Hey guys, I'm so sorry for no updates lately. I know I promised to update sooner, but unfortunately random computer problems cannot be predicted and unfortunately I was without mine for quite sometime these last weeks. Anyway thanks so much for reviewing my story, I appreciate each and everyone who reads & reviews. I'm happy to finally be able to update this story, so I hope you all enjoy.

Disclaimer- I own nothing.


"How is he?" Stefan asked frantically taking a seat next to Elena and Caroline in the hospital waiting room.

"I haven't heard anything yet." Elena wept, looking down at her blood stained clothes. She was completely covered in Damon's blood; every inch of her yellow dress was covered with the thick crimson substance. The coppery smell filled her nose, and she immediately felt nauseous for the third time since the incident.

"It's going to be okay." Stefan assured pulling her into tight hug. "Damon's strong, he'll pull through."

"You didn't see him, it was horrible." She cried, reliving the trauma in her mind. She kept seeing images of Damon lying limp, blood covering his entire body. The blood. There was so much of it, and it just kept oozing out of his wound no matter how much pressure she tried to apply.

"I know, I'm so sorry," Stefan apologized. He didn't even have time to process anything after receiving Elena's frantic phone call. He was in the middle of a very important meeting when his phone just wouldn't stop vibrating. There was no doubt in his mind that something was terribly wrong when he noticed eleven missed calls from Elena.

After listening to Elena frantic cries on his voicemail, fled the meeting unable to form a coherent sentence to the other meeting attendees. Stefan was usually the model driver, he'd never even received a single ticket in his entire life, but that day he nearly killed himself five times before finally making it to the hospital, running several red lights and making numerous illegal turns in the process. When he arrived the sight of Elena covered in blood caused his heart to literally leap out of his chest.

"What happened?" Stefan asked barely catching his breath.

"Damon was arguing with some strange guy at the door, and then there was a gun shot. When Elena and I ran to see, the was in the house pacing and mumbling under his breath." Caroline informed when she realized her friend was too distraught to recall the events.

"Is he in custody?"

"No, he looked like he was having a panic attack and he just ran out of the house. Then Elena and I called the police." Caroline felt the tears threatening to fall, but she blinked them back determined to put on her bravest face for her best friend who needed her to be strong.

"So you two weren't harmed?"

Elena shook her head in confirmation.

"Good… That's good." Stefan answered, pulling Elena tighter against him as her sobs grew louder.

"Maybe it was a robbery gone wrong." He speculated.

"But he didn't demand anything. Not money or jewelry." Caroline cleared up. "It's almost like once he got inside, he just changed his mind and left."

"Well that's weird, considering he went through the trouble of shooting Damon to get inside."

"I don't know, it all just so confusing." Caroline stated.

About three hours later, they were interrupted by a young blond doctor. "Are you three here for a Mr. Damon Salvatore?"

"Yes," Stefan stood abruptly. "Is he going to be alright? Can we see him?" the younger Salvatore bombarded the woman with question after question.

"He's going to be fine, he's out of surgery now and everything went smoothly." The woman reassured. "You all should be able to see him as soon as he wakes up."

"Can we please see him now," Elena pleaded desperately through choked sobs.

"I guess there's no harm in that. I just assumed you'd want to wait until he was awake." The young woman lead them to the room where Damon laid in recovery.


"What did you do?" Katherine asked in a panic. She looked skeptically around the dark alley making sure no one else was in hearing distance.

"It's not my fault!" Trevor yelled in response. "You told me there wouldn't be anyone else home. There were two other people in there and the guy threatened to call the cops, so I panicked." He was clearly shaken up by the day's events, sweat dripped from his face, his heart raced, as he thought of the man he left to die.

"Did you kill him?" She asked, not really sure if she was ready to hear the answer to her own question.

"I don't know. I just shot him. He was lying on the ground when I left." Trevor explained.

"God and you call yourself a professional?" She let out a desperate cry, as she continued to pace back and forth. The only thing she could think about was the possibility of Damon actually being dead, and the thought threatened to consume her with grief an emotion that was mostly foreign to her. She hate to think that she went through all that trouble to get rid of that pesky Elena, only to lose her Damon anyway.

"What about the girl?" Katherine questioned, feeling her blood boil at the mere thought of Elena still unharmed while her Damon was probably in a morgue somewhere.

"I couldn't harm her." Trevor whispered. "She's pregnant; I'm not completely heartless Katherine."

"It shouldn't matter!" She screamed fighting the urge to strangle the thin young man that stood in front of her. "I paid you to do a job, there's no room for your personal opinions!"

She should have known better than to trust him, but she was desperate. She needed Elena out of the picture and fast, and she didn't care what it cost her. Katherine was sure Damon would be at work when she instructed Trevor to get rid of Elena. She didn't specify what Trevor should do with the young brunette, but she hardly cared. To her it didn't matter as long as Elena was gone. It was a simple order and she paid him up front, and instead she learned that not only is Elena completely unscathed but Trevor might of killed the one person she was determined to protect.

"You better hope he's still alive, or I'd hate to be you." Katherine threatened. She eyed him menacingly before walking towards her car and speeding away.

Katherine needed another plan; clearly dealing with the likes of Trevor was not getting her any closer to her goal. She needed to find someone more reliable, someone who wouldn't hesitate and of the many powerful people she'd befriended since moving to Mystic Falls, she knew exactly who could help her. But first she had, to find out just how bad Trevor screwed up.


Damon was starting to believe there really was bright side to every horrible ordeal. Sure he was shot by some maniac in front of his own doorstep but being pampered and looked after by the women in his life almost made it all worth it. Ever since he got back from the hospital his mother had practically moved in and Elena barely left his bed side. He was under strict orders from his doctors to limit the movement of his shoulder for the next two weeks, and Elena suggested he stayed in bed. Much to his protest, he was outnumbered as both women ganged up on him until he was left with no other option but to oblige.

He heard a knock on the door, and he knew it was Elena just by the soft sound of her knocking.

"Is it time for my sponge bath yet?" Damon shot her an evocative glace that had her feeling both hot and cold simultaneously.

"In your dreams. I just came to bring your lunch." Doing her best to ignore images of her lathering him in suds with a sponge, she set the plate of food on the bed table in front of him.

"Are you gonna feed me?"

"No Damon, I'm not here to fulfill your little naughty nurse fantasies."

"But you're clearly here for something else. What do you have there?" He asked looking at the laptop she held in her other hand.

"Well, since you were house bound and obviously bored, I thought we could do some shopping for the baby."

"Only if you promise to get in bed with me," Damon bargained. If he was going to be subjected to hours of online shopping with Elena, the most indecisive person he'd ever met, he knew he'd better be getting something out of it. At that moment he couldn't think of anything he wanted more than to have her lying right beside him.

"You're so lucky Caroline and Bonnie are busy, and I'm obviously desperate." Elena explained, she pulled back the covers and climbed in. She settled herself beside him careful to leave more than enough space between them.

It wasn't long before the gap between them disappeared and her head rested comfortably against his chest, while she absentmindedly stroked his arm. It always happened with them, no matter how much space they tried to but between them, they always ended up invading each other's personal space.

"Would you stop doing that?" Damon was growing distracted by her endless touching. Fact of the matter is, as much as he tried to ignore it, he couldn't focus on anything when her hands continued to caress his arm.

"What?"

"You can't manage to keep your hands off me, yet I'm hardly ever allowed to touch you."

"That's because you're inappropriate." She answered, her hand still caressing his bicep.

"And you're not?" He stared at her disbelievingly.

"No. This is just comforting." She stated matter of factly.

"Oh yeah? For who?" He let out a soft chuckle at the torturous way her delicate fingers constantly tickled the muscles of his bicep. It was anything but comforting; tormenting was a more accurate word to describe what her touch did to him.

"For me," She admitted. "Ever since the other day, I have to keep reminding myself that you're here and you're okay."

"Well it turns me on, so stop it before you end up in my bed for an entire different reason, and I can't promise I'll behave this time." He warned in a low whisper, the warmth of his breath immediately serving to ignite that familiar warm feeling in her lower stomach.

She looked at him in a mixture of disbelief and complete arousal. "Only you would turn such an innocent gesture into something sexual."

"Sweetheart, there is nothing innocent about the way you continuously fondle me." He informed, brushing a silky strand away from her eyes.

"I do not, and don't call me that." Elena rolled her eyes at his accusation and the possibility that he was probably right. She never intended to seduce him with her touch, it was unintentional. Most time she hardly realized she was touching him, unless he brought it to her attention, in his own Damon way of course. It was like her hands had a mind of their own, and whenever Damon was in close proximity they gravitated towards him, touching, caressing, and stroking his arms, neck and that gorgeous face mercilessly but until that moment she was never aware of the effect it had on him.

"You do too, Elena. And to prove it, I think we should make a bet." He proposed staring at her with eyes full of mischief.

"What are you up to, Salvatore?" Elena gave him a suspicious look.

"I'm willing to bet you can't keep your hands off me for a whole twenty-four hours."

"I so can." She challenged him. "You're on."

"Good, but we have to agree to some conditions first." He announced. "If you win, I'll spend the entire week baby shopping with you without complaining, but if I win you'll bear whatever consequences of your questing hands." His voice was low and suggestive, and there was no doubt in Elena's mind what kind of consequences would await her if she even so much let her hand brush him in anyway. How hard could it be? She'd just have to avoid him as much as possible. Yep, it was going to be a piece of cake, and she'd teach Damon once and for all that she had the self control that he clearly lacked.

"Starting now, until one o'clock tomorrow afternoon, you Elena must refrain from touching me in anyway."

"Deal." She pushed herself away from him moving to the opposite side of the bed.

She turned on her laptop and began browsing for baby furniture."What do you think of this one?" Elena asked pointing the mouse at one of the many luxurious baby bassinets and cribs.

"Yeah, that one's perfect," Damon answered absentmindedly, his eyes never leaving the television hanging against the wall. After what seemed like hours of browsing through endless pages of baby cribs, they all started to look the same to him, yet somehow Elena thought every tiny detail mattered.

"See I knew you weren't paying attention, this crib is seven thousand dollars." She looked up to find his eyes still glued to the screen across the room.

"Elena, I'd spend one hundred thousand it meant you'd just pick one." Damon begged, wanting desperately to be put out of his misery.

"You, better get used to this, because once you lose the bet, you'll be doing this all week. Besides there's no way we're buying a seven thousand dollar crib, Damon, that would be ridiculous" Elena explained.

"Well, why not? Weren't you just going on about how beautiful it is?" Damon reminded her.

"It's too expensive. It wouldn't make sense to spend that much on a crib," she reasoned.

"It's not like we can't afford it," he replied. "Don't worry, I got everything covered." He pulled her back against him resting his hand lazily on her stomach. "Just like you, I want the best for our little boy."

"You're cheating." She exclaimed desperately trying to pull out of his grasp.

"No where in our agreement did I say I couldn't touch you, we just agreed that you couldn't touch me." He clarified chuckling at the exasperation in her face.

"Fine," she relented. "But this baby's going to need a lot more than expensive furniture."

"Yeah? And what would that be?"

"Well most importantly love." Elena replied searching his face.

"So you don't think I'm capable of loving him?" Damon asked accusingly.

"That's not what I said." Elena replied slightly raising her voice. It always amazed her how they could go from peacefully coexisting to being at each other's throats in a matter of seconds.

"You didn't have to, you implied it." Damon replied defensively.

Elena let out an exasperated sigh. "And just how did I do that?" she asked.

"Ugh! Damon our son needs more than a crib, he needs love, which you obviously can't provide." Damon replied in a mocking tone, doing his best exaggerated imitation of her previous statements.

"You know that's not what I said." Elena responded. "Would I ask you to be part of his life if I didn't think you were capable of loving him?" Her voice softened as she watched his expression carefully. It didn't take long for her to realize that his sudden change in mood wasn't do to his present predicament, it stemmed from something else entirely, something she couldn't exactly place.

"Maybe you don't know any better." Damon mumbled more to himself.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Elena turned herself to face him, and just as she suspected he was avoiding her gaze. She watched as his blue orbs wandered around the room, purposely deflecting her question.

"Forget I said anything." He continued to deflect, pulling himself away from her completely. His hand which once rested on the curve of her stomach fell against the soft cotton sheets.

"For what it's worth, I think you're going to be a great father." Elena continued to search his eyes for any reaction, but all she got was the mask of cold indifference that he wore whenever he wanted to avoid talking about his feelings.

"What do you know? You don't know anything about me." Damon replied harshly, pulling himself away from her completely. The insecurities slowly began to creep in again, as much as he tried to keep them out, the small voice in the back of his mind kept reminding him that he would be as much of a disappointment to his son, as his father was to him.

"Why are you being like this?" Elena was starting to become alarmed by his attitude. They went from having a rather mundane conversation to practically shouting at each other for seemingly no reason at all. "What don't I know about you Damon? Please enlighten me." Elena begged persistently.

Damon fell quiet and she could tell whatever he was struggling with was really taking a toll on him. "I don't know what I'm doing." His voice came out in a tiny whisper, unlike anything she'd ever witness from him before. It seemed like the cocky Damon she came to know completely disintegrated and in his place sat this lost little boy, so fragile and vulnerable.

"Hey, it's okay." she whispered, in an attempt to reassure him.

"No, it's not Elena. Don't you see, this baby's going to be here in a few months and I'm going to be responsible for him, what if I screw it all up?" His eyes became glassy, as he tried to hold back the emotions in his voice.

"You're not going to screw anything up, why would you even think something like that?" She asked. Elena didn't understand where all this uncertainty was coming from. Ever since they moved in together, Damon expressed nothing but excitement about the birth of their son, and now all of a sudden he was riddled with doubt. She told herself not to panic, that he was just having a bad day, maybe his pain medication was screwing with his head, anything to explain his behavior so she wouldn't have to worry about him running out and leaving her again.

"I don't know anything about being a dad, Elena." He whispered, he felt her delicate fingers gently squeeze his offering her support and reassurance.

"Of course you do Damon; you must have had a relationship with your father as a child. I'm sure you remember what he was like, don't you?" Elena watched as his face contorted into an almost uncomfortable expression. She swore she saw a flash of hurt in his eyes, but before she had any opportunity to assess his reaction, his walls came right back up and his face wore an expression of complete indifference.

"I'm done talking about this." he decided.

"I'm not!" Elena felt the anger rise in her throat. She hated that he could be so stubborn. Obviously something was bothering him, and in true Damon fashion he refused to open up about it. No matter how much she pleaded, he remained completely unaffected.

"Well, I'm done. There's nothing left to discuss." He replied stubbornly, looking away from her all together.

"Fine, I'm leaving, don't bother saying anything else to me unless you change your mind." She sat up at the edge of the bed and slowly pushed herself off almost losing her footing in the process. Luckily she landed on her feet completely unscathed.

"God dammit! Elena be careful!" Damon shouted in a panic. He was almost plunging off the bed to break her fall, completely forgetting about his bandaged shoulder that his doctors strictly ordered him not to disturb.

"I'm fine," she sent him squinted glare that quickly faded when she saw a hint of pain flash across his face.

"Damon are you okay, "she slowly examined his shoulder with her hand. "Are you in pain?"

"I'm fine. Where do you think you're going?" he asked confused by her abrupt exit.

"I don't think I want to be near you right now, not with that attitude."

"Elena, get back here!" Damon demanded.

"No, when you're ready to open up and be honest, call me. Until then, I have nothing left to say to you."

She walked out the door, leaving him feeling utterly torn. Damon let his head fall back against the headboard, immediately missing the way her warm body felt pressed against his. Instantly he regretted pulling away from her. God he hated the silent treatment, it was the worst kind of punishment anyone could inflict on him. He preferred to be yelled at, slapped or any number of things; anything but the silent treatment. Only Stefan and his mother knew how much it affected him, yet somehow without even knowing Elena was about to drive him insane by withholding something as simple as conversation. In that moment he came to the realization that he loved talking to her, sure they mostly bickered but he found it amusing the way she reacted whenever he said something she deemed inappropriate. The way her cheeks reddened, or the way her breath hitched whenever he whispered naughty things in her ear.

He was being unreasonable, but he couldn't help it. Elena wanted him to open up about his daddy issues, but he had no intention of revisiting the only screwed up aspect of his otherwise perfect childhood. Unfortunately it had to be one of the more important aspects that left him angry and bitter for the rest of his life. No amount of therapy or anger management as a child was able to help him cope with the bitterness and resentment he felt toward his father, and no amount of opening up to Elena was going to change his past, he just wished he could make her understand that.

Twenty minuted later he heard a knock on his bedroom door, and he smiled inwardly as he thought of Elena being unable to resist being near him.

"Look Elena, I haven't changed my mind. I'm still not going to talk-" Damon's thought was interrupted as Katherine appeared behind the door.

"What are you doing here?"

"You and Elena fighting already? Why am I not surprised, she's not exactly your type."

"What are you doing here Katherine?" He asked persistently.

"Relax, I heard about what happened, and even though we're not exactly on the best terms. I still love-

"Save it." He interrupted, before she could finish her statement. After his disagreement with Elena, the last thing Damon was in the mood for was blatant lies coming out of Katherine's mouth.

"I just came to make sure that you were okay." She answered with genuine concern.

"Like you care."

"Of course I do Damon, despite what you believe I do care about you."

"How'd you even know it was me?" He questioned suspiciously. None of the news stations released any specific names or locations when they covered his story, and aside from his family and Elena's close friends no one else knew about him getting shot, certainly no one Katherine befriended, so it was more than alarming that Katherine knew only two days after he had been released from the hospital.

"This is a small town Damon, it's not hard to come by information." She quickly covered up.

"Of course."

Immediately after he was released from the hospital Damon pondered the possibility of Katherine being behind everything that happened that day, as she was the closest thing he had to an enemy, but none of it added up considering everything he learned from Elena and the police reports. The stranger who shot him didn't harm Elena or Caroline, instead just ran off. Damon got the impression that the guy simply got the wrong house, but by the time he realized it, it was too late. Yet something in the back of his mind told him that he shouldn't completely discard his Katherine theory even if it was founded on absolutely zero evidence. Not that he'd known Katherine to ever attempt anything like this in his years of knowing her, but he still wouldn't put anything past her.

"Your girlfriend's downstairs drowning her sorrows in a huge carton of ice cream." Katherine informed him.

He rolled his eyes at her obvious pettiness, but he couldn't help feeling guilty at the idea of causing Elena any emotional distress.

"Well thanks for your concern Katherine, but I think it's time you leave. I have something to take care of." Damon slowly began rising of his bed.

"You mean you need to go make up with Elena." Katherine replied in complete disgust. It took everything in her not to do or say anything to the brunette when she walked passed her sitting in the kitchen table. She opted for one of her dirty looks instead.

"The matters of my home are none of your business. So if you don't mind I'll see you out." He held his room door open and waited for her to make her way through it.


Once Katherine was gone, Damon turned his attention to Elena who sat at the kitchen table indulging in a carton of cookie and cream ice cream. He noticed her death glares before he got close enough to speak to her.

"I see you're girlfriend paid you a visit. Elena announced with a hint of jealousy.

"Are you still made at me?" He asked.

"I'm not mad Damon, I'm just confused." She answered taking a deep breath.

"It's my fault, I was being a dick back there." Damon admitted

"That's the most sense you've made all day."

"I thought you said you weren't mad?" He asked teasingly.

"Well I lied, I'm pissed."

"You have every right to be. I was being unreasonable and you deserve answers."

Elena's jaw practically dropped at his response. The last thing she was expecting was Damon to actually be willing to talk to her after he put up such a fight a few moments prior.

"I'm listening." She answered coolly, masking her shock.

"I never had a relationship with my dad before he died. At least not a functional one." Damon began. "Up until he took his final breath I practically hated the man."

"Damon I'm sorry, I had no idea-" Elena apologized instantly regretting asking him to think back about his relationship with his father. It all began to make sense to her, she now understood where all his insecurities stemmed from.

"No need to apologize, you couldn't have known." He assured.

"My father was responsible for a lot of terrible things that happened to our family, and he was neglectful and disapproving of anything Stefan and I did." Damon continued. "In short he was a crappy father, who cared more about his career than his own family."

Elena found herself gravitating towards him with every word that left his mouth. She felt her heart constrict and she realized why it was so painful for him to express his feelings regarding the situation. Damon wasn't very fond of pity, so he avoided conversations that would result in people pitying him.

"I had no idea." Elena searched for some comforting words, but she was at a lost.

"I never explained." He smiled sadly.

"Damon, you don't have to be like him." She assured. "You can choose differently and learn from the mistakes he made."

"Don't you think I want that?" His voice broke with emotion. "But what if it's not enough?"

"As long as you do your best, it will always be enough." Elena explained. "And besides, you think I know everything about being a mom? I'm just as clueless as you are when it comes to this parenting thing."

"Really?" Damon instantly felt relief wash over him after her confession. Admittedly it made him feel somewhat better to know that he wasn't alone in his fears.

"Yeah, you're not alone. That's why we're doing this together." She offered him a sweet smile and soon she was standing directly in front of him,willing herself not to reach over and stroke his face.

"So are we okay now?" Damon brushed a few chocolate strands away from her face, pulling her closer to him.

"For now. Until we fight again." She laughed softly.

"Good, but we're still getting that crib. I don't care how much it costs," he teased inhaling the sweet scent of her hair.

She gave him a questioning look, shaking her head slightly. "Fine," she relented. "If that's what you want."

"Oh please, you know you want the crib," he teased nuzzling into her neck. She let out a loud shriek jumping at the sudden closeness. "Damon, stop it!"

"What do you think you're doing?" She asked. "You're going to hurt yourself again."

He rolled his eyes at her dramatic reaction. "I promise to be more careful love."

"Stop calling me that." Her cheeks turned bright shade of red.

"What? Do you prefer something else?"

"Yeah, Elena."

"That sounds so formal; we're having a baby together. I was thinking more along the lines of baby or sweetheart, or honey." He grinned at her exasperated expression.

"Right, we're having a baby together, but we're not together." She clarified, signaling between the two of them.

He brushed the soft strand of hair away from her ear. "Aren't we?" he whispered in her ear, his breath tickling her earlobe. His hand which once rested over the stretched cotton fabric of her t-shirt, had found its way underneath it. Ever so often he'd feel the slight flutter underneath his finger tips whenever their son wanted to remind them of his presence. "What do you call this? What we're doing." He asked.

Elena felt her body tense up at his question, asking herself, what were they doing? She didn't have a single clue of how to define what they had. Were they lovers? Were they even friends? How'd they even manage get to this point? She agreed to move in with him, only as a means for them to get to know each other and raise their son in a stable environment. Not once did she even think of what kind of relationship was appropriate for them to have. They already crossed the line once, and with the way she struggled to keep her hands off of him, she wasn't surprised the lines had gotten so blurred.

Though she never actually encouraged his advances, she didn't exactly fight them off either. Elena wasn't sure what was going through her mind the night they almost slept together. All she knew is that if Caroline hadn't come knocking when she did, she would've had her second serving of Damon Salvatore. Somewhere deep down she wanted just that, just to be reminded of how she ended up pregnant in the first place, to relive that magical moment they shared in New York just weeks before she moved down to Mystic Falls. From what she remembered from that night, it was without a doubt the best sex she ever had in her entire life, the fact that she could hardly recall the details was a true testimony to her incoherence after experiencing multiple orgasms. The only thing she remembered was the intense feeling of pure satisfaction and bliss.

Given her current location in his arms, resting her head against his chest, his hand drawing lazy circles against the soft flesh underneath her shirt, she was beginning to think Damon had a point, as much as she denied it her behavior towards him was a dead giveaway that her feelings were anything but friendly. She barely left his bedside all morning when she wasn't busy making him every comfort food she could think of. Of course there was the incessant inquiry about his pain level and comfort, not to mention she fluffed his pillows at least five times that morning alone. It finally dawned on her that maybe she was just as inappropriate with him as he was with her. Her advances toward him weren't of the sexual nature yet seemed all the more inappropriate. Of course she should have realized that the blissful domesticity of their relationship would make it hard to actually define what they had, and she was responsible for it. His mother came to visit with every intention of tending to all her son's needs, but poor Anetta never anticipated having to contend with Elena for her Damon's affections. The older woman gracefully bowed out, content and confident that her oldest boy was in the best hands.

As scary as her realization seemed, Elena had a feeling it was too late to change anything now; they couldn't just go back and undo all the bonding and closeness that transpired between them. She shuddered at the thought of leaving his side after everything that's happened, she just couldn't do it. They were already in way too deep; pulling away would do more harm than good.

She looked up at his expecting eyes and gave him a sweet smile. "I don't know what we're doing, Damon." She let out a deep sigh, burying her head into the crook of his neck.

"Elena?" His voice came out in a sultry whisper.

"Hmmm."

"You're doing it again." He informed her, a smile creeping onto his lips.

Elena looked down to where her hand was rubbing gentle circles against his arm. She let a small cry of defeat before hanging her head in shame. It hadn't even been two whole hours since their bet, and she had already lost.

"It's okay, not many women can resist me." Damon taunted. "You put up a good fight, but you never really stood a chance sweetheart."

"You cocky ass." Elena responded in amusement. "So what exactly are these consequences you spoke of?" She got straight to the point, not wanting to further prolong her "punishment."

"You're about to find out." Damon leaned down and captured her lips in a searing kiss. Elena felt her knees buckle at the intensity, and it wasn't long before she felt his arms wrapped around her waist in an effort to steady her. She parted her lips slightly, granting him access to her mouth, and soon their tongues began battling for dominance. He swallowed every soft moan and whimper that escaped her soft lips, causing his insides to quiver. His lips traced a warm wet trail all the way down to her collar bone, nibbling gently at the tender flesh of her neck.

"Damon, I don't mean to be a sore looser but I don't think you're in the best condition to take this any further." Elena cautioned, reluctantly pulling herself away from the sensation his lips created against her skin.

He let out a whimper of protest, but he knew she was right. With his shoulder still bandaged, sex was one of the activities that he was forbidden to partake in.

"You're not getting off this easy," he warned. "You just wait until I'm better."

Elena giggled uncontrollably at his obvious discomfort. "You're impossible, Damon."

Damon brought his chin up to rest on the top of her head, and inhaled the sweet vanilla scent of her shampoo. Being so close to her did things to him, and not just in the physical sense. It made him feel things he'd never once felt before. He felt a sense of belonging; his heart erupted with this feeling completely foreign to him. He figured it had to be the reason he couldn't seem to keep his hands or eyes off her. Whenever they were in the same room he felt this intense magnetic pull between them, and despite her less than encouraging reactions sometimes, moments like these told him that she enjoyed the closeness as much as he did.

The two of them stood there completely engrossed in each other's embrace, until the loud ring of Damon's cell phone forced them apart. Elena let her arms fall from where they were linked around his neck.

"Hello?"

"Is this Damon Salvatore?" A female voice asked.

"Yes, may I ask whose speaking?" Damon politely requested.

"Good. Mr. Salvatore I'm going to need your help. I'm sure you're familiar with Katherine, she's my daughter." The woman replied.

"Yes, we've dated in the past." Damon clarified, earning him a weird look from Elena. Despite being with Katherine for so many years, she never once introduced him to her parent's or anyone in her family. Every time Damon brought it up, she came up with some convenient excuse and Damon eventually dropped it.

"She's told me about you, sometime ago." The woman informed him. "By any chance do you know where Katherine might be?"

"Actually I just saw her, she was just here."

"Where is here?" The woman inquired impatiently.

"Mystic Falls, Virginia." Damon informed her. He was growing a little worried, by the fear he detected in the woman's voice.

"Damon, listen to me carefully. You have to be careful." The woman warned. "Katherine isn't well."

"What the hell are you taking about?" Damon felt a slight panic rising in his throat. "How did you even get my number?"

"That's not important." The woman dismissed. "What you need to know is that my daughter is a danger to herself and all those around her right now and I urge you to be careful."

"Just what the hell does all of this mean?" Damon felt his patience wearing thin at the woman's ominous tone. Elena's curious expression hardly helped matters, as he had managed to lose his cool, and he knew that meant endless questions he didn't have answers to.

"Be careful, I'll be flying to Mystic Falls as soon as I can to get a handle on the situation." With that the woman hung up, providing no real answers to the many questions that swirled in Damon's head.

"Who was that?" Elena asked before Damon could remove the phone from his ear.

"I'm not sure I know." He looked at her with look of complete uncertainty and something akin to fear. Elena knew Damon's many faces, and fear is something she'd never seen him express before. The look on Damon's face caused an indescribable feeling of dread rise in her chest, and she knew even before he uttered a word that bad things were on the horizon.


Thank you guys for reading. Hope you enjoyed it! Don't forget to let me know what you think! :)