Chapter 29

Caroline walked, scowling up to the front door of the boarding house. She had checked in at the Gilbert home but there had been no sign of Elena. She had finally decided that she needed to pay Mystic Falls a visit, if not only to ease her conscience. She wasn't ready to see her mom; she needed to figure out what to tell her anyway. But she wanted to check on Elena.

The cause of her scowl was the fact that she had resorted to visiting the Salvatore estate in search of her friend. That meant one of two things, neither of which she found desirable. Either Stefan had gone running back to Elena and she had relented and taken him back, or Damon had shown up and Elena was, for whatever reason, staying with him.

She held her fist up to knock on the door and then rolled her eyes and shoved it open.

The unmistakable scent of blood hit her the second she entered the house. Her muscles clenched and her gums throbbed. She felt the veins beneath her eyes appear. Taking a few calming breaths, she cautiously moved towards the source of the smell. There was fresh blood all over the kitchen floor.

Caroline heard a movement above her and her eyes widened, she dashed up the stairs at lightning speed. She blurred into Damon's room, instantly taking in the scene with a gasp of horror. Damon was walking out of the bathroom, a towel slung low around his hips, a damp cloth and bucket of water in his hands. Elena was lying unconscious in the bed.

"You son of a bitch." She hissed.

Damon's head snapped up and his eyes widened in surprise, before he had time to react, Caroline had launched herself at him, knocking him to the floor.

He grunted and pushed at her, batting her clawing hands away from him.

"Crazy barbie." He muttered,

She bared her teeth at him, her aggressive stance flashing with fear as he easily flipped them over and pinned her down.

"What is your issue?" He growled, fending off her attempts to injure him.

"What is my issue? Are you serious? Look at what you did to my best friend?" She yelled.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"What the hell did you to Elena you bastard." Caroline shrieked.

"Damon?" Elena sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes, staring groggily at the scene in front of her. She gasped and yanked the sheets around her.

"Damon get off of her." She yelled.

He glanced at her quickly.

"Not until she promises not to attack me again." He said lazily.

Caroline continued to struggle against him.

"What? Care you attacked Damon?"

"You're defending him now? Look at what he did to you!"

"What? For gods sake Damon would you just get off her?"

Damon sighed and relented, gracefully leaping to his feat, his towel still miraculously secure around his waist.

Caroline jumped up and shot daggers at him, moving her body between him and Elena.

"Caroline what are you doing?" She sighed.

"Protecting you." She hissed over her shoulder, her eyes not straying from Damon.

He rolled his eyes and looked past her, giving Elena a bored look.

"Barbie seems to be under the impression that I am some sort of threat to you." He said with a slight smirk.

Elena almost laughed at the ridiculous thought.

"Damon would never hurt me Care." She sighed.

"You're compelled Elena. Don't you get it? You're naked in Damon's bed; you would never do that willingly. Your blood is all over the kitchen; he's been feeding from you and hurting you and then compelling you to forget!"

Damon's jaw ticked and Elena could tell that he was resisting the urge to do something that she would hate him for. Or try to at least.

Pulling the sheet firmly around her she scrambled from the bed and moved to Damon's side, placing a calming hand on his arm.

"I'm wearing Vervain. I'm in Damon's bed because I love him. And my blood is in the kitchen because I was attacked. Damon saved me." Elena said, her eyes boring into Caroline's.

The blond vampire could see she was telling the truth. She straightened up and pursed her lips, her eyes swimming with judgment. Damon flashed her a cocky smirk and wrapped an arm around Elena's waist. Elena glared at him but didn't move away.

"What are you doing here anyway? I thought you ran off into the sunset with the baby bro." Damon drawled

Caroline scowled at him but didn't comment, casting a slightly guilty look towards Elena.

"Have you been back here ever since Stefan came back?" Elena asked, frowning.

"What do you mean since Stefan came back? Stefan's here?"

Damon raised an eyebrow.

"You didn't know?"

"No! He just took off…he came here?" She looked hurt and her brow crinkled in confusion. "What did he want?"

"Another chance with Elena." Damon scoffed, but Elena could see the flash of insecurity in his eyes.

She softly bumped her shoulder against his, silently reassuring him. He glanced down at her and smiled.

"He saw you guys together?" Caroline asked softly. "He must have gotten mad…"

"He attacked Damon." Elena growled, almost automatically stepping closer to him, her protective mate instinct coming out.

Caroline watched her movements critically, taking in the way Elena tried to position herself in front of Damon, as though her tiny human body would act as an affective shield against anything that wanted to hurt him. Damon, had a hand wrapped around her upper arm, humoring her by allowing her to feel like she was the one doing the protecting, while insuring that should anything actually happen, he could pull her behind him in a second. It was an interesting dynamic. Caroline had to admit that she had never seen anything like it.

"He wasn't on animal blood." Damon added.

Caroline sighed and moved towards the door.

"Look, I'm going to give you some time to…get dressed. And the blood downstairs really needs to be cleaned up."

"What do you think I was about to do when you burst in here yelling bloody murder?…No pun intended." Damon smirked, gesturing to the bucket of water knocked over on the floor.

Caroline pursed her lips and grabbed the cloth and bucket, pouting as she walked out.

"Caroline maybe you should let Damon do it… he has a better control over the blood lust." Elena called after her.

She looked even more annoyed but nodded stiffly and hurried from the room.

Elena turned to look up at Damon.

"Are you ok? She didn't hurt you did she?" She asked, brushing her fingers down his cheek.

"I'm fine."

He ran his hands through her hair and over her shoulders, holding her gently by the arms. He couldn't seem to go one second of looking at her without touching her.

"You should see if you can fix things with Caroline." He murmured.

She looked down and leant forward, resting her head against his chest.

"Some things can't be fixed." She sighed.

"Everything can be fixed if someone wants it bad enough. I know you miss your friend." Damon said placing a soft kiss on her head.

"Well…we'll see what she wants." She muttered.

Damon squeezed her into a tight hug for a few moments before pulling away.

"I'll go clean up downstairs." He said quietly.

She sighed; she could see that the prospect bothered him.

"I'm sorry that she was so quick to accuse you. That must have hurt." She said softly.

He shrugged.

"It's to be expected. What matters is that you trust me, that means the world."

She tip-toed up to kiss him, brushing a sweet kiss against his lips.

"I do trust you. With everything."

He kissed her back softly before pulling away and giving her a small smile.

"Let's go see what your vampire bff wants, clean up the blood on the kitchen floor and find some damn clothes."

"And people say our lives are unusual."

I think there's going to be about two more chapters and maybe an epilogue... This is the longest story I've ever written, but I'm just so sad to wrap it up :(

Don't forget to review, it makes it all worth it.. :)