Have Faith in Me

by Laheara (laheara )

Summery – This just came to me watching a few of my favourite episodes. I have always loved Damon and his story. I also love Elijah and Klaus and thing they are a lot alike and both set of brothers are worth fighting for.

Disclaimer – Of course I do not own the show. If I did I write a LOT more awesome brother scenes into every episode.

Klaus and Elijah may have been the original dysfunctional brothers but I think Stefan and I can carry the mantel pretty well too.

I've always been the bad brother. The screw up, the disappointment, the one everyone expected the worst of. So after a while I stopped fighting it, I gave them what they wanted and gave in to my dark side.

Lexi once told me that Stefan was better off alone then with me and she was right. I would never admit it but it she was. I poisoned everything I touched, I hurt everyone that came near me. Stefan may be the Ripper in the family but I can do my fair share of damage too.

So I decided to take her advice and I would pick a fight or so something horrible and drive Stefan away again. But my problem was I could never leave it that way. Either I would go find him or he would come find me. I knew I was bad for him but... I need... my little brother.

Stefan is the only one left that knew me when I was still good. He loved me back then and I loved him and we were happy, we were a family.

Sometimes when I'm with him I can see him looking at me hoping to see that brother again. And because I love him I dig deep inside and try, I really try, to pull that good side of me to the surface again. For the longest time he was the only one that could pull that good out, then I fell in love with

Elena.

She was so good and pure and full of light. I wasn't surprised Stefan fell for her, regardless that she had Katherines face. She was as far from Katherine as anyone could be. She made Stefan happy and he started to be the brother I remembered from so long ago.

But I knew she could bring that out in him because she brought it out in me first. That night when I found her on the road waiting for her parents. I could feel that good in me rising to the surface without me even needing to force it.

And every time I was with her that good was easier to get to. Sure I still did horrible things, I do have a reputation to maintain as the bad brother and a you can just kick a lifetime of bad habits over night. But she never saw that in me. When it really mattered both Stefan and Elena would come get me out of trouble because they saw the light slowly coming back inside me. They saw it before I even did and when I realized it I got scared.

Elena asked me why I don't let people see the good in me and told her because when people see good they come to expect it. Stefan was the good moral one not me, I'm the screw up. I didn't want to let people see good in me because it seemed so fleeting that I knew I would just disappoint them when it

really mattered, so I hid behind that bad everyone expected.

I hid for so long that I forgot how to find my way back out to the real me. Stefan saw this and kept trying to show me the way but I was to lost. It took Stefan and Elena to come find the real me. They both saw my good side and were trying to make me see it.

I was loyal, selfless, courageous, truthful, mostly decent. But most of all letting my good self out again allowed me to love again, real love not lust, for the first time in over a a hundred years and it scared the crap out of me. But they didn't do the good deed and leave me like I expected, they staying and helped me get comfortable in my own skin again.

I owe my brother everything. He believed in me when I had lost faith in myself and he stood by me when I needed him. He kept that tiny glimmer of light inside me alive so that it could be blown into a flame again when I finally found someone to love. She gave me the strength to love again and he proved that I had a right to be happy. Now when I see him look at me I can answer that hope he needs.

SO that's my story. The once bad Damon Salvatore turned no so bad because of the love of a brother and faith of a woman who were both brave enough to show me I could still be good and kept slapping me in the face until I believed it too. Now suddenly we are the Salvatore Brothers again and we are both worth fighting for.