AN: Thank you guys for all the likes and follows! I'm so happy to see that people like my story. Reviews literally make my day, so thank you to those who actually take the time to give them!

Just to clear up some stuff, Bella is 21, Damon and Stefan are vamps so it doesn't matter, Elena and everyone else is in college. Except Jeremy never was compelled to forget everything. So he's obviously still here.

I've taken a break from the flashbacks, but they will definitely come later

BELLA

Apparently, it being settled meant that Bella had to go to Mystic Falls.

She had to admit, it was a relief that she wouldn't have to go home and face Edward just yet.

Alice had already assured her that she couldn't see Edward coming to find her, but the pair were also nervous because they knew Edward frequently avoided decisions to skirt Alice's vision. It was a thought that made Bella feel marginally better, though the fact that she left out she would be staying at the Salvatore boarding house probably also had something to do with his reluctant agreement to give her time to sort this out on her own.

Elena was still too wary to let her stay with her, and Stefan had pointed out it was probably better for them, since they would hear if Bella was 'dangerous' before Elena could. Then again Elena had barely spoken to Bella since they left Vegas. Most of her talking done at Damon and telling him over and over what a bad plan this was.

It felt silly to her that Elena had needed this much convincing when this obviously was a problem that really only involved her and Damon. Bella had paused from unpacking her suitcase, putting the pair of jeans she was holding in a drawer and staring at her reflection in the mirror.

She looked the same. The same dull brown eyes stared back at her, watching even her reflection frown in disapproval at what it saw. Her thick hair she'd pulled away from her neck into a ponytail; only a few loose tendrils framing her face. She studied the top and work out pants she was wearing, frowning at her pale complexion. "Still Human." She said aloud to herself.

Eventually Bella came downstairs from unpacking, to find four new people talking in hushed tones with Elena. Damon was nowhere to be seen and she saw the tail end of who she assumed to be Stefan disappearing down a hallway. They sounded like the group was just about caught up to speed on who she was.

"Bonnie stop, you don't even know her you don't have to advocate for her." Elena's voice reached her ears first.

"Yeah, Bonnie." Bella said as she came to the bottom of the stairs. Elena turned around to watch her walk over. "Bella can advocate for herself." Bella flashed a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

"Oh, you poor thing," A blonde woman with curly hair bounded over to her, taking her by the arm and leading her into their midst. She reminded her of Alice. "Of all the people in Vegas you end up stuck to Damon Salvatore. I mean, not that Damon's, like, ugly or anything. I totally get why you, like, went for him and all that. If he wasn't such a prick to me-"

"Caroline," A dark haired boy who looked very much like Elena chided. "Let's let her get her bearings." He had the same deep brown eyes as Elena. "I'm Jeremy," he pointed to himself and then the blonde, "Caroline," now to the brown-haired girl "Bonnie," and finally to a guy who refused to take his eyes off of Bella since she'd come downstairs. "And that's Matt. You already know my sister."

Matt's expression was skeptical, and he looked over her shoulder to meet Elena's gaze. Everyone else at least seemed polite enough to have their expressions neutral.

They exchanged a glance Bella couldn't decipher before she decided just to wave at them all. "I'm Bella." she sifted her weight awkwardly as the silence stretched on, all eyes on her as she stood in the center of them. The longer it seemed to stretch on the more she found herself wishing the blonde girl, Caroline, would start talking again.

"Is no one else going to say it?" exploded the one Jeremy had introduced as Matt, making Bella jump slightly. Elena nodded in agreement, gesturing to Bella as if she were an obscenity. "You see? I told you guys on the phone. He's lost his mind this time."

"I have to admit, I see the similarities, but Elena, she doesn't look like your twin." Caroline chimed in, glancing an apologetic glance to Bella. "Not that you're not, like, so pretty in your own way."

Bella wished the floor would swallow her. Now. Where the heck was Damon?

"Exactly, you guys couldn't be more different." Bonnie chimed in, talking to Elena. "If this is Damon's way of having you without having you, it's not working."

"You all know I can hear you, right? I'm not an animal and I speak English?" it had come out sharper than she'd intended, but Bella was glad it seemed to get them to look away from her. The others averted their gaze from her when she finally snapped, but Jeremy had continued to stare. A half smile on his mouth almost as if he respected her for standing her ground with the small crowd.

Bella found herself returning with a small smile of her own, the weight of what she had thought was Elena's gaze heavy on the side of her face. Maybe they weren't all so bad.

"Alright Gilbert," Damons voice cracked sharply from somewhere to the side of her. Bella tried- and failed- not to let the relief she felt that someone on her side was here show as she turned to face him. "That's enough looking and smiling. I will snap your neck again." He wasn't looking at her, his eyes hard and unreadable as he stared down Jeremy.

Caroline was quick to notice the relief that flooded Bella's face, and saw the muscles in her feet twitch as she seemed to fight to urge to go to him. Had Damon already compelled her? She wondered but said nothing.

Bella let him come to her, a small smile on her face much to the surprise of the group watching them. Except for Jeremy, who was glaring at Damon while rubbing his neck as though Damon had already done it before. Like it was a phantom pain. "I'm just trying to be nice, Damon."

"It's true," She found herself saying, nodding in agreement. She didn't want anyone to fight on her behalf. She was, after-all, the intruder here. She spared a glance to Jeremy, who had smiled and bobbed his head in tanks towards her.

This must have been the wrong choice because Damon's expression grew dark and, in the time it took Bella to blink, she was inside a room not her own; the group gone as she watched his frown deepen at whatever he was listening to.

DAMON

Damon had been busy re-upping his stash of blood bags, unloading them into the freezer by the time that he heard Bella's steps on the stairs above him.

He had listened to them talking over each other at once about her looks but knowing they felt bold enough to do it to her face irritated him. He had come into the room in time to catch the appreciative smile Jeremy sent Bella's way. His irritation swelled and filled his gut.

Was nothing truly his? Damon knew somewhere in the back of his mind Bella was not an object to be owned. Seeing Jeremy smile at her was enough for that realization to be squashed beneath the surface of his rage.

This was why he was now placing Bella gingerly back on her feet, offering zero explanation as his frown deepened hearing the voices of Elena's group below.

"Was that necessary? They're going to think I can't handle myself." She asked him, her tone already defensive to words he hadn't even said yet.

"You can handle yourself Isabella, I just was sick of little Gilbert looking at you. He's got the witch." He muttered absentmindedly, still listening to the voices below as he poured himself a glass of booze. She didn't seem to know how to respond.

The general consensus had been that Bella seemed nice enough. Too nice for Damon. Everyone was too nice for Damon according to them. Damon was just a child who would strike when he didn't get his way. He bet she hadn't even told them about the kiss.

"This is your room, I assume?" Bella's voice broke him from his thought and his eye focused on her slight form. Watching her turn slowly from the spot he had set her down to take in the room. "The bed looks slept in, nice touch." She murmured, a wry smile playing at the edges of her mouth. This made him cock his head to the side, a questioning look on his face.

"We sleep." He offered simply, stepping back over to her. "Unlike your precious porcelain figurines in Forks." He'd come up behind her as she was looking at the fireplace across from his bed.

"I thought we went over this, little doe." he hovered close, enjoying the way that he could hear her heart slamming into her ribs, listening to its flutter as she swallowed roughly. "I am warm, I sleep, I eat, I drink..." He let his hands reach up and ghost over her arms. Starting from her right wrist, Damon drug his fingers microscopically close to Bella's flesh, not touching as he spoke. "I would have thought you listened better to your husband."

His tone playful as he passed over the back of her neck. The smile on his face widening at the way she shuddered from his roaming fingers. He clasped a hand suddenly around her left wrist, pulling it gently up to turn her towards him and hold her hand between them. "You aren't wearing your ring, wife."

A teasing frown came over his hand, and he pulled the ring he'd taken from its box up between them in his free hand. "We are supposed to be giving this a fair shot after all." It was a wonder she wasn't already a cold one, the blush that seemed permanent on her face made her all the more tempting. From what he'd gathered and seen of Eddie boy, his self-control seemed stale at best.

"It seemed silly to wear it when we are just in the house." Bell muttered softly, her gaze on his face. He had started leaning in towards her, his own control starting to slip. Her eyes went from his eyes to his mouth, the way she took her lower lip between her teeth only seemed to pull him closer. Footsteps on the stairs alerted him to someone making their way to his room. The scent that filled his nose, much to his annoyance, was little gilberts.

In what must have seemed like a sudden movement to Bella, he closed the gap between their mouths. She instinctively moved to wrap her arms around his shoulders and Damon wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her flush to him in a way similar to the way they'd been glued together the night before last. His tongue deftly gained access to Bella's mouth, who heartily welcomed him with a soft whimper. He'd backed Bella slowly over towards his bed, the solid wood footboard pushing into the small of her back.

"Damon, Caroline wants to take, oh uh, sorry..." Jeremy apologized awkwardly. Damon glanced over to the youngest Gilbert, pointedly tightening his hold on Bella while she attempted to pull away from Damon, the blush he was growing to enjoy blossoming on her face full force.

"Close the door, Jeremy." Damon instructed coolly, Bella had decided if she couldn't pull away from him, she was going to hide her face in his chest. "S-sorry!" she squeaked out shrilly, her hands moving from Damon's shoulders to cover her face. When the door was closed, Jeremy cleared his throat and spoke loudly, for Bella's benefit no doubt. "Caroline was wondering if Bella wanted to go eat. She's here so she might as well get to know us."

With that his footsteps retreated, Elena's voice reaching Damons ears "Why do you look like that? What did she say?" He could almost see the young Gilbert shaking his head and rubbing his face. "Nothing, she's going to let us know."

"Damon!" Bella shrieked, pushing at his chest weakly as she stared up at him. He was grinning lopsidedly down at the brunette in his arms, grip unwavering as she pushed.

"I've been told it's perfectly normal for newlyweds to kiss, Isabella." He chided with that same lopsided grin.

"Our circumstances are not exactly normal, Damon."

"All the more reason to give you every normal newlywed experience." At the word every, Damon had let his arms around her waist relax, his hands falling to either side of her on the footboard and pressing her even more firmly into the wood at her back. The blush was back.

"You know, I might have broken up with him before all this, but it still doesn't feel right." She had said it innocently enough. She obviously hadn't mean it meanly, just as an explanation. She was confiding in him. His expression changed from soft and teasing to a hard, unreadable canvas and his hands fell from either side of her.

"Way to kill the mood, Bella." He said flatly, moving away from her and pouring himself another drink. "Talking about Exes seems a little bit of a downer, now?" He'd meant to sound teasing, but it didn't land and he watched her face fall.

Damon found himself wanting to go over to her and console her.

"Maybe you should go finish unpacking." Was all he said instead, turning his back dismissively on her.

"Please keep the ring on." He didn't need to turn around to know Bella was likely staring wide eyed at her finger where he had slipped the ring at some point during their kiss.

"Okay," Came her soft reply. He at least waited until the door to her own room closed before he threw the full glass that was on top of his dresser at the wall.

AN: So there it is! Bella's in mystic falls, Elena is of course only worried about how it's all going to affect herself and the people SHE deems important.

I feel so bad not writing immediate happy ending but I know deep down that both Bella and Damon have their own scars to heal. Bella is so unsure of herself and feels so indebted to Edward. Damon doesn't know how to have a healthy relationship since the only ones he's tried to have ended terribly. Or he stays because at least being around is better than being rejected, right?