Who: Lexi Branson and Damon Salvatore What: The Maid of Honor and Best Man discuss party plans for Rebekah & Stefan as well as dreams. When: Backdated: Saturday, November 9th. Afternoon Where: A Resturant/Pub Rating: Mostly Family Friendly Status: Complete
Yes, Lexi was looking forward to the wedding, but she was also looking forward to Rebekah’s bachelorette party. She had started planning not long after Rebekah had asked her to be Maid of Honor and now she was extremely curious as to what Damon was planning for the bachelor party for Stefan. She figured that since Stefan was her bff she should know what Damon had planned. Yes, she knew that wasn’t the way it usually worked, but how often was the Groom’s best friend a girl who was the maid of honor? Okay, so it probably happened more than she thought, but she liked to think they had a unique thing going here.
Lexi also wanted to talk to Damon about his dreams. Her most recent one had included both Stefan and Damon and she was curious if Damon had dreamt about New Orleans yet. So, they had planned on meeting for lunch on one of Lexi’s day’s off.
Since Damon was only really off on the weekend, Saturday it was. He arrived at the little pub and grub restaurant right on time. Elena had some work to finish up for school anyway, and his lurking around was more of a distraction than a help. He also had to get started on the bachelor party, although really, that would work itself out. He did know Lexi was curious, but he wasn’t sure how much he was going to reveal just yet. He might have to make her work for it, just for fun.
He walked in, taking off his sunglasses as his eyes adjusted to the darker pub. He walked to the table and sat. “What’s going on?” he asked. Lexi had known both of them for years, although she and Damon weren’t really as close. Then again, his arguments with Stefan had put him at odds with Stefan’s friends. Now they were finally coming back together as a pretty solid group. “So you are throwing a bachelorette party. Don’t tell me there will be male strippers.”
Lexi had known Stefan and Damon for as long as she could remember, but with Damon being older, she’d never spent much time with him, but that didn’t mean they never hung around together while they were growing up. There had been plenty of Branson/Salvatore family get togethers over the years. Now that Stefan and Damon had become closer again though, Lexi had been trying to do the same thing with Damon.
When Damon arrived, Lexi smirked mischievously and shrugged, “Maybe. Are you planning on having strippers at Stefan’s party?” Stefan wasn’t the type to go to a strip club and she knew that he was bound to be extremely embarrassed if Damon really did have strippers at the party.
Damon waved the waitress over for a couple of beers, and a loaded burger, and whatever Lexi wanted. He was hungry lately, and didn’t really want a liquid lunch. This meant things were going well, without him having to explain it. He could be a very hard man to get to know, protected by his sarcasm, and ego. Other than subtle glances into the inner workings, Damon rarely revealed everything that was going on with him.
“I don’t know. Stefan says no strippers. Kol says we have to have strippers. I was just thinking of a good club crawl across Reno. Kol prefers Vegas. It’s a seven hour drive from Tahoe and one of us has to stay sober.” Of course that job could easily fall to Nic, or Finn. Damon, Kol, and Stefan were not going to be qualified to drive if Damon had anything to say about it. His brother was bowing out of the single life in style, with a wild bachelor night out. “No hookers though. I don’t think any of our girlfriends would find that too charming. That doesn’t mean lap dances are out of the question.” He raised an eyebrow. The corner of his mouth curled up in that lopsided smirk that was trademark Damon. He was definitely considering that option.
Lexi quirked a brow at Damon and shook her head, “Damon, you do know there is a difference between strippers and hookers, right?” Lexi hoped that Damon had never paid a hooker before, but she also wouldn’t exactly be surprised if he had. Yes, it was awful to think, but Damon was very unpredictable at times. “And now, I don’t think Rebekah or Elena or anyone else would appreciate that.” She sipped the drink she’d ordered before Damon arrived before speaking again, “You’re inviting Huck, right? Him and Stefan are friends.” After three years of her and Huck being together it’d be hard for her boyfriend and best friend to not be friendly. Plus, she’d be able to get details out of Huck after the party quicker than she would Stefan.
Damon rolled his eyes, taking the drink that had arrived at the table. “I do know the difference. Once gets you hard and the other actually satisfies it.” Damon didn’t have a need to pay for sex. He could take one of the women home in the pub now if he wanted that. However, Elena did have him. His attentions were on her fully, and surprisingly, he did have the ability to be faithful. “No, I don’t think they would, but Stefan isn’t really the guy who would go for that anyway.” He would be more likely to give in to that temptation.
“Huck is also on the guest list, don’t worry. You aren’t sending him as a spy, are you?” Damon was half-joking. He and Huck weren’t as close as Huck and Stefan, but they did know each other, and got along pretty well. “All the men coming in early for the rehearsals will be invited, except for the parents. That would just be awkward, although throwing a hooker at my father might be worth it.” He laughed a little at the mental image of Papa Salvatore trying to push away a hooker. “You really should trust me.”
“Just making sure. I never quite know with you.” Lexi teased and shook her head as he continued talking about hookers, “No hookers. Period. Pretty sure your father would kill you then Rebekah’s father would kill you and Stefan. I’ve heard some horror stories about that guy.” Maybe she was exaggerating and maybe she wasn’t. Damon didn’t know. “And no, I am not sending him in as a spy.” But Huck would tell her if anything unsavory going on aside from strippers. Normally stuff like this wasn’t Huck’s scene, but if it was someone he knew well, then he’d go.
“I’m pretty sure I don’t give a shit what good old dad thinks,” Damon said, taking a drink. There was a serious flicker that ran through his eyes and vanished just as quickly. He had never actually met Bekah’s father for more than a few minutes, so he didn’t have a good sense of the man, although he heard stories. “Look, the grand plan is only a bunch of guys out being loud, obnoxious, and drunk. We’re going bar hopping, maybe sing some awful karaoke, and maybe some gambling. We’ll stumble back in, and I, will keep Stefan in my suite, while I pass out with my girlfriend in the bedroom. Then we get up and marry him off, and a good time will be had by all.” The smile returned quickly enough as he finished, happy with that plan for the night. As long as they didn’t end up in jail, they should all be fine, and guilt free for the big day.
He leaned forward, crunching on some ice. “Now what is the plan for the women. I showed you mine, now show me yours.” He gave her a sweet, yet somewhat twisted smile - classic Damon.
“Nevermind your father. Your mother is the one who would murder you,” Lexi smirked, taking a sip of her drink. She had always liked Stefan and Damon’s mother a little more than their father, but both of their parents had always been nice to her, so she really didn’t have anything against either of their parents. The Salvatores were basically her second family, after all.
“Just don’t get him too drunk. If you’re doing this the night before the wedding, he needs to be sober in the morning. Pretty sure Rebekah will murder you if you bring Stefan to the ceremony hungover. And I’ll help her.” After all, what sort of best friend would she be if she didn’t help? “Well, nothing is set in stone quite yet, but I’m thinking of a trip to the spa then dinner at some fancy place then a night on the town.” Whether or not that would include a strip club, she wasn’t telling him.
“She probably would. I don’t even know why you are worried. Stefan will be perfectly fine by the ceremony. He will probably even cry during the whole thing.” Damon rolled his eyes dramatically. “They will happily sail off into the sunset. I think Finn is watching Nat for the night as I will be occupied. You really should trust me though, Lex. You know I am not going to ruin the big day.” He was actually getting tired of everyone being worried about it, like he would do something to take away the ceremony. He was happy to be back in his brother’s life, enough to respect what needed to happen. “Just think, if I fuck it up, Stefan will be sure to pay me back if I ever decide to take the plunge.”
“I do trust you, Damon, but it’s my duty as Stefan’s biffle to give you a hard time.” She grinned across at him. “And whether you mess up or not, Stefan is gonna screw with you on your wedding so bad. I’ll make sure of it.” She was only partially teasing him this time, but she was still smiling, “Just don’t get arrested or anything like that, okay? And if you do, call me instead of Elena or Rebekah.”
“So let’s stick with I trust you, Damon,” he grinned. “I’m still thinking that if I get married, I want to elope. There is nothing wrong with getting married by Elvis in Vegas.” He took a drink, looking up to see his food arrive. He was starving. Unlike the last few times Lexi had seen him, Damon looked happy, and for once, he truly felt it. “If something happens, I will call you, if that makes you feel better, but I have to call Elena too. Bekah would have my head on a stake.”
He took a bite of the huge burger in front of him. He didn’t know how far into the dreams that she was, but he knew that he was the one who had killed her. “In another matter, how have the dreams been?”
Lexi quirked a brow at him and shook her head, “If Huck ever suggested we get married by an Elvis impersonator, not that he would, I’d have to question his sanity.” That certainly didn’t seem like a Huck thing to suggest, but she was trying to make a point. She had to admit that Damon really did seem happier recently and she was sure that was because of Elena. She still found it a little strange that Damon was dating Elena after the whole Katherine debacle a few years earlier. She also wondered if Elena ever found it a little strange, but she’d never asked her.
When Damon asked about the dreams, she took a sip of her drink and pushed her hair off her shoulder, “Still early in. Found Stefan in Chicago in the 1920s and spent about a decade getting him off human blood. Then we found you in New Orleans in the forties when Stefan was going off to war.” Did she tell him how she’d convinced him not to go with Stefan to war? She supposed it all depended on whether or not he’d had the same dreams yet.
“There is nothing wrong with Elvis,” Damon said, laughing lightly. The truth was, he didn’t know how he would handle all the events of a regular wedding, although he would do it for Elena. He was surprised that he could even consider it, but she was the only one he could see himself wanting to do it with. He honestly didn’t even try to compare the sisters. They were so different in personality that it made the distinction easy.
“I do know that he has issues with blood. I was kind of picking on him, wanting him to drink it. I am kind of a dream asshole.” He had done some pretty bad things early in his dreams. He seemed to be growing now. His dream self was in love with Elena, even if she was with Stefan. Still, what he had done to Lexi was a real dick move. “I haven’t seen you in the 40’s yet. What happened?” Maybe it was better not to explain that he had killed her.
Well that answered that question. “I wanted the two of you on good terms, but you decided to go with Stefan and I knew that was a bad move. Stefan had to atone for the lives he’d taken and going to war was going to be hard enough for him, but I knew that you would be a bad influence on him and I intervened before you were going to leave and convinced you to leave without telling him why. He would have gotten over you disappointing him again better than getting him hooked on blood again and undoing all the hard work I’d done.” She should have felt bad about the whole thing, but she didn’t because she’d known that Stefan was better off going alone instead of with Damon.
Damon bristles a little bit when Lexi told him the story. He sat back, taking a drink, quiet for a few minutes. Finally, he ate a french fry. “So he was having a guilt complex about being a vampire and doing what vampires do, and went off to war for what?” He supposed it was to save or help people. He could see Stefan with a guilt complex. “So he wanted me to go, or expected me, and you convinced me to leave him instead, and I disappointed him. Maybe he wanted me to go.” He had a feeling that what happened had a lot to do with the dream that he had. He couldn’t help but feel a little angry about the whole situation.
“You wanted to go with him, but you had recently killed twelve people without remorse and I knew that when Stefan found out he’d turn to you to want to know how to live like that and I knew it wouldn’t end well. Have you dreamt about Ripper Stefan yet? If you have then you’d know how he would get on human blood.” Lexi so far seemed to be the only one who had been able to help Stefan. She’d done it twice, once in 1864 and then again after she’d found him in the twenties. “He had listened to your guidance in 1912 and it backfired big time for him. You agreed with me though and walked away.” She didn’t know anything past 1942, but she assumed that Stefan and Damon saw each other again.
Damon still didn’t look happy. The stress crossed his eyes from his own dreams and this conversation. “You and I are a little like oil and water in the dreams.” He was being diplomatic, a lot more than his dream alter-ego would be. “I haven’t seen the full-fledged ripper, but I mention it enough. I wanted Stefan back on blood.”
He could feel the fangs elongate in his mouth. “What did I do in 1912?” he asked, taking another drink. “I have seen us when Stefan met Elena, and us in 1864. I did see you once.” His blue eyes came up, defensive of his dream self. It was still a little strange how much he identified with the vampire Damon, who wasn’t the nicest guy.
“What do you think you did? You convinced him to drink human blood. Almost killed a girl.” Lexi hadn’t actually been there and hadn’t had a specific dream about finding out, but after her last set of dreams, it was something that she just knew. As if at some point she had found out and it was just there, in her memory like everything else that had happened between the time her brother had been killed and she’d met Stefan and Damon. “Did you? Well, don’t tell me what happened. I mean, if it was after 1942. I don’t want spoilers.” Okay, so she was really curious, but at the same time, she wanted to find out these things on her own.
Damon wasn’t smiling, but he was still drinking, which avoided the pissed off, arms crossed glare. He wasn’t happy with Lexi keeping him from spending time with his brother. Even though they fought over Katherine here, they were still brothers, and their bond was solid again. Damon felt a like he was being pushed away, even though they were just dreams. “Fine, but don’t come back at me all pissed off about it either. It’s just a dream.” It was also a bit of payback, at least in his opinion.
“Let’s eat,” he told her, picking up his fries again. His eyes returned to her a moment later. “Do you think we are really going to transform into these people?”
Lexi shook her head as she started eating as well, “I don’t think we’ll turn into them personality wise. I mean, from what I can tell, I’m already somewhat like dream!me. We might turn into vampires, but I don’t think the dreams will change our personalities.” She doubted that Damon would suddenly become exactly like his dream counterpart unless he let it happen. They might not be able to stop the vampire parts from happening, but they could keep from changing who they were.
From what Damon could tell, he wasn’t that different from his dream self, at least in personality. He was a lesser version, surely. He had not been as badly scarred by life as his dream counterpart, but he understood the reasons behind what his dream self did. He felt for his dream self. “No, you didn’t suddenly get a new dream personality, neither did Stefan, and neither did I.” The originals seemed to be the furthest from their personalities in the dreams. “The situations are different. So here’s a weird question, what if we started out the same, at least as a foundation, and then because of the fucked up situations in the dreams, we became whatever our dream selves are?”
Damon had been thinking about things since the dreams had started. He was the furthest along in their group. Although he usually kept most of his thoughts to himself, he found himself reaching out a bit more now, trying to get information before his heart stopped.
“Like I said, I don’t think we’ll become exactly like our dream selves. I mean, you’re not going to suddenly become a sadist asshole with no regard for human life.” Lexi paused for a moment, “Unless you want to. We might not be able to control who we are in the dreams, but we can control who we are in the real world.” They might not be able to control whether or not they became vampires, but as far as Lexi was concerned they could control every other aspect of what the dreams dished out.
“I think sadist is a little harsh,” Damon frowned. “I wasn’t pulling the wings off of flies with tweezers or anything. I might be a dick at times too, but I’m a vampire. I haven’t hurt Elena either.” He took a bite of his burger, leaving a drop of ketchup on his lip. “Vampire me does give a shit. You just don’t see it. Like both of us love pickles. Always.” He smiled a little, wiping the ketchup off. “You’ll have plenty of reasons to bash me later.”