Angel: You have no ideia of how it makes me happy that you're enjoying this story! Thank you for your comment and all the compliments s2 I can't tell you about Emma's future (yet), but I can absolutely guarantee a lot of drama! Please feel always welcome to share your thoughts about the story and the characters!
ArganRose: Thank you so much! s2 I was trying to developt Emma and Damon's relationship before adding anyone giving her vervain, and, if she had vervain I wouldn't have my drama hahahaha. I hope you keep telling me your thoughts about this fic s2
YuYuHakushoObsesser: Thank you so much for this review! I cried while writing this chapter too hahahaha.
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Dead flowers
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"Maybe I'm a lonely man
Who's in the middle of something
That he doesn't really understand
Baby, I'm a man, maybe you're the only woman
Who could ever help me. Won't you help me understand?"
(Maybe I'm Amazed – Paul McCartney)
.
"Hmmm, burning flash", Katherine commented in a tone of debauchery, propping herself against the frame of the basement door. "If you're trying to get the dagger, you're wasting time. He's indestructible".
"No kidding", Damon replied rolling his eyes. The vampire turned to Katherine, still holding the large torch, and frowned. "How do you know so much about Original Vampires?"
"Spend 500 years running from one", she replied shrugging.
"When I told you my plan to kill Elijah, why didn't you warn me that I'd die if I used the dagger on him?", Damon asked. It was something that had been hammering in his head. Katherine was a bitch, that was not news to any living or dead being on earth. However, it bothered him that he didn't know if she was unaware of this fact or if she just didn't give a damn.
"Oh, there's so many rules! It's all very confusing", Katherine replied. She didn't care if he died, as long as she achieved her own goals. But that shouldn't surprise him, should it? She never cared about him. She left him to die when he tried to save her in 1864, and then left him the next 146 years trying to free her from where she was never trapped. Yes, Damon wasn't surprised, but, he hated to realize, it still hurt.
"Did you know I would die?" he asked, asking for a confirmation that, in his heart of hearts, he knew he didn't need. Katherine faced him with a raised eyebrow.
"Did you know I would be out of the compulsion?" she snapped, and Damon's stomach churned.
Yeah, it still hurt to see how little Katherine cared for him. It bothered him to know that she didn't care if he had to die as long as Elijah disappeared from the map. 'You knew I was compelled and just kept with the plan', he heard Emma's tearful voice in his head. It was ironic how much of a hypocrite he could be. And it was comical that he agonized over Katherine doing to him what he had done to Emma less than forty-eight hours ago. But there was a difference, Damon knew there was.
Katherine didn't seem the least bit sorry or worried that he'd risked death. Damon, on the other hand, couldn't stop thinking about the way Emma had looked at him that night. The way her whiskey eyes were wet and sad, how disappointed and hurt she looked at him. He couldn't stop thinking about the sobs he heard in the hallway of the building as soon as she closed the door. Because he'd been standing outside the building waiting for her to come up the stairs, and he'd felt sick and nauseous and angry knowing this was his fault. But still, he was a hypocrite.
"Did Elijah tell you his plan?", Katherine asked, ignoring Damon's question. "Did he have a dagger to kill Klaus with?"
"Why are you still here?", Damon questioned, wearily. God, he just wanted to be at peace for two seconds.
"Because you haven't forcibly removed me", the vampire replied and Damon pointed the end of the torch flame at her. Katherine giggled. "You wouldn't".
"Oh, I would", Damon assured her.
"No, you wouldn't", she challenged him. "I honestly was hoping for more resistance from you, since I left you a message breaking that girl's leg".
Damon felt his shoulders stiffen and continued to hold the torch pointed at Katherine. He didn't want the vampire to even consider the possibility that he cared, even minimally, about Emma, so he kept his expression impassive.
"My mistake though" Katherine continued. "It's all about Elena. Elena this, Elena that. But you can't blame me for trying to get to you like that. I was weak and she was all crying and 'Damon didn't notice'. By the way, what was she talking about?"
And Damon's body betrayed him. He felt a tightness in his chest and automatically his whole body stiffened and his face contorted into a grimace of guilt. Katherine smiled and the vampire, realizing his mistake, put his finger on the torch's trigger and pointed the end at Katherine's face. She raised her hands in surrender.
"Damon, be smart. I was kidding, and I want Klaus dead as much as you do. More even!" she hastened to say. "If I wasn't being honest about helping, I'd be long gone by now, okay? You can hate me, but we want the same thing".
The Salvatore doubted that statement. They didn't want the same thing, and he knew he should burn her alive right then and there. She deserved it after all she had done, after all the disgrace she had brought into his life. He should finish her off right there, but she had information they didn't, and the bitch knew it. Damon lowered the torch and Katherine sighed in relief. The older vampire walked to the door, but before she crossed the threshold, she caressed Damon's face and looked him in the eye.
"I wanted to get out of the tomb. It didn't matter who paid the price. Of course I knew you would die", she confessed, and Damon frowned at her. "I get what I want, you know it, Damon. You know it because you're just like me". And, with two pats on Salvatore's chest, Katherine walked through the door and left the vampire alone in the basement.Damon's eyes were moist and he was staring at the door through which Katherine had come out. He no longer knew if he was feeling shaken by the verbal confirmation that he was unimportant or because he feared that, deep down, Katherine was right and he really was just like her. Did he really hope to get Emma out of Elijah's compulsion or did he just not care? Why was he wanting to kill Elijah anyway? To save Elena? To try to hit Katherine? To prove that he could?
He never cared, ever. Damon has spent over a century killing for pleasure, acting out of self-interest, he has never thought of anyone but himself since he thought he lost Katherine in 1864 and Stefan indulged in a life of killing. And it never bothered him, he was okay with not caring, being selfish and self-centered. So why did the possibility that he didn't care bother him now? Why did he suddenly need someone to trust him so badly? Why did he need someone so much to need him? Why did he need someone so badly to want him? Why did he so need someone to deem him worthy? And finally, why did he feel that he had lost this? Why did he have the feeling that he was trusted and needed and wanted, and he had lost that?
In the end, it was all about him. And suddenly the fact that Katherine didn't care about him didn't hurt so much. What hurt was realizing that he was more like her than he wanted to be.
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"Thank you for letting me stay here with you", Emma thanked her, and Jenna smiled weakly at her niece. The older one was arranging the couch to make the girl comfortable, while the younger one was sitting in the armchair removing her necessaire with toiletries from a small bag.
Emma didn't like the idea of sleeping outside her apartment, much less sleeping under the same roof as John, but after two days of being completely exhausted going up and down the flights of stairs, the girl gave in. Fortunately, the pain medication she was taking apparently made her so sleepy that she didn't remember waking up in the middle of the night.
Jeremy had offered his room to make Emma more comfortable, but the need to climb even a single flight of stairs was daunting, so Emma preferred to stay in the living room. The couch was very comfortable, and it was the only room with a large television, an object she would be making use of for the next week, since she had been taken away from work to recover.
"I still can't believe you were attacked by an animal", Jenna exclaimed. "I mean, I was beginning to believe that this whole 'animal attacks' thing was a way for the police to cover up some serial killer or something".
Emma forced a laugh and tucked the necessaire under her arm, stood with the support of her crutches, and made her way to the living room door, intending to go to the bathroom.
"You've been watching too many documentaries", Emma commented. Before the girl reached the bathroom, she heard the sound of the door opening and some laughter.
Elena had arrived home with Bonnie and Caroline for a girls' night out. Jenna suspected that her niece had arranged the sleepover as an excuse to cheer her up after her fight with Alaric and even vocalized this suspicion, but Elena assured her that she was just missing getting together with her friends like they used to do before they were even interested in boys.
Emma hopped with her crutch into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of whiskey while listening to the girls laughing and deciding on the food they would order. Elena left Caroline and Bonnie talking to Jenna about Alaric and discreetly approached her cousin. Emma closed the bottle and looked at her.
"Should you be drinking with all the meds you've been taking?", Elena asked and Emma smiled.
"The most that can happen is that I get really high, which, if you stop to think about it, is exactly what I need", Sommers replied, and Elena couldn't laugh at the joke. The younger girl sighed and faced her cousin.
"How are you doing?", Elena asked, concerned. "Things have been so crazy at Boarding House with Katherine there that I haven't even had time to check on you".
Emma didn't know that Katherine was at Boarding House, so the news took her by surprise. The girl felt a bitterness in the pit of her stomach, but couldn't identify if she was angry or deeply sad. Probably both. The vampire who had broken her leg was staying in the house of the vampires who supposedly hated her. Emma found it increasingly cruelly funny how completely inaccurate her perception of the world was. She thought Damon cared about her, and yet he didn't care about the possibility that she might never return to herself. She thought Damon hated Katherine for everything she had done to him, and yet he was hosting her in his home. Very funny indeed.
"I didn't know Katherine was there", Emma couldn't restrain her comment.
"Well, I don't like the idea of her being there, but she has information that could help us regarding Klaus", Elena explained.
"Yeah, because she's so reliable", Emma grumbled and Elena grimaced.
Elena agreed with her cousin, Katherine was not to be trusted. It had been shocking enough to find out that she was no longer in the tomb, and even more shocking to get the news through Damon that she had broken Emma's leg. But Elena was so busy dealing with everything involving the curse and Katherine that she hadn't found time to check on her cousin. She left that task to Jenna and Jeremy. She felt guilty.
"I'm sorry about your leg, it's all my fault", Elena said and Emma stared at her with frowning eyebrows.
"I know it must be shocking, but not everything is your fault, Elena. Not everything is about you", Emma replied bitterly. The girl's patience had been rather short since the incident. She was tired of everything. Tired of vampires, and rituals, and crazy plans to 'save Elena', as if the fate of the universe depended on it. Emma loved Elena, and would do her part to protect her, after all, she was just a teenager, with her whole life ahead of her. But she was tired of everyone living for Elena's safety, making plans that didn't make any sense, leaving loose ends, while Elena herself seemed to be running straight into danger, without thinking of all the effort that everyone else was making for her. Elena stared at her cousin with wide eyes, surprised by the older woman's frankness and bitterness.
"Girls, Jenna is going to the Grill with us!", Caroline called out to the two cousins. "Emma, do you want to go along?"
Emma turned to Caroline and smiled at the girl, but nodded toward her plastered leg.
"I'll pass, but thank you", Emma replied and watched the girls begin to put on their coats as they commented excitedly about the band that would be playing at the Grill. Emma waited for the front door to close and then put the empty glass in the sink. She put the bottle back in the cupboard and hurried back to the living room.
She searched among the few DVDs in the house for something to watch, and decided to watch Grease again. She put the DVD in the cabinet below the TV and picked up the remote control. She settled comfortably on the sofa where she would sleep and, with a hiss of pain, placed her broken leg on the coffee table. She pointed the remote control at the remote and played.
Perhaps Danny Zuko was one of those responsible for Emma's poor choices when it came to men. The whole narrative of the man who acts like an asshole, breaks the protagonist's heart, but in the end is forgiven because, deep down, he always had a good character was a fantasy she carried with her. But it was just that: a fantasy. And why did Danny Zuko have to be annoyingly handsome, with his black hair and blue eyes?
"Where is Elena?", Emma heard John's voice behind her and rolled her eyes.
"Probably using meth with Jeremy. Or would that be heroin? I never know, Jenna can't inform me correctly. You know how it is, she's an irresponsible and permissive guardian", Emma debauched and John, despite having a number of problems with the girl, couldn't help but let out a short laugh.
The man walked into the living room and sat down on the side couch, making himself comfortable between the cushions, and stared at the television. Emma was annoyed by his presence, but figured that sooner or later he would get tired of it and leave. However, he seemed quite at ease and didn't intend to leave.
"I loved that movie when I was younger", he commented.
"Really? That's really nice. It's a shame that no one cares", Emma replied bitterly and John leaned over to the girl, snatching the remote out of her hand and pausing the movie. Before she could complain, he sighed heavily and settled down on the side couch, staring at her.
"Okay, I think we need to talk", he said. "This is getting ridiculous. You treat me like I'm the enemy, when I'm only here to help".
"Are you?" she questioned, with an arched eyebrow. "Because you don't look like it. You just showed up here, treating this house as if it were your own, exercising an authority you legally don't have, dictating rules and doing things your way, under the covers, without actually telling anyone what you really intend".
"I had the dagger and the ashes. It is thanks to my help that Elijah is dead", John pointed out. "I want to protect Elena as much as you do".
"That's the problem with you men. You say you want to protect Elena, but you act to achieve your own goals in the process, don't you? Everyone wants to protect Elena, because Elena is the center of the universe. But you know what's curious? Everyone ends up gaining something along the way that has nothing to do with protecting her, and casualties are just casualties, right?"
"Careful, Emma. Anyone listening to you talk might conclude that you're bitterly jealous", John commented, and the girl frowned.
"Elijah is dead, but Katherine is alive because apparently no one actually wants her dead, and you bet all your chips on a woman none of us know and who, by the way, is a vampire too. Didn't you hate vampires? Or do you just want to kill those who do not serve you and keep Isobel alive? Can't you really understand why it's so hard to believe you? You disappear for years and come back full of mysteries, and legends and information that you only partially share", Emma vomited what was stuck in her throat.
"There are things not mine to tell" John confessed, and Emma huffed, crossing her arms. The man stared at the girl and seemed to mentally debate about something. "You're a good person, Emma. So let me give you some advice: don't trust vampires, or werewolves, or both. They don't care about you".
"I'm quite aware of that", Emma replied smiling falsely and pointing with her eyes at the broken leg propped up on the coffee table. "But I appreciate the concern".
John got up from the couch and walked to the hallway.
"The Salvatores are no different. They might care about Elena for now, but that's it", the man spoke under the doorframe, and Emma felt her jaw lock. She didn't turn her face away, she continued to stare at the television with the movie paused.
"Next time you want to bring up something, bring some news", she replied feeling a lump in her throat and heard the man's footsteps moving away towards the door. As soon as Emma realized that she was home alone, she pulled out her cell phone from her coat pocket, which was hanging on the armchair next to the sofa, and stared at the display. Nothing.
No messages, no calls. At least, not from the person she intimately wanted. Alaric had sent a few messages, asking how she was, if she needed anything, and asking how Jenna was doing. Since the night of the Dinner Party, the man and her aunt hadn't spoken to each other, but that didn't stop Alaric from trying to keep in touch. Emma felt a twinge of envy for Jenna.
Emma no longer knew how to rationally order her feelings. By now, she knew that Alaric had been the one who had driven the stake into Elijah, the man had confessed to her, perhaps because he felt guilty. But Alaric hadn't realized that she was under compulsion, and he wanted to protect Jenna. Damon knew she was under compulsion, and, well, he didn't try to stop Alaric, or suggest another plan. She tried to put herself in Damon's place, to try to understand what was going on in his head, but it only hurt her more. Because, truth be told, she would give up any plan if she knew that the vampire would never go back to the way he was. Because Emma liked him, cared about him. And therein lay the problem: maybe he didn't change the plan because he simply didn't like her enough to care about her.
In the months she was in Mystic Falls, Emma learned of countless situations where plans were changed to protect Elena. Please, even Katherine was still alive because the Salvatores couldn't kill her. Couldn't, wouldn't, whatever. The fact is that Emma felt like the last item on a grocery list. You know when you need to go to the supermarket to do your shopping, you make a list, and you still end up forgetting to buy something? And then you get home and realize that you forgot that item, but you shrug it off because, after all, it was not essential. And it stays on the same list until the next trip to the market, when you will probably forget to buy it again.
Emma didn't like to let these intrusive thoughts poison her, because they hurt. Because they were true. Emma became a lone wolf after her family died, and she clung to Tom because he was the only one who seemed to care about her, was the only one who seemed to see that she existed. But Tom went from savior to tormentor, and put a lot of effort into reminding her how insignificant she was every time she forgot. The memory of the man sent a shiver down Emma's spine. The fact was, in all the years she had been away, no one had ever looked for her. They all went on with their lives, maybe remembering now and then that she existed, while she was living hell on the other side of the ocean. God, she had battled for so long to let go of those thoughts, but Damon had dug the hole and unearthed her demons, and it hurt.
Tossing her cell phone into a corner of the room, Emma leaned forward, reached for the remote control, and played the movie.
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Damon spent hours reading the journals and documents they had in hand in search of the place where the witches were massacred. Katherine was trying to engage him, pretending to want to help. It was strange and uncomfortable to be in the living room of his house in her company, and he wondered if in 1864 the feeling was the same and he only ignored it because he was completely enchanted by her beauty. The vampire forced his attention to what he was reading, but his mind insisted on oscillating between keeping an eye on Katherine's presence and martyring him with the fact that he had acted exactly like her, leaving Emma with a broken leg and not speaking to him.
The Salvatore lost count of how many times he opened his cell phone and looked her name up in the address book without actually taking the action of calling or texting. The silence of the device, which denoted that Emma hadn't tried to look for him, made Damon's chest fill with two feelings, one that he was quite familiar with, and one that was quite new. He felt rejected, but most of all, he felt sad. Yes, he was sad. It wasn't just guilt, guilt he had felt before, maybe as many times as he had felt rejection. He felt sad knowing that Emma would no longer look at him the way she used to. And, hell, he missed her. Knowing that the two of them were not on speaking terms seemed to make time run slowly. To Damon, it felt like it had been a month since he had seen her.
Were it not for the small action of the damned witches trying to get the stake out of Elijah, which ended up leaving Katherine injured, Damon would still be thinking viciously and obsessively about the fact that he treated Emma the way Katherine treated him, even if for different reasons. The problem, however, is that having seen the wounded bitch ignited again the anger he carried within himself. Yes, he would take his share of the blame, but that didn't change the fact that Katherine had been the one to break Emma's leg. Katherine was the reason Emma had one leg immobilized and was on three different types of painkillers. He even suspected that she would have killed Emma if she hadn't been so weak. Nothing fairer than him hurting her for hurting Emma.
Climbing back up the stairs and holding a bag of blood, Damon leaned over to Katherine, who was lying on the couch, and held out the food to her. As soon as the vampire caught the bag of blood, Damon drove a stake into her belly, hearing her grunt in pain.
"What the hell?" she asked in surprise.
"That's for not telling me the dagger would kill me", Damon replied in between. "Next time, it goes in your heart".
"Is that how you treat someone who's trying to help you?", Katherine complained, gasping and removing the dagger from inside her belly. Damon smirked and backed away.
"You wanna help? Start talking", he replied.
"I'd love to, but you're not gonna like it", Katherine punctuated in a defiant tone, getting up from the couch with some difficulty.
"Try me", Damon exclaimed, rolling his eyes.
"Fine. John Gilbert and Isobel want you and Stefan out of Elena's life", she replied and Damon laughed through his nose, grumbling that this was old news. Katherine stared at him with arched eyebrows. "Not the part where he offered me a deal".
Damon stared at her with frowning eyebrows. This was another one of those moments when he had to decide if he believed what came out of Katherine's mouth. Sighing, he nodded for her to continue.
"He knew that killing Elijah would get me out of the tomb, so he gave me a choice. Either I stay and help with Klaus, or he kills Stefan".
"But he still tried to have me killed", Damon smirked. Katherine was always full of shit.
"That was part of the deal too, I could only save one of you".
Again, this was nothing new. But again, Damon felt hit. Of course Katherine would choose Stefan, just as Elena would also choose Stefan if she were in the same position. It was always Stefan. Maybe the fact that Elena chose Stefan hurt more, and Katherine would only remind him of that because she look exactly like the Gilbert. But he wouldn't give her the satisfaction of seeing him suffer, of knowing that she had gotten under his skin. So Damon simply turned his back and left the room.
.
Emma eventually fell asleep on the couch, and awoke to Jeremy and Bonnie coming home. The two told her what had happened at the Grill, how Jonas, Elijah's witch, was after Elena and wanted revenge for the death of his son. When Emma asked where Jenna and her cousin were, Jeremy replied that he lost sight of everyone during the confusion, but that Elena was probably with Stefan.
The girl skipped around the room and looked for her cell phone, typing a message as soon as she found it in a corner by the curtain. She sighed with relief when Jenna replied that she was at Alaric's house, and assured her aunt that Jeremy and Elena were safe at home, even if her cousin was still away. Fortunately, it didn't take long for Stefan and Elena to arrive home, and the Gilbert girl stared at Emma with an impassive expression before heading up the stairs. She was probably still angry over what the older woman had said earlier.
"Hey, Emma. How's your leg?" Stefan asked, directing the girl an understanding look. Emma smiled weakly and shrugged. The vampire then looked at Jeremy, "When did you guys get home?"
"A few minutes ago", Bonnie replied.
"Did you check the house?", Stefan questioned, and Jeremy frowned.
"Why would we have to check the house?", Jeremy retorted, and Stefan directed a meaningful look at the stairs. The three of them ran up and left Emma behind, after all, there was no way she could keep up with them with her leg in that state. Emma jumped with the help of her crutches to the foot of the ladder.
"BONNIE? JEREMY?", Emma began to call out in desperation as soon as she began to hear Bonnie's screams. The girl started to climb the first few steps of the stairs, but the screams ceased and Emma heard behind her the front door opening.
As soon as the girl turned around she found Elena (or was it Katherine?) and Damon. Emma's eyes widened and she took a step back, tripping over her good leg and almost falling down the stairs. Damon, on instinct, took a step forward, but the girl ended up supporting herself by holding onto the banister, and then the vampire stopped.
"Emma, are you okay?" the Elena next to Damon asked. Emma couldn't answer, she was completely surprised by the fact that she had no idea who the girl in front of her was. Jeremy came down the stairs and eventually cleared up the older girl's doubts.
"Katherine killed Jonas, Stefan and her will clean things up", the boy announced, and Emma felt minimally safe to take her eyes off Elena and meet Damon's ice eyes, which were staring at her with frowning eyebrows. Unable to sustain his impassive stare, Emma turned her attention back to the steps and started down the stairs, dispensing with Jeremy's help. She didn't look at either of them and sprinted into the living room. How could they let Katherine into that house? What had Jeremy told her when she arrived in Mystic Falls? Not to invite anyone into her house? That meant that if Katherine was there, it was because she had been invited in. Emma couldn't stay there, she had to go home. She would rather have to walk up and down four flights of stairs on crutches every day than sleep under a roof that Katherine had access to.
Damon had his eyes on Emma, and watched as the girl began stuffing a few changes of clothes into a handbag. She hadn't spoken to him, hadn't even looked at him properly, and man, it hurt. The vampire came out of his reveries when Elena walked past him and into the room.
"Emma?" the girl asked.
"I'm going home" Emma replied and zipped up her suitcase.
"But your leg..."
"Fuck my leg. How could you br..." Emma swallowed the question halfway through, because it was a dumb question. Why would they bring Katherine there? Because she had information they didn't have, wasn't that it? Because she knew things about Klaus that no one else knew, because she knew how to protect Elena. And in the end, wasn't that all that mattered? As a bonus, maybe Damon would win his ex-girlfriend back. Emma sighed and slipped her arm inside the strap of her bag before picking up her crutch again.
Emma walked awkwardly to the door, not even directing a glance at Damon as she crossed his path. Stefan came down the stairs with Katherine and said something that Damon didn't pay attention to, he was too busy watching Emma open the back door of her car and throw her suitcase in there. He watched, attentively, as the girl walked to the driver's door in a big mess of arms and crutches. Damon sighed and approached the car, leaning his elbow on the open driver's door.
"How do you plan to get back driving with your leg like that?" the vampire asked. The girl sat down on the seat and threw her crutches at the driver, never looking at him. He wanted her to look at him.
"Luckily your girlfriend broke my left leg and the car is automatic", Emma commented as she stuck the key in the ignition. Damon didn't respond, he just stood watching the girl nervously bite her lower lip. She didn't close the door or start the car, she just sat there, staring at the garage door of the house that was lit by the headlight. Emma took a deep breath. "I know it was Ric who drove the stake into Elijah. So if the reason you're here talking to me is because you think I blame you, I'll give you a peace of mind. I'm not mad at you, I don't blame you, and, most important of all, apparently Elena doesn't blame you either. So you can stop pretending to care just because you think you should. Everything is settled". And with that, Emma pulled the door shut and drove off, leaving a frowning Damon standing alone in the Gilbert garage.
Yes, the car was automatic, but Emma's broken leg was at an uncomfortable angle anyway. The girl drove very slowly to the flat, and parked right in front of the building. Across the street, the Grill's walls were scorched and the sidewalk wet. A few tapes cordoned off the place and Emma wondered if the damage had been too great. It would be difficult for a local business in a small town to recover from a very large loss caused by a fire. Turning off the engine, the girl leaned against the seat and took a deep breath. She considered the possibility of sleeping in the car, not sure if she felt like going up all the flights of stairs. Widening her eyes, she checked her bag to see if she had taken the pain medicine and sighed in relief to see that, yes, she had the medicine.
Inside her bag, she found something that hadn't been there before. A book. She didn't remember packing any books, let alone one as old as this one. Curiously, she took out the object and looked at the worn black leather cover, which read, in gold letters now almost disappearing, 'Dracula'. There were two satin ribbons marking the book, and Emma gripped the end of the first ribbon and felt for the marked page with her fingers. A small section was marked in pen, and the girl smiled sadly.
"Little girl, your honesty and pluck have made me a friend, and that's rarer than a lover, it's more selfish anyhow", Emma murmured as she read the spelled words. Searching for the second tape, the girl found a second inscribed passage, which she also read in a low voice: "I wish I could comfort all who suffer from the heart. Will you let me be your friend? And will you come to me for comfort if you need it?"
The girl ran through the passage with her fingers and decided to reach for her cell phone, which was inside her pocket. She typed in a message.
Damon was lying on his bed with one of John Gilbert's journals in his hands. He wasn't paying much attention to what he was reading, he had just ordered Katherine out of his room and was still irritated that the vampire simply wanted him to fuck her on the same day that she had said, in no uncertain terms, that she didn't care if he died. That she chose Stefan. The cell phone vibrated on the bedside table and Damon reached out to pick it up. As soon as he looked at the display, he felt a little nervous.
'Did you put the book in my bag?' the message read. Damon dropped the journal on the bed and typed a reply.
'What book?' The vampire replied and stared at the display feeling anxious, and quickly opened the message as soon as his phone vibrated again.
'You're such a child' she replied, and Damon stared at the device, wondering what he would say. He had reread that copy shortly after watching the movie with Emma, and had left it in the car. If he was honest, he wasn't sure why he had put the book with that passage in it in Emma's bag. He obviously wanted her to forgive him, but he couldn't apologize. He wasn't going to apologize. But again, he wanted her to forgive him.
He wanted her to look at him again like she did before, wanted her to come back to him and keep him company and make ridiculous comments about vampires, wanted her to touch the creases between his eyebrows with the tip of her forefinger, wanted her to sit next to him and try to warm her feet against his body. He wanted her to hug him again to feel safe, because he wanted her to feel safe with him. Damon shook his head, irritated by the direction of his own thoughts. It wasn't a big deal, the book was there, and he had a pen, and, fuck, he missed her. That's why he did it. He fucking missed her.
Damon quickly got out of bed and put on a shirt, dialed Emma's cell phone number, but fell straight into voicemail. Snorting, the vampire left the room and went downstairs. The car wasn't fast enough, so he decided to run, but ended up running into Stefan, who looked worried.
"What's going on?", Damon asked with an arched eyebrow.
"Isobel just showed up at Elena's", Stefan clarified, walking down the stairs with Damon trailing behind him.
"What? What does she want?"
"That's what I'm going to find out" Stefan said and, putting his hands on his waist, turned to his brother, "Are you coming?"
Damon reflected for a few seconds. He wanted to go with Stefan, wanted to know what Isobel was doing there, if John was up to something, if Katherine was involved. But there was Emma. It wasn't a life or death choice, but Damon still had the bitter taste of the conversation with Katherine still in the pit of his stomach, and he knew that Emma was still disappointed in him. If he didn't go over there, she might never look him in the face again. But if he did go, he might be able to fix some of it. In the end, surprisingly, it wasn't a very difficult decision.
"One drama at a time, keep me posted", the older man announced, catching his jacket on a hook on the wall and walking to the door. As soon as he crossed the threshold, he ran to the Grill.
When he reached his destination, he saw, right away, Emma climbing the tiny steps to the entrance of the building, muttering some complaint and holding her crutches and handbag in a confused manner. The vampire approached and decided to announce his presence.
"Glad to see you made it home alive", he commented with a smirk. Emma huffed and turned to him. She was looking at him angrily, and that was infinitely better than the look of disappointment and hurt from two days ago.
"I must be a really hilarious person to play with, since you bothered to come", she replied and, defeated, dropped her bag on the floor with a thud. Damon walked up the steps and stood in front of her.
"I'm not playing with you", the vampire replied with a frown, and Emma faced the floor, leaning her weight completely on her crutches to relieve her good leg.
"Did you mean it?" she asked in a whisper.
"Did I mean what?", Damon asked, and she sighed without patience.
"What was marked in the book".
"What do you think?" he retorted, and she stared at him with a frown.
"Why can't you jusk tell me what you're feeling, or thinking, like a normal person?" Emma asked, snorting.
"I'm not a normal person", Damon shrugged.
"No, you're a fucking narcissist", Emma vociferated and propped a crutch up next to the building's entrance door, only to manage to catch the house key inside her coat pocket. The vampire let out a low laugh and she glared at him in irritation. "What's so funny?"
"I like when you curse me, because that means you're actually talking to me", he replied, taking the key from her hands and sticking it in the latch. He crouched down and reached for her bag before opening the doorknob, but Emma didn't move. She stared at him with those whiskey eyes and Damon felt a weight on his chest. It was the hurt look again.
"Why are you here? I never understood this making people who like you suffer, but I suppose it must be nice, since you bother doing it" Emma said in a low tone and waited for him to answer, but he was taken aback at the realization that Emma really thought he didn't care about her. It was just him saying it, it was just him saying that she mattered. It was just words. Then why couldn't he say them? "The book was a nice touch, almost got me", she whispered and swallowed the cake forming in her throat.
Emma picked up the crutch that was propped up against the wall and fixed her body weight on her good leg and walked into the building holding her breath. Would it always be like this now? Her walking hurt into that hallway with her fucked up leg only to cry as she walked up the stairs? What a pathetic life. Damon felt like he needed to make a decision, but damn, how hard was that. Since when did he stay in the middle of so much drama? Since when did he care so much? Feeling his jaw tense, Damon forcebly relaxed the muscles in his face, picked up Emma's purse from the floor, and entered the building. The vampire wrapped an arm around the girl's waist and, at vampire speed, climbed the stairs.
Before Emma could think, she was already pressed with her back against the door of her apartment and Damon was standing in front of her, with one arm around her waist, and the other resting beside her head against the piece of wood. He was staring at her quite intensely, and Emma felt her heart almost leap into her mouth. She had been close enough to Damon, had shared the couch with him, and had even hugged him as if her life depended on it. But never, never, had she been this close to him. She had never seen his eyes this close, his face this close. Damon swallowed hard.
"I meant it" he said, never taking his eyes off her. "I do fucking care, a lot... And... I am sorry". Damon felt like he was going to throw up, but there it was. He had said it. That was it. The end.
"Did it hurt to say it?" Emma asked, and Damon pressed his lips into a thin line.
"You're not fucking helping", he muttered in between, but he felt something inside his chest when Emma's expression softened and he realized that the amber eyes were studying his blue ones with great intensity. She wasn't hurt, she wasn't angry, she was fine. They were fine.
"Thank you", she whispered with a soft tone, and Damon let out the breath he didn't even know he had held. He didn't intend to get out of there, even though he was quite aware of her proximity. If he was honest, he wanted that closeness, he wanted the contact with her. The vampire felt his body tingling, as if he longed for some touch from her, any touch. He wanted her to hug him like she had done the night she discovered he was a vampire, because he just couldn't bring himself to take the initiative to take her in an embrace completely.
"Are we good?" he asked for confirmation, and she smiled weakly and nodded. Damon smiled back. Emma stared at him for long seconds before leaning on her sound foot and dropping one of the crutches propped up behind her. Damon quickly caught the object, which had slipped out of place and nearly fallen to the floor, with the hand that had previously wrapped around her waist. He wasted no time, however, in returning his hand to its original position. Emma used her free hand to position her forefinger between the creases of Damon's eyebrows, who allowed himself to close his eyes for a few seconds.
If Emma were to say that she had forgiven Damon completely, she would be lying. She still had some regrets, she was still hurt that Katherine was at Boarding House, she was still pissed that he had used Andy to make her jealous, and, she hated to admit it, and a selfish part of her was angry that Elena was his top priority. But she knew that if he had bothered to look for her, if he had vocalized that he cared about her, and if, most importantly, he had apologized, it was because, on some level, he cared. She just needed to understand. She just wanted him to be more honest with her.
"Why is Katherine at your house?", Emma asked, and Damon rolled his eyes and snorted.
"We just made up, Emma. Can we argue about this another time?" the vampire complained and unconsciously increased his grip on her waist, and Emma held back a smile.
"I have plenty of time now" she teased, removing her finger from Damon's forehead. He mumbled something she didn't understand and turned back to face her.
"Why is this so important to you?", Damon asked with a frown. He felt at a disadvantage, he had confessed to caring, and he needed to hear that the reciprocal was true. Half-words sucked. Not being sure about things sucked. He had more than a century of half words and uncertainty, and he was sick of it. So he was willing to be open with her, if she would go with him.
"Because I like you", she replied, averting her eyes from him and staring at the button of Damon's jacket as if it were very interesting. "I really like you, and I care about you, and I hated these past two days. God, I hang out with you more than with my cousins, more than with Jenna. You're the closest to me and..." she stared at him. "I don't wanna fight with you anymore, but I was hurt and I need to understand things".
Damon wanted to hear this. He desperately wanted to hear it, and he had no idea how badly until that moment. Nobody ever told him how important he was, because he had never been important to anyone. No one had ever needed Damon before, on the contrary. He had clung to Stephan, even before he became a vampire. He had clung to Katherine, and then to Elena. Damon had always needed others, and had always been left alone. He was always expendable. He prided himself on boasting the facade that he did very well on his own, but therein lay the problem: it was a facade. He didn't want to be alone, he didn't want to be left alone, he didn't want to be expendable. Damon wanted, and needed, someone to need him. He longed with all his cells to be the only one. And there, in that moment, Emma was confessing just that.
"And, just to put your mind at ease, I am well aware that you are not my boyfriend or something like that, and that you owe me no satisfaction. You've made that very clear, so..." Emma continued as she observed that Damon had not responded, but was interrupted when the vampire simply lifted her off the ground. He had done everything so fast that her brain didn't even register the order in which things happened. All she knew was that she was, at that moment, with both arms around Damon's neck, suspended against the vampire's body, and that he had his arms firmly around her waist and his face sunk into her hair. Past the shock, Emma closed her grip around Damon's neck and buried her nose in his neck. And she liked it. And he liked it. Because he needed it.