Disclaimer- My Christmas wish could have been to own The Vampire Diaries, but as I don't think I ever will, it wasn't. Anyway, I don't own The Vampire Diaries.

Snowy Day of Christmas

Playing in the Snow

Elena smiled as she stepped on the snow. She loved it when it snowed on Christmas. It gave her the chance to go out and have some fun before dinner. She took her gloves out, eager to try out the fluffy new snow that had just fallen. Content, she ran and jumped on a snowbank, laughing happily.

But Elena's happiness was short lived. Little after she had started to build herself a snowman, Damon Salvatore appeared in her garden. She grunted. Since last night, when she had looked out the window and seen the thousands of snowflakes slowly descending to the ground, she had looked forward to spending some time playing outside like she used to do when her parents were still alive. She remembered clapping her hands excitedly as she watched the snowflakes fall down, looking forward to spending some time outside with her family. Her dad would take a camera and take tons of photos of Jeremy and her playing together, building snow forts, throwing snowballs at each other and just having fun.

But after their deaths, it just hurt too much to even think about snow. In the previous winter, she had taken refuge behind a good book, locked up in her room with her blinds closed. However, she knew that, if she wanted to live up to her promise of being different this year, of going back to her old personality, "fun Elena", as Caroline called her, she had to get over the memories of the past. And thus, she had to go out and have some fun in the snow, even if she had to do it all by herself.

Damon, though, seemed to think that she should play in the snow with him.

- Don't be like this, Elena. You know you're happy to see me. - Damon said, smirking.

Elena gave him an exasperated sigh. All she had wanted was a peaceful afternoon, but apparently she would have to deal with Damon.

- Damon, you know as well as I do that I'm not happy to see you. Now, if you wouldn't mind, could you step out of my garden? - Elena asked, her hands on her hips.

- I'm hurt! - He mocked.

For a second, Elena actually believed that he was going to give up and go do something else. After all, even in a town as small as Mystic Falls, there was a lot of better stuff to do than to annoy her. There were lots of other people to annoy, as well. However, all her hopes were taken away as Damon's eyes lit up.

- How about this: let's have a snowman building competition. If I win, I get to stay with you, if you win, I'll leave and this will be the last you'll see of me until dinner, alright?

She considered his proposition carefully. It wasn't that big of a wager. Losing would be the same as not playing. With a sigh, she nodded.

- Fine. Let's just get this over with, shall we? - She agreed

Damon immediately started to gather snow, his eyes often leaving his task and wandering to the girl avidly working beside him. Elena shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. For some time already, she had found being in his presence extremely hard. She could feel his eyes on her, tracking her movements. Normally, she wouldn't mind, but ever since she had kissed him, even though he had been on his deathbed, it made her uncomfortable.

She wished Damon would stop staring at her and concentrated on his task, even if that meant that he had a bigger chance to win. Elena eyes shifted from the tiny ball at her feet to the almost complete snowman standing in front of Damon. There was no way she was going to be able to finish her snowman before him, and being distracted by his staring didn't help. She sighed, thinking that she might as well do what she had planned on doing, enjoy the snow.

Elena looked around, smiling evilly as she had an idea. She picked up a bit of the snow that was nearby and shaped it into a ball, aiming at Damon. Just as he turned to see how she was doing, she threw it at him, hitting the stunned vampire straight in the face. He narrowed his eyes, holding back a laugh, and murmured loud enough for her to hear:

- You will pay for this, I will make you pay!

With that, he made a whole stack of snowballs. Laughing, he aimed one at her and threw it. She didn't even have a chance to protect herself. She smiled as she started to build more ammunition. She very well knew that she would never be able to win that war, but she was actually enjoying herself.

She had missed having so much fun during Christmas. They playfully jumped around, rolled on the snow and hid behind the garden's decoration, trying to avoid each other's snowballs. Not even for a minute did she think about her parents. All that was on her mind was that she wanted that afternoon to last forever.

- Damon... - She said as she dodged another ball - It's getting late. I have to go back in and get ready for dinner.

Damon shook his head, smiling. Elena knew what that meant. He had no plans of leaving any time soon. She could feel her lips turning up in a small smile against her will. He couldn't know. If he ever found out that she had had that much fun just playing in the snow with him he would never let it go. He would keep bothering her about it, mocking her, using it against her.

- I can't stay, Damon, really. - She insisted.

At the same time that her brain was screaming for her to get out of there, foreseeing what was about to happen, her heart was telling her that, while Stefan was somewhere getting ready for dinner, probably picking out a tuxedo, completely ignoring her, not even interested in knowing what her previous Christmas had been like, Damon was there, entertaining her. He was there for her, not only with her. He might not have known the how he had helped her that afternoon, but he took an interest in being with her, in imposing his presence because he knew she wanted him to be there. And , with that thought, she decided to follow her heart.

Damon came closer, the smirk falling of his face as he realized that she wasn't moving away. For the first time, she didn't step back, she didn't say a word and most importantly, she didn't reject him. A part of her wanted him to go away, to be playing a trick on her. But she knew he was serious and she knew she would be disappointed if he turned his back on her. For a long time, she had expected something like this to happen. She just never had the courage to deny the safety, the stability Stefan constant presence and kind nature gave her in a world where she couldn't be safe anywhere. But now she did, and nothing was going to take that away from her.

She could count the seconds as Damon came close, the look in his eyes doubtful yet hopeful. Elena could only guess what was going through his mind. She knew that he had wanted something like that to happen for a long time, but she also knew that he had his doubts about a relationship between the two of them. If he didn't, she wouldn't be standing there, thinking about him. What Damon wants, Damon gets, and she knew that very well.

When he finally gave the last possible step towards Elena, his eyes filled up with a kind of joy she hadn't seen for a long time, and which she never thought she would see in Damon's face. His hands grabbed hers and she had to control the instinct of pulling away. She had tried to avoid that for so long she couldn't quite believe she had managed to follow her heart. She had done so much to avoid being with Damon. She had fooled herself, trying to make it so she thought she didn't have any feelings towards him. But as she stood before him, their breaths mingling from their proximity, she couldn't understand why.

As he realized Elena wasn't playing him, Damon allowed his lips to find hers. She could have sworn time stopped just for them. Nothing else existed, just Damon and her. And, alone in the world as they were, they could enjoy the moment. But it still ended too fast. Elena, as if shaken back to reality, pulled away, her eyes so wide they looked like brown spheres. She had done it. She had finally done what she had wanted to do for so long, she had kissed Damon. But it didn't feel real. Nothing about that moment felt real. For a second, she wondered if all that was really happening or if the image had been implanted in her mind. Everything was so perfect it almost seemed like Christmas magic. She looked around, trying to find Damon so that she could have some proof that she hadn't imagined the kiss, but he was nowhere to be found. With a worried sigh, she brought her hands to her lips. She could still feel the touch of Damon's lips on hers. She was sure it had happened.

Elena smiled as she walked back into the house. If they really had kissed, she would know by the next day. It wasn't like Damon would keep it a secret.