Waiting on a friend

.

Damon never had sensory memories before, it was something he was not familiar with. But the thing was, the sensations were still there. Hot water was pouring over his shoulders and the entire bathroom was filled with steam, and that only made it easier to indulge in the sensations still tingling in his body. He could feel her skin between his fingers, becoming increasingly warm as he slid his hand up inside her skirt. He could feel the tugging at her navel and the rubbing his groin made against her full thighs as she began to suck blood. He could smell her perfume against his nose, buried just below her ear as he licked the trickle of blood that had flowed out. He could hear her gasp, he could hear her hold back a moan. He could feel it all there, leaning his forehead against the glass while his free hand made precise back and forth movements in his cock. When he finally found his release, it wasn't enough, the images still danced behind his eyes, making him aching, making him hungry.

It was really hard for him to not just go to her apartment, but he kept his word and stayed away. Maybe he should just find someone to fuck, maybe if he fucked someone else, all this desire would just disapear. Maybe he should call Andy. Damon raised his hand in front of his face and watched his cum before cleaning up in the shower. No, Andy couldn't possibly make all this fire just vanish, and this was completely annoying. The vampire was so angry and turned on, and his bed was so big and empty, that he couldn't sleep that night.

Things didn't get any easier for Emma that night, but for very different reasons than the usual nightmares. On that particular night, the girl touched herself thinking about Damon, and the vampire didn't leave her alone even in her dreams. She had no nightmares and slept abnormally well. Emma woke up the next morning with soaked panties, and took a nice cold shower before deciding to walk to school.

The morning went quite hectic, Emma had a lot to catch up on, so fortunately her thoughts were completely focused on her professional activities. The students were excited about the 60's dance, and the young woman listened in the hallways as the girls talked about the costumes they would wear, while the boys got a little trouble inviting their peers. Emma ate lunch alone, since Alaric wasn't there that particular day, and used the break to try to call Jenna. The call dropped straight to voicemail and Emma huffed before punching the device back into her purse. The cell phone, however, vibrated as soon as she let go of it, and the girl picked it up again.

'How was your night?'

Emma's eyes widened. He wouldn't have gone to the apartment and seen anything, would he? Damon wouldn't act like a stalker, especially not after she asked him to stay away. However, she still feared that he might have seen her touching herself while moaning... well, his name. Emma typed out her answer, holding her breath.

'Fine. Yours?' she typed, and it wasn't long before her cell phone vibrated with the answer.

'Shitty. My bed's to big. Your's better'. Emma let out a breath. He wouldn't have gone there, he couldn't have. The girl stared at the device without knowing what to say. Her cheeks felt warm and she decided to block the device. No need to answer now, right? Her cell phone rang and she waited a few seconds before answering it.

"Will you let me talk all by myself?"

"You really need a job", she answered jokingly, trying to distract herself from her own thoughts. Damon laughed. "Are we..." she hesitated, and held the base of her nose between her thumb and forefinger, sighing. "We're good, right?"

"Shouldn't we be?" he asked.

"No, it's just... After yesterday and the blood thing..."

"You're overthinking it, doll. We're fine", Damon assured. "I told you, it's normal to feel that way after drinking vampire blood".

"Good", Emma replied, sighing in relief. "Thank you".

"And I am really hot, so it is more than normal to feel that way about me. Don't worry".

"You're such an asshole", Emma replied laughing, and she couldn't see it, but Damon smiled on the other end of the line.

"So, what do you wanna do today? Wanna make a plan for tomorrow?" the vampire questioned.

"Oh, about that... I can't. I've missed a lot on these days I was away from school. So I have like... thousands of things to take care of. But I'll see you tomorrow, right?"

"Your call. What time do I pick you up?" he asked, and tried to hide the fact that he had been annoyied by the fact that he wouldn't see her until the next day.

"I'll meet you at the dance, don't need to pick me up", she replied.

As a supervisor, she had to get to the dance a little early and, if she was honest enough, she wanted to put off having to meet Damon after having openly said the day before that she was completely turned on. Gods, there's only so much embarrassment a woman can take. The vampire was thankful that, over the phone, she couldn't see the grimace he had made. He didn't want to wait until next day or just meet her there.

"Okay, see you there then", he said, and hung up.

And so she spent her day working, organizing her classes and went home to eat and sleep alone. Emma would never admit it, but it was strange to sleep alone. The bed seemed bigger than it really was without Damon there.

As usual, at three o'clock in the morning Emma woke up with a loud gasp and ran to the door and windows, checked them, and got back to bed. Sleep did not embrace her until five in the morning, and she slept missing the warmth of his body.

.

Damon chose an outfit that matched the theme of the ball, however, he found himself unable to retire the color black. What would he do if the color highlighted his eyes even more and made him insanely attractive? The vampire drove alone to the school gym building, since Stefan and Elena went together and were probably already there.

As soon as he entered, it didn't take long to find the two lovebirds, plus Jeremy and Bonnie. To Stefan's surprise, but not Damon's, Klaus compelled another student to give a message, rather corny, by means of a song. Rolling his eyes, Damon turned away from the group of teenagers to blend in and look for Klaus. However, he eventually spotted Alaric and decided to walk over to his friend.

"Special dedication, huh?", Alaric remarked, debauched, as soon as Damon stopped beside him, still scanning the entire hall with his eyes. He didn't know exactly what he was looking for, but he was looking for something. "This guy's a little twisted".

"I'm not impressed", Damon replied. So far, there was nothing suspicious other than the song dedicated to Elena. Everyone there seemed like insufferably normal teenagers. There was no sign of Klaus, or Emma. By the way, where the hell would she be?

"No?" the man seemed surprised by the vampire's statement.

"Nah", Damon shrugged. "Hey, have you seen Emma?"

"Last time I checked she was bossing around some kids right there", Alaric replied, pointing with his forefinger to the opposite side of the hall. "Next to that ridiculous lettering". Damon looked in the direction Alaric pointed and nodded positively. Geez, it would be practically impossible to find Emma in the middle of so many people.

"Let me know if you see anything out of whack", Damon recommended to the man before patting him twice on the shoulder and walking away toward the lettering he indicated.

The vampire paced the entire room, excusing the teenagers and making sure they didn't spill any punch on his shirt that had cost more than any of them could afford. Luckily, Damon spotted Emma talking to another teacher, and smirked. She was wearing a short black dress with white polka dots, and a long boot that came down to her knees that was equally white. Her hair was parted in half and with softer waves than it normally was. She could easily play Sharon Tate in some movie.

"Miss Sommers is fucking hot, I bet I can bang her if I wanted to, she's not much older than us", Damon overheard a student remark to a group of his friends as he baptized some glasses with a canteen. The vampire clenched his jaw and approached the boys, holding the boy who had spoken by the shoulders. He flashed his best, most intimidating smile, and faced the group.

"No, you can't", Damon replied.

"Can't what dude?" the boy asked, raising an eyebrow and shaking his shoulders to disengage himself from Damon's grip, but the vamp only held him tighter.

"Bang Miss Sommers," Damon explained with a smile, "First of all, because you're just a little boy and women don't enjoy little dicks like yours". The group laughed at the boy, and Damon brought his lips close to the boy's ear, so that only he could hear. "Second of all, if I ever hear you talking about her like that again, I'll rip your dick out and feed you with it. Cool?"

The boy turned white and Damon gave one last disproportionately strong squeeze on the boy's shoulders before turning away and walking over to Emma, still a little annoyed. Teenagers were unbearable, how could she work with them? The vampire blurted out his grimace when the young woman turned to look for something and spotted him, flashing a smile. Gods, she was gourgeous. He walked over to her.

"Hey, dolly. Good to see you're doing justice to those legs", he teased, and Emma rolled her eyes. Damon then pulled her by the wrist and the girl slapped against his chest and complained. "I'm just kidding. But, like I said before, you need two legs to dance. And now you have two legs. So... Shall we?"

"You dance?" she questioned, raising an eyebrow, and he rolled his eyes.

"Always the tone of surprise", Damon replied and deftly spun her around on her own axis, pulling her, shortly thereafter, against him again, which drew a laugh from her. He held her tightly around the waist with one hand, while the other held her wrist, and began to lead her around, turning her again and again and making her laugh. He was smiling more himself than he wanted or even intended, it was simply unavoidable.

"Okay, you are a good dancer", Emma acknowledged, and he spun her around again. This time, however, he pulled her until she stuck her back to his chest, and hugged her as he swayed them both slowly from side to side.

"And you are a terrible one", he replied.

"I'm not that bad", she defended herself, and he laughed, spinning her around again until she was facing him. Emma swallowed hard. His eyes were absurdly blue in that light, and he looked beautiful. The girl cleared her throat. "So what's the plan? I haven't seen anything suspicious yet".

"Me neither", Damon replied. "And you're not part of the plan. You or Elena. Both of you have to stay away in case things get bad".

"Okay", Emma replied, nodding positively. Damon frowned, incredulous.

"Okay? Easy like that?"

"I'm not stupid, Damon", Emma replied. "I know I'm just a human, and not a very skilled at fights one. I know I would just get in the way".

"Oh, how I wish your baby cousin could hear you right now", Damon debauched, and Emma scolded him with a look,

"I'll try to keep her busy" Emma assured, and the vampire nodded.

"Good", he replied, and pulled her closer, pressing his cheek against her temple and rocking them both slowly back and forth. The music had changed to 'all you need is love' from the Beatles. It was good. He had no idea how long it had been since he had danced with anyone, not like this. Feeling so comfortable, wishing the music would last longer just so he could stay there for hours. The palm of his hand was positioned behind Emma's back, and his thumb traced imaginary circles there, while his other hand held hers carefully. And it was good.

Emma unconsciously sought more contact with Damon's body, and leaned forward only a few inches, just enough so that her nose touched where the vampyre's neck connected to his shoulder, and closed her eyes. He smelled good. The room was a little warm, and Damon's shirt was slightly damp with sweat, and somehow his scent, mixed with the woodiness of his perfume, was perfect. Emma didn't know what it was about him that made her feel so safe, so comfortable. She had always been a very tactile person, but with Damon it was different. It was as if her body sought his touch, his warmth.

The vampire, feeling the tip of her nose against his neck, pressed her closer to him and slid the fingers that held her hand up the length of her arm to her elbow. Carefully, Damon lifted her elbow with his fingertips and guided her arm to his shoulder. In the middle of the movement, however, the vampire unconsciously placed a simple kiss on the inside of her arm, and closed his eyes. They were so close, and it was so good. He opened his eyes and blinked several times, shook his thoughts away, and, taking advantage of the livelier ending of the song, spun Emma around again, taking the girl by surprise.

"Well, if you'll excuse me, I have to find Bonbon", he announced offhandedly, and turned away leaving Emma behind without understanding anything at all.

"Hey, Miss" the girl turned away, finding a janitor. "The kids are smoking at that corner over there". Emma stretched her neck toward the corner pointed out by the cleaner and rolled her eyes.

"Oh, for the love of God", Emma snorted, "Fucking amateurs. What does it cost to smoke in the back of the yard?"

Honestly, what was up with those teenagers? Smoking inside the hall? Really? The girl walked briskly to the spot and had to act like a responsible teacher and give a long lecture to the small group of kids who were smoking some terrible quality marijuana. She threatened to tell the principal if they didn't get out of her way right now, and the boys obeyed her.

Sighing and mentally cursing herself for not extending her medical certificate for a few more days and getting rid of that dance, she walked over to Alaric, who was standing by the drinks table, probably to prevent anyone else from baptizing the punch.

"Hey", Emma greeted him.

"Hey... Emma", Alaric replied, cracking a smile. "Having fun?"

"I wouldn't say fun", Emma complained. "I've just caught three kids smoking pot at the corner. They really don't give a shit, do they?"

Alaric let out a laugh and offered her a glass, which she accepted and sipped, grimacing. She hated sweet drinks, and that one was definitely a drink composed basically of sugar.

"So, how's the plan for big bad Klaus?", Alaric asked. Emma kept looking at another small group at the other corner. They were definetely drinkking alcohool, but she would let it be. She was a teen once, so she would let them enjoy their best lives.

"I don't know to be honest, but I can't say I actually tried to know about it", Emma shrugged.

"And why not?"

"Because I don't wanna get in the middle of this. I'm human and I've had my share of problems", Emma confessed. Alaric looked at her.

"But Elena's your family, isn't she?". Emma shrugged her shoulders uncomfortably.

"She is, but... This is all crazy and... Whatever".

"Oh, I see now...She's got your boyfriend", Alaric commented, and Emma frowned and quickly turned to her co-worker.

"What?", Emma questioned. Alaric laughed low and proceeded to look at the dance floor. The man pointed with his chin to where he was looking, and Emma followed his gaze. Damon spun Elena around in the middle of the dance floor, and the girl giggled. The vampire pulled Elena to himself again and ran a hand down her thigh, pulling her leg up and leaning over. The brunette threw her body back and laughed. It was as if the two of them were recreating some choreography. Emma involuntarily squeezed the plastic cup hard, which caused the drink to spill onto her fingers. The girl dropped the glass on the table and angrily picked up a napkin.

"Damon flirts with everyone, and he's not my boyfriend. Or Elena's, or anyone's, and you fucking know that".

"Hey, easy there", the man replied, laughing. Emma wiped her fingers on her napkin and became more irritated as she realized that the sweet drink had made them sticky. "I'm sure they're just dancing".

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" she asked irritated.

"You're jealous", Alaric replied, and finally turned to her, still smiling, "I don't judge you, If I was on your shoes..."

"Since when are you a dick?", Emma questioned rhetorically and threw her napkin on the table. The girl snorted out of there and walked angrily to the exit of the lounge. She needed to wash her hands, drink some water, get some air. Anything. Damn that sticky drink! Since when was Alaric a complete idiot? And how dare he say she was jealous? God, why so much sugar on a drink?

There was nothing to be jealous of, Damon was nothing of hers. They were friends. He flirted with her because he flirted with everyone, all the time. She was probably that way because, for sure, his blood had somehow lasted more than twenty-four hours in her body. She was only that way because his blood had messed with her perception of things. She was not jealous! She was just angry.

Emma went into the bathroom and slammed the door hard, walked to the sink and washed her hands. Looking in the mirror, she found that her makeup was intact, which was a victory, considering that the room was quite hot. This was a perfect time to smoke. She was quitting, she hadn't smoked since Jenna had gone to the hospital, but she used to carry her cigarette pack with her just in case. That moment was a good case, right? Yeah, it was. The girl left the bathroom with a cigarette between her lips, while she rummaged through her purse for her lighter, and ended up bumping into someone. When she looked up, she found Alaric, and took the cigarette out of her mouth, holding it between her fingers.

"Came to apologize for being a stupid idiot?" she asked, still annoyed with the man. Alaric cracked a smile.

"No, I came to have fun", he replied, and took her by the neck. Emma tried to scream, but he squeezed her throat too tightly, lifting her off the ground. The girl grabbed his wrists in an attempt to free herself from the attack, but nothing was working. Despite her desperation, Emma had never been so grateful to herself for remembering that her keychain had a small wine opener, and she reached into her purse for it with one hand, while the other tried in vain to free herself from Alaric. "I compelled some students to take on Elena's friends, but our chat was so interesting that I thought... Why not save some of the fun for myself? You're the apettizer and Elena is dinner. It's a perfect meal".

Emma's eyes widened. Compelled some students. Klaus. She finally found the keychain inside her purse and, with all the strength she could muster, jammed the wine opener into the man's shoulder, who screamed in pain and let go. Emma wasted no time and ran out into the hallway, but ran into three students. The way the three were looking at her indicated that they were the compelled students. Looking around for anything she could use to defend herself, the girl spotted an emergency box and used her elbow to break the glass. She picked up the axe inside and lifted it in front of her body, holding it with both hands.

"Stay away", she warned, but the three boys followed walking slowly toward her. "Oh, come on! How will I explain to your parents that I just axe you all because a bad vampire compelled you?"

She would be arrested. If she got out alive, she would be arrested for hitting three students with an axe. Whose idea was it to move to that damn town? When the first student ran towards her, Emma managed to dodge and hit the boy in the back with the axe handle, causing him to fall and hit his head against a cabinet, falling unconscious. 'Okay, you can do this, Emma. Just don't hit them with the killing point. Use the harming point instead. You can do this, you can do this', she was trying to convince herself.

When the second boy ran towards her, Emma was ready to hit him, when Damon appeared between her and the students, holding the boy by the neck. Stefan was immobilizing the other one.

"Damon, he's compelled!", Stefan warned, and Damon rolled his eyes.

"Oh, no shit Stefan", he sneered and punched the boy in the face, leaving him completely unconscious lying on the ground. The vampire turned to Emma with a frown.

"I know teenagers suck, but cutting them in half with an axe is not the best solution for a teatcher" he remarked debauchedly.

"Damon, this is a distraction! Go get Elena!" Stefan shouted and Damon's eyes widened. In less than two seconds, the black haired vampire was gone, leaving Emma and Stefan behind to deal with the last boy. The vampire sighed and punched the boy, knocking him out. Emma stared at him.

"Stefan, Klaus is in Ric's body", the girl informed him quickly, and the vampire nodded before also disappearing. Emma looked at the three unconscious bodies on the floor and wondered if she should do something or just pretend nothing happened and go back to the salon. She should probably help the boys, after all, they were just boys. But what if they kept compelled? Snorting, she picked up the feet of the first boy and started dragging him into a classroom. Emma heard hurried footsteps and stood upright quickly, searching for the axe with her eyes.

"Emma?", Jeremy asked, and the girl sighed in relief.

"Thank God it's you! Can you help me here?" she asked, pointing to the other two fainted boys, and Jeremy frowned, but nodded positively and helped her lock the boys in the classroom while she explained to her cousin what had happened.

"But why are we locking them here?"

"I don't know if they will wake up still compelled and try to kill us", she replied and threw the classroom key away. She brought her hands to the hem of her dress and wiped them there.

The two of them returned to the hall and, with the help of Caroline and Matt, evacuated the school under some pretext. Emma pulled Jeremy into the parking lot and the two of them waited in the car until they received some news. The boy was sitting in the side's seat and looking down at his own hands.

"Jer, what's wrong?"

"There's a fifty percent chance that Bonnie won't survive today", he replied, and Emma's eyes widened.

"What?" she asked. "I thought that she..."

"Yeah, me too", Jeremy cut her off. "She asked me not to tell anyone, but I told Stefan, who told Elena..."

"Why would she do this?", Emma asked in a whisper, and Jeremy stared at her. The girl was silent for a few seconds before she plucked up the courage to speak. "Why is her life less important than Elena's?"

"What do you mean?" the boy asked with an arched eyebrow. Emma finally stared him in the eye, turning to face him and standing sideways to the steering wheel.

"I know I sound like a horrible person, and I love Elena as much as I love you, it's just... Who gets to decide what life is worth the most? I know that Klaus is bad and I know what's at stake, but why must everyone sacrifice themselves just to save Elena? Why should Bonnie sacrifice herself?"

"Because it's the right thing", Jeremy replied seriously. "If you had the choice of saving someone's life, if the decision of saving them or letting them die was in your hands, what would you do?"

Emma looked down and stared at her own hands. Her cuticles looked quite interesting at that moment. She knew that Jeremy was right, she also knew that she was a horrible person. Deep down, she had always known that. The girl felt a single tear run down her cheek. Jeremy held her hands.

"And you're not a bad person. You're the best person I know", he said, and Emma laughed low through her nose. She wanted to reply that he should meet more people, that this town was too small and that was the only reason he thought that, but she didn't have time. They both jumped when they heard two knocks on the back window of the car. When she turned around, Emma saw Damon. And he was carrying Bonnie's lifeless body.

Jeremy jumped out of the car, and Emma repeated the gesture. Unlike her cousin, who looked desperate, the girl found herself unresponsive. Not because she didn't care about Bonnie, quite the contrary. She liked Bonnie, and the mere fact that Jeremy was dating her made the girl important enough for her. But she couldn't react. Damon eventually managed to calm Jeremy down and asked Emma to open the trunk, and the girl could only comply because she already had the keys in her hand.

The vampire explained to the cousins that Bonnie was not dead, that the two of them had created the plan to make Klaus believe that she was dead and that they were no longer counting on a witch. According to Damon, if Klaus didn't know that they had a powerful witch, he would eventually act less carefully. Jeremy wiped away his tears and nodded positively when the vampire recommended that the two of them go to a safe place and keep Bonnie safe and hidden.

Damon hadn't failed to notice that Emma was quiet, but he was too busy handling the situation with the younger Gilbert to take any action on the matter. With Bonnie's body already inside the trunk and Jeremy sitting in the passenger seat, Damon held Emma by the wrist before she too got into the car, and the girl turned to him.

"Are you okay?" he asked with a frown.

"I'm fine," Emma replied and smiled at him. Damon wasn't convinced, but he wasn't in the mood to deal with this subject at that moment either. He needed to go home and explain to a crying Elena that the little witch was alive. And that's exactly what he did.

.

"You know, you could've told me", Stefan said, and Damon rolled his eyes, spun on his heels, and stared at his brother. God, he had just spent the last half hour explaining to both of them that Bonnie was alive, had even been slapped in the face, and Stefan couldn't leave him alone to go upstairs, take a shower, and lie in his bed?

"How do I know when you're gonna go blabbing things to your girlfriend?" the older vampire asked, and turned away, heading for the stairs.

"You understand what you put her through?"

Damon stopped in the middle of the flight of stairs and turned to his brother again, irritated. When would Stefan understand what was at stake?

"See? That's why I didn't tell you! Because you would never have been able to do it", Damon shouted. "Don't get me wrong, Stefan. I don't mind being the bad guy. I'll make all the life-and-death decisions and keep Elena alive while you're busy worrying about collateral damage".

Stefan didn't say anything, he just stared at Damon as if he was forgetting some piece of a puzzle, and the older vampire just felt more irritated. Stefan thought he knew everything, but always missed something, and still had the audacity to look at him as if he were the blind man? Everything only worked out because of him. He, Damon, was the one who managed to keep Elena alive, not Stefan. Sighing loudly, the blue-eyed vampire turned away and made his way up the stairs.

"I thought you would care to prevent at least some of these so called collateral damage" Stefan finally spoke, stressing the last two words, and Damon froze. "But, of course, that was my mistake. I forgot you're the bad guy who doesn't care".

"Is that supposed to mean something?", Damon asked, feeling his jaw lock. It was only when he heard a low 'crack' that the vampire realized he'd been gripping the railing too tightly, and relaxed his grip. Great, now he would have to have the banister fixed. He turned his eyes back to his brother, but the only response he got was Stefan's footsteps moving away toward the living room. Irritated, he climbed the rest of the stairs and headed for his room.

He opened the door with force and walked straight to the bathroom, where he washed his face and stared at his own reflection, resting his palms on the sink. What the hell was that supposed to mean? So called collateral damage? They all agreed that Bonnie would be the one who'd take care of Klaus. She had to. She was the only one powerful enough, and she fucking wanted to! She was willing to die to save Elena, it was their fucking plan! Wasn't killing Klaus and keeping Elena alive the goal? Why suddenly he was the bad guy again?

If Stefan loved her so much, wouldn't he be willing to let Bonnie die to save her? Because he must definetely would. Damon would be willing to let anyone fucking die to save her. Except that... Would he? Would he let anyone die to save Elena? He would, wouldn't he? If he had to choose... Gods, if he had to choose... If he... Fuck. The vampire heard two knocks on the door and left the bathroom, shaking his hands that he had forgotten to dry. He found Elena leaning against the door, and rolled his eyes. Great, another round.

"Ugh, look..." Damon said irritated, feeling like a record that kept repeating the same song over and over again. "Klaus had to think she was dead, you're reaction had to be real".

Contrary to what he expected, Elena didn't hit back with some accusation. The girl looked down at her feet and took a deep breath before looking him in the eye again and taking a few steps into the room. Damon picked up a bottle of bourbon and poured himself a glass, taking a generous sip before turning to the girl again.

"I understand why you did what you did" she said, and Damon frowned. "Klaus was fooled and Bonnie's alive".

The vampire raised his glass as if proposing a toast. Finally someone acknowledging his effort, finally someone acknowledging that he only did what had to be done. The girl walked up to him with determined steps, and he lowered the glass, holding it firmly against his own chest.

"But let's get one thing straight, Damon. Bonnie will not die for me, I will not let that happen", the girl said, and the vampire rolled his eyes.

"We need to kill Klaus, Elena", he replied in a tone of obviousness. "Real Klaus. Who will probably be coming to pay you a visit soon now that he knows that Bonnie is dead. She's the only one who can do it".

"We'll find another way", Elena said, taking a few more steps until she was almost glued to him. Damon frowned, but he liked the closeness. She didn't usually stay this close to him unless he forced her to, as he had done at the dance by pulling her to dance.

"I hope so", he merely replied in a low tone. She was so much like, and at the same time, so different from Katherine. Looking at Elena made him feel like the young human who had fallen in love the first time, brought up old feelings he had harbored for the other doppelganger, old feelings he had almost forgotten were good to be felt. But unlike Katherine, she was good. She was too good. And she brought him in like the waves of the sea, she called him home, because Elena was familiar to him, she was everything Katherine should have been. How could he not risk everything for her?

"Look, I shouldn't have hit you", she commented almost in a whisper, and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. Damon felt his free hand itch to repeat the gesture and feel her strands against his fingers. He closed his fist and put his mask back on.

"Apology accepted", he said, and she smiled. His chest did somersaults and he was, again, just a boy in the middle of his father's house, looking at the woman who stole his heart for the first time. "Let me be clear about something. If it comes down to you and the witch again, I will gladly let Bonnie die", the words left his lips before he could restrain himself. Elena gasped, and Damon found himself unable to stop. "I will always choose you".

Elena didn't seem surprised by the statement, but Damon could see that she was shaken. The girl awkwardly wished him a good night and hurried from the room, leaving him behind with his glass of bourbon halfway between his fingers. He stared at the amber liquid and the color bothered him. If he had to choose, would he choose her? Even if the other was... If it comes between them, he would choose Elena, wouldn't he? Damon took a deep breath and threw the glass against the fireplace, which ended up fanning the flames of the fire violently. Annoyed, the vampire dialed Andy's number, intending to spend the entire night fucking the journalist until his head forgot how to think.