Eternal Contemplations (14/?)
Chapter Fourteen
“Y-you!” Katherine bites out angrily in between clenched teeth, swiping at Blair’s face weakly, but missing.
She had been too busy fending off the witch and Damon that she never thought of the little human girl as a threat. She had underestimated Damon’s little pet. She tries to move forward, but the wood has a stronger effect than she anticipated and has paralyzed her so she merely falls heavily against the half smashed antique bureau.
“I said don’t move,” Blair replies with condescending calm.
Damon helps Stefan get to his feet, the latter’s wound was slowly closing, but painfully so.
“Are you alright?” Damon asks to which Blair nods reassuringly.
“How did you know what to do?” Bonnie has also picked herself up and was moving towards where Blair stood over Katherine’s immobilized body, cradling her wrist against her chest.
“Isn’t that what they do in the movies?” Blair replies with a shrug. “Stake to the heart? Of course I missed. I’ll work better on my aim next time.”
Katherine gives a low guttural growl in response.
“One stake shouldn’t be enough to stop a vampire of Katherine’s age,” Stefan manages in between groans. “How did you get it work?”
Blair holds up her left hand to show them a deep bloody gash cutting through her palm from between the thumb and index finger to where her wrist begins.
“You used your blood,” Bonnie whispers.
Blair nods solemnly. “I wasn’t sure if it was going to work if she didn’t ingest it, but I thought it was worth a shot.”
“You could’ve gotten yourself killed,” Stefan scolds. He had beaten Damon to the punch.
“I saved your ass! If you just kept it in your pants we wouldn’t even be in this predicament in the first place!”
Blair stops her rant when she notices Elena, breathless at the front door.
“Oh my god!”
Damon groans and Stefan looks beyond mortified.
“Well isn’t this just wonderful,” Blair mutters under her breath. “Just what we needed… Stefan’s girlfriend in the same room as his maniacal bloodthirsty Ex.”
“Oh my god!” Elena repeats.
“I heard you the first time, Elena. No need to repeat yourself,” Damon calls out.
Blair rolls her eyes at him, but they both share a smirk while Stefan shoots them disapproving looks.
“Elena, what are you doing here?” Bonnie begins, moving over to comfort her hysterical friend.
“I followed you! You guys just ran out of there like the place was on fire and you were all being really weird. I just- Oh my god! Stefan you’re bleeding!”
She rushes to her boyfriend, tears welling in her eyes. Her hand hovers over the gaping hole in the middle of Stefan’s stomach.
“I’m alright. I’m alright,” Stefan repeats over and over, pressing his forehead against hers and smoothing away her tears with the pads of his thumbs.
From the corner Katherine makes a gagging noise. Elena breaks away from Stefan and meets her lookalike face to face for the first time.
“Is-Is that Katherine? Did she do this to you?”
“Please, you’d probably stab him too if you knew what he was doing with me just a few minutes ago,” Katherine injects cattily with a wicked smile.
“You… you’re Katherine?”
“The one and only,” she replies arrogantly. “And you must be Elena. I’ve heard so much about you.”
“Don’t talk to her.”
Stefan tries to pull his girlfriend away, but she’s resists him. She can’t tear her gaze away form her double. Katherine looks her up and down and raises one perfect eyebrow.
“I was really curious who Stefan got to replace me, but it seems like you’re just a cheap knockoff. You do know that he’s only interested in you because you look like me don’t you?”
When Elena doesn’t reply she laughs.
“What am I saying? Of course you do. I’m sure you’re aware of our history.”
“Katherine, stop,” Stefan warns.
She ignores him and continues to smile smugly at Elena.
“And yet despite all that baggage, you’re still here. I don’t blame you. He has always been good in the sack hasn’t he? I only just remembered how well right now myself,” Katherine taunts, licking her lips. “Regular boys just don’t compare. Have you gotten a taste of Damon yet?”
Blair opens her mouth to make a caustic remark, but Elena had pulled her hand back and slapped it hard across Katherine’s face. Blair winces at the strength she put into that slap, but a smile slips from her. Katherine definitely deserved it.
Elena raises her hand to strike Katherine again, but this time Damon’s there gripping her hand.
“I think that’s enough.”
With shove, Damon pushes Elena back to Stefan.
“She tried to kill Stefan!”
“I was there. I know,” Damon states in a chilling calm tone. “But you touch her again and I’ll make sure you regret it.”
Blair flinches at the iciness of tone. She’s never seen him like this before.
“We’ll handle this Elena. You shouldn’t be here,” Stefan urges.
“No. You’ve guys have all been keeping me in the dark. She has my face! That means we’re related somehow. I have a right to be here.”
Damon goes down on one knee and wipes away the blood from Katherine’s mouth. Blair watches as he dabs at her cheeks to wipe away a streak of dust. Katherine looks up at him and he pauses when their eyes meet.
“Funny how all of the sudden you’ve become my protector. Just moments ago you were on top of me with your hands around my throat. Then again, you always liked playing rough, don’t you Damon?” Katherine jibes.
He doesn’t say a word, but everything he’s feeling can be read clearly on his face. The quiet rage, the betrayal, but most of all the longing. Even after all this, he’s still so in love with her.
Katherine catches her watching their exchange and so she quickly averts her eyes.
“What are we going to do about her?” Bonnie says aloud, bringing the group’s attention back to their main problem.
“The basement,” Damon answers, turning his back to Katherine. “From what I recall from my lovely stay there, it should suffice.”
Stefan nods in agreement, but Elena is not happy about it.
“No, I don’t want her to be under the same roof as you. She tried to kill you, how do you know she won’t try it again?” Elena argues.
“You don’t,” Katherine injects. One slap was not enough to shut her up, in fact she seems to relish the reaction she riled from her lookalike.
“Where would we put her then? At least here we can keep an eye on her,” Blair points out, ignoring Katherine’s snide little comments. “And where else would we find a vampire proof cell?”
“I agree. We can’t have her running about around town.” Bonnie adds.
“Maybe we should stick her back in the tomb where she belongs,” Elena growls. “She was doing fine in there until you let her out,” she accuses Damon.
“Do you mind saving your self-righteous accusations for later? We’re trying to come up with some useful ideas right now,” Damon counters.
“Let’s just all calm down,” Stefan tries to play the mediator. “We just need a place to keep her for tonight. The basement isn’t a bad idea. The bars are pure iron and the lock is silver. We also have a supply of vervain in case she causes trouble.”
“I’m right here. No need to talk as if I can’t hear you,” Katherine drawls.
“I think you’d do best to stay quiet,” Damon snaps, fangs bared.
They’re all a little shaken from his sudden temper and Katherine shuts up after that.
“It’s getting late. We can’t argue about this all night.”
Blair’s the only one brave enough to break the silence after Damon’s outburst.
“The basement will do. At least for now,” Stefan concludes. Turning to his girlfriend he adds, “You have a test tomorrow morning in first period, Elena. Just go home. I promise that I’ll fill you in on everything later,” Stefan cajoles.
“Come on. I’ll take you home,” Bonnie coaxes.
Elena looks back at Stefan, reluctant to leave, but he nods back at her.
“I’ll call you later,” Stefan assures her.
Elena finally relents and leaves with Bonnie.
xxx
They finally decide on the basement, shutting Katherine in the makeshift prison Stefan had made and leaving the basement window open so the sun would shine through and fence her in. Damon is very familiar with the place from his brief stint in there, but he never thought he would have reason to use it himself, and on Katherine no less.
“I need to see to Stefan. Go to your room and stay there, alright?” Damon whispers to Blair.
“And leave the crazy vampire alone? That sounds like a smart idea,” Blair replies sarcastically.
“The sunlight should keep her from venturing out of the shadows and she’s weaker now, but she’s still dangerous.”
“All the more reason she shouldn’t be left alone. I can take care of myself. I was the one that stopped her after all.”
“That was luck. She won’t be so careless next time. Promise me that you’ll stay put. Let me and Stefan handle it.”
She looks back at him petulantly, but he refuses to budge until she agrees.
“Yeah, yeah. Just go already.”
Damon glances back down at Katherine in her cell one more time before he shuts the door.
“Damon,” Katherine calls from her cell. “You can’t keep me in here, Damon! Damon!”
He doesn’t answer her.
xxx
Damon finds Stefan sitting by the window wiping down the blood on his stomach with a dishtowel. He winces when he accidently reopens the wound. The gapping hole in his stomach has grown smaller, but since he hasn’t had any human blood in so long the healing is crawling at snail speed. He looks up as he sees Damon approaching.
“I can’t believe you had her here this entire time. How could I be so blind? I was so stupid.”
“I can’t argue with that,” Damon replies glibly.
“So it was Katherine. As always. I thought you… the way you are with Blair. I thought for a second-”
He doesn’t want to hear what Stefan thought about him and Blair. He has enough troublesome thoughts for the moment.
“We’re going to leave.”
“What?”
“I had originally planned to take her with me to New York after I opened the tomb. The plan has only been stalled because of Blair, but I guess it’s time to go after all. Europe is nice this time of the year. You’ll get what you want, little brother. I’m not coming after you any more. You can go on and live out the rest of your days peacefully without my homicidal threats hanging over your head.”
“That… That was your big plan?”
Damon laughs softly. “It sounds a bit anti-climactic, doesn’t it? What’s the point of continuing to torture you? I have Katherine again. It’s all that matters.”
“She’s not who you think she is. She’s not that sweet girl you always thought she was.”
“Katherine has been many things, but ‘sweet’ was not one of them,” Damon laughs humorlessly. “But I love her anyways.”
“I’ve told you before, Damon. She compelled us.”
“Maybe you, but not me,” Damon insists. “I love her.”
“But does she love you?”
Damon doesn’t bother answering. Of course she does. She does.
“She’s selfish, erratic, violent. She will do whatever she wants, damn the consequences.”
“Much like me.”
“No you’ve changed. You’re not the same person you were anymore. Don’t go reverting back because of Katherine.”
“It was just all an act, you moron! I didn’t change! It was so we could work to free Katherine right from under your nose.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“Believe whatever you want. I’m done talking to you.”
“What about Blair then?!” Stefan calls out after him, stopping Damon mid step.
“What about her?” Damon growls. The topic keeps veering back to the something he doesn’t wants to avoid dwelling on.
“Last time I checked, Katherine was never one that liked sharing.” Possessive was one of the many adjectives that describe Katherine Pierce. Vindictive, evil and jealous also rank among the most used terms.
“My friendship with Blair has nothing to do with Katherine.”
“She won’t see it that way. She’s not blind. We’ve all seen how close you two are. You’re putting Blair in danger. Soon enough I won’t be the one you have to come bursting in to save from Katherine. And unluckily for Blair, she’s not a vampire. She won’t heal the way I would.”
“I’m not letting anything happen to Blair,” he vows. “Consider Katherine no longer your problem. And as soon as I find some place new neither will I. Don’t worry your pretty little head about it.”
Damon has had enough of Stefan’s little lecture, so he continues descending the stairs.
“You’re going to regret this. Freeing Katherine, you’re going to regret it.”
Damon ignores the niggling apprehension blossoming in his stomach. He doesn’t want to think about all the very valid points Stefan has brought up, doesn’t want to think about all the doubts that have begun to rise in his head.
xxx
Blair never followed orders very well, it stems from the fact that she’s often the one giving them not receiving them. She creeps back downstairs and watches the she-vampire huddled in the shadowy corner of the cell.
“Well looky here. The human comes to visit. Didn’t you promise Damon to stay away? I’m dangerous don’t you know?”
“I’m not afraid of you.”
Katherine laughs. “Ignorance is bliss. You have no idea what I’m really capable of.”
“You forgot who staked you.”
“You were lucky,” Katherine echoes Damon’s words. “I was preoccupied and I underestimated you. The next time you won’t be so fortunate.”
“Big talk for someone behind bars.”
“I don’t need a babysitter. Especially not some human,” Katherine spits out.
“And I rather liked Elena’s suggestion to put you back into the tomb, but we don’t always get what we want. I really don’t know what Damon sees in you.”
“Don’t you think it’s about time you go home, little girl?” Katherine mocks. “I’ve seen the way you look at Damon. Sorry to break it to you, but you don’t have what it takes. You’re a human and he’s not. You’re delusional if you think he’s going to pick you over me. It’s really quite pathetic how you try and hang on to him.”
“This coming from the girl who impersonated Elena because she just couldn’t believe that some people were actually capable of moving on with their lives. You’re not that special, Katherine. The world does not revolve around you.”
Katherine replies with snarl and moves abruptly from her position crouched in the corner to standing right where the sunlight and the shadows meet.
“Why don’t you come a little closer and say that to my face?”
“Why don’t you?” Blair goads. “Are you capable of even extending your fangs? I remember that you had a bit of a mechanical problem the last time you got a taste of my blood.”
Katherine smiles wickedly before extending her fangs.
“Next time consider using more blood. Perhaps by slitting your wrists,” Katherine suggests in a mockingly sweet voice. “I’ve gotten a lot stronger than the weak skeleton figure you saw a few nights ago. Do you really think these flimsy metal bars and a single beam of sunlight is really enough to hold me back if I wanted to rip your throat out?”
Katherine takes a menacing step forward and grips the iron bars so hard that her knuckles turned white. The metal creaks as if it was going to bend underneath the pressure and Blair takes a cautious step back despite the smoke rising as it burns Katherine’s hands. Blair swallows nervously. She underestimated how much she had gotten under Katherine’s skin.
“Still cocky now?” Katherine baits. “I’ll rip these bars apart like how I’ll rip you limb from limb.”
Before Katherine can make good on her threats, Damon appears behind them.
“What are you doing here? I thought I told you to stay put,” Damon growls at Blair, taking her hand and yanking her behind him.
Katherine retracts her step and releases her grip on the iron bars, resigning herself to crossing her arms across her chest defiantly. “You need to muzzle your human, Damon,” Katherine replies. “Or she’s going to have an accident.”
“Muzzles are more befitting animals like you,” Blair quips.
“Do you see what I mean?!” Katherine whines, pointing an accusatory finger in Blair’s direction.
“Blair. It’s enough,” Damon sighs.
“Better listen to him, princess.”
“After all she has done, you’re really siding with her?” Blair cries incredulously.
“Blair…” He’s pleading with her to be understanding. The problem is that she understands too well (or at least she thinks she does) and she doesn’t like what those sad beseeching eyes of his imply. He will always love Katherine and he will always pick her side. That’s the simple fact of the matter. And it hurts. It hurts a lot.
“Fine. Do whatever you want,” Blair retorts angrily as she storms out.
Damon watches her leave uneasily. This wasn’t what he wanted. This wasn’t the way things were suppose to be like.
Katherine lips curl into a grin at the departure of the annoying human and drapes an arm around Damon’s shoulder flirtatiously through the bars of her prison.
“Now that the pest is gone…” She purrs in his ear, trying to turn Damon’s face towards hers.
Damon resists and shrugs off her advances, moving to where the sunlight can reach him and she can’t.
“You still went to find Stefan,” he accuses.
Katherine exhales a loud sigh. Nothing was going her way today.
“I told you. He had to pay. I wanted revenge.”
“It didn’t look like revenge to me.”
The image of his brother and Katherine together replays itself in his mind. It brings back bad memories.
“Don’t be ridiculous. You’re all I care about,” she sooths, attempting to reach his sleeve to pull him back into the shadows. “He was only revenge, that’s all. But if you really don’t want me to, I promise I won’t go after Stefan anymore. It was a mistake. I won’t do it again.”
When he doesn’t answer her she says those three little magical words. “I love you. Damon, I love you.”
He turns around to face her. “Do you really mean that?”
She conjures up all of her feminine wiles into one smoldering, convincing stare. “I do.”
He takes a step out of the sunlight. She pulls him in by the waist into the shadows.
“I’m sorry. It was a mistake,” she repeats in a low, husky tone. “You’re all I want and I was stupid to let a thing like settling a score make me forget that.”
She moves her hand down his chest and smiles that self confident smile that used to mesmerize him. She leans forward as far as she can within her prison and kisses him as if she means what she says. She reaches for his hand through the iron bars and he can feel the burn marks on her palms. He kisses her back, even though he doesn’t quite believe her.
Her kisses are cold and they don’t make his lips tingle nor do they taste like champagne and something sweet. He flashes to a memory of another kiss and the slap that followed it. “I’m really sick of guys kissing me when they’re thinking of other girls.”
He breaks his kiss with Katherine suddenly and she frowns at him.
“Is something wrong?” she asks suspiciously.
It had always been about Katherine. It’s all he has ever known. So why is it that despite his active efforts to pick up where he left off with his long lost love, does he find his thoughts becoming preoccupied with another brunette with glossy curls and ruby red lips? Stefan said that Katherine had compelled them, that their feelings for her weren’t real. But it was real. He had been so sure. He had never felt that way for anyone before Katherine. She was the first and she will be the last.
It was real. What he felt for Katherine was real.
Wasn’t it?
If it isn’t then what was the point of all this? He’s invested so much into this relationship that for it to all come to nothing now, well… the mere idea made him panic.
“No… nothing’s wrong,” he answers belatedly.
xxx
It’s been awhile since she’s checked her inbox. Between freeing Katherine, hiding her and restoring her back to health, and then trying to stop her from impersonating Elena and murdering/making out with Stefan, Blair didn’t really have much free time to be checking her phone. So, when she does it comes to no surprise that it’s full. She’s shocked, however, to find that most of the texts had come from Nate. Twenty two to be exact.
Most of the texts are things that she already knows: He’s still not talking to Chuck or Serena. He misses her. Did he mention that he’s very very sorry? Because he really is. And things she doesn’t really care about: St. Jude’ss lacrosse team won against Spencer’s, but lost to Chapin. He’s thinking about switching to soccer.
The latest text came on last Friday at eleven pm. It read: I rly miss u. Do u still hate me? So sorry. Pls 4give me. When r u coming back? - N
Since it’s been awhile since the whole Serena-Nate blowout, she’s surprised that his attention span could have lasted long enough for him to bother to text her with such annoying updates.
I don’t care that you misses me. Yes I hate you. I still don’t forgive you. I don’t want you to text me anymore and I’m not coming back. - B
Blair debates whether or not hit the reply button, but in the end she does because she’s spiteful and wants to let him know it. It’s not because she’s feeling horrible and more than a little bit homesick.
Five seconds after she sent her reply her phone starts ringing. It’s Nate. She shouldn’t have replied, it gave him an excuse to try calling her. She doesn’t want to pick up, but it keeps ringing. She knows she’s going to regret it the moment she does it. She hits ‘Accept Call’.
“Blair? It’s me, Nate.”
She doesn’t reply.
“Blair, are you there?”
She holds the phone to her ear silently, still not answering.
“Blair, I know you’re there. Say something. Please.”
Her voice comes out raspy in reply. “What’s there to say, Archibald?”
“Blair. It’s really you. My god, Blair. I really missed you.”
“What do you want?”
“I’m sorry.”
“You’ve said that many times already. Are you just repeating it so that you’ll remember? Given your short term memory impairment it’s understandable.”
“You’re still angry,” Nate says stupidly.
“Of course I am,” she snaps irritably.
She’s channeling all her frustrations on him, but it’s not like he doesn’t deserve it.
“But you replied to my text. And you answered my call. That must mean something.”
There’s a tone of hopefulness in his voice that makes Blair nauseous.
“It means that I’m stupid and I should hang up now.”
“No, wait! Please. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about you and Serena and this whole mess I made.”
“I don’t want to hear your thoughts about cheating on me, Nate.”
“I was so wrong. You know? I mean, so completely totally delusional. I must have been crazy to think I was in love with Serena. We never could have worked out.”
“Does the fact that she’s lesbian have anything to do with that?” Blair returns bitchily. Nate chooses to ignore her and continues on his soliloquy.
“She told me that I didn’t love her. That I only used her as a way to escape my family’s expectations and pressure and all that.”
Blair doesn’t know why she doesn’t just hang up, but it’s like the phone is glued to her ear and so she continues to listen to Nate’s rambles.
“I didn’t believe her then, but it’s true. I was just trying to find an escape. It wasn’t love. Love. Love is what I had with you. And I was stupid to let it slip away.”
“Yes, let’s just both agree that you were stupid,” Blair replies squarely, even as her hands are trembling.
“I miss you. I love you. Please come back, Blair.”
She grown distaste for that phase, I love you. Nate wields it like a weapon and it hits her every time.
“Pretty words, Archibald. But I’m not coming back.”
“Then I’ll come to you. I’ll be there! Tomorrow!” He sounds excited like he just stumbled on the greatest idea of the century.
“Don’t come. It won’t do you any good.”
“I’m coming. Tomorrow, I promise you,” he declares adamantly. “Just to talk, Blair. I’ll wait for you at that bar in town. There’s only one, so you know which one. I’ll wait for you. I won’t leave until I see you.”
He hangs up with those last words. She listens to the dial tone for a good five seconds before hanging up herself.
xxx
Katherine has a way of making him ignore his common sense.
“He’s not worth my time. He and that Elena twit deserve each other. You’re the one that matters. And we’ve been apart long enough.”
She trails a finger down his chest, leaves kisses there, her teeth grazing against his skin.
“You know that little quiet corner that you were talking about? The one where we can be together, just you and me? I want that. I’ve realized that that’s all I’ve ever really wanted.”
Damon has heard sweet lies from her before. He’s told them himself countless times so he should be a pro at distinguishing sincerity from bullshit. He chooses to be ignorant of all that when she leans in to place another kiss on his lips.
He starts thinking that the cold is okay, that he doesn’t need to feel a tingle or the taste of champagne. Sometimes you only see what you want to see. In Damon’s case, he’s forcing himself to see it.
Still, despite all her pleading and cajoling, he refuses to let her out.
“Just stay here for the night. I’ll find you a new place tomorrow and then we’ll leave. You won’t have to look back at Mystic Falls ever again.”
He doesn’t wait for her answer when he turns around and slide the lock shut behind him. He can only take so much denial in one day before it gets too tiring.
xxx
Despite everything he tells himself about Katherine and his feelings, his feet lead him upstairs and in front of her door, that other brunette he thinks about when he kisses Katherine.
He finds her on her bed, looking contemplatively at her phone. He raps his knuckle sharply against the door and the sound startles her. She quickly conceals her phone with a pillow and covers her surprise with an angry scowl. She’s keeping secrets now and it bothers him.
“What do you want? Don’t you need to be somewhere doing Katherine’s bidding or something?”
He guesses he deserved that.
He holds up a first aid kit in his right hand and points to her wound. “I wanted to make sure you properly cleaned and bandage up your hand. We wouldn’t want that pretty Waldorf skin to get scarred or anything. I might get sued,” he jokes with a lightness he doesn’t quite feel.
She’s touched by his concern for a brief moment before the feeling is squashed by her stubbornness to stay mad at him.
“I’ll do it myself. Thanks,” she replies venomously, snatching the little tin box from his hands.
She goes about awkwardly trying to bandage herself with one hand and makes a mess of it. He sighs and finally takes the roll of gauze away from her. Despite the daggers she sends in his direction he silently goes about disinfecting the wound and wrapping it neatly.
“Now was that so hard?” he grins up at her once he finished.
“Horrendous,” she replies without missing a beat, yanking her newly bandaged hand out of his and winces with the effort.
He sighs exasperatedly when she refuses to sheath her hostility despite all his soothing gestures. “You know, I should be the one mad at you! You promised me to stay away from Katherine and yet you went down there anyways!”
“Don’t try and turn this around on me!”
“You could’ve gotten yourself killed. Katherine already has it out for you and so what do you do? You go right to her!”
“I’m a big girl. I can save myself.”
“Oh, yes! Blair Waldorf can do anything can’t she? She doesn’t need anyone,” he accuses.
“No I don’t. And I especially don’t need you to be the dashing hero. Truth be told, you’re not fit for the job.”
She knows just where to hit him so it hurts.
“Even if I get brutally murdered, it doesn’t matter anyways. It’s Katherine, so you’ll forgive whatever she does.”
He doesn’t answer her and so she takes that as him agreeing. She can’t compare to Katherine. No one can. She knows this and yet she still stupidly let herself be shocked when his actions prove her right. She should just quit while she still has her pride. Realize that she was just serving as a means to an end. Maybe he’s grown fond of her, but that doesn’t mean anything.
“It would matter,” he bites out belatedly.
How could she think that he’d not care? He fucking cares! Doesn’t the fact that he tried to keep her away from Katherine for her safety prove that?
“Why are you always trying to prove that no one cares? Does it make you happier that way? Do you think you won’t get hurt if you automatically push people away first? We’re not all like Nate Archibald or Serena freaking Van der Woodsen.”
It’s ironic that he’s lecturing her because for the longest time, that’s exactly what he was doing. Pushing people away, make them hate him first because then he won’t have any expectations. When did he change? Deep down inside he knows the answer. It’s when he met her. After Katherine he never thought he’d be able to look at anyone else and then she showed up. In trying to fix her, she fixed him. He found someone that might be worth letting in.
“No, you’re not.”
For some reason her reply sounds more like an accusation. Perhaps she means that he’s not good enough to ever matter to her as much as Nate or Serena did in spite of everything they’ve done. He can feel her closing herself to him. Setting him up to be a disappointment because that’s what she’s expecting from now on. She has a habit for self-sabotage.
“Don’t do that. Don’t pretend I don’t care because it’s easier to think that I don’t than if I do.”
She knows he’s telling the truth. He does care, just not the way she wants him to. She’s getting tired of being angry at him. He never really did anything wrong and she’s being petty and silly just because he doesn’t like her the same way she’s starting to like him. She’s just getting all worked up by herself and it is kind of pathetic, but she’s sick of being second place.
She sighs and rubs her eyes with her hands and remembers that her left hand is still bandaged up. She looks at it and notices a tan line on her ring finger from where the little ruby promise ring Nate gave her ages ago was. She’s been hurt before and so this time around her first instinct is to just cut her losses. She shouldn’t let him in any more than she already has.
“Then where do we go from here, Damon? Where do we go?”
“… I don’t know.”
Despite all his proclamations of grand schemes and diabolical master plans he never planned for Blair Waldorf. She wasn’t in the plans, but she’s here now and that’s where he wants her to stay, even if the prospect of keeping her seems be growing more difficult.
What would he do if she doesn’t want to stay?
What would she do if he doesn’t want her to stay?
They become silent, both refusing to meet each other’s eyes, preoccupied with their misunderstandings. They’re sitting next to each other in the same room, but for all it matters they could be oceans apart. The problem with their familiarity is that they both assume they know each other better than the other and in result misconstrue each other’s real intentions with their biased judgments.
xxx
In her darken cell, Katherine looks down at her slowly healing scarred hands. Despite her hefty threats, the Immune’s blood had weakened her abilities and the wounds are slow to heal. It had taken all of her effort to bare her fangs earlier and now she’s thoroughly exhausted. She comes to the conclusion that Stefan is no longer her main concern. The girl poses more of a threat and something has to be done about her and soon. By any means necessary, she has to get rid of Blair Waldorf.
A/N: Ahhh… so this chapter is sort of a downer due to all the drama surrounding Katherine’s reappearance. Unfortunately things will have to get worse before it gets better. On another note, there’s a bit of a side story surrounding Elena/Stefan and Elena’s relation to Katherine playing in my head, but I don’t know if anyone actually wants to find out? It will deviate a bit from the main Damon/Blair storyline, so let me know if you’re interested in reading it or not =) As always, big thanks for reading! Please leave me any kind of review or comment! I love hearing from you!