I didn't want to see you get hurt okay? I was worried about you.

The word worried seemed like a understatement. I didn't think I even knew the word to describe the panic that had filled my chest. The thought of losing Damon was almost unthinkable. I'd already lost one Salvatore brother. I didn't think I could live through losing the only one I had left.

"Thanks" he quipped, smiling at me in his usual way as he moved to get around me. I willed myself to just let him go but failed. My words coming out jumbled as everything I had been holding in spilled out.

"I worry about you okay? Why do you even have to hear me say it?" I took a deep breath waiting for him to interrupt or answer but he didn't. Biting my lips as I tried in vain to shut myself up. Knowing the consequences of this confession would be far from pleasant, or maybe I was just worried that they would be to pleasant. That I would enjoy the consequences far to much for me to ever admit.

"I need you" I couldn't deny the way his eyes softened as I spoke, his tense shoulders relaxing ever so slightly.

"With Stefan gone and Bonnie not around well I don't really have anyone else. That I can talk to, that makes me feel safe" The easier the words flowed out the harder it became to stop them.

I forced myself to look away from his eyes, ever so blue and full of an emotion I didn't dare to try to figure out.

"I can't lose you Damon. Okay? I just can't"

His arms were around me faster than I could realize, holding me safe and secure against his chest. His lips pressed against my hair, sending shivers down my spine.

It was then that I realized I was crying, tears escaping without me ever giving them permission to do so.

"I'm not going anywhere. I promise you. I will never leave you Elena" his words soft and sincere, felt heavy on my heart.

"You won't lose me, not ever"

He picked me up before I even realized he had moved. Scooping me up as easy as if I were a small child instead of my newly 18 year old self. Setting me down on the bed softly and settling in next to me.

It was strange seeing him so at ease, his head resting comfortably against my pink flowered pillow case. While I stared I found it impossible not to compare him to the only other vampire that had been so at ease laying next to me.

"You miss him don't you" Damon whispered, it wasn't a question. Just a statement of fact.

"Do you?" my words felt heavier now somehow, with Damon's face impossibly close. His hands resting dangerously close to where I really wanted them to be.

His snuggled in closer then, breathing in the scent of my hair, my skin, my cheek, my lips.

"Everyday"

We were both silent then, watching each other In the darkness, sharing every breath.

"Promise me something" he said suddenly, his face suddenly only inches from my own. His body pressed tightly against mine.

I nodded, unable to speak.

"Please stop trying to take yourself away from me. I told you once that I couldn't lose you but I don't think you ever understood that true meaning behind my words. Losing you would mean losing the only person I have truly loved in over a hundred and sixty years. You're all I have Elena. Losing you would simply destroy me"

I suddenly found myself unable to breathe or respond. Tears fill my eyes once again I did the only thing I could think of. I lifted my head so that we were nose to nose and did the one thing I had been telling myself I could never do again. At least until I had figured out why I had ever done it in the first place.

I kissed him, with everything I had me. Smiling as his hands tangled themselves against my back.

"I love you" he whispered in between feverish kisses that soon began to deepen. I nodded, clasping my hands against his back, binding him to me.

All the while knowing that no matter what happened to us because of this, no matter what consequences we might have to have to face. Only two things mattered.

I loved Damon Salvatore, whether I wanted to admit it to myself or not. I'd never needed another (not so) human being more in my life. This I knew.

More than that though, there was something else that was absolutely positive. Something that mattered more than anything else.

Damon Salvatore loved me, he'd never made a secret of it. Never pretended, never buried his feelings to far down for me to see. He loved me, and would keep me safe no matter what came our way.

I only wished I'd know, as he curled himself against me. How bad the consequences we would now face would be.