The next day, Emily's making use of the library, when the doorbell rings.
She rises to get it, when Damon appears in sight, and gestures at her to stay where she was, evidently skeptical.
"Ah. Little Gilbert," she hears a moment later, and steps up to find Damon smirking at Jeremy.
"Ah. Old-man Salvatore," he retorts. Damon grinned.
"Good one," he stepped aside, glancing at Emily, who approached them.
"Jeremy. Hey," she smiled, refraining from embracing him as she habitually would have done.
"Hey, sis," Jeremy's smile somewhat dissipated as he walked in. "Can I talk to you? In private," he glanced sideways at Damon. She furrowed her brows, curious about the seemingly serious topic.
"Sure," she glanced at Damon as well, who nodded assuringly at her. "Come on," she guided him up the stairs, looking back at Damon, who pointed then to his ears and mouthed her an 'I'll be listening.'
XXX
"Cool place. Finally making friends with the right people," Jeremy smirks, following her into her room.
"You're one to talk," Emily grins, approaching her bed. Jeremy follows her and flops down beside her, lied back down with a sigh.
Emily found herself growing worried with the thought of what he wanted to discuss. Just the morning before, Elena was stating she suspected he knew of the 'other' world.
Being a member of that world now, further concerned Emily when assuming his reaction.
"So, what's up?" she, sitting up, poked his shoulder, trying to get him to talk. He faced her, no signs of amusement on his expression. He is quiet for a moment.
"Did you know, about Elena?" he asked. Emily's brows furrowed for a moment, then eyes slightly widened in realization she hid by looking away.
"Know what?" she asked for confirmation.
"Come on, Em," he pushed, sitting up. "Elena told me you found out," she faces him, "that she's adopted."
Ironically, she is somewhat relieved this was the extent of his issue.
"Yeah. I knew," she said lowly, tone tainted with a sense of shame for keeping it from him. He shook his head.
"And why am I the last one to hear about this?" he asked, displeased.
"It was her decision to tell people, Jer. She didn't tell me. Jenna did, and she wanted me to talk to her, because Elena was blaming her for not telling her," she answered honestly. Jeremy processes this, looking away.
"…I just. Can't believe it. Literally, you know? Like. I can't actually…comprehend what it means," he confesses.
"I know. I went through the same thing," she smirks sheepishly. "But at the end of the day, she's our sister. Who…" she shakes her head, searching for a word, "conceived her, makes no difference, you know? It won't change the near twenty years we've spent with her."
"…Yeah. You're right. She doesn't seem too happy about it though."
"Well, of course not. You live your whole life thinking one thing, only to find out that…it was never true."
Damon, who was listening in from the kitchen, his mind seems to latch onto that statement. He then brushed it off, not wanting to dwell.
The reason he was listening in was, as Emily understood, to make sure she wouldn't…suddenly act on
hunger.
A long minute of silence passed as Jeremy considered her words, and by his side, on the bed, she started getting that horrid urge.
She quickly rose to her feet, Jeremy eyeing her strangely. "So. How've you been?" she smiled semi-casually, pacing back and forth.
She and Jeremy talk back and forth about himself, school, and Jenna, who evidently told Jer to say hi to Emily for her and that she missed her.
Emily missed her too, missed being with them, despite mere days passing. She was not used to being away from the ones she loved for over a twenty-four-hour period. In a way, she always knew that at the end of the day, she'd still be with them, but the temporary moving-in with the Salvatores dismissed that, and the fact that she was kept from going home, for being a danger to its members of all reasons, greatly displeased her.
Less than twenty minutes later, Jeremy took his leave.
Damon approached her, and asked half-sarcastically if she'd gotten the urge to eat him. "It isn't funny, Damon. This is serious. I can't sit near someone for a full five minutes before I start to…hear their blood flow, their heart race, and get hungry like I've been starved for hours!"
"Calm down, tiger. It's why we're going out again tonight." She tenses at that. "The best way to keep it under a leash, is to know you can control that hunger. It's more psychological when you think about it," he says. She gives him an unconvinced look, then sighs tiredly.
"You trust me, right?" he said, tone somewhat firm. She looked up at him, then nodded confidently.
She wouldn't be where she was that day if she hadn't.
Damon nodded as well, satisfied despite already knowing. "Good. Then stop worrying your brains out and, of all people to tell you this," he smirks sarcastically, referring to himself, "find some patience."
XXX
The rest of the day went by uneventfully.
Emily spent most of her time in the library, studying.
Damon was in his room, when Stefan, after arriving from school, approached him. "You taking her out again today?" he asked.
Stefan was aware what they'd done the night before, discovering mainly upon their return. He'd heard them drive off, and attempted to call Damon to ask where they went. Damon texted him and asked if there was something urgent, and Stefan said no, so Damon told him to shut up and stop calling.
Damon had taken her out previously as well, and Stefan had assumed the same, that he was taking her out to feed on some, only to have Damon confess that he was just showing her what she was capable of. This may have reassured him then, but for them to go off in the night the day after, made his worries resurface.
He was on edge the whole time till their return. He heard their entrance, waited for Emily to enter her room, as she'd done so first, then confronted Damon.
Damon confirmed he was teaching her to feed this time, explained what had happened, as he felt the urge to share her healing of her victim with a…someone familiar. Stefan also found it odd, but was, if only minuscule-y, reassured, deciding that perhaps Emily feeding off people wasn't as dangerous to her and others as he first presumed it was, and the fact that he finally acknowledged that Damon was actually there the whole time to keep her under observation.
Unbeknownst to both siblings, Damon was the reason Emily learned to heal her feed.
It was that day, in the forest, in that clearing, when she'd asked him to feed on her,
when she was still human,
then he'd fed her his blood, and healed her. He was the reason she made it a necessity to heal her victims.
XXX
Damon approached her a while later, and sits with her out of boredom. For a short time, they discuss her studies and study techniques, then they grow quiet as she resumes her work, and Damon sits opposite her desk, with a drink in hand, lost in thought.
The silence between them was not uncomfortable, but Emily suddenly found herself looking at him, observing him. 'What is he thinking?' she curiously wondered. The sound of tapped keyboard keys ceased, causing Damon to glance at her, and, in turn, causing her to quickly avert her gaze back to the screen, the sound resuming.
He lightly smirked, and after finishing his drink, they headed out again.
XXXXX
