AN: Wow. My feelings toward this episode are just... I don't even know.

Damon slowly pulled his hand back from where it still rest on Stefan's head. He felt cold which he knew wasn't possible; it was like the coldness was inside of him.

I have no idea who you are.

Stefan sat up fully on the couch, frowning at the dark haired stranger sitting next to him. He was confused. Where was he and who was this person? He tried to remember something, anything, but he couldn't. He didn't even know who he was...

The stranger had called him Stef; kind of a funny name. Maybe it was short for something?

Damon still hadn't said anything. This had to be some kind of joke. He'd told Stefan before that he wasn't funny and if this was him attempting to be Damon would drive a wooden stake into his stomach, because this? This was not funny.

"Stefan..."

Damon trailed off at the expression on the younger vampire's face. It was completely blank.

"Is that my name?"

Xx

Damon paced in front of the lit fireplace while Stefan remained sitting on the couch tracking his movements with his eyes. He couldn't explain what it was he was feeling right now. There weren't words for the emptiness he felt at Stefan's words or the blank expression on his face. There was no recognition there and it killed Damon.

"Hey, um... clearly you know me,"

Damon stopped and turned to face him. God what did he say. How did he explain this to Stefan when he couldn't even explain it to himself?

"You don't remember anything?"

Stefan shook his head. "I know my name's Stefan, but only because you said it,"

"And you don't know who I am?" He really hoped Stefan didn't hear his voice break.

The younger man frowned and again shook his head.

Damon sighed and violently pushed back the emotions that were threatening to overwhelm him. He had to keep it together. Stefan had lost his memory. Damon couldn't afford to lose it right now.

He went over and sat next to Stefan on the couch. Stefan angles his body toward him and tilts his head as though motioning for Damon to start talking.

"Okay, so, how do I explain?" He was talking to himself but Stefan answered anyway.

"Maybe you could tell me who exactly you are? Your name maybe?"

His chest ached but he ignored it. "Right, my name's Damon... I'm your brother."

Stefan screwed up his face in concentration and Damon would laugh if it wasn't all so tragic.

"My brother..." He seemed to be trying to get a feel for the word. "I don't remember you," he continued.

"Obviously," Damon muttered.

"Sorry?" Stefan offered with a shrug.

This person who he considered a stranger was his brother. Stefan knew what that should mean but he didn't feel any kind of connection to him, Damon, he reminded himself silently. Why didn't he?

"So, what happened to me?"

Xx

"A witch?"

Damon heard the skepticism in the younger's tone. So amnesia Stefan had no recollection of the supernatural than either. That was going to be a serious problem.

"You do know what a witch is right?"

Stefan shot him a glare. "Yes I know what a witch is; I also know they're not real. At least, not in the way you're suggesting"

"I don't know," Damon shrugged, choosing to ignore the part about them not being real. "I'm not exactly clear on how amnesia works."

Stefan tried to explain it as much as he could. He understood concepts and ideas. He knew what things were and how things worked. He knew things about history and what year it was; he just had no idea who he was. He had no memory of his life or the brother he apparently had.

"How old am I?" He asked.

Damon groaned and threw his head back against the couch. Leave it to Stefan, even in his amnesiac state, to ask a hard question.

"Technically? Seventeen,"

Stefan frowned. "What do you mean technically? How am I technically seventeen?"

Xx

The car whipped around the bend and Damon reached to turn the stereo up louder. Next to him in the passenger seat Stefan flipped through one of his journals, sometimes reading aloud. Damon was still trying to figure out how to explain nearly 200 years of memories to the younger vampire.

"I think I've read enough,"

Damon gave him a sympathetic look. "Nothing?"

He shook his head. "I can tell you what day it is, what year it, about this car's engine but I'm two journals deep and I have absolutely no memory of who the hell I am."

Stefan glanced at the blood bag in his hand before slowly bringing it to his lips and sucking the red liquid back. Damon, his brother, had told him he was a vampire, that they were both vampires. He still wasn't sure if he believed him but the blood made him more and more convinced. He expected to find it disgusting but it was anything but.

He'd looked at in horror and disgust when Damon had first handed it to him. He wondered for a second if the person he was with was actually some deranged, sadistic killer but for some reason he trusted him. He'd taken a hesitant sip only to find that not only did it soothe his throat that had been burning since he'd woken, but that he actually liked it. Maybe too much.

'Is this supposed to fill me up?" He asked.

"Yes and no. Technically yes because you're a vampire; realistically no, because you're well you."

Right. Apparently not only was he a vampire but he was a vampire addict who couldn't handle human blood without turning into a ripper monster who tore people apart.

"This is a lot to process,"

Damon nodded but otherwise remained silent. He was having a hard time processing it too. His brother didn't know he was his brother or a vampire and had no memories of his very long life. He felt hollow realizing that Stefan had forgotten him. Did Qetsiyah know this would happen? Did she do it on purpose?

The part of him that felt unbelievably guilty for what his brother had suffered over the summer wondered if it was Stefan's way of dealing. What if he somehow made himself forget? Damon couldn't think about that without feeling sick.

"You're a man of principle who had his memories erased by a two thousand year old witch."

"I bet that two thousand year old witch drives faster than you. Let me guess fun brother," he tapped his own chest, "Safe brother," he finished clasping Damon's shoulder.

Stefan was grinning and Damon had a moment to wish that Stefan was really back and that they were just two vampire brothers, having a bit of fun. He wanted that more than anything. Damon smirked and pressed his foot down hard on the gas.

"Do you trust me?"

Stefan raised an eyebrow. "Do I really have a choice?"

Damon's smirk grew and he pulled the emergency break spinning the car out and jerking the wheel hard. The car rolled on to its side. Damon caught a glance of Stefan's wide eyes and startled expression before they were both thrown from the car.

Stefan sat up on the pavement with a groan. It hurt slightly but not in the way he knew it should. He stared anxiously over his body only to find himself free of any blood. He didn't even have a scratch. Holy crap he was a vampire!

He heard Damon sitting up a little bit behind him and he let out a surprised laugh. "I get it; you're the fun brother."

Damon laughed behind him.

Xx

They came back to the house after that and Stefan made to make his way to the room that Damon had shown him earlier was his. He turned a corner on the landing only to crash into another body.

Stefan stepped back and his eyes fell on a girl with long brown hair and bright eyes. He blinked.

"Uhh, hi?"

"Stefan, finally! I've been waiting for you and Damon-"

Damon came around the corner then and shot Elena an intense look. Her words cut off and she turned to him with a raised eyebrow. Stefan frowned as well and glanced over his shoulder.

"Stefan, this is our friend Elena," His face had evened out into a casual expression but Elena's frown deepened at his words.

Stefan turned back to Elena with a small smile. "Hi, Elena. I'm gonna head up to my room now; second on the left?" He addressed his question to Damon.

Damon sighed and nodded and Stefan disappeared with a 'night' tossed over his shoulder. Elena watched him go with an expression of confusion before she turned on Damon.

"What the hell, Damon? I come downstairs to find you and Stefan gone and a text saying 'Went out. Explain when we get back'! What's wrong with him?"

Xx

Stefan smiled down at Elena. He'd spent most of the afternoon with her trying to spark his memory in new and fun ways. He wasn't sure reliving his past experiences with her would help but he enjoyed it all the same.

He hadn't appreciated Damon leaving him with her at first but now... She was fun and beautiful and Stefan found himself drawn to her. Even without a memory he knew she was important to him.

She stepped toward him then and placed her hands on either side of his face. Elena was telling him that she'd never been afraid of him and it made him feel good to know that what he had seen today when he attacked that girl wasn't all he was, not to her.

He leaned toward her, holding her hand against his face with his own. She moved closer to him and Stefan could feel her breath against his lips. He went to close the distance between them.

"I'm with Damon,"

Damon. Stefan let go of her hand and she pulled it away slowly. But Damon was...

"You're with my brother," She looked guilty. "And neither of you thought that was something I should know? What was all this today about then?"

"I thought it would help,"

Stefan scoffed and took a step back from her. "You thought making me remember what I felt about you would help? Even though you're with my brother?"

"Stefan-"

"Did I know? Was I okay with it?"

He didn't need her to answer. He saw the answer in her eyes. These two people; his brother and his girlfriend had gone behind his back. And now that he'd lost his memory...

Elena turned her back on him and he took that moment to leave. He didn't want to hear her apologies or her explanations.

Xx

The light from the fire flickered over Stefan's face as he tore pages out of one of the journals and tossed them in the flames. He'd had a long couple days. Waking up with no memory of who he was is exhausting.

It hadn't been too bad at first. He'd had Damon, his brother, there to help him through it and some of it was even fun. Stefan didn't remember what it felt like to have a brother but he was pretty sure that it must feel a lot like how he had felt earlier hanging out with him.

He thought he could trust Damon.

And Elena. He didn't have any memories of her either but the way she talked to him and the things she told him... She made him feel hopeful that he would remember. Stefan thought it would be nice to remember this girl that he knew must have been important to him.

They'd lied to him.

He couldn't trust these people. Not when they pretended to care about him and that they wanted to help him. They'd betrayed him. He didn't remember any of it of course but it made him feel stupid that he'd felt happy around the people who would hurt him. They were probably laughing at his naivety.

"What'chu doin' there brother?"

Stefan tossed another journal into the flame. "Just tying up some loose ends,"

"Sure you wanna do that?"

Stefan chuckled and stood to face Damon. He imagined how he felt right now was similar to how he must have felt initially when he first learnt his brother and girlfriend were together. At least Damon had come alone.

"I don't want to be the person in those journals. I don't want to live in this house. And I don't want my brother's advice."

"Stefan..."

"No! I don't want to hear it, Damon." He sneered. "I don't even know you!"

Damon flinched but Stefan either didn't notice or didn't care because he continued. "I wake up with no memory of who I am and I just listen to you? You tell me you're my brother and I trust you as though that means something when it doesn't!"

"It does mean something!" Damon interjects, stepping toward Stefan.

Stefan shakes his head. "No, it doesn't. Not to me. I thought it did. I thought that knowing you were my brother meant I could trust you, that you were looking out for me, that even if I didn't have my memory at least I had you; the one person who is supposed to be there for me. I mean... isn't that what a brother is?"

Damon has never felt worse than he does now standing in front of Stefan. Without his memory, Stefan seemed to have lost his reasons for holding back his emotions. He didn't know what they were like with one another. He didn't know the pain they'd caused one another. All he knew, all Damon had let him know was that they were brothers. And Stefan was right. Damon should be that person.

"I was, no I am terrified. I don't know who I am. I'm a vampire and I don't understand what that means... I can't be here."

Stefan picked up the bag that Damon hadn't noticed was at his side.

"Don't go, Stefan! We can get your memory back; I can help you,"

"Why? So I can remember that I was a sadistic killer? So I can remember how much I love a girl who broke my heart? So I can remember my big brother who helped her do it?"

Wow. Stefan without his memories really knew what to say to make Damon feel as though he'd been staked; actually, being staked might be preferable to what he was feeling right now.

"I don't think so, Damon." Stefan finished as he shoved past him.

Damon didn't try to stop him. How did he even begin to refute what Stefan had said? It was all true...