Gravity

Disclaimer: I don't own anything or anyone from The Vampire Diaries

WOW wow wow! You guy gave me over 50 reviews for the prologue, that is amazing! Thank you so so so much! I'm so glad you enjoyed the first chapter, so I hope you like this one just as much!

Thanks again to Mara for being my beta :)

June 1st 2013

Saturday 6:30pm

Austin, Texas

"Hmm, it seems a little pricey in here."

I see Elena frown from the corner of my eye as she looks through the menu of the bar that we have found ourselves in.

It was a long drive to Austin from Winnfield. I made sure that we only stopped a couple of times so that we would get here at a reasonable hour. I want to be able to start this search for Marcel tonight, but first I need to break the news to Elena that I have been in contact with Klaus.

"Don't worry about it, baby," I reply with an easy smile, stretching my arm to rest my hand on her shoulder across the back of the booth. "Order whatever you want," I press a kiss to her cheek.

Elena scrunches her eyebrows together suspiciously. "What happened to saving money? Last night you wouldn't fork out the cash for a warm bed to sleep in, but now you're willing to pay premium prices for dinner when there's a KFC across the street?"

"Hey, I thought you enjoyed our night under the stars?" I reply with a pout, her doe brown eyes looking straight back at me.

"I did," she throws back, "but that doesn't excuse your change in attitude."

"Don't question it then. Besides, you know I hate KFC." I smirk while moving my finger down onto the menu that is still held out in front of her. "Why don't you get the steak? It looks tasty."

I watch predictably as Elena's eyes light up at the picture of the meal at the side of the description on the menu and I can practically see her mouth watering.

"The steak does look good," she admits with her lips parted. "I haven't had steak in a long time."

"So? Order the steak." I encourage her. "You know you want to." I sing song with a smile.

"Fine!" she gives in with a grin, closing the menu and slamming it on the table. "I'll order the damn steak."

The food tasted just as good as it looked and by the end of it I was completely stuffed. There was no room for dessert, not that we could really afford it anyway.

I reach down and take Elena's hand in mine as we walk out into the crowded street. It seemed that we have managed to find ourselves in the busy part of the city and I know it's not an ideal place to start this conversation. However the night is starting to take off and I don't want to waste any more time.

"So…" I squeeze her hand tightly and will myself to continue. "I need to tell you something."

"I knew it!" Elena looks almost smug at my confession. "I knew you were up to something, Salvatore." She tells me pointedly and I'm reminded that she knows me more than I know myself sometimes.

I sigh and give in; pulling her into an alleyway between two buildings so we have a tiny bit more privacy. "There's a reason I brought us here to Austin."

Elena frowns confused and looks up at me puzzled. "Why? What's in Austin?"

I cringe and use my spare hand to run it through my hair. "Okay…so don't get mad."

"Don't get mad?" Elena asks with an eyebrow raised. "Normally when you start off a sentence with 'don't get mad' I usually do end up getting mad."

"Okay…" I muse aloud. "That's a good point."

Elena rolls her eyes impatiently and she can tell that I'm stalling. "Just spit it out, Damon."

"I spoke to Klaus yesterday," I confess with a hesitant smile. I watch as Elena's jaw drops and her eyes widen.

"What do you mean you spoke to Klaus?" she repeats slowly, the shock evident in her voice.

"I mean I called him yesterday from a pay phone."

"But…" she trails and looks lost for a moment, and I feel a guilty pit rise in my stomach. "We said that we wouldn't have any contact with anyone from Mystic Falls. We agreed."

"I know we did, baby," I cringe at the sound of hurt in her voice, "but I just needed to know what was going on with Vaughn…"

Elena turns away from me and my heart sinks. This is exactly why Mystic Falls is a taboo subject between us. If Elena thinks about home, she thinks about her family and friends and that just hurts her too much. I know that she misses them. I miss my own family too.

"Elena," I tug on her hand gently to pull her back towards me. "I'm sorry."

She clears her throat and looks back up at me. "Was there any news?"

"No." I tell her disappointed. "The cops still think I did it." I add glumly.

"Okay." She nods before shifting some hair from her neck. "So why are we in Austin?"

"Klaus said he has a friend here. His name is Marcel. He thinks we can help us out. The line cut off before he could tell me where to find him so all I know is that he lives here in Austin."

"You mean to tell me that we need to find some random guy called Marcel who we have never met before?" she gapes at me incredulity. "We don't know what he looks like or where in this city full of thousands of people to find him?"

I cringe because it does sound ridiculous. "That's pretty much it, yeah."

"Great." She mutters sarcastically before running her hand down her face, blowing out some air between her lips to cool her down from the humid evening weather. "Well then, we best get started shouldn't we?"

"So…you're not mad?" I ask hopefully.

"No, Damon," She smiles at me and moves on to her tip toes to wrap her arms around my neck. "I'm not mad. I understand why you wanted to know, I did too. I just wish you didn't feel like you couldn't tell me about it first. It's hard to think about home without missing it, but you said yourself that it's too dangerous to keep in contact with anyone from Mystic Falls. I don't want to lose you, Damon. I can't imagine being without you and the thought of you being locked up somewhere with people who…" she trails off once her voice starts to crack and I see her eyes watering. The possibility of prison is always resting in the back of mind. I'm on the run, how could it not be? Elena however refuses to think about what might happen to me if we do end up getting caught.

"Which is why I didn't call Klaus back after the line cut off." I dip my head down to press a slow soft kiss to her lips. "I'm sorry. You're not going to lose me, not if I can help it."

"Good." She kisses me again, "because I don't know who'd buy me dinner if you weren't around." She smirks and I laugh, pleased to know that she's not too upset. She giggles and I look at her curiously. "Maybe I could ask Marcel?" she questions teasingly, her voice light and playful. I pinch at her waist and tickle her.

"You'll need to find him first, sweetheart!"

"Gross." I shudder as I step out of the old grimy shower in a motel we found a few miles out of the city a couple of days ago. I hate staying in these places because, they are dirty, old, and the air conditioner never works. However, I know that we don't exactly have a choice, and I much preferred to sleep in a bed at night than the old seats of our truck.

I walk out of the bathroom and spot Damon immediately; he's sitting on the edge of the double bed with his eyes focussed on the TV as he slips through channels quickly.

"You know, a thought came to me while I was in the shower." I say while picking up a spare towel to dry my hair.

"Oh yeah?" Damon turns to face me, a devils smirk landing on his lips when he eyes me up and down slowly.

"Not that kind of thought, ass." I teasingly glare at him and make a point to pull down my towel to show a little more cleavage. Something which Damon is clearly enjoying judging from the look on his face.

"You know, it's going to be hard for you to hold a conversation with me while you're just wearing a towel."

"It's hard for me to hold a conversation with you anyway." I smirk; glad to have the upper hand for once.

"Shut up." He grabs me before I can even blink and before I know it I've been swung around onto the bed and Damon is climbing on top of me with that same smirk on his lips.

"Stealthy," I admire breathlessly once I finally compose myself. My towel has been tugged down from the movement, showing off half of my breasts.

"Damn right," he kisses me slow and deep, one of his hands sliding up my bare freshly shaved legs while the other holds himself up above me.

"You…" kiss, "never…" kiss "listened to…" kiss "my thought." I finally finish as Damon moves his attention to my neck.

"I thought we were acting it out instead?" he murmurs against my neck, his hot breath tickling my skin.

"No." I squirm underneath him and Damon reluctantly gives in, rolling onto his side. "You said Rebekah used to date this Marcel guy, right?" I question and he nods silently. "Well, I can't imagine him being much older than her. So instead of asking around in bars like we've been doing all weekend with no luck, why don't we try somewhere more suitable for people who are actually our age?"

"Like a high school." Damon finishes for me, his eyes lighting up and I nod. "Ah, Elena Gilbert," he rolls back on top of me with a heavy grin. "You are hot and smart!"

"I told you I was a keeper." I grin and wrap my hands around his neck to crash his lips against mine.

I take a sip from my bottle of water as I look around the parking lot under the protection of my sunglasses. Its twelve noon, so if this place is anything like Mystic Falls High then lunch should be starting any second now.

This is the fifth school that we've been to over the last day and a half since Elena suggested we start looking for Marcel in high schools. So far we haven't had any luck, but some kid in the last school we went to said he might know someone who knows someone called Marcel who goes here. It sounded like bullshit to me, especially since he couldn't take his eyes off Elena and used any opportunity he could to keep talking to her.

"I hope this is the place." Elena jumps out of the truck and I pull off my sunglasses and slide them into my back pocket. She glances down at her watch and looks around confused. "When do you think lunch starts?"

"Soon hopefully." I reply shortly, a frown covering my features. It's so damn hot today, and I barely got any sleep last night because the air con doesn't work in our motel room. I tried to distract Elena and wake her up so she'd at least keep me awake for a good reason, but instead she pressed a sloppy kiss to my lips and pushed my face away with her hand before falling straight back into a slumber.

I swear that girl could sleep through a freaking tsunami.

"I'm sick of us being on this damn wild goose trip. We don't even know this guy; he could be a total ass and no use to us at all." I grumble in annoyance.

"You said Klaus told you we could trust him?"

"Klaus also said that the New York Nets are better than the Knicks, but that doesn't make it true."

"Oh come on, grouchy," she smiles and wraps her arms around me from behind. "It's not like we have a lot of choices here." She presses a kiss between my shoulder blades. "What else would we be doing?"

"Well," I turn around in her arms and raise my eyebrow suggestively. "I can think of a few things."

Elena grins and pulls me down to press a slow kiss to my lips. "I bet you could." She presses another quick kiss to my lips, "but playtime is going to have to be later." She glances over my shoulder before pulling away from me and I turn my head just in time so see a kid with his hood up walking our way.

Elena raises her eyebrows at me before turning to face him as he gets closer.

"Excuse me, do you happen to know if-" She is cut off as the guy just barges straight past her without even so much as an acknowledgement.

Unfortunately for him, he has picked the wrong day to be rude to my girl.

"Hey!" I take two big strides after him and grab his arm and swing him around to face me. "What the hell is wrong with you man? She was talking to you!"

The boy looks startled and winces as I grip his arm tightly and I watch as he uses his spare hand to pull out some headphones.

"Look man, I don't want any trouble." His eyes dart fearfully between me and Elena and I roll my eyes.

"Shut up," I scoff in disbelief. "We're looking for a guy called Marcel, do you know him? Yes or no?" I ask impatiently.

"Marcel?" his eyes widen in recognition. "Uh yeah. I mean, I know of him."

"So he goes here?" Elena asks eagerly and the guy slowly nods his head before glancing at the iron tight grip I still have on his arm. "Damon," she sighs. "Let go, you're hurting him."

I roll my eyes and reluctantly do so, the kid squirming out of my way immediately as he takes a small step back, his other hand rubbing his arm where I was holding it painfully.

"Go and get him for us, tell him that Klaus' friend is here and we need to speak to him now."

The kid's eyes widen. "I can't…I can't just walk up to him."

"Why the hell not?"

"It's Marcel Gerard. He's the most popular guy in the whole school. He's a senior, I'm just a sophomore. He won't let me just go up and speak to him."

I roll my eyes for what feel like the billionth time and glance at Elena in disbelief. She just shrugs in reply and I sigh. "Listen kid, this is not a request. I don't care about your high school drama. Go back inside, find Marcel and tell him that he needs to come out here now." I glare at him threateningly.

He looks wary for a moment before slowly nodding his head and he goes to walk around me but I reach out and grab his arm, swinging him around before slamming him against the truck. He winces loudly, his eyes wide with fear as I shove my hand into his coat pocket.

"Damon!" Elena hisses at me disapprovingly but I ignore her.

"There we go," I grin as I pull out his cell phone before dropping him out of my grasp. "Call this an insurance policy." I slide the expensive iPhone into my pocket. "Just in case you decided you weren't going to come back." I send him a mocking smile and he gulps, because clearly that was his intention.

I shove him away and he darts off quickly, looking back just once over his shoulder before he speeds back towards the school. I slap my hands together and turn to look at Elena who is sending me a stern look.

"What?" I ask innocently.

"Did you have to be so rough with him? He was just a kid and you scared him half to death."

I shrug easily. "It worked didn't it?"

She tries to fight off her smile. "I suppose so." She swats my shoulder with her hand before leaving it to rest there and looking up at me nervously. "What are we going to say? I mean…does he know that…" she trails off unsure so I finish the sentence for her.

"That I'm on the run for murder?" I raise an eyebrow and she frowns.

"Well…yeah." She huffs slightly because she doesn't like to be reminded of that fact.

"I'm sure Klaus will have informed him on all he needs to know." I push some fallen hair out of her face.

"And if he hasn't?"

"Well then we obviously don't tell him." I tell her steadily. "It's not exactly something I want to shout from the rooftops."

"He's going to ask questions." She points out unsurely and I don't like the look of fear in her eyes.

"Uh huh," I grab her waist and yank her towards me, pressing my lips against hers quickly before landing a sloppy kiss to her cheek. She giggles and squirms in my arms as I teasingly attempt to press a billion kisses around her face. "Questions that we don't have to answer so stop worrying." I kiss her again on the lips and she happily returns it, her hands sliding up my sides to wrap around my neck.

"I'm good at worrying though," she murmurs against my lips before kissing me again, her tongue lightly brushing against mine teasingly.

"Uh huh," I mumble into her mouth before tilting my head back slightly, "but you're an even better kisser." I smirk when she giggles and kisses me again.

"Smooth."

"I hope I'm not too late to watch the show!" A loud, unfamiliar voice bellows out, interrupting us. I pull away from Elena in annoyance.

When I turn around I see a tall built man walking towards, who sure as hell looks a lot older than eighteen although as he gets closer I see the youth in his eyes hidden underneath his Cheshire cat like smirk.

The kid from earlier is following him half a step behind, a wary and nervous look on his face.

"Marcel." I state simply because the cockiness that he is carrying is almost a replica to Klaus back when I first met him all those years ago.

"That's me," he comes to a stop a couple of feet in front of us, his hand reaching out behind him to grab the kid by the back of the neck and pulling him forward. "Now I believe you have something that belongs to this friend of mine?" he raises his eyebrow and the kid squirms uncomfortably in his grasp.

I roll my eyes and bring back out the cell phone from my pocket before handing it over to Marcel's waiting hand.

"This it?" Marcel asks and the boy nods silently. "Good. Now scram." He hands over the phone and orders the boy away with a hint of authority in his voice.

I eye him up curiously, because he is definitely not what I expected. There is something about him that I am immediately unsure about.

"So," he clasps his hands together, that smirk back on his face as he looks between us both. "A moody dark haired chap with a doe eyed beautiful brunette companion. You must be Damon and Elena."

"So you spoke to Klaus?" I ignore his theatrics.

"He called me, yes." Marcel replies easily. "I was expecting to hear from you sooner."

"Well it's a big city. You were hard to find." I state somewhat coldly. "So? Get on with it, we don't have all day."

Marcel twists half of his lip up in a half smile before looking at Elena who still hasn't said a word. "Is he always this polite?"

I look at Elena who glances at me before shrugging silently and this only makes Marcel's smile widen.

"Fine," he throws his hands in the air for a moment before looking back over his shoulder and digging his hand into his pocket. He glances around again before pulling out a handful of small see-through packets filled with white powder.

I tense in surprise because this was something I was not expecting and I don't miss the way Elena's eyes widen.

"Normally I take forty percent of the cut, but since this a favor to Klaus I'll make it ten." He offers with a shrug as he holds the sachets of drugs out in the palm of his hand in front of me.

Elena shakes her head. "This is not…I mean…we're not-"

"It's a deal." I cut Elena off and take the small packets from him immediately, his smirk widening when I do so.

"Damon!" Elena hisses at me through gritted teeth.

"Deadline?" I ask Marcel, completely ignoring Elena who is fuming beside me.

Marcel looks between us both amused before answering. "Saturday. I'll text you some addresses of some guys I know to sell to. Do you have a phone?"

I nod and pull out an old second hand prepaid phone that I bought the second day we arrived here in Austin. It's a rule Elena and I have made over the weeks, a new state equals a new phone. It's not like we use it, it's just in a case of emergencies if we somehow lose each other or something happens. Well, and now for times like these.

Marcel dials his number into my phone before jotting down my own. Throughout the exchange Elena is stood silently beside me, her arms crossed and her jaw locked tightly.

She is pissed.

Marcel leaves and the second he does Elena turns away from me and storms back towards the truck, climbing inside and slamming the door behind her hard when she does so.

I sigh and roll my eyes before following her, jumping in and I'm not surprised when she turns the radio on the second I switch on the engine.

"Look, I get why you're mad at me, but it's not like we are easy on the money lately." I offer an explanation but Elena ignores me and turns up the volume of whatever lame ass pop station she had synced in weeks ago much to my protests.

"Elena," I say her name loudly but she just turns away to look out of the window, a thunderous look on her face and I know that I'm in trouble.

I don't get why she's so mad. She knows that I've done this kind of stuff before and she never had a problem with it before. We're on the run, we can't just go out and get a normal job without showing some form of identification which we don't have. She knew we'd have to do some less than legal things, hell she has done some herself, so what's the big deal?

As long as we don't get caught, which we won't, so everything will be fine.

The drive back to the motel is tense and Elena continues to ignore me. I gave up trying to talk to her about half way and when I park up I'm not surprised when she jumps out of the truck before I even have time to turn off the engine.

I sigh and curse her dramatics underneath my breath before following her, and I'm a little surprised to find the door is still unlocked.

It wouldn't be the first time she's purposely locked me out of a motel room.

"Ah Mr Sampson, you're back!" I turn around in annoyance and grumble under my breath when the old stereotypical southern owner of this fine establishment calls my fake name. "I've been looking for you."

"What can I do for you, Jack?" I throw a fake smile to match my name and turn around to face him as he waddles his overweight sweaty ass towards me.

The guy is a creep. He wouldn't stop leering at Elena when we checked in the other night and I take an immediate dislike to anyone who makes my girl feel uncomfortable.

"Check out is in three hours," he informs me before trying to look over my shoulder into our motel room. I hold back an eye roll because he is clearly trying to catch a glimpse of Elena.

"Actually, we're going to be staying for a few more nights." I inform him.

"Oh?" he raises his eyebrow with gleeful surprise. "Is your lady enjoying our fine city?"

"Of course." I reply with a strained smile.

"Well, it's still thirty bucks a night so I'm going to need some cash up front." He changes the conversation straight back to business, dollar signs clearly the second thing constantly on his mind after my girlfriends breasts.

Ass.

"Ah," I cringe slightly because I remember that Elena currently has our stash of money and she isn't exactly speaking to me right now. Besides, I don't think it's a good idea to break into that any more than we need to. "Can I give you it in a couple of hours?"

"Mr Sampson you know the policy…"

"I know, I know." I flash him another fake smile, "but you see my girl in there just flushed me out at lunch so I don't have anything on me right now. My buddy, you know the one we told you about the first night we checked in?" Yes, not only is he a pervert but he's also a nosey bastard who wouldn't stop asking us questions about our trip. "He owes me some cash and I'm going to meet him later for it."

Jack studies me for a moment before letting out a loud sigh. "You better not be playing me, kid."

"Hey," I hold my hands up. "I'm an honest and trustworthy guy. Besides, you know where I'm sleeping tonight." I wink for good measure and hold in my relief when he lets out a chuckle.

"That I do," he nods and takes a step back. "Okay. Come drop by the office tonight."

I nod and walk into our motel room where I know an angry Elena will be waiting for me ready to either blow my head off or ignore me and make me squirm for a little while before she blows my head off.

I shut the door behind me, glancing at her as she sits on the bed, her back straight as her legs hang down, her feet on the ground as she flickers through the TV.

"Elena," I approach her slowly, my voice soft. "Talk to me."

Her eyebrows press together even further, a scowl on her face as she yet again purposely ignores me.

I huff and throw my keys down onto the cabinet next to the TV before moving in front of it and turning it off.

Elena's eyes eventually find mine and she gives me one hell of a glare.

"I was watching that!" she snarls at me coldly and I roll my eyes.

"You've been in here for about five seconds," I exaggerate. "So no you weren't."

She mutters something incoherent under her breath before pushing herself up to her feet and heading towards the bathroom, however before she can get there I grab her arm and swing her around.

"Get off me!" she shouts at me furiously but I ignore her. "Damon!" she tries hard to escape my grasp and to be honest she almost does. God, she is stronger than she looks! I grab her other arm with my spare hand in an attempt to hold her still but she won't let up.

"Damn it, Elena!" I hiss at her, starting to get angry too. "Will you stop?!"

"Let me go!" she snarls angrily and I roll my eyes.

In the scuffle, I end up pressing her against the wall beside the bathroom door and I raise my eyebrow at her in a challenge when she realizes I have her trapped.

"You are such a dick!"

"I know," I send her a mocking smile and that just infuriates her further as she slams her fists against my chest.

I stand my ground as she does everything in her power to try and push herself free but no matter how strong she is, I'm so much stronger.

"Damon!" her voice shakes with the volume.

"Talk to me." I reply while trying to keep her still. It's hard to try and hold a conversation when the other person is thrashing in your arms and hitting you.

"Move!"

"No." I widen my eyes at her threateningly and she groans loudly in frustration but reluctantly, and I stress on that word, giving in and stopping. She's still tense but at least she's not hitting me anymore.

I relax my grip on her arms just a tad but not enough to let her move. I know her tactics and that is something she has also tried before.

"Why are you so mad?" I ask genuinely confused.

Her jaw drops. "Are you serious?" I shrug and nod my head silently. "Oh my god!" she lets out a cold bitter laugh and shakes her head. "You really are an idiot!"

"Thanks." I smile sarcastically at her. "I love you too, sweetheart."

Her glare hardens. "You really don't get why I'm mad?"

"I get why you're mad," I offer her calmly. "You don't like drugs, I get it. I didn't speak to you about it first, I get it. What I don't get, is that you knew coming into this that we would have to do things that you wouldn't like. You know that! We are running out of money, Elena. It's not as if we have a choice!"

"There's always a choice, Damon!" She catches me off guard and pushes me with full strength and I stumble backwards on my feet, my hands leaving her arms as Elena takes a furious step towards me. "There's one hell of a difference between stealing a few sandwiches from Walmart to dealing drugs!"

"Sandwiches don't pay for gas or motel rooms!" I argue. "What do you want me to do? I can't win with you! You don't want to sleep in the truck, but you don't want me to make money so we can sleep in a bed at night either?!"

She groans loudly. "That is not it! Do not put this on me!"

I suck a breath in and run my hand through my hair in frustration. "I'm not." I watch as she bites on her bottom lip and turns away. I feel the frustration slowly fade away from the look on her face and I look at her with genuine helplessness. "Why are you so mad?" I ask again.

I ignore the painful clench in my stomach when I practically see her swallow the lump in her throat, her head turning back to face me, her watering eyes landing on mine.

"I shouldn't even have to tell you, Damon." Her voice shakes for a second before it steadies again. "You should already know," and with that she turns around and walks into the bathroom. The door shutting quietly behind her and the only sound that can be heard is the sound of the lock twisting.

I drop off the owed payment to Jack before getting out of there as soon as possible. The last thing I need to hear about right now is another one of his fishing stories and I am so not in the mood to pretend to act interested.

I walk back towards our motel room and stop outside of the door. The light is on, which hopefully means Elena has finally unlocked herself out of the bathroom.

After trying and failing to get her to come out and talk to me, I sulked around the motel room for an hour on my own, flicking through the channels on the TV before Marcel text me with some addresses of some of his clients.

As much as I knew it would piss Elena off even further, I knew even more that we really need the money. So against my better judgement I informed her where I was going and left when she didn't even bother to grace me with a reply.

Elena can say what she wants on her moral high ground, but at the end of the day I now have two hundred dollars in my pocket which I didn't have three hours ago.

I take a deep breath before I open the door, preparing for another angry outburst however my heart stops when I walk inside and find Elena sitting in the middle of the bed, her knees pulled up to her chest with her arms wrapped around them and tear streaming down her face.

"Elena," the guilt starts to eat me up fast and I softly close the door behind me.

She looks up at me and I swear I see relief flash through her eyes but before I know it she's up off the bed and she's crashed into my arms, sobbing.

It takes me a stunned couple of seconds before I wrap my arms around her in return, holding her tightly in my grasp. "Hey, shh," I whisper soothingly into her ear while I run one hand through her hair softly. "I'm sorry, okay, I am. I am so sorry." She makes a broken muffled sound against my neck and my heart breaks.

Fuck. I hate it when she cries. I hate it even more when it's because of me.

"I was so scared," she pulls back and I look at her confused.

"Scared of what, baby?" I ask concerned, brushing away one of her fallen tears with my thumb.

"That you wouldn't come back, or that something would happen." Her voice cracks again and she sniffles. I'd find it cute if this wasn't so gut-wrenching. "This world, the one of drugs and dealers and crime, this is what got us in this mess in the first place, Damon."

Now I get it.

"Oh Elena," I look at her almost painfully, my other hand moving to her cheek so I'm cupping her face between my palms. "Baby, listen to me." I tell her firmly but keep my voice gentle. "What happened with Vaughn is something that is never going to happen again, okay? I won't let it. I won't let myself get in that situation again."

"But Marcel-"

"Wants me to deal to a bunch of spoilt rich frat boys." I cut her off. "Trust me. This is quick easy money. I can't let this opportunity pass."

She sniffles again and her hands land on mine. "What if you get caught?"

"I won't." I tell her sternly. "I'm not exactly new to this, Elena. I know this isn't your world, okay? I get that and I'm sorry I was such a jerk about it earlier, but this is my world. You need to trust that I know what I'm doing and that everything I do, I'm doing it for us. It may not be legal, but hell, last time I checked I was on the run for murder so you can't be surprised that I'm not all puppies and rainbows." I attempt to joke with a smile.

Elena lets out a laugh despite herself. "Okay, one that's not how the phrase goes, its sunshine and rainbows, not puppies, and two," her smile fades. "You are on the run for a crime you didn't commit."

"I didn't do that," I agree, "but that doesn't mean I'm innocent. I shouldn't have even been there that night, but I was. I made a mistake and now we're both paying for it and for that I'm sorry." I tell her genuinely, trying to push back the lump in my throat because I still hate that I dragged her into this mess.

She should be back in Mystic Falls surrounded by her friends and family. I should have been there right by her side, taking her out on dates and buying her gifts. Just being the best boyfriend that I can be, the kind of boyfriend that she deserves.

Instead, she now thinks me buying her one meal in a fairly averaged priced restaurant is a privilege and a luxury.

I'm surprised when Elena presses her lips against mine in a slow soft kiss but it doesn't take me long to respond.

"I told you not to say things like that." She murmurs against my lips and I can feel the wetness of her tear stained face against my cheeks. "I don't regret coming with you. I never will, no matter how much you infuriate the hell out of me sometimes." She kisses me again, her hand clutching my hair tightly as she pushes me backwards towards the bed. "I love you, Damon, so much." We fall backwards onto the bed and she starts to press hot open mouthed kisses against my neck as she lies on top of me.

"I know." I slide my hand down her back to her ass before hooking her thighs around my waist and flipping us over so I'm on top. "I love you too." I kiss her before slowly stripping her of her clothes. "I love you," I mumble against her skin as I kiss down the valley between her breasts. "I love everything about you."

I shower her withering naked body with hot kisses, my movements slow and sensual before I strip off my own clothes.

I enter her slowly, smiling when she moans, her eyes clutched tightly shut. "I love you," I suck on her skin at the small curve between her neck and shoulders. I thrust in and out of her almost painfully slow, but it's needed. Elena shudders and gasps underneath me, in a mix of begging me to go faster but also wanting me to keep going as I am.

Eventually she comes undone and it doesn't take me long to follow. I drop down onto her tiredly, my head landing in the spot in the curve of her neck and I take deep heavy breaths as my tingling body calms down. I lie content in her arms, my eyes fluttering shut peacefully.

"You were wrong before, you know," Elena mumbles tiredly, her voice soft and hoarse as she runs her hand slowly through my hair.

"Hmm?" I keep my eyes closed and nuzzle my head into her smooth neck, my lips pressed against her skin.

"When you said this was your world and not mine." She explains, her hand clutching onto my side tightly as she presses a kiss to the top of my head. "You were wrong, because this is my world now too." She whispers into my ear and I fall asleep with a smile on my face.

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