[Sorry this chapter took so long, been stressed with exams and everything but I'm back :D]

"Do you want the bad news, or the other bad news?" Damon asked Stefan, entering the house.

Stefan turned to him, "Rick in a bad mood today?" He smiled, "I'd rather not have any news, thanks." Damon stood at the bottom of the stairs to make sure Elena didn't come out of the room and hear him. Stefan stared impatiently, waiting for him to explain what was going on.

"Long story short, Katherine is planning to make every human in this town a vampire, and keep a few for blood and whatnot," Damon tightened his jaw, Stefan's eyes widened. "Oh and," he continued, "she has Jeremy under her little love spell she pulled with us," he rubbed his mouth. Stefan closed his eyes, clearly exhausted with what had been happening, it was all coming at once, too fast.

"What do we tell Elena?" Stefan asked leaning against the back of the couch.

Suddenly, Damon had an idea. An idea that would win Elena over, at least a little more, until he could finally call her his own. "Lie," he said. "She's a new vampire Stefan, and if you tell her that Katherine has Jeremy, she'll only worry and want to handle it by herself, and she'll either kill every human in her path by accident and temptation, or burn up in the sun. Do you want that?"

"No."

"Then lie," Damon fought back the urge to smile smugly as he saw his plan coming together.

"So what are we going to do? Elena's a smart girl, she'll realize we're lying to her sooner or later," Stefan's voice turned into a low whisper as he moved closer to Damon's side.

"We're going to get Jeremy back, and then we're going to take down that Katherine for good," Damon placed his hand on Stefan's shoulder.

"Getting heroic, brother?" he smirked.

"I never stopped," Damon grinned. "You know... Katherine always preferred you over me. Maybe if you find her, you can either persuade her to not do this, or you can just... kill her."

"I suppose... but you should know by now that Katherine doesn't care about anyone's feelings," he sighed.

"But if you pretended you still cared about her and that you're on her side, you can just pump some vervain in her then stake her while she's down. No problem," I assured him.

"And where would you be?" Stefan raised his eyebrow.

"Well... Someone would have to stay here in case Jeremy came back. Plus, I'm a much better liar than you," Damon explained. Damon had spent most of his years lying to people, hurting them and thinking of no one but himself. Just as he was planning to do while Stefan was off being a hero.

"True. I'll find her tomorrow," Stefan approached the stairs when Damon grabbed his arm.

"No, tonight. Katherine could have turned over 30 humans by tomorrow," they both stared at each other for a moment.

"Fine, I'll go now. If I'm not back by tomorrow morning, come and find me. Keep her safe," Stefan begged him. Stefan didn't know whether to trust his brother alone in the house with Elena, but he knew that Damon was right. If he didn't go now, Katherine could have half of the town turned by tomorrow, he needed to put a stop to it as soon as he could.

"She'll be fine," Damon promised. Stefan nodded, turned around and headed to the door. Now that his head was turned, Damon wore his proud smirk and slowly drifted upstairs.

He knocked on the door lightly, slowly pulling down the handle. "Stefan?" He heard her ask from inside.

"No, even better," he smiled and entered to see Elena lay on the bed reading. Two empty and one half full plastic bags of blood lay around her, a casual scene for a vampire.

"Damon! Did you find him?"" she jumped up, careful to dodge around the sunlight peeking through the window.

"Yes," he sat on the edge of the bed and pulled her beside him as her face lit up.

"Thank-you," she sighed, smiling. Damon rested his hand on her soft arm and she turned her head to face him.

"I can't lie to you, Elena. Stefan asked me to lie to you, but it just isn't right," I told her.

"Stefan... asked you to lie to me?" She frowned.

"I tried my best to find him. When I got back, I told Stefan and headed up here to tell you, but he stopped me and asked me to lie to you, and tell you that we had found him so you wouldn't worry."

"Oh... I can't believe Stefan would do that."

"Neither could I. I thought I was the liar," He smiled.

Elena never thought Stefan would lie to her about something as important to her as her brother, but she supposed he was doing it out of love? So she wouldn't worry? It was still unfair and wrong, and the fact that Damon had the guts to tell her the truth, showed her what kind of a man Damon really is. Elena always knew Damon was a good person deep down, she just never knew when she'd see it.

"Well, thank-you again, Damon, I'm really glad you told me," Elena tried to force a smile and placed her other hand on top of his.

"I'll find him for you, I promise," He assured her.

"I know," she replied and slowly kissed Damon's cheek. "Thanks again," she smiled and lifted herself back onto the bed to continue her book. Damon smiled to himself, his mission accomplished. He walked out of the room with a smug smile on his face, carefully stroking his now warm cheek.

Damon pretended he didn't care. He pretended that stealing Elena from Stefan was just another game, when really he loved her. He loved her just as much as Stefan and his plan was nothing more than an act of desperation, love and jealousy.