"Disclaimer: 1) a renunciation of any claim to or connection with; 2) a disavowal; 3) a statement made to save one's own ass" ~Kevin Smith, Dogma
In other words, we all know we don't anything TVD, we all wish we did...down to every last snarky comment (insert eye-thing and sexy smirk here)
Welcome to Twisted Switch...
This story sprang from a simple idea; what would happen if Elena and Katherine switched bodies? They would look the same, but Elena would now be a vampire and Katherine would be human again. At first it seemed silly, but we get to explore what Elena might be like if she were ever turned, without her actually having to turn. And what about Katherine? The only reason she ever became a vampire was to escape Klaus' sacrifice.
As with most stories, this one starts out with a spell. Trying to protect Elena from Klaus, Bonnie sets out to cast a spell without realizing the consequences of what it would mean to keep Elena safe. Delena-centric; rated M language now, and lemony-freshness later.
A/N; I always get nervous when I open a story and there is no author's note... I try to keep it as canon as possible, fan fic too out of character gives me hives... Happy Reading!
Thank you, thank you MoonNightLover for my first review! Xoxo! And thank you to everyone for adding Twisted Switch to your story alerts! So exciting!
After re-watching these scenes, I have to say that Day-Drunk-Damon is one of my favorites! I had fun adding subtext and sexual overtones to this overlooked scene (at least I think it seems to be overlooked). And now, we finally get into some original scenes...Damon + Beer = sappy vampire confessions (maybe he should stick to brown liquor).
Speaking of... Whiskey, Scotch, or Bourbon? Has anyone figured that one out? :)
Twisted Switch
Giving up doesn't always mean you are weak; sometimes it means that you are strong enough to let go. ~Author Unknown
Chapter Three: Holding On and Letting Go
Nearly two weeks had passed since Operation Destroy Klaus had been foiled. Stefan was gone. Along with Katherine. And a now-unstoppable Klaus hadn't shown any form of retaliation. In fact, he hadn't shown his face in town at all. Things had been eerily uneventful.
Today, Elena and Bonnie were having coffee at the Grill. Elena found she was spending more and more time there. It had become surprisingly crowded lately. Every time she saw a new face, someone she didn't recognize, she would panic and wonder if they were one of Klaus' hybrids.
Another reason she had been flocking to the Grill so often was to keep an eye on Damon. He had apparently decided to take up residency at the bar.
Astonishingly enough, they had never discussed the kiss they shared that night in the Salvatore boarding house, and Elena had not been back since. And even though they weren't talking about it, it was constantly hanging in the air.
Sometimes she would catch herself lingering a little too long and a little too close to him, mesmerized by his soft lips. Other times he would make his usual innuendos, but would slowly advance on her with ravenous eyes. Elena was constantly amazed at their uncanny ability to share the most intimate of moments, and still pretend that they were 'friends'.
When Damon wasn't at the bar, he was at Elena's house. More often than not he would make up an excuse saying he needed to see Alaric, but Elena knew he was checking up on her safety. And it was something she silently appreciated. Recent events had kept her on a constant edge. The only nights that she was getting any kind of rest were the nights that Damon 'accidentally' fell asleep on their couch.
Elena was happy to have a little bit of alone time with Bonnie, even if the mood at their table was glum and inauspicious. "I feel like I´m going crazy. Totally paranoid all the time."
"You have a right to be," Bonnie reassured her. "Klaus is still out there, and he knows you tried to kill him."
"Why hasn't he made a move? There hasn't been any sign of him...nothing." Elena ran her hands through her hair, "It's just my slow spiral into insanity."
"Join the club. Every time I close my eyes, I have that nightmare. On repeat."
"The same dream?"
"Yeah, four coffins. Klaus is in one of them...it´s weird."
"What if it´s not just some dream? What if it´s like... you know...a witch dream?"
Bonnie shook her head, "It´s just stress. I´ll figure it out." She paused hesitantly, but decided to ask her question anyway, "And what about Stefan? Has there been any sign of him?"
Elena took a deep breath, "He betrayed us Bonnie. The Stefan that we know is gone."
"How is Damon handling it?" she said, actually feeling compassion for the vampire that she usually held contempt for.
"Damon is...Damon. But, I can tell that he really misses his brother."
Bonnie watched Elena's eyes grow with contemplation, but she couldn't tell if the look in her eyes was for Stefan or Damon. "What about you? You seem to be taking this fairly well," Bonnie paused, as she moved her eyes towards the bar, "better than Damon it seems." Elena swung her head around to look over her shoulder.
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"Alright! You have your choice," declared the tipsy vampire at the bar, "Bloody Mary, or Screw Driver? Brunch in a bottle!" Damon threw back his vodka shot. He chased it with a little OJ straight from the glass carafe. He groaned at a somber Alaric sitting next to him. "Come on, Ric...I can´t drink all this about myself. I mean, I can, but...somebody´s getting naked," Damon enunciated as his eyes trailed towards the table where he expected to see the back of shiny chestnut locks. Instead, he was shocked to find big brown eyes staring right into his. He quickly brushed off his excitement and raised his glass to Elena, before quickly turning back to Alaric. "Oh man, I can´t believe you making me drink alone."
"I´m busy."
"It´s the eve of Klaus-ageddon. What are you doing? Homework?"
"This may come as a shock, but I am not here to hang out with you," Alaric lightly scolded, "I´m here to see Jeremy...who is an hour late for his shift."
"Kids today. Where are their values?"
Disappointingly exasperated, "That´s his mid-term paper. He copied it straight out off the internet...didn't even try to hide it."
"Uh-ooh. Someone's getting grounded!"
"Did you say you are waiting for Jeremy," interjected the bartender, "as in Jeremy Gilbert?"
"Yeah." Alaric wasn't going to like what she said next.
"He was fired last week."
"Oops..." chimed in a still tipsy Damon. Alaric just rolled his eyes.
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A triumphant smile crossed Damon's lips as his dart landed right on the bulls-eye! Over his shoulder he could hear an irritated Elena approaching.
"Jeremy, the minute that you get this call me!" She hung up her phone just as Damon turned around to face her. "Unbelievable!"
He seductively raised an eyebrow, "You are feisty when you're mad." He gave her one of his famous smirks.
She felt a slight flutter, but was too troubled by her brother's recent behavior to react. "It's not that I'm mad. I'm just...I'm worried."
"He lost his job at the Grill. He'll survive, Elena," he tried to reassure her.
"He is spiraling. Ever since Bonnie broke up with him. He's moody. He's not really talking to anyone."
"Typical teenager," dismissed Damon as he turned back to his game of darts.
"Who has seen ghosts, and has lost everyone that he cares about."
"Not everyone. He still has you."
Elena's worry was now starting to move to Damon. She began to wonder if talking about her brother was reminding Damon of his.
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A few days before Elena had come to the Grill to check on him. She found him sitting alone in a back booth, just looking out into the crowd. Any other time he'd be at the bar drowning his sorrows. Elena didn't know what had come over her, but instead of sitting across from him, she slid into the seat next to him.
He didn't have any inappropriate innuendos, or snarky comments. He didn't say anything. All he did was give her a small crooked smile.
Once it was clear that he didn't plan on making conversation, she was forced to speak. "You're drinking a beer," she said discouragingly.
He rolled his eyes, and smirked, "Tell me, Elena. Was it hard to earn your degree in stating the obvious?"
Laughing, she said, "Now there's the Damon I know!" She continued in a quiet voice, "Knew he was in there somewhere."
He couldn't help but let a smile escape that was devoid of any snark or sarcasm. His mood had seemed to lighten a bit. "So, What? Are you checking up on me?"
"Do you need to be checked up on?"
He let out a hollow chuckle to himself. Then a look came into his eyes that she had never really seen before. "Did I ever tell you about the day I sprung Stefan from Vampire Rehab?"
She stared at him, and shook her head uncomfortably.
He then wove her a tale about their brother bonding experience, and how Stefan had saved his life yet again. Damon made sure to leave out the parts of him letting Stefan bite the pretty blonde bartender. He confessed that it had been one of the first times, in their vampire lives, that they had related to each other as brothers on their own terms. He ended by saying, "The Salvatore brothers...once the best of friends."
Elena was starting to realize that Damon was hanging onto as much hope as she was. The only difference was that even though Elena wanted to help Stefan, she didn't want him back. She had already let him go. Poor Damon hadn't. She could tell he wanted his brother back.
"Maybe I should have listened to you, and kept him locked up."
"Damon..."
"It's ok, Elena," he said pushing the half empty pint glass away from himself. "You're right. Beer was a bad idea."
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Elena was now watching Damon retrieve his darts from everywhere on the board, but the bulls-eye. Her memory brought back even more concern for Damon. "You ok?"
"What makes you think I'm not ok?"
"Well, you're day-drunk," Elena articulated, "It's not exactly your most attractive look."
He swaggered towards her, "Hmm," he purred, "And what is my most attractive look?" He was now invading her space with his unrestrained sexuality. Elena could feel her skin start to heat up. She could feel a flush overtaking her body, but she pushed it away.
"Ah-ah," she gently pushed him back, letting her hands linger a little too long on his muscular chest. "I'm not saying you have any attractive look. I'm just saying this is my least favorite one."
"Noted. I'll see if I can make an improvement." He gave her one of his classic, sexy eye-things. She tried to roll her eyes, but ever since they had kissed white-hot, electric chills shot up and down her body every time he did that. The worst part, was that Damon seemed to notice.
Suddenly they were both ripped out of their perfect private moment by a voice that automatically filled them with panic.
"Don't mind me."
"Klaus!" She gasped.
Stepping in to guard Elena, Damon apprehensively gritted, "Really? You're gonna do this in the Grill, in front of everyone? It's little beneath you, don't you think?"
Klaus' sickly sweet smile disappeared, "I don't know what you're talking about. I just came down to my local pub to grab a drink with a mate." Damon and Elena both figured the man to be one of Klaus' hybrids. "Get a round in, would you Tony?"
"I'm surprised you stuck around town long enough for happy hour," Damon bravely declared.
"My sister seems to be missing. Need to sort that out."
"Cute blonde bombshell...psycho. Shouldn't be too hard to find."
"Truth is, I've grown to rather like your little town. Think I might fancy a home here." He approached Damon and took the darts out of his hands. "Oh, I imagine you're wondering how this affects you. The answer is...not in the slightest. As long as I get what I want and everyone behaves themselves, you can go on living your little lives however you choose." He fired a dart straight into the bulls-eye, then turned his gaze to Elena. "You have my word."
She could feel a steel knot start to twist in the pit of her stomach as she spoke, "What more could you possibly want?"
"Oh for starters, you can tell me where I might find Stefan."
Klaus started to move towards Elena.
"Stefan skipped town the second he saved your ass," Damon stated, stepping in front of Klaus, forcing him to move away from Elena.
"Well you see, that is a shame." Klaus threw another dart. "Your brother stole from me. I need him found, so I can take back what's mine."
"That sounds like a 'Klaus and Stefan' problem," Elena sneered, but with a bit too much assertiveness in her voice. Damon was definitely rubbing off on her.
Klaus' disposition immediately changed. He once again began to advance on Elena, although this time with venom in his eyes. And once again Damon stepped between them.
Klaus seemed rather amused by the brave vampire. He let a low-pitched chuckle escape his throat, then icily stared into Elena's eyes, "Well, consider this me broadening the scope...sweetheart."
The maniacal hybrid-king measured back, and looked the couple up and down. He lingered a little to long on Elena, and quickly noticed the way Damon's jaw clenched. A knowing smile crept across his face. Klaus gave another throaty chortle, "I'll be in touch."
He walked away leaving them both in stunned silence.
Even though Elena seemed to be standing perfectly still, Damon could sense she was timidly quivering. He turned around just in time to catch her elbows, as her knees gave out. He helped steady her as he softly soothed her, "Hey, hey...Elena, let's get you out of here."
She looked up into Damon's stormy blue eyes, full of distress, and all she could do was nod.
