A/N: Hehe, forgive me for the long hiatus? I hope so. School was really in the way and I've been mosly focusing on Last Name, but I really hope to be finished with this story before June. Not guaranteed, but I'm hoping. Okay, so you will most likely hate me by the end of this chapter, but I promise I'll make it up to you! Soon enough...:] Okay, so 1x15 totally screwed up my storyline but I'm sticking to it. We're just gonna pretend like Damon did kill Isobel, and Alaric is still a possible candidate for Elena's birth father. Oh, and she doesn't know Damon killed her. At least not yet. ;]

Disclaimer: Do you guys think that if I owned The Vampire Diaries, Elena would still be with Stefan? No? Didn't think so.

Elena furrowed her eyebrows as she stared at the three words that had been all she'd managed to find in herself to write in her diary.

I can't choose.

She sighed, leaning back on her window seat, allowing the sun that was shining through her window to warm up her skin a couple of degrees, all the while thinking back when her life wasn't so complicated, when she just believed that Stefan was a normal teenager with a sardonic psycopath for an older brother, and her world revolved solely around a pair of soulful green eyes and not much else, and let herself relish in the past simplicity of it all, wondering how the hell everything got so messed up as she distractingly traced the edges of her vervain necklace.

A knock at the door took her out of her stupor and she got up with a groan, irritated because someone had interrupted her daydreaming.

When she opened the door, her eyebrows raised and she just gaped for a nanosecond before trying to shut it once more, only to be blocked by a boot.

"Elena, please."

She stepped back, crossing her arms across her chest, indicating that he could come in, but she wasn't happy about it. He gave her a small smile of gratitude as he stepped through the treshold, his eyes raking over the inside of her house, and her haw tensed, remembering what he'd done to Damon only several hours ago.

"What do you want, Alaric?"

"To talk to you."

She rolled her eyes, chuckling at his answer to the obviously rhetorical question.

"I knew that. About what?"

She arched an eyebrow, and in that simple action, that cold, apathetic movement, he realized that something was up. His eyes narrowed into slits and he cautiously took a step closer to her. "Why are you being like this, Elena?"

She grimaced. "Because you almost killed my--because you almost killed Damon," she finished, hoping the way that she was almost about to claim him as her own would go by unnoticed. It didn't, and Alaric was about to question it when she saw the fierce defensiveness that was shining in Elena's brown orbs, and thought it unwise to provoke the teenager any further.

He simply sighed, and instead of questioning her motives about caring so much--which he was sure would cause her to dismiss him and never even give him a second glance--he simply raised his hands in mock surrender.

"I'm sorry. I thought I was doing what was best in order to protect you," he told her truthfully and was relieved when a ghost of a smile tugged at her lips, but then it was gone, and she was back to staring at him like he was the plague, but this time, threateningly.

"Never go near Damon again," she warned, and the sound of such security in her voice had him nodding quickly without really having processed the possibilities. There's a loophole in everything, right? His eyes widened when he noticed something. A flicker of...desperation in Elena's eyes as she was delivering her threat. Alaric understood. And at that moment he discovered, that she had feelings for him. Strong feelings for Damon, but it was obvious that she wished she didn't.

"I won't," he promised fervently, and was relieved when she seemed to believe him.

"Good." Her eyes warmed and her stance relaxed somewhat now that she was assured that Alaric wouldn't touch Damon, and she gave him an easy smile, almost causing his head to ache from her sudden mood swing. "Now, what is it that you wanted to talk about?"

He picked up on the second ring.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"That I totally see that you stare only at my lips while I talk? I didn't want to humiliate you," he answered back slyly, and her jaw tensed, for she wasn't in the mood for his jokes, but couldn't help but curse herself for her obvious lack of subtlety.

"Damon," she growled.

She could almost hear his eyes roll over the phone. "What's got you purring, kitten?" At her obvious refusal to respond, he continued. "Elena, may I ask what you're referring to?"

She willed her tear ducts to stay at bay and forced herself to hate him, putting as much disgust and fury into her voice as possible. "Why didn't you tell me that you killed the woman who might be my mother?"

Silence crackled through the line and a tear made its way down her cheek, but she paid it no mind, focusing only on Damon's response, a small part of her hoping that he would deny it, tell her that he didn't know what she was talking about, and maybe then, she could pretend that Alaric was just a lunatic who didn't know what the hell he was talking about.

No response came and she squeezed her eyes shut, clicking the END button on her cell phone, turning around only to find Damon's body less than two inches from her own, and she put a hand to her chest in surprise, but was quickly reminded of the original subject and the reason she was crying. Her lower lip trembled and more water pooled in her eyes when she noticed that his eyes were averted and his eyebrows were knitted together, lips pulling down into a sultry pout that would've had her drooling any other day.

But today...well, today it was down to business.

"I'm sorry," he apologized, and she shook her head wordlessly, tears continuously falling from her cheeks onto her shag rug, backing away with every step he took forward, yearning for her touch, wanting to assure her that everything was going to be okay, even if he was to blame for her misery.

He'd gladly help her through anything.

She would've noticed that had the focus on his compassion not been so blurred by the lines of his secrecy.

"Get out."

His lips set in a grim line and his eyes bore into hers with such an intensity that she suddenly felt self-conscious, despite the fact that she knew she shouldn't. He stepped forward, and she found that she didn't have enough willpower to make her feet step back. His hands went to her arms, and she flinched, partly because she was disgusted by him at the moment, and partly because any touch received by Damon sent her into a near frenzy.

"Let's be reasonable about this."

And just like that, she woke up. Out from under the temporary spell he always seemed to have her under and back in the real word. And she'd never understood the phrase Reality's a bitch more than she did at that moment.

"You think I'm being unreasonable? Really? I mean, maybe you're right, Damon. Maybe I am overexaggerating a bit. I mean, you didn't really do anything bad. You just knew that she was a possible candidate for my birth mother - probably the only family I would have left - and neglected to tell me that you sucked her dry," she seethed, nostrils flaring and chest heaving with the force of her anger. "Get out," she ordered. "I'm not going to tell you again."

He stayed quiet for a moment before walking past her and into the hallway, but decided to turn around and add something.

"I never meant to hurt you."

She gave a twisted chuckle, turning around, and it killed him to see that tears were spilling down her cheeks once more. "But you did. A lot." He swallowed, and she hated the fact that she wanted him to stay with her when he was the culprit. "If it turns out that Alaric is my father, that means Isobel was my mother. You better hope that the praternity test results come out negative, Damon. Because, if they don't..." she trailed off, her lower lip trembling from the mere idea of never seeing him again. She shook her head, stepping forward. "Goodbye, Damon," she choked out before slamming the door.

He resisted the urge to snarl, wanting to rip off Alaric Saltzman's head off more than anything. But no, because if he killed Alaric, then that could possibly leave Elena without two parents, so he forced the vengeance instinct inside of him to recede and he sighed, looking at the closed door. He focused, and he heard Elena's quiet sobs on the other side of her bedroom door, and laid his forehead against the wall.

"Goodbye, Elena."

REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :]

Chappie name comes from the song by The Notwist, which is pretty awesome.