The End of the Affair

"Rise and shine, sleepy head."

I jumped awake, startled. Damon was smirking beside me, lying down on my bed as if he belonged there. Wait, did we... I checked to see if I was wearing clothes. Yes! Thank God... Then I remembered we kissed, which made things a whole lot awkward.

"What are you doing, Damon?" I said in a 'I'm not gonna even bother' tone. "It's not polite to creep up beside people when they're sleeping."

"I know you were dreaming about me and our little kiss last night." He wiggled his eyebrows and I scoffed. "Too bad it didn't go any further. You look lovely in those jamees, by the way. Absolutely... delicious."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Don't even think about it, Salvatore."

"Don't tell me you regret it," Damon said, watching me as I got up out of bed. "You know you loved it."

"I never denied-" His smirk grew. I groaned. "Damon! What are you doing here? At six..." I gestured to the alarm clock. "...in the morning."

"Fine, don't come with me to bring Stefan home. See ya."

My stomach dropped. Damon got up from my bed and edged for the door. "Wait!" He stopped in front of my chest of drawers. "Where's Stefan?"

"Windy city," he replied.

"Chicago?" I exclaimed in disbelief. "Wow. At least he has taste. How do you know?"

"It came to me in a dream. I was naked. You would have loved it. Start packing and get your sister," he teased. Damon pulled open one of my drawers and searched through it. He took out my black bra like a little pervert. "Ooh... put these in the 'yes' pile."

I snatched it away from him and glared. "I thought you'd be more than happy to tell Elena that you found Stefan. You could be her knight in shining armour."

He shrugged. "Not interested."

"Since when?" I questioned. He pursed his lips. "Damon Salvatore, I-"

"I don't know, alright?" he snapped. He took a deep breath and his voice softened. "There was this girl. With striking blue eyes and soft, curly brown hair. She wasn't used to being loved... she didn't want to trust. Her name was Louise Gilbert."

He brushed my hair behind my ear gently. "How do I know you're not lying, huh?" I asked, trying to sound tough, but my voice was breaking. "How do I know you're not just using me to get to Elena?"

"I haven't loved Elena in a long time," he insisted.

I rolled my eyes. "Sure. Damon, I don't want to be played."

I turned around, but he grabbed my wrist and pulled me to him, cradling me in his arms. "I promise. I promise I won't hurt you."

Letting out a small laugh, I responded. "Going all Elijah on me now with epic promises?"

"I'll keep this one." He kissed my forehead tenderly.

I watched him as he left, trying to ignore the urge to run after him. I didn't know I felt this way until yesterday... I didn't know he felt that way.

"Hey."

I smiled at my younger twin. "We're going on a road trip. Damon knows Stefan's in Chicago."

"How?"

I shrugged. "How does Damon know anything? I've learned to just go with the flow. Why are you up so early?"

"I heard you and Damon talking. Ooh, wear that one." She pointed to a blue frilly top. I laughed at her Caroline-ness and shook my head. "What's up with you two?"

My cheeks reddened. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing."

"Louise, I just don't want you to get hurt."

I pulled out the top 'angrily' and threw it on the bed. "Why would I get hurt? There's nothing going on between us."

"What did he say?" Elena pressed.

"He just told me about Stefan, that's all," I lied.

Elena didn't seem to buy it, but forgot her stubborn self and dropped it for once. "Alright then. I'm gonna get changed."

Damon was driving. I sat beside him, looking at a map of Florida. "I sure hope we find him, 'cause it would suck if the last momento of Stefan was that crappy old necklace," he said to Elena, looking at her in the mirror.

"It's an antique, Damon. Like you," she quipped.

"Ooh..." I laughed. "She got you there."

He took out a diary. "Read this. Paints a pretty little picture of Stefan's first experience in Chicago. Just give it to Louise when you're done.

"It's Stefan's diary. I'm not going to invade his private thoughts," Elena said, ever the 'leaver-aloner.' It was funny... the girl who stole my clothes was going on about respecting someone's privacy. Granted, I stole her clothes too. It was kind of a thing we had.

"You need to be prepared for what you're about to see," Damon told her.

"I've seen Stefan in his darkest periods," Elena told him, talking about when Stefan went on a small ripper-binge. "I can handle it."

He opened the diary. "Here's one. March twelfth, 1922." Damon did his best Stefan-impression. "'I've blacked out days. I wake up in strangers' blood, in places I don't recognize with women I don't remember.'" He looked back at Elena, smirking. "Ah! I'm shocked! Stefan's not a virgin?"

I snatched the diary from his hand. "This looks interesting." I flaunted it in Elena's face. "Sure you don't want to read about Stefan's ripper life?"

She rolled her eyes and took it from me. I grinned. "Eyes on the road, grandma," she said to Damon.

"Yeah, not all of us can survive large amounts of trauma," I said.

"Fine. Back to my game. Tell me if you see a Florida plate."

We approached the door of Stefan's old apartment. "So... Stefan could compel himself a house anywhere and he chose this place?" I asked Damon.

"There used to be an all-girls high school around the corner, but it shut down for attendance issues. Weird."

"If you're trying to scare us into giving up and going back, it's not going to work." I nodded in approval.

Damon shushed us and broke the lock. He opened the door and we all stepped inside. "Here we are. Stefan's second personality home."

"He obviously hasn't been here," Elena stated.

"Tour isn't over yet."

He opened a hidden door in the wall. Stefan seemed to have stashed his alcohol in there. "Wow, Stefan hid his alcohol. Maybe we should send him to vampire juvey?"

"Look harder. Both of you."

We got closer to the hidden room. I noticed a list of names on the wall. I thought it was a list of all the girls he slept with, but Stefan wasn't that good-looking (though he was extremely handsome) and he was straight, so I knocked that off my idea list.

"It's a list of names," Elena said.

"Mhm," Damon approved.

"His victims," I realised, staring at all the names.

"Still handling it?" Damon asked us.

"What were you doing in the 1920s? Paving the way for women's liberation?" Elena said.

"I was around. Chicago's a big city. Stefan was a cocky ripper douche. But I could avoid him and still indulge in a few Daisy Buchanans of my own," Damon said, his signature smirk plastered on his face.

My features twisted in disgust. It looked that he was leaving. "Where are you going?" I pressed, edging towards him.

"His old stomping ground."

"We're coming with you," Elena insisted.

"No. You two stay here and whip up an actual plan. I'll come back when I find him."

I read Stefan's diary from over Elena's shoulder. The poor guy really had it bad. If I was a vampire - which I hoped never happened - I'd probably become addicted to blood. If blood was anything like chocolate, that is.

"April, 1922. Lexi found me last night, dragged me off the train tracks. Thinks she can make me care again. June, 1924... Lexi's driving me crazy. More animal blood, more misery. 1935... cravings are there, but it's easier. Lexi's on to her next project... Getting me to laugh."

I heard someone at the door, as did Elena. We began to panic. I dragged her into the hidden closet.

"What a charming little homestead. Do you feel that? Is anybody here?" Klaus, my aunt Jenna's murderer, said.

It was squishy in the closet. I could smell Elena's lavender perfume. "It's been vacant for decades. People must break in all the time. Why'd you bring me here?"

"Your friend, Liam Grant, the one who drank his wife's blood... I never could figure out why you wanted his name. And then you told me your little secret. It was all part of your special little ritual," the hybrid told him.

Elena pointed to Liam Grant's name on the list. We shared a worried look. "To write it down," Stefan realised.

"And relive the kill... Over and over again," Klaus teased. He opened the hidden door. "You believe me now?"

Stefan entered the closet. His head snapped over to us, his eyes widening. Hope flashed in Elena's eyes as fear flashed in mine. The light in his eyes... the light that was in my best friend's eyes... it was gone. They were empty.

"Look what I found."

Was he really gonna rat us out? His best friend and his girlfriend? Seriously?

Stefan grabbed a bottle and stepped out of the closet. "1918. Single malt."

"My favorite," Klaus said. "Let's go and find someone to pair it with."

Stefan closed the closet.

When we were sure the hybrid and the almost ripper vampire were gone, we got out of the ripper closet. I brushed my jeans which had gotten dust on it. "He didn't rat us out," Elena stated with a smile. "There's still good in him."

I smiled back at her. "I know." My face fell when I remembered that look in his eyes. There was no light, but it was like he was begging me. Begging me to save him. When he came back to Mystic Falls, I was going to try to be his new Lexi. "We're gonna help him."

Elena nodded. "We have to call Damon."

She dialed his number on her phone and rang him. "Damon! Louise and I almost got discovered by Klaus..."

As she rambled on, my eyes lingered on the list of names that my best friend killed.

We heard someone outside the flat. 'Klaus,' I mouthed to Elena.

She got a vervain dart and pressed herself against the wall, dragging me beside her.

But it wasn't Klaus, it Damon. Thank God. "Finally! I called you an hour ago!" Elena exclaimed.

He handed the two of us a shopping bag. I raised an eyebrow. "Make yourselves presentable. I know where Stefan's going to be tonight."

He sat down on the couch. I looked in the bag. There was a perfectly folded white dress inside.

"Elena was almost discovered by Klaus and you went shopping?" I exclaimed. "What if he came back, huh?"

"I had an hour to realize what a bad idea it was to leave you here alone, process it, and move on. Are you okay?" he asked the both of us.

I nodded. "Yeah," Elena replied.

"Okay, good. Get dressed. You're all road-trippy and gross."

"So you know where he's going to be?" Elena aske him.

"Yes, with Klaus. So I'll distract Klaus and you two deal with Stefan," Damon told us. "Who better than his Lexi-like best friend and his girl?"

Elena smiled. "Okay. Thank you."

"But you're going to have about five minutes tops before that hybrid freak rips my heart out. So please, tell me you can do this."

"I can do this," she said.

He turned to me. "Louise?"

I grinned at him. "Let's de-ripperfy my best friend."

Elena and I waited by the car. Stefan joined Damon outside. "What is wrong with you?" Stefan exclaimed, angry at his big brother.

"What is wrong with you? You kill Andie one day, then you save my life the next. What are you good, bad? Pick one!"

"Klaus almost saw Elena and Louise today. You have to get Elena out of Chicago," Stefan told him.

"She's not going anywhere until she's got you checked into vampire rehab and on the mend. And Louise is adamant about being your new Lexi. Trust me. I've tried."

"She is the key to everything. Klaus can't know that Elena's alive."

"What are you talking about?" Damon asked him.

"She was supposed to die in the sacrifice and she didn't. Now Klaus can't create any new hybrids. His witch is seconds away from figuring that out. Tell Elena to go home and forget about me. Tell Louise as well."

"Tell them yourself," Damon said, stepping aside.

Stefan saw us. Elena approached her ripper boyfriend. "You shouldn't be here," Stefan said. "Neither of you should be here!"

"Where else would I be?" Elena asked him.

"What do you want? Damon won't be able to distract Klaus for long."

She caressed his cheek. I smiled at them and shoved my hands in my pockets to stay warm. Elena and Stefan were really in love. "Come home," she begged him.

Elena wrapped her arms around him. She pointed the vervain dart to his back, ready to plunge it into him and knock him out, but Stefan was too quick and grabbed her wrist too tightly. She squirmed.

"How much clearer can I make it? I don't want to come home! Klaus is obsessed with siring these hybrids. The second he knows you're alive, he'll figure out why it's not working."

"Look, I know you're trying to protect me, but I can't let you do it. Come with us, Stefan, please."

"And what do you expect if I do? Huh? It's never going to be the same, Elena," Stefan told her.

"I know that."

"I don't think you do. I've left bodies scattered from Florida to Tennessee. Innocent people. Humans."

"Lexi found you like this before. In the twenties, and... And she saved you." She gestured behind her to me. "Louise can help you. She might be able to talk to her..."

"And you know what I did after that? After Lexi saved me? I spent years trying to pull myself together. To a vampire, that's nothing. To you? That's half your life. And that was with Lexi, who's fully trained. The biggest addiction Louise has is chocolate."

I smiled at him kindly. "At least you still remember." I walked over to them and put a hand on his shoulder. "We're not giving up on you, Stefan."

"Yes, you can. It's done. That part of my life is done. I don't want to see either of you. I don't want to be with you, Elena." He turned to me. "And I don't want to be your best friend. I just want you two to go."

How stupid could I have been? Thinking Stefan would come back to us? Thinking that he would happily play Crash Bandicoot with me, ignoring all of his urges. That I could help him, without having any training in that field. I pressed my head against the window.

Elena loved Stefan as a boyfriend, but Stefan was my rock too. He was my best friend, the guy who I trusted more that anyone else. And he told me he didn't want to see me anymore... he didn't want to be my best friend.

That was the reality. Stefan never wanted to be found.

Damon got into the seat beside me. "You okay?" he asked.

I bit my lip. "Just drive."

"You're still here. I thought you would have went home by now," Damon stated, walking into the parlor.

He poured us two more shots of tequila and handed one to me. "Why would I want to go home when I can stay and chat with you?" Damon sighed and sat on the arm chair and threw back the contents of his glass into his mouth. "You're brooding. That isn't a good sign."

"He's really gone," Damon stated sadly.

"He'll come back," I assured him. "Eventually."

"When most of the people in this town are old or dead, including you and Elena," Damon said, pouring another shot.

"That's still eventually," I insisted. "You haven't lost him forever, Damon."

He examined me for a moment, not creepily. It was like he was looking for something. A flicker of doubt? "How can you still care about me?"

"I've answered this question."

"I'm a dick."

I snorted. "Yeah, you're a dick.`A murderous psychotic dick, but you are my friend."

He drank another shot. "Why?"

I gave up with the small, portioned shots and just grabbed the bottle. I downed it, taking large gulps.

When I was satisfied, I took the bottle away from my mouth. "I don't know. I just do."

Damon scoffed. "A little detail would be nice."

I stood up. "You want detail? I like the danger about you." He got to his feet and stood in front of me. I could feel his breath on my cheek. This was drunkness talking... it had to be, but what was coming out of my mouth was the truth. "It's alluring and it's intriguing. I don't want some fairytale romance like the ones you have in novels, I want danger."

He cupped my face in his hands and stared into my eyes. "I'll give you danger."

"One condition," I said, my voice was trembling. I didn't like trusting people... or opening up to them. It seemed like everyone I loved died. "Promise me you won't hurt me."

He thumb stroked my cheek. "I won't hurt you."

I smiled at him, happy with the answer. In one quick moment, I smashed my lips on him, throwing my arms around him.

I wasn't the most moral person. I used to secretly have one-night stands with boys I barely knew. Jenna found me in bed with one of the man-sluts in the school last summer and took me to have an STD test. I had to pee in a cup! The most embarrassing experience someone ever had to go through was an STD test.

I wrapped my legs around his torso and pulled his top over his head. I ran my hands along his back.

He vamped us up to his room. He took off my top in one swift motion and threw me on the bed. The Salvatore brother tugged at my jeans, looking to me for consent. I smirked at him, which he took as a yes.

Damon kissed my stomach, all the way up to my neck. "Bite me," I moaned. "Do it."

He looked more than pleased as he plunged his fangs into my neck. It pierced my skin, but it only hurt for a few minutes until I began to enjoy it. He only drained a bit of my blood and then fed me his to heal me. The sight of my blood on his lips somehow aroused me.

That night, I did the unthinkable.

I, Louise Gilbert, slept with Damon Salvatore.