Chapter Thirty-One
By the time Thanksgiving came, Rebecca had become nervous about the gift she was giving Damon. What if he didn't like it? Or what if he had a weird reaction to it? Damon had loved his mother and he tried so hard to act like he didn't care, so what if he just withdrew into himself even more?
He'd seemed to have had a genuinely good time with her and her family, though. He'd even gotten to meet her grandparents, who had come to visit from California. Rebecca hadn't thought about it before, but her grandparents that had come to visit were also the parents of Rebecca's mother. That meant that they probably knew about vampires. Her mom had had to learn somehow, right? Maybe she should ask her dad about the Founders journals. Maybe her mother's family had some stored away somewhere and Rebecca could get them and study them or something. Her family history would be interesting to read about since she hadn't known her mother's side of the family had been Founders.
It had vaguely disturbed her that she was dating someone older than her grandfather, but she got over it quickly. Damon didn't act old. Sometimes he acted younger than she did.
And now, here it was, Thanksgiving night, and she was pulling up to the boardinghouse because they'd made plans to spend the night together, but she would not be sleeping with him as in having sex with him. Stefan was home, too, and would be able to hear if they . . . did that. She couldn't handle it if Stefan or anyone else heard them doing that - especially not for the first time.
She got the wrapped present from the backseat of the car and went inside the boardinghouse without knocking - why bother when they would've heard her pull up in her car, anyway?
She said hi to Stefan and went up to Damon's room. She felt a little bad about not sharing the present with Stefan, but he would probably see it eventually. She heard the shower running and set the present on the bed.
She went into his little bathroom space and announced her presence.
"I know you heard me anyway, but hi," she said cheerfully. "I told my dad I was staying with Bonnie, so . . ."
Damon didn't have a curtained shower; his was the kind with the sliding glass, so she could see his outline perfectly - and she stared. He probably heard her heart start racing. His image was distorted, but . . . everything was still evident.
"Hi," he said back. "Care to join?"
"Uh . . ." She hadn't expected him to ask, but his voice was extremely tempting. "Probably a bad idea, Damon."
"Oh, come on, I'll behave. I promise."
"Yeah, you say that now."
But she was already beginning to undress. Her shoes went first and then her jeans. She tossed all of her clothes on the floor and shakily stepped into the shower with him. She still wasn't used to the full nudity thing, but it wasn't a modesty issue - it was more a 'Damon's been around a long time and has seen hundreds of girls naked and some of them probably looked better than her' thing. She was always wondering if he was comparing her to the others.
But her fears usually went away when she saw how he looked at her like she was his entire world. It didn't matter what had happened between the times she'd been with him in 1864 and now because he'd waited to get back to her, he'd wanted to be with her that much.
It was still intimidating, though. He was . . . experienced - very much so - in the sex department, and she wasn't. What if she was a huge disappointment? What if, when it came down to it, she was no good at it? Could someone be taught to be a sexual goddess? Did she really have it in her?
She distracted herself by reminding herself that she was in the shower, watching a wet Damon wash himself. Watching his muscles flex when he moved. Now she was more worried about herself behaving rather than Damon.
She didn't need to wash her hair so she had pulled it up in a messy bun. She stepped up behind him since he hadn't turned around to look at her. She began to rub his already soapy back and kneaded the muscles softly.
Damon felt as if he could let her do this forever. Her hands were gentle but firm, and they were soothing. The way she was with him, he couldn't get enough of it. Not many people had treated him the way she did, not in either of his lives. She always tried to make him feel better even though she already had more than enough problems to deal with on her own.
She kissed his shoulder and then scraped her teeth across his flesh, and he tensed for a second.
"I can't behave if you keep doing that," he said softly.
He felt her smile against him, and she said, "What if I said I don't care about behaving anymore?"
He turned to look at her with questioning eyes and listened as her heart sped up. "I would probably say 'just how much are you willing to misbehave?" He did that eye thing she loved, and she smiled.
She looked at him from under her lashes and he could see her less than honorable intentions and he was surprised. He couldn't say he hadn't been thinking about it - he was guy, so obviously he'd been thinking about it - but he hadn't known she had.
He wasn't going to complain, but he did have to ask a question or two first.
"What about Stefan?" He wasn't too worried about it, but he knew that she wouldn't want Stefan hearing anything . . . dirty. Moaning, screaming, endless hours of breathless words coming from his or her mouth.
"I don't love Stefan," she teased, and he smiled. "Besides, we can be quiet or he can leave if we get too loud."
He met her lips as they turned up to his, and he brought them out from under the water pouring down. He pulled the bow from her hair and let it cascade down her body to her waist, and then he buried his hands in her mane, holding her head in place - she did the same to him.
There was no desperation in their gestures. She was here with him, she wasn't going anywhere, and he had all the time in the world. He could take as much time as he wanted with her, or as much time as she needed him to. With this, Damon would be patient. Not all girls got the chance to have their first time be with someone that actually loved them, and even when they did, not all girls got the perfect first time. But Damon knew he could give her that.
With Damon, Rebecca would not have a horror experience. She would not be one of those girl who became afraid of sex after the first time. Some pain was unavoidable, but she would not come to associate pain with sex.
He caressed down her body, paying special attention to her breasts because she seemed to like it. He wanted her to be a quivering mess before he moved them to the bedroom.
Rebecca didn't seem to know what to do with her hands; she wanted to be everywhere at once.
"If we do this you're not going to sleep tonight," he said, semi-joking. It was true he could go multiple times before wearing himself out, but he didn't know if she could.
"As long as I can sleep tomorrow I don't care," she answered.
Damon slid his hand between her thighs and found his mark almost immediately. He tortured her a little at first - light touches and never continuous - but then decided he didn't want to make her wait. What if she turned the tables on him? That wouldn't be good; he didn't like being teased . . . much. He had to hold her up because her legs shook as he continued bringing her higher, and she clung to him like he was her lifeline.
Rebecca didn't know what had made her decide to do this tonight - it couldn't possibly have anything to do with the naked Damon in the shower with her. She'd been against it at first, and now . . . Now she was just glad she'd changed her mind. He was so good at this, and she didn't care where or how he'd learned to do all these things, she was just glad he had.
As the heat began growing she pulled him closer and then . . . he stopped.
"Hey!" she complained. "What the hell?" She'd been about five seconds from cumming, and he'd known it.
Damon smirked at her. "I was thinking we should take this to the bedroom, little Miss Eager."
"Oh." She frowned anyway. "You couldn't have let me finish first?"
He looked at her, amused. "You're demanding when you're frustrated."
He turned the water off and then they dried off enough not to get everything soaked, not that he would've cared at all. He watched how shaky she was and knew she wouldn't last long once they really got started. Damon surprised her by picking her up, bridal style, and carrying her to the bed. He noticed the wrapped object and, after putting Rebecca on the bed, he mentioned it.
"It's your present," Rebecca said. Honestly, she'd forgotten about it since her brain was lust-addled at the moment. "Please don't open it yet. It will probably - most definitely - take you out of the mood."
Damon didn't feel like being taken out of the mood, so he put the gift against the dresser and turned back to his soon to be girlfriend-lover. He sauntered over to the bed and, instead of smirking, smiled tenderly down at her. He was finally going to get to be with her after so many years.
There she was, laid bare for him to see, to enjoy, to worship at her alter. Her skin wasn't as tan because summer had faded and winter was on its way, but she still glowed healthily. Her emerald eyes shined up at him lovingly and he couldn't help but tell her she was beautiful. Then he began to show her how beautiful he thought she was.
He began making love to her body with his mouth. Her neck, breasts, stomach; the last of which he found was ticklish. He sensed she was growing impatient, though, and she was beginning to get restless.
"Damon, get yourself inside me already!"
He let out a few huffs of laughter at her words. But, hey, at least she knew what she wanted. He just . . . he wanted to do something else first.
He began nibbling at her hip bone and she jerked upward, but she closed her legs so he couldn't get between them. Her innocence was kicking in, apparently.
"Come on, Becca. It's me. You don't have to be self-conscious with me. Ever."
Damon looked up, saw her biting her lip, and began caressing her legs so he could ease himself down her body. Their eyes connected, she began relaxing her legs and let him slide between them, and he saw her anxiety had lessened.
Rebecca was internally freaking out as Damon made it clear what he wanted to do; she was innocent, not naive. He wanted to taste her, and not in the vampire sense of the word.
"Um . . ." She knew that she'd gone down on him before, but this was different. This was her getting the attention this time.
Her emotions were at war. Her instincts were still telling her to shut her legs - this was very indecent, just having her legs spread wide open for him - but another part of her was telling her she wanted to know what this felt like. And another part of her was telling her that she was really vulnerable this way. She was on her back and Damon could do anything he wanted to her right now.
She was nervous . . . until she felt his tongue slide over her clit.
Nervousness gone. And she soon forgot to care that her legs were spread - and now hooked over his shoulders. And she didn't care if this was indecent, either. It felt amazing; she hadn't known something could feel so good. It was a completely different feeling than when he used his fingers. This was soft and mind-numbingly blissful. She felt she needed to anchor herself to the earth; she would float away otherwise.
"Dam - Damon!" Her breathing began to get shallow, and one of his hands crept up her stomach toward her breasts but she grabbed it and squeezed as she was brought to her peak - she figured it was better than grabbing his head, which had been what she'd been going to grab onto.
Damon lapped up her womanly juices as they came from her and continued until he felt her body relax. His ulterior motive behind this was he wanted her to be as wet as she could be so they could have smooth sailings as far as him being able to fit inside her without hurting her.
He kissed his way back up her trembling body and he let her catch her breath. He watched as her chest rose and fell and then tenderly kissed each of her breasts in turn. And he realized she was clinging to him again.
"Last chance to back out, Miss Rebecca," he teased, knowing she liked when he called her that.
"Not backing out," she said, looking at him.
Truth be told, she wasn't even nervous - that had passed when Damon had teased her with his mouth. She thought she should be nervous, but she felt that this, her being with Damon like this, was the most natural thing in the world.
She sat up just a little so she could kiss him and then she bent her legs on either side of him and waited for him to make the next move.
Damon placed himself at her entrance and looked at her, waiting for her go-ahead, which he immediately received. He inched his way in, thankful that she knew what to expect already. The only time she seemed to be in any pain at all was as he slid all the way in - smoothly - but she didn't cry out. There weren't even any tears in her eyes. He was thankful for that. He would've hated thinking he was enjoying being inside her while she was in pain from it.
"I expected that to hurt more," she said softly.
He stayed still then, for her sake and his. He'd been with a lot of women, but none that he had loved. This was different; it felt different, better, stronger.
And that was when he said it. When he said "I love you." He had to, really. He couldn't do this with her and not let her know. He needed her to know that this was a first for him too. Not in the same sense as it was for her, but he'd never made love before. He'd had casual sex - lots of casual sex - and he needed her to know that this wasn't like that.
"I know. I've always known."
Rebecca gave him a watery smile - now there were tears - and pulled him closer. She kissed him again and then returned the words as he began moving inside her. She could feel every inch of him and she couldn't help but focus on the sensations. She could tell from the way they were moving together that they weren't just having sex - they were making love together; Damon was making love to her. He was moving his body to get reactions from hers, and then she began doing the same thing for him.
It was slow but intense. She caught on very quickly how to move her body with his, like a dance - a very intimate dance. And, even though they'd never done this before, they were so attuned to each other it was like they'd been together for lifetimes before this moment.
Rebecca came twice before Damon felt that he had to - vampire stamina and all that - and then he began moving faster. She brought her legs up higher, bracing one knee against his shoulder and gasped when he slid in deeper. She may have even cursed; neither of them were paying much attention to words by that point.
When Damon began nipping at her neck and shoulder she knew what he wanted and she caressed the back of his neck. She told him to go for it. She knew he wouldn't hurt her.
Damon timed their movements so that they would cum together and then he sank his fangs into her neck - missing all the main veins and anything else that would hurt her. Rebecca was surprised by the possessiveness his bite held. He wasn't just feeding now; this was more erotic. He was marking her as his, claiming her as his equal, claiming her as his, period. The bite was more animalistic, more predatory than his previous bites, but she didn't mind. It didn't hurt any more than it normally did, and the other, more pleasurable, sensations overrode what pain there was.
Between the feeling of him sliding in and out of her and the other feeling of her life pouring into him, she was on sensation overload and her body had begun to work without her permission.
Damon was in the same boat, only more so - everything was magnified when one was a vampire, even pleasure. If a human had felt what he was feeling at that moment, they would've passed out from over-stimulation. He was drinking carefully from her now in contrast to the fact that he was pounding into her, desperate for his release yet not wanting this to end yet. He knew, though, that Rebecca would tire herself out if they went on much longer, because she wouldn't tell him to stop. She wouldn't tell him she was tired, not unless he asked.
Rebecca wasn't a complainer even when she had the right to be.
So as he felt her cum around him again - he wished he could feel that forever, never ending - he let himself go, and within ten seconds he'd begun spilling himself inside her, trying not to become too overwhelmed so he wouldn't lose control.
He hadn't bitten her to feed. Biting sort of just came with sex when one was a vampire. When one was close to cumming, the need to bite just sort of reared its ugly head. He was glad Rebecca got that; he didn't want to have to not bite all the time. And this time had been different. She was his now. She would even have his bite mark on her for a few days. He hadn't bitten her hard enough to hurt her so she'd need blood, so . . .
Strangely, the need to bite someone was even more intense when a vampire cared about a person. Damon didn't know why love led to biting, but that was how it was. Then again . . . any emotion led to biting for him.
Rebecca found she loved the feeling of him being inside of her because when he slipped out and collapsed to the side of her she felt empty. She just moved closer to him and placed her head on his chest. She wanted to enjoy the blissfulness with him. She wanted to bask.
"I feel different," she whispered. "But I guess that makes sense, right?"
"Mm."
She chuckled at his less than eloquent response. "Are you actually tired?" she teased. "Damn, I'm good."
He kissed her hair and then pulled her closer. "You haven't even begun to wear me out."
"I should try to remedy that," she said.
Rebecca walked her fingers down his abs and watched as his member began to stiffen again. She was going to love his vampire stamina.
"Mm . . . this is relaxing," Rebecca said breathlessly, after the third time they'd made love that night. She would describe herself as tingly. She'd come eight times and her body was still thankful.
"Mm-hm," Damon agreed from his place on top of her. He'd collapsed after he'd had his release and he had to admit they were wearing each other out - she was wearing him out. His limbs hadn't shaken from exhaustion since before he'd been turned but they were getting to that point now.
Rebecca had her legs wrapped around him like she didn't want him going anywhere - like he'd just leave her right now after what had happened - and her hands were rubbing his shoulders.
"This is a lot better than I thought it would be," Rebecca admitted. "I always thought Caroline was exaggerating about how good sex could be."
Again Damon didn't form a response. He was breathing lightly, still on top of her and half inside her, and he was . . . he was sleeping, Rebecca noticed. He'd fallen asleep on top of her, his head cradled in the crook of her neck where he'd latched onto the place he'd bitten her previously.
Well, how rude, she thought fondly. And maybe a little adorable.
She moved just a little but stopped when Damon let out a small groan - they were very close together and she'd slid against his overstimulated member. She didn't know if she should wake him up or not - he seemed so peaceful and she didn't want to ruin that.
"Damon?" she whispered.
She then used her legs to flip them over and she succeeded in getting him off of her, but she woke him up too. He looked at her with wide eyes and she laughed - he seemed young just then.
"Sorry, but you fell asleep on top of me."
"Hm." He was half asleep again already. He was such a guy.
She moved off of him, feeling tired herself now, and snuggled up to him, beginning to doze off seconds later.
When they woke up the next morning Rebecca cleaned the wound on her neck. It wasn't that bad, tender to the touch maybe, but other than that she was fine. Damon hadn't offered her his blood, not this time, and she hadn't asked for it. It was unspoken but they both knew Damon wanted her to be marked by him, wanted others to know she was his and it would be in their best interest to leave her alone. That would only work on other vampires, of course, but he wasn't worried about the humans.
"How are you planning on hiding that?" Damon asked, coming up behind her and examining the wound himself. He took the antiseptic from her and began cleaning the wound.
"I don't know, my hair? Besides, I don't really have to. I can make something up. I do go up against vampires on an almost weekly basis. I could've had an accident. As long as my aunt doesn't see it I'm good."
"You aren't going to tell her?" he asked. "About you?"
"Not yet. She's pregnant and I don't want to cause any problems for her. I'll tell her after the baby's born, or however it turns out. I just know that she doesn't need the added stress of knowing that vampires are real and that I'm with one."
"Are you still on the fence about the baby?" Damon asked, beginning to bandage the wound.
She shrugged. "I'm not sure. I kind of . . . I have this really bad feeling that the baby is my dad's and if it is I'll never forgive him for it, but he just . . . ever since he's found out about the baby he's been different. Not compulsion different; this has nothing to do with what you compelled him to do. He's happier, I guess. And Tina was scared that he was gonna send her away because she was pregnant. And I'm just . . . waiting for the other shoe to drop. I want to know if my suspicions are right but on the other hand I don't either because . . . because Tina is my aunt so . . . that would just be wrong on so many levels. You know?"
"I get that," Damon said.
Rebecca saw Damon look her up and down and then noticed that he looked a little uncomfortable so she turned to him and touched his cheek. "What?"
"Are you okay? I mean, physically. Not sore or anything?"
Rebecca smiled at his concern and told him she was fine, which she was. Yes, she was sore - sex three times in one night was probably the reason, just a shot in the dark, but she'd be fine. She was glad he was concerned about it, though. It showed her that he was thinking about her well being and not just the pleasure he had gained from her the night before.
"Now, come on, you have to open your present. It's a day late, but whatever."
Damon indulged her and they went in his bedroom again. "Okay, what'd you get me?"
She bit her lip and handed it to him. Damon could tell she was nervous, which made him suspicious that he was walking into something he might not want to walk into.
"Okay, before you open it, I found this and I remembered us talking and so that's why I'm giving it to you. I'm just not sure how you'll react."
"Uh-oh," he teased.
He was not the kind to try and preserve wrapping paper, so he tore the paper off and . . . just stared. He even stopped breathing - not that he needed to breathe - and took it in.
It was a painting of his mother - the same one his father had removed from the living room after she had passed away. He'd resented his father for trying to take his memories of his mom away, for trying to remove her from their lives, from their home.
He'd forgotten how much he looked like her. Black hair, blue eyes, strong features. Her hair had been wavy like his had been before he'd found ways to straighten it. Her eyes had a warmth to them that his had had when he'd been human. She'd nurtured his emotions when he'd been a child, had told him never to hide himself - he should let the world see, let himself shine through. His mother had done what Rebecca was doing for him now. His mother had given him a place where he could be himself, could be accepted for who he was. And that's what Rebecca was for Damon - a haven where he didn't have to pretend to care about certain things and didn't have to pretend not to care about other things.
But how had Rebecca gotten this? He could've sworn it had been in the original Salvatore house. Why had she been there?
When he asked her she told him about her dad thinking of rebuilding their old house. She'd saved it from being destroyed before the workers started on it.
"I thought this would be a way to show you that I listen too. That I am almost obsessively observant of what you do, too."
"Well . . . message received."
He remembered their conversations by the pond at his old home too, and remembered telling her how much he'd loved his mother, and so the fact that she'd remembered him telling her where the painting was touched him in some deeply human way. Telling her thank you for this was the most natural thing for him to do, even though he hadn't genuinely thanked someone for . . . well, he couldn't remember how long it had been, but it had been a long, long time.
He still had that Virginia etiquette buried in him somewhere.
"Where should I put it?' he asked.
"Wherever you want. Uh . . . the parlor maybe?"
"Hm." He looked at her for a few seconds and saw her cross necklace and thought about something. "Don't move. I'll be right back."
He stood up and gingerly placed the painting on the bed - he'd hang it up later even though he didn't want to share with Stefan; Stefan hadn't even known their mother. He got a wooden box with a carving of an angel on the top and handed it to Rebecca. She looked up at him, questioning, and he gestured for her to open it.
"You didn't have to do this just because -"
"I didn't. I got this after your little outburst in the kitchen the other day."
Rebecca released the latch on the front of the box and was surprised by what was inside. There on a velvet bed was a necklace, and dangling from it was a pendant with the Salvatore crest on it - the intricate S that was on Damon's and Stefan's rings.
"Oh, wow." She looked up at him, smiling.
The necklace was silver and . . . beneath the silver was a deep blue stone set in it. Lapis Lazuli.
"I don't want you to take this the wrong way," Damon was quick to say. "I'm still not wanting you to turn right now. At least wait until you're eighteen, okay? So try not to get yourself killed until then." When she was about to retort that she never tried to get herself killed he placed a finger on her lips to keep her quiet. "Before, when I was human, this would've meant we'd been married or were planning to get married.
Damon relaxed a little since he'd seen the obvious joy Rebecca got from the simple gift.
"Uh, anyway . . . there's a latch in the back and there's vervain in it. You can switch off with the cross every now and then. And then . . . when you change you won't need the vervain anymore, but you will need the blue stone there. You'll still have to get a witch to spell it to make it work, but it's there when you need it."
Rebecca nodded but was still caught up with something he'd said.
"Would we have? Gotten married?" she asked breathlessly.
"Assuming you hadn't had to go away? Probably. Had everything worked out the way it should have, yes. I would've asked and you would've accepted. I would've been human and we would've had lots of little Damon's running around."
"Oh, the horror," she teased.
Truth be told, Rebecca had never really thought about having a family. Hers was so messed up she'd never really wanted one of her own. But she could imagine it now. Children running around, blond hair with blue eyes, or black hair with green eyes. Maybe vice versa. But she would never be able to have that, not with Damon, and she didn't want it with anyone else.
She turned the box toward him and stood up. "Put it on for me?"
He nodded and grabbed the necklace, and she turned around. She lifted her hair and he clasped the chain. The pendant stopped a few inches above the cross.
"There you go," he said, putting her hair back in place.
"Thanks."
She kissed him on the cheek and smiled softly. She was so happy in that moment that she just wanted to press pause or repeat or something. She wanted to feel like this forever.
"I love you," she said, wanting to see how he'd react, and chuckled when he reacted how she thought he would.
"Oh, God, we're not gonna become one of those lovey-dovey couples, are we? We can't become that."
"You could've just said 'I love you too'," she said. "Simpler, more to the point."
Damon rolled his eyes but he was smiling too. "I love you too."
"Very good."
Rebecca spent the day at the boardinghouse having fun with Damon in the kitchen. He'd made plans to come and see her grandparents again before they had to leave, only because he knew it would be important to her. To the outside observer, Damon was the perfect gentleman - her grandparents loved him, her aunt loved him, and her dad was warming up to him. Damon was sure that last had a lot to do with Damon being on the Council. He and Rebecca's dad had never worked together but he was sure it would happen eventually, so they needed to get along.
Elena came over to visit Stefan, and Damon tried to get along with his brother - he could torment Stefan on his own time.
He and Rebecca cooked lunch, and, since it was something she'd never fixed before, she followed his directions well. Stefan helped too, though Rebecca noticed he didn't enjoy it quite as much as Damon did. Both brothers were uneasy around each other. Rebecca was hoping they were learning to be brothers again. She didn't want them to hate each other for all of eternity. And she didn't want Damon to be mad at her for wanting to start a friendship with Stefan. She didn't want Damon to be insecure about the friendship between her and his brother, and for him to not be insecure he would need to trust both Rebecca and Stefan.
"Just so you know, Caroline is going to try to rope you into helping with the 50s dance," Elena said. "She's already asked Bonnie and me."
"Can't wait," Rebecca said unenthusiastically. School dances were lame, at best.
Every year Mystic Falls High had a decade's dance or two. This year it was the 50s, but they alternated between 50s, 60, and 70s. Caroline chaired the dance committee.
"You know, she misses you. She won't say anything to you but she does. You should help out. You, me, Bonnie, and Caroline. We could make a thing of it."
"Yeah, I'll think about it."
"Well, think fast because I told her you and I would have lunch with her tomorrow."
Rebecca glared playfully. "I love how you volunteer me for things without asking me first."
"It's what I'm here for. Um . . ." Elena grew serious. "I told Bonnie about the adoption, and I looked at my birth certificate. It lists Miranda and Grayson Gilbert as my birth parents. None of it makes any sense."
"Your dad was a doctor," Rebecca said gently. "He could've taken care of it, made it look legal." She knew Elena didn't want to believe her father could've done something so underhanded like that, but it was true. "What did Jenna say?"
Elena shrugged and looked away.
"You haven't talked to her," Rebecca said.
"I just . . . she didn't tell me that . . ."
"That you were adopted," Rebecca finished for her.
Rebecca could've brought up the fact that Elena wasn't the most honest individual herself but she didn't. She bit her lip to keep from saying anything that could be construed as hurtful.
"Well, now that she knows you know, it might be a good idea to ask her. She might know who your birth parents are. As long as you're sure you want to know. Once you learn, you can't unlearn."
Well, technically there was a way for Elena to forget everything, but Elena would never willingly let herself be compelled to forget something.
Once Rebecca and Elena left, Stefan asked Damon if he could talk to him and Damon reluctantly agreed.
"What're you doing?"
"About what?"
"Rebecca. You left a bite mark on her. You're feeding from her."
"She's willing," Damon said defensively. "I don't have to compel her. And I thought I told you to mind your own business when it comes to her."
"You did. And . . . honestly, I can tell you . . . care about her, and I think she's good for you. I haven't seen you so happy since -"
"Since you forced me to turn into a vampire?" Damon interrupted mercilessly. "Yeah, well, I haven't had much to be happy about."
Stefan grimaced as he thought about what Damon had just said. "I just want to make sure she doesn't get hurt. I've come to think of her as a potential friend, and I know how you think, so -"
Damon cut him off again, only this time not with words. His fist connected with Stefan's jaw, and Stefan fell to his knees.
"I'm not gonna stand here and defend myself to you. And you shouldn't think for a second that you understand anything about me. You never even tried to."
The thing was that he knew Stefan really did mean well, but that didn't give Stefan the right to question Damon's very real feelings for Rebecca. The worst thing was that Damon knew how uncertain the world had become. His world. Because of Rebecca. She hadn't meant to but she'd changed everything. She was a part of him now, and that made him vulnerable because she was vulnerable. It have him an added weakness but also and added strength he'd never known.
She'd given him something to go on for.