DAMON

It had been just 3 days shy of three and a half weeks that Bella had asked Damon to give them a 'proper' shot.

Proper meant he had taken Bella out at some point almost every other day since then. When they weren't locked in Damon's room, tangled in bed.

"Do you want anything while I'm up?" Bella's voice broke their silence and she disentangled herself from the body pillow she'd been cuddling. Okay. So, they weren't in bed like that. The sentiment still stood.

Damon had taken Bella all over Mystic Falls. Even Stefan had commented on Damon's sudden commitment to giving this a real chance. Elena of course reminded Damon of how easy it would be to just compel Bella away and be 'done with the whole thing'. He'd considered it before, however something deep inside of him always pushed the thought away. She'd been suspiciously quiet since their last fight about it but he figured the group was busy with finals.

Damon shook his head with a soft smile. Bella disappeared down the hall to her bedroom. He hated to admit it, but she might be domesticating him. He had learned so many things from her in the short time that they'd known each other. He adjusted the pillow behind his head, covering his face with one of his hands and groaning softly.

His phone buzzed for the first time in days, the same random number that had been texting him from that day at The Grill showing on the ID.

Take her to the falls.

He had no idea who this number was, only that it had started the day Bella and he had eaten at The Grill. It never answered if he text, however every once in a while when Damon was on the fence about something did it seem to know. Chiming in the tell him to do it or not.

The 'nots' were few and far in between, but this was the first time the number had text him actual instructions. He wondered idly if he should really even be listening to whoever the sender was, but dismissed the thought as Bella came into the room and climbed back into the bed.

"So, I was wondering if you maybe wanted to go somewhere with me tonight?" He rolled onto his side to stare at her. She in turn tolled towards him, flicking her hair behind her.

"Where to?" Was all she asked.

ALICE

Alice sighed to herself, squashing the feelings of guilt down as she gingerly placed the boulder over her hiding spot for the burner phone she had purchased. It felt wrong to her almost , helping Bella's other suitor.

But the vision she'd been having could not be ignored.

Alice had seen Bella happy. Walking arm in arm with a handsome blue-eyed man. She wasn't sure how far into the future she had seen, but Bella looked so different. The man looked human. He wasn't pale, no golden eyes, no marble skin in sight.

The only other future Alice had seen for Bella was coming back to Edward and falling pregnant before she could be changed.

Alice shuddered as the image of Bella so weak came to her mind. Nothing but bones she'd been. Some of her ribs had even broken. Her future where Alice saw them together, Bella's cold arm looped in hers was gone. She hadn't been able to see it for some time now, truthfully, but once she had left for Vegas was when the Blue-eyes human man had appeared to Alice in her visions.

"Did you send it?" Jasper's soft drawl called her attention and she nodded quickly. "Yes, but I don't know how much longer I can give her. I can't see anything Edwards doing. He's doing a damn good job of not making actual plans until the last second."

She supposed that was on purpose with how Alice had stopped looking into Bella's future in front of or around Edward. He'd become rather... unhinged as of lately. It was thankfully that when they had seen Bella's Vegas wedding that first night that it had been enough for him to break his vegetarian streak. Carlisle had Edward under lock and key, keeping an eye on him and only bringing him animals when he needed to feed. Alice supposed it was the reason that Bella had so much time to herself.

Jasper gathered his mate into his arms and held her closely, sitting in the Alaskan wilderness they looked out over the forest together. "You're doing what you can. We can't stop Edward from going after her. Only hold him off. They'll need to deal with this eventually though" He mused softly, mostly to himself as he rubbed her arms soothingly.

BELLA

Bella stood in the middle of her shower, letting the scalding hot water run over her as she thought back on the past three weeks. Damon had been true to his word. They had stopped physical contact all together in the beginning and Bella had insisted he keep the ring until their 90 days was up.

To give it the real 'from the beginning' feel. Somewhere along the line she'd started wandering into Damon's room when she had questions about someone in town she'd met, or just about him and his past. This had become a sort of ritual over the last week, to the point where if they weren't out on a 'date' or Bella wasn't attending a class in town, they were in Damon's room, lounging around and just talking. It was nice.

Damon didn't shut her our when the conversation was something he didn't want to talk about or think it was something she shouldn't know. He didn't treat her like she was made of glass or like she would hurt herself just walking. In fact, most of their 'dates' had been hiking around the scenic hills near the boarding house.

It was getting harder and harder to keep herself from completely surrendering to Damon. She couldn't even count the number of times he'd come up behind her and scented her like a hound after going away with Stefan to check in on the Mikaelson family, or going on his own to hunt, or hell even after they had finished a hike. That seemed to be his favorite time to do so. His proximity to her made her already racing heart pound, and if he ran his nose along the junction of her neck and shoulder one more time, she was sure that it was going to finally give out.

Also, living in a house with vampires who could hear when your heartrate changed before you even felt it made certain... luxuries more difficult for Bella to treat herself to. Even Edward had at least had the decency to respect that Bella wanted to be alone the nights her window was shut.

Bella stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself tightly in a towel, trying to shove the mental images of all the way Damon had attempted to bait her over the last few weeks away. Bella found that as the days went by, it was harder to do. And she wanted to push them out even less.

She dried herself, sighing softly as her mind tried to imagine what it would be like to have Damon to be the one running the towel down her legs and over the rest of her body. Those thoughts weren't exactly helping Bella's case... but it was the closest she'd gotten to release in nearly a month. She was running on fumes and was pretty sure she was going to start eating away the urges if she didn't find some sort of release.

Once Bella was dressed and her still damp hair was tied back into a high ponytail, she slipped on the hiking shoes Damon had given her. A dark blue sweatshirt, Black joggers, and matching dark grey hat and sneakers. Bella was ready to roll.

"Hey, Damon." Bella called in a normal speaking tone as she started down the stairs. He and Stefan had been deep in conversation when she reached the bottom of the stairs. Bella walked over to the pair who had yet to acknowledge her, placing a hand on Damon's shoulder. "Damon?"

Her voice died in her throat at the expression on his face as she noticed the almost imperceptible way his nostrils had begun to flare. She knew she shouldn't have taken so long drying herself with the damn towel. She feigned innocence, thankful her heart kept its normal pace.

"Good Afternoon Stefan... Damon, you ready to go?" She'd worn the same outfit plenty of times since he'd convinced her to get it.. but the way he had raked his gaze over her had made her wrap her arms around her torso, her fingers interlocking tightly as she turned on her heel suddenly, nearly running from the room.

"I- I'll be out front!" She called behind her, unable to keep the deep blush that blossomed on her face at bay.

She didnt even make it to the door before he was in front of her, blocking the entrance with his body. "Isabella," He basically crooned at her most intimate space between her legs; making her squeeze her thighs together. Or so it felt like. "you forgot your water bottle." He held it out to her, and Bella moved to take it from him, only for him to keep a tight grip on it.

"You test me, little doe." Was all he head before he let her have the water bottle, turning and opening the door for her to walk through.

She was most definitely fucked, she decided as they walked together into the woods, Damon leading her down an entirely new, downwind, path.

AN: Lemon soon, probably the next chapter or so.

So? What do you think? Someone mentioned Esme's touch needed in MF, and I so agree!

What did you think of Alice's sneak help? I don't know how she will feel realizing there is another species of vampire that she didn't know about, but I think it would be an interesting twist for her to find out the 'human' she'd been rooting for is just another Vampire!