This is for laylareyne, written for the LJ Xmas exchange. This prompt was so emotional and I hope I did it justice. I absolutely loved writing this and I hope you all enjoy reading it. Rated M.
As always I only own my writing, all characters are owned by their rightful owners.
"Have you seen Damon, he said he'd come by?" Elena asked Stefan when he came through the front door for Christmas dinner. Elena had invited everyone over for dinner to celebrate the fact that none of them had died in the past few months. She thought they all deserved a somewhat normal Christmas Eve before restarting the regularly scheduled drama after Christmas.
"I don't know Elena, I haven't seen him all day." Stefan shrugged. It was clear he was still smarting over their breakup. But she couldn't dwell on that.
"Care, have you seen Damon?" Elena asked her blonde friend who was talking to Tyler.
"No, and I really don't care too. Good riddance I would say." Caroline scoffed.
"He promised me he'd come by." Elena murmured.
"I would say don't worry about it. I'm sure he's fine, off drinking and womanizing most likely." Caroline muttered before turning back to her boyfriend. Elena couldn't help but be worried about Damon's whereabouts, it wasn't often that he lied to her her or completely blew her off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~DE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~DE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hey buddy, merry Christmas." Damon said lowering himself to the ground in front of Ric's grave. "I'm supposed to be at Elena's right now, but I just don't feel like spending Christmas Eve with all of them when you're out here alone. That sounds pretty corny I know, and the only reason I'm saying it to you know is because you can't respond. You can't tease me about it, even though I deserve it."
"Cheers to another new year full of hurt, anger and disappointment. At least last year I had you to put it all into perspective." Damon toasted his friend.
"Jeremy?" A ghostly voice called. Jeremy's head snapped back and looked around, he hadn't heard voices like that one in quite a while.
"Jeremy!?" The voice called again desperately needing to get his attention.
"Ric?" Jeremy whispered not wanting to gather the attention of anyone else in the room.
"Yes it's me Jeremy. We need to talk. Meet me in your room." He insisted.
"Okay." Jeremy murmured and quickly walked upstairs. When he entered his room Alaric had materialized in the middle of his room.
"I don't have much time, but I'm here because I truly believe no one should ever spend Christmas alone." Alaric stated.
"Who's spending Christmas alone? Everyone is here." Jeremy uttered.
"Damon. He is currently sitting beside my grave with a bottle of bourbon. Damon is my best friend, as hard as that is to believe. I don't want him to spend his Christmas alone like this. He doesn't deserve it." Alaric insisted.
"Elena was wondering where he was." Jeremy told him.
"He told me he was supposed to be here, but he would rather spend it with me because no one should be alone on Christmas. Tell Elena." Alaric urged.
"Tell her to leave this Christmas party to spend it out in the cold at your grave with Damon?" Jeremy asked disbelieving.
"Yes, I feel like Elena would want to be with him and I know that Damon wants Elena with her." Alaric insisted.
"Maybe she does, but it's not right for her to leave the party." Jeremy argued.
"Her and Damon need to talk, and they need to be together. Maybe this will give them a push in the right direction. Do you want your sister to be happy Jeremy?" Alaric asked.
"Of course I do." Jeremy said without hesitation.
"Then tell her what I told you. It's your choice whether you tell her that I told you that or not. I have to get back to my friend." Alaric said fading away not giving Jeremy a chance to respond. Jeremy pondered what happened for a while before heading downstairs. There were times like that, that Jeremy was happy he had that little curse slash gift. Most of the time it was a curse, no one wanted to see ghosts all the time but every once in a while it became a blessing. Jeremy walked into the living room and found Elena still anxiously watching the door. Knowing that Alaric was right he walked over to her.
"Damon's not coming." He told her. Elena's head snapped towards him and she looked at him with a defiant expression on her face.
"Sure he is, he just got held up somewhere. Damon has never ditched me like this before." She told her brother.
"He's not coming, he's with Ric." Jeremy told her.
"He's with Ric? How do you know?" Elena demanded.
"Alaric came to me, he told me that Damon has been at his grave for the past couple of hours. He thinks you should go to Damon." Jeremy reiterated.
"You seen Ric!? Is he okay, is he happy?" She questioned.
"He seemed fine, but he said he wants you to go to Damon. The two of you need to talk I guess." Jeremy suggested.
"Okay. No one should be alone on Christmas, even the dead I guess." Elena shrugged.
"I'll take care of everything here, you just go. Alaric is under the impression that Damon could make you happy." Jeremy told her.
"Damon already makes me happy. It's nice having someone I can depend on for anything." Elena said smiling.
"But you should go. Damon shouldn't be alone right now, I'm kinda guessing that he's grieving." Jeremy said.
"I'm going, just grabbing my jacket." Elena said rushing to the closet and pulling out a thick wool jacket.
"Where are you going? You can't just leave?" Caroline asked walking over.
"I'm going to Damon." Elena said simply.
"You're ditching all of your friends for the Salvatore who didn't even have the decency to show up here?" Caroline exclaimed.
"He didn't show up here because he's spending Christmas with Ric." Elena defended as she grabbed her car keys and rushed out the door.
The drive to the cemetery wasn't long and before too long she was parked a little ways away from Alaric's grave. She seen the telltale blue Camaro parked a bit closer and walked over. In the darkness she could see a shadow crouched down before a grave.
"Damon?" Elena breathed as she got closer.
"Elena, what are you doing here?" He asked standing up, surprised to see her.
"I didn't know where you were. I was worried, I thought something might have happened to you." Elena admitted moving to stand beside him.
"I didn't think Ric should have to spend Christmas alone." Damon admitted.
"I don't want you to spend Christmas alone either." Elena whispered.
"You should be at home with your friends. I don't belong there." Damon told her.
"You belong, anyone who doesn't accept that doesn't belong in my life." She told him firmly.
"I think I needed this tonight, it gave me some time to actually grieve." He admitted.
"None of us ever really got a chance to grieve for him. I miss Ric so much, he was my last living guardian." Elena breathed feeling a tear creep out of the corner of her eye.
"You've lost so much, it amazes me how you're able to keep on going." He told her.
"I'm able to keep going because you force me to. Without you being here I'm sure I would just give up." Elena confessed.
"No, you're stronger than that. You would never give in because you still have Jeremy, Caroline, Bonnie and so many other people who love you." Damon argued.
"No, sometimes I feel like their lives would be better off without me. I'm such a danger magnet, everyone is always in danger because of me. It's you that makes me hold on. You make me feel like my isn't such a disaster." Elena admitted.
"Well you make my life worth living too." He told her. She smiled and shivered involuntarily. "You're cold." He said wrapping an arm around her shoulder pulling her closer to his side.
"I know you loved Ric, he was one of the only people besides me that you let in." Elena whispered, not wanting to disrupt the calm with incessant speaking.
"He was probably the only friend I've ever had, though I'll never understand why he put up with me. I killed people he cared about, hell I killed HIM But he always forgave me." Damon spoke, he shook his head as if the idea bewildered him.
"That was who Alaric was, he was too forgiving for his own good. Even at the end before he turned into what he was, he didn't want it. He would have rathered die than hurt any of us." Elena said.
"Alaric Saltzman was a good man." Damon agreed.
"Everyone lost him, but no one else cares about your feelings about it. Stefan and everyone else have this stupid opinion that it never affected you. I hate that. You miss Alaric just as much if not more than everyone else. You and Ric were a team, the two of you kept me safe better than anyone else. Out of any one of our friends, its you that deserves a grief period." Elena told him.
"There's no time to grieve. It's a full time job keeping you alive." Damon whispered.
"You can grieve tonight." Elena suggested.
"Nah, this is what I need. I need my chance to say goodbye to my only best friend." He said.
"I'm glad I have you during all of this. Without you I would be lost without a doubt." Elena breathed.
"You're stronger than you think. I think its part of the reason I fell for you." Damon told her.
"I'm only strong because I have you." Elena corrected.
"You were strong before I knew you too Elena. You're one of a kind." He whispered, not used to speaking like that. Whenever his feelings for her did come out, it was because they were fighting. She would do something, he would react, she would get mad and he would justify it because he loved her.
"I think Ric would want us to deal with this together." Elena told him.
"You and I were closest to him that's for sure." Damon agreed. "And Jeremy." He added as an afterthought.
"I think he would like this, you and I here together like this. I missed you tonight Damon." Elena admitted.
"I wanted to be with you, but I didn't want to be with all of them." Damon admitted to her.
"I can understand that." Elena decided.
"So what brought you here anyway? I find it hard to believe that you decided that you would come here to find me." He wondered.
"Jeremy told me. Alaric appeared to him and told him to tell me that you were here and I should go see you. He wanted us to be together tonight." Elena explained.
"I must say, I kinda like that your brother sees ghosts. This is much better than being here alone." Damon admitted.
"I'm jealous. It would be nice to know if they were here now or not." Elena admitted.
"That's true. Elena we need to talk about something else too, and I think you know what that is." Damon told her not wanting to ruin the calm.
"I do, and I'm still not sure what to do about that." Elena admitted.
"You and Stefan are kaput so why can't we even give it a shot. You and I would be perfect together." Damon told her.
"I know we would, I think either you and I would destroy each other or complete each other." Elena confessed.
"You already complete me Elena." He told her. Those words played in her head over and over for the next couple minutes, they were so honest and so perfect. They weren't "i love you" for which she was happy about. She smiled softly and tilted her chin up. He looked down at her so she closed the distance between them by standing on her tip toes so she could kiss him. The kiss was soft and perfect, she kept her mouth closed as he massaged her lips with his own. He bent down so she didn't have to reach anymore. Snow fell in large flakes around them, she sighed into his kiss and he slipped his tongue into her mouth to tangle with hers. Breathing wasn't an issue for the two vampires, they never needed to break for air and lose the precious contact.
"I want to be with you." She sighed when they broke the kiss several moments later.
"Are you sure?" He asked breathing deeper than usual after the amazing kiss.
"Yes, I need to be with you." She almost begged.
"Let's go to my house." He told her knowing her house was packed with people at the moment. She nodded her head and broke away from him. Elena walked to Damon's car, rationalizing that she could pick hers up tomorrow. She slid into the front passenger seat and leaned over to kiss him quickly when he slipped into the drivers side.
They barely made it in the front door before clothing was beginning to get strewn throughout. His leather jacket was draped over the banister and her wool coat had fallen to the floor as they backed towards the stairs. Once they moved across the threshold of his bedroom she kicked her heels off and hooked her legs around his waist. He braced her with his hands under her ass and carried her over to the king sized bed that dominated the space of his room. He gently laid her down and followed her bracing his weight on his arm. They continued kissed and his hand snuck slowly up her shirt caressing the soft skin of her belly. She broke the kiss so he trailed down her neck and down the V necked of her shirt. She sat up and lifted her arms telling him silently that she wanted the garment gone. He gave her what she wanted and pulled her red shirt off and tossed it to the floor, he ogled her heaving breasts encased in a black lace bra for a couple minutes. She pulled him in to kiss her again forcing him to tear his gaze away from her ample cleavage. She spread her thighs and welcomed him into the cradle of her body, his still fully clothed body fitting perfectly between her thighs.
He absentmindedly rolled his hips against her while they continued to kiss. She moaned at the contact even though it was through two layers of denim and one pair of panties. She threaded her hands through her hair anchoring his face to hers. The series of kisses they were sharing was giving her more pleasure than the most intense of lovemaking with Stefan. His hands roamed everywhere they could reach, he reached under her and unclasped her bra. She sat up and let it fall down her arms revealing her full breasts for his viewing pleasure. He kissed down her neck, lightly nibbling on the skin as he went. When he got down to her breasts he took one rosy pebbled nipple into his mouth and laved at the sensitive bud. She moaned and rolled her hips against his desperately aching for relief. If he wasn't careful she'd come before he even got her fully naked. She writhed in desperation under him needing him to relieve her. She started working on the buttons of his shirt. She got through them faster than she would have expected considering how occupied her thoughts were. He rolled his shoulders back letting her remove the shirt. She pulled him down so his bare upper body completely pressed against hers. He trailed his hands down her belly slowly until he came to the button on her dark jeans. He popped the button and she willingly lifted her hips so he could pull the denim down. He rose off of her for a moment so he could dispose of the denim. She sat up and undid the button on his jeans and pushed them down. She slipped her hand inside and caressed his length while he hung his head back in pleasure.
"No underwear?" She questioned not entirely surprised. He seemed like a commando kind of guy.
"Inconvenience." He said as way of explanation. She smiled and pushing his jeans down using her other hand until they were low enough for him to kick off.
"Make love to me." She insisted pulling him down to cover her body. He kissed her long and slow, his tongue gently caressing hers. He rolled them over and she settled in on top of him. She kissed him and positioned him under her so she could sink down. Once they were fully joined she settled for a moment to let them get used to the sensation of being so intimately joined. Without him telling her to she started moving; slowly at first. He placed his hands on her hips and aided her movements, his eyes locked on hers.
"You feel so...so good." She breathed. He sat up so she didn't have to reach as far to kiss him, his movement completely changed the angle in which they were moving at. His chest was pressed tightly against hers, and he had his arms wrapped tightly around her. Every inch of their bodies were pressed tightly together, her legs were wrapped tight around him. The shallow thrusts he was doing were perfect, the new position deliciously tight for him. When he hit a particularly sensitive spot inside her she cried out and hung her head back. He latched onto the skin of her neck, sucking hard desperately trying to mark her even if just for a second. He reached between their bodies and rubbed her clit needing her to come before he allowed himself to. He was getting dangerously close and he couldn't take much more. When her orgasm hit she cried out and her body trembled against his. He let himself go after that and he came inside her, releasing in several spurts. She laid against his chest as she waited for the orgasm to subside; it was easily the most intense one she had ever had.
"That... that was so amazing." She sighed a few minute. He had laid down after his orgasm and went through him and she was still sprawled across his chest.
"Yes it was." He agreed.
"Remind me to thank Jeremy for this tomorrow. If not for him I would still be at home with everyone else. This was the best Christmas Eve in a long time. I finally got what I didn't even know I wanted." She told him kissing his chest.
"It's you and me now Elena, we can't forget this." He told her kissing the top of her head.
"I don't want to forget it." She assured him.