A/N Okay sorry for the wait! Here's the second chapter. I hope you enjoy it. Oh and thank you so much everyone for the reviews, they made me giddy ;)

This is the reworked version so Elena's thoughts are in quotation marks and italics.

Disclaimer: Do you really think I'd be sitting here writing this story if I could have Ian Somerhalder all to myself?

It is what it is
I was only looking for a shortcut home
But it's complicated
So complicated
We hit a wall and we can't get over it
You said it, I get it
I guess it is what it is
IT IS WHAT IT IS - LIFEHOUSE

Time stood still. 'This was not happening. There was no way in hell this was happening.' Elena looked at Damon waiting for him to say 'ha ha, I fooled you'. But as she looked at him all she could see was sincerity and then she knew it was true. How could she have...? Elena couldn't even finish the thought. Her life as she'd imagined was not what she had.

"What happened to Stefan?" Elena asked. She could see Damon frustrated at how once again she was enquiring about his brother.

"Great I tell you we're married and the first thing you can think to say is where is Stefan?" Damon snapped.

"Well I'm sorry if right now the only Salvatore brother I care about isn't here and the only one that is here is the one I want to get out of my room," Elena snapped back. She regretted it immediately. Damon once again went back to looking completely hurt and sad. It was weird for her to think that her comments actually had an effect on him now. "I'm sorry, that was uncalled for."

"Don't worry. Stefan's out with Bonnie. They've been dating for nearly two years. They've stopped by a couple times whilst you were unconscious," Damon explained. Elena's eyes widened... 'Stefan and Bonnie?' Elena couldn't wrap her head around this information, especially when she still had loving feelings towards Stefan. She looked up at Damon again.

"So... we're married," Elena said, still shocked by the revelation. She saw a small smirk work its way to Damon's face.

"Yeah," Damon replied, the smirk widening.

"How long?" she wondered.

"Nearly two years."

"Two years?" Elena repeated, shocked completely.

"Two years," Damon confirmed coolly. Elena was full of questions and she needed answers.

"When did we get together?" she asked as if it were a casual question.

"Three years and four months ago," Damon replied as if he knew it by heart and didn't have to think about it. It was ironic that had Elena only lost three years of her life she would've at least known she was dating Damon. Suddenly an earlier question flew into her head.

"Why am I not a vampire?" Elena saw Damon's face darken at the question as if he was completely opposed to the idea of making her a vampire which seemed completely absurd to her because she would've thought he'd be completely up for it.

"We discussed it many times," Damon said, "we decided that since you're still young, you could stay human."

"Until?" Elena questioned. Damon laughed emptily.

"You're still the same old Elena. We decided that you should stay human until you're 23 years old since I look about 25 years old."

"What's the date today?"

"28th February," Damon replied knowing where Elena was heading with this.

"It's my birthday in two months," Elena told him unnecessarily.

"I know, and the answer is no," Damon said matter of factly.

"Why not? If you'd made me a vampire already, this would never have happened."

"I know," Damon said sadly, "but I'm not going to do this now that you've lost your memories. Case closed," Damon said sternly. Elena decided to let it go... for now.

"Why didn't you give me some of your blood to make me better?" Elena inquired.

"I wasn't with you when you... when you got hit. So I couldn't heal you and since you were admitted to the hospital I can't give you any now because it would be too suspicious if all your bruises disappeared."

"Well why don't you give me blood once I'm released and then I'll get my memories back?" Elena asked.

"It's not as easy as that Elena. I can't heal brain abnormalities. I can heal all your other wounds though. It's like me giving blood to someone who has a mental disorder, I can't fix the disorder. The brain is strictly off limits. I can't give back your memories, no matter how much I wish I could," Damon explained thoroughly.

"Oh." It was all Elena could say. At that moment Doctor Montgomery came back into the room.

"Well Mrs Salvatore, it seems that our diagnosis earlier was correct. You do have short term memory loss and so unfortunately the only way to get your memories back is through stimulating and exercising your brain. There is still a possibility you will regain your memories." It felt weird to Elena being referred to as 'Mrs Salvatore', 'at least he wasn't calling me 'Mrs Damon Salvatore'.

"Other than this major injury, you seem to be healing well. You have two broken ribs and many bruises covering your body but the good news is that we will be able to release you in a few hours. So Damon, you may go home and get Elena's things ready so that she can go home with you."

"Sure," Damon replied.

"Oh, she is staying with you right? We cannot release her unless she has a home with someone else to stay with."

"Yes, she'll stay with me," Damon replied. Elena could feel herself getting angry. 'How can Damon decide for me what I'm going to do?'

"Well that's good she needs an environment which will stimulate her memories." With that said, Doctor Montgomery left.

"I'm going to go get you a change of clothes so that we can go home," Damon said waiting for a reply. Elena didn't reply since she was still angry at him.

Once Damon left, she was left to her thoughts. 'Who did Damon think he was, deciding everything without my consent? Who cares if he's my husband? We'll probably be getting a divorce soon anyway'. That being said Elena didn't understand how it was that a few weeks ago she was in love with him. It just didn't feel possible. Had Damon compelled her to love him? Elena looked down at her neck and noticed that she didn't have her vervain necklace. No it was not possible, neither Stefan nor Bonnie would ever let it get this far if she didn't love Damon truly.

Suddenly another thought entered her brain. She must've had sex with Damon. 'Oh God I thought I was going to hurl. We were married for God's sake, there is no way in hell that we haven't had sex. He's seen me naked. This just keeps getting worse. He's touched me intimately. Oh dear God, I've touched him intimately.' It wasn't that Damon wasn't good looking, even Elena couldn't deny that, but his nature of killing innocent people was a complete turn off that even thinking about having sex with Damon made her feel sick to the core. Before she could stay on this track of thought, Damon came back and he had a bag, undoubtedly filled with her clothes.

"Hey. How are you?" Damon asked softly, walking towards the bedside chair and sitting down. Elena shifted herself so that she was facing him.

"I'm okay. The pain meds are still working for me, but, I have to say that I'm glad to get out of here. It's so boring!" Elena complained, deciding to let go of her anger. It felt weird seeing Damon concerned for her and it made her realise what a bitch she was being. Elena wasn't considering any of Damon's feelings.

"Well, the doctor moved up your release time to six, so you'll have one less hour of boredom."

"That's good. I don't know how much longer I can take this." Elena joked, glancing down at the bag that was in Damon's hands. "My clothes?"

"Oh! Yeah, here. Better than a hospital gown. But I do like the exposure of the back," Damon commented, watching as a shade of red worked its way to Elena's face before handing the bag to her. "I'll let you get dressed," he added, standing up.

What happened next shocked both Damon and Elena a little bit. For once, she did something impulsive.

"Damon, wait! Don't go." Elena said, and Damon turned around in surprise. She couldn't help the blush that was deepening on her face and she could tell that Damon noticed it.

"What's wrong?" Damon asked, still standing in the middle of the room. His blue eyes pierced into hers, taking her breath away momentarily.

"Well," Elena began her explanation by looking at his feet. It wasn't just to make him feel better. She really did need help with this particular aspect of daily living and she wasn't up for having the annoying nurse come back in and help her. "God, I know this sounds really weird, but…I can't get dressed by myself," Elena mumbled quickly, unable to look Damon in the eyes.

"Oh." Damon's response was actually kind of cute. She looked up at him, and could tell how uncomfortable he was with the situation. It was strange since she would've thought he'd jump at the situation. Elena guessed Damon was really different to how she remembered him. But then she noticed the smirk work its way back to face and she realised that hesitance he had seconds before was gone and now he was perfectly fine with the idea of helping her dress. Elena couldn't help the small smile she felt at knowing that Damon was still Damon, just a little different sometimes. More caring – a good change.

"I'm sorry Damon. It's just my shirt, because of my ribs and all. Would you mind helping me?" Elena asked, suddenly feeling self conscious. She had a lot of bruises from the accident, and didn't look too great to the eye. And the more she thought about it, the more idiotic she thought she was for mentioning it. He had seen her naked before, even if she couldn't remember it, but this time she would have awful purpley blue bruises scarring her body.

What had gotten into her? Letting a man, scratch that vampire who she could only remember despising help her get dressed? She knew that she still had a bra on, but please!

"Of course." Damon mumbled, and then strolled over to the bag of clothing. He got out a white shirt, and then looked over at her. Elena swung her legs over so she was sitting on the edge of the bed.

Damon willed himself to be strong about this. He had to remember that the Elena in front of him wasn't his "wife". This was the Elena he had terrorised when he arrived in Mystic Falls, the one who loathed him for turning her friend Vicki, into a vampire and threatened repeatedly.

Damon set the shirt on the bed, and glanced toward the door to make sure it was closed.

"Well, I can't lift my left arm too high, and my right arm has a broken wrist." Elena giggled, catching Damon's attention. "This is going to be a challenge, isn't it?"

There was something about Damon that made Elena let down her walls a tiny little bit despite the fact that she knew she still had feelings towards his brother. 'This was so complicated!' The fact that Damon was being relatively charming and considerate made Elena feel slightly different about him. Elena wasn't able to explain it, but it was more comforting seeing him not threatening to kill her.

"Yes it will. Well, let's just see what happens." Damon gave Elena an encouraging, genuine grin. Elena removed her dressing gown, surprising Damon by the fact that she already had her jeans on.

"I scooted into them. It takes talent." Elena smiled, suddenly forgetting that she was meant to despise Damon. Well technically she wasn't meant to despise him, she was meant to love him.

Damon let out a laugh. Elena lifted her left arm as high as it could go, and relaxed her right arm. Damon slowly moved her t-shirt over her head and Elena began to put her arm into it when she sucked in a quick breath, taking Damon off guard. He stopped.

"Are you okay?" he asked, worry covering his face.

Elena grinned reassuringly, "Yeah. Your hands are just a little cold," she said, watching as Damon shifted uncomfortably. In that moment she realised that Damon would continually surprise her for the rest of her life.

"Sorry about that. I haven't had any coffee yet to warm them up," he said, and continued to help Elena with her shirt.

Elena watched at how delicate Damon treated her. She had to admit it was reassuring, the fact that he was gentle. 'Maybe this marriage thing wasn't just me going crazy for a couple years.'

Elena smiled at the fact that Damon hadn't let his eyes wander to her chest once. She was genuinely surprised. She could see that it was taking great effort, but he succeeded, and her shirt was fully on. Elena wondered how it would work out when she would need help changing her bra the next time but then she remembered that they'd be home by then and Stefan could heal her with his blood. Elena let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank you, Damon." Damon nodded his head stoically, his thoughts elsewhere. "I was genuinely surprised that you didn't let your eyes go wandering."

"It's nothing I haven't seen before, Elena," Damon replied winking at Elena, making her blush once again. She knew that Damon was deflecting from the fact that she didn't want him to be looking at her breasts.

"Also, thank you for not commenting on my bruises." Elena cast her eyes downwards in embarrassment. Normally she wouldn't be bothered by the fact that she looked horrible with her bruises but for some irrational reason she wanted to look good for Damon, for her husband.

"Hey, hey." Damon whispered, lifting Elena's chin up so he could look her in the eyes. "You're beautiful just the way you are. I didn't even notice the bruises, Elena." His voice was somewhat soothing, but she suddenly realized how close they were. She began to get uncomfortable. Just because she didn't despise Damon quite so much did not mean she was willing to have his lips inches from hers.

"Thanks." Elena said quietly, and looked away. Damon saw this and let out a sigh. He had believed they were getting somewhere, but in reality they weren't.

So what do you think? Did you like it/hate it? Tell me in your review!