A/N: This takes place over the summer after 4x23. Elena and Damon are FINALLY together and Stefan has taken off to dump Silas and travel to get away from it all. Damon and Elena have spent the summer together making each other happier than they've ever been, until they decide to take a beach trip that goes horribly wrong.
Elena slowly awoke, vision blurry, body aching. She wasn't sure where she was and she wasn't sure exactly how she got there. All she remembered was enjoying a beautiful day on the beach with Damon before someone had come up from behind her and incapacitated her. The sun shone down on them, warm and comforting. They had laid together on the beach, hand in hand, just soaking up the sun in a secluded area they had snuck off to for some privacy. It felt as though they had been there for days, soaking up the sun's warmth and each other's happiness. Never before had either of them felt so right, so happy with their lives. Everything had finally come together. Elena was free of the sire bond and more sure than ever that Damon had her heart. Silas was gone, no longer terrorizing their lives. Jeremy was somehow back and alive and with Elena again. The sun seemed to shine with their happiness, as if fueled by them more so than the universe.
One night they had decided to camp out on the beach since it was the last night they planned to stay there before returning home. Damon had a fire going, the crackling sounds carrying on the light ocean breeze, glowing embers lighting up the night for small moments in time. Elena sat with Damon, cradled in his arms lovingly, enjoying both the warmth from the fire in the cool night breeze and the warmth from Damon's body. Elena sighed, turning Damon's hand over in hers to look at the lines in his palm.
"This is so perfect Damon," she said, smiling up at him.
"I know," he replied. "I'm glad we were able to get away for a few days. This is exactly what we needed."
Elena turned around in his arms and pushed him back onto the blanket they were on, holding herself on top of him. She gave him a sweet kiss, their lips meeting with an instant spark that made it hard for the two to keep it simple. Usually any small act of affection led to a clothes-flinging free for all. To say they had chemistry was the understatement of the century. Control was something they were slowly learning so they could avoid being the awkward couple in the room any time they were with anyone but themselves. They had run Jeremy out of the house several times in the midst of their inability to get enough of each other. All the more reason why they had taken a bit of a trip to give their friends a break from the whole lovey-dovey honeymoon phase they were clearly in.
Damon chuckled and smiled a smile so happy that Elena nearly teared up at how glad she was to see him this way. Ever since she had met Damon it seemed that he believed that no one could truly love him, could truly see the love in his heart that was there to give but that was so guarded you'd have to be a pretty special person to get down to the depths of it. He had always pushed people away, not wanting them to expect good from him so they wouldn't be disappointed when he undoubtedly did something unforgivable. Truth is he only ever did that for his own protection. He didn't want to let anyone in because when you let people in, they hurt you. At least, that's how he viewed it. Elena was the first person that, once he let her in, she did nothing but build him up, fix the scars and the wounds from the past, and let him know he was worth it, that he deserved to be loved. Plus, once she was in, he couldn't get her out. She had made a place in his heart that only she could fill and he didn't like who he was when she wasn't around.
"What's that look?" Damon asked, seeing the slightest hint of tears in her eyes. "Is something wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong, Damon. Actually, everything is just right. Finally right. I…I just love to see you happy," Elena smiled, reaching up to brush stray strands of his hair from his face. "For so long all I've seen is suffering in your eyes and now when I look into them I see happiness."
"Elena…" Damon barely whispered her name as he pulled her down onto him entirely, flipping her over onto her back to bury his face in the crook of her neck, taking in her sweet scent and tickling at her neck with his nose. She giggled and lifted his head back to where she could see his eyes, not wanting to look away from them for long. Of all the things about him, his eyes captivated her the most. "You're the reason I'm happy Elena. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me. I just want to stay with you in this moment forever, look into your eyes for an eternity. I'd never get tired of it. You make me the happiest man…well," Damon hesitated, "…happiest vampire alive…all technicalities aside of course." Damon lifted his eyebrows in that signature Damon look, smiling at his words. Clearly he wasn't alive but Elena knew what he meant. She made him feel alive.
Elena didn't know what to say to Damon, so instead she just reached up and tangled her fingers into his hair, pulling his face down just a bit more to hers so her lips could reach his. At first, the kiss was chaste, simple and loving, but then immediately she made the kiss deeper, more intense. Her other hand wrapped around his back, pushing his body down onto hers and his hands immediately followed, one keeping himself from crushing her by supporting his weight, the other cradling her face as they melted into the sunset together.
Elena woke just before sunrise. She was snuggled up to Damon who was still sound asleep. She wanted to sneak away from him for just a moment, hoping to take a peek at the shoreline for any seashells she could take home with them as keepsakes from their little beach getaway . Carefully she slipped out from under his arm and slipped on her white summer dress and tip toed off to the water's edge. Luckily the pre-sunrise darkness wasn't a problem for her vampire eyes. She carefully squatted down into the surf and started turning over sand, looking for a few worthy shells. After looking in a few places as she wondered down the beach she had collected a small handful of pretty little shells. 'That ought to do,' she thought to herself as she brushed the edge of her dress off. As she turned to walk back up to the little camp they had made in the cover of some rocks she was grabbed from behind. Whoever it was covered her mouth with their hand and wrapped the other hand around her waist and began to drag her backwards. She immediately dropped her shells, scattering them all over the sand as she attempted to fight back against her mystery assailant. But before she could do anything she felt a sting in her neck where the assailant had apparently jabbed a needle full of what must have been vervain into her. Elena kept trying to fight against her attacker, hoping to get some sound out, a yell or a cry or anything that would alert Damon to her situation but before she could she began to succumb to the vervain, collapsing onto the ground.
That was the last thing she remembered before waking up in a dark room, strapped to some sort of metal chair, wrists and ankles locked in place by metal rings. As she slowly regained consciousness Elena tried to take in her surroundings to get an idea of where she might be. There was no telling where she was and she couldn't depend on Damon to simply guess correctly as to where she was being kept in a town they had never been to before…if she was even anywhere near where she started this morning. A wave of fear rose up in her, attempting to consume her. For a moment she started to shake, but almost immediately she began to quiet the fear as she knew that letting it take over wouldn't help her escape. Instinctively she tried to pull her feet out from the restraints only to be met with blinding pain as what seemed to be barbs that must have been coated in vervain dug into her skin. Elena bit her lip trying to hold back her whimper of pain and quickly touched her feet back to the floor. 'Well that's not going to work,' she thought to herself. 'Apparently, whoever this is, they know about vampires. I don't understand. How did they know I was one? And what do they want with me?'
Her thoughts were quickly interrupted as the door in the corner of the small room opened. A man walked in, looking no more ordinary than anyone else. He wore jeans and a v-neck and stood about 6 feet tall, dark hair, dark eyes, nothing outstanding about him. "Well hello my darling," the man said with what seemed to be a thick British accent. "So glad you regained consciousness just in time for me to come back. I knew eventually I'd catch up to you. Took me about 50 years, but who's counting?"
A/N: Okay, strange chapter with the flashback right in the middle but I hope you're interested and hang on for more! I've completed the story so don't fret, you'll know soon enough what happens. You just stick around as I put up each chapter now that I'm putting the final edits on them Reviews are greatly appreciated as always!
