i know i shouldnt be posting another story right now. but i couldnt help it after seeing the finale. i'm not sure if i'm going to add another chapter yet. it depends on the response. i hope you enjoy this. Let me know what you think. you're reviews are the best motivation.
PS i own nothing :(
It was a few days after Stefan left with Klaus, and Elena had yet to hear from him. On one hand she was worried, but on another hand she couldn't help but feel grateful to him for doing it to save Damon's life. It was unforeseen, but in those few days Damon was slowly becoming her everything. She couldn't believe it. But his confession of love, awoke things deep inside of her that she didn't know existed. Feelings of love, need, friendship, caring and a plethora of others things more forceful than she had ever felt before. While she missed Stefan, she wasn't paralyzed by his absence as she would have been without Damon.
"How are you feeling?" she asked him as he walked down the stairs the next morning.
"I'm fine Elena. I was fine a couple hours after I had Klaus's blood." he told her.
"I know. But I'm worried about you. I almost lost you Damon." she said frowning at him.
"I know. And I love that you're worrying about me, but I am really fine." he assured her.
"Just indulge me. Go upstairs and climb back into bed. I will bring you breakfast." she said.
"That's not necessary Elena. You havent let me out of bed for days. And normally I wouldn't have a problem with that, except that all I am allowed to do in bed is read, or watch TV or eat. None of the usual things I do in bed." he whined.
"Please Damon." she said rubbing her forehead, her lack of a good nights sleep finally catching up with her.
"Fine. For you I will go upstairs. I will play your little game of you needing to take care of me. Even though I do in fact have all my strength back and I feel perfect." he said.
"Thank you." she said. He leaned in and kissed her cheek before heading back upstairs, muttering about how annoying she was the entire way to his room.
Elena warmed up a cup of blood and carried it up to the room for him. Her lack of sleep was really catching up to her, and the coffee just wasn't doing it anymore. She hadn't slept since the night he was cured. She couldn't. Anytime she tried, she would have a nightmare where he actually died. And for whatever reason it left a whole so deep in her chest where her heart used to be. She didn't understand it.
"Here you go." she said handing him the blood.
"Are you okay?" he asked her concerned.
"Tired." she said.
"Have you slept?" he asked still concerned.
"I cant sleep. I havent slept since that night" she told him.
"You need to get some sleep." he told her.
"I wish I could. But every time I try, I wake up because of nightmares." she said her emotions coming through to her voice.
"Come here." he said patting the bed next to him. She obliged and sat down on the bed next to him.
"I'm sorry Damon. I'm supposed to be strong for you during your recovery." she said sitting beside him.
"I'm fully healed Elena. Let me help you. Come here." he said holding his arms open for her. She slid into his embrace and laid down against his chest.
"I'm so happy you're okay." she told him the tears flowing freely now.
"I'm fine. Shhh. I'm fine." he said kissing the top of her head. Eventually her sobs wore her out and she fell asleep. Not wanting to disturb her, he laid there with her, alternating between stroking her back or her face.
He couldn't believe how much he loved her. And here she was, asleep in his arms. Granted the only reason she was there, was because she didn't want to leave him alone. And that Stefan wasn't here. Thinking of Stefan left him with a odd feeling consisting of anger and gratitude. He was angry because yet again Stefan proved what a kind, good person he was by risking his way of life to save his life. But he was grateful because he would never have had any of these moments, if it weren't for him. The grateful feeling was more dominant at the moment and Damon hoped to himself that wherever Stefan was right now, he would be okay.
Elena woke up a while later, realizing where she was. She was grateful to Damon for letting her sleep.
"How are you feeling?" he asked when he felt her stir.
"Better. You?" she asked.
"I. Am. Fine!" he told her enunciating every word.
"Right. Sorry." she said sheepishly.
"Do you want to do something? I really don't want to stay cooped up in here all day. The house gets depressing after a while." he said.
"What do you want to do?" she asked.
"We could go to the Grill. I could buy you lunch for being such a good unnecessary caretaker for the past couple days." he suggested.
"Sounds good." she agreed.
"Good lets go. Unless you want to pretty yourself up first, which by the way is a complete waste of time since you already look flawless." he said.
"I'm fine Damon. Thank you." she told him smiling at him.
"Lets go." he said taking her hand. She couldn't deny that feeling of his hand in hers was an amazing feeling. A feeling that she didn't want to go away. Not now. Not ever.
When they walked into the Grill, they saw Bonnie, Jeremy, Caroline, and Tyler sitting at a table.
"Do you want to join them?" she asked.
"Do you?" he asked her back.
"It would be fun. But if you don't want to sit with them, then its fine. I know Tyler's not your favorite person at the moment." she said.
"It's fine. I survived no hard feelings." he told her.
"Wow. I totally expected you to snap and try to kill him right now." she marvelled.
"I know. But I don't want to ruin how we've been lately by doing something like that." he told her.
"Good." she said. Together they walked over to the table.
"Can we join you?" Elena asked.
"Of course." Caroline shot in happily. The duo pulled up a chair to the table and immediately joined in the conversation.
"Hey Damon. I'm sorry for almost killing you." Tyler said apologetically.
"No hard feelings." Damon said noncommittally. Everyone broke into their own individual conversations, until Matt you was working came over to the table.
"Can I get you guys anything?" he asked, trying to avoid looking at Caroline who looked quite cozy with Tyler.
"Bring everyone a beer." Caroline said.
"Okay." Matt said.
"And why don't you take a break and join us." Caroline suggested, not liking seeing Matt so out of the loop.
"It's fine Caroline." he said brusquely.
"Please Matt. We're celebrating." she said.
"What exactly are we celebrating?" he asked, although he didn't really want to know.
"We're celebrating the fact that we're all still alive and together." Elena shot in. Matt nodded and walked back to the bar to get their drinks.
"So have you heard from Stefan?" Bonnie asked during a lull in the conversation.
"No. He's not retuning my calls. But if you're asking, I'm sure our relationship is over. During the past couple days I became familiar with things about myself that I never knew before. I never knew them because I was always hiding with Stefan." she said.
"That's… good." Caroline said uncertainly. The group sat together and talked, Damon mostly kept a silent vigil at Elena's side, not really having anything to say.
Damon, was starting to get bored, during a mind numbingly boring conversation the girls were having about senior prom dresses, and Jeremy and Tyler were talking about art. Damon was on his own, although the idea of taking Elena to prom was highly appealing. He didn't know if she wanted him to, but he could ask. He was sitting silently, when someone walked up behind him and covered his eyes.
"Surprise. Havent seen you in a while stranger." Andi said kissing the side of his neck. Elena watched it and jealousy grew inside her. Damon moved her hands from him.
"Hello Andi." Damon said.
"So I was thinking I'd kidnap you away and we could talk or…" she trailed off.
"We do need to talk Andi. Let's go over to the bar." he said sighing. She nodded and walked over there.
"I'll be right back." he told Elena kissing her cheek. She nodded, and watched him leave.
"Alright, so there's really no sensitive way to do this so I'm just going to. It's over. Whatever we were has to stop." he told her bluntly.
"Why?" Andi asked.
"Because I'm in love with Elena." he said.
"what was that?" Bonnie asked referring to the kiss Damon planted on Elena's cheek.
"What?" Elena asked feigning ignorance.
"That kiss. What is going on with you and Damon?" Caroline demanded.
"Nothing. We've just spent every waking hour together for the past couple days." Elena explained.
"Oh that's not all it was and you know it. They way you've been all afternoon signals something is going on. Are you dating Damon?" Bonnie asked.
"I don't know. We've kissed a few times and I really care about him. But we havent made anything official. I don't know what we are." she said.
"He's in love with you." Caroline noted.
"I know. And I'm in love with him too." Elena affirmed.