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It's A Boy Girl Thing

Ch 15. Here Comes Trouble

"Katherine?" Elena asks cautiously, shock and confusion written all over her, well Damon's face. She looks back again at Damon and sees that he looks pretty surprised as well. Actually…he looks a little sick. Frowning, Elena asks the pretty blonde, "What are you doing here?"

Katherine smiles sympathetically at her ex's obvious uncertainty, and then answers vaguely, "Just visiting…I hope that's not a problem." The way she raises her eyebrows challengingly at the end implies that she knows her 'visit' is going to cause problems, and she doesn't really care.

What a bitch! Elena curses the evil, blue-eyed blonde inside her head, but bites her tongue. She wants to smack the smug expression clean off the girl's face, but she can't do that because, being in a dude's body, she'd most likely be judged way harsher for beating up a girl. It'll have to wait until she gets her own body back, and oh God did she wish that moment were right now. She'd bitch-slap the bitch and then slam Damon into the wall and make-out with him in front of Stefan and Katherine. I am seriously losing my mind over here…

"Of course it isn't a problem," Isobel cuts in, trying to smooth over the situation before it gets messy and out of control, "No, it's just a surprise to see you after so long, Katherine. It's been…what? Two years now?" Isobel isn't a stupid woman. She knows the conflict Katherine caused between her son and her step-son when she cheated on Damon with Stefan, and for that reason specifically, Isobel isn't Katherine's number one fan. She would like to tell the girl to leave her home and never come back, because she's not welcome, but how would that look to Stefan when Damon has Elena over? Elena didn't do what Katherine did, but her actions still seem to have affected Stefan, otherwise he would never have called Katherine in the first place. Besides, it wouldn't be very fair to make Katherine leave and let Elena stay, and she is a stickler for trying to keep things fair between the boys. That's why she is playing peace-keeper right now, and hoping for the best. She reminds the teenagers, "Breakfast is on the table. Better hurry if you don't want it to get cold…"

"Damon," Elena's voice comes quietly from behind the taller, black-haired teen, and he turns to look at her, "I forgot about Caroline…maybe I should go…" He shrugs awkwardly.

Elena frowns down at Damon and resists the urge to yell, 'Fuck Caroline! She'll find her own damn breakfast! Hello, friends since second grade, remember?!' But instead, she takes his hand and insists, "No, don't be silly, you took care of me all morning. You are staying for breakfast." She chuckles a little at the end, shaking her head at Damon for thinking for even a second that he was going to get out of this disaster of a breakfast she just got roped into attending. If she had to eat with Stefan and Katherine, Damon was going to be there too.

Before Damon can respond, plead, really, for Elena to not make him go, Katherine steps forward and gives Elena's body the head-to-toe once-over. After a few seconds of judgmental staring, Katherine concludes, "You must be Elena. Stefan's told me so much about you." She flips her hair over her shoulder haughtily as she glances back at Stefan, and they both chortle over their inside joke.

Oh. Hell. No. Damon thinks to himself, frowning at Katherine and then Stefan. What the fuck is wrong with Stefan? Does he seriously have so little self-esteem that he'd stoop this low? He really called up Katherine, who he swore he had zero feelings for, and brought her home to sleep with? What about Katherine Pierce would ever make someone feel better? She's the most conceited, manipulative, lying bitch either of them have ever met, and Damon thought that was the one thing they agreed on. Sure, Stefan played a part in Damon's heart being shredded through a cheese-grater, but Damon had always believed it was stemmed from Katherine's sick, twisted mind. If Stefan could so easily go back to her, then he must be just as fucked in the head as she is.

And to bring Elena into it? To make Elena feel like she's not good enough in comparison to the evil that is Katherine Pierce? No. Damon couldn't allow that to happen. Squaring his shoulders, he looks Katherine in the eyes and smirks, "He did? That's cute. Damon's told me all about you, too." Damon rolls Elena's big brown eyes like he couldn't care less, and squeezes the hand she is still holding on to. Directing his next words at Elena, he says, "I guess I'll stay. I can't leave you alone with these two, can I?"

Elena smiles gratefully and tugs Damon towards the stairs, leaving Stefan and Katherine to follow behind. Now she wishes that Damon's words were actually true, and that he did tell her all about Katherine. In truth, he only told her a very vague story about catching her with Stefan at Homecoming. He never mentioned how gorgeous she was, or what happened to her after the break-up. Elena doesn't even know if Katherine lives near Mystic Falls, or if she's from out of state and Stefan was desperate enough to fly her in, who knows?! Elena knows absolutely nothing, and that's intimidating. What did Stefan actually tell Katherine about her? It can't have been anything good, not with that look Katherine followed-up with to Stefan. He must have really put her down, and even though Elena wants to be un-phased, it hurts. She had really liked Stefan, and she trusted him, but he never even cared about her. What a joke that he'd told Damon he loved her the day they broke up! Yeah right! He never loved her. You don't do something like this to someone you loved.

At the bottom of the stairs, Elena whispers nearly inaudibly to Damon, "You better not ditch me, I swear to God."

"I'm not," Damon smiles reassuringly. "I'm right here." He takes a seat at the dining room table, and Elena sits down next to him. Katherine sits across from Damon, and Stefan across from Elena. Could it get any more awkward than that?

Before joining the teenagers for the breakfast she prepared, Isobel ducks into her and her husband's bedroom to inform him of the current situation. "Giuseppe!" She hisses through the door of the bathroom, where he'd just gotten out of the shower, "Come on, breakfast is ready."

"I'll be out in a few minutes," Giuseppe replies.

"No," Isobel insists, "I need to you now!"

Hearing the urgency in his wife's voice, Giuseppe pops his head out of the bathroom door and asks, "What's wrong?"

"It's the boys," Isobel says exasperatedly, "I don't know what to do. Damon has Elena here, and Stefan has Katherine."

At the mention of the Trouble-maker, as Giuseppe secretly calls Katherine, he nods, "Say no more. I'll be right out, honey."

True to his word, Giuseppe dried off and dressed in under sixty seconds, and emerges from the bathroom to join his family at the table for breakfast. "Good morning," He announces as he strides into the room, taking his usual seat at the head of the table, across from Isobel. He looks from his son to his step-son, and then from the blonde-haired girl to the brunette. He frowns, resisting the urge to scratch his head in confusion, and demands, "What the hell is going on here?"

Damon nearly spits out his orange juice at his father's accusatory question. He's not usually so…direct, but apparently he'd really like to know how his normally peaceful Saturday morning has turned into what looks like the makings of an episode of Jerry Springer. Damon swallows the juice and clears his throat a few times, thankful to not be choking, and to also not have that question directed at him. The perks of being in Elena's body; there aren't many, but the few there are happen to be great.

Elena, who isn't used to being under this much duress in the morning, and on top of that still has the remainder of a hang-over she's trying to banish, doesn't know how to respond. She hadn't really talked to Mr. Salvatore much at all, and she's pretty sure the way she'd speak to him would be nothing like the way Damon speaks to him, so she feels royally screwed. She knows nothing about Katherine, knows nothing about Isobel, except that she seems like a really cool, sweet lady, and definitely nothing about Giuseppe Salvatore. Why does Damon get all the easy things?! Not fair!

Since he didn't receive an answer from either of his boys, he says in a dangerous tone, "I don't care if you have guests over; you boys need to cut out the bullshit. Do you hear me? This has got to stop. First, you're getting into fist fights, and now you're bringing home girls to piss each other off. What's it going to be next?"

Elena opens her mouth to apologize, "I'm sor-" but is immediately cut off by Stefan blurting out in a loud angry voice, "He stole my girlfriend! What was I supposed to do?"

There was a moment of silence, a calm before the storm so to speak, and then all the teenagers at the table started talking all at once.

"I did not!"

"He didn't steal me from you…"

"What? You told me-"

"How the fuck can you deny it? You know it's true!"

"Stefan, it wasn't even like that, I told you-"

"Hello?! I thought you said-"

"Even if I did, so what? You started it!"

"I started it?!"

"Yeah, ya did!"

"Fuck you!"

"Fuck you!"

"Enough!" Giuseppe raises his voice and silences all four blabbing mouths at once. "That is enough. I don't want to hear you boys swearing or calling each other names. I don't want you fighting at all! Until you can work it out, neither of you are allowed to have girls over, so, I'm sorry Elena and Katherine…I'm going to have to ask you both to leave."

Damon stands first, putting on an Elena-worthy performance as he apologizes, "Mr. Salvatore, I am so sorry for causing any problems. It wasn't my intention at all. I only came over this morning to see if Damon was all right; he drank too much last night and I was worried. Please forgive my intrusion…" Turning to Elena, Damon gives the girl a much-needed hug, whispering in her ear, "Don't worry, I'll see you later." He resists the urge to send a glare Stefan and Katherine's direction, and heads for the front door.

Outside, Damon walks slowly to the house next door, but stops when he hears Katherine's voice. "Hey…" He turns and she catches quickly. "What's your game, Elena Gilbert? What do you want from Damon and Stefan?"

"What are you talking about?" Damon queries innocently, wishing he'd taken his chance and ran to the Gilbert's instead of walking so casually.

"Don't play stupid with me," Katherine sneers, "I invented this game."

"Yeah?" Damon asks, stepping closer to Katherine and glaring daggers at her, "Well, guess what? Not everyone is like you! I'm not playing any game at all."

"So you really like Damon then?" Katherine asks, the sharp angles of her face softening suddenly, her mask coming undone momentarily. "Like, a lot? You're not just using him to get back at Stefan? Or to get back with Stefan?"

Damon shakes his head slowly, "No. I'm not. I wouldn't do that to him." Taking a chance, he reveals some of his true feelings, which have been brought back to the surface because of Katherine reappearing in his life. "What you did? To Damon? You really messed him up. He thinks every girl is going to do to him what you did, and it took a long time to gain his trust. I wouldn't risk losing it again."

"Stefan loves you though," Katherine points out, "How could you do that to him? You hurt him, too, you know."

"Stefan doesn't love me," Damon denies, "He just thinks he does."

"Well, the way he was looking at you…" Katherine says sadly, "when he thought I wasn't looking. He never looked at me like that. Damon looks at you the same way. It isn't fair. How can you have both of their love? What's so special about you?" Surprisingly, Katherine seems close to tears, but then her face hardens again, and her eyes steel over. "I don't see anything special. And you better just stay out of my way. Because I will scratch your eyes out if you think you can take what's mine. Damon was mine first. You never forget your first love." She nods confidently, a smirk appearing on her lips, "He will be mine again."

Then she turns and walks away, climbing into a silver car that Damon hadn't even noticed before, leaving him dumb-founded on the sidewalk in between the Salvatore and Gilbert homes. What just happened? Did…did Katherine just…no. No way. Did she just say that she was going to steal back Damon from Elena? What? She wants me? Damon couldn't wrap his head around the idea. Now she wants me?! What could have changed her mind in the past few years? She hasn't even seen him, but yet she thinks she can walk back into his life and just take him? What makes her think he's hers to take in the first place?

But she was right…you never forget your first love. Damon hadn't forgotten her, or how much he loved her, or how much she hurt him. He remembered it all like it was yesterday…

Much to Elena's displeasure, Giuseppe and Isobel forced Stefan and 'Damon' into the living room, sat them down on the couch, and told them not to get up until their problem was resolved. They're kidding, right? Elena thought hopefully, but nope, they were not kidding. It looks like she's really stuck talking through issues that weren't technically hers, with Stefan, who looks ready to punch her in the face again. She's only had three days to heal since the last time he hit her, so she's really hoping things don't escalate in that way again today. Maybe she actually could remedy the situation if she talks to Stefan…

"So…" Elena starts slowly, trying to gauge Stefan's anger based off the reaction to her, Damon's, voice. She was waiting for Stefan to cut her off with a 'shut up' or an 'I don't fucking think so, brother', but his silence surprised her. He was actually going to listen. "I guess we should talk."

"Yup," Stefan agreed with an attitude, looking past Damon at the framed picture on the wall.

"Obviously you're pissed at me," Elena states, "I get that. I don't blame you for being mad, but Stef, I really didn't mean for anything to happen with me and Elena." She sees Stefan open his mouth, so she quickly gets out the second part of what she wanted to say, "Just know, I never did anything with her. Nothing, dude, I swear. Not even last night."

Stefan stares at Damon, trying to assess whether or not he's lying, and he frowns when he concludes Damon is telling the truth. "But…" He sighs. "It doesn't matter. You still stole her from me. You completely ruined my chances with her. I loved her, Damon. Elena is different. She's not like all the other girls. And you just had to go and take her. She fucking hated you two weeks ago! Why doesn't she now? What did you do?"

He's right. He's completely right. Elena did hate Damon two weeks ago, and it is completely unexplainable why she and Damon have suddenly grown close. How can she excuse their newfound friendship? How can she assure Stefan that nothing romantic is going on when she knows that isn't true? Even if Damon doesn't return her feelings for him, she does like him. She can't deny that. And Stefan is right too that his chances with Elena have been ruined, but that isn't Damon's fault. No. It's Stefan's fault. He can only blame himself for her change of heart. Stefan's true colors were shown after she had Damon break up with him for her. And if his chances weren't already ruined before this morning, sleeping with Katherine to get back at Damon was the last straw. Elena can't be with someone like that. Stefan isn't right for her, and he can't possibly think that he is.

"I don't know," Elena shrugs. "I really don't. I guess we both realized how stupid and immature we were being constantly fighting and calling each other names. We're almost adults now, and it'd be pretty stupid to continue acting like children. Elena never wanted to hurt you, Stef. Her decision to break up with you wasn't because of me. She didn't break up with you for me, so you don't have to hate me for it. And no offense, but I didn't ruin your chances with her. You've done a good enough job taking care of that yourself." Elena shrugs, pointing out the worst offense, "You slept with Katherine to piss me off, and you got caught by Elena. That's not my fault, dude. That's yours."

"I would never have done it if it weren't for you!" Stefan shouts, his face turning red with anger. "Fuck! I can't fucking do this! This is bullshit, Damon. Bullshit! I don't care what you say; I don't believe a word you say. You are a fucking liar. You did this on purpose. You ruined my life on purpose. I hate you."

Rolling her eyes, Elena rises from the couch and walks away from Stefan and his child-like temper tantrum. "Yeah? Good for you." She shakes her head and leaves the room, ignoring everyone as she goes upstairs to Damon's room. She should never have gotten out of bed this morning. Now her headache has returned. She face-plants into the bed before getting comfy and closing her eyes for a nap. All the drama of the morning drained the little energy she had right out of her.

When Damon had finally returned to Elena's, Caroline had been awake and wondering where her friend disappeared to. Damon told her briefly about going to check on himself this morning and tending to the hang-over Elena rightfully deserved after consuming so much alcohol last night. Caroline hung around for a little bit longer, eating Elena's food and gushing about last night and her newfound attraction to Klaus. Damon was happy for Klaus, but he'd had enough of Blondie, and was definitely not disappointed when she decided to head home for a shower. She said she'd call or text later, and then peaced out.

Damon also had a shower, a long hot shower, and thought long and hard about the morning's surprise. Katherine. It was so surreal seeing her walk out of Stefan's room. He could have sworn he was dreaming, because it just couldn't be real, but it was. Damn. Stefan really slept with Katherine to get back at me. And I haven't even slept with Elena. Fuck, I goddamn am Elena. I got the short end of the stick this time around.

But why does he even care what Katherine and Stefan did? Why does it bother him so much, after more than two years, that Stefan slept with Katherine? Was it just because it was so easy for him to do? Should that even be something to envy; that Katherine jumps into bed with anybody who wants her? Elena would never do that. Elena wouldn't sleep with someone without having true feelings for them. But Katherine admitted she didn't really want Stefan. She wants Damon. She came back to make Damon jealous, and to make him want her. Katherine finally chose him over Stefan, and after waiting this long he doesn't know how to feel. He kind of hates himself right now, because even though he knows he should be repulsed by Katherine and all that she's done to him and to Stefan…he's tempted to forget about it all and just give her one more chance.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid! That's such a stupid idea! Fuck, damn, shit, why? Why does this have to be happening right now? Just when I thought I knew what I wanted, and now she has to come back and fuck everything up?!

A knock on the window alerts Damon that Elena is here, and he walks over to the window and pulls it open so she can climb inside. She sits in the window seat and glides the window shut behind her. "Hey…" She says with a half-smile, "So this morning was…interesting."

"Yeah," Damon agrees with a short laugh, "It was. What happened after I left?"

"Oh, your dad yelled a little about not wanting you and Stefan to fight so much and that he didn't want to hear us swearing, and," She shrugs, "Then they made us go sit in the living room together until we 'talked out our differences'." She does air-quotes around the last part and rolls her eyes. "I tried, but it didn't really work. Stefan can't seem to do anything but blame you for all this."

"Fuck Stefan," Damon grunts, throwing himself on the bed and landing on his back. Elena chuckles at his words. "Seriously. He can blame me all he wants, but deep down he knows who did what. He knows this isn't all because of me."

"I know," Elena comments. She remembers he'd said Caroline was still here when he left this morning, so she asks, "Did Care go home?"

"Yeah, after eating all the Eggo's," Damon complains.

"Mom goes grocery shopping on Saturdays, so she'll probably be re-stocking the Eggo's soon," Elena laughs. "Don't worry."

Sitting up, Damon shares, "I have to tell you something." It's been on his mind since after breakfast, and Elena has a right to know since she's technically in his body. She's not going to like hearing it, but…it has to be said. "After I left, Katherine followed me."

"She did?" Elena asks with a frown, suddenly concerned for what may have happened to Damon while she was stuck inside the Salvatore home playing therapy with Stefan. "What did she say?"

"She wanted to know what all the fuss was over you, why Stefan and I both want you, or whatever," He explains quickly, "And then she said that you better watch out because she's planning on…stealing me back." Elena's frown deepens, but she doesn't say anything. "She said 'you never forget your first love', and that I was hers first so she'd get me back."

"What-" Elena swallows, her throat suddenly dry, "What did you say?"

"Nothing, really," Damon shrugs, "But…I've been thinking about what she said since she left."

Elena nods, seeming to understand he is internally conflicted. "But you wouldn't actually, I mean, when you're you again, you're not gonna like go back to her, are you? I mean, you're not actually that stupid, are you?" Elena didn't mean to call him stupid, but it just slipped out! How could he even consider taking back Katherine? "What do you think is going to be different? Why would you even risk putting yourself in that position again? She just fucked your brother last night!"

"Jesus, Elena," Damon licks his lips, "I said I was just thinking about shit, that's all. And what do you know about it, anyways? It's not like you even know the whole story. You don't know anything." He didn't realize how harshly he was speaking to her until he saw the hurt expression cross her face.

"You're right, I don't know," Elena concedes, "But that's because you never told me. And that doesn't mean that I don't know anything. I told you what Matt did to me. What if he came back and told me he was sorry for never calling or writing? What if I took him back just because of one stupid, meaningless, way-too-late apology? Wouldn't you think I was pretty dumb? Or would you just not even care? You wouldn't. Because obviously you don't care…" about me, Elena thought, not able to voice the last two words out loud. He never pretended to care, so she shouldn't be so hurt. But she is.

"I said, I don't know!" Damon yells, frustrated with himself and Elena, and everyone else within a fifteen mile radius. This day could suck his non-existent dick because he was done with this day. All he wants to do now is curl up in bed and go sleep, and not open his eyes again until he's in his own body. Then, maybe, he'd be able to face the world and pick up the pieces of the life he used to call his own.

Elena could see Damon shut himself down from this whole conversation. He'd had enough, and she didn't want to argue. "Well…" She tried to keep her voice steady as she spoke, "Good luck, then. I hope you figure it all out. And, if you do pick Katherine, then I hope she's changed. I hope she doesn't break your heart again." But if you pick her, you'll be breaking mine.

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