A/N what can I say; I was inspired by the last Delena Scene. Set after 3x05, Damon vows to protect Elena no matter what. But it's getting even harder and harder…A Delena story and a bit of Klaus/Elena (NOT romance) As usual, English's my second language and I'm not perfect. Please review, I might continue…

Damon's POV

The moment I saw Elena in a hospital bed my heart broke. She looked weak and pliable, and she was in this state because of my brother-and because of me. I shouldn't have left her alone.

I walked near her fearing that my legs would give out, and ripped the things that were making her a vampire's slave, a bloodbag. No, I would never let anyone hurt her again, even if I had to kill every single vampire on earth.

The tube was red with her blood and I played with it for a brief moment. Blood was everything to a vampire and I couldn't help what I was.

I saw her move from the corner of my eye and then she whispered, "Damon?"

"Hey," I manage to breathe, and turned my attention to her. She looked so relieved to see me and as I leant down to scoop her up in my arms she wrapped her arms around my neck tightly and I carried her out of the room. She was light as a feather, and that bothered me. She had obviously not been eating enough and with all this going on, the girl I loved deeply was becoming weaker and weaker.

Elena's POV

I clung to him the best I could in my weakened state, but his grip on me was reassuring and safe, as if he was shielding me from everything that was out there right at that very moment. I could barely keep my eyes open and it hurt everywhere, but sleep obviously wouldn't come and even if it did, I wanted to be conscious. This was the third time Damon saved me this way-carrying me in his arms as if I was the most precious thing on earth. I remember the night when I slept with Stefan and found Katherine's picture, the night that I crashed into a man… no, a vampire, and then Damon had come and scooped me up in his arms. Back then, to me Damon was nothing more than a monster and I feared him but the way he had helped me and the sympathy in his eyes changed my opinion about him completely. "Why do I look like her?" I had found myself asking, and I didn't even know why. It's not like he had owed me any explanation and I wasn't even sure if I should take his word for it.

Damon was there from the beginning. Even when he was supposedly threatening to kill me he still wanted to protect me from everything-from himself, too. He had put himself in such risk for me and he was willing to die the night of the sacrifice to let me live happy with my boyfriend. And then, there was his love confession. I only remembered blurry parts since I was unconscious or better, dead, when Damon carried me away from Klaus when he killed me. However, I felt him carrying me; I felt his guilt of forcing his blood to me and the fear that I was going to hate him forever. But most importantly, I remembered his love confession the night he saved me along with Stefan from Rose and Elijah, when he returned the necklace back to me. I had never figured out how that necklace returned to me until the sacrifice. He was so unselfish that he compelled me to forget his love confession to make it easier for me-for both of us.

I found myself squeezing Damon tighter.

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Damon's POV

When we returned home she was fully awake, and I carefully sat her on the armchair in the parlor and brought her a warm blanket. She had lost too much blood.

I poured her a glass of Bourbon and looked at her-She was staring blankly at the wall, tears trailing down her cheeks. I sat next to her and handed her the glass.

"Drink," I said slowly, "It will make you forget." I tried to make her smile at least for a second, and she gave me a weak smile as she took a sip but she narrowed her eyes at the bitter taste.

"Yeah, it's a little strong…"

I couldn't find any more words to say so I just let her play with the glass in her hand.

"You know, I can help you forget too. Erase the memories you don't want to keep…" I managed to say after the silence stretched out for too long. I knew that if I'd make Elena forget about Ripper Stefan she would remember him as a hero, and even though it hurt me for her to see him like this after all he did, I was ready to do that. I loved Elena way too much to let her suffer-I'd rather have her thinking Stefan never hurt her than have her remember the things he did to her.

"No," She said sternly. "No compulsion. I need to remember. All of it."

Seeing how determined she was, I avoided her gaze for a moment and then took her necklace and raised it. "I stole it back for you."

She looked at the necklace for a moment as if she didn't know what a necklace was, and then she wept, "He's really gone this time. I watched it happen. After everything we went through to get him back-to help him-now he's just gone."

The pain in her eyes was unbearable. I wanted to promise her that everything would be okay but I knew I'd be lying. Stefan wasn't coming back, at least not now. And even if he did, he would need a lot of practice and struggle to be himself again.

She looked down at the glass again and for a few moments all I could hear was her slow heartbeat and her tensed breath. In that moment I realized that Elena was a lot stronger than I imagined her to be-She had been through hell, she had suffered physically and she was still here, talking to me. Her makeup was smudged and her tears were making her face puffy but she was still the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. I wanted to trade my soul for this girl to be happy, at least once.

She slowly let her eyes meet mine, and with sorrows and sobs in her voice she asked, "Where were you, Damon?"

It was my entire fault. If I didn't go with Katherine Elena would've been safe.

"I shouldn't have left," I whispered, and Elena quickly looked down again.

I reached out and put my hand on her knee, gripping it tightly. "I promise you, I will never leave you again." I clenched my eyes together, fearing that it was my time to let tears trail, and not because of guilt or remorse. Yes, I almost couldn't forgive myself that I left her alone, but the main reason my heart was breaking was that this girl in front of me really was unlucky and heartbroken. She gave me a weak smile, the kind of smile that showed me that she was feeling even safer with me. And I liked that, I wanted her to feel safe with me. I wanted her to know how much I loved her and that I would never do anything to hurt her.

"Getting cozy?" I heard Stefan's voice and I immediately took my hand away from her knee and stood protectively in front of Elena, who was gasping in surprise.

"What are you doing here, brother?"

"Last I checked, I still live here," Stefan said, taking a drink while Elena looked at him in disbelief. "Klaus is gone. He asked me to keep watching on you until he returns," He pointed to Elena without any emotion at all. "From now on, you are under my protection."

Elena gave him another icy stare and Stefan raised his glass and made his way outside. "Oh, by all means-carry on," He mocked.

Elena and I exchanged glances.

"There is no way in hell I am letting him near you," I swore, but before I could continue I saw that Elena was trembling again, probably out of fear.

"I don't want to be p-protected by him," she whimpered. "I saw what he did…I saw what Klaus made him do! He turned it off."

"He won't be coming near you," I assured her. "I promise."

She let out another sob and with shaky feet she stood up and hugged me, her tears staining my t-shirt. "Thank you, Damon. Thank you for never giving up on me."

I wrapped my arms around her, "Shh, it's okay."

I held her like that for a few seconds before I noticed that she was wincing.

"What's wrong?" I said, quickly letting go of her.

She turned crimson. "It's nothing-"

"Elena, I can tell when you're lying," I said, "What's wrong?"

She rubbed her arm and looked down.

"Are you in pain?"

She didn't say anything, but I knew her way too much.

"You're still in pain, aren't you?"

When she didn't say anything again I pulled her closer and tilted her neck to a side gently. The bite was still covered but then I noticed that there were bruises in her shoulder and face.

"Please, let me see," I said, when she flinched away.

"It's nothing," She tried to assure me, but one look at her and then she slightly nodded. I rolled the t shirt away from her shoulder and there were some purple bruises.

"Klaus hit me," she finally said, never looking at me. "He's too strong-I think I made those when I fell. He practically pulled me with him through the entire school corridor."

"What?" I stared at her in disbelief. "He hit you?"

"To provoke Stefan," She added quickly, "He was trying to make him feed on others-When I said that Klaus wouldn't hurt me he proved me wrong. It's okay, I'm fine now…" She said, quickly rolling the sleeve back to place.

"I'm so sorry about everything he did to you," I said, taking her hand. "But I meant what I said earlier. I will never leave you again, Elena, I swear to God."

"I know… Thank you, Damon."

"But right now, let's get you to bed," I added, and I scooped her up in my arms again, carrying her to my bedroom and putting her in my bed. "You'll be safe here."

I wasn't going to let her sleep in Stefan's room and the other bedrooms were not properly cleaned since it had been a long time since they were used.

"Thank you," She mumbled weakly.

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Elena's POV

I woke up in the morning in a bed I didn't recognize, but when I was fully awake I realized I was in Damon's room. I turned to my side and saw Damon sitting on the bed.

"Are you going to scream or are you going to say good morning?" He smiled playfully. "Good morning, sleepyhead."

It took me a while to remember why I was here, and then it came to my senses that everything that happened the day before wasn't a nightmare like I had hoped. It was real.

"Don't worry, I slept on the couch," Damon said, clearly thinking that was my problem.

"No, it's not that…" I sighed, "I was just thinking…Never mind. Good Morning."

"What were you thinking?" He turned to face me. "You can tell me everything."

"I was kinda hoping it was just a nightmare," I shrugged.

"I hoped so, too," He said sadly, and then he stood up. "Stefan's not here. Come downstairs, you have to eat something. You lost a lot of blood."

"I'm not hungry…"

"That's bad, because I'm not giving you a choice," He smiled, "Besides, I have something for you."

I rose an eyebrow and followed him to the parlor. He came to stand before me and he gave me a black velvet tiny box. "I got it for you this morning."

I was surprised by this, but took the box carefully and opened it. In it, there was a silver chained necklace with a black heart with tiny crystals. I could see it was expensive.

My jaw dropped. "Oh my God, Damon… why-what-"

"It has vervain in it," Damon said, "If you're not wearing Stefan's I want you to be safe. I don't want anyone taking advantage of you."

"Thank you," I breathed, "I love it."

He smiled and took the necklace in his hand, clasping it around my neck. "Always keep it on."

"I will," I promised, and then smiled at the irony as the first time I got the necklace, Stefan had given it to me to protect me from Damon. Now it was Damon who was giving me this to protect me.

"I promise you, Elena, no one's going to hurt you. Especially not my brother."