1.9 - The Showdown

"So do you think he'll show?" Hanna said as she grinned at Aria and looked over both of her shoulders, trying to spot Stefan in the crowded Grill.

Aria nudged Hanna, "Hanna! Will you stop looking! You're being so obvious." Aria rolled her eyes as she slumped her shoulders slightly. She couldn't believe that she had asked Stefan to hang out with her and her friends.

"Oh stop it Aria. You almost never have crushes on anyone. So this is big," Hanna smirked as she took another sip from her soda that was sitting on the table, "I've never see you look at anyone like how you looked at Stefan today at the coffee place."

Aria rolled her eyes, "Oh, speaking of crushes, here comes Damon," she replied, pointing at her brother as he walked smoothly through the crowds of people and headed straight towards Hanna.

Hanna stiffened, her hands began to clench the can of soda that she had been holding, it was the first time that she was seeing Damon since their little meeting in the shower earlier that day.

As Damon approached their table, he smirked a little bit at Hanna, "Hey sis," he said, he looked right towards Hanna and nudged himself a seat right next to her, "Hey Hanna."

Hanna pursed her lips and attempted to smile, "Hey Damon," she replied, slowly moving herself away from him.

Aria gave a puzzled look to both of them, "Wow. That's the least amount of words I've ever heard come out of each of you."

Damon smiled, "Yeah Han, what's up? I thought you would be happy to see me, you know, with clothes-"

Aria's eyes widened as she looked towards Hannah, "Um, what...?"

Hanna glared directly at Damon, kicking him forcefully underneath the table, "Nothing, Aria. You're brother's just being his normal, stupid self tonight," Hanna replied as she looked back at her friend with a nervous grin.

Aria made an "O" face with her mouth, "Okay, um... I'm gonna get something else to drink. You guys are acting weird."

Relieved to get out of that awkward situation, Aria made her way to the bar, bumping into a familiar face along the way.

"Hey Aria," Stefan said, "I was just coming to find you."

Aria looked up at his gorgeous brown eyes, "Hey! ... I'm glad you could make it!"

Stefan smiled back down at Aria, "Thanks for inviting me."

Suddenly, Aria forgot about the Damon-Hanna drama and took Stefan by the arm, "Come on, I'll introduce you to some of my friends!" Stefan followed her, putting his hand behind her back.

As Aria walked back to the table, Damon and Hanna were (thank goodness!) joined by Emily, Tyler and Matt, who were all still teasing Tyler for Matt's embarrassing prank on him.

"Hey guys!" Aria said cheerfully, "I'd like you to meet Stefan, he just moved here!"

Everyone smiled at Stefan and Aria, except Damon who's face had dropped from its previous contemptuous grin and now had changed into a stone-cold, serious expression.

Emily smiled, "Hey Stefan, I'm Emily," she pointed to Matt and Tyler, "This is Matt and this embarrassing guy with the pink tutu is Tyler."

Tyler pushed Emily, "Shut up, Em."

Stefan laughed, "Oh, tough break man."

Tyler laughed right back at Stefan, "Yeah, I normally don't look like this."

Matt smirked, "Yeah, he normally has a tiara too."

Tyler rolled his eyes and pursed his lips, "Okay, haha. Very funny. So can we just stop this now? I thought we were coming here to do shots or something."

Emily and Matt both nodded their heads and said in agreement, "I'm game."

As they left, Hanna looked towards Stefan. However, all Damon could do was glare at this tall blond guy who was standing next to his little sister.

"Stefan, why don't you sit down?" Hanna asked, as she motioned at Stefan to come sit down next to Aria.

Damon got up, "I don't think that's such a good idea."

Aria looked anxiously at her brother and whispered, "Damon, please!"

Damon looked down at her, "Aria. I thought I told you to stay away from this guy?"

Aria's eyes widened, "DAMON STOP!"

Stefan stepped in front of Damon as Aria hovered behind, "What's your problem?" he asked.

Damon stared defiantly into Stefan's eyes, "Aria, I need to talk to this guy alone. You and Hanna should leave."

Hanna stood up, attempting to get between Damon and Stefan, "Damon, you don't have to do this. Just leave him alone,"she pleaded.

Damon interrupted her, "Hanna, just please take my sister home. Good night."

Aria and Hanna looked at each other with uneasiness. They could both tell that a fight was about to ensue between Stefan and Damon.

"Han, let's just go," Aria said reluctantly. Her eyes began to glisten a bit as she was struggling to hold back tears, "Why do you always have to do this Damon?" she whispered and she looked back at Stefan, as they both exchanged apologetic glances.

Hanna went towards her friend and grabbed her shoulders in order to comfort her. She glared at Damon and bumped his shoulder as they left the Grill, "You're an idiot," she whispered.


Damon and Stefan waited until Hanna and Aria were completely out of sight. Damon grabbed Stefan by the arm and took him out through the back door and into a small alley way.

"What are you doing here?" Damon muttered, still a few inches from Stefan's face.

"I could say the same for you." Stefan replied in a cool manner.

"Listen. I don't know why you're here or why you would hit on my sister."

Stefan cut Damon off, "Just stop, Damon. Not everything has to do with you."

Damon rolled his eyes, "Then why are you here Stefan? And don't even tell me that you didn't know Aria was my sister?!," he yelled.

Stefan gave Damon a puzzled look, but then slowly began to put the pieces of Damon's mysterious presence in Rosewood Falls together, "Your sister? Oh no... Did you compel Ar-"

Without thinking Damon wound up his fist and punched Stefan in the face. His volatile temper had finally broken through and at vampire speed he grabbed Stefan, with both hands, by the shirt and pushed him up against the alley wall, "DON'T you ever talk to my sister again," he said through his gritted teeth, "I don't care if you like her - or whatever - you can stay in this town as long as I never see your face again."

With all of his strength, Stefan pushed Damon off of the wall and tackled him to the ground, "You can't tell me who I can talk to Damon, or even who I can like," Stefan replied in a forceful whisper as Damon squirmed underneath him, "and I'm not gonna let you manipulate Aria any longer. You're the one that she needs protection from," Stefan growled as he relieved Damon from his grasp.

Finally, Damon pushed himself back up. His clothes all wrinkled. Stefan's mouth bleeding slightly, "I have a life here Stefan. This is my town. Stay here all you want, but if you mess with my sister, I will destroy you and I'll tell her about Katherine," Damon said defiantly as he began to walk away from Stefan.

Stefan looked back at Damon as he wiped the corner of his bleeding mouth, "Fine." he replied, "but Aria can decide for herself whether she wants to be with me."

Damon turned around and speeded back towards Stefan. Winding his fist in the air, he gave him one last punch. Silence. Stefan hit the ground. Damon gave a satisfied smile and walked away from Stefan, once and for all.


1 am:

Walking down the streets of Rosewood Falls, Klaus smiled triumphantly to himself. He was almost close to winning over Caroline completely, Katherine and Ali were busy executing his plan and he was close to gaining the respect of -A (or the person who he was really working for behind Katherine and Ali's backs).

As Klaus watched the last of the pub crawlers stumble through the streets, he decided to sit on a nearby park bench so that he could fully contemplate the next steps to his manipulative plan.

However, as he sat down, Klaus fell into an uncomfortable silence. Hearing the faint whispering sounds of the wind blowing through his ears, Klaus could hear the patter of a man's footsteps walking behind him. Klaus wondered who would have dared to approach him with such directness. As the sound of the footsteps grew louder, Klaus prepared himself for an attack.

Suddenly, Klaus whipped his head around, baring his vampire teeth to make sure that this other person surrendered himself to him.

However, Klaus dropped his vampire face as soon as he saw this person appear from the pitch-black night, "Elijah," Klaus whispered.

Elijah walked out from the black abyss of the night, "Hello brother, we need to have a chat..."