Damon returned home around midnight. He came inside and instantly went to poor himself a glass of bourbon. As he did so he felt a deep feeling of anxiety and pain wash over him. It took him a moment to realize these feelings were not his own.

With vampiric speed he was upstairs and in his little brother's room in a flash. It was dark, but with heightened senses Damon could make out the shape of his brother curled up on the bed shaking violently.

"Stefan?" Damon said, stepping into the room. No response. Damon sighed, "Another nightmare," he thought to himself sitting on the end of Stefan's bed, watching his brother flinch repeatedly from something Damon could not see, yet he already knew what the dream was about.

He sighed as he slipped into Stefan's mind only to confirm his suspicions.

The dream Stefan was locked in a dark room. Hands tied behind his back and over his head, connected to the ceiling. The ropes that bound him were laced with vervain.

He had several healing stab wounds and bullet holes on his bare chest. There was a stake through the middle of his stomach, making every breath he took painful do to the motion of his chest.

He was alone. For now. He knew his kidnapper/torturer would be back. He always came back. Everyday for the 3 weeks he was missing.

He'd been cut, shot, raped, stabbed, staked, and beaten repeatedly during his captivity.

It hurt. It all hurt so much. But what hurt the most was that his brother had been the one to inflict such pain.

"No. Not Damon." He kept telling himself. "Klaus, impersonating Damon." He knew it was true, his brother had not been the one to hurt him, but his brother's face still appeared in the nightmares, and it was his brother he was afraid to be near, constantly flinching away any time Damon made a move towards him.

Damon sighed pulling out of his little brother's mind. He hadn't been the one to hurt Stefan, Klaus, being an original, could perfectly impersonate anyone he wished, and took on Damon's form to torture Stefan.

Stefan knew that and he tried not to flinch away from Damon because he knew it upset his older brother, but he couldn't help it.

Damon was racked with guilt that his little brother felt these things. He'd been horrified to finally find his brother in such a weak and broken state.

It broke his heart when he tried to help his brother up to get him home and Stefan begged, "No Damon please. Please don't hurt me anymore. Please."

Damon had explained about Klaus over and over and apologized every time. Stefan understood, but knowing Damon didn't do these things to him, and flashing back to seeing Damon's face during such times, were two different things.

Stefan was still shaking and now was muttering, "Please no more. Damon please no more."

Damon's heart broke every time he heard his little brother beg him to stop although he hadn't been the one doing anything.

He sighed again and shook Stefan awake.

Stefan woke instantly to his touch and without realizing it, flinched away. He looked around in fear and confusion.

"What..? Where..?" He said, seeming relieved and terrified at the same time.

"Shh. It's okay. Your home. You had another nightmare." Damon explained softy, trying to calm his little brother.

"Oh," Stefan said, realization flashing across his face. Then he blushed remembering the dream and also knowing that Damon knew what it was about. "I'm sorry Damon..." Stefan began but Damon Sshed him.

"You have nothing to apologize for," Damon said calmly, but Stefan could still detect a note of pain in his voice. "Now go back to sleep. I'm not gonna let anything hurt you." Damon said with a reassuring smile.

Stefan nodded and lay back down. Damon sat where he was for twenty minutes. Stefan tried to even out his breathing so Damon would think he was asleep, but Damon knew better.

So he began to sing softly in Italian and Stefan fell asleep soon after.

He sat there watching his brother trying to figure out what to do. He finally decided to talk to Elena about it in the morning.