Barely A Memory

Chapter 4

She looked at him like he had two heads. "Like Damon and Elena?" She instantly jumped back. "Oh, god, no!" she practically shouted. "One: you and I are friends. We're not dating... no offense, but that'd be weird. Two: Even if we were a thing, I refuse to be compared to them." She continued to make some sort of disgusted noise that got a chuckle out of Stefan.

Then, his mood changed. His lips formed a straight line, and his eyes practically burned through hers. "What happened to me?" he pleaded.

Conflicted, Caroline looked down. Could she do this to him? Could she tell Stefan that the world he lived in sucked so much that he had nothing to live for except someone else, although she'd chosen another man over him? Could she tell him that the other man was his brother, and that that someone else still was with his brother in a no-longer-intimate relationship, but a relationship nonetheless? How would he cope with that? Couldn't he just have one night –just one—without feeling pain?

"You were missing," she lied. "You went missing for about two months. But don't worry, we're going to figure out who did this."

At least part of that was true. They did have to figure out how Stefan had been brought back...

XXXX

About two hours later, Elena woke up on Damon's bed, groggy and somewhat miserable. She didn't remember falling asleep. "Did I actually pass out?" she muttered to herself.

Then, Damon emerged from the bathroom, running a towel through his hair. "I compelled you to take a nap," he said, attempting to smirk just a bit. It didn't work very well.

"You, what?" Elena yelled, outraged. Who told Damon that he could just compel her to sleep, while Stefan was finally alive and confused and vulnerable and... "How could you do that? I didn't ask you to compel me! You said you wouldn't do that!"

"You needed it!" he snapped. "You couldn't even breathe, Elena!"

"But I didn't ask you! How dare you?" She had never been angrier, or at least it felt that way. She wanted nothing more than to spend those two hours trying to figure everything out. "I'm going to see him now."

Damon glared at her. "Have fun rekindling your lost love with my brother. Wait, that's going to be a little difficult, considering he doesn't know who you are."

She whipped around, furious. "What the hell is this?" she growled. "Are you jealous?"

"What?"

"You're mad that he's back, aren't you?" When Damon didn't respond, she took it as a signal to keep going. "Now that he's back, you're upset that I want to spend time with him and get his forgiveness."

He gritted his teeth. If she did not know him so well, she would have been afraid of him. The wild look in his eyes was haunting, terrifying. "You want to do a lot more than spend time with him, Elena, and we both know it."

She threw her hands up in the air, frustrated by his tantrum. "Are you kidding me? You just got your brother back and you're mad because I missed him! You should have missed him too, or did you forget that you've known him longer than anyone?"

"I didn't forget!" He snarled. "Who do you think brought him back?" Elena knew from Damon's expression that he immediately regretted the words.

She froze.

There was a long moment of silence.

"You're the one who figured out how to bring Stefan back?" Her voice was calm now, a little too calm, and now, Damon was scared. "Why didn't you tell me?"