Elena awoke from her slumber in a pretty good mood. The sun was shining through her thin satin curtains, she could the birds singing from the tree near her window and a general feeling of happiness filled the air. Then things went downhill. The first thing to bring her down was when she checked her phone to find a text from Matt. Caroline was in hospital; Tyler had crashed the car with Caroline and Matt in and Caroline was in surgery. She texted Matt back saying that she would get there as soon as she could, but had a bad signal and the text wouldn't send. Great, just great. Then she remembered last night's confusing events and their even more confusing consequences. What on earth was she going to do? Maybe it was time to admit to herself that she and Damon shared something that Stefan had never matched. Maybe it was time to admit it to Damon. Maybe it was time to admit it to Stefan. She couldn't live the charade any longer. She'd known it for a while; last night's kiss had only confirmed it.
And now she had to do something about it for once. With shaking, fumbling fingers she dialled Damon's number, without a clue as to what she was actually doing. She held the Blackberry up to her ear, listening to the soft ringing as she wandered into her bathroom. But she stopped dead in her tracks before he picked up. The bathroom counter was littered with pills, the plastic canister thrown aside in a haphazard fashion. She didn't know what had gone on in here, but she knew instinctively that it wasn't good. In this house a counter covered in pills was never a good thing.
As if controlled by some other force, Elena stumbled out of the bathroom and into Jeremy's room, where she threw herself at the lump on the bed, her phone thrown onto the dresser placed by the door.
"Jeremy?" she rasped, terrified as to what she'd do if he didn't wake up. She grabbed his shoulders and shook the sleeping boy with desperate fingers. "Jeremy!"
His eyes opened and he mumbled some kind of angry retort, pushing his older sister away and trying to curl back under his duvet. Unfortunately, slow with sleepiness, Elena grabbed him before he could escape.
"Oh, Jeremy! I'm so glad you're okay! I thought – oh I thought you were dead, Jeremy." She pulled him into an awkward hug, with him struggling out of her grip.
"I am dead, Elena. I'm a vampire." It hadn't taken him long to wake up.
"What? What are you talking about?"
"I drank some of Anna's blood and then I overdosed on those pills in the bathroom."
"No! You can't be!" she sobbed, devastated by the news. "Stay there!" she ordered, backing away from him and grabbing her phone.
Once away from him she looked at the screen of her Blackberry and remembered what she'd been doing before finding the pills. She needed to call somebody, to get help. Only she was torn as to who to call. Damon? Or Stefan? Which one could she face? The vampire brother who she'd kissed last night? Or the one who she'd cheated on?
"Hello?" a voice answered the phone. "Elena?"
"Damon," she whispered through a sudden onslaught of tears. How had her life gotten so complicated?
"Did you just call me? A couple of minutes ago?" His voice held none of his usual sarcasm, only concern.
"Yeah, er, I need your help. It's Jeremy." She fought against the tears, angry at herself for being so overly emotional.
"What's up?" his voice was like velvet. It was surprisingly gentle.
"Could you just come here please?"
"Sure, I'll be there soon." And with that he hung up on her.
While he was on his way, she began getting washed and dressed. She was finishing straightening her hair when she heard him knock on the door. Unplugging the hot device and placing it on the safety mat, Elena trotted down the stairs to greet her friend.
"Oh good, you're here," she sighed, opening the door.
"You ask I come," he replied, sliding in through the small place between the door and the door frame.
Elena put her finger to her lips, pointing the John, who was sitting at the dining table eating a bowl of cereal.
"No, Elena, I will not go to your bedroom with you," Damon joked and Elena assumed he was making a reference to the rendezvous when Stefan was on human blood.
She dragged him by the arm upstairs, not in the mood for reminiscing. Especially not about that time in her life. Especially not about Stefan.
The odd thing was that John didn't even bat an eyelid at Damon. He simply carried on eating his cereal, looking up at them but doing nothing else. It was as if he'd forgotten that yesterday he'd tried to kill Damon. But Elena wasn't going to dwell on that. She had more important things to worry about, like her possibly undead vampire brother.
Upon reaching the top of the stairs, Elena turned to Damon and pulled him into her room, where she fell onto the bed. He wandered around the room, touching things as he pleased.
"Now, Elena, what's going on?" he asked at last, fingering through her various items of possession. This really was a blast from the past. Last time his nosiness had irritated her, now she couldn't really care less; there were more important things than Damon looking through her underwear drawer.
"It's Jeremy. Apparently he is now a vampire." The words tasted bitter on her tongue, foreign.
"What? How the hell did that happen?" he asked, his attention now fully focused on the conversation at hand.
"He drank Anna's blood and then overdosed."
"That's impossible. Anna's dead. I watched your father kill her last night. I came here and told Jeremy that myself last night." He hadn't meant the words to come out so harsh, it hurt a little to see the flicker of sadness on Elena's face.
"Well that's what he said happened."
"Alright, I'll go talk to him." He turned from her and was about the push through the door into Jeremy's bedroom.
"Wait a sec," Elena whispered, taking a hold of Damon's leather jacket and pulling him back. When he gave a look of confusion, she said "Be nice. I know that's difficult for you, but be nice to him please. He's done something stupid, but don't be too harsh. He's still my brother."
"Fine, whatever." Damon loosened Elena's grip on his jacket, but she took hold of it again before he could move.
"I'm serious, Damon. Promise me."
He turned and looked her in the eyes. "I promise, Elena." Then he entered Jeremy's room.
Jeremy was sitting on his bed, a vacant look in his eyes.
"So just run it by me again. What happened exactly?" Damon asked, approaching Jeremy.
"He said that Anna gave him her blood and then he took these pills and–and now I–I mean he look fine, but then again so do you so I just don't know."
Damon bent down to Jeremy's level, taking hold of his face and forcing him to look at him.
"C'mon, look at me"
"I'm fine, okay. I feel exactly the same," Jeremy argued, squirming away from Damon's grasp.
"Should I call a paramedic? Okay, what should I do?" Elena could feel the panic creeping into her body. She was feeling more and more terrified by the minute.
Damon examined Jeremy's face closely, a look of complete concentration in his baby blue eyes.
"Nope, he's fine."
"You mean I'm not a vampire?"
"You wish." Damon smirked.
"Damn it," Jeremy cursed.
"Don't say that!" Elena scolded. "Jeremy, why would you want that?"
"Did you hear about Anna? What happened to her tonight?" Jeremy paused for dramatic impact then said in a small, sombre voice "She's dead."
Damon rolled his eyes at this, he knew that already.
"I know that, I told you that. And I'm very sorry about that, but listen to me, you little idiot. Anna's blood will be leaving your system right now, which means that if you do something stupid again like try to kill yourself, you might actually die. And, for me, that wouldn't be an issue, but it would kill your sister. So don't do it. Do you understand me?" Damon's last words were practically growled. His eyes were bulging with fury and his mouth was twisted into a grimace of tempestuousness.
"Yeah, I understand," Jeremy spoke quietly.
Damon's expression cleared and he stepped away from the teenage boy, feeling like he'd done something pretty good on his part.
"What about the pills that he took?" Elena asked, speaking to Damon but still looking at Jeremy.
"He didn't take enough to die so the blood Anna gave him actually healed that."
Jeremy's face was the picture of disappointment.
Elena's phone beeped and she checked the text. It was Matt asking if Elena was coming.
"You want me to come with you to the hospital?" Damon asked and she nodded. "Or does somebody need to be babysitting this little one?" Damon's voice was mocking as he pointed to Jeremy.
"I'll get Stefan to come," Elena replied. Stefan was good with Jeremy, he'd look after him.
"No, I don't need a babysitter!" Jeremy interrupted indignantly.
Elena gave him her best disappointed look.
"Yes, you do."
She quickly whizzed off a text to Stefan, explaining the basics of the situation. He replied almost instantly and told Elena he'd be there in five. She supposed Jeremy would be fine on his own for five minutes.
"Don't do anything stupid," Damon told Jeremy as he and Elena left the room.
Damon drove, even though it wasn't his car.
"Why did you ask me to come to see Jeremy?" asked Damon as he started up the car. "Why not Stefan?"
"I... don't know. I guess I thought you'd know more about this than he would." She didn't know why she was lying about it, the reason she'd called Damon was because she felt too chicken to see Stefan. She was afraid that if he came he'd smell her unfaithfulness the moment he walked into the house. It was a silly notion, but she couldn't help it.
"Oh." No more words were spoken by either of them until they reached the hospital.
"Caroline's on floor six, room three oh five, according to Matt," Elena explained to Damon and they set off for that ward.
Upon arriving at the right place the pair found Matt and Bonnie sitting on plastic chairs outside the surgery room, their expressions cheerless. They both stood upon her arrival and she hugged them both before taking a seat beside Bonnie.
"I'm going to go see her mom, okay?" Damon explained to Elena, leaving the glum trio in his wake.
"Liz," Damon greeted the tiny blonde sheriff sat by herself. "I came as soon as I got the message, is she okay?"
Liz stood up, her eyes swimming. "She's in surgery, they're doing everything they can." She paused, looking down. "I need your help Damon."
"Sure, anything, Liz" He wrapped an arm around her shoulder comfortably as they moved to somewhere a little more private.
"Mayor Lockwood is dead." She spoke quickly and her voice sounded sad and feeble. "They thought he was a vampire; they put him in the basement."
Damon adjusted his position slightly, folding his arms and leaning in closer.
"Mayor Lockwood was a vampire?"
"No, no, no, a mistake was made. They said he dropped like the others when John's device went off, but..." She paused as somebody went by, not wanting them to hear her conversation. "He couldn't have been a vampire. I've known the man my whole life. And now Carol Lockwood is going to want answers and all I can think about right now is Caroline and I–" She couldn't speak anymore, her sobbing making it too hard.
"It's okay, hey," Damon spoke soothingly, letting the smaller woman cry on his shoulder. "It's okay." He patted her on the back comfortingly.
Meanwhile, Elena was trying to find out what was happening with Caroline from Bonnie.
"Bonnie, how's Caroline?" Elena asked.
"She's weak," replied Bonnie sadly. "They don't know if she's gonna make it."
Damon watched the pair embrace from afar.
"What?" Elena's voice sounded terrified and shocked. "Is there something you can do? Like a spell or something?"
"She doesn't know how," spoke Damon and both Elena and Bonnie turned their attention to him. He moved closer. "Do you?"
"No." The humiliation and disappointment was clear in Bonnie's voice. "I don't."
"You don't." He hated to admit it as he was trying to be a better person, but this was immensely enjoyable. He'd always disliked Bonnie, the way she sat on her high horse all the time and thought she was the best witch in the world when actually she was just a novice. "Because it took Emily years to learn a spell like that."
The dark-skinned girl glared at him with judging eyes. "Yeah, well I can take down a vampire. That spell was easy to learn." The girl's triumphant smirk made it so hard not to rip off her head.
Damon turned to Elena.
"I can give Caroline some blood."
"No," Elena spoke firmly. "No way." She shook her head and put her hands on her hips.
"No, no, just enough to heal her. She'll be safe in the hospital. It'll be out of her system in a day. She'll be better."
"It's too risky. I can't agree to that."
"Do it," spoke Bonnie firmly and both Damon and Elena turned to her. She spoke to Elena. "This is Caroline. Okay. We can't let her die." She turned and spoke to Damon next. "Do it."
Damon spotted a loophole in this for him.
"If I do it, you and me call a truce?"
"No. But you'll do it anyway." She paused, another smug sneer spreading over her lips. "For Elena."
Neither Damon nor Elena had any reply to that. Instead Elena just gave Bonnie a slight nod and the witch swept away down the hall without a second glance at either of them, her heels clacking on the tiled floor.
They both watched her go before turning to each other.
"I know this is probably the last thing you want to do right now, but we should probably talk about what happened last night."
"Yeah, I guess we should," Elena sighed, running her fingers through her hair exasperatedly. "I... don't know what happened. I cheated on Stefan. With his brother. And I liked it. Which is wrong on so many levels. I'm afraid of seeing Stefan because I'm scared he'll find out about it. I know it's ridiculous, but I feel like as soon as he sees me he'll smell the unfaithfulness on me. Did any of that make sense to you or do you just think I'm crazy and stupid?"
"It made sense. A little. But you're going to have to face him eventually. And tell him what we did. And you're also going to have to face how you feel about me. Because, if you were really in a good healthy relationship last night would have never happened. But it did. Which means that maybe you and Stefan aren't the strong couple you thought you were."
"Damon, I can't be with–"
"–Just listen to me Elena. You said before that we have something and we do. You and me, we're soul mates. There's something going on between us and you know it. I've known that for a long time, last night only strengthened it. I love you, Elena. And I know that somewhere deep down you love me too. Don't you dare tell me you don't because the only person you'd be lying to is yourself. And I can't bear to see that, Elena. I can't bear to see you live a life that brings you misery when the life that you want more than anything in the world is so close. Don't let your chance slip away, Elena. Don't let your chance at happiness beyond your wildest dreams disappear from view. Catch it, Elena. Catch what we have and hold it close to your heart forever. I know you love Stefan, Elena, I get it. But I also know that what you and him have is nothing like what you and I have. There's no passion behind your love, there's tenderness, there's lovey-dovey mushy stuff, you have romantic comedy moments all the time. But with us there's fire, with us there's pure spark, with us there's real proper legit love. And I won't let it escape me. I won't."
Elena's eyes were tearing up.
"Oh my god, Damon. That was the most beautiful speech I have ever heard in my entire life. But I wasn't going to say I didn't love you. I was going to say that I can't be with Stefan any longer when I'm in such love with you."
Damon turned to her, a fire in his eyes. Elena's eyes mirrored the look, desire burning inside.
He went to gather her into a hug, but she wasn't going to settle for that. Elena smashed her lips against Damon's, pressing herself into his embrace. The kiss was cautious at first, both surprised by it, but their bodies couldn't hold out for long. It was as if their bodies were pieces of a jigsaw, fitting perfectly into each other's shapes. It was Damon who pulled away, breaths heavy and eyes wide with disbelief. But he kept their faces close, leaning his forehead against hers.
"Was what Bonnie said true?" asked Elena, still not moving away from Damon. "Would you give Caroline blood and save her just for me?"
"I would. Though I wish, for just once, I could prove that witch wrong. She drives me crazy," Damon growled, though he didn't seem that mad.
"Yeah, well, I think you have the same effect on her. And I hate to admit it, but sometimes she drives me crazy too. Since she became a witch she just seems like a different person. She used to be fun, now she's all doom and gloom and 'oh I'm an awesome witch, I can do anything even though I've only been practicing for five minutes, I'm gonna take down all the vampires because I'm hardcore'". Elena finished off the rant with a little growl of her own.
"I feel exactly the same way," Damon agreed. He kissed her softly, retreating quickly and hugging her against his hard chest.
It was then that Elena saw the silhouette through a peripheral glance. She turned away from Damon and saw Bonnie's hurt and betrayed expression as she stared at the embracing couple. Damon's arms were still wrapped around Elena's waist and Elena's hands were still resting on the contours of his chest. They'd been caught again. Plus, from the look on Bonnie's face she'd heard Elena's rant. Uh-oh.
"Bonnie, let me explain," Elena pleaded, but Bonnie was already fleeing, sprinting down the corridor the way she had come from. Elena disentangled herself from Damon and ran after her best friend, leaving Damon to think about what had just gone on.
