"The safe things arent always the best things." - Wiliam Faulkner

"Elena."

"God, Damon you scared me. What are you doing here? How did you even get in?"

"I still have a key."

"Again, why are you here?"

"I needed to talk to you."

"You can't. I'm metting Stefan for dinner. I have to get ready. Please leave."

"Not untill you hear me out."

"What part should I hear? How you didn't still love Katherine? How you didn't sleep with her while we were together? How sorry you are? How you still love me? How about how we can still fix things? No Damon. I'm done with this. I don't want to see you anymore. I'm going to lose Stefan. I can't. So just let me go so I can let you go. You owe me."

"I owe you? Your skrewing Stefan in the same bed we were in."

"I slept with Stefan first in that bed."

"So that's how it works. Stefan's first, so he wins?"

"Don't give me that. You don't sleep with Katherine in our bed?"

"No, Elena. I don't. I stay with Katherine at her place. She doesn't sleep in my bed...our bed."

She's suprised at his confession. She didn't expect him to keep his bed to himself. To keep it theirs.

"It's not our bed anymore."

"God Elena, I don't know if your being self righteous or stupid. You called it our bed. I am not the only one that made a mistake. You were so quick to give Stefan a second chance. I tried to make things okay with Katherine for us. I thought her and Stefan were going to be together. I never thought we would end up with them again."

"What do you call it Damon? Fate."

"No, we are fate. Not this. I came here because this shoudn't have happened. You were talking to Stefan, going out and I was angry so I did the same with Katherine. We both got angry and jealous, and instead of turing to each other we turned away and belived the worst. We did this to us."

"No Damon. You saw Stefan and I being friends, and you jumped to the conclusion I was going to be another Katherine. We were supposed to be different. You broke your promises. You broke us. You broke me, and everytime we talk or I see you I break a little more. I hate you for it Damon because I don't know who I am anymore. The me I was with you was who I thought I was. I was strong, and confident, and happy. Now I feel like I'm suffocating. Stefan wants the girl he loved, you want the girl you loved. I just want to be the me I was happy with, and I don't know how to do that with out you. You helped me see the best me I could be. So that's why you need to stay away Damon. You need to let me go. Don't try to run into me anymore. Don't come here. I can't handle it. I feel like I make progress and then there you are. Here you are."

"Okay. If that's what you need from me." He's visibly broken, she can see it. She hates that she had to go this far. Even though he caused her pain she doesn't want the same for him. But she also knows this is the only way to stop his protests about their relationship.

"It is."

"Goodbye Elena."

She sucks in a breath. She couldn't even begin to say anything else. Damon and her never used the word goodbye when it came to them. He said it never existed, because they were forever. She nods, and he gives her the same in return. He turns to leave, but stops.

"Elena?" He doesn't look at her. Just waits for a response.

"Damon." She barely whispers, but he hears her somehow.

"Stefan was right."

"About what?"

"When he came back he said I didn't deserve you. I told him neither did he, and he said maybe not, but you'll destroy her. He was right. I did destroy you. I'm sorry for that."

He makes his way to the door and shuts it behind him. Not before leaving the key on the table. It hits her that it's really over now and she think she can actually feel her heart break. This was not the way things should have happened. They should have had the happy ever after, but now it's gone. She wipes away the tears and makes her way upstairs to her room. She walks in and all she sees is Damon. Damon on a Sunday morning sleeping in. Damon's clothes hanging in her closet. Damon sitting on the window seat. Damon going through her lingere. Damon carrying her upstairs and dropping her on the bed, the laughs they shared.

And she fnally snaps. She destroys everything. Lamps smash and dresser drawers are being torn out as she throws her lingere, and clothes he bought in the garabe. Everything that reminds her of him had to go. She rips her photo albums out the their place and adds them to the garbage basket. She tears her diary to peices. She finds the shirts of his that she kept and adds them to the trash. Then the damn bear he gave her to keep the one her parents got her company is sitting there staring at her. Despite all the destruction she still feels Damon. She grabs the scissors and the bear. She wants to cut it to shreads, just like she feels has been done to her. She can't do it. She does the only thing she can. She holds it tight and cries as she curls into the fetal position on her bed.

That's how Stefan finds her hours later.

"Elena, what happened? Are you okay?"

"Stefan?" She asks opening her eyes. She notices it's dark out, and she reads the clock.

"I'm so sorry. I fell asleep."

"What happened here?"

"I'm doing what you asked."

"And that is?"

"Letting Damon go."

"Elena, this is not letting him go."

"I got rid of everything that reminded me of him."

"That's part of the problem. You still kept it. All this time."

"I know, but I'm ready now. You were right Stefan. Damon did destroy me. I finally got it. I'm ready to move on."

"Do you think I wanted to be right? How...how did you know I said that?"

"I-"

"Stop. Damon told you. That's why all this happened. Your not doing this because of me. This is because of him. It's still all about Damon for you."

"No. Not anymore. I promise. I'm really ready to try."

"And you weren't before? God, Elena. I knew you loved my brother, but I never knew it was this much. When I came back everyone said how Elena the girl next door had changed the bad boy Damon Salvatore. I didn't think it was possible. I was wrong."

"Stefan-"

"Let me finish. The Elena I saw when I came back was feisty and fun and free. Everything Damon was it was because of you, and everything you were was because of him. Katherine and I destroyed you and Damon."

"No, Stefan. Your wrong."

"Not this time. I have to go Elena."

"Don't leave."

"Meet me at your parents lake house tomorrow night."

"Okay."

"You win, Katherine."

"I'm sorry Stefan."

She waits and waits. The snow keeps falling, and she doubts Stefan is coming. She thinks he needed her away to make leaving easier. The door opens and she smiles a light smile and it drops as soon as she sees him walk through the door.

"What are you doing here Damon?"

"I could ask why your here alone. Where are Stefan and Katherine?"

"What? Wait...I asked first."

"Katherine asked me to come. She said that Stefan and you wanted to try and make things easier for all of us."

"Stefan asked me to meet him here. Is this some kind of joke?"

"Seriously Elena? Do you think everything I say is a lie?"

"It's a blizzard out there Damon. I'm not staying here with you, especially if she is coming. I'm calling Stefan."

"Go for it. I don't want to get stuck with the two of you either. I'll call Katherine."

"Stefan where are you?"

"I'm moving into Katherine's appartment."

"What?"

"Elena, we are all where we're supposed to be. Katherine and I sent the two of you there to fix things. You don't want to be with me anymore than Damon wants to be with Katherine. I'm done pretending. Bye Elena"

"Where the hell are you Katherine?"

"Helping Stefan move into my place.

"What? Why?"

"Where else is he going to live? With you? I don't think so. How are you and Elena doing?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm done Damon. I'm not going to live with a man that hates me. Stefan and I were happy. You and Elena still love each other. Not us. We couldn't fix it, but the two of you can. Bye Damon."