you put up walls and paint them all a shade of gray

[unforgivably]

Who: Damon Salvatore, Caroline Forbes and Katherine Pierce separately
Where: Caroline's house; Damon, Stefan's, and Katherine's
When: The night of the 1st and the next morning
What: Reeling, Damon pays another new arrival his very own visit, before tucking his tail between his legs and returning "home."
Warnings: As always, Damon is his own walking warning.

and you come away with a great little story ..

[ Misery loves company. It's the old adage Damon's abided by in the past, but instead of finding some unsuspecting victim, sleeping with the wrong girl, or generally setting fire to his life, he chooses the dark reaches of his and Stefan's office. and his memories, both fabricated and real. He would rage against the machine, were there something corporeal to rage against, and Stefan beat him to defacing their camera with grease.

It's a call from Stefan which alters his plan, instead, taking the bottle to another house, the address familiar enough that he hoofs it on foot, as if he has all his life? The war inside him isn't something he can discuss around cameras, not according to the rules. But, he plans on a little known tactic should Caroline want to discuss what's really going on. Damon can do either, really, he's spoken in half truths for weeks now. It's something he's gotten very good at

He gets the gist from Stefan, Caroline's memory is situated squarely on Stefan, it sounds like, and what's really surprising about that? Without Caroline knowing, they both lost out on one of their best friends (his, definitely, not including Bonnie) and he feels like sharing. He's trying healthier coping methods. When you burn your girlfriend's body in her coffin, there really is nowhere to go but up. (It wasn't her, but he spent weeks thinking it was.)

He also owes it to Elena (and Stefan) to check in on Caroline. She may not know it, but she just gave birth. That's taxing for a human, throw in twin siphons and she must be uncharacteristically exhausted. He makes sure to grab something else for his back pocket, something that he knows she'll need, anyway, once the booze runs out.

God, he hopes she has booze. ]

.. and I stood there loving you and wished them all away

Any desire to see things through with Katherine is quashed when that memory crops up, memory of a high school he's never attended with a girl who's well past eighteen. The last thing he needs is a conflicting memory hazing over what conflicting feelings he already has about Katherine here. Stefan can take care of her, answer questions and help her to the sheriff's should she need it. With the guilt over Elena he'd been carrying around this tips him over the edge into 'can't do it' territory which pushes him back to the bottle.

His brief foray into a strange mixture of guilt and misplaced hatred ends early thanks to Stefan's call.

He doesn't go back to his and Stefan's (and apparently, Katherine's, of course she lives there, too, maybe she's a co-owner of their auto body shop) until the morning.

If there's one thing he needs to do, it's separate the two in his mind. This scared, confused and attacked Katherine he and Stefan encountered and unmasked is a far cry from the manipulative, self-serving serpent they know and loathe. So, while he hadn't overstepped with his sun behind the curtain act, he knew it'd stung and confused her further. It was cruel to leave her alone after that, but he figures Stefan probably explained in even the barest of terms. In truth, he thought he'd fully dealt with what Katherine had done to Elena. The rocky patch in their relationship smoothed over, despite her several month joyride and gift she'd left them in the form of Dr. Wes Maxwell's vampire-feeding serum. It's no surprise this still chafes, that even now Katherine gets the last laugh because she doesn't know who she is.

He fights with himself, debating whether talking to her before these two weeks is up is worth it. She'll remember who she is, and how she's a vampire again (maybe because she'd died when in Elena's body, and a vampire), and maybe she'll apologize and claim insanity, or the deep, ceded love of his brother. For now, the girl in Stefan's bed (Stefan's a gentleman, he gave her his bedroom, he knows this) isn't the girl who stole someone's body, or their life.

Not deliberately this time.

He knows he also needs to go home. Caroline isn't his friend, not really, though he wonders if this may have forged something uncharted between the two of them. Exigent circumstances not unlike being cooped up with Bonnie for months on end developing true affection for her.

With nothing else in hand but another bottle of bourbon he acquired early in the morning, what he has in his possession can't be bought. If Katherine wants, he'll share a memory of her. Yes, as an excuse for, this is why he reacted as strongly as he did, but also to give her even a piece to the puzzle that is Katherine Pierce. If only he and Stefan had had the knowledge, or the opportunity.

Turning the key in the lock of his front door, he steps into the house, setting down the booze to lean over and start to unlace his boot. Halfway through he stops and stands up again.

"Not doing that," he says, shaking his head, having never been a person to just take his shoes off when coming inside. He's not that polite guy. But, he does roll his eyes moving further into the house and kicking one off by the couch, moving for his second because he wouldn't be even, all the while keeping an eye out for Kathlena. ]

Comments

[unforgivably]

For a while, sure, you and his brother were thick as thieves. You have a thing for brothers. [ Always one for side notes. ] But, you found out that they needed you for more than your good looks.

[ He looks around. ] Mystic Falls, Virginia. [ More questions. He's beginning to regret this nice gesture of his. ] 1473. You're over 500 years old. [ He's not going to lie about how much a Katherine historian he became. He was obsessed with her for over a hundred years and returned strictly to get her out of a tomb she was never in. ]

[abetment]

[ Hearing about people she doesn't even know is perplexing, and it shows on her face. Having a thing for brothers makes her lips almost purse down, looking at Damon as she tries to register the tone he said it in. Expression twisting into wondering, she says -- ] And I ran. Got away. From a family of the most powerful vampires? [ Is she following? ]

Virginia. [ She breathes in, sighing out quietly. Her jaw hangs when he says how old she is, mouth shutting when she realizes how ungraceful it feels and likely looks. ] Wow. Okay. That's...a lot to take in. [ She looks away, peering back over the land again. ] So all of my family's dead. Yours too. Humans only live for so long. [ Matter of fact as hell. ] I don't wanna know how any of them died. [ A beat. ] I'll remember later.

[ Another pause. ] Did Stefan tell you that they gave me a key to the house you both live in, when we got my stuff? [ Bouncing back to the current. She's not certain what else Damon can show her, if he wants to keep showing her scenes, painting her a grander scope of her past. Plus, she thinks the fact they're roomies is an important tidbit. ] That I live there, here, too.

[unforgivably]

You found your loophole. [ Becoming a vampire. ] You had a vampire named Trevor feed you his blood, and then you offed yourself. Before they could. [ At least, that's what he's heard now. It may've been Rose, but he's sure Rose protected her brother. ]

You will. [ It isn't a flippant response, either. Katherine will remember. It's the compassionate thing to leave Kathlena in the dark. ]

There's a reason I came back this morning. [ And Klaus disappears, merely a parlor trick. ] But, it wouldn't be the first time we lived under the same roof. [ Granted, that was all a part of her master plan with Isobel - who'd been compelled by Klaus, so, it hadn't worked out exactly. Arrangements will change when she returns. Or, so he thinks.

Should she want to, he'll take her through her greatest hits - her impersonating Elena after Founders Day, a few season 2 snippets, maybe her in Masquerade in the room where it happens, but eventually, the scene fades. They're back in their shared home as he lets go of her hand, sitting back. And then he's up. ]

[abetment]

[ A vague explanation on how vampires are made (nearly all the steps too, yet she doesn't need to know more since she doesn't want to make other vampires), so it leaves her quizzical for a moment. Until she gives a faint nod. ] I did what it took. To...survive. [ No lofty tone. It may be something she'd say, but her regular way of saying it isn't present.

Inexplicable as it is, Klaus being there left her uneasy, so she's glad when he's gone. That's interesting though, that Damon doesn't seem put off, not entirely, at all three of them living together. Or, her living under their roof.

In the end, she wants to feel safe. Secure. She may have over-exaggerated about her lack of trusting the sheriff so they could stay inside the hospital as long as possible; however, she only trusts Stefan and Damon for the time being. Set in her thoughts about that.

She doesn't ask for more, gasping, chest rising and falling as he makes a sound like a hum as it fades. She stares down at her hand as its dropped, watching as he stands. Frowning slightly, her voice is quiet. ] Why are you actually helping me? Just because I can't remember everything doesn't mean I'm not observant. Neither of you like me. [ A beat. ] Pity? Or, having gone through the same memory lapses? [ Why aren't they kicking her out? ] I -- I mean, thank you. Maybe you can't answer that and have it make any sense, since not a lot of this feels like it makes sense anyway.

[unforgivably]

Now that is the Katherine we all know and loathe. [ And wish hadn't returned in the first place. They shouldn't be helping her. Not with what she put them through. The few months of her being human are overshadowed by what she did after. He can answer it, but he can't be cruel to this Katherine. ]

Maybe, don't question why we do what we do. You might not like what you hear. [ Maybe it won't be pretty. But, he turns serious again, saying the obvious. ] We need all the people we can bring ourselves to trust in this place. And, we went to high school together.

[abetment]

[ A long breath, through her nose, chest rising and holding. Certainly not everyone she knows hates her! Then again, everyone she may know isn't there, in this crazy ass town.

She pays attention to his answer, not necessarily caring for it. What if she wants to know the brutal truth? Fine. He's truthful in feeling that that she won't like the answer, what with how easily his tone slips to a more serious one. A nod before her expression turns confused. ] High school? [ The slam of a locker, a rush of steps down the hall on white with rows of blue linoleum beneath her feet. She's late. Her head shakes that...memory, away. She's over five hundred years old: high school shouldn't be a thing. ] What? I...Damon. [ She remembers those rules of the town then. Oops. Sure came close to breaking them upon being back in the real world. ] Did we go any other -- school, together? [ She knows/thinks no, not with the ages they both are, but accepting that she may have memories of this place settling in is not something she wants to accept. ]

[unforgivably]

Just high school. I'm not even sure there's a college around here. [ He doesn't want to encourage the false memories, but they'll crop up sooner or later. For Damon, they started that first night. ] Just - try. Think about what high school might've been like. Think about a tiara, a little rigging of a certain school rite of passage. [ That's said with his hand to his mouth, palm out. ]

[abetment]

[ She starts to frown when he suggests she do that, forehead creasing and pout settling on her lips. Her eyes cast down, thinking over each detail he gives. Nothing else, at first. ] I remembered what I guess is a school...a hallway. Lockers. [ Effort generates results, her breath hitching quietly, breaking a gasp from getting louder. She recalls a similar scene to the one he was witness to the previous day. From her perspective. A coveted trophy, one she would've had from popularity. From her mere essence. Why. She looks down, remembering more. ] After I got home, I didn't think I'd ever talk to you again. I couldn't believe you thought you needed to do that.

[ She breathes out, another memory surfacing. Walking down a sidewalk together, looking almost identical in age to how they did with those formal clothes on, sunlight bright above them. Hands woven together. The air warm. Summer. After graduation. ] But...I forgave you. I remember. Being together. After that. [ Her head shakes, and if there are cameras around, she doesn't care or think.

She stands, striding over to Damon, looking into his eyes. ] It's not...real. It can't be.

[unforgivably]

From what I remember, I thought I was guaranteeing you the crown.

[ And isn't it weird to discuss it like that, to be this familiar with someone he never once stepped inside a school with. After all, Katherine had kept her exploits outside. ]

No, because [ He remembers the cameras, and it's his first impulse he can't help, a hybrid of who he is and who he could have been making him brush hair out of Katherine's eyes, the same memory playing. ] perfect moments never seem real. [ He inhales, that frustration bubbling up again. ] People forgive me. It's a thing. [ And he doesn't mind that, but he does take a step back then. ]

So, we dated in high school. That counts as a memory. Maybe you're - [ a glance to the camera ] getting them back.

[abetment]

[ She breathes in slowly, nodding at what he offers. ] It wasn't an easy night, when it should've been fun. For the both of us.

[ His fingers against her hair, moving it away, makes her forehead crease as she swallows. Surprised by the action, but not overthinking it. She wants to argue. He's wrong. He's giving in. This isn't right. Why.

Then he looks at the camera, and she can't help but sigh in frustration before she reaches out for his hand. A fleeting squeeze. ] Maybe. I -- I bet you're right. [ She musters up the strength to slather her words with false sentiment and belief. For the cameras, her eyes heavy with doubt as she maintains eye contact with Damon.

She looks down over herself again. ] I'll have to get changed, go see if there's any shopping I can do at a store that might just...be one of my favorites. [ As if. She doesn't consider cash, and it's not that important. She won't want to buy anything she sees at first anyway. This town, it's all about reluctance. ] Where I made lots of [ sigh ] memories.