Title: Love's Fool

Summary: Elena made her choice and Damon kept up his end of the deal. He left Mystic Falls more than a year ago and he hasn't looked back since. Now the Original stake has gone missing and suddenly they need him again. But Damon has no intention of playing their whipping boy anymore and this time he has a powerful ally on his side.

Spoilers: Everything through the S3 finale.

Pairings: Delena is the plan but you never know. I'm not the biggest Elena fan at the moment.

Disclaimer: If I owned Vampire Diaries there would be a lot less of Damon getting left to die heartbroken and alone. As it is, I can only hope to vent my frustration by punishing those characters responsible.

Note: Been busy hanging with my family and doing Fathers' Day stuff so I'm a little late getting this out. Sorry. I also haven't gotten a chance to reply to my reviews yet, but I will. I wanted to get this posted and not make you wait any longer. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter Four

Damon was pouring himself another drink with his back to the room when he felt a shift in the air that told him someone new had arrived. "Damon," he heard his name whispered with affection. He scoffed in disgust and threw back the bourbon in one gulp before reaching for more. At this rate, he might need to text Katherine to pick some up while she was out. He felt the new arrival hesitate and then start to step toward him. Damon glared hard at the wall in front of him. "Bitch, please! I should have let Ric stake your ass when I had the chance."

Rebekah huffed but didn't come any closer. "I was grieving, Damon. I thought my brother was dead."

"And as much I know you adore good ole Satan, somehow I still don't give a fuck," Damon said. Finally turning back to the room, he sneered at the blonde as he walked to retake his seat. "Who invited her?"

Stefan frowned. "You told me…"

"I told you to have her contact Klaus, Steffy," Damon growled, "I didn't say to invite Backstabbing Barbie to the party."

"She's being targeted too, Damon," Stefan argued.

Damon smirked. "Guess they can't be all bad."

Bonnie rolled her eyes from her spot on the couch, "Never thought I'd agree with Damon."

"Can we just not?" Stefan sighed frustrated. Damon watched as he reached up to rub at his eyes. "We have enough to deal with right now without infighting."

Rebekah smiled sarcastically at Damon, but he could see the vulnerability always hiding in her eyes. "Then why did you invite Damon?"

"Bitch stole my line," Damon shot back. He just lifted one brow and met her stare. Rebekah's eyes twinkled with affection and Damon internally groaned. She was such a fucking head case.

Stefan cleared his throat and stepped forward, "Rebekah thank you for coming." He welcomed the blonde and offered her a chair and something to drink. She shot Damon a sly glance as she sat down adjacent to him and asked for his best bourbon.

Damon ground his teeth and resisted the urge to throw back the rest of the liquor in his tumbler. He didn't actually want to be drunk for this little reunion. Being drunk removed what little filter he had on his smart mouth and no matter how emotionally pathetic Bex was the bitch could still snap his spine with her perfectly manicured pinky.

"So," Baby Gilbert had arrived at least half an hour before. Now he was propped on the arm of the couch next to Bonnie. He spoke up to break the awkward silence, "where've you been for the last year, Damon?"

"Around," Damon answered, "why do you care?"

Jeremy shrugged. "I'm just curious. Ric said he's been proud of you…"

Damon heard the crystal in his hand crack as he shot to his feet. "Do NOT talk to me about Ric." He walked stiffly back toward the sidebar and reached for the correct decanter. Fuck sober. He filled his tumbler to the rim and gulped it down. Then he sat it to the side. He'd throw it away later. He reached for a new tumbler and poured in another two fingers.

Damon heard rustling and footsteps behind him. He turned to find Jeremy standing a few feet away. "I'm sorry."

Jeremy was looking at him with those big sincere Gilbert eyes and Damon felt his anger bleed away. Damn Elena for teaching him that look. Not trusting himself to speak, Damon nodded his forgiveness to the boy and walked around him back to his chair. "We hopped around for a while. The last few months we've been in Alabama."

"You and Katherine?" Jeremy looked concerned with his choice of company. Damon felt like he'd stepped into the Twilight Zone. Since when did Baby Gilbert give a fuck about him?

"Katherine's not that bad."

"You have met her, right?"

"She grows on you," Damon smirked.

"Like fungus?" Bonnie jumped in.

"She's…family," he finally decided. Damon didn't know how else to describe their relationship. Katherine was his sire. She knew him inside and out, the good and the bad and she loved him anyway. And Damon knew her and loved her. They were family. They were each other's home. "Look, Katherine isn't going anywhere. You don't have to like her. Hell, you don't like me. But she's family so you're just going to have to put up with her. We're a package deal."

"I can respect that," Rebekah spoke up with a smile.

Damon made a face. "You would."

Lockwood laughed from his position on the couch. Bonnie groaned and reached up to rub her hands over her face. "Well, she beats Klaus, I'll give you that."

"I just hope she doesn't give Elena a hard time," Stefan said, "she's doing so much better now, but I know she's still fragile."

Was he serious? Damon scoffed. "She's a vampire, Stefan. She stopped being fragile the day you let her die."

Stefan ground his teeth at the unneeded reminder. "Katherine's always brought out Elena's insecurity, Damon. Being like Katherine is Elena's worst nightmare and you know it."

Damon shrugged. His opinion on that subject had changed substantially over the last year. "More fool her."

"Elena Gilbert is not fragile," Rebekah's voice was colored with disbelief. "She wasn't fragile as a human. Now? She's a vicious bitch."

Damon's eyebrows shot up at her vehemence. Jeremy laughed, but his eyes glowed with reluctant pride in his vampire sister. "They've had a few run-ins."

"She staked me at senior prom," Rebekah growled.

"Right before they announced prom queen," Matt said. "Not that it mattered. Caroline won anyway."

"I was supposed to be up on stage."

Bonnie glared at the Original Bitch. "Elena was supposed to be human."

"Did someone stake Stefan?" Damon muttered. Before baby brother could react to that comment, Damon cleared his throat and pushed to his feet. "Anyway, I'm going to go grab dinner while we wait for Blondie to drag her ass back here with Steffy's undead beloved."

Bonnie jumped to her feet agitated. "You're not…I mean…" she paused and took a breath before meeting Damon's annoyed gaze. "You can't kill anyone, Damon. I'm not going to let you come back here and start killing people again."

Damon's eyes flashed with temper and he vaguely heard Baby Gilbert groan from beside him. Tilting his head to the side, a cruel smile curved his lips. "I meant from the basement, you stupid judgey little bitch, but just for you? I might make an exception." Before he could give in to the urge to snap her fucking neck, Damon turned on his heel and sped away.

Unfortunately, his vampire hearing was completely intact and Damon could still easily hear them speaking from the basement. "He doesn't kill to feed, Bonnie," Jeremy was scolding the witch, "Ric told me that. He rarely even feeds from the source at all. What were you thinking? He knows he can't come back here and start eating people."

"How was I supposed to know that?" Bonnie said defensively. "He's Damon, and he hasn't had Elena to keep him on a leash for the last year."

Gritting his teeth, Damon reached into the refrigerator and pulled out two bags of his favorite type. He told himself that killing the witch would be counterproductive. They needed her. If he was going to make them put up with Katherine, then he could put up with Judgey.

"If anyone needs a leash around here, it's your precious doppelvamp," Rebekah drawled, "how many slips has she had so far? That bitch needs a muzzle."

"Stay out of this, Rebekah," Jeremy growled. "Bonnie, saying that to Damon was just stupid. Do you want him to snap and kill someone? Will it give you some sick sense of satisfaction?"

"HE LEFT US!" Bonnie snapped. "HE LEFT ELENA! We needed him, Elena needed him, and he just walked away! I finally started to doubt my opinion of Damon. I thought I could actually see a little of what Elena valued in him, and then he had to go and prove me right all long. He didn't get the girl so he just walked away and didn't give a damn about the shitfest he was leaving for us to clean up without him. So excuse me, if I thought he might have reverted to form."

"He was devastated, Bonnie!" Jeremy said.

Damon groaned and tried unsuccessfully to tune them out. Baby Gilbert was defending him, not to mention airing his emotional trauma to the room at large. Damon could just bet he had Ric to thank for this change of heart.

"He can join the club, Jeremy! We all…"

"I MADE HIM LEAVE!" Stefan yelled. That announcement was followed by stunned silence. Damon winced. This wasn't going to be pretty. "We had a deal, okay? Damon and I made a deal before Elena made her choice. Whoever she didn't choose agreed to leave town and give the other two some space." He paused. "I came up with the deal. It was my idea and Damon didn't even really want to agree to it, but he did. I didn't enforce the deal after Elena died, I didn't tell him to leave, but I didn't tell him the deal was off either."

Bonnie cleared her throat, "so you're saying…"

"I'm saying Damon kept up his end of the deal. I made Damon leave."

Rebekah's laugh echoed loudly through the house. "That is just priceless!"

"WHAT?" Everyone took in a deep breath as the new voice sounded out. Damon prayed it was Katherine, but realistically he knew he wasn't that lucky.

"Oh dear," Rebekah drawled. "Has Stefan been a naughty boy?"

"Oh shit," Lockwood said, "here we go."

"DAMON HELP!" Jeremy called.

What followed were obvious sounds of a struggle. Damon threw his empty bloodbags into the trashcan by the refrigerator and sped up the stairs and back to the main floor of the boarding house. When he entered the parlor he was momentarily frozen as he took in the scene. Rebekah was still sitting primly in her chair but everyone else was in action. Stefan was on his knees beside the fireplace trying to sooth his girlfriend while avoiding the swipes of her clawed hands toward his face. Jeremy and Tyler were trying unsuccessfully to pull the brunette banshee away from Saint Stefan. Bonnie had Donovan wedged protectively into a corner and Caroline was on her knees beside Elena trying to reason with her best friend.

Rolling his eyes in disgust, Damon stalked forward toward the five idiots grappling on the floor. He reached into an inside pocket of his leather jacket and pulled out a vervain dart. Flicking the cover off the tip, Damon plunged it straight into Elena's exposed neck. The brunette jerked upright and howled in pain before slumping forward unconscious onto her battered soulmate.

Stefan cradled his girlfriend's body against him and glared at Damon in disbelief. "Was that really necessarily?"

"You're welcome," Damon said.

He turned and held out a hand to pull Caroline to her feet. Blondie accepted and then reached down to dust off her clothes. She winced at the irritated expression on her sire's face. "Well, I'm back. Elena called me while I was out and asked for a ride."

He lifted one brow. "Do you actually believe anyone buys that?"

"That's my story and I'm sticking to it."

Tyler moved forward to pull his girlfriend against him and nuzzle his face into her neck. "It's not her fault Stefan decided to confess his sins right when they got here."

But Damon didn't want to think about Stefan. He didn't want to look at his brother and he certainly didn't want to look at the brunette in Steffy's arms. Over a year and still not nearly long enough, Damon turned and headed back toward the thankfully undisturbed sidebar. He definitely needed to text Katherine to hit the liquor store. Going through the familiar motions of fixing yet another drink, Damon mumbled his new motto under his breath. "Find the stake and get the fuck out, just find that damn stake and then get the fuck out."

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