Elena walked up to the front door of the Salvatore mansion. She hadn't seen Stefan at school in the afternoon, so she was worried. When she got to the door, she grabbed the knob, turned it, and pushed. Elena was not surprised that the door opened easily. Stefan and Damon usually left their door unlocked when they were home.
'They don't really have any reason to keep it locked,' thought Elena. 'They could take any human who tried to rob them and if the intruder wasn't human, a simple locked door wouldn't keep them out if they really wanted in.'
Elena stepped into the dimly lit foyer and closed the door gently. She was even more worried now because Stefan usually heard her coming and met her in the foyer.
"Stefan?" Elena called out hesitantly. She could feel her heartbeat quicken as she took a few more steps into the house. Elena jumped when she heard someone speak behind her.
"I'm sorry, but Stefan isn't here at the moment. Please leave a message after the beep."
"Damon!" Elena somewhat yelled as she glared at him and caught her breath.
"I'm sorry Elena," Damon smirked. "It was just so easy that I couldn't pass it up."
"Where's Stefan?" she asked him with her arms crossed.
"Out hunting Thumper the thirty-third," he said with a straight face.
Elena couldn't help it. That was actually funny. Her hard expression slowly broke into a small smile and she started to chuckle as she uncrossed her arms.
Damon smiled at the fact that he made her laugh.
Elena just shook her head at him. 'I wonder how many times we've had exchanges like this,' Elena thought to herself.
"Well I'm glad to hear that he's just out hunting. I was worried when I didn't see him in school this afternoon."
"Do you want me to tell him to call you or that you were here?"
Elena noticed that Damon's interest was fading. He was now looking at the bourbon he was swishing around in his glass.
"No, I'll just wait for him here, if that's okay."
Damon jerked his head up to look at Elena with a big smile on his face. "Of course you can stay Elena. Are you hungry?"
Elena was skeptical at first. She studied his face, looking for a glint of mischief in his eyes or a smirk on his lips, but all she saw was genuine happiness on his face. Elena was fazed by this rare occurrence for a moment. She eventually shrugged her shoulders and said, "Actually, yeah, I am kind of hungry."
"Alright then," Damon said rubbing his hands together. "I'll go and see what I can find in the kitchen. I'm sure we still have some human food left over from your last sleepover."
Elena cringed as Damon drew out the word 'sleepover'. She had never really thought about it before, but with Damon's super sensitive vampire hearing, he could probably hear everything that she and Stefan did when she "slept over". Who am I kidding? Of course he's heard everything...
Elena was so caught up in her own thoughts that she hadn't even noticed that Damon had left the foyer. He must have gone to the kitchen. Elena thought about following him, but she decided to take this opportunity to look around the Salvatore parlour. She had never really gotten the chance to take a good look around before. Elena accidentally brushed the liquor cabinet as she walked by it towards the fireplace. She didn't notice that there was a tumbler on the other side of the cabinet that was sitting precariously close to the edge. Just as Elena was going to study the mantle above the fireplace, there was a loud crash behind her. She jumped and jerked her head towards the sound. Elena breathed a sigh of relief and tried to slow her quickened heartbeat when Damon appeared in a blur in front of her.
"Are you okay?" he asked, as he put a hand on her shoulder, a worried look in his eye.
"Yeah," Elena breathed, "I must have knocked the tumbler off the cabinet when I brushed by it. I'm just so jumpy lately with everything that's going on."
"Me too," Damon sighed.
Elena was stunned for a moment by his honesty.
"Anyway," he began, "I found some cheese and crackers for you," gesturing to the coffee table.
Elena smiled and turned to look at the coffee table when her neck screamed out in pain.
"Ahh, owww..." she hissed.
"What is it?" Damon asked worriedly, looking her up and down.
"It's my neck," Elena groaned, "I think I must have pulled something when I jumped at the noise of the tumbler smashing." Elena tried turning her head again gently. "Oh yeah," she said through clenched teeth, "I definitely twisted it the wrong way."
"Let me see," Damon said, more of a command than a question.
"Why?" Elena asked. "There's nothing to see. I'm just going to have to rest it and let it work itself out."
"But that could take days," Damon said aggravated.
"Well, that what it means to be human," she said a little pointedly.
"Just let me see," he said again, this time moving towards Elena. She took a step away from him instinctively.
Damon just rolled his eyes at her. "I'm not going to hurt you Elena."
Elena rolled her eyes back at him. "I know that you wouldn't purposely hurt me."
He took another step towards her and she took another step back.
"What are you going to do?" she asked him hesitantly.
"Did you know that I lived in Paris for a few years back in the '70s? Oh, and by a few years, I mean the whole decade."
"I didn't know that," she murmured, wondering what this had to do with her neck.
"And while I was there, I had to earn a living, or at least look I was," he smirked, "so I went to school and became a masseuse."
Elena tried to suppress her chuckle, but to no avail, "You used to be a masseuse?"
"I still am, technically. Mind you, I haven't given a proper massage in a while, but I'm sure I can remember how."
Elena cocked an eyebrow at him over his use of the word 'proper'. "You want to give me a massage?" she asked skeptically, unsure of his true motive.
"Yes, I want to massage your shoulders and neck to see if that will help with the pain and get some movement back in your neck for you."
"I think I'll be fine without a massage," Elena said wryly as she tried turning her neck again. She tried to swallow through the pain as it spiked through her neck.
"There's no good in trying to hide your pain from me Elena. I can hear your blood and heart pumping faster."
"Ugh," Elena huffed, "that's unfair and disturbing," she finished as she narrowed her eyes at him.
Damon let out a light chuckle. "Just let me try Elena," Damon pleaded, trying to make his face look as innocent as possible, which was not an easy task.
Elena was torn. She knew that a massage would involve Damon's hands on her neck and shoulders, meaning that they would have to be relatively close and Elena wasn't sure if she could deal with that. On the other hand, her neck was really hurting and she didn't want to have to spend days not being able to turn her neck. After another moment of consideration, Elena relented. "Okay Damon, you can try."
Damon tried to hide the smile forming on his lips. "Okay then. You take a seat on the couch, while I quickly clean up this glass."
Elena did as he said and then boy did he clean up the glass fast. In a flash he was out of the room and then in a blur back in again. The broken glass had disappeared. Elena just stared for a moment.
"Jeez, I don't think I'll ever get used to that."
Damon just smiled as he sat down next to Elena.
"Okay first," he began, "I need you to turn away from me."
Elena did as she was told without any questions.
"Now I need you to take off your top."
"Damon!" Elena shrieked as she whipped around to face him. "Ahh!" Elena hissed as she clasped her neck, forgetting in her flash of anger that it was hurt.
"What?" Damon asked innocently. "You're wearing a hoodie, I can't properly massage your shoulders with all of that fabric between my magic fingers and your skin," he finished, wiggling his fingers in front of her eyes.
"Well how about I take off my hoodie, but leave my tank top on," Elena glared at him.
"Oh okay. You can't blame a guy for trying," he exclaimed with his signature smirk and his notorious "eye thing".
Elena continued to glare at him as she unzipped her hoodie and took it off. Upon hearing Damon's sharp intake of breath, Elena immediately looked down as she remembered what tank top she was wearing. When she was getting dressed that morning, she thought that she wouldn't be taking her hoodie off unless she was with Stefan, so she put on her low-cut, red lace tank top. Elena felt her cheeks getting hot, so she just turned her back on Damon.
Damon had gotten a good look at her before she turned away from him and even with her back to him, he stared at her greedily.
"Alright," Damon said as he let out the breath he was holding, "I will begin massaging your shoulders."
Elena tried to remain calm as she waited for his fingers to make contact with her skin. Damon tried to keep his cool as he slowly moved his hands towards her shoulders. As he gently placed his hands on her shoulders, she closed her eyes as she felt his warmth on her skin. He too closed his eyes as he felt how soft her skin was. Gently he started massaging her shoulders by moving his thumbs and fingers in circular motions across her skin. He varied the pressure each time and slowly moved up and down and across her shoulder blades, like he was crossing himself. As soon as his fingers started moving, Elena felt pleasure. At first it was excited pleasure as she was anxious about him touching her in this way, but as he continued his patterns, it became relaxed pleasure. Elena's eyelids fluttered shut and she released all of the tension in her body. She became so relaxed that she let her body lean back a little bit. Damon's hands and arms were strong enough to hold her up. They continued in this way for five minutes: Elena lost in relaxation and Damon lost in Elena. Damon's will to not start massaging further down her back was fading fast, so he decided that he must break contact with her. Elena was brought back to reality as soon as Damon's hands left her skin. Her body automatically fell backwards into Damon's chest without his hands supporting her. Elena forced herself to sit up straight. She couldn't help but let out a sigh for two reasons: first, because she was so relaxed and second, because she strangely missed his touch already and craved for it again. Elena turned her whole body to face Damon who was looking down at his hands, trying to control his quickened breathing.
"Thank you," Elena said simply, not knowing exactly what to say.
"Don't thank me yet," Damon said quietly, still looking at his hands, "let's see if it worked."
Elena took a deep breath and then slowly turned her head. She inhaled sharply as pain still zinged through her neck. The pain was still there, like her neck muscles were in a giant knot. The pain wasn't as intense now, but it was still there.
"Sorry, I tried," he said meekly, still not looking up at her.
"It's okay," Elena sighed deeply.
"There is...one more thing we could try..." Damon said slowly as he lifted his eyes to meet hers.
"Okay, shoot," Elena said, feeling in an unusually trusting mood.
Damon continued to stare into her eyes as he said, "If I could find the exact spot on your neck where your muscles are throbbing, I could insert my fangs, which may relieve some of the pressure around your muscles..."
They just stared at each other for a moment. Elena noticed that there was no glint or gleam in his eyes or smirk on his lips.
"How would you find the spot?" Elena asked him calmly, still staring into his eyes.
"Well," he began, as he moved closer to Elena on the couch, "I'll need silence for a moment to listen to the blood in your neck, to see where it is pumping to your inflamed muscles."
Like in a trance, Elena simply said, "Okay."
As Damon leaned in towards Elena, she leaned in towards him. She tilted her head up and to the side. Damon gently pushed Elena's hair back over her shoulder, his hand lingering on her skin for a moment. Then he tilted his head and moved it towards her neck until his ear was gently grazing her skin. It took all of Elena's focus to sit still and stay silent. Her body was bubbling over with nervous and excited energy. She wanted to jump up, scream, do something! Damon continued to graze his ear over her neck, listening to her blood flowing. After almost a minute of this, Elena felt Damon's ear lift off her neck and felt two of his fingers replace the spot where his ear had been.
Damon kept his head close to Elena's ear as he whispered, "I've found the spot. Are you ready?"
Elena's mind was whirling. She trusted Damon, didn't she? Yes. There was no doubt in her mind at that moment, but she wasn't sure if she fully understood what he was about to do. Was he just inserting his fangs into her neck or was he going to drink her blood too? As that thought entered her mind, Elena realized that she did not care. She trusted Damon, that was all that mattered to her at that moment. Without any more hesitation, Elena said, "Yes, I'm ready."
Damon was nervous as he had never done this before, so he wanted to make sure that he had Elena's full consent.
"Are you sure?" he asked seriously.
"Yes," Elena said, the same way as before.
"Okay." Damon lifted one finger off of her neck and grazed the other one over the spot he would bite. He then lowered his head to her neck. Both Elena and Damon felt the electricity between them when his lips touched her neck. Elena was nervous as she did not know what she would feel and neither did Damon. Damon closed his eyes as he let his fangs come out. Then in one swift motion, he lifted his lips off of Elena's neck and stuck his fangs into her soft flesh. Elena inhaled sharply as she felt a wave of pain, but then it ebbed and was replaced with relief and comfort. It wasn't pleasurable exactly, but it made Elena feel better; she felt warm and safe. Just as these feelings began though, they ended as Elena felt Damon's fangs leave her skin. The next second though he returned as Elena felt Damon's lips on her puncture marks. He was kissing them better. Waves of pleasure began to mix in with the relief as she felt Damon's tongue moving around and over her puncture marks. She shivered under his touch as his tongue tickled her neck.
Again, Damon had to pull away because he knew he was enjoying this far too much. Elena felt a void within her when he broke contact. She could tell that they both were breathing heavily. After she caught her breath, Elena slowly turned to face Damon and in the process turned her neck. Surprisingly, she felt no pain.
Elena touched her neck and said to Damon, "It worked. The pain's gone."
Elena then connected with Damon's eyes and she was even more surprised by what she saw in them. She expected to see lust and that mischievous glint he wore so well, but neither were there, instead she saw a mixture of sadness, longing, pain, and love. Elena's heart broke for him at that moment. She hadn't thought about how hard this all would have been for Damon. She sometimes forgot how his feelings for her went beyond the physical, but that was because she was too busy trying to deal with her own feelings for him.
In that instant, Elena was overwhelmed with emotion. They were not pity feelings for Damon, but feelings of thankfulness, empathy, and love.
As Elena began to lean in towards Damon, he did not move. He just stared at her with confusion clouding his eyes. Elena kept eye contact with him until just before her lips touched his. She closed her eyes as she began to kiss him. As first his lips were immobile from shock, but Elena gently coaxed his lips into moving with hers. Just as the passion was rising, Elena heard the floor creak and then Damon broke their kiss. Elena just stared at him confusedly until she looked at where his eyes were looking. There standing in the doorway was Stefan.