I don't own The Vampire Diaries.
A/N: Thanks to everyone who's still reading this story :) Damon always gets his way, doesn't he? ;) Some D/C bonding in this chapter!
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Chapter 25
Less than five minutes later, Damon's phone rang and he pulled over to the side of the highway and hopped out of his car because he didn't want Bonnie to hear the conversation.
"Caroline?" He answered the phone. He could hear the wind in the background, so clearly she'd gotten out of her car too.
"Damon? What are you doing? Go home." Caroline directed.
"No." He fumed. "I won't let you do this. I'll find you before you do." He cautioned and she sighed.
"This isn't something that you 'let' me do, Damon… this is something that I have to do. You might not care about making sure that everyone's safe, but I do." She replied softly.
"I only care that you're safe!" Damon exclaimed as he paced back and forth.
"I know and I love you for that but…"
"If you love me, you won't do this." Damon cut her off hoping that it would work.
"Two can play at that game, Damon. If you love me, you won't go on a rampage because then those deaths will be on my conscience." She countered and he scowled at nothing in particular because he couldn't kill people now because he wouldn't do that to her.
"Why, Caroline? You could die. Do you really trust that Sheila fucking Bennett is going to pour vampire blood down your throat when I know for a fact that she thinks people should die rather than become vampires?" He exclaimed as he still paced furiously.
"She promised." Caroline responded quietly.
"And Emily promised me that Katherine was in the tomb. Witches lie, Caroline." Damon retorted.
"Damon… she's not going to betray me… just go home. Stay safe. I need you to be safe." She pleaded and he felt tears well in his eyes – how could she ask that of him when she wouldn't do the same?
"How am I supposed to just accept this?" He asked her emotionally, his anger replaced with hurt. "I love you so much. I can't just go home when you could die. You're my whole world already." He revealed and it was obvious that he was upset and he heard her sob.
"I love you so much too. I'm not trying to hurt you. But you didn't live in my time. You didn't see all of the chaos that Klaus caused. You didn't see all of the hurt and devastation that happened because of him. I feel like it's an honour being the one who can stop him because he needs to be stopped. I want to do it. I… just this once I want to be the one that helps everyone." She admitted quietly and he felt his tears well.
"Please don't do this to me." Damon begged and she sobbed.
"I'm not going to die. I'm not going anywhere. Sheila's going to try to restart my heart as soon as it stops so that you can still turn me." She promised.
"Then stop the car and wait for me. If you're so hell bent on this… let me at least be there. Then if Sheila can't start your heart, I can run you to a hospital in seconds and get a defibrillator to start your heart again." Damon optioned and she was quiet for a moment. "I'm not going to turn back, so you might as well wait for me because I can find you anyway." Damon added when she hadn't replied.
"This is important, Damon." Caroline implored.
"I won't stop you if you just let me be there." Damon stated. "If I'm there, I can help get your heart beating again. If I'm there, I can make sure that Sheila doesn't just decide that you aren't getting to be a vampire." He added. "Please, Caroline. Just wait for me." He pushed and she sighed.
"You give me your word that you won't interfere with the spell?" She asked and he gulped – he was going to have to watch her die. Again.
"I…" Damon trailed off.
"Damon." She cautioned.
"Fine. I give you my word that I won't interfere with the spell. Now, where the hell are you?" Damon asked.
"Route 70 at the diner just off of the I-77 North at Marietta." Caroline replied.
"I'll be there in less than an hour." Damon confirmed. "Stay there." He instructed.
"And don't threaten anymore rampages or Sheila will set you on fire." She muttered and he chuckled.
"I'll have no need to go on one with you by my side." He teased with a smirk and she snickered.
"You promise, Damon?" She whispered and he knew that she meant the spell, not the rampage.
"I promise. I won't stop the spell." Damon swore and she sighed.
"Good… cause I kind of can't wait to see you." She admitted and he cracked a grin as he was getting his way.
"It is kind of pathetic that I miss you already." He teased and she giggled.
Damon drove the rest of the way as fast as he could and it wasn't long until he pulled into the parking lot of the Diner at Marietta. He parked his car and Caroline, Stefan and Sheila were in the parking lot standing next to Caroline's car. Damon got out of his car as did Bonnie and it was obvious on Sheila's face that she wasn't pleased about Bonnie being there. Damon walked up to them, his expression was cold as ice and Bonnie hurried over behind him.
"Hey." Bonnie greeted while Damon stared down Sheila then Caroline went up to him and kissed him on his cheek.
"Stop being so angry, Damon, this will save thousands of lives." Sheila remarked and Damon nodded.
"You see the problem with that is that I don't care about thousands of lives. Just hers." Damon scowled motioning to Caroline and the blonde shot him a look for being difficult while Sheila sighed – she did understand because she knew that Caroline was the reason that he was feeling again. She understood that he didn't want to lose her – no, couldn't lose her.
"Damon, you promised." Caroline pointed out.
"I did. I promised that I wouldn't interfere with the spell. I did not promise that you would be the sacrifice." Damon countered darkly and her eyes widened at her mistake.
"Damon…"
"No." Damon cut his brother off. "Find another human." Damon glared at Sheila. "If you're so sure that she'd survive it, find another human then I'll compel them to forget about it after. If it's truly not a big deal." Damon stated dangerously.
"It has to be me." Caroline countered.
"Oh, really? And why's that?" Damon questioned snarkily.
"Because vampires can't do it." Caroline replied and Damon nodded.
"Then why not have Bonnie perform the spell and Sheila be the sacrifice?" Damon retorted. "She's in her sixties. She's lived. If you do it and die then it's just a murder of a precious eighteen year old who hasn't lived." He fumed and Caroline, Bonnie and Stefan's jaws dropped. Sheila wasn't offended because she knew that he had a point, the spell just wouldn't work on her because she was a witch, otherwise she would have agreed to do it herself.
"Damon!" Caroline gasped in disbelief.
"He's right, dear." Sheila agreed surprising all of them.
"Come up with another solution or I'm throwing you over my shoulder and we're going back to Mystic Falls." Damon glared at the blonde and she looked stunned.
Present
"No!" Bonnie exclaimed. "If my Grams does it, she'll die! She's already fading!"
"Better her than Caroline." Damon countered annoyed and Stefan and Elena gaped at him for being so insensitive.
"I hate you." Bonnie hissed at him.
"I really don't care." Damon shrugged. "If Sheila kills Caroline, I will kill everyone. Starting with you." Damon warned and they all looked stunned – he hadn't said anything about it before, but they all understood then that their Damon had indeed been changed by past Damon – in other words, he was just as in love with Caroline too. "So, you might want to pass that along." Damon cautioned. Bonnie scowled at him then got her phone out and dialled Caroline's number – unfortunately, her phone was still off.
Past
"This is taking too long." Damon commented irritated.
"Can you just get over yourself for five minutes?" Caroline asked him annoyed. "Klaus has to be stopped! That is what is important." She glared.
"No, you are what's important. You're not dying in some stupid sacrifice." Damon declared. "Somebody else will just have to do it." He added.
"We can't drag an innocent into this." Caroline replied sadly – hoping that he'd listen for once.
"Then I can go find you a rapist or a paedophile or something. That's not an innocent and if it's such a sure thing that the sacrificed person won't die, what does it matter?" Damon countered and Caroline looked like she was about to argue then Damon remembered – so, in a blink, he bit his wrist then was behind her putting his torn wrist to her mouth and Sheila, Stefan and Bonnie's jaws fell open. "Now you can't do it." Damon stated as he stepped back from her and she glared at him.
"I can't believe you did that." Caroline gasped and she looked so betrayed.
"You can't believe it?" Damon asked like she was crazy. "I love you and you think that I'm just going to let you die? You're clearly nuts if you thought that I'd just go along with this fucking idiocy." He snapped and she shot him a look while the other three were shocked to hear him confess his feelings so openly.
"Just stop arguing." Sheila sighed. "It's done. We either have to make it someone else or go home." She added.
"It's Detroit, Sheila. There will be thousands of criminals there. I'll go snatch one. Problem solved." Damon said like it was obvious.
"Very well." Sheila nodded – internally, she couldn't really help being happy about it. She so hadn't wanted to have to stop Caroline's heart.
"Good. Let's go." Damon bid then put his arm around Caroline and dragged her over to his car, making it clear that Sheila, Bonnie and Stefan were to go in Caroline's car since he clearly needed to talk to the blonde. Sheila chuckled a little then she got back into the car and Stefan got behind the wheel while Bonnie got into the backseat of the car.
"Sorry about my crazy brother." Stefan muttered and Sheila snickered.
"He just loves her, Stefan. Anyone truly in love would do anything possible to stop their heart's desire from dying." Sheila pointed out. "I really didn't want it to be Caroline either, so I can't help being very happy that Damon involved himself." She supplemented.
"Yeah, but he's kind of nuts, Grams." Bonnie remarked and they both laughed a little.
"Yes, I think he is." Sheila agreed amused.
Caroline was glaring out of the window as Damon started the car.
"You really have no right to be mad." Damon pointed out.
"Oh, really, and why's that?" Caroline retorted.
"You went into the woods when you thought that I was in danger of dying. You put yourself at risk, you got shot, you died… ensuring that I wouldn't." Damon reminded her and she rolled her eyes because she knew that he had a point. "I love you more than anything. I would never let anything happen to you if I could stop it." Damon declared while he pulled the car out of the parking space then followed Stefan.
"But you forced this on me! That is why I'm angry!" Caroline snapped and he sighed.
"How is this different from sticking me with vervain and locking me in the cell?" Damon countered and her mouth snapped shut because she realised that she'd basically done the same thing.
"Shut up, Damon." She mumbled annoyed and he laughed a little knowing that she didn't have an answer to that.
"So, you don't love me anymore?" He teased and she scowled at him.
"No." She huffed and he chuckled.
"Liar." He smirked and she shot him a look.
"Do you always have to be so difficult?" She muttered and he snickered.
"I'm difficult? Have you met you? You're full of secrets and hidden agendas and you never tell me the whole story. I might lose you to the future in less than two months. How do you think it is for me?" He questioned and she sighed and felt bad because she knew that it hadn't been easy for him.
"You just don't get it." Caroline murmured.
"Then explain it to me." Damon encouraged and she was trying her best not to cry because she was so upset about it.
"People think that I'm just this stupid ditz; that all I care about is shopping and socialising and gossip – and the worst part is that I was like that. Before I turned when I knew nothing about this world, I was fine with being a pretty, popular airhead who all the boys wanted to date and all the girls wanted to be because I thought that stuff mattered. My home life sucked, my father ran away with a guy and my mother ignored me to bury herself in work, so I got my approval elsewhere by being cheerleading captain and head of the organisation committee, dating cute boys and wearing nice clothes… but it's not enough. I acted like a stupid blonde bimbo because that was easier than having to open up and let someone see who I really am, so I created that other shell – but that resulted in everyone thinking that I'm just… that I'll just be in the way. In the other timeline, nobody ever told me about the plans because they just thought, 'oh, stupid little girly Caroline won't be any use to us'… this was my chance to be useful. This was my opportunity to show that I can be strong too. That's why I'm so mad at you." She replied with a sob and Damon reached over and took her hand – feeling like it was terrible that her supposed 'friends and family' put her through all of that when she would risk her life for them.
"But you've already more than shown that." Damon answered caringly. "You staked Ben by yourself. You took Anna down by yourself. You stopped the tomb from being opened - all of those vampires would have no doubt killed tons of people. You saved Zack and Jenna and Tyler and all of the other people who died. You single-handedly got my out of control ripper of a brother to manage human blood so that he doesn't have to lose it and kill thousands of people ever again. Elena's never killed anyone because of you. And… look at the difference in me. In just a few weeks, you got me to turn it back on when I vowed to never do that. You got me to fall for you when I thought that I'd never love anyone ever again. You got me to basically stop killing people without ever asking me to, just because I want to be better for you. If anyone thinks that you're stupid then they don't know you well enough to make assumptions about you." Damon detailed and tears streaked her face, knowing that it was very difficult for him to voice things about himself like that out loud – he didn't know just how much everything he said meant to her. "But if you'd died in that sacrifice… all of it would be undone." He answered.
"What do you mean?" She tested confused.
"Without your encouragement, Stefan would fall off the deep end. If he fell off the deep end and turned it off, he'd encourage Elena to do the same and she'd be a killer too. And, obviously, if you died, I'd kill everyone." He stated like it was obvious and she shot him a look.
"Don't be dramatic." She muttered.
"It's true." Damon shrugged. "You're the only good thing that's ever happened to me since before my mother died. After her death, nothing in my life was ever good until I met you. I'm not going to lose you… I can't lose you." He added quietly and her stomach fluttered.
"You won't lose me." Caroline assured.
"So you do still love me." He teased and she chuckled and rolled her eyes.
"Obviously, dumbass." She retorted and he snickered then leaned over and kissed her cheek.
"Nobody thinks that you're stupid girly little Caroline." Damon assured. "And if someone does, point them out to me, I'll go kill them then there will be nobody left to think that." He smirked and she laughed in disbelief.
"You know that's insane, right?" She asked and he snickered.
"Insane seems to be how to get things done." He countered amused and she rolled her eyes.
"Can vampires drink each other's blood?" Caroline queried and he smirked at her, knowing why she was asking that.
"It doesn't do anything for us like human blood does, but we can still drink it." Damon confirmed and she considered that.
"Will it still taste as good?" She examined and he chuckled.
"It will for us because I'll be your sire." Damon answered. "What made you think of that anyway?"
"I can still taste your blood in my mouth." Caroline responded.
"You still craving?" Damon tested.
"Not as badly as earlier in the week because of that lovely blood bag I snatched on Thursday but a little, yeah." She agreed and he snickered at her choice of words.
"I'm itching to go hunting with you." Damon admitted and she smiled.
"Me too." She agreed. "Aside from the blood, the thing that I'm looking forward to most is going out in the woods at night." She disclosed. "And going for a run." She added and he smirked – he loved those things too.
"Mmm, must suck having to do everything at human pace." He agreed and she sighed.
"Sucks so bad." She agreed and he chuckled…
A/N: Yay! Future Damon finally fesses up openly for those of you waiting for that :) Next chapter, we'll meet one Mr Klaus Mikaelson...