AN: This story is a sequel to my other Vampire Diaries fics, Everything and Anything. I just wanted to make that clear right away, since this story might seem a little out of the blue if you haven't read those first. As her college graduation approaches, Elena has to make a big decision. Is she ready to make the ultimate change to be with Damon forever?

OK guys, here's the next sequel – I hope you haven't gotten tired of 'my' alternate universe yet! I think that, after having read Everything and Anything, you might have figured out what this story is going to revolve around, but it will take a while to get there, and there will be bumps along the road … So, are you up for it?

As always, lots of hugs to my amazing beta, sunshine2006578, who has now stuck with me through three stories, and even more since she helped me, yet again, with the title for this one! You're the best!

Disclaimer: The characters of The Vampire Diaries are the property of L.J. Smith and the people at The CW. I'm just borrowing.

Chapter one

The bedroom was dark and Elena was sleeping soundly next to him, but Damon lay awake, watching the minutes tick by on the digital alarm clock on the bedside table. The little numbers informed him that it was now eleven fifty-seven P.M. Elena's birthday was tomorrow, and he was waiting for midnight so that he could wake her up. She had fallen asleep a little before eleven but he'd stayed awake, not wanting to risk oversleeping. He had planned this moment for weeks now, and it seemed like the closer it got, the slower time moved, until now, when it felt like every second lasted for at least a minute. Impatiently, he fingered the black velvet box he had taken out of his underwear drawer as soon as he was sure that Elena was asleep. He opened the lid, looking at the ring for probably the hundredth time since he had bought it. The diamond sparkled a little, even in the dark. The ring had immediately caught his eye and he hadn't even looked at any others, but maybe he should have? He had been sure, at the time, that it was perfect for Elena, but now, in the dark, doubt started creeping up on him. What if she hated it?

Shaking his head, he pushed those thoughts away. She would love the ring, and if she didn't, she could pick out another one. It wouldn't be a big deal if she wanted to do that. She would, hopefully, be wearing it for a very long time, after all.

Eleven fifty-eight. Taking a deep breath, he placed the open jewelry box on the pillow right in front of Elena. He wanted the ring to be the first thing she saw when she opened her eyes. Without making a sound, he quickly got out of bed and lit the dozen or so candles that he had placed around the room earlier. She wouldn't be able to see anything if the room was completely dark – she didn't have his amazing night vision, after all – and candles were romantic, right?

Slipping between the sheets again, he reached out to run a finger along the side of her face. Eleven fifty-nine. She sighed in sleep, automatically turning into his touch, but didn't wake up. When the clock changed, signaling a new day beginning, he made sure that the box with the ring hadn't moved before raising himself up on one elbow and leaning down so he could whisper in her ear. "Happy birthday."

"Mmmm," she mumbled, turning to bury her face in the pillow. "What time is it?"

"Midnight. It's your birthday."

"And it won't still be my birthday in seven hours, when I have to get up for class?" she grumbled into the pillow, only semi-coherently, though she sounded more or less awake.

"Well, sure, but where's the fun in that?" He smiled to himself as she pulled the cover up over her head. "Come on, open your eyes."

"I'm sleeping."

"No, you're not." He pulled the cover back down, but her eyes were still squeezed tightly shut. "Can I at least give you a birthday kiss? Then you can go back to sleep, I promise."

She smiled a little. "Go ahead."

"Eyes open, please," he instructed, moving the ring box a little so that she wouldn't be able to miss it.

Sighing, she opened her eyes a fraction of an inch, intent on giving him an annoyed look. But then she caught sight of the ring, and her eyes widened.

"Oh my God, what's this?"

"Rock climbing gear, I thought we could go to the Grand Canyon this summer," he deadpanned. "What does it look like?"

Tentatively, she reached out and touched the glittering, heart shaped stone with one finger. "Are you serious?"

He snapped the box shut. "Nope, just kidding."

She frowned at him. "Can you be serious for one second?"

"How's this for serious?" He took the ring out of the box. "By now you've probably figured out that I don't do big, romantic gestures. But will you marry me anyway, flaws and all? I promise life will never be boring."

It probably wasn't the most romantic proposal ever, but, like he had just said, he didn't really do romantic.

She didn't say anything in response, but held out her left hand, which was shaking a little, and he took that as a yes. Her eyes were still wide and intent on the ring but, as he slid it onto her finger, he watched her instead. He knew every inch of her body, had memorized everything about her from the way her lips tasted and the way her hair smelled when he buried his face in it to the way her skin felt under his fingertips and the way her breathing would speed up and her heart start to beat faster when he kissed that sensitive spot right behind her left ear. But still, every single day, she managed to surprise and amaze him. Like now, when tears rose in her eyes.

"Hey," he mumbled, reaching out to wipe a tear away. "No crying. You can say no if you want, no big. I promise I'll try not to take it the wrong way. I mean, I'm only telling you I want to spend the rest of my life with you and you're saying no, so what, right? I'm a big boy, I can deal."

"Shut up!" She smiled at his attempted joke – despite a few tears that were still running down her cheeks – and leaned over to kiss him. "I'm crying because I'm happy, silly. I love it, it's beautiful, and I love you. So much."

"Well, I sort of assumed as much, since you did just agree to marry me." He gave her a look, putting on a fake frown. "You did, right? You're not just planning on taking off with the ring and leaving me hanging?"

She was busy admiring the ring and didn't think that the question deserved an answer. The platinum encircled her finger perfectly and the heart shaped diamond – or at least she assumed it was a diamond, knowing that he would only get the best for her – was breathtakingly beautiful. Noticing the logo on the silky lining of the box, she frowned. "The ring's from Tiffany's? It must have cost a fortune!"

"Isn't there some sort of rule against asking how much an engagement ring costs?" he asked dryly. "If there isn't, there should be. I mean, I'm happy to tell you, but isn't it the thought that counts?"

"And now I know that you spent way too much," she concluded, but she was still smiling. "But I don't care, because I love it, I really do."

"Good thing, because if I have anything to say about it, it's never coming off," he told her, kissing the ring on her finger.

"OK, you're totally forgiven for waking me up," she said, the last words disappearing in a yawn.

"Yeah?" He leaned in closer, placing a kiss on her nose. "Is that all it takes to get on your good side? A ring with a sparkly stone in it? Why didn't I think of that earlier?"

"Mmm-hmm." She wrapped an arm around him, pulling herself closer, as another yawn escaped her lips. "You can bribe me with jewelry any time you want."

"But you're still tired." He tried to pull away from her a little, but she wouldn't let him.

"No, I'm …" another yawn, "… awake."

"You know I'm up for that pretty much any time, any place, but I'd really rather you were awake," he told her, shifting them around on the bed a little so he was on his back and she was half-way on top of him, her head on his chest. "There'll be plenty of time for you to show me just how much you like the ring tomorrow. And the day after that, and the day after that, and the day after that …"

Sighing, she pressed one kiss to his chest before laying her head back down. Her left hand rested against his shoulder, the light from the candles still making the diamond sparkle. He had been right; she was still tired. Within minutes she was asleep, the image of the beautiful engagement ring following her into her dream.

"I still don't understand why you have to go to class on a Saturday," Damon complained when Elena's alarm went off seven hours later. "Isn't the whole point of the weekend that you get time off? That's what the American society was built on; you can't just go and change it whenever you feel like it."

"I know, I hate it too," she agreed, swatting at the annoying alarm clock. "And on my birthday."

"So don't go," he said, wrapping an arm around her underneath the covers. "Stay here, in bed, with me, all day. I'll make it your best birthday ever."

"That's very tempting and you know I want to," she replied, cuddling closer. "But I have to go; attendance is fifty percent of the grade on this course. And it's the last class. I have to hand in my paper, and I really think I can get an A."

He wanted to say that he didn't care, but knew that it was important to her. "Fine. Don't worry about me, I'll just think of another way to spend the time."

"But we're staying at the boarding house tonight, remember?" she tried to cheer him up as she pulled away and slipped out of bed. "So no Jenna and Alaric around, no Maddy waking us up in the middle of the night and, most importantly, no need to stay quiet."

Madison, Jenna and Alaric's daughter, had turned one in April. Jenna used to joke and call her their wedding night baby, since she had been born almost to the day nine months after they had gotten married in July two years ago.

After Jeremy's disappearance, Jenna had thought about postponing the wedding, which had been planned for that summer. But, between Elena and Alaric, they had managed to convince her to go through with it, that Jeremy wouldn't want them to put their lives on hold because he was gone. A month and a half after the wedding Jenna and Alaric had announced that they were going to be parents and in April the previous year, after a pregnancy pretty much without any complications and a relatively easy birth, Madison Miranda Saltzman had arrived.

Elena would never forget the first time she had seen her cousin; Madison had only been a couple of hours old and when Elena had held her, she had opened her eyes and her tiny little fist had closed around Elena's pinky. Needless to say, it had been love at first sight.

Because the boarding house had been shut up since Damon moved down to Durham three and a half years ago, they had stayed with Jenna and Alaric when they visited on weekends and holidays. But, after getting woken up by a crying Maddy every night for a week when they had been home for the summer last year, Damon had gotten a cleaning crew to come to the boarding house to clean it up and air it out, and since then they had stayed there when they went to Mystic Falls. After Elena's class today they would be driving up there to celebrate her birthday with the family.

"Right, something to look forward to," he allowed, watching her as she got dressed. He'd have a couple of hours while she was in school; maybe he could stop by Victoria's Secret at the mall and pick her up something for her birthday that would be a gift to him as well …

"I'll be done at noon, and then I'll come back here and pack," she said, pulling him away from the very nice images that had started flickering through his mind. "We should probably have lunch before leaving."

"I'll take care of it," he assured her. "It's your birthday, you're not going to worry about anything at all."

"Really?" she asked with an inquisitive look, wondering how far she could take it. "Will you pack for me too?"

"Sure," he willingly agreed. "As long as you'll wear what I pack …"

Her eyes narrowed at that. "Maybe not the best idea," she concluded. "I do have to be out in public."

"Suit yourself …"

"OK, I have to go." She went over to the bed and leaned down to give him a goodbye kiss, quickly taking a step back when he made to pull her back into bed. "I promised Alison I'd let her buy me birthday-breakfast before class."

"I'll see you later," he said grudgingly, and she laughed.

"I love you," she told him as she grabbed her book bag. "And I love the ring, in case I haven't mentioned that already."

"Love you too," he replied. "Even if you refuse to show me just how much you love the ring by staying in bed with me."

She laughed again. "Bye."

The day was already warm – they'd had temperatures in the mid-seventies for almost a week now, despite it still being the middle of May – and the sun was shining down from a blue sky. Elena quickly walked down the street in the direction of the Duke campus, where she was meeting Alison at their favorite coffee place.

A ray of sunshine caught in the heart shaped diamond, and, looking down at the ring, she smiled. She couldn't believe Damon had actually proposed. They hadn't really talked much about what they were going to do after her graduation, which was coming up in only a couple of weeks, but she hadn't even imagined that he would have marriage in mind. Not that she had a problem with that … not at all, actually. She was only twenty-two, and realized that some people would probably consider that way too young to be getting married, but they had been together for four and a half years now. And it wasn't like marriage was the most permanent declaration of love she had in mind …

They hadn't talked about that, either. Since Jeremy's disappearance and transformation two and a half years ago, Elena had gradually gotten to the point where she wasn't worried about actually turning into a vampire anymore. Her relationship with Jeremy was really good these days; they talked on the phone once or twice a week and saw each other at least once every month. Her brother wasn't the first or only vampire she knew, of course, but he was the first one she had known before he was changed and, somewhere along the way, she had realized that becoming a vampire didn't mean that you lost any part of yourself; if anything, you gained an insight into what and who you really were. And, in her case, that wouldn't be the only thing she gained.

She didn't know why she hadn't brought the subject up with Damon before, but knew that she would have to, and soon. It wasn't that she didn't think he'd want to have her around forever – she still drank a little of his blood every day to be on the safe side in case she was in an accident or something – the subject just hadn't come up. It wasn't something you just slipped into an everyday conversation, after all. She had actually counted on him bringing it up by now, but he hadn't, probably because he didn't want to pressure her.

While these thoughts ran through her mind, she had made her way to the coffee shop. She could see Alison through the window and made a mental note to stop thinking about her possibly – hopefully – imminent transformation, at least for right now. Today was the last day of class, and then she had two weeks until finals during which she would be studying more or less around the clock. She was going to talk to Damon about it in two weeks, she decided. That would still give them time to work out the details – she didn't want to do it before her graduation, anyway.

A little bell tingled when Elena opened the door and Alison looked up, waiving when she saw her friend.

"Happy birthday!" she exclaimed when Elena approached her through the already crowded coffee shop, jumping to her feet to give her friend a bone crushing hug.

"Thank you," Elena replied, hugging her back.

"I got you a present!" Alison sat back down, pulling Elena down on the chair next to hers. She held out a box wrapped in bright pink wrapping paper, matching her current hair color.

Elena eyed the box suspiciously; Alison had a tendency to buy … odd presents was one way of putting it. Last year, she had given Elena twenty-one little bottles of twenty-one different kinds of alcohol, from gin and brandy to vodka and tequila, each bottle with a little bow around its neck, to celebrate her twenty-first birthday. This box didn't look like it contained something like that, but Elena still shook it carefully. No splashing.

"Open it!" Alison ordered impatiently.

"OK, OK." Elena ripped the paper off, discovering a white box which told her absolutely nothing about what it contained. Taking the lid off, she found a beautiful silver necklace with a heart pendant. In the middle of the heart, her name was engraved, and above the 'E' there was a green stone. "It's beautiful, Ali, thank you!"

"The stone's an emerald," Alison explained, "since that's the birthstone for May. I also got you this." With a mischievous smile, she gave Elena an equally pink envelope.

"Should I be worried?" Elena wondered, opening the envelope.

"It won't bite, if that's what you're concerned about," Alison replied with a snort.

"When it comes to you, I can never be sure …" Peeking into the envelope, Elena initially thought what she held in her hand were butterfly stickers. Then she realized that they were actually temporary tattoos, the kind you find in toy stores. "I take it you think I need a tattoo?" she asked with a smile, glancing at the three tattoos Alison had. Well, the three that were visible at the moment …

"I thought about getting you a gift card for a real one, you know that I have a friend who runs a tattoo parlor in Charlotte. But I know that you'd never go for that, so I got you those."

Elena had a feeling she should be grateful for that. "You were right about the permanent tattoo thing," she said, taking the necklace out of the box. Shaking her hair out of the way, she put it on. "I love the necklace, how does it look?"

But Alison wasn't looking at the necklace; she was staring at Elena's left ring finger. "Oh … my … God," she stuttered after a moment, grabbing Elena's hand. "Oh my God! He actually proposed?"

Elena nodded, a big smile on her face.

"Oh my God!" Again, Alison jumped to her feet, enveloping Elena in a hug. "Congratulations!"

"Thank you," Elena replied, laughing at Alison's enthusiasm.

"So how did he do it?" Alison asked breathlessly as she sat down again, continuing before Elena had a chance to reply. "On the roof terrace at sunset? Or did you go on a midnight stroll under the stars? No, I know, he made you dinner and hid the ring in the dessert, right? Or in a glass of champagne?"

"No, no, no and no." Elena shook her head. "He woke me up at midnight to say happy birthday, and when I opened my eyes, there were all these lit candles around the room and the ring was just sitting there on my pillow."

Alison sighed. "That's sooo romantic."

Elena thought so too, despite Damon trying to tell her that he didn't do romantic gestures. She knew he didn't really do it on purpose, but somehow he still managed to come up with different romantic dates. They weren't anything spectacular; a picnic in the park, a drive to the beach to watch the sunrise, ice cream in front of a roaring fire, that sort of thing. Every now and then, he would take her out for a romantic dinner at some expensive restaurant, but she liked the cheap, personal dates much better.

"I'm totally jealous," Alison complained, pulling Elena back to the present.

"I thought you were having a good time with … what's his name? Lenny?" Elena couldn't keep up with Alison's dating life if she tried, and she had given up a long time ago.

"Lenny was weeks ago," Alison told her, rolling her eyes. "I'm seeing Steve right now, but I think I might have to dump him." Her brow furrowed at the thought.

"Why?"

"He's just … too sweet."

Elena raised her eyebrows at that. "Too sweet? Is there such a thing?"

"Yeah, you know the type." Alison waved her hand in a dismissive motion. "Never argues, always does whatever you ask, takes you wherever you want to go, eats at whatever restaurant you pick, watches whatever movie you want to watch."

"No, I actually don't know the type. And that doesn't sound so bad." Damon might not really be the bad boy he tried to come off as, Elena thought, but he definitely couldn't be described as too sweet either. If there was something she wanted to do that he refused to even consider, she could sometimes bribe him into doing it anyway, and sometimes puppy eyes and a 'please' worked too, but he would never do whatever she asked, not when it came to trivial things like what movie to watch or what restaurant to eat at. He didn't always have to get his way, either, though. They usually took turns picking restaurants and movies. But, when it really came down to it, she knew that he would do anything for her, and that was what mattered to her.

Alison sighed. "Trust me, it's fun at first, but after a while, it gets really boring."

Elena tried to imagine always getting her way, never being contradicted, and could actually understand what Alison meant. "Yeah, I guess I can see your point."

"OK, but enough about my disastrous love life, today is about you! Post-proposal sex has to be the best, and I want all the details!"

AN: OK, what did you guys think? I'm taking some liberties with Elena's birthday here, I know, but it hasn't been mentioned on the show, right? So I put it where it worked with my timeline! I wanted to get the proposal in there before they talk about Elena turning, since I wanted Damon to show her that he wants her forever, even if it's just her forever … Like I said in the AN at the beginning of the chapter, it's gonna be a little while before we actually get to her turning, I hope you don't mind. We have some stuff to deal with along the way; for one, what are they going to tell Jenna? Someone said in a review of Anything that they would have to tell her the truth since she wouldn't be able to deal with another member of her family disappearing, and I agree. So the question is, how will she react? And has Elena really thought everything through? There is no turning back, after all, and she will be giving up a lot of things … Oh, and I'll put the internet page where I found the engagement ring on my profile, in case you want to check it out! Anyway, let me know what you thought about this first chapter!