A/N: I know what you're thinking: finally! I'm not going to bore you with the details, but I couldn't agree MORE, guys. Feels good to be back!Thank you so much for the reviews, the messages and the encouragements. They're the only things that keep this story going despite everything.

Thank you to Lizardwriter for jumping in and editing this chapter! You're a life saver.

Now, are you guys ready for some Damon's POV? :P Happy reading!

Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or any of its characters. This is a work of fiction written for entertainment purposes, but the original characters and original storylines present in "My Paper Heart" are my own work.

Damon's POV

I felt her presence as soon as she pushed the door open. I never understood why people always criticized the amount of time I spent at the Grill. Everybody eventually passed by the only bar in town. Friends, strangers. Enemies. And there was nothing more effective than booze on a counter to loosen their tongues. In the last four days, I had heard the whole gang complaining, bragging or sighing in relief—depending on whether or not they already had the chance to talk with Maya after the mess her little getaway had left behind. Even my dear little brother had kept harping on about it. The award of the most surprising discussion definitely went to the 'chit-chat' I had with Katherine, though. But despite the undeniable entertainment they all provided, there was only one person I really wanted to hear about. The one that was hesitantly walking towards the barstool beside me.

"Well, well, well...look who's here. I thought you were dead." I took a sip of alcohol before glancing at Maya sideways.

"Hello Damon." She gave me a shy smile before sitting down next to me.

"You finally found some time in your busy schedule to come see me? I'm flattered." She immediately opened her mouth to protest, but I didn't give her the chance to do so. "Four days since you went jungle crazy and you're only coming to talk to me now? Damn it, Maya, you even apologized to my brother before me!"

She remained silent for a moment, guilt and remorse showing on her features.

"I wanted to save the best for last?" she tried to joke, searching my face for a hint of complicity. "I'm sorry, Damon. But you must admit that after all the terrible things I said to him, Stefan kind of deserved it first..."

She rubbed a hand over her face and I noticed then the bags under her eyes. Between her transformation and the fuss with the gang, I realized that the last few days must have been difficult for her.

"Does it make me a bad brother if I say that I rather enjoyed seeing you taking the good guy down a peg or two?" I flashed her a lopsided-smile and she chuckled despite herself.

"Yes. It does."

"Oh well..." I shrugged and slammed my hand flat on the counter. "Let's get you something to drink!" When I realized there was no waiter in sight, I stood up and reached over the bar to take a glass.

"Damon, what are you doing?" she whispered in a tense voice.

"Pouring you a drink." I grabbed the beer pump and pulled down the handle. Then I slid the full glass over the counter in her direction. "Here...you really look like you need one of those. Cheers!" I clinked my glass to hers and drank my bourbon down.

She stayed dumbfounded for a few seconds, staring at me like I had grown a second head before she eventually took a large swig of her beer.

"Thanks," she said, licking the foam off her lip.

"Don't mention it. Alcohol is the answer to all of life's problems."

"I very much doubt that."

"Works for me anyway."

"Does it?" she teased lightly.

"Shut up and drink."

"He didn't deserve a word I said to him, you know..." she blurted out, becoming serious again. When I arched an eyebrow, she clarified what she meant. "Stefan. I lashed out at him out of pure jealousy...I'm really not proud of it."

"Yeah, well, at the end of the day he still gets the girl, so he can suck it up."

She frowned and stared at her beer with empty eyes.

"He has always been a good friend to me."

"Apparently he's even more of a friend to you than I am," I snapped, despite my previous decision to go easy on her.

She shot me a wide-eyed look. "What?"

"Didn't I keep your secret about your homosexuality? About Elena? And Katherine? You knew you could've told me!" I seethed through my teeth, trying my best to keep my voice down. "Damn it Maya, you told Bonnie! I could've helped you for fuck's sake! After everything we've been through together...What happened to Batman and Robin, huh?!" I snatched the bottle of bourbon from behind the counter and refilled my glass. I drank it in one go before shaking my head in disbelief. "Bonnie, instead of me!"

When I finally noticed that she hadn't said a word for a while, I glanced at her. Her elbow was on the bar, her head tilted to rest her cheek in her hand. She looked exhausted, too drained of energy to even try defending herself. Her eyes were stripped of walls, emotions or any kind of sparkle. She was just boring right into my soul the way you only did with people you knew your entire life.

"I didn't tell Bonnie. She figured it out. It's not like I had a choice," she started to explain so quietly that she was almost whispering. "And before you get mad because you feel guilty...no, you couldn't have figured it out. We both know I'm very good at lying." She then gave me such a sad smile it caused a pang in my chest.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked softly.

"I'm sorry, Damon. I really am. I know it's easy to say afterwards, but..." She ran her little finger over her mouth thoughtfully, looking at the ground for a second before locking her eyes on mine again. "Even though my powers increased since then, I was born this way. I had to hide them my entire life and yet, it has never been more difficult not to talk about them than since I'm here, in Mystic Falls. When you found out that I was gay, believe me, it killed me not to tell you about my abilities as well."

"Then why keep it to yourself? I could've helped you train...found information about your species, anything you would've wanted me to do."

"I know." A thankful smile rose on her lips this time. "But the only people I wanted help from, who could've helped me find out who I was...are buried six feet under." She straightened up from the counter and ran her hands over her pants modestly. "I'm not sure it'll make sense to you, but this is about my family. My identity. I needed to make this journey by myself..."

I watched her tensed figure and troubled eyes as her words echoed old memories. Did what she went through make sense to me? Struggling with her identity, trying to figure out who she was away from her family? The need of doing it by herself? It made too damn sense to me. I knew exactly what she was trying to tell me. I looked her straight in the eye and nodded once, no word needing to be said. I poured myself another drink and raised my glass toward her. The sparkle of warmth that was usually there came back in her eyes and the most genuine smile broke across her face. She took her glass and clinked it against mine gently.

"Any other secrets you'd like to share with me? Because you've run out of sorry cards where I'm concerned, " I teased dryly.

A mischievous expression passed across her features before she mocked contemplation, tapping her finger on her lips.

"Let me see...you know that I'm gay and a supernatural freak. I told you about Elena, and you were there when I hooked up with a perfect stranger in the restroom of a middle of nowhere club." She raised her arms helplessly at that list, making me chuckle despite myself. "You're obviously aware of the monomaniac stalking me since forever, and you also know that I had some difficulty resisting her seduction at some point. Until she went completely psycho and pulled a pathetic stunt on me that is, which you also know since you were the instrument of her revenge." She made a show of taking an exaggerated breath before adding, "so no, I don't think I have any more secrets to share with you." She grabbed her glass then and drank a gulp of alcohol.

"You didn't tell me about the dates." I couldn't restrain an amused smirk when she choked on her beer.

"What?! They were not dates dates, for crying out loud! She consented to stop stalking me if I agreed to meet her at precise times and locations but I can assure you-" She suddenly stopped her sentence, her eyes widening with realization. "Wait a second. How do you know about this? You're stalking me too now?"

It was my turn to choke on my bourbon.

"Oh come on! Is it really the only option you can think of? Like I'd stalk you!"

"Well, sorry, but how could you-"

"She told me, you idiot!"

"What?" From the expression on her face, saying that she was bewildered would have been an understatement. "Did she drink the entire bar down before telling you this? You injected her with a massive dose of vervain to make her say that, didn't you?"

I laughed at her skepticism, but I couldn't really blame her for not believing that Katherine would just share.

"Nope. Didn't have to. Shocking, I know..."

She frowned, seeming at complete lost on what could have possibly happened. "But...why?"

"I don't know. I think she misses you."

She snorted instantly at my suggestion.

"Okay, now I'm sure you're messing with me. Let me guess...she came to see you, drank a glass or two and then spilled out what was bothering her little mushy heart?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

She turned her head and shot me a pissed off look. "On second thought, you're probably the one who's high on vervain."

"Well, obviously you guessed right, minus the 'mushy' and the 'heart' part. We're talking about Katherine. But even though she put up a good show of hiding it, she seemed pretty miserable."

"And why is that?" she asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"I'd say because you refuse to go on a date with her."

"Wait. That's what you were referring to when you said dates?"

I nodded in confirmation.

"I can't believe she'd tell that to anyone...willingly."

"I know. Nobody would expect Katherine Pierce to open up even a little bit." I had chosen my words very carefully to see if they would get a reaction out of her.

She immediately snapped her head to the side, confusion and surprise laced on her face as she searched my features to decipher if I knew more than I was willing to tell.

"The goal of that date is to finally have sex with me, you do realize that, right?"

"I do. But still...a date. With Katherine. I hope you're aware it must be a first in the evil twin history."

"I'm crazy, huh?" She forced a giggle to pass her lips and drank her beer a little too deliberately as an attempt to hide her discomfort.

"Do you want to give her a chance?" I asked lightly.

She answered me with a scowl. "Why would I want to do that?"

I shrugged and stared at her expectantly.

"She's manipulative, deadly, egocentric and clearly lunatic. I don't have a death wish."

"She also rescued you twice. That must break another record too," I pointed out.

"Did she?"

"What?"

"I mean...she was there when I collapsed in fever. What was she even doing outside of the high school? And how the hell did she find me in the middle of nowhere when my powers went crazy?"

"You think she's responsible for those two events somehow?" I arched an eyebrow in surprise. She hesitated, staring at her glass absentmindedly.

"I don't know. Not necessarily...but what if she had anticipated them? It's not a rescue when you know what is going to happen. She already cast a spell on me once. It's not inconceivable she has someone watching me or something."

"And how would she do that? Unless Bonnie lied to us, magic doesn't work on you. "

"No, it doesn't." She sighed heavily and waved her hand around as an attempt to dismiss the subject that was clearly irritating her. "And so what? Even though she did rescue me twice, the only courteous thing to do is to say thank you—which I did," she said, pointing a finger at me. "Just because she helped me doesn't mean I have to sleep with her, dammit!"

I chuckled at her outburst.

"You're right. You don't owe her anything." I took a sip of my bourbon before putting the glass down on the counter and turned on my seat to face her. I waited for her to catch my gaze before speaking. "Yet, you see something in her worthy of some of your trust." I watched her frowning deeply, her every feature hardening.

She opened her mouth quickly to contradict my words when realization hit her, causing her face to relax slightly.

"You mean when I was the supernatural version of myself..." Her sentence was rhetorical but I nodded anyway. "Why I trusted her then is still a mystery to me. But I guess remembering what actually happened would help understand that reason."

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

"I remember being in the middle of an unfamiliar road and that Katherine was there. Or should I say, a woman was there, since I had no idea who she was at the time." She raised a hand to rub her forehead, obviously struggling to piece her memories together. "I remember bolting away from her. And then, I remember being tackled in mid-air, my entire side being crushed by her body and the intense pain I felt when she and I fell onto the ground. Next thing I know after that is that I'm sitting in her car, watching the scenery passing by! I have no idea how she made me do that. What she said to me...what she did to me, I have no clue."

"What about when you arrived at Elena's house? Do you remember that? You hid yourself behind Katherine when the gang crowded you and then, you took her hand as if you trusted her to protect you."

She bit her bottom lip and fidgeted nervously on the barstool. "I know. I also recall doing that instinctively, so it probably has something to do with what happened between me and her earlier in the woods. Something she told me, I don't know..."

"Well, is there something she could tell you now that would make you trust her even a little?"

"Of course not!"

"Then it's not something she said. It was just you," I pointed out quietly. "Maybe something special happened in those woods, but the decision to trust her came from you."

She froze and stared at me with wide eyes. All kinds of conflicting emotions flashed through her gaze before she finally spoke.

"The animalistic version of me," she mumbled, her voice barely audible.

"Still." My indulgent smile snapped her out of her daze. Leaning her elbows on the counter, she sighed tiredly.

"What's your point, Damon?"

"I'm just making sure you won't regret your decision about the date." Something suddenly made her pause and narrow her eyes.

"When did she talk to you about the date deal?"

"Does it matter?" I replied, faking genuine surprise. I knew exactly why she asked that question, but I intended to squeeze it out of her.

"No. I...it's just," she stammered, trying to find a way out.

It was quite funny to witness Maya at loss for words, considering her usually sharp and witty spirit. Normally, I would have helped ease her discomfort, but it would have been counterproductive for what I was currently looking for.

"Yes?" I pushed, exaggerating the encouragement in my voice.

She shot me a dark glare before putting herself back together.

"The last time I saw her, the end of our conversation made it sound like she was leaving town. So-"

"You'd like to know if she stayed after all," I cut her off, trying my best to restrain a knowing grin. "When was the last time you saw her?"

"Three days ago," she answered instantly, without really thinking about it.

"Wow. That's...precise."

"Considering the events of the last few days, it's really easy to keep track of time, Damon," she snapped. "Saturday, crazy blur. Sunday, hiding in Katherine's hotel room. Monday, trying to make sense of all this mess. Tuesday, apologizing. Wednesday, apologizing and today, apologizing. See? Easy-peasy."

I laughed and raised my hands up in defense.

"Okay, okay. I just thought that maybe your memory of the last time you saw her was that precise because you miss her." The casual shrug and the gentle tone I used to sugarcoat my sentence didn't prevent her from shooting daggers at me with her eyes.

"How could someone miss an...almost stranger they saw three days ago?" she growled, warning clear in her voice.

"Well, they could if they've been seeing this almost stranger every day for the past two months." I arched my eyebrows as if it was just a suggestion and grabbed my bourbon. Before bringing the glass to my lips, I added, "and enjoyed it."

She clenched her jaw and her hands balled into fists. I prepared myself for the blowup that was coming without doubt, but she breathed out heavily instead, her shoulders slumping down soon after.

"Look. We've already established that Katherine is gorgeous, and that she can be fun to be around. Yes, I enjoyed many of our conversations and yes, I'm grateful that she...took care of me when my abilities decided to go crazy. But that's it. I do not miss her. I don't even like her."

As her last words ironically echoed Katherine's, I scrutinized her features carefully. Maya was damn right earlier when she said she was a good liar. But at the moment, her skill was undoubtedly failing her. Maybe because she was trying to lie to herself more than she was trying to lie to me.