Good evening everyone! What did you all think of the mid-season finale? Here's the chapter where we find out what's been going on with Damon (don't shoot! I promise it all ends well... it wouldn't be proper D/E without a few bumps in the road). Enjoy!

Wilb- Thank you so much! Hope you like the new chapter :)

kann4890- Thank you! I like Jeremy and Bonnie's characters on the show, and their Damon hate happened to fit into the plot well, so it's a win-win :)

Alice- Thank you, thank you! I'm glad you liked the confrontation :) I hope Jeremy came off as a protective big brother and not just anti-Damon.

Angelfan984- Thanks! So happy finals are over ;) I was thinking the same thing about a pet name.

Abgypig84- We've got Elena besting Damon in this chapter. Girl power :)

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Vampire Diaries, the characters, or their likenesses. No copyright infringement intended.


Elena Gilbert was many things: sister, fiancée, best friend, niece, up-and-coming journalist, but there was one thing she most certainly and emphatically was not—a morning person. Ever since she could remember she and her alarm clock had been mortal enemies. If given the opportunity to awaken in a polite, gradual manner at a reasonable hour she was a peach. If, however, she was roused ahead of schedule she was much less inclined to show mercy to the offending party. So when a loud banging abruptly dragged her from dreamland that morning it was safe to say she was in a less than hospitable mood.

"Damon? What is that?" she asked, hoping he would know what the source of the sound was and, more importantly, how to make it stop. When she got no answer she rolled over the find the other half of the bed empty, she threw herself from beneath the covers and her feet hit the floor with a growl. She stomped to the bathroom where she tore her fluffy purple bathrobe off of the rack and wrapped it around herself, shielding her from the cold. She tore down the stairs muttering inchoate curses under her breathe as she was still trying to wake up.

"Damon!" she called out, but didn't get a response. The bottom floor of the boarding house was completely silent and serene in the early in the morning light. She looked in the kitchen but all she found was a half full pot of still-hot coffee. She figured that Damon had left some for her. She got a mug from the cupboard and poured herself a cup, figuring she deserved a morning treat and she had less of a chance of killing Damon when she found him if she was caffeinated. She stood in front of the sink gazing out of the window onto the expansive lawn of the boarding house. A blanket of snow had fallen sometime during the night. Elena loved winter and the thought of having a white Christmas. She was admiring how the early morning sun shone off of the crystals that hung of the boughs of the old pine trees when she noticed that the door to Damon's workshop was open and the light was on inside.

"You've got to be kidding me," she fumed, slamming her mug down onto the counter. She found a pair of wellies in the laundry room and pulled them on before swinging the patio doors open and trudging through the snow to the workshop. As she got closer she could hear rock music playing loudly and then she heard a banging noise that was suspiciously like the one that had woken her up.

When she reached the door she peered inside to see Damon already immersed in one of his projects sanding a large piece of plywood. Usually she'd find a warm, cozy perch and watch him work but she was on a tear this morning. Between the stereo and the equipment, he hadn't heard her boots on the concrete floor. She leaned against the workbench in her best you're-going-to-be-sorry pose and hit the "off" button on the stereo. When Damon looked up to see her he turned off the sander and rubbed his hands together to brush off the sawdust.

"Good morning beautiful," he smiled charmingly, already knowing he was in big trouble by the way she was standing but trying his "get out of jail free" card anyways. Elena was usually sweet and tractable, but when she was angry she a firecracker. He had only been on the receiving end of her anger a few times, and this was definitely one of those times.

"Actually, Damon, it's not," she countered, she wanted to forget all about being angry and kiss him silly. She didn't allow herself to thaw at all despite his dashing smile. "What happened to you sleeping in and relaxing?"

"I can't sleep as long as you do Lena," he tried to defend himself. Ever since she could remember he had never slept more than a few hours a night, he was always busying himself with a new project or a book. She didn't know where he ever got his energy from. He had gotten the flu once and slept for a full eight hours and his mother almost called the doctor for a house call to make sure that Damon hadn't fallen into a coma.

"As long as I do?!" she sputtered angrily, "it's 6 AM Damon! We didn't even get to bed until after 1!"

"I wanted to get some work done before you woke up so I could spend the rest of the day having some quality time with you," if she wanted to fight with him about this, he'd play dirty. "I figured with the snow we could get the fireplace going and curl up on the couch to watch White Christmas, maybe get a tree later." Christmas was Elena's Achilles' heel, she had always loved to go all out holiday-central the day after Thanksgiving. Picking out a tree often became an outing of mythic proportion as she evaluated every candidate for symmetry, color, foliage, and overall splendor. Damon on the other hand, couldn't care less about the holidays: lights were a pain to hang, trees shed needles on the carpet, and wrapping presents was a waste of time and paper, but if being dragged around a Christmas tree lot would stop her from yelling at him, he'd go along with it.

"Don't give me that junk Damon, you hate Bing Crosby," she knew exactly what he was trying to do but if he thought she would let it go and leap into his arms if he said a few romantic things he had another thing coming. "You are supposed to be sleeping or do you not remember almost blacking out last night? You obviously aren't feeling well, and all I asked was that you take 5 minutes to relax and get some sleep. 5 minutes! But no, here you are being your usual hyperactive self, hewing the ark at the crack of dawn."

"I feel perfectly rested Lena," she still looked at him skeptically, "I feel fine."

"You looked real fine last night," she snapped. "Or the night before that when you tore into the medicine cabinet like a grizzly bear," he looked up at her a little surprised, "or did you think I missed that?"

"Come on baby, please don't be mad at me. Now that you're up, we can go get pancakes at Mabel's," he offered as he closed the distance between them, knowing that this was his last chance to talk her down and get a stay of execution. If pancakes didn't work, he'd definitely be in doghouse. "I'm really feeling like strawberry waffles," he sing songed as he rubbed her robed upper arms tenderly. "What do you say?"

She glared at him, tapping her foot against the concrete floor. Sometimes she hated the fact that he knew her so well, this must have been exactly what Sun Tzu meant by knowing your opponent. "Fine!" she said finally, rolling her eyes at her own weaknesses, "but just for this you're going to the doctor today."

"But what about—," he began to protest.

"Ah ah, no," she cut him off, "you're going today and that's final." She turned to trudge back across the snow-covered lawn to get ready for breakfast. He sighed in defeat and followed after her. He didn't think his next move out that carefully, she was already upset with him anyways so he figured he might as well have a little fun with it. Elena froze mid-step when the snowball hit her in the back, squarely between her shoulder blades. Her thick robe blocked most of the cold but a few errant wisps of iciness made their made down the collar to melt against her skin. She turned slowly to face him, trying to be menacing.

"Did you just—?" she asked slowly, but he was already tossing another forming snowball between his hands and wearing a boyish half-smile. He launched a second snowball in her direction, hitting her in the knee and raining snow into her boots.

"Yep," he grinned.

"You are a dead man," she threatened with a glint in her eyes, unable to fight a smile forming on her lips. She took off after him at full speed, kneeling midstride to scoop a handful of snow from the ground. She let her snowball fly and hit him in the back of the neck. Damon may have been a baseball all-star in high school and college, but he'd be foolish to forget who was the one who spent hours pitching to him so he could perfect his swing.

Flashback

"Can't you just go to the batting cages or something?" Elena groaned pulling her pillow over her head, "I'm tired and it's like a million degrees outside."

"It's like 70," Damon countered, pulling at her wrists to get her out of bed, "the batting cages aren't the same as having a pitcher. I have to warm up for the game against NC State this weekend. Pretty please?"

"I'm tired though," she whined. He sat on the edge of her bed and ran his fingers softly across her forehead, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear.

"Please, Lena," he asked again, pouting slightly, "for me."

"Ugh," she grumbled, tossing her thin blanket away from her body and throwing her legs over the side of her bed, "fine! Let's go see how you still can't hit a slider."

"Yes!" he exclaimed with a small fist pump. "Thank you, no one can handle my balls like you." He half expected to get slapped for that comment, but his best friend learned to tolerate his innuendos long ago and he had to reach for ever raunchier material to get a rise out of her.

"I hate you," she mumbled as she lumbered down the hall to the bathroom to get ready.

"You love me," he called after her. She was his secret training weapon. Even though he'd never admit it to her, she pitched better than 90% of the guys he'd ever played against, and he knew that if could hit one of Elena's breaking balls he stood a better-than-fair chance of hitting anything an opposing pitcher threw at him on game day. Plus, he enjoyed watching her stretch and wind-up for her pitches.

When they arrived at the baseball diamond he dropped his bag on the bleachers and handed Elena her helmet. She had insisted on getting the bright pink one with "Pitcher's Mound Princess" on the back as a means to encourage Damon to play harder, she knew he wouldn't want anyone to see him miss a pitch thrown by a petite girl in a Barbie helmet. She stretched out her shoulders and legs and took the mesh bag full of baseballs to the pitcher's mound and got into position.

"Come on, Damon," she taunted after he missed his fifth consecutive swing, "I would say you hit like a girl, but that would imply that you are actually capable of making contact with the ball!" Few things entertained her as well as besting Damon at his own game and she could see that he was getting frustrated with his own lackluster performance. He was usually cool and collected, but he was a sore loser.

"Just throw the damn ball," Damon growled. She wound up and threw him a beautifully-aimed curveball. He swung as hard as he could, and missed… again.

"You're not even trying," she shouted at him, "Kol is going to have a field day with you this weekend." She knew that would get him riled up. Kol Mikaelson was Damon's biggest competition, not just in baseball but in most things. Like Damon, he played both baseball and lacrosse, was dangerously handsome, utterly charming, and carried himself with the same devil-may-care swagger. He was also, unfortunately for Damon, sweet on Elena. Whenever Duke and NC State played each other, Kol made a point to get into contact with Elena and take her on a spectacular, well-planned date. Perhaps more unfortunately for Damon, Elena was smitten with his Australian accent and carefree attitude. Whenever she came home after spending the evening with Kol she gave Damon a full run-down of their date, including how funny Kol is, or how charming Kol is, or how great Kol's taste in bistros is. Yeah, it was safe to say that Damon hated Kol Mikaelson.

"When did you talk to Mikaelson?" Damon asked, tossing the ball back to Elena and resuming his batting position.

"Yesterday, we're going to dinner and the Art Walk after your game," she answered as she pitched another ball to him. He swung viciously, hitting the ball over the outfield fence. "Wow," was all she could say, she'd never seen him hit that far before.

"So Mikaelson is an art connoisseur too, huh?" he asked, still bristling at the notion of Elena going on a date with his rival. He hated the idea of her giggling at another guy's jokes and sharing her dessert with someone who wasn't him. "I wonder how he found time to learn about art between his walk-about across the Outback and didgeridoo lessons," Damon mimicked in a bitter over-the-top Aussie accent. "The guy went to some snotty prep school in Melbourne, he's probably never even seen a kangaroo outside of a zoo."

"Who cares?" Elena shrugged, "he's cute."

"He's an idiot," Damon dismissed, "I can't believe you're dating one of our rivals. That's against best friend code."

"I'm not dating him," Elena denied, "I am going on a date with him, there's a big difference. Besides, his brother Klaus is coming for the game and wants to meet Caroline."

"A double date with Crocodile Dundee and his brother, how fantastic," Damon muttered under his breath.

"Was it not against best friend code when you dated Amber Fell after she beat me for Miss Mystic senior year?" Elena had been insanely jealous when she saw Damon and Amber laughing over dinner at the Grill. She was still a little bitter about losing to the Fell girl at the pageant and seeing him with her best friend just rubbed the salt in the wound.

"It better not be like that with Mikaelson," Damon said seriously. The thought of Kol, or anyone else for that matter, touching his Elena made him sick to his stomach. He intentionally stayed out late on the nights that Elena had dates because he couldn't stand to see her kiss someone else goodnight at the front door.

"Just saying," Elena shrugged.

"What do you say we blow the rest of this off and get some lunch? I'm starving," he had had enough of this conversation and, frankly, his pride had been sufficiently wounded by his inability to hit Elena's pitches.

"Me too," Elena agreed, patting her stomach to emphasize her point, "you're buying."

"Of course," he said packing their things and slinging his duffel bag across his chest. "How else would I show my appreciation to the world's best batting coach?" he laughed, putting his arm over her shoulder and pulling her close to him. She instinctively wrapped her free arm around his waist and leaned into his embrace.

"You could try hitting a ball next time," she smirked.

Present

He yelped and tried to shake the snow out of the inside of his jacket, but as soon as he unzipped it she hit him in the chest with another, larger snowball. He caught her after she gave chase a second time, but they tumbled into a deep snow bank when she tried to wiggle out of his grasp. He landed on top of her and she grunted under his weight.

"Get off," she demanded, trying to push him off of her.

"Oh I'll get off," he smirked.

"You're crushing my arms," she whined.

"Sorry," he smiled, lifting his weight onto his elbows but still keeping his body over hers. He traced his fingers along her rosy cheeks and across her lips. "You're so beautiful," he murmured as if he was looking at her for the first time.

"I'm still made at you," she whispered, subconsciously pressing her body closer to his and running her hands down his chest. She brushed her lips against his but he pulled her into a passionate, bruising kiss.

"I can think of a couple of ways you can punish me," he said suggestively, grinding his arousal against her and swallowing her moan in another rough kiss. Before she knew it she was inside the house and being slammed against the door.

"You are fixated on this door thing, aren't you?" she panted as he swiftly pulled the tie of her robe undone and she kicked her wellies off, trying to at least get them out of the middle of the floor so no one would trip.

"Third time's a charm," he replied, shrugging out of his jacket and undoing his belt. He kissed her harshly, demanding entrance to her mouth and squeezed her bottom. He wasn't being the gentle lover he had been for the past few days and Elena knew that this wasn't going to be sweet and sensual, this was going to be fucking, plain and simple. She had never pictured herself as the kind of girl who would enjoy being manhandled but there was something about the primal, animalistic way that Damon clawed at her nightgown that had her dripping wet. It made her feel desired, sexy, and, oddly enough, powerful. She was just getting comfortable in the situation when she heard a car door slam in the driveway, followed by another.

"No fucking way," he groaned in disbelief that his fantasy was being foiled, yet again. He figured Elena would flush red, whip her clothes back on, and run upstairs to hide. Instead she tightened her legs around his waist and pulled the last remaining button of his shirt free.

"Closet?" she suggested, tilting her head to what was more like a miniature coat room next to the front door. Damon had no idea that Elena was a closet exhibitionist, no pun intended, but it turned him on even more.

"Kinky minx," he smiled and ushered them into the small alcove, closing the door behind him. Her back collided with the wall of the closet and she rolled her hips against Damon's, rubbing against his painfully engorged member. "You have no idea how badly I want to fuck you?"

"What are you waiting for?" she purred. He had no idea where this sex goddess version of Elena came from but he was liking it… a lot. She was unlike any other woman he'd ever been with. She could set him smoldering with the mildest of touches, but she ignited an inferno within him when he saw how comfortable she was becoming with her own sexuality. He brushed her panties aside, not bothering to take them off, and entered her in one thrust. She screamed at the sudden intrusion and he had to clamp his hand over her mouth. The front door open and closed and they could hear voices talking in the foyer, but they were too wrapped up in each other to care who it was or what they were talking about.

"Quiet sweetness, remember that we aren't alone," he whispered. He removed his hand and kissed her violently, exploring her mouth with his tongue. She clawed at his chest, leaving reddened tracks across his skin as their tongues battled for dominance. He pumped into her mercilessly, and moaned into her mouth. She fisted her hand in the collar of his shirt and closed the last few millimetres of space between them when she felt herself begin to climax.

"Damon," she whimpered softly, hoping he was close as well. He swore quietly under his breath and grabbed her by the back of her neck to pull her into a final kiss. He muffled Elena's keening cry with his lips as she came and he followed. He moved to pull out of her and she mewled at his withdrawal. When he set her down she collapsed against him, sending them both to the ground with a dull thud.

"What was that?" Caroline's muffled voice sounded from the other side of the door.

"Who knows? Probably one of Damon's fix-it projects falling apart," Stefan replied, and they could hear Caroline giggle in response.

"What the hell Stef?" Damon whispered, clearly offended by Stefan's insinuation, and he could feel Elena's shoulders shaking in silent laughter from where she was laying on his chest.

"Thanks for bringing me by to pick up these files," Caroline said, "by the way, I had a really great time last night."

"So did I," Stefan agreed, "I'd like to take you out again tonight, if you're free?" Elena's eyes went wide at Stefan's offer and she looked at Damon in silent shock.

"Again? Did they go out after the party?" Elena whispered to Damon, wishing she had more details about what was going on between Stefan and Caroline, but starting the conversation with "Damon and I were having dirty, dirty sex in the coat room while you and Stefan were planning your date" might not be the best approach.

"Should we jump out and surprise them?" Damon asked.

"No," Elena shook her head, "I want to spy for a just a little longer."

"How about I pick you up at 8? I heard there's a new restaurant in Somerset we could try," Stefan asked.

"Son of a bitch," Damon exclaimed in a high whisper, "he's stealing my date."

"Shh," Elena giggled, "be quiet."

"That was my idea!"

"Shh," she was having a hard time keeping quiet and had to bury her face against Damon's chest.

"Sounds great," Caroline said with what Elena could only imagine was a huge smile on her face. "Well I should get going. Tell Elena to call me when you see her, I have some ideas to talk with her about."

"Sure thing," Stefan answered, "I'll walk you out." They heard footsteps in front of the coat room door and the front door open. Stefan must not have closed the door behind him, but they figured the coast was clear.

"Ok, go," Damon said, peeking out of the closet to make sure they weren't going to get caught. Elena ran down the hall and up the stairs to the bedroom, giggling mischievously the entire way. When they were safely in the privacy of the room they both flopped onto the bed, laughing together. "I didn't hurt you did I?" he asked, propping his head up on one elbow and palming her flat stomach.

"No," she said, trying to fight a grin, "you're kind of hot when you're wild."

"Kind of?" he raised his eyebrows in question.

"Really hot," she corrected. "That was really hot. Do you think they heard us?"

"If they heard us, I'm sure Caroline wouldn't have hesitated to investigate the coat closet. I'm sure we're fine. I think I figured out the secret to making you a morning person though."

"You got lucky. I still hate mornings."

"But morning can be so much fun," he said seductively, kissing her neck.

"Hold on," she remembered, "I'm still mad at you." She crawled out of the bed and made for the closet.

"No you're not," he replied, stretching out against the pillows with his hands behind his head putting his bare chest on display for her. He had really been hoping for a second go at extraordinary morning sex in bed. "You want me to make you cum again." She scoffed and threw a black shirt over his face.

"Get dressed," she ordered. "You owe me pancakes and a doctor's appointment."

"There's something else I'd rather eat than pancakes," he said tossing his shirt on the other side of the bed.

"Damon!" she scolded, "do you ever think about anything besides sex?"

"Yeah," he answered, "I think a lot about foreplay, too," he wiggled his eyebrows.

"I'm serious Damon," she couldn't help but laugh at his antics, "I know your stalling about the doctor."

"Is it working?"

"No. Now get dressed, or don't, I don't care," she shrugged, pulling on a pair of skinny jeans, "but you're going." With that she walked out of the room, leaving him rolling his eyes. He slithered off of the bed miserably and pulled his shirt on before padding downstairs.

"Damon," Dr. Jonas Martin greeted as he entered the small exam room, "it's good to see you again. I don't think you've been here since you broke your collar bone in track in 9th grade."

"What can I say? Healthy as a horse," Damon shrugged, trying to get through his appointment as quickly as possible. He didn't like doctor's offices and just wanted to pacify Elena and go about the rest of his day.

"And was that Elena Gilbert I saw in the waiting room with you?" the older gentleman asked, adjusting his wire-rimmed glasses on his nose.

"Soon-to-be Elena Salvatore, or Gilbert-Salvatore. We haven't really discussed those details yet."

"Is that right?" the good doctor said with a twinkle in his eyes, "did Stefan ask you to be his best man?"

"Ha ha, very funny Doc. Elena and I are getting married," Damon beamed with pride as soon as he said it.

"Congratulations Damon, that's terrific. She's quite the special young lady. Grayson would have been so proud of you two." Jonas and Grayson had worked together at Mystic Falls General since they were fresh out of medical school. He could remember Elena jumping up to hug her dad when she and Miranda would bring Grayson dinner whenever he worked a double shift. "I can't say he would have been surprised, but he would have been thrilled. Anyways, you are probably in a hurry to get back to your lovely fiancée, so let's make this quick shall we? What brings you in today?"

"Elena, mostly. She's worried because I've been getting headaches."

"Have you had headaches before?" Dr. Martin asked, glancing over Damon's chart.

"Sure, but nothing some aspirin doesn't fix."

"Have you hit your head recently or injured your neck?"

"Nope," he and Elena had taken a pretty good fall in the shower two days ago but his still-sore shoulder and bruised knee had borne the brunt of the impact.

"Have you been dizzy or fainted at all?"

"Fainted? Come on Doc, who am I Scarlett O'Hara? No, I haven't fainted."

"Dizzy?"

"A little bit last night, but I had also had a couple of drinks."

"How about forgetfulness, mood swings, depression, anxiety?"

"Not that I can remember," he said with a smirk, trying to hide his concern about where this line of questioning was going.

"Damon, you need to take this seriously," Jonas admonished in a fatherly tone as he scribbled notes into his file.

"Ok, fine, yes, no, no, and no. I have been misplacing my things lately. But I've had a lot on my mind for past couple of weeks."

"I'd like to refer you for some baseline lab work, blood tests that sort of thing and an MRI scan, just to be sure. It's probably nothing, but with your family history it wouldn't hurt to be absolutely certain." Damon's eyebrows quirked slightly at the family history comment but didn't sense any anxiety from Dr. Martin. "The lab is downstairs and then you can head up to the third floor for radiology, I'll make sure they have your file ready so we can get you out of here."

"Thanks Doc, I'll let Elena know." Damon strode back out into the waiting room where Elena was flipping through a magazine and nervously tapping her foot on the ground. She looked up and saw him, closing the magazine and jumping to her feet immediately.

"How did it go? What did he say? Is everything ok?" she asked rapidly.

"Easy baby," he grabbed her shoulders gently to reassure her, "Dr. Martin just ordered some blood tests and crap. I've got to visit the vampires down stairs and then get some scan thing. No big deal, like I told you."

An hour later they had finished with the lab work and MRI and were waiting in another exam room for Damon's results. Elena was flipping through one of the wedding magazines she picked up. Damon watched her lovingly, he wanted to hang a billboard and let the whole world know that he was the reason for the glow in her eyes, that she was looking through that magazine to plan her perfect wedding to him. Damon Salvatore had officially become his own worst nightmare, even worse—he liked it.

"Ooo, what do you think about this?" she asked holding up a particular page that showed a beautiful floral arrangement draped across a smiling bride's arms.

"Whatever you want baby," he kissed her ear and looked at the pages she was slipping through. He hadn't really thought much about what his wedding would look like. He knew Elena would look beautiful in whatever she chose, but he was thinking he'd like to see her in the strapless A-line gown with a sweetheart neckline that the woman on the cover of the magazine was wearing. "What kind of dress are you going get?"

"I can't tell you, that's bad luck."

"It's only bad luck if I see it, if you tell me about it in detail so I can imagine you in it it's not bad luck."

Their conversation was cut short when a new doctor entered the room with Damon's file in her hands. She was younger with short, dark hair and had an air of confidence and authority. She was wearing a white lab coat and had a stethoscope slung around her neck. She looked every part the serious doctor, but there was something about her that made Elena a little nervous even if she couldn't put her finger on it.

"Mr. Salvatore, Ms. Gilbert, good morning," the doctor greeted in a professional manner, shaking both of their hands "my name is Dr. Meredith Fell, I'm from the oncology department."

"Oncology?" Elena stuttered, "why are you from oncology? I'm sorry but you must have the wrong file Dr. Fell. We're not here for anything like that. This must just be a mix-up."

"Oh, um… Damon Marcus Salvatore?" Dr. Fell asked after checking the name on the file and looking back to the couple.

"Yeah, but—," Elena protested, but was cut off by Damon gently squeezing her hand.

"Why don't you wait out in the waiting room?" Damon said quietly to Elena, trying not to make a scene. Elena crossed her arms and shook her head stubbornly, making it clear that she was staying and it wasn't up for discussion.

"Sorry, go on," Damon nodded apologetically to the doctor.

"I reviewed your MR study and I have some good news and some bad news for you." Elena nearly jumped out of the chair at Dr. Fell's statement. She started to say something but Damon pulled her back to the chair and put his arm around her shoulder to keep her in place.

"Alright, let's hear it?" Damon said trying to be nonchalant so Elena wouldn't freak out again.

"Your MRI study has some abnormalities consistent with a meningioma, which is a type of brain tumor. The tumor is taking up space inside your skull and compressing the normal brain tissue which explains the symptoms you've been experiencing." Dr. Fell said carefully, knowing all too well how news like this can affect people. Elena went sheet white and was shaking her head violently back and forth.

"No! No!" she shouted at no one in particular. "That can't be right. No! Take another test, that one is wrong." Damon pulled her closer to calm her down, knowing that she should have waited outside.

"Ok, I sure hope that was the bad news part," he said, trying to keep up a strong façade. "You mentioned there was good news too?"

"There is," Dr. Fell looked relieved to have gotten the worst part out of the way, "these tumors have a very high remission rate with surgery and radiation. And I believe we've caught yours early enough to give us an excellent chance at complete remission. On the MRI it looks like the tumor is located in a highly operable region of the brain and we should be able to remove most of the malignant cells surgically. We then typically follow up with radiation or chemotherapy to kill off any remaining cells. We will need to run a few more tests and get a more detailed imaging study of your brain to plan for surgery, but at this point I am very optimistic."

"Well, optimistic is good," Damon sighed in relief, partly for himself but mostly for Elena who was breaking down before his very eyes. "See Elena, it's going to be fine," he said soothingly rubbing gently down her arm.

"I'd like to get you scheduled for surgery as soon as we can. The earlier we get these things the better."

"Sure, yeah," Damon nodded.

"Your lab work looks great. There are risks associated with anesthesia and the surgery, as with any other procedure. The brain is highly susceptible to infection and any time we enter the cranium surgically, there is the chance to introduce microbes into the environment. As a precaution, we generally like to keep people in the hospital for a few days to monitor for any signs of infection or swelling, but it's very routine. There is also the slight chance that once we have surgical access to your brain we find that the tumor has spread farther than what is shown in the MR study. I have to say, that is very rare with this kind of tumor, but if that happens we may be left with fewer treatment options." Dr. Fell felt like she needed to emphasize the positive for this case, she hated the part of her job that brought her in front of young, happy couples like this to tear their lives apart. Dr. Martin had mentioned to her that both of Damon's parents had battled cancer, and ultimately lost. They didn't have her as their doctor though, she was excellent and she knew it. She had made herself excellent for cases just like these.

"I'm not too happy about having to get a haircut, but I'll live… hopefully," he said with his half-smile. Dr. Fell liked patients like Damon, he was too cocky to let something like this beat him. Plus, he had something to live for; he hadn't let go of the young woman he was with the entire time they were in the exam room and Dr. Fell could see how in love they were. She had to be excellent for them.

"I can assure you, we have a great stylist here." Dr. Fell smiled brightly, she loved patients who had a sense of humor. "If you can free up your schedule for next week I can get you in early on Monday and we'll have you home in time for the holidays. I'm going to put you on strict orders to rest for the next few days and make sure you're getting enough sleep and eating well."

"Noted. Monday it is then, it's already my least favorite day of the week so, what the hell?" Damon said, standing to shake the doctor's hand. Elena didn't say a word but just stared at the floor looking catatonic. When Dr. Fell left the room he knelt down in front of her, taking her hands and speaking to her gently.

"Elena," she looked up at him sorrowfully with unshed tears in her eyes, "come on, let's go home." She let him pull her up and lead her from the room like a zombie. She felt like she had just been hit the force of a hurricane. She had finally allowed herself to be happy and it was all disintegrating before her eyes. When they reached the car Damon held the door as usual and gave her a smile; she didn't look up at him, she just stared at the ground and plopped into the seat. When he got in on the driver's side he had to break the tense silence that had formed between them.

"You've never been the silent treatment type Elena," but still nothing from her, she just sat silently twisting the diamond ring on her finger. "Elena?"

"Can we just go home, please?"


A/N: I'm a little nervous to put this one out there, but let me know what you think :) Next up: Damon gets Elena to open up to him, more Steroline, etc... See you soon!