Next Morning. Boarding house.
Rose looked up from the kitchen as she heard Damon come downstairs.
"Morning."
Damon smiled as Rose handed him a cup of coffee. Stefan than walked down the hall to them.
"Hey have you guys seen Elena?"
"No." Rose told him, she looked to Damon. He shook his head no, and then turned back to Rose and kissed her. Damon took a drink of his coffee afterwards.
"Mmm you make good coffee." he said. Rose laughed, but turned back to Stefan when he sighed loudly.
"Damon, you don't know where Elena is?" Stefan tried again.
"No Stefan, she's your girlfriend." Damon rolled his eyes, Stefan glared at him.
"I'm going outside for a bit, if I see her I'll tell her you're looking for her." Rose told them. As she left, Stefan noticed that the door to the basement was open.
Oh no.
Stefan got Damon's attention and motioned to the door. Damon's face went from annoyed to angry. She didn't?
They both rushed to the basement to see Elijah's body was gone.
"She didn't!" Damon whispered harshly, and proceded to swear a few times under his breath.
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Rose walked into to find Damon and Stefan in a panick.
"She's lost it." Damon said.
"What's going on?" Rose asked.
"Elena brought back Elijah." Stefan answered.
"What?" Rose looked truly surprised.
"Like I said, she finally lost it." Damon commented.
"You know maybe she can get Elijah to help us kill Klaus." Stefan said.
"Bonnie's how we kill Klaus, and plan B are those hunters. What more do we need?"
"And Bonnie could die, so Elena's looking for another way, it's not that surprising." Stefan told them.
Rose couldn't help but agree that waking Elijah was a bad plan...but she understood what Stefan was saying too.
"Elena's way is going to get her killed. We need to go stop her." Damon said. He made a move for the door.
"No." Stefan replied. "Back of."
Damon glared at him. Rose stepped back. This wasn't good.
"It's not like I like this Damon...but we need to let her do things her way." Stefan continued.
"I don't agree." Damon said, and turned to leave again, but Stefan grabbed him. Damon looked about ready to fight him.
"Damon..." Rose warned. Now definately wasn't the time for internal fighting.
Damon looked at her, but finally pulled away from Stefan and walked into the other room. Rose followed him, and Stefan was about to but his phone rang.
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Damon looked to Stefan as he hung up.
"That was Jenna, I need to go over there...she's about to meet up with Ric and I need to make sure she doesn't."
Rose nodded.
"Well I'd love to help, but I'm just going to stay here and NOT do anything stupid." Damon said.
"Seriously you're going to be like this?"
"You and Elena are calling the shots, I'll remain passive. Go."
Rose wanted to laugh at him and knock him out at the same time...he was totally acting like a guy, so mature. She rolled her eyes at him, he gave her a look. Stefan finally turned and left.
"You're up to something." Rose said.
"Me?" Damon smirked.
"Yes, you. What are you going to do?" Rose asked.
"I'm not going to do anything...we are."
"What? Damon look I don't think..."
"No big deal, just paying someone a little visit, we're not going after Elena."
"The boys will be here soon."
"We have time, come on."
"Fine." She finally gave in, and followed him to his car.
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Alaric's apartment
Damon and Rose walk over and knock on the door, no answer. Damon opens the door and Katherine is standing there.
"What are you doing here?"
Rose rolled her eyes. "You don't want to be rescued? Well that's okay, Damon maybe we should leave her here?" Rose said, smirking at Katherine.
"You came to get me out of here?" Katherine asked, suspicious.
"No sweetheart, we just came to see if you deserved to be rescued. Figured you were still alive, Klaus was blending in way to good using Alaric's body, thought maybe he had coaching." Damon said, and and Rose pulled out a small bottle of vervain.
"It won't undo anything." Katherine told them.
"Nope." Rose agreed, turning to Damon.
"Did Klaus tell you to do exactly what he said until the end of time?" Damon asked.
"No."
"See, loophole." Damon smirked.
Damon nodded to Rose, and Rose tossed the bottle to Katherine.
"Drink up." Damon told her. "It'll prevent any further compulsion."
Damon and Rose were about to leave, but Damon turned back.
"Why'd you double cross us with Isobel?"
"You don't stand a chance against Klaus, I was looking out for myself."
Rose knew what that was like...thing is looking out for yourself always came back to bite you.
"Where'd that get you?" Rose asked her.
Damon smiled. "Here."
Katherine glared at him.
"You owe me. I will come collect." Damon told her.
Finally Damon and Rose turned and left.
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Salvatore house
Damon and Rose entered the house as Elena was walking to the front door. They'd heard the tailend of the conversation between Stefan and Elena, and Damon only knew a little bit about Jenna finding out the truth. Rose felt sorry for her, she liked Jenna.
"Where do you think you're going?" Damon asked Elena.
"I promised Elijah I'd return."
"No." Damon told her.
"Get out of my way." Elena glared at him.
He took her arm.
"Don't think about walking out that door." Damon ordered.
Rose looked at Damon...she wanted to step in, but this time she didn't think he'd be so receptive to her interruption. So instead she carefully looked at Damon and put a hand on his shoulder. Damon eased his grip on Elena's arm.
"Elena..." Damon started to calm down, but Stefan made his way over to them and then Damon got defensive again.
"Let her go." Stefan yelled. Rose sighed, Damon had calmed down, that was over now.
"You kidding me?" Damon asked.
"You heard me."
"You keep getting in my way, don't try it again." Damon threatened, but let go of Elena and marched upstairs.
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A few hours later Damon and Rose are sitting in the study.
"You're too quiet."
"Rose..."
"You're stressed, I get it. You're worried about Elena, we all are. Thing is all this fighting is distracting you from protecting her."
"I know that." Damon said, but he wasn't mad at her. "When's your friends getting here?"
"Friends...that's a little too strong a word...but I don't know. They told me yesterday when we spoke a day or so ago, so hopefully no later than tomorrow."
Damon nodded.
"I'm going to go change, maybe I'll check in with them too." Rose told him, getting up. Damon let go of her hand that he'd barely recognized he'd been holding. It had been a silent thank you.
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Rose had finished changing, but decided against calling Dean. They'd get here when they could. She suddenly heard a large crash, she'd been preoccupied with her thoughts she'd tuned down the enhanced hearing, and must have missed Stefan and Damon arguing again. She rushed downstairs to see the brothers throwing each other around. Oh dear...
"Boys." She tried..nothing. Damon had Stefan pinned again, but Stefan threw him off. Rose noticed Elena and Elijah walk in. She took a step back, she couldn't help but still fear Elijah would kill her at some point.
"Stop." Elena shouted. Finally they stopped fighting and turned to her. Damon glared at Elijah.
"Seriously?" Damon asked.
"Elijah and I have renewed the terms of our deal, we have an understanding." Elena said.
"None of you will come to any harm by my hand, I only ask for one thing from the pair of you...an apology." Elijah said, referring to the brothers at the end.
Damon snorted, Rose shook her head for a second. Elijah had compelled her, killed the other vampire, and threatened them on several occasions...and was probably the one who blew up Slater's coffee shop and killed him. Rose couldn't quite comprehend why Elena trusted him so damn much.
But Stefan agreed, and apologized for Elijah's death. Rose knew Damon wouldn't. She was glad Elijah didn't ask her to apologize, she certainly couldn't.
"You're trusting him?" Damon asked Elena.
"I am." she replied.
"You can all go to hell." Damon told them, and walked out.
"He's angry, probably more at me than the situation." Stefan told them. "He'll come around."
"Maybe. He has a right to be suspicious though." Rose said. "You know what you did." She looked at Elijah. He knew she was talking about what had happened to her.
"I do. You have a right not to trust me Rose. I needed you."
Rose turned to Elena. "I hope you're right." She then left to go find Damon.
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Damon looked at Rose as she came into his bedroom. He stepped fully out of the bathroom, only in his pants, and towel in hand. The look on his face told her he was in no mood for pep talks.
"Don't worry, I didn't come in here to calm you down or tell you to not worry."
"Good, 'cause I don't feel like talking."
He walked back into the bathroom, she followed.
"I'm angry, might be best you stay away." he said, totally serious. He felt he was about to snap.
"No, you don't scare me Damon."
"Probably the stupidest thing you've ever said." he smirked, but his eyes were predatory. Rose didn't back away though. She didn't think a normal pep talk would work, and telling him it would be okay was a lie...but she had to say something and atleast try to get through to him.
"Probably. I told you that I wasn't running, and that includes from you. I'm not going to sit here and tell you how to feel, or that you shouldn't fight with them. Thing is, nothing is ever going to go as planned. I tried controlling every single situation leading up to the day my deal came due...I tried to buy my freedom, I tried to wiggle my way out of it. You know what I learned...during that whole time I was never in control like I thought I was. The demons were in control."
"What are you saying?"
"That no matter how hard you try to plan, or plot out the way you want this whole Klaus situation to go down...it probably won't happen that way. The best we can do is to fight and hope we win. Trying to control what happens, or control what Elena does won't work. So get angry Damon as much as you want, but take it out on Klaus when you need it. Under that mask of anger is fear...you're scared she's going to die. Hell I'm scared too. I don't know how it happened but I actually like it here, and I used to think it was only you I was friends with, but I care about her too now. I care about you. And you don't want to hear that because it sounds so damn human...but it's true. So go ahead and be upset over all this, because that's the part of us that is human. And you being upset or not, I'm not going anywhere. There, done...no more speeches."
Rose went and sat on his bed, and didn't say another word. Damon didn't say anything either, he couldn't. He wanted to yell at her and tell her how wrong she was...but he couldn't because she was right. Granted he just couldn't understand why she cared so damn much. He didn't really deserve her did he?
Instead of trying to think of something to say to her, he walked over to the bed and sat down behind her, his back to the pillows. He pulled her against him and leaned back, a resemblance to the night he thought he was losing her forever.
"Thank you." He finally spoke. She only nodded against his chest.
"Why me? Why do you care?"he asked.
"I don't know." she replied honestly. "You saved me without trying to Damon. No more running, no more being afraid...and it feels so good. Hell I wasn't even scared when the Winchesters entered my life again because it's time I faced it."
"You know I sometimes wish it wasn't Elena for me...that I didn't love her so much." Damon admitted.
"But you do. Nothing will change that, you can't chose who you love." God she sounded so sappy Rose thought to herself...
He nodded.
"But for what it's worth...I'd always choose you, if I were her."she said, smiling.
He laughed. "God what the hell for? Have you met me?"
"Mmmhhmm. You're the older much better looking one. Must have a thing for the damaged ones like myself."
He laughed again. "Must be why it's Dean you can't look in the eye and you get all jumpy when he comes in the same room as you."
"Excuse me?" Rose asked, surprised.
He smirked. "You had a thing for him before didn't you?"
"No." she said quickly...too quickly. "Sure, I loved to piss him off, and he's an attractive enough man...but no I didn't have a 'thing' for him. We would have killed each other."
"Mmm." Damon mumbled.
Rose shook her head and stopped talking...and Damon took that as a signal to say no more about it. After a few more minutes they both drifted into a light sleep.
End chapt.