Author's Note: So this story is set sometime in the future. After all of the drama with Klaus. Elena is in college at NYU. Let me know what you think!
Elena sat flipping through micro films, the silence of the library pushing in on her ears. Her eyes itching from the dry dusty air. She pauses on a page scanning it quickly before flipping to the next. She freezes, her gasp so loud it earns her a shhhh from another patron seated at another table. Elena just stares at the screen, the slamming of a book jolts her out of her trance. She flips to the next page and freezes again. Shaking herself after a minute she quickly hits print and runs out of the library. Climbing into her car she takes off. She pulls to a stop outside a tall glass building. Walking up to the doorman she waves as he just smiles and nods hello, opening the door. Getting in the elevator she hits the button for the top floor and waits.
Damon hears a sharp knock on the door. A smile lights up his face. He throws the door open and freezes. Elena watches his eyes travel the length of her body, a barely contained shiver goes up her spine. Damon takes in the cute black flats encasing her feet, up her long tan legs, over the bright red cotton sun dress which hugged her curves, finally settling on her face. She raises her eyebrow but doesn't comment. She brushes by him, walking into his apartment without invite. "Do you make it a habit to answer your door without a shirt?" She said as she walked into his kitchen grabbing a soda from the fridge.
"Well judging by your heart rate you don't mind." He said smirking. Elena just rolls her eyes.
"You are going to give some poor maid a heart attack." Damon just chuckles as he joins her at the island.
"Not that I don't LOVE you spontaneously dropping in, is there a reason for your visit?" Elena's smile vanished and Damon tensed watching her intently. "Are you ok? Did someone threaten you?" He says as he reaches across the table grabbing her wrists. Her eyes snap up connecting with his.
"No, no, nothing like that." Damon relaxed but did not let go of her wrists, instead he slid his hands down and entwined his fingers with hers. Elena smiled. "I have something to show you, but you need to promise me you won't rush out of here, at super speed." Damon nods. Elena bends over and slips the pages out of her bag, laying them on the table. Damon looks at them and freezes.
Elena's face is staring back at him, but it isn't her, it's Katherine. The date on the article is from 1975, she is smiling and laughing at some concert in New York. Even though he knew she hadn't been in the tomb all those years he had been trying to save her, it still hurt to see her happy. He jumped at a touch on his arm. He hadn't even heard Elena stand and walk over to stand next to him. He looks up at her "I know she wasn't in the tomb Elena. How did you find these?"
"I was looking for some information for a paper for one of my classes and came across them."
"You raced right over here?"
"Yes."
"Elena…."
"This isn't all." Damon raised an eyebrow.
Elena set one last picture down in front of him quietly whispering "I thought you had a right to know."
Damon froze again, his jaw clenched. Elena tightened her grip on his shoulder. They both stared at the picture in front of them. Katherine is laughing her arm wrapped around Stefan's neck as he kisses her cheek. Damon stands quickly and turns away from Elena. "The whole time, I was searching and searching for a way to get her out of that tomb, and he knew she was free." Elena reached out laying a hand on his back, he shrugged away.
"Damon…"
"I will kill him."
"No."
"Elena! You can't be defending him!"
"I'm not. I'm disgusted with him. I'm so glad I told him to take a hike, but you can't kill him. Go ahead and beat him up but don't kill him."
"Why can't I kill him?"
"You kill him and you will lose your humanity."
"Nonsense, I will just flip the switch back on again."
"Really, and how easy has it been to flip that switch back on? You kill him and you won't be able to just switch it back on and you know it. You will lose your humanity."
"So what if I do? So what if I lose my humanity?"
Elena took a step back and picked up her bag. "You lose your humanity and you lose…me." She states simply. Damon's moth drops open, he stares at her as she turns and heads for the door.
"Have I ever had you?" Elena stops her hand on the door knob, turning to look over her shoulder. She smiles and says
"From the day we met." Damon is to stunned to follow her.
