Bella

It took her two more days to unpack a weekends worth of clothes. Mostly because Damon was avoiding her ever since the day in his room. Bella's mood grew darker with each passing day. Even Elena and Stefan seemed to have the decency to leave Bella alone to stew in her thoughts.

What a freaking jerk! Bella had moved from dejection to rage in the short walk from his bedroom to hers after knocking to try and talk to him, only to find an empty room once again. He'd even made the bed he said he never bothered to. Dick.

General sounds of rage escaped her as she ripped open her suitcase. Short shrieks and grunts of rage escaped her as she slammed her clothes into the nearest empty drawer.

"He brings ME to his room, starts touching me." She slammed the drawer shut louder than necessary. Voice rising several octaves as she continue on her rant.

"Kisses me like THAT!" Bella hadn't noticed the other Salvatore brother who was leaning against her doorframe, watching her huff and puff about the room.

"Then kicks me out like I'm the one with a problem?!" Her tone incredulous. It was rising octave by octave as Stefan watched her with amusement shining in his eyes. She probably didn't even realize that Caroline would easily hear her near tantrum and was telling bits and pieces to the group who could hear the bangs and shrieks faintly through the floor.

"Damon Salvatore." She said aloud, beating back the feeling that settled in her stomach at saying his -no, her- last name. "Worlds biggest jerk. Bigger than Jacob... So big his head should have exploded eons ago."

"I see the wedded bliss has officially ended 96 hours later." Bella had just flung her empty suitcase into the closet and slammed it roughly when he spoke, causing her head to snap in his direction, eyes wide and apologetic.

"It's alright," Stefan cut her off before she could apologize or say anything. "I know how he can be." He offered sympathetically. "It's probably nothing you did. Just Damon being Damon." Bella backed herself against the foot of the bed she was standing in front of. Wood bit into the small of her back, however this time her heart wasn't pounding. She was staring skeptically at the Salvatore before her.

"Damon being Damon." She echoed, her tone empty. "Why does our argument concern you aren't you and Elena team, Damon-the-Demon?"

At that he quirked a single brow high on his face, pushing away from the doorway and sitting himself at the vanity Damon had put in her room the middle of the first night she'd been here. "Damon... Take a lot. Sometimes he's nice, sometimes he can be thoughtful," At that he tapped the vanity he was sitting in front of. "sometimes, he's a child. Most of the time though, he just needs time to sort through his own emotions. It's not his fault. He's been through a lot."

Bella had seated herself on the floor in front of the footboard, directly across from Stefan. Her arms wrapped around her legs as she hugged them to her chest. "He's just... I don't understand why you even care." Was all Bella could think to shoot back at him.

"Look." He sank down from the bench he was on so he was on the floor, squatting across from her. His head dipped down to grab her attention, his tone still soft. "I have to want this to work. If Damon is happy, then Elena and I can finally be happy..."

He seemed to realize that was the wrong thing to say, and Bella shot up, glaring down at him. "You want this relationship to work so you and Elena can stop feeling bad that she lead him on?" There was rage in her voice now, whatever apprehension she'd fell dissipating towards Stefan was back now full force.

"It wasn't like that Isabell-" Bella didn't even give him the chance to finish before she all but barked at him "It's BELLA."

Caroline was in front of her in the next second, facing Stefan with her hands on her hips "Stefan, I don't think you're helping anymore." was all the blond girl taller than Bella said. Stefan stood up and stepped closer to Caroline, and in turn to Bella who instantly recoiled back.

In her defense, vampires coming towards her with anything but a happy expression on their faces had not historically worked out for Bella.

"Stefan, you're scaring her now." Caroline spoke softly, most likely for Bella's benefit she realized.

"Caroline, she needs to understand." Stefan pleaded with the blonde. "I think she understands everything she really needs to right now." came Caroline's response.

It took a few minutes, but eventually Caroline had successfully kicked Stefan out. Bella watched with irritation as Caroline had sat on her bed. "You'll have to forgive him." She continued quickly before Bella could kick her out herself, standing almost as immediately as she had sat down. "They aren't used to not being trusted is all, Bella. Truthfully, Damon doesn't exactly inspire the most faith."

That made Bella laugh darkly "You know, my ex had a brother, not as new to this life as you, but new enough to being vegetarian. Everyone would watch him, like they already knew he was going to fuck up. He was an Empath, who could feel everyone's emotions. Happy, sad, angry, even bloodlust." Her gaze held Caroline's for a minute while she let what she was saying sink in. "Imagine fighting the bloodlust of not just yourself, but an entire coven of 7. all of the time. And they think you are the one who's fucking up. I can see why Damon has so little faith in people who have such little faith in him."

If Bella had thought the days before were laced with tension, the day after that she could probably choke in it. Instead of hanging around, Bella had decided to go into town. Making her way down the little rows of shops. She was surprised to see how small most of the shops were, but she quickly reminded herself that in such a small town they of course didn't need big stores.

She had several small bag with her, one of which a gift she had bought for Damon, should the asshole ever decide to show his face to her. She was silently fuming into a store window, her thoughts angry with herself for actually missing a certain blue-eyed vampire, when a voice from behind her spoke with their their mouth at her ear "You know, If you don't like that store, you could just not go into it."

Arms wrapped around Bella from behind, tightening into a vice grip when she let out a very unattractive screech and tried to move to face whoever was behind her.

"Isabella," Damon murmured against her ear, enjoying entirely too much the way that she almost instantly settled against his chest. He could see her pout in the mirror of the storefront. "You made me drop my bags." She huffed with irritation in her tone, shoving a strand of hair behind her ear.

She started to pull away from him suddenly, moving till she was facing him chest to chest with her hand pushing at him. "Besides, let me go. I'm mad. You just left alone for three days! What happened to 'giving it an honest try?" She cried incredulously. Damon ignored her, instead taking their proximity to scent her.

DAMON

Eventually he let her go. Watching shamelessly as she bent over to grab the bags she'd dropped. "I had to tie up some loose ends." Damon frowned. It was true, Stefan had told Damon where they were during his time away, and Damon had taken the days to properly stage and deaths that had come in Stefan's wake. Stefan was incapable since he could go reaper at any moment, his brothers diet had made for a weak willed vampire.

"Oh." Was all Bella had said with a frown. He cocked his head to the side curiously, wondering just how mad with him she was. "Stefan hadn't mentioned that."

"And what did my lovely baby brother have to say in my absence?" It was Damon's turn to frown.

"Nothing," Bella sniffed defensively. Damon didn't bother to press it. He was more relieved to see her than he had realized he would be. He'd taken the last few days to actually think instead of just mindlessly going through the days. He had found himself wondering about her. About her likes and dislikes.

"I've heard Caroline is already getting ready to dress you up for Founders Day in two months." He had remembered speaking with Caroline, who had surprisingly decided to root for them. According to Caroline, 'It would finally get him off of Elena's back.'

"Don't remind me, please." Bella groaned. Without thinking, Damon slung his arm around her and tucked her there between his chest and arm. The pair started walking forward as he listened to Bella. "Don't get me wrong. I am so appreciative. I just thought I was free from Bella Barbie for a while."

"Bella Barbie?" He grinned down at her. "Ed- my ex's sister used to buy me outrageous outfits and dresses and throw parties for no reason other than to dress me up. She called me her Bella Barbie."

Damon let her go, opening the door of The Grill and ushering her inside while Bella spoke. "Sounds like fun." This made her laugh, really laugh for the first time in days. Damon couldn't stop staring at her.

They were silent again until they sat at a booth, Bella placing the bags of her things she bought purposefully between them. Damon's hand flashed between them and took Bella's in a firm grip, approval shining in his eyes even if he tried carefully not to let any emotion through when he said, "I see you listened and wore the ring."

To his relief Bella didn't pull away, only shrugged and stared down at the table. "It's such a shame to keep it in the box."

His next comment was interrupted by Matt, coming up to the table in Damon's view. "Elena, what are you doing he-" Matt broke off and Bella turned bright red but stayed silent.

Damon saw Matt's jaw clench before he continued on politely, taking their orders and turning to walk away. "You know Donovan," Damon drawled slowly, squeezing Bella's hand softly so she would look at him. Matt turned hesitantly to him. "If you're jealous that both Salvatore's have both the brunette beauties, you could just say that and be done with it."

Matt looked murderous and Bella looked horrified. As He finally walked away to put their orders in, Bella ripped her hand from his, whisper shouting "Why do you do things like that?"

"Like what?"

"You act like you just wanted to get under his skin. It's childish." Damon's eyes flashed with something unrecognizable at the word childish and he sat up straighter. "Is that what Stefan said?" Bella shrank back in her seat, her face guilty. He watched her pull apart another napkin, gathering the shredding neatly into the corner of the table.

"He just wanted to tell me not to be so quick to judge you." He had to bite back a laugh. Of course. Bella's next words shocked him, and apparently herself too judging from the expression on her face afterwards.

"Let's make a deal. No more angry at Elena, no more cryptic Edward thoughts that make me sad... You said we should give this a real chance, and maybe we should." Her voice had gotten quieter and softer as she finished her proposal.

"Okay," Damon sighed, feeling whatever anger or irritation he'd felt leave with the breath. His brows wagged suggestively "But does that mean this is our third date?" Bella kicked him under the table, blushing deeply as Matt brought their food.

For the first time in decades, Damon felt hopeful. More hopeful than he had even when he thought he and Elena might finally stand a chance without Stefan around.

He tried not to focus on it as Bella and him chatted over lunch.

AN: So, Here we are! first 'fight' over. I might do a little time jump from here. I feel like i might be hitting a stall... Worried about that so i might try to shoot out a one-shot unrelated to this...

Pairing suggestions for it? Thinking Bella and Paul, or Angela and Paul.

As always, I LOVE to hear your thoughts on the chapter!