Invisible Control

by LittleHandGernade

::Complete:: Addie Gilbert loathes the supernatural world her sister Elena brings into their life and wants nothing to do with it. She doesn't want anything to do with anyone, really. Compelled, Addie is told to take control of her life and now she is. But how do you make someone realize you're right in front of them when you're invisible?

34. Chapter 37

The arrow indicating the selected number repetitively turned past zero through sixty as Addie spun the lock absentmindedly. Damon had put it on the cellar door as extra reinforcement after the incident with Luka. Now, it was the one thing standing between her and Elijah. Her face pressed against the bars of the viewing window showed her a dagger, dessicated, and very charred looking Original. His one impeccable suit was frayed and burnt to a crisp. A flamethrower had been used on Luka when he tried to pull the dagger out so it made sense that at least a few sparks would have jumped to Elijah but this almost looked like the fire had been directed straight at the vampire. But Damon wouldn't have tried to permanently eliminate Elijah; would he? They still had to wake him back up and find out where the potion was that would allow Elena to survive the sacrifice. Still, why did Damon have a flamethrower right by the cellar? And why did Elijah look like barbeque?

"What are you doing?" Damon asked sharply.

Addie pulled away from the door and quickly turned to face him, a guilty look on her face. He had told her not to come down here. The sight was supposably too disturbing but now she was starting to wonder if he was trying to hide an attempt to dispose of Elijah. She quickly transformed her face into an innocent and with a small shrug answered, "Nothing. I just… well, he's been in here for almost a month. I didn't entirely believe that he wouldn't have turned to dust and bones since he's already dessicated."

"If only he were that easy to kill," Damon muttered darkly. Louder he continued, "The lawyer is here to finish signing over the deed to the house. Elena's finishing up her part so you need to sign next."

"I still think it's a completely idiotic idea and it should just be in her name," grumbled Addie making to move past Damon but he caught her by the shoulder and had her face him again.

"We've already beat that topic to death; there are more important matters to discuss." His voice was commanding and stern as he straightened up to his full height, staring down at her, "Before we got home from dinner last night my room was searched again. Whoever did it tried to put everything back in the right place so I wouldn't notice but somethings in the closet weren't right."

Addie raised her eyebrows at him in disbelief and snorted, "And you think I snooped through your room?"

Damon shook his head. "No, that's not the problem. The only thing I have worth hiding Katherine supposedly took. We know from Elena that Isobel betrayed Katherine to Klaus and thus, if she had it, Klaus would have found out."

"You're talking like you don't think Katherine ever took the moonstone," Addie observed, nervously shoving her hands in her pockets in order to not run them through her hair and give herself away.

His eyes narrowed as he frowned at her disapprovingly. "No, I don't she did. Not anymore. Someone came back to search for the moonstone. I've searched the entire house and even had Stefan look but there is nothing else missing. No expensive or otherwise magical object were taking. Everything but the moonstone is here."

She rolled her eyes and spoke slowly, as though she were explaining to a child, "The moonstone went missing after Katherine searched your room, not last night. Whoever broke in had to have been looking for something else."

"Unless they were looking for the moonstone because Katherine thinks I still have it because she never found it."

"What are you suggesting? The magical rock sprouted legs and walked away?" Addie scoffed.

A loud, deep breath escaped Damon in an attempt to remain calm. "No and I'd rather you not insult my intelligence or lie about this. There was only one other person in my room between when I was last in it and when Katherine ramshackled it, the only person besides myself who knew where I hid the moonstone. You, Addie. You have to have taken it; there's no other reason for someone, probably Klaus or his henchmen, to search the house."

Addie crossed her arms and gave him a hard look. "Don't you think Katherine would have torn apart the entire house if she hadn't found the moonstone in your room?"

"No. She knows me too well," he said quietly, rubbing at his chin awkwardly. "She knows I wouldn't have trusted the stone to anyone else and I would have kept it close. If it wasn't in my room it wasn't in the house. So answer me; did you take the moonstone?"

"Why would I take a stupid rock?"

Damon threw up his hands in exasperation and exclaimed, "I have no freaking clue. Though, I don't understand half the things you do which just makes me believe even more that you have some bizarre reason for doing so. How you couldn't tell me and let me think Katherine and Klaus had it I don't understand though."

"The more ingredients Klaus has the closer he is to performing the ritual! The closer we are to the sacrifice the sooner we wake up Elijah and find the damn potion to save my sister!" she exclaimed back at him, stomping her foot on the last word for emphasis.

"You took it so I'd undagger Elijah?"

Addie rolled her deep blue eyes; that was just one of the reason she hadn't told him that she had the moonstone. "No," she sighed callously, "I took it because Katherine asked about it and I knew she was up to something sinister. I figured it was safer with me than being left unguarded with her around."

"So, you have it?" She nodded. Damon held out his hand palm up, "Give it back."

Shaking her head, Addie skirted around Damon and towards the stairs. "No."

Following her he growled, "Excuse me?"

"If you're right about Klaus searching the house than he thinks you have the moonstone. Who's going to ever expect that I have the dumb thing?" Addie pointed out, opening the door to the hall.

"You're putting yourself in danger!"

Spinning on her heel she jabbed him with a single finger squarely in his chest, "You don't get a say on this unless you're the same asshole I first met and willing to get me away from vervain so you can compel it out of me. That's the only way anyone is going to find out where it is."

"Be reas-"

"I am being reasonable," she snapped, cutting him off. "Mason had it but lost it to you. You had it but lost it to Katherine. Then you got the moonstone again. Then you trusted the Martins and gave it to Bonnie so she and Luka could despell, but they didn't. Luka then gave the moonstone to Elijah. Then you daggered him and took it back. You thought you lost it to Katherine and would have it I hadn't taken it. You have a nasty little habit of losing the thing. Plus, in each case too many people knew who had the moonstone. If no one knew I had it, no one could take it. But now you know so I'm just going to have to settle with keeping my hiding place safe."

"Admittedly, I don't have the best track record with it," Damon confessed, cupping her cheeks, "but I still think it's safer with me. What if, God forbid, Klaus just starts going down a list of people looking for it."

Addie placed one hand over his and gave him an encouraging smile, "That just means it's even safer with me. You know that your compulsion didn't fully work when you cut my arm and told me I wouldn't feel anything but I did feel a little sting and pressure. You said that we just need to do it one more time and I can resist compulsion. After that Klaus can't compel me into telling him where the moonstone is. He'll still be able to compel you to tell him, though."

"Then we'll do that after school." He tucked a strand of dyed hair behind her ear and shook his head, continuing sadly, "But Klaus won't stop at compulsion. Addie, he'll torture you until you tell him where that rock is."

She stepped back towards the living room, pulling his hand from her face and giving it a light squeeze. "Then the guy is underestimating the power of family. I may not like my sister but I would never betray her to her death. If it comes down to it, Klaus is free to torture me to death."

"Addie," Damon pleaded, not liking how she talked so casually about dying.

"I'm not discussing this and you can't change my mind," Addie stated with no room for negotiating. Turning from him she walked into the living room to join Elena, Bonnie, and the lawyer.

Upon seeing her sister Elena vacated her seat behind the couch and indicated for her sister to sit. "Perfect timing," she grinned. "I just finished signing."

"Fantastic," Addie mumbled, slipping into the chair.

The lawyer was a stout man balding at the top and Addie couldn't help but notice that he smelled unsettlingly like pizza as he stood next to her. "I just need you need you to sign here and here and here and every blank on the last two pages," he said jovial, tapping each blank spot with a pen that he offered to her when he finished.

Bonnie twisted around on the sofa to watch Addie sign and inquired of her and Elena, "So this place is all yours? They just gave it to you?"

"I can assure you that it is a very temporary thing," the youngest mumbled, flipping a page.

"As owners we're the only ones who can invite a certain type of person in here, if you know what I mean," clarified Elena.

The witch nodded, mildly impressed, "Your own personal safe house."

"That's the idea."

Looking around and taking in the sheer size of the house Bonnie's lips twitched upwards, "Wouldn't want to clean it."

Addie snickered, "Oh, that's Damon's job. That was one of my conditions in signing."

"That's so not fair," Bonnie breathed out through giggles. Leave it to her best friend to have conditions before agreeing to anything, even if it was for her own good.

"I think it's perfectly fair," she rebutted indignantly. "Do you not remember having to spread a sheet for Mason? Or perhaps the several times the place has been trashed by houseguests? I'll clean my messes but he has to clean his."

Elena nodded, understanding the cryptic references her sister was making, "Sounds fair to me."

With a long strike that cut through the "G" and crossed the "t" in "Gilbert" Addie finished signing the papers and retracted the ballpoint pen with a click. "Is that everything?" she asked politely, holding out the stack of papers and pen to the lawyer.

"Indeed that is," he grinned, taking the papers and moving them to his briefcase.

"Wonderful," Elena piped up, leading the man to the door.

Addie followed a few steps behind. When they reached the entrance Elena shook the lawyer's hand and thanked him. As her sister wiped her hand on her jeans after showing him out Addie wondered if his hands were greasy like pizza. She leaned against the door as Elena turned to walk back into the living room. Damon and Stefan, who had been waiting right outside the door made to follow only to bump into an invisible force when they attempted to pass the threshold. Damon gave her an expectant look but Addie just smiled broadly at him. His low growly caused it to stretch until her cheeks hurt.

"I'm sorry! I completely forgot," apologized Elena when she realized she wasn't being following. She walked back and fluttered her lashes up at her boyfriend, coquettishly asking, "Stefan, would you like to come inside my house?"

"I would love to. Thank you," he grinned, crossing into the house and placing a light kiss on her forehead.

Elena's eyes darted between her sister and Damon, uncertain of just how far Addie would take her little game and if she should step in.

"What are we? Twelve?" sneered Damon.

Addie pretended to consider this, "Mmm. Well, one of us actually is and I'm not that far off. Plus I did say the whole reason I would sign would be to lock you out." His cool look made it clear he was not amused. "If, if," she heavily emphasized, "we let you in, do you promise to do what Elena and I want?"

He scoffed, "No."

"Seriously, Damon. Our way. You promised me. We call the shots. No more lies, no secret agendas. Any of this ringing a bell?"

"Yes, Addie. Sure," he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

She shook her head and pushed off from the door and chided, "That's not your honest, serious voice."

Damon's brows knitted together in confusion and denied, "I don't have an honest, serious voice; I just have a voice."

"Lie," Addie decided. She quickly stuck her tongue out at him before heading back upstairs to his room to get her backpack.

The bookbag rested at the base of his dresser like always. Addie grabbed it, placed it on the bed and unzipped it. From off of Damon's nightstand she grabbed her book for English, Hamilton's Mythology, and went to put it in the bag. However, it fell from her hand when she was started by a force spinning her around. Damon's lips crashed into Addie's. His hands were quickly at the back of her neck and her hip, pulling her against his chest as though he'd been waiting for forever and had no intention of letting her go. Her hands found the sides of his jacket, bringing herself closer. His taste of coffee and the slight remaining trace of toothpaste was enticing. Reluctantly, as he sensed her breathing start to quicken, Damon pulled away.

"That wasn't very nice."

"So you kiss me?"

"Because I can be nice."

Addie shrugged and countered, "Not really. You broke the rules; the only way you could have gotten up here so fast is vampire speed."

"You locked me out. That's worse than me cheating."

"Oh puh-lease. Elena was obviously going to invite you. If there was any doubt in my mind that she wouldn't, I would have."

Damon's lips pursed in a slight pout, "It should have been you."

"Yeah, well," she shrugged, looking for a rationalization, "you weren't being serious about approaching this whole Klaus thing Elena's way. It's her life at stake."

"You mean your way?"

Her arms crossed defensively. "Elena doesn't need to know every single detail. I know you like control but can't you just trust me to make the right decisions?"

"I just worry about you being safe," he whispered, caressing her cheek with the pad of his thumb.

Gently Addie pulled his hand away and whispered, "Please."

"I already told Elena I would," sighed Damon. "Personally, I think you going to school completely defeats the purpose of the safe house we just created but you don't hear me arguing about that," he pointed out, waving at her backpack and the book on his bed.

Placing her hands on his shoulders and pushing herself up on her toes, Addie gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'll be fine," she promised. "And Bonnie will always be near by if Klaus does shows up. She can take him; the rest of us lack that power. Being by her is just as safe as being here."

His lips as he held back a smile, "I was listening in and your sister said almost the exact same thing to Stefan. You two aren't that different with that Gilbert defiance and determination."

"I can assure you that we are very different," Addie muttered darkly. "Nevertheless we both have a point. Klaus isn't going to just show up and make his move in the middle of a high school."

---

There was something off about the way Alaric wrote "SIXTIES" on the chalkboard. The letters were too cramped together and the word was at a slight slant upwards compared to his usually level writing. It was definitely odd, Addie decided, but not as odd as how he was behaving. Alaric wasn't a man to pace back and forth behind his desk before class started as students filled in. No, he was the casual teacher who leaned against the test greeting everyone and giving out high fives. Perhaps this odd behavior was just his reaction to his ex-wife dying again.

After Isobel died Alaric did take nearly three weeks off from work and no one had seen him. Addie had tried to subtly push Jenna into seeing him but there was definitely no luck on that front; she was staying on Whitmore campus to purposefully avoid Uncle John and Alaric. Whether or not her pestering Damon to check up on him had been effective or not she wasn't; he maintained that the best way to let Alaric deal with his grief was to leave him alone. Addie had countered with how well that had worked for both of them but Damon had insisted that he was fine and proof that the method worked. Those beautiful piercing blue orbs she always got lost in betrayed him, though. He might not want to claim Alaric as a friend but he certainly missed having him around and that left Addie with the hope that he had reached out to the other man. Of course his pride would keep him from telling her if he did so.

The tardy bell rang and Alaric cleared his throat, turning to face the class. With his hands clasped behind his back and rocking on the balls of his feet, a definitely atypical action, he said, "Today we will be discussing the 60s in honor of tonight's dance."

Without thinking, Addie's hand shot into the air.

"Yes, Addison?"

She frowned; there were only a handful of people who called her that: Elijah, Damon when he was being serious or trying to make a point, and her close friends and family when she was really annoy. Alaric had only once called her "Addison" when reading the attendance sheet the first day of class and she had quickly set him straight. "This is AP World History. We've been discussing global conflicts and their consequences of the early 20th century in preparation for the exam in less than two weeks. According to the syllabus the 60s and 70s are the last section we cover and that is next Thursday. If we only cover the 60's today that not only throws off the chronological order but it also means we must add in an extra lesson for the 70s which means we will not get the practice exam and review session you promised before the actual test," Addie pointed out without thinking. She frowned slightly when she replayed what she had said in her head and realized how snotty and rude it had sounded. Oh well. A guy who would have killed her if it wasn't for Damon didn't get to call her by her full her name.

The cold and hardness from Alaric's bright brown eyes sent a tingle down her legs that Addie hadn't felt since the night she met Damon. She wanted, needed to run, to escape this confining room. Everything suddenly felt so overwhelming and she just couldn't handle it. Mentally she shook herself; she was being ridiculous. This was Alaric. He was her teacher. She'd seen the guy in his boxers! If he was going to hurt her he had plenty of chances when he'd spent the night and she was completely defenseless in sleep. Her body didn't care about reason though. Before she knew it, Addie had picked up her spiral, slung her backpack over her shoulder and was out of the room.

If she twisted or landed the wrong way, she would still have the shooting back through her glute and down the back of her thigh from when she had hurt herself at the track meet almost three weeks ago. The pain had been so bad that she had to cut back on how much she was practicing. Now, though, there were no thoughts of the constant dull throb as she listened to familiar, eager flinching of her calves and thighs and took off running towards the cafeteria. Her siblings and Bonnie all had lunch that period; being with them would calm the irrational uneasiness she had just felt in Alaric's presence.

Addie didn't see Elena but across the crowded room filled with the voices of hundreds of students she saw Jeremy and Bonnie having what looked like a very intense conversation, there heads close together. Slowing to a walk, she briefly considered the morality of interrupting her brother and best friend but quickly dismissed the thought. The two had plenty of alone time, especially since Damon preferred her to be with him as much as possible since Katherine turned traitor and Klaus knew everything and Bonnie was about as fond of being around Damon as he was her. Jeremy brought the Xbox over a couple times and was over for dinner at least three times a week so she still saw him at least but her visits with Bonnie had been mostly limited to school. Dropping into the seat next to the witch, she decided that she definitely missed her best friend. Damon be damn. She was going to make more time to see Bonnie.

"What?" Jeremy hissed, not noticing his little sister's presence. "What are you going to do?"

"Do about what?" Addie interjected, wanting to either be able to follow the conversation or keep them from saying something private and personal.

"Addie?" Jeremy said, tilting his head and studying her like a piece of abstract art.

Bonnie frowned at the younger girl disapprovingly, "Aren't you supposed to be in history?"

Addie made a face of awe, leaned in towards them and in a hushed, amazed tone retorted, "Haven't you heard? There's a big bad vampire on the loose that only you can kill!" She sat back up and shrugged, "Plus I promised Damon I'd be fine. Wouldn't really be holding up my end of that deal if I ran into Klaus alone, I'm guessing. He may not want me but Damon's not convinced that he won't kill me to make a statement or take me as a hostage."

Jeremy laughed, "Basically you didn't want to be in class."

Addie gasped and placed a hand over her heart, looking taken aback, "I am offended. I'm telling the truth."

"Oh, I know you are," Jeremy smirked, "but I also know that you think Damon's being paranoid and you would never follow anything close to orders."

"Basically I didn't want to be in class," admitted Addie with a smile. She liked when her and Jeremy were in sync. Her grin lessened as she asked, "How are you, though? You alright at the house alone with John?"

"It's not ideal," he answered with a dramatic sigh, "but between how pissed off Damon would be and how upset John is with you for being with Damon you coming home would be a really bad idea. You know, not a day has gone by that he hasn't given me a lecture about how I'm suppose to look out for you and I need to convince you to stay away from Damon?"

"Well why aren't you?"

Jeremy raised one shoulder dismissively as he stood up to leave and casually answered, "Because I've never known anyone to convince you of anything, except Damon. He somehow got you to give him a chance despite how much you hated him. I think that means something. Plus, even if you don't want to admit it and even if all I ever see you do is argue, you're both happier and better together. Your moods don't go as extreme with Damon around. To me, looking out for you means helping you be stable and happy. I'd be doing the opposite if I got you to give up Damon."

Addie glared at her brother's retreating back and grumbled, "I don't need Damon."

"Of course you don't need him," agreed Bonnie, smiling at Elena who sat down with a tray of food in the spot Jeremy just vacated, "but that doesn't mean he isn't right?"

Swallowing a bite of apple Elena asked, "Who's right about what?"

Addie's hand shot out to snatch a napkin from her sister's plate and began pulling it into little pieces and scowled, "Nothing."

"Jeremy and I agree that Addie is more balanced and happy with Damon."

Elena mulled this over as she chewed through another bite of apple. She couldn't really tell if either was true. On some levels Addie seemed happier; she wasn't so uptight about school, they got along a lot better even if there was still resentment on both sides, and she was so much bolder and doing things she never would have if she hadn't met Damon. Everyone else might have been convinced that Addie had better control over her emotions and was more stable and not bouncing from hypo-mania to not wanting to leave her bed every few hours but Elena wasn't.

Elena always guessed that part of her sister's problems stemmed from loneliness and that was why she always got her mom to force Addie into doing as much with her and her friends as she could but Addie never really clicked with anyone except Bonnie. Even with Bonnie, though, it wasn't like Addie opened up about herself or her problems. Damon of all people was able to do what only her dad and Jeremy had been able to do and that was to break past Addie's walls and defenses. When they walked in on Rose Elena had seen the vulnerability and pain in her sister's eyes for the briefest moment and at that point it was clear just how much Damon meant to her.

When Addie stopped talking to Damon after that the ups and downs were back. She hid them throwing herself into making her music but Elena had notice the weird appetite patterns and the increased insomnia and Addie was a monster when they did encounter each other. That all stopped when she started talking to Damon again but Elena guessed that the ups and downs still happened. They were probably less intense and frequent because Addie finally felt someone to connect to. She had a nagging feeling that Damon helped Addie to hide her moods from everyone. Elena's first clue was again the incident with Rose and she noticed her sister's stress and insecurity over school become over Damon. Then she began to see how Addie was nicer to everyone, even when some of the things Caroline did would have once pissed her off. Except, while her and Damon got along better, they still fought just as much. Elena couldn't help but think that carried over into when they were alone. Addie was still just as frustrated and angry but the majority of it had been turned against Damon. Why? Well, Elena couldn't exactly figure out why Damon was still with Addie and he wasn't the one she was trying to psychoanalyze anyways.

Addie's stability could generally be judged on a few simple things: her focus and anxiety, her sleep, her appetite, whether she was motivated or depressed, and how long it took to irritate her. It was clear that her focus and anxiety were on Damon rather than grades, which was the go to measurement. Most nights she slept with Damon and it wasn't exactly like she could hear her sister watching Netflix at two in the morning like she use to. Ever since kindergarten Addie didn't eat lunch; Elena couldn't exactly judge by that. She knew Damon made breakfast every morning but Addie had never been a breakfast person, either. However, from overhearing them it was clear that she at least ate sometimes but others it was very obvious she didn't. Damon liked experimenting with food; Addie preferred to the small list of things she knew she liked. Elena tried to at least keep track of her sister's eating patterns at dinner but that was a little difficult as there seemed to be some understanding between Addie and Damon that dinner wasn't over until she finished half her plate. It took a two and a half hour dinner that was a battle of wills for her to figure this out. Her motivation and depression was something she used to talk to Jeremy about but that was before his druggie phase and their bond weakened; she probably talked to Damon now. As for her irritation, like Elena had already noted, she was better with everyone else but the littlest things set her off with Damon. Plus, she couldn't even judge by her reaction to Damon because they seemed to make a game of who could annoy the other first. Addie walking away from the door that morning had been declaring a draw!

"I have to disagree," Elena decided, twisting the stem of her apple and pulling it off.

Addie grinned gratefully, "Thank you."

Bonnie scoffed, "No way!"

"Let me finish," said Elena, holding up her hand to silence them. "I believe you are happier because you choose to be happy with him. You think it's safe to trust him with your happiness. I don't think you're more stable though. Damon just acts as a blinder to the rest of us. Just as with your happiness, you trust him to hide when you're not doing well. You're so hurt and angry, which I get, that he's the only one you're willing to let see you vulnerable."

"Thanks for the analysis, Dr. Phil, but I recommend you get your degree from a real school and not AP Psychology before trying to figure me out. I'm a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside of an enigma." Addie's eyes narrowed as she caught Jeremy glaring at them from across the cafeteria. Eager for a subject change she asked, "Why does my brother look like he did when I got the toothbrush stuck in his old Gameboy Pokemon Silver cartridge trying to clean it."

Bonnie followed Addie's gaze and quickly answered, "I told him he had to dress up tonight and he got all uptight."

Addie covered her grin and tried to hold back her snort of laughter, "Oh, I so don't envy him. He can be annoying as sin but one perk I will always have in being with Damon Salvatore is never having to go to these stupid dances."

"You don't need Damon to go! You don't even need to dress up! Come on! You should come," Elena encouraged pleadingly.

"School dance," Addie said holding up one hand. "Or quiet night in the study curled up in front of the fireplace with Mythology because no matter how cool you and Stefan are with cuddling while other people in the house, I'm not?" She raised the other hand and compared them as if they were the scales of justice.

"So party or spit-swapping with your boyfriend," Elena smirked.

Addie shook her head defiantly, "No. Social function where I'll feel awkward and anxious or staying in where I feel happy and cozy reading because, believe it or not, Damon and I do know how to do other things besides kiss."

"Ah," Bonnie nodded, exchanging sympathetic looks with Elena. "Bad kisser."

"It's Damon Salvatore. Do you really think he's bad at anything?" Addie scoffed, rolling her eyes.

Elena's eyes widen as she cocked her head at her baby sister, "How much is anything?"

"Is his ego compensating for something?"

Folding her arms on the table, Addie buried her red face in them. She groaned, "I'm not having this conversation."

"Is he taking advantage of you?" Elena demanded sharply.

With a brief look up, Addie gave her sister an icy glare. "Of course not." In truth, she was the one who kept pushing for things to go further and every time he brought up his damn rules. "I've found the only thing he has morals about. I've seen him shirtless and touched his chest; that's as far as he'll go. He hasn't even done anything," she muttered, dropping her face again.

"Good."

"I bet he has a six pack. Does he have a six pack?" Bonnie pondered aloud.

"Sorta," Addie mumbled into the table. "He's definitely toned without an ounce of fat but he's not bulging and rippling with muscles like Stefan, though. He has an amazing v-cut though."

"Hey! I love Stefan's muscles! They're perfect and strong and you know you're safe when you're in his arms." Elena butted in wistfully.

Sitting back up, Addie shrugged disinterestedly, "Different strokes for different folks. Those beautiful blue eyes get me every time."

"Mmm. With eyes like that he probably doesn't even need compulsion if he can get a girl to look into the."

Puzzled, Addie skeptically asked, "Do you have a crush on Damon or something?"

"You're with my little brother!" Elena snapped at Bonnie, speaking over Addie.

Bonnie raised her hands in a gesture of innocence, "Oh, don't worry. I still loathe the guy but I'm not going to deny that he's good looking. You're with his brother and you can't even deny it, Elena.

The only explanation Addie could come up with for some random girl approaching them at that exact moment and sparing her from hearing Elena admit to how gorgeous Damon was had to be that some deity was looking down upon her. She knew enough about her sister's opinions from her diary. Addie hadn't read it in the past three weeks, though. The odd thing was that she didn't care that she hadn't. It didn't appear anywhere around the boarding house but she had not actively looked for it. If there was one thing that was certain it was that Elena was still writing in it. It was odd but for the first time since she could remember, Addie didn't feel like she needed the writings to be connected to Elena and her life. She knew enough and was as close as she wanted to get; she didn't want to know Elena's private opinions.

Addie rested her chin in her hand and reflected on what had been different the past few weeks. She and Elena had been getting along better. When they did occasionally fight it was because Elena was being pushy and bossy and attempting to take on the role of their mother or it was her being overly reactive to how Damon and Elena treated each other, good or bad. If she had never read Elena's diary then she possibly would have never have known how she felt about him and wouldn't have the desire to slap Elena for toying with him and having feelings for the guy she was with. Before, though, when she knew Elena's thoughts on everything, Addie was constantly angry with her; she knew when she was being hypocritical, false and lying. She had been constantly judging her despite the fact that she thought the diary was the only method to feel close to her sister as spending more than two minutes together without fighting was impossible. Now that she wasn't reading it, it was possible.

It wasn't that she liked Elena now. No, she knew too well how manipulative and dishonest she was for that. There was also the fact that they simply did not connect.… Though they had just kind of talked boys, which was probably the closest to a sisterly conversation they had reacted in five years. Perhaps it would be best if she gave up reading the diary all together. Maybe -

"-Klaus."

It was strange how that one world could pull her from such deep thoughts and send her shivering. Addie literally felt cold, like ice filled her veins. It wasn't dissimilar to how she had felt when she had first started drinking Damon's blood in large amounts to heal. She looked at her sister for help in understanding the conversation but Elena looked just as floored as she did.

Elena shook her head slightly, breaking the slight daze she had entered, "I'm sorry. What did you just say?"

"His name's Klaus. I know the name's stupid but I swear he's hot."

Bonnie raised slightly out of her seat and looked around the cafeteria, frantically asking, "Where is he? Is he here?"

"I don't know," the girl frowned and answered slowly.

"Compulsion," Addie grumbled, gently tugging Bonnie by the arm until she was sitting again. "It's useless."

The chipper, annoying smile returned as the girl turned back to Elena and squealed, "He wants to know if you'll save him the last dance! How cute is that?!"

---

Not paying attention Addie continued to play with her hair as Bonnie and Elena recounted the incident at lunch to Stefan and Damon. When she heard Stefan respond her interest wasn't exactly peaked but it jumped to attention at the sound of Damon's voice, tough and determined.

"So we go to the dance. We find him. Bonnie takes him out. We all have cake and ice cream."

"Really?" Addie drew out, raising her eyebrows in a challenge. She really wish she could control just one like he could. "How do you plan on doing that? You don't even know what he looks like."

"Something tells me he's not going to be sixteen and pimply," Damon sharply retorted.

Addie's lips pursed together in mock thought, "Technically acne is a medical problem so vampirism would cure that so you are right on the pimples but I'm not so sure about the whole sixteen thing. Katherine could have passed for sixteen despite being 500 and, well, we all know what she's capable of." A beat of silence passed in which she knew Damon was looking for a smart remark. "You know who does know what he looks like? Elijah. Too bad you daggered that option. Then again, we also had Katherine who knew. Probably should have pumped her for more information and possibly a facial composite before someone came along and offered her what looked like a better deal."

"Katherine's drawing is worse than yours," Damon sneered. "Which, incidentally, isn't saying much. You need graph paper to keep the torso of a stick figure from being askew."

"Alas, she need not be able to draw. While the skills of the pen evaded me, I am blessed with a brother for whom a pen is mightier than a sword in his hand," Addie replied mystically, waggling her fingers. Returning to normal the corners of her mouth slightly dipped at the confused look on everyone's face. "How do you think the Unabomber sketch was done? The Baton Rouge Serial Killer? They stopped and posed for a photograph? No, witnesses described them and a resemblance sketch was made."

Damon scowled, "Alright, Ms. Know-It-All. Why didn't you propose that, oh, I don't know, back when Katherine was working with us?"

"Because I apparently have no say in this operation," she snapped back. "It was your choice to dagger Elijah. You're the one who keeps claim-"

Three weeks with their constant back and forth had grown tedious for Stefan. As much as they bickered he knew they weren't arguing. Damon was a yeller; but he's never heard either one of them truly raise their voice. Why on Earth they constantly went toe to toe he wasn't sure but there were more pressing matters at hand and Stefan wasn't in the mood to listen to another round. Raising his own voice enough to cut off Addie he interrupted, "The point is that Klaus could be anywhere at any time. He compelled somebody at school." He frowned at Elena and Bonnie, "Guess it's not as safe as you guys thought, huh?"

All heads snapped at the three echoing raps on the door. Looks of confusion and shock were exchanged by all but Damon who reached the door in three long strides. Blood flowed to Addie's cheeks and her stomach churned violently as Damon opened the door to reveal Alaric. She wasn't supposed to have to face the mortal embarrassment of being rude in class and running out until Tuesday!

"Sorry I'm late," he apologized, clapping Damon's shoulder as he walked in. Addie felt the sudden urge to flee again when his eyes landed on her. "Good to see you again, Addison. I trust your feeling better."

Addie nodded slightly, finding it hard to swallow past the lump in her throat. "Yes, Mr. Saltzman."

Damon looked curiously between them. "Back to formal titles? Ric, did you stab Addie in the lung again?" he asked darkly, unable to completely hide the teasing element in his.

Quickly Addie walked to Damon and wrapped her arm around his, instantly feeling marginally better. Feeling everyone's eyes on them she made to dismiss the topic by quietly saying, "Alaric's just a little upset with me; I stormed out of class without out any explanation or reason." Turning to the man she forced a strained smile and lied, "Truly I'm sorry. For everything. School, tests, consistency is just all really important to me. I felt like I was going to have a panic attack. I had to get to the nurse for my medication since it doesn't really work if I'm panicking. Have you ever tried swallowing water and a pill while gasping for air? It feels really similar to choking."

"I apologize, Addie. If I knew the disruption in the schedule would have distressed you so much I would have discussed it with you beforehand. Please forgive me."

Addie grabbed tighter at Damon. The smile was Alaric's but the sinister dark feeling radiating from it was not something associated with Alaric, or even humans. Her brain was over loaded. She knew Alaric: he was a human with good intentions. The blackness he was emitting was so hollow and pure it made what she read from Katherine seem light gray when she planned to betray them and the initial feeling from Damon and Stefan glow like a bright white halo. But she only sensed these shades of evil from vampires. In the time that he was gone had Alaric been turned into a vampire and had his morals completely flipped? But who would have turned him? Who would have given him a daylight right? None of it made sense. The only thing she was certain of was that Alaric wasn't safe and he shouldn't be trusted, at least not until she sorted out why she felt a darkness from him. Sensing Damon watching her, she nodded.

"Great! Everybody's buddy-buddy again!" Damon rejoiced sarcastically. He swung his arm around Addie shoulder and led Alaric towards everyone else in the living room. To his friend he directed and informed, "I need you to put me down as a chaperon at the dance tonight. Klaus made his first move."

Addie realized they had walked into a conversation when Elena asked, "Okay, so we find him and then what, hmm? What's our plan of attack."

Bonnie waved her hand once in acknowledgement, "Me. I'm the plan. He-"

"No, you're not," Addie interrupted, improvising. A dark thought connecting Alaric and Klaus had occurred to her. He couldn't know the plan and report it back to Klaus.

Damon dropped his arm from around Addie and turned to look at her incredulously. "Did you suddenly come up with a better one?"

"Yes," she answered through gritted teeth, inconspicuously interlacing their fingers and squeezing as hard as she possibly could. The cramp in her hand made her wince.

Seeing that she was hurting herself, Damon pushed and prodded until he could work his thumb in between their hands, forcing Addie to loosen her grip. He studied her carefully, trying to read what she wanted. Her eyes clearly sought his, an action odd itself as he usually had to guide her into direct eye contact. Addie was pleading with him for something. It was only because he saw how important it was to her that he follow when she led him from the living room.

"I need your help in getting what we will need," Addie smiled, pulling Damon towards the basement. She led them down the stairs and stopped in front of Elijah's cell. He opened his mouth but Addie quickly clamped her hand over it and mouthed, "Don't talk." Damon rolled his eyes but when he saw she wasn't going to back down he rolled his eyes and nodded. Her hand slipped around to the back of his neck and pulled him low enough so she could whisper as quietly as possibly, "Can Stefan hear this?"

"No. Addie, what the hell?" Damon quietly answered back in her ear, the breathiness of his breath making his words sound harsher than he meant.

She kissed him softly and cupped his cheek. "What about now?" she murmured, her lips brushing against his.

His arms slipped around Addie's waist, pulled her closer and softly answered with a smirk, "No but you kinda picked a bad time for a secret rendezvous, love. We can skip the victory celebration, though."

"This isn't about that," she hissed. "We have to be quick. Damon, if you… if you truly care about me and trust me you will go back upstairs and tell them we're using Elena as bait to lure Klaus close and then she will try to stake him with a dagger you found getting rid of Dr. Martin's car. He wants her alive so the worse that will happen to her is being disarmed. If she fails, you, Stefan, and Alaric will take him down with the dagger that we remove from Elijah. They'll think it's crazy to undagger him but point out you've already staked him twice and that he's the easier to handle. Before leaving the house you'll make sure he's staked down so he can't come after us when he wakes up, which he won't have time to do. We get home and shove the unused dagger in him. Then we have eternity to figure out how to kill them."

Damon's frown became deeper and deeper the more she talked. "Addie, I more than care about you and I trust you but you're talking nonsense. We don't fly in after Klaus with a team that doesn't know the plan. Why? I mean, what's the point in this?"

"You have to trust me on there being a point," Addie whispered urgently. "Look, we've already been down here too long. There will be time for explanations afterwards and I promise people will know the real plan is Bonnie. Damon, I need you to believe in me. They won't listen to me on my own; you have to spearhead it. You can either grab the dagger from Elijah, pretend it's the second one and stake him to keep him down for the few minutes it out or you not put your faith in me and go back and say it was a stupid plan and we changed our minds."

Addie was already halfway up the stairs when Damon's hand shot out to hers. When she looked at him over her shoulder he begged, "The point?"

"Trust."

---

"Well?" Damon asked leaning against one of the post at the foot of his bed, watching Addie as she hung off the edge and read upside down.

Addie decided to finish the paragraph to delay answering. It was very likely that Damon was going to think her crazy. She memorized the page number before scrambling of the bed to fill the room with sounds of the ocean.

He sighed and crossed his arms, "This really is some Secret Service-FBI-CIA-Black Ops mission you're planning."

"'Tell one your thoughts, but beware of two. All know what is known to three,'" she recited, waving Mythology as she sat back down on his bed. "Considering your relationship with… people it might be stupid to pick you as my one but I couldn't exactly screaming and waving my hands at Bonnie to shut up about the plan without being obvious and tipping someone off. If I did that we would all be dead."

Damon pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to push back the frustration he already felt from going along with some unknown scheme. "You're leaving out half the story again," he growled.

"Right. Um, I don't really know where to start," she muttered defeatedly, flopping back against his pillow. Even among all the supernatural Damon was a fairly reasonable person; there was no way he was going to believe in vibes and energies. If she had to be honest, Addie wasn't entirely convinced she wasn't going crazy for believing them. To her credit, she only felt them about certain people and didn't see them walking around in colored auras. But what if she had just started walking the treadmill at one mph before cranking it up to ten and completely losing her sense of logic?

Damon groaned quietly. He was not in the mood for angst or drama or confusion or emotions. What he needed to be doing was psyching up for a fight. It had been far too long since he'd been in a good fight. Addie had already said everyone would know the plan was Bonnie (after he got in a few blows, hopefully). He could just go and call everyone and tell them the original plan was back on. But Addie… well, it was times like then when love was a real pain in the ass for making himself. He poked at her side, making her squeal and squirm away from him. "Scoot," he instructed with hand gestures when she stuck out her tongue at him. Damon laid down next to her and tucked his hands behind his head. "Start at the beginning. What triggered you to come to the conclusion to do this?"

Addie clicked her tongue, "Tsk. Beginning is no good. I didn't understand in the beginning. No, I can't go chronologically." They sat listening to the waves for a few minutes before she could sense Damon getting restless. She had to give him something. "You know, that was the second time Alaric called me "Addison" today."

"Huh?" he asked with a raised eyebrow of confusion.

"When he called on me in class today he called me "Addison". He has never called me by my full name before."

Damon tried to shrug it off but his response was stiff, "I'm sure it was just a slip of the tongue."

She propped herself up on her elbow to look him in the face. "That doesn't even make sense," she objected. "For that to happen he would have to be around someone frequently calling me "Addison" to associate it with me. People know better than to do that. The only people who get away with it are my family, Bonnie, and possibly Caroline and it is only permissible if I'm being really dense or annoying. You're the only one I kinda like saying it but even you're wise enough not to use it in public." He didn't need to know that by Elijah only ever calling her "Addison" she sort of saw him as more dignified and didn't flinch when he said it.

An arrogant, crooked grin spread across his face as he focused on curling a strand of hair around his finger. "So, you like it when I call you Addison?" he asked smugly.

"I've accepted that you nickname everyone and I've accepted that it is one of the many that you have for me."

"I do enjoy having such a range of names for you." He ticked them off on his finger as he listed them, "Addie, Addison, Ads, my Ads, l-" She made to cut him off but he knew what she was going to say and voiced it for, "Even though you are not a possession or property or anything that anyone but you can own. I don't even mean my 'my' in a possessive way but more in the sense that you are original and no one can replicate the Addie I know…. Good Lord, you're corrupting me into something almost honorable to a woman. And of course 'love'. I do like that one." Damon nodded, looking vacantly at the ceiling, "That might be my favorite, I'm not big on pet names, really. I've only ever had a 'darling' and 'dear'."

Blushing, Addie had buried her cheek between his shoulder and pillow halfway through his list. Muffled by pillow she started, "You're getting off-" She looked quizzically at him, "You used 'darling' and 'dear'?"

His lips pressed together in a thin line, "I think we both have already recognized how naive and moronic I was with Katherine."

"Ohhhhhh. Pre-vampire. Yeah, I can see that. Still, Alaric calling me 'Addison' made me really uncomfortable," she said, not so smoothly steering back to the important topic.

Running his hand over his face Damon exhaled loudly. "It was a slip of the tongue," he maintained. "I like your name. I probably say it a lot more than I notice when I'm out with him. That's probably where he made the association."

Her face scrunched up in disgust. "You talk about me with him?"

"You talk about me with Bonnie and Caroline and Elena and Jeremy!" Damon shot back defensively.

"I-That's-No," she stammered, "they mostly make assumptions. They bring us up and I play defense and try to change topic. It's not like I sit around talking relationships and boys…. Ok, fine. Today was a really weird day and I kinda did when Elena jumped to the conclusion that you were pressuring me into sex and your chest somehow came into the conversation."

Damon gasped scandalously, "You just broke the first rule of girl talk: don't talk about girl talk, especially to the guys that you talk about."

"I think you're thinking of Fight Club. I understand Fight Club; I like Fight Club. Girl talk is like watching a foreign film without subtitles."

"I know we can't talk about Fight Club but can we talk about the fight tonight?"

Addie nodded and dropped back onto her back, "Yeah. You know Alaric and I don't have the best of histories but the times he said my name today and they way he looked… Damon, I didn't run out of class because of a syllabus change. It was pure instinct and self-preservation unlike anything I ever felt. I felt it kick in the night we met but this was so much stronger. I would have flown out the door when he was here if I wasn't holding on to you."

Damon's words were slow as he tried to wrap his head around the idea, "You're suddenly afraid of Alaric? Addie, do you think he's trying to make a pass at you or something for saying your name and a look?"

"No! I'm hardly that vain. There are just some odd behaviors he showed at school, the use of my name, and this crazy, irrational fear that I need you to keep in mind when I tell you a kind of secret I've been keeping,"Addie said hesitantly, carefully picking her words.

Secrets? She was keeping secrets now? "Ok," he mumbled, tugging at the roots of his hair.

"You wanted to know how I could always tell Elena and Katherine apart and why I was so convinced that Katherine had changed her mind about being with us. I could feel Katherine. The only way I can describe the feeling though is on a black and clear. The darker someone radiates the more deceptive they're being. When I first met her it was like a cloudy grey. My guess is that it wasn't totally dark because she was going to uphold her end of the deal with me and get vampires out of town and her bad intentions were never directed at me. I don't know. It's not an exact science. I wanted my sister far away from you and Stefan because when you guys showed up here it was like a trail of black smoke followed you. When-"

"I don't know what you're getting at but whatever it is, it based on wrong foundations. Is this color thing is associated with evil it's completely whack. Stefan is black smoke while Katherine is cloudy grey! In no universe is Stefan eviler than Katherine. I may have thought it at times but it's not true," Damon scoffed. He could understand her just sensing Elena from Katherine, they were sisters, but the whole color scale reading was just ridiculous.

Addie's hand twitched in Damon's and she had the desire to to pull away. She had known it was going to take some convincing but she had expect it to hurt when he didn't outright believe her. It was like getting the wind knocked out of her. Was this how he felt when she didn't trust or believe him?

"Damon, I know I sound crazy as hell but I need you to listen carefully," she carried on quietly. "The dark feeling comes from deception, not how sinister or evil someone is. When Stefan came clean about being a vampire, he changed. Now he only feels like the lightest possible shade of grey there is. However, you were still seemed pretty negative when I found out what you were. Looking back that makes complete sense considering you were hiding the fact that you wanted to unleash a murderous pack of vampires on the town."

Damon exhaled loudly through his nose and huffed, "Are you ever going to let that go? Did I not change? Did I not plan on only saving Katherine?"

The sense of hurt and rejection in his voice was faint and masked by annoyance but Addie could still detect it. Letting go of his hand she moved to rest her head on his shoulder and wrapped her arm around his stomach. She reassured him, "I'm not judging you, Damon. Nor am I holding onto the past. When you agreed to just get Katherine out your darkness became a little lighter. And then when you stuck around to help with the tomb vampires, you were as light as Stefan. My little crush on you wouldn't have been enough for me to save you from the fire. It was that and the combination of how light grey you were. You had changed so much. It wasn't fair that Stefan got to live when you didn't. But it was like right after that moment, suddenly there was no color coming from you; you didn't seem to be lying or bad or whatever these colors really mean. The only other vampire I've been close to and felt that - well, didn't feel anything from is Caroline."

"So now I'm a perky blonde cheerleader who talks too much?"

"Damon!"

"Addie!" he mocked back in the same whiny tone. "You're taking forever to get to your point."

Tilting her head to look up at him she scoffed, "Can you make up your mind? You either complain when I tell the full story or you complain and say I'm leaving out half of it when I tell the short version."

"Jump to how this connects with Alaric," he decided, tapping the tip of her nose with each word.

Addie swatted his and away and bemoaned, "But you're not going to believe me without out all the evidence that leads up to it."

"Try me."

She sighed and pushed herself onto her elbows to look down at him, "The color radiating thing doesn't work with all vampires. I think I need to at least talk to them first. That's why I never picked up on Ana when she planned to use Jeremy and I never talked to the tomb vamps so I couldn't read them. I trust Elijah because he never gave of a sense of darkness or deception, even when talking about the elixir to save Elena. That's why I'm convinced he's our best chance. Rose gave off a hazy mist of grey but by the way she ran when Elijah showed up at Slater's, I'm guessing that was just a thing of self-preservation. I knew I could trust you to help me when I was stupid and got into a deal with Katherine because you didn't give of a black sense of a secret agenda. The readings aren't perfect though. You don't suddenly turn black you're telling day to day lies otherwise I would have know you were going to dagger Elijah. It's the big things, things that make up someone's personality and life that give off shades of color."

"If that's so," Damon said slowly, mulling over what she had told him, "how come I'm clear and Stefan still has grey?"

Briefly Addie supported herself on one elbow so she could run her hand through her hair. Hesitantly she answered, "I've thought about that. Damon, is there any part of your past that you would lie about to me if I explicitly asked?"

"As much as I would like to say yes, no. I've lied to many women but I don't want to lie to you about who I am or was to try and keep you, Ads," he scowled.

She gave him a small smile and nodded, "I think that's why you don't give off any color. Stefan, though, he's… while you're prideful and embracing of who you are, he isn't and I think he wants everyone one to believe that he was the guy with the hero hair. I'm guessing there are parts of his past that he wouldn't admit to."

"You're not wrong," Damon sighed heavily. "Now, Alaric?"

"When I was 12 my dad took me camping in Whiting's Neck cave. We were about 70 feet below the ground and a mile from the one opening to the cave. As all the flashlights turned off I grew to learn the true meaning of darkness. No light from the moon or stars reached us down there. That was the exact same blackness I felt from Alaric today," she finished in a whispered.

Damon caught Addie's cheeks between his hands and rested his foreheads against her and tried not to laugh as he clarified, "You think Alaric is a vampire?"

She pulled his hands away, sat up and scowled, "Don't give me that. I know I sound crazy but something isn't right about him, Damon. Look, I never had these feelings about a human and definitely not him. I see two possible scenarios: he's a vampire or he's Klaus."

"Now, I don't want to make you upset," Damon said cautiously, as if approaching an angry, wounded animal, "but this color thing and sensing dark feeling, is it possible that it's just all in your head? Maybe your medici -"

"I know I'm crazy but this has nothing to do with that," she snapped. "I know this sensing thing makes no sense but the only reason I would feel that from Alaric is because he is going to perform the biggest deception of all time and betray us to Klaus or he is pure evil and Klaus is possessing his body. Both are complete possibilities!" insisted Addie when Damon groaned and rolled his eyes.

"Look, Alaric went AWOL for nearly three weeks, which just so happens to coincide with Klaus making his first move. Who is to say that he wasn't gone learning how to control his thirst during that time? Why would he turn into a vampire? Well he either was force or someone as powerful as Klaus must be able to bribe even the most moral of people. I think my pierced lung says Alaric is necessarily the most noble. As to why he would betray us, Klaus could compel him. Why turn him in the first place though? To have someone with vamp skills in fighting against us and for the sacrifice. Plus, who is definitely going to be in on how we stop Klaus? Our trusted vampire hunter."

Damon frowned, shaking his head. This was completely ridiculous but he tried not to sound condescending, "That's an awful lot of work for him to go through."

Addie nodded in agreement, "Yes, it would be much simpler for him to use his witch to put him in Alaric's body. His final use of Isobel was her death so he, as Alaric, would have the excuse of taking a leave of absence in the name of grief while he learned more about Alaric and all of us. He has, or had, Katherine and could get her to give him all the inside details on the Scooby-Doo gang. Katherine didn't know Alaric perfectly though and Klaus couldn't mimic him exactly. When he wrote on the chalkboard it was dramatically different handwriting. The way he spoke and taught and even moved was erratic and strange. Bonnie said his class was awful today and he had no idea what he was talking about. That's not Alaric the history buff. Then he calls me 'Addison'! In what universe does Alaric do that? Klaus is the oldest, darkest, worst vampire in existence; it makes sense that he would emanate true black.

"I couldn't risk Bonnie saying the plan in front of him. Klaus has always been one step ahead. She's meant to be our secret weapon. Her already saying she was the plan already probably tipped him of."

Addie's pillow smelled like cumber melon as Damon's arms wrapped around it and he covered his face with this. He didn't want to believe something so horrible of his friend but he also wanted to believe his girlfriend. She had kept this secret of "sensing vampires" from him because she felt he wouldn't believe her or think her crazy. He didn't want to live up to that it was just that it sounded so ridiculous; he'd never heard of such a thing. Of course, he had never heard of any human being able to resist compulsion. Inspired and as a preventative measure just in case she was right, Damon sat up and pulled out his pocket knife. He flicked it open and motioned for Addie for her to put her free hand in his.

"Now?!" she asked in bewilderment.

"If Klaus is playing Freaky Friday with Alaric it means I'm not safe from being compelled. And, as I've told you, I don't know if vervain is enough to stop an Original. This is my best chance at protecting you so yeah, now."

This was a good sign, Addie decided as she undid her bracelet treated with the protected herb and placed her hand palm up in Damon's hand. He wasn't outright rejecting her theory, and even if he wasn't agreeing with it, he was taking preventative measures.

As her eyes connected with Damon's his lips twitched upward. He knew eye contact made her uncomfortable but he loved staring into them. The dark gray and purple argyle sweater vest made them the color of a tropical storm. "You won't feel a thing," he compelled. Addie nodded. Damon reached over and grabbed a handful of tissues before he rested the tip of the blade in her palm. "Ready?" She nodded again. Swiftly, he drew a two inch cut down the center of the blade, blood swelling around the steel as he went.

Addie definitely felt the piercing and splitting of her flesh and hissed as her eyes watered in pain. "Holy shit," she curse, cupping her hand and filling it with tissues so the blood didn't spill onto the blanket. "Fairly certain the compulsion didn't work!" Addie scowled, too focused on the throbbing in her hand to be happy.

"I'm so sorry, love. I never meant to hurt you. It's just the way the tolerance is built. It will never happen again," he swore. Damon reached for a tissue to wipe the blade before cutting his hand but hesitated. Something wasn't right. Addie's bloody had always smelt sickly sweet but, now, while it still smelled sweeter than any other human he had come across, it wasn't overpoweringly so. It smelt as sweet as a vampire's.

Applying pressure to the cut slightly helped the pain but it still hurt. Addie shoved her hand under Damon's face, breaking his focus from the knife. "We're not done, bud. Kinda gonna pass out if I start seeing too much more of my own blood."

"Right," he muttered, making a small cut in his finger, letting the her blood fall into injury. If it was anything like when he had tried to swallow her blood and his throat had begun to constrict and sting, having it in his bloodstream was bound to burn at least as bad as vervain. It didn't; it definitely.

Whether it was nerves or excitement that caused his hand to tremble so badly that she needed to hold it when he held his bleeding finger out to her lips Damon wasn't sure. It was like a nasty blast from the 80s, when his behavior was at it's worst. Or was it exhilarating? It was like he had take a small dose of ecstasy. He could swear he felt every crook and curve of her fingertips as she gently cradled her hand with her uninjured one. Every taste bud was registered as the flat of her tongue pressed against his finger, trying to draw out blood as he had already started to heal. Damon could feel the new skin knitting back together. The she was gone and he felt cold and lonely. He wiped the knife on his jeans and leaned back against his pillows and headboard, watching her through heavy lids. He wanted to say it. He was Damon Salvatore; she'd be ok hearing it from him. He was dying to say it. But no; he knew this feeling and he it would pass and he would have screwed everything up. Damon hit his lips and roughly tossed his head back against the headboard and groaned.

"You ok?" Addie asked, looking from mopping up the last of the blood to look at him.

"No," he scowled, grateful he could feel himself returning to normal with the exception of being a little tired. "Yes. I don't know."

Collecting all the the tissues, Addie got up to throw them in the bathroom wastebasket. Returning, she knelt on the bed next to Damon and gently ran her finger through his raven hair. He leaned into her touch and she couldn't help but smile. "What's wrong?"

"We should make sure you really can't be compelled," said Damon, avoiding the answer.

Addie grinned, pressed her forehead to his and started into his ice blue eyes. "Try."

He cupped her face, brushed his thumbs over her cheekbones and instructed, "Don't go to the dance. Stay at home where it's safe."

"I'll be honest," she sighed, sitting back on her knees, "I've thought about it. I don't want a supernatural life. I don't want to face the worst vampire of all time. And unlike everyone else, I bring nothing to the table. Elena's bait. Bonnie's the weapon. You and Stefan are the muscle. And we haven't really discussed Alaric but he was the vampire hunter. I've been trying to stay out of the whole mess from the beginning. The only part I concerned myself with was making sure Elena survives the sacrifice. This doesn't involve that and I'm useless. I should be sitting out of this fight."

"You are not useless," Damon said firmly, lifting her chin with one finger so she would meet his eyes. He tried to compel her again, "Cluck like a chicken."

Her brows furrowed and she knocked his hand away and scoffed, "Have you gone completely mental?"

Damon shook his head and yawned, "No. I definitely can't compel you. Downside is that I can't make you tell me more about reading vampires and Alaric."

She grabbed her pillow and tried to hit him with it but he easily snatched it from her. Addie growled in frustration, "You have gone completely mental! You were going to compel that from me?! Damon, I'm telling you the truth. Do you think I want to be evil or invaded by Klaus? Do you think I would tell you this about your best friend if I wasn't absolutely sure?"

"You're my best friend," he said with a cheeky grin.

Addie replied flatly, "I still want to hit you with the pillow."

"So mean."

"You were going to use compulsion on me!"

"And now, thanks to moi, no one ever can compel you," he replied superiorly. "Though we might have cause a new problem."

"What you talkin' 'bout, Damon," Addie demanded, imitating Gary Coleman's character on Diff'rent Strokes.

Damon frowned, "Remember how I said your blood smelled sickly sweet, like it would be poisonous? And it turned out it was the first time we tried getting compulsion? Well, when I cut you it still smelled really sweet but not like before. I kinda took a gamble and cut my finger with your blood still on the blade. It was far from poisonous. Think more like psychologically addictive."

"What are you say?"

"You're resistant to compulsion but your blood will no longer act as a poison if a vampire bites you. You'll be more of an all-you-can drink buffet."

It made absolutely no sense for one to cancel the other out. They weren't even logically connected. In fact, it made the whole point of resisting compulsion counter intuitive! She did it so she wouldn't have to rely on vervain for her life but now she still would have to so she wasn't eaten. Addie began to mentally count back from ten as aggravation and stress started to mingle. When she finished she declared, "One crisis at a time. Alaric, then Klaus, then whatever it is that makes me some genetic freak."

"You're not-"

"Alaric! Do you believe me or not?" Addie snapped, not in the mood for one of Damon's pep talks.

Damon ran his fingers through his hair. The truth was the wrong answer and the right answer was lying to her. Maybe he could find a way around both. "We would need a plan. Which premise do you believe more: he's Klaus or he's a vampire."

"Invasion of the bodysnatchers."

"Do your senses come with a plan?"

Addie grimace and shifted awkwardly, "Not a solid one. But like this," she reached out and grabbed Mythology and tapped on the cover, "says 'Tell one, but beware of two. All will know with three.' Everyone believes Klaus is some person we don't know until the right time. And we already have that plan we told everyone. However, we don't wait until the last dance that Klaus says he's saving for Elena. Right when we get there, we bribe the DJ to make a dedication from Klaus to Elena."

"Why would we want to do that? Why don't we wait until the last dance? The school will be less crowded," pointed out Damon.

"Klaus isn't going to attack when he says he is! He's smart and he'll try to catch us off guard. With the dedication we make it known to him that we're ready to play his game. We tell no one that we're doing the dedication though. You compel some kid and then go talk to Alaric about it. You tell him you're ready to get the show rolling. Then you stay as far away from him as possible since he can compel you. My fear is that he is going to compel you for the dagger. We need to take the one from Elijah."

"Not happening."

She grabbed his hand and begged him to understand, "Damon, I talked to Elijah. After you staked him to the wall it took about six hours for him to wake up. We can safely take the dagger from him, stake him to the floor, and then put it back in well before six hours."

She hadn't gotten to the part about taking out what she that was Klaus inside Alaric. The only real plan they had come up with was getting Bonnie in a room with Klaus. So far, if he went along with Addie's plan, that could still happen. It was actually a good idea to let Klaus know they were ready to dance; it would speed up a long night. That lamppost had stopped Elijah for awhile. Damon concede, "Ok, so I have a dagger. I guess this is a suicide mission for me? Dying for the sake of true family. I'm so noble. What about the second dagger we told them about?"

Addie smirked mischievously, "Who says all the daggers need to look alike?"

"Do I even want to know?" sighed Damon, feigning exasperation.

"Uh, yeah because it's totally badass," she scoffed and rolled her eyes. Proudly she said, "I just happen to have a kaiken that looks to be dated around the same time as the dagger."

"You have a giant sea monster that's going to eat Klaus?"

"A kaiken, you twit, not a kraken. It's a Japanese dagger."

Through narrowed eyes Damon peered at her and shook his head incredulity, "Who are you?"

She scowled, "I told you I did a year of Japanese sword fighting. That one goes to Stefan. Alaric/Klaus is less likely to ask him to see it. We tell Stefan that he has the dagger because in all reality, you two have a better chance of daggering Klaus than Elena ever does. We tell Elena she'll get the dagger later because she's not going to walk into a fight unarmed. However, Elena will never be more than five feet from Bonnie meaning she's always armed."

"Uh-huh. And how do we fight Klaus really?"

Playing with the dangling moon and stars of her belly button ring had become a regular thing for Damon when he snuggled her at night, when she did her best thinking. Addie found herself doing it more and more frequently when she need to sort something out. She dropped the charms and whispered, "Me."

"You? You're going to fight Klaus?"

Addie inhaled deeply, preparing for the fight, "No, I'm going to lead Alaric/Klaus to the fight. We need him to think that he is still your best friend and you have complete trust in him. The best way to do that is for you to leave my safety with him."

"No! Hell no! That's ridiculous! You don't even want to go to the dance! If Klaus is somewhere, you should be on the opposite side of the freaking globe!" exclaimed Damon, shaking his head emphatically. It wasn't that he had a problem with the plan, everything could still work out, he had a slight problem trusting anyone but himself to protect her but Alaric would be his second choice next to Stefan. His problem was her being near the fight!

"Damon, Alaric/Klaus is going to know something is up if you don't give him some role that you think is important to play. I'm not not his target! Elena will be with Bonnie. It makes sense if I worry about my sister and want to find her. I convince them that we shouldn't have a showdown in a crowded gym. I lead them to… the hall by the trophy case. I tell Bonnie Alaric is Klaus and she attacks."

Or I have Bonnie lock you in a classroom. If he got Addie out of the way early enough, she wouldn't be there when Klaus showed up. Even with Addie's plan to bait him, Klaus wouldn't rush to make his move. No, the kind of reputation he had didn't come from brutality or bloodshed; it came from torture. He would watch them squirm first. "No. You're not coming."

"She's my sister!"

"It's Klaus!

"You need me for the plan!"

"No, I need you safe. If something happened to you, I would never forgive myself. When you live for eternity that's a long time!"

"How do you think I would feel if I didn't do everything in my power to help my sister?!" Addie snarled back.

Feeling his temper start to rise, Damon took a deep long breath before trying to reason, "The best way you can help her is by staying back. Addie, if you're there my focus is going to be primarily on keep you safe. Elena will be second. Without you, she'll be my focus."

After a long time of consideration, Addie came up with the only comeback that would make him crave. "Would you stay back if the situation were reserved and Stefan's life was at stake?"

---

"I don't know who I hate more: you for making me dress up or Katherine for buying this damn thing," Addie hissed at Damon as they waited for Stefan and Elena to catch up. She tried pulling the bright mini dress covered in swirls of red, orange and yellow down again but that just made the scooping neckline too low. The open, flowing sleeves blocked her view when she tried to see if she had raise the neckline enough. "Ugh! Who the hell designed this stupid decade?"

Laughing Damon adjust her wide orange headband. He wanted to kiss her but he knew that wouldn't fly so he settled for a quick squeeze of the hand and reminded her of what he already knew, "You look perfect. You're mini dress is longer than some guys jeans. Trust me, you're beautiful. Although, neon orange Converse were the 80s and 90s."

Addie stepped closer to him and stood on the tip of her toes to point an authoritative finger in his and whispered dangerously, "I'll have you know that by the 1960s 90 percent of professional basketball players were wearing Chuck Taylor Converse All Stars. Don't mock the Cons."

"Have you ever considered you have an unhealthy relationship with your shoes?"

"I'm a girl," she shrugged dismissively.

Damon laughed, "Doesn't that mean you should be obsessed over Jimmy Choos and Lucchese and the like?"

Addie blinked at him blankly, "I can honestly say that I have never heard those words. Of course, I've never heard of John Varvatos, Balmain, and Fendi before I met you. Have you ever considered that you have an unhealthy obsession with high fashion?"

He smirked and whispered just low enough to hear, "You can't disagree it's worth it. Don't look at the tags in those shirts and boxers you find so comfortable to sleep."

With a sharp turn on his heel, Damon began to walk into school. Addie tilted her head quizzically when he stopped to greet Bonnie and Jeremy for a brief second. Instinct told her to pull away when she felt someone's arm loop through hers until she turned and saw her sister.

"Damon already go inside?"

"Mmm. He is supposed to be stopping underage drinking, hanky panky, fights and general bad behaviors," Addie confirmed as they approached their brother and friend.

Stefan chuckled, "I think they need a better way of picking chaperons. Those are Damon's tenants of life and he's most likely encouraging all that.

"Hey you too!" Elena beamed. "You look great!"

Bonnie and Elena hugged as Jeremy pulled his sister into a bone crushing embrace. "You dressed up! In a dress!" he laughed.

"I am not above planting a big red lip shaped lipstick stain on your cheek," threatened Addie.

Pulling away her brother shook his head and clarified, "No, no, you look great. It's just… well, you must really like Damon because I know you didn't decide this on your own."

"He's helping save Elena; the least I can do is humor him," Addie muttered defensively. "Let's party, people," she said, clapping her hands in false excitement.

As the five of them pushed through the throng of people Addie trailed in the back clutching tightly at her brother's hand. It was strange; she could feel ecstatic being pushed and shoved in a mosh pit among strangers but thrown into into an almost identical situation minus the anonymity her anxiety flared up. She was grateful when they stopped in front of the stage; it wasn't too crowded due to the blaring speakers. Addie's breath caught in her throat when the same girl who had approached them at lunch got up on stage and spoke into the microphone.

"Thanks for being here, everybody. We have a special shout-out tonight. This is for Elena from Klaus."

The girls exchanged worried looks though Addie's was for an entirely different reason. Resolving to push her panic aside, Addie began to rationalize. Coincidences happened. It really shouldn't be shocking that it was the same girl. Addie was pretty sure she was on the dance committee with Caroline. Of course there was a limited number of people with stage access, limiting who Damon could compel. Of the hundred of students Klaus could have picked, Addie doubted he intentionally picked someone with clearance to go onto the stage just to do a shout out. That was definitely their shout out. The bait had been set.

A frown covered Elena's face as she turned back from looking around the room and worried, "I know everyone here."

As much as she was getting along with her sister Addie still couldn't resist rolling her eyes at this. Of course Saint Popularity knows everyone.

"Maybe he's not here and just wants us to think he is," Stefan said hopefully.

Spying Damon and Alaric/Klaus off on the sideline Addie bit her lip nervous before quickly turning it into a smile. Fear and anxiety were not options that night. She turned towards her siblings and friends and raised her eyebrows up and down suggestively, "Only thing we can do is let him come to us." She pushed Stefan and Elena towards the crowd of students jerking wildly. "It's a party, people. Blend!"

"You've been spending too much time with my brother," said Stefan, nevertheless taking Elena's hand and leading her to the dance floor.

Bonnie nodded and took Jeremy's arm, "Good idea."

"No, no, I really don't feel like dancing," he groaned.

"Too bad."

Addie stuck her tongue out at her brother and mockingly sang, "Sucks for you." As Bonnie dragged him away in a deep voice she mimicked his words from earlier, "I know you didn't decide this on your own."

When everyone one was busy dancing, Addie skirted around the edge of the dance floor, still having to bob and weave through couples. Even though he was still talking to Alaric/Klaus, a wave of relief washed over her when she spied Damon grinning at her. She took the last few steps quickly. As she passed Alaric to reach Damon she felt a powerful urge to just keep on walking but forced herself to stay. Covertly interlacing her fingers with Damon's gave her a little solace.

"You sure that's wise here?" asked Alaric/Klaus, nodding to their joined hands.

Addie's head snapped up to look at Damon for his reaction; Alaric would never have asked that.

For a second he didn't respond and just stared at the other man through narrowed eyes. Dropping her hand Damon shook his head, "No, you're right." Addie jumped in surprise when she felt his arm wrap tightly around her waist, pulling her in close to him. "I think this is what I meant to do."

While the display was too intimate for the setting and Addie wanted to pull away, she found that the safety she felt against him outweighed the embarrassment.

Alaric/Klaus shoved his hands in his pocket and rocked on his feet, much like he had in class. Conversationally he observed, "Special dedication, huh? This guy's a little twisted."

Addie couldn't hold back, "You didn't get twisted from the whole innocent human sacrifice part? It'd be one thing if he was sacrificing a sociopathic, serial killing werewolf, vampire, and human; reap what you sow and that. Elena hasn't done anything worth being killed over. Although, personally, in my mind I'm giving him the credit of using a really nasty vampire and evil werewolf. If karma has a say she might just be in a kennel right now for what she did to Damon and Rose."

"Getting a little intense," whispered Damon, squeezing hip comfortingly.

"Why would you even give him that credit?"

"Because I apparently have a problem giving credit to the bad guys. First Katherine, then Damon. In my defense, it has worked out to my benefit. Maybe it will with Klaus. Everyone needs someone to believe in them."

Unconvinced Damon scoffed, "How did you possibly benefit from working with Katherine?" He saw her blush as she quickly squeezed his hand and leaned further into him. "Ohhhhh," he grinned in understand. He quickly kissed the top of her head before turning his attention back to Alaric, "Twisted or not, he definitely doesn't impress me."

"No?" he replied, a faint look of disappointment on his face.

Damon shook his head, "Nope. What's a shout out supposed to do? Make us edgy? We already know he's gonna be here. For the baddest vampire of all time he thinks pretty small on the manipulation scale."

"Well what would you have done?"

If Damon had any sense or really believed her then he would hopefully not answer that.

"Go nuclear. You have a room full of puppets. Killing them would be stupid and wasteful but using them for mind games better than a shout out. No, the best way to torment us would-"

Hoping to stop him Addie played the one card she particularly hated using on Damon: guilt. It was just that she couldn't have him giving Klaus any ideas. She stepped lightly on his foot, pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, looked up at him with pleading, watery eyes and whispered, "Damon, please… I know that… The dark thoughts-"

"Shh, shh. I'm sorry," he said quietly, brushing at her wet cheeks. "He's just a threat to you and your happiness; that sends me to a bad place." Before she even realized what he was doing and could object, he was pulling her towards the dance floor, over his shoulder he called to Alaric, "Let me know if you see anything out of whack."

When he found a spot on the edge of the crowd that was fairly clearly Damon held out his hand. Addie raised her eyebrows in disbelief, "Uh, no. I don't"

"Miss Mystic Falls," he countered, taking her hand and settling the other on her waist. "I've seen you dance."

"I didn't want to do that and I don't want to do this," she grumbled, settling her hand on his shoulder anyways.

Every bit of her was so tense he could almost feel her shaking from the strain. Damon's thumb skimmed down her hand to rest over her racing pulse and frowned. "How ya' doing?" he murmured, wishing he could just pull her into his arms.

Addie hummed in consideration. "Mmm…. Well, I've decided to suppress any anxiety fear and panic for the night so right now I'm ok but I'm going to have a major cry when I let all those surface and have an emotional overload when this is all over."

"Well, I'll buy more Kleenex on the way home," he shrugged, squeezing her waist. "Orrr," he drew out contemplatively, "because I like you so much, I'll let you use my t-shirt, which we both know is way softer than the softest of tissues."

"I'm not getting snot on a million dollar shirt."

Damon snorted, "Love, even I wouldn't blow a that much money on a shirt. But I promise they don't mind a few tears and snot. There is this magical thing called a washing machine that they have a really fun time going through and they come out even cleaner than when I bought them."

"You're a dork," she laughed. As Damon watched her eyes flicker from his lip to over his shoulder repetitively, his eyes darkened. Staring at his lip she breathed, "I just want this to be over and to go home."

"I know."

"How are you?"

"I just want this to be over and to go home," echoed Damon, quickly removing his hand from her waist to brush his thumb over her lips. "And now I'm doubting this whole plan."

Addie scowled at Damon when he spun her as she tried to break away. Knowing she sounded like a petulant child, she resumed dancing and pouted, "Why are you doubting the plan?"

Pale lids covered his beautiful blue eyes and his head tilted back. He couldn't look at her when he confessed, "I honestly didn't believe you about Alaric. No, I believed in you but I just didn't want to believe that it was true; that you had made a mistake. I only went with the plan because it was still possible to get Bonnie and Klaus together."

"What made you believe me?"

"Talking to Alaric just now. Something isn't right about him. The way he reacted to you and us holding hands. Not to mention that before you came over he was asking a lot of questions about us and specifically about you. A lot of them were things we had already discussed and given your feeling I decided to answer with lies and he never called me out on them. There are three things I know: something is off about him, he's far too nosy about you, and I'm not comfortable with trusting him with your safety," listed Damon. Despite her squeals of protest, he dipped her and grinned at the small smile on her face.

When he brought her back up, Addie shook her head firmly and determined, "Plan remains as is. You agreed to do the my way and I'm cashing in on that now."

"Of course," he grumbled, spinning her away from him. Before she could completely stumble over her feet he had already twirled her back into his arms. "Whatever you want, Ads."

It was obvious how annoyed and upset he was to her so Addie tried to lighten the mood and teased, "You're good at this. I expected you to be a duck out of water."

"Oh,love, I've got moves you've never seen," he slyly smirked suggestively.

---

Despite being with Damon and on the edge of the crowd, Addie still felt uncomfortable around so many people. She had been surprised when Damon had let her go off to join up with Elena at the punch bowl without any fuss.

"Where's Stefan?" inquired Addie, sliding up next to her sister.

As a nervous tic Elena flicked at the rim of a cup. "Telling Caroline about the Klaus situation. And Damon?"

Not really sure, Addie looked over her shoulder only to come face to face with her scowling brother. Through clenched teeth she could distinguish, "Dancing with my girlfriend."

Addie strained to look over his shoulder and, sure enough, she saw exactly what he had said. Why was Damon with Bonnie? Was he jumping the gun and telling her about Klaus being Alaric now? That was not in the plan! It was completely irrational. The fewer who knew the better.

Squinting, Elena's eyes narrowed as she tried to read her little siblings. Growing up with them had allowed her to learn most of their tells when they were lying, "What are they up to?" she demanded.

Sensing Elena's eyes on her Addie shifted uncomfortably and huffing, tried to sound slightly jealous and insecure, "I don't know."

Elena turned to her brother; if Addie didn't know something, surely he did. "Who knows?"

There was a lifelessness in his voice reminiscent of before Damon compelled away his pain. Addie looked to Elena but she didn't seem to have noticed. Having already lost her brother down a dark path once, Addie wasn't going to let it happen again. She took his hand and tried to pull him towards the gaggle of students, "Since our - well, technically Damon isn't my date - but since our respective partners seem to be more interested in dancing with each other, we shall dance."

"Neither of us even wanted to come to a stupid school dance and we both hate dancing," Jeremy reminded, digging his heels into the laminated gym floor.

Knowing how to manipulate her brother, Addie's eyes narrowed as she turned to face him and warningly growled, "I know but I'm costumed in the most hideous dress ever made in attempt to be social and be normal and another part of those protocols is dancing in that massive, sweaty mob where people get way up in my personal space even if it it brings up my anxiety. Exposure therapy. As my brother and best friend, you should be supporting me in every way you can. As of right now Damon has been more supportive than you."

"You know, it's a good thing you're a very good and moral person," Jeremy remarked as they made their way into the crowd. "You could very easily make for an excellent super villain. I think that's just another reason you and Damon work; you're the light to his dark and he's the light to your dark."

Resting her hands on his shoulders Addie considered this. There were her depressed periods and it wasn't a secret that she could be moody and irritable. Plus, she wasn't like everyone else; she wasn't throwing herself into this supernatural stuff to get moonstones, extract information from enemy witches, and the like. Except for tonight when it came to her sister's life or death, she wasn't trying to stop the bad guy. She wondered, "Don't you think I'm dark enough without Damon?"

"For you I mean dark as in risk taking and edgy. Pre-Damon you would never have skipped school, been in a relationship, come to a dance, especially dressed up, nor would you have ever seen the good in someone with such a bad reputation and have been bold enough to stand up to him, to argue with him, to not let him push you around." He smirked and tugged her hair like he did when they were kids fighting, "My baby sister is growing up."

"We're not that far apart in age," objected Addie, feeling belittled.

"No, but I grew up a lot faster when I took the road of sex, drugs and alcohol after Mom and Dad. You stayed innocent, pure."

Idly Addie turned up Jeremy's collar and fixed it repetitively. Grimacing she asked, "Why does everyone think that?"

"Who else did?"

"Damon."

Jeremy snorted and failed in his attempted to hold back a chuckle, "Well, that's coming from someone whose soul is black."

The darkness radiating from Alaric came to mind and she flicked Jeremy hard on the shoulder. She snapped, "Don't say that."

"I don't mean any offense. It just that to him you are probably the poster child for good."

"Unfortunately, you have that right," she mumbled. No matter what excuses he told her, Addie was fairly certain the reason Damon wouldn't go any further was that he still saw her as too young. Reflexively, with her mind on him, her eyes searched for him. If Bonnie and Damon dancing was awkward, the serious conversation it looked like they were having was just plain disturbing. Studying Jeremy, Addie recollected that he had seem particularly upset when he had informed her of their dates' activity. Damn it! Damon was right about her having a problem staying focused. The whole reason she had made Jeremy dance was because he was clearly lying when he told Elena that he didn't know what Bonnie and Damon were up to. Speaking strongly she ordered, "Tell me what's going on, Jer. Are you ok?"

"Fine, I'm fine. Everything is fine," he answered, his voice the tiniest bit higher than usual.

Addie gave a look that clearly conveyed she didn't believe him and re-informed him, "I'm not Elena; you can't get away with lying to me. I know you, Gilbert."

"You know, the whole last name thing is a lot less meaningful when we share the same one."

"Don't get snarky with me," she warned. "I do the snaky in this family. And your role is being the person I can turn to and trust. What are you hiding from me?" He didn't answer. Frowning, Addie reviewed his odd behavior again. "It has to do with Bonnie, doesn't it? And Damon, too? So, my brother, my best friend, and the guy I'm dating, the three people I should be able to trust the most, are all keeping something from me? What the hell is going on?" demanded Addie, the loud music covering the slight rise in her voice.

"I can read you just as well as you can read me. You're lying about the dagger plan. I don't know why but you are," Jeremy accused, leading Addie to a sparely populated corner. "What I don't know is if Bonnie is in on your lie or not. Guessing by her little chat with Damon, she is."

Addie shook her head quickly; she didn't want their relationship on the rocks because of something she did. Quietly she confessed, "You're right. The dagger plan is a false trail. There is no second dagger and we can't undagger Elijah. I got Damon to go along with it so don't be mad at him. But Bonnie, she has absolutely no idea that the plan is to still use her and she won't until the very last second. I know who Klaus is and because of who he is people can't be trusted to know the real plan."

"Addie, it doesn't matter who the fuck Klaus is!" Jeremy cried, throwing his hands up in frustration. "If Bonnie takes on Klaus, channeling all that energy is going to kill her." It felt really good to not be the only one burdened with that secret.

"What?" Addie asked slowly, trying to both register what her brother was saying and come up with a new plan. "Bonnie was gonna… No! No! Why the hell didn't you tell me sooner?1"

"She didn't want you and Elena to know 'cause if you guys did, you'd try and stop her. I can see it in your eyes that you're already trying to think of a way out of this with everyone alive. I've been trying that for weeks. You don't stop her, she dies. You do, Elena does. What are we supposed to do?" asked Jeremy hopelessly.

Addie's lips pressed together in a thin, angry line as she glared at Damon and Bonnie dancing. Her face softened when she saw Jeremy's red nose and watery eyes, though her anger didn't ebb. Squeezing Jeremy's upper arm got him to focus on her and all she could do was hope that he would listen when she said, "You're going to go to the hall and take a breather. I'm going to go be angry and then figure out a solution."

Without waiting for Jeremy to respond Addie began to march over to Bonnie and Damon, who were still dancing. How dare that smug, arrogant, asshole keep something this big from her! While she could understand where Bonnie had been coming from with her big, selfless heart, that didn't mean Addie wasn't still pissed at her.

As Damon saw Addie approaching he beamed and held out his to her, "Ooo! Changed your mind about hating dancing and have come to check out my legendary skills."

"Hardly," she sniffed, swatting his hand away. "You promised me no more secrets."

Damon pursed his lips and tried not to look too uncomfortable. He went with nonchalantly shrugging, "I changed my mind." Leaning towards Bonnie he cupped his hand around his mouth as if to tell a secret and asked in a mockingly politely voice, "When you blabbed to your boyfriend did it ever occur to you that he would, you know, tattle to his sister?"

Defensively Bonnie shot back, "He promised he wouldn't."

"See? It's not just me. Guys just simply aren't capable of keeping promises."

Addie put a hand out to Damon, indicating for him to be quiet. "I'm not talking to you. I'll deal with you later. In the meantime, start coming up with a new plan."

"So bossy! Not even a please," Damon huffed, stalking off.

The icy look Addie gave Bonnie was unlike none before. When she told Bonnie to follow her, the witch didn't hesitate. Despite the younger girl's statue, with her anger and strength she could probably drag the witch wherever she wanted unless Bonnie turned her magic against her best friend. Addie led them over to the drink table where Elena set down the cups she was holding as she took in Bonnie's uneasy face and her sister's pissed off one.

"What's going on?" Elena cautiously questioned.

Addie crooked a finger at Elena, indicating she should follow. "We need a little girl talk," Addie gritted out, continuing towards the exit. The other girls followed her outside and gave her a confused look when she jumped to sit on top of the picnic table. "Don't look at me like that!" Addie sneered at Bonnie. "You know exactly why we're."

"Addie! What the hell has gotten into you?" Elena chastised. "We're looking at you crazy because you don't do that in a dress, especially not one that snags on splinters."

Addie rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. Her sister was so short sighted. "We have bigger problems than my lack of fashion knowledge nor do we have the time to educate me on how to be a proper girl! The dagger Stefan was going to give you, I'm assuming Damon is telling him the plan is off, is the one I used for Japanese sword fighting. Trust me, it can't take down Klaus. That leaves the one dagger that we really need to put back into Elijah before he wakes up and starts ripping hearts out. Basically, the whole dagger plan was smoke and mirrors."

"For what? Why would you do that? My God, Damon has you playing his stupid games now doesn't he!"

"It was my plan and I can't tell you why I did it. Not yet. It's not safe. But basically we have no way to take down Klaus and he's here to kill you."

"I can take him down," Bonnie interrupted.

Simultaneously Elena interjected, "What about Bonnie?"

Addie crossed her arms and glared at the witch, "Not happening. Tell Elena what will happen if you take him on."

"Ad-"

"Tell her or I will," she growled.

Bonnie glared at her, "Damon's right about you being bossy."

Deciding they didn't have time for nonsense chitchat, Addie decided to spill, "Bonnie dies if she kills Klaus."

"What?!" If it weren't such a serious situation, she would have loved to have taken a picture of Elena's jaw hitting the floor. "Is she telling the truth?" Bonnie nodded. "How could you not tell us?"

"'Cause I knew you'd react like this," the witch bit back defensively.

Beginning to pace, Elena shook her head, "No. No way. It's not an option."

"It's our only option."

With an accusatory finger towards Bonnie Addie snarled, "You don't get a say. Maybe if you had spoken up, oh, I don't know, when you figured this out then we might have had time to come up with an actual plan!"

Elena came to a halt, looked between the other two girls and agreed, "Addie's right. She's a little upset and has forgotten how to be nice but she's right. We'll find another way, ok? Bonnie, you're not dying to save my life."

"I have the power to save you!" insisted Bonnie. "If I don't use it and something happens, that would kill me more."

"I can't let you."

Addie scoffed and sarcastically added, "Don't you even care where that would leave me? A dead sister and emotionally dead best friend?"

Elena caught her sister's cheeks between her palms, squishing them and spoke slowly, "I'm making you aware of this for your own good. You and Damon spend far too much time together. It's toxic. On that note, does he have a plan?"

"Well, I could call and ask him but that's a way of spending time together and apparently I shouldn't do that because it's toxic," mocked Addie, sticking her tongue out at Elena.

"Damon's plan is me. I'm going to do it. I'm going to take down Klaus," Bonnie maintained.

Addie shook her head sadly, "It's a shame I'm going to have to kill my boyfriend for essentially throwing my best friend to the hungry lion."

"Both of you just answer one question: if the situation was reversed, would you do it for me?" challenged Bonnie

Elena was silent.

Addie inhaled sharply and sighed, "No."

"Well, no offense but it's no secret that you aren't the best at understanding how relationships and social codes of conduct work so your answer is voided."

"I know," Addie spoke loudly over Bonnie, "that I would give you guys all the time possible to find an alternative solution before sacrificing myself because, damn it, Bonnie, it's just down right selfish of you to make us live without you." She tilted her head back and tried to blink back the tears. There was no way she was going to let Elena and Bonnie see her cry.

The witch tried to use Addie's own favorite weapon against her:logic. "But in the end, if it came down to it, which it has, you would do it. You guys know why I have to."

"No. No!" Elena exclaimed.

Addie hopped off the table, dread and fear washing over her as she watched Alaric/Klaus and the darkness he carried running towards them. Seeing the younger girl's face pale, Bonnie and Elena followed her line of site. They were anxious to see the man rushing to them but their eyes lacked the same frightened look of Addie's midnight blue ones. Pre-revelation, this was the point where she revealed his true identity but she couldn't do that now; Bonnie would kill herself.

"Elena! Addie!" Alaric/Klaus panted eagerly, when he was close enough.

Frantically Elena asked, "What is it?"

"He has Jeremy."

All other words failed to registered to Addie. One word played like a broken record in her mind: trap. And they were alone. They didn't even have the vampire skills of Damon and Stefan to protect them. Damon. There was only one useful fashion tip her sister had ever taught her and while Addie had always found it stupid and vowed not to use it, she was so grateful her gut had to her to rather than leaving it with Damon like usual. Before she could even register what she was really doing, Addie had already whipped her phone out of her bra and had it pressed to her ear.

"Are you ok?" Damon answered on the first ring.

Even though he couldn't see her, Addie shook her head. She knew she had to play Klaus's game as long as possible, hopefully Damon had a plan. "Klaus has Jeremy," she said, hoping that he would figure out that Alaric was leading them into a trap. It was then that she noticed that the other three weren't by her anymore. Panicking, her eyes scanned for Bonnie and Elena.

"Addie!" Alaric/Klaus called from a side door, waving that she should enter.

Damon was quick to answer and sounded extremely frustrated, "I know but I don't know where!"

There was a reason Addie was the only freshman on the varsity track team and she could have reached Alaric\Klaus in two seconds flat but she had to hope he thought making it in six was an honest effort.

One…. They were past the gym.

Two…. There was no light coming from the door he held open so it wasn't attached to the main halls.

Three…. Janitor closet. No, storage room.

Four…. Where were they and where did that lead?

Five…. Barely audible she muttered into the phone, "Trophy case," and end the call just before reaching Alaric/Klaus.

Six…. "Klaus has your brother and you're making phone calls?"

"Elena has one dagger! One shot to save my brother! I'd thought I'd call the guy with the muscles and other dagger to more than double our chances! So, yes. If it saves his life I'm making a ten second phone call. This," she snapped, gesturing to him and herself, "is wasting time. Where do we go?!" Addie wasn't certain where her guts had suddenly come from as she still wanted to run away from the black and hide but she knew that she would never be able to live with herself if something happened to her sister or Bonnie and she wasn't there. She knew she was useless but she believed everyone should die feeling loved. She'd wanted to so many times for not feeling that way.

Alaric/Klaus nodded, "You're right. This way." He led them past a stack of old textbooks and an ancient computer to the hallway.

The knot in Addie's stomach loosened a little when she saw the trophy case at the far end; she was right. Though, she really hoped the confusion on Elena and Bonnie's face when she had mentioned the dagger wasn't as obvious to him as it was to her.

"Ok," Elena hesitated, slowly slightly. Addie couldn't resist the eye roll as she tried to pull her sister along. Of course she would pick now, when they were alone with a locked and loaded Bonnie and Klaus, to catch on. "So, where are you taking use."

"Just a little bit further," Klaus answered, continuing to walk.

The girls took a few more steps before Elena stopped them. "Wait, something's not right."

"Where's Jeremy?" demanded Bonnie.

Addie smacked her forehead with her palm and shook her head in dismay. "You guys have really bad timing."

Klaus stopped walking and laughed, turning around to face them. He smirked and wagged a finger at Addie, "Oh, but it's perfect timing, Addison. I just had to get away from that dance." He pretended to shudder. "The sixties, ugh. Not my decade." He laughed again and Addie noticed it was higher than Alaric's. "I mean, whose call was that, anyway? I much prefer the twenties. The style, the parties, the jazz."

"Alaric," Elena said slow and cautious, "are you on vervain?"

"Now why would you ask me that question, Elena?"

Addie scoffed and mocked, "Yeah, Elena. Don't be dense. Why would a big bad vampire like Klaus need to be on vervain? It barely even does a thing to Elijah."

"Klaus!" Elena exclaimed at her sister. "You've lost it."

A clap of the hands drew all their attention back to Klaus who was grinning broadly. He pretended to pout and whined, "Addison! We were having so much fun! You ruined the big surprised! I was going to get to do the reveal. Fair enough though, you were the one to figure out it was Colonel Mustard in the ballroom with the candlestick," he finished in a refined English accent. "Though, I know you shared that little secret with your lost little puppy."

"No," Elena whispered, pulling her very pale sister behind her, "it's not possible."

Klaus raised and lowered Alaric's hand in a motion that suggested calming down. "Just relax, Elena. I'm not here to hurt you. You're not on my hit list tonight. Your precious baby sis, well, she did win the game but she was very enthusiastic about falsely daggering me. FYI my hearing's better than a normal vampires, kinda like everything else about me."

"Grrreat," Addie drew out sarcastically. "One psychotic, serial killing, narcissistic vampire obviously wasn't enough so the universe decided to send another one. No, wait." Addie smiled falsely at her sister, "You drew them here."

Casually Klaus leaned against a locker and pretended to inspect his nails for dirt while taunting, "I suppose it's lucky for me that you like psychotic, serial killing, narcissistic vampires and tend to give them credit, eh?"

"Yeah," agreed Addie, "but it's lucky for me that I see no hope of redemption once they kill my friends or bleed my sister to death." Ok, that wasn't entirely true as Damon had killed her brother but he did come back to life and Bonnie would have died when he attacked her after Emily destroyed the crystal if Stefan hadn't been two feet away. But both those directly linked to Katherine and he turned into an idiot when it came to her but he was different now.

"Perhaps I have no use for you, then. We'll see how I feel after I take care of her," Klaus replied, lowering his head and starting towards Bonnie. In a flash her hand was up and Alaric's body was slamming into the top off lockers. Klaus slid to floor but was quickly back on his feet and grinning mirthlessly, "No, did I mention that I knew a witch? You're gonna have to hit me a lot harder than that." He began to rush at her but she repeated the motion. That time Bonnie must have used much more magic as Klaus went sailing down the hall and smashed through the trophy case. The tinkling of glass dropping could be heard as he fell to his knees. "By all means," he laughed, "Fire away." After the second hit he was a little slower getting to his feet. "If you kill this body, I'll just get a new one. Maybe Jeremy," he threatened.

"Go," Bonnie ordered, pushing both her friends by the shoulder, "Run. Run!"

Quickly all three girls turned and ran down the adjacent hallway. Using her magic Bonnie locked the blue double doors that allowed the passage. The pair of door opposite them burst through at nearly the exact same time. Feeling her heart leap and her leg spasm just as it had at the track meet, she pushed through the pain and to Damon. He rocked slightly backward with the force she knocked into him with. His hug was tighter, harder than usual but that was just what she needed: his strength.

Burying her face where his neck and shoulder met, Addie bit back a dry sob. In slight disbelief and amazement she whispered, "You found me."

"Just barely, it seems. You know there's a sports trophy case and an academic one? Well, you'd think after waiting 500 years he could wait a few more seconds to do the smart thing and take his victims to the deserted part of the school," sniffed Damon, not fond of being bested by Klaus.

"You went to the wrong trophy case? How did you even know to go to a trophy case?" quizzed Elena suspiciously.

Damon bristled, "I went to the trophy place any good villain would have picked. It's not my fault if the guy is stupid. Plus, it's not like your sister told me the sports one."

"Addie, how did you know -"

"Stop being fucking paranoid," Addie snapped, her words muffled from still resting on Damon. "I knew where the door we went into led and knew we passed the trophy case. Klaus could take us wherever but if Damon was headed towards that, our paths would cross. My plan worked," she grinned, squeezing her arms around him tighter.

Elena huffed, "Excuse me for being paranoid but you two know Alaric's Klaus and keep it from everyone. Klaus just happens to stop where Da-"

It was Bonnie who shocked them all with her interruption, "Do you hear how stupid you sound?! You confronted him in the hall and I'm sure there is a good reason for not telling us. In case you guys forgot, even though he isn't chasing us, Klaus is still here and ready to kill!"

Damon's eye shot to Elena, "Go find Stefan. Now."

"Ok," she nodded.

"Now!" Damon barked when she wasn't moving fast enough for his liking.

Addie glowered when Damon pushed her away from him; she knew what he was going to say. "No. I'm staying."

"You're leaving," corrected Damon, stepping out of her path to the door. He pushed at her shoulder when she didn't move. Addie still didn't budge. "This is not up for argument or discussion, Addie. You are not facing Klaus! Now go," he growled, pushing as hard as he dared at her shoulder.

Glaring at him, Addie slapped Damon's hand away. "First of all," she said in low voice as opposed to yelling, "you don't touch me like that. Secondly, you're right; I'm not arguing or discussing this. You want me to leave, you're going to have to physically make. I can damn well assure you that will be the last of us. Not to mention you're gonna have a hell of a time from keeping me from coming back in."

"Damn it, Addie! Why do you have to be so fucking difficult and fight me on every fucking little thing?" snapped Damon, pulling at his hair in frustration. Couldn't she understand that he just wanted her to be safe?

"This has nothing to do with you. This has to do with my best friend."

They had already had a forty minute fight about her coming to the dance and later spent another two and a half hours fighting about her leading Bonnie to Klaus. Every time he caved; he didn't care that she had valid and let her win because of that. No, Addie got her way because, while bickering her was fun, true fights with her were exhausting for both of them and they made her sad. Angry, frustrated, pissed off, annoyed were all things he could handle but she had this really bad habit of getting sad and crying when they fought and he hated to be the cause of that. And since this fight would silently center around the death of her best friend, well with her warped feelings on suicide, mile long list of issues with her parents death and though he appreciated her reaction to him killing, it was undoubtedly another sign of an issue with death, that combination left him with no fucking clue to expect from her. Damon threw up his hands in surrender. Maybe this would at least help her deal with some of those issues.

"Can you kill him?"

"Have we not already established that isn't an option?"

"It's not your choice, Addie. He's got some kind of protection spell on him."

Damon looked at her incredulously and reminded, "You have the power of a hundred witches. Break it!"

"I'm trying! If I kill Alaric, he'll just possess someone else. H-"

"Three reasons we can't kill him if that wasn't clear to everybody: Bonnie dies, Alaric dies, basically everyone but Klaus dies and he get the added bonus of being an unknown face again. Have we discussed hiding out in the Bahamas?" Addie interrupted cheerily.

Bonnie decided to carry on as if she hadn't spoke. Running away wasn't a choice. "He knows I have my power, Damon."

"Yyyyyyyyyyyeah. You kind of blew that when you stuck up your hand and said you were the plan. I cut you off and hoped the guy was really stupid and couldn't put two and two together. Oh, that was why we need that lame plan I pulled out of my, uh, hat."

"He's trying to kill me," the witch whispered to the vampire, fear creeping into her voice.

Damon shook his head and determinedly reassured her, "No. Klaus does not get to win tonight. No way. You still willing to do whatever it takes to kill him?"

"Yes."

"No!"

"It's not your choice!" said Damon and Bonnie.

"Bon, Damon is the only bastard selfish enough to let you commit hara-kiri so he can get this over with and save his stupid fantasy crush!"

Damon pinched the bridge of his nose as he felt a headache coming on. To the floor he mumbled, "Seriously?" He looked and found Bonnie giving him that judgey look of hers. "Damn morality police! I guess we're doing this now," he scowled. If Addie was going to turn this into something he prayed that she would wait until they were alone. "Addie," he sighed, taking her hands in his, "look at me. Come on. Look at me, love."

Beet red, Addie met his eyes, noticing the slight flush in his cheeks.

"There's only one reason I'm selfish enough to let you lose your best friend like this. When this all first started I made a promise to you that I would find a way to save your sister. I have done everything I can, talked to everyone I know and a whole lot more that I don't, and have finished all but three of the two hundred Gilbert Journals. Even after Bonnie turned into Merlin, the only time I haven't spent looking for a way to Save Elena or kill Klaus is when I've been with you and I spend a fair bit of that time answering and sending emails about leads and reading the writings of a madman. I do it all because I don't want to break a promise to you. I wasn't keeping what happens to Bonnie from you; I literally found out when I was walking the door. That wasn't just some bomb I could drop on you when that was the entire plan to save your sister and Klaus has hijacked Alaric. Saving Elena is about you and no one else for me. That's how it's always been," Damon promised, daring to kiss her forehead.

Addie could feel Damon's eyes on her, waiting for a response. Grateful was an understatement of how she felt towards Bonnie, who had gone off to a corner and was playing with her phone. It had been embarrassing enough when she's Damon call her 'love'. Bonnie wasn't a busybody like that. She had always understood Addie's need for privacy and breaks from people but she never did like Elena and take that to mean she completely wanted nothing to do with people. Her and Bonnie had always been close. Not as close as she was with Jeremy but definitely closer than she was with Elena.

Eyebrows furrow in thought, Addie looked back at Damon and nervously said, "You promised to save my sister. You can't say blood defines a sister. Bonnie has been more of a sister to me than Elena. You let her die, you're still breaking your promise. I'll let you decide what to do with that."

Running a hand over his face Damon hoped his words wouldn't com back to bite him in the ass, "I promise Bonnie will be ok."

With a nod Addie turned and walked to the opposite end of the hall from him and Bonnie.

---

"You don't do that it a dress," Damon frowned sticking out a hand to help Addie up off of the ground.

She allowed him to pull her to her feet and brushed herself off. "Why does everyone feel the need to lecture me on dress etiquette and how to be lady tonight?"

He clicked his tongue and shrugged, "I just merely found the image on you sitting on the floor in a manner that one should not sit on the floor in a dress funny. No idea about the lady thing though; I've been here first hand and you have far more class than most of these girls. Despite what they seem to think skin, heels, face paint and flirting don't make you a lady. I just always find you in a dress to be amusing because I know, if you were tall enough, I'd have a problem with you stealing my suits."

"That's not - ok, but they would still look a lot better on you. I most definitely don't like the sixties. Seriously, I just wanna button your shirt up and put a tie on you," Addie nodded decisively.

He gasped in mock offense, "I thought you loved my chest."

When a quick glance down the hall showed her it was clear Addie slowly ran her finger from the base of his throat and down the center of his chest. Apparently there was no concept of the top three buttons in the sixties. "I do," she smiled flirtatiously, gently poking just above the fourth button down, "but it's hardly fair of you to come in here to crush the hearts of half the girls with just your looks."

"My God," Damon murmured, pulling her into a soft kiss. Breaking away slowly he rested his forehead against hers and breathed, "I think you just stroked my ego." Damon smiled at her bubbly laughter that lasted for a good two minutes. It was rare that she laughed so hard and genuine with pure happiness. He sincerely hoped that this wouldn't be the last time as his deception was about to break her heart.

In between catching breaths she managed out, "Well, you earned it. You have done very well resisting temptation in a monogamous, sexless relationship."

He frowned at what she said and shook his head, "There's no temptation, Ads."

Addie rolled her eyes and lightly backhanded him in the shoulder.. He got her by the wrist before she could pull back. "You don't have to lie, Damon. I'm a big girl. Besides sex is just sex; it's not emotion to you."

Damon nodded but he wasn't so sure about that anymore. All his previous conquest had been just that, conquest and nothing more. But he knew that if, when he and Addie finally reached the point of sleeping together it would be just sex; it would be something he hadn't quite figured out yet. "Right, yes. I mean no. I mean…. Damn it, Ads. Stop trying to confuse me and driving me ten types of crazy."

While her intention hadn't been to upset him, Addie couldn't help breaking out into a broad grin. It had been a long time since he had said the "ten types of crazy" thing. He was probably still as confused and fumbling his way through this relationship as she was.

That was the smile that kept him going, the one so big it triggered a hidden dimple on her left cheek. Though, he wasn't sure as to what had caused it. He began pushing her back into a locker and and seriously said, "All I know is that this has emotion." One hand settled at the small of her back and he dropped her wrist to allow the other to cup her head and protect it from the lockers. Damon smirked into the kiss; she must have been expecting him to be gentle but his sudden attack left her gasping, allowing him easy access between her parted lips. A smug satisfaction filled him as she didn't fight for control and simply allowed him to nip sharply at her bottom lip, eliciting one of the most intoxicating sounds he had ever heard. Damon growled low in his throat as one set of nails scraped down the exposed portion of his chest and the other buried in his hair, trying to pull him closer. He should have known better than to think she'd be passive for long. He pressed himself flush against her, minus the small gap so she could continue to stroke his chest. Who was he to deny his love?

"What the hell?" cried Elena at Damon, who had her sister pressed up against the lockers, as she and Stefan turned into the corner. "What are you doing?"

If there were such a thing as gods, the floor would open up right then and swallow her whole, Addie thought. It would take Damon too and it would also be like when Persephone, bringer of Spring was taken by Hades, god of the Underworld, as he split open the earth to ride a chariot out from hell. Also, her world was not one of mythology so Addie settled for shoving Damon off and as far away from her as possible as she felt her face burn hot with mortification.

"Well, I thought that would be kind of obvious but I guess my brother has taught you some very strange ways of kissing so you don't recognize a normal one," Damon answered speculatively.

"Not you groping my ba-"

"I was not the one doing the - ow!" he cried in exaggeration, rubbing where Addie had reached up to smack him on the back of the head. It hadn't hurt at all but it had be a surprise. Even Damon had to admit that he kind of deserved it though; he wasn't helping with Addie's embarrassment.

Despite not wanting anymore attention, Addie felt the need to speak up, "Where's Bonnie? Why isn't she with you guys?"

"That's what I was asking! I left her with you two," Elena snapped.

"I thought she went to…" Addie trailed off quietly and turned to glare at Damon. "What was you plan? Where is Bonnie?"

"She's doing what she has to do."

The sisters simultaneously shrieked, "What?"

Stefan spoke up to demand again, "Where is she?"

"Stefan, let her do this," Damon answered calmly, suggesting everyone else do the same.

"Damn it, Damon, where is she?" his brother yelled.

The older vampire shook his head, "No, I don't think so. You see, I tell you and then you all go running off to her and then we don't end up with a dead Klaus."

"I don't fucking care about a dead Klaus! I care about a dead Bonnie! Now, where the fuck is she, Damon?" command Addie with watery eyes and stomping her foot for emphasis.

Glancing at the clock that hung from the ceiling Damon wondered if there was a way to get through this whole thing without those tears filling his girlfriend's eyes spilling. Probably not but he could possibly hold them at bay. By the time they ran to the cafeteria, Klaus and Bonnie should have been fighting long enough for Klaus to fall for her performance.

"Cafeteria."

Just as he had anticipated, they all took off in a run. Damon cursed himself for not remembering that Addie was a really good runner and he should have been prepared for that. While he passed Stefan and Elena a third of the way there, he was just barely in time to catch Addie around the waist and stop her from taking the last fest steps that would let her see inside of the open double doors to the room where sounds of fighting could be heard.

Stumbling over her feet Addie looked around in bewilderment. The ground had suddenly disappeared from under her feet and she wasn't moving forwards. Then she noticed the tight grip around her waist. There was no need to look and see who had grabbed her. Wildly she kicked and squirmed, trying to break free. Through gritted teeth she grounded out, "Let go, Damon!"

A heel sharply struck his shin and he snapped, "Calm down." When she didn't, he tried to at least make things better by setting her on the floor but she kept trying to run. The idea was a bust since he had to hold her back so tightly that she kept tripping over herself. Deciding it was safer for her, he lifted her again and chose to deal with the shin kicking. Addie was bent over his arm as if she meant to charge away so he leaned forward to hiss into her ear, "Give up! You're not getting your way this time!" She only became more determined to break free.

Having caught up, Elena and Stefan passed them and were just outside the doorway off the cafeteria when the doors slammed closed. Damon considered letting go as he watched the other girl unsuccessfully try to open them until he saw her press her face up against what must have been a window pane. That made his decision simple.

"Bonnie, no!" Elena screamed at the glass. She let out a scream when the lights burst and a shower of sparks rained down around Bonnie and a downed Klaus.

Knowing it was futile, Stefan still tried to pull open the doors. Bonnie flashed Elena a quick smile before turning back to face Klaus, now back on his feet. All of a sudden Bonnie violently jerked and bent further backwards than any body should go before collapsing to the floor. The finally doors opened for Stefan and Elena as they had been continuously tugging at them. The two ran inside but Damon didn't let go off Addie. He wasn't 100 percent sure Klaus wasn't still going to attack. The room was also bound to be a bloody, messy sight that she didn't need to see.

"Let me down! Let me go! Bonnie needs me!" Addie protested, having twisted so she could kick and shove at Damon.

"No."

"Damon," she strained, pushing as hard as she could against his chest.

Fear of a reality she did not want to accept chilled her to the bone when she heard a choking sobs and words of denial from her sister. In Damon's arms she turned to dead weight and just as dead and emotionless said, "Let me go, Damon."

He set her on the floor and but kept his arm tight around her; he did not want her in that cafeteria. With his free hand he lifted her chin and looked into her eyes, which were just as hollow and empty as her voice. Damon had a sick feeling in his stomach as he tried the impossible task of trying to wipe away her tears as fast as they fell. He'd seen nearly every emotion he could imagine in those deep blue orbs, from fear to anger to delight to even lust, but he had only once seen nothing: when she told him to kill her on the night that they met. His heart ached so badly that he wanted to tell her it was all a ruse right then but he knew he had to do this, that in the long run this was the safest thing for her. Klaus could overhear if he told her hear. He revealed the truth in the closest way he could; it was up to her to do the rest.

"Addison," he whispered, connecting their eyes again as he'd been distracted by the tears, "I made you a promise and now I'm making you another. I promise that I did not break my promise. You have to believe in me. You have to trust me. You need to stay out here. I want you to go home with Stefan and Elena. I'll be home soon to show you I kept my promise. Do you understand me?" She didn't respond or even blink. "Addie?" Still no reaction.

This was a bad sign but he unfortunately was on a time schedule and didn't know where Klaus was making it an inopportune time to handle the situation. He already didn't like that he was going to have to leave her alone for a few seconds with that maniac loose. Experimentally he loosened his arm from around her waist and when she didn't move, he completely let her go. She just stood there crying. Yeah, she wasn't going anywhere.

Quickly Damon strode into the Cafeteria and took charge of his plan. He first ordered, "Stefan, get Elena out of here. I'll deal with the body."

"What do you mean deal with it?" Elena exclaimed through a sob.

"The sheriff can't know about this. Last thing we need's another mysterious death," explained Damon. He gave Stefan a stern look. "Get her home. Now. So I can clean this up. And make sure you take Addie. I think she's on robot mode so, well, she shouldn't fight you," he shrugged hopefully.

"Hey, hey, hey," Stefan whispered soothingly to Elena, pulling her to her feet.

"No. Jeremy. Oh, my God, Jeremy," she cried in sudden realization. "What about Jeremy."

"I'll find him."

Once he heard their retreat footsteps he knelt down next to Bonnie and gently brushed his hand over her lifeless brown eyes, shutting the lids. The little witch better be right about this, otherwise he was going to have a lot of explaining to do and - His thoughts were interrupted by a very unexpected yell.

"Don't!" Well, at least Addie wasn't comatose. Damon had to use his enhanced hearing as she continued in her normal voice, "I will leave with Damon."

"Damon wants you to come home with us. He has things to do," Stefan tried to reason.

Addie yelled again, "Don't!" What was his brother doing to upset her so much? Damon got to one knee but hesitated; seeing him might only make things worse. But what was Stefan doing? Her voice was lowered again as she threatened, "I swear, if you reach for my hand one more time I will find a pencil and stake yours. Which do you think Damon wants more: for me to go quietly and cooperatively with him or to find out that you had to break a ton of bones to get me to go with you?"

"If you stay out of the cafeteria you can go with otherwise I pick the broken bones option," Damon called out, rubbing at his face in frustration.

Addie must have agreed because a second later he heard only two pairs of footsteps leaving. Sighing, he stood up and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and scrolled through his contacts until he found "Middle Gilbert" and called. As the phone rang he began to pace down the cafeteria. If everything had gone according to plan, Bonnie had parked his baby right outside that door in the corner. He did not want to be seen carrying a corpse all the way across campus. He swore under his breath when he got the answering machine. "Jeremy, I need you to meet me at my my car as soon as you get this. It's right outside the door by the cafeteria."

Shoving his phone away, Damon turned back around to take care of Bonnie. Again he swore in frustration. He'd been far too hopeful to believe that Addie would actually listen to him for once and just stay out of the damn room. Knelt next to Bonnie's body, tears streamed down her face as she gasped intermittently for small breaths. When he got closer and smelled blood that was far too sweet to be Bonnie's he frowned and carefully looked Addie over. A small pool of blood surrounded the heel of her left as she rest on it and her right hand, leaning over Bonnie. Glass from when the lights shattered were all around. She must have dropped her hand on a pretty big piece. He pulled out his switchblade and nicked his finger.

The blood that bubbled up seemed to be mocking him. How had he gotten so careless and stupid? He'd fucking given Addie his blood just that afternoon so they wouldn't have to worry about the slight chance of him being stronger than vervain. How did it just simply slip his mind that she could have died with it in her system? Yes, he had initially started off with basically keeping her prisoner until his blood was out of her system and then she had used her damn logic into letting her go about a normal routine but tonight wasn't normal. She was playing cat and mouse with Klaus! There was a very good chance she would have died and then…. No, it hadn't been an unconscious slip; they had agreed to a deal of 30 years old and he wouldn't try to convince her to change. Of course if there was an accident - no! She had made it very clear that she would pick death. But so had he. Death is a lot more scary when you're looking it in the eye and have a way out. No, no, no! He wasn't screwing up. He wasn't being selfish. He had just grown careless and stupid; he'd been too eager about the Klaus fiasco coming to a close and getting to be with her in peace.

Damon had stared at at his finger so long that he had heal. Before cutting himself again, he wiped the small bit there was against his dark jeans. Sinking down onto a knee next to Addie he held the finger in front of her and instructed, "Drink." Addie just continued to cry over her best friend. "You cut your hand. Drink." More sobbing. Seeing Bonnie lifeless had probably broke her again; that's why he wanted her out of the cafeteria. Sighing, he pressed his finger to her lips. Some blood transferred but she didn't open her mouth or even lick her lips. He tried to pass his finger past her lips but she had them pressed so tightly they paled. Damon glanced around for some napkins; it was a cafeteria, but all the tables were put up for the night.

"You know, I could go with 'I told you not to look' but I think I'll remark on how even when being unresponsive you're stubborn and make things difficult. Admittedly, I may have earned you being difficult this time," observed Damon as he used his knife to cut off the bottom two inches of his shirt. At least she moved when he gently pushed her back so she wasn't resting on her hands. He picked up the left one and wasn't surprised to find a large piece of fluorescent lighting stuck in it. He pinched it between two fingers and warned, "This may hurt." Quickly he yanked the glass out, making the wound bleed more. The fact that her blood now smelled appetizingly sweet reminded him of the new problem they may have found but he pushed it back along with the blood lust. Damon grabbed the part of the shirt he ripped off and tightly wrapped it several times around her. He curled her hand into a fist and gently whispered, "Try to keep it like this. The pressure will help with the bleeding and pain. Of course my blood would have worked better. You're gonna flip when you realize that's a $600 bandage on your hand." He wiped the bit of blood that had gotten on him on his pants before brushing away her tears, which was pointless as they were immediately followed by new ones.

Damon glanced around and sighed. They had to get out of here. Bonnie didn't say exactly how long the spell would last and they could take any chances that Klaus was still lurking around. Stepping opposite of Addie, he bent down to scoop up Bonnie in his arms bridal style and made for the cafeteria door. Or she would surprise him and follow looking like a wounded pup who was being taken away from it's mother, still weeping. Damon bit at his lip as he used his hip to open the door; hopefully she'd be fine after she found out Bonnie was alive. He really should have thought before hand as he tried to get his trunk key from his pocket and hold Bonnie. What was usually inconvenient about old cars having separate door, trunk, and engine keys had been for the first time been useful when he needed Bonnie to move his car while he stayed with Addie. He was going to have to do an oil change or put on new brake pads, something to make it up to his baby for letting someone else drive her.

Finally he managed to open the boot and put Bonnie in it. As he slowly closed the lid he again hoped that she was right and would wake up soon. Not just because he had promised Addie but because her sacrifice would have been completely pointless and Klaus would be the victor that night. Damon frown as he watched Addie vacantly stare as she leaned against the back driver door, tears flowing like water falls. She really needed to stop that; the guilt thing was like he was being flambeed inside out.

"Damon! Addie!" called Jeremy, running up to them. He was still a distance away when he continued, "Hey, I got your message. I can't find anyone. Where's Elen-" He stopped short in front of his little sister and felt queasy. Those were her dead eyes; they first appeared one day when she was about ten and went into a mute, autopilot of school, home, sleep. Mom had gotten so frustrated with her and Dad had been so concerned that when, after five days, he let it slip that he'd been eating the food meant for and refused by Addie so she wouldn't get in trouble, there was no question that they were taking her to the hospital. Jeremy didn't see her for ten days. He'd learn to cover for her better after that. At least until their parents died; he was too absorbed in himself to be there for her. He snarled at Damon and demanded, "What the hell did you do to my little sister?!"

"We need to have a little talk."

"Yeah! How about let's start with why my sister is a cry shell of herself!" Jeremy yelled emphatically.

Damon gave Addie a puzzled look and started, "About that-"

"Is that blood?!" he spat, pulling out her bandaged hand and uncurling her fingers to see a wet, darker patch against the fabric.

"Yeah. Some lights exploded, your sister decided to sit in the glass and because she's some kind of robot or something, I can't get her to drink my blood to heal the big gash in her hand," Damon rattled off as it was an everyday occurrence. "Do you know how to, like, reboot her or whatever?"

"Yes. First tell me what happened."

"I can't-"

"Then I'm taking Addie home," Jeremy snapped, moving his hand up to her wrist.

Rolling his eyes Damon pulled out his phone and waved it at Jeremy, "You can either wait twenty minutes for me to type it all out or you can take ten minutes to follow me, which you're going to do anyways, to find out. You're fixing your sister first."

Jeremy glanced between the phone, his sister's injured hand, the incessant tears, and Damon. Something bad had gone down, that much he knew. The question was if Damon was the good guy or bad guy when it came to whatever was causing Addie so much pain. He went with his gut. "When she hurt her hand, was it before or after she was like this?"

"Does it matter?" Damon sneered. "Just fix her."

"It matters on whether or not I'm willing to take the risk to fix her!"

"She's your sister! Why wouldn't you fix her?!"

Jeremy hesitated and shuffled his feet awkwardly, "I've learned the hard way that my way, though it's the fast way, is not the right way. My way can go really wrong."

Damon frowned, "How likely is that?"

"Well, I need you to answer to know, now don't I?"

"Good God, you two are related. She was like this, then for a minute she was herself, you know, stubborn and controlling and insisting on getting her way, then she was like this again."

"Where in there did she hurt her hand though?" probed Jeremy.

Damon ran his hand anxiously through his hair as he confessed the three words he like least, "I don't know. She was herself. I turned around to call you and when I turned back around she was like this, sitting in the glass with her hand bleeding. Addie didn't even seem to be aware of it though."

Her brother exhaled loudly. Damn. He couldn't tell if she had done it on purpose or not. "Is the reason she's like this rational? I mean, she's not broken or robot or any. When Addie takes on too many emotions, good or bad, she shuts down. She suppresses all feelings as much as she can. She's trying to feel nothing and," he suddenly turned towards her and clapped loudly an in from her nose but she didn't react, "well, as you see, I can't even startle her with something right up in her face. But she can't stop feeling whatever is making her cry; it's too strong. Or she's fighting too many other feelings and this one wins king of the hill. So, is there a reason I should make my sister face all these emotions before she's ready to?"

Shaking his head at the lengths he had to go to just to not possibly have Klaus overhear and figure anything out Damon sent a quick text.

Damon: She saw something distressing but within an hour it will all make sense and she won't have a reason to be upset.

Jeremy frowned as he read the text. Slowly he gathered, "It has to do with what we need to talk about?" Damon nodded. "Is it better if she's around or…"

"Uh, is it some magical trick you have to do to turn into a real girl again or am I able to do it where the hardest thing she's gonna throw at me is a pillow?" Damon asked cheekily. Addie was going to be really pissed and he'd rather not have the fight in front of Bonnie and her brother. It would possibly help for her to see Bonnie alive though….

---

Damon held open the door for Addie to enter the house but she didn't move. "Right," he sighed, going inside, "you only follow." Damon pulled out the dagger hidden beneath his waistband and shirt plus the small bag of white ash and them in front of Addie. As he spoke he coated the dagger with the ash. "The question is if you follow orders. We're kinda on a time limit before the Original in the basement wakes up, rips the chair leg out of the floor and himself, then rips out all our hearts." He smiled encouragingly and held out the weapon to and urged, "Go stab him in the heart." More tears. "Yeah, that would have been too easy. You didn't want him daggered when you weren't shut down. Not to mention you are really bad at taking direction. Guess we need the hero for this."

Addie mindlessly followed Damon into the study. Elena jumped up at the sound of a floorboard creaking and spun around to face the vampire. "What did you do with her?" she roared.

Damon gave Stefan a bored look and gesture to Elena saying, "Will you please calm her down?"

"Don't talk like I'm not standing right in front of you!"

"Please calm down," he said in his politest, most rational tone. "Or, you know, at least go mute like your sister."

"No, no! I'm not going to take the easy way out. I'm not going to just shut out all my feelings because it's just easier to not feel the pain! She should be outraged with you right now because you knew! You knew, didn't you? You knew that if she harnessed all that power, that she would die, didn't you?" accused Elena, getting right up in Damon's face.

"Yes. Yes, I knew." He quickly counted backwards from five and tried not to be too upset with her when she smacked him. Damon grabbed her by the shoulders and spoke slow and clear, "You need to listen to me, and prepare for what I'm about to say. Bonnie had to die. Klaus using Alaric's body was a total surprise. She wasn't prepared for that. He wasn't going to stop and we weren't going to be able to stop him until he knew she was dead. He had to believe it. That doesn't make it real."

"W-w-w-what?" Elena stammered, pulling away from. "What are you saying, Damon?"

"Bonnie's alive."

Elena shook her head insistently, "No, no she's not. I saw her. Stefan saw her."

"You saw the works of a spell. You saw what we needed you to see," he said simply. The dagger twirled between his fingers until the hilt pointed at her. "Go stick this in our lovely friend downstairs and then Skype your brother if you want proof. She should be waking up about now."

Elena frowned, "I don't believe you."

"I know. That's why I'm offering you proof. However, you really need to stick Elijah first. It's only a matter of time before he starts shoving his hand through our chests and this whole night was pointless."

"Get Addie to do," sneered Elena.

Damon sucked in air between his teeth and grimace, "Yeahhhhh, she's, uh, not really in the spirit to save everyone's life at the moment."

"Because what you did broke her!" Elena yelled.

He stuck up a finger and waved it objectively, correcting, "No, no, I did not do that. Jeremy clearly said I did not break her. I do have the cure for the crying, emotional shut down problem but I'm kinda stuck here trying to get you to stab Elijah before he rips your little sister's heart out. Personally, I wouldn't let anyone do that to my baby brother and we have over a 150 years of more issues than you and Addie but," Damon shrugged, moving to pocket the dagger.

"You are a horrible person. Give it to me," she hissed holding her hand out.

He passed it to her and nodded, "I don't claim otherwise. Thank you." Damon waited until he heard the basement door close before heading to the stairs, Addie following with her tears.

"You know, you could have told me," Stefan huffed from the bottom of the stairs.

Damon rolled his eyes, "How do I know when you're going to go blabbing things to your girlfriend?"

"You understand what you put her through? Can you not at least see what you've done to Addie?" Stefan stressed, nodding his head towards the weeping girl one step behind Damon.

His eyes narrowed dangerously; of course he knew how bad he had hurt her. He tried to keep his voice nodded as he pointed out, "See, that's why I didn't tell you. 'Cause you would have never been able to do it. Don't get me wrong, Stefan. I don't mind being the bad guy. I'll make all the life and death decisions while you're busy worrying about collateral damage. I'm even willing to have Addie hate me. But at the end of the day, I'll be the one to keep Elena alive because I promised the girl I love that I wouldn't let her sister die. We've danced this dance before, Brother. We both know who's willing to put more on the line for love."

A small bit of relief hit Damon when Addie follow him into his room; a tiny part of him feared that she would keep on walking to the one she occasion used and shut him out along with her emotions. When he wanted her to follow him into the bathroom though, she stayed standing by his dresser. Realizing his crying shadow wasn't behind him he came out of the bathroom chuckling, "So, everything else has left you but you modesty and boundaries?" He grabbed her good hand and led her to the sink.

"Maybe now you'll see what I've always known," he muttered focused on gingerly unwinding the cloth from his shirt off her hand, "that you're a good girl and you deserve much better me." He turned on the faucet and waited for it to warm. "The bad guy doesn't get the happy ending with the good girl," he stated matter-of-factly as he washed his hands, realizing he should have done so before even touching hers. He just kept making mistake after mistake with her and that day seemed particularly bad.

Damon carefully held her hand in his and just before placing it under the water he warned, "This might sting… if I remember correctly." His eyes flickered between watching bright red water run off their hands and unsuccessfully searching her face for any reaction. A bit of dried blood still clung to her hand. Damon looked at the bar of soap among the rocks and frowned; pressing that against a cut would definitely sting. A smile tugged at his lips as he looked at the liquid hand soap on the other side of the sink. Despite his protest against it's femininity as it came from the same line as her blackberry and vanilla smelling lotion, Addie had insisted on placing it in the bathroom about a week after Katherine -no, she, took the moonstone. Apparently the scowl he gave the bowl of rocks and soap was highly unattractive and his obsession with searching through it was not going to bring back the stone and was therefore unhealthy. To be fair, after it spent a week under the counter rather than on it, he didn't become pissed off every time he went to the bathroom. Damon snorted, Addie probably just felt guilty every time either one of them saw it since she was the one who had taken the moonstone. He still hadn't gotten around to being mad at her for that yet. Though, she did save it from Katherine. And now that he knew that she had it, that was something Klaus could compel from him to hurt her. Klaus, she had figured him out too.

Damon pumped some soap into his hand, lathered it, and kissed her temple. "While your brilliance is far too great for your own good, it cannot help escape the fate of soap," he said as a stereotypical villain. "Seriously, though, this is gonna sting so I apologize in advance. Next, either a) don't get hurt, b) drink my blood, or c) buy baby soap. I vote 'a'." Gently he rubbed at her hand, watching her face for anything besides tears but there was no change. When he was satisfied that the wound was clean and all the dried blood gone, he grabbed a fresh hand towel and patted hers dry. The cut still bled a little so he had her hold it.

Back in his room he opened the dresser drawer reserved for her and pulled out one of his softest shirts. She would either find it funny that he had been serious about letting her use his shirt as a tissue or really stupid. Her humor was a hit or miss thing he was still trying figure out.

It was like playing follow-the-leader when she was like this. When he sat on the edge of bed, she did. Damon moved to the center, Addie moved right next to him. He faced her and she looked at him.

Frowning, Damon pulled her left hand still clutching the towel into his lap. He knew what he had to do but… Running his fingers through his hair he groaned in frustration. He got up and went back to his dresser, pleasantly surprised when she didn't move. From the top drawer he pulled out a tumbler and decanter of bourbon. Two fingers to steady his nerves. Fuck it. The whole glass. Klaus, who was joyriding in his best friend, got away. He couldn't even think of a way to describe what he had to Addie. In her comatose, robotic, autopilot, grief induced state she was following him around like a shadow which made absolutely no sense since she should be screaming at him. That paused his train of thought long enough to turn the sound machine on; eavesdroppers were not welcomed. To get her out of the trance he had to make her feel something other than grief and according to her brother the key to that was getting her to open and close her injured hand to feel pain. As if he hadn't put her through enough psychological pain. Of course, when she was back to her senses she was undoubtedly going to break up with him. His night was definitely worthy of the next half a glass.

There was a knock at his door. Hadn't it become an unstated rule that if waves were crashin', no party crashin'? Damon rubbed at his temple and called back "What?" He groaned when the door opened and extended it when he saw who it was. "That wasn't an invitation. Look, Klaus had to think she was dead. Your reaction had to be real."

"Addie's? You could have just sent her after Jeremy. Locked her in a broom closet. She's...," Elena glanced sadly at her sister, "Either your cure didn't work or you haven't even bothered yet."

"We're working up to it."

Elena nodded and feigned sympathy, "I get it. I don't like fight with her. She's always right. The trick is to stay focused on the thing she is least upset about: that you lied to her about Bonnie being dead, that you were willing to let her best friend pointlessly die, or that you didn't give a damn about how much it all hurt her."

"She is going to hate me," Damon said, voice his fear aloud.

Elena shook her head, "If she hadn't shut down I could tell you that easily is not true as long as you had a rational reason for making her go through that. My sister governs her life by logic and rules 90% of the time. You just found the one fail-proof way to make her… irrational. When starts feeling, she's going to judge you and your actions by her emotions and not by logic."

"Basically I'm fucked. Did you just come here to kick me when I'm already down?" he asked boredly, refusing to show signs of weakness and uncertainty.

"I didn't say that. You know we don't have the best relationship but from what I've seen you've broken past my sister's defenses and have gotten her to experience emotions outside of her bipolar on a new level. If I can see that," Elena shrugged, "my guess is that her feelings extend to a place that is only visible to you two. Of course there is the flip side where she won't accept that her feelings for you are strong enough for her to get past this. I call that the Classic Addison; she still hates me for our parent's dying and it's taken almost a year for her to even really look at me again. There's also the chance that her feelings for you really aren't strong enough for her to get past this and you'll have to accept that.

"When you picked life and death to manipulate her about you made a very big mistake. Not only has no one ever hurt her like this but even if she forgives you, this is going to fuck her up. I don't know if she's told you about our parent's funeral and how she didn't go but if she did I know she told you it was about us fighting and the little temper tantrum she had. That's not the truth. I over heard both Jenna and Sheriff Forbes try to talk her into going but she wouldn't because she was terrified of seeing Mom and Dad dead. That's what broke her bond with Jeremy, not the drugs and Vickie. He couldn't handle her coming to him night after night crying about nightmares of seeing them dead at the bottom of the river or ones of me dead hooked up to hospital machines. She never saw any of those things; they were all in her head. What do you think seeing Bonnie believably dead is going to do to her?" questioned Elena, as if inquiring what the weather was like. She just wanted to slap him again.

Damon ran a hand along his jaw as he tried to come up with an answer. He shook his head and whispered, "I had no idea. I have no idea."

"Maybe you can answer this. Even if you lose her, was it worth it? Would you do it again?"

Had he been being an overprotective, over jealous boyfriend when it seemed like Klaus had been asking a few too many personal questions about her? He rubbed at the back of his neck awkwardly, "Elena, I want to ask you something about Klaus."

"Ok," she nodded slowly, confused by the topic jump.

"Can I trust you not to repeat this conversation to anyone else, especially your sister?"

Elena shook her head, "No, not if someone's safety is at risk."

He glanced over at Addie and dropped his voice just a little in case she could actually register what he was saying, "Can you not say anything until there is proof?"

Elena frowned, "Is it important?"

"Could be nothing. Could be something. My question for you is my first step in figuring it out."

"Promise you'll tell me if it's something and I'll promise not to say anything," she caved.

Damon bobbed his head eagerly, "Deal. Now, I know you guys didn't sit down and have a fancy tea but… Bonnie says Klaus was toying with Addie."

"Mmm… Addie was being a little… You would have toyed with her, too. I don't think it's anything to worry about."

"So he didn't seem particularly interested in her?" pressed Damon, starting to wondering if he had made a huge mistake. Elena hesitated two beats too many. "What happened?" he demanded.

"I'm assuming you want the blow by blow?"

"No, I'm asking for a quick summary so I can decide if I want to watch or not."

Elena scowled, "You two. Ugh. It's I hear one's voice but the other person's words half the time and since you're both annoying half the time it equals out to constant annoyance."

"Actually if you wanted to equal out to -"

She held up her hands for him to stop, "Nu-uh. That brand of annoying rationality is strictly Addie. It doesn't even work when you try it."

Damon rolled his eyes, "What happened with Klaus?"

"Well, first he calls her Addison, which is weird but not illegal. She told us Alaric was Klaus in a smartass way when I asked about vervain. Klaus said he want to do the big reveal but it was ok because something about Clue? He called you a lost little puppy and said she told you. He made it kind of open end about whether he was going to kill her tonight because she won a game but wanted to dagger him? God, I don't know. We were kinda about to start running for our lives."

"Then try remembering harder," he hissed. This was not looking like Klaus was interested in her which was good news for his peace of mind but extremely bad for his relationship.

"Ok! Egotistical! Klaus said something egotistical. Oh, I specifically remember Addie being sarcastic about one psychotic, serial killing, narcissistic vampire not being enough and then she accused me of drawing them here!"

"I'll get right on fixing that for you when we're done and remind her that a comet drew me here," Damon quipped as Elena stared at him expectantly. "Back to the story!"

"Right, um, Klaus said it's lucky for him that she likes psychotic blah, blah, blah and tends to give them credit? Addie said something about redemption and Klaus said he might not have use for her? He'd decide whether or not after killing Bonnie."

Damon was quiet for a long time. The one direct threat was a only a maybe. It was the subtle innuendos and banter where Addie was too naive to sense the game that bothered him. He could see it though. He knew the game; he use to rule the game. Klaus wasn't going to kill her quick. If Damon was right, he would do one of two things: win her trust before he attacked or find a way close to her through a backdoor and strike from there. Both were long and calculating. He'd always been the hunter; hopefully that would help him in protecting Klaus' prey.

"Yes. I would do it again."

Elena gaped at him, "You're judging that based on a conversation."

He shook his head, "No. I don't you need to understand why I did it to her; I just need her to. So, if you'll excuse -"

"Addie wasn't what I came to discuss," Elena interrupted. "I understand why you did what you did. Klaus was fooled and Bonnie's."

"Here's to duplicity," Damon shrugged, raising up his glass before draining it of the last of the bourbon.

Elena squared her shoulders and continued in a stronger voice, "But let's get one thing straight, Damon. Bonnie will not die for me, I will not let that happen."

He glanced over at Addie. Her cheeks still glistened but it didn't look like she was actively crying. It was going to destroy her but Klaus, Klaus would do much worse. "We need to kill Klaus, Elena. Real Klaus. Who will probably be coming to pay you a visit soon now that he knows Bonnie is dead. She's the only one who can do it."

"We'll find another way."

"I hope so," he sighed.

"Look, I shouldn't have hit you."

Damon smirked, "Apology accepted. I viewed as a warm-up. I imagine Addie has a much stronger swing."

Elena nodded in agreement, "She does. You deserve it but don't let her do it. I know you can stop her. Addie will only be beating herself up as soon as she calms down and she'll get really depressed and it will just add to however screwed up she is. With as physical as she can get, she gets surprisingly upset when she resorts to using violence as a release." Elena gave him a small smile as she backed out the door, "Good luck."

Stalling, Damon decided it was suddenly very important that he put away his shoes. And he need to put on a clean pair of jeans; he wiped blood on the pair he had on. A different shirt was definitely; his was missing the bottom two inches! It was a wise idea to freshen up too. Addie didn't need to know right away that he'd let her cry because he needed a drink to work up the nerve to get her to stop. And had a prolonged conversation with her. He made for a pretty crappy boyfriend.

Damon climbed back next to her on the bed and took the t-shirt he had gotten out, wrapping the soft fabric around his hand. "I'm so sorry that the only thing I can do is the you how sorry I am," he mourned, tucking a lock of hair that clung to her damp cheek behind her ear. He had been right when he had guess that she had stopped cry but it was probably because her eyes just couldn't produce more tears. The whites were so flaming red it almost looked as if she had pink eye and all around the her face was puffy. Her stare at his wall was empty but her eyelids drooped and she seemed to struggle to keep them open. Damon gently ran the cloth across cheeks to dry them and wiped away her slightly runny nose.

"You're snot a very snotty crier, you know?" he remarked, balling up the shirt and tossing it to the end of the bed. "My God, I've resorted to puns. Don't judge me for that lame ass… I can't even call it a joke. I'm just… I don't want to make you feel pain," he sighed defeatedly, cradling her hand. "At least not more than I already have. Why does it have to be pain? Why can't it be some other emotion? Emotion," he repeated, his mind flashing back to the kiss in the hall. Debating the ethics he questioned, "If I kiss you is that like taking advantage of the drunk chick at the party or is it more like Prince Charming trying to wake up Snow White with true love's kiss."

He rolled his eyes and scoffed in his best imitation of Addie, "First of all, that's a fairy tale. Fairy tales aren't real because they break the laws of science. Secondly, true love isn't real either. So, really, the answer's kind of obvious, Damon."

Dropping the impression, Damon nodded, "You are absolutely right. In your world, prior to me having to compel you to believe, vampires weren't real, I wasn't real. I was a genetic mutation part of a medical experiment on steroids because you needed science to answer everything. You also didn't believe in magic but your little friend just pulled off the best trick I've seen and I kinda need you to comprehend when I tell you she's alive. Addie, you need everything proven to you. Maybe the kiss will be proof that true love isn't just for fairy tales."

He cupped her face softly in his hand and leaned in. Changing his mind he sat back. Delicately he slid her partially closed eyelids down the rest of the way, his fingers hovering to see if they would stay shut. That was better; it felt too wrong with her just staring at him but not even seeing him. He tried again. His eyelashes tickled her cheek. A quick kiss at the corner of her mouth where she has dimple. Their lips were millimeters apart and then not apart at all, they brushed lightly. Damon was about to pull back when she took in a deep breath. Vice like grip around loosened and he felt his shoulders relax.

"Come back, my Ads," he pleaded against her lips as he ran both hands through her hair constantly, hoping it would soothe her. "Please, love, come back to me. Let me in."

Had he accidentally nudged her closer while playing with her hair or was she leaning into him? Her name tumbled off his lips in a hopeful whisper before he let them press firmer against hers than before. After a moment her lips slowly began to mold against his own. He wasn't imagining it; she was kissing him back. He again started to pull away but she followed. Damon took this as a good sign and continued to kiss her. Against his stomach he could feel the brush of her knuckles as she clutched at the bottom of his shirt. She was trying to part his lips. Damon debated on allowing the kiss to go deeper or checking to make sure she knew what she was doing.

The towel she held against her injured hand skimmed against the back of his neck as her arm wound around it. Something wet dropped on his cheek, quickly followed by sever more. Damon broke the kiss and rested his forehead against hers as he pulled a hand from her hair to brush at the tears falling down her face. Her eyes still closed, still closed, he could feel her trying to bring him closer to her. Damon shifted them so that she was in his lap. Instinctively her arms wrapped around him and her face buried in his neck.

"Damon," whimpered Addie so softly he almost missed his name, "it hurts. It hurts so bad."

Wincing at the despair and desperation in her voice he said, "I know, Ads. I know. But it's not real. Bonnie is alive."

Addie shook her head against him and choked back a sob, "No! I saw her, Damon. Don't lie. No more lies."

"I'm not lying," he insisted, rubbing her back in small circles. "She cast a spell to look dead so Klaus wouldn't actually kill her. She's with Jeremy. Elena saw her on the webcam. I promise you she is alive. I promised I wouldn't let her die. There are no lies."

Slowly, Addie pulled away from his neck and sat up to look at him, Skeptic, she asked, "She's alive?" Damon nodded. "She's fine?"

"Go ask Elena or call Jeremy if you don't trust me. You obviously didn't tonight."

A whoosh cut through the air as Addie's open hand flew towards Damon's face. He caught her by the wrist when she was an inch from his face. She growled in frustration, "No vampire advantages!"

"Are you not going to feel guilty and be mad at yourself for hitting me? If you won't I will gladly let you finish that slap," reasoned Damon.

Scowling she yanked her hand back and snapped, "I trusted you to protect Bonnie!"

"And I did! I helped her make her death act believable so Klaus wouldn't really kill her!"

"You had to make him believe not me. Why did you make me think Bonnie was dead," demanded Addie as she discarded the towel, as her hand had stopped bleeding. As Damon groaned in frustration she scrambled out of his lap and off of the the bed. Her hands curled at her side. He didn't get to be frustrated. He wasn't the one who had been betrayed.

"Do you not remember what I said outside the cafeteria? I promised that I didn't break my promise to keep Bonnie alive. I told you that you needed to believe and trust me."

Addie scoffed, "I remember you stopping me from go to Bonnie but I don't remember that."

"Right," Damon recalled, "you were sorta shut down at that point."

"Not entirely true. I remember you telling me to go home with Stefan and Elena which was why I wouldn't," admitted Addie.

He scoffed in disbelief, "Just my luck. You miss the part about the promise so it becomes a difficulty late but tune in for the instruction to ignore then that led to more difficulty. You don't like just being difficult; your selective hearing does too."

Addie's eyes glinted angrily as they narrowed. "You don't want to get me started on the never ending list of problems you present, Salvore."

"Honestly, I've been going over them all night. We really don't need to get into how bad I am; I get it."

Making her believe Bonnie was dead was beyond terrible but that didn't mean he was bad unless he did it for sheer amusement. He had hurt her in an unbelievable way but Addie couldn't see Damon doing that to her without a good reason.

"You're not bad," Addie huffed, irritated that she had to deal with his screwed up view of himself when she just wanted to be pissed at him. "We are both just people with a few more faults than others. Luckily the good thing is we both found someone who knows a little something about being faulty and we have room to accept the other's faults in our life."

"Like when you make a really complicated analogy or metaphor or something with your weird logic and expect me to understand."

She glared at him and replied, "More like when you're stupid enough to try and make jokes after after having just made me believe that my best friend was killed."

"Addie, I didn't want you to believe that," Damon confessed in exhaustion. He had been trying to preserve the bond between Bonnie and Addie by taking the brunt of the blame but it wasn't worth it. It seemed like Addie wasn't ready to just toss him aside, not unless she believed he hoped for things to go down the way they did. "I wanted to fill you in on the plan and then lock you in a classroom because you would obviously try to stop.

"It was Bonnie who didn't want you to know what was going on. She knew you would never let her do it. She said you'd find some crafty way to stop her and seeing as you are you, that's not very hard to believe. I thought you should know. Bonnie said that even if she magicked you into a classroom the spell would break when she faked her death. You would know the truth and a) your reaction would not be authentic as soon as you came running to the cafeteria and b) she wasn't convinced that if you saw Elena breaking down, you wouldn't confess it was fake. She knows you can keep a secret but she also knows that as much as you and Elena don't get along, you would have almost an impossible time putting her through that. We couldn't risk either thing happening because Klaus would surely be watching and he had to believe she was dead.

"I did my best to keep you from going in there and seeing Bonnie fight Klaus, trigger that spell, and look dead under it. But see, you have this little problem. You never trust that I might just be looking out for you, that I'm trying to protect you. I say turn left, you turn right. Usually there's no oncoming traffic when you turn. This time there was. You never would have gone through any of the pain you're feeling if you had listen to me. If I could have, I would have compelled you to stay out. I know that would have broken your trust in me but I didn't want you to go through what you did that badly."

Addie couldn't help but interrupt, "I would still hurt from Bonnie going behind my back on a pseudo-kamikaze mission and the pain of you supporting it and keeping me in the dark."

"I get that the plan had a risk and I promised you I wouldn't let her die but it was the best plan I could come up with that kept you safe from Klaus. I know what I've promised you about Elena and now Bonnie but you need to know that if it comes down to it, I'm picking what I think is best for you every time. I will always choose you, Addie. I screwed up tonight with the original plan of letting you lead Bonnie to Klaus. I should have never have let you do something so dangerous. No, I should have never left your side. Actually, my screw up was taking you somewhere we knew Klaus would be. I should have never let you go to the dance," Damon finished, having finally established the point where everything had started to go wrong.

The incredulous look on Addie's face had only increased the longer Damon had talked. She squared her shoulders and asserted, "Let's get one thing straight; you do not decide what I can and cannot do. Did you ever think the reason I'm almost always turning left is because you're constantly saying when and where I should go right like a captain? This fight is for my sister and I will not be a good little lady and sit on the sidelines while the menfolk fight. It's not the 1860s anymore. I accepted a long time ago that you are not going to put my sister first but just you put me first doesn't mean I will. You have two options: respect my choices or stay out of this."

That really left him no choice, he noted, running his fingers through his hair in frustration. "By 'this' you're not just including the Klaus situation are you? You mean this relationship. Your life."

Was he actually thinking about it? He had become such a large part of her word that Addie couldn't imagine her life without him. But it wouldn't be health. She took a long, deep breath, "As I prefer not to associate with people who don't respect me, yes. If you can't respect my choice when it comes to this fight, it's only a matter of time before that view of me carries over into more everyday things. It's better to just make a clean cut now."

Damon shook his head, "No, no. I don't want that. I respect you; I'm just terrified of losing you. And it sucks knowing that in picking to do everything your way, my best chance at protecting you involves you throwing yourself in harm's way. It's… God, it's Addie logic."

"Yes, my logic can be a bit unorthodox but I find it quite rational," Addie remarked casually, leaning against his bedpost. "What's your choice, Damon?"

Standing up from the edge of the bed, he took few a small step so he was enough to kiss. His fingers brushed softly against her cheek as he pushed her hair out of her face. Wasn't it obvious? His face was mockingly puzzled as he reminded, "Didn't I already tell you? I will always choose you, Addison."

Damon leaned in to kiss her but Addie to a small step back. With her arms across her chest she offensively pointed out, "I'm serious about respecting my choices and my wishes, Damon. You really hurt me. I get why but that doesn't make it right. There are no second chances this time. First slip and that's it. Understand?" Damon nodded. "I'm gonna sleep in the other room tonight."

He had really screwed up. As she began to walk away he suddenly remembered something and reached out and caught her left wrist. She turned and looked at him funny, pulling out of his hold. "Your hand," he said, nodding towards it. "I should heal it."

"I have bandAids," Addie decided, after studying the angry, red gash across the fleshy part of the palm.

"Are we gonna be ok?" Damon asked quietly as her hand landed on the door.

"Not tonight."

"Do you still want this?"

Addie sighed heavily and spoke to the door, "You hurt me. I'm bothered and upset but I knew who I was getting involved with. I didn't it expect it to always be rainbows and butterflies. You may have noticed I have a problem committing to things; I've tried almost every sport for a season. Even if I'm hungry I don't eat if I can't decide what I want. I cycle through which classes I actually like. But if you haven't noticed, when I make a decision, I follow through and throw everything I have into it. Track, my music, not eating anything else until I eat what I crave. I know I was indecisive with you but it's scary to commit to something when you know you're going to give so much of yourself to it. But, I did make my decision on you and unless it turns unhealthy, I'm going to work to follow through because I am committed. That is what a relationship is: work. If you're tired of working and want to stop, that's up to you. On that note, I'm drained from crying and my emotions feel like they have been hit by a semi driven by a monkey. Goodnight, Damon."

---

A/N: Nobody panic and wake the heretics. This is the longest chapter to date and it has one of the fastest turn around times since the last. Consider the products of my mania my Christmas gift to you. We have four chapters and a possibly a very short epilogue left. Now, lets discuss what will happen after that.

Do we:

A) Leave Addie and Damon alone and say Happily or Not Happily ever after?

B) Start a new story picking up at what would be a few weeks past the epilogue and just before season three

C) Leap forward in time to a different season (You guys still have absolutely no idea what's up with Addie's blood and or her ability to resist compulsion so I would start there but it's not the part of their story that I enjoy. (Someone has pointed out that this subplot isn't really clear so I'm guessing it's not clear to a lot of people. Before Addie could resist compulsion, Damon essentially had an anaphylactic reaction when he tried to drink her blood and would have died if he had tried to continue drinking her blood. He had already guessed this because her blood smelled too sweet. The healthier a person is, the sweeter their blood. Vampire blood smells sweetest of all. Except accept Addie's smelled sweeter. Recall that the apple Snow White ate was the most perfect and appealing apple but it was a trap. As soon as Addie could resist compulsion though, her blood smelled like a vampires and when Damon tried a tiny bit he got a rush. No, it's not suppose to make sense to you as to why the compulsion change seems linked to the blood change. The characters have to see that before you can and they will soon. Damon's not going to stand for Addie walking around smelling like a sweet blood bag and leave her vulnerable to where anyone can just feed on her.))

D) You propose an idea.

Leaning towards A. Might do B if there is enough interest. Now I'm gonna go sleep and eat for the first time in three days.