"-Seriously, Stefan. What is this about?" Damon mumbled, not nearly drunk enough as his brother poured him another shot. It was about the fifth time he had asked the question, but instead of coming up with some vaque answer, Stefan ignored him altogether and checked his phone again."And why do you keep checking your phone? Who are sexting?"

Stefan narrowed his eyes and looked up at Damon, ready to retort back when his phone buzzed suddenly. He texted quickly on it before turning back to Damon and muttering a "Let's go." and started to lead the way out of the Grill.

"So you drag me here, pour me shots for thirty minutes but refuse to take one yourself all the while mysteriously texting on your phone and now you want to leave. Yep, not suspicious at all." Damon quipped as they slid into his car.

"Is it so bad that I want to spend time with you before you leave?" Stefan asked smoothly, looking out the window.

"Yes." Damon replied shortly, ignoring Stefan's eye roll. As they drove in the direction of the boarding house, Damon procastinated in telling his brother about the blonde bombshell that would surely show up pretty soon.

"So our favorite blonde Original might be stopping by." Damon started quickly, sneaking a look at Stefan out of the corner of his eye.

"What?" Stefan asked slowly as the car passed through town.

"She probably just wants to stir up some trouble. But don't worry, she's leaving with me. I'll make sure of it." he assured quickly, weary of Stefan's scrunched eyebrows and pensive expression. "I just thought you should know."

Stefan was silent for a moment before sighing. "Why are you even still talking to her?" he asked finally as Damon pulled the car up to the boarding house driveway. As he turned the ignition off, he noticed Caroline's car parked on the side, hidden by the shadows.

Ignoring Stefan's question, he groaned internally and got out the car to head towards the door. Stefan fell into step beside him and seemed to be greatly amused by something, which caused Damon to send him a glare. "What are you up to?" he asked.

Stefan grinned, "Lets just say you'll need alot more drinks tonight." he murmured before opening the door. As they stepped into the darkened foyer, the lights suddenly snapped on and a number of people that Damon didn't know jumped out and yelled "Surprise!"

Caroline was standing in the front with an perky smile on her face that reminded Damon of seeing her at cheerleading practice years ago. He stood, half annoyed and half weary as she jumped forward and grabbed his arm. "It's your surprise-goodbye party! Surprised?" she asked, all bouncy curls and white teeth.

Damon blinked, looking around at the people who were standing and drinking his alcohol. "No." he answered calmly. The short answer wiped the smile clean off Caroline's face and she half glared at him.

"He's kidding, Caroline. Of course he's surprised." Elena said, coming up behind her. She shot Damon a look who shrugged in response and gently slipped his arm out of Caroline's hand. He noticed the werewolf standing some disance away, glaring at him.

"You know what, Damon? I'm not even surprised that you're not surprised." Caroline started, going on when he raised an eyebrow. "You never did appreciate anything I did for you and-"

"Okay, I need a drink." he interrupted and pushed through both of them to find a bottle of bourbon. A wave of deja vu hit him as he grabbed one of his best bottles from some girl and continued walking, not stopping until was at the bottom of the staircase. As he was about to start climbing the stairs by two, someone reached out and grabbed his hand.

"Damon, where are you going?" It was Elena. He turned to look at her and sighed when he took in her hurt puppy dog expression.

"I'm just going to... change." he lied.

Elena glared at him and dragged him away from the stairs until they were in the almost empty library. He struggled to hide his impressed expression when she pushed him forefully down on the couch and took the bottle away from him.

"The least you can let me do is throw you a goodbye party." she half hissed at him as she poured them both drinks in the cut crystal glasses.

He took the glass from her and quirked up an eyebrow. "I don't even know half these people, Elena. Where did Blondie find this many people at, anyways?"

She pressed her lips together to refrain from smiling. "We just told everyone it was your goodbye party and they rushed over."

"Ha ha."

They were both quiet for a moment, each staring off into different spaces. If not for the sounds of clinking glasses and chatter, then it would have been completely silent. Elena stared at him out of the corner of his eye, unknowingly trying to memorize his features. His dark eyebrows were drawn together in a contemplative manner as he studied the amber liquid below him. There was a piece of stray black hair in his face and she had a sudden urge to push it back so she could see his eyes better. Suddenly, the snapped to her face and caught her looking at him and Elena looked away quickly. If she was human, surely her cheeks would be flaming by now.

"...Elena?" came a familiar voice in the hallway, and a head with curly black hair popped in the door.

"Bonnie, you made it!" Elena exclaimed, thankful for the interruption as she flashed over to her best friend's side. Bonnie had been going to college at Virginia Tech for about two years and Elena hadn't seen her since before she was turned. She had conveniently fed-exed a day-light ring for her; taking Stefan's word that Elena was in control.

When they hugged, the witch froze for a second after contact and then shook her head. "Just not used to it." she mumbled, looking Elena up and down before grinning. "It's so good to see you. How are you handling things?" she asked sympathetically.

Elena grimaced, "It was tough at first. But Damon... he helped me alot." She added at the end, shooting the slightly uncomfortable vampire an unreadable look. Bonnie, who noticed Damon for the first time, looked shocked for a moment before smiling slightly.

"Hey, Damon. I didn't know you were even back until Elena told me you guys were having a goodbye party." she said slowly.

Damon smirked and leaned back on the couch, "Yea, well. It was a surprise on both parts."

Bonnie shrugged and all fell into a slightly awkward silence. She looked in between the two vampires and mumbled something about them catching up later and that she was going to find Matt. When she left the room, Elena walked over to sit back next to him.

"She's still thankful about you saving her life, you know." Elena started after a moment. When he gave her a dubious expression, she said "No, really. She would probably be dead if you hadn't of jumped in front of her." she finished, brown eyes glowing slightly as she looked at him with appreciation.

Damon scoffed, "I tried to kill her once and then I turned her mom. I was just evening the score up." he said, popping out the 'p' in up. Elena smiled slightly at his modesty and leaned on him casually so that their arms were brushing. As they fell into another more comfortable silence, Elena contemplated how best to breach the subject on her mind.

"So... where were you?" she started, looking up from under her eyelashes. "I mean- what did you go when you left?"

Damon was silent for a moment, contemplating answering her question. "You know, here and there." he answered shortly, and Elena narrowed her eyes at his vagueness.

"Really, Damon. I want to know what you've been doing, it's got to be more exciting than being stuck in Mystic Falls." she stated sarcastically.

"You're not stuck in Mystic Falls, you can leave anytime you want." Damon pointed out, and Elena shook her head stubbornly.

"Don't change the subject."

Damon sighed dramatically, as if it was killing him to betray such answers before giving in and opening his mouth. "Fine. After I left I went to New York for a few weeks."

Elena smiled, internally imagining him walking through bustling crowds of people in the New York she had seen on TV and movies. "Why New York?"

He shrugged, "New York was as different as you could possibly get from Mystic Falls. I needed different." he finished, azure eyes far away as if he was in another time. Elena grimaced at the last line and beckoned him on.

"Eventually I got sick of all the ignorant people and traffic, so I went Europe for awhile. I met the oddest couple in Verona; they were sitting outside Juliet's tomb. The guy was a vampire and the woman was a werewolf and they were in love. I hung out with them for a few weeks." he paused. "But I think I might have scared the vampire away with my tales of werewolf bites."

Elena rolled her eyes and ignored the last line. "Kind of like Caroline and Tyler."

Damon grimaced and looked away, hesitating. Finally, he continued. "Then I went to Brazil and have been there since... well, a month ago." he finished shortly, the tone of his voice indicating the end. Elena narrowed an eyebrow, sensing that he was leaving out a part but resisted asking him. He seemed to be in a good mood and she didn't want say anything to upset him, so she kept her mouth shut.

Silence fell over them again as they both drifted into their own thoughts. Elena was at lost. She knew she couldn't outright ask him to stay; no, that would be too selfish. I can't be selfish with you, something whispered inside her mind. But she couldn't imagine letting him go again, she already had to once against her will, and she didn't know if she could bear doing it again.

Her thoughts were broken when both their vampire hearing picked up on Caroline's voice in the foyer, confused and wary. "What are you doing here?"

Elena got up to go investigate, narrowing her eyes when Damon sat still with a grim and knowing expression on his face. Before she could leave the room to see for herself, however, a very familiar person appeared in the doorway and Elena's eyes widened. Rebekah walked straight into the library, breezing past Elena gracefully until she was standing in front of Damon, whom she immediately slipped her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek like they were old lovers. Damon patted her back uncomfortably as Elena stared at them, a thousand different emotions churning in her gut.

~0~

Notes: Some brother bonding, some Delena fluff, some Rebekah... wow this story's got everything. Jk. Update within two days, surprised? I've been in a writing mood lately. Enough small talk. This story is kind of reflecting my dislike for Elena, I'm sure some of you can see it but I hope it's not too obvious. Right now, Elena isn't even contemplating leaving Stefan for Damon yet, so don't expect a direct 'Damon-and-Elena-skip-off-into-the-sunset-to-go-travel-the-world-together' ending. I've already got the last chapter planned and it's not the happiest ever. But thats just the last chapter and there will still be an epilogue, so don't cry yet. ANyways, thank you for all the lovely reviews and story alerts and favorited stories and authors. Very much appreciated.

Reviews are amazing.

-Marlie