Title: I lied
Summary: AU set at the end of Katrina. Could turn it into a multi-chapter down the road. if you're interested let me know. I could work it into a plot-line. I hope you like...
Rated: T
Disclaimer: As always I don't own the vampire diaries or Damon..sigh...:(
**Set at the end of Katrina after Katherine finishes telling Elena her story. Canon up to that point.
"It's not just you you know." Katherine said coldly. "Klaus needs a werewolf too, Tyler will work of course he needs a witch but Bonnie should suffice and as for the vampire...hm...who to use."
"Caroline?" Elena gasped. "You were just going to hand all of us over?"
"Not necessarily to both of those assumptions. I'm tired of running that much I know. Whether or not I decided to hand you all over or break the spell on the moonstone and end it once for all was still undecided when I hit this town." Katherine replied flippantly.
"But then you had to stand in my way with Stefan..tsk, tsk Elena." Katherine hissed.
"You had your chance you betrayed him, compelled him to love you and let him think you were dead." Elena spat back. "What makes you think you deserve him now?"
"Please I never compelled him to love me. You can force people to do things and make them forget but you can't force someone to feel something they don't feel." Katherine said in a cold voice.
"I think we're done here. You told me about Klaus. I'm leaving." Elena said forcing herself to keep her voice calm and steady. She refused to cry in front of Katherine not ever.
"By the way the vampire I would have picked. Do you wanna know who it was going to be?"Katherine asked as Elena gathered her stuff.
"Not Caroline...that just wouldn't do. It wouldn't be tragic enough." Katherine voice trailed off. "I would have picked Damon."
Elena whipped around her eyes wide. "How could you..how. No you're lying you wouldn't have."
"I never loved him." Katherine laughed. "It was always Stefan. I told him that too. The same night you did I guess, how ironic. I heard that night ended with quite a snap."
Elena gasped she was finally starting to put that night out of her mind. Damon locking Katherine up for her and then helping Stefan save her had redeemed him in her eyes somewhat. Now Katherine was bringing it all back and she started feeling sick.
"You..you.." Elena stuttered, so Stefan was right, she realized slowly, Katherine had sent Damon off the deep end that night.
"He thought you loved him, he thought you were in the tomb. You lied to him. He spent 145 years in love with a lie." Elena said feeling an anger come over her remembering Damon's broken face the night she wasn't in the tomb.
"Well I am now." Katherine laughed dryly.
"Where you belong." Elena muttered angrily trying to digest this new information and how it was making her feel.
"I didn't break his heart that night." Katherine said. "You did. I simply told him the truth which he already should have known."
"Damon and I were just friends and he knew that. He came to me that night because you hurt him. He was desperate," Elena deduced.
"That's not why he came to you." Katherine laughed. "Take off your stupid necklace and I'll show you why he came to you."
"No..I won't let you compel me." Elena exclaimed.
"It's the only way you're going to see it. It's the one nice thing I'm willing to do for you. You're going to die when Klaus comes here you all are. But he's going to die first to try to save you. You need to have this memory. I took something from you that I realize now I shouldn't have. I'm willing to give it back. Take off your necklace." Katherine said her tone serious and her eyes looked almost human.
She was morbidly curious at this point. Against her better judgment and knowing that both Stefan and Damon would probably kill her for this Elena took off her necklace.
"Go to sleep." Katherine said staring into her eyes.
Elena closed her eyes and fell into a strange sleep the dream started instantly but it was more vivid and real then anything she had ever dreamed before. She could see herself walking up the street to her house. But it wasn't her. The movements weren't her own.
"Damon?" She said seeing Damon leaving her house as she walked up. The voice that wasn't her voice asked him what he was doing here. Elena watched his face furrowed in deep thought.
"A failed and feeble attempt at doing the right thing." He offered.
"Which was?" She asked a slight curious edge to her voice.
"It doesn't matter. Let me take this." He said grabbing her things and setting them down on the porch for her.
'It matters to me.' Elena tried to scream but instead she just stared at him looking slightly awed. It annoyed Elena how good Katherine was at mimicking her facial expressions.
"You know I came here wanting to destroy this town and tonight I wanted to save it." Damon said a bewildered expression on his face. "How does that happen?"
"I don't do good Elena." He continued before she could comprehend a though. "It's not in me."
"Maybe it is." Katherine said at the same time Elena thought, yes it is I've seen it so many times. It's there Damon...
"No that's reserved for my you and my brother and Bonnie. But tonight Bonnie saved me." He said a look of shock overtaking his handsome features.
"Why do you sound so surprised by that?" Katherine asked looking up at him in a way Elena was sure she would have.
"Because she did it for you." Damon said his walls down and his eyes completely vulnerable. Katherine gasped and Elena was sure it was the humanity Damon had just shown her. "Which means somewhere along the line you decided I was worth saving...and I want to thank you for that."
He leaned down and kissed her cheek and it was so tender and so sweet that Elena felt herself melt she could feel his lips on her own cheek. She looked up at him and he searched her face his eyes full of hope as leaned down and carefully touched his lips to hers.
Elena said she wouldn't have done it but she lied because at that moment she could almost feel his lips for real even through the dream even knowing it wasn't her and it felt so right. He kissed her more passionately holding her head carefully in between his hands. Her hair lacing through his fingers. She felt like a fire exploded through her body and wondered what it would feel like to kiss him for real. Katherine cringed for a moment and pulled away Elena wasn't sure why she wanted to do the opposite she wanted to throw her arms around his neck and not let go when the door clicked open and Elena opened her eyes gasping.
Katherine looked smugly at her as Elena quickly snapped her necklace back on.
"I..how could you...he thought,." Elena couldn't get out what she wanted to say because images of Damon and her fighting on the porch during the mayors funeral came to mind suddenly.
"Your afraid now that Katherine's here I'm going to snap." Damon's voice floated into her mind."I don't need her for that."
"So you're telling me everything we've been doing these past few months meant nothing?"
"Of course they didn't mean nothing." She whispered. "They meant everything."
"What was that? Talking to yourself now? Am I that bad of company?" Katherine scoffed.
"The worst company on the world." Elena muttered considering the irony in that statement. "I have to go find Damon."
"Wait you didn't hear the best part of my story yet. How Klaus killed everyone after I ran away from him. My entire family was slaughtered Elena. Don't take him lightly. " Katherine warned as Elena ran out of the tomb.
She exhaled and finally let the tears out once she reached the woods. Lettng the impact of everything Katherine said hit her. It wasn't just her in danger it was her and everyone she loved. She couldn't let that happen. She had to find a way to stop it. She fell to her knees images of Damon filling her mind. She loved Stefan she really did but she had lied to Damon that night. Their was something between them and it wasn't always Stefan. If it was they would got back together after Damon locked up Katherine in the tomb but Elena just couldn't she told Stefan it was because she didn't feel safe but he wasn't the danger anymore it was her and yet she still had no desire to reunite with him.
Something changed once they were apart for a while. Elena started feeling herself getting back to her. Despite all the danger surrounding her she actually felt a sort of weight of her shoulders without him. As much as she had loved him and still did always would..she felt like she always had to fight so hard for their love. In moments of actual calm times she felt like they were 'forcing' it. Always pretending to be normal pretending their lives and the complications between them didn't exist instead of facing them and becoming stronger they ignored them and it only pushed them further apart.
She knew she was just as much if not more to blame for this then him but the fact was the things between them, which for the most part consisted of Katherine and Damon were hard to face and impossible to talk about for both of them. Sp Elena ignored the fact that Stefan pretending he never actually loved Katherine was a lie or that the feelings she had for Damon were strictly platonic and she wasn't playing with fire by allowing their bond to deepen more and more.
She was in danger they were all in danger. It could be the end for any of them maybe all of them and she realized they couldn't hide anymore.
"Or maybe that's exactly what I have to do." She considered as she started running towards the boarding house hoping Stefan would still be at school a plan forming to mind. A plan she hoped he would go for. Hearts would be broken and lives would be changed but maybe just maybe they could survive.
She was out of breath when she finally reached the boarding house and took her time to calm herself down. She decided against knocking and just walked right in. She could hear voices in the living room and started towards them quietly.
"You remind me of Trevor." Rose was saying.
"Why?" Damon scoffed sounding offended. Elena smiled Damon was Damon no one else Rose had no clue what she was talking about.
"Your determination to protect her." Rose explained.
"I will protect her." Damon said his voice hard.
Elena walked in caustically pretending she hadn't been listening.
"Elena?" Damon turned around he looked like he had been deep in thought. "What are you doing here?"
"I did something...I need to talk to you." She said feeling awkward Rose was staring from her to Damon shifting on her feet.
"If you could go somewhere." Elena said looking at Rose dismissively.
"It's still daylight.." Rose said awkwardly.
Elena threw her a 'look'.
"I'll just go upstairs.." Rose said scurrying up the stairs in an obvious slow speed.
"What's going on Elena?" Damon sighed. "Shouldn't you be at school with my 163 year old brother."
Elena bit back a smile. "I skipped."
"Since when did you become a delinquent?" he asked raising an eyebrow.
"I needed to get more information in Klaus, we hardly know Rose besides she kidnapped me. We don't know if we can trust her." Elena said in a whisper.
"She can probably still here you." he said mocking her loud whisper.
"I don't care anyway. Just go get your stuff we're leaving." Elena sighed.
"Come again?" He said looking bewildered and slightly amused.
"Klaus is more dangerous then any of us thought. It's not just me it's everyone, everyone I love is in danger." I sighed. "I'll explain it to you in the car let's go before schools out."
"Where are we going?" Damon asked cocking his head to the side.
"We're running away together." Elena said her face completely serious.
Damon stared at her silently his face unreadable.
"Today." Elena said impatiently.
"Elena...what are you doing?" He asked his voice low.
"I'm trying to save everyone I love you included. This is the only way., We can't kill Klaus and we can't evade him. He'll come here looking for me. If he knows anyone here helped me run he'll kill them. So if everyone assumes I ran off to be with you he has no reason to kill anyone here." Elena explained.
"So he comes after us." Damon said. "Then you're still in danger."
"I realize that but we'll be ready for him. We'll figure out a way to kill him or we'll just hide and hide well until we do. We have a better shot on the run then being sitting ducks here." Elena said.
"What about Stefan? He's going to think you left him for me." Damon said.
"I am." Elena said her voice quiet.
"To keep him and everyone else safe." Damon pointed out.
"Stefan and I broke up and never got back together Damon. There's a laundry list of reasons for that but you're on the top of it. I'm done lying, and I'm done pretending., I don't know what I feel for you. It's confusing to say the least. But I'm not going to keep fighting it. I can't anymore. I'm asking you to runaway with me Damon, you not Stefan." Elena sighed.
"I don't deserve you." He said his voice so soft she could hardly believe it was him talking.
She walked over to him and kneeled down so she was eye level from him.
"Don't you think I should be the one who gets to decide that?" She asked gently. "Damon... Katherine did something..."
"What?" He asked worry shading his handsome face as he glanced over her looking for any signs of damage.
Elena took a deep breath and put her hands on either side of his face.
"You do deserve me. You are good Damon it is in you, at least when it comes to me it is. I didn't miss all the things you did and they didn't mean nothing they meant everything. The way you came to me and approached me that night scared me because I was scared of my feelings for you. But I need to tell you I know what I missed now the most important moment of all of them...and I lied I would have kissed you back." She said watching his eyes start to water his lip quivering just slightly.
"You are worth saving Damon...to me you will always be." She finished slowly pressing her lips to his.
**Please review!