Disclaimer: The characters of the Vampire Diaries belong to L.J. Smith and the CW. I don't make any money from them

When Alaric woke a second time from his vigil beside Damon's bed, he found Stefan sprawled beside his brother. He was ashamed to admit that he had neither heard nor seen Stefan come in. He groaned as he rubbed a hand across his face.

"Wake him up and I'll be pleased to show you just how important a spleen is to the human body"

Alaric brightened instantly. "Damon, you bastard. You're awake"

Damon turned and glared at him, albeit playfully. "You're supposed to be looking after me, not dozing off every five minutes"

"Well I'm sorry sleeping beauty but I couldn't find someone pure enough to kiss your blackheart awake" Alaric retorted back. "You've been sleeping for almost two days"

Damon's eyes widened. 'Two days? Oh she's going to kill me" he scrambled to get out of bed, taking care not to jostle Stefan too much. "Ugh" he groaned when a wave of dizziness came over him. "Why am I still…not well?" he didn't want to use the term sick. "I thought the balance was restored or whatever crap witches think up these days"

"The balance is fine" Bonnie spoke from the doorway, a wry smile on her lips as she moved further into the room. "It was a very potent spell. Kol wrote it for me"

"Kol?" Damon asked incredulously. "I thought you were trying to save my life"

"Behave Damon. Kol was a pretty powerful witch, something of a child prodigy; much like yourself. And he knows a hell of a lot more spells than me so…" she shrugged

"That's the thanks I get for saving your sorry behind?" Kol piped up from behind Bonnie. "I told you he'll be a prick about it" he told Bonnie

"Seriously, this creeping up on people thing you and Bonnie have going on is weirding me out" Damon said, while grabbing onto Alaric's chair for support. "Where the hell is my phone?"

"Ah, Damon's awake. I thought the chaos down the hall was you" Caroline said to announce her presence

"Hey Barbie. Nice to see being at deaths door does not make you any nicer tome"

"Such a pity death was not home to open the door for you" she threw back

Damon glared at her. "So good to know that you mussed up your makeup just to come welcome me back into the land of the living dead care-bear. I feel so important. Oh wait, is that lipstick smudge not because you were in a hurry to see me?" he gave an exaggerated gasp. Caroline's face heated up as Bonnie, Kol and Alaric burst into laughter. She huffed and turned around to leave. "Say hello to Klaus for me" Damon whispered loudly, sending Bonnie and Kol into another fit of laughter

Caroline turned around again. "You know…"

"Ah here it is" Damon interrupted as he held up his phone jubilantly. Before he could turn on the screen it rang. He winced at the number as he answered. "Hello… hey Martha… it's not entirely my fa… I'm sorry… Yes… no I'm fine… I don't sound tired…I know… I'm not lying… he's asleep…no, nothing's wrong. He's just sleeping in… he's fine Martha. Truly. I took care of it… about that, 'there were some complications. The airport messed… no that won't be necessary. I'll be good…" Alaric raised his eyebrows. "… Yes… Mmmhmm…What? You called Luigi!?...I'm sorry…" Caroline sniggered. "…Yes we'll meet him in about four hours…No I don't… But it takes two hours to get to Richmond… The girls need to shop and do their nails or whatever nonsense… No I'm not disrespecting the nice ladies…" this time Bonnie laughed along with Caroline. "Yes, I know they can shop over there… Okay, we'll be on our way in three… two, okay, two hours… Yes, mom…"

"Mom?" Caroline mouthed to Bonnie, surprised

"… I love you too' Damon ended the call, and Caroline and Kol erupted into laughter

"You wanna fill us in guys? We all don't have vampire hearing you know" Alaric said

"Damon's nanny just threatened to break a wooden spoon on his ass if he wasn't a good boy" Caroline provided glibly

"And a warning about 'not raising your voice to me boy'" Kol continued. "She also said he'll be very sorry if she finds out he's lying". Alaric chuckled

"If you guys have finished rehashing my phone call, you have thirty minutes to get ready. We need to be in the sky in two hours" Damon said glumly

"We're ready. Elijah made us pack. We were just waiting for you to wake up. He was a bit cagey about the where though. After all this drama, I'm all for a vacation but I'd like to know where we are going" Bonnie said

"I've texted Elena. She and Jeremy and Matt can be here in fifteen minutes. It's just you and Stefan now. Do you think you can get ready in thirty minutes, Damon?" Caroline said. "And I'd also like to know where we are going"

"Stefan and I don't need anything from here, except his current journal" Damon said tiredly. "And if you're all ready, why don't you take your things downstairs and start loading the cars"

"Damon are you okay?" Alaric asked worriedly. "Bonnie, is this normal? Shouldn't he be, I don't know, not tired?"

"He channeled the earth itself to do magic Alaric, and he's a vampire. He's not supposed to be able to do magic at all. It's like using a rock as a sponge to soak up water and then squeezing the water out of the rock. I've restored the rock and water to their respective places but if you can squeeze a rock so hard, it gushes water, it won't go back to being a solid rock immediately you return it to its place. It needs time to reform"

"Thanks for the geography lesson Bon" Damon said snidely, annoyed at his apparent tiredness. If there was anything he loathed with passion it was appearing weak. He glanced over at Stefan's sleeping form. "Is it normal for him to still be sleeping? I mean as vampires we need very little sleep. If I have been out for almost two days and he was unconscious three days before that… how many times has he awoken Ric?"

"Apart from when you did whatever you did and brought him back from oblivion, he woke up just once and almost tore Bonnie apart. Kol had to step in and forcibly hold him down. Gradually he started to recognize his surroundings and as soon as he was lucid enough he crawled into your bed" Alaric answered

"Huh" Damon mused. "When we found them Klaus looked worse off of the both of them. Apart from the thrashing he received for trying to escape, he has almost no physical injuries"

Caroline nodded, knowing where Damon was headed." We thought so too. The punishment he received sounded serious, made even worse by the belt being soaked in vervain, but that would not bring him to this level of weakness. Whatever it was Adrianna wanted from him, whatever she did to him, it had to be internal"

Damon sighed. "Those are the worst. We need to know what she did to him that has made him so weak. We need to know if it will have repercussions, and if so, we need to know how to fix him"

"It doesn't look like we are going to find that out anytime soon" Bonnie said as she looked at the sleeping vampire. "At least not in the conventional way"

Damon looked up at that. "I don't think I'm strong enough to dive into his subconscious again yet Bonnie"

"I know. But you also realize you're not the only vampire in the house right?"

Damon shook his head vehemently. "No! Nobody is swimming around in Stefan's head. Its intrusive and creepy and… nope, not happening"

"Intrusive?" Caroline asked incredulously. "You've done it numerous times"

"I'm his older brother. I can do whatever I want to him. And I only do that to annoy him, not to go scouting for information" Damon practically sneered. "We could just ask Klaus. He was there, remember?"

"You know he was not with Stefan through all of it. He can't tell us everything we need to know. Besides, he has his own recovery to do. I don't think he's ready to be reliving that kind of nightmare" Bonnie sighed softly. 'I know you don't want anyone but you rooting in Stefan's subconscious but I also know that you'll do anything to make him better and this is the only way"

"I don't like it" Damon said quietly

"I know" Bonne replied

"Well, who's going to do it? Caroline is inexperienced, I'm out of commission, I don't want Kol in Stefan's head…"

"Why the bloody hell not?" Kol yelled indignantly

"Would you want me in your head if your life depended on it?" Damon asked heatedly

"Of course not. You'll go and play around in there and completely forget…Oh" realization dawned on him as Damon gave him a smug smile

"Can I continue? Thanks. Like I said, Kol is going nowhere near Stefan's head, Klaus can barely handle his own mind right now, I'm not sending him into Stefan's, and Elijah…"

"Elijah nothing Damon. There's nothing wrong with Elijah and you know it" Bonnie chided. 'Elijah would do it"

Damon huffed. "We could still just wait for Stefan to wake up" Bonnie gave him a look. "Okay, fine. Elijah can do it. I'll go get him' he made a wobbly move towards the door, only for a voice from downstairs to stop him in his tracks.

"Guys?" Matt's voice rang out

"Anyone here?" Elena asked

"Seems like it's time for us to leave" Damon stated wearily. "I'll speak to Elijah after Bon. Let's talk sitting arrangements"

"You and Stefan are with me" Alaric said in a voice that booked no room for argument and Damon didn't even have the strength to argue

"I'll go with the originals" Caroline stated matter-of-factly

"We know Blondie" Damon snarked. "The spot beside Klaus is all yours. Nobody would dare sit in it"

"I want to be with Stefan" Elena said from her position beside Stefan's prone form. She, Matt and Jeremy had come up a few minutes ago and she had run straight for the elder Salvatore's bed

"Ugh! Teenagers" Damon groaned. "You can cuddle all you want in the back seat Elena, no one cares. Bonnie, you're with us. I need you to check Stefan as we go…"

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "And you Damon. And you. Don't forget you're still sick" she said, laughing at the look on Damon's face at the word 'sick'

"Kol, you guys take the SUV so you can fit baby gilbert and Busboy in there. Come on people. If we don't hurry up, we're going to be late and then I'll be in trouble"

"Trouble?" Elena asked, face scrunched up in confusion

"Long story" Kol spoke. "Short version, Damon's nanny would be angry if we are late and he would face consequences"

"I'm tempted to stall just to get you into trouble" Caroline stated, comfortably settling herself into one of the many plush chairs in Damon's room

"I know you'd just love to see me burn Barbie, no news there. But I also know that unless you get a move on, I will leave you here with hybrid psychosis and both of you can make your own way to Italy" Damon bit, his snark returning as rapidly as his strength was waning

Caroline's eyes blazed in anger at the name he had called Klaus two seconds before it widened in realization. "Italy? That's where we are going?" she squealed

"Hybrid psychosis? That was uncalled for mate" Klaus spoke from the doorway. Elijah stood beside him, an amused smile dancing across his lips

"We were going to Italy, and you wanted us to shop here? That's criminal Damon" Bonnie said, a look of mock horror on her face

"What's wrong with shopping here?"

Elena looked up from where she was caressing Stefan. "Damon, its Italy" she said, like those two words were supposed to answer Damon's question

Damon looked around at his suddenly crowded bedroom. "So?" he threw back to Elena

Caroline looked at him in shock. "So? What do you mean so? Damon, its Italy. You know what Bonnie; I've already thought about the number of shoes I'll get. Gucci, Prada…. Ooohhh, and a couple of louis Vuitton bags won't be so bad. What do you think Elena?"

"I wouldn't mind a couple of Jimmy Choo's, Care" she said much to Caroline's glee

"I can't even begin to imagine. I think I'll just wait till we get there. Oh IIIIIItaaallllyyyyyy" Bonnie singsonged

The men in the room looked warily at the girls who had clearly forgotten they were there as they made 'important' shopping decisions

"Riigghhtt" Damon drawled. "Now that that's settled, we should get going. Elijah, can I talk to you for a second?" he said, pulling Elijah aside as everyone else filed out of the room. It took him barely a minute to explain the situation to the eldest original, before rolling his eyes again at the still animatedly talking girls.

"This is gonna be a long day"

Sorry for keeping so long in updating. But this story has only one more chapter left, an epilogue of sorts. I may or may not write a sequel but please review this chapter.