Missing moment somewhere between 4x11/4x12 - based on a tumblr request. Hope you enjoy it :)
Elena opens the cellar door slowly; she enters and closes it carefully behind her. Damon is still on the floor, weak. When he hears her, he opens his eyes and looks at her while she comes closer.
"You shouldn't be here" - he sounds alarmed, but also grateful to see her
"Stefan will make sure that I won't let you out" - she reassures him
"I just wanted to make you feel more comfortable" - she puts a pillow and a blanket in a corner and helps him to sit. With a towel she begins wiping off the blood from his face; his blue eyes pointed at her, expressing an untold pain. She notices his look.
"Jer told me you had more than one suicidal wish last night" - she begins
"Well, you are not exactly the one who can talk" - Damon smirks, his eyes now away from her - "him dying is not an option" - replies, now serious.
"Seriously, Damon. You told him to kill you without even a second of hesitation" - she puts down the towel and tries to catch his eye
"I've failed you, Elena" - he murmurs - "I've told you I would have kept him safe, I'm sorry".
She shakes her head - "it was not your fault, Damon. Kol compelled you, what else could you have done?"
"Stefan's managed to stab himself…" - he begins, his eyes now pointed at the floor
"Stop comparing yourself to Stefan!" - Exclaims Elena, determined - "you've fought the compulsion as well, and you did it for Jeremy! You almost got killed, for god's sake! And for what? To be another vampire to complete his mark? Hey! Look at me!" - She grabbed his face with both hands and lifted it up, forcing him to look her in the eyes - "I don't want you to think you've failed me" - her last words sound soft.
Damon stares back at those brown, warm eyes for a while. Then he speaks, frowned, almost desperate:
"I could have done better. Maybe I'm just not good enough, you know. Perhaps they are all right, Elena, and you shouldn't trust me to do the right thing. I have already told you once, I deserve this" - his voice is broken by a deep breath. But she doesn't let him finish. She shuts his mouth with a long kiss, because she has finally understood what was going on in his head. Once again, he is hurt and diminishes himself. Everyone keeps mistrusting him, except her. He probably still feels insecure about her feelings for him, afraid to lose her again, like everyone else he had ever loved. He was been exhausted by that turn of events and consumed by all the grief. And in the end he gave up.
Elena kisses him deeply, trying to put in that kiss all the unspoken words that he would have attributed to the sire bond. She holds Damon tight in her arms as to take some of that pain away and put some strength and confidence in him. Then she looks in those sad, resigned, and yet surprised eyes
"Don't even try to push me away, I am not going to leave you. We'll always survive, remember? "