Elena sat down and starred at the empty closet across from her. The hangers pushed neatly to one side, it looked to perfect, almost staged, like someone else had done it. Elena would have thought that, had she not noticed his best liquor stash was missing and the few personal things he never left without. If that hadn't been enough of a give away the letter that was currently slipping from her fingers was more than enough proof. No one could fake his hand writing, it was entirely impossible, no one could fake the smell of him that lingered on the paper. No this was all real, it was really happening, he was gone. The tears started to flow down her cheeks and fall onto her shirt darkening it with little spots of color. He was gone, he broke his promise to her, he left her, Damon was gone. With this thought she fell over onto her side curling into a ball on the bed, the sobs shaking her so hard she was convulsing.
Caroline found her there sometime later. Stefan had called her, Elena had all but staked him when he had gone into the room. Caroline took one look at Elena's crumpled sobbing form and said she was going to kill him. Elena just looked at her, her face filled with more pain than Caroline had ever seen. It was all she could do to keep it together, she knelt on the bed next to Elena and just held her. "He left me Caroline, he promised to never leave me again!" Elena screamed.
"I know, I know." Caroline murmured
"Why?" Elena whispered the pain in her voice almost more than Caroline could bear.
"I don't know." She whispered back as tears formed in her eyes too.
Days passed and still no word. Elena tried to call him thousands of times, it wasn't until she was in his bathroom that she heard the faint vibration and found his phone under the counter. He had cut off all ties. She broke again, her body, her heart shattering into a million pieces. This time she did stake Stefan when he came into the room, screaming at him. Telling him it was his fault and he should be ashamed to even think they would ever go back to the way things were. They never would, she couldn't forgive him and she couldn't forget Damon.
I miss those blue eyes
How you kissed me at night
I miss the way we sleep
Like there's no sunrise
Like the taste of your smile
I miss the way we breathe
She turned into a ghost, pale and waif thin. She barely ate and barely slept. When she did sleep it was always in his room. Caroline took to staying at the boarding house to keep an eye on Stefan with Elena there so much. Caroline, Bonnie, even Alaric would spend hours begging her to eat, sleep, live. It fell on deaf ears. Elena was gone, she left when he left and she wasn't coming back until he did.
But I never told you
What I should have said
No I never told you
I just held it in
And now I miss everything
About you
I can't believe I still want you
After all the things we've
Been through
I miss everything about you
Without you
The days turned into months. They made a truce with Ester. Klaus wasn't a problem anymore. Stefan stopped bothering Elena and started to get his life back together. He joined in with Alaric, Bonnie, and Caroline begging Elena to return to normal. Nothing worked. They all graduated with a little help from vampire compulsion. Elena walked through the ceremony with a detached vacant look in her eyes. She smiled in the pictures and thanked people for their congratulations but her eyes were so empty. She had thought, had hoped that he would come back, surely he wouldn't miss one of the most important days of her life. But he never showed. She fell asleep crying that night curled in his massive bed, his cologne still on the sheets.
I see your blue eyes
Every time I close mine
You make it hard to see
Where I belong to when I'm not
Around you
It's like I'm not with me
Summer went by and Caroline and Bonnie prepared to leave for school. Elena prepared to begin her online classes. She wouldn't leave she told them, not until he came back. It was her house after all. They couldn't convince her, so with tearful goodbyes they left promising to be back for spring break. Stefan stayed for the first year. Then the second, and then he left, unable to watch the shell of the girl he used to love. Caroline and Bonnie came back every year and would see her. She lived at the boarding house, she never left except for food. They gave up trying to convince her and just spent time together, trying to get back into the normalcy their lives had before all the madness. Elena couldn't, she was a shell of her former self, she would never be the same.
But I never told you
What I should have said
No I never told you
I just held it in
And now I miss everything
About you
I can't believe I still want you
After all the things we've
Been through
I miss everything about you
Without you
Four years later, Elena and Caroline, now both college graduates were sitting in the same spot they had been on that day all those years ago and Elena was looking at Caroline. Really looking at her for the first time in four years with recognition in her eyes, begging her for something Caroline never thought she would ask her for. "You want me to do what!" Caroline asked shocked. Elena just nodded her head, she was sure. Caroline looked at her again before she nodded her head in turn as well. "Alright." Elena smiled, really smiled for the first time in years.
When she woke up hours later to Caroline and a bag of blood she was still smiling. Bonnie was there too. She was upset, but she understood. She handed Elena a ring, and more tearful goodbyes were said. They would keep in touch, but both new they would only see each other sparingly. Caroline stayed for a few months, helping Elena adjust and then she left too, and as far as the town new, Elena left with her. Alaric was the only one to know the truth.
20 years later at Christmas they were all back. Sitting in the boarding house, but they were still missing the most important person. He wasn't there, he hadn't come home. It was a night filled with laughter and reminiscing. As they all parted ways they knew, there would only be one more time and then they would start losing people.
30 years later, Caroline and Elena stood in the dark at the cemetery. They had visited all the graves. They had lost so many loved ones in the past few years. Their mortal lives demanding they leave. Elena leaned down to place the last of the flowers on Bonnie's grave. Tears fell from her eyes and she and Caroline held each other as they mourned the passing of their last family member.
Caroline and Elena sat in the boarding house living room, starring at the fire. "It's been 50 years Elena, I think it is time you left this place. You need to live your life."
"I'm not leaving. Not until he comes back. I can't." Elena whispered. Caroline studied her for a few minutes before she nodded.
"Alright. Well I am going to head out. It still isn't safe for me to be here yet. I'll call you." Elena nodded and hugged her before she walked out the door and disappeared into the night.
Curling up in his bed that night, the sheets had long since lost his scent; Elena sighed and closed her eyes. She could still remember the smell perfectly; tears formed in her eyes and ran down her cheeks. She would wait for forever if she had to.
But I never told you
What I should have said
No I never told you
I just held it in
And now I miss everything
About you
(still you're gone)
Can't believe that I still want
You
After all the things we've
Been through
I miss everything about you
Without you
10 years later Elena was sitting in his room brushing through her long hair when she heard the front door open and close. She froze, and then ghosted over to the stairs, silently moving down them. She stopped at the bottom when she saw the black duffel bag, but began to move again when she saw the familiar black leather jacket. She froze in the doorway of the parlor, his back was to her, he hadn't hear her, not that he would she moved as silently as he did now. She stood there watching him fix himself a drink, waiting, hoping this wasn't a dream. He finally started to turn around, her brown eyes met his blue ones and the sound of a smashing glass echoed through the house.
"Katherine!" He said shocked. When she didn't move he looked at her again. He allowed himself to believe his eyes. "Elena?" he said his voice so quiet if she hadn't been a vampire she wouldn't of heard him. She nodded as she took a step forward. "Elena…"he said again his voice breaking as she came to a stop a foot from him. The mask he had put in place over the last 64 years had cracked and as he starred at her she saw straight to his broken and splintered soul. She smiled and said simply
"Welcome home, I've been waiting for you." He just shook his head and took a step closer to her cupping her face in his hands.
"How…Why?..." The questions swam in his eyes and she read them clearly.
"I wasn't going anywhere until you came back. I needed to tell you something that I didn't get a chance to tell you before you left." He just shook his head again still not believing.
"I love you." She stated simply. His eyes widened. "Forever, obviously." She said smiling again. "I made my choice, I just hope I'm not too late." She said for the first time looking unsure. Damon just shook his head again, before he kissed her. When the kiss finally broke he smiled.
"There is never a too late in forever. I'm just sorry you had to wait so long." Elena smiled at this.
Years later they came back to Mystic falls and Elena stood in the grave yard starring down at the weathered stones tears running down her face. Strong arms wrapped around her and she leaned into the embrace. Knowing that the pain of the loss was worth the love she now had. She raised her head, chocolate and blue locking in an unbreakable gaze.