"Alaric, come here – he's waking up!" Damon could hear Elena's voice, but it was strange and far away. His pressed his fingers into his eyes and groaned loudly, cursing.

"Ugh – that was no fun at all." He pressed his eyes open, looked around and realized that he was back in his bedroom, tucked into his bed. "How did I get back here?"

"You passed out, Damon." Elena sat down on the edge of the bed, brushed the back of her hand across his forehead. "He's still warm." She turned to exchange looks at Alaric. Alaric took three long strides across to the bed, touched Damon's face roughly and whistled sharply.

"That is quite a predicament you've gotten yourself into, there, Damon." He patted the other man's cheek roughly, smirking.

"I can't be human. That is not acceptable!" Damon punched the mattress, shocked at the feebleness of his own movements, and by the sudden rush of pain that shot through his arm.

"Careful, Damon! Your arm –"

"Oh, you had better get Bonnie over here now," Damon drawled darkly. "This sure as hell better not be permanent."

"I don't think it will be," Alaric scoffed. "However ironic that would be. Your temperature is cooler than average and your healing – while not vampire fast – is still progressing much more rapidly than that of a human. So for now, you're just going to have to suck it up." Alaric chuckled throatily, and Damon had to resist the urge to throw a pillow at him.

"Do you have any idea how long this will last? I mean, we're finally gotten through the cata-Kluas-m. We made it. I at least want to enjoy it!"

"Glad to see your wit has nothing to do with your vampirism." Elena gave him a dry smile. "Clearly you're feeling better."

Damon swung his legs over the side of the bed, whipped back the covers and stood up in one smooth motion, though it felt to him as if he was doing it in slow motion. He looked at the two humans, huffed out a breath and stalked off.

"Seriously, call the witch. I'm going to go take a shower - I feel so...sweaty," he called over his shoulder.

###

Damon stood in the shower, letting the hot water run down his lean frame. The heat, the steam had never felt so good. He leaned his back against the wall of the shower, jolting at the cool glass against his skin. He forced himself to keep contact with it, feeling the panic welling up inside him. Human. How could he be human again? Sure, Klaus was gone from Mystic Falls, but so was Stefan. Elena was safe for now, while Klaus believed she was dead, but how long could that really last? Even though they seemed to be in a lull, Damon knew that he had to be on his guard - how could he do that as a mere human?! He slammed his fist against the one tile wall of the shower and cursed, his hand throbbing as the shock reverberated up his arm.

"It's going to be okay Damon." He turned to find Elena sitting on the edge of the bathtub, her arms crossed over her shoulders, her brown eyes watching him. He hadn't heard her come back into the room. He sighed in exasperation and turned his eyes skyward, then give her a crooked smile and a raised eyebrow.

"You might as well come in," he opened the shower door. "The water's fine."

"Damon," she stood up and walked over to she shower. She was still wearing the robe that he had given her. "I don't think that's such a good idea." She gave him a halfhearted smile and pressed the glass door back into place.

"Elena, wait." He turned the shower off and opened the door - the cool air hit his skin giving him goose bumps. He looked down at his arms, covered in goose flesh, and rubbed them feverishly for a moment before reaching out for Elena's terry cloth clad shoulder. "I - I need you. I know last night was sort of...impromptu, but you're the only solid thing I have right now. And... I need you." The last words were hard to get out, hard to admit that he needed anything or anyone.

"I know." Elena put her arms around his neck, pressing her body into his. She could feel the tension leave his body as he relaxed into her embrace. They stood there together for a few long moments, Damon totally naked, the fuzzy sleeves of Elena's robe enveloping him. "I need you too."

Pulling back, Damon looked in her eyes and saw the sadness, and yet also the loving heart inside. A wash of guilt rolled over him in that moment, thinking of his vow not to be selfish with her. He gave her a half smile, then, framing her face with his hands, he kissed her cheek.

"Thank you, Elena," he whispered into her ear. He turned away from her then and speedily wrapped himself in a towel. He stayed turned away from her for a few more moments, trying to shake the feelings inside himself - feelings of conflict, guilt. As a vampire he had always been able to hone in on the right path, even if it meant doing terrible things to get there. As a human - a temporary human, he thought wildly - that sense of rightness felt hazy, as if he could go a hundred different directions and any one of them might be the right way. "I'll meet you downstairs in a minute."

Elena's brows furrowed in concern, but she said nothing, only left Damon alone in the room while she found her own clothes.

"What is wrong with me?" Damon growled once he heard the door close behind Elena. He ran his fingers through his dark hair and leaned close to the mirror to examine his own face. He looked like himself, but different. More alive, he supposed. He looked at his own pale eyes in the mirror, wondered if he still had any of his vampire abilities.

He quickly and efficiently toweled off and dressed, pulling on his favorite pair of black jeans and a heather grey Henley with the top buttons open. He took a deep breath, then pressed it out as he channeled his strength into the muscles of his legs, willing himself to move quickly out of his room and down the stairs. He moved speedily through the house - and noiselessly, he thought happily to himself - but he was still not nearly as fast as he would have liked.

"Looks like you're on half power, there," Alaric joked from his seat on the couch. He had a laptop perched on his legs, and a glass of bourbon on the coffee table in front of him. Damon shot him a nasty look.

"Yeah, I noticed." Damon plunked down on the couch next to the other man, then reached out to take the half empty glass. He was shocked when Alaric swatted his hand away without even looking up from the computer screen.

"I'm trying to help you out, man. Go get your own." Damon grumbled but got up and crossed to the set of decanters behind the couch.

"So what're you looking at?" He poured himself a three fingers of whiskey and shot it back, feeling the burn slide down his throat and rest like a fire in his gut. He poured again then paced back to the couch.

"I'm looking up how often blood recycles in the human body." Alaric looked up at Damon then back at the screen. "You're not going to like it."

"What?" He grabbed the laptop by the top of the screen and turned it around. Before he had a chance to scan the article, Alaric was talking.

"It says that on average, red blood cells stick around for 120 days," Ric reached forward and grasped his drink, sipped it. "I'd give you 90, since you've still got some vamp stuff going on, but it looks like you'll be living the slow life for a while."

"Four months?" Damon tossed the laptop onto the couch and stalked to the fireplace and rested his forehead on the cool stone. Four months. Four months of being human, oh being inadequate, weak, and powerless. Powerless to protect Elena from the inevitable moment when Klaus found out she wasn't dead.

"Elena, where is she?" He turned his head and looked at Ric, his eyes wide.

"Relax, Damon, I sent her to school. I called in sick, though. You seemed like you needed a moment - and then a drinking buddy."

Damon's eyes blazed around the room wildly, his lips pursed tightly, looking like a caged tiger. He swallowed hard and focused his piercing blue eyes on the other man.

"This is not okay Ric. I cannot be human. Not right now. Stefan is gone, Katherine - well, at least she's gone. The only vampire we have on our side is Barbie, and her pet werewolf." He pressed the heels of both hands into his eyes, then sighed disgustedly. "This is not good."

"Klaus thinks she's dead, Damon - she's safe!" Ric refilled the other man's glass and handed it to him.

"For now. But how long will it be until Klaus gets to Stefan? And how long will Stefan be willing to stay away from Elena? I'm basically human." Damon accepted the glass and drank deeply, closing his eyes and enjoying the flavor of the aged whiskey. "It just seems like I'm usually the only one willing to do the hard stuff to keep Elena alive. This complicates things."

"You know, it's okay to enjoy it."

"What?" Damon cocked an eyebrow at his friend and sneered.

"You know, you're human. So is Elena. This might be the only time in her life that she gets to be in love with a human." He coughed, raised his eyebrows and emptied his own glass, then licked his lips and turned to refill his cup. "More?"

"No." The dark haired man sat down, holding the cup between his two hands. He tapped his ring distractedly on the glass rim. He set the cup aside swiftly, then pulled off his ring and looked at it before handing it to Ric.

"Hold this," he said, dropping it into the other man's drink. Alaric mumbled something that sounded like 'dick' under his breath and watched the other man stride into the other room and open the heavy curtains. Alaric fished the ring out while he watched. Damon raised both hands out to his sides as he had mere days ago when he thought he was going to die.

This time there was no pain, no heat, no burning. Only the feeling of the warm sun on his face. He smiled crookedly to himself.

"Human," he murmured to himself. "I'm human."