A/N

This story came to me after watching Know Thy Enemy. Which gave me whiplash from all the twists and turns. Awesome! And from watching the preview clip of The Last Dance, Damon and Stefan talking about Katherine.

Laying across bare Stefan's chest after a being up all night, Elena was finally asleep. She had insisted that she didn't want to close her eyes because of the image of her Vampire Birth Mother going up in flames was etched in her brain forever. Stefan had laid with her, holding her, trying to talk to her about anything and everything until she silenced him with her lips and tongue. And then Stefan understood, she didn't want to think about Isobel, she only wanted to think about them and the things they could do to each other's bodies.

It had been that way all through the night. It was almost magical, how they just tuned out the rest of the world and become one together, over and over. Now it was almost dawn and she had finally succumbed to the rest her body so desperately needed.

Stefan was just starting to drift off to sleep when he heard Damon outside his door. He was speaking in a low tone that only Stefan could hear, telling him he needed to talk to him. It was unusual for Damon to use such tact, he usually just barged in, but Stefan knew Damon was very aware of what they had been doing all night and probably didn't want to see them together so intimately. Stefan knew that he wouldn't, if it ever came to that. Damon was right. He really was a pessimist.

Damon. In the past few weeks, he was being the brother that Stefan remembered from before. The one from 1864, before they were turned. Stefan also knew that it hurt Damon to see him and Elena so happy together, and with all of the shit that was coming down with Klaus coming here, the other reality of their situation was Damon's feelings for Elena were becoming increasingly harder for him to hide from Stefan.

Stefan hated to think about the situation being reversed. He knew that he couldn't handle being in the same town, much less the same house with them together. He had to hand it to Damon, he was tough. There's no way that he could be in Damon's place and be able to deal with being in love with a girl that belonged to someone else. And live in the same house with them.

Carefully he disengaged himself from her, pulling on his pants, he moved at vamp speed to get to the hall without making any noise, lightly closing the door behind him, he turned to face his brother.

"How is she?" Damon asked as if he couldn't help himself.

"She's asleep." Stefan answered crossing his arms across his chest indicating that he really wasn't interested in making small talk. "What's up?"

"Katherine. I think we need to go look for her." Damon said his face showing more concern than his voice was letting on. "Isobel set her up and now we have no idea where she is."

"We could go look for her. But where do we begin?" Stefan concluded with a shrug "Is it possible she came here and couldn't get in because of us deeding the house to Elena?"

"Maybe. But knowing Katherine, she would have stood on the doorstep and yelled until one of us showed up. No. From what Elena got from Isobel, someone was waiting for Katherine at Isobel's. One of Klaus minions has her. Or maybe Klaus himself."

"Look, how about we wait a few more hours 'til morning and call Bonnie to see if she has any ideas about how to find her?" Stefan tries to reason with him as he's reaching for his bedroom door.

"Fine. I understand how you wouldn't be concerned about Katherine after everything she has done. But finding her might lead us to Klaus so I'm going to go look for her." Damon tells him sarcastically, as he starts to walk away.

"Damon." Stefan calls after him, knowing his brother. Knowing that he was being manipulated by him but also knowing as much as Damon fought against caring, he could tell that he was covering his feelings for Katherine. "Give me five minutes, I'll come with you." as he walked back into his room to get ready and leave a note for Elena.

They found nothing. They went back to Isobel's borrowed house and searched more thoroughly than when they had been here earlier, but came up with nothing. Whoever had taken Katherine, left no trace behind.

The brothers arrived back at their house just as the sun was coming up over the horizon. Walking into the house through the kitchen, Damon opened the fridge and pulled out a blood bag. Stefan knowingly walked to the cabinet and took down two glasses. This was how it should have been with them all along. Brothers sharing breakfast, in peace. No bitterness, just brothers being friends. But no. it couldn't last.

It was a temporary situation until they solved the Klaus issue and succeeded in keeping Elena alive. They were in a cease fire at the moment. As soon as the Klaus issue was over and Stefan and Elena rode off into the sunset, the brothers would be back at war. Stefan sighed. As his brother poured the glasses of blood, Stefan wished they could end the war they were in. Stefan picked up his glass and silently toasted his other brother, hoping that maybe they could find some peace later on.

Stefan walks back into his bedroom, feeling somewhat energized despite having no sleep. He hoped that Elena would still be asleep so he wouldn't have to explain his early morning jaunt about town.

He was just removing his pants when she started stirring. She caught him. He wasn't able to climb into bed before she opened her eyes.

"Morning." Elena greets him, looking up at him she asks. "Did you guys really give me your house or was I just dreaming?"

Stefan's lips twitched as he walked over to Elena. He his hands reaching out to bring her face to his, "Yes, we did. Now that it's yours. Are you going to want to redecorate?"

A/N

Thanks to Lost ninja girl, for helping with the ending. Love you chickie!

Reviews are love. please leave me some.