I promess I'll answer all comments, but for now I just felt the need of sharing another chapter s2
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Just my imagination
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If someone told Emma that she would look forward to going back to work, she would say that the person was crazy. But there she was, sitting in the kitchen organizing her first classes of the semester while Damon helped Elena make food. The girl had decided to prepare the famous Gilbert chilli for the founders' party hosted by Mayor Lockwood, and Damon seemed quite willing to help, which made Emma angry.
Elena had spent much of the summer searching for Stefan, dragging Alaric, Emma and Damon back and forth until she finally understood that the vampire didn't want to be found. The older Salvatore seemed concerned about the girl and had become a very recurring presence in the house. And, again, this irritated Emma. A selfish part of her wanted Damon to be hers alone, to only share moments like that with her, and it was quite painful to realize that the scene before her eyes closely resembled the one the older girl had experienced with the vampire as soon as the two had made up after Katherine had broken her leg.
Perhaps it wouldn't be so painful if she wasn't already intimately bothered by the fact that her relationship with Damon was not, in fact, a relationship. Yes, they had agreed to be friends with benefits. He had also made it very clear that he didn't do the dating type, although images of the vampire introducing Andy as his girlfriend were very fresh in Emma's memory.
Damon took the spoon Elena was using to stir the pot, and the girl giggled, pushing the vampire away with her hip. Emma felt her shoulders stiffen and it took a lot of effort for the girl to disguise her annoyance. Inwardly, Emma knew that she shouldn't be bothered. Damon liked her, cared about her, but that was it. She was someone important to him, and someone he had been fucking for the past month. The two of them were adults, so this arrangement was the most normal thing in the world. Rationally, Emma knew this. But that didn't stop something bad from stubbornly sticking in her chest.
Silently, Emma gathered up the bundle of papers she had spread across the table, picked up her pen, and sneaked out of the kitchen. She dumped the utensils on the living room counter on the way, picked up a pack of cigarettes from the cabinet drawer, and left for the porch. As soon as she closed the door behind her, she found Alaric sitting by the eaves of the porch with a glass propped up in his lap.
"What are you drinking?", Emma asked, walking over to the man and sitting down across from him. Alaric smiled weakly at his friend, picked up the glass and held it out to her as if to toast.
"Orange juice" he replied.
"That's very responsible of you" Emma commented, smiling back. Alaric shrugged, and the girl lit a cigarette and took the first drag.
"I could use some of these though" the professor said, pointing with his forefinger to the cigarette between Emma's lips. The girl could not restrain her surprise and arched an eyebrow. "Just give me one and shut up".
"I didn't say anything" Emma replied, shrugging and holding back her laughter. The girl picked up a cigarette and handed it to her friend, who positioned it between his lips and leaned over so she could light it. Emma propped herself up beside him and felt the comfort of the man's arm rubbing against hers. "Jokes aside, I'm really happy you're better".
"Jenna would want me to be functional to help you out" Alaric shrugged.
"She would want you to be happy too" Emma replied and turned her face to the man, meeting the professor's greenish eyes under his brown, frowning eyebrows. "You can take your time, but... I want you to know that it's okay to move on. When you're ready, I mean".
"I got it, Emma" Alaric cut her off, but his eyes were fond. "Thank you".
"I'm the one who should be thanking you for coming here everyd..."
"Hello Mr. Saltzman, hello Emma" Caroline's voice came up next to them, and when the two turned around, they found the blonde accompanied by a smiling Bonnie. Emma smiled at the vampire and then at the witch, "Is Elena in there?"
"Yeah, she'll be happy to see you" Emma replied. "Glad you're back, Bonnie".
"I'm glad too. Is Jeremy in there too?"
"He is", Emma replied and put out her cigarette against the porch fence. The two girls smiled at the two and walked into the house, making a point of ringing the doorbell loudly to attract attention.
Emma and Alaric watched the three girls jumping for joy, hugging each other and letting out happy squeals, and it reminded Emma of when she was a little younger than that and acted the same way with Jenna. The young woman felt her eyes water and looked away to the backyard.
"How can you be Emma and I'm Mr. Saltzman?", Alaric asked as soon as the girls disappeared into the house. Emma let out a giggle through her nose and discreetly dried her eyes with the sleeve of the white shirt she was wearing. The young woman stared at her friend.
"I like to think it's because of all the amount of money I put on my skincare routine", she joked, and Alaric let out a laugh. The man then put out his own cigarette and held out his hand for Emma to hand him the cigarette butt that she had been smoking. She handed it to him, and the man also disappeared into the house, in search of a trash can. Emma remained sitting on the porch, staring at the street. Her attention was caught by the vehicle parked in front of the house. I should inflate the tires, she thought.
Damon hadn't realized at what point Emma had left the kitchen, but as soon as he realized she was missing, he felt uneasy and could barely follow up with Elena. When the doorbell rang and Caroline and Bonnie came screaming into the house he was relieved, and decided to use the opportunity to look for the young woman he had grown accustomed to always having by his side.
The vampire found her on the porch, and for a few seconds he watched her from afar. She was wearing a very worn and crumpled white bottom shirt, which he had seen her wear a few times before. The jeans shorts were quite short but didn't stick to her legs. Emma was barefoot, a habit he had already noticed she had. Her almost golden-brown hair was tied up in a messy bun, held back only by a pen she had found on the kitchen counter. Emma was beautiful in her own way. While Elena had the traditional, familiar Katherine beauty, and Caroline was Barbie herself, Emma had something all her own. It was as if she made no effort and yet she always looked beautiful.
"You're quiet" Damon commented, moving closer to Emma. The vampire propped his crossed elbows on the porch fence beside her and lifted his face until he could lock his icy eyes with her whiskey-colored ones. He frowned.
"Missing my voice?", Emma joked, trying to scare away the thoughts that insisted on sticking to her mind. Damon smirked.
"Maybe" he replied, shrugging. "You left me in there alone with that horrible chilli. You know I'm a needy puppy".
Emma let out a laugh.
"That's hardly true" she replied, and Damon cracked a sincere smile, "You have the council meeting, right?"
"Yeah" the vampire huffed, straightening upright and stretching his back. "Why?"
"I think Ric wants to go with you" Emma replied and Damon frowned. "To represent the Gilberts".
"He's not a Gilbert" Damon commented. "Why not you?"
"I'm not a Gilbert either" Emma punctuated. "He's a hunter, he's a good add to the council".
"Well, lucky him for having such a good advocate" the vampire debauched, still frowning. He crossed his arms and wandered his gaze to the car parked in front of the house. "You need to inflate the tires of your trashcar".
Emma couldn't restrain her smile and stared at Damon, who stood with stiff shoulders and very blue eyes haunted by thick black eyebrows. The girl reached out and positioned her index finger between his eyebrows and massaged the spot. Damon relaxed his shoulders.
"You're more like a jealous puppy" she teased, and Damon snorted.
"I'm not jealous" he replied as if that were absurd. "We're friends who fuck, not boyfriend and girlfriend. Best arrangement ever, I must add".
Emma's finger froze in place and she felt her heart take a single leap before it continued beating normally. It was the same unpleasant feeling as going down a roller coaster or getting a big scare, and she struggled to remain impassive. The young woman retracted her hand and instinctively closed her fist against her chest, and the movement did not go unnoticed by the vampire, who stared at her curiously.
Damon enjoyed the fact that he knew Emma so well that he could read her gestures and body movements, and for that very reason he knew that something in what he had said had, intimately, hurt the girl. Before he could catch her hand between his own, however, the front door of the house opened with a bang and the three girls burst out laughing.
Elena stopped in front of Emma and looked at her cousin and the vampire quickly with her gaze, looking a little annoyed, before finally opening her mouth.
"We're already going" the younger girl announced to her cousin, and then immediately looked at Damon. "Can you take the chilli? It's a heavy pot".
"Sure" the vampire replied.
Damon, who was more perceptive than Emma, noticed that Elena was not wearing the necklace that represented her relationship with Stefan, and something stirred inside his chest. He watched as the three girls walked to Caroline's car and started the vehicle. When he turned his attention back to Emma, the young woman was already on her feet, straightening her shorts.
"Well, I need a shower", she commented. "Meet you all at the founders party".
The vampire understood from Emma's tone that, unlike other times the two had been alone in the house, this was not an invitation for him to join her in the shower, and he let her into the house alone. The two of them were keeping whatever the two of them had only between the two of them. It wasn't as if he wanted to keep it a secret, not least because he was pretty sure that the whole neighborhood had heard a few times that the two of them had had sex there, but at the same time, the two of them didn't make it obvious to the public that they were not only friends, but also had a more intimate relationship.
So, taking a deep breath, the vampire walked to the kitchen, picked up the pot of chili, and walked to his car. Before starting, he typed a message to Emma, asking her to let him know when she would arrive at the party. He threw his cell phone on the passenger seat and started the car. He drove to the square in front of the city hall, dropped the chilli on the food table, and walked to the place where they would have the council meeting later.
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Emma, who was feeling melancholy from the moment she woke up, took a long shower and put on jeans and a white T-shirt. She combed her hair and decided to put on her only pair of tennis shoes. Before leaving the house, she passed by the sideboard in the hallway and stared thoughtfully at all the photographs there. Photos of Elena, Jeremy and their parents, photos of family reunions, photos of her and Jenna as children.
She finally decided to postpone going to the party in the square and got into the car, determined to have a moment in the company of the one who had been her best friend. She drove to the cemetery, parked the car, and walked briskly to Jenna's headstone. Although it had been a few months since her aunt died, the grass had not yet grown over the earth, which caused a bitter feeling in the girl. It was as if it was there to remind her that the loss had been recent, that it would take time for it to stop hurting.
Emma knelt in front of the tombstone and sat on her heels. She spotted, in front of the large white marble stone, a small arrangement of flowers that she herself had left a few weeks before. The flowers were already wilted and had lost their color, and she regretted not stopping at a flower shop before going there.
Jenna was missed, missed more than Emma was used to feeling. The young woman had suffered a lot when she lost her parents, it was true, but that was so long ago that, if she was honest, she didn't even remember what it was like to have them with her. For years she felt alone, even when she was with Tom. She never felt welcome with his family, never felt a sense of belonging among his group of friends in England and was simply used to living alone. But then she came back to Mystic Falls and Jenna welcomed her with open arms, including her in the little family they had formed, and she felt loved again. Jenna was the glue that kept Emma attached to that family, and without her, Emma felt like an intruder again.
"You were so much better than me at this. At everything to be honest", Emma commented, playing with the flower petals between her fingers. "I wish you were here, you know? You always knew the right thing to say, the right thing to do." The girl sighed. "It's so weird to think that our house was always full when we were young. It was you, me, mom, dad, uncle Grayson and aunt Miranda, your parents. So full of people. And we would sneak around to smoke some pot, and John would find us and never say a word. Now it's just me, Jer and Elena, and I feel so left out. Jeremy has his own life going on, and Elena... Sometimes I can't even be around her. I feel bad about this, but I just..." I just feel so threatened by her, she wanted to say, but she knew it was ridiculous to say it out loud, even for a dead aunt. "I just miss you".
It was bad this feeling of not belonging. Even though Klaus was gone, the danger was finally over, in a way, and everyone there was no longer living their days in order to protect Elena, still Emma felt that everything was still revolving around her cousin. There was no more danger, it was true, but now everyone seemed concerned about keeping the girl happy, since Stefan was no longer with her. Damon seemed concerned about keeping Elena happy, and that bothered her, because she felt left out.
Emma sighed one last time and stood silently, staring at the letters engraved on the headstone. Time and again an intrusive thought plagued her. The thought that it should be her buried there, and not Jenna. Klaus had looked for her, and not Jenna. Maybe, she thought, if she hadn't forgotten her cell phone in the Gilbert kitchen, maybe it would be her there, and not Jenna.
"I thought I'd find you here", Emma heard behind her, and found Jeremy standing with his hands inside his pockets, smiling at her in a sign of comfort. The girl smiled weakly and waited for the boy to sit down next to her on the floor, "I miss her, a lot".
"Me too" Emma whispered back.
Jeremy wriggled uncomfortably on the floor and shoved his hands into his pockets, frowning. Emma stared at him curiously.
"I can't see her" the boy muttered.
"What?"
"Jenna. I think about her a lot, but I've never..." he shook his head to the side and snorted. Emma waited for him to continue talking. The boy then stared at her. "Can I tell you something?"
"Always", she replied.
"Since Bonnie brought me back, I've... I've been seeing ghosts", Jeremy commented in a low voice, and waited for his cousin's reaction. Emma, however, just took a deep breath. For some reason, this didn't surprise her. Living in a town full of vampires, werewolves, and witches could do that to a person.
"Who do you see?" Emma asked, and Jeremy felt a weight lifting off his shoulders. It was nice to finally be able to talk about this with someone other than Bonnie.
"At first it was Vicky, but then... I've been seeing Anna too".
"Anna, the vampire Elena talked about that time?", Emma asked. Since Damon had shown her to be a vampire, Elena and Caroline had slowly filled her in on the events prior to her arrival in Mystic Falls. She knew about the important events, but in little detail. Mainly because much of the details involved a certain ice-eyed vampire who was more locked up than a bank vault.
"Yeah, that Anna" Jeremy replied.
Jeremy then narrated to her the conflicting feelings he was experiencing, after all, he had been in love with Anna. The boy even confided in her that he was having mixed feelings about Bonnie, and that he didn't know how to act now that the girl was back from a trip and his ex-dead-girlfriend was around.
"Sometimes I wish I could just... Spend some time away, you know?" the boy commented. Emma stroked his shoulder.
"Me too" she confessed.
"I'm glad you're here, you know?", Jeremy said, as if he could read her thoughts. "I don't know what we would do without you. What I would do without you".
"You'd be just fine" she replied.
"No. I wouldn't", the boy stubbornly replied. "You mean a lot to us all, Emma. There are things I can only share with you, because I know you'll understand it. Alaric is doing better because of you too".
Emma didn't answer, she just smiled at her cousin. Jeremy sighed and faced the headstone again.
"There was that time when you and Jenna took me to the falls, remember?" the boy asked, and Emma cracked her first sincere smile. She remembered.
"Your father went mad, and John found us. I was grounded for weeks", she commented, and he laughed. "I'm pretty sure John enjoyed seeing me and Jenna locked inside the house after that".
"I'm pretty sure too" Jeremy answered, laughing. "We should go there".
"Now?", Emma questioned, turning to the boy with an arched eyebrow.
"Yeah, why not?"
"What about the party?" she asked.
"I don't know about you, but I'm craving for some time away from ghosts, girlfriends and vampire drama", Jeremy said, and the comment drew a big smile from the woman. Emma ruffled his hair.
"And that's why you were always my favorite", she teased. "Let's move then, it's a three hours' drive".
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Damon checked his cell phone a few times during the council meeting, feeling annoyed that he hadn't heard from Emma. He also didn't see her in the square or anywhere else. Her cell phone went to voicemail every time he tried to call, Elena and Caroline were not with Emma, and he found himself getting closer and closer to taking the car and going after her. After one last attempt at a call, which again fell through the voicemail, Damon shoved his cell phone into his pocket and snorted angrily.
"Always so grumpy", Bonnie commented, picking up a glass of juice and stopping beside the vampire.
"Don't have time for our little 'vampire-witchy-hatred-bond', Bonbon" he grumbled. "What do you want?"
Bonnie looked uncomfortable and worried. The witch reached into her pocket and pulled out Elena's necklace. Damon frowned.
"I'm not sure yet, and I didn't want to make a big deal out of it, but..." the girl seemed to hesitate. "I think someone is trying to track Elena".
"Track Elena?", Damon questioned. "Stefan?"
"Maybe, I'm not sure" Bonnie replied. "Perhaps it's nothing, but... I felt an energy. Witch energy. I'm pretty sure it's some kind of tracking spell".
"But Stefan knows where she is" Damon commented, sensing that something was wrong. Bonnie stared at him, and the witch's green eyes denoted that she shared the same feeling. The vampire took a deep breath, afraid to vocalize what was on his mind and receive a confirmation from the witch in front of him. "Klaus?" he finally asked. Bonnie swallowed dryly.
"I don't know", she replied. "Stefan wouldn't tell him that she's alive, right?"
Damon froze in place, felt his shoulders stiffen and his jaw lock. The truth was, he didn't know what Stefan was capable of anymore. His brother had, again, become unpredictable, and he didn't know the extent of Stefan's connection to Klaus.
"Damon, can we talk?" sheriff Forbes asked, approaching the two. Damon looked from Liz to Bonnie and caught the witch by the elbow. The sheriff stared at the vampire in bewilderment.
"She's coming with us, we have a lot to talk about before you share what we know with the council" Damon explained.
Liz led Damon and Bonnie to a room in the town hall, where Carol was waiting. Bonnie and Damon shared their theory that Klaus was coming back to town, and that he was aiming to form hybrids. The vampire was mentally grateful that the witch seemed to have followed his lead in not commenting on Stefan. The four of them went on for hours talking about how the town could prepare to finish Klaus off and prevent more hybrids from being made, until Bonnie left to take a call. The sheriff and the mayor adjourned the meeting and left, leaving Damon alone.
The vampire didn't even have time to pick up his cell phone and try to call Emma, when Bill entered the room and the two of them got into a heated argument, which ended with Damon driving his fangs into the man's neck. Caroline appeared upon hearing her father's cry of pain and, to Damon's surprise, defended the man who had tortured her a few days earlier. The two got into an intense body fight, and Damon didn't expect little Barbie to be so pissed off that she could actually hurt him.
By the time he was free of Caroline, night had fallen and the party was winding down. Damon found Elena and Bonnie talking quietly in a corner. Elena looked worried, her hands were on her waist, and she looked everywhere, as if she was looking for someone. The vampire walked over to the two, and just as he got close, Alaric came up panting.
"Nothing" the man exclaimed, and Elena combed her hair back with her fingers nervously.
"What's going on?", Damon asked.
"Katherine took the necklace, she posed as Elena, and now we can't find Jeremy and Emma" Bonnie replied. Damon's eyes widened and he stared at the witch, who returned his gaze. The two communicated without exchanging a single word, and the vampire felt a lump forming in his throat.
"You go to the house and stay there, I'll go find Emma and Jeremy" Damon spoke, and Alaric nodded positively.
"I'm coming with you, I won't let them get hurt because of..." Elena tried to say, but Damon snorted angrily.
"Stop being stupid, Elena!" the vampire replied without patience. "Just go home, lock everything and stay inside. Ric and Bonnie will make guard".
Alaric caught Elena and Bonnie by the arm and practically dragged the two into the car. Damon tried a few more times to call Emma, to no avail. Jeremy wasn't answering his cell phone either, and the vampire began to get desperate. He got into the car and drove off, wandering all over town, his eyes watchful like a hawk's, looking for any sign of Emma and her cousin.
Damon punched the steering wheel hard as he passed, for the fourth time that night, in front of the grill. He wished he had a way to communicate with Stefan, just to make sure Klaus was well away from Emma. The vampire pulled into the driveway of the Gilbert house and tried one last time to call Emma. The call didn't even ring, it was as if her battery was dead. Damon threw the cell phone against the passenger seat, frustrated.
"Damn it, Emma!" he yelled, punching the steering wheel again. When he raised his eyes, he spotted her car approaching the Gilbert garage. Releasing the breath he didn't even know he had locked inside his lungs, Damon pulled on the brakes and turned off the car, exited the vehicle, and walked briskly to the house. Then he saw Jeremy slam the car door. The boy had a backpack over his shoulder and his shirt was crumpled and mud-stained. Emma didn't look much different, and Damon sighed with relief to see her laughing at her cousin's comment.
The vampire walked over to the two and, past the worry, allowed himself to be pissed.
"Where the fuck have you been?" he asked, and Emma turned startled toward him, who stood with his arms crossed in front of his chest, staring at her with frowning eyebrows and a tense body. Damon looked her over completely, noticing that her wavy hair was slightly tangled, her shirt was a little damp, and the hem of her pants was muddy. Jeremy hissed and quietly walked into the house, leaving the two of them there, as if to get away with a lecture.
"Took Jeremy to the falls" Emma replied, unintentionally, and then frowned. "Why, is everything okay?"
"Oh, everything is great!", Damon exclaimed, irritated. "Glad your had fun while the rest of us were here dealing with everything".
"Why are you so angry?", Emma asked, crossing her arms.
"Oh, let me see, because by now Klaus fucking knows that Elena is alive and you weren't here!"
Emma's eyes widened. Surely, she was not expecting this news.
"What?" she asked.
"Yeah, while you were pretending to be little mermaid in the falls, we were here trying to think of how we can prepare for when Klaus comes back, since he knows Elena is alive". Damon looked annoyed, and Emma felt her jaw lock. Of course, it was always about Elena. She would take a single afternoon off to escape from Elenaland, and when she came back, everything was even worse. The girl crossed her arms and huffed.
"Is she okay?", Emma asked, and Damon frowned.
"She's inside", he simply replied.
"Then what's wrong? You're mad because I wasn't here? She was with you, and It's not like I would make such a difference, you're the vampire here, not me".
"That's not even the fucking point", he sighed angrily.
"Then what's the point?" she questioned, equally irritated.
"The point it's he's coming here and I didn't know where you were! What if he got you, huh? What if he hurted you? You can't just fucking vanish while he's alive and coming back here!"
Emma felt disarmed and uncrossed her arms but didn't respond. She just stared at the vampire, whose icy eyes were glued to hers. And then Emma did something that brought up a specific memory to the vampire. She walked with determined steps towards him, uncrossed his arms using her hands, and hugged him tightly, burying her face in his chest. Damon felt his body relax and found himself unable to stay mad at her, and he pressed her against him, burying his nose in her hair, which smelled like grass.
"Next time I'll charge my phone" she commented with her face buried in his chest. Damon pressed her even tighter against him.
"There won't be a next time, doll. You're not getting out of my sight", he replied. "And I'm still waiting for you to apologize and tell me that you'll never go anywhere without me again".
Emma giggled and lifted her face, causing the feeling of the tip of her nose rubbing against the length of his chest to cause the vampire's belly button to tug. Damon deposited a kiss on her forehead and pulled her toward the Camaro.
"Why are w..."
"We're going to the Boarding House" he simply said, opening the door of the Camaro for her to enter. The girl arched an eyebrow. "No comments about me opening the door for you. You worried me, and made me angry, and I want to fuck you until you forget your own name, so you're going with me to my very empty house with a very large kitchen table".
Emma couldn't hold back her laughter and got into the car. Damon drove to the Boarding House and, as promised, fucked Emma in the kitchen table.
