Chapter One
He hit the steering wheel when the car wouldn't start as he was leaving the shop. He had no idea who to call. Damon was being a dick as always. Damon had just broken up with Elena and Stefan was telling him how stupid he was, but Damon didn't want to hear it. Stefan thought of calling Caroline but that probably wasn't a good idea since they broke up. So, he decided to text Elena.
It only took her a few seconds to reply and of course, she would come to help him. Elena arrived, got out of her car, and looked at Stefan "So does this mean you are finally going to get rid of this piece of shit car?" He walked over to her "What you are talking about? My car is a classic. Just look at her." They both turned and looked at the car just as steam started coming from the engine. She raised an eyebrow at him "Oh really? I will make you a deal if you can go in there and have another mechanic look at it and they only find a minor problem that can be fixed easily then you can keep the car. But if he finds a major issue then you have to get a new car. Do we have a deal?" She asked as she held out her hand to shake on the deal. He thought about it and then shook her hand "Alright you have a deal." Stefan only made the deal because he was sure that the mechanic would not find a major issue.
Stefan and Elena both went inside the office. Stefan asked if his car could be looked at and for them to tell them of any major issues. He was told that it would take an hour for someone to get to it is he gave them his number and told them to call him and then he took Elena's hand and led her out of the office "Well it looks like we have some time to kill so I say we go to eat lunch." She looked at him curiously "Like a date?" He just shrugged his shoulders "Well it doesn't have to be a date but if you want to put a label on it, we can call it a date. We are both single and free to date." He smiled at her because he really wanted this to be a date. She was also smiling "Okay it's a date but I want to eat outside." Stefan smiled at her softly and then led her to the grill where they grabbed an outside table.
Stefan and Elena sat there and talked about their lives and what they wanted to do now that they were human again. Elena wanted to go back to school and become a doctor just like her dad which also happened to be what Stefan wanted to do. He wanted to be a doctor because he wanted to help people and hopefully make up for all the people he hurt in his long life and now that he was human again, he could do that.
Matt walked up to take their order but looked confused when he saw Stefan and Elena together "Uh, okay this is strange. Why are you two here in the middle of the day and here together?" Stefan looked up at Matt "Well Matt we are actually here on a date." Matt raised his eyebrow as he looked at them "So human Elena and human Stefan are now a thing again?" Stefan looked at Elena first and then he looked at Matt "Well not that it is any of your business Matt but we just decided to have lunch together and yes we calling it a date and we will see where it leads." Elena nodded "Yeah what he said. Now can we order, please? I will have a cheeseburger with fries and a coke." Matt wrote down her order and turned to Stefan "I will have the same as Elena." Matt took their menus and went to put their order in.
Stefan took Elena's hand in his "You do realize that other people are going to react the same way Matt did and I don't know how Damon will take us being together but I'm guessing not well. So I have to ask, Do you still want to do this? Elena smiled at Stefan and took his hands in hers "Stefan I don't care what other people think about us. I only care what you and I think about us. As far as Damon goes, he had his shot and he blew it. I know I hurt you in the past but I will never do that again. I love you, Stefan. What about you, what do you think?" Stefan looked at her for a few seconds and leaned in closer to her "First, I'm with you on not caring what other people think about us. Second, Damon did blow his shot with you, third, and finally, I love you too." After saying that he leaned in and kissed her then their food arrived so they started eating.
Damon was at the house working on a few things. He had a network of people around the world keeping an ear out for anyone looking for the cure. One of his informants told him that some vampires heard about Stefan and were headed for Mystic Falls. He knew he had to find Stefan and get him out of town fast. He knew Stefan was working at the shop today so he went there first. Damon found out that he had been there but he left to go have lunch with his girlfriend. Which he thought was strange because Stefan didn't have a girlfriend. He shrugged it off and headed for The Grill to find him.
Damon was in town square when he looked across the street to see his brother having lunch with Elena at The Grill. They were holding hands so he knew this was not something casual. Then he saw them kiss and that did it. That got him angry enough to come up with a plan. He saw two big men coming out of the local gym so he stopped them and compelled them to kidnap Stefan and Elena, blindfold them and bring them to a warehouse just outside of town.
Stefan and Elena finished lunch and then headed back to the garage to check on the car. They walked past an Alley when they heard a strange noise and went to take a look. Two large guys came up behind them, covered their heads with a cloth bag, and put a gun in their backs "You both are coming with us." Stefan and Elena put their hands up as the men grabbed them and put them in a van.
Stefan couldn't see anything because his head was covered. He knew the van was moving but didn't know where they were being taken to. He didn't even know if Elena was in the van with him. He kept his voice as low as he could "Elena are you here and are you okay?" She tried to reach out to him. She finally found his hand "I'm here and I'm okay. Are you okay? Did they hurt you?" He breathed a sigh of relief "No they didn't hurt me. I have no idea why they are holding us but Elena don't worry about me, if you get a chance to get away, take it." She shook her head "No Stefan I'm not leaving you." They both heard the van stop and the door opened. Stefan was pulled out first then Elena. They were taken to a small room, and sat on chairs with their hands tied behind their backs. Then the bag covering their heads was removed. Stefan looked up to see two men with their faces covered towering over them. He was struggling with his restraints, trying to get loose "Let us go. Why are you holding us here?" Both men just laughed like they were waiting for him to say that. One of the men leaned in close to Stefan "That is for me to know and for you to dot dot dot." Then he gave Stefan a look like he had no idea why he just said that. They both left the room saying they will be bringing them food.
Stefan just sat there for a few minutes not saying a word. Elena was getting worried "Stefan what's wrong?" He looked over at her "That guy was compelled and I know who did it and who is holding us. It's Damon. He did all of this. I'm sure of it." Elena was completely shocked and Shook her head in disbelief "Damon wouldn't do this. How are you sure it's him?" He knew Elena would have a hard time believing him because he didn't want to believe it either "I know it's Damon because of what that guy just said before he left the room 'That's for me to know and for you to dot dot dot.' Damon has been saying that to me for years. I'm sure it's him that is holding us. He probably found out about us getting back together and he is angry. We have to figure a way out of here. Elena see if you can move your chair over to mine. I have something in my pocket that might can get us loose but I can't reach it. See if you can."
She nodded to him and started working on moving her chair closer to him until she was back to back with him "I believe you Stefan but I still don't understand why Damon would do this. What do you think he is going to do with us? We are human Stefan. All he has to do is kill us and he would be done with us." She starts searching through his jacket pockets "I don't know why he would do this Elena or what he is going to do with us. Did you find my knife?" She smiled as she found it "Yeah I got it. Now what do I do with it?" He opened up his hand "Here put it in my hand and I will cut you free." She did as he asked and he cut her free of her restraints and then she cut him free. Now they stood facing each other, he took her in his arms and held her as they heard the door open and he saw his brother come in. He let go of Elena and walked over to his brother "How could you do this to her? Let her go Damon. This is between you and me. She is innocent."
Damon just stood there and smirked at his younger brother and then he started walking around "Is she really innocent?" He looked at her and then he vamp speeds over to her and holds the back of her head so she has to look in his eyes. Stefan was afraid that he was going to kill her "Damon don't do it please. Don't kill her." Damon looked at Stefan and smiled "I'm not going to kill her brother, I'm just going to fulfill my promise to you. I promised you an eternity of misery and this is me fulfilling that promise." He turned to Elena and looked in her eyes as he compelled her "Elena you are going to forget everything that happened here you are going to leave here, go home and pack and then you will leave Mystic Falls. You will go to a college in California at Stanford University and you will become a doctor. Mystic Falls will always be your home but you will stay in California. You will forget about Stefan Salvatore, find someone new and settle down and have a good life." He finished compelling her and then let go of her as he looked at Stefan and smirked at him because there was nothing that Stefan could do to fix this.
Elena didn't know why she was in the warehouse. She looked at Damon with a very confused look and then she looked at the other man that was there. She had no idea who he was. She walked right past him. Stefan couldn't believe what Damon just did. It made him wonder what he had planned for him. He couldn't resist calling out to Elena as she walked past him "Elena, it's me Stefan." She just turned and looked at him with this look that broke his heart. She had no idea who he was. "I'm sorry I have no idea who are and I have to go pack for school." Elena turned and walked out the door.
Stefan watched her walk out the door and then his sadness turned to anger and he was turning that all on his brother. He turned around and glared at Damon "Why did you do that? Did you want to hurt me? Well you succeeded. Why didn't you just kill me Damon? I know you hate me so just do it Damon kill me and get it over with. You just sent my reason for living away so put me out of my misery and kill me." Damon just shook his head as he walked over to Stefan "You think I want you dead? Look I was pissed when I saw the two of you together but that is not why I compelled her to leave, I did it to save your life Stefan." He paused and placed his hands on Stefan's shoulders "I found out that there are vampires heading to Mystic Falls and they know that you have the cure. I knew I had to get you out of town but you wouldn't leave without her. She would have only gotten you killed Stefan. I did what I had to do to save your life and now I'm going to do you a favor." He took a hold of Stefan so he couldn't move and had to look in Damon's eyes as he compelled him "Stefan you are not going to remember what happened here. You are going to go home and pack and I am going to take you to college. The school you attend is Harvard University and you will study to be a doctor. You were born in Mystic Falls but you were raised in Grove Hill and that will always be your home but after school is finished you will decide to do your residency in another state. You will forget about Elena Gilbert, find someone new and settle down and have a good life."
Damon stopped compelling Stefan and patted him on the back "So Stefan what are we doing here?" Stefan just gave him a confused look "I have no idea Damon. We should just go home. You can help me pack and take me to school." Damon put his hand on Stefan's shoulder and lightly pushed him towards the door then he stopped for a few seconds and thought about what he just did. He hated doing this to them but it was the only way to keep Stefan alive. They both got in the car, drove back to the house, packed the stuff that Stefan was taking with him to Harvard into the moving truck and then they took the truck to Massachusetts with Stefan's little red car hooked to the back of the truck.
End of Chapter 1