𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒. ❪ 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗏𝖺𝗆𝗉𝗂𝗋𝖾 𝖽𝗂𝖺𝗋𝗂𝖾𝗌 ❫

𝐱𝐱𝐯𝐢𝐢. ALL IN THE FAMILY

"Of course I was, I just didn't know how," I admitted. "I should have told you sooner, but I was afraid of how you would take it. But I don't blame you, Damon. You have every right to be upset with me, but please don't be mad at Stefan. I'm the one who asked him not to tell you."

Damon remained silent for a few moments. I didn't know what was running through his head, but it might not have been good. It may take him a while to eventually get over it, and I understand.

I don't want my mistake to come between my brothers.

Damon ran a hand down his face before making eye contact with me. I was prepared for the worst.

"I'm not mad," he said, and I stared at Damon questionably. "Okay, I'm a little mad," he admitted, "but what does all of this have to do with Lily?"

"Remember when I told you the Geminis and Phoenixes were once at war with each other?" I reminded him.

"Yeah, some stupid feud for power, which ended because of some pact they made in 19 —" Damon paused, figuring it out for himself. "— 1903."

I nodded, confirming his thoughts. "Because of the feud, both covens were weakened. The Geminis couldn't create the prison world on their own, so they had to come together. My coven helped put your mother away."

"But —"

"I can't let you bring her back, Damon," I told him. "It's just not an option."

———

A knock sounded off on my bedroom door, and I groaned, hiding underneath my pillow. To say I woke up this morning with a hangover was an understatement. My head was pounding, and I felt like my insides were being ripped out piece by piece.

I heard footsteps coming closer to my bed, and I peeked out to see who it was.

"Morning, sunshine," Kai teased, holding a cup of coffee in his hand.

I glared at him, forcing myself to roll over and sit up. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and took the mug from Kai.

"Thanks," I muttered.

"Rough night?" he wondered, and I shook my head.

"Fun night," I said, "rough morning."

Kai hummed, nodding to himself, "Thanks, by the way, for talking to your brother."

"It's no big deal. I despise Lily Salvatore more than anything; the last thing we need is for her to be roaming the streets again. She was enough of a nightmare the first time around."

So, sometime after talking with Damon, and convincing him not to take his mother of that prison world, he finally listened to me.

Honestly, we're both doing the world a favor. No good can come from letting Lily and the rest of those crazies walk this earth. It's just not going to end well for anyone.

And even though Damon said he's not mad at me anymore, I know he still is. He's just trying to be a good brother by not making me feel like crap because of the whole baby thing. But I deserve it anyways. I've been lying to him for far too long.

He has every right to be upset with me. I openly admit that Stefan is my favorite, which is wrong because I love both of my brothers equally. I may let Stefan in more because I know how understanding and supportive he can be, but that doesn't justify how much Damon has done for me, too.

Hopefully, I can make this up to him one day.

I felt Kai's hand caress my cheek as he brought my attention back up to him. "Yes?" I smiled.

"Your phone's going off," he said, grabbing it from somewhere under the covers.

He handed it to me before dragging me over to him so that I would sit on his lap. He watched me unlock my phone as I checked my unread messages.

[cameron] have you talked to chris lately?

[janelle] no, why?

[cameron] he's been awol for the last two weeks

[janelle] not my problem

[cameron] janelle

[janelle] cameron

[cameron] you shouldn't just brush him off like that. something might've happened to him

[janelle] like i said it's not my problem. he came here for one purpose, and that was to save the future. he's done his task. now he can go home

[cameron] maybe there's more of a future to save

[janelle] and what's that supposed to mean?

[janelle] cameron??

Cameron wasn't going to answer me anytime soon, so I gave up trying to prod at her to give me one. She's so confusing; it irks me.

Kai placed a light kiss on my shoulder as I leaned back against him, "So what's this 'Chris' person's story?"

"Somebody's nosy," I giggled, plugging my almost dead phone into its charger. "Chris is... complicated. He's very secretive about the future. He came here to change it, and he did, but for some reason, he keeps sticking around. Makes me wonder what other things in my life could change."

"I can think of a few things," Kai whispered, hinting at our current predicament.

I know he wants to get back together because Klaus is out of the picture, but it's too soon. But still, it would hurt to crush his little dreams like that.

"Everything happens for a reason, right?" I reminded him.

"Do you still believe that?" he asked.

"I do," I nodded, turning to face Kai. There was a hopeful look in his eyes, and it made me smile. "I also believe that when one door closes, another one opens."

Since my headache was dialing down a bit, I decided it was time to get out bed. Except, now that Kai had gotten comfortable with me in his arms, he was preventing me from doing so.

"Kai, I have to get up," I told him after he pulled me back down when I tried to stand.

"You don't have to do anything," he pointed out, smoothing out some strands of hair that were sticking out from my braids. "Let's sleep in today."

"Kai, I would love that. But in case you haven't heard, one of my friends is blood-sucking lunatic, and she just made my little brother shut off his humanity. So now it's my job to fix it." I lightly pecked Kai's lips and got out of his arms to go into my closest.

Just when I thought things with me were already terrible, Caroline had to go an make it even worse. She figured out Stefan was her emotional trigger, so she stopped him from bringing her back.

One brother problem was enough, and now I've got two.