Quick little disclaimer - this is quite a short chapter, and I do apologise but it was always going to be, so do enjoy anyway. This is it guys! This is the end of 'You're in Paradise Now'! We've had a good laugh though, haven't we? There's been tears, there's been joy but ultimately, we still ship Delena at the end of the day right? And we always will :') I'll write a bit more at the bottom of the chapter as I don't want to delay you any more. Enjoy ~

"Elena, you sure you're ok?" Jenna called from the sitting room. "I'm fine!" I called back as I yanked the turkey out of the oven. Christmas music was tinkling from our speakers and baubles dangled from every surface. It was Christmas day, exactly two months since I had last seen Damon. Two months mightn't sound like a long time, but it felt like the whole thing had happened years ago, if at all. I had taken it upon myself to prepare Christmas dinner for Jeremy, Jenna and I since I hadn't really much else to do. I had been doing bits and pieces of freelance and had been offered a few more permanent positions, but I hadn't taken them. I didn't want to, not yet. I hadn't heard from any of them, apart from a text or two from Caroline and although I hadn't really expected to, it still stung a little bit that they never really thought of me. That was when I had to remind myself that I was out of their lives – they had no reason to think of me. Caroline was probably busy planning next year's ball, and the brothers were probably immersed in some other project. None of them had time for me. And I knew that I was just going to have to accept that.

After my mini breakdown in New York, everyone in Mystic Falls had been tiptoeing around me carefully, unsure of what to say. When it became apparent that I wasn't going to curl up in a ball in the middle of the street however, they bombarded me with questions about the Salvatores, Damon in particular. Jenna, bless her heart, hadn't told anyone about our little relationship so it was easy to brush off questions with a small laugh and a vague reply.

I popped the turkey on a plate – I knew it had to settle for about an hour, so I began to search for all of its accompaniments. "Cranberry sauce…where's the cranberry sauce?" I muttered to myself, rooting through all of the cupboards. When I couldn't find any, I popped my head into the sitting room, where Jenna was curled, reading through a book I had given her as a present. She glanced up and smiled warmly.
"Did you get the cranberry sauce Jenna? It was on the list." Her smile dropped and she sat up, horrified. "Oh sweetheart, I'm so sorry, I completely forgot –" I waved it off, grinning at her. "It's fine. I'll just run down to the shop and grab some. I have to get ice cream anyway." She still looked a bit anxious but I winked at her and hurried to grab my coat. I actually wanted to go on a little walk – it had snowed last night and Mystic Falls never looked more beautiful than when it was covered in white.

I pulled on my grey trench coat over my little green dress I had spent so long choosing - I had a pair of black tights on as well, along with black heels which I knew wouldn't be ideal in snow but they were so pretty, and I didn't have the heart to take them off I looped a scarf around my neck, pulled on a pair of gloves, grabbed my bag and I was off.

Mystic Falls really was gorgeous – I crunched through the snow merrily, swinging my purse at my side. The streets were empty – everyone was inside of course, with their families. This made my chest twinge a tiny bit but I tried to ignore it and carried on.

All of a sudden, snowflakes began to fall around me. I stopped and grinned as I gazed up directly into the sky, sticking out my tongue and tasting their icy coldness. "Merry Christmas Ms. Gilbert." I whispered to myself as I took a step forward before I collided straight into someone and tripped to the ground.

I landed in the soft snow, so I was fine of course, but that wasn't what was causing my heart to thump. It was the man offering his hand out to me, with his piercing blue eyes and his raven black tousled hair, his smug smile and his strong, muscular body. "Mr...Mr. Salvatore." I said shakily, more in shock than anything else.
His smile spread and he took my hand and pulled me up.
"Ms. Gilbert." He murmured. His minty breath was cool on my flushing cheeks and his hand lingered on my arm as I gazed up at him, feeling a little bit star struck. He was even more perfect than I remembered him, wearing a soft black coat and grey scarf, along with leather gloves. "What…what are you doing back here in Mystic Falls? You…you stay in New York for Christmas." I breathed, trying to focus which was quite hard considering he was rubbing his thumb in tiny circles on my wrist. He shrugged.
"I figured it was time for a change. Plus Stefan and Caroline wanted to come home." I noticed his car, parked a bit down the street. I squinted at it, and saw Caroline was crouched in the backseat. When she saw I was looking at her, she waved enthusiastically. I gave a hesitant wave back and Damon chuckled softly. "She wanted to come to say hello. She made Stefan come along too." He explained dryly and I snorted. Same old Caroline then.
"It's like you haven't existed." I said softly, and Damon's face grew serious all of a sudden. "I'm sorry," He said quietly. "For not making any contact with you. I know you were probably confused but we didn't know what else to do. We didn't want to keep dragging you back into our crazy little world." "Why are you back now then?" I whispered, and his eyes seemed to grow even more intense. "A day has not gone by when I haven't thought about you, Ms. Gilbert." He murmured, and my heart began to pound even faster. It was just then when Caroline decided to make her exit from the car, skipping cheerfully towards us in impossibly high boots. Stefan followed after her, smiling at me sheepishly. I pulled away from Damon and grinned at them, but that only lasted until Caroline slipped and ended up flat on her back in the snow. I groaned and hurried towards her, a little more carefully than she had.

I reached her before Stefan did and found her giggling, her warm blue eyes twinkling up at me. "What am I going to do with you Care?" I laughed, extending a hand. She grinned and grabbed my hand and yanked me down into the snow beside her. I squealed at the icy coldness and tried to flick some onto her while Damon and Stefan appeared over us.

"It's freezing!" I complained and Damon laughed and pulled me up gently. Caroline scrambled up and threw her arms around me. "It's so good to see you!" She chirped happily and I couldn't help but hug her back. When I pulled away, I grinned at Stefan who smiled warmly back, pulling me in to kiss me on the cheek. "It's lovely to see you." He beamed and my heart felt lighter than it had in months as I looked around at all of them.
"But tell me Ms. Gilbert, what are you doing out and about on Christmas morning?" Damon drawled and I laughed.
"I need to pick up a few things in the shop for Christmas dinner. Speaking of which, what are you all doing?" Caroline and Stefan smiled at each other. "We're going to Caroline's parents for dinner." Stefan explained, wrapping his arms around her lightly. "They've decided to finally get to know me." I smiled warmly at them. "I'm positive they'll love you." I told him and I meant it. Stefan was impossible not to like, and I couldn't imagine anyone being anything but thrilled that their daughter was going out with him. "Actually sweetheart, we had better go." Caroline said, glancing at him before turning to me, grinning. "I'll see you tomorrow, ok?" She said happily, hugging me tightly. I hugged her back, realizing how much I had missed this little ball of energy. They disappeared down the road, giving us a final wave before turning a corner.

I turned to Damon, my heart thumping. "What are you doing for Christmas, Mr. Salvatore?" I asked shyly and he shrugged. "This and that. You know yourself." I examined him for a few moments before speaking again 'This and that' meant nothing for Damon; even if I hadn't seen him for a while, I still remembered this. "Well, do you want to come to my house for Christmas dinner?"

He looked surprised and, I was worried I had said something wrong. "I don't want to crash in on your family dinner." He said simply and I realized that even if my parents were dead, I still had family. Damon really had no one apart from Stefan. This only made me more determined to get him to agree.

"Come on!" I coaxed, becoming more and more excited about the idea. He was wavering too, I could tell. "You could help me cook!" I offered, remembering that he was amazing at it. He wrinkled his nose at this however. "You're cooking?" He asked in disbelief and I thumped him hard, glaring at him. "Do you want to come over or not?" I demanded grumpily and he laughed, a warm smile spreading over his face. "I'd love to, if it's ok with you." I nodded eagerly – I knew Aunt Jenna wouldn't mind. If anything, she would enjoy having someone else.

"I just need to have a few things to grab in the shop." I told him and he grinned and offered me his arm. "We'd best get going then, shouldn't we Ms. Gilbert?" I rolled my eyes, slipping my hand lightly through his arm. I knew it was probably best not to become too attached, not again – but oh, he was so perfect, with the sparkle in his incredible eyes and the tiny lines that appeared around them when he smiled and his red lips that were curved in a smug smile and looked so kissable and perfect…I realized he was saying something and quickly tried to refocus.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" I asked as innocently as I could and he smirked again, raising an eyebrow. "I said," He murmured, the intense blues of his eyes glancing every now and again at my lips. "That you were staring at me and I wanted to know if something was wrong." Judging by the tone of his voice, he knew exactly what was wrong.

"I'm…I'm fine!" I bluffed, blushing bright red. He rolled his eyes and continued on into the shop, leaving me to trot after him, cursing myself as I did so. "What did you say you needed?" He asked, turning around so that I practically bumped into him. "Oh – just ice cream and cranberry sauce. And if there's anything you're partial to, grab it." He nodded, and disappeared into the aisles, appearing about a minute later with a jar of red sauce and a tub of some fancy ice cream, along with a packet of Oreos. I raised my eyebrow at the cookies but he ignored me. I would have teased him further but I realized that he was going to pay so I obviously need to run after him, yelping about how It was his job. He ignored me again of course.

We left the shop with me still complaining and found it had begun snowing again. I tentatively stepped out into the falling snowflakes, knowing that there wasn't a more magical sight than this. "It's beautiful." I said quietly to Damon, who appeared by my side, and he shrugged. "I've seen a lot more gorgeous." He replied and it took me a moment to realize what he was saying. I blushed bright red, beginning to walk quickly again. "We…we can't be late for Jenna!" I called to him by way of feeble explanation. I presumed that he didn't buy it but he didn't say anything else and followed me.

I sighed with relief inwardly when our house came into view. At least there I could distract myself and maybe Damon would ease up on all of the hands 'accidently' brushing and the comments with slight innuendos, because I knew that my strong 'we really shouldn't get back together' façade would crumble if he kept up like that for much longer.

"Are you ok?" He murmured, as if he could read my damn mind. "Why wouldn't I be? It's Christmas." was my stupid reply. Christ, I really had to get better at talking like a sophisticated person.

"Well, you haven't really been ok since earlier." He said, his eyebrows furrowed slightly as he tried to read me the way he read everyone else. "I'm fine." I insisted lamely and he rolled his eyes. "You're not fine, Ms. Gilbert. Now tell me what's wrong." I stared at him quietly, taking in his earnest expression and desperately wishing I could say the opposite of what I was about to. "We…we can't be together Damon." I said. "I just can't deal with all of that again. And I want to, so much but I just…I don't think you and I are meant to be together. Not now anyway." He looked at me. Like really looked at me. For so long that I began to feel a bit uncomfortable. "Let's…just forget about." I muttered, turning away to continue to the house. "Is that what you want?" I heard from behind me, his voice slightly cold, which I hated. I spun around, glaring at him. "Of course it isn't!" I cried, wanting to slap him for his stupidity. He strode towards me, getting all up close now; this was one of his intimidation tactics, I knew. (It was working, if I was being completely honest.)

"So why can't we Elena?" He demanded, his flashing eyes a few inches from mine. I couldn't think of an actual answer for this, so I just stayed quiet, which seemed to irritate him more. "You don't have a reason – do you want to know why? Because there is none. You and I were made for each other Elena! I'm never happier than I am with you, don't you understand? I love you!" As soon as the words were out of his mouth, we both froze.
"You…you what?" I whispered quietly, staring at him. I was guessing that Damon Salvatore had never said that to someone in his life, and I'm pretty sure Damon was thinking the exact same thing. Nobody had ever said it to me in that sense, that was for sure. Then a strange expression crossed his face and he shrugged before taking another step forward and filling whatever space had been between us. "May as well throw fat into the fire." He murmured, before twisting his hand in my hair and tilting my head backwards and pressing his lips against mine.

It was electric – every nerve, every cell in my body felt like a firework exploding. I was discovering that Damon Salvatore was a bit like a drug – once you'd had a taste, you couldn't go back. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling myself closer to him as he moaned slightly. This kiss was making me lightheaded, but I didn't even care. It did briefly cross my mind that any of my neighbors might be having a gawk at us through the window but I couldn't focus on that for too long – this moment felt too magical, what with it being Christmas, and the snow swirling lazily around us, to be spoiled by something as trivial as that.

Finally I had to pull away, gasping for air. (As elegantly as one could obviously.) Damon, as per usual, looked just as he had before hand. He gently cupped my face with his hand. "I've waited so long to be able to hold you again." He said softly, rubbing his thumb gently back and forth over my cheek. "I've waited so long to hug you, to kiss you, to touch you. It was a mistake, Ms. Gilbert, to ever let you go." I gazed at him, completely transfixed despite the fact that I was practically going numb from the cold. He went to kiss me again but I knew if I was going to attempt to get out of this, I would have to try before my resolve crumbled weakly.

"But Damon, we don't live in the same world." I protested weakly. "You have your multi million dollar business and your trillions of dollars and houses all over the world and I'm Elena Gilbert, freelance writer from 221 Mystic Falls Avenue. Do you honestly think that doesn't matter?"

"I would give up my business and my money and my houses and everything I own, if it meant I got to be with you Ms. Gilbert." He said completely seriously and I nearly melted into a puddle of goo on the street. "Just say the word and I'll get rid of all of it. But all I'm asking of you is that you take me back. Please Ms. Gilbert."
He didn't say anything for a few moments, just looked at me so intently that I felt trapped in his gaze and all of a sudden, I flashed back to when I first met him. Back then, he had just been a job, something I needed to get over with. I had been scared of him, intimidated by him, wondering if he was just going to laugh in my face and tell me to get out before he called security. And now, he was standing in front of me, asking me to get back together with him, to be with him and to accept his love again. And just like I had that first day, I felt powerless, knowing that I had as much choice about this as I did that first day. So when he slowly came towards me and pressed his cool, soft lips to mine, I didn't object – I simply wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him back hard, because ultimately, I didn't know what was going to come our way next, but what I was positive of was that Damon Salvatore loved me, and I him. And when he pulled away and pressed his forehead against mine and murmured those three magic words, I didn't think twice before whispering them back.

Maybe if we wish hard enough, it doesn't have to end? Sigh. I feel like I'm being forced to give away a freaking puppy or something because this story was my baby, my whole first fanfic. A total of 64 pages, forever saved to my computer under the title 'aaaaaaaaa' as I was too lazy to write the full thing. :P I can honestly say that you people reading this have been the most gorgeous people ever and I will not forget your kind words in a hurry, I can assure you of that. Obviously I will continue to write fanfiction (if there's anything you want to see, do let me know! I've been mulling over an idea for a while but it isn't at all like this one, and it will require a good bit of planning but we'll see!) but I know that of course, I will lose some of you readers because obviously you won't read all of one author. And that's perfectly fine :) If you've taken the time out of your day to leave a review/private message/follow/favourite/ETC ETC ETC, you are just a lovely person.
What in God's name am I going to do with all of my spare time now? D: Probably just Tumblr. And tea. I'll nurse away my fanfiction blues.

As always, rate, review, let me know what you thought! I hate that I'll (most likely) never have to update this story again D: But there will be others!

Bye my darlings,

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