A/N: After the amount of alerts I got for people following this story, I am super excited to continue! Thank you for your kind reviews for those who sent them in and thank you to all those that are taking the time to read my little story. I'm trying this flash back thing in this chapter. Please review and tell me how you think it worked out because I think they will be a big part of the story to show the "Bond of Bothers" that Damon and Stefan have.

Also, for those of you waiting for more Delena, do not fear. It is coming. It will be slow, however, because lets face it—she isn't realistically going to give up on her boyfriend so quickly lol. Damon's got a lot of work ahead of him, but we all know he can do it ;)

And now for the new chapter:

Chapter Two: The Time Travelers of Mystic Falls

"Uh-oh. You're going to be in trouble Damon."

Stefan stared up at up at me with large green eyes as I held my father's broken pocket watch in my hands. Stefan and I had taken it from my father's room earlier that day. It had been my idea of course…the bad ones always were.

I had always admired the watch, and I had been told over and over that the oldest male in the family inherited it. It had been handed down to my father by my grandfather, and to grandfather by my great-grandfather. So in reality it was mine to play with as I wished, or so I told myself.

Today, Stefan and I had decided to play time travelers, and of course we needed a device to take us back in time to do that.

"I want to go to ancient Egypt," Stefan had pleaded. "I could be a pharaoh."

"No," I responded quickly. "We will go back to the crusades, and I will be a general. You can be my soldier."

My plan won out of course. It always did. I was the oldest at eight, and my baby brother, three years younger than myself, always fell into step with what I wanted to do. That was how I convinced him that we needed the watch to continue with our adventures.

"Won't papa be mad?" Stefan asked as we made our way quietly to our father's room.

"He'll never know," I whispered creeping past the room where my mother lay sleeping. She had been sick on and off since the time Stefan had been born and father was out speaking with William Hatchet about cures and medicines that had recently arrived from Europe.

Once we had the watch, we were teleported back in time almost immediately. Stefan and I played in the yard all day, swinging swords made of tree branches. I shouted commands, and he followed them to a tee.

It was all fun and games until I felt a crunch under my foot. My heart skipped a beat when I looked down to see father's pocket watch lying in the grass, the glass front smashed beyond repair.

"Uh-oh. You're going to be in trouble, Damon."

Before I could respond, the sound of father's carriage was coming down the path to the house and our nanny, Elizabeth, was calling us in for supper. I stuffed the watch into my trouser pockets, and Stefan and I ran for the house.

Once there, Elizabeth had us wash for supper. Father had brought Mr. Hatchet home to eat with us, and they were already sitting at the table when we arrived.

"Boys, how was your day?" my father asked as Elizabeth heaped our plates with a delicious array of food.

"We played time travelers, papa," Stefan announced happily. I kicked him from underneath the table and gave him a dirty look.

"Sounds fun, Stef."

My father then turned to Mr. Hatchet and started discussing politics. While they were oblivious to the discomfort in which Stefan and I sat there, Elizabeth grew concerned. She came to the table inquiring as to what was wrong.

I squirmed in my seat.

"I'm not hungry is all," I said, fidgeting even more.

It was then that there was a loud thump on the ground. I looked to see what had made the noise and saw my father's broken pocket watch lying on the hard wood floor. To my great displeasure, my father saw it as well.

I was used to seeing my father angry with me. It happened quite often. Not only was I the more mischievous of his two sons, but from even a young age, I had gotten into the habit of disappointing him.

He stood from his seat and grabbed his prized possession from the floor beside me. Through gritted teeth he spoke.

"What is this, Damon?"

I looked at the ground.

"It's your pocket watch, sir."

"And why, may I ask, has it fallen out of your trousers in such a state?"

"I-I," I stammered.

But before I could answer him, Stefan interrupted me with tears in his eyes.

"Because I broke it, papa."

I looked up in shock as Stefan took the blame for something that was clearly not his fault.

"I wanted it to play time travelers with it. Damon told me no, but I took it anyways. He took it so I wouldn't get in trouble."

My father, clearly suspicious of Stefan's uncharacteristic behavior, exhaled loudly.

"To your room, Stefan. You will not be finishing supper with us tonight."

Stefan scooted his chair away from the table and headed upstairs to his room. The rest of supper was eaten in awkward silence. I tried to excuse myself, but father wouldn't hear of it. Once the table was cleared, he gave me the toy horse he had picked up while in town along with Stefan's. My brother didn't deserve to be rewarded today, he told me.

I went to my room for the rest of the night. Later, I heard father tell Stefan to get the switch from the fireplace and he was punished for something that he had been opposed to all along, something that was my fault. I lay in bed that night trying to get to sleep but failing, listening to my baby brother's sobs from the next room.

…

Fifteen years later, I found myself at a pub fifty miles south of my childhood home. I had been a vampire for three years, and I hadn't seen Stefan in a little less than one. I had left him. I had tried to make him see the error of his ways, to make him see the child I saw when I looked into his eyes—the brother who had been my solider and I his general—but it couldn't be done. He brought women home with him nightly; they never left the next morning. It all became too much. I couldn't stand to see him in such a state.

It was, for these reasons, that it was such a shock when the man who sat beside me at the pub turned out to be none other than Stefan himself.

"Brother," I said in acknowledgement.

"Hello, Damon," he said with a sly smile. "Still brooding over your existential dilemma?"

I gave him a weak smile and turned towards my drink, opting not to give him the answer he knew he would get.

"So," I began. "I hear they've started calling you a ripper."

A smile spread across his face in pride.

"So they have, Damon. I wish that you would embrace this life that I have given you. Join me. If it wasn't for me you'd be de—"

"Happy," I interrupted sharply. "If it wasn't for you I would be happy, Stefan. I would be with mother if there truly is a heaven. And if there isn't, I would be in sweet oblivion instead of stuck on this cursed world with idiots like you."

My anger had gotten the best of me. I knew it wasn't smart to test Stefan, especially now that even some of the more influential of our kind referred to him as ripper. But, I didn't care at that moment.

I continued.

"What happened to my baby brother, Stefan? What happened to the boy who took the blame for the pocket watch all those years ago?"

Stefan's expression was stony as he reached into his pocket.

"He went back for your damn watch, Damon," he spat. "And he pried it from the cold, dead hands of an uncle who didn't deserve it."

With those words he slammed my father's pocket watch onto the table and walked out of the pub.

….

It was that pocket watch that I held in my hands as I packed my bags to begin my journey—a journey that I would not return from without my brother in tow. I ran my thumb over the perfectly smooth glass face. My father had replaced the glass on his next trip into town, promising me it would as perfect as they day he received it when it became mine. And it was. But it was Stefan who had given it to me instead. With our father dead and us leaving town to save our lives, he never had the chance to give it to me. It was given to my uncle Antonio when father's belongings were divided up. An uncle killed by his own nephew.

I shook my head of the memories that haunted me and carefully wrapped the watch in a pair of my socks before placing it carefully in my suitcase. It was the last item to be packed.

I shut my suitcase and locked it, putting it beside the cooler filled with the hospital blood bags. Then I got on the Internet on my phone checking flight 156's departure time for tomorrow morning. Five twenty am. I would by tickets there or compel someone else to give up their seat for me, but I would make the flight no matter what it took. I had to get to the one person that would lead me inadvertently to Klaus and in turn to Stefan, and I knew exactly where that person would be.

Before shutting my phone off and charging it for the night, I sent a quick text to Elena explaining why I would be gone as of tomorrow. She at least deserved that.

I'm going to go find Stef tomorrow. You were right. He deserves to be here with you. I didn't deserve his sacrifice.

I looked at the words I had typed out and pressed send before I could change my mind. Then, I sat down onto my bed and took a deep breath, setting my alarm for three. That should get me to Richmond in time for my flight.

"I'm not going to let you take the fall for me this time, Stef," I said as I turned out the lamp beside my bed knowing I would need all the sleep I could get.

A/N: Can anyone guess where our poor Damon is headed? Guesses and reviews are appreciated! Remember to let me know what you think of the flashback. And don't forget to check out my other Damon/OC story!