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Locking the door, Elena took a long look over the lake house before turning to Damon's Camaro. She had always loved this place, the feeling she always got when visiting. The warmth in her heart was still there, the joy the very surroundings brought her. When she first discovered her parent's weapons cache, she had thought that feeling would dissipate, replaced with the connotations of their hatred.
Instead, the desire to spend more time here had simply grown. Perhaps due to the incredible memories she still held here, the memories she had added to last night with Damon. Nothing could take her childhood away, and she could find happiness in the fact she had been able to grow without ignorant, historic hatred this town held and find her man. Turning back to him, he stood with the driver's door open, arms crossed and resting on the roof of his car.
He'd been watching her, of course he had. His icy eyes sparkled as she caught his gaze, one corner of his mouth turning slightly.
"I'm sorry we have to leave so soon, 'Lena," He said quietly, "We can come back soon."
She returned his soft smile, a slight sadness in her eyes. They were going back to the drama. Her brother had helped lock his brother in a cell, her birth mother wanted a device that would kill him, and his vampire ex-girlfriend with unknown motives had already ambushed his brother. Stepping away from the soap opera had been everything they'd needed.
Now they had to face it again, together. She could tell that the very idea was as draining to him as it was to her.
x-x-x-x
Damon was torn. He wanted to go straight to Stefan, warn him to stay the hell away from Elena and probably beat the living crap out of him. Every time he played the conversation in his head, planning how Stefan would react so that he could counter every move, he came to the inevitable conclusion.
Stefan would hurl 165 years of failings at him before fleeing the moment he had a chance, straight into Katherine's trap- whatever that was.
No, he needed to change the rules of the game first.
They took the turn away from the boarding house, towards Elena's home; as she turned to him, her brows furrowed.
"I thought I was staying with you?" Her voice mostly oozed curiosity, but there was a hint of insecurity in there. A weakness that nobody else would probably catch.
"You will be. I just need to take care of some business first."
The weakness left her voice as her expression turned to a frown; this time her gaze was fierce, "Fancy including me in this business, or at least telling me what the hell it is about?"
Which choice did he make? Not telling her would be safer, leaving her under Ric's and Anna's protection whilst Bree watched Stefan. He was heading into the lion's den itself, and if she knew she would likely insist on coming.
On the other hand, not telling her was inevitably going to backfire. She'd sneak out to come after him, or she'd be mad at him for days for just trying to protect her.
He sighed, making a decision.
"I'm going to give Isobel the Gilbert invention." Damon said, letting his eyes roll in her direction, as he pulled up in front of the house. "Katherine won't expect me to give up something so important so quickly, it will make her pause and give us time to think."
Her eyes were wide, pleading with him silently.
"Elena, I'll be fine." He tried to keep any uncertainty out of his voice, but the truth was he wasn't certain of that. Bree's potion had proven to be effective against Bonnie's aneurysms, but they hadn't exactly been able to test it against the device. Additionally, he would put bets on Katherine staying with Isobel.
Taking her face in his hands, he places a tender kiss on her forehead.
"Katherine is too much of a selfish bitch to be suicidal, nobody will be allowed to set that device off whilst she's in town." He smiled at her, hoping his expression conveyed every ounce of affection he felt.
Her eyes reflected his own, filled with worry but also something new behind the film of water there. A fire, burning bright, that he'd only seen flickers of before.
Before he could be tempted to undress her there in the car, in broad daylight in the street, he stepped out and walked around to let her out. Taking her hand in his, they proceeded up the porch. He refused to let go of her hand as they entered the house; after all, that was their safety code.
He was surprised by the speed with which Jenna moved out of one of the side rooms to greet them. Her arms wide open, she paused before pulling Elena into a hug. Her eyes went first to their joined hands, her moment's hesitation over she pulled her in hard. It was good she was getting into the routine of checking.
"Elena! We were so worried when Jeremy called us about Stefan. She hasn't… you haven't seen her yet, have you?" Damon smiled warmly at Elena's aunt fretting. This was familial love, he'd witnessed it before, and he hoped Elena had many years of this love ahead of her. He'd protect Jenna and Jeremy fiercely for her, he realised. In a way, he already had been.
"I'm fine, Jenna. Honestly, I'm good." Elena said, pulling back from the hug. Her hand instinctively found his again as she leant into him.
Her hair smelled heavenly, lavender he thought, and he lent down to kiss the crown of her head as she leant against him. His body automatically turned, possessively shielding her. His mind was lost in thought, committing that scent to memory, linking it to the memory of them standing on the lake house deck, the memory of their night away.
Ric clearing his throat brought him back to his senses, to Ric's reddening face barely holding in his temper and Jenna's wide eyes.
"Well, I better be going, don't let anyone in." He moved before she could react, before she could get the words out.
"No, Damon, I'm com…" He could hear her voice even as he was starting the engine.
If leaving her was this hard every time, he might have to get a job at the high school. Shuddering at the thought, he turned off the street heading straight to Isobel.
x-x-x-x
She was left in the hall, with both Jenna and Ric staring at her, their eyes wide.
"Elena," Jenna began, "I thought you said you and Damon were something that would happen way into the future, like when you were 18 or something!" She was stumbling over her words and turning pink. "He's way too old for you."
"More importantly," Alaric joined in, casting Jenna a scolding sideways look, "He's also a murderer."
Elena rolled her eyes at both of them, folding her arms, "I thought he was your friend now, Ric."
Ric shrugged, "The guy buys my drinks and isn't half bad company. That doesn't mean I'm about to drop my panties for him."
Both Elena and Jenna gasped, and Anna suddenly appeared between them.
"You did not just say that Alaric Jacob Saltzman, you did not just say that." Jenna was obviously as annoyed as Elena, if not more so, for she opened the front door and ushered him out.
Anna backed her up by moving behind him, herding him out.
As soon as he was across the boundary, Jenna added, "Come back when you've learnt how to treat women. Bring chocolate," before closing the door.
Elena couldn't help but smile, even though her aunt was just as concerned about Damon she would protect Elena fiercely. Elena knew she was falling for Ric, it wasn't going to be a serious argument between them, but the protectiveness made her feel loved.
Anna was also grinning at her, "Damon Salvatore? I bet you had a good trip!" She wiggled her eyebrows but Elena just blushed, looking down at her shoes.
Then she remembered, Anna had been staying at the boarding house avoiding John. Why was she here now?
"Anna, you're not safe here! John could be here." Anna smiled at her softly.
"We know, Elena. John could have invited the big, bad, bitch Katherine into the house too. That's why I'm here. I happen to have a few centuries on her, so I'm the new bodyguard." She flexed her muscles in a ridiculous pose and both Elena and Jenna burst out laughing. Anna really was tiny, but she was most certainly the strongest in the entirety of Mystic Falls.
"Are you sure?" Elena asked as her laughter faded, "Are you okay?" She added softly.
Anna shook her head, "I'm not going to be okay for a while but having something to do helps. Plus, I've been discovering how fun it is to beat your brother at Mario Kart!"
Elena rolled her eyes before pulling Anna into a hug. If she could tolerate playing Mario Kart with Jeremy, then she was definitely welcome. Nobody else in the house would want to put up with his hissy fits when he lost.
x-x-x-x
"Honey, I'm home!" Damon called, as he flung the door to the large vacant home open so violently that one of the hinges came detached from the frame.
She was there before he could blink, standing before him scowling.
"Oh, I'm sorry, sweetie. You're not my type anymore." Isobel sneered at him.
He wanted to rub it in her face that he'd moved onto the younger version of her, how he'd spent the night with her daughter making her gasp his name. The words caught in his throat, a revulsion building there. Elena wasn't a relationship he was going to brag about, to rub in people's faces. She was simply his, and that was nobody else's business.
Instead, he went in the other direction. "It's so bold of you to think I was speaking about you, of course I was referring to your great, great grandma." He paused, lifting a single eyebrow as he put his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket and stared at her. "Don't tell me she isn't around?"
Isobel was always clever, she didn't flinch for more than a fraction of second and the mention of Katherine being in town and her voice carefully disguised any surprise that might have been shown, "Oh dear, well you're stuck with me. Would you like a meal prepared for you, or have you come home with a present?"
His eyes flickered through an open doorway to his left, where a young man clad in nothing but a towel had appeared, as if on command, when she had mentioned a meal.
He shrugged, pulling the Gilbert invention from his pocket.
"Happy Sunday." He said, tossing the device at her, enjoying the shock on her face as she caught it and began examining it.
The frown lines formed on her forehead as she whispered, "Why?"
"Why not?" He turned the corners of his mouth down as he shrugged, the veil of nonchalance he kept up around everyone but Elena falling easily back into place. "I don't believe either you or Katherine are suicidal enough to use it."
Her gaze was piercing, her bright eyes trying to connect the dots as they scanned over his face.
"You're scared, but not of this." Her eyebrow raised as she thought on, "Katherine. How did Katherine get to you?"
He briefly considered just leaving, but there was a chance he would learn more by staying. That required bourbon though, so he wandered over to pour himself a drink. Her eyes never left his face as he poured half a crystal tumbler full, taking a swig before he looked at her.
Thankfully, he'd played years of poker.
"She didn't, and she won't." He said, his voice confident.
Isobel laughed, a hollow laugh that gave him the creeps. "You loved her for centuries Damon, you can't expect me to believe you don't give a damn about her now."
"I don't." He said, and it was the honest to God truth. He was as shocked as she would be, to realise he wasn't pretending. He genuinely didn't care about Katherine anymore. Sure, he knew his feelings had been abating since he'd discovered her absent from the tomb, but he hadn't realised they'd completely disappeared. He didn't even care enough to hate her.
He could see the moment of realisation in Isobel's face, the moment she knew for sure what her daughter fully meant to him. Apparently, he didn't quite have the poker face he believed he had.
"Look after her, Damon."
It was the first glimmer of emotion he had ever seen in Isobel, even as a human she had been closed, calculating. Unfortunately, before he could probe further, his phone rang.
"Damon Salvatore" He answered promptly.
"Damon, it's Liz. There's been another animal attack, near the school. Can you come?" Liz's voice was full of anxiety. He raised a questioning brow at Isobel, who raised her palms in a gesture of innocence.
"I'll be right there." He responded, hanging up.
"Don't blame me, I've got my favourite type on tap." Her eyes and head flicked in the direction of the young man in a towel.
x-x-x-x
She'd tried to get both Bonnie and Elena over to the grill for lunch, under the guise of a study session. Really, she was just desperate to announce her new girlfriend status. Typically, Elena hadn't picked up her phone yet.
Caroline was hoping it was due to the ongoing drama she was dealing with, and not because Elena was mad at her for sending Stefan in Damon's direction, especially given that last night he'd seemed like a bat out of hell. When she finally got a chance, she would apologise in person- and get an update on what the hell was actually going on there.
As it was, only Bonnie had arrived and they were sitting in their favourite booth having just ordered with Matt. God, she would have to tell Matt. Unless she let Tyler do that…
"So, I've got news…" She started excitedly pressing her palms together on the table, her feet tapping with anticipation of her friend's reaction. Before she could finish her sentence though, Elena walked in.
She must have received the message and just forgotten to respond! A wave or relief flooded Caroline, Elena wasn't holding a grudge at all, and she was here. They could finally have a good, girly, gossip. She would get to share her fantastic news with both of them at once.
Her cheeks strained slightly at the enormity of her grin as she waved Elena over to the table. Bonnie frowned when she saw Elena, before quickly smoothing over her expression. Had those two had a falling out that neither had bothered to tell Caroline about?
If she had been left out again, she'd be on the war path. Caroline Forbes was not going to be a third wheel.
Waiting for Elena to sit down, she let out a squeal.
"Elena! I'm so glad to see you, I'm so sorry for sending Stefan to Damon; I didn't think before I opened my big trap and I'm so, so sorry." She rushed over the apology, speaking at the almost inhuman speed that she was often known for.
Elena looked down and shrugged, "It's okay, I spoke to Stefan." She said glumly.
Caroline wanted desperately to roll her eyes, the drama with the Salvatore brothers would seemingly never end. On behalf of their friendship, she resisted the temptation. About to launch into her own news, she was interrupted by Bonnie who leaned across the table to take Elena's hand. Elena flinched however, moving her hands back under the table.
That was it.
"Right, I'm sick of this. I wanted to get together to tell you big news, huge, colossal, amazing news that I'm ridiculously excited about. Instead, I get Gloomy McGloomerson looking depressed about Salvatore drama and the both of you having some kind of fight you haven't even bothered to tell me about. I will not be the third wheel in this friendship."
She was standing up, gathering her things.
"You both owe me a massive apology, before I start spending all of my time with my amazing boyfriend and ignoring you both the way you ignore me."
At that, she stormed out of the grill. She'd have to find food elsewhere.
x-x-x-x
Damon knocked politely, arriving at the Gilbert house with a bouquet of dried flowers as ammunition. Jenna opened the door.
"For you, Jenna. I thought you might prefer flowers you didn't have to keep alive." He winked as he leant forward to give her a kiss on the cheek.
"Thank you." She said, mildly shocked, as she inspected the gift and opened the doorway wider to let him in.
Once he was inside, he listened for Elena. She was reading upstairs, biting her lip as she turned the pages. Her breathing and heartbeat were calm, he didn't think she'd even noticed the door. It must be a good book. Anna was at the top of the stairs, smiling at him. She was a little bodyguard, but an effective one.
"All good?" He asked her, and as she nodded, he smiled.
"Elena," He called. "It's time to go."
He was met by a flying mass of brown hair and limbs hurtling down the stairs before they wrapped themselves around him in a tight hug. He reciprocated, letting her warmth surround him as he buried his face in her hair, his huge smile hidden in her neck.
"I'll leave you two to it," He heard Jenna in what seemed like the distance, her footsteps retreating to the kitchen.
Finally pulling himself from the embrace and setting Elena on the ground, he looked down at her; one of the Gilbert journals still in her hand and a large backpack discarded on the stairs where she had dropped it.
"Ready to go?" She nodded at him, a soft smile on her face, her look tender.
"Are you?" She asked, her eyes piercing through his. She was being gentle, but she knew him. He was dreading facing Stefan, his younger brother only saw the worst in him. Thank god Lexi hadn't arrived yet, or on top of the reminder of every bad decision in his long life, he'd been in for a long sanctimonious speech about letting people make their own choices.
He had let Elena make her choice. He'd not even intended to pursue her, but she had been there, she had worked her way inside and now he couldn't possibly do anything to stop her loving him. He was hers.
He shook his head, "Nope, but I'm going to do it anyway; let's go." He pursed his lips and reached for the backpack.
x-x-x-x
When they arrived at the boarding house, hand-in-hand again, Bonnie and Bree were waiting nervously by the fire. Bonnie even had a drink of bourbon in her hand, which instantly made Elena alert. Her best friend rarely drank, and when she did it wasn't any neat liquor.
Letting go of Damon, she embraced Bonnie.
"What's wrong, Bonnie?" She questioned as she hugged her friend tightly.
"I met Katherine." Bonnie responded, breaking the hug and setting her drink down. The three of them took seats as Bonnie herself did, "She came to the grill. Elena, she looked, she looked exactly like you. The flecks of colour in her eye, the little scar, everything. It was… unreal."
"Are you okay?" Elena asked, scanning her friend for injuries.
Bonnie nodded. "I was with Caroline; Caroline lost her temper when Katherine started speaking about Stefan. She refused to let me touch her, pulling away, and Caroline thought we were fighting. She's really mad at us, Elena."
Elena bit her lip, she hadn't meant to hurt Caroline by not responding properly yet. She just didn't know what to say. She couldn't really explain that she was hiding from her doppelganger, her psychotic vampire mother and her angry vampire hunter father- or that her boyfriend's brother was locked up in the basement.
She was about to raise the topic of telling Caroline, bringing her into the loop to at least protect her against Katherine, when Damon spoke.
"Boo Hoo, teenage drama. Get on with the story, Sabrina. What happened?" He sneered.
Elena refused to look at him, he was putting the mask up. Acting like a dick around everyone else, like he always did, and she refused to acknowledge him. She couldn't help but notice the stern look Bree gave him.
The image of Damon and Bree in the storeroom flashed behind her eyes again, but this time the huge swell of jealousy she had felt was weakened. The pain she had previously felt squashed beneath the enormity of the fact she knew to be true; he was hers.
"Fine." Bonnie spat at Damon, "She told me she wants the device, and she wants Stefan."
Elena's eyes met Damon's.
He was showing no surprise, only sorrow. Was he in pain, knowing Katherine had come for his brother and not him? She'd wondered as much at the lake house, when they first heard she was in town. Not daring to ask though, she'd observed him, and he'd shown no signs of feeling anything but annoyance that their stay had been interrupted. He'd shown disappointment that he couldn't steal another night away from her.
Now? Now he showed sadness, and regret, but no pain. The haunted look from the night of the tomb seemed like a distant memory and his face now bore no resemblance to that old Damon. The Damon she had had to burn herself to free. No, his eyes were flickering to the basement. This Damon was sorrowful for his brother.
Closing the distance between them, she rested her head on his shoulder, taking his hand in his.
"Stefan will be fine." She whispered.
She'd picked the wrong thing to say.
"How do you know, Elena?" His voice off-kilter and unnecessarily loud as he let go of her, standing up and spinning to face her., "How could you possibly have any idea what she intends to do with him? She's got some plan that none of us have any idea about, and he's likely to go along with it because he's going to fucking hate me more than he already does."
"Damon..." she spoke softly, rising to try and put a hand on his chest. He turned away from her, filling a glass then standing by the fireplace; a hand resting on the hearth.
The witches fled the scene, making their way to the kitchen or upstairs. Without vampiric hearing Elena couldn't tell which, and she didn't really care.
Her eyes were on the wounded man in front of her. She should have known this was brewing, he'd ended the conversation when she'd tried to initiate it at the bottom of her stairs. The car ride had been virtually silent.
She should have realised, should have said something to stop his pain and make him realise he had done nothing wrong. Instead, he had let his thoughts barge around his head like a wrecking ball, and now he was breaking into pieces in front of her.
"I'm about to tell him that I'm head over heels in love with his girl, that I made her mine, when all he asked of me was to leave town. He wanted to protect you, and instead I've led Katherine to you."
He was pacing now, up and down past the fire. She'd heard his words clearly, but he was too far gone to acknowledge what he'd actually said. She'd told him she was falling in love with him, but he'd not reciprocated. Instead, he'd shown her with everything he was, every touch he'd shared with her. She hadn't doubted his love for a moment since then, but the words were still shocking.
Allowing herself a moment for the breath to return to her body, she steadied her voice. How could she make him see?
"You have protected me, Damon." Her voice was calm, strong and she was grateful she'd managed to make it so... "Logan Fell would have killed Jenna, maybe killed me. Noah would definitely have killed me. You protected me from all of that."
"I killed your mother, Elena. She's the reason Katherine even knows you exist." His voice was bitter, full of self-loathing.
"You didn't know, Damon." She reached for his face, wanting to hold him, take away all of his doubt.
"So?" He pulled away from her, turning to the fire. Her heart ached to just hold him, pull him into her arms. He wouldn't allow it yet, she knew that.
"I'm going to go down there to face my brother and he's going to call me out. He's going to remind me of every mistake I've made, every scar I've left on the people we care about. I'm going down there to hear a thousand reasons I don't deserve you, and every single one of them is right." He threw the glass into the lit fire, the flames rising suddenly before they abated.
Her man stood in front of her, his shoulders slumped, his eyes dull and downcast.
"Then I'll go instead, and I'll tell him the thousands of reasons you do deserve me. I'll tell him how absolutely, insanely, ridiculously in love with you I am; how you have healed my scars and made me feel like I want to actually live again."
Now she was the once pacing, her voice filled with more anger with every passing word, "Dammit, Damon, I fucking love you and if you had left your own head for one moment in the past half an hour and bothered to tell me every horrible thought you were thinking you would know that."
His lips met hers suddenly, passionately, his arms wrapping around hers as they melted into one another. She moaned, pressing her body against his as his lips stole kisses, trailing down her neck.
"You are mine," he purred into her neck between kisses.
Pulling back to meet his eyes, she responded in kind, "And you are mine, Damon Salvatore. Now let's go tell Stefan that."
"Soon." He said, before kissing her again softly. "First, I need to sweep this up. Can't be leaving a mess." He gestured down to the few shards of glass that had escaped the fire.
Elena rolled her eyes at him and laughed.
x-x-x-x