Fallon woke up the next day, exhausted and sore. Her head was pounding and her legs hurt.
After getting changed into some nice summer clothes, she decided to head down to the Salvatore's kitchen and look for some aspirin and coffee.
Groaning, she opened all the cupboards and raked through them to try and find what she wanted, but to no avail.
"Looking for something?" She heard Damon ask from behind her. Sighing, she tuned around and looked up at him with a slight pout.
"Please tell me you have aspirin." She says and he speeds away in the blink of an eye and returns one second later with the bottle of pills.
She grabs it and pours two into her hand before swallowing dry. Damon gives her a sympathetic smile.
"Head?" He asks as he moves over to the coffee maker.
"Yeah. And everywhere else." She says as she hops onto a stool tucked under the island.
"That'll be the vampire blood leaving your system. You'll probably feel like this for another good few hours." He informs and she groans and puts her forehead on the smooth, cool surface of the marble island.
Soon enough Damon places a cup of coffee in front of her and places a hand on her back as he reaches over. Fallon closed her eyes at the comforting contact but it was soon interrupted as the doorbell rang.
"You expecting someone?" Fallon asks him before taking a sip of her coffee.
"No. Stay here." He says before moving to answer the door.
"Wasn't planning on moving anyway." Fallon grumbled under her breath. After a few minutes Fallon's curiosity was burning so she decided to head through to the living room and see who their uninvited guest was.
What she wasn't prepared to see, was Jeremy standing there with his bag on his back, speaking to Damon.
"Oh, hey, Jer." Fallon said in surprise.
Damon and Jeremy turned to her and Jeremy's eyes widened in surprise.
"Uh, hey Fallon." He says hesitantly. Fallon notices this and looks to Damon for clarification.
"Go ahead, tell her why you're here." He gestured to Fallon with a sadistic smile and Fallon rolls her eyes.
"I managed to get information on Tyler and Mason Lockwood. And why Mason Lockwood has returned to town." Jeremy said like a child who was caught drawing on the wall.
Damon glanced to Fallon expecting her to be seething with rage, like Elena would be. Except it never came.
"Are you serious? Jeremy, that amazing! How'd you get it?" She said as she smiled in surprise.
Startled by her response, a slow smile came on Jeremy's own face. "Uh, Tyler told me." He responded and she turned to Damon who was looking at her with a confused look.
"What?" She asked and he shrugged.
"Aren't you angry that he got involved?" He asked her and Fallon gave him an odd look.
"Why would I be angry? He was able to use his connection to Tyler to get us information we probably would've spent a long time trying to obtain. Should I be angry?" She questioned, her own confusion lacing through her tone.
"I don't care what he does." He shrugs. "It's more what Elena would say if she was here." He says and Fallon lets out a soft 'Ah' in realisation.
"Why would Elena be angry?" Fallon asks Jeremy.
"Because she doesn't want me involved. Even though I already am." Jeremy tells her and Fallon sighs.
"Elena thinks that because she's in the centre of all this mess that she can control what everyone else does, but she can't." Fallon says sternly. "Although, I don't necessarily disagree with her on this either." Fallon says and Jeremy groans.
"Come on, you're supposed to be the cool sister. You were jumping with joy two minutes ago when I told you about Tyler!" He exclaims and Fallon raises her brows in a challenging way, daring for Jeremy to continue with his attitude.
"Okay, enough." She said raising her hand to silence him. "I get it, alright? You want to help, I get that. I don't agree with Elena when she says that you shouldn't get involved because you're right, you're already in it now." Fallon says and Jeremy relaxes his shoulders.
"Ah," She said when he was about to start speaking again. "However, what I don't want happening is for you to get caught in the crossfire when shit goes down, alright? I don't even want Elena in that position." She says and he rolls his eyes. "I only say that because you can't defend yourselves. Damon and Stefan are one-hundred-year-old vampires and I'm a witch. You and Elena have nothing to protect yourselves with." Fallon says and Jeremy scoffs.
"I can protect myself." He mumbles and this time Fallon scoffs.
"With what, a number two pencil?" Fallon retorts. "Please tell me you understand what I'm saying? And why I'm saying it?" She asks him softly. He sighs heavily and nods his head.
"Yeah, yeah I get it." He mumbles and Fallon nods.
"Good. Now, what did you find out?" She says as she takes a seat on the sofa.
Jeremy explained to her everything he found out about Mason, Tyler, the werewolf curse and even the Moonstone.
Fallon took everything in and pondered over the information.
Moonstone, why did it sound so familiar.
"You've got your thinking face on, watcha got cooking up in that brain of yours?" Damon asked as Fallon paced the floor in front of him.
"I've heard something about a Moonstone before, but I can't remember where I heard it from." Fallon mumbled as she racked her brain to try and remember where she recognised it from. "I'm gonna go grab my phone from my room, I'll be back in a second." She said before running up the stairs and into her temporary room where her phone resides on the bedside table.
As she was descending the stairs she heard Ric's voice say: "Does Fallon know you're here?"
"Yes she does, thanks for asking." She says as she looks to Ric who carried a box. "Is that a box full of Isobel's research?" She asked as she took the box out of his hands and brings it over to the nearby table where she starts rifling through the papers.
"Yeah, her assistant sent it to me." Alaric said.
At the mention of the assistant Fallon gagged. "Ugh, Vanessa." She grated and Jeremy laughed.
"What's wrong with Vanessa?" He asked.
"Don't get me started. 'Oh, hi I'm Vanessa I study comparitive folklore and I'll just about fuck any guy who gives me the time of day.'" Fallon says in a high pitched voice to mimick the young woman.
"That was a pretty accurate impression." Damon replied and Fallon smiled at him.
"Vanessa, yes. Now do you remember the Aztec curse she told us about?" Ric asked and Damon and Fallon nodded.
"Shaman, blah, blah, blah, blah." Damon recalled.
"Aztec curse? Cool." Jeremy said as he approached Alaric.
"Supposedly vampires and werewolves used to run freely until a Shaman put a curse on them to limit their power." Ric explained and Fallon blinked slowly at him. "Since then, werewolves can only turn on a full moon and vampires are weakened by the sun." Alaric finished and Damon held up his hand as he walked towards Fallon.
"Most of them, anyway." He said and winked to Fallon who gave him a weird look.
"According to the legend, the werewolf part of the curse... it's sealed with the moonstone." Ric said as he handed Jeremy something. Fallon and Damon were playing around with the rest of Isobel's research, being slightly immature.
"What do you mean sealed?" Jeremy asked.
"It's a witch thing," Fallon said as she swatted Damon's hand away from her face. "Whatever seals the curse, is the key ingredient to unseal the curse." She explained.
"Maybe Mason Lockwood believes he can use the Moonstone to break the curse." Alaric guesses.
"If we start believing in some supernatural witchy-woo legend from a picture book, we're idiots." Damon says as he leans against the table to face Alaric and Jeremy.
"I'll have you know I'm a supernatural witchy-woo legend." Fallon points out and Damon looks down to her as she jumps to sit on the table.
"You, are an exception to the rule." He says. "Who has the stone now?" Damon asks Jeremy.
"Tyler." Jeremy replies.
"Can you get it?" Fallon asks him.
"Yeah." Jeremy answers.
"See? Now your life has purpose." Damon says and Fallon whacks him on the arm.
"Keep speaking like that and I'll make sure your life has no purpose." She threatens. He only rolls his eyes at her before shoving her off the table and pretending it wasn't him.
"So you do believe it?" Jeremy asks, ignoring Damon and Fallon.
"Ignoring it would make me an even bigger idiot. Let's go." Damon says as he helps Fallon off the floor. She gives him a kick on the shins for putting her there in the first place and led the group out of the house.
Fallon drives them to the Lockwood mansion where everyone is volunteering to help set up for the masquerade ball. Damon and Fallon walk off to try and find Stefan with Jeremy in tow, but instead find Elena looking out the window into the garden.
Fallon's phone then starts ringing and she pulls it out to see that it was her boss phoning.
Sighing she answered and fell a few paces back from Damon and Jeremy. "Hey, Wren, how's it going?" She asked and he sighed on the other end. Not a good sign.
"To be completely honest? Kinda shit." He answers. Fallon continues walking as she sees Damon speak with Elena. "I need you back as soon as possible for this Randall case. Can you make it?" He asks and Fallon sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose.
"When is it?" She asks him.
"Two days." Wren replies and Fallon checks the day on her phone. It's Sunday now, so he wants her there for Tuesday.
"Yeah, fine, that's fine." She sighs. Great, now she has to book a flight to Chicago.
"Amazing. See you there." Wren says before he hands up the phone. Fallon clutches her phone tightly in her hand before lowering it and storming to the place she sees Jeremy and Elena arguing.
"Hey, hey, what's going on here?"Fallon asks them.
"Did you know that Jeremy is working with Damon?" Elena says.
"Yeah, I said he could work with us while we figured out this whole werewolf business." Fallon shrugged.
"What! How could you be okay with this? Damon is only going to get him killed!" Elena shrieked to Fallon.
"Don't be so dramatic, Elena. Damon won't do anything to harm Jeremy if I have a say in it, which I do." Fallon sighed, getting tired of Elena's attitude.
"Damon does what Damon wants, Fallon. He doesn't listen to anyone. I can't believe you've allowed this to-" Elena is cut off by Fallons sharp tone.
"Enough, Elena!" She spat harshly. Elena blinks in shock at Fallon's snap at her. "I've had enough of you and your dictatorship over people's decisions just because you're in the middle of all this. I am Jeremy's legal guardian just as I'm yours too. Stop second guessing every decision I make." Fallon snapped and she looked up to see tears in Elena's eyes.
Then, she ran away.
Closing her eyes, Fallon sighed in guilt and put her head in her hands.
"You okay?" She heard Jeremy ask her.
"No." Was all she said before she turned around and gave him a solemn look.
That was all he needed to close the gap between them and give her a hug. It looked like she needed one, so he gave her one. Fallon wrapped her arms around Jeremy's shoulders and squeezed him tight.
She didn't want to go back to Chicago, at least not right now. There was so much that she had to do here that she couldn't leave unfinished.
"Okay. You go get the stone, I'll find Damon." She says before rushing off to try and find the Salvatore brothers.
Eventually she found them talking to Bonnie and she headed over to their direction.
"Hey, what's going on?" She says as she approached the trio.
"Ah, good. You're here. We need you to take down Mason while Bonnie distracts him." Stefan says and Fallon tilts her head.
"By take down you mean..." She trails off hoping one of them could clarify for her.
"Use your freaky witch powers and knock him unconscious. Easy as pie." Damon says with a sarcastic smile.
"Okay. Are you okay with this, Bonnie?" Fallon asks and Bonnie gives her a weak smile and nod.
"Great! Let's get to it." Damon says as he leads the group to a moving van where Bonnie will take her place as a helpless teenager. "Okay, when Mason comes over to help Bonnie, that's when you'll strike. Got it?" Damon whispers in her ear and Fallon nods.
"Got it." She says distractedly.
"You okay?" Damon asks her, noticing her tone.
"Fine. I'll talk to you later." She says as she watches Mason rush over to Bonnie and help her with the table.
She walks out from behind his car and holds up her hand with her red magic swirling between her fingertips.
She flicks her wrist and within a second he was on the floor and unconscious.
"What spell did you use?" Bonnie asked with wide eyes as she kept staring at Fallon's hand where her magic was.
"Didn't use one." Fallon answered and Bonnie hummed.
"Right." She muttered before she nodded once and walked away.
"Help me get him in his car." Damon says and Fallon absentmindedly raised her hands and waved them about, lifting Mason from the ground and into the back seat. "Or you could just do that. Man, I love magic." Damon sighs and catches the keys that Stefan threw at him.
"Take my car keys and drive Elena and Jeremy home." Fallon says as she chucks her keys to Stefan who nods. "Oh, and tell Elena that I need to speak to her." Fallon says.
"Will do." Stefan tells her and she nods before getting in the passenger seat and shutting the car door.
"Wanna tell me what's going on?" Damons asks and Fallon sighs.
"I lost control of my temper with Elena after I had a call from work and I yelled at her. She was being stingy about Jeremy, but I wasn't very nice." Fallon explained guiltily and Damon nodded.
"Was it true?" He asked.
"Was what true?" Fallon asked tiredly, looking out of the window.
"What you said to Elena, was it true?" He asked again.
"I mean, I guess. But it doesn't justify the way I went about things." Fallon argued and Damon shrugged.
"Maybe not. But if I've learned anything from having younger siblings is that tough love is sometimes what they need. Sometimes they need to be yelled at." He says and Fallon looks at him intently. This was probably the first time he was offering her advice, without being sarcastic or deflective. He was being genuine.
"I suppose you're right. It still doesn't make me feel any better. I'm going to apologise for yelling, but I'll reinforce my authority." Fallon says and Damon smirks.
"Atta girl." He says and Fallon laughs. "What's this about work?" He asks and she groans.
"My boss needs me back in Chicago for a case in two days. Meaning, I'll have to probably fly out tomorrow." She sighs and Damon frowns.
"Are you staying there?" He asks her. The thought of her staying in Chicago made him unsettled. He'd gotten used to having her around so often that he didn't like the thought of her leaving him. She was one of his close friends, so she couldn't stay.
"No, no. Just for this case." She answers and Damon lets out a subtle sigh of relief. "I've got plans to stay here indefinitely." Fallon assures and he quirks a brow.
"Oh yeah?" He asks, more happy than before.
"Yeah. I'm currently working with a contractor to rebuild my dad's old office into a law firm. He left it in my name in his will, so I can do whatever I want with it. Technically, I could sue John for burning it down because it didn't belong to him in the first place, but he's not worth my time." Fallon rambles excitedly and it made Damon smile to hear her speak with such passion.
"That's great. I'm happy for you. I'll be glad to have you here." Damon admitted and Fallon nudged him.
"Yeah?" She asked with a teasing smile. "Can't live without me now?" She teased and he rolled his eyes, but his smile still remained on his face.
"Now you've ruined yet another nice moment. Go ahead, stay in Chicago for all I care." He muttered and she laughed.
"Please, we all know you wouldn't last a day in this godforsaken town without me, Salvatore." She teased him.
"Let's not pretend that your life didn't get significantly more interesting and sexier since having me in it, Gilbert." Damon retorted and Fallon snorted.
"In your dreams." Fallon said as they got out of the car.
"I think you mean in yours." Damon murmured in her ear as she grabbed Mason's bag from the trunk. Fallon was left flustered by his comment as he walked to the other side of the car and pulled Mason over his shoulder.
They walk into the house and Damon throws Mason into a chair and Fallon chucks his bag onto another nearby chair.
"Help me with this." Damon says as he gestures to a bit of fabric tarp on the floor. Fallon looks at him in confusion before helping him unfold the tarp.
"What's this for?" She asks.
"I don't want to ruin the carpet." He smirks and Fallon scoffs.
"How did I know you were going to say something like that?" Fallon retorts as she watches Damon move to Mason's bag.
"Because you're obsessed with me." He half-smiles and she rolls her eyes.
"Yes Damon, I'm so infatuated with you that I helped you kidnap a werewolf. Consider me obsessed." Fallon replied in a dry tone, sounding almost robotic at the lack of emotion in the sentence. Damon just rolled his eyes back and opened his bags.
"Woah, it looks like this guy is used to being tied up." Damon says as he brings out chains and wires from Masons bag.
Fallon gasps and walks around Mason to lean down to his face. "Kinky bastard." She whispers before sighing wistfully. She drags a finger along his chin and stands up fully. "And to think that if he had just asked me, I would've let him..." Fallon muttered and Damon gave her a surprised look.
"Fan of bondage, are we?" He asks before coming over and chaining Mason to the chair. Fallon shrugs and gives him a smirk.
"Like I said before, Damon. There's a lot you don't know about me." Fallon replies.
Damon looks up from the chains to look at her. She stands confidently with her arms crossed and a mischievous smirk on her face. He tilts his head as he imagines her in different situations whilst in bed.
He could imagine her being dominant in bed and in a position of power with someone else. But even with her confident persona, he could definitely see her as being submissive in bed. He could imagine himself on top of her as he had her wrists pinned above her head, trailing kisses down her neck...
"I don't think he'll be out for much longer." Fallon says as she looks to Damon who seems to be lost in thought.
Damon snaps out of his train of thought and clears his throat as he nods.
Fallon steps forward and places her lit up fingers next to Mason's forehead. Damon's brow furrowed.
"What are you doing?" He asks confused.
"Well, we're looking for the Moonstone so I'm trying to help us find it." She replied as she tries to concentrate on sifting through his memories.
"Oh, good, yeah." Damon says as he uses the rest of Mason's chains to bind his legs and feet to the chair. "Find out if he gave it to Katherine. Find out where she is." He says as he moves to stand next to Fallon as he continues to chain Mason up. "And find out what they're gonna do with it once they get it." He says and Fallon scoffs.
"Would you like some dessert with that? Or are you done ordering me about?" Fallon asks, annoyed.
"Okay, jeez. I'll leave you to it." Damon yields.
Fallon closes her eyes and finds the link to Mason's mind through her magic. She can feel herself slip into his conscious and feel her magic immersing itself into his memories.
Suddenly flashes of images cut across her eyelids and she tried to piece them together as they come.
"Okay, it's somewhere small, and dark." Fallon says and she reaches deeper into his memories.
She then finds herself placed in one of his memories. Mason is there, looking around to make sure no one is looking and he chucks a box into a well full of water.
Before she could go too deep, she pulls herself out of the memory and tries to look for more information.
"It's in a well." Fallon eventually says.
"A well?" Damon asks, unsure. "Why would it be in a well?" He asks her and she shrugs.
"I don't know, his memory didn't show me anything other than him chucking it in a well." Fallon replies before looking for anything on Katherine.
Although this time it was harder and she could feel him trying to resist her, because he was waking up.
Although he was no match for her magic, it was more of an effort to try and sift through his memories if he was awake because he could quite easily prevent her from accessing them - at least not without difficulty.
She then got images of someone who looked like Elena and him having rough sex but it was only when the black veins under her eyes appeared did she know that it was Katherine.
Pulling out of his mind completely, Fallon lowered her hands and looked to Damon who was looking at her expectantly.
"Well?" He asked. Good, he had been paying attention.
"No, we've moved past that." Fallon joked. Damon gave her a glare, not amused by her attempt at a joke. "This time, I saw him and Katherine getting frisky." She said and Damon gagged.
Suddenly Mason's hand shot out and grabbed Fallon's wrist causing her to shriek in surprise.
"No, drop it! Bad dog!" Fallon gritted out through her teeth and Damon wrenched his hand away before slapping him hard in the face.
"Come on, wake up wolf-boy." Damon taunted and Fallon rubbed her wrist. "You good?" Damon asked, gesturing to her wrist.
"Fine. Don't worry about me." She says and he nods.
Damon turns around and goes to the unlit fireplace before turning to Fallon and nodding his head towards it, silently asking her to light it. Fallon waved her hand and the fireplace lit up with red flames before turning to the normal orange colour.
He gets a poker from the side and starts warming it up on the fire. "Ooh." Fallon says in interest and watches as Mason starts thrashing around in his restraints. "Someone's getting angsty." She comments and Damon smirks.
Mason tips his chair back and Fallon glances to Damon. She gestured to Mason before catching the time on her watch.
"You have fun, I need to book my flight." Fallon says.
"Okay, but you're missing out on all the fun." Damon says to try and persuade her to stay.
"Ah, man. I know but if I want to get paid the big bucks then..." Fallon shrugs before running off to find her laptop.
She sits on the bed and opens the web browser to find the best flights from Virginia to Chicago. Thankfully, it doesn't take too long to get there by plane so she doesn't have to leave early in the morning.
She could hear the screams and wails of Mason downstairs and winces slightly but then remembers what he did to her and Stefan and Damon.
She books her flight and sighs before heading back downstairs to see what Damon has been doing since she left.
She walks back into the room and she sees Jeremy standing there, looking distraught.
"No. Absolutely not." She says and Jeremy and Damon look to her. "Jeremy, get out." She demands and he goes to argue but she approaches him and grabs his arm. "No, I did not sit there and argue with Elena just so that you could do the one thing I said I would keep you out of." She told him sternly and he looked to Mason before glancing back.
"I know but..." He trails off and Fallon shakes her head.
"No buts, Jeremy. You promised me. And I also said no. Go home." She says and he nods before quickly leaving the house.
Damon watches as he leaves and gestures for Fallon to come over. She does and looks between Mason and Damon to see the damage he has caused.
"Now, to get back on track. Why would Katherine help you break the curse?" Damon questions and Fallon's eyebrows raise in surprise.
"Because she loves me." Mason says tiredly.
At the answer, Damon and Fallon look at each other before bursting into fits of laughter and giggles. After a few seconds Damon takes a breath and looks back to Mason. "Now I get it, you're just stupid." He says before his expression turns more serious. "Katherine doesn't love you, she's using you, you moron." Damon says.
Mason scoffs and looks away. "I'm done talking." He states.
"Yes, you are." Damon says grimly. Fallon widens her eyes slightly and apprehensively looks at Damon.
"Is this a good idea?" She asks gently and Damon scoffs.
"Yes, Fallon, it is." He replies before walking up to Mason. "Besides, he wants me to kill him, don't you Mason?" Damon asks him. "It really is a curse, isn't it?"
Mason turns to Fallon and looks at her with pleading eyes before speaking up. "Please, look after Tyler. I don't want this happening to him." He says and Fallon sighs before nodding.
"Okay. I'll do my best." She says.
"You know I look at you and I see myself. The less dashing, less intelligent version." Damon says and Fallon rolls her eyes. Any opportunity for self appreciation isn't bad, just maybe not when they're about to kill someone.
"I love her." Mason says desperately.
"Oh, I know. I've been where you are." Damon says and Fallon looks at him sympathetically. This woman really was an all-time bitch. "Katherine will only rip your heart out." Damon says as he gets closer to Mason.
"Let me do it for her." He says and then plunged his hand into mason's chest and ripping his heart out from his rib cage.
Fallon suppresses a gag behind her hand and turns away so that she didn't have to see the life leaving Mason's eyes.
Sighing, Damon breaks the chains on the chair and moves Mason to the ground where he starts to wrap Mason's body up.
Fallon turns back around and decides to help Damon roll up the fabric tarp with Mason's body in it. Once they're done, she stands back up and rubs her face in stress and exhaustion.
"Do you need anymore help?" Fallon asks Damon who gives her a small smile and a shake of his head
"No, I'll take care of the rest of this. Go home. Seriously, I got it." He says and Fallon sighs but nods. Damon squeezes her shoulder and turns back to dealing with Mason's things.
Grabbing her bag, Fallon walks out and bumps into Stefan on her way.
"Hey, I brought your car back." He says and he hands Fallon her keys back.
"Thanks, Stefan." She says and he gives her a nod. "Oh, and make sure Damon doesn't do anything stupid." She says and Stefan raises a brow. "Okay, make sure he doesn't do anything more stupid than normal." She says and then walks away to her car.
Driving home, she thinks about the day and Mason.
She keeps thinking about how unbothered she was by the fact that they killed Mason. She didn't feel remorse, and the torture she saw him go through didn't make her feel anything either.
It was concerning to say the least. But when she thought about it, she's always been this way. For as long as she can remember whenever she watched horror movies and thrillers, whenever a character went through torture, or a brutal killing, she was never affected by it.
She dissociated herself from it and in the grand scheme of things in the supernatural world, it probably didn't make a difference. It was horrible to think that way but it was most likely true.
When she stepped in, she saw Alaric at the table watching Elena with concern. Fallon dumps her bag and gives Ric a questioning look to which he shrugs and then she looks to Elena.
Elena looks stressed and then suddenly she turns around and gasps: "Jenna no!"
Alaric and Fallon turn around to see Jenna stab herself in the stomach with the knife she was using to cut the bread.
"Oh my god." Fallon mumbles as she rushes to Jenna's side and puts pressure on her wound. Alaric puts her head in his lap and Elena calls the ambulance.
Fallon keeps her hands on Jenna's stomach and tries to keep her tears at bay, but they just kept streaming down her face.
"Jenna, please. Stay alive, I need you." Fallon mumbles and within two minutes, the ambulance comes and takes her away.
Fallon rides with Jenna in the ambulance while Alaric drives Elena and Jeremy to the hospital.
Eventually they get there and Fallon sits in Jenna's room in a stunned silence. She stares at the crimson red on her hands thinking about what happened.
"Apparently, this was Katherine's way of sending a message to Elena." Ric says to Fallon as Jenna sleeps.
When he didn't hear a reply, he looks up to see Fallon with a numb expression on her face and her hands held in her lap.
He slowly makes his way to her and pulls her in for a hug. "I can't go to Chicago tomorrow. Not after this." She whispered.
"Yes you can. You need to go for your job. I can take care of Jeremy, Elena and Jenna while you're gone. Besides you'll be back in no time." Alaric says. Fallon opens her mouth to argue but Ric shushes her. "I won't let you stay. I'll drive you to the airport myself if I have to." He jokes and Fallon laughs through her tears.
She pulls back from Ric's hug and smiles at him gratefully. "Thanks, Ric." She says and he nods.
Later that night, Fallon was sitting on her bed, unmoving. She didn't know how long she sat there, but she realised that she still had Jenna's blood on her hands.
Standing up, she went to the bathroom and flicked on the light switch before heading to the sink.
She started rinsing her hands and watched as the water started turning red and flowing down the drain.
"Fallon." She heard from behind her. She knew that voice, but she ignored it because she had to wash her hands. She used her soap and tried scrubbing the dried blood but it wouldn't wash away.
"Fallon, please." The voice said and again she ignored it. She was scrubbing viscously now. That's odd, why won't it come off? "Fallon, you're hurting yourself." He said and then a hand switched off the faucet while the other held her hands together to stop them from scrubbing anymore.
Turning round, she saw Damon standing there looking worried. His icy blue eyes scanned her face and appearance and his face sunk in sympathy and also guilt.
Fallon wasn't aware of the tears on her face until Damon swiped them away with his thumbs. "I'm so sorry." He said weakly and Fallon walked away into her bedroom.
"Why are you sorry? You didn't stab Jenna." Fallon mumbled as Damon followed her into the bedroom.
"I riled up Katherine. I called her after you left and taunted her about Mason, and I didn't think of what the consequences would be - I wasn't thinking, Fallon. I'm sorry." Damon admitted and looked at her desperately, his guilt evident in his eyes.
"Damon, I knew that the second we kidnapped Mason today, we put a target on our backs and on our loved one's backs," Fallon started with a scoff. "And I was fine with that, because I thought I could protect them!" Fallon exclaimed.
Damon watched as his close friend started spiralling downwards. He felt sorry for the woman standing in front of him, genuinely sorry. Something he hasn't felt in decades.
"And we were stupid to think that we could kill Mason without any consequences. You didn't provoke her, Damon. Sooner or later she would've found out and I'm afraid to even think about what she would've done if she found out later." Fallon said and although Damon disagreed, he didn't want to upset her further so he stayed silent.
"It was still stupid of you, and I'm sure I'll find time to be pissed at you later for it, but I don't think that's the main reason she did what she did tonight. If what we were thinking was true, then she couldn't care less about Mason. It has to be something else." Fallon mumbled and Damon pressed his lips together as he watched her contemplate.
"We don't have to think about this right now." He says but Fallon shakes her head with a pained smile.
"We do, because if I don't think about it, then I'll think about Jenna and then I- I start to think about what if she died? What if tonight, I was left to take care of Elena and Jeremy on my own? I can't do that, that's why I need Jenna, she's my backbone in all of this, I-" Fallon cut herself off as she presses a hand to her mouth to stop herself from sobbing.
Damon steps forward and wraps his arms around Fallon, holding her close to his chest. He strokes her hair and allows her to cry into him. They stand there for a while, Damon embracing her protectively, as Fallon let's out all of her emotions from the day.
Once Fallon has quietened down, he guides her to her bed and tucks her in before laying next to her and allowing her to rest her head on his chest.
"She'll pay." He says to her quietly after a while. "I'll make her pay."
"No, you won't." Fallon says and Damon furrows his brow. She seriously isn't going to let Katherine live because she feels guilty, right?
"Because I will." Fallon finishes. "The second I get back from Chicago, we're making plans to kill her. I want her gone." She says firmly and Damon squeezes her slightly to show his approval.
"Then that's what we'll do." He says. "But for now, you need to sleep." He says and that was all it took for Fallon to fade away into a deep slumber.