Hostage Control

by LittleHandGernade

:::Complete:::Addie's agreed to be Klaus' hostage in order to keep everyone she loves safe. She's left her boyfriend in charge of watching her sister, despite his lingering feelings for Elena and her feelings for him. Damon's jealousy and everyone's expectations are becoming too much to bear. Can they find their way back to each other or is one summer too long apart? Sequel Coming!

8. Chapter 7

Sleep didn't come easy for Addie. She knew Damon had gone downstairs upset with her and would be down there for a while. Still, after spending the summer apart, all she could imagine was sleeping curled up next to him. It was five in the morning when she had last looked at the clock, still waiting for him to return.

A loud noise startled her awake but by the time she was conscious enough to try and make out what it was, the sound had stopped. Addie stretched out for Damon, only to find his side of the bed cold. Her eyes opened just enough to see that his pillow still looked like it had the previous night. He had never come back to bed. With a yawn she checked the clock and bolted up; it was a quarter until nine. She'd needed to leave for school five minutes ago. Addie had never set an alarm at boarding house; Damon always made sure she was up on time. Was he that upset with her?

Another ear splitting sound broke through the silence. At Damon's piercing scream Addie scrambled out of bed and ran in the direction it seemed to becoming from. She was moving so fast she slightly stumbled over her feet as she hit the bottom of the stairs. The study, his cries were definitely coming from the study.

Addie covered her mouth in horror a she walked in on him chained to a chair, his skin burning and blistering. More worried about fixing the immediate problem before he burned to ash than concerned about where his ring was, she moved to the floor to ceiling windows. Reaching high she yanked the cream and red curtains closed. Almost instantly Damon quieted to loud, labored breathing.

Her hands cupped his face as her thumbs brushed over his pronounced cheekbones. She did her best to ignore the sticky blood on his chest or the fire poker next to him covered in more blood. Quietly Addie wondered, "Who did this? What happened?"

Damon groaned, letting her support the weight of his head. He had thought Stefan had chained him up and stabbed him as part of some sick and twisted ripper game but he had denied doing it. Plus, while Stefan hadn't untied him, he had removed the fire poke and ripped off the chains holding down one of his wrist. Also, no one else had been present when the curtain had been peeled back and there was something distressingly familiar about how he'd been tied up and attacked with the fire poker.

Until his little experiment with Jeremy Gilbert had proven that the boy was interacting with the ghosts of his old girlfriends he hadn't believed in ghost. If it wasn't for the fact that Vicki Donovan had tried to flambe his brother and Elena, Damon wouldn't even consider the possibility that they could interact with the physical world. He hadn't told Addie that; she was accepting the fact that ghost were real mildly well but she would completely freak if she discovered that they were able to touch things. Not to mention he wasn't entirely sure that sure wouldn't agree with the idea of Mason Lockwood's spirit getting a little revenge for the time Damon spent torturing him. Addie hadn't approved of that.

"It's complicated," he sighed.

"Damon."

He tugged at the wrist that was still bound. The links were bending but they weren't breaking. He grimaced, "Help me pull on this chain."

Addie glanced down skeptically to see what Damon meant and rolled her eyes. He was mental if he actually thought she could help him with that. The dark blood reflected off his chest, telling her it wasn't dry yet; he wasn't at his full strength. Instead of doing as he asked, she walked around behind him and angled her wrist over his lips. He turned his head but she followed him. "Come on, Damon. Don't be dense. I cannot help you break that chain or all the ones wrapped around your chest."

"Ads-"

"You want me to go get you a blood bag and whoever can open the curtains while I'm gone?" Addie offered smartly.

Damon took her hand with his free one. One, two, three times his thumb swept over the cluster of blue veins on her wrist as he felt his fangs descend. Swiftly his fangs cut through the thin skin. He heard her inhale sharply but then he released a little of his venom to ease her pain. Her blood was so sweet and as it ran down his throat it warmed every fiber of his being. More and more flowed into his mouth. When she pulled away he groaned but let her.

"You good to break those chains, now?"

He nodded, easily snapping the binding at wrist. It would have been easier to unwrap the ones around his chest but instead pulled them off in two sharp tugs. Damon dropped the chains in the chair as he used the nail of his thumb to make a small cut on his forefinger. He held out the finger to her and as he watched her gently suck off the blood he held her wrist to check that it headed. When it did, his tongue darted out to clean up the last of the blood.

She broke the intimate eye contact and gestured to his chest while looking over his shoulder. "Can we get that all cleaned up before I puke?"

Glancing down at the blood on his chest, Damon scoffed, "You can step over bloody dead bodies like they're nothing but I get a little blood on me and you're back to being squeamish?"

"It's your blood," she stressed.

He nodded as he picked up his daylight ring. "Come on," said Damon, jerking his head towards the stairs. If Mason Lockwood was floating with a taste for vengeance, he didn't want her to get caught in the crossfire. "Addie," he started firmly, noticing the time as she followed him into his room and closed the door, "why aren't you at school?"

"Go take a shower," she ordered, pushing him towards the bathroom.

"School, Addison."

She raised her hands defensively and looked at him innocently, "I didn't fall asleep until past five in the morning. It would be very irresponsible of me to drive on less than four hours of sleep."

"Well, why didn't you sleep?" he demanded, crossing his arms disapprovingly.

Addie quickly retorted, "I couldn't sleep without you. It's not my fault you were downstairs having a fit."

"Oh, yes. I do sincerely apologize for being passed out, tied up, and with a poker in my chest."

"And how exactly did that happen?" she questioned, mirroring his position.

Damon rolled his eyes and sighed in exasperation, "Get ready for school."

She looked at him blankly. "We just established that it's not safe for me to drive."

"I will drive you."

"You need to take a shower."

"Addie, get dressed while I shower," he instructed firmly.

"Fine," she pouted, sticking her tongue out at him. She watched him get a navy towel from his closet, stopping to throw his clothes from the previous night into the hamper. He waved his hand in a motion for her to get moving as he made his way to the bathroom. "I'm making sure you get in and wash that blood off so I'm not further traumatizer," she said over the sound of the water turning on.

He laughed as his boxers flew out the bathroom doorframe, "I'm getting in. Go. Get. Dress."

Addie waited thirty seconds before quietly rushing to the bed and climbing back under the covers. There was no way she was going to school on such little sleep and without Damon telling her the truth about what had happened. While she couldn't protected him, she felt Rebekah or Stefan would be less likely to attack him if she was there. Hopefully stop him from provoking one of them. Curling an arm around her pillow, Addie listened to the sound of the shower running.

Damon showered longer than he needed to but he figured Addie was likely dragging her but getting ready. It gave him a chance to think about how he was going to explain his encounter with the dead Lockwood to her. He hadn't come up with a solution but he knew had to make accepting it easier on her somehow. Water dripped into his face as he pushed wet hair out of it. It really was getting a little long but he wasn't quite ready to quite give Addie the satisfaction of cutting it.

He stepped out the shower, wrapping the towel around his waist. Not hearing Addie move around Damon decided to brush his teeth. His toothbrush definitely looked much better now that Addie's was back in the holder, next to his. Running his tongue over his freshly cleaned teeth he went back into the bedroom.

"Addie!" he admonished, seeing her curled up asleep in bed. She didn't answer him. He walked around to her side of the bed and gently shook her. "Addie!" She grunted. "Get up! Get ready!"

Sleepily she mumbled, "I'm not going."

He bent over her, kissing her temple, her cheek, the corner of her mouth. "Come on, Ads," whispered Damon encouragingly. "It's the second day and you're already late."

"Sick day. Sleep day. Your fault," she muttered.

Damon didn't quite understand that logic. But if Addie had fallen asleep in the time it took him to shower she was definitely tired. He wasn't going to argue with her; not today. From the top drawer he pulled out a clean pair of boxers and from the second drawer he pulled out the picture of them kissing on the Ferris Wheel. On a hook on the back of his closet door he hung the towel so he could put on the boxers and he returned the picture frame to where it belonged. When he slid into bed Adie immediately curled up next to him, her head on his chest and an arm tight around his waist. Damon kissed the crown of her head and warned, "Don't think you're gonna sleep all day. "

"Few hours," she whispered, slightly turning her head to kiss his chest.

"Ok," he agreed as he pulled his phone off the charger. It was probably futile but while she slept he would scour the internet for any legitimate information on ghost. About two and a half hours later he felt Addie's breathing become more shallow as she lightly rubbed up and down his calf. Damon dropped his phone under her pillow and slid his hand under the dark t-shirt of his she wore to lightly scratch at her back. She gave a tired hummed. Damon pressed another kiss to the top of her head,

Addie smirked and kissed the inside of his forearm as he brought his free hand to play with her hair. She giggled, "I can't believe you didn't haul me down to school."

"I've missed out on holding you sleep for almost four months. I wasn't going to fight you too hard on making up for lost time," he replied superiorly, as if he could have gotten her to do whatever he wanted.

"You just knew it was an argument you couldn't win," she snickered as she stretched, still holding him tight. The heavy red curtains blocked out most of the sun but the room was still light as she opened her eyes. Staring at the picture at the nightstand she flatly observed, "That wasn't there last night."

"No," Damon admitted, not needing to follow her gaze to know what she was talking about. He punched another pillow behind his head, slightly elevating himself.

Curtly she told him, "I don't want it out. Put it back wherever it was."

His hands stilled on her shoulder and the small of her back. Addie was fickle about when she was in the mood to have discussions, so he'd have to make her want to. "No, I want it out. If I recall correctly this is my room and that is my copy of the picture. I don't see why I can't do with it as I please," he retorted. Damon pressed his hands more firmly against her when he felt her move to pull away. "I'll tell you what, let's have a little talk and if by the end of it you still want me to put it away, I will," he offered.

Addie rolled her shoulder, swatted his hand off when he didn't remove it and scooted back up the bed and rested on her pillow next to him. She ordered sharply, "Talk."

He shook his head. "I've done a lot of that. I think it's time that I shut up and listen. I jumped down your throat this summer and haven't been willing to listen since." Damon still didn't want to listen but while he had showered he had concluded that the only way Addie was going to get through the knowledge of ghost wandering around and skewering folks was if she felt like she had him to turn to. From the start he had discovered three things that truly frightened her: death, snakes, and ghosts. Addie had never wanted to deal with the supernatural world and now she was going to be confronted with what truly haunted her. There were two possible reactions: she might go into shock and denial, refuse to accept reality, completely disconnect from the world and become non-responsive like she had when she saw Bonnie feign being dead in order to make Klaus believe she really was or Addie would pretend that everything was fine and that she was handling it until the pressure and fear exploded in a panic attack. Damon wasn't certain what she would do if that happened; Addie typically ran to calm down and escape her problems but he wasn't sure that she wouldn't just take off driving to put as much distance as between herself and the problem as possible.

"I want to know how you ended up at Gloria's bar in Chicago."

"You want to discuss Klaus?" she suspiciously asked.

Damon's lips pinched sourly but he nodded. "We need to discuss Klaus. I need to understand. You deserve a chance to explain."

"What are you up to?" Addie asked, watching him from the corner of her eye.

She would probably reject him if he flat out told her he was trying to set things right so they could get back together. She'd call him out for being a pompous idiot to think he could get back into her good graces so easily. He tried to keep from lying. "When you left, you were this smart, innocent, good girl who I did not deserve but I was so certain you'd come back to me. After two months you didn't. Now, I either read you really wrong, which I don't want to believe because I've never felt like I've been so close to anyone else. I've accepted that you've changed but I know you; you'd never change so much as to become friends with Klaus, especially in that short of a time span. So there has to be some crazy explanation for what happened," Damon reasoned with a shrug.

"There is. Condensed version or full explanation?"

He gave her a crooked grin and tentatively asked, "Can you do the full explanation fast?"

"Is that your polite way of asking me to leave out the commentary," Addie challenged, turning her nose up at him.

"Mmhm," he confirmed, tapping her nose.

She inhaled deeply and rattled out as quick as she could, "When Klaus stopped invading Alaric he gave Alaric a letter from the London College of Music to give to you to give to me. I wasn't eager to open it because all the award letters had arrived two weeks earlier and figured it was a rejection. On your deathbed you made me open it and it was a scholarship paid for by Nik Mikaelson.

"I got to the airport and this man sat right next to me and introduced himself as 'Nik Mikaelson' or 'Niklaus' or 'Klaus.' He just showed up right there moments after you left. The scholarship was a peace offering. I could leave the airport with him then or I could meet up with him after the program. Either way, I wasn't going back to Mystic Falls until school started. If I didn't go with him, he'd kill everyone. I decided to take the scholarship. It turned out that Klaus had arranged for his sister Rebekah to be my roommate; all I ever got was that she was there to make sure I had a good time.

"If you found out about his blackmail, he'd kill you. I knew from the start that he would let me talk to you while I was with him because one of his goals was to generate pain in you by having you not know where I was and if I was ok. I tried to minimize that amount of pain and worry for you from the very start. I didn't talk to you as nearly as frequently as I wanted so you became accustomed to the idea of not hearing from me. I talked about Alex so much in an effort to make you jealous but portrayed him as someone as protective of me. The plan was you would be irritated with me for running off with some guy and not want to talk to me when I used him as a cover and have you think he was a good guy and I was probably safe despite not checking in with you. I didn't know from the beginning that Klaus would let me communicate with Jeremy. I also didn't know that Alex would turn out to be bisexual, giving you a more legitimate reason to be jealous," Addie explained, her stomach churning guiltily. Even though she had done what she thought was in his best interest, it didn't mean she felt good about doing it.

His fingers entwined with the hand resting on her stomach and gave an encouraging squeeze. Quietly he urged, "Go on."

"The day the program ended Rebekah hailed us a taxi to Heathrow and we boarded for a flight to Chicago. So, that's how I ended up in the same city as Gloria's bar. First month was a lot of shopping, a lot of zoos, a lot of museums, and three vampires playing with and usually killing their food. Klaus tried to take me to the Adler Planetarium but there was no way I was letting that happening; telescopes and stargazing was our thing. During that time Stefan was scoping out a witch that Klaus had gone to Chicago to ask about his problem turning hybrids. Turned out the witch was Gloria.

"Basically, Gloria told Klaus that she needed his sister to get an answer. What she really needed was Rebekah's necklace, which Elena had. Klaus and Stefan embarked on the mission of trying to drag Rebekah out of spa. I wasn't stupid enough to try and do that. So I waited for them at the bar and that's where you came in," she finished simply.

As he digested what she told him, Damon brushed his lips along the back of her hand. He hadn't gone completely nuts, nor had she; there was a perfectly sound reason for how she ended up with Klaus. He slowly tried to understand, "The best way to keep me from worrying about you, in your mind and original plan, was to make me jealous that you had run off with a gay foreign guy that seemed likeable? And you stuck with this plan even when he turned out to be not-so-gay?"

"Not one of my better plans, I will admit."

"You are so lucky Klaus let you keep up your facade by talking to Jeremy," he breathed out. "Missing you took up 90% of my time. When I thought you had run off to explore your feelings for Alex all I could think about was you, even in sleep. I tried distracting myself with your sister and Stefan but you were always on my mind, Ads. If I wasn't getting updates from Jeremy on how you were fine and having so much fun in Milan and Rome and everywhere else you lied about, I would have gone insane tearing Europe apart trying to find you."

Addie rolled her eyes and huffed, "What should I have said that would have made you feel comfortable not hearing from me for six weeks?"

Damon took several minutes to think about that before conceding, "Yeah, there is nothing you could ever say that would make me be ok with not hearing from you for that long. But making me jealous?"

"I thought you wouldn't want to talk to me if you knew I was interested in someone else," she confessed meekly.

The fingers of his free hand drummed repetitively against his chest as he considered her defense. "Fair enough," decided Damon. "I can see how you might think that but I'm a fighter and would not lose you to someone like that. I would only want to talk to you more. Even if it was just to be the nagging little voice that reminded you that while I was ok with you experimenting in Europe, you were mine as soon as you got back."

Indignantly Addie reminded him, "I'm not a possession."

"No, but I am very possessive of you," he winked.

"I've notice," she remarked dryly.

"You wanted to stay with Klaus," Damon accused quietly.

She moved to cup his face and turned him to face her. Staring into his shocking blue eyes she spoke clear and deliberately, "I am so lucky to have someone love and care for me the way you do. You went to Chicago with the goal of saving Stefan but as soon as you saw me that changed. Getting me to safety was your number one priority. The problem with that was you didn't care Klaus was going to go on a slaughtering spree if I left with you. You were determined to save me. I cared about everyone who'd die though so I couldn't go. Unfortunately the only way to get you off a rescue mission is to break your heart. Telling you I wanted to stay with the dangerous, volatile hybrid, your immortal enemy, rather than go to safety with you seemed like it would probably smash your heart. I didn't want to hurt you that badly but Klaus was gonna show up at any moment, you had left my sister somewhere in the city and I couldn't have the two of you ending up dead. When you left me at Gloria's I was stupid enough to think that you would leave town."

Damon turned from his touch and tucked a head behind his head as he observed, "So, again, your plan was to hurt me."

"It's not my fault that you're a stubborn dick who won't listen to reason? I mean, how many people told you not to open the tomb?"

He brought their clasped hands to his forehead and rubbed at his temple with his thumb and stressed, "Completely incomparable. Ads, you are everything to me. You were in danger. Instinct to save you overrules reason because I honestly don't know what I would do if I lost you. i'm a whole mess of problems when I think of eternity without. You already know that what I had with Katherine was blind devotion. You know I cared about your sister and lusted for her. Both times I had mistaken that for love.

"We concluded love is desperate and pathetic and when you're in love there is nothing you won't do for that person. Love makes you want to be a better person, someone worthy of who you are with. That's true love. That's what I have with you. Ads, you can't say there isn't anything I wouldn't do for you because I am desperate and pathetic when your safety and happiness is involved. You have to manipulate me and hurt me into stop focusing on that. Unlike everyone else around here, you just accept me for who I am and don't try to make me into someone better; still, I am naturally a better person being with you," confessed Damon, rolling over and brushing a stray strand of hair out of her face. He noticing how she still tensed when he explained the way he felt about her. It had taken her a lot to accept the idea of love being real. While she no longer flinched when he told her he loved her, she wasn't comfortable with the full declaration and explanation.

Addie chewed at her lip nervously, uncertain if she should lean into the fingers brushing her cheek or swat his hand away. Skeptically she inquired, "What are you getting at?"

"You know I don't too well with apologies," he sighed, running his fingers through his hair.

"Oh!" she gaped dramatically. Addie smirked. While she now had an idea of what he was up to, she wasn't going to make things any easier on him. It had been hell since he had broken up with her; Damon didn't get off that easy. "So, that's what you're trying to do. I thought that was such a foreign concept to you that you wouldn't know how to do it."

He scratched uncomfortably at the back of his neck and quietly admitted, "I don't, really. But I'm willing to make a fool of myself if it means I don't lose you."

Addie tucked her hands behind her head and crossed her legs, embodying the idea of comfort. She smiled at him smugly. "My royal court happens to have a vacancy for a fool. If I enjoy this, you just might get to join that court," she jested, baiting.

Damon sucked in air between his teeth and clicked his tongue. "I don't know if I want to be part of a royal court, your majesty," he winked, playing along. Addie had lasted surprisingly long before acting her quirky self. It had once driven him insane but it had quickly become one of her most endearing qualities. "Who would I be joining on this court?"

"Well, Jeremy is my right hand man, of course," Addie quickly decided as she thought over the other positions. "Bonnie is obviously the court mage and apothecarist. Alaric was recently appointed as the Chief of the Guard and Intelligence; we have him acting in a double role. Stefan was dismissed as our court chaplain when he disregarded his saintly ways to be have like a heathen. Elena is obviously the royal courtesan. Caroline if the official court herald, or messenger. Rebekah is my maid of honor though sometimes she forgets her place. And Klaus is viceroy of a neighboring territory that has caused us great strife," she rattled off, quickly assigning roles. "As you can see, I am in desperate need of someone who can make me laugh on my court."

"Yes," Damon murmured in agreement, going back to stroking her hair. It amazed him how she could so simply and accurately position every person in her life on an imaginary court in a matter of seconds. Though, she had made a mistake as casting her sister as a prostitute but he wasn't going to argue with her on that. Defending Elena was one of the stupidest decisions he could make at that point. Amused he beseeched, "As fool is quite a demeaning term, if I prove myself a worthy one, can we have my official title be Court Jester and just keep the fact that I'm a true fool between you and me?"

She hummed in mock contemplation and in a regal voice declared, "Yes, if and only if you prove that you are a true and worthy fool. Head, the amount of time you take to prove yourself will factor into your assessment."

His brows furrowed, little creases forming between his eyebrows. "Wait, am I supposed to quick and to the point or long and wordy?"

"Your decision that is, young Jedi," Addie answered in her best Yodda imitation.

"Ok, I need a little help here. Are we doing medieval courts or sci-fi futures?" Damon laughed. And there was her impressive ability to stay on one topic for an extended amount of time.

Her eyes roamed over him repulsion and disbelief as she protested, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Excuse me but did you not read the opening credits? Star Wars was 'long, long ago,' making both subjects things of the past and not completely unconnected like you're thinking.

"I just don't see how you go from royal courts to Star Wars."

"Do you want me to explains the workings of my brains or do you want to start making a fool of yourself?" she asked challengingly.

Damon rolled back onto his back and pinched the bridge of his nose. There was so much he needed to say but he had no idea how to put any of it into words. With the obvious he started, "I know I let you down. And I know from the start I asked you for just one honest chance. I told you that you wouldn't regret it and obviously that's not true."

"That's not true," Addie interrupted quickly. "I don't regret giving you that one honest chance. I was happy with you. If this had ended where I had lost your friendship, then I would have regretted it but it didn't."

His lips pulled into a smile. Being with her had been the happiest time of his life in over 150 years. Cautiously he continued, "Alright, well, now I'm going to be the selfish idiot I keep telling you I am because I just need one more shot, a second chance. I just can't lose you. I'm willing to take every single piece of the blame for the break up but it was b-"

"I would recommend not finishing that," she cut him off again. "You are far beyond being an idiot if you believe that any of that was my fault. How can you not understand me picking the lives over everyone I care about, including you, over our relationship? I mean, I got that you were flustered and kinda on edge when you said that. I honestly figured you were bluffing about breaking up with me because it was just so damn irrational. Then you came back to the bar and told Klaus about it and I knew you were serious. In your warped reality, I'm sure you think I picked being with Klaus over being with you. In the reality of the real world, I picked suffering with Klaus to save your ass. If you want to be immature and refuse to see the truth, then you should just stop this apology," vented Addie. It was slightly cathartic to tell Damon what she had been thinking.

Damon was quiet for so long as he mulled over her words that Addie wonder if he had stopped the apology. Logic and reason ruled Addie's life, he reminded himself over and over, not emotions. She was protecting him, just like he was trying to protect her. It was Addie; of course, she would do something brave and foolhardy like that. She project a layer of such indifference but once you cracked her surface the well of affection and empathy she had for her friends and family was endless. It was the very first thing he was able to specifically identify as attractive in her.

He knew how much she hated Elena but she believed him and Stefan to be a threat to her safety so much so that she did and made whatever deals she could to keep them, or at least him, away from her sister. She was the one who told Bonnie not to despell the vampire torture device they used on the tomb vampires, with the plan of him and Stefan being captured. Then he couldn't figure out why on earth Addie saved him from that basement but when he saw her waiting for him on his porch that night, he didn't care how wrong it was, he just knew he had to kiss her. She had seen how dangerous he and Stefan were and she didn't want her sister caught up in that. Addie was willing to have Elena hate here, was willing to get blood on her hands, just to make sure her sister was safe. Yes, Elena was the one he wanted but he had just found her devotion so appealing. Maybe it was because how it reminded him of how he was with his little brother. He'd found her attractive before that but he could never say why.

"I never should have threatened you with our relationship," Damon finally concurred. "I once asked you not to do it to me and you haven't; I should have given you the same respect. Ads, I was the luckiest bastard to have you. It wasn't that I was just terrified for your life that I wanted to get you away from Klaus. I was also terrified of history repeating itself," he admitted so lowly she had to strain to hear him.

"What do you mean?"

Damon rubbed a hand slowly up and down his face, hating to speak the words aloud. He never should have mentioned anything. Quiet and quick he explained, "I was worried about you falling for Klaus." He could hear her start to snicker. Louder he continued, "I'm not being unreasonable, Addie. I've done more horrible things to you and your family and friends than Klaus has and you still fell for me. I don't think you can use Klaus killing Jenna as a defense because I killed Jeremy and he would have stayed dead if I hadn't gotten lucky with him wearing a magical ring. And I would have killed Bonnie after Emily destroyed the crystal if Stefan hadn't been there to give her blood. I tried to kill your uncle but that damn ring got in the way. Then I forced your uncle into giving up his life for Elena by threatening to turn you. I-"

"Are you going to list every awful thing you've done to the people in my life? I'm not sure I want to lay here that long," Addie butted in, moving to rest her head on his bare shoulder. He smelled like his cologne, ginger, cloves, and sandalwood, and the clean scent of soap still lingered. Had he thought she had romantically picked Klaus over him?

Not fond of how she could now see his face Damon grimaced slightly. He lamented, "I'm trying to make a point. I'm a bad guy, Ads. Klaus is a bad hybrid. Right in front of both of us, when he was in Alaric, you said you tend to give the bad guy a little more credit than they deserve, You do it with me. You definitely did that with Elijah, but he didn't openly display how bad he was. You're doing it now with Rebekah and Stefan. I was terrified that you were going to do it again with Klaus. Klaus and I, we're not that different. If you fell for me, you could fall for him. It's one thing if I lose you to someone safe but to know you're with someone so unbalanced and unchecked…."

She rolled her eyes; they weren't getting into the Elijah argument again and Addie wasn't going to pick a fight over Rebekah and Stefan. They could bitch and bicker after they made up. Addie gently pressed one finger against Damon's chin, guiding him to face her. She gave him a small smile as her ocean eyes connected with sky blue ones. "You two are totally different, Damon. Stop shaking your head and let me explain. When you were just snatching camper from the woods like when you first got here, yeah. I might have said you two were alike. I've seen Klaus leave people a bloody mess for no reason, just like you. Then you-," Addie halted, realizing how something, "I'm actually not going to get into all the ways you two parallel each other because it's vaguely disturbing, just the big one. Your big mission in freeing Katherine 145 years later wasn't love, it was because you were lonely. Klaus' whole obsession with making hybrids is so he will never have to be alone.

"You stayed and fought the tomb vampires because you cared about my sister. You helped me play Katherine, which was not in your best interest, because you wanted to protect me. Damon, you do these ultimately selfless acts. I understand you when you do screw up; like when you slept with Rose, you weren't trying to hurt me, you were just trying to escape the difficulty of caring. Then when you killed that girl the night Rose died, I rushed over as soon as I saw the paper because being so sloppy and just leaving her body in the road and her car on the side when you were trying to keep a low profile and your desire for familiar and comfortable was an obvious sign that you got careless and something was breaking your heart. I'll admit that I never would have guessed that it was that you missed being human.

"Then you went back to being this great guy and this amazing boyfriend. And then you daggered Elijah because you were jealous that I trusted him so easily. Then you went along with Bonnie's plan to let me believe she was actually dead in order to convince Klaus she was. You told me not to go into the cafeteria. You promised me nothing would happen to her. You told me to trust you. I didn't listen. You didn't know that seeing her lifeless was gonna totally send my brain into a fried overload."

Addie tilted Damon's head down so she could rest her forehead against his, playfully brushing the tip of his nose with the tip of her own. She resumed, "Damon, you make a lot of mistake but there is a good reasoning and rationale behind your honest mistake. When you do act like the bad guy, which I haven't really observed since you were trying to open the tomb, you're bad with a purpose. When Klaus is bad, like when he held me hostage, there was no point to that! Why the hell did he care if you suffered? He had Stefan. Why did he have to toy with giving Stefan his memory back in bits and pieces? There was not fucking need for that. When you do mean and evil things with no reason like Klaus does, then you're a bad guy, Damon. I didn't fall for a bad guy."

Damon's neck stiffened as he resisted the burning desire to kiss her. He wasn't sure if he hated or loved how well Addie understood him. It made him feel vulnerable and exposed but it was somehow comforting to know that she hadn't run off yet. The only annoying thing was that he couldn't read her as well.

His eyes slipped closed and he murmured, "How do you only see the best in me?"

"I just said you make a lot of mistake," she giggled.

"You know what I mean. How did you pick me? How did I get so lucky? How did I screw it up?"

"I drew your name out of a hat. You won the lottery," she joked, her voice sounding serious before truthfully answering, "And you got overprotective and jealous."

"Is it too late now to say sorry and have it make a difference?" Damon whispered tentatively.

Her lips pursed, almost brushing his. That wasn't an actual apology. "You can try and see."

He sighed and rolled his eyes. Sometimes he really didn't like Addie's games and wished she would just give him a straight answer. This time she deserved to put him through the wringer, though. His hand cupped her cheek and his eyes opened to meet hers as he professed, "Ads, I love you. I'm in love with you. You are my life and world. I don't know if you've noticed but I go a little crazy when it comes to you. You also drive me a little crazy but I like that. When I saw you in Chicago I flipped. I couldn't tell down from up. Two words kept screaming over every other thought I had: why and run. You were supposed to be safe. I know you hate when I get all alpha male but, love, it's always going to be my job to make sure you're safe. You'll be 90 years-old and I'm gonna be doing checks on the staff and compelling them into taking extra care of you. Don't laugh. It's your fault for introducing me to this kind of love," he said defensively when she started to chuckle.

"No, no. It's sweet, if a bit stalkerish."

"To my credit, I wouldn't have to do stalkerish things if you were cool with marrying me for a lifetime and adopting kids if you-." Damon inhaled sharply, realizing the deep inner thoughts he only let himself consider on the darkest of nights after a couple of bottles that he was confessing to. He turned his head away but could still feel her eyes burning into him as his face flushed. After holding his breath for as long as he could, he slowly, loudly exhaled. "Can we just forget I ever said that?"

"Is that what you want?" Addie muttered, a trembling hand pushing through her hair.

Apparently not. If she was going to stay broken up with him over this, he might as well be honest. "Part of me wants to be a selfish bastard and turn you when you're old enough and have you for forever," he mumbled. More clearly he continued, "Mostly, I just want you to be happy and I know that would not make you happy. But see, before we even started this, we put a timer on it. We had to end this in 15 years, well, now we technically have less than 14 years since your 16th birthday has passed, all because of your biological clock. No offense, Addie, but sometimes you really overthink, overanalyze, and overplan things. You have always hated the idea of having kids; you plan on borrowing Jeremy and Elena's kids on the weekend and returning them when the time for actual parenting comes around. Let's look at the fact that you don't like the idea of marriage but refuse to have kids unless you can raise them in a two parent house; I don't exactly how that works and I've never questioned you because, hey, it's you and Addie logic doesn't make sense. However, I was stupid and desperate enough to agree to ignore the fact that you want none of that but still let you dictate that we end, no matter what, on your 30th birthday so you could have two years to find someone and three years for an engagement period and time to get pregnant. We have a fucking pact to break up so you can possibly have kids that you currently hate the idea of by 35. I'm sorry, Ads, but it's a little ridiculous," scoffed Damon.

"So yes," he sighed defeatedly, "I'm sorry if I think breaking up if we're good together and making each other happy is stupid. Especially if we reach that point and you're still undecided, And especially when it's something I can give you. I mean, it doesn't have to be adoption. We have the money for in vitro if you want to do the whole pregnancy experience. The last time we discussed this you called a baby a parasite, actually a blood sucking leech to be more precise and oh, my god would you please say something!" he exclaimed, burying his face in both hands. Her silence was deafening. Damon felt like he was just digging himself into a deeper and deeper pit that would cave in as soon as he tried to climb out of it. He had to shut up before he went into all the reasons as to why it made sense.

Addie frowned as she had been stuck on one thought since the beginning. She looked up at the ceiling and said the seven words that seemed to be stuck on loop, "Our kids would be so fucked up."

"What?" Damon said in confusion, not expecting that kind of response.

"Consider it," she said in a very neutral, matter-of-fact voice. "With my genes I would be passing down ten types of crazy, some of them actual medical problems, others just as my… eccentricities. How do you raise a kid in the supernatural? 'Billy, I know your father barely looks five years older than you but you still have to listen to him when he says you're grounded!'"

He raised an eyebrow at her and smirked, "You don't think a kid would respect my authority?"

She rolled her eyes and lightly smack his hard stomach with the back of her hand. "You can't compel your child, Damon. Nor can you threaten them with physical abuse."

"I know that! Little Billy could still be 40 and know to respect his much younger looking father."

"Mhm. Then how do you explain to your grandson and your great-grandson? I mean, when does it stop? I'm not convinced it's even a sane or safe idea to raise a kid aware of the supernatural world considering all the hell and trouble that's come into my life from it."

Damon slipped his hand under the dark top she wore and rubbed back and forth above the hem of his boxers. She untensed a little, sinking further into him. Calm and gently he told her, "In your life's defense, it wouldn't be so hazardous if your sister wasn't a doppelganger and you weren't born where I thought Katherine was entombed."

"Thanks." she said dryly. Addie felt the need to point out, "You haven't apologized yet."

"That's it on this subject?" he asked in mild surprise.

"Damon, we lasted, what? Five, six months before we broke up? I'm not discussing one day short of 14 years into the future. I'm getting bored," she informed him impatiently.

Whatever she wanted, whatever she wanted. He was hardly going to argue with her when he was trying to win her back. Where had he left off? "Right. So, you were in Chicago and my instincts to do anything I had to in order to protect you. You wouldn't listen to me when I said 'let's go' so I panicked and thought using our relationship would make you listen. When that didn't happen I became pretty pissed off and told Klaus we were broken up, meaning I went through on my threat. I wasn't listening to you when you were telling me why you had to stay and once you said you wanted to stay, I just saw red. It didn't occur to me that you were doing what you thought was the safest thing for everyone involved. I'm sorry, Addie. I should have listened to you from the start. I should have stopped and taken the time to understand you as well as you read me. I'm so sorry I broke up with you. Now that I've listened and heard your side I've realized just how colossal my mistake has been. Will you forgive me for being such an idiot?"

She nodded against his shoulder. It was pathetic how easily she would accept his apology. Klaus may have held her hostage in the summer but Damon was the one who'd truly had her hostage, at least since she saved him from the fire. He had her by the heartstrings. Her emotions were so intertwined with him that it was disgusting. Addie hated that breaking up with him had left her so miserable that she was willing to take him back without a second thought. There was no doubt she would be happy with him again but how long would it be before the other shoe dropped and they broke up again.

Damon lightly kissed her forehead and begged, "I know you agreed to one chance. And I know I don't deserve another with a girl like you. Addie, you've gotta give me one more shot not to screw this up. Please, Ads. I miss you so much. I hate being together but not together. It just makes everything so much more painful. I can't hold you properly. I can't kiss you. I'm watching everything I say and I'm tense. Ads, you were the person I turned to when I'm tense. What am I supposed to do now?"

"Hear me when I say this," Addie said firmly. If Damon was going to keep her emotionally hostage, she wasn't going to suffer like she had been nor was she going to be yo-yoed around. "You get one last try. You know I will only break up with you for cheating or abuse, otherwise I believe in sticking it out until it works out. So barring those two things, I will not break up with you until we agreed to." They could argue about the arrangement later. She continued warning, "The next time you end things, that's that. There will be no more third attempts, no getting back together. This is your last chance."

Cautiously optimistic Damon angled his lips a breath above hers and hopefully asked, "Does that mean you're my girlfriend again." She hummed in confirmation and he couldn't help the grin that spread so wide his cheeks hurt. "Good," he murmured seductively, "because I have been really wanting to do this.

Expecting a kiss, Addie squealed and squirmed in surprised when Damon used his speed to move her beneath him and yank one of the two pillows he had been using from under her head and tossing it over his shoulder and somewhere across the room. "Damn it, Damon!" she scolded, lightly smacking his bare shoulder as he hovered over her, his weight resting on his elbows. "We're not even together two seconds and you're already cheating!"

There was just something so satisfying in knowing that he could annoy her with such a simple movement. As long as he remained able to startle her he'd always be able to fluster her and if he was always able to do that, then he was always able to calm her down. He smirked at her devilishly; he could push her buttons just a bit more.

"You know, I am wounded that you would accuse me of cheating. Did you not just tell me you would break up with me if I cheat on you? Do I really look that stupid?" he whined, jutting out his lower lip in a pout.

Her eyes briefly narrowed at him before she snapped, "Shut up. You know exactly what kind of cheating I mean. No vampire advantages!"

"Oh, that," he stressed in fake enlightenment. "Oops," he said innocently, giving her a small grin and lift of his shoulders.

Smiling at him just as innocent, she contemplated, "I never specified what type of cheating I would dump you over. Technically, I could end this right now and never break my word."

"Not funny," Damon enunciated slowly.

"Neither is you using your super speed," she lectured, a stern finger point in his face.

He used just a little of his speed to catch her unsuspecting finger gently between his teeth. It wasn't his fault that Addie had set herself up to be so easily baited again. Damon could see her getting ready to berate him again so he quickly released the digit, caught her hand with his and pinned it slightly above her head.

"You led yourself right into that one. You should know by now not to stick a biteable object in front of a vampire," snicked Damon, enjoying the way her cheeks flushed in annoyance.

"Dick," she muttered as she stuck her tongue out at him, the little happy yellow bunny onto her tongue ring smiling up at him and informing him that he sucked.

Damon resisted a groan; he doubted Addie had even considered just exactly how she could torture him with that bit of metal and her tongue. Not that he would ever consider letting her do the majority of inappropriate thoughts that ran through his mind.

"Be nice," he tease. "We don't want to start this relationship on a bad note."

"You started it," she pouted.

"Mmm. That is true," whispered Damon, his lips hovering over hers. "I promise to make it up to you." Their mouths barely brushed. Her was like the missing piece of a puzzle he had been search for all summer and it took every ounce of restraint to keep from fitting the pieces together. "Better?" he breathed softly.

Addie shook her head slightly. "Oh, no. I mean, it's a start but you're going to have to do much better."

His kiss was so gentle, tender and almost hesitant that it made her breath catch; it was like the very first one they had shared that night of the fire. Damon grinned, understanding her reaction. His mouth was minty, and his lips were smooth, and Addie lost all sense of time and place as she slowly kissed him back. He pulled away for a moment, looked into her eyes as they opened, and kissed her again. It was different this time—deeper, full of need. Her arms were heavy and light all at once as one twisted around his neck, pulling him closer. She had missed this. She'd almost forgotten how much she liked being kissed by him, liked the smell and the taste and the feel of him. His arm slipped under and around her waist and Damon held her tightly to him as his lips moved against hers. She put a hand on his shoulder, her fingers digging into the muscle that lay beneath.

Addie groaned and broke away from the kiss as her phone started to ring. It was actually rather surprising that she had made it past noon without someone calling and demanding where she was. Damon let out a soft groan and took her arched, exposed neck as a silent invitation. She fought to keep her voice firm and steady as his teeth grazed her skin, "I should get that. The phone, I mean."

"Probably," he muttered. Carefully, he closed his teeth over the spot where her blood thrummed and pounded, his breath warm on her skin.

Her lips pursed together as she focused on the annoying ringtone rather that the way his tongue flicked in time with her rapid pulse. Addie tried not to let herself notice the way his chest seemed to have become more sculpted and defined over the summer as she gently pressed at it. "C'mon, Damon. I can't answer if you don't move."

Snickering, he slowly kissed his way back up her neck and nipped lightly at her earlobe. "That's the funny thing about phones; if you wait long enough," he paused until the room became silent again and with a firm finger he tilted her head in the other direction to give the other side of her neck the same treatment, "they eventually shut up."

When Damon's phone began to go off, Addie brought her shoulder up to her ear, blocking him off. "Will you answer that?" she huffed. "How likely do you think it is that we'd get calls back to back unless it was important?"

"And this isn't important?" asked Damon, kissing her intently.

Again she turned away from his kiss. Pushing at both his shoulders, she threatened, "If you don't answer the phone, you're not going to get to do that."

He gave a loud, pouting whine as he pushed himself from over her and moved over the nightstand. "You are so mean to me," he grumbled before answering the phone. "This better be important."

Addie kissed along the column of his throat as he listened impatiently. Chills ran down his spine and he gently brushed his lips across her forehead. He wasn't particularly in the mood to hear Alaric lecture him about Addie so he abruptly cut the other man off, "Do I seem like an idiot, Ric? I know it's the second day of school. Do you think I'd let her skip the second day? I thought she was at school." Damon quietly listened to the other man as he made a funny face at Addie as she looked at him in mock disapproval. "Hold on," he said into the receiver, placing a finger over her lips. He rapped his knuckles lightly on his wooden nightstand. Quickly and quietly he kissed her before pretending to knock again and waiting a second. "She's a sleep," he lied, "and sick, judging by the mounds of tissues." Damon pulled the phone away from his ear as Alaric started to bitch at him but it was only Addie's gentle touch on his wrist and pleading look that stopped him from hanging up. He retorted sharply, "I'm guessing she didn't tell me anything because I'm not her boyfriend, making it not my job to keep tabs on her or to heal her at every cough and sniffle." A brief silence. "She's sick, Ric." A longer silence. "You know, I've found Addie doesn't respond too well to threats." Damon looked at the phone in confusion after not getting a response. He scoffed and looked at Addie incredulously, "Can you believe the bastard hung up on me?"

"Do you make it a habit of lying to everyone?" she wondered, scooting so Damon could lay next to her. Even awake it was reassuring to have his solid mass pressed next to her.

He brushed strands of blue hair out of her face and curled the soft locks around his fingers. "Ric's already pissed at me for killing him. I hardly need him pissed at me for failing to be responsible and letting you skip school or training. Plus, I don't exactly want a lecture now that we're back together," Damon explained. "It's not exactly like he's even happy that you're staying here."

It was easy to understand Damon's point of view when he phrased it that way. Addie nodded slowly and agreed, "True. I have a feeling lectures will be abundant when people find out. We really could just, you know, not tell anyone. Though, you really don't let me do anything; I kinda do whatever I want."

"And do you have any idea how stressful that is for me?" he chastised, lightly taking her by the chin so she had to look him in the eye. "But Alaric does have the power to fail you and give you detention if you don't help with Illumination Night, as punishment for skipping school."

"But I'm sick!"

Damon snorted with laughter, "Yeah, apparently Alaric didn't buy that line. And if he did, well, he said a drop of my blood and you'd be as good as new."

"You know, I never liked him," Addie muttered bitterly, taking Damon's hand and tracing random patterns on it. She and Alaric were not going to get along if he tried getting all parental and authoritative on her. A few hours of volunteer work was a fair enough punishment for having skipped, though. But that wasn't really her fault; it was Damon's fault for not waking her up. That reminded her. Gently she asked, "This morning, or last night, or whatever, was that Stefan or Rebekah?"

Sighing heavily, Damon ran his fingers through his hair. "You know how I told you Ric's car spontaneously combusted?"

"Which sounds sketchy, even for around here," Addie nodded in acknowledgement.

"That's not quite technically what happened. Remember Vicki Donovan?"

Her lips pressed into a thin, hard line as she sourly answered, "You expect me to forget one of the dead ex-girlfriends my brother is talking to?"

"Stupid question," Damon replied quickly, holding his hands up slightly. "What really happened last night is Vicki used some witch and her brother to get some kind of physical foothold here. She could interact with objects, touch stuff, do whatever she wanted, basically. Her bargain with the witch was that she had to make sure that the hybrids couldn't be allowed to survive which meant killing your sister. Vicki locked Stefan and Elena in the car and started it on fire."

He watched Addie as she had gotten out of bed halfway through his retelling and started pacing the length of his room. Gradually, her strides became longer and quicker. Spinning in front of the fireplace she pointed an accusatory finger at him and spat, "You said there was no such thing as ghost. Now you're telling me one tried to blow up my sister?"

"I also said there was no such things as werewolves and Klaus. I know it is very uncommon and very hard to believe when it does occur but I am occasionally wrong," he said patiently. "If you don't believe me, call Bonnie; she had to ju-ju away Vicki."

Addie took a deep, shaky breath. Her heart pounded irregularly against her ribcage and her hand trembled so bad she could barely run it through her hair. Damon might try to screw with her about ghost interacting with the real world to get back at her for one phantom bullshit thing or another but Bonnie wouldn't mess with her like that. It was Bonnie's shoulder she had cried into when The Sixth Sense and Paranormal Activity had somehow ended up on one of their girl's night watch list.

"Ok," she said unsteadily, her bottom lip quivering, "but what does that have to do with anything? Bonnie sent Vicki away; she can't hurt anyone anymore."

"No, Vicki can't hurt anyone," Damon confirmed, getting out of bed and walking over to Addie. His arms wrapped around her in a hug; holding her close to him as she shook like a leaf. She held him so tight around the waist he was sure her fingers were hurting. He rested his cheek against the top of her head and confided, "I think we have a bigger problem, though."

"What do you mean bigger?" cracked Addie's voice, a tear falling onto Damon's bare chest.

He hesitated, rubbing at her shoulders while one hand ran through her hair. Couldn't they just solve this one problem without getting Addie involved? Possibly, if he hadn't already opened his damn mouth. "Remember Mason Lockwood?"

"Are you asking if I remember the guy you tortured for hours and then ripped out his heart in the sake of gaining information, which you did not get?"

"First of all, I told told you to leave the house so you would hear it; it's not my fault you're a stubborn pain in the ass. Secondly, I should probably just save us both time and assume you remember every wrong thing every single person besides yourself has done," Damon snipped, a bit harsher than he intended to.

Addie rested her other cheek against his chest. His cool skin was ebbing the flood of heat that came to her face when she was upset. "Trust me, Damon, you do so many things that my memory can only hold your greatest hits. Do you have a point?"

"Well," he cleared his throat and rolled his shoulders awkwardly, "let's just say the, uh, setting of this morning was very familiar."

She stepped out of his embraced and pinched the bridge of her nose. Addie began to pace again, not daring to look at Damon. "You mean to tell me that, as a ghost, Mason Lockwood decided to enact some twisted revenge on you?"

"Basically."

"That's not even possible," Addie stated matter-of-factly. "Anna and Vicki were here because Jeremy died and they were the consequences the witch spirits warned Bonnie about if she brought him back to life."

"Yeah, ok," nodded Damon. "Now, let's just say Bonnie screwed up when she sent Vicki away. Wouldn't be the first time she's gotten a spell wrong."

She turned sharply on her heel to glare at him and protectively snapped, "You wanna blame Bonnie because you're getting overdue revenge?"

"No, I'm blaming Bonnie because every time in 146 years, whenever I've killed someone they've stayed dead. Now she did her little spell and I have a dead, vengeful werewolf after me," he shot back.

"You don't have some ghost after you," insisted Addie, a few tears leaking from her eyes. "You probably just-"

"What? Did I somehow tie and bind myself to a chair in my sleep and then throw open the curtain, too?"

Addie threw up her hands in frustration and whined, "I don't - I don't know but you did something. Ghost don't turn up six months later and decide they want payback. Vicki Donovan may not have liked my sister but her ghost would have tried to kill Elena! It just doesn't make sense, Damon."

Slowly he walked over to her and grabbed her hands. Damon tried to meet her deep blue eyes but she refused to meet his gaze. He crooked a finger under her chin and lifted her face until her water eyes had no choice but to look at him. Quietly he asked, "When was the last time anything made sense in this town?"

Her bottom lip grew bright red as she gently chewed at it between his teeth. That was a trap question. Admitting nothing was logical since he and Stefan had shown up was as good as admitting that what he was claiming was an actual possibility. Addie didn't realize she had begun to cry until one of Damon's hands was trying to keep up with swiping away tears as they fell. She watched him move to grab something from his dresser before he was quickly leading her towards the bed and pulling her into his lap. Just before the body wracking sobs overcame her, Addie managed to bury her face where the crook of his neck and shoulder met.

Damon slightly rocked her, held her tight, and made soft, soothing sounds in her ear as he let her cry out her fear. He knew Addie's problem with ghost was the same thing he had been considering all day; they couldn't physically be stopped. While Addie logically knew she stood no chance against a vampire or a werewolf or a crazed maniac with a chainsaw, she could at least fool herself into thinking it was possible because if it could bleed, you could kill it. Unfortunately, Damon had to agree with her on this ideology; he had no idea how he was going to deal with his ghost werewolf. The only person who seemed to stand a chance against the ghost was the source of the problem: Bonnie.

After a long time Addie settled down to the occasional hiccupping, gasping breath. Gently, Damon grabbed her by the back of head and pulled her away from his shoulder. He took the soft t-shirt he'd fetched from his dresser and lightly wipe the snot from under her nose before shifting to a clean part and blotting away the straggling tears. Blushing profusely, Addie took the shirt from him and rubbed at where she had been crying and the trail of tears left down his chest, all while muttering how sorry she was.

"It's ok," he laughed, taking the cloth back from her and tossing it to the end of his bed. Damon cradled both her cheeks in his hands and gently kissed her. "You can cry on me any time, love."

"I've been thinking," she mumbled, resting her head on his shoulder. "The vampire torture device that was used against the tomb vampires, I told Bonnie not to despell that."

"Yes, yes, I do recall the debilitating pain and being tossed into a basement and then sentenced to burn alive," Damon recollected dryly.

Addie's lips twitched towards a frown but she didn't. In her defense, she hadn't known she'd liked him that much at that point. Refocusing, she pointed out, "If we have a problem of vengeful dead…"

"That crossed my mind, too," he sighed, holding her tighter. "Maybe you should stay with Bonnie this afternoon; you know, volunteer with her at the Illumination festival. Or go off and help her fix this damn ghost problem." He didn't like the idea of leaving Addie alone but he was already the target of one malicious spirit and who knew how many more were going to come after him. Plus, Damon had no way of defending her. "If anyone can keep you safe, it's Bonnie."

"Ok," she agreed, reading the concern in his shocking blue eyes.

---

How Damon could argue he was a safer driver than her, Addie could quite understand as he came to a squealing halt in front of Caroline and Bonnie, holding bright paper lanterns to hang in the trees. He gave her a smirk but she just rolled her eyes as she got out of the car and walked around the car to meet up with her friends.

"Bye, Ads," he winked as she hugged Caroline but she only stuck her tongue at him in response. Damon acknowledged the other girls with a nod, "Greetings, Blondie. Witchy. I think you got your voodoo wires all crossed when you got rid of Vicki Donovan."

"What do you mean? Why?" Bonnie asked in confusion, setting the lamps down and moving closer to the car.

"Because I'm pretty sure I just got spit-roasted by Mason Lockwood's ghost."

She cocked her head in disbelief, "What?

"And why would you think that?" questioned Caroline.

"He's either having a really bad acid trip or some horrible deja vu. He's convinced a ghost chained him to a chair and shoved a hot poker into his chest," Addie faked whispering, in a voice that said she clearly didn't believe him.

Damon nodded at her, frowning. "What she said except without the acid trip."

Caroline looked quizzically at Bonnie. "I thought you said that ghosts couldn't physically interact with people."

"They can't."

Addie bobbed her head knowingly. "I said the exact same thing."

"Yeah, well, I don't have time for a vengeful Lockwood. When I kill someone, they're supposed to stay dead. Whatever you screwed up, fix it," Damon ordered before his tires squealed as he peeled off.

"You missed school to be with Damon?! Didn't you guys break up?! Did you not hear me when I told you that he and Elena were like all over each other?" the blonde shrieked, her hands on her hips and a demanding note in her voice.

Addie lightly pushed past her and pulled her best friend into a hug. "Hey Bon," she said tentatively. Bonnie totally didn't deserve Jeremy speaking to his dead ex-girlfriends and she should totally say something about that but he was still her big brother and it felt totally wrong talking shit about him when he wasn't there to defend himself.

"I'm echoing Caroline's thoughts," Bonnie laughed lightly, sensing her unease and hugging her back tightly.

Breaking away, Addie held up her hands defensively. "It's not like that! I missed school because I was sick. The only reason I'm here is because Alaric threatened to fail me and give me detention if I didn't take the magical cure all that is vampire blood and get my ass down here to help. We did break up; there's nothing going on. Damon's just… Damon. Now, because he is just so kind and wonderful and loving, instead of jumping to this idea of Mason Lockwood, is it possible that Vicki's still floating around?" she asked hopefully. "I mean, she has just as much reason to haunt and hurt Damon as he does."

"Why do you think it's Vicki and not Mason?" Caroline asked, eyeing her suspiciously.

Bonnie and Addie exchanged dark looks of understanding before the witch explained, "Because if any ghost other than Vicki Donovan has a physical foothold on our side, then that means Damon's right and something has gone really, really wrong." She stared at Matt Donovan as he worked the opposite street corner as them. "It took a lot for him to send his sister away. It's not Vicki."

"Really, how bad do you think things would get if we just assumed it was Vicki and let it be?" Addie inquired, trying to sound more casual and carefree than she felt.

"When does ignoring the problem ever work?"

The vampire snorted, "You're one to talk."

"Not now, Caroline," snapped Bonnie. She wasn't about to discuss her situation with Jeremy right in front of his little sister. When she went to grab her bag from the ground the strap came off and it fell open. Her grimoire slid out of it. Groaning in frustration, Bonnie bent to pick everything up when the spellbook flew open to a page on its own. Carefully, she picked up the book and read the open page.

Addie crossed her fingers, closed her eyes, and prayed, "Please tell me that's a recipe for witch cookies."

"It's a manifestation spell," Bonnie breathed. "It's used to reveal veiled matter."

Over the youngest girl's whimpering Caroline asked, "What's veiled matter?"

"Ghost."

---

The stairs of the old, abandoned witch house creaked as they descended the stairs. Addie couldn't help but wrap her arms around herself tighter. The place never use to set her teeth on edge; perhaps it was just the quiet or that it was only her and Bonnie.

The witch gave her best friend an apologetic smile as she sensed Addie's nervous energy. "Sorry, I know it's creepy, but we needed a private place around here to do the spell," she apologized.

"Uh-huh," Addie answered distractedly, bouncing on the balls of her feet as they stood in the center of the basement. "Is it just me or it like 500 times creepier now that there aren't spirits of the hundred dead witches who were horrifically burned to death in this very spot?"

Bonnie shrugged, "I guess they offered a sense of welcoming peace. Well, not to Damon. They made his ring stop working every time he came in here."

Damon and Emily. Damon and Bree. Damon and Bonnie. "I don't think he gets along very well with witches," Addie thought. "So, when we reveal this matter, there's like no chance of seeing 100 burned ghost witches?"

"Since I brought Jeremy back to life they're not here anymore."

"The spirits aren't. But what about the ghost?" Addie said slowly, stressing the difference.

The witch rolled her eyes. "They're gone and they made it clear they were never coming back. Relax."

"Sure, ok," Addie nodded, taking a deep breath. "Pinkie promise?"

"How about you just light the candles?" sighed Bonnie, pointing to a shelf that held several white, wax cylinders.

Next to the candles was a box of matches. Grateful for something to do, Addie placed the six candles so they were evenly spaced around Bonnie in a circle encompassing the room. Each match she struck and blew out left a distinctive burning scent in the air. Addie knew Bonnie had just given her something to distract her when she heard the other girl chanting as she struck the match to light the fifth candle but continued to finish with her tasked.

When she finished, she turned and looked at Bonnie, a hand running nervously through her hair. First a gentle breeze blew through the room, making the flames flicker. Again, Addie protectively wrapped her arms around herself. A more powerful, loud gust kicked up, sending dust through the air and rattling window panes.

"Bonnie, I don't like this," Addie called over the noise. Suddenly someone was grabbing the witches hands and she was hiding behind a shelf, her eyes screwed shut as she screamed. Addie wasn't certain for how long she cried out but when a hand landed on her shoulder her eyes flew open. At the sight of Bonnie's very dead grandmother, Addie jumped further behind the shelf, knocking an empty paint can to the ground.

"Calm down, child. I'm not here to hurt you," instructed Sheila Bennett.

Addie's screams dropped to terrified whimpers and groans of disbelief as she moved slightly from behind the shelf so she could watch Bonnie and her grams talk.

"A fine mess you've made, honey. The witches told you there'd be consequences to bringing Jeremy back and you did it anyway," Grams lectured, a hint of disapproval in her voice.

Bonnie shrugged and shook her head insistently. "I didn't have a choice. I love him and I...I couldn't just let him go."

"I understand. But you cracked open the door to the other side. There's an old witch over here. She took advantage of it. She took advantage of you, honey. When you did that spell to send Vicki Donovan away, she wedged the door wide open, giving a free pass to anybody with unfinished business."

Addie suppressed a high squeal; they knew far too many dead people with unfinished business.

"How do you know this?"

Grams smirked and knowingly said, "Witches talk. Even on the other side. Who do you think makes all the rules?"

No wonder Damon didn't get along with witches; Addie rolled her eyes.

"What does the witch want?" Bonnie asked in concern.

"That's Original vampire business, not yours. I don't want you getting in the middle of that," Grams instructed firmly. "I'm here because you upset the balance of nature. And it's your duty to set it right. You need to close that door."

---

Addie sighed as she waited for Elena to process her short reiteration of everything she and Bonnie had learned from Sheila Bennett.

"How do we do that?" Elena asked, referring to how they closed the door to the other side.

Her fingers flexed and unflexed into a fist; she was getting sick and tired of the damn necklace. "Apparently the old witch can draw power from this side because of her talisman," Addie grumbled. In fact, she was getting tired of all things Original related.

"Talisman… my necklace?"

"It's… you don't even want to know how complicated that damn thing is. I know you're not going to like this, but Bonnie needs to destroy it. Trust me, it's really in your best interest," she sighed, kicking at a raised nail in the floorboard.

Elena's voice lowered slightly as she hissed, "I just walked in on Jeremy kissing the reason for all this so I'm completely ok with that."

Addie's mouth dropped open in anger as she slightly snapped, "What? Are you kidding?"

"I wish. Look, I don't have the necklace. Damon has it somewhere. Text him. I've gotta go deal with your brother," Elena huffed, hanging up.

She scowled as she made to call Damon. It was so annoying how Jeremy was strictly her brother and not their brother whenever he did something wrong.

Thankfully he picked up on the second ring. Addie didn't waste time with words as she got to the point, "I need to know where Elena's necklace is."

"I am never going to hear the end of that damn necklace," he groaned.

Smugly she told him, "Yeah, you are because Bonnie's going to destroy it. Where is it?"

Damon clicked his tongue against his teeth. He stole the necklace back from Katherine. Came back to Mystic Falls. When he got to Mystic Falls Addie was back and that had pretty much been the only thing he'd given a damn about. He wasn't exactly sure where the necklace ended up. Shit. With almost certainty he answered, "It's in my room."

"Damon," Addie said slowly, trying to be patient, "I don't know if you've realize but your room is the size of a small house. That's not exactly helpful."

"I don't exactly know where it is. Just look for it. Try the pants I was wearing the night you came back," he suggested.

"We need this to destroy the ghost problem and you don't know where it is?" she ground out through gritted teeth.

"I know it's in my room! I'm sorry if I've been distracted by more important things than your sister's necklace."

Groaning, Addie hung up on him. When Bonnie cleared her throat, Addie turned around to face her, a sarcastic smile on her face. She slid her phone back into her pocket and clapped her hands together, rubbing them together in false excitement. In a singsongy voice she told Bonnie, "We get to go on a scavenger hunt."

---

"So, this is Damon's room," Bonnie said obviously as she stood in the doorway.

"Yep." Addie glanced at her as she opened the closet door and laughed, "You know, you can enter and help search. Damon may bite but his room his is completely harmless."

Hesitantly the witch took a few steps into the room. "That may be but, uh, how quickly is he going to try and kill me for snooping through his stuff?"

"Good point," she called from the back of the closet, digging down towards the bottom of the hamper, "but you're quick enough to stop him with that exploding brain thing." Addie gave a small exclaim of triumph as she pulled out the right pair of jeans. Unsuccessfully she checked every pocket before throwing them back in the hamper with a growl of frustration.

"What's this?" Bonnie asked Addie as she came out of the closet.

Addie frowned as she saw that Bonnie was holding up the picture frame Damon had replaced on his nightstand. "It's a picture," she answered pointedly, moving to search through his dresser.

"Of you and Damon kissing."

"Believe it or not, we did do that when we dated," she muttered, her cheeks flaming red. Having rifled through his underwear and socks, she pushed his tumbler and decanter of scotch out of the way to check for the necklace.

"Yeah, while you were dating. Why's it up now?" pressed Bonnie.

The dresser rattled as she shoved the drawer back in much harder than she intended. Addie began digging through the second one down. "It's Damon's room. It's Damon's picture. Ask Damon."

Bonnie shook her head as she gently set the picture back down. "No, nu-uh. If you're defensive, he'll be downright pissy. You two have whatever screwed up little relationship works for you guys."

"There is no relationship," Addie insisted, pulling out her phone. Seeing it was Elena she curtly answered, "What?"

"Listen I need you to get Bonnie to hold off on sending the ghost back," her sister answered in a hushed tone.

She let her head fall to the dresser with a loud thump and groaned. "What now? You said you were in full support of getting rid of them."

"I was. I am. Look, Lexi's here and she's helping with Stefan."

"Ohhhhhhhh," Addie said in understanding, "it's all about Stefan now and you don't give two flying fucks that's Damon's trying to outrun vengeful ghost, which isn't exactly possibly."

It was a long moment before Elena finally answered, "Damon will understand. Damon can handle himself."

Always second place. She scoffed in disbelief, "Really? Seriously? Have you figured out how to fight off a ghost?"

"Addie!" Elena pouted.

"Whatever," she muttered. "Let's just find it first and then we'll choose between all the boyfriend ghost dramas." And hung up.

"What are you talking about?" Bonnie asked warily as she watched Addie impatiently shove the second drawer close and start to dig around the one below it.

Addie ran an an anxious hair through her dyed hair. She really needed to mind her surroundings before she talked. Evasively she answered, "Lexi's back, so now Elena wants us to hold off on destroying the necklace until she can fix Stefan."

Able to tell she wasn't getting the whole truth, Bonnie placed her hands on her hips and pressed, "You said all the boyfriend dramas. As in multiple scenarios. What is it, Addie?"

"Guess I called Damon my boyfriend. Old habits die hard, I suppose. Even though we're not together it doesn't exactly mean I'm fond of letting him be a ghost werewolf's chew toy," she answered dismissively as she finished searching the dresser and moved to search the nightstand on her side of the bed.

"You're a really bad liar, Addison Gilbert," Bonnie sighed, leaning against one of the post at the foot of the bed. "What aren't you telling me?"

"Uhhh," Addie stalled as she moved to look in Damon's nightstand now that Bonnie had moved. With a single breath of air she rushed out, "Elena caught Jeremy kissing Anna."

"What?"

"I'm sorry," she mumbled into the drawer. Addie pulled out the small rectangle wrapped in blue paper that had a gift tag with her name on it and set it on the nightstand. It didn't say who it was from but it must have been the gift Stefan had taunted Damon about coming into the room and leaving. She wondered why Damon hadn't given it to her.

In bewilderment Bonnie asked, "He kissed her?"

"Yeah, well, my siblings have a problem with only wanting one person. Elena wants Damon and Stefan. Jeremy wants you and the ghost of his dead vampire girlfriend. I want - well, considering our parents never cheated on each other I find it confusing how I am the only one who was raised with a concept of fidelity," grumbled Addie as she shifted lotions, a deck of cards, a copy of White Fang, votive candles, a couple of lighters, a small bag of either pot or oregano, a booklight, an old fashioned alarm clock, an original edition of The Return of Sherlock Holmes, two pocket knives, chapstick, a collection of bookmarks and other miscellaneous crap. What the hell kind of problems Damon thought he was going to encounter in the middle of the night, she didn't really understand. Growing aggravated she shut the drawer with a loud snap and turned to face Bonnie. Her expression and voice softened at the crushed and confused look on her best friend's face. "Look, I'm sorry my brother's an idiot. I promise I will help you rip him a new one, if you want. Right now, we have a bigger problem. Anna's got a foothold now, so she probably thinks that she's here to stay. But, Bonnie, we are going to find that necklace and send the bitch back to wherever the hell she came from."

With a small nod from Bonnie Addie went back to searching for the necklace, tearing Damon's room apart. She couldn't remember what, if any, jacket he was wearing that night so she checked the pockets of every single one in his closet. She checked under the bed, in the sheets, above the fireplace, and even in the soap dish. Though, after she had stolen the moonstone from there, Addie doubted he was ever likely to use that as a hiding place again.

Addie loudly stomped out of the bathroom, growled in frustration, and exclaimed, "Ugh! I give up. It's not anywhere in this room!"

Bonnie gave her a sympathetic smile when her phone started to vibrate. Checking her caller ID she saw that it was Jeremy. She exchanged a knowing look with Addie who marched over and snatched the phone from her.

"What do you want, you little two-timing dipshit?" Addie snarled into the phone.

"Addie?" Jeremy asked, sounding taken aback. "Did you find that necklace yet?"

She rolled her eyes and huffed, "Not that it's any of your damn business but no, not yet. Why? What's going on?"

"Ghost of the tomb vampires killed Tobias Fell. You might want to find that necklace before they start going alphabetically through Founding Families."

A hard lump formed in her throat as her mouth became very dry. She had known that the tomb vampires would come back, she just hadn't expected their "unfinished business" to be with the town as opposed to her. That definitely raised the stakes. They needed to find the talisman. Damon had been so sure that it had at least made it to his room. Her dark blue eyes narrowed, anger flashing in them.

"Well, it's not where it's supposed to be," she whispered menacingly. "I'm fairly certain someone took it."

"Who?"

"Oh, gee, I don't know," replied Addie, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Who do you think, idiot?"

Jeremy was quiet for a moment before answering with conviction, "She said she didn't take it."

"And of course you believe her," she sneered, smacking herself in the forehead.

"You know what? Yeah, yeah, I do believe her," he said defensively.

Addie spoke slowly, careful to enunciate every word, "You spent all summer bitching to me about how Elena and Damon were flirting while Stefan and me were gone or broken up. Wake up and smell the hypocrisy, bro. You're even worse than both of them. Neither one of them actually cheated. You know, being a worse boyfriend than Damon is saying a lot. I suggest getting your shit together before you lose everything."

With a grim smirk of satisfaction Addie ended the call and handed the phone back to Bonnie. She took it and eyed her younger friend critically. Sharply she said, "I thought Damon was, well, not a good boyfriend because all you two did was bitch at each other but he seemed to make you happy."

"If you repeat this to anyone, he will find a way to kill you, witchy headaches asides; Damon was actually a great boyfriend. We just bitched because we knew the other wouldn't get all butt hurt or take it personally like everyone else would. It's easier to keep from getting really pissed off when you blow it off the anger in small little burst when it comes along. If Damon doesn't do that then he gets all pissy and kills Alaric, tortures Caroline's dad, gets in a fight with Caroline, and then runs off with Katherine and bashes my brother's head in," Addie explained with a simple shrug. "He was never meant to be the knight in shining armor but that didn't stop him from being a great boyfriend. I just told Jeremy he was worse than Damon because he thought Damon was a crap boyfriend for flirting with Elena. I, on the other hand, am not stupid and knew he was going to do that before I even left. It didn't bother me, though, because I know Damon and while he might screw me over in other ways, he's felt cheated on enough himself not to do it to me."

"That's… sweet."

Addie rolled her eyes and muttered, "Don't let him hear you say that. He won't be so sweet then."

"You still like him," Bonnie stated sympathetically.

She shrugged; she wasn't going to deny the obvious. Her stomach twisted slightly as she lied, "We had our fun. I'm just glad we're still friends."

"Mhm," hummed Bonnie, not entirely convinced.

Addie was grateful to break away from Bonnie's unwavering stare when her phone started to vibrate. That relief was quickly replaced with annoyance when she saw it was her brother. Her answer was curt, "What?"

"I got the necklace," he sighed.

"You mean Anna gave you back the necklace," she corrected. Addie knew she was right when he didn't immediately answer. An anger ignited in her as she thought about the twice dead vampire whore who had kissed her brother. "Can you get it to the witch house?" Reluctantly Jeremy confirmed that he could. "Good. Get there now, before more people get hurt." Hanging up the phone Addie turned back to Bonnie, a small, pleading smile on her face. Far too innocently she asked, "You really don't me to go back to the witch house with you, right?"

"Seriously?" Bonnie grumbled.

Addie raised her shoulders, slightly curling in on herself. She felt guilty but that was just a really awkward situation she didn't want to put herself into. Meekly she confessed, "I know your grams is on our side but she's still a ghost and I still want to run and scream when I see her. This ghost stuff is just so out of my league, Bon. Give me a few hybrids to deal with; at least I know I need to rip their hearts out or heads off."

"You're going to make me face Jeremy alone?"

"Wouldn't you rather do that?" she asked. If she confronted Damon about cheating on her, Addie definitely wouldn't want witnesses for that. Quickly she added, "Trust me, I'm pissed at my brother and we're probably going to have a huge fight over this but I don't know. I can't reasonably talk to him right now and both of us getting on to him seems like we're ganging up on him and that just doesn't seem fair. Not that he really deserves fairness but two wrongs don't make a right and all that."

Bonnie crossed her arms and rolled her eyes at her best friend. She sighed, "You know, if you want to stay to make sure Damon is ok you could have just said that."

Her lips pursed despite the pang of guilt Addie felt. All day she had been concerned about the necklace, not how Damon was faring against a vengeful Lockwood or if more ghost had shown up to attack him. "I haven't even been thinking about him," she said truthfully. "I just really, really, really don't want to go back to a place that seems even more haunted now that it's not haunted by the spirit of a hundred dead witches."

"You realize that makes no sense?"

"But, you see, it makes sense to me and that's why it is referred to as 'Addie logic,'" she grinned.

"No," Bonnie said matter-of-factly, "Damon just calls it that because he was trying to… well, you were dating and he got something out of referring to it as that rather than just flat out calling you crazy."

Addie pouted and challenged, "What's so crazy about not wanting to go back to a place that scares the shit out of me?"

---

Addie slowly came to a halt as she maneuvered her Jeep through the trees and in front of the old Lockwood cellar. Four-wheel drive was amazing. She had tried calling Damon as soon as Bonnie left but his phone as gone straight to voicemail. Forty minutes later, after what she guessed was enough time for Bonnie to set the world right again she had tried again and he had answered, asking her to meet him here. When she tried to ask questions about what he wanted and why the old cellar Damon had only given her taunting responses about how she would have to come meet him if she really wanted to know. The bastard knew she didn't like unanswered questioned.

"Why am I here?" Addie sharply demanded, hopping out of the SUV and locking it.

"You are here!" Damon gasped dramatically, standing up from the top step that led underground. "It's about time."

Her eyes narrowed at him as she repeated, "Why am I here?"

"Cranky, cranky, cranky," he tsked. "We're waiting for Ric. I don't want to have to tell the story twice," explained Damon. More importantly, though, he didn't want to send Addie into the cave without knowing what was in there. Nothing had attacked Mason but that didn't mean there wasn't some horrible creature lurking there or something. Alaric was a little more adept to handle himself against something than Addie was.

"How come every time I see you you're covered in blood?" she scolded, moving closer and noticing the tears in his jacket and darker coloring around them.

He shrugged nonchalantly. "What can I say? I like to live life on the edge. At least the blood is dried this time."

Addie thumped her head back against her car; he was going to drive her insane. That reminded her. Accusatory she asked, "Do you just replace the word crazy with 'Addie logic?'"

Damon's frowned as his hands settled on her hips, keeping her pressed against the Jeep. He inhaled deeply and rested his forehead against hers. "Honestly," he exhaled slowly, "that is the most random question and I'm sure only Addie logic can explain how you came up with it."

"It's not that random. See, you're going to drive me crazy with all the stupid stuff you do and getting yourself hurt all the time. That led me to remembering that Bonnie said you just used 'Addie logic' instead of crazy because we were dating."

He scowled, "Why were you discussing me with Bonnie?"

"I wasn't. Well, not right then," she amended. "We were discussing why I didn't want to go back to the old witch house. We did discuss you earlier because all summer Jeremy kept telling me what a crap boyfriend you were for flirting with Elena but then he kissed Anna so I told him he was a hypocrite and a worse boyfriend than you. Then I had to explain to Bonnie that you really weren't a bad boyfriend because A) she was going to give me a lecture about staying with you and B) she was going to do that head exploding thing to you. Either way, I'm aloud to discuss you with Bonnie! You discuss me with Alaric," whined Addie.

That was true and fair enough. It wasn't that Damon minded her discussing him or their relationship with anyone, it was just that everyone was against them being together at that point. God, he was getting almost as bad as her in getting them off topic.

"Alright, alright, your question wasn't that random," he consented, kissing each of her cheeks. "But, Ads, I started using that term long before we began going out. Also, I don't exactly have a problem telling you when you're being crazy. It's obviously been too long since I've mentioned that you drive me ten types of crazy if you've already forgotten that. Addie logic is a term used to describe something that only makes sense in your head. Sometimes I can follow along when you explain it, like how you got to asking this question, but other times, like when you try to explain why the guitar is a cliche instrument, I just don't understand you. Or like how you rationalized going out with me. I will never understand how you reasoned that one out," finished Damon quietly.

His lips gently brushed against hers at first and then a little more insistently. Her arms wrapped around his neck for support as her knees buckled as he teasingly nipped at her lower lip. Hearing a crunch in the grass, Damon quickly broke away from her. A moment later Alaric appeared from behind a tree.

"I volunteered with Caroline and Bonnie but then ghost decided to invade Mystic Falls and apparently that was more important to solve since tomb vampires were killing Founding Family members," Addie rushed out in a single breath, holding her hands up. "So, in my defense, I really don't think I should be failed or given detention for being sick this morning and then trying to save the town.

"Seriously, Damon?" Alaric scolded, gesturing at Addie.

He could feel his cheeks color as he felt the frustration he had been feeling towards Ric for the past few weeks start to surface. Damon snatched the flashlight off the ground as he headed underground. He didn't dare look at Ric as he growled, "Give me some credit. I would never put her in harm's way. She does a fine job of that on her own."

"Didn't you have anyone else to call?" Alaric grumbled as he followed Damon. Addie was right behind him.

"Well, Addie's here," Damon stated obviously as he climbed through the hole in the bricks that he and Mason had made, "but she doesn't really count. I need a non-vampire to get in the cave, and as I said, I'm not putting her in danger, so you're pretty much the only one I trust to go in."

Alaric scoffed, "Well, you have a crappy way of showing that."

"Who do you think I am? Elena? I am perfectly capable of making my own decisions, thank you very much," Addie huffed indignantly.

"You spent the summer with Klaus without so much as letting anyone know."

"We'll revisit the idea of you making decisions once you prove you understand the concept of self-preservation over self-sacrifice," Damon muttered sourly. He may have made up with her about Chicago but that didn't mean he truly approved of her decision His eyes rolled as her footfalls became heavy and dramatic. "Now stop pouting about it or you will be like your sister."

"Give her a break," Alaric snapped at him.

Stopping short, Damon spun on his heel and turned to glare at the other man. "Look, if Mason Lockwood can get over the fact that I killed him, can't you cut me a little slack, Ric?"

"I shouldn't have to get over it!" he exclaimed. "I was your friend, Damon. You shouldn't have done it in the first place."

"Well! Sometimes… I do things I don't have to do," the vampire finished lamely.

Gasping, Addie clutched a hand over her heart and rested the other on Alaric's bicep. "Oh, my god. I would seriously accept that apology. The word 'sorry' is not in his vocabulary but that is so close?"

"You mean accept the same crap-ass apology he's recycling from Mason Lockwood?"

Addie took a step back and shrugged. It wasn't her fault that she hadn't known that.

"Yeah, well, I didn't mean it with him," Damon said, giving Alaric a crooked grin. When the other man just rolled his eyes, he took that as a good sign and continued on down the tunnel. Eventually, he felt the ward come up that blocked him from entering the cave. Damon waved for Alaric to pass but stood directly in front of Addie when she tried to. The passage was so narrow that trying to get around him proved to be very ineffective.

"Damon!" she snapped impatiently.

"Could be a trap," he said casually, leaning against the invisible wall.

Addie crossed her arms and looked at him pointedly. "And you believe that so much that you let your best friend go in there unguarded?" she challenged.

His voice dropped to a whisper as he hissed, "I'm not in love with him. I wouldn't lose my fucking mind if something happened to him."

"You know, idiot vampires lay in the middle of the road and cause car accidents. I could die driving home from here. You can't protect me from everything."

Damon's lips pinched; he obviously knew that but he'd do his best protecting her from everything he could. Over his shoulder he called, "So was Mason screwing with me, or is there something in there?" No answer. "Ric. Ric?"

"I found something," he eventually replied in wonder.

"What is it?" Damon asked impatiently.

After a moment Alaric admitted, "I have no idea. Addie might be better with this than I am." Puzzles were more her thing.

Addie stuck her tongue out at Damon and took the flashlight from him. She shined it in the direction of Alaric's voice, eventually finding him around a curve. He glanced at her before nodding his head to high up on the cave wall. A low whistle came out as she took in the immense number of ancient cave drawings.

"I'm gonna take a shot in the dark and say it's pictographs. If we read it from left to right like we would a book," Addie said slowly, angling her flashlight at the far end of the cave, "that," three crescent slices descending and shaded in to varying degrees, "is probably it moon cycle, since we're dealing with werewolves, that stick figure person is a person and that big dog looking thing with a bunch of sharp teeth is a werewolf. Of course, I'm just guessing at the obvious. The rest of these scribbles look like nonsense.

"My god. To predate words in this area when would this have to have been carved?" she wondered in amazement.

"There are some words," Alaric informed her, waving her closer to where he stood by the wall. There were about seven words stacked one on top of the other. "They're runic script. The only possible people that I can possibly think of that came to the New World using runes were the Vikings in the 11th century but I never thought they made it all the way here."

"You know, something tells me that we are not dealing with a story from the Lockwoods."

"Mm-mmm," Damon agreed, from where he couldn't see.

Addie passed Alaric her flashlight and fished out her cellphone. "Until we can get back down here and photograph the whole story, we might as well start with the easiest thing. Angle both the lights on the list," she instructed, snapping multiple pictures of all the runes. When she done she put the phone away and took the light back. "Figuring out what those words are might be the first step in figuring out who wrote this story or how the hell it's suppose to help us."

---

A/N: Long chapter so it took two weeks to get it up. But yay! Damon got his head got his head out of his butt and they're back together. I think after all this time they need a ship name. So far Admon and Addimon have been suggested but I'm open to more. What do you guys think?