07. Do You Remember The First Time?

Aria woke up from her sleep when she heard one of the triplets crying, taking a deep breath, Aria got out of her bed, and as soon as she stepped out of her room, she was met with Damon in the living room, trying to stop Asher from crying.

"Shh" Damon whispered, walking around with Asher.

"Hey" Aria greeted, very much liking the scene infront of her.

"Hey" Damon greeted, giving Aria a smile, "Did Asher's cries wake you up?".

"Yeah" Aria replied, "I think he's hungry, I'll make his bottle".

Damon nodded, and followed Aria into the kitchen, both the vampires realising that Asher stopped crying when he was in the company of both his parents.

"So, can we talk about the thing we avoided talking about last night?" Damon asked, breaking the peaceful silence.

"Which is what?" Aria asked, pretending to be oblivious, but she knew exactly what Damon was talking about.

"I know Alaric eternal sunshined our relationship out of your brain, but please, please tell me it's coming back, or at least part of it" Damon pleaded, "Because imagining this exact moment, of me and you, in our own little world, with our children, being all domestic, is what got me through the last few months".

Aria sighed, "When I saw you for the first time at the border of Mystic Falls, when you were dying, I did feel something" she admitted, "And then when you walked through that door last night, I didn't have any memories of you, but it felt right being here with you, if that makes any sense".

Damon smiled, "It makes perfect sense" he said, breathing a sigh of relief, "I missed you so much".

"I'm sorry" Aria said, handing Asher's milk bottle to Damon.

"What for?" Damon asked confused, as he helped Asher drink the milk.

"For forgetting the memories we shared together" Aria replied, "Those weren't just my memories, they were ours, and I'm sorry for removing them".

"I would be lying if I said you forgetting me didn't hurt" Damon said, "When I found out, I was hurt, a lot, but eventually reality sat in".

"What reality?" Aria asked confused.

"That you and I have gone through much worse" Damon replied, "But despite everything we have gone through, you and I always come back to each other, so even though you have no memories of us, I believe that I have it in me to make you fall in love with me all over again".

Aria looked at Damon, "That so?" she asked amused.

"That so" Damon replied, just as Aria's phone, that was placed on the counter beside Damon buzzed.

"It's a message from someone called Noah" Damon informed, grabbing Aria's phone, "Saying he won't be able to meet you today".

"Dammit" Aria whispered, grabbing her phone from Damon and texting Noah back.

"Whose Noah?" Damon asked, trying his best not to sound like a jealous boyfriend.

"A vampire" Aria replied, "A vampire who seems to know a lot".

"What?" Damon asked confused.

"It's a long story" Aria replied.

"I have time" Damon said, just as Alec started crying.

"Well, I don't" Aria said, walking over to the nursery.

"Aria" Damon called, wanting to know more about Noah.

"Damon" Aria teased.

"This isn't over" Damon said.

"Never said it was" Aria retorted.

Damon watched Aria's retreating figure with a small smile on his face, even without her memories it seemed like slowly but surely they were falling into their old habits.

"Your mother is crazy" Damon told Asher, who was staring at his father, almost like he understood every word that came out of the oldest Salvatore's mouth, "And to be fair, so your is father, so match made in heaven, right?".

As Damon said that, Asher let out a giggle, causing a smile to spread across Damon's face.

"I know I missed quiet a few months with you three, but I promise to never leave you guys ever again" Damon whispered into Asher's ear, just as Aria came out of the nursey with Alec.

"Look whose diaper you get to change" Aria said.

"Excuse me?" Damon asked.

"For the past four months, I've been changing all of their dirty diapers, now that you're back, it's your turn" Aria replied, "So give me Asher, and you take Alec".

Damon rolled his eyes, but a small smile formed on his face, "Fine" he said, handing Asher over to Aria and taking Alec from her, "Like I told your brother, you guys have a crazy mother" he whispered to Alec, knowing fully wear Aria heard everything.

Aria glared at Damon's retreating figure, she then turned to her oldest son who was twirling a strand of Aria's hair in his tiny fingers, "Your father likes to make baseless accusations, learn to ignore them".

"I heard that!" Damon yelled.

"Keep your ears to yourself, Salvatore!" Aria yelled back.

"Can't do that!" Damon said, "Also, how the hell do you change a diaper".

"Oh, god" Aria mumbled, amusement evident in her voice, "Let's go help your father out Ash, or god knows what he will make your brother wear".

***

"So you felt something?" Caroline asked, as her, Aria and Rebekah walked in the Whitmore campus, with the triplets at home with Damon and Kol, who to his delight, finally got to meet the kids.

"Yeap" Aria replied, "But I don't know if it was love".

"Then what was it?" Rebekah asked confused.

"I don't know, it's a feeling I can't put a name to" Aria replied.

"Then it's love" Caroline said.

"I don't know what love feels like anymore" Aria mumbled.

"Sure you do, it's what you feel for Damon" Rebekah said.

"But I don't remember him" Aria argued.

"Then give him a chance" Caroline said, "Give him a chance to make new memories with you, to make you fall in love with him all over again".

"I'm trying" Aria said, "But it's not as easy as you guys think".

"No one said it was going to be easy" Rebekah said.

"Exactly" Caroline said, "Look Aria, you're an awesome mother, you're even thinking about coming back to school, all you're missing in life is an epic love".

"Which just so happens to be Damon" Rebekah added.

Before Aria could say anything, Noah ran over to the three girls, "Aria" he greeted.

"And that's our que" Rebekah said.

"What? No!" Caroline said, wanting to make sure Noah doesn't try anything with her sister.

"Come on Caroline, you need rest, you're about to pop out a baby" Rebekah said, grabbing Caroline's hand and dragging her away.

"Don't try anything funny with her!" Caroline yelled.

"I'm sorry about her, she's slightly overprotective of me" Aria laughed.

"Slightly?" Noah asked amused.

"I mean can you blame her?" Aria asked, "You're kind of shady".

"Ouch" Noah said sarcastically.

"Am I lying?" Aria asked.

"No" Noah admitted, making Aria give him a sarcastic smile.

"So, are you here to tell me how you know about me?" Aria asked.

"You're the first and used to be only tribrid Aria, everyone in the supernatural community knows about you" Noah replied.

"Used to be?" Aria asked confused.

"Well, now your kids are also tribrids, kind of, I mean they will be full tribrids once they turn into vampires" Noah rambled.

"Noah, how the hell do you know about what my kids?" Aria asked, wondering if the person infront of her was a threat to her kids or not.

"Relax" Noah said, seeing the murderous look on Aria's face, "I don't mean you or your children any harm, I just have a thing for Connor witches".

"Thing for Connor witches?" Aria asked shocked.

"Yeah, I get how creepy that sounds" Noah replied, "I meant, my first love, she was a Connor witch, and ever since her, I've been very invested in the Connor bloodline".

"First love?" Aria asked curiously.

"Natalie" Noah informed, shocking Aria.

"What?" Aria asked, not sure if she heard Noah correctly.

"Her name was Natalie Connor" Noah informed, "And I was in love with her, when I got turned, she was the one who helped me, and then she disappeared and a few years later I found out that she died".

"Noah, when were you turned?" Aria asked.

"1850" Noah informed.

"Wow" Aria whispered, "So you're ancient?".

Noah chuckled, "Something like that".

"Wait, then what are you doing at a college?" Aria asked confused.

"Becoming a doctor" Noah replied, "It's the one profession I never got to be successful in".

"So you're a vampire nerd?" Aria asked amused.

Noah laughed, "Yeah, I guess I am" he replied.

"Wait, so when you met me, did you know who I was?" Aria asked.

"I had seen your photo" Noah admitted, "It was in a book, called The Stories Of The Connor Witches, written by someone named K.M, in that book your name was Ariana and it said that you died but were going to come a thousand years later".

Aria knew the book Noah was talking to about, she had found the book in Isobel Flemming, her aunt's, office, it was a book written by Kol, while he was waiting for her to come back.

"Wow" Aria whispered, "This is a lot of information".

"I know" Noah said, "So you have till the hospital fundraiser tonight to let everything set in".

"Fundraiser?" Aria asked confused.

"Yeap" Noah replied, "And guess what? You're my date to it".

Aria looked at Noah in shock, "Uh no I--".

"Oh, would you look at that, I have to get to class" Noah interrupted before Aria could say no, "See you at the fundraiser".

Noah turned to leave, but he turned the last minute and placed a kiss on Aria's cheek, causing her to go wide eyed.

"See ya" Noah whispered, staring at Aria for a moment, then quickly walking away, leaving behind a shock and slightly flustered Aria.

***

"Hey Mom" Aria greeted, as she walked over to her car after speaking to Noah, "I was just about to call you, I need some advice".

"Honey, I would love to give you some advice, but there's a problem" Liz said.

Aria's eyes widened hearing the panicked tone in Liz's voice, "Mom, what's wrong?".

"Do you have any idea where Tripp Cooke might be?" Liz asked, as one of Tripp's men, pointed a gun at her head.

"Uh, I don't know, last I heard from Rebekah was that Enzo has him, why?" Aria asked, kind of scared of Liz's answer.

"Because one of his men just ran me off the road" Liz replied, shocking Aria, "And they're gonna kill me if they don't get him back".

***

"Ria, you need to calm down" Damon said, as he drove her to find Enzo.

After her mother's call, the first thing Aria did was call Damon for help, who came as quickly as he could while Kol took the triplets to Klaus and Caroline's so he could then help the duo find Liz.

"Don't tell me to calm down" Aria snapped, "Your stupid friend won't answer his damn phone, Damon!".

"Keep calling, he'll eventually answer" Damon assured.

"Every Saturday me and Caroline spend the day with Mom, but today we didn't do that because I was busy with you and Caroline and Nik decided they wanted to go baby shopping" Aria rambled, "I just wish I was with her, I would have killed those stupid dickheads!".

"Ria, please relax" Damon said, "According to the locater spell you did on Enzo, we're almost there".

"Rebekah said Enzo was going to kill Tripp in two hours" Aria reminded, "That was five hours ago, what if Tripp is dead, Damon?!".

Just as Aria said that, her phone started ringing, "Oh thank god" she said, realising Enzo was calling her, "For the love of god, please tell me you haven't killed Tripp".

"Tripp is still alive" Enzo assured, "Surprisingly torture-resistant, but alive".

Aria took a sigh of relief, "Why the hell did you take so long in answering your phone, Enzo?!".

"My fingers were covered in blood, and the touch screen wouldn't work" Enzo replied.

"Lovely" Aria said sarcastically, "Just please, don't kill Tripp, one of his guys has my mom, they are going to kill her if we don't give them Tripp back".

***

Finally, after what seemed like ages to Aria, Damon and her finally arrived at the place Enzo was torturing Tripp.

Aria banged on the metal door, in no mood for any jokes or game, "Hello, gorgeous" Enzo greeted, finally opening the door.

"Out of my way, Enzo" Aria said, entering the room Enzo was keeping Tripp, "Oh my god" she whispered, seeing Tripp unconscious, "Did you kill him?!".

"No, I did not kill him" Enzo assured, "Just a little blood loss, I think he may have an iron deficiency problem", Enzo slapped Tripp.

"Hey!" Aria snapped.

"Enzo" Damon warned, "Liz's life is on the line here so learn to have some restrain".

"Says you" Enzo retorted, he then turned to Aria, "Tell your mom I send my best" Enzo said, walking out the room, while Aria and Damon unchained Tripp.

***

Damon, Aria and Kol, who had joined the duo, arrived at the border, waiting to exchange Tripp for Liz. Both Damon and Kol tried to calm a extremely worried Aria, who they both knew would lose their mind if anything happened to her mother.

"They're here" Damon announced, as a car parked infront of theirs.

"Of course he's involved" Aria snapped, seeing Matt come out of the car.

"Come on" Kol told Tripp, yanking him out of the car.

Aria watched as one of Tripp's men, took Liz out of a car, and started walking her over to the border, a gun placed against her head.

"Mom?" Aria said, trying to run over to her mother, but Damon quickly grabbed her.

"The border" Damon reminded.

"Why the hell is my mother bleeding Matt?!" Aria yelled, seeing the bleeding on Liz's forehead.

"I'm fine" Liz assured.

"Alright idiots, let the sheriff go and have your stupid hunter back" Kol said.

"Tripp first".

Aria glared at the man who was holding on to her mother, "Don't mess with me, if I wanted to with just a flick of my hand, I will snap all your necks in half, so give me my mother, or get ready to die".

"Sweetheart, it's okay, Kol, let Tripp go" Liz assured.

Kol sighed, but nonetheless pushed Tripp over the border.

"My mother, now" Aria demanded.

The man holding on to Liz, finally let her go, allowing her to run over to her daughter.

"Mom!" Aria cried, hugging her mother.

"It's okay, I'm okay" Liz assured.

While Liz was with Aria, Tripp slowly walked over to Matt, but something seemed off, which even Matt could sense, "Are you okay?" Matt asked, when Tripp halted in his place.

"What's happening to me?" A confused Tripp asked, just as a giant slit grew across his neck and he fell to the floor in Matt's room, the other three vampires watched in horror as the hunter slowly died in Matt's arms.

"What the hell" Damon whispered.

"What the hell did you do?" Matt asked Aria, with tears in his eyes.

"This wasn't her" Damon replied.

"Enzo" Aria realised, "He turned him before we got to him".

"Genius move, if you ask me" Kol said, making Matt glare at him.

***

"This is totally unnecessary" Liz complained.

"You hit your head, you could have a concussion" Caroline said, Aria having called her.

"And me and Caroline know better then trust that you're going to go to the doctors in Mystic Falls for a check up" Aria said.

"I brought the doctor" Kol announced, entering the room.

"Great" Aria said, "We are outside, yell if you need us".

"Got it" Liz assured.

While Caroline and Kol walked over to Klaus, who was in the waiting room, Aria decided to go outside for some fresh air, the hospital environment was suffocating her.

Aria stood outside and looked up at the stars.

"You're a sight for sore eyes".

Aria turned around to see Damon walking towards her, "Hey" she whispered.

"Hey" Damon whispered, standing next to Aria.

"Did you talk to Rebekah?" Aria asked.

"Yeap" Damon replied, "The triplets are in safe hands".

"Name a memory" Aria said suddenly, confusing Damon.

"What?" Damon asked.

"Name a memory of ours that's imbedded in your brain" Aria replied, "I want to know more about our relationship".

"Hm, let's see, there's Miss Mystic Falls" Damon said, "It wasn't the first time we danced together, but it was a very special dance, Stefan had stood Elena up, blood-lust issues, surprise, surprise, and you being you, didn't want Elena to be disqualified, so you asked me to be her escort, of course I'm not an idiot, so after forcing Jeremy to help his sister, I stepped in to be your escort, sexy as hell and saved you from complete and utter humiliation, and in that one moment when we were dancing together, everyone else fell away and it was just the two of us".

"I don't remember that" Aria whispered, feeling extremely guilty, "I need you to know that I didn't erase you from my mind because I didn't love you, I erased you because I loved you too much".

Damon sighed, "That's the problem with us Aria, our love for each other makes us do stupid things".

"I want to remember" Aria whispered, "I want to remember so badly, but it's hard, I don't know how to trigger my memories".

"Maybe I can help with that?" Damon suggested.

"Go on" Aria urged.

"Do you happen to remember a motel in Denver?" Damon asked, Aria shook her head, "Oh, can't forget the night of your graduation, probably one of your best speeches, but my favorite memory of us, one that I've relived a million times over the last few months, was the night you and I reunited after one of Elena's stunts, we were walking on the road we had first met at, and while we were walking, it started raining, pouring actually, and you told me that you want me to kiss you in the rain because our love story is the cliché love story of a bad boy and good girl falling for each other, and I remember pulling you closer to me, and telling you that--".

"There's nothing cliché about us" Aria whispered, "We have a unique love story, no one can ever be us".

Damon looked at Aria in shock, "You remember it?".

"I--", Aria looked at Damon, when suddenly she felt pain shoot through her head, "Aah!" she yelled, holding on to her head.

"Ria!" Damon yelled, grabbing Aria before she could fall.

"Ugh!" Aria yelled, her head feeling like it was about to explode.

"Ria, what's happening?" Damon asked concerned.

"It hurts" Aria cried, her vision getting blurry,  "Damon, my head--".

Before Aria could complete her sentence, Damon watched as she lost her conscious and fell limp in his arms.

"No, no, no" Damon whispered, worried about Aria, he quickly picked her up in his arms and took her into the hospital.

***

Damon sat by Aria's hospital bed, waiting for her to wake up, Jo had checked up on her and said all her vitals were fine, Klaus and Kol realised Aria fainted because of her mind wanting to remember Damon but the compulsion stopping her, which in turn overwhelmed her, causing her to faint.

Suddenly, the door opened and Noah came in, he was wondering why Aria hadn't come to the hospital fundraiser tonight, and that's when Jo told him about Aria being hospitalized, so he rushed over to check on the tribrid, entering the room, he wasn't prepared to see the guy who in his mind, caused the death of his first love.

Damon looked up when he heard someone enter the room, looking up, he was shocked seeing the guy infront of him, he knew him, he was Noah Carter, when Natalie had first come to live with the Salvatores, Damon had seen a photo of him and Natalie together, Natalie didn't say a lot about him, all she said was that he was his first love, and their love story ended in tragedy, Damon assumed that meant Noah died, but seeing the man infront him made him realise he was wrong, Noah Carter wasn't dead.

"Who are you?" Damon asked, wanting to know if he was right or not.

"Noah, Noah Carter" Noah introduced, glaring at the oldest Salvatore.

"What are you doing here?" Damon asked, not liking his presence near Aria.

"Came to check up on Aria" Noah replied, causing Damon to frown.

"How do you know Aria?" Damon asked.

Noah shrugged, "She's a friend of mine".

"Well, she isn't well, so move along" Damon said.

Noah sighed, "Tell her to call me when she wakes up".

Damon gave Noah a mock smile, "Not likely".

"Relax Damon, I'm not going to take Aria from you, at least not the way you took Natalie from me" Noah said, shocking Damon.

Before Damon could ask him about Natalie, Noah walked out the room, leaving Damon to wonder if this new guy was going to cause problems for him and Aria.

***

Presenting 6x07 of The Vampire Diaries . . .

How was the chapter?

Thoughts on Noah being in love with Natalie?

Thoughts on Aria asking Damon for help in saving Liz?

Thoughts on Damon and Aria going down memory lane?

Thoughts on Damon and Noah's first meet?