07. My Brother's Keeper

Brayden was in the woods, doing push ups while on the call with Elena.

"You can't just not come Brayden" Elena said through the phone, "You are a founding family member, you have to be here".

"I don't have to be anywhere Elena" Brayden stated, "You called to ask when I was coming this Miss Mystic event, I told you never, now hang up".

"You not being here, isn't going to stop Klaus from hitting on Caroline" Elena said.

"But it will stop me from attacking him infront of everyone" Brayden retorted, stopping his push ups and laying on the ground, staring up at the bright blue sky.

"Come on Brayden, I thought Brayden Salvatore doesn't run, he makes people run" Elena said.

"I'm not running, I'm avoiding" Brayden corrected.

"That's even worse" Elena stated.

Brayden sighed, "Why do you even care if I'm at this stupid party anyways?".

"You helped me when I needed help and now I'm returning the favor" Elena replied.

"What, by forcing me to watch Klaus flirt with the woman I love?" Brayden asked, "If this is you helping Elena, then I really don't want it".

"If you don't come here Brayden, then Klaus wins, because he wants to get under your skin, that's one of the reasons he asked Caroline on a date" Elena said.

"And the other reason is because he has feelings for and I don't want to see him look at her with hearts eyes" Brayden snapped.

"Then I'll distract you" Elena offered.

"You?" Brayden asked, "Distract me from Caroline? Yeah, good luck with that one, Elena".

"Challenge accepted Brayden Salvatore" Elena said, "Just come to the event, and I promise you won't even realise Klaus and Caroline are here".

"And if I do?" Brayden asked.

"Then I'll do whatever you want" Elena replied.

"You realise if I win I'm going to make you do something really stupid, right?" Brayden asked.

"I know" Elena replied, "But I'm willingly to take the risk, especially if you agree that if I win, you do whatever I want".

Brayden thought about Elena's deal for a second, "You are openly giving me a chance to humiliate you? I'd be an idiot to turn that down".

"Great, then see at you Miss Mystics Falls" Elena said, "Oh, and try wearing something that isn't black".

After Elena hanged up on Brayden, he looked at his phone and shook his head, "One decent conversation and she thinks I'm going to listen to her" Brayden whispered, "Never going to happen".

***

"Where have you been?" Damon asked, seeing his twin walk down the stairs.

"Out" Brayden said, fixing his leather jacket.

"Where you going?" Damon asked, seeing Brayden walk towards the door.

"Out" Brayden repeated.

"What shady Stefan wasn't enough, now you got to act shady as well?" Damon asked, "Please don't tell me you're also working with Klaus".

"Don't mention his name" Brayden snapped, glaring at his brother, "Do me a favor Damon and keep that dicks name away from me".

"Okay, so we are clearly still not happy" Damon realised, "I'll be quick then, so apparently if we wanna find the cure, we have to find a vampire hunter who can kill enough vampires to reveal the map on the hunter's mark, now unless we want Jeremy to go all Connor 2.0 I suggest we find a different hunter".

"Then go find one, why are you telling me all this?" Brayden asked.

"Well, I was gonna ask Professor Shane, but it turns out he's shadier than you and Stefan are" Damon informed, "Matt Donovan connected him and the pastor through phone records, the two were very chatty the day the pastor blew up the council".

"Once again not my problem, I already warned Bonnie not to trust him but she didn't listen to me, if you wanna threaten him, kill him, go do it yourself, don't involve me" Brayden said.

"Oh come on, let's activate our wonder twin powers and tag team this" Damon said.

"Nope" Brayden said, "I'm on a day off".

Damon sighed, he knew his brother was still hurt with Caroline agreeing to go on a date with Klaus, "Or we could just blow it off, go get drunk, brother-bond over some tri delts, I'm sure Stefan will gladly join, if you, you know, want some quality time".

Brayden looked at his brother as if he's lost his mind, "Yeah, and then do you want to paint our nails and have pillow fights?".

"I'm trying to be helpful here Brayden" Damon defended.

"Go be helpful to someone else, I don't need your help, what I need is to distract myself, which is exactly what I'm going to do" Brayden stated.

"What are you doing?" a confused Damon asked.

"Winning a challenge against Elena Gilbert" Brayden revealed, walking away from Damon.

"I'm sorry, who?" Damon asked, but Brayden ignored him and simply walked out the front door.

***

Brayden arrived at the place they were holding the Miss Mystic Fall's event, as soon as he arrived, he saw Caroline standing outside ordering everyone.

"Woah, stop, stop" Caroline said, stopping three girls that were carrying flowers from walking in, "Those flowers go in the back as indicated by the floral chart that you guys had plenty of time to memorize, yeah, thank you".

Brayden chuckled hearing Caroline, he knew she was stressing out, and despite how mad at her he was, he just couldn't see her stress, so he took one step to walk towards the Forbes vampire, but stopped when he saw the original hybrid make his way over to her.

"Now, how did I know I'd find you at the helm of this ship?" Klaus asked Caroline, neither of them noticing Brayden's presence.

"Go away, I'm busy" Caroline said, looking down at her clipboard and stressing over all the things she still had to do.

"I was wondering what time I should pick you up tomorrow" Klaus said, making Brayden clench his hands into a fist.

"How about a quarter to never?" Caroline suggested.

"I was promised a date in return for one of my hybrids" Klaus reminded.

"Yes, a date like to a movie, where we don't have to talk and I can put at least three seats between us" Caroline retorted.

"Surely, the reigning Miss Mystic Falls won't be hosting the party alone?" Klaus asked.

"I have a boyfriend" Caroline reminded.

"Who I assume isn't talking to you right now" Klaus said, "Not after you not only agreed to go on a date with me, but in order to distract me you lied saying you and Brayden were having problems".

Caroline stared at Klaus for a moment, anger and frustration shown clearly on her face, Brayden watched her facial expressions and he hoped she would just tell Klaus to get lost, tell him she's coming to this event with him and Brayden swears if Caroline says that then he will forget all his anger and kiss the daylights out of her, but that's not what she said.

"Fine, if you insist on coming, meet me here, 2pm" Caroline told Klaus, angering Brayden even more, "Black tie optional, and I already have a dress, so don't even think of getting me so much as a corsage, you understand?".

Klaus nodded in understanding, "I'll see you tomorrow, Caroline" he said.

"Brayden!" Elena yelled running over to the middle Salvatore, gaining both Caroline and Klaus's attention.

The duo turned around and came face to face with a furious Brayden.

"Hey" Elena greeted, standing infront of Brayden, "What are you doing here?".

Brayden glanced at Caroline, who was looking at him with an hopeful expression, wondering if he was here for her, "I'm here for you" Brayden told Elena, making Caroline's hopeful expression fall.

"Me?" Elena asked, slightly confused.

"Do you have a date for tomorrow?" Brayden asked, shocking both Caroline and Elena.

Caroline went to walk over to Brayden, but before she could Klaus grabbed her wrist, stopping her from walking over to Brayden.

"Um, no, why?" Elena asked.

"Great, then you're my date tomorrow" Brayden said, glaring at Klaus's hold on Caroline, "I'll see you at 2".

Without giving Caroline another glance, Brayden walked away from her.

Elena looked at Caroline, "Caroline--".

"He won't wear a suit" Caroline interrupted Elena, "He's angry and he will make sure everyone knows, even through his clothes, but if you want to match him, he's gonna be wearing black".

Before Elena or Klaus could stop her, Caroline had also walked away.

***

Next day, Caroline, Elena, Fae and Kaitlynn stood in the dressing room, helping April pick out her dress.

"Blue" Caroline, Elena and Fae said.

"Red" Kaitlynn said.

"I kind of agree with Kaitlynn, isn't blue a little safe?" an unsure April asked.

"Safe is good when it comes to the judges" Elena assured.

"She's right, Gracie Lockwood had 3-foot slit her year and practically got laughed off the court" Caroline remembered.

"But April's doesn't have a 3-foot slit" Kaitlynn retorted.

"The blue is cute, Kait" Fae said.

"It's too simple" Kaitlynn argued.

"For once I agree with Kaitlynn" Brayden said, appearing in the doorway, making both Caroline and Elena look at him, a small smile formed on Caroline's face when she realised like she predicted Brayden didn't wear a suit, but the smile was replaced when she looked at Elena and realised her black dress was matching Brayden's black leather jacket and black pants.

"Brayden Salvatore, agreeing with me?" Kaitlynn asked, "Hell must have fallen over".

"First of all, that's not the correct phrase" Brayden asked, "Second of all, don't get use to it, this is a once in a blue moon thing".

Fae chuckled at Brayden and Kaitlynn, "What are you doing here Brayden?".

"Two things, once again, number one, Kait, where's your boyfriend aka my twin brother?" Brayden asked.

"Two things" Kaitlynn mocked, "Number one, Damon isn't my boyfriend".

"Yet" Brayden and Caroline said at the same time, causing both of them to look at each for a split second but then quickly look away.

Kaitlynn rolled his eyes at the two soulmates, "Second of all, he went to interrogate professor Shane so go check the judges table".

"What's the second thing?" Elena asked curiously.

Brayden looked at Caroline, "You're date is here" he informed, "Waiting for you very eagerly downstairs".

"Just like your date is waiting for you" Caroline taunted, pointing towards Elena.

"I know" Brayden said, giving Caroline a mock smile, "The main reason I'm here, is for my date", he then looked at Elena and held his hand out, "Shall we?".

Elena looked at Caroline, who was clearly hurt, she then sighed and placed her hand in Brayden's, before the two walked out, Brayden turned to April.

"Go with the red one" Brayden told April, "It's hot".

"We've already agreed that the red one's a little bit too showy" Caroline snapped.

"Are you okay?" Brayden asked, "It's a pageant Caroline, the whole point is to be showy".

"Did you win Miss Mystic last year?" Caroline asked, "No, I don't think you did".

"Yeah well neither did Elena and she wore blue, clearly blue is not the colour to be wearing" Brayden said, he looked at Elena, "Back me up here".

"Nobody cares what you think, Brayden" Caroline snapped.

"Clearly" Brayden snapped back, as him and Caroline stood there glaring at each others.

"Guys, wrong place, wrong time" Fae said, worried for her two friends.

Elena looked at April, "The red is pretty" she said, hoping to end Caroline and Brayden's argument.

"See?" Brayden told Caroline, "Now excuse me, me and my date have a pageant to attend".

Once Brayden and Elena had walked away, a worried Kaitlynn turned to a equally worried Fae, "Caroline's stubbornness and Brayden's ego is going to cause massive problems for them" she whispered.

"We have to do something before this gets even more out of hand" Fae whispered back, Kaitlynn nodded her head in agreement.

***

After her encounter with Brayden, an angry Caroline went downstairs, she grabbed empty champagne glasses from one of the tables and walked over to one of the waiters.

"Hey, why am I bussing your tables?" Caroline asked, "I said no empty glasses", she then walked over to orchestra, "Would you guys pick up the tempo? This is a pageant, not a funeral".

Caroline turned around to go find some other mistakes, when her eyes landed on Brayden and Elena who were standing in the corner, she saw Brayden point to a random lady and then whisper something in Elena's ear making her laugh and lightly slap Brayden's shoulder, she then said something to Brayden, which surprisingly made him let out a laugh.

"And how am I doing?" Klaus asked, walking over to Caroline and stopping her from looking at Elena and Brayden.

Caroline opened her mouth to say something insulting, when her eyes once again landed on Brayden, if he can enjoy with Elena, then why can't she enjoy with Klaus?

"You're, perfect" Caroline said, just as Brayden's eyes landed on her and Klaus, him having heard Caroline call Klaus perfect.

"Brayden" Elena called out.

"She called him perfect" Brayden said, anger evident in his voice.

Elena lightly nudged Brayden with her shoulder, "You're perfect as well".

Brayden looked at Elena in slight confusion, "Are you flirting with me?".

"What?" Elena asked, "Of course not, I'm just taking advantage of this new friendship between us".

"We aren't friends Elena" Brayden said.

"Then what are we?" Elena asked.

"Acquaintances" Brayden replied.

Elena smiled at Brayden, "If I asked this exact question a few weeks ago, you would have said we are enemies, this is progress".

Brayden shrugged, "For some reason I can tolerate vampire you, much more then I could ever tolerate human you".

"Good to know" Elena laughed.

***

"Hi, everyone, I'm Caroline Forbes" Caroline said into the microphone, "As the reigning Miss Mystic Falls it is my honor to introduce this year's Miss Mystic Court, we begin the procession with Valerie Fell, accompanied by Dylan Clark, next we have Amber Wolverton, accompanied by Hector Linsey--".

As one by one the escorts grabbed their date, Brayden and Caroline's eyes met each others, both of them remembering the last Miss Mystic Falls event, they remembered Brayden escorting Caroline to the dance floor, they remembered their dance together.

Last year at this event both of them were in love and they were together, this year they still loved each other but they weren't here together, one year changed so much between them.

***

"Hey" Caroline said, walking over to Elena, after seeing Matt dance with April, "What's with the last-minute escort change? Where is Jeremy?".

"I'm calling him right now, he's not picking up" Elena asked, as Brayden walked over to over them, two glasses of champagne in his head.

"They're not serving bourbon so this will have to do" Brayden told Elena, handing her a glass of champagne, "Also relax about Jeremy, he's probably at the bar getting drunk so just relax".

"Matt said that Jeremy's been having nightmares about killing vampires and he's been hiding it from me" Elena informed.

"Because he doesn't want you to worry, he's fine Elena, stop stressing" Brayden said, in the back of his mind suspicion rising that his younger brother not being here at the same time as Jeremy wasn't just a coincidence.

"I don't know, I have a bad feeling" Elena expressed.

"This isn't something to be worried about, let it go" Brayden said, "Just drink the champagne and enjoy", he looked behind Caroline to see Klaus walking over to them, "Ugh, Elena, stay here I'm going to see where Jeremy is at".

Elena nodded and gave Brayden a grateful smile, he then walked away just as Klaus walked over to Caroline and took her away from Elena.

***

"Tell me your stupid dumb ass hasn't roped Jeremy into something crazy" Brayden said into the phone.

"I had no choice" Stefan defended from the other side, "Fae wants the cure and I want to give it to her".

"I get you wanting to get the cure for the girl you love but using Jeremy for that is a horrible move" Brayden snapped, "You need to learn the right way to do things Stefan".

"I know what I'm doing Brayden, let me do it my way" Stefan said.

"Stefan--", before Brayden could say anything else to him, Stefan hanged up, "Dammit!" a frustrated Brayden yelled, just as Damon entered the room.

"What's wrong?" Damon asked.

"Stefan's taken Jeremy on to crazy route, now more then ever you need to get Shane to fess up about another hunter" Brayden informed.

Damon nodded in understanding, "Got it" he said, walking away to talk to Shane again.

***

After they announced April as Miss Mystic Falls, Brayden received a call from a panicked Stefan who told him that Jeremy attacked him and now is on his way to kill Elena, immediately Brayden started looking for Elena, asking around he found out that both Jeremy and Elena had gone inside, causing Brayden to quickly rush towards them, arriving there he was shocked seeing Elena on the floor, a mini stake in her neck while Jeremy hovered above her about to stake her, ignoring Matt's pleads to stop.

Before Jeremy could stake Elena, Brayden speeded over to him and slammed him against the wall, "Matt, get him out of here, now!" he said, pushing Jeremy towards the human.

"Come on, let's get out of here" Matt said, dragging Jeremy away from Elena and Brayden.

After Jeremy and Matt left, Brayden kneeled infront of Elena, "This is going to hurt" he said, taking the wooden stake out of Elena's neck causing her to yell in pain and clutch onto Brayden's hand.

***

After the whole situation with Jeremy, Brayden knew there was no way Elena could stay in the same house as her brother, so after telling Matt to stay with Jeremy, Brayden brought Elena to the boarding house.

"Here" Brayden said, handing Elena a glass of bourbon.

"Thanks" Elena said, taking the glass from Brayden.

Brayden chuckled seeing Elena drink, "Last I remembered you didn't like whiskey".

"Look who pays attention" Elena teased.

Brayden rolled her eyes, "I didn't pay attention to you, Caroline had told me this one time when she was talking about all her friends".

"When Caroline was talking, what were you doing?" Elena asked curiously.

"Listening" Brayden replied simply.

"I've known Caroline my entire life, sometimes she can talk a lot" Elena pointed out, "Doesn't it ever annoy you?".

Brayden shook his head, "I love her voice" he said, "I want her to talk to me, I can listen to just her voice for the rest of my immortal life and I will be content".

"You love her that much?" Elena asked.

"More then anyone will ever know" Brayden whispered, he then stood up.

"Where are you going?" Elena asked confused.

"This night can't end with me and Caroline mad at each other, I can't end this night like this" Brayden stated.

"Brayden--".

But Brayden didn't listen to Elena, he rushed out the door, needing to talk to Caroline.

***

Kaitlynn stood infront of her mirror, trying to unzip her dress, but failing as her zip was stuck.

Suddenly a hand came on top of hers and helped pull her zip down, looking through the mirror Kaitlynn saw a shirtless Damon standing behind her.

"Damon" Kaitlynn whispered, her breathing suddenly heavy, "What are you doing here?".

"I'm tired Kait" Damon whispered, slowly sliding Kaitlynn's dress off, "I'm tired of staying away from you, especially after knowing that you're also in love with me".

Kaitlynn turned around and faced Damon, "I'm scared of getting hurt Damon".

"Me too" Damon whispered.

"But despite that we're going to hurt each other, aren't we?" Kaitlynn asked.

"Or we're going to help each other" Damon said, putting his hand on the back of Kaitlynn's neck.

"If you break my heart Damon Salvatore, I will kill you" Kaitlynn said.

Damon pulled Kaitlynn closer to him, "And I'll let you" he said.

Kaitlynn stared at Damon for a moment, then the next, she smashed her lips on to his, Damon gladly kissed her back, he put his hands on Kaitlynn's thighs, and Kaitlynn wrapped her legs around his waist and let him lead her to towards the bed.

***

After freshening up, Stefan entered his room, all ready to get scolded by Fae, but to his confusion, his girlfriend was sitting on their shared bed, lost in her thoughts.

"What's with the intense thinking?" Stefan asked, sitting next to Fae.

"There's something wrong with Elena" Fae informed.

"What?" Stefan asked confused.

Fae looked at Stefan, "I don't know what it is, but Caroline was telling me that Klaus is suddenly interested in the way Elena has been behaving with Brayden".

"Why would Klaus be interested in that?" Stefan asked.

"I don't know, but I think Klaus knows something that we don't" Fae said, "Stefan, now more then ever, Elena needs that cure, she's not acting the same".

"She'll get the cure" Stefan assured, "Klaus will make sure of that".

"Because of his hybrids?" Fae asked, Stefan nodded, "Well, he's definitely going to need new hybrids, Tyler's nearly done unsiring the old ones", realisation suddenly drew on Fae, "Oh my god!" she yelled, standing up.

"Fae?" a confused Stefan said.

Fae looked at Stefan, "Suddenly it all makes sense Stefan, now I get why Klaus was so interested in Elena and Brayden's new dynamic".

"What are you talking about?" Stefan asked.

"Come on Stefan" Fae said, "Ever since Elena's turned into a vampire, her solution for every problem is Brayden, according to Caroline, today Elena was worried about Jeremy but as soon as Brayden told her to relax she relaxed, Caroline thinks it's because Elena has feelings for Brayden but that's not it, remember Brayden told Elena she needed blood from the veins, and when Elena tried to ignore him and drink from animals--".

"She couldn't keep it down" Stefan finished.

"And what happened with the blood bags?" Fae asked.

"The same thing" Stefan said, finally realising what was happening.

"There is no vampire in this world that can't drink from a blood bag Stefan, but Brayden told Elena she can't, so Elena couldn't" Fae said, "First Elena likes the blue dress, then when Brayden says he likes the red dress, her choice changes".

"Brayden says kill Connor, she kills Connor" Stefan connected.

Fae scoffed, "Stefan, the only reason Brayden and Elena are suddenly starting to get along is because unknowingly, Elena is doing whatever Brayden wants, it was Brayden's blood that made her a vampire, yeah these type of bonds are rare but they do happen".

Stefan looked at Fae in shocked, "Elena's sired to Brayden".

***

Brayden used Caroline's window to sneak into her room, a smile formed on her face realising Caroline had left the window open, maybe she knew he would come.

Entering Caroline's room, a smile formed on his face seeing Caroline fast asleep, without wasting a second, Brayden took his shoes off and got into bed with Caroline, almost like she sensed his presence, Caroline immediately snuggled into Brayden.

"Brayden" Caroline whispered, still fast asleep.

"I'm here, princess" Brayden whispered, removing Caroline's hair from her face, "I'm here and I'm not leaving anytime soon".

Brayden pressed his lips on to Caroline's forehead, causing a smile to form on a sleeping Caroline's face.

***

Presenting 4x07 of They Don't Know About Us!

How was the chapter?

Thoughts on Brayden agreeing to go to the Miss Mystic event with Elena?

Thoughts on Caroline and Brayden purposely making each other jealous?

Thoughts on Brayden saving Elena from Jeremy?

Thoughts on Damon and Kaitlynn?

Thoughts on Fae and Stefan figuring out that Elena is sired to Brayden?