A/N: Hey all! So, I know this has been done a million times before, but the idea has been bugging me for a while now, so I figured, why the hell not?
And thanks to all of you who read my last fic, I was so pleased to get some feedback. By all means, drop me a review here to ;)
Disclaimer; nope, still not mine. But Christmas is coming up, so...
Apologies for any spelling and/or grammar mistakes.
"You're leaving?" Breathed Elena, looking a sorry mixture of confused, upset and worst of all, hurt.
Damon shrugged a shoulder, glancing between the wreck of a girl before him and his equally off-balance brother. A pang of regret made him think twice; a throb in the crook of his elbow brought him right back on track.
"Eh, you know, small towns grow real old, real fast. I'm sure the two of you will manage just fine without me." He forced the words out with as much ease and grace as is normal in everyday conversation, and finished off with a grin he was sure would sell his honesty.
Stefan regained himself with a snarl.
"You can't leave now. Not after what happened yesterday! You-." He paused, glancing at Elena, whose eyes had yet to leave Damon's face. Stefan lowered his voice to a hiss, though the two of them were well aware that, even with average hearing, Elena could catch every word. "You can't leave her now."
It was Damon's turn to curl a lip.
"She doesn't need me. She's got you, and Jeremy, and Caroline and Bonnie. She's got whole galaxies worth of people just orbiting around her."
It wasn't his intention, but he still found himself a little glad when Elena's look of sadness morphed into one decidedly more aggressive. Good, he thought, let her be mad. At least she's not crying.
"No offense, sweetheart." He added with a wink that only fueled her anger.
"I can't believe you." She spat, before turning on her heel and stalking away. Stefan flashed furious eyes at Damon, but whipped around and followed Elena without a second comment.
Alone in the Boarding house, Damon sunk into an arm chair, exhausted. The damn bite was draining him, and he knew he needed to leave, now, before he had a chance to change his mind, or had time to lose it. But he was just so tired.
He shook himself into focus and sprung from the couch, telling himself he had the energy to up and leave. He headed for the stairs ready to collect some of his personal affects, but stopped when he realised that, where he was to end up, he wouldn't be needing anything.
They searched for almost two months before they heard any news.
Elena hadn't been able to rid herself of the guilt that lingered in the pit of her stomach ever since Damon left. Yes, she'd been hurt, and upset, and so, so, furious, but she hadn't wanted him to leave without a goodbye. So they searched, and they searched. Together with Stefan, she turned every stone, exhausted every lead, but found nothing. For all they knew, he has literally disappeared off the face of the earth.
It was a Wednesday night when they hit big.
She and Stefan were hunched over the coffee table pouring over a couple of old road maps, each one covered in dots and pins of various colour and size, and meaning seemingly nothing. After a time, Elena slumped back and rubbed her face with her hands. No words could describe just how tired she was. Stefan, still slouched beside her, looked no better.
"Elena..." He said from behind his hands. She glanced at him, but said nothing in reply. Stefan continued. "Maybe...maybe it's time we stop. If he hasn't surfaced now, he probably doesn't wanna be found."
Elena glared at him. She couldn't believe he was willing to give up on his own brother.
"It's not like he's been taken, 'Lena. He chose to walk away. We don't need to find him."
"I need to find him." She sighed. Stefan raised his hands in surrender and sat back to rest his head against the back of the couch.
Upstairs, Jeremy listened to his sisters conversation and felt his stomach clench at her words. He was tired of her sounding so upset. She hadn't been herself since Damon left, and he knew exactly why she was clinging to this. She wanted to find him because she could. Because he wasn't gone forever. He hadn't had his heart torn from his chest by a crazy hybrid, and he hadn't given his life's energy so she could have her own. He had walked away, and she wanted to bring him back because it was a possibility; a chance she didn't have with Jenna, or with John.
"She'll get over it." Said a voice from Jeremy's window. He jumped from the bed in shock, but stilled when he saw the rooms newest occupant. Damon stood, arms folded, leaning casually against the window frame.
"Dude, where have you been? Elena's been looking for you for months."
"I know." Damon replied calmly.
"She's downstairs now, with Stefan. Go down and see her, she'll be over the moon you're back." And for the first time in a while, he felt himself smile with genuine happiness. Elena would be happy. Elena would get her goodbye. Elena wouldn't have to cry herself to sleep anymore. But the look on Damon's face made Jeremy's smile falter.
"She can't see me, Jer." Damon replied, sounding oddly pained at the words. Jeremy frowned.
"Why not? You can't come back here and leave again without speaking to her. Come on! She'll be so happy to see you again."
"No, Jeremy. She can't see me. Neither can Stefan. Neither can anybody."
"But-." And then he understood. And that understanding sent a chill down his spine that settled in his bones. He felt the colour drain from his own face.
"What happened?" He whispered.
Damon looked off to the side, for a moment or two, before turning his gaze back to Jeremy. Something had settled there; something defiant. Whatever it is he wanted, he wasn't backing down.
"I need you to talk to her, for me."
"Hey, Jeremy." Elena said tiredly at the sound of footsteps in the sitting room. She and Stefan glanced raised their eyes to greet him, but froze on seeing the ashen pallor of his features. "What's wrong?"
He opened his mouth and gaped for a moment or two, before speaking as calmly as he could.
"There's someone here to see you."
Elena and Stefan raised their brows in unison, waiting for Jeremy to elaborate.
"He has a message." He said. "He wants me to tell you...to tell you that he's sorry. He's sorry he ever hurt you. he's sorry for all the times he's made you angry and all the times he's made you suffer." He turned his gaze to Stefan and, with a deep breath and in a tone so full of pain it choked his voice to use it, "he's sorry for being such a lousy brother."
Stefan looked puzzled, as did Elena, but only for a moment. When the truth of the matter registered Jeremy saw the walls around his sister come tumbling down.
"No." She whispered. "No, Jeremy, no, no, no."
A lump lodged itself in Jeremy's throat. He turned his gaze to Damon, who stood by the wall, looking on with so much pain in his gaze that Jeremy had to look away again.
"Tell her I left for her. I didn't want her to have to lose anybody else. I didn't want her to have another grave to mourn. Not then. Not after everything with Jenna. I just didn't want to hurt her again."
Jeremy relayed the words with tear tracks on his cheeks, and what little resolve his sister had crumbled. She sobbed. Harsh, gut-wrenching sobs. Stefan looked blank, as though the news hadn't really registered.
Damon watched Elena with widened blue eyes shining with tears of his own. He moved across the room and kneeled in front of her. He reached out a hand as though to offer her comfort, but drew it back.
"Tell her I'm here." He said, his voice choked and broken. "Tell her I'm right here."
"He's in front of you, Elena. He – he wants to comfort you."
"But I don't know how." Damon whispered.
"What happened?" Stefan asked, his voice sounding distant.
"Werewolf bite. The night of the sacrifice. There was nothing they could have done." Damon replied, and Jeremy relayed the information. Elena sobbed harder still.
"I n-never said goodbye." She cried, her voice so choked by tears it was barely audible. "I was so angry when he left, I never got to say goodbye. Oh god! The last - the last time I spoke to him...I was so angry!" She rocked a little where she sat, and the despair was enough to wrench a small sob free from Damon's throat.
"Tell her it's okay."
"I'm not mad anymore. I never meant to get angry!"
"Tell her I believe her."
"I didn't want him to leave! I never w-wanted him to leave."
"Tell her I know."
"He knows, Elena. He believes you. It's okay."
"Please stop crying..." Damon whispered. "please don't cry over me. I hate it when you cry."
"He wants you to stop." Jeremy said, his voice hoarse. Elena's sobbed stopped abruptly and she looked to Jeremy, doe-eyed and pale faced. She hiccuped with the effort to hold in the emotion, but remained resolutely silent.
Damon bowed his head to clear his own emotions, then moved to kneel beside Stefan.
"He says 'Hey, brother.'" Jeremy said, conversation now directed to Stefan.
"Hi." Stefan replied, hoarsely.
"Tell him I'm not mad at him anymore. Tell him I haven't been for a long time, not really. Tell him I'm sorry I let so many things get between us. I'm sorry I abandoned him when he was scared. I'm sorry I left him to go through all of this alone. And that I want him to be happy. And that he needs to keep strong and stay with the good guys. No more off-the-wagon sessions. He needs to be the strong one now. He needs to keep an eye on you, and on Elena."
The words, once fallen from Jeremy's lips, ripped a sob from Stefan's throat, too.
Damon lowered his head again, and after a time, raised it to look at his brother again.
"He says man up, grow a pair." Jeremy said. All present choked out a small laugh.
They remained in silence for a while, until Elena broke it with soft words.
"Where – where is he? Where did he -." She couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence, but they all knew what she meant.
"The tomb. That's as far as I got." Damon said.
The information caused fresh sobs from both Elena and Stefan. Jeremy bowed his head, partly out of respect, and partly to hide his own tears. Damon had moved to kneel between his brother and Elena, and switched his gaze from one to the other in turn.
"He's been here, in Mystic Falls this whole time." Elena said through tears.
"Nowhere else I'd rather be." Damon whispered, wishing she and Stefan could hear his voice.
"Can we bury him? Please?" Stefan asked. "We can talk to Sheriff Forbes. She'll help us keep the...circumstances quiet. I don't just want to drop him in a hole. I want to give him a proper funeral."
Jeremy looked to Damon for an answer, knowing that Stefan was asking for his brothers permission. Damon nodded his reply.
"He says yes."
"Not every day you get to see your own funeral." Damon said, hands in his pockets as he stood beside Jeremy in the grave yard. It had been a teary send off, to Damon's surprise, as an assortment of people had stood up before the crowd of mourners to speak of Damon's life. Sheriff Forbes has spoken, as had Stefan and Elena, even Caroline and Bonnie had stood up to say a few words.
Jeremy gave a small, discrete laugh at Damon's words. Elena and Stefan had come away from the grave after laying a couple of roses on the coffin, and made their way over to Jeremy.
"Nice turn-out." Stefan commented, looking out across the small sea of mourners. It was true, a lot of the townsfolk had turned up, much to Damon's surprised.
"Wonder how many are here to spit on my grave." Damon muttered, and again Jeremy snorted a laugh. Stefan looked at him with a curious expression before Elena spoke.
"Is he here?" She asked, wide-eyed. Jeremy hesitated, then nodded.
"I hope it was okay." Elena whispered. "We tried to make it as Damon-esque as we could." She gave a small smile, and Jeremy grinned as Damon returned the gaze.
"It was great." Jeremy assured.
"Best send-off a guy could have asked for." Damon said with a warm smile that lit up his eyes.
"Only the best, brother." Stefan said. Elena looked up at him, then turned to look at the space Jeremy knew Damon stood in, and with an accuracy borne of naturally knowing where to look to meet his gaze, looked him right in the eye.
"A proper goodbye."
A/N: Oh wow, I had to write through tears a couple of times there. But it's done! I actually had a dream where something like this happened, and I felt like it had to be put on paper. I hope you guys liked it! It was kind of rushed, but still, I hope it turned out okay. I was too sad to read it through again!
Please, leave me a review and let me know what you thought!
Until next time,
Much love,
Something x