They Don't Know About Us | Caroline Forbes

sixteen

16. Bring It On

"Guys, we're gonna lose her" Stefan warned his two older brothers, the three of them stood in the Salvatore's living room.

"She needs time, it's only been a couple days" Damon said.

"Her humanity's off, she's basically numb to everything that makes her who she is" Stefan argued.

"She's a vampire Stefan" Brayden reminded, "She was going to turn her switch off someday, you and me both know there's not one single vampire out there who has never turned it off, it's our basic instinct".

"She burned down her family home, with her brother's dead body still inside" Stefan reminded.

"When her humanity was on, she committed a genocide by killing Kol and his entire sireline" Brayden snapped, "But with her humanity off, all she has done is burn down her house, personally I think Elena is better off without her humanity, at least no humanity Elena won't have the delusion that she is actually a good person".

"Look, worst-case scenario, Brayden will invoke the sire bond and tell her to turn it back on" Damon told a worried Stefan.

"No, her brother just died" Stefan said, "You force all that grief on her at once, it's gonna overwhelm her, we need to give her a reason to want to turn it on".

"Not we, you" Brayden retorted, "Elena Gilbert is not my problem, you asked me to help her deal with Jeremy's death and I did, and now this is where I stop being helpful, Jeremy's death might have caused you to forget what those two did to Kol, but I haven't Stefan, I won't ever forget it".

***

"Wait, so that's the plan?" Damon asked Stefan, as the three brothers entered his bedroom where Elena was showering, "You're gonna take her back to school".

"Well, the fun route didn't exactly pay off, did it?" Stefan taunted.

"I don't know, we got a free meal out of it" Damon said.

"Look, you think I want to go to school and play chaperone?" Stefan asked, "You or Brayden can't go because neither of you are students, besides, you've gotta look for Katherine, she still has the cure".

"Not that anyone asked me, but I think taking her back to school is a great idea" Caroline said, entering Damon's room in a bathrobe.

"I didn't know you were here" Brayden said, checking Caroline out from head to toe.

"Uh, blame it on your fancy water filters" Caroline said, her cheeks slightly red because of Brayden's intense gaze, "Your house has the only vervain-free showers in town".

"Oh, yeah, the mayor put vervain in the water supply" Damon remembered, "So many people to kill".

"You're not killing anyone, instead you're going to go help Sheriff Forbes like the good boy you are" Kaitlynn said, as her and Fae entered the room.

"Damon and good?" Brayden asked, very amused, "Two words I'd never thought I'd hear together".

Damon rolled his eyes at this brother and turned to his girlfriend, "Brayden's an asshole, but he's a right asshole, me and good don't go together".