I do not own Vampire Diaries. No copyright infringement intended.

This is the chapter Liv and I have been working on for the last couple of days. We had hoped to finish it and have it up yesterday, but she simply wasn't feeling up to it in spite of her protests to the contrary. She is still in ICU, but seems to be improving once again and they expect to move her to a regular room tomorrow and home by middle of next week maybe (so right around the 2 week mark maybe). Her memory of the days leading up to and after her accident have not returned as her doctors thought they might initially, however given the photos and video we saw from the accident I firmly believe that is a blessing.

We are all just really happy to have her safe and sound. Though she is probably getting tired of all of us since someone has been at her side from the moment she woke up the first time. Anyway, I appreciate everyone sending their appreciation my way for taking care of her, but I can assure you that is all the medical staff. I am merely around for moral support and to sneak real food in from time to time (of course nothing too exciting). Though her mom is way better at that :)

As far as the chapters that have been posted, I am just taking dictation and posting. Not much to do there. But, I am getting a little insight into what's coming which is a bonus since she wasn't even telling ME up until recently. Big things to come people!

Anyway, one thing that I have learned about Liv over the years is that she is a fighter. In a couple weeks time, hopefully this will all be a fading memory. Hence the title here. As I said before music is not my strong suit, so I gave you one for Liv.

You're losing your memory

Wake up, it's time, little girl, wake up
All the best of what we've done is yet to come
Wake up, it's time, little girl, wake up
Just remember who I am in the morning

You're losing your memory now

Losing Your Memory by Ryan Star

Elena watched as Damon pinched his nose and cursed as he held the phone away from his ear. She could hear Stefan doing his own version of the same dance on the other end of the line.

All the guests had finally departed, leaving only the usual suspects milling about in Klaus' ballroom.

She turned to Klaus and said, "Any ideas what Rebekah might be up to?"

"Oh, I have a few ideas. Not the least of which being that she doesn't want you to have access to your supernatural blood bag. So, for your sake, let's hope she didn't stake the bitch." Klaus said as he pointed to her currently flat belly. "There is no telling what it's going to take to keep that child fed."

"Oh god." Elena said as she thought about what they knew of Evangeline and her thirst.

What if she went on a killing rampage to keep their baby fed, too? There weren't that many humans left in Mystic Falls and a lot of them were on vervain which narrowed the pool considerably.

"She wouldn't kill her, would she?" Elena asked the room at large.

"This is Rebekah we're talking about. She's not exactly the poster child for thinking things through." Damon said as he wrapped an arm around her.

"Well, we can assume that whatever Elijah was worried about he shared with her. So, perhaps the best bet is to un-dagger him and see what he has to say." Caroline offered.

"You sure about that?" Klaus asked.

"No, but unless you have a better plan, time is of the essence. We can't let her kill Katherine. It pains me to say that since there have been hundreds of occasions when I would have killed to do just that. If her blood is necessary to ensure our child's survival, then I'll do whatever is necessary to keep her alive." Damon answered.

A moment later, Stefan entered the room looking as though he's sprinted from the boarding house.

"I think Rebekah took her to the caves, that's where Elijah was planning to take you Elena." Stefan said as the whole group turned towards him with anger and shock on their faces.

"Look you can crucify me later, I was just worried about what this bond meant for all of us. I'm sorry, but we need to find Katherine before Rebekah does something that we can't undo." Stefan said as he held his hands up in a show of surrender.

"Fine, but don't think for a second that this is over and done with." Damon spat as he pulled Elena gently to his side and headed for the door to find Katherine.

"What's the plan?" Klaus asked as they got closer to the clearing behind the Lockwood's old estate.

"Not sure. At the moment, my only concern is with getting Katherine safely away from Rebekah. Then you can dagger bad ass Barbie and do whatever you want to her." Damon said.

"Look we can't just go in there without some kind of a plan." Klaus said again garnering looks of shock from Damon and the others given his penchant for shooting first and asking questions later.

Elena turned to Klaus and said, "Klaus, I will go in there and get Katherine and you will help us. Now just follow our lead."

Shock registered with the others as Klaus just went silent and followed without another word.

Damon smirked at Elena, but he couldn't help but wonder what Klaus' retaliation might entail down the road. In his gut, he knew that Klaus had some form of retaliation in mind if he was willing to capitulate so easily. There was no way that their "tactile vision sharing" as Klaus had worded it scared him enough to back down so quickly. Sure it could be painful both physically and emotionally, but certainly he was capable of worse.

As they arrived at the mouth of the caves, Damon moved towards the entrance with Elena close behind. He really would have preferred for her to stay behind, but the down side to being a mated pair was that their power was much more effective when used together. It had some kick alone, but they needed to give her everything they had if they had any hope of getting Katherine out alive.

Of course, there was still the chance that Rebekah and Katherine were working together. They seemed unlikely bedfellows, but it certainly wasn't out of the question.

"Stay here. We'll let you know when you should come down. If we all swoop in she'll panic and kill her for sure." Damon said to Klaus and the others.

"What makes you think she won't kill her when she sees you two?" Stefan asked.

"I don't know for sure, but I suspect she'll go after Elena knowing I won't allow her to be hurt. Or me." Damon said.

Elena smiled and said, "And we're going to let her."

"Wait a minute, what?!" Damon said.

"We're going to let her. She only knows bits and pieces about this bond, none of it first hand." Elena reasoned.

Damon shook his head, but he could feel her resolve radiating off of her, and he knew that Rebekah's ideas about the mated bond were probably more a source of weakness than strength. Provided that she and Katherine didn't have a heart to heart since she'd helped her escape.

"Okay, let's do this before I change my mind, kitten." Damon said as he took her hand.

The pair walked carefully into the caves trying not to alert Rebekah to their descent any earlier than necessary. When they came around the last bend, they saw Katherine tied up in the corner as she continuously staked herself in the stomach undoubtedly for Rebekah's enjoyment.

Rebekah remained hidden in the shadows until they were all the way into the corridor, then she made her presence known as she shot Damon with a vervained stake in the shoulder.

"Not so fast, Elena." She spat as Elena moved to pull the stake from his flesh.

Damon pulled the stake out dropping it to the ground as he looked at Elena and smirked before shooting a glance at Katherine. Elena looked at Damon with concern in her eyes, but she understood.

"Easy there, bitchy Barbie. We didn't come here to pick a fight, we just want Katherine back. We weren't quite done with her yet, but I'd be happy to put you on the wait-list if you'd like." Damon said with just a little too much amusement in his tone.

"Just kill me. One of you." Katherine spoke as she yanked the stake from her stomach again.

She'd lost count how many times the evil bitch had watched her spill her own blood, but she was fairly certain this would seem like an act of mercy over what the wonder twins might have planned for her.

"I'll get to you in a minute." Rebekah spat as she pitched another stake at Damon, this time grazing the side of his neck as he ducked off to the side.

Elena grabbed the stake out of the air as it sailed by and threw it as hard as she could hitting Rebekah in the wrist as she made a move for Katherine.

Rebekah's anger rose to a blistering level at that and she sped over to Damon's side with her fingers digging into his skin poised above his heart.

"Elena, the way I understand it, if he dies you will follow. Shall we see if your bond allows him to survive removing his heart from his chest? If you want to live, you will back away from the she-bitch."

Elena gasped as she turned and watched the blood drip under her fingernails in rivulets down his chest. She could feel the searing pain stabbing into her own skin almost as though it were happening to her instead.

"Rebekah, stop!" She bellowed as she clutched her chest.

"Or what? You'll poke around in my mind and pull out some painful memory? That only works on someone who has tried to escape the horrible things they've done. I feel EVERYTHING." Rebekah spat as tears clung to her lashes.

"I promise you, that if you hurt him I will make sure you feel worse." Elena said calmly.

Rebekah's fingers sank another quarter inch into his flesh and Elena could see the sweat forming on Damon's brow as he struggled to keep the pain away from Elena. Rebekah had figured out how to combat their connection by forcing him to shut Elena out.

"Damon, don't. I can handle it." She said softly, but he simply shook his head as he set his jaw against the scream that was threatening to escape.

"Seems that you are only as strong as a pair, perhaps that's why when one dies the other dies, too. I am perfectly happy to see that happen." Rebekah said.

"Why? What is it about us that makes you want to end our lives?" Elena wondered aloud.

"You're just like him. NiKlaus spent centuries looking for a way to break the curse and then to create his new hybrid family. All I ever did was stand by his side, and he replaced me with a bunch of blood sucking dogs. And now, he's so stuck on renewing the Petrova bloodline, that he doesn't even see the danger that you both pose."

"Rebekah, the Petrova bloodline is gone. We can't access it without a human Doppelganger, and as you can see Elena is no longer human." Klaus spoke as he crept out of the shadows.

"No. I don't believe you. Elijah told me there was another way. He said you would have you're bloodline." Rebekah said as her fingertips now grazed over the muscle of Damon's heart.

The second his eyes started to close, Elena was in motion. Damon's life and the life of their child were the only things that even entered her mind as she latched onto Rebekah's throat with deadly accuracy. She knew that if he died, they would all be lost so there was really nothing else to think about.

Rebekah recoiled and dropped Damon as Elena took her flying back against the wall without letting go of her neck. She drew hard against the flow of blood as a white hot rage burned in her gut until she felt Damon's pain start to diminish.

After a moment, she felt more than heard Damon pick himself up off the ground and move towards Katherine as he took the stake from her and passed her off to Klaus.

"Get her out of here." Damon yelled, but Klaus was riveted by the sight before him.

Stefan and Caroline quickly rushed to Katherine's side as they had been lingering nearby, but neither of them were quick to tear themselves away from the scene before them.

Elena had Rebekah pinned to the wall and was quickly draining her of blood. A feat that she should not be able to accomplish without Rebekah being seriously incapacitated and yet they'd watched Elena take her down with little effort.

"Elena, stop. You're killing her." Damon yelled as he touched her cheek.

Elena looked up with her red eyes and lacy black vessels covering her skin as she spoke softly, "I won't kill her, but I damn well intend to scare her out of attempting to use the people I love in her plans ever again!"

Before she let Rebekah go, Elena leaned in close and whispered, "You would do well to forget this ever happened, because if you ever go after someone I love again I will find a way to kill you and make it stick."

With that, she let go of the blonde and turned back towards the tunnel they'd come from only to find Caroline, Stefan, Klaus and Katherine looking on with various forms of fear, shock and pride on their faces.

Klaus carefully brushed passed Elena to get to his sister who was just starting to come around as he fed her his blood.

"Elena." Klaus said quietly.

"Yes." She responded.

"Thank you for not killing her." He told her.

"I'm not a monster Klaus, but if it happens again, I promise that we'll find out if this bond makes it possible to kill an original. I'm betting the tie of a doppelgänger's blood might just be the final nail in her coffin. And, unlike your dagger, I might just be able to keep her there." Elena said.

As they all made their way out of the tunnels, Bonnie, Matt and Jeremy stood looking relieved to see Damon and Elena walk out with Stefan and Caroline leading Katherine behind them.

"What happened?" Jeremy asked as he looked at the blood that was still oozing rapidly from Damon's chest.

"Rebekah decided to divide and conquer." Stefan said as he put a hand on Damon's shoulder and asked if he was okay.

"Don't you ever shield me again." Elena said as she opened her wrist and held it out for him.

Damon closed his eyes as her blood bathed his throat and warmed his body. He could instantly feel his flesh begin to close and heal as he also felt her fear, her rage and finally her satisfaction as Rebekah's fear poured over her. After a minute, he finally swiped his tongue over her fresh wound, allowing it to close as he stared into her eyes.

"Lena, that was some kind of crazy. She could have killed you." He whispered against her ear.

"I didn't care. I was certain she would have killed you, and I couldn't let that happen. Besides, I had my blue eyed devil on one shoulder and the little blue eyed angel on the other telling me it would be okay." She said as she touched his cheek and rubbed his hand over her belly.

"Let me guess the devil said to kill the bitch." Damon smirked.

Elena smiled as she rubbed her thumb across his cheekbone before glancing over to the entrance to the caves as Klaus and Rebekah came out.

"What is the Scooby gang doing here?" Rebekah asked as she looked at Klaus.

Klaus glanced at Elena for a moment, but then turned back to Rebekah and said, "Nevermind, let's get you home."

With that they were gone, and the rest of the group dispersed as well. Caroline and Stefan returned to the boarding house with Bonnie, Matt and Jeremy as they settled into the living room with several glasses of bourbon.

Elena and Damon made their way upstairs where they compelled Katherine to remain in the guest room so she could clean herself up and rest. Elena even left her a few blood bags to help her recover from her ordeal. She figured if she was possibly the key to her daughter's survival it was the least she could do for her.

With that taken care of, she made her way back to their bedroom where she found Damon laying on the bed still covered in blood. She quietly made her way into the bathroom and turned on the bath before she returned to his side and carefully removed the tattered remains of his shirt.

Once that was out of the way, she quickly removed his remaining clothing and helped him ease into the hot soapy water. She carefully wiped away the blood and dirt that marred his perfect skin as he leaned his head back against the side of the tub.

"Damon." She said.

"Mmm hmm."

"Do you think I could have killed her?" She asked.

"I don't know, but I think Rebekah will have some doubts after today. I'm sure that will make her think twice before she tries to use someone you care for as leverage."

"I hope so." She said as she lazily twirled her fingers in the water while he soaked.

TVDTVDTVDTVDTVDTVD

Almost an hour later, Elena and Damon joined the rest of the group downstairs.

"Does it concern anyone else that Rebekah seemed to have no idea what we were doing there when she came out of the caves?" Jeremy asked now that he had the full story from Stefan and Caroline.

"What do you mean?" Elena asked.

"Well, she did come out and ask what the Scooby gang was doing there." Bonnie said.

"She probably meant all of you. I don't think she saw anyone but Damon and I until afterwards."

The subject died quickly as the group asked about what happened between the two of them and how Damon had shielded his pain from Elena. They had just begun to explain as Klaus stormed into the room looking ready to spit fire.

"You compelled her!" He growled at Elena.

Sorry for the little cliffie. At least we didn't leave you with Rebekah's fingers wrapped around Damon's heart ;)

I will probably be a few days until another update is ready, but we'll see. Liv isn't very good at taking no for an answer, so when she starts talking about the story, I start writing things down.

Thanks for all the love you send her way. We read the messages to her daily and she appreciates every one of them.

~E