Alive

Chapter 20

The kiss was soon broken as Damon heard Stefan entering the house, too much fast than he usually did.

"Stefan is here" he whispered and changing their positions quickly he was sat in his bed, holding Elena in his arms when his brother entered the room.

"Why is Jeremy's body still in the bedroom with all the blood?" Stefan asked ignoring the picture in front of him. He had to focus on controlling his bloodlust.

"Because the still alive humans needed my attention but now that you're back here, you can take care of Elena while I call the police"

"She told me to leave and why are you calling the police? They can't find a brutally killed teenager in our house. They'll suspect" Stefan reasoned back seeing that despite his words Damon didn't let Elena go. The girl was silent and kept her head resting in his brother's chest, her eyes closed and her arms around him.

"She asked you because she knew you couldn't handle the blood Stefan. We'll let the police think the truth that Jeremy was killed by a vampire. We just need to ensure he has a bite. Would you like to volunteer brother?" Damon quipped slowly coming back to his usual self. The moment he had just shared with Elena was too intense and overwhelming to him and he wanted, he needed to go back to his usual façade if he really planned on keeping his promise to Elena. He couldn't have any weakness when he planned to bring Katherine down; he needed to be his usual self – or the self he was used to be before he developed feelings for the human in his arms. Before she unleashed his humanity for once and all.

"Damon" she whispered knowing both brothers listened to her. Stefan's presence and the little argument between the brothers brought her back to the reality of having to bury her brother. For a moment, while she opened her heart to Damon she had forgotten of everything else in the world except for them. The repressed feelings seemed to have become even stronger while she denied them and now they were all over the place and she needed to do something about it. She needed to be strong to give Damon what he asked. She had faith in him, actually she had more faith in him than in anyone else but she needed strength to do it.

"Please, do everything you need to have Jeremy's body ready for the police. I just wanted to talk to Jenna first. I guess she has a right to know it before the cops come here and do their thing. Why don't you fix his body and then bring her and Alaric here? I want to be the one to break the news to her" her voice was still too low but it was fierce. It had surprised both brothers that she was stronger than she looked in Damon's embrace but actually his words had helped her to get over the initial shock and unlike she said earlier she knew she was the only that should talk to Jenna, not Damon.

"Sure. Can I trust you to keep an eye on them, little brother?"

"You're the one who pissed Katherine off, not me, Damon, so I guess I can take care of my girlfriend and the baby just fine" Stefan unaffected composure finally cracked a little bit. He knew Elena needed all her friends around her in moments like this but he also knew that Damon was taking advantage of her vulnerable condition to have his hands all over her. It drove Stefan insane to know that his brother was this selfish and careless but it actually hurt him to know that Elena couldn't see it. Lately it was like she had put Damon in a pedestal and he was the most honored man on earth when he was anything but it. He felt like no matter how much he tried to do the right thing she was always looking forward for Damon to do it. She didn't realize the older brother was using her and taking advantage of her and he knew there was nothing he could do about it. He had tried to show her how Damon really operated but it always led them to fight. She always defended Damon and it led him to think that the only explanation left was compulsion. But he knew it was impossible for Damon to compel Elena. All the humans had been on vervain to prevent Katherine of doing so and as much as his brother was heartless and self-centered, Stefan knew for sure his brother wouldn't let Elena be uncovered just so he could compel her. But who knows, maybe he did it before the whole Katherine thing happened and she was still under his influence. But that wouldn't explain how her trust on Damon had intensified in the past year instead of wearing down, as it was expected to someone that takes the huge amounts of vervain that Elena did.

"I know you'll try, little brother, the big question is can you? Your diet isn't exactly Kath's nightmare" Damon smirked too sarcastically but he never let go of Elena.

"It's okay, Damon, I want him to be here" she gulped and offered too weakly. The raven haired vampire was confused about her reaction. She had just professed her love to him and now she was willing to be with Stefan? He knew he had assured her they would never be together but he didn't expect her to settle for him brother because she couldn't have him. And it hurt him more than he could put into words.

"Okay" he moved for her to let go of him but she found herself having a hard time to break the contact. But she finally did, laying on her side, her eyes in Jacob's direction but they knew she was lost in her thoughts, not really paying attention to the baby.

"Before you go there's something I need to tell you" Stefan whispered low to avoid Elena to listen it but Damon didn't really want to cooperate with anything that he brother did.

"What is it now little brother?" he asked loudly, clearly annoyed.

"Katherine" Stefan looked to Elena who has her eyes on his immediately.

"What about dearest?" Damon tried to hide his discomfort.

"She didn't go only after Jeremy" Stefan looked to her Elena with his endearing and soft expression and the face that comforted her so many times failed to do it again.

"What?" she gasped.

"Yeah, mind to elaborate brother?" Damon was impatient with Stefan drama but mainly he wanted nothing more than take Elena into his arms again and he knew whatever the other Salvatore was going to say it would definitely hurt her more.

"Katherine attacked again" Stefan kept being laconic.

"Who?" Elena whispered, tears building up all over again. Just like that her newly acquired strength was gone.

"Matt"

"No…" Elena shook her head and before Stefan had time to react and reach for her, Damon already had her wrapped in his arms.

"Please Damon, leave me alone, I want to be alone" she answered in his arms. She wanted to feel the comfort they offered but she knew she had to do what she planned while she could. Katherine finally broke the pattern and had attacked twice in an hour. She needed to collect her emotions the best she could because if the vampire planned to land in the boarding house again Elena wanted at least to have the chance to do the right thing.

"Are you sure, Kitten?" Damon was surprised by her request but he had broken the contact of their bodies and was standing up in front of her.

"Yeah, go get Jenna, she's probably in danger, bring her and Alaric. I'll try to reach for Bonnie" she didn't look at him while she talked because she knew he was probably hurt by her dismissal.

"Alright" his voice was cold and devoid of emotions as he walked away. Stefan followed suit, not wanting her to kick him out too.

"Please stay, Stefan" she whispered to prevent Damon from listening but it wasn't low enough. He stopped in the middle of the staircase, tempted to invade her mind and figure for once and all what she meant but he decided against it. He had asked her to back off; he couldn't feel anything when she did as he said.

"I'm so sorry, Elena, I wish…" he said as soon as he reached her in the bed but she backed away from his touch, leaning against the headboard.

"We need to talk" she took a deep breath. It was now or never.

"Okay" he didn't like the way she acted and while he had been happy when she asked Damon to leave he also thought that it was an odd behavior. The other times Katherine attacked Elena was devastated but she never tried to keep Damon away, quite the opposite actually. He could say when she just wanted the older Salvatore to be by her side.

"I guess there's no easy way to say it and I may chicken out if I don't get it out of system soon enough" she paused to look up at him to see the confusion in his eyes. He only nodded and she took another deep breath.

"I don't want comparisons, I don't want questions, I don't want you to think that something happened between us. This is all on me. Me alone, no one else is involved. I tried to pretend nothing was happening for longer than I should and now I can't hide it anymore. We can't be together Stefan. I'm not in love with you anymore" she fidgeted with the hem of her top while Stefan looked stunned at her. He didn't expect it at all.

"I love you Stefan, I do, but the way I love a friend, even a brother. And I can't bring myself to be together with you anymore without having a wrong feeling in my stomach. I know it's not fair to you but I can't help how I feel. I won't even tell I could because I don't. Katherine is destroying every single thing important to me. She's taking away the ones I love so I guess the least I love the best for everybody. Maybe she even will let you survive now that we aren't together anymore"

"Is that why you're telling me this? Are you trying to spare my life? Because Elena my life is only worth because I have you" his voice was desperate and she knew she was hurting him deeply. Because those had been the words she used to Damon not even an hour ago and she knew how it felt to have the one you love to tell they can't be with you.

"No Stefan, I'm doing it for the exact reason I just told you. Don't deny that for a long time now our relationship isn't what it used to be. We grew apart and when we grew closer again it just wasn't as boyfriend and girlfriend anymore" her voice was soft and she held a matching gaze on him while he looked bewildered.

"I was just giving you space Elena because I thought that was what you need. There was nothing I could say that would bring your friends back. I didn't want to make things worse for you" he protested and tried to make her understand but something inside him said it was too late for trying to make amends.

"And you didn't Stefan but if you're honest about it we were distancing from each other even before Katherine killed Caroline. All this tragedy only made it worse but it was already happening and I'm thankful for everything you did to me. I really am" she looked down again because she couldn't bear to keep seeing the pain in his eyes.

"Are you in love with Damon?" he blunted. The moment she mentioned her thankfulness he thought of his brother. He wandered about how she had allowed Damon to be closer to her than she allowed him, her boyfriend.

"What I want or feel isn't relevant Stefan" she looked up to him as her tears started falling. Now she had used the same words Damon did before and it hurt her all over again, leading her to cry though she also cried because she was hurting someone that truly loved her.

"It's relevant to me"

"Stefan, Damon and I… we have an understanding, he's been my best friend for a while now and I know our closeness was always hard for you but he helped me a lot too" she chose her words carefully because she didn't want to lie to Stefan but she also didn't want to tell him the truth about her feeling for Damon.

"Elena, can't you see that he always has ulterior motive? This friendship he pretends to have with you was only to hurt me and to try to delude you away from me" he protested even more vehemently. He was going crazy thinking that Damon finally accomplished what he wanted. As always.

"Please Stefan, not this conversation again. You may not know Damon but I do and I know his reasons for being there for me. I can't go there with you again. Katherine, she's just killed my brother and Matt and God knows her next move. I really don't have the resilience to discuss it with you again when my world is falling apart. I told you that I wanted no questions or comparisons because you may not see it Stefan, but your jealousy had made you blind. That has to be the only reason left why you can't see who Damon really is. Even Bonnie came around about him because she could see that he has changed but if you prefer to believe that he's still a self-serving psychopath with no redeeming qualities, it's up to you. I gave you my reasons and I can assure they're genuine" she sighed. She was tired of Stefan insecurity. Yeah, she had developed feelings for Damon and he had every right to feel insecure about her, especially when she was breaking up with him but she had too much to deal now. Maybe any other time she'd be more understanding but now she couldn't. She physically and emotionally couldn't.

"So this is it?" he shoved his hands in his pockets as he looked to the window by her side. Looking at her was too painful when he knew she wasn't his anymore but she was right in her assessment. He felt for a very long time like he was losing her as each day passed . A small voice inside of him kept telling him that this moment would come but he had obstinately ignored it every single time and now time had finally came. He lost Elena. He lost the only woman he truly loved and it let him disoriented. He didn't know what to do or how to react. Maybe she was right about Damon and he had been blind by jealousy to see the changes in his brother. He didn't know what to do next but he was sure that he'd pay more attention to the older Salvatore because as much as he had reasons to hate Damon for an eternal lifetime he still didn't. He was his brother, the person he used to look forward when he was a kid and a teenager. The boy he loved so much before Katherine came and if what Elena said was true, if Damon had changed he wanted to see it because he missed his brother. Eternity could be merciless sometimes and he knew it'd be easier if he had the brother he lost when the vampire crossed their ways.

"I guess it is" she murmured taking one last deep breath. She made it. She finally made a choice and she knew she did the right one even if she'd never have a chance to bask it.

He nodded and looked to the baby and then back to his mother. "I'll be in my room if you need me. Make sure you have stakes and vervain darts with you, we don't know when Katherine is striking again" he added and turning around he walked away.

The moment Elena found herself alone again, except for the baby who was still sleeping, she cracked. All the emotions running through her veins in the past hour prevented her to really handle her brother's death and now she had to cope with Matt's too. It was like adrenaline when people are severely injured she thought. She was pretty aware of what had happened but now it finally hit her. She brought her knees up to her chest and cried. She had lost her brother and her former boyfriend and a loyal friend. Jeremy and Matt meant a lot to her and she'd never see any of them again. She was devastated, she was desolate and anguished. Heartsick and miserable. The pain was torturous and agonizing and it felt like her bones and fresh were being broken and ripped. Her brother was gone, her childhood friend was gone and she wanted to scream until her voice failed. Anything that would rub off the agonizing feeling inside of her.

She also felt hopeless. She remembered of Damon's words, promising to protect her and to be there for her afterward but she couldn't believe in it. Not because she thought he wouldn't do or that he wasn't capable of killing Katherine. She could see the hate in his eyes when he mentioned the vampire but she feared for his life. Katherine was too old and she was powerful. No matter how positive she tried to be about the situation she found herself in, she couldn't help the feeling of loss. She had lost her friends and brother and she knew there was more. But then remembered of the vision. Two men and two women but the only male human still alive was Alaric. She knew Katherine aimed only the people around her and as much as she wanted to have someone else in the list of important people to her there wasn't. The man that finally captured her aunt's heart was the only male standing there. It was too late and they've failed. She knew soon she'd lose him, Bonnie and Jenna too and then she'd finally die. Moving her eyes to the boy sleeping by her side she cried even harder. Losing Damon – both or any – would be the last straw and she was sure she wouldn't survive.

"Elena" the voice broke her thoughts and she looked to the second-floor window by her side. "We finally met again" the woman completed and Elena reached for the stake just behind Damon's pillow.

AN: I guess it makes two steps in the right direction. They admitted their love and now Elena finally broke up with day is just agonizing and not half of the events happened yet. There'll be more chapters set in the same day. Four, maybe five,so be prepared, it'll be intense.

Guesses about who's there? Opinions about the break-up? You know how to share them :)

I want to thank to my loyal reviewers: XxxmusicluverxxX; Avecia; shadylady21; in-discretion-lies-truth and natitasha.

Next: one ally, the extension of Damon's new power and we'll learn about how Katherine really works and a big reconciliation in the works.

Reviews make me happy

xoxo

Babi