Author's Note: A big thanks to MissSherrie and Elohcin for prereading these chapters. I don't actually have a full on beta, right now, partially because I haven't asked either of them or anyone else, so if there are errors, they're all my fault. Anyway, on to the next chapter (I finished ch 10 at 11:30pm last night, so you've still got a few days before we'll start seeing a delay in postings) Hope you enjoy…Cue drama in 3,2,1, Action!

Chapter 6

I woke up the next morning, feeling almost as confused as I had the morning before. My night out with Damon felt like a dream. Even an hour after waking and getting ready for work, I still felt like maybe it had all been the product of my imagination and not reality, but that was mostly because a lot of the things Damon did seemed out of character. Nothing I had seen so far from him hinted to a gentlemanly nature. Even in the histories of the town, Damon Salvatore was known for his unorthodox ways. It seemed far more reasonable that the entire exchange was a product of my overactive imagination than a real event.

I had almost convinced myself of that when I gathered my things for the day and moved to the door of my apartment. I screamed when the second I opened the door a black blur flew through the portal, pinning me to the wall with a hand over my mouth to halt my response. I was breathing hard behind his hand as I blinked up in surprise at Damon whose crystal blue eyes were boring into my own.

"I'm sorry, but there was something I wanted to do last night that I stupidly didn't do and I've been up all night thinking about it."

He moved his hand to expose my mouth before covering it with his own. I gasped in a combination of surprise at the action as well as the sensation as his warm, soft lips conformed to my own. His hand, which had been covering my mouth, slid into my hair while the other latched onto my waist, pulling me closer. After a few long seconds, he pulled back slowly, leaving me panting for breath.

I had no words as I blinked up at him in question and tried to catch my breath. His crooked smile made my insides dance, but then another thought doused all the flames growing inside me with ice cold water. I pushed away and moved a few steps away back into my living room.

"What are you doing, Damon?"

He moved toward me with catlike grace. "Why, what I want to do, of course. I only do things I want to do, Bekah."

I sucked in a ragged breath before bracing my hand against his chest, holding him a little at bay. "Listen…you know you're attractive, and sexy, and really appealing, but…I…I don't think getting involved in something, serious or casual, with someone who is in love with my niece is a good idea. I…I don't have the luxury of all of this. I'm sorry, Damon. I…I have to go. I'm going to be late for work."

He frowned at me as I moved past him, reaching for my bag which had fallen on the floor, when he caught my arm and tugged me back toward him. Grasping my upper arms in his hands, he glared down at me.

"No…you don't get to run away from me. You don't get to run away from this. I GET you Bekah, because you and I are a lot alike. I've figured that out over the past few days. We run, we hide, and then we find something to fight to take our focus, we pour everything into it to distract us from the other things we're trying not to see. Don't run from me, Bekah."

Tears welled in my eyes as I stared up at him. "Why, so I can get invested and then watch you run off after Elena like a lovesick puppy when she calls? So I can care only to have to rip my heart out when I have to go die to end this curse? Thanks, but no thanks."

I braced my hands on his chest and shoved, surprise registering in both of our eyes when Damon stumbled back a few steps. I stared with wide eyes as he gaped at me in equal surprise. We both knew that I shouldn't have been able to move him if he hadn't chosen to move away, his vampire strength being far superior to my own, and yet, somehow I had.

We blinked at each other a few times before I stuttered a "I have to go or I'll be late," before grabbing my bag and disappearing through the door and down the hallway toward my car. For whatever reason, Damon didn't chase me. My heart pounded as I started the car and sped away toward the school, wishing my life weren't so complicated.

The morning sucked. I had zero tolerance for the bullshit of a room full of fourteen year olds. The result? They ended up with a mountain of homework in the form of an essay on the themes in Romeo and Juliet that they had to start in class if they ever stood a chance of getting it in on time the next morning. I rightfully earned my nickname of The Shakespeare Nazi that morning. My mood hadn't lightened by fourth period, earning worried looks from Stefan.

After class ended, Stefan carefully approached my desk, pulling one of the desks around the side of the desk to sit next to me with a frown.

"Everything okay, Bekah?"

I sighed and pursed my lips as I stapled the worksheet packets for the afternoon classes with a particularly brutal slam of my fist on the stapler.

"Did my brother do something inappropriate last night?"

I snorted, slamming my hand on the stapler to bind the next bundle. "Nope."

"Is it something to do with me or Elena?"

With a sigh, I looked up at Stefan. "No, I'm just…ugh! Why can't my life ever be simple? Everything is always a major drama. My own family hated me; my father wasn't even my father; I'm the lynchpin in some big mystical curse breaking scheme; I have to save my niece from being sacrificed by those same psychos; and now I have to deal with a doomed attraction to an arrogant, twisted, confused vampire who happens to already be in love with said niece even if she's given her heart to someone else. And even if that wasn't my biggest problem, I don't want to have another reason not to be able to do what I have to do to save Elena."

Stefan eyed me in confusion before the reality of what I was saying sunk in. He looked like he was considering for a moment before shifting his weight a little and reaching out a hand to rest over mine as it pummeled the stapler repeatedly after it jammed on my last bundle. I looked back up into his knowing smile and sighed.

"None of this is fair, Stefan, and letting myself get involved with Damon is a recipe for disaster no matter how things turn out."

"When Damon came home last night he said that you had a nice time. What changed?"

I took in a deep breath before leaning back in my chair and crossing my arms. "He showed up at my apartment this morning and kissed me."

Stefan's eyebrow shot up, much like his brother, his eyes dancing as a smile played at the corners of his lips. "And that's a problem?"

"When he's already obsessed with my niece and I'm facing walking into a fire I'm never coming back from, then yes." I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath. "It was waaay too good. I…I'm not sure I have the willpower to resist even when I know it's almost certain to end up in me suffering, one way or another."

Stefan reached out to rest his hand on my trouser covered knee, squeezing it gently. "Damon has had horrible luck with women. First, Katherine used him for her own purposes and tossed him aside when she was done with him. He died being completely devoted to her, and he held onto that for a hundred and forty-six years, desperately searching for a way to release her from a prison that she wasn't even in as we had believed her to be. Then his affections grew for Elena who rebuffed him completely. The last person he grew to care for, Rose, died in his arms after suffering the ill effects of receiving a werewolf bite. If Damon is willing to open his heart to you, then that's a good thing. He deserves a chance at happiness."

I sighed, fiddling with my hands in my lap. "Would it actually give him happiness? I mean, if this goes the way I think it will, won't I end up just another story of Damon's bad luck?"

"What if we find another way to break the curse and you give up whatever you might have together out of fear?"

"How do you know it would even be anything real? Damon has a reputation for being a player. What if I'm just another notch on his bedpost?"

Stefan smirked this time, showing just how much he and his brother looked alike. "You said he showed up at your place this morning and kissed you, but hadn't kissed you the night before?"

I nodded.

"If you knew Damon, you'd know he's not usually the take things slow type. If you were just another conquest, he would have seduced his way into your bed last night, or at the absolute least kissed you goodnight. It's different somehow with you and that's good. Just do me a favor and consider seeing what develops if you just allow it?"

I frowned up at him as he stood. "Aren't you worried about him getting hurt?"

He just smiled down at me. "Nobody walking the planet is immune to the possibility of getting hurt. Why don't you let him decide what he does or doesn't want to risk?"

I huffed and crossed my arms, glaring down at the piles of packets ready for my afternoon students. "I'll think about it."

He smiled and winked. "That's all I can ask." And with that, he left to go find Elena in the lunchroom.

I rocked in my chair and thought about what Stefan said before getting out my cell phone and looking at the screen. There were three texts, all from Damon. I wasn't even sure when he'd gotten my number, but it seemed he wasn't afraid to use it.

The first was sent a few minutes after I left him at my apartment…in my apartment actually. I hadn't even thought about the fact that I'd left him in my place, alone.

Mind explaining to me what the hell just happened?

The second one came about half an hour later…

Fine, don't respond, but this is far from over. Expect to see me after work…if not before

The third had been sent just ten minutes before, while I was talking to Stefan.

Don't leave your class! I know you have the next half hour free and I'm coming there. You're not running…not this time.

I pressed my lips together and closed my phone, sliding it back into my purse when I felt his presence beside me. I didn't even jump, turning to look up at his pained eyes. I pressed my lips together before taking in a slow breath.

"Hi, Damon."

He didn't say a word, just continued to stare. Finally he opened his mouth, his eyes shining with something akin to anger and yet not quite.

"I have been walking the face of this planet for 170 years. I think I'm old enough to decide what I do or do not want to get myself into."

I crossed my arms and leaned back in my chair, cocking my head at him. "Been talking to Stefan or just listening in on private conversations again?"

"So, I caught the last half of your conversation. Anybody could have walked up and overheard you."

"Through a closed classroom door?"

He rolled his eyes and squatted down beside my desk. "Okay, so anybody with supernatural hearing…that still includes a decent number of people in this town alone."

I snorted out a half laugh before licking my lips and leaning in closer.

"Why would you even want to go there at all, Damon, knowing my destiny?"

His face hardened, his eyes narrowing to slits. "I don't believe that your destiny is to die and it's incredibly rare to meet someone like you, so I'm not going to sit back and watch it happen without a fight."

I cocked my eyebrow. "You mean a screwed up hybrid?"

His eyes softened as he shifted closer, resting a hand on my knee. "No. I mean someone I respect because I don't respect anybody."

He stood up and backed toward the door, smirking at me as he pointed in my direction. "Tonight, I'm picking you up again. We have a lot to talk about, including that little Xena Warrior Princess impersonation you gave right before you left me alone this morning in your now empty apartment."

I stood up, moving toward him. "Empty? What the hell are you talking…"

I got cut off by the ringing bell followed by the immediate flow of students in the hallway just as he backed into the corridor.

He shrugged as he backed away through the crowd. "That shoebox was too small. You're all settled in our house. I'll have Stefan drive your car home, so don't worry about it."

My mouth fell open in surprise, and by the time I found my voice to yell out "Damon?"he was gone. I blinked at where he had been moments before a few times before finally turning to walk back into my classroom now filling with my next class of students. I shook my head a few times, feeling completely bewildered before turning to go back to my desk and begin my next lesson, unsure of when exactly I had lost the last vestiges of control I had over my life.