Disclaimer: Don't own anything you recognise.
Thanks for all the follows and reviews!
xoxoKaraKxoxo: Yes Maya lost it to Matt, I figured out of everyone, he would have been…kind to her, and she didn't remember at the time, that he was going to be with Elena. I haven't decided for Lexi just yet, she's got potential, and Stefan will need another ally on his side, now that he won't have Damon, but then again, the idea is, he won't know that he doesn't have Damon until too late.
l2pantelis: The first episode especially, was our introduction to Stefan, I felt like if I changed to much, his introduction into TVD wouldn't be right, because out of everything, he technically hasn't been affected by any of the things that Maya has done yet.
AngelColdHeart: Thank you! I'll be honest, I'm going to finish this first, and then probably re-write my other story, because things have changed with me, and TVDU so it needs to be changed. I haven't decided with Jeremy either.
mrs. morgan 35: I dunno, I don't think many people want to read about that.
WiseGirlDivergence46: Thanks
sam: You're welcome.
NonBinaryAceKitten: Thank you, it'll be a bit before we get to Klaus, I have to make my way through the first set of episodes in S1 first.
lillen20: Nik and Maya will get together eventually, just not yet.
Rhaelyant: Now that the tomb vampires and Anna are dead, a lot of S1 just isn't going to happen.
xotinkerbella: I know! But let's not forget, there was a serious lack of eligible guys before the Salvatores came to town. Besides, it really freaked Elena out, and I thought that was funny. Yes Jeremy slept with Vicki, because in the show, he was just starting to go through a druggie phase, before his parents died, because Miranda phoned the Sheriff, to scare Jeremy when she found weed in his room. I'm sorry, but Maya is firmly a Klaus girl, he's the hottest according to her, Klaus isn't really her sugar daddy, because she's got a lot of money in the bank, thanks to her side business, he just buys things for her because he wants to. Zach was pretty irrelevant, and I can't think of anything for him to do in the future, so he's probably just going to die. I have to do more research on the Ripper gene, but from what I can see, it's probably prevalent in vampires that would have been addicts as humans, because Lily is a ripper but she didn't really feel guilty about it.
fire and flam: Thanks!
sammyleann: We're meant to be angry at them for now, so it's okay, hopefully we won't always be mad at them, but that all depends on where the story goes.
Aandm20: Thank you, hope you continue to enjoy.
Hearteyesmf: It's only been one episode, the girls aren't going to connect yet, because Bonnie has no idea what life is really like out there, plus she'd got her Grams, who doesn't like Maya. Stefan's not going to be having the best time thanks to Maya.
LifePrice1412: Vicki was, and I'm surprised that no one in the show made a big deal about it, because Jeremy was 14 when he slept with Vicki in the show, and she was 18. And Jenna may have only been 25, but she would have known that it was illegal and should have gotten the police involved. And you do have a good point, Damon was always a huge reason for their plans working, because he had the drive and the strength to make them happen, especially in the earlier seasons when Stefan refused to drink human blood.
silverblade243: I can't give you answers about pairings, but I have an idea for what I want to happen so you'll just have to keep reading. The daggers are magical, but there does need to be a weapon that can put an Original down, especially now that the White Oak is inaccessible, plus, no matter how much Klaus changes, I can't see him giving them up. I can't really answer a lot of your questions because it'll give away plot points, so you're just going to have to keep reading to find out.
Caroline was curled up in Maya's bed, her best friend wrapped around her, it had been a long time since someone had made her feel so…so…made her feel like she was nothing, and Stefan Salvatore had managed to do just that with a few words. She sniffled as Maya squeezed her tighter, it wasn't fair, she was smart and beautiful and fun, she was Cheer Captain, head of the Dance Committee, head of the Mystic Falls Beautification Committee and head of the Recycling Programme. And Stefan Salvatore treated her like she was nothing but some dumb blonde, she hadn't felt this bad about herself since her dad left and didn't even fight for her to go with him (not that she would leave, but it would have been nice to know that he cared).
"Do you want me to beat him up?" Maya asked, "Because I will, he had no right to be such a dick."
"Who are we beating up?" Jenna asked from the doorway, frowning as she saw Caroline wipe away a stray tear and bury herself further into her daughter's arms.
"No one," Caroline murmured.
"Stefan Salvatore," Maya said.
Jenna came into the room, and sat down on the other side of Caroline, pushing her hair away from her face, "What happened?" she asked softly.
"Nothing," Caroline said, she didn't want to make a big deal about it, she pretty much had a handle on her insecurity, she had ways to cope and with Maya as her friend, she very rarely got overwhelmed. But not this time.
"Stefan was an ass," Maya said, and proceeded to give her mother the whole story, she knew that while Caroline didn't want to make a big deal about it, she needed a mother figure right now, (don't get her wrong, Liz was great, when she was there, but as the Sheriff, Liz Forbes tended to put her work first. Getting worse after her divorce). Jenna was there for Caroline when Liz wasn't, she had been since the girls were 10.
"What a dick," Jenna said and looked over at Maya, "You can punch him once, once, and it can't be on school property, and you should be around Damon when you do it because Stefan is a vampire that has no control and I don't want to get a call telling me that you've been eaten."
"Fine," Maya conceded.
"Right," Jenna straightened up, "I'm going to make us all some hot cocoa, with marshmallows and whipped cream, and I'm ordering Pizza for dinner, Caroline, you get to choose the movie that we watch tonight."
"Oh mom do-"
"The Notebook," Caroline said decisively, and Maya groaned like she was in actual pain, she hated that movie.
The next morning Caroline had left to get to school early, one of her committees needed something, she wasn't sure what, but Maya was certain that whatever it was, she'd be roped in to help. She was eating breakfast and watching TV, when it came across the news that two campers had been killed the night before. "Really," she sighed, putting her dishes away and going upstairs to talk to one of the vampires in her life.
Enzo's door was wide open when Maya walked in, "Aren't you supposed to be staying at the Boarding House?" she asked Damon, who was lounging on the bed.
"I got bored, it's boring over there!" Damon whined, "Stefan's there watching me with his judgy little eyes, and Zach's creeping around like a mouse, like I could snap at any second and kill him."
"But you could snap at any second and kill him," Maya said.
"Yeah but he shouldn't act like it," Damon replied offended, "You know? I'm a big scary vampire! He knows that! And he should act like it!"
"He is acting like it! You just don't like him."
"Eh that too," Damon nodded, pulling her over to sit next to him.
"Speaking of big scary vampires, did you kill a couple of campers last night?" she asked.
"No," Damon scoffed, "I was busy coming up with ways to torment Stef and figuring out how to sneak Enzo over to my place."
Maya's eyes slid over to her best friend, "Zo?" she asked.
"Oh fine!" he admitted, "I know that I'm the one that came up with this whole fake dating thing, but I don't like it!" he complained, "I don't like the fact that you have to be near Elena freaking Gilbert!" he gestured to Damon, "I don't like the fact that you have to be nice to her," he motioned at Maya, "And I absolutely hate the fact that both of you are going to be in Katherine's crosshairs the moment she gets to town simply because you're both in proximity to Elena Gilbert!"
"Zo-"
"No!" Enzo shook his head, "Katherine is three times your age," he pointed at Damon, "And four times mine! And the only people that are old enough to take her down aren't here. And they're not going to be here for months, so excuse me if I'm a little anxious!"
"Enzo relax!" Maya exclaimed, "I'm not mad at you for the dead campers! I can't believe I'm saying this, but I just want you to be more careful where you dump your dead bodies! There's a vampire hunting council in this town and I'd like it if the two vampires in my life who I love more than anything, stay alive!"
"Awe," Enzo smiled, stress melting off his visage, and moving to the other side of her on the bed, "Damon when was the last time that Maya said she loved us?"
Damon smirked at Enzo, "It's been months now," he looked at the girl in the bed between them, "You haven't said that you love us in months."
Maya scowled, she could feel the smugness rolling off of them both in waves, "You know what," she scooted of the bed, "I changed my mind, I hate you both," she walked out of the room.
"We love you!" Enzo called.
"Keep your dead bodies hidden!" she yelled back.
Damon was adjusting things in his room at the Boarding House, Zach was out and Stefan hadn't come back from school yet, so he was taking the time to make it look like he actually lived there. He'd just put the finishing touches on his place when he heard someone downstairs, someone that wasn't supposed to be there. Frowning, he shot Maya a text, maybe they could have some fun.
/ / /
Elena got out of the cab outside of the Salvatore Boarding House, taking a deep breath she walked to the front door and knocked, pushing the door open. She looked around for a moment, before going inside, "Stefan?" she called, "Stefan?"
Damon whooshed behind her, so that when she turned around it would look as though he'd appeared out of nowhere, he narrowed his eyes at the brunette, who just walked into someone's house without permission?
Elena turned around and gasped, "I-I'm sorry for barging in, the door was open…"
Damon cocked an eyebrow, she was looking at him with doe eyes, Katherine's eyes, he thought that maybe he would feel something when he came face to face with her, feel a longing, a lust, maybe a hurt, because she was the living physical embodiment of Katherine, but there was nothing…he felt nothing, and somehow, someway, his heart felt lighter. "You must be Elena, I'm Damon, Stefan's brother."
"Yeah, he may have mentioned you…once."
The look in Damon's eyes was cold, his smirk dark, but she didn't notice, "Ah well, Stefan's not one to brag, please come in," he motioned to the living room, "I'm sure Stefan will be along any second."
"Wow!" she looked around the room, the only place that came close to this…expensive looking was the Lockwood mansion. "This is your living room?"
"Living room, parlour, Sotheby's Auction," Damon shrugged, "It's a little kitschy for my taste. You know my brother's smitten with you, it's about time, for a while I never thought that he'd get over the last one. Nearly destroyed him." He shoved his hands in his pockets and moved in closer to her.
"The last one?"
"Yeah, Katherine, his girlfriend?" when she didn't make a sound, he made a face, "Oh, you two haven't had the awkward ex's conversation yet."
"No."
"My bad. Well, I'm sure it'll come up now…or maybe he didn't want to tell you because he didn't want you to think that he was on the rebound. I mean we all know how those relationships end."
"You say that like every relationship is doomed to fail."
"The relationships where people don't tell each other the truth, yeah, they are."
"And do you tell my cousin the whole truth?" she asked.
"Maya?" Damon asked, a little surprised that she knew about them, "She knows absolutely everything there is to know about me." His smirk turned wicked as he felt the arrival of his brother, "Hello Stefan."
"Elena, I didn't know you were coming over," the younger Salvatore said, taking a cautious step inside the living room.
She turned to face him, "I know. I should have called, I just-"
Damon cut her off, "Oh, don't be silly! You're welcome any time. Isn't she, Stefan?" He turned to face his brother fully, so that Elena couldn't see him, and he let his eyes change, taunting his little brother before turning back to the doppelgänger, "You know, I should break out the family photo albums or some home movies, but I have to warn you, he wasn't always such a looker."
Stefan put his body in between her and Damon, and started to usher her out of the house, "Thank you for stopping by Elena. It was nice to see you."
"R-right," she stuttered, "I should probably go. It was nice to meet you, Damon."
"Great meeting you too Elena!" Damon followed them to the door, he'd heard a car pull in and his eyes lit up, things were going to get interesting.
Stefan opened the door and Elena stumbled right into Maya, "Maya!" Elena exclaimed.
"Elena," Maya scowled, "What are you doing here?"
Elena crossed her arms suddenly defensive, "I'm here for Stefan." She said.
"Right, the guy you've known for like two days." Maya smirked.
"Oh please," Elena rolled her eyes, "What are you doing here?"
"You know maybe you should both go," Stefan suggested, trying to push them both out of the house.
"Not gonna happen Stefan," Damon said, pushing his brother to one side and tugging Maya towards him, "My girl's here to see me, aren't you?"
Maya looked up at him coyly, "That's right babe!"
Damon smiled, leaning down and kissing her, he pulled back and smirked at the dazed look in her eyes, "Why don't you head upstairs, I'll meet you there." He steered her towards the stairs and slapped her on her ass, causing her to jump and giggle as she rushed upstairs. He turned back to see Stefan finish pushing Elena out of the door.
Stefan slammed the door shut and turned to face his brother, "Woo she's got spunk! Although you were kind of rude, I thought I taught you better." Damon said, "But then again you do look kinda pooped, did you overexert yourself today? Let me guess, you went to the hospital?"
"Someone had to clean up the mess you made when you left that girl alive," Stefan replied.
"Well, were you successful? Did the powers of persuasion work?" he wondered closer to the stairs, "Remember, if you don't feed properly, none of those little tricks work right."
"How long was Elena here?" Stefan asked, worried that Damon had tried something, or worse, compelled her.
"Why, were you worried Stefan? Scared we may be doomed to repeat the past? Isn't that why you play your little game, 'I'm the high school human?'"
"I'm not playing any game."
"Of course you are. We both know the closest you'll ever get to humanity is when you rip it open and feed on it."
"And what kind of game are you playing Damon? With Elena, with her cousin?" His eyes darted upstairs as he heard Maya move around in Damon's room.
"Guess you'll just have to wait and see, won't you? Now if you'll excuse me, I have a very hot, very naked girl waiting for me in my bed."
Damon moved to leave but Stefan grabbed him and slammed him against the wall, "I'm not going to let you hurt her Damon."
Damon moved so fast that Stefan didn't even see it, just felt it when a fire poker entered his stomach, pinning him to the wall "I do what I want, when I want," Damon growled, vampire on full display, "If I want to fuck Elena's pretty cousin I will, if I want to feed on her I will, if I want to tear her apart and scatter her remains all over Mystic Falls I will. You can't stop me Stefan, you're weak and pathetic." The elder Salvatore let go of the poker and whooshed upstairs, leaving Stefan groaning in pain.
/ / /
Maya and Damon had been chilling in his room, he'd turned on some music so that Stefan couldn't hear anything going on, but the two of them were just spending time together, something that Damon hadn't done in ages. Maya's stomach growled and she frowned, "Please tell me that you have food in this creepy mansion."
"Zach has to eat something," Damon shrugged, "And it's not creepy."
"It is," Maya insisted, "Before you and your brother came home, I'm willing to bet that no one even knew that this place was still occupied…come to think of it, I've never seen Zach Salvatore before. I've lived here my whole life, but I've never seen him."
"Zach's a shut in," Damon said, flipping through a magazine, "He's decided that he doesn't want to bring anyone into his life, because they have the potential to meet me, so he just stays indoors, and occasionally goes to work meetings out of town."
"He works?" Maya asked, "Doing what?"
"No clue," Damon shrugged, "And I don't really care to find out." Maya's stomach rumbled again.
"Your stomach sounds like it's eating itself, go to the kitchen and get some food, bring me up a snack too." Maya got up and Damon stopped her, "And here," he took off his shirt and threw it at her, "Put that on, it smells like me so Stefan will believe that we've been…busy."
"You know if I lose this bet, not only will you be stuck with that stupid Viper helmet, but Zo will probably put it on display along with my Batman Cowl?"
"Yeah, but I like Bale, I feel like he's immortalised the words 'I'm Batman'"
"Ugh, you're an ass," Maya said, going into the bathroom to change.
"And you love me anyway," Damon smirked, causing her to roll her eyes.
"Whatever," she muttered, heading downstairs in just her underwear and Damon's T-shirt, (thank goodness it was long enough to cover her butt).
/ / /
Maya was in the Salvatore kitchen, making herself and Damon a snack, when Stefan came in, "Maya," he said. But she just ignored him, continuing to load up the plates with food and grabbed herself a drink, Damon's room was full of bourbon, just like every room in the house, so he didn't need one. "Maya," Stefan tried again, as she pulled out a tray and put the plates and drink on it, she didn't want to reveal that she was magical just yet, so she was going to have move things the human way. Stefan sighed and moved over to her grabbing her arm, "May-"
He was cut off with a punch to the face, Maya had thrown all her weight (and a little magic) behind it, and Stefan went down like a sack of potatoes. In fact she was sure that she'd heard his nose break, "That was for Caroline," she said, "No one hurts Caroline and gets away with it." She picked up the tray and walked around his prone form, heading upstairs without a second thought. That had felt good.
/ / /
"I can't believe you hit Stefan and I didn't get to see it," Damon complained.
"Well if you had been a gentleman and come downstairs with me to get food, then you would have seen in." Maya said, popping a strawberry into her mouth.
"Can't you just do it again? When I'm there?"
Maya shook her head, "No can do, Mom said I could only hit him once." Damon frowned, "Oh relax old man, it's Stefan, chances are he'll do something that makes me mad again.
"Who are you calling old?" Damon said, "You're the one who can't stop making out with a Viking!"
"I made out with a Viking once!" Maya defended, "Once, and I'm not disputing that he's old, doesn't mean that you're not either."
"I'm sorry, out of the two of us, which one of us was born before the English language was invented?"
"Shut up!" Maya threw a slice of apple at him, which he caught in his mouth.
"I'm just saying, if anyone's the old one here, it's you."
Maya rolled her eyes and threw herself onto Damon's bed, if she was going to have to hang around in just his shirt, then she was going to get under the covers before she froze in the old house. "Whatever," she muttered. "You know, the comet's tomorrow." She said, changing the subject.
"I do," Damon nodded, "I spent so long waiting for it to pass, just so that I could get into the tomb," he murmured, "I had plans upon plans and now everything's changed." He joined her in bed, and Maya slotted herself under his arm, her head on his chest.
"You know it's okay to be angry about it," she said, "You don't love Katherine anymore, but you can still be angry about what she did. You may be a vampire, and have eternity, but she made you waste 140 years, she knew that you loved her, she knew that you were waiting for her and she didn't care, she doesn't care. It's okay to be mad, it's okay to hate her."
"You don't think that it'll upset Enzo?" he asked, the last thing he wanted to do was shake the unsteady foundation of his and Enzo's relationship.
"Damon, Enzo knows you, he's known you at your absolute worst, and he loves you anyway. He'd think it was weird if you weren't angry and hateful, he'd think that you were hiding something. So hate her, plot revenge, just don't hide it from us."
It was the evening when Zach came home, whenever Damon or Stefan came to town, the human Salvatores tried to stay as far away from the vampires as possible. "What is Damon doing here? Why did he come home?" he asked Stefan.
"Because I came home," Stefan scoffed, "He wants to make my life miserable, that's how he enjoys his life."
"Well he's putting us all at risk, that girl in the hospital could talk."
"She won't," Stefan shook his head, "I took care of her."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm not sure Zach! I don't know how well it worked. I'm not as strong as Damon!"
"So what happens if it doesn't work?"
"I don't know. I'll find a way to deal with it."
"Is she worth it?" Zach asked, "Uncle Stefan, this girl you came back for, is she worth it?"
"Yes," Stefan sighed, and then looked at his nephew, "He's brought someone home."
"What?" Zach asked.
"Maya Sommers, she says that they met in L.A last month and have been dating ever since but…"
"But that's ridiculous," Zach said, "He's just compelled her. Maya's linked to the founding families, her best friend is the Sheriff's daughter, he's using her for something."
"He's using her to get to me," Stefan said.
"Is it working?"
"Yes."
It was the night of the comet and Caroline was busy ordering cheerleaders around, getting them to hand out fliers for the gathering later in the evening. Maya had managed to get out of it by letting the blonde know that she was going to be confronting Vicki, and Caroline had agreed that keeping Jeremy protected was a priority.
"Vicki!" Maya said, the older girl had just gone on break and had headed to the bathroom.
"Ugh, what do you want Sommers?" Vicki asked, she wasn't in any mood to talk, in between Tyler's attitude and Jeremy following her around she didn't need to deal with anyone's crap.
Maya locked the bathroom door behind her, "I want you to stay away from Jeremy."
"It's none of your business what I do." Vicki scoffed.
"It is when it involves Jeremy!" Maya said, frowning.
"Look not that it's any of your business, but Jeremy and I are just friends." She moved to leave the bathroom but Maya stopped her, and shoved her against the sink.
"That's not what I've heard," she said, shoving Vicki back when she tried to move again, "Jeremy is my cousin, my 14 year-old cousin, and if I get proof that you slept with him, I will be calling the police, because you're 18 Vicki, Jeremy is a child and you're a grown ass woman, stay away from him, or I'll have you arrested! Are we clear?"
"Get off of me!" Vicki said, struggling to get away from the younger woman.
Maya's grip tightened on Vicki's arms, "I said. Are. We. Clear?"
"Get o-"
"When it comes to my family, I don't mess around, this is your one chance Vicki, do you understand me!"
Vicki snarled at her, "Fine! Yes!"
"You'll stay away from Jeremy?"
"I'll stay away!"
Maya released her grip, and shoved the woman away from her, "I mean it Vicki, this is your only chance." She opened the door and left the bathroom, ignoring the small queue that had formed outside, she left to find Caroline.
Miranda sighed as yet another one of her calls was sent to voicemail, Jenna wouldn't talk to her, hadn't talked to her all summer and now that she was back in town, she was still avoiding her, this couldn't go on. Jenna was her little sister, Maya was her niece, did she handle things badly in May? Yes, but did she deserve to be shut out of her little sister's life? She didn't think so.
"Jeremy!" she called, seeing him walk past on his way out of the house.
"Yeah Mom?" he asked, heading over to her.
"I need you to speak with Maya."
"Mom-" Jeremy started.
"No! Jenna's not answering my phone calls, and she changed the passcode on her gate, so I can't even go over to her house. You're my last line of communication, so I need you to talk to Maya, tell her that I want to talk, and that I would like it if she and Jenna came over for dinner on Friday, eight o'clock."
"You think that they're really going to want to have a family dinner? After Elena nearly killed Maya and still hasn't apologised for it?"
"Jeremy!"
"No Mom! It's true, I know it, you know it, and Elena freaking admitted to it! And you tried to stop her from getting the blame for it by blaming the accident on Maya!"
"That wasn't my intention," Miranda said, "I was just trying to protect my daughter."
"And Aunt Jenna was protecting Maya, you really think that they're going to want to come over and play happy families with us?"
"Just ask her, they're our family and we need to fix this." Jeremy shot her a look and she sighed, "I need to fix this."
It was Friday morning, and Elena and Bonnie were at school, "I'm not saying don't date the guy," Bonnie said, "I'm just saying take it slow."
"Weren't you the one telling me to go for it?"
"Well now I'm saying take it slow."
"Why the about-face?" Elena asked.
"It's not an about-face. You're single for the first time in your entire high school career. It's the perfect time to play the field."
"Oh, because I'm so that girl. Seriously, what are you not saying?"
"It's stupid," Bonnie hesitated, should she tell Elena why she didn't feel great about Stefan now.
"Bonnie, spit it out."
"I accidentally touched Stefan and got a really bad feeling."
"That's it?"
"It was bad, bad!"
"Is this the whole witch mojo thing again?" Elena asked, exasperated at Bonnie's reasoning.
"You know what, I'm just concerned. This is me expressing concern about my best friend's new boyfriend."
"And I love you for it, I do. But I feel good. It's been a hard year, and I'm starting to kind of feel like things are getting back to normal again." And you know what? Stefan is a big part of that."
Stefan came up to the two girls, "Good morning Elena. Good morning Bonnie."
"Hey, um, I gotta drop of an assignment, I'll see you guys later."
"Bonnie, wait!" Elena called, but Bonnie just walked away.
"She doesn't like me very much," he said.
"She just doesn't know you," Elena tried to defend, "She's my best friend. She's just looking out for me. But when she does know you, she will love you."
"I'm not sure about that."
"Look, here's what we're going to do, are you free tonight?"
"Yes."
"Perfect! Dinner, my house. Eight o'clock. You, me, and Bonnie. You two will spend some quality time together and she'll get to see what a great guy you are."
/ / /
"Hey Maya!" Jeremy jogged over to his cousin.
"What's up Jer?" Maya asked.
"Mom wants me to invite you and Aunt Jenna over for dinner tonight."
"Seriously?" Maya scoffed, "Why would I do that?"
"She said that she wants to make things right between you three."
"And what, one dinner's going to do that?"
"No, but it's a start."
"Jeremy I have no interest in hanging out with a girl that can't even be bothered to apologise for killing me."
"Then do it for me!" Jeremy exclaimed.
"What?"
"I miss you! I miss having you over at the house, I miss being able to come over to yours whenever I want! I hate having to sneak around! Just try to get along for me, can you do that?"
"Jer…" Maya trailed off as her phone beeped, indicating a message, she pulled it out and raised an eyebrow at the message from Caroline. 'Elena jst invitd Broody over for dinner tonight w Bonnie.'
Maya bit her lip and then looked back at Jeremy, who was giving her his puppy dog eyes, "Fine!" she relented, "But tell your Mom to set an extra place because I'm bringing Damon."
"Why are you bringing Damon?" Jeremy asked.
"Because he's my boyfriend," she shrugged.
"WHAT?!" Jeremy yelled, causing a few people to look over at them, "What do you mean 'he's your boyfriend?'" Jeremy hadn't spent much time with the vampire, and Maya hadn't felt the need to include his relationship status with Enzo when she introduced them, so as far as he was concerned, she was telling the truth.
"Exactly that, he's my boyfriend, and it's the only way I'm coming over."
"Fine," Jeremy muttered, "I'll let Mom know," he had a feeling that dinner was going to be an odd affair.
/ / /
Caroline linked arms with Maya as cheer practice finished, the two of them ignoring the looks that Stefan was sending their way, "I can't believe that Stefan's on the football team," Caroline said.
"I heard it was a whole thing outside school this morning," Maya replied.
"Yep, Tyler threw the ball at the back of Stefan's head, Stefan turned around and caught it, and then threw it back so hard that Tyler fell over."
"If that's all it takes to make the football team here, it's no wonder we didn't win a single game last year," Maya scoffed.
"It's ridiculous," Caroline said, she didn't want to have to cheer for Stefan, especially when he'd acted like such a douche. "Hey where's your car? I was hoping to bum a ride, mine's in the shop."
"Damon's picking me up, he said something about my short, short skirt and very tight top."
Caroline rolled her eyes, "Of course he is. Will he drop me off home?"
"He will, what kind of boyfriend would he be if he didn't cater to his girlfriend's ever whim?"
"A pretty terrible one!" Damon called, he'd just pulled in to pick Maya up, he got out and leant up against the side of his car as the girls walked over to him. "Blondie you're in the back," he said, leaning in to give Maya a nice long kiss, deepening it when he felt Stefan's eyes on him.
When he pulled away, Maya shook her head, as though to clear the cobwebs, "You need to stop doing that," she said, "Dazzling me with your kisses, is no fair."
Damon smirked, "Awe Red, all's fair in love and war."
Damon walked into Stefan's bedroom, Maya had told him all about dinner, he was going to swing by and pick up both her and Jenna and take them over to the Gilberts, so he knew that Stefan was getting ready for dinner too. "How were try-outs?" he asked. "Did you make the team?" He threw himself into the desk chair and picked up his brother's journal, flipping through a couple of pages, "Very Emerson, the way you reveal your soul with so many... adjectives."
"What are you doing here?"
"I've come to apologize. I've been doing some thinking, some soul searching, and... I want us to start over. We need to put the past behind us. You're my little brother, and if you want to live a normal, happy human life, then I want that for you. Maybe I can do it, too. Maybe I can learn to be a non-living living person. Maybe there's hope for the both of us."
"You know, it doesn't have to be this way, Damon."
Damon smirked and dropped the journal back on the desk, standing and moving to leave, "Of course it does. I saw Elena today, BTW. That means 'by the way' she was at cheerleading practice. Looking so perky in her little short shorts." Stefan took a threatening step forward and Damon grinned, "Just simmer down, I didn't even go near her. I've got my own cheerleader now. Ooh, that reminds me... I gotta run. I have a date. Sweaty palms. Wish me luck!"
Miranda was busy setting the dining room table, annoyed that Elena had not only invited Bonnie to dinner, but also her new boyfriend, without even asking her, this dinner was going to be awkward enough already, but adding two more people to the mix was going to make things worse, she could feel it.
Bonnie and Elena were in the kitchen, plating up the food for the dinner, "You explain it," Bonnie said, "Last night, I'm watching Nine-o, a commercial breaks come on and I'm like, I bet it's that phone commercial, and sure enough, it's that guy and the girl with the bench, he flies to Paris and he flies back. They take a picture."
"Oh, come on," Elena dismissed, "That commercial's on a constant loop."
"Fine. Well, how about this? Today I'm obsessed with numbers. Three numbers. I keep seeing eight, 14, and 22. How weird is that?"
"Maybe we should play the lottery." Elena shrugged, "Have you talked to your Grams?"
"She's just gonna say it's because I'm a witch. I don't want to be a witch. Do you want to be a witch?"
"I don't want to be a witch," Elena shook her head. "Ok, serving spoons. Where are the serving spoons?" she looked around the kitchen.
"Little drawer on your left."
Elena opened the drawer and was startled to find the spoons "Ok, so you've been in this kitchen like a thousand times," she tried to play it off like Bonnie's knowledge was nothing.
"Yeah, that's it," Bonnie agreed.
The doorbell rang and Elena's face lit up, "Okay he's here. Don't be nervous. Just be your normal loving self."
Elena opened the door and was startled to find Jenna, Maya and Damon, instead of Stefan, "Uh what are you doing here?" she asked a little stupidly, she knew that her mother had invited them over, she just didn't think that they would come.
"Waiting for you to invite us in," Jenna said, knowing that Damon couldn't get inside without a verbal invitation.
"Oh right," she locked eyes with Damon and flushed when she saw the intensity in his eyes, "Come in." Damon smirked as the two women went inside and he took a very deliberate step over the threshold, Stefan was going to lose his shit.
"You have a beautiful home," Damon said.
"Thank you," Elena replied, closing the door behind her. She made to leave when the bell rang again, opening it, she let out a little sigh of relief when she saw that it was Stefan. "Stefan," she smiled, "Come in!"
"Thank you," Elena had already invited him in before, so he didn't need to wait for an invite, but it was the polite thing to do.
He made to move to the living room but Elena grabbed his arm, stopping him, "Before you go in there, I have to warn you, my Mom set up her own dinner without telling me, and I only just found out. So it's more than just Bonnie in there."
"Who else is here?" Stefan asked cautiously, he had a feeling that he wasn't going to like the answer.
"Mom invited Maya and Aunt Jenna over, and Maya brought her boyfriend." Elena had sensed the tension between the two brothers, and Stefan had elaborated more on it, on the night of the comet, so she knew that he wasn't going to be happy.
"Damon's here?" Stefan asked alarmed, "He's here? In this house?"
"Yeah," Elena nodded, "It's not like I could tell him not to come in."
Stefan cursed his stupidity, he should have known that Damon would do something like this, "Right, well, let's not let Damon ruin the night." He walked inside the den and frowned at the sight of Damon, stood with his arm around Maya's waist, chatting away to the woman he presumed was her mother. Of course Damon would insert his way into Maya's life in any way he saw fit.
/ / /
About half an hour later, dinner had been served, and everyone was sat at the table, eating quietly, not talking, the tension was so thick, it could be cut with a knife. "Did Tanner give you a hard time today?" Elena asked Stefan, in order to try to break the tension.
"Well, he let me on the team, so I must have done something right," Stefan gave her a small smile, tense as he had to sit next to Damon.
"Bonnie, you should have seen Stefan today. Tyler threw a ball right at him, and-"
"Yeah, I heard," Bonnie cut her off.
"Why don't you tell Stefan about your family?" Elena said, trying again.
"Um, divorced. No mom. Live with my dad."
"No, about the witches!" Miranda looked up sharply at that, she was unaware that Bonnie knew about that part of her family, it must mean that she was coming into her magic, "Bonnie's family has a lineage of witches. It's really cool."
"Cool isn't the word I'd use," Bonnie shrugged.
"Well, it's certainly interesting. I'm not too well versed in them, but I do know that there's a history of Celtic Druids that migrated here in the 1800s."
"My family came by way of Salem."
"Really? Salem witches?"
"Yeah."
"I would say that's pretty cool," Stefan said enthusiastically.
"Really? Why?"
"Salem witches are heroic examples of individualism and nonconformity."
Bonnie smiled, "Yeah, they are." She was warming up to him.
Damon rolled his eyes and Maya suppressed a laugh, Stefan's idea of flattery was totally lame, and the fact that Bonnie fell for it was even worse. "I can't believe that Mr. Tanner let you on the team, especially after you humiliated him in class," Maya said, "Tyler must be seething, but good for you, go for it."
"That's what I always tell him." Damon said, "You have to engage. You can't just sit there and wait for life to come to you. You have to go get it."
"Yeah, Elena wasn't so lucky today," Maya smirked, "But it's only because you missed summer camp."
"You missed summer camp too," Elena replied, eyes narrowed.
"And who's fault was that?" Maya asked, causing Jenna and Miranda to tense up at the not so subtle mention of the accident, "But it doesn't matter, because I was on point for ever single routine. Right Damon?"
"Oh you definitely were," he agreed, "I guess it helps to have the Cheer Captain as your best friend."
"It does," Maya nodded, turning her attention back to Elena, "God, I don't know how you're ever going to learn the routines."
"I'll work with her." Bonnie cut in, not wanting this to devolve into an argument, "She'll get it."
"I guess Care could put you in the back," Maya mused, ignoring the glare she received in return.
"You know, you don't seem like the cheerleader type, Elena," Damon said.
"Oh that's just because she's going through a blah phase. You know, car accident, broken leg, total social pariah because she's killed me."
"Maya!" Miranda said, having had enough.
"No!" Maya said, slamming her hand on the table, "You wanted us here to talk, so let's talk! Elena got drunk, Elena couldn't stop interfering with my ability to drive, Elena got her hands on the steering wheel, when I was going over the bridge! She caused the crash! She's the reason why I ended up in that lake! She. Killed. Me.My heart and my breathing stopped, I died, more than once, and it's a damn miracle that I'm alive without any impairments! Because my brain was without oxygen for 12 minutes." She looked between Elena and Miranda with disgust, "I shouldn't be here, but I am! But do you know what's worse, worse than knowing that your family almost permanently killed you? Knowing that while I was undergoing surgery, to save my life," she looked at Miranda, "You were with Sheriff Forbes, trying to blame me for the accident." Her eyes were watering, as she was trying to hold back her tears, she didn't want to give either one of the Gilberts the satisfaction, "You're my Aunt! You're supposed to protect me…instead, you hurt me. And neither one of you, can even bother to apologise for what you did!" She stood, "I can't do this!" she shook her head and left the house, standing on the porch, trying to settle herself.
Jenna moved to go after her daughter, but Damon put a hand on her arm and stopped her, "I'll go," he said quietly.
/ / /
He walked outside and saw her stood off to the side, trembling as she tried to keep her anger and her hurt in check. "Hey," he said softly, wrapping her in his arms, neither he, nor Enzo had thought that this would be difficult for Maya, she was always so strong, so sure of herself, and when they'd gotten to L.A, it was like she'd just brushed off the accident, like it meant nothing to her, so they'd done the same.
"I'm sorry," she mumbled into his chest, "I didn't realise how much she hurt me," she loved her Aunt Miranda, and the betrayal that she'd felt, she must have pushed it deep down, because she didn't want to deal with it, and now it had come out.
"It's okay," Damon whispered, "We shouldn't have pushed you to do this."
"It's not your fault."
"Well it's not yours either, do you want me to take you home? I think dinner's a bust now anyway."
Maya let out a self-depreciating laugh, "I love you," she muttered.
Damon felt Stefan's eyes on them and smirked, "I know."
/ / /
Stefan watched the two from the den window with a scowl, he hadn't heard most of their conversation, Elena had ran upstairs and her mother had followed, and thanks to his weakened senses, he couldn't hear over them initially, once they were upstairs he could hear Damon and Maya, and what he had heard, didn't make him happy. Maya had said that she loved Damon, loved him, Stefan thought that he'd just compelled her to get at him, she was Elena's cousin and it was an ideal way to torment him. But Maya had said that she'd loved him, Damon was treating the girl like Katherine had treated him, that wasn't right.
"You know what," Jenna said, "This has been fun, really, but I'm going to get Damon to take us home." She looked over at Bonnie, "Let them know we left." Bonnie rushed upstairs and Jenna moved to leave.
"Jenna," Stefan said, "My brother's not a good guy, you should keep your daughter away from him."
Jenna scowled and turned to look at Stefan, "My daughter is an excellent judge of character, and Damon has been nothing but a gentleman. Which is more than I can say for you."
"What?" Stefan asked, startled.
"The next time you want to treat a woman like crap, maybe make sure that it's not the Sheriff's daughter." Jenna snarled, leaving the house.
Damon got back to the Boarding House late that night, he had stayed long enough to make sure that Maya was going to be okay, and had had a chat with Enzo about what they were going to do in the future. They would both need to speak with the Siphon when she calmed down so that they could come up with a plan that didn't put her in such close proximity to Elena and her mother.
It was about two a.m. when he got back and Stefan was waiting for him in his room, "Ah, Stef, what is it now?"
"They are people Damon! She's not a puppet, she doesn't exist for your amusement, for you to feed on whenever you want to!"
"Sure she does! They all do! They're whatever I want them to be, they're mine for the taking," he said cruelly, not in the mood to play tonight. All he wanted was to be able to go back to the Sommers' home and curl up in bed with Enzo, instead, he was stuck at the Boarding House, having to deal with Stefan.
"All right, you've had your fun. You used Maya, you got to me and Elena, good for you. Now it's time for you leave them alone."
"That's not gonna happen, because I've been invited in, and I'll go back tomorrow night and the following night and I'll do with your little cheerleader whatever I want to. Because that is what is normal to me."
The next night, was the first football game of the season, the whole town was out in full force, even the Sheriff had made an appearance, "Are you sure you're okay?" Caroline asked.
"I'm fine," Maya said, "Let's just get the cheering over so that I can stay as far away from Elena as possible."
"Then you'll be happy to know that she quit."
"What?"
"Yep, I think it was something you said."
"Of course it was," Maya let out a hollow laugh, "She doesn't want to face me, especially since I embarrassed her in front of her brand new boyfriend." The two girls laughed, but were distracted when they heard yelling coming from by the stands, "Jeremy!" Maya said, both of them hurrying over to see what the commotion was about.
/ / /
Elena walked away from Stefan, he'd just split up Tyler and Jeremy, the two of them fighting over Vicki Donovan of all people. She tried to shake off what she'd seen, but she couldn't. Jeremy had come after Tyler with a broken bottle and Stefan had gotten in the way, she was positive that the bottle had cut Stefan, she'd seen it go into his hand, but when she'd checked, there wasn't a scratch on him. She headed over to Bonnie while Caroline and Maya were nowhere to be seen, "Hey!" Bonnie called, "Where have you been?"
"Can I ask you a question?" Elena asked, "And you give me a really serious no-joke response?"
"Of course, what is it?"
"The bad mojo, when you touched Stefan, and you had that reaction…"
"You know what, forget I said that, Stefan totally won me over."
"No, Bonnie, seriously. What was it? Did you see something? Or…"
"It wasn't clear like a picture. Like today, I keep seeing those same numbers I told you about... 8, 14, 22."
"Yeah?"
"When I touched Stefan, it was a feeling. And it vibrated through me, and it was cold, and it..."
"And what?"
"It was death. It's what I imagine death to be like."
Elena nodded, frowning, what did it mean? She moved off the field when she saw that Caroline and her cousin were coming back, she didn't want to get into it with them right now.
/ / /
Elena was at her mom's car, waiting for her mother and Jeremy to join her, her brother had run off before she could stop him and her mother had followed, she heard a noise from behind her and whirled around, seeing Damon, "What are you doing here?"
"Well dinner last night was very awkward."
"I know, I'm sorry, I-"
"So you are capable of saying the word." Damon said.
"What?"
"Sorry, you're capable of saying sorry, I only bring it up because you still haven't bothered to apologise to Maya for what you did."
"I didn't-" No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get the words out, she never could.
"Yes you did, I think you should say you're sorry, don't you?"
"No!" Elena said.
And Damon scowled and moved in closer to her, "I really think that you should apologise." He compelled and Elena slapped him in response.
"I don't know who you think you are, but I am not someone that you can just order around!"
Damon snarled and stormed off, vervain! Stefan had given his little girlfriend vervain! Where had he gotten it from? Damon had made sure to destroy the town's supply years ago, but somehow, Stefan had managed to get his hands on it.
/ / /
Damon found Stefan talking with Matt, the human offering Stefan his seal of approval before running off to join the rest of the team. "Isn't that nice? Stefan joins a team, makes a friend. It's all so, 'rah, rah, go team, yeah!'"
"Not tonight Damon. I'm done with you."
"Nice trick with Elena. Let me guess, vervain in the necklace? I'll admit, I was a bit surprised. It's been a while since anyone could resist my compulsion. Where'd you get it?"
"Does it matter?"
Damon shrugged, "Guess I could just seduce her the old-fashioned way." Playing on what was clearly Stefan's biggest fear, "Or I could just... eat her."
"No, you're not gonna hurt her, Damon."
"No?"
"Because deep down inside, there is a part of you that feels for her. I was worried that you had no humanity left inside of you, that you may have actually become the monster that you pretend to be," Stefan believed that the reason Damon was sticking around was because of Elena, because he wanted to know her, like he did.
"Who's pretending?"
"Then kill me."
Damon tapped his bottom lip, "Well, I am tempted."
"No, you're not. You've had lifetimes to do it, and yet, here I am. I'm still alive. And there you are. You're still haunting me. After 145 years. Katherine is dead. And you hate me because you loved her, and you torture me because you still do. And that, my brother, is your humanity."
Damon could feel his vampire bubble to the surface, Stefan knew nothing about him, if he'd tried to reconcile with his brother, he might actually know what was going on with Damon, but instead, Stefan just liked to make assumptions. Damon was spared from making a further comment when the football coach came up to them, "Salvatore! What the hell? We've got a game to play!" the coach stood with his back to Damon, and the older vampire gave a terrifying smile.
"If that's my humanity, then what's this?" he asked, grabbing the coach and sinking his fangs into the man's throat, draining him dry and dropping him on the ground.
"No!" Stefan cried out.
"Anyone. Anytime. Any place," he said before whooshing away.
Stefan was in his bedroom, writing in his journal, 'I thought there was hope, that somewhere deep inside, something in Damon was still human, normal. But I was wrong, there's nothing human left in Damon. No good. No kindness. No love. Only a monster who must be stopped.'
Thanks for reading! If you have time, please leave a review as they make me feel great!