Chapter 29

Damon isn't certain that God cares about the world, or that he even exists. He's seen too much murder, mayhem, and just plain nasty things during the last century and a half. Hell, he's responsible for most of it. So most days Damon assumes he's on his own, but not today. Today, he thanks God and Jesus and Allah and Buddha and fucking Zeus that Elena Gilbert is still breathing. That her heart still beats. That she didn't bleed to death on her living room floor because he took too long washing vervain out of his hair.

Damon's arms tighten around Elena as she hides from the world against his chest. He tries to calm his racing heart, telling himself that she's safe. That's she's okay. That the first woman he's cared for, since the Queen Bitch, didn't die a horrible death. No, Elena is fine. But, who ever did this to her is not. In fact, the perpetrator is about two seconds from getting his or her head ripped off. All Damon needs is a name.

"Who did this?" He whispers against Elena's hair, but she just shakes her head. Feeling the small tremors from her body, Damon realizes that the young woman is in shock. Honestly, it's about time. Between murderous doppelgängers, tomb vampires, and yours truly, Elena should be a teenage basket case. So, Damon turns his icy gaze toward the other Elena. The Elena that's fifty years his senior and more than capable of protecting the fragile human. He can't help the accusing tone of his voice.

"What happened?"

"Is she okay? How's her color?" Elena asks obviously concerned and ignorant of the energy building around the doppelgängers due to her close proximity. Had she noticed all buzzing light fixtures, she might have kept her distance. Instead, Elena's medical training demands that she assess the patient's heart rate and vampire hearing is a fantastic tool . "Her pulse is strong. That's good, but I need to check her capillary…"

Damon snatches future Elena's outreached hand by the wrist and snarls. "Stop. Don't touch her. She doesn't need anymore of those fucking memory strikes."

Surprised, vampire Elena just stares at the younger version of her husband, too stunned to pull her wrist free from his iron grip. Even when the kitchen light bursts and sprinkles glass all around, neither vampire moves. Never before has Damon spoken to her with such venom. Sure, he's grown angry and frustrated. They've had some epic blow out fights that left entire rooms destroyed. Elena is not normally one to throw things in anger, but Damon just really knows how to push her buttons. Her husband, on the other hand, prefers to destroy furniture as a way to curb his homicidal tendencies during their fights. Replacing pool tables, recliners, chairs, and a sofa or two is easier than covering up a murder spree.

Yet, even in the midst of their most destructive arguments, Damon never frightened her. She never felt unloved or despised. She's always been secure in the knowledge that the man she married loves her with the entirety of his being; heart and soul. Even when she's a pain in the ass. But, this Damon doesn't love future Elena. He loves his Elena. The one still breathing and sobbing in his arms because the two vampires Damon trusted to protect her failed him. So, now he's scared and grateful, but mostly angry.

"Get away from her," he growls and vampire Elena nods silently. She slowly pulls her hand back when he releases her wrist, and then shuffles away from the kitchen. She waits by the couch, observing the ten foot rule, while Caroline inspects the bodies.

"Katherine's dead," she hollers from the hallway and then enters the living room. Elena shifts in Damon's arms, pulling his focus away from the blonde. Caroline picks up the severed head by two fingers with a grossed out expression at first. Then, she recognizes the dark face. "Aww, Lucy Bennet? Poor thing."

She sets the head gently on top of the matching body and steps toward the kitchen. Damon finally glances back at her with an annoyed expression. She tosses her hands up into the air in exasperation. "Well, it's official! We've royally screwed this timeline."

"Yeah," Elena agrees with a shrug and then smiles hesitantly at Damon. "But, on the bright side, Katherine's dead."

"Did Katherine do this?" Damon demands and Elena's smile falls.

"No. It was…" vampire Elena pauses to glance at the decapitated body in her blood soaked living room. For the first time since arriving, Damon assesses the carnage around them. He can't see Katherine's grey corpse from his stance in the kitchen, but he can see the severed head lying on a prone body next to the couch. The realization hits him like a ton of bricks.

"Stefan," human Elena whispers. "It was Stefan."

No, Damon mutters to himself as he stares at his brother's handiwork in the living room. He can't bring himself to look down at the vulnerable girl in his arms because he doesn't want to see the pain and betrayal in her eyes. Elena doesn't seem to notice his hesitation as she remains pressed into his chest, clinging to the safety he offers. How could he do it? How could Stefan hurt her?

"Oh, no," Caroline groans, placing both hands on her face in exasperation. "How could this happen? Again? We're supposed to stop the bad things from happening, not cause them."

"Where is he?" Damon asks the older doppelgänger, but Elena is distracted by the blonde's accusing tone.

"It wasn't us. It was Katherine," vampire Elena argues.

"Katherine? It wasn't the girls?"

"No," Elena shakes her head. "But, they were definitely here…"

"Where is Stefan?" Damon asks, louder this time. The Elena in his arms lifts her head slightly at the sound of his voice. After a quick glance around, she returns to the comforting sensation of Damon's leather jacket.

Human Elena feels as though she's in a slow moving dream. She can hear everyone speaking around her, but her mind refuses to understand the words. Instead, she feels dull and numb. Like floating in warm water, the surrounding world just fades away and she doesn't fight it. She just listens to the slow beat of Damon's heart and tries to tune out the vampires around her. She doesn't want to face the reality of her world; a reality in which her boyfriend tried to kill her, headless corpses lie in her living room, and murderous witchpires roam her town. No, for just this moment, Elena hides within the shock induced haze.

"The munchkins took him," vampire Elena answers.

"What? Why didn't you stop them? Did they say anything?"

"I was a little busy at the time, Caroline."

"Enough with the bullshit," Damon growls. "Tell us what happened."

Elena quickly describes recent events, leaving out the details of her memory strikes, opting to focus on real world problems. Glancing at the clock, Elena is surprised at how little time passed during their adventure. It feels like hours since she'd left the boarding house with Stefan and his girlfriend.

"So, let me get this straight. Lucy magically linked Katherine and Stefan so that he was suffering from werewolf venom, too. Which caused him to hallucinate and eat Lucy. Then, he decided to wash the witch down with a tasty glass of Elena," Damon says when Elena finishes explaining, but Caroline shakes her head.

"No, when a witch loses consciousness any spell not bound to an object breaks. So, Elena broke the spell when she attacked Lucy, which was before Stefan got a hold of her."

Damon flashes Caroline an annoyed expression, but accepts her 'expertise' in the area. Trusting any version of the flighty blonde with anything important grates across Damon's nerves, but it's the only option he has at the moment.

"I just don't get why he attacked Lucy if she were unconscious. He should have come back to himself," Caroline adds.

"I think that that was my fault…" Elena pauses to glance around at all the blood surrounding her in the living room. "I…I forgot."

"Forgot what?" Damon asks.

"About Stefan's control, or lack of it. Our Stefan has gotten so good at control. He doesn't drink from the vein, but at least he's drinking human blood from bags. I forgot that this Stefan hasn't learned that yet. He's still on animal blood. Between the hallucinations, rabid hunger, and my blood art in here, it's no wonder he took Lucy's head off. I basically offered her up on a silver platter. He must have gone after…the other me…right after Lucy."

"What do you mean? Where were you?"

"I was dealing with Katherine. I stopped Stefan as soon as I realized what was happening. I snapped his neck and immediately applied medical aid as best I could. And, the girls took Stefan. I couldn't stop them. It was I could do to keep pressure on her wound. I wanted to give her my blood to save her, but…I couldn't do it. "

Damon nods at the older doppelgänger as she stares at him with imploring eyes. Silently, she begs him to believe her and he does. Caroline explained on their hastened drive over that future Elena couldn't give his Elena her blood because they didn't know what would happen to the timelines. Personally, he'd have ripped the vampire's neck open to save Elena, the universe be damned. He sighs again as the adrenaline that fueled his twisted-metal-esq drive through town finally ebbs.

Suddenly, he's very aware that Elena Gilbert is pressed against him. He's not stupid. Damon recognizes her firm grip on his jacket and the need to stay close. Stefan scared the shit out of her. The one man that's supposed to care and protect her from everything; he suddenly turned on her and came very close to killing Elena. She got an up-close and personal view of the real Stefan. Under all that brooding hair, he's not so saintly.

Now, somehow, Damon makes Elena feel safe. Which is odd, to say the least. Damon can't help but wonder if a frighten human Elena is better than a sire-bound vampire Elena. He quickly brushes the thought away because it doesn't matter. Elena's in shock and she needs something from him. He'd prefer to sooth her fears with kisses and steamy sex, but that doesn't seem to be what she needs right now. Right now, she needs him to stand in this spot and let her hide from the world against his chest. Who is he to argue?

"You have to find Stefan," Elena says to Damon, but he shakes his head no with a sneer.

"I'm not going anywhere." Human Elena's grip on his jacket tightens and she seems to tug Damon even closer. Apparently, the little brunette isn't as out of it as he thought.

"Caroline?" Elena asks, turning to her.

"What? I can't go after him. I have my hands full with my children running amok and the eternal migrane that is Klaus Mikaelson," Caroline complains, throwing her hands in the air. "Besides, the girls are after the Ripper of Monterey which means they're going to try to flip Stefan's switch."

"What?! Why would they do that?"

"Because Klaus told them to, apparently."

"Hmmm, it seems your loving children obey the resident psycho better than their own mother. You should really look into that," Damon says snidely.

"You're not helping," Elena snaps at him from the living room.

"That's because I'm done helping you two. Pack your shit and go back through whatever swirling vortex of doom you came from. You've been nothing but trouble since you've arrived."

Caroline vamp speeds to the kitchen counter to stand a few feet from Damon and his human. She glares at him over the brunette's head and Damon tightens his grip on Elena protectively. He suddenly remembers that the blonde is older and stronger than him, so pissing her off with a vulnerable Elena in his hands might not have been the best choice.

"Number 1, no. You don't tell me what to do, Damon. Number 2, us leaving would be worse for you and everyone else in town. Klaus' plans never turn out good for the people around him. Number 3, we couldn't leave if we wanted to."

"We don't know where the portal is hiding. It moved after we crossed over. It'll probably keep doing that until the girls make it stop," Elena explains calmly.

Damon curses, rolling his eyes at the predicament, and Elena smiles at his typical behavior. She's so enthralled with the younger version of her husband that Elena almost doesn't catch the familiar, goofy laugh of someone on the porch. Instantly, Elena vamp speeds to the kitchen doorway and stares at the turning knob of the front door. The chatter is friendly and playful and everything she remembers. It's like a ball of molten lava swirls within her stomach. It burns and excites all at once as the front door swings open.

Elena's vampire mind watches everything happen in slow motion. She sees the door swing wide and bump against the wall, revealing three loving figures. Always the gentleman, Alaric's strong chin and build stands back from the door to allow the others to enter first. Elena's breath catches at the sight of him so different than the last time they spoke; when his eye were plagued with cataracts and wrinkles hugged his broad smile. Jeremy punches the older man playfully with a chuckle and tears fill Elena's eyes. Her baby brother seems so much like a child with his teenage cheeks and younger frame. He hasn't yet hardened his body nor soul to the ravages of the supernatural world. He's barely made his mark on this world and vice versa. Elena isn't sure how to feel about seeing her father figure and brother, or this timeline's version of them. She's conflicted and unsure what to do. On one hand, she wants to run to them and pull them into the best bear hug she can manage without breaking bones. On the other, she wants to hide away and protect herself from the eventual heartbreak of leaving them behind. Of course in that one instant that the door opens, Elena feels everything without comprehending it all. If it had only been Alaric and Jeremy, she might have stayed. She might've been able to pull herself together. But, it wasn't just the boys at the door.

Jenna steps into the house without looking as she says something to Jeremy over her shoulder with playfully teasing. It isn't until her second step that she turns back to face Elena and their eyes meet. The brunette vampire recognizes her Aunt's easy-going smile and her heart shatters into a million pieces.

"Elena?" Jenna says and that ball of molten lava inside Elena instantly hardens, slamming into her gut. A gasp later and Elena is gone, disappearing through the back door.

Jenna enters the house first, so she's the first to notice the disarray. But, before the screaming and chaos, Jenna sees her niece staring at her from the end of the hallway. She almost smiles at the young brunette, still high from her night out with Jeremy and Ric. But, she blinks and Elena is suddenly gone, making Jenna wonder if she were every truly there to begin with. Stopping in the middle of the hallway, she glances around and gasps when she finds Elena crumpled on the ground. And, that's when the screaming ensues.

"What the hell happened?" Jeremy asks running past the chaos of Jenna reaching and screaming for Katherine's body while Ric tries to pull her away. He finds Caroline rushing out the kitchen into the living room with her arms extended as though that would calm everyone. "Is that…"

"No," Caroline answer immediately. "It's Katherine. Elena is fine. She's in the kitchen with Damon."

Jeremy makes a bee line for his sister to find her wrapped up in the older Salvatore's arms. He pauses at the wide archway separating the kitchen and living room and stares questioningly at the vampire.

"She's fine," Damon answers. "Elena's had what some may describe as an eventful day. I, myself, consider it a typical day in the hell hole that is Mystic Falls."

"Damon, I need you to go after Elena," Caroline calls from the living room and both men turn to her; one in confusion and the other in shock at the absurdity of her statement.

"I'm not going any where," Damon argues, motioning to the fragile brunette in his arms.

"Elena's right her," Jeremy says, but Caroline ignores him and continues addressing Damon.

"I need your help here. I can't go after both Stefan and Elena. And, we can't afford for either of them to flip, right now."

"No, I told you. I'm done with you," Damon snarls at the blonde and, much to his surprise, she finally falters. Ever since her arrival in this timeline, Damon hasn't truly been able to reconcile the strong, independent woman standing amongst the blood and mayhem of Elena's living room with the annoying, insecure, brat of a child that's probably sitting at home watching America's Next Top Model at this very moment. He hasn't been able to figure out how Caroline could've changed so much, even if it took 200 years. But at his declaration, Caroline finally crumbles under the weight of everything and lets the 17 year-old child within her shine through.

"Damon, stop being such a shit head," she yells, stomping her feet and crossing her arms. He simply stares at her for a moment while she glares angrily at him. Finally, he shrugs unapologetically.

"No."

And, then the tears start to fall.

"I can't do this," Caroline whines, placing her hands to her head and shutting her eyes against the tears of frustration. "I can't…doeverything…"

"Caroline?" Jeremey questions soothingly as he steps toward her, reaching out to help. Jenna's screams of anguish from within Ric's embrace aren't doing the job.

"No, I can't. I can't stop Klaus, save my kids, battle hybrids, save Stefan, and save Elena. I can't do it, Damon!"

Damon opens his mouth to remind the blonde how much he doesn't care for her nor her problems. He will deal with Stefan himself if he has to, but later. And, future Elena isn't his problem. Sure, the sire bond would probably make it easy to convince her to come back, but this is Elena we're talking about. She lives for family. There's no doubt in Damon's mind that future Elena will walk back through that door any moment shedding tears of joy at seeing her friends and family again. Just you wait. Any moment now.

"Go," the fragile human in Damon's arms finally whispers, capturing the attention of both vampires.

"What?" Damon asks gently, loosening his grip on Elena as she pulls away from him. She doesn't meet his eyes when she releases his jacket and shivers at the loss of his warmth. Cringing at another piercing wail from her Aunt Jenna, Elena turns to Caroline with what remains of her shattered will. As she will prove over and over again during the centuries to come, Elena is always willing to help a friend no matter the personal cost. As wonderful as her safe space makes her feel, Elena can't hide from the world when her friends need her help. Two hundred or seventeen years, Caroline is her friend.

"Go, help Stefan. Damon can go after the other me. I'll stay here with Jeremy and Jenna. We'll clean this up."

"The other you?" Jeremy asks, but again everyone ignores him. Caroline looks to Damon for confirmation, but he's watching the small brunette.

"Go, Caroline," Elena prods. "Let us help you."

Finally, Caroline smiles gratefully with a sigh of relief and vamp speeds out the front door. Jeremy, Elena, and Damon remain in the kitchen while Ric soothes his sobbing girlfriend on the porch. Elena stares at the wreckage of her living room, trying to collect herself enough to complete her task. Damon remains at her back unmoving, waiting to see how the fragile woman copes with her new responsibility.

"Jeremy, call Sheriff Forbes. We need help with the bodies," she says in a shaken voice.

"What the hell am I supposed to tell her?" He complains and Elena sighs in frustration.

"Elena…" Damon begins, reaching for Elena's arm. She shies away from his grasp without facing him and Damon pauses in surprise.

"No. I…I need you to leave. Go after the other Elena. Help her. Please, just go."

Damon's outreached hand curls into a fist at Elena's words and he drops it to his side. His concern for her hardens just a bit as he imperceptibly recoils from her rejection.

"Fine," he mutters and steps toward the back door. Elena closes her eyes at his cold tone. She hadn't meant to scold him. She just needs distance from him. With him near, all she wants to do is curl back into him and hide from the world. But, she can't do that right now. So, he has to leave. He has to leave so she can stand alone. But, that doesn't mean she has to hurt him.

He's just trying to help, Elena reminds herself. And, he has. He saved my life.

"Damon," Elena calls without looking at him. He stops to face her with an annoyed expression, feeling a bit like a dog on a leash.

"What?" He says in harsh tone that finally snatches Elena's gaze.

"Thank you."

Her words catch Damon off guard and he can only nod. She smiles gently before turning toward the open front door where Jenna and Alaric await. Damon watches Jenna's surprise and relief at seeing Elena alive. The horrified tears of loss that plague the middle-aged woman's face transform into grateful sobs of joy as she wraps her arms around her niece.

"What the hell happened, Damon?" Jeremy asks again. This time Damon shrugs dismissively.

"Vampires, doppelgängers, witches, witchpires and time travel. Buy the ebook."