Timeline: 3x22 – 4x10.
A.N.: A ficlet I wrote to overcome my writer block. It worked! I want to say thanks to Ani (marya-morevna), for listening me and Mariah (mchriste22)for being my amazing beta. Thanks for Everything guys :D
Damon never asked for more.
Oh, he wanted more alright. Sometimes he crossed a line or several just to see if there was hope for him to hear what he wanted Elena to feel for him someday.
It never turned out well.
"Damon, listen, I care about you. I do. But I love Stefan. It's always gonna be Stefan."
"I love him, Damon."
So, after that damned call he finally decided to accept his role in her life.
He'd always be her friend, probably never as important as Caroline, Matt and Bonnie because they'd grown up with her, but that was okay. All he wanted was a corner of her heart that he didn't have to share with anyone else, ever.
Wishful thinking, he believed.
But that's okay. Well, not really but he would deal. He's a 170 year old vampire who'd survived so many heartbreaks and disappointments that he would manage.
He's a survivor after all.
He'd remain strong as ever to help Elena protect herself and the people that she loves. She needed all the help she could get and he wanted to be there for her.
That would be enough for him.
Damon didn't want to be in the middle of Stefan and Elena's epic story after The Call, but somehow they managed to bring him into their relationship once again. And, of course, Damon tried to help them. He cared about Elena's happiness more than his own and that meant helping her fix her relationship with his brother, so be it. He would do anything for her, even support her to be with someone who wasn't him.
When he closed the door of Elena's bedroom after telling her about the cure, he could already picture their future. Stefan and Elena in a big house with their children running around and living the human life they'd always hoped to get.
The perfect ending for Stefan and Elena's love story.
He truly needed the company of his old friend Jack Daniel's.
"You."
The single word turned Damon's world upside down.
He couldn't wrap his mind around the notion of Stefan and Elena breaking up because of him.
It can't be right.
There must be a catch or a 'but'.
Nothing is ever easy for him. It's just too simple. Not that what he'd gone through because of his feelings for Elena could be called simple, but he wasn't expecting this.
Elena chose him over Stefan.
Elena is choosing me over Stefan.
It can't be real.
Elena was sired to him.
Of course.
Damon had thought that the worst feeling in the world – aside from thinking that Elena had died – was knowing that she loved someone else and would never love him back.
He'd been wrong.
The worst feeling was getting what he'd always wanted, but not being able to not accept it because it might not be real.
This was karma coming back to bite Damon on the ass.
Damon missed her so much that seemed like he'd lost a limb and he doesn't know how to be whole anymore. Not surprising – he'd always considered her an extension of himself, even though she never knew.
Going through the motions, he helped Jeremy train, cleaned the mess in the lake house and listened to Elena's voicemails.
He barely slept.
The sire bond hit him hard, consuming his thoughts and making it difficult to function. He needed to concentrate on the task – on training Jeremy, but it's difficult. Especially when the woman he loved kept calling him to say how much she misses him.
He wanted to go to Elena and kiss her until the hunter that he has for her was satiated.
(He figured they'd be locking lips until the end of time)
But he can't, so he just sat and waited for his life stop sucking so much.
(He's one hundred percent sure it will never happen)
"I'm telling you it's the most real thing that I have ever felt in my entire life. I love you, Damon...I love you."
She'd said it less than two hours ago to him over the phone.
He couldn't believe it.
She told him she'd never felt anything as real as her love for him and the implications behind these words made Damon's mind reel.
(She never felt like that for Stefan, that's what Damon heard her saying anyway).
He tried not believe her words as the chanting of sire bond echoed in his ears.
He shouldn't believe her, but he wanted to.
He wanted to believe that it was real.
"When it's real you can't walk away."
"I wanted it to be real."
"You know what would make me happy? To know that this entire time that I've been completely in love with you; that what you actually felt for me; was real."
Damon gave in and just for that moment in time, he did.