Author's Note: This is literally a drive by update. I hope you all enjoy this chapter, I was so touched and happy that so many of you seemed to love the first chapter. 60 reviews! Crazy! I hope this doesn't disappoint anyone. You find out some answers to some questions. I have so much more to say, but I am so out of time. Enjoy!

Chapter 2

Fingers tap into what you were once
And I'm worried that I blew my only chance
But my heart was colder when you'd gone
And I lost my head

"Elena, wait." Stefan grabbed hold of her arm just before she opened the front door to Elise's shop and turned her to face him. The remainder of the drive to Charlotte had been a somber and silent one, both too lost in their own thoughts to be able to speak, but now that they were here she supposed he had something to say. "Why haven't you told me how he died? What are you keeping from me?"

"The how doesn't matter," she said quietly, knowing that she could not tell him the how, because then he'd want to know the why. Telling Stefan that he was involved in it all would only lead to bad things. "What matters is that I'm going to go and fix this."

"What does it have to do with me?" he asked, already putting the pieces together that she had hoped he wouldn't. Why couldn't he just come inside with her and help with the spell that would change everything?

"Please don't do this," she begged him. "Can you please trust me and believe that I will save him?"

"Wanting to know why my brother's dead doesn't mean I don't trust you. I deserve to know why I'll never see my brother again."

"You don't want to know this. You really don't."

Stefan had her pinned to the front of the building before she could blink, his arm shoved roughly into her neck. "Tell me why he's dead!"

"Because he was saving me," she choked out before pushing him off of her. "We only had the one daylight ring, and he put it on me. He was gone before I could even try to give it back to him. I didn't want him to do it."

"Who did this? Why did this happen?"

"Jameson," she finally revealed. "Damon said he killed Jameson's wife back in the 1980s."

All the fight drained from Stefan and he moved toward the front door of Elise's shop. That look on his face was the exact reason she hadn't wanted to tell him. She knew accepting Damon's death would be hard enough for him, but telling him that it was because Damon killed someone saving him, would only tear him up inside. He would blame himself and probably spiral out of control, in true Stefan fashion.

Until this moment she hadn't allowed herself to care about how Stefan would react once she was gone, but now she couldn't help but feel bad for him. Not only was he not going to have Damon, but she'd be gone too. Over the years, they truly had formed a strong bond outside of their romantic relationship. He was like a brother to her, and she didn't want to leave him alone in this time to suffer, but she knew she had to.

"Let's go in there and do this," he sighed.

"Stefan," she called out, knowing the guilt he'd just felt must weigh heavily onto his shoulders. "It's not your fault."

He didn't offer her another word or a look as he entered Elise's store, and Elena felt horrible for what she'd just told him. She hadn't wanted him to know the details like that, but he'd thought he had needed to know them. Now he would beat himself up over Damon's death and she hadn't wanted that for him. She hadn't wanted him to feel the guilt that she felt, too.

Elena silently followed Stefan into the empty shop, anxious yet nervous to find out the details of the spell that Elise had been so resistant to share. She was smart enough to know that it wasn't going to be anything easy, but it was what she'd signed up for. She'd do whatever it took to help complete the spell, no matter what it required.

They found Elise back in her workshop, standing over her table, herbs scattered around a bowl. Stefan stepped up to the table, a serious look on her face. "Elena tells me you have a way to save my brother."

"That's the plan," Elise said. "As long as you two are really sure you want to do this. But there's no guarantee that this will turn out well."

"What do you mean?" Elena questioned, stepping up next to Stefan.

"As I told you, I have no control on where or when you go back to. You could end up five days in the past or fifty years in the past. Magic like this isn't really something that can be controlled. It controls you."

"But I will go back, I will still end up in a time where Damon's is in my life, right?"

"Yes," Elise confirmed, "And whatever happens from there on is a whole new ballgame. You'll create an entirely new history for those you come in contact with. So, I need you to listen to what I say, and listen well."

Elise stepped around the table so she could stand in front of Elena and fully look at her. "You can't go around changing everything you didn't like in that time period. Some things were meant to be, and you need to alter as little as possible."

"Sure, okay," Elena agreed flippantly. Elise was acting like it was already a guarantee that she'd end up decades in the past, but what were the odds of that? She just needed to wake up and have it be a week ago. How much damage could she really do in that time span?

"I'm serious, Elena. You can't play God with this spell."

"Okay," she snapped back. "I get it, Elise. Now are we going to get on with this or what?"

She knew she was being rude to the woman that was about to give her back the one thing she wanted more than anything, but Elise had been around the block a few times, she could handle a moody vampire. It was hard to care about manners and humility at a time like this. She just wanted her husband back, and she wanted Elise to give that chance to her. Now.

Elise sighed and motioned them over to a large table on the other side of the room. "Both of you, shirts off, and lay on the table."

Elena glanced quickly at Stefan and then back at Elise. "What exactly were those details you told me you'd let me in on when the time came?"

"Remember how I said this wouldn't be pretty? Well, this is where that ugly part starts."

"What do you have to do for this spell?"

"Trust me when I tell you that you want to stay in the dark on this one. It's best to just dive in head first."

"Elena," Stefan lightly touched her arm to get her attention, "It's fine. Let's just do this."

He slowly unbuttoned his shirt and dropped it to the floor without a second thought and walked to the table. Elena had a moment of wondering whether to be uncomfortable at stripping down in front of her brother-in-law, also ex-boyfriend, but it quickly passed. It wasn't exactly anything he hadn't seen before. So she pulled her shirt over her head and followed him to the table, opting to leave her bra on. Surely, that would be okay.

"Okay, Elise, lay it on us," Elena said once she was stretched out on the table.

"You guys sure you're ready for this?" Elise questioned as she appeared above Elena's head, a worried look on her face. "It's going to hurt."

"Nothing can hurt worse than what I'm already feeling," Elena said quietly. Elise might be about to cause her a great deal of physical pain, but it wouldn't be able to equal the emotional turmoil going on inside of her. Nothing could.

Elise placed her palms on Elena's and Stefan's chests for a few brief moments before she pulled her hands away again. "Now that you can't go anywhere, I'll share the details." Panicked, Elena quickly tried to move her legs and then her arms, anything, but she was frozen. That bitch paralyzed her. What the hell did this spell entail?

"This spell requires me to cut your chests open down to your hearts. Though locator spells don't work on vampires, there's still a blood connection between family members. I need that connection from Stefan's heart to combine with yours to send you back. As I told you, I can't control where you go to, but this at least ensures that you will end up in a period where he's in your life. The rumor through the witch circles is that a person will end up in a period where their biggest regrets lie."

Okay, that was good. Her biggest regret was losing Damon, so she had to end up relatively close to where they were right now. All of Stefan's worries were for nothing. The spell would work out how it needed to. She believed that.

"Just make it quick," Elena told her.

"Okay, find your happy place." Elena barely had time to try and prepare herself for what was coming before she felt a knife slice through her chest, followed by the familiar burn of vervain as Elise poured the horrendous liquid into their chests. As her scream mixed with Stefan's agonized groan, Elise explained, "I have to make sure you don't heal before the spell is over."

Knowing there was no turning back, not that she'd want to, she closed her eyes and tried to focus on anything but the pain. What she was doing was for Damon. She had to do it to save him, all the pain in the world would be worth it. She simply had to get through it. That was what she kept telling herself. It would only last for a few minutes before it would be over and she'd have her husband again. She just had to hold onto that thought. If she got through it, she got Damon back.

She repeated it to herself over and over, forcing herself to picture Damon's face in her mind as she lived through each agonizing moment of the spell. Soon enough she would get to look in his eyes again and feel that her world made sense. She could do it. She had to.

For what felt like hours she had Elise's Latin mumblings and her own mantra flowing through her head. Just when the pain became truly unbearable and she thought she was reaching her breaking point, Elise plunged a wooden stake directly into her heart, and everything went black.

Elena hit the ground hard, dirt sweeping into her face and over her clothes, and vaguely wondered if a spell of the magnitude Elise had just pulled off couldn't give her a better landing than that?

"Elena!" She quickly looked up at the sound of Stefan's panicked voice. Her eyes took in the dark surroundings of rock and dirt, and she gasped. Bonnie and Sheila were looking nervously at her, holding the grimoire between them, and she turned to see Stefan's worried gaze wash over her.

Though it had been decades since she'd lived that night, she'd remember it anywhere. It all came back to her like a fragmented nightmare that made no sense but left her chest clenching with fear nonetheless. She was seventeen again, and Damon had gone into the tomb to find Katherine. "Oh no ..."

"Elena, I'm so sorry," Bonnie apologized. "We're going to fix it. We'll get him out."

"Get him out?" she repeated, trying to put the foggier details of that night together. She remembered the big stuff: Sheila dying, Katherine not being in there, Damon being heartbroken. It was also the night that led to the tomb vampires being out. And that was when it hit her. The vampires got out because something went wrong when Sheila and Bonnie were opening the shield for Damon and Stefan to get out. Damon was stuck in there. "We have to get him out!" she screamed, jumping to her feet.

"We will," Bonnie promised. "We'll get Stefan out."

"No, we have to get Damon out." She turned with panic in every movement she made to Stefan, who stood stuck in the tomb's opening. "We can't leave him in there, Stefan!"

"I know," he quietly assured her. "I'll get him out."

"I'm coming with you." Elena pushed past Stefan and rushed into the tomb, despite the protests that she could hear behind her. No one was going to make her wait for Stefan to bring him out. Damon was in there realizing that his entire life of being a vampire had been a complete lie, that Katherine wasn't in the tomb, and he was devastated. She couldn't leave him alone for that. He needed her.

She ran through the dark tunnels, following the sound of his aggravated kicks and screams. She could feel Stefan hot on her heels, calling out to her, but she paid attention to none of it. All of her focus was on Damon, and on saving him.

"No," she heard him grunt as she nearly fell into the dark room that was lit only by the torch he'd brought with him.

"Damon!" she gasped, and he turned pained eyes on her. "Oh my god." She went to him, her arms outstretched to hug him, to touch him and feel him in her arms again, but he angrily shoved her away.

"She's not here!" he shouted.

"Damon you have to leave!" Stefan said from behind her. "You'll be stuck in here forever if you don't leave now."

"Please, Damon," she begged him. "You can't stay in here." Even though he'd just rejected her attempts to touch him, she held out her hand for him and pleaded, "Please."

He looked down at her outstretched hand, staring at it for several moments before a dejected look fell over his features and he accepted her offered hand. When she felt his skin slide against hers she had to resist every urge in her body to throw herself at him and never let him go. She'd waited two days to be able to touch him and see him again, and it all felt so bittersweet.

Stefan had been right. She was stuck in some time period where she was supposed to be in love with him, and Damon didn't even give a damn about her. She finally had Damon with her, but she couldn't do anything about it, and as she followed Stefan, she couldn't fight off the tears that clouded her vision. The spell wasn't supposed to work out like this. She was supposed to end up in a time where they were married and things were fine. So how had she ended up here?

They came to the exit of the tomb just as Anna and Pearl were trying to leave. Anna was telling Bonnie and Sheila that she'd only wanted to save her mom when Damon ripped his hand from her grasp and he rushed past her. With an angry shout, he slammed a fragile Pearl into the rocks. "Where is she?" he demanded. "Why wasn't she in there."

"Damon no!" Anna cried out, tugging on his arm, but his anger only fueled his strength and ability to not be overpowered by Anna.

"Damon, stop!" Elena grabbed at Damon's other arm, trying to pull his attention to her, but it didn't work. She was totally nonexistent to him. He couldn't even hear her.

"She seduced a guard," Pearl choked out. "He snuck her out before we were ever moved into the tomb. She was never in there."

Damon fell away in confusion, and Anna took the opportunity to insert herself between her mother and him. "Last I saw her was Chicago, 1983. She knew where you were, Damon," Anna told him sadly. "She didn't care."

Elena had to look away from the broken look on Damon's face as Anna's words began to set in. It hurt her to see him in that much pain over Katherine and know that she couldn't fix it. The Damon in front of her wasn't one that had built any kind of solid relationship with her. They had a trust hanging on by a thread and some small semblance of a bond, but it didn't mean anything right now. She didn't have the ability she had even six months after the tomb was open yet. Her comfort and love at this moment would mean nothing to him.

She was nothing to him.

She pounded on Bonnie's grandmother's front door and nervously shifted from one foot to the other as she waited for Bonnie to open the door. It took longer than Elena would have liked, and she was about to pound on the door again when Sheila, opened it.

If history was still the same, Sheila would die tonight, and she needed to be with Bonnie when it happened. However, Sheila looked completely fine, like she was barely tired. "Mrs. Bennett," she smiled, truly happy to see Bonnie's Grandmother. All of her focus had been on Damon in the tomb and she'd forgotten about almost everyone else in the process, but now that she was in front of Mrs. Bennett and not trying to save Damon from the tomb, she could truly feel the joy at seeing the elder woman, even if it was only supposed to be for a few more minutes. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling fine," Sheila smiled warmly.

"You're not tired or feeling sick?"

"Not at all. I feel like normal."

"But," Elena shook her head, confused at what was happening. Years ago Bonnie had told her that her grandmother had been exhausted and barely able to walk after the spell that night. This looked nothing like a woman who was about to die.

"Elena, what's wrong, darling?" Sheila questioned, reaching out to grab Elena's hand and pull her inside the house. However, the moment she touched Elena's hand she ripped it away, her eyes wide. "Oh my ..."

"How are you okay?" Elena asked, unable to focus on the reaction Sheila just had. She had carried so much guilt around with her over Sheila's death, but seeing her here, alive and well with seemingly no issues at all, confused her and made her happy all at the same time.

Sheila eyed her suspiciously and stepped out of the doorway to motion Elena inside. "I think you better come in here." Wordlessly, Elena stepped into the house and walked over to the couch. "Bonnie, you need to come out here, and bring my grimoire with you."

Elena looked up in time to see Bonnie come into the living room, the large book clutched to her chest. "Bonnie," she whispered, finally truly realizing that she was really seeing her best friend alive again. She jumped up from the couch and wrapped her arms around the petite witch. She squeezed her as tight as her human strength would allow, holding her close and inhaling the scent that had always been Bonnie Bennett. "I missed you."

"Elena," Bonnie croaked, "You saw me two hours ago."

Reluctantly, Elena pulled back, shaking her head. "I know, but still."

"Bonnie, give me my grimoire," Sheila interrupted Bonnie's curious stares at Elena. Confused, Bonnie handed it to her grandmother, who motioned them both to the couch. After they were seated, and the large brown book was carefully placed on Sheila's lap, she looked over the coffee table at Elena. "I think you have a few things you probably want to explain. Am I correct?"

"We don't need to talk about me. You should rest tonight. It was a big spell you performed."

"Elena, honey, I'm fine. Right now, I want to know why you're here and how you got here."

She could feel the blood drain from her face at Sheila's words. "What did you see?" When Sheila had pulled her inside, she must have seen something.

"I saw you with that Salvatore brother, the older one. He gave you his ring."

Elena's eyes filled with tears at the mention of Damon and the hell that her life had been for the past two days. She looked down at her lap and nodded her head. "He gave me his ring so I wouldn't die, but it meant he did," she whispered. "Or he does. What you saw is from over 80 years in the future, where I'm a vampire and married to him."

"You married Damon?" Bonnie shrieked. "You don't even like him. You're in love with Stefan." Elena slowly lifted her head to look into Bonnie's wide eyes that were frantically bouncing from her to her grandmother. "What is going on?" Silent, Elena held out her arm for Bonnie to take. Her friend eyed it nervously before reaching forward and grabbing her hand. It took a few moments, but soon Bonnie's eyes widened and she tried to rip her hand away. "Oh my god," she gasped.

"Elena, do you want to tell me what happened?" Sheila questioned softly.

"I'll tell you anything you want to know. I just want to fix this."

"What do you want to fix?"

"Two days ago – well, two days ago for me – Damon and I were kidnapped by a vampire named Jameson. He wanted revenge for something that Damon and Stefan had done. So he chained us up in a room with only one daylight ring and a window." Elena couldn't hold back the sob that bubbled up in her throat or the tears that fell from her eyes. With the memories replaying in her mind, she dropped her head into her hands. "He died so I could live, and I couldn't accept it. I can't."

She wouldn't.

"Elena." Bonnie had moved across the couch and was now rubbing soft circles on Elena's back when she tried to get her attention. "He's not dead here. It's okay."

"He doesn't remember me," Elena cried. Wiping at her eyes, she sat up again. "You saw him in the tomb, Bonnie. He doesn't give a damn about me. Not only that, but he's still in love with Katherine. God," she groaned, "This wasn't supposed to happen like this. I just wanted to go back a few days or a few weeks. I didn't mean to end up back here."

"I'm assuming a witch was involved in this, right?" Sheila asked.

"She owed me a favor, so I cashed in on it. She told me she couldn't control where I went, but that rumor had it that the person would end up in the time of their biggest regret."

"Did she say anything else?"

"She said that the spell went against nature, so I couldn't play God while I was here. She'd never done the spell or had actually met anyone who had been a part of it. She was flying blind and I was desperate." Maybe if she'd asked a few more questions she might have an idea of what she'd gotten herself into.

"Okay, I need you to come here." Sheila moved over on the couch across from Elena to make room for her. She jumped to her feet and nervously walked to the other couch, unsure of what Sheila needed her for. "I just need your hand. I'm going to try and see if I can find out what the spell was or even what she used."

"Sounds simple enough." After having people mostly out for her blood when she was a human and a vampire, offering her hand was certainly easy.

No one talked while Bonnie's grandmother held her hand and focused on whatever it was she was seeing. The witch's face was somber at what she was learning, but her face never gave away what it all meant and how bad or good it was. After several silent, tense moments, Sheila released Elena's hand and sighed. "You're playing with fire, you know that, right?" she finally asked.

"How so?" Elena knew the spell was dark and most witches would never think to even attempt it, but the spell was complete. There was nothing to do about that now. It was done.

"You being here, even if it's just your mind in your seventeen-year-old body, is already changing fate. Your very existence is altering time."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that you're fighting nature, and when that happens, sometimes nature decides to fight back. I know it will be tempting to try and change things now, you'll feel as if you have a second chance, but it doesn't work that way."

"I know," Elena practically snapped, feeling her nerves fraying. Would it be so horrible to hear some actual good news after all the shit she'd endured the past few days? She didn't want to hear that the spell was wrong and that she shouldn't be here. She just wanted to know if she could fix things. "Can't you do something to send me closer to the time I came from? Stefan is here, and he's the main ingredient to the spell."

Sheila's face fell in sadness and she reached out to gently squeeze Elena's hand. "I can't do that, Elena. The reason you're here this far back is because you're dead."

"I'm what?" she yelled, jumping up from the couch. The details felt fuzzy about the spell now, but she couldn't be dead. What kind of sick joke would that be?

"The reason the spell is so rare is because only vampires can complete it and survive it. One vampire is needed as the anchor; that was Stefan. He was the anchor that connected you to Damon's life force. The other vampire is needed because the person can only be sent back to a previous life, not a random point in time. To be sent back, you had to die in that future time, and it sends something like a reverse ripple effect through your past until you get to that. Humans have no previous lives, but vampires do. In essence, you made yourself human again."

Damon stared into the dancing flames in the fireplace, lost and confused. Everything he'd believed for 145 years was now a lie. Everything he'd fought for was never even his to win. It had all been useless, and now he had nothing. He'd built his entire existence around getting Katherine out of a tomb she was never even in. All of his plans involved her and what they would do once he saved her from the tomb. What did he do now?

Stefan had been staring at him for the last twenty minutes, probably waiting for him to snap and go on a murderous rampage through the town. It did hold a slight appeal to him, but not enough. That would take too much energy – energy he didn't have to give anymore right now. His entire world had shattered to pieces around him, and for once, he didn't know where to go from there. For 145 years, Katherine was always the endpoint. Now, that was gone.

Everything was gone.

Somewhere in his haze, he heard the front door open and close, followed by tentative and quiet footsteps. He was aware of his brother getting up and the hushed whispers behind him, but he didn't turn to see what any of it was about, nor did he even try to hear what was being said. Unless the unwanted guest could give him answers as to how this had become his life, he wasn't interested.

So when the couch dipped next to him as Elena sat down, he didn't even bother with one of his witty one liners or sarcastic laden comments. If she wanted to do her best imitation of Stefan staring at him all night, so be it, who was he to stop her?

"Damon," she whispered, her voice thick with emotion, "I'm sorry. I know how much you wanted her to be there."

For the first time in hours, he moved his gaze from the burning flames. His eyes met hers, and as he took in the face he'd spent 145 years loving, searching for, and fighting for, it all became too much. Logically, he knew Elena wasn't her, but they shared the same face. He couldn't look at her and not see Katherine, not tonight. He couldn't deal with it all, not in the way others probably wanted him to.

Stefan and Elena probably wanted him to sit there and talk through all his emotions, shed a few tears, and then hug it out, but that wasn't him. He wasn't exactly going to go on a murdering spree that night, but he wasn't going to sit around with the happy couple any longer either. The private stash of alcohol in his room would have to do until he finally passed out from it all. He needed to be alone.

Silently, he stood from the couch, ignoring the pained look of rejection on Elena's face. If it were any other day, he might try to figure out what was with the sudden shift in her. She'd been weird ever since she begged him to leave the tomb, holding his hand, hugging him, telling him she was sorry. Stefan practically had to force her to not come home with them. It was weird and out of character, but he didn't have the mental ability to even begin to try and figure that one out. Elena was Stefan's mystery to unravel.

"Where are you going?" Stefan asked him, once he'd begun to head toward the stairs.

"To take off my ring and wait on the roof until the sun comes up," he threatened, though it was a false one. No matter how much it all sucked right now, Damon Salvatore would never be suicidal over a woman.

Elena gasped loudly from the living room and both brothers turned to see her shocked face and tear-filled eyes. "Sorry," she whimpered before quickly running toward the kitchen.

"She's just trying to be nice, Damon," his brother admonished him once Elena had fled the room. "She cares. We both do."

"Stefan," he sighed, "I just found out I have spent 145 years trying to save someone who never needed to be saved. Whatever it is you want to do right now, I can't do it."

He didn't wait for what his brother would say next before he turned and began climbing the stairs.

Elena crept slowly into Damon's bedroom, being careful to make as little noise as possible. It was easy to see that he was passed out in a drunken stupor. She'd had enough years with him to know what a sleeping Damon looked like, and he was certainly down for the count. It was a painful sight to see, but she was also happy for this moment alone with him.

She gently removed the empty liquor bottles from his bed and set them on the nightstand so she could pull his crumpled covers over his body. His shirt had long ago been lost, she assumed, and she couldn't resist the urge to splay her fingers out over his bare chest. Her heart clenched painfully as she felt his beating steadily beneath her touch. It was real, she was really seventeen again and a human, and he was here.

He was physically in front of her, where she could reach out and touch him, but he wasn't hers. Not yet, at least. Elise had warned her to not play God, but she couldn't sit back and wait for things to play out as they had before. She couldn't just spend time around him and not be with him. He may not know it yet, but he was her husband, and she would get him back. She didn't know where to even begin though.

She knew Stefan was confused by her behavior, but she had the future version of Stefan's words stuck in her head about how she'd need to tell him, and she didn't known how just yet. And then there was Bonnie and Sheila. Somehow Bonnie's grandmother was still alive. She didn't know if she got Damon out of the tomb sooner and if that had saved Sheila, or if something else was going on, but she was happy for it. At least she had been until Sheila had told her that she'd done what was believed to be impossible and made herself human again.

No wonder Elise had been so cryptically silent about the whole damn spell. She knew she had to kill Elena. Of course, that had to be the catch to it all. That was just her life now, wasn't it?

It was like a cruel joke at her expense. Yeah, she got to be around Damon again, but she didn't get to have him. No, she could only look at him, because he wasn't hers. He was still in his king of the asshole vampire phase, and probably wouldn't hesitate to snap her neck if she pissed him off enough. She was stuck at square one. She had to recreate their entire history over from scratch, basically. She had to go through the deaths and the heartbreaks, the betrayals and the pain. She had to go through every single moment of it again to give herself another shot at their eternity.

She couldn't blame anyone but herself. She'd begged and pleaded for Elise to do it until the witch finally gave in. She'd gotten herself into this whole thing, but as she stared down at Damon's sleeping form, she knew it was all worth it. Being a human again was going to suck. She didn't know how to do it anymore. She was a fish out of water, but it meant she got Damon again and that she could make sure he really did have as long as he wanted on this earth. Damon was the priority. She'd come to save him, and she'd do that if it was the last thing she ever did.

"I love you," she whispered into the silent room. "I know I didn't think this whole thing through like I should have, but I'll make it better. Right now, though, it just hurts, Damon. It hurts so much. I'd give anything for you to open your eyes and look at me like you really know me. I wish you would touch me and hold me like I'm your reason for breathing. I miss you more than I think you could ever know." She bent down and pressed a soft kiss to his forehead, reveling in the feeling of it all for a few short moments before forcing herself to pull away and gently brush his hair back. "I'll fix this, I promise."

"Elena?" She jumped up from the bed, startled by the sound of her name and whipped around to see Stefan in the doorway, confusion and pain on his face. "What are you doing?"

"Stefan," she started, slowly walking toward him, "I know how this must look."

"It looks like you just told my brother you love him."

Elena looked back at Damon's still sleeping form on the bed, and then back at Stefan. She'd wanted a few days to figure out how to tell him what was going on, but she'd just blown her shot at that. He had to know the truth, and he had to know it now.

"We need to talk."

"Just tell me what you're doing. What is this?" He motioned to Damon on the bed and back to her. "Why are you kissing him and telling him that you love him?"

"Would you be quiet?" she hissed, pressing two firm hands on his chest and pushing him out of the room. "Damon can't know about this."

"Know about what?"

"We'll talk downstairs," she promised him. "Just trust me."

Reluctantly, he turned and walked down the stairs. God, why had Stefan insisted that she tell his past self about what was going on? They had been delusional to think that a Stefan who was in love with her would ever be okay with what she was about to reveal. Not that she even knew how to tell him. How did one tell their boyfriend they were in love with the boyfriend's brother? Especially when the boyfriend was a fragile Stefan Salvatore.

"Want to tell me what that was all about now?" Stefan demanded as she ushered him downstairs. "Why were you telling Damon that you love him?"

"Because I do." She decided the best route to go was to jump straight in. There would be no easy way to tell Stefan that she wasn't in love with him anymore and hadn't been for decades. Then, not only was she not in love with him, but she was in love with his brother and married to him. Oh yeah, and she'd gotten him killed along the way too. Yeah, none of that was going to go down well.

"You can barely stand him."

"At seventeen I could barely stand him," she agreed. "I'm not really seventeen though, Stefan. Not in my mind at least."

"What are you talking about?"

"When I'm eighteen, Matt's truck goes through the rails on Wickery Bridge and I die in that water with vampire blood in my system. For 80 years I've lived as a vampire, and most of that time I've been a vampire married to your brother. That was my life until two days ago, because two days ago, Damon died."

She could see the denial immediately fall over Stefan's face, and she knew that she would be in for a fight. "I sound crazy, I know, but I'm telling the truth. I watched him die, Stefan. He burned to ash right in front of me. So I went to Elise, a witch, and forced her to perform a spell that would send me back. For that spell, we needed you, and the you from that time told me that I had to tell the you from this time, because you're the only other person that would work as hard as I would to save Damon."

"Are you sick? What's going on with you, right now?"

"When you were five, you fell off your horse on the plantation and broke your leg. Damon carried you all the way back to the house, and held your hand as they set your leg."

Stefan's eyes widened at the story. "I've never told you that."

"Not yet, but you will. You also tell me that you forced Damon to turn because you couldn't live without him. Eight decades from now you still feel that way, and that's why I'm here. I wouldn't be here if you hadn't laid on that table and let Elise cut your chest open down to your heart and fill it with vervain. You wanted this for me in that time, and you're going to want it now, because I will save your brother."

"This is insane. This can't be real."

"It is real," she told him insistently. "Your brother is dead. Do you get what I am telling you? He is dead. And I know things are really bad for the two of you right now, but I also know that you love him more than anything or anyone, even me."

"That's not true," he tried to deny, but she knew it was a lie. He still wanted to believe his relationship with Damon was irreparable. He was scared to trust Damon again, but she knew that fear wouldn't ever stop him from putting Damon's safety above everything else.

"Yes it is, and we both know it. Cause when it comes to letting me die or letting Damon die, you make the same choice every time, Stefan. You want to know why I die in that water that night? Because I told you to save Matt, and by the time you came back for me, I was dead. Want to know what you do when Damon is dying and tells you to let him die? You hand yourself over to the most powerful vampire in the world so Damon can live. Those are the choices you make. So let's cut the bullshit about your great love for me, and get down to what matters: Damon. You will help me save him."

"This isn't happening." Stefan began pacing in front of the fireplace. "This cannot be happening. Things like this don't happen. None of it makes sense."

"I don't need it to make sense to you. I just need you to help me."

"I just heard you tell my brother you love him and you want me to help you?" he demanded. "I don't even know if I believe any of this. You can't stand Damon, and I'm supposed to believe you love him? He was just shoving his blood down your throat not so long ago."

"I get that it's out of left field, and that it sounds crazy, but it's true. I know he's done some horrible things, but I also know the man that's underneath all of that, and you do too. We know the same man, Stefan. It just takes us a long time to see him for what he is. Once I see it, I fall in love with him."

"You love me!"

"No, I don't!" she screamed, finally at her breaking point. She didn't have time to fight with Stefan about who she loved, because it wasn't going to change. She didn't care that she was changing his world, as he knew it. She just cared about saving Damon, and she needed Stefan to get his head out of his ass long enough to care about it too. When she saw the stricken look on his face though, she immediately regretted the outburst.

Everything in her head felt like a jumbled mess. To her, she was almost one hundred years old, and she was a different girl than the Stefan in front of her knew. She had changed over the years, grown up, let go of so much past hurt. She'd also found her soul mate, the man she planned to spend eternity with, until he'd been cruelly ripped away from her. Fact of it was, she wasn't the teenage girl he fell in love with. She didn't need him to be her calm in the storm anymore, and she couldn't pretend otherwise.

Stefan stopped briefly and turned bewildered eyes on her. "Who are you? This doesn't even sound like you."

"I'm sorry," she quietly apologized. "I'm ruining this all right now, and I'm sorry. I'm not trying to be cruel. Everything is just really messed up. My entire life just fell apart, Stefan. I watched Damon die right in front of me, and I was powerless to save him. I had vervain poured over my heart for this stupid spell that wasn't supposed to send me back this far, and now I'm a human again, with no idea how to cope. I don't know how to be this anymore. This hasn't been my life in decades. I'm lost and overwhelmed, but most of all, I miss my husband. Because he is that to me, Stefan. He's my whole world."

"How?" Stefan choked out. "How are you in love with him? All he cares about is himself."

"You don't believe that, not really. He's saved your life more times than you can count, and you know it. He's just lost right now. He thought he had everything figured out. He'd waited for 145 years to get Katherine out of the tomb, and then finally live the life he'd wanted when he was a human. Now he knows she's not there, and he feels like everything has been a lie. He's broken and confused, and out of that he's going to grow into something I don't think we ever really believed he could. He's going to be on our team and fight for us. He's going to put himself in the line of danger so we don't have to. He figures out how to be the good guy again, Stefan, and we're a big reason why."

She could see the fight slowly draining from Stefan, and the devastation was starting to get its hold on him as her words sunk in, but she knew he still wasn't truly convinced yet.

"I want to believe you, Elena, but this all feels too far out there. I can't reconcile the Damon I know with what you're telling me. I can't reconcile the you I love with this version of you that's in front of me."

"Deep down you know it's true. And I think you're going to believe me because you want it to be true."

Stefan sat down on the couch and rested his arms on his legs. "He's really dead?"

She slowly sat down beside him and sadly shook her head. "Yeah, he is."

"What happened?"

"If I tell you this, you have to promise me that you won't go off the rails and do anything stupid."

"How am I involved?" he asked, and she couldn't help the small smile that came to her lips. The Stefan she'd come to love as a brother-in-law over the years was still in there.

"Do you remember when Damon killed that vampire in Seattle back in the 80s?" When Stefan nodded, she continued. "Her husband, Jameson, chained us up in a room with only one daylight ring. There was no place to hide from the sun, so when it came up, it was a choice between him and me. He chose to kill himself, and I didn't have time to save him." She had to look away from his penetrating gaze, feeling the guilt overwhelming her once again. "I'm sorry. It's my fault he's dead."

"What do you need my help with?" His voice was soft and strained with emotion.

"I'm going to find Jameson and I'm going to kill him. Obviously since I'm not a vampire anymore, that makes my task a little more difficult."

"Okay, I'll do it. I'll help you."

"Thank you, Stefan." She quickly wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly to her. "I know this is all crazy, so thank you." The hug quickly grew uncomfortable and too much for Elena as Stefan buried his face in her neck, and she could feel his lips against her skin. She wanted to be understanding. He was in love with her after all, but she didn't want to let him believe he had a chance when she knew it simply wasn't true. "Stefan," she said softly, "you can't do this."

He reluctantly pulled away and she felt horrible for how dejected and worn down he looked. She was telling him that everything he knew about his life right now wasn't true anymore. She knew just how much that sucked, and it was exactly why she hadn't wanted to bring him in on this whole thing, but what choice did she have now? He knew, and there was no going back.

"What does this mean for us?" he finally asked her.

"It means that we're going to be really great friends. I know it's hard to believe, but you get over me, and we form a good friendship. You fall in love yourself, one day, with a girl who isn't a doppelgänger or in love with your brother, and it's great. You'll see. I'm just a phase for you; one you're glad to be rid of in time. For now, we're just going to tell people that we're taking a break, and soon enough everyone will forget about us being together. Turns out we're not as epic as I liked to tell myself we were."

"I think I'm going to go to bed, okay?"

As she watched him get up and walk toward the stairs, she couldn't help but feel a sense of déjà vu. Their final breakup had been just as much about Damon as it was this time. Only difference was Damon didn't love her in this time. He didn't even care about her. And Stefan was still woefully unstable, hanging on by the thread that had truly snapped the moment he ran off with Klaus. She couldn't afford that to happen right now. She needed him to be strong and focused on their task, not out ripping people to pieces limb from limb. If he went off the deep end because of this, Damon would not be happy with her. It just wouldn't lead anyplace good.

"Stefan," she called out to him when he was at the bottom of the stairs, and he turned tired eyes on her, "I know you're going to be upset about all of this, but please don't do anything rash, okay?"