6. Friends worth suffering for

Elena's enthusiasm was in total contrast with Damon's clenching jaw. "My name is Elena, and I don't even know how I can possibly make any of this not sound totally crazy, but it's amazing that we've found you here!"

"Oookay?" Lexi raised an eyebrow, looking at Elena curiously as she waited for some sort of explanation that made any sense.

Cutting into the strange greeting after regaining his composure, Damon tried to get Elena to disengage, saying "Well, isn't this an unexpected surprise? Unfortunately, this is neither the time nor place for having a meet and greet, and I'm sure that Mother Theresa here would like to continue feeding soup to wounded warriors before she has to find somewhere dark and cozy to hide when the sun comes up. Too bad she can't get in where we are headed. Come on, Elena..." He tried tugging at her arm, but she just shook her head and scoffed.

"Who is Mother Theresa?" Lexi was even more confused.

"Oh, no, Damon, you are not getting out of this that easily. There's no reason for us to leave Lexi here like this, and its not even midnight, so the sun won't be a problem for hours," she stated firmly, and easily pulled her arm out of Damon's weaker grip, ignoring his frustration. "Lexi, I know this sounds very strange, but there are things we know about, and you're part of it. I know that you came here because you heard that Mystic Falls was a good place for vampires, but that isn't true. It's not safe here anymore because the town knows about us and has an anti-vampire council, so we have to be extra careful not to be discovered. They're even willing to harm humans, including Damon's brother, just for helping vampires."

Wait, your brother is a human?" Lexi commented surprised, reappraising him with her head tilted. "Oh my, you're still a newborn vampire aren't you? That's strange, you seemed much more...inured."

"Physically now, technically, yes. I was turned several weeks ago." Damon responded frowning, with a shrug of indifference and no attempt to elaborate.

"...But there's more to the story than that. A lot more," Lexi deduced, looking from him back to Elena. "There's a lot more to both of you, isn't there?"

"There is," Elena answered. "This isn't the first time we've met you, even though it's the first time you've met us. I know that we can trust you, and I promise that you can trust us. Even Damon. Isn't that right, Mr. Salvatore?"

She elbowed him hard, glaring, and he sighed and grumbled, "Sure, yeah, of course," throwing his hands up in acquiescence.

As they moved further into the woods away from the camp, Lexi eyed both of them indecisively before asking, "I've seen a lot of strange things over a few centuries, but this is the first time I've met anyone who's supposedly traveled through time...and I spotted you both the moment you entered the camp, so I've already heard enough to know that you both seem to believe that's true. Why don't you start by telling me how it is that you know so much about me?"

Elena looked at Damon, his face pasted with a grim, worried frown. She hesitated, trying to think of how to answer her. Recalling the time she first discovered Johnathan Gilbert's journals while hiding out at the cabin with Stefan, she answered, "A friend of mine once told me a story about a kind vampire who helped him regain his humanity, back when he didn't know what good it would do for him to feel emotions, which seemed to bring only pain. She reminded him that the ability to love was worth fighting for even in the darkest of times. That vampire was you, and my friend will need you again someday, I'm sure of it. Please, give me a chance to introduce you to him, and don't worry about my grumpy boyfriend. Damon is just having a hard time dealing with karma at the moment."

He rolled his eyes and Lexi took a deep breathe, shocked by what she was hearing. While this all sounded as if it was out of this world, it was impossible to ignore the geniune honesty in Elena's voice. "Does this alleged friend of mine have a name, or is that also something that hasn't happened yet?"

"His name is Stefan, and he is Damon's younger brother, but no you haven't met him yet. You were supposed to become best friends, but we've already messed a lot of things up after being sent back in time by a powerful spell, and now his life has been drastically altered, but mostly in a good way. We're trying to make things that went wrong better, but unfortunately you were one of the few things that went right when it comes to Stefan's tale, and now we've screwed that up," Elena said, struggling to find the right words.

Damon snorted rudely, "Ha, that's debatable! If it wasn't for Lexi enabling Stefan's alternative puppy diet, he'd have been forced to learn to control his blood addiction instead of avoiding it until he inevitably snapped and turned ripper. This time, when he eventually does become a vampire, I'll be the one to train him properly from the start."

"You can't possibly know if that's true Damon, and you're the one that chose to torment Stefan and then abandoned him, leaving Lexi to pick up the pieces for a century!" Elena snapped in irritation.

Damon's eyes darkened by her accusation. "Touche," he responded, backing away. "And on that note, I'll let you and Stef's new, old, renewed bestie get all reacquainted and whatever it is you want to do. Although, I'm sure my lil' bro's in dreamland right now, being mortal and all." He pointed to the night sky and furrowed his brows continuing to walk further away, calling out "You know, I guess I'll be paying for my past mistakes for all eternity, because even if they no longer exist, my girlfriend will never let me forget my bad deeds. Regardless, I'll be back tomorrow, seeing as how I traveled back in time to save my brother's life and have no intention of ever abandoning him again."

"Damnit, Damon, wait! Don't be like this. I'm sorry I brought that up, I really didn't mean to, I was just getting so frustrated. I promise I won't do it again, because you really have changed so much over the years since we first met. I don't want us to fight," Elena pleaded, taking a breath. "You begged me never to leave you, well now I'm asking you to return the favor by not walking away the first time I say the wrong thing. We traveled through time together, and I'm here with you because I love you. We're going to change everything for the better, together."

Damon stopped in his tracks, pausing for a moment, before turning back around and facing her. He then flew back to her at vampire speed, slamming his lips to hers, and she opened to him instantly. The kiss was harsh and lasted only seconds, before he pulled back and said, "You really love me?"

"You know I do, you big jerk." she answered, giving him another quick peck.

"I'm not that big," he chuckled, "you're just pretty small."

"Ahem," Lexi cleared her throat, reminding Elena of her presence. Damon rolled his head back, annoyed that she hadn't left. "Sorry to interrupt, but you were starting to explain the matter of traveling back in time, and why I need to meet your friend Stefan?"

"I wouldn't call it a 'need', more along the lines of a very annoying and apparently unavoidable fate," Damon retorted.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry about all this," Elena answered, embarrassed. "Maybe I should start from the beginning, if you've got the time to listen to a long, crazy story. We do have a place you can stay at tomorrow, and I might even be able to get the witches to make you a more permanent solution if we can find some lapis lazuli jewelry for you to wear. Damon, did you get Emily's grimoire back from Giuseppe?"

He groaned as his hopes for making it to Potter's cabin with Elena tonight were definitively dashed. "Uhh, no. I was too distracted by finally confronting my long dead, no longer dead dad. Besides, aren't you forgetting something? Bernadine's not a trained witch yet, she's still learning to read three letter english words, so I'm fairly certain that latin-like magic spells are gonna be a bit over her four year old reading level."

This time it was Elena's turn to eye roll. "Well, obviously, we'd have to ask Emily. If the witch spirits can hide the whole lodge to protect Bernadine and the others, I'm guessing that 'spirit' Emily could do a simple daylight ring spell, especially if we bring the grimoire back to Bernadine." Lexi's eyes widened as she listened.

"Fine, I'll task Stefan to retrieve it from our dear father, tomorrow," Damon conceded, mumbling. "I'm sure he'll get less grief for it than I would. Dad warmed back up to him pretty quick by the time I left the estate, since he's not a 'demon'. Although, Stefan always was the favorite, anyway."

"After having met you, I wonder why that may be..." Lexi said sarcastically, and Elena couldn't help but grin, biting her lip so Damon wouldn't see. He just glared at Lexi for intruding on his night alone with Elena.

So, after a relatively short trip back to the witch lodge, whose occupants were all fast asleep, Lexi had been told the short and watered down version of her original adventures with Stefan the broody ripper. That did not include the later events where Damon ditched her on a scorching rooftop, nor when he killed her, however it was still rather apparent that they'd never gotten along well. They also touched base a bit on the story of Katherine screwing with everyone in town, what had recently happened in Mystic Falls with the vampires, and how Damon had orchestrated the slaves to build the witch house and eradicate as much vervain as possible.

"So, after all that work, you are still just going to leave town? That makes about as much sense as the fact that Damon seems to dislike me just for being friends with his brother, who I still haven't even met yet." Lexi questioned, wondering what part of the story she was missing.

Damon smirked. "Right, so here's the thing. When we came back in time, I got my old body back, but Elena wasn't born yet, and she got plopped into Katherine's because they're magically designed carbon copies of each other; 'Doppelgangers'. While Elena is kind and good, Katherine was selfish and evil. Not only was she the cause of the entire nightmare... she did it all just to get an old enemy off her trail. That means that Elena now has to disappear, just like Katherine would have, or a really bad original super vampire known as Klaus will kill her. So you see, you'd be really foolish to stick around with us, especially if you actually believe any of what we've said."

"He's right," Elena confirmed. "It is too much to ask for you to join us. If Klaus ever finds out that Katherine didn't die in the church or even get trapped inside the tomb, or if he hear's that she has an identical lookalike running around, he'll come after me and anyone near me. The worse part is that we can't ever kill him, because if he dies his entire bloodline dies with him, and that includes all of us. We'd need a witch to magically stop his heart, and put him into a magical stasis. This entire town is better off if I leave now. The only reason we're still here now is that we needed to help our friend's ancestors and Damon wanted to deal with his family's affairs. Stefan's situation is unique, and we are bringing him with us wherever we go. If you'd like, we can still get you a daylight jewel, and then part ways. Just please promise to never repeat anything you heard," Elena finished, sad that it would be so selfish to bring Lexi into their world of problems.

Lexi was silent for a few moments, before smiling at Elena. "I think I am going to need to think about all this, and I would like to meet this Stefan I have now heard so much about. The possibility of being able to walk in the daylight once again after centuries of being enslaved to the night is also too tempting to pass up. So for now, I would like to stay with you, if you will have me."

"Of course we will have you! I promise that Damon will be nice if he has any hope of enjoying our forever together." Elena stated happily, to which Damon scoffed but did not reply.

By the time dawn broke, the little witch children had awoken early to the return of the vampires, and had made a fast and easy friendship with Lexi. Elena managed to summon Emily, asking if the spirits could possibly enchant a daylight ring for her. She was relieved to be told that if they returned the valuable grimoire to it's rightful Bennett heir, they would be rewarded once, and only once, with a magical ring only for Lexi. She had to promise that no other vampires would ever be brought before them, and was told that all similar future requests would be denied. At some point, Damon slipped away into the forest, heading back to the Salvatore estate to talk to his brother.

"Psst, Stef, I need you do do me a favor."

Stefan rolled over as he woke to find Damon standing at the foot of his bed. "Damon, you startled me!" He grumbled.

Damon ignored his complaint and sat down on the edge of Stefan's bed. "I need to you get Emily's grimoire back from Giuseppe, and don't let him damage it."

"You know that there's no chance he will give it to me without you compelling him to, he would not want us to have it," Stefan whined in annoyance.

Once again, Damon ignored him and pressed on, "So tell him if he does not want another visit from me so soon, he'll be cooperative. He'll do anything to avoid my presence. Oh, and try to find me that big brooch with the blue rocks in it that Dad gave our mother back in '57 as an 'I'm sorry for smacking you so hard' gift, it's not like she ever wore it except when he pinned it on her. I need it."

Stefan groaned, sitting up. "What? Why?"

"Well, certainly not for sentimental value... but lapis lazuli is useful when making magical daylight jewelry," he answered, standing back up and walking to Stefan's dresser, before tossing his brother a pair of trousers.

"For who? I thought that all the vampires are gone, except for you and Elena. They have not escaped from that tomb you warned me about, have they?" Fear flashed across Stefan's face, as he dreaded the possible repercusions. When he'd first learned about the tomb, he'd been terrified.

Damon chuckled, "Oh, no, fear not little brother. It's for Elena's new best friend, Lexi. She's an obnoxiously good vampire. You'll like her."

Stefan swung his feet over the side of his bed, pulling his trousers on. "Okay, but don't you think we could find something better to give her than that ugly old thing?"

"Of course we could, but we won't. It is perfectly suitable." Damon smirked, and tossed a shirt at Stefan's face before he was ready to catch it.

"Alright, if you say so, Damon." Stefan pulled it off of his face, putting it on, then pulling his blood flask out from under his pillow. "Before you go, I need a refill; I ran out of medicine last night after using it to heal a broken arm. I tripped over one of Alcide's toys on the staircase."

Damon stared at him for a moment in disbelief before reaching for the flask, biting into his own wrist to fill it with blood. "Sure, let me fill it up for you right now. You haven't let father or anyone see this have you?"

"No, I am always very discreet," Stefan replied. "No one saw me fall, and I returned to my room before using it to heal."

Damon inhaled sharply. "Good. Here you go, brother. When you're ready to leave this place, meet us back at the witch lodge." Damon then added, "Try not to injure yourself on the way."

Stefan nodded. "If I can get the grimoire from Father today, then I will be there by tonight."

Damon patted his brother on the shoulder: "Thank you, Stefan. Just be careful as always, and remember that none of us are safe as long as we stay in town. The rest of the council may not be so thrilled to see that you have returned, even if you are still human. They're all still very suspicious. There are far too many threats, in fact, I wouldn't put it past Giuseppe to figure out some sort of loophole around my compulsion in order to cause us problems."

Stefan sighed, sadly. "I understand, brother. I'll make sure that I am not followed. What about Alcide?"

Damon paused. "Is he being treated well?"

Stefan smiled as he stood up. "Yes, Father has been good to him, as well as Lucia and even the workers. He complains loudly about all of them living in the estate while they rebuild their own housing, but he has not raised a hand to anyone since he was compelled not to. Alcide is treated better than anyone. Our half-brother should be fine to remain home with Father and his mother."

"Perfect." Damon said, pleased. "Then he can stay. He's far too young to travel with us, and we need him to live here. We'll check back in on him from time to time."

Stefan was glad to hear this, having been worried about whether or not they'd come back. He was looking forward to leaving Mystic Falls for the first time in his young life, but didn't want it to be forever. "That would be ideal. I'd like to come home to visit between semesters, if that is possible."

"We'll figure it out. See you soon, I've gotta get back to Elena before she adopts any more complications from my past." Damon said, before heading to the window.

Before Damon could leave, Stefan grabbed hold of his shoulder, wondering, "Regarding Elena, do you intend to wed her?"

Damon grinned. "Absofuckinlutely, as soon as there's ever a good time and place somewhere in this crazy world." That said, he sped away, leaving Stefan alone in his bedroom.

It had take a while for Stefan to adjust to Elena having replaced Katherine, but he'd grown very fond of her over the last couple months, and it was undeniable that she was very good for his brother. Occassionally, he wished that Elena would show the same interest in himself that Katherine had, but it was clear that Elena only wanted Damon. Stefan was a bit jealous over what Damon had, but overall he was happy for his older brother. He just hoped that he'd find someone else just as beautiful that he could have all to himself.

On the way back to Elena, Damon noticed a familiar group of crows watching him closely. He grinned, knowing exactly what they were looking for, and pulled a pouch out of his jacket. Scattering the peanuts behind him on the ground, he looked on as several of them dared to come nearer to him than the last time. Crows were such clever animals, it never took them long to recognise a friendly source of treats. This same extended family had been aware of him for a few weeks now, and he knew they'd continue to follow as long as they got what they wanted.

Being such a newly made vampire again sucked, but with his past experience, he was finding that he was able to perform some advanced abilities much sooner than he'd have expected. It was taking a lot of concentration, but if he focused hard enough, he was beginning to make headway at breaking into a few of their thoughts, even if only for a few moments. The female albino crow was particularly receptive to his mind control and would make a perfect target for teaching Elena his tricks. It would take more time, but peanuts were cheap.

Hours later, Stefan finally arrived at the hidden Bennett house, carrying a sack filled with his belongings that he wanted to take with him. Damon was waiting outside, and walked over to greet him. Stefan handed him the bulky grimoire. "Here's the spellbook, and the brooch. Oh, and I thought you should have this too."

Damon clutched the tiny piece of gold that had been dropped into his hand, taking a deep breath. "Mom's wedding ring..."

Stefan smiled brightly at him, "I thought you might want it for Elena. Even if Mother can't be here with us, I believe that she would like that and she'll be watching."

Damon looked down, his chest tightening, and he led Stefan away from the house after seeing Elena and Lexi heading out to greet them. "There's something you need to know Stefan. It's going to be hard to hear, but it's better that you know sooner than find out later, unprepared."

Stefan looked into Damon's eyes, his smile vanishing. "You are worrying me, brother. Please, speak plainly."

Damon looked behind them, holding his hand up so that Elena did not yet approach and lowered his voice. "Much, much later than now, in the future we discovered that Mother was turned by vampire blood at the sanitarium where she died of consumption. She's not truly gone Stefan, but she's not doing very well either."

Damon sqeezed Stefan's shoulder trying to soothe him as the shock defined his features. "Unlike me and Elena, Lily can't handle the bloodlust, and she left the country for Europe because she was terrified that she'd harm us. That angel you saw all those years ago Stefan, that was really our mother after she had risen from the dead as a starved vampire. She panicked and ran away from us, and now she's lost her humanity. I'm so sorry little brother. I have dreaded telling you about this moreso than anything else."

Stefan tried to swallow the massive lump in his thoat, nearly choking. "Our mother is a vampire? She's alive, like you?"

Damon face was pained, and he noticed unhappily that he'd not gone far enough away from the house. He'd underestimated Elena's sense of hearing, now seeing her holding her hand over her mouth, but saw no point in stopping now. "Not just any vampire, Stefan. She's a very dangerous vampire without any self control or emotions. She's under the influence of a very evil, very powerful vampire named Julian, and as long as he's with her, she cannot be saved."

Stefan dropped to his knees, feeling crushed, prompting Elena to start heading towards them to hug Stefan. Before she got close enough, Stefan cried out, "If we can find her, then we can help her. Damon, we must try! Now that you are a vampire, she will no longer need to be afraid to hurt us. Even if she was to hurt me by accident, I would simply become a vampire too. She's our mother!"

Damon grabbed him, firmly. "No, Stefan! It's far too dangerous. Perhaps one day things will change, but for now, I will not let you put yourself in harm's way." Then he compelled Stefan, "You will not seek out our mother unless I tell you otherwise."

Stefan became angry, and Elena reached them as he shouted back, "You just compelled me?! How can you tell me all of this, and then tell me to do nothing to find her!"

"I'm sorry Stefan, but I can't let you go get yourself killed." Damon apologized "If we can figure out a way to destroy Julian and turn our mother's humanity back on, it will have to be without putting your life at risk. That's non-negotiable. If Julian has any idea that we even know any of this, he would want to kill us all. He already knows what you look like. You met him a year ago, without knowing he was checking up on you with another one of his pretty little minions. Remember the girl that you wrote to me about?"

Stefan's anger dissipated back into shock. "Pretty little minions? Wait, do you mean... Valerie? She was escorted by a strange man named Julian. That would explain a lot! I cannot believe that she was a vampire too, before even Katherine. Both of the women that I fell for in my life were vampires that were tricking me!"

The poor young man was appalled, so Damon decided to tell him, "No, she wasn't a vampire back then, she was a witch, and she did care for you. She became a vampire after Julian caught her trying to sneak back to you, and now she's just as dangerous as our mother." Damon paused, knowing that he was about to get reamed, but compelled Stefan one last time, "Do not seek out Valerie, either."

Stefan roared, hitting Damon in the chest in an attempt to push him away. "Stop compelling me Damon!" He spun around, tucking his face into his arm while leaning upon a tree, a sob escaping his throat. "Let me be, I want to be alone for a while. This is all so much. I am glad you told me about Mother, but I am warning you Damon... Do not ever compel me again, or I will leave you and go home."

Elena glared at Damon, pointing towards the house, and he held his hands up before silently picked up the grimoire and Stefan's other belongings to bring indoors, watching as Elena went to console his brother. As he walked past Lexi into the house, she glanced away from him, so he went to go read Giuseppe's journal that he'd swiped.

After talking gently to Stefan for several moments, Elena waved Lexi over to introduce them to one another, and it wasn't long before the three of them were back in good spirits, laughing and joking around like old friends. Damon watched them as he scanned through the journal, looking for any differences from the one he'd read before the mulligan. Everything that had been added after that fateful night of the vampire roundup was pretty much nothing that Damon didn't already know about, and mostly just hateful ramblings of an angry man, so he tossed it aside.

That evening, as they spent their final night within the confines of Mystic Falls, Lexi got a newly enchanted daylight brooch. Old Lady Potter was happy to stitch some of the witch lodge's special stock of the last known vervain in town into Stefan's favorite suspenders. He had forgiven Damon, but was not about to let his brother continue to manipulate his free will.

Damon eventually joined them together in the main room, glad to see that Stefan was no longer angry with him. He insisted that Stefan take back their mother's ring and hold onto it. While it wasn't a great fit for him and Elena due to their dealings with Lily in the old future, perhaps Stefan might like to give it to the right girl someday.

For the time being it seemed as if Damon was even beginning to warm a bit towards Lexi, as he was thankful to her and Elena for cheering up Stefan. Maybe everything would work out after all.

That night, Elena joined Damon in bed, but with a full house, including witch spirits and Lexi's enhanced hearing, he only managed to steal a few kisses. The time to move out of the lodge was long overdue.

The next morning, Damon awoke to an empty bed and could hear an excited discussion occurring downstairs. There were several more voices than should have been present and alarm bells immediately began ringing in his head. Hurrying to find out what was going on, he passed by a sleepy Stefan in the hall, having also been wakened, who shrugged in confusion.

As Damon approached the group, Elena looked over at him, beaming, while Lexi stood nearby looking a bit nervous about the commotion.

"Damon, we've got passengers to bring with us. We're going to be part of history!" Elena called out, sounding thrilled. "This is Brian's friend, Arthur, his wife Fannie, and their children Elmer and Nettie. We're going to help them find the underground railroad!"

Behind Damon, Stefan gasped in terror, and next to Elena, Lexi's eyes were as wide as saucers. Damon decided that this must be a bad dream and squeezed his eyes shut. When he opened them, everyone was still there. Next to Brian and Elena, a middle age couple stood by two teenagers, all four of them clearly recognisable as a few of the slaves that had helped with the witch lodge and had their memories of it erased weeks ago.

"Whoa, wait a minute. How and why did they find their way back here?" Damon was not even ready to process what Elena was saying, and wanted to make sure that they wouldn't be getting any more unexpected visitors.

"I brought them here... Arthur's mah friend," Brian answered. "They been hear'n that their mastah goin' sell some slaves deep south at auction to cut losses. They afraid the family goin' be seperated before the war's done. They wanna run north togetha now."

"And I told them that we will take them with us," Elena added matter of factly, looking at Damon with confidence that affirmed she would not take no for an answer, her hands on her hips.

"Of course you did," Damon scratched at his head, thinking that it was going to be a miracle for any of them to survive. "I'm gonna need more bourbon."

As Damon fell back from the room to pour himself a glass of the bourbon he'd also swiped from Giuseppe, Lexi followed him. "Is she out of her mind? We are in the middle of Virginia surrounded by thousands of confederate soldiers, and we are going to head north with a wagon full of escaped slaves?"

Damon raised his eyebrow at Lexi as he took a sip of his whiskey. "It's not my idea of a good time either, but noone's forcing you to come with us. I've learned that telling Elena 'no' when she's got her heart set on something just leads to her doing something more desperately foolish."

Lexi shook her head. "You really do love her, don't you? I have only known them a day and I, too, have become quite fond of her and your brother. They seem like the sort of people that will make wonderful life long friends. Elena may be the most honest, generous girl that I have ever met, and Stefan is rather sweet and adorable. I cannot imagine leaving them alone with you on such a perilous journey, so I have decided to travel along and help after all."

"Perfect. My world of misery is now complete," Damon groaned melodramatically.

"Why do you pretend to be so inhospitable, when it is obvious how much you care for those close to you? Is there a reason that you try so hard to antagonise and push away those who would be your friend?" Lexi questioned, still trying to figure out his conflicting nature.

"Who's pretending?" Damon waved in frustration towards the other room where Elena and Stefan were still talking with Brian, Arthur and his family. "This is why I don't make friends. The more people you have to worry about, the more weaknesses you have; the more your enemies can make you suffer. Elena was wrong when she told you that you can trust me, because if anything goes wrong, I'm not going to be a hero. If it comes down to me or anyone else, I'm going to pick me. The only exceptions are Stefan and Elena. Everything I do will always be to protect them, and everyone else is acceptable collateral damage if it keeps Elena and Stefan safe. I can't be anyone else's friend."

As he stood and walked away dismissively, he called out, "I'm going to go round up everything we need for this traveling circus jamboree we've got going, the rest of you stay inside 'til I get back."