The bloody water was a repulsive sight, however her stomach had been strong from the moment she started scrubbing the hybrid blood off of the front porch. The sight of her baby brother chopping off the head of another would be permanently in her mind forever. She could never remove it; the sight of him pulling back that knife and slamming it down full force. How he turned to her, blood splattered in sickening dots across his face, eyes hard with no remorse.
And now her very own hands rung out the towel she had been scrubbing the porch with. Behind her, she heard someone approaching - but she didn't need to look to know who it was. With an unsteady voice she asked, as casually as she could, "Did you get rid of him?"
"Yeah." he replied softly. "Tony the headless hybrid is now at the bottom of Steven's quarry."
Elena looked down at the water. "What about Alaric?"
"Took care of him, too. He'll be fine."
Relief could have swelled inside of her chest. Alaric would be okay. She couldn't shakethat image, either. Alaric jumping in front of the car, his body slamming against the windshield in such a way that the body should not be slammed against anything. As she thought about today's events, her hands scrubbed together harder and harder, trying to remove every trace of red stain.
"How are you?" Damon asked behind her.
She sighed deeply and her voice began to crack. "Think I got most of the blood off of the porch.." Something round and large wedged itself in the back of her throat.
Damon felt sick. "Elena.." he began, watching her, knowing that she was upset and at any moment about to break. Her face twitched and she shook her head, every part of her body feeling ready to snap in half. The weight of everything was on her shoulders. "Look at me." he demanded.
She sighed once and turned, almost prepared to give him attitude if he really deserved it. And because she was facing him, Damon could see it in her. He could see the fragile teenage girl that she was. "It's gonna be okay." he promised, eyes trying desperately to hold hers.
She faked a smile and then turned back to the sink. What did he know about 'being okay'? Didn't he understand? None of this mattered. Her little brother chopped off somebody's head for Christ sake! It wasn't going to be okay! She wanted to scream at him, but she couldn't find it inside of her to do so.
"I have to tell you something." she decided, dropping the towel into the sink and stepped closer to him. With an shaky hand she wiped her eye, afraid there was a tear about to spill there. Her voice was hoarse and dry. "I, uh, made a deal with Klaus."
She faced him bravely, knowing how he could react to this news. But she faced him bravely because there was nothing he could do about it. He could be upset all he wanted but Klaus had Rebekah. "I gave him Rebekah."
"What?" he asked, and then staring at her he let her words sink it. "No..no, you did not do that. She's gonna come here and try to kill you." he exclaimed, desperately trying to bite back the anger he was feeling towards her. This is not how he was going to lose her; if she was ever his to lose.
"No she won't. Klaus won't let her because he needs me."
He felt sick to his stomach. "What and suddenly you trust him?" he scowled, the words tasting bitter. She felt as though the way he said it was like she handed out trust to anyone.
When he should have known that he was the only one she trusted.
"No I don't trust him." she spat. "What other choice do I have? I don't trust Stefan…you think he's just gonna give up the coffins?"
Damon sighed and replied skeptically, "My brother's sort of running his own show right now."
"Yeah and my brother just chopped off someone's head. It's not right…it's not fair. He's sixteen years old. He shouldn't have to live like this." she said pitifully, turning her back to him and walking back over to the sink where she could once again stare at the red stains of remembrance.
"Elena." he said behind her, but she only bit her lip and sighed deeply.
"There has to be other way." she managed out, though her voice was fighting against the waterfall of tears that were about to fall any second now. She sniffed sadly. "We have to fix it."
"We will." he promised. "Hey," and stepped behind her, reaching around her to shut off the water. And she felt it. She felt herself breaking. She scrubbed harder and harder against her hands, now hurting herself in the process. "Elena, hey. We will."
Her lip quivered as she fought back the tears, only allowing two to fall down the sides of her cheeks. They washed over Damon's hands as he held her face between them. "I need you to do something for me." she whispered, looking up into his eyes with such sadness that it would put a child that had lost its puppy to shame.
He didn't say a word for his heart was shattering at the mere sight of her extreme unhappiness.
"It needs to be done. This is the only way I can protect him. This is the only way I can't lose him to Klaus. Or to anybody. He doesn't deserve this, Damon." and now she was crying. She had lost the war with her tears but now it didn't really matter for she was tired of fighting them. "I need you to take it all away. Take this life away from him and give him the one he deserves. Can you do that for me?"
He nodded silently, face crumbled in anguish. He knew it would come to this. "Yes." Damon whispered.
She tumbled forward now, her knees giving out helplessly. Her cheek pressed against the coolness of his leather jacket and she sobbed. He simply wrapped his arms around her and smoothed her hair with his cheek. Her warmth was welcoming and familiar. "I don't want to hurt him anymore. I don't want to be the awful sister." she hiccuped. "It's because of me. He's this way because of me."
Damon squeezed her gently and murmured against her hair. "We'll fix it. …Elena…we'll fix it. I'll fix it."
She nodded against his chest, pulling away to look up at him. "Now. It has to be done now."
He nodded as well and said in a soft, steady voice, "Okay."
And then, feeling as though he couldn't take any more of her tears, he allowed her to lead the way upstairs where he would once again take away her little brother's suffering. Where, once again, he would become the man Elena needed more than anything.