A Twist Through Time (A TVDU fic)

Chapter 17

Damon groaned softly as he began to wake up. After the movie night he remembered bringing Elena upstairs and putting her to bed. He had sat by the window to make sure Stefan wasn't coming back and he guessed he must've fallen asleep. "Hey. You awake?" He mumbled looking over at Elena as he stretched, trying to regain comfort in his body.

Elena slowly opened her eyes at the sound of his voice and blinked a little, barely remembering her semiconscious state as Damon had put her to bed. "Yeah, I am. That couldn't have been comfortable"

"It wasn't." Damon grumbled stretching once more. "I was checking for Stefan. Just in case he came back." He yawned. "He didn't. But I must've fallen asleep. You're just lucky I didn't jump into bed with you." He teased as his lips curled into a smirk.

Elena's cheeks flushed a little as she climbed out of bed. "Well, Katherine must be keeping him quite preoccupied. After all, she did yesterday"

Damon made a face before a chuckle left his lips. "Okay ew. Let's just agree not to mention the she-devil's distraction techniques before breakfast. Or ever. Let's instead be grateful that Stefan without humanity will do just about anyone no matter the consequences. It means...we have more time to have fun. Like yesterday. That was fun right?" He smiled a little. "Don't worry I'm not going to drag you to another water balloon fight, but we can do something else that's equally fun."

Elena sighed and went over to her dresser, pulling out some clothes. "It was," she admitted, thinking about everything. Tonight was senior prank night. School started up again tomorrow

Damon couldn't help but smile. He knew she had fun. But hearing her confirm it made him feel a thousand times better. "Why don't...we have dinner tonight? It's not exactly scandalous but, you deserve a nice meal out of the house in a nice restaurant." He knew he was most likely pushing his luck, but he couldn't help himself. If he could have just one moment alone with her away from all this, maybe she could finally give him a chance.

"Damon...." Elena sighed softly. "I enjoyed yesterday. And im not opposed to dinner tonight. But we do have a current problem. More than one actually. Hope and Klaus. Gone or not, we need to be ready for when they come back. And Stefan, who we need to figure out a plan to make him stop being Klaus' puppet."

Damon sighed at the mention of his brother. Of course that was who she was worried about. He didn't really know why it continued to surprise him at this point. Logically he should be used to it, yet he wasn't. "Alright well last time I checked I can't undo an original vampire's compulsion on someone. But hey if you want to sit here and dwell on it be my guest." He muttered heading out of her bedroom. He wasn't trying to hurt her. But he was hurting too, and right now all he wanted was for it to stop.

Elena watched him leave, hating the way her heart ached painfully. She cared about him a lot and hated seeing him in so much pain. "Im not an idiot, Damon. I know we can't reverse the compulsion. But we can try getting his humanity back on. And don't act like i wouldn't be doing this for any of you. If it had been you, I would be saying the exact same thing right now. Same if it had been Caroline. Do you think I want to sit around and think about this? I'd rather spend time with you, eat popcorn, have fun, but I can't just not help someone that needs my help. Whether it's Stefan or someone else. Its not who I am. And you may not have been able to see that a whole lot because I'm just human and need saving, but its true. I also need to train with Ric. So I'll at least I'll stand a little of a chance if I need to fight Stefan. I need him to train me to be like a hunter"

Damon sighed in defeat as he slowly turned around to face her. He knew he was overreacting. After all, she couldn't be blamed for caring about Stefan. She wasn't used to any of this. But he was. "I know that. I know you care about people Elena. It's one of the best things about you. You'd save everyone if you could because that's just who you are. But turning on his humanity is a lost cause. For one, it could take weeks before we make any type of breakthrough and by then Klaus will have been back. And two, it wouldn't really fix anything. He would still be compelled to do whatever Klaus says. I've seen him like this before. He'll go back to normal on his own time." He sighed once more and leaned against the wall. "I know you don't want to see it. But this is Stefan. The version you know isn't him. It's who he pretends to be."