Trigger warning: Suicide/self-harm

Damon flipped the pancake lying in the frying pan onto a plate. He had woken up especially early to prepare breakfast for Elena. He still felt guilty for not noticing her leave the party. He wanted to make it up to her. Alaric entered the kitchen and wrapped his arms around Damon's waist and buried his face into Damon's neck.

"Why are you up so early, Darling?" he mumbled into Damon's neck.

"Elena's not going to reach out to us, Ric. She made it obvious last night. She thinks she can take care of herself," Damon said placing the plate on a tray next to a glass of orange juice and some utensils. "I'm going to show her that she doesn't have to. That we're here for her. Y'know?"

Alaric couldn't help but smile, "Aw, look who's being a softie. You know, it's going to take some time for her to warm up to us."

"Yeah, I know. Go take this up to her," Damon released himself from Alaric's grip and handed the tray to him.

"Say please," Alaric taunted.

"Please," Damon said with blatantly fake sweetness.

Alaric shrugged, "Close enough." He grabbed the tray and left to deliver it to Elena. He climbed the stairs carefully and walked to the door of her room. He knocked a few times.

"Come in," a weak voice said from inside and he let himself in.

Elena's head was throbbing and her stomach was churning uncomfortably. She propped herself up and smiled weakly at Alaric. "I hope I didn't wake you," he said softly placing the tray on her nightstand.

"No, don't worry about it. What's this?" She asked groggily.

"Breakfast," Alaric said brightly. She turned and selected the glass of orange juice and took a sip.

"Elena, we were really worried about you last night. Stefan said you weren't feeling well, are you feeling better today? Do you need to go to the doctor's?"

Elena shook her head, "Really Alaric, I'm fine. Just a little bug." He's genuinely concerned, she thought smiling weakly.

They sat in silence for a few moments before Alaric asked, "Do you need anything?"

"Maybe an aspirin. I have a huge headache," Elena said quietly.

Alaric nodded and left the room and returned a few minutes later with a small white tablet. Elena thanked him and swallowed it with the help of a large gulp of orange juice.

"Do you need anything else?" Alaric asked. Elena shook her head. "Damon and I are going to be home all day. We'll be up to check on you from time to time, but if you need anything just holler, okay?"

Elena smiled, "Thanks, Alaric," she said and she was actually grateful.

Alaric returned her smile, "Don't mention it. Get some rest." He got up and left the room, closing her door behind him. Elena sunk back into her pillows and tried to stomach some of the pancakes. She hadn't realized how hungry she had been.

x~x~x~x~x~x

"Are you okay, Brother?" I asked cautiously. Damon hadn't left his room all weekend and I was beginning to worry about him. I stood outside his door, slumped against the door.

"I'm fine Stefan, go away," came his reply.

"No, Damon," I said firmly, "I haven't seen you all weekend. Come on out, let's go do something today."

The door opened and Damon was standing there. His dark hair was awry and greasy. There were large dark circles under his eyes which seemed to lack their usual vibrancy.

"Woah, are you okay, Damon?" I asked, slightly taken aback.

"I'm fine, Stefan. I'd be a hell of a lot better if you would leave me the fuck alone."

"Damon, seriously, I'm supposed to look out for you. Are you sure you're okay?" I was really worried.

"Stefan, I'm older than you. I don't need your God damn protection." With that he slammed the door in my face.

Stefan rolled over in his sleep, his eyes darting from left to right beneath their lids. A small sheen of sweat broke out over his forehead.

"Damon?" I called up the stairs. I had left before him to go to school and I hadn't seen him all day. I climbed the stairs, "Damon, come on. Why the hell did you skip school?" I tried the doorknob on the door to his room. It turned with surprising ease. I pushed the door open into the empty room. "Damon?" I called again. I heard a soft noise coming from the bathroom down the hall. It was caught halfway between a whimper and a groan.

I rushed toward the bathroom. The door was ajar and I pushed it aside. Damon was sitting with his back against the wall. Blood was seeping from deep cuts all along his wrists. He looked up and those green eyes held mine prisoner. The light was fading from them and a silent plea echoed in their depths. I ran to my parent's room and used the phone there to call for help.

I returned to the bathroom and took both of Damon's hands in my own.

"Damon. Please. You're going to be okay. Just please hold on," My voice was cracking.

Stefan's eyes snapped open. He was covered in a thin layer of sweat but chills shot through his body. That afternoon was so sunny and beautiful, yet it was his darkest hour. He had almost lost the one person that he had always sworn to look after. He rolled over onto his back and crossed his arms over his chest. I need to do a few things, he thought to himself. First, I'm going to make sure Elena's okay. God forbid Alaric, Damon, or I come home one day to find her bleeding out on the bathroom floor. Second, I'm going to make things right with Damon. He's my brother. We both have a ton of baggage, but we'll always be blood related. Third, is going to be the hardest. I'm going to make the phone call to father. The one I've been dreading.

Stefan rolled over and went to the bathroom to wash his face. He then decided to check in on Elena.

Elena was lying down and letting the headache rage inside her skull like a tropical storm. There was a quiet knock at her door. "Come in," she said.

Stefan poked his head inside and grinned, "Hey you're alive," he said. He meandered into her room and sat down at the foot of your bed. "How are you feeling?"

"I've had better mornings," Elena admitted, "Thanks for covering, by the way. I'd hate to ruin Alaric's birthday with…well with what I did."

"Don't worry about it," he responded, smiling reassuringly. "We've all done stupid things," He recalled the words that spewed from Elena's drunken mouth and managed to suppress a laugh.

They sat in silence for a while. Elena preoccupied herself with a loose string on the bottom hem of her camisole. Finally she asked, "Why?"

Stefan looked at her, "Why what?"

"Why are you caring?"

Stefan inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly. "Wow, that was really nosy. I'm so sorry." Elena said.

"No, don't worry about it. Um, well. I almost lost someone very close to me and that really scared the shit out of me. I guess it was just really scary because there were signs, y'know. I just…couldn't see them. Or maybe I didn't want to see them. I don't know. I just want to know that you're okay. I just want to know that you're not going to do anything stupid,"

Elena was silent. She scanned Stefan's face and noticed the obvious pain that was buried there. She shook her head, "Stefan, I'd never do that to Alaric or Damon or anyone else who cares about me," she said, "It's just really hard because every day, I wake up and I miss them. I don't have a father or a mother anymore and nobody cares. I mean, they pretend to care. They don't care enough. I can't heal and get over what's happened because nobody cares enough. It really sucks because I want to connect more with Damon and Alaric because I can tell that they really want us all to be a family. I just… I just can't. I'm afraid that I'm going to rely on them and they'll be just like everyone else and not care enough."

"They do care about you Elena. They love you so much. If they didn't, they wouldn't have bothered adopting you. Yeah, you're not going to become close right from the start. They're really trying Elena, cut them a little slack, they're still getting the hang of this whole parenting thing."

Elena nodded, "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Stefan shook his head, "No Elena, you know I'm right."

She smiled at him. It was her first real smile. It wasn't stunning or a kodak moment. It was a simple reassured smile and Stefan returned it with one that could have stretched from ear to ear.

"You can always come and talk to me if you want," he offered.

"Thanks," Elena said. For the first time in the months since her parents' death, Elena felt as if things might just get better.

Hey! Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Yes a lot of you were yearning for more TLC. I'm getting there. I'm getting there