AN: I'm going to experiment with Damon's point of view in this chapter, hope it goes okay! Tell me what you think!

I looked in the full length mirror attached to the back of my closet door. I'd followed Caroline's instructions to a par. I had on a black dress that ended mid-thigh showing enough skin to be sexy, but not enough to look like a complete slut. My turquoise pumps were on my feet and I'd added some gold earrings to complement my skin tone. I'm not bad with fashion, I look good at work every day, and I can look stylish when I want too. But looking nice when it comes to Damon is a completely different matter. I don't want to overdo it, or make it look like I'm trying too hard. I walk the fine line with him, I want to look irresistible, but he's used to me in normal clothes. Everything is way too complicated; it's just an outfit for God's sake!

I looked in the mirror one more time, smoothed my dress and reached for my clutch. It was six minutes to seven, four minutes to the appearance of Damon. Add that to the list of things I love about him, he's extremely punctual. I rushed downstairs, said goodbye to an empty house and locked the door, sitting on the porch swing while I waited. I was nervous. I'd been out with Damon millions of times. This celebration routine was normal for us. I'd worn dresses and heels out with him. Why is it so different now? Because this time, I've decided to embrace what I feel. Before, I'd try to look nice, in the hopes that he would notice. But now, I've made a conscious change, I dressed up just for him; I dressed up so that he would notice. No more demure Elena, no longer am I hanging back. Now I'm making my move.

He pulls up while I'm still lost in thought about how the night could go. I don't even notice his Camaro until he gets out and closes his door behind him, making me jump. Here goes nothing.

I move off of the swing, and reach the steps. The second I'm fully visible, Damon gets a weird look on his face. He walks towards me and grabs my hand, kissing it and sending shocks all over my body. "You look nice."

Nice? Nice? I did all this for him; I thought I looked a little better than nice. I was a little hurt, but I hid it.

"Thanks Damon." I said with a smile. He led me to the car and opened my door, closing it behind me when I was fully inside. Oh, and another reason to love him: he's a complete gentleman. Once he was in the car, he started back out of the long driveway. I asked him about his day.

"Oh, it was fine. Just ho-hum. And then I got this call from this girl, who told me that she had told off my father! My day got much better after that." He said with a broad smile. In a much softer voice he added "I really can't believe you did that Lena. I've been terrified of him all of my life, and I know you have too. He's done nothing but hurt us, physically and emotionally. I'm just so proud of you." He reached over and grabbed my hand, giving it a squeeze before letting go. "Okay, enough mushy-mushy, let's talk about something more manly, like getting laid!" I laughed.

"Fine, Damon." I narrowed my eyebrows in mock sternness. "Have you had sex today?"

He put on his innocent face, complete with the baby pout and the puppy dog eyes. "Why, yes ma'am. I have."

"God. Damon, when did you have time?" I laughed.

"You know Elena; it's not hard for me to do it fast." He said waggling his eyebrows. I pretended to swoon against the back of my seat. Putting my southern belle voice into action, I fanned my face with my hand. "Oh, Mr. Salvatore, all that dirty talk is getting me so hot and bothered."

He laughed at my antics, and I burst into giggles as well. This was where I belonged, in Damon's passenger seat, next to him, laughing with him. We fell into a comfortable silence, and I lost myself in my fantasies of the future. Where he could do anything as fast and as hard as he liked.

Damon

We fell into silence after that, but a comfortable one, in no way awkward. I'm being a complete idiot, those jokes were awful, and I have much better arsenal. When I picked her up, she looked beautiful. That dress hugged all of her curves like a second skin, and her heels made her legs look even more perfect. She looked like a goddess and everything about her screamed to be thoroughly fucked.

I was so wrapped up in her, that when I realized it was time for my "you look …" cue, I'd forgotten all words. I said "nice."

What the hell was I thinking? She looked way more than nice, more along the lines of spectacular, stunning, perfect, amazing, or beautiful. I mean, I've seen Elena in dresses before, all the time in fact. But it's never hit me like this.

Of course she's beautiful. I've been around her for her whole life, trust me, I've noticed. She has the perfect body too. Wherever we go, guys eye her up and down hoping to take her home, she doesn't notice of course. She's way to kind; she'd just think they were being nice. But I'm a man, I know what goes through a guy's head when he sees a girl like Elena, and trust me, it's anything but nice. I mean her smile lights up a room, her hair begs to be touched, and those legs would be perfect wrapped around me and her… Wait what? Wrapped around me? No. Elena's is my best friend, I go to her for everything, and she is the one person that I care about in this world.

I sneak a glance at her out of the corner of my eye. She's gazing out of the window, lost in thought. And damn she looks good doing it. Damon! Get it together man! This is not the first time you've seen her in a dress, and it won't be the last. She's not a piece of meat, she's an angel. Yeah, she's beautiful, but you've always known that. Katherine is nothing compared to her. Katherine! I'm with Katherine now, kind of. I haven't been sleeping with anyone but her, and the sex is great, today at my lunch break she popped in, and let's just say that there wasn't much eating going on. She's hot, but she isn't beautiful like Elena is. Elena is the one constant in my life, she's funny and sweet and helpful and loyal, while Kat is well…catty.

We're about five minutes to the restaurant, and I look at Elena, who's still lost in her own little world. I need to get her attention.

"Elena." I say softly. She doesn't move, so I repeat myself until she hears me. She looks startled as I jolt her out of her fantasy world. "We'll be there in a few minutes okay?"

"Sorry, must have lost myself for a minute there." She says, letting a smile break out on her face, making her even more beautiful. "Where are we going?"

Elena

I was in the middle of a hot dream, starring Damon of course, he was kissing me and mumbling my name, and I was taking his shirt off…and then I was in a car. Back in the car with Damon, who sadly, still had his shirt on.

"We'll be there in a few minutes, okay?"

"Sorry, must have lost myself for a minute there." I give him an apologetic smile, really hoping I wasn't moaning his name or attempting to straddle him while he drove.

"Where are we going?"

A few minutes later, we pulled up to a fancy place called Palazzo's. Damon handed his keys to the valet, and opened the door for me. He walked up to the hostess, who immediately ogled him. She smiled her biggest smile, thrust her chest out, and pulled her hair behind her ear. She was a really pretty girl, probably much more attractive than me, but I needed to stake my territory.

I'd been blocked from her view by Damon's broad back, and now, I took a step toward Damon, showing her with my eyes that this man was mine. Her "please fuck me" smile disappeared instantly when she saw me standing next to him. He smiled at her, seemingly oblivious to our interaction, and said, "The name's Salvatore."

God, he was perfect. Both me, and the hostess almost fainted on the spot. He made the most mundane things sexy. His words seemed to charm her back into her former personality, all perky boobs and cutesy smile. "Right this way, Mr. Salvatore." She said, almost purring his name.

The whore led us to our table, giving Damon a show at her ass the whole way there. But Damon was leading me before him, his hand on the small of my back, sending warmth everywhere. He removed his hand once we reached the table, and I felt cold instantly. God, I am such a cliché when it comes to Damon and the things he does to me. He scooted in front of me, and pulled my chair out, allowing me to sit down, before taking his own seat across from me. He caught my eyes and lingered there for a moment. I drank him in, letting myself get lost in the ocean he held there. The hostess completely ignored me and turned her attention to Damon, bending a little to show more of her cleavage, "You're waiter will be with you shortly."

Damon glanced at her name tag for the first time, also placed strategically on her boobs. God, could this girl be any more of a whore?

"Thank you, Shelley." He said, lingering on her chest a tad longer than necessary. Shelley smiled triumphantly.

"It was my pleasure, Mr. Salvatore." She said before giving another ass show as she left. I almost growled at her retreating form, how dare she make a move on my man? That bitch.

I turned back to Damon, only to find him staring at me. The second I turned back to him, he shifted his eyes around the restaurant. It was a really nice place, Italian and softly decorated. The place might be nice, but Damon was much nicer.

Again, we sat in silence, but the silence was still comfortable, it always had been, since we were little. "So how'd you find this place?" I asked, after Damon had ordered us some wine.

"Peter Palazzo is a personal friend of mine." He smirked.

I fit it together. "Peter Palazzo…Palazzo's. So he's the owner?"

"Nope, the chef."

I waited for him to divulge more, but he left me hanging.

"Damon…" I insisted.

He looked up at me innocently. "What?"

I kicked him under the table with my foot. I would've slapped him over the head, but I didn't want to cause a scene. I hate it when he's cheeky. Okay, I love it when he's cheeky.

I rolled my eyes. "C'mon! How do you know this guy?"

"Oh, so that's what you wanted to know." He said, feigning innocence. Idiot. Damn sexy idiot. "He was a close friend of my mom's when she was still alive, almost like her father figure. I met him a few months ago, he recognized me, and we've been talking about her and cooking. He says I should learn about my heritage…through food."

I was a little hurt he hadn't told me about this guy. "Why didn't you tell me?" I asked.

"I was a little worried to be honest; it almost seemed too good to be true. My dad never wants to talk about her, and I randomly run into this guy from her past who wants to hang out with me, and tell me stories about her. It's like having a grandfather."

"That's crazy that you two found each other. So, what kind of stuff has he told you?"

Damon launched into some of the stories Palazzo had told him, mostly funny lighthearted ones from her childhood. I laughed along with him. He had a sparkle in his eyes that I almost never got to see. We ordered our courses, and stayed like that throughout much of the meal, laughing over old stories, reminiscing about our pasts, and telling funny stories from our work weeks. The laughter died down, and we sat in contented silence.

My meal was perfection, some kind of shrimp pasta, I didn't know exactly what it was, and Damon ordered it for me, insisting that he needed to try out his new culinary skills. I was full, and happy. Spending time with Damon made me almost giddy. I loved being with him. But just like that, our silence was off. It went to awkward in a second. I knew him that well.

"What's up?" I asked, taking another sip of my wine.

"Katherine." I wanted to throw my fork at him. Why is he even thinking about that bitch? Okay. I've been very volatile today. Need to take a breath.

He needs to think that nothing is wrong. "What about her?"

He paused for a minute, almost like he was evaluating me. "I like her, as more than just a bed buddy. I think I want to date her." He looked down at his plate.

Let's ignore the multiple knives stabbing and twisting in my heart for one moment. He wanted to date Katherine Pierce? Date her?

Damon

Okay, it might have been a little early to spring that on her. She looked a little pale. And she had a right to be, when was the last time I had wanted to date anyone? Oh right. Never!

I had thought about dating Katherine before tonight, and I guess I kind of wanted to. She was fun and sexy and I was drawn to her, like a magnet. But the main reason I blurted that out was to reassure myself.

Everything has been really off all night; I can't take my eyes off of Elena, it like she's changed somehow. My heart has always belonged to Elena, not like that, just as a friend. She was the only person I truly cared about, the only person that really knew me. So she's always been in my head and my heart, just not like that.

But tonight, someone must have slipped me something, because I want her like that. I want to take her home after this, and take that pretty little dress off and make love to her. Whoa. Hold up.

My mind is also running crazy, coming up with scenarios in my head. I've never even seen her like this before. I've always known she was beautiful, but not in an appealing way. I've never wanted her like this. I told her I wanted to date Katherine so I could hear myself say it. I do! I want to date Katherine. There. Said it.

Elena

I felt the knife twist in my chest the second he said the words "date" and "Katherine" in the same sentence. I tried to ignore it. "You want to date her?"

He gives me a look that I can't really describe. "That's what I said."

I took a deep breath, trying not to cry, while the man I'm in love with tells me about someone else. I need to remember the most important thing. Damon needs to be happy. "I can't say that I agree Damon. But if she makes you happy, than she makes me happy."

An instant grin grew on his face, "Really?"

I tried to copy his smile, "Really."

We spent the rest of the night continuing with our previous conversation, not mentioning Katherine again. He drove me home, and even walked me to my door. I found my key, before Damon took my hand again.

"I screwed up a little today, didn't use the right words. You don't look fine, you look beautiful." I gasped a little bit, and inside, I swooned.

I moved to open the door before he spoke again, "You know I could always come in and keep you…company." He said suggestively with a little smirk. I wanted nothing more than for him to come in, but I didn't know how long I could hold in my breakdown.

So I just laughed. "You have work in the morning you idiot." I gave him a smile. "Thanks for dinner Damon, I had a great time."

"Me too." He pulled me into a hug before I could blink. I loved when he hugged me, every inch of him pressed to me, and every inch of me pressed to him. Every inch of me completely on fire.

"Love ya, Lena." He said when he pulled away and moved to get into his car.

"You too!" I called as he shut his door and left. That's what we say. Love ya. It makes my heart hurt. I closed the door behind me, and leaned against it. I looked around the gigantic empty house and thought about how much I wanted it filled. I thought of Damon, making a home with Katherine. I let out a sob and crumpled to the floor.

AN: Thanks for all of your wonderful reviews! I love all of you! What'd you think of the dinner/Damon POV?

Song: Weapons - The Daylights