It was around three pm, two days after previous events, when a knock sounds,

at her window.

Emily's brows furrow. She puts her laptop aside, and heads to peel away the curtain. Damon smiles and waves at her from outside the glass, crouched on her rooftop, with a pair of sunglasses on. She rolls her eyes and smirks, opening her window for him. He climbs in. "Owwww!" he uttered as he straightened up.

"What's wrong?" she asked, tying the current to the side and leaving the window open.

"Ugh. Long story," he said, flopping onto her bed, laid down.

Wow. He just walks in and acts like he owns the place.

"Well, are you gonna tell it to me, or are you just here for my bed?" she asks, standing opposite him with arms crossed. He smiles in amusement. "What's with the shades?"

"Well. I had my eyes poked out by a five-hundred-year-old vampire, so they're kinda extra sensitive right now."

"What?!" she exclaims, staring at him wide-eyed.

"Ugh. Fine. Sit," he pats the spot beside him. She complies and sits with one leg beneath her thigh, facing him. "Okay, sooooo. You know Anna, right? Your brother's vampire girlfriend."

"She's not his girlfriend," Emily states weirdly.

"Right. Whatever. Anyways, her and her mom paid me a visit. They wanted to know about the council-"

"What council?"

"…Right. You don't know. Okay." He sits up.

He trusts her enough to tell her now. There was no need to hide it from her. He faces her with shades still in. His eyes were mostly closed beneath them, and she could tell, cause it looked like he was talking to the air opposite him. "The council was around since my time. The founding families come together, and make a pact against vampires," he explains. Emily listens in interest, and surprise. "I managed to convince Liz I'm human, and as the oldest Salvatore, I'm a member too." Emily is taken aback by this. "So, Pearl, Anna's mom. She wants to know who else is on the council, and wants me to stop supplying them with vervain."

"You supply them with vervain?" she asks in un-expectance.

"Yeah, Zach used to do it. And if I want to remain a faithful member, I have to take his place."

"…After you killed him," she says in mock-filled displeasure.

"Yes. After I killed him. Can we please not dwell on that?" he sighs tiredly, then pulls off his glasses. He blinks repeatedly and squints his eyes. She winces at his look of pain, and he faces her. "How do they look?" he asks. She leans closer and studies them. 'Still blue and beautiful,' she refrained from saying.

"A little red, but they look fine," she says. "How did you poke em, anyways?"

"I didn't. Pearl did. You know, with her thumbs." Emily winces in great disgust.

"Oh my god," she breathes.

"Yeah. Not fun," he scowls irritably at the painful memory.

"So what'd you say to her?"

"Well, I said no, and then she tried to persuade me by telling me she could help me find Katherine." Emily's eyes widen and heart pinches at that. Damon scoffs. "I told her that was the last thing I wanted, and when I refused to do what she asked, she got pokey," he says sarcastically, falling back onto the bed.

Emily spent a good amount of time asking Damon questions about Pearl, and the council. He recited how he met Pearl, her relation to Katherine and Johnathan Gilbert. He told her how he found out about the still-standing council when he came back, and that he killed Lexi to get them off of his and Stefan's backs, and how they considered him a hero – something Emily found laughable - for killing Logan Fell, which he confessed to not knowing who actually had ended him.

Then she told him about Isobel, and all that was well and new with her story, and Damon told her that he knew Isobel, and that he turned her himself. Her being a vampire doesn't entirely surprise Emily, as Elena had told her that the man who said not to look for Isobel seemed to be under compulsion as he then killed himself. No, the only thing that surprises her is the fact that Damon was the one to turn her.

It wasn't just surprising…It was kind of annoying, to her at least.

It was as though a part of her had stupidly assumed that him offering to turn herself was…in a way, a special gesture…She scolds herself for constantly forgetting that he'd lived for a hundred and something years, and that he probably met and turned plenty of women he treated the same way he treats her.

She doesn't dwell on it. His feelings for Katherine, hatred or else, Emily always saw as a wall between them she couldn't yet breach.

Less than an hour passed as they talked away, when the front doorbell rung, and Elena went to answer. Damon could hear his brother's voice. "Ah. My dear brother, picking up…your sister. That sounds weird," Damon muses.

"Only when you think it is." Catching sight of her laptop, Emily recalls she needed to study, but she also didn't want Damon to leave.

"What?" he asks at her extended silence.

"I just…gotta study," she says.

"Well. I'm not holding you back," he said, fixing himself in the bed and shutting his eyes. She raises a brow at him.

"You gonna nap?" she asks curiously.

"You mind?" he opened one eye at her.

"No," she shakes her head with a pleasant smile. He shuts his eye again.

He didn't want to leave; didn't want to be alone, and he was comfortable enough around her to get a moment of peace without the occasional bitter thoughts about his bitchy ex and the fact that he wasted his life thinking of her.

"Want me to turn off the lights?" she asks.

"No. It's fine," he says, moving to sleep on his side with his hands beneath her Emily-scented pillow. He feels the bed shift and looks to see her at the edge, about to get up. "Where are you going?" he asks. She faces him at the pouty tone, and smirks in amusement.

"To sit at the desk, so I don't bother you with the keyboard clicking and stuff," she says.

"Emily, if I wanted to sleep alone, I'd go home. Will you just sit and do what you were doing before I got here," he retorts. She smiles contently at him, warmed by what he'd said.

"Alright."

XXX

It's about an hour later, when Jeremy knocks on the door. Emily glares at it to keep quite so as not to wake up Damon. Not hearing a rejection, Jeremy opens the door, and halts, upon spotting a body beside her. His brows raise, and he steps in to get a better look. She waves him away and he ignores her, a grin growing on his face upon seeing Damon. He mouths an 'oooh,' at her, and she rolls her eyes. "What do you want?" she whispers irritably.

"Do you want yesterday's pizza?" he asks just as quietly.

"No! Go away!" she tells.

"Okay!" he whisper-shouts back, and struts out the door, smirking.

Fifteen minutes later, Damon wakes up, content to be presented with the sight of her to his side, reading a book. She glances and sees he has his eyes groggily open. "Hey," she smiles, causing him to smile as well. "How was the nap?" He stretches onto his back.

"Mmm, so good," he mused.

"Well, I was gonna wake you up," she says, grabbing a plate of food off the bedside table and handing it to him as he sat up to see.

"Ooh. Thanks," he says.

He asks her about the book she's reading, and she tells him its Robinson Crusoe. They discuss that for a while, when Damon shushes her suddenly, and glares warily at the door.

"What?" she asks worriedly.

"It's Anna," he says, quickly getting to his feet. Emily shoots up as well and follows him out the door.

They rush down the stairs, to the living room, and Emily could hear audible chatter between Anna and Jeremy.

"Enough of homeschooling. I'd like to be a normal teen for once. But I have to ask my mom first, she'll have an opinion," says Anna.

"Well, I wish you were-" Jeremy is cut off when Damon and Emily stomp down and stand opposite them wildly.

"What are you doing here?" Emily warily asks her.

"Uh, we're just hanging out," Jeremy says, eyeing Emily irritably.

"Yeah, we're just talking," Anna tells sincerely, after getting over the fact that Damon was for some reason here.

"Okay. Well," he grabs Emily's upper arm. "We'll be upstairs," he smiles fake-ly at them, glaring meaningfully at Anna in warning of trying anything. Jeremy is fairly confused by their attitude,

and for a moment,

assumes they knew….

…about vampires.

Did Jeremy know?

He was speculating.

Ever since he did that paper, with Anna's help, and every time he saw her face change strangely.

He was skeptical.

"Come on," Damon tells Emily assuringly, she who was very, very reluctant to leave her brother.

"But-" she protests on the stairs.

"Go," Damon sternly tells. She irritably complies, and when they're in, and the door's closed, she starts again.

"Damon! What are you-"

"Calm down. I'll stay till she leaves. I can hear everything," he tells. She sighs warily, brushing her hands through her hair and starting to pace the room.

"Damon, I can't stop thinking about it," she whisper-tells.

"Look, just-"

"I can't stop thinking about becoming…one," she gestures at him. Damon shuts up. That wasn't what he was expecting her to say.

"Okay," he guides her to her bathroom, and she moves along, confused. He opens the door, then opens the sink. "Talk," he says. She doesn't understand why they were in the bathroom, and continues to eye him weirdly. He rolls his eyes. "So she can't hear us," he explains impatiently.

"…Right. So. Anyways…I mean. Elena's real mom is a vampire and she sends that compelled guy to tell her off. My brother's friend is a vampire, both of whom we don't trust! And what can I do if something goes wrong?! Nothing! And it's not like I can keep calling you; you have a life!" she exclaims.

"Right now, not really," he says, half-sarcastic.

"Damon…"

"Yeah. I know. Feeling defenseless sucks…"

"I don't know what to do…"

Her gaze is fixed at the floor, her tension and discomfort crystal clear. Damon studies her, thinking.

He doesn't understand why he's all of a sudden very reluctant about giving or doing anything vampire-related to her. So, if this is what she chooses, he doesn't want to be her only source of information.

…If anyone could talk her out of this…

"Why don't you talk to Stefan about it?" he suggests. Emily turns to him, brows furrowed, totally not what she was expecting him to say.

"What?"

"He's greatly against vampirism, and if this is what you choose, you ought to have seen all the angles," he says, putting a hand into his pocket. It was visually obvious he was displeased with what he was suggesting,

but it wasn't a bad idea…

"What will he tell me that you haven't already?" she asks, crossing her arms with a slightly accusing tone. Damon gives it a think-about.

"Not much. But the way he'll talk about it is far less encouraging." She squints her eyes at him.

"Why would you want that? You're the one who keeps suggesting-"

"Because I can't-" 'I can't be the one to blame if this goes wrong for you…I don't want to be…' he refrained from saying that, and said instead: "It needs to feel like it's your own choice, not just something I talked you into. This is your life we're talking about," he says.

…Well, she was definitely worried now.

He shuts off the sink, and changes the subject. "So, do you got any movies on that computer of yours? Something to kill the time till you-know-who goes away," he says. She takes a minute to bypass the previous topic, and process what he'd said. She sighs.

They do end up watching a movie, but who was really watching? Damon kept listening in to Anna and Jeremy's conversation, looking for something suspicious, and Emily was as tense as a spring, filled to the prim with worry at the thought of her brother being in danger, and a huge mental debate on vampirism.

He was right.

She ought to talk to Stefan.

Regardless of all of that…feeling Damon's shoulder against hers, hearing him breathe beside her, the fact that he was there, currently for the sole reason of keeping her and her brother safe…it made her feel…warm…safe…and she did not overlook it.

She momentarily panics though, about the fact that…she liked him so much, in a way she didn't understand. Things would be so much simpler if Katherine hadn't existed.

Or would they?

Damon also qualified as a womanizer, and a flirt, so putting aside his ex,

could she ever fully trust Damon? Specifically upon regrading a relationship.

It was that godforsaken question that was holding her back by the arm from escalating things between them, something she was un-happily sure he currently wouldn't mind.

A short while later, Anna leaves, mainly because Damon's presence was making her uncomfortable. Jeremy wanted her to stay, at least long enough for him to confirm a theory,

but he didn't get the chance.

Soon after, Damon rises to take off. He asks Emily about the compass. She said it was in her bag. He scolded her, and told her to keep it somewhere she could see it at all times.

She walks him down the stairs, to the door that was being opened, from the outside,

by Jenna.

The blonde steps in, and freezes upon seeing him. He smiles brightly. "Hello, Jenna," he greets, walking past her and out onto the porch. He turns and waves goodbye at Emily, who waved back contently, then he turned and disappeared down the street as Emily closed the door.

"What, uh?" Jenna asks as Emily faces her expectantly.

"Yeah, he's been here since this morning," Jeremy, who was playing with his Xbox, states from on the couch. Both women turn to him wide-eyed, one pissed and the other surprised.

"This morning when?!"

"Around three or four," Emily tells tiredly. Jenna looks to her.

"It's seven now. So, he's also been here for three or four hours, doing what?"

"Just…hanging," Emily flops her arms and heads to the kitchen.

"Uh, when I came in, he was sleeping!" Jeremy calls. They turn to him again as he rises and approaches them.

"Did I do something to you?!" Emily irritably asks. Jeremy grins mischievously.

"Oh, come on. It's been forever since you've had a boyfriend," he says.

"Oh, my god!" Emily utters in exhausted disbelief, refusing to re-affirm yet again that she and Damon were not a 'thing.' She opens the fridge and mulls over what to eat.

"What do you mean, he was sleeping? Sleeping where?!" Jenna demands.

"On her bed. They weren't doing anything. She was on her laptop, and he was all cuddled up beside her," Jeremy gestures with his hands, seeming fairly amused.

"Ah, ha!" Emily laughs, coming out with cheese, bread, and pastrami. The picture Jeremy drew set into her mind, and she couldn't stop grinning as she placed the items on the counter and started making a sandwich.

It was in fact very hard to concentrate on her studying when he looked so cute and peaceful beside her.

Jenna placed a hand on her hip and faced Emily. "Okay, Em. What are you doing? I thought you said he was off limits," she says.

"He is, was. Whatever. Look. We weren't doing anything. Elena sleeps over at Bonnie's all the time! What's the big deal?"

"The big deal is, Damon is a guy, and he's hot, and he likes to surprise you with things you apparently like, like a surprise road-trip, or cooking."

"Jenna," Emily sighs as Jeremy listens in curiously.

"You'll fall for him," Jenna states sternly. Emily looks at her in momentarily disbelief.

She looked away, re-focusing on making that sandwich and refusing to talk about it, refusing to believe it.

A part of her knew Jenna was right,

and the other, bigger part didn't want all and everything that goes on between them to end because of a stupid possibility.

XXXXX