To transition or not?

I own nothing of the Vampire Diaries, but I adore the genius created in the books and the series, and I love to play around with the characters they created. No copyright infringement intended!

As I mentioned before this story is how I envision the sire bond and transition, so some parts will remain as they were on the show, but there are a few scenarios that I see going in a slightly different direction. And Damon's perspective is slightly different than what we saw early on regarding her transition. Though I will say he is definitely pro-transition :)

The rating is probably going to change shortly due to my plans for later chapters, just FYI :)

Liv

An hour later, Damon slipped from Elena's grasp and allowed Caroline to sit with her for a bit while he joined the others in the kitchen.

"So? Did you talk her into transitioning?" Stefan asked.

"I can't talk her into it." Damon stated. "She has to want to do it."

"We can't just let her die." Matt said.

"I won't. But I can't force her. She doesn't want to die, but she needs to make the choice on her own. If we force her…I can't do that to her. I think I've hurt her enough." Damon said.

"You've got that right." Stefan said.

"Look, I know you're mad at me. But don't let your contempt for me fall on her!" Damon shouted at his brother.

"What am I supposed to do? She didn't even want to look at me just now." He said.

"I don't know brother, but right now she has enough on her plate she doesn't need us to add to her stress. That might be just enough to force her into making a decision that neither of us is prepared to live with!" Damon said as he poked his brother in the chest.

He brushed passed Stefan and headed towards Bonnie, "So teen witch, how about you get on that daylight ring for Miss Elena. I hope she's going to be needing it."

Bonnie smiled as she saw this new side to Damon, one that didn't act before thinking of others or at least Elena. It was clear that Elena came well ahead of his own needs in that moment. It was a side of Damon she never thought she'd see.

"Jer, can you come with me to help gather everything we need?" She asked.

He nodded and Matt followed leaving Stefan and Damon standing alone in the kitchen as they drove off.

"I'm sorry Damon. I know you love her, too. I'm just afraid that I'm going to lose her. If you are what she needs to make this transition, then I'll figure out how to be okay with that." Stefan conceded.

"She picked you Stefan." Damon said as he felt that familiar ache in his chest.

"Yeah, and I'm sure a ripper isn't exactly what she needs to get through this. I know that leaving and all of the things that I did to her caused the two of you to form a bond, and it's unfair for me to think that's going to disappear just because I can't deal with it. She's going to need some help, and if she can't look to me then you're the only one I trust with her." Stefan said.

"Why don't we let her decide? Maybe she'll want Barbie to teach her how to be a vampire." Damon said with his trademarked smirk.

"Maybe."

A few minutes later, Caroline came down and said, "She wants to talk to you for a minute Stefan."

He smiled as he made his way up the stairs.

"How is she doing Caroline?" Damon asked quietly.

"She's devastated. She sees a world of opportunities that will never happen for her and her heart is broken, but I don't think she wants to let go of Stefan, or Jer…." She paused as she looked up into his blue eyes filled with pain, "or you, Damon."

"She's going to need all of us. Maybe you can help her with the transition, you are the poster child for control after all." Damon said.

"I don't think control is what she needs. Remember that control is what led me to slip and kill that man at the carnival. She needs to feed, feel the blood as it pumps through a living breathing human being and she needs to learn how to stop without killing them. I'm not sure Stefan or I can teach her that. As much as it pains me to say this, I think she needs you." Caroline said.

Damon let the left side of his mouth kick up before he said, "I'll do whatever she needs me to do. If she wants my help, she'll have it…but that will be up to her."

"Wow, I never thought I'd see the day when Damon Salvatore relented to the needs of another person. Not even Elena." She said.

"Look, I know what she needs. She needs human blood, warm from the vein. She needs to know what blood lust feels like in order to rein it in. But, I won't force her to feed on humans if it's not what she wants. I won't be responsible for turning her into a monster like me." He yelled before he walked out the front door to get some air.

Caroline remained in the kitchen as she pondered Damon's reaction. For a moment, she was almost convinced that he really did love Elena enough to change who he was, but then she started to remember some of his past transgressions and decided she was just feeling emotional over the events of the past few hours.

TVDTVDTVDTVDTVD

Stefan crept into Elena's room and found the bed empty. He heard Elena moving about in the bathroom and a moment later saw her emerge from the steam filled room fresh from a shower. Her damp hair hung loosely around her shoulders and for a moment, she almost looked like the fragile human girl she had been just a few hours earlier.

"Elena?" Stefan whispered to get her attention.

"Stefan." She smiled. "I don't know how to do this. Everything just feels so out of focus."

"Everything is heightened. It feels out of focus because you haven't fed yet. It will get better with time. You just need to let me…let us help you." He said as he reached out to her.

Elena flinched as he reached for her and watched as the disappointment fell over his face before he shuttered it with a cautious smile and allowed his hand to drop to his side.

"I'm sorry. I'm just so confused. I don't know what I'm feeling at all. I love you Stefan, but I'm afraid of what my transition will do to you. What if I can't control myself? What if I take you down that road with me?" She asked.

"What if Caroline teaches you?" He asked.

She couldn't answer him. She wasn't even sure she could transition, and if she did she wasn't sure who she trusted to help her. She though it should be Stefan, but her heart was telling her that was more for his sake than hers.

Stefan shook his head as he watched her battling herself over the decision at hand and said, "Do you want me to send Caroline back up?"

She shook her head and looked at him with conflict shining in her eyes, but she didn't answer him.

He hung his head as he moved towards the door and said, "Damon."

He didn't wait for her answer, he just made his way downstairs and out the front door where he knew Damon had escaped a few minutes earlier. Without a word, he held the front door and motioned for his brother to go inside watching his back as Damon walked up the stairs.

As soon as her bedroom door closed, Stefan sat down on the porch steps and dropped his head in his hands until he felt Caroline's presence behind him.

"Why don't we go find Bonnie? Damon won't let anything happen to Elena. She'll come to you when she's ready." She said.

Stefan stood up and followed her out to the car. He stared up to Elena's bedroom window as Caroline backed out of the drive and headed away from the place where Stefan's heart would remain.

He wasn't happy about leaving her in the care of his brother, but if he was the way to ensure she transitioned then so be it. He knew that her emotions were all over the place, and perhaps knowing she'd chosen him made Damon seem like a safer bet. But, in the back of his mind he also worried that her feelings for his brother were being magnified as well and that perhaps she would make a different decision once she made her transition.

As if reading his mind Caroline spoke up, "She chose you Stefan."

"I know that, but will she feel differently once she transitions? She loves him, too."

"She can't choose Damon! He's…He's…Well he's just Damon!" Caroline shouted.

"He's not just Damon when he's with her Care." Stefan said with a note of acceptance to his tone.

"No. I don't believe that. He wants her because he can't have her. She's a shiny new toy that he'll cast aside as soon as it's his." Caroline said.

"I don't think so. I don't think this has anything to do with me, or gaining something for the sake of doing so. He's different with her. He was willing to just walk away if she chose me, and it wasn't for me. He would have done that for her." Stefan whispered. "I think he would do anything for her, even let her die if that's what she wants. I think she knows that, and I think that's why she needs to him right now. She knows he understands her need to choose this life, to feel like she has some control."

"He won't let her die." Caroline said in disbelief.

"Probably not, but he won't force her to live like this if she really doesn't want it. I think deep down he knows she'll choose to transition, and that faith allows him to give her a freedom that I can't."

"If push came to shove, he'd force her. I know he would." She barked.

"He might want to, but at the end of the day I don't think he would. If anyone understands being forced into this life, it's Damon. Because he loves her, I think he would make the sacrifice that I couldn't make for him all those years ago." Stefan said as he turned and watched the sun begin to set in the distance knowing that in a few short hours they would know what Elena had chosen. His heart tripped as he prayed she'd choose life as a vampire, and a life with him.

Please review as I would love to know what you think! Do you have any ideas of where the sire bond is going? Do you think Elena will be able to resist Damon invoking the sire bond when the show returns ?

They make me update faster :) This is my first TVD fic and my first fic on

Thanks for reading and I hope that you enjoy the story I have to tell!

XOXO Livia