Karaoke
DG32173

Sarah: was listening to some old 90s country, stuff I grew up on, and found this song in my collection. It made me grin and I had a good idea for yet another anti-Stefan/Elena. I will change the genders in the song for this because we all know Elena is the faithful one and Stefan is the one who's always leaving and lying when things get hard.

Song: Here's a Quarter (Call Someone Who Cares)

Artist: Travis Tritt

Album: Greatest Hits: From the Beginning

Genre: pure 'you reap what you sow'. If you can think of a proper genre for that theme, tell me what it is in a review.

Pairing: anti-Stefan/Elena, hints at Damon/Elena

Note: alternate universe as Elena's still human when she gets fed up with Stefan's constant wishy-washy ways. Also, Elena's viewpoint. Normally when I do these anti-Stelena ficlets, they're Stefan's view or third-person, but that's not how the song goes so that's not how this chapter goes.

I'm laughing and having a great time now. I couldn't say the same just one short year ago, but thanks to Damon's gentle persistence, I'm now over my last broken heart. Damon and I are in the Gilbert house kitchen where I'm trying to bake some homemade chocolate chip cookies. I say trying as Damon keeps either eating the damn batter or eating the cookies as soon as they're out of the oven. "Pretty soon you'll have to run to the store and get me more supplies, you keep eating them that way," I say with a laugh.

"Easy peasy. They are just too good to resist," he says, munching his way through my latest batch.

Then the doorbell rings. I frown and exchange a look of confusion with Damon. He shrugs and keeps eating. "I'll get it. Try not to eat all of the cookies while I'm gone," I tell him.

"No promises," he retorts around a mouthful of cookie.

I shake my head and go to the door to answer it. As soon as I open the door, white hot fury overwhelms me: Stefan. It was only after the last time he had left me, two years ago, that I found out just how badly I had been lied to. It had taken nearly a year and a half to get over the grief and betrayal.

(Restart the song now if you're already listening to it as this is where the song 'starts' in the story. Otherwise, start listening to the song if you want to. Or go ahead and continue treating this as a one-shot rather than a song-fic.)

"Elena, I was wrong to ever leave you alone," he starts. I stay silent, letting him get out what was obviously a rehearsed speech before I spew my fury on him. "I'm sorry. I didn't know how lonely I'd be without you. I'd be happy if you would take me back one more time."

I reach into my pocket, fetching a quarter that Damon had given me six months ago when I finally moved past the grief and betrayal. Time to fulfill that promise he had me make when he had given it to me. It's not a modern quarter. It's not shiny and brand new. No, this is an old, faded quarter from Damon and Stefan's human days that had at one time held sentimental value to Damon but had lost that sentimentalism in the decades since.

"Here's a quarter, Stefan," I say, flipping it to him. "I'm sure if you studied it, you'd recognize it. Use it to call someone who cares.

"Call someone who'll listen and might give a damn. Maybe one of those sordid affairs you kept while you were dating me?" He pales but I'm not finished. "But don't you come around here handing me any of your lines. Take the quarter and call someone who cares. I don't, not anymore and never again.

"Well, I thought what we had could never turn bad. So your actually leaving caught me unaware. But the fact is you ran. Boy, that can't be undone. What's worse is I found out after you left that you had countless affairs while stringing me along. There's a quarter, call someone who actually gives a damn. But take a good look at the quarter before using it. You're in for a nasty shock but I no longer give a damn. Goodbye, Stefan."

With that, I close the door in his face and return to the kitchen. As soon as I enter the kitchen, I hear Damon chuckling in amusement. "You were right," I say simply as I return to my probably futile attempt to make cookies that will last longer than a few seconds.

"I usually am," he retorts.

"Not always," I remind him. He rolls his eyes. "But this is one of the times you were right."

"I know my brother well. I'm almost always right about what he'll do," he says, stealing a quick kiss as I pause in my cookie making endeavor.

"You think he'll try again?" I ask.

"If he does, we'll prove to him just how much we meant it by returning the quarter."

Sarah: normally I don't do an end note in this story, but I felt that the deal with the quarter had to be explained and as I don't do review replies or even remark on previous chapters in this collection of song-fics, I'm going to make an end note here. You can leave and/or move on to the next chapter if it's already posted as your reading this if you want to but if you're confused, here's the story of the quarter.

BACKSTORY OF THE QUARTER

To summarize a long and convoluted story, the quarter was the first one Stefan received as an allowance when he and Damon were children in this chapter's universe. Both Damon and Stefan got a whole quarter as a weekly allowance, which would be the equivalence of about $5 for allowance today. Considering they started the allowances at about five years old until they reached what was considered adulthood then, about 15-16, it wasn't too bad. Not a lot, but they were children and they didn't have a lot to buy back then. Anyways, this particular quarter was Stefan's first allowance payment way back in 1852. This particular quarter is an 1852 Seated Liberty quarter, which is a pretty rare quarter, especially now. Both Stefan and Damon got one that year. Instead of spending it on themselves, they gave theirs to each other to seal a promise that the brothers would always "be the best friends ever", which for kids that age meant they would always do right by each other and not let anyone get in the way of their bond. Well, we all know how that turned out when Katherine turned up twelve years later. Anyways, Damon had been meaning to return the quarter for several decades now, having finally given up hope on ever regaining the bond he had shared with his brother as humans. And yes, Stefan will definitely know what the return of that quarter means, especially if Damon had used Elena to return it.

By the way, that particular quarter I mentioned could be worth as much as nearly $1,500 today, that's how rare it is. It's very easily identifiable.