Last kiss

It was a sunny spring day in Mystic Falls. Elena Gilbert decided that it was time to clean her messy room. She just had too many things, that she probably doesn't need any more. She started with sorting out the clothes she didn't wear any more in her wardrobe. After an hour only the top shelf was left. She had to climb on a chair to reach this shelf. There she found at the farthest edge a box that she had forgotten she still has. She took the box and sat down on the floor. Even though she somehow managed it to forget it, she still knew what the things inside meant to her. She wasn't sure if she wanted to look at all those precious objects and stir up all her old memories. A part of her wanted to throw the box away and forget it, another part of her wanted to never forget and to treasure every memory. The urge to look inside and to remember took over her and slowly she opened the box. The first item that leaped to her eyes was a beautiful plastic rose. She remembered the day she got it.

It was summer in Mystic Falls. She begged Damon to go with her to the annual fair. "Please, Damon. It will be fun. I promise." she said to him with a cute smile. She knew that he couldn't resist this smile. "Fine, but only because it's you." he said smirking at her. She wanted to treat him, so she put a white dress with a floral pattern on that he bought her last week. The dress was strapless, had a sweetheart neckline and it ended short before her knees. It showcased her breast and her long legs. She knew that he would appreciate the dress on her. And she was right, when she came downstairs seeing him patiently waiting for her to dress, he looked at her stunned. She smiled at him winningly and he came to her, whirled her around and kissed her passionately. After a few minutes Elena had to gently push him away. "Come on, Damon" she took his hand, "If we don't go now. We are going to be late." He grinned over her enthusiasm and together they went to the fair. Because Mystic Falls was a small town, the fair wasn't big, but it still offered enough. There was a Ferris wheel, several booths, where you could buy food, some booth with games, like darting balloons and a shooting gallery, and also special booths, where you could for example make old photographs. Damon immediately took her to the shooting gallery. "Now I'm going to show you how good I'm at aiming." he said with a braggy but cute smirk. "But when you don't hit the target, you have to cook me dinner tonight." She challenged him laughing, knowing exactly that it was easy for him to win, because of his vampirism, and that he would always cook dinner for her. Damon just laughed: "Deal!" As expected Damon managed it to hit the target with one shoot. The woman from the shooting gallery smiled brightly and said: "Congratulation! You can choose your price!" He didn't take long to decide: "I'll take this beautiful red rose for my amazing girlfriend." Elena blushed when Damon gave her the rose and she kissed him. "You two are such a sweet couple. I wish you two the best!" the woman said to them. "Thank you." Elena replied. They both went away to the next both happily hand in hand. The rest of the day they spent having fun with their friends and family. Damon surprised Elena in the evening with really cooking dinner for her, he even made her favourite meal, pizza speciale. They ended up loving each other with passion the whole night.

Elena smiled remembering this wonderful day. Sadly it was over ten years ago. They had thousand of these blissful days together. But everything crashed down only a few months after this day. They managed it to have a happy life after all that happened. Together they had almost one peaceful year.

They survived Kai, the psychopath, who wanted to become the leader of his coven, but luckily his sister Jo managed it to overpower him. They got Bonnie back from the death. With Kai away and Jo's new power the Gemini coven agreed to help bringing her back and it worked. She married Jeremy. They stayed in Mystic Falls and got two beautiful children. Caroline was able to save her mother from dying of cancer. She found a way to make vampire blood heal her mother. She also started a relationship with Stefan, after he realized that Caroline was the best thing that ever happened to him. They travelled the world together. Elena was happy for them. Alaric and Jo sadly broke up, because her role as the leader of her coven was taking too much of her time. So she left Alaric. He got a job as a professor at Whitmore College and started dating another professor. Liv and Tyler also got married. They moved to New York. Luke met a man from Washington, fell in love with him and went with him to Washington. Matt was lonely and desperate for a long time. His goal was to kill vampires that were as bad as Enzo, who disappeared a while back, and to make the world a better place. It took a long time and much conviction to get him off his plan. Luckily he fell in love with a normal human girl, Fiona. They both also stayed here in Mystic Falls with their son. Elena had a hard time getting her memories back. She had to admit, that even though she only remembered the bad things Damon had done, she started to see what possibly drawn her to Damon back then, when she fell in love with him. Liv, Luke and Jo tried many spells to break Alaric's compulsion, but every time it failed. She finally decided to call an original vampire to help her. Elijah agreed to do it and came back to Mystic Falls. They needed weeks and the help of Alaric and Damon to break the compulsion and get all of her memories back. When she remembered everything all her feelings for him came rushing back. Without hesitating and without caring for Ric and Elijah standing next to them she kissed Damon passionately, mumbling 'sorry' between their kisses, because Elena felt guilty about erasing their memories. She only had time for a short 'thank you' to Elijah before Damon used his vampire speed to bring her to their bedroom. With their vampire power they managed it to rip all their clothes apart in record time. When Damon laid her down on their bed, she had to tell him, that she loved him. He had to know that she still loved him, that compelling the memories away didn't change this fact. "I love you, too. Gosh, you're so beautiful" Damon replied while kissing her naked body. He waited so long to be reunited with her like this. She just stopped thinking about everything else, she just enjoyed being connected with him in this wonderful way. They didn't left the bed for days, because they had to make up for all those months Elena didn't remembered loving Damon, as Damon liked to say. Elena didn't protest. But their happy time was unfortunately too short. It started again on a normal day, when Elena, Bonnie and Caroline wanted to spend a 'girls only' day together. Elena was waiting outside the mall in Richmond for Bonnie and Caroline. Suddenly she had a terrible pain in her head, then everything went black. After she woke up, she realized that she was chained to a heavy metal chair. She tried to move, but she had to cry out in pain, because the chains were full of vervain. The room she was in was dark, cold and empty. There was only her on the chair and she felt like she was deep underground. The door abruptly swung open and Elena was blinded by the bright light coming in, a tall and middle-aged woman with long blonde hair, ice blue eyes and a tight dress entered the room. "Hello, doppelganger. My name is Alana. You are now my hostage. Don't worry I won't kill you yet, I just need you to lure your love of your life here to me. If you behave, I'll let you free, when I get him. But if you make any problems, ... well we'll see, I'm a powerful witch and I could easily destroy you." the woman threaten with an ice cold voice. To demonstrate her power she just raised her right hand and Elena immediately started screaming. Evilly laughing the woman walked away. Elena welcomed the darkness surrounding her. It didn't take Damon long to find her, after Bonnie used a locater spell. Together with Ric, Jeremy and Stefan, he came to save Elena. But the witch already knew they were coming and Damon stepped right into the trap of the evil witch. Alana caught him in a cage that weakened him with her magic. She needed his blood and his present to perform dark magic. He was the oldest Salvatore and a vampire, who existed already for a long time. Therefore Damon was the perfect supernatural being for the witch to draw power from. She wanted to become the most powerful witch that ever existed and that will ever exist. Her plan was to take the supernatural force of every creature that was as strong as Damon. Stefan and Jeremy were able to rescue Elena. Ric tried to free Damon, but he was overwhelmed by the witch. After Stefan brought Alaric out of the danger zone, they met with the others. Together with Bonnie, Caroline and Matt they made a plan to rescue Damon. Stefan attempted to distract the witch with offering her his blood. She fell for the trick and took the blood, then Bonnie started casting a spell, that overpowered the witch. She almost overwhelmed herself, because Alana was very strong. Elena, Caroline and Ric managed it to free Damon out of his cage. He was hurt and unconscious and Elena feared for his life. Meanwhile Stefan, Jeremy and Matt chained the witch, Bonnie enchanted the chain with a spell, that would keep the witch from freeing herself. Together they fled the house in Richmond, where the witch was living in, and went home to Mystic Falls. It took Damon a week and lot of blood bags to fully recover. They thought they were save, but the witch was stronger than they thought. Bonnie only managed it to overpower her in the first place, because she had Salvatore blood helping her, that she was a Bennett witch surely helped her too. But with her powerful dark magic and the force she got out of Damon's blood, she was able to unchain herself. The witch manage it to lure Damon to Richmond again, she wanted to demonstrate her power by showing them that she didn't even need to go to Mystic Falls to catch him again. Alana also demonstrated that she only caught Elena the first time instead of trapping Damon, because she liked to play games with her victim. This time though the group was prepared, Bonnie linked herself with a spell to Damon so that she would always know when he is in danger. Trough the link and with the help of Damon's blood, that she took from him just in case, she was able to stop the power the witch had over Damon. Alana disappeared, but they were sure, that she would come back. With the help of Alaric Bonnie found a way to keep the witch away for good. The spell they discovered would catch the witch in her house until she dies. Alana wouldn't be able to perform any magic or harm someone. However this spell needed a big sacrifice, Damon had to stay there with her as long as it takes for her to die. Bonnie would dry him out so that nothing would happen to him, then she will cast a spell on his blood to keep the witch trapped. Alana was just too mighty, they couldn't keep her away with any other way. Elena begged Bonnie to try something else first, but first they didn't have any other plan and second it was too risky to not do the spell. The witch would kill Damon and everyone else who stands in her way to get what she wants. So Elena and Damon had only one day together to say goodbye to each other. When they were alone in their bedroom, Elena started to freak out. "No, no, no! This is not an option, Damon! We just reunited! You can't leave me! You promised me that this would be forever!" she screamed and started crying while saying this. Damon tried to soothe her. "Elena, I love you so much. But Alana is too strong for us. We don't have any other choice. I'm doing this for us. When she is dead, we're going to be together forever. I will come back to you. For me this is only a small sacrifice. We will survive this, we always survive." Elena though couldn't stop crying, she didn't wanted to lose him again. Every second without him would be like a year for her. She couldn't bear not hearing his voice, not being able to kiss him or to hold him and not seeing him every day. This was all she wanted, to be with him forever every single day. Why is this always ripped away from her? She wanted to go straight to Elijah and beg him to let her forget him all over again. Damon carried her to their bed, he kissed her tears away and kissed her again and again to calm her down. After a while it worked and she returned the kissed. Elena let Damon undress her and shortly afterwards they were loving each other full with fire and passion. Elena tried to forget, what would come the next day and then she fell asleep in his arms. In the morning Elena tried to not wake up, she knew what the day would bring to her, she didn't wanted to be miserable for the next at least 40 years. But there was a soft knock on the door. Damon moved and slowly woke up. Bonnie gently opened the door and peeked in. "Can I come in?" she asked. "Yes. We're decent." Damon laughed. Elena asked herself how he can be this cheerful. Bonnie entered their room and said "I'm really sorry for interrupting you two, but it's already 12 am and we need to act now, before the witch beat back." Elena sighed, she has to say to goodbye to Damon now. Damon, who apparently felt the uneasiness of Elena, said "Give us a few minutes, Bonnie. We will come down." "It's fine. Take your time as long as you don't take too much." Bonnie replied understanding. When Bonnie shut the door, Damon turned to Elena to kiss her. She replied the kiss sadly. "I promise you, I will come back to you." he reassured her. Slowly they dressed up and walked downstairs. Everyone was expecting them downstairs. Stefan hugged Damon "Goodbye, brother. I really appreciate that you're doing this to keep us safe. I will miss you." "No problem. I'll miss you too. Please take care of Elena and don't get yourself in any trouble." Damon smirked. "I will." Stefan promised. "Thank you." Matt, Caroline, Fiona and Jeremy said their goodbyes. Finally Damon turned to Elena, she tried to hold herself together and not to start crying. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead. "I love you, Elena." "I love you too, Damon." she replied with a shaky voice. When everyone inconspicuous turned away or walked outside, he gently kissed her. Elena returned the kiss with all her passion and love for him. She couldn't believe that this was their last kiss. The last kiss they had before he has to sacrifice himself. She feared even though he promised her that he will come back, that she might lose him forever. The tears started to well up her eyes. She had to keep herself from begging him not to go. "Goodbye, my love." Damon sadly smiled. "Goodbye, Damon." Elena started crying. Damon softly pushed her into Caroline arms, looked a last time at her and walked out the door. Together with Alaric, Bonnie and Jo, who would say their goodbyes when they were there, Damon went to Richmond. They needed Jo helped to perform the spell, it would overwhelm Bonnie, when she tries it alone. Elena was sobbing in Caroline arms. "You know Damon, Elena. He is strong. Bonnie and Jo will make sure, that nothing happens to him. We all will help you to face the time until he comes back." Caroline tried to soothe Elena.

This was the reason Damon was ripped away from Elena. That was why Elena had to somehow keep her memories of him locked without really erasing her memories. She wouldn't make this mistake again. But it was much harder than she thought, he was always in her mind. Sometimes she visited him, she would sit in front of the metal box, he was in to keep him safe, and talk to him. Most of the time though she pretended like that never happened, she pretended that she didn't love him anymore and she asked the others to not talk with her about Damon. That was the only way she could survive this time without him. But now she was sitting on the floor of her room wanting to remember him. She couldn't believe that she managed it to hang on ten years. Elena had to admit that she didn't keep up very good, she broke down many times and sometimes she just isolate herself by locking herself in her room, the room she and Damon spent so much time in. She took a deep breath and gently caresses the next object in her box. It was a cream-white pearl. She smiled over the memories this pearl held.

It was in the summer Elena like to call the summer of their lives. This was the amazing summer they had after her graduation, after she made it clear to Damon that she really and without a doubt loved him. Her favourite memory, that was also his favourite memory, was the night, she wanted to watch the meteor shower. It started to rain and they were soaking wet, but instead of going home, she wanted him to promise her that they would be forever together. He did and they kissed each other passionately in the rain for ours, forgetting about the meteor shower. But there were many other moments in this summer that were this wonderful. One moment started on a really sunny day. Even though Elena had slept naked next to Damon, she was immediately hot when she woke up. She stayed in bed watching Damon sleep. She couldn't believe that she was loved by this beautiful man. While she laid there thinking about their future together, she had an idea, what to do on this day. She woke Damon with kissing him everywhere. When he was finally awake, she said with a huge grin "I want to go swimming today." Damon growled. "I have a better idea. We stay the whole day in bed and do this." He kissed her trying to persuade her to stay home. "No. Come on. It will be fun. Just you and me and a lot of water." She looked at him with her big brown eyes knowing that he couldn't resist her. "Fine, you won." he sighed defeated. Elena immediately stood up and started packing a bag with everything they needed. Her new sexy gold monokini, one of Damon's swimming trunks, sun lotion, a blanket and a few blood bags. After Damon managed it to get up, they drove a while to a nearby sea, where they could swim. Elena knew a place where rarely people come to swim. It was the secret place she and her family use to go to. As expected Damon and her were alone there. She quickly changed into her monokini and let Damon admire her. Playful she ran to the water. "Catch me if you can!" Damon used his vampire speed to change and catch up with her. "Got you. What do I get now?" Damon teased her. She giggled "You're a cheater. You deserve to be punished." She jumped up and pushed his head under the water. But he was stronger than her, he easily shook her off and pushed water at her. She quickly swam away just to push water back at him. They spent the whole day having fun with each other like this. A few hours later Damon challenged her with a diving competition. She accepted, but most of the time Damon won. It was the 15th time she tried to win against Damon, but she was already at the surface again, while Damon was still underwater. After a few minutes he was still down there and she began to worry. Just as she wanted to dive and search him, he came to the surface. "Look what I found on the ground." He opened his hand and Elena saw a beautiful cream-white pearl. "Oh my god. This is beautiful." "This is for you, Elena. Now you can remember that your ideas always give us the best moments." Elena smiled brightly and kissed him. They even forgot to swim and sank under the water, but they didn't mind. Elena felt happy in that magical moment. When they drove home, they went straight to bed. The whole day spending with swimming has made them tired. Content they fell asleep holding each other.

Elena wished she could go back in time and relieve those happy moments. She would have savoured them more knowing that someday someone could break them apart. She wished that they had more time together, that they had more time to come up with a better plan. She took a shaky breath and prevented herself from crying. There were many items she loved dearly in this box, but there was one she treasured the most. It was a beautiful silver necklace. The necklace had a pendant with a big dark blue sapphire in it. Now she couldn't keep herself from crying anymore. The tears started flowing constantly down her cheeks even though the necklace held only good memories.

It was Christmas in Mystic Falls. Elena didn't know that this would be the last Christmas, where everything would be alright. Elena and Damon got the Christmas decoration, the Salvatores stored in their basement. They found even Christmas balls that were from the 19th century. They had to buy Christmas lights and tinsel and branches of fir and mistletoes. Together and with the help of Caroline they decorated the Salvatore boarding house. Everywhere were lights and Christmas colours. Damon deliberately hung mistletoes anywhere he could, so that Elena had to kiss him. Caroline was so annoyed that she forced Damon to get a Christmas tree, because they would never get ready, when they kissed instead of decorating. When he came back, they decorated the tree, on top of the tree they put a Christmas angel that they found in the old box with decoration from the Salvatores. Stefan stopped by to pick up Caroline and some decoration for their house. After Elena and Damon reunited and Stefan started a relationship with Caroline, they decided to let Elena and Damon live in the boarding house while Stefan and Caroline moved in another house. The whole group decided that they would spent the 24th of December with their significant others and then the 25th and the 26th together and or with their family. So Elena and Damon decided to spend the rest of the day together. Elena tried to convince Damon to watch typical Christmas movies with her. "Do I always have to beg you? You know that you can't resist me, Damon. We can lie on our couch, watch the movies, eat the Christmas cookies, I made with Bonnie and Caroline and cuddle. Does it really sound so bad?" "Your arguments are always the best." Damon kissed her. "We will watch those movies, you want to see. Then we will make a great Christmas dinner and afterwards you gonna let me love you in every way I want. How does this sound?" he asked with his cocky smirk. "This sounds good." Elena grinned. "So what movie do you want to watch first?"

After Elena forced Damon to watch three movies with her, they went to the kitchen and Damon showed her how to make a good Christmas goose. Elena thought that this was the best Christmas meal she ever ate, it was pretty practical to have a real Italian as a boyfriend. Before they went to their bedroom Damon handed her a small box. "For you, my beautiful girl." "What is this, Damon? Christmas is tomorrow." "Come on, open it. I wanted to give it to you today." Damon smiled expectantly at her. Elena couldn't help but to smile out of joy and opened the box. Inside was the most beautiful necklace, she ever laid eyes on. It was a silver necklace with sapphire pendant. "Oh, Damon! This is so beautiful. Thank you." she said ecstatic. Elena kissed Damon and he put the necklace about her neck. "It's perfect for you." he mumbled in awe. Without blinking he rushed her to their bedroom. But before he could undress her, she stopped him. "Wait, Damon. When you give me my present today, you get yours now too." She went to her part of their wardrobe and pushed her clothes to the side. "Close your eyes." Damon obeyed and she turned around. When he opened his eyes, he saw Elena only standing in sexy underwear in front of him, in her hands she held a bourbon bottle, on which she put a bow. "Wow!" Damon took the bourbon out of her hands. "Do you know how rare this bourbon is? This could be the best bourbon that ever exists." "I know, Damon. It took me almost a year to find it, but I knew, that this would be the perfect present for you." "No, Elena. You are the best present I ever received. Thank you." He put the bourbon aside, kissed Elena and pushed her on the bed. "You're so beautiful." he whispered against her skin admiring her whole body. "And you're so handsome." Elena said while caressing his tight abs. They loved each other the whole night with Elena wearing nothing but her new necklace.

Elena hadn't put off her necklace afterwards. But after Damon sacrificed himself, she couldn't bear it to feel it weight around her neck nor see it every day when she looked in the mirror. So she put it back in the box and together with all the other things that made her remember him, she put it in the bigger cardboard box and placed it on the top shelf of her wardrobe. But now seeing it again and letting herself remember him, she couldn't keep herself from wearing it again. She admired herself in the mirror, it was indeed perfect for her. With the necklace around her neck she found hope again, hope that Damon will come back without harm and that they will be reunited forever. That was what was missing the whole time, something she could physically and mentally hold on to. The necklace will help her to face the time that was left without him. She will live her life instead of throwing it away. She will love Damon and happily wait until he is with her again.