A/N: Thank you to everyone for all the reviews and Story Alerts and who added it on the Favorites; so here's the next chapter. After this one, they do start to get longer, I promise. This one is Damon POV again, but the next one will switch to Elena's, which it will probably do throughout the whole thing. There's a bit of Damon/Stefan bonding in here, because I love their brotherly relationship. Is that weird?

I own nothing.

Damon was annoyed.

He had forgotten how much he hates planes; being in a small space with a bunch of annoying humans for hours on end was definitely not his forte. And currently he was standing in the isle between the seats, waiting for some lady to get her bag down, which she was obviously having trouble with. He briefly though about ripping into her throat, just for kicks, but then remembered he wasn't like that anymore. Nope, Damon Salvatore did not drink from humans. Of course, he wasn't going around chasing birds and squirrels and rabbits, but blood bags were more his thing. He often hated thinking about how pathetic he'd become, but right now he just wanted to get off this damned plane because he had been on it for almost two days and all he wanted was a glass of blood and a shower.

After the lady once again attempted to grab the huge orange bag, he finally reached forward and pushed it down for her. She turned to look at him and blushed, stuttering out thanks and finally continuing down the aisle. When he finally stepped out of the tunnel connecting to the airport, he breathed a sigh of relief and rubbed the two day old scruff on his chin, looking around for his brother. Instead, he spotted another very familiar face.

"Ric!" he greeted cheerfully at the sight of his old friend, and clapped him on the shoulder.

"Damon. You look… different." Alaric said as he awkwardly patted Damon on the shoulder.

Damon scoffed, "I look different? Is that a gray hair I see?" he chided, and watched as Alaric self-consciously ran a hand through his hair.

"Still a dick, I see." He said as they started walking towards the exit.

"Still patronizing, I see." Damon quipped, rolling his eyes.

"So why did my brother decided to send to you, was he really that excited to see me?" Damon asked as they found Alaric's car.

"No, I offered."

"Aw, Ric, did you miss me?" Damon asked sarcastically, and Alaric scoffed. They were quiet as they backed out of the airport parking lot and onto the highway, heading towards Mystic Falls.

"So… is it really that bad?" Damon eventually asked, and Alaric scrunched his eyebrows together in knowingness.

"It's pretty bad." He murmured, hands tightening visibly on the steering wheel.

"How bad?" Damon asked.

"I'll let Stefan fill you in on the details." Alaric replied, and Damon let it drop. They continued to drive in silence, and when they passed the "Welcome to Mystic Falls" sign, Damon got an odd feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Home sweet home." He muttered, and Alaric sent him a knowing look.

They passed all the familiar buildings; town square, the Lockwood residence, The Grill, and the graveyard. Soon they were pulling into the Salvatore boarding house, and Damon wanted to groan when he spotted Caroline's car parked in the driveway, with Elena's in front of it.

"Great, the gangs all here." He said as they headed to the front door.

"I think Caroline took Elena hunting."

"And does she know I'm here?" Damon asked.

Alaric shook his head and smiled tightly, "I don't think so."

"Perfect." Damon muttered as they stepped into the familiar interior, where Damon dropped his bag with a soft thud. "I'm home!" he called out, half serious, to the mostly empty house.

"Damon."

Damon turned around to see Stefan, descending from the stairs, and smirked. "Brother." He greeted. Stefan eyed his brother up and down.

"You look... different."

"And you look exactly the same." Damon replied as he took in his brother's rolled up sleeves and scrunched up eyebrows.

Ric grimaced from behind them, "I'll leave you guys to talk." He said, and pulled the door shut behind him. Damon turned back to face Stefan, who stood there eyeing him still. Damon nodded his head towards the study and they headed into the room, Damon immediately going to the liquor table.

"I guess some things never change." He heard Stefan mutter, and Damon raised an eyebrow as he took a sip of the burning liquid.

"So, Stef. Why am I here again?" Damon asked, forcing his tone to be casual.

"Because I don't know what else to do. Elena can't keep control; she's already killed three people…" Stefan trailed off, and Damon grimaced. He didn't think he'd ever have to imagine Elena taking someone's life, let alone three.

"She refuses to do the animal blood diet, and she keeps going around compelling people… this isn't her, Damon." Stefan finished.

"Why don't you just lock her up?" Damon asked carelessly, swirling his drink around.

"I can't just lock her up, Damon!" Stefan snapped, and Damon's eyebrows rose.

"Okay, well, you could just try letting her do what she wants." He paused, "You know, stop trying to force her to be something she doesn't want to be."

Stefan narrowed his eyes and shook his head, "You may be okay with people dying but I'm not, and I know when Elena actually realizes what she's done, she'll feel guilty enough." He said, and Damon sighed.

"Well then, I don't know what I can do that you can't, Stefan." Damon said, and this time Stefan sighed.

"She'll listen to you; she's always listened to you." Stefan said slowly, wariness and a note of something else. Damon looked down into his drink and wanted to scoff. Elena never listened to him, what was Stefan talking about? If she had, he probably wouldn't have left in the first place.

He certainly didn't come all the way out here for nothing, so instead he replied "What do you want me to do?"

Stefan hesitated, "Just… talk to her, work with her, teach her." He paused, "It worked on me." he said quietly.

The sentence brought back the cringe-worthy moments when Damon had tried to get Stefan to control himself around human blood. Corpses of young girls, blood bags strewn everywhere, Elena's face when she saw Stefan feeding from the blonde girl's neck with Damon standing beside him.

He snapped himself back to reality and nodded wearily, deciding to keep the fact to himself that this wasn't going to be a pleasant experience.

Damon headed towards the door "So where is she, anyways?" he asked although Alaric already told him before.

"Caroline's trying to get her to hunt animals, which I've already attempted at least three times." He said.

"She doesn't know I'm here, does she?" he asked his brother knowingly, and smirked when he saw Stefan's expression.

"I haven't… gotten around to it yet." Stefan replied.

"Same old Stefan." Damon chided jokingly, "So, what room do I get?" he asked sarcastically as he walked down the hallway.

"Same old Damon." Stefan muttered back, causing Damon to smirk.

He grabbed his duffel bag and headed up the stairs to his room, before he reached the top of the stairs, his brother called his name.

"It's… good seeing you again." Stefan said slowly and attempted to smile, which came out as more of a grimace. Damon turned around, attempting to hide his surprise, and nodded, almost hating that he sounded so sincere. "You too."

~0~

Next chapter has Damon and Elena encounter. Please drop off a review! :)