The Vampire Diaries

Prompt: Lover, Lover- Jerrod Niemann

Post 1864

Episode 2x1

Damon muses over what his relationship with Katherine truly is. S/E undertone.

My first Damon-centric fic! It was actually way fun to write. I love his character, and this song, and it just screamed Damon/Katherine for me. I hope you enjoy!

xo bells

Well the truth, well it hurts to say
I'm gonna pack up my bags and I'm gonna go away
I'm gonna split, I can't stand it
I'm gonna give it up and quit and aint never coming back

He was done. He was done with wasting a century and a half of his life, done with the games, the drama, the conniving bitch that was Katherine. He was done, he kept telling himself. Over. Finite.

He kept telling himself this, repeating it over and over as he poured himself another glass of scotch. The fact that he didn't even recognize her as herself should have been a warning right off the bat, a sign that he had moved on. Rationally, he knew he should. He knew part of him had, the part of him that was becoming increasing infatuated with Elena. The part of him that wanted nothing to do with her after seeing Isobel and John, the part of him that drank himself into a stupor after learning she had been out there all that time, watching him play the game of love in attempt to bring her back.

Rationally, he knew this.

Emotionally? He couldn't deny that his heart had stopped (again) when he realized it was her. That part of him didn't want to see her, didn't want answers. Didn't want to be with her, follow his original diabolical plan.

But things had changed. Times had changed, circumstances had changed, and he had changed.

Girl but before I get to going, I've got to say,
I know you used to love me but that was yesterday,
And the truth, I won't fight it,
When the love stops burning you got to do what's right.

"Ut oh. The alcohol's out. What's wrong?" Elena entered the room, Stefan's teeshirt hanging loosely on her frame over a pair of jeans. She curled herself onto the couch and looked at him expectantly. "C'mon, I know you want to talk."

"What I want is for you to be quiet and let me enjoy my alcohol-induced self pity party," Damon replied, sitting down next to her, swinging his feet up to rest in her lap. She looked down for a moment but rolled her eyes and didn't make a move to relocate his feet to the floor.

"Well your party has another guest now, and one who knows you well enough to pick up on the fact that you are miserable right now," Elena replied.

"Hm, I'd go with pissed, actually." He could've come back with something snarky and witty, annoying enough to drive her away and back into Stefan's room. Part of him, though, did want to talk- going out to kill didn't seem to have the same appeal anymore.

"Okay, pissed and miserable," Elena agreed. "But talk. Because I know the fact that Katherine is talking with Stefan, and not you, right now is bothering you to no end."

Damon groaned but his tone turned serious. "All that time that year, 1864, all those months where she never compelled me, promised me an eternity with her, I knew she was with my brother. But I thought it wasn't real. I thought he was merely being controlled to be with. I thought I was the one she loved. I was going to give it all up for her." He paused to down the rest of his drink. "I thought it was real. And then she comes back for him."

Woh-oh lover lover lover, you don't treat me no good no more,
Woh-oh, woh-oh lover, lover lover, you don't treat me no good no more

Elena smiled comfortingly, knowing he was in much more pain than he was letting on. "I think," she said slowly, "that she did care for you, maybe loved you. But Katherine is selfish, and vain, and clearly loves the thrill of the chase. She was able to have you easily, because you loved- love her. It was different with Stefan- he would have run when he found out what she was, if he hadn't been compelled to stay. You wouldn't have run because you were in love, and accepting of whatever she was. Stefan wasn't. She's back for him because she still wants to conquer him, to know she could attain him."

"She always was selfish," Damon agreed, his voice soft, his eyes staring into space as if remembering the time past. "And clever and conniving- you didn't want to be on her bad side. And now I am."

He stood up, walking to refill his drink. Elena made no comment, just let him talk.

"I guess it's a bit like what you felt when you thought Stefan was leaving- the pain that something you love so much was just walking away from you. That's how I felt the night after the tomb. Except worse. At least with Stefan, you knew the reasoning. Katherine gave no reason. And that hurts more, to think she didn't even care enough to let me know why."

"From what I've seen and heard of Katherine, putting reason to her actions isn't exactly her style. Believe me, I'd love to know why she's here effing up my life, my relationships, and driving the man I love and his brother up the wall," Elena said, her voice hardening. "If she hurts Stefan again, I will find a way to stake her."

Damon snorted. "Not if I get to her first."

He walked away, drifting back into his thoughts. He made his way up to his room, dimly registering later the door opening, Elena rushing into Stefan's arms, their embrace. It stung, too, to think that Elena was taken. Try as he might, he knew she would remain loyal to Stefan. They were unbreakable.

"Why does everyone seem to dig my brother?" he mumbled to himself, sloshing the scotch around in his glass before taking another sip. He fell back onto his bed, closed his eyes, and let his mind wander back to Katherine, back to happy, more emotionally stable, times.

But before I get to going, I've got to say,
There was a time, oh woman, when you used to shake it for me,
But now, all you do is just treat me cold,
Aint gonna take it no more, gonna walk out the door

ˆEven if it wasn't love for Katherine, she couldn't deny the chemistry between the two. It was there with Stefan, but he was more the gentleman at the time; with Damon it had instantly been hot, passionate, and a warmth spread through him just thinking back to the nights spent with her, the chases through the garden, the scare and thrill of the hunts. As angry and upset as he may be with her, he couldn't deny what had been between them. And the fact that he was not entirely, and may never fully be, over her.

But the memory of Stefan, his betrayal, and then learning of Katherine's, learning how she had too turned his brother, cut him like a knife and his eyes flew open. Past memories were cast aside; it was the present and at the moment, Katherine was just a bitchy ex who had been causing him a lot of pain for the last 145 years, and the last few months in particular.

Well I'd wait up for you almost every night
And I'm hurting so bad cause you don't treat me right
Oh woman, oh woman you know I love you so
But you're so mean to me baby, I'm walking out the door

He had been like a puppy, following her and doing whatever he could to please her. Love had blinded him. Love had screwed up his relationship with his brother, caused his to spend years upon years shutting off his emotions and ruthlessly doing whatever he could to free the love of his life, when now it was clear that he certainly wasn't hers.

And so he was done. He slammed his glass down. Pity party was not over, but on hold. It was time to end this with Katherine, to get her out of Mystic Falls and to get back to his life.

Which involved seducing a certain Gilbert.

Broken heart be damned. He was Damon Salvatore, after all.

Lover lover lover you don't treat me no good no more