Author's Note: Thank you for the reviews and response. To Depa Billaba: I don't know if you know, but you've disabled the feature to have me reply back to your review - so- I'll just reply here. Thanks for your reply and interest :).
Here's the next chapter!
A week later saw no consequences from Bonnie's current obsession with her magic. Much to Elena's delight, she happily reported to Stefan one day that Bonnie had wanted to have some, "quality girl time". Stefan nodded in response and also found himself relieved, not only for Elena's ease of mind, but for Bonnie's sake as well. Stefan couldn't help but feel even more guilty than usual about how his coming back to Mystic Falls was affecting certain important residents of the town. He constantly felt like his vampiric presence caused enough trouble in a normal young teenager's life, let alone the worry of a possibly all-powerful, first sadistic vampire. So any chance he saw the teens actually engage in normal activities, gave him much happiness.
Unfortunately, Bonnie's new found interest to re-kindle her friendship with Elena and start hanging out more, meant less Stefan and Elena time - and more Stefan brooding around the house time. Stefan supposed he wouldn't mind a little more time to himself, considering he had always been a more quiet and secluded person. He often enjoyed some isolated time as it allowed him to relax by reading or relieve the tension with some new journal entries (though those were few and far between). However, this also meant more interaction with his brother Damon, and Damon was not too pleased with the idea.
Within the first week of Bonnie and Elena hanging out more, Stefan found himself even more depressed than usual. Damon usually started out the day with turning up around 3 in the morning, and then promptly waking up around 12. Stefan would sometimes be up in the living room reading, waiting to possibly catch a moment with Damon and hoping he wasn't too drunk. Damon seemed to just think Stefan was out to annoy him and enforce his duties as "Saint Stefan" by administrating the rules of the house, regarding being home at a respectable hour. Damon would just remark that he was the man of the house, and try to make it to his room before he passed out.
What Damon didn't know, was that Stefan was secretly hoping to bond with his brother again due to the changes he was seeing in Damon. Although, if Stefan were to be honest with himself, he never stopped wanting to be brothers with Damon again. Ever since that fateful night that Stefan had forced Damon to become a vampire, he had had a hole in his heart, and a pain that would not go away. Stefan had never wanted to be a vampire, but after he had become one, he knew there was no one else he would rather spend eternity with. Stefan had always looked up to his big brother and never knew what his life could be without his best friend and loving brother. This, of course, became a reality when Damon had looked back on Stefan with hatred and delivered a line that changed Stefan's undead life forever . The intense emotions of being a vampire only made it worse and after Damon had walked out on him with such a look of disgust, Stefan could only withstand himself by cutting off his emotions. Everything had just become too much, too soon. Despite all the heartache, Stefan never gave up the hope of having his big brother back, and secretly cherished the moments Damon would drop by and make his life hell.
So, even though Damon had clearly lost himself over the years, Stefan could see an enormous change in him. Despite the fact that he would make biting and sarcastic comments left and right, trying to seem impersonal, Stefan knew that Damon was slowly gaining back the humanity that he had buried by growing to care for Mystic Falls and its residents. With this Damon, Stefan could see glimpses of his big brother and it made him yearn even more for his once beloved relationship with him. Therefore, Stefan saw himself forcing himself to stay up at night - due to him being at school while Damon tried to probably take over Mystic Falls and become it's mayor or something- waiting to see if he could at least get a decent conversation in; which would lead the naive side of Stefan to fantasize about how then Damon would eventually forgive him and they would be brothers again.
Yes, Stefan knew this was most likely impossible. If Damon's constant blowing off Stefan the moment he saw him was any proof or if he did talk to Stefan, give him a snide remark and ask why the little boy hadn't gone to bed yet. One night in particular stuck in Stefan's mind and lead him to a final conclusion:
As Stefan stifled a yawn and tried focusing on his book, he heard the distinct sound of footsteps quickly approaching the house at inhuman speed. Knowing that this was Damon, Stefan placed his book no the couch beside him and eagerly waited to greet Damon. The door slammed shut, and in walked Damon, looking a little more coherent than previous nights.
"Hello Damon." Stefan said as he watched Damon walk (instead of stumble like he usual did) in the room.
Damon narrowed his eyes and gave him a look, "Stefan, fancy finding you here after, oh, how many nights now has it been? Three?" Damon quirked an eyebrow.
Stefan smiled in an attempt to appear lighthearted. "Yes, I've been catching up on some reading since Elena has been a little preoccupied with spending some time with Bonnie." Stefan admitted.
Damon walked over to Stefan and plopped down on the couch beside him, obviously having lost his annoyance and curiosity at his younger brother's reoccurring appearances with the mention of Bonnie.
"Ahh, so I see that was right," Damon replied, looking pleased with himself, "I knew all this teenage drama would blow over but you, as usual, blew it over proportion and probably only served to feed into Elena's hallucinations over Bonnie's witch dilemma." The older vampire gave Stefan and disapproving look.
Stefan frowned, "Damon, I wasn't being over dramatic. Bonnie has been going a little overboard lately and she was even missing some days of school to practice spells. Elena knew that she was overworking herself again and she could really hurt herself. Only after Elena and I had kept trying to remind her of things besides being a witch does she seem to be finally giving in to acting like a normal teenager," Stefan replied tiredly. Even though he was glad Damon wasn't sputtering and spewing nonsense from too much alcohol (which was a feat for a vampire), he would rather not spend it arguing over Damon's prejudice over Bonnie.
Damon merely rolled his eyes at his brother and gave him another knowing look. "Whatever. This is just another win "Saint Stefan" can record in his diary for saving the day and - witch damsel." Damon reached over to mockingly pat Stefan's leg as a "job well done" and proceeded to get up off the couch. Stefan was about to comment, when Damon seemed to remember what he originally had wanted to talk about and sunk back down.
"So, why are you always up this week?" Damon rested back on the couch and gave Stefan a questioning look.
Stefan sighed and debated whether he should out right say, "I want to be brothers again!" or just make up some excuse. As he looked up at Damon's face, it was fairly obvious as to what the answer was. Make up some excuse.
"I told you. I'm catching up on some reading."
"At one in the morning? You get home everyday from school at least by 3, and homework, if those teachers ever give it, is done by 3:20. From then until now, you can't find a decent time to read?"
Stefan faltered. "Well…I like reading at night. It calms me when it's quieter…" Stefan finished off lamely, knowing Damon would not let this go.
"Oh please Stefan! I know that you've been trying to check up on me or something. I just never mentioned it the other nights due to being too drunk to care." Damon deadpanned. Stefan winced.
"I haven't been trying to check up on you, really," Stefan added, seeing the look on Damon's face. "I was just trying to…well….talk to you."
Damon merely snorted. "Yeah, and see what I'd cough up and let slip, huh? Big bad Damon has little Stefan worried and god knows what he'll do if it involves anything with his precious Elena and her friends." Damon proceeded to get up, already over the conversation.
Stefan shook his head and got up as well. "Come on Damon, I am not! I know that you've changed and you're not the same Damon who came back to town and wreak endless havoc. I had always hoped your humanity hadn't been completely snuffed out over the years and I'm glad to see it's returning." Stefan added, going a bit further to the truth of why he was staying up late.
Damon was suddenly very close to Stefan and Stefan took a step back out of instinct. "Look," Damon snarled, "My way of life and what I do is none of your concern, brother." Damon spat out. "And that especially goes for whatever you think of my "humanity". I don't care for you to sit here and wait to have lovely chats with me every night, giving me your typical speeches of what "good" people do with their time instead of getting wasted." Stefan found himself frozen as Damon continued his onslaught., too overwhelmed by how angry Damon got.
"So, please," Damon continued, "do not continue to get in my way or I will not be as pleasant next time. Then you can judge how well my humanity is coming along." Damon finished darkly and pushed past Stefan to run up to his bedroom, leaving Stefan alone and more sure of his earlier theories.
Damon hated Stefan and would probably never want to be his brother again.
Author's Note: Alright. Well, I intended to start this chapter completely differently, but my fingers kinda took over and we got some in-depth perspective on how our favorite Salvatore brothers are feeling - especially poor Stefan. I hope my grammar and dialog is not too terrible, so any feedback is very appreciated :) So, please read and review and I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible!