After going to morning classes, I decided to visit a very-human Alaric at the Whitmore Hospital. I didn't go empty handed, or alone. My arms were full of several get-well cards that a few classes had signed, flowers that I had bought for him, and two balloons from other professors. Why were they given to me? They knew that Alaric and I were friends, and a few students had an imagination that thought we were more than that. I let those stupid thoughts pass, ignoring how unimaginative they were.

   "So, you're in a relationship with Alaric that I don't know about?" Damon teased, ambling besides me. He tried to help, and in helping he only held the balloons. 

   I rolled my eyes and looked at him with an incredulous expression. "Yes, because in the past four months we fell irrevocably in love. We plan to move down to Dallas and have several children that will bear the name of our family members."

   Damon let out a sarcastic laugh and rolled his eyes, but there was amusement there. "Just how close did you two get while I was gone?"

   I arched a brow and smiled. "Jealous much?" I shook my head and looked down at the flowers in my arms, the thought of the past four months immediately downing the mood. "We were drinking buddies, Damon. I wasn't my very best while you were gone."

   "Aw, I knew I was the person that made you be a better person!" he chortled, taking a step in front of me. There was a wide grin on his face, one that I had missed so much. It felt so strange to see Damon in front of me after thinking that he was dead, stranger to actually see him smiling when the woman he loved didn't remember loving him. But, my heart swelled up when he smiled. 

   "I didn't kill anyone," I loudly said. People around us stared, and I innocently smiled. I threw Damon a glare and pushed him with my shoulder as I began to walk again. "But, I almost did. I refused to feed because I focused more on studying, on losing myself on something other than the thought that Stefan was gone and you were..."

   "Dead," he finished for me. "If you haven't noticed, Clara, I'm very much alive. I'm standing in front of you, so open those pond scum coloured eyes and look." He gave me a small smile, touched my chin with his fingers, and turned around to go to Alaric's room.

   I stared after him, a smile forming around my lips. There was a thing about Damon, that he made me feel okay even when I was feeling the worst. Part of me hated him for that, for the comfort that he brought me whenever I needed it. It was as if he knew that I needed it, and it was when he appeared.

   I took a deep breath and followed after him, entering Alaric's room. It was a private room, the window with the curtains open and a bright light coming in. I smiled at the man on the hospital bed as I laid the flowers besides the window, then handed him the cards. "You've been gone for, like, a few hours and everyone already misses you."

   "Uh, thanks," Alaric said with an awkward tone, staring at the cards in discomfort. At the sound of several things beeping, he let out a sigh and turned to look at Damon, who was playing with the heart monitor. "Hey, I don't think you're supposed to be playing with all that stuff."

   "Keep going," Damon said in annoyance, still pressing buttons. "We are on a roll. All the terrible things I did to people that Elena cared about. Let's see: I turned Caroline into my own personal blood juice box, I turned Matt's sister into a vampire, and threatened to kill Bon-Bon a couple of times."

   "More than a couple," Alaric nodded. 

   "Subjective," Damon said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Sometimes, I was being funny."

   "And you killed Stefan's best friend at his birthday party," Alaric continued. 

   Damon  pushed him back and began to play with the ophthalmoscope, looking into Alaric's eyes."Unfortunate coincidence."

   "And you snapped Jeremy's neck when Elena said she'd never love you," I said in an unamused tone. I pulled his hands away from Alaric's eyes. "Stop that."

   Damon made a face and pulled back. "On second thought, let's focus on all the charming, heroic things you obliterated from Elena's mind."

   I let out a snort. "Like what?" It earned me a glare.

   "God, if I could take it all back, I would," Alaric sighed, shaking his head. 

   "I know," Damon nodded. "And listen. Despite the fact that my long list of dastardly deeds involve killing you, I'm glad you're alive."

   "Thanks, man."

   "Yeah..." Damon tapped Alaric's shoulder, making the man wince from the pain. "Although, had you actually died a vampire instead of becoming human again, your compulsion would have gone away and Elena would be mine again." He began to play with the IV cord, twisting it around his fingers.

   Alaric pulled the cord away and glared at his best friend. "Really heartfelt. Appreciate it."

   "Now she's stuck with only evil me memories forever and ever," Damon continued, pushing buttons on the heart monitor. 

   I slapped his hand away from the monitor. "Seriously, are you a child? Stop it!"

   "Damon, if you kill me, I am dead for good this time," Alaric said. "You remember that." He pointed at the vampire, a stern look in his eyes. An annoyed Damon yanked the heart monitor from his fingers, the monitor going into a flatline. 

   "How are you so childish?" I asked with a groan, crossing my arms and staring at him with a quizzical look.

   Dr. Laughlin, who was the woman Alaric had an interest in and Elena's teacher, walking at that moment. She stopped when she saw Damon and I, a surprised look etched on her face. In a moment, she calmed down. "Good morning," she breathed. 

   "Hey," Alaric said, quickly glancing at Damon and I before turning back to her. "I don't know if this is a good time."

   "Just a heads-up, doc, you're gonna be in real high demand with a bunch of vampires who want to be human again," Damon said in both a sarcastic and hopeful tone, "if you could repeat that little healing trick that you did at the border with Ric last night."

   Dr. Laughlin stared at him with a bit of disgust. "Well, just a heads-up, but saving Alaric's life was a matter of a treatable death wound, perfect timing, and fear of losing the most interesting guy I've dated in a while adrenaline."

   "What about serious blood-loss?" I asked, surprising myself that I would even ask that. Everyone stared at me, all with curiosity. I reached for my neck, the same spot Katherine bit into when I was human, and felt just smooth skin. If I thought about it hard enough, I could feel the teeth mark and the blood seeping through.

   Dr. Laughlin looked at me apologetically and shook her head. "One-hundred percent unrepeateable," she said, then turned towards Damon, "which is why you will tell no one."

   "She's bossy," Damon hummed, turning to Alaric. "I like her." He tapped Alaric's shoulder again, causing the man to groan out in pain.

   Dr. Laughlin brushed past us and stood in front of Alaric, playing with the medical records in her hands. "Do you have a nice suit and a clean pair of socks?"

   "Uh, yeah, I think so," Alaric nodded.

   "Good," Dr. Laughlin smiled. "I'm releasing you. Hospital fundraiser's tonight. I'm making the interns go, so I need a date. I'll start your paperwork." She gave him a smile and turned, walking out of the room.

   "Looks like Ric's got himself a date," I teased in a sing-song voice, grinning at him. A faint blush, which I hadn't seen since he was human, appeared on his cheeks.

   "Hospital fundraiser?" Damon questioned. "Perfect way for me to talk to Elena, right? Great! Clara, do you have a dress?"

   I turned to him with wide eyes. "Why am I suddenly being brought into this?"

   "Because you're moping," he said, raising the corner of his upper lip in a hint of annoyance. "And, we need to have a dance that doesn't end so depressing. The last dance we had was prom; Bonnie was possessed by a psycho-witch and Elena had no humanity." He began to walk out of the room. "And, you need to have a major detox therapy from my little brother, who just can't help to keep breaking hearts."

   I rolled my eyes and turned to look at Alaric, and gave him a small smile. "I'm not going, so I'll probably see you whenever you get back to class."

   "You do know that he's going to make you go, right?" Alaric questioned, a small smile on his face. He was so happy, so humanly happy—strange but comfortable to see on him. 

   "I know," I sighed. "I'm just hoping that something happens so I won't have to go. Every dance that I have gone to has ended up being terrible."

   "Yeah," he breathed. "But, Damon's back. It's weird, you know. In a way, it felt like he never left."

   After helping Alaric organise the gifts, I walked out of the room to see Damon waiting for me with his arms crossed and whistling some tune. I let out a breath and motioned my head for him to follow me as I walked out of the hospital. The fresh air felt good, the scent of lingering death and a large supply of blood distant. I inhaled, the scent of late summer leaves overshadowing the scent of blood. 

   "What's with that question?" Damon suddenly asked. 

   I gazed at him before looking to the front gain. "What question?"

   "Blood-loss," he simply said. He took a stand in front of me to stop me from walking, eyes soft. "That's how you died, Clara."

   I took a deep breath and rubbed the nape of my neck, biting the inside of my lower lip. "What do you want me to say, Damon? Do you want me to tell you that I want to be a vampire for the rest of eternity, because that would be a lie. There's nothing more that I want than to be human."

   There was a sad smile on his face, slightly droopy. He draped his arm over my shoulder and pulled me along with him. "You want to know what's weird? I found you dead, and that was painful. But, seeing how you died was worse than that. It was a slow death, wasn't it?"

   "In and out of consciousness for as long as I remember," I said, my focus faltering. "All I knew was the pain and that I was dying, and there was nothing I could do. You know, you were the last thing that ran through my mind before I died."

   A snort-like laugh escaped his mouth. "You're getting emotional on me, Clara."

   I pushed him with my shoulder and smiled. "You started it, Damon."

   "I know," he simply said with a shrug of his shoulders. "So, I need to know, what's happening between you and Stefan?"

   I groaned and threw my head back in annoyance. "He's your brother; I'm sure the two of you like to gossip as much as Caroline and I." When I saw his amused yet curious face, I sighed and drew my hands together behind me. "I slept with him last night—"

   "So you forgive him?"

   I scoffed. "I slept with him, but I don't forgive him for the torture he put me through the past four months." My tongue played with my teeth as I tried to figure out the words that I could say. I didn't hate Stefan, I couldn't hate him, but I could hate his actions and the way he deals with things. "You know about Ivy, and how Enzo killed her as a human and Tripp Cook killed her as a vampire. Well, Stefan was going to drop her onto me and then skip town without another word. He claims he loves me, but I don't remember love being so goddamn painful."

   Before Damon could get something out, a car stopped in front of us. Caroline got out and ran towards me, a panicked look in her eyes. She wrapped her arms around me and pulled me in to a tight hug, surprising me. I rubbed her back and let out a short laugh. "I haven't seen you in a few hours, but I missed you, too?"

   "You're okay!" she breathed. "Thank God, I thought that one of Tripp's hunters could have gotten to you because you didn't pick up your phone." She pulled away from me and glared. "Why didn't you pick up your phone?"

   "She was with me visiting Ric at the hospital," Damon said, staring down at her with a strange look. His gaze shifted towards the car for a few seconds before returning to her. "Why, what happened?"

   "Tripp's hunters took my mom," she said, the panic in her voice raising again. "They're going to kill her if they don't get her back."

   My eyes widen from surprise, and I nodded. "Okay, okay! Where's Tripp?"

   "At his abandoned warehouse," another voice answered. Stefan stood besides me, an indifferent look in his eyes. "After last night, Matt brought him there and we're keeping there until he tells us everything we need to go."

   "You shouldn't leave out that you told Enzo to kill him after two hours," Caroline said in annoyance. "Do you know how much time has passed? I mean, what kind of person sets a ticking clock without setting his watch?"

   "Hey, hey, Care!" I laid my hands on her shoulders and gave her a smile. "We're going to go to that warehouse, get Tripp, and save Liz. Have you tried calling Enzo?"

   "Duh!" she yelled, spreading her arms in front of her. 

   I raised a hand in order to calm her down. "Don't worry, we're going to get her back, okay?" I turned to Damon and gave him a big grin. I knew that Elena was more important to him than anything at that moment, so I didn't bother to ask him to come with us to save Liz. No, what he needed was the girl he loved to love him back. "Looks like you're going to be a third wheel in Alaric and Dr. Laughlin's date. By the way, when you see Elena, don't push yourself on her. If she learned to love you once, she'll learn to do it again."

   Before he could say anything, I turned and followed Caroline and Stefan to the car. Stefan was in the driver's seat, I got stuck in the passenger's side because Caroline pushed me there while she got in the back. The ride to the abandoned warehouse was quiet, until Enzo called Caroline back and said that he had yet to kill Tripp. Instead of listening to their conversation, or pay attention to the boy that drove, I kept my eyes out the window. The trees passed by with rapidness, each a different blur. 

   We arrived at the small abandoned warehouse at night. Instead of speaking to Stefan or commenting, I brushed past him and hurried to the front door. I knocked three times and leaned back with my arms crossed, waiting for whomever to open the door. 

   Enzo opened the door and gave me a small crooked smile. "Hello, gorgeous."

   "Hello, handsome," I breathed as I brushed past him. Tripp was passed out on a chair, tied down with metal chains. "Whoa..."

   "What did you do to him?" Caroline snapped, turning to look back at Enzo.

   "Oh, he's fine," Enzo said as he walked over to us. "Just a little blood loss. I think he may have an iron deficiency problem." He slapped the hunter without hesitation.

   "Knock it off," Stefan said. "Her mother's life is on the line."

   Enzo stopped walking and turned to him. "Hang on. Just so I'm clear, all Caroline had to do to get you to treat her with a modicum of respect, is to stop paying attention to you? And all Clara had to do was sleep with you? Is this how it works?"

   "Shut up, Enzo," I sighed, rolling my eyes. 

   Caroline began to untie the chains. "Did he really need three chains?" she asked, glaring at the vampire. "I mean, who is this guy, the Hulk?"

   "Well, I didn't restrain him," Stefan said, shrugging his shoulders. 

   "No, but you let your sidekick Enzo do it because what could go wrong when you team up with your sworn enemy?"

   "Stop," I said, shaking both my hands and my head. "I don't care how much you hate Stefan right now, Care, but I need you to tolerate him if you want to get your mom back. Enzo, why don't you just take a trip somewhere far, huh?"

   "Why don't you come with me, gorgeous?" he teased, his lips quirked up into a smirk. 

   I gave him a sarcastic tight lipped smiled. "Tempting, handsome, but I'm busy."

   "You have my number, Clara." He winked, and then turned to Caroline. "Tell your mom I send my best." He walked out of the warehouse, slowly, ambling with no importance in his figure. 

   I took a deep breath and turned back to Caroline and Stefan, seeing both of them staring at me with strange looks. "Are we going to save Liz or are we just going to stand here?" Before they could answer, I stepped towards the hunters and broke the chains. "Come on."

   Instead of making Caroline sit in the back with Tripp, I made her sit in the passenger's side while I sat in the back. I kept my arms crossed, eyes focused out the window, the same way I sat when we were coming from Whitmore. When we arrived at at the border of Mystic Falls, I leaned against the car with Caroline, eyes focused on the invisible barrier that would kill me if I passed it. The memories of last night ran through my head: the former shape of Katherine's teeth on my neck, the pain when she ripped skin, the blood that absolutely ruined my clothes and still stained part of the asphalt, the knowing that I was going to die. 

   "They're here."

   I blinked several times to see a car pulling up to the border. Matt got out of the driver's side, blue eyes wide and a bit afraid. From the passenger's side, a boy who looked to be the same age as Matt. He was the one that opened the back door and pointed a gun at the figure. Liz slowly came out, arms tied behind her back.

   "Mom?" Caroline moved closer to her, eyes wide with fear, heart beating faster.

   "Caroline, stop!" Matt warned. "The border."

   She stopped and looked at her mother. "You're bleeding? What'd you do to her?"

   "I'm fine," Liz nodded. 

   "Okay, let's do this," Matt said, glancing to the two sides. "Let her go, and you can have him."

   "Tripp first," the man with the gun pointed at the sheriff ruffed.

   "Let her go or we're going to feed from you," I threatened, taking a stand besides Caroline and glaring at him. My words seemed to have an effect on his face, but his stance didn't waver.

   "Clara, it's okay," Liz said. "Stefan, let Tripp go."

   The hunter was pushed across the border, a smug look on his face as he ambled towards Matt and the man. The man pushed Liz towards us. Caroline immediately embraced her mother, a look of relied washing over her features. It was moments like those when I missed my own mother, where my heart ached for one last embrace from her. But, I pushed those thoughts back and smiled. 

   "Are you okay?" I heard Matt ask. I turned my head to see Tripp stumble, shoulders hunched over as if he were ready to throw up. 

   "What's happening to me?" he breathed. A huge slice suddenly appeared on his throat, causing the man to choke on whatever words were to come out. He stumbled to Matt's—who was horrified—arms.

   When the hunter took his last breath, the boy with the blue eyes turned to us. "What the hell did you do?" He wore anger like a shirt, clinging to him.

   "Wasn't me," Stefan replied. His voice didn't sound bothered or angry, just there. There was barely any emotion. "Enzo must have turned him into a vampire before we got there."

   "I'm sorry," Caroline breathed, shaking her head. "I'm so sorry, Matt." She pulled her mother towards the car, a frown on her eyes. 

   There was a part of me that wanted to cross the border and help Matt, because at that moment he looked like a small boy that needed help more than anything. He looked like a boy that needed someone to hug him and tell him all would be okay. The hatred and the anger in his eyes said it all. He shook his head and stared down at the body of the hunter, the anger growing. No wonder he hated vampires.

   Stefan dropped us off at the Whitmore hospital. He waited outside while Caroline and I took Liz to get checked. She kept refusing, but being the caring daughter that she was, Caroline kept pushing.

   "This is totally unnecessary," Liz said, glancing from me to her daughter. "I'm fine."

   "You hit your head," Caroline emphasised. "You have a concussion, and I know better than to trust that you're going to take yourself to a checkup back home."

   I let out a small laugh and shook my head in amusement. "I'm going to go," I said. "I have a big test and I seriously need to study."

   "It's weird hearing you talk about studying," Liz said, but she was smiling. "But, it's nice. How are your studies going?"

   "They're good," I nodded, a strange feeling passing through me. "I haven't compelled any of my professors, so the grades I'm getting are honest."

   "That's great," Liz chuckled. She turned to her daughter. "Sweetheart, could you at least check and see how long the wait is gonna be?"

   "Gladly," Caroline breathed, turning and walking away with a smile.

   Liz turned to me at that moment, a small smile on her lips. "Thank you," she simply said. 

   "For?"

   "For taking care of Caroline," she said. "For being there for her when I can't be. Believe it or not, Clara, you are family. That means we should all be there for each other."

   "I will always be there," I smiled. I moved closer to her and wrapped my arms around her, giving her a gentle hug.

   Liz chuckled. "You may be older than me, Clara, but sometimes you just look like an ordinary nineteen year-old." When I pulled away, she gave me a small smile. "Go home and study, okay? I want you to pass that test."

   Caroline arrived with the nurse at that moment, and I walked out. My heart was beating wildly, the words that Liz said stuck to my head. I realised why there was a strange feeling inside of me when Liz smiled. Liz Forbes, the sheriff of Mystic Falls, reminded me so much of my mother. Her smile, her hugs, even the simplest words were so much like my mother. I wanted to cry, but I pushed them back and walked out of the hospital. Stefan stood by his car, legs crossed and arms inside his pockets. At the sight of him, I rolled my eyes. 

   "Clara, stop!" he said, walking over to me. "Stop!"

   "What?" I asked, turning to him. "What is it, Stefan?"

   "Why are you like this towards me, huh?" he asked. "After last night..."

   "We slept together!" I said, nodding. "I know, Stefan, we slept together. So what? I don't forgive you for everything that you've made me go through these past four months."

   Stefan stared at me, eyes slightly wide and mouth slightly open with shock. He sighed and avoided eye contact. "Clara, please just talk to me. Tell me why, tell me how can you stop hating me."

   "I don't hate, you Stefan!" I yelled, the tears that I had been pushing back finally pushing through. "I don't hate you for walking away; I don't hate you for mourning Damon; I don't hate you for being the biggest jerk in the world, but I can't accept your apology. Not know."

   He nodded, finally his eyes colliding with mine. "But, you do hate me."

   I wrapped my arms around myself and held my lips tightly together as they shook. "Yeah," I nodded, my voice breaking. "I do hate you, because if I don't hate you for ruining our relationship, then I have to hate myself for ruining it. I think I deserve better than that, Stefan." I turned around and walked away, hugging myself tighter, pushing the thoughts of turning around and running back to him to the back of my head. If I looked back, I would shatter.

a/n: endgame for clara: damon, stefan, or someone else? please explain why bc this would help me so much!!