"We're out here in the boondocks
With the breeze and the birds.
Tangled up in the tall grass
With my lips on hers.
On the highway to heaven,
Headed south of her smile.
Get there when we get there.
Every inch is a mile.

Body like a back road,
Driving with my eyes closed.
I know every curve like the back of my hand."

The light in my room didn't have the brightest bulb in the world, but it didn't stop me from seeing Kol's eyes flutter closed while my fingers continued softly tracing the cavern of his spine, feeling each and every ridge as I passed over a new crevice. The muscles of my mouth ached as a smile that probably matched the one he wore glued itself on. As much as I loved to see the joy in his eyes, the way they were closed now was just as nice to see.

He wasn't just laying there with his eyes closed; his body was completely relaxed, without a single care in the world.

It was the kind of relaxed that people only got if they trusted someone completely, and I didn't imagine an Original vampire allowed himself to get that comfortable with just anyone, especially after all his family had put him through.

I pressed my full hand against his back, allowing it to rub up further, towards his shoulders. The skin beneath my fingertips was soft, though it lacked the full warmth human skin might have. It wasn't cold and void of all warmth, and the softness, almost velvety to the touch, made up for any absence of heat.

My hand curled up towards the front of his shoulders while my body leaned into his, the skin-to-skin contact almost making me forget what I wanted to say.

"You act like you've never been loved like this before," I breathed into his ear, brushing against it with each word.

"I haven't."

Of course he had mentioned that I was a first, that no one had ever cared to know him more than the blood crazed Original vampire, but loving someone and intimacy were different things. He could've experienced this kind of thing without knowing love.

"Really?" I asked, the word barely making it out as my mind began to wander, to imagine what a life empty of such things would feel like.

Though Greyson and Miranda weren't my parents—at the time, no one knew that I wasn't related to them at all—they had always made sure to let us know we were loved, never made us feel unwanted. They always stressed the importance of things such as love and affection.

His arms reached out a bit so he could sit himself up, the muscles of his back and arms rippling in the most delightful way. While I was focused on how damn good he looked, he was turning himself around to face me.

He stretched his hand out to grab the back of my hand and shoved me towards him, grabbing onto my lips with his the second they were in range of his own.

With Kol, kissing had an entirely new meaning. Even kisses that were meant to be sweet and romantic, like this one, became something more, that one thing that led to another.

His fingers scrunched into my hair, the other hand sliding down to my back, to press my naked chest against his own. The distance that had been between our bodies was closed, my legs now straddling his hips as he held onto me, having his glorious way with my lips.

All too soon, his lips were ripped from mine, and he let out a breath, leaving those plump lips parted and waiting to be kissed again. "That was part of what made me so violet over the years. No one loved me, not even my family. I'm sure I knew some of it when I was a young lad, but for as long as I can remember, it's been life empty of all meaning. So I acted out, left trails of bodies, because even though my siblings all called me horrible things, they noticed me."

"I think it's about time someone showed you," I said. Moving with as much delicacy as I could, I let my fingers trace down his jawline before grabbing onto his face with my whole hand, holding onto it with a fierce delicacy that I hoped portrayed all the feelings I couldn't find words to say yet—feelings that I wondered might be love. "I would love it if I could be that someone."

His lips parted again, those warm eyes studying each and every inch of my face, and the distance between us was closed again, his lips against mine with a fervor that had become familiar without losing its spark.

My body was pressed back into the firm pillows beneath me in an instant, with Kol's naked and glorious body hovering over mine. His lips never parted from mine, but he didn't have to part to get me where he needed me to be.

His lips held me down while his hands left a blazing trail down my body, moving towards my legs, which he all but subtly separated as he positioned his own hips between them.

Pulling away with him dominating me like this was hard, but it had to be done, as he was almost to the point of no return. Once he was inside of me, there was absolutely no way I was going to let my conscience get in the way.

It surprised him enough that he actually fell down on top of me, though he was able to direct most of the weight away from me, to ensure he didn't hurt me.

"We can't do this again," I insisted at the same time a sharp twinge of pain shot through my bottom lip, as my teeth began to nearly pierce the skin. "It's wrong."

I had never seen him look at me so incredulously, those warm eyes so wide that I wondered if they might pop out of his head. "Wrong? What the hell are you talking about?"

"I mean, everyone's lives are exploding around us, and we're up here fucking all night?" I reminded him. "Come on. You have to see how that's just rude."

He rolled his eyes and pulled himself back up, hovering his delicious body over mine again, pressing his pelvis into me as a way to remind me of the raging boner he had at the moment—as if I could've forgotten. It wasn't exactly hard to find.

"I've been in a coffin for almost a century," he said. "Don't you think I've earned some fun?"

"I haven't."

The way he leaned into me got my heart thumping inside of my chest, at a speed that was probably pretty dangerous, and his soft lips began kissing along my neck, along the artery there that he was surely dying to sink his teeth into. "Mmm. Well, I need you to have fun, so you'll just have to be selfish for a little while."

A shaky breath passed through my parted lips, and his grip on my body only tightened. "Fine. I suppose a few selfish moments never hurt anyone."

"That's probably not accurate, but for the sake of keeping you underneath me, I'll pretend that it is," he murmured.

His lips found mine again, but it was very short lived this time. This time, it wasn't me that pulled away, but Kol—by disappearing completely. Since no one knew he was here, as they were all still pretty hesitant around him, we had prepared for this scenario, placing a set of pajamas on the night stand beside my bed so I could get dressed quickly, if Kol thought he heard someone coming.

With a large t-shirt and pajama shorts on, I was able to beat whoever was coming to the punch and yanked my bedroom door open.

Alaric stood there, with his hand raised as if he was about to knock, but at the sight of me, it fell back by his side, his dark brows raised.

He had always been attractive, for a teacher. There was something about his face that I just got—Jenna usually spared the dirty details since he was my teacher, but I wasn't repulsed when she would go on about how attractive he was.

Part of what made him so attractive was the personality behind it all. He was very loyal, with a dark sense of humor that was usually only amplified by alcohol and bad situations in Mystic Falls.

His usually light brown hair was a bit darker, damp and slicked back as if he had just gotten out of the shower and decided to come talk to me.

"Do you know what's up with your sister?"

My eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"You haven't noticed her acting a bit strange this morning?" he asked, and his muscled arms folded over his chest, broadening his wide shoulders and giving him a stance that, if I didn't know him, might seem authoritative.

"I did, but I thought it was about the whole Jeremy thing." My mind began to wander back to all that I had done, to make sure she couldn't rip his life away without his consent. If compulsion was wrong for a vampire to do for their own reasons, it was wrong for a vampire to do for any reason—period.

He took a deep breath and relaxed himself a bit, his eyes falling a bit to catch onto mine. "She's gonna do it."

"What?" I could feel my eyes widening, the burn from both weariness and excess air making them lightly water.

"Come on, Darcy," he groaned. "Don't make this harder than it has to be."

"You guys can't do this," I snapped. Even though I knew they couldn't do anything to him, the fact that they still wanted to try irritated me beyond belief. "It's his choice. I want him as safe as either of you, but you're taking away his free will. That's exactly what Klaus does to his hybrids. Sure, he does it for selfish reasons, but the concept is the same. If you guys do this, I'll tell Jeremy."

"Darcy, please," he sighed. "Let your sister do this."

I shook my head. "Why does she get to call the shots for everyone's life?"

He glanced over his shoulder, looking for any signs of an audience, and even though he didn't find one—both Jeremy and Elena's doors were closed, so I imagined they were probably already asleep—he stepped into my room, closing the door behind him.

"Keep your voice down," he whispered, though the corners of his eyes tightened. "Come on, Darcy, please understand what she's trying to do."

"No, I understand exactly what she's trying to do," I disagreed. "She's taking him away from the first piece of happiness he's felt in a long time. He deserves to be happy. He deserves to enjoy his life with Bonnie. Klaus has given me his word that he's going to keep him out of it, and I believe him, despite everything he's done. One thing he hasn't done is lied to us. Bonnie will protect him from anything else this town has to offer."

"She can't protect his sanity!" he exclaimed, his own voice rising more levels than I think he meant for it to. When the words came out, his eyes widened a bit, and he rubbed his lips together. "He asked me this morning if I thought he needed to keep a stake on him while at school because there are vampires there now too!"

"Sending him away won't change what's already been done," I insisted. "You can't do this. He's happy. His life has gotten good again. He's worked to fix his mistakes, and he's getting a piece of something that can help him move on. Elena doesn't get to decide what's best for him."

His brow furrowed, pulling up the skin of his nose a bit as it wove together so tightly. "What's gotten into you? You normally stand behind your sister's choices. Is it Kol?"

My eyes widened. "What? No. Kol has nothing to do with this."

"Elena's worried about you," he said.

I nodded. "Good for her. If Kol wanted to hurt me, he would have by now."

"Klaus values the two of you more than his own family," he pointed out. "Killing the two of you would hit him where it hurts most."

"I don't think he values us more," I disagreed. "We're just the key to the army he wants to control."

His eyes tightened. "Take this seriously. Are you sure you can trust Kol?"

"Positive." I folded my arms over my chest and raised my eyebrows. "I know Kol better than any of you, and before you ask, yes. I know that I can trust him. Why would he help me learn how to use my magic if he was gonna do anything to hurt any of us?"

"I think it'd be best if you two cooled it while this is all going on, at least until we have Klaus out of our lives," he said, and his face began to twist up a bit, almost as if he was going to wince.

I snorted. "Well you know what I think would be best? If everyone would stop telling me how to live my life! I get it! Elena's the doppelgänger, but you know what? So am I! I think it's time I get a chance to call the shots for my own life."

Something came over me as the words were spewing out of my lips like a busted fire hydrant. I hadn't thought about any of them. They just came out, though they were truths that probably needed to be said.

Hearing them said out-loud, all I could think about was what Kol had said earlier, about having a few selfish moments to enjoy the things in life I had never gotten to experience before.

Why was I letting Elena decide what was best for me? Why did we have to hide the fact that he was here? She had never been discreet any time Stefan was over, so why did I suddenly have to be? Even though Jeremy didn't like Stefan for a long time once he knew about vampires again, she didn't let that stop them, so why did I have to?

Wasn't it about time I got my own piece of happiness? After spending all of my life being the ugly twin, being the weird looking Gilbert kid, the one who wasn't even a Gilbert at all, it was about time I made choices for myself, choices that I wanted to make.

Without saying another word, I turned away from Alaric and walked over to my dresser, where I began digging through and looking for just the right clothes to wear—both sexy and cute. With Alaric standing right behind me, I obviously couldn't pull them out, but I did pull out the pink lace embroidered tank I planned to wear with the mint skirt and lace flower ruched sleeved cardigan. Usually, my outfit was planned out at least the night before, so with it already in mind, it was going to make things a lot easier.

After a long pause, and seeing the tank top and tights I had thrown onto the bed, he let out a sigh. "What are you doing?"

"Being selfish," I said, both to let him know what I was doing and Kol, who I knew was going to love this.

"Come on, Darcy," he said. "I'm sorry, okay? You're right. Everyone should be able to make their own choices in life, no matter how dangerous they might be."

"Yeah, they should," I agreed. "I'm going to stay at Kol's tonight."

"It's not safe out there," he reminded me. "Rebekah could kill you to get at Elena."

I shook my head and turned away from my dresser to look back at Alaric, who looked more troubled than I expected. Of course he had grown very fond of Elena, Jeremy, and me since he came to town and started seeing Jenna, even more so after she died, but it was painfully obvious just how much he cared about me in the middle of the conversation about the dangerous world around me.

"Rebekah wants her brother dead just like we do," I said, and while most times I would've faltered at the sight of his pain, I wasn't going to let myself, not this time—not when I knew there was no reason to be afraid. "He killed their mother and blamed it on their father all their lives. She's in all of my classes at school. Pretty sure I'd be dead by now if she was gonna kill me."

"Darcy."

I walked over to the computer desk on the far end of the room, which I hadn't taken the time to sit down at for a long time, and pulled the neon blue duffel bag I had stored underneath it out. "If anyone asks where I am, let them know I'll see them at school tomorrow."

This was a side of me that I had never experienced before, which only seemed to help my mind accept the things my heart had told me almost from the beginning. Kol was my soulmate.

Writing me off as a rebellious teenager would've been easy, but we were all older than our age. I wasn't a kid anymore, aside from the fact that I was eighteen years old. Life in Mystic Falls had me much older than eighteen, old enough that I had a good head on my shoulders and enough sense to see right from wrong.

Kol was the first thing in my life that had ever felt right, even if logic told me that he shouldn't. It didn't matter what he had done, or even what he had yet to do—to an extent, as I wasn't gonna just stand by and let him continue his pattern of chaos and murder. All that mattered was who he was now, who he wanted to be.

That was the Kol I was falling in love with. That was the Kol that was my soulmate. Maybe every Kol was my soulmate, as I had never met myself without humanity or any kind of genuine love and affection, but Kol brought out parts of me that even I didn't know were buried in there.

This wasn't me running away from my problems to have a night with Kol. This was me standing up for myself and doing what I wanted to do and what was best for me right now, even if other people around me didn't agree with it.

I barely even noticed as Alaric left the room, closing the door back behind him, but the only reason I did was because strong arms were suddenly wrapped around my waist, pulling me closer so Kol could lean down and grab onto my lips with his own.

It had become effortlessly, positioning our bodies so they fit perfectly together. He even had the exact tilt of his head down, knew how to angle himself just right so that his button nose didn't collide with my slightly bigger one.

All the frustration, all the inner turmoil, melted away with his kiss, as if it was actual fire burning through me. I suddenly couldn't wait to be in his hotel room, alone with total freedom. Moans didn't have to be silenced, accidental yelps of delight covered with skin. We could be completely free to love one another however we wanted.

As he pulled his lips away from mine, a single finger took the place of my lips, and I knew in an instant what that meant. If anyone human were here, whispers would be fine. They wouldn't matter, but if a vampire was downstairs, or anywhere in the house, he would be listening and hear it with ease.

Why was Damon here?

My teeth were tender by the time I made it over to my closet, scrubbing together so hard that I wondered if I might actually grind them down a bit. Who the hell did she think that she was, going off and making decisions like this all on her own?

As I stuffed the clothes inside the bag, remembering to grab the essentials like my toothbrush, makeup, and shoes, Kol disappeared again, but this time, he didn't go into my closet. He went out the window, and I hurried my way across the room to close it back.

Why were we still sneaking around?

I barely got my bag zipped and my warm Ugg boots on, a pair of yoga pants replacing the shorts I had been wearing, before my door came flying open, this time with a much angrier person standing in the doorway.

Damon wasn't alone, though his anger was something only he felt. Elena looked as if she felt remorse, but it was hard to believe that, in the face of what she was trying to do, no matter what anyone said.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Damon snapped.

I shrugged. "You know, I'm getting really sick of people treating me like a child. I'm going wherever the hell I please, Damon, so don't you dare try to stop me."

"When you're being an idiot, you better damn well believe I'm gonna stop you!" he exclaimed, and he stepped closer to me, showing me his barred teeth as the corners of his arctic blue eyes tightened. "You may believe this guy about who he is, but I don't! The timing is too coincidental."

"That's great," I said. "But while you're not believing him, I'm gonna be staying at his place. Why does it matter anyways? He's been here more nights than you guys even realize, so I'm pretty sure if he was gonna kill me, I'd be dead by now."

"You don't see a problem here?" Elena asked, her eyebrows now furrowing. "He has you acting out. Vampires can make you believe whatever they want to, Darcy. That doesn't make it real."

"You don't get to tell me what's real in my life and what isn't!" I exclaimed. "You know what? I'm seriously tired of people telling me that I should be careful, that I shouldn't trust Kol. I knew who he was from the moment I met him! If he was gonna kill me by now, he's had ample opportunity to kill me, turn me, trigger my curse—you name it, he's had the chance. But he hasn't done any of that, so you can all believe what you want, but I know what's real! This, everything that I feel for him, everything he feels for me, it's all real!"

"Darcy, please," Elena whispered, but tears were filling her eyes. It was hard to tell if it was guilt or fear that brought them on, but for once, I didn't care. "We're trying to protect you."

I scoffed. "Well, it's a good thing I can't be compelled then, right?"

Damon's glares darkened in my direction, especially when Elena let out a breath of pain, as if I had just kicked her in the gut. "Darcy, come on. What's gotten into you? You're always right behind everything, and you never do stupid things like this for no reason."

"Yeah, because I agreed with everything thus far, but I don't agree with this," I said. "And I've never had a place to go to feel better. There was no happy place for me, and there is now, so you know what? Call me selfish. Call me stupid. Call me whatever you guys want, but I'm gonna go to my happy place for the night. I'm gonna forget everything and just enjoy my life for a change. Because it's my choice. I'm not gonna let you take Jeremy's away either."

Damon took a deep breath. "So I'm assuming you're the reason Jeremy has vervain in his system then."

Elena's eyes grew wide over at me, her nose curling into a snarl while her mouth hung open in shock, words seeming to be lost to her.

All I could do was smirk over at her as I picked up the duffel bag off my bed. "Hmm. Imagine that. Someone getting to make their own choices in life."

They both looked ready to go another round, but I was done. Everything I wanted to say had been said, and I wasn't in the mood to repeat myself. For the night, Jeremy was safe, as the vervain wouldn't be out of his system until tomorrow sometime at the earliest, so for the night, it was time to take a few selfish moments for myself.

Kol never brought his car when he snuck into my room, as it was too obvious if he did, so usually, he just ran here. Tonight was no different, so the only way to get back to his place, without taking the only vehicle Elena and Jeremy had to get to school, was to, in fact, run.

He was waiting for me on the front porch, wearing a half-smile that almost looked like it was real.

"You sure you wanna go back to my hotel room? There's a whole world out there waiting for us."

I took a deep breath, somehow able to ignore the bitter cold air that displayed my breath. "I'm sure. I need a long night of selfish moments."

Like I hoped, it brought a genuine smirk onto his lips, one full of deviousness mixed with the sweetest desire. His arms curled around my waist, pulling me against his body as his lips inched closer to my face. It wasn't until they were right beside my ear that they stopped.

"I am always happy to provide your selfish escape."

A/N: The lyrics at the beginning are from the song Body Like a Back Road by Sam Hunt. Idk if any of you are country music fans, but if you are, you've probably heard that song at least a hundred times. Haha.

Read, review, and enjoy! Things are about to get . . . different. It's a twist you probably don't see coming, but I hope it's not so out there that you don't want to read anymore. Remember, this is fanfiction, and part of that means we have the power to bend the rules a bit, to make things work for our story that might not otherwise work. What's coming is a bit of a stretch, but it's not completely implausible. There's no one in the series who has disproven the possibility of what's to come, so, ya know. :)

Rambling, sorry. It's probably confusing as well, but I don't wanna spoil it!