Stefan raced to the edge of town and waited until Damon's car came to pick him up. Stefan bent to lift his bag, and Damon was suddenly in front of him, knocking him to the ground with a sucker punch. He got in a few good kicks in the ribs too. Not hard enough to break bone but enough to bruise.

Damon picked up Stefan's bag and popped the truck. He threw it in and slammed it closed, impatiently turning to Stefan, still lying on the ground stunned, blood smeared on his face from his busted lip. "Come on. We need to hurry."

Stefan shook himself and got to his hands and knees and then staggered up and opened the door on the passenger side. He slid in, and his brother started the car moving before he had fastened his seat belt. "What was that for?"

Damon turned to him, lips compressed with anger. "You left her. Have you any idea how you hurt her? How she needed you?"

Stefan turned away, shaking his head. He paraphrased Damon's words as if he couldn't believe his ears. "I hurt her?" He paused and then repeated, "Really? I hurt Elena?"

Damon growled. "How could you just run out on her after all she had been through? No explanation, no note."

"Did you ever stop to think how I felt, Damon? She lied to me." His voice rose slightly. "You lied to me."

Damon shot him a quick glance, but Stefan was looking down at the white knuckles on his tightly clenched hands.

Stefan's voice was raw when he spoke again. "Do you think I didn't know you were drinking each others' blood? Yeah, she admitted to it once, but then you kept sneaking behind my back."

Damon swallowed and looked down.

"Did you really think I couldn't smell her on you and you on her? And then she denied the two of you were having sex." His lips twisted bitterly as he mimicked her. "I just needed a hug, Stefan. We're just friends. How could you think we were sleeping with each other?"

He stared accusingly at Damon. "And you lied too. 'Nothing's going on, Stefan. Just helping her with the blood cravings'. It wasn't supposed to be that way. We agreed she would pick and the other would go away." Stefan shook his head. "I guess I could have taken it if she had been honest about it. Why lie to me?"

Damon defended her. "That agreement was made when she was human. She couldn't decide. She's a vampire. Her emotions were a mess. She didn't want to lose you. She needed both of us. The guilt nearly killed her when you packed up and left."

Stefan's laugh was so harsh it startled Damon. "The pain nearly killed me. The two of you took my heart and shredded it." He had to swallow before he could continue. "They say the only ones you really hurt for are the ones you love, and I loved you two best."

His smile was painful as he turned his head towards his brother. "When Damon Salvatore says he's going to make your life a living hell, he doesn't fool around."

Damon was quiet for a few miles and then he said softly, "I didn't want to lie or try to hide from you. Elena wanted it, and I did what she asked."

Stefan laughed out loud so long and hard Damon thought he was going to have to slap him to bring him out of it.

"Good old Damon, who always did whatever Elena wanted. Like when he made her drink his blood before the moonstone ceremony so she would wake up a vampire. Are we talking about the same Damon here that came to blows with me because I always let her make her own decisions? That's rich. That's really rich."

Damon sighed deeply. "I know how it must sound but things change. I don't deny that I love Elena, and that I wanted to be the one she chose, but I never wanted it to be this way."

"Well, that's the way it went," Stefan said and turned to look out the window.

"Then, so why are you here?" Damon asked in a reasonable tone, truly trying to understand his brother's thought process.

Stefan put a hand up and drew imaginary pictures on the window with his finger. "Because despite everything you're my brother and even after all you two have done I still love both of you. I wanna send you back to her."

Damon rolled his eyes. He hated talking about emotions. You didn't talk about them you showed them. He frowned and said, "I'd rather you go protect her. I can take care of myself."

"She'll be fine. I can practically guarantee you that Bonnie had her locked up somewhere with a spell the day after you left. She won't get out until Bonnie hears everything is settled."

Stefan's confidence made Damon's face light up. "Do you really think so?"

Stefan nodded. "I do. Trust Bonnie in this."

"Fan . . tas . .tic!" Damon felt much more optimistic now. He had been too worried about her to realize that Bonnie would contain Elena, but when Stefan stated it the way he did, he knew it was true.

"So, what's your plan?" Stefan asked.

"Haven't got one, but I'm sure something truly awesome will come to me," Damon said airily.

Stefan just rubbed his temple with one hand, like he had a horrific headache.

They had traveled about an hour when Damon's cell phone rang.

"I was expecting this as soon as we got to where there was cell phone service. How you stayed in that armpit town for two years is totally beyond me," he informed Stefan.

He pulled the phone out and pressed 'answer'. "Hello. Could it be you?"

Stefan's eyes widened as he recognized Katherine's voice on the other end.

"I'm going to text you some directions when we hang up. Follow them and when you get to this so called airport you'll be met. You're going to be flying out of the standard routes. No flight patterns filed. There will be more than one flight on these puddle jumpers. Just go with whoever meets you. I need to move you around enough so that you can't be traced until the plan gets put into action."

"So, there's a plan?" Damon asked wiggling his eyebrows at his stunned brother.

"Yeah. I'm also gonna text you a message to post on Craig's list. You can have Stefan do it. I assume Stefan came with you?"

"Yeah, he's beside me." Damon looked at his brother.

"Of course he is." The voice practically purred with satisfaction. "I so know you two."

"Have him forward all responses to my phone. I'll tell you which ones to answer. And Damon"— her voice was emphatic—"do exactly as I tell you. Between the two of you, you couldn't plan your way out of a paper bag."

She cut the connection and Damon frowned. "Now that was downright rude."

Stefan replied, "True though. Pass the phone."

Damon flipped it to him and sure enough a couple of text messages came through. Stefan read the first one with the directions out loud to Damon and busied himself connecting to the internet with the information in the second one.

Damon let him work in silence. When Stefan was done and looked up, Damon spoke quietly. "She's a child, Stefan. A confused, conflicted, guilt ridden, emotion enhanced vampire child. I couldn't hurt her any more than she had already been hurt. To lose someone again, for her to tear us apart. She would blame herself. It's the only reason I deceived you."

Stefan hunched his shoulder away from his brother, rejecting his explanation.

Damon continued, "You know me, Stefan. Balls on the line. I've always been right out there. Thrown it in your face when I've scored a point on you. Hiding is just not me."

Stefan didn't respond, but he turned his head forward, obviously taking in what his brother was saying.

"Someone had to get hurt. There was no way it was going to be avoided. She was the fragile one, and I made the choice to protect her." Damon suddenly pounded the steering wheel. "Why didn't you confront me? Punch me or stake me? Why just run? Why didn't you fight?"

Stefan sighed. "I couldn't fight anymore, Damon. I was going to lose it. Trying to control the blood cravings when my emotions were running so high. The two people that meant the most to me lying, betraying me. And guilt? Talk about guilt. It's my fault she died, Damon. My fault. Bad choice. All my choices go bad." He pressed a fist against his mouth, perhaps to steady a trembling lip. "I always hurt everyone I love. What would have happened if I lost it and went ripper again? Do you think she could have handled that?"

Damon sighed. "I didn't know you were that bad. Why didn't you ask for my help?"

Stefan straightened up. "I can't keep running to you every time I have a problem."

"That's crazy. How many times have you come to my rescue? Why are you here when you don't have to be, if not to help me?" Damon was exasperated.

The phone beeped signaling incoming messages. Stefan dutifully forwarded them to Katherine. After several moments he received a text telling him which one to respond to and what to say. He was busy for ten minutes.

When he was done Damon asked curiously, "Have you been in that little craphole town the entire time? Bonnie couldn't trace you. She could tell us you were alive but not where."

"Yup, went straight up there from Mystic Falls. Jenny was going, and I went with her," Stefan answered, calmer now.

"Why and why her?" Damon was clearly not impressed by Stefan's companion. "From Elena to her?"

Stefan smiled slightly. "She was good for me. The town was good for me. I was so torn apart inside – I just wanted to turn off the switch. Didn't want to feel anymore, and I almost didn't care if the ripper came back."

He looked out the window, maybe seeing something far away. "She could tell I was losing it. She talked me into mixing animal blood with a little human until I could get myself together." He said proudly, "I've been on all human blood for around eight months now."

Damon barely suppressed a laugh. He sounded so like his little human brother bragging to his big brother when he had finally learned how to use a slingshot. Damon had spent a lot of time teaching him and it brought back good memories. Instead Damon said seriously, "That's great."

Stefan continued to reminisce about Shreveport. "I loved the smell of that town. Low tide was so pungent. The seagull cries were so lonely. We did almost the same thing every day of the week. Work six days a week. Pick up mail, mostly bills from our post office box on Mondays and Thursdays. Go to the city to pick up blood once a month. Buy gas on Tuesdays. We knew everyone. I needed the routine."

He paused trying to gather his thoughts. "Jenny made no demands on me. No guilt over her choices when the biggest one was whiskey or bourbon. I had nightmares constantly when I first went there. Usually I was at the bridge and making a choice, but it didn't matter what choice I made. Sometimes I picked her, and sometimes I picked Matt, but it was always the wrong choice." He swallowed. "No matter what I did I lost her, and you both hated me."

Damon reached a hand over and gently punched his brother in the shoulder. "She never regretted you saving Matt's life."

Stefan grimaced. "I did. If it wasn't for Jenny, I would have gone crazy. She just told me she used to direct my mind when I had those nightmares." He shook himself. "Anyway, they stopped about a year ago. The last six months I've even gotten a little perspective on one of the reasons I left."

Damon glanced sideways at him, curious if Stefan was going to tell him what the reason was.

Stefan leaned his head against the window, thinking. Finally without looking at his brother he quietly said, "I guess it was my way of making it up to both of you. Getting out of your lives and letting you be together. My apology to both of you for the mess I made of your lives."

Damon compressed his lips together for a moment and then let out a deep breath, obviously calming himself down. "If we live through this, which I doubt, but if we do I promise you I am going to kill you for being not only the world's biggest martyr, but also the world's biggest idiot."

Stefan opened his mouth, but Damon quickly cautioned, "Not another word, or I swear I will stop the car and beat you senseless."

The rest of the trip was passed in silence. They made it to the tiny hanger. The place was too small to call an airport, but it did have a runway and two planes. When they pulled in a guy walked out and looked them both over. "Damon and Stefan?"

"Yup." Damon opened the trunk and pulled their bags out. The guy took them and put them on a tiny little plane.

Stefan was busy forwarding the next set of responses to Katherine. She immediately responded with the next contact and message. He took care of it before they climbed into the tiny plane.

Damon's sarcastic comment let Stefan know he wasn't happy with the size of the plane. "Katherine provides only the best for us."

Since these were his first words to Stefan in more than two hours he felt safe in answering. "Yeah, so speaking of Katherine, we both know she does nothing without a reason so I have to wonder why she's helping you?"

Damon smiled. "Don't worry. When she wants us to know she'll tell us."

The plane took off and the two just sat back and relaxed the best they could, having no idea how long they were going to be traveling.