Title : Why?

Summary : Elena is back with Stefan once he is back to the vegetarian diet. But she finds herself dissatisfied and moody, on the edge, and snarky. She goes over to the cemetery hoping to talk to her family and try to hash things out, but finds Damon drinknig at his mother's grave. Then she finds out something that scares her to bits.

Ship : Delena

Two-shot.

Author's Note: My first The Vampire Diaries fanfiction! Please please PLEASE read and review. Dedicated to all my 172 (on last count) followers on Twitter. I love my TVD Family.

Specially dedicated to Aya (damonandelena_) on twitter.

Elena Gilbert desperately needed to know what was wrong.

Stefan had stopped drinking human blood, and with a lot of coaxing and pushing, he had agreed to stop resisting her. They were in a relationship once again. She loved Stefan, she really did, and she was happy that he wasn't suffering anymore.

Then why was she lying there in her bed, tossing and turning at three in the morning with no sleep lingering on the edges of her conciousness?

Damon had reverted to being perpetually drunk again. He was also pretending not to care by being his usual snarky and sarcastic self. Elena could see he was hurting, but he wouldn't let her close enough to heal. He had erected an invisible wall around his heart, and try as she might, she could not scale it.

Maybe that was the problem.

Elena felt suffocated and clausterophobic inside her bedroom. She had changed so much while the room had remained the same—it felt like a shadow of her old life, one she couldn't go back to now. The life before her parents died, when her biggest problem had been a history test she knew she was going to fail.

She made a split second decision—she wouldn't stay in this room tonight. All this room held were memories, memories too painful to be remembered right now. But where would she go? The Boarding House was quickly eliminated as a destination on the sole basis that climbing into Stefan's bed with Damon in the vicnity just felt... wrong. She loathed hurting Damon, but most of the time she couldn't help it. Then where...

Without any solid plan in mind, Elena simply picked up the car keys and dashed out of the empty house. So much of her life was planned... She was suddenly this VIP who needed to be protected, to be taken care of... But she didn't want to be this. She didn't want to be this girl who was so important to everyone—Stefan, Damon, even Klaus. She wanted to practice cheerleading without thinking about injuring herself and tempting her boyfriend. She wanted her family back. She wanted... She wanted to just be.

Her mood being what it was, she wasn't really surprised to find herself parking in the parking lot of the cemetery. She wanted—no, needed—to talk to her parents. She parked her car, got out and headed to where she knew her family was. An year ago, wandering in a cemetery in the dead of the night would be spooky, but right now, with everything that was going on in her life, the thought was marginally funny.

As she made her way through the thick foilage, she had a feeling that she wasn't alone. A little spooked against her will, Elena looked around, trying to see past the trees to the oldest part of the cemetery. She remembered that part—she had been there with Stefan to dig up Emily's grimoire.

That is when she saw him.

Shee was quite far from him, but she could see his silhoutte very clearly. She could see the leather jacket—she knew how it smelt, how it felt beneath her fingers... She knew the dark-haired man sitting facing away from her was Damon Salvatore. He was sitting on the grass near a grave, facing it, and even as she looked he took out a hip-flask and took a long drink. He was drunk... which meant he was not in his best mood. Elena debated over whether or not she should approach him.

He made the decision for her.

"Just can't keep away, can you?" He said, just loud enough for her to hear.

"I came to see my family," Elena replied as she hesitantly approached him. "What are you doing here?"

"Believe it or not, a century and a half ago, I had a family too. Other than Ye Olde Stefan, of course," he took another swig from the flask. "Okay. I guess, I am outta here. Good night."

As he got up, Elena looked over his shoulder and saw the name on the really old tombstone—Elizabeth Salvatore. "Is that your Mom?"

"Yeah," he muttered. "Look, just go away. I was sitting by a century-and-a-half-old grave in the middle of the night. In case it isn't glaringly obvious, I wanted to be alone."

Elena was about to make a scathing comment about him not owning the damn place when Damon raised the flask again and she noticed something. Something that confused her at first and then made her heart knock against her rib-cage. "Damon, where's your ring?"

"Not on my finger," he retorted, then turned to leave. "Calm your heart down Elena, before you burst an artery."

"No, wait," Elena yelled. How the hell could he be so calm about this? "Is it lost? Where did it go? Damon, the sun's coming up in a couple of hours and—"

"And poof! Ashes to ashes," Damon drawled. "I know. Believe me, I get it. Now go away."

Elena was trying—and failing—to keep her hysteria at bay. Why was he acting like this? She wanted to think for a minute, to figure this out, but all she could see was Isobel going up in a burst of flames. Elena grabbed his arm, trying to get him to answer her. There was a moment where she was dragged along in his wake before he did stop, but didn't turn to face her. "Damon, please. I need you to tell me where it is. I will get it back for you."

He turned back to her. "You can't. I threw it in Steven's quarry."

Author's Note : This was supposed to be a one-shot, but I wanted it up today and I am tired. Sorry. I know it's an evil cliff-hanger. On the flip side, the second and final chapter will be up tomorrow. So, leave a review? Please?