Thank you for the continued reviews and messages. This is a shorter one, but it's sweet so I hope you like it.
Special thanks to CosmicAdventurer who has been there the entire journey and has given me a shout out too! I've really enjoyed their story 'Timey Wimey' because it puts the well-developed end of series characters back in the S1 story. I'd also recommend their completed story 'Chaotic Good' if you're enjoying my Damon. That story was part of the inspiration.
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She watched as Jeremy ran down the stairs, but she couldn't follow him. She tried to fight him, to escape his grasp but he held her firmly from behind. There wasn't enough energy in her to fight against the vampire that held her in her room, all she could do was try to breathe as the emotions from the night overwhelmed her.
Without ever knowing her, she'd lost her birth mother. She'd lost Damon. Now she might have lost Jeremy. The look of betrayal on his face was burned into her vision.
She fell to the floor, still being held by him. Her energy exhausted, she stopped trying to fight and he pulled her onto his lap. They just sat there for a while, him with his back to the wall and her between his legs resting her back on his chest. It felt comfortable, it felt right. In this moment, she hated him, but even now she had to admit she couldn't hate him forever. Not the way he was holding her.
"Let me explain, 'Lena," he whispered in her ear.
Damon continued when she didn't protest, "I met Isobel a few years ago, she approached me in a bar. She called me by my name." How could her birth mother know his name? She looked at him quizzically.
"I know, I was shocked too. She told me she was a professor of the supernatural and had researched Mystic Falls. She had a photo of me in my uniform, must have been part of the town records. Either way, she knew me, and she knew what I was." He let her take that information in, kissing her temple as he paused his explanation.
"She didn't tell me she was married, and do you want full honesty?" Did she really? It couldn't hurt anymore than it did already, could it? She nodded.
"Okay. Don't get mad at this, I didn't know, and it was years ago. Okay?" That sounded ominous but she stayed silent and nodded.
"I slept with her, on and off for a few weeks. She asked questions about Katherine and being turned, and hinted she knew about the tomb and how to get in. She wouldn't give me details unless I promised to turn her. I've only turned people half a dozen times Elena, usually out of pity, and I didn't want to." Elena gulped. She hadn't even considered this option. Did this mean Isobel was out there?
"One night she brought me a manuscript about spells linked to celestial events, but she only gave me half. It was the biggest clue I'd had since I'd met Bree." She could feel his chest rising and falling as he breathed, clearly anxious about her reaction to the next part.
"Just say it, Damon."
"I fed her my blood and killed her. Alaric walked in as I was draining her. She gave me the rest of the manuscript and we spent a few weeks chasing down dead ends before we parted ways."
They sat in silence for a while, Damon's arms tight around her. Her mother was out there, a Vampire. Ric either didn't know or didn't care.
"'Lena, there's a couple more bits you should know." She braced for impact, her muscles stiffening as she waited to see if the news could possibly get worse, "First, Isobel switched her humanity off as soon as she was turned."
Elena frowned; she didn't know vampires could do that. Did that mean what it sounded like? Would she want to know her mother if there was no humanity in her.
"I don't know where she is now, but even if I did, I wouldn't want to take you to her. A vampire with no humanity is unpredictable, they can kill without guilt. They can't love."
She knew she should be mad, that he was taking the choice from her, but she felt protected instead. Her mind wandered to Damon, to the pain he was so obviously in over the past week.
"Why didn't you switch off your humanity?" she asked.
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How did he answer a question like that? They'd been through hell and back tonight and he knew there would be more to come. He couldn't even see her face, her back was resting on his chest, his chin by her cheek as they sat.
She was patient for his answer, reaching up to take his hand she pulled it out of the tight grip he had had around her and started playing with his fingers, like she was inspecting every part of him. She traced every line on his palm as she waited for his answer.
Damn this girl.
"I did once. In the 50's. It didn't end well for the population of New York, and it took me a long time to turn it back on. Lexi tried to make me once, you met her, didn't you?" Elena nodded.
"She came to New York and tried everything she could. I left her one morning asleep on a rooftop, to burn in the sunlight. I don't think Stefan would have ever forgiven me, but I didn't care."
Elena squeezed his hand.
"The emotions came back gradually. Katherine, my desire to get Katherine came through and I started planning to get her out. Bree helped a lot too."
He could feel Elena stiffen at the mention of his friend, and he remembered how he had accused him of screwing Bree. He couldn't exactly deny that; he had definitely spent a big portion of the week in bed with the witch. Why was he such an idiot?
"Bree is my friend, 'Lena. A friend with benefits, but just a friend. She's been there through the years, but we never see each other for more than a few weeks. Not since she was in college."
Elena nodded, still tense. She'd stopped playing with his hand but kept hold of it, loosely. He swallowed, he still had more to say.
"Ric walked in on Isobel and me, and he remembered. I didn't compel the memory away. The night of the tomb, I came home to him in my house. I killed him."
At this, Elena twisted around to look at him. "He's a vampire too?"
Damon shook his head. "I got Bree to sneak vervain in all your drinks earlier, he didn't flinch."
"Then how?"
"I don't know." Elena settled back into her position resting against him. It was comfortable and familiar; he could stay sat there all day listening to her breathing. He was glad vampires sobered up so quickly, for he wanted to remember every second of this.
"Why did it hurt so much?" she barely whispered, but he could hear.
"I shouldn't have been so angry, I thought I'd lost you and I lost it. I'm sorry." What could he ever do to apologise?
"No, Damon, you don't understand." Her voice was soft, forgiving.
She was probably right; he didn't understand how she was still letting him be in the room. He didn't understand how this beautiful girl was showing him affection, showing him sympathy and (could he even hope for it?) potentially forgiving him. He didn't understand why he needed her to so much. He didn't understand a damn thing.
"I was shocked, there's been so much new information tonight that I couldn't process. Knowing you turned my birth mother, though, that isn't what hurt the most."
He held his breath. What more had he done to hurt her?
"What hurt the most was that it wasn't me." He hated that he couldn't see her face, couldn't scan her eyes. She wasn't making any sense, but she'd said it with such pure emotion, such pain that he didn't want to break the moment to question her. He just held her tighter.
Once she fell asleep, resting against him on the floor, exhausted by the emotion of the day, he lifted her carefully onto the bed. He removed her stilettos but left the rest of her outfit, he didn't think he'd thank her for changing her clothes. He stayed sat on the end of her bed, not knowing what to do with himself. He just knew he wasn't leaving her side.
It was late when Jeremy Gilbert came home, this time stoned. Damon glanced at his sleeping girl before making a decision. It was time Elena could speak to her family about her life.
"Thought you were over being a stoner, kid." Damon greeted Jeremy. When the moody teenager turned to leave, Damon used his speed to be stood in front of him. "You're not going anywhere."
"So now you're going to kill me too?" Jeremy quipped. Standing up to vampires was stupid, but it seemed to be a Gilbert trait- if not a genetic one.
"Nope." He popped the p. "I'm going to sit on the couch, play video games, and answer all your questions."
To his amazement, Jeremy didn't even flinch in shock or show confusion for a second. He just shrugged and followed Damon to the couch.
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Elena woke the next morning to a bad head and puffy eyes. She'd cried too much the night before. Looking down she saw she was still in last night's outfit. Thank God, she cringed at the thought of Damon undressing her.
After a quick shower, she ventured downstairs. Jeremy's door was shut and she didn't dare open it to see if he had returned home last night. She hoped he had, but she was too drained to worry.
There was noise coming from the kitchen, which was unusual because Jenna never cooked. Elena hoped Alaric hadn't stayed over, she couldn't bear the thought of seeing him yet. As she rounded the corner though, a surprising sight hit Elena's eyes.
Damon was stood over a pot in the kitchen, stirring something that smelled delicious. There was a stack of pancakes on the island, so she took a seat, eager to eat them. She noticed the vampire face he'd made with squirty cream and blueberries. She couldn't do anything but laugh.
"You're cooking? In my kitchen."
Damon nodded, still moving around the room. As he opened the fridge, she saw it was fully stocked.
"I figured you'd all need feeding today, last night was a long night. Plus, I got bored and your movie collection sucks. Literally, who on earth is obsessed with Twilight?"
Elena grinned, he wasn't going to like the answer. "Stefan."
Surprisingly, Damon didn't frown or get moody after the mention of his brother. Instead, he just smiled back at her. "Typical. He's probably jealous of Edward's hair."
She couldn't help laughing, again. What was going on?
"I told Jeremy everything." She froze. Had he just said that? Meeting his eyes, she could tell he meant it. "I had to, he'd overheard and was driving himself crazy trying to put it all together. Your family deserve to know, Elena, so I told him everything. The full story."
Wow.
"Now, I think he's upstairs sleeping, but he could be fashioning stakes out of his furniture. So, the food is a bribe." He gestured at the various pots, pans and plates around.
"You're bribing Jeremy to not kill you?" Damon nodded at her.
"The way to a man's heart is through his stomach. We'll be besties by supper."
Damon grabbed a pancake of her plate and they ate there in comfortable silence, her sat on a stool at the island and him lent back against the cabinets. The could barely take their eyes off each other, but neither spoke another word until Jeremy came down for his own breakfast.
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It was only after a lot of protesting that he agreed to leave that night. Jenna had put her foot down and kicked both him and Ric out. It had been a long day, as Elena had called Jenna and Ric to come home and the 5 of them had sat and told Jenna everything about the supernatural world.
After hours of questions, they had all been hungry and Jenna had announced it was time for dinner, and that it would be family only. After a very pointed look, neither had been able to protest too much so had found themselves managed out the front foor.
They stood on the porch and looked at each other.
"Drink?" They said in unison.
Arriving at the grill, Damon took his usual spot and Ric took the stool to his left.
"You're buying." He announced. Damon rolled his eyes and beckoned Bree over to pour their drinks. Alaric chose the whisky and the man had good taste.
"To Isobel" Damon toasted, but his drinking partner shook his head.
"You're a dick, and you slept with me wife." Damon had to admit, he kind of liked the guy. He always enjoyed a bit of banter.
"If it helps," he responded, "when I found out she was married, I killed her." He raised his glass in the air in a toast before taking a sip.
They'd not discussed Damon killing him at the house. Elena knew, but nobody had mentioned it to Jenna. Damon wanted answers before he opened that can of worms.
"So, buddy, I can't help but notice that you're not, you know, decomposing." He gestured to Alaric's body, looking most definitely alive.
"I'm honestly not sure, but it could be something to do with this." He waved his hand at Damon, flashing a rather large, ornate, antique ring. "Not long before Isobel dis… turned, she gave me this. She told me to never take it off as it would protect me."
Damon processed this, a magic ring to bring someone back from the dead? That could be useful if it were true.
"There's only one way to find out…" He quipped, letting his smile show the sarcasm.
Alaric grabbed the bottle by reaching over the counter. "Dick," he called Damon as he poured them both another drink, before adding, "You're still paying."
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The lasagne was burnt, but not too badly. Typically, Jenna had struggled to follow Damon's instructions and had put the over on too high. Ignoring the black bits, Elena filled their plates and carried them over to the table.
Dinner was awkward. Jeremy was speaking to Jenna but not her. Damon had told him everything last night and that had resulted in Jeremy being mad at Elena, not Damon. She hadn't understood why at first, until Jeremy shared with Jenna the reason why Damon had turned Vicki. Damon had never explained himself to Elena, his only reasoning to her was that he was bored. He'd told Jeremy how he felt sorry for Vicki: stuck in this town, poor as dirt, and struggling with addiction. Vampirism would have allowed her to be free of drugs, and very few vampires chose to stay poor- whether it was ethical to compel or not.
As such, Jeremy had almost been grateful to Damon. He felt betrayed about the compulsion, about having everything hidden from him.
Elena had taken hold of Damon's hand during this section of their reveal, and hadn't let go of it until he left. He was like a comfort blanket now, whatever he had done he had held her and been there as she broke. She was still angry, of course, but she knew she'd forgive him someday and she needed him anyway.
Jenna had been annoyed too, that the secret had been hidden from her, but her protective instincts had kicked in and she was focused entirely on supporting Elena and Jeremy through the next week. The only words Jeremy had spoken to Elena all day were when they were discussing the option. He'd broken the silence to announce, "You're still my sister, 'Lena." Jenna had her work cut out for her.
It had been much less awkward before Alaric and Damon left, surprisingly not trying to kill each other. They'd kept the conversation up, answering as many questions as they could. Alaric had even talked them through arsenal of vampire hunting equipment he had, some of which had made Damon look unfortunately pale.
Overall, the day had been a success. Elena couldn't have hoped for more, realistically. She was just glad she was able to discuss her life with her family.
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Alaric had only made it through two glasses of barbed comments before he'd called it a night. Damon was pretty sure that could be counted as success, the guy hadn't tried to kill him again at least.
"So, we're not leaving?" Bree was taking her break on the wrong side of the bar, perched on the other side of Damon with a coke.
"Not for now." Damon responded.
"What changed?" Now that was a loaded question.
"She doesn't hate me." He could have explained the events of the past 24 hours, but he was sick of answering questions today. The short summary would have to be enough.
Bree's eyebrows raised. "Katherine? You've seen her?"
He choked on his drink, spluttering. He'd not thought of Katherine all day, he'd barely thought of her since yesterday. Why had he forgotten about her? Her betrayal had barely left his thoughts for a week.
"No. Elena." The witch's features contorted as she processed the information.
"You love her." She announced.
He shook his head. "No." He tried to keep his voice firm, even though he was questioning himself.
He couldn't love Elena, he had always and would always love Katherine. She'd betrayed him and it hurt like hell, but she'd wanted him once and would understand all the things he had done. He would never be worthy of Elena's love; he could only hope for her friendship. The young girl may have accepted his role in her birth mother's disappearance, but he could tell she hadn't fully forgiven. If she knew the things he'd done.
"No, Elena could never love me." He confirmed.
Bree was too smart to not miss that, dammit.
"I didn't ask if she loved you. I said…" He didn't give her time to finish before he was out of the door.
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