Emma sat on the edge of the bed with her knees to her chest, her chin resting on them. It had been too long of a day and one hell of a first day back after their road trip.
"Hey," Damon said softly from the door way, Emma glanced at him briefly before turning back to looking at the wall.
Damon walked to the bed and sat down next to her, facing the same way she did. They sat in silence, both of them thinking of how to proceed.
"I can show you what happened," Damon suggested and offered her his hand so he could give her a play by play of what happened at the Grill.
Emma shook her head, "I think I'd rather have someone wrap me in iron chains, it would probably hurt less than I have been hurting all day long."
Damon's head dropped and he looked at his hands on his lap, "I was the one who suggested she drink from me, but then I remembered how intimate something like that is and I tried to stop her. The bloodlust took over her brain and she grabbed me before I could leave; everything past that is blank, I would never hurt you like that, I would never do that to you Em."
Emma nodded, "But you did, and the worst part is, you are never going to know just how much that hurt."
Damon sighed, "Do you know what Gabriel made me see in 1864? It wasn't the 1864 I remember. I had to watch you walk down the aisle toward Stefan, and all I could feel was my heart absolutely shattering. So yeah Em, I know exactly how that feels."
"Did you know it was fake?" Emma asked.
"That's the worst part," Damon said as he grabbed her hands in his, "I did, and all I wanted was for my Emma to find me; and then you did."
Emma smiled slightly, "I hardly wear dresses now, I can't imagine how weird I looked in Victorian getup."
"You looked beautiful," Damon said softly as he looked over at her, "I definitely prefer you in leather though, less buttons and more cleavage."
Emma rolled her eyes and uncurled herself slightly, "So, now what?"
"We go back to how everything was?" Damon suggested
Emma shook her head, "What happens when you forget again? What if it becomes permanent?"
"I don't know," Damon said quietly, "I'm so damn sorry Em."
"You're lucky Ric isn't here for me to go crying to."
"Yeah," Damon chuckled, "I'd already be dead."
"We shouldn't have come home, everything was so good," Emma laid her head on Damon's shoulder.
"I love you Em," Damon said as he leaned over and kissed the top of Emma's head.
"I love you too."
Damon stepped out onto the porch of the boarding house to see Emma and Stefan working on an old motorcycle. He smiled as he watched Emma wipe sweat from her brow and leave a slight grease mark from the back of her hand. Emma laughed at something Stefan said.
Damon decided it was time to break up the party, "Good day for a midlife crisis, 164 years, I'd say your over due."
Emma rolled her eyes and stood up, "And what do you call me helping?"
"That depends, is your job holding the flashlight or are you actually getting to play with the tools?" Damon asked sarcastically.
"Elena's transition to a vampire has been depressing," Stefan sat on the seat of the bike, "I'm gonna help her have some fun."
"Where are you going?" Emma asked Damon.
"That hunter jacked Tyler Lockwood of his werewolf venom last night, so basically, he has vampire poison in a bottle," Damon filled them in, "and I'm gonna find him, and eat him."
"Give me a minute, I'll help you," Emma stood up with a grin, "we were bad ass as a team on the road."
Damon wrapped his arms around Emma's waist, "You have school babe."
"So," Emma gave him a sarcastic look, "you could compel the teachers to give me all A's."
Damon rolled his eyes and kissed Emma on a clean part of her cheek quickly, "Go get yourself ready, I'll drop you off before I go on a head hunt for this guy."
"Ugh," Emma stormed off into the house and ran upstairs to get ready.
"I keep looking for Alaric's car," Emma said sadly.
"I know," Damon looked over to her, "maybe you aren't ready to go back just yet."
"No," Emma sighed, "no I'm not, but I have to try."
Emma leaned over and kissed Damon on his cheek before grabbing her backpack and getting out. She made her way towards the front door of school, Matt was waiting for her.
"Hey," he smiled.
"What's up?" She asked, returning his smile.
"I uh-figured you might want some company," Matt said almost nervously.
Emma raised her eyebrow, "Caroline told you."
"Caroline told me," Matt confirmed that he knew what had happened between Elena and Damon, he looked guilty.
"It's fine Matt, I'm working through it, okay."
"Okay," Matt smiled at Emma, "well if you ever need any where to go that isn't the boarding house, I have an open room."
Emma flashed Matt a grateful smile, "I'll remember that, thanks."
The rest of the walk to class was silent, when they reached the calculus class they were both in Emma sat down at her desk. She didn't bother to pull any books or notes from her bag. The teacher walked into the class and was surprised to see Emma in her spot.
"Welcome back Miss Peters," the teacher greeted her.
Emma slid down in her seat as everyone turned to look at her before turning back to the front. She felt Caroline's hand on her shoulder as she tried to comfort her.
"You got this," Caroline whispered.
The class seemed to drag on, like each word the teacher said was made of molasses as it flowed. Finally the bell rang and it was time to move on to the next class. The day continued much the same for Emma, the same droning on from the teachers, the same sad looks from her classmates as they saw her.
It was the final period of the day, the class that Emma had been dreading. She stood in front of the door of Alaric's classroom and peered in. Her heart sank as she looked in and saw Alaric's handwritten notes still on the board.
"No one would blame you if you left," Caroline came up behind her and hugged her slightly.
Emma smiled and tried to sound confident, "I got this."
Caroline linked her arm into Emma's and took a step forward, but Emma's feet felt like they were stuck in concrete. She willed herself forward but couldn't move into the class.
"I can't," Emma whispered and slid her arm out of Caroline's before she began backing up.
"Emma?" Caroline called out as she watched her friend turn and run for the front doors of the school.
The school doors flew open as Emma pushed them and fled the school, her heart beating out of her chest. She looked around in a panic, not sure where she should go, her brain racing just as fast as her heart. She spotted Damon and ran to him. Without thinking, without worrying about everything that had transpired several days before, Emma ran into Damon's arms, clinging onto his shirt as if she was afraid he would disappear if she didn't hold him there.
"I'm sorry, I tried, I'm sorry, I just," Emma took several deep breaths, "I can't do it."
Damon looked down at her, "Can I help you?"
"What?" Emma pulled away from Damon.
"Look, I'm all about a damsel in distress, but at least tell me your name first, beautiful," Damon winked and smirked at Emma.
Emma let go of Damon and backed away, tears piercing her eyes as she tried to hold them back. Damon's face changed from flirtatious to confusion as he watched the girl back away from him.
"Emma," Caroline joined them, she had heard everything, "why does he keep acting like he doesn't know you?"
"I-I...I don't know," Emma choked on her words as her heart shattered.
Caroline held her hand out to Emma, "Come back to class with me, I've already made sure the teacher has us next to each other. I even got Matt to agree to sitting behind you so you even have someone covering your back."
Emma nodded and took Caroline's hand, allowing her to lead her back to class. Caroline didn't allow a moment for Emma to stop in front of the door to Alaric's old class room, she dragged her right inside so she couldn't second guess her decision. Matt gave her a reassuring smile as she sat down in her chair. Emma put her head down on her desk and let her hair cascade down over her eyes, putting a veil in-between her and the class that surrounded her. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying not to think about where she was as she willed the clock to move faster so the bell would ring. Her fingers fidgeted with her bracelet while she waited.
Finally the bell rang and signaled the end of the school day. Caroline didn't even have a chance to say anything to Emma before she had her bag on her arm and she was pushing her way out of the door of the classroom, earning her several glares from other students that she had shoved out of the way.
Outside she searched desperately for Damon's car, she looked at each face in the crowd of students in search of the ice blue eyes that she loved. Her breathing quickened as she realized that he wasn't anywhere in the crowd.
"What a jerk!" Caroline exclaimed as she finally caught up with Emma, she realized that she could hear the pounding of Emma's heart, externally Emma looked stoic, but internally she was having a panic attack, "Come on, let's go to the Grill."
Emma's phone began ringing, as soon as she pulled it out of her pocket, Caroline snatched it away.
"You better have a very good excuse as to why you aren't here," she almost growled into the phone.
"Yeah actually I do blondie, so if you could put my girlfriend on the phone, that would be great," Damon snapped back.
Caroline growled, "So now you acknowledge you know her?"
"What are you talking about?" Damon asked, "Just put Em on the phone."
"Yeah," Emma said quietly.
"Hey, so I'm in a bit of a predicament, so...I'm gonna need you to come to me," Damon explained, "'cause if I move, you are gonna be really pissed off."
"Where are you?" Emma asked.
"Uh, in a trailer in the middle of the woods, just west of town," Damon tried to tell her his location.
"I'll bring Caroline with me, she can help me track you," Emma told him.
"Sounds good, just hurry up," Damon hung up the phone.
Emma turned to Caroline, already aware that she had listened in, "Come on nosey."
Caroline huffed and led the way to her car. She drove them to the West side of town to the edge of the forest.
"You hear anything?" Emma asked.
"Not yet, maybe we need to go in a little further..." Caroline's ears picked up a noise that didn't belong in the forest, "that way."
The girls made their way through the trees until they came up on a camp ground with a trailer parked on it.
Emma opened the door and quietly walked in. She saw Damon standing in the middle of the trailer, several arrows sticking out of his chest and one in his leg.
"Hey babe," Damon smirked, trying to keep the mood light.
Caroline stepped into the trailer and gasped, "Oh my god, please tell me that is not a bomb."
"Okay, it's a kitten," Damon said sarcastically, "an adorable, exploding kitten."
"Are you okay?" Emma asked as she studied how the bolts were attached to the bomb.
"Besides, the fact that if I move, ya know, kaboom," Damon made a small movement and the string pulled tighter.
"Don't!" Emma put her hand up to stop him, she turned back to Caroline, "Get back as far as you can Care."
"No way, let me help," Caroline protested.
"Then go keep a look out," Emma suggested, "only one of us completely regenerates and the other one is the idiot stuck in the trap."
"Hey," Damon scowled, not happy with Emma's choice of words.
Emma looked up at him, "You came out here by yourself, without any back up and no one knew where you were."
"Ugh," Damon complained.
Emma pulled out her Bowie knife from her boot and moved behind Damon to cut the points off of the arrows so they could pull them out without disturbing the bombs. Damon reached over to the table next to him and picked up a letter.
"How well did you know Pastor Young?" He asked.
"Not well enough apparently," Emma answered.
"He wrote a letter about sacrifice and war brewing in Mystic Falls."
Emma looked over Damon's shoulder at the letter, "What the hell does he mean, 'a greater evil is coming'; I'm pretty sure we have enough of that already."
"At least we don't have angels and demons," Damon laughed lightly, "for now."
"At least we don't have angels and demons," Emma sighed and repeated, confirming what he had said.
Emma moved down and started working on the arrow in Damon's leg, as she was moving her knife around, Damon shifted his weight, the string pulled slightly and both of them held their breath before realizing it hadn't set the claymore bomb off.
"Don't move Damon," Emma scolded him just before she was able to snap off the spiked tip, "there, pull it out."
Damon pulled the arrow out of his leg and sighed in relief. Emma moved to the one in his back again and got that one loose enough for him to pull out.
Before they left Damon grabbed one of the bombs and headed out to his car, Emma drove with him back to the boarding house and they headed up to his room to begin planning how they were going to take down Connor.
As they turned the corner into their room they found Elena digging through their room.
"Can I help you?" Emma asked as she crossed her arms.
Elena jumped slightly and eyed Emma up and down, "I need bourbon to get through Rebekah's party, Damon's is better than Stefan's."
"Top drawer in the dresser," Damon told her where to find his flask.
"Uh, thanks," Elena turned around and walked over to the dresser.
Damon pulled his flask out of his jacket pocket and winked at Emma as he took a sip before offering it to her, she took a quick swig and handed it back.
"You keep liquor in your underwear drawer?" Elena turned around confused, until she saw the flask in Damon's hand.
"Nope," he smirked, "but you weren't looking for alcohol were you? Do you really think I would leave the last white oak stake where any vampire could just walk in and take it?"
Elena rolled her eyes and stormed out, "I am finding that stake."
"So now that we are alone..." Damon said suggestively.
Emma nodded and smirked before closing the gap between her and Damon. She grabbed the bottom hem of his shirt and started to lift it over his head. Damon wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her slightly bringing her lips to his.