The day after Elena knocked Stefan out, she explained to Jenna that Stefan was pretty sick, so she was going to stay with him to help him get better. After an awkward, non-effective warning that Elena should make sure not to get into any "hijinks" while she was gone, Jenna smiled at her and told her to have fun and be careful.

"Oh, and say hi to Damon for me. It's not every day that a knight in shining armor comes to rescue a girl in distress."

Elena looked at her, incredulous. "Please don't tell me you actually just said that."

"I meant with the dance! Stefan was sick so Damon stepped up to--- OH, never mind! Just go." Jenna tried to clarify, laughing, "and be sure to avoid coming here from 4-7:30 pm. Uncle Jon wants to start spending quality Gilbert men time with Jeremy." She cringed, "I'll have to resort cleaning the bathrooms to avoid him."

Elena made a face, "Thanks for the heads up. I definitely will."

Damon had opened the door, half-clad as always in an open shirt.

"I knew you'd be back for more." He purred at her. "Just couldn't resist me, could you?"

Elena rolled her eyes and nudged her way past him, not-so-accidentally elbowing him in the side as she walked through the door.

"At least you learned how to knock." He gripped his side dramatically with a wounded look on his face. "Awwww, what was that for?"

"How's Stefan?" She asked, ignoring his theatrics.

His face straightened, "Don't know. He hasn't woken up yet." He strolled into the kitchen.

Elena's face furrowed as she followed him, "Do vampires usually stay unconscious for this long? Is he okay?"

"Re-lax. He'll be fine." Damon opened the cooler and grabbed a blood bag for himself.

Elena turned and went down the basement stairs. "I'm going to go check on him."

Damon called after her, "Don't hurry back!", and one side of his mouth pulled up, when his super-sensed ears heard her snort in amusement.

He regarded the bag of blood in his hands, flipping it from one to the other, before spinning on one heel to search for a straw.

Elena regarded Stefan for a few moments, leaning her face against the door of his cell. Her eyes looked tiredly and sadly on her boyfriend's sleeping form.

"I hope you get better soon," she whispered, "I miss you."

With that, she turned and went back up the stairs.

After locating a straw, Damon plunked down into a chair with a self-satisfied "Hm." He was drinking from it when Elena came back up.

"And how is brother dearest?"

"Same."

"I told you. Don't worry, that's a good thing." Damon sucked obnoxiously and provocatively on his straw.

Elena threw him a disdained look, and was going to give him a withering reply, when she stood up a little straighter and her face creased in confusion.

"I've just realized something. How long have you been drinking that?"

Damon looked at his bag, "About three minutes?" He looked at her, "aaaand why does this matter?"

"Not the bag! Blood in bags. Bagged blood. The stuff from the blood bank." Elena stared at him, eyes widening, "You've been doing it for weeks! That's how Stefan got some in the first place."

Suppressing a scathing comment about her repetitions, Damon focused instead on the second part of her words, "Why does that matter, Elena?" He cocked an eyebrow.

Not one to back down to him, Elena mirrored him. "Well." She said, "for starters, it means that you've stopped feeding off of people. And," she stopped, calculating backwards in her mind, "All of the recent attacks have been the other vampires. When…"

Damon cut her short, "Don't make a big deal about it. It's nothing. I'm lying low."

"Provoking Alaric Saltzman in front of the whole female population and collaborating with the Founder's Council is lying low?"

He put on an 'I'm-not-impressed-with-your-deductions' face, "Duh, Elena. Wolf in sheep's clothing. I provide vervain; which, by the way, I can't feed from those who've ingested it, meaning that cuts intake by however many people; and get away without suspicion. Which, by the way, Stefan is no longer helping with."

She flinched, but remained unconvinced.

"I think you're using that excuse to cover up the fact that you haven't killed, even fed from, any human in a while." Her face brightened, "You've even been helping Stefan and I."

Angry, Damon flashed to his feet and her side. Leaning into her space, he growled, "Don't even think about it. There is no way that the two of you are 'changing' me. I can do whatever the hell I want. If I want to get somebody to feed off of, I will. I just find this easier at the moment. No redeeming qualities, remember? I'm doing it for my benefit. So, stop analyzing me, and start getting Stefan under control, so that I can live my life without having to constantly stop him from crassly slaughtering innocent people off of the street."

Shaken up, but not standing down, Elena glared back at him, "Do you hear yourself? 'Slaughtering innocent people'? The Damon before would have partied about it, and joined him. You have changed. You're just afraid to admit it!"

Eyes blazing, Damon clenched his hands together, before turning from her and dragging his hand down his face.

"Whatever," he said curtly, a moment later, "Don't start getting your hopes up. I am exactly the same as I used to be. I'm doing all of this for me. So, think whatever you want, but don't expect me to follow along." He faced her again, taking in her righteous fury. "I'm going upstairs. You're welcome not to follow."

She scowled at his retreating back, and then turned toward the basement door.

Upstairs, Damon slammed his door closed, and collapsed with his back against it.

A/N: Okay, so before you review. I didn't expect to continue this story. Then, some reviewers expressed interest, and I came up with some ideas. They're pinging through my head at the moment, so I don't have any firm set ideas, but I'm gonna see where this takes me.

I'm going to be updating about once a week from now on. One of my goals is to keep this story canonically plausible; that means I've always got to see the next episode, so that I don't go AU.

This chapter was not supposed to end up in a fight, but there you go. I've got maybe one other chapter before "Blood Brothers" is set, because in one of the web clips Elena mentions she been "here most nights" (meaning several since 'Miss Mystic Falls'), avoiding her uncle, so I've got a few days to work into this story.

Like last time, grammar and spelling critiques are fabulous! Reviews even more so!

(Also, anyone want to beta?)