Disclaimer: I own nothing here except for Leesha. Everything else belongs to their respective owners.

Sorry about the late update, everybody. Leesha decided to go on an unscheduled holiday over the weeks that I actually had time to write, and I didn't like what I did manage to write. But I figured that everyone would rather have an update that I'm not completely satisfied with than wait another month. The first draft of the next chapter is about half of the way done, so it should be done around the end of February at the latest. I have bits and pieces written up to a little bit after where this universe really starts to diverge from canon, so updates should get faster after that.

Leesha sighed as she noticed the look on Elena's face and turned on the sink. This wasn't going to be something that either of the Salvatore brothers needed to hear. "Go ahead," she said. "They won't be able to hear unless you shout."

"How are you so calm about this?" Elena asked incredulously. "Damon just threatened to kill you."

Leesha laughed as she stirred sugar into her coffee. "That was a joke, Elena. He pokes fun at the amount of coffee I drink, I poke fun at his, well, everything. We might get on each other's nerves on purpose, but it's all just in good fun, and we're both well aware of that." She glanced at the younger girl. "You really haven't known him very long, have you?"

"Nope," she sighed, leaning on the counter next to Leesha. "And whenever I think I do, something new comes up. Compulsion, or that he has friends that he's never mentioned and that Stefan doesn't know about, or that he needs someone to save his life on occasion."

"He really does, especially with some of the plans he makes," Leesha agreed. She smiled into her coffee at a memory.

"Have you ever seen him like this?" Elena asked quietly.

"I've seen him drunk before, but never as bad as last night. Finding Katherine in that tomb was one of the few things he could count on for the last hundred years. And when she wasn't, when he found out she'd been free for the whole time..." Leesha trailed off, grip tightening on her coffee cup. "If I ever get my hands on that bitch, she's dead."

"Leesha, why are you friends with him?" Elena's voice was curious but almost reluctant, like she wasn't entirely sure if she wanted to know the answer.

"Because when he's not doing something stupid, he's the best kind of friend. He's smart, and funny, and it's almost ridiculous how loyal he can be to the people he cares about." Her dark eyes studied the girl for a second. "But you already knew that, didn't you? Because you managed to get through that wall he uses to keep people away," Leesha said, voice quiet but full of certainty. She smiled when Elena nodded.

"He always seems so alone," Elena whispered. "And the look on his face after he realized..." She trailed off, hands rubbing up and down her arms as she shivered at the memory.

"As long as we're around he's not," Leesha said firmly. "He might think he doesn't have any friends - god knows, he tries hard enough to push people away that it would try the patience of a saint - but we know better, don't we?"

Elena nodded and Leesha settled back against the counter, satisfied with the determination she could see in the girl's eyes. She'd keep an eye on Damon, make sure he didn't do anything too crazy. "Now then," she said, steering the conversation towards safer waters. "You said something about a trip to Georgia?"

2004

Leesha stretched slightly and yawned before nestling back into the warm patch in the- wait. There was something very wrong with this picture. Why was she in a car instead of in her bed?

"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty," a familiar voice said beside her.

Leesha groaned, reluctantly opening her eyes to look at him. It seemed that Damon Salvatore had deigned to appear in her life again. "Damon, what the hell is going on?" He smirked at her, but didn't answer. Leesha closed her eyes again and let her head thud back against the headrest. "Damon," she groaned again.

"What?" he asked innocently.

"Where are we and why am I in your car?" Leesha asked.

"We're in Virginia," he said.

She blinked. "Virginia. Why are we in Virginia?"

"Because it's on the way to New York."

"We're going to New York?" Leesha could hear the excitement bubbling up in her voice. She hadn't been home in nearly four years. Damon glanced sideways at her and nodded, and she smiled, nestling back into the seat. She was going home.

Her smile dropped off her face as she realized something. She was going to have to introduce Damon to her family. "Shit," Leesha muttered, ignoring the smirk the vampire sent her at the curse. This would not end well.

Two days later she was laughing her ass off at Damon's face after her Nonna hit him with her spoon. She had never been quite so happy to be wrong.

Leesha managed to make Elena sit next to Damon when they went back to the living room and had to conceal a smile when she saw the looks that Damon kept shooting at the girl. She had had a suspicion that he had feelings for Elena after that stunt he had pulled earlier, but had wanted to see if Elena felt the same way before she killed him for using her. Damon knew how she felt about that. Leesha glanced at Stefan. It was clear that he didn't notice the looks Elena gave Damon out of the corner of her eye, or how Damon was almost absentmindedly playing with the ends of Elena's hair. Almost.

She looked at Damon, raising an eyebrow. He half-shrugged, but moved his hands to rest behind his head as he shifted on the couch. Leesha smiled at that. Very smooth, Salvatore.

"What is with you and road trips?" she asked curiously, remembering what Elena had said about her own kidnapping/trip/bonding experience.

Damon blinked before his eyes slid over to Elena. "You told her about Georgia, didn't you? What happened to 'whatever happens in Georgia, stays in Georgia'?" he asked.

"That's Vegas, dear," Leesha said without looking up from her nails, feigning boredom.

He waved a hand at her. "Shh, talking."

"I can't believe you just shhed me," Leesha muttered after a second. "Very mature, Damon."

He shot her a look, falling into the familiar pattern just as easily as she did. "Shut up."

She smirked at him, subtly getting ready to move for when he lunged at her like she knew he would. Damon Salvatore's pride was a touchy thing, but she knew exactly how to push his buttons without pushing too far. "When have you ever known me to shut up when you told me to?"

He growled quietly at her. "Shut. Up."

Leesha just grinned. Winding Damon up was always fun. "Nope." She slipped off the sofa and into a crouch as he lunged at her at human speed. "Missed me, missed me," she taunted.

She could see the smile tugging at the corners of his mouth as he growled playfully at her again. "I said to be quiet, little girl." Leesha just laughed before stepping quickly to the side as he passed, still at human speed.

"Should we be worried?" Elena asked Stefan quietly. Leesha laughed outright at the question, but decided to let Stefan answer as she spun away from a grinning Damon again.

"No, I don't think so," he responded.

"Come on, I'll walk you to your car," Damon said.

She smiled as he opened the door for her in one of his rare gentlemanly moments. "Thank you."

"Anything new with you?" he asked as they walked along the driveway, feet crunching in the gravel.

"Not really," Leesha said. "Work's a little hectic- like always- but my schedule keeps being rearranged by the supervisor from hell, which makes it even worse."

"You love your job," Damon accused, smiling at her fondly.

Leesha laughed. "Yeah, I kinda do." They stopped next to her car. "Da quanto tempo sei stato innamorato di Elena?" she asked quietly, not wanting Stefan to hear what she was saying if he was listening in. (How long have you been in love with Elena?)

He looked at her before laughing. "Hai intenzione di dire nulla di lei?" (Are you going to say anything to her?)

She shrugged. "E la tua vita." She was quiet for a moment, studying him, before she smiled. "Non diruna parola. Te lo prometto." (It's your life. I won't say a word. I promise.)

"Grazie, Leesha," he said before switching back to English. "How do you do that?" (Thank you.)

"Practice," Leesha said. "I went to school for psychology, remember?"

"Yeah, until you became a nurse," he teased.

"Are you complaining? Remember who patched you up when you got into that fight with John," she said.

"He started it."

"Because you flirted with me!"

"Because you looked lovely," he said, dismissing her outrage with a wave of his hand. "I was just trying to show him that someone else would pay attention to you if he wasn't going to."

"Well, that failed," she said. "Instead you got beaten within an inch of your life."

"Unlife," he corrected.

Leesha waved her own hand at him and opened her door. "Semantics." She threw her bag in the passenger seat before she turned back. "If you need me, call. I can get here in a few hours. Elena has my number if you've forgotten it."

"I would never do that," he said, ignoring the disbelieving face she turned his way. "Hey Leesha," he started. "Why are you going to New York?"

Leesha made a face. "Eliza's getting married to one of her boy-toys. The kid's barely out of high school," she said. "It's going to end badly, and I'm gonna be the one picking up the pieces, I just know it."

"Have fun," he said.

She laughed. "Yeah." She hugged him, her three-inch boot heels allowing her to rest her head on his shoulder for a second. "Take care of yourself," she whispered.

He hugged her back gently, one hand running down her braid to rest at her waist. "You too."

Leesha pulled away when her phone rang. "That would be Eliza," she said, flipping it open. "Hello?" She winced and pulled it away from her ear. "Calmati," she hissed into it. "Eliza, calmati. Sono quasi fuori dalla DC, ma il traffico stato omicidio. Fai un respiro profondo, chiedete Nonna per una tazza di te rilassarsi un po', va bene? Sarla poche ore." She smiled at the less frantic reply. "I love you too. Bye." (Calm down. Eliza, calm down. I'm nearly out of DC, but traffic was murder. Take a deep breath, ask Nonna for a cup of tea, and relax a bit, okay? I'll be there in a few hours.)

Damon opened her door for her. "Good luck," he said.

"Weddings are insane," she groaned, rubbing at her temple with one hand to ward off the headache she could feel coming despite the aspirin she'd taken earlier.

"Part of the reason I avoided the whole institution of marriage," Damon said.

"Nah, that's because you enjoy the chase too much to give it up for just one woman," Leesha told him. "Don't even try to bullshit your way out of it, you know it's true."

"Don't you have a wedding to get to?" he asked to avoid answering.

"I'm going, I'm going," she laughed as she slid into the driver's seat. He'd never really been comfortable with the emotional crap. "This is going to be absolutely insane."

"Think of it this way," Damon said with a smirk. "You have an excuse to have sex with the best man."

"You are such an ass," Leesha told him as she started her car.

"And you're a bit of a bitch at the right time of the month," he shot back.

"Better a bitch than a beast of burden," she said.

"Touche." He took her hand and kissed the back of it. Leesha rolled her eyes. The gesture was wasted on her, he knew that. "See you soon, Damon."

He stood back and watched as her car rolled out of the driveway. "She was nice," Stefan remarked beside him.

Damon chuckled before clapping Stefan of the shoulder and saying, "You have no idea."