A/N I just hate it when life gets in the way, you know? Plus, I was supposed to upload this yesterday, but I got all distracted with replaying the DE scene in 4x07. The sire bond thing is a cop-out though. It's like the writers want to cheapen Delena. It's unbelievable. Please review!
Damon's lips ghost only slightly above Elena's soft ones. It's certainly the briefest kiss he's ever given her, but that isn't a problem. He doesn't want hot and heavy right now - just the peace and the comfort that her kiss can provide. And oh, how well she comforts him in this moment.
He pulls away after only a few seconds, and Elena moves the slightest bit to the left.
Of course he wants to join her in bed, spend fucking weeks attached to her in every way possible, and then tell her just how much he's missed her. But he knows that as much as he craves her right now, there is a better time and place for their ultimate meeting.
So, despite how bad he wants to act, he doesn't do anything.
Before he succumbs to his raging desires, Damon exits his room in a blur of motion.
Elena wakes the next day, her eyes slowly opening, a soft sigh escaping her mouth. Her long fingers automatically ghost to her lips, and a smile forms on her face for the first time in what seems like an eternity.
Dare she say it? She actually wants to giggle a bit.
It's all because he doesn't know that she knows. In short, Damon has no idea that she was conscious when he kissed her, though Elena did force herself to feign sleep. To her, he's a fool to think he'd ever get close to her without her knowing, with her senses are just as sharp as his now. And while she did want to respond, she felt that a response wouldn't have been the best thing.
Elena doesn't know why she thinks that, but she just does, and ascribes it to intuition.
She takes a deep breath, consoled by Damon's smell. As calming it is though, the scent also inflames her with wild longings and urges.
It's nothing new, now that she thinks about it. Whenever Damon's concerned, she's always been afire.
Wishing to prolong the experience, Elena ducks under the covers, and stays for nearly half an hour. Predictably, her thoughts always go back to that brief second and a half - that golden moment when his lips were on hers.
Once the half hour is up, she clambers out of bed, and goes about preparing for the day.
Thankfully, she already has clothes at the boarding house - a stockpile built from years of sleeping in Damon's room. Actually, there's quite a lot of her stuff already in his drawers, and Elena honestly likes her items mingling with his.
(It's ridiculous and sappy, she can admit that, but she can't bring herself to care.)
To her, at least in that indirect way, they're already together.
Once she's done with her morning shower and with dressing for the day, she heads down to the living room. Elijah, as she's predicted, is already waiting for her. He always comes to check on her when she sleeps at the boarding house, and it's become a habit to eat breakfast together.
After five years of constant interaction between them, she's grown to consider him a normal part of everyday life.
"Is it my turn to cook breakfast today, or is it yours?" she asks, fiddling with the hem of her blouse.
"It's your turn, but I'll be gracious and cook anyway. To celebrate the fact that you've fully mastered hunting. Certainly took you long enough."
Elena rolls her eyes at that, but she's genuinely happy to see him. She doesn't really know when the Original morphed into a good-friend-slash-father-figure, but she admits that he's quite good in the role.
After all, aside from lessons on hunting and how to control bloodlust, he'd also been the one to teach her how to cook.
(She drew the line at chili though, because she viewed chili as something between her and Damon. It was something Elijah never questioned.)
Seeing the turmoil in her eyes, the dapper Original just gets on with making the meal. He's slightly overdressed with his gray button-down and slacks, but Elena's learned to shrug off his attire. She once tried to make him wear a tee, but he'd refused point blank and said it was "utterly distasteful".
The time passes in relative silence, eventually ended by Elena's voice.
"Is there something you aren't telling me, Elijah? Why the smile?"
He chuckles at that, still paying attention to the French toast. He whips the eggs at breakneck speed, saying, "You haven't looked at yourself yet. You're completely giddy, which means you have no right to question my good cheer this morning."
"Fair point," she concedes, remembering the sensation of Damon's lips on hers. Elena fights the urge to touch her mouth again. Instead, she just deflects the building feelings. "Have you brewed the coffee yet?"
He shakes his head, his eyes containing a trace of something she can't identify. "The boarding house is out of coffee, I'm afraid. I checked before you came down here, but not to worry. I'm sure something will turn up."
Before she can ask him about what he means, Elijah has already distracted her with his gallant domesticity.
While eating, the two remain mostly nonchalant. For one, Elena is just too stoked to talk much, considering the events of the previous evening. On the other hand, Elijah also has his own reasons for keeping quiet.
He points to the plate of scrambled eggs she's just finished. "Eat some more, I'll just be outside a moment."
Elena's eyes get slightly suspicious. "Why would you do that? You haven't even finished your crepes yet, and if there's one thing I've learned over the past five years, you love your crepes."
The Original smiles, but only internally. On the outside, his face remains completely inscrutable. Making a show of being annoyed, he taps the screen of his phone, saying, "The signal's the problem."
"What?"
"I said, I need to go outside for a better signal. It's abysmal in here."
"Elijah, the signal here is fine." Elena holds out her phone as proof, wondering about the real reason he wants to exit the boarding house. It sure as hell isn't a signal problem, she knows at least that much.
The Original lets out a sigh, for effect. "Fine, I obviously can't lie to you anymore. If you must know, I have an exceedingly sensitive call to make. And though we're quite close, this is not for your ears, I'm afraid."
"Oh." Elena's eyes are resigned now. "Go on then. Sorry."
"It's quite alright. I'll be back soon, my dear," he says, before quickly excusing himself. With almost no people outside, he uses his supernatural speed to get to the Mystic Grill.
Damon is already there with two takeout coffees in hand, just as they've both planned.
"She's all yours, Salvatore," the Original says. "Good of you to have escaped the house while she was showering. You staying there is idiotic though."
"Yes, well, you seem to know her routine a lot, so me staying there isn't a problem. I envy you, actually."
"No need for envy," Elijah says, shrugging off the comment and beginning his walk back to his own home.
Damon's sudden yell stops him in his tracks. "Hey Elijah?"
He turns his head fractionally. "What?"
"I always knew there was a reason I liked you."
Elijah smiles in amusement, before walking away, just as Damon blurs to the boarding house.
Though she hears the door open, Elena doesn't move from her seat. She expects that it's Elijah anyway, returning from his call detour.
She couldn't have been more wrong.
"I come bearing caffeine."
The voice is her salvation, owned by the person she's been yearning for. She can't resist teasing him though, just so a bit of banter can start. Otherwise, she thinks she'll end up jumping him on the spot.
"I was actually expecting Elijah," Elena says, fighting to sound nonchalant, even if she can already feel Damon behind her chair. His presence is making her tingly all over, and her breath hitches in anticipation. When their eyes eventually meet, she feels electrified by his stare.
Damon smirks as he sits down across her. "Let's just say that he had a sudden errand, shall we? Besides, I'm officially commandeering his role as your breakfast buddy."
He sets the coffee down on the table, and Elena feels like her mouth will rip apart with the width of her smile.
"How have you been?" he asks. His voice hasn't changed one bit. It still oozes with devotion. With desire. With love.
Elena reaches for his hand. "I've been half-alive without you, so will you please come a bit closer? I missed you."
Damon chuckles, eyes twinkling. "I have a better idea," he says. "Why don't we save space? Come sit in my lap."
He pats his leg, smiling widely as she rushes to comply with his request. Wrapping his arms around her, Damon affectionately nuzzles whatever he can reach with his nose. Again, he's scrambling to fill his lungs with her scent, trying to press her against him as tightly as possible.
(In all truth, he'd meld their bodies together if he could.)
Damon starts kissing Elena's arms and shoulders. "You have no idea how much I missed you, baby."
"It was your fault," she says jokingly, her fingers running through his hair. The slow scratching makes him purr with contentment. "You shouldn't have left. You could have saved us both a lot of heartache."
He looks at her seriously, blue eyes meeting brown. "You know why I left, Elena. God knows I hated leaving, but at the time, I seriously thought it was for the best. I wanted you and Stefan to be happy."
"Well, that didn't happen," she says, sighing and giving him a peck on the cheek. "I couldn't function without you."
"Yeah, I heard." Damon takes a moment to let her admission sink in. "But as much as I wanted to come back, I decided not to. Selfishness, I guess. I wanted to see if you'd realize that you were meant for me, not for my brother."
"Consider that fact duly realized." She cradles his face, kissing him gently. "I'm so sorry, Damon."
"For what, love?"
"For hurting you in so many ways, and for denying what we had for so long." Elena shakes her head, regretful. "Just think, if I didn't deny our connection so much, we would have been together for a really long time now."
"Yes we would have, my stubborn angel." Damon keeps dropping kisses on Elena's arms, neck and shoulders.
Somewhat distracted and breathy, she says, "I hate all the wasted time, you know?"
Damon shakes his head at that, pulling Elena's face towards him for a kiss. Her hair acts as a soft curtain around them. Unlike the kiss he gave her when she was sleeping, this one is obscenely long, with clashing mouths and grinding bodies. By the time they break apart, Elena's lips are swollen and they're both panting quite a bit. Elena's eyes have already gone dark, and she gives no thought to the fact that her fangs have come out.
The sight makes Damon growl for a second, his pants growing unbearably tight. He controls himself though, knowing that he must say something very important first. Aiming to calm Elena down, he cups her face tenderly.
"Listen to me, Elena," he says, his voice gentle, but unmistakably roughened by desire. "There will be no more thinking of regrets, alright? What matters is that we're both here. Together."
Damon's words make her smile, and her lust gets mixed in with love for him. As it has always been between them, the love is overwhelmingly intense, and she knows that she can no longer hide her feelings. (She doesn't want to.)
Elena peppers his face with kisses, before whispering, "It's your turn to listen to me."
His eyes light up with teasing mirth."Is that so, sweetheart?"
"Yes that's so. Because I have to tell you that I love you, Damon Salvatore."
He whispers her name, the way a husband whispers to a wife he adores. It's rather apt too, because husband or not, no one can question Damon's adoration for Elena.
"You aren't gonna say anything?" she asks, her voice just the tiniest bit insecure.
"Like you even have to ask, baby," he says, nuzzling her nose before placing a kiss on her lips. "You know I love you too."
A/N So, did it live up to your expectations? You guys all know what comes next, but well, I've written two versions of the next chapter, and haven't decided on which one to use. What do you guys think - should there be some anticipation, or do I just give you guys what you all want? Haha!