Addie's index finger and thumb delicately grabbed either side of Damon's wrist as she tried to move his arm without waking him. The deadweight feeling stayed the same as she rested his hand along his side so she felt pretty confident she was successful. Still concerned about waking him, though, it took her a full minute to get off the couch as she moved slowly, not wanting the change in weight distribution to disturb him. It was barely dawn but she wanted to get a headstart on her day and she still had to get home and shower before school. Because she wanted to wear her red Converse. And her red Converse were not at the boardinghouse. And there was no particular reason she woke up wanting to wear those shoes simply because they were at her house and not the boardinghouse.
"You know, it feels like you're sneaking out on me the morning after," Damon muttered sleepily, his eyes still closed. He imagined he'd woken up only moments after Addie. His unconscious mind had registered how she'd gone extremely tense, her breathing had become fast and shallow, and her heart was pounding as if she'd just run a race. It seemed as if any moment she'd break into a panic attack but he was proud when she managed her anxiety. She'd been slowly moving away from him an hour. It was highly likely that he was correlated with her troubles, making him feel guilty.
Addie's mouth went dry and she licked her lips nervously. Trying to sound neutral and normal as she stuffed her study tools and math book into her backpack she remarked, "Well, you don't get to feel that way because A) we're talking so this doesn't constitute as a sneak out and B) it's not the 'morning after' because nothing happened."
"Mmm," he hummed contemplatively, rolling onto his stomach and burying his face into the pillow, "I don't think you get to tell me how to feel."
"Yeah, ok,"she quipped back sarcastically, "but it's fair for you to make me promise not to get made over you killing Alaric."
"Technically, you never promised," pointed out Damon, "which is how I know it's way too fucking early for this argument."
Slinging her backpack over one shoulder, like always, she hissed, "And that's why I'm sneaking out." Plus she still hadn't decided how she was going to handle the situation. Avoidance and denial were just so much easier to face.
Rebekah was no longer on Addie's friend list since she decided to carve up Damon. Bonnie wasn't particularly happy with Addie since Damon had turned her mother into a vampire and, yet, Addie was still with him. The only person in the state still on speaking terms with her was Caroline but she only wanted to rant about how the theme of the dance tomorrow had been changed from the 70s to the 20s by Rebekah. However, Caroline would never dare to enter the library during lunch, the most social period of the day, making Addie felt pretty safe hiding out there.
She mindlessly flipped through her index cards, trying to cram in a few extra minutes of studying before her calculus exam but she was too distracted; none of the ink on the cards made sense to her. The ring in her pocket felt like a ten pound stone but something about leaving it at the house just hadn't felt safe. The Gilbert rings had saved Alaric and Jeremy and countless other relatives an unfathomable number of times, she was sure. She still hadn't decided if it was a blessing or a curse, though. It had caused at least two people to be maniacal serial killers. Well, Alaric was only technically an attempted serially killer as he had only successfully killed Brian Walters, the medical examiner and Bill Forbes only half counted since he chose not to transition into a vampire.
The index cards smacked against the table as she threw them down in frustration, her hands running through her hair. First their parents (courtesy of Elena), then Vicky (thanks to Damon), then Anna (collateral damage in John saving the town), then Isobel (probably the only good thing Klaus ever did), then Jenna (if Elena hadn't been a damn doppleganger…), then John (again, her sister), and now Alaric (because her boyfriend was a certifiable nutcase). Addie tilted her head thoughtfully as she traced a pattern in the grain of the cherry wood desk. Considering all the bullshit she and her siblings had gone through, they weren't turning out that bad. Of course, she was dating a guy who didn't seem to have an issue killing his best friend. Elena was hung up on an emotionally unavailable guy so she'd gone after her sister's boyfriend. And her brother talked to ghost, ghost of his twice dead vampire girlfriends. Yeah. They were screwed.
Addie still hadn't figured out how she was going to tell her siblings Alaric was dead... And that Damon was the one who killed him.
Alaric's second personality either hadn't been a guinness or didn't care if Damon knew were the last White Oak stake was. Just as she had anticipated, Addie had found it in the part of the Lockwood tunnels "where no vampire would ever get it." It was where the cave paintings of the first family was. The painting of the second tree had been right next to the stake; it didn't exactly require a rocket scientist to put two and two together. After she safely stored the stake under her mattress, she found the courage to ask Damon about Alaric's body. He'd compelled the mortician at Mystic Falls hospital to take care of the body until he decided he what he wanted to do with it. At least they could give him a proper burial. That was more respect than Damon had for the vast majority of human life.
"You are so predictable," chuckled a warm, familiar voice from over shoulder. "I knew I'd find you here."
Before he had finished speaking Addie's arms were wrapped so tight around her brother, his own were pinned to his sides. She held Jeremy at arm's length and looked at him, shaking her head in disbelief. "I can't believe you're back! I've missed this ugly mug," she teased, patting his cheek lightly.
Jeremy beamed as he gave his little sister a bearhug. "Missed you too, Ad."
"Trust me, I'm ecstatic you're back," Addie insisted, forcing him into the hard, wood seat next to the one she was using, "but jumping back into school straight off the plane? That's a little…"
"You?" he smirked knowingly.
She opened her mouth for a smart retort but closed it again. There was no point in denying that she liked school.
"Don't worry," he reassured her, "you still hold the title of Uber Geek in the family. But of course the first thing I had to do when I get back into town is re-enroll me in school."
"Elena," they said simultaneously in exasperation. It was really annoying that she had tried to take on the mom role.
He nodded, a disgusted look on his face. "Can you believe her? She turns up to get me and it turns out Klaus' psycho little brother has been pretending to be my friend. Then Kol starts trying to kill us, making us go on the run. And she's worried about making out with Stefan in some sleazy motel."
Addie's eyebrows furrowed in clear confusion. "Why were you guys at a motel?"
"Of all that, the motel is the concerning part for you? You're just gonna ignore the crazy, murderous vampires, one of which was sticking his tongue down your sister's throat?" Jeremy said in slow slapped himself in the head and exclaim, "Stupid me! Of course that's the weird part for you. It's not like you aren't dating the craziest vampire of them all."
"I need someone who can match my crazy," she shrugged simply. Addie jabbed an accusatory finger in the center of his chest and scolded, "And you don't get to judge. I was the last idiot to fall for a crazy, murderous vampire. Do I need to remind you of Anna and Vickie?"
"Damon is far more psychotic than either of them,"Jeremy retorted defensively.
"I'm not claiming Damon has any semblance of sanity. His mind is… well, I haven't quite figured out the method to his madness, yet. But I really don't always understand the method to my own madness so that's not really saying a whole lot," Addie mused, her fingers tapping rhythmically on the desk as she thought. There had to be something wrong with Damon for him to murder Alaric. People didn't just go around killing people they care about.
As Jeremy watched his little sister's deep blue eyes glaze as she stared at something past his shoulder. Her attention span really was very limited. "Hey," he said, snapping his fingers just in front of her nose to break her trance. "You wanna tell me what the hell is going on here? Elena was all shady about it when she wasn't fawning over Stefan."
No, no, she did not want to tell him what was going on. He already didn't like Damon. Nobody really liked Damon. Now everyone was going to hate Damon. Evasively Addie answered, "Um, Elena made a pass at Damon but apparently she now over him because whatever is going on between her and Stefan is new." Technically, it was true; it wasn't important compared to other things but it still happened.
"Yeah, I really don't care about your guys love lives. I'm talking more about Klaus' crazy brother and Elena mentioned Alaric being sick and the blackouts and this whole wiping out an entire vampire bloodline shit."
"Oh. You mean all the supernatural shit that made Elena send you to Denver to keep you safe?" she asked innocently, emphasizing the fact that it had not been her idea.
"Yeah."
"Uh, well, I don't have time to explain all of it before my math test. Quick version: kill an original and everyone they've turned dies. We want to try and use your connection to the Other Side to figure out who started Damon and Stefan's line so we can kill the other three Original siblings. But wait, it gets better, we no longer have a way of killing any of them because we did have some stakes that could kill them but I traded them to Klaus for Damon and the one Stefan had burned up when he staked Flynn. Alaric has one but his rational side doesn't know where it is and his other personality is not exactly playing well with others these days and won't tell us where he hid the stake. I'm guessing by your face Elena mention his multiple personality disorder. She probably failed to mention that because of the Gilbert ring he now has two and the new one enjoys murdering anyone who associates with vampires," she rushed out, concluding in a mockingly cheery voice and sarcastic smile.
Jeremy leaned in slightly as he scrutinized her face for any signs of deception. It was sometimes difficult to tell whether his sister was being serious or joking. The macabre was amusing to Addie but she had mentioned Elena, someone she didn't associate with humor.
Jeremy repeated to make sure he heard correctly, "Alaric's killing people?"
Addie sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. Talking about Alaric was going to end up biting her in the ass. "Yeah. That ring that let's you cheat death also makes you go crazy. I'd probably stop wearing it if I were you."
"Sure, when my sisters stop associating with vampires who keep trying to kill me, I will."
"It's not like we enjoy associating with Klaus," she mumbled bitterly.
"Alaric wouldn't kill anyone, though," he insisted.
"No," Addie drawled out slowly, "but his alter ego does. And he doesn't seem to have much control over that. The guy practically stabbed himself to death. No sane person does that. I mean, unless you're committing harikiri and it's honorable suicide but I don't think his alter ego is a Japanese samurai."
If Addie was serious, she wasn't very convincing. For such an important topic Jeremy expected her to do a better job of staying on topic. Plus, Alaric trying to kill himself was quite a reach. To see if he could trip her up in her trick he challenged, "You guys are just letting him run around killing people?"
Her heart was pounding to the rhythm of an awful techno song. She pursed her lips as she pretended to give the question a brief consideration, "Not really people, per se, more like a person and a half."
"A half?"
"Bill Forbes died with vampire blood in his system so he could have gone on as a vampire but he chose to die."
"Caroline's dad?" He mockingly nodded acceptance. "Ok. Alright. How are you guys protecting people from him? Or protecting him from himself?"
Bile burned the back of her throat as if she was going to be violently ill. Lying to Jeremy didn't feel right but she couldn't just sell out Damon. She couldn't betray Damon because she was a slave of the horrific concept of love; it scared her to even think of how badly he would have to screw up for her not to forgive him. Unfortunately, everyone else wasn't blindly, stupidly in love with Damon and had the ability to hate and condemn him and hold him accountable for his awful actions. Though, perhaps that wasn't a bad thing overall. In the case of killing Alaric, friend, history teacher, pseudo guardian, it was a bad thing, though. A very, very, very bad thing. Possibly. Addie wasn't certain she was qualified to decide whether or not Damon's actions were forgivable as she had no choice. That didn't mean she had to be ok with it. If she was having issues wrapping her mind around his behavior and accepting it, despite the fact that Alaric tried to kill her twice and she unconditionally loved Damon, nobody else was going to understand it.
"Bonnie made this combination of herbs that is supposed to suppress his manic side. Damon was watching him constantly but he was doing well so we figured he didn't need a babysitter. Then Alaric decided it would be a good idea for him to go off into the mountains on a spirit quest and find himself," she said dramatically, placing air quotes around the last two words as she rolled her eyes. "He was feeling guilty and just needed some space."
In her mind Addie cringed. That wasn't what she had meant to say. Telling people that Alaric had taken off wasn't exactly an explanation for him being dead. Addie didn't have an explanation for him being dead besides the truth, which she obviously couldn't tell anyone, but she needed some explanation for why Alaric was suddenly not around and unreachable.
It was apparent that Addie wasn't going to give up on her little story. Conceding defeat Jeremy redirected the conversation, "What is it that you guys want me to try and do?"
"Huh?" And he accused her of getting off topic?
"You said something about my connection to the Other Side."
Her forehead landed on the desk with a loud thump. "Ow," she muttered. Of course it was more supernatural shit. When did her life become so complicated? "It's a push/pull thing, right?"
"Pretty much," nodded Jeremy.
"Right, well, we know Rose turned Katherine and Katherine turned Damon, Stefan, and Caroline… Actually it was Damon's blood in Caroline but Katherine killed her. But if Damon dies-"
"Focus!" he exclaimed as loud as he dared in the library. If he allowed his sister to go off on every train of thought she had, it would be Christmas before she made her point.
"We make you think about Rose and hope she makes contact. We figure out who turned her and we keep working our way back until we figure out which Original is linked to them."
"I didn't even know her and I definitely don't know vampire's going back a thousand years," Jeremy pointed out smartly.
"That's the beautiful thing about immortality, knowing Katherine already puts us back 500 years. For all we know, an Original could have turned Rose."
"Or there could be 500 people between an Original and Rose," he countered. "And I still doubt I can make contact without knowing her. I could see Vicki and Anna because I had a connection to them when they were alive."
Addie lips twisted into a scowl as she shoved her flashcards into her backpack; the bell was about to ring. Bitterly she grumbled, "I'm sure Damon can provide you with enough information for you to feel like you did."
Cutting school was not Addie Gilbert's style, at least it hadn't been before she met Damon Salvatore. Something about him just screwed with her head. She'd only turned in her math test half completed and it wasn't because she didn't know the answers; it was because she couldn't get Damon out of her mind. She was too worried about him and felt guilty about how she had left that morning. Damon could be cold and heartless but Alaric was his true friend, someone he actually cared about.
With Elena and Stefan back, the only chance they might get to talk alone would be during the school day. She had to talk to him before they tried to make contact with Rose that evening. His cell phone was going straight to voicemail and he wasn't responding to text. Addie didn't feel guilty about using her key to get into the house when Damon ignored her knocking for fifteen minutes. She called out for him as she searched downstairs but he didn't answer. She went to the only other place she thought he might be.
"Damon?" Addie called out again, opening the door to his room.
"Bathroom." Inside she found Damon, a towel slung low around his hips and a thin layer of shaving cream covering his face and neck. She watched with mild interest as he held the skin of his cheek taut and used the straight razor to cut of several days of stubble. She admired the way he used a classic razor as opposed to a modern safety razor. It wasn't that surprising since he had grown up shaving that way. Though, Stefan had switched to safety razors because it was supposedly easier and faster. Damon had finished with the left half of his face when he met her eyes through the mirror and teased, "Enjoying the show?"
She walked around to the other side of him and sat on the counter so she could watch him do the same to the right side. Unashamed she admitted, "Very much so. Where you ignoring me?"
"Try it," he encouraged, holding the blade out to her. His avoidance of her question didn't go unnoticed.
Addie laughed sarcastically, "I don't think so. I'll cut you."
"And I'll heal right away," he shrugged, as if it didn't matter. Her hesitation was obvious but the way she bit her lip told him she was tempted. Damon placed the handle in her hand and insisted, "Come on. It's easy." And it kept her distracted.
"I have no idea what to do," she protested, trying to hand the razor back to him.
"No excuse." After adjusting her hold on the razor, Damon reached over his head with his right and drew the skin upwards with his fingertip, making a smooth shaving surface. He watched her in the mirror as he directed, "Hold the blade at a 30-degree angle. Don't press but just glide it down from the edge of my hair down to my jaw." Addie held her breath to keep her hand from shaking as she did what he said. She nervously looked to him for approval when she finished. "Perfect," he praised, running the tap for her to rinse off the blade. "Now, follow my cheekbone to halfway down my cheek. Aren't you supposed to be in school?"
"You weren't answering my calls or text. I was too distracted thinking about you to focus. Now, stop distracting me or I'm going to cut you," she muttered, focusing intently on her task.
Damon had to fight from letting any expression alter his face. He ran the water again, signalling for her to rinse the blade as he moved his fingers further down his cheek so she could finish down from mid-cheek to jaw. "Why were you thinking about me? Seemed like you wanted to do the exact opposite of that this morning and last night."
"You sprung on me that you killed your best and only friend because you felt that was the only way to keep me safe. How am I supposed to respond to that?" she asked rhetorically, returning to shaving his cheek. While she was still nervous about cutting him, she could see how the process could be meditative once you became comfortable with it.
"Ric wasn't my best friend. Ric's never been my best friend. You've always been my best friend, even when I didn't want to be friends with you. It's always you, Ads. It's always been you. It will always be you," Damon informed her, holding her gaze as she washed off the excess shaving cream again.
"He was still your friend," she whispered. Addie wasn't sure if she was trying to convince her or himself that Alaric hadn't been his best friend. "And you still took a life for me. That's… I know your intentions are well but it's just not something I'm comfortable or agree with you doing."
He tilted his head back and to the right, exposing the skin under his left jaw. Again, he drew the skin tight and indicated for her to continue. "I figured that out. Though, I pretty much already knew that when I killed him. I knew the risk of losing you. I will always pick losing your love and respect over losing your life."
She held her breath again, nervous about nicking the thin, sensitive skin. That was the issue; there needed to be some kind of boundaries on his protection. That was an issue for another time. There were only so many issues she could tackle with Damon in a day. Addie leaned back, inspecting his smooth, clean face. All except for one strip of shaving creaming. She handed the blade back to him and declare, "I am not going near your Adam's apple. I don't even like shaving my own knees."
Damon laughed deeply; she was perfect. He quickly finished up the last bit of shaving. He waggled his eyebrows suggestively as he turned on the water, "You're gonna get soaked if you don't move."
She gave him an exasperated look; she wasn't that close to the sink. His hands cupped under the faucet and filled with water that he splashed on his face. Cold water soaked through the right thigh of her jeans, making Addie gasp in shock. Damon resisted smirking as he repeated the process, focusing more on landing water on her than cleaning off the remnants of shaving cream. Her squeals and protests were a tad dramatic.
Blindly Damon reached out for the hand towel to dry his face but Addie had already snatched it away and was blotting the right side of her shirt and pants. He knew she hated wet clothes. Seething she growled, "You dick."
"Did you take the towel?"
"Dicks don't deserve towels," Addie snapped back surly.
"Well, I could just use the towel that's covering my actual di-"
"Ugh!" she groaned in frustration, shoving the cloth into his hand. Dramatically stomping to the bedroom she exclaimed, "You are such a dick!"
His laughter was muffled by the towel as he dried his face. There was always something refreshing about hearing her call him out for being a jerk. Addie scowled as she yanked open his dresser drawer; she could hear him snickering. She selected a pair of navy and black plaid boxers and a soft, dark gray t-shirt. From another drawer she pulled out a pair of her own gym shorts. How was she out of clean jeans?
Quickly change into the shorts and his shirt, Addie petulantly whined, "Aren't you a little old to be acting like a 12-year-old? I hate being wet!"
"I'm a guy; our DNA programs us to occasionally act like prepubescent adolescents," he teased, coming out of the bathroom. He frowned when he saw that she had already changed. "That's not fair!"
She raised her eyebrows at him questioningly. "Excuse me?"
"I was soaking you for a wet t-shirt contest. That doesn't work if you change," he complained.
"I repeat: 12-year-old," Addie disapproved, passing the boxers to him. "Besides, I can already tell you the results. I was the only one in the wet t-shirt; I won by default." He chuckled softly as he moved into his closet. Sitting on the edge of his bed she sighed in annoyance, "I can't believe I was actually worried about you."
"You were what?" Damon asked, pretending to be perplexed.
She flopped backwards and stared up at the ceiling and repeated, "I was worried. You weren't answering your phone. You were ignoring the door. You'd think… I mean… you're not heartless."
His hands pressed into the mattress on either side of her shoulders as he suddenly appeared, hovering over her. He gave her a small smile as she looked at him wearily. Addie thought he was going to break. She expected him to be torn up about Ric. He had already spent days coming to turn with the fact that he would have to kill his close friend. And she was still right to worry; he'd only forced himself awake and into the shower when he heard her knocking. Around her he still had to act collected.
His hand cupped her cheek as the pad of his thumb swept along her lower lip. "No, I'm not but I can only afford for my heart to be in one place. Ads, if anything ever happened to you, then I'd worry about how I'd react. Now?" He shrugged slightly. Damon was upset to lose his drinking buddy but it was for his Ads. He'd set the world on fire for her. "Now, it's one less threat to you."
"You can't just kill anyone you think is going to hurt me," she said disapprovingly, unable to meet his loving gaze.
He had to keep from scoffing and asking why not. It seemed like a reasonable solution to him. Of course her morals would object to that. He exhaled slowly, "Do you think my first solution was to kill Ric?"
"I said he was the one who hurt me and your automatic response was 'I'm gonna kill him,' so I'm gonna say yes," she answered matter-of-fact.
"Well, yeah, that was the only option I had left once he actually hurt you. When he was only a threat to you I tried other solutions. Do you think I ever believed for half a second Dr. Blood Snatcher was going to find some medical issue that explained why Ric was having blackouts and staking people? No. Was I a big fan of letting Bonnie work some hoodoo voodoo witchcraft in an attempt to control my friend? No but if it meant he wasn't going to try and attack my girlfriend I was ok with giving up Ric's freewill. Did that work? No. So we tried some herb tonic thing. Foolishly I hoped a guy with a maniacal alter ego would actually be able to self medicate. But I was being selfish and wanting to believe that Ric was going to be fine and that got you hurt," Damon informed her passionately, an element of self loathing tinting is words. He turned and laid on his back next to her, running one hand over his smooth face.
"Killing Ric was a last resort. And then there's Klaus. Klaus had you 'under his protection,' whatever that means, as long as Ric was loose and he had the stake. Now, two birds with one stone. My only other option was to lock Ric up - and you know how that turned out for Samantha Gilbert - and pray that his psychotic side eventually decided to tell me where the stake was. At least now I can tell Klaus he can stop worrying about both of those because Ric can no longer hurt you and the location of the stake died with him."
Addie inhaled loudly, her lips pressing into a thin, furious line. Her small hand sought out his and gave him a reassuring squeeze. Through gritted teeth she hissed, "It always comes back to Klaus."
He made a noise of agreement. She pressed a soft kiss to the back of his hand as conflicted emotions warred inside her. Klaus had caused them, particularly Damon, a lot of unwarranted stress and suffering. If Klaus wasn't the maker of his bloodline, Addie wanted Damon to have a chance to get his revenge. Murdering Klaus wasn't exactly murdering an innocent. And she wasn't particularly hung up on whether or not Damon chose to be fair anymore. It was perfectly acceptable for him to plan a sneak attack considering Klaus had stood by while his sister tortured Damon. But Klaus was a force to be reckoned with. If Damon tried to go after him, it would more than likely end up with Damon having his heart ripped out, which was not acceptable. She wasn't going to tell him about finding the stake, not unless something significantly tipped the scales in his favors of surviving an encounter with Klaus.
"You're coming over for dinner," Addie informed him, curling up next to him, resting her head on his bare shoulder.
He stifled a chuckle. "Thanks but you can't cook. I know I've got the whole immortality, perfect health thing going for me but I'd rather not tempt fate and see if I am susceptible to your food poisoning."
"Very funny," she said seriously, poking him in the side. "Nobody in my house can really cook. Elena is transferring takeout to serving dishes and we're all just supposed to politely pretend that she made it. Or Jeremy and I will overrule her and order a shitload of greasy, cheesy pizza."
"So, we're doing a family dinner? Me, you, Elena, and Jeremy?" Damon asked skeptically.
"Well, Elena and Stefan are apparently a thing again so I expect that he'll be there too."
"That's a good thing, right? It should make things less awkward between all of us now," he observed, rubbing her back reassuringly.
Addie shrugged and draped her arm around his waist, "I don't know. I haven't seen her yet."
"Well, I'm sure it will be better. So, this family dinner is you, me, Stefan, Elena, and Jeremy?"
"Yes," she laughed slightly. "Would you like me to write you a guest list?"
"No, no. I just noticed there's someone missing from this dysfunctional family dinner and I think others might notice too," pointed out Damon.
"Yeah, um, we're not gonna tell anybody you killed Ric, ok?" Addie whispered to him conspiratorially.
He frowned. That was fine in theory but in reality, people were going to start asking questions. "Love, the last time anyone saw him was Sunday. It's Thursday. I'm supposed to be playing babysitter, not attending awkward family dinners. I'm not quite sure how you're going to explain that."
"I told Jeremy he was off on some spirit quest to find himself," she replied simply.
"And I just let him go off on that spirit quest?" he asked disbelievingly.
Addie gave him a flirtatious smile and sweet said, "He was taking his herbs. He was doing fine. It wasn't your job to play babysitter anymore. Plus, you thought spending time with your beautiful, loving, amazing, perfect, awesome girlfriend was a better use of your time."
He hooked a finger under her chin and gave her a soft kiss, murmuring against her lips, "I'd believe that." Pulling away he looked at her curiously. Lying was more his style than it was hers. "Why can't we just tell the truth?"
She sighed heavily, resting her chin on his shoulder, her fingers mused his perfectly styled dark locks. That had to have been the first thing he had done after getting out of the shower. His nose scrunched up slightly as he pretended to be annoyed. "Because I plan on having you in my life for a long time and if you're in my life that means you're in my family's life. We've got a lot more birthdays, Christmases, and Thanksgivings to get through. It would be nice if my brother didn't try to kill you on every occasion and my sister didn't go between helping him to pretending to be nice to flat out being rude to you to trying to seduce you. I mean, Elena's reaction is a little unpredictable but she was really mad at you when you snapped Alaric's neck this summer. Of course then she had the ulterior motive of trying to turn you into Stefan and that probably exacerbated the problem. This time Alaric's dead dead, though, so she might still be the same level of mad or maybe even -"
"You're rambling," he interrupted.
"Sorry."
Momentarily distracted, Damon gave her a small, crooked grin. "So, I'm gonna be around for birthdays, Christmases, and Thanksgiving and all those family events for a long time?"
Addie felt herself blush as her stomach knotted. It amazed her that he could still make her feel butterflies after so long. "That's the plan."
He inhaled as if in pain, shook his head and said doubtfully, "I don't know. I know we have another 14 years agreed to but I didn't realize I signed up for the whole family side of it. I mean, one of the really great parts about dating you is not having to impress your parents."
She rolled her eyes, the corners of her lips twitching. "I'm glad you find humor in my orphan status."
"You know I'd never say anything if I thought it would upset you," he said seriously, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. She nodded. "Ads, I can't wait for our future together. I know how much Jeremy and Elena mean to you and I've always known they're part of the package. Our relationship with them as a couple shouldn't be bui-" Damon cut himself off, frowning in confusion. This was backwards. "Why am I," he pointed to himself, "trying to talk you," he gestured to her, "out of lying to your sibling to protect me?" he finger rested over his heart.
"You're having an attack of conscious when comes to lying about killing Alaric but have no moral issue with killing him?" Addie questioned, making sure she understood what was going on.
Damon tilted his head as he considered this. "That's what I'm trying to understand. That sounds right but it doesn't make sense."
Her lips pursed as she studied his baffled expression. "You having a conscious doesn't make sense."
"I have one, I just usually ignore it except when it comes to…," he trailed off as realization set in. "Addie, I can lie to your siblings; I don't have a problem with that. I'm not comfortable with you lying to them to protect me."
"Aww, you'd think this was the first time I've lied to my brother and sister," she cooed, giving him a quick kiss. "It's not. I actually do it on a regular basis. In fact, when they ask how school was today, we're both gonna lie and act like I was there all day."
"You know, I'm used to lying to girls but this lying as a couple thing is kinda hot," he smirked, raising a suggestive eyebrow at her. Damon sobered as his fingers ran through her hair, the dark red tresses slipping thru like silk. "This is different, Ads. This is big. And you should really be in school."
Addie pulled away from him and sat cross legged on the bed. "I should be in school but I was too stressed out about my boyfriend, who just killed his best friend. He was your best friend; I don't count," she said, raising her voice to talk over him as he started to interrupt. "If you want to act like it doesn't bother you, fine. I'll drop it. I'll pretend that you weren't screwed up last night. For now. But we do have to deal with the fact that my brother and sister will never forgive you if they ever find out what you did. You know how important my family is to me."
Her hands slowly raked through her hair as she further elaborated on a story he already knew. "My parents were getting divorced. I was going to have to do the whole two Christmases, two Thanksgivings, two birthdays, and all that awkward broken family shit. The night my parents died was the last family game night. It was the last normal moment I was going to have with my family. And Elena couldn't be bothered with it; some party was more important. You know how that story ends. Point is, I don't can't remember the last normal moment I had with my family; the last time that didn't end with my parents arguing or Elena or me being a horrible brat. The whole last year I had with my family was a mess. Things aren't perfect now but I try with my sister."
"Jeremy and Elena are my family and you're my family, too. They have to accept you. I can't do the two of everything. I don't want a broken family, Damon. If they know you killed Alaric, their family, that will be my only option," Addie explained, biting her lip to keep the tears at bay.
Damon rolled his neck as he sat up across from her. He wasn't sure lying to her siblings was the healthiest approach but if that's what Addie felt she needed to do to keep control over her life he'd go along with it. He nodded, pulling her into his lap. "Ok," he agreed, becoming more comfortable with the idea as she snugly and securely wrapped her arms around him, "we will do whatever you want."
"Thank you," she murmured, pressing a kiss to his cheek.
He groaned inwardly as he glanced at the clock. While this school thing was convenient when he needed to keep Addie distracted, it was mostly just a pain in the ass and a place where he couldn't protect her. "As much as I would love to do this all day," his hands gently cradled her face as he kissed her, slow and deep, "you should get back to school."
"I should," she agreed, playing with the ends of his hair, "but I don't have any dry pants."
He gave her a disapproving look. Addie gave him a wide grin and shrugged innocently. Damon cocked a challenging eyebrow and tugged at the elastic of her gym shorts. "What's your excuse for skipping track practice?"
"I'm being environmentally conscious and not wasting gas driving from here to school to home. It would be one thing if school was on my way home but it's out of the way and that's a waste of gas and that's harmful to the environment," Addie explained diplomatically. He shook his head. Dramatically she rolled her eyes and loudly exhaled, "I'm doing this for you. I'm not the one who's going to live for eternity. I'm not the one who is going to suffer when sea levels rise so high that the whole world becomes flooded because all the glaciers have melted from global warming."
Damon stroked his chin thoughtfully as he sat in the Gilbert's living. After a near argument he had eventually pushed Addie into going to practice that afternoon. Last night he had wanted her comfort and that morning he had been disappointed with her leaving. But the way she had left, he knew there was some anger and resentment brewing in her. As he had told her, he knew the risk of that happening, though he hoped it wouldn't. It hadn't surprised him that she was still concerned about him; that was why he had turned his phone off. Addie hadn't wanted to be around him that morning because she had felt conflicted. Her conflict and confusion wasn't something that he wanted rubbing off on him. There was a part of her that forgave him and still accepted him for what he had done. Damon didn't deserve that.
He had failed her. He had failed a close friend, again. He should have found some way to save Ric. He should have fought harder. He should have monitored him more closely and made sure he took the herbs. Something dark had been trying to take control of Ric and he should have known that Ric would succumb to it. How many times had he watched Stefan turn back into a ripper? Killing Ric that final time, after he had to bite off the Gilbert ring off the finger of his alter ego in a scene eerily reminiscent to Lord of the Ring: Return of the King, had brought up emotions he hadn't felt since a fatal New Year's Eve party in 1957. The only reason he had clung onto his humanity, unlike them, was because of his love for Addie. He never wanted to lose how he felt about her, even if his actions made him lose her feelings.
His love for Addie and that that he was doing what he had to do to protect her wasn't enough to protect him from the traitorous thoughts of his mind. He couldn't help feeling guilty and miserable about having loss Ric. Even when he had been with Addie those horrible emotions were at the forefront of his mind. It didn't help when she had come over, worried about him. While all he wanted to do was drown himself in his entire stock of liquor from the comfort of his bed he couldn't do that because he had to act collected and put together. Not only was Addie's concern something he didn't deserve, she wouldn't know what to do if he actually broke down in front of her.
Addie had weird issues with death. He was surprised that she hadn't completely freaked out on him. When he had met Addie that rainy night in the middle of the road her life was spiraling out of control as so much anger and rage consumed her that she couldn't handle the reality of her parents death. She had wanted him to kill her before her basic instinct kicked in and she fought back. For some reason he was driven to help her rather than kill her and compelled her to take control of her life. It was one of the best decisions he'd ever made. She had only managed to handle herself a little better when Jenna and John died. Always, her outrage at the situation had been unjustly directed at her sister. Blaming Elena was how she coped.
This time he had killed Alaric to protect her. If she used her insane, irrational logic that only made sense to her, it would be her fault that he killed Alaric. Or she could choose to handle it like a normal person and blame him for it, in which case he didn't really need anyone else making him feel any guiltier, which would make it more likely for him to crack. If she saw him break, she was more likely to blame herself, which he couldn't have.
Strangely, though, Addie had been reacting extremely detached and distant compared to his expectations. He wasn't sure if that had to do with all the death and carnage she had witnessed during her time with Klaus and Stefan or if she just wasn't allowing herself to feel. While Ric's death might not move her, Damon's decision to kill him definitely had an impact on her. She had to be having stronger reactions to his action than what she was showing.
The evening had been largely uneventful considering the involved parties. Jeremy had been home when Addie got back from practice and called Damon over. Elena and Stefan had stayed late to decorate for the dance. They got to the house about the same time the pizza did. There was an exchange of nasty looks between the sisters at the food choice but no word verbal sparring. As they ate, the topic of conversation had largely consisted of Jeremy retelling their adventure fleeing from Kol. Addie had seemed appropriately interested. Stefan and Elena had been a quite focused in each other, which suited Damon just fine. If it meant his girlfriend felt secure in their relationship and convinced there was nothing going on between him and her sister, he'd put up with watching his brother exchange heated looks with Elena. He was always going to assume it meant Stefan wasn't convinced that Elena was in love with him.
Addie slapped Jeremy's hand as he reached for her pizza box for the third time and scolded, "Eat your own."
"I finished mine," he explained, reaching for the box again. She hit him harder. "Hey!"
Sharply she retorted, "Eat the other one."
"It has olives."
"Not." Hand slap. "My." He reached with the other hand. "Problem!" Smack!
"Ow!"
"Oh, my God, Addie! It's just pizza and you have two slices left. Just give him one," Elena ordered, curled up on the chair with Stefan.
Damon rolled his eye and both Jeremy and Addie looked at her incredulously. That was just going to further resolve Addie's decision to not share. She scoffed, "Uh, no. I'm eating them."
"You are not going to eat an entire large pizza."
Challenge accepted. "Yeah, I am."
"No, you're not."
"Yes, I am."
"Oh, please. You can't.
"Just watc- hey!" Addie slapped Damon's hand but he was already holding a slice of extra cheesy pizza.
He cocked an innocent eyebrow at her as he took a large bite. This wouldn't be Addie's first or second or even third attempt to eat an entire pizza. She could do it but she was going to feel sick all night. He was saving her from her own stubbornness. Appalled, Addie's jaw dropped. Shrugging, around a full mouth Damon said, "I'm hungry."
She scrambled up from the floor and next to him on the couch, reaching for the slice, light bouncing off the greasy surface. "That's not what you eat," she reproached.
"No but unless Elena or Jeremy are offering up a vein," he taunted, taking another bite.
"I was gonna eat that," Addie complained, sulking next to him.
"Oh, well," Damon viciously chewed at what was in his mouth before sticking his tongue out and showing it to her, "'till 'ant it?"
She gave a groan of disgust and shoved him away, muttering, "You're worse than my brother."
"Not really," Jeremy snickered before showing her a mouth full of mashed up food.
Finding her box empty she lunged at her brother, going after the slice of pizza he held. Being much slower than Damon and also sitting on the floor, he was a much easier target. Jeremy was able to keep the slice away from Addie but she tackled him to the ground.
"Give it back!" she demanded, clawing for his out-stretched arm as they squabbled between the small space between the couch and the coffee table.
Damon had heard plenty of times about the physical quarrels that Addie and Jeremy had gotten into. Pizza was a very minor, non-issue and he highly doubted it would lead to physical blows. She would be fine.
Jeremy managed to toss the food onto the table before defending himself. As she dug her elbow into his ribs, he gritted out, "I took the first bite; it's mine."
"It was my pizza! That rule does not apply," protested Addie as they continued to swat, bat, push, and shove at each other.
A searing pain shot through Jeremy's forearm and he immediately broke out her hold. She had bit him. In retaliation he jabbed two fingers into the hollow between her neck and collarbone.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!" she cried, trying to move away from him but finding herself trapped between her brother and the furniture.
Instinct kicked in and Damon's grabbed Jeremy's wrist and twisted until Jeremy was the one making sounds of pain and not Addie. Stefan, Elena, and Addie all reacted at once.
"Hey!"
"Damon!"
"Stop!"
His grip loosened slightly as he assessed Addie for injury. Her cheeks and nose were bright red and her eyes glisten with unshed tears but the fury brightening them told him she was fine. Shit. Damon quickly let go of Jeremy. That anger was from a lot more than pizza.
"You ok?" she asked her brother softly as he rotated and massaged his wrist. He gave a slight nodded as they clambered over each other to sit back up. At a loss, Addie looked at her sister for help.
That was all the go Elena. Jumping to her feet she pointed a warning finger at Damon and yelled, "You don't ever touch him like that!"
He unconsciously stood in an offensive manner and snorted, "How about he never touches your sister like that and I won't have to?"
"They were just screwing around! There was no reason for you to do that!"
"He hurt her!" he said slow and loud, not understanding how she had missed that obvious fact.
Elena shook her head and threw her hands up in disbelief. "No, he didn't!"
"I'm sorry does 'ow' have a different translation?" he bit back wryly.
"Addie must have hurt him first; otherwise, Jeremy wouldn't have hurt her," explained Elena defensively.
Feeling slightly guilty, Addie admitted, "I might have bitten him."
"Might? You did!"
"Frankly, I don't give a damn who did what first. Addie could have tortured the hell out him and I'll still break his hand if he so much as pinched her in response," threatened Damon, his voice low and lethal.
"Do you hear yourself?" she asked incredulously. Elena exchanged an aggravated look with her sister. Addie held her hands up to signal she was staying out of the conversation. "They're never going to really hurt each other. They're siblings. They fight. It's normal. It's stupid to get between two siblings. I mean, do I look stupid enough to get between you and Stefan?"
Damon was ready to respond until he actually heard her words. His brows furrowed and lips pursed as he looked towards Addie for confirmation that Elena had actually said that. Addie awkwardly scratched at the back of her neck as she fought to keep from laughing, unable to meet Damon's eye.
He quirked an eyebrow at Stefan. "Brother, care to comment?"
His face was blank as he feigned ignorance. "I think Addie and Jeremy are capable of not killing each other without you running interference."
"Oh, yeah, right," Damon nodded sardonically, "I forgot just how great Ric is at controlling those urges to kill anyone having anything to do with vampires. Jeremy also happens to wear one of those nifty little rings that fuels homicidal tendencies but he's going to be able control them, just like Ric."
"Jeremy's fine!" Elena snapped. Her voice was a little too high to convince him she wasn't still concerned about her brother.
He continued to nod. "Yeah because he's going to confess to all the crazy murders he's been up to. We don't know that Jeremy hasn't been blacking out and going psycho. We don't know that these rings aren't timed to screw up ever 90 years. We think it's related to how many times someone's died wearing the ring but we know nothing."
"Yeah but based on what we think, we know Jeremy's one life short because you can't handle rejection," she snarled, getting right in Damon's face. "If something is wrong with my brother, once again, it will be all your fault. You were the one who kil-"
The vein in his temple visibly pulsed as his face turned scarlet. Addie wasn't sold on the idea of spontaneous combustion but if it was possible, Damon was nanoseconds from proving it. She need Elena's anger off of him. Not thinking beyond the imminent possibility of her brother ripping out her sister's heart Addie calmly said over Elena, "If Jeremy's an insane killer we'll just put him on the herb tonic like Alaric!"
"Jeremy's fine!" repeated Elena forcefully. As if suddenly realizing she demanded, "Where is Ric?"
Addie waved her hand dismissively and tried to change the topic, "He decided to hike and camp out into the mountains on some sort of guilt induced spirit quest. Can we get this little ghostly seance thing done before someone kills someone?"
"Fine," her sister seethed, glaring at Damon. "Do you need us for anything?"
"You and Stefan?" Jeremy checked. He shook his head. "No, I don't think so."
"We'll be upstairs then," Elena said, grabbing Stefan's hand and leaving the room.
"Alright Whoopi, what do you need?" Damon asked, clapping his hands and rubbing them together, eager to get started. "Candles? Incense? Pottery wheel?"
Addie rolled her eyes and sighed impatiently, "He's not a witch. That's not how it works." She really wasn't fond of this idea.
"Yeah, yeah, push/pull," said placatingly as he dropped down into the chair Elena and Stefan had vacated.
Jeremy thought for a moment. "Alright, um, you got a picture of her?"
"Picture?" scoffed Damon. "Of what? Our trip to Disneyland?"
That made Addie feel marginally better. Damon was always taking selfies of them; though, she suspected he mostly did it to annoy her, knowing it made her uncomfortable to look at them.
"Come on, Rose. You're not gonna actually make us wait, are you?" In a teasing voice Damon added, "I know you're obsessed with me."
Crossing her arms, Addie sulked into the overstuffed couch. Arrogant idiot.
"How about you tell me something personal about her?" Jeremy suggested.
"Well, she does this little thing with her tongue that -"
A balled up napkin struck him in the face, cutting him off. Addie really wasn't fond of this idea. She scowled at him, "Something that matters."
A crease formed between his eyebrows as he thought. He frowned as only one thing came to mind. "You sure the tongue thing won't work?" Damon asked Jeremy hopefully. "I mean, it's pretty unique."
Addie made a soft noise of disgust. She knew Damon had hardly been selective in his promiscuous past but most were one night stands. He screwed around with Rose for weeks and he learned nothing about her? Her eyes narrowed and jaw clenched angrily. She wished she could just believe he had been indiscriminate and detached but she had seen him after Rose's death. He had felt something for her.
Jeremy shook his head. "No. Addie's right; it has to be something that matters."
Damon scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably and sighed, "She spent her last day in paradise, soaking in the sun and reminiscing about what it means to be human. And when death came, she didn't fear it."
"She died of a werewolf bite; that's painful. Not to mention she didn't have a daylight ring and would have burned in the sun," Addie said smartly, calling out his lie.
"It was in the dream he gave her," Jeremy told her, smiling slightly. "It worked. She's here."
Damon looked around the room, frowning when he couldn't see her. "Is she still hot?"
"Idiot," Addie muttered softly to herself.
Jeremy smirked, "She says you're an idiot and that you're lucky Addie puts up with you." He was quiet for a moment before continuing, "She was sired by someone name Mary Porter."
Damon groaned,"Ugh. Scary Mary. So, where is she, Rose?"
"She doesn't know but she's going to go see what she can find out," Jeremy relayed for the ghost.
"Great. Now that you can see her, do you need me to make contact again?"
Jeremy shook his head. "I shouldn't."
"Good," Damon replied as he stood up. "Let me know when she any news."
Frowning, Addie followed Damon to the front door. Feeling her brother's eyes on them she quietly inquired in confusion, "You're leaving?"
"Yeah. I've got some stuff to take care of," he said evasively. He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before stepping outside. "I'll see you later."
There was a hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach. She followed him, closing the door behind her. His foot was on the first step when she asked, "When's later? Are you coming back tonight?"
She could see his shoulders tense under the black fabric of his shirt and his hand ran through his hair, an anxious habit he'd picked up from her. Damon was conflicted; being around her wasn't a wise idea but if he wasn't there for her at night she had nightmares and he didn't want that. "I'll see you later," he repeated, not turning around.
"No," Addie said sharply, grabbing him by the elbow as he started to walk away again, "that's not what I asked. What the hell, Damon? What's going on? Why are you avoiding me?"
"I'm not-"
"Don't lie to me," she warned.
"I just… I need some space," he shrugged, not knowing what else to say.
"You need space? How are you the one in this situation that gets the space?" she asked incredulously. "Are you mad at me? Do you blame me or something?"
"Of course not!" he answered quickly.
"Then what is it?"
"I don't kn-"
"Don't lie to me!" repeated Addie. She could feel something wrong between them; there was just something that was simply off and she couldn't quite put her finger on it. And she couldn't tell if it was her weird vampy sense tingling to alert her about some kind of deception from Damon or if it was just part of being in a relationship and knowing and understanding him that was causing her to feel like a dark cloud loomed over them.
Damon took a loud, deep breath as he tried not to react to her temper. "I'm just going to leave," he said, raising his hands in surrender as walked off the porch backwards. "You don't want me to lie and I don't want to talk about it."
She gawked at him in disbelief. She expected him to act odd after Alaric's death but she didn't expect him to shut her out.
It was close to midnight when Addie felt the bed dip. The most surprising part was that Damon had shown up; he frequently filtered in and out of her room, never making a sound. He settled next to her, several inches between her back and his chest, still his arm draped over her waist.
Slightly bitter Addie whispered, "What are you doing here?"
"Have you been to sleep yet?" Damon asked softly.
"No. Now answer my question," she bit back curtly.
"Just because I need some time for myself doesn't mean I'm going to let you suffer. My goal is to always protect you," he said gently.
Damon's protection was getting to be too excessive; it had led to him killing Alaric and he was willing to die to to kill Klaus when Klaus wasn't even threatening her. But then he would do things like staying with her every night so she could sleep better and that was sweet. Though she was a little annoyed with him being there if he had decided that he had needed space from her. It felt like a pity comfort or that he was just doing it out of some obligation or duty. She didn't want that.
"I didn't know you did that for Rose," muttered Addie. A part of her wanted to argue with him about something but she wasn't up to starting the colossal fight they needed to have about him being overprotective. "Apparently you can mind rape people for the better good."
Damon inhaled deeply and held his breath for a moment as he collected his thoughts. He knew she was taking a jab at when he had invaded her dreams after he turned Bonnie's mother and realized that the reason she was pushing him away was because she felt that he was more concerned about protecting her than loving her. It was possible that it was also a slight jab to when he read Rebekah's mind to find out about the second White Oak tree.
"If you recall, I was trying to give you a good dream," he exhaled slowly.
"You were tricking me into talking to you and telling you things that I didn't want to discuss with me. You gave Rose a comforting dream of rainbows and unicorns," she grumbled.
The was a dull ache starting at his temple. He sighed warily, "I thought we were over the whole dream thing."
Addie mumbled bitingly, "Yeah, well…"
Damon softly snorted as an idea came to him. "You're not actually jealous, are you?"
"No!" she answered far too quickly.
"You are," he chuckled certainly.
"No, I'm not," she continued to protest.
He pushed at her shoulder lightly until she laid on her back. Addie, stubborn as ever, still faced away from him. His finger and index finger gently grabbed her chin and turned her to face him. She complied but scowled at him.
"You have absolutely no reason to be jealous, love. Rose was just a friend. You are everything," reassured Damon, smiling down at her.
Curtly she sneered, "We were basically dating and you slept with her."
Damon's lips pressed into a thin line. Technically they were not dating and he had not cheated on her. Even if they were dating they had never discussed anything about being exclusive. She was the one who decided to get all petty about it and cut him out of her life. In his despair he'd comforted himself with booze and sex. Rose just happened to be a convenient partner right down the hall. Now that he thought about it, perhaps he just needed to stay away from anything having to do with sex when they weren't technically dating if there was even a chance of them getting back together. She'd been pretty upset about the Rebekah/Sage thing, as well.
"I thought we were past that."
"Yeah, well," Addie repeated sulkily.
"I've told you before that was just sex. Ads, you are my one and only, There's no reason to be upset," he said tenderly, brushing his thumb along her cheek as he cupped her face.
"That's what I don't get, the upset part. When Rose died you had some kind of existential crisis. You went out and sloppily killed that woman, risking your cover. Then you actually cried in front of me; not that there's anything wrong with that but I've never seen you expression emotion like that. Ric dies and it's, I don't know. I expect more of a reaction from you," Addie vented, confronting him about what had been bothering her all day. She'd gone over to his house in the middle of the school day because she thought he'd done something stupid again, thought he needed her to be there for her but he had been fine, more or less.
Damon cringed at her recollection. That had been embarrassing. He felt trapped; normally Addie didn't discuss her emotions or how she was feeling. Now she was admitting what had been bothering her and communicating with him like he wanted her to do. He didn't want to talk. However, shutting her out would make him a hypocritical dick.
"Do you remember what I was upset about after Rose died?" he asked. Perhaps he could steer the conversations so he was able to avoid talk about what was really bothering him.
Addie nodded. "Of course. Your humanity, more specifically, how you missed being human."
"Right. In that dream I gave Rose, she made me confront just how deeply I felt for you. I kept trying to deny it because I knew what it meant. You are a direct link to my humanity and admitting my feelings for you would be opening the flood gates. I had been keeping my humanity in check, in small, measured doses. Once I face how I felt for you, that was it. It was an emotion overload built up over years and I just snapped," Damon explained. "It had nothing to do with Rose's death."
"Oh," Addie said in a small voice. Her jaw clench and it felt like a knife pierced her stomach.
"Ads, I didn't kill that woman because of you," he soothed, sensing her distress. "It happened because I don't know how to handle my emotions. And it's because I don't know how to handle my emotions that I just need a little bit of space. My humanity and you go hand in hand. Killing Ric was a simple decision because I knew I had to protect you but that didn't make it easy. The only reason I could do it with my humanity still on was because of how much I love you. When I'm not around you it's easier to shove my feelings aside, good and bad. That's what I need to do right now. I can't think about Ric," Damon confessed. It was mostly the truth, it just didn't expose everything. She didn't need to know that he didn't want her to be around so he could drink himself into oblivion and forget what he had done. She didn't need to know that he didn't want to discuss the situation with her because she was weird about death.
Concerned, she asked, "You sure that's the healthy way to go about this?"
Damon raised the shoulder he wasn't leaning on in a slight shrug. "Don't know, don't care. It's what I want to do."
Addie raised her eyebrows at him, as if questioning how serious he was. He sounded an awful lot like her. "Alright," she conceded. "I'm here if you do want to talk about it, though."
"I know," he grin. He gave her a chaste, lingering kiss.
"You don't have to stay the night, you know. I'm a big girl. I'm pretty sure I can take care of myself."
He realized she was trying to respect his wish for space but there was no way he was leaving her to the nightmares. "Nah," he said, snuggling her. "Truth is that I'm a selfish dick and I sleep better with you in my arms. You can count on me being here every night."
Damon had pretended to sleep as Addie had done her best to silently get ready for school the following morning. He decided to feign another hour of sleeping as he didn't want to get caught by Elena or Jeremy. It was likely that he could get the job done silently but he didn't want to take any chances.
He hadn't lied the previous evening when he had told Addie he had stuff to do. In a moment of bourbon inspired clarity he had an idea of where Ric might have meant when he said 'where no vampire will ever get' the White Oak stake. Eagerly he had gone to the tunnels on the Lockwood property and followed the path to the cave paintings, a section warded against vampires. The cave was empty, however. He had been so certain that it had been in there. So certain that he wondered if someone may have already moved it. Addie was the only person he had told about Alaric's cryptic message. She was a very clever girl; it was more than possible that she had deciphered the clue people he had.
He'd wondered why she hadn't told him about it before concluding that it was probably because that she didn't want him using it. She was mental if she believed that he was going to kill Ric and he wasn't going to kill Klaus. He knew he had promised her to be more cautious with his life and when he went to take down Klaus, he would be.
Jeremy had texted Damon to tell him that Mary Potter was dead. While Damon knew Scary Mary in the carnal sense, he had no significant memories that could conjure her spirit. Tracing back his lineage was a dead end. That left a 75% chance that he wouldn't die if he managed to kill him because of the bloodline issue. The odds weren't that bad; a 75 was a passing grade. He would take those chances to keep her safe from Klaus. If it didn't pan out in his favor, well, at least she would be safe and she would hopefully have the normal life she always wanted.
Thankfully her room was sparse and didn't afford for a lot of hiding places. The desk was the first place he raided but all he found were old school papers, about 1000 index cards for various subject and a couple of pairs of different style headphones. Remembering she had hid the moonstone in a pocket of one of his jackets, he checked her closet to see if she had done something similar. He searched through the drawers of her dresser to no avail.
His frustration grew as he began to run out of places to look. An old memory suddenly popped into his head, giving him renewed inspiration. Addie had once pulled a sword out from under her mattress. He didn't quite remember why she had an unsharpened, Japanese style sword under her mattress; there were a lot of odd facts about her that he didn't understand.
A tingling thrill of anticipation and excitement rushed through him when he lifted the mattress and found the White Oak stake. He had to act fact. He had to act while Addie was giving him space and before she realized the stake was gone, otherwise she'd try to stop him.
Damon grinned wickedly as he looked into the mirror. Klaus' time was up.
A/N: Yay! Fun with Klaus coming up! AND everyone finds out the truth about Alaric. I recognize this chapter is pretty weak based on some feedback but I'm not catching where. I rewrote every scene. Thank you guys so much for all your comments and follows and adding this to your favorites!
Please guys review. Even if it is just a period. I'm really on edge with doing Resist. You have no idea how much these two stories have consumed the last two years of my life. Resist is controversial and something I'd swore I'd never write but Invisible was directionless until I had an idea from a chapter (It's referenced here! Two cookies and a Damon if you can put together Addie's significance.) and I really don't know how y'all will react. This writing takes all my free time. Seriously, my life is school/work and writing this. And I'm usually writing this during breaks at work/school. It's nice to know you guys enjoy this.
Oh! Also, seeing as it's taking me so long to turn out chapters, I'm thinking I might not reach the canon holidays in time for the real holidays. (It would be in Resist.) Would you guys be interested in a one-shot holiday special? It wouldn't give away any spoilers. This is just an idea I'm floating around. Another is shortening Hostage to quickly get to that point in Resist. That might come out a little after the holidays...