Author's note: Thank you for the lovely feedback, everyone.

Flashbacks (however recent) are in italics.

"I need to go, Damon. Move out of the way," Katherine barked, when he moved to block her exit.

"Not until you tell me what's going on, Kitty-Kat," he narrowed his eyes and curved his lips in a parody of a smile that more closely resembled a sneer. "You're awfully twitchy, which means that you probably did something to put us all in danger, and how you want to hightail it out of here, so we take the brunt of your actions."

Minutes before Damon and Elena's arrival to the Boarding House, Katherine followed Stefan up to his room, her undead heart percussing a veritable drum solo. She'd searched for him for months, with hardly even a hint to his whereabouts, only to find him suddenly show up. Allowing a rare show of vulnerability on her lovely face, she smiled – genuinely – at the sight of him.

"Stefan," she breathed his name, reverently, as though just saying it unlocked the very secrets of the cosmos – as though it were the key to magic itself.

"Hello, Katherine," he smirked in a decidedly un-Stefan-like way. He narrowed his eyes in concentration, evidently studying her. She felt as though his gaze penetrated her very soul – and normally, she would have been on guard against any subtle changes in someone's demeanor, but she was almost entirely too happy to see him again after suspecting the worst.

"When did you come back? Where were you?" She implored in a highly uncharacteristic fashion, walking into the room. Katherine was a vixen – a femme fatale – not a lovestruck idiot who lost her faculties at the first sight of pretty, green eyes. And yet, Stefan Salvatore always seemed to have this effect on her.

"Around," he afforded flippantly. "Here and there."

"Around!? What kind of answer is that? We've been looking everywhere."

"And it's been making me feel stifled. Do you have any idea how much you're all suffocating me? I just got dumped, Katherine. By someone who's actually worthwhile."

"… What?" She managed, hardly able to believe this curt – almost cruelly blasé – tone could come from Stefan.

"Since when do you care, anyway?" He asked caustically, his gaze penetrating to the heart of her. "Are you supposed to be one of the good guys now?

"Oh, that's right. I forgot. You're 'good' now," she guffawed, as though the idea were the most ludicrous on Earth.

"Compared to you, Darth Vader is an angel," Damon shot back wryly, evidently not in the mood for any of her games, though she could see that her remark had an effect on him. Katherine always knew precisely how to hurt him.

"I know what I am. You're the one pretending he's not a monster."

"You know that's laughable, right? The idea that there's anything even remotely redeeming about you."

"I didn't come here asking to be redeemed," she spat the word like poison. "Redemption is a fairy tale told to naïve children, manipulative attempts to get them to do something stupid and sacrificial – and I'm a survivor. Everyone knows there's no redemption. Not for people like us."

"People like us?" her interlocutor asked, the picture of innocence, as his eyebrows rose a fraction of an inch. "I'm not the one whose selfish actions got her while family killed."

"Weren't you the one who killed your father, Stefan? Drained him dry?"

He laughed then, clearly amused at the turn of events. "Very true, Kat. But my father had it coming, unlike your innocent sister. I wonder what that poor, sweet girl could have done to pay for the crimes of someone as vile and selfish as you?"

What was left of Katherine's undead heart seized, as images of the most horrible night of her life flooded her mercilessly. Her mother, her father – her beloved sister – all slain because she had to audacity to run from Klaus' attempts to sacrifice her. Holding them in her arms, begging any higher power in existence to please take pity on her dear sister's life. She was kind – she was good. She didn't deserve any of this.

Her sweet, noble sister deserved to live far more than she ever did. But Katerina was the survivor, however unfair that was. And her sister paid the price.

As she willed the tears in her dark eyes away, Katherine was left with one clear, dominating thought: whoever this cruel imposter was, it wasn't Stefan.

With that thought in mind, Katherine fought her hardest to appear casual as she sauntered out of the room, intent on getting out of this house as quickly as possible, when she heard her least favorite Salvatore and her annoying doppelgänger enter downstairs.

"Aw, poor Damon. He wanted to be a hero so badly that he spent over one hundred and forty-five years desperately waiting to save someone who didn't need saving and ruined everything when he should have left well alone! But that's what you do, isn't it? You ruin things. That's why no one ever loved you. Not your father. He thought you were a failure and disappointment. Certainly not your mother. She had no problem letting you take the fall for her, and you've the scars to prove it. That's right. Stefan told me. Under compulsion, but the point remains. And now you think Elena loves you? You!?"

"Shut the hell up, Katherine," Damon ground out, his eyes affecting a haunted look as flashbacks of his childhood abuse at his father's hands immediately came to the fore of his mind. Of his mother doing nothing to protect him. Of his father then telling him he would always be a disappointment. Shooting him. Katherine telling him that it's always been Stefan, despite the decades he spent trying to rescue her from a fate worse than death – desperate to do something good, something heroic – to be someone worthwhile.

To no longer be seen as worthless.

His face would have looked blank to a casual onlooker, but Katherine immediately noted the set in his jaw. Every remark had a precise and catastrophic effect. "You're unlovable," she pressed, seeing the pain cloud his cerulean eyes – feeling her own brokenness from her conversation with that Stefan imposter only mere minutes ago project outward. She couldn't stop herself if she wanted to. She was devastated, and she wanted to devastate. "It's literally impossible. She's just slumming it with the 'bad brother' until she comes to her senses and realizes that everything inside is worthless. But hey, the outside looks good, right eternal stud? That's all you'll ever be good for, anyway."

Damon stumbled back as if struck as Katherine spoke his worst fear aloud. Sure, his prowess the opposite sex was impressive – attractive and charming as he was – but it never led to anything worthwhile. None of them loved him, though to be fair, until Elena, he hadn't truly loved either. Until then, he could have looked at his exploits as adventurous, but Katherine's words almost made him feel dirty.

Was that really all anyone ever wanted of him? Was that really all he was worth?

"You don't get to talk to him anymore, you horrible, evil bitch!" roared a blur that quickly spirited Katherine away, as Damon numbly watched the scene unfold before him. Distantly, he thought he heard the cell door lock, as he stumbled onto the couch behind him.

Katherine was right, of course, Damon lamented. He was worthless. Everyone knew it. Sure, women were attracted to him, but no one would ever love him. As soon as Elena got her fill, she would throw him away, too.

He would be left alone again. Unloved. Unlovable.

The same blur returned to the room in a flurry, jumping into his lap, wrapping her arms and legs around him pushing them closer, together, breathing him in, embracing him with her whole body, and slowing down to reveal Elena.

"Damon," she breathed, her voice just on the edge of broken. "You know what she said isn't even remotely true, right?" She murmured into his shoulder, clutching her hands into the back of his shirt.

It was the same voice that broke him – again – now speaking to him in the most loving, dulcet tones. He shut his eyes to get his bearings – to breathe – to feel anything other the utter devastation that Katherine left when she reached into his heart and clawed her way into the parts most weak and vulnerable, soiling them with poisonous salt and her acid tongue.

She always knew exactly how to hurt him.

Elena faced Damon, sitting on the couch in the Boarding House's expansive parlor, his blank eyes trained on the fireplace, evidently elsewhere. She had a distinct idea of where his mind was, based on the set of his jaw, his devastatingly haunted gaze.

"I don't need you to fight my battles for me," he finally rasped.

"Yes, you do," she implored, knowing that it was imperative that she reached him, and quickly. Katherine had gone in to destroy him, and it was working. "Just like I need you to fight mine. Back when I was human and I wanted to die – something I've made peace with – you were the only one who made me want to stay alive. The only one who made me laugh, who brought me joy. You made that part of me that I thought didn't exist anymore feel like I actually might deserve to be happy again."

He tried to move away, but Elena only held him closer, tighter, shaking her head in denial of his attempt to leave her full-body embrace.

"I don't need you to coddle me, Elena. I'm fine," he sighed, giving up and placing his arms around her, though a growing part of him breathed in relief that she wouldn't let go.

"Maybe this isn't just for you, Damon. Maybe I need this, too," Elena breathed into him, rage against Katherine's cruelty and the deep pang penetrating her at his obvious pain left her overwhelmed, and she suddenly felt her eyes fill with the telltale moisture of tears, soaking through his shirt into his shoulder. "It's okay to let it out, Damon," she chocked. "I'll hold you through everything – love you through everything."

"Why are you crying?"

"Because you aren't acknowledging your pain," she shook her head into him, almost burrowing deeper, closer, together. "And when you're hurt, I'm hurt. So, I'll acknowledge it for us both."

Elena thought she felt his shoulders shake a little while she ran a calming palm up and down his back, but chose not to acknowledge it, not wanting to embarrass him. "I love you so much, Damon," she breathed into his neck. "You're everything inside me. You make my whole soul light up with joy. I fought it for so long, but it was impossible. It was like getting swept up in a current – I was consumed by it. And now I don't even know why I tried. I've never been happier or more whole than when I'm with you. You are everything to me."

"I love you, too," he whispered in return, squeezing her even tighter, though his voice sounded choked with emotion to her ears. "So much. You're everything to me, too."

Neither spoke for long moments – perhaps minutes, perhaps hours, perhaps eons. Damon just allowed Elena to hold him, listening to her steady breath, her rapid heartbeat, until he felt parts of him come together again – the mess and tangle of him becoming slightly more whole in the swell of her love.

"They're called the Augustine Society," he finally spoke, breaking the silence that enveloped them in their shared embrace.

"Who?"

"They were a group of mad scientist Mengele-types that experimented on vampires at Whitmore University in the fifties – the kind of stuff that would give you nightmares – led by the founder himself."

"How do you know that?"

"Because I was one of their vampires."

"What!?" Elena half-sobbed, covering her mouth with her trembling hands, her dark eyes shining with horror. "For how long?"

"About five years – but that's not important. It's why you have to be careful, Elena. I can't lose you," he urged, sounding so much calmer than her that it drove her insane.

"Not important!? You were experimented on and it's not important?" she retorted, feeling herself growing shrill, then taking several deep breaths to force herself to calm down. "Let's get out of here," she offered, in a much calmer voice, trying a different approach.

"And go where?"

"Toronto. I was just upstairs reading an article about a crow and a raven who came together in the wild in Toronto in the nineties, and had children, despite being natural enemies. It's romantic. I want one of their descendants as a familiar," she explained, her voice still shaky with emotion, but growing considerably more steady with effort.

"I don't know if it's the best time for –"

"Five minutes, Damon," Elena offered a watery smile, gently cupping his face, echoing his words of yesteryear on a trip to Georgia – one that neither of them expected to be the beginning of the best love with which each had been blessed. "Time out for five minutes. Your problems will still be here when you return, remember?"

For the first time since Elena went upstairs, Damon returned a genuine smile, surprised at hope filling him once more. "Five minutes. Got it. Let's go."

Silas listened to Damon's Camaro drive away before entering Katherine's cell. Perhaps antagonizing her had not been the most mature course of action, but her identical appearance to his beloved Amara left him feeling decidedly on edge, and desiccating for two thousand years hardly left one with the most stable psyche, so he took a peek into her mind and found a treasure trove of secrets to exploit.

"Hello again, Katherine," he smirked.

"You're not Stefan," she stuck out her chin defiantly, knowing she had nowhere left to run.

"Gold star for you," he smarmed, rolling his eyes. "Look, it's nothing personal. I want to be human again, and you wearing my beloved's face kind of pissed me off, so I overreacted," he said, shrugging casually, as though apologizing for something minor and insignificant, like cutting someone off, or stealing their fries – not destroying the very essence of her being with his piercing words.

"I'd say that I'm sorry, but I'm not. The truth is that I don't really care," he continued, pulling out a knife. "Stay still."

"No, don't please. I don't want to die!" Katherine begged, but in the next instant, the knife slid along her carotid artery, Silas drank while she steadily lost consciousness, Jeremy's phone falling from her hands, showing a new text message from Elena.

"So, what did you do with the Queen of Hell, anyway?" Damon asked once they were on the highway, driving north to find their familiars. He knew Elena would undoubtedly have more questions about the Augustine Society now that he'd officially opened Pandora's Box, but he was thankful that she was willing to at least let it go for now.

"I locked her in the cell," Elena shrugged in response, attempting to look nonchalant, though it was obvious to him that rage still rolled off her in waves.

Damon laughed, evidently feeling better, much to Elena's relief. "She's human. She's harmless."

"She hurt you," Elena pointedly replied.

"Aw, Elena. This is so unlike you. What happened to 'we must show compassion to everyone' and 'hurt people hurt people' and 'sometimes the most broken need the most love' and all that sentimental jazz?" He intoned mock-sympathetically, affecting a decidedly emotional expression – the very image of empathy.

"She. Hurt. You," Elena seethed, not allowing herself to be amused or at all affected by his attempts to calm her. "I'm making an exception. I sent Jeremy a text. He can let her out when he's home and deal with her himself."

Taking his hand in hers protectively, soothing it, Elena swore to herself that she would do everything she could to keep him from harm henceforth, no matter how much he pretends not to feel it through sarcastic deflection or any other defense mechanism.

She knew exactly how to heal him.

Damon responded by entwining their fingers, looking at her with a sideways smile – and suddenly the air in the Camaro lifted, and hope returned to their hearts.

So, I've been working my way toward this chapter for a while. Damon needed a catalyst to actually talk about the Augustine Society, and this was it. The Silas/Katherine/Damon scenes were inspired by a bit from How I Met Your Mother called "the Chain of Screaming." It's not my favorite show, but this particular bit is fantastic. Obviously, this is a much angstier version. FFdotnet doesn't allow links, but you can easily find a clip on YouTube.

I found a really cool article when researching ravens and crows for this fic about a rare occurrence in which they mated – so that's why Elena and Damon are hitting the road! Also, because he needs those "five minutes" for his sanity after Katherine gut-punched him where he's most vulnerable. Also, I need them to get their familiars ASAP and ideally, I want Bonnie to be corporeal before the Enzo rescue, so we'll see if I can make it work. :D

One of the main reasons I included that awful speech from Katherine is that I don't see Damon as ever having been "obsessed" with her, as is a popular belief in the TVD fandom community – rather, I think he was obsessed with saving her, which is completely different. If it were a true obsession, he'd have a shrine, or other collection of personal items of hers. He didn't even have a picture – that was Stefan. I think this feeds into Damon's desire to be good and heroic, but thinking that he isn't and never will be good enough, which stems from his parents drilling a sense of inadequacy in him. If Stefan had been stuck in the tomb all those years, and Damon fought just as hard to free him, would the fandom assume he was "obsessed" with his brother? No, right? It was twisted into something very ugly because Katherine wasn't deserving of it, and because Damon, in trying to deal with the fallout of all his efforts being for naught, said he was willing to forgive her if only she loved him – because he needed to be loved so badly. This is part of the reason Delena is such a special ship to me. It takes the "good girl/bad boy" cliché and turns it on its head. She's not a self-professed lover of bad boys like Rose or Cami. She was the first one to see the good in him, and fought for it most ardently – and that's what sparked his interest in her initially. She sees the good inside and that the "bad boy" persona is more of a mask than anything else. She made him better and he did the same for her. When she kept acting on her obvious survivor's guilt/death wish as a human, he was the one that most passionately fought for her happiness and right to live. Suicidal people don't need someone to "respect their wishes" to die, like Stefan did. They need someone to fight for them and to show them that they deserve to be alive – that they're to be celebrated. (Also, Stefan really only respected her wishes when she chased a death-wish, but not when she told him she didn't want the cure if it meant sacrificing her brother's humanity, but that's another story. He's much more okay with her being dead, if it means she loves him. Damon is okay with her not loving him, as long as she's alive, well, and happy.)

Am I misremembering or did Silas have telepathic abilities right away? He did, right? Anyway, we'll say he did. :D

Sorry no Bonnie, Enzo, or Jeremy in this chapter. I needed to get this angst-fest done properly. :D You'll see them in the next one, for sure!

So, I started yet another story! I know, I knooooow! I have to complete my old ones. I get it. Serendipity only has one chapter left, though, in my defense – and I'm taking my time with it because I want to make sure that I don't leave anything out. It might have an epilogue, though, someday. Maybe.

The new one is called Timey Wimey (Doctor Who reference!). It's a time travel fix-it I began at the request of a friend, but then it suddenly took a life of its own, and I can safely say that the ideas I have for it thus far might make it my wildest story yet. :D I'm really excited by them. The story is that Damon makes a deal with a coven to go back in time to save Elena and Stefan, but then chaos ensues. :D Because that's more fun.

You're all delightful and I want to give you many hugs. Special thanks to scarlett2112, Florencia7, and Kriz03 for their friendship and support, especially of my storiiiiiies.

Reviews are love. Please leave some. :D