Hello, my lovely readers. It's time for one of my own favorite chapters because it is Dalaric. OMG. I love them so much. Fangirl squeal from the elderly. "Oh, dear," author coughs, chokes on her dentures. "Oh, dear. Kids, have any of you seen my teeth?" author croaks while blinking at the audience. My mom's going to kill me for the old people joke. Oh, author's being choked by mother. On with the show…

Chapter 11: The Talk

Balling and unballing his fists, Alaric Saltzman stared at the snow that was collecting on the outside of his windshield. It was now or never. Getting out of his car, he strode up to the front door of the Salvatore's Boarding House. It was a cold, early December day and he could feel the wind biting through his pants. Lifting his hand to knock, he stopped when Tom Salvatore swung the door open. He looked warily at Alaric who had no idea what to say. What do you say to the boy who had been accused of attempted murder but had been released because there was not enough evidence to hold him? Yet.

"Hey, Ric," Tom greeted him with a frown. "Looking for Damon?" Alaric nodded his head, wordlessly. Waving a hand, Tom waited for Alaric to come in and Alaric restrained himself from turning around when Tom stood behind him. "I'm headed to the grocery. It seems we're out of cheese and I have a mouse in my room. Want anything while I'm there? I might steal some beer."

"I'm good," Alaric said with a forced smile as Tom nodded with something that looked like a smile before he walked out of the house.

"Right," Alaric said with a shake of his head. Heading upstairs, he walked past the junior Salvatores' rooms. Peering inside Tom's room, because he was not sure about the mouse joke, he noticed a sad looking blonde girl who was hugging herself in front of the window. "Hi," he said when she turned.

"Hi," Cami O'Donnell replied with a smile that made her look even more melancholy than she did already.

"How are you feeling?" Alaric asked the girl. She still had not returned to school and he was truly shocked to find her in Tom's room.

"I'm good. We're good," Cami said, placing her hands to her middle and Alaric's eyebrows shot up when he looked down to notice that she was growing outward. "I found out when I was in the hospital and it didn't help Tom's case. Now, the police think that he hit me because he found out that I was pregnant and was trying to get rid of us," she said, shaking her head. "Which is ridiculous. He's happy. We're getting married. I don't think that he would try to kill me and then ask me to marry him."

Alaric did not mention that he watched an episode of Dateline where a man tried to kill his pregnant girlfriend and then married her so that she could not be forced to testify against him. "I don't know," he said with a shrug. "I'm going to go talk to Damon," he told Cami who nodded.

"Bye," she said before taking her place by the window again.

Heading down the hallway, Alaric came to a stop when Vikki came stomping out of Damon's room. "Ric," she snapped. "You might not want to talk to Damon since he's a worthless bastard."

"Oh, get over yourself, Vik," Damon yelled as he came to the door, buttoning his shirt. Vikki turned around and held up her middle fingers before she ran down the hall. "Girls," Damon said in disgust. "You know," he was saying as Alaric followed him into his bedroom. "I am so over girls. I say that women are the only way to go. They can teach you so much and they're hot. I mean really hot. Like Madame Gilbert. Just thinking about her makes me go 'O, la la," Damon said with a dreamy smile as he laid down on his back.

Alaric licked his lips, feeling nervous while Damon turned to him, propping himself up on his elbow. "Damon, I need to talk to you about something."

"Yeah, we should talk. I think we should talk about which older lady that you would like to get with? I hear that Mother Mikaelson is in heat," Damon informed Alaric who placed his fingers to the bridge of his nose. "Okay. Not her. How about… ummm… Julie Donavon. Now, she is hot! Like super hot. I mean I know that she wears these pencil skirts with her hair up but I bet when she lets go…"

"Damon, stop it," Alaric snapped. "I'm not attracted to those women. I'm not…"

Damon sat up and threw his legs over the side of the bed and stared at Alaric seriously. "You're what, Ric? You know that you can tell me anything. What are best friends for? Huh?"

Blowing out a long breath, Alaric started to laugh and then he looked at his clasped hands. Forcing himself to walk across the room, he took Damon's hands in his. "Damon, I'm gay," he said flatly and then waited for his friend to respond.

Damon blinked rapidly before he grinned. "Ric, you're a funny man. I can't wait to tell Nik this."

"Nik already knows," Alaric said flatly.

"What?" Damon said, pulling his hands away, he got to his feet and started to pace the room as Ric took his place on the bed. "You're not gay, Ric. I would know. I would know. I'm your best best friend. And you would have told me, right?" Damon ran his hands through his hair. "You wouldn't have not told me about something like this. So, this is just some stupid joke that you and Nik came up with to mess with me. Or it's that thing that happened with Oliver and Luke. Half the school is going to start to coming out to each other. It's ridiculous. Ya know?" Placing his hands on his hips, Damon let out a nervous chuckle. "The next thing I know you're going to tell me that you're in love with me."

Alaric did not speak or move a muscle until Damon looked at him and his shoulders slumped. "I'm sorry, Damon. I should have told you a long time ago."

Taking a deep breath Damon stared back at Alaric with his lips pursed. "So, you're telling me that when we went skinny dipping over the summer on that trip to Atlanta that you were… that you ARE in love with ME!" Damon's voice went up several octaves as he looked at the ceiling, his expression changing every ten seconds and Alaric had no idea what to do. Maybe he should have just kept this information to himself. Or told Damon in a public space. "So, how gay are you? I mean are you like a hundred present gay? Going to participate in a gay parade gay? Wear makeup and tiny shorts gay? Or like Will Truman gay? I mean I know there are levels, or something. Am I not being sensitive enough here? Is there like a handbook for when your best friend tells you that they're gay? I mean I don't know what I'm supposed to say here."

"Damon, calm down. I'm not any different than I was before I told you. I'm still the Ric that you knew," Alaric tried to explain as his eyebrows rose.

Damon threw his hands up. "You're gay. You're gay, Ric. You're not the guy that used to joke with me about those magazines that I used to filch from my dad's collection when we were thirteen. You don't even think of the women in those magazines like I DO. Come on, man. You look at ME like I look at those girls," Damon was practically shouting as he stared at Alaric with wide eyes. "That means something, Ric. That means that I don't know you."

"Do you want me to go?" Alaric asked quietly. Maybe Damon needed time to calm down.

"Yes," Damon said emphatically, nodding his head. Ric got up to leave when Damon started to shake his head. "No, don't. It's just. Nik! Klaus freakin' Mikaelson knows that you're gay, and I didn't? How does that happen? And how did he know? Did you tell him?"

"No. Never!" Alaric said, shaking his head as Damon sat down on the floor and gave him a look that said he did not believe him. "He just knew."

"Do you think that Klaus is gay, TOO?" Damon asked Alaric, looking like a little boy as he curled his knees up to his chest. "You think you know a guy and then all your friends are coming out of the closet. Maybe you can all form your own parade."

"Gee, Damon, we really need to work on that sensitivity thing," Alaric said with a laugh.

Damon started to grin. "I know. Especially if both of my best friends are gay. Maybe you two can go out."

"Damon, focus. Klaus is not gay," Alaric informed Damon as he pressed his hands together.

Damon sighed as he sat back, leaning his back against the wall. "Are you sure? I mean obviously I have no gaydar. "

"Neither do I. But Klaus is in love with Caroline. Has been since… I don't know. Forever. I don't know why he hasn't come on to her," Alaric replied thoughtfully.

"Caroline? As in Caroline Forbes, Caroline? The girl that is more of a boy than some boys that I know, Caroline? Are you sure that you got that right. I mean I know that Klaus has a hard time with girls sometimes. No one will ever forget that mess with Katherine, but Caroline? I mean I'm sure she's hot if you throw her in a tub of hot water, cut her hair, a little makeup and a bikini," Damon's eyes glazed over as he spoke and then he grinned. "Yeah, that is hot."

"Damon," Alaric snapped.

Shaking his head, Damon forced a smile. "Sorry. It's just hard to imagine Caroline in a bikini. Oh, wait, sorry. I forgot for a moment," he shook his head as he spoke. "Anyway, you. You like guys. Got it. Have you tried to date anyone since, you know, we're not going to be… you know."

Alaric rolled his eyes. "Yes, I get it. I know that you're not into me. And, no, I haven't tried to date anyone. I wouldn't know how to start."

"Neither would I," Damon joked with a grin. "And, you know, Ric, if I were… you know, then you wouldn't be able to get away from me. And I would be a very lucky man because then I could spend my life with someone that I love as much as I love you." Getting up, Damon came over to the bed and hugged Alaric. "I love my big, gay friend," he said in a snarky tone and Alaric pushed him away.

"You're an ass, you know that, Damon?" Alaric snapped while he grinned and Damon plopped down next to him. "Now, that I've shown you mine, you want to show me yours?"

Damon cracked up as he sat back. "Yeah, okay. What do you want to know?" Wriggling his eyebrows, Damon smiled widely. "You want to know about my own scandalous sex life, don't you?"

"Well, I know that you're keeping something from me," Alaric said. "I mean you've been disappearing for months now." He could almost count all of the days and nights that he had called to hear a busy signal coming from Damon's phone or the dreaded answering machine. No one really knew where Damon had been hiding himself.

"Yeah, I'm having a tawdry affair. Lots of blouses being ripped and seedy motels," Damon said as he examined Alaric's expression. Alaric rolled his eyes.

"Sure," Alaric replied. "Now, why don't you tell me what you've really been up to?"

Rolling his eyes, Damon got off his bed. He walked over to his closet and pulled it open. Pulling out a poster, he held it up. It read, "Damon Salvatore for Senior Class President." "What do you think?" he asked with his eyebrows inching upward.

"Ummm… I don't know," Alaric said. "I mean I know that you're a shoo-in for valedictorian, but don't you think that with all the committees that you're already spread a bit thin?"

"I was considering going out for Miss Mystic, but I didn't want to shave my legs for the occasion," Damon said with a huge grin.

"Uh huh," Alaric said. "And who did you plan to ask to be your VP?" Alaric hoped that it wasn't him. He just was not that into school. At least not to that extent.

"I thought of you, but I knew how you would react. Nik already said no," Damon said thoughtfully.

"You asked Nik already?" Alaric demanded with a mock shocked and hurt look.

Damon smirked at him. "You would have hated the position. So would Nik. So, then I was going to ask Anna but I heard that there something going down with her and Jeremy. And I don't need the Nuns coming for my head. Then I was like, I'll ask Amara Gilbert because lots of people love her. Then I thought about the fact that she would probably laugh in my face and say no. And there are other reasons."

"Because Elena and you have that whole love hate thing going on?" Alaric inquired and Damon rolled his eyes.

"No. So, here's the thing and don't yell when I say it. 'Kay?" Damon began and Alaric knew that he was not going to like it. "Hayley Marshall."

"What?" Alaric demanded. Getting off of the bed, he held up a hand. "No, Damon, ask Rebekah Mikaelson first. Anyone, but Hayley. Please, man."

"It's a numbers game, Ric," Damon said. "She's pure evil but she has numbers. She sways the votes to her will and I need someone like that."

"And what happens when you approach her and she decides to run on her own ticket for the position?" Alaric fired back with his arms crossed over his chest.

"She won't," Damon said without a doubt. "I'll make sure of it."

"How?" Alaric demanded, his eyebrows knitting together.

Damon grinned. "You see, my friend, because people in the main office of our school love me and I have access to such things as student files. Such files contain certain information that people like Hayley do not want to get into the hands of people like Elijah Mikaelson who would like nothing more than to see the Queen fall."

"So, your plan is to blackmail the Queen of our school to take this proposed deal and to run by your side?" Alaric nodded. "You're an evil genius."

"Damn straight I am," Damon replied. "Now, back to your new lifestyle. Does this mean that you want me to buy some porn for your birthday of the-" he started to say when Alaric held up his hand.

"You don't have to do that," Alaric said, his face scrunching as he felt pained.

"But it's a tradition. I've been buying you porn for your birthday for the past five years," Damon said. "I won't know what to get you." Sighing, he stared at the ceiling. "I suppose I can look on the internet. Although some of the sites might come up with more porn."

"Damon, you're not funny," Alaric snapped as Damon got off the bed and grabbed his laptop. He brought it to the bed and sat down. Grinning, he typed in "Birthday presents for your gay best friend." "See, porn," he said, pointing at the screen and Alaric fell backward, laughing. This had turned out so much better than he had feared it would. What a relief! "Page two, and more porn. Page three a collar. Would you prefer red or black?" Or not.

Thank you for faving, following, reading and for reviewing.

Okay, I'm feeling some flu like symptoms so I will be posting the review for chapter ten, etc. On December 29. Yes, I know that means that if you're waiting for Kat's chapter you'll have to wait a few more days but trust me it's worth because the year will end with more fireworks than you would believe.

Peace,

Jessica