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“Damon. Damon! Damon, look at me! Just focus on me,” Bonnie cried. The vampire's eyes shifted just slightly as his body shuddered, but Bonnie smiled in encouragement and gently turned his head toward her. “We're going to get through this.”
“Let’s go somewhere,” he rasped, quietly. “I love Stefan--,” he broke off, coughing, “but I refuse to die here.” He sank back into Bonnie’s arms with a relieved sigh. It wasn't fair that Bonnie had to take care of him, but he couldn't deny that he was grateful for her help.
“Where do you want to go?” Bonnie asked, just as quietly. Everything was driving the two of them crazy--being back in Mystic Falls, feeling helpless--both of them had joked about preferring Kai and the prison world to being home. Maybe if they got away from all of the distractions, they could finally find a way to break this curse.
“Hmm,” was Damon’s only response, and Bonnie realized that the man had drifted off. She took the opportunity to resituate the both of them so that Damon was leaning against her instead of on top of her. She knew that she should move away from him completely on the off chance that Stefan or one of their friends came in and saw them together, but her best friend needed her more than they needed to keep their friendship a secret from the others, so she’d take the risk.
So far, they had managed to keep Damon’s illness hidden from everyone as well, but things were going downhill too quickly to keep it quiet for much longer. Hence, she suspected, the road trip. That, and Damon just hated being idle.
It didn't help that Damon had absolutely refused to get the Mikaelsons involved, and she was afraid that if she waited until he couldn't stop her from asking for help, it would be too late to save him. She even understood his reasoning, even if she didn't like it one bit.
That was the thing about Damon, though. In many ways, he was irritatingly self-centered, but it was also that extreme focus that drove him to solve problems and fix things. It was obvious he loved Stefan, but he hated the way everyone seemed to prefer his little brother over him. It made him do crazy things, sometimes.
The sad thing was, that until Bonnie and Damon had spent all that time together in 1994, she had generally preferred Stefan as well.
Now, she had to wonder how much of people's reactions to Damon were a result of the curse as opposed to Damon's general abrasiveness; certainly, the interactions between the Salvatores and the Mikaelsons had suffered because of it.
It wasn't like Bonnie and Damon hadn't known that this was coming, but they had managed to push it aside in all the drama with Kai and the Gemini coven. Damon had probably been sick from the beginning, but they hadn't noticed until Kai had almost killed the both of them and Bonnie had actually recovered faster than Damon.
The only other people that might have noticed the changes were Alaric and Liz, and both of them had been busy enough with their own lives to not be focused on Damon.
Now that the most recent crisis had passed, however, people were getting back to their normal lives. Alaric was nursing his heartbreak, Liz was recovering from her health scare, Stefan and Caroline were dancing around each other, and it was only a matter of time before the Gilberts turned their attentions back to Damon and Bonnie.
Yet another reason to get out of town as soon as possible.
By now, Damon was completely limp against her, and Bonnie thoughtlessly thread her fingers through his hair as she considered possible destinations. They needed somewhere quiet where they could work and Damon could rest without being pestered.
If Bonnie remembered correctly, her great aunt had left her Grams a lakeside cabin somewhere. Missouri, maybe? After a couple of hours of research, Bonnie had found the cabin and planned out the drive. Hopefully, Damon would be able to help her pack and they could get on the road in the next couple of days.
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“Why on earth would Bonnie and Damon run off together? Did something happen while they were in the prison world?” Liz asked, perplexed. She fixed her daughter with an expectant look. “What did Bonnie say they did while they were there?”
Caroline and Stefan exchanged guilty looks. “Um, they made pancakes?”
“And?”
“Practiced magic and fought with Kai?” Caroline said slowly. “And Bonnie said they found an old video camera.”
“That's it?”
“Well, Stefan and I were kind of distracted,” she stammered, blushing, “and then you were sick, and Jo died,” she finished lamely.
“Stefan, do you want to add anything? Surely Damon told you something.”
The vampire shrugged. “Just that it was boring as hell.”
Liz sighed and grabbed her phone. Hopefully, Ric knew something. At the very least, he could help her find some answers.
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“What if one of us just needs to die?”
They were alone on the trail at the moment, so Damon felt free to speak his mind. Bonnie would probably huff at him for ruining the mood, but all this nature made him more introspective than usual, especially considering he was old enough to have been worm food a couple of times over.
Much to Bonnie’s surprise, the vampire had insisted that they stop half-way on their way to the cabin. At the moment, they were in the middle of Kentucky, staying in a gorgeous lodge in the middle of a state park, doing fun, vacation things like they had all the time in the world. She had acquiesced to his demand because she figured that they both needed the break, even if they couldn't ignore the inevitable for long.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“My parents loved Stefan, and I'm guessing that Mikael and Esther didn't give a damn, so…”
“So, what? Your parents cursed seven people just to kill you?”
“Sounds like them, doesn't it?”
Bonnie swore. Unfortunately, it did.
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It had taken less effort than Liz had expected to get Alaric to help. He had been through a lot recently, but the sheriff cracked a smile at the knowledge that the man was still willing to help his best friend.
The two of them had spent hours searching the boardinghouse for anything that would tell them where Damon and Bonnie had gone with no luck, and both of them were getting discouraged. They had already been to Bonnie's house, so if they didn't find anything here…
Liz couldn't shake off the feeling that the two of them were running out of time.
“Liz! Come here for a minute,” Alaric called from down the hall.
She found him in the closet of one of the unused bedrooms. “What is it?”
“Since when do the Salvatores take home videos?” he asked, holding up a camcorder.
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Their days since making it to Missouri consisted mostly of laying in the sun and swimming in Table Rock lake. They’d found a few new books to go through, but nothing really useful, and Damon was spending more and more of his time dozing. The vampire claimed he was just relaxing, of course, but Bonnie was starting to wonder if Damon was giving up.
“If I die, can you use your witchy juju to bring me back?”
“I thought we were trying to keep you from dying?” Bonnie looked up from the book she was reading to give him what she hoped was an encouraging smile.
“Look, Bonnie,” he set aside his book, “we've been searching for an answer for months. Even without distractions, we haven't found anything. Maybe if I die, it will break the curse.”
The witch shook her head in denial. “You were already dead once. If it had broken the curse, Stefan and the others would already remember.”
“It wasn't the curse that killed me, though,” he countered, grimacing at the look she sent him. “What if the curse actually needs a victim?”
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“So, Damon's starting having dreams about some other life. I'd say it's crazy, but nothing is impossible in our lives, is it?”
“...if there really is a curse...Damon's parents…”
“...I can't believe Damon’s parents would kill him just to keep him away from Klaus…”
“We've searched everywhere. We can't find a way to stop it. Hopefully, we'll have the time to find something when we get back.”
Liz and Ric had spent hours watching the videos that Bonnie had made from the prison world, and hadn't much liked what they’d found. Even worse, they weren't entirely sure what to do with their newfound information--Liz could admit to herself that there was a part of her that didn't want to tell Stefan.
“They're still looking for a way to break the curse, aren't they?” Ric broke into her thoughts. If possible, Liz felt even more sick than she had before they had found their answers.
“The bigger question,” he added, “is what do we tell the Mikaelsons?”
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“Tell me about the Originals, when you knew them.” Bonnie was curious, and she knew that Damon hadn't been nearly as open with her as he could have been about them.
“I wasn't close with Finn or Elijah or Kol.” He smiled sadly, lost in the memories. “Bekah and I were lovers for a while, but it was mostly for fun. She moved on to some French boy--”
“And you got to know her brother,” Bonnie teased.
The vampire shook his head. “That was later, when I was searching for Stefan. The first time I met him, I tried to kill him.”
“Of course you did,” she said.
Damon laughed and poured drinks for both of them. This was going to take a while. “The fighting is the same now as it was then. Even when we were in love, we argued about everything. Bekah thought it was hilarious..."
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As luck would have it, the Original family strolled back into town two days after Alaric found the tapes. He and Liz had watched them all, and they were more concerned than ever that Damon was in trouble. The two of them were going to do everything they could to find and help their friend, even if it meant making a deal with people that would likely kill them given half the chance.
So, if Klaus Mikaelson just happened to walk into the Grill while Ric was getting a drink? That was just fate. If the hybrid sat near him, well, Alaric considered that an invitation for conversation.
Alaric wasn't about to waste time Damon didn't have making small talk. “Do you believe in curses?” he asked.
Klaus’s expression went practically comical, and Alaric snorted into his drink as he watched the hybrid’s face settle into a show of bored disinterest with a hint of malice.
“Why,” he sneered, “do you believe you live under one? It would certainly seem so what with all the dead love interests.”
The younger vampire didn't even flinch. “I think you're under one,” he explained flatly.
“Is that a threat?”
“Nope, just a fact.” Klaus shot him a look, but the other man just shrugged and ordered them both another drink. “I have something you and your siblings will want to see.”
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“Hey, Bon Bon, do you want to use your witchy powers to catch me a farewell rabbit?”
The two of them were spending the day laying in the sun, strangely content despite the situation.
Bonnie reached across their shared blanket and squeezed the vampire’s hand. “You wouldn't be able to keep the blood down, anyway.”
“True. No need to terrorize Thumper for no good reason,” he agreed.
The two of them laughed until Damon started coughing, the vampire’s shoulders shaking with the strain. Bonnie pulled Damon to her chest before he could start coughing up blood, offering quiet reassurances of, “it's okay, you're okay, just breathe,” and petting his hair. She didn't pull away when her friend started shaking, or when he buried his face in her neck.
Finally, Damon breathed deeply and gave Bonnie a weak smile. “It’ll be over soon. I just hope Stefan appreciates the trouble I'm going through for him.”
Bonnie frowned at that. If Stefan and the Mikaelsons didn't appreciate it, Bonnie was more than willing to shove vervain down their throats until they changed their minds. She didn't say as much, but the sly look in Damon's eye suggested he got the message anyway.
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“Mom, please don't tell me you invited everyone over to watch home movies--” Caroline was already talking as she and Stefan entered the house, only to stop short when she saw all of the Originals crammed into the living room. “What's going on?”
“Ric and I have been looking into why Damon and Bonnie have vanished, and we think we found the answer.”
“What does it have to do with them?” Stefan asked, gesturing to the other side of the room where the Mikaelsons were suddenly lounging like they hadn't a care in the world.
“Really, Stefan. Stop being so childish,” Rebekah chided, rolling her eyes at the distaste on Caroline's face. “But, really,” she turned back to Liz, “we don't particularly care about the Bennett witch or Damon Salvatore, so why are we here?”
“Alaric mentioned something about a curse,” Klaus pointed out, trying to hurry things along.
“While they were trapped in the prison world, Bonnie kept a video diary. That's where we learned about the curse. We don’t have to go through them all if you don't want to...but I have a feeling you're going to want to.”
“Show us.”
“...we keep researching, but nothing yet…”
“Damon keeps making these stupid pancakes. I wonder if he ever did that for Stefan?”
“Judgy says I need to share memories, and I don't want to listen to her whine about it, so. One time, Bekah and I…”
“We won't know if the curse is already broken until we get back and we find out if everybody remembers…”
“Damon doesn't say anything to me, but I can tell he thinks he's going to die. I mean, unless we somehow forget everything that happened here when we go back, him knowing about the curse is going to kill him. And he won't tell Stefan, or Klaus, or any of the others for the same reason, so I have to find a way to save him. And then we're going to take a long vacation to somewhere with sand and fruity drinks where people aren't trying to kill us.”
“I don't remember any of that,” Rebekah breathed after they were finished. “But--” She shared a concerned look with Elijah. Klaus was staring at the television as if he had never seen one before.
“Now that I think about it, I can feel the phantom pain,” Elijah finished. “Just under the surface.”
Stefan, however, looked like he was going to be sick. “I don't understand.”
“We need to find them,” Klaus said simply, bringing himself back to the conversation.
“I think Bonnie's aunt had a place in the Midwest somewhere?” Caroline offered.
“So, what, we should just drive west and see what happens?” Rebekah sniped.
Stefan sighed. “Do you have a better idea?”
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Bonnie tapped her fingers impatiently against the counter as she waited for her morning coffee to brew, one ear turned toward the bedroom in case Damon called out for her. She threw a frustrated glance towards the bedroom and wished for the coffee maker to work faster.
Damon was exactly the same as he had been for the last twelve hours: quiet and still, so unlike the previous morning. Twenty-four hours ago, Damon had been curled into Bonnie, coughing and spitting up blood. It had been terrible and Bonnie had hated it, but this? This felt like the end.
Bonnie hadn't slept, worried that her friend would die in the night, and now she was just waiting for the inevitable. She considered picking up her phone and calling Stefan or Klaus for the hundredth time, only to stop herself at the last second. Part of her wanted them to understand what Damon was going through, and she chuckled bitterly at the realization that Damon was literally doing this so the others wouldn't suffer.
Her day was going to be awfully busy setting up this resurrection spell, so she needed all the caffeine she could handle. Most of the spell's ingredients she and Damon had picked up along the way, but the actual preparation and setup would take a while, and the witch didn't want to waste any time in case something went wrong. There was no guarantee that this spell would even work, but they had both agreed that trying anything was better than doing nothing. A few minutes later, coffee finally in hand, Bonnie checked on her best friend one last time before she got to work.
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Rebekah came awake with a gasp, everything in her body saying hurryhurryhurry until she couldn't ignore the sensation. After two days of traveling, they hadn't found Damon, but they had experienced the dizziness and headaches that marked the first symptoms of the curse. She flew down the stairs, only to realize that she was the last one up--Kol, Stefan, and Finn eating in silence while Elijah and Niklaus spoke quietly in the corner. Everyone looked as tired and worried as she felt.
“We have to go, now,” she announced.
“That's lovely, sister, except we don't know where to go.”
Rebekah huffed. “We're getting closer. I know you can feel it, Nik.”
“How can you be so calm?” she whirled on Stefan. “Bonnie is your friend, and if Damon goes feral, he could easily kill her.”
Stefan shrugged, but he wouldn't meet Rebekah's eyes. “Bonnie can take care of herself. But I agree, we need to find them as soon as possible.”
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Bonnie jerked awake to the sound of someone pounding on the door. A quick glance at the clock confirmed a mere two hours of sleep, and she groaned. She really wished that Damon was awake so that he could scare away whoever had come to visit. Of course, if Damon was in any condition to answer the door, they wouldn't have been here in the first place.
Another round of pounding roused her from her thoughts and she moved hesitantly toward the door. True, the two of them hadn't had any altercations with anyone recently, but some villain following them from Mystic Falls was unfortunately not out of the question. Bonnie took a deep breath, centered herself, and answered the door.
Stefan and the Mikaelsons stood on her doorstep.
She had to say, Klaus's glare was even more impressive than usual. Everyone one else looked varying degrees of worried, except for Elijah, of course, who looked as unflappable as ever. Despite her earlier thoughts about contacting them, Bonnie seriously considered shutting the door in their faces.
“Thank goodness you're here,” Stefan breathed, looking harried. “Where's Damon?”
“Aren't you going to invite us in?” Klaus added impatiently.
She narrowed her eyes at him. “I should just make you stand out here while--”
A small choking sound came from the bedroom, and Bonnie whirled around and wordlessly ran toward it, ignoring the shouts of the vampires behind her. In the bedroom, Damon's eyes were still closed, and Bonnie couldn't spot any blood (because there's no blood left, her mind supplied helpfully), but she eased him onto his side just in case, trying not to shiver at his ice cold body against her own. “It’ll be over soon,” she whispered to him, rubbing soothing circles she doubted he could feel into his back, “You’ll be fine. Everything will be fine.”
What seemed like a lifetime later, Bonnie went back to the front door. “Whatever you're feeling right now is nothing compared to how Damon has felt for months,” she said sternly. “We have a plan, and I won't let you screw it up. You can either do what I ask you to do, or you can go back to Mystic Falls.”
“Of course, we’ll listen,” Rebekah assured her, jabbing Stefan in the side when he opened his mouth to object.
After another few long moments of hesitation, the witch stepped aside and invited them in.
Bonnie started explaining as soon as everyone was settled in the living room, though everyone was eyeing the closed bedroom door. “I'm in the middle of preparing a very particular spell in there, so you can't go in yet,” she told them. “How did you find out about the curse?”
“Liz and Alaric found the tapes.” At Bonnie's surprised look, Rebekah added, “they were concerned about the two of you. They showed them to us.”
“Damon and I have searched for months for a way to break the curse, but whatever deal your parents made...it seems to be unbreakable.”
“We haven't managed to find anything either,” Kol stated. “But we haven't known about it for long.”
“It doesn't matter, because Damon isn't going to last much longer,” Bonnie argued. “Our only option at this point is to let the curse finish what it started and then bring Damon back.” She ignored the displeasure that whipped through the room. “That's why the spell is so important," she reiterated.
“Can we see him if we don't disturb anything?” Stefan asked. “Please.”
Bonnie glared at him, but eventually nodded. “One at a time.” She paused. “Actually, if Kol is willing to help me with the spell,” she said, glancing at the other man, “I'll be done that much quicker.”
“Of course,” the youngest Mikaelson agreed.
Leaving the rest of the group to entertain themselves, Bonnie escorted Stefan and Kol into the other room. She took the time to show Kol what she needed done before moving to Stefan.
“I can't believe I didn't notice,” he said, watching his brother's face as he hovered near the bed. “I should have been there for him.”
“Yes, you should have,” she agreed. “But, in your defense, Damon didn't want you to know.”
“Giuseppe, our father...he and Damon didn't really get along. When the Mikaelsons came into our lives, it…” He pulled his gaze away from Damon to shoot Bonnie a haunted look. “I wasn't particularly close to any of them except Finn, but Damon and Rebekah enjoyed each other's company. Then, Klaus came to town, and suddenly Mikael and Giuseppe were bonding over sons that disappointed them. I should have known that our father would make Damon suffer--”
“But he was your father, and you loved him,” she replied knowingly, and she saw Kol nod in agreement out of the corner of her eye. “Why don't you get some rest, and let someone else visit?”
Finn came in briefly, followed by Elijah and then Rebekah, who stayed even longer than Stefan and took up a running, whispered commentary to Damon while Kol and Bonnie worked.
Klaus's face as he entered the room would be burned into Bonnie's mind for the rest of her life. His lips were twisted up in a smirk, but his face was pale and his eyes were shining with tears. It reminded her of her little cousin when he had broken his arm falling out of a tree; he had puffed up and pretended to be fine even as his lip quivered with the pain. Klaus Mikaelson had that same look on his face as he looked at Damon. Bonnie glanced at Kol and noticed that he, too, had stopped working and was watching Klaus.
For his part, the hybrid ignored them. “Hello, love,” he greeted lowly, sitting on the bed next to Damon. “Who knew that all of our fights were foreplay?”
Damon, naturally, gave no response. He didn't even twitch.
“How much longer, Bennett?” Klaus asked, not looking away from the unconscious vampire.
“The spell is ready; now we're just waiting.”
“For what?”
Bonnie grimaced, glad that Klaus wasn't looking in her direction. “For Damon to die.”
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The next few hours were both awkward and dull, although Bonnie had to say that she was impressed (and still a little weirded out) by Klaus's interest in Damon. It was strange, leaving the hybrid in the bedroom with her best friend while she spent time babysitting the rest of them. Stefan split his time between self-flagellation and texting Caroline, Elijah made dinner, and Kol and Finn disappeared to who-knew-where. At least Rebekah had some interesting stories about the mischief she and Damon got into together, even if it seemed to literally pain her to tell them.
Bonnie and Finn had just finished cleaning up after their evening meal when she felt it: the first pulse of the spell, which was very shortly thereafter followed by Klaus's concerned voice calling her name.
“Bonnie, what's happening?” Klaus demanded, watching Damon's face contort in pain.
“Since everyone followed me,” she eyed the others, who were shamelessly trailing her into the bedroom, “you're going to help power the spell. Unfortunately, the fact that you're here is going to make it worse before it gets better. I need everyone to touch him.” Stefan took Damon's hand opposite Klaus with everyone else stationed randomly around the bed. “Your presences are going to make the curse harder to beat. Two things are going to happen: one, this is going to be extremely unpleasant for Damon; two, I'm going to use all of you to boost the spell. Do not stop touching him. Do not let go.”
“You said he hasn't been awake for days.” Stefan pointed out.
Bonnie smiled bitterly. “This curse was meant to make him suffer. Trust me, it's not going to let him die in his sleep.”
As if confirming her words, Damon suddenly took a gasping breath and fell abnormally still. The spell gave another, smaller pulse, and Stefan had half of a second to be relieved that the spell wouldn't be as painful for his brother as Bonnie had thought before Damon jackknifed and his body began to seize. Caught off guard, Elijah almost lost his grip on Damon's ankle before everyone moved together to try to hold the other vampire down.
After a minute that felt like forever, it stopped. A heartbeat later, the searing pain began. It started in Damon, and flowed outward to the others like water. Bonnie ignored the others' screaming and started chanting.
Five minutes later, the witch was still chanting, the vampires were still screaming, and more than one of them was slumped against the bed in exhaustion.
Klaus, however, kept staring at Damon, gripping his hand tightly but not making a sound.
Taking a deep breath, Bonnie began again, reciting the words once more as if it were her life at stake. She pushed every little bit of will into the spell until the power exploded outwards, blinding everyone and sending herself to the floor.
Ignoring the spots in her vision, Bonnie pulled herself to her feet with a small grunt and surveyed the scene before her. The vampires were lying prone around the room, unconscious. She would be lying if she said she didn’t appreciate the sight of the entire Original family at her feet and she most certainly did not take a couple (dozen) pictures on her cell phone to share with Damon later.
Speaking of which…
“Damon? Can you hear me?”
Damon's eyelids almost immediately fluttered in response, and Bonnie breathed a huge sigh of relief. She had just enough time to run to the kitchen for a blood bag before Damon groaned and opened his eyes.
“So,” he said, smiling tiredly at Bonnie, “either I made it back, or,” he glanced around the room, “this is some sort of entertaining afterlife involving my best friend beating up on the Originals. What did you do, Bon Bon?”
“Saved your butt, of course,” she said matter-of-factly before throwing her arms around him.
“What's with them?” he asked when she had finally pulled away.
“They showed up yesterday while you were out,” she smirked. “I used them to help power the spell. They'll be napping for a while.”
“So, pancakes?”
That sounded great, but…“Let’s get some blood into you first.”
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Hours later, Niklaus woke to an empty bed and panicked. His siblings and Stefan were lying haphazardly around the room, Damon and Bonnie were gone…
And then he heard familiar voices coming from the living room.
Bonnie and Damon were lounging on the sofa, watching a television show and eating popcorn. Momentarily stunned by the domesticity of the scene, the hybrid just watched them while his brain processed the situation.
“--I'm just saying that you can do much better than baby Gilbert,” Damon pointed out. “He dated a dead girl.”
“You're a dead person,” she complained, rolling her eyes.
“I'll have you know, I'm only mostly dead. She was full-on, poltergeist dead. There's a difference.”
Bonnie snorted and grabbed another handful of popcorn.
“I'm very cross with you, love.” Klaus announced finally, gliding into the room when they continued not to notice him. “I thought I told you once that you were not allowed to die.”
Damon barely had time to stand before Klaus had pulled the other vampire into his arms. Damon squeezed Klaus just as tightly, halfheartedly glaring at Bonnie as she snapped their picture.
“We're going to be overrun soon,” Klaus cocked his head toward the door, “and I have a feeling Stefan won't be letting you out of his sight for some time,” he brushed his hands down Damon's arms to settle at his waist, " so let me be the first to welcome you home,” he purred, finally smashing their mouths together.
If the two vampires noticed the telltale sound of the cellphone camera clicking again, they both politely ignored it and kept right on kissing.
(At least until Rebekah gleefully jumped on Damon's back ten minutes later.)