Past mistakes, Future surprises chapter 11

A/N: Sorry this update has taken so long, please do not think too badly of me. Thanks for all the lovely reviews for the last chapter, I appreciate every last one. Anyway enough from me now and on with the story

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters and no copyright infringement intended.

Stefans POV

I had been up for hours trying to find anything to keep my mind off everything that was going on around me, but no matter what I did to take my mind off the situation nothing could. Elena was still acting like she hated me and every time I walked into a room she left it. I knew she was disgusted by me and my past… But that's just what it was… my past.

I had worked hard to make amends for everything I had done in my human life, but I guess someone of a higher power hadn't got that memo because here I was still being punished for my miss deeds hundreds of years later. Shame that wasn't the only issue my exhausted mind had to deal with this morning… I had Damon to worry about.

Damon just didn't understand how lucky he was. He had been given a second chance at his one true love, a woman he had pined for, for over 500 years. Bonnie loved him, he knew that without a doubt and she was carrying Damon's child. His idiotic brother now had the chance to have the family he had craved throughout his human life but instead of embracing it, he had run away again like a coward.

Stefan knew Bonnie had hurt his brother. That she had broken his fragile human heart but she loved him that had never changed and he knew that underneath the sarcasm and barely hidden pain, Damon loved her to. It was just such a shame that Damon was too stubborn to admit it even to himself and that could cost his brother dearly.

Bonnie and Damon had a shot at being a real family. Stefan knew his brother would make a fantastic father. He would dote on that child and never raise his voice or a hand to it in anger, in other words he would be nothing like their own father. He just wished his brother could open his eyes and see how kind fate had been to him, while he was left to wish it could have been as kind to him and Elena.

"Damon, you need to grow up, you have had over five hundred to do it, so man up for your woman and your child." Stefan shouted telepathically to Damon knowing he could hear him.

"Go to hell Stefan." Damon replied almost straight away, making Stefan think he had been expecting his call.

"I've already been there brother, you have seen to that. So I guess until you grow up and except your responsibility, I will have to take care of your woman and child." Stefan said hoping that Damon could feel the anger that came along with the words.

"And I, dear brother will take care of yours." Damon sent back along with an image of Elena sat in the passenger seat of his car. "No need to thank me, it's my pleasure. I know how angry she is with you, but she loves me." He said again as he saw Elena smile at Damon and it left him fuming that they were back to doing that again…Fantastic. Why did it always have to be this way with his brother. And why did he have to punish him every time he hurt?

"Have a good day little brother, I know I will." Was the last thing Stefan heard Damon say as his car sped away from the house into the early morning light.

Elena's POV

"Where are we going?" I asked as Damon drove past the town's exit.

"I don't know…Lets just see where we end up." Damon said smirking at me, but this was not his usual smirk, it lacked his usual enthusiasm.

"Damon, are you okay?" I asked as I reached over and put my hand lightly over the one he had rested on the gearstick.

"I'm awesome Elena, thanks for asking." Damon said sarcastically before pulling his hand away from hers angrily. "How do you think I am?" he growled as an afterthought.

"I'm sorry Damon…" I said trying to comfort him only to be rewarded with a death glare.

"I'm sure you are Elena but I don't want your pity." He snapped.

"She loves you Damon, she always has." I said hoping to make him see that nothing had changed between him and Bonnie, nor did it have to but the only response he gave was a humorless laugh.

"I'm sure she does. She loves me so much she makes me fall in love with her and then leaves me…Quick book the church." Damon spat back angrily.

I sat silently for a while watching the world pass by the window. I wasn't sure I wanted to keep talking to such a volatile Damon and I wasn't sure skipping town with him in this mood was such a good idea either, things could only end badly if I let him take me any further from town and Stefan's watchful eye.

"I want to go home Damon." I said as I turned away from the window to look at the vampire I had grown to love as a brother.

"Come on Elena, you want to be around my brother as much as I want to be around Bonnie right now." He said, gripping the steering wheel tightly as he said Bonnie's name.

He was right. I didn't really want to be around Stefan right now. He deserved to be left alone to think about what he had done wrong, but Bonnie didn't and I was going to make sure he saw that to.

"Damon you are being too hard on Bonnie. She didn't do anything that unforgivable you know." I said as Damon barked out a harsh laugh.

"No she didn't, did she Elena? She didn't play with my emotions to get what she wanted from me and then left me behind with only a lousy note." He said bitterly and I had to stifle a laugh. Laughing at a pissed off Damon was a great way to end up six feet under, but he was being so over dramatic and it was hilarious.

"Damon she loved you to, you know that as well as I do. She was a virgin until that night… She was saving herself for her one true love and that has always been you." I told him, trying to get him to understand that what he and Bonnie had was special and worth fighting for.

"So was I Elena. I wanted to prove all those that thought I was a bad seed that I wasn't, that I was capable of being a gentleman. I swore to myself that I would only give myself to the woman that I loved, the woman that I was going to marry and raise a family with. Look where that got me." He said bitterly as he pulled the car off the road. "Damn it…" he yelled out, hitting the steering wheel almost hard enough to break it.

"Damon, I didn't know. I'm sorry." I said as I reached out to try and comfort him again.

"Don't, Elena. I have already told you that I don't need your sympathy." He said sharply before pulling away from her touch again.

"I thought she was the one I was going to marry. Damon said with a faraway look. "My father thought she was the one I was going to marry." He said getting angry again. "He gave me my mother's favorite pendant, the one he gave to her the night before he asked her to marry him… But you already knew that, you all got to share that happy little memory with me thanks to the witch." He said sarcastically but it barely hid the pain in his voice. "What you all didn't get to was my father giving me my mother's ring. I was going to ask her to marry me Elena." He said as he turned to look at me, his pained eyes filled with unshed tears.

"I'm sorry Damon." I said hoping that I could ease some of his pain but I knew there was nothing I could say that would make him feel any better.

"Yes, so was I Elena. When my father found out she had gone he put two and two together and came up with ten. He was furious; he accused me of using Bonnie to relieve my manly urges. He told me I had disrespected my mother's memory and his love for her, by using the pendant to have my wicked way with her. Can you imagine how that felt Elena?" He asked me, I just shook my head because I didn't trust my voice as I was fighting to hold back my own tears.

"I almost believed everything he said to me… Ha, he almost convinced me that I had used the only woman I have ever loved for sex, when in truth it was the other way around." He said, before drawing in a shaky breath in an attempt to control his overwhelming emotions.

"Bonnie never used you…" I started but he didn't give me a chance to finish.

"He beat me Elena and I thought that I deserved it…He almost beat me to death and I wanted him to. I had my heart torn to shreds and I was the one that got punished. I really believe that if Stefan hadn't gotten in between us that day, I think I would have let father kill me." He told me and I couldn't believe that thing's had gone that far. I knew Damon and his father had a troubled relationship, but I never thought it was that bad.

"Damon that should never have happened, Bonnie would be heartbroken if she found out that's what happened to you after we left." I told him but he just laughed bitterly again.

Damon she loves you, she really does. She was heartbroken when we left." I said, trying to make him see how much my best friend loved him.

"That's nice…" He started to say but I cut him off.

"No it's not nice Damon, she was devastated. I had to fight every single day just to get her out of bed so that we could find you. She refused to eat and all she did was cry until we found you again."I told him, trying to get him to see how Bonnie had hurt to but he was no longer listening to me and that had me worried.

"I should never have let my brother win… I should never have let you go." Damon said as he closed the distance between us, crushing his lips to mine forcefully before he began to kiss me passionately.

I was in too much shock to do anything other than kiss Damon back…It was heated and filled with passion, a passion I hadn't felt from Stefan for a long time and before I knew what I was doing, I was running my hands through Damon's soft black hair, tugging at the short hairs at the back of his head and deepening our kiss. It took what seemed like forever before I realized just what I was doing, and pulled away from him breaking the kiss.

"Damon no..." I gasped as he trailed his lips slowly down my neck and around my throat.

"Damon please stop, we can't do this. I love your brother and you love Bonnie." I said while struggling to free myself from his strong arms.

"And they care so much about us." He said bitterly before bringing his lips back to my throat.

"Don't do this Damon, please we're friends." I said as I felt his fangs scrape my skin.

"Don't pretend you don't want this as much as I do." He said as his fangs sunk into my flesh painfully.

Damon did not want this to be a painless blood exchange. It was not going to be loving and gentle as it had always been when I shared blood with Stefan and it was pure agony as he drew my blood against my will.

"Please stop, please Damon you're hurting me." I begged him, but he showed no sign of stopping, what he did do was he opened himself up to me slightly and I took full advantage of his moment of weakness.

While Damon was busy wallowing in his own pain I caught him by surprise and forced my own memories on him. I showed him the memories of the day he had fallen from his horse. Of Bonnie telling him how much she loved him over and over again as he lay dying. How she had used the last of her power and strength as she had fought to bring him back from the brink of death, almost killing herself in the process. I showed him all the tears she had shed at seeing him with Katherine and her heartbreak when we returned home. I tried to show him from my own point of view the pain that he and I had cause Bonnie over the years, when we just couldn't decide who we loved. There was so much more I wanted to show him, I wanted him to see what everyone else saw when it came to how my best friend saw him and how much she loved him but I was becoming weak from the blood loss and I needed our exchange to stop.

"Damon stop, you're going to kill me" I said quietly, but it was loud enough to catch the fully attentive vampires hearing.

"Oh god Elena" He said as he pulled back quickly before he bit into his own wrist and began to feed me his replenishing blood.

"I'm so sorry Elena" He said as pulled his now healing wrist from my mouth "I shouldn't have done that." He said he started the car up, turned it around and we were headed back to town at speed.

The rest of the journey was spent in silence as Damon and I where both lost in our own thoughts. When we pulled up at the house Damon sped out the car and opened the door for me, looking completely ashamed of himself, and I felt bad for him.

"Are you coming in?" I asked him, gesturing towards the boardinghouse.

"I don't think I can, not right now anyway." He said looking at me sadly. "I am sorry Elena, I never wanted to hurt you and I hope you will be able to forgive me one day." Damon said as he closed the passenger door before walking around the car, getting into the driver's seat and driving away.

Stefan's pov

Stefan was worried. Bonnie had been sat in Damon's room alone all night and her gentle sobs where breaking Stefan's undead heart. Being alone was the last thing that Bonnie needed after everything that had happened yesterday and he couldn't believe that Damon felt that it was okay to leave her alone after she had tried to commit suicide by vampire, or after what she had just found out only hours ago. Damon may have been happy to leave her alone but Stefan wasn't, that's how he found himself standing outside his brother's bedroom door unsure whether to knock.

"Bonnie are you awake?" I asked as I lightly knocked on Damon's bedroom door.

"I hope I'm not." he heard her say quietly through the door.

"Can I come in?" I asked expecting her to shout at me to go away but she didn't, instead she told me to come in, in a voice that was so quiet I wouldn't have heard it without my vampire hearing.

"Oh Bonnie," I said when I caught my first glimpse of the tiny redhead. She was curled up on Damon's bed holding his pillow so tightly to her I thought that I would see the tiny feathers escaping any second.

"I'm ok Stefan, you don't need to worry about me" she choked out between her sobs.

"No you're not Bonnie…I could kill my brother for doing this to you" I said I sat at the foot of Damon's bed.

"It's not his fault Stefan, I deserve this for what I've done to him"

"No you don't Bonnie, you're both hurting right now but that doesn't give Damon the excuse to run away like a coward and do the things he is doing right now" Bonnie began to cry harder as she absorbed the words that I meant to be comforting but instead I felt her anxiety growing.

"Oh god what is he doing Stefan? If he hurts anyone I will never forgive myself" she asked, worry making her frown.

"He's not going to hurt anyone; he just needs time away to think," I said trying to make excuses once again for my brother and making the young witch look up at me angrily.

"Well I'm glad that he can take himself away and think while I'm stuck here unable to escape any of this," she said pointing to her stomach.

"That's not what I meant. You know Damon and how well he handles his problems, he either lashes out or he runs. He'll be back soon Bonnie, I promise" I said as I watched her anger turn back into tears.

"Well maybe this problem won't be here when he decides to come back" she said as she stormed into Damon's bathroom and slammed the door.

I was growing tired of making excuses for my brother's cowardice and lack of emotional maturity, and this time it looked like I was making things worse.

As I sat on Damon's bed, I was growing surer by the minute that Bonnie was in the bathroom getting ready to leave. I couldn't let that happen because I knew that if she left Damon would never forgive me and he would never forgive his self.

"Bonnie?" I said knocking on the bathroom door when ten minutes had past and worry had gotten the better of me.

"Go away Stefan..!" she yelled after what sounded like a violent bout of sickness. I couldn't leave her when she was so sick and unhappy, so I decided to just wait for her to make the first move and come out of the bathroom. Five minutes of hearing her sob's and violent bouts of sickness made me decide enough was enough.

The smell that invaded my nostrils when I entered the bathroom were enough to make any human sick, but my sensitive vampire nose urged me to run as far from the little bathroom as possible, instead I made my way over to the little redhead that was knelt in front of the toilet bowl.

"Aw Bonnie…" I said as I made my way over to the sink and began to dampen a wash cloth that was folded neatly by my brother's sink.

"I'm sorry you have to do this for me Stefan and I'm sorry for the way I've been acting I just can't seem to help it" Bonnie said between sobs as I placed the cool washcloth against her neck.

"Bonnie it's not your fault, it's your hormones, and I know it should be Damon here with you right now but until he grows up I am more than happy to be your emotional punching bag" I said with a small smile hoping that it would ease some of the upset end tension I could feel coming from the young witch, but it only seemed to make it worse.

"Why couldn't it be you that I loved? You would make a way better father than Damon, you wouldn't have run away." Bonnie said after five minutes of more vile smelling sickness.

"You don't mean that Bonnie. Damon will be a far better father than I ever could be" I said while thinking to myself that he would be when he grew up and stopped running, forgetting that the witch could hear everything I was thinking when I didn't shield myself properly.

""See even you don't believe what you just said." Bonnie said as she rested her head against the cool porcelain of the toilet bowl, "I do wish I could be in love with you. You are so different to Damon, your kind, sweet and you will go to hell and back for anyone you love and I need that right now Stefan. I need to know that I am safe and not going to be left alone to raise this child." She said sighing.

I knew how she felt, it was a scary thought bringing a baby into the world. Let alone a baby that would be likely to attract every supernatural nasty with a thousand miles and that is one reason why Damon would be a way better father than me. He was stronger than me, he had a keener sense of evil when it was lurking in the shadows and unlike me Damon was not afraid to do what was necessary, not matter what the sacrifice for the people he loved.

"Bonnie, you will never be alone to raise this baby. Damon will come around you know that as well as I do, on some level. Plus my brother is a way better man than I will ever be, you should know that as well as I do you saw it after all. Deep down I am selfish, spoilt and I have a lot to make up for." I said looking down at the floor, unable to look her in the eye because of the shame that I still felt for all my past misdeeds.

"You're not that man anymore Stefan, you have to know that you have more than made up for everything you did wrong" she said, trying to comfort me.

"Try telling that to Elena." I said with a bitter laugh.

"I will don't worry.." She said getting up off the floor on shaky legs. "Where is she, I'll do it now" she said as she turned to leave the bathroom.

"She's not here Bonnie, I think she needed some time…alone" I said hoping that I had managed to withhold my earlier conversation with my brother from Bonnie, The last thing she needed was to be worrying that my brother had once again turned his attention to Elena again.

"More fool her then, if she can't see what she has in you then she doesn't deserve you. Maybe she did choose the wrong brother." Bonnie said bitterly. "You don't deserve to be punished anymore Stefan and the minute she gets back I will tell her just that. I for one am glad you changed because I don't know how I would raise my baby without an uncle like you." She said as she gave me a hug. "You're an amazing man Mr Salvatore, don't let anyone tell you any different" she said before kissing my cheek and that is when all hell broke loose.

"Just what the hell is going on here?" Elena screamed at us from the bathroom door. It took only a second for me to realize just what the scene Elena walked in on actually looked like.

"It isn't what it looks like love" I said as I let go of the tiny redhead that looked almost as startled as me. I didn't understand how I hadn't heard her enter the house let alone walking up the stairs and into Damon's bathroom.

"Of course it isn't Stefan" Elena laughed bitterly. "You would never do anything like taking advantage of one of your brothers cast offs, and as for you Bonnie I always knew you were jealous of me and my relationships with Stefan and Damon but I didn't ever think you would stoop so low" she scream at us before turning on her heel and storming off in the direction of our room

Bonnie's POV

"Elena, wait…" Stefan shouted as he went to follow her out of the bathroom. Poor Stefan didn't deserve any of this, after all he was only helping me and trying to stand up for his older brother yet again.

"Stefan let me go" I said as I walked out the room on unsteady legs. No matter how I felt I was going to make things right between Elena and Stefan because at least someone in this sorry mess of a life of ours deserved a little happiness.

"Elena…" I said as I got to her room and saw that the door was firmly closed. "Elena, let me in we need to talk" I said as I knocked on the door firmly.

"Go away Bonnie!" she yelled as I knocked again.

"No I won't go away, we need to talk about what you walked in on and we need to talk about the way to you treating Stefan" I said as I tried the door handle, surprised that it opened.

"What exactly do we need to talk about Bonnie, that you can't keep a boyfriend or the fact that you are moving on to mine?" I couldn't believe that she had the nerve to say such a thing to me and I was hurt that she thought that way about me.

"I am not trying to steal your boyfriend Elena" I said sounding a lot calmer than I felt.

"Then what exactly was that I walked in on then?" She yelled at me again and every time she did my head pounded and my power surged.

"You walked in on one friend comforting the other that is all that was. Stefan, was kind enough to come and check how I was after Damon bolted again." I said, trying to keep my growing power in check.

"I'm sure he was Bonnie… He will have been trying to comfort you all the way to his bed." She yelled and I had heard just about as much as I could possibly take.

"You, Elena are such a hypocrite. Yes Stefan has a past that he isn't proud of and he did things that hurt other people but he is not that man anymore." I yelled back at her.

"Are you really that naïve Bonnie, or are you happy to betray my trust to be with my boyfriend?" She yelled and that was the final straw.

"Stefan is not you Elena and neither am I. We have always known who we want to be with and we haven't trampled on anyone else's feeling to do it." I yelled back at her and that is when she slapped me. I was shocked, I never thought she would ever raise a hand to me and I was furious. "What's the matter Elena, the truth hurt? You toyed with Stefan and Damon when you couldn't make up your mind who you wanted to be with. You didn't care how much it broke his heart to see you with his brother and you most certainly didn't care when you saw how much I loved Damon. Hell when you found out that Damon had any sort of feelings for me you tried to stop it. You're just selfish Elena and Stefan deserves better than that." I shouted at her and I knew I had hit a nerve when she tackled me and pushed me into the wall hard.

"How dare you talk to me like that, I thought you were my friend?" She said sounding sad now, but the fury that had built up in me was not waning despite the fact that my head was throbbing, my stomach was turning and I had spots in front of my eyes.

"I am your friend Elena, but it is the truth. You treat Stefan like dirt and you never consider his feelings or mine. Yes he was bad in his human life but he is not that man anymore you're just angry at him because he was acting like you." I said and Elena raised her hand to slap me again. "Go on Elena slap me if it will make you feel better." I said as I closed my eyes waiting for the blow to come, but it never did.

"Elena what are you doing?" Stefan said for somewhere nearby and I wanted to hug him again for preventing the blow.

"Yes Elena what are you doing?" I heard another voice say from way closer and that's when I opened my eyes and saw Damon standing in front of me holding Elena's hand in mid slap.

"She deserved it" Elena said angrily. "She was in your bathroom kissing Stefan when I came home, that goes to show how much they care about either of us" She yelled at Damon before she snatched her hand back and that is where I lost my temper and almost lost what was left of the last of yesterdays breakfast.

" I told you nothing was going on between me and Stefan, he was just talking care of me like his brother should have been instead of being out with you so I suggest you move out of my way now." I yelled as I pushed my way past Elena and tried to make a dignified exit back to Damon's room instead the floor came up to meet me and my dramatic exit was ruined.

A/N Thanks for reading, I know it has been a long time and I know that this update is not up to my usual standards, but please bare with me as I try to get back into the swing of things as well as doing a S**t load of uni assignments. Please R/R thanks Jaybee X