Damon was drowning in blood. His lungs were unable to get any air through the thick red liquid. Faces, so many faces screamed at him, screaming that their pain was his fault and he needed to pay for their missed chances. They wanted him to feel their suffering, their anguish.
Damon sat bolt upright in bed, panting. His skin was covered in a thin layer of cold sweat and the sheets were twisted around him. The curtains were closed but Damon could tell the sun wasn't up yet. It was probably the middle of the night. Stupid human conscience, he thought bitterly as he laid back down and waited for his heart to stop racing.
At least he was in his own bed. Damon had moved his huge bed from his and Stefan's place to his new home. Elena had totally approved of this. She liked his bed too and now it was their bed which Damon liked even more. Elena stirred beside him and Damon cursed his stupid dream for waking her.
"Shhh love," Damon soothed.
"Damon," Elena mumbled. "What's wrong?"
"Just a bad dream," Damon said. "Go back to sleep."
"Again?" Elena said, ignoring his kind gesture by sitting up in bed. She rested her hand on his face and made him look at her. "Why do you keep having bad dreams?"
"I've done some horrible things over the years," Damon told her. "If bad dreams are my only punishment I probably got off easy. Waking up with you makes it all rainbows and butterflies again." He tried to smile and make it all seem like nothing but Elena gave him that look she always gave him when she saw right through him.
"I am going to call Bonnie," Elena said. "First thing in the morning."
"You'll only worry her," Damon insisted. "I'm fine." He hadn't had the dreams when he first became human; they had slowly crept up on him.
"She would want you to call," Elena said.
"For reasons beyond my comprehension she has been hanging out with Enzo a lot these days," Damon said. "I am sure she is busy." He grinned cheekily. "I mean she could do worse… Enzo is very loyal."
"Damon!" Elena hit him playfully on the shoulder.
"What!" Damon remarked. Elena looked like she was going to continue the conversation when suddenly she stopped and took his hand in hers. Damon was all for this though he wasn't sure what was so distracting about his hand.
"Your daylight ring!" Elena exclaimed. "Really! I threw mine away the first chance I got!" Damon had not taken the ring off since becoming a human. Everyone loved to remind him of how foolish he was on a regular basis.
"You go a hundred and sixty something years wearing the same goddamn ring and see if you wanna take it off," Damon exclaimed.
"You don't need it anymore," Elena argued.
"But my hand feels naked without it," Damon said.
"Coming from the guy who likes to walk around the house naked?"
"That's different," Damon said stubbornly. "I like this ring."
"Does that mean you don't like clothes?"
"Not when you are here," he whispered as he pulled her in close. Damon loved how, after all this time, he could still make Elena gasp as if it was their first time.
"Screw getting more sleep," Elena moaned as she rolled him over and attacked his lips with hers. What small amount of clothing they slept in was soon removed and like usual it was Damon who had to remind Elena they were human and needed to take other precautions now.
"But I thought you wanted kids," Elena teased him.
"Only yours," Damon whispered into her ear. It was true that the idea of kids had not been important to him before her. It was the idea of kids with Elena that excited him. Being the father of her children would connect them in every possible way two people could be connected.
"Well then?" Elena said.
"You are halfway through your residency," Damon said.
"So…" Elena whispered as she kissed his neck.
"And you asked me to stop you if you did this," Damon said. "Remember the last time you came home from work so tired I had to carry you up the stairs..."
"Maybe I didn't mean it," Elena said. Damon could hear the grin in her voice even if her lips were kissing his hip bone. If she wasn't careful he was going to forget all about precautions.
The first time they'd had all-human sex Elena had explained birth control to him. As a human he had only ever slept with Katherine who was a vampire and as a vampire he hadn't worried about such things. Infertile disease-free vampires never needed to grab a condom.
"On your own head be it," Damon gasped as her lips touched him again sending waves of desire through him. He flipped them over so she was under him and became to kiss every inch of her skin, remembering the time he had described this very scenario to her at Jeremy's school once when he pushed up her against the lockers. Although, in that scenario they had an audience, he remembered with a smirk. Her control crumbled instantly and soon they were joined in heated passion.
After they lay together in each other's arms while their hearts raced. Sex with Elena was wonderful but holding her afterword was just as wonderful. Damon stroked the side of her face lightly. She made a soft contented noise in her throat.
"What if we just changed our lives forever," Damon asked softly.
"That was the plan," Elena said as she snuggled closer to him. "Unless you have changed your mind." Damon ran his hand down her side to rest it over her perfectly flat stomach.
"I haven't," Damon said quietly. "I'll make you a deal." He paused for her to smile encouragingly before he continued. "I'll take my daylight ring off only if I can switch it out for a different ring."
"Let's go get a less tacky ring," Elena said with enthusiasm, not opening her eyes. "Done."
"The only ring I will exchange it for is a wedding band," Damon said matter-of-factly.
"Is that so?" Elena said, slyly. Damon could feel her lips pull back in a smile against the skin of his chest.
"That was the plan," Damon echoed her earlier sentiment. "Technically I proposed when I told I wanted to be your human husband. I have human-ed up to my end of the bargain."
"Human-ed is not a word," Elena teased him.
"Oh come on," Damon said. "Call Caroline." Elena looked up at him nonplussed.
"I am sure she wants to plan a wedding," Damon explained. "I bet she could be a professional event planner if she felt so inclined."
"That's it huh?" Elena pouted. "Damon's great romantic marriage proposal is just 'that was the plan.'" Damon thought of teasing her more but decided to humor her instead. He got out of bed, still buck naked, and got down on one knee in front of Elena where she sat on the bed, with only a sheet wrapped around her.
"Elena Gilbert," Damon said. "Would you just marry me already?" Okay, so he couldn't resist teasing her a little.
"Well when you put it like that," Elena said with a sigh. "What's a girl to do?" She giggled. Damon rolled his eyes.
"Alright, alright," Damon surrendered. "You want sappy," She nodded, with a huge grin on her face. "Then you will get sappy." Damon climbed back onto the bed and took her face in his hands. He gazed into her wide eyes and was a little smug that his gaze could still made her breath catch in her throat.
"Elena," Damon whispered. "I roamed the earth for so many years before I found you but the years since I met you have and continue to be the most precious to me. I am yours for as long as I live, no matter what, but I want to show the world you are mine. I want to be your husband." They gazed at each other for a long moment. Though Damon already knew what her answer was he didn't like the silence.
"Was that better?" he asked. She nodded but again didn't speak. "Only you, Elena Gilbert, would make a guy propose twice!"
Rather than answer in words Elena flung herself on him and kissed him.
Okay so... that's all the written chapters I have. The next chapters are currently made up of messy notes and scattered ideas . ^_^ But don't worry lots more planned! I actually wrote this chapter right after I wrote the first chapter but I decided it needed more in the middle. :D
Please please leave me a review and tell me what you think! I know its weird to upload 3 chapters at once but that doesn't mean I don't want you to tell me what you think. ^_^ Pretty please! It would make my day. :)