This chapter is partly post Masquerade and Rose spoilers for the episodes.

Chapter 10

At Least He Got To Say It

Damon hid in his room for the rest of the day until he because his old self again. He didn't want anyone else to see him as a girl.

For a few days everything was uneventful, but then one night when he stopped by Elena's to check on things, he caught his brother there, again.

"Stefan!" His brother looked at him and his eyes widened. "What the hell did I tell you?"

"Damon! I..."

Damon thought he could hear something. "Someone is coming. Go back to the house, I'll take care of this." Stefan started to protest and he gave him a hard shove, making him stumble back. "Go!" He ran.

Turning around he came face to face with Katherine.

"Hello Damon," Katherine batted her lashes at him. "That wasn't Stefan I just saw leaving was it? That could make things very unpleasant for Elena."

"Don't," he said in warning.

Katherine cocked her head and looked at him appraisingly then smiled. "You like Elena don't you Damon? You don't want to see her hurt. That's good. You can have Elena, but I want Stefan."

"You don't own us Katherine," His eyes narrowed at her.

"Don't I? I made you." She reached out and gently stroked his arm, then abruptly grabbed his wrist and jerked it. Damon yelped as he felt the bone snap. "You both should learn to obey me." She applied pressure till he was on his knees in pain. "There now that's better. I like to see you kneel down before me." She grabbed the hair at the back of his head and yanked it back, forcing him to look up at her. "Next time, it's Elena's precious brother who pays the price." Then suddenly, she was gone.

Damon was seriously ticked off as he walked inside their house a few minutes later cradling his wrist. He grabbed a bag of blood and drank it.

"What happened?" Stefan looked worried.

"Katherine was there you idiot, and she saw you. She said Jeremy pays the price next time."

Stefan cringed and bit his lip. "What happened to your wrist?"

"She broke it. Never mind it'll heal in a minute." The blood sped up the healing and soon he was good as new. Then he went to Stefan and grabbed his arm and dragged him over to the couch.

"Damon! H-hey!"

"Don't hey me little brother I told you not to go back there." He sat on the couch and yanked Stefan over his lap. "Maybe this will knock some sense into you." He slammed his hand down on the jean clad backside hard.

"OW! Damon no!"

"Don't tell me no." He kept going. "You deserve this and you know it!"

"Owwww! Damon I'm sorry!"

"You should be." Stefan started to cry at that. Damon kept up the punishment until he could feel the heat of his brother's skin even through the jeans. Stefan just lay there a sobbing mess. He hesitated, then slowly started to rub his back, remembering how Elena always comforted him afterwards.

Eventually Stefan calmed down enough to get up. He grabbed a box of tissues and took a few, blowing his nose. "S-surprised you didn't use the b-belt."

Damon looked away. He hadn't wanted to use the belt because that's what their father had done, and he was the last person Damon wanted to imitate ever again. "Don't make me have to do that again."

"I won't," he whimpered, tears falling from his eyes again.

Damon rolled his eyes and pulled him into a brief hug. "Go get some sleep."

Damon knew they had to do something fast, Stefan was really unraveling. They gathered everyone together and made a plan to kill Katherine. They thought it was fool proof.

It didn't quite turn out that way.

Katherine may have ended up shut up in the tomb, but she managed to get Tyler turned into the werewolf, got Elena injured, killed a girl, and generally caused a big mess to clean up.

Then of course Elena got kidnapped, and they had to go rescue her, and found out about this big group of baddies who would probably be after Elena.

Swell.

Maybe that was why Damon finally confessed his love to her, just in case something happened. Sure he erased her memory of it, but at least he got to say it. As he walked back home wiping the tears from his face, he thought about what Stefan had said, that he couldn't think of a better reason to die, meaning to protect Elena.

Damon had to agree, and if he had to sacrifice himself for her, at least his life will have finally meant something.

To Be Continued...