a/n: This is my new fan fiction that is set right after the season finale. The first little bit is just a recap to build my story on. I put a scene from the show at the beginning of this fan fiction so it isn't mine. All I did was put that part of the show into words. I would also love it if you would review my story! Thanks!

Chapter One Disturbing the Universe

Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.
-The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

Damon felt defeated as he left the Gilbert house. He had expected to help Jeremy in some way, but his attempts at peace had only been met with frustration and pain. Jeremy wanted the pain to be completely erased, and that was something Damon simply couldn't do. He could take away the memories, but apparently the pain still lingered. Whatever good he had expected to do tonight had quickly been squandered.

As Damon closed the door behind him though, he saw Elena walk up the porch steps. Every time he saw her, she merely took his breath away. Her beauty was phenomenal. Even she didn't realize how absolutely perfect she was.

"What are you doing here?" she asked sharply, almost defensively. Why did she always need a reason for him to be here?

"A failed and feeble attempt at doing the right thing."

"Which was?"

"It's not important." He reached down. "Let me take this for you." He took her clothes that she had worn earlier and draped them over the swing. Then, he glanced back toward her.

"Thank you."

"You know, I came in this town wanting to destroy it," he confessed as he glanced toward her. "Tonight, I found myself wanting to protect it. How does that happen?" He shook his head. "I'm not a hero Elena. I don't do good. It's not in me."

"Maybe it is," she responded quickly and Damon had to fight to keep his thoughts focused.

"No," he responded too quickly. "That's reserved for my brother, and you, and Bonnie. Even though she has every reason to hate me, she helped Stefan save me."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Why do you sound so surprised?"

"She did it for you. Which means that somewhere along the way, you decided that I was worth saving."

He stood too close to her now. He knew it was a bad idea to try what he was about to, but as long as she stood there, he couldn't help himself. He just had to know.

"I want to thank you for that," he spoke softly. He looked deep into her eyes and saw a slight gleam of mistrust there. But more important was the spark of apprehension as he stood so close to her.

She glanced to him and offered him an understanding smile. "You're welcome."

Then, Damon leaned in slowly and kissed her gently on the cheek. He wasn't sure what to expect, but she didn't pull away. Instead, she stood there and let him kiss her. When he started to pull away, he stopped and gazed into her eyes. For a small second she glanced down at his lips. Everything inside of Damon screamed at him to be good, but he wasn't used to listening to that side. Instead, he wanted Elena, and since she had looked at him like that, he had to try.

Slowly, he leaned in and kissed her gently on the lips. She didn't fight or protest. Instead, she kissed him back apprehensively. A slight wave of happiness raced through Damon's being that he couldn't suppress. He kissed her again, this time with more passion. He moved his hands to cradle her head when the door to the house opened.

Part of his happiness faded when Elena backed quickly away from him. Jenna stood at the door of the house with a stern expression on her face.

"Hi," Elena said quickly.

"It's late. You should probably come inside."

Elena only nodded as she picked up her clothes from the swing and entered the house. Then, she was inside and the door closed in Damon's face.

As he touched his lips, he glanced back toward the house. Even though his entire being wanted him to believe he had just kissed Elena, his entire existence screamed out that he hadn't. Slowly, Damon walked over to the large window that allowed him to see into the kitchen. Elena stood at the island and put up the knives that had been freshly washed. John stood next to her as he apologized for everything that he had done in the past. Personally, Damon didn't care about his confession. John had tried to kill him, and Damon didn't forgive easily.

Then, everything fell into chaos. Elena grabbed onto one of the knives and swiftly cut through the finger that John's special ring was on. She moved with inhuman speed to pin John against the cabinets. Then, John's final word said it all.

"Katherine."

She smiled a deadly smile as she plunged the knife deep into his stomach. She let his body fall to the ground and licked the blood from her fingers. Her gaze turned toward the window then and she grinned mischievously at Damon.

Damon could only gaze at her in wonder. But then the worst thing that could have ever happened occurred. He heard the front door of the house open as someone else entered the building.

"Jeremy," Elena called, and Damon felt his heart shatter. Katherine winked at Damon before she turned and dashed toward where Elena stood.

Damon didn't waste any time jumping up and through the kitchen window. He felt glass shatter around him, but didn't care about the mess. Elena's life was so much more precious than that.

Damon barely made it to Katherine before she touched Elena. He tackled the vampire quickly and felt both their bodies crash to the floor.

"Leave Elena," Damon cursed as Katherine bit into his neck. He saw the determination shine in Elena's eyes and wanted to save her. She was one of those people who never wanted to be saved.

But then the unthinkable happened. Katherine swiftly pinned Damon to the floor and used the knife she had killed John with to slash a deep gash in his chest. Damon screamed out in pain as he fought to grab onto Katherine. By that time, however, she was already up from the floor and going toward Elena. Before Damon had a chance to respond, Katherine skillfully used the knife to make a long cut across Elena's stomach. Elena collapsed onto the floor before Katherine shrugged. Then, with a wink, Katherine disappeared out of the house and into the night.

Cursing, Damon felt his body heal from his otherwise lethal wound. In any other circumstance, Damon would have raced into the darkness after Katherine. But now, Elena was dying and he could feel her life force slipping away.

He crawled over to her and cradled her head in his bloody lap. She moaned slightly and that small sound tore Damon's heart. A year ago he would have never thought about crying over a mere human, but if something happened to Elena now, he knew he'd never stop.

Knowing it was the only way, Damon used his fangs to slice a hole in his wrist. He placed his blood to her lips and watched her slowly swallow it. Under any other circumstance she would have hated him for being the one to have to save her, but now, he didn't have a choice.

Then, the stupid aunt entered into the room with Alaric following close behind. She started yelling out things that Damon tried to ignore. He heard her curse "adulterer" and "demon" and "murderer" at him. Thankfully, Alaric grabbed onto her and prevented her from charging at Damon while he tried to heal and save Elena.

Elena coughed then and Damon fought back a shout of joy. The wound that had consumed her stomach no longer appeared as fatal. Elena's beautiful eyes fluttered open, but then Damon could only see her intense pain. As soon as he knew she was going to be okay, he removed his wrist from her mouth. Then, he smiled warmly at her and watched as she fell asleep against his body.

During that time of sheer happiness, everything around him fell back into place. Once again he could hear Jenna screaming curses at him. Alaric tried to get her to calm down, but that only caused her curses to be focused on him instead of Damon.

"Do you have a plan?" Alaric asked while Damon picked Elena up off the ground.

"No," Damon smirked. "I thought you could take care of her."

Damon didn't even wait for Alaric to respond. He took Elena upstairs to her room and left Alaric with the screaming aunt. Part of Damon felt guilty for leaving Alaric alone with Jenna, but the other part found the situation funny. Whatever bond Damon now had with Alaric didn't wipe out his sense of humor.

As Damon laid Elena onto the soft covers of her bed, his entire heart melted. The brief happiness he had felt earlier when he had thought he was kissing Elena was nothing compared to knowing now that she was safe. He would give her up a thousand times over if it meant she got to live.

A gnawing feeling tore at the back of Damon's neck. He knew they couldn't stay at Elena's house, especially since Katherine had been invited in. And to make matters worse, Damon knew he had to call his brother.

Still, Damon couldn't bring himself to move. He had come so close to losing Elena because he had been selfish enough to not interfere with Katherine when she killed John. Damon had ignored his instincts and had almost lost everything because of it.

"Damon," Elena moaned. At first, Damon thought Elena had woken up, but when he moved toward her, he realized she was deep in her reviving sleep.

A sigh escaped his lips then and he raked a hand through his dark hair. Every ounce of humanity he had left in his being longed to hear her say his name again, but a darker voice told him that her saying his name when she was asleep meant nothing. She loved his brother, not him.

Not sure what to do, Damon moved into the bathroom to clear his head. What he saw, however, made no sense.

As he stared at the empty pill bottles that were spread across the vanity, he arched an eyebrow. When he heard a moan come from Jeremy's room, Damon raced to the door and cursed.

Lying in a fetal position on the bed was Jeremy. His skin was a deathly white and sweat poured from his body. Held tightly in his right hand was an empty vial of blood. Damon cursed again. He didn't sign up for this.

Pulling out his cell phone, Damon quickly dialed 911. He had no desire to deal with an angry Elena when she found out he'd inadvertently convinced her brother to change into a vampire.

Thankfully, the call didn't last long. Then, he dialed his brother's number.

"Get to Elena's house," Damon said when Stefan picked up. Without waiting for an answer, Damon hung up.

He didn't like the idea of leaving Elena and Jeremy alone upstairs, but didn't have a choice. He had to tell the humans downstairs what was going on before the ambulance arrived.

Thankfully, when Damon came downstairs, Jenna was sitting in an almost coma-like state on the couch. Her eyes grew wide when she saw Damon, but she remained quiet.

"An ambulance is on the way to get Jeremy," Damon began slowly.

Then, Jenna's silence broke. "What? What did you do to him?" She was on her feet and pointing an accusing finger. "If you did anything to hurt him, I will stab you."

"He hurt himself all on his own," Damon frowned as he crossed his arms. "And I'll deal with John's body later. There's no way to explain his death to the authorities so why bother?"

A muffled sob escaped Jenna's lips as she collapsed back on the couch. Alaric wrapped his arm around her and shrugged at Damon.

Before Damon could say anything else, the door to the house opened and Stefan came inside. His expression was grim and he looked to Damon for answers.

"I can't even remotely explain everything now," Damon replied as sirens blazed in the distance. "Jeremy is close to dying from a drug overdose. I'm trying to prevent that from happening. If he does die, he'll be like us."

Comprehension dawned on Stefan's face. He opened his mouth to speak, but Damon cut him off.

"Katherine is back. She killed John and attacked me and Elena. Elena is okay and is currently upstairs sleeping it off. There's a chance she'll attack again. One of us needs to take Elena and get her to a safe home. Whenever she's safe, that person needs to come back here and get rid of John's body. The other one needs to go with Alaric, Jenna, and Jeremy to the hospital and make sure they're okay."

"I'll stay with Elena and keep her safe."

"I knew you were going to say that." Damon smirked. "And I'm going to politely disagree. Too many things have happened and Elena needs to know the truth of all this as soon as possible." Damon heard the door to the ambulance truck shut. "And I messed things up. I need a chance to explain myself."

"If anything happens to her, I will kill you," Stefan made clear. "If you make any sort of move, I will kill you." He glared at him. "I am only letting you go with her because I feel like you're stronger now. If something happens to her, I'll make sure I'm strong enough to destroy you."

"Yes brother," Damon smirked. Then, he rushed up the stairs and to Elena's room. He closed the door to her bedroom just as the door to the house opened. He made sure to stay quietly on her bed while Jeremy's body was taken downstairs and loaded into the ambulance.

While there was nothing to do, Damon simply stared at Elena, and wondered if he'd ever get the chance to tell her how he truly felt.