Thanks everyone for your reviews. We just about died when we saw the amount of story alerts and favorites and the reviews caused our fingers to fly to the computer and type this up...

Second Surfin' Chapter (Cause bunnies surf...)

Swimming in the water. Wading through the pool. Trudging through the marsh. Paddling through the pond. Hidden beneath the shimmery surface of H2O are the murdered bunnies of Stefan.

As he opened the door, a familiar person coming into view, he felt his heart clench in despair. Please, let this be a bad dream...

"Hello, little brother."

"Damon." The single word said more than anything else he could have said. Reality sunk in and inside, Stefan was panicking. He didn't let it show though. He would not give Damon the satisfaction of seeing how his sudden appearance effected him. "What are you doing here?"

"You know, just visiting a certain... Katherine look-alike..." His voice trailed off, leaving Stefan on edge. Why did he have to be here now?

Stefan found his nails digging into his palms as he resisted the urge to punch his brother square in the jaw. "Stay away from her."

Damon merely laughed. "Is that an invitation?"

"I mean it, Damon. She's off limits."

"For someone off limits, she was very available last night. Someone left her all alone on a bridge." Damon picked up one of Stefan's diaries, flipping it open to a random page. "Bad move on your part. Good thing I was there."

Stefan made a grab for his diary, rolling his eyes when it was merely held out of reach. "I got distracted by..."

"...the bleeding drunks. I know. I compelled them to fight," said Damon, and Stefan wanted little more than to beat the smug smirk from his features. "Still, I don't see why anyone who truly cared about a girl would leave her all alone; even if they were a vampire and there was blood nearby."

"Are you suggesting that I don't care about Elena?" Stefan asked, eyes alight with fury.

Damon shrugged, walking over to the desk sitting by the window. He leaned against it, eyes scanning over the hand written text held within his little brother's diary. "I'm just saying, you'd think people would be more careful with the things that mean a lot to them... especially with all those animal attacks."

"And she's so safe with the animal that caused the attacks?" Stefan asked with obvious sarcasm.

"I wouldn't let anything bad happen to her," Damon retaliated, as if suggesting that he would be the better choice for her. "Including anyone who might potentially hurt her by leaving her on a bridge all alone."

"No one's better off with you, Damon. Are you even capable of emotions anymore?" It was meant to make a point, and ease Stefan's irritation. He was thus taken aback at the anger flashing in ice-blue eyes.

"Let's have Elena be the judge of that."

"Damon-" Stefan broke off, finding that his brother had vanished. He combed his fingers through his hair, gritting his teeth. He would find out what Damon was up to. And then? Then he'd make Damon regret ever coming to Mystic Falls.

B.G.

Elena sat in her first period class, staring blankly at the wall. She had tried to write something in her diary last night. Anything to work out the conflicted emotions she was feeling when it came to Stefan, but all she could think of was the spark of her hand brushing another's.

She was shaken out of her daze when Stefan entered the class, looking a bit shaken up. He took his seat just as the bell rang and she couldn't help but wonder why he was almost late. He looked awfully tired and there seemed to be worry in his eyes. He glanced over at Elena and she looked away, not wanting to be caught staring.

The class seemed to last for years, and if it wasn't for the clock on the wall she would have thought she had been stuck in history for hours. She made her way out of the classroom, relieved to have the break of a passing period.

"Elena?"

She barely managed to hold back a groan. She didn't want to talk to him until she managed to sort out her inner turmoil. She threw on a fake smile as she turned to look at Stefan. "Yeah?"

"About last night... were you with someone?"

She stared for a moment, wondering if he had actually just said that. Had she been with someone? "Actually, yes. Once I was ditched on a bridge, someone was kind enough to escort me back to the party." She found her anger rise when he merely seemed worried instead of guilty.

"Do you remember who it was? A name, or what the person looked like?"

Elena scoffed. She couldn't help herself. How could he have the gall to ask her that? "Were you with someone, Stefan? For the thirty plus minutes you were gone 'getting drinks'?"

S.W.

Stefan was too worried about Elena possibly spending time with his brother to realize how upset she really was. He needed to know; to truly know for sure whether or not she had come in contact with the very person who had made it his soul purpose to ruin Stefan's life.

"Elena, please. Can't you just tell me his name?"

"I can't believe this..." She stared at Stefan for a moment, as if to see if he was joking or whether he was actually serious. He didn't understand her angle, not thinking that she didn't know of the possible danger she could be in. "I didn't ask him his name, ok?" She turned to walk away.

Stefan put out an arm to stop her. He was worried about her. Couldn't she see that? Quickly, he pulled a small box out of his jacket pocket. "Elena, just please, wear this." He handed it to her and slowly, she opened it. An ornate, silver-chained necklace was revealed.

"Thanks..." She walked away, looking confused. Stefan wondered what he had done wrong.

B.G.

Elena made her way to P.E, thoughtlessly shifting the necklace from hand to hand. Why had he given it to her? And why was he being so insistent about knowing who she had spoken to the previous night?

"Elena! Hey!"

She turned to face her brother, taken aback by the worry evident in his features. "Jeremy. What's wrong?"

"Have you seen Vicki?" he asked.

"...no, but I don't normally look for her. Why?"

"I just haven't seen her since last night. At the party."

"Well... if I see her, I'll text you."

"Vicki?" asked a familiar voice. Elena turned around, spotting Matt. "I just got news that she's in the hospital."

"Is she alright?" asked Jeremy.

Matt seemed to pause. Elena thought that he might have been surprised by the sincere concern in her brother's voice. "I'm not sure. I just know that she was found barely alive in a river."

"In a river?" Elena asked. "Do you know why she was... in a river?" It all sounded a bit odd.

"Knowing Vicki, she was probably drunk and slipped," Matt replied, bitterness in his voice due to his sister's irresponsibility. "I'm going to visit her after school and see what she remembers. That is, if she's awake."

"Awake?" Jeremy asked as they walked closer to their destination of classes.

"Yeah, she had lost a lot of blood, most likely from the fall... Anyway, when I got the call, they said she hadn't waken up yet."

"I hope she's alright," Elena said, remembering the death of her parents. The river.. the hospital... It all hit too close to home.

S.W.

The sounds of glass clinking against tables and the shouts of happy teens filled the air. Elena sat alone at her own booth in The Grill, glancing at the time on her cell phone. 6:50. She had agreed to meet Stefan after school at 5:30.

Why was she even still waiting? He had stood her up, and not for the first time.

"Elena," Matt greeted.

She offered him a weak smile. "Hey." She glanced meaningfully at the empty seat across from her. When he took it, she asked, "So? Did you see Vicki?"

"I did," he replied, twiddling his thumbs in front of him thoughtfully.

"And...?" Elena asked, wondering if there was more. "Was she awake? Is she going to be alright?"

"I don't know. The doctors won't say anything, so that has me worried." He seemed to think for another second, as if debating whether or not to tell her something. "But she did wake up for a second while I was there..."

"She did? Did she say anything? Like how she ended up in a river?"

"Well... She said that it was a vampire."

"A... vampire."

"Yeah." He looked equally as perplexed.

"That's different. Maybe she was confused? Maybe it was a vampire bat? It might have frightened her and caused her to slip into the water." Elena was trying to make some sense out of what Matt had told her.

"I don't think so. I think she was too drunk to remember anything."

Before Elena could reply, Mister Late made his appearance. She wondered why he had even bothered to show up. Most girls would have left by the two hour mark...

"Hey, Elena." He walked up to her, glancing at Matt.

"Finally decided to come? Did your watch set back a couple hours or something? Or did you have to stop a fight on the way here?"

"Right, leaving now." Matt took that as his cue to get out of there.

"Listen, Elena, I got held up. I'm sorry-"

"Held up again? This time for two hours? Are you always going to blow me off like this?" She was irritated and now that she had waited all afternoon for him to finally appear she found that she no longer wanted to spend any time with him.

"Wait, did Matt say that Vicki woke up?" Stefan asked, disregarding what Elena had said.

"Did you not just hear what I said?" She sighed. "Yes. Vicki is awake. Matt had time to go all the way to the hospital and still come here. Had he not talked to me I would have been sitting here alone all night."

"Sorry, again," he said, the words flowing too easily to be believable. "Did she say what happened to her?"

Elena rolled her eyes, giving up on him. Yes, what happened to Vicki was terrible. Still, it seemed as if it was all he cared about. Perhaps if he had wanted to talk about it two hours ago she wouldn't be as upset. "She said a vampire attacked her."

"A... vampire? Are you sure?"

"That's what she said."

He frowned. Perhaps he finally realized what a jerk he was being? "I have to go." Apparently not.

"God, why do I even bother with you?" she demanded, only to find him already gone.

B.G.

Fuming, Elena was heading down the street on her way home. She had wasted her whole day with Stefan. Every time she tried to talk to him, he'd just leave. Then she waited all afternoon for him to make up for abandoning her the other day only to be blown off again.

Suddenly home wasn't as desirable. If she ignored life and simply wrote it down nothing would be solved. No, she would go and demand what game he was playing. Did he like her at all? Or was he just trying to use her to fit in?

It was true, she didn't know his side or his reasons, but that's because he blocked her out. If he could only tell her something about his past, or even why he was so interested in the man that had returned her diary... Then maybe, maybe she'd give him another chance.

Heading to the mansion-like house that he lived in, she was determined to figure things out. She would get everything out of the shadows.

She approached a door that was just as old as the rest of the house, raising her hand to give it a few hard knocks. She waited.

And waited.

And- No, she had done enough waiting that very evening. If she was to be honest, she had done plenty of waiting ever since she had met Stefan. If he wasn't home, then she could just wait for him inside. He had said he lived alone with his Uncle.

The door squeaked eerily as she opened it, and she couldn't help but keep her steps slow, even, and silent as she walked. She gazed around, taking in the magnificent, spacious rooms. Ornate decorations could be seen, from crystal chandeliers to long tables with high-backed wooden seats. The place looked like it had hardly been touched in decades.

A black and white picture on a shelf caught her eye. Without thought, she picked it up. Within the frame were two young boys, the smaller one holding up a big fish. The older one looked proud of the younger, arm wrapped around said younger brother and smile bright.

"I see you've made yourself at home."

Elena jumped, spinning around at the vaguely familiar voice. She felt her heart pounding in her chest, and the sight of a brown haired, blue eyed stranger didn't help calm her down.

It wasn't any stranger, either. It was the stranger, that had gone out of his way to be kind to her at the school party. "You're... you're Stefan's uncle?" She narrowed her eyes. They did look related, but how could his uncle be so close in age to him? It wasn't an impossible occurrence. It just wasn't at all what she had expected.

"Uncle?" he asked, and she was relieved when he laughed. "No. I'm his brother."

"His brother? He didn't say he had one..."

"That's because he's jealous of my devilishly good looks. Anyway, he's not one to brag."

She couldn't help but smile at his humor. Still, she was troubled that even after she had gone out of her way to ask Stefan if he had any siblings, he didn't tell her of his brother. It appeared they were living together as well... Maybe that was why he had been so intent on finding out who had brought her back to the party? Did he not want her to know anything about him? His mystery act was getting a bit old.

"Is this you and Stefan?" she asked, holding up the picture.

He took the picture and looked at it, eyes showing remembrance. "It is. He used to love to go fishing with me... but that was back when he was still fun."

Elena placed a hand on his forearm, wanting to make the pain in his eyes disappear. She immediately felt like she was where she belonged; she never wanted to let him go. "What happened?"

"Stefan and I just-"

"Damon, Elena... I see you're getting along nicely."

"Yeah, little bro, I was just telling her about how much fun you used to be." He held up the picture. "Remember this? You were so excited when you caught that fish. Pops was too."

Stefan walked over and snatched the photo out of Damon's hands. "Elena, I think you should leave." He didn't even look at her when he addressed her, just stared at his brother with hate-filled eyes.

"I came here to talk to you about-"

"Now's not a good time," said Stefan, cutting off Elena.

"I just want to know-"

"Elena. I'll talk to you at school tomorrow." Still, he stared at his brother.

"Ok... Well, bye Damon, nice meeting you." She gave him a quick, small hug before maneuvering her way around Stefan and heading to the door.

"You're welcome to stop by any time," Damon called to her.

She didn't even try to hold back her smile, ignoring Stefan. If he was going to ignore her... "Thanks. I think I will."

As she left the Salvatore mansion, she found herself remembering how warm she felt in Damon's embrace. Her initial purpose for going may not have been achieved, but, then again, she liked the unexpected turn of events a lot more.

S.W.

Sun: Woot! Yeah Elena for finally figuring out who (for the most part) Damon is!

Apocalyptic:I find it adorable. Poor Stefan. The funny thing is that he pretty much acted like that in the show, too. Elena just hadn't been quite as aware of Damon's complete and utter awesomeness. (Though I'm sure she still knew at a subconscious level).

Sun: Definitely. Well, what did you guys think? Any thoughts, opinions, questions, feedback...?

Apocalyptic: ...constructive criticism, a little, "Hey!" to let us know you're reading and want us to continue. :D I hope the smiley I just made shows up...

Disclaimer: We do not own, nor claim, The Vampire Diaries... Although, I do however claim the Thrifty's chocolate malt in our freezer... (None for Apocalyptic, all for me!) Hehe... yeah.