This Dance Will Last Us Forever

Spoilers: Anything up to 2x19 Klaus is fair game, but this fic is based on the Damon/Elena still from 2x22 "As I Lay Dying," as well as the episode summary released by the CW. Everything I wrote is pure speculation on my part, but if you haven't seen the picture, read the summary, or don't want to know what it could possibly mean, now is probably a good time to stop reading.

Summary: Damon and Elena face the truth as death nears and the sacrifice is upon them.

Author's Note: I'm not sure when The Vampire Diaries become my favorite show, but it has stolen my heart and I couldn't be happier about it. While I've written for many fandoms, this is my first time writing for The Vampire Diaries and Damon/Elena. I hope I do justice to the show, couple and characters because everything about them is brilliant and epic. Oh, and if you're interested, the title of this fic comes from the beautiful song "Strangers In The Wing" by Cut Copy.

This is it.

Damon has lived through almost a hundred and fifty years, and he has come face to face with death more times than he can count. There was even a time when he used to recall these face-offs proudly.

It was only mere months ago, when he breathed what he thought were his last breaths in a basement burning up in flames on Founder's Day, that his relationship with death started changing. Damon had felt the darkness envelop him, and, for the first time since he and Stefan first died in 1864, he hadn't welcomed it. He was no longer filled with hatred or the need to destroy those around him. He wanted a chance to make things right. He wanted to live. And he did.

But tonight… tonight is dark, twisted and hopeless, and he knows that this is the end. He only has a few moments to make it count before his entire world is torn into pieces. He knows that very few of them will make it unscathed, if they make it at all.

The fight with Klaus has already gone on for longer than he thought they could bear. The loss is already greater than he hoped it would be, too.

Damon told Elena that he would always choose her and would gladly let her friends die if it meant that she lived. But the truth is that he does care about what happens to the people she loves. He doesn't bear the weight of this choice lightly. When he let John sacrifice himself to give Elena a chance to escape from Klaus, his heart broke for the father Elena was losing for the second time. She put on a brave face and insisted that she was fine, but he felt her cracking at the seams. He would have given anything to take her pain away. While John might have been a first-rate jackass, he was still her father. And who was Damon to judge? He was a worse individual than John in more ways than he wanted to count.

Watching the life drain from Matt Donovan's body wasn't any easier. Granted, the human had been stupid enough to involve himself in this fight, and Damon could not figure out why the hell Matt had thought he would somehow be able to save Caroline, given that his only abilities could be summed up to busting tables and looking angsty. But Damon would be lying if he didn't admit that he understood exactly why Matt had fought alongside Caroline. He wanted to save the girl he loved.

Hell, Damon might be a million times stronger (and ridiculously more handsome) than Matt Donovan, he is currently in the same exact predicament. His 145 years of existence don't hold a candle to Klaus' wrath and twisted ways. And yet, here he is, ready to fight the Original at any cost, even if it means losing his own life in the process. He knows it's a hopeless fight. But it's all for Elena.

Damon looks down at the girl with the fair skin and long ebony hair frantically running by his side through the town's square, and his heart tightens in his chest.

He has spent the last few months fighting the way he feels about her, but he finally gave in when he realized that they only had hours to live. He allowed himself to feel the humanity she unintentionally gave back to him without holding back, and it finally gave his worthless 145 years of existence a meaning. The truth is, Damon can't think of a better way to die than while protecting the woman he loves, knowing that she gave him more than he had ever dared to hope from his undead life.

But as Damon and Elena fight their way through the crowd fleeing the town square after the screen showing Gone With The Wind went up in flames, he realizes that this might be his last and only chance to tell her that. Klaus will be upon them any minute now, Stefan is on his way with Bonnie and Jeremy, and Damon's heart hammers in his chest at the realization that this is really it.

The fact that he can even feel his heart hammer in his chest is a miracle in and of itself that he will cherish forever.

"Elena," he croaks.

When she doesn't stop, he grabs her arms and makes her slow down to face him. "Elena!"

Damon corners Elena between his body and the lamppost behind her. He gives her no room to escape.

Her eyes immediately fill up with tears. She pleads him. "Damon, don't."

He hasn't said a word, but she already knows what the sound of her name means. And Damon isn't sure what she is fighting more: the fact that the end will be upon them any second, or the truth that he is about to make her face.

"I have to," he whispers. He takes a step toward her, shutting out the chaos around them. "Don't you see that? I can't fight this anymore."

Elena looks away, but Damon tilts her chin back up with his right hand. He puts his other hand on the human heart beating wildly in her chest. "And neither can you."

He almost expects her to start protesting that this about Klaus and their imminent death, not about him. So when she brings her own hand to rest on his, atop her heart, and gives him a sad, knowing smile, a dam breaks inside of Damon.

"Listen," he begins, "whatever happens tonight, I want you to know that knowing you has made… that it made my life worth something. You made me human again, Elena. And I wish I could have given you back as much you gave me." He allows his hand to cradle Elena's face. "I'm sorry all I brought you was destruction and pain. You deserve so much more."

Elena starts shaking her head, and Damon sighs. He cherishes being able to feel her heart beat in her chest and he will die happy with that memory, even if she can't reciprocate the feelings that he is confessing.

"No, I don't," Elena whispers. Her words are so quiet that Damon almost misses them amidst the chaos surrounding them. But her eyes are bright with a fire only she can burn with, and he knows that he would never be able to miss that.

"You were right, Damon. There's always been something between us. And I'm sorry I broke your heart over and over again, and lied to you about the way I feel. It's just… it was so much easier to pretend it wasn't there. I wasn't… I wasn't ready before," she confesses.

Damon has already been through a lot of life and death situations with Elena. Hell, even now, they are closer to death than ever before. And yet, he knows without a doubt that the fear he sees in her eyes has nothing to do with Klaus or the impending sacrifice. Damon recognizes the fear in Elena because it's the same one that has been burning him up since he realized that for the first time in his life, he was in love with someone, and that this love could change everything.

"You just… at some point, you became a part of me and I don't know what to do with that because it's more real than anything else I've felt before and it scares me so much," Elena finishes, barely containing a sob.

The boundaries between them are forgotten when Damon brings his arms around her waist and pulls her closer to him with a desperation that matches the intensity of his feelings for her. There is so much more he would like to tell her, but he knows that time is running out. And so he does the only thing that makes any sense.

He kisses her.

He can't help but be surprised when she doesn't push him away. He knows that the past few months of rejection have taken their toll on him, but the wonder of Elena Gilbert kissing him back with all her heart is too great for Damon to grasp.

Elena's lips part and their tongues meet in a heated battle. Damon feels Elena let go in his arms and he clings to her desperately, aware that this is probably all they are ever going to have together. He will do everything in his power to make sure that she lives to see another day, but he knows that he will probably die trying. Having her body pressed against his and her lips on his makes him feel oddly okay with that.

Their lips part eventually. Elena opens her beautiful eyes to meet his.

"Promise me you won't forget this," he asks quietly, almost pleading.

Elena shakes her head fervently. "Never."

Damon's hand reaches for Elena's cheeks and wipes the tears from her face. "You ready?"

She takes a deep breath, her eyes locked with his. A few seconds pass before she places her hand in his. "Yes."

Somehow, he isn't sure how, Elena manages to muster a smile that lights up her whole face. It's a smile that's just for him – for them – and Damon knows that it will be the last thing he thinks of whenever he sacrifices his life to save hers.

- The End -