Elena sat in Damon's passenger seat looking up at the Boarding House. Damon and Stefan stood on the front porch glaring at each other. Elena wished desperately she had their hearing abilities as they muttered under their breath flicking sideways glances at her. She leaned back in her seat crossing her arms and groaning impatiently. Damon finally turned his back on his brother and came down the stairs. As he climbed in Elena watched as Stefan got into his car. "We figured if we split up we'd have a better chance at finding her." He said starting the car.
"Do you want me to stop by my house and get my car?"
"No." he said backing out of the driveway smoothly.
"Why not?" said Elena. "If we have a third car-"
"I'm not having you search for a new vampire. Caroline isn't in control of her actions right now. It's too dangerous."
"Then why were you talking about me?" she said looking up at him.
"We weren't." he said looking straight ahead.
"Yes you were." she said.
"We were talking about finding Caroline." said Damon still staring determinedly at the road. Elena wanted to scream at him to look at her but she bit her lip in determination.
"Then why did you two keep looking back at me?" she said. Damon turned the car swiftly still refusing to look at her. "Damon-"
"Are there any places you can think Caroline would go? Probably somewhere out of the way, a place she could be alone."
"Caroline doesn't like to be alone." said Elena. "She likes to be the center of attention. Except-"
"Except what?"
"When her dad left she just bolted out of her house. No one could find her for hours until Bonnie and I found her."
"Where did you find her?" said Damon impatiently.
"The falls." said Elena.
"That place is never empty." said Damon. "There's always a bunch of teenagers and kids there-"
"Not at the gazebo in front of the falls." said Elena. "There's a place if you hike up behind the falls. You wouldn't know it was there unless-"
"I know where that place is." he said turning the car in the opposite direction. "It's out of the way, dark, perfect for vampires. The caverns."
"Exactly." said Elena as the sped down the road. She looked at Damon waiting for him to say more but his eyes hadn't left the road since he'd gotten in the car. "Damon did I do something wrong?"
"No." he said shortly.
"Then why won't you look at me?" she said. He drove on without replying. "What is it? I don't understand-" He pulled to the side of the road skidding to a stop. He finally looked at her and Elena felt her heart stop. It was such complete vulnerability she hadn't seen since the night he had discovered her betrayal in the graveyard the night they had found the Grimmoire.
"It's my fault." he said. "I was the one who wanted to give her blood."
"And I agreed you should." said Elena. "And if you hadn't she'd be dead."
"I shouldn't have given her the blood. Especially when I knew Katherine was back."
"Damon I told you to. It was the best choice to help Caroline. And we're going to find her." She looked up and finally caught Damon's eyes. "I think I should have some." she stroked his wrist. "In case..." she trailed off. He nodded and bit down on his wrist but paused before he offered it to Elena. "What?"
"Elena there is a really good chance you could get hurt and if you do then-"
"I'll become a vampire. I get how it works."
"Are you sure?" he said. She pulled his wrist into her and kissed his palm gently.
"Are you?" He nodded and she drank gently for a few moments. She pulled back licking her lips. "What were you and Stefan talking about on the porch?" He started to pull his wrist back but she caught it running her tongue over him again. "Please tell me."
"He didn't want you to help us look."
"How did you finally convince him to let me go?"
"I lied." he said. "I told him I was taking you home."
"Perfect." she said. "I'm sorry he interrupted before. And what I was about to say. I-"
"No." he said. "Not now. Not like this." she closed her lips nodding. "We should get to the falls."
"Yeah." said Elena. They pulled back onto the road but this time their fingers lay interlocked between them. "So what do we do when we find her?"
"Well you will wait in the car and I will-"
"I'm not waiting in the car." said Elena. "I want to help."
"It's too risky-"
"Look no offense but Caroline kind of hates you. She's not going to go with you. But I on the other hand am her best friend. She'll listen to me, she'll-"
"Rip your throat out once she smells blood." said Damon.
"Unless," said Elena digging through her bag. "I have this." She pulled out a small silver vial.
"What is that?" he said.
"Vervain." she said. "Stefan gave it to me a while ago in case-" she closed her hand around it.
"In case I tried to feed from you." he finished.
"Yeah." she said. "He told me to take a little every day but I stopped after Georgia. I knew I could trust you. But if I take some now Caroline won't be able to."
"And if she does it'll make it a lot easier to handle her. Take it."
"Do you need to feed first?" she said. "Before I take it."
"No." he said. "Go ahead." She swallowed the vervain and put the vial away.
"So what do we do?" she said.
"We try to get her back to the Boarding House." he said. "If we do we get her into the basement until she gets her cravings under control. And then depending on what she wants we figure it out from there."
"Oh." she said. "What about her mom?"
"Send a text message from Caroline's phone." he said. "We're here." Elena looked up.
"We are." she said but didn't reach for the door.
"Are you sure you want to go?" he said. "If you want to wait in the car-"
"No." she said. "I'm just trying to process all this." She climbed out of the car looking up at the rushing water. He walked up beside her. She turned into him inhaling deeply . He held her back.
"Last chance to stay back." he said. She shook her head. "She's my friend, I have to." She pulled away from him but he pulled her back.
"You are so much stronger then you realize." he said. He leaned down to kiss her but she turned her head. He looked at her confused
"Vervain." she said.
"Got it." he said leaning down and kissing her forehead. They walked towards the falls and Elena followed Damon when he turned into the trees.
"How do you know about this place?" she said ducking through the trees behind him.
"Because it's a place that vampires could go when the sun came out, the one's without rings." He turned again and Elena could swear she felt the air get colder. "But there's more then one cavern." He looked back at her. "How does Caroline know about this place?"
Elena smiled. "Make out spot."
"Sucking blood, sucking face." he said. "Same thing." Elena laughed but Damon swiftly stepped back covering her mouth. She looked up at him confused. He leaned down and said quietly in her ear, "She's here." He slowly removed his hand from her mouth gesturing for her to stay quiet. She nodded following close behind him. He entered one of the larger looking caverns. The further in she went the less she could see. She reached for Damon gripping his arm. He gripped her back and she caught a flash of his eyes as he looked back at her. "She's close." he whispered.
"Damon?" Both of their heads whipped around towards the sound of the familiar voice. "Damon is that you?"
"Caroline?" said Damon.
"Damon I think something's wrong with me." she said. "Something doesn't feel right. I came here last night when they let me out of the hospital and when I tried to leave the sun really hurt my eyes and-" Elena heard the sharp intake of breath and Damon's hand tightened on her. "Who's with you?"
"Elena is with me." he said.
"Hi Caroline." said Elena truing to keep her voice steady.
"What's going on?" said Caroline. "Elena I don't understand-" Caroline's voice cracked and Elena felt a twinge in her heart.
"What do you remember?" said Damon. "Before you got out of the hospital, what do you remember?"
"I was kind of falling asleep and Elena came into my room and... and-" Elena gasped as Caroline sped across the room and caught her throat. "You killed me." said Caroline. "Elena killed me, Damon. Why would you do that to me, I'm your friend."
"I- I didn't." said Elena pulling at her gripping hands. "Caroline you're hurting me."
"And you killed me." Suddenly Elena's lungs were flooded with air and she gasped coughing as she caught her breath.
"No she didn't." said Damon and Elena saw him holding Caroline looking at her. "The person you saw was Katherine."
"Who's Katherine?" said Caroline.
"She's a vampire Stefan and I know."
"A vampire?" said Caroline sounding shaken. "Why did she kill me? I don't even know her."
"To send a message." said Elena.
"But if she killed me then how-" Caroline stopped. "Damon, am I a vampire now?"
"Yeah." said a new voice and all three of them turned to face him.
"Stefan." said Elena. "How did you find us?"
"I followed Damon to make sure he was taking you home. Good thing I did." He walked over to Damon. "What were you thinking bring her in here unprotected."
"I'm not unprotected." said Elena. "And Caroline is my friend, I wanted to help her."
"Damon take Elena home. I've got it from here." said Stefan.
"I don't-" said Elena but Damon pulled her out of the mouth of the cavern. "Why are we leaving?"
"Just let Stefan take care of this. We found her, that's all we needed to do." he said pulling her through the trees swiftly.
"But I want to make sure she's ok." said Elena looking back.
"She's fine and Stefan will help her back to the Boarding House once it gets dark."
"Can I see her then?" she said as they arrived at the car.
"You can see her when she can control herself." he said pulling open the car door. "Come on get in I'll drive you home."
"No." she said pushing the door shut. "Let me go see Caroline. She's my friend she won't hurt me."
"She will Elena." said Damon."You have no idea what is going on inside her right now. She doesn't know her own strength or how much she could hurt you. She could have snapped your neck back there."
"But she didn't." said Elena.
"And I don't want to risk it." said Damon.
"There is no risk." she said. "If she snapped my neck I would be a vampire."
"And you'd spend eternity hating your best friend. I want her to stay as you remember her and if you give her some time she'll get back to normal."
"But-" she said trying to step around him.
"No." he said pinning her against the car. She tried to pull away but he held her against the car. She looked up at him and her eyes widened at what she saw. The other times he had her against the car it had been playful, seductive even exciting. This was the Damon she had seen in the forest the night they had found the Grimmoire. His eyes chilled her and for the first time since she could remember she felt fear slice through her. She pressed her palms against the car and dropped her head. "But I'm just-"
"No buts Elena." he said slamming his fists against the car the loud bang making Elena's heart jump. "You will not try to get to her before I tell you she's ready. You understand?" She nodded holding her breath. He stared down at her and she looked at him afraid to blink, afraid to breathe.
"I'll do what you tell me to do." she said.
"Good." he said pulling back from her. She exhaled nodding again looking up at him. She waited for him to pull her into him, reassure her, apologize for yelling but he just walked around the car. "Get in."
"Fine." she said quietly. She climbed in looking over at him still waiting for him to say something else, something comforting but he jammed his key into the ignition and the engine growled to life. She looked away from him out the window leaning on her hand. They drove for a few moments in silence before Damon turned to look at her.
"Why did you stop?" he said a still sharp edge in his voice.
"Stop what?" she said still looking out the window.
"In the kitchen right before Stefan walked in," he said turning a corner so swiftly Elena gasped and gripped her chest as she turned to face him. "Why did you stop?"
"He surprised me." she said. "I was caught off guard."
"What about after the shock wore off? Why didn't you say anything then?"
"I was thinking about Caroline." she said. "I was worried about her. You saw me I couldn't think straight."
"Convenient." he muttered. "Every time you're about to say it there's some reason for you to stop."
"Damon-" she said reaching for him but he pulled away.
"I don't need to hear another excuse." He said.
"I-" she stopped herself turning away from him again. She ran her hand through her hair staring at the view whipping by, blurred by speed and the tears and her eyes. She stayed silent determined not to let Damon know she was holding back tears.
As they got to her house she jumped out of the car as fast as she could. She ran up the stairs of her porch running through the door. She tried to throw the door shut and take off up the stairs but Damon caught it just before it shut. "You forgot your bag." he said. holding it up.
"Just leave it." she said not turning around as she sped up the stairs.
"Elena-" he said following her up the stairs with her bag.
"Just leave it and go." she said running along the hallway. She turned to slam her bedroom door and gasped as he caught the door.
"You don't get to just slam doors in my face." he said.
"Only you get to do that?" she said trying to close the door but he held it open. "Whenever you don't want to hear me talk you just shut me up and don't look at me. But I don't get to slam doors?" she tried to press the door shut but he threw it open effortlessly.
"No." he said stepping into her room as she backed away. "You don't get to slam doors in my face."
"Please just go." she said turning her back on him as she leaned against her dresser.
"No." he said turning her around pressing her into the wall. "I'm not going."
"Stop." she said pushing against his chest. "Damon just leave me alone."
"No." he said pressing her wrists into the wall. She tried to fight against him even though she knew it was useless. "Not until you listen."
"No." she said looking up at him. "You don't get to decide when I get to talk and when I get to listen. You don't own me Damon." For the first time since that night in her room there was a harsh edge in her voice. Elena looked down trying to keep her voice and breathing steady, knowing the second her heart rate jumped or her breath hitched he would know she wasn't as sure as she seemed.
"Maybe I don't." he said. And she waited for him to let go of her arms. "But you know you belong to me."
"What's the difference?" she said looking up at him. "Either way you think you can control me."
"No." he said his hands still holding her in place but loosening slightly. "It means I belong to you too." Elena couldn't help but let a laugh crack through her.
"You really think that?" she said as his hands slid down her arms to her side and settled on her waist.
"I do." he said as her eyes slid shut as she bit her lip. His hands slid under the edge of her shirt.
"You can't do that." she said griping his shoulders as his fingers brushed her skin. "You can't just say something that makes me melt and use those hands on me every time we fight."
"Why?" he said rubbing his thumb over her hipbones making her gasp.
"It's not fair." she said breathily. "I can't do that to you."
"You don't know what you do to me." he said his mouth sliding against her neck. She heard his fangs slide into place.
"Vervain." she said quietly.
"Damn it." he moaned back pressing into her. Feeling his voice vibrate through her made her shiver against him. She slid her fingers down his back exhaling shakily.
"You're telling me." she said. "Two minutes ago you had me crying and slamming doors. You threw me against a wall and now I'm starting to forget why I was mad in the first place."
"It was because-"
"Don't tell me." she said.
"Because I was acting like a jealous asshole for no reason." he said. "I'm sorry."
"And I was acting like a child and not listening to you." she said. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be." he said stroking the side of her face feeling the wet streaks her tears had left. "It's my fault."
"Yeah it was." she said a smile flickering across her lips.
"Hey." he said. "You're supposed to at least pretend to disagree."
"Oh." she said. "Sorry."
"It's fine." he said. "I'll just have to find a way for you to forgive me." He ran his hands further under her shirt.
"But what can I do?" she said arching her back against him as his cool fingers ran over her.
"I have an idea." he said falling back onto Elena's bed pulling her down with him. "What time did you say Jenna was gonna be back?"
"Seven." she said glancing at her clock. "We still have four hours."
"Good." he said. He kissed her shoulder and she sighed. He slid his hands under her shirts running his hands up her back letting his fingers stroke her spine. She moaned arching her back instinctively. She rolled onto her side looking biting her lip. He started to roll on top of her but she braced her hands on his chest.
"Damon," she said. "Would you hate me if we didn't- I just-" She slid her hands over her face as Damon rolled onto his back. She sat up on her side laying her arm across his chest. "I just can't stop thinking about her and how she must be feeling. I mean she thought I, her best friend, tried to kill her. And she seemed so scared I just-"
"Stop." he said gripping her hand. "I get it. You're worried about Caroline, I understand. Do you want me to go-"
"No." she said gripping his shirt. "Could you just stay here? If I'm alone I'm going to drive myself crazy thinking about Caroline and if I somehow stop thinking about that I'll start freaking out about Katherine and-"
"It's kind of adorable how you ramble like that." he said smiling down at her. "I'll stay as long as you want." He said running his hand over her hair pulling her into him.
"Thanks." she said laying her head on his chest, wrapping her leg around him and resting her hand on his shoulder. "You have no idea what you do to me. I feel safer with you then I ever have since all this started."
"You don't have to worry anymore." he said looking down at her. "I'm here for you. No matter what I say when I get angry remember that." She nodded and leaned up to kiss him. He ran his thumb along her cheekbone as their lips pressed softly together. "Elena." he said looking up at her. She smiled closing her eyes as she fell back to his chest.
"I love how you say that." she said.
"Say what?"
"My name." she said. "Who needs overused pet names when you say my name like that. Actually I like every way you say it. Gently." She said running her hand along his chest. "Protectively. Even when you're angry I like it." She said sitting up looking down at him. "But I have to say I love the way you moan it against my neck when you're pressed inside me." she said sliding over him as she leaned down and kissed him again.
"I thought you said you were to worried about Caroline to think about that." he said gripping onto her waist.
"And I thought it might be fun to torture you a little." she said sliding against him smiling as he moaned his eyes rolling back in his head. "A little payback for what you do to me."
"I guess I do." he said as he flipped her on her back. She couldn't help but gasp as he lay over her. "But can you blame me?"
"I guess not." she said trying to keep the breathiness out of her voice.
"You want to change your mind about how to spend the rest of the afternoon?" He said hovering above her. She could feel his breath on her neck and she ached to feel his bod pressed against her.
"Yes." she said pulling him down to her wrapping her legs around him. She gasped as he kissed her neck bracing himself against the headboard as he pressed into her.
"Thank god." he said. "If I had to wait another second I was going to explode."
"Turns out this is way better then sitting around worrying about Caroline." she said gripping the back of his neck.
"Damn." he said looking down at her.
"What?" she said her chest heaving as she looked up at him.
"This was my favorite shirt but you are just to beautiful t wait for." He gripped the sides of the back shirt and tore it open. She moaned as he ran her tongue along the edge of her bra.
"Oh my god." she said sliding her hands under his shirt and ripping it over her head. "How did we wait this long before we did this?"
"I don't know." he said pulling her skirt off throwing it to the floor. "You don't know how many times I wanted to slam you into a wall and take you no matter where we were."
"I wonder how many times I was thinking that at the same time you were." she said.
"Are you serious?" he said working as Elena ran her tongue along his neck and over his ear moaning into her. "Did you seriously think about me like that before-"
"Of course I did." she said. "Even when I thought I hated you I couldn't help but imagine what your mouth would feel like pressed against my neck or how it would feel to have you over me in my bed just like this."
"I'd like to hear what else you thought about doing with me." he said.
"But first," she said sitting up leaning against her headboard.
"What?" he said moaning as he leaned into her.
"Say my name." she said sitting up on her knees pulling him with her. He pressed into her running his hands along her back.
"Elena." he said and she smiled.
"I love the way you say that." she said crawling over him.
"And I love you." he said. Elena exhaled slowly as she looked at him.
"I-"
"Elena?"
"Damn it." said Damon rolling off her.
"Who is it?" said Elena pulling her sweatpants from the morning on along with the oversized shirt.
"It's Bonnie." Elena could tell she was right outside her door. "Can I come in?" Elena looked over at Damon gesturing for him to pull his shirt back on. She opened her door.
"Hey." said Elena.
"Can I talk to you?" said Bonnie.
"We were kind of busy." said Damon walking up behind Elena as he wrapped his arms around her from behind.
"Damon..." she said looking over her shoulder at him trying to look angry but failing to hold back a smile.
"Oh, you're here." said Bonnie dropping her eyes as Damon kissed Elena's neck. "I didn't realize- Elena I needed to talk to you."
"About what?" said Damon.
"Caroline." said Bonnie. "I think something is wrong with her. I just have this feeling something isn't right."
"Oh." said Elena. "I thought Stefan would have told you."
"Told me what?" said Bonnie still glaring at Damon's hand on Elena's waist.
"Katherine got to her in the hospital last night."
"Oh my god is she hurt?" said Bonnie. "What did she do to her?"
"She turned her." said Elena quickly dropping her eyes.
"Wh- what?" said Bonnie stumbling back. "She's a vampire?"
"Yeah." said Elena.
"And it was more important to you to hook up with Damon when you found out rather then tell me?"
"Look we were out at the Boarding House when Stefan came back and told us." said Elena looking up at Bonnie her eyes begging for forgiveness We went out looking for her and when we found her Stefan took her back to the Boarding House to take care of her and Damon took me home. I just assumed Stefan would have told you at school."
"And why aren't you with Stefan taking care of Caroline?" said Bonnie.
"Because I thought we'd like to keep Elena human and alive." said Damon. "But if you'd like I could take her over and Caroline can snap and turn her."
"Caroline wouldn't hurt her." said Bonnie. And she can't turn unless she has vampire blood in her system."
"Caroline doesn't know her own strength right now." said Elena her eyes dropping to the floor again.
"And you don't have any vampire blood in your system." said Bonnie. "RIght?"
"It was the best way to protect her from Katherine." said Damon gripping her tightly.
"Oh my god, you drank his blood?" said Bonnie. "Have you forgotten about the time he forced you to drink it?"
"That was a long time ago." said Elena. "Things are different now."
"I don't see how." said Bonnie. "He's still a murderer and a jackass. Now you're just stupid enough to believe whatever he tells you."
"Bonnie!" said Elena looking at her friend who had crossed her arms and was staring back at her. "I can't- You don't know what kind of hell I've been through in the last few days, in the last few hours. Damon is the only thing that's keeping me from losing it so don't talk to me about how you know best."
"I'm just saying that ever since you started hooking up with Damon it seems like there's a lot more trouble." said Bonnie.
"You're right." said Elena. "If Damon and I weren't together Katherine wouldn't have shown up or tried to kill Caroline. It's all his fault."
"Elena." said Damon turning her around and stroking her face. "Elena, calm down." She exhaled slowly slightly soothed. "Bonnie if you don't have anything else to criticize her for you should just go."
"Maybe I should." said Bonnie turning on her heel and rushing down the stairs. She looked back one more time before she slammed the door.
"What is going on?" said Elena falling into Damon. "I feel like I'm losing everyone."
"That's not true." he said. "You have Jeremy. And Jenna. And me."
"But I just lost my two best friends-"
"Caroline is not gone." said Damon. "She just needs to learn to cope with being a vampire. She'll be back at school in a few days."
"What about Bonnie?" said Elena. "When will she be back?"
"I don't know." said Damon. "But if she's really your friend she'll see that you're happy and she'll be happy for you."
"Thanks for not blowing up at her." said Elena.
"I've got used to her stupid little quips." said Damon. "Now if we'd like to keep Jenna from hating us together we should start dinner."
"What?" said Elena pulling back.
"Yeah we'e making dinner. It's the first step in my plan to win over your family."
"Jeremy already likes you." said Elena. "He likes that you make me happy."
"Well then one down, one to go." he said.
I am a bad bad bad writer! I'm so sorry it took me so long to update but I literally had SEVEN papers to do in the last week. Then I got massive writers block, wrote the second half of the chapter, decided I hated it, rewrote it, dropped my laptop off my bed, panicked for a good 20 minutes then rewrote the chapter AGAIN. It was like someone didn't want me to write this chapter... ANYWAY I finally finished it and here it is! As always reviews feed into faster chapters!