AN: It's always bugged me that Elena didn't have Alaric uncompel her. I know why they did it, but it just felt unrealistic to me. I also think she would have fought harder to get her memories back once Alaric was human, but that's a different fic.
I used two scenes from the show. Stefan and Damon's reunion and Alaric and Damons conversation. I embellished on them, but they're not mine, they belong to tVD and CW.
Damon landed on the ground with a thud, knocking the breath from his lungs. He looked around and saw the Mystic Falls cemetery. He was in the same spot where he and Bonnie had stood before they'd been sent of to Kai's prison world.
Damon stood up slowly looking around for Bonnie. She'd been with him when they'd left, but he couldn't see her in the dark. He opened his mouth to call her when he heard a sound coming from the Salvatore Crypt.
"Because I'm lost, brother," he heard Stefan say. "I'm lost." He walked quickly toward the crypt, Bonnie forgotten. Just as he got there, Stefan stood up and threw a bottle of bourbon across the room. Damon rushed over and caught it.
"So, what, gone a couple of months you think it's okay to waste a perfectly good bottle of bourbon?" Damon asked. Stefan stared at him in disbelief. Damon took a swig out of the bottle.
"Damon?" Stefan whispered. Damon spread his arms open.
"Yep. In the flesh," he said with a smirk.
"How am I seeing you right now?" Stefan asked.
"Because I'm not dead, Stefan," Damon said, unable to make eye contact with him. He started walking towards his brother. "I mean, this stuff's good, but it's not 'I see dead people' good." He stopped arms length from Stefan. "It's a hell of a long story, brother, but I'm back." Stefan reach out slowly and put his hand on Damon's shoulder. Damon smiled. "Yeah." Stefan stepped forward and wrapped his arms tightly around his brother. "I'm back," Damon said again, returning the hug. They stood there for a few minutes, enjoying the moments.
"I missed you too, buddy," Damon said finally.
"I can't believe it," Stefan said, pulling back. He left his hands on Damon's shoulders. "I thought you were gone."
"Well, you didn't think I was 'gone' gone, huh?" Damon joked. "I promised you an eternity of misery." Stefan chuckled.
"What about Bonnie?" Stefan asked. Damon's eyes widened with guilt. He ran out of the crypt yelling her name, Stefan hot on his heels.
"I'm right here," Bonnie said. She was sitting on a bench a few feet from the crypt. "I figured you and Stefan wanted a moment. Hey, Stefan."
"Where have you been?" Stefan asked.
"Mystic Falls, 1994," Bonnie said. Stefan stared at her in confusion.
"Some witches created a supernatural purgatory for a witch named Kai." Damon explained.
"It was created by a Bennet witch," Bonnie continued. "My Grams sacrificed herself so that I could get sent there. Since Damon was holding my hand when the Other Side went down, he came with me."
"So you two have spent the last four months living in 1994," Stefan said trying to wrap his mind around the conversation. Bonnie pressed her lips together.
"Yep," she said. "We thought we were alone, until yesterday when Kai decide to inform us of his presence." Stefan's eyebrows scrunched together.
"Why wait so long?" he asked. "If you were able to get out, why wait so long?"
"He was waiting for my magic to come back," Bonnie said. "Yesterday, he got tired of waiting."
"Meaning he pretended to kill me, hoping Bonnie thought my life was worth saving," Damon said with a smirk. "This is a good a fun, but there's a girl I need to see." Damon started walking towards the exit of the cemetery. Stefan winced.
"That might be a problem," he said. Damon froze.
"Why?" he asked in a forced neutral tone. Stefan looked at the sky uncomfortably.
"Elena had Alaric compel her to forget you," he said. Damon turned around, murder in his eyes.
"She did WHAT?" he yelled. Stefan gave his brother an apologetic look.
"Apparently she wasn't dealing well with you being gone," he said. "So she had Alaric compel her to forget that she ever loved you." Damon clenched his jaw.
"You're lying," he said angrily. "She wouldn't do that."
"Damon," Bonnie said softly.
"It doesn't matter," Damon said loudly, cutting Bonnie off. "I just need to see her. Our eyes will meet. Fireworks will go off and the balance of nature will be restored. She loves me." Stefan looked at him sadly.
"I don't think that's how compulsion works," Bonnie said carefully.
"It will work," Damon snapped. Bonnie put her hands up.
"Let me talk to her first okay?" Bonnie asked. Damon glared at her. "While I'm doing that, you can go confront Alaric."
"Fine," Damon bit out. Stefan clapped his hands together.
"Great," he said. "I'm going to call ahead and warn people. Let's not give them a heart attack." Damon smirked again.
"Why not?" he asked. Bonnie and Stefan shot him a look. Damon shrugged. "Have it your way." He took anther drink from the bottle he was still holding.
Damon barged into Alaric's apartment without knocking. Alaric came rushing out of the bedroom.
"Professor Saltzman," Damon said. "What, couldn't compel yourself a PhD?" Alaric grinned at him.
"I can't believe you're back," he said walking to the kitchen to pour them both a drink.
"I am," Damon said accepting the glass from Alaric. He hopped onto the counter.
"So how the hell are you?" Alaric asked.
"Well, let's see, Ric. I clawed my way out of some retro pocket universe only to find that I needed to compel myself a new change of clothes, because this "anti-magic" hamster ball is keeping me from going home. And then I find out that my best friend, rather that doing anything about it, decided it was the best use of his time to compel my beautiful and lovely girlfriend to forget that she loved me," Damon said. He chuckled humorlessly. "I'm great, Ric. Thanks for asking."
"Look, Damon-" Alaric started.
"I know she was a train wreck without me, okay, but a full mind-erase? Seriously?" Damon interrupted.
"She loved you too much," Alaric said. "It was killing her."
"Well, I'm flattered," Damon said. "But I'm back. So let's get this un-compulsion on the books, huh?"
"Fine," Alaric agreed. "As soon as Elena tells me that's what she wants."
"Right, Here's the thing," Damon said. "She's not going to want to be uncompelled if she can't remember why she'd wanna be uncompelled. Chicken, egg."
"I know. And I'm sorry," Alaric said, shoulders sagging. Damon jumped off the counter.
"Sorry?" he said, jaw clenched.
"She's happy, and I'm not gonna take that away from her until she asks me to," Alaric said.
"It's not that I don't want Elena to be happy, I just want her to be happy with me," Damon said. Alaric shook his head.
"You didn't see her," he said. "How much did Stefan tell you?"
"She was in denial for months thinking Stefan was looking for a way back. He finally told her to move on and she lost it. He said Caroline said something about witchy drugs she took to hallucinate me. So what?"
"She almost killed some, Damon," Alaric said raising his voice. "If Caroline hadn't stopped her, she would have killed a girl!"
"What?" Damon asked, confusion winning over the anger. Alaric's shoulder sagged even more.
"The drugs Luke gave her made her thirsty. Really, really thirsty," Alaric said. "She couldn't stop."
"They turned her into a ripper?" Damon asked. Alaric nodded, face grim.
"And she wasn't stopping," he said. "She wouldn't have stopped. She didn't care." Damon put his glass down with forced gentleness.
"But why erase me completely?" he demanded. "Why not just compel her to deal in a healthy way?"
"She told me she would be able to love anyone else as long as she loved you. She said she hated being a vampire, until she found out the good part: being with someone forever. Being with you forever." Alaric shook his head. "I can't take this from her, Damon. She's happy. I haven't seen her this happy since last summer, before the Silas and travelers mess."
"So uncompel her," Damon said. "I can make her that happy again."
"Not until she asks me," Alaric repeated. "I'm sorry, Damon. I can't. She's like a daughter to me." Damon turned away and stalked towards the door. "For what it's worth, I told her I hope she asks me to." Damon turned around, walked over to Alaric, grabbed the mostly full bottle of bourbon and left without another word. Damn him.
Bonnie walked up the steps to the dorm in a daze. She couldn't believe they'd actually made it back. Four months of no one but Damon to talk to and now she was finally going to see her best friends again. She opened the door to their dorm to find both girls hovering a few steps from the door.
"Hey," Bonnie said. Elena and Caroline flew forward and wrapped their arms around her.
"You're back!" Caroline said, tears running down her face. "You're really back!" Bonnie laughed.
"I'm really back," she said.
"I mean, I know Stefan said you were, but you're really here!" Caroline went on. They pulled apart.
"Welcome home," Elena said. Bonnie squeezed her eyes shut trying to keep from crying.
"So, tell us," Caroline said pulling Bonnie towards the closest bed. "What was in like in Mystic Falls, 1994 with no one but Damon for company?"
"It wasn't too bad," Bonnie said. "I mean, at first it was awful, because it's Damon and I really didn't like him, but we made peace. We actually became friends." Elena scrunched her nose.
"How can you be friends with that murderous bastard?" she asked. Bonnie looked at her sadly.
"Wow, you really did forget everything good didn't you?" she asked. Elena huffed and rolled her eyes.
"Not you, too," she said. "Caroline and Stefan have been bugging me since Stefan 'let slip' what I'd done. Alaric seems to be the most okay with it, even though he's Damon's best friend."
"You saw Alaric and he didn't uncompel you?" Bonnie asked, surprised.
"He did almost beg me since, you know, Damon's probably going to try and kill him, but he said he wouldn't do it unless I asked," Elena said.
"Don't you want all of your memories back?" Bonnie asked. Elena stood up.
"I don't know," she said. "On one hand, I want to know exactly what happened in my life, but on the other hand, I can't imagine anything Damon could have done to make me forget all the bad things he's done."
"He's changed," Bonnie said.
"Why because he didn't kill you in that prison world?" Elena asked.
"No! Because loving you made him a better person. Because he has sacrificed himself time and time again to protect you, to protect all of us, the biggest of which was volunteering to drive his car into the Mystic Grille to set of the explosion allowing everyone to come back to life. An action that ended with him actually dying," Bonnie snapped.
"He killed Jeremy!" Elena said.
"And saved him countless other times!" Bonnie retorted.
"Don't bother, Bonnie," Caroline spoke up. "Elena's decided she knows the true Damon, even with most of her memories missing and the rest of us are just brain washed or something. I don't even like him!"
"That's not true, Car," Elena said. Caroline raised her eyebrows.
"No?" she said. "Then go have Alaric uncompel you." Elena glared at her.
"She's right, Elena," Bonnie said. "If you believe Damon isn't this monster you've made him in your mind, you'd have Alaric uncompel you." Elena threw her hands up in the air and started pacing.
"I don't know what to do," she said. "I just got back from a date with a nice, normal guy. A date which was crashed by Tyler driving his truck through the corn maze, I might add. And now the guy I thought was DEAD is back and I don't know what to do." Bonnie looked between the two of them.
"Tyler drove his truck through a corn maze?" she asked with a chuckle.
"Well, no, he crashed it through the corn maze," Elena said. Bonnie mouth dropped open.
"What?!"
"Some kid ran out in front of his truck and he ended up running off the road into the corn maze," Elena explained.
"No one died though," Caroline said quickly. "Well, one kid did, but apparently Liv killed him so Tyler's gene wouldn't activate." Bonnie's eyebrows shot up.
"And here I thought Damon and I coming back from the dead would be the most exciting thing that would happen today," she said with a laugh. Caroline and Elena also laughed.
"Definitely better," Elena said. "I'm glad you're back, Bonnie."
"Me, too," Bonnie said.
3 Days later
Elena paced out side of Alaric's office. She'd been the for ten minutes already. Alaric was inside, but thankfully hadn't come out yet. He was letting her come to him. After another ten minutes she took a deep breath and pushed the door open. Alaric looked up from the papers he was grading.
"I didn't think you were actually going to come in," he said. Elena sighed.
"I almost didn't," she said. "But I have to know. Not knowing is driving me crazy." Alaric smiled.
"We probably shouldn't do this here," he said. Elena nodded.
"Bonnie and Caroline are at our dorm," she said.
"I'll call ahead and make sure Damon isn't in the apartment," he said. Elena shook her head.
"I don't want him to know," she said. "Not until it's done."
"Ooo-kay," Alaric said. "I'll get Stefan to distract him." Elena nodded taking a deep breath. Alaric picked up his phone and called Stefan.
"Stefan. What are you doing right now?... Uh huh... I need you to keep Damon away from my apartment for a while... I don't know how long... Elena's asked me to lift the compulsion... okay, thanks." He hung up and turned to Elena. "He'll text me when he's got Damon clear of the apartment. Thought frankly I'm surprised he's there instead of following you around like a lost puppy." Elena gave him a sarcastic look.
"I put a stop to that pretty quickly," she admitted. "It was rather annoying." Alaric laughed.
"I can imagine," he said. A few seconds later his phone dinged. "They're gone."
They walked to Alaric's in silence. When they go there, Alaric crossed to the liquor cabinet and pulled out a bottle of bourbon.
"You know, I think you're supposed to keep more than just bourbon in those," Elena said. Alaric scoffed.
"What else is there?" he asked. Elena rolled her eyes and accepted the tumbler from him.
"So how are we going to do this?" she asked.
"I'm going to try just telling you to remember," he said. "If that doesn't work, we'll start with the signature memory and work our way back." Elena sat down on the couch.
"Great," she said. Alaric sat down across from her. He took a breath to steady himself and said:
"You remember everything. You love Damon Salvatore. He was your boyfriend, then he died," Alaric said, voice layered with compulsion. Elena's eyes slid out of focus for a second.
"Who was Damon Salvatore?" he asked once Elena was focused again.
"He was my boyfriend. I loved him, then he died," she said. She shook her head. "I still don't remember." Alaric sighed.
"I figured that was too easy," he said. He took a sip from his tumbler. "Okay. On your eighteenth birthday you were getting ready. Damon came in to give you your birthday present. It was the necklace from Stefan. You had lost it. Even though he loved you, he gave you the one thing that meant hope for you and his brother. In that moment, you loved him." Elena gasped, hands flying up to press on her temples. She sat on the couch eyes squeezed shut, grunting in pain for a few minutes, before passing out completely.
"Shit," Alaric said, moving quickly to catch her. He laid her down on the couch. Once she was situated, he took his place across from her again and nursed his bourbon.
Five minutes later, Elena woke with a start, breathing quickly. She shook her head, unable to focus on anything.
"Alaric?" she said weakly once she had pushed herself into a sitting position again. Alaric smiled slightly.
"How are you feeling?" he asked.
"Overwhelmed," Elena said. "I just want to scream and crying and laugh. I can feel all that grief again, but at the same time I'm happy. He's back. He's alive." Tears were coursing down her cheeks.
"Yeah," he said. "And best of all, he didn't actually try to kill me." Elena laughed.
"That's definitely a plus," she said. She stood up, stumbling slightly. "I have to go find him. I have to apologize. I have to see him."Alaric grinned, shaking his head.
"I'll text Stefan," he said. Elena grinned back. His phone dinged almost instantly. "They're on their way back. When they get here, I'll give you some time alone. Don't have sex in my apartment."
"What?" Elena spluttered. Alaric raised his eyebrows at her. "Oh my god."
They sat in silence until they heard Stefan and Damon coming up the stairs. Elena went and hid in the other room.
"So you just drag me out for no reason and then after an hour decide you don't want to spend time with me?" Damon was saying. Elena could practically hear Stefan rolling his eyes. Leave it to Damon to whine about spending time out with his brother.
"And with that, I leave you," Stefan said. "I'll see you later, brother."
"I just realized I forgot some papers in my office," Alaric said. "I'll see you soon."
"Really?" Damon said loudly. "What is it with you two?" The door shut in answer. "Jerks."
Elena couldn't keep the smile off her face. She walked out of the room. Damon smiled at her hesitantly.
"Elena," he said.
"Hi," she said softly. She crossed over until she was standing inches away from him. He looked at her confused. In the four days he'd been back, she'd refused to be in the same room with him for more than a few seconds.
"I guess you kept your promise after all," she said after a few moments. Damon's eyes widened.
"You remember?" he asked hopefully. Elena smiled at him.
"Alaric lifted the compulsion," she confirmed. "I'm so sorry, Damon. If I'd know you were coming back, I never would have." Damon grinned widely wrapping his arms around her, pulling her close.
"I know, baby, I know." Elena pulled away. "Everything okay?" he asked, worried. Elena laughed.
"Everything's fine," she said. "I just really want to kiss you." Damon laughed and kissed her.
"I love you," she said when they broke apart. Damon laughed again.
"I love you, too," he said. "Forever."
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