Luckily Damon was able to get into his room undetected, closing the door quietly behind him and then leaning his back against it. Using his enhanced hearing he listens to see if he can hear the familiar patter of Katherine’s heels clacking across the hard wood floor, but he doesn’t. Relived that she isn’t coming in for round two he pushes himself from the door entering his room more. If there was one thing that still hadn’t sunk in for Damon it was everything that surrounded him. Part of Damon wondered if all these objects around the room were actually there, or if they were all a figment of his own imagination. Everything was perfectly intact, because if he was to walk over towards his closet and open it he’d be greeted to trousers, Sunday clothes, formal clothes, undergarments and any other traditional clothing that a person would find in this era. Walking over towards his bed he seats on the end of it half scoffing because it wasn’t even close to being as comfortable as his bed back at the Boarding House. A four poster bed that Damon had specially constructed for him, the bed big enough to the point that it could have its own zip code. That wasn’t the best part of it though, because the best part of that bed was it had contained memories of all the times he’d fall asleep and wake up to the love of his life, Elena Gilbert. This bed however held different memories, haunting memories of his relationship with his beloved Katherine.

Speaking of Katherine what was she doing right now? Katherine wasn’t an idiot Damon knew full well that Katherine was aware that he had returned and yet why hadn’t she coming looking for him? The question answered as he suddenly hears a melody echoing downstairs, his ears instantly perking up focusing on the tune. Damon’s expression disbelief immediately recognizing that she isn’t just playing a random song, but she is playing their song, the song she had composed for him. The melody was haunting causing a rush of memories to crash into him full force. I was a good teacher Damon had been the one to teach her to play. When Stefan and his father would go to town after they had used being alone to their advantage of making love they would escape over to the grand room and Damon would play for Katherine, he himself had actually composed a song for her. Katherine had been so entranced by the way his fingers skillfully glided along the keys of the piano and how such a beautiful symphony could echo throughout the house just by playing those simple keys. Katherine had confessed to Damon that she had always felt at piece when he would play for her. Each time that Damon played he would put his entire soul into each note, he was naked completely vulnerable to her as he allowed the music to take him over, and somewhere along the way Katherine had wanted to express exactly that. Damon’s mother had been the one to teach him to play so he had been more than happy to take Katherine under his wing to teach her.

It hadn’t surprised Damon how fast she had caught on, and it didn’t surprise him that sometimes their lessons would turn into them making love not able to keep their hands off each other. Each time Damon would push her against the grand ole piano or when she’d ride him they’d make their own and unique music as a chorus of moans sounded from each of them. The sounds of them coming together in his opinion the most beautiful sound they could create, because it had been made from their love for each other. So many memories had happened at the piano, but his favorite one hadn’t been their love sessions, no it had been Katherine giving a token of her love to Damon.

——

Like clockwork Giuseppe and Stefan had left to pick some things up in town giving Damon and Katherine sometime alone. Damon had planned to use that time wisely and that time consisted of him being inside of her. Having to see her show affections towards Stefan had caused his stomach to sink, but today he wanted to remind her why he was the better lover. Just as he was about to lead her towards his bedroom quarters he had been surprised when she had interlaced her fingers with him and leading him into the grand foyer straight towards the grand piano. Damon had expected her to ask him for another lesson, his mouth opening, but was silenced as she placed her finger to his lips just telling him to listen, and he did. Damon had listened intently his eyes falling shut so he wasn’t focusing on the breathtaking vision playing before him, but instead listening to the sounds that resulted from her playing. As he listened to the piece he viewed how the audience would view it and the first thing he felt was exposed, completely vulnerable to those around him. Some of the notes spoke such volumes to him causing a whirl wind of emotions to run through him, feeling as if he had nowhere to hide. The tempo sometimes would speed up and then drop, it was definitely having it’s affect on the eldest Salvatore. When it had hit its final note Damon found himself blinking back a tear before opening his eyes to be met by Katherine’s curious dark orbs “that was beautiful…very powerful” lips pursing together “I’m unfamiliar with this piece though I’m having difficulty placing the composer” he confesses silently scolding himself seeing as he was usually very knowledgeable when it came to music. 

Katherine’s eyes remaining trained on Damon’s baby blues the entire time, sucking in an un-needed breath “you wouldn’t know it because it’s new…..I……I wrote it for you…for us” she admits flicking her gaze down towards the ground before meeting his surprised expression. “You told me that when you play it’s your escape….I know I’m not very open about my past but you and I Damon we are similar in so many ways and I thought” having difficulty finding her words as she shakes her head “I’m foolish.”

Damon had been in complete awe of the woman seated before him. Never once had someone done something for him, let alone create a song. Scooting closer to her he places his finger under her chin, lifting it so she’s forced to meet his gaze. “Oh Katherine” he whispers framing her face in his hands before leaning in and pressing his lips softly, lovingly and tenderly to hers.

——

Lost in a memory only now returning from it Damon was surprised to find that he had left his room and was now standing in the corridor leading towards the Grand Foyer. Somehow Katherine’s playing had taken him captive drawing him closer and closer until he was standing right outside the doorway. Chancing a peak he leans over as his cobalt hues locked on her seated at the bench, her eyes closed as her fingers glide perfectly along the keys. The sound alone is enough to knock him back, but the sight of her playing, the sight of the sun cascading through the window and putting an angelic glow over her causes him to suck in a breath, not able to stop himself from doing so. Knowing that she most likely caught onto that sound he enters the room “for someone who hasn’t played in centuries you still play beautifully” announcing himself as he leans against the wall, folding his arms across his chest and not having the strength to keep his eyes off of her.

Katherine had seen her fair share of those old familiar places, upon arriving here. The night she'd been dragged from that church she had ended up outside her family home. It'd been dark, a new moon hanging above the house to illuminate it. She'd half expected this to be another reminder of her loss, the scene Damon had depicted so graphically for her as she lay on what had been meant to be her death bed. Yet instead she'd been greeted with one of the few good memories ever to occur for her here. A little girl around teen, dark curls cascading almost unkept like down her shoulders, was huddled up behind a hay bale near the barn. And while her tears flowed out of sadness, the singing that touched her ears brought a smile. For there sat her mother, next to a mini-Katherine, calming her with an old tune meant to rid her of the sadness and fear she'd felt when her father had been so harsh with her.

Seconds, minutes, hours or days, Damon wasn’t sure how much time had passed when he had made his escape from Katherine. All he knew was he had to get out and disappear for awhile. What had started as taunts and a light conversation between them had turned heavy resulting in Katherine confessing to Damon that she had lied, and that she really had loved him. The real bombshell fell though the second that Katherine had suggested they start over, that they take this as their do-over. There had been a time where Damon would have traded in his damn soul to get a second chance with Katherine, but that was then, and this was now.

Now being months later, close to five to be exact and still nothing had changed. Damon was still stuck, nowhere close to returning back to the land of the living, back to his brother, and back to Elena. Bonnie, hell he had hoped she was okay, he had hoped that she at least was at peace, because she deserved to have at least that. Katherine had been here in this prison longer than him and she hadn’t come any closer to finding a way out. Katherine had pretty much accepted that this was her fate now, and if Katherine the Survivor of all people had given up then he was screwed.

Damon hated himself that he was actually considering it, he hated himself at the fact that part of him actually wanted to give into her. What if this was it though? Death not exactly meaning ceasing to nothing but still continuing to live in one way or another was this what he was destined for?  Could Damon actually allow himself to be with Katherine knowing that he wasn’t going to make it back? If that was the case maybe in time he’d give in, but that little voice in his head, that doubt telling him what if, what if along the way his loved ones or even him and Katherine found a way to come out of this? Would Damon be able to forget everything him and Katherine had shared here?

“No” he whispers to himself as he expertly tosses a stone watching as it skips across the river, a soft sigh escaping him. No, he wouldn’t be able to leave behind his and Katherine’s time, because when it came to matters of the heart with Damon, once he loved, he loved fully, he gave his hundred percent.

Rising from the patch of grass he dusts of his jeans. As much as he wanted to be as far away from Katherine as possible he knew that was impossible, and sooner or later he’d have to face the music that music being now. Making his way out of the clearing he begins to walk, his hands stuffed in his pockets and his boots every now and then kicking at the pebbles beneath him.

It doesn’t take Damon long to arrive still having trouble accepting the structure before him as his steely blues circle around the Salvatore Estate. In the real world this massive manor was nothing but old ruins, but, and now it stood proud. It was hard for Damon to let it sink in that he was back in the 1864 era, but then again if this realm had been about regrets 1864 had been one of his biggest, because he had made so many mistakes. Katherine, that had surprised him he couldn’t understand how during her centuries of living this had been the era full of her biggest regrets. When Damon had first been brought here he had expected to be in hell, and when he saw past memories coming alive right before him he had realized he was in hell, his own personal hell, his own prison. After exploring the town he had deemed it to be a ghost town, impressed with how it was an exact replica of his home town, then again that was all thanks to his own memories. Curiosity had gotten the best of Damon causing him to walk a couple of miles until he was standing in front of the Salvatore estate, it had taken him a few moments to gather the courage to finally enter and when he had he was met with quite the surprise, Katherine.

Shaking himself out of his ravine he strolls up towards the main front door, swinging it open and crossing into the threshold of the main foyer. Steely blues glancing around to see if he can spot Katherine waiting for him, but when he doesn’t spot her he knows exactly where she is, her old bedroom. Deciding not to test the waters he heads down the private corridor leading straight towards his old bedroom quarters. Stepping inside and carefully closing the door quietly behind him hoping that Katherine hasn’t caught onto the fact that he’s returned.

Time passed differently here, she was well aware of that. Every clock she passed seemed to tick only the moment she walked by - as if mocking her. But then again; what was time in a place like hell? Just a constant reminder of all the days she had wasted never really living. Surviving didn't count. You can survive and be alive, but that's not really living.. now is it? No. Granted surviving and living and all of that were meaningless now. All there was for her, was more time to suffer.