You are my Freedom

Stefan and Clara's Day Out

Stefan was annoyed he let himself be roped into... whatever this was. Clara seemed nice enough but he just didn't have time to play happy families with everything else going on. He showed her how to hunt a rabbit how much longer was he required to stay out here with her.

"You don't like me very much do you?" Clara asked

Stefan sighed... "I don't really know you."

"Oh, so you treat every new acquaintance with this much hostility?"

Stefan rolled his eyes feeling fed up "Look I am sure you are a nice person but-"

"Well, why do I get the impression you'd rather not spend the time to find out yourself?"

Stefan didn't really have anything to say to that

Clara took a deep breath and decided to jump straight to the point, "Is this about Damon? Why are you so angry with him?"

Stefan stopped walking, "Look you have no idea who Damon is anymore... what he's done."

"Alright, so tell me," Clara said gesturing with her arms

Stefan shook his head no.

"Why?" Clara asked, "why won't you just tell me, tell me every horrible thing he has ever done. Chase me away if that is what you are so desperate to do."

Stefan looked torn not knowing how to respond

"What... how bad is it? I know he has killed and I saw in person how merciless he can be. Has he hurt children?" she asked meekly.

Stefan thinks about this but eventually shakes his head no,

Clara had to swallow some bile that threatened to rise up before the relief came in the form of Stefan's head shake. 

"Has he... has he ever forced himself on a woman." She asked.

"Not counting compulsion to take their fear away after seeing his face turn no I do not believe so."

Clara was very relieved to hear that, "Has he ever done something you yourself are not also guilty of?"

Stefan looked away from her, "No but it's different I know how much of a monster I have been and I torture myself every day with that knowledge and strive as hard as I can to be different, to be better. Damon... he revels in his darkness."

Clara was silent for a bit collecting her thoughts.

"That's what really bothers you about him isn't it?"

"What?" Stefan asks

"That Damon can be at peace with both sides of himself, the good and bad. That he isn't constantly fighting the darkest part of himself, that he doesn't live with this fear that he will lose control."

Stefan turned away from Clara and closed his eyes almost as if in pain.

"I'm sorry," Clara tells him, "that must be awful. I don't know you very well even if I was around you when we were human I only know what Damon has told me but I know that he loves you."

Stefan scoffs at this, "Damon doesn't love anyone but himself."

Clara grabs Stefan's arm and forces him to face her, "Remember when you used to play hide and seek?"

Stefan was confused for a moment but then nodded not knowing where she could possibly be going with this.

"He would warn you every time to stay out of your father's study, make you swear to go nowhere near it. And yet every time you would go in. You might not have been completely aware back then but you must know now what your father would do to Damon, how harsh and cruel he could be and yet Damon would always risk punishment to come find you and make sure you were never caught inside your father's office. No matter what you two go through you must know if you were ever in danger Damon would still always come for you. I am not trying to justify his wrongdoings but surely someone capable of that is worth still having hope in."

Stefan thought about what Clara said. It was true Damon would get the worst of their father's temper and had as children tried to protect him from it but that Damon died a long time ago and he kind of felt bad for Clara that she thought that Damon still existed and yet he was also a little jealous of her ability to naively see things in such a way.

A sound of a branch snapping caught Stefan's attention but it was too late, him and Clara were quickly surrounded and captured.

**Elsewhere at the Gilbert Residence**

Elena's phone is ringing. She notices it's Damon and ignores it. She hears a knock on the door and answers it. Damon enters.

"You're ignoring me." He complains.

Elena shrugs, "The 6 missed calls? Sorry. My phone is dead."

"Is Stefan here?" Damon asks not having time for their usual banter.

"No. Why? Something wrong?" Elena asks suddenly taking Damon's appearance at her home much more seriously.

"He went out with Clara in the woods and didn't come back. I can't get him on his phone. I am starting to get worried."

The sincerity in Damon's eyes alerted Elena this might be serious and she immediately tried calling Stefan herself, "It's going straight to voice-mail. Where could he be?"

Damon sighed, "You're not going to like what I'm thinking."

"What?" Elena asks

"I heard someone called you Katherine the other day... the only people I know who would confuse you for your ancient ancestor are some very old, very pissed off vampires."

**The Basement in Miss Pearl's Farmhouse Stefan and Clara are tied up with Vervain ropes with a very angry Frederick.**

"Ugh!" Stefan moans in pain

Frederick walks up to him with a soliloquy already prepared, 

"145 years left starving in a tomb, thanks to Katherine's infatuation with you and your brother. First few weeks, every single nerve in your body screams with fire. The kind of pain that can drive a person mad... Clara can attest to that running straight back into the arms of the one who tossed her aside certainly qualifies as mad. Well...I thought your brother might want to get a taste of that kind of pain before I killed him. Billy! "

Billy stabs Stefan with a stake.

"Uhh! Aah!" Stefan cries out again this time in more pain

"Look just... hurt me all you want but let her go, She was in there with you, she doesn't deserve this." He tells them hoping to spare Clara this pain.

Frederick pretends to think about it for a minute, "Mmmm, I don't think so. You both have a nice day."

**Outside the Farm House**

Elena is sitting in Damon's car. She sees him approaching and gets out.

"What happened? Where is he?" She asks frantically.

"They have THEM" He stresses not liking Elena left out his wife when expressing her concern. "I can't get in."

"Why not?"

"Because the woman who owns the house is compelled to not let me in," Damon explains to her.

"I can get in." She says determinedly.

"You're not going in there." He says bursting her delusional bubble.

"I'm going!"

"You're not going in there!" He shouts getting more firm with her.

Elena shakes her head in despair, "Why are they doing this? What do they want with him?"

Damon grits his jaw, "Revenge. They want revenge."

"We gotta do something," Elena tells him.

"I know."

"We can't let them hurt him. We gotta get him out of there."

Suddenly Damon slams Elena against the car shocking her.

"I get that you're scared, I get that you're upset, but forget to include my wife in your concerns one more time and I won't be responsible for my actions!"

Elena gulped, usual only witnessing this side of Damon directed at others and not herself.

"I am scared to Elena, I know, trust me I am not lacking the motivation to get in there and save them both but I don't know how to get them out."