A/N: Okay, seriously sorry about the appalling delay in getting this chapter up. I do however have good news for me, Yesterday I found out York has accepted me with an unconditional offer so even though I got ABB instead of AAB they have still taken me. Of course if I'd looked on UCAS on Tuesday it would have told me but I waited to get my results and panic when I hadn't quite reached it first before finding out they had taken me anyway. This benefits you in that now I don't have to worry about it and I will be back home Sunday night for accommodation booking on Tuesday before going back to the boat for another holiday so I may be able to update while I'm home again. Yes I am going on yet another holiday. So, I have decided to continue this story although the format will change slightly. I decided I have enough ideas and there is a rather big event in the future that I have known about all along but you all still don't know about. (remember Elena turns human and Tyler's on the run etc.) Okay, I'll let you read now. I hope you enjoy it and let me know what you think. See you at the bottom.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or any characters etc.

So on with the next chapter...

Chapter 13

The room was silent as everyone realised what this meant. Now that all the scenes were over it was time to make a decision. Elena stood frozen. She watched as Caroline tended to Bonnie making sure she was okay.

"I... I just need a minute to process okay?" She stated more than asked before walking towards the kitchen as quickly and as calmly as she could manage. She wasn't sure why she seemed to find herself in the kitchen. Perhaps because as a human it was impulse to get a glass of water to calm herself down. She didn't need to drink water anymore. It was a strange thought. As she stood by the sink glass in hand it occurred to her that she may not have picked the best room to come to, considering what she had just seen. Then again, where should she go? Every room seemed to have its own future scene attached to it. She took a drink of the water for comfort more than anything then took a deep calming breath and began to focus her mind on what she had seen.

She had seen a lot since the last time she had stopped to reflect. She had watched herself die, twice. She started with what she had learned in general. The basics. It felt so strange to be thinking about this all so logically but wasn't that the whole point of this... experiment? She knew she became human again in both of the futures. In the one with Damon she became a vampire, in the one with Stefan she stayed human. It had been her own choice both times. In both of them it had been decades before she saw the one she didn't choose. Stefan had just seemed so okay with it all when she had seen him in the last scene. She didn't doubt it was somewhat awkward for him but they all seemed to enjoy the banter and the company they had been missing for so long. They had also taken different approaches to the problem. Stefan had left Damon to do whatever he wanted. Damon had locked Stefan up until he turns his emotions back on then allowed him time away as Caroline helped him to rehabilitate himself, to readjust. She had seemed happy enough in both. There was just one thing that just kept coming back to her, what Caroline had said, about her not being altogether happy. How Caroline thought she had made the wrong choice. Even her future self had said she made the wrong choice. That was something she had never seen in her future with Damon; regret. She had always seemed perfectly happy. Even when they mentioned Stefan it didn't seem to upset her in any way. She couldn't say the same for Damon in the other future. They weren't even allowed to say his name. When she laid the facts out like that the choice seemed obvious. There was just one thing. All through her analysis she couldn't help wanting to just say 'screw this' and just make her choice based on how she felt. She hadn't been sure exactly where her feelings lay before this. She couldn't have been totally sure with the whole sire bond thing. She knew how she felt now though.

The others all waited with varying degrees of impatience for Elena's return. Logically they all knew Elena needed to think about all this, takes some time to process and not rush into any decisions as she had been forced to do in the past. Still that didn't stop them going crazy waiting for her to return with her life altering decision. Bonnie was a little more recovered as the lightheaded feeling slowly began to fade although she was nowhere near at full strength. Bonnie's improved state did however leave time and space in her head for Caroline to start getting anxious about Elena's choice.

It was silly really. It wasn't like this decision directly impacted her life or happiness. Sure, if Elena didn't pick Stefan then Caroline would have to help him through it and he would be sad and so would she for a while but they had seen the proof that in the long run Elena's decision didn't actually change her own future all that much. She had been surprised at her future self's actions and words in those future scenes. It appeared that her future self was more team Damon than team Stefan. In the present she wasn't there yet, she couldn't quite reconcile herself to changing sides just because of the few glimpses she had seen of herself but she could at least try to see and understand how and why Elena could choose Damon over Stefan. The idea didn't seem so impossible as it had in the past. She could almost wrap her mind around it; she had to admit Elena's life with Damon did look pretty good. She glanced around the room at the others. Bonnie was sat beside her nursing her glass of water looking better than before but by no means well. Damon was, as expected at the bar pouring yet another drink, she had lost count what number it was, and Stefan was pacing up and down behind the couch. She sighed and turned her attention back to Bonnie.

"You know you'll wear a hole in the floor if you keep that up." Damon commented lifting his head to see his brother pacing. Stefan glared at him but continued regardless. Before all this he had been sure that Elena's feelings for Damon were due to the sire bond, and maybe that was still partly true, but now, after seeing her human and choosing to be a vampire just to be with his brother forever-something she had been unable to give him, he couldn't stop the nagging feeling telling him there was a very real possibility that he could lose her here. Sure, he had been aware of her feeling for Damon before she turned, perhaps before she even accepted them herself. It had been a slow thing that at first he had been able to ignore but after the whole Klaus-ripper debacle it was no longer so easy to ignore, in fact it had proved quite impossible. The witch's words also rang in his head, how the sire bond could only exist if Elena had already had human feelings for Damon. To say he was afraid of what Elena's choice would be was an understatement but he made a promise to himself that no matter her choice he would do his best to be there for them both, he just hoped he could hold true to it. At the sound of his name being called again in a rather irritated tone her stopped his pacing to look at the source of the noise, his brother, before he conceded and took a seat next to Caroline and began to fiddle with his ring instead.

Damon snorted at his brother's change in nervous habits, he had merely switched one for another but as long as he didn't start up with the incessant tapping again he would leave him in peace. Damon was genuinely unsure what to think about Elena's decision making. Even the concept that there was a remote chance she could pick him seemed totally foreign. Yes, it was true she had done it not so long ago but she knew now that in all likelihood that was the sire bond talking. No one picked him and the idea that Elena could seemed almost impossible. He took another swig of his bourbon to try and chase the thoughts away. He didn't need to think about this. Thinking that there was even a possibility it could be him was dangerous. It would be so much worse when she reminded them all that it was always going to be Stefan. It was like a mantra he had been hearing since Stefan's birth, or at least it felt like that sometimes. He sighed again before downing the remaining liquid in his glass. He looked at the current bottle of bourbon. He wasn't sure himself which number bottle he was on now and he thanked his lucky stars that he had 150 odd years practice.

Elena took yet another deep breath, before putting her glass down and heading back towards the others. She noticed everyone looked a little tense. Her eyes went to Bonnie the moment she was within range of her face. She looked a little better now Elena felt she could breathe a little easier knowing her best friend hadn't killed herself to help her make a decision. Elena then lifted her head to look at both Salvatore brothers. Stefan had stood up when she entered the room, whether it was to make room for her to sit or just because he couldn't stay sitting any longer she wasn't sure. She opened her mouth to speak before realising she had no idea how to say this. She had gone through everything she had learnt and made her choice but she hadn't thought about what exactly she was going to say and how. After a moment she tried to start.

"I... Okay... Oh god, I need to talk to you both." She realised. "but first I need you both to know that I care about you both so much." She was starting to tear up and it was leaking into her voice a little. "And I really hope that we can stay friends no matter what happens." She spoke to them both. She then looked down a second gathering herself before she stepped forward towards them. Elena reached Damon first. She impulsively hugged him. Before she stepped back.

"God, this is so hard, but I need to talk to Stefan first." She explained. She could immediately see him beginning to shut down and he began to move away. She grabbed onto his arm to stop him. "Please don't jump to conclusions. I need you to wait for me to explain. I just... I have to talk to Stefan first." She pleaded for him to let her. After a moment of her eyes pleading with his he nodded.

She moved towards Stefan. Just as she was about to release Damon's arm she felt a sudden jerk and instead held tighter to him to stay upright, it appeared however that he had experienced the same jerk. Her vision seemed to blur but before she had time to call out her vision began to clear again and with another jerk she blinked to find herself alone with Damon in a house she was certain she had never set foot in before but seemed familiar nonetheless. She scanned the room for the others before her eyes rested on Damon, the only other inhabitant in the room. His eyes mirrored the confusion in her own.

"What just...?" She began knowing he couldn't answer the question any better than she could. He just shook his head in response. "Maybe if we look around. It just feels so familiar." She whispered. She wasn't sure why she was whispering but for some reason she felt as though they were sneaking around and at any moment could be discovered.

They made their way through a door and found themselves in a living room. It looked even more familiar; the only thing unfamiliar was some of the photos that Elena felt weren't there the last time they had seen this room, although she still couldn't place when she had seen or been here. As they both scanned the photos a realisation seemed to sink in. Of where and more importantly when they were.

"Hey!" Shouted a voice from the door way they had just entered through. "who are-" They stopped dead as both Damon and Elena turned to see Stefan stood in the door way. His face showed a look of shock, before his eyes hardened. "How did you get in here?!" He demanded.

The parlour in the boarding house was empty. No sign of the previous inhabitants. On the table the ingredients for Bonnie's spell laid untouched. The two sets of mixed blood; Damon and Elena's and Stefan and Elena's continued to slowly seep together as the herbs it rested on glowed.

Right, I hope you enjoyed it. I know I was very bad and Elena's choice wasn't revealed so I will promise you that you will all find out what it is next chapter even if no one in the story does. I think it's pretty obvious what has happened to Damon and Elena, my question is do you want to see how Caroline, Stefan and Bonnie get on in the other one with other Damon and Elena? As I said the structure will change slightly but there will still be future (or 'past') scenes. Any mistakes I made in reviews I must put down to it being late, me being tired and having a headache so sorry for that.

On to the guest responses. To Guest 1, well, here's more. To Impulse53669, as I said I have decided to continue, the only problem with a story surrounding her choice is that the entire thing has shown what her life will be depending on the choice she makes, that's why an epilogue for this story would be sort of redundant, but hopefully you will like were it goes. I like to think of the story as able to fit in with canon, that's why the future is so far off. To Guest 2, I'm glad you like it so much. I don't have that much of an opinion on Stefan and Caroline as a couple but feel free to read into whatever was implied in her time with Stefan while he was 'rehabilitating'. I like to think of the last future scenes as the start of Caroline's love life, as I said in the beginning she has an eternity to decide. She's sort of set free to do that at the end. And yes, I'm continuing. To Guest 3, I'm glad you think so, and I know what you mean, although that sounds odd considering I wrote them, te-he. To TvdMnutter, I'm glad you like it and that it is unique, I thought the same thing. Thank you all for reviewing. They really inspire me. Hopefully the next update won't take as long as this one did.

Thank you all again, I hope you enjoyed it, let me know what you think and see you in the next chapter. (*smiles*)