Damon found himself at the Grill. Aggravated, hurt, and confused, he plopped himself onto a bar stool and motioned the bartender over to him with one quick gesture of his finger. "Just give me that." He tilted his head towards an almost-full bottle of Bourbon as he eyed the lady, compelling her. In the rush, he had left his wallet on the entry table after his visit with Elena and didn't feel like explaining.

Elena.

Why didn't she love him? He knew he was better than his rabbit-sucking, weak, cry-baby of a brother. Damon let out a deep sigh and took a large swig of the Bourbon straight from the bottle. So what was stopping her? He knew he was handsome, there was no denying that. He loves her. He truly loves her. What more could she want? What does she even see in Stefan?

Damon couldn't think about that anymore, letting his mind wander for a moment, he closed his eyes, and in three large gulps, finished the whole bottle of liquor. "Waitress!" Damon smirked tipsily, "I think I need another."

The waitress smiled, almost shyly Damon noted, and passed him another bottle, this one full. "That should do juuuuust fine." He winked at her, Damon enjoyed toying with people. It was one of his favorite forms of amusement. She blushed, and Damon lingered closer, peering into her eyes, "What's your name, sweetheart?"

"Allison," she murmured, her breathe staggering slightly as she felt his breathe on her lips.

"Allison.." Damon let the word slowly roll off his tongue, letting it linger for the slightest moment on his lips. "You are very pretty, Allison." Damon's lips curled up in a stunning half-smile.

Allison looked down and felt her cheeks burning, despite herself screaming in her head for them not to. She collected herself and looked back up to Damon, who was practically grinning.

"Not tonight, baby." Allison winked, took one last look, and walked away.

Tonight's just not my night, Damon thought angrily. "I need to get out of here." Damon grabbed the bottle of alcohol and was off.

To other adventures.

Elena checked the time, how long had it been since the whole thing with Damon? She ran her fingers through her hair and let out a sigh.

"That's it." She grabbed her coat and ran out the door. What was happening? When had she started caring so much about what Damon was doing? He was a full-grown man. Well, sort of. He could take care of himself.

But it wasn't that. Elena was worried for him. He seemed genuinely distraught when he had ran off. After… after they kissed.

Elena tried not to think about Damon's feelings for her. It was just too much. She couldn't stand the thought of hurting him, I mean, she did love Stefan, didn't she?

Maybe that's the problem, Elena thought bitterly. Then she shook her head, of course she loved Stefan. I mean, he's Stefan, the love of my life, he's always been there for me…

Elena sighed. Maybe that just wasn't enough anymore. Right as that thought ran through her head, she pulled into the Salvatore driveway. She walked up the stairs that led to the fancy front doors and walked right inside.

"Damon?" The word echoed off the walls of the mansion-sized home.

No answer. Elena made her way up the classical staircase into Damon's room. It was more amazing than she remembered.

Maybe because the last time she really spent time in there was when she was taking care of Rose. Everything was mahogany. The ceiling, the moldings, the doors that led out to the balcony.

And then there was the bed. It was the largest, most immense bed Elena had ever laid her eyes on. She couldn't begin to imagine how insanely comfortable it was to sleep in.

But Damon wasn't here. And by the looks of it he hasn't even been home since he ran out yesterday. She piddled around his room for a while, taking advantage of his absence. He has a nice collection of novels, Elena noted. I suppose I would, too, if I had been around some 150-odd years.

She tried his cell. Straight to voicemail, of course; he must have it off. Elena kicked the base of one of his bed posts- and immediately regretted it. It was as hard as rock and probably weighed 1,000 pounds.

"Damn it!" She cursed and grabbed her foot. Won't be doing that again anytime soon.

She hopped to the bed and sat down, all this worrying about Damon had stressed her out and she really could go for nice, hot, soothing bubble-she glanced quickly over to Damon's 5-star modern bathroom, and then out the window to the front of the house.

Nobody's home, and Damon's, well, missing. Nobody will mind if I take a short bath.

She walked into his bathroom and examined the extremely contemporary free-standing bathtub. "Wow." It was gorgeous. Breathtaking, actually.

And Elena couldn't resist. She ran a hot bath and found a towel - 400 thread-count, she noticed. She poured in a fair amount of the lavender-chamomile bath soap she found under the sink and got in.

It was so relaxing, just what she needed. She threw her hair up in a high bun and slouched down in the water to her neck. The water was at just that right temperature and the tub caressed her neck perfectly.

Before too long, she started to doze off…

It must be early evening, there was a light wind and the sun was starting to descend, Damon noted as he woke up.

Where am I? He thought, confused. He picked up the liquor bottle, empty. I must have blacked out.

He stood up and wiped the dirt off his pants, only now taking in his surroundings. He was in the middle of the woods. Close to the actual falls of Mystic Falls, because he could hear them. Even without using his vamp senses.

He headed in the direction of people and wound up back in town. He took the familiar route that led him back to his house. Damon sauntered up his stairs, into his room, but something felt off.

He hurried his pace a little and did a once-over of his room once he reached it. Nothing unusual.

He turned his head to the bathroom, and vamp-speeded there in a fraction of a second.

"Elena!" Damon gasped, "Elena, wake up!"

He lifted her slender body out of the tub with equal measures of briskness and tenderness.

"Elena! You can't do this!" Damon panicked, "Not after what I did. Not after how I left."

He laid her down onto the bathroom rug and immediately began CPR. She was naked, which you think would have made it super awkward, but honestly? Damon didn't even take notice.

He was in shock. He was losing the only woman he ever had truly loved.

And it was all his fault.