A/N: This fanfic begins the moment season 2 ended. It is going to deal a lot with the relationship between Damon and Stefan: why Stefan sacrificed himself to save his brother, how Damon deals with it etc. It is also a DELENA fic of course. This chapter is a little shorter than what I normally write, but they will be longer in the furture. I really hope that everyone likes it!

My body screamed at me as I pushed myself from my bed. Katherine's words repeated themselves tauntingly in my mind; He just sacrificed everything to save his brother. The look one Elena's face as Katherine left her alone with me, the vial of blood, and Elena running out the door had been burned into my mind. I could still see the pain in her eyes even though she was gone.

Seconds after Katherine's departure, Elena raced out of my room. I could hear her car start up in the drive and speed off into town. I knew where she was going—Ric's house. She was stupidly hoping that Klaus would still be there with my brother. That she could stop whatever was happening now.

What was actually going to happen, if they were still there, was that she was going to walk into a death trap after we had all worked so hard to keep her alive, and I wasn't going to let that happen—or at least I was going to try not to.

Unfortunately, even though the blood Katherine had given me was working, it wasn't an instant fix. My body still ached and, despite the speed at which the bite was shrinking, it still hurt like hell. I definitely wasn't as fast as normal, and that was a problem.

Wanting to save my energy for any confrontation that might arise at Ric's, I opted to drive the Camaro instead of run, hoping that Elena would arrive to an empty apartment instead of one occupied by an angry vampire.

Within five minutes, I was parked at Ric's apartment complex and bounding up the stairs. My heart was hammering, preparing myself for whatever I would find behind the door to his apartment. What I did see was definitely not what I had expected.

The floor by the island was covered in blood. Bags from which I assumed it all came littered the area. The smell was strong, and I swallowed. My body was hungry for the stuff. It needed the strength, but now was definitely not the time.

Elena's cries came from the other side of the island. They were soft but strong, and the smell of the salt from her tears mixed with the blood on the floor. I slowly circled the counter and found her. Her knees were pulled to her chest. There was blood from the floor on her worn jeans and a piece of crumpled paper in her hands.

I took a seat beside her and tentatively put my arm around her expecting anger and blame from her. Instead, she leaned her head into my shoulder and handed me the note.

Damon, it read. I was the brother who wanted this all along. I forced it upon you. You don't deserve to die because deep down you are the brother that loved life. I have always been the monster. Please don't blame yourself because you deserve the second chance. Take care of Elena.

"How could he say these things," Elena asked me through her tears. "He's not a monster, and this proves it."

I looked at Elena, not knowing what to say. She knew our history. She had heard stories from Stefan and I about when we had first turned, how Stefan had forced a girl's blood on me, how he had been the destructive brother for the first part of our new life.

What she could never possibly understand was the extreme difference between the Stefan she knew and the man Stefan had been right after he had completed his transformation.

His need for blood was insatiable. Whole villages where wiped out to satisfy his thirst. If she had been unhappy with my lifestyle choices when she met me, she would have hated the old Stefan. Whereas I killed to dull the pain of what I had become, Stefan killed to truly live.

It was Lexi who eventually turned things around for my brother. A friend that showed him that his life didn't have to be all about killing. Once she got him off the human blood all the time, he was able to see the pain that he had caused people. When he went completely to his diet of bunnies and squirrels, he was finally able to start to control his anger and blood lust… to an extent.

Stefan, unlike myself, craved human blood more than anything else. His abstaining from it was a constant battle—one that he fought because he knew that once on a strictly human diet, he would once again be unable to control his need for the kill. It was because of this reason that I feared for my brother and what he could become with Klaus at his side.

"Damon?"

At the mention of my name, I was drawn back out of my thoughts and back to the question that Elena had asked me.

"He says he's the monster because of what he was, Elena."

She almost shouted her response at me.

"That's what he was, not what he is anymore. The Stefan I know, sacrifices himself for others, even for his brother who doesn't deserve it."

Elena stood and walked across the room, towards the door. I remained sitting, stunned by her words. They were like a slap in the face. I was the brother who didn't deserve it.

I got up and was at Elena's side within a second, my hand holding her wrist tightly. She gasped and tried to pull herself away.

"I will get him back," I almost growled. "You act like I'm happy that I lived and Stefan's somewhere sacrificing himself for me. Well, I've got news for you, Elena. I had accepted my fate. You were safe and that's all that mattered. I should have died. Stefan should be here with you and not with Klaus. I'm the one who deserves that fate."

I dropped her hand from mine and walked out the door, shutting it forcefully behind me. It didn't stay shut for long.

"Damon," she shouted from behind me.

I heard her running after me as I descended the stairs of the apartment building and felt her hand grab mine. I shook her off and continued walking, not looking back.

"Not now Elena," I said in a low voice.

"Damon."

I turned facing her with a mixture of anger and annoyance.

"What," I snapped. "You've made it clear what your thoughts are Elena. What else could you possibly have to say?"

Her eyes filled with tears at my words, and I took some sick pleasure in that. Her words in Ric's apartment had been like a knife to the heart. I had already been thinking the same things but coming from her mouth made them even more real.

"I didn't mean it," Elena said. " I'm sorry."

"Save it for someone who cares."

I heard her sharp intake of breath at my final words and left her standing in the doorway of the building as I went to figure out how to save my baby brother.

A/N: Reviews are appreciated:)