Chapter 17 TDT

"Damon just answer your phone." Stefan beseeched, leaving him his third voicemail of the day. Damon had been incommunicado all day since he'd left angry. Stefan didn't know what to do. How could he fix this if Damon wouldn't talk to him? Hell even if he did, how the hell was Stefan supposed to fix everything? Elena was revolted and said she never wanted to see him again and now Damon…

He tried to write his thoughts down in his journal but he couldn't find the attention span to do so at all. His mind was racing too much. He had to physically do something but what? Damon please…it was Elena. Please I love you both. He didn't know what to do. He put his head in his hands and leaned on his elbows at his table as he felt sorry for himself. His cell wrang and he grabbed it, his heart racing as he answered.

"Damon?"

"No, it's Jeremy." Stefan frowned. Why was Jeremy calling? Surely not to give him a piece of his mind? He couldn't imagine that Elena would want to tell everyone what Stefan and Damon had been up to when she'd caught them today. It would make her feel embarrassed too.

"Oh, hey…what's up?" Stefan stumbled.

"Is Elena with you? I know you guys are trying to be all discrete and all but you gotta give me some warning when I have to cover for you. Jenna's pissed Elena missed dinner." He explained and Stefan frowned to himself and stuttered.

"We're not…she's not with me. I haven't seen her for hours. Maybe she's with Bonnie or Caroline."

"No, they are all here at the Grill with Matt and I."

"And she's not there?"

"No." A silence fell between them. "Then where is she?" Jeremy asked sounding anxious and worried and Stefan stood up, feeling the hair of the back of his neck prickle. Could she have run into Damon somewhere? Were they together? All sorts of messed up scenarios started to play through his head – maybe Elena would get her own back by sleeping with Damon to get back at him, maybe Damon would try and charm into her pants too to get back at him, maybe Damon had gone to fight with her, maybe…Wait.

Stefan closed his eyes and sighed as he realised how self indulgent he had become. Damon had been so right when he said that sometimes Stefan didn't notice things that he wasn't the centre of. Was he so self obsessed that he'd convince himself that their behaviours all revolved around him?

"Stefan?" Jeremy prompted beginning to sound fearful and he snapped back to attention again.

"Ok, get Bonnie. Maybe she can do a locator spell and find out where she is."

"Ok."

"I'll be there as soon as I can." Stefan said and ended the call. He grabbed his jacket and car keys, pulling out his phone to call Damon then he paused, looking down at the key pad. It was such an instinctive reaction to call his big brother in times of trouble. They'd become such a good team lately, dealing with every problem coming up around them, around Elena. For a second he forgot that Damon wasn't just his partner in crime but his lover too – his lover who was hurt and angry at him right now. He groaned and hyperventilated a little as he realised just how much he needed his brother. If only Damon were two separate people. If only he could just get his brother right now and not have to deal with the other side of their relationship. He had no one else to turn too.

He dialled his number again anyway and held his breath. Perhaps he could appeal to Damon's sense of affection for Elena, or at least the feelings he had had for her until recently. In truth he had no idea how Damon felt about anything these days. They'd spent the last few days in blissful ignorance of the rest of the world and Stefan hadn't allowed them to talk about real life stuff. Stefan had wanted to hide happily in their bubble, had insisted upon it, even though Damon had tried to talk. He should have listened.

Damon's phone wrang and wrang and Stefan deflated and began to descend the stairs quickly. He removed the phone from his ear to end the call when he heard Damon's voice.

"What?!" Damon barked and Stefan hurriedly put the phone to his ear again as his body flushed with adrenaline.

"I need your help." He croaked, trying to find his nerves and get straight to the point. Hopefully if Damon realised this wasn't about them, he would listen and not hang up. Damon gave a mirthless cruel chuckle and Stefan felt his heart break.

"Elena's in trouble." Stefan blurted and he heard Damon slurp. He must be at a bar drinking. Great.

"Of course she is." He drolled.

"She's missing. I think something's happened to her."

"Then go on your white horse and save her Stefan." Damon sighed.

"Damon please, I need your help. I'm heading to the Grill to meet Bonnie and the others to see if she can do a spell to track her. Will you help? It's Elena." Stefan said straining to hide how desperate he was and Damon snorted and hung up without another word.

Stefan closed his eyes and struggled not to let tears overwhelm him. This was his fault. He was going to have to clean up the mess that followed on his own. He'd taken this relationship with Damon further and now he had to deal with the fact that he'd potentially lost his brother too. He needed to grow a spine and get out there and face it all. He took a deep breath and put his phone back into his pocket. He headed out to his car with a heavy heart and no hope and set off for the Grill.

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Elena awoke groggy and confused to the sounds of two people arguing.

"Maybe we shouldn't do this, maybe we should just leave here and run."

"Trevor everything is going to be fine."

"It'll be fine for you, not me! Christ, Rose he's been hunting me for hundreds of years, you think he's just going to pardon me? He'll kill me and let you go!"

"Hey, hey what are we?"

"Family."

"That's right. You and me. This is going to work. Elijah is a man of his word. If he says he'll pardon us, he will. I'm not going to leave you."

Elena crept as slowly and as quietly as she could towards the sound of the voices and eyed a man and a woman in their 20s holding each other and staring at each other intensely. Where was she and who were these people? The last thing she remembered was driving away from the Boarding House after… She shook that memory out of her head as she tried to focus. There had been a car behind her, they'd tried to run her off the road. She carefully traced her fingers over her forehead and winced at the pain. She had a deep gash in her forehead that was bleeding. Now she remembered. She'd had to swerve off of the road and had hit her head on the dash before her airbags had come out.

They must have done it to her intentionally to bring her here. Where was here? She looked around scanning the room. It looked like an abandoned mansion from one of the old plantations, except there weren't any of these old buildings left in as good a state as this one in Mystic Falls so she must be somewhere else. Her chest tightened in fear and she backed away as they continued their terse conversation. She had to get out of here and get to a phone and call help. Call Stefan…Wait.

She froze as she realised she didn't know who to call. Stefan was her…but he and Damon…who else could help her? She tried not to panic as she formulated a plan. Bonnie. Bonnie was a witch. Maybe she was powerful enough to do a spell that would incapacitate these two people – vampires. They had to be vampires. They were talking about lives from hundreds of years ago. She clutched at her throat and sighed in relief to note she still had her vervain necklace on. That was good at least. She began to make her way towards the stairs that she hoped would lead down to the front entrance – every step careful positioned as she tried to use her body weight to make no sound on the floorboards. She reached the top step of the last staircase to the door when she was grabbed from behind and screamed.

"Don't even think about it." The woman held her by her hair and hissed at her with a calm expression but dangerous tone. She began to cry and begged to be released but she was dragged forcefully back into the room she had awoken in and pushed down onto a sofa.

"Please let me go, you don't have to do this." She cried and the woman stood in front of her with authority, staring at her intensely.

"Be quiet. God you look just like her."

"But I'm not. I'm not Katherine please…"

"I said be quiet."

"Please, what do you want?" Elena sat forward beseechingly and the woman struck her hard across the face, knocking her out as she slumped into the sofa.

"I want you to be quiet." The woman said calmly, before walking away out of the room again.

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Everyone was in an uproar. Elena hadn't called or been in touch with anyone for nearly 10 hours. Jeremy had managed to keep Jenna calm and out of the loop, with Caroline calling to say that Elena was staying at her place for the night and going to school straight in the morning as she needed some relationship talk about Stefan. They were all under the impression that she and Stefan were together so it didn't make Caroline feel like she was actually lying. Bonnie began a locator spell with Jeremy's help.

"Was she ok when you saw her earlier? I mean, did you guys have a fight or something?" Caroline asked him innocently and he grew tense.

"Things haven't been easy lately, with Katherine and everything…" He replied, hating lying to her. They'd become friends lately, with him being a sort of mentor to her and he could see from her eyes that she held him in high regard. He'd lose that too once Elena told her what was really going on. His heart sank as he realised that. Caroline reminded him of Lexi a little and he'd wanted to be her friend. He'd wanted to be friends with all of them in truth and now…This was what Damon had warned him of. He'd tried to make Stefan realise that if they had this relationship, then he could never go back to having the life he'd created with these people. He hadn't cared at the time. All he'd been able to think about was how much he loved Damon. Now…it would hurt to have to lose these things he'd fought so hard to have, to build. Caroline saw his expressions flit across his face and she hugged him warmly.

"Don't worry Stefan. She'll be ok. We'll find her." He hugged her back stiffly, feeling like a fraud.

"There!" Bonnie announced and everyone went over to her at the table. She was pointing down at a splodge of blood on the map in front of her as Jeremy bandaged his hand discretely. Stefan gasped and fought to restrain the veins from popping out of his eyes as he smelled the blood and Caroline stood beside him and blew out a deep breath quiet enough for only Stefan to hear as the humans around them began to plan. She put her hand comfortingly on his back and he turned to her in surprise. She gave him a knowing look and a small smile and his heart warmed. She was really something this girl. He took a deep breath as he had shown her to do when she felt her urges take over and he righted himself, clearing his mind again. He looked to Bonnie again.

"Can't you get it any nearer? That's a large area to cover." He said and she sighed in frustration.

"That's the best that I can do Stefan. She's there." She said and everyone exchanged frustrated glances.

"Then what are we waiting for?"

Everyone turned around to see Damon hanging by the door. They had all crowded into the storeroom at the Grill to plan and hadn't expected to be interrupted. Stefan looked to him and his heart picked up immediately. He smiled in relief but Damon didn't look at him. He was addressing the others. His smile dropped and he tensed as he realised, trying to pull himself together. He couldn't have an emotional outburst with everyone else here.

Bonnie described a spell that she could do to let Elena know that they were coming for her, while Jeremy insisted that he help her prepare. Caroline and Matt wanted to come with Stefan and Damon but Damon held a hand out sternly.

"No way. We have no idea what the hell we're walking into alright?"

"She's my friend Damon." Caroline stood her ground as Matt looked from one of them to the other.

"And I'm sure Elena would want you to stay that way, not buried six foot under on some highway road because you've had your heart ripped out." Damon smiled patronizingly before remembering that he had buried Vicky under in similar circumstances and Matt was looking at him like a Bull ready to charge. "No offense quarterback." He added and Matt flexed his muscles. Caroline reached for him to calm him as she scowled at Damon's insensitivity.

"Caroline you should stay here to protect everyone else. If we are both gone, you're the only one strong enough to stand a chance." Stefan squeezed her shoulder and she looked to him and gave him a small smile born of agitation but acceptance. She couldn't argue with the logic of that. She nodded.

"Good. Let's get going shall we?" Damon sighed bored and walked out of the room. Stefan reassured everyone he'd call when they found her and strode out quickly to catch up with Damon.

Damon was already starting up his car when Stefan got outside and slung himself in the passenger seat ungracefully. Damon said nothing and pulled away as soon as the door was closed. Stefan gripped the side of the door as he chewed his lip. They had to talk but where to start. The longer the silence went on, the harder it was for Stefan to rouse any confidence to. He opened his mouth a few times to try and ended up closing it again as he fought with himself. This was the most quiet he had ever seen Damon as long as he had known him and that was a long time. He turned to look at him and his heart broke to see Damon appear so indifferent. He opened his mouth again.

"Don't." Damon said coldly, not taking his eyes from the road. Stefan gulped painfully and inhaled.

"I'm sorry." His voice was barely a whisper as his vocal chords shrunk under the pressure. Damon ignored him, not even blinking and they drove in silence for a while.

"Please talk to me." Stefan attempted and Damon's face split with anger for a second before he straightened it again. "I can't bare this." Stefan croaked and Damon tightened his mouth and gripped the steering wheel hard.

"Damon…"

"Stop. Talking." Damon growled slowly, enunciating.

"We need to talk."

"Right now all I want to do is hurt you Stefan, so don't go there." Damon growled and Stefan sank back into his seat and sighed in grief. "Let's just get Elena and get her home safe."

"And then?" Stefan asked furtively and Damon tightened his expression and went back to ignoring him.

Stefan sat in misery for the next few hours, looking over at Damon occasionally to look for any signs of the frost on his heart melting but there were none. He'd never seen Damon this angry, this hurt before. Even when Katherine had ruined him, he hadn't been like this. How could Stefan's betrayal have been worse than everything she had done? That wasn't fair surely, that wasn't even in the same league! Then again, Damon had been so hurt by that, so overcome he had opened his heart completely to Stefan to find the solace and love she had torn from him and Stefan had given it to him in spades. They'd shared something so powerful it had made them both turn away from their human bonds – their beginnings, the only thing they had ever held dear in this new life and started on this new road together and they had been together on that completely. They had both declared themselves, given their souls, their future, their other relationships gambled…all for each other and now everything was up in the air. Damon was the only one with the string here and he could easily let go of everything they had and let it float upwards to the heavens, never to be thought on again.

They approached a large overgrown mansion and Damon stopped, parking the car behind some trees and shrubbery a small distance from the house. Stefan frowned and looked over at him.

"I reckon this is the place." Damon seemed calm.

"How do you know? That was a big area covered on Bonnie's map." Stefan reasoned and Damon just stared out of the windscreen scoping out their surroundings. He was all business it seemed.

"I googled on my phone on the way here. It's the only abandoned mansion for miles. It's secluded and off the beaten track. If I wanted to kidnap someone and keep it a secret, I'd bring them here." Damon informed and got out of the car. Stefan got out readily and joined him as he went to the boot and pulled out a bag of weapons. They both grabbed a few stakes and vervain grenades – courtesy of Alaric 'the inventor' and tucked them under their clothing as they prepared themselves.

"If we go in there, we might not come back out. Are you ready for that?" Stefan asked and Damon still avoided his eyes sighing.

"It's Elena." Damon said simply and Stefan chewed his lip. "Are you ready?" Damon asked.

"I can't think of a better way to die." Stefan said and Damon nodded and paled a little, moving on ahead as Stefan followed.

They entered the mansion quietly, straining to listen to a conversation happening somewhere above them. Damon tilted his head to intimate that they should split up and converge and Stefan nodded and walked around the large stairwell to the side of the house, carefully checking all of the rooms as he moved. He could hear Elena. She was scared and negotiating with someone. He moved onwards towards her voice, up a small set of stairs inside a storage cupboard to the first floor, when there was a commotion and screaming. He froze, his heart rampaging in his chest as he tried to zero in on her heart beat. There was a large clanging sound from somewhere near him and he realised it must be Damon. As the people in the room began to move in search for the culprit, Stefan managed to move into a hallway adjacent to them. Two people moved along the hall away from him in search and Elena dashed out. He grabbed her, covering her mouth as he held her to him and whispered to her to be quiet. She nodded in understanding and listened, squeezing his hand as there was further commotion down the stairs.

An English voice began to try to coax Damon out of the shadows and Elena looked to Stefan and nodded to him. He raised his eyebrows in query and she moved to stand at the top of the stairs before he could stop her. It wasn't until she started speaking to the Englishman that he realised she'd taken a vervain grenade from his pocket. Damon appeared behind the Englishman and staked him, making Elena gasp. The Englishman pulled the stake from his body as though it was nothing and continued to ascend the stairs towards her. She pulled the top out of the grenade and threw it at him as Stefan dove for her to protect her from the blast. He pulled her backwards and she clung to him for a moment.

The grenade merely seemed to stall the stranger as they both stared in horror at his continuing ascent up the stairwell. Stefan stood in front of her and lunged for him, tumbling them both down the stairs in a heap as she cried out. Stefan stood up and tried to prepare himself and the stranger twisted his arm, breaking it and pushed him onto his back on the floor as he screamed in pain.

"Stefan!" Elena cried out and suddenly Damon appeared from nowhere with a large wooden curtain pole and staked the stranger right through the heart, plunging him into the front door like a shrimp on a stick. The stranger gasped and groaned, turning grey and lifeless before them as Elena clambered down the stairs shakily and looked at him.

Damon went to Stefan, kneeling and lifting him into his lap as Stefan groaned and struggled with the pain. Elena turned back to them both, feeling as though she could pass out from the shock of everything that had happened today. She sat down shakily and tried to breathe. The woman who'd been her captor seemed to have made a run for it after seeing her friend so brutally killed before them.

Stefan was in pain and sweating as she watched Damon try to comfort him. Damon cooed at him and took a hold of his arm. Stefan gasped and looked up at him and she saw it – complete trust. Stefan looked into Damon's eyes and held his breath as Damon gave him a reassuring smile and snapped his bones back into place. It was such a loud crack she almost felt like vomiting in empathy, but Stefan merely groaned, biting his lip and became a little limp as Damon stroked his forehead. Damon rocked him a little as Stefan regained his wits and Elena watched entranced. They seemed so absorbed in each other.

"I'm sorry." Stefan gave a small cry and closed his eyes and Damon grimaced and closed his eyes too.

"Stefan…" Elena stood up slowly and extended her hand to him. She'd wiped some of the blood from her forehead and was offering him some if he needed to heal. He was hurt and he needed blood. He'd come to save her, she should help him if she could.

He looked over at her and blinked dazed, before smelling the blood. His veins appeared and she held her breath. Damon held Stefan tighter and gave a low growl. She looked to him in confusion. She just wanted to help.

"It's ok. I want him to have some." She assured and Damon tightened his expression.

He looked down to Stefan and Stefan closed his eyes in torment as he tried to fight his bloodlust. Stefan sat up and Damon released him from his lap as he moved to stand on his own two feet. He looked towards her hand hungrily and licked his lips subtly.

"Stefan…" Damon whispered softly with a slight hint of warning in his voice and Stefan looked to him.

Stefan looked so upset, so forlorn and in grief and she lowered her wrist as he looked from her to Damon. She realised at that moment what this was. Stefan was choosing. He was choosing which one of them would comfort him, would be the most pivotal and she didn't know which one he'd choose. She and Damon looked at each other and a moment passed between them. One she couldn't put her finger on or explain but somehow she just knew that Damon loved him just as much as she did, if not more. This hadn't just been blood and sex. When she'd first felt uncomfortable with the feeding they were sharing, it had been because she had known instinctively that part of Stefan had wanted Damon. She'd just known. She'd blamed Damon for that, believing that it was just another way for Damon to keep Stefan under his control, to keep him vulnerable but maybe she'd been wrong. She'd been punishing Damon for that, she'd been hating that they had this connection that she couldn't appreciate or begin to understand. She'd felt so lost when she'd seen parts of Damon coming through that she'd never expected existed but had hoped for – mercy, kindness and loyalty. Had these changes happened because of Stefan?

When she'd come over yesterday to talk things through and had found them having sex, she'd almost died. They had been exchanging vows of love and she'd seen that they weren't just having sex, they'd been making love and she couldn't take it. Somewhere in her heart she'd suspected it but hadn't dared believe it could happen. They had looked so much in love that she had watched in shock for a full 10 seconds before Damon had seen her and froze.

How could they be in love? How? They were brothers – family. They couldn't do this it was disgusting and wrong. It was abhorrent. It wasn't fair! Stefan and she…They'd been in love. They'd had a future…Hadn't they?

Stefan seemed to sag under their scrutiny and he sighed and looked up to the ceiling. He pulled out his cell phone and dialled Caroline's number as they both watched in silence.

"Care, we've got her. She's ok. We're all coming home." He said sounding unbelievably exhausted and worn out. He hung up after Caroline spoke for a few seconds and turned to Damon. Damon stood up and tightened his expression. Stefan turned to the stranger impaled through the door and opened it swinging the body into the wall as he exited and left them both to follow in his stead.