10. Fifty Shades Of Grayson

Next morning, after dropping Caroline back to her house, Brayden entered his room, only to see his twin very impatiently waiting for him.

"Where the hell were you?" a curious Brayden asked, having felt like he hadn't seen Damon in ages.

"Being held against my will by Augustine" Damon informed.

Brayden, who was taking his jacket off, suddenly stopped and looked at his brother, "Did you just say--?".

"Augustine?" Damon asked, "Yes I did".

"That shitty organisation still exists?!" a shocked Brayden asked, suddenly all the times Dr. Whitmore experimented on him, flashing through his mind.

"Oh yeah, and now that shitty organisation has Kaitlynn" Damon informed.

"I'm sorry, what?!" Brayden asked, "You let Kaitlynn be taken by Augustine?!".

"I didn't let them take her, I was shot in the head" Damon defended, "And when I woke up, Kaitlynn was gone, she's not picking up her phone, she's not in her dorm, she's nowhere in this house, which leads me to believe that Dr. Creepy Ken Doll has her somewhere".

"Wes?" Brayden asked, "The Whitmore bio teacher?".

"Yeah, the one that operates on vampires during business hours" Damon added, "Yeah, that one, so call Stefan, tell him to leave Fae for a moment and put his hero hair on, and let's go get Kaitlynn".

"I thought you don't know where she is" a confused Brayden said.

"I don't, which is why we're gonna have to find us some leverage, come on" Damon said, walking out of Brayden's room.

***

Aaron Whitmore, the person whose legal guardian Wes was, sat in Whitmore college's common room, with his earphones in his ears, listening to music and doing his college work.

Damon came and sat next to a oblivious Aaron, to gain his attention, Damon ended up taking his earphone out of his ear, "Pop quiz, so your girlfriend is taken by a mad scientist, now do you, A, get a new girlfriend, B, call the police, or C, kill someone close to that mad scientist?".

A terrified Aaron tried to run away from Damon but as he stood up, his way was blocked by both Stefan and Brayden.

"Sit" Stefan demanded.

"I vote for option C" Brayden said, shoving Aaron back to the couch, while Aaron looked between the three brothers in fear, wondering what they were going to do to him.

***

"I have no idea where Wes took your girlfriend" Aaron told Damon.

"Well, they're not at his lab, so where else could he hide a vampire?" Stefan asked.

"I'm sorry, am I supposed to know who you two are?" a confused Aaron asked Stefan and Brayden.

"Those two are my brothers, Stefan and Brayden" Damon introduced, "Though Stefan might be nice to you, I'd watch your tone with Brayden, he's in the midst of a psychotic break".

"Really?" Brayden asked, glaring at his twin.

"Oh come, you don't think I know about you and your little panic attacks?" Damon asked, "I just didn't say anything cause I know Blondie had it handled, and clearly I was right", Damon turned back to an extremely confused Aaron, "But he's still not normal, he's never been, out of the three of us he's the one whose always been off his rocker, loses his mind over everything, teetering on the brink of insanity".

"Hey!" Brayden snapped, while Stefan tried not to laugh, knowing if he did, he will have to face Brayden's wrath, "Can we please go back to finding out where Kaitlynn is, or do you want me to start ripping everyone's limbs here?".

"See" Damon told Aaron, "Insane".

"How are you not dead?" a confused Aaron asked Damon, "I shot you".

"Well, cause you went for the head, you gotta go for the heart" Damon informed, he then slapped the back of Aaron's head, "Go for the heart next time".

"Why would you tell someone how to kill you?" Brayden asked, "Am I the only one with brains?".

"Shut up, Brayden" Damon said, making Brayden roll his eyes in return, "Now, where's Kaitlynn?".

"I have no idea" Aaron replied, "All that Wes told me was to go about my life as usual".

"Well, you gotta call Wes and you gotta tell him if he doesn't give us Kaitlynn the next experiment that he conducts is gonna be sewing your arms back on" Damon threatened.

"I really hope he refuses to give Kaitlynn, it's been too long since I ripped someone's arms off" Brayden said, making Aaron look at him wide eyed.

Damon chuckled at his twin while Stefan simply shook his head, but either way, both the brothers were happy to have the old Brayden back.

***

"Aaron, hey" Wes greeted, answering Aaron's call.

"Do you have Kaitlynn?" Aaron asked, looking at the three brothers with terrified eyes, not trusting them to not attack him.

"Aaron, what's wrong?" a worried Wes asked, sensing the fear in Aaron's voice.

"Uh, Stefan, Brayden and Damon Salvatore are gonna kill me unless you give them Kaitlynn" Aaron informed, Damon nodded his head in confirmation.

"Damon Salvatore is locked in an impenetrable and inescapable fortified cell" Wes retorted, Damon shook his head.

"Or he's in front of me imagining what my kidney would taste like" Aaron said.

"Fine, meet me in my classroom" Wes finally said, "Once I see you're safe, tell them I'll give them Kaitlynn".

***

"You three wanna give me a little back story as to how you know one another?" a curious Stefan asked, the three brothers along with Aaron walked to Wes's classroom.

"Aaron is Aaron Whitmore" Damon informed, "And he comes from a very long line of vampire-probing, blood-testing, organ-removing freaks called Augustine".

"Why do you know this?" a confused Stefan asked.

"Because in the 50s, thanks to our very distant relative Joseph, me and Damon became Augustine's little test subjects" Brayden revealed.

"What do you mean test subject?" Stefan asked, his brothers never having told him this before.

"Meaning we donated our body to science" Damon replied, "Except we were alive and it was against our will".

"Wait, hold on a minute, how do I not know about this?" Stefan asked.

"Two reasons" Brayden said, "Number one, we were on odds at that time, number two, the moment me and Damon escaped Augustine we wanted to forget everything about that sick organisation and to do so we decided to never talk about them again, we didn't even talk to each other about them".

"That's not healthy" Stefan pointed out.

Brayden shrugged, "It's me and Damon, do you really expect us to have a healthy way to deal with our trauma?".

"No, not really" Stefan whispered.

"Why don't you finish the rest of the story?" Aaron told Damon, who had told him that him and Brayden were the ones killing Whitmore's for generations for what they had to go through.

"I don't recall saying that you could talk" Stefan told Aaron, he looked at his brothers, "Did I say that he could talk?".

Damon shook his head, "I don't remember anything".

"I didn't think so" Stefan said.

An amused Brayden tapped Aaron's shoulder, "Yeah, it's going to be a long day for you buddy".

***

"Which one is it?" Damon asked Aaron, as the group of four entered a corridor.

"It's right here" Aaron pointed towards Wes's classroom, he opened the classroom door and led the brothers in.

"21051 and 21052"

"What the hell" a shocked Brayden whispered.

"Enzo?" an equally shocked Damon asked.

Enzo stood up from his seat, "It's been a while, mate".

"Who the hell are you?" a confused Stefan asked, as Enzo started walking down the lecture hall.

"Lorenzo" Enzo introduced, "But my friends call me Enzo, ah, kidding, I don't have any friends", Enzo forwarded his hand towards Stefan, who made no effort to shake it, instead looked at his brothers with a questioning look on his face.

"Enzo was with us in Augustine" Brayden informed, "He was Damon's friend".

"Ouch, Brayden" Enzo said, "I thought I was your friend as well".

"We both know you and I were never as close as you and Damon" Brayden retorted.

"And that is why it hurt so much more when Damon chose you over me" Enzo stated.

"I'm his brother, Enzo" Brayden snapped.

"And I was supposed to be his best mate" Enzo snapped.

"Yeah no offence there buddy, but brothers always comes first" Brayden stated, Stefan nodded his head in agreement.

"So we're here to meet somebody" Damon quickly interrupted Brayden and Enzo's argument before it could get messy, "Wes Maxfield, do you know him?".

"That's your first question for me?" a furious Enzo asked, "Not, how are you? How did you survive in that fire I left you to die in?".

"Uh, does somebody wanna tell me what the hell is going on here?" an extremely confused Aaron asked.

"I'd love to, have a seat" Enzo said, gesturing towards the seats, "I've been waiting seventy years to tell my story".

***

Leaving Damon and Stefan to deal with Enzo, Brayden grabbed Aaron's phone and went outside the classroom to talk to Wes.

"Aaron" Wes greeted.

"Wrong person" Brayden said.

"Who's this?" a confused Wes asked.

"Someone you really don't want to mess with" Brayden warned, "Tell me where Kaitlynn is or I will mail Aaron's heart to your doorstep".

"Funny, I have Kaitlynn and I'm wondering how she'll function without her cerebral cortex" Wes threatened, "Touch him and you'll never see her again".

"Touch her and you're gonna wish your death came sooner" Brayden threatened, before hanging up on Wes.

***

After talking to Wes, Brayden reentered the classroom.

"Wes is not sending Kaitlynn" Brayden informed his brothers.

"Tragic" Enzo said sarcastically, "Can I continue my story now please?".

"Doesn't he know we have Aaron?" Damon asked, ignoring Enzo.

"He does, but he doesn't care for Aaron as much he cares for his stupid science" Brayden replied.

"Let me talk to him, he'll listen to me" a terrified Aaron pleaded, knowing the brothers were very much capable of killing him if they didn't get Kaitlynn back.

"What part of he doesn't care are you not registering?" Damon snapped.

A furious Enzo stepped down from the table he was sitting on, he walked over to a table and ripped it from the ground and threw it on to the wall, finally gaining everyone's attention, "Where we we?" he asked, "Uh, oh, right, I was telling my story and you were all politely listening, eh? So me and Brayden had given Damon all of our blood rations so he'd have the strength to escape and save us in the process, our plan began perfectly, didn't it? I was waiting in one cage while Brayden was waiting in another, I was waiting for my friend, my cell mate, the only soul with whom I'd connected with in all those years of captivity, then a fire starts, burns out of control and Damon has to chose between me and Brayden, and he chooses Brayden, he looks me in the eye as if he doesn't even recognise me, turns around, saves himself and Brayden, leaving me to die".

"Well, you didn't die, obviously" Stefan pointed out.

"No, unfortunately I lived, I was spared by one of the scientists so I could spend another fifty years on a table being opened and closed" Enzo said, "Now that we've all be acquainted I'm gonna go find something to wet my whistle".

"Neither of you told me about him" Stefan said, as Enzo walked out the classroom.

"It was the 1950s, we're supposed to remember every moment of our life?" Damon snapped, "Now which one of us is killing Aaron?".

"This guy was your cell mate for five years" Stefan reminded, "You left him to die, he comes back and you two are completely unfazed".

"Like I said, Enzo was more Damon's friend them mine" Brayden defended.

"Fine, I will" Damon said, turning towards Aaron.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa" Aaron protested, "Hold on, hold on, Wes gave me a bunch of files on my family history, they're in my dorm, maybe there's something in there you need, a name? I mean, another lab?".

"That's a timely revelation" Damon taunted.

"Yeah, you know, he's not gonna help me, so why should I help him?" Aaron asked.

"I don't like, I don't like your family" Damon stated, taking steps towards Aaron, immediately causing him to go backwards, "I don't like you messing with my relationship, if you're lying, I'm gonna take my thumbs and I'm gonna gouge out your sad little eyes out of your sad little head".

"Ah!" Enzo exclaimed, reentering the classroom, a bottle of alcohol in his hand, "It's frightening what you can find on campus these days".

"Knock yourself out, we're going with plan B" Stefan informed.

"Damon's not, Damon's staying right here" Enzo stated, pouring himself a drink, "He knows all my secrets so he knows how ornery I can get when I don't get my way".

"Call me if you find anything" Damon told his brothers, "Kill him if you don't".

Brayden shrugged, "Fine by me" he said, just glad that he didn't have to deal with Enzo.

"Let's go" Stefan said, walking out the classroom with his brother and Aaron.

***

"All the files of my family history are in here" Aaron informed as he led Stefan and Brayden into his dorm room.

"Hurry up" Stefan demanded, as Aaron kneeled down by his bed.

Aaron glanced at the two brothers and realised they were looking around his room, so he quickly grabbed the gun that was hidden among his clothes, a gun that was filled with wooden bullets, he then stood up to shoot both the brothers, but before he could, Brayden had grabbed him and slammed him to the wall, causing the gun in his hand to drop to the floor.

Brayden wrapped his hand around Aaron's throat and started strangling him, "Don't test me Aaron" he warned, "Cause it won't take a second for me to kill you".

"We both know I'm dead already, you and Damon have been planning my death since before I was born" Aaron breathed out.

"What are you talking about?" a confused Stefan asked, making Brayden close his eyes in frustration, knowing his brother won't understand why he and Damon did all this.

"Your brothers left out the best part of the Augustine story, the part after they escape" Aaron told Stefan, Brayden let go of Aaron who immediately went into a coughing fit, he knew there was no point in stopping Aaron from talking because one way or another Stefan will know the truth, "It wasn't enough for Damon and Brayden to kill the doctors who tortured him, they had to torture their families and their future families, they spent the last sixty years killing every one of my relatives, except they are psychopaths, they keep one alive so they can continue the family line, so that they can destroy future generations of innocent people, so go ahead and do it, kill me!".

Brayden once again wrapped his hand around Aaron's throat and started choking him, "I admit, we're psychopaths, but your family is not innocent, by telling all this to Stefan, what do you think's gonna happen, make me feel guilty? Well guess what, I don't feel guilty, I'll do everything I did over and over again, because only me and Damon know what we went through, you didn't go through that", Brayden turned to his shocked brother, "And neither did you, so you two are the last people who get to judge us, now give me what Wes gave you, or god so help me Aaron".

Once Brayden let go of Aaron, the terrified Whitmore quickly rushed over and grabbed the files Wes gave him, "This is everything Wes gave me on Augustine" he informed, handing the files over to Stefan.

***

After going through Wes's files, Stefan and Brayden realised there was two possible places where Wes could be keeping Kaitlynn, so while Stefan checked one place, Brayden checked the other, which happened to Dr. Grayson Gilbert's old clinic, the same clinic that once upon a time John Gilbert tried to burn both Brayden and Damon in.

"Kaitlynn!" Brayden called out.

"Brayden", through his vampire hearing, Brayden managed to hear the weak whisper of Kaitlynn coming from the basement, immediately he rushed down and was shocked seeing an unconscious Wes on the floor.

"Please tell me he didn't inject you with anything" Brayden said, rushing over to Kaitlynn and getting her untied.

"You came right on time" Kaitlynn informed, slowly standing up but as she stood up, she nearly fell to the floor because of weakness, causing Brayden's arms to go around her waist to steady her.

"Hey, you're okay" Brayden assured, "I've got you".

"Please get me out of here" an extremely weak Kaitlynn mumbled.

"Absolutely" Brayden said, helping Kaitlynn walk out the Gilbert's old clinic.

***

After handing Kaitlynn over to Damon, Brayden entered his room and a breathed a sigh of relief seeing Caroline sitting on his bed waiting for him.

"I wasn't expecting to see you tonight" Brayden admitted, leaning against his doorframe, staring at his girlfriend.

"And why's that?" Caroline asked, looking up at her boyfriend.

"Because I know Stefan told you everything" Brayden said, walking over and sitting next to Caroline.

Caroline sighed, "I don't know how to defend you".

"Then don't" Brayden said, "Don't defend me Caroline, I don't want you to".

"This is all a bit too much to take in" Caroline admitted.

"I know" Brayden whispered.

"I came here tonight to tell you that I still love you, but I can't deny that I'm overwhelmed with all this information" Caroline said, "Is it okay if I take a few days to gather my thoughts?".

"You don't have to take my permission Caroline" Brayden said, "Take all the time you need".

Caroline gave Brayden a small smile, "Thank you".

Brayden gave Caroline a small smile back, "You're welcome".

Caroline stood up from the bed and walked towards Brayden door, as she reached the door she turned to Brayden one last time, "See you soon?".

"Very soon" Brayden promised, once Caroline had left his room, Brayden laid back on his bed and stared at his ceiling, wondering if a girl like Caroline should be with a monster like him.

***

Presenting 5x10 of They Don't Know About Us!

How was the chapter?

Thoughts on Damon asking both Brayden and Stefan's help to get Kaitlynn back from Wes?

Thoughts on Damon and Brayden meeting Enzo?

Thoughts on Brayden saving Kaitlynn from Wes?

Thoughts on Caroline asking for a few days from Brayden?