Hey guys :) So, I've been watching Season 2 again because I got the DvDs for my birthday and knew I had to make this one-shot - set after the events of Episode 1. RECAP: Damon kissed Katherine, thinking she was Elena. Both Katherine and Elena tell Damon that it was always (and always will be) Stefan. Damon snaps and 'kills' Jeremy. Stefan's sure Damon knew about his ring, Elena isn't.

"The truth is, I've never loved you. It was always Stefan."

Those words had dug into his the next were somehow even worse.

"It's always going to be Stefan!"

Always Stefan...It would always be frigging Stefan.

Elena had been hurt that Damon assumed she would kiss him back.

Of course she had. After all, it was always Stefan.

Damon was just the spare vampire, if either of the doppelgängers got bored of his saintly brother.

He hadn't meant to lash out on Elena's kid brother. Not really.

He poured himself a drink, wanting to calm his nerves. He'd be damned if 'drunk' and 'upset' weren't a good combination.

He heard the front door open and someone stomp in. His fist reflexively tightened on his glass.

"Damon, I think we really need another talk. About Elena."

Damon sighed. "Isn't it always about Elena?"

"And Jeremy."

Ahh...he knew that would be coming. But he really didn't want to be talking to Stefan right now.

No second guesses why.

"Look, he was just collateral damage, he wanted to be a vampire anyway -"

"How can you say that?"

"Because Stefan, sometimes...other people have a right to choose what they want to be, without saints getting in the way."

Maybe this was a kick back at his brother for making him turn, all those years ago...?

There was silence as Damon knew Stefan would be wallowing in his guilt.

Then he piped up "But...he could have become what we hate being!"

At this, Damon frowned and turned around to face his brother. "He's...not a vampire?"

"Well, why would he be?"

"You mean he's...dead?"

Stefan seemed mighty calm for someone who took it upon himself to feelevery damned bad thing that Damon did. He also had a resigned look on his face.

"How could you...? Elena thought that you didn't know about Jeremy's ring, but I was so sure you wouldn't have killed him then..."

Oh. That Gilbert boy had a Gilbert life-saving ring. Of course.

"But I did know it was on!" He knew he had hesitated too long.

Stefan glared at him. "You can't go killing anyone whenever you feel like it! Why the hell would you try to kill Jeremy anyway?"

Damon stayed silent and as still as a statue, knowing if he moved an inch, he would snap.

This seemed to anger Stefan. "What the hell is wrong with you? Why can't you just - just be happy? Sure, Katherine's here, but I don't see you getting impaled with a candlestick by her - no, instead you kiss her."

He began to turn his back on Damon, and muttered "She's not even here for you!"

That was it. He snapped.

Rushing forward, Damon had Stefan by his neck against the wall.

"No, she's here for you. It's always been you. It's always going to be you. Said by the same person you would think, right?"

Seeing as Stefan couldn't really answer because he was currently fighting for breath, Damon took the liberty to answer for him.

"Wrong." He let go of his brother.

Gasping for breath, Stefan knelt on the floor but tilted his head up to look at Damon. "How...When did...Katherine...say that?"

Damon sighed and held a hand out to Stefan with an amused expression, but - as he knew he would - his brother sharply turned his head away, gripping the wall for support as he slowly got back up.

He then stared at Damon.

Damon's lips curled up at the edges "Yeah, we were getting a little...heated, before I popped a little question..."

Stefan's gaze turned accusing "You were what?"

Damon suddenly felt the irrational need to defend himself "Hey, I'm all alone, without a pretty girlfriend to satisfy my desires which bunnies can't do, so cut me a little slack!"

Stefan laughed, but it consisted more of a choke than any humour "You wanted her back, didn't you." It wasn't a question. "After all she's done to us - all she's now doing to me, you would have accepted her back without a second thought..."

Damn, why was Damon starting to feel an emotion totally foreign to him? He wasn't guilty of anything!

"But you had to ask didn't you! Had to know, out of some sick desire of yours, whether she truly loved me or you. Couldn't let it go..."

Stefan took a couple of steps closer to him "And that...brother...is the difference between me and you."

Stefan turned his back once more on Damon, shaking his head, and this time Damon let him walk away.

Damon wasn't affected by this. He wasn't!

He would make it up to Stefan, in his quite weird - but humourous - way.

But he now saw his mistakes. He couldn't let anyone (old and new) get in between him and Stefan, not straight after they'd made up after the 'eternity of misery' thing - he wouldn't stand for it!

So Damon came to the conclusion that if ever there was a choice between the doppelgängers and his brother again, he would choose him.

Because, Damon knew, it would always be Stefan.

So what do you think? Please review :D