"I wanna let go, and fall for you
And when it gets rough, be your parachute.
I wanna do the things that you only read about.
Are you ready?

I'm done with small town politics.
I need to make my way to where the action is.
I'm done with it, so the question is,
Are you coming with?
'Cause baby, if you like, I'll take you there."

"So Thursday, when you were asking me all those questions that didn't make sense, was this why?"

The interior of the restaurant Kol had brought us to in Richmond, La Grotta Ristorante, was almost the most ideal place for a first date, or at least for us. Italian food was my absolute favorite, which Kol had figured out with odd questions that didn't make much sense out of context, but seeing it now, he was just trying to figure out what my favorite kind of food was without outright asking.

Despite being a rather fancy place, it wasn't as stiff and formal as some I had walked past before, or been to once—dinner with my parents and some of Dad's colleagues. The tables were all covered with a white table cloth, decorated with artfully folded napkins and silverware for each seat with dim lighting all around. The chairs were comfortable, but they reminded me of old curtains or rugs, with a vintage twist that helped piece together the entire aura of the room.

To me, this was the most ideal place for a first date with anyone.

A wry smirk began twisting onto his lips, those perfectly shaped eyebrows rising, but he didn't get a chance to respond, as our waitress came over with menus and her pad ready to get our drink orders.

This was where things felt a bit out of place, or at least I did. When it came to dating, I had no idea how I was supposed to act or what to even consider getting. All I knew was that I liked Italian food, and my mom had let me taste some of her red wine one night when she made chicken parmesan. It was amazing, the way the two flavors mixed together.

"I think we'll start off with a bottle of the Stags Leap Cabernet." Kol's eyes moved away from me, up to the waitress, and he grabbed onto her eyes with his. "You checked our ID, and we are both, of course, twenty-one."

The waitress blinked a few times before a wide smile pulled onto her lips. "Thank you two for showing me your ID. I'll go grab that bottle for you, and then I'll be back for your orders. Would you like any appetizers?"

His eyes found me again. "What do you think, darling?"

My face scrunched a bit, but I shook my head. "I'm good."

The waitress smiled at me as well and left, leaving us alone again to take in the atmosphere and figure out what we were gonna order. It took me less than a minute, and when my eyes peeled away from the menu, I found Kol already watching me, his menu still placed on the table in front of him.

"What?" I mumbled, and my cheeks flushed again, hot enough that I wondered if the makeup Caroline had put on my face would hide it.

"You are so exquisite," he murmured, but he kept himself pressed back against his seat. "When I first saw you, I didn't even realize that you were a doppelgänger. The things that set you apart really set you apart, so much that I . . . I'm sorry. You're far too beautiful; it's distracting."

My eyes fell away from him as a breath pushed through my lips, reminding me of the rose pink that Caroline had painted on them, in the form of lipstick that she promised wouldn't come off, winking as she said it. At the time, I rolled my eyes, but it felt different now. Actually sitting here, away from the world of Mystic Falls, the idea that our night might end with even just a kiss was definitely a possibility. Assuming he didn't, you know, make a complete ass of himself before it was all over with.

Somehow, I knew that wasn't going to happen.

There was nothing I could say in response to what he said, other than keep the elaborate compliments coming. While they were beyond sweet—and genuine, coming from Kol—this was a date, meant to get to know one another better and explore the possibility of more than just friendship.

The possibility of it all was what got me to agree, what it could be. If Kol was willing to be different, at least try to be better, who was I to judge the past?

"It must be handy getting whatever you want," I said, in an attempt to change the subject away from me. "Or at least having the ability to get what you want."

"The things that come easy are meaningless," he said, but his piercing stare hadn't left me, the gold within his irises melting and warming what was otherwise brown, sending a chill down my spine and all the way to the ends of my toes—a chill that left a lingering warmth. "It's the things you have to work for that matter."

"What have you ever had to work for?" My eyebrows rose. "Shit, that sounded super judgmental. I just meant, what is something you've worked for?"

"I haven't worked for anything before," he admitted. "That is, until now."

Lying to myself about this anymore was impossible, with a statement so utterly simple with such complex meaning behind it. He had never really talked much about what made him enroll in school or follow me around all day, other than jokes about properly thanking me for what I had done for him or getting to know me after I did him that favor without caring about the consequences. It was stated more than once that he found me beautiful and attractive, but this was more than mere attraction.

What had been easy to disguise as a bit of fun, after spending over a century daggered in a coffin, suddenly wasn't so easy. This was something much more genuine, something that resembled actually feelings for someone. Obviously it wasn't love, but maybe the connection that I felt to him wasn't so one-sided, as I had let myself believe.

"So if you've never worked for anything, does that mean you haven't been in love?" I asked, and while I wanted to get the subject on anything else but this, this question seemed important. Love was one of the most powerful things in the world. It was completely life changing, but if someone had gone a thousand years without it, the things he did were easy to understand. That didn't make them justified, but it gave me a lot more understanding of it all.

"I haven't," he said, and as my eyes widened a bit, his own eyebrows raised. "What? Is that so surprising?"

"A thousand years is a long time to go without love," I said, nodding a bit as my eyes locked in his again.

His tongue slid across his lips as his eyes darted away, most likely checking for our waitress. When he didn't see her, he decided it was safe to go on with whatever he planned to say.

"I used to see love as a weakness," he said. "When you are given eternity, with nothing known that can kill you, having something that you love and cherish gives you a weak point that people could exploit, people just like my brother."

"While I do agree that your brother is a sadist who very much enjoys exploiting people's weaknesses, you can't honestly tell me that you really believe love is weakness," I said, a breath following after the words. "Love is the most powerful thing in the world."

The smile came back onto his lips, but there wasn't much more he could say, as the waitress was approaching with the bottle of wine he had ordered and two wine glasses. All he managed to get out was, in a soft but warm voice, "That remains to be seen."

The waitress came and poured the wine into the glasses for us, leaving the rest on the table as Kol requested, and she took our orders. There wasn't any conversation while she was there, as that was just rude, but Kol seemed very surprised when he heard me ordering my food. In normal terms, I got chicken parmesan, but here, it was petto di pollo potentina, which he got as well.

As she walked away, I looked wryly up at him as I took a sip of my wine, which had a much sweeter taste than I expected. Most expensive wines were very bitter and dry, but this was perfect, with a hint of both cherry and plum along with the rich grape flavor. The smell of black cherry and plum was vibrant, drowning out the grape entirely.

"You're full of surprises, Darcy Gilbert," he informed me.

I set my glass down and rubbed my tongue along my bottom lip, getting the small bit of wine off and mixing it with the harsh taste of lipstick. "You just underestimated my love for Italian food. I could seriously eat pizza three times a day every day."

"Believe it or not, I have never tried pizza," he said. "It came around not long before I was daggered most recently, and we don't eat often."

My eyebrows rose. "How does that work exactly?"

"We can eat, just like you," he said, but he took a sip of his wine now as well. "It isn't necessary, but we don't have to throw it back up later. We're dead, but that doesn't mean our bodies stop working as a human's does."

I nodded. "Alright, makes sense. I wondered how it all worked." One of the strands of curls left out of the bun slid down into my face, but I quickly tucked it back, keeping it out of my eyes as to not annoy myself with it. "What's your favorite color?"

He laughed again, this time much more vibrantly. "So is that what we're doing? Asking trivial questions that, in the grand scheme of things, don't matter?"

I shrugged. "Maybe to you, but from the way I see it, even the most trivial things are important, if they're trivial things about the right person."

The lids of his round eyes pulled open a bit more, his eyebrows rising up ever so slightly, and those soft pink lips fell open, no words finding their way out for a few moments. His mind had picked out a response to his question, and what I had said wasn't it, at least from the surprise in his eyes

"Green," he finally said.

"Wow. I expected red."

He scoffed. "Of course you did."

My teeth sank into my bottom lip, just a twinge of pressure that helped keep my head on right. Under his smoldering gaze, it was easy to get lost, especially when paired with that charming smile.

"What is your favorite place you've ever been?" I asked.

"I've been many places, and I'm sure none of them look the same as they did when I was there, but my favorite has always been most of Europe," he said. "The true beauty of nature there is something I can't explain, or at least it was before we came to the United States a century ago. You'd have to see it for yourself, if it hasn't all been destroyed by now."

There were so many places in the world, places full of manmade beauty, but he was talking about nature, the things that were beautiful all on their own.

"How do you calm yourself down when you're angry?" I asked, without lingering on one topic too long. There were so many things to learn about one another, especially since he had a thousand years under his belt to learn about himself, so on trivial things, dwelling on one too long was senseless.

He shrugged. "Usually, I kill someone, but I get the feeling that isn't an appropriate way to calm down. I'll have to stick around you to figure out what is appropriate."

The last part of his answer set off a fit of reactions in my body, from a fluttering heart to many cages of butterflies in my stomach, and the only way to calm myself down was to take a large sip of wine, keep my eyes on anything but his face. For now, my wine glass was the perfect thing to look at.

"Books or music?"

"Music," he answered, much faster than I expected. "It's my favorite part of modern times so far. I can bring music with me anywhere I go."

"Which historical figure wasn't as amazing as everyone thinks?" I asked.

"Pretty much all of them," he said, and he finished off the wine in his glass before continuing. "History is written by the victors, so of course it's written in the victor's favor, painting them in a good light which they actually shouldn't be seen in. No one comes to mind who is viewed as they really were. What odd talent do you have?"

He so seamlessly went from answering a question to asking one that it took me a few seconds to realize he had asked me a question. The answer took even longer, as I didn't have any odd talents that came to mind right off the top of my head.

"I can touch my nose with my tongue," I finally said. "Does that count?"

His smile turned into a grin, those eyes a bit smug now. "Wow. What places do you want to see?"

"I've always wanted to go to Rome," I said. "The history and culture there must be incredible. Greece maybe, and then there's Ireland. I've heard it's just stunning there, with nice drunks everywhere. I've been told I'm a happy drunk, amongst other things, so I'd fit in nicely."

"Other things?" His eyebrows rose while he watched me finish off what was in my wine glass, the right side of his mouth curling into a smirk. "What other things?"

I rubbed my lips together. "Mmm. You know, the usual stuff. Elena gets really emotional when drunk, but I'm just bubbly and energetic and, you know, extremely horny."

"That sounds like fun."

It would've been easy to give him some sassy remark back, or even a sultry one. There were so many different ways I could've responded back to that, but all I wanted to do was say, "With you, it would be."

The waitress arrived with our food, however, and that particular conversation just faded away as she gave us both our plates and refilled our wine glasses for us, though most would've left us to do it ourselves, since the bottle was ours.

There wasn't much said as we both took our first bites of the dish in front of us. Though Kol's eyes widened, a hint of surprise lingering there, his gaze remained set on me, waiting for some kind of reaction to what he said.

Any reaction I had would lead us down the wrong path.

"Have you ever thought about becoming a vampire?" he finally asked, after we had both gotten our first tastes swallowed down and chased with a sip of the wine. The silence hadn't been uncomfortable, but something else needed to be said to get us away from the gutter we were standing beside.

"Every day," I admitted. "It'd make life a lot easier. Your brother wants to use my sister and me to make more hybrids, and it'd be a lot easier for me if he couldn't do that. I never can be, though."

His eyebrows knit together. "Why?"

I bit down on my bottom lip again and looked to the refilled wine glass in front of me. "My situation is a bit complicated. Aside from all the abuse he would inflict on Elena alone . . . there's just something that gets in the way of it."

"You don't have to be so cryptic," he reminded me. "I hate my brother as much as any of you, so if there's something you don't want him to know, you don't have to worry about him hearing it from me."

"There's a couple things he doesn't know about me, actually," I sighed, sinking back into the comforting embrace of the seat while my eyes drifted away again, over towards a table with a lady wearing a rather strange looking fur shrug, her hair curled so tightly that it almost looked like the rollers were still in it. "One of them, some of my friends don't even know, but I guess . . . I guess I trust you with the least dangerous thing for now."

"I suppose I'll take it." He leaned forward just a bit, getting himself closer while still avoiding the food in front of him. "Tell me something about yourself, Darcy. Something my brother will never know."

"I doubt I'll be able to keep this part a secret forever," I admitted, but my words were followed by a deep breath. "Elena and I are only half sisters, and whoever my father is was a witch."

His eyes widened. "You're a witch?"

I nodded. "I'm a weird witch at that. I don't have access to magic on my own. I have to pull it from other things, like the blood of a vampire for example. Bonnie put a barrier spell up to keep me from interrupting the ritual where Klaus sacrificed Elena, and I was able to drain the magic from the spell away, to use it for whatever spell I wanted to do. I can actually use my own blood as a source, which I never actually realized I was using. It's been a lot of trial and error, figuring all of this out, but what I thought was me being a super weak witch was actually my magical side not being able to use magic like a normal witch. My blood is limited to human capabilities."

"That is absolutely fascinating," he murmured. "In a thousand years, I've never met any witch who uses magic that way, and I've met plenty of witches. I respect witches a great deal, and magic is endlessly fascinating to me. I was the only one of my siblings to actually use my powers before turning."

"Was it hard?" I asked, but I began getting a bite ready on my fork, to take once I got the rest of my question out. "Having magic one day and not the next?"

"Harder than you would think," he said, and he sighed. "It was actually a pretty dark time in my life. I had been what my mother liked to refer to as a child prodigy, getting in touch with my magic from a fairly young age. To have it ripped away from me, without even getting the option to stay human like my mother, I was pretty angry about it for a long time, longer than I probably should've been."

My eyebrows furrowed. "I heard the story about when you guys were turned. Did none of you know?"

"I knew my mother was doing something, as she had just lost her youngest son and was very distressed about it, but I had no idea what she was doing would rip away my magic," he said. "I don't think she did either."

"Do you miss it?"

"I do," he said, and his eyes fell away from me now, towards the food on his plate that he had only taken a single bite out of. "It's one of the things I miss most about being human. Eternity has plenty of perks, believe me, but that was my favorite part about myself. I had to learn to like myself for other reasons, and over time, I became all that I had."

There was so much pain in Kol's life, pain that no one else seemed to care to listen to. Even the rest of his siblings, who were daggered whenever Klaus got pissed off at them, didn't seem to care that he was hurting, that he was extremely lonely despite the arrogance he seemed to put off.

That was very real; Kol was definitely arrogant, and pretty superficial, but there was so much more to him than that. Deep down, underneath the attractive face was a lonely heart.

A thousand years without love was far too long. Even if this couldn't last forever, I was determined to show him what love really was, at least once.

Maybe once he realized that love was strength, he would be willing to look for it other places.

A/N: I woke up to three more reviews and a lot of new subscribers! I'm so glad you guys are enjoying this story! It's been fun for me to write, and I'm happy that you guys enjoy it as well.

The lyrics at the beginning are from the song Parachute by Neck Deep.

As always, read, review, and enjoy! Enjoying what you're reading is the most important part to me, so I hope that y'all continue to enjoy it. :)