Dear Readers: You all have no idea how completely sorry I am for the wait. I never dreamed that it would take me four months to get this next chapter written/revised/posted. Real Life decided to use the chicken brake on the Driver's Ed car (they still have those, right?). All in all, I'm back…

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Finally. I'd finally gotten the blond fledgling to sleep after a very long, detailed conversation about how she would most certainly burn, not sparkle, in the sun. The bagged blood I'd given her would make the transition less painful, rather than giving her harsh human food while her senses were trying to perceive every little detail and crumb. I prayed to whatever god was listening that Caroline wouldn't wake until I returned with a freshly compelled volunteer so that she could complete the transition. I'd secured her wrists to the bed frame before I'd slipped quietly out of the door and down the stairs, nodding as I passed an exhausted looking Mrs. Davies.

As I walked down the nearly deserted street, waiting for some low-life to compel and bring back to Caroline, I felt that I was being followed. It was subtle at first; whoever it was, was being very careful.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end and I had to struggle to keep my aspect from taking over my human mask. I listened closely, waiting for the telltale sign of a human heartbeat. It never came. My stalker was a vampire. I inhaled deeply; my pursuer smelled of bourbon and expensive leather…I smirked a bit, coming to a stop just in front of an old theatre. Over-protective sap. "And here I thought we'd gotten past this bit…"

"Old habits die hard." Damon said, emerging form the shadows at the exact same moment that I spun around to face him.

I sighed, looking him up and down. Damon looked strangely…vulnerable. Vulnerable didn't mean agreeable in my former husband's case, but I would take my chances. "Walk with me?" I asked, nodding in my direction.

He smiled slightly and nodded, falling into step with me.

There was an uncomfortable silence as the two of us struggled to put our thoughts into words.

It was then that I realized that it would be impossible to put words to what we were going through. We'd both suffered a loss. Damon the loss of his wife; me the loss of my husband. Now that we'd regained what we'd lost, everything was different…Hesitant. Even if we did decide to be together again, things could never be as they were; too much time had passed, we weren't the same people as we were in 1861…

"So…" Damon began awkwardly.

I chuckled a bit; neither of us knew what to say…it reminded me of the first time I'd met Damon.

Mystic Falls, 1860

"Elizabeth!" Samuel hissed, motioning for me to exit the carriage. I gave him one of the glares that I'd picked up from Mother. Peeking his head inside, my brother growled, "If you are not standing by my side waiting with a pleasant smile and a curtsy to meet the Mayor and his family in the next minute, I will drag you out of this damned carriage, kicking and screaming."

I gagged, rolling my eyes; dear Samuel was always so worried about impressing new acquaintances… Something Father had drilled into him before he died. With a mournful sigh, I took my brother's hand, stepping out from the musty confines of the carriage and into the harsh sunlight. The hem of my burgundy and crème dress brushed the dirt as I stepped off of the footstool, stirring up a tiny cloud; a small distraction from the imminent meeting I was being forced to attend.

I looked up to see an elder man, about my father's own age if he'd been alive, walking steadily toward us with a welcoming smile on his face. I assumed that this man was Mayor Lockwood, the man that Samuel had been fretting about since we'd left Boston two days ago.

"Mayor Lockwood, I presume?" My brother asked, holding out his hand for the man to shake.

With a smile, the man answered, "Yes! You must be Mr. Gregory."

"Samuel, please." Samuel said quickly, "Mr. Gregory was my father."

"My apologies." The mayor focused his attentions on me, "Ms. Gregory," I curtsied in response to my name, "How are you finding Mystic Falls?"

My mind wandered back to my brother's lecture that he'd reamed into me a few hours earlier, 'Think before you speak, sister. Men don't like a woman with a mouth on her.' "Very lovely, from what I've seen." I said with a smile.

Well, at least it wasn't a complete lie…it was lovely from what I'd seen. And I'd seen none of it.

"Well then, why don't we get you in out of the sun?" The Mayor offered me his arm politely; I smiled like a good little lady and took it. Yes, please lets; I've been stuck in a stuffy carriage for all of two days and the moment I get a breath of fresh air, you want to shuffle me back inside where I'm going to be scrutinized and observed by everyone.

After an hour of pointless niceties, things finally got interesting.

"I'm going to get some air, Brother." I said, not able to take another mention of how beautiful the Mayor's home was. Translation: If I'm stuck in here for one more minute, I'm going to go mad.

"Do stay on the porch, Ms. Gregory." The Mayor mentioned, almost as a side note as the two men stood to see me off.

Mary, Mayor Lockwood's maid, opened the door with a smile, curtsying slightly as I passed. I took a turn around the porch before stopping to lounge on the steps. I cold see something in the distance; a small thing on four legs was bounding toward me, not unlike a deer while two clearly human figures were chasing after it… Before I knew it, I was knocked off of my feet by a flying mass of black and tan fur. Long, fuzzy ears flopped up and down energetically as the tongue of a coonhound ravaged my face; dog breath was so much better than dull conversation.

"No! Maxwell! Get off of her! Down!" One man said, struggling to pull the dog off.

The other began to apologize as he helped me to my feet, "I'm so sorry Miss—I don't know what got into him!" He looked me up and down, making sure that there was no injury, "Are you alright?"

For the first time, I looked up into his eyes. They were beautiful; a deep, icy blue that complimented his angular face and dark hair perfectly. My cheeks reddened slightly in embarrassment; here I was, alone outside with two men that I didn't know, covered in dog slobber and dirt, my new dress ruined. Any lesser woman would have broken down into tears by now…I did the exact opposite, breaking out into peals of laughter.

Neither of the men seemed to be sure of what to do. "I think she may be in shock…" The first man whispered to the second. That made me laugh even harder.

"No—No—I'm fine…" I attempted to catch my breath, "I just—" Making a vain attempt to brush my hands off onto my already dirty dress, I offered my hand to the second man, as the first was clearly occupied with trying to contain the hound, "Elizabeth Gregory, lovely to meet you."

The blue-eyed man laughed as well, clasping his dirty hand with mine, "Damon Salvatore."

Now:

"How was your day?" He finally managed with a snort; the question seemed so trivial…

"I've had better—Oh!" May as well mention the reason that I was out here in the first place, "I adopted a baby vampire! Well…Not a vampire yet, but she will be soon."

"Uh huh." Damon said, raising his eyebrows, "Who—"

I smiled gleefully, "The sheriff's daughter, Caroline. I'm trying to find someone suitable for her to—" Damon looked uncomfortable, which was rare to say the least. "What?" I asked, unable to stand not knowing.

"Nothing." He said too quickly.

"Lemme guess…" Then came the thought I'd been thinking since I met him: Damon, you are far too pretty for your own good. "You were, erm, involved."

He managed to look sheepish, "Hey! Guy's gotta eat."

I snorted, "I'm not touching that line with a ten foot pole." I clapped him lightly on the shoulder, growing more at ease with each step. It was almost like we were old friends, having a nice, civil conversation. For the first time after I'd discovered that my husband was alive, I truly believed that we had a chance to start over…to have something new…

"That's not what I—" He groaned, rolling his eyes, "Can we just abandon this subject, please? I mean, you're my ex and she was my—" He searched for the word, "—food…" With a half-hearted glare at me, Damon continued, "Plus, you're enjoying this way to much."

I laughed, pausing only to focus in on the scuffling sound coming from the nearby alley. Taking a few steps closer, Damon put himself between me and whatever was in the alley, both of us tensed for a fight. Out of a pile of trash bags came an extremely dirty young man; I placed him a twenty at the most. His clothes and stocking cap both looked like they'd paid a visit to Moth World lately and came back missing more fabric than they'd had in the first place. A fresh syringe tumbled from his gaping pocket, clattering to the cement at his feet. He scrambled to pick it up but Damon beat him to it, crushing it beneath his foot. "Will he do?" Damon asked, taking the ruffian by the scruff of his neck so that I could see him.

Inhaling deeply, I could smell that this young man's system was mostly clean of whatever drug had been in the syringe. I shrugged, "Good enough."

Damon set the boy down, taking him by the throat, and looked deep into his eyes, "You will do whatever we say, understand." Lips tightly shut, the boy nodded, no longer struggling. "Peachy. Come on."

Back at the bed and breakfast, Damon, the boy who's name I now knew to be Brad, and I stood outside of the door. "Thanks for the help…although I didn't really need it…" I don't need a lot of things; like how I didn't need to add on the last part of that sentence…

I could tell that my words stung Damon a bit, so I didn't flinch as I wanted to when he silently stroked my face before disappearing into the night. Looking to Brad, I guided him inside and up the stairs to my room where Caroline was waiting.

I instructed Brad to stay on the couch while I went to fetch Caroline. Surprisingly, there were no protests from the dead girl; I'd expected at least a little bit of screaming when she found that she was tied to the bed. That was when it hit me; there was no noise coming from the back room at all.

I threw the door open to find an empty bed and an open window to greet me. "Dammit!" I cursed; I hadn't expected her to react this way…and then I noticed Mrs. Davies on the other side of the bed, motionless on the floor. "Oh crap…"

I know I don't deserve them, but readers and reviews would be great.