Humanity 3 "The Renewal"

Chapter 18

ASHLEY'S POV

I make my way up to Ric's apartment to check in on him. Now that he moved back to his apartment, I need to make sure that he's okay by himself. I decided to bring him some coffee and breakfast too.

I knock on the door and it opens right away. "Morning sunshine." Damon smiles at me and I keep a straight face. He better not think that I'm letting everything go.

"How's Alaric?" I ask shortly as I try to step into the room.

He steps in front of me, blocking my path. "Indecent. But fine." Damon says.

"So then, does that mean there were no issues last night?" I ask with a frown.

"Nope. Slept like a baby, woke up Alaric. No headlines about dead council members." He smirks.

"Then why do I feel like you're hiding something from me?"

"Well, maybe because you're being all paranoid and control freaky. What'd you bring me?" He takes the bag of food from me. "Oh, chocolate muffins. You know what they say; a way to a psycho killer's heart is through his stomach."

With each joke and tease that Damon makes I find myself falling back into his trap. He hurt me. I'm not forgetting that easily. Not this time.

"They're not for you." I say strongly as I take the bag back from him.

"Fine. Keep convincing yourself you're still mad. But sadly, Ric's gonna have to miss Ashley time today. You know lockdown and all." He says like he can read my mind.

"Just take it and give it to him and tell him that I miss him, okay?" I say as I hand him the bag again.

"With pleasure."

"Please." I add and he smiles as he starts closing the door.

"Have a great day, thanks for coming by."

"Damon..." I start but he shuts the door. Something is definitely up.

DAMON'S POV

I shut the door and walk over to Ric and Stefan in the kitchen as I place the bag of food on the table. I listen to Ashley's footsteps as she leaves the building.

"Walking down the stairs...opening the front door...and she's gone." I narrate and look at Ric.

He nods and lowers the saw onto the Wickery Bridge sign. It's time to make some weapons.

"These needs to have a sharper point." Stefan says as he hands me a stake.

"I got it." I grab a knife and whittle it down.

"We finally have our own stakes to kill an Original. I'm not gonna miss because you can't whittle." Stefan says to me and I roll my eyes.

"I said I got it. Stop micromanaging."

I look over at Ric who has turned the saw off. He grabs his jacket and pulls it over his shoulder. "Looks like you guys have got this under control. I'm gonna call the Sheriff." He says and I exchange a look with Stefan. "I want to turn myself in."

"No you don't." I say, shaking my head.

"I have a homicidal alter ego. Unlike some people in this room, I would like to take responsibility for the people I've killed." He says strongly.

"If you wanted to turn yourself in, you wouldn't be saying it out loud. Just saying." I shrug.

"Hey, listen, out of all the people you cannot psychoanalyze me." He snaps at me. "I killed Caroline's father. I nearly killed Meredith. Everything's changed."