A/N: Hi everyone :D I hope you're all recovered from Thanksgiving. I know I'm looking forward to all the leftovers today :) So I have a post Thanksgiving offering for all of you! A new DE story. I have a bit of it planned out, but I'm still open to ideas. The premise is post cure, and out favorite Mystic Falls vamps have to learn how to live like humans again. I hope you all enjoy it and leave me lots of love. I'm really thankful that I have such great readers and followers. Thank you all :)

Elena Gilbert yawned widely and sat up in bed, stretching her arms over her head. She squeaked and curled up as her boyfriend poked her in the side.

"Damon!" She admonished, "That was so not nice." Elena gave a mock scowl. Damon laughed, feeling lighter than he had in years.

"Aw, Elena, I'm not known for being nice." He smirked and pulled her down, planting a kiss on her shoulder. Elena hummed in pleasure.

"You're plenty nice to me." She smiled and pulled her hair away from her eyes.

Damon's lips were working their way up her neck, landing just below her ear.

"I've waited 150 years to find you, I won't let a little snark push you away." His breath was hot on Elena's neck and she shivered.

"Mmm, I can't believe everything that's happened. It almost doesn't seem real." She spoke, almost to herself and Damon pulled away, propping her head on his hand.

"I never, in 150 years, imagined that my life would end up like this. How does a guy go from being a vampire for a 150 years, living his life the way a vampire would, to a human again?" Damon's brow wrinkled as he thought a bout the path his life had taken.

"I don't know. I should've celebrated my 20th birthday last month. Instead I'm still 18. Where do we go from here?" Elena tucked her head under Damon's chin, listening to the sound of his heartbeat. A thrill shot through her as she listened, Damon's heart was beating! To the same rhythm her own heart was!

Damon sighed; his body was so much weaker than he was used to. He was last human in 1864; he'd seen and done, so many things since then. How would he learn to live as a human again? He kissed the top of Elena's head, loving that he was free to do so.

"We'll do it together, I'm never leaving you Elena Gilbert. You're mine forever." He breathed, knowing she'd hear him.

"Good, because I want to be yours forever. I want a love that consumes me." She smiled against Damon's chest, recalling his words from so long ago. It felt like a lifetime since she had first met that mysterious stranger, and in a way, it had been.

After a morning romp and a shower that took twice as long as it should have, Damon and Elena made their way into town. The October day was warm and there were a lot of people walking around. Damon held onto Elena's hand tightly, rubbing it with his thumb. She looked down at their entwined fingers and smiled. After the tumultuous two years they had just had, she was excited that they could finally be public with their relationship.

"This is nice." Elena said, ducking underneath their interlock fingers and letting Damon's arm rest across her shoulders.

"Yeah it is, but what do we do now? There aren't any hunters we have to plot against; Klaus is gone. I'm bored." Damon was looking around for anything that he could get involved in. Elena broke away from him. She faced him and planted her hands on her hips.

"You're bored? We'd better find you something productive to do, you're going to live for another few decades." Elena laughed lightly, as this realization dawned on her boyfriend.

"I'm going to have nothing to do with my life anymore. What kind of horrible mistake have I made?" Damon's eye widened and he began twisting the sun-walking ring that he still wore. Elena looked away from him, his words ringing in her ears.

"You really think this was a mistake? I thought you wanted to be human again more than anything?" Damon's head turned towards Elena as she spoke. Before she had finished talking, he was already shaking his head.

"This wasn't a mistake Elena, we deserve these lives. I just don't know what to do. I'm lost all over again." Damon sunk to the grass and leaned against a tree trunk. Elena squatted in front of him. She rested a hand on his knee.

"Damon, I'm going to help you, I promise. You'll make this transition and we'll be better for it." She smiled gently, "Okay?"

Damon looked up into her eyes and nodded, "Okay, now, can I go get a drink?" He stood up and grabbed Elena's hands to pull her to her feet.

Elena laughed, "No, it's only 11 o'clock. And humans get hung over. Let's keep the drinking to a minimum."

"No drinking, your stamina is diminished, I can't kill things. What's the big perk to being human again?" Damon grumbled as Elena dragged him back to her house.

"Me." Elena smiled at him over her shoulder.

"Okay, I'll take it." Damon smiled and wrapped his arms around Elena's waist, pulling her into a hug.

They walked into the Gilbert house hand in hand. Elena paused at the foot of the steps.

"Damon, I can't do this. I…I don't want to be here anymore." Elena had been to her house only once in the two weeks since they had found and used the cure. Damon could understand why she was so hesitant to be here. This was the house that had seen all of the horrors of the past two years. Jeremy had 'died' countless times in here, several of them at Damon and Elena's own hands.

"Okay, we'll get all of your stuff and move you into the boarding house. Jeremy can come too if her wants, there's plenty of room."

Before Elena could answer, Jeremy came down the steps, backpack slung over his shoulder. He stopped on the bottom step and grinned at his sister.

"Hey Elena, I didn't know you were coming over. What's up?" Jeremy said as he accepted the tight hug Elena pulled him into.

"I just came by to pick up some stuff. Jer, how can you stay in this house? After everything that's happened, don't you want to run far away from here?" Elena sighed as she let go of him.

Jeremy raised an eyebrow at his sister. "Running away from here isn't going to change what happened. I'm choosing to accept it. Um, is there anything else? Because I'm going to be late for class."

Elena shook her head, but there was so much more she wanted to talk to Jeremy about. Instead she gave him a kiss on the cheek and smiled as he waved goodbye to Damon before running out to his car.

As soon as the car was out of sight, Damon turned to Elena.

"What was that about? I thought you were going to talk to him?" Instead of answering, Elena took a deep breath and began up the stairs. Damon trailed her, asking her what she was doing.

"Did you see him Damon? He was smiling. He wanted to get to school. Damon, I don't know how he did it, but he's finally happy. I don't want to uproot him from this house if he's happy here." She leaned against the wall as Damon finished climbing the stairs.

"Then he'll stay. You don't have to though. You can stop being strong for him. Jeremy is 18 years old and he's proven that he's more than capable to care for himself. You'll be a 5-minute drive away if he needs anything. If you're going to be miserable here then it'll rub off on him and that's not what you want." Damon grabbed hold of Elena's hand, "Come home with me. The boarding house needs you. I need you." He dropped a light kiss to her cheek and Elena smiled.

"I just want him to be okay. I just want us all to be okay." She wrapped her arms around Damon's waist and buried her face in his chest. Damon stroked her hair.

"We will be okay. It's just not up to you to make sacrifices anymore. We're all in on this now, no going back."