A/N: Long time no see, guys. Longer than I would like, but these are tough months. Here you are: chapter 7. Enjoy. :)

Special thanks: of course, to the best beta reader and a great friend CreepingMuse. Thanks to her, this chapter looks much better than it initially did both in terms of language and sense.

Thanks a lot to everyone who read and reviewed the previous chapter. I usually try to reply to everyone in person, but life's been a little tough. Your feedback means a lot to me!

Then you look at me

You're not shouting anymore

You're silently broken

~ Evanescence, "Forgive Me" ~

A thin layer of fragile skin was all that separated Elena from what she wanted, needed, and she could see nothing but the veins beneath that she was about to tear, could hear nothing but the rapid pulse. She felt her face transforming, but it didn't matter to her, nor did the fangs matter anymore – they were just a means to satisfy the craving. There was screaming, but the blood was louder. Someone grabbed her arm, Elena shook off the unwelcome intrusion and lowered her head to the man's neck. She had never been taught to drink from the source, but it wasn't necessary; her instincts were guiding her. All it would take was one bite…

"Elena!"

She hesitated just for a brief moment, and then she was pulled back, away from the warm, delicious blood without even getting a taste. She screamed and thrashed, and tried to break free, but she was held so tightly that soon she couldn't budge.

"Elena."

Now it was merely a whisper, but it was enough. She felt a warm touch on her face, gentle fingers caressing her skin – now smooth, human. She retracted her fangs, and something burned her eyes.

Elena hadn't yet noticed tears were more painful for a vampire. A creature that was meant to hunt wasn't supposed to cry over its prey – but she couldn't stop it. She was aware of every agonizing tear, felt the salty drops welling up in her eyes and leaving burning trails on her cheeks. Elena wept, hand pressed to her mouth, as she watched Damon taking care of the mess she'd made. He compelled the man she had attacked, then the other visitors to forget everything and leave, and everything was done in a matter of seconds. Her tearful eyes grew wide in horror when she saw Matt – he was on the floor, groaning in pain, holding his head. Following the direction of her gaze, Damon rushed to Matt's side, bit his wrist and held out his hand.

"Drink."

Matt tried to shake his head and groaned again.

"Look, Donovan, I don't really give a fuck about how you feel, but if you don't listen to me, you'll be out for a week and that might be inconvenient for everyone. Drink."

Elena let out a relieved sigh when Matt followed the order. Damon helped him up and flashed in front of her. He pressed her to his chest, stroking her face. "It's okay, Elena. It's okay. I'm here, nothing happened. Damn, I shouldn't have left you."

"It's not okay. Nothing's okay, Damon," she whispered, so no one else would hear. "I wanted it. I wanted to get the blood, even if I had to kill him. I didn't care, he didn't matter to me. How is that possible? It's not me. I don't know who this person is."

"You're Elena Gilbert. You're the strongest person I've ever known. You've been brave enough to fight for your life and the lives of the people you care about for so long that I know you're not gonna give up. I know you'll survive this."

"Whether I'll survive doesn't matter. What matters is that people around me may not. I'm not safe."

"True. You're dangerous to them now."

Damon never hid the truth from her, never sugarcoated it. Elena knew that no matter what she did or how awful it was, he never tried to keep her from falling into the precipice of guilt and regret by lying to her. He was always waiting there, though, ready to catch her when she fell.

"But it won't always be like this," he continued, pulling back and looking her in the eye. "You won't learn to control yourself anytime soon. It will be one of the hardest things you've ever done, because you won't want to fight it. You'll feel better giving in."

Elena bit her bottom lip so hard she almost drew blood. He was supposed to help her, wasn't he? And there he was, talking about giving in – tempting her? Testing her? No way, Elena thought angrily. She was better than this. It didn't matter how good it felt. What was right mattered. Nobody was better than Elena at doing the right thing instead of what she wanted, after all. Maybe she would finally benefit from all of her denial and sacrifice.

"I won't give in, Damon," she said firmly. "I'll learn to control myself. It's the only chance I have."

"That's the resolve I've been waiting for," answered Damon. Elena nodded with a sigh and went to check on Matt. Asking how he felt and apologizing endlessly, she could forget for a moment about the eternal issue of what felt good and what was right.

"Where did you go?" Elena asked in the car on the way back to the boarding house. Somehow they didn't even question the fact that she had to return there, not to her own house. Damon wasn't going to leave her anytime soon, and she didn't want him to, either. She didn't feel okay. Not even close. But when she was with Damon, she felt at least safe.

"Outside."

Elena rolled her eyes. "Obviously. Why?"

She could see Damon was reluctant to tell her, and worry filled her mind immediately.

"Bonnie called. There was an… unwelcome complication." Elena didn't like the tone of his voice. Why wouldn't he tell her? Damon wouldn't hide something serious from her… right?

"What do you mean?" Elena asked anyway, looking him in the eye for a moment.

"I guess you don't need to ask me," Damon's voice suddenly turned angry and he narrowed his eyes, as if whatever irritated him so much was right on the wildshield. "The complication's arrived," he added, pulling up at the boarding house.

"What the hell are you talking about?" she snapped. Damon sighed.

"Listen."

Their heartbeats. Their breathing. Street noises. Elena strained her ears a little more, like Damon had taught her, and she froze. There was another heartbeat coming from the house. The slow, steady rhythm could only belong to an undead being.

"Who's that?" she asked warily.

"My martyr of a brother, apparently," he said through gritted teeth, still refusing to meet her eye.

Elena stared at Damon, half-relieved, half-terrified. Her instincts were warring with her feelings, rational thinking seemed to have abandoned her entirely as Elena struggled to remember why she was supposed to hate Stefan – or recall why she loved him – or had loved him. She didn't know anymore.

Anger in Damon's eyes subsided a little when he looked at Elena, and he spoke in a much gentler voice.

"You don't have to deal with it now. Let's go somewhere. Anywhere. To your lake house. To Richmond. Hell, to Atlanta. You may not be ready for all the emotional drama, and if I know Stefan at all, I bet he's already prepared an emo speech with the words 'so, so, so sorry' every other minute," he grinned at Elena, but she could tell he didn't really feel like grinning. She took his hand in hers, and reveled in the sense of calmness that washed over her once their skin made contact.

"I need to do this, Damon. I need to get through this. All right?"

His eyes made it very clear that it was anything but all right. Elena knew that he wasn't just worried about her. Damon was afraid he would snap, that he would do something to Stefan he'd regret later. But he also needed to see his brother and make sure he was okay, that much Elena was sure about. Damon nodded, lips pressed firmly together, and they both got out of the car. She took his hand in hers again, and they walked toward the door – together.

Stefan was waiting in the parlor, sitting in the armchair. When Elena saw him, everything was suddenly so clear that she didn't know why she hadn't figured it out earlier. While part of Elena's instincts still made her tense and uncomfortable around the person who had done this to her, her heart had no doubt that she had to forgive him. She had forgiven Stefan when he disrespected and humiliated her, she'd loved him through mass murder and compelled indifference, and if the only way to fix this broken man was to give him her forgiveness, she would gladly do it. Elena needed everyone she cared about to be happy, and while she didn't know where she and Stefan stood now, he would always be one of those people.

"Elena…" started Stefan, standing up. His face wasn't the unemotional mask that was the last thing she had seen before she died. She could see it in his eyes, hear it in his voice. The man she was looking at seemed to be the same Stefan who she had last seen when he'd told her to go talk to his dying brother. "I was wrong. I shouldn't have done this."

"Yes, you shouldn't have," she agreed, looking Stefan in the eye.

"How… how are you doing?" he asked, averting his gaze.

"Just awesome, brother, thanks for your concern," Damon answered before she could, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Should I snap your neck and ask you how you're doing?"

"Damon," Elena said warningly, turning to look at him for a moment. The last thing she wanted was for them to get into a fight. He looked irritated, but relatively in control. Elena smiled at him reassuringly, but Damon didn't return her smile. She turned to Stefan again.

"I'll be fine."

He nodded, looking at her and down again.

"Look, I'm… I'm sorry."

"Here it goes," Damon groaned. Stefan ignored him.

"I know that what I've done is unforgivable, but I hope that one day…in future…you may decide to forgive me."

"You hurt me," said Elena quietly, and Stefan nodded, still scrutinizing the rug under his feet. "I'm not even talking about how you killed me. You did what you thought you had to do for your revenge, but you used me. Used. I may have owed you my life, but I never expected you to make me repay that debt like this. And that's what hurts the most. You betrayed my trust for the sake of your revenge."

"I know," answered Stefan, meeting her eye.

"I don't trust you, I don't know if I ever will," Elena continued, taking a step closer to him. She heard Damon move a little closer, too, refusing to put more distance between them. "But I forgive you."

"What?" Damon's voice was so indignant that Elena turned around and looked at him pleadingly. She needed him to understand why she was doing this, why she was giving Stefan absolution he didn't deserve.

"Damon…"

"Elena, have you lost your mind? What the hell are you doing?"

"Stefan needs my forgiveness, and it's…all I can give him now."

Damon didn't seem to see the situation as clearly as she did.

"If he needs your forgiveness, it makes everything okay? Why? Because he'll always be the knight in shining armor in our twisted family?"

"Damon, it's not-" Stefan tried to add, but his brother interrupted him.

"Shut up, Stefan. You don't get to try to reason with me. If Elena buys your eternal love crap-"

Elena shook her head and grabbed Damon's arm, trying to make him look at her. He seemed to ignore her, but his voice turned from furious to tired.

"Look, Stefan, just… go, please. Go. I don't know where, and I'm not sure it matters to me, but if you stay, I'll lose it. I don't want to, but I will."

Stefan nodded, and slowly walked to the front door and out of the house, looking at anything but the two people in the room. Elena followed him with her gaze until he left the room, then looked at Damon. He was still standing there like a statue – an embodiment of tenseness and barely restrained anger. Her hands moved to his face, cupping it, caressing his skin with her thumbs, but he didn't even look at her.

"Go get some rest, Elena," he said in a voice so indifferent that it cut her heart like a knife. "Choose any room you want. Call me when you want to eat."

He moved away from her, grabbed the nearest bottle of liquor from his collection and disappeared into his bedroom.

Elena knew it was the only room that was off limits tonight.

A/N: I'd love to hear your thoughts. If you are a little confused about why exactly Damon was so angry, or why Elena forgave Stefan so easily, it'll all be explained in the following chapter. I won't promise to update soon, but I've already started working on chapter 8. Hope you enjoyed the chapter and thanks for reading. :)