A/N: I don't claim to be knowledgeable about 'Vampire Diaries' or any of the characters, seeing as I've only watched part of a couple of seasons and have never read the books. I do claim to have fallen in love with Damon Salvatore and that sexy dance he did on the second floor in that one episode…~drools~

Anyway, this is my first attempt at a 'Vampire Diaries' one shot, so please bear with me if everything is not up to your standards…

Disclaimer: I don't own any character except for Cailee, so please don't take her.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

No matter what you do

Or how crazy you make me

I will always be here

And I'll always love you…

Elena stepped out of the car and brushed the hair out of her face when the gentle breeze blew it. "Bonnie says he's in there," she said, gesturing at the little Victorian house with boarded up windows.

Stefan's nostrils flared as he scented the air and nodded in agreement. "He's in there." He sniffed again. "And so is she."

Elena nodded and crossed the leaf-covered lawn. She tested the door and found it locked. It didn't surprise her – Damon had never been one to let people in that easily. With a glance over her shoulder at Stefan as he approached from behind, she raised her hand and knocked on the door.

There were no approaching footsteps from within the house. Everything was silent except for her pounding heartbeat. Elena raised her hand again and knocked on the chipped wooden door.

"Maybe he left," Elena whispered, straining to hear any movement in the house. "And his scent is still hanging in the air…Stefan, he could be anywhere with her! He could have done something horrible to her!"

Stefan shook his head. "He's still in there and I don't smell blood." He sighed. "Damon, I know you're there and if you don't want me to come barging in, I'd suggest you open the door."

Nothing happened for the longest moment. Elena had a fleeting thought that maybe her boyfriend had finally lost it, but it passed as the door knob turned. The door opened wide enough for Damon to stick his head out and look at them.

"What do you want?" Damon asked in a bored tone. "And if you even think you're going to turn my bachelor pad into a new sex haven, think again." He smirked. "I can make an exception for you, Elena."

Elena made a face and rolled her eyes. "Right…Damon, where is she?"

"Where is who?" Damon asked innocently.

"Don't play dumb with me. You know exactly who I'm talking about."

"I do? Well that's news to me."

"Where is Cailee?" Elena demanded.

"I don't know who 'Cailee' is," Damon said, leaning against the door casually.

Stefan withdrew something from his pocket. It was a photograph of a girl with auburn hair and green eyes, holding a cat in her arms. "Does this jog your memory?"

Damon looked at the photograph and looked away. "Nope."

"That's odd, seeing as I found this photograph in your old room," Stefan said with a small smirk, waving it in Damon's face. "It was tucked in the corner of your mirror, so that it was the first thing you'd see in the morning."

"And I remember Cailee saying that she saw you watching her from a distance constantly when she was at school or at the mall," Elena added. "So, start talking Damon before things get ugly."

"What are you going to do?" Damon asked. "Take off Stefan's make up? Oh, I'm so scared." He straightened and frowned. "You two are barking up the wrong tree here. I've never seen this Cailee, but if I had she wouldn't be on the dating scene anymore. She looks rather…yummy."

"Well, if you don't have anything to hide, why don't you let us have a look around?" Stefan asked, taking a step forward as he slipped the photograph of Cailee back into his pocket. "As a particularly nice gesture on your part, shall we say?"

Damon threw up an arm, barring the way into his house. "No. You're not welcome here. So be the good boy that you are and take your girlfriend and leave. I'm missing my shows."

Elena ducked under Damon's arm and slipped into the house. "Cailee!" she called, peering into the living room as she passed it. "Cailee, are you in here?"

"She's not here," Damon said, dropping his arm as Stefan forced his way in.

Something fell over upstairs and the sound of running footsteps could be heard overhead. Stefan looked at his older brother.

"Are we supposed to believe that you have a pest problem then?" he asked.

"I have a new dog," Damon told him.

A quiet sob floated down the stairs.

"And that…I have a poltergeist and he's not very nice. I suggest you leave before he decides it's time to play."

Elena rolled her eyes and took a hesitant step onto the first stair. Damon appeared before her, blocking her way.

"Get out of my way," she ordered.

"I don't want to get rough, but I will if you make me have to keep you two from going upstairs. There are things up there that have personal value. And there are dangerous things up there," Damon warned. "I know you're a magnet for danger Elena, but for once, I think you should do your best to avoid it."

Elena stared at him evenly. "What are you hiding Damon?"

Damon didn't have an answer. Elena brushed past him and headed up the stairs. Stefan joined her as she stepped onto the second floor. A door stood at the end of the hall, light shining from under it. Shadows were moving around in front of the light. Both of them could hear someone muttering in there, a soft sob meeting their ears every once and awhile.

Elena put a hand on the door knob and turned it, slowly opening the door. "Cailee?"

Cailee was walking around the room, dressed in black sweat pants and a white tank top. She didn't seem to hear Elena as she paced the room, talking to thin air. She swung her hand at thin air as if she was striking someone in the face. Another sob tore at her throat and Cailee ran a hand through her disheveled hair. She spun on her heel and walked over to a corner of the room, putting her nose in the corner.

"Cailee?" Elena asked, taking a step into the room.

"No…no…shush, shush," Cailee whispered. "I can see the people laughing…oh, how they mock me. Sick little Cailee…Crazy Cailee…but the moon shines blue tonight on the hallowed grounds…no…no…"

"What did you do to her?" Stefan demanded of Damon as the older brother appeared in the room.

"I've done nothing to her," Damon said. "I didn't get her high or give her alcohol. I've been trying to help her."

Elena shook her head as she stared at the mumbling girl in horror. "What's wrong with her? She's so…different…She's not herself."

"She is herself," Damon replied with a sigh. "What you see every time you see her at school is the lie. It's what the medicine does to her. This, this is the real Cailee."

Stefan looked at him. "Is she -?"

Damon nodded. "She's got a mild case of schizophrenia."

Elena's eyes widened and she watched Cailee push herself away from the corner and start pacing again. "That's why people call her 'Crazy' Cailee. I thought it was because she was a party animal…I never thought –"

"She never wanted anyone to think that she was sick. When she had one episode at school, she had to do everything in her power to keep it from spreading too far around the general population. All of the teachers know about it and they do their best to keep her classmates in the dark. She just wanted to be treated normally."

"Damon, this doesn't explain why she's been with you for the past few weeks," Stefan pointed out. "No one has seen her for weeks. People are starting to worry about her."

"I know. I can explain that." He ran a hand through his hair and watched Cailee move around the room with sad eyes. "Cailee ran out of her medicine three weeks ago. I didn't find out about it until I witnessed episode after episode at her place. She begged me not to take her to the hospital and I wasn't going to force her."

"She needs to be in a hospital Damon. Look at her."

"No. She's fine with me. I reordered her medicine for her – she couldn't afford it anymore herself – and I can take care of her. She's safer with me."

Cailee whirled around as if she just realized she was being talked about and saw Elena. "El-Elena? No…no, I'm not…you're not…not real…not real…" She turned away and rubbed her arms, her chipped nails grazing the bare skin of her arms. "Nothing's real…not anymore…"

"Cailee, I'm real," Elena whispered, taking a step towards her friend. "Cailee, look at me. Let me help you…"

Cailee spun around and struck Elena across the face with enough force to knock Elena down. She growled and punched a wall, her knuckles popping and leaving bloody marks behind on the faded wall paper. She looked at her hands and tears fell down her cheeks.

"No…bad blood…Bad Cailee…You're not supposed to hit…not supposed to…" Cailee turned around and walked over to the boarded up window. "They're mocking me…the stars…everyone mocks me…because I'm not supposed to hit them…not supposed to hit anyone…But I hit her…hard…wasn't supposed to…sorry…sorry…"

Elena climbed awkwardly to her feet and touched her face. It hurt – she hadn't expected Cailee to have such strength. It scared her to see her friend like this, talking to thin air like she didn't have a care in the world.

"Damon, she needs to go to the hospital," Elena told him, turning to face him. "She needs her medicine. Now. And they can give it to her. They can –"

"I'm not taking her to the hospital," Damon stated firmly, his dark eyes glinting in his anger. "She is fine with me. Do you know what they'll do to her if she goes to the hospital? They'll stick her in the psychiatric ward, run tests on her, and drug her to the point she thinks everything is rainbows and unicorns. And then they'll force her to live with her distant, controlling relatives because they'll say she's not stable enough to live on her own anymore. Do you really want that to happen, Elena? Do you really want to lose one of your best friends like that?"

Elena shook her head. "Of course not. I just want to know that she's going to be all right. I don't want her to suffer from something that can be controlled."

"When is the medicine going to get here?" Stefan asked, watching Cailee pace the room. "And how long will it be until it has some effect on her?"

Damon sighed. "It's going to arrive sometime this week and it will take two days for it to really get moving in her system. Until then, she stays with me where she won't hurt anyone."

"Damon, why are you doing this?" Elena asked, an eyebrow arching in question. "Are you…are you in love with her?"

"Cailee, she's been the only girl that has seen through all of my acts and still loves me. She loves me and shares everything in her life with me. And even the boring everyday crap seems so interesting when she says it. We've talked for hours in her lucid moments, just talked on and on about the most random things in the world," Damon said, watching Cailee like she was the only person in the room. "I know everything about her and she knows everything about me…She wasn't scared when she found out that I was a vampire and she wasn't overly thrilled about it either…She called her 'beautiful monster'…She treated me the same as she always has…with love. Katherine couldn't do that for me, but Cailee makes me feel like there's nothing in the world that can stop me. Like I'm the only person in the world that truly matters to her. She makes me feel…alive." He flashed a small crooked smile. "And I finally let me guard down around her, seeing her so vulnerable before me all of these times changed me. I want to protect her. I want to hold her all the time. I want to love her as if I'll never have the chance to again. I want to love her for eternity and beyond…"

He was silent for a moment, just watching Cailee walk back over to the corner of the room once more. His eyes were soft and full of love and adoration when Elena looked at him more closely. She had never seen him like that before. He looked like he really was in love with Cailee.

"Don't over think this," Damon said, glancing at her. "I'm still the same old me. I just have sexy bombshell that I'll keep by my side forever."

"So you plan to turn her?" Stefan asked, crossing his arms. "Do you think that's wise?"

"That's for me to know and for you to dot, dot, dot," Damon said with a smirk. "Now, if you two don't mind…I'd like to have some alone time with Cailee. I'm sure you'll remember to kick your own selves out the door for me."

He gave them one last look before walking over to Cailee. He slid his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder, whispering something in her ear. She turned around slowly and looked at him with love in her eyes, losing the crazy gleam that had been there moments before. Damon leaned in close to her and whispered something to her and she nodded. Elena watched him guide her to the floor where he held her in his arms and talked with her quietly.

Stefan touched her arm and motioned for her to start heading for the door. She followed him quietly, casting one final look over her shoulder at the two sitting in the corner.

"He's finally found love," Elena whispered to Stefan.

Stefan nodded in agreement. "He's finally over Katherine…and you."

"Yeah…"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

A/N: So there you have it. A short little one shot. If you are nice and review me, I'll consider the idea of making this into a full length story. How about it? You want some more? Review please! ~ Scarlet