BELLA

She'd gone almost catatonic—numb, empty. Bella felt like a gust of wind had swept through her, leaving only a hollow shell of who she once was. She hadn't felt this badly since the time he had left her in the woods. The ache in her chest was a physical thing, heavy and relentless, growing as Damon ushered her out of the vibrant chaos of the mall and into the waiting taxi. She ignored the looks she got as they walked together through what she realized was the lobby of his hotel. Bella just didn't have it in her to protest or to even wonder what they were doing there.

Of course, she had dreaded talking to Edward. She'd been physically sick when Angela and she had spoken this morning about it. She hadn't been prepared for the hurt and anger in his voice when he spoke to her. The hurt. Her betrayal. How could she do this to him? The shame was a thick fog wrapping around her, suffocating her reasoning.

The tears fell freely and plentiful once more at her inner monologue. She was unaware but Damon was watching her with a frown on his face, probably upset that he was now stuck attached to this emotional wreck for 90 days. The ride in the cab was eerily quiet, even the driver had the good sense to not attempt small talk.

"What do you mean, you're on your way?" The sharp tone of his voice momentarily broke through the wall of doom she had built around herself but soon she was dragged under again by her brain remembering the faint sobs of Alice on the other line as Edward had torn into her.

Alice was a good sister; Edward didn't need to shout at her for something I did. She can't be on 'Bella watch' every moment of the day.

This mistake had cost so many people already, and it was only the first 24 hours. How much worse would the next 89 days be?

If her stress could manifest physically there would be a dark cloud surrounding Bella, getting bigger and darker as Damon lead her inside his room and sat her on his couch, throwing something over her shoulders and leading her gently into a lying down position amongst the soft lush cushions of the couch.

She felt him pet the side of her head, fingers running through her hair as he did so. The action was so tender, a surprising gentleness in his touch that made the lump in her throat grow even larger. The simple act made her sobs turn to muffled cries, an ungrateful mess in the face of his kindness.

Damon's hand was gone a moment later and the door to the bedroom shut. Poor Pitiful Human Bella. Such a mess even the man she married can't stand to be around her. Of course, Edward was right. How could she even be trusted anymore to make any important decision about life when she already fucked up one of the most important human milestones.

Her thoughts were dark and every bit as berating and biting as Edward's tone and words had been.

Sometime during her mental rant, she must have begun to fall asleep. When Damon came out of his room and from his phone call, he found her curled beneath his coat.

Her hair matted and stuck to her face from the tears she had shed while he was gone. He sat beside her and used his thumb to smooth the crease in her forehead that had remained even after her thoughts had faded.

"What has he done to you, Isabella." he spoke so softly.

She was only partly aware of Damon's presence, her dream state mistaking the tender voice for Edward.

What a difference from our phone call. She thought to herself as she let her sleep consume her.

Unbeknownst to Bella, hours had passed before she woke with a jolt, grasping at the satin sheets that were now familiar.

I've got to stop waking up in this room. She thought to herself humorlessly. She noted with great concern that she was no longer in her shorts and top from earlier, but in a soft pair of what might have been the most wonderfully soft silk pajama shorts and a button up top. Damon certainly had taste she mused to herself as faint voices filtered into her awareness. Curiosity edged out fear as she silently shuffled out of the bed, the soft carpet cushioning her steps. She leaned in closer to the closed door, her body tense as she strained to catch their conversation—a mix of hushed tones and rising frustrations.

"Damon, honestly, what were you thinking?" A feminine voice nearly shouted.

"Elena, Lighten up. We both know I wasn't. I saw a Damsel; she was in distress. I decided to help her." Damon's bitter tone shocked her as she listened, the clinking of something being poured the only other sound in the room for the moment before he continued, His tone mocking. "We both know that's my thing. No matter the personal cost."

Great, now he's in there complaining about this. I knew it. Pitiful, inconvenient hum-

Her thoughts were cut short but the woman, Elena, scoffing her reply.

"Damon, it's not the same thing. And you know that. You knew we were on that trip to find Stefan for me. To bring him home from Klaus."It was followed closely by a male voice. She missed the first part of the sentence due to how they had spoken over each other, but the next part she'd heard crystal clear.

"Does she even know what we are, Damon?" At that her heart stuttered and her breath caught. Chills coursed down Bella's spine as the weight of his question settled over her.. Surely, she'd not taken a break from the supernatural to clear her head and get a grip only to find she'd jumped from the frying pan into the fire.

Damon wasn't running at 103 like Jacob; though his touch had felt like it.

"Stefan," Damon replied, his tone shifting as if he was being drawn into an inevitable direction of confrontation. The sudden urgency made Bella's heart race; She took a step away from the door, nervous they would swing it open and find her there very obviously doing what they likely suspected of her, just in time for it to slam open against the wall. Bella leapt back even farther with a soft yelp, staring with wide eyes at the large indent the door would be leaving in the wall as it had been shoved so hard it had also begun to splinter the frame.

"Well, brother, if she didn't have any suspicions before…. she does now." Damon's voice dripping in humorless sarcasm registered in her ears as she continued to take quick, light steps back, taking in the man before her. He was about the same height as Damon, broader in the shoulders and currently glaring down at her with very vivid green eyes. Was it possible for the two brothers to have such similar yet completely opposing looks? The tense edge of his approach faltered, and he stopped his advance on her. She watched his expression go from glaring to... possibly bemused? Lost, Bella decided as she stared back, willing herself not to blink. Damon's brother had yet to move, only watched as Bella backed herself into the corner of the room, wedging in the small gap between the nightstand and the wall.

"Who are you?" Meek and trepid, she hardly recognized her own voice. Her eyes had begun to water with the conscious effort she was making to keep them open.

His silence hung heavily in the air, Elena and Damon apparently silent as they waited. Probably listening. Elena broke it first. "Stefan? What's Wrong?"

"Shit," Damon muttered, his irritation rising as he moved toward their standoff.

She realized that they hadn't moved from their tense positions for several long moments. She could no longer keep her eyes open and hissed softly as they closed, rubbing gently to sooth the irritation. The broken eye contact must have been the thing to snap him from whatever stasis he had been stuck in for he was at her side in an inhuman blur; reaching up to literally rip, Bella heard the material ripping and the sound of whatever had been ornately hung on the end of the poles thudding heavily to the carpet, the curtain that had been closed while she slept open. She shrunk further back, unable to even scream in surprise at the suddenness of his movements. He again moved too quickly for her to see, his hand suddenly in Bella's hair yanking her too roughly back so she was forced to look him in the eye. Fear froze her vocal chords and she was also pretty sure her heart had stopped working.

"That's enough," came Damon's roar from the other room as something that sounded like glass breaking and purposeful stomps getting louder reached her ears as she assumed, and hoped, he was coming in to intervene.

As suddenly as Stefan was at her side, he was gone. Elena suddenly shouted 'Stefan' in a chastising tone as there was a loud crash and snarling from the other room.

DAMON

This is going well. Damon had thought to himself before his brother had slammed him into the glass coffee table, grunting as he pushed up at Stefans shoulders. They scuffled for a short time, only stopping when Elena shouted once more for them to stop. He quickly straightened himself upright as Elena ran to Stefan.

Damon had to fight the urge to roll his eyes as she checked him over. "He hit me." The two ignored him, Stefan glaring murderously at him over Elena's head as she tried to hold his face and force him to look at her.

"Are you SERIOUS right now?" came Stefans 'I'm-mad-and-you-should-be-scared' voice that only irritated Damon.

"Stefan, calm down! What could possibly be so bad that you're acting like this? Sure it was stupid, but this is Damon we are dealing with." Elena had started out shouting, her tone less shouty but still loud enough to keep Stefan's attention. Their chaos was interrupted by the tentative step of feet across the rug from the corner of the bedroom that only the two brothers could hear, accompanied shorty after by the creak of the bedroom door reopening after it had bounced closed with the force that Stefan had slammed it. The creak of the door caused all of them to look over and watch as Bella slowly emerged.

Damon could hardly suppress the Chesire grin that stretched across his face, seeing his little doe peeking out from the doorway with wide eyes. He had to admit he had known Bella looked like Elena, it was part of the first thing that had attracted him to her when he turned to her the other night in the bar... but seeing them staring across from each other though in mirror expressions of shock, he couldn't help but realize the subtle difference. Bella was nearly as tall as Elena, however, Bella's ass was way better. Probably all the running from her problems she did that kept her in shape.

The thick wavy hair in comparison to Elena's sleek, smooth straight hair was probably one of the only defining differences other than Bella's heart shaped face versus Elenas oval-shaped face.

He and Stefan watched the two girls took each other in. Bella's shock had given was to curiosity, Elena's to anger. "What the hell, Damon?!" She shouted, striding over to him and shoving his chest.

"What, Princess? Can't handle not being the only woman in the Salvatore brother's lives?" Something akin to rage shone momentarily, though it was quickly put out at the sound of Elena's voice.

"You can't see that you just went after someone who looks like my twin?" Elena spat, her voice dripping with disdain as she shoved him again, the word twin slicing through the air like a blade.

Damon's gaze remained anchored to Bella, his conscious heavy at the thought of her caught in their crossfire. He barely registered Elena's frustration, taking a step back only in reflex to her shove. "It would appear, maybe you just aren't that special, Princess. You're just my type."

There was satisfaction in watching the hurt flash in Elena's eyes, a conflicting joy tempered by the nagging sense of loyalty he still held for her.

As Elena retreated into Stefan's protective embrace, heat surged through Damon. He didn't want to be this callous, but the thought of supporting both of them in their righteous indignation at Bella's presence felt like a betrayal against the very spark that ignited a different kind of fire inside him.

"Back off," he warned Stefan silently, his thoughts clear as he mentally vowed to shield Bella from the storm brewing within them. She was new to all of this—caught in the crosshairs of family drama she didn't sign up for. Damon knew he wasn't innocent, but neither was she—a fact that could potentially draw a preposterous line of connection between them.

AN: A short message to anyone:

From personal experience I know it can be hard to read the last chapter and the beginning of this one, in emotionally abusive/controlling situations it's not uncommon for an abusee's mental narrative of themselves to reflect their abuser's narrative. It's all they know about themselves. Bella has always thought of herself as an inconvenience, even in the books. I never liked it, especially not when Bella needed 'human moments' and they coined the phrase like it was cute, but it only made her more insecure and aware of her own differences and non-vampirism.