"We can't let her stay there forever, Stefan. Her emotions are off she can't beg for us to let her out that's desperation." Damon whispered. It's been 3 weeks of Elena locked up in the cell. They were hoping that it could get her to turn her emotions on but she's just been laying on the ground. "I know, Damon! But what can we do? If we let her out she'll start killing people again." Stefan replied. Their sense of brotherhood had gotten stronger than ever, but that was only because Elena had no emotions, they couldn't fight over her.
Damon couldn't take it anymore; he just went downstairs to see how she was doing. "How's the desiccating going?" Damon said, he seemed like his old, snarky self. "Painful. I want to get out, Damon." Elena whispered back, you couldn't hear her if you weren't a vampire. She looked like she was dead. Damon couldn't help but feel guilty and terrible about the whole thing, if he hadn't told her to turn her emotions off she wouldn't be in this situation. But then again, emotional-Elena wouldn't be able to handle the death of her brother. "I want to let you out, seems like vampire time out doesn't work on you, but you do seem hungry, and I can't afford more dead people to explain to Sheriff Forbes." Damon whispered back, Stefan couldn't hear them. "What if I don't kill any people in Mystic Falls? You could take me somewhere." She answered. Damon thought about it, he could just take her somewhere to feed, what could possibly happen? "Ugh fine. Get up." Damon said as he slowly opened the lock. Elena just stood there, as if she hadn't been starving for the past few weeks. He helped her up and walked her out. They just got in his car and drove off.
It had been a while since it was just the two of them, since they got off that stupid island. Damon looked at her, the girl he has loved for the past 2 years; she looked careless, but still more beautiful than ever. "So where are you taking me?" she said, still silent. "I have no idea let's just drive and see." He answered while handing her a blood bag, she needed her strength.
After what seemed like hours, they got to a roadside cafe. He just let her go in and feed while he stayed in the car. "Just don't kill anybody ok? I know you'll regret it." He pleaded. "Regret is an emotion, Damon." she said, back to her emotion-less bitchy self. Damon's phone starts ringing and of course it's Stefan. "Where did you take Elena, Damon?" he said, with no amount of surprise in his voice. "I took her far away from Mystic Falls, she needed to feed." Damon answered, it was the truth. "I know you love her Damon but she doesn't feel anything right now, you'll regret what you're doing." Stefan said, always acting like the know-it-all. "I can handle her ok?" Damon answered, he was annoyed. From far away he could see Elena, walking to the car. "I didn't kill anybody Damon." She said, like she wanted a reaction out of him. "And why not, Elena?" Damon said, trying to be calm. "I don't know actually. I just didn't want to." She seemed like she was doubting herself. "Ok so where are we going now?" she asked. "Well I don't know, there's a bar close to here, you remember Georgia?" Damon asked, trying to get her to go with him. Suddenly it hit Elena; the last time she was there was 2 years ago, she had just found out about Katherine and drove off in the middle of the night from the Salvatore house, as she was driving she saw a man on the road and crashed her car. As she was almost dying, Damon came up out of nowhere and saved her life, and then took her to the bar. A rush of memories hit her, making her want to feel again. But she fought it. "Oh yes the place where you almost died, how foolish of me to save you." She lied, pretending like that memory didn't spark something inside of her. "Well do you want to go or not?" Damon asked, giving her the choice. "Sure, whatever it's not like I feel. But I am quite hungry." She answered back, not sure why she wanted to go so badly. "Fine then." Damon answered, giving her that eye thing he did; she used to love that so much. Lately everyone in Mystic Falls had been getting on Elena's nerve, telling her who she should be and who she was, but Damon was different, he understood. Even if he didn't like the emotion-less Elena, he still understood her. Damon was right, the bar was close. As Elena walked into the bar, another flashback struck her. That day was the first day she started seeing Damon as a normal guy, who had just always been hurt and unloved, but still wanted to have fun. She didn't know it then but that day made her start to feel something for him. They sat in that exact spot they sat two years ago, and ordered their food. As she watched him eat she couldn't help about his comment he had made that day. "Vampires can't procreate, but we love to try." She couldn't help but feel a little tingly inside, but she quickly brushed it aside. "Well something has changed." Damon said, stopping her train of thought. "What?" she asked. "Well now you like pickles, I remember last time you took them out of your burger." He answered, Oh Damon, always trying too hard to be funny. She thought about that. What you don't like pickles what's wrong with you? That's what Damon had said last time they were there. That was a stupid comment to make, but Elena was thinking, how could he remember such a little thing that happened to them 2 years ago? He must love her a lot, and she could tell even now. He looked at her differently, his eyes sparkled little more when she was in his sight, and she almost laughed out loud at the stupid idea of love. But she couldn't help but feel something, again. Damon knew what was going through her mind, she was remembering everything. That day was little compared to everything they had been through, but it was symbolic to where it all started.
After they finished their food they left, Elena couldn't remember her last time she had human food, and to be honest it felt a little nice. "Ok so why did you really bring me here?" Elena asked, she's sure that Damon had a reason. "No reason Elena, I was just a little hungry." He lied, followed by a smirk. "Ok well there's a reason you brought me to this bar specifically. Why is that? Tell me or I'll kill everyone here Damon you know I don't care." She said, trying to scare him. "Ok, ok I just wanted you to visit a place with memories, hoping it would bring you back and save you." He admitted. "You don't understand Damon I don't want to be saved!" she yelled, and stopped herself before finishing; she had a previous conversation like this with Damon, when she was human, and she had said the exact same words. Damon realized too, he was in awe. "Ok well I get that now. I'll take you home Elena." She wanted to fight him, to tell him he was wrong to bring her here, that it was torture remembering about those things. But she stopped to think, why did she care? As they were walking to the car, Stefan called again. "Don't worry Stefan everything's fine!" Damon yelled, he did not need Stefan to check up on him. "No Damon, this is important, Bonnie's out of control again. Silas is controlling her and we have no idea what to do, she's doing a spell in the forest that will apparently temporarily bring all supernatural ghosts back so Silas can ask them to push from the other side. Every supernatural will be back just for a few hours, Damon." Damon froze to think of every single vampire, witch, & werewolf he had killed. "What do you mean? Damn it Stefan one day I was gone. How do you know all this? Stefan answer me!" Stefan paused. "Caroline was watching the whole thing happen, Silas is more powerful than we thought and there's nothing to do. Just be careful if anything suspicious comes up, and take care of Elena because Jeremy's a supernatural being too. We're trying to fix this so in the meantime try to come back soon." Elena had heard everything, and she was frozen. Just the thought of seeing Jeremy, Alaric and Aunt Jenna! They're going to try and get her to turn on her humanity. But it was too late to think of her problems, because as soon as Damon hung up, three vampires started attacking him. They were ghosts but had vampire abilities it was all so new and strange. Elena didn't recognize them so they must be from before he met her. They all ganged up on him and took punches, Damon couldn't even talk. "You killed me Damon!" "Payback's a bitch eh Damon." was all they kept on saying. Damon couldn't even talk they were breaking every bone. All Elena could think of was why she didn't care so she just stood there. They wouldn't stop hitting him and more ghosts appeared, seems like Damon had killed a lot back then. They took their last punches as one of them took out a stake, Damon just looked up with his one good eye at Elena, trying to remember her face cause he knew he would be dead soon. Just then while looking into his eyes, Elena felt something inside. First she felt anger, so much anger and sadness. It almost knocked her out. Second, she felt guilt and remorse. Then while she was coming back to herself, she saw Damon at the corner of her eyes, taking his last breath while they were about to stake him. "STOP. STOP. PLEASE." They stopped, and looked at her. They threw Damon's almost-dead body aside, and walked up to her. "And who do you think you are?" they asked. "I'm... I'm Elena Gilbert. And that is the man I love, and I'm begging you to stop." She couldn't believe it; it all came back to her. But before she could even think, all she could think about was Jeremy. She couldn't help but sob, she cried and cried and just couldn't stop. But then she got reminded of all the people she had killed while her switch was off, and she just fell down, sobbing. The vampires looked at her, they had no idea what was going on. But she quickly got reminded that Damon's life was in danger and pulled herself together. The vampires looked at Damon, and then back at her. "Please.. I'm begging you please." She pleaded with every emotion she was feeling within herself. "Fine. We taught him a lesson anyways." They said. She was so surprised that they were so merciful, and they just vanished. Elena ran as fast as she could to Damon's side. "Damon! Damon! I'm here! Are you ok? How do you feel?" Damon was conscious, and he looked up at her, the girl he loved so much was back. He just held her face, and kissed her with all the energy he had left. Kissing Damon just made everything disappear, like she was in her own paradise. All she could think of was him and how much she loved him.
Damon's body healed pretty fast, and he was just staring at her. She was quite happy that Damon was alright, but she couldn't help but start crying again. Damon frowned; he knew that when she got her humanity back all the pain from Jeremy's death would be back too. She crawled in his arms and just cried silently, Damon just kissed her forehead and said that it was ok. After she was done they got back in the car to get help for Bonnie and Stefan. During the car ride she couldn't help but cry some more, for all the terrible things she's done, and for all the terrible things she said to people she cared about. During the entire car ride, Damon was thinking. This raises a lot of questions; does that mean that the sire bond was back? Or was it gone? He had to test it. "Elena" he said "Please stop crying, it would make me very happy." They pulled up at the Salvatore house. Elena thought about it, why would Damon want her to not cry? Didn't he understand? "No, I'm not going to stop crying. My brother is dead Damon! How could you say that? I don't care if it'll make you happy or not!" She yelled as she kept on crying. Damon couldn't think, he was overwhelmed. That means that every single time that she told him she loved him, it was true. She did love him, and he loved her. He looked at her with pure joy "Elena, you're not sired to me anymore" was all he could choke out. Elena now understood why Damon said that, and she realized what this moment meant to him. She always knew she loved him but he thought it was because of the sire bond, she had to set the record straight once and for all. She looked him straight in the eye "I love you Damon Salvatore, and you should know that. I loved you since the beginning when we met and I love you now. I'm sorry it took me so long to admit it to myself but you should know that I love you, and only you." It was all true, and it came straight from her heart. Damon couldn't even think. All those years of being unloved by his father and brother and Katherine, he had finally gotten his I love you and from the girl he loved the most. He just hugged her as tightly as he could and whispered "and I love you Elena, I've missed you so much." They started kissing and couldn't help but feel ecstatic. While going down to the forest to solve the other problem, Elena watched Damon drive with a huge smile on his face.
They walked into the forest to find Bonnie, Matt, Caroline & Stefan together. They all looked fine. "What happened?" Elena asked. "We beat Silas at his own game." Stefan answered, but then looked down to see that Damon and Elena were holding hands. Everyone looked down. "Um, what just happened?" Caroline said "Um. Guys I'm back." Elena said while holding up Damon's hand. All their jaws dropped. "WHAT" "ELENA" "WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?!" They all screamed "It's a long story." Elena said as she looked at Damon, smiling. "Let's just say that I'm no longer sired to Damon, and that he brought me back. I love him." They all looked somewhat pleased. Stefan did look a little hurt though, so Elena went up to him. "Listen Stefan, I know what we had was real. And I know that I loved you. But Damon is the one for me, he is my soul mate. I am so sorry." Stefan looked down. "I know Elena, believe me I figured this out the moment I came back and saw your relationship. I guess I just didn't want to admit it to myself. But I've been over you for a while now, and am starting to move on." He said while looking at Caroline, smiling. All the gang went to the cemetery so Elena can have some closure and some time to mourn. Stefan looked at Damon, and realized that he was truly happy for his brother. Elena looked at the man she loves, and noticed how much she has changed since they first met. But that's what love is, it changes you for the better. She knew that it wasn't over, and that they will have fights and more problems. She thought to herself; yes this is my life, and I love it. I will forever mourn for my brother and parents but I will not let those things bring me down forever. I love Damon and he loves me. Not to mention my amazing friends who will help me get through this. There will always be a problem but that's what makes life worthwhile.