08. Ordinary People

"Caroline and Fae have asked me to ask you how are Stefan and Brayden doing" Kaitlynn said into the phone.

Damon looked through the cell window and saw both his brothers chained up, "They're exactly the way they were when they saw them" he said, "Pasty and pouty".

"Well, you're their older brother, use that older brother authority and tell your younger brothers to get over it" Kaitlynn said, "Call me later with updates".

"Will do" Damon said, hanging up on Kaitlynn.

After hanging up on the Pierce vampire, Damon opened the cell door and entered the cell in which his two brothers were being kept in.

"You know, if you guys are gonna keep us locked in here for the next decade, I think I speak for both me and Brayden, that we can skip the routine visits" Stefan said.

"Agreed" Brayden said.

"You two know I'm not a big champion of this whole Lexi-recovery plan, especially when I know that though it might work on you Stefan, it will never work on Brayden, he's too stubborn" Damon said.

"Bingo" Brayden said, "If only you used your useless brain and told the girls that".

"I tried, but they think this place is gonna weaken you two up, break you guys down, and make you feel" Damon informed.

Brayden scoffed, "Right, cause we should all just stay back and listen to what the girls say, it's not like their shitty plans have a tendency to fail, right?".

"Why are you here?" Stefan asked Damon.

"What are you talking about?" Damon asked, "It's family day at vampire rehab, I'm just paying a visit to my two baby brothers".

"You're older by three minutes" Brayden snapped.

Damon smirked hearing his twin, "Glad to know something hasn't changed" he said.

"Just go away, Damon" Brayden said, in no mood to deal with his brother.

"No" Damon said, "No, I thought we could hang out, a little brothers bonding, so how you two been?".

"Not interested in small talk" Brayden replied.

"Same, so you can go now" Stefan said.

Damon looked at his two brothers, "You two really have given up" he said.

"Actually, I don't know about Brayden, but this is my happy face" Stefan said, sarcasm evident in his voice.

"This is my pissed off face" Brayden said.

After looking at his brothers one more time, Damon walked over to them and ripped both of their chains off, confusing them.

"What are you doing?" Stefan asked.

"Screw this Lexi plan" Damon replied, "I think all three of us could use a drink".

***

"You did what?!" Kaitlynn asked through the phone, as the three Salvatore brothers entered a bar together.

"I kind of went off book" Damon replied, "But I know what I'm doing".

"Damon, taking those two in a public place isn't going to end well" Kaitlynn warned.

"I've got this, Kaitlynn" Damon assured.

"Fine" Kaitlynn said, "But you better be ready to face Caroline and Fae's wrath once you see them".

"Can't wait" Damon said sarcastically.

After hanging up on Kaitlynn, Damon walked over to his brothers.

"What are we drinking?" Damon asked.

"Hopefully something a little bit warmer, a little blonder" Stefan replied, his eyes landing on the blonde bartender.

Stefan waved the bartender over, "Hi" she greeted.

Damon looked at the bartender's name tag and realised her name was Callie, "Hello, Callie" he greeted, "I would love a shot of your best whiskey, and my brothers here would love a shot of you".

"Pass" Brayden said, "I'll just take your strongest bourbon".

"What, you not hungry?" Damon asked.

"I ate on the way" Brayden replied, "Plus, I'm kind of steering clear of blondes".

"Why?" Damon asked, "Cause blonde girls remind you of Caroline?".

Brayden glared at Damon, "Why don't you mind your own business" he snapped.

Damon chuckled, but nonetheless stopped trying to get under his twin brother's skin, instead he grabbed the compelled bartender's wrist and forwarded it towards Stefan.

Stefan looked at the wrist, a bit vary of Damon's intentions, "What's the catch, Damon?" he asked.

"No catch, brother" Damon replied, "Drink up, it's on me".

Stefan looked down at Callie's wrist, veins started appearing under his eyes, and then he bit into the bartender's wrist.

***

Brayden threw a coin into Damon's drink, "Drink up, brother" he said, giving his twin a smug look.

Damon turned to Callie, who was currently sitting on his lap, "Will you go get us another bottle of this?" he asked.

"Yes, sir" Callie replied, grabbing the empty bottle of bourbon from Damon's hand and walking away.

After Callie left, Damon turned to Brayden, "How are you good at everything?" he asked annoyed.

Brayden shrugged, "It's called talent, brother" he replied, "Something none of you have".

Both Stefan and Damon rolled their eyes at Brayden, Stefan then turned to Damon, "You are worse than Fae and Caroline" he said, "Getting me and Brayden drunk, brotherly bonding, what, do you think we'll break down and you can pull us back from the edge? Is that it?".

"I happen to like the edge, Stefan" Damon replied, "Both of your problem is your guys inability to resist falling over it, you guys are all or nothing, you can't just be".

"Don't compare me to Stefan" Brayden said, "I'm on the edge, but I'm yet to fall over, our little brother on the hand, fell over the edge the moment he turned into a vampire, and tell me this, who gave you of all people, the right to judge us?".

"You're right" Damon said, as Callie came back with more bourbon, "Who am I to judge?".

"No one" Brayden replied, throwing another coin into the glass, he turned to Stefan, "Your turn, little brother, drink up".

***

With the music blasting loudly in the bar, Damon was busy dancing on top of the bar counter, Brayden was doing shots of tequila and Stefan was busy drinking from Callie's neck.

Brayden saw a women look at his brother in suspicion, but he ignored it and kept drinking shots, Damon on the other, jumped off the bar and started compelling the women, "Nothing to see here, just run along" he compelled, taking the women's scarf, he then turned to Stefan and pushed him away from Callie, "Hey, hey, hey, ease up, ease up" he said, "She's giving us her employee discount", Damon tied the scarf around Callie's neck, successfully hiding Stefan's bite mark, "Now, just run along".

After Callie walked away, Stefan and Damon walked over to Brayden, "Two more" Brayden ordered, seeing his brothers sit on either side of him, he then turned to his twin, "It's time you fess up Damon, why did you free me and Stefan?".

"Thought you and Stefan could use a hug, Brayden" Damon teased.

"Come on, Damon" Stefan said, "You know, Fae and Caroline are going to be mad, which in turn is going to make Kaitlynn mad as well".

"And all three of us know that you can't tolerate Kaitlynn being mad at you" Brayden teased, downing another shot.

"Maybe I wanted to remind you both what freedom was like before Klaus took it from you guys" Damon said.

"As long as Klaus is alive, me and Brayden do what he says" Stefan said.

"That's my point brothers, you two have given up" Damon snapped, "Now, you two can sit around and be his little bitches or you two can get mad enough and you can do something about it".

"If I get mad, then I usually tend to kill the person whose made me mad" Brayden said, "Slight problem with me getting mad at Klaus, is that he can't be killed, because trust me, if he could have, I would have killed me a long time ago".

"Maybe I can help with that", the three Salvatore brothers turned to the unknown voice, "The Salvatore Boys, I presume".

"You presume right" Brayden said, "But who the hell are you?".

"Mikael" Stefan realised, looking at the person infront of him in shock, remembering seeing him in the 1920s.

***

"Has Klaus entered the country?" Mikael asked Stefan and Brayden.

"We can't tell you" Stefan simply said.

"Has he spoken to any of you since he left?" Mikael asked.

"We can't tell you" Stefan repeated.

"All right, can you tell me the last time any of you spoke to Niklaus?" Mikael asked.

"I'm not sure you know how compulsion works so let me enlighten you" Brayden said, "Me and my brother here are compelled to do whatever Klaus wants us to do, meaning we don't listen to anyone but Klaus and according to Klaus we're supposed to keep our damn mouth shut, so that's exactly what we are going to be doing".

"I really hope this game of twenty questions isn't your secret weapon" Damon told Mikael.

"You see, Damon", Mikael put his hand on Damon's shoulder, "I've been a vampire hunter longer than you've been alive, it's why I found you here, it's why I'm gonna find Niklaus".

Brayden scoffed, "Give me a break" he said, "You haven't been able to kill him for a thousand years, so save me the I'm gonna find Klaus lecture and go away, I've got better things to do then deal with you old man".

Mikael glared at Brayden, and before any of the brothers could stop him, Mikael had shoved his hand into Damon's chest, alerting both Stefan and Brayden, "Careful, one move and his heart's gone" he warned the two brothers, "Now, where is Klaus?", Brayden and Stefan looked at Damon, "Come on" Mikael urged, "What's the trick question? One twist and he's dead, unless you two don't care".

"Their emotions have been shut off, they can't care" Damon informed, groaning in pain.

"Really? Their link to Klaus is so strong that they would let their own brother die?" Mikael asked, "No ideas? Hmm? Think, Brayden", Brayden looked at Damon, who was looking at him, pleading for him say something, anything, Mikael looked at Damon after both Stefan and Brayden stayed quiet, "I guess you're right, they're dead ends, and so are you, Damon".

Mikael went to rip Damon's heart, when Brayden finally spoke, "Stop!" he yelled, grabbing Mikael's hand, "Me and Stefan can bring Klaus to you, we can lure him to Mystic Falls, right into your trap".

For a second Mikael just looked at Brayden, then he finally let go of Damon, "And there is our loophole" he said, wiping his hands with an cloth he grabbed from the bar behind the brothers, "Just had to rile them up a bit, get Klaus back to Mystic Falls and I will gladly drive a stake through his heart, fail, I'll drive it through yours".

***

"Well, I give you two ten points for flair" Damon said, as the brothers walked out the bar.

"Now we know where Klaus and Elijah learned their tricks from" Stefan said.

Damon glanced at his twin, "Don't think you had to wait till the last second to have your breakthrough though" he said.

"It wasn't a breakthrough" Brayden said.

"Ooh" Damon said, "Ooh, my twin brother's about to die, and I just have to save his life for the bajillionth time, careful Brayden, your humanity's showing".

Brayden glared at his brother, "You're right Damon" he said, "Tonight you reminded me what it's like to live on my own terms, what freedom tastes like, which is exactly what I'll get once we kill Klaus, I will be free from not only his compulsion, but also free from all these forced relationships all of you keep throwing at me, I know you think I saved you from Mikael, but I didn't, all I want to is for Klaus to die, this was for me, not for Stefan and definitely not for you".

"Sure, Bray, whatever you say" Damon said.

Damon turned to leave, when a frustrated Brayden grabbed his arm and forced Damon to face him.

"What the hell are you doing Damon?" Brayden asked, "Why are you and Caroline so hell bent on saving me?".

"Because I have to, Brayden" Damon snapped, "Because you and Stefan are in this mess with Klaus because you two saved my life, because I owe you two, and I can't just leave either of you in a cell to rot".

Brayden smirked, "Be careful Damon, it's not my humanity that's showing, it's yours" he said.

Damon glared at Brayden and suddenly punched him across the face, causing him to fall to the ground, Brayden glared at his brother, and using his vampire speed, he speeded over to his brother and punched him across his face.

"Stop!" Stefan yelled, standing between his brothers before they could continue their fight, "Can you two not do this right now?! I'm tired and I will like to go home before the sun rises again".

Damon and Brayden stood there glaring at each other, and after a moment, both the brothers started walking, this time none of them saying a word to each other, Stefan shook his head at his older brothers, but nonetheless followed them back home.

***

After spending the day with Fae and Caroline, an exhausted Kaitlynn entered her room and saw Damon laying on her bed, without saying anything to him, Kaitlynn simply went and laid next to him.

After a moment of silence, Damon finally spoke, "We got Mikael" he informed.

Kaitlynn looked at Damon in shock, "How did you manage that?" she asked.

"I guess your sister came through, the plan's in motion" Damon replied, "See? I told you I had it".

Kaitlynn chuckled, "Sure Damon, whatever you say".

Damon looked at Kaitlynn, "Aren't you going to kick me, yell at me or even scream at me?" he asked, "I thought you were planning your rant all day?"

"Nope, you will be getting that rant from Fae, not from me" Kaitlynn assured.

"Why aren't you ranting at me?" Damon asked confused, "I went behind your best friends back and freed their boyfriends, and you know what it backfired, both of them are even bigger dicks than ever, it's just now they are dicks that are on our side".

Kaitlynn turned to her side and faced Damon, "Because I'm not mad at you Damon, I understand why you freed them, it's because you love them and you can't see your younger brothers suffering" she said, "I think at the end of the day, when it really comes down to it, it's going to be you whose going to save both of them from the edge, from themselves, they won't come back because they love Caroline and Fae, yeah that might play a part in it, but I think they will come back to us because they love and care about their older brother, for who if push comes to shove, they will even die for".

Damon stared at Kaitlynn, he watched as she closed her eyes and let sleep take over, a small smile formed on Damon's face, while watching Kaitlynn he didn't realise when sleep took over and he also fell into a deep slumber.

***

Presenting 3x08 of The Vampire Diaries . . .

How was the chapter? I know this chapter didn't have Fae or Caroline in it but I wanted to focus this chapter on the Salvatore brothers and their bonding and after realising how much I enjoy writing them, I feel like they might be an episode here and there that will solely be dedicated to them and their bond.

Anyways, thoughts on Damon freeing Brayden and Stefan from the cell?

Thoughts on the three Salvatore brothers spending the day together?

Thoughts on Mikael meeting up with the brothers?

Thoughts on the little Damon and Kaitlynn moment at the end? I had to have a little bit of romance >.<