A Surprising Savior:

They wandered around the house waiting. Elena was convinced that Beth and Rose understood but she wasn't aware that they called Damon until he showed up. Beth was leaning on the counter next to Elena who was drinking water facing the other way. Beth sighed and Elena turned around to face Damon. "What are you doing here?" He asked her.

"What are you doing here?" She asked him. She then turned her attention to Beth and Rose who came in. "You called him?"

"I'm sorry, Elena." Rose apologized in her thick English accent.

"You said you guys understood." Elena said looking at both of them.

"They lied." Damon glared at her. Beth left the room letting them talk alone. Rose soon followed her with Alice in tow. She put Alice in her bedroom and Beth guessed, compelled her to stay there. Beth went into the other room until she felt someone come up behind her. "What the hell were you thinking?" Damon asked her.

Beth turned around to look at his angry expression. Damon was fuming. He was mad that Elena wanted to do something stupid but he was even angrier that Beth went along with it. "I didn't know she wanted to give herself up to Klaus, Damon. I just thought she wanted to know more like I did."

"It doesn't matter!" He yelled taking a step towards her and she cringed a bit. She wasn't used to him yelling at her like this. When he was worried, he'd get upset but not like he was now. "They're coming here because Elena was being an idiot and decided to be all sacrificial. We were working on a plan."

"I get that! But we couldn't just stand around! You didn't include me in anything." Beth yelled back. He wasn't listening to her and the pain in her stomach and head was making her more irritable. "I had to do something. Klaus is dangerous and we know basically nothing about him. What was I supposed to do? Sit around and wait for him to show up and kill us?"

"You should have told me!" Damon shouted. "Instead you went ahead with her, like an idiot! What if they had gotten here before I did and took Elena to Klaus?" He asked her.

"Then, I guess we're lucky you were here to save Elena." Beth said sarcastically. Him calling her stupid, stung a bit but mostly that he didn't care what happened to her as long as Elena was okay. She walked away from him before he could yell at her again.

Beth waited in the other room with Rose and Elena while Damon wiped Alice's memory cleaned. Elena wasn't talking to her because she was irritated that she told Damon. Beth didn't care she just wanted to get home. She was feeling nauseous and her head was pounding. Rose knew that she wasn't feeling well either. She was sitting between her and Elena. Damon finally came out. "Time to go. Alice is soundly sleeping and won't remember a moment of this horribly stupid day." He said pleasantly.

As they were about to leave, the apartment door opened to reveal three burly, menacing looking guys. They all stood up. Beth could sense they were vampires. Damon stepped in front of Elena, knowing she was the one they were after. "We're here for the doppelganger." One of them said. Beth guessed it was Cody since he was the one they called.

"Thank you for coming." Elena said about to step forward but Damon grabbed her arm, tightly and glared at her.

"I will break your arm." He threatened her. He turned his attention back to the vampires. "There's nothing here for you." Before anyone could move or say anything the vampire in the back fell dead. They all looked to the body as it fell and revealed a person standing behind it. It was Elijah. Beth took a step back, surprised to see him. He stepped towards them and Rose ran at vampire speed out of the apartment. "I killed you! You were dead." Damon said with an accusing tone.

"For centuries now." Elijah agreed and he turned towards the other vampires. Who are you?"

"Who are you?" Cody asked.

"I'm Elijah."

Fear ran through the vampire's face as he realized who he was. "We were going to bring her to you for Klaus." He quickly explained about Elena who was still standing behind Damon. "She's the doppelganger. I don't know how she exists but she does. Klaus would want to see her."

"Does anyone else know you're here?" He asked them. He looked over at Elena and then to Beth.

"No."

"Well, then you have been incredibly helpful." He thanked them. They seemed to relax a minute before he plunged his hands into his chest and ripped out their hearts. Beth gasped putting a hand over her mouth. They fell to the round dead. Seeing the hearts was what did it. She usually had a strong stomach when it came to that but she was sick. Beth raced over to the trashcan near the window and threw up. Blood splattered into the plastic can. The blood overwhelmed the vampire's sense smell. She felt dizzy and as she started to fall but felt strong arms catch her.

"Beth!" Damon said running over to her where Elijah had caught her and was now on his knees with her head resting in his arm. Elena ran over to the, too. She was unconscious. Damon glared at Elijah who glared right back.

"What's happened to her?" Elena asked worried about her friend, ignoring their glare off. "Damon?" Elijah answered instead.

"Elizabeth is sick. Very sick." Elijah informed her, but Damon could see past the calm exterior and could tell how worried he was. He smelled the blood when he walked into the apartment. He could see her loss of color and knew she was nauseous. He bit his wrist to allow it to bleed and went to put it to her mouth put Damon grabbed his hand. "Don't be an idiot."

"I'm not having you turn her into a vampire." He snarled. That was Beth's choice. Elijah lifted her up slightly and her shirt hitched to see the blood build up in her stomach. Elijah and Damon both saw that.

"She's bleeding internally and she will die if I don't give her my blood." He told them. "Go get water." He said to Elena who immediately obliged and ran off to the kitchen. Before Damon could argue Elijah brought his wrist to Beth's mouth to urge her to swallow. She woke up and got the hint and started to drink. The blood bruise started to fade. Elijah had the faintest smile of relief on his face as she began to sit up a bit more, coughing.

Elijah could feel her shaking a bit. He gently wiped blood that had fallen on her chin. She looked up at him. She didn't seem so afraid of him anymore, she was grateful. Elijah saw that in her eyes. Damon saw the look they shared between them until she realized he was still there. "Damon." She said and he automatically went to grab her. She sat up and Damon hugged her. Elijah dashed off as Elena came back in.

"Beth!" She exclaimed, relieved that she was okay and Damon let her go to drink the water she brought but sat close to her. Elena hugged her tightly but Beth looked towards the door that Elijah had left from. He saved her life and that confused her.

xxxxxx

Damon all but threatened to tell Alaric what happened if she didn't wait for him at the boarding house. She didn't feel like a lecture but at least she didn't feel sick anymore. The one question that pondered her was why would he save her? Beth had this question running through her mind as she played the piano. She barely thought about what she was doing as she expertly played Coldplay.

"I'm not going to say what you did today wasn't stupid cause it was." She heard Damon say. She sighed and turned around to see him walking into the living room. "But I'm sorry I yelled at you. You were just trying to help Elena." She got up and went to sit down on the couch. He sat besides her. "What was that? Why didn't you tell me?" He asked about her getting sick.

"Didn't want to worry anyone." She shrugged simply. "It was just too much use of my power. I had been trying to work on a protection spell to put on the apartment for Alaric but it's a tough one. I've been trying for a while but it hasn't worked yet. I guess constantly trying it took a toll on my body."

"You should have said something." He told her.

"Everyone was worried about Elena and I didn't want to add my problems to that." Damon felt guilty. He didn't often feel like that but he did now. He couldn't help her. He was too involved in Elena and making sure she didn't get hurt he didn't notice how much pain she was in. He was supposed to keep her safe and he failed. She could have died if Elijah wasn't there. He would make it up, he promised himself.

"I'm sorry I should have known. Next time, tell me." He told her rather than asking and she nodded. "Hey! I'm serious. You can't overexert yourself like that. I know you think you can handle all that power but you can't, not all at once! Witches have died from doing that. If we weren't there you could have died!"

"I won't, Damon. Okay? I'm sorry." She apologized softly. He was blaming himself more than anything but he couldn't have her risking her life like that again.

"What was that with Elijah?" He asked her changing the subject.

"Beats me. I wish I knew too. They way he looked at me…" She trailed off remembering the look on his face when he saw her and when she fell. It wasn't what she expected.

"What?"

"It was like he…was worried about me dying. Like it would be his fault if that happened. That's what I sensed." She told him. Damon nodded, he got that feeling too but there was more to it. Like Elijah cared deeply for her and he would do anything for her. It was similar to what he felt for Elena.

"I'm scared." She admitted softly looking at the floor. Damon looked at her surprised. She didn't usually come out and say those things. "Katherine hinted that Klaus might come after me too and I don't know why….that he might try and kill me."

Damon squeezed her hand. "I won't let that happen." He told her determined. He didn't know what Klaus wanted with her but he wouldn't let her get hurt. "I'll protect you with my life." He promised her and she gave him a grateful smile.

"I don't know how to do this. I'm not like Elena. I'm not strong enough to not be scared." Beth said frustrated and Damon wanted to laugh. That was so far from the truth.

He scoffed. "You don't know how strong you really are, El." He said truthfully.

"Yeah, sure."

"I mean it! You are. Don't dog yourself. Trust me." He smiled a bit at her.

"You're being weirdly nice, Day." She teased him. He was shocked. She was comfortable enough to use his nickname. Beth looked at him confused at his expression. "What? Did I say something wrong?"

"Nothing…you didn't say anything wrong." He assured her once he found his voice. He looked and saw concern all over her face. He couldn't stay, he had to leave. He cleared his throat. "I, uh, I got to go." He said standing up quickly.

Beth tried not to let the hurt show. "Oh, yeah okay."

She moved to leave too. She grabbed her bag. She went to leave when Damon stopped her. "El!" He said and she turned her head at her nickname. He didn't want to leave her like that. She was scared and worried enough. He wanted to give her something. He opened a drawer and took something out. He tossed her a football and she easily caught it. She saw a scene flash before her eyes. It was her and Damon outside the house and they were tossing it back and forth. She could see him actually smiling happily, then she came back. "It's our football. It was our game back in 1864. Woman weren't allowed to play but you were so stubborn you made me teach you after dark, along with fencing." He explained with a small smile as he remembered.

"Thank you, Damon." She said touched looking at it. It was old but surprisingly in good condition. She realized that it had been over 150 years since they would have played it and he had still kept it. She remembered seeing how happy they were, how he was. They were so carefree with nothing to worry about. She saw him nod and she left the boarding house. Feeling surprisingly better than she did when she entered it.