I.

Damon was currently nursing two things. The first was the cool glass of bourbon in the tumbler that was resting against his aching forehead. The second was the aforementioned aching forehead. He knew that he was a bad guy, but he was the sexy, cool, funny bad guy that no one entirely disliked (except maybe his brother, which Damon didn't really count anyways). At the moment though, he knew that he was about to be the awful, terrible, and jackass bad guy. He was going to get a reaming when Stefan got home. This knowledge was what was giving him said headache and he was hoping that he would be drunk enough that when his little bro got home that he wouldn't feel any of the pain that he knew was coming. Stefan would never kill him though, that much he knew for sure and was confident in.

He didn't really know what made him do it, well he did, but he didn't like to use the L-word, even in his brain. Three guesses on what the word is; your first two don't count, and it's not lesbianism. Hell he would never admit that he loved someone if they were on their death bed. His blue eyes widened at his own thoughts. The fire was blazing in the fireplace trying to keep a little of the cold out, not that the dead needed it anyways, but it was a nice comfort at a time like this. Bringing the glass down from his head he looked at it for a minute, then downed the rest of the alcohol in one swift gulp and proceeded to toss it on the floor. Oh well, he had plenty. Damon decided that he would speed this process of getting shit faced up by removing the glass insert of the bourbon bottle and downing it straight from the square glass.

Doing stupid things came naturally for him. It was second nature, he was a monster and monsters had the tendency to do dumb things. He had a whole list of things he had done. Hell it would take him weeks to write it down, but this one probably ranked number two. It would have been number one, but the fact that he had almost had sex with a transvestite in Vegas topped that list off and it would take a lot to get anything above it. This however, beat all other stupid things he had done in his, long, long life, which had to be saying something about his character. He had never meant to hurt Elena in the process, but that's what he did. He didn't care, right? So, why should he care that he hurt Elena and Stefan or anyone else for that matter. Maybe he should just bail out of town. That's what everyone wanted right. It's definitely what Katherine wanted. She never loved him, Elena didn't love him. No one loved him. He was unwanted, unloved, and uncared for.

The anger was boiling in his eyes and he didn't realize he had been gripping the bottle that tight until it shattered in his hand. He watched the alcohol pool on the carpet and hissed. "Dammit!" He cursed as he kicked some of the glass with his boot. "It was always Stefan…" He mimicked as Katherine. "It will always be Stefan." Waving his hands around like a girl he stomped back and forth in front of the fireplace crushing even more glass as he went. "I loathe women…" He muttered to no one in particular.

"Oh, you do? This is a new, more interesting side of dear sweet Damon. So drunk that he's swearing off women. That's funny." Damon trained his eyes on Caroline Forbes. Her blonde hair was shining and perfect, as usual, and her dear friend witchy Bonnie was standing beside her.

"Great… It's a party!" He bit out sarcastically. Narrowing his eyes at the pair he wondered just what the new blonde bimbo vampire and her, (ironically so), vampire hating bitch – witch of a best friend wanted.

II.

"I'm sor…" The sentence was cut off by a hand that was quick to shut her up.

"You're not sorry." And maybe it was true. Maybe she wasn't sorry. Maybe she knew that this was going to happen, but she had just been lying to herself and to the person that she thought that she loved all this time. Tucking some hair behind her ear she was vulnerable and so was the guy sitting next to her. They were vulnerable at a time that neither of them needed to be but they were anyways. Elena thought that she was supposed to be with Stefan, but at the same time she knew that Damon loved her and when she kissed him… "Go be with him." The words cut her train of thought off and her eyes darted to his face.

"What?" It wasn't a real question, she had heard what he said, but she just wanted to know the meaning behind it. Tears were beginning to pool in her eyes. The brown irises were getting larger as her eyes dilated. Picking at her fingernail polish she frowned as a tear dripped off her eyelashes.

"That's what you want. You two love each other." She could hear the pain in his voice and it broke her heart because she knew it was her fault. She hadn't meant to hurt him, but her lack of silence only confirmed his words. She watched helplessly as he lifted himself from the tree trunk he was sitting on.

"Don't go…" It was but a whisper that danced over her lips as she pleaded with him. She knew it was no good though, and that thought made the tears slip faster down her cheeks. Stefan shook his head at her and continued to walk away and then like a breath of wind he was gone and she was left to cry.

III.

Stefan knew exactly where and what he was going to do, as he came upon the boarding house he lifted his chin and marched toward the door. Ripping it open he had heavy steps and a thick breath as he approached his brother. He was blind to Bonnie and Caroline. The rage was coating his vision and he bared his fangs as his brother stood in what appeared to be a drunken haze.

"This is your fault…" The younger Salvatore bit out as he approached his brother, of whom's hands were up in a surrender and was currently backing away from the enraged older Salvatore.

"Look, Stefan…" The slur was prevalent in the elder's speech and that just made Stefan move in closer. This wouldn't be a fair fight, but it would sure go quickly. "You can't have all the ladies. You may have won over Katherine, but at least I've won Elena's love fair and square. Plus, you'll find you another woman." The punch hit Damon hard on his right cheek causing him to stumble backwards into the bar. "I've seen the way you look at Bonnie. Stop being so selfish brother." The second blow was to Damon's stomach and the weakness that Damon was showing was just making Stefan relish it even more. He had been wanting to beat the shit out of him for over a century.

A shaky groan escaped Damon's lips as Stefan plunged a piece of the broken glass from the floor into his side. "Brother, this isn't a very fair fight."

"Don't call me that. We are not brothers." Damon sobered slightly after Stefan's statement.

"Boys. Stop." Caroline hissed coming between the two. With her new found powers it was easy to pull Stefan off and shove him toward Bonnie. Stefan stumbled slightly. He gave his brother a hateful glare and then took the stairs to his room two at a time.

"I'll just…" Bonnie hitched a thumb over her shoulder and then bolted after him.

IV.

Elena stumble blindly out of the woods. She was confused and tired and just wanted to go home and curl up in…

"Well… It's hard to choose between the Salvatore's isn't it dearie?" Her personal doppelganger was leaning with her arms crossed over her chest and an evil smirk pulling at her plush pink lips.

"Go away Katherine…" Elena was nervous around her ancestor, but she stood strong as she stepped around her and the front of her car.

"Fine, but you haven't seen the last of me Elena." Quickly climbing in her car, she knew it wouldn't help, but Elena locked the doors anyways. A cold chill ran through her body as she took a deep breath and tried to stop shaking so that she could put the key in the ignition. Gulping thick breaths she put the car in drive and nervously tried to make her way back to the boarding house. She had to patch things up, at least a little bit.

V.

"You shouldn't have messed with Elena." Damon gave Caroline a sideways glance.

"This isn't a motel Caroline. Go home." He was certainly tired of the little priss invading and not to mention intoxicating his space. Rubbing a hand over his chest he winced as he dug two fingers into his side and pulled the glass out. He was panting heavily and a sweat was forming on his forehead from the heat that he was feeling from the crash of adrenaline. Slipping down the side of the bar he sat on the floor and pulled his knees up. Leaning his head back Damon rubbed his temples with his eyes closed as he waited for his wound to heal.

"Damon." The threatening tone in Caroline's voice was unwanted right now. Popping his eyes open he was off the floor in seconds with a stake left over from Alaric's visit in his hand. Shoving Caroline against the wall he pressed the stake to her chest cavity.

"Don't threaten me Caroline or so help me God I will kill you in a matter of seconds. You don't scare me bitch." He said darkly. Letting the fellow vampire go he shoved her to the side and moved toward the now bar. Damon was currently quite annoyed at the fact that his favorite place in the house had been turned upside down in a chaotic mess, and he also didn't want to deal with the rather obnoxious Caroline. Picking up a bottle of Brandy without bothering with a glass he threw the top over his shoulder and decided to continue his drunken decent into hell. "Good night Caroline. You can have the couch." He muttered as he headed up the stairs ignoring the girl who was huddling in the corner with a foul look on her face. "Oh, and stop messing up your pretty features. We wouldn't want your face to stay like that for all eternity would we?" He asked with a quirk of the eyebrow. Giving her one last tip of the bottle as a goodbye he made his way up to his room.

VI.

"Stefan?" Bonnie whispered as she knocked lightly on his door. She could see him sitting at his desk illuminated by a little desk lamp. At that moment he didn't look sad, but she knew, even if she hated vampires, that he was and that he needed some comfort. Making her way toward him she did something daring and put an arm over his shoulder and soon after kneeled down beside where he was sitting.

"I feel so betrayed…" He whispered so lightly that she didn't think she had heard him at first. There were no words that she could say that would make this better so she didn't. She kept quiet. She just ran her hand over his back and put another on his knee to show him that at least someone was there for him. Even though she didn't like him that much, she still hated to see people sad or in pain.

"If I said it would be okay, I would be lying." She got a nod in response.

"I know." That was all that needed to be said there was only so much a person could take of heartbreak.

After sitting with him for a while, he seemed slightly better and she backed away as he moved toward his bed. "Stay with me?" Bonnie was slightly taken aback by his question, but she didn't feel like she was in a position to say no. He needed comfort and if that was from her staying with him than so be it. She gave him a nod as a yes and slid her shoes off. Willing the light off with her mind she took Stefan's hand and knew that this was okay, because she could leave before morning.

VII.

Damon didn't hear the door he was too drunk to pay attention to any of that. The only thing he noticed was her footsteps and the shuffle of a jacket. He heard it hit the ground and the zipper of her boots. One of his arms was hanging off the edge of the bed with the empty bottle. His shirt had come off a long time ago once the alcohol had made him warm and flushed. Blinking he tried to focus on her figure as she made her way toward him. She stumbled slightly in the dark and he couldn't help but chuckle a little. "Go home Elena." He muttered dropping the bottle on the ground and rolling over so that he could see her better.

"No." She always was the feisty one.

"Look, I don't want you to sit here while I have my little pity party over you and Stefan. So just go." Man, he was so drunk he couldn't even get the biting, sarcastic, douche tone to come out. It was flat and he needed sleep. He closed his eyes, but the weight of the bed shifting caused him to open them again. "What are you doing?" The darkness didn't answer him back and neither did the warm body that was now lying in bed with him. "I could hurt you…" The body just moved closer to him and wrapped it's arms around him in a tight embrace.

"You won't." The whisper was soft, but he heard it and that's when all chances of being a man went out the window, because all he could understand right now was that he lo – deeply cared for this person that was curled up next to him. Maybe he was actually starting to feel something. 'Ah, Hell.'