Summary: So in 2x22 when Stefan locked Damon in the cellar and left to make a deal with Klaus, he was shot down. Klaus saw Stefan to be no use to him and told him he wouldn't give the cure for the werewolf bite. However, when Stefan brings up Damon and how he could be of use to Klaus, he trades his brother's survival for a new life.

Now: We are now in the new re-write of 3x01. Enjoy!

"Got another lead." Elena said as she entered the Salvatore Boarding House where Stefan was sitting in the living room with a mug of blood, sipping at it.

"Oh boy." Stefan said sarcastically, taking the paper from her and looking it over. They had been searching for Damon and Klaus for months now. They could be tracked, but never successfully found. He was growing tired of searching for someone who didn't want to be found.

"He's your brother Stefan..." Elena said, annoyed with his attitude. He crumbled up the paper and tossed it into the fire. "Stefan! What the hell? This could have been it!" Stefan stood from his spot on the couch and walked a few steps closer to her.

"Yeah Elena, this could have been the one. The clue that tells us that Damon is alive and living in Graceland." Stefan scoffed. He'd become bitter since his brother left town and as he tried to close the gap between them and take her into his arms, she bit back tears as she shoved him away from her.

"He's gone Elena!" He growled, growing angry with her. "He isn't coming back! I saw Klaus compel him to shut off his humanity! He is nothing but a shell of the man we knew. You have to let him go. We have to let him go!" He yelled as Elena shook her head.

"Have a little faith Stefan..." She whispered as a single tear rolled down her cheek. "I can't let him go, I won't." And with that, she turned on her heel and walked out of the house and back out to her car. She had to get away from the place he had lived. So she drove.

Three Months Ago

"You're useless to me...the way you are now." Klaus said, pondering it all. "I won't give you the cure you're looking for unless you match my asking price."

"Please...it's all I have." Stefan pleaded, keeping his eyes away from Katherine who seemed to almost feel badly for him. If that was possible.

"No can do." Klaus replied, an evil smirk playing on his face that reminded Stefan much of Damon's. A smirk he would never see again if he didn't get this cure. Then the idea hit him.

"What about Damon?" Stefan asked quickly. Klaus chuckled.

"The damaged goods?" He shook his head in disappointment. "He is almost as useless to me as you are."

"No...he isn't. He's impulsive and knows how to be discreet. He's got everything I lack and none of the emotional ties that hold me back..." Stefan was trying to rationalize with him but he wasn't sure if it was working or not so he continued. "You could cure him and then take him with you. He'll be of great use to you." Klaus seemed to be considering it.

"Katerina." He called and Katherine came. He handed her a vial of his blood and compelled her to take it to the Boarding House, give it to Damon, and make him stay put and wait for his arrival. She nodded and rushed out.

"She won't come back..." Stefan said quietly to which Klaus laughed.

"Because she's on vervain. I've been around for a long time Stefan." He said with amusement. Stefan fidgeted, suddenly feeling uncomfortable.

Damon was lying on his bed with Elena, so near death that she could almost feel the life leaving his body. She tried to stay strong, but his "final words" were breaking her apart.

"You should have met me in 1864." Damon breathed, closing his eyes and releasing a shaky breath. "You would have liked me." It took everything inside of her not to burst into tears. Instead she smiled softly.

"I like you now..." Elena felt a stray tear fall down her cheek as she leaned down, brushing his lips with her own in a small but perfect kiss. When she pulled away, he was smiling.

"Thank you..." He said quietly as she laid her head on his chest, curled up with him.

"You're welcome." She whispered, closing her eyes for a moment before the sound of a voice almost identical to her own made her jump up.

"Well aren't you two all cozy?" Katherine smirked, making her way across the room to Damon's bed, opening the vial of blood and bringing it to his lips. "Drink." She commanded.

"You got out..." Damon said, almost pridefully seeing as the vervain thing was his idea to begin with. She smiled.

"Thanks to you." She said quietly. Just as he started to look like a healthy vampire again though, she pulled out a syringe.

"What are you doing to him?" Elena yelled as Katherine injected the small dose of vervain into his arm. He fell limp again as if he were now dead. She lifted him up over her shoulder.

"Klaus wants to talk to him. He won't hurt him, but I know Damon. He's stubborn." She began to carry him down the stairs with Elena hot on her heels. "Trust me, I wouldn't let Damon get hurt. I owe him my life and until I pay that, I have to keep my eye on him at the very least." Oddly enough, Elena felt comforted by her words as she laid Damon's body on the cold floor of the Dungeon. Elena sat beside him as Katherine laughed.

"Yeah, you can't be here. I have to go elsewhere before Klaus kills me and you are in the same boat as me." She yanked Elena up and dragged her out and into the pantry where the freezer and blood bags were. She kicked and hollered, trying to shake Katherine's death grip.

"Let me go! What do you care if I live or die?" Elena screamed as Katherine shut her into the small room and bolted the door shut.

"Never know when I might need my doppelganger for backup." Katherine looked at the door that Elena was pounding on from the other side. "If you want Damon to live, you should probably keep it down seeing as Klaus thinks you're dead. One of the doting Salvatores are sure to find you eventually."

And then came the silence. Elena slid down to the cold ground and sat, waiting to hear something, anything. After a while, footsteps made her ears perk up as she pressed her face against the door, straining to hear.

"Ah, here he is. The man of the hour." Klaus exclaimed upon seeing Damon's weak body litter the ground.

"Elena?" Damon questioned in a whisper, trying to push himself off the ground. Klaus looked confused, but Stefan covered.

"Elena's not here Damon..." He said quietly, almost sadly. It was believable at least. Damon sat up weakly and looked from Klaus to Stefan.

"What do you want?" Damon voiced weakly.

"I want you to join me." Klaus said smoothly, compelling him. He held out a blood bag for him. "Here, drink." Damon looked that the bag and took it, sucking down its contents. He watched as Damon devoured the crimson liquid. "That's the spirit."

Damon stood now before them, very soldier-like to Stefan. Klaus looked at the exchanged looks between them before stepping in front of Damon. "You feel nothing for this man. We'll be brothers." He compelled. Stefan growled and tried to shove past Klaus, but Damon had already pinned him to the wall.

"Leave him the hell alone." Damon growled, his voice low and angry. Klaus chuckled and gestured toward the door.

"Come on Damon. We have work to do." Klaus said simply and Damon released Stefan. He watched as his brother and the original walked out of the cellar and up the stairs. And then it finally hit. What had he done? He'd left Damon with no choice, just gave him over just like that.

From the inside of the small pantry, Elena was dumbfounded. She wasn't completely sure what all she had heard, but she knew it was bad. And her heart cried out as if it had just lost the biggest part.

It had only been a few hours since she and Stefan's fight and she was already back at the Boarding House. She would have felt pathetic if she hadn't been dragged there by Caroline who was throwing her a birthday party. So as she went upstairs to get ready, she took a turn into Damon's room rather than Stefan's and got dressed into a short white dress she had bought a while back. As she finished up, she began looking about Damon's room, touching things and imagining that if he were here, lying on his bed, he'd just be telling her to stop touching all his stuff and go enjoy the party downstairs with underage drinking and to tell the children not to touch his expensive Bourbons and Scotches. He never did like sharing.

Elena smiled, but realized that she was still all alone in the room. Damon wasn't there. He wasn't going to be. She hadn't even heard his voice in so long. She wasn't aware of how much she would miss him if he were to leave until he actually walked out that front door. Now she'd do anything to get him back. She looked herself over in the mirror before sucking in a sharp breath and turning on her heel to head downstairs and face her party in its entirety.

"Nice one, Brother." Damon commended as Klaus found himself a pretty blonde to chew on. Klaus smirked and held up yet another shot to Damon.

"Here's to brother bonding and lovely ladies." Klaus toasted, as both he and Damon downed their shots. Klaus continued playing with the young blonde as Damon sat on the bar stool, moving to the beat of the music.

"Someone's been tracking us." Klaus said suddenly. "Stefan did at first, but now its mostly a dark haired girl. Seems like Katherine is keeping tabs on us." He didn't seem alarmed by the intruders. He must have figured that they weren't a threat, but Damon felt his breath hitch in his throat.

"No big deal. She will give up in time." He said smoothly, laughing and taking another shot. In the back of his mind, he wondered if it was really Katherine following him or was it Elena? The woman he loved? Fuck...he promised himself he wouldn't let himself think of her. It only made him long to be near her...hear her voice, touch her skin, kiss her lips...He felt as if he needed her. Now more than ever.

He watched as the blonde grinded on a rather cheerful Klaus with amusement, but those nagging thoughts of Elena wouldn't leave his drunken mind. He stood up suddenly.

"I'm going to get some air, maybe sneak a bite. I'll be back." Damon explained coolly. Klaus smiled and commended Damon's impulsive personality for what must have been the hundredth time in these past few months.

As soon as the warm summer air hit Damon's cool skin, he felt oddly relieved. Without thinking, he reached his hand into his pocket, fishing out his phone. He pulled Elena's number up on the phone and stared at the small photo next to her name and sighed.

Elena had somehow found herself back up in Damon's room in an attempt to hide from the party that was raging downstairs. She and Stefan had found each other on slightly better terms, though she was still rather angry with him so she continued to somewhat avoid him. She plopped down on Damon's bed, remembering the last time she had seen him. When he was dying and she had kissed him on this very spot, trying to hold on to everything for dear life.

The sound of her phone vibrating pulled her out of her thoughts as she reached for it. The number was restricted and she was about to put it on silence before deciding to just answer it.

"Hello?" Elena's voice rang out and was greeted by silence. She made a face and tried again. "Hello?"

"...Hey." A weak but familiar voice finally answered. "Happy Birthday Elena..."

"Damon?" Elena gasped, tears blurring her vision.