This chapter is dedicated to the awesome source of inspiration and brilliance, Anya or findmysoulasigohome on tumblr. If you have a tumblr and are not following her, you're wrong. Anyway, enjoy!

Brace For Impact

"Don't judge a man until you have walked two moons in his moccasins."

-Sharon Creech

The Shoe is on the Other Foot

Chapter Ten

The silence in the clearing only lasted seconds before a frantic voice unsurprisingly disturbed the peace.

"What are you talking about, Damon? Bonnie was just here!" Caroline appeared more lost than accusatory at the moment, so Damon could not help but hold back any witty retorts. Okay, maybe it was not out of some desire to spare the blonde's feelings, but because he was feeling increasingly dizzy and nauseous. He looked down noticing that the blood was still trickling down his collarbone. Funny, he could have sworn he felt fine a second ago. His eyes tracked a specific trail from his neck that dripped steadily onto the grass in a transfixed manner. "Damon? Didn't you hear me? What do you mean Bonnie was with you?"

He heard Caroline speaking to him, but her voice was distorted and slowed. He looked up at the two puzzled vampires before him and gradually the view changed to the sky above him. The sun was setting causing streaks of pink and orange to decorate the clouds. Suddenly his view was obscured by Elena and Caroline's startled faces. Or maybe just Caroline's as Elena's was so blank nowadays it was hard to tell.

"Damon?" Caroline called again almost worriedly. Her face was almost completely healed now with only a slightly redder hue than usual. Did she really take so much as to be better by now? Damon missed vampire healing more than anything at that moment.

"Damon," Elena called blankly. She did not seem at all perturbed at his condition. Still, she shifted to cradle him in her lap without a wince of pain at the contact with his vervain-drenched clothing.

Blackness creept along his vision shrouding his view of her. What a shame, he always loved looking at her. He thought he felt soft fingers sweep through his wet hair and the accompanying sizzle from the remnants of vervain in there.

But then the darkness came, and he did not think anymore.

Elena stroked strands of Damon's wet hair out of his face. Her fingers and lap burned from the vervain that he was soaking it, but she paid it no mind.

"Oh, god!" Caroline exclaimed as Damon's eyes drifted shut, "Shoot! I didn't mean to." She raised her left wrist to her fangs and bit down. The veins were still crawling down her eyes when she reached forward to feed Damon.

Abruptly, her wrist was ensnared by a harsh grip and twisted until it broke.

"Oww, god Elena, seriously, what was that for?"

"Don't," was all Elena said as she felt for Damon's pulse on his wrist. She did not want to touch the blood covering his neck lest she be tempted to drink it. Damon's pulse was certainly not regular, but it was not rapid enough to necessitate vampire blood. She could take him for medical treatment, and he would be fine.

"Wait a second, Elena. Where are you going?" Caroline tried to stop her as she rose carefully. Damon was still cradled in her arms and dead to the world. Elena prepared to blur her way to the Camaro and get Damon to the hospital when Caroline grasped her should firmly. "Hold on already!"

Elena growled. She could not fight Caroline with Damon in her arms. She did not have time for this. "What?" She hissed.

Caroline looked at her as if she was the crazy one. "Umm hello, why are you carrying Damon away and trying to stop me from feeding him some blood because he's starting to look like Patrick Swayze in Ghost. And not the hot, alive one but the dead, ghostly guy."

"That's why I'm taking him to the hospital," Elena replied slowly as if speaking to someone mentally incapable. She started to move again when Caroline gripped her shoulder even more insistently.

"The hospital? We should just heal him here before he gets worse."

"We can't give him vampire blood because he's determined to kill himself."

Caroline did not react, and Elena got the feeling that she was already aware of Damon's newfound mission. So was he just going around asking anyone for vampire blood now?

"Yeah, he asked me for some earlier, but that was when he was not dying. So now would be a good time to let go of that rule."

"Don't pretend to care," Elena sneered. "We both know you'd throw party where you'd talk about how awful Damon is if he died."

"Hang on. Damon's totally not my favorite person, but if you think I'd just let him die, then you don't know me at all." Caroline appeared offended at the assumption that she did not give two shits about Damon's wellbeing. Good, Elena thought viciously. It was funny because less than a month ago all she could tell Elena is how utterly useless and awful Damon was.

"Well maybe we just don't know each other all that well. After all, weren't you the one who said that I haven't been me since I turned?"

And with that, Elena blurred away with the still unconscious Damon in her arms leaving Caroline stricken behind her.

Elena had snuck Damon into a room and ensured no one would bother them. It required a little more stealth than usual. She could not wait until a couple days had passed and all the vervain had passed through everyone in Mystic Falls' systems. She had no patience for subtlety right now.

She had made a point to text Meredith and tell her to come to check up room 407 immediately and had gotten a positive response at least.

Elena was tracking Damon's health religiously, anticipating the moment when it would deteriorate and force her hand. His heart rate was not quite fast enough yet to make her give him some blood, but it was not too far from it either.

Elena's lips thinned at the thought. What was taking her? All she really did was give her patients vampire blood anyway. What work could she possibly be doing?

On second thought, maybe Elena should have taken Damon to a real doctor.

Before she had time to contemplate finding a better alternative for medical care, Elena heard the sound of the door creaking open behind her. She turned and faced a seemingly distracted Dr. Meredith Fell. Meredith was preoccupied with some charts and files in her hand as she absentmindedly closed the door behind her.

"So Elena, what can I do for you?" Meredith finally looked up, took in the scene in front of her, and paused. She cocked her head to the side and furrowed her brows in a move that oddly reminded Elena of Stefan. "Is this a joke…?"

Elena did not even bother to acknowledge that comment. "He's suffering from blood loss."

Meredith cautiously approached Damon's prone form still shooting questioning glances at Elena. Then she gave her undivided attention to Damon. She perused his wounds, listened to his pulse, and felt along his extremities carefully. "What the hell?" She mumbled beneath her breath.

Elena shifted impatiently. Was she going to do something or just gawk like an idiot?

"Elena," Meredith started, "I don't really know what's going on, but if what I'm seeing is right, and Damon is more alive than usual, then you got to give him some of your blood."

"I brought him here, so I wouldn't have to do that," Elena responded irritated with the woman's incompetence. She should have just brought Damon to a different doctor.

"Yes, but his condition is severe enough that under normal circumstances the only course of action to take would be to give him a blood transfusion immediately."

"Pretend these are normal circumstances then. I know how much you love giving vampire blood to everyone with a split lip or paper cut, but I can't give him any blood. Just give him the transfusion." Elena did not see the problem, with the amount of blood bags the vampires in town consumed on a regular basis, a few more to actually save Damon's life would change nothing. Why not use them for their real purpose?

"I would, but every blood bank for thirty miles has had their stashes stolen in the last week. There's nowhere to get supplies from."

"So you're saying that all the blood banks have been completely drained of supplies?" Stefan looked concerned as Elena told him what Meredith had relayed. He was standing by Damon's drink cart which caused Elena's mind to scream wrong, but she said nothing. It was a stupid thought anyway.

"Aww that's too bad, you had to give him vampire blood after all," Caroline sniped from her place on the couch opposite of Elena.

"Well, at least I spared him from having to drink your blood. The neurosis and nosiness could be contagious," Elena replied uncaringly. It may give her a thrill of satisfaction to watch Caroline's blood boil after all her judgments recently, but Elena's switch was in tact and she could honestly not care less.

Stefan interrupted before tensions could escalate any further. It seemed that any remnants of friendship she and Caroline had strained to the point of seeming nonexistence. Fine by me, thought Elena, who needs a "friend" obsessed with controlling their life? "The point is Damon's fine, and we have a new problem on our hands."

"Oh," Caroline chirped, "What about the vervain lake? I mean I can't be the only one confused as to how that happened. I swim in the quarry every summer, and it's never been polluted like that."

"I thought the mayor removed the vervain from the water too quickly. He must have dumped the remaining contaminated water into the ravine that leads into the quarry," Stefan answered. "He probably did not expect any vampires to go swimming in there and then it was easily accessible if he needs mass amounts of vervain filled water."

Caroline opened her mouth to comment when an enraged voice loudly reverberated throughout the house.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me!"

"You have got to be fucking kidding me!" Damon was absolutely seething at his current predicament. He was shaking at the injustice of it all. His body still ached and he felt like he got hit with a mac truck, but that was not the cause of his irrepressible anger.

Seriously?! No good deed goes unpunished in Mystic fucking Falls if he can dive in to save Blondie, get chomped on for it, and wake up in the goddamn Salvatore boarding house cell. Again.

Why do I even bother? Life was so much easier when I just ate people.

His cry seemed to have alerted some people as he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. They were slow and leisurely paced as if aware that there was no immediate threat. Oh, by all means, take your fucking time.

Peering through the bars of the cell, Damon caught sight of the people who were fast becoming his top three annoyances.

Caroline looked like she was struggling to contain her laughter at the sight of him, Elena was just staring blankly at him, but at least Stefan had the grace to look mildly guilty.

"What gives?" Damon demanded without preamble.

"I had to give you vampire blood to heal you," Elena said plainly. In fact, she looked bored as if he were wasting her time.

"So what? Let me out of here!"

"Why? So you can kill yourself in some pointless attempt to become a vampire again?"

"I didn't say I was going to do that," Damon started. At the three incredulous looks piercing him, he added, "Recently. And that was before your explanations as to why I shouldn't risk it. Who's to say I haven't learned since then?"

"You? Learning from your mistakes and listening to reason? I find that harder to believe than the fact that there are two Bonnies walking around," Caroline retorted.

"Wipe that smirk off your face, Barbie. As I recall, it's only because of your stupidity that I'm in this mess."

When Blondie failed to come up with a comeback to that, Damon turned to Stefan. "Oh, come on, Stef. This is ridiculous! What can I do right now as a human anyway."

Stefan sighed tiredly, which Damon recognized from a hundred sixty some odd years of experience as a bad sign. "Can you just try to make the best of it for now? It won't be for too long."

"Besides, Damon," Elena smirked, "Weren't you the one who came up with the plan to lock me up when I wanted to put myself in danger way back when with Klaus."

"At least I trapped you in your house, you've put me in a cell!"

"Well, we're short on sane witches, so you'll just have to bear it for the next two days."

"Two days?!" Damon did not think he had ever been angrier. He forced all the indignation down and curled his lips into something that resembled a grimace more than a smile. By the reaction he got out of Barbie, it was worth the effort. "Then you better bring me lots of bourbon. If I have to put up with the three of you for the next couple days without being able to run away, I better start getting wasted now."

By the time his two days in confinement were up, Damon had drunk more bourbon than the entire stock of the Mystic Grill and seriously contemplated the intelligence of saving Vampire Barbie.

When Stefan finally let him out, he stormed past his brother without a word. He took a shower in his room and relished the feeling of freedom.

Unfortunately, the shower forced memories of his time in New York with Elena to the surface.

Despite his big words as of late and his attempt at indifference, every feeling from that ill-fated trip was still swirling inside of him. It was an insidious sensation. Every now and then he would forget the way he felt as Elena perched herself on top of him and whispered words of contempt into his ear, and then without warning, the emotions would return full force.

He envied Elena. He almost wished he could turn off his emotions himself. But by now, he knew not only was it not a fully functioning option, but it did not really solve anything long term anyway.

He tried to keep the thoughts at bay, but like the switch, that only worked for so long.

Did Elena really mean what she said? Was she just capitalizing on the opportunity to speak her thoughts that she had repressed for so long because when she had her humanity, she felt for everyone even someone as awful as him? Or did she just say everything to drive him away? And if so, where did she come up with all those insults? They had to come from somewhere, right?

The water trickled down his back as Damon hunched over with the stress of the last couple days.

Focusing on more important issues, Damon assessed how he was going to fix his current predicament.

Stefan, Elena, and Caroline all turned down his attempts at getting them to turn him back. There were only so many vampires in town to ask. Rebekah would never. Besides, her obvious distaste towards him, she would be so enraged over losing the cure to someone who wanted to turn back immediately that she would probably rip his heart out on the stop. And Elena may think he is suicidal now, but he knew better than to try appealing to Klaus. He did not have that much of a death wish.

He could ask Meredith. She probably had some vampire blood left, right? Although, it might be his own which he could not contemplate. This whole thing was too ridiculous. Maybe he could steal some from Blondie or his brother? If he faked hurt and got them to give him some, he could finish the job before they had time to react.

It felt wrong and absurd to be plotting like this, but he had no choice. He could not stay like this, and he would not let anyone stop him from turning back.

He emerged from the shower without bothering to secure a towel around his waist. He was just going to throw on some clothes, get in his Camaro, and drive to a bar in a city where he was not a felon on the run.

So as he was toweling off his hair and walking into his room, he was startled at the sight before him. She was lounging on his bed as if she were in her own room. Though, he supposes, in some ways, this is the closest to her own room that she has left. "If it isn't my oh so gleeful captor, come to lock me up again?" He did not attempt to cover his body. Damon Salvatore had been called many things, but modest and shy were not among them.

Besides, Elena sure looked like she was enjoying the view.

"Actually, I'm just here for the show," a secretive smile graced her lips.

"Well, unfortunately for you, I've done my time as an all you can eat buffet. So if you're looking for dinner and a movie, I'd try Busboy at the Grill."

Damon walked past her towards his dresser. He bent down to retrieve some clothes. But before he could grab anything, he felt a light pressure on his back.

"Don't be like that," she spoke softly, her delicate fingers trailing down from the nape of his neck to right above the curve of his backside. Her voice was not seductive in the slightest. It was almost confused as if she could not fathom his treatment of her.

"Hasn't anyone ever told you, you can't always get what you want? I know you were born after the Rolling Stones craze, but come now, it's a classic." Damon had abandoned his attempts at getting dressed. He was starting to feel claustrophobic. The last two times she had been this close to him were when she was elaborating on how pathetic he was and when she was bleeding him to death. His luck was not so good that he could assume this time would end differently.

"Come on, Damon. I don't understand what your problem is. You want me, and I want you. It's that simple. Why does it matter that I feel nothing for you?"

He turned and faced her seriously, "When you can answer your own question, you can look me up for a good time."

With that, he yanked on his pants and shirt with almost vampire-like speed and took off.

Bumblefuck, Middle of Nowhere bar, here I come.

Elena stared at the empty space of Damon's dresser incredulously for several minutes. What was his problem? His useless emotions were ruining her plans.

Even as she thought that, she could not help but feel the tingling sensation envelop her once more.

She could not stay in this house anymore.

After that thought processed, she sped after Damon.

Damon was two bourbons into a good time when saw her.

Oh, come on! Can't a guy get a moment's peace? He thought. She sauntered up to him and played with her hair almost nervously.

"What do you want?" He hissed angrily. He loved Elena, he really did, but he needed a break from apathetic Elena more than he needed his vampirism back at the moment. His emotions went haywire whenever she was around, and he did not have the luxury of turning it off. He frenzied heart just needed a five minute breather after their conversation earlier.

Elena looked surprised at his outburst and bit her lip anxiously, "I was just checking up on you."

Really? That was the best she could do? It was almost like she was trying to pointlessly pretend her humanity was back…

Or did not know how to portray an Elena with her switch off.

Damon spun to face the person interrupting his drink with newfound irritation. This was just his luck, he could not think of a worse person to be stuck with.

"What are you doing here, Katherine?"

Next chapter is a really big one. I'm excited and have already written a lot of it.

So reviews have reached an all time low which makes me sad. And I got a few unfollows/unfavorites. Do people just not care now that 4x16-4x18 have aired? I know people don't want to, but I'm starting to actually feel like most people don't like this, so if you care, I'd love a review.

For those of you unaware, I'm whenpeopleseegood on tumblr. Check me out if you want! And vote on Alloy Entertainment poll for Delena, we're losing!