AN: An this is where the story really starts :) Enjoy!
***Chapter revised and updated on Jan/07/2013****
Too many hearts where laden tonight with the kind of anguish that damages your insides and gauges pieces of your soul that never really grow back.
This evening, Mystic Falls was the stage to a wave of hurt, loss and betrayal, but also of love… so much love…
There was the younger brother, who watched his older sibling heart and hopes shatter as he learned that the woman he loved had not really cared for him for more than a century and a half… and maybe never...
With choking distress, Stefan watched as Damon would not listen to reason and almost got locked forever in a senseless effort to find Katherine… Elena had managed to get through to his brother and save the two of them from an awful fate... She had been the only one in ages to have that kind of power… Stefan had been relieved at first, only to feel his relief plummet as all fight abandoned Damon and he simply stood there prostrated and shattered in his dejection.
Then there was Elena, trying to aid the man she loved, trying to help the brother he loved, trying to save them both by begging the witch she loved not to let them get trapped and die. Then there had been Damon in all his wretchedness and woe, and Elena had left her boyfriend's side to extended her arms and wrap around Damon to try to hold him together…
But the calamity wasn't over yet… As, on one end of the town, Damon had discovered just how much Katherine had not cared for him, at the other end, Elena and Bonnie watched horrified over the corpse of her grandmother… There were no words to calm Bonnie's sobs, and Elena had finally left her to bewail alone…
So now, out there in this vile night, there was also the young witch who was mourning her grandmother's death because she had asked her to do the impossible and save a friend's loved ones… Bonnie had asked it out of love for Elena… but she never expected to lose her grandmother over it. The pain gnawed at her insides and turned them dark…
As Bonnie cried, Damon fragmented and Stefan searched for his brother, Elena fretted over the things she couldn't undo or control. She, the only human in this quadrangle of ache, felt powerless, useless and pointless because she could not help her loved ones anymore than she could help herself when her parents died.
.
.
.
Finally showered and tucked in bed, Elena hoped sleep would bring relief or some kind of temporary oblivion, but sleep she could not. She tossed and turned in her bed, her head full of sorrow and compassion... Weary from mind to body to soul because she felt so bad for Bonnie, so bad for Stefan and so very, very bad for Damon and ever so useless for not being able to help… Elena's brains tried and tried to figure out ways in which she could do something about Damon's broken heart or about helping Stefan stop Damon from going on a killing spree… She felt so hopeless and small…
How do you fix a shattered heart? How do you mend the hurt borne of 160 years of lies? She really didn't know where to start…
Elena still remembered the first time she and Damon had spoken about Katherine… How his love for the woman had been obvious even though they were speaking about Stefan's ex-girlfriend. Come to think of it, that night, she and Damon had shared a moment, some sort of kinship that she didn't see until today. Maybe because she had been blindsided by the "Bad Damon" propaganda Stefan spoon fed her, or probably because Damon's bad behavior was distracting enough. What with him abusing Caroline, threatening Bonnie, trying to kiss her, killing Vicky and Lexi… Well, Elena was bound to miss the first time they bonded in the midst of all that!
Her mind was on overdrive, and in her restlessness and need to do something, Elena let a rogue idea take root and, before she had thought it through, she had sent Damon a text.
"My window is always open if you need to talk or need company. xoxo E"
The action had been simple, the intention behind it good, the words were innocent enough - at least that is what she told herself and the jury inside her head.
Elena silenced the objections crowding her brain, the ones that tried to make themselves heard. She quietened the warnings that wanted to be made known because, after all, she was just trying to help, she told herself, nothing more.
As Elena held her phone expectantly, nervously waiting for Damon's reply, she saw the man himself climbing through her window.
One glance at the elder Salvatore and Elena's heart tightened further in grief.
Damon looked hollowed out, more like a ghost than the egotistical vampire she was used to seeing. On sheer impulse and sudden empathy for the grieving being in front of her, Elena rose up and wrapped her arms around him. She felt Damon lean into her again and she hugged him tighter, running soothing patterns on his back, trying to ease the pain away.
A few moments passed before Elena moved back to look him in the eyes. So much sorrow inhabited his blue eyes that she wanted to wail… She raised her hand to his cheek, caressing it softly. It pained her to see him this way, so broken and bereft...
"I'm so sorry Damon..."- she whispered sincerely -"How can I help?"
Damon gave her a sad smile and shook his head with a pained sigh.
"You can't... Not really… But you being around helps a little." - he said brokenly and hung his head low as if speaking had been too much of an effort.
Elena nodded and pressed her lips to his forehead, giving him the gentlest of kisses.
"Then stay." - she offered quietly, quickly adding – "Stay the night. Sleep here, with me."
Damon looked up, confusion and some other feeling Elena couldn't pin point dancing in his eyes.
"What about Stefan?"- he had to ask because somebody had to ask it.
"Stefan is worried about you Damon..." - Elena said by way of an answer but both her and Damon knew she avoided the question -"Come, it's late. You'll feel better once you rest a little." – she said softly with a reassuring smile that would undo any man as her hand grazed his shoulder.
AN: Hope you like where this is going :)
