Title: Hindsight
Part 1 of 3: The Morning After The Night Before
Author: Roguie/SunSpecOps
Genre: The Vampire Diaries
Characters: Damon/Elena
Rating: M – naughty language, naughty Elena, very naughty Damon. Definitely not safe for work.
Spoilers: Only up to The End of the Affair – takes place S3.
Disclaimer: The Vampire Diaries doesn't belong to me; I just like to borrow the characters and mutate their inner voices. What can I say? It's fun. Please don't sue, my house is small, my car is useless and my dogs are pains in the arse, but they're all I have.
Summary: Hindsight can be the ugliest head ever reared in the face of eternal happiness, but every choice has its consequences; sometimes the end result isn't as bad as they feared.
A/N: Takes place during The End of the Affair, the night they drove home from Chicago. I figure if I do this just right, I can slip it into canon without affecting much. After all, it was after this episode the little touches started happening, shoulder bump over chili, the way to a vampire's heart, faux bite during training, etc… I figure maybe something a little more may have happened that night than just the end of a road trip. Perhaps something they weren't quite ready to face in the harsh light of dawn…
A/N2: Fair warning, to those that weren't privy to my last fic, Wallowing, my muse is still all about Angry!Damon. Jealous!Damon. Possessive!Damon. My Damon has a hell of a foul mouth and isn't afraid to use it. This is not happy, fluffy, pwp… but hopefully the ending will leave a taste of satisfaction and hope. Stick with me – only three chapters to this fic, promise. :)
A/N3: Reviews are gold and I'm just a poor girl. Please don't forget to donate… And now on to the teaser opening…
~~~Prologue - The Morning After The Night Before~~~
He could have driven through the night and had them home in five or six hours. He could have dropped her off on her doorstep and let Ric and Jeremy try to put the pieces of her heart back together the way only family could. He could have washed his hands of the whole situation, gotten away scott free, have had a glass of bourbon and a curse for his brother on his lips before the sun even began to rise in the sky. Hindsight, however, didn't wrap her long, olive skinned legs around his hips wantonly, or whisper devastatingly beautiful words into his too eager ears. Nope, hindsight was a cruel mistress that reared her ugly head only in the glare of a harsh morning light over an unfamiliar headboard, slapping him in the face with reality as she illuminated the fall of soft locks of hair, shockingly dark against the pallor of his flesh. His soft curse echoed through the motel room as if he'd screamed it from the rooftops. Hindsight only ever stepped in during that brief moment of time before she opened her eyes and he'd be forced to recoil from the horror that lay within her chocolate abyss.
He was screwed. Royally screwed. Screwed with a capital fucking "S" screwed.
In all his life, Damon Salvatore had only been truly afraid of one thing, and as she stirred in his arms, long eyelashes trembling as soft lids fluttered a complaint against the brightness of the morning, he steeled himself against the terror that froze even the next to imperceptible beat of his heart.
"Damon?"
Her beautiful voice was a siren's song to his soul, and for a single moment she met his panicked gaze with gentle chocolate eyes, confusion mixing with sleepiness, a tiny smile tugging at her lips, wrapping soft tendrils around his heart, lying to him, and for that single second he believed everything would be okay.
When reality hit home, however, all traces of relaxation dropped from her face, her body moved from his as if she'd developed her own form of vampire speed, her hand darted first to her necklace and then to her neck as if checking for damage, and then she finally truly looked him in the eye.
"Hi," he murmured, his voice timid and trembling, although he'd never admit to that fact again.
Yep, hindsight truly was a stone cold bitch in the light of the morning; now he knew, without a doubt, there was no worse feeling than waking up naked beside Elena Gilbert, only to watch her beautiful eyes fill with venomous tears that tracked paths of carnage down her cheeks and directly through his heart.
Well. Fuck.
~~~TBC~~~
Up Next: A Heart Only Hurts If It's Beating
~~~Hours Earlier~~~
"The hell with Mystic Falls, Elena. The Scooby gang can keep it together for one night. I've just been staked with a tiny fucking umbrella so many times that if I tried to drink a coffee right now, it'd probably percolate right through my goddamned chest! So if you don't mind," the sarcasm dripped from his lips like poison, "we're going to get a room, I'm going to shower and have a snack, you're going to sleep and we can deal with the rest of the hysterics in the morning."
~~~See you there!~~~
…. How's that for an intro folks? Just a little tid bit of a teaser… did I hook you? A little? Good, 'cause the rest is already written and hoping for an audience. Next bit could be up tonight… perhaps tomorrow… or if you're all very naughty, I may just wait till Monday. Happy long weekend, friends.