AUTHOR'S NOTE: Wasn't going to continue this story line but I got bombarded with a lot of crying and sobbing VD fans, especially DELENA shippers, were not very happy with this... I'm not promising a happy ending, BUT I'm continuing this storyline... along with all my unfinished stories... GAWD, I wish there was a way for all my ideas to just magically appear onto the computer screen, without me having to think about diction, and syntax and grammar, and all that really important crap that it takes to write a half-decent fanfic, which most of mine aren't even...

But I digress... I hope you guys enjoy this continuation... Let me know if you do,... or don't. lol

Damon was drinking. Trying to forget but unable to let go. The alcohol wasn't helping, it used to help, but somehow it was no longer sufficient. This place was becoming much too familiar to him. The amount of times he'd been here in the past year alone were too many. This is what it meant. Pain and suffering and loss. Eternity, immortality. He hated it now. Hated what it meant. He had cheated death and if death couldn't have him then it would take everything around him out of spite. He tossed the empty bottle in his hand, it hit a stone somewhere in the distance not far from the other empty bottle that was already in shards. He didn't bother with glasses anymore, they only slowed down the process. Instead he just opened the next and smirked at the sight of it. He'd been saving this one for a special occasion, this one was as good as any he supposed.

"Happy birthday to me." He grimaced as the bottle made a clinking sound on the stone beneath him. The stone slab against his back was no longer cool to the touch. It was getting darker and colder and he didn't care, he wished that he could just weld into the hard earth around him. How easy it would be if he could just become part of something that never moved and never thought. Or felt anything. Too much loss. Humans weren't meant to process this much pain.

"What do you think you're doing?" A pair of high heeled boots with embellishments appeared in front of him when he looked up they were attached to a pair of long legs wrapped in skinny black jeans. Blonde hair, blue eyes and a pissed off, judgemental look on her face.

"I don't know Vampire Barbie, what does it look like I'm doing?" She was staring back at him angrily. He noticed her eyes were puffy, he was trying to remember a time when he cared but he couldn't. He and Caroline had never exactly been facebook friends.

"How dare you?" She moved towards him and grabbed the bottle from his hands, tossed it and turned back to look at him. Damon moved to stand up and stumbled for a second. "You're pathetic." Her voice was getting a little bit squeaky the way it did when she was angry and feeling justified.

"Don't forget who you're talking to Caroline." He stood up finally to his full height, he was taller than her and looked down into her eyes, her angry eyes. Meeting them with equal measure and challenging her. "You really don't want to mess with me."

"Or what? You're going to kill me with your bad breath?"

"Not today, Caroline. I'm warning you." She pushed him. Actually shoved him against the rock that had been a comfort to him just a moment ago.

"I don't think so. You don't get to pull rank here Damon. I don't care how much you loved her, or-" He cut her off, had her by the throat and pushed her down into the ground.

"You stupid, shallow little girl!" He snarled as she was sinking into the earth, the sun had almost completely set and her eyes were blazing with anger as she held onto his arms, trying to pry herself free from his grip. But his anger was only empowering him, not to mention he was her maker. He could force her to submit any time he wanted. "You think that just because you grew up with her you have the right to decide how much others are allowed to grieve-" She broke free from his grip surprisingly and kicked him in the ribs. When he rolled over into the earth he was fully expecting her to jump him and beat him up while he had the chance but instead she was grabbing him by the elbow and pulling him up. His movements were sluggish and difficult, apparently there was such a thing as too much alcohol.

"You're not grieving Damon, you're wallowing. And how dare you?!"

"Who are you to-"

"God damnit Damon, you think I really care? You think I care whether you drink yourself to death or join a monastery?!" Now he was confused, his mind reeling on what was happening and his sluggish alcohol infused brain was completely and totally incapable of processing it completely. "I didn't come down here for you, you idiot. I came to see her." He saw her swallow back tears at the thought of her old friend. Her eyes were no longer directed at him, but at the large slab of stone that was now a few feet behind him. When her eyes landed back on him the sadness that had been there was replaced with anger all over again. "And instead I find you here. Wallowing in self pity and drinking like some old bum. How could you be so careless Damon? You think this is what she wanted?"

"Don't-" He started again but she shoved him again, not as hard as before but she was angry.

"Don't what Damon? She had a power over people, somehow she just- I don't know- she made people... better. And God only knows why, but for some reason she decided to include you into that, to love you,-" She moved to shove him again and he grabbed hold of her shoulders to make her stop because she was throwing him off balance. "to put some of her light into you. And you're just wasting it." Her anger was welling into something else as tears broke free from her hard grip, she was pounding her little fists against his chest and her words were throwing him off balance as much as her movement was. "All that goodness, all that light she poured into you and you're drinking it away. Shutting it out like you always did! How can you just do that?! How dare you just forget who she was-"

"I didn't forget! Don't say that."

She had been trying to be nicer to people, but it was becoming more and more difficult. She was steadily beginning to realize that it was Elena that had made them all better. Had made her a better friend. More considerate, and kind and not so selfish all the time. She had thought that it was her growing up that had caused it, maybe even her turning into a vampire but in reality it was growing closer to Elena that had made her better. She had always admired Elena, ever since they were little. And ever since she had dropped the jealousy for admiration and respect she had found out that Elena inspired her to be a better person. But without her there, it was so much harder. She was no longer there to talk to, no longer there to turn to for advice. No one to listen to her when she was upset, or neurotic, or even just being dramatic.

She was desperately hurting and the only person she could think to talk to it about wasn't there anymore. That loss stung her like nothing else, it placed a heaviness on her heart. Like everything around her had become more difficult, less beautiful. Darker. It cut her so badly that she couldn't even say her name out loud. She had read that in certain cultures they wouldn't pronounce the names of those who passed. And now she understood why. It hurt too much to say the name.

"I didn't forget her- It's just- I just don't know how to- continue." She frowned at him, she didn't want to understand him. Not him. Of all people who would understand her pain surely there had to be someone better than Damon. She almost hated him for the love Elena had borne towards him. And it had been love. As much as Elena had denied it, and Caroline had hoped it wasn't true, she knew it was. Could see the difference in the two of them. How they were around each other. He suddenly seemed to realize that he was still holding her, his voice had grown more silent. Neither of them was yelling at each other anymore and even though she didn't like him it was hard to stay angry at someone who was so clearly enveloped in the same loss as she was. It was hard to stay angry when Elena would have argued for forgiveness, for understanding. She looked past him at the stone, the big marble piece with her name carved underneath some other ancestors. She could hear Elena's voice, reprimanding her softly for saying something that was completely misplaced and slightly prejudicial. Tears came back to her when Damon's grip on her disappeared and he moved back to pick up his last unopened bottle. She had come here to talk to her friend, she didn't really know why. She didn't even know if Elena was listening, she was probably on some way better plain and completely oblivious to the pain she had left all her friends in. It wasn't fair, there was so much that she had wanted to say to Elena. She'd really thought she'd have all the time in the world to express how important Elena was to her.

There had been no one else like her really, she could be stubborn and foolish, and naive sometimes but she'd also been strong and beautiful. And she'd made Caroline so lucky so strong, and so proud to be who she was, and she'd never even gotten a chance to thank her.

As he started walking away from her, the anger was still there, she hated him for all the things he'd done. She wanted nothing more than for him to walk away, but she wouldn't have wanted that. If she was here, Caroline would have told her thank you for all those things but she couldn't thank her. Instead she realized that holding onto Elena meant holding onto who she was, the goodness of her. And she would have gone after him.

Bonnie.

...Bonnie

There was a sound, like crying. Soft whimpers calling out to her as she turned her head desperately trying to understand where it was coming from.

"Grams?" It was really the only thing that made sense to her. Her grams and Emily had been the only ones to ever reach out to her from the other side.

Bonnie, please...

"Listen to me!" A shattering skreech in her skull made her stumble onto her knees, she was forced to cover her ears, and close her eyes as the sound blinded her in pain. When it stopped there was crying again but the voice wasn't her grandmother. She knew the sound of that, knew the sound of her pain, she'd heard it before. Comforted her before when her parents had died so suddenly. "Bonnie please-" The cries were desperate and heart-wrenching. Bonnie did what she always did in these situations, whenever her friends were in danger, she stood up, looking around the darkness for her friend.

"Elena?! Where are you?"

"Bonnie!" The cries turned into smaller sniffles as she recognized the sound of her friend's voice. Bonnie wanted to cry out of sheer relief of hearing her friend one more time, but she needed to focus.

"Yes Elena, it's me. You have to tell me where you are!"

"No Bonnie. Listen please, something's coming."

"Who's coming? Elena are you in danger?"

"You're not listening, something's coming!"

"I don't understand-"

"Listen!"

She woke up with a start, sweating and out of breath. She was tangled in her sheets as if she'd been trying to run away from her blankets. It was so clear, it couldn't have just been a dream. Could it? What if it was though? Maybe she just missed Elena so much that she was dreaming about her.

"Elena," her name came out in a whisper. Everything was so broken without her, it was like everyone was waiting for some kind of break that would make this okay but there was nothing that would make this better. But there was no release, from this. From this hurt. Bonnie did the same thing that she'd done for the past few weeks.

Months actually.

It had been months, since she had- died. She leaned over cradling her head in her hands as if doing so would keep the memories from seeping out of her veins. It didn't make any difference really, she felt like everything around her now was coated in sadness and it all brought her down to her knees. She was winded by it. 19 years old and already she'd been to more funerals than most people attend in their whole lives. She lived in a wreckage of a place that had once been happy and full of light. And now this, she wanted to believe differently but for some reason she could feel that something was very wrong. Elena wasn't at peace.

Damon woke up to music in the house, it was annoying and girly and just a little bit sad. But he felt like he was in a bad Nicholas Sparks movie for a second before the song changed to some shitty indie pop-rock crap that was just as bad and forced him to get up. His head hurt, he didn't think it was possible for him to even get hungover anymore but now he was learning that too much alcohol and not enough blood had the same effect. There was sniffling coming from one of the other rooms, and judging by the sound of the music it was most definitely coming from her room. She hadn't really slept there often, it had mostly been a place for her to put her stuff, some clothes, keepsakes, a few framed pictures and that teddybear that she couldn't seem to let go of. He turned and stood still in the doorway, like a physical barrier was keeping him from stepping through into the room, even though he knew that was ridiculous, he was starting to wonder why he had even bothered venturing down the hall in this direction.

There was much more of her here than he had lead himself to believe. Make up brushes, little pieces of jewelry, shoes that had been kicked off carelessly. A book here and there, books that she started and never finished. And the smell of her perfume. He was so lost in the sight of the room, wondering if a room could hold the essence of a person when Caroline popped out of her closet and tossed some stuff into a box. She had tears streaking her cheeks, she was the one who had been blasting the music. Clearly something had set her off to do this.

"You didn't clean out her stuff." She stated in between hitched breaths. It had honestly been the last thing on his mind, he had been so tired and numb from the loss of her that he hadn't even come near this place in ages.

"Caroline what do you think you're doing?" He didn't know whether it was her cleaning out the stuff, or her doing it now that bothered him. But something was really bothering him about this situation.

"When my dad died, we had to hide stuff because there was all this family that was crawling out of the woodwork trying to get their hands on the Forbes family heirlooms you know, so I thought I should maybe call someone to see if they wanted any of her things, but then I-" She stopped mid sentence. She was talking fast and folding one thing after the other at a pace only acceptable to vampires. "I mean who's there to call?" She laughed, slightly hysterically before putting a hand to her mouth and swallowing against another burst of tears. Damon didn't know what to say, he wasn't good at this kind of stuff. Stefan was so much better at being the shoulder to cry on. He was so much better at knowing what to say. Damon wasn't.

He made inappropriate remarks, and did selfish things, he was similar to Caroline in that respect. Maybe that's why they didn't like each other much. He didn't know what to say, and mostly because he knew it hurt so bad that nothing he could possibly say would make her feel better. She looked up at him from her task and stopped folding. "Everyone's gone." it came out in a sad whisper and it was barely really said to him. It was more like she was saying it to herself. "I wish-" She started but then shook her head closing her eyes against the words that were pointless. Damon knew the feeling.

"She would've wanted you and Bonnie to have her stuff... I guess." He wasn't sure if that would make her stop crying, but he hoped it would. But really how could any of them know what Elena would have wanted in this situation. She was so young, and even with her crazy supernatural friends and so many near-death experiences none of them had ever thought to have that conversation. What eighteen year old wrote a will? There were so many things that were left in the dark, so many things that made it difficult for all of them to move on. There were so many questions, so many things left unsaid that made it impossible not to be angry, or sad, or just hurt.

He'd had so much to say to her, being so close to her and then watching her drift away. He wished so many things. He wished for what could have been, he ached for it. For a brief moment he had been so close to having that. He'd had her, for a brief moment, and then she'd been ripped away from him. And now the all the pain of losing her was everywhere he went.

"I can't stay here." She had been expecting the words from him for weeks now. Ever since they had quietly put Elena's things back where they belonged, leaving her room an immaculate shrine to the person who had once inhabited it. He had poured her a drink and handed it to her before sitting down in the armchair across from hers. The fire was burning brightly in the fireplace and it felt warm against her cheeks, she took a sip of the burning liquid and let it soak through her insides.

It was fall now, but without her here the seasons were flying past them. It was slowly beginning to feel a little less tragic. Though when she thought on it too hard it still made her well up with tears, and she knew that loss would never let go of her. Not completely, but today had been okay. Her and Damon had been living under a quiet understanding, keeping each other company and keeping each other from toppling over that ledge. They would take turns being sad, and angry, and every now and then they would have a night where they got along just enough to play a drinking game where they compared horrible life anecdotes and drank to whomever had the worst experience. They had been going in circles like that for awhile and even though she didn't know how to feel about it, she knew there was a comfort in having him around. Someone in silent understanding of her pain. It wasn't much of a life, but at the moment it seemed all they were capable of. She didn't want him to leave. That shocked her but she knew it was true. She wanted him to stay. Stefan had taken off after the funeral, Bonnie was withdrawn and Matt had thrown himself into work and school and had barely spoken two words to her all summer.

She knew the only reason that she wanted Damon to stay was because he was just as broken as she was but she was the one who needed-

She wasn't sure what she needed. She just wanted him to- not leave.

"This is so messed up." She pouted, she knew she was doing it, but she didn't know what else to say. It was the truth, and she was never one to really sugarcoat things. She didn't love Damon. But she was reeling from the loss of Elena like someone delirious coming out of a fever and Damon, with his cold and quiet resolve somehow made things just a little better. She felt battlescarred and near to each other they were healing but it was taking a long time. She didn't know if they would ever really heal over but being near him helped. She knew that much.

"I know, but I can't stay." He wasn't looking at her, he was gripping the glass in his hand tightly, he looked drawn and pale and unhealthy and she remembered that he hadn't been feeding properly. She realized as he stood there quietly that, everything around him was a constant reminder of her. The only reason he'd ever decided to come to Mystic Falls was her. She was the reason behind every good and bad decision he'd ever made here and now she was gone. All he had left was all those memories, all the anguish and conflict. And for what? She was gone, and not coming back. So why should he stay?

"I understand." She said it quietly and gulped down the contents of her glass, reaching for the bottle. He actually turned to look at her, his blue eyes were glazed over, sad and cold the way they had been ever since that day. He moved over to take the bottle from her hand and refilled his own glass.

"You can stay in the house if you want." He sat down across from her and they both sat quietly staring at the fireplace.

"That's generous." She mocked him, Damon never did anything that wasn't self-serving, and he'd never been particularly friendly towards Caroline.

"Well between your neurotic tendencies and your OCD, I'm thinking you'll keep the place pretty clean when I'm gone." And there it was. She smirked shaking her head, half hoping that the old Damon might one day find himself back to them, though she seriously doubted it.

"Caroline this is serious!" Bonnie looked Caroline over angrily. She was barely paying attention, she seemed distracted and annoyed by the sunlight and all the people around them. They hadn't really talked that much since Elena's funeral, being around each other had become pretty painful. Everytime they were together it seemed like there was someone missing from the conversation. They would talk about something and then fall silent at moments when Elena would usually have had something to say. It was like Elena had been amputated out of their lives and they were still having phantom itches. Lately it had just been easier to avoid each other all together.

"Bonnie, I know it is. Last time you were having witchy nightmares was when Emily was trying to possess you. But why would Elena be reaching out to you now? It's been almost six months since she died." They were both quiet at that. Such a little tidbit of information and yet it held so much weight between them.

"She said something was coming."

"Something? Great, thanks for the details Elena!"

"Caroline." She scolded her and Caroline rolled her eyes in frustration.

"What?! Bonnie, aren't you tired of this? We're constantly, throwing up spells, running from originals, breaking curses and for what?! The people we love just end up dead anyway." Bonnie couldn't believe she was hearing the words that were coming out of her friend's mouth.

"You want to just ignore it? What if she's right-"

"What if it's not even Elena? What if it's some crazy witch spirit from the other side who's messing with us... again?!" She huffed and then leaned back into her chair while Bonnie glared at her from across the table.

"What if it is her?" She finally said, Caroline drew in a breath and closed her eyes. Bonnie didn't mean to pull a guilt trip on her but if this really was Elena it meant that she was trying to warn them about something serious. Serious enough to make her reach out from beyond the grave. She could see Caroline processing that, and thinking about what it would mean if Elena was really reaching out.

"What do we do? I'm guessing you have a spell."

"No I have something a little more old-school planned for this. But if we can get a few more people to participate it would work better."

"Well, Damon left. But I'm guessing Matt and Jeremy wouldn't really object."

"Damon left?" Bonnie had to admit she wasn't really surprised, but he had stuck around much longer than she'd expected and he hadn't caused any trouble in town. It had shocked Bonnie how civil he was trying to be towards everyone, though she could tell that it came with a great deal of difficulty. It had made her wonder if he really had changed. Maybe Elena really had been good for him.

"It was too hard for him to be here." She was quiet for a moment, while they both swallowed back a wave of emotions, grief was something that seemed to have settled inside of them all like a parasite. They all lived with it, and it felt like they were always teetering on the edge of succumbing to it without a moment's notice. Caroline finished her coffee and stood up from the table taking her phone. "I'll call Mat, and you can talk to Jeremy."

"Okay."

Author's note:

Okay so as you all know I hadn't meant to continue this story at all, even though I had a few chapter ideas written out for this story line. But then some people ended up reading it and were completely unsatisfied with the sudden and tragic ending. I refuse to make any promises about where this story line is going, but you're all welcome to guess of course... but in any case, I'm changing the status of this story from completedto unfinished... So yes... this story... WILL BE CONTINUED...

if you love it/hate it please comment and review, send me ideas... love letters are always welcome, so are poems, and hate-mail... and stalker letters... I collect them all! :)

theehee... see you soon!

Love and Peace, fellow weirdos!

kvanhee.

p.s. I haven't included Stefan in this, because to be honest writing from all these different perspectives is exhausting as it is without putting in emo-brooding-depressing-saint-stefan... Sorry Stefan fans!

p.p.s. Caroline and Damon are NOT a couple, they've just formed a weird truce or something... They've learned to tolerate each other, because Damon really needs a new frenemy ever since Alaric died...