CHAPTER 3

"SHE WHAT? Damn it, Elena!" Damon was furious. What the hell was she thinking? But part of his anger was mixed with guilt. Rebekah never would've hurt her if it hadn't been for him. He sighed inwardly as Stefan explained everything that Elena had told him. "I can't believe this… And what would Klaus possibly want from Caroline?" He asked Stefan,

"Honestly? I have no idea. It doesn't make sense. But then again, its Klaus. So who knows." Stefan replied.

"Alright.. How's Elena? Do they know what's wrong?" Damon asked, Stefan could hear the worry thick in his words. "No, not yet. They just took her in for some X-rays. She said the pain was in her shoulder. I'm sure we'll have answers soon." Stefan said.

"Alright, I'm on my way." Damon stated, grabbing his jacket off the chair.

"You don't have to come Damon, I've got this. I'll call you when I know something." Stefan said, slightly irritated.

"No offense Steff, but hell no. I'm gonna be there for her, just like I have been all summer. Besides this whole mess is partly my fault anyway. I'll be there in 10." Damon said, hanging up. He snatched his keys off the table and headed out the door…. Or at least he tried. Damon's foot was stopped abruptly by an invisible force. "What the hell?" he said quizzically, and tried again. Still no luck. He couldn't get past the threshold. He stood there for a second, thinking. Then it hit him. "Rebekah." he said flatly. He cursed out loud as he dialed her number.

"Hello love," He heard her say with waay to much enthusiasm in her voice.

"Mmmh Hi.. What did you do?" he asked, with his sarcastic grin.

"Whatever do you mean, dahling?" She said, he could hear the smile in her voice.

"Don't play dumb with me, Rebekah. We're past the games." He said, losing patience quickly.

"You're right. We are past the games. Consider this… oh, I don't know.. Payback?" she snarled.

"What are we, 12?" He snapped,

"Well at least one of us is." She replied.

"Look.. I don't have time for this. Whatever you did, undo it….I got better things to do then to argue with you." He snarked.

"See? Now that's the kind of talk that got you in this predicament in the first place. You obviously don't learn very fast now do you?" She answered.

He sighed, "Fine. You win.. What do you want, Rebekah?"

"You know? I'll have to think about that. I'll get back to you." She said, hanging up.

"Damn it!" He threw his jacket on the floor and cursed under his breath. He dialed Stefan again.

"Hey," Stefan answered.

"So.." Damon said, squinting his eyes, "I have a slight problem."

. . .

"All set?" Stefan asked as Elena got into the car. "Yeah, thanks." She replied.

"So what happened again?" Elena asked, "Damon is stuck inside by some kind of spell?"

Stefan started the car and headed back to the Salvatore house. "Yeah. Apparently it was Rebekah. I'm gonna drop you off there and then go talk to someone who might know how to help." Stefan told her.

"Well what about Bonnie?" Elena asked,

"I already talked to her. She's got a lot on her plate right now. The last thing she wants to do is spend her time and energy to help Damon. Not that I blame her."

Elena got quiet after that.. Hardly saying anything the whole way back to the house. After what seemed like and eternity, he pulled into the driveway. Elena could see that just about every light was on. "What, Is he afraid of the dark or something?" Elena asked with a grin, "He doesn't really do the whole waiting thing very well." Stefan answered.

They walked inside to see Damon lying on the couch, a glass of bourbon in one hand, and a book in the other.

"It's about time," he said, hopping off the couch, laying the book down but still carrying the glass lightly in one hand, "Any longer and I would've ran out of bourbon." He looked straight at Elena, then his eyes moved to the cast the was around her arm. His face got sober and he just looked at her with those puppy eyes. Those eyes said a million things to her without actually talking. She could see he felt guilty, the weight of what happened between them still heavy on both their shoulders. An awkward silence hung in the air. There were so many things he wanted to say to her, but words completely escaped him. She was the same way. She felt like she needed to say something.. anything.. But she just couldn't find her breath. "Okay," Stefan said, finally breaking the silence, and breaking Damon and Elena's eye contact. "I'm gonna grab some stuff and head out.. I don't know how long I'll be. This could take a while." Stefan looked right at Damon, "You got this?" it wasn't even a question that needed to be asked, but Damon shook his head anyway, and they stared for a few moments. Silently acknowledging each other.