Chapter sixteen
"She was actually in Damon's room taking a bath?" Elena shook her head.
"I don't know if that's funny or just really bad timing on her part." Jeremy said as he grabbed a travel mug from the cupboard and filled it with coffee.
"The timing was intentional. It always is with her. Either way I'm gonna head over to talk to Damon before class. He may not want to see me but I can't imagine he'd enjoy being blindsided by Katherine either. " Stefan said.
"Good luck." Jeremy told him. "Damon's kind of a mess."
Elena gave him a disapproving look.
"What? He is. You didn't really expect him to be okay did you?"
"I know he's not doing well. It's obvious just looking at Alex first thing in the morning. She's gone from morning after glow to bags under the eyes and three cups of coffee. " Stefan said.
"Alaric's worried about him too." Jeremy told them, smearing peanut butter on toast.
"He hasn't passed on yet?" Stefan asked.
Jeremy shook his head. "He said he'd always be here if I need him and you know he forgave Damon. So he's out there a lot trying to help him. Anyway I'm out of here. I'm headed out there after school for another lesson so don't plan on me for dinner or anything." He told his sister and headed out the door.
"He's headed in to school with Matt. He's barely spending any time with Bonnie at all. " Elena said. "It's like there has been this line drawn and one side is Team Alex and the other side is Team Bonnie. I don't like it."
"So walk the middle like Caroline. " Stefan suggested. "You don't have to choose sides just because two people don't like each other."
"It's more than not liking each other. I keep expecting war to be declared." Elena said.
"I think it already has been. But not by either of them." Stefan leaned in to kiss her. "I'll drive you to school before heading over to Damon's place."
"I will be bringing Jeremy home with me after work. " Sasha told him as she handed over his breakfast. She didn't trust him to put everything in his diet right now. He was ramping up to a major self destructive blow out and she wanted to pad the edges as much as possible.
Damon nodded. "How's he coming along?" He asked. He liked the kid and not just because he was Elena's brother. Kid had spunk. It annoyed the hell out of him when he mouthed off, but at the same time, he liked that about Jeremy. The kid was going to need a back bone of steel to deal with it all.
"He's doing really well. He's picking things up quickly. Jeremy has a good head on his shoulders as long as it doesn't involve girls." She said.
"Are you saying that just because he's almost dating Bonnie?" Damon asked wrinkling his nose at the taste. He'd just wash it out of his mouth later with whiskey he supposed.
"Not just Bonnie. We talked about the ghost night incident. He tends to let himself be used pretty easily. He's going to have to be careful. There are a lot of spirits that will latch onto that weakness. I leave the Bonnie situation alone with him and Caroline. As long as they are dosing up with Rowan or wearing it somewhere I'm satisfied."
Damon frowned. His brother was supposedly doing the same. Could he trust him again? Hell he didn't trust himself at the moment how was he supposed to trust Stefan. There was one person in the world that he trusted in that moment and he was looking at her. Even that was because of the bond. That was just one more reason to be glad that he had switched out the blood.
"Yeah, okay. It's not just spells that create the problem though. " Damon said and set aside the empty glass. "We'll just have to keep an eye on them."
Alex put her arms around him and rested her head on his chest. "We will." She said looking up at him after a moment. "Want to join me for lunch today?" She asked.
"Nah. I thought I'd get to work sorting out where to put my stuff. I can't leave it in the millhouse forever." He said, his heart racing at the thought of leaving the house much less the property.
"Okay. " she said softly. She knew he wouldn't. He couldn't, and she couldn't help him because he wouldn't let her.
"I'm sorry."
She reached up to caress his cheek. "You have nothing to be sorry for. " Alex told him.
He leaned into her touch and turned his head to kiss her palm. "Just don't leave me." He whispered, not realizing the words had been said aloud.
"Never." She said. "you're stuck with me, for the rest of our lives."
"Promise?" He asked.
"I promise." She kissed him tenderly. "I'll see you when I get home."
Damon walked her to the door, and stood in the doorway watching as she got into the car and drove away. She promised but he didn't know how long she'd put up with him the way he was now. He didn't know how long he'd be able to put up with it. More than once he'd thought about removing his ring and just standing in the sunshine. He hated being that weak.
He left the door open, staring out at the late winter weather. A few short weeks to spring. The orchard would start blooming and she'd want to walk in it. She'd want to walk with him. She'd want to go dancing when the founder's balls began to happen. She'd be out there alone and he'd be sitting there staring into the fire place while life happened around them.
He took a deep breath and walked toward the door. He clenched his fists and stepped up to the threshold. He took a step out of the door and made himself stand there even as he began to shake. He closed his eyes and tried to chase the images from his mind. Even now Timon's voice echoed in his head he could feel his presence and the rules lain out in stone that he couldn't break no matter how much he wanted to do so. He felt as though he was being crushed under the weight of the sky and the will of a dead man.
He was back inside far quicker than he had stepped out and he closed the door, slamming it hard enough to rock the foundations of the house.
Stefan watched from the tree line. So that was what they meant by Damon was a mess. He had brought this on him. He had to fix it. He took a deep breath and walked up to the house. He didn't knock. He didn't say anything. He simply opened the door and moved the porch chair into the doorway so that the door couldn't be closed, and held it there. "We need to talk." He said.
"You know, I think I'm going to enclose the porch." Damon said before turning to face his brother. "What do you want, Stefan?
"Katherine is back." He said simply.
"How fun for you."Damon said taking a seat on the sofa.
"Found her in your room, hanging out in your bathtub." Stefan told him.
"No you didn't. My room is here. I share that and the bathtub with Sasha." He shrugged. "I don't care where she sleeps anymore. She's not my problem." He scowled a moment. "What does she want? She find out about you being engaged or something?"
"I don't know. I took off to pick up Elena for school." Stefan said. "Didn't take the time to ask too many questions. Naked and soapy is not really how I want to deal with Katherine."
"But it's how she would love to deal with you."Damon chuckled. "And now you're here, cutting French class. " he tsked at him "Alex wont like that." He mocked.
"I don't care what Alex likes." Stefan said locking gazes with his brother. "This cold war between her and Bonnie has destroyed what's left of our family."
"And of course your actions have nothing to do with that." Damon said shaking his head. "Cause handing me over to Rebecca wasn't your fault at all, was it brother. Just like forcing me to transition wasn't your fault. It wasn't your fault we ended up in New Orleans and I was captured because you were leaving bodies everywhere. Not your fault that you stole Katherine, not your fault that Andi is dead. None of that is your fault is it?" He scoffed. "Whatever Stefan. "
"I was a seventeen year old kid. What did you expect from me?" Stefan asked pushing as many buttons as he could. "I didn't want to die and neither did you. You were just wallowing. Like you're doing now. Wallowing in self pity."
"Go to hell." Damon said sharply.
"I'm not going anywhere. " Stefan said giving a short laugh. "You want to sit there feeling sorry for yourself go ahead. But you don't get to blame me for this. I'm not the one that brought Alex to town. I'm not the one that called for the other necromancer. Hell I'm not even responsible for what happened at the school. I was just trying to save my brother from himself and his manipulative girlfriend. Can't fault a guy for that. " He shifted position a little, preparing himself for the moment when he hit the right button. It was in there he just had to find it. "okay so some witch somewhere decided that I needed a little boost to give a damn in the first place but that's hardly the point."
"You have a point?" Damon said. "I am pretty sure I can find a lot of points around here. One of them just might hit your heart. Probably with a lot better luck than you're having hitting my last nerve."
"As if." Stefan said. "But hey, you stay there on the sofa, and drink yourself into oblivion. I can talk all day. Spent enough time listening to Klaus talk to hear the sound of his own voice that I figure I have a couple days of non stop chatter in me somewhere. " He turned the chair around and straddled the seat, two of the legs still across the threshold and blocking the door open.
"Stefan go home before Katherine robs you blind. Leave me alone. " Damon said and got up to turn on the stereo.
Stefan lobbed a rock at the stereo hard enough to embed itself into the plastic casing.
"Hey!" Damon yelled.
"Another trick I picked up from Klaus. Apparently he and Elijah used to skim stones too." He bounced another stone in his hand.
"If you throw that I'll-"
This time it went through a window, barely missing several glass bottles. "You'll what? Stand there and yell at me some more?" Stefan asked, another stone in hand. "You want me to quit? You want me to leave you're gonna have to come and make me." Come on, Damon, get mad, get really mad. You can do this. Come on. Stop thinking and just do it.
Damon stood glaring at his brother, until the moment the third stone left his hand then he charged. He grabbed Stefan on his way across the threshold and didn't stop until he had slammed him into the massive Oak that over shadowed the lawn.
Stefan knew better than to let go now. He pushed off of the oak and headed them into the thick trees going toward the river.
The brothers fought. Damon unleashed all the anger and fear and pain he felt onto his younger brother. Stefan fought back just enough to keep Damon going and himself in one piece. He groaned as he slammed into the stone wall of the millhouse repeatedly. He began to wonder if he hadn't pushed too far.
Stefan couldn't tell if it was his blood rushing in his ears or the river rushing past them. He grinned then, and gave a roar as he charged Damon and the two brothers went off the small dock and into the frigid waters below.
The struggle continued, each brother trying to hold the other under. The water lessened the impact of the blows until Damon finally rolled his eyes and said. " God, Enough." And promptly broke Stefan's neck.
Stefan woke with a gasp, lying on the river bank soaking wet, with his brother sitting beside him.
"You're fixing that window and replacing the stereo." Damon told him.
"It got you out of the house." He said with a grin only to have Damon shove him off the bank back into the water.
Damon stood watching as Stefan slogged his way out of the river, and then started walking back toward the house. "Come on, brother. We have to get Katherine out of your house and then I have a lunch date to keep. No… reverse that."
"This mean you've forgiven me?" Stefan asked as they walked.
"No. " Damon shook his head."I'm just not interested in killing you anymore."
"It's a start." Stefan said.
Damon gave him a look and ran back to the house. He stepped inside. "And you owe me a bottle of bourbon." He said spotting instantly where the last stone had landed. "I'd make you clean this mess up but I can't invite you in." He told his brother. He still wasn't sure he wanted to yet so it was just fine that Alex had to be the one to do that.
He changed out of his wet clothing and shaved for the first time in several days. He looked almost like his old self when he came out and cleared the broken glass and mopped up the bourbon. "Fortunately for you." He said looking at his soaking wet brother at the door. "You don't have to come inside to replace that window." He said then tossed him a change of clothes.
"Especially since I can just hire someone to come out and do it." Stefan said.
"That's cheating." Damon said walking toward the door. His hands still shook so as soon as the door was closed and locked he shoved them into his pockets. "You're driving."
Alexandra wasn't sure what to do about Damon. If she tried to go in and undo whatever it was Timon had done, she would just make it worse because it would be another invasion. Her mind wasn't on her work and the students knew it. Fortunately for her they were more than willing to pretend to be working on written assignments while she sent emails back and forth with her sister.
She was relieved when the last of her students left for lunch hour. She was exhausted. She wasn't sleeping any better than Damon was. She couldn't treat him as she had before when they were together. It was different now. He wasn't her property. She couldn't simply order him to lie down and let her into his head. She worried that one day she would have to though before it drove him mad.
Yvette would be no help. She was of the opinion that Vampires were livestock and nothing more. Work horses, guard dogs and occasionally sacrificial lambs. So Alex did not mention it when she wrote, discussing only the witch house and the situation with Tyler Lockwood. Her sister found the fact that she was in love with a vampire as distasteful as having fallen in love with ones dog. Alexandra didn't hide it, but it had become the elephant in the room.
She heard the class room door open . She looked up and smiled seeing Damon standing there. "Hi." She said getting up to go hug him. He looked better. So much better. It was still there around the edges. What ever it was that had been done to his mind was still there but he looked more in control.
He leaned in to kiss her. "I decided the boxes could wait. " he told her. "That and Stefan came out to the house. "
"How did that go?" She asked as he led her out into the corridor. She had wondered where the boy had been during first period.
"He busted the stereo, a window and my last bottle of bourbon." Damon said. " All of which he is going to replace. I beat the hell out of him, broke his neck and tossed him in the river. All in all I think it went well."
Alex laughed quietly. " Are you two talking now?" She would have to thank Stefan the next time she saw him. Not the tactic she would have chosen but it worked when she'd been failing.
"Yeah. We're talking. I still don't want him invited in until we know for sure that the witch situation is dealt with."
She could have pointed out that he was taking the rowan concoction regularly. He would be safe from any such manipulation but she didn't. If he still felt the need to set boundaries she wasn't going to interfere.
"Unfortunately, Katherine has shown up again. There's another one not to invite in which means no Elena because she poses as Elena to get at Stefan sometimes. So better just to leave them on the not allowed list. "
"You okay with her being in town?" She asked as they neared her car. She handed him her keys.
"I am completely over Katherine." He told her. "Finding out that she had been out there the whole time, and had known where we were killed any love I had for her. " He said caressing her face. "However she is currently installing herself in my room over at Stefan's place and I'm just not comfortable with that. Feels like she's picking my bones or something." He opened the passenger's door for her and then got in on the driver's side. "Where do you want to go for lunch?"
"Italian sounds good." She said grinning at him.
"If only you hadn't given me the willow bark this morning." He teased back, "I would be more than happy to oblige. Now you just have to settle for the linguini at the Grill." He was faking it. He didn't feel anything like his old self yet but was able to see the toll it was taking on her now, so he had to fake his way through it until it was second nature. He'd manage. He wasn't going to chase her away like he did all the others.
"I think I can handle that for now. " She said resting her hand over his.
"And after lunch I will go and throw Katherine out of Stefan's. " He said smiling. "I think it's going to be a good day after all."
Stefan sat down at the picnic table next to Elena and her friends, smiling more than he had in weeks.
"Isn't that Damon's shirt." Elena asked, which got Caroline's undivided attention. "and your hair is wet. What did you do over there?"
"Damon and I went swimming." He said grinning, stealing a french-fry off of her plate.
"In February?"
"You would have to get him out the door first." Caroline said with a slight frown. "What did you do?"
"Just gave him a reason to come after me. " Stefan laughed a little. "We're not good yet, but he's talking to me and he didn't actually try and kill me, so its progress. After he brings Alex back from lunch we're going to go throw Katherine out."
"Why do you need Damon's help to get rid of Katherine?" Bonnie asked. It was too bad that Damon was out of the house. The only person he could have hurt locked in his own home was Alexandra and Bonnie would have applauded that one.
"She's four times our age." Stefan said. "She's not as fragile and delicate as she looks."
"So you think I'm fragile and delicate?" Elena asked, trying to have a serious look on her face but failing.
"No, I think you look fragile and delicate."
"Okay that I can deal with." She smiled up at him and kissed him.