A/N: This chapter is a bit of Delena fun before the action really picks up next chapter. This is also one of those chapters that the characters hijacked and took in their own direction, so I hope you like what Damon and Elena had in mind. Thanks to everyone who read, reviewed, and otherwise took note of this story! I forgot the disclaimer last chapter, so:

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not own The Vampire Diaries or any of the characters. I'm just playing with them, purely for fun.

Chapter 2

Elena continued to stare out the window as Damon pulled the car up in front of the boarding house. She felt bad that she hadn't been better company on the drive home, but Damon hadn't seemed to mind too much. They both sat in silence for a moment before Damon opened his door. "I'll get the bags," he said.

Elena nodded and slowly got out of the car. She walked to the front door, which was unlocked as usual even though no one was home. Damon apparently didn't believe in locking his doors, and Elena supposed that anyone who tried to steal from him would probably quickly regret it anyway. She went and sat down on a couch, tired and hungry from the long day of shopping. More than that, she was heartsick at the idea of another supernatural enemy coming after her. Things had been so peaceful for three weeks now that she had begun to believe that her life was finally returning to normal. She continued to sit there as she heard Damon bring in the shopping bags from the car, and she watched as he started the fire in the fireplace in front of her. She smiled a little at that. Damon was far more domestic than she had ever guessed before she started dating him, and it never ceased to make her smile to see him doing chores around the giant old house.

Of course, Elena thought bitterly, her vampire boyfriend taking care of his house had just contributed to the false impression of normality in her life. Nothing was ever going to be normal. None of it was ever going to stop. She blinked back tears at the thought, staring into the fire. Hadn't she already lived through enough craziness, and lost enough people, for a lifetime?

Then suddenly Damon was sitting beside her on the couch, and she almost automatically curled into his side as he put his arm around her. "Tell me," he said gently.

Elena sighed, trying to find comfort in Damon's arms. "I . . . I guess I just thought maybe it was all finally over," she said hesitantly. Her voice broke a little, and she fought against the tears that threatened to start spilling forth. She was being completely irrational, she knew. Nothing had even happened yet, so why was she so upset?

"Elena, listen to me," Damon began. He pulled away slightly so that he could look at her, and she could read the concern shining in his beautiful blue eyes. "We have no idea if that vampire was even telling the truth. It's nothing more than a vague threat at this point, and we've dealt with worse."

"A solid maybe?" Elena said with a slight smile at the memory of another conversation – and another threat. So many of her memories of the past few months were tinged with sadness, however, and that one was no different. She knew Damon's thoughts were drifting in a similar direction when she saw the shadow behind his answering smile, and she felt bad that she had spoken those words. She knew there were times that he still missed Rose, who had been a rare friend to him.

"Yes," he answered after a pause that lingered slightly too long. "A solid maybe." They both felt silent for a few minutes before Damon spoke again. "I won't let anything happen to you, Elena," he said. "Trust in that." He kissed her hair and tightened his arms around her.

"I know you won't," Elena whispered. She knew that he heard her.

"Good," he said. "Now what do you want for dinner? Want to order in?"

•••••

Damon watched as Elena ordered Chinese. She still seemed subdued, sad. He knew he wasn't very good at the comforting boyfriend role. At least he hadn't said the first thoughts that had popped into his head when she confessed what was bothering her, he thought with a silent snort of derision. At least he hadn't told her that one of the primary lessons he had taken from his unnaturally long life was that it was never all over. Threats, crises, problems – they all just kept coming and destroying whatever you had built for yourself, or built of yourself. That was one reason life should have an expiration date, he thought grimly. Eternal life was a cruel joke. And yes, he could still say that after the past three weeks with Elena that had truly been the happiest of any time that he could remember clearly, probably the happiest of his whole life.

Damon didn't believe that the universe owed him any sort of happiness or peace or love. He was grateful for what he had found with Elena, but he wasn't foolish enough to think that he deserved it and that it couldn't be ripped away from him at any moment. He just prayed that he would be able to protect Elena from whatever cruel destiny came for them – because he believed that she did deserve whatever she wanted from life just as firmly as he believed that he himself did not.

And now he was even depressing himself, Damon thought ruefully. Time to change the mood in here. There was one thing he knew he was good at as a boyfriend and one way he could most assuredly take Elena's mind off her fears.

•••••

Elena felt Damon come up behind her as she hung up the phone. "So we have a few minutes to kill, do we?" he whispered in her ear. His hands had settled on her hips, and he turned her around to face him. Elena knew he was planning to distract her, and it was a welcome distraction.

"You have something in mind?" she said teasingly.

"How about this?" Damon said softly as he captured her lips with his in a gentle kiss that quickly became more insistent. Elena moaned as his tongue expertly plied her mouth. He lifted her up to set her on the counter, and Elena spread her legs to draw him as close to her as possible.

Damon trailed kisses along her collarbone, and Elena threw her head back as he moved his lips to her neck. His kisses were tantalizingly gentle as he teased one of her most sensitive spots with lips and tongue. He knew her body so well now that he knew exactly where to touch her. "Damon," she moaned, wanting more.

Suddenly, instead of giving her what she wanted, Damon pulled back from her slightly, cursing. Elena snapped her eyes open. "Damon, is something wrong?" she asked. He was trying to look away from her, and she put her hand on his shoulder, refusing to let him pull away too far.

He cursed again, and Elena gasped as she saw the black veins tracing around his eyes. Red had almost swamped the usual blue of his eyes, and she could see his fangs protruding. "Damon?" she asked worriedly. In all the weeks they had been together, his control of his bloodlust had never slipped in the slightest.

She watched as he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, and just like that his face was back to normal. "I'm sorry, Elena," he said as he opened his eyes.

Elena wasn't the slightest bit afraid of him – she was certain he would never hurt her – but she wanted to understand. She looked at him questioningly. "What happened?" she asked.

Damon sighed. "I'm sorry," he repeated. "It's just that we were out all day, so I haven't fed in a while. And seeing that other vampire and hearing about another threat to you, it just has me feeling a bit . . ." He paused, clearly searching for the right word. "Possessive," he finally said.

"It's okay," Elena said. She hesitated. Damon had never said a word about biting her, and she had never brought it up, but she knew he had fed from Caroline back when . . . She cut off that line of thought. Damon wasn't the same vampire he had been back then, but he was still a vampire, after all. "Do you want to bite me?" she asked him. "I mean other than just right now."

Damon's laugh was a short bark. "Of course," he admitted.

"Why haven't you said anything?"

Damon met her eyes with an intense stare. "Elena, I've fed from a lot of women. A lot. And I don't want you to ever think that's all you are to me. You, our relationship – it means so much more to me than that."

Elena sidled closer to him. She was still sitting on the counter, and she pulled his head up to brush her lips softly against his. "I know that," she said. "But I want you to bite me."

"You do?" Damon looked surprised, and Elena nodded, suddenly sure that she did want him to bite her. She had shared her blood with Stefan after all, and she wanted to give Damon the same gift, even if the reason wasn't exactly the same. "There are complications to think about, though," Damon said seriously.

Elena looked at him in surprise. It seemed simple enough to her. "Like what?" she asked.

Damon smiled slightly. "No matter how careful I am, it leaves a mark. I can bite you where no one else will see it, or you can wear something to cover the spot, but it is Mystic Falls so if you start wearing scarves all the time, some people will guess." He paused, offering her a crooked smile. "Normally I could give you some of my blood so you heal right away, but with all the threats to your life . . . Well, there's a risk."

"Oh, right." Elena could see the reasons for Damon's hesitation now. It was a bit more complicated than she had thought, although she couldn't help but smile at how Damon – who was normally so impulsive – cared enough about her to lay out all the possible scenarios. And the truth was, she didn't want to become a vampire, at least not for a while – and maybe not ever. One of the advantages to dating Damon was that she had years before she would be too old for him, and that meant she had years to decide if she wanted to give up the human dreams that she had grown up with in exchange for eternity with him. With Stefan, even though he had never said anything, she had always felt pressure that she was getting older and he would be seventeen forever. "We'll figure it out," she said with a confident smile as she kissed him again.

The doorbell interrupted them before things got too out of hand, although Elena grinned when she noticed that Damon didn't bother to button his shirt back up before heading to the door to pay for her food. Exhibitionist, she thought fondly.

•••••

Elena watched as Damon popped the last piece of kung pao chicken in his mouth. He never had buttoned his shirt, so her mind had been on something other than the food throughout dinner. Somehow no matter how many times and how many ways she and Damon had had sex over the past three weeks, her desire for him hadn't diminished in the slightest. Luckily, he was just as insatiable. She admired his graceful movements and the ripple of his muscles as he picked up the dishes from the table, rinsed them off, and put them in the dishwasher. As Damon finished with the last of the dishes, Elena slipped up behind him. She wrapped her arms around him and ran her hands over his abs. She loved the feel of Damon's skin. "Where were we?" she asked as she kissed Damon's neck.

She felt him sigh in pleasure, but his words were teasing. "Were we in the middle of something? You'll have to remind me."

"Turn around then," Elena told him, and Damon obediently twisted to face her. "Do you remember doing this?" She stretched up on her tiptoes and kissed him.

"Mmm, doesn't ring a bell," Damon joked when Elena finally paused for breath.

"Shut up and kiss me," Elena replied, and he did.

Damon's shirt didn't even make it out of the kitchen, and they left a trail of clothes up the stairs on the way to Damon's bedroom. Damon had just pushed Elena down on the bed when she told him what she had decided during dinner. "I want you to do it tonight."

Damon stared at her and pulled away from her, sitting down on the bed next to her. "You want me to bite you?" he asked incredulously.

Elena reached over to run her hand along his jaw. "Yes," she said with a smile. Damon was so cute on the rare occasions that she managed to surprise him. "And I want you to give me some of your blood to heal me."

"Elena, are you sure?"

"I'm sure," she said confidently.

"Do you trust me?" Damon asked, blue eyes serious.

Elena looked at him, puzzled. "Obviously," she answered.

"Will you take off your necklace?"

Without saying a word, Elena reached up and undid the clasp of her necklace. Damon had given her a new one to replace the one that had been a gift from Stefan, but the new necklace also contained a small sprig of vervain to protect her from compulsion and other vampire tricks. She handed it to Damon, and she only knew that he had placed it safely across the room on his dresser because of the gust of wind as he reappeared on the bed next to her. "I love you," he said, and then he was kissing her again.

Damon's hands and lips were all over her body, and Elena was utterly lost in the sensation. He seemed to want to touch every inch of her, and she moaned out his name. "Damon, please." His finger was teasing her clit, and she had forgotten about everything except wanting him inside of her, wanting him to take her the rest of the way to her climax.

His hand continued to flick just the right spot between her legs as his lips focused on her neck. Elena felt a brief sharp pain at her neck, and she realized that Damon had bitten her. The feeling of Damon drinking her blood mixed with the pleasure he was giving her, and she didn't think she had ever been so wet in her whole life. She writhed, overwhelmed by the sensations sweeping over her body. It was completely different than when Stefan had drunk drops of her blood; that had been chaste and innocent compared to this. She felt like she and Damon were becoming one, merging in blood and body and mind. She suddenly realized that she could feel what he was feeling, and she knew that was why he had wanted her to take off her necklace, so that he could connect their minds.

Elena was vaguely aware that she was moaning, her body shaking with her pleasure and his. She felt him pull away from her neck, and a moment later he held his bleeding wrist to her mouth. She licked tentatively at his blood, feeling a rush that she remembered from before when he had given her his blood to heal her. He entered her a moment later and she had never felt anything like it. "Oh my God, Damon," she gasped. His blood was inside of her, and hers was in him, and his cock was filling her – pleasure was exploding through every part of her body and mind in wave after wave that she thought would never end.

But her climax finally did fade, Damon collapsing alongside of her in the aftermath of his own orgasm, and she lay bonelessly on the bed, unable to speak. Finally she thought she could get words out, although there were no words to do justice to what she had just experienced. "You could have warned me it would be like that," she finally said.

Damon shook his head. "I didn't know it could be. I've never felt anything like that." He sounded as stunned as she felt.

Elena shifted to look at him in surprise and reached up to gently push away a piece of hair that had fallen in his eyes. "Really?"

He smiled, one of the rare, open smiles that made him even more stunningly beautiful to her. "Really. That was . . . " He stopped, words clearly failing him too.

"Yes, it was." She settled against his body with a small sigh, feeling completely content. "I love you, Damon," she added softly.

She heard his low voice as she drifted into sleep. "I love you, too, Elena. I love you so much."