Elena Gilbert stood still, playing with the hem of her white dress and shuffling with it nervously. In truth, she was nervous. And she had plenty of reason to be. For starters, Caroline was throwing her a party to which she ultimately did not want. She did not want to go down there and face the people at her school, most of which she didn't really talk to. She did not want to fake and smile and casually lie 'I'm fine." to anyone that used. Briefly the memory of her parents' accident flashed through her. On the first day of school she had lied to everyone, saying that she was "fine". It seems as though life repeats itself.

She had all of these reasons to be nervous, although you could imagine that the main cause of her nervousness was because of him. Stefan. She had been worried sick about him ever since he first left to be an unwilling partner of Klaus. It was so hard without him here, she realized.

She took a deep breath and faced the mirror before her. The reflection presented her with a brunette girl, rather dolled up, but with eyes that were filled with undeniable sadness. And now something behind her caught her eye. A flash of blue. A smirk.

Exhaling she assured, "Don't worry - I'm not going to lose it." She smiled weakly and turned to face him. "At least not before the cake."

Damon shrugged, face revealing that he would not be bothered by the idea of her "losing it". "It's your party, you can cry if you want to." He gave her a neutral smile that had her guessing whether he was serious or not. She smiled back at him however it wasn't genuine. It never touched her eyes. Neither did his, she realized.

She watches him unfold his arms and stroll into the bedroom. "Ah, Stefan." he sighs indifferently. She looks away in remembrance that she was in Stefan's room. Memories of him came flooding back to her. Truthfully the memories of him had been haunting her throughout the entire Summer. All she could ever think about was Stefan. Was he okay? Was he hurt? Undoubtedly she had tried to forget about him, to take her mind off of his absence. Damon's words just brought everything back painfully.

"Such a packrat.." he murmured half to himself and half to her. She watched him curiously, eyeing him as he reached forward to pick up the photo of her Stefan. It was an older photo that was taken about a year ago. Each of them looked so happy in it. So new. So ..in love.

Damon traces his thumb over photo Elena, places the photo back down, and looks up to catch the real Elena's eye. "I got you something." He says as if it had just occurred to him that this might be the time to present his gift to her.

She frowns, unhappy that he would go through the trouble. She mouths his name but he is already interrupting her quickly. "I know I promised not to buy you anything, so don't worry, I didn't pay for it." The words are bitter and she wonders if he would have bought her something if she had allowed it.

Her eyes are so locked onto his face that she does not notice when he pulls out a black, velvet box from his back pocket. His eyes glaze over and twinkle for a moment and she asks, "You stole it?"

"No." he replies, shocked and irritated that she would even come to that conclusion. "Found it." And now she looks away from him, looking into his hands as he removes the lid and reveals an object she has been very familiar with. One that she had missed dearly. Her heart ached.

"My necklace.." she whispers, looking back to him in surprise. He found it for her? This was so kind and sweet, she almost didn't know if it was true.

He notices the shock on her face and he can't say that it doesn't wound him a little, because it does. Was it such an unsual notion that he would do something like this for her? She should know by now, he thought, that I would do anything to see her smile.

She shakes her head and takes the necklace into her fingers. "I thought I'd never see it again." She exhales quickly, a tiny smile on her lips. Happiness flows through her but it is a dull feeling and quickly fades before she has time to bathe in it.

He stares at her holding it. "Alaric found it in his loft, I figured you'd be happy to get it back." He raises his eyebrows and acts as if this whole thing is nonchalant. As if him getting this back for her is nothing out of the ordinary. Just a gift. He meets her eyes and she says softly, "I am happy."

He clears his throat and looks down. He does this because he knows she is lying. He sees right through her. He can feel the pain radiating off of her. This necklace is a reminder of his brother. His very brother that was missing and running around with a dangerous hybrid. He had watched her suffer for a few months now and began to learn the difference between her genuine contentness and when she was struggling to keep herself together. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." He says, looking her in the eyes.

She stares at him and decides that the polite thing to do would be to ask him to place the necklace on her neck. Taking a deep breath she asks, "Can you..?"

He is caught off guard but recovers himself quickly. "Ah- absolutely." He gently takes the necklace into his hands and tries to remember the last time he had put a necklace on a beautiful girl. He struggles to remember because all he can now think about is the bare shoulders facing him as she turns around.

She bites down softly on her bottom lip as she senses Damon's hand near her neck. She can feel the heat of his body behind her and she tries desperately to remember her name. She avoids his gaze in the mirror, and it's a good thing that she does, because he feels nervous and bashful. He is hopelessly in love with the girl he is now placing a necklace on. A necklace that symbolizes her love for his brother. She lifts her hair and tilts her head to side, seeing him make a strange face in response to her movement.

She looks into the mirror and to her horror, catches his eye. Quickly she switches her gaze to the floor. A small tick is made as he latches the necklace from the back. She looks up again and finds him gazing at her through the mirror. She watches him and can't decide whether this was a good idea or not. Her heart pounds inside her chest and she tries to think of a reason as to why it would do such a thing.

Careful not to touch her, he removes his hands and places them by his side. When he looks away, she turns around to face him. How close he is, she realizes. They meet each other with an innocent look.

"Ready for the party?" he whispers, blinking slowly. He silently counts the dark brown specks in her eyes. So beautiful.

Her face scrunches and she looks down, unsure what to say. After a long moment she shakes her head and says, "I didn't even want this party."

He laughs. "Elena, you're eighteen. Finally an adult. This is something to can... buy a pack of cigarettes and...vote." She meets his eyes and realizes that he has a true smirk on his face, the smirk that touches his eyes. She never really realized how he made her feel so comfortable yet you can imagine that she realizes it now. Because of his comment, she feels a little better about everything. It is as if something inside of her is screaming to her that as long as she has Damon, everything will be okay. Unfortunately she doesn't exactly believe it.

She smiles. "Yeah. Right."

"Although," he says quickly, "if you start smoking I'm going to be very mad at you. It's not something you want to get into."

"Damon." She rolls her eyes. But she understands that he's joking, only trying to be himself and get her to feel better. And it works. Somehow it magically, beautifully, and shockingly works on her.

He holds his hands up and says, "Hey, I'm just trying to look out for your well being." His eyebrows shoot up and she finds herself memorized by his expression.

They are silent for a moment, fueled by the attraction between them and the anticipation of what to say or do next. "It feels...wrong..without him here." She looks around his room and studies everything closely. It's as if he never left by the way his books are casually scattered about and the candles are all glowing and scented with a romantic, vanilla tang.

Damon's face closes in on itself and he assures her, "I'm sure he feels...guilty, that he isn't here."

She whispers to him, leaning in. "Do you really think so?"

He stares into her eyes and decides that he can't lie to her. "No." he finally says at last. "I don't think so."

She softly nods, her eyes on the floor. "What are we going to do, Damon?" and then, suddenly, his hand in on her chin and he is tilting her eyes to look at his.

"We are going to do nothing. You are going to enjoy your party, and remember that you only turn eighteen once."

She has to concentrate on his words since the very way he had grabbed her chin nearly made her heart stop. She felt self conscious and anxious that he was so close to her. His eyes. His mouth. Everything. So close..

She leaned in instinctively, the predator inside of him attracting her like a moth to a flame. What was wrong with her? Why wasn't she just keeping still? All too soon he pulls away, removing her chin softly, and holds an arm out for escort. She blinks innocently and slips her arm through his. The bulky muscle of his forearm catches her attention and she wonders what the expressions of everyone downstairs will be when they catch sight of Elena Gilbert on the arm of one of the most desired men in town. Also, Elena Gilbert on the arm of her boyfriend's brother. He smiles at her and she smiles back, deciding that she doesn't care what anyone else might think. This was Damon.

And today was her birthday.