It was eleven am on Christmas morning and Elena Gilbert didn't think she could get any more stressed if she tried.
She'd been at the boarding house since dawn and she still hadn't managed to get the turkey in the oven.
Damon had been gone for over an hour, in a what she suspected was both an attempt to avoid spending time with her and a belated effort to find cranberry sauce. And it didn't help that her stuffing for the turkey had, for some unknown reason, turned out soggy.
It just wasn't her day.
To top it off, for some bizarre reason that she couldn't begin to fathom; though she had her suspicions. Damon had decided to invite both Stefan and Caroline to join them for the evening.
Could anyone say awkward?
And okay, it wasn't like she and Damon were a couple, not with the stupid sire bond still hovering over their heads. But she'd really been looking forward to spending some time alone with him, even if he was treating her like she had some nasty communicable disease.
Another twenty minutes passed and Elena was just putting the finishing touches on the turkey, when Damon breezed into the kitchen.
She closed the oven door distractedly and turned to watch, as he deposited two bulging grocery sacks on the kitchen counter.
Raising any eyebrow, she moved towards the groceries.
"Did you buy every can of Cranberry sauce in Mystic Falls or something?"
She peered into the closest bag and frowned.
"Damon, please tell me there's cranberry sauce in here somewhere and you didn't just use getting it, as an excuse to go on a booze run?"
She glared at his expression of bewildered innocence.
"But Elena, I'm positive you said cranberry juice and what's Cranberry juice without vodka. And since I was there already, buying the vodka, I figured I might as well stock up." He smirked.
Elena rolled her eyes and gave him her best 'you are such a dick, look'.
"Really Damon! You were gone for nearly an hour and a half and all you got was alcohol. What? Did you think I needed cranberry juice for marinating the turkey, or were you just planning on getting us drunk enough that we'd be able to get through this evening, without any one else dying," she demanded sarcastically.
When he cocked an eyebrow and just shrugged, Elena finally decided that it was time to stop playing nice and to start addressing the real problem.
"Look, I know you told me to stay away and I know that you think the only reason I'm here is because of the stupid sire bond. But Damon, it's Christmas and I miss my friend. I miss you. Sire bond or not, we've always had an understanding, you said that yourself. So why does the fact that I might want to spend some time with you, seem so strange?"
She reached across the counter and laid her hand over his.
"You've been there for me so many times, in so many way's. And lot's of those times, were because you knew I needed someone that would just let me be myself, without having to put on a happy smile. Can't you see, that's what I wanted to do for you, that's why I wanted to make dinner for the two of us. I didn't do it to make you change mind about us, or to make you feel bad because you sent me away. I did it because it's Christmas and I wanted you to know, that no matter what happens between us in the future, you're still going to be my friend. And friends don't let other friends spend Christmas alone."
Her eyes were sad as she studied the tightness of his jaw. She felt her frustration mount at her inability to make him understand, even as he physically pulled away from her yet again.
"You asked Caroline and Stefan to come over for Christmas dinner Damon and we both know that the only reason they agreed, is for the same reason you asked. To keep you and I from doing something, you think I'll regret, if the sire bond does eventually get broken. But you know what... I had these feelings in Denver and I wanted your company while Stefan was gone, so really what's so different? And yes, I know we had sex and you think it was the sire bond and you're scared it might happen again; again because of the sire bond. But Damon, let's be honest for a minute. We both know that I was attracted to you before becoming a vampire, how is it that any different to now."
Damon's eyes flared at her question, anger and disbelief shinning out of them, as his mouth twisted into a bitter smile.
"Gee Elena... let me think. Oh yeah, that's right. I never unfell for him Damon, I have to let you go... Or my personal favourite. It's always going to be Stefan. That ring any bells for you Elena? Coz they sure as hell ring a few for me," he spat derisively.
"It's been fuck all time since you ran back to Mystic falls to be with my baby brother and got yourself vamperized. And here you are, suddenly out of the blue, wanting to spend time with yours truly. The only difference, is when you were human you could resist whatever fucked up thing you felt for me and now you can't. So excuse me, for not wanting to take advantage of that. And yes, I am well aware that Bunny boy and bitchy barbi, would not have excepted my dinner invite if it wasn't for your presence. But I do not now or have ever, needed your pity. I've spent more than one Christmas alone, why the hell should this one be any different." He scowled.
"I didn't ask you to come over and cook, so why don't you take your friendship and skedaddle over to Blondie's place, where it will be appreciated. I just want to be alone so I can drink myself into a stupor, before I have to undoubtedly run off and fix some other Mystic Falls crisis." He sighed heavily.
"I just wanted an angst free night, without any of you people around to remind me that everything is my fault. So go Elena, let me have just one night where I can wallow. I promise faithfully to be back to my usual chipper self the day after tomorrow, at the very latest."
Elena cocked her head to the side and studied him thoughtfully.
"So...If I go, would that make you happy Damon? Do you really want to be alone on Christmas day?" she asked carefully.
Damon ran both his hands through his hair and gave a frustrated groan.
"Haven't I just said that. What exactly about go Elena, didn't you understand? I want to be alone, I want you to leave and I want to not have to think about how fucked up this whole thing between us is. So yes, it would make me happy beyond belief, if you could for once in my life, just do something that I want for a change."
Elena shrugged and grinned.
"Are you sure about that Damon? You really want me gone?"
"Arrgh! Jesus woman, what's it going to take. How many times can I say it."
Elena's smile got broader if anything.
"Well Damon, it seems to me, that you are not only shit out of luck when it comes to getting your own way, you are also really crap at siring. Coz guess what? I'm not going anywhere and if that makes you unhappy... well suck it up and deal with it." She smirked at him knowingly and waited.
Damon's eyes narrowed before suddenly widening.
"Hold on... what the hell Elena.?"
Elena nodded, a smug grin curving her mouth and her hips swaying as she moved towards him.
"Uh ha... And the penny drops. Looks like someone in this room isn't as sired as we thought.' she gloated in a singsong voice.
"So Damon, wanna tell me not to kiss you and see how that works out?"
"Uh... Okay. Elena, don't you dare kiss me," ordered Damon sternly, his own mouth turning up in a sly smile.
"And just so we're clear, you are absolutely not to jump my bones and demand that we have hot sweaty sex on the kitchen floor." He grinned lewdly and widened his eyes expectantly.
Elena rolled hers and giggled.
"Sorry Damon, but I'm very much afraid," she reached up and pulled his face down to hers, "That I'm really going to have to ignore what you want."
Her mouth settled on his, her tongue flicking against the seam of his lips until he opened them. She ran it along the edge of his teeth until she found one budding fang, which she proceeded to tease with the tip of her tongue until she felt it lengthen.
Pulling back to look at his face, she was pleased to see her teasing kiss had had the desired effect. Black veins snaked beneath his eyes and the usual blue had been replaced with the blood red of his vampire facade.
She moved down his throat scraping her fangs as she went, her hands busy tugging at his belt as she growled lowly with her own possessive need.
"God Damon! I've wanted you for so long, and just so you know, the only thing your blood did to me was to make me a vampire. But it's being a vampire, that made me understand that wanting you is only part of what I really felt. Human me was too scared to face what that meant, but this me... this me isn't."
She moved back to his mouth and nipped at his lips, her fingers popping the button on his jeans.
Leaning back she met his stunned and hungry gaze, her own softening.
"I'm in love with you Damon. I don't know how or when it happened, but I do know it's the truest thing I've ever felt. I was scared to face it before, because truthfully...I knew that the life I thought I wanted, wasn't the one I'd have if I gave in to you. If I'd let you consume me the way I knew you could, there would be no question about if I turned, only when, so I fought it. But now that I don't have to fight it anymore, the funny thing is that it's nowhere near as scary as I thought it would be. I want eternity with you... I want you to show me the world, I want a love that consumes me and I want it all, with you and only you." She smiled up at him and waited for his response.
Damon's eyes bled back to the normal blue, his pupils blown wide with lust. He reached for her and yanked her against him, his mouth meeting hers with the fierce passion she remembered from their one night together.
When he finally released her mouth minutes or hours later, Elena's legs were shaking and she was wetter than she could ever remember being.
"Damon," she gasped. "Please Damon..."
He smirked down at her.
"What do you need Elena? Tell me."
"I need you Damon, I need you inside me. Please now, no more waiting," she rasped out.
"If I give you what you want Elena, then that's it, there's no more running back to my brother, not this time," he growled warningly. "If we do this, then your mine and I will never let you go. Do you understand?"
"God Damon! Yes, yes I understand, I'm yours, yours for as long as you want me. No more waiting, no more misunderstandings, I love you and I'm yours."
With her words, whatever restraint Damon had left, vanished.
His arm swept out and cleared the counter. The sound of bottles smashing and the smell of vodka barely registering on the on the lust dazed couple.
Damon picked Elena up and she wrapped her legs around his waist. Instantly bucking up against the hardness she could feel, pressing against her centre, she panted shallowly, as he snarled his need.
He lowered her to the newly cleared counter top and with one quick economical motion, ripped her jeans from her body. Her shirt followed seconds later, until only the scarlet scraps of her lacy underthings remained.
Elena meanwhile, was straining up into his kiss while she used her legs and feet to push his jeans down past his hips. She shuddered as she felt his cock nudge her sopping panties, giving thanks that Damon's commando status seemed to be the norm, rather than a one off. She wriggled impatiently and bit his lip, her need more than plain, as she let out a low pitched whine of desire.
Damon smirked against her mouth and answered by ripping her panties from her body. Then, because he enjoyed hearing her make that particular noise so much, he deliberately ignored her thrusting hips and their obvious entreaty, to slowly rub and tease her clit with the very tip of his cock.
"Fuck Damon... Please," she gasped, her eyes fluttering closed. "I want to come with you inside me... I want you to come inside me. Fuck me now Damon, foreplay later," she growled, her eyes slitted half closed with passion.
Damon groaned as he felt his cock twitch with his need to give in to her demands. He wanted to tease her, he wanted to draw it out, he wanted her to beg for him, the way he'd dreamed.
Fuck it!
He'd waited long enough, this was Elena, the woman he loved more than his own life and she was right. Foreplay could wait, he needed to feel her tight around his cock and he needed to hear her scream, far more than he needed to tease. Teasing could wait for the second or possibly third round.
Damon positioned his cock at her entrance and bent to kiss her. The moment she opened her mouth to let him in, he pushed forward and thrust hard up into her wet heat.
He hissed as her inner muscles tightened around him, her nails cutting deep furrows into his back as she threw her head back and keened his name. He felt her change and gasped with pleasure as her fangs burst from her gums, immediately nicking his tongue.
Elena moaned deep in the back of her throat as Damon's blood filled her mouth; the sensation of having him buried deep inside ,while she swallowed said blood, almost overwhelming her.
Damon felt his own change sweep through him and it was his turn to taste Elena's blood, as she deliberately pierced her own tongue on his deadly teeth.
He reached down and hooked both arms under her legs and pulled back until just the tip of his cock remained inside. He swivelled his hips once, then twice, before pushing slowly back inside her. He repeated it again and again, until he felt her teetering on the edge and just as he felt her inner walls start to flutter, he thrust back inside with fast hard strokes.
It was barely five of those strokes before she started to come and with her orgasm crashing down on her, she couldn't hold back. Her lips found his throat and she sank her teeth into the throbbing vein in his neck.
Damon roared out his own release and followed her over the edge.
It was a pleasurable four hours later, three of which had been spent in Damon's sinfully large bed. Before Elena's mind finally cleared from its haze of love soaked lust, long enough to remember, that it was Christmas day and that there were other things she needed to be doing, besides Damon.
She lifted her heavy head from his chest and peered down at his blissed out expression.
"Uh Damon, as much as I would love to stay here all day, what time did you tell Stefan and Caroline to come for dinner?"
Damon groaned and pulled her closer.
"Not the names I want to hear while we're in bed, sweetheart," he mumbled against her neck.
"Damon!"
"Fine," he said rolling a way with a sigh. He reached over and glanced at the clock that sat on his side of the bed.
"Well, not that I really care, but by my reckoning we have about fifteen minutes until they inflict us with their presence."
"Damon," she shrieked, shooting up in the bed to give him a glare. "God, why didn't you tell me, I haven't even finished making the pie and I need a shower and... mpff.." Whatever else she might have said was muffled by Damon's mouth.
Moments later when he raised his head and gave her a smug little smirk, she couldn't find it in herself to care.
"C'mon then lazybones, we have guests to entertain feed and get rid of as soon as possible." He slapped her playfully on the ass and did the eye thing. "The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can get back to the good stuff, namely you me and lots more nakedness."
"Mmm I like the sound of that," she admitted, her voice muffled as she reached for her shirt and pulled it down over her head. "But seriously, tell me you really didn't forget the cranberry sauce?"
Damon winked at her, as he did up the last few buttons of his own shirt.
"I may have managed to find a can or two on my way back from the liquor store." He grimaced. "Though why anyone would want to eat canned cranberry sauce is beyond me. It's disgusting enough when it's fresh," he added, as he held the bedroom door open for her to pass.
"It's part of Christmas Damon, you don't have to eat it, as long as you remembered to get it," she teased, leading the way down the stairs.
"See, it's that sort of bad logic that reminds me why I really don't enjoy Christmas. Stupid traditions and mandatory family gatherings... how is that, in any way fun?"
"Hey, I'm not the one that invited the guests, smart ass. If it was up to me, we would have been having a perfectly nice dinner alone and probably naked."
She grinned as he scowled and let out a low growl. Pushing the kitchen door open with one hand she couldn't resist teasing him a little more.
"And desert would have been strawberries whipped cream and me... if you weren't such a big chicken."
"About that, can I be the one to tell Saint Steffie that's his sire bond theory is crap and you actually just want me for my body and my rather stellar ability, to make you come so hard, that you black out?"
"Jeeze Damon, way to be romantic," she huffed. "No you can't tell him that... and I was only out for a second or two anyway, so it doesn't count. Besides, you and I both know, that you love your brother way too much to be that mean." She rolled her eyes at his deliberate pout.
"You can tell him that there's no sire bond, if you want. But be nice. The fact that we're together, can wait until tomorrow. It's Christmas and I don't want to fight with anyone about my choices, at least not today. Tomorrow will be soon enough for the yelling and recriminations," she finished gloomily.
Damon's eyes met her sad one's and his softened in sympathy.
"Elena, we don't have to tell anyone yet, not if you're not comfortable with them knowing," he offered seriously. "We can wait until you're sure that this is what you really want."
Damon reached for her hands.
"I know that this thing between us has been kind of fast, so I understand if you need more time. Okay?"
Elena shook her head and moved until her forehead rested against his.
"You know... Christmas has always been my favourite holiday. I make my list for Santa, way before Thanks Giving and I'm pretty damn greedy about it. But you wanna know something Damon... this year, with everything going on and all the drama, I didn't even remember my list until a couple of days ago when Care mentioned hers. And when I finally got around to writing it, the only thing I really wanted this Christmas... was for you to let me see you and for us to work things out." She stroked his face with her fingertips.
"I guess what I'm trying to say... is all I want for Christmas is you Damon. And now that I've got it; like the greedy girl that I am, there is no way I'm giving it up. Not for anyone."
Damon blinked and swallowed hard. For a long moment he remained strangely speechless. The knowledge received from her confession, sinking in, in a way that all the sex in the world, hadn't made any more real, than those few sweet words.
He bent and placed his lips against hers. Overcome with his feeling for the woman in his arms, he had to remind himself that now was not a good time to get emotional. His brother and her best friend could turn up at any moment and they still had a Christmas dinner to get through. There would be time for the words later, plenty of time, now that she'd made her choice. He could wait to say the words.
But meanwhile, speaking of dinner...
"Elena sweetheart..." he breathed out against her lips.
"Mmm, yes Damon."
"I think you might have forgotten something earlier. In your obsession with the whole cranberry thing, I think you might have overlooked the most important part of the whole Christmas dinner thing." He smirked against her mouth.
"Uhha..." she murmured. "What did I forget, oh great and masterful chef? Coz right now... I'm thinking the less food, the quicker they leave."
Damon nuzzled her cheek and chuckled.
"Well in that case my love, it's going to be the shortest Christmas dinner ever."
"What... Why?" she squeaked raising her head and glancing around.
He grinned at her puzzled expression.
"Well my love, it's been awhile since I cooked a Christmas dinner, but I'm pretty sure it still involved actually turning the oven on in the first place."
Moving with vamp speed Elena raced over and pulled the oven door open. Though she'd belatedly registered the lack of the usual scents associated with the roasting of a turkey, she still couldn't believe she'd gotten so distracted, that she'd completely forgotten to turn the oven on at all.
"Well crap! " She swore, brow furrowing in an annoyed line.
When she turned back to face him, her expression was slyly thoughtful.
"So... You call Stefan and I'll phone for the pizza, yes." She grinned mischievously.
Damon smirked back and shook his head admiringly.
"I'll be in the bedroom, so you better hurry..."She ordered, throwing him his phone.
"And Damon... "
She licked her lips suggestively.
"Don't forget the whip cream."
The end