Chapter 6

And It All Falls To Shit…

Next morning, I paced about my room bored and frustrated that I still didn't have my mother's ring. After a while, I began to try organizing the broken furniture in there, see if I could make it any more livable.

I came across an old desk under a broken rocking chair, and noticed the intials 'D.S.' on the corner of it. I smiled devilishly (and villain-laughed in my head) as I thought, Well I did say anything labeled 'Damon' smash to bits.

Then I got a better idea to make more stakes to replace the ones Damon took, gotta love irony when it suits you.

So I got a small knife from the kitchen and began my work.

After I got to the third stake, Lexi walked in with her hands held high in surrender, "Don't attack it's just me."

I smiled and replied, "Just making some new stakes, Damon took mine when I burned him with vervain."

She laughed, "'Atta girl!"

"Thank you I'll be here all week… Actually for many weeks, unfortunately."

"Hey, it's not so bad. Have you been introduced to Stefan yet? He's fun to be around when he isn't 'Elena Longing'."

"So that's why I haven't met him yet?" I laughed, "Lexi, I've been thinking. Since you're my Godmother, and Damon doesn't want me here, why don't you adopt me?" I asked.

"Are you serious? You wanna be raised by me? The vampire with no self restraint?"

"Have you met the wacko I live with now?" we both laughed at that one, "Come on! I don't like him, he hates me, it's perfect!"

"Well, I live with my boyfriend right now, he's also a vampire." She looked me straight in the eye, "Can you handle living with two vampires after what happened?"

"Again, have you met the wacko I live with?" I said, "Yes, I can handle it! He can't be all bad if you're dating him."

Lexi smiled at the compliment, "Then I'll adopt you. I'll even find a better house for us all to live in. How does that sound?"

I smiled again, more than I ever had since I came here and hugged her, "It sounds great to me."

"Good!" she returned the hug, "Hey are you hungry? I forget human food sometimes, so want me to make you-… Something?"

I thought for a moment, "I'm in the mood for some chili. I can make mom's specialty!"

"Oh God I loved that stuff! What was the secret ingredient she kept talking about, it would always drive me crazy trying to figure it out!" she said as we walked towards the kitchen.

"Grinded up pizza pepper flakes. Adds the kick, as she says."

Lexi's mouth dropped in disbelief, "That's it? Uh! I'd suggesting she make it every time I came over, but she never let me in the kitchen, and that's what it was? Let down!"

"Why didn't you just speed in when she wasn't looking?" I asked, grabbing some ingredients from the cabinets.

"I tried, the first few thousand times I asked her she made me promise not to."

"Yeah, mom always was rather paranoid, but then again, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree." I said, grabbing a pan to start cooking.

"Clearly, you look so confident with the cooking, just like she was. Chili was only one of the many things she could cook."

"Yeah, all expect for making eggs." I made a disgusted face at the memory, "I never knew eggs could taste like charcoal before then." she laughed.

"Yeah well I think that is my fault. I made a quake about how she's always baking but never eats eggs, but the first time she tried a hard-boiled one, it had a small dead chicken in it (A/N: This has happened to a friend of mine, trust me)."

"Ewwwwww!" I said, as Lexi nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, so she's had this irrational fear of them ever since."

I started laughing hysterically as a thought occurred to me, "Oh my! That explains so many Easters to me!"

"Yup, we were friend throughout high school you know." Lexi stated.

"Wait-aren't you like-several decades older than her? How'd you get into a high school anyway?" I asked.

"Well, Stefan is also in high school as we speak, and when you get bored you get ideas like that!"

"You get so bored you want to go back to high school that's incredible. You knew my dad in high school too, right?"

"Well, for the first half of sophomore year, we just knew him as 'the geek from chess club'. But then your mom started dating him, and he was known to the school as 'the dude with the hot chick'." She laughed.

I laughed with her as I added more ingredients to the chili, "It's the kind of love story that gives nerds out there hope. But dad was actually pretty bad ass sometimes, he trained me to be able to eat really spicy chili straight without it being diluted with water or celery sticks."

Lexi laughed, "One day I'll show you how to drink hot-sauce straight from the bottle. It's a good party trick, and it wins ya some extra cash when you need it."

I looked at her intrigued by that offer, "I'm gonna hold you to that."

Once the chili was done, me and Lexi had a fun time just talking and laughing, she told me great stories about my parents and even how dad scored a date with her.

"So long story short, she got so fed up with trying to get that math problem done, that he pulled the workbook away from her and wrote done a problem for her to solve just to get her back into the flow. The math problem was 9x-7i 3(x-7u)."

"Yeah so?" I asked confused.

"Well, she solved it, and the answer was i 3u." She wrote the answer on a napkin as she finished her story.

"Awww. Whada go dad!"

"Yeah, so after that she found it so cute she was puddy in his hands."

I nodded, "Say what you will about nerds but they know how to pick up chicks."

We both laughed again, until Lexi looked at her watch and smiled.

"Oh, my attorney's office is open now. I gotta call about the adoption." She smiled at me.

"You have an attorney?" I questioned as she dialed on her cell phone.

"Well, more like I knew a friend who studied law and now works as an attorney. He'll help us out. Besides I've also gotta call real estate-Hey Toby!" and with that she walked out of the room.

"Toby?" I said to no one in particular.

Just then Damon walked into the room heading towards the bar. I said nothing and continued to look at the ground.

"Silent treatment? Really?" he asked, "I would have thought something along the lines of 'I hate everyone and everything!' but that's good too."

I rolled my eyes, "Well, it's not like we're the best of friends, I'm pretty sure the only reason you haven't used me as a midnight snack is because Lexi would kill you, and you took my ring."

Now he rolled his eyes, "You should really blab your problems to someone who cares, little girl."

"Well, luckily for me I'll be out of here real soon as I'll be adopted by Lexi. So you may wanna just give me back the ring since you can't use it." I said holding my hand out for it.

"Awww, that's sweet." He mocked, "But you know, I think I'll hold onto it for a while. I might even keep it when you leave, to remember you by."

I really got ticked off at that one, "You wouldn't dare!" I growled.

"Oh sure I would." He smirked.

Lexi hopped back into the room smiling, "I called the attorney, and managed to hit two birds with one stone. He got a big promotion and is moving to a bigger house, but he's willing to sell us his two bedroom house half price-well, I black-mailed for half, but he said it."

"Whoo! Go Lexi!"

"Exactly, so-" she sped over to the bar and poured one soda and one scotch, "I say we celebrate to our new house."

I walked over and grabbed the soda, "I will drink to that." As soon as I finished, a guy with golden brown hair who looked a bit like Damon walked in.

"Stefan!" Lexi confirmed for me, "Come on in, we could use another reason to celebrate!"

"Uh, okay." He looked at me, "Is this Katy?"

Lexi side-hugged me, "The one and only. Come on Stef, we need to celebrate your birthday!"

"Oh, happy birthday Stefan." I said awkwardly.

He smiled and walked towards us, "Thank you. What else are we celebrating?"

"Lexi's adopting me and we're getting a house."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I'm taking on a parent role now." She smirked, "Surprised?"

"Extensively." Stefan said, "But I'm happy for you. Cheers."

And we all took a sip of our drinks, then Lexi asked, "So what are we doing for your birthday tonight?"

Just then Damon perked up, "Funny you should ask."

"Well, I wasn't asking you." Lexi sneered.

"There's a party tonight, at the grill." He pointed to Lexi, "You'll love it. Tacky wait staff, all of Stefan's friends."

"Yeah, I don't want a birthday party." Stefan said.

"Well it's not for you, it's a party party, no one's gonna know it's your birthday." He replied, "Caroline's throwing it."

"Damon, stay away from Caroline."

"We're friends it's cool. It's important for the town to see us out and about, we need to blend."

I shook my head, "I'm sorry, what did you say? I'm still on the fact that you have a friend."

Lexi went over to the bar and pulled out a blood bag, "She's got a point there Damon." then stuck a straw in to drink it.

"Come on. It'll be fun, us all going out to celebrate. Just like a happy family." He said in a mocking tone, then looked to Lexi, "Ech, I prefer mine 98.6."

Then he walked out of the room, leaving us all looking befuddled by that comment… Both of them for me obviously.

After a minute Lexi shrugged, "Let's go." She saw the looks on both mine and Stefan's faces and added, "Please?"

***About An Hour later***

Lexi managed to convince us to go to the party, and while she and Stefan were getting ready, I sat in my room getting dressed myself.

I didn't really think much about the fashion aspect of things, I wasn't good at it and I hated to go shopping, so I just threw on some ripped jeans and a black T-shirt with a butterfly on it. Then I just quickly brushed some powder on, put a tiny amount of mascara on the tips of my lashes, and some chap stick.

And that's all she wrote on that front.

I walked outside my room and towards Stefan's, where both he and Lexi walked out just I came. She smiled at me and hugged me, then looked at me and said, "Alright, now I know it's a party, and everyone-" she took a long look at Stefan, "is going to have fun. But I don't want to see any drinking of alcohol, got it?

Stefan sighed, "Alright, I promise."

"Not you! The twelve year old!"

I laughed and said, "Alright, I'll stick with juice boxes and cookies like a good little girl. And Stefan that's gonna be your present tonight-" I held my hand up, "Trust me on this, that's a really rare gift. And I don't even know you."

Stefan laughed, nodding as he replied, "I accept. I'm gonna meet you guys at the grill okay?"

"Alright. Come on Katy let's go!" Lexi said, grabbing my hand and running us to the door. We took Lexi's car to the grill and walked in, immediately greeted by Damon. Seriously is he just everywhere?

"Where's my brother?"

"He said, he'd meet us here." Lexi stated, pushing me past him.

"Buy you a-" but that's all he got out before she pushed us towards the pool table.

"You know how to play kid?" she asked, grabbing a pole.

"Nope, I stink at this."

She wouldn't accept my answer and pushed another pole into my hands, "Well, I'm gonna teach you before Stefan comes, give him a run for his money. I think you'll be good at this game."

***Half Hour later***

I wasn't.

Lexi would have been winning by a mile if we'd been awarding points.

"Okay, so I'm frequently wrong. Come on just this last one, go Katy!"

I attempted the magic eight ball, it was in a perfect position to be easily thrown in, and so I gathered my dignity (which had been decreasing drastically throughout this lesson) and attempted to make it in.

I hit it too hard and the white ball bounced off the table and wacked a drunken patron in the leg.

"Hey!" he cried.

"Sorry about that!" I saw the ball about the roll off onto the dance for and went after it, "I better get that if I don't want to cause personal injury to the entire bar."

I rushed over to where it was rolling just before it went over a step, coincidentally also a few feet away from Damon and some blonde chick. Clearly, it wasn't a great conversation because-well, this is what he ended it with.

"And shallow." He paused, "And useless." And walked away from the girl and straight into me, holding the white ball in my hands.

I narrowed my eyes at him and simply said, "Dick." And walked away back to the pool table.

I returned to see that Lexi had ventured out onto the dance floor with a newly arrived Stefan. I laughed as I watched them continue in what appeared to be the most awkward dancing in history. Honestly, there were no words.

So I just wandered through the party, bopping my head to a good song when it came on (and by good song I mean, a Katy Perry song), until I got bored and went back over to where Stefan and Lexi were playing pool.

"Hey! Katy we need a score master, feeling up to it?" she asked.

I pretended to consider, "Hmm, award points in a position of power while making sarcastic comments about the players, or wander around aimlessly with a bunch of drunken adults and minors?" I put my hands into a weighing position before answering, "I think I'll go for the first one."

"Good, because I need to get some tequila shots, and I don't want him cheating while I'm gone."

"When have I ever cheated?" Stefan asked rhetorically.

Lexi smiled and turned back to me, "Watch him." Then turned to Stefan, "Watch her." and walked off.

"Wait whose watching who?" I called, receiving no answer. I shrugged and took a stool by the pool table, watching Stefan sink 'em one by one.

"So Katy. You're Lexi's Goddaughter huh?"

"Yup, you the supposedly heart of gold brother of my currant asshole guardian?" I joked.

He smiled, "I guess so. But Lexi's gonna adopt you though right?"

"Yeah, that's kind of why she said 'I'm adopting Katy' earlier today." I retorted.

"Alright, alright, just wanted to wish you luck that's all." Then he suddenly went still for a minute.

I shifted my eyes confused, "Stefan? Hello?" nothing, "The world is ending!" not even a flinch, "FI-"

"If you yell fire in this place right now Caroline will have my head." He responded without turning his head to me.

Suddenly then Lexi came back, no drinks in her hand, "Yeah, I drank your's. Sorry." and went for her pole.

He smiled at her and said, "Thank you."

"You weren't supposed to be listening." Then she saw Stefan give her a look, "I was feeling epic. Whatever."

I was beyond confused at this point, "Okay guys, not everyone here has supernatural hearing people! A little context would help."

They both smiled and giggled at their little inside joke, "It's alright Katy just let it go."

"Ugh, one day you'll have to tell me this stuff."

"Uh, no we won't." Stefan said, but then continued to look around nervously. Something about this act seemed to spark Lexi into a frustrated groan.

"Stef, stop looking around for him, it's your birthday enjoy it!"

"I'm just being cautious." He replied.

"Bro I'm not that paranoid, and I don't like the guy anymore then you do." I said sarcastically.

He shook his head, as Lexi rolled her eyes, "Alright, I am getting another drink, stay here." She said and walked off.

For the next few minutes I sat silently as Stefan continued on with the game, I was definitely liking him more than Damon already; not because he was nicer (though yeah that was a point in his favor), but because he was quiet.

Elena walked over to us smiling a bit awkwardly and waved, "Hey."

I looked between the two of them, and suddenly began to understand the 'context' I asked about before. I shook my head and stood up, "Yeah, I'm just gonna go… Mingle."

They nodded as I left and continued with their own tension.

Damn, I thought, It's like living in a soap opera, except with bloodsucking creatures… So it's like a soap opera!

I looked around for something to occupy my time with when I saw Lexi talking with Damon; as if that wasn't strange enough, I noticed the police walking into the bar with a de-shoveled-looking woman. Interested, I tried to move close to where they were and listen in on what they were saying.

"Alright, now just point out who it is if you see them, okay?" Sherriff told her.

After a minute or two of looking about, she pointed to where Lexi and Damon were.

At first, I thought Damon had gotten careless and got recognized, but I had a feeling that wasn't the case. Fear stricken, I started to rush up towards them, at the same time the police did; only I didn't get there in time to help.

I only saw Lexi grow weak immediately as they got up to her; Damon was seeming to be confused, and then the police dragging her off.

I felt terrified, absolutely horrified at the thought of Lexi getting hurt, I almost felt paralyzed in my spot.

All I kept thinking in my head was, No, not again, not another one! And as that repeated in my mind, it gave me the strength to finally run towards where they were taking Lexi.

I saw Stefan and Elena try to go through without success, but I continued to go to the same door, only to be stopped by some deputies.

"Wow, kid, are you allowed here? Where are your parents?" one asked.

"Move!" I growled at him.

"Not until you-" I got fed up with him and kicked him in the crotch, running out the door right afterwards.

I heard them calling out after me, but I kept running as fast as I could. I got outside and looked around for them, suddenly hearing shots fired, and then I took off towards the sound. But in the same second I got there, I watched as Damon drove a stake through Lexi's heart.

I tried to scream, I really tried, I even tried to move my feet but nothing happened. My body felt paralyzed, and my voice had gone, all that remained was my sight and yet that was what I didn't want most.

And as if the metaphorical knife hadn't hurt enough, it really twisted it when I looked to Lexi's body and saw it had been one of my stakes that was sticking out of her chest.

"Katy." I heard the Sherriff say, then saw her coming towards me, but I made no visible reaction to her movements, "Katy? Katy can you hear me? Katy!"

She turned to Damon, who was carrying Lexi's body and said, "Get it in the car. Then help me with her."

*Third Person POV*

Katy had been sitting in Sherriff Forbes office for almost an hour; her face was completely blank, emotionless, and almost dead. She hadn't said anything since the incident, and kept looking into space even as the world went on around her.

Counselor Lark had been called in to try and talk to her, but she barely managed a response from the girl, and was becoming more disturbed by the girl's well-being every minute.

Marianne walked towards where Damon had been talking to the Sherriff about the vampire that he killed. When she got up to them, they turned their attention to her immediately.

"How is she?" Liz asked.

"Not good, I barely got a reaction from her. It's like she's gone blank, like she isn't aware of anything right now. She's withdrawing, and if hurting her more then she thinks." Marianne explained.

"Well, can you do anything?" Damon asked, trying to play up the concerned guardian bit. But the response to his question would be going in deeper than he anticipated.

"Actually, I need you to do something."

"What? Why me?" he asked.

"You're her guardian, at least temporarily. She needs someone to bond with, someone she'll show emotion with."

Damon considered her words, completely in disbelief about what she was saying, "That can't be me. I'm the one who killed somebody in front of her in her mind."

"Damon, right now she needs someone more than ever. When a person is in grieving, anybody they become close to during that time generally remains as a trusted friend. That person could be you if you listen to me."

"You want to manipulate her into bonding with me? Isn't that against protocol or something?"

Ms. Lark took a breath and explained, "Damon, she's at a very critical point right now. How we treat this situation could affect her mental health severely. There is a very real chance that if she doesn't bond with someone right now, she won't bond with anyone ever."

He took a breath, annoyed by the circumstances and what they were asking him to do, but he knew he was in too deep to reject the request now. He did however think that maybe he could manipulate the situation to make him look good without having to bond with the kid. After all, he did still have Katy's vervain ring with him.

"Alright, what do I have to do?" he asked.

"Just talk to her, try to get her talking, or at least respond in some way. Make as much eye contact as possible, and try to hold her hand, physical touch increases bonding chances."

He nodded, only half-listening to that and walked into the office where Katy sat, sit emotionless as before. Damon took a seat opposite where she was, and as he did she looked up at him with a somewhat dazed recognition, though she said nothing he could see in her eyes she could still comprehend everything at that point (clear though that she didn't want to).

"Hi." No response, he rolled his eyes and continued, "Well, you aren't being helpful so let's just get straight to it."

He looked her in the eyes and compelled her, "You are going to let out all that pent up emotion, and you are going to seek comfort from someone, doesn't matter who it is but you are going to do this right now. Do you understand?"

"I understand." She said, just as emotionless.

He ceased eye contact and began to stand up, but suddenly heard crying from Katy. He stood over her, watching as her eyes dripped with hot tears, her breath cracking and heaving.

She had her eyes closed for a minute as she cried, but then she looked up at him and threw her arms around him, therefore trapping him in a hug as she continued to sob.

Damon didn't know what to do, he inwardly cursed himself for being so sloppy with the compulsion, but almost immediately forgot that complaint as he struggled to think of what to do next.

He slowly wrapped his arms around the small girl, trying to gently pat her back in attempt to calm her sobbing.

Her cries only quieted when they were muffled by Damon's chest, and when she ran short on air she heaved strangled breath, trying to stop her cries merely to retrieve oxygen. When she inhaled enough, she continued to sob.

Damon forgot the situation for a minute and began stroking her hair while gently whispered 'shh' to her, unable to think of anything to comfort the girl.

But he soon became aware of the situation once again and pulled away from the girl to look in her eyes.

"Alright, that's enough. You are going to start feeling drowsy and you'll begin to fall asleep right now, okay?"

Katy nodded, already beginning to feel drowsy, and let her head start to drop. He caught the kid in his arms and lifted up the sleeping girl.

"Up you go." He muttered as he adjusted her to rest her head on his shoulder as he carried her.

Damon pushed the door open and moved towards the counselor and the Sherriff.

Liz looked at the pair and asked, "Good talk?"

He nodded, "Yeah, but I'm gonna take her home. She's had a long night."

"Of course, I'll get the door."

"Thanks." He started outside, only to be stopped by Marianne.

"You're doing a good thing Damon, she needs you."

Damon didn't really know how to respond so he simply kept silent and headed out the door towards his car.

Once they got home, Damon sped both himself and the sleeping Katy to her room, laying her gently on the bed.

He took a moment to look at her, now that she was peacefully asleep and not whining about something, she looked more like a child then she had since she'd arrived. Most of the time she was quiet or spouting words that shouldn't be used by any under the age of fifteen (sometimes older); now she just looked like a kid, new and ready for life, still unaffected and-dare I say it- almost innocent.

Damon smirked at the thought; looks really can be deceiving can't they.

Absentmindedly, he placed his hands in his jacket pockets; only to have one had burned by the ring inside. He grabbed an old handkerchief from the closet and pulled out the ring, taking a good look at it.

It was rather simple, but elegant in its own way; the band was a silver Celtic knot it seemed, with a very dark blue stone he couldn't identify right away, and saw it was a poison ring but didn't dare try to open it. Clearly made for a woman though, so it confused him way Katy had it at all. Then he saw a small engraving inside the silver twisted band: I'll try to like you most of the time, but I won't stop loving you.

He rolled his eyes at the sapping engraving as he realized it had been an engagement ring. Obviously her mother's, unless the twelve year had an interesting back story to tell.

He looked from the ring to the sleeping child and sighed, "Well, it's not like I can use it." And carelessly threw the ring on the crooked nightstand by the bed, and walked out of the room.

***One Hour Later***

Katy awoke from sleeping about an hour later and looked around her.

All the events came rushing back to her as she tried to think of how she got there. But just when she felt ready to kill Damon as slowly and painfully as she could manage, she saw her mother's ring on the nightstand.

She grabbed it immediately and held it close to her chest affectionately, almost as if she was hugging the ring, before placing it back in its rightful place on her thumb.

But though she knew in her heart that this in no way made up for what he did to Lexi, she just couldn't handle any anger right then, let alone sadness.

She felt much too tired for life at that point, and just wanted a break from it.

She attempted to fall back asleep, but found herself tossing and turning just as she had done every night so far. In a matter of seconds, she tossed so much she dropped from the bed and onto the floor with a small 'thud'.

"Ouch." She murmured.

But just as she was about to get up from the floor, she looked to see under the bed, noticing just how much space there was.

An idea came to her, a crazy thought, but to her it was worth a shot. She grabbed her pillow and blankets, and placed them all under the bed, afterwards crawling inside to sleep.

And suddenly, for the first time she had been at the Boarding House, she fell fast asleep within seconds.

Katy's Mom's Ring: images/Rings/Poison-55/Poison%