Metal teeth of a zipper painfully digged into Addie's cheek as she pushed into her unyielding pillow. She grimaced painfully but only pulled the blankets over her head in an effort to block out the incessant beeping coming from her alarm clock. When her pillow shifted and the noise stopped she grumbled appreciatively.
Damon's chest rumbled beneath her cheek as he spoke low and sleepy, "Gotta get up, Ads."
"No," she whined, stretching against him. It was always a stiff and uncomfortable morning when she woke up in jeans and a bra; the only part of her pajamas Addie had made it into the previous night was one of his old shirts.
"Mhm. You have to tell your brother bye," insisted Damon.
Addie shook her head, ignoring the irritating brush of his jacket zipper and mumbled, "Clock's set two hours early for that."
"I changed it when you didn't fall asleep until about three," he corrected. "You gotta get up now."
"You suck," she moaned, rolling away from him and shoving her face into an actual pillow.
"I know," Damon agreed as if he was placating a pouty child. "It's my fault that time passes." He kissed the back of her head and gently rubbed her back. "Come on. Get up so I know I can go without risking you falling back asleep and missing out on saying goodbye to Jeremy."
Addie frowned into the bundle of squishy cotton as she muttered thickly, "I don't want you to go."
His lips pursed as he could tell she was fighting not to cry. "I'll be back soon if you want. I need to go home and shower, eat, make sure Stefan or Klaus hasn't destroyed my house, you know, basic things like that."
"Fine," she elongated reluctantly, sniffling slightly.
"You can't keep dwelling over Caroline, Ads."
"You think she's still alive?" whispered Addie, just loud enough for his sensitive hearing to catch.
Damon shook his head in exasperation and ran his hand through his hair. He loved his girlfriend more than anything but she could be really headstrong. "You can't make Klaus change his mind, love."
"I know. I was thinking about seeing her."
He hesitated and exhaled slowly. "That's not… I don't know if that's such a good idea. Rose killed someone when she was bit. I fed on your sister. Caroline's going on a bad acid trip and that's hazardous to you."
"It took awhile for you to start losing your mind. Besides, you eventually regained your sense. She could be fine," Addie insisted, facing him with red-rimmed eyes and a flushed face.
"Or she could not be and you could get seriously hurt. Would you consider your own safety for once?" he pleaded, gently cupping her face. He didn't want to see her cry again.
Scowling, she pushed away from Damon and rolled out of bed. "Shouldn't you be more concerned about how emotionally fucked up I'll be if I lose another person without getting a chance to say goodbye," she snapped as she wandered over to her desk.
"You'll figure out some way to pin Caroline's death on Elena and your resentment of your sister will simply fester. Really, you've already got so many issues from losing your family that I don't imagine it will get that much worse," he informed her as he put on his shoes. "The important part that I'm actually concerned about is whether or not you'll be alive to become more screwed up."
"Your loving, thoughtful care is astounding," Addie bit back sardonically as she checked her phone. Her grip tightened on the device until her knuckles turned white as she stared at the screen. Accusatorially she asked, "Did you hear my phone go off last night?"
"Yes."
"Well why didn't you tell me? Or check it?" she snapped.
He raised a lazy, disbelieving eyebrow at her. "Seriously? Because my loving, thoughtful care is astounding and I thought comforting you as you sobbed was more important than playing secretary," he retorted curtly.
"Well, if you had, I wouldn't have been crying," hissed Addie, shoving the phone in his face.
Damon's brows furrowed in confusion as he read and re-read the text message from Matt Donovan. "Klaus cured Caroline?"
"Apparently."
"And you're getting pissy at me why, exactly?"
She shook her head, not really sure. Caroline was safe; Klaus had done what she had wanted. So why was she so angry? Addie huffed, sinking next to Damon on the bed, "Why would he do that? Why would he be so adamant about not healing her and teaching me a lesson only to go ahead and heal her?"
"Damn if I know," Damon muttered. His problem with Stefan was that he was becoming too unpredictable with regards to Addie's safety. Klaus was suppose to be predictable, insane but predictable. He might not be interested in hurting Addie but if he was interested in screwing with her and playing mind games Damon wasn't sure working semi-adjacent to him was reasonable.
"I've been having these dreams for days now. It's like the witches are trying to send me a message," Bonnie explained as she had the spirits reveal the four coffins to Elena and Addie.
"Personally, I'm just glad a bunch of dead witch spirits are haunting you and this place again," Addie muttered as she eyed the coffins impassively. She wasn't surprised that the coffins had been hiding in plain sight. Damon had been arrogantly confident of their safety and for once he had earned the right to be. The only mildly shocking thing was that Bonnie had been roped into Damon and Stefan's plan.
Bonnie rolled her eyes and scoffed, "Weren't you crying when the town was infested with ghost?"
"Yeah, ghost that were killing people. And this place was like ten times creepier without the witches. They make it, like, light and safe," Addie countered as if it were obvious.
"I can't believe that you guys kept this from me this whole time," Elena said in wonder, running her hand along the top of one of the large wooden caskets.
The witch gave her a small smile and an apologetic shrug. "Stefan thought, if you knew where the coffins were, Klaus could threaten people to get the information out of you."
Addie's head slightly bobbed from side to side as she considered this and eventually concluded, "Valid concern." Elena glowered at her but Addie just smiled sweetly.
"So, these are the rest of his family?"
"No, Elena, he's been bitching about getting four empty coffins back. We have no idea why he thinks Stefan has his family," Addie answered sarcastically.
"Has anyone ever told you how obnoxious you are?" her sister sneered.
"It's one of my most valued traits."
Bonnie shook her head in exasperation as she moved to the coffin at the front. "You're both annoying. Those three," she said, pointing to the boxes by the sisters, "have Elijah and two others. This one… is the one we can't open. We don't know who is in it, or what's in it, only that I think my dream's telling me it'll help us kill Klaus."
Addie looked to the roof helplessly. Again they were about to jump on the untrollable train where the only stop was Klaus' funeral. After he screwed with her about not healing Caroline she was slightly more inclined to believe that the only solution was to kill him. But it was really more Stefan that was keeping everyone from living a civilized, semi-normal life.
"What the hell are you doing?"
Think of the rebellious, crazed vampire and he will appear. Addie spaced out as she heard Stefan and Elena start to bicker. It was unfortunate that Stefan's increase in rationality came at the price of his humanity. From a strategic standpoint he was wise to not involve Elena in as little as possible and wield her as a weapon against Klaus. There were ways he could play smart and compassionately if he wanted to. She wondered about Damon's dimmer theory on Stefan's humanity and how much control he had over it.
At the sound of Bonnie saying her name Addie tuned back into her conversation.
"Addie and Elena to help me find her," Bonnie finished firmly.
"Find who?" Addie and Stefan asked simultaneously. She should have been paying attention. It seemed she had gone and gotten herself drafted for another crazy task.
"I couldn't place her face at first. Then I realized."
Bonnie pulled a photo out of her pocket and showed it to Addie. Stefan and Elena looked over her shoulder curiously. It took Addie several seconds to register that the woman and the little girl on a rope swing in the picture were Bonnie and her mother. It was a struggle for Addie to keep from groaning out loud. She had enough mommy issues of her own to deal with. Taking on Bonnie's wasn't an appealing option.
Bonnie, Elena and Addie sat around the Gilbert's kitchen table, each with a pile of papers documents someone who had driver's license or identification card issued to them under the name of of "Abigail Bennett" or some variation of that.
"Los Alamitos?" Elena asked as she passed Bonnie the photo and information of a woman with long, dark hair, a narrow nose and beady eyes.
After checking the woman's date of birth, the witch placed the paper in the ever growing mound of woman they had discard as options for one reason or another. At her friend's questioning look she explained, "Too old?"
"Honolulu?" said Elena hopefully, giving Bonnie another woman to review.
"I wish," she muttered, discarding the woman because of her green eyes. Her mother had beautiful brown eyes the color of honey; it was one of the few things she clearly remembered about her. Looking between the sizeable stack in Elena's hand and the enormous heap Addie was working on sorting she wondered, "How many of these are there."
"Too many. There are at least 100 people that are just 'Abigail Bennett.' I haven't even gotten to the people with Bennett as a first last name or have Abigail as a middle name," Addie snapped bitterly, her voice slightly rough from lack of use. She was hardly as enthusiastic or as hopeful about their search as the other to and had only gone along with it to avoid fighting until her actual plan came together. "Elena, next time you ask the sheriff's office to pull up every single person in the country with a name try eliminating as many people as possible by using variables we already know. The vast majority of these women are not even African American. You could have knocked out everyone under 30 or over 50, also. We also have a vague physical description you could have used for parameters."
Elena glared at her little sister as she snatched the possibilities from and sneered, "If you're so smart, you go and get the the names next time."
"I have no intention of ever doing this again," muttered Addie as she quickly shifted through the women by raced. Bonnie and Elena could look at the finer details. Really, she was only helping to show Bonnie her support. Addie knew the method was futile and ridiculous and that was why she had taken matters into her own hands.
Bonnie never thought she'd rather see Addie bicker with Damon; at least with him they never ended up personally attacking each other. Addie had been far bitchier with her sister since she moved back home. Seeing Elena about to say something back Bonnie quickly jumped in. "It's surreal having to track down woman who bailed on her own kid."
"You know, you don't have to, right? Let Stefan obsess over opening up the coffin. It doesn't have to be you," comforted Elena. Bonnie mentally patted herself on the back for her distraction technique.
"The coffins is spelled shut. That makes it a witch problem, so it does fall on me. I was bound to see my mother again sooner or later."
"I think you're missing the most obvious and rational choice of never seeing her," Addie mumbled, setting two possible matches near her sister.
Quietly and suddenly appearing, Damon snorted humorlessly as he sat on the bench next to Addie, intentionally nudging her knee with his. "Or, she could, I don't know, do what an sane person would do and resolve her mommy issues sooner rather than… well, at whatever point it takes to reach your level of anger."
Addie's eyes narrowed at him as she scowled, "Go away."
"Fine," Damon shrugged. He dangled the manilla folder he had brought with him in front of her face tauntingly as he continued, "I'll just take the information you asked for and go." Smirking, Damon quickly moved it out of her reach when she tried to grab it. "I suppose you do want my help," he snickered. Opening the folder he pretended to read off the facts that he had already memorized, "Abby Bennett Wilson. Monroe, North Carolina. Born in Mystic Falls Hospital. Graduated at Mystic Falls High. Blah, blah, blah." He tossed the folder to Bonnie who was looking at him in confusion, wondering how he knew what they were doing. He jerked his head towards Addie in explanation. "She figured a little compulsion would help speed up the research process. Plus she said please, so I figured if it was important enough for her to agree to compulsion and ask me to help nicely it was probably pretty important."
"Shut. Up."
Bonnie looked up from the folder, her eyes wide as she whispered in a mixture of anxiety and amazement, "This is her."
"Yep! Road trip. I call shotgun!" Damon said brightly, clapping his hands once enthusiastically.
"Ha! No," scoffed Addie.
He waggled his eyebrows and suggestively asked, "Want me to hang out in the back with you?"
She pointed a stern finger in his face and declared, "You're not going, Damon."
"Why? I'm the one who found her."
Addie crossed her arms and gave him a look that clearly questioned if he was seriously whining like a three-year-old. When he continued to pout at her she sighed and rolled her eyes impatiently. "Bonnie is going to see her mom for the first time in over fifteen years. Your snarky commentary is not going to make the experience any more pleasant. I'm not even going!"
"You're not?" Bonnie and Damon asked simultaneously.
She gave her friend a strained, apologetic, smile as she tried to explain, "It's just too… gooey for me. Bon, I hate your mom for walking out on you. She doesn't deserve to see you. It's selfish but I can't be happy for you if she's getting something out of this meeting, which if she's smart, she'll realize she's getting the chance to reconnect with you. If she's an idiot and doesn't realize, well… that's going to hurt you and Elena's better at comforting than I am."
"That's perfect," said Damon, before Bonnie could respond, "because you and I have work we need to do here that is of a very dry and crumbly nature, not gooey."
"Uh, what?" she asked blankly, crossing her arms and staring up at him.
Damon mirrored her closed off gestured but sat up taller so he was slightly looking down at her. He coolly repeated, "We have work to do. Things to discuss."
"What's going on with you two? You're being weird. Well, weirder than usual." Elena demanded, distracting them both from the tense silence that developed as they stared at each other. It was the first time she had seen them together since the night Damon had tried to kill Klaus. Addie had started staying at home the next day.
He shrugged, standing up. "We broke up. We kissed. Now it's weird. " Damon gave a wave over his shoulder as he walked away, "Have a great trip."
As soon as the door shut behind him Elena chastised her sister, "You cannot do that, Addie! You cannot go there again."
"Go where?" she asked innocently.
"Back to Damon!"
Bonnie nodded in agreement, "She's right, Addie. He can be… charming and I can see how you got swept up in the first place but you learned your lesson."
"It was a slip," she lied. "It's not like I agreed to marry him. He crushed my heart when we broke up. I'd be stupid to go back to him." Only Klaus had been the one responsible for their break up. Addie didn't really blame Damon for hurting her. In fact, she was pretty sure he'd go out of the way to make sure she didn't get hurt.
Elena studied her sister curiously. She knew Addie had a panic attack because of what Damon had said but she never really got the full story behind that. "Is that why you moved back home? You kissed him?"
"Yep," Addie answered quickly as she nodded insistently, latching onto the idea. "I mean we were doing the friendship thing pretty well but, I don't know. Damon was just really upset from not killing Klaus and Stefan betraying him and we just kind of slipped. I moved back home to keep some distance between us and help me keep perspective on why I shouldn't be with him."
"Well, keep that perspective. Damon's hurt you before and if you go back to him that's all that will happen again," her sister warned.
Addie eyed Elena suspiciously before deciding she wasn't worth the stress and mumbling, "I know. I'm not stupid."
After climbing through it, Damon quietly closed Addie's window. In his defense, he had been knocking at the front door for a solid five minutes and had tried calling her several times. He had tried to talk to her as soon as Elena and Bonnie left for North Carolina but she had turned him away, insisting that she needed the next three hours to take a practice PSAT exam. So he'd returned exactly three hours later. Addie looked like she was done as she looked between a sheet with a bunch of circles filled in and the back of a college prep book, occasionally making marks on the sheet.
"How'd you do?" he asked, sitting on her bed.
Addie jumped at the sound of his voice, losing track of what number she was checking. Tucking her answer sheet inside of the book, she turned her chair towards Damon and scowled, "Don't you know how to knock like a normal person?"
"Tried that. You didn't answer," he answered dismissively. Abruptly his face darkened as he changed the subject. "Have you met Alaric's new girlfriend?"
"Wasn't aware he had one," Addie said slowly. She wasn't sure how she felt about Alaric dating if he was still staying with them because he felt closer to Jenna at the house. If he had moved on, then it really was her history teacher just trying to play the role of guardian and that was weird.
"Well, he'll dump her if he wants to live. Though he'll have to be careful about it. Girl's a complete psycho case."
Addie frowned; she didn't really trust the judgment of a person being psycho when it came from the biggest psycho. "I'm going to need you to elaborate on that."
"Her ex-boyfriend, the medical examiner, turned up dead, staked like a vampire. Thi was right after he called her a psycho, mind you. She signed the death certificate with cause of death as 'animal attack.' I confronted her about it and she had absolutely no reaction to his death; it was like she didn't even care. Not to mention the biggest red flag, the good doctor vervained me and hijacked my blood!" exclaimed Damon, ticking each item off on his finger.
"You're losing your edge if you let some girl get the jump on you," snickered Addie.
"I'm not losing anything! I wasn't expecting to be attacked!"
Addie snorted and patronizingly explained, "That's why I said she got the jump on you. The old Damon would have been expecting an attack from anyone at any moment. Your guard was always up. You would have been hyper vigilant around someone you expected of staking their ex like a vampire."
His eyes narrowed as he growled, "Are you saying I'm going soft?"
She held up her hands innocently. "You said it, not me."
"Yeah but that's what you were implying, wasn't?"
"No."
"Then what were you saying?" Damon demanded defensively
Sighing Addie tossed the pencil she had been twirling between her fingers onto her desk in an annoyance. He could be so temperamental. "I wasn't saying anything, Damon. I was just making an observation."
"Of course you were."
"I was. Why are you here? What do you want?" she asked, hoping to get him onto a more neutral topic.
"Now that you know where the coffins are, do you plan on telling Klaus?" he asked bluntly, getting straight to the point. Beating around the bush would be useless. The only chance he'd have of getting a direct answer from Addie was if he was direct with her.
Evasively she answered, "We agreed to discuss plans before acting on them."
Damon scoffed dryly, "Yeah. Since when have either one of us exactly adhered to what we said without finding some kind of loophole or something?"
"Fair enough."
"So what do you plan on doing"
"Haven't really thought about it. I only found out where they were this morning and I've been kind of occupied since then," she shrugged. Addie knew she wanted to simply tell Klaus where the coffins were because she didn't want him hurting anybody else but she was worried about how Stefan would retaliate if she did that.
"You must have some idea. You're Addie; you always have a plan," Damon pushed. He wanted to hear her opinion before he proposed his idea and sounded completely insane.
Addie took a deep breath as she concentrated on her fingers steepled in front of her. Quietly she confessed, "I don't trust Stefan. He could have really hurt Matt when he was abducting Elena and I'm still not convinced he wouldn't have driven Elena off that bridge."
"I don't trust him either, not after he hurt you," agreed Damon when it was clear that she wasn't going to continue. "But I also don't trust Klaus."
"It's a game of picking the lesser of two villains," she muttered.
He nodded. "The question is who do you pick?"
"The problem is that there's no way to keep Stefan in check if his humanity switch is fried."
"Not fried, just just on a pendulum swing between on and off," he corrected. "I'm telling you it's vampire puberty. He's like a moody teenager with his moods going from apathetic to irrationally intense."
Addie huffed with annoyance as she dramatically rolled her eyes at Damon. "Couldn't it just be that he's stuck with the emotional mentality of a seventeen-year-old? I mean, there is one giant flaw with your whole vampire puberty theory."
"What's that?"
"In vampire years, you and Stefan are technically the same age but you're not acting batshit crazy."
Damon couldn't help but laughing. Mediums were not exactly his girlfriend's strong point. Addie was either painfully obvious or so subtle and evasive that one completely missed her point.
"I'm not," he conceded, "but that probably has something to do with the fact that I had my humanity turned off for forty years and acted batshit crazy all that time. You know, puberty isn't always a time for people to act out. I'm referencing it more in a manner as a time when people grow up."
"And you want to argue that you're growing up?" Addie scoffed.
"Addie, I'm in a sexless, monogamous relationship with a girl, who I genuinely love. And I'm very, very happy. That's something completely novel for me. I would have to argue that it's a stepping stone towards maturity," Damon reasoned. "Plus, like I said before, I think the main focus is on humanity. I'm more connected to my humanity than I've ever been. Stefan's was ordered to shut off his humanity but how does he do that if the switch doesn't function properly? He shoved out his humanity but it's trying to force it's way in."
Her brows knitted together as she frowned. "Whether or not any humanity is getting through."
"I could see how that's… questionable. But ultimately you're right; as of right now I don't know of a way to keep my brother in check. He's a danger to you and that's not something I'm going to tolerate," Damon stated firmly.
Giving him a pained smile Addie moved to sit next to Damon on the bed. She took his hand and moved his arm so that it was draped around her shoulders, leaning into him. "You're sweet, Damon. He's your brother, though. What are you going to do? Lock him in the cellar until I die? Remembering going rogue and busting him out of the old jail cell when Elena had him in there in attempts to rehabilitate him?"
"That was different. He had a drinking problem; you were perfectly safe as he knew he couldn't drink you. Now he's… a male Akasha," he scoffed. Addie looked up at him in confusion. "Anne Rice? The Vampire Chronicles?"
She shook her head slowly. "No idea what you're talking about."
"Come on! The Queen of the Damned! 'You think you can change my will? I've had enough of this discussion. Join me or die!'" Damon said in a frustrated, feminine voice, obviously imitating the character.
"Uh...my literary vampire knowledge is limited to knowing that Dracula's powers cease during the day and Edward Cullen sparkles in the sun."
"Yeah, well, we live in the real world where vampires burn in the sun."
Addie's lips twitched at how bitter he sounded; she knew he hated the glamorization of the vampire that came with the Twilight craze. She took his hand from rubbing up and down her arm and held it in front of her. With a slight tug the ornate ring slipped from his middle finger.
"Now you'd burn in the sun," she grinned cheekily up at him. Her smile faltered when she realized his lips were pressed into a hard, thin line and there was no amusement in his eyes. "I'd never actually take your ring, Damon," Addie said softly as she guiltily returned it to him and tried to move out from under his arm.
"I know. I wouldn't have let you take it off if I thought you wouldn't return it," muttered Damon, keeping his arm around her as he put the ring back on and kissed her temple.
She grinned, glad that he wasn't mad and rested her head on his shoulder. "Well, I did briefly consider keeping it for a little while. Just for the rest of the day, you know? Holding you hostage in my room until nightfall," she teased.
"Hmm. Maybe I wouldn't mind letting you borrow my ring. I could use a convenient excuse just to spend all my time with you," he consented. He gently tilted her head up to chastely kiss her. Addie pressed her lips more firmly against his but Damon pulled away. She pouted slightly and he chuckled, "Sorry, love, but we actually were having an important conversation before we were sidetracked by vampires of literature."
"Right," she sighed dramatically. "Stefan is some great supervillain now."
"No, he just thinks he is, which makes him even more dangerous. A great supervillain plays smart. Stefan is playing reckless. In his recklessness, he's lost his greatest ally," Damon explained.
Addie's brows furrowed as she hesitantly asked, "What exactly are you saying?"
"Your safety isn't a concern to Stefan. He proved that when he broke your arm. I'm not going to stand by Stefan and support him anymore."
"Again, I'm back to asking what are you going to do?"
"We said we'd discuss it before taking any action. What do you think I should do?" deflected Damon, still trying to hear her ideas in hopes that his own didn't sound completely irrational.
She shrugged and shook her head. "I don't know. He's not my brother."
"Say he was your brother."
"Then you would also be my brother and this," she motioned between the two of them, "would be really wrong."
"Addie."
"And I would have died about a hundred years ago because I never would have turned into a vampire trying to save Katherine."
"Ok. You can either seriously discuss this with me and have some say in what I'm going to do or you can keep avoiding the topic and not complain when I don't handle it the way you want," snapped Damon, growing impatient.
"Let's face it, Damon. You already know exactly what you're going to do. Discussing it with me is just a formality. Even if I don't like it, you're still going to do it. We agreed to discuss; we never agreed to only make actions we both agree on. Now, if I stick to the avoiding then we will never have the conversation where I tell you how much I disapprove of your idea but you go off and do it, completely ignoring my opinion. I just don't see why we should act like there is sense of respect when there really isn't," Addie reasoned, scooting away from him.
He ran a hand through his hair, cursing under his breath. "You frustrate the hell out of me, you know? Just because I've done some things you haven't agreed with in the past - "
Bitterly she interrupted, "After you promised not to do them, only to wind up dying from a werewolf bite."
"Doesn't mean I'm not making a genuine attempt to change, Addie. Aren't you the one always arguing that you should have some say in your protection? That's what I'm trying to do here. I don't want to do something extremely stupid, like drugging you, thinking it's in your best interest only to completely fuck everything up again," Damon explained sharply. "So do you want a say or not?"
"You're serious?"
"Yes."
Addie nodded slowly, taken aback at Damon's honesty and willingness to compromise. "Thank you," she said in a small voice.
"You shouldn't have to thank me for showing you the respect you've deserved all along. What would you do about Stefan?" he asked slowly, refocusing her and trying to regain his cool.
"A big problem is that Stefan has too much power," Addie shrugged.
Damon nodded in agreement and prodded, "What do you think should be done about that?"
"I don't know. Taking away his power means it has to go somewhere. The only reason Stefan has power is because he has the coffins. You take away the coffins and he's powerless again. But he's completely irrational right now and if you have the coffins, if you take them from him, he's going to retaliate against you."
"That's what I've been thinking," he muttered. "And he knows the most effective way to do that is to go after you."
"So you know the only person powerful enough that Stefan can't retaliate against," she whispered, grasping one of his hands that he was glaring at.
A low growl from deep in his throat could be interpreted as a yes. Damon laced his fingers with hers and gently squeezed. "Returning power to him is not an option. I don't approve of how he did it but Stefan beat Klaus when he forced him to make the hybrids leave town. We can't just let Klaus have free rule."
Addie rolled her eyes. "Do you have an idea or not?"
He highly doubted Addie was going to see redoing the deed to both his house and hers to keep out Stefan while he hid the coffins from his brother and the Original bastard. She would definitely have a problem with him fending off advances from both as he searched for a way to kill Klaus. It would be a lot to handle, especially if he was keeping her on lockdown.
"Not a good one. I'm trying to see if you have a better one."
"Better is a relative term," she giggled, laughing at something only she knew.
"What are you thinking?"
"Let me finish before you say I'm crazy," Addie warned with a wary smile. "What if we keep the locked coffin and Elijah and give the other two back to Klaus? Bonnie is working on opening the one and she thinks whatever is in it will help kill Klaus. In the meantime, if Klaus acts up, we can still threaten him with dropping Elijah in the ocean."
Damon carefully maintained a mask of neutrality until she looked at him expectantly and nudged him with her knee. He took a deep breath and said, "You're crazy."
"Oh, come on!"
"Really, Addie, you knew I was going to say that. Have you considered that when Klaus gets his two brothers back he's going to undagger them and we're going to have two more Originals to deal with and no more daggers?" he pointed out.
She shook her head insistently. "That won't happen. Have you seen Rebekah running around? He still has her daggered!"
"Because she's a threat to Elena! His brothers don't have a beef with her; he has no reason to keep them daggered."
"He does if we drop Elijah in the ocean if he undaggers them," she shrugged coolly.
Damon scoffed and rolled his eyes, "And how many times do you think we're going to be able to use that line against him?"
"How long would someone be able to use Stefan's life against you?"
"You know, I really don't like being blackmailed and I'm really impatient and he has already lived practically 170 years and he's kinda been a total dick lately," he considered and eventually concluded, "This would be a much more effective example if we replaced Stefan's life with your life."
"Ok, sure. Let's just call up Klaus' girlfriend and use her against him," Addie bit back sarcastically. "I'm being serious, Damon!"
A shadow crossed over Damon's face as a dark thought crept up on him. He saw the way Klaus interacted with Addie and it wasn't in the manner of an enemy or a friend. It uncomfortably reminded him of how he had acted around her when he first discovered his feelings for her but Klaus played more mind games and there was an iciness Damon didn't recall having. There was an undeniable attachment between Klaus and Addie, though, at least on Klaus' end. She wasn't exactly Klaus' girlfriend but perhaps using her against him wasn't such an outlandish idea.
"We could probably manage to control Klaus long enough for Bonnie to open the other coffin," he conceded. "There's another problem, however. Stefan's going to retaliate for us returning part of Klaus' family."
Addie's lips pursed in thought. Slowly she asked, "How reasonable do you think your brother is?"
He snorted derisively, "Right now? Less reasonable than me at my worse."
"So you probably couldn't convince him that he still has full control over Klaus as long as he has the two coffins?"
"No."
"Honestly, do you think Stefan would have driven Elena off the bridge?"
Damon nodded certainly, "His humanity kept him from outright killing her. That's how I know he still has it. Part of him still loves her."
"So if your brother understands the idea of love and humanity, does he understand sympathy?"
"Why?" he asked skeptically.
She shrugged and innocently said, "I'm sure if Klaus had to tell a little white lie about threatening my life if you didn't return his family in order to get half of it back, he'd be willing to do that."
"I don't like giving Klaus any ideas about threatening your life. He might figure out that it's a good idea and then we'll have to give him all the coffins."
"You'd do that? Even knowing the one can help you kill Klaus?"
"Addie, I love you. There isn't anything I wouldn't do for you. The only reason I care about killing him is because he's a threat to you. Well, I mean I want to kill him for screwing up my brother, too, but I could possibly let that go if it wasn't for you," he amended with a slight grin.
She half laughed, half groaned as she flopped back on her bed. "Have you ever noticed how much time you spend protecting me?"
"You do make it a full time job," he grinned, resting on his elbow next to her.
"Do you have any way of explaining two missing coffins or do you already know that your idea is better?"
"If we can keep Stefan from trying to kill you over them, I think your plan may be better," admitted Damon.
Blushing, Addie put a hand to her heart, quickly fluttered her lashes at him and in a Southern accent drawled, "Why, Mr. Salvatore! Bless my heart!"
"It's that Southern boy charm," he winked, speaking in a similar accent. He leaned in close enough for her to feel his breath shift the air just above her lips and murmured, "That's a mighty fine blush, Ms. Gilbert."
A day's worth of stubble tickled her palm as Addie rested her hand on his cheek, pulling him in to close the distance between them. Damon made a soft noise of pleasurable agreement, pushing his fingers into her hair and deepening the kiss.
Abruptly she turned her cheek to him and asked, "What if Klaus threatened to kill you?"
"Huh?"
"If Stefan's humanity is in there then he doesn't really want you dead, even if he says he does. Say Klaus threatened to kill you if I didn't get him back the coffins. He can't threaten you because Stefan will just get mad at you for not sacrificing yourself. But I'm weak; I can crack under Klaus' pressure. Now, Stefan might want to retaliate against me but he can't because you're stronger and smarter and, just for the argument of keeping me alive, we'll say you'll kill him if he kills me," Addie explained excitedly.
He shook his head, running his fingers through his hair in slight frustration. It was like she chose to go off topic when he wanted to discuss something and finally decided to pay attention when he was ready to drop it. He really questioned if she did it on purpose sometimes.
"I think I'm a little put off at the fact that you were thinking about my brother and Klaus while kissing me," he quipped as he mulled over her idea.
She rolled her eyes and smirked, "If it helps, I also think about Robert Downey, Jr., and Christian Bale. Really, while kissing you I'm fantasizing epic battles between the two ultimate superheros. My mind is like Batman versus Ironman: Wealth, Weapons, and War."
Damon blinked at her, uncertain of whether or not she was joking with how quick she had been to respond.
"I'm kidding!" she exclaimed. "Sort of. I mean, I totally fantasize a Batman/Ironman showdown but I tend to do that more when I'm going to sleep, not when I'm kissing you."
"You know those nerds the cool kids give wedgies to?"
"Yeah," Addie said slowly, taken aback by his randomness.
"You are definitely one of them and I am definitely on of the cool kids. Except instead of giving wedgies, we've ended up sharing a bed."
"I could totally give you a wedgie."
He scoffed and shook his head, "I don't think so. Then the scenario would be all screwed up; the nerd doesn't give the cool kid a wedgie." Addie couldn't help bursting into a fit of bubbly giggles. Just the sound made Damon feel less stressed. With a contagious smile on his face he demanded, "What?"
"While - While wedgies and cooties may have been appropriate topics to discuss with my brother when I was ten, I highly doubt they would be considered appropriate to discuss with my boyfriend," she managed between gasps for air.
"Cooties? We've never had the cooties talk. You should probably know that I've never been checked for cooties," Damon said very gravely.
Addie covered her mouth, laughing so hard and silent that tears began to fall. "That's, uh, that's pretty bad, Damon, because you definitely have them, Luckily there's a cure," she managed, wiping at her eyes. "Circle, circle," she said as she drew one on his left cheek and a matching one on his right. "Dot, dot," she giggle, poking each cheek inside the invisible circle. "Now you've got the cooties shot!"
"That's it?"
She nodded happily. "Mhmm."
Damon smiled down at her. This giggly, goofy, giddy side of Addie was a side that he so rarely saw that it would often only reappear just as he was beginning to forget it ever existed. She was always so serious and mature but then she would go and surprise him by laughing at wedgies and cooties like a kid and he was acutely reminded she was barely past sixteen. Like this she was so innocent and carefree. He had to wonder if she wasn't involved with him, how much would she be effected by Elena being the doppelganger? When Addie had wanted nothing to do with the supernatural, she had been extremely effective at staying away from it. Would he have compelled her away as he had done Jeremy? Would that have been better for her? Addie was smart and talented and driven and destined for great things if allowed to reach her full potential. Was he wrong in being with her? Should he let her be a normal teen whose biggest concern was the big track meet on Friday and the PSAT on Saturday?
"What's wrong?" Addie questioned. She kissed the inside of his hand cupping her cheek.
"Nothing."
She raised her eyebrows questioningly at him. "Really? Because you just became all sullen and broody."
"I was just thinking about your idea. Even if you did it to save me, Stefan still might retaliate against you. I don't like the idea of him possibly coming after you. However, I would at least know what the hell he's thinking. Right now I have no idea what's going on in his head and that leaves you in jeopardy," Damon sighed heavily.
"So yes? No? You don't know?"
"You understand that this would put you at increased risk from Stefan so you would understand if I wanted to keep a better eye on you, right?" he said gently, trying to keep calm and reasonable.
She exhaled loudly, "Is that what it's going to take to get you to agree to this?"
"I'm still thinking it through. It's one condition," he muttered.
"Fine."
"How'd you move the coffins on your own?"
"What?"
"Say Stefan asks how you managed to move the coffins. We're only giving two coffins to Klaus, which we'll have to explain away, as well, but the point is that you have to move two of the coffins from the witch house. How do you do it?" Damon challenged.
Addie's eyebrows furrowed. "I don't see why I have to move the coffins. The witch spirits can show and hide the coffins at will but Klaus doesn't know that. Why can't they just show two coffins and we tell Klaus that you and I moved them there from where Stefan was hiding them."
He groaned skeptically, "The witches only stopped screwing with my ring when Stefan looped me in on his plan on hiding the coffins. I'm not sure they'll just offer two up to Klaus."
"Fine," she huffed again. "Bonnie helped me move the coffins. She can just make Stefan's head explode if he goes after her. You do realize that Stefan would never know whether or not the spirits agreed to play along, right?"
"Why did we only give Klaus two coffins?"
"Why am I bringing everything to the table for this plan? I don't know!" Addie grumbled, bored by the conversation.
"Because you know Klaus better. Why would he not kill me when he only got two of the coffins?" pressed Damon.
She sighed, tracing a finger up and down his arm. "Do you think Klaus would bargain your life in exchange for two boxes with me because if he tried to bargain your life with Stefan he wouldn't get any of his family?"
"Wait, Stefan would let me die before giving Klaus anyone but you would give Klaus two people to save me?" Damon clarified.
"We just have to tell Stefan that's what Klaus believed."
"And convince Klaus to be our puppet."
"Which he will be if he wants anyone back," Addie said confidently.
"But why would you only give two and not four to save me?" he asked slightly wounded.
She laughed slightly, brushing the hair out of his face. "I would give everyone back for you. However, you're a stubborn idiot and you'd only tell me the location of two coffins."
"That sounds like something I might do," Damon murmured. His lips gently brushed against hers.
"When and where do you want to do this?"
"Enough time for us to get what we're going to say straight but soon, before you get hurt again. One night this week? I'll have to make sure Stefan is preoccupied."
"Alright," she nodded. "I'll go ahead and talk to Klaus."
"I'll handle Klaus," he said coolly, trying not to make a big deal of it. Really, he wanted Addie interacting with the Original bastard as little as possible.
Addie bit her lip, wondering if Damon was going to argue with her. "I think things might go smoother if I talk to him."
"And I think I'd rather talk to him."
"We could talk to him together," Addie suggested sweetly, knowing the idea was a disastrous one.
"I don't see why you have to talk to him," maintained Damon.
She smirked victoriously and threw his own words back at him, "Because I know Klaus better. I know how to get him to agree to this without pissing him off. Damon, he already told me he wants to kill you; don't give him reason to."
"Get him to agree to the plan but hold off on meeting him until we actually give him the coffins."
"Ok."
"Ok." Damon went over the plan in his mind, looking for flaws or deal breakers. He wasn't happy that the whole thing might make Stefan want to retaliate against Addie but he would be spending a lot more time with her to watch her back, which he was happy about. "Wow," he mumbled in slight awe.
"What?" she asked, snuggling next to him.
He waggled his eyebrows suggestively and whispered, "That was pretty impressive for our first time, don't you think?"
"What?"
"I've never formulated a plan with you. You've been involved in my schemes. I've been involved in yours. I like us scheming together," he said softly, gently kissing her forehead, her temple, her eyes, her cheeks, the corner of her mouth.
Addie hummed contently, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Together we are purely diabolical."
He chuckled, his lips brushing down the length of her neck. "Love, we're trying to control Klaus, undermine my crazed brother, and keep you safe. We are completely insane."
"Contra," Damon read off of the index card before flipping it over. When Addie had given him a choice between leaving or helping her study for the PSAT he hadn't imagine the latter to be painfully reviewing four academic years worth of Latin vocabulary index cards. He'd been quizzing her for the better part of three hours without stopping and they weren't even a third of the way done.
"Against. Contradict. Contrast," Addie replied without thought or hesitation.
"I don't get why you need examples if you know what it means."
"I'm not going to explain my study habits to you," she said testily. "Now," she snapped twice in quick succession, "chop, chop. Next card."
He rolled his eyes and flipped to the back of the card. "Puncture. Pungent"
"Prick. Pung. Punct."
"Linqu."
"Leave. Relinquish. Relict. You didn't say lict," she scolded curtly.
Damon shook his head in disbelief. Every time he hadn't said exactly what was on the card she had noticed. It would have been impressive if she wasn't becoming moodier each time he strayed.
"When's the last time you ate?" he asked, dropping the cards on the coffee table.
Addie picked up the cards and held them out to him. "I don't know."
He looked pointedly between her and the cards several times before shaking his head. "No, no more. I'm not helping you until you eat something."
"I'm not hungry," she said through gritted teeth, trying to force the cards into his hand.
Damon took the cards and sat on them. He fought to keep a stern tone as her eyes grew comically wide. "I know for a fact that the most recent you could have eaten would have been first thing this morning. However, I know you and I know that you don't eat breakfast if you're not told to. Plus, I can't imagine you listening to Alaric or Elena even if they were the type to tell you to eat your breakfast. So logically I can deduce that the last time you ate was roughly 24 hours ago. I don't care if you're hungry or not; you need to eat, Addie."
"Damon, give me back my notes," she said slowly.
"No. What do you want to eat?"
"Please give them back."
He shook his head. "I don't think you understand how this game works. You asking nicely still hasn't changed the fact that you haven't eaten."
Addie smirked smugly as she grabbed another pile of index cards off the coffee table. She waved them under his nose and gloated, "Your game would be a lot better if I didn't have these."
"You do realize I could just snatch those right out of your hand, right?"
It had always fascinated Damon how intensely and quickly Addie could get lost in a book. For the longest time he had thought she had been simply ignoring him when he talked but then he recognized it to be a pattern that only happened when she was reading or studying. Addie would get so invested in what she was doing that she couldn't hear him. He wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt and believe she was just that enthusiastic about the index cards when she didn't answer but he knew they were a very dull read.
Determined that Addie eat, Damon made his way into the kitchen. He frowned as he raided the fridge and pantry. Alaric functioned on a diet of alcohol while Addie functioned on cereal and Poptarts when necessary. There was no doubt that the fully stocked fridge was thanks to Elena. The problem was the lack of protein and things that weren't pre-made. While they had cooked together over the summer Elena's craft specialty was still salad. A few items were all he needed for something light, which was probably the best he could get Addie.
"Hey!" she whined as her note cards were pulled more than two inches from her face. "Give those back!"
"Eat first," bargained Damon, sliding a plate into her outstretched hand.
Addie eyed the sandwich warily. Suspiciously she asked, "What is it?"
"Seriously?" he grumbled as she tried to take it apart while touching it as little as possible. "It's grilled cheese with bacon. Just eat it."
"Wheat or white?" she muttered, flipping the sandwich over to check and make sure it wasn't burnt.
He shook his head in exasperation. "High fructose, bleach, processed, unhealthy white bread, Addie. Why are you still trying to dissect it?"
"I have make sure the bacon is crispy!"
"Love, I think I've made you breakfast enough times to know to practically burn the bacon," Damon ently said, shooing her hand away. "Can you just eat the sandwich?"
"You're gonna eat a grilled cheese?" she asked, eyeing the second one he had set down.
"What? No. You haven't eaten all day. Is it a crime to think that you might want two sandwiches?"
"Guess not. Quiz me while I eat?"
He picked up the cards and tapped them against his thin as he pretended to think. "It goes against my better judgement but ok…. I'm not going to start until you start eating," he added when she looked at him expectantly.
"What the hell?" Addie muttered when her sandwich disappeared from her hand just as she was about to bite it. "Damon! What the hell?!" she demanded incredulously as he sat it back on the plate.
"It has tomatoes," he explained as he held out the other plate. "This one is just cheese and bacon."
Addie took the sandwich but immediately set it down. Damon watched her closely, waiting for some reaction as she tucked her knees under her chin and chewed at her lip. Eventually she blankly asked, "Why?"
"Why what?"
"You always try to pois-
"Healthy food is not poison," interrupted Damon.
She continued to talk over him, "to poison me. So why am I not choking on a mouth full of tomato right now? Why'd you have to change your mind and leave me with these conflicting feelings?"
"You're not just flat out mad that I tried to trick you into eating tomatoes," he asked hopefully as he moved from the chair to sitting next to her.
"I probably should be but… you just stopped yourself from doing something that you know I hate."
He scoffed, "That's an understatement. You despise when I trick you into eating something healthy. I think - oh, God." Damon groaned, resting his head against hers. "I'm such an idiot," he laughed humorlessly.
"Yes, yes, you are," Addie agreed, patting his cheek patronizingly.
"Are we agreeing on why I'm an idiot?"
"Mmm, I'm just agreeing on general principle."
"Principle?"
She nodded. "Yes. Your ego is so enormous that when it does deflate ever so slightly on the rare occasion and you get a chance to look at the person you really are, I feel it's my job to help you see you."
"And I'm an idiot?"
"No," she grinned, moving to kiss his cheek. "You are very intelligent. You can do some foolish things."
In profound amazement Damon rambled, "Like deceive my girlfriend and break a little bit more of her trust each time I deceive her into eating healthy. But each time I did that I thought it was ok because it was coming from a good place and I just wanted the best for you. You know what I was really doing? Giving myself permission to do things like that! It's why I thought drugging you was fine! It was all ok because I've been doing it since before we even had a relationship. Yeah, you always get upset but you've never left me over it! Do you realize this enlightenment come the first time I tried to drug you after I actually drugged you and faced a pretty serious consequence from that? I stopped you because I learned -"
Addie cut off his fast talking in the most efficient way she could think of and kissed him. Excited with his revelation Damon eagerly returned the kiss, trying to convey his apology for every recipe modification from the first batch of waffle made with shredded apples to the tomatoes in the grilled cheese. It was a heated clash of lips and teeth as they battle for control while greedy, restless hands roamed. Limited by her need for air Addie reluctantly pulled away, resting her forehead against Damon's, her chest rapidly rising and falling in breathlessness. He grinned and brushed his nose against hers, making her smile.
"I'm sorry," he said softly, gently stroking her cheek.
"I always wondered if you really understood what you did," she admitted.
Damon gave a bitter, humorless chuckle, "Guess you witnessed my revelation."
"Look at you, growing up and learning lessons," Addie teased. "I told you you were intelligent."
"You know that you mean everything to me and I love you more than anything, more than I ever even thought was possible even though I really screw up and when you say some of things I do it really doesn't seem like it, right?" he professed, his light blue eyes searching her darker ones for understanding.
"I know. I - I - I," she shook her head in defeat as the words wouldn't come to her. Unable to take the pressure of his stare Addie shifted into his lap and curled up against him, resting her head on his shoulder as his arms wound securely around her. "You have no idea how lucky I am to have you."
A long, comfortable silence settled over them as they snuggled on the couch. Addie had become so relaxed and her breathing that Damon had thought she had fallen asleep. He was considering moving her to bed when she surprised him.
"Do you know Sonnet 116?" she asked quietly.
Damon smiled into her hair, the scent of cucumber melon filling his nose. Only Addie would ask something so obscure. "Is that the one that goes 'Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?'"
"That's Sonnet 18."
Of course she would know that. "Oh. Well, then I'm afraid my knowledge of Shakespeare's sonnets is limited to the first two lines of Sonnet 18," he admitted as he gently squeezed his arms around her.
"And you haven't read all 38 plays?"
The corners of his mouth twitched slightly at the hint of disappointment in her voice. Addie really liked Shakespeare and that was the only reason he had hung up the Everybody Dies in Shakespeare poster in his room that she'd brought back from the Globe theatre. Teasingly Damon murmured, "Is that a crime?"
Addie nodded against his shoulder and very seriously replied, "It should be. What have you been so busy with for over 170 years that you have not completed all the works of The Bard?"
"Murder, mayhem, and general debauchery." Almost as if an afterthought he added, "Did I mention being cool and not being a complete nerd?"
"That's the second time today you've called me a nerd," she pointed out indignantly.
"I know," Damon grinned cheekily. He chuckled softly at her slight pout and brushed his lips against it. "Sweetie, you've spent your Saturday doing practice tests and studying Latin for a test that doesn't matter, except to serve as practice. You're practicing for practice. While your dedication is impressive and admirable, I think it qualifies you as a nerd. If that doesn't, bringing up Shakespeare while cuddling with your boyfriend definitely does."
She stared pointedly at him and enunciated, "Rude," as she tried to climb out of his lap but Damon held her in place.
"It's a very endearing and adorable quality for you," he placated. His fingers lightly danced along the side of her stomach, making her push herself further against him and Damon smiled satisfactorily. "Come on, tell me about Sonnet 116," he coaxed as his lips skimmed over the shell of her ear.
"Nuh-uh. I don't think I feel like tell you anymore," she replied indignantly.
"Please," he urged. Addie shivered as pulled her earlobe between his teeth.
"Nope. I was being serious but then you had to be a dick."
Damon tilted her face up towards his and rested his forehead against hers. He gave her his most charming, lopsided grin and repeated, "Please."
She hummed in mock consideration before chastely kissing him and returning her head to his shoulder. "Nah. I'll just leave you in suspense. You ruined the moment," Addie decided.
"Fine," pouted Damon. He gently rubbed his hand up and down her back as they fell back into a comfortable silence.
Distractedly Addie gently tugged and pulled at the collar of Damon's black t-shirt. She really wanted to tell him, she just didn't know how. And it was too awkward when he gave her his full attention. The pressure of those beautiful, piercing eyes could just be too much. But Damon deserved to know how she felt. After a long consideration she quietly recited,
"...Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! It is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never loved you, nor no man ever."
Damon's brows furrowed as he tried to interpret what she said. Poetry and early modern English were not his strong suits. He worked through each line, translating it into modern speech. If he understood her correctly, Addie was saying what love was and was not. Love did not change under changing circumstances but rather consistency was the first and most important element of it. Love was so pervasive that it continued even when unreciprocated or in the face of betrayal. Even when someone tried to remove affection, real love doesn't give in and disappear.. Faced with difficulties or adversity, love would always survive.
The metaphor about storms and ships proved to be a little bit more difficult to interpret. Damon wasn't sure he was understanding it correctly as he came up with a lighthouse that served as a constant point of trust that a sailor may come back to even in the fiercest of storms. So love was like a lighthouse, providing stability and encouraging light? It made sense but it seemed like an odd metaphor. However, it matched the nautical theme of the North Star being a trusty, constant source of navigation for ships. Was Shakespeare comparing the star to a lover? True lovers completely trust each other and know their love will stay consistent?
Giving up on making sense of the sea themed lines, Damon moved forward in trying to understand the poem. Love was obviously priceless, although some act could be observed and measured. Love isn't at the beck and call of time; mortality isn't an issue for true love, which doesn't fade even when youth and beauty disappear. Love doesn't change as the days go by; rather, it remains strong until the lover's dying day.
If this be error and upon me proved, I never loved, nor no man ever. If the poem's idea of love turned out to be wrong, then the poet has never felt love nor had anyone else. Damon grinned stupidly as he began to realize what she was trying to tell him. Double checking to make sure he wasn't misinterpreting wouldn't hurt, though.
"Addie, are you saying you love me?" he asked cautiously. Panic flooded through him as he felt her stiffen against and her hand clutch desperately at his shirt as he spoke.
Addie pressed her face further into the crook of his neck, feeling her cheeks burn. Anxious and wary she mumbled, "Yes."
One little word and his world stood still, tilted, and began spinning on a new axis a thousand times faster than before. He had been pretty certain of how Addie felt but it hadn't really meant much until she actually confirmed it. Though she hadn't come right out and said it. Only Addie would turn three simple words into a complicated riddle. And he adored it. She had so perfectly found the way to say what she believed of love and that she had such emotions directed towards him.
Damon felt as if he might burst if he continued to restrain his giddy excitement. Gently he lifted her head from his shoulder and bowed his head towards her. He'd always dismissed the cliche of seeing fireworks and feeling electric shocks at a kiss but he couldn't deny the mind blowing sensation as he let his lips ghost by hers. He made to pull back but Addie's hand on his face encouraged him closer. She pressed her lips to his insistently. Moving his against hers, he slipped his hand from her cheek and into her hair, letting his fingers get lost in the dyed blue locks.
Not caring that he was undoubtedly beaming like a fool, Damon pressed his forehead against hers. Realizing something, he softly begged, "Say it. Please."
"I love you," she whispered. Addie couldn't resist smiling as her thumb traced of the creases at the ends of the glowing grin that covered his whole face.
"I love the way that sounds," Damon murmured. He chuckled softly as she raised her eyebrows at him. "Of course I love you, too."
He bit back a groan at the bright red that flooded her face and the way she bit at her lip. It had been a long time since he'd made her blush with those words. He couldn't resist kissing her just one more time. Her mouth was hot and tasted of the hot chocolate she'd been drinking while studying. Her skin was so warm as he ran his hand up her neck to cup the side of her face. His shirt balled in her hand and he detected the slightest hint of a whimper as he bit at her lip.
One hand pressed between her shoulder blades and the other tucked into her back pocket, Damon kept her pressed firmly to him. Addie's mind started to go foggy again as his lips slipped to pepper gentle, loving kisses along her jaw. Her hand curled in his hair as he gently nipped just below her ear. Determined, she twisted in his lap until she straddled him; she wanted to properly kiss him. When Addie went to part Damon's lips with hers he needed no encouragement. Addie had said she loved him; happy and content, as far as Damon was concerned, she could do whatever the hell she wanted to him. While one hand stayed tucked in her back pocket, gently squeezing, Addie shivered at feeling his other slip under her shirt to stroke at the sensitive skin at the small of her back. Damon exhaled softly as she gently nipped and nibbled at his lower lip. Sharply tugging his hair, Addie exposed his neck so she could bite at it. Damon uttered a colorful expletive that turned into a groan as he felt her teeth dig into the muscles of his neck.
Addie quickly pulled away from him as she heard a throat clear. Mortified by the sight of Alaric and a beautiful brunette in the entryway, she tried to scramble off Damon's lap but he held her in place.
"Damon!" she hissed angrily but he only gave her a look that made her cheeks go from cherry to fire engine red.
He had to look over his shoulder to see who had entered but when he did, Damon scowled. "Seriously, Ric?!"
"Didn't mean to interrupt," the other man muttered, awkwardly scratching at the back of his neck with the hand that wasn't holding a giant duffle bag. Addie recognized it as one of the ones he kept his vampire hunting weapons in.
"Not that," Damon spat dismissively. "You're bringing a confirmed psycho case around Addie? If the good doctor doesn't kill you first, I'm going to."
"Perhaps I should go," Meredith Fell told Alaric.
"Don't worry about it," Addie said quickly. She had managed to get off of Damon and was pulling at his arm as she picked up her Latin index cards. "Come on. Let's go study upstairs," she urged, sensing the rage simmering beneath his seemingly calm exterior.
Damon grumbled in consent and allowed Addie to drag him from the livingroom, up the stairs, and to her bedroom. As soon as the door was closed behind them he snapped, "Can you believe him? He's lost his mind! Addie, I don't want you around her."
"Ok, I won't be around her," she acquiesced, watching him pace the small space angrily. "Look," Addie said firmly, stepping in his path, "it's not me you should be worried about. I'm already going to have your extra protection because of the plan with Klaus. Worry about the guy dating the vervain crazed doctor. If you think she killed her ex-boyfriend, we should probably be concerned about Alaric."
"He's lost his mind. Does he not realize he's dating a woman who likely killed the guy she dated? And she roofied me like some drunk sorority chick!" Damon ranted, pushing his fingers through his hair.
"I've clearly lost my mind because how many of your ex… flings have ended up dead?" Addie pointed out reasonably.
"That's - It's different," he insisted, sounding slightly petulant.
"I know. But for now, all we have is some sketchy, circumstantial evidence. Let's not go burning people at the stake until we're certain, ok?"
"Will Alaric's body be enough proof?"
Addie wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her cheek against his shoulder. "I get that you're worried about him. We'll find out more about Dr. Fell, ok?"
Damon relaxed slightly as he embraced her back. "Ok," he agreed, gratefully at how easily she could soothe him. Appreciatively he kissed the top of her head. "I love you."
"I love you, too," she whispered, a small smile tugging at her lips.
A/N: We are starting to stray a little bit from the plot but we'll get back to it. I'll do my best with updates (I'm debating between frequency versus length right now.) but between everything going on I can't promise every Friday.
Thank you so, so, so much to everyone who has been following, adding this to their favorites, and especially those who are commenting (It's a big inspiration and a reminded that I need to write.).