A/N: Hey, this story is going to be a two-part. Please read and review :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Diaries.

Bitter and Sweet

"I'm going away for a while," Damon says to her.

A while. It could be a while for a vampire, but for a human it could be forever. But that's out of the equation now.

"Where are you going?" Elena tries to keep calm in her voice. Although, her heart threateningly skips a beat and a nauseating feeling churns into her stomach.

"Oh, you know… here and there," he throws her a wink accompanied by his branded little smirk.

"When will you be back?" she prods, as though she doesn't already know this story. But no crime in trying to rewrite.

"I don't know," He shrugs a little, looking away.

Elena knows what that means. He is leaving to never come back. And why should he ever? This town has never favored him, always took something and never gave anything in return. This fucking place is greedy, once he almost died to save it, and now it's driving him away. Always takes, but too selfish to give back. Just like her…

But she wants to stop him. She made a mistake she has an eternity to repent for. She made a choice - the biggest mistake in her whole life. The words she had said to him in those last minutes of her human life were big, fat lies. And she can't seem to revoke them now. She can't…

"Alright," Damon hesitates a little, never expecting her to be that cold. But she's a vampire now, so what the hell… he's no judge when it comes to feelings.

Elena turns her back on him, suddenly resolute, looking for something on her cluttered desk. When she doesn't find whatever she's looking for she starts pulling the drawers open in haste.

Damon frowns at her quizzically. He watches her as she rushes across the room in front of the dressing table and starts rampaging through the knick-knacks. He stares at her bewildered for a moment before walking towards her.

But Elena still doesn't seem to acknowledge him as she haphazardly rummages into a box and throws away the items inside it callously on the floor.

"Elena," Damon feels a little hurt at her ignorance towards him, but he is also a little spooked at her actions. What in the hell is wrong with her?

Finally, just as he steps in to restrain her crazy hunt, Elena lets out a sharp scream. And Damon flashes beside her, quickly looking at her frame to see what caused her harm. He hears the sizzle and smells the stench of burning flesh almost at the same time. Shocked, he looks at her eyes.

What the hell…

Elena's eyes are wide, brimming with tears. But she wouldn't let them fall. She grits her teeth as the searing pain shoots through her hand. But she won't let go. Never let go. He has to know that.

Only then Damon's own eyes fall to the source of the smell. She has her left hand in a fist on her side, and the angry red spots can be seen on the sides of the fingers as they appear and vanish simultaneously.

"What the fuck－" Damon wrenches her hand out in front of them and attempts to pry her fist open with his hands.

But she's not a weak human anymore. So she forces her own strength to counter his.

Damon hysterically looks at her, his own eyes crazed now. Has she fucking lost her mind?

"Elena," Damon grits his teeth, still trying simultaneously not to hurt her hand anymore and wanting her to give up. Then finally he overpowers her impressive force. But when he does Damon lets out a shriek of his own. And he swats some dusty substance off his palm as fast as he can.

Vervain.

"What the hell, Elena?" He looks at her dumbfounded. But she looks unapologetic, still holding back the tears, barely. His eyes soften looking at hers. He can't tell why she's acting like a loon all of a sudden.

...

Elena stopped wearing the vervain filled necklace since her turning, for obvious reason, of course. But she still kept it instead of returning it to Stefan, because it was still important to her. It meant something profound. And when she looks at the beautiful pendant, it reminds her of her birthday night, when he gave it to her as a gift.

So she kept it safe, deciding to wear it again once she got rid of the vervain. But the drama never left her life and she had forgotten to do so.

Elena doesn't understand what is happening to her. Damon just told her that he was leaving. Leaving from here, from Mystic Falls, most importantly, leaving her. She heard him just fine. She knows she can't tell him not to go. She just knows, Goddammit. Why can't she tell him how much she doesn't want him to go? What has come to her?

She had finally come to the conclusion that no matter what, she couldn't undo the things that happened between them. She can't undo the feelings she feels for him. They can't go back to being just friends, and being just acquaintances will be impossible. In that fateful night she chose Stefan, not him. So it would be an act of mercy if she lets him go now, without any more heartbreak and false sparks of hope.

But she also knows that if he leaves today, there will be nothing here for her. He'll take every part of her with him, every part that he cherished and loved, he'll take all of her with him. And she is nothing without him.

But she can't stop him. She literally can't stop him.

Elena doesn't know what's wrong with her, why suddenly she can't argue with him today, but she just can't. She feels a desperate tug from the back of her mind telling her to just ask him not to go. And he will listen to her.

But since her voice doesn't seem to cooperate with her, she tries to stop him with her actions, desperate to make him stay. She knows he'll eventually somewhat interpret the reason of her madness. She just hopes he will want to.

"You said you'll never leave me," her voice seems broken, but Damon doesn't want to fight her now. If he does, he will surely lose his temper. His eyes flash with anger at her audacity, at her illusion to own him as her plaything. But he wants to avoid this battle of irrelevance as much as he can without getting his emotions getting in the way. He wants to appear understanding. She needs to know that he has accepted his fate, and he won't go massacring and leaving fire and ashes in his wake. He doesn't promise this to himself. But she doesn't need to know that. So he checks himself before speaking.

"Elena, I made a deal with someone. I have to go," he raises his eyebrows as to emphasis the fact how much he is needed somewhere else. But Elena is having none of that.

"You made a deal with me, too. You promised me, too, remember?" She is raging like a cornered animal. "What about that, huh?" she spats.

"It was when you were still a fragile human," Damon says evenly. "You don't need my protection anymore." He knows he is lying through his teeth. Because he knows that she still needs his protection. And no one can protect her better than him, not even his brother. Specially not his brother. But he has already made clear to their friends and allies. Should they try to harm her or let anyone near her, he will be the end of them, powerful enough or not.

"It's not about my protection," she whispers, now unable to hold off her tears as they start pouring freely, causing Damon to ground his feet so he won't reach out and catch her tears in his palm before they vanishes in the carpet.

Damon knows what she means. But he also knows it will be gone in a few days. It's just her emotion on overdrive. The sensible Elena would be more agreeable with his decision. Maybe he should've waited a couple of days before leaving. But doesn't she get how much it weakens him to see her with his brother? Can't she at least grant him the relief from his misery that only she can allow?

"You are a vampire now, surely we'll meet again someday. It's not like it's the end, is it?" Damon tries to smile, but feels a little choked on his own words. He knows he will never see her eyes on his again. He might protect her from a distance, but he doesn't have the courage to be lost in her eyes when she doesn't want to shelter him in her heart. He is spent off his will, now it's time to retreat.

"Goodbye, Elena," he ends any further refute, but soaks up every detail of her presence in his mind once again before he turns to leave.

...

Elena suddenly feels panicked, just the way she felt when she first saw her mother's head lolled in an awkward angle in the sinking car. Her tiniest of hopes seems to fly away out of the window, her unorganized thoughts blocking the paths of clearance. She forces herself to focus on the task on hand. She runs back to him, tugs at his sleeves. "Wait, please, just… please," she chokes out.

Damon spins on his heels, confused and an underlying fury just trying to rear onto the surface. He really wanted this conversation to be a little easier on him, if that was even possible.

But she speaks before he spats, "That necklace, it is significant. It..it's a symbol for what we have."

"What?"

Elena rushes, "You gave it to me on my birthday, remember? After I lost it?"

Damon looks at her as if somehow she has lessened to five year old.

"Damon, it was when you gave this necklace, in that moment I realized that I love you." There, she said it.

But Damon is not reacting how she expected. He just stares at her for a long moment, shocked. And then he shakes his head slowly. "No, Elena."

"No?" she asks, puzzled.

"No, you don't love me," Damon concludes. The pain is stark in his aesthetic blue eyes, it breaks her heart to see him trying to appear strong when it's destroying him from the inside. "You think you love me because you're still new. You don't know what is happening to you. Your emotions are jumbled pretty bad." he chuckles softly. "But it all will be back in place real soon." He placates.

He knows to his bones that she loves him, but not enough to choose him. Not enough to leave his brother for him. So he makes it easier for her.

"Wha.. You think it's because I am a newbie, I don't know what I feel?" Elena scowls, angry with his condescending remark.

"It's not you, Elena," Damon sighs. "You don't love me. And I am fine with that. You are not obligated to love me. You are just saying this because your head is all scrambled up right now. Give it a little time, you'll remember your reasons."

"I remember all of it, Damon," Elena whispers.

He already knows that, but it changes nothing. Nothing changes what happened.

"You chose him," No anger, no accusation, just finality. Then he turns back again.

Elena decides, in a fraction of second she is turning him again and slamming herself into him, clashing their mouths together with such force that Damon's back slams loudly into the open door. But she doesn't stop. Elena holds his face into her palms and desperately tries to relay him what she feels. Damon is stunned for a long moment, her actions taking his mind in that motel balcony where she kissed him like this. No, this is different. This is bolder, more devoted, more sure. Damon thinks he would kiss like this if he were in love. But he is, and so is she. She loves him.

Damon finally comes out of his frozen state, and then he moves his lips, they dance with hers. His fingers tangle into her hair, he tugs her back a little, their temples touching, her tears glistening anew in her beautiful eyes.

"You love me," Damon wants to be sure it isn't a heat-of-the-moment kind of thing.

"I do," Elena says firmly.

But then he is reminded of the real problem. So he mentally kicks his ass before asking her, "Elena, my brother deserves…"

Elena quickly interrupts him with a clear voice. "He deserves someone who will love him. But I'm not that person. And I'm not in love with him anymore, haven't been in love with him for a long time now." She touches his face with unadulterated reverence, "I love you, Damon. I'm in love with you." She smiles encouragingly, willing him to believe her.

And she has to convince him. Because if he leaves her she believes she won't survive.

Don't forget to tell me your thoughts. So, yep, you got that right. Review.