AN: So I was thinking about this story last night and I was like holy shit this is going to be really fucking long by the time I'm actually done. Slow progress? I get like 5 chapters out a week...I guess I'm actually trying to build a real story and not just trying to turn a fanfiction into pure sex with witty banter and an relationship in the end of all of it that really doesn't have a lot of substance. I want more than that. I want something fucking epic. I'll make it happen too, I just think this is going to be a lot longer than originally intended. Thank you for all of you fucking amazing support. It makes writing this just that much more worth it.

I decided that since Alaric is right outside the door that it probably isn't the best idea for me to be any where near him. Well not just that but there was also the fact that I still wasn't wearing anything to cover my legs.

"Get Jeremy out of here, take him upstairs somewhere." Damon calls back to Anna, his voice carrying up the stairs. I can hear them move quietly up the stairs then down the hallway, probably going into one of the many extra bedrooms. The front door creaks open, Alaric's footsteps walking into the house hitting the hard wood floor. The door shuts behind him. I can hear Alaric clear his throat. I can just imagine him standing there, with his hands on his waist, pushing his jacket back, his head hung lightly, bringing his eyes to glance upwards at Damon.

"Where are they?" Alaric asks. Just with Alaric, I can imagine Damon right now. A hard look to his features, his eyes turning just the same.

"By 'they" do you mean…" Damon is going for his natural response to things. Always having to be a 'dick' as Alaric once put it.

"Not now Damon, you can agitate me later. I'm here for Jenna and the kids." I'm still imagining the scene in my head. Alaric finally letting his hands rest as his jacket falls into place. His whole body positioning upright now as his eyes lock with Damon's.

"They can't be around you right now." Damon's tone has completely changed, letting some of his guard down to talk to Alaric.

"Why not?" After Alaric asks the question there is silence between them. Damon letting him figure it out on his own. It finally comes to him. "Oh no Damon, you didn't. This is just like you…" The anger is rising in his voice but Damon cuts him off.

"I didn't cause this! Jeremy turned himself with a vial of Anna's blood. Why? I don't know. Maybe he wanted this lifestyle or maybe he really loves her. I'm sure it's the latter of the two. You know what that's like right? You've been the vampire hunter chasing down Isobel for how long now?" The defense in his voice is clear.

"What about Elena?" Alaric asks quietly. The silence rings through the air.

"If I hadn't given her my blood she wouldn't be here right now." There is a small sadness to his voice. The silence falls between them once again before Damon decides its ok to talk. "I didn't hear anything that was going on. Not until it was too late. There was still vervain in my system, I was sleeping so deeply. I finally heard her voice whisper out my name. The word was so broken. I ran down the stairs. No matter how many times I had told myself that if something happened she would be ok in the end, she would be changed but at least I would still have her, I never really thought that seeing her dying would hurt so much." His voice is so distant. I know that he is reliving the memory as he is talking. I also know that the memory is fresh in his mind, playing back to him like a movie.

"Her skin was so pale, standing out brightly against the floor. Her neck was ripped open, the blood wouldn't stop flowing out. There was no way anyone could have saved her at that point. She was already dead by the time the EMTs showed up. Every part of me wanted to save her, it was so hard for me to hold back. Her body become so cold, my whole body wanted to tremble. I took her out of there, I couldn't have them take her. I brought her back here. It wasn't my choice for her to change like this. I would have never had it that way That memory of her dying will always be with me even though she is right here with me." My eyes are stinging by the end of his words. I can feel the pain aching in my chest. I haven't even had time to think about what it was like for Damon. My mind has been swarming with so many different thoughts. Its been hard enough for me now to control myself without pushing my mind to think about that. I feel somewhat guilty, even though there is nothing I could have done about what happened. I let the feelings run over me, I realize that the guilt and hurt are barely even my own, they're all his.

"I really don't know what to say. I feel like in some way we kind of understand each other." I can imagine Damon smirking at Alaric for a brief second at his words. "Do you know who it was? I thought that all the vampires from the tomb had been killed tonight."

"Katherine." it's the first time that he has said her name. I take in a sharp breath letting the sound of his voice send a jolt of fear through me.. My mind remembering just how terrifying she is. I have a feeling though that it was only a glimpse of her true nature.

"Katherine. The vampire that you were searching for…"

"For over a century, yeah I'm more aware of it than anyone is." Damon has a bitter edge to his voice.

"What are you going to do? I mean you have a newly turned Elena who I'm convinced is in love with you and then Katherine, the she-devil who will probably rip this town apart with you by her side if she gets her way." The question that Alaric asks never came up once in my own mind but I feel like it should have. I can't even fathom him going back to Katherine. I let my mind go to the Damon that I first met, the one that had more than determination fueling him, it was a conviction and a declaration.

"I get it, I do. You think I would drop Elena instantly or let Katherine completely finish her off." Damon is quiet after that. I have my back pressed against the wall, my arms wrapped around myself. "I had never thought I would love anyone after Katherine, just like I am sure you thought that you would never love anyone after Isobel. It isn't that way right now though, you love Jenna. She makes you happy again. Not just that but she makes you feel completely different then when you were with Isobel. Both of them bringing out different sides in you. That's why we understand each other Ric. Katherine at the time; when I was human, she presented this exciting life to me. It was so new and so different to me. It was an infatuation. In a sadistic way I did love Katherine. After all of the years that I spent living the life Katherine had promised for us, it was beyond repetitive but then Elena came along. I never once thought that she was Katherine, I never once looked at her like that. Elena has this personality that just radiates off of her and its pure. She has the most beautiful smile that could light up a whole room, she's the kind of girl that when people see her they wonder who she is because her charisma shows." I try not to move as I am still sitting on the floor in Damon's room with my back to the wall. I keep perfectly still as I listen to the rest of what he is saying.

"Shortly after I met her, I couldn't get her out of my head. There was always some thought of her lingering. I wanted so badly to get revenge on Stefan though, I had all of the emotions in my body shut of, just letting the rage take control of everything. Stefan managed to get her though, honestly it drove me even more. I wanted Katherine back but at the same time I was developing something for Elena. It killed me to see Stefan with her. Every glance they stole at each other, every little touch that they would sneak in, his hands wrapped up in hers it tore me apart inside. It was like I was reliving the past all over again. This time though it was a little reversed. She was the innocent one." I bite my bottom lip listening to him. These are things Damon would never admit to me. He knows that I can hear him right now but for once he is letting this out. If my heart could still beat it would be thrashing inside my chest right now.

"Elena makes me feel that some part of me can be someone better. For some reason she thought that I was worth saving when I have never given her one reason to. No matter how absolutely horrible I was to her or her friends, she managed to eventually look past all of that, thinking that I needed someone. The truth is, I did need her. I still do need her. She makes me feel a lot better than Katherine ever did and for that I wont let Katherine get away with what she did. I told you all of this because you're right, we do have an understanding for one another." That's why he just told Alaric everything. A part of me wishes that I could have been told all of this without having to hide from a human.

The full effect of his words are still there though. A small part of me always assumed that no matter what happened that he would always want Katherine. In the weeks leading up to this though I convinced myself otherwise. I happened to be right. I never would have ever even imagined being with Damon but now I can't see what my life would be without him.

I want so badly to run down the stairs. I want more than nothing to tell him that he was worth saving, that I would do it a million times over if I had to. I would go through all of the physical pain again and again if I meant that I could be with him. I know that everything he has done in his life has been wrong but I have that understanding that he was doing it at the time for someone he was convinced that he loved with all of himself. If I had been in his position, I could see his mentality for it. I would risk dying over and over again just to have those moments with him that I did. The connection that I have with him is so strong, so overwhelming at times but also so intoxicating.

I can't stay up here anymore. I need to see him.

I stand up, with the courage in myself to be able to be downstairs with Alaric there. I get to the staircase, the first stair creaking with the sound of my presence. Alaric and Damon become alert. I take another stop down the stairs as I communicate with Damon.

I trust you.

Damon nods his head at my words as I continue to slowly come down the staircase. The smell hits me hard. I stop on the staircase. Its warm and inviting. I can hear Alaric's heart rate increase causing his blood to pump faster. The smell becoming more alluring. I try so hard to keep all of my focus as the burning in my throat begins to build with the thirst as I can hear his blood working hard beneath his flesh. I wont let it control me right now.

Focus on me. His words come out just as clearly as they would have if he was speaking out loud.

I open up my eyes, letting them fall down the stairs and over to where Damon is still standing by the front door. I keep my eyes fully focused on him as I make my descent to the bottom. My bare feet hit the hard wood surface, the feel is smooth against my skin. I never once take my eyes off of him as I finally reach him, my body just barely inches from his. The confusion of the hunger for blood and the craving for Damon start mixing together in my head.

Keep staying focused on me.

I'm trying so hard to listen to his words. My body screaming out to touch at the same time it is yelling at me for the fresh taste of blood.

Now that I am closer I can hear the blood pulsating fast through Alaric's body. It takes everything that I have but I keep my focus on Damon with a howling for blood in the back of my mind.

"I know that you wanted to save me tonight. Just like how I wanted to save you so many times from yourself. I would do it over and over again though even if this was the result every time. You did give me a reason to save you though, it was the reason that I wanted to be that person. No one else could see it but I could see how damaged you were. There was a point where I realized that I wanted to be the one to be there for you. You keep yourself so guarded even with me, I just wanted you to know that even after what happened yesterday that I wouldn't change a thing if I meant I couldn't me with you. You're worth everything to me." I want him to feel what I am saying. I try to let my words show.

I am not too sure how the connection works since there really hasn't been a lot on it but at this moment it doesn't matter because I just want him to be fully aware of how much I really do love him. I lean myself into him just a small bit while I let my lips touch his. The kiss is soft, his lips working perfectly against mine.

I pull away, not wanting to get myself too worked up at the moment. I know that now is not the time with Alaric standing there. I let my eyes lock with Damon's once more, his light blue eyes swimming with a small hint of happiness behind them.

For a second I let myself think about how Isobel does it, doing what ever she wants with no remorse. I take the thought back though. Isobel isn't completely heartless like the front she puts on. She saved Damon for me. I think that most of it is just a mask to hide her misery. Then I think about how Katherine must do it, I can't wrap my head around it though. How she lives. Even in this new life, I don't want to shut this side of me off. I move so that I am standing next to Damon now as we both are facing Alaric.

"Well I guess we have to plan out a way to kill her."