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1864

Elena POV

I held my breath as the curtain lifted. It had just occurred to me that Katherine might be in there with Damon. She could probably have heard our fight and gone in to 'comfort' him, while really doing her bit to turn him against me. The thought made me grit my teeth with pain and jealousy.

A second later, however, Damon's face appeared at the window, staring down in complete confusion. As I breathed a sigh of relief, he caught sight of me and the expression on his face turned to hostility, making my chest constrict with pain. He couldn't really hate me, could he?

Apparently he could, as he made to drop the curtain. Panicking, but not wanting to shout in case Katherine heard, I shook my head frantically, waving my arms in an attempt to signal that I couldn't get in. I saw his eyes flick across the blood now dripping from my arm, then he sighed in resignation and nodded, pointing towards the front of the house and raising one finger in a gesture that I took to mean he would open the front door for me in a minute.

Trembling with a mixture of cold and relief, I ran round to the front of the house and waited, jumping up and down on the spot to keep warm. Damon took a while to reach the front door, and I guessed he was trying to be silent. Finally, however, he opened it.

'Thank you!' I whispered sincerely, my teeth chattering. I tried to step inside, but he blocked me, instead coming out onto the patio and shutting the door.

'What happened?' he asked in a low voice. He sounded concerned, and I hoped that maybe that was a sign that irreparable damage had not been done to our relationship.

I explained as quickly as I could. I could see a faint flicker of amusement in his eyes as I described how I'd climbed down the tree, and took it as another sign that all hope was not lost.

'I forgot!' I exclaimed after I'd related the whole story of how Katherine had locked me out. 'Eat this, quickly!' I pulled a couple of the vervain stalks from my pocket and pressed them into his hand. He stared at them.

'Vervain?' he asked, and I realised he'd probably never seen it before. I nodded.

'You found this here?' When I nodded again, a troubled look came into his eyes.

'My father grows vervain…?' he was talking more to himself than me. 'But why?' His eyes snapped from the vervain stalks to my face.

'Do you know why my father – my father, whom I didn't think knew anything about vampires – is growing vervain secretly?'

I didn't want to lie to him again. I couldn't. But could I tell him everything I knew? Including the fact that his own father would eventually shoot him and his brother? I couldn't do that either.

'Your father…he's on the council, Damon.' I said carefully. 'He's part of the group that will eventually round up the vampires, and I suppose he's just trying to protect himself and you and Stefan. He'll probably tell you all this himself, soon, so that you can help.' No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't keep my voice steady, and I knew that after what he'd discovered I was keeping from him earlier tonight, he wasn't going to let this go.

I was right. He reached out, cupping my chin and lifting my face – I'd been staring at the ground – so that I was looking into his eyes.

'What are you not telling me, Elena?' His voice was soft, but somehow still made me shiver. I could tell it hurt him not to trust me.

'Your father…will use the vervain to catch Katherine.' I whispered as quietly as I possibly could.

'How?' His eyes bored into me. Just a few hours ago, that gaze had made me feel special. Happy. Now I wished I could escape from it. He hadn't let go of my chin, and I hated how aware I still was of his touch.

'He'll….put it in yours and Stefan's drinks so that when Katherine feeds from either of you, she'll be exposed. She'll drink from Stefan.' I didn't want to risk being heard. My voice was now so quiet that he had to lean close to hear me, his piercing blue eyes only a few inches from my own. Again, every cell in my body wanted to close the distance between us, to kiss him, but I didn't. I could tell he was still angry with me. Distrust was practically radiating from him.

I prayed that he wouldn't question me further, but clearly tonight was not my lucky night. He did, however, drop my chin, and the skin burned where he'd touched me.

'How does he react to finding out that Stefan and I have been with a vampire? He wouldn't be very tolerant of it.' His eyes were sad, and I remembered the brothers telling me in 2010 how Stefan had wanted to confide in their father, had wanted to ask for help in protecting Katherine, but how Damon had stopped him, never quite able to trust their father.

This was the part I really didn't want to tell him, but it seemed I had no choice.

'He isn't.' I said simply. 'He does thinks she compelled you, though.'

That was it. That was all I could say. I forced myself to keep eye contact with Damon and hoped with all my might that it would be enough.

'Can we go inside now?' I asked, forcing my voice to sound casual. 'It's freezing, and I need to clean up my arm.'

Silently, he opened the door, waving me inside ahead of him. Once we'd crept upstairs, I headed for my room but, to my surprise, he gently took my uninjured arm and pulled me into his, shutting the door quietly behind us.

'Sit down,' he whispered, indicating the bed. Then, without another word, he left.

Not sure what else to do, I sat, looking around as I waited. His room was much like my own, simply furnished, with bed, dresser and desk. The only difference was a filled bookshelf in the corner. I was debating going to have a closer look at what kind of books it contained when Damon was back, carrying a bowl of water and a few strips of cloth. He put them down next to me, then, turning to the dresser, pulled out a jacket and set it round my shoulders. Still soaking wet, I clutched it closer to me gratefully.

'Thank you, Damon,' I said under my breath. He only nodded. Now that he was no longer questioning me, the memory of our fight was hanging in the air between us. He hadn't forgiven me yet, I could tell. I had the uncomfortable feeling that I deserved it – after all, I still hadn't told him the full story.

He sat down and, without so much as a word to me, pulled my injured arm from underneath the jacket and started to gently clean the wound.

'Damon, I really am sorry,' I said, figuring that I should probably use this time to explain myself. 'I never lied to you, though. I really do…have feelings for you. I didn't expect it, but-'

He bound some of the strips tightly around my arm, then looked up. 'He kills us, doesn't he?' His voice, sounded flat, and devoid of any emotion.

'What?' I asked, so stunned I forgot to whisper. He pressed his finger to his lips urgently.

'Sorry,' I was stalling, not wanting to answer the question.

'You said we turn into vampires, but Katherine is captured. So if she doesn't kill us, then someone else does.' Again, I had the sense he was talking to himself rather than me. 'It's our father, isn't it? He wouldn't be able to bear being related to anyone who sympathised with vampires.'

I didn't say anything, but knew he would be able to see the answer on my face. He stared at me for a second, then dropped my arm, pulling away.

'Were you ever going to tell me?' His voice was still flat, but the pain showed through in his eyes. 'When I told you what my father thought of me, when you met him, it never occurred to you to tell me that he would end up killing me?'

'Damon, I couldn't. I didn't know what the consequences of you knowing that much would be.' I was pleading now. It was almost impossible to keep my voice down.

'How is telling me this any worse than telling me any of the rest of it? You told me how Katherine will betray me, how my brother and I will turn, but you don't tell me about this?' I had never heard him sound so angry, ever, but behind the anger I could hear the note of betrayal in his voice, and it broke my heart.

Tears were sliding down my face yet again, and I was shaking as I reached out to him, but he moved away. 'Damon, you're right. I didn't tell you because I knew what the knowledge would do to you. I…couldn't tell you, Damon, I couldn't bring myself to hurt you that much.'

'I think you should go back to your room, Elena,' he said, not even looking at me. 'If you stay here much longer, Katherine will hear us, if she hasn't already.'

'Damon, please…' I choked on the words.

'Go, Elena.' His voice was final.

I left without another word, going straight back to my room, where I fell into bed without even changing into dry clothes. Damon's jacket still around my shoulders, I cried myself to sleep.

The next morning, after dressing with Emily's help (she kindly didn't say anything along the lines of 'I told you so' when she saw my red eyes), I came downstairs incredibly apprehensive. Damon was probably just going to ignore me. Katherine was most likely going to be surprised to see me in the house, not locked outside and wandering the grounds, and would take the first opportunity to question me. I hoped that Stefan, at least, would treat me normally, and that the presence of the brothers would prevent Katherine's questions. I'd forced myself to swallow more vervain that morning, but after the events of the night, wasn't really feeling up to a confrontation. It had occurred to me as I hid the rest of the herb under my mattress that I hadn't actually seen Damon ingest it. I could only hope that, angry as he was at me, he'd still be willing to accept my help and would take the vervain.

When I reached the dining room, I saw, to my surprise, that everyone, including Mr Salvatore, was sitting around the table. The reason for this soon became clear, however.

'Miss Pierce, it's lovely to see you again,' smiled Stefan and Damon's father, standing up as I arrived. For the first time, it occurred to me to wonder exactly what he thought of me. If he knew, or suspected, that Katherine was a vampire, what did he think I was? Did he know the truth about Katherine yet?

He kissed my hand, then waved at the man standing on his right. 'You remember Mr Jonathan Gilbert?'

I assured him that I did, and curtsied to them both, taking seat at the table when the introductions were over. I ended up opposite Jonathan Gilbert, and from this position I could see a bulge in his pocket that made my brain snap back into action.

The pocketwatch. I'd almost forgotten it, in all the drama of the past night. I still didn't know how it worked, and this was my chance. I racked my brains, trying to think of a way to find out, ignoring the discussion of the Founder's Ball that was going on around me. Why was Jonathan Gilbert here so early anyway? What were they planning?

I was pulled out of my reverie by Stefan enquiring what I'd done to my arm, which was still bandaged, courtesy of Damon.

'Oh, I-I scratched it on a tree when we were walking in last night,' I stammered. Katherine, who clearly knew exactly when I'd hurt myself, smirked at me. 'I didn't notice until I got inside.'

'I'm sorry to hear that,' Stefan said sincerely, smiling at me. I was trying hard not to look at Damon, but couldn't help noticing that although he hadn't even reacted to my presence, he was stabbing at his eggs with enough force to permanently scratch the plate.

'You should visit the apothecary,' chimed in Jonathan Gilbert. 'You could get something to clean it with. If you like, I'll show you where it after breakfast, it's on my way home.'

Despite the fact that I had serious reservations about what an apothecary would use to clean my arm with, I accepted the offer. I'd be on my own with Jonathan Gilbert. There had to be some way I could find out more about the watch.

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