The next morning, Damon walked through the door of the boarding house with the usual sense of dread he'd been feeling since Elena had chosen Stefan. Every time he'd stayed out over night, he'd returned expecting to see Elena trotting down the stairs hand in hand with Stefan with a look of bliss spread across her face. In truth it had yet to ever happen. Still he couldn't fight the feeling no matter how many times he tried to turn it off or tell himself it didn't matter. Today was no different.

He had prepared a reaction, keeping a blasé look on his face, and making one of his usual snarky comments. However, after what had happened between them, the dread was now 10 times worse than before, and he was no longer certain he would be able to pull it off. He took a deep breath in anticipation, stopping to listen for their voices, but the house was silent. He let out his breath in relief. Survived another one.

He'd left the house in a hurry yesterday, not expecting to be gone all night, he didn't think to take any blood bags with him for the road. He'd gone out last night and found a nice blonde to drink from, but this morning he wasn't in the mood to play charming even long enough to lure his prey. He pulled his jacket off, placing it on the coat rack, and descended the stairs to the basement to grab some breakfast from the freezer. As soon as he reached the bottom of the steps, he saw a trail of empty blood bags strewn about the floor. "What the Hell?" He checked around the basement including the holding cell, but no one was there. He bounded upstairs to the main level calling out, "Stefan? Elena?" When there was no response, he flew up to Stefan's room to check on him. The trail of blood bags certainly wasn't from Elena, given she hadn't been able to keep it down, so the obvious culprit was Stefan. Stefan on a bender was never a good thing. It meant many people would die unless someone could get him back under control. Right now that someone appeared to be Damon, but he was going to need some help with this one. He took a deep breath and dialed Elena's number.

Elena was at home, busying herself with daily chores in an attempt to forget, for just a little while, that she'd broken both the Salvatore's hearts by denying her feelings for far too long and misleading them. Her contact with Damon was pretty limited at the moment, so when she saw his name on the call ID, she felt a nervous excitement well in her that he had initiated the call. She presumed Stefan must have told him they'd broken up, and he was calling to talk. She answered the phone cheerily, "Hey! I'm glad you called. I wanted to…"

Damon cut her off mid-sentence, his voice was thick with concern. "Is Stefan with you?"

She frowned at first at his abruptness, but it was suddenly replaced by confusion. "Uh no, why would Stefan be with me? Damon didn't he tell you we broke up last night?"

There was a long pause on the other end before Damon spoke. He wasn't expecting to hear her say that, but now it all made sense. "Oooh, well that explains it."

"What are you talking about? What's going on with Stefan?"

"I think he's binge drinking. I came home this morning and found a trail of blood bags all over the basement floor." Damon was pacing, as he was talking to Elena, trying to figure out where Stefan might go first. His mind didn't seem to be functioning like it should at the moment because he kept drawing a blank. I really need to eat something.

"Oh my God, Damon we need to find him before he kills someone." Elena could feel the panic rising in her. She didn't want to imagine how much worse it could've been if she'd told him the truth about her night with Damon.

Damon was grabbing his coat, heading towards the door to his car, just as she was finishing her sentence. "I'm on it. I'll call you when I know more."

She desperately wanted to go with him, not just because she was worried about Stefan, and she was, but because she was worried about Damon as well. He should not have to do this alone. He should not have to pull his brother back from the edge over a girl he was in love with himself. This was all happening because of the choices she made, and it was her responsibility to fix the mess she had caused. Before he could hang up, she managed to get in, "No, wait. Damon I'm the one to blame here. I'm coming with you."

"Sorry, no time to stop." Damon opened the door, and his mouth immediately dropped open at the sight of Stefan standing in front of him, looking smug. The phone was still to Damon's ear, but what Elena was saying wasn't even registering. "I'll….call…you back," he dragged out before hanging up on Elena's protests. "Brother. Where have you been?"

Stefan smirked, ominously looking him in the eyes as he brushed past him. "I could ask you the same thing brother."

Damon turned around, shut the door, and then followed Stefan into the great room, where he was surprised to see Stefan had immediately gone to the bar to pour himself a drink. It wasn't that Stefan didn't drink, but he didn't drink as often or as much as Damon, instead he just fed more frequently on animals. "Yes, well I'm not the one who ripped through half a dozen bags of blood like an animal. So where were you?"

Stefan slammed back a full glass of whiskey then refilled it. He walked over to the couch and plopped himself down cheerily, facing Damon who was still standing, staring suspiciously at him, waiting for a response. "I went hunting. I was hungry."

Damon walked slowly over to the couch across from Stefan's and sat on the arm rest, folding his arms over his chest, trying to gauge Stefan's seemingly controlled demeanor. Stefan wasn't able to handle even a drop of human blood without losing control, so after six bags of blood, he should be coming apart by now. Unless, of course, he got his fill killing the real thing. His cold, calculated behavior was alarming to Damon. "Given the amount of blood bags you drained, I would think you'd be more than full. So tell me Stef what exactly did you eat, or should I say who did you eat?"

Stefan shrugged his shoulders, giving Damon a wicked smirk, looking him straight in the eyes. "You know the usual a deer, a few rabbits. The blood bags just didn't do it for me. I needed something warm-blooded to drink from the vein. Blood always tastes better from the vein. Isn't that what you always say?"

Elena had told Damon about their break up. He knew this is what drove Stefan to fall off the wagon, but why he was brushing it off like he wasn't a vampire with bloodlust issues, is what he found disturbing. Damon knew his brother well enough to know how he behaves when he's off the wagon, and this was not his typical behavior. He glowered and frowned at Stefan's vagueness. "Cut the crap Stefan. What the Hell is going on with you?"

Stefan threw back the rest of his whiskey then slammed the empty glass down on the coffee table. He appeared calm and collected on the outside, but underneath he was seething. He stared unflinchingly at Damon, and with obvious distain in his voice, he said, "Come on now brother are we really going to play this game? You were talking to Elena. You already know what happened, so why don't you stop pretending like you don't?"

Damon moved off of the arm rest to a sitting position on the couch, leaning forward, with his elbows resting on his knees, so he could look directly at Stefan as they spoke. "All Elena said was you broke up. I get it you're upset, but you going on a bender especially alone is dangerous. You should've called me. We could've gone back to that hick bar where we fed on the wait staff and had some fun as brothers." Damon wasn't suggesting this just to placate his own feelings of guilt. He did feel awful about what he'd allowed to happen with Elena, but more than anything, he truly wanted to be there to support his brother. Keeping him from going full Ripper was the least he could do after his lapse in judgment.

Stefan's eyes bore into him. "You want to be brotherly? Maybe you should've thought about that before you kissed Elena. We broke up because of you, brother."

Damon let out a heavy sigh of regret, looking down at his clasped hands, trying to find the right words to say. There really weren't any right words to say that could fix this. He had hoped it wouldn't come out, not for his own sake, but for Stefan's. Despite his actions, he hadn't intended on hurting him. He loved Elena more than anything, and in that moment he lost all sense of control. Wait kiss? He chewed on his lower lip, confused for a moment, before answering. He tried to down play the situation, attempting to sooth the anger he could see was about to bubble over. "Stefan it was just a mistake. Elena was excited she could feed without killing someone, and…and we got caught up in the moment. There's no excuse, we screwed up. I'm sorry…"

The façade of calmness Stefan had been putting on finally cracked. "You're sorry? Well I guess that makes it all better then?"

"That's not what I'm saying."

"So what are you saying that it doesn't mean anything because you got 'caught up in the moment?' Well it sure as Hell means something to me. And it obviously meant something to Elena because she broke up with me over it. You know the first time you kissed her, I got it. I didn't like it, but I got it. I'd been acting like an ass, and you were there for her. But now…"

"Come on Stefan you know what it's like to transition. Your feelings are all over the place. Elena was excited and confused that's why she kissed me. It's not her fault."

"You're right it's not her fault. It's yours. We both know you're in love with her. You manipulated her into it."

Now Damon was getting pissed himself. "I didn't push her to do anything. She kissed me if you must know." Reacting in anger to Stefan's tongue lashing wasn't going to get them anywhere. He rubbed his fingers over his forehead, trying to relieve the tension in his head. "Look you have every right to be pissed, but what I'm trying to tell you is that it doesn't change anything. She still loves you, and…I'm sure you two will work it out like you always do."

Stefan stood up and walked over to stand right in front of Damon. He placed his hands on his hips and looked down at him with disgust. "Work it out? She doesn't want to work it out. She broke up with me because she's in love with you. She didn't tell you that?"

Damon had leaned back against the couch with his head in the straight forward position, but his eyes met Stefan's. If his gaze didn't tell him he already knew, his silence said it loud and clear.

Shaking his head, Stefan laughed maniacally in disbelief, as he stepped away from him. "Of course you knew. Been plotting this behind my back all along huh?"

Damon stood up to meet him, but Stefan had turned his back to him. Damon needed to get through to him before he got out of control and hurt someone. He tried to reason with him. "It wasn't like that, and you know it. The blood is messing with your mind. You're not thinking clearly right now. Let me help you."

"I don't need your help. It's not the blood, it's you. You want her? You can have her. I don't need either one of you." He stormed out of the room and flew up to his room at vamp speed, leaving Damon alone and more concerned than ever.

Elena was entering her room with a basket full of clean laundry to fold, when she stopped suddenly in the doorway at the sight of Damon sitting on her window bench. She felt her dead heart race as much as a vampire's heart can, and her breathing grew rapid with nervous excitement. She'd seen him briefly yesterday, but this was the first time he'd come to her since their night together. Sure she knew it was because of Stefan, but still for her, it was a start. "Hey." She could see his face held both uncertainty and worry.

"Hey." His voice had cracked a little when he spoke, forcing him to clear his throat before he continued. "Um so Stefan showed up right as I was walking out the door to go look for him." He bit his lip and shook his head. "He is not in good shape."

Elena walked over to place the laundry basket on the edge of the bed. Nervously she crossed her arms over her chest, suddenly feeling like she didn't know what to do with herself in his presence. "So what happened? Did he hurt someone?"

"I'm not sure. He wouldn't tell me. He said he was out feeding because he wanted something warm-blooded. He acted all calm about it, but I could see his rage under the surface. He's pretending he has it under control, but he doesn't. I've seen that look before. What exactly did you tell him?"

She looked down at her feet, as she shifted back and forth in place. "I said it's not right what I've been doing to either of you. He needed to know the truth about how I feel, so I told him. I knew it was going to hurt him no matter what, so I didn't tell him everything that happened between us, just how I felt about you, and that we kissed." She looked up at Damon bashfully with her chocolate brown eyes.

Damon nodded subtly then tried to make light of the situation. "Good idea. If you had, I'd be lying on the floor at the boarding house with a stake thru my heart. I can't say I wouldn't have deserved it."

She cracked a slight smirk. Half serious and half in jest, she replied, "I think I deserve it more." She walked over to where he was seated and sat down next to him on the bench. "I'm so sorry Damon. It's my fault this is all blowing up. If I would've just been honest and ended things a long time ago, I could've spared you both all this pain."

He looked at her regretfully. "I'm not exactly innocent Elena. I could've said no."

She placed her hand on his arm, causing him to shiver at her touch. The electricity between them was undeniable. "You shouldn't have had to. It was selfish of me to put you in that position. It's just…it's just that I'm in love with you, and the feeling overwhelmed me. I should've told you sooner."

Damon closed his eyes a moment at the bittersweet sound of her declaration of love. He whispered out a pained, "Elena…

She cut him off before he could finish what she expected to be a rejection. "Please don't say it Damon. I know things aren't right at the moment between us, but I am trying to fix it, if you'll just give me a chance. I want you to know that I meant everything I said, all of it." Her hand rubbed back and forth gently over his forearm.

He swallowed hard then let out a heavy sigh, as he placed his hand over hers, unsure if he could handle touching her. They'd only spent one night together, but he missed the soft feel of her skin under his fingers. He felt guilty for desperately wanting to throw her on the bed and ravage her while his brother was falling victim to his bloodlust because of them. With every ounce of control he had, he said, "For now we should…focus on getting Stefan straightened out. We can figure out the rest later."