SALVATORE BOARDING HOUSE

Aella sat eating a Grilled Cheese sandwich Stefan had just made her when she asked Lexi to open up about her and Damon's history, Lexi was surprised by the question until she realised that they had talked about everything else other than Damon. The two were not shocked to see Stefan tense up at the mention of Damon's name, but he quickly relaxed when Aella raised a brow, "We have to talk about him sometime."

Stefan nodded and Lexi took a sip of blood from her mug as she thought of the best way to describe she and the eldest brother had, "To say that Damon looks like the typical vampire romanced about in silly novels, Damon Salvatore has to be the most messed up vampire i've ever met."

Stefan and Aella shared a look at, shocked how easy those words had escaped the blonde's mouth, especially those words. Lexi saw their look, "It's true," she shrugged. "Even after being your best friend for so long Stefan, Damon Salvatore is just a bag of emotions that the vampire in him just magnifies them a thousand times."

Stefan looked uncomfortable as he questioned Lexi, "Even with my Ripper tendencies?"

"More so," Lexi held nothing back. "I've seen Ripper's before, I've heard of Ripper's before, but Damon... I've never seen so much hate and love in one person, let alone a vampire."

"What do you mean?" Aella questioned as she finished her food.

Lexi hesitantly glanced at Stefan, "I never really told you my first experience with Damon, have I?"

Aella realised what she meant when she thought back to her vision the day she met Lexi, and the vision she had of her and Damon... something she and Stefan still didn't know about. Stefan frowned, trying to remember that time, his mind wasn't really on Damon but on trying to get sober for the first time ever, "Didn't he leave that day?"

Lexi nodded taking another sip of her blood,"You were at 'irreparable odds' according to Damon." Lexi finally met Stefan's eyes, although hers felt uncomfortable at revealing what she had kept between her and Damon for nearly 200 years, "But it was his final words that confused the hell out of me."

Stefan moved closer to Lexi, she wasn't usually this hesitant about sharing her experiences with Damon, "And? What were his final words?"

"Help him."

"Help him."

Lexi's eyes widened as Aella mimicked the words she had kept between her and Damon since 1864, her head twisted to stare at the brunette who had sat up in shock, surprised that the words had escaped her lips too, but as quick as their eyes met each others their faces turned to Stefan as he stared down at the counter in his own shock. He had somehow missed Aella's mutterings of the same two words so when he lifted his head he looked directly to Lexi, "He said, 'Help him'?"

"Yeah," Lexi nodded at him, but her eyes glanced at Aella's for second before returning to Stefan's.

"Really?" Stefan questioned again, only now his voice and eyes held a new emotion; hope.

Aella eyes filled with tears at that sound and her hand met Stefan's that lay on the counter, Stefan was surprised at the touch but his eyes quickly met Aella's and she could the slight simmer of tears in those hopeful eyes. Lexi, put her confusion at Aella's slip aside, and smiled at her best friends demeanor over just those two words. But as quickly as the hope had appeared, it disappeared and a frown replaced it as he looked to Lexi, "So what changed?"

Lexi sighed frustratedly, "It's hard to explain... a lot was happening, but it all stems when we met up with Damon again in 1942. It's more of a body language than words, although-" Lexi raised her brows "-words were spoken."

"What do you mean, body language?" Aella questioned, her mind already turning with ideas.

"I can't explain it," Lexi tightened her lips. "If only I could show you but that's impos-"

"-What if you can?" Aella interrupted Lexi and both vampires turned to look at the witch. "Do you remember the memory clear?"

"Well memories..." Lexi shrugged confused but nodded. "But yeah, pretty clear."

Aella was quiet as she thought about what she was about to try, she turned to Stefan, and he swore he could see an idea developing in her eyes, "Do you remember before Tanner died and I was struggling to sleep from the vision I couldn't see clearly?" Stefan nodded and she continued, "And when you asked I tried to share the dream with you?"

"Yeah," Stefan nodded again, having some idea what she was thinking to do . "It worked the first time, it also shared your emotions at the time."

"Caroline and Bonnie let me practice on them because I wanted to be able to develop the power more," Aella explained. "What if..." she slowly started to suggest "I try and share Lexi's vision... with the both of us?"

"Can you do that?" Lexi questioned and Aella only shook her head,

"I don't know. But that's been the way for most of my powers."

Stefan was concerned, "But it could hurt you."

Aella laughed sweetly at his protectiveness, "I could hurt myself walking up the stairs... we've all seen that!"

The two vampires chuckled, as Lexi remembered the multiple times she had saved Aella falling down AND up the stairs, "How can such a powerful witch be so clumsy?!"

"Preach!" Aella held up her hand.

"It's because she's always thinking of ways to help others, she forgets what she's doing," Stefan teased, nudging her nose with his, but also speaking the truth.

Aella embraced the intimacy for a moment then turned to Lexi, "So," she waved her fingers at the blonde. "Do you trust me to try this out."

Lexi didn't hesitate for one moment and smiled at her clumsy friend, "Absolutely."

"But are you sure you want us to see everything," Stefan questioned her. "These are your memories and feelings were going to experience."

"Yes," she nodded with finality. "It's time you understood Damon more."

Aella looked to her boyfriend, when he nodded and Lexi's answer she held her left hand to Stefan's temple, and her right to Lexi's, closing her eyes she took a deep breath, "Okay, close your eyes. Stefan: I want you to try and clear your mind of any thoughts or emotions. Lexi: I want you to imagine that moment you and Stefan came to New Orleans to find Damon. Remember the place you were in, the sounds, the smell, how you felt..."

As Lexi closed her eyes, the black space greeted her until Aella let out a sharp gasp, Lexi felt a push in her brain and when she opened her eyes to see Aella and the kitchen she was in fact in New Orleans, 1942, and as she looked down at herself she was dressed in the clothes she wore that night. Then she heard Stefan and turned to see him and herself walking in the bar:

"...It wasn't your fault." Stefan looked back to her former self, "Do I really have to say it wasn't his fault, Lexi?"

"Yes," Lexi moved herself in front of Stefan. "Keep going."

Stefan continued, but his nerves could be heard in his words, "You're the only brother I have and... I hope that we can be friends... again."

"Perfect," Lexi watched her past self praise Stefan. "Now, just remember we're here to talk to Damon, not to yell, not to drudge up the past and most definitely not to pick a fight."

Stefan watched his 40s self and Lexi's 40s self turn their heads to find Damon sitting at the bar dressed in a suit, he smiled at the nerves he knew he had in that moment but it wasn't visible... it was also nice to see Damon bobbing his head to the music. So carefree.

With a tap on the back Damon turned to him, and Stefan remembered that exact feeling he felt in his stomach when his eyes met Damon's; Hope.

"You look like a guy I used to know."

"Hello, Damon."

Damon patted his chest playfully, "Come to put a stake in my heart?"

"More like bury the hatchet," Stefan smiled and held his hand out for Damon.

Stefan remembered that moment felt like hours rather than seconds until Damon looked at him and shook his hand, then pulling Stefan in a hug.

Stefan sadly stared at their past selves, that hug had finally felt like closure... like they were brothers again. He missed that.

Aella watched Stefan, Damon, and Lexi laugh as Stefan told Damon stories of his new position. They were happy. They looked like loving brothers. She'd never seen Damon so relaxed... so happy.

"Think they have room for another driver?" Stefan seemed a bit surprised by what Damon is saying and when she looked over at Lexi she could see the blonde's smile had fallen from her face but she was able to hide it with her glass from the brothers. "I could handle some war, if it meant spending quality time with my little brother."

Lexi angrily sipped her drink, not happy with Damon's idea, especially when Stefan seemed to think the idea a good one, "Tell you what, I'll talk to my CO." Stefan drank the remainder of his drink and got up, "I'm gonna get us another round."

Aella leaned forward when Stefan left and Lexi's smile aimed at Damon strained itself as she told Damon through her teeth, "You're not going."

Damon glared, "I don't like you."

There was the Damon Aella knew!

Lexi ignored his words, "In 1912, you pressured Stefan to drink human blood. He's been trying to put his ripper days behind him, but he needs to see death and blood and deal with them as part of life. He needs balance, restraint."

Aella agreed wholeheartedly with Lexi at that moment, from what she'd learnt about Stefan until he left for Egypt, he had never seen those things without being personally affected.

"What makes you think I'm not balanced and restrained?"

Stefan watched he and Damon cheers to Egypt, and then he spotted a familiar face walking through the crowd and call out Damon's name. He had put this part of his memory hidden away due to his reaction to the blood of the poor woman. It was a fuzzy memory due to his panic at the sight of blood on his hand when Damon's friends passed the woman around.

"L..l..lexi," he saw himself panic while holding his own hand away from him. But he also saw the pain on Damon's face at his past self panic... actually concern on his face.

"Get away from him!" he could see Lexi shout at Damon, but that concern was still on Damon's face as he exclaimed his brothers name, "Stefan!"

But Stefan knew his past self had no idea, all that was going through his mind was the call of the human blood. The Ripper shouting for him to taste it. He never got to see the hurt in Damon's eyes when Lexi grabbed Stefan, ready to leave the bar. Even the last call of his name from his elder brother didn't factor into Stefan's mind. But as Stefan watched Lexi start to lead his past self away he didn't miss the sorrow on Damon's face as he clung to her rather than him, or the hatred that developed when Lexi turned back to Damon and motioned to Charlotte:

"She's better off without you, too."

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Aella gasped as she felt her power push against her chest, she opened her eyes expecting to be back in the kitchen following Lexi's trip down memory lane... a trip that didn't really explain much, but instead she was in a train station and when she saw Damon in the same uniform Stefan was in during the last memory she guessed it was still 1942. She watched Damon place his luggage on a cart, and looked for signs of past Lexi and Stefan but she was unable to.

"Damon."

Aella turned, like Damon, at Lexi's voice, and when she saw the blonde hidden in the shadows alone, she knew this must have been the moment Damon's hate began.

"I know what you did and you're not going overseas with Stefan. Do you understand me?"

Stefan frowned at Lexi's words, what had Damon done, and why had she never told him that Damon had come to the train station. Stefan was led to believe that Damon had simply ran off following the incident at the bar.

"Well, Uncle Sam begs to differ."

Lexi didn't budge, "You just killed twelve innocent people."

Stefan's brows raised at her words as Damon walked towards her... Damon had killed 12 people? Why hadn't Lexi told him that? Or any of this?

Damon snarled at the blonde, "How do you know they didn't have it coming?""Your brother has spent the last twenty years racked with guilt, fighting the temptation to drink human blood. He's serving in war as penance for the pain that he has caused. If he finds out what you did, he'll want to know how it is you function without guilt for the things that you do. He'll turn to you for guidance like he did before and he'll become the Ripper of Monterey all over again."

Stefan solomenly listened to Lexi's words.

She was right.

She was right about it all.

Lexi was always there to save him... even if she became the person for Damon to hate.

"I've pretty much been on my own since our little falling out in 1912. Did you ever think that I just need my little brother?"

Aella's eyes filled up at the sadness in Damon's words. She wasn't too sure in the bar scene when Stefan and Damon made up, until Stefan's freak out and this moment. Damon really just wanted to be his brother again.

Lexi sadly told him, "And that's why you can't go. It might be good for you, Damon. But it will destroy Stefan."

Lexi turned to look out the windows and when Damon turned too Aella was finally able to spot Stefan, looking around for his brother before his train arrived. Aella realised then that Stefan had no clue this conversation had never happened, and she now knew why Damon hated Lexi.

"For once, you need to put someone else in front of yourself."

Lexi watched her past self try to put some sense into Damon's self centered head, "You need to let him go."

She watched herself watch Damon walk away and saw how he looked at Stefan again with a sad look upon his face, "Good luck, Brother."

As Damon picked up his luggage and left past Lexi and current Lexi knew they had made the right move, and being able to watch the confrontation again current Lexi knew she wouldn't change anything. 

With another gasp from Aella the three fell out of the visions from Lexi's memories. Aella's eyes turned straight to Stefan who had learnt a whole lot of new information. Stefan stared down at the counter, his mind on the two memories, the fact he was a part of them... yet not at the same time.

"Stefan?" Lexi hesitantly got her best friends attention, but Stefan didn't look up. She glanced at Aella who could only shrug helplessly, and so she tried again, "Stefan?"

"Yeah?" Stefan mumbled but also lifted his head to Lexi, but said nothing else.

"Do you hate me?"

Aella's eyes widened at Lexi's question, no words and the way she said it; she was scared to lose her best friend. Stefan's eyes widened and he was quick to take Lexi's hand, "No. No way Lex... it's just a lot to process."

Aella's hand joined their conjoined one and she squeezed their hands in support causing the two vampires to look up at her, "And what have you processed so far?"

Stefan smiled halfheartedly, "Well I can see why Damon's not the biggest fan of Lexi... you basically told him exactly what he needed, but didn't want to hear."

Lexi weakly laughed, happy he had some humor regarding the situation, "I'm sorry I never told you."

"Don't be," Stefan shook his head and squeezed her hand again, action replacing his emotions. "I wouldn't have had the experience to understand why you did it... until now." He then looked to Aella and smiled proudly at his girlfriend, he pulled his hand from under her's and Lexi's and took hold of her cheek, "And you... You were amazing. How are you?"

Aella blushed as she leaned into his hand, she shrugged litly, "I feel okay.." but then she pulled a face as her words came out horsley, "But now my mouth is feeling really dry.. That's happened in the past too."

Stefan was quick to help her after the gift of knowledge she had just bestowed upon him, "I'll get you some juice."

Lexi smiled at the two of them, and as Stefan was filling as glass for Aella she removed her hand, that still rested under Aella's, and placed it on top giving her hand a soft squeeze, "He's right... that was amazing Aella. The details, the feelings... I've never seen anything like it."

Aella smiled at Lexi's words, but ignoring the that last statement, it was starting to become a regular thing with the vampires she knew which only caused her worries to increase. If her 200 year old boyfriend and his best friend, who was even older, had never seen witchcraft like it before then how the hell was she supposed to know!

Stefan slid over the orange juice and watched until Aella had drunk at least a third of the glass before looking to Lexi, "One thing is still bothering me."

Aella snorted into her orange, "You mean how Damon always seems to find the ones that have an extra 10 screws loose?"

Stefan let out a slight chuckle at her words before carrying on, "I can understand why Damon is not your-" he thought over what word he could use as Lexi and Aella grinned "-biggest fan, but what caused you to hate him so much?"

"Oh I could give you a list right now," Aella snickered then started listing off, "Self-centered, paranoid, completely remorseless, sadistic, manipulative, violent and that's just at the top of my head... oh and not to forget being the worlds biggest dick head!"

Lexi laughed at the brunette, "While I could use any of those descriptions, it's probably because the last time I saw him he took my daylight ring just before sunrise and left me on a roof to die."

Stefan and Aella's amused faces turned flat as Lexi jovial sentence as Aella stuttered out a very attractive, "Uu-wha..?"

"Damnit, Lexi!" Stefan fumed, banging the work top, "That I should have known."

"He'd spent most of the decade in New York City, where he was living recklessly and feeding on/killing as many people as he could," Lexi shrugged off his anger. "He'd turned his humanity off... I survived. Story over."

"Lex-"

"-Story over, Stefan." Lexi interrupted him giving him a fierce stare, and Stefan submitted by holding his hands up.