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-Approximately One Month Later-

Elena had been watching the window for days now. Damon had said a month but hadn't specified the day, so the closer it got to thirty days from when he dropped her off, the antsier she got.

On day three of at least trying to appear patient, Elena could take the wait no longer and used the secure number that Damon had given her before he left to at least see if he was on his way. A small part of her knew that the number was only for emergencies, so to use it would mean that something was possibly wrong. She knew that Damon would probably go into hyper-protective mode and she would never hear the end of it; another small part of her felt bad that he would worry unnecessarily for her, but yet another part—this one much larger than the other two—decided that extreme fear for her safety would do nothing but get him to her faster.

Besides, Elena thought as she heard the ringing and waited for him to answer on the other end, she had a few tricks up her sleeves that would be sure to lessen the damage: kissing Damon senseless the moment he pulled in being one of them.

Suddenly, the hair on Elena's arms stood on end as her body warned her of another presence in the room besides her own. Phone still pressed to her ear, Elena whirled around and ran right into Damon's rock hard abs. She let out an agitated "Oomph," squealed excitedly when she realized that it was Damon and then, phone call forgotten, practically pounced on the poor vampire as if she hadn't seen him in ages—in her defense, she thought later, she hadn't.

Not that Damon really minded and, never one to pass up a perfectly good opportunity to make out, the dark-haired man wrapped his arms around Elena's back, pulling her closer to him and backed her against a wall, kissing her desperately. He had missed her too.

It took another five minutes, an extreme need to breathe and a few awkward coughs from Charlie and Renee before the two separated, and even then Damon didn't let go of Elena for a second.

"Ahem," Charlie said for what seemed like the umpteenth time. Renee hit him on the arm, looked at the two lovebirds standing near the window seat and simply rolled her eyes.

Young love, she thought knowingly.

Damon attempted to remove the still awkward air of the room by turning toward Charlie and saying, "It's nice to see you Uncle."

To which Charlie promptly replied, "Ha. I'm sure." And then the ice was broken.

Charlie and Renee had come to love the poor girl that Damon had foisted on them a month earlier and both were beginning to think that her life might be a little safer and happier if Damon, or anything supernatural for that matter, wasn't in it. Naturally those feelings lent themselves to the tension in the room that appeared with Damon's arrival, and carried over to some of the conversation that occurred as Damon, Elena, Charlie and Renee sat around the kitchen table eating cold pizza and drinking soda.

Elena, sitting comfortably next to Damon and unconsciously leaning on him—not that he minded—was the first to break the ice and asked about her old home and friends, specifically Bonnie and Stefan. Damon made no pretense of pretending to care about Bonnie, but he had heard nothing out of the ordinary about her and told Elena so. As for his brother, Damon assured Elena that he was his usual brooding self and had sent Damon with a hug and a hello for his ex-girlfriend.

Then Charlie, a police chief and ever concerned about safety above all else, brought up the question that everyone else wanted to ask but were too scared to know the answer to, "What about Klaus?"

Damon sighed deeply and answered, somewhat wearily, "I don't know. It's like he's disappeared and that worries me because I can't keep Elena safe from an invisible enemy."

Charlie considered Damon's words and looked over at his wife, who nodded in agreement. "How do you plan to keep her safe then?" she asked.

It was at this point that Elena chose to interrupt and said in a voice that implied she was somewhat miffed, "I'm right here you know; didn't anyone ever tell you that it's rude to talk about someone when they are standing right in front of you?"

Damon looked down at her in a way that was equally annoyed and said, "We're trying to protect you. Don't you get that, Elena? I love you, but you are acting very childish right now."

Elena angrily pushed Damon away and stood up, walking over to the counter and leaning against it instead.

"I'm fully aware of your feelings for me, Damon," she replied icily, "but I am not your girlfriend. You have no right to tell me what I can or cannot do, and I am sick of your overbearing attitude when it comes to my safety! Just because you are at least 130 years older than me doesn't mean that you can boss me around and call me childish."

Damon had the self-preservation to look at least a little abashed, before his face flashed from hurt to angry to simply blank. He pinched the bridge of his nose in a sign of continued annoyance which Charlie and Renee took as their cue to leave.

The two loved Elena like the daughter they never had, but the Swans knew better than to get embroiled in a fight when Damon was involved. And the truth of the matter was that Damon brought the girl to them, and it was his prerogative whether she continued to stay or not. They were empathetic to Elena's plight, but both agreed that her safety needed to be a priority so whatever solution Damon came up with, Charlie and Renee would support him.

Elena realized all of this as Charlie and Renee exited the room and knew that she fought a losing battle, but she was sick and tired of Damon treating her like she was incompetent and thinking that a few kisses here and there meant he had complete power to dictate how she lived her life.

Damon saw the steely determination in Elena's gaze as she glared at him from across the kitchen, so he made a split second decision and said, "Elena, I'm sorry that I hurt your feelings by calling you childish but there is no other way to describe how you're acting! I'm just trying to keep you safe but if that's not what you want, I'll just leave!"

Elena's glare faltered a little when she realized that he was being serious, but then she said quietly, "Fine. Maybe you should go. I don't want to see you anyway."

Her words pierced Damon's heart like a poisoned arrow but deep down he knew that this fight was for the best. It was simply too dangerous for her to be around him, and he wasn't willing to risk her safety, even if it meant sacrificing his own future happiness.

"Fine," he replied, grabbing his coat and keys and stomping angrily out of the house. He opened the driver's door to his car, got in and then slammed it shut loudly. If it weren't summer when people tended to stay up later anyway, the neighbors probably would have complained, but as it were, there were no nearby neighbors in town that June weekend anyway so Damon's anger was simply expelled onto the three inhabitants of the little house on the end of the street as he turned on the car and drove away, revving the engine obnoxiously for good measure.

Charlie and Renee reentered the kitchen to see a visibly sagging Elena. It was clear that, while she had put up a good appearance of resistance in her argument with Damon, she regretted telling him to leave. Renee remembered how excited Elena had been just a few hours earlier when Damon had suddenly appeared, and couldn't help thinking that maybe Damon was good for Elena after all.

At the very least, she remarked to her husband later, this evening did not go at all as she, or anyone else for that matter, had expected it to.

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