Chapter 3

So sit back, relax, fasten your seat belts
It's going to be a bumpy ride to the other side

Stefan pounded roughly on Sheila Bennett's door

"Show me!" he demanded the moment the older witch opened the door. "Show me how he died."

Uncertainty and a brief flash of nervousness spread over Sheila's face, but she quickly recovered, standing tall and meeting his gaze unwaveringly. "I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, so you don't know anything about Elena claiming she's been sent back in time into the body of her seventeen-year-old self to save my brother who she's watched die?" Sheila stiffened and he knew he'd get the answers he came for. She wasn't going to deny it all, he could see it in her face. "We've formed some weird truce, Sheila. Tell me what's going on."

"Stefan," she said his name quietly, guilt heavy in her voice, "I'm not going to be able to give you what you want. You know that, right?"

"I want for you to tell me that none of this isn't true. I want you to tell me that Elena has just lost her mind. I want you to tell me that my brother doesn't die." Sheila's gaze fell away from him, confirming everything Elena told him the night before. Damon was really dead in the future. He was currently walking around in some future time without his brother in the world. It all felt surreal and hurt far more than he thought it could.

They'd spent the better part of a century and a half at odds with each other, and he'd thought he'd become numb to just about every emotion that he had in relation to his brother. Being faced with the reality of a world where Damon didn't exist, had him realizing with astounding clarity how wrong he had been, though. In this moment, none of the bad stuff mattered. Katherine didn't matter. The murders they'd committed didn't matter. The retaliations and spiteful behavior meant nothing. At the end of it all, Damon was his brother, and he'd still do anything for him.

This knowledge changed everything. It completely altered his view of his relationships. Even Elena didn't seem like such a big deal anymore. What did it matter if he had her, if someone was out there planning to kill his brother? No woman had ever meant more to him than Damon's life. He did force the guy to turn after all, just because he wanted his brother with him.

"What do you want to know?"

"Show me what happened. Show me how he died."

"Stefan, I can't do that."

"You don't want to," he countered. He'd been around witches for long enough to know what they were and weren't capable of, and Sheila was capable of this. "I have a right to know how he died." He wasn't ashamed of the desperation that was rolling off of him in waves as he held his hand out for the witch. "Please, he's my brother."

It was easy to see how conflicted Sheila felt about what she was about to do, but after several tense moments, she finally grabbed hold of his hand. Everything was normal at first, and then suddenly, his mind was invaded by the image of Damon and Elena in front of him. He could see it all as if he were right there, Damon and Elena fighting over who would die, Damon shoving his ring onto Elena's finger and pushing her away from him. Then his brother burning to ash.

He jerked away from Sheila, as if he'd felt the burning sun himself, and tried to contain the pained groan rising in the back of his throat. He'd thought seeing his brother die one time had been horrible, but somehow this all felt worse. He hadn't been there to try and help him. His brother had died without him.

His brother was dead.

"Stefan?" Sheila called out softly.

"Thanks," he grunted out before turning on his heel and rushing off of Sheila's porch. He'd seen what he needed to see, and it told him everything he needed to know. Damon was dead because of Elena.

Jameson hunted them down and locked them in that room because Damon was in love with Elena, and she'd let herself be used as his weakness. He was dead because of her, and now she was back, determined to make him fall in love with her all over again. If he had anything to say about it, that wouldn't happen. Loving Elena had gotten his brother killed.

Though they had their problems – boy, did they have their problems – they always seemed to be there to help with what the other brother lacked. For Stefan, he'd always had trouble with control, and Damon, in his own ways had tried to help. Damon had saved his life more times than he could count when he had been in danger because of mistakes he'd made while on months long blood binges. And he'd tried to help with Damon's weakness of women. Many thought he didn't care enough, Stefan could even admit he'd told himself that many times and had himself convinced of it as well, but it wasn't really true. Damon's problem was that he loved too much.

Loving Katherine had gotten them both killed. Damon hadn't been able to let Katherine be taken, so he convinced Stefan that they could save her. He went along with it because he knew Damon would try with or without him, and he thought it would be safer for Damon if he had help. In the end, it hadn't saved them at all, and their own father had shot them both to death. In the future, as it would turn out, he'd become a victim of yet another Petrova woman. Damon would die because his love for Elena couldn't allow him to let her die instead of him.

In an instant, Stefan's entire world had changed. Nothing felt the same as it had five minutes ago. He wouldn't sit around and watch his brother die for the third time because of a woman.

Damon allowed himself to get lost in the music and feel of the women just beneath his touch. Their skin was soft and they were eager to let him tap any vein of his choosing. Of course, that willingness may have come with a bit of encouragement from him, but what was the point of being a vampire if you didn't enjoy the perks? And what was the point of being able to have the ability to turn your emotions off long enough to make them not be so brutally painful if you didn't actually use it?

What was he supposed to do, sit in front of the fire with a broody face to match Stefan's? Thanks, but no thanks.

He'd indulged in his pain for one night, drinking himself into a drunken oblivion. That was his limit on feelings for the next hundred years or so. Obviously they'd gotten him absolutely nowhere in the long time he'd been on this planet. The one person he'd actually allowed himself to believe loved him turned out to be nothing but a liar. He wouldn't be making that mistake again. No, he'd simply take full advantage of the effect he had on those of the female persuasion, bedding every woman from here to Australia, until Katherine was barely a name in his memory.

Alcohol was a nice aide for a broken heart, but it needed some assistance, particularly sex. Not the sweet, slow kind either. He was after something a little different, something rough and fast with the slightest hint of pain. He wanted to be fucked. And oh was he getting that in spades today. Stefan had been off doing God knows what; probably making out with Elena and talking about their epic love, leaving him free to have his orgy throughout the house.

"Who's ready for round three?" he sang out, spinning around in a stumbling circle, whiskey sloshing out of the bottle in his hand.

The red head sauntered in front of him smirking at him from behind a piece of hair that had fallen in front of her face. "I think you mean round four."

He wrapped a hand around her wrist and tugged her to him. "Who can keep count when you have a body like that?" She giggled as he kissed his way down her neck, allowing his fangs to emerge at the thought of more sweet, smooth blood. He gently licked the spot he picked, getting it nice and ready before he sank his fangs into it and the warm liquid spilled into his mouth.

Damon flinched when the lights in the room flashed on and the music went silent. He glanced up with squinted eyes and groaned when he saw Elena in the doorway. "Ugh, lover boy isn't here."

Elena glanced around the room and he watched in confusion as pain filled her gaze. When she settled her eyes back on him, she cleared her throat and said, "I'm not here for Stefan."

"In that case, I'm not taking visitors, except if they're offering up a vein or sexual favors. So, unless you have those to offer, please turn and make a swift exit."

Elena ignored his directions and sauntered into the room. "Nice try, but I'm not going anywhere. This place is disgusting." She picked up a trashcan from next to the bar and began dropping empty bottles of liquor into it. He watched in slight amusement and horror as she wandered through the room, picking up the trash while touching it as little as possible. "I don't know how this isn't driving you crazy," she mumbled from the other side of the room, "You freak out when I leave my clothes on the floor for five minutes."

He was in front of her in a blink, and she screamed in surprise when she looked up to find his face inches from hers. "What was that?" he demanded.

She stumbled back on her feet a few steps until she regained her balance. Once she was sturdy on her feet, her hand shot out and shoved him in the chest. "Jesus, Damon, you scared me."

He took a menacing step toward her, bending his head down to her level. "What did you just say?"

"I was just talking to myself, calm down."

She turned to walk away, but he wrapped his hand around her arm and turned her to face him again. "What were you saying about me?" He focused his eyes intently on hers and exerted his will to compel the information out of her, but when she rolled her eyes and scoffed he cursed his drunken stupidity. "You and that damned vervain necklace," he grumbled, staring down at the offensive piece of jewelry hanging from her dainty neck. "I should rip it right off of you."

Instead of backing down from him in fear or exploding with anger, she took a challenging step toward him, her chin set defiantly as she stared him down. "Do it."

"Don't tempt me," he taunted, dangling his fingers over the pendant.

"Come on, do it. Take my necklace off and compel me. You'll only find out you're too drunk on blood and whiskey to even hear me correctly. Do it."

He was tempted to follow through on her challenge just to see how she'd actually respond. Would she let him compel her like she'd offered to him after the fiasco with the grimoire or would she flee in rage if he did it? Oh, it was such a delectable offer, but before he could ponder it for long, Stefan appeared in the doorway, watching them with a disapproving gaze and his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"Well, looks like the party is officially over now. Welcome home, buzzkill Bob."

Damon watched as Stefan slowly came into the room, taking in the group of sorority girls lounging half naked on the couch, and Elena standing closer to him than could be considered platonic. "Want to fill me in on what's going on in here?"

Damon backed away from Elena and motioned with a grandiose gesture throughout the room. "I was enjoying the company provided by my new friends over there when your annoying girlfriend showed up and started buzzing around, trying to clean the place up."

Stefan sighed and looked at Elena, wisely choosing not to antagonize Damon. "Elena, can we talk?"

"Uh oh," Damon mock-gasped. He could feel the tension between the normally sickeningly sweet couple. "The honeymoon over already? That didn't last long."

"Shut up," Stefan snapped.

"Touchy, touchy."

"Elena," Stefan said pointedly.

"Okay, okay," she sighed and went to follow Stefan. Just before she stepped out of the room, she turned to look at Damon. He felt uncomfortable under the heavy gaze that seemed to convey something he couldn't understand. He didn't have long to try though because Stefan roughly pulled her into the entryway after only a few moments.

Those two were one odd couple.

"You shouldn't be here," he could hear Stefan tell Elena. "He's unstable right now."

"Then why haven't you been here?" Elena snapped. "You told me you'd keep an eye on him, Stefan. He needs you right now."

Okay, that was it. Something was officially going on now. First Elena had been holding his hand and hugging him, telling him how sorry she was last night. Now she was showing up unannounced to clean his house, only to follow it up with scolding Stefan for not being home. There was definite tension between the couple, and somehow, he was in the center of it. Well, it sounded like it anyway. And, for once, it wasn't because of any particular dickish move on his part.

The tension between his brother and Elena was out of nowhere, but it seemed to be about something big, at least it was big to them. He hadn't quite figured out whether it was big to him or not … yet.

"I had a few things I had to do," Stefan continued.

"And they were more important than your brother?" she demanded. "He's in there having a blood orgy with his merry band of sorority skanks, Stefan. He needs you."

"Trust me," he heard Stefan scoff, "My brother has never needed me for anything." Now that was just a lie, Damon thought. He needed plenty from his brother – mainly for him to stop being such a judgmental prick all the time, but it was a need.

"That's not true and you know it," she hissed.

"I've been a little busy finding out about your birth mother and how she was married to Alaric."

Elena gasped in the other room. "I totally forgot about that." She then let out a frustrated groan that left Damon smirking. When did she get so much spunk? The only time he'd ever seen this version of her was in Atlanta, and she had been slightly intoxicated at the time. "God, my teenage years were such a disaster."

"You know?" Stefan questioned her.

"Well, duh. I did kind of, you know …" Elena's voice trailed off at the end and she didn't follow it up with anything.

God, what was he doing listening in on their stupid fight? He didn't understand teenagers nowadays or any of their silly drama. It felt interesting a few moments ago, but now it just felt annoying. He couldn't even figure out what they were really fighting about. Sure, his name was being thrown around a lot, but that's what was confusing about teenagers, right? They didn't fight about what they were actually mad about? Oh hell, he didn't know.

"Right, well, I need to talk to Damon about a few things. I think it would be best if you left," he heard his brother say.

"This is about me. Why should I leave?"

"Because it's not about you, not really. Not everything is about you."

Damon inhaled a sharp breath at the bomb Stefan just set off in his relationship with Elena. Who the hell was that guy and what had happened to his brother? Just yesterday Stefan was begging him to save Elena. Now he didn't care about her? He had to have been passed out for more than a night. Maybe he'd been out of it for a few months or something. Because what was happening in that foyer was not normal. It was as far from normal as anything could get.

There were loud, angry footsteps that raced up the stairs, followed by Stefan's. He was tempted to follow them both up to finish listening in, but he was truthfully bored. He didn't have time to figure out what was going on with those two. He'd just wait and read Stefan's diary later, and drown himself in enough whiskey to knock a bear out to try and block the moping and weeping of his brother from his brain.

Elena stormed into Stefan's room, and he quickly came in after her, slamming the door once he was inside.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she demanded. "Why are you acting like this? Everything was fine last night."

"You told me my brother was dead, Elena. Everything wasn't fine!" He worked hard to keep his voice as quiet as possible even though she could see his rage boiling under the surface.

"What's changed from then, though? You told me you would help me. How is shutting me out going to do that?"

Stefan shrugged noncommittally. "Maybe I realized I don't really need your help. You've told me all I need to know. Damon is dead and Jameson killed him. How are you supposed to help me with any of that? You're just a human. You can't do anything."

Elena watched his behavior carefully, grateful for the fact that she knew him far better than he knew her. She had decades of knowledge on him, which made it that much easier to sift through his bullshit and get down to what was really going on. Only problem was, she'd tapped into that knowledge too late. "What happened between last night and right now? Who did you see?"

"What makes you think I saw anyone?"

How had she not seen it last night? He'd been bluffing the whole time. He hadn't believed a damn word she'd said, but he believed it now. She just didn't understand why. What had changed that? "You're scared," she pointed out. "I should have realized last night you were just lying to me to appease me, but you now know I was telling the truth, and you're scared. You know I wasn't lying and I want to know how. Who did you go see?"

"I went to Sheila. If you were telling the truth, that meant you would have run to Sheila the second you got here. Lucky for me, she trusts me. We have somewhat of a bond, you know? Don't worry, she didn't betray much of your trust, but she told me you were telling the truth. She told me he will really die."

Elena swallowed thickly and averted her eyes at the flash of pain in Stefan's gaze. It was the same look she'd seen when she showed up at his door more than eighty years in the future and told him his brother was dead. "She showed you, didn't she?"

"Powerful little witch, isn't she?"

"That's why you're acting like this right now, isn't it? You're mad at me."

Stefan slowly moved in front of her, leaning down slightly so he could fully look into her eyes. "Did you really think I wouldn't be? My brother is dead because of you."

"He chose it, Stefan," she said quietly, fighting the emotion in her voice. "I didn't want it. That's why I'm here, because I can't live with that. I'm going to fix it."

"And just how are you going to do that? You're the one that has to be protected by me. How are you supposed to take down a vampire strong enough to kill Damon?"

"I'll figure it out."

He might know she wasn't lying now, but he obviously still thought she was just a teenager. She might be a human again, but she still had all the knowledge and lessons she'd learned through the years. That would count for something. She wasn't as naïve as she had been then. She wouldn't make the same mistakes this time. She'd be better.

"No offense, but you did get him killed, Elena. So, I don't think you're really a fountain of knowledge on how to protect my brother."

"He's my husband," she countered.

"Then why is he down there sleeping with any girl with two open legs? He may be your husband in your mind, but in his, you're just a girl who happens to look like the girl he spent 145 years pining over. The only reason he'd sleep with you is to piss me off, or to pretend you were Katherine. He doesn't give a damn about you."

He smirked at her, and she was tempted to slap it right off his face. He looked so much like Damon in that moment that no one could deny they were brothers. People might not be able to see it, but the resemblance was there. They were more alike than many would ever know. Mostly it was because Stefan spent so much of his time trying to hide his similarities to Damon. He immersed himself so deep in denial that she knew he even believed it at times. To everyone around him, he was the good one, the brother always betrayed. Damon was just selfish and took down anyone in his way – even some that weren't in his way. Opposed to Stefan, Damon was all about the personal gain in their eyes.

She knew differently though. It wasn't that Stefan was a bad guy, but at this point in time, he hadn't learned how to make peace with his demons yet. He was a ticking time bomb, one she should have known not to mess with. She had been stupid to think she wouldn't be playing with fire when she told him the truth. This was the guy that abandoned her in the blink of an eye to get a cure for Damon. He'd spent months running around the country, leaving a trail of dismembered bodies in his wake because of that. And sure, they'd all said he was doing it for her too. He was making sure Klaus didn't find out that she was still alive, but that hadn't been his driving force. He wouldn't have agreed to those terms if Damon's life hadn't been on the line.

In his mind, he was Damon's only protector. He was the only one that could really have Damon's back. Even though he knew she had married Damon, and had seen the evidence of it, he didn't have the memories she did. He didn't understand it all the way. Which meant she'd put herself directly on his list of threats to Damon. But it was his own damn fault too. The him from decades from now that was. Because she just had to let his unstable self in on everything that was going on. Now she was the one that had to deal with the fallout.

"So that's how you're going to do this?" Elena asked coldly. "You think I won't fight you on it?" Even if she knew he was hanging onto his bunny eating diet by a thread, she wouldn't back down. He wasn't the only one who cared about Damon and wanted him safe. She was invested in it too, and he couldn't shut her out.

Stefan's voice was low and threatening when he spoke next. "You think I won't win? If you know me as well as you think you do, then you are well aware of how far I'll go to keep him alive. So you're going to leave him alone and let me handle it. Cause, obviously, I have the better track record here. He hasn't ended up dead because of me. You can't really say the same now, can you?"

"Ugh!" Elena groaned as she ran into her house, slamming the door with as much force as she could. "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!"

Telling Stefan about Damon had been a total and complete disaster. What had she been thinking? Of course he'd do anything to save his brother, but now he saw her as a direct threat to that safety. So not only was she stuck in some time where Damon was still in love with Katherine and sleeping with anything that could move, but she was at odds with Stefan, and he had the advantage over her.

She knew more than enough about Damon and Stefan's relationship to know that even though things were horrible for them in this time, they'd still watch out for each other no matter what. She knew the desire was still there in both of them to be real brothers again. She'd done her job of awakening that in Stefan, but it had come at the cost of him wanting her away from Damon.

She was such an idiot!

"Elena?" Her head jerked up at the sound of Jenna's voice. Her aunt was coming down the stairs, sliding her arms into her jacket, a confused look on her face. "What happened?"

"Aunt Jenna!" she rushed forward and threw her arms around her aunt, nearly knocking her back onto the stairs, but she didn't care. With all of the drama that had gone on since the tomb, she hadn't had a chance to actually see Jenna. For the first time since that clearing in the woods, when Klaus killed her, Elena got to see her again and hug her.

She tried to hold in tears as Jenna's shocked arms came around her for a reassuring hug. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she choked out. She was more than okay. She was great. "I'm just happy to see you, that's all."

"I know we're busy, but you see me all the time."

The hell that had been the past few days of her life, briefly fell away. Yeah, Damon didn't even really know her or care about her, but there was still something good in this whole mess. She had been too overwhelmed to even see it last night, but she could see it now. Nearly everyone she'd lost and missed for longer than she could remember was back now. She had Jenna, Bonnie, Ric, Jeremy, a Caroline that hadn't been senselessly murdered, and so many other innocent people that had died because of her disastrous life back. They were alive and well here. She had a family again, one that extended beyond Damon.

"I'm sorry," she apologized as she pulled away, "I'm just a little emotional today."

"So I can see," Jenna laughed and wiped the stray tears from Elena's face. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"What didn't happen?" she asked dramatically. She didn't even know where to start.

"Well, let's start with the important stuff." Jenna grabbed her hand and pulled her into the living room. "What's the drama with Stefan?"

"How did you know it was about Stefan?"

Jenna laughed as she sat down on the couch. "You're seventeen, it's a given that all of your drama is about your boyfriend. So, what happened? Did you two have a fight?"

"We broke up," Elena confessed, much to Jenna's surprise.

"What?"

Elena shrugged, trying to convey some sort of appropriate emotion for what should feel like a horrible breakup. She'd loved Stefan when she was seventeen. Everything had revolved around him in her childish mind. The real seventeen-year-old version of her would've been devastated. This one, though, the one who had decades of life experiences, felt none of that devastation about it. She felt anger toward him, but not because of the breakup.

"Things just weren't working out," she offered as explanation, but she knew it was a crappy one. If she was going to have to tell everyone she and Stefan broke up, she really needed to up her game, cause right now it sucked.

"You were fine the last time I saw you two. What happened? He didn't cheat on you, did he?"

"Stefan, cheat?" she laughed. "Not likely." The man had his flaws, but she knew he never would have cheated on her. He'd loved her too at one time. Well, he was still in love with her in this time, even if it was masked by a lot of anger toward her at the moment. "I don't really have a good reason, Aunt Jenna. We just realized it didn't work like we thought it did."

"Well, don't let it get you down, sweetie. Things might work out for you two in the end."

"Don't hold your breath," she mumbled. The only thing she wanted to work out with Stefan was his desire to keep Damon far away from her. They couldn't be at odds. She had to make him see that.

"Elena," Jenna began suspiciously, "Why do I feel like there's more to this than you're telling me?"

She quickly looked away, unable to bear the concerned gaze. How had it been so easy to lie to Jenna back then? As she sat next to her aunt now and felt the love and worry coming for her, it felt hard to not be honest. She'd kept so many secrets as a human, lying to so many people who cared about her. She had told herself it was the right thing to do; she was protecting them. Yet, despite all of her desire to protect her loved ones, most of them seemed to have died and got hurt anyway.

Jenna had definitely been a casualty of all of her lies. They'd all kept her aunt in the dark for so long, that by the time the truth got out, it was too late. Jenna hadn't had time to adjust and understand how everything was before Klaus turned her and then killed her. Ever since that night, Elena had always said that if she ever got another chance, she'd be honest with Jenna. She'd never make that same mistake again with anyone. Now she had her chance. Jenna was right in front of her, but the truth was stuck on her tongue.

It wasn't as 'simple' as vampires anymore. There was so much more to it all. She didn't know how to explain any of it, but this was the chance she'd always wanted. She'd always wanted to be able to fix this mistake, so why wasn't she jumping at the chance?

"Aunt Jenna," she started nervously, but the doorbell rang and the words she was trying to form died on her tongue.

"Oh shoot," Jenna looked down at her watch, then apologetically back at Elena. "That must be Alaric. He's supposed to pick me up for this bachelor auction tonight."

"Right, of course." How had she not realized that? Jenna was sitting there in a coat. She was obviously planning to go out, and here Elena was, talking her ear off about stupid high school stuff.

Jenna grabbed her hand tightly. "No, what were you going to say? Alaric can wait for a minute."

"It's nothing," Elena insisted. "Just petty drama stuff. We can talk later."

"Are you sure? I don't have to go tonight. We can stay in, order take out, I can drink a few margaritas, and then we can bash men until we pass out from too much sugar."

"It's fine. You go have fun. I think I'm going to stay in and have a night to myself." She could see the hesitation on Jenna's face and she knew if she asked, Jenna would stay home in an instant, but she couldn't do that. She needed to try and keep things as normal as they had been originally. Jenna getting to know Alaric and falling in love with him was one of those things. "Go, Aunt Jenna. I'm fine."

Jenna reluctantly rose from the couch, looking torn over what she should do, but Elena would not let her aunt miss out on a fun night to hear about stupid drama with Stefan that she wouldn't even be able to fully explain. In time, she would tell Jenna about the vampires and all that other stuff, but tonight she could have some fun. No one had nearly enough of that in this god forsaken town.

"I won't be out late, I promise. Talk when I get back?"

"You've got it," Elena promised as Alaric rang the doorbell again. "Go win yourself a History teacher. I'll be fine here."

"Holy shit!" Elena shouted, and Damon smirked as he watched her jump nearly a foot in the air when she noticed him. Once she was on solid footing, she glared at him and demanded, "Why do you do that to me?" It was almost midnight, and she was trying to get ready for bed only to find Damon sitting comfortably in her room, lounging on her window seat. The past two days of being back as her teenage self had been a crash course in things she'd forgotten over the years. One of them being Damon's love for sneaking into her room and waiting for her to come in.

"Cause you jump like no one has ever surprised you before. It's kind of funny. I mean you are dating a vampire."

"Was," she quickly corrected him. "I was dating a vampire."

"Whatever," he scoffed, "You teenagers confuse me anyway."

"What are you doing in my room?"

"Just getting a feel for the place," he shrugged. "I have to say, I expected something a little more juvenile from you."

She remembered that at this point in time, he hadn't yet begun snooping around in her room like this. That behavior of his had begun some time later, after his feelings for her had started to surface. So what was bringing it on now? "And why is that?"

"Because you still have that idiotic belief in true love and that there's an inherent goodness in every person in the world. I just thought your decorating choices would match your delusional mindset."

"You are such an asshole," she grumbled. Even after decades spent by his side, she still saw him for what he was, and he could be one huge asshole when he wanted to be. Love didn't mean she had to be blind to him. It just meant she saw him differently. He was never mean just to be mean. There was always a reason behind it. Most of the time he was deflecting, but what she didn't know was what he was trying to deflect right now.

"But at least I'm a hot one."

Elena groaned and rolled her eyes. Yup, here was her proof that he really hadn't changed all that much in all the time they'd been together. She just didn't have the privilege of smacking him when he said things like that right now. So, she focused back on what she really wanted to know. "What are you doing here?"

Once he heard the serious tone in her voice he rose from her window seat and slowly walked toward her. "What's going on with you and Stefan?"

Elena squared her shoulders, preparing herself for a battle of the wills with Damon. "What makes you think something's going on?"

"I don't know, maybe the fact that you're suddenly not attached at the damn hip anymore?" he quipped. "Also, you did run out of my house in tears earlier today. So, again I ask, what's going on with you and Stefan?"

"Ask your brother, Damon."

"I plan to after I read his diary tomorrow. Until then, I want to know what you have to say. Why is my brother telling me that the two of you are over and that I need to stay away from you?"

She tried to resist the urge to smile. He'd come to her even though Stefan told him to stay away. It didn't mean what she wanted it to really mean, but it was something. "Why are you here if he doesn't want you around me?"

"Because I'm not taking orders from my baby brother, and hiding bodies takes some time. He's otherwise occupied."

"Whose body is he hiding?" she demanded. What the hell was going on over at the Salvatore house?

"That new History teacher." He waved his hand casually through the air, as if he was discussing the weather.

"You killed Ric?!"

"Why do you just automatically assume I did it?" She leveled him with a pointed look that had him rolling his eyes and sighing in annoyance. "It was self-defense, so wipe that stupid condescending look off your face."

"Damon, you can't just go around killing people because they make you mad."

"Why not?" he asked, like he could not fathom wrapping his brain around the idea.

"He's a human. You're much stronger and faster, so it's not self-defense and you know it. God, what in the world could even possess you to kill him?"

"Well, Stefan is trying to distract himself from whatever drama the two of you have going, by getting all involved in my business. It all started with him badgering me today about some chick I may or may not have killed or turned. I'll plead the fifth on that one. As fate would have it, he was talking about this History teacher's wife. Turns out the guy wasn't fond of my sense of humor about the whole the thing at the bachelor auction. So he tried to go all Buffy on me, only this isn't some Joss Whedon show, and I'm much better than those crappy vampires ever were, so I won. Go me!"

Wait! She knew that story. Damon had killed Ric because he knew about Isobel, and that was how they found out about the Gilbert rings. He'd come back to life. It was all okay. She was freaking out for nothing. Well, kind of … Damon was still going around killing people at will.

She also knew it was all an elaborate shield constructed to protect himself from outside pain, but those only served to cause him more problems than he wanted. And she was fully aware of the hidden reason behind this one.

Killing Ric didn't have as much to do with Ric as Damon wanted people to think, and she wasn't scared to let him know she knew that. "It won't make it go away," she told him quietly, knowing she was treading on very dangerous ground. "Killing people and draining girls until they're barely alive won't make you forget about what Katherine did. It won't make the pain go away."

His demeanor instantly changed, and her body went tense with anxiety. Damon was a loose cannon right now, and she had no way of knowing how he would react to her.

"What do you even know about my thoughts or feelings about Katherine's vanishing act?" he questioned coldly. "I know you're seventeen and you think you have the world figured out, but I'm going to fill you in on something." He took slow, calculated steps toward her, and she knew he meant to intimidate her, but she stood her ground. She would not back down from him. "You're a delusional teenager who doesn't know a damn thing about the world. Having dead parents doesn't automatically give you some great insight into how things work. Everything isn't black and white like you think it is in your little, naïve mind. Grow up, Elena."

His breath was heavy on her face by the time he finished, and she could only stare up at him in silence. He was right. The Elena he knew was a naïve, deluded little girl who had no idea what the real world was like. She thought one bad experience had taught her more than enough about the world, but it had only been the beginning. There had been dozens of other lessons she had learned over the years, but she wasn't that Elena – not yet. Not to him.

So while a part of her was mad and offended by his words, she could not argue with them. They hurt like hell, but there was truth in them, even if he was only doling it out because she'd hit a nerve. His reaction made her realize that she had hit deeper than he would have liked, and she was proud of that. He needed to hear some truths too, and though Stefan was ready to protect him from all the outside evils, he wouldn't be able to speak the truth. Stefan was too lost in his own land of denial to be able to force someone else to see the realities around them.

That was her advantage in this. Though Damon would fight her, it would help her in the end. He liked it when she stood up to him, and he admired her unflinching ability to force him to take a cold, hard look at himself when it was the last thing he wanted to do. It would lead to something good.

So as he was walking to her bedroom door, she called out to him, "Damon." Although she'd just found some newfound confidence, nerves were still evident in her voice. It felt uncomfortable to be so nervous about speaking to him. Just a few days ago, she'd felt safe in her knowledge that she could tell him absolutely anything. Today, she didn't have that luxury. She knew she was toeing a very dangerous line, and there were many things she couldn't say, but she'd still try to say as much as she dared. He didn't turn to look at her, but she knew him well enough to know he was listening. "Even though those things won't make the pain stop, you're going to get over her. It won't feel like this forever."