Author's Note: I wanted to get this up so much earlier today, but we've had horrible weather, so my internet has been out a lot of the day. However, the weather has cleared up enough for me to post it. This is the first chapter from Damon's perspective, so you should learn a little more about what goes on inside his head. It was an interesting chapter to write. I'd write a part of a scene, then go back and erase it and write something completely new. I just kept messing with it until it finally feels right. So, I hope it feels right to you. I've enjoyed replying to all of you that left reviews for the story. I have to give a big thanks to Daisy, who has given this story so much praise. It means so much to me! Enough from me, here is the chapter. Read and review!

Chapter 3

Once, once
Knew how to talk to you
Once, once
But not anymore

It had been an hour since Elena showed up at his hotel room door asking him to not go through with his wedding today. It had been 50 minutes, since he sent her out the door, only offering some lame apology. She laid it all on the line for him and the only words he could find in him were, "I'm sorry". It would almost be laughable, except it wasn't. He was never at a loss for words. If anything, he was often filled with too many words.

He didn't have any then though, and he still doesn't have any. In a few hours, he's supposed to get married. He's supposed to watch her walk down the aisle, knowing that only hours earlier, he'd sent someone else away. He sent Elena away.

"Damon, you're really starting to scare me." Stefan spoke up from across the room. He could feel his brother's worried gaze burning into his back. "Say something."

"Like what?" He didn't bother to turn away from the window to face his brother, just kept gazing out at the city ahead. "Elena just showed up and asked me to not get married, and I told her to leave. There's nothing to say."

"You just explained why there's everything to say. She asked you to not get married."

"And I told her no. I'm getting married, Stefan." His voice was resolute and matter of fact. She was gone. End of story.

"But did you send her away because you really are over her, or because you're scared?"

Damon finally turned toward his brother. He should have known that Stefan wouldn't let him get to the church without grilling him for answers. He might have helped get Elena to leave, but that wouldn't keep him quiet. "Look, it's a little late for this speech, Stefan. If you have doubts, you should have voiced them a long time ago."

"I did," Stefan pointed out.

"Yet, we're still here, and I'm getting married. Why can't you just drop it?"

"Because you're my brother!" Stefan shouted. "I want you to be happy, so I'm going to make sure that you're doing this because you love her, and you want to spend your life with her, not because you're scared of Elena and what you feel for her."

"Exactly!" Damon shouted right back. "I'm your brother, so have my back!" He paused to try and calm himself down before speaking again, this time more quietly. "Remember when you asked me to just have your back? Now I'm asking you to have mine. Can you do that?"

The look on Stefan's face made it painfully obvious that he had more to say, but he nodded his head and softly said, "Yeah, I have your back."

After Elena ran from the table, tensions only seemed to rise at the engagement party. Every table was buzzing about what had just happened.

Elena's boyfriend, Matt, looked completely clueless about what was going on around him. He started to stand and follow after Elena, but Bonnie grabbed onto his arm before he could move far. "You know it's best to not follow her. She'll come back in when she's calmed down."

Mason spoke up from across the table, "Well, I'll give you this. You certainly know how to put on a show, Damon."

"I'll pass around an envelope for tips in a while. Have to pay for those lawyer fees somehow," he told Mason sarcastically. He'd been a friend of Stefan's since college and he'd never been a fan of Damon, which worked out well for him, because he wasn't a big fan of his either.

"I'm sure Daddy could always help you."

"And on that note," Damon stood up and pushed his chair underneath the table. "Well, it's been fun, but I'm going to leave now." He turned to walk away, but before he took a step he turned back to look at Mason. "By the way, your wife still have that strategically placed cherry tattoo? Have fun." He let that be his final goodbye and left the ballroom.

He was just outside the door when Stefan came rushing toward him. He opened his mouth to talk, possibly apologize, when Stefan's arm swung around from behind him and his fist collided with Damon's face. Damon stumbled back, grabbing at his throbbing cheek. When he looked up at Stefan, he was shaking his head at him, his eyes ablaze with anger. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Ow," Damon groaned, trying to stretch his aching jaw. "When did you learn to throw a punch?" Stefan didn't answer him, but simply delivered another hefty punch to Damon's jaw. "Jesus, stop punching me!" he shouted, but he made no move to retaliate. As much as it physically hurt, he couldn't deny that he deserved it.

"She wants to kick you out of the wedding!" Stefan yelled at him.

Damon shook his head, because this didn't come as news to him. "She hasn't wanted me in the wedding since before you two even got engaged."

"Well, you didn't have to give her a reason. All you had to do was stand up and give a decent speech. Apparently, that was too hard, so you decided to imply that Caroline was after my money."

"Give her a few years, she very well might be."

Stefan bristled at Damon's words. "Do not make me punch you again."

"I'm sorry, alright? If Katherine hadn't shown up, my speech probably would have been superb."

"So that gives you an excuse to try and ruin my engagement party? I know that you're an asshole to everybody, but you're not supposed to do those things to me." Stefan shook his head and ran his hands through his hair. "I defend you to everyone. No matter what you do, I always have your back. Why can't you just have mine?"

Damon suddenly realized that he'd really crossed the line with his speech. Stefan wasn't just mad at him, he was hurt. For all of his faults and his cruel behavior towards others, he tried to be different to his brother. He tried to always watch out for him and protect him, but some nights, like tonight, he was the one that hurt his brother.

"I'm sorry." The apology was genuine, something he almost never did, but he meant it. "I shouldn't have said what I said in my speech."

From the look Stefan gave him, it was apparent that he was not going to just let it go tonight. "So why did you?" he demanded. "God, don't you just get tired of it?"

"Of what?"

"All of it. I know that things are rough right now, but isn't this exhausting? You walk around acting like you don't care about anything or anyone, all of their feelings be damned, but I know that's not really true."

Damon groaned and rolled his eyes. Of all the nights and all the places, his brother had to pick now to try and have some deep conversation with him? His brother always wanted to fix everything. He wanted everyone around him to be happy, and live perfect little lives. It was probably the literature teacher somewhere inside of him that gave him such an idealistic view on life, because it certainly wasn't hereditary.

Their father was nothing short of cold most of the time. In his entire life, Damon truly believed, he could count the number of times he'd seen a genuine smile grace his father's face, on one hand. And their mother, while she was the most flawless being Damon had ever known, had been through enough hardships in her life to lose the idealistic view of the world. And Damon, while he may have romanticized things at one point in time, he'd always understood the harsh realities of the world. In fact, the one time he'd let himself forget that people would always let you down, whether they wanted to or not, he got completely steamrolled by Katherine Pierce.

But Stefan, oh Stefan, had somehow managed to dodge so many unpleasant realities of the world. His whole life, Damon had been there to protect him from anyone and anything. Nobody dared to mess with him, for fear of the retribution that Damon would bring down on them. And the women had flocked to him like moths to a flame. He might not have had the bad boy, rough around the edges image that Damon had, but his soft eyes and gentle voice had the girls fawning all over him. In his entire 24 years, he'd never had his heart broken. So it was expected that his idealistic view would remain unchanged.

Stefan simply did not truly understand what it was like to realize that what you had believed in was a lie. He'd never woken up and looked at the woman next to him and wondered how this person was his wife. He'd never had to wonder how someone he thought he knew almost as well as he knew himself could turn out to be someone completely different. He just didn't know. So, he thought that everyone could be cured with a deep, soul-searching conversation, but that simply wasn't the case.

"Please don't try to psychoanalyze me. You're getting your PhD in comparative literature, not psychology."

"You're my brother. I don't need psychology to know what's going on with you. If it wasn't obvious before that something is very wrong, it's obvious now."

"I'm going through a divorce, of course something's wrong with me. Katherine's trying to rob me for everything I'm worth. You wouldn't be very happy either."

"This isn't about your money and you know it. You have your lawyers and dad's lawyers. She's not going to get anything."

"God Stefan," he sighed, more than ready to end the conversation. "It is not that simple. She is not Caroline, filled with enough positivity to put Oprah to shame. This is not an episode of Boy Meets World. Everything will not be solved in a 30 minute timeslot, with annoying commercials about laundry detergent."

"Why do you do that?" Stefan snapped. "Why do you talk to me like I don't understand things? Maybe I haven't gone through what you're going through with Katherine, but that doesn't mean I'm stupid."

"I'm not saying you are. I'm just saying you don't understand."

"So explain it to me."

He wished that he could explain it to his brother. He wish there was some way he could make him understand, but he didn't know how. He barely understood any of it himself. Everything had appeared fine one day and the next it wasn't. He knew that things had deteriorated over time, and not overnight, but it had all hit him at once. The truth had snuck up on him and punched him in the face, much like Stefan had moments before. It hadn't been obvious until it was staring him in the face. It just wasn't something that could be explained.

"You son of a," Caroline came at him out of nowhere, and before he could react, she slapped him hard across the face. "You just couldn't give it a rest for one night." Her face was the picture of rage as her small fists assaulted his chest.

"Stop it," Stefan pulled Caroline away from Damon and soon her fists were connecting with nothing but air. "Calm down."

"I will not calm down!" she shrieked. "He ruined our engagement party."

Stefan pulled her arms tightly to her chest as he tried to restrain his irate fiancée. "He's sorry."

"Damon is never sorry!" Perhaps Stefan wasn't expecting it, or he allowed Caroline the chance to overpower him, but she quickly disentangled his arms from around her and spun around to face him. "And you!" she shoved a pointed finger in his chest. "You always defend him! God, no matter what he does, you are always making excuses for him! Not this time! He just had to behave for three hours, that's it! Just like always, he couldn't help himself, and just had to make a mess out of someone else's night, but I am not doing this for my wedding."

"Caroline," Stefan tried to reach for her and calm her down, but she gave him a hard look that stopped him in his tracks. "Let's just go somewhere and talk about this. He's sorry, he really is, so let's not make any rash decisions."

She shook her head as she listened to him, her face never moving, and her mind never changing. "No, I'm done. I know he's your brother, but I am not going to let him ruin my wedding. So you better find a new best man, because it's not going to be him."

With one last frustrated shout she pushed past Stefan and stormed off toward the elevator. "Caroline, wait!" he called after her, but she didn't stop, just kept moving.

She pressed the button for the elevator, and as she waited for it to arrive, she turned to face Stefan and Damon again. "Maybe you should stay at Damon's tonight, seeing as he's the one that you're always helping." The elevator dinged and then opened for Caroline to step into. With one last glance toward her fiancé, she stepped inside and the doors quickly closed behind her.

Both brothers were in stunned silence for a few moments before Damon opened his mouth to speak. "You two don't live together."

"Doesn't mean she won't kick me out for the night."

Damon sighed and turned toward his brother. "Go after her," he insisted, tipping his head in the direction toward the elevator.

"I need to give her some time to cool down, but first, you're not out of the wedding."

"No," Damon immediately shook his head, shooting the idea down. "My speech was beyond horrendous. If I'm out, I'm out. I've already messed up my own marriage, don't mess yours up before you even get down the aisle."

"You're my brother, and you're my best man. Even if I do have to kick your ass every now and then." And just like that, the tension melted away and the easy relationship the brothers had always had came back. Damon made bad decisions and Stefan bailed him out, and vice versa.

Damon laughed as he leaned forward and lightly punched Stefan in the chest. "You couldn't kick my ass if you tried."

"Whatever." Stefan rolled his eyes before falling serious again. "It might take her a few days, but she'll calm down. You're not out of the wedding."

"Don't worry about it."

"I'll call you tomorrow."

He watched as his brother followed the same path that Caroline had only moments before, and soon he was on the elevator, gone from sight. With the bride and groom gone, the engagement party was officially over. He could go home to an empty penthouse, go pick up a girl at a bar, or he could go back into the party to see who he could get to go home with him. He was weighing his different options when he saw his father coming toward the door, and his decision was made for him.

Option D. Run.

With quick feet, he disappeared down a side hallway, knowing the elevator would not get there in time for him to make a swift getaway. He would simply hideout until he felt enough time had passed for his father to be long gone. Most days, he never backed down from a confrontation with his father, but after getting hit in the face multiple times and probably being out of his brother's wedding, he had had enough confrontations for the night. He would deal with his father on Monday, when he was heavily caffeinated and both men would have busy enough schedules that would keep the meeting short.

He wound his way through the hallway until he found a sign for the rooftop pool. With no more Katherine to deal with, he could actually enjoy the nice, evening weather. He was expecting to have some time to himself, but as he stepped outside and walked around the corner, he realized that would not be happening.

Elena was sitting on the edge of the pool, her feet hanging loosely in the blue water, a bottle of champagne resting next to her discarded heels. She was staring out at the city in front of her, but her eyes didn't appear to be focused on anything. She looked lost and sad, like she didn't know which way was up, and for the first time in months, he felt for someone other than his brother. He understood that feeling, lived with that feeling on a daily basis.

When he married Katherine, his whole life had been planned out. He was going to be with her forever. Now she was gone, and his plans were gone with her. Most days, he didn't know what he was doing. He acted like nothing was wrong, and most believed it, but it wasn't quite true. As much anger as there was between him and Katherine, he still missed her. She was his wife, and he'd loved her.

The things she'd done – that they'd done to each other, didn't make the love disappear. If anything, it made the fact that he loved her hurt even more. He'd never wanted to hurt her, but now he craved it. He relished in seeing the fleeting moments of pain that would pass through her gaze when he pushed just the right button. Over the past few months, the love had faded into almost nothing, and the pain had eased as well, but he was still walking through his life without a map. Where did he start again?

"It's not polite to stare." Elena's soft words pulled him from his distant thoughts. He looked up to see she was still staring ahead of her.

He smirked and walked over to her. "Well, I'm not exactly known for my polished manners."

"Surprise, surprise." She finally turned to look at him as he lowered himself next to her on the ground.

"If I did have good manners, this would probably be the point where I asked if you wanted to be left alone."

She raised her eyebrows at him as he discarded his shoes and rolled up the bottom of his pants to dip his feet into the pool. "It would appear that I don't have much of a choice in the matter." She sighed and looked down at her feet that were kicking softly in the water. "I'm just happy you're not Matt. I half expected him to follow after me."

"He tried. Bonnie stopped him."

Elena released a visible sigh of relief at that piece of news. "Good. I can't deal with him right now." Tears instantly flooded her eyes and she furiously shook her head. "How horrible does that sound? I've been with him for four years, things should not be like this."

"Relationships don't always work out how you want them to." It was a harsh reality that he was more than aware of.

"But it should, shouldn't it? If you love someone and you want to be with him or her, it should all work out." Elena's words reminded Damon of just how young she was. The few times he'd encountered her over the past month, he was always surprised that she was the same age as Caroline. She seemed so wise beyond her years most of the time, but hearing her speak about relationships, proved that she was still young, and figuring it all out.

"If life were that simple, the divorce rate would not be what it is. Sometimes, no matter how much you want it to work, it just can't. Life just doesn't work that way." If he were a better man he would find more encouraging words of wisdom for her, but he wasn't, so he didn't.

"Nobody ever tells you this when you're younger. No one sits you down and lets you know that sometimes life is going to suck, and people are just going to flat out hurt you. They never explain that the pain isn't any different just because someone didn't mean to hurt you. There's just talk of following your heart and finding your other half."

"Yeah, well, Disney lied," he shrugged.

"Everyone lied." She lifted the champagne bottle to her lips and tipped the bubbly beverage down her throat. "They should have just been honest."

"It wouldn't have mattered. Cause once you fall in love, that's it. Logic, reason, it all goes out the door. There's nothing analytical about love, it's all about emotions. Sometimes it works and sometimes it tries to take you for every penny you're worth."

"You mean like you and Katherine?" The question is so casual and unexpected that it renders him speechless for a few moments. And the surprise must be obvious on his face, because she is quickly explaining; "I was on the terrace when the two of you were fighting earlier."

"Now who needs to work on their manners?"

She ignored his attempt to brush off her mention of Katherine. "I didn't know you were going through a divorce."

"Yeah, well," he shrugged, trying to appear disinterested. "It happens. One in every two marriages ends in divorce now, right?"

"If you thought that, you wouldn't have gotten married. Did you really think to yourself that it might not work out, but you might as well enjoy it while it lasts?"

"Yes," he told her with what could only sound like utmost sincerity. "That is exactly what I thought on my wedding day. I thought, hey, this thing is bound to end in divorce, so why don't I have some fun and not get a pre-nup, just to make things interesting down the line."

She stared at him for a few moments before she narrowed her eyes in annoyance. "Behavior like this is why you drive Caroline crazy."

"Caroline was crazy when I met her. I did nothing to help her out in that department."

"You antagonize the crap out of her." So, maybe she had a point with that one, but his future sister-in-law wasn't completely defenseless.

"Oh, please," Damon scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Blondie can give as good as she gets. If you don't believe me, ask her about slapping me next time you see her."

Elena's eyes widened in shock. "Caroline slapped you?"

"Yeah," he nodded his head, thinking back on Caroline's attack. "And then she tried to pummel my chest with her fists. This was, of course, after Stefan punched me."

If it was possible, her eyes widened even further. "Stefan punched you?"

"Twice."

Her lips pursed together and she brought a hand over her mouth to try and cover the growing smirk, but soon, a peal of laughter broke free from her lips. It was a deep belly laugh that had her leaning forward as tears poured from her eyes. "I'm sorry," she gasped between laughs. "I'm just picturing Stefan punching you, and it's really funny."

Soon, despite his best efforts, he was laughing too. She was right, there was something purely hilarious about Stefan punching him. His brother was the biggest pacifist he knew. He hadn't been in a fight with anyone but Damon in his entire life. He hated violence.

"You're right, it's funny," he admitted after he stopped laughing, and she was beginning to calm down.

She gently wiped her tears away from beneath her eyes, trying not to smear any of her make-up. "It makes a really funny mental picture." Despite her attempts, she still smeared her eyeliner at the corner of her eye.

He reached up to touch the corner of his eye. "You've got a little spot." She attempted to wipe it off, but without a mirror, she only managed to smear the black spot more. "Here," he leaned forward and brushed his thumb over the spot, until he finally rubbed it away. "There."

Their eyes met over his hand as he continued to softly run his finger over the silky skin of her cheek. His gaze flickered to her mouth as her tongue darted out to lick her lips. "All gone?" she whispered, and he moved his gaze back to find her staring intently at his lips.

"Yeah, all gone."

She swallowed thickly. "Good."

"Yeah," he breathed. "Good."

Everything happened so quickly he didn't know who made the first move. Their lips were suddenly on each other and his fingers delved into the thick tresses of her hair. Her mouth was hot enticing as it moved against his, her teeth occasionally nipping at his bottom lip.

The sound of her moaning when his tongue delved into her mouth only spurred him on. He ran his hands down to her hips and pulled her upper body against his until her breasts were pressed firmly against his chest. He knew it was wrong, that he shouldn't be doing this, but when her tongue slid over his, he couldn't bring himself to truly care.

Things were rapidly spiraling out of control when, like a bucket of cold water, her name being called pulled them apart. "Elena!" Their breaths were coming in short pants as they looked over to the sound of the irritated voice to find that it belonged to Bonnie. Her hands were on her hips as she focused her eyes on her best friend. "Matt is looking for you."

"I'm coming." Elena instantly pulled her feet out of the water and stood up, managing to avoid looking in his direction the entire time. She didn't say another word as she grabbed her shoes and rushed over to her friend, who gave him one last judging look as they went back inside the hotel.

He sighed once they were gone and pushed himself back to his feet. In one night, he'd had a very brutal fight with Katherine, ruined his brother's engagement party, gotten kicked out of the wedding, and made out with the taken maid of honor. This was his life now, one bad decision after the other.

Yet, kissing Elena didn't feel bad. It felt good, and right. She could have gotten mad at him and yelled at him for ruining her best friend's engagement party, but she didn't. She talked to him like he was a real person. There was no agenda behind what she said. She wasn't making polite conversation until she could get away. She didn't care that he had money. She didn't look at him with pitying eyes at the mention of his divorce.

When he'd met Elena that night in the bar, he hadn't thought she'd turn out to be like this. He thought she'd be as flighty as Caroline, and maybe a good time in bed. He'd never thought she'd turn out like this.

His phone rang as he entered the hotel again. The caller ID informed him that it was his brother calling. "Don't tell me she kicked you out of your own place."

"No, she did not kick me out." He could practically hear Stefan rolling his eyes. "I was just calling to say that you still need to show up to get fitted for your suit tomorrow."

"Caroline let me back into the wedding this fast?" he questioned in disbelief.

Stefan hesitated before answering. "Not yet, she's still mad, but she will. So, just show up tomorrow at 1. Don't give her another reason to be mad at you when she changes her mind."

Too late for that.

Damon flashed back on his kiss with Elena. Caroline was going to kill him.