So I've recently been going on Fanfiction more often and every time I go on my profile I'm upset that I never finished some of the stories I had going :( So this is my attempt at making it right, and wrapping up some oneshots/stories! :D (I actually haven't watched TVD after season 6 because sadly I got kind of bored with it :( It doesn't mean I won't come back to it though! Someday.)

All my notes for this storyline have gone by the way, so I had to watch the episode again! Who can believe it was 4 years ago already? I hope this turns out ok!

Just a little recap: The Salvatore brothers find out that Damon sired Elena by accident, so she has to do whatever he tells her to. Damon remembers another vampire girl he may have sired back in 1942, so the brothers go to New Orleans to find her and try to find a way to reverse the spell. While there, they have flashbacks to 1942 when Stefan joined the war, and Damon was warned not to by Lexi because Stefan was learning how to be around blood again.

Part Two (Damon's POV):

"No, it's impossible for her to be so blind that she doesn't see how wrong you are for her!"

Damon was shocked. Like really shocked. Like, what the hell Stefan shocked.

The sire bond wasn't his fault. He didn't know about it until earlier that day!

And to add to that, Stefan still apparently thought that he was some kind of demon.

'How wrong he was for her'...Why couldn't he be right for someone, for a change?

All this went through his mind, but he didn't voice it out loud. Didn't give Stefan the pleasure of an argument. Let him think what he wants.

What did he care?

(A little voice in his mind told him that he cared a lot but he told it to pipe down.)

Damon turned away from his brother, and started walking away, trying but failing to keep his face composed.

As he started to push past the crowd, he heard Stefan plead "Hey, wait Damon, I'm sorry."

That stopped him in his tracks, as he had flashbacks to the last time he had been in New Orleans with his brother, who had apologised for blaming him about something or other (he really couldn't remember what for, and didn't really care). Back when Stefan had wanted to join the war, and Damon was going to go with him. The Salvatore brothers together again. That is, until he messed it up when Charlotte (the girl he had apparently sired) turned up at the bar, dripping her friend's blood all over Stefan.

Lexi had told him then that his little brother was better off without him. After all, he had made Stefan the Ripper. It had haunted him all these years...

Shaking his head to return to the present, Damon turned to face his brother again. "What did you say?"

Stefan looked taken aback by Damon's question. "I - I said I'm sorry. I should never have said those words."

Damon scoffed "You don't mean that."

"Yes! Yes I do! It's not your fault - "

"And since when has that stopped you from blaming me?"

"What?"

Damon closed his eyes. He hadn't wanted to get into this. But this damn place kept drudging up memories!

He felt Stefan move closer. "What do you mean, Damon?"

Damon opened his eyes to see Stefan about a foot away, warily keeping his distance. Maybe his brother would always keep his distance, literally and figuratively, never wanting to get too close before his big brother inevitably snaps.

"Do you remember when we were last here? In 1942?"

"Yes, that was when I went to fight in the Second World War. And... and you were supposed to come with me."

"See, you can't seem to stop blaming me for something! First it's that I turned you into a Ripper - for which you apologised. Then it's for not going to war with you. Without even knowing my side of the story, you instantly blame me for not accompanying you. Now it's for somehow using the sire bond for having my evil way with Elena."

Stefan's eyes glanced down, a small amount of shame flickering across his features. "But you promised you'd go with me. I just put it down to you once again bringing me misery and all that. Lexi wouldn't go to war with me so I thought we would be able to spend some time together..."

Damon sighed "It would never have worked Stefan. You were challenging yourself to abstain from human blood, and if I went with you, you would have just fallen back, you know that. Besides, Lexi wouldn't let me go anyway."

Stefan's eyes shot up to Damon's. "What?"

Damon hesitated. He didn't know where he stood whenever Lexi was brought up. He could never be sure if Stefan would ever forgive him for killing her.

Add that to the list of things he needs forgiveness for!

"Let's just say that Lexi wanted you free from your brother's influence. And that's all I'm saying, we should really be going to find Charlotte and finding a way to break this stupid sire bond!"

Stefan took a step forward, sensing that Damon was pulling away. "Please Damon...It's becoming clear to me now that I shouldn't have gotten mad at you. For the war, for this sire bond - "

"Forget it Stefan - " Damon turned away to carry on the search for the vampire girl but felt a pull on his arm. When he looked down, Stefan's hand was there.

"No Damon. I - I shouldn't have gone off on you like that. You...You aren't wrong for her. At least, no more wrong than I am. I used to think that us coming back to Mystic Falls and falling in love with Elena was what brought trouble to Elena's door. But we didn't. Without one of us around her, she would have been lost long ago. To Katherine, Klaus, and all the others. So listen, whether or not Elena would have been with you without this sire bond, I know that you are innocent."

Innocent. A word not often used when directed at Damon Salvatore. He couldn't deny that it made him feel proud and he smiled. Proud that maybe for the first time since he'd become the Ripper, his brother had stopped blaming him. Maybe they would finally be able to find a way to live together. Peacefully...

Oh shoot, he was still smiling. And Stefan was smiling back. Oh no. This was so embarrassing. He had to stop it. Just mention Elena, that's sure to produce a sour face.

Damon smirked, "So if we break the sire bond and Elena still chooses me, then what?"

Stefan clapped him on the back, still smiling and started to lead the way. "Then you win fair and square - for once."

What? Damon's smirk dropped. That's not that response he was looking for! How was he going to be able to tease his brother if the subject of Elena didn't even create a reaction anymore?!

He rushed forward to catch up and overtake his brother.

"What do you mean 'for once'? I am an upstanding member of society!"

"Yeah yeah Damon, of course you are." Stefan sounded so...jokey... so relaxed...

Damon growled "Let's go find this Charlotte chick before I decide to sire a few more girls to fawn all over me and ditch Elena."

"Damon!"

Ha, Damon thought with glee. At least he knew that Stefan still wasn't completely immune to his taunts.

The End

Thanks for reading :) It took me a while to get back into writing anything, it's a bit sketchy if I do say so myself!