"I'm - I'm sorry.
I don't - I don't mean to stare.
It's just I don't get to look at you very often.
Just look.

I'm usually working, scanning the perimeter, protecting my president the way I do.
I'm in the room, but I'm never in the room.
You're usually in the corner of my eye.
I've never seen you.

And you are beautiful.

The face that launched a thousand ships."

Tom Larsen, Scandal~

…

It had begun.

Marcella doesn't move, doesn't make any attempt to escape. For that long moment she stands completely still staring into his eyes transfixed. She can see it all, for one singular moment, she stands in his misery. Feels his pain. Etched deep within his soul, brimming in the reflection of his sharp dangerous eyes. His brow raises, a precarious expression morphing into his features as his grip loosens. He releases his hold completely but she still doesn't move.

He takes a predatory step around her, examining her. Marcella follows the movement with her eyes watching him carefully. "You are either really brave or extremely stupid." The words are spoken tauntingly, she can't help but to agree with that assessment.

"You can't hurt me any worse than I've already been." Her soft spoken words halt him completely in his stride. They're broken words, painful and alarmingly beautiful all in one go. But she doesn't speak them like that, she doesn't seem to be affected by them. Just the way things were.

Damon's predatorial smirk falls as for one tiny second his humanity reaches for him. Grasping at him desperately, it takes almost all of him to push it back to keep those haunting feelings at bay. He takes one more glance at her, a soft smile on her lips, eyes curious, unafraid and he leaves her standing there alone. There are other drunk humans around. She had become an unappealing meal.

Marcella tilts her head looking deeply at the spot the vampire has just vacated. Well then. She shook her head and headed back to the raging party. It was time to go home.

She arrives just in time to hear someone yelling for help. Marcella carefully makes her way over to the main crowd coming to stand next to Caroline, who she can already tell is drunk upset. They watch from that spot frozen as Jeremy carries a bloody Vicki out the woods. Guilt washed over her in intense waves, she can't but to feel responsible. Because she knows.

It's decided that they're going to go to Mainlines following the arrival of EMTs. Marcella drives them, Bonnie and Caroline that is. They needed a moment to themselves, enough time to pull themselves together before going home. "Marcie are you okay?" Bonnie asks when they sit down.

"Yeah I'm fine. Did Elena and Jeremy make it home okay?" Bonnie nods in affirmation just as Caroline groans from her spot. Both girls give her a concerned look each asking if she's alright. Caroline goes off on a tangent one that Marcella has heard more than once so she sort of spaced out. Her mind still recalling on the meeting in the wood.

She doesn't noticed the vampire watching them a few tables over. But it doesn't mean he doesn't notice her.

Early the next morning after her mother has left for work and Caroline to school she gets up and heads over to her dance studio. She needed to clear her head and the only way she knew was to lose herself to the movements even if it was only for a few minutes. Marcella owned the small studio above a small flower and coffee shop in the square, Bill had bought the space for her out of his guilt right after he left them, it also worked as a place where she held lessons.

The shop owner, a young man who'd taken over for his mother who owed the bottom floor of the building waved at her through the glass that seperated the entrance to the stairs and his shop. She threw a smile at him over her shoulder while unlocking the old paint chipped door. It was likely that in the next thirty or so minutes he'd bring her a muffin or a coffee. He was a good business neighbor.

She bounded up the stairs taking them almost two at a time, turning on the light once she reached the second floor. Marcella smiled to herself as she went around the spacious studio, throwing the multiple window curtains open as she went. Finally she came to a stop in front of the audio setup, a small speaker with an aux cord for her ipod. Sometimes the things she missed the most from her life before was the music, so many of her favorite songs hadn't even come out yet. The thought made her sad so she pushed it away for now deciding on a good song. It was time to stretch.

She tied her hair up while walking over to the center of the room, all of the anxiety and uncertainty she'd been feeling since the night before she let fall off of her shoulders. Since her ipod wasn't on shuffle as she knew this playlist well it meant she had the first song to warm up and the next would be the one she would throw herself into.

Each step, each small movement, turn, rise and fall of her chest, in that moment it was just her. No thoughts of vampires or the supernatural shit show that was about to wash over mystic falls like rains from hell. No consequence just the music, just her, alone. When the songs comes to its end Marcella falls into a heap on the floor, tears streaming down her cheeks. She pulls her knees to her chest burying her face in them.

All of this was just too much for her. Marcella hadn't signed up for this. This wasn't something she had the mental capacity to just handle. It was going to take her several more breakdown before she could just accept the current standings. She sobbed. Alone in the confines of her studio, because she knew that she wasn't going to get another chance.

She pushes herself from the floor whipping her tears on her sleeve, forcing the smile on her lips. There was nothing she could do. Nothing she could do to change anything that was about to happen. Marcella took a deep breath pushing back all of her uncertainty, it was time to move forward.

x

After stopping by the hospital to check on Matt and Vicki, Marcella headed to the grill for lunch. Her mother had said she was going to meet her, but if the teen was being honest she didn't think it was going to happen. Marcella knew her mom was busy. She'd brought her laptop with her to work on her enrollment forms. For her new dance students.

"Is this seat taken?" That voice. Marcella looks up slowly blinking owlishly as her brain tries to process the spoken question. She smiles at him after a half second.

"Not at the moment. You are welcome to sit." She states, tone pleasant. He slid into the booth across from her. Marcella closed her laptop for the moment, she hold her hand out to him from across the table.

His brow raises and he accepts the hand delicately. "Marcella." She introduces a smile still on her lips. He offered her a cautious look in return. A waiter brings over a plate of cheesy fries, she says a quiet thank you and the young girl walks away. He watches the exchange closely, determining his next move.

"Damon." Marcella nods, the handshake falls. She resumes her typing. Her eyes never leave his.

"It's nice to meet you." She tells him, and Damon gets the feeling that she means it too. He gets the feeling that she always means it.

He throws her a cocky grin. "It's always nice to meet me." She smirks, the look a little strange on her gentle face. Damon thinks she can't be older than sixteen at most. Marcella still has baby fat around her face, mostly in her cheeks which seem to highlight the freckles dusted across them.

She was a pretty young thing. With a mostly innocent demeanor, he bet she'd never known a day of hardship or pain in her life. From looking at her anyway. But then his mind went back to the haunted look in her eyes, the tone of her voice, the way her breathing had suddenly hitched when he grabbed her. He'd intended to make a snack out of her the night before but then she'd opened those soft full lips and spoken such harrowing words.

You can't hurt me any worse than I've already been.

How could someone who looked so innocent, have said those words with such bravado? Clearity, and acceptance. Better yet who could have done something to someone who looked like her? Hurt someone like her? Damon almost had and he almost regretted it, or he would have if he had the current capability to feel anything.

"I'm sure those campers felt the same way." She says, but he doesn't detect the same sort of maliciousness he usually gets from humans. It sounds like she doesn't really care. Or if she'd just commented on the weather.

It was that same blaise tone from the woods. Damon was officially intrigued. He leaned further over the table to study her face more. To see how far down into her being he could see. "You are something else, aren't you sweetheart." She rolls her eyes and closes her laptop pins him with this look, that could almost be considered threatening. If she didn't look so damn childlike.

"Please don't ever call me sweetheart again. It's weird." He chuckled. So damn polite.

"Sure. Once you tell me where you got vervain from." Marcella raises a brow at him and leans back into the booth. Crossing her arms over her chest.

"I never said I was on vervain. Anyway, the founders party is coming up in a few weeks and I'm expected to make an appearance. The Salvatore's don't get invited anymore since Zach is sort of a recluse but It might be nice to change that." He narrowed his eyes then.

"I never told you my last name." She just smiled in response.

"You didn't have to. So do you want to come with me?" Damon could honestly say that he hadn't expected that. She looked at him with curious eyes, kind expression, there was no ulterior motive in her words. He doesn't trust her in the slightest.

"We just met." He points out lazily, trying to gauge her reaction. But she just laughs.

"Doesn't matter, I just know we're going to be great friends. So say yes, I'm a great dance partner." Marcella clapped her hands together with a bright smile on her lips. Damon eyes her warily. No one ever wanted to be his friend.

"I kill people." He states, and she nods. Seeming completely unfazed.

"I wouldn't say that so loudly, but I imagine it comes with the territory." There she went stating things in such an uncaring manor again. As if it didn't bother her at all. He takes one of the fries from the plate pointing it at her.

"What a compelling statement, I'll think about it." He takes a bite out of the salty lukewarm, makes a slightly disgusted face and sets it back down. She giggles at him, like a freaking two year old. Damon shakes his head and stands up.

"See you around princess." She waves at him watching him walk away feeling slightly accomplished.

Marcella re-opens her laptop, checks the time and sighs. Looked like her mom wasn't going to make it. She'd just have to bring something to her at the station. The teen sighs, disappointed. There could only be so many victories in one day it seemed.

XOXOX

Thanks for all the love from the last chapter is means a lot! I hope that you guys like this chapter, thank you for reading. Please keep letting me know what you think!

Sincerely, La'Rae