The Salvatore Sister

Chapter Ten - Brotherly Love

It didn't take Damon and me long to walk back to the Salvatore Boarding House and our arms remained around each other for the whole of the way there as we joked and laughed and teased each other like we always used to.
"I can't believe you really said that!" I exclaimed through peals of laughter as I sat down on the sofa of the boarding house as Damon walked over to pour us out drinks.
"Well, you know me, can't keep my mouth shut," Damon replied, "And speaking of that..."
"Oh, here we go," I muttered exaggeratedly and loud enough for him to hear, rolling my eyes.
Damon's back was to me as he collected two glasses and poured his scotch evenly into both, "I just want to say that I think you should stop talking bad to Elena."
"Why?" I retorted, walking over to stand beside him, "Because you love her? Because you want to kiss her?" I teased and then went the full-way when I started making over-the-top "kissy" noises in his ear.
Damon ignored my teasing and said, "I just think that if you two are going to get along then-"
I didn't let him finish when I interrupted him, "Get along with her? Are you serious?"
"Deadly," Damon replied, finally turning around to look at me.
"When did you get so boring?" I asked but kept my tone joking.
"I've been watching too many mid-day cop shows," he replied and handed me my drink.
"Well, that explains it," I smirked slightly but then it fell off my face, "What it doesn't explain though is that you didn't mention me to little miss slut, Elena – at all. How come?"
"Don't call her that," Damon said simply, his tone flat.
"Answer my question," I replied.
"Don't call Elena a slut."
"Just answer the God damn question."
We were both shouting and just glaring at each other when we heard the front door open and Stefan walked in – thankfully without the clone in tow.
Damon turned back to the table holding his whisky and asked our little brother, "Would you like one?"
I watched Stefan as he stayed silent and walked further along the little landing to lean against the banister.
"Say it," Damon continued, "Whatever it is. Purge. Get it out."
"It's about what Isobel said," Stefan replied.
"What about it?" Damon replied.
"Well I know you and Elena have bonded," Stefan said, "And I know that she cares about you. And that you care about her."
"And I have no idea why," I piped in but was ignored by both my brothers who were both staring at each other in some sort of battle for dominance – boys.
"Well this is going in an interesting direction," Damon joked and I giggled.
Stefan smiled without much humour then continued, "I'm just concerned about Elena being hurt."
"Again, I have no idea why," I muttered and was once again ignored.
"She considers you a friend," Stefan carried on.
"Same here," Damon replied, "Elena's a very good friend. Actually she might qualify as my only... friend. Is that a problem?"
"I'm your friend," I butted in.
"Yeah," Damon said, finally turning to include me in their conversation, "But you're my twin sister, that doesn't count."
"It should count..."
"So, at the risk of sounding like, uh... like a jealous boyfriend-" Stefan began.
"Oh, there's no risk," Damon replied with a shrug, "You do."
"History will not be repeating itself," Stefan said simply, "Where Elena's concerned."
"I think it's a bit late for that, baby bro," I sighed.
Damon's eyebrows rose, then Stefan's rose as if to wait for Damon's reply, so feeling left out I raised mine too.
"You understand what I'm saying?" Stefan asked.
"Sure," Damon replied with a shrug and went to sit down on the sofa but was stopped in his tracks when Stefan ran at vampire speed to face Damon and I felt that was my cue to intervene.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," I said as I stepped in between my two taller brothers, placing a hand on both their chests to stop them if they decided to lunge at each other or something.
"Do you understand?" Stefan repeated over my head, his face livid.
"Sure, whatever you say, man," Damon replied and took a few steps back, his eyes flicking to my face for a second then back to Stefan, "And I mean honestly, we're just friends. And as her friend I wasn't looking forward to telling her the truth anyway, so I'll let you do it."
"What truth?" Stefan asked.
"That she's a slutty whore?" I suggested with a smirk and received a glare from both brothers, "Wow, tough crowd."
"The truth about John," Damon shrugged as though it were obvious, "'Cause I know you guys don't like to keep secrets from each other."
"Well, if you don't like keeping secrets so much then why didn't you tell her you had a freaking older sister?" I cut in, trying to keep my voice calm.
"I had my reasons," Stefan told me.
"Reasons? What reasons could these possibly be?" I exclaimed, turning to look at Stefan front-on.
"I'll explain later," Stefan tried to brush it off.
"No, Stefan. I want to know why I wasn't important enough to even mention to the girlfriend you apparently love so much," I cried, I couldn't help the fact my volume was increasing.
"I'll explain later," Stefan repeated, "Damon, what truth? What are you talking about?"
"Am I the only one around here who has the ability to put two and two together?" Damon asked, "Isobel. Hello?"
Stefan shrugged and kept the 'I'm-confused-but-I-don't-want-to-show-it' expression on his face and even I felt myself get a tad intrigued and confused – what is wrong with me?
"She dated John when she was fifteen," Damon explained, his voice patronising, "She gets pregnant. And ends up at the doctor's office of John's brother. Now, what do you think John's role is in all this? Hmm?"
Stefan still looked slightly confused and I was looking in between my brothers like I was watching some sort of slow-motion tennis match.
"I mean, go ahead, think about it, I'll wait," he teased and looked at the wrist-watch he was wearing, "You get it? You there yet?"
"Oh c'mon Stef, even I know," I sighed exaggeratedly and crossed my arms over my chest.
"So you think that... John is Elena's father?" Stefan asked.
"Ding, ding, ding," Damon exclaimed throwing his hands in the air in a dramatic fashion.
Stefan snorted in an annoyed sort of way then asked, "What proof do you have?"
"I don't need any proof," Damon replied, "That's a DNA test for Elena, John and Maury Povich to deal with. And I know how well you do with these big bombshells so... sleep tight."
Damon smirked then went to walk away but stopped as he started to ascend the stairs leading to the landing he turned and continued, "Oh and when you do tell Elena... And she needs a friend to talk to... I'm here for her."
Stefan glared after Damon as he turned to walk away but was stopped when I rushed over and grabbed onto the collar of his gray shirt, "And where do you think you're going?"
"Uh- to bed?" Damon suggested and I swear looked almost sheepish.
"I don't think so," I began to drag him back and he stumbled along behind me, "I want my answers. So, I'm going to ask you two to be civil at least for a few minutes while I get my answers. So, sit."
I pushed Damon onto the sofa and then turned to Stefan waiting for him to sit down on his own accord, he glanced at Damon sitting on the sofa then back at me but didn't make any move.
"I will force you to sit, so it's your last chance," I warned him and smirked in a satisfied way when he sat down in the armchair and looked up at me expectedly, and looked almost... nervous.
"Now, first thing I want to know is why did Elena not know about me?" I asked, looking at each of them, "I'm going to give you both a turn to plead your case but don't expect me to be lenient just because I'm your sister."
"You've been watching way too much 'Judge Judy'," Damon joked with a smirk.
"Humour will get you no where Mr. Salvatore," I warned but winked at him to show my teasing, "So, Stefan, you first."
Stefan looked up at me as though he thought I was joking and when I just stood, with my arms crossed, and an expectant look on my face he sighed then said, "I didn't tell Elena because I didn't want to stress her out, she had so much going on, what with Isobel and some... other things before that. I didn't think she needed to know."
"So... What you're saying is... that Elena didn't know about me because you were trying to protect her?" I scoffed.
"Yes," Stefan replied simply.
"Well, that excuse isn't good enough," I told him, "Damon, can you do any better?"
Damon had been watching on with an extremely amused look on his face and when I turned to him he said, "Yes, your honour."
"Go ahead," I said to my twin.
"Well, the reason I never mentioned to Elena is that she used to hate me and well, when I was threatening her life I didn't really find the opportunity to go: 'hey, Elena, did you know I had a twin sister who I thought was dead, which practically kills me to think about but you know, I might just kill you now'," Damon explained but kept a smirk on his face.
I laughed out loud, "You wanted to kill Elena? God, we are so alike."
Damon chuckled a bit at first but then he seemed to realise what I had said and stopped laughing immediately.
"So..." I said quickly, "You don't seem to hate Elena anymore, why couldn't you tell her when you, uh... stopped hating her?"
"Because..." Damon began but stopped and took a deep breath, "Because it killed me to even think about you being dead."
Silence.
I just watched Damon with an odd expression on my face; Stefan too was watching Damon and he looked just plain sad.
"Oh, Damon..." I whispered with emotion thick in my voice.
"Wow, the looks on your faces right now would put emos to shame," Damon joked, "Lighten up. Jeez."
"Damon..." I sighed, and went to sit down beside my twin, resting my head on his shoulder, "I didn't know you felt that way."
"Seriously?" Damon asked sitting up straighter so that I fell slightly where I'd been lying on him, "You thought that after you... died... I would just go back to normal, act as if nothing happened? You don't know me as well as you think you do, Lia."
"I- Of course I didn't think you'd go back to normal," I told him, "But I didn't think that after all this time you'd still... feel the same."
"Lia... I missed you every day for my whole life," he told me, his usual smirk had vanished and the sudden change in him almost freaked me out, "I have to admit I thought about you a lot less as time went on but there was always that... hole. You were just missing."
"He was a mess," Stefan piped in, and I had almost forgotten he was there, "I had never seen him like that. He was so... different. The Damon I considered my big brother was gone."
"You're so poetic, Stefan," Damon teased.
Damon sat back again and I curled into him when he put his arm around me. There were no words exchanged between any of us, and Stefan just watched us.
"Come here, Stef," I told my brother after a few moments.
Stefan looked hesitant at first and I saw his eyes flicker to Damon.
"Please? Come on, you two can sit on the same sofa together to hug your sister, can't you?" I asked, although I sounded a bit unsure of what I was saying.
Stefan seemed to agree with me because he slowly made his way over to the sofa and sat down beside me. I moved over so that I was sitting in exactly in between both of them, reaching my arms out to put them around both of my brothers' shoulders.
"I love you guys," I whispered.
"I love you too," both Damon and Stefan said at the exact same time that you'd of thought they were the twins.
Both my brothers went stiff when they heard that they'd spoken at the same time. Elena was placed on my hit list from that moment, above the asshole John Gilbert and even above Katherine Pierce. She would pay for coming in between my brothers, for driving them apart. She would pay.