A/N: Thanks for the feedback! This one does end on a positive note, but hopefully things don't feel completely resolved yet, because I've got one more chapter in mind. Hope you enjoy!


When Elena shot awake, she looked around frantically. Registering that she was on the couch in her old living room, she managed to focus on the worried face next to her.

"Bonnie? What the hell happened?"

Bonnie raised her eyebrows. "I was hoping you'd tell me."

"I…don't…" Elena shook her head, at a total loss.

"Damon said you guys were talking, you started acting weird and talking about hearing things, and then you just collapsed. Whatever it was, you sure freaked him the hell out!"

Elena scrubbed her face. "I can't remember what happened. I think I…Damon brought us here to tell me something?"

Bonnie frowned. "The cure? You don't remember him giving it to you?"

Take the cure with me. That's how much I know this is real. That's how certain I am that I'm going to love you even after this is all over…

"The cure!" Elena gasped violently and jumped off the couch. "Oh my god! Bonnie, where is he? I have to talk to Damon! I remember everything!"

"Everything?" Bonnie's jaw dropped. "Like…everything everything?"

"When he gave me the cure, it triggered a memory and I started getting this rush of memories…of Alaric's compulsion…of everything I forgot." Elena's face lit up. "Bonnie, I need to see Damon! Why isn't he here?"

Bonnie grinned. "He'll be back. Since we didn't know what happened to you, he was worried you'd need blood. He's on a hospital run."

"I can't believe this is happening," Elena said as she collapsed back on the couch. "How could I have erased all of those memories? He must have been devastated when he came back." Elena rested her face in her hands. "He came back, but I'd already abandoned him. How could he possibly forgive me?"

"Hey," Bonnie said gently. "You're together, aren't you? You didn't abandon him. You did what you had to do to survive. When he came back, you just ended up falling for him all over again. I'm sure that wasn't exactly hard on his already massively oversized ego."

Elena managed a choked laugh. "And now here we are, back to fighting over the cure."

"Fighting?" Bonnie asked curiously. "So you don't want to take it?"

"You know me, Bonnie. Did you really think I would?"

"No," Bonnie smiled. "But I know Damon now too. He's never believed that you'd choose this life if you had a chance to take it all back."

"I bet I can make him," Elena said with a raised eyebrow.

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "That sounds like my cue to make myself scarce again."

"No, wait!" Elena said before Bonnie could get up. "Wait here and tell him to meet me at home." She looked around as she continued, "This house is in the past. And I'm all done with his walk down memory lane."


When Elena got to the boarding house, she set a fire and settled on the couch to wait. What better place to knock some sense into Damon then the place they'd hashed things out so many times before?

She heard him seconds before he appeared in front of her. "Elena?" he asked worriedly as he looked her over. "You're really okay? What was that? What the hell happened?"

"Shock? Panic? Who knows," Elena shrugged. "I probably should have fed before we made this little trip."

Damon nodded slowly. "Well here, I grabbed this for you," he said as he tossed her a blood bag.

"Thanks," Elena said as she made a show of drinking it.

"Mmmhmm," Damon said, clearly not quite ready to accept her story. "Are you sure you're okay? Vampires aren't exactly known for randomly passing out. And hearing voices is never a good sign. What exactly did you hear?"

Elena shook her head. "It doesn't matter."

"Yes it does! Elena-"

"Seriously Damon," Elena interrupted. "Let's get back to the cure."

"Maybe we should wait until you've had a chance to recover from whatever the hell that was. We can talk about this later. You need to-"

"We're going to talk about it now," Elena said firmly. "I remember what you said. About loving me, about choosing my happiness over yours?"

Damon threw up his hands in frustration. "So what, Elena? None of that should come as a surprise to you! Or hell, maybe it does since you've technically only known me for a few weeks. Which, now that I think about it, is another good point!"

Elena tried to interrupt. "No, Damon. I-"

"Let me finish!" he snapped. "Why the hell does what I think even matter so much? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you don't think of me as Psychotic-Killer-Damon anymore, but nothing I say should be enough to keep you from taking the cure if that's what you want!"

"DAMON!" Elena shouted, finally getting his attention and stopping his rant. "Why the hell are you so sure I want to take the stupid cure?"

"I…" Caught off guard, Damon opened and closed his mouth a few times before deciding what to say. "It's what you've always wanted. The look of devastation on your face when you woke up and realized you were dead? The hope in your eyes when I told you there might be a cure? Those expressions are burned into my brain, Elena. Not a week goes by that I don't wish you could have your life back. The one you thought you'd lost. Why are you being so damn stubborn?"

"You don't think I've changed since then?" Elena asked. "That my priorities might be different? That, given the choice, I'd choose Caroline and Stefan as my family? That I'd choose you?"

"How can you say that Elena?" Damon asked in a defeated voice. "I would never want you to give up a chance at humanity, not because of me! I loved you when you were human, that won't change this time around either. I'm not just going to toss you the cure and hit the road! And you don't have to give up Caroline and Stefan. We'll all still be here."

"You're being a bullheaded jackass," Elena snapped in frustration.

"And you're acting completely insane!" Damon yelled back. "How can you suddenly be so sure that you want to be with me forever? A few weeks ago, you were literally running away from me in disgust!"

Elena watched him in silence for a few minutes as he paced impatiently back and forth in front of the fireplace. Time to give him a reality check.

"Because," Elena started as she stood up to walk over to him, "I've never been sorry that I met you. You make me question everything, and you make me feel more alive than anyone else ever has." Stopping directly in front of him, she cupped his face in her hands and met his shocked gaze. "You are the best decision I've ever made, and…" she leaned her forehead against his and finished in a whisper, "I am so in love with you."

"Elena…" Damon's voice was rough with surprise as he slowly wrapped his arms around her. "You're…you? You remember?"

"I remember everything," Elena said unevenly as she threw her arms around him and buried her face against his neck, finally letting the tears fall. "God, I missed you. I'm so sorry, Damon. I'm so sorry! I should never have-"

"Hey," Damon interrupted gently, pulling back enough to wipe her tears away with his thumbs. "You said it yourself – you found your way back to me. You don't have to be sorry for anything."

"But I should have known! I should never have believed you were-"

"What, dead?" Damon interrupted again. "You're pretty new to this whole immortal life business. You get a free pass, okay?" He ran his fingers through her hair with a smirk. "Just remember all this for next time, huh? The universe doesn't control anything, remember?"

Elena managed a choked laugh. "The universe?" she scoffed as she slowly pulled his face down to hers. Just before their lips met, she whispered, "What I feel for you is so much bigger than the universe."