Addison Gilbert POV*

A week ago, after telling Damon those three little words, he was a bit distant for a few days, and I know he was for sure spooked. So, when he finally started acting at least a little bit normal, and wasn't bringing it up, I just decided to give him his space, and not bring it up.

At this very moment, I'm sitting at my desk in Ric's classroom, waiting for class to start. And since it's that time of year again (Founders Day,) they are going to make the man teach about the town's history. It's almost like we haven't heard it every year since we were born, but whatever.

I came early today, just sit and could listen and watch, possibly record, Papa Ric (get it, cause he's basically my stepdad) mumble and grumble about straying from the set learning schedule. And soon enough, it was time for class to start, "Okay, this week we're gonna set outside our regular curriculum for a lesson in local history as we approach Founders' Day." Oohh, here it comes, "Apparently the community leaders feel it's more important than World War 2 but hey what do I know?" Pop off sis!

After that, he moved to the door to shut it, but at the last second, and short girl, with dark hair came in, and it wasn't just any girl, but none other than our Bon Bon. "Sorry I'm late."

"Well, it looks like we will be at full occupancy today. Welcome home, Bonnie." Mr. S told her with a warm smile before going to the front of the class. Bonnie sat down a few desks away from me, and when she looked over, I just sent her a small smile, not wanting to make the teenage witch uncomfortable.

—~•+•~—

After History, I went to meet up with Caroline, since she wanted me to be there for her when they announced the Miss Mystic Falls Candidates. It was no surprise that it was her, Lena, and a few other girls who made it onto the court. Last year, when they were accepting the applications, I was pregnant, and though mom really wanted me to, I told her that I wasn't going to do it. She was really upset about it, and looking back now, I wish I would've done it anyways, just so she wouldn't be even more disappointed in me.

After the exciting news, Care decided that she wanted to find Bonnie, and dragged me along with her to do so. "Bonnie! Bonnie! Thank god you're home!" Care burst in-between my twin and the teenage witch and pulled our personal Sabrina into a huge embrace. "I know we talked everyday but I missed you."

I knew that the pair talked every day, unlike Bonnie did with either Lena or myself, but by the look on her face, Elena did not. She sent her butt hurt look my way, and I simply shrugged in response, looking back over to the two girls reuniting in front of us.

"How are you doing?" Car asked the shorter girl as she pulled away from the hug.

"Better. Better. You know, glad to be back and trying to keep myself busy." Bonnie answered, not even sparing a glance over to the twin and myself.

Care looked back behind herself and at me, shooting me a weird look before she spoke again, "Well, I can help with that. Major wardrobe problem. You need to help me, and Addie pick up the perfect dress for the Founders' court."

"The Founders' court?" Oh snap, you didn't know about that? "Did I miss something?"

"The Founders' court!" Care exasperatedly told Lena, "You know, Miss Mystic Falls. They announced it today and you and I are both on it."

I let out a huff, causing Bonnie to look over at me, but she didn't give me a cute little Cinnamon Bon smile as she usually would. And I completely understand why, but it still kinda stung. "Oh my god! We signed up for that so long ago...I completely forgot."

"So, are you dropping out then?" Damn, she seems just a little too excited.

And for the first time in this whole exchange, I spoke up, not for me, but for my twin, "No Caroline. She is not going to drop out of the competition."

Elena nodded in agreement with myself, "I can't."

Care shot me an unimpressed look before asking, "No?"

"Her mom is the one who wanted her to enter." Bonnie spoke up for Elena like I had.

"She wanted both of us to, but..." I felt myself tearing up, and broke my sentence, "I, uh, I gotta go."

—~•+•~—

After school, I worked at the daycare for once, seeing as with all the crazy shit happening in my life at the moment, I hardly have any time to anymore. I got home around 7:30 and I could faintly hear Lena in the kitchen on the phone with someone.

I heard her mentioning something about mom, and it made the inevitable tears that have been lurking all day, finally come out to play. I tried to get up the stairs with Chloe as quickly and quietly as possible, but luck was not with me. As I put my foot on the first step going up, the baby it her car seat started to fuss, and not a second later, Lena popped out of the kitchen and decided she actually wanted to be a good sister and hold conversation for once.

"Hey, Addie, I-" And I happen to not be in the mood for her, I'm quite sure, bullshit, so I cut her off.

"Not right now, Elena, please?" By that time, I was already halfway into my room.

—~•+•~—

After the emotionally draining day that I have had and dealing with a fussy baby for the last couple of hours, I decided I was going to have myself a nice shower cry. One of the ones where you sit down in the tub and cry your heart out with the water going so it mixes with the tears and make it so that they are virtually not there at all.

You catching my drift?

Do you know where I'm coming from?

You picking up what I'm setting down?

You know what I mean Vern?

You smell what I'm stepping in?

Do you hear me clucking big chicken?

And if you do, that is how the cow ate the cabbage.

Alrighty, anyways, so I'm nakey sitting in my bathtub crying with the water running. Good times, right? Wrong, because I forgot one important detail. My somewhat boyfriend/ baby daddy is a vampire with super hearing, and just pops in whenever he wants to.

And he happened to pop in and scare the absolute shit out of me when he showed up behind me in my shower, and he was also very naked. Let me go ahead and repeat that for you one time

NAKED!

It's safe to say that after I got over being scared, I was 100% shocked. "What are you-?" He cut me off mid-sentence/ rant.

"What are you doing Ads? What's the matter?"

You know when someone asks you what's wrong, and for some reason everything that's wrong hits you like a ton of bricks, and you can't control the urge to cry? Yeah, that's me right now. And at the moment, about 30 seconds later, I found myself literally in the shower with a naked Damon, and all that's happening is me crying into his chest.

I know, my luck, right?

"You have to tell me what's going on baby, or I can't help you," he murmured to me as I continued to cry all over him.

I didn't really know how to explain everything that was going on in my head. Because there is a shitload. So, I settled for the most forefront thing, and basically hiccupped it out between sobs, "They're both dead."

"It's okay Ads, it's alright, let it out." So, I did just that.

Sometime later, I'm not sure how much time for sure, Damon shut off the water, and picked me up, carrying me out of the bathroom after wrapping me into a towel, and putting on a towel himself. He then helped me into what I'm assuming was his shirt that he was wearing and a pair of undies, before helping me into my bed.

I watched as he pulled on a pair of boxers and then moved back to the bed and slid in beside me and proceeded to pull me over, so I was cuddled into his chest. All I remember after that was giving him a quiet thank you before I drifted into the land of sleep.

—~•+•~—

The first thing I noticed when I woke up, was that I had basically cocooned myself in blankets, but not just me, Damon as well. I was lying mostly on top of him, and honestly, I don't know how he's comfortable.

I stayed in the position for a while until I felt Mr. Blue Eyes start to stir. "I know you're staring at my beautiful face Addison."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I answered the man underneath me, still watching his face.

He opened his eyes, and his baby blues met mine, and suddenly I was flipped over, and we were no long inside of my comfy cocoon. Once on my back I felt the worst thing imaginable. This asshole started tickling my sides! Can you believe him?

"I think you're lying to me Ads." He chuckled out as he continued to assault my sides with his hands.

And me, being myself, replied with a very sarcastic, "I never lie."

At this point my sides were killing me, and I have no clue how Chloe has slept through all the ruckus, because I sound like a hyena is getting mauled by a bear or lion or something and is somehow laughing through the pain.

"I don't know baby, I think you do," He continued, letting up a little with the tickling, allowing me to actually defend myself from the murderous psychopath before me. I couldn't help but notice him moving closer, towards my, most likely ugly purple from laughing, face.

"Never," I all but whispered waiting to see if he was going to come any closer, and when he didn't, I leaned up, to meet him in a kiss. Essentially making the tickling and self-defense come to a halt.

I don't know how long we were just kissing, but at some point, he leaned even closer, possessing all of the space around me, and deepened the kiss between us. My hands were in his hair, pulling at the little ones on the nape of his neck, while his hand not holding him up trailed down my side, slipping under his shirt that he put me in last night.

His hand reached higher and higher, but before he could reach the desired destination, a knock came at my door. "Addie? Can I use your bathroom? Elena is hogging ours."

"Uh... Yeah, jus- just give me a minute Jer!" I called out, pushing Damon off me. Once I successfully got the man off my smaller form, "Damon, hide!" I whisper yelled at him.

He dramatically rolled his eyes but got out of the bed and disappeared out of my field of view. I sat up and called out, "Come on in Jer!"

As my little bro came in and disappeared into my bathroom while saying, "Thanks Ads, you're a life saver."

I just smiled and shot a glare at the man that popped back into my line of sight. "Where were we?" He asked with a smirk.

"Nowhere, because I've got to get up," I told the man, pulling myself out of bed and heading over to Chloe, so that I could get the little bug outta her crib to get her ready.

He groaned, moving over to the crib where I was rubbing my baby's stomach to rouse her. "You're no fun," he wrapped his arm around my waist, resting his chin on my shoulder halfway nuzzled into my nrck.

I chuckled, leaning back into him, "You are just a drama queen Mr. blue eyes." I pulled the now awake little girl into my arms and lightly pushed him away. "Now go on, Jer will be done soon, and I really gotta get ready."

He rolled his eyes, pressing a kiss on Chloe's forehead before moving up and placing a light kiss on my lips. "Alright, I know when I'm not wanted."

As he made his way to my window, and I called out, "See? Drama Queen!"

His laugh was still reverberating around my room after he had left.

—~•+•~—

As much as I wanted to stay home and do nothing but play with my daughter, I got over myself and went to school anyways.

Classes have been dragging on since English, which is my second class of the day, so you can understand why I didn't run to greet Caroline and Bonnie who were walking ahead of me a ways up the hallway. I was just close enough that I could kind of hear their conversation and decided to eves drop until I meet up with them.

"... Bradly is only on the so the pageant doesn't look like its founding families only—which of course it is." Awe, Care is going on about the Miss Mystic thing again, great. "So that leaves Elena which totally has the sympathy vote since her parents died. How can I compete with that?"

And right as Caroline said the thing about my parents, I decided that I didn't really want to stand around conversing with her and Bonnie. So, I made sure to skirt by the pair, except I went right between the gap of space in-between the two, just so they'd know I was there.

As I was walking away, I heard Bonnie comment, "Very nice, very sensitive."

I knew Caroline was talking after that, I just didn't care enough to listen to what my very best friend had to say.

After escaping that situation, I went straight home because Jenna wasn't at work today and said that she would take care of Chloe for the day.

When I got there, I saw that Auntie Jen and my little bug were both propped up on the couch watching Fifty Shades of Gray. Seems like Jen picked that up recently without telling me. I moved over to said couch and plopped down on the other side of Chloe, who was now sitting between Jenna and myself.

"Isn't this a bit inappropriate to watch in front of an 8-month-old baby," I curiously asked my aunt, not taking my eyes off the TV screen.

"Probably, but I doubt she'll remember it." And you know what? She's got a good point there.

I smiled, tearing my eyes away from the screen to glance over at my legal guardian, "Fair enough."

When the movie was over, we switched to the Twilight saga, and didn't even change it when Jer Bear came home with pizza for us and started complaining because it was Twilight. Didn't stop him from sitting down and watching it with us though.

After that was over, I announced that it was time for bed, and headed up the stairs with my sleepy little munchkin. And after putting her to bed, I went to bed myself.

—~•+•~—

The morning of the pageant, after waking up and taking a shower, I slipped on my baby blue dress and lightly curled my hair, applying light makeup, wanted to look good for this formal event we were all about to attend. And after finishing up with myself, I moved on to my little bug.

I put her dress on her and since she's only got a little bit of hair, I simply placed a white bow in her hair, and put on her little pair of black Mary Janes on her tiny feet. One I was finished with Chlo, I slipped my heels onto my feet and headed down the stairs, reaching the bottom right as there was a knock on the front door.

Lena was ahead of me and opened the door revealing one of my favorite people, Mr. Ricky Saltzman. "Heyo!" I called out to the man as I went into the kitchen to finish packing up Chloe's diaper bag.

"Hi," Ric responded after Lena also gave the man a greeting.

After I got everything I would need for today all packed up and my little stink bug into her car seat, I grabbed a banana out of the fruit bowl and made my way back into the entry way, and I listened as Lena told Mr. S, "I heard you're driving."

"Yay!" I exclaimed, glad that John wasn't going to be the one doing it, and my reaction caused Papa Ric to grin at me.

"Yeah I am. Let me get that for you." He told us as he reached out for Lens's dress draped over her arm, proving that he is in fact, perfect for my aunt.

"Thanks," Lena responded as he entered the house and closed the door.

Ric stood quietly for a few seconds before he timidly asked my sister, "How...how is Stefan?"

My eyes widened and I tried to silently warn Ric to not broach the subject he was about to start with the wrong person, and said person shot him a confused look and asked, "What do you mean?"

Alaric's eyes flicked over to me, and he shot me a pleading look, but all he received was a 'you did this to yourself' look. "You know, he seems on edge."

"He went through a lot; he was in bad shape for a while but he's bouncing back now." An awkward silence (kind of) followed Lena's statement as she stared Ricky down as I simply stood in my spot with a babbling baby in a car seat.

And what broke through that silence was the hellish sound of John speaking, effectively causing me to groan and roll my eyes as he got closer, "Alaric. Hey buddy, what are you doing here?" Ric is anything BUT John Gilberts 'buddy' but whatever.

"I'm the chauffeur." He told my creepy uncle.

"I thought I was driving." John questioned as Jenna came down the stairs.

She gave the man a sarcastic smile, "No need, we're going with Ric."

I snickered causing creepy uncle John to turn his gaze on me, where I simply raised my eyebrows at him, daring him to say something. I don't know if he was going to or not, but he wasn't going to be getting the chance either way, because of my dear twin sister, "Are we ready?"

"Jeremy can ride with you." Jen told Johnny boy on the way by him, towards the door, making me mock gasp in horror.

"You can't subject Jer Bear to that kind of torture, that's child abuse!" John was the only one who didn't think that was funny.

—~•+•~—

Once we got to the Founders Hall, Jenna and I started helping Lena get ready. I was doing my twins makeup while Jentastic was curling her hair. "Thanks for helping me." She told us as I finished up her lipstick.

I just shot her a smile and Jen told her, "Don't thank me until you're sure your hair isn't gonna burn off."

By the look on her face, I know that Lena's about to get sappy, so I moved over to Chloe's car seat, checking on the sleeping baby inside. "You know I remember when my mom and I were first applying for this, she was so excited."

"So were you if I recall." Auntie Jen spoke.

"I was. She just made it sound like so much fun." I felt my eyes get cloudy, she always went on and on about how amazing it was, "Lots has changed since then."

I stroked my baby's cheek as I willed the tears welling in my eyes to go away. "Yeah, it really has."

"I hate to break it to you," Jen spoke, shocking me out of the trance I was in, "but it's a little late for cold feet."

"I don't have cold feet. I just...I think I'd be enjoying it a lot more if she was here." You and me both sister.

And Jen, being the amazing comic relief that she is, told us, "Well I tell you one thing, your hair would have a better chance if she was."

Lena then stood, "Okay, I should go put my dress on." She smiled and pointed at Jenna, "Be careful with that thing, don't hurt anybody."

"I'll help. Jen, can you take..."

Jen cut me off, "Of course," she assured me, picking up the car seat as she was about to take her leave.

Once Jenna was gone, Lena and I silently made our way to the dressing room that was put together for the girls. When we entered both of us picked up on the anxious vibes that the only contestant not from one of the founding families was giving off.

"Are you okay, Amber?" Elena asked the girl, which was exactly what I was about to do.

"I hate being the center of attention. I get panic attacks." I listened as Amber explained her nervousness to us, but I got a feeling that we weren't the only three people in here and started to scan our vicinity.

I heard Lena ask, "Do you need some privacy so you can change?"

I wasn't really listening anymore by the time Amber rambled out that she just needed air, and my eyes locked with a very familiar set baby blues. I wasn't really listening to the other two in the room, but I noticed Amber excuse herself, and once she was gone, I spoke up, "We should change your name to Tom you peeping creep."

That was when Lena noticed the man, who was shooting me a look, "Hey, you can't be back here."

Damon simply rolled his eyes at the pair of us, and came closer, "We need to talk."

Lena just rolled her eyes back and asked, "Does it have to be right now?"

"Normally I would have a completely different outlook of what I'm about to tell you but since it could really inconvenience me," it must be about Stefan's little blood problem then, "I'll squeal."

"What are you talking about?" She really doesn't pay enough attention sometimes, I swear.

Damon glanced over to me, earning the 'you're on your own' look I've seemed to become very acquainted with making. "Stefan's still drinking human blood."

"What?!" She seems genuinely shocked. So, she just didn't notice that her man was a completely different person all the sudden or...?

"Yeah, a month ago I would have rejoiced but with the council back on the alert, it is not a good time for Stefan to fly off the handle."

"Is ANY time a good time for him to fly off the handle?" I mumbled to myself, but my comment was in fact, ignored. Shocking I know.

"I know he's been a little edgy, but he said that was normal." No, he's normally angsty, there's a difference.

"He has a fridge full of stolen blood bank contraband in the house."

"Damn Stef." I simply said as Lena fell back onto the couch that was luckily behind her.

"Oh my god." You said it sister.

Damon stepped forward as if approaching a wild animal, and Lena might as well be one right now, "He has no idea what normal is, his entire existence isn't normal." Pause for dramatic effect, "Normal to a vampire is drinking human blood but he spent all this time fighting it when he should have been learning to control it and now it's controlling him instead."

"So, Stefan is basically addicted to blood like it's crack cocaine or something?" I questioned the man, while sitting myself down by my twin.

He simply nodded as Lainie girl spoke, "I can't believe this. I mean, it's Stefan that we're talking about here."

"Stefan on human blood Elena; he'll do anything, he'll say anything because he's not gonna want to stop. Trust me." The man spoke slowly so that she could understand, but something tells me this isn't going to go the way he thinks it is.

"This is all my fault; I'm the one who fed him the blood in the first place." Elena, wallowing in her own self-pity, told him.

I instinctively stood up when Stefan walked into the room, mostly to distract him, but alas, he is a vampire with supernatural hearing, so my attempts were futile. "What's going on in here?"

"I was just filling Elena on your extra-curricular activities." The raven haired man lazily turned told him without a care in the world.

The Stef man instantly started laughing, "What are you talking about?" That is denial at its finest right there ladies and gentlemen.

"I know about the blood, Stefan." For some reason, it feels like I'm watching her confront him because he cheated on her or something.

And it seems I'm not the only one, "I'm uh - I'll be downstairs, drinking."

He held out his arm to me as if to escort me from the room, and I accepted his offer, "You know what, I'll take one of those as well."

Once out of the room, he didn't drop his arm, and I didn't try to pull away as we headed down the stairs. As we stepped off the stairwell, I noticed Jenna and Alaric in the distance and pulled Damon along with me because in Jenna's arms was the cutest stink bug of them all.

Of course, once Chloe set her eyes on Damon heading her way, she wouldn't let anyone else hold her, and made the biggest struggle in Jen's arms until she was scooped away by her favorite person in the world.

After a while, we separated from Auntie Jen and Papa Rick, and we got the best view possible for the pageant. And soon the event was underway.

"Miss Tina Fell, escorted by Bartholomew Whitmore." Mayor Dickweed called out prompting the girl to head down the staircase to her escort.

Next will be Caroline, and after that it'll be Lena and Stef. Speaking of the Stefmiester, "Damon, do you see Stefan?" I questioned quietly yet knowing that the vampire still heard me.

"Miss Caroline Forbes and her escort Jeffrey Lockwood Hamilton." The mayor called next, getting my attention again.

"No." The man murmured.

"Miss Elena Gilbert, escorted by Mister Stefan Salvatore." The mayor then called, making me send a panicked look Damon's way. I watched as my sister descended the stairs, only to not see her escort. It was a standstill for a few seconds until I took the initiative and solved our problem.

I took the baby from Damon's arms and told him, "You escort her, I'll find your stupid brother."

"Addis-" the man started yet I cut him off.

"Go, she needs you, I'll be careful, just do this for her please." I pleaded, cupping his cheek with my free hand.

He sighed leaning down a bit to place a quick kiss on my lips, then and headed for my twin, holding an arm out to escort her to the dance floor.

I then turned and headed for Jenna and Alaric, getting to them about the time the other two did, "What is she doing with Damon?" Jenna asked and whether it was to me or not, I answered.

"It's a long story, but can you take her for me?" I questioned, basically pushing Chloe into Alaric's chest, before leaving without an answer.

I looked around the whole place two or three times before I started making my way down the driveway, and after a while I finally found a car. I just about reached it as I heard Stefan say, "Listen to me, Amber. I need you to be afraid of me. I need you to run like hell do you understand me? Run, run now!"

"Stefan?" I questioned, getting closer.

But as I got closer, they were both gone, so I entered the woods, hoping that this was where they went, because I know I seem like a badass, but when I'm in the woods and its super dark outside and I'm all alone, its actually kind of terrifying. And it doesn't help the eeriness factor when you hear a scream ring out near you in said woods.I stumbled on the scene just as Elena, Bonnie and Damon did, seeing Stef's head buried in Amber's neck. "Stefan!" Lena called out, effectively getting the vamps attention, and making him release his victim that I instantly went to help.

"Stefan, come on get control. It's okay, come on. Breath through it man." I heard the older man trying to coax his brother, but it obviously wasn't working, because not even five seconds later Damon was flying towards a tree at high speed.

I watched Damon stand as Lena called out, "Stefan stop it!"

What was surprising was that Stefan then halfway collapsed, grasping his head in pain. I then noticed Bonnie standing not too far away, staring intently at him, probably doing a spell. Then she stopped, making Stefan release his head.

"It's okay. Stefan." Damon once again tried to sooth his baby bro, but suddenly, Stef was gone once again.

—~•+•~—

I kept pressure on the wound on Amber's neck while Damon headed inside, Elena going after him, leaving me here with a quiet Bonnie. After a bit of time had passed Amber had woken up and the Sheriff followed my what I'm assuming is the town counsel finally showed up.

I stepped away from the injured girl and moved over to Damon, accepting the suit jacket he handed out to me because it's damn cold out right now. I leaned into him for comfort and listened as he asked, "Are you alright?"

"I got blood all over my new dress," I sarcastically whined, but still answered his question anyways, "I'm okay."

I felt him chuckle, and turned into him so that I was hugging him, "Did you tell Jen what happened?" I spoke into his chest.

"Mmmhmm," He hummed in response, wrapping his arms around me as well.

"She doesn't remember what happened." Sheriff Lizzie informed as she walked over to the group of us, me still wrapped around Damon's middle.

"It's a good thing the girls got here when they did, she lost a lot of blood." The man spoke, gesturing back to Lena and Bonnie.

Sheriff Forbes then asked us, "You didn't see anything?"

There was a long silence between the group of us as we all turned to look at the teenage witch, but finally Lena spoke up, "No, we just found her and then called Damon."

"Is she gonna be okay?" Those are the first words I've heard from her all night.

"It looks like it yeah." Liz told her, "Why don't you girls get back to the party? Damon and I can take it from here."

"Okay." Lena agreed for all of us talking Bonnie with her. I pulled back from Damon a few seconds later and followed my twin and my friend.

"They didn't see the bite mark?" I heard the Sheriff asked as I walked away.

"Only Addison, but she thinks it was an animal, I..." I heard the beginning of Damon's response as I headed off.

I saw Lena following Bonnie to her car but decided that I really didn't want to deal with any of that tonight, so I just headed back to the estate. I stood outside, waiting for my family to come out, and almost had a heart attack when there was a hand suddenly on my shoulder.

"Addison."

I flipped around seeing Ric with Chloe in her car seat, "Holy crap Ric, you scared me!"

"Whoa Ads, what happened to you?"

Oh yeah, all the blood on my dress. "Don't worry, it's not mine, there was just a minor incident earlier is all."

He nodded in response, then spotted something behind me, "Good, you're both here. Jenna wanted me to get the car." I looked behind me and saw my distraught looking sister. So, the talk with Bonnie didn't go too well. "What happened?" He questioned.

"I'll tell you in the car." I told him, taking the car seat from him, and headed it for the car, "I's a doozy."

—~•+•~—

After taking a quick shower and changing, I drove both Lena, Chloe, and myself over to the Salvatore boarding house, hoping to figure out this mess. Chloe was asleep, so I headed straight up to Damon's room, and placed her in the crib there. Soothing her after I transferred the recently woken up baby from the seat to the crib.

Damon showed up silently a few seconds later, and just stood by me, watching the little girl fall back to sleep. We just stood there for a few moment until he murmured, "Come on." And led me behind him towards Stefan's bedroom.

"Sure you want to do this?" He asked Lena, who looked up at us as we came into the room.

She nodded, "I'm sure."

As we started to move Stefan downstairs, Chloe started to fuss, so I went and got her, and gave her the bottle I had ready for her and took her downstairs to the cell in the basement with me. I got there as Damon was saying, "There's no guarantee it's going to work."

"It has to." Was all she said in response, prompting me to place a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Damon stepped closer to me, lightly running his thumb across Chloe's forehead as she sucked down her bottle before turning his attention back onto my twin. "Coming?"

She shook her head sightly, "I'm gonna stay here."

She then slid down on the wall facing the cell door, staring at it. I didn't waste a second and slid down the wall facing her, not about to leave my sister alone. A few seconds later, Damon sat down beside me, and we all just sat there in silence.