A/N: Thank you all so much for your continued support. I appreciate it more than words can express. And now… part two!

First Cut Is The Deepest (Part 2)

I still want you by my side
just to help me dry the tears that I've cried
cause I'm sure gonna give you a try

First Cut Is the Deepest by Sheryl Crow

Stefan and Matt had just arrived on campus to pick up Tyler; Stefan stepped out of the car and could immediately feel the tension in the air. It was like a current of electricity, silent and invisible but clearly coursing through the night sky. Stefan felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up when he heard Elena's scream. He would know the sound of it anywhere. Her particular timbre was something that would be ingrained in him forever.

"Elena," he whispered. He turned to look at Matt, who was heading for the dormitory building across the parking lot. "Matt!" He called. "I'll be right back!" Stefan took off into the night and headed toward where he had heard Elena's voice. Once he was a safe distance away from Matt, he super-sped over to the frat house and quickly made his way up the stairs and into the bedroom.

His eyes scanned the room quickly and took in the scene before him. Caroline on the bed, covered in blood, Damon on the opposite end of the room, and Elena stuck under a book case near the closet.

"What have you done?!" he growled, rushing to Elena's side and pulling the book case off of her, quickly scanning for broken bones or deep cuts.

"Cool your jets, Sparky," Damon replied, rolling his eyes. "I pulled the vampire off of her that was draining her."

Elena, who had finally regained enough strength to sit up on her own accord, but still breathing heavily held up her hand. "Help… her…." she panted.

Both brothers' eyes quickly went to Caroline, who was beginning to gurgle and cough up blood, spewing it onto her new shirt and the bed beneath her.

"Please," Elena coughed, trying to move toward her friend. "Save her…"

Damon was the first to react, quickly biting at the flesh on his wrist until crimson liquid oozed from the wound. He held his wrist to Caroline's mouth, pulling her head up to help her swallow as much blood as she could.

Stefan's left hand remained on Elena's back, and his other took her hand to help her to her feet making sure to keep her steady.

"Elena, are you alright?" He asked, holding her gently, as if she might break into pieces there in his arms.

"I'm fine," she answered, shrugging him off and dropping herself onto the bed beside Caroline. Elena ran her fingers through her friend's hair. "Is she going to be alright?" Elena asked seriously, looking Damon in the eye.

"So long as she doesn't have to drink me dry to heal, she'll be fine," Damon answered automatically, no hint of attitude or mockery.

"Don't worry Elena, Caroline will be just fine," Stefan agreed. "Now who was this 'other vampire' that attacked her?"

Elena shrugged. "I don't know who he was."

"I never saw his face," Damon added coolly.

Elena's attention went back to Caroline, who was finally starting to come around. Damon pulled his hand away from her face and shallow moans escaped her lips. She coughed a few times and then slowly sat up, taking in the scene around her. It took her a long moment before she could say anything, and Elena realized that she was holding her breath until her friend spoke.

"I swear to God, if one more effing vampire…"

Damon raised a brow. "This effing vampire just saved your life."

Caroline rolled her eyes. "There's a first," she spat back. "What happened to 'it would truly be a shame to end the life of such a beautiful girl'?"

Damon shook his head and pointed to her and then to himself. "Water, bridge." He arched a brow. "Can't we let bygones be bygones? I did just save your life after all."

Stefan sighed. "Enough. Can we get to the deeper issue, please? Damon, what the hell are you doing here?"

Damon made a face. "THAT'S the deeper issue? You sure you've got your priorities straight?"

Elena scoffed at the arguing brothers. "Can we please get out of here? This place really isn't the ideal locale for this discussion."

Caroline attempted to stand, grabbing Elena's hand to steady herself up. "I second that motion. We need to get Bonnie and get the hell home."

Stefan's eyes went wide. "Bonnie is still here somewhere?"

Caroline nodded, "Off flirting with some hottie downstairs." And then she collapsed back down onto the bed.

Eric placed a chaste kiss on Bonnie's forehead. She had just written her number down on a piece of paper for him and he slipped it into his pocket, twisting their fingers around each other until they joined seamlessly together.

"Your hands…" she murmured quietly. "They're freezing."

He smiled. "You know what they say, cold hands-warm heart."

Bonnie grinned. "I have heard that." She brought their hands up and quickly kissed the back of his hand before releasing her grip on him. "I really do have to get going though. I need to check on my friends."

Eric nodded and led her back into the house. "I'll see you soon then, Miss Bennett," he whispered in her ear, giving her goosebumps once again.

Stefan grabbed ahold of Bonnie's arm as soon as he spotted her. "Bonnie, thank god, there you are."

"Stefan?"

Eric looked just as surprised as Bonnie was. "I thought you came with your girlfriends?"

Bonnie shook her head, trying to ease the confusion. "I did. This is another friend of mine. And it's… totally unexpected that you're here Stefan," she emphasized through gritted teeth.

Stefan shrugged. "I actually came with Matt… he needed to pick up Tyler. Long story."

Bonnie nodded. "Stefan, this is Eric." She smiled brightly. "Eric, this is my friend Stefan."

Both men nodded in acknowledgement of each other and Stefan gave a grim smile. "Can you excuse us for a quick second?" Stefan asked, pulling Bonnie a few inches away. He lowered his tone to a hushed whisper and added only for her, "Something happened with Caroline. Damon is upstairs with the girls right now, but we really need to get them back to Mystic Falls."

Bonnie's face went from one of adoration for Eric to horrified anguish in a split second. "Oh my god! I knew it! I should have never let them out of my sight."

Stefan's brow furrowed. "You knew what?"

Bonnie shook her head. "Just had a bad feeling that something was going to happen tonight. I went against my better judgment leaving them alone."

Stefan's face softened. "Well, Caroline's in pretty bad shape. She really needs some rest. They can tell you what happened later, but for now, we really just need to get out of here."

Bonnie gulped and turned back to Eric. He gave her a quick smile as he closed the distance between the two of them. "I'm sorry," she said quietly. "Protector mode calls," she smiled touched his arm gently, before turning back and following Stefan upstairs.

Tyler Lockwood stumbled down from the landing outside of the dormitory building marked Stockford. Matt reached him just before Tyler tripped and caught him from hitting his head on the concrete stairs.

"Whoa," Matt said, grabbing Tyler by the back of his jacket and leaning him against the railing. "Slow down there, Lockwood."

"Blah, blah, blah… you're such a goodie two shoes Donovan. You need some spice in your life. Some fire… and you're certainly not going to get it with Caroline Forbes."

Matt shook his head. "Enough of that, alright? I don't need flack from my boy. Especially not when you're drunk off your ass. Now let's get you home."

"…should have seen this girl Matt. On a scale of one to ten she was like… well, definitely the hottest girl I've ever been with." He chuckled. "Barely got the schtick in when that douche showed up… all these chicks cheat on their guys with me…. Don't fuckin' get it, man."

Matt gave Tyler a few hard pats on the back as he led his friend down the stairs. "Me either, dude… me either."

Tyler laughed again. "You wish you'd get that lucky with a college chick."

"You got me," Matt replied dryly. He leaned Tyler against the truck as he opened the door. He helped Tyler inside, groaning. "… would be so much easier with the help I thought I was gunna get…"

"What are you talking about dude? I'm fine on my own."

"Uh huh. Well, gimme your keys at least so I can get your ride home."

Tyler narrowed his eyes. "How do you plan on that, Houdini? You want me to take the truck?"

"Hell no." Then Matt ginned. "Stefan's going to drive your car home."

Matt's smile broadened as the words sunk into Tyler's thick skull. "Oh HELL NO," Tyler blurted out. "Don't even think…"

But Matt closed the door, leaving Tyler to complain to himself from inside the cab of the truck.

"If he ever shows up…" Matt finished under his breath, looking out into the darkness.

Elena went into the closet in the frat room and pulled out a men's button-down dress shirt, helping Caroline put it on to cover the blood stains on her own shirt. Damon stood off in the shadows of the room, concealing himself for the most part in the darkness. Elena glanced at him every few seconds, wondering what was going through his head. Elena disappeared into the bathroom and reemerged a few moments later with a wet washcloth, trying to get as much of the dried blood off of her friend as possible before they left the party.

Both girls jumped when the door opened and Stefan came back in with Bonnie in tow. She rushed to the bedside where her friends were and pulled them both into a tight hug. Her panicked eyes searched both girls for injuries. "What happened?!"

"Vampire…" Elena said quietly, under her breath, looking between Stefan and Damon.

"Did he…" Bonnie asked quickly and accusingly, glaring over her shoulder at Damon.

Elena shook her head quickly. "Damon saved her. The other one… we don't know who it was… he drained Caroline of almost all her blood. If it weren't for Damon…" Elena squeezed Caroline's hand gently and Bonnie tightened her grip on both girls.

"I don't want to be here anymore…" Caroline whimpered, tears silently rolling down her sheet-white cheeks.

Stefan spoke up. "It's not safe here. We need to get you back to Mystic Falls. Somewhere they can't get you."

"But how can you be sure?" Caroline asked.

Elena stroked Caroline's hair, brushing it away from her face. "They have to be invited in. We should go to my house… no one has been there except everyone that we already know are only human. Besides, Jenna won't mind Stefan and Damon being there as much as anyone else's parents would. And we need to get you into something actually clean, instead of just covered up."

Bonnie nodded. "I'll call my dad and Caroline's mom on our way over there… let them know we're spending the night."

"I think that is the best idea right now," Stefan added, his eyes darting quickly to Damon, who was still standing silent and completely still in the corner. "I'll ride with you to make sure…" And then he remembered Matt. "Shoot… I actually have something I need to take care of. Damon, could you?"

Damon shook his head. "I don't play babysitter, little brother. You should know better than that. I only play doctor."

Elena looked at Damon with pleading eyes. He could tell she was still obviously shaken.

"Damon please," Stefan pleaded.

The older brother sighed with resignation. "I suppose I could make an exception. Just this once."

Elena mouthed a silent 'thank you' and began helping Caroline up off the bed for the second time. Damon scooped Caroline up into his arms and then jumped out the back second story window, landing firmly on his feet.

"I don't have all night," he called over his shoulder at the spectators above him who began clamoring to keep up with him.

"I'll meet you back at your house, alright?" Stefan asked Elena before parting ways on the front porch of the frat house.

Elena shrugged. "Yeah, that's fine. See ya there."

Stefan sighed and quickly made his way back across campus where Matt was leaning against his truck.

"Sorry, hope I didn't keep you waiting long," he apologized, crossing the parking lot to where the truck was at.

"Just got him in actually."

"Matt! I told you he wasn't driving my baby!" Tyler yelled, pounding on the passenger window.

Matt turned back to look at him and smiled. "You lost the right to make that decision when you drank yourself into a stupor and called me for a ride home. Now, do you want your car in your driveway tomorrow morning or not?"

Tyler narrowed his eyes. "If he's driving, NOT."

Matt shrugged. "Alright, maybe I'll go get your booty call's boyfriend to do it."

Tyler flipped Matt the bird and crossed his arms over his chest in a huff.

Matt smiled and tossed Stefan the keys. "Have fun," he grinned and walked around the truck and got in, starting the engine and closing the door.

Stefan rolled his eyes. "Yeah… you too…" he replied quietly.

By process of elimination, AKA Caroline calling shotgun about forty times before they had gotten to the car, Elena ended up in the back seat with Damon. Under normal circumstances, she might have been a little more excited about it. But right now, with all of the events of the last hour, Elena really couldn't process her feelings enough to know how she should be feeling. She was emotionally exhausted and all she really wanted to do was have one good long cry over the whole thing. But she wasn't going to do that here and now. She needed to be strong for Caroline and for Bonnie, and there was no way she was going to get all upset in front of Damon.

"So what were you doing on campus?" Caroline sneered from the front seat. "Did you send your friend after me?"

Damon scoffed. "As if you're actually that worth it," he muttered under his breath. Only Elena heard him. She placed her hand gently over his in an attempt to quiet him and he felt an immediate calm at her touch. One he didn't like at all. In fact, it made the anger swell in him even more that she would have such an effect on him. But he felt completely incapable of acting on that feeling, especially since he really didn't even want to do anything about it.

Elena scooted a few inches closer to him, pulling her head onto his chest and pulling his arm around her.

"So you forgive me now?" he whispered quietly into her ear.

"You saved my friend tonight," she whispered back, low enough for only him to hear. "For now, that's all I really care about. We can figure everything else out later."

Damon tightened his arm around her, nuzzling his face into her perfectly scented hair as floods of memories and emotions of the night before filled his head. And, for a brief moment, Damon forgot all about Katherine and the tomb and found himself content in the moment with a human girl snuggled into his chest. His prize for saving the day. And for that brief moment, Damon wondered if being good really was such a bad thing after all.

A/N: So… I know it was a super sappy ending for that chapter. Sorry… I was in a super sappy mood, so I let Damon have a bit of a sentimental moment. Don't shoot me? There's still more thrills and chills and twists and turns to come. Stay tuned. And please, pretty please… review for me? ;) Thanks lovelies.