"Elena, he's letting him drink beer in public!" Caroline put her hands on my shoulders to make me face the bar where Jeremy was sitting with Damon.

Sure enough, Jeremy had a beer in his hand and a smile on his face. As I watched, an older woman with dark shoulder-length hair approached the bar. She hugged the bartender over the top of the bar then took a seat next to Jeremy, immediately putting her hand around his lower back. My mouth flew open.

"Aren't you going to do something?!" Caroline squealed. "If you aren't, I will."

"Chill out," Tyler approached Caroline's right side and chuckled. "Let the kid have some fun. What's the worst that could happen? Crabs?" He laughed at his stupid joke, but effectively Caroline backed down from her high horse.

"He's right," I sighed, fearing that although there were worse things than crabs that could happen when my little brother hung around Damon Salvatore, there was nothing I could do to stop him.

A few minutes later as Jeremy, Damon and the two ladies from the bar walked past us towards the door I had to try anyway. "Jer," I grabbed his arm. The woman beside him let go of his other hand, gave me a look of utter disapproval and continued out the door with her friend. "What are you doing?" I tried to sound more concerned than mad.

"Having some fun. Maybe you should try it some time. What's the worst that could happen?" He yanked his arm from my grasp, flashed a smug smile and jogged to catch up with them in the parking lot. I watched as they drove away in Damon's car, a red VW Beetle following close behind.

I quickly took out my phone and called Stefan.

...

Stefan paced across the front porch, hoping that Damon's brilliant plan ended in the four new friends coming to their house. He feared that they may end up at an adult lounge or a strip club with his girlfriend's little brother, and that would be much more difficult to thwart than a supervised party in their home. Sure enough, two cars pulled into view around the corner. Stefan let out a sigh of relief and began to prepare himself for the inevitable pleading he was about to engage in.

From the second the girls got out of the car they were both hanging on Damon, his arm around each one and Jeremy trailing behind as they walked up to the front door. When Damon spotted Stefan standing there with his arms crossed he let go of the girls and smiled. "Baby brother!" he exclaimed loudly.

Noticing Stefan now, the girls looked at each other and raised their eyebrows. "You didn't tell us there would be anyone else here," the dark-haired girl spoke to Damon but was still looking directly at Stefan, a smile spread across her face. Stefan could see how uneasy Jeremy had become and he suddenly thought this might be easier than he imagined.

"Ladies, make yourself at home. Kid, keep them entertained for me. I'll be there in a minute," Damon winked at the blonde, slapped her on her butt and she giggled as the three went into the house.

"Really?" Stefan began.

"I've adopted a new little brother," Damon joked, "My old one is too good for me now. Unless... you'd like to keep Stephanie company, and we can call the kid a cab?" He nudged Stefan's shoulder.

A part of Stefan missed the days of two summers ago when this scene was not foreign to him. The only thing different then was that they were in Damon's apartment and Stefan had no inhibitions about one-night stands; he had picked that up from Damon, but started eventually to develop a guilty conscience whenever he noticed the regret in the poor girls' eyes the next morning. He knew deep down Damon knew better than to involve Stefan in these situations while he was just barely seventeen, but Damon had never pretended to be a good role model.

"Just like old times?" Damon continued, seeing that Stefan didn't decline immediately. There may still be hope for his little brother.

"Dae," Stefan sighed, "You know things are different now."

"Ah, right. Elena," he threw his hands up and rolled his eyes.

"Right, you know, the same girl who just called to tell me I needed to break up the party that was headed my way involving an older woman and her fifteen-year-old brother?" Stefan could see Damon's eyes soften, but wasn't quite sure it was going to work.

"I didn't handcuff the kid and throw him in my car," he rationalized, "he has his own free will. He can leave if he chooses. The more for me," Damon smiled and ended the conversation by walking inside.

Stefan knew his only hope was talking some sense into Jeremy. When he got inside he saw that that might not be too hard to do. The girls were at the liquor cabinet and Jeremy was sitting awkwardly alone on the couch, looking like instant regret had set in. As Stefan made his way to the couch, he saw a flash of light shine through the windows behind him. He turned around and found that the light was coming from the headlights of a car that had pulled up to the front of the driveway. The car slowed, hugging the curb around the front of the house. It was too far away to see who was driving, but he knew instantly this wasn't a lost motorist. He looked at Damon to find that he had undoubtedly noticed the car and had been thinking the same thing. They stared at each other for a minute, not knowing what to think or say. The car had stopped at the foot of the driveway but was now beginning to pull away slowly.

Damon turned to his guests, "Party's over."

"What? You're kidding..." The blonde gasped.

"Not kidding, get out," Damon was shameless and unapologetic. He walked to the front door and held it open. Slowly, the girls collected their purses.

The blonde turned around as she exited the house. "Will I see you again...?" She asked hopefully.

"Sure," Damon faked a smile and closed the door, leaving the girl standing on the porch with her mouth wide open.

"What happened?" Jeremy was standing up now, looking out the window.

"Damon, you don't think...?" Stefan hesitated.

"I don't know, Stefan. We better fucking hope not," Damon responded.

"I'll take him home," Stefan gestured towards Jeremy, grabbing his keys.

"No," Damon pulled his own keys out of his pocket and opened the door again. "They're obviously not planning on coming inside. At least not tonight. You're not going anywhere," suddenly Damon shifted into protective older brother mode, "Call me if you see them again and stay inside. Let's go, kid."

...

I ran outside when I saw Damon's car pull into the driveway. It was after midnight now; Jenna was already asleep, having entrusted me for the evening with Jeremy's safekeeping. I didn't have the heart to wake her and tell her that I had come home alone.

Jeremy got out of the car and I quickly ran up to him and punched him in the shoulder. He laughed and rubbed the spot I had hit. "What the hell is wrong with you? You know how mad Jenna would be if she knew I lost you?" I whispered as loudly as I could.

"So don't tell her," Jeremy smiled and turned to Damon. "Thanks, man. I had fun. I hope everything is okay at home," he trailed off, getting quieter towards the end.

I looked curiously at Damon, who moved his eyes from Jeremy's to mine and back to Jeremy's, obviously flustered at the mention of trouble at home. "See ya, kid," he frowned, noticing that I intended to have words with him after Jeremy was inside. "Spare me the lecture. I know, I have a little brother too. He turned out just fine."

"He's fifteen, Damon. You're an adult, he's a kid. Stay away from him," I warned. "Stefan may have turned out 'just fine', but look at you - you're pathetic!" As soon as the words left my mouth, I tried to suck them back in. My rage showed no restraint, and I hadn't entirely meant that the way it sounded.

Damon looked like he had been hit with a ton of bricks. "You're right," he said quietly, and opened his car door.

"Damon, wait. I didn't mean-" I wanted to reach out and touch him to let him know how terrible I felt, but something stopped me. I knew I had messed up.

"No, Elena. You've made it perfectly clear. I'll stay away," he snapped back quickly.

I watched him drive away, a thousand things left to say but unable to find the words or the voice. I stood outside for a few minutes, staring down the street hating myself for chasing him away. All night I had thought that was what I had intended to do when I saw him, but I had forgotten the fact that face-to-face his emotions weren't so easily disguised and he really was just a lost boy, too.

...

Klaus paced in front of the window of the motel room. Matthew and Kol were sitting on the bed, Kol complaining once again about how incessantly bored he was and begging couldn't they please just go home and forget about this – Trey had it coming to him and he had taken up too much of their time already.

Klaus looked down at his phone as it finally started to buzz in his hand. "Shut up, Kol or I'll give you something to bitch about," he shot a threatening glare at his brother and answered the phone, "Well?…Excellent," he clicked the phone off and his curious expression turned to utter relief.

"It's true?" Kol sat up, suddenly excited at a potential prospect, "They're back?"

"I told you…" Matthew mumbled quietly.

Klaus shot him a look that said 'keep quiet if you know what's good for you' and replied, "Yes. They're back. Now we have to be smart about this," he continued, mostly to himself, "We can't rush into anything."

"If there's one thing we learned from your dad, Nik, it was not to do anything stupid before you knew for sure you were after the right guy," Kol warned cautiously. He had always been the rational one; he knew that any ripple in the water in this small town would cause a tremendous scene, and Klaus' indiscretion so far had made sure that everyone in town knew they were here already. Whatever he was planning to do would be traced back to them quickly and he didn't find any of it worth the hassle. However, he knew his brother well enough to realize that once his mind was made up about something there was no turning back. He had sworn his allegiance to his family long ago and stepping away now was simply not an option.

"I'm not an idiot," Klaus snapped through gritted teeth, "I said we would be smart about it. Since you're so in tuned to what needs to be done here, brother, you get to babysit the younger one. You can start by staying at the high school every day to watch him arrive and to watch him leave. Is that clear?" Kol bit his tongue and nodded just slightly. "Matthew, you and I are going to rekindle your friendship with Jeremy and his new friend."

...

I wasn't able to sleep more than three hours off and on for the next several days after my confrontation with Damon. I lay awake in bed, constantly replaying what I said and the look on his face. I knew what he had been through – how could I say that to him? Even if it were true it was not my place to judge him. After all, through all the bad decisions he had made and the situations he had gotten my brother into recently, he always returned him home to me safe and sound. In fact, Jeremy had been happier than I had seen him in a long time after his night out with Damon.

On top of my regret for the things I had said that night, I also could not stop thinking about the effect this might have on my relationship with Stefan. I knew I couldn't tell him what I had said to Damon; that was his brother's story to share, not mine. If he didn't want Stefan to know a girl had shamed him I didn't want to be the one to break it to him. Harder still was the fact that I had to push it all out of my head when I was with Stefan. I couldn't let him know who had really been consuming my thoughts at night, and I fought the urge to allow this to change the way I felt for Stefan in any way. As the days ticked on that week I made a constant effort to get things back to how they had been two weeks before, the night of the homecoming game when I felt things for Stefan I had never felt for any guy. Being around him every day made that a reality, and by the weekend I wanted nothing more than to spend every second with him. If nothing else, keeping my mind occupied with thoughts of Stefan allowed me to forget how terrible I felt about Damon and I welcomed the nights when sleep finally found me.

On Saturday, Jenna reluctantly agreed to her boyfriends' pleas to spend the night at his place. She had not had a night out for herself since she moved in over the summer and her relationship with her boyfriend of three years was on the rocks. This felt like perfect timing once again and I invited Stefan over.

Things moved quickly that night – from dinner to talking quietly on the couch, and finally up to my room. I was not sure if Stefan had much experience in bed with women; somehow that topic never came up. I also had not quite mentioned that I had never slept with anyone before, but the way that Stefan moved so quickly with me was actually a little flattering. I could not decide if I should tell him for fear that he might feel terrible for the pace at which things were escalating - and I certainly didn't want him to stop. As his hand traveled down to the clasp on my jeans, I finally pulled my lips away from his. "Stefan," I whispered as his lips moved to my neck, still working on unbuttoning my pants with his hand.

His eyes moved up to mine and he pulled away from my skin just to say, "Yea baby?" before regaining his path down my chest.

"I need to tell you something," I sighed, knowing this would absolutely ruin the mood.

Sensing my insecurity, his hand moved away from the zipper on my jeans and he sat up. "What's wrong?"

"I, um," this was harder to say than I had anticipated, and I immediately regretted halting our progress, "I've never… done this before," I finished in a whisper.

"Oh my god, Elena. I am such an idiot," he stood up on the side of the bed and walked to the other side to sit beside me, taking my hand. "Why didn't you tell me? I wouldn't have… I mean I didn't mean to assume…"

"Stop, Stefan. It's okay, really. I'm fine with this, I just thought you should know first," I could feel the color rising to my cheeks.

"No, it's not okay. This has to be special," he smiled and reached for a strand of hair that had fallen out of place on my cheek. "Not tonight. Let me plan it out, and I promise you it will be just as special as you've always imagined," He kissed my cheek and stood up, picking his shirt up off of the ground.

This is exactly the way I imagined, I wanted to say but I felt like a child all of a sudden. I wished that he would have trusted me and allowed it to happen; I was ready, and I didn't appreciate the way he made me feel like I wasn't. For that reason I didn't stop him when he pulled his shirt back over his head and reached for his shoes.

After we were both fully clothed again I walked him to the front door. After a long hug he pulled away slowly and looked down at me, cupping my face in his hand. "Elena…" his eyes told me what he was about to say, but I wasn't ready for it and I wanted to pull away. Instead I stood frozen in place, staring up at him. "I think I'm in love with you."

The words sounded much more amazing than I had ever dreamed coming from his lips, and I felt my heart speed up and my insides turn warm. Still, I just stood there staring blankly at him. His face fell and he removed his hand from my cheek. "It's okay if you don't feel the same yet," he said quietly.

"It's not that- I," I had no response prepared. It's true; I wasn't ready to say those words yet. I believed it was true and I had been thinking about it for days, but I just wasn't ready to commit to the feeling.

"It's okay. I'm going to do this better next time around, I promise," he kissed my lips and said he would call me tomorrow, and I watched as the door closed behind him. Part of me wanted to throw open the door, run into his arms and tell him I loved him, too. I wanted to pull him back up to my room, rip his clothes off and show him just how much he really meant to me. But all I could do was stand there, and after a few minutes I went to bed alone.