September 7th, 2009

"Tell me you actually got out of the apartment today?" Damon said.

"I did. I went to the coffee shop to get some work done." I said.

"Nora…" Damon whined.

"What? I got a lot of work done. I can't mooch off my best friend forever." I said.

"It's not mooching if I offer." He said. "So he actually went through with it."

"Stefan decided to make his twilight fantasy a reality?" I asked.

"Yup." Damon said. "They already met."

"You know I never understood why people think Twilight is so romantic because if you really think about it Edward and Bella's relationship was so toxic, I mean I'm pretty sure it checks off most of the list of what makes an abusive relationship.

"Yeah I'll be sure to let Elena know that before Stefan bites her head off." Damon said sarcastically.

"And what were you doing this whole time?" I asked.

"Oh you know this and that. I finally nailed the crow and fog trick I was telling you about." He said.

"Did you pass out again?" I teased.

"No I pre-gamed." He said smugly.

"You know we should totally set up a haunted house for Halloween, that trick will kill." I said.

"It already did." He said making me roll my eyes. "The high school kids are throwing a party in the woods tomorrow. Perfect chance to cause some trouble."

"You know I thought the point of me not going with you was to keep a low profile." I said. "Leaving dead bodies lying around doesn't is going to lead them right to you."

"No it's going to lead them right to Stefan which is going to make him leave Mystic Falls and Elena which will make him miserable and I get to keep my promise." Damon said. "Everyone else is just collateral."

"Yeah…" I said totally not on board. Damon sighed noticing my disapproval.

"Would it make you feel better if I don't kill anyone at the party maybe slightly main them?" Damon said.

"Not really but I'll take what I can get." I said. "What about you? Planning on finally talking to him yet?"

"Soon." He said as I yawned. "Get some sleep you sound tired. And try to get out more. I know I'm the fun one but you can have fun without me. You shouldn't feel guilty."

"Says the 160 year old senior citizen planning on crashing a high school rager." I retorted.

"Age is just a number. Especially when you're stuck at 24 forever." Damon said.

"Well try not to get arrested or staked." I said.

"I won't." he said before hanging up for the night.

September 9th, 2009

I came out of an eight hour vision episode where I had ended up painting the walls as well. It was a good thing Damon and I had gotten into the habit of keeping extra paint around for when this happened. I was in the middle of painting over my drawing of the comet with Stefan and Elena lighting candles when my phone started ringing.

"Guessing the family reunion didn't go well?" I greeted.

"No it went exactly how I thought it'd go. How'd you know?" Damon said as he sped around unpacking his room.

"Well I'm currently looking as a drawing of you getting thrown out a window by your brother. Or the other way around. You both ended up falling." I said.

"So what's the latest?" He asked.

"Nothing much. The comet is going to be passing through in a few days, your brother and Elena being all lovey dovey and you're going to hook up with some blonde chick." I said.

"Blonde? Platinum blonde? blue eyes basically a southern belle barbie?" Damon said.

"Uh Definitely platinum blonde not sure about the eyes, definitely not a southern belle considering you go down on her." I said wrinkling my nose at the drawing. It was pretty rare that my drawings got so risqué.

"I do?" Damon said amused.

"That's what it looks like and she really enjoys it. Want to see it?" I said snapping a photo and sending it to him.

"Sure…" He started before his phone dinged and he whistled. "Yeah that's Caroline and I really am that good."

"Ew." I groaned. "That's all I've got right now and honestly its more than I've ever wanted to know or see. I'm going to go drown myself in whiskey and hope I forget all about this."

"You know all you've got to do is ask and I will be happy to …"

"Don't finish that sentence." I said. "I'm done. I'm… I'm just done."

Damon just laughed before I hung up.

September 20th, 2009

"He's acting like I'm the one with the problem." Damon said.

"More like you're the one leaving the dead bodies lying around." I said.

"I know how to cover my tracks. I just need to weed out who's on the council before I make my move." Damon said.

"And Caroline is part of that plan?" I said as I folded laundry.

"Maybe." Damon said and I stayed quiet. "I can hear your brain working all the way over here."

"Okay I haven't had an episode in a few weeks but I'm having one of my feelings and I think you need to tread carefully." I said.

"You worry too much." Damon said.

"I'm serious Damon. I know you said Stefan isn't at his strongest but that doesn't mean you should let your guard down." I said. "If he gets desperate enough who knows what he can do."

"Nothing is going to happen." He said suddenly getting quiet.

"Damon?" I asked.

"I'll call you later I think I have an eavesdropper." He said before hanging up.

I looked at the phone confused but shrugged it off.

Meanwhile…

Zach Salvatore was cleaning up to try and distract himself from the mess his two guests were causing. Having Stefan around was not a problem considering he seemed to be keeping to himself and not feeding off of anyone but Damon, Damon was purposefully leaving a trail of dead bodies around town and the council was well aware of it. Not that Stefan or Damon cared.

He was walking down the hall when he heard Damon laughing and talking to someone. It wasn't the first time he had heard it but he always thought it was one of Damon's victims. Surprisingly he could now see he was on the phone talking to someone and whoever they were Damon seemed to be very fond of them judging by the smile on his face.

Just as Zach turned around Damon appeared in front of him.

"Whatcha doing Zach?" Damon said.

"Nothing I was just…" Zach started before Damon pinned him to the wall by the neck.

"Eavesdropping? You know curiosity killed the cat. I think the same applies to nosey nephews that don't know their place." Damon said.

"Damon let him go." Stefan said appearing out of nowhere.

"Why? I'm just teaching my nephew some manners. Didn't your dad… oh right I killed him. Whoops." With that Damon let him go with that Damon walked away.

Stefan helped his nephew back to his feet.

"Uncle Stefan you need to do something about him. This can't go on. He's leaving a trail of bodies leading right to our door and this isn't 1864 anymore. They're not going to just let it go." Zach said before he walked away.

Stefan glanced towards his brother's room wondering what Zach had overheard that set Damon off.

September 23rd, 2009

"So you went to the original Founder's party 150 years ago and you're going to this one why?" I asked as I finished up some work while I had my phone on speaker.

"As a member of one of the founding families it's my duty to uphold the family name and remind everyone that my great great great…" He started.

"You mean your father." I reminded him.

"Technically yes but they don't know that. Besides I hid Emily's crystal in one of the artifacts back then and while I don't plan on using it to open the tomb anymore I'd rather keep it out of any witch's hands. The last thing I need right now is a witch giving me any trouble." Damon said.

"Okay and you're going as the Sheriff's daughter date because?" I said.

"Well my usual plus one is in New York so I had to settle for Barbie." Damon said. "No need to get jealous Red."

"You're dating the Sheriff's daughter aka the daughter of the woman who's in charge of hunting vampires in your home town. And I'm using the term date very lightly because I'm pretty sure you're just using the poor girl as take out." I said. "And that's not me criticizing your diet choices that's me questioning your survival instincts. You're going to end up staked Damon."

"It's just one party, me just being there is going to drive Stefan crazy, just like the fact that I got invited into his girlfriend's house is making him extra paranoid." Damon said.

"Idiot. He's just putting her in even more danger by not telling her." I said.

"But Nora he's trying to do the right thing and keep her safe." Damon said sarcastically.

"Hey you keep me safe and not once have you kept me in the dark. Ignorance is not bliss it's right on the border of being dead." I said.

"Exactly. See you got the better looking and smarter brother." Damon said.

"Sure did." I said as another email came in and I groaned. "Speaking of idiots this jack ass just changed his mind again and I'm going to have to scrap this and start over."

"You sound busy. I'm going to check on my 'take out'…" he started.

"Damon don't kill the girl. You proved your point to Stefan and you want to stay on the Sheriff's good side. You know the side where the pointy end of the stake isn't pointed at you." I said.

"Fine." Damon said. "Don't stay up too late."

"Too late." I said before he hung up.

Of course no such luck because just as I stood up to start the coffee maker, nature and death came knocking.

When I came to it was the following night and I had apparently passed out on the floor.

"Shit." I cursed as I looked at the mess. I had finger painted all over the floor. That was going to be a pain to clean. What was worse though was the drawing of Damon I had scribbled on the wall. He was locked in a cell of some sort looking pretty wrecked with vervain growing in some sort of indoor greenhouse. He was locked in there as two men one of whom I recognized as Stefan watched from outside.

"Shit!" I quickly grabbed my phone and dialed Damon hoping I wasn't too late. "Pick up, Pick up, pick up!"

But I went straight to voicemail.

I tried again over and over again before sending him a text.

Damon pick up the phone! Something's going to happen!

I rang him at least ten more times before the phone was turned off.

"Shit." I said.

Meanwhile…

Damon groaned as he felt everything single one of his muscles ache. He felt weak and he could feel the vervain his brother had injected into him coursing through his veins. If that weren't bad enough his cell was filled with vervain courtesy of his nephew Zach. He was going to pay for that later.

He was weak and slipping in and out of consciousness. He could only hear bits and pieces of what they were saying outside, that and his phone ringing.

"I sent Caroline a text telling her it was over. That should be enough." Stefan said before the phone started buzzing.

"It's ringing again." Zach said.

"It's the same number." Stefan said. "Nora?"

"I've heard Damon talking on the phone to someone." Zach said before Stefan shut off the phone.

"She'll get the hint." Stefan said.

"Doubt that." Damon grumbled before passing out again.

The Following Morning…

I hadn't heard back from Damon and I was officially worried. I'd normally get a text back with some witty retort but nothing. Any calls I made got sent straight to voicemail. I was seriously considering heading straight to Mystic falls but there wasn't a lot I could do. I couldn't sneak into a vampire's home no matter how broody and 'vegan' that vampire was. Damon didn't really have friends so that was out.

So I did the only thing I could do. Spam his phone until hopefully someone picked up or I could hear Damon signal for help.

Three Days Later…

Damon slowly started to wake up. He was still weak but the vervain was working its way out of his system. He looked around before looking down at his finger and noticed his daylight ring was missing.

"Where is my ring?" Damon asked his brother who he knew was standing on the other side of his cell door.

"Won't be needing it anymore." Stefan said.

"How long have I been here?" Damon said.

"Three days." Stefan said as Damon's phone buzzed again and he sent it to voicemail.

"What are you doing?" Damon asked.

"During the dark ages when a vampire's actions threatened to expose or bring harm upon the entire race, they would face judgment. They sought to reeducate them rather than to punish them." He lectured making Damon roll his eyes.

"You know what will happen if I don't...feed on blood." Damon said feeling his thirst grow just thinking about it.

"You'll grow weaker and weaker. Eventually you won't be able to move or speak. In a week your skin will desiccate, and you'll mummify. A living corpse. Unable to hurt anyone. Ever." Stefan said.

"So what, you're just going to leave me in the basement, forever?" Damon said as his phone buzzed again.

"I've injected you with enough vervain to keep you weak. Once your circulation stops, I'll move you to the family crypt, and then in 50 years, we can reevaluate." Stefan said.

"I'm stronger than you think." Stefan said rejecting the call again.

"You always have been. But you're not stronger than the vervain. And we both know it. I'm sorry Nora won't get a chance to say goodbye to you but she's better off without you." Stefan said.

"You don't know what you're talking about." Damon said glaring at his brother.

"She's another poor girl you've leading on." Stefan said. "She hasn't stopped calling even after I texted her telling her you were done with her and to move on."

Damon just laughed. "You don't know Nora."

"It doesn't matter. You know it didn't have to be this way Damon." Stefan said. "it could have been different this time."

"No I made you a promise I plan on keeping." Damon said before Stefan walked away.

It was later in the day when Damon heard footsteps coming down the stairs. He had heard Stefan leave earlier which meant it could only be Zach.

Damon gathered all of his strength and tried to grab him but Zach was too fast at his current strength.

"I'm full of vervain. I've been putting it in my coffee for 16 years. My blood will only make you worse. Damon?" Zach said.

"So it was your vervain. Good for you. Good for you. Family only runs so deep." Damon said.

"We're not family, Damon. Only in the most dysfunctional sense. In fact, I avoided having a living, breathing, loving family because of you." Zach said.

"I don't guess I could talk you into bringing me a rabbit or something? I'd settle for Stefan's diet at this point." Damon said.

"You know I can't do that." Zach said.

"You succeeded, Zach. I'm shutting down. You're like your grandfather. He didn't like it when I came to visit, either." Damon said.

"But you don't visit, Damon. You appear, unannounced, reminding me that this isn't my house; that you're just permitting me to live here. Hell, that you're permitting me to live." Zach said and Damon couldn't argue with that.

"Someone had to mow the lawn." He said.

"I came to say good-bye, Damon." Zach said getting closer to get one last look at him. Damon took advantage and grabbed him by the throat.

"Unlock it. Unlock the door, Zach." Damon growled but Stefan ran in and wrestles Zach free.

"Keep it up, Damon. The more energy you expend, the faster you'll go." Stefan said before ushering Zach back upstairs.

"Nora is never going to let me live this down" Damon thought to himself.

Later that Night…

"I bet you're feeling pretty good about yourself, aren't you?" Damon said.

"Not particularly." Stefan said.

"You won. You got the bad guy. Now nothing could come between you and Elena. Except the truth. The lies will catch up to you, Stefan. As long as you keep lying to yourself about what you are." Damon said.

"The beauty of you in there and me out here...is that I can walk away." Stefan said.

"For now." Damon said.

Back in New York….

I called Damon with no response yet again but I knew something was wrong especially after the weird 'break up' text 'he' sent me. Damon definitely got the brains in his family.

I was checking all the local news broadcasts from Mystic Falls to see if any dead bodies had shown up, or any unidentified ones matching Damon's description. So far nothing but I couldn't wait around much longer.

The Following Day…

Damon had finally managed to get out of his cell and gotten his revenge on his nephew thanks to Caroline's help. Unfortunately without his ring he couldn't leave the house until dark. Once he did though he found a bunch of drunk teenagers in the cemetery to snack on.

He looked at his phone and saw all the missed calls from Nora and smiled at the fact that she hadn't given up on him yet. He was going to call her but he had things to take care of first.

"Hello?" Stefan answered.

"I want my ring." Damon demanded.

"Where are you?" Stefan asked.

"I'm at the sizzler." Damon answered as he burned the bodies to cover his tracks. "I had the buffet. Where's my ring?"

"I don't have it. Where are you? What have you done?" Stefan said.

"No, what have you done? You're the one that locked me in the basement and starved me, so whatever I've done, whoever I've sucked dry is on you, buddy." Damon retorted

"You're being careless. How many more animal attacks is this town gonna believe, huh?" Stefan asked.

"I know how to cover my tracks, Stefan. Where's my ring?" Damon said steering the conversation back on track.

"I gave it to Zach to hide. Probably shouldn't have killed him." He lied.

"Ah, you almost got me. Where is it?" Damon insisted.

"I'll get it back, but I need time." Stefan caved.

"What, did you FedEx it to Rome?! Where is it? I want my ring, Stefan, or my next stop's Elena's." Damon said.

"I already want you dead. Don't give me another reason to make it happen." He threatened and Damon smirked.

"Don't give me another reason to rip you apart." Damon said.

"Yeah? Is that gonna be before or after you get your ring back?" Stefan said.

"Just get it." Damon said before hanging up and continued cleaning up after himself.

The Following Morning- New York

I was packing my bags finally having enough of waiting around doing nothing. I was also on the phone arguing with the airline who wanted to send me on a five hour layover to Nashville to get to Richmond when my phone started buzzing letting me know there was another call coming in.

"I'm going to put you on hold fix it!" I demanded before answering. "Hello?"

"Hey Red. Miss me?" Damon said.

"Damon what the hell?! I've been worried sick about you." I said.

"Sorry, my little brother decided I needed a time out." He said.

"No shit." I said.

"If you're about to say I told you so don't." He said.

"I'm not but let's just agree that when the oracle gets one of her bad feelings and strongly suggests being more careful you should listen to her." I said.

"I listen." Damon said. "You could have let me know sooner."

"What do you think I've been trying to do the last four days. After I passed out, literally I might add, calling you was the first thing I did." I said.

"You passed out." Damon said.

"Yeah, it was a pretty big one. The living room is a mess." I said zipping my bag closed. "Where are you?"

"I'm at the house." He said.

"What? Why would you be there? Your brother and nephew who locked you up are there." I said.

"Well I don't have anywhere else to be and I can't be outside without my ring. Don't worry Stefan's out dealing with Elena and Zach's dead." Damon said. "And before you say anything…"

"He dosed you with vervain and helped locked you up, he deserved it." I said.

"Oh, Wasn't expecting that." Damon said.

"I'm not against killing in self defense… or killing bitchy airline representatives." I said.

"Airline? Where are you going?" Damon said.

"Mystic Falls." I said.

"That's funny I could have sworn you just said…" he started.

"I'm going and you're not going to stop me because if there's anything the last couple of days have shown it's that you need someone there to watch your back and I'm tired of just sitting around while you're over there almost being mummified so I'll be there tonight, if you get your ring back pick me up at the airport if not I'll take a cab and see you at your house." I said.

"Nora don't…" he started.

"It's happening, get on board. I'll text you my flight details see you tonight." With that I hung up.

Back in Mystic Falls…

"Nora?!" Damon warned but she had hung up. "Shit."

"Girlfriend problems?" Vicki said as she woke up.

"Best friend's coming to visit and it's not a great time." He said.

"You sure she's just a friend?" Vicki said.

"Yes." Damon groaned.

"Doesn't sound like it." Vicki taunted.

"You want a drink? I could use a drink." Damon said going to his at home bar.

That night…

I was on standby at the airport for hours before I finally got a last minute spot on a flight to Richmond, from there I was going to have to take a 45 minute flight to a the local regional airport. I texted Damon and told him at what time I'd land.

Judging by the short response he was probably still annoyed at Stefan and hadn't gotten his ring back. He still had a few hours and I really hoped he figured things out by then because I was not looking forward to taking a bus into town.

The flight was bumpy to say the least, it was hard to focus on work when I spent most of the time debating whether I should be writing my last will and testament.

I swear I almost kissed the ground when they let us out of the plane. I grabbed my suitcase and walked out of the airport. Low and behold right at the door was Damon and that blue Camaro.

It was good to see him though I could tell the feeling was not entirely mutual.

"Miss me?" I said holding my arms out for a hug.

"I thought we agreed you were going to wait in New York." He said with his arms crossed.

"We never agreed on anything you just said 'you're staying in New York' and walked out. Besides you obviously need me." I said taking my phone out and showing him the drawing of him in his cell.

"I got out didn't I?" Damon said.

"You really expected me to sit around doing nothing after seeing that? What would you have done if that was me?" I asked.

"Difference is I can take a hit." He said. "And you are very breakable."

"You were the one that said I needed to get out more." I said.

Damon glared at me but after a minute gave in.

"What am I going to do with you?" Damon said giving me a side hug as he took my bags and opened the car door for me.

"Keep me around?" I suggested.

"Very funny. Did you bring the entire apartment?" He said loading the bags into the car trunk.

"Funny you should say that, I sublet the loft." I said.

"What?" Damon said getting into the car.

"It's a short term lease with the possibility of extending it if we end up staying here and we can kick them out at any time if we change our minds." I said.

"Did you at least gauge them on the rent?" He asked.

"It's New York of course I did." I said.

"That's my girl." He said with a smirk. "You hungry? I could go for a burger."

"Oh you finally get to show me the famous Grill you keep raving about." I said.

"I wasn't raving about it. It's literally the only decent watering hole in town." Damon said. "Besides I was thinking more like a diner off the interstate, I'm a bit thirsty unless you're offering."

"Life or death situations only." I said. "We'll find you a nice fat trucker."

"I was thinking more along the lines of a waitress but with the day I've had I'll take whatever comes first." He said.

I sat down at the diner and ordered for us while Damon went out back to get his drink. When he came back he was in a better mood.

"Here." Damon said sliding a black velvet pouch towards me.

"Aw you got me a welcoming present?" I said opening it and taking out a gold antique charm bracelet with a gold charm with a bird engraved and different grey and sandstone pendants. "This is gorgeous."

"It's just something I had lying around, it's for protection." He said putting it onto my left wrist for me. "It has vervain so you don't get compelled."

"Vervain?" I said surprised. "I thought it was almost impossible to get?"

"So did I, turns out Zach had his own growing operation going on in the basement. He was supplying the whole town." Damon said.

"Did you get rid of it?" I asked.

"Most of it." He said. "I kept a bit for the bracelet and there's a bit more I'm going to use to get on the Sheriff's good side."

"Maybe it'll help make up for the fact you were a shitty boyfriend to her daughter." I said.

"Oh please I did the girl a favor besides the sheriff is so busy with work she didn't even realize I was dating Caroline." Damon said.

"What is up with the parents in this town?" I said.

"Who knows." Damon said. "I booked you a room at the town square inn. Nice place they do a nice brunch."

"An Inn? I thought I'd crash with you at your giant house." I said.

"Normally yes but there's a baby vampire staying there at the moment and it's better if you're not there." Damon said.

"Baby Vampire?" I said and Damon played innocent and sipped on his milkshake. "Are you freaking kidding me? You swore you never to turn anyone after what happened with Isobel."

"And I meant it but things got complicated and I needed to prove a point to Stefan." Damon said. "Besides I did the girl a favor. Vicki had absolutely no self esteem to the point she was sleeping with Elena's kid brother because he made her feel good about herself. It was a second chance."

"Normally yeah but she also happens to have a bit of a drug problem and with the heightened emotions don't you think that might put her in… ripper territory?" I said.

"I realized that and I was going to take care of it but Stefan got in the way and now he helping her get on the bunny diet." Damon said.

"I don't need a vision to know that is going to blow up in his face." I said.

"I know but no one ever listens to me." Damon said.

After we finished eating we headed into town which was pretty nice as far as I could tell. I checked in and made my way up to my room with Damon carrying everything behind me.

"This is nice." I said looking around.

"Well it's no Plaza or Ritz but it'll do." Damon said falling onto the bed.

"It's a bit ironic how picky you are considering you lived in a time where you didn't have toilets that flushed." I said.

"I know how to appreciate the finer things in life." Damon said kicking off his shoes.

I did the same and jumped on the bed next to him. "You look tired."

"It was a rough few day." He said turning on his side to face me. "I'm glad you're here."

"Missed you too." I said smiling before closing my eyes and going to sleep.