A/N: I know it's been forever since I updated, but work has been super busy and sadly fanfiction does not pay the bills (if only I could write this stuff for a living!). But I promise I haven't given up on this story, so here is the next chapter. (Just to warn you, the next chapter could take a while, too. The rest of the month is looking bad - but maybe the return of the show will inspire me to make time to write.)
Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or any of the characters from the show. I do own Aedan.
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Damon flashed across the room to crouch by Aedan. He picked up a scrap of paper with Sage's phone number on it. It was a cocktail napkin, he noted absently, which just showed that Sage hadn't changed all that much in a hundred years. But Damon almost immediately turned his attention to Aedan, who was still slumped against the wall with a stake in his stomach. Pain-filled gray eyes met his.
Damon stared down at the older vampire and grasped the smooth wood of the stake. "I may be pissed at you right now, but I love you and I'm not going to leave you here staked." It wasn't the most logical sentence he had ever uttered, but logic had kind of gone out the window at this point. Aedan was lying there, bloody and broken, his eyes full of pain and regret. It was all wrong, and Damon was angry and hurt and scared – but he wasn't sure if he was angry at Aedan or Sage or both. He wasn't sure who he should be angry at. He pulled the stake from Aedan's body with one quick jerk, trying to ignore the large stain of blood soaking into his boyfriend's shirt.
Aedan groaned as the stake came loose. "I'm sorry," he said after a second of gasping to catch his breath.
Damon tilted his head. He had to ask, even though he was afraid he didn't want to know. He couldn't imagine what Sage had been referring to, but the guilt he had seen in Aedan's eyes told him that she hadn't been lying. Aedan had manipulated him in some way. "What was Sage talking about?" he asked quietly.
"It was just once, when you came back to my house before trying the spell to kill Klaus," Aedan explained. "I didn't mean to do it. It just happened."
Damon frowned. He remembered that night well, and he was certain that he had wanted to do everything that they had done. "What did you trick me into doing that night?" he asked, puzzled.
The guilt was back in Aedan's gray eyes as they met Damon's. "You were going to leave, and I didn't want you to. I pushed you to fall asleep."
Damon raised an eyebrow. "You made me stay the night?" That was it? That wasn't a big deal at all, and the obvious remorse in Aedan's eyes was rapidly burning away his remaining anger. After a moment, he said, "Not exactly the most nefarious vampire plot I've ever encountered. Sage already has you beat. Hell, Blondie might be able to come up with better than that."
Aedan smiled at that. "I'll try to do better next time," he said with a trace of his usual dry humor. "But still, I'm sorry. It shouldn't have happened."
"Maybe I'm not sorry," Damon countered. He remembered that night and the feeling of waking up in Aedan's arms. He had felt like Aedan wanted him that night in the way that Damon had always craved but hadn't quite known was even possible. And if he had left that night, maybe Aedan wouldn't have followed him back to Mystic Falls and Damon would have never seen him again. Most likely they wouldn't even have succeeded in killing Klaus without Aedan's help. "Who knows where we might have ended up if you hadn't done it," he said quietly.
Aedan met his eyes with surprise. He nodded slowly. "So we're okay?" he asked.
Damon nodded. "We're okay." He bent and kissed Aedan lightly but shook his head when the other vampire started to get to his feet. "Wait here. I'll get some blood." He headed for the basement, too tired for vampire speed.
