Thank you again for the lovely reviews. There might only be one update this weekend, so I've tried to not leave it on a brutal cliffhanger for you!

I hope you enjoy.

x-x-x-x

He didn't register the phone ringing at first, until Elena shifted her weight to retrieve it from her pocket. Watching her movements, he clicked that she was wearing his jacket. It looked beautiful on her, like she was born to wear his clothes. Why was she wearing it though?

"Jer?" She answered, concern in her voice. He glanced at his watch; it was definitely too late for casual phone calls. Something was wrong.

"Pearl is dead." He heard the statement clearly, focusing on the phone he could also hear Anna's sobs in the background. Shit.

Sobering in that instant, the cogs in his mind started to turn.

They shouldn't be here. If he was right about what he'd seen, and he was sure he was, then this place held a world of danger. It was a danger he was going to have to face, and soon, but he already had enough problems in Mystic Falls.

It must have been John. He wanted the device, and he knew a tomb vampire had it. Damon didn't think John knew he now held it, instead of Pearl. Dammit, this was his fault.

Taking the phone off Elena, he barked instructions down the phone. "Jeremy, get to the boarding house. Anna isn't safe in your house. He probably won't dare to come to my place. We'll be back soon." Pausing, he sighed and added. "There's a loaded gun in the back of the drink's cabinet. Use it if you need it."

Flipping the phone closed, he looked around the seemingly empty square. Elena hadn't appeared here magically, and he spotted Bree in the distance leaned against her bike. His jaw tensed as he resisted the urge to pin her up against the nearest wall and tear her throat out, how could she put Elena on the back of a bike at night, with a damaged hand?

Did she know how fucking stupid that was?

Figuring Bree would get the message and follow them, he looked back down at Elena. She was staring at him with fury in her eyes, clearly displeased he'd suggested a minor use a firearm. That was the least of his worries right now.

"Come on,' he said with a tilt of the head.

x-x-x-x

It seemed that Damon was the type of man that needed something to do.

He'd been broken, a shell sat with her on the concrete pavement in front of the bench. As she'd stood and stepped away to answer her phone, she'd been petrified he would disappear.

She's only answered because of the time, nobody ever called her at this time.

Thank God she had, for he had changed almost instantly. The broken, depleted man was now back to the strategist, her protector. She knew they'd have to address his breakdown soon; he'd come here for a reason that he'd still not shared with her.

But, right now, she was glad to not have to think about it.

Instead, she focused on the pain Anna must be feeling. Losing her parents had felt like having a piece of her heart removed. This was different though; Anna must have spent decades or centuries with her mother. Furthermore, she expected an eternity more. Having that ripped away from her, the pain must be unbelievable.

Did that make killing a vampire worse than killing a human? More years were stolen in the act, yes, but a vampire was technically already dead. They needed blood to live normally, not desiccate, so they were murderers by nature- and the death penalty existed for a reason.

But then, did she not eat meat herself? Would it be morally correct for a vegan to kill a vampire?

Realising her tired brain was straying off topic, she decided to sleep. Letting her heavy eyes droop as she sat in the Camaro and watched Damon drive, she was soon nodding off.

Her dreams were full of Damon. At first, he was killing sorority girls as she'd been earlier imagining. Then, he was trying to kill her father. As she dreamt about her father fighting back, staking Damon, she woke with a gasp.

x-x-x-x

She was absolutely stunning as she slept, his jacket on her lap, her hair splayed on her face and her mouth slightly open.

How could he have ever considered leaving her? The mere thought of never watching her sleep this peacefully again had his heart thumping in his chest.

Who had he been kidding, thinking he could push her away and fight his own demons? He'd have run back to her- he was too weak not to. He'd have probably brought danger with him as well, people who would want to hurt her for caring about a vampire. Trying to run off, he could have got her seriously hurt.

What was he thinking? He had already hurt her, which made him truly and utterly pathetic. He hadn't had the self-control to even realise he was doing it, he should walk away from her. He should support Anna and Jeremy, neutralise the threat of John and then leave. That would be the moral thing to do.

He was too selfish for that.

Stefan was the one with no self-control, no ability to stop. Damon was capable of restraint, control. He would have to just be more careful, treat her more delicately. He couldn't, he wouldn't walk away the way his brother had. His brother may be the better man, but Damon would get the girl.

The thought brought a smile to his lips but a knot to his stomach. If he stayed, would he ever be able to return to Whitmore and right the wrongs there without risking her. Maybe in 5 years, when she was older, at college, far away from here.

She'd be older. She would keep getting older.

What the fuck was he thinking?

Why did he keep watching this young, human girl sleep? Why was he letting her in? He shouldn't care that he'd hurt her, or that she could get hurt if he decided to take on the vampire hating cult he believed to once again be operating. He shouldn't care, this is just his brother's ex. A girl who happened to look like his ex, and who happened to have been in danger a few times, so he helped out.

Plus, whether he cared or not didn't really matter. He'd revealed too much tonight, said too much. Elena would never let that drop, and she was already better at extracting details of his past than anyone he had met before. Once she knew who he really was, would she walk away herself? Would he be able to let her?

His mind was a mess.

As she woke with a gasp, he focused his brain back on the road and back on the plan. Hopefully, he was right in his assumption that John wouldn't try to get Anna at the boarding house. God knows what Elena would do if Jeremy actually had cause to shoot John.

x-x-x-x

They arrived back at the house as the birds were beginning to awaken. There was still no sun in sight, but the occasional song heard from the trees was announcing its imminent arrival.

As soon as the Camaro stopped, Elena tried to let herself out, desperate to check on her brother. Unfortunately, the door was locked. Spinning around to complain at Damon, he was casually getting out of the driver's side.

"Only vampires get to greet teenagers with guns." He smirked, before closing his door behind him and locking it. She watched him casually saunter into the building. Dick.

Luckily, his entrance wasn't followed by a gunshot, and he re-emerged a few moments later and let her out of the car. She did her best to maintain her frustrated expression as she barged past him to get into the house, but the relief on her face had certainly snuck through. She just couldn't help it.

Taking Jeremy into a brief hug, she focused her attention on Anna. Sat on the couch, she looked even younger than usual. Despite being older than Damon, right now Anna looked like a child in need of help, and it caused Elena's heart to throb. She sat next to Anna, pulling her into a firm hug and stroking her hair as the vampire sobbed.

Jeremy looked lost, his top visibly damp and his own eyes red and bleary.

"I don't know what to do for her." He said meekly, his eyes imploring Elena to fix it.

Elena shook her head slightly, "There's nothing to do, Jer. You remember how it felt when we lost Mum and Dad." He nodded at her, the pain in his expression more pronounced, "But we always knew we would. We grew up knowing one day, we would lose them. Anna thought she had forever."

Jeremy swallowed, hard, and collapsed in the armchair.

"I wanted that." He whispered softly, "It's why…" He trailed off.

"I know," Elena nodded, "It's part of the reason I wanted Stefan so much, once I found out, I wanted to know I'd never lose him."

"But now…" Jeremy tried to continue, but as his eyes strayed to Anna the tears began again.

"Now it's scary and terrifying, Jer." She said softly, noticing Anna's breathing was calming as she began to sleep. Jeremy wiped his eyes and nodded, his posture suddenly more upright in the chair.

Elena guessed Damon had walked in behind her, and his voice just confirmed it.

"Imagine how it feels for us." He said curtly, before walking over to the drinks cabinet. He grabbed something off the floor near Jeremy's feet on the way past, something suspiciously gun-shaped, and placed it in the very back of the cabinet before grabbing an unopened bottle of bourbon. She had meant to yell at him for giving her brother a gun, had meant to chastise him on the thousands of horrible things that could have happened, but his comment and the look on his face stopped her.

She'd known, since the dance, Damon wouldn't be able to watch her die. Seeing his face now, she knew for certain she didn't want him to.

"Pour me one, too." He turned to look at her as she spoke, and she used the opportunity to meet his eyes. Breathily mouthing the words, so only he could hear, "I can imagine".

x-x-x-x

He was sitting on the floor by the fireplace when Bree arrived. It was less than an hour since himself and Elena had returned to the boarding house. He'd offered a spare room for Jeremy not long after they'd arrived, sensing the boy needed sleep and a break from watching over Anna. Then, Elena had fallen asleep herself, sitting on the sofa with Anna's sleeping head on her knee.

Anna had awoken when he first attempted to extract Elena. Luckily, she was groggy, so he'd been able to snap her neck before she fully awoke. He felt a little bit like a dick for doing that, but Anna deserved to have people who could actually help her mourn when she woke up.

Now, Elena was sleeping in his bed. He'd meant to put her in a guest room but as he carried her, his feet led him to his own room, and it felt right. He would have stayed with her, held her as she slept- he so desperately wanted to- but he needed to guard Anna. Instead, he'd left her a note telling her she could use the en-suite and left out a clean shirt and boxers for her.

For all he knew, she would throw the clothes back at him, offended at the suggestion she would ever wear his clothes. However, he hoped she'd just appreciate the gesture. He'd done similar for Jeremy, though admittedly with Stefan's clothes and no fresh underwear.

He'd just sat down, lit a fire, and begun to stare at the flames when his favourite witch entered, cursing the rising sun.

"Care to tell me why you drove home at twice the speed limit, Damon?" She had bypassed greetings, clearly annoyed with him.

"Is 'because I can?' not a good enough reason?" He responded, not bothering to turn to her but raising his glass as a form of greeting.

"Not when you disappear, randomly, having caused Elena to go to fucking hospital. You almost gave the poor girl a panic attack, and then you shoot off with her and drive her at a speed that would almost certainly be fatal for her." He tensed at that. She was right, not only had he hurt Elena, but he'd also put her life in danger.

He briefly wondered how she would feel about daily doses of his blood, before shaking the idea off as fanciful.

"Pearl is dead." He stated, tilting his head in the direction of Anna- still laid out on the sofa.

He heard Bree sigh an 'Ohhh'.

She wandered off to the kitchen, and after a bit of clanging and banging she returned. She came and sat next to him, dropping down to sit cross-legged. She did it rather gracefully, and he had to admit to himself that the yoga she was doing was not being wasted.

"John Gilbert?" She asked, and he nodded glumly.

"I expect so, I assume he wanted the device and didn't know I already had it." He didn't bother masking the guilt he knew was evident on his face, he knew better than trying to hide his emotions from Bree. He had historically, but he had learnt over time that she would try to push him if she thought he was hiding something. In turn, she'd learnt there were certain topics that she couldn't ask about- even if they were plain on his face.

"Pearl was a lot older than you Damon, you couldn't have known that you needed to watch out for her. Besides, we needed to know what the device did before we revealed any of our cards to John."

He nodded, returning his gaze to the fire. He knew what she said was logical, but that didn't assuage his guilt. Solving problems, taking charge, that was his thing. He'd been doing it since he returned, keeping the council at bay, opening the tomb. He didn't like failure.

"Speaking of which," she continued, "Bonnie and I discovered the device is a weapon against vampires."

A weapon? Surely, he would have seen it if it had any wood that could be used to harm him.

"A magical one. It's designed to give vampires a headache, like the ones Bonnie had been practising on you, but it will be stronger. It appears we only have part of the design though." She paused, as if to let him digest the information.

If they only had part, did John have the other part? Was John planning on harming the vampires because of his part on the council, if so, why had he not already revealed Damon's identity? Did the device work further afield as well?

"Does it say how far the effects of the device spread?" He asked her, considering the implications of every vampire in the country getting an aneurysm at the same time. It could be catastrophic, revealing their identities to humans en masse.

"As far as the town boundaries." She responded. He sighed with relief, it still put him and Anna at risk but if needed they could leave town.

He needed to know John's plan. When he was planning on using it and why. Now, he didn't have a true need to give it to him. Sure, John could go to the council, but that would just result in them having to skip town- which they'd have to do anyway if he had the device.

At that point, Anna began to stir.

"She's going to be a bit mad at me." He stated, before quickly adding, "Can you settle her?"

He didn't wait for a response, vamp speeding to his room and locking the door behind him. That wouldn't stop Anna if she wanted to come after him, but it would slow Bree down. Tuning his ears into their conversation though, it seemed they were instead discussing grief and breakfast food.

Elena was still sprawled out across his bed. She'd woken at some point as the note he had left her was tucked into her hand. The fresh clothes, still on her nightstand.

Slipping out of his clothes, he slipped under the sheet. He had left her on top of the bedding still fully clothed, as he didn't think she'd appreciate him undressing her. However, this was his bed and he was going to sleep in it as he usually did. Naked and comfortable. Besides, he was covered by she sheet, so it wasn't like he was exposing himself to her. Probably.

She'd seen it all before anyway.

He grinned to himself as he closed his eyes, imagining the shade of red she would turn if she realised.

x-x-x-x

Caroline looked down at her history book as Tyler passed to take his seat, dramatically looking up at him through her eyelashes and then biting her lip at the exact moment he passed. His eyes practically popped out of his head.

Smiling to herself, she looked across as Bonnie, who rolled her eyes and pretended to put her fingers down her throat. Caroline didn't care much if Bonnie thought it was sickening, she was happy.

Last night had been the best date she'd had, and she hadn't even needed to put out. Sure, they'd not spoken about what she'd seen at the Lockwood estate the other night; but Tyler knew she was there if he wanted to. They'd even spent half the night texting each other about potential spring break holidays once they were old enough to travel, so that line of communication was open.

Nothing could spoil today.

Not even the pop quiz Mr Saltzman announced.

Elena's chair was still empty as he began handing out the quiz sheets, and Caroline was beginning to worry. Sure, Elena had been late a few times recently but not this late. She looked over at Bonnie, who shrugged.

It wasn't until question three that her friend made it through the door. Caroline's eyebrows nearly hit her hairline when she took in what Elena was wearing. She had the same jeans and shoes as yesterday, but her shirt was unmistakably a man's shirt. A man's black button up. She didn't need three guesses to figure out who that belonged to. Furthermore, Elena was also wearing an oversized leather jacket. She might as well have stamped her forehead with, 'Damon's property.'

A slight pang of jealousy went through Caroline, as she considered the fact that Damon had never given her his clothes to wear. But then again, she wouldn't have wanted to. More importantly, Damon was an incentive jerk to her but seemed to genuinely care about Elena.

Plus, she had Tyler now. Sure, they'd only had one date, but it was a really, really good date.

As Elena sat, on the empty desk between Caroline and Elena, both girls turned to her and mouthed, 'Damon?'. Elena blushed crimson, confirming their suspicion.

At the end of class, Mr Salzman kept Elena behind, preventing them from interrogating her then and there. Instead, Caroline sent her a quick text, 'Meet The Grill after school. No excuses.'

x-x-x-x

When Ric asked her to stay behind after class, she'd almost sunk so far down in her chair she was hiding behind the desk. Arriving late was embarrassing enough, more so when you were dressed as if it was a walk of shame. Elena already knew there was no way in hell Caroline would ever believe that she hadn't slept with Damon.

Without explaining everything supernatural to her, there just wasn't a good enough reason for her staying in Damon's bed with no fresh clothes to change into.

Hell, Ric might not even believe her, and he did know the majority of the story. She wasn't going to betray Damon's trust and mention their middle of the night excursion to Whitmore college, but as Jeremy had stayed over too, she hoped she wouldn't need to mention that at all.

She wasn't the only student Ric had kept back, and as she sat there listening to him berate the underperformers in his class, trying to encourage the other stoners the way he had encouraged Jeremy, her mind wandered to the events of the morning.

It had been Damon's bed; she had woken up on. She'd been sure of it when she woke up the first time, having stirred slightly as he'd placed her down. He'd left her a note which she could barely read in the growing light of dawn, but she'd held on to it, for some reason wanting the connection to him. She'd noticed his scent, and even in the hazy morning light she'd made out that the room was tidy and minimalist.

Waking up properly, an hour and a half after her alarm would have normally awoken her, she dragged herself off the bed. Sitting up was a real effort, she'd only slept a few hours and her hand was throbbing. They'd given her pain meds the previous night, but they'd worn off since. Cursing herself for not thinking about it before, she remembered they were in Jenna's purse. Great. Wincing as she wriggled her fingers, she stretched every part of herself, feeling stiff.

"Go to sleep, 'Lena."

The sound of his voice made her jump out of her skin, standing up and spinning around to look at the bed. She wasn't sure how the hell she'd not noticed him there before, perhaps because the bed was so wide, he was still a foot or two from her, but he was there.

His eyes were closed as he laid on his back, one arm up by his head and the other down by his side. He was topless, and she'd not been able to pull her eyes from his chest initially. Why did he have to look like a Greek statue? It wasn't fair.

Luckily, a sheet covered his lower half. Elena didn't need to peek to be pretty confident he wouldn't be wearing anything else. He'd made jokes before, when he'd slept on the top of her bed, about always sleeping naked. This was the first time he'd got under the covers when they had shared a bed, and she supposed she couldn't complain.

It was his bed, after all.

Though, she hadn't asked to be placed on it. Mulling over how offended she should be as she went to the en-suite, Elena decided that they had far bigger things to deal with. Right now, her number one priority was getting ready for school. Luckily, Damon had thought of pretty much everything.

He'd provided her with clean underwear and a shirt, admittedly his, but it would do. She'd found suitable toiletries in the en-suite, a hairbrush and even a brand-new toothbrush. His shower had been a luxury of the kind she could get used to, a rainfall head with powerful sideways jets coming from the wall.

She could imagine women lining up to sleep with Damon if this was the morning-after experience.

Ric clearing his throat, brought her back to reality. Bracing for the lecture she began, "Ric, I didn't…" but he held up a hand to cut her off.

"None of my business, and I'm not here to lecture you." He looked down at his hands, wringing them together, clearly uncomfortable with his next statement.

"Isobel is in Mystic Falls. She wants to see you."

Isobel. Her birth mother.

Without hesitation, she called him. She didn't need to say anything besides his name before he announced he'd be right there. She wasn't sure if Ric had text him the details, or if he'd just assumed that's where she would be. But 10 minutes later, he was in the classroom.

The minute she saw him, entering the room ready for a fight, she felt like she couldn't breathe. She'd held it together, discussing with Ric the events that had unfolded between him and Isobel, calmly debating the pros and cons of meeting her. But when he entered, she let herself feel the wave of shock that had been threatening to consume her.

He knelt at her feet, faster than she could see him move, his hands on either side of her face. "Tell me what's wrong."

She couldn't answer, she was fighting the tears brimming her eyes. She didn't know why she cared, why meeting her birth mother seemed so important. She was scared, scared of disappointing her and of being disappointed by her. He was fearful of meeting her and loving her, would that be disrespectful to her mom, the one who had raised her?

Luckily, Ric saved her from having to be calm enough to formulate an answer. Damon kept his eyes on hers as he listened to Ric's explanation, his hands never leaving her face, his thumps stroking away any tears that managed to escape her eyes.

"Elena, you don't have to see her." His voice sounded strong, determined and she was envious for a moment of how much confidence he had.

She looked down at her hands, biting her lip.

"Unfortunately," Ric began, "She's threatening to kill the locals if we object."

Damon briefly broke eye contact with her to shoot Ric a look of annoyance.

"I assume we're supposed to care about that?" Damon said, sarcastically. "Because I'm really not too fussed."

Elena surprised herself, letting out a slight giggle at him. God knows why she was laughing at him making light of murder, perhaps because he'd made the whole situation suddenly seem so absurd.

"I want to meet her." She managed to say.

He nodded, placing a light kiss on her forehead. "Of course, you do."

Ric sighed with relief, and they both stood ready to leave. Elena could see the moment her outfit clicked in Ric's head; he must have been too distracted to notice before then but he certainly noticed now.

"Damon, do I need to remind you what I said I would do if I caught you fucking my girlfriend's niece?" He said, a frown fixed on his face as he looked at her appearance.

Turning to look up at Damon, hoping he would have a quick and sarcastic response, she was appalled to discover he wasn't there. Once again, he'd used his vampire speed to escape an awkward situation. She couldn't help but admire it, even though it left her having to deal with an angry Ric.

Putting her hands in the air, she calmly said, "Ric, I just slept over. Ask Jeremy."

It was quite clear from his expression that he didn't believe her.

x-x-x-x