Hello again,

Thanks to everyone who reviewed/alerted/favourited this story. I really didn't think that anybody would like this story.

I'm hoping that now I have finished this chapter I will be able to get on with some revision for my exams Friday. I feel like I always have exams to study for :(

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter that has been constantly on my mid since I first started this story.

Let me know...

Damon was standing by the mini bar, at the founder's party, scowling, '3 month, 1 week and 1 day," he thought. That was how long it had been since he and Elena had broken up. '100 days since I've seen her pretty face, and I just have to see her on my brother's arm as they smile and the mayor leaves his path to smile back and say hello. I didn't think it was possible but Elena has grew 100 times more beautiful in those 100 days.' Damon shook his head to clear his thoughts; he had know Elena was dating Stefan but he'd chosen to stay in his room or out of the house whenever she was around, so he hadn't actually seen them together until now. Telling himself that he didn't care, Damon went to fined Caroline. After all she was his girlfriend now – not Elena.

Caroline walked towards Damon after talking to her mother. Damon nodded at the Sherriff as Caroline laced her arm through his.

"Damon, can we go dance?" she asked, batting her eyelashes.

"No," he replied, his tone emotionless and his lips a straight line.

"Aw, please?" she whined and Damon was reminded that, unlike Elena, Caroline acted younger much younger than her age.

"No Caroline, I don't want to dance," Damon refused again as he steered them past the dance floor and towards the room which held the display of the original founding families.

"If you're not even going to try to have fun what's the point of you even being her?" Caroline huffed.

"I'm the eldest Salvatore in town. We were one of the first founding families, I have to be here."

"Well my mom's here so I don't have to be. I came to have some fun. Just one little dance?"

"No. If you're that desperate go for my little brother like Elena did," Damon told her, oblivious to the bitterness in his voice. The two walked into the display room and were met by Stefan and Elena.

Elena was admiring the antiques that she and other founding family members had loaned to the display when she heard footsteps behind her. Turning she saw Damon and Caroline.

"Hey Elena," Caroline greeted.

"Hi Caroline. Damon." Elena replied politely.

Damon looked at her and lifted the corner of his straight mouth in a slight smirk.

"Elena, could I borrow Stefan for a few minutes please?" Caroline requested. Damon and Elena – who hadn't realised until then that they were staring at each other – broke eye contact and looked at the blond, as did Stefan.

"Damon is being really boring and stubborn and he's refusing to dance with me," Caroline explained with a pout. "Do you mind?"

"That's Stefan's choice, not mine," Elena answered, thinking that the request was strange.

"Sure," Stefan answered with a small smile. He gave Elena's hand a light squeeze before leaving the room with Caroline. Leaving Damon and Elena alone.

Both parties felt slightly awkward.

"So," Damon finally broke the silence with his sarcastic tone, "how's things with St Stefan? Quiet enough for you?" he smirked.

"I know the two of you don't get on but you don't have to be like that," Elena snapped, at that moment she didn't know why.

"I don't have to be like anything else either," he shot back.

"Whatever Damon," she said, shaking her head and walking past him, towards the door.

Damon silently sighed and turned, "Elena wait," he grabbed her hand to stop her and she turned, "I don't want to fight with you."

Elena's eyes met Damon's and both pairs were trapped. It was like the world stopped spinning as they stood, entranced in each others' eyes, oblivious to anything and everything around them. After a length of time, which neither of them could measure, Elena became aware of their entwined hands and looked down at them. Damon noticed this and let go.

"Look this will probably just piss you off more but... Stefan and I were never going to get on. We're supposed to fight," Damon told her.

"What do you mean? Something must have started the permanent fight you have," Elena said, thinking logically. "You can't have been borne to hate each other."

"Salvatore men have been cursed with sibling rivalry for five generations," Damon explained, instantly catching Elena's attention – she sensed a story, Damon knew how much she loved a story. "It started with the original Salvatore brothers, in 1864." Damon turned to the guest registry for the first founders day party. Half way down the coffee coloured parchment were the names Damon Salvatore and Stefan Salvatore, in faded ink.

"You're named after the guys who started the fighting?"

"The first two brothers in every generation of the Salvatore family are called Damon and Stefan. We are always in competition, we always try to out shine each other and we always end up hating each other," Damon explained while looking at the framed names, accusation and hatred in his eyes.

Elena was looking at Damon as he spoke. She didn't like that look; it made Damon look like the hateful jerk he pretends to be.

"That's kind of sad," Elena replied thoughtfully. "What happened with the original Salvatore brothers? Why did they hate each other?"

Damon turned so that he and Elena were facing each other. They were in very close proximity and they both noticed it but didn't move. Being so close made them nervous. It made Elena's heart thump against her chest at triple speed, it made Damon's palms sweat but being close also felt natural to them.

"They were the best of friends," Damon began the story. "According to their journals they were always together, unless Damon was away with the confederacy one brother wouldn't be seen without the other. Then in 1864 the Salvatores took in a guest. Both brothers got very close to this lodger and they began to get jealous of one another. Best friends became the ultimate rivals. So when the cause of Damon and Stefan went to stop them. And they got shot." Damon told the story with a blank expression while Elena listened intently.

"Taken to the church?" she questioned after a short pause, "I thought they just fired on a church."

"History books are bias Elena," Damon said matter of factly. He turned towards the model church and Elena followed him over to it. "They left out the fact that the people in the church were rounded up because they were believed to be union sympathizers."

Elena and Damon both fell silent as they looked at the church, thinking of the fallen brothers.

After a long time Elena asked another question, "Who was it, that they went to save?"

"A woman," he stated simply before looking into his companion's eyes."Doesn't it always come down to the love of a woman?"

The two were once again gazing into each other's eyes. Chestnut brown drowned in cerulean blue pools for a long time. It was only when more people arrived to look at the display that Elena tore her eyes away.

"We should go find Stefan and Caroline," she mumbled and started towards the door.

Damon didn't like the atmosphere that they were left with.

"Elena?" he called and she stopped, turning to face him. "How have you been?"

Elena smiled and Damon felt his heart melt, along with the rest of his insides.

"I've been good. Thanks for asking. What about you?"

"Okay I guess," Damon shrugged. "Let's go rejoin the party."

Damon and Elena walked back towards the crowed, comfortably making small talk. Anyone would have thought they were attending the party as a couple, and they felt like it. When they reached the plain of dancing bodies Elena almost asked Damon to dance. Then Stefan and Caroline came into view a couple of meters in front of them and Elena remembered, with disappointment, who her date was.

"Hey," Caroline chirped as they approached. "Stefan is a great dancer. You don't know how lucky you are Elena."

Stefan picked up two Champaign off a passing tray and offered the second to the trio in front of him.

Elena declined with a smile for her boyfriend. On seeing this Damon was hit by a slimy, green wave of jealousy.

"You're underage," he told his brother, sounding like the responsible guardian he was supposed – but rarely was – to be.

"You've never cared before," Stefan shrugged and sipped his own drink.

"I'll have it," came Caroline's peppy voice. "But keep an eye out for my mom okay?"

There were a few moments of silence before Elena spoke, "Stefan? Do you have another dance left in you?" She smiled that smile and Damon felt the wave surge once more as Stefan lead Elena to the dance floor.

Damon scowled as he watched the couple float across the dance floor.

"They look so cute together," Caroline mused as he stared at her friends in awe.

"Please stop talking," Damon ordered quietly. Unusually the reason wasn't the annoying sound of Caroline's childish voice. Damon didn't want to hear because he knew that she was right. Elena and Stefan looked like the perfect teenage couple. They smiled as they talked to each other. Damon had never resented his brother so much. Suddenly he knew how the first Damon Salvatore had felt when Lady Katherine chose the first Stefan to escort her to the first founders day ball. The difference was that Elena wouldn't be with Damon later in the evening. Elena's selfless, not selfish. She's all that's right with the world, not all that's evil. She is Elena Gilbert, not Katherine Pierce.

She is the woman that Damon Salvatore, was just realising, he is still in love with.

So how was it?

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Until next time.

Happy Reading.

Love Thalia x