"Bella!"

My eyes snapped open and I gasped as I sat up. Elena frowned at me and leaned back, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"I am shaking and calling you for almost five minutes… Are you alright?" she asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I was just tired" I said rubbing my eyes.

"It started to scare me"

"What time is it?" I grumbled looking around for my cell.

"It's early… I need your help" she said.

"What for?" I asked hesitantly.

"Stefan called last night" I groaned and laid back. "Bella, please! He needs us! Sheriff Forbes tracked the call, he's in Tennessee. Could you do a tracking spell to narrow it down than I can go find him?"

"You're not going to find him" I sighed.

"We go then. We can get Ric and Damon too. Please?"

"Elena" I said sitting up and frowned at her pleading eyes. "No. Stefan isn't there. He's not Stefan anymore. I can't help you. Leave it alone"

"I can't, don't you get it?" she snapped standing up.

"I get it" I sighed standing up too.

"Do you?" I nodded. "So if it was Damon you would go after him?"

"Not if an inside source told me he didn't want to be found" I said. "I talk to him sometimes, Elena, Stefan doesn't need rescue and doesn't want it"

"You're not helping me?" she asked frowning.

"No. Sorry, Elena"

"Whatever, Bella" she grumbled walking out of the room.

In the shower my vision got blurry and I got a bit dizzy, so I knew I had to hurry up. I wasn't counting on Damon expecting me, sitting in the bed and holding a glass of brandy while I held the towel in a shaky grip. I was surprised that Hugo – how I named the dog – was lying by his side with his eyes on the glass. He looked at me and frowned.

"Elena wants me to go after Stefan with her" he said.

"I know. I told her not to" I turned away from him so he wouldn't see my shaking hands.

He stayed in silence as I chose clothes from my bag and went to walk to the bathroom. I got dizzy again and had to pause. As soon as my vision cleared, I ran to the bathroom and slowly got dressed, fearing I would fall and crack my head in the bathroom. It was worse than the day before, and I knew it would quickly progress. Carlisle had tried to help me, but there was nothing anyone could do. I walked out of the bathroom trying to button my jeans for the fifth time and not getting it.

"Are you alright?" Damon asked softly approaching me.

"Yeah, yeah, fine" I said dismissively.

I went to step away from him, but he pulled me to him by the belt loops and while looking in my eyes, he buttoned my jeans.

"I didn't notice yesterday… You seem… not good" he said and frowned.

"Thank you, early morning with no make-up does that to you" I said jokingly.

"Bella, I've met you with no make-up… You didn't look bad" I looked away from him and took a deep breath as the movement made my head spin. "You're skinny"

"What every woman aims for, Damon" I said going to step around him.

I swayed and was falling when he caught me. He sat me on the edge of the bed and kneeled between my legs.

"Bella?" he asked alarmed. "What's wrong?"

"I'm fine"

I looked at my bag, and took deep breaths. My stomach was turning although there was nothing in it and my throat got dry. I swayed again and Damon snapped up, picking me up.

"Your heart is slowing down" he said desperately.

"Put me down" I wriggled in his arms. "I just need… Please, put me down"

He was reluctant to do it, but he put me down. I stumbled to my bag and got the box with syringes and took one. With shaky hand and flicked it two times before trying to inject on my arm.

"Bella! What the hell?" Damon snapped.

I took a deep breath and injected the needle into my arm, hoping I had aimed correctly on a vein. I sat down taking deep breaths and in less than two minutes I felt better. I sighed and tossed the syringe on the trash can close to the bed. I looked up at Damon and he was watching me with a scowl.

"I can explain" I mumbled.

"Please tell me you're on drugs" he looked at the box with the rest of the syringes and medicine vials. "Please"

I closed the box and put away, avoiding looking into his eyes.

"I caught a bug in Brazil, it's just treatment" I lied.

"Bella…"

"Please, Damon" I begged. "Leave it alone"

"I can help"

"No, you can't" I smiled sadly at him. "I'll be fine, I promise"

"Can you make that promise?"

I squeezed his forearm and kissed his cheek as I walked to the door. I went to the kitchen and prepared some breakfast. Soon Damon joined me in the kitchen, sitting in a stool by the counter with Hugo lying at his feet.

"So, what Elena said?" I asked as I got plates.

"She said I should have told her about Andie… And then she said we needed to find Stefan" he rolled his eyes.

"I agree that she does not make much sense, but… I guess that's love" I shrugged.

"Don't need to ask you if you would be as dumb… You did hunt the fucker down and put him back on tracks" he forked a piece of bacon a bit too harshly.

"It's not like that" I said and tossed a piece of bacon at Hugo. "I pushed him on that path, I had to help him"

"You owed him nothing. He almost got you killed because he couldn't control himself" he snapped.

"I hurt him, I deserved" I mumbled.

"The fuck you did. You shouldn't ever be hurt, by anyone. It is like hurting an angel…"

He trailed off and frowned at himself.

"Who am I to say anything, right?" he scoffed.

"You're my best friend" I smiled at him.

"I thought Jacob was"

"He is in a way, it's just that Jake didn't exactly accept my 'flaws'" I shrugged and grinned at him. "I think he imprinted"

"What?"

"Remember Quil and his weird relationship with Claire… I think I explained it to you"

"Oh, right. Now I remember. The excuse to pedophilia" he rolled his eyes.

"It's not like that" I said and tossed a piece of toast in his face, he dodged it and Hugo happily took the discarded toast. "It's romantic"

"The girl is 2-years-old"

"If it was your daughter, wouldn't you be happy that she would have someone as devoted as Quil will be to her?"

"I would hunt the pervert down" he chuckled.

"Whatever" I chuckled. "Anyway, Jake told me about a girl he met, and he would go on and on forever about how nice and cute she was. He is so smitten"

"Are you sure she exists?" he arched an eyebrow.

"What?" I frowned

"I mean, what if he only said that stuff to make you think he was over you and to try to get you jealous?"

"He wouldn't. Of course she's real, Damon. Jake deserves a nice girl, why can't you believe he would get one?"

"Because I saw the way he looked at you"

"You're still silly for being jealous" I laughed.

"Am I?"

I looked at him and he had his signature smirk, but I could see he was truly curious about my answer.

"Of course, Damon" I said and felt my cheeks warm a bit.

"So it never crossed your mind? Being with Jacob?"

"No"

His eyes narrowed, he saw through my lie.

"You two could grow old and have kids together" he said. "Edward couldn't offer you that… Neither could I"

"I thought of that… It was pointed out to me several times but… I didn't know what I wanted. I still don't"

"You wanted to change to ruin Klaus' plan… That was it?" he asked.

"I had wanted to change for Edward too, before he left me in Forks, but… After that I didn't know why I would change. What for?"

He nodded slowly and stood up to put his plate on the sink.

"Eternity sucks, believe me" he said quietly.

"It must have its perks" I mumbled.

"It does… But right now, it sucks"

"What brought this all on?" I asked frowning at him.

"Will you be really fine? That was just a bug treatment? I don't have to worry?" he asked worriedly.

"If you had to worry… Would you change me? Is that what you're implying?" I asked surprised.

"I can't lose you, Bella. I need you… You're my best friend, the only friend I have actually"

"You don't have to worry, Damon" I said fighting back the tears.

"You're lying, aren't you?" he narrowed his eyes. "What is going on?"

"I came back from the dead twice, that's what happened. I shouldn't be here" I cried.

He approached me with a sad frown and took me in his arms. I clung to him, my hands fisting on the back of his shirt as I buried my face on the crook of his neck.

"I'm dying, Damon… There is nothing anyone can do. I don't know when, or how, but I feel myself slowly fading. My strength, my powers…"

"We'll get Dr. Cullen and he'll…"

"Carlisle already checked me. I seem fine, but everyday, I have these attacks. My heart slows down and I get so weak. He gave me atropine to take when that happened, but… That's the thing, if I die there is nothing anyone can do"

"Why?" he croaked in a whisper in my hair.

"Promise me you won't do anything stupid, Damon, and that you'll look out for Elena, Bonnie, Caroline, Jeremy… everyone. Please"

He pulled back and cupped my face gently in his hands, wiping the tears with the pads of his thumbs. His skin felt cold against my blushed and wet cheeks.

"I won't let you just die, Bella. We'll find a way to keep you safe" he vowed.

Although I knew he couldn't keep that vow, that there was nothing anyone could do, I nodded and pulled him to me for another hug. I had missed him much more than I cared to admit.

We were sitting in the living room for almost an hour. I was telling Damon about my time away and when I found out I was dying. I had given him the folder I carried with me with the exams Carlisle put me through and he admitted that although he knew almost nothing of medical shit, he couldn't see anything wrong. I was organizing the papers back in the folder when his phone biped with a message. I arched an eyebrow at him when he didn't get it.

"It's not important" he shrugged.

"How do you know?"

"I don't care about anything at the moment"

"Damon, you need to get that. We both know it could be serious" I said frowning at his behavior. That was exactly why I didn't want anyone to know, because I didn't want people to worry and put aside other stuff because of me.

He sighed as he took his phone and scowled at the screen. He grumbled under his breath and passed me his phone as he stood up. I looked at the message trying to understand what got him in such mood suddenly.

From: Ric
Elena made me come w/ her to Smoky Mount after stef.

I sighed and stood up. I ran to my room, put boots, and was pulling my hair into a ponytail as I followed Damon out of the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" he frowned at me and gently pushed me back, away from the front door. "You're staying"

"I can help" I protested.

"You won't use your powers unless extremely necessary" he said and took his phone back from me. "Stay here, I'll be back by the end of the day"

"Damon!"

"Bella!" he mocked turning away.

"I can go on my bike" I said smirking.

"No you can't" he grinned at me. "I cut the brakes and got the keys"

I glared at him and he sighed. He took a step closer and kissed my forehead.

"Keep yourself safe, please" he murmured against my forehead.

"So, are you leaving me here alone? What if something happens while you're away?"

He looked down at me with a frown and I knew I had won. He opened the front door and gestured for me to go first. I smiled at him and ran to his car.

The drive seemed long, and it was driving me insane. Mostly, it was Damon, trying to set rules for my presence. I couldn't use my powers, I would leave when he told me to, if I got tired I had to tell him immediately and I wouldn't do anything stupid. Well, that was the rules he tried to set. I never said anything about following them, I had just nodded along.

"You should have stayed" he said as we walked through the woods, starting the climb. "I could have reached them by now"

"Then go ahead and I'll reach you in a couple hours" I snapped.

He rolled his eyes at me and blocked my path.

"This is not helping on going faster" I said trying to walk around him. "Damon!" I screeched as he picked me up.

"Shut up" he said.

"Put me down"

And as when I was in Edward's back, the world blurred around us as he ran through the woods. I closed my eyes fearing I would get sick and buried my face in his chest. When there was no more wind and I felt he had stopped I opened my eyes. He carefully put me down and put his finger against his lips for me to be quiet. We walked quietly through the woods and just as Elena and Ric had gotten in my sight, Damon blurred to them. Elena went flying into the pond and Ric didn't sem so surprised. I walked to his side as Damon and Elena emerged from the water and stared at each other angrily.

"What the hell, Damon?" she yelled.

"I should be asking you the same thing, Elena" he snapped. "I told you not to come"

"I'm not giving up on Stefan" she said going to the shore.

"Stefan gave up on himself"

"He called me on my birthday, Damon"

"He killed Andie on your birthday and told me to leave him alone"

"Enough" I interrupted. "We need to decide what to do"

"We need to be far away by sunset, it's full moon tonight" Ric said.

"Are you out of your fucking mind?" Damon snapped at Elena. "You come after werewolves on a full moon?"

"We get Stefan and leave before the moon rises" she said rubbing her arms.

"Klaus can't know you're alive" I said. "You can't be here"

"Yes, so let's go" Damon said grabbing her arm.

"Please, Damon" she begged. "We can plan something else, let's just… Please, he's so close"

She was so desperate that I just couldn't stand by and let Damon crush all her hopes and attempts to get the man she loved back.

"Ric take Elena away, Damon and I will get Stefan" I sighed.

"What?" Damon scowled at me.

"Klaus knows I'm alive" I shrugged.

"Yes!" Elena agreed happily. "Bella can help you get Stefan"

"Bella can get killed, is Stefan worth it?" Damon growled at her.

Elena looked from me to him and they stared at each other.

"Damon, it's fine" I said. "We go, I hold Klaus as long as I can and you leave with Stefan"

"If Stefan is willing to leave with me" he said. "And Klaus will hunt us down"

"Maybe I can exchange myself for Stefan"

"No" Ric said.

"No, no" Elena shook her head. "Get Stefan and get out"

"We are going home. Bella is not fit for the task" Damon said tugging on Elena's arm.

"Damon" I warned.

"You've lost your mind if you think I'm letting you do any of that"

"Elena is right. We have to at least try to get Stefan back"

"Then go, I'll deal with this" he said.

"Like I'm about to leave you in a mountain full of werewolves on a full moon. One time was enough"

"If we go now we will be out of here before sunset" Ric said checking his watch.

"Fine, but when I tell you to leave, you'll leave" Damon said looking at Elena and I. "Both of you"

"Fine" she huffed.

We walked through the woods for the next couple hours. Tyler had said the pack would be almost at the top of the mountain where no one went at night. I often fell behind, but Damon would slow down a bit and once I had nodded to tell him I was alright we would keep up.

"Should we take a break?" Ric asked worriedly as I caught up with them again, breathing heavy.

"No, I'm just not used to hiking" I mumbled.

"Maybe I should take you back to the car and run back" Damon said.

I shot him a look and he raised his hands in a surrendering gesture. We heard something in the woods and Elena and I got the vervain darts from Ric. A man stumbled out of the woods, he had blood on his face and seemed tired. He looked at us and when his eyes locked on Damon, his face changed and he attacked him. Damon tried to hold him off, and seemed to be having a bit of difficulty. Elena, Ric and I shot him with vervain but nothing. I grabbed a wolf's bane bomb and threw on them. The men yelled in pain as he got scalded and fell unconscious.

"What the hell?" Ric said.

"A hybrid" I mumbled.

"Come on, let's tie him up. He must know of Stefan and Klaus" Damon said.

We tied the man to a tree with all the rope and chains we had.

"Klaus was looking for werewolves to create hybrids" I said.

"It seems he did it" Elena murmured.

"No" I said as the man woke up. He was bleeding from his nose and eyes. "Something went wrong"

The man trashed and tried to get free. His bones began to break and he started to change.

"It's broad daylight" Ric said gathering our stuff.

The man broke one of the chains.

"Run" Damon told us.

We ran for what felt like days. The sun disappeared and darkness fell on the woods. Ric ran ahead and Damon was right behind me, ushering me. I was not fit. We heard snarling close, and tried to be faster. For a moment I thought we where lost but then I remembered Damon was with us so there was no way we were going in the wrong direction. I cried out as my right foot twisted between two rocks and I fell forward. Elena paused and reached a hand to help me up but we froze. A wolf appeared right in front of me, I could feel its hot breath in my face. He snarled and I whimpered.

"Here, doggy, doggy" Damon called out.

The wolf's head snapped in his direction and he chased Damon deeper into the woods, in the opposite direction of where we were going.

"No!" I snapped quickly standing up.

"Bella, come on" Ric said grabbing Elena's arm and tugging her away. He reached for me but I ran on the opposite direction.

"Take Elena back to the cars!" I shouted.

He hesitated and dragged a protesting Elena away as I ran through the woods, desperately looking for Damon. I did not think any deal would make Klaus give him his blood for Damon again. There was no trace of Damon or the wolf and for a moment I feared not only for Damon's wellbeing but for mine too. What if I got lost? I almost jumped out of my own skin when I accidentally stepped on a branch and it snapped. A hand grabbed my arm and pulled me behind a tree. Before I could scream, another hand covered my mouth and a soft voice shushed me. I relaxed as I looked into Damon's blue eyes. I grabbed his arms and cupped his face.

"Are you okay?" I whispered.

"Yeah" he whispered and glared at me. "You were supposed to leave with Ric and Elena"

"I couldn't leave you here, could I?" I whispered back.

He stared at me and pulled a strand of hair out of my face. My hands slipped from his neck to his chest and I closed my eyes for a moment.

"Are you…"

He didn't finish the question. I felt him slipping away from me and my eyes snapped open. The werewolf was back to his human form and attacking Damon frenetically. He got a hold on Damon and as much as he tried to push the man away, he was stronger and was trying to bite him. I tried to think of something bit I didn't have to. Stefan appeared behind the werewolf and ripped is heart out. The man fell lifeless and Damon stood up pushing the body away. Stefan looked at the heart in his hand and dropped it, cleaning the blood off in his jeans.

"Thanks" Damon murmured.

I ran to Stefan and hugged him, thankful for his help. He wrapped an arm around me for a moment before pushing me away. I wrapped my arms around Damon's waist and he tucked me into his side protectively.

"I told you not to follow me" Stefan said. "I'm not coming back"

"You're sending mixed signals" Damon said. "Calling Elena, saving me…"

"I don't know what you're talking about, I didn't call anyone" he lied smoothly. "Damon, leave me be. I can't and don't want to go back. Tell Elena I'm gone and I don't want her looking for me"

"It's not that simple for her" I said.

"You were supposed to make it simple" he said looking at Damon but I knew he meant it for me too.

He picked up the dead werewolf, threw the body over his shoulder and started to walk away. Damon sighed and pulled me closer to him, turning the other way. We silently walked back to the car. Elena jumped out of Ric's car when she saw us, and ran to us.

"Are you okay? Did you…?"

"I'm fine, bite-free. Get in the car, please" he said tiredly.

"Can you give me just a minute to appreciate you two are not dead?" she asked frowning.

"I'll give you ten seconds" he said. "9, 8…" he grabbed her and pushed her to the car as I chuckled. "Bella, where I parked my car?"

I looked over my shoulder as I answered him and saw Stefan watching from far away. He disappeared in a blur and I walked to Damon's car.

"Are you alright?" Elena asked leaning on my room's doorframe.

"Yeah, just a stressful day" I said discreetly pushing the box with syringes further into the bag.

It had been a day since our little adventure in Smoky Mountains, and I still felt tired after resting all day. I didn't have any attacks so I hadn't used any more syringes, but I could feel it coming.

"Can I ask you something?" she asked fidgeting and avoiding looking me in the eye.

"I think we're past this shit. Come in, sit here and spill it, bestie" I chuckled.

She smiled and we both laid in my bed staring at the ceiling.

"Are you truly not mad at me about what happened? With Damon?" she asked quietly.

"I was at the time… But then I realized I shouldn't" she frowned. "It's okay, Elena, to have feelings for him. He's not so bad, is he?"

"But Stefan is away and…"

"Hey" I grabbed her hand as I saw tears forming in her eyes. "It will be okay. Stefan could never be mad at you. I do believe we are technically set to do some stuff, because of who we are, but I also do believe that we have our own choices. No one will hate you for your choices, Elena, it is your life"

"Damon said he was wrong, can you believe it?" she chuckled wiping away her tears. "He said that Stefan isn't gone and we'll get him back"

"I want you to understand the risk, Elena" I frowned. "If Stefan willingly comes back, Klaus will get revenge. If we continue to follow them, Klaus might discover you're alive. And I also want you to know, that although I tell you and Damon to leave it alone, I could never let Stefan go, I just don't want you to go after him and end up hurt or something. I've been keeping in touch with him all summer and making sure he's alright. He's one of my best friends, I'll fight to get him back too"

"Thank you, Bella" she smiled at me and tucked a pillow under her head. "I really missed you… You're really wise"

"I sound like a mother sometimes, don't I?" I scowled and we laughed. "I've missed you too, Elena"