I'm one of those people who gets annoyed when people have a big spiel before the story, so I'm just going to get right into it. This story is set at the end of Season 4, when Damon finds out Elena is dead (after she told him that she chose Stefan). This letter gets lost in the water and no one is ever going to read it but you. It's about the real choice she made. This is my first story, though I've been reading stories on FanFiction for five years now, I've never worked up the courage to actually post anything. I hope you enjoy it. Reviews are always welcome :)

Damon

I've never written you a letter. Now that I think about it, I've never written you anything. Not a letter, or a note or any kind of written communication. Our relationship, if that's what you want to label it as, is mostly based on talking. I like that about you – you communicate with me. And you always seem to know what I'm thinking or what I'm going to do, before I even form the idea. You know me better than I know myself and that scares me, Damon. You scare me. I feel exposed and vulnerable when I'm with you and I hate it. But at the same time it's so completely thrilling and wonderful. I can't explain it, but I'll try because after so long of denying you so much, you deserve to know how I feel about you.

Honestly, sometimes I wish I'd never met you. I'm sorry, but it's true. Late at night when I'm all alone and I can't sleep, I think about what it would have been like if you hadn't turned up here in Mystic Falls. I'd daydream about my life without you – being with Stefan for the duration of my human life, loving him and eventually coming to terms with the fact that I would one day die and leave him behind. But there was always something missing in that picture. The pieces just didn't fit, even in my daydreams, where I could have anything I wanted. That's when I realised that what I'd always truly wanted, was you.

I know it took me too long and I know I hurt you and for that I'm so sorry. I'm sure a part of me always knew, from the moment we first met, but was too afraid to admit it. I think that's why I always chose Stefan. Stefan was safe. I loved him, but I never fully relinquished my control. I never gave myself to Stefan completely. So it bothered me when you came along and made me feel these things, these wonderfully tempting, sinfully amazing things. It made it hard for me to be with you when I felt so much. It was easier just to convince myself I still felt the same way about Stefan than to give myself: body, mind and soul...to you. Because that's what your love does to me Damon. It consumes me and I'm helpless to resist. You give me passion and adventure and even a little danger. It's all I've ever wanted and everything that Stefan could never give.

Dearest Stefan – your brother and my first love. How is it that he always seems to be standing in our way, whether physically or metaphorically? He is the reason we can never be together and I say that in the most non-accusing way possible, because it's not his fault. He needs me, needs my love. Without it, he is lost. He cannot resist the ripper without someone there to help him. I've seen it, we both have. I can never give up on him, Damon, my conscience won't allow it and neither will my heart. No matter that my heart belongs to another.

I'm in the car with Matt while I write this and he's asking me to make a choice. Do I go to you, the man that I love, or do we turn the car around and go back to Stefan, the man that needs my love? By the time you read this letter, the answer will be clear. And though it's hasn't prevented any misery on your part, I needed you to know the truth.

To be honest, I don't even know if you will find this letter. But if I do die tonight, I wanted to give you this one thing so that you would always know, without a doubt, that I had chosen you. You, Damon Salvatore, you are the one that I love – the only one that I will ever love. Forever.

Elena

What do you think?