You are my Freedom

Bad Moon Rising

Stefan had just finished burying Carter when he felt a jabbing pain in his abdomen, he looked down to see a stake... the pain brought him down to his knees.

It took all his effort but he managed to pull it out and flip himself over. Looking behind him he could see Damon standing not too far away.

"Maybe I needed to be clearer, but when I leave to help YOUR girl and her little friends and MY girl stays behind to help clean up their mess, I have certain expectations, namely my brother not allowing some teenage witch to SET HER ON FIRE!"

Stefan gulps knowing how unpredictable his brother can be when he is this angry, "Damon, calm down, she's fine, it was just a misunderstanding."

Damon breaks off some tree branches and approaches Stefan,

"Misunderstanding, you say?"

Damon throws the branches, one hits Stephan's shoulder and the other pins his leg to the ground,

"Whoops... sorry about that, but relax just another misunderstanding,"

Stefan struggles to put some distance between him and Damon, "Damon, please, I stopped Bonnie, Clara's okay."

"Yeah, people are always just dandy after getting set on fire! I don't know why I bothered trying to do the right thing for you and this ridiculous Scooby gang but believe this brother, I won't ever bother myself with any of you again. I'm going back to only caring about me and mine, so good luck."

He ends his sentence by jamming another branch into Stefan's neck and then leaving him there to suffer.

He found Clara not too far away and approached her slowly not wanting to frighten her, "hey, you okay?"

"Been better," she said her voice noticeably weakened,

Damon smiles sadly,"let's get you home, okay?" Clara nods and Damon picks her up bridal style walking them back to his car.

Clara looks over at Damon, "that sounded rough, what I could hear."

"Don't worry about that."

Clara sighs, "he did stop her, Damon, if it wasn't for Stefan I don't know if I would still be here."

Damon grips the steering wheel nearly breaking it, "let's just get you home, okay?"

Clara nods tiredly and silently hopes all the progress the two brothers have made wasn't undone by all this.

Later that night...

Elena, after convincing Caroline with Bonnie's help, that she wasn't Katherine and explaining vampires and witches Elena went home. After such a long day she just needed to be in the comfort of her own bed.

Stefan stayed out in the forest hunting animals for a few hours to get his strength back, knowing it was better for his health if he stayed away from the boarding house tonight, he got an idea after seeing the Carnival shut down and abandoned.

He snuck through Elena's window to find her sleeping, he kisses her on the cheek and she wakes up.

"Hi. What time is it?"

Stefan smiles, "it's almost dawn. Come with me."

They are at the carnival. It's empty.

"Stefan what are we doing here? We could get caught."

"Well, I compelled the guard to on break so I could kiss my girlfriend on top of the Ferris wheel."

The Ferris wheel lights suddenly turn on.