A/N: Well, this chapter was extremely hard to write in this amount of time. I had it all typed out, and then my Dad just to had tamper with my laptop, and he ended up deleting what I had come up with. I cried for about an hour before I could start all over again …Also, I want to give a shout-out to shortybabygirl2009 for leaving me a great review that had me smiling hours after I read it, to fallenfairy4 for leaving me yet another great review, and also to BA-VampireKitten for very nicely telling me that Klaus does not have an 'e' at the end. (Sometimes I can be a bit of a nit-wit.)

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Mistaken Observations: Starting At The End

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"Are you ever going to answer my question?" Elena sat on the bathroom counter, wringing her hands nervously at her stomach. After all this time, she was still waiting for Damon to start spilling about his torture session with Rebekah. So far, he hadn't been very successful in doing so. All he seemed to give her was vague answers that usually just brought up more questions. He really wasn't helping her burning case of curiosity at all.

From behind the dark curtain, Damon took a notably large sigh. "There is nothing to talk about, Elena."

Had he completely lost his mind? Had he really not just shown up after almost seven hours of being absent, covered in blood, and various assortments of holes punctured into his body?

"What do you mean there's nothing to talk about?" Elena was getting frustrated now. "There is everything to talk about, Damon. You know me; I'm not going to stop until I get some answers."

The shower curtain rustled, and Damon poked his head out. "I also know that you can be a real bitch when you want something."

Elena resisted the urge to stick out her tongue at him. She was peeved, if not a bit miffed at his choice of words. He was the only person she knew that could literally be on the verge of death only a short time ago, and still gave the decency to poke fun at her. Some people were just never taught a lesson.

And she knew- everyone basically knew- that she could most definitely be a bitch when she wanted something. In her old life, the one where her old parents were still alive and well, it was one of her most notorious traits. She was almost as catty as Caroline at the time, and that was something she wasn't very proud of.

From within her thoughts, she absently heard Damon fuss with something behind the covering of the curtains. She had completely convinced herself that the only reason she was in the bathroom while Damon was getting rid of his many types of grime, was that she needed answers- which it seemed she would not be getting anytime soon- and that she was still afraid he was going to topple over from lack of blood. He had to at least be thirsty. She hadn't seen him eat in weeks. And in less he was doing it in private, she highly doubted that he actually had indulged in the basic necessities he lived from.

Elena looked down at her toes and heard Damon scoff. "Yeah," she heard him say. "Don't have anything to say now, do you?"

Leaning back, Elena thumped her head twice against the mirror. It quaked slightly, rattling her brain into mixed-up thoughts and emotions. "You know if you tell me, then you might actually feel better. It never worked for you before to keep things bottled up like this."

Damon had no comment to this, but she could practically hear the eye-roll he gave in response.

Steam billowed from the top of the shower, causing Elena to shift almost uncomfortably in her spot. It wasn't just any day she could say she practically watched Damon Salvatore bathe. She sighed again. This was just a little much for her.

"You might not like what you hear." Damon spoke softly behind the spray of water. "You might regret ever asking me what happened."

Elena shrugged her shoulders delicately. "I'm not saying I won't. You just have to understand how hard it was for me to convince myself that you were going to die. If I don't have answers, then how can I prevent it from happening again?"

Damon flipped off the water with a 'snap'. The silence that was given out in return was ringing in her ears. "You wouldn't have been able to stop what happened tonight even if you tried. Your only a human, Elena. There's not much you can do." He cleared his throat. "You might want to close your eyes."

Shaking her head, Elena bit the inside of her cheek. If she were to shut her eyes, the tears gathering there would have fallen. It was probably just because it was around 2:00 in the morning, and she was over-tired, but she could also blame it on the fact that what Damon had said hurt her tender feelings.

The sound of the shower curtains being pulled back reached to her just in time, and she carefully averted her gaze. When she looked back over to the shower, Damon was standing there with a maroon towel wrapped around his waist.

Taking an internal breath, Elena composed herself, forcing the tears to go away. She ran a nervous hand over her shirt, swiveling her body until she was facing him, and her legs were tangling over the edge of the counter. She tried her best attempt at a smile. "Feeling any better?"

Damon shook his head, running wearied fingers through his dripping hair. "Nope, not really. I still feel like I've been stabbed repeatedly, and part of my man-hood was brutally ripped away."

"That's because it was."

Damon smiled bitterly. "Details." He studied her closely then. "Are you feeling any better? Should I be worried about any Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or anything like that?"

Was she okay? Did she not want to break down right now? Not exactly. Her world was still crumbling down in ruins. Stefan was still gone, Klaus was still running rampant, and Rebekah seemed to have a knack for torturing (somewhat) innocent vampires.

But, she just forced a smile again. "No, I'm perfectly fine."

Damon chuckled and gave her a knowing smile, wagging a finger in her direction. "You always were a horrible liar. Did you honestly expect me to believe that?"

Elena hopped off the counter. She grimaced, defeated. "I was hoping that you would have too much on your mind to notice. Guess it didn't work that well, did it?"

He smirked, his answer plainly written all over her face. Damon could simply read her like a book. He knew her too well to think otherwise. It was time like these that she wished she was a stranger to him.

"Guess I'll take that as a no." she muttered, and then gestured to his state of undress. "I should let you get dressed. Good night, Damon."

She moved towards the door, sighing in relief when she could breathe clearly without the heady scent of steam and Damon's natural musk invading her nostrils. But before she could decide whether or not she was going to sleep on the couch or force herself into Stefan's bed (something she really didn't want to stoop to), Damon called out to her.

"Elena," his voice sounded strained. "Wait."

She stopped in her tracks, turning around to face him with a pained expression on her expression. She tried to keep her focus on him, but his intense exterior innerved her, and she quickly looked away.

In front of her, Damon took a deep breath. "I'll tell you everything if you really want to know, but I have to warn you when I say that you're not going to like it."

Despite the tension in the room, Elena still felt gratitude towards the vampire in front of her. After all the horror they had both been through these past few months, it was nice to know that Damon still could tell her the problems he had been through. He didn't know why he gave into her, but all she really had to do was flash those brown orbs, smile, and ask sweetly, and he would willingly jump off a bridge for her.

It didn't matter that Elena was just a human. All she needed was the complete authority over Damon to have the real power of the two.

Elena couldn't decide whether this was necessarily a good thing or not.

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Damon sat next to Elena. There had to be a certain way of explaining something like this. It wasn't just a topic that you could randomly start blabbing about.

He could start with the beginning, from his first meeting with Rebekah, or he could start with the time where Stefan and Klause played their part in all of this- and they did play a big part. Or he could just start at the end, and rip it off like a Band-Aid. He preferred just to make this as painless as possible, but if Elena wanted to do this a certain way, then he would let her take that route.

Elena sat on the very edge of the couch, looking anywhere but him, and then finally just settled her gaze on her fingertips.

Damon clasped his hands together. "Where do you want me to begin? I can make it short if you like."

"No," she shook her head, raising a hand in his direction. "I want to know everything. Just start from the very beginning."

Dammit. He was hoping that she wouldn't say that. He wasn't good with these one-on-one heart-to-heart conversations, especially with tired, over-emotional women. He tried not to groan. This was going to be a lot longer conversation than he had anticipated. Well, he had to start at some point; it might as well be right now.

"We all know Rebekah, right?" That was a stupid thing to start with. Of course Elena knew who Klaus' little blonde minion was.

Elena noticeably grimaced in response. "Unfortunately."

"Right," he smiled. "Well, when I went to town a couple weeks ago, I approached her. I don't really even know why I did it. Maybe I did it because I thought it was Caroline from behind, but all I knew what that I needed to talk to her for some reason. I couldn't even stop myself from doing it. She just seemed like someone I needed to talk to, which is weird because I hate talking to people."

Elena frowned at this. She didn't look too happy at the picture his words were painting.

"When she figured out who I was, she started acting really odd. She kept on talking about how she needed me to do something for her, and that Klaus wanted to talk to me." He scowled. "She wasn't very subtle about it either. She was even more annoying than Caroline herself, so I naturally started to walk away. But when I tried to do this, there was a part of me that literally couldn't. It was almost like she had me under compulsion, but I wasn't under it at all. Do you get what I mean?"

Damon stopped, seeing if Elena was following. She waved a hand, indicating that he should continue.

"So, during the time I was trying to figure out why the hell I couldn't just walk away from her, she started to lead me into this building that was near The Grill." Damon stopped and blew out a long breath. If he was even capable of blushing, than his whole face would have been aflame. "I guess she was kind of trying to seduce me or something, but all I remember was her saying a date, a time, and a building number. I didn't even have a clue where this building was, but she still said that it was extremely important for me to go."

Coughing lightly, Elena cut in. "She didn't, like, rape you or anything, did she?"

Even though this conversation was supposed to be a series as possible, Damon still found the humor in it to laugh. "No. No, of course not. Well, if she did, I certainly don't remember it."

Elena shrugged, glancing back to her hands, and turning a pretty shade of pink. "It just seems like something a hybrid would do."

Damon rolled his eyes. "Yeah, because I am pretty sure that Klaus goes around raping Stefan in his spare time."

Elena gave him a disapproving glance. "Just finish your story before I walk away."

"Alright, so as you know, the rest of the following weekends flew by without any hiccups. But it wasn't until I went to the bar after about twenty days that I realized something was wrong in the building. It was almost like the atmosphere had changed, like it was suddenly more charged and bitter. I tried to shake off the feeling as best as I could, but when I felt someone tap my shoulder, I knew I was fucked. I guess you can probably tell what happened after that. Stefan kept on talking some crap about how Klaus had 'big plans for me', and then he staked me like the obnoxious, teenage Ripper he is."

"But that means that Stefan wasn't really trying to kill you in the first place. If Klaus has 'big plans', then he kind of needs you alive to do that." Elena clucked her tongue. "What does that mean? What kinds of plans does Klaus have? I'm guessing they can't be good."

Damon sighed. "I'm trying to get to that part." Lounging back into the couch, he rested his head against the black leather. "When the day came, this was actually yesterday as you know, the compulsion kicked in at super speed. I knew the time I was supposed to go, and that I couldn't be late, but I still didn't know the building. All I knew was that I needed to drive." Damon stopped to smirk. "And then you had to come and try to save the day, which I really should have expected earlier, and I was under strict orders that if you interfered, you would have to die."

"And Rebekah was the one to tell you that? She told you that you had to kill me if I got in the way?" Elena almost couldn't believe that. "What did I ever do to her?"

Damon looked at her, his brow furrowed. "You mean beside wearing her magic necklace from ninety years ago, and basically stealing her man? Nothing, absolutely nothing."

To this, Elena had no remark. She just sat in stunned silence. Great, now she had yet another unwilling fan that was going to try to rip her throat out when given the chance.

Damon continued, the words flying from his lips like they were well practiced. "When I left, I felt so horrible about pushing you down like a five year old that I actually started to turn around…but that also meant that I would have to kill you, and if you haven't noticed already, that is absolutely the last thing I want to do. So, I just tried to keep my cool and kept driving. I drove for about an hour before I knew that I needed to stop at this abandoned warehouse I had never even seen before in my life. I didn't even see any other cars around, so I figured that it would be okay to just go inside."

Elena turned to him, bringing her legs up to the couch and crossing them. "I'm guessing that it wasn't okay to go in there."

From beside her, Damon scoffed. "Biggest understatement of the year. But I guess, in the end, it was unavoidable. I should have seen this coming earlier; it was only a matter of time."

"Was there anything in the warehouse?" Elena was almost afraid of what the answer would be. Whatever was in there had to be what caused Damon's severe wounds.

"There was about thirty people in their total. They were all male, except for Rebekah, and maybe Stefan." Damon stopped to laugh at his own personal joke. "Klaus was there, too, and they all just seemed like they were waiting for me to do something. It wasn't until Klaus came up to me and told me I had to fight."

"To fight?" Elena questioned. "To fight who?"

"Everyone. I had to fight everyone in that room until I either killed them or I dropped from exhaustion."

Her heart seemed to jump into her throat. "Even Klaus? Even Stefan."

Damon nodded, bringing his knuckles to his mouth in careful concentration. "And so I did. I fought them until I practically threw up over the bodies I had killed. It wasn't exactly the ideal way to spend my day."

Throughout all of this, Elena was still getting more questions than answers. "I don't get any of this though. Why? Why would Klaus make you do something like that? He already has Stefan, why would he need to take you?"

"Because he wanted to see if I was strong enough; he wanted to see if I would break." Damon stood, striding over to the wet bar beside the couch and pouring himself a hearty drink. He took a sip, looking at her over the top of his glass.

She stood also, stretching her legs and lightly stepping next to Damon. "I'm probably sounding like a broken record at the point, but I am still really confused. Why the hell is it any of Klaus' business as to how strong you are?"

"This is the part you're probably not going to like." Damon paused, using his drink as an excuse not to talk. He was taking his time with it, too.

Frustrated, Elena took the drink and slammed it down on the counter. "Why did he need to know these things, Damon? I'm not playing around anymore. You better tell me." Her voice was excruciatingly aware that she was not going to like this at all.

Damon gulped. "Because he wants to turn me."

Elena had a feeling she already knew what this meant, but she asked anyway. Maybe if she hoped enough, it wouldn't be true. "Turn you into what?"

"What else could he turn me into, Elena? He wants to turn me into a hybrid."

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"Klause wants to do what with whom?"

Elena didn't know how she managed it, but Caroline always seemed to make things her business. She didn't even like Damon, and yet here she was, defending his honor like he was some white knight in shining armor. Elena really couldn't blame her though. What she could blame was the bottle of liquor Caroline was now holding gingerly. She was drunk, and it wasn't even 7:00 yet. This was more like the pre-vampire Caroline. This was the Caroline that thought partying was going to be her way of making a living.

"I mean, I know Damon is attractive and everything, but unless Klaus is gay, then I don't really see why he needs him."

Elena rolled her eyes. The questions Caroline had been asking were limited down to, 'But why Damon?', and then to, 'Do you think Klaus is gay or just Bi-sexual?' It could have just been the alcohol burning through her system, but Caroline seemed quite serious when she asked them. Is that what she usually thought about in that blonde head of hers?

Elena sighed. Apparently none of the answers she had given Caroline were good enough. "We've been through this before, Car. I don't know why Klaus needs him. In plus, we don't even know if he will go through with turning Damon. It could just be an empty threat. It seems like most vampires just bluff whenever they get the chance."

Caroline stopped pacing and eyed Elena wearily. "Elena," she said in a knowing tone. "Klaus is a conniving hybrid douche. Of course he will turn Damon if he says he will. There's no use trying to convince yourself that he won't."

For the most part, Caroline was right. Elena had tried convincing herself out of way too many things this past year.

She had tried to convince herself that Stefan was still not on human blood during the Miss Mystic Falls Pageant, she had convinced herself that Damon did not have feelings for her, she had actually succeeded in convincing herself that Klaus was not real, she had- just until recently- convinced herself that Stefan still had some humanity left in his body, and now she was trying to talk herself into Klaus being a liar. But if it was one thing Elena knew about evil people, it was that they never lied or broke a promise. To add the fact that he was evil and a hybrid didn't really help her case.

Elena tugged harshly at one of Caroline's loose thread on her throw pillow; it was a good tension reliever. "I'm just a bucket load of denial, aren't I?"

Caroline huffed, sprawling herself on her big bed. "Do you want the truth or something that will make you feel better about yourself?" Giggling, she dodged the pillow that was promptly thrown at her head. "Sorry," she muttered. "I'll try to keep my comments to myself."

As it turned out, the only good thing that came out of a severely drunk Caroline was that she always spoke the truth, whether it was the good, the bad, or just the plain ugly. Even though Elena didn't want to hear what a stick in the mud she was, she knew that it was true. She was at least glad that someone in her life could just be honest for once. There were more two-faced people than there were vampires in Mystic Falls.

Caroline pushed herself up on her elbows, tipping her bottle back. "When did our lives become so fucked up? I know we're hot and all, but I think the supernatural is a little too attracted to us. When was the last time we had some fun, anyway?"

"Depends on what type of fun you are implying. Do you mean the drunk, loud fun or the crazy, drunk, and loud fun?"

Caroline smirked. "Is there really a difference?"

No, there actually wasn't. Back then, fun was just fun anyway you played it. It was usually just Caroline and Elena- Bonnie disapproved of partying- that would get into the most trouble. It didn't matter to them though; they loved every minute of it. The night would eventually end up with one of Elena's parents coming to get them.

"Do you remember when we would make a game out of hiding from your Mom?" Elena laughed, recalling Caroline's Mom going ballistic when she found out how wasted they usually were.

"Yup," Caroline smiled. "But it was pretty much pointless. She found us every time."

"I think we were probably too drunk to care."

Caroline finished off her drink, smiling down at Elena who was currently balled near the foot of her bed. "Always were."

There was a comfortable silence between them for a good two minutes. Elena knew that both she and Caroline were thinking about the same things. They were reliving the good ol' times when Elena's parents were still alive, and the only supernatural they heard about was around the campfire. They were young, care-free, and full of life, and ready to explore the world. Trying to defeat handsome hybrids was not supposed to be part of the equation.

"You know what I just noticed?" Caroline spoke suddenly, cutting into Elena's thoughts like a knife.

Elena got up and made her way over to where Caroline was lying. She joined her, looking up at her pretty, blue ceiling. "What?"

"All the things that have happened to us this past year and a half make our old life seem almost…boring. I think that we are much more exciting now. Well, at least I'm more exciting. I'm a vampire, what do you got?"

A lunatic boyfriend? Elena thought. An evil hybrid that wants my blood to create more evil hybrid minions? Or what about an insanely attractive vampire that loves me? If she wasn't the most thrilling person to know, she was most definitely the busiest.

"Hey," Elena lightly slapped Caroline on the shoulder. "I think I am very exciting. You can even ask Damon. He would agree with me."

"Please, Damon would eat his own arm off if you told him to. I don't really think his vote counts."

Elena didn't know why this statement bothered her so much, but it did. It wasn't like she wanted to have all-mighty power over any vampire that breathed. It just so happened that anything that was un-dead either wanted her only to use her for their own personal gain, to munch on, or just to want plain dead. She didn't even think she was that appealing! Why was everyone so hung up over her?

Elena tried to keep her voice light, and act like she didn't want to strangle Caroline until her head popped off. "I don't know what you mean, Care. It's not like he does anything I tell him. You probably already know that. If you tell him one thing, then he is almost guaranteed to do the other."

"No," Caroline corrected. "He doesn't do anything anyone tells him except for you. You should try it out sometime. Ask him to do something really dumb, and see if he does it. I bet that would come in handy."

Elena's hands fidgeted on her stomach, folding and unfolding. "Care, has anyone ever told you that you are unquestionably ridiculous?"

"I've been told time to time, but then they usually tell me how much they love me afterwards." Caroline shook out her blonde hair with clumsy fingers. "Apparently, I'm adorable."

"Who told you that?" Elena grunted. "It couldn't have been Damon." Elena knew Damon well enough to know that he never gave out compliments…except to Elena herself. Oh God, maybe Caroline was right. She probably should have started listening to her a long time ago.

Caroline looked at her from the corners of her blue, glazed over eyes. "I'm not quite sure, but I think the only compliment Damon gave me was that I made a good blood-bag. He might have said I was good in bed once or twice…or was it three times?" She waved a dismissing hand. "It doesn't really matter anymore. It's all in the past."

Elena wished she could brush off stuff like Caroline could. She was always the first one to get over a situation, no matter how disastrous it seemed. If she could just forgive and forget, then maybe she wouldn't feel like she was betraying Stefan every time she looked at Damon.

"Do you have anything left to drink? I think it's about time for me to get drunk. You're starting to make some sense again."

Caroline grinned, getting up from her spot on the bed, and making her way over to her closet. Opening the door, Elena quickly noticed what she was doing. Caroline always- even when she was younger- hid the things she never wanted her mother to see in her trusty closet and in a box under her bed. It was obviously where her alcohol was stored.

Elena gratefully took the bottle from Caroline, screwed the top off, and took a swig. She savored the burning sensation in the back of her throat and the warmth that tingled throughout her body. If there was anything at all the she missed about her old life, it was how easy it was to consume alcohol. She wasn't necessarily proud about it, she just longed for it every now and again.

"Was there an actual reason you wanted me to come over? It couldn't just have been to get me drunk and talk about how gay you think hybrids are." Elena took another slow sip from her bottle.

Caroline crossed her legs and carefully avoided Elena's eyes, keeping her gaze on her fluffy, yellow slippers. "Well, there was something I kind of needed to tell you. And I think I might just be drunk enough to actually say this without running away afterwards."

Elena cringed. She didn't really think she wanted to hear what Drunk Caroline had to say. "Do I even want to know? Should I just start leaving now?"

Across from her, Caroline hastily shook her head. "No, it's not bad enough for you to do that. At least, I hope not."

"Then how awful can it be?"

Caroline raised her eyebrows and took a huffed breath. Almost to herself, she said, "Pretty awful, depending on the way you personally take it. Maybe I shouldn't even tell you."

"No," Elena quickly shot out her hand, gripping Caroline's elbow. "Please, just tell me. I'll go crazy if you don't."

"Well, not that this is any of my business or anything, but…" Caroline stuttered again.

"Just spit it out, Care."

"Fine," she puffed. "I think that you and Damon should sleep together."

Mouth open wide, Elena could only stare in amazement at her neurotic friend. Caroline really had- in all senses of the word- lost her freaking mind.

Was she really the only sane one in this whole entire universe?

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A/H: What the hell, Caroline? You can't just go around telling people who they can and can't sleep with! Didn't your Mother ever tell you that? Well, let's just say that this chapter was extremely hard to write. I really hope that I didn't disappoint, and that this all made sense. There is an actual reason- let's hope there is- as to why Caroline wants Elena and Damon to sleep together.

Make sure to review and make my day!