A/N The Vampire Diaries Settings and Characters all belong to LJ Smith and the CW. Any original characters and this story are copyright © 2011-2018 to Hopelessromanticgurl, all rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.

He meant every word. He'd protect Elena even if it meant giving up his own life.

The next morning Elena stirred and opened her eyes. She looked around a little confused. When the memories of last night returned she groaned. Thankfully her headache was gone. Then she noticed someone sitting on her desk chair. It was Stefan.

"I thought you left." She said sleepily.

"After what happen with Damon I wanted to keep an eye on you." He said. "Your Aunt has no idea. I hid in your closet every time I heard her coming to check on you."

"Stefan Salvatore has a sneaky side." Elena teased.

Stefan smiled and went over and sat down at her side. He leaned down and kissed her forehead. "How's your head?"

"Better, thanks for taking care of me last night."

"Anything for you."

They shared a kiss on the lips.

Just then the door opened and Lexi walked in.

"Lexi! Warning would be nice!" Stefan said. "I thought you were Jenna."

"Sorry, this was important. Can we talk?"

"I was going to get in the shower anyway." Elena said.

She hoped out of bed and went into the bathroom. Once the water turned on Lexi told Stefan that Bonnie had been taken hostage by some vampires and needed help. Stefan didn't waste a second before rushing out of the house and to Bonnie's aid. Lexi sighed waiting and hoping he got to her in time.

Time went by faster than Lexi hoped it would and before she knew it Elena was out of the shower and dressed, ready for her day. What was she going to tell Elena about where Stefan was? How would Elena react?

Elena came out of the bathroom. She looked around the room. "Where did Stefan go?"

"Uh…"

Thankfully Lexi's cell phone rang. She tried not to smirk. "Hello?"

Elena noticed she let out a sigh of relief and wondered why.

"Ok, we will be there soon." She hung up and looked to Elena. "That's Stefan he wanted us to meet at Bonnie's house."

"What? Why is he there?" Elena asked.

"Guess he'll explain when we get there." Lexi told her.

She took Elena's hands and they quickly left the house.

They arrived and Stefan filled Elena in on what happen to Bonnie.

"Even if that dumb vampire and his girlfriend do leave town Damon will still go after Bonnie." Lexi said.

"You're right, so what do we do?" Elena asked.

"For now, you need to stay here." Stefan answered.

"A prisoner, in my own home? I don't think so." Bonnie's grandma answered.

"I can't protect you if you leave the house." Stefan told her.

"We'll protect ourselves."

Stefan sighed. They needed a better plan because they wouldn't agree to this one.

"We need to let him have Katherine back. He's not going to stop until he gets her. If we help him, maybe that ends it." Elena suggested.

"No!" Bonnie said sternly. "He doesn't deserve to get what he wants."

"What other choice do we have?"

Nobody said anything because they all knew they were right.

"Witches being pulled down by vampire problems. As much as we tried to do to stay out of it. I'll open the tomb. You get your brother's girl, and destroy the rest with fire. Then this will be all over."

"We still have to get Damon to agree." Stefan said hoping deep down he didn't believe them and they wouldn't have to do this.

"He already agreed once." Elena reminded him.

"Yeah, and then we double crossed him. So now he's angry." Stefan reminded her.

"He's hurt. There's a difference. I think I know what I have to do."

"Which is what?" Lexi asked protectively. "You have to know Stefan nor I are letting you near him alone after what he did to you last night? Can you honestly tell me you trust him or want to be alone with him after that?"

"It's the only way, Lexi. No I don't trust him, no I'd rather not be alone with him, but we don't have any other choice." She looked to Lexi and Stefan and lowered her voice "I want to protect Bonnie and her Grams. SO I have to do this, Lexi. Please you and Stefan need to let me do this."

"Fine, but not alone. I'll stay close enough to come to your rescue if you need me, but far enough way Damon won't know I'm there."

Elena sighed. If this was the only way… "Fine."

Lexi and Elena left the house. Stefan just stayed behind worrying and he wouldn't stop until she came back in one piece.

Much it his dismay he had to meet Elena and Lexi at the old Church along with Bonnie and her Grams. Then he could see Elena. But that felt like a lifetime away.

They all met at the bottom of the cellar. Bonnie and her Grams got to work setting everything up. Lexi was standing with Elena near the exit in case anything with wrong. Stefan and Damon were in front of them.

"Admit it, you can wait to see her again." Damon said smirking.

Elena couldn't help but tense at that. She never thought of that. What if Stefan fell for Katherine all over again or she compelled him to be with her? Maybe she shouldn't have done this…

"Don't worry. He hates Katherine. He loves you." Lexi whispered to Elena.

Elena relaxed and smiled gently.

"I can't wait to get rid of you, Damon." Stefan agreed.

"It's ready." Bonnie said.

She and her Grams held hands and started to chant in Latin. It took a few moments but suddenly the fire intensified and Elena jumped clinging to Stefan. The large door in front of the tomb opened a cracked and everyone froze.

Damon looked to Stefan. "You got the fire ready?"

"It's right outside. I'll go get it." Stefan quickly left.

Damon looked to Elena. "You ready?"

"What?" Elena asked.

"You think I'm going to go in there by myself So you can seal me in?" Damon asked angrily.

"Don't take her in. I'll bring the walls down." Grams warned.

"You'll bring walls down if I don't. You think I trust you?"

"As much as I trust you."

"Enough! Both of you. Look, he needs leverage. He needs to know that you're not going to shut the door when he gets inside. I get it. I'll go."

"Elena…" Lexi started.

"I'll be fine. Tell Stefan not to worry." Elena said. Damon grabbed a torch and headed into the dark, hungry filled cave with Elena not too far behind him.

Stefan came back down. "Where is Elena?"

"Damon took her inside." Bonnie said.

"What?" He went to run in after them but Grams grabbed his arm. "Don't go in there. You won't come out."

"What are you talking about?" Lexi asked. "What did you do?"

"Opening the door didn't break the seal, it just opened the door."

"What seal?" Lexi asked.

"Some seals keep vampires from coming in, others keep them from going out."

"Elena is human, she can get out. Damon and Katherine can't?" Stefan said finally understanding. "You planned this the entire time?"

"I told you I'll protect my own before anyone else."

Stefan sighed. A part of him was tempted not to care, just leave Damon in there, it would make life so much easier. But the other part was screaming to go in there and save not only Elena, but his brother as well. Lexi took his hands and squeezed it. "What are you thinking?" she asked low enough that the witches wouldn't hear.

Stefan just sighed. He had no idea. Suddenly he heard a scream, not just any scream Elena's scream and the choice was clear. He took off running into the tomb without a second thought. Lexi was about to try and convince Grams to break the seal but Bonnie was way ahead of her. Lexi was happy Stefan had a friend in Bonnie.

Not too long after that Elena came running out, thinking Stefan would be right behind her.

"Elena, don't panic but Stefan…" Bonnie started to say, but Elena cut her off.

"Don't worry he's right behind me." She turned around to see Stefan just barely peeking out from the tomb. "Stefan what are you doing?"

"It's going to be ok. We'll fix it." Bonnie said.

"I can't." was all Stefan said.

"Can't? Can't what?"

"The spell's still up, we can't get them out…yet." Bonnie told her.

"You went in there not knowing if you could come back out?"

"I heard you scream." He told her honestly.

"We can't leave him in there. We promised him, both of us." She said thinking about Damon.

"I know." Stefan nodded agreeing with her. He had been thinking the same thing.

"Even if we're able to break through the seal, we won't be able to hold it for long." Grams said.

Stefan turned back around and ran into the tomb in search of Damon. Elena paced back and forth waiting for Damon and Stefan to walk out of the door. Hopefully and yet, not hopefully without Katherine.

"Elena, they can't do this much longer." Lexi told her. Elena nodded and ran back inside.

She found them quickly but Damon didn't want to leave.

"Damon, please!" she begged.

Damon looked to her in a way he had never looked at her before. It scared her honestly but once he spoke she understood why. "Katherine."

She shook her head. "Damon come now, please."

He moved toward her so the three of them made a run for it.

The large rock door slammed shut just as they all got out. Elena and Stefan hugged tightly happy Elena had gotten eaten and happy Stefan hadn't gotten trapped in that tomb forever. Suddenly Elena remembered what Anna had said to her. She gasped and pulled away. "Jeremy!"

She and Stefan shared a look of panic as they both rushed up and out.

They ran over to Jeremy. Lexi was already next to him. "He's fine. Just a small bump on the head. He's ok."

Elena sighed with relief and nodded. She caught something moving from the corner of her eye and looked up. It was Damon. She sighed softly and stood up. She didn't trust Damon, she didn't like Damon, and she would never be alone with Damon again after what he just did to her, but…she did feel bad for him. He really did love Katherine and now he was never going to get her back. So she went over to him and gave him a big hug. "I'm sorry." She whispered.

Damon just stood there. "This is all your fault." He growled. "You and your stupid Uncle." He pushed her away roughly causing her to stumble. Stefan was there in a flash and caught her before she hit the ground.

"Damon you know that isn't true. It wasn't just Jonathan Gilbert in charge of this. Our father was in charge of it too."

"Yeah and so were you. That's twice you betrayed me brother. I wouldn't try a third or you will know what it feels like to lose the love of your life." He said glaring at Elena. Then in a flash he was gone.

They all sighed. This was supposed to help Damon, instead it just made him angrier.

"Let's get Jeremy home."

Elena nodded and they all headed back to Elena's house.

Elena stayed long enough to get Jeremy some ice and advil and make sure he was ok before she headed back to see Bonnie. She wanted to be sure she was ok after everything that happen today.

When she arrived at her house she called Stefan, per his request telling him she got there ok. Bonnie went to take some tea to her grandmother who wasn't feeling well while she was on the phone with him.

Just as she hung up she heard Bonnie screaming her name frantically. Elena went running and stopped at the door way and gasped. Grams was dead. Bonnie was trying to find a spell to save her. But deep down Elena knew there was none. She slowly approached Bonnie and pulled her back a bit into her arms, just holding as she broke down crying. There was nothing that could be said or done. She just had to be there for Bonnie like Bonnie was there for her. No matter what it took Elena was going to help Bonnie through this.

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