AN: Thanks again to Vivreaencrever for another review! I'm really glad you're sticking with me. :D And know, it was a mean move on Elena's part. And go Dalaric friendship! Disclaimer: Please don't sue me for this story. The Vampire Diaries isn't mine, I'm just an overly obsessive fan girl. (Hence my pen name)

Alaric's Point of View

Alaric wanted to know what was bad enough to actually make the vampire cry, but also knew that he should respect Damon's privacy. Then again, maybe he was lonely? No. Damon wouldn't want Alaric to know he had seen the macho vampire cry. But after debating with himself, sadly, Alaric's curiosity had gotten the best of him as he found himself heading toward Damon.

"Damon?" Alaric greeted gently, trying not to break his thoughts too suddenly.

Damon sat up for the first time in days and Alaric glanced at surprise in his strength. That was one good thing happening, but Alaric still wanted to know what was troubling his friend.

Damon glanced up in surprise at Alaric's greeting and turned away quickly. "What do you want, Ric?" He was obviously trying to hide the fact he was crying, but Alaric didn't need to see the tear to know. He could hear it in the vampire's strained, soft voice.

"Are you alright?" Alaric asked worriedly moving toward him.

"What are you talking about?" Damon asked, but Alaric saw right through it.

"What's wrong?" He gave Damon a serious look that told him to stop lying.

"I'm fine," Damon lied, but his voice was tight and he answered much to quickly for it to be true.

"You don't have to hide your feelings from me," Alaric reminded him. "I'm your friend. Aren't friends supposed to cry on each other's shoulders and comfort the one who is hurting?"

"I'm pretty sure you're thinking of the chicks," Damon scoffed.

"Seriously, you can talk to me."

Damon looked away. "Elena kissed me."

Alaric blinked in surprise. "What?"

Damon looked at Alaric. "Elena kissed me," he explained again.

Alaric shook his head. "That doesn't make sense, why would Elena kiss you?Damon raised his eyebrows and Alaric added, "not that you're not amazing or anything, but seriously, why did Elena kiss you?"

Damon shook his head and shrugged. "I don't know."

Alaric hesitated before asking him, "is that why you were crying?"

Damon looked at Alaric in the eyes. "No." Alaric was surprised at the fact that Damon was no longer denying crying.

"Then why-" but Alaric didn't finish before Damon stepped in.

"I guess after living for 170 years, a guy tends to get a little depressed and….lonely." Damon grimaced at the last word.

Alaric wasn't really sure what to say. He didn't even know if there was anything you could say at a moment like this. A few lame, gay sounding lines came to mind but Alaric knew how much Damon hated chick flick moments and Alaric himself wasn't too fond of them either so he kept them to himself.

Instead Alaric found himself sitting down next to Damon the couch. "Yeah, I get what you mean," he muttered. "Besides the whole, "living for 170 years" part.

TVDTVDTVDTVDTVDTVDTVDTVDTVDT VDTVDTVDTVDTVDTVDTVDTVDTVDTV DTVDTVDTVD

Damon was getting better as the day went by, and Alaric found himself not checking on him for physical distress, but emotional. By the end of the day, Damon had finished the blood and was sleeping. By the day after tomorrow, he would be completely recovered, and he, Bonnie and Caroline would set off on their mission to get Stefan, and find away to stop Klaus…or at least put him on hold for a while.

Alaric was about to head to bed himself when he was stopped on the stairs by Elena.

"Is he sleeping?" she asked and Alaric nodded. She quickly made her way downstairs and a few seconds later she came back with her cell phone.

"I need to call Jeremy," she explained after Alaric gave her a weird look. "To check up on him."

"That's not what the look was for," Alaric said.

Elena sighed. "Okay, I'm avoiding Damon," she admitted. "Happy?"

"Wow, really had to drag that out of you," Alaric muttered sarcastically.

"It's just-"

"You and Damon kissed."

Elena opened her mouth to say something when she stopped. She gave Alaric a puzzled look. "How-"

"Damon told me," Alaric explained. He made sure to leave out the part where Damon was actually crying. If anyone ever heard that, Alaric would probably end up being dinner.

Elena gave an angry, frustrated sigh. "Ugh! So now he's telling people? What is he bragging about it?"

Alaric furrowed his brows. "Actually, he was pretty upset about it."

"Well he should be."

Alaric shook his head. "I heard you're the one who kissed him."

Elena rolled her eyes. "So he's spreading that, too? Great. Well he shouldn't have kissed me back. He let me kiss him."

"It's hardly fair to blame this on him, Elena and you know it."

Elena hesitated. "I know," she whispered softly. "I'm just really upset about it, and I don't want to believe that it was my fault. I can't think of that right now. What if Klaus hurts Stefan…what if the last thing I did while Stefan was gone, was kiss his own brother?"

Alaric put his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. "Elena, he's going to be fine," he reminded her for the umpteenth time. "Damon's getting better and soon he'll be able to go off and find him. This will be over and all of this will be behind us."

"I just don't know if I'll ever be able to talk to Damon again," she said. "It'll always be weird around us." She turned and began to head up the stairs when Alaric stopped her.

"He cried," he blurted before he could stop himself. Elena turned stopped but didn't turn around. "He said he just feels alone, but I think it's the kiss that really made him think about it."

Elena finally turned around and faced Alaric. "Damon…cried?"

"I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it."

Elena pressed her lips together, and ran back upstairs.

The action will begin in just two chapters. So please, hold on!