𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐗𝐗𝐈𝐕
⏤ The Constitution Of Happiness ⏤
❝I just thought your ego needed a little boosting.❞
𝐎𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐀 was engulfed in a dream she had experienced frequently before ⏤ one in which there was no escape or help from the fortress of her wondering deranged mind. She banged her fists persistently against the surface of the small restricting coffin she was enclosed in, desperately trying to make her way out. The air around her was thick, making it difficult to inhale the heavy breaths she so desperately wanted to.
This time, instead of a crack materialising above her and paving the way for layers of dirt to fall continuously from above and slowly but surely suffocate her, the wooden cover was abruptly ripped open. Olivia's eyes were met with pale grey stone ceilings and darting upwards in her position, Olivia glanced around at the familiar basement of the basement within the building making the Witch Burial Ground.
Pulling herself out of the coffin cautiously, she glanced around the room to see it was bare and empty besides the endless slabs of concrete. The only other thing in the room with her was another coffin; the mysterious locked one she'd seen before. Narrowing her eyes at the black box quizzically, Olivia edged closer, leaning in vaguely as she heard a subtle drumming sound echoing from the inside of the hollow wood.
The second Olivia dared to lean in an inch closer to get a better grasp on what she was hearing, the lid to abruptly ripped open with a harsh thud. Someone's pale hand was quick to shoot out of the abyss soon after and Olivia was about to back away but the hand somehow found her wrist, gripping onto it tightly in an excruciating painful hold. Liv desperately tried to pry away her arm from the figure though found herself unable to do so, only being able to watch as the person inside began to rise out of the coffin; her vision going black before she saw her face.
"Something wrong?" Damon's soothing voice flooded her ears as her eyes abruptly flashed open and her body flinched initially at his touch. Releasing a subtle exhale as she gazed around at the familiar surroundings of Damon's room, she turned to the quizzically concerned vampire who was lying opposite her in the large four-poster bed.
"No, it's just..." she began before shaking her head subtly and forcing a smile onto her lips. "Forget about it."
Damon had the initial intention of objecting her dismissive words and prying further when his attention was pulled elsewhere. "Your arm," he said softly, causing Liv to follow his gaze to the strange bruising covering her wrist. Instinctively she pulled her arm away, though Damon quickly pulled her arm back towards him to see the marks.
Olivia and Damon's eyes were on the girl's wrist; the strange dark purple bruises were barely visible and actively disappearing from their sight. "It's fine," she said reassuringly before leaning over to kiss him; hoping to distract him from the peculiar events and distract herself from the growing uneasy feeling in her gut.
"Liv..." he murmured into the kiss, hesitant to simply drop the odd occurrence.
"Damon..." she mocked similarly, making him smile vaguely as his arm curved around her waist to the small of her back, pulling her closer to him.
"You frustrate me so much," he muttered, playing with the strands of her hair.
"Come on, Damon, you know you love it." She replied teasingly leaning towards him and Damon smirked into the lustful and sensual kiss they shared. The buzzing of Olivia's phone, however, drew both of their attention quickly and the tribrid heard a brief groan of irritation sounding from the Salvatore as she pulled away from him and moved to grab it from the small table by his bed.
Sitting up moderately in her position, she read the sparse amount of messages that clouded the screen. Damon followed suit, sitting in a position similar to her own before gently brushing some of the hair that had fallen in front of her face behind her ear, reestablishing his view of the beautiful girl. He watched Liv's brows crinkle in the most adorable way as she read one of the messages, prompting him to kiss her temple softly. After doing so, he felt the need to have more of her and so proceeded to place kisses down her jawline and neck.
"Damon..." Olivia began, turning to him with a small smile.
"Yes?" He murmured in response, pretending to be clueless as he placed several more kisses on her neck, landing a final one of her collarbone which he continued to bite gently yet seductively making Liv hit his chest lightly in frustration.
"I'm trying to concentrate," she resorted. "And I can't do that if you keep ⏤"
"Keep what?" He questioned in amusement, kissing the sensitive spot on her neck and smiling as he noticed her eyes briefly flutter closed as she swallowed down hard, trying to diminish the fluttering feeling in her stomach.
"You know what you're doing." She murmured, finding the strength to pull herself off of the bed. "Just go... put a shirt on or something." She suggested and noticing her vaguely flustered state, Damon chuckled as he too got out of bed. Ignoring his annoyingly amused smile and now thankfully being distraction-free, Olivia continued reading some of the messages Caroline had left her before looking back up at Damon who was simply staring at her. "Didn't I tell you to put a shirt on?"
"Can't," he resorted plainly.
Olivia raised her eyebrows at him questionably. "Why not?"
"You're wearing mine."
Olivia glimpsed down with a slight smile before looking back up at him, that certain look glinting through her eyes that immediately informed Damon she was about to put him through hell.
The loosely fitting fabric resided just by the top of her thigh showing off her long smooth legs which already made Damon's heartbeat just a little faster. "God, you look so sexy right now." He murmured gruffly, taking a single step towards her as he noticed the tribrid dangerously proceed to tease him further, tugging at the end of the material before slowly slipping it up ever so slightly ⏤ showing off more and more of her amazing body.
"Okay, now that's just not fair." He told her, his breathing picking up. "I'm going to need that back you know." He then informed her with a smirk making her nod with a light hum as he continued to near her and she continued to take steps away from him. Damon rolled his eyes at the games she was playing with him before noticing her bite her lower lip sensually and his throat instantly went dry. "Stop doing that."
"Doing what?" She questioned in fake confusion.
"Making me want to kiss you."
Olivia bit back a smile as she looked up at him, speaking coyly. "Come over here and make me."
Within a second Damon had the tribrid pushed against the wall in vampire speed, his hands pinning her wrists firmly above her head as he kissed her intensely. After several breathless and desperate kisses, Damon pulled from her lips and moved his mouth to her neck.
Olivia's eyes closed as she gripped his shirt tightly. "We can't, Damon." Her voice was hoarse and breathless as she spoke. "I have to meet Caroline," she continued, recalling the text she'd received in which the blonde stressed adamantly that she meets her at the Grill.
Damon groaned. "Can't you meet her later, I had a fun day planned for us."
Olivia quipped up an eyebrow at those words. "Fun?"
"Yeah, I was thinking about making my beautiful girlfriend an amazing breakfast... right after a hot and steamy shower." He smirked, making the tribrid laugh before his hand slipped under his shirt which she was wearing, attempting to pull it off of her, though she stopped him.
"I'm serious." She pulled away from him.
"So am I," he reasoned but she was already across the room from him, pulling on some appropriate clothing. Damon rolled his eyes in irritation as he followed her, watching as she pulled her hair out of her own shirt which she had just put on, handing Damon his own one. "So that's a no to the shower then?" He asked, making the blonde playfully roll her eyes.
Before he could try to convince the tribrid to stay, however, the annoying ringing of his phone blared through the comfortable silence between them. Glancing at the caller's name, he sighed lightly, knowing he had to answer. "I'll see you later then?"
"Yep." The blonde nodded and after she did, Damon pulled her in for a brief gentle kiss; one that left them both desperately wanting more despite knowing that they both had other things they needed to tend to. Pulling away, he gently rand his hands through her hair with a fond and affectionate glint in his eyes. I love you. Those same words from last night erupted throughout his mind like a chaotic overpowering buzz. Those same words he couldn't say.
"I should really..." Olivia's words started off as a subtle whisper before her throat went dry and her voice went quiet, finding herself swallowing back the rise of overpowering feelings within her.
"Yeah." He agreed though he found himself leaning towards her once more. However just as their lips scarcely brushed past one another, Damon's phone rang once more, prompting them to both pull away and after exchanging a few final words, Damon answered the call from Elena and Olivia headed down the upstairs corridor.
Exhaling heavily as she left, Olivia began making her way down the stairs of the Boarding House, a slight smile finding itself onto her lips as she adjusted her hair. "You're looking particularly optimistic this morning." A familiar voice abruptly pulled her attention.
Her eyes scanned the parlour room of the Boarding House, instantly landing on a certain Mikaelson, mercilessly roaming Damon's alcohol collection in boredom. "Klaus?" Her brows drew together in confusion. "Why are you here?"
"It's nothing that concerns you, love." He returned causing Olivia's lips to part, moments away from asking him what he meant as she neared him cautiously when Damon appeared by her side.
"What's he doing here?" Damon asked, ignoring the Original's presence collectively as he directed his question to Olivia.
Klaus barely acknowledged his bitter tone, simply pouring himself a glass of scotch as he answered. "I'm looking for Stefan. We have some things to discuss."
"Well, as you can see, he's not here," Damon replied blandly, his narrowed eyes piercing through the Original, all the while Klaus glanced back up at him with a vague smirk playing across his lips.
"Okay..." Olivia interrupted the tension-filled silence awkwardly. "I'm just going to go." She announced, turning back to Damon.
"Uh, Liv," his hesitant voice pulled the girl's attention. "Did you um..." he began, a strangely uncomfortable tone to his voice as his eyes flickered from Klaus back to Olivia.
"What?" She queried cluelessly.
Damon sighed inwardly, he really didn't want to get into this with him listening but since he forgot to ask the night before unlike every other night since the day she fell asleep and almost didn't wake up, he knew he needed to now. "Did you consume any blood yesterday?"
Olivia immediately grew similarly uncomfortable at his question, ensuring she didn't turn in Klaus's direction to meet his expression as she looked back at Damon. Ever since Caroline's birthday and the drastic events that circled, the Salvatore had been asking her every night if she consumed any blood and how much and so forth. Most of the time she didn't lie to him as even when she did, he saw right through her facade to the truth. Even so, however, she knew he'd be there to help her no matter what her answer may be.
"I, um..." she drifted off, giving Damon his answer immediately.
"Liv." He said her name both softly and firmly in a quiet tone despite knowing Klaus could easily hear their entire exchange if he wanted to; it bothered him to endless measures but the health of the girl he loved was undoubtedly more important.
"I'll have some today," she stressed. "I promise."
Damon leaned in to kiss her cheek lightly. "One day at a time," he murmured gently into her ear.
"One day at a time." She subtly nodded before slipping out of the Boarding House and leaving the pair to their discussion alone.
After the sound of the door closing behind the tribrid broke the brief lingering quiet, Damon looked back at Klaus who took a sip from the scotch in his glass before speaking. "I see the two of you have finally settled your differences."
Damon rolled his eyes at the comment. "My relationship hardly concerns you."
Klaus smirked. "An interesting girl isn't she." He remarked, causing Damon to stare resentfully back at the Original who was clearly trying to get a rise out of him. "Beautiful too."
"Are we done here?" Damon asked, portraying a bored and exhausted demeanour.
Klaus, however, dismissed his words and continued on, profusely trying to get under Damon's skin and for a moment it seemed to be working. "You know, we had an exquisite little chat a few days ago."
Damon gritted his teeth together, clicking his tongue to the roof of his mouth before he finally replied. "Of all people, you're hardly the one I want to talk about my girlfriend with."
The word girlfriend made Klaus smirk once more before he placed his glass of scotch down on the small table positioned centrally between the parlour room couches, beginning to make his way to the front door soon after. "If you see Stefan, tell him we need to talk. I'll be at my recently acquired mansion downtown when he's ready... Olivia knows the place." He added, a final smirk gracing his lips before he disappeared entirely.
Damon clearly saw the Original's attempts to raise his anger dramatically or make him jealous even; though surprisingly, it didn't seem to work the way Klaus was presumably hoping it would. Ever since Caroline's birthday in which Olivia and Damon mended their relationship and ended the fight between them, they seemed to be on different terms than they were before.
He trusted her and he knew she could take care of herself and so the mild rise of uncertainty within him at Klaus's words was instantly diminished as a small subtle smile spread across his face. For the first time in a while, he found himself feeling happy and surprisingly content ⏤ even in the presence of an aggravatingly annoying Original Hybrid who, no matter the circumstances, he couldn't seem to escape.
⏤⏤⏤⏤
After leaving the Boarding House, Olivia made her way directly to the Mystic Grill to meet with Caroline ⏤ with the brief interruption of a phone call from Jeremy on the way. She hadn't had a chance to say goodbye to him, so she made sure to explain to the paranoid Gilbert that she didn't hate him for leaving and that she thought moving on with the rest of his life would prove as a beneficial change from all the crazy supernatural occurrences in Mystic Falls. The extent to which she fully agreed with her words was debatable.
Currently, Olivia was seated at a small table in the Grill opposite Caroline who was rambling on profusely about Tyler ⏤ which was understandable considering prior events.
Olivia, whilst originally listening intently to Caroline's words, eventually felt the burning sensation of being watched and so her gaze, shortly followed by her focus, eventually drifted off; her eyes evidently landed on Damon's blue ones. I guess his conversation with Klaus didn't last too long then. She thought, giving him a confused shrug which he only responded with a smirk.
As time dragged on slowly and Caroline continued rambling, Olivia found her eyes flickering over to Damon involuntarily every so often.
"Liv, are you even listening to me?" Caroline's voice jogged the tribrid back to the conversation, prompting her to hum questionably. The blonde vampire rolled her eyes before looking over her shoulder and noticing Damon staring over at Olivia was an annoying smirk. "Can you stop doing that?"
"Doing what?" Olivia asked quizzically.
"Eye flirting with your boyfriend whilst we're having a conversation." She answered in frustration.
Olivia laughed scarcely, making Caroline shoot her a glare. "Sorry, what's up?" She said, trying hard to listen to the perky blonde but having difficulty doing so with Damon's intense gaze continued to pierce through her. She managed to resist looking his way for several minutes, listening to Caroline's words consistently before she dared a brief glimpse in his direction, furrowing her brows when he was no longer there.
"Hey, can I talk to you for a moment?" A voice asked and, shifting her head, Olivia looked over to see him, now standing by her table.
"Actually, we're in the middle of something," Caroline answered.
Damon rolled his eyes subtly before continuing. "It's pretty important." He solely directed his words to the tribrid and disregarded Caroline's words making Olivia glare at him. He could at least try to make people not hate him.
"Can we talk later?" The tribrid retaliated but Damon didn't accept her answer.
Noticing he wasn't leaving, Caroline sighed in defeat. Whilst she didn't like Damon, she did like how happy Olivia looked and how much better she seemed to be doing since the events of Homecoming and her strange fainting spell in school on her birthday. "Fine, go." She gave in.
Olivia smiled at the girl as she got up from the table, feeling Damon gently grab her arm and guide her to the isolated back area of the Grill. He didn't stop there, however, and continued to lead her into one of the restrooms, locking the door behind them making Olivia's expression shift to one of confusion; unaware what was so important he had to talk to her about in such a secluded and private way.
Olivia watched with furrowed brows as after locking the door Damon turned around and began approaching her. "Damon, what's going ⏤" she was unable to finish her words due to Damon instantly connecting his lips with her own.
Olivia's confusion immediately dispersed within her as a small smile played on her lips. "Really?" She pulled away briefly, noting that he'd lied before and there was no serious thing he needed to talk to her about.
"Really," he murmured in response, kissing her once more hungrily before he picked the girl up, making her laugh as he placed her on the counter beside the sink, her back pushed against the wall as her legs wrapped around his waist. "Do you know how hard it is for me to resist you?" He murmured, his lips brushing past her neck before moving to capture her lips once more.
"Well, in that case..." she began, teasingly pulling away before their lips could touch
"You enjoy torturing me, don't you?" Damon groaned.
The tribrid smiled in amusement. "Maybe just a little bit." She rested her arms over his shoulders. "So, what did Elena want this morning?"
Damon raised an eyebrow. "You're seriously asking me about Elena right now?"
"I'm just curious." She shrugged casually.
"She left on a road trip with Bonnie to find witchy's mom." He summed up vaguely. "Supposably she has information on a spell that could help us out with our Klaus situation." Olivia nodded at his words nonchalantly whilst Damon's attention was promptly pulled by another surfacing thought. "Speaking of Klaus... he said the two of you had an interesting conversation several days ago."
"Uh, yeah," she began. "He kinda showed up at my house, being his usual self before leaving me this drawing." She remarked carelessly.
"Drawing?" Damon recited curiously, causing Olivia to nod before recalling that, if she wasn't mistaken, she still had the drawing with her and after several moments of scavenging her pockets, she managed to pull out the neatly several times folded piece of paper.
The tribrid proceeded to hand it to him, watching as he unfolded it and, concurrently, an annoyed expression washed across his features. "Seriously?"
Olivia shrugged once more before her expression of nonchalance shifted to a small smile. "You're not jealous... are you?"
Damon rolled his eyes at the insinuation, gritting his teeth. "No, I'm not jealous."
"You seem a little jealous to me." Olivia resorted, purposely trying to aggravate him.
Damon's dark gaze hardened. "I'm not jealous... not of him."
"So you admit that there is someone you're jealous of." She retaliated making him release a heavy and frustrated huff of air before his eyes flickered back to the beautiful girl in front of him, softening moderately.
"You make it impossible for me to stay mad at you, you know that." He sighed, his irritation quickly fading as he kissed her lips softly.
"So if the others are tracking down Bonnie's mother, where does that leave us for the day?" Olivia questioned the raven-haired vampire curiously,
"Well," Damon began, wrapping his arms around the tribrid's waist and pulling her body closer to his own. "We do have a murder mystery to solve."
"Exciting." She hummed back whilst he leaned in dangerously close to her.
"But for now..." he murmured gruffly before bringing his lips to hers and embracing her deeply, time slipping by as once again, they found themselves lost in each other's arms.
⏤⏤⏤⏤
"He'll be fine, Care," Olivia reassured her friend once again, speaking to the vampire over the phone whilst aimlessly wandering down the moderately busy white halls of Mystic Falls Hospital in slight boredom. "Your dad may be anti-vampire but he clearly loves you and so if helping Tyler will help you then you don't need to worry about him."
"I know it's just... he was in so much pain when I left." Caroline countered, hesitant to give in to Olivia's words. With the sudden re-entrance of her father and Tyler's desperate need to break the sire bond ⏤ even if he had to go to incredibly painful measures to do so ⏤ Caroline was now ever more so stressed than she was this morning.
"I know but it'll get easier." Olivia declared. "The more he shifts, the more ⏤"
"Wait, more? " Caroline cut her off harshly. "You mean he has to do this again? "
"Well... yeah," Olivia responded hesitantly, feeling vaguely uncomfortable answering upon hearing the distinct fear in her voice. Though before their conversation could progress, the tribrid's eyes were quickly drawn to Damon as he walked down the hospital hallway in her direction. "I've got to go but keep me updated," Olivia said, hearing a quick response from Caroline as she ended the call. "Find anything?" She asked Damon as he stopped in front of her.
"Not yet." He answered; a certain scepticism residing in his voice as his gaze seemed to be focused on something or someone over her shoulder.
Tilting her head in the direction of his gaze, Olivia's eyes were set on a relatively young female doctor, wearing a white uniform with her brown hair pulled back and out of her face. "So is that the doctor Alaric has a thing for?"
"Yep," Damon answered blandly, remembering his recent and slightly suspicious conversation with her.
"You think she's involved?"
"Possibly," Damon answered, his gaze still lingering on the doctor. "I mean her ex-boyfriend was the one murdered." He proceeded before deciding to diverge his mind from the topic as for now, this mystery was essentially impossible to solve. In an attempt to do so, his gaze moved back to Olivia, who was still watching Meredith quizzically. "What are you doing tonight?"
Olivia turned back to him questionably at the random question. "Why?"
"Well seeing as Elena and witchy are out of town, Stefan's busy with Kaus and wolf boy and vampire barbie are preoccupied with Bill Forbes... how about we do something?" He suggested, making Olivia look back at him with a strange look.
"Something as in a date?" She clarified, not even giving him the chance to respond before she continued. "Damon, I told you. I... I don't date." The word date left her lips reluctantly.
Damon rolled his eyes at how stubborn she proved to be. "Come on, we've been out before."
"Yeah, causally and publically with, more often than not, either Alaric or Stefan lingering around." She retaliated.
"Come on... it can't be that bad." He persisted. "I mean you're going on a date with me." He added with a smirk making Olivia's eyes narrow at his cocky and arrogant demeanour.
Nonetheless, she found herself sighing ⏤ not in denial but in reluctant agreement. "Fine." she eventually responded. "One date."
⏤⏤⏤⏤
Alaric threw the selection of papers down on the desk in front of Damon; allowing the Salvatore to finally get a look at the symbol the hunter had been talking about himself. Flipping through them in general boredom and disinterest, Damon's expression remained unchanged as he looked back up at the vampire hunter.
"How is this meant to prove anything?"
"The three symbols that represent vampire, wolf and witch are all combined to make this one here." He explained, pointing to the symbol marked tribrid on the photograph. "The vampire and the wolf symbol are combined to make the one we know as hybrid and so ⏤"
"For all we know, this is just Klaus trying to screw with our heads." Damon cut him off, still not buying this supposable tribrid theory, Alaric was attempting to sell to him. "Or it means something completely different."
"Well, shouldn't we assume for the worst. I mean what if a supposable tribrid is real or there's a way to create them. If Klaus figures that out..." his words trailed off.
"Look, Ric, even if tribrids are real, we're never going to find one." He reasoned quickly. "Hell, we don't even know where to look and if we don't I doubt Klaus does either ⏤ seeing as he's so concerned with his hybrids at the moment. So we have nothing to worry about." He dismissed carelessly. "Besides a tribrid? Really, Ric? That sounds ⏤"
"It sounds insane." Alaric cut him off. "The same way we felt when we first found out about hybrids."
Damon rolled his eyes at his persistence to believe in this surreal theory. "Who else have you told about this?"
"Only Bonnie but I don't know who she's told."
"Well tell witchy to keep it on the down-low." He said to the hunter before beginning to walk towards the doorway of Alaric's apartment. "We have enough things to worry about already."
"Where are you going?" Ric asked, trailing behind the Salvatore curiously.
"I have a date," Damon answered smugly.
"A date?" Alaric repeated in mild disbelief. "You convinced Olivia to go on a date with you?" He asked before his mind took a different route and he immediately altered his question. "Hold up, since when do you go on dates in general?"
"Since now," Damon answered blandly, pulling open the door before disappearing from the apartment block, leaving Alaric to close the door behind him with a heavy sigh.
"Damon and dating." Alaric murmured in perplexity. "Those are two words I never thought would go together."
⏤⏤⏤⏤
The black-winged dart left Olivia's fingertips, hurtling towards the dartboard strung up on the wall of Mystic Grill, narrowly missing the board and hitting the black frame encircling it, causing it to ricochet backwards and bounce to the floor. "God, I can't land a single one." Olivia murmured.
Damon appeared behind her moments later. "That's because you're not holding it right." He whispered gently in her ear, his lips brushing past her earlobe as he handed her another dart. Their so-called date had been going well so far; dare Olivia say it, she was having a good time. After hanging around the pool table and getting some drinks, they'd retracted to the back of the Grill to tackle the dartboard which Olivia proved physically unable to land a dart on.
Damon was simply attempting to decipher if she was genuinely terrible at darts or if she was actually attempting to hit people due to her growing boredom ⏤ that's how extensively bad her aim was.
The raven-haired Vampire then placed one of his hands gently on her hip, the other moving to help her position the dart correctly and aid her in throwing it correctly at the board, landing a hit on the edge of the bullseye. Olivia smiled in brief success before turning around to face Damon who looked back at her with a sense of sincerity in his ocean eyes.
"Thank you." He expressed genuinely.
"For what?"
"For giving this whole date thing a chance." He answered. "And for pretending that you can't play darts."
Olivia and Damon both laughed at those words. "I just thought your ego needed a little boosting." She retorted playfully. "How did you know anyway?"
"It was obvious, Liv." He replied simply. "Not only were you exaggerating how terrible you were a little too much, but you're... well, you."
"Yeah, you're right there's nothing I can't do," Olivia returned cockily. Lie. She thought. There's one thing I can't do. I can't fall in love.
"Oh, I never said that." Damon interrupted her thoughts with a tone of amusement.
"But you were thinking it." She mused with a hint of a smile playing on her lips.
"Actually, I was thinking about the long list of things that Olivia Campbell can't do." He smirked, making Olivia laugh lightly.
"Please, enlighten me." She continued to play along with his charade curiously.
"First off, she can never admit when she's wrong ⏤ which is a lot, by the way." He began, making Olivia glare at him faintly.
"You and I both know that's not true." She denied his words but Damon ignored her and continued.
"She also can't go five minutes without voicing her opinion." He added in retaliation to her last comment prompting the tribrid to hit his arm playfully. "Or using violence." He added, mocking an exaggerated pain in his arm which Liv rolled her eyes at. "She also can't take dangerous situations seriously and always brings sarcasm and humour into everything." He added, his list beginning to take a turn. "And even in the worst-case scenario, she can never seem to hold back that beautiful smile that always ends up on her lips." He added.
Involuntarily, the corner of the blonde's mouth upturned despite her efforts of restraint.
"There's the one," Damon commented, wearing a smirk and making Liv look to the ground, blushing ⏤ why the hell was she blushing? She never blushed. The vampires simply lifted his hand and tilted her chin back up so her eyes met with his. "She also can't be around me without driving me crazy and can't touch me without making me want to kiss her and can't seem to prevent that everyone wants to be around her because of the light she brings wherever she goes." He told her; his words were drenched in emotion and sincerity.
"She also can't resist being a complete badass and saving the day and our asses twenty-four seven." He added making them both laugh before he went on. "And she can't leave her house without at least ten guys drooling over her ⏤ only one of every ten has enough balls to approach her." He paused, gazing down at the vibrant smile that tugged on the corners of Olivia's lips, wondering how he got so lucky ⏤ she was beautiful and smart and funny and snarky and sarcastic and confident and amazing and he had no idea how a girl like her existed and how she just so happened to choose him; damaged and broken.
Unbeknownst to him, Olivia felt the exact same way. After all the pain she'd caused him, she didn't deserve his warmth and light and comfort. She didn't deserve the happiness and bliss he brought her. He was too good for her. He was gorgeous and protective and charming and arrogant ⏤ in the best way possible ⏤ and funny and... and he was him. He was honest and open and wasn't hiding behind his problems or true intentions like everyone else.
"But most importantly," Damon continued as he held the girl securely in his arms. "She can't look at me the way she does without making shivers run down my spine or my body feel like it's on fire. She can't kiss me without making my feelings for her grow stronger; without making me want to tell her that I ⏤"
Damon's words were abruptly cut off by the obnoxious ringing of his phone. Sighing in frustration and annoyance, he immediately answered the call as an oblivious Olivia listened in similarly. "What?" Damon asked blandly, listening to the voice on the other end of the line before his eyes widened significantly. "You've got to be kidding me."
⏤⏤⏤⏤
Klaus had managed to get his coffins back.
On Bonnie and Elena's trip to find Abby ⏤ the Bennet witch's mother ⏤ things didn't quite go according to plan and when compulsion came into play the Original managed to sway the pair into revealing where they were. Luckily, Damon was informed before the Original arrived at the Ancestral Witch House and thankfully, whilst he may not have had the time to move all of the coffins, he managed to transfer the most important one to a secure location.
Klaus, however, had been able to retrieve the other three boxes containing his lost family members; all the coffins were recovered by the Original with the exception of the one he wanted the most. The one which was magically sealed by a powerful spell and so far presumably impenetrable. However, Damon hadn't returned Klaus's family to him without leaving him a gift and that gift lay in one of the three coffins Klaus retrieved ⏤ no longer daggered but fully conscious; alive.