The End Of The Affair

August 25, 2010

It had been some weeks now since Damon, Elena ad Alaric had feebly attempted to track down Louise and Stefan, however they hadn't gotten anywhere closer to finding out where Klaus had taken them afterwards. Late at night, Damon was all alone in the big, quiet Salvatore mansion as he fixed himself a nightcap but was interrupted by a shrill ringing emanated from his back pocket and cursing, Damon retrieved his cell phone and stared at the caller ID. A useless Unknown flashed at him to the tone as he considered tossing to the side. The utter ridiculousness of the idea and the temptation of a momentary respite from his all-consuming anger won out.

Damon sighed, punching a button. "You're interrupting my drink."

"You miss me?" a silky-smooth voice replied, sliding across his skin and making him shudder.

"Vivienne" he muttered. "Where are you?"

"Lurking outside your window, pining away."

"What do you want?"

"Wow," Viviene replied dryly. "That's quite the greeting, Damon. A girl might take offense." Damon rolled his eyes even though she couldn't see him. "I'm homesick. What have I missed?"

"Well, Stefan and Louise are still Klaus' prisoners and Elena still thinks she can save them, and no one's thought about you since you left." Damon quipped, before instantly regretting the open invitation to pry into his life.

"And what about you?" Vivienne asked, latching onto the slip like a dog with a bone. "I'm sure you've kept yourself busy with dozens of lucky ladies while gradually giving up on Louise?"

Damon scoffed at the ridiculous suggestion. "I didn't give up on her. I just don't know where she is." Vivienne hummed in response, as if biting back information she waited for him to realise she had. Damon knitted his brows together as he frowned into the phone. "But you do. Are you trailing them?"

"A hybrid who wants me dead, his sidekick who's off the rails and a seventeen-year-old human copy of myself? I couldn't be further away."

"Which means you know exactly where they are." Damon countered.

"All I know is that Klaus pitched a fit once his hybrids didn't work. Now he's looking for some answers."

"How do you know that?"

"Spend five hundred years running, and there will be a few people along the way that are looking out for you."

"Is that what you're doing?" Damon asked with a slight bitter tone. "Looking out for my brother and my girlfriend? "

Vivienne didn't reply right away, and Damon wished he could see the expression on her face. After a moment, she said: "Maybe, maybe not. I'm conflicted."

"Where are they?" Damon aske in a low voice.

Klaus pushed open the door of the blacked-out SUV as it pulled into a warehouse and Stefan and Louise followed right behind him. The trio stepped outside and after he shut the door, Klaus looked over at his two acquaintances. "Welcome back to Chicago."

Stefan looked around the abandoned warehouse with a grimace. "What are we doing here?"

Klaus walked over to the door of the warehouse and opened it to reveal the bright city lights that surrounded them as a whole. A truck pulled into the lot in front of the warehouse and the hybrid smiled to himself. "I know how much you loved it here. Bringing back memories of the good old ripper days?"

Louise's eyes widened as her head whipped to the side to face Stefan, who shook his head. He merely shrugged. "Blacked out most of them." he replied honestly. "A lot of blood, a lot of partying. The details are all a blur."

"Well, that is a crying shame." Klaus whispered dramatically. "The details are what make it legend. Word was the ripper of Monterrey got lonely, so he escaped to the city for comfort. It was Prohibition. Everything was off limits then, which made everything so much fun. Chicago was magical."

"Yeah, well, I'll take your word for it. Like I said, I don't remember most of it." Stefan simply resorted.

A little irritated, Louise glared at Klaus. "You brought us here so Stefan can take a trip down memory lane?"

"No, Louise. I simply want him to remember what it was like." Klaus smiled back towards the brunette. His eyes shifted to Stefan who wore a blank expression. The hybrid seemed almost disappointed that Stefan wasn't indulging in his trip down memory lane. He closed the door with a blunt look. "Going to get down to business, then?"

"Why are we still with you? We had our fun, your hybrids failed." Stefan stated. "I mean, don't you want to move on?"

"We're going to see my favourite witch. If anyone can help us with our hybrid problem, it's her." Klaus walked over to the SUV door which was held open by one of his minions. Louise and Stefan once again exchanged looks before reluctantly following.

Sunlight filtered through the grey voiles at Elena's bedroom window. Something soft started brushing against her cheek. Elena reached up to push the intruding object away, but it persisted in tickling her awake.

"Rise and shine, sleepy head." said a soft voice.

Elena's eyes flew open to meet a pair of startingly blue ones, framed by long dark lashes. She scrambled off the bed and landed in a heap on the floor, before standing up and putting as much distance between her and Damon who had awoken her as possible. Once she could breathe again, she looked at him properly. "What are you doing?! Get out!" she fairly screamed. Damon didn't budge from his spot as Elena's eyes flickered over to her alarm clock. She sighed. "Six a.m. Seriously? Do you really have nothing better to do at six a.m.?"

Damon shrugged and inhaled sharply before he turned on his heels to leave. "Fine, don't come with me to bring your boyfriend and sister home. See ya."

Elena's eyes widened. "Wait. Wait, wait, wait." Damon stopped in his tracks and turned back to face the brunette. "What? What are you talking about? Where are they?"

"Windy city."

"They're in Chicago? Well, how do you know?" Elena cocked a brow.

Damon opened his mouth to respond, but thought about it for a moment before smirking and announcing, "It came to me in a dream. I was naked. Louise was naked. It was-"

"Ugh! Damon!" She her hands snaked up to her face to cover her ears and her eyes snapped shut while Damon only continued to smirk at her. When she couldn't hear him continue, she peered open her eyes and straightened with a sigh. "Are they okay?"

Damon shrugged. "Well, let's just say they're not there to meet Oprah." He faced turned serious quickly as he clapped his hands together. "Alright! Chop, chop! Let's move. Start packing."

It was less than an hour that they were speeding down the highway at the maximum speed of Damon's Camaro racing towards the windy city. While the Camaro continued its smooth journey over endless stretches of the highway, the monstrous landscape was giving Elena cabin fever. She glanced over at Damon's profile out of the corner of her eyes; he steered with one hand casually draped over the steering wheel, while his other arm rested on the open windowsill. Aside from the unnatural stillness his posture, Damon looked so incredibly human, Elena caught herself staring, as she tried to find a hint of vampire that lurked within.

Damon scoffed when he noticed Elena fiddling with her necklace. "I sure hope we find him, 'cause it would suck if the last memento of Stefan was that crappy old necklace."

"It's an antique, Damon. Like you." Elena quipped. A sign identifying the current highway they were on grew in size and Elena glared at it as they sped past.

For the first time in an hour, Damon moved, reaching behind him to pull out an antique journal he had stolen from his brother's collection. "Read this." he instructed as he held it out towards her. "Paints a pretty little picture of Stefan's first experience in Chicago."

"It's Stefan's diary." Elena stated the obvious. She shook her head. "I'm not going to invade his private thoughts."

"You need to be prepared for what you're about to see."

"I've seen Stefan in his darkest periods." she replied calmly, toying with a loose thread in the otherwise pristine upholstery of the Camaro's interior. "I can handle it."

Despite her statement, Damon peeled open the diary and placed it in front of the steering wheel. "Here's one. March 12, 1922." he began reading, changing his voice to mock his brother's. "I've blacked out days. I wake up in strangers' blood. In places I don't recognize. With women I don't remember." Glancing toward the brunette, he dropped the voice. "Ahh! I'm shocked! Stefan's not a virgin?"

Elena narrowed her eyes into a glare and snatched the diary from him. "Eyes on the road, grandma."

"Fine." Damon allowed, as the Camaro sped through a couple more curves. "Back to my game. Tell me if you see a Florida plate." Ignoring the vampire and her previous Statement, Elena opened Stefan's journal and began to scan through the pages.

"Looks familiar, doesn't it?"

Klaus waited and watched as Stefan and Louise both entered the bar and looked around. Stefan nodded as she recognised the venue he had spent most of his time in during the 20's, reflecting on what little memories he had with immense nostalgia.

"I can't believe this place is still here." Stefan admitted. He turned towards the brunette beside him, who seemed confused. "I used to come here in the 20's."

"You got to be kidding me." a feminine voice announced from the bar across the room. The trio turned their heads to see a dark-skinned woman, with a platinum blonde short haircut who headed straight toward them.

"So a hybrid walks into a bar, says to the bartender-"

"Stop." The woman, who Louise assumed to be Gloria herself, cut Klaus off immediately. "You may be invincible, but that doesn't make you funny." Louise smiled as she suppressed a laugh. Gloria's gaze flickered towards Stefan who now stood with his arms across his chest. "I remember you."

"Yeah." The Salvatore vampire nodded. "You're Gloria."

"Wait, hold on." Louise injected, with a slight raised arm as if she was in class. Her eyebrows knotted together. "If you knew Stefan back in the 1920's, shouldn't you be-"

"Old and dead?" Gloria cut her off with a light chuckle and Louise nodded. "Now if I die, who's going to run this place, huh?"

Klaus leaned in-between the pair and whispered to explain, "Gloria's a very powerful witch."

"I can slow the aging down some. Herbs and spells. But don't worry, it'll catch up to me one day."

"Stefan. Louise. Why don't you go and fix us up a little something from behind the bar?" Klaus nudged them towards the bar with a suggestive brow.

Stefan stayed quiet for a moment before realising it was an order than a suggestion. "Yeah, sure thing."

Klaus turned to Louise next, and she stared at him with incredulous eyes. "Perhaps you should get something for yourself, love. Your bloodstream seems to be running low on tequila since our last liquor stop."

Louise pursed her lips and glared at him venomously. If they'd shared a psychic connection, Klaus had no doubt the thoughts she would be sending his way would be anything but kind. The smirk never left his face as he watched the seer join Stefan at the bar.

Stefan moved behind the bar, mixing a few bottles of alcohol together while Louise perched herself on top of the bar counter. While Stefan used his super hearing to eavesdrop on the conversation between Gloria and Klaus, Louise's eyes were taken elsewhere as something absolutely disturbing staring her right in the face.

The brunette hopped down from the bar and pulled a photograph off the wall. "Since when were you and Klaus best pals?"

She flipped the photo towards the vampire. Stefan's eyes widened as he stared at the imagine and the world as he knew it came to a devastating crumble. The picture was one of Stefan's many nights out in the twenties. Stefan stood beside Klaus with his arm draped over the hybrid's shoulder, and they both wore huge smiles.

Stefan plucked the photograph from Louise's hand and looked up. "What is this?" he demanded. Klaus did not seem at all surprised, as if he had been waiting for Stefan to ask.

"Well, I told you, Stefan." Klaus stood from his seat. "Chicago's a magical place."

"But this is me...with you."

"Stefan could live anywhere in Chicago and he chose this?" Elena scoffed in disbelief as her and Damon made their way along the hall of Stefan's old apartment building.

"There used to be an all-girls high school around the corner, but it shut down for attendance issues. Weird." Damon explained before he stopped outside a door which Elena only assumed must've been Stefan's old apartment.

"If you're trying to scare me into giving up and going back, it's not going to work."

Damon placed his index finger to his lips in a motion to keep quiet. He pulled off the doorknob with his inhuman strength before he carefully pushed open the door to let them into the dusty, untouched room. "Here we are. Stefan's second personality home."

Elena looked around. "He obviously hasn't been here."

"Tour is not over yet."

He moved towards a wall shelf panel next to the refrigerator, placing his hand on the edge and pulled. The panel swivelled open to reveal a dark back room. Damon motioned to it, moved inside, and pulled a light cord. The light revealed a lot of alcohol on the shelves against the back wall.

Elena mocked a gasp. "Stefan hid his alcohol. What a monster."

"Look harder." The Salvatore instructed.

She moved closer and saw the three columns list of names, all in Stefan's handwriting, starting with: Giuseppe Salvatore, John Beach, Randy Smith, Danah Leach, Terrilyn Henson, Catherine Marid, Matthew Wagner, Michael Reddinton, Christian David, Dianne Wagner, Ashley Holliday. Elena shook her head, her eyes wide as she got closer and studied the wall. She grasped at straws. "It's a list of names." Damon just hummed in response. For a long time, Elena stared at the wall, each name hitting her with full force of its meaning. Whatever she'd been preparing herself for, this wasn't it. "These are all of his victims?"

"Still handling it?" Damon asked.

Elena seemed momentarily shocked, her chest rose and fell with shallow breaths before she turned to face Damon. She sucked in a breath and glared at him sharply. "What were you doing in the 1920s? Paving the way for women's liberation?"

"I was around. Chicago's a big city." Damon stated. "Stefan was a cocky ripper douche. But I could avoid him and still indulge in a few Daisy Buchanans of my own."

Elena scrunched her nose up in disgust just as Damon turned to leave the apartment. "Wait, where are we going?"

"His old stomping ground." Damon turned halfway to look at the brunette when he reached the door and shook his head. "And no. There's no we. You stay here and whip up an actual plan. I'll come back when I find him."

"But-"

Damon didn't give her anytime to argue as he cut her off by shutting the door behind him, leaving Elena in the empty apartment on her own.

Obsessed. Determined. Stubborn. Damon Salvatore was many of those things, but smart was apparently not one of them. He apparently wasn't sane either because no intelligent or sane being would have walked into Gloria's bar where the original hybrid was a patron. The bar was now open and full of customers and luckily for the Salvatore, Klaus was not one of them.

"Well, look what the wind blew in." Gloria exclaimed as her eyes settled on Damon from behind the bar. "Last I heard, you hated this place."

"Gloria. Damn! If I knew you were going to age like this, I would have stuck around."

The witch chuckled. "I always did like you better. But I see your brother is still running in the wrong crowd."

Damon tried not to seem thrilled at the mention of his brother. "You've seen him?"

Gloria simply nodded as she grabbed a glass and poured a generous amount of bourbon. "With Klaus. Bad combo."

"You know where they went?"

Gloria's eyes twitched slightly when she realised he didn't stop by the bar for a quick chit-chat and a glass of liquor. Hesitantly, she told him a bit of the truth. "They'll be back here later tonight. They're out running a little errand for me."

As she slid the glass of alcohol towards him across the counter, Damon covered her hand with his and sported a charming smile. "Gloria, don't be a tease. What kind of errand?"

She removed her hand. "I don't think so. You may be cute, but you're still a vampire."

A wave of rejection washed over Damon as the witch walked away to greet another customer at the other side of the bar.

"Damon?" A new emotion washed over Damon as he looked towards the entrance of the ladies bathroom, where the love of his life; Louise Gilbert, stood.

Louise stood frozen in place as if the air had been knocked out her lungs. It was like all the words had been scraped out the universe. That thing that always sizzled in the air between them snapped and was now yanking them together, faster than a thought or intention or even self-consciousness of the fact they had an audience.

The need to touch him was urgent. There was a movement filled with life, fast steps moving closer to him, her breathing faster as her arms stretched out to finally touch his skin almost possessively. She felt her heart ready to escape her own chest from relief.

He found her.

Their first real hug since what seemed like forever. His smell was everything she had been longing for. She pulled him closer, face hidden inside the safety of his neck, something she had done so many times before when comfort was needed but this time welting his skin as tears rolled down her cheeks uncontrolled. Louise held onto him for dear life. And him in return, held her close and sharply inhaled her scent once more. He could feel her heart slamming against her chest and the quickness of her breaths.

Damon pulled back and looked down into her chocolate doe eyes. A soft smile crept on his lips as he tucked her hair behind her ear and smoothing his thumb over her wet cheeks. Louise leaned into his touch. She stared up at him, drinking in his whole appearance in fear she won't see him again. His face was even more beautiful since the last time she saw him. She ran her fingers along his sharp jaw line.

"Damon," she whispered. An honest smile painted upon her wet lips, the corners growing wider. "It's really you. I've missed-"

Damon pressed his thumb to her lips, effectively silencing her seconds before he placed it with his mouth, banishing what she'd been ready to say. Louise's eyes fluttered close as she revelled in the sensation of his lips sweeping across hers. He slipped and arm around her waist and brought her closer. She kissed him back, opening her mouth to taste him fully as the hand that had been cradling her face delved into her hair. Curling his fingers into a fist around the thick locks, he pulled her head back for better access.

Louise's arms found their way around Damon's shoulders, her fingers tanging at the nape of his neck and holding him close. Unlike their previous kisses, this one wasn't a prelude to something more, it was the act itself, and she savoured every detail. His kiss consumed her, liquefying her from the inside and making her grateful for the possessive arm around her waist that would never let her fall.

My Damon...

A feeling of intense loss swept through her as they parted, and Louise kept her eyes tightly shut. Everything, her mind, her heart, her body, felt raw and vulnerable, like she might shatter into a million pieces if she so much as breathed. Damon continued to hold her, resting his forehead against hers as he ran his fingers through her hair.

Finally, he took a deep breath and kissed her forehead before murmuring. "Where's Klaus?"

Louise opened her eyes, frowning. "With Stefan." She shook her head. "You shouldn't be here, Damon."

"That makes two of us." Damon exhaled in a defeated manner. "Come on, work with me here, Louise. I'm getting you of here."

Louise stayed rooted in her spot. A pained expression crossed her face. "I can't. But you should go and get the hell out of Chicago." She ushered him towards the door. "Klaus will be back soon."

Damon's brows knitted together in confusion as he stared at his girlfriend in disbelief. "Do you really want to stay with him or are you are saying that because you're worried about how he will retaliate if you leave?"

"What the hell kinda question is that?"

"A valid one."

"It's not an either/or situation, Damon. I'm staying with Klaus for both of those reasons." Louise hissed, her words a hushed but viscous whisper. She didn't want to draw attention to their conversation. "I'm trying to protect the people I care about. Every second that you stay here, you're making everything more and more dangerous for everyone. I just want you to go home and be safe."

"That's your choice?"

Louise gave him a look that suggested he was stupid for even thinking it be such a simple task. "The fact you think it's a choice, is a real problem."

April, 1922.

Lexi found me last night. Dragged me off the train tracks. Thinks she can make me care again.

Elena read over Stefan's scribbles from the 1920s, knowing full well that it was wrong, but she couldn't help it. After seeing Stefan's wall, she knew that merely seeing Stefan wouldn't be enough to pull him back. She had to learn from the best, had to learn what made him tick.

June, 1924.

Lexi's driving me crazy. More animal blood, more misery...

She flipped the pages so fast; she didn't read all the words. She just needed the basics.

1935.

Cravings are there, but it's easier. Lexi's on to her next project: getting me to laugh.

"What a charming little homestead." It was the same voice that Elena heard in nightmares, from the same mouth that dripped with her blood and grinned and grinned, split open and curling at the corners as though her fear and misery were the funniest things he'd ever seen.

She tried to keep her head. If Klaus was here, then so was Stefan and Louise, but if they came through the door right now, it wouldn't matter if they'd tried to protect her. There was nothing anyone could do against Klaus. Elena fought against the freezing weight of helplessness and terror, forcing her numb arms to gather up her belongings and cram herself quickly and quietly into the corner of the closet.

Out in the apartment, the door banged open.

"Do you feel that?" Klaus was closer. "Is anybody here?"

"It's been vacant for decades. People must break in all the time." Elena's breath swelled in her lungs, fighting to escape in a gush at the sound of Stefan's voice. "Why'd you bring me here?" She forced herself to listen, shoving down both terror and hope to try and take in whatever information she might be able to glean.

"Your friend, Liam Grant, the one who drank his wife's blood..." Why did that name sound familiar? Elena thought. "I never could figure out why you wanted his name. And then you told me your little secret. It was all part of your special little ritual."

Almost against her own will, Elena turned her head, eyes skimming the names that she stood nearly pressed against. The cold of the plaster emanated, untouched for so many decades, and for one dizzy second it felt like the icy fingers of all those names, all those people, dead and cold and drained and rotting, prickling over her skin.

"To write it down." Stefan said. Liam Grant. There it was, inked onto the wall by her head. Liam Grant. He'd been one of Stefan's victims. Just like Polly Marston, Visily Osterbg, David Van Nifterick, Nina Geelen, Tida Arbrahams. Just like Rahul Ihejirka, Sunny Kravitz, Margaret Coinnich and Jennifer Murphy.

"And relive the kill...over and over again." Klaus smirked with smug satisfaction, as thought he'd just proven a point. Elena waited for Stefan to explain, to tell him that's not what it was, that this monument was not a shrine to slaughter. It was an act of penance, a way to punish himself even when he had been at his worst, his most craven. Stefan didn't say anything at all. Fingers scraped at the edges of the hidden door, pulling it open. "You believe me now?" Klaus asked but it didn't sound like a question. It sounded like triumph.

Elena held her breath as she heard the footsteps on the dusty floorboards, slow and pensive. She didn't have time to think. There was nowhere else to go. Silently, she moved as far from the door as she could, pressing her back to the wall of names.

Stefan stepped into the dark of the closet, and she bit the inside of her lip hard, looking at his profile. She could sense it, the instant he felt her presence, a snap of awareness in the cramped space. She should smile, try and communicate something to him. Give him hope that she hadn't given up on him, that they were going to get him out. But she couldn't make her face move from its rictus of blank terror.

He looked at her in surprise for one moment, before the unguarded expression was pulled back into neutrality. She wondered what she looked like to him now. Did he still see the girl he loved, the girl he'd fought to save? Or did she fade into the wall, another name, just all these, everyone he'd ever stolen and carved on the face of his edifice?

"Look what I found." Stefan called to Klaus, without taking his unreadable eyes from hers.

Elena wondered for one mad second whether he would reassemble her corpse too, like he'd done to those girls in Tennessee. Would he place her head and limbs lovingly back on her body, as well, pose her like a doll, as did to them? She felt as though she was already dead, the future unfolding like a spool of film reel.

Stefan took a bottle from the wall and tossed it to Klaus. "1918. Single malt."

"My favourite. Let's go and find someone to pair it with." The door was closing again, leaving her alone, living amongst the dead.

"Elena?" She could hear Damon. She wanted to speak, call out and tell him where she was. She couldn't. The air in her lungs was stuck, freezing the words inside her chest, and she clutched her bag tight to her torso, arms locked. Over an hour had passed and she still hadn't been able to bring herself to leave the closet, straining to hear the slightest whisper of a footstep on the stairs. "Elena? Why are you - ? Oh." Damon poked his head round the door and scanned her up and down. "What happened to you?"

Elena struggled to find her words, but she eventually forced them out. "Stefan was here." She swallowed. "And Klaus."

Damon checked her over once more before he added. "Well, you're still alive, so either they didn't find you, or Stefan covered for you somehow." She nodded. "Okay. You wanna come out of there?"

The brunette nodded again and followed the vampire out of the cramped space. He tossed her a bag as he took a seat. "Make yourself presentable. I know where Stefan and Louise are going to be tonight."

Elena scoffed in disbelief. "I told you that I was practically discovered by Klaus and you're worried about what I'm wearing?"

"I had an hour to realise what a bad idea it was to leave you here alone, process it, and move on. Are you okay?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, good." Damon made a shooing gesture with his hands. "Get dressed. You're all road-trippy and gross."

Elena stepped forward eagerly. "So, you know where they're going to be?"

"I've seen Louise already." Damon smiled, remembering his encounter with the other Gilbert girl an hour ago. "She was incredibly happy to see me."

"What? Is she okay?" Elena immediately asked.

Damon nodded. "She's fine." He looked at her for a second. "So, I'll distract Klaus and you deal with Stefan then I'll get Louise out somehow."

"Okay. Thank you." she added awkwardly, aware that he didn't have to let her come along or let himself get whaled on by Klaus to give her a window with Stefan.

"But you're going to have about five minutes tops before that hybrid freak rips my heart out. So please, tell me you can do this."

Holding the bag to her chest, Elena tried to sound confident. "I can do this."

In a corner of Gloria's bar, Louise sat in a small booth and observed the crowd. She held the glass of bourbon the witch had poured for Damon earlier. She subconsciously traced a D on the table with her other hand. The brunette seemed to like it in the dark little booth, as far away from the other customers as possible. Nobody bothered her or seemed to realise she exited. But Klaus had noticed her, though.

At the bar, Stefan and Klaus seemed in deep conversation. Klaus took a note that Louise wasn't drinking the scotch in her hand, rather smelling it. "Is there a reason she does that?" Klaus questioned Stefan.

Stefan peered over his shoulder towards Louise before turning back to the hybrid. He shrugged. "She misses Damon. The scotch smells like him."

Just outside, Damon pushed open the bar's back door, general chatter, witty banter and the sound of music filled his ears. He spotted Stefan over by the bar, talking with Klaus who poured them a shot. Stefan glanced around, and caught Damon's eyes, widening his own in realisation. He hooded them quickly as Klaus turned towards him.

Damon walked back outside into the cool night air. He felt a supernatural force push him back onto a car, pressing him up against the window. Damon thought for an instant that it was Klaus, but he recognised Stefan's mess of light brown hair, even in the darkness.

"What is wrong with you?!"

"What is wrong with you?" Damon shoved him back and broke his grip on his shirt. "You kill Andie one day; you save my life the next. What are you good, bad? Pick one!"

"Klaus almost saw Elena today." Stefan's voice was riddled with urgency, and his eyes shined with desperation. "You have to get her out of Chicago." He's almost pleading with him.

Damon clenched his fists again, like he hadn't tried. "She's not going anywhere until she's seen her sister and got you checked into vampire rehab and on the mend. Trust me. I've tried."

"She is the key to everything. Klaus can't know that she's alive." Stefan persisted, hoping that if there was ever a day that he could get through to Damon, that it would be right then and there. "She was supposed to die in the sacrifice, and she didn't. Now Klaus can't create any new hybrids. His witch is seconds away from figuring that out. Tell Elena to go home and forget about me."

Damon paused for a moment before he looked to his left. "Tell her yourself."

Stefan followed his gaze to see Elena who looked like a deer caught in headlights. Damon braced himself, he was heading into certain danger, and possible death. He pushed open the bar door, just as Stefan and Elena began to talk.

"Last call. Drink 'em up!" Gloria called around the bar. Damon took no notice of her, and deliberately sat on the bar stool next to Klaus, mocking him almost.

"I see they've opened the doors to the riffraff now." Was Klaus's only greeting as he flickered an almost accusatory look at Louise who still sat put in the dark booth in the corner. She swallowed nervously.

Damon grinned, every bit as sarcastic as the look in his eyes. "Oh, honey, I've been called worse." Damon countered as he turned to give the original his full attention, knowing all too well that you didn't taunt the devil and not keep a careful eyes on his reaction.

"You don't give up, do you?" The hybrid was frowning into his drink as he plucked at the on the end of the toothpick before carelessly chucking the small bitter fruit away.

"Give me my brother and girl back...You'll never have to see me again."

"Well, I am torn." Klaus cocked his head slightly. "You see, I promised Louise, I wouldn't let you die, but how many freebies did I really sign up for? And clearly you want to die, otherwise you wouldn't be here, so..."

"What can I say? I'm a thrill-seeker."

The hybrid pushed to his feet, his chair flying back with the brute strength behind that simple action. He closed the space between them, hand clamping down on Damon's throat.

"Oh, dear, what was that?" Klaus's grip was firm even as he glanced down at his other hand and raised the sharp toothpick for the other mal to see - his grin deviously mischievous. "I'm boozy, so you'll forgive me if I miss your heart the first few tries."

There was no dragged out build up. He moved with speed and stabbed the toothpick into the younger vampire's stomach. Damon grunted in pain.

"Ohh! No, that's not it. Hmm." Klaus mused, a mocking assessing hum following as he swiftly pulled back the toothpick and stabbed away at Damon once again. The new wound was further up his stomach but still a beat away from his heart. "Ohh. Almost."

The hybrid pulled back the toothpick once more and the new angle, hovering over Damon's heart, implied that it wouldn't miss it's target this time.

"You want a partner in crime? Forget Stefan. I'm so much more fun."

Klaus was already intent on killing him, so why did Damon feel the need to taunt him some more? Maybe he just couldn't resist any opportunity to rile anyone, no matter how dangerous that person might be, Louise thought. The brunette was now out of her seat.

Klaus threw Damon backwards and he crashed on top of a table, breaking it then landed on the ground on his back. Klaus moved towards him, he had abandoned the toothpick now as he ripped a par of the chair off to make a makeshift stake. He crouched over Damon.

Klaus grinned down at him. "You won't be any fun after you're dead."

Louise reached them just in time to grab Klaus's wrist, making him hesitate in the attack. Anxiously, she demanded. "Are you a man of your word or not?"

"I'm in the middle of something, love." he growled, glancing meaningfully at her hand.

"Yeah, and this has to do with that something." she resorted back. She attempted to tug the stake out of Klaus grasp but was unsuccessful. Still, he wasn't advancing on Damon, and she had to take advantage of that while she could. Her words came out in a rush. "You promised that Damon's life was safe as long as I did not run. I haven't run so you'll be breaking your word if you kill him. Though you are right; he shouldn't get an unlimited number of freebies, I do expect him to survive the length of our deal."

Louise couldn't read Klaus however the long moment of silence suggested he was calculating the pros and cons of killing Damon. His gip loosened enough on the stake for Louise to take it with a relieved sigh. Klaus could feel Damon trying to sit up, but he pushed him back down and hissed. "You don't have to negotiate your brother's freedom. When I'm done with him, he won't want to go back." Klaus stood up. "As for Louise; you can have her back. Consider her as an incentive to keep you guys from looking for Stefan."

The message that emerged clearly from his innocuous words was unmistakable. Louise will return to Mystic Fall to prevent her friends from doing any reckless missions and second to ensure Louise's loyalty. That was for sure.

Louise stood wide eyed at the news; her mouth opened then closed like a goldfish as she tried to find the words to speak but nothing came out. Klaus turned towards her with a slight smirk.

"Don't worry, sweetheart. I'll be back for you soon." He dropped the words for her as a parting gift as he backed away. "Don't get too cosy without me." Louise stood absolutely still, caught under his gaze like a beetle in amber. He began to head for the exit and over his shoulder he called to Damon. "I suggest you get her out of here before I change my mind."

For weeks Elena had prepared herself for the moment when she'd be reunited with her boyfriend. She hadn't expected it to be pretty. Time hadn't erased the memories of what had happened during the Miss Mystic Falls pageant, and she'd braced herself for his inevitable confusion and violence. She'd fancied herself as the calm in his storm, her love and patience a beacon that would guide him back to his true self.

Staring at him now, Elena didn't see the man she'd fallen in love with nor the lost and unhinged creature she'd been expecting to find. This Stefan was calm and in control. If he was still in the throes of the bloodlust, he'd reached a level not even Damon's warnings or the trail of dead bodies had adequately prepared her for.

"You shouldn't be here." Were the first words Stefan said to her. All these weeks, and that was it.

"Where else would I be?" she asked, her voice was small.

"What do you want? Damon won't be able to distract Klaus for long."

Elena took in a deep breath and reached for him, cradling his face firmly, but gently. "Come home." She pushed her arms to rise, embracing his shoulders as she brought him down to her, glad that her face was hidden from him as she lifted the vervain dart. Faster than she could process, he was out of her arms and holding her wrist in a punishing grip.

"How much clearer can I make it?" Stefan growled, squeezing her hand with warning and she lost her grip, the dart clattering to the ground uselessly. "I don't want to come home!" He released her wrist, throwing it away from him with bared teeth. "Klaus is obsessed with siring these hybrids. The second he knows you're alive, he'll figure out why it's not working."

Elena wasn't prepared to give up hope just yet. When she had looked at him and there was that brief second of recognition, it gave her the strength to keep holding on. To keep fighting against the current in the ocean that had been put between them. Her Stefan, the man who had proved to her countless times that no matter what happened they'd be okay, till lingered. And it didn't matter what Damon claimed, or what Klaus had done, or anyone else for that matter, he'd find his way back to her. And then they could begin to untwist the mangled scraps this past year had left them buried in.

"Look, I know you're trying to protect me, but I can't let you do it. Come with me, Stefan, please."

"And what do you expect if I do? Huh?" He was nearly shouting, apparently not worried about being discovered by Klaus. "It's never going to be the same, Elena."

Didn't he think she knew that? As if anything could be the same, ever, now that she'd seen what he was really capable of. "I know that."

"I don't think you do." He pressed condescendingly, as though she was stupid enough to not understand what his bloody killing spree meant. "I've left bodies scattered from Florida to Tennessee. Innocent people. Humans."

"Lexi found you like this before." she tried again. "In the twenties, and...and she saved you."

"And you know what I did after that? I spent thirty years trying to pull myself together. To a vampire, that's nothing. To you? That's half your life."

His tone was like a dagger, causing her lips to part with an inhale, tawny gaze full of plea, practically begging for a reprieve from this torture. "I can't give up on you, Stefan.

"Yes, you can. It's done. That part of my life is done. I don't want to see you. I don't want to be with you. I just want you to go." And without another word or glance, Stefan turned around and walked away.

It wasn't until Elena reached Damon's car and was leant against the passenger side door that it occurred to her that she'd ended her relationship. Nothing had seemed quite real or quite so irreversibly final until it had been said out loud.

Her cheeks were wet and eyes spilling from crying. Wasn't it stupid to cry over breaking up with her boyfriend, when everything else was so much bigger than that? Bodies lay slaughtered and sadistically militated across four states. She was once again on the hit-list of an insane and immortal hybrid. She had failed in the one thing she'd promised Damon she could do, and so many more people were going to die because of her. But she couldn't help it.

Elena's hand went to the vervain charm around her neck - Stefan's first gift to her and for a moment her fist tightened around it and she wanted to tear it from her throat. The urge passed as logic reasserted itself, and she made her hand relax again just as Damon approached her.

"You okay?"

"Can we just go home, please." she told him quietly, hugging her free arm around her torso. His gaze dropped as he dug through his pocket for his car keys. Guilt roiled, burning and cannibalistic inside of her. "I'm sorry I couldn't get Stefan back."

Damon smiled, a painful expression that pulled up the corners of his mouth. "Not your fault, Elena."

"It is," Her voice was insistent and unpleasantly high, even to her own ears. "I'm sorry. I thought I could get him back, but he wouldn't listen." She bowed her head. "I failed."

"But tonight hasn't been a complete failure."

A beat.

"Hi."

Elena's head snapped to the side and her eyes widened, a true and proper stuck in the headlights look. "Louise," she whispered and rushed to grip her sister in a tight hug.

Within seconds Louise found herself returning the hug with as much love that was given. She couldn't help the excessive amount of force given as she wrapped her arms around her sister's shoulders in a death like grip as though fearful of letting go.

Her brown eyes closed peacefully as she rested her head against Elena's shoulders. She almost forgotten what it felt like to hug her. It was strange how much a simple thing like a hug could leave her feeling breathless. That something so small, a mere gesture dictated by social etiquette, could feel like home. But maybe it had less to do with the hug itself as it did with the person who gave it.

"You're here." Elena breathed as she pulled back just enough to flick her gaze over her twin's features. It was clear that she hadn't thought she would see her sister so soon - or at all again. "How are you here? Are you okay?"

"I should be the one asking you that." Louise resorted wryly as she gently wiped the tears from her sister's cheeks.

She'd half expected Elena to wave her off, to claim that she was fine and dandy - the typical, selfless, Elena thing to do. But her sister didn't muster that nonchalance. She didn't put on a brave face and bury her worries deep down to pour into another journal page later.

With slumped shoulders, Elena hadn't ever looked more defeated. "I spent the whole summer fighting with Damon. Telling him that you both could be saved - that Stefan hadn't gone off the deep end no matter how many headlines or additions to the body count he showed me. But - I realised today that I've been fooling myself."

Humanityless Stefan would never protect Elena the way he as doing now. By staying away, by keeping her hidden, faking her death. A vampire that didn't care wouldn't bother and Louise knew as well as Damon that even if he was in full ripper mode, there's a part of Stefan Salvatore that was still in love with Elena. And they both knew it, without even needing to say it, that was the key to getting him back, it stood in the form of a five-foot seven, brown hair, brow eyed human girl; Elena Gilbert.

"Everything is gonna be fine." Louise assured her. "And if it's not then we keep fighting until it is. You will get your happy ending, okay? I don't care who I have to boss around to get it. Even if that means standing up to the original big bad wolf himself."

The trio soon hopped into Damon's car and began their journey home. For the most part, the car ride was quiet.

As they passed the sign on the edge of town welcoming them to Mystic Falls, Louise sat up and looked eagerly out the window. The town hadn't changed much during the seventeen years she'd live there, but she studied the scenery with rapt attention nonetheless, searching for signs of the passage of time. Relief and disappointment coursed through her as Damon drove through the town square.

"Everything looks the same." she murmured, not knowing what she'd expected.

"It's only been three months." he reminded her, turning off of the Main Street and onto the residential street that would take them to her childhood home. "If you want to see change, try staying away for a few decades."

"When was the last time you came through town?" Louise asked as she settled back into the passenger seat and clasped her hands to keep from fidgeting. "Before the last time, I mean."

"The 50s." he replied.

"You were gone for sixty years?"

Damon smirked as he pulled into the driveway of the Gilbert residence. "I told you, Mystic Falls is not my favourite place. It takes me a long time to get nostalgic for the good old days." He said it casually enough, but there was a slight edge colouring his words and she decided to let the subject drop in hopes of avoiding a fight.

"Ric is going to be happy to see you." Elena pipe up from the backseat, grateful to see the smile that curved her sister's lips. "And I know Jeremy's missed you."

A jeep was parked in the driveway next to Ric's familiar vehicle, leaving Elena to assume Jeremy had finished his shift at the grill. Louise grinned, buzzing with eager excitement over the prospect of seeing her family in a matter of minutes. The second Damon parked the Camaro and switched off the engine, she leapt out of the passenger seat. Racing to the trunk, she bounced on her toes impatiently as she waited for Damon.

"Hurry up, Damon." she chided, too excited to care if she sounded like a little kid on Christmas morning. Elena hopped out the back just as the lid of the trunk popped open and a second later Damon was standing, staying Louise's hands before they could reach inside and grab her bag.

"I got it." he assured her. "Go inside before you explode or something."

"You're the best." Louise beamed, taking his face in her hands and peppering his mouth and cheeks with kisses. "I love you."

She turned at the sound of the front door opening and Ric appeared on the porch. She returned his wave and was just about to rush inside when Damon closed his hand around her wrist and pulled her back to him.

"What-oh!" she exclaimed as he claimed her mouth in a scorching kiss that her blushing by the time he pulled away. Blinking, she brought a hand to her lips and struggled for words. "Wh-what was that for?"

"Because I love you, too." he replied, smoothing the hair off f her face and tucking it behind her ear.

A/N: Hiiii *shows up after 34543 years*. I've not abandoned this story! I broke my usb which had a lot of my wips on so I had to rewrite a lot of this chapter. Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter.

Thanks for reading! Review?