Author's Note: Here's the next chapter! And I wanted to respond the anonymous reviews I was getting, so those are there below. Enjoy :)
Hell – Thanks for the previous reviews and guess! Yeah, I loved the Stefan from the flashbacks – I thought he was so cute! I couldn't resist writing him into this story! I love protective Damon too.
Roxx – Thanks for the previous review!
G – Thank you so much! Glad you're interested =)
(No Name) – Thanks; glad you seem to like it!
Luckycharms – There should be many more to come! =)
loVE YoU – Haha, that's very sweet! Thanks, I'm glad you liked it! =D
Slight rays of sunshine filtered into Stefan's room as morning started to come. Damon was seated in a chair a little ways away from where Stefan still lay sleeping, sipping a cup of blood.
He rubbed a hand tiredly over his eyes. He had not gotten any sleep – having to periodically check over his brother and see if any change had occurred. Who knew what else the spell had done to him? Damon was beginning to wonder though if Stefan had slipped into some kind of coma for god's sake. He couldn't remember the last time he had seen Stefan sleep so much.
He had called Bonnie earlier, after informing Elena that Stefan was still the same, and asked if she had made any progress. She informed him, rather rudely he thought, that she had found more than just one book concerning reversal spells and that they didn't consist of the same size of a children's book – so, no, she was still working on it.
Damon had wanted to say more on the matter, but Bonnie quickly cut off and Damon had just settled to curse her again and poured himself another drink.
Why must Stefan always get himself caught in these situations? Damon sighed again.
As he was pondering whether he should call Bonnie again, his hearing picked up slight shuffling and a small groan. Directing his attention towards his younger brother he noticed that he finally seemed to be waking up.
Moving his chair closer to where Stefan was sleeping, Damon sat back and quietly waited for him to fully wake.
Stefan slowly opened his eyes as he furrowed his forehead and slightly moaned in pain again from his bruise. He slowly edged himself up from the bed looking disoriented and confused. His eyes finally landed on Damon and he gave a slight gasp of surprise.
Damon raised his eyebrows. "Well, well, well. Sleeping beauty has finally awoken. And just in time for school too," Damon smirked knowing full well that it was a Saturday.
Stefan looked back at him, looking very confused and unsure.
"D-Damon?"
Damon gave him a look. "In the flesh. Who did you think I was?"
Stefan seemed to be scrutinizing him. "You look…different." Had the situation not been as messed up as it was, Stefan's comment and facial expressions might have been funny.
Damon simply settled to roll his eyes. "And how, Saint Stefan, am I suppose to look?" Damon appeared slightly annoyed and indifferent to his brother's actions but he was starting to get concerned, again. It definitely seemed like the spell had affected his brother even more than they had all thought.
Stefan seemed to be taken aback by Damon's tone but nonetheless answered him. "Well, you're dressed oddly and your hair looks different." Damon raised his eyes at this and Stefan shrugged. His gaze finally wandered around his room and his eyes widened even further.
Stefan looked back at Damon, fear apparent. "Damon, where I am? What's going on!" The younger brother shifted up further and winced again from agitating his wound. Looking down, Stefan finally noticed where his source of pain was coming from.
"How did I get this? What's happened to me?" Damon moved from his chair to stand closer to his brother in an attempt to calm him down before he went hysterical.
"Stefan, Stefan. Calm down. You're safe, everything's fine." Damon tried to sound soothing and it seemed to be working. Stefan appeared to have calmed down somewhat from his words and the panic in his eyes was less severe.
Damon continued, "And you got that yesterday," He pointed to Stefan's chest. "Don't you remember?"
Stefan looked down at his bruise again, and slowly back up at Damon, shaking his head. "No, I don't remember when I got this.." Stefan trailed off.
Crap. This cannot be good. Damon dreaded the next question he knew he had to ask.
"Well, what do you remember?"
Stefan thought back. "I remember that Father had just allowed Miss Katherine to come and stay with us." Damon's face got dark at this and slightly angry upon just hearing the mention of Katherine, and the remembrance of how that bitch had got involved in his life. Stefan, however, had not taken any notice of this and continued on. "And you had just come home on leave." Stefan glanced up at him with an innocent and happy smile.
Damon stared down at his little brother in slight shock, trying to ignore how his stupid grin had somehow made his undead heart hurt. "And that's ALL you remember?" Stefan started to nod as Damon interrupted him, "No jokes now Stefan, this is serious." Damon gave him an angry look.
Once again, Stefan flinched at his words and stared at his brother with complete honesty. "I swear to you brother, that's what I remember."
Damon turned away from Stefan suddenly and outwardly groaned – his fears confirmed.
Damn it! Now he has amnesia as well! And, of course, his memory sets back to before he knew about vampires! Damon thought furiously as he dreaded how he was now faced with how he was going to explain everything to Stefan.
Turning back to his brother he noticed that Stefan was staring back at him in confusion again – obviously wondering what the hell was wrong with Damon.
Stefan got up from the bed and looked around the room again. "Damon, why aren't we at home? Why is this room so…strange?"
Damon panicked a little. What the hell am I going to say?
"Well, Stefan..it's very complicated. But you're not exactly in 1864 anymore."
Stefan eyes almost popped out of their sockets at this. "What do you mean? How can we not be in 1864 anymore!"
Damon rolled his eyes at Stefan. "Obviously you have noticed that the "strange things" in this room are not from the 1800s time period." Stefan eyes roamed around the room again. "And to put it plainly, we are now in the twenty-first century." Damon knew this one would go over well.
Stefan stared back at him with shock, mouth agape, as his whole world seemed to crash. "But-but, Damon, how can this be possible! If we really were in this century, then how are we still alive?"
Damon gave him a quirky smile. "Ahh, now that is the million dollar question, Stefan." Stefan looked at him oddly and sat back down on the bed, forehead creasing in worry.
At least the spell didn't change one thing – Stefan can still brood as well as he ever could.
For a long while the brothers stayed in silence. Stefan sitting at the edge of the bed, very lost in thought while Damon stood facing him, waiting patiently for him to say something.
Stefan finally looked back up to him. "What happened between the last thing I remembered and now? Do you remember everything or are you like me too?"
Damon looked back at him with a hard stare. "No. I'm not like you," Stefan couldn't help but flinch at his cold tone. "I remember everything that happened. You just recently had a little accident that made you forget." Damon sighed again.
Stefan nodded and then felt around his chest again. Damon took note of this. "Come on. I'll take you downstairs and I'll get you something for the pain."
Nodding back his older brother, Stefan stood up and followed him out of the very strange room. Stefan couldn't believe what was happening. None of this made any sense. How could he possibly not be in 1864 anymore?
But as much as Stefan wanted to deny this, his surroundings made it painfully clear how much he couldn't. Numerous objects, pictures, and the house itself, proved that Stefan was no longer in a territory he understood. Every part of this scared him but he trusted his big brother enough to know that everything would be all right. Even if his big brother seemed a little angrier than usual..
Finally entering the kitchen, Damon made a motion to have him sit down at a table while he went to go get him some type of medicine. Stefan expected his brother to be gone for at least a couple of minutes, but in what seemed like mere seconds, Damon was back, went over to an area with a lever of sorts and came back with what appeared to be a plain glass with water.
"Drink this." Damon commanded and stretched his hand out for him to take the glass. Stefan said a quiet thank you, and took a couple of sips.
Damon watched him for a moment then spoke up. "I have to call someone," His brother gave him an odd look at this, which Damon just ignored. "I'll be back soon."
Stefan nodded back at him, "Okay," giving Damon a small smile he took another sip of his water and rubbed his eyes tiredly. Damon watched as this naive Stefan once again took notice of everything in the kitchen, in apparent astonishment.
Damon steeled himself away from his innocent looking little brother and made his way out of the room. He quickly pulled out his phone and dialed Elena.
"Damon! Did he wake up yet?" Elena asked urgently.
"Yeah, he just woke up a little while ago." Damon answered back.
"How is he?" Elena asked.
"He forgot everything! He's got freaking amnesia, for christ's sake!" Elena gasped on the other end of the line. "His whole mind has been set back to 1864."
"Oh my god." Elena didn't know what else to say.
"I swear that witch better be ready for me the next time I see her!" Damon furiously shouted. Right now he couldn't give a damn if Bonnie would just make his head explode the moment he pounced on her; he was much too angry to be thinking rationally.
"Damon, relax! Bonnie didn't know how badly the spell could have gone! This wasn't supposed to happen!" Elena sounded exasperated.
Damon rolled his eyes angrily. "Yeah well, this just shows how she shouldn't be messing around with things she doesn't understand. And if she's going to be an idiot about it, not to involve my brother!" Damon growled.
Elena was taken aback by how protective Damon sounded. She always knew that Damon felt this way about Stefan but didn't think she'd ever hear or see him show it. She figured Damon himself was too angry at the situation to even see what it was doing to him.
Elena took a deep breath and tried to calm Damon. "Look, I'm going to go over to Bonnie's and try to see if she's figured something out, alright."
"Fine." Damon ended the call without polite goodbyes and ran a hand through his hair. He turned back to where his brother was still in the kitchen and sighed again.
What am I going to do now? Damon felt at a sudden loss at how to treat Stefan. Every time he looked at him it brought up past feelings he'd rather just bury underneath. Feelings he successfully buried in the present with an easy callous remark or sarcastic quip. Burying it just enough so that he didn't have to completely shut off his humanity to escape the pain.
But now, the mere action of looking at Stefan ruined the whole thing. This Stefan was his little brother – the one who had always idolized him and followed him around, trusting him one hundred percent, and loving him entirely. This Stefan reminded him just how much his current relationship had deteriorated and how much had had failed at being a big brother. This Stefan reminded him that this Stefan was still his Stefan. And that brought on a whole new pain because then he was forced to acknowledge that everything he had done, he had still done to his baby brother.
Damon gave a cry of anger at everything: the situation, his revelations, his brother, himself, himself, and himself. With a harsh throw, he flung his phone. The cellular device went down to the floor in pieces and left a considerable dent in the wall.
As Damon simply stared at another mess he had created he took a deep breath and buried his feelings inside once again, without becoming a horrific monster vampire bent on a killing rampage.
Now he was ready to go into the kitchen.
For the hundredth time, Stefan covered his ears in obvious discomfort. The last sound of something breaking had really hurt his ears. Ever since Damon had left to go "call" someone, Stefan had to keep looking back over his shoulder to check and see that Damon and this mysterious person wasn't right behind him.
Damon and the other person was no where in sight but..Stefan could hear everything they had said. And he had no idea how. The voices of his brother and some woman, who had sounded very familiar, had echoed in his head, slightly painfully. Stefan had attempted to block them out and convince himself that he was just imagining the voices by covering his ears and easing his panic but it had done nothing.
Something was definitely wrong with him and it wasn't just his ears. Stefan had also noticed that he was able to see things far away from him in extreme detail. He was also able to pick out smells as if they were strong perfumes – the medicinal smell of his water, the slight aroma of the house he was in, and the familiar smell that he could only describe as being Damon, all around the room his brother had just left – with a slight hint of alcohol.
And for some reason, Stefan also couldn't help but feel extremely hungry – a hunger he had never felt before. Usually when he was hungry, one of his favorite meals would pop into his mind and placate him. But no favorite food images in his mind eased him of this..hunger. He felt very empty in a way he couldn't understand.
At that moment, Damon came walking into the room and immediately noticed Stefan's very panicked demeanor.
"Stefan, what's wrong?" Damon frowned at his brother. What else was happening?
Stefan looked up at him panicked and looked on the verge of tears. "Damon," Stefan said his name heart brokenly and Damon's heart once again hurt. Damon came over to Stefan and placed his hands on his little brother's shoulders.
"Stefan, calm down. What's wrong?" The older brother felt a ghost need to hug Stefan, but shrugged it off.
Stefan took a shuddering breath and his scared eyes roamed Damon's face looking for some much needed comfort. "Damon, something's wrong with me! I-I could hear everything you said and what the other woman said!" Damon's eyes widened with realization. Bonnie had said that Stefan had lost all of his offensive vampire traits but he should still have his defensive ones. Stefan had just discovered his heightened hearing ability.
Stefan continued on, interrupting Damon's thoughts. "And I can see everything so well and smell things I shouldn't and I just want it to stop!" Stefan shouted in despair, his hair falling into his tear filled scared eyes.
Damon sucked in a breath and wished his brother would stop looking at him like that – expecting him to do what big brother Damon would do and make everything go away. And yet, his eyes softened. "Stefan, deep breaths okay? It's okay. It's all right. You're alright okay."
Stefan seemed to calm down a little. And Damon braced himself for what he had to say next.
"Stefan, there is a reason why you're experiencing these things," Stefan looked nervously at Damon. "Stefan, you're a vampire. I'm a vampire," His younger brother just stared at him, "and we've been vampires for about 145 years."
For a moment, Stefan just continued staring. Then he gave Damon a pointed look. "A vampire? Like what father raves about? Like what you make fun of?" Stefan just gave him another skeptical look.
"Well, that was before – before any of us knew," Damon purposely left out Katherine. "And who wouldn't want to poke fun at Father? He was pathetic." Damon sneered, letting out some of his repressed feelings about his late father; not caring that Stefan would be upset at him saying this.
"Damon! How can you say that about Father? And stop lying to me about all this vampire nonsense!" Stefan said angrily.
Damon was not in the mood to deal with Stefan's ignorance and replied back darkly, "I'll say what ever I want about that backstabbing bastard. And I'm not lying about us being vampires! Why do you think you are experiencing all of these heightened senses! Pull your head out of your ass and think about it? How else could we still be here in this time if we weren't!" Damon shouted.
Stefan had been frozen the entire time Damon had shouted at him. Damon had never looked so angry with Stefan as he had now. But how could Stefan possibly believe him? He was talking about made up monsters that were just that – imaginary!
Stefan looked bravely up at his brother, as though he knew that this action would probably upset his older brother even further. "You're lying! Vampires can't exist! I can't be a demon.." Stefan trailed off the last part sadly.
Knowing his little brother would never understand any other way, Damon allowed all his anger to pool up and felt the veins on his skin begin to pop, his eyes darken, and his fangs rip out of his gums.
"How about now, brother?" Damon barred his teeth at his younger brother.
Stefan cried out in shock and fear. He abruptly fell out from his chair and started to run out of the kitchen, terrified for his life.
His anger now gone, Damon's face returned to normal and he ran full speed to stop his little brother from running out of the house. Stefan barely made it past the living room before Damon had easily caught up with him and appeared in front of him.
"Stefan, stop!" Damon held his hands out in front of him and Stefan gasped in shock at the speed that Damon possessed.
"What have you done with my brother! Where's Damon, you demon!" Stefan cowered back away from Damon and his face was beyond upset; tears almost falling from his face and agony written on his features from the confusion of everything around him.
Damon hated himself for what he had just done. Why didn't he just try harder to convince Stefan? Why did he do this to his innocent brother? Stefan had now fallen down onto the floor and was holding his head into his hands.
Damon crouched down beside him and hesitantly held a hand towards his little brother. "I'm sorry, Stefan. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to, I-", Damon broke off as Stefan spoke again.
"Please, please don't hurt me. I-I'm sorry. I don't understand. I just want Damon, I want my big brother." Stefan started crying in misery and Damon realized that Stefan's emotions were being even more heightened due to him being a vampire.
"It is me, little brother. It's Damon." Damon attempted to put his hands on Stefan's shoulders, but Stefan pushed them back in fear.
"You're not Damon, you're not Damon! It doesn't matter if you look like him. You're a monster, you did something. You're not him!" Stefan looked back at him stubbornly, but still completely terrified. Of his own brother. Damon had made Stefan feel many things toward him, especially in the last couple of years, but never had his brother been afraid of him.
Damon's voice broke," Stefan, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you so much. I just didn't know how to convince you. I'm so, so sorry, my baby brother. So sorry, Stef." Damon dropped his head.
Stefan glanced up when Damon had used his nickname and looked at Damon. Stefan's fear started to lessen as he studied him carefully. After observing him, Stefan asked softly, "Damon? Is that really you?"
Damon's head came up and he looked back at his little brother's still scared but now trusting eyes. After all he had just put his brother through, Stefan was still willing to take a leap of faith and believe that this was his big brother. His heart hurt even more painfully.
"Yes, Stefan. It's me, little brother." Damon said gently.
Stefan suddenly threw his arms around Damon and hugged him fiercely. Damon hesitantly wrapped his own around his brother, somewhat stiffly. He couldn't remember the last time he had hugged Stefan.
Stefan seemed to want to hang on more, but Damon gave a subtle sign of wanting to let go and Stefan complied somewhat hesitantly.
Damon looked Stefan straight in the eyes. "Stefan, I'm sorry. I didn't want to scare you. I just wanted you to believe me."
Stefan nodded slowly and smiled slightly at Damon. "It's alright. I was being annoying about it any way." Stefan gave him another small grin and then unexpectedly yawned.
Damon frowned at Stefan's odd tiredness but ignored it and gave his younger brother a grin as well. "Yeah, but believing everything you've had to today isn't easy."
Stefan nodded. "I still barely believe it, but the evidence is," Stefan glanced at Damon's face again, "staggering." He gave his older brother a mock serious look.
Damon looked at his brother and gave a small laugh. "Stefan cracks a funny, alert the media." He said this softly and almost didn't expect Stefan to hear him, but then he remembered again and noticed Stefan looking at him almost defensively.
"Hey, I heard that! And I can be funny," Stefan pouted.
Damon just gave another small laugh at his little brother's pouting face.
After they both got off the floor, they returned back to the kitchen and sat down at the table. Stefan immediately started asking questions.
"So, I really am a vampire?" Damon just nodded.
Stefan looked nervous. "And I can make that…face too?"
"Yes, well, not right now." Stefan frowned at this.
Damon looked around and sighed. "It's all a little complicated, but the short version is that a certain spell was cast and all your offensive vampire abilities have been stripped from you." Stefan simply continued listening, not interrupting. "So, that means that your fangs," Stefan winced at this, "are gone because that's a vampire's most lethal weapon. I'm guessing the "scary face" goes along with that." Damon smirked.
"Besides that, you can only move as fast as a human can," Stefan pouted again, "and your strength is the same, healing is gone, basically all the traits that make vampires so dangerous."
Stefan looked slightly put out. "I sound like the wimpiest vampire ever."
Damon laughed again at the irony of that statement. "You weren't always like this Stefan. Just since yesterday." Damon smiled a secret smile.
"Right. When I had a … spell cast on me?" Stefan looked incredulous at the spell part.
"Yes, I know. A lot to take in. Basically, a witch did it – and yes witches exist." Damon added at Stefan's look of surprise.
Stefan just looked off in thought for a while. "Any other creatures I should know about?"
Damon thought. "Well, we just found out about werewolves." Stefan looked scared again.
"Don't worry. They're all talk." Damon reassured. Stefan still looked worried but nodded.
They both sat in silence again, thinking about everything that had happened so far in the day. Incredibly, it was barely past noon.
"Damon," Stefan spoke up. "I feel really, I don't know, hungry I guess. But hungry is not exactly the right word."
Damon's eyes widened at this and thought back on what Bonnie had said when he asked if Stefan would still drink blood. And another screw up for the witch, Damon thought dryly.
"Yeah, well I know you don't know much about vampires but they need blood to survive." Damon said softly. His younger brother looked slightly alarmed at this.
"I have to …drink blood?"
Damon looked unsure. "We weren't sure yesterday if you would need to, but the way you're describing your hunger, that's what it sounds like." "Don't worry," He added at Stefan's look of objection, "You drink animal blood. And I already have some in the fridge." Stefan looked confused as to what a "fridge" was but Damon just got up and walked over to what Stefan assumed was the fridge.
Stefan looked on nervously as Damon put a mug of what he assumed was animal blood in another futuristic device and started to panic.
I can't drink blood! There's just no way! Stefan was going to be stubborn about this. But he knew that Damon would never agree. He had to think quickly on how to get out of this.
All of a sudden, a loud ringing noise sounded and seemed to reverberate off the ceiling. Stefan clutched at his ears again and Damon looked over at Stefan.
"Don't worry. It's just the bell – a device used to tell people inside a house if there are people outside who want to talk to them. And you'll get used to the new hearing," Damon winked at Stefan.
Damon then took the mug of blood out of the other device and placed it in front of Stefan. "Look, I have to get that – it could be the witch from yesterday," Stefan gave him another weird look at the word witch again but Damon once again, just ignored it. "Um, just sit here and make sure you drink all of that, ok?" Stefan nodded earnestly at Damon, but Damon just raised his eyebrows.
"I'm serious Stefan. Drink it." Damon nodded at him again and walked out of the room, presumably to answer the strangers outside.
Stefan smiled happily to himself. Well, that was easy, he thought slightly mischievously. He felt somewhat bad about lying to his big brother, but he couldn't help it. There was just no way he could drink blood! Besides, Damon himself wasn't sure what the spell had exactly done – he was probably wrong about this and Stefan was just normally hungry.
Stefan grabbed the warm mug and quickly went over to what Damon had earlier mentioned was a sink. Stefan tipped the mug down and the blood seeped out quickly from the cup. Before it was completely empty, Stefan dipped his finger and slightly spread some on his face, as if he had been so hungry he couldn't help but have made a mess. He then tipped up what looked like a lever of sorts, and to his relief, water flowed out.
Perking his ears, Stefan still heard voices from where he assumed the door was, some shouting angrily – Damon – and watched as the sink was wiped clean from any traces of blood as the water continued to pour out.
Satisfied with his work, Stefan ran back to where he was sitting and set the mug down. He had left some blood on the bottom and had not cleaned it to make it not appear suspicious. Just as he heard the voices coming closer and becoming louder, Stefan grabbed the mug up again and tilted it to his mouth, pretending to drink from it.
Damon was furious. Again. Bonnie and Elena had turned up with no answers. None. Bonnie had claimed she had looked at almost five books from cover to cover but had found no useful spells. She had brought back even more with her though to the house and planned to have a look at those here. She also explained that she was trying to get into contact with the witch she had gotten the book from and was expecting back an answer soon.
Damon resisted the urge to fling Bonnie across the door the whole time, especially during Elena's pointed looks, and merely nodded after she had finished.
"Alright, well, come inside then."
Damon told the girls to wait in the living room while he would update Stefan on what was going on. He quickly informed them that he had just recently told Stefan about how he was a vampire and the spell, but hadn't mentioned anything about Katherine and to not bring any such topic up around him.
They both nodded consent and Elena waited eagerly for Damon to return, desperately wanting to see her boyfriend again.
Damon entered the kitchen again and noticed that his younger brother looked as if he was just finishing his cup of blood. As Stefan took notice of Damon entering, he placed the mug down and looked towards him.
Damon took note of the slight blood smeared around Stefan's mouth and resisted the urge to laugh. He didn't want to admit it, but his brother had managed to look very adorable – despite the fact that he had blood all over his mouth. It brought him back to a memory of a toddler Stefan trying to eat food on his own without help.
"I see you enjoyed your drink." Damon smirked lightly. "Next time I'll teach you the proper manners so you can drink some in the company of guests." Stefan gave him a look then that looked so like the Stefan from just days ago that Damon's breath almost caught in his throat. Then he blinked and his little brother was staring at him innocently.
Damon passed Stefan a napkin and placed the mug over by the sink.
"Speaking of guests, there are some in the kitchen waiting for us." He gestured to where the living room was. "Shall we?" Damon smirked and raised his eyebrows.
Stefan just nodded again and gave him a small smile. Brushing his bangs away from his face, Stefan glanced back at the empty mug of blood at the sink and continued to follow his brother, trying to ignore the empty pain in his stomach.
Author's Note: Uh-oh. Stefan should have listened to Damon! And I decided to just say 'twenty-first century' because I don't know if it's 2009 or 2010 in season 2. Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter!