I have a 100K+ story I'm working on. This is in the same AU, but it still should make sense. Mainly ignores most of season four (no Silas) as I haven't seen season five.

Elena overhears Alaric talking to Damon. Instead of making Damon choose, Elena makes the decision for him: she leaves. Elena thinks the sire bond isn't real; now she just needs to prove it to everyone else.

Inspired by Ernesto Riley. Don't own his idea, don't own TVD.

"I'm looking to go to Rome. I see you have a flight in three hours. Do you have any seats left?" I leaned in and compelled the question.

"Sweetie." I pulled back, trying to keep a slight smile on my face. I could keep a straight face for hours, and the lack of flinching was always a giveaway. Trying to keep a little smile helped a lot. Then I noticed her eyes change. "That won't work on me."

"My apologies."

"But I do have a ticket."

"Really?"

"Do you have a passport?"

"No."

"Who are you running from?"

"No one. I'm nineteen. I'm going to look like this for ages. Figured, what's the point of a passport?"

"You thought you'd just compel your way through?"

"Not the whole way. I'm paying," I said, holding up cash. "Cash is a lot harder to track than credit."

"You have a lot to learn."

I thought back to Damon. "I know. That's why I'm trying to leave."

She looked at the clock, and then called a coworker over.

"Come on." I hesitated. "You're trusting your instincts. Good. I'll be right back."

I hid, in the shadows, but she came back a few minutes later in street clothes. Eventually, I came forward.

"I could still feel you." I looked up at her. "Didn't know where, but I knew you were still here."

"I didn't know you could do that."

"Not everyone can. How old are you?"

"Nineteen."

"No, I-"

"No, I mean, nineteen. I was turned less than four months ago."

"Wow. You really are new. Come on. Different airline."

"Why?"

"I'm constantly lacing my coworkers with vervain. You know. Temptation and all."

I looked around the bustling airport. "You're telling me."

"You sure you're ready for a flight this long?"

"Yes."

"Are you-"

"Yes. I'm human-hungry."

"You can tell the difference?"

A man a little taller than me passed by. He was in dark wash jeans, a black shirt, black boots, black leather jacket, dark hair, but looked nothing like him. "Yes. I learned from the best."

"And?"

"Long story."

"Need a partner in crime?"

"Why?"

She laughed, and shrugged. "I'm bored. I could use a change of pace. I've been here long enough. You seem fun. Take your pick."

"Elena."

"Lisa. See if you can snag us two tickets to Rome, Elena. I'll be your backup if you screw up."

I walked up to the next spot.

"Hey. I see you have a flight to Rome in a few hours."

"All sold out."

"Really." I compelled.

"Well."

I hadn't compelled much, more of a feeling, but I heard the hesitation and prodded. "You don't have… anything?"

"I do."

"But…"

I still wasn't compelling, much. On purpose. "No, you're right. We'd rather have a full plane." He looked confused.

"You don't have to talk it out. But. If you do have two tickets available…"

"Yeah. Sure."

"My friend can go first." She handed over her ID.

"No luggage?"

"No, sir," she said, holding up her bag. "Just my carry on."

"And yourself?"

"Elena Sommers," I said, handing over a blank piece of plastic. "You see my address on there." I glanced at Leila and smirked. "Say it."

"One twenty three fifty four South Lovers Lane." She looked impressed. "Hey. Coincidence. We have the same birthday. Different year, obviously."

"Thank you." I took our tickets. "You have been an immense help."

"You're welcome. Please. Have a nice day."

As we were walking towards the stairs, she said, "You're only four months old?" I smirked. "I am impressed. Now I want to know who your teacher was even more."

I paused at the top of the stairs. "Do you believe in the sire bond?"

"In… all my years, I have yet to see it. So, no. But I have heard of it."

"Everyone thought – thinks – I'm sired to him."

"You believe otherwise?"

"In my last dying moments, I asked a vampire to save my friend. At that point, I accepted death. I seriously didn't want to be a vampire. There was no gratitude that everyone speaks of."

"So you are running from something. Someone."

"I'm sorry, but I'm hungry. I have to eat." Another person walked by. "They all smell so good. That's my problem. But I'm full." I looked at her. "There's just this naked ache in me. My teacher, as you call him, told me that's just human hunger. So. I need to eat, or I overindulge in other… food types."

"Blood."

"Yeah."

"What do you want?"

That one looked like Bonnie. "A hamburger. That was my favorite food."

"Great. This way. Only one burger place that's worth it, here."

"Thanks."

A girl with red curls walked by. She was a head shorter than me, and that put her at the perfect height to smell. I hurried the other vampire along.

"Hey, Lisa."

"Can my friend and I get a table, Roy?"

"Yeah, sure. Take that one in the corner. Can I get you anything to drink, first?"

"Coke."

"Water."

"Great."

We were only sitting down when he was back. "I know Lisa's here for a burger. How about you, sweetheart?"

"Hamburger."

"How do you want that?"

"Medium rare. With ketchup. Pickle on the side. An order of fries." I saw a dessert menu but passed it up in favor of the server. "What kind of pie do you have?"

"Peach and apple."

"No key lime?"

"Sorry, love, but no."

"I'll pass, then."

"I'll put your order in and be right back with the fries."

When he walked away, Lisa said, with humor, "Medium rare?"

"Habit." I smiled weakly. "I liked pink in my burgers. Can't seem to shake it. And he didn't even take your order."

"I'm here all the time."

"Right."

"Fries, ladies. Your hamburgers shouldn't be long." I looked around the rather packed restaurant. "Hey. Lisa tops the serving order. Consider yourself lucky."

"Thanks." When he left, I asked, "Is he-"

"Not on vervain, not compelled. Just a friend."

"A human friend?"

"A human friend."

"Don't mind me shoving these fries." I had to start eating. The server smelled alright, but there was a lady a few tables away who smelled delicious. "So. Lisa. How old are you?"

"It's never polite to ask someone's age, Elena."

I went back.

'It's never polite to ask someone's age, Elena.' 'Seriously, Damon. When do you turn one hundred and seventy?'

Twenty-four going on one hundred and seventy.

'Dating rules and guidelines.' Damon's snort and eye roll were right before me, too. 'Subchapter. After a hundred years, you no longer feel like a pervert dating eighteen year olds.'

"Elena?"

"Sorry."

"You, uhm. Shouldn't stare off holding a fork, next time."

I relaxed my hand and looked down at the mangled fork. "I forget."

"I'm twenty five." I met her eyes. "I've been twenty five for three hundred years. After a while, it just doesn't matter, anymore."

'When you're pushing into your eightieth, ninetieth years, birthdays get real old, real fast. And when you're one hundred and sixty nine? It just doesn't matter, anymore.' 'It matters, and you know it.'

"It matters." And you know it.

"February second. Sixteen forty. A small, small town in what is now Germany. My father pissed off the wrong person. He fed me his blood, and killed me over and over and over. Until my father finally passed. And then I killed him. I had no one to teach me. I can't go more than a day without blood, and that's if everything's going well. Stressful days, I need to eat every few hours."

I thought about my life the past two years but couldn't figure out how to sum it up. "I love him, sire bond or not."

"Then why leave?"

.
"Elena has a lot of growing up to do, Damon."

"I know that, Ric."

"I don't think you do. She's eighteen, Damon. She has her whole life in front of her. If you love her, you'll let her go. If you don't, it doesn't matter if she leaves. And if it is love, five, ten, twenty years won't make a difference – in vampire years."

"Would you be saying differently if it were Stefan that she loved?"

"No, Damon. You're both good for each other. All I'm saying, is, twenty years, to you, is the blink of an eye."

"The blink of an eye…"

I walked away. I didn't need to hear more. Not from Ric. Not from Ric or Damon and Stefan or Caroline or anyone.

I made one stop, before I left.

My bedroom. Our bedroom.

His bedroom.

I laid my necklace next to the sink and took an old tube of lip stick out of my purse. I wrote on our mirror – his mirror.

The story of life is quicker than the blink of an eye.
The story of love is hello
Goodbye
- Maybe I'll see you in twenty years. x

.
"Why not?" The boy brought our hamburgers out. "Thank you."

"Why not?" She sounded confused.

The burger was amazing. Now that my stomach was filling up, the lady a few tables over just smelled good, not like I wanted to kill her. Dull. Achy, but not necessary. But still desired. I kept eating.

"I love him, sire bond or not," I repeated. "But nobody believes it – his brother, my friends, my step-dad."

"So you're running. Away from a man you love. Because of what everybody else thinks."

"I'm not running."

'Elena has a lot of growing up to do, Damon.'

"I'm growing."