I found this on my Computer the other day. It was written ages ago. No idea why I never managed to post it until now. The title was borrowed from German singer/songwriter Michael Schulte. I always have trouble finding titles, so I mostly just borrow song-titles.

And of course I own nothing.

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Jump before we fall

Damon was awoken by the persistent ringing of his cell phone. Grumbling he cast a look at the display and sighed in annoyance when he spied Elena´s name. For a second he was tempted to just ignore the call. He had no desire to talk to her right now. But she wouldn´t give in so easily. She would probably stop by the boarding house to annoy him in person. So he heaved a resigned sigh and answered his phone.

"Finally! What the hell took you so long?" the brunette snapped at him. "I was sleeping. What do you want?" Damon snarked back. "Sleeping? It´s 7:30 am." Okay, usually he was already awake at this time in the morning. But after all that shit with the originals and their crazy mommy the last few days he found that he deserved a bit peace and quiet. And aside from that it was not Elena´s business when he got up.

"What do you want?" he asked again, not even bothering to hide his annoyance. "Alaric is gone." That one sentence roused him from his stupor immediately. "What do you mean, he´s gone?" he asked, getting up quickly. "He packed his things and snuck out during the night." All of a sudden Elena sounded lost and frightened.

"Maybe he just went back to his flat." the vampire mused. He wouldn´t blame Ric. Who would want to spend 24 hours a day with the Gilbert siblings? "No, he... he left a note. He´s gone Damon. And he doesn´t plan on coming back." For a moment Damon could only stand there and stare off into space. Ric couldn´t just leave. That wasn´t like him at all. He would never leave Elena and the others alone to fend for themselves. Only if... he thought they would be better off without him.

"I'll be there in a moment." the dark-haired vampire finally promised, hanging up before Elena had the chance to say anything. He got dressed quickly, before jumping into his car and driving over to the Gilbert-house. Elena opened the door and led him into the kitchen. She looked like she´d been crying. Caroline, Bonnie and Stefan were already gathered in the kitchen and Damon was a little surprised to see his brother. Sure, Stefan was over the whole ripper-phase by now, but as far as the older Salvatore knew, his relationship with Elena was still a little tense. But he had no time to ponder his brothers relationship-problems, because Elena was holding a slip of paper in her trembling hands. He took it from her and started reading:

Dear Elena,

when you read this I´ve already been gone for a few hours and hopefully far away from Mystic Falls. I'm sorry for sneaking off in the middle of the night and without saying goodbye. I knew you would never let me go. But I have to go. Bonnie´s herbs are no longer helping. I can feel it. I'm afraid that it´s only a matter of time until my evil alter ego gains control over my body again. I'm a danger to you and everybody else. As much as it pains me to leave you alone to deal with this mess, I see no other solution. I will go as far away as I can, hoping that I can protect you from my evil self by doing so. Please forgive me. I always wanted the best for you and I think you´re better off without me. All of you. Tell the others I´m sorry and I´ll miss you. All of you. Please don´t go looking for me. Just let me go. Goodbye

Alaric.

Damon put the letter down and swallowed hard against the sudden lump in his throat. It was typically Alaric. Sacrificing himself in order to protect everyone else. "He left his ring here. And his phone." Elena whispered. Not surprising. Ric didn´t plan on coming back. That much had been clear from the letter. He was trying to protect them.

Damon´s eyes sought Bonnie. "Can you track him down?" The witch nodded. "I already did. He´s in Ohio at the moment." Damon didn´t think twice about what he was going to do. "I'm starting right now. Let me know when his position changes." Ric surely wouldn´t stay in one place long, but he was nowhere near as reckless a driver as Damon was. And he would need to rest more than the vampire. With a little luck Damon would catch up with him quickly. Getting Ric to come back home with him would be a lot more difficult. But he would think of something. No-one could match the stubbornness of Damon Salvatore. Not even Ric. So there was only one thing left to ask:

"Will you be okay without me?" He didn´t want an honest answer. Of course they needed him. With Ric gone all the more. But he would go, whether the answer was yes or no. Like expected they all nodded. "Esther is still in hiding, after her plan backfired. And I´m sure we can somehow come to an agreement with the originals." Stefan assured.

They would have no other choice, now that they knew they couldn´t simply kill the Mikaelsons without endangering their own lives. "We´ll be okay. Just take care of Ric." Elena pleaded. "I'll bring him back." Damon promised, ignoring the strange look his brother was giving him. He wasn´t sure if Stefan simply didn´t want him promising something he might not be able to keep or if Stefan was afraid he was only doing this for Elena. It didn´t matter either way. Damon didn´t plan on returning without Ric. And not because Elena wanted it, but because he wanted it.

"I´ll keep searching for a cure for his problem and I will check his position regularly and send you updates." Bonnie promised. Damon thanked her and jumped back into his car. After a short stop at the boarding house, where he hastily packed a few things and gulped down a blood-bag he set off towards Ohio.

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Luckily the streets were pretty deserted this early in the morning, so Damon made good time. For a few hours he concentrated on nothing but the road, completely ignoring the scenery rushing by. He had no idea how he was going to make Alaric come back home with him. Ric was convinced that he was a danger to Damon and the others. And the biggest problem was that he was probably right.

If Bonnie`s witchy herbs were no longer working no-one could tell when Ric`s evil alter ego would show up again. And who would die this time. The teacher still had a white oak stake hidden somewhere, which made him dangerous to all vampires. But still Damon wasn´t about to let him leave like that. They would find a solution somehow. He was sure of it. Bonnie kept searching through her grimoires and had also asked a few other witches for help. Damon himself had called every witch he knew and begged for help. One of them would find the right spell. Now he only had to make Ric see sense.

Around noon he stopped to fuel up his car and take a look at his phone. Bonnie had sent him a text with Ric`s current position. He kept going, but he wasn´t as far ahead of Damon as he had been. Once again the vampire steered his Camaro back onto the street. He reached Ohio by nightfall. But Ric was still some distance ahead of him. After another glance at his phone Damon drove the whole night through.

On the next morning he stopped at another gas station to fuel up and find himself a snack. The plump 40-something guy behind the counter wasn´t really his preferred type, but he didn´t want to waste precious time. And he was hungry. The tension combined with the fact that he´d been driving almost 24 hours straight took their toll on him. At least Bonnie´s next text gave him hope. He was getting closer.

It was early afternoon when he finally reached Detroit, about 20 minutes after the last text had told him this was Ric´s current position. He parked his car and called the witch. "I'm in Detroit. Can you tell me where exactly Ric is right now?" he asked. Bonnie asked him to wait a second, while she did a locator spell. "I´ll send you the exact location." she promised before hanging up. Only a few minutes later he received the promised text and quickly steered the Camaro back onto the street.

He followed the main street for a few miles, before heading left into a smaller street. Shortly after he went left again and then right. He passed the railway station and ended up in a rather shady part of town. Frowning he checked the text again, but he was really where Bonnie had told him he´d find Alaric. Another text let him know that the teacher hadn´t moved.

The address turned out to be a run down bar of sorts. The vampire parked his car, shook his head over Ric´s bad choice and got out. The peeling paint, cracked window and the trash strewn everywhere didn´t give the best impression and it only got worse when he actually entered the bar. Heads turned in his direction and all of the shady looking characters stared unabashed while he made his way inside. More than one seemed to be contemplating if Damon was worse robbing.

He ignored the strange looks he received and let his eyes roam through the sparsely lit room. Ric wasn´t sitting at the shabby counter, nor at one of the old, dirty tables, which raised the vampire´s suspicion. He had a bad feeling about this. With baited breath he listened for any sort of noise in and around the bar. What he heard made his blood run cold. It was a scream of anguish. And the voice belonged to Alaric.

Without pausing to think he followed the sound, past the counter and the toilets to an old, scratched door, that was almost falling from its hinges. He burst through the door and found himself in some sort of backyard, littered with trash and dirt. But that wasn´t what made him stop dead in his tracks.

Alaric was lying face down on the dirty ground. Two men fled the scene as soon as they spotted Damon. The vampire ran to his friend´s side and dropped to his knees next to him. The smell of blood and Ric´s laboured breathing told him how badly the teacher was wounded, even before he turned him around and saw the damage. It looked like someone had stabbed him repeatedly with a knife. His shirt was completely torn and soaked with blood.

When Damon turned him onto his back, Ric coughed weakly and blood poured out of his mouth. The vampire knew instantly that the knife had punctured a lung. The injury was serious. Deadly so. Ric´s eyes were open, but they were unfocused and he didn´t seem to recognize the vampire. He fought weakly against his grip, coughing up even more blood in the process.

Damon didn´t waste any time. He tore into his own wrist and pressed it against Ric´s lips. "Drink." he ordered harshly, his voice shaking with fear. He didn´t know if Ric understood or if he was just too weak to fight him. He didn´t know if Ric even recognized him. He just knew that after a few tense seconds the teacher finally started swallowing.

Alaric´s breath was coming in ragged gasps and his skin felt too cool to the touch. Again he coughed up blood. Damon felt totally helpless. Once again he tore into his wrist and made his friend swallow his blood. "Ric, come on. Don´t do this to me. Please." he begged. But the teacher didn´t seem to hear him. Slowly his eyes fell closed and suddenly it was way too quiet.