A/N: Thanks everyone who is reading and following this story as it progresses. Even with so few reviews, the sheer number of readers on each new chapter is inspiring.

Special thanks to my beta Someryn for putting her time into correcting all my silly mistakes!

Disclaimer: TVD is not mine.

Breaking the Boundaries Chapter 9

Day by day we were getting closer to being caught. Although we hadn't technically "done" anything since that first day, Ric had slept in my bed every night. We had to work out a more efficient system somehow. Last night we had forgotten to even make the couch seem slept on.

Jeremy, luckily, was as obtuse as ever and just assumed that Ric was bright eyed and bushy tailed enough to have cleared up the couch, even when he entered the kitchen bleary-eyed and still in sweats and a t-shirt. If I hadn't been so intent on keeping this such a massive secret, I would have been worried about his apparent lack of all skills of observation.

The hunt for Stefan still seemed never ending. Each time we get some kind of a tip off, there was only death and destruction left behind, with no sign of the homicidal vampires. It was apparent, however, that the victims were not random. Nearly all were friends and families of werewolves. It was a very difficult connection to make as werewolves are very secretive by nature and none of them actually were wolves themselves.

Damon was as determined as ever to keep me out of any and all excursions to track them. He had decided, as per usual, that this was too dangerous for me to undertake, even with him for protection. But it was so frustrating! I felt like I was the proverbial "damsel in distress"and that they had decided that I was helpless, having to be looked after by the men folk.

It had been the cause of more than one strongly worded disagreement between Ric and me. He was torn, I could tell. On one hand, he wanted us to be equals in this relationship. We had discussed it and had agreed that while at school I would be nothing but compliant, but at home he was not my teacher and not my father. That he would always treat me as an equal.

On the other hand, it was within his nature to be protective and caring, especially for those that he loved. Admittedly, it was one of the qualities that most drew me to him. Due to his abysmal success rate in saving his wife and then girlfriend from both vampirism and death, I could understand him going a little too hardcore with me.

He roused me out of my thoughts, as if he knew exactly what I was thinking.

"Elena? I'm heading out now," he said nonchalantly, kissing my head on his way past me, a duffel clutched in one hand and his keys in the other.

"What? Where are you going? Ric, tell me the truth. We don't have secrets in our relationship, remember?" I said indignantly, adding a little girl foot stomp for emphasis.

He sighed. "I do remember, but do you remember when I said that it doesn't count if they aren't my secrets to tell? Damon has given me strict instructions that if I tell you where we are going, he will never tell me anything in advance again. I tried to explain it to him, but it's a little difficult to explain that you keep both my balls in your back pocket when no one even knows that we are together!" He looked so frustrated and put out about it but I couldn't help it. I giggled.

He stared at me for a minute, super unimpressed with my outburst. "Elena, not funny!" he ground out.

I giggled again and said from behind one hand "It kind of is," still stuck in the giggles. I saw one side of his mouth twitch up, quite obviously unintentionally.

"Woman!" he shouted, giving in to the comical side of the argument, "Give them back! I demand it. Until my wagon is hitched to yours, in public, I can't explain away being totally whipped by you," his tone was getting serious again. "Especially to Damon. "

I really, really couldn't argue with that. Despite my feminist and independence attitudes towards this particular situation, Ric was right. I couldn't be pressuring him to give up the goods. I would have to go straight to the source.

There was no point going over there now; Damon wouldn't be at the boarding house if they were going on a Stefan hunt. But, said a little voice in my head, there might be more to discover at the house while he isn't there.

It could be done, I knew. If he wasn't home then there wouldn't be anyone there at all. But self-righteous Elena poked her head in the mix. It wouldn't be right to snoop through his things. What about the right to privacy? Even Damon deserves that. Curious and worried Elena won out.

There was nothing of interest in the library. I had nearly finished searching Damon's room, so, so wrong, when I found his serial killer closet. Nothing could quite prepare me to see, tracked and mapped, exactly how many victims Klaus and Stefan had accumulated in the short months that they had been gone. What astounded me the most was how many of them were Stefan. A decent majority of them had a "Stefan" sticky note on them. The most prominent thought that came to mind was why?

I was still sitting there, in a state of shock, with the cupboard door wide open, eyes staring blankly, when Damon came across me. I didn't even look at him. My eyes weren't focusing, and I hadn't even heard him come in. I don't know how long he was there before he scooped me up in his arms and took me downstairs to settle into the lounge. I clasped the cold glass he shoved into my hand like a lifeline. My senses started to return after the first swallow. My taste buds had returned by the second.

"Blech," I spat, choking on the offending liquid. "What is that?"

"Scotch," he returned offhandedly, before narrowing his eyes at me."Please explain," he started ominously," exactly how it is that I came to find you practically catatonic in my bedroom?"

He took another unnecessary breath as though to calm himself. "Why did you do it?" The pity in his eyes was obvious. Almost unbearable.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked sullenly. "I knew Stefan was off the rails, I know I'm not getting him back. I knew you were keeping things from me." I paused and sniffed back those tears that threatened to spill. "Why didn't you tell me how bad it really is? Then I wouldn't have had to snoop into the biggest shock of my life. I was expecting to find an address, maybe a note. Not... not that, "I shuddered.

"Well, if I was me, which I am, I would say if you didn't run around snooping in people's closets then you wouldn't find any nasty surprises. But now isn't the time to get on my high and mighty horse of moral authority. You look like crap," he stated matter-of-factly.

"Great," I sniffed, "Super villain ex-boyfriend and I look like crap. My day keeps getting better and better."

His face softened. "How did you get here? Do you want a ride home? You need a good night's rest to get ready for the big day tomorrow," he said almost kindly, bordering on mocking.

Oh crap, I had forgotten about my birthday. "No, I can drive myself home."

Ric was waiting up for me at the kitchen table when I got home. I knew by the look on his face that Damon had called ahead to tell him. I didn't realise Damon even cared that much.

He gathered me up in his arms and sat back down with me in his lap. He held me there without saying a word for several long and comfortable minutes.

Eventually he opened his mouth. "Lucky Jeremy has already gone to bed, because this would be very hard to justify."

I let out a soggy chuckle against his chest. "Jeremy would understand. But he might want to know why you had to comfort me while I was sitting in your lap."

"Babe?" I looked up. "That's kind of what I meant."

Well didn't I feel stupid now. I could add that to looking like crap. Brilliant day.

"Can we please just go to bed now?" I pleaded. "Though my own morbid curiosity, I now know everything and wish I didn't. I don't want to think about anything anymore. I want to you to wrap me up and be the biggest, most badass teddy bear in the world."

"Sounds like a good plan to me."