She paused debating whether she should tell him about her nightmare. It had felt so real. Was this what she was in for, after yesterday? Living with the horror of what the wolf had done and wanted to do, over and over in her head?

She looked back down at him. His eyes were still on her, waiting patiently. He didn't look upset that she had pulled away from him. He looked sweet and caring, wanting to help her. She took another deep breath.

"It was horrible, Damon. I don't know if I even want to describe it."

He was still quiet and sat up, moving closer to her and she felt him reaching for her. He rubbed the back of her hand lightly and she didn't pull away.

"Tell me," he said softly. "It might help to talk about it." His eyes were locked onto hers and he wished he knew what else to do. After everything she had been though and now seeing her confusion in him kissing her again, he wished he hadn't done that. He was trying to help but she didn't need him pressuring her, especially now. She must be suffering from some kind of PTSD after all the torture she had lived through.

His eyes never left hers but she kept looking down away from him and then back up as if she was gathering her courage to tell him about the nightmare.

"It felt so real, Damon. I was here in your bed and suddenly someone threw me on the floor. His hands were all over me." She was determined she was going to get through this without crying, but she already felt tears prickling her lashes. She tried to sniff them back up and continued. "I, I screamed when I felt him touching me. I thought I heard you calling me, but I couldn't find you. It was so dark and his hands were all over me and he ripped my clothes apart. I screamed for you, but you didn't come for me." The tears were running down her cheeks now and she turned away from him to hide them.

Damon moved closer till he was right beside her, their shoulders touching as he kept rubbing her hand. "I'm so sorry, Baby. You don't need to hide from me." He whispered. He opened his arms for her and she turned her body to lay her head on his chest as his arms came around her.

"You are okay, Elena. I am right here. No one will ever hurt you again." He stroked her hair and rocked her back and forth like a child needing a mother's comfort. "Just get it out. It will lose its power if you share it rather than keep it a secret."

She lifted her head and looked in his eyes. Her eyes already red from crying. "Really?" she mumbled. "How do you know that?"

Damon smiled down at her. "Well I haven't ever tested myself in decades, but my mother always used to say that to me if I had nightmares when I was little. She would come into my room and lay on the bed with me, holding me and would always say the fear wasn't real unless I gave it power."

Elena smiled back at him just imagining how cute he must have been as a little boy in his mother's arms.

"She would say that if I told her the dream, that the fear would just melt away. If I held it in it would feel like it was suffocating me. But if I let it out it would be just like air and disappear."

Elena sniffled, her hands clutching his black t shirt. "Your mother sounds very wise."

Damon laughed. "She was. She knew just how to heal anything, like magic."

He pulled her face back up to look in her eyes. "Try it. Tell me."

She put her head back down against his chest and sighed. She loved the feeling of security she felt in his arms. Before today that feeling was so strong with Stefan. Ever since her parents died and from the fear and nightmares she lived through, that feeling was only found in Stefan's arms. And as she lay snuggled up to Damon she found that secure, protective feeling just as strong with him... maybe stronger.

"Damon, it will make you sick. I feel sick just thinking about it." She sniffled again.

"Why don't you let me decide that." He said still stroking her hair.

"Okay, I'll try." She mumbled against his shirt. "I felt him, rip my clothes. I was laying on the floor right over there...naked." She barely whispered that last word and pointed to the floor by the window. Somehow I managed to rip the curtains off and I saw him! God, Damon, he looked so horrible." She started to cry again. "His blood was dripping all over me. He had a hole in his shirt, right where his heart would be. I could see right through him. He was so pale and looked so evil."

Damon was quiet, just letting her talk.

"He grabbed for my breast; smearing blood everywhere. I could feel it, I could smell it. He was just laughing at me telling me he was not done with me. I cried for you. He was so disgusting and I saw him writing on my stomach with his blood. He wrote the word 'Mine.' Then his hand went lower and lower. He said he was going to finish what he started. That even death could not stop him!" Now she felt the sobs forcing their way up her throat and she couldn't hold them back any more.

Damon held her tighter. He was debating in his head if he should just compel her to forget what the fucking nightmare was about. She had already been through so much and now after the damn wolf was dead and he had almost raped her, now she got to live with the hell that it actually happened! He felt her tears soaking into her shirt and he bent to kiss the top of her head.

"God, Lena, I'm so sorry. What can I do? Anything, just name it." His heart was breaking for her. He didn't think he could love her more than he already did. But holding her in his bed, and soothing her fears, he felt so much love for the scared, precious human in his arms.

But she was still his brother's girl. Wasn't she? In the time since he had left Stefan, still trapped in the tomb, she had been naked in his bathtub and sleeping in his bed with him and now clinging to him like her life depended on it.

He was the worst brother ever.

He usually didn't let things like guilt mess with him but right now he knew Stefan would hate maybe kill him if he knew what had all happened here tonight. He marveled at how much of his humanity this one girl had brought back to the surface of who he was. He had hidden his feelings, his hurts and anything real about his emotions underneath layers of sarcasm, humor and stubborn selfishness. But she was just peeling his layers without any effort at all. Just by being who she was.

Elena tried to push the nightmare out of her head. She tried not to think of how she was screaming for Damon and that he didn't come for her. Where had he been? She knew it was a dream but why wasn't he there to save her. Where had Stefan been? Stefan.

She jerked her head up as if she was only now realizing how intimate she was with Damon, again. She turned away from him and got up and out of the bed and headed toward the window, looking out at the night sky.

The moon was so clear and full and lit up the yard beyond the window as far as she could see. Reflecting from the glass she could see Damon still sitting on the bed where she had left him. What was she thinking? She was so confused at these new found feelings for him. She had said and done so much in the last 24 hours that she might never have done if the wolf had not forced it on them both.

She leaned her head against the cool glass and just closed her eyes. She heard the sheets rustling behind her. She opened her eyes and saw that he was sitting up facing her.

Damon was not surprised at her mood swings. She was probably thinking of his brother and feeling guilty again. She wished he could take away her insecurity. But he knew those feelings must mean that she did truly feel something for him and she did not know what to do with that.

So he took another chance to try to understand what she was thinking. Swinging his long pajama clad legs over the side of the bed, he drew in a deep breath. She had closed herself off to any more of his advances so all he could do was comfort her.

"Elena, Brody is dead. We saw it happen. He can't hurt you ever again," he assured her. "I shouldn't have taken advantage of you when you were asleep, but you were so scared. I was trying to help," he whispered.

She spun around, part of her angry for him kissing her when she was so confused and vulnerable, her mouth open to berate him but she realized he was right. He was trying to help.

He walked over to the window leaning against the wall beside it watching her. "I'm sorry" he mumbled solemnly for, he thought the third time since they had woken up. 'I'm sorry' almost never left his lips. He was not a man to apologize for anything to anyone. And here he had said it three times to her. All he wanted to do was take away her pain. He brushed a strand of her hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ear.

Elena sucked in a breath she felt his hand against her cheek. With his arm up, the tight black shirt was showing off his muscles far too well she thought. She turned away again stubbornly. She felt so confused when she was around him. So weak.

She could still see him in the glass from the corner of her eye and saw a flash of sadness cross his features at her turning away from him. Seeing Damon, sad, emotional, vulnerable, even apologizing. He was much deeper than she ever imagined. And he was being so patient with her, probably knowing how messed up her feelings were right now. Where was the cocky ass, bad boy vampire? she wondered. He usually hid behind his jokes, his sarcasm and his endless flirting with her.

He broke into her thoughts as he spoke again.

"You are right Elena." He sounded serious. "Kissing you was wrong, in that moment. But in my defense..." He said smoothly, a naughty grin creeping onto his face. "It worked...And you kissed me back...both times," he finished proudly.

She whirled back around to face him, her mouth open wide.

There he was. That flirtatious confidence was back.

But he was right, it had calmed her down, and she had kissed him back. She had barely registered it at the time that the kiss was real. She thought he had saved her in the nightmare and after nearly being ripped apart body and soul by the evil werewolf, she was grasping for any feeling of safety and security. His kisses held both those things and more.

But it was the more she was afraid of...