I do not own The Vampire Diaries, it belongs to L.J Smith and the CW.

Damon knew that what he was doing was wrong as he strode into Alaric's house.

Since when have I cared about right and wrong? he questioned.

Since Alaric had become his friend and he did not want to be a dick to him as his girlfriend had just died.

But this was important, too important to ignore due to Alaric's feelings.

"Hey, Damon." Alaric greeted him quietly, his voice was hoarse, he had neglected shaving and he had deep dark circles beneath his eyes, all in all he looked like shit.

Damon was about to inform him of this before the smarter side of him told his ass-hole side to shut the hell up.

He cleared his throat. "Hey, Rick…I'm sorry about Jenna. I know that this is…crappy timing," for lack of a better way of putting it," but I need to talk to you."

"Look, Damon I am really not in the mood to-"

He abruptly stopped as Damon yanked up the sleeve of his long shirt and revealed his arm to his friend. The bite was ugly, it had transformed the once white skin of his forearm to an unattractive purple, like a giant repulsive bruise.

"Oh my god." Rick breathed. "There must be …some cure…something we can do."

"You sound like Stefan." He muttered before saying louder," there's not. I'm dying."

"W..What…" His friend trailed off as he plonked down ungracefully onto the large chair in the dark room.

"Who? Where? When?"

"It happened when I was rescuing Tyler and Caroline, Tyler was turning and…he bit me." Damon stated it simply, lightly even, as though his death was no big deal.

Alaric glared. "So… that's it? You're just going to lay down and die? Haven't we all lost enough? Especially Elena! What about Stefan? Are you just going to die on them?" He demanded.

Damon rolled his eyes at him in an aggravating way. "There is no cure." He repeated impatiently. "If there was a way to cure it, I wouldn't have let Rose die." He reminded his friend. "And Elena and Stefan are why I'm here."

Alaric gestured for him to continue.

"I need you to…look out for both of them, when I'm…gone."

He glowered at Alaric as he let out a loud snort. "You surely know both of them better than that!"

"Yes, I'm fully aware that neither are the easiest people to protect. Elena is stubborn as a mule and Stefan has a habit of putting himself into unbelievably stupid situations that could get him killed. But please Rick, I…I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to either of them."

You won't have to.

Rick did not say those words but they hung in the air between the two men.

"What do you want me to do Rick? I'm dying and I can't leave either of them unprotected."

"Stefan's..-"

"Been alive longer than you, I know, but he's only seventeen. He's my little brother and she's my…friend.. Please Rick, promise me that you'll protect them, promise that you'll try to stop them from doing anything too idiotic."

"I will." Rick agreed. "On the condition that you agree to help us search for a cure."

Damon snarled angrily.

Alaric gazed back at him steadily, unflinchingly.

Damon knew that he was probably bluffing, Rick cared for Elena and Stefan too, it was unlikely he'd allow any harm to come to them.

Are you sure enough to bet their lives on? The voice in the back of his brain mocked.

"Fine, it's a deal." He growled, a large part of him wanted to punch Alaric for the victorious smirk that appeared across his face. He refrained only when it struck him that this was most likely the first time Alaric had smiled in a while.

He clapped his friend on the shoulder before pouring them both a glass of scotch from the bottle he'd brought with him.

He'd had a feeling he might need it.

Author's note: I think that this may be a little OOC, so I apologise. If this was appallingly written then I am very very sorry!