Damon faced the window resolutely, a glass of scotch held limply in his hand, the last few ice cubes bobbing on the surface. His shoulders were curled forward, every ounce of tension he had was carried across them. Rose was closeted away in a bedroom; her strangled screams had long given way to muffled sobs. For that Damon was grateful, she was much older than he and having her clutching at his sleeve begging him to end it forced him to acknowledge that his kind were no longer the biggest bullies in the playground. He heaved a sigh, surprisingly of all the people he had contacted Jeremy seemed the most receptive, promising he'd look into the possibility of a cure. Damon shook his head – the kid wasn't half bad.

Gleeful laughter cut through the air as keys jangled in the lock. Damon's eyes narrowed, Elena didn't have a set of keys. Stalking towards the hall Damon arrived in time to see Stefan and Elena tumble into the house, for a moment completely lost in each other thanks to their reunion and the realisation Elijah wasn't out for Elena's blood.

"Please tell me Katherine's still rotting in proverbial hell..." Damon questioned sardonically, his body tensed.

Both Elena and Stefan turned towards Damon, both looking slightly bashful, Elena especially so.

"Don't worry, she's still in the tomb." Stefan replied, his gaze steady as he made a move towards his brother.

Damon grabbed Stefan and pulled him into a bear hug, "So who sprung you out of the joint?" his eyes swirling with emotions honed in on Elena's.

"Elijah," Stefan muttered as the two brothers disengaged themselves.

"Elijah?" Damon repeated looking down as his eyes narrowed to slits then quite suddenly his gaze was back on Elena, "what did you do?"

"I cut a deal..." Elena replied, squaring her shoulders, giving the best she got.

"A deal? I hope this doesn't mean you'll be practicing your Fay Wray impression now does it?"

"Fay Wray?" Elena parroted, momentarily thrown.

"Jeeze youth today, no interest in the classics." Damon muttered under his breath before staring Elena down, "What I meant by my pitch perfect pop culture reference is this wasn't another one of your hair brained schemes to offer yourself as the virgin sacrifice was it?"

"No..." Elena countered, "Elijah and I had a talk, he came to the house, Aunt Jenna in her blissful ignorance invited him in, basically he wants me not to try offering myself up to Klaus. Elijah wants me to go on as normal. He intends to kill Klaus and with my help hopefully lure him out."

Before Damon could respond a bloodcurdling scream ripped through the building.

Stefan's head shot up, "Damon?"

"Rose, she came back and I may have pissed off another werewolf, Rose saved my ass but she's been bitten. It's infected her."

"I'm going up to see her," was Stefan's immediate response. Damon had to mentally check himself not to roll his eyes, here he was, the prodigal son returned, always so damned selfless.

When Stefan had retreated upstairs Damon rounded on Elena.

"You're going along with Elijah and using yourself as bait..." Damon spun around as his arms flailed wildly, the ice cubes clinked merrily.

"Elijah's guaranteed protection for the people I care about..." Elena defended, "He got Stefan out."

Damon walked into the living room and back towards his vigil and the window, Elena powering after him.

"Look Damon, it's the best chance that we've got," she continued.

"It's the worst chance we've got if there's any possibility you could get hurt." Damon whispered.

"Its always about me getting hurt, what about the rest of you?"

Damon hunched forward, his head virtually in his chest. Finally he spoke, "Because it would break Stefan. Because I..." his voice cracked, he wouldn't let himself say it.

"Because you what Damon?" Elena asked, her voice softening as she rolled her vervain locket in-between her fingers.

Damon sighed; knocking back the remainder of his drink he placed the tumbler on the windowsill. "Because I'd lose any scrap of humanity I've managed to claw back," he laughed humourlessly, "self at its worst"

"Self?" Elena questioned, as her hand reached out. The tips of her fingers were just skimming his silk shirt.

"Self, always self," Damon muttered. Then literally within the blink of an eye he had turned, grabbing Elena's hand he brought it to his chest, his own hands covering hers. "I'm too selfish to go back to how I was before."

Elena's eyes widened, wells of compassion. "Damon you're not going to lose me, but you have to let me try and save you all."

A/N: In case any of you guys don't know Fay Wray is the lady in the original King Kong movie. And as for Damon's reference he referred to himself as Bela Logosi and Mason as Lon Chaney so I figured he had appreciation for black and white movies. Also! I don't think in the last episode shows Stefan tell Damon about his escape, I guess in real life he would have least text his brother before jumping Elena's bones but I guess here he was too concerned with finding out what was going on and seeing Elena. Anyway, I hope you guys liked this and please let me know what you think. Cheers.