To die, to sleep—
No more—and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to. 'tis a consummation (70)
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep—
To sleep—perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub!
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause—there's the respect (75)
That makes calamity of so long life.
Hamlet ACT III Scene 1

Damon came back for a reason.

Getting involved with Stefan's love life wasn't supposed to be part of it. Well, involved wasn't exactly the word. It was simpler to say Damon was watching from afar and occasionally throwing in a plot twist. Not that anyone asked.

It had only been a few months of quiet observation really. Stefan hadn't made a move after saving the girl, which gave Damon time to watch them both.

Elena was remarkable. A dead-ringer for Katherine except for the visible heartache. She carried all her pain out in the open where people could fix it, instead of locked down, infecting from the inside. He could appreciate the difference as well as Stefan.

That's why Damon wasn't surprised when Stefan eventually signed himself up for high school. Though, reducing himself to a student instead of coming in as a substitute teacher or something seemed a bit obscene.

It was probably a fair point that Elena wouldn't get mixed up in the rule breaking needed for getting involved with an instructor. Would have been less of a pain in the ass for Stefan to not have to fully commit to the plight of teenagers if he had gone the older route though. But Stefan never picked the easy way.

Damon followed them into the woods the night school started. The booze and bonfire tradition only seemed to happen in clichéd high school movies. But clichés were practically grounds for every annual event in Mystic Falls, so he couldn't really begrudge them this one. No one else seemed to mind. The surrounding teenagers didn't pay any attention to him lurking in the shadows, which gave him the opportunity to get a closer look at his brother and the girl. He saw the intensity in Stefan's eyes as his brother soaked up every word she spoke, hungry to soothe and devour at the same time. It was a look Damon had seen before, but never mixed with so much restraint.

Fuck. Stefan was trying.

Then Stefan touched her hand, such an innocent meaningless touch and Damon's vision hazed and his body went rigid with a feeling he couldn't describe. He hadn't even realized he cared. There was something different about her, other than the familiar face, something more that Damon desperately wanted to understand.

Damon was frantic for a distraction by the time he came across some girl in the outskirts of the clearing. She made the mistake of isolating herself from the herd of wasted teenagers. How could he resist such a tempting opportunity? Damon slipped further into the woods, luring the girl to follow him.

It was time Stefan knew he'd arrived.

Stefan went on the defensive immediately.

Damon used that and focused on scaring Elena away.

It didn't work until Elena found out the truth about what they were. A few people died for her to get it. Damon thought that was the end.

Too soon, Elena got over it and forgave them the deaths in the town. It was like she didn't care about any of the kids she went to school with except her exclusive group of friends and her brother. Or at least, forgave Stefan. It was only Damon's work she held a grudge against.

With each tale of their violent past, Elena drew closer to Stefan while Damon became more despondent. He tried to interfere, a dozen girls and half as many boys strewn about the town in a matter of months, but still Elena didn't run screaming. It didn't bode well that Elena could smile and react so well to Damon's charms, then turn around and complain to Stefan in the same breath. And while Stefan made his half-hearted attempts to get rid of Damon, they were so pitiful Damon figured there was no real intention behind them. A few days locked up without feeding wasn't the worst thing that had ever happened to him.

Damon picked up his pursuit—his distraction—of his mission to get Katherine back. Turned out she had other plans. The very idea of her came and went so quickly Damon had nothing left but watching Stefan and Elena again. A few more people died.

He tried picking Elena up eventually. Just to piss Stefan off at first, but then, well… It was interesting, if she was going to be so understanding, it'd be nice if he could have a little of that directed his way. But it would always be Stefan for her, the same way it was for Katherine.

Elena's parents were gone, then her aunt was gone, and her new guardian was some teacher she picked up at school. Her brother ran to Colorado because he couldn't take the madness anymore. She seemed unfazed. Even after all her friends became supernatural creatures, it was only Damon she considered a monster, which made Stefan push Damon away even more.

That didn't help the growing ache inside Damon. The need his brother had for someone to push him, to look after him, was a need Damon had been born to fill. Stefan kept himself weak, trying to play human, so Damon had to be that much stronger. He'd never had so many opportunities to provide protection for his little brother than in the mayhem that surrounded Elena.

If there was a moment Damon could point to that changed everything, that transformed his reluctant tolerance of the girl to pure contempt, it would be seeing them together in Stefan's room one boring night. For once, no one's life was at major risk, there was no one immediately out to get anyone. The two were laughing about something, and Damon was hypnotized to the door by the strange sound. Elena painted her toenails on the bed with Stefan lying beside her. They were fully dressed on top of the blankets. They weren't touching, but there wasn't any space between them either. Then Stefan looked up, his smile warming as he saw Damon standing in the doorway. His easy open face seemed to invite Damon into their normal world. As if there could be actual room for him there.

An aching hotcoldhotcoldhotcold feeling flooded his system. Damon was stuck. It was like pure panic built on pure hatred, the overwhelming urge to rip out her throat, not for blood, but protection.

"Damon?"

His brother's voice snapped him out of his anxiety attack long enough for Damon to turn around and be out the front door before he decided where he was going. Drinking sounded good. Drinking sounded fucking great. He couldn't explain this hot dark feeling filling him up but he didn't like it. Stefan's defenses were down too low; he was too vulnerable to Elena's influence. She was an island of chaos disguised as normality in their otherwise constant sea of destruction. Stefan was going to get his fill before drowning in it, and Damon was going to dive in right after him like usual. Because vampires didn't get peace the way humans do. There's only one kind of peace they were finally allowed.

His face had gone black standing at the door. The insane urge to pick Stefan up and carry him out, away from her, was hard to fight even though Damon was already miles away running towards town.

In a rush of clarity Damon saw it.

Elena was going to change everything.