1. He keeps the nightmares away.
2. I'm definitely not just interested in him because my sister is. Being interested in the same guy as Elena actually makes me question my sanity.
3. I know nothing about who he was before Katherine. I don't really ask him about that time period. He doesn't make that topic very approachable.
4. He's completely honest about his past as a vampire, as far as I know. I can't imagine him hiding or embellishing any of the awful things he's done.
5. Overall, he's not what would be considered a good person.
6. He treats ME really well. And when he doesn't, it's usually as a side effect of him thinking he's doing right by me.
7. I love him.
8. I love him.
9. I miss him. It's only been a week since I talked to him and I miss him. I want him to come home.
10. Home is wherever Damon is. Even if I doubt his feelings, being with him makes me feel at peace.
11. I feel like I need him to be happy. I don't. Or do. Either way, bad feeling.
12. He makes me smile even when I don't want to.
13. I feel safe and protected with him.
14. He gives an excellent massage
15. Control issues, enough said.
16. Jealous over Klaus? Is this simply a possible manifestation of obsessive tendencies?
17. It doesn't hurt that he's really nice to look at….
18. He can be really sweet when he wants to be. I like that he's not always sweet; that would get annoying.
19. What matters to me matters to him.
20. He's pushy, bossy and stubborn. And he puts up with the fact that I am the exact same way.
21. His lopsided, crooked grin when he thinks he's being cute and charming.
22. The 1000 watt smile that lights up his entire face that nobody else gets to see because it only happens when his guard is down.
23. His obsession with my eating habits
24. The way he makes pancakes with whipped cream smiles and strawberry fangs. We both know I'm just going to end up feeding him the fruit.
25. He pouts in his sleep. He also turns into saran wrap. Rather than get hot, he actually helps keep me cool at night.
26. It's rare but I like when he finally relaxes and isn't so tense. His eyes are brighter and there's a small smile on his face.
27. He runs his hand through his hair when he gets uncomfortable, a little habit he picked up from me. He hates that he does; that just makes it all the more attractive.
28. It drives him crazy when I mess up his hair but he's usually a good sport about it.
29. It wouldn't seem like it but Damon can take a joke.
30. He makes me laugh on my darkest days.
31. He has a very poor concept of boundaries and personal space, If he knew what was appropriate, we probably would never have ended up together.
32. He's very mercurial. We both are.
33. He's a narcissistic, serial killing sociopath. That should probably be listed as three things.
34. He's committed and passionate about his decisions.
35. I WANT TO BE WITH HIM.
Addie bit the end of her pen as she skimmed over her list a final time; she had written out key features of Damon, underlining the ones that should keep her from being with him. It wasn't exactly a pros and cons list but it was supposed to help make her decision easier. Frustrated, Addie crumpled the paper up and threw it into her wastebasket. None of it mattered if Damon was going to make her decision for her. He told her she need more time to think about them and if they were what she really wanted; how much time was he going to make her take? So much time until she simply decided she didn't want him for once and for all? Her fingers tapped impatiently at her desk.
Had she'd done 'yes/no, we are/we aren't' that much? So much that he was putting their relationship on hold until she could give him a definitive answer? Hadn't she promised not to break up with him for practically 15 years unless he cheated on her or drugged her? Wasn't that good enough? In that time wasn't she allowed a few moments of doubt and hesitation if she was still committed for the long haul? She could barely commit to a hair color for more than a few months at a time. Every time she looked in the mirror she wondered if going from blue to ruby red had been a mistake. Was she just supposed to be with Damon and never voice her bouts of doubt? That didn't seem fair to either of them. Addie knew she loved him and she wanted a chance to get back to where everything had felt perfect between them. That perfect feeling wasn't going to last, though. It just wasn't who Damon and her were. Loud rapping on her bedroom door startled Addie out of her thoughts.
"Downstairs, Addie! Time for some dysfunctional quasi-family bonding," called Alaric, his voice becoming fainter as he moved away.
Troubled by his voice Addie bit at her lip. Exactly when had he been released from jail? Why had they let him go? Was there enough reasonable evidence to conclude he was innocent or simply not enough to keep holding him for murder? And why hadn't anyone told her? Maybe that's what Elena had wanted to bother her with last night? Addie couldn't be certain; Elena had just been so much of an attention whore, drama queen - ok, perhaps that was a bit of exaggeration but still, Addie had fallen back into her old habit of managing to completely tune out every word her sister said. Addie picked up enough keywords, like 'magic ring,' 'Gilbert journal,' and 'insane', to know she had no desire to discuss the topic. Perhaps she actually had missed something important.
Sheer curiousity sent Addie to join Dr. Fell, Alaric and Elena in the kitchen. There was general discussion about what Alaric had missed at school and the restoration of Wickery Bridge as takeout containers of Chinese food were passed around. The group quickly lost Addie's interest as she became more focused on eating around the vegetables in her fried rice. For added entertainment she used only chopsticks.
"As Damon said, the world can't stop turning just because my alter ego is a psycho killer," Alaric said after some time with a weary smile.
"When did Damon say that?" Addie demanded, tuning back into the conversation at the sound of the vampire's name.
"This morning when we went to go see the reconstruction that they are doing on Wickery Bridge."
He seriously hadn't told her he was back? She scoffed in disbelief, "How long has he been back?"
Alaric shrugged, uncertain. "This morning, I guess. He showed up at the hospital while we were doing MRI's of my head."
"I'm sure that was fascinating," Addie muttered with only a slight trace of sarcasm. Not the least bit interested by the old journal or medical photos that had replaced plates and takeout food Addie got up. "If you'll excuse me. I think I'm done with dysfunctional family fun time. It's not all that enjoyable when my sister thinks herself in love with the guy I fancy and my… well, whatever roll Alaric plays, is a maniac killer."
"Where do you think you're going?" Elena snapped bossily.
As she unlocked the front door Addie threw up her hand as if displaying the number two. "Somewhere that isn't here. Peace out."
It definitely wasn't one of her better exits but she was too distracted to focus on being dramatic. Why hadn't Damon told her he was back in town? Was he going to be mad that he somehow found out before her that Alaric was out of jail? Was he going to be mad that she didn't call him as soon as she knew that Alaric was out of jail? Did she really believe Alaric was killing people? It was hard to argue with. Meredith and Elena and Alaric had all been talking about this happening before and something about the Gilbert ring and blackouts. More supernatural crap. Although, Addie supposed that if there was an "other side" that whenever Alaric would "die" he would have to go there and then find his way back. There was no telling what happened to him while he was over there. Again, nothing but speculation and nothing she had control over.
Addie's thumbs tapped in an alternating, anxious pattern against her steering wheel as she rolled into the driveway of the boarding house. Interesting. There was a black Honda Civic she had never seen before parked there. Perhaps she should call Damon. Then again he probably would have a harder time being mean to her face. She wasn't exactly sure why she was nervous; it wasn't exactly like she was going to approach the topic of them. Still, butterflies beat in her stomach as she knocked on the door.
Her hand had barely made contact with the door once when it was quickly opened by Damon, his hair and chest dripping water and an ivory towel wrapped around his waist as if he had just stepped out of the shower. He raised a single finger to his lips and tugged at an ear before pointing upstairs. Addie frowned but nodded. She wasn't great at charades but she understood that he didn't want to be overheard. There was an eager, frantic look dancing in his sky blue eyes as he motioned for her to follow him.
Staying a few steps behind, Addie warily went with Damon into the study. Something was off. Something was wrong. Why hadn't he let her know he was back in town? Stranger yet, if he thought Alaric was some psycho killer and knew he was out, why wasn't Damon acting like an overprotective, zealous, yet somehow loveable nutcase? Who did he not want to overhear them talking? And why had he apparently felt the need to rush out of the shower to rifle through a bookcase, not even taking the time to partially dry himself off?
He deftly selected a red bound tome and flipped through it. His finger interrupted the flipping pages towards the back of the book. As his eyes scanned the paper, his lips slowly twisted into a wicked smile. Damon looked up at Addie and his eyebrow arched in an arrogant, superior, confident motion. Addie rolled her eyes in response; if he had stopped showering just to prove himself right about something, that was simply pathetic. He gave a soft, exaggerated exhale to demonstrate his annoyance and shoved the book into her hands. Purchaser.. Wood Type… Square Footage…
"Mill-"Addie was cut off by Damon pressing a finger to her lips. He tugged at his ear again and pointed upstairs, She rolled her eyes but nevertheless her removed his finger from her mouth and pointed to some scribbling at the bottom of the page. Wickery Bridge was made of White Oak.
Screw his overhearing nonsense. Who the hell cared what kind of wood a bridge was made out of? Something wasn't wrong. Damon had just gone mental. Addie mockingly hissed, "That's fascinating."
Damon gave her a cold look as he snatched the book back. Clearly he wasn't in the mood for games, either. Addie contemplated the idea of simply leaving when a vaguely familiar voice floated into the room.
"Milling record?" Sage said curiously.
Addie merely gave the vampire a cursory glance before doing a double take. Her red hair was messily pulled back and wet. She didn't seem to be wearing anything besides a black, long sleeve button up. Addie's lips pressed into a thin line as she unconsciously crossed her arms. Surely there was a reasonable explanation as to why Sage was wearing one of Damon's shirts, fresh out of the shower. It most definitely wasn't what it looked like. She wasn't going to jump to that conclusion. Though it was definitely within her right to be aggravated with Damon for not telling Sage to be quiet. Or perhaps Sage was who he hadn't wanted to overhear.
Damon gave her a smug smirk and answered, "Our family made one of its many fortunes selling lumber. It's why Rebekah's been digging around about this stuff. That tree was on our land and milled by our yard. The ledgers will tell me where it was shipped. Business archives should be around here somewhere." He pretended to browse the bookcase; Addie hadn't even noticed him put the book back. "Get upstairs, make sure you keep her distracted," he ordered.
"What about her?" she asked curtly, jutting her chin towards Addie.
Clearing his throat slightly, Damon stepped away from the shelves just enough to wrap a protective, possessive arm around Addie's waist. The edge and unspoken threat in his voice were clear. "Addie's fine right here with me."
Addie brushed Damon away once Sage had left the room and demanded, "What's going on?"
"Will you keep your voice down?" he growled as he moved towards the fire, grabbing a lighter off the mantle. "How many times do I have to tell you I don't want to be overheard?"
"That's the first time you've told me," she sassed, following him closer to do as he requested. "Why didn't you tell me you were back in town?"
"I was going to. I found out from Elena that Alaric was being released this morning. I figured that should be my first stop, to check out just how homicidal he was. In the process of evaluating that, we wound up at the Wickery Bridge restoration project. Rebekah was creeping and lurking around; it was obvious she was up to something. I ran into Sage there and she suggested how I could figure out what Rebekah was up to. Once I finished all this up, I was going to call you," Damon explained uninterestedly as he focused on lighting a fire.
Addie opened her mouth to respond but couldn't. She paced to the opposite end of the fireplace before trying again. Slowly she tried to understand, "Let me get this straight. You left me with a guy who randomly becomes a psycho killer to figure out what Rebekah was up to because Sage suggested it?"
Damon frowned at her as he stood back up, retightening his towel. "You're making it more dramatic than it is. Dr. Blood Snatcher wasn't going to leave Ric's side and she's loaded up with enough tranquilizers to take down an elephant. You were perfectly safe."
"Sure, ok," agreed Addie. She was going to stand by her conviction that Damon had gone mental. That or he was really pissed off at her. A rational Damon would have seen all the flaws with that concept of perfectly safe. "I suppose the Rebekah thing needed attending to immediately?"
"Obviously. For one, we didn't know what Rebekah was up to but we know Originals make bold, dramatic moves. Second," his voice dropped so low she could barely hear him, "I needed Sage for the plan and you never know when she's going to take off."
"So, your obsession with the Originals and some plan took priority over taking ten seconds to text me to say you were back," she muttered, nodding slowly, as if she understood.
"It's a matter of a few hours, Addie. It's not a big deal."
Addie scoffed bitterly, "Are you kidding me? You'd be having a fit if I waited 12 hours after Alaric got released to tell you."
"That's -"
"It's not different. It's a double standard."
Damon held up his hands in surrender. It wasn't a double standard; in one situation she was safe and in the other she wasn't. However, when Addie made up her mind about being right and she couldn't be proven wrong with solid evidence, there was no point in arguing with her. He didn't have time to argue the matter with her. "Ok. I should have at least texted you."
Her eyes narrowed at him angrily. She knew he was just telling her what she wanted to hear; he didn't actually agree with it. Whatever. It wasn't that important. Whatever he had figured out had at least better be worth it. "What's Rebekah up to?"
He raised a finger to his lips again as he pulled the same book as before from the bookcase. He opened it up to the same page and ran his finger under the part that said Wickery Bridge was made of White Oak. Addie shook her head and shrugged her shoulders; she didn't get it. Damon shut the book and mimed staking himself in the chest.
Oh! A White Oak stake could kill an Original. Hadn't they burnt the only tree to the ground, though?
Reading the confusion on her face Damon whispered softly into her ear, "Rebekah and Klaus found out another was planted."
"How'd you figure this out," Addie mumbled. She doubted either one of them would have willingly offered up this information to Damon.
"I slipped into Rebekah's mind and read her thoughts."
Teeming with disapproval she tsked, "More mind rape."
"It was for a good cause," Damon pointed out defensively.
"It's always for a good cause," she replied snidely. "Why do you need Sage?"
"I needed Sage to sleep with Rebekah so her defenses were lowered so I could enter her mind," he explained.
Addie's forehead creased in thought as she frowned at Damon. She was fairly certain Rebekah was straight. "How'd you manage that?"
Damon rolled his eyes as his fingers threaded through his damp hair. "Fine," he admitted, "I might have had to suggest we all participate to get Rebekah on board."
Addie blinked rapidly in confusion. Her brain had only registered his first four words but surely she had heard him wrong. Damon wouldn't sleep with Rebekah. Damon hated Rebekah. Besides, he was in love with her, wasn't he? Shaking her head Addie decided, "No, you didn't." She giggled slightly, "You didn't do that."
Damon's eyebrows knitted in confusion. Why was she insisting that he hadn't? "Yes, Addie, I did."
"No because if you did that, you'd be an idiot and I'm not dating an idiot," Addie said firmly.
"We're not dating," Damon pointed out. "So, I think I have free reign on being an idiot."
Addie bit at her lip in consideration. Her Damon wouldn't have sex with Rebekah. That was something he would have done before they were together. "So, you cheated on me," she slowly concluded, too confused to feel hurt.
He quickly shook his head and firmly stated, "No. I told you I would never do that. I know that we are over if I ever do that. Besides, we're not dating; anything I did wouldn't be cheating."
As she was inhaling deeply, his hand clamped firmly over her mouth. His eyes were wide and stern, "I cannot have you going supersonic and ruining this just because you're upset. There is a bigger picture than just you and me going on here. You can say and do whatever you want, just wait until Rebekah leaves."
Disgusted, Addie used all her might to shove Damon's hand away. She wasn't going to bite him; she didn't want any part of him in her mouth. "Don't worry," she spat, feeling her face turn red with anger, "I'm not going to ruin anything for you. And you are the only picture going on here."
"Hey," Damon said gently, catching her wrist as she spun on her heel.
"Don't 'hey' me," snapped Addie, snatching her wrist back. "You have us on this break up. You go out and sleep with somebody as part of a 'plan.' It all seems a little too coincidental and convenient for you."
"You think I actually slept with Rebekah and Sage?" he growled low into her ear.
She rolled her eyes, stepping away from him. "No, they definitely forced you in your plan."
"Addie, there is zero attraction there." he hissed in a whisper.
"I'm not doing this! I'm not having some hushed argument because you're more afraid of screwing up your plan than you are of screwing up your relationship," Addie declared at a normal volume.
This time, when she tried to leave, Damon didn't stop her. Addie sat in her car for a few minutes, clenching and unclenching the steering wheel as the engine idled and the Jeep gently rocked beneath her. She would not cry. It was nothing more than she expected from Damon. And Rebekah. Rebekah was her friend but she was selfish and had always considered Damon attractive. Addie had worked through to feeling pain but anger and betrayal were emotions she could understand. Establishing her destination Addie began to drive. Fifteen minutes later she was knocking on one of the large double doors.
The porch light flicked on and the door opened. Leaning against the door with his forearm Klaus beamed at her, "Addison! To what do I owe this pleasant surprise?
"My boyfriend slept with your sister," Addie said slowly. Somehow saying it out loud made it seem true.
"And you want me to kill Damon?" Klaus suggested, his head tilting curiously towards her.
"No."
Klaus smile lessened as he considered her and guessed, "And you want me to dagger my sister?"
Addie frowned. "You would do that?"
He shrugged. "Not for nothing. My siblings are all linked to take down Rebekah I'd have to take down three brothers. Finn's actually a liability with his suicide mission so I suppose we could consider him an even trade for Rebekah but I'm still losing Elijah and Kol, two assets. What do I get in return?"
She scoffed, "Is it just in the male DNA to be disgusting pigs? The members of your family are people. You don't just get to decide if they live or die."
"I wouldn't be killing them," Klaus countered, "just daggering them."
"And in your case you sometimes do that for 900 years. That's pretty much as good as dead. The only reason Finn was undaggered was because of Elijah."
"And look how well that turned out. He's trying to kill us all," the hybrid laughed.
"Yeah, well, you can't choose your family. Trust me, I would have traded in my sister a long time ago," Addie snickered.
"You can trade her for Finn," he offered with a smile.
Addie stroked her chin in mock thought before shaking her head, "Nah, with Finn comes your mother and she's a bit of a witch."
Klaus snapped his fingers in mock disappointment and muttered under his breath, "Damn. I was hoping for a two for one deal." His playful act suddenly dropped as he studied her seriously. Quietly he asked, "If you don't want me to do something about Damon or Rebekah, how come you've wound up at my door?"
She made to respond, heard the words in her head, and thought it better not to. "This was a mistake."
"You had to have had a reason to come here. Why?"
"It's stupid," Addie mumbled, running her hand through her hair.
"I like that, by the way," Klaus complimented. Her brows furrowed in confusion. "The red is nice. It's not fire engine red but a pretty, deep cherry red."
She looked at a couple of strands as her cheeks flushed. It was weird getting compliments from Klaus. Damon hadn't even noticed. Softly Addie said, "Thanks."
"Do you want to come in?"
Addie's eyes squeezed shut in attempt to hold back the tears. What the hell was wrong with her? She wasn't going to cry over Damon not cheating by a technicality but she would because he hadn't noticed she dyed her hair? "This was a mistake."
"You said that but you're still here," he pointed out, uncharacteristically gently. Addie gave a slight laugh. "Come in for a drink. If it's still a mistake, you can go."
"I have to drive."
"I don't think you should be driving."
She sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to keep the tears from falling, "I don't like when you're right."
Klaus chuckled as he placed a hand on the small of her back and guided her into the mansion, "You don't like when anyone who isn't you is right."
"True," consented Addie as he led her away from the main room and into a more intimate office, "which is why I try to make it a point to always be right."
"You're right a lot of the time but not all the time," he conceded, motioning for her to sit on the black leather loveseat.
"Like now. I was wrong to come here," she mumbled as she watched him pour two tumblers of dark amber liquor.
He passed her one of the glasses before taking a seat next to her. Taking a sip from his own glass he studied her. Her eyes and nose were red as she tried to keep from crying, her bottom lip kept disappearing between her teeth and there was a slight tremble to her. She was literally shaken up. Softly Klaus demanded, "Why do you keep saying that?"
Addie ducked her head and guilty admitted, "I felt angry and betrayed. I could only think of one way to make Damon feel the same. It was petty and stupid of me. I don't even want to hurt him. And it was, is so wrong of me to use you like that."
"Ah, well, Damon's a bit of a pain in the arse so any chance I get to be one in his, I'm not going to complain. It's not wrong to want to make Damon angry or feel hurt like he hurt you. So don't feel bad about coming here," Klaus advised.
"No offense but I'm not prone to taking moral advice from bad guys."
"Now, why do I have to be a bad guy?" Klaus complained, resting his cheek on the back of the couch and looking up innocently at Addie.
She tried to think back to the last reason Klaus was put into the 'bad' column. "You threatened to kill someone if I didn't show up to your fancy party," Addie recalled.
"Yeah but when did I last actually do something? I haven't done anything since I tried to kill your brother. Stefan had my family hostage and that called for drastic measures. I even saved Caroline! I've done good!" he lamented.
Addie balked at him. "And you still have to ask why you're bad? And Caroline wouldn't have needed to be saved if you hadn't told Tyler to bite her. But you have done some good. Even though you weren't invited, your presence was appreciated that night I heard Damon tell Elena he loved her."
Klaus briefly hesitated, unsure he wanted to know the answer, "Do you want to talk about Damon?"
She shook her head and took a sip of the liquor. It was strong and tasted like caramel and Christmas cake. It tingled in her mouth and tickled as it traveled down her throat. Setting the glass on the coffee table she wondered, "What is it with you guys and expensive alcohol? I get alcohol for the cravings but I don't get spending so much."
"Every sense is heightened when you're a vampire, including taste. You can't taste a difference between a $5,000 scotch and a $25,000 scotch but a vampire can. Then there's the simple matter of money not mattering. Whether it's because you've lived a thousand years and have amassed a fortune or if you can just compel what you want, money isn't a factor," he dismissed, noticing she hadn't answered his question. He watched her picking at invisible lint on her thigh and nudged her knee. When Addie looked up at him he gave her a small, encouraging smile. "So, when did Damon become your boyfriend again? I thought you guys broke up this summer."
"You actually believed we were broken up?" Addie scoffed.
Klaus shrugged. "I wasn't exactly sure. I mean, you guys basically lived together before he drugged you. Then things were kind of messed up and I thought you might be over but then he started sleeping at your house. Then the Elena thing. I knew he loved you and I didn't know if he was just being protective of you. I thought it might just be a comfort thing. I didn't really think that you would be cool with just being friends and being that close, though. And it eventually became apparent that you loved him. I figured it was more than likely you were together."
"We got back together as soon as I got back to town, pretty much," Addie confirmed. "Then we did break up over the Elena thing. Kind of. I don't know what happened. I had a moment of doubt and told Damon I didn't want to do it anymore. He wrote me some break up letter where he was 'letting me go' but not giving up on us and took off to New York City. When I called him and told him that I wanted him he said no and that I needed to think about the situation longer. So, according to Damon, we are not together and he did not cheat on me when he slept with Rebekah."
Klaus could definitely see Damon's argument. He grabbed Addie's glass and placed it back in her hand. "Drink," he ordered.
Addie eyed him suspiciously as she took another small sip. She set the scotch back down and noted, "That's not exactly an encouraging response."
"I don't like Damon," Klaus said quickly.
"That's an already established fact."
"Good."
"So, why the tight lipped response?" she questioned, knocking her knee against his.
Klaus frowned into the glass. "What Damon did isn't exactly the most appropriate thing to do if you plan on working on a relationship and not giving up on it but technically you guys aren't in a relationship right now."
"That's just a technicality! He essentially cheated!" Addie exclaimed.
"Why did they even sleep together?" he inquired.
Addie bit her lip, tempted to reveal Damon's plan. Elijah didn't deserve to die. Neither did Rebekah, despite sleeping with Damon. Klaus seemed semi-manageable in her opinion but Damon's obsession with killing him had ruled the greater part of their relationship. With Klaus gone their relationship probably stood a better chance. That wasn't a valid enough reason to kill him, of course, but his past…. But how could she judge Klaus on his past without judging Damon? They should only kill Klaus if/when he was an active threat. Though Klaus might kill Damon for using his sister, first.
She shrugged. "Why do any two people sleep together?"
"There's an endless number of reasons. There's just as many variants on sex. Like, did they actually sleep together?"
"What does that matter? They had sex. Is there some rule where it's only cheating if both people sleep on a Tuesday before 11:30 or some other bullshit?" she snapped, not seeing his point.
Klaus shrugged one shoulder casually and took a drink. "It doesn't matter," he acquiesced.
"What's that suppose to mean?" snipped Addie, growing frustrated.
He placed her glass back in her hand and motioned for her to have more. As she did he explained, "No circumstances matter if you've already decided that it's clear, cut and dry, that Damon having sex outside of your relationship is cheating."
"How is this not obvious? Please, explain this to me because it's clearly not obvious to Damon either. Explain the working of the male mind," she challenged.
"If they slept together, that implies some level of intimacy or trust. It's one thing to be alert with a person and another thing entirely to be asleep and defenseless with them. If they just -"
"It was a three-way," Addie interrupted bluntly, the alcohol starting to take effect.
"Well," he coughed, clearing his throat, "that's more about my sister's sex life than I ever cared to know."
"Yeah."
Not convinced, Klaus asked after a moment, "Are you certain Damon actually did that? I can imagine him doing a lot of things but I don't really imagine him as the type to hurt you like that."
"Yes," Addie said certainly. "He dumped me to go have sex."
"Well, if he dumped you, he didn't cheat on you," Klaus pointed out brightly. He wasn't sure why he had tried to point out Damon's possible defense. "You can't have it both ways."
"So my options are he's a cheater or sex is better than me?" she scoffed.
"I'm sure Damon would say neither statement is true."
Sassily Addie retorted, "I don't want to hear what Damon has to say."
"Then I guess you'll never know," he replied in a taunting tone. A couple of minutes of comfortable silence passed before he added, "You know Damon is going to want to talk to you."
"I know," she muttered, taking another small sip of scotch. "He won't want to talk to me if I'm here, though."
"Oh, so you really came here to hide," Klaus teased.
Addie shook her head slowly. "No but you do pose an interesting idea. This place is big enough to make for a fun game of hide and seek."
"Well," he sighed, stretching his arm out along the back of the couch and behind Addie, "you're welcome to hideout here anytime."
"Thanks," she mumbled, resting her head back against his arm. After nearly half an hour she softly asked, "Should I talk to Damon?"
Klaus sighed as he took her empty glass and set it next to his on the table, "I can't tell you what to do. I do know Damon, though. If he's serious about not giving up on you, he's not going to give you a choice about talking to him at some point. The longer you avoid the situation, the worse it will get, in my opinion."
Addie wasn't sure if she just wanted it all to end and to never have to face Damon again or to hear from him that it was all some big mistake. Unthinking, her head slipped towards Klaus' shoulder. She wasn't sure why revealed, "We know another White Oak was planted."
The blood drained from Klaus' face. "How do you know that?" he demanded, his voice tight and restrained.
"You just confirmed it."
"Where did you hear that first?" he grumbled, trying not to lose his temper.
"Damon. I don't know where he found it out from, though. He'll be looking for the tree."
Suspicious he asked, "Why are you telling me this? You realize you're giving me incentive to kill Damon?"
Good question. "If Damon or anyone is going to kill you, you deserve to see it coming. You deserve a chance to fight back. Killing you has always been everyone else's obsession, not mine."
"Flattered to know you're such a fan," he smirked, looking down at her as she looked up into his face, her head on his shoulder.
"Don't flatter yourself. If I see murder as a realistic and appropriate solution to a problem, then I have to question my humanity. Besides, telling you what Damon knows protects his life until he finds the tree. You know there is nobody who will search harder for a way to kill you. If anybody is going to find that White Oak, it's going to be Damon," Addie rationalized off the cuff.
"You're right about that," Klaus muttered bitterly. For the hundredth time he wondered how someone as amoral as Damon ended up with someone like Addie.
A familiar melodic beeping began to issue from Addie's pocket. As she pulled out the phone she asked Klaus for his opinion, "How upset should I be that it's taken him a few hours to contact me? I did walk in before your sister even left, but still."
"He probably didn't want to face your immediate wrath and hoped you'd cool down a bit," he suggested, not certain what she wanted to hear.
Damon: Alaric's a bit more unpredictable and uncontrollable than anticipated. He cut up Dr. Fell pretty good. We've got him sedated for the night but I'm going to stay with him just to be sure. Bonnie will be here soon to work some magic and hopefully suppress his evil nature.
Addie rolled her eyes as she put the phone away and muttered, "It doesn't even have anything to do with me." She wasn't sure if that was a disappointment or a relief.
"What does he want?"
"It doesn't even matter," she mumbled, suddenly feeling exhausted. Her head turned into the crook of his neck as her eyes slipped closed. It was just so much easier than to let the pain in.
"Ok," Klaus whispered as he stroked where his hand rested around her shoulder. He wasn't going to try and voice her to talk if she didn't want to. That was something Damon did and it apparently was ineffective. He kept telling himself that he was only encouraging and allowing Addie around him because he needed her to trust him, he needed her to agree to his plan when the time came. She didn't need to tell him they knew about the White Oak tree. That was definite evidence that things were moving in the right direction. Things were meant to stay strictly professional but there was no denying that she was starting to grow on him.
Addie frowned as her cheek brushed against the sweater. The cloth was too itchy and the shoulder too bony. The scent of pine and evergreens was definitely off. She tensed as a hand ran over her head and hair; it was all wrong. Damon knew she liked it when he ran his finger through her hair. Her eyes flew open and flashed around the room. The walls weren't lined with books from floor to ceiling and it looked much more like an office than the study at the boarding house.
She slowly stood up, eyeing Klaus and the room warily as she muttered, "I need to go."
"Why?" asked Klaus, his brow furrowed in confusion as he followed her to the door.
It was so wrong. She should have never let her guard down around Klaus. She never should have even gone over to his house. She was being a jealous child trying to get back at Damon when she had done that.
"I just need to," she mumbled, running her hand through her hair as she looked out the doorway and saw a long white hall to the left and to the right. "How do I get out of here?"
His lip pursed at her abrupt change in behavior but Klaus placed a hand on the small of her back to lead Addie to the front of the house. As his other hand rested on the front door, he looked down into her eyes and tried to compel her. "Are you ok?"
Insistently Addie nodded, "Of course. I just need some alone time and some space to think."
"Alright," he agreed, unconvinced. She was probably on vervain just like everyone else in town. "Call me if you need anything."
"Yeah," she said blankly, stepping out the front door.
"Hey." Klaus quickly grabbed her by the elbow before she could walk away and planted a soft kiss against the corner of her mouth. His lips brushed against the soft skin as he murmured, "Don't let Damon get to you. He's a fool for not realizing what he had."
Disgusted, Addie yanked her arm out of Klaus's grasp and took several steps away from him as she spat, "You're way out of line. I'm not something for him to have or own but even if I was, he'd still have me."
Klaus glared at her as she retreated, calling after her, "You're playing a very dangerous game, Addison."
Addie scowled as she opened up her car door. What game was he talking about? Stupid, narcissistic vampires.
When dawn could be seen off in the distance, Addie had decided to leave North Shore Boardwalk. If she was going to obsess over Damon, her relationship with him, how she felt about him sleeping with Rebekah and just what it all meant, it made sense to go back to where it had all started with their first official date. The boardwalk had been closed but the sounds of the waves lapping at the beach were soothing. She hadn't come to any conclusions, though.
Addie stifled a yawn as she walked up the stairs towards her room. Her heart sped with anxiety as she noticed her bedroom door was opened. She bounded up the last couple of steps and into the doorway.
"Ugh!" she groaned, hitting her head against the doorframe. As Damon sat at her desk looking at uncrumpled papers she snapped, "I keep this door locked for a reason!"
Damon replied coolly as he set one paper aside and picked up another one, "If you really want to keep someone out, try getting a pin lock. You know, on all these list of pros and cons about me, you never list the most important one: I love you."
Scoffing, she snatched the paper from his hand and the several other lists on her desk that he had apparently already reviewed. A week had given her a long time to think and a lot of time to start and never complete the lists. How was she supposed to capture all the wonderful things about him? It was a simple preference that she didn't want to review all the negative parts.
"You have no understanding of personal boundaries or acceptable behavior," Addie grumbled as she balled up the papers and tossed them in the wastebasket.
He picked up a pen and began to casually twirl it between his fingers as he casually replied, "Agree to disagree. Or it's possibly you're, like, fifty percent right."
"Yeah, only fifty percent," she agreed sarcastically. "Aren't you supposed to be babysitting Alaric? I'm pretty sure that doesn't involve breaking into my room and snooping through my things."
"He's down with some tranquilizers and rope. Plus, Bonnie thinks her hocus pocus should keep his alter ego at bay. So, I don't really need to check on him until the tranquilizers start to wear off. And," Damon started very defensively, holding up a finger to signify the importance of his point, "Ric broke in here when he was trying to kill Meredith. Also, if you don't want people reading what you write, I recommend throwing it away instead of just balling it up and leaving it on the floor."
Addie exhaled loudly, rolling her eyes, "I don't care what your excuses are. You knew I wouldn't have wanted you reading those and yet you did anyways."
As he tapped the pen against the desk he sighed, "That's because you won't tell me what you're thinking."
"Excuse me but that is utter horse shit!" she exclaimed. "I try and you say 'go think about it.' So basically, you don't like whatever I say the first time and you want me to change my mind." Addie stared at Damon for a few minutes, waiting for him to deny the accusation. When it was obvious that he was more interested in playing with the stupid pen, she decided to go take a shower.
"You don't want to go in there," Damon quickly warned as he saw her reaching for the doorknob. "I don't think Elena finished cleaning up Meredith's blood. It looks like a bloody shower scene from a horror movie."
As her hand rested on the knob, Addie contemplated, "I suppose the sisterly thing for me to do would be to help her."
He rolled his eyes and snorted, "Yeah, you know, unless you just make everything worse by barfing all over the place."
"The squeamish, ick factor to blood is still really only there for people I care about," she admitted with a slight disappointment; she really didn't want to deal with her , Alaric living with them was Elena's idea so any messes resulting from Alaric and his alter ego were Elena's responsibility, at least that was how Addie was going to reason it. As she began to take off her shoes she quipped, "I don't suppose there's any chance you'd just…," she had to pick her words carefully as she didn't want him disappearing again, "go watch Alaric and leave me here with my broken door?"
"He just snapped the knob out of place. I can replace it tomorrow?" Damon suggested, stretching his legs out and crossing them at the ankle.
"I don't need you, Damon. I can switch out a stupid doorknob," sneered Addie.
He arched a cool eyebrow as he mildly remarked, "I know you're capable of replacing a doorknob. Is it that you don't need me for that or you don't need me for other things, too?"
Addie's lips pursed as she tossed her Converse unceremoniously in her closet.
"Are you just going to give me the silent treatment, now?" he asked irritably as he watched her pull out a pair of pajamas.
She made a quick mocking face in the mirror; he could be so annoying. Turning towards Damon she gave him a forced smile and said in a sickeningly sweet voice, "Please get out so I can change. See? I directed words towards you; that's not the silent treatment."
"Deep. Touching. Heartfelt. Just what I was looking for," Damon replied sarcastically as he stood up. "And exactly what I expected. When things get tough or too personal, you deflect. You're worse than me," he scoffed before walking out the door. Addie noticed it didn't latch behind him.
Addie huffed irritably as she stripped out of her clothes and yanked on her pajamas. She was worse than him? Had he ever spent a day with himself in 170 years? He was the king of deflection. Her face twisted into grimace as she watched herself gather her hair back into a messy ponytail. If Alaric was knocked unconscious, it wasn't like he would overhear them fighting. If Elena overhead, well, it would just feed into the idea that Damon was in love with her. Determined to get a straight answer from him about everything going on, Addie stormed into the hail.
"Fe-fi-fo-fum, somebody's got the angry march of a tiny giant," teased Damon as he sat in the hall, his back against the door to the room Alaric used.
Her arms crossed as she leered down at him. "I'm not in the mood for your attitudes."
He figured. It wasn't exactly like he was in the mood to fight with her but she was mad at him over her assuming he slept with Rebekah and Sage and they both deserved to say their piece on that. Patting the spot next to the ground next to him wearily he sighed, "Alright, come on."
Sitting next to him, Addie pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on them. Uncertain where to start she blurted, "I went to Klaus' tonight."
This wasn't new information but still hearing her say it made his jaw clench as he twirled a strand of of deep red hair around his finger. "I know," he grumbled, releasing the curl. "You didn't just go to Klaus's house; you were close with him. I can smell him on you."
"And you're not having a fit about that?" she observed, perplexed.
Damon snorted humorlessly, "I'm furious. I want to go over there and kill him. I want to yell at you for being so reckless and careless. Now, would doing any of that do me any good or would it just further infuriate you?"
"Turns out you can make a wise decision," Addie replied coolly.
"It's been known to happen every now and then," he smirked, nudging her shoulder with his playfully. "But you rea-"
"Don't you dare start to lecture me," she snapped.
He gave her a cheeky grin and wagged his eyebrows suggestively, "You want to lecture me?"
Addie gave him a long look out of the corner of her eyes before rolling them and grumbling, "You deserve so much more than a lecture."
When she didn't elaborate after a few minutes he asked, "You want to start arguing or would you just like to sit here in silence?"
She groaned and dropped her forehead to her knees and wrapping her arms around her head so Damon couldn't see her face. Her words were muffled but he could still make out her lamenting, "Where am I supposed to even begin?"
"Perhaps if you don't know where to begin, you're not actually mad at me," Damon remarked with false hope.
"No, no, no. I'm definitely mad at you."
"Oh." Damon ran his fingers through her hair as she continued to look away from him. "Why did you dye your hair?"
Resting her cheek on her knees Addie gave Damon an incredulous look. "You wanna talk about my hair?"
He smirked as he took a lock and brushed the ends against the tip of her nose, making her face scrunch up as it tickled. He brushed the hair behind her ear and looked into her eyes as he confessed, "I want to talk to you, Ads. I want to communicate about whatever's going through your head. I want you to talk to me instead of going to Klaus. If getting you to talk means discussing something as mundane as your hair first, then that's what I want to talk about."
"It was blue for too long. I got tired of it. I wanted a change," Addie muttered, not particularly interested in the topic.
"I like it," Damon said with a small smile. He leaned in to kiss her temple but saw her tense and decided not to.
"Sleeping with - "
He sighed loudly as his head banged back against the door, "I didn't sleep with anybody. I merely suggested the idea."
"Whatever," she grumbled. She didn't see the difference. "Whatever you did with them, was it worth it?"
Damon ran his hand through his hair as he felt her deep blue eyes on him. "Yes," he eventually decided, "I got what I needed. I can now kill Klaus, which means you're safe from him. If your safety means losing you because I told a little lie in order to protect you, then it's worth it."
"There are so many things wrong with that statement," mumbled Addie.
"I want to protect the girl I love from the psychotic hybrid who has a very unhealthy obsession with her and wants her alive so he can use her at a future point; I don't see what's so wrong about that," objected Damon. Annoyed, he continued, "I do understand being upset with her for willingly placing herself around him."
"But you don't understand the part where I'm upset that you had sex with Rebekah?" Addie asked in bewilderment. "How would you feel if I had sex with Klaus?"
His eyebrows furrowed and three creases appeared on his forehead as he critically studied her. He shook his head and insisted, "That's completely different. If you're having sex with someone, it's because you're in love with them. If you had sex with Klaus it would mean you're in love with him. Sex hasn't meant anything to me. And I didn't have sex with Rebekah."
Addie scoffed in disgust, "Are you trying to press the 'self-destruct' button on this relationship?"
"What?" Damon shook his head in confusion. "No, of course not. I want this to work more than anything. Why would you think that?"
Addie spoke slowly, as if explaining to a small child, "I tell you I want this relationship and you say no. You're able to have a meaningless threesome with other girls but you won't sleep with me."
He hadn't thought of it like that. "I'll come back to that first point," he promised. Damon rubbed at his chin as he thought of how he wanted to respond to the second part. "I didn't have a threesome; I merely suggested one with no intention of ever being involved. And I can have meaningless sex with anyone," he said slowly. "Actually, I'm quite good at that. Sex with meaning, with emotion, with love? The type of sex I want to have with you? That's all foreign territory for me. But, like I said, I wasn't involved in a meaningless threesome. It was really just a twosome with a bit of encouragement on my part."
"How much encouragement?" Addie sneered, growing impatient.
"I didn't touch anyone," he said clear and firm. "Addie, you know I can't lie to you."
Frowning Addie decided, "I don't think I want to discuss this. It doesn't seem relevant to my problem. You still had this brilliant idea of a threesome. You put your stupid obsession with the Originals ahead of how I would feel."
Damon was was quick to defend himself, saying, "First, it was Sage's idea, not mine. Secondly, I didn't put them ahead of how you would feel. If we were dating I never would have suggested it."
"But since we were technically not together you thought I'd be cool with it?" she quipped, snorting at the absurdity.
Addie had never struck him as particularly jealous but there were her moments of insecurity. "I didn't think you'd be so upset. I'd figure you'd want to know out what Rebekah was up to. Really, Addie, it's not like I did anything."
"Oh, yeah. And if we have to pimp you out to figure that out, that's just an added bonus for you," she sneered sardonically.
"If I thought like that, I'd have slept with them, Addison," Damon corrected, his voice dropping as anger rose in him.
"Fine. You didn't sleep with them," Addie reluctantly agreed. "I don't get it," she declared softly after several minutes of silence.
Damon snorted humorlessly, quick to counter, "I don't get what the big deal is. It's wasn't really any different than watching porn.
"I really don't need to know those finer details. I wasn't talking about the fact that you're disgusting."
"And you don't even know a fraction of what I've done," Damon taunted, lazily rolling his head against the door to give her a devious grin.
She gave him a look of pity; he really didn't get it. "What you did is only disgusting because you have a girlfriend."
"I don't have a girlfriend," he replied dryly, looking back down the hall.
"That's because you're determined to self-destruct," she quipped.
Damon drew up a knee and rested his elbow on it. "What don't you get?" Deflection. It was the only way they really communicated.
"True or false: an anxiety disorder is a medical condition?" Addie proposed, her lips pursed and her brow furrowed deep in thought.
"True."
"But would you consider being anxious a personality trait of someone with an anxiety disorder?"
That was a trap. He was either a liar or he was brutal. "You're anxiety is innately Addison. It's like type I diabetes. It's a medical problem but you're born with it.
"Wasn't referring to myself but ok," she muttered bitterly. "It's a personality thing and a medical problem. Now, when you turn into a vampire you get super health, which would mean an anxiety disorder would go away. However, your personality and feelings are amplified tenfold. If being anxious is part of who you are, don't you just become more anxious, meaning you're not cured?"
That was an unexpected direction she'd taken. Curious, Damon inquired, "How do you even come up with ideas like that?" He was quite certain Addie and he had a very long conversation about her never turning and him never suggesting the idea. It was actually what led to their 15 year pact.
"I don't sleep. By the second or third night I start getting some really weird ideas but I also become really enlightened," Addie answered, doing her best to sound very wise, serious and knowledgeable.
It felt like a stake pierced Damon in the stomach as he recalled one of the first things she had put on a list of why she wanted to be with him; he kept away the nightmares. And she'd undoubtedly been having them since he'd been in New York. Or functioning on no sleep.
Addie rolled her eyes as the seconds stretched into an awkward silence. Pointedly she informed him, "Leaving is not what you should be feeling guilty about."
"You gained mind reading powers from not sleeping?" he quipped back defensively.
"No," she stressed, "you just have a shitty poker face."
Indignantly Damon exclaimed, "I have an excellent poker face!" She could take blows at his personality all she wanted but there was no need to make false accusations.
"You squint when you feel guilty. I mean, nobody would ever notice it unless they, like, obsessed over you but it happens."
"You avoid making eye contact."
She blinked and frowned as she tried to figure out his point. "So?"
"I don't know. I thought we were saying flaws about each other," he said, shrugging with disinterest.
"Oh, honey," Addie said patronizingly as she cupped the side of his face in her hand and made him look at her, "if I'm going to undertake the tedious task of pointing out your many flaws, I'm not wasting my breath on your poker face."
He felt his heart momentarily speed up at term of endearment, even if she didn't mean it as one. He was always just Damon or dick. Crestfallen, Damon turned his head away. He couldn't think of the right words to say, nothing seemed appropriate. How did things end up awkward with Addie? "Are we ever going to get pass today?"
"Technically it was yesterday," Addie muttered tensely as she picked at an invisible piece of lint on her shirt. Slowly she decided, "There's nothing to talk about."
"So why does it feel so awkward?"
"Because we had a perfectly fine relationship and you've decided to sabotage it?" Addie suggested.
Damon snorted humorlessly, "I gave you some space to think about what you really want because I know exactly what I want and it doesn't involve being on and being off depending on your mood."
"Clearly you don't want me because if you did then you wouldn't have gone on a murdering spree and you definitely wouldn't have had a ménage a trios with Rebekah and Sage. You would have waited for me to figure out what I want," she snapped harshly.
"I didn't do anything with them! Everything happened between Rebekah and Sage. All I did was go inside Rebekah's mind once she was asleep. I didn't touch anybody. God, Addie, I didn't even find two beautiful women having sex remotely attractive because I am so damn in love with you that you're the only person who is attractive. And I'm not saying it's your fault they're dead but I went out killing people because you crushed this stupid thing in my chest called a heart. You broke up with me, Addie! You left me. You broke your promise. You are the one person I thought I could trust and you let me down. I didn't cheat on you or drug you or abuse you but you still left. You never even gave me a chance to fix things," vented Damon, nearly two weeks of suppressed emotions bubbling forth.
He had felt abandoned. Perhaps he was as afraid of her truly leaving him as she was of losing him to someone else. It still didn't excuse his behavior, though. Addie scoffed, "Left? Who's the one who ran off to New York without a goodbye?"
"What was I supposed to say, Addie?"
She sighed as she realized, "It's things like this. Back when everything was still new and I still felt special, you never would have just up and left. You never would have just accepted me breaking up with you. You'd push and push until I'd realize I'd made a mistake."
"And it's things like that which I have a problem with. I shouldn't have to push you into being with me. Also, I don't know if you've noticed, but I do a lot of pushing. You don't really like it," he reminded sharply.
Her lips pressed into a thin line and she fell quiet for several minutes. Damon closed his eyes as his head leaned back against the door. She was going to deflect in a matter of seconds.
"Did you… did you…." It was a lot harder to ask her question when she knew the truth.
"Did I want?"
"Shower with Sage?" she mumbled, recalling the image of the other woman in just his shirt.
Damon exhaled loudly. He couldn't fault her for being pissed about that. "I was showering. Sage decided to join because she wanted to know what I saw in Rebekah's mind."
Addie's face scrunched up as if smelling something rotten as she spat, "And you had no problem with that?"
If he said what she wanted to hear, he'd just be lying. He braced himself for a response as he admitted, "It didn't bother me. Did I find it inappropriate? Of course. Should I have known better than to shower with her around? Probably. She did it to get my attention and it didn't work."
"Why would she do that?" she demanded sharply.
"To get me to end things with you."
Addie scoffed in disbelief, "And why am I supposed to believe that I'm important to Sage?"
"You're not, that's her point. You're human. Humans are good for two things: blood and sex. You use them and then you're done. She doesn't like that I'm not using you for either of those purposes," Damon explained in a soft, sour voice.
"How is it any of her damn business?" Addie snapped furiously. Who did that red-headed harlot think she was?
"It's not," he reassured her, pulling her hand into his. "She's just… concerned for me."
"Then wouldn't she want you to be happy? I mean, you're the one who said we were happy," she mumbled grumpily.
"We were. We can be. We will be," Damon told her certainly. In an undertone he added, "We're just cursed with a fate as happy as Romeo and Juliet."
Addie frowned as she tried to free her hand from Damon's grasp but he refused to let go. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well," he said slowly as he rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand, "we knew getting into this that we're going to end. I don't know about you but that's going to be a pretty tragic ending for me."
Her lips pursed as she challengingly pointed out, "To have that tragic ending, we'd have to be together."
Damon pressed a kiss to her temple as he murmured, "Of course we're going to be together. Assuming you've decided you want me, that is."
Addie scowled, trying to shrug out from under the arm Damon wrapped around her shoulder, "You're the one who won't have me."
"No, Ads. I just wanted you to take some time to figure out if we are what you really want. I hate constantly worrying if you're going to change your mind about me. I hate the fact that it always feels like you're on the verge of ending things."
"It's not always like that," she objected softly. She could see his point, and while it made her feel guilty, it didn't change anything. Sighing, Addie took his face in both her hands and gently pulled at him until his forehead rested against hers. His eyes were so blue, so startling blue. His eyes were so piercing that she felt completely exposed as she stared into him. She avoided eye contact to keep her secrets. She felt naked and vulnerable every time she met his eyes. This time he was the exposed and vulnerable one. There was a harrowing fear lurking in his beautiful eyes. For once, he was the one who chose to break contact, letting his eyes close. It rattled Addie to her core to see him sacred. All she wanted to do was protect him from it, like he protected her from the nightmares.
"Look at me, Damon," she softly ordered. His inhale could be heard as he reluctantly met her eyes. "You know what will make me leave you. You're in control of that. I'm not going to just abandon you. If I leave you, it's going to be because you change your mind, not me. I will always pick you, Damon. I'm also going to change my mind from time to time," Addie laughed uneasily. "I've committed myself to you for the next 14 years. Unless you drug, abuse or cheat on me, my mind is always going to land back on you. I have a hard time committing to plans for this weekend. Committing myself to something, someone for years? For almost as long as I've been alive? That's daunting and I'm going to want to back out from time to time just because it seems so overwhelming. But, Damon, I don't mean it. I'm always going to want you."
Despite the soft breathe he released, there was still a lingering anxiousness about him. Addie's fingers threaded through the dark, soft strands of his hair as she decided to be direct and confront the fear he wouldn't admit. "I'm not going to disappear on you. I'm not going to leave you alone. I'm not your mother. I'm not Katherine. You're stuck with me."
"Promise me," he whispered, a desperation in his voice.
She could do better than that. Her lips ghosted against his as she murmured, "I love you, Damon."
He groaned softly as he tugged her across his lap, his mouth pressed hungrily against hers. Addie smiled into the kiss, comforted by the familiar softness of his firm lips and the gentle pressure he exerted. He kiss was confident, skilled, and exactly what she needed after being apart from him for so long. Damon growled, deepening the kiss as she softly tugged at his hair, wanting him closer. As she straddled him, his cool hands slid under her shirt and up her back, making her shiver.
A loud clearing of the throat caused Addie to quickly pull away from him, burying her face in the crook of his neck as her cheeks flared.
"Excuse me but making out with my sister is not watching Ric," Elena reprimanded Damon as she stood in the hall.
"Excuse me but I'm guarding the door," Damon retorted in the same voice. Annoyed he pointed out, "He can't kill anyone if he can't get past the door."
Crossing her arms, Elena looked pointed at her sister curled up against Damon, his hand rubbing her back. "You're not doing as you said you would."
"Here. In there. It doesn't really matter where I babysit from. Unless his alter ego comes with super strength, he's not breaking free of the rope. Even if he does that, he'll break a limb jumping out the window so the only way out is through this door. So, while my eyes may not be on him, I'm making sure he's contained," he countered snarkily. "Now, unless you suggest I leave the door unattended, I suggest you leave because I'm going to continue kissing my girlfriend."
"Excuse me?" Elena gawked, her mouth hanging open.
"You heard me," Damon smirked as he lifted Addie's head from his shoulder to kiss her. Hearing Elena stomp down the stairs a few moments later, he pulled away and chuckled, "Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed."
"No, she just thinks you're in love with her," Addie snapped harshly, scowling. It was just as much his fault as it was Elena's.
He quickly shook his head. "You know that's not true, Ads."
"She doesn't."
He tugged the scrunchie from her hair and ran his fingers through it, hoping to ease her obvious agitation. "Well, she's been thinking I've been single since this summer. Now that I've declared you my girlfriend, I'm sure she'll get the message." Addie didn't look anymore comforted. His thumb brushed over her frown as he suggested, "I'll talk to her."
She grinned, happily asking, "Can I watch?"
"Addie," he chastised sternly, "you're better than taking joy in your sister's unhappiness.
She shook her head and lightly replied, "Not really."
"Ads.'
"You would have taken joy in Stefan's unhappiness if Elena had picked you," Addie pointed out, a slight pout to her lips.
"Exactly. I'm not a good person. You are," he emphasized, poking her over the heart.
It was a full-on point she gave him as she crossed her arms. "You are a good person. Besides, it's Elena."
"Be nice to your sibling. You never know when they'll shut their humanity off and you miss the originl version."
"Elena without humanity," Addie mused. "So… she'd be Katherine? A doppelganger in looks and attitude. Interesting."
"Yeah," Damon agreed slowly. "One is enough."
"I quite disagree. I'll take two Katherine's at the price of one Elena." Damon frowned at her and she held up her hands defensively, "Katherine isn't trying to steal my boyfriend."
"She was trying to sleep with me, though," he reminded her.
Her voice dripping with sarcasm, "Why don't we have a threeway?"
"You're, uh, you're still mad about that?"
"Mhm," she hummed, her lips pressed into a hard smile.
"That's a shame," Damon replied disappointedly. "You know, not only did you run off to Klaus but I'd be a damn idiot if I believed you smelled like him just from being near him."
Addie bit at her lip innocently as she ran her fingers through his hair. "You don't really want to fight about that, do you?"
Damon shrugged. He didn't want to fight with her; he just wanted to yell at her for it. But if he let the Klaus thing slip, it was incentive to let the Rebekah and Sage thing slip.
"I swear, my hair has never looked as perfect as it has these past two weeks," he smirked, leaning into her touch as he said so.
Quickly Addie pulled her hand away and crossed her arms. "Well, if you don't like-"
She squealed as felt Damon's hand suddenly under her thighs, his fingers curling around to brush the inside of them. Her arms went around his neck for stability as he stood up.
"Hey! Put me down!" she protested, though her legs automatically wrapped around his waist. "I was in the middle of something!"
"You should be in the middle of sleeping," he chided as he used his shoulder to push open her bedroom door and then to close it. "I'll tuck you in."
When he tried to drop her on the bed, she only clung tighter to him, having to use her own strength to stay up. "No. We were talking."
Damon chuckled and bent until Addie's back was against the bed. "Come on, Ads," he insisted, patting her leg. "We can talk later. You've been up all night."
"So?" she pouted, burying her face against his shoulder..
"You need -," he cleared his throat, feeling her lips hot on his neck, "you need to get some rest."
Addie sighed as she continued to nuzzle against him. She was tired but that didn't mean much. No matter how tired she was, the nightmares would still come. Softly she asked, "Will you stay? At least until I fall asleep?"
"Of course," he whispered, pressing a kiss to her hair. He could feel her become less tense as she untangled herself from him. As she scrabbled under her blanket, Damon removed his shoes.
As soon as he stretched out next to her, Addie curled up into Damon's side, her head resting perfectly over his heart and her tight around his waist. As she sagged against him, she realized just how tired she was. Sleepily she muttered, "This feels weird."
He twirled a strand of red hair around his finger. The color was nice. Everything felt right to him. The days without her had been weird. "What's wrong?"
"I'm not used to you wearing a shirt," she teased, tugging on the black material.
"Is that your oh-so-subtle way of telling me to take it off?" chuckled Damon.
She blushed as she rubbed her cheek against the soft cotton and deeply inhaled the scent of ginger, cloves and sandalwood. "No," Addie whispered, smiling as she felt his fingers run through her hair. "Not now. Everything's perfect."
His brow furrowed in confusion. "Sure, if my best friend being tied down in case he wakes up as a psycho killer and your sister thinking I love her and free Originals is your definition of perfect."
"This moment is perfect," she sighed dramatically.
Damon frowned. The moment didn't exist outside of reality. The problems were still problems. It wasn't perfect; it just felt like it. Being with Addie was perfect. This she made came to mind, reminding him that perfect was far from what they really were.
They lapsed into a long silence as he brushed his thumb across her cheek repeatedly. So soft. So silky. So perfect. She was everything he didn't deserve and so much more.
"I don't like pets," he admitted quietly.
Her head shifted on his chest as she peered up at him with sleepy, deep blue eyes. He smoothed out her eyebrow furrowed in confusion and explained, "Pets die. You grow to love them and then they die."
"That's ridiculous," Addie mumbled tiredly. "Everyone di -," she abruptly cut off, acutely reminded that not everybody died. Perplex, she demanded, "Are you calling me a pet?"
He scoffed, "As much as I'd call a man-eating python a pet. I was referring to animals."
"What do you have against animals? You know, other than the fact that they're not designed to out live you."
"I had a pet once," Damon informed her grimly.
"And it died," Addie concluded. As her head settled against his chest again she couldn't help but wnder just how deep his abandonment issues went if he such a serious problem with pets.
He felt himself relax a little once her eyes were off him. His thumb went back to her cheek; he didn't want her to look at him with pity. Coldly, he confessed, "I killed it."
She wasn't sure if that surprised her or not. But why would he have a pet just to kill it? Genuinely she wondered, "Were you trying the bunny diet?"
He snorted at the irony. "Kind of. Sammy was Thanksgiving dinner. He was a turkey," he explained as he felt the corner of her mouth pull down.
A turkey? A pet turkey? Addie could imagine Damon trying to turn a tiger into a pet, perhaps, but not a turkey. Warily she asked, "Now, how long ago was this?"
"About 160 years ago. I was twelve. He hatched when I was seven. My father always went turkey hunting with other guys from Founding Families, you know, like Jonathan Gilbert. My mother decided I was finally old enough to go one year. I'd never shot a gun so I was really excited. See, she didn't like me playing with guns. She always told me I was gonna shoot my foot. I was sure as hell confused when my dad handed me a sticking knife instead of a rifle that morning. Even then we still had another two turkeys bigger than Sammy. I think I argued with my dad for about thirty minutes about killing him before he finally… knocked some sense into me," Damon trailed off bitterly.
Addie went to shake her head but she realized the hand that had been running through her hair was holding her to his chest. Horrified, she whispered, "What sense?"
"Sammy wasn't meant to be a pet; he was meant to be food. Horses are meant for plows. Cows you can enjoy for four or five years, as long as you milk them. Once they're dried up you have beef. The egg to chicken ratio is only worth the feed the first three years. And we didn't have pigs but I'm sure there's a certain size you raise them to for maximum profit."
"Hmph," Addie acknowledged. That explained a lot. "You were basically raised to be the ultimate vampire, then."
"Because I was taught that animals serve their purpose and then you're done with them?" he asked, mildly amused.
She nodded against his chest. "Yeah. People are only good for sex and blood, right?"
"Don't you think you're proof that I don't think that?" he retorted tartly.
"And the 15,000 people before me?"
That number was definitely off. "So, it took me 145 years to undo 23 of crappy parenting," Damon shrugged dismissively.
Realizing he was playing with her hair again, Addie lifted her head until she was looking into his face. He was closed, his emotions guarded. Still, she kissed him softly, a silent show of thanks. "You don't have to tell me about it," she whispered, pressing her lips to his cheek. He'd only told her because he read that stupid list.
"Yes, I do," he insisted, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "It bothers you not knowing about my human life. I don't want something as stupid as my past coming between us. It's not easy for me to talk about but I will for you, for us."
Addie shook her and reassured him, "I don't need to know who you were to know who you are. Of course I would like to know but not if it means you have to dragged up things you'd rather forget."
"I don't mind remembering for you as long as you promise not to take it too seriously. I don't need or want you to feel bad for me having to kill a turkey."
"So, I can't feel bad for twelve year old you?"
"No. He's been dead for almost 160 years."
"Can I feel bad that current you doesn't understand the joys of a pet?"
Damon slid his hands under his shirt she wore and up her back, gently massaging, hoping to distract her. "No, you can't. You definitely can't because you've never had a pet so you don't understand the joy so you can't be upset that I don't understand what you don't understand."
Addie arched her eyebrows in surprise and in an impressed toned replied, "That's some serious circular logic."
He nodded and sarcastically quipped, "It's called Addie logic. Are you familiar with it?"
"Don't get smart with me," she sassed, sticking her tongue out at him.
"Or else what?" he murmured, gently pushing at the back of her neck. She followed his touch as he guided her head to lay next to his on the pillow.
Yawning in his ear, she threatened, "Or else I'll fall asleep on you."
"You mean you'd actually do what you're supposed to be doing?"
"Shut up," she mumbled.
He chuckled and pressed kiss to her forehead. "You're too tired to properly engage in a battle of wits. If I did, that'd be like taking advantage of the drunk chick at a party."
"Because you've never done that," Addie injected sardonically.
"Not late-" he had found that one girl in New York at a party. "I'm turning over a new leaf. Now, stop talking and go to sleep."
"Bossy," she muttered, moving her arm from his waist to over his chest, her fingers sneaking into the hair at the nape of his neck. Damon rested his cheek against hers as she lay half on top of him. He definitely didn't mind, he'd really missed it, but it was going to be impossible not to wake her if he had to rush to Ric. But since she seemed so comfortable, he decided that was a problem for future Damon; he was just going to enjoy holding his girl. Her breathing had evened out and he had thought she had fallen asleep when he softly heard, "We should work on your pet problem."
"I don't have a pet, ergo no issue."
"I've always wanted one. Jeremy's allergic to fur, though."
He made a quiet hushing sound and repeated, "Go to sleep."
"I am."
"No, you're talking about pets."
"I want one."
"I'll get you a goldfish," he grumbled, getting annoyed that she obviously wasn't concerned about getting adequate rest for herself. "Go. To. Sleep."
"No fishies," she muttered drowsily. "A dog. Or a cat. But I don't want you to hate it."
He sighed heavily, "I won't if you go to sleep."
A relief flowed through him when he felt her nod in agreement. Addie was most definitely not getting a pet. Pets died. Everyone she loved died. He was not going to let her be hurt by death again. A dog or cat, no matter how cute, would just be death in a cuddly package. They were not getting a pet.
Long after he thought she was asleep, Addie whispered, "Did you get any White Oak?"
"Barely," Damon snarled through gritted teeth.
"What happened?"
He opened his mouth to start ranting but remembered she needed her rest. "Rebekah burned up the old wood from Wickery Bridge."
"How'd she know?"
"Sage got into my head. Turns out she's in love with the suicidal one and since they're linked…," he trailed off.
Addie snickered softly. "Being mind raped isn't so much fun, is it?"
"I still won," he bit back curtly. "They didn't know to burn the old sign."
"You're really going to kill Klaus?" she murmured.
"As soon as I make a stake," he promised, kissing her temple.
Her stomach knotted in guilt and anxiety. Klaus would think Rebekah had destroyed all the wood. He would be killed in cold blood. Or worse, he'd kill Damon. Either way, someone was going to die.
A/N: So sorry that took me so long to get out. Thank you guys for remembering this still exist. This chapter has been a pain in my side. I wrote it. Then my computer literally melted. I re-wrote it and was about to post it when I realized that Damon would never cheat on Addie. (Seriously, WTH was I thinking?) So I had to write it all again. I think next chapter we'll see these two go public with their relationship and Damon has his little discussion with Elena, there's some fun confrontation with Rebekah, and the ultimate betrayal. Hint: Klaus.
Thank you guys sooooo much for all your comments, follows, and adding this to your favorites!
A/N dos: Yes, this chapter was posted. Following a couple of comments, I pulled it down for revision and editing. Then I looked back at those comments and people are seeing EXACTLY what's wrong with this couple. I put in over 100 hours into this chapter and it kicked my ass. I'm not going to rewrite it so that this unhealthy relationship looks healthy. Yes, I am very much aware of what I am writing (like 75% of the time). You are not meant to feel warm and gooey reading this. This are two very troubled people that were never meant to fall in love with each other. Damon is manipulative and what he does is not ok. I refer you back to the title, Hostage Control. These characters are hostages of each other and of their emotions. If you're looking for that idealistic relationship, that comes to bloom in Resist Control.
Though, seeing the struggle I faced with this chapter and how it's obviously not what people want, I have become quite discourage in pursing this endeavor and this should be viewed as a notice of hiatus/termination.