There was no sound but the wind. It whipped through the car, throwing Elena's hair around her face like an ocean hitting the rocks. She didn't seem to notice, she didn't seem to notice anything at all, her silence scared Alaric more than her tears.

"Are you cold? Elena? I'm sorry, we're almost there…" he said to her in relation to the side window he'd smashed to break into this car. Caroline had whisked Stefan off in her car already leaving him, Elena, Tyler and Jeremy alone. He'd hotwired it, too much had happened today for him to even feel slight remorse for the theft.

Alaric gripped the steering wheel a little harder as he pulled into the long drive of the Salvatore Boarding House. Jeremy was still crying in the back, quietly, but Alaric's super vamp hearing couldn't miss it. Tyler's heart was racing, his breathing heavy.

Caroline's car was parked just outside the front door and Alaric stopped the car just behind it. He opened his door and climbed out. Tyler and Jeremy got out too but Elena remained frozen in the passenger seat.

"Should we leave her?" Tyler asked nervously

"No." Alaric said a little too sharply. He regretted his tone immediately. Tyler stepped back and Alaric walked to open the passenger door. Elena continued to stare out of the window.

Alaric reached out and gently touched her shoulder. She flinched.

"Come on, Elena." Alaric said gently

"I can't" she said in the smallest, most broken voice he'd ever heard.

"Come on." Alaric said again "We have to go inside sometime" We. This was hurting him so much; the boarding house was the last place he wanted to step into ever again. It was the epitome of him. And he was gone.

He reached across and gently as he could picked her up like she was his five year old. In another life he would be her Dad, he had been married to her mother after all.

He set her on her feet and kept his hand firmly on her back, keeping her steady.

Tyler led the way, and Jeremy just behind. Alaric gently pushed Elena towards the front door. She was forced to look up and she let out a howl of pain as they hit the door way.

"I've got you." Alaric promised her as he pressed her on.

The inside of the boarding house was chaos. Things had been moved, chairs, tables…

Stefan was pacing in front of the fire. Caroline was just behind him looking helpless. She turned as they all entered, she was crying.

"I don't know what to do." She wept, holding up her hands. "He won't stop."

"They're ruined everything. Everything. They've touched all our stuff." Stefan ranted. He grabbed the Persian rug in front of him and dragged in back to where it lived. Then he moved the coffee table.

"No!" he suddenly said looking manic, he rushed to the armchair and grabbed up an aged, old green book with worn gold lettering on the spine. "No, no, no."

"Stefan," Caroline cried "Stop, Calm down."

"This is Damon's favourite book; they've pulled the binding off- the travellers, why would they do that?"

Elena choked out a sob and fell into the couch that had been moved across the room, Alaric went after her, stroking her hair as she shook.

Jeremy looked shaken. He wasn't crying anymore but he looked broken. "What's going on?" he said loudly looking at Stefan who had fallen onto the coffee table, his face in his hands.

Tyler groaned beside him, running his hand through his hair in stress. "He doesn't know." He said directly to Alaric

"Know what?" Jeremy shouted at Tyler "What the hell is going on?"

Alaric closed his eyes for a second, of course. Jeremy didn't know Damon was dead. He'd arrived just as Bonnie had faded into oblivion. The chaos of the scene had taken over. Caroline and Stefan had gone, Jeremy assumed Elena was crying for Bonnie.

Alaric looked back to Jeremy. He took a deep breath and said with the steadiest voice he could muster "Damon's dead Jer, he didn't make it. He…he didn't make it back."

Jeremy's face shone with disbelief. "No." he said looking around at everyone for a contradiction. "Alaric, you're not serious. Please tell me you're not…"

Alaric dropped his gaze to the floor. His heart was breaking.

"How did that happen?" Jeremy demanded

"He didn't make it back in time. We we're behind because we were-" Alaric stopped talking for a second as he remembered "Oh my god, Caroline." He said

"What?" she said looking startled.

"Your Mom."

"What?" she said in alarm

"Damon was trying to save her, he did save her…she was in the explosion." Elena's head snapped up, she was looking at Alaric intently

Caroline was moving to the door "I have to find her"

"I'll come too." Tyler said

They left in a blur.

"This isn't happening." Jeremy said, he sank down the wall and onto the ground. "Bonnie. I can't- and now Damon."

"He really saved Liz?" Elena asked him, tears dripping from her cheeks.

"Yeah." Alaric said, her rubbed her back soothingly, he wasn't going to leave her to die"

Elena half smiled and Stefan broke down. He didn't try and hide it; he didn't seem to have the energy to even stop.

Alaric wanted to say something, anything to Stefan to comfort him, but he couldn't think of anything. He'd only know Damon for less than five years, and he knew how much his life was going to suffer for the lack of his best friend, but Stefan was his brother, he'd loved him for a hundred and fifty years plus. They hadn't always liked each other, they'd even hated each other- but they loved each other. Loved. Past tense.

They all sat in silence for an age, no one speaking or looking at each other. The sun was coming up and Alaric finally looked up. Stefan was still sitting slumped over on top of the wooden coffee table. Jeremy had his eyes closed, he wasn't certain he was asleep but he looked still.

He finally looked to Elena beside him. Her eyes were red; her face was motionless except for the effortless stream of tears that fell off her cheeks. He stood up and for the second time he scooped her up into his arms. She rested her head into the crook of his neck and he carried her to the only place he could think of.

Damon's bedroom still smelled so strongly of him and Alaric felt her grip tighten on him. He effortlessly threw back the cover on the bed and settled her down into the mattress. He knocked her shoes off her feet onto the floor and then tucked the luxurious duvet around her body. He heard her inhale deeply as he moved to the door.

"Sleep." He said gently.

He closed the door behind him and then stopped when he heard her broken voice plead "Please." Over and over.

"Come back to me, Damon. I love you."

Alaric went back down stairs. He needed a drink now more than he'd even needed one before. He went to the Salvatore's vast wine cellar. There was a variety of everything a lush would possibly need, he looked for bourbon. That's when he saw the empty bottle of Kentucky Straight, the same bottle they'd shared as Damon sat with him while he died a few years ago. He'd kept the bottle.

That's when he broke. It ruptured from him like he couldn't hold it in a second longer. He cried out the hurt he'd been holding in all night, the guilt.

"Ric?" a shaken voice said from somewhere behind him

He tried to wipe his eyes. "Jer."

"Shit. I'm sorry." Alaric said as another tear escaped against his will

"He was your best friend." Jeremy said

"Yeah. He was. And I came back before him. I should have made sure Bonnie brought him back to Elena, to Stefan, first."

"It's not your fault." Jeremy said firmly.

"She needs him. She won't get over this." Alaric said

"She's stronger than you know." Jeremy argued

"No." Alaric said "Bonnie and Damon, it's too much. What if she turns off her humanity again? I can't let that happen. I need to fix this."

Jeremy looked lost and Alaric turned back to look for his bourbon. He wasn't going to stop until he brought his best friend back to the life he deserved.