01. The Return

Hearing noise coming from the kitchen, both Aria and Elena went to go check and see who it was, but seeing the sight infront of them left both the girls in shock, John was on the floor of the kitchen, with his fingers chopped off and a deep knife wound in his stomach.

Elena and Aria quickly ran over to John, both girls had to stop them self from gagging after seeing John's chopped off fingers, Aria quickly grabbed a towel and placed it on John's bleeding wound.

"Elena, call 911" Aria ordered, while trying her best to stop John's bleeding.

Elena nodded, she grabbed her phone and quickly dialed 911, both the girls not realising that Katherine Pierce was standing right behind them, watching both girls with immense interest.

"911, what's your emergency?".

"Hi, I need an ambulance to 2104 Maple Street" Elena said, her voice very shaky.

"Behind you" John whispered, gaining the attention of the two panicked girls.

"What?" a confused Aria asked.

"Behind you" John repeated.

Both Elena and Aria gasped and quickly turned around, only to see no one behind them..

"Stay here" Aria ordered Elena, while she grabbed the bloody knife from the floor and got up and started going in the direction John pointed at.

Aria walked into the living room, she looked around and tried to find who was in the house when suddenly she felt someone run behind her, Aria quickly turned around but once again saw no one.

Aria proceeded to walk back into the kitchen, when suddenly the front door slammed shut, for a second Aria froze in fear, but suddenly she remembered something, "Jeremy" Aria whispered.

Aria quickly ran up the stairs and hoped to god whoever this vampire was, they hadn't gone to Jeremy.

"Jeremy!" Aria yelled, running into Jeremy's room, "Jeremy".

When Aria entered Jeremy's room, she saw Jeremy laying on his bed, with his eyes closed, immediately horrible thoughts started entering Aria's mind.

"Jeremy!" Aria yelled, jumping on Jeremy's bed and trying to wake him up, "Jer, please wake up!".

Suddenly, Jeremy let out a gasp and opened his eyes.

***

Stefan stood outside the Gilbert house, where he saw the paramedics take John to the hospital, he tried to enter the house, but one of the deputy stopped him.

"He's okay" Elena said, standing on top of the stairs.

After the deputy let him in, Stefan quickly ran upstairs with Elena and towards Jeremy's room, where both Aria and Jeremy were.

Aria was leaning against the door, trying to process everything that had happened tonight, with Damon nearly dying, Caroline's accident, the attempt to murder on John, and Jeremy trying to kill himself, it was all becoming too much for her.

"What happened?" Stefan asked, running into Jeremy's room.

"Apparently, Anna gave Jeremy some of her blood and then he took some pills in order to kill himself" Aria said, her mind still have trouble accepting the fact that Jeremy tried to turn into a vampire.

"He looks fine, but then again, so do you" Elena said, extremely stressed out, "So I just--I don't know".

"Come here, look at me" Stefan ordered, grabbing Jeremy's face and looking into his eyes.

"No, I'm fine, I feel exactly the same" Jeremy protested, struggling in Stefan's grip.

"Should I call a paramedic up here? What should I do?" Elena asked Stefan, ignoring Jeremy's protest.

"No" Stefan said, looking at Jeremy's eyes, "He's fine".

"You mean, I'm not a vampire?" a disappointed Jeremy asked, "Damn it".

"Just shut up Jeremy" Aria snapped, "Do you have any idea what you were about to do, did you even once stop and think about what your decision would have done to me and Elena?!".

"Did you hear about Anna? What happened to her tonight?" Jeremy snapped back, standing up from his bed, "She's dead".

"Yes we heard Jer, and we are sorry for your loss" Aria said, "But that give you no right to take such a huge decision without consulting me or Elena first, okay forget me, I'm an outsider, but Elena, she's your sister, then you wonder why we hid all this from you in the first place!".

"Jeremy, Jeremy, come here, sit down" Stefan ordered, ending Jeremy and Aria's glaring competition, and forcing Jeremy to sit on his bed, "I am very sorry about Anna, but it's very important that you listen to me right now, with every passing moment Anna's blood is leaving your system, if you tried to kill yourself right now, you could really die", Stefan slapped Jeremy, "Hey, do you understand me?".

"Stefan" Elena warned.

"Yeah, I understand" Jeremy whispered.

"Good" Stefan said, finally leaving Jeremy.

"What about the pills he took?" a worried Elena asked.

"He didn't take enough to die, so Anna's blood actually healed him of that" Stefan explained.

"Miss Gilbert?" A policeman said, knocking on the door.

"I'll be right there" Elena said.

"Well if Jeremy's fine, we need to go to the hospital" Aria said, her mind going back to her best friend and really hoping she is fine.

"But Aria--".

"No, no, Aria's right, I'll stay here with Jeremy, you both go" Stefan assured a worried Elena.

"No, I don't need a babysitter" Jeremy protested.

"Your recent behaviour says otherwise" Aria snapped, shutting Jeremy right up.

***

"Bonnie!" Aria yelled, running over to the Bennet witch at the hospital, Elena right behind her, "How's Caroline, she's okay right, what are the doctors saying, can I see her?".

"Aria, Caroline is really weak" Bonnie said, giving the Connor witch a sympathetic look, "They don't know if she's gonna make it".

"What do you mean, they don't if she's gonna make it?" Aria snapped, glaring at Bonnie, "She's Caroline bloody Forbes, of course she's going to make it, she has to Bonnie, if she doesn't then I don't know what I'm suppose to do without her".

"I know Aria, I know" Bonnie said, hugging Aria and letting her cry it out.

"Is there something that you can do? A spell or something?" Elena asked Bonnie, as she knew Aria was in no state of doing magic right now.

"She doesn't know how" Damon said, walking over to the trio, a frown coming on his face seeing Aria's devastated face, "Do you?".

"No, I don't" Bonnie replied, glaring at Damon.

"No, you don't, because it took Emily years to learn a spell like that" Damon taunted.

"Yeah, well, I can take down a vampires, that spell was easy to learn" Bonnie retorted.

"Guys stop" Aria snapped, "This is not the time to be taunting each other, right now we need to think of a way to save Caroline, I'm not losing my best friend".

"I can give Caroline some blood" Damon suggested.

"No, no way" Elena protested.

"Just enough to heal her, she'll be safe in the hospital, it'll be out of her system in a day, she'll be better" Damon told Aria, completely ignoring Elena.

"Do it" Aria said, she didn't care about the risks, she just wanted her best friend back.

"Aria no, it's too risky, I can't agree to that" Elena protested.

"Well no one's asking you Elena" Aria snapped, "This is Caroline we are talking about, I'm not letting your stubbornness cost us her life".

"Aria--".

"Aria's right, Elena" Bonnie interrupted, she then turned to Damon, "Do it", Elena looked at Bonnie in shock, "Elena, this is Caroline, okay? We can't let her die, do it Damon".

"If I do this, you and me, call a truce?" Damon asked Bonnie.

"No, but you'll do it anyway" Bonnie replied, "For Aria".

Aria and Damon both looked each other, Aria gave Damon a small nod and went to go check up on Caroline with Bonnie, leaving both Elena and Damon alone.

"So, are you going to tell Aria or me?" Damon asked Elena, getting straight to the point.

"Tell Aria what?" Elena asked confused.

"About what happened tonight" Damon snapped.

"Damon, Aria already knows" Elena replied.

"She does?" Damon asked shocked.

"Yeah, me and her found John together" Elena revealed.

"John?" Damon asked, now extremely confused.

"Yeah, one of the tomb vampires got into the house and almost killed John" Elena said.

"What? What--? When? What are you talking about? After I left?" Damon asked.

"You were there?" Elena asked confused.

"Come on Elena, don't play dumb, you know I was there" Damon said, glaring at Elena, who was confused with Damon's cold behaviour towards her.

"When were you at the house?" Elena asked.

"Really?" Damon asked annoyed, "Earlier? On the porch? When you decided to betray your best friend?", Elena looked at Damon in confusion, "When you kissed me Elena, while I was telling you about my feelings for Aria".

"Okay, I don't have time for this Damon" Elena snapped, trying to walk away, but Damon held her hand, stopping her.

"Hey, if you wanna forget it happened, fine, so do I, but you need to tell Aria about what you did" Damon snapped.

"Elena? I came as soon as I got your message" Jenna said, walking over to the duo before Elena could say anything, "How's John?".

"Where have you been?" Elena asked Jenna.

"At the Fire Department, I had to fill out a report" Jenna said, "I told you earlier, I--".

"No, you didn't" Elena interrupted.

"Yes, I did" Jenna stated.

"No, Jenna, you didn't" Elena said, annoyed with people saying she did things she has no memory of doing.

"Yes, I did" Jenna said, pretty confidently.

"Oh" Damon said, realising something, "Mm-mm, you gotta be kidding me".

Elena and Jenna looked at Damon in confusion, but he ignored them and went to go check up on Aria, he needed to make sure she was safe, especially since it seems like Katherine Pierce is back in town.

***

After seeing Caroline at the hospital, and after Liz promising Aria multiple times that she will call her as soon as Caroline wakes up, Aria, Damon and Elena went back to the Gilbert house, entering the house, the trio was shocked to see Stefan on the floor, and from the looks of the living room, it seemed like they had just missed a fight.

"Stefan?" Elena asked confused.

"Elena, Aria" an out of breath Stefan greeted.

"What the hell happened here?" Aria asked, looking around the messy living room in confusion.

"Katherine happened" Damon realised, shocking the two girls.

***

"Did she say what she wanted?" Damon asked his brother.

Currently, Damon, Stefan and Aria were in the kitchen, talking about Katherine and her motive in coming back to Mystic Falls, while Elena was upstairs filling Jeremy in on everything.

"No" Stefan replied.

"Woman certainly knows how to make an entrance" Damon said.

"She said she fooled one of us at least, what does that mean?" Stefan asked Damon.

"She pretended to be Elena too when I showed up earlier tonight" Damon revealed.

"I told Jeremy" Elena said, walking into the kitchen, "I can't lie to him anymore".

"You all right?" a concerned Stefan asked Elena.

"No, I'm not all right, I thought that, with all the tomb vampires gone things would get better" Elena complained.

"Instead, they have gone even shitter" Aria said, looking down at her hands that were shaking, Aria didn't know if her hands were shaking from all the anger she had or the fear she felt.

Seeing Aria's shaky hands, Damon quickly grabbed her hand in his, and gave it a reassuring squeeze, Aria looked at Damon and gave him a small smile, and laced her fingers with his, a sense of comfort falling over both of them.

"Katherine was in this house" Elena said, "That means that she's been invited in, what are we gonna do?".

"Move" Damon said nonchalantly.

Aria let out a small laugh, "Not helpful vampy".

"Katherine wants you dead, there's zero you can do about it, you will be dead" Damon told Elena, "But you're not, so clearly she has other plans".

"Right, we need to find out what those other plans are and not provoke her in the process" Stefan said, looking at his brother.

"Damon Salvatore not provoking anyone, that's kind of impossible" Aria teased, making Damon roll his eyes playfully.

"What happened tonight when you thought she was Elena?" Stefan asked, finally asking the question that has been bugging him ever since Katherine showed up.

"To risk another frown line encroaching on a very crowded forehead, we kissed" Damon revealed.

Aria looked at Damon in shock, she couldn't believe that Damon had kissed Katherine thinking she was Elena after Aria told him about her feelings, Aria quickly removed her hand from Damon's grip and stepped away from him.

Damon looked at Aria, to see her looking back at him with a heartbroken expression on her face, "Aria it's not--".

"You thought it was me?" Elena interrupted, before Damon could explain to Aria as to what had happened.

"What do you mean you kissed?" Stefan asked, glaring at Damon.

"I mean what it sounds like Stefan" Damon snapped, annoyed that the boyfriend girlfriend duo wouldn't let him explain things to Aria.

Stefan quickly went to charge at Damon, but Damon already predicting that, dodged him.

"Don't be obvious and just listen to me" Damon snapped, "When I say we kissed, I meant she grabbed my face and forcefully kissed me".

"What?" Aria asked confused.

"Ria, I was here for you, to talk to you about what happened in the fire" Damon explained, "And then Katherine came, and I thought she was Elena so I started talking about what I feel for you to her, then out of no where she kissed me, that's why at the hospital I was so cold towards Elena, I thought she betrayed the one person who has stuck by her through think and thin".

"I mean, that would explain why you were being so rude to me" Elena said.

"I would never kiss Elena" Damon said, looking at Aria, "She's not the girl I want to kiss Ria, and you know that".

Aria looked at Damon wide eyed, she didn't know what to say to him, luckily before she could say something Elena interfered.

"Forget all this guys, we don't have time for this" Elena said, "John must know something, there has to be a reason why Katherine tried to kill him".

"She's Katherine" Damon snapped, "She loves to play games and you're fooling yourself if you think you're gonna find what she's up to".

"I mean, I'm all for it to call it a night" Aria said, "I'm exhausted".

"No actually, Elena's right, John could know something through Isobel", Stefan turned to Elena, "Your mother was in touch with Katherine, so maybe we can go to the hospital, get him to talk".

"I'm going to have to pass on that" Aria said, "No offense but if I see John's chopped off fingers one more time, I will vomit".

"I've got a better idea" Damon interjected.

"Care to say to it?" Aria asked.

"I'm just gonna ignore the bitch, see you" Damon said.

"For once, I agree with Damon" Aria said.

"Is that smart?" Elena asked, looking between Damon and Aria.

"If Katherine thinks she's being ignored, it'll lure her out, she'll make a move" Damon explained.

"Yeah? Then what?" Stefan asked.

"Stake her, rip her head off, something poetic" Damon replied, "We'll see".

"I'll help" Aria said.

 "Of course you will" Damon said, giving Aria one last smile before walking away.

***

Next morning, the first thing Aria wanted to do was go to the hospital and check on Caroline, Bonnie offered to pick her and despite how mad Aria was at Bonnie, she accepted her offer, because of Caroline's condition, both the friends had put a pause on their fight and instead decided to put their full focus on their blonde best friend.

"Matt" Aria said, gaining Matt's attention, who was also at the hospital.

"Hey guys" Matt greeted the two witches.

"You look like crap" Aria observed, causing Matt to let out a small laugh.

"You been here all night?" Bonnie asked.

"Yeah with the sheriff" Matt informed.

"I would have stayed but Liz didn't let me" Aria said.

"And I agree with her decision" Matt said, "No offense Aria, but last night you looked like you went to hell and back".

"I think I did" Aria said, making Matt and Bonnie look at her with sympathetic smiles, both knowing Caroline's condition scared Aria the most, maybe even more then the sheriff.

"So no one else was here?" a curious Bonnie asked, wondering if Damon gave Caroline his blood or not.

"Stefan's brother, Damon, stopped by late last night" Matt informed, making Bonnie and Aria look at each other, they knew exactly why Damon was here, and both the girls hoped his blood did the trick.

"Is Care okay?" Aria asked, almost scared of Matt's answer.

"See for yourself" Matt said, leading the girls into Caroline's room.

Entering the room, both the girls started smiling when they realised their friend was finally awake.

"Care" Aria whispered, tears welling up in her eyes seeing her best friend awake.

"Jersey Shore is on" Caroline said, smiling seeing her two best friends, Aria ran and hugged Caroline tightly, "Oh, careful, still a little sore".

"Sorry, sorry" Aria said, breaking the hug, "I'm just really happy seeing you awake, don't you ever scare me like that again Care, understood?".

"Yes captain" Caroline said, giving Aria mock salute, "Don't worry about me Aria, they say I'm healing really quick".

"My turn" Matt said, kissing Caroline.

"Aw, isn't he cute" Caroline gushed breaking the kiss, but frowned seeing Aria crying, "Why are you crying?".

"I thought I was going to lose you" Aria confessed, wiping her tears.

"Oh please, remember Aria and Caroline promise?" Caroline asked, grabbing Aria's hand and making her sit on the bed, "We promised each other, that no matter what we will never leave each other, ever, so how could you think I would leave you".

"I was scared" Aria whispered.

"Come here" Caroline said, hugging Aria, "I promise I'll never you Aria, never ever".

"I love you" Aria cried.

"I love you more" Caroline said tightening the hug, while Bonnie and Matt watched the pair with a fond expression on their faces.

***

When Aria was in the hospital with Caroline, she received a message from Damon that his picking her up to go to the Lockwood Mansion, Aria agreed as she herself wanted to go give her condolences to Tyler and Carol, which is how, both Damon and Aria ended up at the Lockwood mansion, talking to Carol Lockwood and the Sheriff.

"I wanna know exactly who's responsible for killing my husband" Carol snapped.

"I'm looking into it, but you have to be straight with me" Liz said, "Is there any reason Richard was affected by the vampire device?".

"What are you implying? That he was one of them?" Carol asked, a hint of disgust in her voice.

"No, no, no one's implying that" Damon interrupted.

"Your deputies screwed up, plain and simple, which makes you responsible" Carol told Liz, completely ignoring Damon.

"Wait hold on" Aria tried, but she also got ignored.

"Your husband is the one who helped John Gilbert execute his idiot plan in the first place" Liz snapped, tired of being blamed for something she had no control over.

"Liz--".

"Someone got my husband killed" Carol interrupted Damon.

"We're all on edge here" Damon said, finally getting the chance to speak, "You've suffered a great loss, the whole town has, but we have to stick together, okay? Trust each other, we'll get through this".

Both the ladies nodded, and Aria gave Damon a small smile, happy he managed to get control of the situation before it escalated.

***

After the talk with Carol and Liz, Aria left to go find Tyler, she finally found him by the front door.

"Tyler".

"Aria, hey" Tyler said.

"I wanted to pay my condolences and also ask how you're doing" Aria said.

"I'm fine" Tyler replied quickly.

"You sure?" Aria asked, all to familiar with shutting her feelings out when her biological and adoptive parents had died, "Because you know, it's okay to not be okay".

"I don't think my dad will agree with you on that one" Tyler said.

"Doesn't matter" Aria said, "I just needed you to know that it's okay to not be okay, and if you ever feel like you need to talk to someone, I'm here, I've been in your situation before and I know it sucks having all these people say they're sorry for your lose despite not even knowing your family properly".

"That's nearly everyone here" Tyler said.

"Yeah I know" Aria said, looking around and being met with so many unfamiliar faces.

"You're a really good friend Aria" Tyler said, genuinely grateful of the young witch.

"I'm always here for you Ty" Aria said, giving the Lockwood boy a small smile.

Suddenly both Aria and Tyler's attention went towards the driveway, where a huge black truck pulled over, and out came a young man.

"Is that--?".

"Mason" Tyler finished, walking over to Mason with Aria, "So the black sheep returns".

"Tyler?" Mason said, his eyes then darting over to Aria, "Aria?".

"Yeah" Tyler said, while Aria simply nodded.

"What happened to you both?" Mason asked.

"What do you mean?" Aria asked confused.

"In my mind, both of you were twelve years old" Mason said.

"Well that's two years older then the last time you saw us, Uncle Mason" Tyler said.

"Come here" Mason said, hugging Tyler.

"Good to see you man" Tyler said, breaking the hug.

"It's good to see you too" Mason said, he then turned to Aria, "It's good to see both of you".

"Welcome back home Mason" Aria said, giving Mason a smile, really glad he was back, now Tyler won't be alone.

***

"Who's the guy with Carol?" a curious Damon asked Liz.

"His name is Mason Lockwood" Aria said, walking over to the duo, "He's Tyler's uncle, Mayor's younger brother".

"Is he on the Council? Like John Gilbert was when he rolled in?" Damon asked.

"He's nothing like John, for one, he's not an ass" Liz said.

"That, I can agree with" Aria said.

"He's not a believer either, he wants nothing to do with the council" Liz informed, "He's too preoccupied finding the perfect wave".

"Hmm" Damon said, looking at the young Lockwood in suspicion.

After Liz walked away, Aria faced Damon, "I know that look on your face Damon, that's your I'm suspicious of that guy so I'm going make his life hell look".

"You know me so well Ria" Damon teased.

"Damon, don't doubt Mason, I've known him since I was a kid, when Bonnie and Elena used to have girly sleepovers together, Mason used to take me, Tyler, Matt and Caroline out fishing, he is a nice guy, and he's here for Tyler, don't do anything to ruin that, understood?".

"Understood" Damon replied, but both Damon and Aria knew, no matter what Aria said, Damon wouldn't stop until he knew for sure, that the new guy wasn't a threat to him or the people he cares about.

***

Damon and Aria were at the dining table, trying the various foods when Bonnie walked over to them.

"Did you know the Gilbert device affected Tyler Lockwood?" Bonnie asked the duo.

"What?" Aria asked shocked, "I thought it only affected his father".

"Don't you both wanna know why?" Bonnie asked.

"Yes Bonnie, we would love to know why a non-vampire was tortured by the vampire torture device that you let John Gilbert use against us" Damon taunted, "Speaking of your guilt, how's Caroline?".

"She's much better" Bonnie replied.

"You're welcome" Damon teased.

"No, you're welcome" Bonnie snapped.

"Why am I welcome?" Damon asked confused.

"You lived to see another day" Bonnie said, "I know what you are Damon, you might have Elena, Aria and the sheriff and everybody else fooled, but not me, one wrong move and I'm gonna take you out".

"Now you need to stop with the witches' brew, you're starting to believe your own press" Damon said, "And if you kill me, then you're going to have to face Aria's hatred, tell me Bonnie, what's more important to you, your friendship or your hatred?".

Bonnie gave Damon a mock smile, then suddenly Damon clutched his head in pain.

"Oh, I'm sorry" Bonnie said, stopping her magic, "You were saying?".

"Okay children, cut it out" Aria snapped, standing between Bonnie and Damon, "I swear you guys argue like five years old, this isn't the time or place to be having this conversation, Bonnie, I know your apprehensive when it comes to Damon, but I promise he won't harm a innocent person, hell he hasn't harmed a innocent person in a very long time, I know asking you to trust him is a huge thing, so I'm not asking you to do that, I'm asking you to trust me, trust my judgement".

Bonnie looked between Damon and Aria and after a moment nodded and left both of them to themselves.

"You know, you said I won't kill another innocent, you never said I will stop killing overall" Damon observed.

"Telling you to stop doing something will just encourage to do it more" Aria said, "I'm not going to lie, I'm all for you killing the bad guys, but not the innocent ones".

Damon smiled at Aria, "Strawberry?" Damon asked, holding out a strawberry for Aria.

"Gladly" Aria said, grabbing the strawberry.

***

Damon and Aria were standing at the Lockwood's porch, looking at the various people coming in and giving their condolences to the Lockwood family.

"Hey Damon" Aria said, finally breaking the peaceful silence, "I wanted to ask, how are you doing?".

"Great Aria, walking on sunshine, thanks for asking" Damon said sarcastically.

"Damon".

"Ria".

"Damon come on, talk to me, I thought we were close enough" Aria said, "I really wanna know how your doing with Katherine's return".

"You want to know how I'm doing Ria, then listen, I'm fuming" Damon snapped, "I was at the porch waiting for you, I was waiting for us to have our epic moment, but then that bitch came and once again ruined everything".

"What did you want to say to me?" a curious and hopeful Aria asked, "Why were you waiting for me at the porch?".

Damon stepped towards Aria, leaving almost no space between the two, "I think we both know why I was there Ria".

"Why don't you say whatever you wanted to say, right now?" Aria asked, really wanting Damon's answer.

Damon tucked a stand of hair behind Aria's ear, really enjoying this impatient Aria, "I could, but what's the fun in that?".

Aria pushed Damon away from her, making him laugh, "You're a dickhead Damon, here I'm dying to know your answer, but you're too busy teasing me, I don't want to talk to you anymore, just get lost".

Aria turned to leave, but Damon quickly grabbed her wrist and pulled her back into him, "You want to know, then listen, last night, after the fire, I wanted to let you know how much I--".

"Aria!" Bonnie yelled, running over to Damon and Aria and interrupting their moment.

Seeing Bonnie there, Aria quickly separated herself from a now annoyed Damon, "Bonnie, what's wrong?" Aria asked, seeing her friend's worried face.

***

"Tired to track her, but she's gone" Damon said, walking over to Stefan and Elena with Aria.

Apparently, Katherine Pierce has been walking around disguised as Elena, she tried to go after Bonnie but Stefan managed to save her, and before leaving Katherine ended up stabbing Stefan in the stomach, which is why Elena was now cleaning the blood from Stefan's wound.

"Cover up Salvatore" Aria said, closing her eyes after seeing Stefan's wound, that due to his animal diet, was healing awfully slow.

"Yeah, you got a crazy ex on the loose" Damon teased, he turned to Elena, "Better watch out, looks like Katherine's trying to steal your guy".

Elena looked towards Stefan with a worried expression on her face, "That's not what's happening" Stefan assured.

"Isn't it?" Damon asked, enjoying this situation way too much.

"I'm gonna go check on Jenna and Jeremy" Elena said, wanting to leave the brothers alone with their issues, "Let me know when you guys are done".

"I'll stay here, you know, just in case" Aria said, she didn't want the brothers to get into a fight infront of everyone here.

"Katherine's gonna try to play us against each other, you do know that right?" Stefan asked Damon, after Elena left.

"Brother, don't you worry, our bond is unbreakable" Damon mocked.

"Damon, right now is not the time to be joking, Stefan's right" Aria said, "You both need to sort everything out between you two and stand united against her, that's the only way your going to outsmart her".

"Damon, I know you feel something for you Aria, you actually care for her" Stefan said, "Please don't let Katherine come in and destroy that part of you that is finally, after all of this time, willing to feel something, she'll try to break you, she'll try to break us, and how we respond to that will define us, it's our choice, no matter what happens Damon, don't let go of the part of you that cares of Aria, loves Aria, because that's the only thing that's going to help us fight Katherine".

After Stefan left, Aria and Damon turned to each other, both speechless.

***

Damon entered the Salvatore Boarding House and immediately started pouring himself a drink, he needed it after his brother's words, he was also frustrated that once again he was about to tell Aria his true feelings but once again something got in the way.

Damon grabbed his drink and started making his way upstairs, when something caught his eye, or should he say someone.

"Very brave of you to come here" Damon said, turning to face Katherine, who was sitting on the couch.

"I wanted to say goodbye" Katherine said.

"Leaving so soon?" Damon asked.

"I know where I'm not wanted" Katherine said.

"Don't pout" Damon said, "It's not attractive in a women your age".

Katherine scoffed, "Ouch".

Damon downed his drink and slammed the glass on the table, he then turned to leave, but Katherine quickly blocked his way.

"What, no goodbye kiss?" Katherine asked.

"Why don't I kill you instead?" Damon snapped, "What are you doing here?".

"Nostalgia, curiosity, etcetera" Katherine replied, shrugging her shoulders.

"I'm better at the enigmatic one lines Katherine" Damon said, "What are you up to?".

"Well if you're so curious, then let me tell you, I came here to see you fall in love with another Connor witch, what is it with you two brothers and your obsession with the Connor bloodline" Katherine taunted.

"I don't believe you" Damon spat.

"Trust me Damon, when I'm up to something else, you'll know it" Katherine said, stepping closer to Damon, "Come on, kiss me, or kill me, which will it be Damon? We both know that you're only capable of one".

Katherine went to kiss Damon, but Damon quickly pushed her away, he went to turn around, but Katherine quickly came and pushed him to the ground.

"My sweet, innocent Damon" Katherine said, caressing Damon's chest, "Do you know how much it hurt me seeing you love that Natalie, if she was not in the picture then it would have been just me, you and Stefan".

Damon quickly flipped Katherine over and held her in a choke hold, "Get one thing straight in your mind Katherine, I'm not Stefan, I've never been in love with you, not then, not now, not ever, so these little tricks of yours, they won't be working on me, go find someone else to bother".

Damon got off Katherine and stood up, Katherine also followed, "Isn't this cute, Damon Salvatore loyal to Aria Connor, tell me Damon, does Aria know about Stefan's love for her?" Damon stayed quiet, giving Katherine her answer, "Oh deary me, I wonder what will happen when Aria finds out, spoiler alert Damon, you're not going to be her first choice".

Damon turned around and glared at Katherine, "Just shut up Katherine!" Damon yelled, "Aria loves me, not Stefan, I'm her first choice and not Stefan".

"You're her first choice till she finds out about Stefan's love, I bet you, if Natalie was aware of Stefan's love for her, then she would have also left you for him, because face it Damon, it's always going to be Stefan" Katherine taunted, knowing all to well that she was getting under Damon's skin, "At the end of the day, all you will have left is poor old me".

After filling Damon's head with doubts, Katherine walked away, leaving a shocked and slightly scared Damon Salvatore behind.

***

After using her bathroom, Aria entered her room, she gasped seeing Damon sitting on her bed, with the polaroid of them in his hand.

"Damon, you scared me" Aria said, "What are you doing here so late?".

"Just doing my part in the neighborhood watch" Damon said nonchalantly.

Aria frowned seeing Damon's devastated face, "Is everything okay?".

"Katherine came over" Damon revealed.

"Katherine?" Aria asked shocked, "What did she want?".

"To fill my head with doubts, which by the way, she succeeded in" Damon confessed.

"What kind of doubts?" Aria asked, sitting next to Damon.

"Aria, if both me and Stefan were in love with you, who would you choose?" Damon asked, deciding not to tell Aria about Stefan actually being in love with her.

"What kind of stupid question is that?" Aria asked, surely Damon knew her answer.

Damon looked at Aria, then suddenly stood up, "So she was right, you would pick Stefan over me, hell if Natalie was alive she would have also picked Stefan and not me, because it's always going to be Stefan".

"Damon hold up" Aria said, standing up and making Damon face her, "Is that what Katherine told you, did she tell you I would pick Stefan over you?", when Damon didn't say anything, Aria got her answer, "God Damon, how could you even think I would choose Stefan over you, maybe Elena and Katherine will, hell maybe even Natalie would have chosen Stefan, but me, I would choose you in a heartbeat, because I am in love with you Damon, not Stefan, but you, I thought me going into that burning fire for you proved that".

"You would choose me?" Damon asked, a sense of vulnerability in his voice, the kind that only comes out when his with Aria.

"Of course I will, never doubt that, I love you Damon" Aria confessed.

"Say it again" Damon demanded, "Say that you love me again, please".

"I love you Damon Salvatore" Aria repeated, "It will always be you Damon, only you".

Damon smiled at Aria, the doubt that Katherine had created in his mind was immediately gone with Aria's words, Damon cupped Aria's face in his hand and smashed his lips on to her's, thus marking the new beginning of Damon and Aria's relationship.

***

Presenting 2x01 of Cold Hearted!

How was the chapter?

Thoughts on Aria and Elena seeing John's injured self?

Thoughts on Aria being worried about Caroline?

Thoughts on Aria meeting Mason?

Thoughts on Damon and Aria finally confessing their love for each other?

p.s. just thought to clarify, Damon didn't snap Jeremy's neck, that was Damon and Elena but this is Damon and Aria, this is their different yet unique story, so no neck snapping here.

Published: 21st November 2020
Edited: 3rd January 2025