Disclaimer: This thing is stupid, of course I don't own the Vampire Diaries! If I did then Stefan and Damon would have a looooot more trouble to go through ;)

English is not my first language but I like to think I know plenty of it.

R&R!

"I'll be there as soon as possibile."

"Stefan, please! Hurry up!" A very worried Elena hung up her phone as she stared at the horrifying sight in front of her. She had just informed Stefan of what was happening. And currently, she might as well be witnessing the death of her boyfriend's brother.

As the brown haired vampire spilled fuel all over Damon, Elena couldn't stop her racing heart and a feeling of helplessness creeped inside her body. "Please, don't!" She shouted desperately, not daring to go closer, but the vampire was beyond listening apparently.

"Please, why are you doing this?!" Elena tried again, and was half surprised when the stranger actually turned to look at her.

"This bastard killed my girlfriend!" His voice was laced with hatred and a blinding fury that had Elena startled and Damon's eyes widened ever so slightly.

Elena didn't know what to say. She knew, after all, that Damon wasn't exactly a nice person. She couldn't believe she had almost forgotten how many people the raven head had killed in his life.

"What?" Was the only thing she could manage. The tall vampire continued spilling gasoline on Damon.

"Yes! She went to visit Stefan, and this asshole killed her.." Elena paled as realization hit her like a ton of pricks. She could have sworn Damon stilled a little, too.

Slowly pronouncing her words, Elena whispered. "You...You're Lexi's boyfriend...You're Lee." When the vampire, Lee, didn't respond Elena went on, her voice trembling slightly, wether from shock or fear for Damon's life she didn't know.

"She told me about you. But...she said that you were human." At that, Lee turned toward Elena, and his face broke into a sad smile, sorrow radiating from his eyes.

"I was." He said simply before taking out a lighter, action which made Elena's breath catch on her throat. Taking a deep breath she asked. "Lexi turned you?"

"If you wanna be with someone forever, you gotta live forever." Lee said in an emotionless vocie. They both heard the low groans of pain coming from a forgotten Damon, who was desperately trying to get up from the floor. He was stopped however, from a swift kick to the stomach by an angry Lee.

Thinking fast on a way to save Damon, Elena blurted out the first thing that came to her mind. "She loved you!" Lee didn't show any kind of reaction to her words, except taking a step back. Feeling kinda confident she continued.

"She said...she said that when its real you can't walk away."

"Well, that's a choice she's not gonna have to make." He snapped at her harshly.

"Don't." Elena pleaded, her body trembling in fear. "Please, don't...don't hurt him!" She could hear Damon panting in pain as Lee lit his lighter.

"I'm doing you a favor." Lee said through gritted teeth. Elena couldn't handle it anymore. 'Stefan!' She thought desperately. 'Stefan, where are you?...'

Stefan had just arrived in Giorgia and was currently gasping for unneeded air. He scanned his surrounding with vampire eyes, searching for any sign of his brother and Elena. Last time he talked to Elena, Stefan was sure she was in some kind of bar or something.

'If that's the case, then I've got some serious searching ot do.' Stefan thought dejectedly as he eyed the seemingly endless pubs suffocating him. He didn't want to waste any time, though. His brother needed him. That was the only thing in his mind.

"She loved you." Elena repeated for what felt like the hundredth time, but that seemed like the only thing able to get through Lee's head. "And she was good, so...that means you're good, too."

Lee turned his head aside, hesitation slowly making way to his heart as he stood in place. Elena's words were soothing, in a way, logical.

Elena looked at Lee with a face off understanding and sympathy mixed together. "You're better than him." She said simply and was sure that, had Damon been able to protest, he would have strongly objected that remark.

"Don't do this, I'm begging you." Lee looked Elena in the eye, conflict showing in his eyes. In one hand, he wanted nothing more than to rip Damon's heart out. In the other hand, this girl's pleading for the life of the vampire trash next to him had settled a seed of doubt deep inside him.

"Please." Elena repeated one last time.

Lee didn't know what to do. Angrily, he turned at the black haired boy -if you could even call him that- in the ground and gritted his teeth in fury. Roughly, he pulled Damon up by grabbing his jacket and looked at him with such pure loathing that it had Elena scared the man would kill him.

Seeing the non-caring look Damon's face, Lee felt his fangs come out as he snarled at him and threw the older Salvatore into the nearby wall. Elena winced. God, coming from the sounds of Damon's groans that had to be painful.

Lee stalked towards Damon with vampire speed as Elena tried to catch up. Once more, the man pulled Damon up, this time though holding him by his throat, clutching it tightly.

"Tell me just one thing." Lee hissed dangerously at Damon, who now was wearing a blank expression. Not uncaring, not confident nor mocking or serious. Just blank. "Do you regret it one bit? Is there any little of heart left in that empty space in your chest that makes you feel regret? Do you even know that feeling...or have you forgotten every person you've killed like they were nothing?"

Elena stilled completely, knowing there wasn't a shred of humanity in Damon's soul. The tension in the tight silence was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Damon and Lee stared at each other, neither of them breaking contact while the Salvatore had yet to answer. Elena suspected that Lee already knew that Damon would never feel any kind of remorse for the people he killed, and suspected that he wasn't exactly expecting an answer, either.

Suddenly, Damon 'hmph'ed and slowly wrapped a hand around the wrist holding his neck. "Why is everyone so intent on painting me as the bad guy?" He asked in a nonchalant way that made Elena want to maim him. How in the world could he not see that he was on very thin ice?! Lee's eye twitched as he, too, noticed the tone.

"Listen here, dude." Damon went on, his hand now clutching tightly Lee's wrist. His face had darkened and his eyes made you think that he was on bloody murder. "Believe it or not, I am sorry about Lexi's death. But I don't regret it." The dangerous air around him seemed to subdue because of how choked his voice was.

Elena didn't know if she should celebrate because somehow Damon had chosen to be honest or rip her hair out, screaming 'So. Not. The Time. DAMON!'

Lee's eyes narrowed in silent anger. "What did you say?" He whispered menacingly. Damon mustered all the strength he had and shoved Lee away, hard. Lee, who didn't expect this new predicament, was thrown harshly on the ground as Damon took in deep breaths and massaged his sore neck.

"To save Lexi...you..would kill me..without a second thought, right?" Lee just glared up at him while Elena stayed silent. The answer to that question was pretty obvious and Damon didn't wait for Lee to give him a verbal one.

"Well, I have someone to protect, too."

Stefan was running with vampire speed, mentally thanking any God who existed that it was night and no human would be able to recognize his blurry form.

Stefan ran from one bar to the other, searching quickly for any signs of Elena or his brother when he heard something. It was faint, more like a blurry whisper coming from far away, but it was still there. His vampire senses allowed him to hear the words.

And they were Damon's.

He couldn't understand what his brother was saying, the voice was low and he couldn't get most of the words, but that wasn't important. He had found him. As fast as his legs could run, Stefan hurried towards the back of an old pub and panting he turned to see if his brother was there, when he froze dead on his tracks.

There stood Elena, too caught up in what was happening in front of her to notice him. Then Damon, panting and massaging his neck while looking down at a man -vampire, he noted- who was holding his brother's stare. But what stunned Stefan were the last words that came out of his brother's mouth. He couldn't believe it, had he gone insane? Because what he had just heard was something he thought impossibile and in the same time something he had hoped for his whole life.

"Well, I have someone to protect, too."

Despite the huge amount of joy that blossomed inside Stefan to know that Damon actually cared for someone, his non-existent heart ached from a small amount of hurt and jealousy. He told himself he should be happy that his brother still had feelings inside of him, but he couldn't help wanting, wishing that it was him Damon wanted to protect. Stefan felt jealous of this person who apparently meant more to Damon than his own brother, as no one but Katherine had been able to before.

Be as it may, he couldn't stop the yearning inside him that held on to the cruel hope that maybe Damon cared, or would one day, care for him. That maybe he could have his brother back.

And as much as he knew it was just a fruitless fantasy to think his brother loved him...Even though he knew it was an impossibile wish, Stefan always had held onto that hope. But now that he knew Damon cared for someone else enough to admit he wanted to protect them, Stefan was beginning to let go of that hope...

He heard Damon cough and start talking, so he stopped his train of thoughts and listened.

"Just like you wanted to protect Lexi, I have someone I need to protect, too. And if it meant killing her to do that, well, then so be it." Stefan's eyes widened comically at that. What? Why was Damon talking about Lexi all of a sudden? His chest clutched as he thought of Lexi, and he suddenly felt guilty for loving the one who killed her. It was his brother sure, but it still felt as if he was betraying Lexi. Strange though, what did Lexi have to do with this person Damon cared about? And why was he talking about her to that strang-Oh.

He almost gaped as realization sunk in that the man on the floor was probably Lexi's boyfriend. Ouch.

"Liar!" Lee yelled at Damon as he stood up, causing Elena to flinch while Damon remained unfazed. "Lexi had nothing to do with you! She went to visit Stefan, you just happened to be there! She wouldn't kill anyone for blood or something else, so whoever you supposedly want to protect would be unharmed! Cut the crap and tell me why you killed her!"

Stefan...had to admit Lee had a point. Of course, he knew why Damon had killed Lexi. He had done it for himself, to throw the town's people off his tracks. So if Damon was going to lie, then he needed to come up with a better story.

Damon shifted his weigh from one leg to another as he once more hid his thoughts behind his blank, emotionless expression. "I hadn't planded to kill Lexi, hadn't even thought of it really. But then the town's police started investigating about vampires, thought the people I fed on were killed by one, and they were right. Sooner or later, they were going to track it back to us."

Elena paled in horror. She understood what that implied. From what Damon was saying, the town's police would have realized that the Salvatore brothers were actually vampires. But that wasn't what she dreaded. Judging from what she was hearing, Damon-

"You bastard! So you killed her to save yourself!" Lee shouted, shaking with fury.

Elena gulped. That was exactly what she had been afraid of. She couldn't even begin to imagine what Lee was going through now.

Damon glared at him. "If that was really that much of a problem for me I would have left the town ages ago." His words sent another silence between the three (four, but they didn't know that). Elena looked curious, Lee confused while Stefan was listening with his heart hammering. He knew the reason Damon didn't leave was because he had wanted to save Katherine, but could it be that, that wasn't the case? He flet confused as hell though: Who in the world could matter to Damon more than Katherine?!

He crushed down the feelings of hope and jealousy. No, that wasn't possibile. Katherine was the only person Damon had ever really loved. She had to be...right?

Damon's eyes had an unreadable glint in them, they looked soft and not like his usual ice cold blue eyes. They held an emotion Stefan couldn't really put a name on. "I couldn't care less about this town nor about its people. And I've never been one to keep a low profile."

Both Elena and Stefan rolled their eyes at that. 'Figures.' They thought simultaneously. Damon was too vain to not have people notice him.

"Stop talking in circles and tell me why." Lee demanded and now was beginning to think he would kill Damon after all.

Damon looked at him in silence for a moment, a moment in which Elena held her breath, praying Damon didn't say anything that would get him killed while Stefan swallowed.

Finally, Damon said it. "If I had been discovered, I would have easily killed the ones who saw me or who knew I was a vampire. And if I had to leave town" here he shrugged, looking without a care in the world. "I would have...But Stefan wouldn't."

Lee and Elena's grew big while Stefan felt his heart literally stop. Did he hear that right? Did Damon just say-? But why would he?! Stefan was too much in shock to gather his thoughts properly. He didn't have time to anyway, as Damon continued and he had to listen to every word.

"He could have silenced them but noooo! Saint Stefan would never allow himself to kill a human being. And if he did, he would have resented himself and went on to sulk or become suicidal for another half a century. Stefan wants to have as normal a life as he can. For once, he wants to forget the beast that he has became. And he is slowly reaching that. Mystic Falls is his home and the place where he found the one person who could make him smile. The one person he loves." At the last words, Damon's tone was bitter, Elena noted and she could have sworn there was a hint of...longing?

"Much as I hate it, Stefan here is happy. And I have to make sure it stays that way." Damon finished, lazily scratching the side of his head. He never wanted to admit anything about his real feelings for Stefan, to anyone. But he had killed Lexi, and she had been a really important person in Stefan's life (much to his irritation, might he add, it should have been him that Stefan looked up to) so he thought he owed it to Lexi, or in this case, Lexi's boyfriend, to know why he did it.

Elena was looking at Damon like she had never seen him before. This wasn't the Damon she had come to know. The Damon she knows is sarcastic, selfish, and uncaring. Emphasis on the uncaring part. He had never showed anything else but hatred or indifference towards his little brother and here he was saying...Oh, wait just a minute!

Elena's eyes widened in disbelief. "Hold on, you mean the person you want to protect is..." She trailed off, unable to finish because she thought that if she did, Damon would smirk in a mocking way and yell out that he was joking. She already suspected Damon would do that any second now.

Fortunately, Lee finished it for her. "Stefan? You want to protect Stefan?" Damon felt a little uncomfortable, but nodded. Elena stared at him again, mouth agape.

Said Stefan was slowly sliding down the wall, his eyes widened in shock. He could feel a foreign wetness in his eyes but was in no condition to care.

'Please, God...Please tell me this is no dream.' Stefan felt his heart practically burning with a blazing fire as his mind repeated the words of his big brother. Was it true? His brain was reminding him of what he heard, but he still couldn't believe it. It was too good to be true, right? Did Damon really...care about him? The very thought sent shivers down his spine and warmth in his chest.

Lee had cooled off somehow and now the only thing he was feeling was shock. This wasn't the Damon Salvatore Lexi had told him about. She had always commented on his cruel personality and how much she hated the fact that Damon didn't take proper care of Stefan. This was new.

Lee glared angrily at Damon once more. "Why should I believe you?! Lexi has told me about you, you know? Damon Salvatore, a killing machine who cares about no one but himself. An arrogant toerag who would rip his brother's heart out and not think twice about it. And now you're telling me you want to protect him? Why would you?!"

Damon frowned at Lee's choice of words. Differently from what all of them believed, Damon would never hurt Stefan. Everyone in the world, but not his Stefan. Not the little brother who would forgive him for everything he did, who would stand beside him even if he was up against the whole world. No matter what happened, Damon would always protect his baby brother. Because-

"Becuase that's what big brothers are for." Damon said and Lee once more stared at him. Damon inwardly sighed. Well, he might as well finish what he started. "Even if he hates me with a burning passion, I'll be there for him. Even if he loathes me, wants to surpass me or kill me...Even if he is up against the whole world, I'll be there for him. I'll be there to help him up. If he's scared or angry or lost, he'll know that he's not alone. And if someone tries to hurt what's mine, I'll destroy them. Because in the end, that's what big brothers are for."

Lee studied Damon for any signs of lying and when finding none, he nodded stiffly and, using his vampire speed, left the clearing.

Elena finally regained her senses and ran towards Damon, who exhaled deeply. She smiled at the vampire with pride, a warm feeling embracing her. "That was..."

"Fucking embarrasing!" Damon cut her off and she startled. Damon took a deep breath and turned at her with a serious expression. "Listen here, I don't wish to compel you, so you're just gonna keep quiet and tell Stefan nothing about this. Are we clear?"

Elena couldn't believe it. "But! But why?! Why don't you tell him you lo-!"

Damon cut her off again, not wanting to hear that word. "It's for the best. It's better for Ste-for both of us if Stefan continues to hate me. If something happens, it will be safer if he thinks only about himself and you. Is that understood?"

Elena wanted so badly to protest, but she also didn't want Damon to erase her memory of this. So she nodded, disappointed.

Damon flashed his signature smirk. "Good! Now that I know Stefan will hear nothing of this, I'm hungry. Wanna go grab a bite?"

Elena glared at him and he quickly backtracked. "Okay. Relax, was just a joke. Come on, I'll take you home." Elena remembered that she had called Stefan and just as she was going to make Damon aware of that tiny little detail, she saw something, or better, someone leaning at the wall far on her right. She almost instantly recognized the mop of dark, brown hair and smiled in joy. Damon didn't want her to talk? Fine. However, he didn't say anything about Stefan listening on his own.

Stefan was sitting, his back leaning on the wall, his arms wrapped around his knees and head hid in them. His shoulders were shaking slightly and if someone listened hard enough, they could hear the silent sobs racking his body. And through the seemingly endless tears, they could see the brightest smile one can have. Stefan stood there and cried his heart out, often letting out hearty chuckles. He tried rubbing the tears away but it was pointless, the tears just wouldn't stop.

Since he became a vampire, Stefan had had a life full of grief, guilt and suffering. He couldn't recall any moment when he was truly happy. Now though, now all the hurt, the regrets and the hauntings seemed to wash away in an instant. His brother loved him. Damon cared about him, he loved him! The more he thought that the less real it seemed and the more his heart seemed to burst from happiness.

For over a century, he had lived in secret. For over a century, he had lived alone, with nothing and no one to lean on. He had lived thinking there wasn't anyone in the world that loved him.

But Damon did. His brother did truly love him. Stefan let out another chuckle and got up. If any of Stefan's friends were there to see him, they would have probably fainted from shock. Or worse, had a heart attack.

Because after a long, long time...Stefan Salvatore grinned like the sun. A grin which radiated pure happiness.

A/N: If you want, I can turn it into a collection of One Shots about the Salvatore Brothers or a multi chapter story.