Thank you for the reviews and engagement. I'm glad you're enjoying Damon and the characterization. There's going to be a lot of internal monologue from our 3 favourites.
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Today would be a good day. Caroline was going to move on, forget the hotness embodied that was Damon Salvatore and continue to rule the roost at Mystic Falls High. She would be awesome; she was not allowing any other option.
Plus, she vaguely remembered Matt taking her home the other night, and whilst he might not be as hot as a certain older man, he wasn't half bad. He was on the football team after all. He was Elena's ex thought, which could be awesome- Caroline loved the idea of finally being the one to make Elena jealous. It could backfire, but Caroline was determined to make it work.
She rounded the corner and joined Elena to stroll into school. Elena wanted her to make up with Bonnie. A part of her knew she should, she had tried to manipulate her after all, but Caroline Forbes did not back down when she wanted something- and she wanted to prove she could get that necklace. Elena would stay out of it hopefully, especially if Caroline distracted her with boy talk.
"So where's Stefan?"
"He's avoiding me." Caroline's face looked sympathetic but a part of her glowed. Stefan had rejected her, after all, so knowing he wasn't God's gift to Elena helped a little.
As they entered the building, Caroline spotted Matt.
"Hey"
"Hey"
As she watched him walk away, she sighed. That was not the interaction she was hoping for. How was she going to get Matt to sweep her off her feet if he won't even start a conversation?
x-x-x-x
Stefan rolled over, groaning as he woke up. He needed coffee. As a vampire, it wasn't due to a headache or tiredness- he needed coffee to keep his cravings at bay, and so he wouldn't feel like an ice statue to any humans who inadvertently hurt him.
He swung out of bed, pulled on his jeans and wandered through to the seating area of the suite he and Lexi had booked. They were in New York, and it was mid-morning. They had made it in time for the Bon Jovi concert she had been desperate to see and hadn't made it to the hotel until the early hours. Stefan had slept without dreaming of Elena and Katherine, he had needed the rest.
Lexi looked up from the sofa and held out her empty cup. Right, he was on coffee duty. As he set the machine off, he listened to her conversation- she was on her phone chatting to Lee. Stefan wondered how well he was adapting to his vampiric life, then remembered it must have been at least a decade since he changed. Time was flying by now he was older.
As he finished the second cup and stirred in the 3 packs of sugar Lexi demanded, she ended her call.
"Lee says hi. He also reminded me to kick your brother's ass and to call you an idiot." She grinned at him cheekily and took the coffee from him.
"Hi back. How's he doing?"
"Good. You know, if you're so desperate for Katherine two-point-oh, you could always change Elena. That way you'd stop asking me every hour if I think it's safe leaving her in Mystic Falls with Damon."
Stefan glanced at her, subtly shaking his head. "You know why I won't do that."
"Then you need to walk away now. Assuming you can make it 50, 60 years without accidentally ripping her head off, you'd then have to say goodbye. Will you survive that? Will she even let herself grow old?"
Stefan sighed. He hadn't had the chance to discuss things with Elena. He hadn't even told her his true nature, why he wasn't really the good vampire he claimed to be. Hell, he hadn't yet had the courage to let her know when he first met her or just how like Katherine she was. How could he claim to love her when he wasn't being honest with her?
"I don't know, Lex, I hadn't thought that far."
"Right now, instincts only. I'm going to toss a coin, if it's heads you get to go back and have a true love affair with Elena. Marry her, stay with her until she dies. Whatever you want. Tails, you walk away from her." Lexi wriggled a quarter out of her back pocket and flipped it, faster than Stefan could respond.
When it landed on heads, he just stared at Lexi.
"I can't".
"I know. Now you know too." Lexi grinned at him sagely, before enveloping him in one of her patented bear hugs. God, he had needed her. As he pulled away, he paused.
"I can't leave Damon there. The council is searching for a vampire, and something tells me he wasn't just there to annoy me. I think he's there for Elena."
Lexi took a deep breath.
"I know. It's your home, and as much of a dick as Damon is- he seems to have his humanity on. You know he didn't even fight back when I pinned him for trying to kiss me?"
Stefan laughed. The image of Damon being pinned down by his blonde best friend was amazing, and better yet knowing someone had managed to overpower Damon. Once he calmed, he decided.
"I'm going back. Not for Elena, but to ensure Damon is safe- and that they're safe from him. He may be more himself but I'm not sure I can trust him yet." Stefan announced, decidedly.
Lexi reached out and hugged him once more, before kissing him on the check and vamping off. She returned microseconds later brandishing a signed Bon Jovi shirt. "Just don't forget this, dumbass."
x-x-x-x
Elena was pissed. She'd spent 3 days avoiding Caroline and Bonnie arguing about some stupid necklace and she hadn't heard from Stefan. Sure, she had asked him to leave her alone, but she didn't think he would. They were supposed to be an epic love affair, he wasn't supposed to disappear at the first hurdle. Men. Even supernatural men.
Maybe she should accept it is her fault, after all she did push both Matt and Stefan away- but then Caroline was having Matt issues too. Elena knew she was supposed to be jealous, right? It was against girl-code to date your friend's ex, but Elena really couldn't care less. If anything, she was more annoyed that Caroline kept making eyes at Damon at the grill. Not only was he a vampire that could do her serious damage, but Elena just thought it wasn't appropriate to be so outlandishly flirtatious. Both Damon and Caroline needed to cool down.
So distracted by her thoughts, Elena barely clocked that she was already leaving the building. Stefan sitting on the bench by the door though, that was impossible to miss. As she strode over to him, hoping she looked confident, she could hear Matt chewing Caroline out. She'd process that one later.
"Finally! Where have you been?" Elena demanded, folding her arms. She wasn't going to make it easy for him.
"Elena. Sorry, I've not been in touch. I thought this was better done in person." He might as well have punched her in the gut. This was a break up speech if she ever heard one. She might have told him to stay away first, dumped him first, but he was about to deliver the final blow. She wanted to vomit.
"Elena, look at me." He paused whilst she mustered the strength to meet his eyes. "I really wish we could be together, I do. You were right. This way it is only lies. You have to lie to your friends, I have to lie to you." Elena scrunched up her face. Stefan couldn't have been lying to her, right? He had told her everything the day they went to the ruins of her home. He had promised to tell her everything.
"I haven't told you everything. I told you to be scared of just my brother, and I don't take that back. You should be scared of Damon, but Damon, Damon is just an average vampire. He was horrible to Caroline, but that's how most vampires are. They compel people to not be scared and then feed from them. He took it too far, but he's not the scariest vampire in Mystic Falls, I am."
Elena didn't understand. Stefan only drank vampire blood. She shook her head and reached for him, she could stop him doing this if she could only touch him, but he grabbed her wrist before she even registered him moving.
"Elena. I've killed more people than I can remember. I've ripped bodies to pieces. I don't drink human blood because I can't. I can't stop. Damon had control. He chooses to hurt people- I have no choice. I kill. I only kill. Do you understand?"
Fear coursed through Elena's veins at his words. How could he be telling her this? She had wavered about wanting him, but she expected him to come right back. Now he was lying, trying to push her away? She felt fear but she refused to fully believe him.
"No Stefan, you're lying. You're pushing me aw…"
She couldn't finish her sentence, he pushed her into the woods at vampire speed and had her up against a tree, his vampire features showing.
"I. Am. Not. Lying. I am a ripper. When I feed, I rip the bodies apart. I can't stop. That is who I am. I feed on animal blood now to avoid it, it's not who I want to be but Elena, I am dangerous."
Elena nodded as much as she could, feeling the tears start to fall down her cheeks. Mercifully, he let her go. Frozen in place, she could only stare at him.
"I didn't want to tell you, I wanted you to think good of me because I wanted you. I wanted you so much, Elena. You look just like her, did Damon tell you?" Stefan's voice was soft now.
Elena's eyes widened. Did he mean Katherine? She looked just like Katherine.
"When I first saw you, I was mesmerised. I was convinced you were her. But I could hear your heartbeat, hear you dying. I'd just pulled you out of the car- you know your father demanded I save you. I pulled you out of the water and then I saw it, I saw you were Katherine, but I could hear you dying. I saved you, just in time." Stefan didn't pause for breath, she couldn't think, her world was spinning but she had to keep listening. She had to know. "I watched you, as they took you away. Then I watched all summer, until I could start school and we could meet. By then, I knew you were the opposite of her. I knew you were someone I could love. I had to have you."
Finally, he paused, and Elena could breathe. She tried to respond but instead of words coming out she could only sob. Huge cries wracked her chest as she let herself go; she fell into Stefan's arms feeling only pain. He had saved her from the crash. He thought she was Katherine.
She held onto him, hoping it was just a dream.
x-x-x-x
Damon sat at the bar again. At least this time the drink was better- the shipment he had compelled the manager to order had arrived today. He was listening in and had learnt so far that Elena Gilbert was having a girl's night and Mystic Falls had a new history teacher. Small towns were always full of such riveting gossip.
He hoped that the girl's night would result in him getting what he needed- the crystal. He had scared Bonnie outside of school today, so he hoped Elena's influence- that he was the big bad brother who needed to be appeased- would help persuade her to hand it over. Caroline might even be invited, and Damon felt that could only be to his advantage, he might have crossed the line with her but she still flirted with him every chance he got. She could still be useful.
"Damon." Stefan was back, Damon couldn't quite decide how to feel about it. He quite liked the idea of Mystic Falls to himself, but torturing Stefan was always an enjoyable activity.
"You know, I've been thinking, I think we should start over. Give this brother thing another chance." Damon couldn't tell if he was being genuine, but with no Lexi here to goad him on, the chance Stefan was engaging in humour was low. Damon just glared at him, letting Stefan make the next move.
"So, what's with the bottle?" Stefan queried, pointing at the expensive bourbon that Damon had compelled the bar staff to leave for him.
"I'm on edge. Crash diet. You know, I'm trying to keep a low profile." Damon shuddered slightly. Since his plan to make Lexi a scapegoat had failed, he hadn't been able to feed within Mystic Falls. It was a bummer. "You know you don't have to keep an eye on me."
"I'm not here to keep an eye on you." Yeah, like Damon believed that for a second.
"Why are you here then?" He queried. Maybe Stefan had stayed for young Elena, that seemed like a suitably Stefan thing to do. Pine for the human imitation, whereas Damon would only settle for the real deal.
"Why not?" Stefan replied, casually leaning over to grab the bottle of bourbon and pour himself a drink. He took the bottle and sauntered off to the darts board.
Well, this was new. Damon admired the effort; Stefan was definitely up to something by trying to be best buds, but it was as transparent as the stained glass windows at the boarding house. He called Stefan out.
"What, do you prefer the brooding forehead?" Stefan was pissed. He only brought out his snarky side when he was mad at Damon, but Damn wasn't sure what for this time. He hadn't killed Lexi, unfortunately, and he had even left Caroline alone. What could his younger brother really be mad about?
"Seriously, Stefan, what game do you think you're playing?" Stefan just grinned in response. Damon was going to have to work harder to figure this one out. Tomorrow, he'd pay Elena a visit. She probably had a thing or two to say about the situation.
x-x-x-x
A girl's night was just what she needed, Caroline thought as she knocked on Elena's door. She was getting sick of arguing with Bonnie, she needed to debrief from Matt calling her a lame girl, and Elena had appeared out of the woods by school red-eyed and bleary earlier before announcing her and Stefan broke up.
Since then, Elena had ridden home with Bonnie and then called Caroline saying they were overdue a girl's night. So here Caroline was, about to walk into Elena's kitchen and unpack the takeout.
As all three girls gathered, she took a deep breath. Time to move on.
"I'm sorry. I was a bitch about that necklace, and I just want to be friends. It's yours."
All three girls let out a sigh of relief, they didn't like arguing and they all needed a break. It had been a dramatic month, and they needed to have a normal night with each other. Bonnie couldn't let anything just go easily though; Caroline braced for an argument when Bonnie turned to her.
"Would you hate me if I told you I just threw it away?" Bonnie asked, clear tension on her face.
Caroline wanted to breathe fire. She wanted to stomp and smash and demolish everything in sight. She wanted to argue, but she knew it wasn't worth it. She would have just given it back to Damon, and the more time she spent away from him the less she cared what he though.
"Screw the necklace. Screw Damon. Are we doing manicures or what?" Caroline finally felt like herself again and she wasn't going to let any boy drama ruin her night. As she went to Bonnie's bag to retrieve the manicure set, Caroline decided that whilst boy drama shouldn't ruin her night it should be a reason to gossip. Asking Elena about the Stefan situation would lead to an hour of gossip, complaining and hopefully some dirty details about how the younger Salvatore was in the sack.
As she reached into the bag though, Caroline was drawn back to the drama. Her necklace was right there, next to the manicure set. Caroline wanted to move on, but she couldn't stand being lied to.
"Why are you such a little liar, Bonnie?" She haughtily asked, letting the pendant swing from her fingers. Both Bonnie and Elena's faces showed fear. Caroline felt confused, she'd expected anger, not fear.
"I'm not lying to you, Caroline," Bonnie swore.
Elena backed her up, "I watched her throw it in the field Caroline, I swear."
Caroline didn't want to believe both her friends were lying to her, but the evidence was right there. She demanded an explanation. Unfortunately, the two started discussing amongst themselves. Something about Emily and magic? Caroline snapped.
"Okay, what is going on? Why am I not a part of this conversation?" She didn't mean to snap so loud, but she was sick of being left out. She'd felt like a third wheel too long, and she, Caroline Forbes, was worth too much.
Elena began to hastily deny, but Bonnie agreed. For once. "You don't listen to me, Caroline".
Caroline felt annoyed, of course she listened. Most of the time. Sometimes she was busy planning her next big event and may be a bit preoccupied, but she listened. Almost all the time. Mostly.
"I'm a witch."
"And don't we all know it?" Maybe that was a bit bitchy, but Caroline was sick of hearing about this psychic bull-crap that Bonnie kept bringing up. Like that was even real. Bonnie took offence though and stormed off. Well, that was not Caroline's fault. She stared across the kitchen island at Elena, who only gave Caroline an exasperated look. Fuck. Caroline was going to have to go after Bonnie and try not to put her foot in it. After all, she did want to make up.
"Bonnie? Look, it's not just me. I don't believe it. But if you do, okay. I'm on board. You're my best friend. I didn't know how real this was for you, but now that I do, I will try."
x-x-x-x
Stefan grinned at Damon as they ran to the football field. It felt good to have fun with his brother, even if he was trying to ascertain how much of a danger Damon was to Elena. It wasn't long since he had chosen to let Elena live her life, but he needed to make sure she was safe first. Even Lexi had agreed to that, and having Damon as part of his life was a bonus.
It was Damon who had suggested the football field for bonding, reminding him that he taught him to play. The first tackle at vampiric speed hurt them both, it was like the human days all over again.
Damon wasn't buying the act though, not that it was much of an act anymore- Stefan was genuinely enjoying his brother's company. Damon wanted to know the deal. "I'm impressed Stefan, the fun with the booze and the darts and now sentimental with the football. What do you want, Stefan?"
"It wasn't real, Damon." Stefan was going to go there. If he could tell Elena the truth, he could tell Damon the truth. Then they could both move on. "Our love for Katherine, it wasn't real. She compelled us. It took me years to sort that out, to truly understand what she did to us. I'm still processing it." Stefan gulped, ready to admit he had realised the impact of Katherine on his feelings for Elena, when Damon interrupted.
"Oh no, Stefan. We are not taking that on tonight." Damon never could handle emotions. As he walked away, Stefan asked the question he had been dying to- ever since Elena had texted him to let him know about it.
"What do you want with Katherine's crystal?"
That caused Damon to pause and turn. "How do you know about that?"
This was about to get ugly. Stefan had called it Katherine's crystal on purpose- Katherine had received it on her last night alive. Stefan knew the timeline, she had been given the Crystal, visited Damon's bed and then visited Stefan's. Calling it Katherine's crystal just revealed to his brother that Katherine was with Stefan too that night- and Stefan wasn't sure how Damon would handle it. He'd decided the truth must be out there, and he was taking the risk.
Damon clicked. His eyes stayed closed for a moment. "She didn't tell you?"
If this was the way he was going to play it, Stefan could give as good as he got. "We had other things on our mind." He gave his best lecherous grin- it fell quite short of Damon's, but it was enough to provoke him.
Damon vamp-sped forward.
"I could rip your heart out and not think twice about it." HE disappeared.
Stefan smiled to himself; Damon had just revealed what he already knew- that he couldn't or wouldn't kill Stefan. More importantly, Damon hadn't moved on from Katherine either. He could be a danger to Elena, just like Stefan was.
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