Title: Moving On

Rated: M

Written by: Thieving Thief

Beta: None

A/N: This is set during season 2 around episode 10 and 11. Please forgive any mistakes! I don't have a Beta reader for this story so if anyone wants to beta read for me please feel free to do so.

Damon sat in a chair in the main room of the grandiose house that he and his brother Stephan shared. Jeremy was sitting in the chair across from him blathering on about Bonnie. The kid had decided now that Damon was indeed a friend and had taken to venting his girl troubles to him in addition to everything else. Damon was about to throw him out of the house when there was a knock on the door. Damon went to it and opened the door to reveal Elena. Damon paused for a moment his cold impassive look hiding the flood of emotion that seemed to race forward every time he saw Elena's face. He told her his feelings and before she had a chance to speak he had compelled her to forget…I love her…Damon thought to himself.

"Hey, Damon, is Jeremy here?" Elena asked standing just outside the doorframe. Damon nodded and let her in stepping aside just enough for her to get through. Her arm brushed against him and Damon reveled in her touch those innocent touches that he lived for.

"Jeremy, your big babysitter sister is here to take you home." Damon laughed a bit and returned to his chair as Jeremy argued with Elena. Angry Jeremy stormed out and Elena was left alone with Damon.

"I can't do this anymore Damon…" Elena started taking the seat the Jeremy had emptied. I just want to protect everyone…it's getting harder by the second to do anything but sit here and wait." Elena looked up at Damon tears threatening to spill from her eyes. "Stephan is no help and neither is Katherine, Caroline is tangled up with Tyler and my brother is trying to stick his nose into everything. Bonnie is hurting herself trying to use too much magic than she is capable of. It's all falling apart…I don't know what to do."

"Sounds like it's up to you and me." Damon smirked as he took another swig of the amber colored liquid in his glass. "But I like you am at a loss for what to do other than wait. Claus will find you there's no doubt in that. All you can do is prepare yourself and try to prepare your friends as much as possible in the meantime. The one thing you don't have to worry about, is Stephan….he and Katherine are untouchable in that tomb…Claus wouldn't dare enter unless he has some powerful witch on his side. So you either have a lot more to worry about or a little less…take your pick."

"I still have to worry about you," Elena said softly "Well…I mean you and everyone else…you and Jeremy are the two most likely to get yourselves killed."

"Aww so sweet of you to think of me," Damon smiled and downed the rest of his glass to pour himself some more. "However, I think it may be time for you to get home…you need to get some sleep."

"Damon, do you think Claus would notice if I wasn't there. I mean would he leave the rest of the house alone if he was looking for me?"

"I don't know Elena, never met him." Damon sighed "why, what did you have in mind?"

"I was considering staying here…you can at least defend yourself, Jeremy barely accomplishes that. Also to be honest I'd rather you die than him." Elena stood and looked at Damon for a moment trying to judge the impact of her words on him.

"So, are you staying or what?" Damon asked after a few moments of strained silence. "I am going to go eat so you should probably make a decision. Damon waited painfully for her to answer him, part of him wanted her to stay away because like he said before he didn't deserve her and Stephan did. Another part of him, Damon thought, wanted her to stay though, to be close to her, why do I insist on torturing myself? Elena's voice broke through his thoughts and he looked up to her face as she spoke.

"…So…I'm going to stay but like I said you better not try anything, Stephan being stuck in the tomb doesn't change anything Damon." It was at this point when Damon wished that he could learn to keep his mouth shut.

"I'm sure Stephan doesn't feel the same." He started "He's stuck down there with Katherine, They did love each other at one point you know. It won't take a whole lot to rekindle the flame plus, she's a vampire like him they can share eternity together. You're human Elena just how long did you think this could last."

Elena looked at Damon with a look of pure hatred, there were tears streaming down her cheeks at Damon's words. "You think I hadn't thought about that?" Elena sobbed at him "Do you think I haven't been thinking of that every second, about her hands on him? I have been praying to myself that Stephan loves me more than her but every day that passes where he refuses to see me…I can't keep going on like this….it makes me want to sacrifice myself even more. And now Damon I have you rubbing it in my face like I didn't know…making the ache in my heart turn into a searing pain because hearing it from myself can be tossed away as insecurities, hearing it from someone else, even from you, makes it all real."

"Elena wait!" Damon grabbed her arm as she raced towards the door. "Elena I'm sorry I shouldn't have said that." Damon cuddled her crying form to his chest and sunk gently to the floor. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry" He kept repeating his apologies until she stopped crying he clung to her still and ran his hand gently trough her hair. "Elena, maybe you should go home." Damon said softly "I'm sorry I did this I don't know how to fix it."

"Damon, I said I was going to stay here tonight and I meant it." Elena said pushing herself away from him. "Can we just sit up and talk for a while?" Damon stood and almost imperceptibly nodded.

"I need to eat first then we can talk." Damon took the opportunity to get away from her and went down to the cooler where he kept his stash of blood baggies. He punched the wall and pulled his fist out of the hole it had made in the wood. He fought the emotion of hating himself trying to shove it away to flip the switch like he always did. He was pissed and for once it wasn't at his brother or Katherine but at himself. He made her cry…and he hated himself for it. He wanted her to care for him to turn from his brother but he also wanted the best for Elena which wasn't him no matter how much he wanted it to be. Damon grabbed a blood bag out of the cooler and calmed himself as he slowly made his way back upstairs. He entered the room to find Elena sitting on the couch staring off into space. He gently sat beside her sipping on his blood packet not bothering to put it into a glass. "So Elena, you wanted to talk…"

"I did, still do…I'm just trying to think of how to say it…"

"Alright, I can wait…" Damon muttered sipping again from his blood baggie.

"I know that Stephan and Katherine are well…." Elena's voice broke a little. "So, I've made a decision that I never thought I could make. There's just something in m mind that's driving me to say this to ask this." Elena took a deep breath before speaking again finding it hard to look Damon in the eyes. "Damon, do you…love me? Or at least Care for me…?" Elena asked her breath hitching in her throat as she asked. She looked away from Damon and he sat stunned for a moment before reluctantly answering her question.

"Yes, Elena…I do, I even told you before…when I came to give you your necklace back. I made you forget it though. I had to get it off my chest; I had to know that I had said it out loud."

"Damon," Elena's voice wavered a bit as she spoke. "Why did you take it away?"

"Because Stephan deserves you and I don't and I've said so before Elena but I wiped that too. I guess that's pointless now I could compel you to remember it now if you'd like."

"Yeah, I'd like to remember it," Elena took off her vervain necklace and laid it on the table and looked into Damon's eyes. Damon looked back and began to compel her.

"You will remember Elena; remember what happened when I gave you your necklace back." Damon stopped and waited as the memory ran through Elena's head. He stared at the heart shaped necklace filled with vervain, a present from Stephan, from his brother. Elena seemed to wake from a dream as she looked at Damon her heart seeming to fill with what can only be described as love for him. She couldn't help but think to herself…'I'm turning into Katherine, I'm falling in love with both of them, and they're going to fight over me. '

"Damon, am I turning into her?" Elena asked vocalizing her thoughts to him. "I don't want you two to fight over me, I don't want to be like Katherine."

"Elena…you are NOTHING like Katherine, if you were you would have used me and Stephan not fallen in love with us. I've already made the decision Elena to step aside. There will be no fighting, I love you but Stephan deserves you not me."

"Stop saying that Damon, you've been hurt just as much as Stephan has you just took it differently than he did. You took it harder, which sucks because Katherine loves Stephan and not you. I guess I'm not like her. I honestly love you both, I just can't….I can't stand to think of being with Stephan again if he and Katherine…" Elena stopped in mid sentence her emotions overtaking her ability to speak.

"Elena," Damon sighed unsure of what to say to her at this point. "I don't know what to say from here." He sat back and silently sipped at the blood some more. Elena too was silent as Damon drank his fill from the blood bag. When he was finished Elena looked at him for a moment before speaking.

"Damon, will you kiss me? Elena asked softly all I want is a kiss, nothing more." Elena stared at Damon as he processed Elena's request. Making his decision he kissed her softly his lips brushing hers with the slightest amount of pressure. His hand gently wrapped around the back of her neck and the arm on the opposite side wrapped around her waist. Elena pressed her lips into his a bit harder and wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders. Damon pulled her closer so that she was sitting in his lap the response Elena gave was to slip her tongue past his lips and twist it against his own. Damon couldn't help but moan into her mouth. He was getting his dreams realized Elena was here kissing him and truth be told she wasn't even cheating on Stephan. She had broken up with Stephan, Damon told himself, and she wanted him now. Damon gently laid Elena back on the couch still kissing her deeply for a few more moments before he pulled away from her a bit looking down into her eyes. She looked back up at him with a strange expression in her eyes. She sat up and Damon moved backward as she did they sat there for a few minutes just watching each other as they calmed themselves putting carefully monitored feelings back into place.

"I think it's time for me to go to bed." Elena said standing up and pushing her hair behind her ears.

"Alright then, want me to set up the guest room for you?" Damon asked softly.

"Um, actually if you don't mind I figured I'd just stay in your room with you. No funny business mind you just me sleeping."

"Not a problem I assure you Elena what just happened was even more than I could have asked for. I wouldn't ask for anything more from you nor would I take it if you offered it to me. You love Stephan and me but Stephan had you first." Damon smiled at her and led her up to the room that had been claimed as his. Elena had never been in here before but it smelled like Damon he obviously spent a lot of time in here. The floor was scattered with pieces of Isabelle's research and empty blood packages. The bed sheets were tossed around and laying messily half on the bed. Elena looked around the room while Damon closed the door and stood in front of it. Elena looked through the empty closet and looked at the dresser that had clothes spilling out of it. She worked her way around to a desk that held a computer and more of Isabelle's research. Damon had definitely been looking hard through it for anything useful. Elena noticed underneath a bunch of papers and yet another blood bag something shining. She moved the papers before Damon noticed and picked up a ring the ring had a lapis lazuli in the center of some twisting silver metal work and two small diamonds on either side of it. Damon stood next to her staring at the ring in her hand.

"What is this Damon?" Elena asked quizzically

"It's a ring Elena; seriously I thought you knew your basic objects."

"Whose is it? Its way too small to fit you and it looks like a woman's ring, its Katherine's isn't it?"

"No actually it isn't…it's just something I made to torture myself I suppose." Damon answered reluctantly.

"Who did you make it for?" Elena felt like she knew the answer already.

"I made it on the off chance that I ever ended up with you and I made it a while back. It's pretty much useless now. I was going to get rid of it soon."

"It's pretty Damon, you should keep it. Give it to whoever you end up with I'm sure whoever it is will love it…I would."

"Elena, I love you…I don't know if there will be anyone else. If there ever is though, I will give this ring to her just because you said I should."

"Damon, if Stephan and I don't last…"

"I know Elena…" Damon said interrupting her. "I know already and trust me in that event I'd be right there I think on some level you know that."

"Damon, I think I'm going to go to bed now. I'm just going to go get some pajamas from Stephan's room." Elena left and Damon sat down at the desk next to the bed. He picked up the ring that Elena had dropped on the desk and turned it over in his fingers. He wanted Elena to take it but he couldn't make her… Elena came back into the room wearing a green tank top and a pair of blue pajama pants that had little green frogs on them.

"Cute jammies…" Damon muttered quickly looking away before Elena could catch him staring.

"Thanks," Elena smiled a bit "You can um…lay down with me if you want but uh…yeah…sleeping." Elena climbed into bed and pulled the covers up over herself. She waited for a minute and just as she predicted Damon climbed into bed beside her. Elena felt his arm slide around her and she felt him slide closer so that his chest pressed against her back. Damon felt good against her and Elena soon found herself falling asleep.

A/N: That's chapter one folks let me know if you want more ^^ REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!