Another New Beginning

That morning after getting dressed for school I came down to the kitchen and met up with Stefan who looked very stressed out and broody, more so than usual. I asked him what was wrong with him and he replied with a one worded answer.

"Damon."

I nodded my head in understanding but asked him to elaborate further so he explained what happened on the roof last night with Vicki Donovan. I felt my control slipping as my temper rose higher. All I wanted was to find wherever Damon was and rip his heart out for the trouble he was causing; but I knew no matter how much Stefan said he wanted him dead. If I killed him it would be the end of our friendship. Stefan and I would have to come up with an alternate plan for getting him out of this town. Soon it was time for school so we both grabbed are things and sped out of the house.

Stefan and I were walking on the grounds of the school when we spotted Elena and Bonnie so we walked closer to them. As we walked closer I silently observed Bonnie. I knew her ancestor Emily, who was mine and Katherine's handmaiden in 1864 when we came to Mystic Falls. What most didn't know was she was also a very powerful witch who was indebted to Katherine and me for saving her life. Of course Emily had no idea that we had discovered her secret before hand and set up the trap for her so we could swoop in and save the day. My idea if I remember, I made a joke to Katherine about tricking her and we laughed a little then realizes it wasn't such a bad plan. I wondered if Bonnie had the gift of magic. She reminded me of Emily, I hoped that we could be friends as I once was with Emily, she was a great friend to me and I ended up caring for her deeply.

"Good morning, Elena. Good morning, Bonnie." Stefan told them as we stopped. I waved in greeting.

"Hey, um, I gotta find Caroline. She's not answering her phone. So I'll see you guys later." Bonnie stutters out before leaving. She looked tense when she saw Stefan and I wondered if maybe I was right and she somehow knew what we were.

"Bonnie, wait..." Elena calls after her but she continues to leave.

"She doesn't like me very much." Stefan says.

"She doesn't know you. She's my best friend. She's just looking out for me. But when she does, she will love you." Elena replies.

"Here's what we're going to do. Are you guys free tonight?" Elena says looking between us.

"Yes." Stefan answers.

"Perfect. Dinner, my house. 8:00. you, me, Kali and Bonnie. You two will spend some quality time with Kali as back up and she'll get to see what a great guy you are. Mission accomplished." Elena says.

I nod to them in goodbye realizing it's about to get romancy and not needing to be there hen that happens. I have a fleeting thought of needing to make some more friends so i am not such a loner and then walk towards the school entrance stopping to watch as Tyler throws a football at Stefan's head when he turns around and catches it throwing it back at Tyler making him fall down on his back from the impact causing me laugh at him a little before I continue on into the school.

Inside History class Mr. Tanner was lecturing us like he does every day. "World war II ended in... Anyone got anything? Miss Juan? 1945."

"Pearl Harbor." Mr. Tanner says looking around the room. "Miss Gilbert?" He says stopping on Elena.

"Hmm?"

"Pearl Harbor?" He repeats.

"Um..."

"December 7, 1941." Stefan says saving Elena.

"Thank you, Miss Gilbert." Mr. Tanner says sarcastically.

"Anytime."

"Very well. The fall of the Berlin wall."

"1989. I'm good with dates, sir." Stefan replies.

"Are you? How good? Keep it to the year. Civil Rights Act"

"1964."

"John F. Kennedy assassination."

"1963."

"Martin Luther King."

"'68."

"Lincoln."

"1865."

"Roe vs. Wade."

"1973."

"Brown vs. Board."

"1954."

"The battle of Gettysburg."

"1863."

"Korean war."

"1950 to 1953."

"Ha! It ended in '52."

"Uh, actually, sir, it was '53." Stefan corrects.

"Look it up, somebody. Quickly." Mr. Tanner says looking around at the class.

"It was 19... 53." A student says.

The bell rings and everyone leaves the classroom. I went to my locker and got all my books then left the school to go back to the boarding house to start getting ready for dinner at Elena's later.

After getting dressed for dinner polyvore.com/013/set?id=68195024 I found Stefan in his room ready to go so we sped to the Gilbert house together.

Stefan and I walked up the steps to the house while I fixed my hair that was winded from the run and knocked on the door.

Elena opened the door with a smile. "Hey. Please come in." She said effectively breaking the barrier and opening the door wide so we could step inside.

Elena, Stefan, and Bonnie I was sitting together at the dining table. I look over at Bonnie and can't help but feel the unease rolling off her in waves.

"Did Tanner give you a hard time today?" Elena asks Stefan.

"Well, he let me on the team, so I must have done something right." Stefan replies

"Bonnie, you should have seen Stefan today. Tyler threw a ball right at him, and..." Elena starts to tell Bonnie.

"Yeah, I heard." Bonnie says interrupting Elena.

"Why don't you tell Stefan and Kali about your family?" Elena asks her.

"Um, divorced. No mom. Live with my dad." Bonnie replies playing with the food on her plate with her fork.

"No, about the witches. Bonnie's family has a lineage of witches. It's really cool." Elena says enthusiastically.

"Cool isn't the word I'd use." Bonnie mumbled.

"Well, it's certainly interesting. I'm not too versed, but I do know that there's a history of Celtic druids that migrated here in the 1800s." Stefan tells her.

"My family came by way of Salem." Bonnie replies.

"Really? Salem witches?" Stefan asks faking surprise.

"Yeah."

"That's pretty cool." I tell her with a smile.

"Really? Why?" She asks me.

"Salem witches are heroic examples of individualism and nonconformity." I explain which is true because I have met a few witches in my time.

"Yeah, they are." Bonnie says agreeing with me.

Then suddenly the doorbell rings surprising us all.

"I wonder who that could be." Elena wonders aloud getting up to see the door.

"Surprise! Bonnie said you were doing dinner, so we brought dessert." I hear Caroline's shrill voice say.

"Oh." Elena says surprised.

"Hope you don't mind." I hear Damon say.

I share a look with Stefan as he gets up to go to the door I smile at Bonnie and listen to the exchange at the doorway.

"What are you doing here?" Stefan asks Damon.

"Waiting for Elena to invite me in." Damon replies and I can tell without seeing him he's giving his signature smirk.

"Oh, yeah, you can..." Elena starts making my eyes widen a little at the thought of Damon being able to come and go as he pleases.

"No, no, no. He can't, uh... he can't stay. Can you, Damon?" Stefan says making me release the breath I hadn't realized I was holding.

"Get in here." Caroline says.

"We're just... finishing up." Stefan says trying to make an excuse.

"It's fine. Just come on in." Elena says having no idea what she's done.

"You have a beautiful home, Elena."

"Thank you." She replies.

After Damon and Caroline came in the house we all moved into the living room of Elena's while I subtlety but effectively glared at Damon from across the room.

"I cannot believe that Mr. Tanner let you on the team. Tyler must be seething. But good for you. Go for it." Caroline said trying to flirt with Stefan.

"That's what I always tell him. You have to engage. You can't just sit there and wait for life to come to you. You have to go get it." Damon replies.

"Yeah, Elena wasn't so lucky today. It's only because you missed summer camp. God, I don't know how you're ever going to learn the routines." Caroline says to Elena making me raise an eyebrow.

"I'll work with her. She'll get it." Bonnie snaps at her.

"I guess we can put her in the back." Caroline muses.

"You know, you don't seem like the cheerleader type, Elena." Damon says looking at Elena in a way I really didn't like.

"Oh, it's just 'cause her parents died. Yeah, I mean, she's just totally going through a blah phase. She used to be way more fun. And I say that with complete sensitivity." Caroline blurts out.

"I'm sorry, Elena. I know what it's like to lose both your parents. In fact, Stefan, Kali and I have watched almost every single person we've ever cared about die." Damon told her.

"We don't need to get into that right now, Damon." Stefan says glaring at Damon with me.

"Oh, you know what, you're right, Stef. I'm sorry. The last thing I wanted to do was bring her up. Mmm."

After that Elena went into the kitchen to do the dishes with Damon following her then Bonnie left to the kitchen as well so it was just Stefan, Caroline and me.

"Matt tries, but he's just having a really hard time. You have to understand that they were each other's first. You know, like, from the sandbox." Caroline says blabbering stuff.

"That's a really nice scarf" I say to her finally taking notice of it.

"Mm. Thank you, it's new." Caroline replies beaming at me for liking her choice in fashion.

"Can I see it? I mean, would you mind taking it off?" I ask her.

"Oh, I can't." She says.

"Why not? You ok?" Stefan asks her seeming to have caught on where I was going.

"Um... All I know is that I can't take it off." Caroline explains after a few seconds.

"What are you three kids talking about?" Damon asks coming back into the room.

"I was just commenting on her scarf." I tell him giving him a look.

"Hmm. Hey, you know, um, Elena and Bonnie are finishing up the dishes. Why don't you go see if you can help?" Damon says to Caroline.

"Does it look like I do dishes?" Caroline says looking at us.

"For me?"

"Hmm... I don't think so." She replies

"Go see if Elena needs help in the kitchen." Damon compels her.

"You know what? I'm gonna go see if Elena needs some help in the kitchen." Caroline says getting up and leaving the room.

"They are people, Damon. She's not a puppet. She doesn't exist for your amusement, for you to feed on whenever you want to." Stefan says to Damon though I'm sure it falls on deaf ears.

"Sure she does. They all do. They're whatever I want them to be. They're mine for the taking." Damon replies.

"All right, you've had your fun. You used Caroline; you got to meet Elena, good for you. Now it's time for you to go." I say standing up.

"That's not a problem. Because... I've been invited in, and I'll come back tomorrow night and the following night and I'll do with your little cheerleader whatever I want to do. Because that is what is normal to me." He says looking at Stefan before leaving the house.

I walked over to Stefan's room having something for him but first I wanted to boost his mood up a little so I put it in my back pocket and silently crept up to him.

"Boo!" I said making him jump up quickly and almost attack me before he relaxes realizing who it is.

He gives me a what-are-you-doing look while I laugh a little.

He sighs and sits down on the bed while I look around a little; I stop when I spot something familiar I haven't seen in a while. I walk over and pick up the picture of Katherine and me with a caption Katherine and Kalina Peirce 1864. I stare at Katherine's face and can't believe how much she and Elena look like each other.

"Why do you still have this?" I ask him, turning around.

He stands up and walks over to me gently taking the photo away from me and putting it away.

"I honestly don't know." He replies.

"I don't care Stef; I have a few of my own I will confess." I told him smiling a little.

He nods at me before asking. "Have any Ideas what to do with Damon?"

A mischievous glint appears in my eye before I answer." Stefan. You should know me better than that."

Then I pulled a box from my back pocket of my jeans and opened it up for Stefan to reveal a vervain filled necklace I found in the 20's on the floor of a bar.

He takes the box from my hands and smells it backing up a bit. "Vervain."

"I think it's time you give your girlfriend a token of your affections. Don't you think so? "I say winking and walking from the room.

"You're welcome!" I call back over my shoulder before I'm swept into a hug by Stefan.

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

After Stefan got his jersey on we got to the school for his football game and there was no way I was going to miss this. Stefan playing football that is some thing I have not seen in a while.

"Ooh. Look at you. You look hot in your jersey." Elena says as we walk over to her.

"What happened? No more cheerleader?" Stefan says looking at her lack of uniform.

"I quit. I'm a quitter." Elena says laughing a little.

"No, hey, you're not a quitter. You suffered a great loss. You're not the same person. You should be looking ahead. You should be starting over. Ok? I hope you don't think this is too soon or too weird, but... I, uh, I wanted you to have this." He says opening the box with the necklace in it.

Taking this as my cue to leave I walk away a bit looking for someone I know and I spot Caroline walking over to us with an annoyed look on her face when she walks straight to Elena

"And you're not in uniform because..." Caroline says but I drown out the conversation.

The sun had gone down finally. People were tailgating and cheering for the team while Mr. Tanner makes a speech.

"Wait, wait, wait, Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Wait. Let's be honest here. In the past, we used to let other teams come into our town and roll right over us! "Boos come from the crowd including me."But that is about to change. We've got some great new talent tonight starting on the offense, and I'm gonna tell you right now, it has been a long time since I have seen a kid like this with hands like these. Let's give it up for Stefan Salvatore!"

After walking around for a bit I spot a fight happening with Stefan in the middle.

"Hey, he's down! Enough!" Stefan yells earning a punch in the face from Tyler though it has no effect on him. I speed up my pace of jogging to them keeping a human appearance.

I stop in the front of the gathering crowed in time to see Elena brother Jeremy grab a broken glass bottle and strike at Tyler, who moves out of the way and he cuts Stefan's hand instead.

"Jeremy, no!" Elena yells

"Tyler, knock it off! Stop!" Matt yells grabbing onto Tyler.

I look at Stefan's hand watching it bleed before he closes his hand up.

"Oh, my God, your hand." Elena says coming over to him. Stefan quickly puts his hand behind his back.

"No, no, no, it's fine." Stefan says backing up slightly.

"Is it deep? How bad is it? Come on!" Elena says grabbing his hand and opening it up to a clean and healthy hand.

"But... I saw it, it was..." Elena stutters out.

"He missed. It's not my blood. See? I'm fine." Stefan replies showing her his hand.

"No, no, no. I... I saw it. The glass cut your hand. It was..." Elena says still not believing.

"It's ok. I'm ok. It's almost kick-off time, all right? So, um, I'll, uh, I'll see you after the game." Stefan tells her walking away.

I shrug my shoulders at Elena and go look around trying to find where Stefan went.

"Isn't that nice? Stefan joins a team, makes a friend. It's all so, "rah, rah, go team, yeah!" I hear Damon say as I walk to the parking lot.

"Not tonight. I'm done with you." Stefan replies.

"Nice trick with Elena. Let me guess... vervain in the necklace? I admit, I was a bit surprised. It's been a while since anyone could resist my compulsion. Where'd you get it?" Damon asks him as I hurry my pace but too many people are around I can't speed over to them yet.

"Does it matter?"

"Guess I could just seduce her the old-fashioned way. Or I could just... eat her." Dam replies.

"No. You're not gonna hurt her, Damon." I hear Stefan say while I stop as a group of people walk in front of me to their cars.

"No?"

"Because deep down inside, there is a part of you that feels for her. I was worried that you had no humanity left inside of you that you may have actually become the monster that you pretend to be."

"Who's pretending?"

"Then kill me." Stefan says making me speed there.

"Well, I'm... I'm tempted." Damon says as I stop behind him.

"No, you're not. You've had lifetimes to do it, and yet, here I am. I'm still alive. And there you are. You're still haunting me. After 145 years. Katherine is dead. And you hate me because you loved her, and you torture me because you still do. And that, my brother, is your humanity."

"Salvatore! What the hell? We've got a game to play!" Mr. Tanner says walking over to us.

"If that's my humanity... then what's this?" Damon says and before I have a chance to react he kills Mr. Tanner. Even though he was an ass it doesn't mean I wanted him dead.

"No!" Stefan yells.

"Anyone, anytime, anyplace." Damon says with blood dripping down his mouth.

I run and grab him throwing him at the building and when he gets up I yell at him. "You need to leave Damon."

"Gladly." He replies walking away.

I turn back to Stefan and walk over grabbing his arm."Come on we have to get out of here." I tell him pulling him away.

By the time we get to the field I see Elena.

"Go see Elena. I'm gunna head home."

"Alright. I'll see you." Stefan says nodding and heading for Elena.

I watch him go then sped away to the boarding house to my bedroom where I flopped backwards on the bed and stared at the ceiling for a while then fell asleep.