SUNNYDALE, CALIFORNIA: 2001
A newly resurrected Buffy Anne Summers stands motionless as she stares at the massive estate that Damon had compelled for himself. She couldn't help but think about her own home. Or the place that she used to be her home. While her mind was too frazzled right now to see anything too clearly all she knew was this was definitely not the small three-bedroom home, she had lived in with her mother and sister.
Damon who was watching the blonde sighs "I haven't got all eternity Buff."
Buffy merely stares at him blankly, she was still so unsure of why she had gone with this Damon person yet here she was, maybe deep down it was because she wasn't ready to face her sister and her friends.
The idea of having to answer all of their questions, to look them in the eye after what they had taken from her...it made her feel sick to her stomach. So here she remained, in the presence of someone she didn't know.
Damon sighs as he spots her still refusing to take another step towards the house "Look...there's food and a shower. No one to face. Safe as houses."
Buffy merely stares at the dark home before glancing over at Damon cautiously slowly giving him a small nod before following him into the dark house.
MYSTIC FALLS: PRESENT DAY
It was safe to say Damon Salvatore was still in shock, not even an hour ago he had seen a ghost, the ghost of someone he had loved more than anything. Except she wasn't a ghost she was alive, he wasn't sure how. He couldn't figure out if someone had resurrected her again or something else but he didn't care.
All he could think about was getting her the hell away from Wes, if the necklace was anything to go by then Buffy had been here for years with Wes doing god knows what experiments on her. It had been insane given the fact that The Slayer hadn't aged a day.
As images of her unconscious face fill his find Damon continues to throw fist after fist at the brick wall in front of him as small grunts of pain escape him. But he didn't care about his bleeding knuckles as he tried to pry some brick from the wall, all he cared about was saving Elena but more importantly getting Buffy away from Wes as quickly as possible.
Punching his fist against the wall again he smirks as finally a small part of the brick crumbles away, chuckling he quickly grabs the small rock before glancing over to where Aaron had dropped one of the bullets just outside of the cage.
The human had been too nervous and with his shaky hands had struggled in loading the gun.
Bending down onto his stomach Damon reaches his hand out of the cell, his fingers narrowly managing to grasp the bullet and pull it towards him.
Smirking he quickly leans up and places the bullet inside of the keyhole before slamming the rock against it causing sparks to fly and with a few kicks and punches he was finally free and the gate slammed open.
Smirking brightly at his word Damon's eyes quickly land on the metal door that Buffy had once resided in, sighing he quickly bends down and picks up the polaroid photo of the two of them tucking it into his pocket before glancing down at his busted knuckled, his mind flashing back to one of his first real conversations with Buffy, he hadn't realized it then but that was the moment he started to fall for her and fell hard he did.
While yes he was worried about Elena, he just couldn't get his mind off the small blonde Slayer that had consumed his whole world ten years ago.
All he knew right now was he had to find her.
SUNNYDALE, CALIFORNIA: 2001
Buffy winces as Damon switches on the lights as they enter the parlor room of the home he had taken over.
Spotting her wince at the brightness due to her eyes still being weak and her senses being haywire the vampire for some unknown reason quickly lowers the intensity of the lights causing the blonde to sigh in relief.
Groaning in annoyance with himself the vampire quickly moves to one of the cupboards, grabbing some clothes he assumed belonged to the wife of the man he had compelled the house off of. Hell, the only reason he hadn't killed the couple was so that he could be in charge of who enters the damn place, he liked having that power.
Walking over to the blonde he gestures for her to follow him before leading her upstairs while she silently followed after him.
As they stop outside the bathroom she causes him to halt as she finally speaks "I've never seen..." She whispers her voice still weak "...I've never seen the inside of this house. It's...different." She finishes unsure of what to say, she had never seen a home so glamorous and full of riches.
Damon snorts as he opens the bathroom door for the blonde "I have good taste, Buff." He teases her before grabbing a towel from the rake and handing it to her before nodding towards the shower "Clean yourself up." He tells her before glancing down at her knuckles, while he had heard Slayer's heal fast clearly they didn't heal as fast as he did "I'll get some bandages."
MYSTIC FALLS: PRESENT DAY
Ever the man on a mission Damon storms through the front door of the boarding house only to groan in annoyance as the human Katherine Pierce walks into the hall. Her eyes widened at the sight of his blood-covered body "What the hell happened to you?"
Damon merely frowns glancing over at her disheveled state, "Ditto." He breaths before glancing around the boarding "Elena's not here by any chance is she?"
"I haven't seen her. Not that I've been looking." Katherine snarks before turning her back on Damon heading for the exit only to freeze at his next question.
"So there's no chance she was with a blonde?" Damon asks, he was desperate right now, he had to find Buffy...well Buffy and Elena "5 foot 3? Strong, long hair, green eyes?"
Katherine frowns at his question, spinning back around to face him only for her eyes to widen in realization as she spots the look on his face, she had spotted that look on his face only once; years ago when Damon still thought she was locked away in the tomb.
She had stumbled across him in the early 2000s only to be shocked with what she had found "No way." She breaths in shock "The Slayer's alive. Buffy's alive."
At her words, Damon's eyes widen in fury and before she could do a thing Katherine quickly found herself slammed against the wall, with Damon's hand around her throat choking the life out of her as she helplessly flailed in his hold.
"You don't get to say her name." He hisses his teeth extending as he growled in her face before shoving her away from him staring at her in anger "How do you even know her?"
Katherine coughs loudly as she rubs her now bruising neck before glaring up at Damon, clearly Buffy was still a sensitive topic for him "Geez...fine." She huffs standing up straight to face him "I saw you with her once. She was pretty and scary, you seriously think I was going to touch the Slayer that killed one of the eldest living vampires. You weren't worth that risk."
Damon rolls his eyes glaring at the human in disgust "Go." He tells her before glancing up the stairway towards his brother's bedroom "Stef, you awake!" He calls only causing a small smirk to graze Katherine's lips.
"You know, he hasn't seen Elena either, nor your secret ex-girlfriend." She taunts with a suggestive smirk on her face "I know because we were together. All night."
Damon groans in annoyance, he so did not have the time nor patience for Katherine's mind games right now "Look, I've had a crappy couple of days. Okay? If you're implying what I think you're implying then I really don't care, I have a Slayer to find."
Katherine couldn't help but scoff she couldn't even rub this in his face, she had always sensed something was different when she finally revealed herself to him, and it all circled back to his time in Sunnydale, circled back to Buffy Anne Summers.
"She ruined you." The human admits "More than I ever did. I wonder how Elena will react when she finds out exactly how much you loved The Slayer. Good luck with that...toddles."
SUNNYDALE, CALIFORNIA: 2001
Damon sighs as he dumps the first aid kit on the table of the parlor room, he couldn't believe he was doing this, helping a traumatized Vampire Slayer. Years of trying to find a way to free Katherine and he never thought he would resort to this. He really had reached desperate in his measures.
Hearing the stairs creak he sighs in relief, he was getting annoyed waiting for her, how long did it take to clean yourself after climbing out of a grave?
"Finally!" He exclaims as he moves into the hall "You better not have used all the hot water..." Damon trails off in his words as he spots Buffy slowly moving down the steps towards him, in jeans and a white shirt that was slightly too baggy on her.
At the sight of her, he couldn't help but freeze, instead of the blood-covered traumatized creature he had found, he was now finally able to see her completely.
Her hair was golden blonde like pure gold and her clean face was soft with bright rosy cheeks and bright pink lips.
She definitely was more beautiful not covered in blood and grime.
"An improvement." He breaths looking up at her as she clutches her busted knuckles to her chest "You're almost pretty again."
Buffy rolls her eyes before quickly buttoning up the last of her buttons while Damon's eyes focus on her still unhealed knuckles "Come on Buff, I'll fix those up."
Buffy sighs before walking down the rest of the steps following him into the parlor room moving to sit opposite him as he sits on one of the chairs.
As she sits opposite him she cautiously allows him to take her hands and begin cleaning them up.
"What's the date?" She whispers causing him to frown as he grabs the bottle of vodka off the table using it to clean her hands "October 2nd."
Buffy's eyes widen as it clicks just exactly how long she had been gone, when Damon looks up at her in confusion she sighs "147 days." She breaths "I died 147 days ago."
Damon tilts his head as he watches her mind swim through a million thoughts a minute, he was missing something here "How long did it feel?" He asks before he could stop himself, for some reason this woman was causing him to have issues controlling his curiosity.
Buffy sighs as Damon takes her hands in his only one word coming to her mind as she thinks back to her death "Longer."
That was all she said before her eyes met his and for a long moment as she held his gaze and Damon felt that familiar sense of emotion pull at him, there was something about this woman...she was curious, to say the least.
Before he could say a word however the front door slams open revealing Spike whose eyes widen at the sight of Damon and Buffy, well mainly Buffy.
When Buffy's eyes widen in panic and she quickly spins over to Damon who chuckles awkwardly "By the way...I called Spike."