Okay, this starts right where the last chapter left off

Enjoy!

Chapter Seventeen

Rebecca stayed at Elena's that night even though Elena was a little pissed at her. Rebecca crashed in Jeremy's room instead of Elena's. When Jeremy saw the state she was in - messed up hair, a man's shirt, and her jeans - he grinned a little, but then he stopped - probably because she also looked horrible; pale and weak.

"What happened to you?"

"Very bad day," she said. "Got sick."

"Oh . . ." If he could tell she was lying, he didn't say anything about it.

She sat on his bed and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Jer?"

"Hm?"

"If you loved someone, loved them so much that you didn't know if you could function without them . . . And they needed to hurt someone, would you let them?"

"What?"

"Just answer honestly."

She had to know if it was just her. She had to know if anyone else would react the way she had.

"Okay. It depends on why they needed to hurt whoever they were hurting. Like was there a reason? Or were they doing it just for spite?"

"There's a reason."

"Then, yes."

Rebecca sighed in relief; so she wasn't the only one who felt that way. She fell backwards on the bed and pulled Jeremy down beside her.

"Are we too old to do the brother/sister sleeping in the same bed thing?"

"Just a little. Why?"

"Because I really don't wanna sleep alone," she whispered honestly.

Jeremy looked at her, worried, when tears began to fall. Rebecca understood the concern; before school began she had never cried so much and now it was like she was always crying. And she hated it. She didn't want to be one of those women who only knew how to cry; she wanted to be fun and happy.

"Hey, I think we can make an exception tonight, okay?" Jeremy said, wiping the tears away.

She nodded and moved closer. "Thank you."

Rebecca closed her eyes, exhausted, hoping that Jeremy wasn't reading anything but what she'd said to him into this situation. Their relationship was good the way it was and she didn't want it to get awkward because she'd been a little needy that night. She wanted to fall asleep beside someone who cared about her. It was comforting and it made her feel a little less alone.

Granted, Jeremy wasn't the guy who she wanted to fall asleep beside, but he was still someone she cared about and was comfortable enough with to fall asleep with.

The next morning she awoke with her head on Jeremy's chest and with his arm around her. She knew right away that it was Jeremy and not Damon. Damon's chest was firmer. Damon's whole body was firmer. She became aware of a hand playing through her curls and she lifted her head up to look at Jeremy, who was worried again.

"What?"

He blinked a few times and she could see hesitation in his brown eyes.

"What?" she repeated gently.

"What happened to you? You were crying out in your sleep. Did someone hurt you? Because you sounded really afraid, Becca."

"No one hurt me," she responded automatically, but then because she hated lying to him, she added, "on purpose. No one hurt me on purpose. Um . . . I can't really talk about it. It's just something I have to deal with on my own."

"Okay. I'm here, though, if . . ."

"I know." She gave him a brief hug before getting up. "Thanks, Jer."

She was sure she'd slept better than she would've had she been alone. She'd still had nightmare images running through her mind all night. Even though she knew Damon hadn't meant to hurt her, it still made her head hurt thinking about it. It had been frightening and painful when he'd bitten her. It had been because he'd been starving, she knew that - and she still blamed Stefan for that - but it had still been Damon hurting her.

"I have to go home and change for school," Rebecca said, forcing herself to not think about Damon now.

"You're actually going?" Jeremy seemed surprised. "You've been missing a lot."

"I know," Rebecca sighed. Jeremy wasn't judging, she noticed, because he'd missed a lot himself. "I have, but . . . I'm gonna try to do better."

Not that she'd need a high school education, because assuming she even had a future it had already been decided for her. Bad hours, no pay, and sharp wooden things were what she could look forward to.

Once downstairs she noticed that neither Jenna nor Elena was anywhere to be seen. Elena had probably left already and Jenna was probably in class - Psychology 101 or something like that.

Now that she was thinking about it, Rebecca didn't feel like going to school. She texted Bonnie to see if she could pick up her homework for her at the end of the day; Bonnie reliably said yes.

Rebecca got a cab again, and again told the driver to go ahead, not to wait. She didn't knock because she knew whichever brother was there would hear her anyway.

"Damon?" she called out, felt that he was near, and then he was right there and she noticed his eyes were cold and furious. He'd never looked at her like that before. "Um . . . H - hi."

What was wrong with him? Something had to have happened to put him in this mood.

"Whose scent is that?" His voice was falsely casual and she knew at that moment he was more dangerous than he'd ever been around her - excluding the day before, of course.

"What?"

"The scent, it's all over you. Whose is it?"

"Oh . . . Um, don't go flying off the handle. It's Jeremy's. I slept with him." When he put his hands on either side of the door, near her head, she backtracked hurriedly. That last statement hadn't been meant to sound like that. "I mean, I slept in his bed with him. There was nothing romantic or sexual at all. But that's why his scent was on me, is on me."

And really? Damon was worried about that right now? She'd come over here to see if he was okay even though she'd been the one who'd nearly died and he was going to ask her about that? He was going to doubt her when she'd never done anything to hurt him, ever?

When Damon had gotten home, he'd known immediately that Rebecca hadn't been there; he'd thought she wouldn't come back either. Not after what had happened, what he'd done.

But here she was. He'd gone a little crazy, what with someone else's scent all over her - the predator part of him coming out, he guessed. If he'd been thinking rationally he would've noticed there was no sex scent on her, but he hadn't been thinking rationally.

And he'd scared her again. The fear he could smell. Though, that could've been left over from the day before, he wasn't sure.

"Why were you over there?" He backed away and relaxed a little.

"Elena came over last night. I went home with her; she wasn't in the most sociable of moods, so I slept in Jeremy's room." There was a little bit of attitude in her voice and he didn't know where it was coming from. He'd have to play this by ear, he guessed.

Damon watched as her teeth grazed over her bottom lip. He had the sudden urge to lean forward and repeat the gesture on his own but he didn't. When he looked back up at her eyes he noticed he had obviously done something to hurt her because there was pain there.

"You really think that I would just do that to you?" The hurt turned into anger. "You think that I would risk my life letting you out yesterday and then turn around today and hurt you like that?"

"I don't know what I think, okay? I didn't even expect you to come back!" He so hadn't meant to say that out loud. But it had been skimming around the back of his mind since he'd left the night before to feed. He'd thought she would avoid him like the plague now. He'd never imagined she would be back the next day.

"What? You thought I was going to be scared of the big, bad vampire?" she mocked him lightly, but her eyes had gentled. "What happened yesterday . . . It wasn't the greatest experience of my life and I definitely don't want a repeat performance, but it's not going to scare me away, because if you hadn't literally been starving, you never would've done that to me that way. It's Stefan's fault for locking you up."

Damon had pretty much stopped listening after she'd said she wasn't going to leave; that was what mattered. And he didn't have to be so defensive because he wasn't going to lose her over this. She was brave, stupid, or way too well-adjusted to be healthy. He chose to think it was the first and last things. Besides she would've gotten out fast enough if Zach hadn't gotten in the way. It wasn't like she'd wanted to get ravaged; that had been all him.

He looked at her now unmarked neck and bit the inside of his cheek. He remembered how bad it had looked the day before, all bloody and torn open.

Hm. How does one go about apologizing for something like that? His thought train paused. And since when do I apologize for anything?

Rebecca's laugh brought him out of his very confusing reverie. She was laughing at him? Not very many people could do that and just get away with it. What was so funny anyway? He didn't see anything funny about this situation.

"What?"

"You didn't mean to do it - or not to me anyway. You're sorry for almost killing me. I'm sorry for almost setting you on fire. Let's chalk it up to a very bad day, and move on. I'm good, if you're good."

He narrowed his eyes because he couldn't believe what he was hearing. She was being serious. And he was in love with a lunatic. But in Rebecca's world - however strange it was to him - everything was good. So . . . They were good.

"You're amazing sometimes, you know that?" he said, walls completely down now. It was okay to do that around Rebecca; he somehow instinctively knew that.

"Glad you think so. Stefan and Elena think I'm not amazing enough." Rebecca's good nature went away and Damon cursed internally. What had the gloomy couple been doing now?

"Elena knows, Damon. About Stefan and you; that's why she was here last night. Uh, she wanted to talk to Stefan, but he was a little preoccupied with the stake I'd shoved into his stomach."

"Aw," Damon teased. "You did that for me?" Then more seriously, "I can defend myself, ya know?"

"It wasn't for you. It made me feel better."

"Oh, well then, by all means . . . Continue."

"That's when Elena showed up. I went home with her because I didn't want to stay here with Stefan. She was mad at me for giving you free reign. And maybe a little mad that I'd known about Stefan for a while and hadn't told her."

Damon's eyes widened. "What were you supposed to tell her? That Stefan has a death certificate that dates back to 1864?"

"Uh . . . Explain that to her."

Rebecca leaned back against the front door and Damon saw that even with how she'd forgiven him - or hadn't blamed him in the first place - she was still tired and pale. And the front door was just a very bad place to rest.

"Come on. We have another invalid in the living room."

"I am not -" Rebecca looked at him "- an invalid?"

"Vicki . . . Whatever her last name is," Damon said, waving his hand to dismiss the last name he didn't care enough to know.

"Donovan?" Rebecca supplied slowly, grinning.

"Yeah, her."

The grin slowly slipped from her face. "Um . . . Was she the only one?"

"No," Damon admitted. "But you don't need to know because it's not your fault, what I did."

There. Wow. He actually felt better now. He'd wanted to say that since yesterday and now that he had it was like a small weight had been lifted from his chest.

Rebecca smiled a little and he offered her his hand. She grabbed onto it and said, "I believe you actually mean that."

Damon shrugged, but gave her a small smile in return. "You don't have to feel guilty about anything."

In the living room Rebecca saw Vicki, unconscious, on the couch. Rebecca looked at the bite mark, which was covered with a towel. The wound was still bleeding a little, but her pulse was strong and she was breathing fine.

Damon poured himself a drink and sat in a chair across from Vicki.

"Does the alcohol help?"

"A little. It takes the edge off."

Rebecca noticed Damon still didn't have his ring and she realized he was stuck here.

Once he was done with his drink he went behind Vicki, bit his wrist and put it over her mouth. Vicki resisted at first, but then it was like Damon's blood was the sweetest thing ever. She was holding onto his wrist like she was afraid he was going to pull away.

"Oh, please, you don't taste that good," Rebecca muttered.

Damon looked offended and he smirked. "What're you talkin' about? I'm moist and delicious."

"Right." She tried to contain her laughter but she couldn't. "I'd still prefer a glass of milk and some chocolate chip cookies."

"Mm. Fine. Next time you're hurt I'll bring you milk and cookies, we'll see how that works."

Vicki finally began waking up and Damon withdrew his wrist. He compelled her so she wouldn't freak out. Rebecca didn't mind; dealing with a scared Vicki was not on her to-do list that day.

Vicki went to take a shower and while she was upstairs Damon turned on some music. When he came back his shirt was unbuttoned and hanging loosely from his shoulders.

"Um . . ." Rebecca looked away because it wasn't polite to openly stare.

"It's okay to look," Damon teased. "I know I'm hot."

Another fit of giggles left her mouth and she looked up again. The light play of muscles over his chest and abdomen was very distracting.

"You're so full of yourself."

Damon shrugged. "Doesn't change the fact that it's true." He plopped down beside her. "You wouldn't be looking if you didn't see something you liked."

His eyes did that flirty thing he always did and she smiled a little.

"Fine, you're hot. But can you just kiss me now?"

He smirked but leaned in close anyway. She met him halfway and finally there was the connection she'd been looking for. He pulled away, though, right when she was getting into it and she noticed his eyes were amused and maybe a little smug.

"I thought you wanted to do the friends thing first?"

"Um . . . We can still be friends, just not only friends. The 'just friends' thing went out the window when you kissed me at that party."

She reclaimed his lips and, for the first time, opened her mouth to let him in. She trembled as his tongue danced with hers. She could taste the whiskey he'd been drinking, but it was faint so she didn't mind.

Damon seemed to be very attuned to what she wanted, though he was also kind of guiding her to do what he wanted. His hands were roaming over her back - and she suddenly remembered she still had his shirt on - and her hands were sliding tentatively over his chest. His skin was silky smooth and she liked it.

Damon smirked against her lips. He knew Rebecca wasn't used to this - if the timid caresses hadn't proven it, then the blood from yesterday had. Virgin blood tasted different than not-virgin blood. It was purer, sweeter. When he'd first been turned he couldn't tell the difference, but now he could. Rebecca didn't have any real sexual experience and Damon felt a little excited about that. He was going to have so much fun teaching her the nasty little things a man and woman could do with each others bodies.

But now wasn't the time. Vicki was in the house with them, Rebecca was still weak from yesterday, and, last but not least, he didn't want to overwhelm her by making her move into a physical relationship too fast. Where did she stand on the whole sex thing anyway? What was the right amount of time of being together before doing that for her?

Damon picked up on the fact that her heart was racing and pulled away. Her face and neck were flushed and she was breathing fast. Damon placed his hand on her chest over the beating thing and realized he'd almost made it stop yesterday. He'd known that before but it had only just hit home. And he really was sorry, it was just he'd spent so much time not apologizing for anything that it was hard to get the words out.

Damon didn't know what Rebecca saw on his face, what she was reading from it exactly, but he knew that she got it. She understood. She was the only one who really did. Maybe it was because she'd loved him when he was human, or maybe it was because he could let his walls down when he was alone with her, but she could somehow read between the lines with him. She could usually latch onto whatever he was thinking without him having to say a word.

"Come here," she said, cupping his face gently.

She leaned in and brushed her lips against his. Usually he was the one initiating first contact, but this one was all her. Damon could tell this was about her reestablishing the fact that she cared about him and she - as strange as it was - trusted him.

Just like Rebecca wasn't used to intimacy, Damon wasn't used to people just giving and expecting nothing in return. But that was what Rebecca was doing. Giving and not taking. Not counting the people he compelled, no one had just given him comfort and even if they had wanted to, he probably wouldn't have accepted it. Not really.

But Rebecca was making this kiss about him, making it about reassuring him of the fact that she was here and not going anywhere. It was about taking care of him. It was something he wasn't used to and it made him feel a little vulnerable, which was another thing he wasn't used to.

What he was getting used to, however, was the feeling of not being in control when she was around. God, it was like before she'd left. Like he'd reverted back to that, and that wasn't good. He needed to be in control and on top of things.

But he'd already come to the conclusion that he wouldn't just give her up, so there was nothing else for him to do but try and learn to accept what she was offering. Taking care of the people she cared about was who Rebecca was, so he'd have to learn to let her take care of him.

His canines extended and he pulled away, again cursing his newfound emotions, but didn't turn his face away, not like he had so many years ago; he'd learned then that she didn't care that the vampire part of him erupted unexpectedly sometimes. Granted, he'd had it under control before he'd gotten with Rebecca, and he'd get it under control again once he got used to feeling.

Rebecca was annoyed. Vicki was hyper and talkative. She literally wouldn't shut up. She was dancing around, too. What was wrong with her?

"Damon, did you give her something else? Something other than your blood?"

"Nope."

"Well . . . How come it doesn't make me do that?"

"Because you're not a drug addict."

"Oh."

"I am so over Tyler, so over him!" Vicki exclaimed. "I knew all along I was just a piece of ass to him, but I thought if he got to know me better he might see something more." Vicki fell to the floor happily and began rolling around. Rebecca covered her mouth to keep from laughing. "Now Jeremy, on the other hand, that's all he's ever seen in me is more, and I like that!"

"Jeremy?" Damon said. "Elena's brother?"

"Yeah!" Vickie hopped up off the floor. "Yeah. So Elena used to date my brother, and they were always together, so Jeremy would always be hanging around and crushing on me and - hey, why don't you have a girlfriend? You're like totally cool and so hot."

Oh, that's where Damon got his ego from, Rebecca thought.

Damon answered with a sarcastic 'I know' and Rebecca rolled her eyes. But then she noticed he was looking at her, and nobody else would've noticed it, but she could see the question in his eyes. He wanted to know what she would say about the girlfriend thing. What, did he think she only wanted him in private, that she didn't want anyone to know about them? If she didn't want anyone to know she was with him, she wouldn't be with him, period. She wouldn't treat him like that.

"Uh, his girlfriend's right here," Rebecca said, semi-territorially.

And that's when the real partying began. Damon could make Rebecca have fun even on the most depressing day ever. Rebecca began dancing around with Damon and Vicki, and she didn't even mind when Damon danced with Vicki because that was just Damon. Since both Damon and Vicki had made themselves comfortable, Rebecca felt she should do the same, so she removed her jeans - Damon's shirt came halfway down her thighs anyway.

"You're gonna have to help me come up with an excuse for why I'm missing so much school," Rebecca told Damon as she circled around him. "Something that doesn't involve me being here dancing around half-naked."

"Yeah, I don't think your dad would appreciate that."

Rebecca shook her head and watched as Vicki made her way upstairs; danced up the stairs was more like it.

"Do you care if she goes up there?"

"It's not like there're skeletons in the closet."

"Right."

"Come on, you guys, you can't make me party alone!" Vicki yelled from the top of the stairs.

One second Vicki was dancing, her upstairs with them downstairs, and then the next Vicki must've moved the wrong way because she was tumbling down the stairs.

"Vicki, no!" Rebecca said, flashing forward. She didn't have vampire speed, however, and the resounding crack as Vicki hit the floor made Rebecca stop moving.

Rebecca closed her eyes, clenched her jaw, and sighed. Vicki had broken her neck. She was dead and she had vampire blood in her system.

"Damn it," she muttered.

She felt a small jolt of sympathy for Jeremy and Matt, but other than that all she felt was grief for the human life that had been lost. Yes, she would come back as a vampire, but Vicki wasn't the most stable person to begin with; it would take a while for her to adjust to her new life - unlife?

She felt Damon put his hands on her arms to move her away and she looked up at him, confused.

"She's gonna wake up soon," he exclaimed.

"It took you all night to wake up."

"I didn't have as much blood in my system so it took me longer."

"Oh." Rebecca's mind went blank all of a sudden. "What do we do? I mean, she doesn't know you're a vampire, right? She's not gonna know what's happening to her."

Damon shrugged and she could see him flip the switch off that let his feelings show. "She'll remember and we'll explain what happened."

"And she'll believe us, of course. She'll think she's going nuts." She sighed and wrapped her arms around herself. "Does it help? The switch thing . . . It's easier for you?"

"Yes," he answered honestly.

"Right. Well, imagine if you couldn't do that. And that's how I feel right now. Everything I've had to do since I became a Slayer . . . Killing vampires, watching people die, and then letting people die, and now Vicki . . . That's all stuff that I have to feel because I don't have the luxury of shutting it off."

She didn't touch him, not when he was like this because she didn't know how he'd respond to it.

"Now I get it if you have to close yourself off to what just happened. If it helps you function and be rational, then by all means do what you have to do to take care of this, but please don't shut me out, because I can't do this alone, okay?"

Damon looked from the dead girl on the floor - she'd been reckless and had paid the price - back to Rebecca. She was pleading for him to not keep her out. It made her feel alone when he did that. But . . . That was just him; that was how he'd learned to be.

As a vampire, he had two choices. Open himself up to feel everything magnified or shut himself off, keep everything out, and sometimes he just had to do that. To make it easier for himself.

But it's not just about you now, the voice in his head said, and as usual he told it to shut up and go away.

"I will take care of this, okay?" He tried not to be completely closed off. "You don't have to stay if you don't want to."

Rebecca put her hands on her hips and huffed. "I think what I just said proved that I don't want to leave."

"Well, then . . . You're just gonna have to accept that this is how I deal with things."

"Maybe you need a better way of dealing with things then!"

Whatever he was going to say to that was forgotten because Vicki was now waking up. Like Rebecca had said, Vicki wouldn't know what was happening to her. She would soon remember, but until then they couldn't help her.

Since Damon now knew that Rebecca just wanted to be included he was sort of okay, though he was still a little not-okay with her being around Vicki right now. Rebecca wasn't even at a regular human's strength; if he didn't stay right with her Vicki could unwittingly hurt her.

"Don't leave my sight," Damon ordered; he smirked when Rebecca glared. "What, you expect me to say please?"

"It'd be nice," she muttered, rolling her eyes.

Vicki sat up and looked around, grabbing her neck. It probably just felt like she'd slept on it wrong. If she only knew . . .

"Uh . . . What happened?" she grimaced.

"You died," he said bluntly, and Rebecca's glare turned to a look of disbelief. She gave him a 'what the hell are you doing' look. He just looked back; he knew what he was doing.

"What?"

"You're dead."

"I'm dead."

Damon remembered how disorienting waking up after dying was and he didn't feel sorry for her exactly, but . . . He could relate to what she was feeling.

"Yeah, let's not make a big deal out of it. You drank my blood, you died, and now you have to feed in order to complete the process.

"Damon!" Rebecca mumbled loud enough for only him to hear. "Stop it!"

"You're wasted," Vicki said, standing up.

"You don't wanna be out there all alone," Damon said.

Vicki picked up her pants and then started stumbling around putting them on. Damon flashed in front of her.

"You're about to get really freaky."

Vicki looked behind her to where Damon had been standing before and to where he was now but she didn't mention it. She probably thought she was seeing things.

"Look, I had a really good time, but I just wanna go home."

"You're gonna start craving blood, and until you get it, you're gonna feel very out of it. You need to be careful."

Vicki wasn't listening. "Come on, move."

"See, you're already startin' to fall apart."

"And I'm going home now."

"Okay, fine. I'm just warning you."

"Yeah, whatever." Vickie began walking toward the front door.

"Vicki, you can't just leave," Rebecca said. She'd obviously seen that Damon's way wasn't working. "The sun is going to make you very uncomfortable now. And you shouldn't be alone right now. You're gonna -"

Damon placed a hand over her mouth and smirked when she began mumbling, trying to talk anyway.

"Actually, you know what? You should go," Damon said. "In fact, if I were you, I would stop by your boyfriend Jeremy's house."

Rebecca's eyes widened and she grabbed his hand to try and remove it from over her mouth; he was stronger than her today so she failed. She needed to chill; nothing was going to happen - not yet anyway. Vicki wouldn't know what she had to do until around nightfall anyway.

"Whatever, bye."

"Tell Elena I said hi," Damon said. "And if you see Stefan, tell him to call me."

He yanked his hand away when Rebecca tried to sink her teeth into his flesh.

"Vicki, you can't go to Jeremy's!" she exclaimed. "You could hurt him."

"Oh, let her go. She's fine for a while," Damon said, grabbing her wrist.

"No, I have to follow her. I have to -"

"You're not going after her," Damon said, squeezing tighter to ensure she couldn't move.

"But -"

"You're not going after her."

Rebecca could tell if she hadn't been wearing her necklace she probably would've been under his control then.

"But she could hurt him, Damon! She'll start looking at his neck and smelling his blood and craving it, and she's not gonna know why. She's just gonna know she wants it and she's not gonna be able to stop."

"That won't happen for a while. Besides, Stefan will be there; he won't let her hurt him."

Rebecca tried to yank her hand back but Damon locked his fingers and didn't let her budge.

"Let me go!" She tried to pry his fingers open.

"No," Damon said, glaring. "Look, if you go after her, you could get hurt."

"This isn't about me; this is about helping her adjust to what's gonna happen to her!" Again she tried to yank away. That approach obviously wasn't going to work. "Look, she's not like you, Damon. You knew, she doesn't. She's gonna freak out and -" She broke off when Damon let her go only to grab her shoulders to make her look at him.

"Okay, I can't say this any clearer. If you try to leave, I will rip that necklace off and make you stay."

He was glaring down at her; she glared right back at him. She did cover her necklace with her hand, though, not that it would do any good if he really wanted to take it off. And why was he being like this?

He was being an over controlling jerk. And she kind of hated it. She didn't like people telling her what to do anyway, but she'd been around enough controlling men to know she didn't want one.

Then something occurred to her that hadn't before. "Do you want Jeremy to get hurt? Because I slept with him?"

His hands tightened on her arms and his cheek twitched in irritation. She tried not to wince from the pressure from his fingers but she failed.

"Slept in the same bed as him," she corrected herself. "Is that why you sent Vicki over there?"

Damon released his grip and turned away from her. She'd obviously hit a nerve. She realized now that he wasn't trying to be over controlling; he was just jealous. She didn't really like that either because that meant he didn't trust her.

"Damon! He's like a brother to me. A kid brother. I slept in the same bed as him because I was upset last night. I couldn't sleep in Elena's room because she was pissed at me, and I didn't want to be alone! How many more times do I have to say I wouldn't do that to you? Or . . . Anyone. I don't treat people that way. And I think that after everything that's happened, I deserve for you to trust me a little. At least enough for you to know that I won't hurt you."

Really, she got that it was hard for him, but she still wanted him to trust her. She had earned it, hadn't she? She'd let him back into her life - she'd had to take it on faith that he wouldn't hurt her; she'd invited him in even though she hadn't known if he would kill her family or not; she'd let him feed on Caroline; she'd let him into every part of her life and he wouldn't even trust that she was loyal to him.

"I mean, I give you the benefit of the doubt; can't you do the same for me? At least unless I prove I don't deserve it?"

Damon turned back to her and she saw his expression was no longer hard or cold. It was actually a weird expression, like he was struggling with something. He moved toward her and, since she couldn't tell what kind of mood he was in, her defenses went up.

When he touched her, though, he was gentle, not like he had been before when they'd been arguing. He rested his forehead against hers and his breath hit her face in shallow huffs. He grabbed her arms again, but it didn't hurt, not this time.

"I'm . . . trying, Becca," he said, and she could tell by the tone of his voice that he was being honest. "Just don't give up on me, okay? Give me time."

"You can take as much time as you need, okay? And I'm not gonna give up on you. I promise. But you're gonna have to give a little. I understand why you do the things you do; now you're going to have to try to understand why I have to do the things I do."

Damon shook his head. "Oh, I understand. You love Jeremy; you don't want him getting hurt."

Damon was speaking sarcastically and it was pissing her off again. Jeremy was her friend, damn it!

"Damon! What did I just say about understanding -"

"I understand, but you're still not going."

"Why not?"

Apparently Damon was done talking because he looked angry again. "Because you almost died yesterday, Rebecca. You don't have your strength and you won't be able to defend yourself if she turns. I can't be there to protect you because I don't have my ring."

Rebecca opened her mouth to say something, but she found she couldn't. What was there to say? He'd pretty much covered it all with that one small speech. And now she realized that most of Damon's bad mood had come from being worried about her. Yes, there was jealousy too - and she'd need to talk to him about that again later when they were both calmer - but most of it was his need to protect her. When she hadn't accepted it right away, he'd gotten angry.

Rebecca sighed. "Fine, but as soon as the sun goes down we have to find her. Okay?"

"Okay, agreed."

"Thank you."

It took a while to get there but, if they would both give a little, they could work together and do it well.

Okay, here's the latest! Told you Damon would have issues to deal with. Jealousy, for one. And Rebecca's going to have to learn that it's not his fault really, it's just how he's learned to be over the last 145 years.