Wayward Hearts: Book 2

Part 34

"She's the calmest desiccating vampire I've ever seen. I remember when you starved me down there for three days. I would've wept at your feet for an orange peel," Damon crossed his arms as he looked in on an emotionless Elena who was staring at the ceiling of the cellar.

"She isn't going to beg for food," Emma shook her head.

"Begging means desperation, emotion," Stefan agreed with Emma, "she's still in no-humanity zone."

"How hungry does she have to be before we can torture some feelings back into her?" Damon asked.

"A lot hungrier than now apparently," Stefan shrugged.

Emma grinned, "I'll happily make her blood boil and practice some of my magic on her."

Stefan shot Emma a disapproving look, "You could go too far."

"And don't forget you have that whole ash touch thing," Damon reminded her, Emma rolled her eyes, "so what do we do in the meantime?"

The trio had walked back upstairs to find Katherine standing at the fireplace.

"Maybe I can provide a little excitement?" She offered.

"Katherine," Stefan greeted her, completely exasperated.

"The one and only," she said proudly, "sort of...so when is the welcome home party?"

"Wow, look who went and got bold. Last time I checked, Klaus was plotting your eternal demise," Damon looked displeased as Kathrine helped herself to his liquor cabinet.

Katherine shrugged, "Well it doesn't matter anymore, because Klaus is gone."

"Wait, what?" Stefan looked at her shocked, "What do you mean he is gone?"

"Let's just say that werewolf girl, Hayley, turned out to be just the thing we needed to get Klaus out of our lives, for good," Katherine smiled knowingly, but all of them knew that she would keep her secret closely guarded until it was convenient for her to reveal it.

Emma ignored Katherine's game and grabbed her school bag.

"Where do you think you are going?" Damon asked her.

Emma looked at him like it should have been obvious, "Uh, school, I've missed a ton of it."

"Caroline covered for you, but I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty sure she kept your grades just below her's so you couldn't overtake her valedictorian status," Damon chuckled lightly.

Emma smiled and grabbed Damon's hand, pulling him along with her, "Come on, I need a ride."

Damon sighed but followed behind her, happy to see her so perky after so long. He could remember every moment of her misery from the past few months and he swore to himself that he would never let her feel that way again.

Emma happily hopped into her place in the passenger's seat, as soon as Damon was on the driver's side he reached over and took her hand, pulling it over onto his lap. He couldn't hide his smile as he felt Emma's hand in his as he drove her to the school.

"I'll be here as soon as you get out," he promised her.

Emma leaned over and kissed him softly before getting out of the car. She almost skipped into the building in her bliss. By lunch she was still on cloud nine.

"Emma," a deep almost sultry voice called her name behind her, she turned to see Elijah.

She raised her eyebrow at him curiously but walked over to him, "Hello Elijah, I heard Klaus is out of town, possibly for good this time."

Elijah turned his head to the side in surprise at her knowledge before a light bulb seemed to click in his head, "Katerina."

Emma nodded, confirming her source.

"I'm headed down there now to find out who is making a move against my family. I'll either stop them or help them...depending on my mood."

Emma laughed slightly, "We both know your loyalty is too strong Elijah."

"To a fault it would seem," he smiled at her.

"So what are you doing here? Saying good-bye?"

"I uh...wanted to see you. Make sure that you were all right after everything Silas had done."

Emma cocked her head to the side and smiled up pitifully at Elijah, "I know you really want me to be a reincarnation of Alice, but I'm not."

"I know Emma. I'm sure you can understand the draw after so many centuries of not seeing her face. Photographs weren't exactly a thing back then."

"Go take care of your family."

Elijah nodded, "Good-bye Emma."

"Good-bye Elijah, good luck; if you need extra fire power, you know where to find me, but that offer only extends to you," Emma smiled softly at him.

Elijah bent down and kissed her cheek softly, "Of course."

Just as he had promised, Damon was there, leaning against the hood of his car when the finally bell rang and all of the students came pouring out of the school. Emma's heart fluttered when she saw him and she walked quickly into his waiting arms, she leaned against him as he slid his hands into the back pocket of her jeans.

"I can't even begin to tell you how much I missed this," Emma said before kissing him.

"I'll murder any son of a bitch who tries to take you away from me again," Damon promised.

As they had always done, Damon held Emma's hand on his lap as he drove them back to the boarding house. While she had been at school, Damon had moved all of Emma's belongings back to their rightful places in his bedroom. He was excited to show her his labor of love. When the entered the boarding house he picked Emma up and whisked her upstairs and set her down in the middle of his room.

"What do you think?" Damon grinned, proud of himself.

Emma looked around, her shampoo was back on the rack in the shower, all of her cloths were folded neatly in the dresser and hung up in the closet, and her family photo was set up on the table on her side of the large bed. She turned to Damon and threw her arms around him, pulling him close to her, he wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her hair, breathing in the wonderful sent of her.

They had both expected that when Damon got his memories back that it would be hard on both of them to try and act as if none of it happened, but it had been as easy as breathing to get back to where they had left off. It was like the past months had never happened, all of the cruel things done and said were just a crazy nightmare.