"Hey. Emily."

"Hi. Stefan. Is everything okay?"

"I was just about to ask you the same thing. Where are you?"

"I'm on my way back. Why?"

"…Nothing. Just checking in."

That sounded suspicious.

"Where's, uh, where's Damon?" she asked shakily.

"He's…here. I'll see you when you get back."

"Yeah. Okay." She hung up, deciding to vamp-speed the rest of the way, rather than walk, and think,

of what had happened…

XXX

"Hey," she greeted Stefan as she entered the house.

"Hey," he smiled at her from near the fireplace. "How'd it go?" he asked, acting casual as he tried to figure out what had Damon so off.

"Uhhh. Fine," she vaguely gave, expression plain. Stefan's brows furrowed. "Where's Damon?" she asked as a change of subject.

"Uh, upstairs. In his room."

"Oh, okay," she nodded, approaching the stairs.

"Uh, Emily," he called. She faced him in compliance. "He's not. In a very. Talkative mood," Stefan strangely warned. Emily eyed him in confusion.

"Is he okay? What happened?" she asked, walking back towards Stefan, who was also approaching her.

"Uh, I don't know," he replied half-honestly. Emily gave it a think-about, coming to a bitter conclusion.

"Is it because I stayed out?" she asked guiltily. Stefan looked hesitant. He half-suspected it had to do something with her, but not because she stayed out.

"I. Maybe. I'm not sure."

"Okay. Well. I'll talk to him," she nodded, re-approaching the stairs. Stefan refrained from stopping her, not wanting to give her the wrong idea, as he honestly wasn't sure what Damon's problem suddenly was.

XXX

Peeking her head in from the door, Emily sees he's got a chair opposite his fireplace, a bottle hanging in his hand as he just sat. "Hey," she softly greeted, entering.

"Ah, she's back," Damon mused, not bothering to look up.

"I am," she smiled lightly, approaching his side. She poked his shoulder almost unnoticeably. "Are you upset with me?" she asks considerately. Damon finally looks up at her, eyeing her questionably, before he smiled fake-ly.

"Now why would you think that?" he retorted, the sarcasm in his tone undetectable.

"Stefan sai-"

"Stefan, should mind his own goddamn business," Damon sighs and gets to his feet, taking a large swig from the half-empty bourbon bottle. Emily wonders why he seemed so on edge. "So, how was your date?" he asked out-of-the-blue, his back to her as he walked slowly.

Falsely assuming he was fishing for a distraction from his sour mood, Emily humored him.

Then, her mind started replaying said 'date,' how pleasant it was at first, and how awkwardly it ended. "It wasn't a date. We were just catching up," she replies almost tiredly. Damon smirks in mock, and places the bottle on the side-table in distracted motion, feeling the heat in his chest increase.

"Really?" he asked, tone disbelieving. Emily squinted her eyes at him suspiciously, attempting to grasp what he was getting at. He speaks up again before she got a chance to ask. "You know, it-" he turns, and starts to approach her, an unreadable expression on his face that had her growing wary, "-qualifies as a date,

if you seal it with a kiss."

…Emily's eyes widen momentarily, before she quickly looks aside. "Well, we didn't," she says, crossing her arms.

Damon eyes her menacingly, then crosses his arms as well as he masked his rage. "You don't have to lie about it." Emily faces him in great confusion at what he meant. "Not like I'm your boyfriend," he smirks sarcastically. She raises both brows at him in un-expectance. "You can do what you want. So good for you. Getting back with the ex that abandoned you," he audibly mocked, then turned and walked towards his bed as Emily stared at him in disbelief.

Her mouth hung open, both insulted by his tone and greatly perplexed. She stomped after him. "I'm not getting back with anyone, Damon. I didn't kiss him!" Damon cringes in escalated annoyance.

"Please!" he refused.

Then, it hit her like a brick.

"…You were watching me…" she uttered, and walked to catch his eyes. "Weren't you?" she demanded.

"Watching you?" he retorted, as though offended. "You don't need watching, Emily." Then he decided that denying his presence meant she could insist to lie, and he had to make sure she knew that he saw. "I was just dropping by to make sure you hadn't killed anyone. And bravo! You hadn't!" Emily grows mad with his persistently sarcastic and offensive tone.

"Stop it!" Damon seemed to enjoy the fact that he was getting to her. He wasn't even close to even for how she made him feel.

"Stop what?" he shot back.

Emily had had it with his attitude,

but then,

her mind points out a vital fact.

The way he was acting only possibly meant one thing.

…He was jealous…

Instead of confirming the fact that he had no right to be, she found she was looking to assure him!

"I didn't kiss him," she insisted. Damon rolled his eyes. She resumed regardless. "He leaned in," she confessed, grasping his serious attention alas. "And for a minute, so did I. Cause you know what? You're right. You're not my boyfriend!" The statement seems to greatly get to Damon, causing him to glare heatedly at her. "But, apparently, that didn't matter," she said, eyes wild, "cause I couldn't stop thinking about you!"

At that, Damon's anger somewhat recedes…

"I got up. He went after me." The mere mention of Alec succeeds in irritating Damon. "I didn't even give him a reason. I didn't have one, because you're…" she grows quiet, but Damon wouldn't have her stopping then, so close to what sounded like a confession he thought he had to hear.

"I'm what?" he pushed. Her eyes dart back and forth between his in hesitance.

"I can't ask you to…" Then she stares angrily at him. "What do you want from me, Damon?!" she shouts, taking him off guard. "To make a complete fool of myself in front of you?! To admit that I have feelings for you?" Damon eyes her intently, fairly taken aback.

His heartrate escalates.

"Just to be told that you don't?" Acknowledging the question that suddenly sounded bizarre, Damon's brows furrowed. "Because you can't, because!" she quiets again, unable to find the right words.

"Because what?!" Damon impatiently pushed.

"Because how can you, after having loved someone else for over a hundred years?!"

Damon snaps.

"I am sick," he approaches her to a foot-apart, a furious look on his face, "of people saying that. I've wasted over a hundred years loving someone else!" he corrects. "Whatever feelings I had for Katherine died the second I found out she wasn't in that tomb! That she never needed saving, that she never ever loved me! So, what you're so afraid of, is complete crap!" he exclaims.

"But, Damon, listen to yourself! You're not over her!"

"No, I'm not over what happened! There's a huge difference. As in, if she's in front of me right now, I'd RIP OUT HER HEART, like she did to me! Explain to me, how that has anything to do with…"

he grows silent,

…

and looks away…

"…

With what?" she softly encouraged.

Damon looks to her again,

a different, more gentle look in his eyes.

'…You…You're driving me crazy,' his mind uttered. "When I saw you with him," he started, tone calmer with a sharp edge to it. Emily was greatly taken aback by the prologue to what he was about to say. Her heart seems aware, and races alongside his. "The only reason I walked away, was because I thought it was what you wanted too."

His expression then hardens.

"The whole way back, all I kept thinking about, was ripping him apart limb from limb…

What does that tell you?"

…For nearly a full minute, Emily is silent, eyes wide, lips parted, processing with great difficulty what she was being told.

She washed a tense hand through her hair. "God, Damon! You're driving me crazy," she breathed. Damon shook his head. He pulled her wrist away and took her hand in his.

"No, you're driving yourself crazy," he said. Emily's conflicted eyes looked into his longingly. "You're holding back…

Stop holding back…"

…

Cursing every obstacle in the world,

Emily grabbed him by the collar

and crashed her lips onto his.

Damon felt as though she'd breathed life back into him, and wasted no time in wrapping his arms around her, pulling her closely. She put her hands behind his neck, and kissed him ferociously. He kissed her back with equal force.

When his hand slid down to her hip, she hoisted herself up and wrapped her legs around his waist.

Damon vamp-sped them to his bed…

XXXXX