Disclaimer: I do not own these characters.

A/N: This is just a oneshot I had sitting in my notebook. I'm just messing around with what I think could happen in this week's episode. It's funny I had completely forgotten about it. I'm not sure if it'll stay that way though, I feel like I could make into a multi chapter story if I really wanted to. Who knows.

The day had been a success for them overall. The pair had gotten the information they'd come for, and oddly enough Damon had left in a better mood then he was in when they'd first arrived.

To Elena's surprise he was okay with the fact that they could not kill Klaus. She suspected that it had something to do with what Jeremy told Damon that Rose had said.

She still wondered what it was, and it bothered her more than she cared to admit. The fact that they didn't tell her what it was irritated her beyond belief.

Damon took the lead, swiping the key and walking into the room. The pair were exhausted, silly as it sounds considering one of them was a vampire.

Elena's mind was in shambles, she was beyond tired and the silence, though not completely uncomfortable, was killing her.

Which is exactly the reason why she blurted out the thing that was occupying her mind.

"Stefan thinks I have feelings for you."

The words hung in the silence as he slowly turned around to face her.

She wasn't prepared to see his reaction.

Laid out on the table before her, he face was unguarded. All defenses had melted away, he held no defenses against her.

She'd seen glimpses of this side of him on occasion. And no matter hoe many times she saw him this way, no matter how long she saw it for, nothing could compare.

Overwhelmed by the emotions that hit him from the side he felt his composed demeanor fall away. No matter how he wanted to ignore it, to crush it, he couldn't stop himself from hoping.

"Do you?"

Even though he said it at nearly a whisper Elena could feel how much her answer would impact his. He was completely vulnerable.

The worst part of it all: she wasn't sure how to answer.

"I don't know." Elena saw his face fall ever so slightly "Let me try to explain."

Silence hung over them, her hand frozen in mid air, mouth slightly agape.

"What I should have said, is I don't know what I feel." She frowned. "With you…my emotions are unclear."

"What exactly…is it you do feel?" He bit his lip. "The parts you can label anyway."

"I think the easier question to answer would be what don't I feel." She paused. "You have the ability to make me feel so many things. Anger, happiness, anguish…lust. The only thing I never feel around you is…afraid. And obviously there is something else there…something I can't seem to label." Her doe eyes bore into his, and Damon felt his hope grow larger. "Something that I don't know what to call, because it goes beyond attraction."

"That's…not necessarily a bad thing." Damon fiddled with his hands, trying not to burst from the warmth at the possibility of what she felt. "To know how you feel, you have to have felt it before in your life. You know what sorrow is because you've felt it before. This feeling…it's something not even Stefan has erupted in you. It may not be love…" He drifted off, laughing inwardly at how completely cliché he was about to sound. Finally he lifted his gaze to meet hers, "but that doesn't mean it can't be something stronger."

Elena would be lying if she said she hadn't considered something along those lines. Though the possibility scared her, there was something else it did.

It excited her.

She spoke without much thought, nodding her head. "Something stronger…like passion."

Her words shocked them both.

Damon wasn't sure how to respond to that, so he simply settled for getting ready for bed.

She stared at his back for a moment, not knowing what to say either, but knowing that the topic wasn't near exhausted.

They were both at a loss for words.

As he unbuttoned his shirt she simply slipped into bed, not bothering to change into fresh clothes. Once sitting she pulled off her long sleeved shirt, revealing a camisole.

Damon made his way to the other bed (they had a room with two as requested by Elena.)

He heard her speak softly. "Damon?"

"Yes?"

"Will you lay with me?"

One look at her relaxed form and he was gone.

He could deny her nothing.

Elena's eyes remained closed until she felt his lean frame sink into the mattress, inches away from hers.

"Thank you." She mumbled.

"For what?"

"Putting up with me."

"It's no big deal." Damon continued on until a head shaking Elena pressed a finger to his lips.

"It is a big deal. This whole time I've been horrible. I've yelled at you when you never deserved it. Especially that night at the ball… You showed me that you care, that you feel, and I threw it back in your face. I'm sorry." She bit her lip, pulling her hand from his face to rest it on the mattress in the space between them. Silence. Damon's eyes were the clearest shade of blue she had ever seen. If she let herself she's surely drown in them. "So, care to tell me what Rose said?"

Damon shook his head slowly. "Maybe tomorrow."

Elena nodded, too tired to argue.

Slowly Damon's hand inched toward hers of it's own accord. His fingers wound themselves deftly around hers.

He waited for her to yell at him, swat his hand away, reprimand him for getting a little too close to crossing that blurred line between them – anything.

Rather he felt her squeeze gently as she sighed in contentment.

They ley there in silence as she drifted off to sleep. As her heartbeat slowed and her breathing evened out, he turned to face her.

Elena's face was blank and it was times like this that Damon was most breathtaken by her beauty. Because when she was sleeping, she wasn't worried. In sleep she was free, unshrouded by the darkness that seemed hell-bent on finding it's way to her.

To put it simply – peaceful.

Damon reached out to stroke her cheek tenderly. When it was clear she wouldn't wake, he couldn't stop himself from gingerly pressing a kiss to her forehead.

Quietly he mused to her sleeping mind. "You know Rose, she's rooting for me and you." He sighed lightly, leaning back, "It's nice to know someone believes in what we have."