A/N: So this in an idea than came to me a few days ago while I was preparing to go to sleep and it just wouldn't leave my mind so I wrote it! It's angsty but with a little bit of fluff and lots of dalaric love! :) Read and enjoy.

Also a big THANKS to my amazing beta xthesebonesx who helped me a lot with this fic and gave me ideas to make it better! Thank you! You're the best! :)

Disclaimer: I do not own TVD or the characters. If I did Damon, Alaric, Stefan and Klaus would walk around naked! ;)

Warnings: Slash and Angst (don't like, don't read)

Good bye... for now.

It's been one month since the war; since Klaus died, and Stefan was finally free, as he struggled to return to his old self. One month since Elena told him that they couldn't be anything more than friends, and ran back to his brother. One month since their worst nightmare ended and, surprisingly, everybody survived.

They couldn't have done it without Elijah's help, of course, but that didn't matter- all of them were still alive, and Damon decided he should be happy.

They had a lot of reasons to be happy- they finally won; that should have been incentive enough for him to celebrate, like the others were doing. The other reason to cheer was that he and his brother had been getting along really well this past month. Brotherly bonding aside, though, Damon just couldn't bring himself to be happy.

Instead, he was at the boarding house sulking in his own misery, while simultaneously trying to drown all memories of his pathetic life in bottles upon bottles of each type of whiskey that he could find. As always he was alone; Stefan was supposed to be on a double date with Elena, Barbie, and The Mutt.

And Rick? Damon guessed he was with his psycho girlfriend.

Given the fact that he didn't have any other friends, that left him all alone for the night. He didn't really mind when he thought about it, because being with someone would mean they would try to make him talk about his "feelings," and that was the last thing that he wanted.

Damon downed the last glass of his second bottle of bourbon, when a thought crossed his mind-

What am I still doing here?

There was no reason for him to stay; Klaus was dead, Stefan was back home, and there were no other threats around- so why was he still in this shitty town?

"Elena," his mind answered, "...and Alar-"

He didn't let his mind go there. That was forbidden territory, as far as Damon was concerned, and had been, or a while now.

This definitely wasn't the best time for him to go there.

Maybe he should just pull a "Katherine," leave this stinkin' town, and move on with his life. It was obvious, now, that Elena would never choose him, and he had no real friends, besides Rick, anyway. There was Liz and Barbie, but they could live without him, he thought.

He'd been thinking about leaving for quite some time; the idea crossed his mind a few times before, but he didn't act on it because Klaus was still an issue, and he never ran away from a fight. He needed to protect the people that he cared about, and that was enough of a reason to stay. But now? Now, there was nothing tying him to Mystic Falls.

Maybe it was time for him to act on it.

Damon didn't need to think twice; he immediately got off of the couch and walked to his bedroom. He pulled a small bag from his closet, and began packing for, what was, his escape. A pair of jeans, a couple of t-shirts and a pair of boots; he could buy more clothes when he decided where he wanted to go.

The last thing he grabbed was is passport before he slung his bag over his shoulder, and headed to his car.

It wasn't long before he was driving through the town square, where he saw the gang hanging out; Stefan, Elena, Caroline, Matt, Bonnie, and Jeremy sitting in the garden-talking, laughing, and acting, just like the teenagers they were.

He looked at them for a second before he drove away. Even if they annoyed him most of the time, he knew a small part of him would miss them. Nevertheless, he didn't want to think about it right now; if he wanted to move on, he had to leave now, before he changed his mind.

But before leaving, he had to do something.

Damon stopped in front of the familiar apartment building, and climbed out of his car. He walked up the stairs, and took a deep breath before knocking at the door.

When the door opened, Alaric looked at him groggily.

"Damon? What are you doing here?" the man asked, as he glanced at the clock in the wall. "At almost 2am?"

"Can we talk?" Damon asked seriously, ignoring his friend's tiredness, and Alaric nodded as he stepped aside, letting him in. "Is Meredith here?"

"No, we… uhm… we broke up" Alaric confessed awkwardly. There was an uncomfortable silence before he spoke again. "So, what do you want to talk about?"

"I'm leaving Mystic Falls, Rick," Damon said bluntly.

"What? You can't leave!" Alaric exclaimed in return, before he allowed Damon to continue.

"Klaus is dead, and there's no other danger in this town... it's time for me to move on with my life. I won't be able to do it here."

"It's because Elena's dating Stefan, again" Alaric stated, rather than asking.

"Among many other reasons... I need to go to find myself again," he admitted, slowly. "Somewhere between Katherine, Elena and the Klaus mess, I lost myself. I forgot who the real Damon Salvatore is, and it's time for me to find him. I need to have a life that doesn't involve Katherine or her doppelganger... this obsession has to stop, Rick, and I can't forget about them when I see Elena every day."

"I get it," Alaric nodded, but there was another uncomfortable silence. "Hey, so who's going to be my drinking buddy, now?" he asked playfully, trying to break the tension.

"I know, no one will ever be as good as me," Damon said, as he gave him his trademark cocky smirk. "But I'm pretty sure you'll find someone to get drunk with you."

"No one will have your fantastic selection of bourbon. Now I'll have to drink the cheap stuff," Alaric said, returning his smirk.

"That's all you care about?"

"Pretty much, yeah," he grinned but then his smile fell. "Will I ever see you again?" he asked quietly.

"Don't worry Rick, you won't get rid of me so easily," Damon laughed, but it came out dry and humorless. "You're my best friend, and one of the few people I would like to keep in my life, no matter how far away I am."

"You've finally recognized that I'm your best friend," Alaric smirked again. "It took you long enough."

"Yeah, don't gloat on it" Damon answered and smiled at Rick, but it didn't reach his eyes. "I'm going to deactivate my cell phone... but I'll call you when I have a new one. Just promise you won't give the number to anyone."

"Not even your brother?" Alaric asked.

"I'll call him, too, so he won't bother you."

There was a long silence before Alaric looked down at the ground.

"Guess this is goodbye, then."

"Yeah," Damon said quietly.

He only gasped when Alaric pulled him into a hug.

Alaric held onto Damon tightly, as the two men stood there, in the quiet moment. He was definitely going to miss the smartass, cocky vampire when he was gone.

Alaric wanted to go with him, but he knew that with all of their pretty much gone at this point, Elena and Jeremy still needed him. He couldn't leave them alone; not after everything they had been through.

He didn't want Damon to leave- but he knew it wasn't fair to him to stay in Mystic Falls any longer. He had all the right to move on with his life, so he would support him and be happy for him, even if his heart was telling him otherwise.

Alaric reluctantly pulled back from the embrace, and when he looked at Damon, he knew something had changed. The cocky glint he always had in his eyes was long gone, and replaced with something more intense- something Alaric couldn't quite place- but before he had the chance to think about it, something unexpected happened.

Damon's lips smashed against his.

Damon felt Alaric's body tense against his, and he considered pulling back, until he realized Alaric's hand in the back of his neck bringing him closer- kissing him back.

His hands slid from Alaric's shoulders to his face, as he massaged his cheeks with his thumbs, while he kissed him deeply, but gently.

Their lips molded like they were made for each other- and it felt right.

Damon's tongue slid against Alaric's; deepening the kiss, as he started exploring his mouth. It was better than he ever imagined it would be, as he recollected on the very few times he let himself think about how it would feel to kiss Alaric. Despite how good those thoughts were, he never imagined it would feel this good, or this right.

Instantly, he was starting to regret the decision he made to leave Mystic Falls, although he knew that he had to, at this point. If he ever wanted to have a real relationship with Alaric, it had to be when he completely got over Elena and Katherine, because it wouldn't be fair.

Damon knew what it was like to always be competing for somebody else's heart, and that was the last thing that he wanted for Alaric.

But that was only if Alaric felt the same way he felt.

Alaric was the first to pull back because air was quickly becoming an issue.

"Damon… I-" he tried to say, breathlessly, but Damon put a finger to his lips and stopped him.

"Don't say anything," Damon whispered. "I know it's not fair for me to do that when I'm about to leave... but I had to, Rick, because I didn't want to leave before telling you how I feel."

"How do you feel?" Alaric asked quietly.

"I... have feelings for you," he admitted. "I love you, Rick and I have for a while... but I never thought about acting on it."

"Why not?" he asked- "What if I want this too?"- He kept the second question for himself.

"Because you're my best friend and I didn't want to ruin that," Damon reasoned, he took a deep breath before he continued. "Plus, I always considered myself straight, so it took a lot from me to come to terms with my feelings," Damon explained. "I love you, Rick... but I'm still in love with Elena, too, and as far as Katherine goes? I don't even know. I hate her because of everything she's done to me, but a part of me still loves her and I don't want that to get in the way of us. If we ever tried to make this work... I want it to be only you in my heart. It wouldn't be okay if I was still thinking about somebody else. I know how that feels... that's not how I want you to feel," Damon said softly, and Alaric nodded silently. "So I won't ask for an answer now, Rick, but in a few months or maybe years, when I finally get them out of my heart... I'll come back for you. And if you're single, and still want me... then we can give us a chance, okay?"

Alaric's eyes were full with tears; he didn't know what to say.

This was a lot to process in one night-especially when he was still coming to terms with his feelings for the vampire in front of him. So he did the only thing he could do- he pulled Damon in for another kiss.

He had to try to show Damon his feelings for him in that one kiss, because God knows he had no idea how to express them in words.

"I love you too, Damon" Alaric whispered when they parted. "And I'll be waiting for you, so don't you take too long."

Damon smiled warmly before responding.

"I'll be back before you know it," he reassured.

There was another silence and Damon tried to brush it off, to be nonchalant so he tried to joke with Rick. "I'll be sure to annoy you through messages and phone calls, so you won't be able to forget me" he laughed but it came out more like a choked sound.

"You better," Alaric smiled sweetly.

"I promise," Damon said, and kissed Rick one more time, before he hugged him tightly. "See you soon," he whispered into his ear.

And with that, he walked out of the apartment, shutting the door behind him.

Alaric walked over to the couch, and sat down, trying desperately to keep himself from running downstairs, where he would beg Damon to stay, because this just felt so unfair.

But he stopped himself- he had to respect Damon's decision, even if it hurt so much.

He had no idea when he would see Damon again, but one thing was for certain; he couldn't wait until that day came.

A/N 2: So what did you think? Should I write a sequel? A story about when they meet again and what happens? If many of you want it then I'll write the sequel! Review and tell me your thoughts! Feedback is always welcome! :)