AN: Good evening! How are you all doing?
So this is pretty angsty on this story's level (ha ha ha) but I hope you still enjoy my sad sense of humor. I still find myself freaking hilarious so I'm fine, thank you.
I'll just continue hoping to hear your thoughts. I've noticed it works to ask questions so I'll make something up at the end.
AND the little part all in italics is a teeny tiny flashback! IknowyouhatemeIwillleavenow
Laters!
She returned to her normal life: school, homework, seeing friends and so on. She was still worrying but everyone seemed to think that it was just Damon. It wasn't "just Damon" to disappear for a month.
She was suffering. She couldn't be normal when something so important was gone from her life. She needed to know about Damon. Bonnie and Caroline were trying to give her something else to think about but in the end it didn't help. Caroline and Tyler finally came out with their relationship. That of course only brought back memories.
She worked way too hard on school because she was having such a hard time focusing. When two months had past, she was really struggling on everything. Stefan was still sure that Damon would return but everyone else seemed to start preparing her for the worse.
"Elena, where are you going?" John asked: he'd been living in the house for the whole time.
"Out."
"With a boy?"
"Unless Damon's back, you know that question is useless", Elena said bluntly and left.
"John, leave her alone", Jenna commanded: she'd noticed her fading.
"Fine, I'm leaving too anyway", John walked out the door. He drove straight to the City Hall. "Is he awake?" he asked from a deputy.
"Just woke up", the deputy nodded.
John opened the cell and stepped in. "How are we doing today? Still acting out?"
"Screw you", Damon groaned from the floor. He was starving and angry.
"I take that as a yes", John chuckled. "I have a proposition for you. I guess you're getting hungry and might finally be cooperative. So this is the deal: you do as I say and you get this", he pulled out a blood bag and showed it to him.
Damon's body reacted to it before his mind did. His body jerked up with his eyes red. "What do you want?" he growled.
"I need you to write a letter. You've been gone for two months and she's still not letting go. You will write a letter where you tell her that you don't care for her anymore and that you're not coming back."
Damon stared at him in shock. He needed the blood. He wasn't getting out anytime soon: the deputies were keeping him strongly vervained. He was sure that John wasn't going to kill him – he would've done that already – but just keep him locked up until Elena moved on. John was too afraid of the things he'd have to face if he got caught of killing him.
He would have to hurt her. In a way it was the right thing to do: if he wasn't getting out, she should move on with her life. Maybe John was planning on letting him out after she'd done that so that he couldn't go back to her… or maybe not.
If he wouldn't write the letter, he would continue starving and she would continue waiting for him. Of course he wanted her to do that, but it wasn't fair. But could he write those things? He didn't know.
"You know it's best for everyone, Damon", John said. "I'll leave you to think about it."
The subject really hit a spot. Every time he and Elena had fought about turning her, he'd thought about this option. If he'd leave, she would have the life she deserved. That hadn't stopped him before because he wanted to be with her just as much, but in the end he was the guilty one. He couldn't quit her, leave her be.
With those thoughts he passed out as the new dose of vervain was injected into his system.
...
Stefan had brought his friends over. Damon slowly opened his eyes and got up. He heard the familiar, soft voice that made him shiver. He got dressed in a blur and walked downstairs with human speed.
"Well hello Stefan", he raised his brows at his brother.
"Caroline, Matt, Bonnie, Elena, this is my brother Damon", Stefan pointed at everyone in order.
The others said their hellos but Damon was staring at Elena. Everything about her was like Katherine – like she was Katherine. Her eyes, her smile, her body, even her voice…
"Hi Damon, Stefan's told a lot about you", she smiled.
"Likewise", Damon smirked. "So how is Stefan doing? Are you being nice to him?" He saw Stefan glaring at him in the background.
Elena laughed. "Yes, we're being nice to him."
Damon could feel the hair on his neck rise at the sound. It was like a flashback from the past. "Great. I was a little worried that coming home would be a bad idea but it all seems to be going great."
"So you've lived here before?" Elena asked.
"A long time ago", Damon nodded.
Then Matt said something and got everyone's attention. Damon stayed there for a while, just staring at her, listening. It took only that little while to see how wrong he'd been: she was nothing like Katherine.
...
Elena wasn't literally going out. She got into her car and drove to the boarding house. The sun was still up so she knew that no one would interrupt her.
Damon's room looked completely normal. Elena walked to his bed and sat on it. She'd been there so many times but now it all seemed strange and different. She'd stopped crying over it weeks ago but now it all came back.
She curled up under the covers. His scent lingered around her as she let the tears fall. She didn't know what to do anymore. She wanted to continue refusing that he'd left.
The sun was going down when she finally got up. As a last act of desperation, she went to his closet. She knew where the sweater was.
"Katherine?" Trish called when she was walking down the stairs.
"Nope", Elena shook her head. "The human version."
"Elena! Hi, what are you doing here?"
"Desperately holding on", Elena laughed dryly.
"You're kidding? So he's not back yet?" Trish flew in front of her, stopping her from leaving.
"No, he's not back", Elena sighed and walked past her.
"He wouldn't leave just like that, you know", Trish said quietly.
Elena turned to face her. Something in the look on Trish's face made her stay.
"Could we talk for a while?" Trish asked.
"Sure", Elena followed her to the parlour.
"You don't have to tell me if it's private, but what did you fight about before Damon left?" Trish stared at her intently.
"I guess it's not that personal", Elena wrapped her arms around her legs. "We fought about me turning into a vampire."
"And you're against it..?"
"No! I'm for it, he's fighting back", Elena huffed.
"Why would you want to turn into a vampire?" Trish frowned.
"Isn't it obvious? I want to be with him forever. I wouldn't be okay with us dating only until I'm too old. It's the cost I'm willing to pay", Elena said.
"Oh, I didn't think about that. How long have you been together again?" Trish asked.
"Two years in November", Elena answered.
"Wow, I really have been gone for ten years", Trish shook her head. "So why exactly is he against it?"
"He says he doesn't deserve me and that he can't turn me because that would be selfish of him."
"Well it would be. If he turns you, he gets to be with you forever but you loose the life you could have", Trish noted. "That would be selfish of him and stupid of you."
"So he doesn't deserve to be happy? And I'm stupid for loving him?" Elena snapped.
"I'd like to say yes to both, but I'm afraid you'd kill me. Damon is a vampire. We're kind of doomed in the love-department. I'm not even sure if we really deserve to love. We're not nice creatures.
My point being: as a human, you're supposed to not love a vampire. It'll screw up your life – even though the sex is good."
"I know how my life is supposed to be, but do I really care? No, I don't care. I love Damon", Elena pushed her hair off of her face. "Which brings us back to him being gone. I want to believe that he didn't just leave me."
"He loves you, Elena. But isn't this town filled with vampire hunters? What if after your fight he was raging somewhere and got caught? I don't want to think that, but he might as well be dead", Trish bit her lip. "I hope he isn't because I do kind of care for him. Yeah, we're just friends with benefits or something but he's one of my oldest friends."
"You're not as bad as he says", Elena chuckled. "What do you think I should do?"
"I honestly don't know about you. I could go around asking from my connections if anyone's seen him. It's probably a dead-end but your human sadness is really depressing", Trish said bluntly.
"I would appreciate that. My friends are trying to convince me that he's left and Stefan thinks that he might just pop up anytime soon. It's really irritating", Elena got up. "I'll come back here."
"To get more clothes?" Trish glanced at her bag.
"Okay, you're almost as bad as he says", Elena rolled her eyes and left.
Later that night she was lying in her bed. She would never admit it to anyone, but she was holding his sweater, breathing in the scent and in the morning if her eyes were a bit puffy, no one mentioned it.
...
"Have you come to your senses?" John asked.
Damon glared at him for a long time before answering: "I'll do it."
"I know", John had a smug smile plastered on his face. It made Damon feel like ripping it off.
"But how am I supposed to write it when I'm vervained?"
"You can sober up for a while. Then you'll write it. You'll get the blood after you're done", John said.
"I don't trust you", Damon stated. "I want the blood in advance."
"So you can rip my head off? No thank you. You'll get it after you're done", John snorted.
"How about a sip before and the rest after?"
"You're really trying to negotiate with this", John shook his head. "Fine. Just as long as you write it. And you won't get it if the letter isn't good enough. You'll write until it's decent."
"Have I ever mentioned that I'd really like to kill you?"
"Yes, I think you've mentioned that."
"Good", Damon turned his head away.
The next scent that hit him was intoxicating. It was just a small cup of blood but it worked the magic. John put it on the ground and he reached for it right away.
After drinking every single drop of it, he was able to shakily sit up.
"Okay, this is an easy thing to do. You just write that you left her. You can make up the reason yourself. Make it convincing", John threw him a pen, a writing pad and a sheet of paper.
Damon stared at the empty paper for a good while. This is ridiculous, he thought before pressing the tip on the white surface.
AN: So how's it going? The next chapter will be over 2k again so yay you survived.
So err... What do you think about Elena's life choices? Are you getting Twilight vibes because I am so sorry. It has been a long time since I planned this. But the answer to your question is that no, this is not supposed to be a sad Twilight rip-off, god no. I promise she won't curl up into a ball in a forest or try to jump off a cliff (though that sounds awesome).
What do you think Damon will do?
You will have to find out... in the next episode (chapter) of And You Love The Lies They Say. (sorry I need to have my moments)