All characters from The Vampire Diaries belong to L.J. Smith as well as all characters from Twilight belong to Stephanie Meyer. I own nothing except my version of events.

A/N: I know I know. Not the meeting anyone expected. I actually wrote their first encounter in a few different ways but realized that things aren't always rainbows and butterflies, especially in Bella's life. It also wouldn't be true to Klaus' character, he's a hardened cruel man convinced no one loves him or is truly there for him and his mate suddenly appearing into his life would not change that. Bear with me as they go through the trials and tribulations of being in a relationship.

Chapter 36 First Date

Ok, so I have to admit my powerful declaration disappeared instantly overnight. It was one thing to claim strength and bravery but a whole other thing to actually follow through with it. Not wanting to face my reality I hung out in La Push for a few days until Paul finally stepped in and told me to grow some balls and face my asshole of a mate. I really didn't want to but I knew that if I did nothing then things would never get better. So with dragging feet I said my goodbyes to the pack and went back home.

"Finally!" Angie screamed out as she saw me.

"What the hell are you guys doing here?" I asked, finding Angie, Emmett, Care, Jer, Jasper, Rose and Damon crowded in my bedroom.

"Paul told us you were coming. He said and I quote 'Make sure she gets there and don't let her hide in her witch's lair'." Damon said.

I rolled my eyes, of course he'd make sure I didn't try to avoid the problem.

"I was not." I grumbled, though that was exactly what I was planning to do.

"Yes you were." A robotic voice added. I looked to Jasper and realized he was holding my tablet with Caius and Marcus' faces on the screen.

I sighed in defeat. "Fuck my life… is this an intervention?"

"Definitely." Damon nodded eagerly.

I sighed again. "You know you guys are too much right? I just need time to think, I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing here. It's all so confusing and for the first time in my life I don't know how to tackle this. I mean he's my mate and he tried to compel me!"

"Yeah and although we all think that was a shitty thing to do I think he's learned his lesson." Emmett interject.

I arched a brow in his direction, "Why do you say that?"

"Because that poor bastard has come looking for you at least twice a day every day since you've been gone." Rose said.

My eyes widened in surprise. I figured he would still be mad at me for how I took Elena from him, I never thought he would come looking for me.

Rose frowned at me when I didn't say anything to her revelation. "You're a strong bitch Bella, you can handle anything and running away from your problems is not your M.O. so why is this any different?"

I shrugged my shoulders not knowing how else to respond, what else did they want me to say?

"You're scared." Jasper concluded quickly. "You're scared you won't be good enough to change for." He said, frowning at his own words.

I loved Jasper but sometimes I hated that he could read me like a book. He walked up to me and held my hand in his own, looking down into my eyes. "How could you ever think that Bella when you are the sole reason everyone here in this room are all present now? You've impacted all of our lives in some way. You moved to Forks and created a family with the pack, you came here to Mystic Falls and found your home here with these people, you saved us from Carlisle and welcomed us as a part of your circle, you went to Volterra and turned those blood thirsty kings and court into your family as well. Everyone who has come across you has fallen in love with you. How could you ever think that your mate would not do the same?"

I stayed silent, biting my lip as I processed his words, I knew he was right. I've created my own giant circle of friends and family made up of different supernatural creatures from all over the world. There had to be something lovable about me for them to be here now trying to convince me I was someone worth fighting for but it still didn't take the fear away. Our first two meetings were horrible and then he sort of just dismissed me when he tried to compel me. What kind of mate does that? He was supposed to be my soulmate, he's supposed to be my special person. Why did he have to be so…

"Do not give up so easily, Little One." I heard the voice of Marcus through the speaker of my tablet interrupting my thoughts. I turned to look at him on the screen. "You have not even given him a chance to make it up to you. You met him for a total of 15 minutes and have already given up. Finding your mate is one of the most beautiful things in life, to be fortunate enough to have found him in such a short life is a true blessing. Just because he didn't come in the best circumstances does not mean it cannot still be beautiful. Take it from me, if there were any chance I could ever be with my mate once again I would take it in a heartbeat." He confessed.

Fuck, that made me feel both guilty and stupid. Everyone was right, I was letting my fear and disappointment in our first meeting bring me to my knees in defeat. Why was I scared? I've faced every problem in my life head on. I bowed down to nothing and no one.

I never gave him a real chance, I shook up his world and expected him to be happy at finding me like my presence alone would erase all the hardships he has faced all his life. If he was Elijah's brother then he must have lived as long as him and living for so long I could only begin to imagine what he has gone through that has made him into the cold, hard, and unyielding man he was today. How could I expect him to love me and treat me any differently when he didn't know who I was? And to be honest, I didn't know him either. I was going by the description his brother had briefly spoken but he obviously didn't have a good relationship with him anyway, so how could I take his words as fact?

"Ok so what do I do now?" I asked, to no one in particular, hoping someone would give me the answer.

Jasper chuckled and bopped my nose with his finger. "That is something only you can figure out Darlin'. We're only here for the love and support."

I laughed and hugged him, he was right, only I would be able to figure that part out for myself.

Once I released him I said, "Thanks guys, I totally needed this intervention and pep talk. Tell Paul I love him but I will be getting him back for this." I threatened lightly as I pushed past everyone and ran downstairs.

I was going to find my mate first and then figure out what the fuck I wanted to say. I was still a bit unsure of how to handle things but I figured if I made a plan it wouldn't help so it's best to just go with the flow. I grabbed my car keys from the hook on the side of the front door and walked outside, closing the door behind me. I figured driving would be better than suddenly teleporting next to him, talk about weird.

I was unlocking my car door reaching for the handle to open it when I heard someone clearing their throat behind me. I turned to look and found my mate standing there, looking at me with an unreadable expression on his face.

I released the door handle and turned to fully face him. I hadn't thought about what I was going to say and hoped I would figure it out on my way there or once I saw his face but now that I was seeing him in the flesh I still didn't know what to say.

He walked closer to me and when he was about five feet away from me he extended his arm towards me. I looked down and realized he was holding a bouquet of flowers. I looked back up to his face and finally got a good look on his expression, he looked unsure of himself. I still hadn't said a word and he was probably confused but I was stunned by this sudden turn of events. Inside I was happy, this was progress already, he'd listened to my words and had partly given in. It was going in a positive direction, or at least I hoped so because he also hadn't said a word either so I still didn't know what to make of things. I decided to remain silent until he said what he needed to say. Then maybe I would know how to respond.

He cleared his throat again and said, "These are for you."

I still didn't speak, I wasn't going to thank him

i yet until I heard more from him.

Sensing I wasn't giving in he spoke once again. "I am Niklaus Michaelson. I'm… sorry for the way we first met I…" he stayed quiet for a second not knowing how to continue. "You were gone." He finished, frowning at his last words.

I reached for the flowers and accepted them but avoided touching him in the process. "Thank you… for the flowers and yeah… I just needed to visit my best friend for a few days." I stayed quiet again not knowing what else to say.

I suddenly felt really awkward, I think we both did because he didn't say anything else either. We both kind of just stood there looking at each other.

He took a deep breath and moved a few steps forward, reaching his hand up to my face and caressing my jaw with one of his knuckles. "You're so beautiful."

I smiled a small smile and shrugged. "You're not so bad looking yourself."

He smiled at my response and chuckled lightly. "Thank you…. I was wondering…" He started to say but then broke off as he looked towards my home.

I turned to look at what he was seeing and found everyone plastered against the windows with giant smiles on their faces.

I really wanted to kill them right now.

I let out a long breath trying to find my Zen but coming up empty. "For fuck's sake! You guys are a bunch of assholes! Go away before I turn you all into toads!" I yelled out, frustrated with this whole situation. At my tone of voice they all quickly disappeared out of view but I had a feeling they were still listening. My mate and I were both incredibly powerful yet here we were awkwardly talking and not knowing how to even speak to each other and now there were also way too many witnesses, having seen this strange encounter.

I heard his chuckle next to me and turned to look at him. There was clear amusement in his eyes and he was looking at me like he thought what had just come out of my mouth was the most precious thing anyone had ever said.

"Fuck this. I'm awkward, you're awkward and these assholes I call a family are not fucking helping. Look, I don't know what to do or say right now because I didn't fully think things through. I was actually on my way to come find you and I was hoping I'd figure out what to say when I did but I didn't get a chance to because here you are. So how about we go out to dinner tonight and get to know each other… away from these idiots." I said, pointing my finger to the window of dicks who had reappeared.

He looked surprised at my words and I didn't know why. He didn't say anything for a good 10 seconds until I raised an eyebrow at him. He shook his head and finally answered. "I would love to. Pick you up at 7?"

I nodded with a smile.

"Wonderful. I can't wait." He said with a playful smirk as he turned and walked towards his car, he turned to look at me one last time before getting in his car and driving off.

Once he was out of sight I turned to the window and placed my hands on my hips and hit them all with the glare of a thousand suns. Everyone's eyes widened in terror at my expression.

Good, they better fucking be.

"Why am I this fucking nervous?" I asked as my knee bounced up and down.

"Because this is the most important date you will ever be on." Rose stated behind me as she continued to curl my hair. I was so nervous about this whole thing that I couldn't focus enough to do my own hair and makeup or figure out what to wear. I was literally thinking about just wearing jeans and a band T-shirt when Angie called Rose in an emergency to come and help.

I huffed in annoyance, "Why the fuck would you say that? I'm already fucking nervous as it is."

Angela laughed as she lay on my bed flipping through a magazine as she spoke. "Oh relax Bella, everything will be fine. You guys are mates, it will work out on its own. You deserve to be happy and the fates would not have given him to you if he weren't your perfect match."

On some level I figured she was right but for right now I couldn't really be rational about anything. Not when my stomach was doing flips and I felt like throwing up.

"Just go with the flow Bella. Don't stress out. You're beautiful, he's gorgeous. You both look amazing together and even though he's a bloodthirsty hybrid, or so I've heard, I'm pretty sure you'll have him kissing the ground you walk on in seconds. He was so terrified you wouldn't come back when you were in La Push with the pack so I'm sure he's willing to do just about anything to win you over."

"How do you know that?" I asked in confusion.

"Jazz was here when he stopped by every day. He looked like he wanted to kill everyone in here to find where you were but only because he was terrified. I told him I didn't know when you'd be back and he didn't take it well. On the outside he looked composed but lucky for us we got Jasper on our side and we knew how he really felt. Jasper actually felt sorry for the guy and if Jasper pitied him then we knew he deserved a second chance."

I smiled slightly. Good. My friends' approval was important to me and if they all thought a crazy bloodthirsty hybrid deserved a second chance then I had to give him one. I needed to be an adult about it and put my big girl panties on.

"Ok, I need to calm down." Better said than done. I was still nervous but I tried to act like I wasn't. Fake it till you make it, I always say.

"Alrighty you're done!" Rose said as she stepped back away from me. "Now go change into your dress and heels so that I can do the finishing touches. He should be here any minute."

I nodded and did as I was told. I was wearing sexy lingerie but I was determined not to let him see them tonight. He needed to earn it and so far that had not happened. The lingerie was for me, I felt so sexy and confident in it and I needed all the confidence I could gather for tonight. I slid the satin dress over my head and then put on my heels, I walked out of my closet and got whistles from Rose, Angie and Emmett who had suddenly appeared.

"Damn Bells, you look hot!" He exclaimed as he finished it with a whistle.

I laughed at his words. "Thanks Emm. Ok, so what finishing touches do I need?"

"Not much, let me pin all of your hair to the side and here's your purse." Rose said as she handed me my things, she stood in front of me and pinned my hair and then turned me to look in the full length mirror.

I smiled in delight. "Oh yeah, I do look hot!" Then I turned back to look at Rose. "Thanks for putting me together, I was so flustered I didn't even know where to start."

"No problem, that's what I'm here for." Just as she finished speaking the doorbell rang.

I jumped from the noise and rolled my eyes. "OK he's here and I gotta go." I said as I turned to leave the room, heading for the stairs but once I looked at them I shook my head. "No way am I going down all those flights of stairs in these killer heels." I said as they laughed at me. I teleported downstairs appearing right in front of the door.

I grasped the doorknob and turned it, finding Niklaus standing there looking gorgeous. His blonde hair was styled perfectly and he was wearing a perfectly tailored suit without a single wrinkle on it.

"You are breathtaking." He said lowly.

I looked up into his face and saw he had a small smile on his face, his eyes were roaming up and down my body looking at every single part of me. I felt exposed but in a good way.

"Thank you and you look very handsome."

"Thank you." He looked behind me and spoke again. "No peanut gallery this time?"

I laughed and stepped out of my home. "Nope! They've learned their lesson. Now let's go because I'm hungry." I said as I stepped out of my house and closed the door behind me.

He placed his hand on my back as he led me down the stone path leading to the street and guiding me to his car. He opened my door for me and I entered as gracefully as I could manage, which basically means I got in without falling on my face. He walked quickly to his side and swiftly got in, a lot smoother than what I'd done.

"We're heading out of town, there are no nice restaurants around here. I hope you're alright with that. I figured we could talk on the drive there and get to know each other."

"Sure, and I don't mind. Sounds like a good idea… So how's life?" I asked, not knowing how else to start.

He chuckled at my question. "It's alright… seems to be going much better now." He said.

I turned my head to look at him and realized he was already looking at me. I smiled shyly at him and slightly shook my head, looking out the window trying to get rid of the foggy brain he had sent me into.

"Tell me about yourself, Bella." He requested.

I turned to look at him and nodded. "OK. My name is Isabella Swan but I prefer to be called Bella. I was born in Forks Washington but my parents divorced when I was very little so I moved away and grew up with my mom… which I haven't spoken to in a couple of years since she remarried and I moved back to Forks to live with my dad."

He turned to look at me with a frown. "Why?" He asked in confusion.

"Why my mom doesn't talk to me? Well that's a complicated answer." I said, trying to think of the best way to explain it. "My mom wasn't a very good mother growing up, I was more the grown-up and I had to look after her. She's very flighty, selfish, and irresponsible so once I left she probably figured she didn't have to pretend to be a mother anymore. Not that I mind," I said shrugging my shoulders "it hurt at first but I had my dad and we worked on our relationship and he's honestly the best dad in the world. I don't need another parental figure and I'm not lacking family either."

"Brothers and sisters?"

"No. Single child but once I moved to Forks I found a tribe of shapeshifters who welcomed me with open arms. When I met them I found out I had a power, my shield, and they helped me develop it and learn how to use it. Technically I'm still part of the pack even though I don't live there anymore and the wolves are like my brothers. We're not blood related but we don't need to be."

"Your best friend, he is a shapeshifter?"

"Paul? Yeah he is, but Paul and I… well I don't know how to say this but we're on another level and it's really hard to explain. He's the one that helped me the most with my powers when I didn't even know what the hell it was, he stuck by my side when my life was being threatened… multiple times and I know I can count on him for everything and anything. He's… amazing."

While I was talking about Paul I had looked away, looking back fondly on how far we've both gotten together. I guess I was smiling with so much love on my face that it had produced a deep frown from Niklaus.

"Are you in love with him?" He asked abruptly.

I giggled at his worry as I shook my head. "No but I do love him. We were kind of together when I lived in Forks but he and I had agreed that once I moved away we wouldn't continue our physical relationship. You see, the shapeshifter's have this thing called imprinting and it's like the equivalent to true mates… and I knew you were coming into my life too. I didn't want to be emotionally involved with anyone and neither did he so we agreed to keep it casual but he's still my best friend and he's incredibly important to me… you don't have to worry about him though. If anything, he's actually on your side, he's the one that talked me into coming back sooner so you should thank him for that when you meet."

He was silent for some time but broke the silence with his next words. "I'm sorry for how I approached you in your home. It was wrong and I apologize for trying to compel you." He said, looking deep into my eyes. Honestly I don't know how the hell he was managing to stay in his lane with the amount of eye contact he was giving me.

I smiled and nodded. "Apology accepted and it was wrong of me to just appear in your life, take your toy away and expect you to be happy about it."

"Why did you take Elena?" He questioned me.

I didn't really want to talk about that bitch on my first date but I knew I needed to clear the air on that subject if we both wanted to move past it.

"Damon asked me to. Elijah vervained him and I had warned him to keep my friends and family out of it so I had to intervene, though I loathed to do so. Elena is not one of my favorite people but some of my friends still care for her and will do just about anything to protect her. I can't let my friends suffer because of her so I went to go get her back. I found Elijah at the school and then saw you with her. I had to get her one way or another so I had to thwart you on that one."

We stayed quiet after that both thinking about what had happened that day.

"If you explain to me about the spell on you maybe I can figure out how to help you without risking anyone's lives… but I need to know every single detail Niklaus. You can't keep anything from me or else it won't work." I meant both the spell and us. I needed him to know that he couldn't keep secrets from me, I needed to know everything.

He stayed quiet for a long time, silently thinking over my words. "I've lived a long life, Bella. I'm not the man you deserve, I've done some terrible things you would not approve of if you knew. My parents hate me and my siblings for who and what we are, my brothers and sister do not get along most of the time and we have done some horrible things to each other. I use people for what they can give me and I don't care who I have to kill to get it. There is no one in this world I can trust and anyone I have tried to have paid me in lies and deceit. I'm a cruel cold man and you are none of those things, you're like an angel sent from the heavens and I am the devil incarnate. You should never have been stuck with a mate like me." He said sadly but honestly.

His words pained me to no end. I knew the words he spoke were true, my grandmother had hinted to the fact, but just because he'd lived a horrible life it didn't mean he had to continue to do so. I knew it was going to be hard but I could never abandon my mate, no matter how difficult it would be. If the fates had chosen him for me then there must have been a reason. It meant there was something in him that deserved to be happy… we both deserved to be happy.

I placed a shield around the car and lifted it to the side of the road, I made us invisible so that passersby's would not try to stop to help us if they thought we had car trouble, or steal the car since this was a luxurious automobile.

He looked frantically around him, "What are you doing?" He asked but I didn't answer.

Instead I pulled my seat back and climbed on top of the console to straddle his lap on the driver's seat, wedging myself in between him and the steering wheel. I grasped onto his face with both hands and looked deep into his eyes. "Don't say that. Don't you ever dare say that. You're my mate and that's final. I know all of what you have said about yourself is true but it doesn't matter to me. We were meant to be together and I've waited for your arrival, even when I wasn't even sure you existed. Just the idea of you, of having the faith that you were coming into my life gave me hope that one day I would find you and we could be together forever. Neither one of us is perfect, I may appear to be but I am not. Don't try to put me on a pedestal, I will greatly disappoint you. You've lived a long life Niklaus and not everyone has proven to you how important you are or given you the opportunity to be loving and caring. I can see it in you and I can help you bring it out… if you'll let me. I'm not trying to change you Niklaus, we are two different people that do not think the same but I do know that we are meant for each other. One thing you need to know about me is that I do not give up on my friends and family and now that I've found you, my mate, it will not change now. I'm here until the very end." I vowed.

He looked at me with an unreadable expression, like he didn't know if this was real but like he wanted it to be. But I was real and I needed him to see that too. That even though it might not be rainbows and butterflies right now, we could work on it. He just needed to give us a chance.

He was still fighting with himself to believe so I did the only thing I could do to convince him. I covered the small space separating us and pressed my lips to his. He was suddenly frozen in place, I was afraid he wouldn't respond for a second until he suddenly unfroze and moved his lips against mine.

Yes! I thought to myself in victory as he lifted his arms and cupped my face sliding his hands back into my hair. I slid my hands forward, putting one on his shoulder and sliding the other to the back of his head to give his hands some space. I opened my mouth to let him in and he easily slid his tongue into my mouth. It felt like we were suddenly in our own little world, everything evaporated around us and I found the peace and tranquility I've been yearning for my whole life. All I could feel were his hands, his tongue dancing with mine and the feel of his soft lips on my own. All I could hear were his soft breaths mixing with my own. There was nothing in this world that mattered anymore, it was just he and I, wrapped up in our own little bubble…both physically and metaphorically as I still had the car hidden inside my shield.

He gently pulled away from me and looked at my face as if he were trying to memorize everything about me. He looked deeply into my eyes as he spoke, "I will do everything in my power to deserve you Bella. I promise. I'm here until the very end." He vowed, repeating my last words.

I could feel his promise, the depth of his emotion and how much he meant those words. I knew then that we could do it, it would be hard but it would be so worth it.

I smiled brightly at him, "Good." I said simply.

He chuckled at my response and I climbed off of him and onto my own seat once again, popping my shield once I made sure we were still alone on the road. "Now drive buttercup because I'm starving and I don't want you to see my hangry side. Can't show you the real me yet or you'll go running off before we get to dinner." I joked.

He chuckled again and complied, merging back onto the road and continuing on our journey. Our conversation after that became lighter and a lot less awkward and formal, when we got to the restaurant it was incredibly posh and so not my scene but I didn't complain. I had a feeling Niklaus liked to enjoy the finer things in life and I figured I would have to compromise on that. I didn't mind so much, the food was absolutely delicious. I was, however, not going to like that I'd have to wear fancy dresses and shoes a lot more often than I liked to but oh well, if it made him happy then I was here for it. I had a feeling he was going to have a harder time accommodating to my life and it wouldn't hurt to please him in little things such as this.

After dinner we made it back to the car and I felt it was my turn to start asking the deeper questions.

"So you mentioned your siblings earlier, how many are there?"

"Seven total, including me, but only five of us are still alive. I had an older sister Freya but she disappeared when we were still human, which I can only assume she has passed on. There's Finn and Elijah who are my older brothers, then me Rebecca and Kol, lastly there's Henrik but he died young as well."

"I'm sorry for your loss." I said sadly as I reached over to hold his hand in support.

He turned to smile down at me and shook his head, "It all happened so long ago."

"So where are they?" I asked.

"Rebecca is off doing Rebecca things and you've met Elijah, which by the way you have made quite the impression on. He is not happy with you but he is also grateful you undaggered him."

"Yeah, I thought he was dead but my witchy powers told me he wasn't and since I've heard you guys are Immortal I just took the weird wooden stake out of his chest, I felt guilty just leaving him there… even though he's such an ass." I admitted.

He laughed loudly at that, producing a smile on my face when I realized it was a real one. I could only assume not many had been heard before.

"I will call him that from now on as well. I'm also going to need that dagger you took." He said, trying to act nonchalant about the last part but he was anything but.

"Why?"

He was quiet for some time, deciding if he wanted to tell me the truth, that much I could tell but then he sighed and answered. "It is a white oak stake and not many of them are in existence, us originals cannot be killed but that stake can stop us. If staked by one we turn into a desiccated state, it's like being alive in the inside but dead on the outside. It is the closest to death as we can get."

"No wonder you were hesitant to tell me…" it felt like a win that he trusted me enough to tell me his only weakness, "but don't worry. I can keep a secret for you." I said as I winked at him.

He chuckled at my casual response.

"So what about the other siblings?"

He stayed quiet for a while again, too long for such a simple question that I turned to look at him. He was frowning into the night and his jaw tensed as he drove on. Touchy subject then, I didn't expect him to answer but he finally did.

"I daggered them." He admitted.

Woah, I did not expect that. Suddenly I wondered why the hell he would do that to his own family. "Why?" I knew I shouldn't ask but I had to, I could tell it was one of those things he had spoken about, those terrible things he's done.

I can tell he didn't want to tell me at all but I didn't stop looking at him. I knew he felt my eyes on him and he was trying to ignore it, too bad for him I wouldn't let him. He was about to see my stubborn side if he didn't relent. Lucky for me he released a long breath in annoyance.

"They… disagreed with me."

I snorted at his response. "That's not a real reason, Niklaus."

"It was for me." He said firmly.

I hummed in response, my poor mate really was messed up. "No wonder Elijah didn't want you to find him. Were you planning on keeping him daggered if I hadn't released him?" I already knew the answer to my question but I needed him to confirm it.

"I don't know."

I rolled my eyes. "You mean, yes. I told you not to lie to me, Niklaus, even when it's something I don't want to hear." I stated, I wasn't angry but I needed to remind him that lies would not work on me nor did I want them.

"Yes." He admitted.

"So you ever think about undaggering them?" I asked, wondering what he was thinking.

"I don't know… Maybe."

I hummed again in response. "Well, just so you know, I'd like to meet them eventually. You're my mate and I think that's the customary thing to do, right?" I asked, not needing an answer. I was not about to force him to undagger them but I also wanted him to have a reason to do it. I wasn't lying, it would be nice to meet his family other than Elijah. Though I hoped they were a lot nicer than him… I doubted it though.

We stayed quiet after that. He didn't seem like he wanted to talk anymore and I wasn't going to force him to. I kept my hand in his though, wanting to remain connected in some way.

We were entering Mystic Falls when he finally spoke again.

"Keep it." He said.

I turned to look at him in question, "Keep what?"

"The white oak stake. Keep it."

I frowned at his answer. "Why?" He was so confusing sometimes.

He tightened his hand over mine, "In case you ever need it."

"Why would I need it?"

He shook his head and said, "Just keep it." And then refused to say more.

I wasn't quite sure what he meant by that. Either he expected me to use it on him someday or he was giving me the weapon that could almost kill him to represent his trust in me. Honestly, I don't think he even knew the real reason so I didn't push for an answer. He'd figure it out eventually, I knew it would take time to get him to a place he could truly open up to me and I would wait patiently for him. All I had was time.

"So where are you staying in Mystic Falls?" I asked, wondering where he lived and also changing the conversation from the serious one we'd just had.

"I bought a home not far from you... Would you like to see it?" He asked.

"Sure!" I said excitedly but then a yawn came out my mouth and he chuckled at me.

"How about I take you tomorrow? ... I'll make you breakfast." He said as he turned my hand upside down and caressed my palm with his fingers.

I smiled at him. "Really? Awesome. I like breakfast."

He smiled at me showing me his brilliantly straight white teeth. "It's a date."

He stopped his car in front of my home and got out, coming to my side and opening my door. He extended his hand out for me to help me out of his car and I grasped onto it. He walked me to my door without releasing my hand.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Angel." He said to me.

I smiled at his name of endearment. "Can't wait." I said as I reached up and cupped his cheek as I pecked him on the lips.

He smiled down at me as I opened the door and walked inside my home. Our date did not go at all as I had expected but I was determined to work on that. There was no way he was getting rid of me now.