Please Read and Review! Thank you for your Reviews. CLM 18

Chapter 12

The room was quiet, Stefan sat with his eyes wide and his mouth unmoving. Elena's lip twitched, she did not know what was going to happen, was it a calm before the storm.

"We, we court?" Stefan finally stammered. His mind was racing with thoughts.

"Um, yes…" Elena responded.

"Okay… um but now, here, you wish to be with Damon?" Stefan asked his voice was thick with emotion. Elena could see the visible hurt expression on his face.

"A lot of things happened before I came here, that made me realize who I wanted to be with, I am sorry…" Elena did not know how to explain it, talking with Stefan about this all felt weird. Stefan just sat there with a blank look on his face, an uncaring look.

"There is no need to apologize Miss Elena, you and I here we do not have a relationship like my brother and you do. I have never seen Damon so happy before, I must say I am envious of him." Stefan said his eyes glued to the floor.

"Stefan… there is someone out there for you I know there is. I am sorry about what Valarie did to you, it was not fair. I know things are very confusing right now." Elena sighed, even for herself things were confusing.

"Miss Elena, can you tell me what happened that made you realize you loved my brother?" Stefan asked.

"He died." Elena said her eyes misting.

"Damon died? How?" Stefan was shocked.

"He was bitten by a werewolf, you tried as hard as you could to find a cure to save him, but it was too late." Elena said, even though Damon was safe and fine, it was still so painful to talk about, she began to cry.

"Oh Miss Elena, I never meant to upset you." Stefan said coming over and sitting close to her.

"It is alright, it just feels like yesterday that it happened, your brother loves you so much Stefan, he would do anything for you. When he died he told me that he was so sorry for the things he did to you and wanted you to know that." Elena said between sobs. "I know that it wasn't this you that I was supposed to tell that to, but I feel like I should tell you anyway. I know that Damon's not dead now, but it still is so painful to remember how he died." Elena said wiping her eyes. She felt as if a weight had been lifted from her, getting all these feelings out in the open felt almost like closure.

"I am sorry that you had to experience such a loss, but so what was being said about a carriage crash and your parents, that is not true?" Stefan asked finally realizing that Elena had not come on a carriage here.

"No that is not true, but nobody else must know that, everyone in town must think that I came here that way. My parents did however die in my time, in a car accident, cars are very much like carriages just without horses." Elena tried to explain without confusing Stefan.

"That is fascinating, does my brother know the truth? About you being from the future?" Stefan inquired.

"Yes, yes he does. Stefan, I want to tell you the whole truth, I think it is safer for you if you know. Damon is also from the future." Elena said, running her fingers through her hair.

"Excuse me?" Stefan asked taken back.

"The other night after dinner when he fainted, I had kissed him. In the future I kissed him goodbye when he died. His soul became trapped or combined with mine somehow and when I kissed him again, it reattached to his human body." Elena explained, Stefan's eyes were wide with wonder.

"Wow, I swear I am going to wake up tomorrow and this has all been a messed-up dream," Stefan said as he got up from the couch.

"Come Miss Elena I will escort you back to your room, we must get to sleep." Stefan said as he reached his hand out to Elena.

"Thank you, I am sorry I burdened you with so much information." Elena said as they walked up stairs.

"It is quite alright Miss, I am glad you told me the truth." Stefan said as they reached Elena's bed chamber.

"Good night Elena." He said pushing a kiss to her forehead.

"Good night Stefan." Elena replied slipping in her room.

As Stefan walked back to his room he felt lost as if everything in his life had all been a lie, he felt that what he had been told about being a vampire, that in that life he had more purpose.

He sighed as he kicked of his shoes and stripped down to his underwear, throwing his clothes all over the room. He vowed he would find out how he became a vampire, and if he could do it he would become one. 'I will ask Miss Elena tomorrow how I became a vampire and I will become one again.' He thought to himself, a wicked smile crept up on his lips as he drifted off to sleep.

Elsewhere in the Motel…

As Damon slept demons from his past haunted him, he saw visions of blood, there was so much blood. He could smell it, taste it, it felt like he was drowning in it.

He jolted from his cot. His blue eyes were bloodshot with lack of sleep, dark circles forming under them, all night he had been tossing and turning. He looked out the little window of the room, the sun was rising. He looked over to Emily who was also just arising.

"Master Salvatore, Good morning." Emily said cheerfully as she rose from her bed and began the fire to boil some water to make porridge.

"Good morning to you as well Emily." Damon finally replied as he put his now dry shirt on. "I am going to go outside and check on the horses." He said as he strapped his boots on.

As he walked outside he noticed more horses outside than the night before, out of the horses one was particularly familiar.

He clicked twice and whistled. "Noir?" he called out to the horse, the horse lifted its head high.

"I thought it was you, what in heavens is fathers horse doing out here?" Damon said aloud.

"It would be because father is here." A voice said from behind him. Damon turned around and was shocked to see his father standing in front of him.

"Father what on earth are you doing here?" Damon asked startled.

"I did not mean to startled you boy. All of the council is here, we are going to help you defeat the vampire." Giuseppe replied as he took two cigars from his pocket offering one to Damon, at first Damon was going to decline the offer, but then he just took it anyway. His father rarely shared with him and he wasn't going to miss the opportunity. Giuseppe lit the cigars with his lighter. Damon took a deep breath in the taste of tar over came his senses. It had been years since he had smoked, he had gone through a phase in the 90's where he smoked cigarettes to pass the time. But here in his human body the smoke choked him.

"Easy there son, I suspect this is the first time you really smoked." Giuseppe laughed softly as Damon coughed.

"I guess your right Father, I don't usually smoke, but if I am going to stay awake today it may help," Damon sighed as he and his father sat down on a bench.

"So, Miss Elena told me something interesting yesterday." Giuseppe said as he blew out a puff of smoke. Damon felt a knot begin to tighten in his stomach, what had Elena told him.

"Oh?" Damon questioned.

"You do not need to pretend anymore Damon, I know that you are not my Damon. That you are from the future, Elena told me." Giuseppe said as he patted his sons back tenderly.

"I…" Damon's words were caught.

"I know that I killed you, in your time. I am sorry." Giuseppe apologized.

"Um, yeah… I don't know what to say really, things are so messed up. I have memories that happened but yet don't even exist." Damon sighed.

"Son, I know that you and I, that we have had our differences. That the way I treated your mother and you and Stefan, that it wasn't right. I am sorry, but I promise you that from now on I will never hurt you again. I will never raise my hand to you or yell at you, I will never make you feel worthless ever again. Damon you are so special, you don't see it but I do, and for so long I have belittled you. I want you to take over the family business son." Giuseppe said as he poured his heart out. Damon was shocked at the words his father was saying, 'is he for real?' he thought to himself.

"I.. I don't know what to say." Damon stammered.

"Take your time to think about it, I am getting to old to keep up with the changing world. I would still be there for support to show you how to do the books, but I think that is your time to shine. Stefan wants to be a doctor he does not have any desire in the business. I know you are good with money, you always have been, and you are organized. If I left this in your brothers hands I know that we would go bankrupt." Giuseppe explained.

Damon laughed slightly as he rose from the bench. "I will think about it father, when we get all of this vampire shit out of the way I will consider it." Damon said as his father began walking back to his room. "Hey Old man? I forgive you." Damon called out as his father walked away. Giuseppe turned around and smiled at his son, unshed tears welling in his eyes. He mouthed the words "thank you".

In the shadows…

"How are we going to take all of those men down?" a creature whispered.

"It will not be easy Valarie, but I think that if we pretend to be good little girls they will have no choice but to trust us, and then we kill them." Another creature smirked.