Author's Note:Well this is a little longer than the last few chapters and I feel like it may be a little rambley in parts. If you see any problems, feel free to point them out - it's appreciated as long as you don't act like a jerk about it. This would have been up a long time ago but my computer would continually crash every time I tried to write more than a couple hundred words. I'm tempted to write Damon's view of this scene... Opinions on that? If you have one, or you liked the story, consider sending in a review! I don't own TVD though I would willingly own Damon Salvatore if I could.

She froze as she saw the name that lit up the screen.

Damon.

Elena stared at the phone, at the name lighting up its screen, unable to bring herself to touch the phone and answer the call. Her hand rested against her letters, and the phone rung twice more. She must looked like a deer caught in the headlights to anyone who would have seen her at that moment - and she felt like it, too.

Her eyes went from the folded papers resting before her, to the bathroom behind her in which the shower was still running, and back to Stefan's phone resting on the nightstand.

One last glance towards the bathroom and a quick check that the water was still, in fact, running, and then Elena reached across the bed, snatched Stefan's phone off of the table and quickly hit the 'answer call button, pulling the phone to her ear.

"Took you long enough to answer, Stefan." Elena's voice fell open in to a small 'o' shape at the sound of Damon's voice. Though there was a hint of impatience and irritation in his voice, Elena still felt like she melted under his words.

What was she supposed to say now?

"You know, Stefan, it's awfully rude of you to answer your brother's call only to not talk to him. Are you there? Or are you busy? I suppose with your little treasure you probably are. It would be just like you to torture me like that, brother."

His little treasure? What did Damon mean?

It took her a second to clue in that the treasure Damon was referencing was her.

Just the thought of them thinking about her like that made her feel uncomfortable. And what did Damon mean, he supposed Stefan would be busy because she was around?

Did they actually think about her like that?

Now, more than anything, Elena felt a little hurt. She was half tempted to end the call right there, without even saying a word. She got the sound of his voice back now, right?

"Stefan? Are you there?" Damon sounded more annoyed than he had the previous time.

No, Stefan isn't there, she thought to herself in a sharp tone. His girlfriend, aka that treasure you're talking about? Yeah, that's who's here.

"Stefan?"

"No," Elena stated simply, her hand reaching out to gently splay the papers in to a neat line. Each and every last one of them held word after word of things that she had wanted to say to Damon, things that she still did want to say to Damon.

But not right now. Not like this. This was all wrong, not at all like how she wanted it to go, and she hadn't even said two words.

And they thought she was treasure. That disheartened her to no end. She knew, that for at least a little while, she could have been considered a prize – but that was before she fell in love with them – before they claimed to have fallen in love with her.

As soon as they said those words, they lost all chance to claim her like that. Love was supposed to be honest, right? True? Elena knew that it was far from perfect, but when you love someone, they weren't a possession. They weren't a trophy or a prize to be won. They were precious and wonderful and amazing and fifty other words Elena couldn't think of.

"Elena?" She sensed a dash of happiness and a hint of heartbreak in Damon's silky smooth voice, which quivered just slightly as he said her name.

"Yeah. Stefan's in the shower. I'll tell him you called." She didn't let her voice betray any bit of the way she felt about this call already.

"No," Damon returned, not even an ounce of hesitation in his voice as he spoke. "No. Please."

"Look, Damon, he obviously won't want you touching his treasure so you might as well not even try." She could feel tears threatening to well in the corners of her eyes, and she was incredibly glad that neither Salvatore was around to see her.

There was another long, silence-filled pause before Damon responded.

"You heard that." He sounded mortified almost.

"Yeah a little."

"I didn't mean it, Elena, not like you think I do – and don't tell me you're not thinking what you are."

"No, Damon, you just didn't mean for me to hear it."

"Elena, please. I don't want to argue with you." He let out a sigh before continuing. "Please, Elena. I miss the sound of your voice. Come on, just talk. You know I would never think of you like that. You know it, Elena."

She swallowed what felt like a ball in her throat, glancing over at the bathroom. Water was still running – Stefan was still in the shower. He would be out soon, though. He never took longer than twenty minutes, and he was more than three quarters through by now.

Elena wanted to give in to Damon's request, to talk to him and just... let go. Say things. Talk about how life had been – both of theirs.

But he left her – he had left her without even a goodbye and it had hurt her. Now she felt objectified in addition to that, and she just wasn't ready to say anything. What was one supposed to say in this sort of situation?

Besides all the drama in Mystic Falls, Elena didn't have much life experience. She had Stefan, though that became less and less enthralling as each day passed, but she knew he would be there. She trusted him, he trusted her.

She hadn't the least bit of an idea how you started a conversation with someone who left you without a word over two years ago.

"Yeah. Time flies when you run away from your problems, doesn't it?" Her response came out more sharp than she had wanted it to, a natural defense mechanism. He couldn't get in to her if she wouldn't open up, right?

"I didn't run away, Elena," Damon returned. He didn't even sound the least bit annoyed, though. If anything he sounded... sad. Regretful – like he felt like he had done something wrong.

"What do you call it, then?" Her eyes scanned across the letters again, remembering the way each and every last one proclaimed her love for him. Now she felt like it was being put to the test – and prevailing.

She couldn't stay angry at Damon – at least not fully, not even if she wanted to.

He could irritate her and get on her nerves, he had been able to since day one, but he was never able to make her truly hate him. Right now was a prime example - it had been two years since he had graced her with his sight and now he thought he would just be able to claim her love and get what he wanted from her - and she wanted to give in to it, even though she knew she shouldn't. She knew that she should hang up and tell him that she hated him and never wanted to hear from him. She knew she could do that - and she knew how badly that would have hurt the Damon she had known before.

Would it hurt the one who left her, though?

"I had to go, Elena," Damon said. "I'm a man of my word. Even if I wasn't, I doubt Stefan would have let me stay."

"A man of your word?" Elena choked a little as she said those words. Liar.

"I told Stefan I would leave if you chose him. You did. We could have died that day, and you chose him-"

"You promised me that you wouldn't leave me again."

More silence. More unbroken, thought-filled emotional silence.

"I know."

"And you know what? I thought you were dead. Damon, there are no words for how much that hurt... and then Stefan told me you left. Just... upped and left, like it was all nothing."

Another moment of silence passed. Oh God, Elena was starting to hate silence.

"I'm sorry. Look, Elena-"

"Damon, we shouldn't even be talking right now. Man of your word, right?"

"Why won't you talk to me, Elena?" Was that a hint of desperation she heard in his voice? Like he would do anything just to keep her there, talking to him? It sure felt like that,

"I don't know what to say, Damon," Elena sighed. "You left me without a word and I only hear from you now because of a fluke accident. Because your brother decided to take a shower at the wrong time."

Another round of silence struck.

"I'm sorry that I can't think of anything to say to you," Elena continued. "I guess... I guess I thought things would be different when we got to talk again. I really hoped they would be."

More silence. After a while, Elena started to wonder if Damon was even still there. All she heard was light static and no ringing in the phone, which meant he hadn't hung up on her, but all was silent on his side.

That was when the sound of running water cut off in the background.

"Stefan's done showering. I have to go now," Elena said as her spare hand gathered her letters together and put them back in their spot in the pale wooden box.

"I promise you, Elena, I will make up for all of this one day."

The other line went dead as Damon hung up. Elena quickly pressed the 'end cal' button on her own side and put Stefan's phone back on the nightstand where it had came from. She put her box away in her suitcase, zipped it up and put it down on the floor.

Elena simply sat on the bed, legs crossed and hands resting together on her lap.

She couldn't get Damon's last words out of her head.