A/N: Okay, here we are: part III. I'm not that pleased with it, I kind of struggled with it. This story turned out very differently to how I imagined it being, but I've still enjoyed writing it. I know it's not as smutty as a lot of you wanted, but if I write more then that definitely will be. I kind of thought it would be sweet to leave it here though.

babe i got you bad
dreaming blood-wet dreams
only madmen have
baby i got you bad
i wish to god i never had
and it makes me feel so sad,
o, baby i got you bad

There was a loud rushing noise in his head, and low throb at the base of his skull, matching that at the base of his spine. His eyes screwed shut he tried to push her out of his mind, that last searing image that he kept tripping over in his head as he rushed, away from the feelings that threatened to overwhelm him. She was perfect, and destroyed, and so gone, and she'd been looking at him as she came, as if she was his, like an invitation. But she wasn't his, and he didn't deserve her, she was too much of everything he wanted, everything he needed, and she could only resent him if she found out just how magic they would fucking be together. Fucking. Because the desire she had for him now would be fading, much too soon, and already the look in her eyes had started to wreck a destructive, hot, loving havoc within him.

And so, as his muscles quivered and shuddered, and his cock ached painfully, heat somehow cursing through his cold body, he made a promise to himself, and to her. He wasn't going to let this chemical that cursed through him win. He was a vampire damn it, he knew control. He may not have always demonstrated it, but he'd always silently congratulated himself those times when he'd had to (and there had been many of those times since meeting Elena Gilbert). She meant more to him than giving up, giving in, and giving out.

But when he slowly opened his eyes, and it all came back to him, there was no doubt that promise was made to be broken. The drug, and the sight of her in her post-cuming-on-PT-141 haze, combined forces, and the need to possess her slammed into him like a jolt of electricity.

And then she said those words, and he thought Fuck the old one, and made a new promise.

She had been watching him carefully, keeping silent, the hand tightly holding the vervain trembling slightly, trying to ignore the way little shots of orgasmic pleasure still irregularly rocked through her. (Trying to ignore how her arousal hadn't abated at all, and instead continued to mount, as if now that her body understood the pleasure it could have, it only wanted more, again, harder.) She didn't feel embarrassed that Damon had just seen her fall apart, although she felt slightly weird about how she had begged for him, and called his name as she came. And she felt guilty for it too, but she noted this guilt had nothing to do with betrayal, or Stefan, or even wanting the man she really wasn't supposed to want. Instead she knew that she wasn't allowed to do that, she was tempting, teasing a beast. A dangerous one. She supposed it was rather unfair to invite him to fuck her, knowing that he was trying so hard to fight it, to do the right thing, and that if he had complied with her wishes she would've attacked him with vervain anyway.

Yeah, not the brightest idea Elena you tease, she thought, even as she felt a rush of fresh wetness under her still fingers at the thought of what would happen if he was able to comply. She couldn't exactly remember being compelled, but she knew she had been, and at that moment she really wished she hadn't been. She tried to convince herself that he wasn't dangerous, that she could touch him, and give them both what they wanted. But it was like a barrier came up which her thoughts rebounded against. Then she was distract by his eyes opening, slowly, and as they caught on hers she flushed, noticing the way he seemed to break, as if her still being there was painful for him. And she knew what she had to do.

"Damon, compel me again. Let me do this", she said in a low, quiet voice. She knew he had heard her, his whole body had clenched, but half a minute passed and he had not responded.

And then he rose slowly and she watched him keenly from beneath her eyelashes, taking note of his languid smooth movements as he walked towards her, swallowing when she noted his unzipped jeans, where he was still stiff underneath his thin boxers. She scooted up against the wall quickly, unable to prevent her hand rising to put the vervain between him and her, even at the same time as she was gasping under her breath from the friction of her tight jeans against her over-stimulated sex. Her smirked leisurely at her, suddenly seeming more in control, more at ease than he ever had since she had woken up in this dank dungeon, and sank down to crouch before her.

"We could be so good," he murmured, almost himself, "but I don't just mean physically. We would've always been phenomenal together physically. But now, and I know you know it; we're more than that. This is about more than that."

She nodded, seeming to understand, and he felt a small sliver of hope enter something like his soul, resting in the place he'd forgotten he had, his heart.

His pupils widened, "Elena, you can put down the vervain." Her hand dropped the vervain immediately, and went out to touch him before faltering, unable. He paused, and she searched his eyes, confused.

"Please, Damon," she said, her voice raw.

"I'm not letting you forget this time. You have a choice to make, and it's time you made it," he swallowed, and she felt that strange sensation again, as her thoughts faded and his voice came, distant but clear, "I want you, Elena, I'd say that's fairly obvious. But I don't just want your body, I want all of you, I love all of you. So if we're going to do this, and I want to, God, I want to so bad you have no idea," his voice stumbled a little, "then I need something from you. You get to decide. If you genuinely have, and can admit having, feelings for me, then we will get to do this properly; you will be able to touch me. If not, we'll be waiting it out." He finished, his eyes defiantly staring into hers, and reached out to tuck her hair behind her ear, his thumb grazing her cheekbone as he did so. "Oh, and by the way, how dangerous you know or think I am, is no longer in my control." He smiled, a bittersweet smile, watching as her eyes unclouded and she blinked at him, registering the gravity of the situation she was in.

"You'll need some time", he said softly, his chest constricting tightly as he saw tears welling in the corners of her eyes. He gestured at the far corner of the square room, "I'm gonna be over there if you…want me", he continued tightly. And a split second later, he was.

Minutes passed. A cold had come over Elena that was in contrast to the warmth of the room, and the burning heat in her core, and she hugged herself tightly, feeling bewildered.

"Looks like it would help both my situation, and yours, if you'd put your top back on," Damon contributed from the corner, "although I can think of much better ways you could help my situation."

"I see that now that you've transferred all the emotional baggage and responsibility of this circumstance to me, you've gone back to being your old self. How nice for you." Elena replied scathingly, reluctantly reaching out for her top and pulling the dark red material over her head.

"Mmmm well, you've already had your fun this evening, why shouldn't I have some?"

"Yeah, and the satisfaction of that fun lasted all of a minute, didn't it?" she muttered rhetorically to herself, still just as, if not more, sexually frustrated as before. Damon groaned.

"Please don't be saying things like that right now Elena."

"I didn't say anything 'like that', Damon." Was he really still telling her what to do, after what had just happened? She didn't want to think about it, didn't want to think about the inevitable decision she had to make, and how she already knew somehow, exactly what her decision was going to be.

"You know what I mean."

"No, I don't. Something like that would be…" Elena paused as if considering something, and then continued with a grin, "Oh, Damon, I'm so hot right now, please, satisfy me until this burning heat goes away." She knew she was being a bitch, but she couldn't help it. She wanted to punish him, just for a little bit. And if she was being honest she liked the way it made her feel, as she registered her body responding to her mild dirty talk.

"Shut the fuck up Elena," Damon growled, unbelieving of how unfair she was being. Wasn't she supposed to be either curled up in a corner feeling guilty over rejecting him, or fucking him right now? Not sitting there all smug like, teasing him.

She scowled and fell silent, watching him, and finally let her mind settle on what he'd said, those words that she felt strongly that she'd heard before. Her eyes widened slightly as she realised that he probably had said it before. That night, when she opened her eyes and her necklace was back on, but she couldn't remember how it got there. It was suddenly very clear, and she noticed she feltsad that she had missed that, such an important moment for them. For the first time she let this emotion in, how sad she felt for him, and for her. How she'd been feeling that way about them for a while now. Because she had not allowed herself to acknowledge what she had been denying.

"Damon," she said hesitantly, needing to know. "Have you told me that before?"

"Of course I have, you can be annoying as fuck sometimes."

"No, uh, not that. I mean that you…love me." She could feel her heart pounding in her chest, and for the first time it had nothing to do with the arousal she had somehow managed to push to the bottom of her list of priorities (Okay well maybe not the bottom, but at least to number two).

"Yes," he replied shortly, and she let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. She couldn't figure out why it was so important, he had admitted to his feelings just minutes ago. But it was.

"That night, in my bedroom…before you gave me back my necklace?"

"Yes..." he said again, feeling a vulnerability he hadn't often felt. He closed his eyes lightly at what she said next.

"Will you let me remember?"

He felt an ache build inside him at the thought that she wanted to remember. Growing hope, growing pain, remembering how it had hurt him to make her forget. How it had hurt him today, to compel her in the opposite direction from him again. Not anymore, he had promised himself.

"Maybe. That depends on a lot of things. Or, well, one thing."

"I understand," she said quietly. It was not a response he had expected; he had thought this conversation would lead to something. That in order to remember, she would let him in. But he knew it wasn't easy for her, he had made it that way deliberately. He looked across at her; she was sitting cross-legged, frowning slightly, her fingers playing with the stones on the ground absentmindedly. She looked so cute, and frustrated, and he smiled a little in spite himself. She wouldn't be the woman he loved if she didn't take her time with this, and he respected that. He allowed his mind to slip away from the intensity of the wait, and concentrated on enjoying the way the drug was affecting him. He had never achieved his own release, and while emotion had distracted him from this, he now let an awareness of his body take over him. Hadn't he said something to Elena earlier (it felt like so long ago) about enjoying it? And she had.

Elena picked up a small stone and rubbed it between her fingers. She tried to remove herself from this cage she was in, remember the real world. She imagined herself walking up the stairs, into the cavernous Salvatore home, into Stefan's room. She focused particularly hard on Stefan. How did she feel about him? She wasn't sure anymore, and if she was being honest (and she was trying her best to be), she hadn't been for a while now. He made her feel kind of safe, and loved, and he had found a piece of her that she had thought was lost forever after the death of her parents. But he didn't make her ignite. He didn't make her feel the same passion, the same anger, and the same deep fear that she might lose him as she did when she was with (when she even thought about) Damon. She continued to imagine herself walking around in the outside world, which felt so far away from this room, and everywhere she went in her mind she would stop and imagine again, Damon telling her he loved her, asking her to make a choice. And she tried to imagine herself making a different choice than the one her whole being was aching to make where she was now. She couldn't. And she was forced to acknowledge that the way she was feeling right now had little to do with the drug, or Katherine's plan, or the circumstances she and Damon were in, and everything to do with the fact that she loved him.

She knew it wouldn't be easy, and that this was just the beginning. Stefan would be hurt (but possibly not that hurt, she couldn't help but think, if his night with Katherine has gone anything like mine), and her friends and family would be disappointed and confused. In fact, Katherine would likely be the only happy one. And would that be such a bad thing, really? Elena could finally stop thinking about jealous vampire ex-girlfriends, and so could Stefan. She knew he and Katherine had something, she'd always felt it, and she'd never quite believed he'd kept a picture of her for over one hundred years as an act of self-preservation.

But all the other people in her life were fading into an irrelevant jumble of reasons why she shouldn't do the thing that felt more right, more real, to her than anything had in a very long time. She was sure now what she had to do, and the only way to test if she was right about the way she felt, and not just confused and drug addled, was to do it.

She let the stone drop to the ground, and her eyes drifted away from her idle hands, towards where Damon sat. For the first time she became aware of his heavy breathing, and cast her eyes sharply to focus on him. "Oh no," she barely whispered, quite lustily.

"Oh, yes," he replied in a thick, teasing voice. "Now you know how I felt. Two can play this game, Elena." He wasn't trying to tempt her; he knew that no matter how badly he made her want him physically, he wouldn't be able to change how she felt about him. But he could admit to feeling slightly powerful, slightly gratified, although mainly just hellishly turned on, knowing she was watching him jerk off.

With a heady, satisfying rush, Elena's persistent arousal returned full strength, banishing all thoughts from her mind but one that she now knew for certain…I'm doing the right thing. And then even that was gone, and all she could concentrate on was the dull pulse below, the slick wet feeling in her panties, and the antagonising, restless need that was growing in her centre. She broke eye contact with him to let her eyes take in the sight of his hand, clenched around his now bare erection, moving in a fast, then slow, then fast again rhythm. It was different to watching him before, it felt more honest, and it felt more satisfying, knowing that there was more to the kick of arousal that hit her while watching him than just some sex drug. She heard him hiss as he paused to thumb the head, and for a little bit felt like she couldn't breathe. Her entire body was tingling, and she shuddered as she let her hand graze the jeans at the apex of her thighs, the material damp with her arousal and sweat. She saw his other hand grip one of his thighs tightly as he noticed her movement, and couldn't help the images that her mind rapidly supplied, of that hand, gripped tightly around her own thigh, spreading her as he teased her mercilessly with his tongue, around her waist as he pulled her in for a bruising kiss, entwined with her own hand as he entered her. Her breathing shortened and she felt an escalating urge, an unstoppable need, to have him in and around her. To be able to show him how much she wanted him to have that part of her.

Still tugging his desperately hard cock, Damon watched, overwhelmed by pleasure and surprise, as Elena rose to her knees and began to fucking crawl towards him. He stopped, keeping his hand on himself guardedly, when she reached him, her eyes scanning over him hotly, making his dick twitch. He frowned at her, waiting, as she refused to meet his eyes.

An irrational fear had settled in Elena, and she tried to reassure herself, tried not to feel intimidated by the strength, the desire, (the love) she felt coming off Damon's body in waves. She finally let her eyes meet his and felt her mind relax, her body clench, and her clit pulse, at the look she saw here. He was letting her have him, completely, not knowing the outcome yet, and she felt she had been given a privilege, a responsibility. She could make him the man that he always should've been. And so, with shaking hand, she reached out, and noticed the way he tensed and his eyes hardened when she paused, centimeters away from his face. But then she pushed on, through any doubts she may have had left, and laid her hand softly a long the side of his face.

He throbbed. She felt it beneath her fingers as she leaned in, stopping only briefly to say, I am yours now, before touching her lips to his.

here we are again
i feel the chemicals kickin' in
it's gettin' heavier
i wanna run and hide
i do it every time
you're killin' me now
and I won't be denied by you
the animal inside of you

I hope y'all kind of understood what I was nutting on about here. Still unbeta'd so difficult for me to see where things may be missing. Please ask if you're confused about anything.

Would love to hear what you thought of it.

Music from this chapter was Babe I got you Bad, by Nick Cave and Animal, by Neon Trees.