helen had chosen him, she still loved Godric and still wanted him to be with them so they could all be their own family. The three of them had a bond much like Allison had with the Salvatores, that tight friendship that would last forever if they worked at it. He and Godric may not have been biological brothers, but they shared a friendship before they were turned at the same time by the same maker. So in a way they were very much like vampire brothers. And Helen loved them both, even after she picked him in the end. She would still make it known that Godric meant a lot to her and she didn't want to part from him. They were all suppose to be together longer then they had been, they were suppose to have more time. And instead, things had been cut short and she had died before her time. And his friendship with Godric had been ruined beyond repair. A thousand years and he still carried the pain of that time with him and he feared it was a pain he would never lose. He would always have it, just like he would always have loneliness as his only companion...

Flashback

"Why do you look so far away from me?" Louie turned his eyes away from the black night sky with it's twinkling stars above him and turned his attention to the heavenly looking blonde at his side whose face was still directed upward with a distant look in her eyes. He reached over and stroked his fingers across her soft skin that glowed warm under his touch. "Are you worried about the future again?"

"No, I stopped fearing the future a long time ago. It's not what occupies my mind right now." Helen told him, turned her head to the side to look at him in the light from the small fire that had been set only a few feet away. Her blonde wavy locks were spread out around her head, making her seem even more angelic then usual. Her green eyes caught his and there was a haze in them, dimming the normal sparkle he had come to love. She moved closer to him,not shuddering in the least at the cold contact of his ice skin on hers as she ran her hand across his bare chest and said. "I was contemplating our lives together, our long lives. It amazes me still to think that the Fae can live longer humans can. And yet we are not truly immortal as you are."

"No, not even the Fae can live that long. But as you said, you have more time then most beings and that means more time at my side." Louie couldn't help but smile at her in that moment. Had she been merely human, then he would have shied away from getting close to her since she wouldn't have been able to live past a certain age. But she was part Faerie, and she would be with him longer and it was that possible time together that drew him to her even more. But another glance at her face told him that she was not as elated with this thought as he was and it made him frown. "What troubles you?"

"I have just been wondering about the future and I know there will come a time when we will part from this life together, our life together. And I would like for you to be prepared for that." Helen explained, moving her covered body so it partially covered him before she sighed heavily, the motion he could feel through her chest. She was sad, he could feel it even though he didn't have a blood bond to her. She ran her fingers over his face before saying. "When I do leave you...when my life comes to its natural end, I don't want you to mourn me. I want you to move on and find happiness in someone else."

"Do not speak of such things." Louie found himself frowning up at her, his fingers going to her lips to silence her from saying anything more about it. It sent a dart of pain through the spot where his heart should have been beating when he thought of life without Helen. It was unfathomable. "Why would you say that to me?"

"Because you need to understand you will not have forever with me. I want you to always be happy and I want to be the one who makes you feel that forever. But I'm a Faerie, I may live many years longer then humans but I will eventually die. I can't live forever..." Helen looked down after she said this, breaking their gaze as she did not speak any more of that inevitable moment. Her fingers stroked his jaw, touching him lightly before she spoke again in a chocked tone. "And I don't want you to be alone."

"That won't happen for a while, so we don't need to worry about it. And when it does happen, I promise you I won't be alone. I will have my brother with me." Louie smiled fondly as he thought of his slightly troubled but always loyal best friend. Godric had his faults, but deep down in the depths of his crippled soul, he always meant well by Louie. And Louie knew that when Helen did pass on, Godric would be there to mourn with him. But until that happened, he refused to think of it. He reached up to her face and held her delicate features in between his hands. "We don't have to think about it now...But I will be happy with whatever time I have with you."

"Promise me you won't hurt over me forever." She whispered, her warm breath floating over his face as she looked deep into his eyes. "Promise me you will move on and love another as you have loved me."

"There will never be another that compares to you. Even if I live a dozen millenniums, I won't love anyone like I love you." He knew it wasn't what she wanted to hear, but it was the truth and he couldn't pretend to believe in a falsehood just to make her happy. "But I will promise to try and find peace after you. I will try and find happiness."

"Promise?"

"Yes. I promise."

End flashback

But he hadn't done it. He hadn't kept his promise to her to move on after her death. He had remained like he had the night he found out she had been killed, numb and empty and unable to see straight. It was a wonder he had kept his sanity long enough to move through these years and not meet the true death. But that would have been too easy and that really would have been a disgrace to Helen's memory if he had killed himself just to see her again. It's not like he hadn't thought about it over the years and there were even a few times when he had nearly done it. But then he would feel a flash of guilt at what Helen would have thought of his actions had she still been alive and he never could go through with it. He remained alone, wandering through his life with no one and being tortured by his memories of his all too short time with Helen. It wasn't suppose to be like this, they were suppose to have more time. But life had thrown a very cruel twist and now a thousand years had passed and he still was just as lonely as ever. He still laid awake, even at dawn and wished she was still with him but that only further served to make that dagger in his chest twist even tighter...

"Louie? Are you ok?" Allison's voice came out of the darkness behind him and he turned his head to find her stepping out on to the porch with a concerned expression on her face. "I thought you would come back in but it has been over 20 minutes and I was getting worried."

"I'm fine. I was just contemplating some things and I needed a moment by myself." He explained, watching out of the corner of his eye as she stepped to the side and then came to stand in front of him with her arms crossed and her eyebrows raised in doubt like she didn't quite believe him. He almost laughed at her in that moment. "What?"

"I just...I get this feeling that you were feeling sad not all that long ago." She pressed her lips together tightly and sighed heavily, reminding him a little of Helen in the way she reacted to him. "So I don't just think you were contemplating just nothing."

"You may be right about that, but I don't think I feel like talking about it. It's one thing to hear it in my own head, its another thing to have it voiced out loud." Louie knew that one day he would have to talk about Helen in real depth or else he would never find the peace that he had promised her. But that day was not tonight. Tonight, he would keep Helen in his own head for now until he was more ready to speak of the pain he still carried. He looked at Allison's young face and offered her a smile. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

"I still worry about you. I feel like you'll be in my life for a long time and I can't help but feel attached to you already." She admitted with a shrug, tucking her dark hair back with a smile of her own. "And I just know from my limited knowledge of your life that you were not quite in a good place tonight."

"Maybe you imagined it."

"Maybe I didn't." Allison's lips twisted up into a smirk, giving her young face a brightness even in the darkness of the night. She set her hands on her hips and raised her eyebrows even higher. "Maybe I'm right."

"Since I am your elder, I will let you keep on thinking that..."

45 minutes later

"Do you seriously have to leave right now? It's too early for you to go."

"Elena! It's almost 3 in the morning and I've had a very long night. I need to get some sleep." I was trying to sound stern but I ended up cracking a smile at my old friend as Louie and I stood by the door preparing to leave. After he and I had come back inside, we had all settled down for drinks and to catch more on what had been going on in Mystic Falls since I was last here. But eventually I had caught sight of the clock and was spurred to get to my feet and head to the door, telling the others the night was over and Louie and I had to leave. Of course Elena being the person she was, wouldn't let me go without first begging me to stay just a little bit longer. I almost caved because I could see it through her perspective that if she had been the one to be resurrected and show up on my doorstep then I wouldn't want her to leave at all. But it wasn't like this would be the last time we saw each other and that's what I would tell her. "I told you I would be here for a few days and obviously we will spend time together. All of us. So stop acting like I'm going home right now."

"I just feel like I walked in the door and saw you only a few minutes ago, but its been hours. It's all just so fresh." Elena shook her head and stared at me intently as if still trying to decide whether this was real or just some really weird dream. She broke into a smile though which filled me with relief. "But you're right, it has been a long night and we will see each other again soon. So I will very reluctantly let you leave."

"But I won't." Damon's taunting voice spoke up from the back of the group and we all turned to see him standing there with his arms crossed and that typical smirk on his lips that had been present almost all night. I could visibly feel Louie tensing up beside me and I readied myself in case I needed to react. Damon strolled forward, eying both Louie and I but his tone was directed at me. "Come on, you can stay a little longer. We just got that hot ass of yours back in our sight and there is no way we are letting it go just yet."

"Oh Jesus..." Stefan slapped himself on the forehead with the heel of his hand at his brother's statement. "Damon must you?"

"Yea, do you have to be so damn inappropriate all the time?" Elena asked, rolling her eyes and stepping in front of me to block me from Damon and to potentially be a road block in case Louie decided to lunge at Damon like he looked like he wanted to. Elena eyed him quickly before turning to face me again and nodded towards the door. "You two better go now while things are calm and before Damon makes another shameless pass at you."

"You know you love it." Damon retorted with his eyebrows raised as Louie took me by the arm and pulled me out the door while Stefan and Elena stood and waved goodbye to us as we headed over to the car. Damon of course, could not be contained and had to make one last jarring statement. "Hey hot stuff, next time you come by, leave old man river at home!"

"Damon!" Both Stefan and Elena yelled out as Louie and I climbed into the car and started driving off.

5 minutes later

"I...cannot...stand...him!" Louie growled through gritted teeth as his hands gripped the steering wheel tightly as he wound the rental car through the quiet, empty streets of Mystic Falls and fought like hell to control his temper. All of which I could tell without even reading his mind. It was written all over his face.

"Ok, maybe it was a mistake to allow you to be the one to drive back to the hotel." I said lightly, trying to ease the tension in the car as Louie looked more unhinged and angry then I had ever seen him before. It was obvious that Damon rubbed him the wrong way and I had a feeling that this wasn't just a one time thing, they would most likely continue to butt heads the whole time we were here. And that made me uneasy as I turned my head to look at him. "Uh Louie? Can you calm down a little bit? You're starting to scare me."

"I'm sorry but that moron you call your friend is so infuriating." Louie hissed, his knuckles tightening again on the wheel but I felt a decrease in the speed as he slowed down and my heart beat returned to a more normal pace then it had been just minutes ago. Louie was frowning straight ahead as if he was picturing Damon on the hood of the car, but when he opened his mouth to speak, his tone was softer. "I apologize, I shouldn't be acting like this. I'm 2000 years old, I should have a better hold on my temper."

"You do have patience, more then any other vampire I have met. But then again, you met Damon Salvatore tonight. And Damon can pretty much get under the skin of anyone he meets." I tried to keep my voice neutral, but I was on the verge of laughing. I didn't want to hurt Louie's feeling, but the sight of a vampire his age getting so irked by Damon was just so extremely comical to me. But I had to keep it to myself as I reached over and patted Louie on the arm. "Don't worry, he's not all bad. You just have to learn how to handle him."

"And how do you expect me to do that?" Louie wanted to know, taking his eyes off the road briefly to look at me with doubt written all over his face. "Befriend him and take him to a bar for drinks?"

"No, that's ridiculous. Damon doesn't drink with other vampires, except maybe Stefan. Damon doesn't exactly like to be social when there is blood involved." I pointed out, running my hands through my hair as I fought back a yawn. "But you could take him to a strip club. He would be your best friend if you did that."

"And then perhaps he will stop referring to me as the old man vampire. That gets annoying really quickly." Louie's tone went hard again but he kept his composure when it came to driving, which I was more then happy about. He glanced over at me and very reluctantly asked. "Do you think he's right when he insinuates that I'm too old to be hanging around you?"

"Damon is an asshole most of the time, so do not let what he says bother you. You are my friend, so its my opinion that matters, not his." I sent a smile through the dark at Louie, hoping he could sense that I was being genuine because I was. Damon wasn't a bad person, but he never acted the right way in front of other people and even I could admit that. But this wasn't about Damon, this was about Louie. "And I just so happen to think that you're pretty great. It doesn't matter how old you are, the age thing never mattered when it came to my relationships with people. I mean look at Eric, he's not a young vampire. And Godric...well..."

"Yea, I know what you mean." Louie cut me off because I think he too felt uncomfortable talking about Godric so I was glad when he interrupted me and took control of the situation. He had just turned into the parking lot of the hotel when he said with an almost bemused smile. "I have a feeling this is going to be an interesting trip all around. Both good and bad."

"You know what? I think you're right."

10 minutes earlier

As the dark car drove down the driveway and away from the house, two pairs of eyes watched the departure from their spot in the tree line surrounding the Salvatore house and stepped back into the darkness of the woods once the vehicle disappeared entirely from their view. The two vampires stood there in the safety of the forest, not saying a word and just allowing the sounds of the very early morning to wash over them until the taller immortal felt the need to break the silence.

"We must leave." He told the female vampire at his side, turning his eyes on her and seeing the way she still looked after the car almost as if she could still see it in her line of vision. There was a blankness on her face, an expression that he could not decipher despite their years together and that made him extremely uneasy. He knew what she was like when she got like this and it was best to pull her away now before it got too deep. "It's time to go. We came here to lay our eyes on Louie, but now we need to run before we are spotted."

"You are right. We did what we came here to do and now we must disappear again as if we are nothing more then phantoms." The female sighed, her dazzling blonde hair being blown back by the chilly wind that whipped through the trees but it did not faze her. Still, she stayed rooted to the spot, not looking like she had any intention of leaving. But a minute later, her eyes left the road and turned to look up at him as she nodded. She barely acknowledged his presence besides taking his arm when he offered it to her as they began making their way deeper into the forest. Her eyes were staring straight ahead when she spoke again in a near whisper. "I shouldn't have come."

"I've been thinking the same thing all these years. And I don't understand it at all." He said calmly in response, keeping his grip on her even though she didn't need it but it was out of respect. "You can't keep hurting yourself like this anymore. It's torture for you."

"I know." Her voice was as soft and gentle as a spring wind, but underneath the sweetness lay an overwhelming sense of sadness that had been apart of her as long as they had known one another. Her delicate hands gripped his arm as they walked together. "It's just hard to leave, that's all."

"You have to make a choice. You've been avoiding making this decision for years but now I cannot bear to see you in pain any longer." He shook his head, feeling his body constrict with emotion as he thought of the agony he felt from her every time they did this. Every time they caught up to Louie over the years, it was the same debilitating sadness that over took her and he couldn't take it anymore. He looked down and said. "I need you to find some kind of peace in this. Either reveal yourself or stay away. But this back and forth is not helping."

"Once again you are right." She actually looked at him with the smallest hint of a proud smile on her lips. It was very faint but it had been there. "But I do not know where I'm suppose to go from here. Any decision doesn't seem right. How am I suppose to choose?"

"I don't know, but make a choice. And make it soon, Helen."

A/N: oh yea...didnt see that coming did you? You have no idea how badly i have been wanting to do that since Louie was first ever introduced...but i had to be patient or else it wouldn't work the right way...but now it is out and i cant wait to see the reaction it gets