I DISCLAIM EVERYTHING

Summary: Stefan brings to Damon's attention some things he never knew or realized.

AU: This is set in 'Come All Ye Faithful'

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Damon walked into the Boarding House feeling a little heavier than normal. He had let Elena go and part of him regretted it because he finally had what he wanted, Elena had chosen him… except he had no way of knowing if it was really her because of the sire bond. Yes, he knew she had feelings for him as a human but those feelings hadn't overshadowed her feelings for Stefan before. He had rationalized it by saying that because she became a vampire her feelings for him were magnified but then if that were true her feelings for Stefan would've been magnified as well so he still wouldn't have been her first choice. The sire bond shoved her love for Stefan out of her heart and a large part of him felt satisfaction for that but it wasn't the same as being chosen first, it was forced upon Elena. He knew the person he was with wasn't Elena. She didn't have that defiant nature that he loved, she didn't stand up for herself and her beliefs against him like she always had, she was a mindless Damon drone and right about now he was seeing the appeal of the cure.

He walked into the living room intent on getting a drink. He paused in the doorway as he surveyed the mess of glass that used to be his bar, he noticed checkers strewn across the floor, the wooden table was leaned up against the wall in pieces, the glass mantel piece above the fireplace was shattered on the ground and the liquor cabinet glass doors were broken.

"Hmm." He commented, he didn't have time for this. Whatever temper tantrum Stefan was throwing Damon wanted no part of it. He began to walk towards the few unbroken liquor bottles only to be slammed against the wall before he could make it. He looked into Stefan's furious face with a bored expression

"What?" He questioned

"'What?' 'What?!' You lied to me is what! You said you let Elena go! Come to find out you were with Elena at the lake house!" Damon pushed Stefan off him

"Well, don't worry saint Stefan because I let her go. You happy now, huh!? You get what you want as usual! She hasn't even chosen you yet you can't pass up the opportunity to point out that there has some logical reason Elena would choose me! It can't just be because she loves me. It always has to be you! You're always the first choice, you have no idea what that's like!" Damon spat at his brother. Stefan felt an anger growing inside of him. Everything was wrong. He didn't picture this being his life and it wasn't right, it was like he was living in the twilight zone and he couldn't take it anymore.

"I don't know what that's like? Maybe not when I was human but you made sure that I have known for the last 145 years, haven't you?" Stefan said, Damon's face turned up in confusion

"What are you talking about?"

"You never chose me! You never put me first!"

"I'm the one who helped you reign in the ripper. I'm the one who decided to save your ass from the point of no return. I chose you." Damon told him, hardly believing what he was hearing.

"Not because you wanted to, not when you had a choice of someone else. You've not once picked me over someone else, I wasn't ever good enough for you compared to Katherine or Elena or some other sex toy of yours or blood or booze and don't stand there and act like I'm lying because you know it's the truth. If there was a choice right now between me and Elena in a life and death situation can you honestly look me in the eye and say without a shadow of a doubt that you'd chose me over her. Even if not in a life and death situation would you choose me? Would you?"

"What do you call what I'm doing right now, huh? I gave her up Stefan. I let her go."

"But not for me. You did it for her and for yourself. I probably figured as much into that decision as I did into you deciding to have sex with her just days after we broke up." Damon looked at Stefan taken aback that Stefan knew about that

Damn it, Caroline. Damon thought

"What about you Stefan? You want to turn the tables on me but what about you? When did you choose me first?"

"Really?! Are you seriously asking me that?!" Stefan exclaimed, his anger flaring up again.

"I chose you when I accepted help from Lexi because I wanted to be better for you. I chose you when I finally let go of whatever feelings I had for Katherine for your sake. I chose you when I gave myself over to Klaus. I gave up everything for you: my morals and my values, my life, Elena, my freewill and my freedom. I chose you when I killed all those innocent people, when I killed Andie, so you could live. I chose to lose myself rather than to watch you die. I've always chosen you first. If there was and still is anyone in this world that steadfastly chose you first despite everything you've done, it's me… you just never saw it… or worse, you didn't care." Stefan said, feeling drained of his energy by the end of his little speech. He shook his head as Damon looked at him with a mixture of hurt, shock and regret. He made to walk past his brother who tried to stop him with a hand to his shoulder but Stefan broke free and kept on walking past him.

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Stefan wasn't sure why he was standing in front of the stately mansion. It could be because part of him was worried for the man and wanted to make sure he was alright, physically anyway. Maybe because he wanted to forget the conversation he just had with Damon. Maybe it was because of that comment he had made earlier but no matter the reason Stefan knew he'd always have a connection with the man, a kinship, a bond. They were kindred spirits whether he was the Ripper or not and there was no running away from that fact. He twisted the unlocked door knob and walked in, closing the door behind him. He walked towards the living room to see the place empty, it was eerily silent around him but he knew his objective was present. He looked down and noticed that there was blood drops on the floor leading to the staircase. He followed the drops up the stairs and down the hall where they led to a room Stefan had entered earlier when he was looking for the sword. He walked into the art room filled with professional looking paintings, all of them exquisite of course and immediately he was able to spot Klaus, covered in spatters of blood from his hybrids, sitting at his desk leaned back in the chair with a half empty bottle of vodka in his hand. From the smell he'd had a lot more than that.

"Smells like a distillery exploded in here." Stefan commented walking further into the room. Klaus swiveled in his chair to glare harshly at Stefan

"Do you have a death wish?" He sneered at him to which Stefan shrugged lightly before moving over to lean against the wall adjacent to Klaus

"Jury's out. I peeped the carnage in the woods. You killed them all."

"They betrayed me." Klaus said as if it was the most simple and most logical thing in the world

"But you didn't kill me or Caroline. Probably because you knew something was up the entire time." Stefan discerned, Klaus just quirked an eyebrow leading Stefan to continue his theorizing.

"You're 1000 years old and you've spent a majority of that time running from Mikael, you've made more than a few enemies and you've needed to learn to realize when someone's lying to you and when you're being played and I doubt that a couple of kids could fool you. You wanted to believe us, you wanted to believe that for once things were going relatively okay in your life." Klaus stared at Stefan for a few moments before speaking

"It was foolish of me not to put a stop to whatever you and Caroline we're doing. I let my…" He let whatever sentence he was going to say trail off and die

"I should have just stopped you two, killed you both. I knew your camaraderie was staged yet I figured what was the harm in indulging in a lie, if only for a little while, I figured I'd end you two's miserable existences soon enough."

"But?"

"But I… you two make me… let's just say I much rather you two were alive... just so I could prolong your suffering." Klaus said, adding the last part as an afterthought before drinking at least two-thirds of what was left in the vodka bottle effortlessly.

"What if I said it wasn't all fake?" Stefan asked cautiously

"I'd say you were lying." Klaus said in a slightly slurred tone

"It wasn't all staged. Towards the end we really did care, we just didn't want to admit it to ourselves yet." Stefan said earnestly. Klaus stared at him as if trying to decipher him

"Why are you here, Stefan? What? Did you and Damon have another fight?" Klaus questioned, Stefan looked down and away causing Klaus to smirk

"Of course. Whenever you can't have Damon you use me as a substitute. Eventually, I'm not going to stand for being second best to him Stefan." Klaus quipped sarcastically. Stefan nodded before slipping down the wall to the floor causing Klaus to frown

"What are you doing?"

"Well, I'm not leaving here alone like this."

"Go home to your brother. We all know whatever you're angry at him about you'll forgive him for soon enough, you'll go crawling straight back to him, you always do."

"Kind of like how you go crawling straight back to Rebekah. I can't help but think if she were here things with you wouldn't be so doom and gloom and horribly hopeless." Stefan commented, Klaus decided to disregard the mentions of Rebekah.

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying you shouldn't be by yourself, you don't do well by yourself. I'm saying maybe people like you and I need to stick together so we don't end up infinitely and utterly alone. Yes, tomorrow I'll go home and I'm sure me and Damon will talk more eventually about our issues but for now I'm going to stay here with you and we can sit here in silence and you'll know that you're not alone or we can talk that's up to you. But whatever you decide, we'll take it from there." Klaus stared at Stefan before finishing off the vodka bottle in his hand, going into a drawer of his desk and pulling out a bourbon bottle. He opened it, took a swig and then held it out to Stefan in invitation. Just for tonight he'd stand to be Stefan's second choice once again because Klaus knew, even if no one else cared enough to acknowledge it, that Damon would always be Stefan's first choice whether Damon returned the favor or not.

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AN: This sort of just came out of the blue. When I first started watching TVD I was all on Damon's side and bashing Stefan but then I looked at it from Stefan's side too and I realized there's some things not really addressed much on the show and I feel Stefan needs to stand up for himself more. IDK where the Klefan (slight Klefaroline?) friendship came from, it just kind of snuck it's way in. The episode was so full of great Klefan, Steroline, Klaroline and Klefaroline scenes and undertones that I could not add at least one of the four interactions.

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