Changes
DG32173

Sarah: just a scenario that's been bugging me for a while. Figured I'd write it down.

DISCLAIMER
I only own what I write as it is written. Vampire Diaries and the cast are owned by L. J. Smith, Mystic Falls and the settings are owned by the writers of the show and the CW, anything you recognize from the real world is owned by the respective copyright holders. If I'm inspired by a reviewer to make a scene or concept as it's portrayed, I will put a section crediting that reviewer before the chapter it appears in. If I own a concept as it's portrayed, I will claim it in the author note before the chapter it appears in. Anything else is so widely used I don't know who owns it.

ALTERNATE UNIVERSE ALERT! PLEASE READ!
As the summary made damned obvious, this is an alternate universe. In this fanfic, Elena never got together with Matt, though he so desperately wishes she would have. In fact, Elena's first (and only) boyfriend in this universe is Damon, which will definitely make her a virgin the first time they get together. As said in the summary, there is no curse forcing the doppelgangers together. Stefan is just so damn selfish that if he sees something he wants, he does his best to get it for himself, even if he knows that it belonged to Damon.

WARNINGS
Other than the alternate universe warning above, rated a big fat M for very mature content. Alternating viewpoints, though primarily told from Damon and Elena's perspectives. Prologue is all Damon.

SUMMARY
What if the night her parents died wasn't the first time Damon and Elena had met? A story in which Damon had been a part of Elena's life from childhood, the tomb vampires and Katherine truly had died that night in 1864, and there is no curse controlling the doppelgangers. Damon/Elena

Prologue

June 22nd, 1999, was the day I finally started forgiving my brother for taking the choice of completing my transition into a vampire from me. Oh, I didn't completely forgive him for everything. After all, every single day of his nearly 152 years was spent making my life a living hell with his selfishness. Every time he saw something he wanted, he did his damnedest to make it his, even when I had made it clear that it belonged to me. And he almost always got his way.

In fact, his very birth was the first selfish act of his life, taking my mother from me as the hardships of her pregnancy and labor killed her before she could even hear his first cry. In the moment that I realized my mother was dead, that the ugly little thing she had struggled to bring into this world had killed her, I despised him with everything in me. But my mother had made me make a promise to her, a promise that I would take care of my younger sibling for the rest of my life. I gave my solemn word, not knowing that she probably knew even then that her second child's birth would kill her.

He was spoiled rotten by our father. I inherited my appearance from our mother, he from our father. But our father, who cherished mother so very much that her death nearly destroyed him, despised me for as far back as I can remember. But Stefan became the golden boy, in spite of killing the woman Father and I had made our whole world. He was spoiled, allowed to become a selfish brat. His sins were placed on my shoulders. And I despised him for letting me take the fall.

It was only in the year before the Civil War broke out that he and I finally started bonding. For the three years I was forced to keep with the Confederate Army, we would send bundles of letters back and forth. And when the opportunity finally arose for me to go home, I left with no intent on returning. Our letters had tightened our bond.

Then Katherine entered our lives. She was the most beautiful creature I had ever laid eyes on. It took very little effort to make her mine. But then Stefan decided he wanted her. I had by this point discovered just what she was. I had begged her to make me like her so we could be together forever. She told me she would, when the time was right.

But the selfish, spoiled brat in Stefan returned with a vengeance. He attempted to steal her from me, even though he knew I loved her. When she revealed her true nature to him, he was horrified. She had to compel him not to be afraid and not to tell anyone her secret. She never compelled me, not once.

Inevitably, though, it was Stefan's selfishness and blind faith in our father that got her killed. When our father killed us for attempting to rescue her, he had no notion that she had been sharing her blood with us.

In realizing I was too late to save Katherine, I decided I wouldn't complete the transition into fully becoming a vampire. Stefan somehow used our own father to complete the transition, killing him in the process. Stefan was so damn selfish and he didn't want to face eternity alone. He brought a girl back to where I was awaiting death far outside of town. He ripped into her throat and I lost control, completely draining the girl of her blood.

That betrayal was the last straw. I vowed then and there that since he was so determined that I would walk the earth for eternity with him, then I would make his eternity as miserable as I possibly could.

Then June 22nd, 1999 found me walking through the woods outside of Mystic Falls, only to encounter a young girl fishing with a makeshift pole comprised of a sturdy stick with a length of wire attached to it that ended in a heavy-duty paperclip remade into a fishing hook. She informed me that her name was Elena Gilbert and that it was her seventh birthday. Even then, even as young as she was, I could clearly see that her ancestry led back to Katherine's human days.

It was then, as I spent time with this human child, that I started forgiving Stefan for forcing me to finish transition. I walked her back to the street her house is on as darkness fell. Before we parted, she asked if she would see me again. I told her that while I wasn't planning on sticking around long, I will return to her in the future.

It has been nearly ten years since that day I first met Elena and I kept my word many times over the years, watching as she grew to resemble Katherine more and more. Now it's May 23, 2009. I watch her walk away from the party she had been attending, calling her parents to come pick her up. Then she calls some girl named Bonnie to tell her that she and her mom were both right.

As soon as she hangs up with her friend, I speak softly, "Elena."

Her head snaps up and a warm smile spreads over her lips. "Damon," she breathes. "It's been so long. Where have you been?"

I let my lips form a true smile, rather than my trademark smirk. It's been over a year since I last came to Mystic Falls. "I had some things I had to take care of. If it had been my choice, I would have come sooner," I tell her. "What was your friend right about?"

She looks down at her phone. "A guy named Matt asked me to come to this party with him. Even though I promised to attend Family Night tonight, I agreed. I wanted to get out of town for a bit." She shakes her head. "I should have known it wouldn't be so simple. Matt has this major crush on me. I've done everything I can think of to tell him I'm not interested, even telling him he's like a brother to me. But then, while I was sipping at a beer, he started spewing all these things he sees for us in the future. He painted this big white-picket-fence picture all the way to possible names for our kids and even what would be on our tombstones. The first chance he gave me to get a word in, I told him in no uncertain terms that he must be on some sort of hallucinogen to think I'd agree to all that garbage. I reminded him that I don't see him that way. That he's like a brother to me. I told him that that would be like him and his little sister Vicki getting married and all that jazz. I told him I feel the same way for him that I feel for my brother, the same way he feels for his sister. Then I told him that if he can't accept that I want nothing more from him than a brother-sister relationship, then I will proceed to kick him out of my life." She sighs. "Bonnie and Mom told me that Matt would think this was some sort of date. I didn't believe them because I had thought he had accepted facts as they were. But they were right."

I chuckle and wrap an arm around her shoulders. "Well, I've got some good news for you," I tell her.

"I could use some good news," she admits.

"I've decided to stick around for a while this time," I say. "Maybe you and I can get it through this 'Matt' guy's head that you aren't interested."

Her eyes light up. "Really?" she asks, a touch of hope in her voice. "You'd do that for me?"

I stroke her cheek with my right hand. "Not just for you," I say softly, gazing into her eyes. Her eyes widen as she gets the message: I want her. As that realization sinks in, the hope in her eyes increases exponentially.

I've known for a number of years now that this girl is in love with me. The restraint I've been practicing has required every ounce of self-control I've built up in my life. But I knew I had to wait for just the right time to claim her as mine. I won't turn her until she's older, less of a replica of my sire. But our time has finally arrived.

"Damon?" she breathes, making my name a question. My reply is to lean over and cover her lips with my own, kissing her with utmost tenderness. That's when we hear a car horn in the distance. I pull away and we turn toward the sound. "It's my parents," she says, turning to meet my eyes.

With a touch of regret, I capture her mind. "Tell no one you saw me tonight," I compel. She blinks as the compulsion takes root. While her eyes are closed, I vamp into the woods. But I stay close. Something is going to happen to her tonight. I can sense it. I follow her parents' car back toward town. Something on Wickery Bridge catches my attention just before Elena's father sees it and tries to veer around it, crashing through the guardrail and into the quarry.

Without even a second glance at whatever had caused this crash, I vamp forward and dive into the water below the bridge. I follow the trail of bubbles down to where the car has settled on the lakebed. I check the front. Elena's father sees me and frantically motions to the backseat, where Elena has lost consciousness. I rip the door from the frame of the car and pull her out, carrying her to the embankment where I check her vitals. I determine that I can leave her here for now while I try to save her parents.

But it's all-too-obvious that Elena's father lost the fight to live while I was rescuing his daughter. With a heavy heart, I pull first her father then her mother to the embankment where I left Elena. I then proceed to perform CPR on Elena in an effort to get the water from her lungs. Finally she begins coughing and I turn her on her side so she can cough up what seems like gallons of water. I try to do the same on her parents, but even before I start, I know it will be a futile effort.

I dig my phone out of the back pocket of my designer jeans, grateful that it's waterproof, and call 911. I explain about the crash and the rescue in as few words as possible, hanging up when the operator starts to ask for my name. When the emergency vehicles get here, I use compulsion to be allowed to ride in the ambulance with Elena.

A little over an hour later, once I'm assured Elena will have no lasting physical injuries from the crash, I leave the hospital. I had merely told her aunt and brother that I had heard the crash and tried to rescue all three of them. My heart is heavy with regret at not being able to save Elena's parents. But I know without a doubt that I would have done it the same damn way. I refuse to let Elena leave me now that I have decided to claim her as mine. I will never take away her right to choose and I will never again compel her to do things my way. But I refuse to allow death to separate her from me.