He's gone. His baby brother is lost to him. Forever. Silas did it. He took on the form of the now dead Professor Shady Pants, showed up at the Boarding House, and then ruthlessly plunged the stake into Stefan's undead heart. Stefan looked at his brother helplessly, mouthing the word "I love you, Damon.' Damon stood there yelling and pleading for it to be a nightmare. A terrible nightmare. He wanted to wake up and torment his still immortal brother for his bunny diet.

Only he was awake. And it wasn't a dream.

A message. Silas did it to send a message, and it was obvious he wanted it heard loud and clear. He wanted what everyone else wanted: The cure.

Ah, yes. The cure. The cure that is now in Katherine's trustworthy hands. Or Elijah's. Who can keep track these days? Truthfully, the cure was the least of his worries at that moment.

Silas had dropped Stefan's lifeless body on the floor harshly, and flashed out knowing he was heard.

Damon knelt on the floor, cradling his dead brother's form. He was yelling for him to miraculously wake up, and say it was nothing but a harmless prank. Never had he felt more alone than when he realized he would have to face an eternity without his brother in the world.

Then there was Elena. When Damon met Elena for the first time, the real first time, she was caring and compassionate. He always new her compassion would be the ultimate death of her, and he couldn't have been more right. Now their sire bond is broken, and she had no humanity left within her. As much as she hates to admit it, even as a vampire, Elena without humanity is Katherine 2.0.

Yes, when Damon first met her, the only thing her and her doppelganger had in common was looks. Then vampirism corrupted her, and for good reason. She didn't have her brother. She lost him. Just like Damon lost Stefan.

She heard of Stefan's death the day after it happened, and she was reluctant in admitting that she cared. Everybody really begun think that maybe she truly didn't.

So now, here Damon is four days late. Pacing the living room with a bourbon in his hand barely resisting the urge to smash it against the wall.

Stefan wouldn't be here to clean it up…

Damon stopped pacing, finally, and stared into the fireplace blankly. Stefan used to love sitting by the fire every Christmas, as a human and vampire. It's one of the few things that never changed through the decades. Even when he was a 'ripper.' No matter how different their worlds were, or how far apart, they always came together by sitting by the fire. Neither would ever say a word, neither had to. As a vampire, the brothers may not have had the best holiday spirit, but it was something that both always looked forward to.

Though, neither would ever admit it.

He heard the door creek open, but made no acknowledgement. He didn't care.

"I'm sorry about your brother, Damon," came a smooth British voice.

"Are you?" Damon bit back sarcastically. No one seemed to care about Stefan's death except him. Elena didn't care, Matt wants out of everything supernatural (who could blame the kid), Jeremy is dead, Bonnie is brainwashed, and Caroline… Caroline's practically become a recluse. Who knows what the hell she's up to?

"You're so quick to forget that I did love Stefan once many years ago," Rebekah bit back bitterly. It didn't bring back the best memories of her thousand years of existence, but still, she did love him.

"Oh, that's right. What happens next in the story? Oh, wait a minute. He got compelled, and you got daggered. Such a happy ending to a beautiful love story," Damon replied sarcastically.

Rebekah sighed, "I know what it's like to lose a brother. Even when their not completely gone."

Damon finally turned to her and smirked, "Oh, yeah. Suicidal Finn and Homicidal Kol."

Rebekah glared at him, "They weren't always like that, you know. Finn may have hated being a vampire, but he was still my brother. When we were human, I looked up to him and Elijah. And Kol? He tried to warn us not to raise Silas, and look at where that got all of us. Including him"

Damon's expression softened at that last part. As much as he hated Kol, like seriously hated him, he did try to warn them. All of them. He didn't want there to be hell on earth, but look at them now.

They went of on a search for the cure for vampirism cause Poor Elena couldn't handle being a vampire. But now? Now she's without humanity, and doesn't even want the cure. In all reality, they searched for the cure, killed, Kol, and raised Silas for nothing. Stefan could still be very much alive right now. Or at least as alive as he was before. Stefan's dead, and Rebekah knows that at this point she most likely won't even get the cure.

And just like that, all her hopes and dreams are shattered. Into a million pieces.

"Why are you even here?" Damon asked suspiciously, hardening his expression once more.

Rebekah shrugged, "I guess I just thought you might need someone. And I heard about Elena's reaction. Same old Petrova's, they couldn't give a damn."

"I don't love Elena," Damon whispered loud enough for anyone to hear. The unexpected confession surprised Rebekah, but it surprised Damon that it was the truth.

"Why did you tell me that?" Rebekah inquired quizzically.

Damon shrugged, "I think you're the only one that'll listen." Rebekah opened her mouth, but closed it and chose to nod her head in understanding that she knew he needed.

"If you loved your brothers as much as you say," Damon started then paused. "It must have been hard losing them both."

Rebekah nodded her head, not sure where he was going with this. "Yeah, it was."

"And you watched your brother burn in front of you," Damon continued.

She gulped, flashes of her brother in flames with white oak sticking out of his chest haunted her memory in that moment, She remembered all the emotions she felt, the comfort she sought in Elijah. She thought her favorite brother was lost to her forever, but then he made himself known in Tyler Lockwood's body when he saved Caroline over her. Then disowned her as a sister and family member, snapped her neck, and betrayed her again by shoving a dagger into her heart. Again. Deep down, she knew she should've seen it coming.

"I did," she finally spoke.

"How did you get past it?" Damon whispered, sounding as lost then ever.

Instead of answering, Rebekah turned around walking slowly, then turned back and said, "I didn't."

She turned to walk out again, but Damon's voice stopped her.

"Rebekah," he called. She turned around with a questioning expression. "Thank you," he finally said after a moment of silence.

Reekah nodded her head once, "Anytime, Damon. Anytime." He watched her walk out the door, strutting out of the house seductively.

And for the first time in what felt like forever, Damon smiled. Genuinely smiled. And it felt good.