Damon was prepared for Suze's arrival, what with her having texted him about when her flight was landing, but he wasn't prepared for her good mood when she walked in the door. Louie and Killer of course ran up to her immediately, and instead of simply bending down to pet them Suze dropped her bag onto the floor and sat down cross-legged so she could play with the dogs.

After a few minute of her petting and cooing over Louie and Killer, she looked up at him with a smirk.

"You know when you go on a roller coaster that does a loop-de-loop for the first time? And you're like holy shit this is way better than anything ever and it's like everything else has been held back before that?"

Damon had no goddamn idea where she was going with this, but if she wasn't yelling at him yet, he saw no reason to tick her off.

"Yeah?"

Suze beamed at him, entirely unrepentant when she said, "I had that kind of sex with Nik right before we went to the airport."

Damon cringed, not wanting that mental image, so he changed the subject, hoping it wouldn't entirely ruin her good mood.

"So we're good?"

The smile left her face and a small, thoughtful frown covered her face. Finally, she said, "Let's take the dogs for a walk. We should talk."

Getting the dogs onto their leashes was a pain in the ass, seeing as they both acted like spazzes the second they realized they were going on a walk, but once Damon and Suze made it to the sidewalk, they settled into their usual rhythm.

There was nobody else near them, so Suze seemed to deem it safe to start talking about the supernatural shit going on in their lives.

"Do you get why I was mad at you? I'm still kind of annoyed, but mostly over it."

Damon knew she was probably looking for a specific answer, and he had spent the weekend going over what had happened, so with more seriousness than usual he said, "I lied to you. On purpose."

Suze snorted but didn't seemed upset when she said, "Partially. Damon – I mean, do you get that you could have died and I wouldn't have known? I wouldn't have let you go off alone if you'd told me it was basically a suicide mission."

Damon felt a flash of protective anger when he said, "And what, you would have gone with me? Don't be stupid."

Suze rolled her eyes and responded, "I don't want to be a human Capri-Sun, so no, obviously not. But I probably would have made you talk to the teenagers and drag them into all of this shit."

"They wouldn't have been able to handle it."

Suze stopped walking, so Damon did the same. When he turned to look at her, she had a cold, hard look on her face.

"I don't care about them. I care about you. So. Greater good, and all that."

Damon laughed and said, "And the murdering bad-boy vampire making it out instead of the itty-bitty Mystic Falls kids is 'the greater good'?"

Suze started walking again and laughed in response, and when Damon looked over she had an unapologetic smirk when she said, "You wish you were the ultimate badass. And yeah. You're my priority."

A wave of fondness and warmth took over and he bumped his shoulder against hers before saying, "Love you too, sociopath."

Suze continued walking – having to gently pull along Killer from where she had been staring at a daisy as if it offended her – before she grew quiet.

"If I vomit feelings on you can you act mature?"

Damon felt a spike of worry at the request, but tried to show her that he was serious when he said, "Yes. I'll tone down the 'asshole' for a minute. About Nik?"

Suze nodded and they turned around, starting the walk back to their house. She opened and closed her mouth a few times before she spoke.

"I think I love Nik. And it makes me want to throw myself off a bridge. Not a high one – I don't want to die, but tall enough to make a dramatic statement."

Damon had no idea what to say to that. His own experience with love was pretty fucking awful, but Suze had been supportive every step of the way, even when he had still been infatuated with Katherine.

"Did you say anything to him? How'd it go?"

Suze laughed and sounded condescending, though it was clearly directed at herself when she said, "Of course not. I'm a preteen when it comes to actual feelings. But – I wanted to."

Neither of them spoke as they walked the rest of the way back to the house, and the second they unhooked the dogs' leashes the mongrels ran to the living room, jumping onto the comfiest part of the couch. Christ, they were so fucking spoiled. The dogs were turning Damon into such a pushover.

Damon and Suze walked into the kitchen, and both of them sat down on the stools at the island in the center of the kitchen after Damon had grabbed blood and Suze had grabbed a can of Diet Coke.

Suze waited until he had just started to take a huge gulp – of fucking course – before she said in an entirely nonchalant voice, "Oh, by the way, Nik is a vampire."

Damon spat out the blood and stared down at his ruined thousand-dollar coat for a moment.

His best friend was such a bitch.

As soon as Rebekah surged out of her coffin she tore into the human who was standing beside it. After the man dropped dead, another one – clearly compelled – walked forward and was drained as well.

When she had gained her bearings enough to look around with a level head, she noticed that Nik was standing on the other side of the room, watching her with an unreadable look on his face.

Rebekah immediately grabbed the dagger that remained in her coffin and sped over to him, stabbing it through his heart.

She took a step back and saw Nik wince as he pulled it out of his chest. Surprisingly, however, he handed it back to her. Even more surprisingly he said, "I deserved that."

Rebekah knew she must be gaping at him. It was just – so, so unlike Nik. He didn't speak and seemed to be waiting for her to talk, and after a moment of thinking she said, "And why did you decide to stop being an arse and bring me out of the bloody coffin you've kept me in for however many years?"

Nik smirked, but it seemed someone hollow when he said, "Eighty years. And is it too unbelievable that I wanted to see my baby sister?"

"Yes."

Rebekah watched as a number of emotions played over his face, and when it smoothed out it looked strangely soothing – causing a spike of panic. Nik was acting immensely out of character. He almost seemed like he had been when they were hu –

That was a line of thought she needed to halt immediately. Suspecting his actual motive, she sneered and said, "And what, you need my help breaking the curse? Acting as your little follower again?"

Nik shrugged but once again caught her off guard when he said, "I haven't found the doppelganger. Elijah has turned against me. It doesn't seem as though I'm any closer than I have been for the last five centuries."

Rebekah didn't know what to think. Something in her broke and though she tried to repress it there was the childish hope that he had wanted to see her. She was furious, ridiculously bloody angry that he had daggered her when she had finally felt happy, but… this was unprecedented.

"Why. Why, Nik?"

His lips twisted into a pensive, thoughtful frown and when he spoke he seemed far more serious than she had remembered seeing him in years – well. She guessed than she had seen in one hundred bloody years, the complete ass.

"I wanted you with me. I'd forgotten what it meant to be with family. Elijah's betrayal cemented that it was an untrustworthy and tenuous connection. But I've seen otherwise as of late."

Rebekah was going to get back at him. She was enraged with him, but at the same time, she was thankful for whatever had caused his changed perspective.

Because… he seemed genuine.

I GRADUATED! so updates on all my stories will be picking up the pace, don't you fret my loves!