I followed Elena, who was a good ten feet ahead of me and my sprained ankle. Caroline was leaning against a brick wall at the edge of Stefan and Damon's yard. She had to have heard us coming, but didn't acknowledge us at all.

"Caroline . . ." Elena tried to speak, but Caroline spun around and cut her off.

"I don't want to talk about it." Caroline stated. She looked at me, "Great. You hurt your ankle. There goes my cheerleading squad. Again."

"Caroline." Elena crossed her arms. "You can be mad at me, but don't take it out on Lucy."

Caroline raised her eyebrows. "Oh, so you're allowed to get mad at Lucy, but I'm not?"

"I'm not mad at Lucy." Elena replied.

"You're not?" I asked.

Elena looked at me. "We can talk about it later. Caroline you're being ridiculous."

"And insecure, and stupid, but that doesn't change the fact that Matt's always gonna be in love with you and I'm always gonna be the backup." Caroline said.

Elena shook her head. "You're not the backup."

"Yes I am." Caroline snapped. "I'm Matt's Elena backup. I'm your Bonnie backup."

Elena laughed with anger. "Now it's about me and Bonnie?"

Caroline shook her head. "You don't get it. And why would you? You're everyone's first choice. Right Lucy? I mean she's been your best friend ever since you got here?"

I opened my mouth, but Elena turned to me. "You don't have to answer that."

The rev of an engine interrupted us, and we turned to see the red Porsche pulling out of the driveway. Stefan pulled the vehicle up to us, and Matt got out of the passenger seat. I looked around for Damon, and saw him leaning against the wall of the garage. His facial expression was obscured by the shadows of the night.

"Piece of cake." Matt said with a grin.

Matt looked at Caroline, who avoided his gaze. He shifted his gaze awkwardly from Caroline, to Elena, and then looked at his shoes. Swinging the keys around his finger, Stefan got out of the car and immediately noticed that Caroline was still upset.

"You know what? Why don't you guys go ahead and take it for a spin?" Stefan suggested, tossing the keys to Matt.

"Really?" Matt perked up.

Stefan nodded. "Yeah."

Matt opened the passenger door. "Caroline?"

Caroline huffed and reluctantly got in. No matter what issues they were having, a teenage girl would have to be crazy not to want to go for a drive in an expensive car with her boyfriend. Elena nodded with approval at Stefan, who just smiled and put his arm around Elena as Matt and Caroline drove off.

"You alright?" Stefan asked her.

Elena laughed. "If it's not birth mothers, it's girlfriends."

Stefan chuckled and pulled Elena in for a hug. Suddenly, I felt like a third wheel, and glanced around awkwardly. Damon had chosen this time to approach us.

"Well isn't that sweet." Damon smirked.

"Brother." Stefan warned, and Elena glared at Damon.

Damon put his hands up. "What's wrong? Matt and Caroline are happy, you and Elena are happy. All is well."

"All is not well Damon." Elena spat out his name. "And you know it."

"Elena he really didn't do anything wrong. . ." I tried to defend Damon, and he put his hand up to silence me.

"Didn't do anything wrong? Did you hear that Damon? You haven't done anything wrong. How does it feel?" Elena yelled.

"Fantastic." Damon raised his eyebrows and smirked.

"Urgh." Elena let out a frustrated yell. "Come on. Let's go wait for them inside."

"Wonderful idea." Damon smiled.

I shook my head at him, praying that he would stop trying to provoke Elena. He rolled his eyes, but didn't follow us as Elena looped her arm into mine and helped me into the house.

I sat on one of the red sofas in the living room. "Elena, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to make you mad . . . I was just . . . out taking pictures and I ran into him."

Elena shook her head. "I told you, I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at him."

"Why? What did he do that was so awful?" I asked. "I mean, I know he dated your birth mother. But what happened?"

"I'm gonna leave you two alone to talk about this." Stefan said, and exited the room.

"I'm not mad at him for dating my birth mother." Elena said. "It's more complicated than that. But first of all, he's dated everyone."

"Really?" I asked, feeling my cheeks flush just a little bit.

Elena nodded. "I mean, he took Caroline on a few dates earlier this semester and it didn't go well. She was really into him and he treated her horribly and left her super torn up."

"Oh . . . I had no idea . . ." I said.

Caroline must really hate me. First I accidentally hit on Matt, and now I'm spending time with her ex boyfriend. It wasn't like anything happened between us, but I couldn't deny my attraction to him. That also didn't sound like Damon though. Sure, he was snarky as hell. But when I actually needed him, he was so sweet and caring towards me, and I barely even knew him. That was it though, I barely even knew him.

"That's why I don't like him hanging around you." Elena put her hand over mine. "I don't want you getting hurt. I've been around him, I know he's attractive, and mysterious, and can be so charming and sweet when he wants to be. It would be so easy to fall for that."

My eyes narrowed a bit. For a moment, the thought crossed my mind that maybe Elena had feelings for Damon, and that's why she didn't want me around him. Then I realized how ridiculous that sounded, and I pushed the thought from my mind. She was just stating facts. She clearly loved Stefan.

"I won't." I said. Elena looked at me skeptically, so I held out my hand. "Pinky promise."

Elena laughed, and linked her pinky in mine. It was one of the harder promises I'd had to make. If I was being honest with myself, I wasn't sure I'd be able to keep it. But Elena's friendship meant more to me than some boy I'd spent a couple of hours with. Even though I was attracted to him, I should be able to push him out of my mind. I'd have to make an effort to avoid him, which shouldn't be too hard. It wasn't like he went to school with us or anything.

Matt and Caroline came into the room, holding hands and clearly happier than before. As if on cue, Stefan came back into the room after them. I wondered if he had been listening to our conversation, and how he felt about what Elena said about Damon.

"You guys all good?" Elena asked.

Matt looked at Caroline for approval, who nodded. "Yes. But we should probably head out, it's getting kind of late."

"We should get going to. Drive safe you guys." Elena said to them.

I gave a tiny wave to Caroline, but couldn't read her expression when she looked at me before walking away with Matt. They exited through the front door, and I heard Matt's truck drive off. It would be ridiculous if Caroline was actually mad at me for getting hurt, but I wouldn't put it past her. She truly cared about her squad, and would now have to rework the routines.

Elena stood up and looked at me. "Come on, we'll walk you to your car."

I took her arm and Stefan walked behind us back out to the garage. Damon's Camaro was gone. Not that I could blame him, I wouldn't want to stick around for any more drama if I was him either.

"Are you sure you don't need one of us to drive you home?" Elena asked.

I nodded. "I'll be fine."

Elena gave me a hug, and ran a hand along my hair. She smiled as she pulled away from me.

"You're still wearing your necklace." She said. Somehow she had felt it underneath the mass of hair and sweatshirt. Or maybe she was looking for it on purpose.

"Of course." I smiled. "I promised, remember?"

Stefan looked at Elena with a confused expression, so she filled him in on our first pinky promise. "Lucy's necklace looks really similar to the one you gave me, so we decided we'd both wear them all the time as sort of a friendship necklace."

She raised her eyebrows and nodded slowly as she spoke to him. Stefan looked off to the side, but then nodded; probably just to please her.

"Alright well, see you two tomorrow?" I said.

"See you tomorrow." Elena nodded.

Once home, I had to answer about a million questions from my parents as to why I was hurt. It really wasn't that bad; I was sure I'd be walking like normal in a few days and the cut on my hand didn't even hurt that bad. But they worried about everything.

I was curled up on the couch in my pajamas, struggling to focus on the assigned chapters of The Great Gatsby when the doorbell rang. Though I jumped at the noise, any interruption from schoolwork was a welcome one, even if it was someone dropping by unannounced at ten pm.

"Took you long enough." Damon smirked as I opened the door.

"Damon . . ." I crossed my arms. "You shouldn't be here."

"Believe me, I'd rather not be." Damon said. "But you ran off with my jacket. Again. Which I'm quite fond of, so I came to get it back."

"How did you even know where I live?" I asked.

"Elena left her phone lying around while she and Stefan were . . . occupied." Damon winked. "I was sorely disappointed in the lack of discussion about my charming good looks between the two of you."

Elena. She'd be furious if she knew he was here. It had barely even been two hours since she told me not to talk to him. This was going to be even harder than I thought.

"Honey? Who's at the door?" My mom emerged from the kitchen.

"It's my friend Damon." I said. "He came to pick up a jacket I borrowed. Sorry, I didn't know he was coming over."

"Oh it's fine, you know your friends are always welcome here." Mom eyed me. It wasn't like me to have attractive men over, especially at this hour. "Well don't be rude honey, invite him in."

"Yes, don't be rude Lucy, invite me in." Damon repeated, not even attempting to mask the playful tone in his voice.

I rolled my eyes. "Come in, Damon."

"I'll be in your fathers office helping him organize the mess he calls his paperwork." Mom gave me a knowing look. "Don't stay up too late, it's a school night."

"I know, mom." I said, and waited until she was out of earshot before turning to Damon. "It's um, upstairs. In my room."

"Lead the way." Damon gestured.

I slowly went over to the stairs and gripped the railing, hopping up one stair at a time. Damon put his hand on my back, and I nearly jumped. I turned to see him holding out his arm.

"Allow me." He said.

"Thank you." I replied. It came out as a near whisper.

I brought Damon into my bedroom, where his jacket rested at the foot of my bed. I sat on the bed and folded the jacket into my lap. Damon stood in the middle of my floor, looking around the room. Suddenly, I became very aware of the fact that he was in my bedroom. It made me feel . . . embarrassed, almost.

"What, not nineteenth century gothic enough for you?" I teased.

Damon shook his head. "No, not enough anything. You have the blank walls of a serial killer."

"I just moved in!" I defended myself. "I haven't finished decorating."

"Clearly." Damon said.

He walked over and sat next to me on the bed. He was just a few inches of me, making me hyperaware of his presence. When he looked at me, I just wanted to let myself enjoy looking at his entrancing eyes. But I couldn't.

"Damon." I sighed. "You shouldn't be here."

"What, do your parents have a 'no boys in the bedroom' rule?" Damon smirked.

I crossed my arms. "No. Here. At my house."

"And why is that?" He raised his eyebrows with curiosity.

"Because of Elena." I explained. "She told me not to hang around you."

"Well what Elena doesn't know won't hurt her." Damon leaned closed to me, making my heart pound. "Besides, why should she get to tell you what to do?"

"Because she's a good friend." I said.

"Hmm." Damon scoffed. "You've been here what, like a week? How good of a friend can she be?"

"I don't know how to explain it to you." I said. "We just have a special bond. Like family."

Damon rolled his eyes. "Family is overrated."

Once again, his face was incredibly close to mine. I could make out every dark eyelash that framed his eyes, every little piece of stubble along his jawline. Licking my lips, I looked up at him and saw that he was looking down at . . . my chest.

"Really?" I glared and leaned away from him.

"Relax." Damon said. "I'm looking at your necklace."

"Heard that one before." I muttered.

"No really. Stefan used to have one like that; I believe he gave it to Elena. May I get a closer look at it?" He gestured towards my necklace.

I looked at him, and closed my hand around it. "Why?"

"I just want to see how similar they are. I think Stefan's was a family heirloom." Damon shrugged. "Come on, I'll let you try on my ring."

I sighed, but took Damon's ring out of his hand. I slid it onto my middle finger, but as expected it was way to large. My other hand went up to the back of my neck, and pulled my hair out of the way. Damon undid the clasp of my necklace, grazing against my shoulder as he pulled the necklace away.

He held the necklace by the delicate chain as he examined the flowers etched on the surface. Not sure what to say to fill the silence, I turned my attention to his ring. It was a signet ring, with a large blue stone that had some sort of family crest in the center. I twisted it back and forth; I had never seen something like it before. He closed his hand over mine, and I looked up to see his head tilted, a curious expression on his face.

"Tell me the truth Lucy." His eyes darkened as he spoke to me. They entranced me, icy and mysterious. "What do you really think of me?"

"You're the most attractive man I've ever met in my life. But you're so mysterious. I know almost nothing about you, and that scares me." I admitted.

The words came out before I could stop them. It wasn't what I wanted to say. I wanted to say, You're Stefan's older brother and Elena seems to be wary of you and I'm still trying to figure out why. But the truth came out instead. Damon smirked at my response, and I felt my face flush. He knew how I felt about him now.

"That's too easy." He said, and leaned closer. "What's your darkest secret?"

"I killed my brother." I whispered.

"Woah. Too dark." His tone was teasing, and I could have swore I saw him smirk, but his eyes widened, and he leaned away from me.

I felt my heart jolt. I had never said it out loud. I shouldn't have said it out loud. Damon couldn't know. No one should know. My breathing became shallow. Damon was right. My walls were blank. Too blank. Not a single photo for my eyes to cling to, just white, blank white, pulsing and morphing so that I could never quite focus my vision.

"Shh, it's okay." He whispered, running his hand up and down my neck. "There's no need to get upset."

His voice was so soothing. The second he spoke I felt calm. My heart rate slowed, and I took a deep breath. I just stared at him, into his eyes. Damon furrowed his brow, and looked down at the piece of jewelry dangling from his fingers. He nodded at it, as if it had spoken some secret to him that I couldn't hear. Gently, he lowered the necklace back into my hand.

"Listen to me. You're going to put this back on, and you're not going to take it off if anyone asks you too." He instructed. "Forget that I asked you anything. I came over to get my jacket, told you that I thought your necklace looked like a family heirloom, and then we talked about Matt and Caroline's fight. Do you understand?"

I nodded, and slowly fastened my necklace back around my neck. I set my hands back down, and Damon placed his hand over mine. His thumb traced around the stone of his ring that was still on my finger. I looked at him, exploring his face intently.

"I'm sorry, what did you just say?" I asked. "I just zoned out for a moment."

"Just that your friend Caroline could benefit from switching to decaf in the mornings." Damon smirked.

"Oh, right." I nodded. "Elena said you and Caroline dated, is that true?"

Damon scoffed. "Absolutely not. We hung out a few times so that she wasn't such a third wheel to Elena and Stefan. I realized she was developing feelings that I didn't return, so I broke it off."

"Oh." I replied. "Is that all? Elena made it sound . . . worse."

"Like I said. Elena's judgey." Damon's voice lowered. "Why, are you jealous?"

I rolled my eyes. "No. Just curious."

"Good." Damon said. "Nothing to be jealous of."

"What about her mom?" I asked. "Birth mom, I mean."

Damon shook his head. "You, my dear, ask too many questions."

"I'm just trying to understand what Elena's issue with you is." I shrugged.

"Trust me, you're better off not knowing." Damon said. "I should get going."

With one swift motion, he slid his hand away from mine, taking his ring with him. He held it up and winked at me.

"Sorry, can't let you hold onto this one for a week." He smirked.

As he stood up, I handed him his jacket that was still folded in my lap. He put it on, and I admired they way he looked wearing the black leather jacket. He truly looked like the bad boy from an eighties romantic comedy. Look, but don't touch, I reminded myself.

He turned back to me before walking out the door. "Good night, Lucy. Sleep tight."

"Goodnight Damon." I whispered.

Leaning back against my pillows, I attempted to refocus my attention back to my book. But it was useless. I found myself just rereading the same paragraph, over and over. Damon had taken up permanent residence in my mind. I heard a knock on the doorframe, and looked up to see both of my parents standing there.

"Is your friend gone honey?" Mom asked.

"Yeah he went home." I said.

Dad narrowed his eyes. "He?"

"Yes Peter, Lucy has a gentleman caller." Mom teased.

"It's not like that." I rolled my eyes. "He's Elena's boyfriends' older brother."

"And just how old is he?" Dad asked.

"I'm . . . not sure." I admitted. "Twenty something."

"Hmph." Dad grumbled. "Doesn't he have any friends his own age?"

"Relax, Peter." Mom said. "Lucy honey, we're just glad to see you making friends. That's all that matters."

I smiled. "Thanks mom."

"Well, we just came in to say goodnight. We love you sweetheart." Mom came over to give me a quick kiss on the forehead.

I hugged her. "Night mom. Night dad. Love you."

I thought time was supposed to heal all wounds. But it seemed as if the longer I stayed in Mystic Falls, the more vivid my nightmares became. Each time I had one, I felt like I had jumped through time and was back in the day it happened.

With only the dim street lights to aid me, I squinted to make out the numbers on the piece of paper. I looked back at the numbers illuminated above the door frame, and turned off the car.

"Twenty one fifteen East Haven." I confirmed. "This is it."

"Luc." Brandon put his hand on my arm. "Are you absolutely sure you want to do this?"

I nodded. "I just want to meet him. I want to know why, you know?"

"What if he doesn't have a reason?" Brandon asked.

"Well then," I said. "He's going to have to tell me to my face that there was no reason that he didn't want me as a daughter."

Brandon sighed. "Okay, Luc. I'll be here whenever you're done."

"Thank you, B. For coming. It really means a lot." I said.

Brandon just nodded. There wasn't anything left to say. Taking a deep breath, I got out of my car and slammed the white door behind me. The storms of the previous days were over, but the air was still damp and cold. Observing the all brick façade and the four white columns, I slowly walked up the steps and knocked on the black door.

A woman answered. She must have been in her early seventies. Her dark skin was wrinkled, and her hair was grey. She tilter her head at me, her deep brown eyes filled with concern.

"What's a young thing like you doing out here all alone at this hour?" She asked. "What can I help you with, love?"I looked at the piece of paper again, then back up at her. "I'm looking for John Gilbert."