Written for a challenge created by Rune Saint. He lost his brother. She lost her baby. He flipped his switch. She's clinging to the remains of her sanity. Can Stefan and Hayley find a way to solace in each other or will they destroy everyone else in their path?

Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries TV show. That honor goes to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson.

Hello, my lovely readers. This is the first time that I've written for a challenge but I like to play with pairings. Here is the product of such an adventure. On with the show…

Chapter 1: "You're Switch is Fried!"

Stefan found it all so funny now. At the time it had felt like he had been dragged straight into the depths of hell itself but he was wrong because at least in hell people don't expect you to do the right thing. They don't call. Or write. Or give a damn when you walk away…

Five Days Ago:

Sitting on the bench it felt like forever since he had come back from the crumbling Other Side. Caroline had been holding him for longer than he could concentrate. Every once in a while she would say something that was meant to be comforting as he stared at the ground in utter and complete shock. His brother was dead. Not dead vampire dead. Not dead to him because he was Damon and had done something else that made him the world's biggest dick as Jeremy Gilbert would say but dead. Not coming back to torture him about his taste in food or his "over" use of hair product. Damon was dead. Not coming back dead. Like their parents dead. Not to return. No epic good-bye scene for Stefan. Nope. Just gone. Infinitely gone.

Getting up, Stefan said that he needed to go. Caroline had asked him where he was going but he said he would be back. Don't worry. He just needed to take a walk to clear his head. Giving Caroline a reassuring smile, he gave her a hug and then began to walk. He couldn't go home. There was no home to go to even if he could go back to Mystic Falls because home was Damon. Damon was home. Without Damon there was no family and that meant nowhere to go and nothing to do.

"Where you goin,' Stef?" Damon's voice called as Stefan headed toward the nearest road. He stepped into the street and laid down, contemplating the night sky. Why had he never done this before? Damon used to do it all the time? As it turned it out it wasn't so bad, lying in the road, watching the sky above, waiting. "Stef?" Damon called with one of his eye rolling, extended, overly dramatic sighs that would ordinarily cause Stefan's mouth to quirk upward, but not now. Not when he knew that his brother was gone.

"Uh oh," Damon said as head lights headed toward Stefan who's head turned slowly toward the light. He didn't feel anything as the car came toward him and then he felt its tires rolling over his body. For a moment there was agonizing pain that reminded him that he was still alive. And that's all he wanted. Well, that and to have Damon back. But he couldn't have the latter so why not have the former?

When Stefan heard the car stop. The sound of heavy breathing and a pounding heart came closer. Stefan got to his feet. Slowly. Don't want to scare his new play mate. Feeling his lips quirk at his thoughts, Stefan stared at the young woman who had withdrawn her cell and was furiously punching at the numbers. There were tears in her eyes. She was shaking badly. Poor girl. She was probably thinking that she had killed some poor, innocent soul. It was important to Stefan that he correct her. And soon. "Hi," he called with a disarming smile.

The girl's head snapped up and her jaw dropped. "Oh! Oh, my God. But you're… I… How?"

"How? Why? People are always asking all these questions. Sometimes we think there's an answer for everything. But really there's absolutely nothing," Stefan said with a slow shake of his head. "If only we knew that in the beginning then we might not waste so much time giving a damn."

"Um… Are you okay?" the girl asked with wide eyes as she swallowed heavily. Her heart was pounding furiously and her cheeks were flushed from fear and a wonderful shot of adrenaline. It would make blood all that sweeter. He missed a good chase. Would she run? "I should call an ambulance. You might have hit your head," the girl was saying as she stared at Stefan. Trying to contain the situation. Trying to not show that she was terrified. But her hands were shaking and she dropped the phone to the ground.

Reaching down to grab her phone the girl came face to face with Stefan as he crouched down so they were a mere inch apart. "What's your name?" Stefan asked huskily, staring into her eyes so she had to answer.

"Mandy," she replied with a gulp. "My name… is Mandy."

"Hello, Mandy. I'm Stefan," Stefan replied with another smile as Mandy forced herself to smile in return. "You know, Mandy, I am having a really bad night. My brother, Damon, he decided to take my role and play the hero. Then he died. He died to save me, our town and all of our friends. Isn't that terrible, Mandy?"

"That's really terrible," Mandy told Stefan as she stared back at him, crying quietly. "I can't move."

"Huh. Let's fix that. Would you like for that to happen, Mandy?" Stefan inquired. nodding as Mandy's head moved up and down. "Yeah. I thought so. Mandy," Stefan began, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Are your car keys still in your ignition?" Mandy shook her head. "Can you give them to me?" She pulled them from her jeans pocket and handed them over. "Thank you, Mandy. You can run now," Stefan said, gently before letting go of her shoulders.

Watching Mandy run for the count of thirty, Stefan began to whistle. It reminded him of Enzo and for some reason the thought of the vampire who had tried to kill him countless times did not bother him. Nothing really bothered him right now. Not yet. Maybe later. When he had hit thirty, Stefan shot in front of Mandy and came to stand before her. Mandy. as many people in this situation would. screamed until Stefan sank his teeth into her neck. Sucking more and more deeply, Stefan felt better as the blood flowed down his throat.

"Flipped the switch again, did ya?" Damon inquired as Stefan dropped Mandy's body to the ground. Cocking his head to the side, Stefan shook his head.

"Nope. Not yet. Sorry to disappoint you, Damon. I'm not that far gone yet," Stefan replied as he twirled Mandy's keys along his index finger.

"Keep telling yourself that," Damon called after Stefan as Stefan whistled to the tune in his head. Stopping beside Mandy's car, Stefan climbed inside and placed the key in the ignition. The next time he picked a victim he would have to make sure that he picked someone with a more interesting vehicle. This was like some kind of mommy mobile that Mandy had probably borrowed from her mommy. He should feel bad about having taken young Mandy from her family too soon but no one cared that his brother was gone. But Damon was a serial killer. Maybe no one should care. Except for Elena and Alaric and Liz and Caroline.

Maybe Stefan should turn the car around. However, he had no idea what he would do if he turned back. Would he be able to watch Elena fall apart? Could he stand to see Alaric back from the dead and not silently ask himself why Ric and not Damon? And Caroline? She would start trying to find a way to bring them back when there was no way and Stefan could listen to her constant stream of chirpy chatter about how they would find a way. At some point he would snap at her that this was not the damn football team that she was cheering for. This was his damn brother. This was Damon who had not been able to forsee living eternity without. No, he couldn't turn back. There was nothing left for him at home. Or not home.

The question was where, where was he supposed to go? Stefan had been all over the United States, parts of Canada and most of Europe among others. There was nowhere in particular that he wanted to go and no one that he really wanted to be around. The idea of going where no one would know his name appealed to his senses. He could give people a new name and start over. Pretend to be a human without trying to enter a girl, who looked like his ex's, life. Things would be simpler this time. Cleaner. No drama.

Turning on the stereo, Stefan turned up the music to full blast. Driving to a service station, he filled the tank, compelled the attendant that he had paid and grabbed a couple of bottles of really horrible bourbon and a case of beer. What was fun about being a vampire if you couldn't drink and drive? If he was lucky he would run into a van full of teens doing the same thing, have dinner since all that Mandy had achieved was making him feel like he was starving. Taking a swig from his first bottle, Stefan removed his hands from the wheel and began to laugh as the car swerved. Maybe he would lucky, get in an accident, be thrown from the car and be beheaded.

Laughing hysterically at the thought, Stefan noticed that there was a car pulled off to the side of the road up ahead. Smiling, he pulled up beside it. Getting out, he looked around for the passengers. "Hello? Anybody need help?" he called, trying not to laugh at his fake concern.

"Help. Over here. We need help," a woman's voice called and Stefan smiled when he noticed that they were standing off to the side of the road. There was a woman who was probably in her thirties with a man who was about her age. "My husband swerved to avoid a deer. We've been waiting for help for an hour," the woman said, as she looked at her husband who was holding a shirt to a head wound.

"That's a real pity," Stefan murmured as he sniffed the blood while moving closer to the couple. When he was close enough for the woman to get a good look at him she let out a loud scream before taking off, running. Looking at the man who frowned while watching his wife run away, Stefan shook his head in sympathy. "And they wonder why the divorce rate is so high. Be back in a minute."

Chasing the woman down, Stefan made quick work of her before he came back to make quick work of her husband. Back to the car and on with the road trip. With each new victim Stefan felt his hold on his humanity beginning to slip. And part of him could care less. "Stef, your switch is gone. You flip it off and on one too many times. It's not a toy." Damon waggled his finger and Stefan grinned.

"Fuck off, Damon," Stefan replied with another sip from a bottle of beer, he really felt nothing.

At some point he must have stopped somewhere, Stefan discovered when he woke up with a dark haired woman he had never met before. She was dead. Getting up, Stefan grabbed his clothes, dressed and then walked out the door. None of it meant a thing. There was nothing that meant a thing to him anymore.

Exiting the hotel room, Stefan walked down toward the stairs. Running down the stairs, he climbed on the back of the motorcycle that had once belonged to a biker. But then again so did his tongue. Among other parts. But when he pissed Stefan off by knocking his beer over and didn't apologize during day three of Stefan's trip, he had to teach the man a lesson. Unfortunately he didn't last more than an hour. Too bad. Stefan had been having fun.

After ditching the motorcycle on the edge of New Orleans, Stefan felt pleased when he stepped over the border of the town. He could not wait to run into Klaus. He wondered if Rebekah was still around. Last time he heard about the two Originals Caroline was telling him about her sex life. It didn't take Stefan long before he was greeted by a pack of wolves. This was going to be fun.

Ten minutes later, covered in blood and with a nasty bite, Stefan was more annoyed than amused as he struggled toward the area that the last wolf had told him that the Mikaelsons lived in before he ripped his head off. Stepping toward the gate, he saw the back of a familiar head. The woman looked like he felt, like she was full of unspent rage and no matter how much she tried to expel it it was still there. "Hayley?" Stefan called weakly as the werewolf turned to stare at him with a confused and irritated look. "Little help."

"Who…" Hayley began when she seemed to recognize him. Then she recognized the smell on him. "You're covered in wolf blood," she snarled and then she had him by the throat. She was incredibly strong. Too strong. That wasn't possible.

"Hayley, put the vampire down," a calm voice called but Hayley ignored it. "Hayley," came the warning tone and Stefan grinned when Hayley dropped him on his ass.

"Elijah, how good of you to show up. Mind telling Klaus that I need some blood?" Stefan inquired with a wide grin.

Elijah peered at Stefan with a questioning look and sniffed the air. "Mr. Salvatore. I'm not sure you understand what you have just entered into."

"Then why don't you explain it to me while Klaus gives me some blood," Stefan replied as he pushed himself to his feet and Elijah came over to help him.

"You're going to help him?" Hayley yelled with a look of rage directed at Elijah.

"Yes. He's one of my people, Hayley," Elijah snapped as the wolf or hybrid glared back at him.

"Unbelievable," Hayley growled.

"See you around, wolf girl," Stefan called as Hayley sneered while Elijah half carried him into the house. When they found Klaus who was drinking Stefan called. "Hello, Nik."

Klaus turned around, his eyes widened when he took in the sight of Stefan who looked like his old friend from so long ago. "Ripper?"

"You called," Stefan quipped as Klaus came forward to embrace him. "Can I get a drink?" he asked when Klaus chuckled.

"What have you gotten yourself up to and what brings you to town? Nothing to do with that fool of a brother of yours?" Klaus inquired as he poured out a drink and then opened his wrist.

"The fool is dead," Stefan announced with a shrug.

"Damon is dead?" Elijah looked at Klaus who frowned as well.

Stefan ignored their looks. "What's up with the wolf girl? Is she like a pet that you're keeping around of something?" he asked as Klaus gave Elijah another long look. Thinking about the look on Hayley's face, Stefan thought about what he could do to irritate her again. That look was worth it. Something about it made him feel like they were kindred spirits and just because he didn't feel anything right now didn't mean he wanted to feel nothing alone.

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Peace,

Jessica