A/N: I'm utterly blown away by everyone's feedback from last chapter, in particular EtherealDemon, romancerevival, TabascoGirlie, Brynndabella, WhiteLine-Turned-HurricaneGirl, Black-White-Grey, toffeenutlatte, EclipsedWonderland & Lily for their incredibly thoughtful and sweet reviews. Thank you to everyone who took the time to review!

Elena's body shook violently as she saw the unnatural angle at which the body was twisted on the ground and she knew without a doubt that the man was dead.

"Elena…I…" Jeremy tried to find the words to say, approaching her.

"No, get back!" Caroline grabbed Elena's wrist and yanked her to safety, her own hunger springing to the surface as she felt Elena's hammering heart beat pressed against her back.

"I wouldn't hurt her!" Jeremy said angrily, holding his hands out in front of him to show he meant Elena no harm. "Elena, listen to me," he began in a pacifying tone, but Caroline cut him off. "For the love of god, Jeremy, clean yourself up. Can't you see she's distraught?"

Belatedly Jeremy remembered the blood smeared across his mouth and he swiped at it with his sleeve, but to no avail. With a muttered curse, he crossed the room to a sink and furiously scrubbed at his lips and chin. When he turned around, both girls were gone.

"Stefan, this just feels too surreal!" Elena exclaimed, pacing back and forth in front of her dresser in agitation. "You and Damon blow into town with your fangs, Bonnie's a witch, then Katherine turns Caroline, and now my little brother?" She threw herself down on her bed, eyes closing in defeat. "And I can't even pin this one on Katherine or because you and Damon came back to this town, this happened because of -

Stefan grabbed her shoulders and pulled her up, looking deep into her eyes. "No, Elena, don't even think that way," he said firmly. "This was not your fault in any way, shape, or form. You don't get to blame yourself for an accident."

Elena stared at him with red-rimmed eyes. "It wasn't an accident," she said firmly. Guilt wracked her petite frame. It was karma. It had to be. The universe was punishing her for kissing Damon. Even worse - for liking it.

"Do you prefer to think of it as fate?" Stefan questioned, looking at her with dark, inscrutable eyes. "Does that comfort you? Does it help you make sense of what's happened here?" Stefan personally believed that all things happened for a reason, as part of some higher plan that mere mortals (and vampires) weren't privy to. In his mind, he thought that everything he'd went through, all the trials and tribulations, had been predestined to lead him to Elena because the universe knew they were meant to be together.

"I've never really believed in fate," Elena admitted ruefully. "It sort of makes it feel like we don't have free will, that no matter what we do, in the end we're all puppets playing out our parts according to some script."

Stefan's expression grew consternated. "Then take us meeting, for example, Elena. I fell for Katherine in 1864, I died, and many, many decades later I come here and meet you. Her look-a-like. And then I fell in love with you, my soul mate." Stefan's fingers grazed across Elena's cheek in the briefest of caresses. "What is that if not fate?"

Elena stiffened as Stefan spoke for his love for Katherine and his love for her in the same breath. Geez, I'm not Katherine 2.0, she thought with some annoyance, wondering if Stefan thought the fates had sent her to him to replace Katherine.

"Stefan, we were born centuries apart," she reminded him gently, taking hold of his hand and moving it to his lap, giving it a squeeze. "We were never supposed to have met; not in my lifetime, not in yours. It was a freak occurrence."

For some reason, the way she phrased it made Stefan stiffen. He looked at her with hurt eyes, his face contorting with such honest, brutal agony.

Not noticing, Elena plowed on. "Think about it. Every single choice you made from birth, the millions of different outcomes…they could all have led you away from me. If you'd made even one different decision, we might not be sitting here together today. If you think about it mathematically, from the day you were born, there was a massive chance you wouldn't meet me compared to the one-in-a-million chance that you would." Okay, it was more like a one in five trillion chance, but Elena had noticed Stefan's downcast expression and she didn't want to rub further salt in the wound.

"You are my one in million," Stefan said earnestly, cradling her hand to his chest, giving her that adorable smile that made Elena's heart flutter.

"Well, well, little brother. Any more clichés you want to spew forth while I'm here?" Damon drawled, strolling into the room, giving Elena a dashing wink. She blushed furiously, pulling her hand free from Stefan's under the pretext of tucking hair behind her ear. Her chocolate eyes involuntarily lit up as he entered, watching as he crossed the room to stand in front of them like a stealthy panther.

"Knocking, Damon," she reminded him. "It's a popular trend that's been developing during the last few centuries."

Damon gave her a disgruntled look. "I'm a vampire. I don't need to knock."

"Call it common courtesy then," she shot back, her hands forming into fists at her sides. She had no idea why she was acting so bitchy all of a sudden. For one horrible moment when Damon had walked in, she'd felt guilty, like she'd just been caught with her mistress.

"I did knock," Damon lied easily. "You probably just couldn't hear it over all the boyfriend-girlfriend fawning."

"Eavesdropper," Elena muttered, picking at a loose thread in her comforter. She and Stefan weren't even together anymore, and still Damon had to get his little jabs in.

"Hello, brother," Stefan said in a low voice, a muscle in his jaw twitching as he watched his brother and his ex girlfriend verbally spar.

"Stefan," Damon said shortly, nodding his head in Stefan's direction. He could tell his baby bro was itching to ask why Elena was so tense around him as well as the million dollar question: why had Damon and Elena come to the hospital together? He could practically hear the gears in Stefan's head turning as he tried to find a solution.

He could hear Elena's heart rapidly speed up. Damon gave her a wry smile, wondering if it was because she was affected by his presence, embarrassed to be caught all lovey-dovey with Stefan, or anxious as to whether Damon was here to blurt out their kiss to the Bunny Eater. Regardless, he mused, it was a better reaction than her usual icy "what are you doing here?"

Almost as if she could read his mind, Elena looked at him and asked, "What are you doing here, Damon?" Albeit in a warmer tone of voice, tinged with a bit of worry.

Typical, Damon thought with amusement as Elena's lips puckered in confusion.

"Is it Jeremy?" She was immediately on her feet.

Damon shook his head. "I'm getting him settled at the boarding house. He wanted to come here, but with you and Jenna in the house…" Damon trailed off meaningfully. "You probably shouldn't invite him in for a while. I doubt he'd hurt you or the Teacher's squeeze, but it's just a precaution."

"Is someone watching him?" Stefan spoke up.

"Caroline," Damon replied, looking worried. "Elena…I know this isn't the life you'd have chosen for him, and if it makes you feel any better, Jeremy didn't want this either. He's not the same messed up kid he was when he tried to kill himself in order to turn."

Elena's eyes clenched shut and Stefan's arms immediately went around her. He shot Damon a dirty look, returning his attention to Elena. "I think it would be a good idea," he said slowly, "if I take him hunting with me tonight. The earlier he's taught to hunt animals, the better."

"You mean fuzzy woodland creatures like Bambi's mom?" Damon added slyly, unable to resist adding his two cents.

Stefan glowered and was about to speak when Elena put a placating hand on his chest. "Actually Stefan, I was thinking…" she began hesitantly, looking at Damon with her dark eyes. "Maybe it would be better if Damon taught him."

"WHAT?" Bonnie exclaimed with growing horror. "You want…Damon to teach…but…human blood, Elena!"

"I'm well aware that it's not ideal, Bonnie," Elena sighed. She leaned back against her pillow, pulling her teddy bear to her chest. "But you saw what happened to Stefan. I don't want Jeremy unable to control his urges. Right now we have to focus on Klaus and the rest of the Originals, and we can't do that if we're constantly babysitting Jeremy and making sure he doesn't fall off the wagon. We could do half and half; half human, half animal blood. That way he's not too…picky." Elena wrinkled her nose with faint distaste.

"Elena, it's Damon." Bonnie's eyes were wide. "I know you think he's changed but he's still a vampire, Elena. Unlike Stefan, he hasn't spent the last century trying to be a good person, well, good vampire. He doesn't know the difference between right and wrong. I don't think he'd be the best…" Bonnie searched for an appropriate word, "mentor."

Elena's eyes flashed. "He knows the difference between right and wrong just as well as Stefan does." The words were out of her mouth before she could take them back.

"You're defending him?" Bonnie was astounded. She knew Elena and Damon had some sort of weird bond going on but the heated blush in Elena's cheeks and the quick way she'd raised to his defense seemed like more than just friendship.

"Yes. No. I don't know, Bonnie!" Elena groaned, covering her face with the bear. "Damon has gone out of his way to protect us, all of us, and I can see a good person in him. It's always been there but it's coming more to the surface now." He was still as much of an asshole as he'd ever been, but some days, he seemed almost human. Elena sighed, knowing the thought of him being human was stupid; Damon hadn't been a human in almost two hundred years.

Bonnie gaped at her. This was unfreakingbelievable. It was like his recent change in attitude had erased every rotten, wretched, unforgivable thing he'd ever done. "He killed Grams!" she blurted out.

Elena's eyebrows drew together in a frown. "He didn't kill her. At least, he didn't mean to. She was old, it's not like he knew the spell would wear her out."

"She wasn't that old," Bonnie muttered. It was obvious on the topic of "vampires are soul sucking demons" Elena wasn't going to budge, so she let it drop. "What did Damon say when you asked him?" she asked instead.

Elena ran a hand through her silky mahogany hair. "He was surprised. I don't think he actually expected me to ask him. Stefan threw a fit. Damon finally just took off and said he'd be at the boarding house whenever I wanted to drop by to see Jer."

"And Stefan?" Bonnie prodded.

Elena looked shame-faced. "I told Stefan that while I respected his choice not to drink, it would actually be safer right now for Jeremy to drink the human stuff. He'd be stronger and we wouldn't have to worry about him flipping out. I mean, look at how well Caroline's adjusted." Guiltily, she averted her gaze from Bonnie's. "Stefan left a few minutes before you came over. I think he finally realized that he wasn't going to change my mind, but in the end, it'll ultimately be Jeremy's decision. I'll support him no matter what."

Bonnie fidgeted. "He killed someone, Elena." Her tone was disapproving.

"You think I don't realize that? I caught the show," Elena said dryly. "It won't happen again." She couldn't help the uncomfortable voice in her head that was telling her that Bonnie would have preferred Jeremy truly dead than one of the undead.

Bonnie was silent, staring out the window. Half of her was screaming that Jeremy was a threat and needed to be eliminated before he hurt someone, but the other half was telling her to remember her friend Jeremy, Elena's little brother, and realize that he was still in there somewhere. She was getting way more embroiled into this whole vampire business than she was comfortable with, and while she was all for helping Elena, she knew something was amiss when the majority of the people she associated with were undead.

"Can you make Jeremy a ring?" Elena's voice broke into her thoughts.

Bonnie pressed her lips together. Elena knew how she felt about vampires. Her voice coming out sharper than she'd intended, Bonnie retorted, "So he gets an all-access pass to make Mystic Falls into an all you can eat buffet? Yeah, don't think so."

Seeing Elena's crestfallen expression, Bonnie quickly amended, "Not until he learns to control himself at least."

An hour later, Elena arrived at the Salvatore boarding house. Raising her hand to knock, she was pleasantly surprised when Damon swung open the door, clearly having sensed her arrival. "Hello, beautiful," he drawled flirtatiously, waggling his eyebrows at her, holding the door open in silent invitation.

"I thought we established it was just Elena," she replied lightly, entering. Their light-hearted banter was exactly what she needed right now to distract her from the craziness that was her life. Her back and forth teasing with Damon actually made her feel some semblance of normalcy. Glancing around, she couldn't see Stefan, Jeremy, or Caroline anywhere. "Where's…?"

"Living room. Stefan is giving him the do's and don'ts of vampire-hood," Damon quirked a brow as he headed into the kitchen. "He reminds me of Father during one of his lectures."

Elena smiled faintly at the thought of a tousle-haired Damon and a serious, chubby-cheeked Stefan and wished desperately they kept some family photos around the house, but considering their history with their father, it wasn't surprising that they didn't.

He casually opened the fridge and took out a bag of AB positive, pouring it into a glass. "Just grabbing Jeremy a little something to tide him over until dinner," he explained when he saw Elena's questioning look.

Elena leaned against the counter, watching his movements. "I'm sorry about springing my idea on you earlier."

"You were right," Damon said, draining the bag and tossing it into the trash can under the sink. "And deep down, Stefan knows it too." He shot Elena a crooked smile. "He just hates losing to me."

"It's not a competition," Elena protested, but she knew as soon as the words left her mouth that it was.

"So you really don't believe in soul mates?" Damon asked suddenly.

Elena blinked in surprise. "That was a private conversation."

Damon turned to face her, holding the cup in his hands with a thoughtful expression on his face. "You know, we could be soul mates."

Elena couldn't resist laughing, but instantly felt bad when she saw Damon's eyes flash with hurt. "I'm sorry," she apologized quickly, a smile still playing on her lips, "but Stefan was trying to convince me of the same thing earlier, and I assure you, it's a losing battle. Soul mate implies we have something in common, and you and I…" She tried to search for something they shared in common. "Well, uh, we beat death-defying odds on a pretty routine basis," she joked. She didn't really want to get into the whole true love discussion with Damon; she'd only just had her first (willing) kiss with the guy – she wasn't ready to start talking soul mates.

Damon rolled his eyes. "I'm being serious, Elena."

She bit her lip. "So am I. You thought Katherine was your soul mate too and you spent years trying to find her again. Everything you've done, you thought you were doing for love. So who's to say that she isn't the one you're destined to be with?"

"Maybe at one point I thought she was my soul mate, but that was a long time ago, and you know how that turned out," Damon said bitterly, clenching the glass so tightly that Elena half-feared it would shatter. "It was all fanciful adoration and infatuation that I mistook for love while I was human and it turned into an ugly obsession after I was turned." He gave Elena a heated look. "Did you tell Stefan yet?" he asked abruptly.

"No." Elena idly traced patterns against the counter top. "I haven't really gotten a chance to, what with my brother dying and all," she said in a reproachful tone.

Damon cleared his throat. "Yeah, I should get this to him. Cheers, Elena," he mocked, slipping past her and heading to the living room.

The rest of the evening passed fairly uneventfully, mostly consisting of Caroline acting like an overprotective mother hen, Damon making quips that he found vastly hilarious but no one else did, and Stefan looking on-edge and unhappy with the whole situation. Unable to take any more, Elena finally curled up against an arm rest and willed herself to go to sleep. Fatigue and stress took its toll and within minutes, she was fast asleep. Taking the opportunity to take Jeremy rabbit hunting, Stefan herded the younger two vampires outside, leaving Damon at the bar pouring himself his fifth drink of the night.

What was once a relaxing slumber had suddenly turned into a nightmare for Elena and she turned fitfully in her sleep, clearly distressed. Looking worried, Damon approached and draped a blanket over her body. His mind itched to delve into her dream to figure out what was disturbing her, but he was trying out the whole "common courtesy" thing that Elena didn't think he could do.

For now, he was content with just watching her. In her sleep, Elena looked younger than her age, and he could easily imagine her as a small child, falling asleep on the sofa in just such a fashion. Damon reached out to tenderly stroke her cheek as he'd done once so very long ago, but then drew his hand back in shock as she jerked awake. Her wide, frightened eyes landed on him, still hazy with sleep. "Damon?" She bolted upright, clutching the vervain locket Stefan had given her. "How did I get this necklace back?"

A/N: Oooh, Damon's attempt at a deep conversation with Elena…sort of got cock blocked, eh? It's only because she doesn't realize he's in love with her, otherwise she would have been nicer about it, and she still has a little insecurity when it comes to Katherine.

And Stefan definitely doesn't have his trusting blinders on anymore, he knows something is going on but can't quite put his finger on it. Will the kiss be revealed to him next chapter? Still debating on that one…

And what's up with her dream? Has the memory that Damon took away somehow leaked into her subconscious? Hmm…. ;) Guess you'll have to wait and see!

I'm the queen of cliffhangers, I know. It'll be worth it when you read the next chapter, promise. The next two chapters will be D/E, with Stefan possibly thrown in briefly if the kiss is revealed to him right now (drama!)…you know what? I'll let you guys decide. Vote! And as usual, I welcome any constructive criticism or ideas you guys wanna bring to the table.