Thanksgiving break! WOOHOO! That means a SPN marathon ;)

A little note, I deleted the first trailer for the story...oh my God, why didn't anyone tell me that it was that bad? I'm remaking the season 3 trailer right now and I think it's better than the one up now. Just letting you know in case you went looking for it and got mad that it wasn't there...not that that would happen anyways.

Ugh. Next chapter is the one with all of the ghosts. That should be fun. I totally don't even know what I'm going to do in that chapter...oh, well, I'll figure it out.

Hey, if you would all do me a favor and go check out my story, Counting Stars, I would be so grateful to you all. But HOLY CRAP thank you all for the reviews last chapter! I'm so glad everyone liked it! You all are really the best.

Enjoy, Damon and Rachel fans :) Though don't give up on Klaus and Rachel yet, I promise their story is far from over. No flashbacks in this chapter though :/ Soon; promise.

Disclaimer: Refer to The Return


Smells Like Teen Spirit

It was like she barely even had a single drop of sleep when the alarm clock went off beside her, signaling that it was time for her to get up.

But she just didn't want to.

With a lazy hand, she reached over and hit the snooze button on the alarm clock, silencing it, though she didn't need much of an alarm. Everything was so sensitive to her during the night – a draft of cold air, a change in the atmosphere, the way she breathed. It was just all excuses to keep her awake – to keep her from dreaming about the memories she loved so much – the ones that Klaus hated.

She just wanted to sleep. No dreams. Just pure sleep.

But that couldn't happen. She had things to do, people to see. Not to mention that she made the decision to take Alaric up on the defense classes that he'd been wanting to give to her and Elena the entire summer. Each time he brought it up, they turned it down, but this time? This time was different.

Rachel was afraid.

It was hard for a vampire to be afraid – really and truly afraid of something. They weren't invincible, but it sure took a lot to keep them from staying alive. She managed to keep herself alive for this long, despite of everything that had been happening since she relocated to the town with Katherine.

It just wasn't enough anymore.

With Rebekah almost ripping her heart straight from her chest while Klaus stood by watching and anyone else unable to do anything about it, something clicked. Rachel didn't know how to defend herself. Sure, she knew how to stake a vampire. Sure, she knew how to throw a couple punches.

But she was weak. And with Klaus not giving a damn about her safety, she realized that there was only one person she could count on that could: herself.

So with a large sigh, she threw back the covers in her warm bed and walked to her dresser to get ready for the training.

After getting dressed in a jogging suit, she walked outside of her bedroom and walked downstairs to see Ric on the couch, bending over and rubbing his head.

"Good morning," she began.

Ric's only response was hand up in the air, and Rachel looked at him in confusion before watching as he got up from the couch and walked to the kitchen, and they followed.

An hour later, they were outside in the woods. Rachel stepped forward. "Okay," she said, clenching her fists and rocking back and forth. With a small smile, she looked at Alaric. "Ready to go down?" she mocked.

Alaric wasn't amused. "Straighten your back," he instructed and walked over to her, his hands on her waist to straighten out her spine. She grimaced as he continued nit picking at her flaws. "Don't clench your fists so hard – no, Rachel, don't loosen them completely! Feet shoulder-width apart. Hips turned," he barked. Rachel followed his command like a lapdog. Alaric stepped in front of her and copied her stance with ease. "Good," he praised. "Now hit me."

She lunged forward at him, but he dodged it and moved so that he was behind her. Rachel flitted around, but Alaric stopped them from continuing.

"No," he barked again. Rachel sighed. "I'm a human, you're doing this with me, so you're going to act like a human. You're not as strong as all of the other vampires out there so you're going to be at a disadvantage. It's better that you learn to be at a disadvantage than at an advantage as I teach you since you don't want to train with Damon."

Rachel blinked. "What does any of this have to do with Damon?"

Alaric frowned at her knowingly. She stared back at him and he just pretended like he didn't hear it. He beckoned her forward as an indicator to continue the fight. With an angry sigh, Rachel got into her position and launched forward, but Alaric blocked the punch. The fight unfolded, and the Human Rachel was getting her ass kicked. Every time she blocked, Alaric hit her somewhere else, and every time she tried to hit, he would block it perfectly and end up hurting her in response. The end of the fight came near as he tripped her and she fell to the ground a few feet away, and with a sigh she flitted up to a standing position and crossed her arms.

Alaric began, "Bench some weights," he instructed. "Drink more blood – feed more often, do whatever you need to do to get stronger." Without anything more, he bent down and grabbed something out of a bag. He held it up for Rachel to see. "Do you know what this is?"

"A vervain grenade," Rachel responded.

"Then you know the element of surprise is your only advantage when it comes to vampires," Alaric said, looking at her with a hard stare. Rachel nodded as Alaric took his other hand and took the pin out of the grenade. The top popped off and Alaric tossed it to her. "Surprise," he sung bitterly.

"What the hell?" she said as she looked down at the vervain grenade and – quickly – threw it up into the air where it exploded in a fireball. Rachel looked back at Alaric, now pissed. "Do you even realize what you could've done? This isn't a joke."

"Hey, you think I'm joking?" Alaric snapped. "Vampires will take whatever they want, they hurt whoever they want, and they'll do it without remorse." Rachel flinched. "It's their nature."

She nodded slowly, biting her lip. "You know I won't be offended if you say Klaus. It's better than you talking about vampires, which does include me, you know."

Alaric sighed. "Fine," he started. "Okay. I get why you're here. Klaus stood by and didn't say a word when his sister tried to kill you and you don't want it happening again."

She nodded at him. "And you think that I'm insane to think that I can actually stand a chance protecting myself from him?" Rachel filled in.

Alaric looked at her for a moment. "I think you found a way to get out each morning and help the people that you care about most, no matter what memories returned before the summer began," he said slowly. "And that makes you one of the strongest people I know." Rachel took in a slight breath and he continued. "I think that, with my help, you can do a lot." He paused. "But I think you could do a lot more if you asked Damon to help you."

Rachel thought about it for a moment. No. She couldn't enlist Damon to help her. Not only was it…weird, it was cruel, considering the way things had been…different between them since their last talk.

And she couldn't let herself get hurt again. It was two for two – two people who had loved her and decided that she wasn't worth their time. And in Damon's situation, he was trying to do it again. She couldn't let that happen.

"I think you'll do just fine," she said, giving him a slight smile. Alaric sighed and nodded in response and understanding. Rachel held up her fists and gave him another smile. "Another go?"


As Grace and Rachel parted ways to go to their lockers, Rachel's phone rang in her pocket. It was the first day of Senior Year – and, apparently – she was required to come. She hated high school. Students acted like their problems were so much bigger than life when, really, being a vampire has the biggest problems you can ever imagine.

So as she approached her locker and pulled out her phone, she saw Damon's number on the Caller ID. She thought about sending it to voicemail, but with her luck, he would just show up at school and demand to know that she was okay.

"Tell me you didn't call me to check up on me," Rachel said as she held the phone to her ear and searched for her locker. "Because I'm fine."

"Yeah…" Damon trailed off. "So…you might not wanna come here for a while," Damon began. "We have a new housemate." He paused.

"Well?" she prompted. "Who is it?"

"Barbie-Klaus," Damon answered with a light tone. Rachel stiffened as she entered the combination on her locker and opened it.

"Oh," she said, quiet. Rachel cleared her throat. "Uh…why?"

"Well, she's stranded," Damon explained. "Apparently, Klaus left her in the dust after I name-dropped Mikael."

Rachel took in a deep breath and tried to keep from getting angry that the person who came so close to killer her last night was now living with Damon. But she didn't blame Rebekah fully – she mostly blamed Klaus. She didn't even want to think about it anymore.

"What about Stefan?" she asked, moving on from the topic. "What's he up to?"

"Oh, you know, the usual," Damon said with another light tone. "Journaling. Reading. Shaping his hair," Damon joked.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Ha-ha, Damon made a joke," she said. Damon laughed on the other side of the line. "Come on, Damon, Elena's not with me right now. You don't have to be careful. What is it?"

"The problem is, if I tell you, you tell Elena."

Rachel made an offended sound. "Damon, that's not even remotely true!" she argued.

"Was that the bell?" Damon said, avoiding the conversation. "Ring! Ring! Don't wanna be late!"

"Damon—" But before she could get the second word out, Damon hung up the phone and she was left with the dial tone. With a frustrated sigh, she closed her locker door.

I hate high school, Rachel thought to herself as she turned to see Caroline pinning something up against a board. She looked closely to see the words SPIRIT SQUAD BACK-TO-SCHOOL BONFIRE. BE THERE! The words were written in big letters with a picture of a fire on it and a note to the side of the poster. A bonfire?

"What is that?" Rachel asked as she approached Caroline. Caroline turned around and smiled.

"It's a back-to-school bonfire that we have every year," Caroline said excitedly. "We're going to have so much fun—"

"Who said I was going?"

Caroline made a face. "Uh!" she grunted. "You have to go! It's our first spirit-squad event and it sets the bar for the whole year—"

"Caroline," Rachel cut her off, laughing. "Relax. I was kidding. I should probably go, anyway."

"Thank you," Caroline began. "It's just that—" Again, Caroline was interrupted, but it wasn't by Rachel this time. Tyler came over and kissed Caroline square on the mouth, making Rachel get slightly uncomfortable at the sight.

"Happy first day," Tyler said to Caroline as he pulled away. Caroline touched her lips, weary, and Rachel sensed something wrong.

"That's…blood," she said, looking at a stain on the collar of Tyler's grey shirt.

"Oh my God," Caroline said incredulously as she pulled Tyler away from the hallway and into the bathroom. Rachel helped by going inside with them as Caroline gave the lecture to her boyfriend. "Vampire one-oh-one, don't wear your breakfast to school." Meanwhile, Rachel checked the bathroom for unwanted listeners.

"Chill out, it was a blood bag."

"From where?"

"Rebekah hooked me up."

"Rebekah? And what are you even talking to her for?"

With a sigh, Rachel walked over to the sink and began to get paper towels to help clean off the blood from Tyler's shirt. Klaus's sister wasn't growing on her much.

"Klaus told her to keep a watch on me. Protect his new asset." Tyler smiled.

"His what?" Tyler said nothing, so Caroline continued. "Why are you amused by this?"

"I'm his first successful hybrid, Caroline," Tyler said sternly. "Don't you think that's just the tiniest bit awesome?"

Caroline scoffed. "Oh, wow. I cannot believe you just said that."

"Okay, I no longer feel comfortable in this conversation, especially since it's about Klaus," Rachel said as she looked at Caroline. Caroline looked at her for a moment.

"Rachel—"

"No, don't worry about it," she assured the blonde, who only looked at her with sympathy for a moment. Rachel extended the paper towels to Caroline. "Just…clean it off before anyone sees, okay?"

Caroline said nothing more and Rachel walked out of the bathroom with a heavy sigh. This is why high school was just so stupid. You spend eight hours a day in a classroom when the real world is waiting for you and when you finally get out; it's just a living hell.

With an inward grunt, she turned and walked away from the bathroom, but not before Stefan blocked her from going any further.

"Rachel," Stefan said, slightly singing her name. Rachel looked at him, confused.

"Stefan?" she asked him. He nodded. "What…are you doing here?"

"What do you mean?" he proposed. "I'm going back to school." He raised his arms. "Go Timberwolves!"

"Timber-what?"

"Timberwolves," Stefan repeated, pointing to a mural behind her. Rachel turned around to see a big mural with a Timber Wolf on it, and she realized that it was a mascot. She turned back around to face him.

"Okay…" she trailed off. "But…why?"

"Well, Klaus wants me to keep an eye on you and Elena," Stefan revealed. Now it made sense. "I'm just doing what I'm told."

"Well, no offense, Stefan, but I can take care of myself," she spat and began to walk away from him. "I'm going to be late for classes, so—"

Rachel tried to walk away, but Stefan grabbed her arm. "Oh, uh, classes are this way," he said, stopping her from leaving.

"Let go of me," she ordered.

"Rachel," he began. "Do you honestly think I want to be a senior for the hundredth time?"

"Good thing you don't have to be."

"But the thing is, I do," Stefan replied. "And if I don't have a choice in the matter, neither do you."

"Just let go of me," she ordered.

"You're weak and you're slow," Stefan said through his teeth, stepping towards her more so that there was limited space between them. "I wouldn't order me around if I were you."

"Let her go," someone else intervened, and Alaric came out with a stern face on. Stefan smiled and just removed his hand from her arm and backed away, holding them up as if it were a game. But, then, Stefan took one of his hands and pinned it on Alaric's chest as he pushed Alaric up to the lockers. Rachel looked around to see all of the high school students looking at them.

"Stefan," she warned him. "Stop it. You're making a scene."

Stefan just…didn't care. "You're not gonna want to…get in my way, okay, Ric?" he said lightly. Alaric just gave a small nod, which earned Stefan's release. Stefan backed away and smiled at them both. "I will…see you both in History." And with another smile, he left them, and Rachel just stared at the Salvatore incredulously as he left.


Since when did she have gym on her schedule?

If there was one subject that she hated, it was gym. Even in the seventies, they had physical education as a subject, and she hated it. As a vampire, she hated it more. Sure, she didn't have to do a lot of effort with it, but she very well couldn't run the mile using her vampire speed in front of three dozen humans, could she? So, instead, she had to dial down her vampire side for the second time that day.

It was only when Stefan came up to her when gym turned into her own personal hell.

"Look at you," Stefan said lightly. "Being all fit." She rolled her eyes. "Failing at it, too, I like that." She decided not to respond. "Hey, are you going to the bonfire tonight? Sounds like fun, right?"

She gritted her teeth. "Did Klaus also tell you to annoy the hell out of me, because it's working," Rachel snapped. As she turned around and tried running the other way to get away from him.

"Speaking of," Stefan began. "Who are you bringing to Homecoming? Damon or Klaus? Personally, I'd say Damon, but that's just me." Rachel didn't get the chance to respond when a human bumped into her and looked at her with apologetic eyes.

"Oh," he said, smiling at her slightly. She didn't even know who he was, but she had to admit that he was not that bad looking. "I'm sorry."

Suddenly, Stefan pushed the human down, and he landed on the grass with a grunt. "Watch it, dick!" Stefan snapped.

"What are you even trying to accomplish, here?" Rachel yelled at him, anger flashing in her eyes.

Stefan looked up at her. "I didn't make myself clear?" he asked her, and she ground her teeth together. "Klaus doesn't want you getting hurt again. To be perfectly honest, I think it has something to do with the fact that he almost killed you yesterday." He looked at her as she felt herself begin to get angry. "I mean…no offense…or anything."

"Shouldn't you be looking after Elena?"

"Rebekah's got that covered for me," Stefan said, shrugging. "I thought it'd be much more fun to look after you."

With a scoff, she just held her hands up and walked away from him, not wanting to hear anymore.

"What?" he called after her, but she just ignored him.


Damon entered Alaric's apartment with a confused look on his face, as he was hearing grunts and hits from outside in the hallway. When he got inside, he saw Rachel hitting a punching bag that hung from the ceiling, her punches getting angrier and angrier by the moment. This time, she had bothered to put up her hair in a ponytail.

"You honestly think a punch bag is going to be as strong as a vampire?" Damon quipped. She stopped for a moment to look at him.

"You don't understand," she snapped and resumed punching. "Stefan called me weak and slow and is basically assigned to protect me from everything even though I'm a vampire. Klaus is just trying to rub the fact that I'm not strong enough in my face," she said, throwing an extra kick into the equation. But even her vampire jumps didn't amount to the strength of a true vampire.

Damon came over to her and stepped in front of the punch bag, removing the piece of material out of the equation just as she threw a punch. Damon blocked it with his hand and she stared at him for a moment before throwing another punch, but he caught that one as well.

"What are you doing?"

"Helping you out."

"Damon," she grunted as he pressed down harder on her fists.

"Come on, Buffy!"

"Buffy wasn't a vampire, she was a vampire slayer."

"Oh, what's the difference?" he proposed. She kicked him and he dodged out of the way, spinning her around so he was behind her. She pushed away from him and he smiled at her before walking over to the collective amount of stakes laid out for Alaric's disposal.

"Like one obnoxious Salvatore brother isn't enough."

"You called," Damon sung. "I'm here." He grabbed a stake from Alaric's collection as Rachel tried to catch her breath. "What's your plan, oh Warrior Princess?" Damon smiled widely.

She stared at him for a moment but decided not to say anything to him. "Elena wants to lock Stefan up," Rachel told him. "And, frankly, I don't have a problem with it." Damon let his smile drop. "At least until this Mikael guy comes and we force Klaus into removing the compulsion."

"You do realize that Mikael might kill Klaus, right?"

"There may be another way," Rachel suggested. She paused and looked at the floor. "Besides, right now, the idea isn't so heart-wrenching."

"Ooh," Damon said, smiling again. "Do I hear Miss Rachel changing?" Damon teased. She frowned at him. "I thought things never changed with you."

"They don't." She pulled the hair tie out of her hair and let her hair fall loose over her shoulders. If there was one thing she hated, it was her hair up. "Besides, I don't think it will come to that."

"And if it does?" Damon proposed. "I won't be able to stop that from happening, you know. No one will. Obviously, this Mikael guy does what he wants."

"You'll find a way," she assured him.

"I think you're getting your boyfriends mixed up, baby, I'm not the invincible one – he is."

"Do it for me, Damon," Rachel said, walking closer to him. Damon fell silent. "Every time I looked at Klaus while he was holding us in that gym, I felt like I was going to break. And after how he treated me, I can't give him that satisfaction anymore, he feeds off of it." She shook her head. "And it doesn't help me that I am barely able to take care of myself, let alone fight anyone else."

Everything was silent and she turned away when Damon said nothing, but as she turned, Damon grabbed her hand and pulled it towards him, putting it in the middle of his chest.

"What are you doing?" she asked as he pushed her hand in his chest, his hand warm on top of hers.

"You feel that?" he asked, looking down at her. She looked at their hands. "That's the sternum. It's a solid plate of bone." She looked up at him just as he used his vampire speed to whisk her into his arms, one of his hands on the side of her body and the other holding her arm in place so she didn't move. In her ear, he continued. "And right here, just below the rib cage..." He moved his hand deeper within her back, showing her where he was saying. But she could barely focus. His hand felt like it was burning a hole through her skin. She tilted her head back and tried not to show him how much she quivered under his touch. In her ear, he continued as her breaths cut short. "Next to the spine." Again, only short breaths came out of her mouth. "That's your way to a vampire's heart." His lips brushed the side of her face, giving her small kiss that felt like it was way too inappropriate to be giving. But it was over all too quickly, as he pulled his face from hers and allowed her to stand in front of him and not against him. "I'll do whatever it is you need me to do, Rachel," he told her, quiet. She let her breath quiver for a moment, fully aware that he knew how she was feeling. And he was using it to his advantage. "No one is going to hurt you," Damon assured. "Not Klaus. Not my brother. Not anyone." He swallowed. "I will protect you always."

She wanted to say something – anything – but she couldn't. Rachel thought that she was safe with her decision after she regained her memories.

But the truth of the matter was that she wasn't so sure anymore. About anything.


"I'll lure Stefan away from the bonfire," Elena said to Alaric, Rachel, Caroline, Grace, and Damon, revealing her plans to them. "Then, when he's distracted—"

"I'll shoot him," Alaric finished. Elena nodded.

"Seems easy enough," Rachel admitted from on top of a desk.

"Can't Bonnie just juju him or something?" Damon groaned.

"I'm trying to keep Bonnie out of this." Elena explained. "I don't trust that Stefan won't hurt her." She turned to the blonde in the room. "Caroline?" she asked. "Are you covered?"

"Yes," Caroline replied. "I will make sure the old Forbes jail cell is prepped and ready."

"You're forgetting a key player here," Damon said, ruining their confidence. Everyone looked at him. "Rebekah? Wherever Stefan goes, a blond ponytail tends to follow."

"Which is why it's your job to keep her away," Rachel told him, partially through her teeth.

Damon feigned a smile. "I bet that was your idea, wasn't it?" She narrowed her eyes at him. Damon sighed. "How am I supposed to do that, anyway? She's an Original. Last time I checked, we're out of daggers."

"So, then, preoccupy her with your charm," Elena suggested.

"Might have better luck finding the dagger," Alaric quipped.

"You ever not gonna be mad at me, Ric?" Damon asked him tiredly. Caroline, in the meantime, was smiling at Alaric's comment.

"Doubtful."

"Sorry I'm late," Tyler said as he came into the classroom. He looked at all of them and inhaled. "What's going on?"

"We need you to raid your mom's vervain supply," Elena told him. "Enough to keep Stefan down for a while."

Tyler looked at her like she was crazy. "You…can't do that to Stefan."

"Why not?" Caroline demanded of him, confused.

"Trust me, Tyler, it's in his best interest," Elena told him firmly.

"Yeah," Caroline agreed.

"But it's not in Klaus's," Tyler said simply. From the other side of the room, something clicked in Damon's head.

"But…Klaus is the bad guy, Tyler," Caroline began.

"I'm in love with the guy and I don't care what he wants," Rachel added from the other side of the room.

Tyler tilted his head at her and shrugged. "Well, you don't count. You're mad at Klaus."

Caroline scoffed. "Why are you acting like some…freaky…" she trailed off, searching for the world.

"Hybrid-slave minion?" Grace finished for her, and Caroline nodded at Grace.

"Exactly! Some freaky hybrid-slave minion."

"Uh-oh," Damon said, getting off of the counter that he was sitting on in Alaric's classroom. Rachel hopped off her desk in response.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Klaus made me who I am, Caroline," Tyler said roughly. "I owe him everything."

"Oh, boy," Damon mumbled. Caroline turned around sharply.

"Okay, can we cool it on the commentary, please?" she snapped.

"What is…going on?" Elena asked, confused.

Damon grabbed a vervain dart from the table stealthily as Tyler looked around at everyone. "I'm just…gonna go," he said.

But just as he walked away, Damon flashed to him and dug the vervain dart into his back, and Tyler let out a huge scream as he dropped to the floor. Grace let her eyes follow the dropping body.

"What are you doing?" Caroline screeched, brushing past Damon and going to her boyfriend.

"He's been sired," Damon said simply.

"What?" Alaric asked.

"Sired," Damon said, turning around and facing the four of them. "He feels loyal to Klaus because Klaus's blood created him."

"Loyal how?" Elena pressured.

Damon looked down at Tyler. "He'll seek acceptance from his master. It's really rare," Damon added. "But…maybe not so much in hybrids."

Caroline looked up at Damon. "So how do I fix him?"

Damon just smiled at her. "Get a new boyfriend."


Possibly the only good thing about being in high school was the parties. So far, Rachel had about ten cups of beer and she felt absolutely fine, just a little buzzed. Obviously it would decrease in a few minutes because she was a vampire, but she would just fill up her cup from the tap again and continue partying like a regular seventeen-year-old girl at a high school party.

Of course, she was a nineteen-year-old girl – technically about forty years old – who really hated high school and had so many internal issues that it was getting quite annoying. But, that didn't matter, did it?

Though she was happy that she got to see human life all around her. For the longest time – that was all she wanted to be. Human. When she went to school with Grace, she had the experience of it, but Katherine was always watching over her shoulder to make her remember that she was, indeed, a vampire. Never before had she felt so…normal.

But when she saw Stefan, it brought her back to reality, and she remembered what she had to do. Provoke him to go to Elena instead of stay with her.

He stared at her and shifted when they met gazes, and she just tilted her cup at him with a smile. When she pulled it to her lips to drink, Stefan did the same, and she downed the whole cup. He watched as she did it, and when she pulled her head back down, he nodded at her in approval, and she nodded back.

But he didn't come over to her right away – not that she expected it. She turned her head, but a different sight caught her attention. Rebekah and Damon, smiling flirtatiously at each other, licking marshmallows off of their fingers. She had no right to be jealous – at all – but, somehow, she got that feeling. She knew it was so wrong to keep acting like she owned Damon's heart, but, she didn't want that to go away.

Was this how hard normal teenage love lives were? Caught in the middle of two wonderful men who would do virtually anything for her? Well, of course, Klaus was sort of breaking that rule completely, and Damon was the one that stayed true to it.

Had she made…the wrong decision?

Suddenly, someone came behind her.

"What's that look?" Stefan asked in her ear, and Rachel just snapped out of her trance, shifting so that Stefan wasn't so uncomfortably close to her.

"What look?" Rachel asked, sighing.

"Well, my brother's got his flirt on and…well." Stefan laughed. "I know a jealous look when I see one."

Rachel scoffed. "I'm not…jealous," she lied and took a sip of her drink.

Stefan shrugged. "It's all right," he assured her. "Be jealous. By all means. I'm sure Damon will be ecstatic."

"Damon won't be anything because I'm not jealous."

"Really?" Stefan tilted his head at her. "You know, Klaus never said anything about keeping you away from Damon, so…if you want to go for it, you know, I'm all for it. To be honest, I like you and my brother together. Of course, Klaus won't be happy about it when he learns…might even rip Damon's heart out – but what do I care?" Stefan laughed.

Rachel turned to face him. "I'm not jealous, Stefan," she said sternly. Stefan held up his hands.

"Sorry," he said. "My mistake."

Rachel sighed and took a big sip of her drink when her phone chimed in her pocket. She pulled it out, knowing exactly what it was going to say. "Ugh." She groaned.

"What?"

"Elena just drunk-texted me," Rachel began. "Some gibberish about doing pirouettes off of the top of the bleachers." She began to walk past him, but Stefan stopped her. She looked up at him. "What? You're standing here trying to make me feel something for your brother while Rebekah's slutting it up with Damon and no one is watching Elena." She sighed. "I guess I'll just have to tell Klaus that I saved her life; not you."

Once again, she tried to walk in the direction of the football field, but Stefan stopped her.

"You stay here," he barked at her. "I'll go help Elena."

She gave an angry look at him, but when he left, she just let a smile spread on her face and didn't bother following him as she took another sip of her drink and continued her "high school experience".

By the time she turned around, she saw Rebekah and Damon, two inches from each other's face, and she felt anger bubble up inside of her. Without anything further, she turned around sharply, refusing to watch the rest unfold. She drank her beer angrily before going off to meet up with Grace, who was most likely the only one to get her mind off of it.


With a sigh, Rachel pulled her shirt over her head and walked into Damon's bathroom to reapply the bandage that she put on her chest the night before. She would've gone back into her old room, but Rebekah seemed to have taken it over. As if it wasn't bad enough that the blonde Original was flirting with Damon earlier in the evening, she had to take over her room as well?

Rachel tried to push the thought out of her mind as she ripped off the gauze to see that the wound was almost healed, though there was still a ring of blood and raw flesh around it. She threw the gauze away and prepared a new one, but someone knocked on the door.

"Need some help?" Damon asked at the doorway. Rachel looked at him for a moment and realized the intensity of the situation, and shook her head.

"No," she said slowly. "Um…I'm good."

"Oh, give me a break," Damon said, snatching the gauze out of her hand, earning a scoff from her mouth. "You'd think after all the time that we'd spent together you would learn not to get so self-conscious around me when you're half-naked."

"It's…weird," Rachel admitted. Damon shrugged.

"Only if you make it," he said. After a while of staring at each other, she finally sighed and gave in.

"Okay," she agreed. "Fine. You can help." Damon smiled. "Where should I…?"

"Sit up there," Damon instructed, unwrapping the gauze so he could wrap her wound up. She sighed and hopped on top of the bathroom counter and straightened herself as Damon began to wrap her ribcage with the gauze to keep the pain from getting to her. The small brushes of his fingers made her shiver, and when it was finally over, she sighed. "There," Damon concluded, his fingers lightly brushing her abdomen. She tried to focus on something else.

"You played your part of the plan really well tonight," Rachel said, failing to cover up her distaste.

"Oh, yeah?"

Rachel sighed. "Yeah," she said sadly. "You had Rebekah…drooling all over you and your marshmallows." Rachel said with a bitter tone.

Damon laughed as he began to tape the gauze to her ribcage. "Yeah, before she skewered me," he said, completely missing the tone in her voice. Rachel just stayed quiet. "It was…um…"

"It's okay," she said quietly. "You can say it." Rachel sighed deeply, making her stomach expand. "She's moved into my room, she's eating marshmallows off of your fingers…" Rachel looked at Damon and he grabbed another piece of tape. "She's taken my place here."

Damon looked up at her. "That could never happen," he said slowly. "Rebekah's…nothing compared to you."

Rachel scoffed. "It doesn't look that way to me," she mumbled and looked away from Damon.

"Rachel Cameron," Damon gasped slightly. "Are you…jealous?" he asked.

"What is with everyone asking me that?" Rachel muttered. Damon half-smirked and she stared at him before groaning. "Okay, fine. You win. I was jealous. There. Happy?" she proposed.

"Not necessarily," Damon admitted and looked down at her lips, indicating what he wanted to do. For a moment, she thought about letting him do it, but when Alaric and Elena interrupted their moment, she realized what she was about to do, and decided that it was good that she didn't.

"Well, this is highly inappropriate," Alaric stated, his mouth in a hard line. Rachel swallowed hard.

"I, for one, am truly angry at myself for interrupting," Elena commented. She sighed. "But, unfortunately, we have to go."

Rachel nodded and looked at Damon, who stepped away from the counter to let her slid down. She slipped her shirt back onto her body and looked at Damon once.

"Uh…Goodnight," she began.

"Goodnight," Damon repeated, and waited for her to leave. With reluctance, she walked out of the bathroom.

"I'm not even going to ask," Alaric mumbled.

"Good," she said slowly as she exited the bathroom. All three of them walked downstairs, to leave the boarding house. "Does anyone know where Grace is?" Rachel asked.

Elena responded to her. "She went to bed. Said something about a long night. I think she was drunk."

Rachel shrugged. "She's young; she'll learn to tolerate everything soon enough." With an exhale; they walked into the foyer where Stefan met up with them, repeating Rachel's long sigh.

"Well, you got me tonight," Stefan began, and Rachel could tell that he was trying to hold back a smile. "I definitely wasn't expecting that."

"Well, that was the point," Elena admitted. Stefan hung his head.

"Yeah." With a pause, he looked back up at them. "You know you two can hate it all you want, but you both need me. I think you're both better off having me around."

Elena shied away, and Rachel knew that it was becoming a tough subject for her. But not Rachel. No. Stefan wasn't being fair to her; he was making her seem like a human. In all reality, she wasn't. She was a vampire. And she didn't need protecting.

So, as Stefan turned around to leave, she spoke. "You insist upon protecting me when you can't even protect yourself?" she snapped, suddenly angry. Those pesky intensified emotions that came with being a vampire showed strong. "You can call me weak all you want, Stefan, but I can manage to take care of myself. I don't need a guardian with me everywhere I go, and I want it to stop."

Stefan turned around and looked at her. "You think that I'm weak?" he asked through his teeth, though she could tell he wasn't getting as angry as she was. "You are weak, Rachel. You always were. You're not a vampire; I don't even know what you are. You don't heal quick enough and you don't like blood." He let a small laugh out of his mouth. "What kind of vampire doesn't even like blood?" Stefan hung his head and she just stiffened, the conversation only making her angrier. Stefan returned to meet her gaze and he stepped forward. "It's pretty sad," he admitted. She gritted her teeth. "When you came to Mystic Falls, you were strong – at least, that's what it seemed like. Since the summer passed, you've just become a tragic little girl who doesn't know who she wants or what she wants. You're practically a human." Stefan dropped his voice. "And do you have any idea how pathetic that makes you?"

"Being human isn't supposed to make me pathetic," she said slowly, her voice at the same tone that his was. With a jolt of surprise, she kicked him hard in his chest, sending Stefan flying against a wall, where a table broke along with a few glasses. But she didn't care. A rush of energy surged through her.

"It makes me strong."


What'd you think? Eh, I wasn't too sure about this chapter with the whole Stefan/Rachel thing...and, eventually, they will end up being friends. And, well, with this whole doppelgänger business going on...things are never easy in Mystic Falls, are they?

*Sigh* Anyway, I'll update ASAP. Please tell me what you thought of the chapter.

Love,

BellaSalvatore1918

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