Well its been 2 weeks and I am so sorry. I needed to hash out the whole outline of this story right to the end before I could keep going to make things flow. I was fighting some wicked headaches all week here too and the pain in my head just did not allow me to focus enough to write the way I wanted to. Now I will take the time after this to catch up on reading and reviewing.

So here you go.

I hope you love it and laugh and cry and laugh some more.

Roller coaster of emotions in this chapter and not everything will happen the way you want it to or as fast as you want it to. But that will make it that much sweeter when we do get there. So please enjoy the build up and the journey these precious characters are on.

Super special thanks to scarlett2112 for the amazing photo collage she made me for the story! I love it!

Elena's POV

His warm mouth on mine felt incredible as I felt his hands pull my body in closer to his. Damon was so close that I could barely feel any water slipping between us as it poured down onto our heads, soaking us more as I buried my fingers in his wet, black hair.

"Damon," I breathed when our lips broke apart so I could take in a shuddering breath. His eyes were mesmerizing and locked on mine as we floated in the water. I was trembling from head to toe with anticipation. But also with fear...

I had never been this close to anyone, not even Aaron. I told Aaron I wanted to wait till we were married and he respected my wishes. What I really felt was that I needed that spark between us to even feel like I wanted more with him; to make love to him. But I didn't feel that rush, that passion between us and I knew he wasn't the one.

Now...with Damon, feeling his hands on my ass, his chest pressed so tight to mine, his soft warm breath against my face, I was overcome with that rush of all consuming feelings that I had never had with Aaron.

I wanted to be closer to Damon, I wanted to feel every part of him and have his hands and his lips all over me. I wanted him to make love to me...but I was scared.

I had never told him I was a virgin. I knew I should, that he deserved to know. I had been so take charge and confident, pulling his lips to mine, straddling him, taking off my jeans and then without missing a beat, reaching for his and despite my hands shaking, stripping him down like I was taking what I wanted. That he was mine.

I saw him staring at me as my mind was miles away, playing over all the different ways this could go and I realized he had caught me in my indecision. I opened my mouth as I smiled at him and pulled his head back to mine, but he stiffened and his hands came up to my face as I saw his eyes were wide and curious at me.

"Baby, we can stop..." he mumbled as his hand brushed a wet strand of hair from my face. I closed my eyes leaning into his gentle touch. I shook my head, my eyes opening again to stare into the deep blue depths of his own.

"No Damon. I want this. I love you," I said, trying to sound sure of myself. But he was not buying it even when I thrust my hips into his under the water, feeling how much he wanted me too.

My beautiful man smiled at me, as the water dripped down his face. "And I love you too Beauty. More than anything," he said confidently. "But I can see in your eyes that something is wrong Elena." He caressed my cheek, twining his finger around a lock of my wet hair. "Please tell me." His expression in that moment was so unguarded and so innocent as he waited for me to respond.

We were still floating in the water and when I didn't answer he started walking us back to the ledge where it was low enough to get back out of the water. When I realized that this moment was over, I started shaking my head again at him, pulling his face so his eyes met mine.

"Damon, I'm fine. I'm amazing." I kissed him hard and deep, mumbling between kisses. "This is perfect, being here with you." More kisses. "Don't stop, please. Just kiss me," I gasped out, throwing my head back and looking up at the sparking rocks on the roof of the cave in awe.

I felt his lips then on the hollow of my throat and my hand went around to hold his head to me as I felt him licking and sucking on my skin. Maybe he did believe me. My eyes fell closed as his arms slid down my sides to rest on my bare hips to massage my skin under the water as his tongue lapped at my pulse point.

"Fuck, baby. You taste so good," he whimpered against my throat and I felt my heart skip a beat at the rawness of his velvety voice as he sucked my skin into his mouth and my head fell back more against the rock wall he had me pressed against. "Just kissing you like this, feels like I am floating. You feel so perfect with me."

I moaned as his lips sucked further down my chest between my breasts and my heart was racing in excitement but also in more fear of the unknown. His hands slowly brushed my bra straps down both my arms and I felt his nose nuzzling under the wet fabric of my bra. "Mmm, Elena," he whimpered, his lips moving to where his nose had nudged the fabric aside.

My thoughts raced, the fear overwhelming me. Oh God, what if he was disappointed? How many women had he been with? I should tell him why I felt so nervous.? Maybe I wouldn't be what he thought I would? Maybe my inexperience would ruin this?

I felt his one hand snake around my side and up my back and my heart just pounded as his fingers grasped the hook for my bra. But before he unclasped it I saw his eyes seeking mine and he backed away from me the instant he saw the look on my face.

He lifted me up and out of the water, pulling himself up too to sit on the ledge and before I knew it he was digging in the bag he brought and draped a warm plush blanket around me. Was he mad at me? I hated that I was so scared. Take charge Elena that I had shown him before was such a lier. I dared to look back up in his eyes, scared of what I would see. But his expression was soft, his eyes warm as he pulled me and the blanket into his lap.

His hand went up to my arms and pulled the straps back up before he tucked the blanket all the way around me. His hand found mine and neither of us had spoken yet. The silence was deafening as I felt him tangle our fingers together. He brought our hands up to tilt my chin so our eyes met.

"Talk to me, please Beauty," he whispered. There was no signs of anger or disappointment on his face, just genuine concern as his eyes stayed locked on mine and I swallowed the lump in my throat.

More silence. I had no idea what to say.

"Please Elena, you can trust me with whatever in spinning in that gorgeous head of yours. I promise you, I am not upset."

I tried to draw in a deep breath but my heart was pounding so hard in my chest. "I'm just...I'm scared Damon," I said, glad to get it out but terrified of what he would think of me.

He immediately pulled me off his lap and stood up as I watched him. I panicked, thinking he was leaving me. That he did not get what he wanted and I was cruel for sending him mixed signals. Damn it my brain was in overdrive with insecurity.

But all he did was walk to the edge of the rock to peer up into the cavern opening and look around. He climbed the rocks and I saw his head dart around above the ground before he came back to me. It took me far too long to process in my nervousness that he thought I meant I was scared of intruders or someone finding us.

"No Damon, that wasn't what I meant. I trust you that we are safe and that no one knows where we are." He moved back to sit beside me but did not pull me into his lap again. He leaned back on his arms as I watched his feet dangle over the edge and into the water.

His head was down and he had not met my eyes since he came back. "So you are scared of me."

I sucked in a breath at that statement like he believed it had to be the truth, realizing I made him think it was him. It brought me back to that moment in the plane where I was terrified of the plane taking off and being tormented by the memories of my family dying and he had thought it was him then too. He thought I was scared to sit beside him.

"I'm sorry Elena. I can back off. I guess I just read things wrong..."

I was shaking my head for the third time as I crawled closer to him and put my finger to his lips as troubled blue met determined brown. "No. No Damon that is not it at all. I love you. You did not see anything wrong." I moved closer crawling back over his one bent leg to lean into his strong chest and I felt his arms come around me. I could feel his heart pounding against my ear as he brushed a kiss to my hair before his chin rested on the top of my head.

"Then what is it? We are safe, no one knows where we are and if its not me..." he mumbled into my hair.

"I'm a virgin. I don't know if I am ready to do...that. I'm scared." I blurted out shutting my eyes, my arms tight around his waist not daring to look up right then. There was more silence as I wondered what he was thinking before I felt his arms pull me in tight to his bare chest, his legs bent on both sides of my body. His hands slid up to my neck and under my wet hair and tilted my head up till I was facing him but I still had not opened my eyes.

"I'm sorry Damon, I am such an idiot and here I went ruining the moment..."

But he didn't let me finish and I felt his warm mouth envelope mine, his tongue plunging into my mouth. He cradled my face as he kissed me gentle but firmly and I just melted to his touch. When he pulled back, I lazily opened my eyes to see him staring deeply back at me.

"Thank you Elena," he breathed out, leaning our foreheads together, our breaths mingling as I sucked in air from the intensity of his kiss.

"Thank you for telling me." He held me tighter, his eyes locked to mine, his voice firm. "You are not an idiot and you did not ruin anything."

"Really?" I smiled tentatively at him and he smiled back warmly.

"Yes, really baby. I am not going to pressure you. I would never do that. I will wait as long as you need."

It felt so good to tell him and that he wasn't upset. Other guys I had dated before Aaron, some of them just literally walked away when I told them I was scared and didn't want to go that far with them. Like I wasn't worth waiting for.

I had started to doubt if anyone thought I was worth waiting for...

I smiled wider and opened my arms and hugged him tightly, pulling the blanket around both of us. But I heard him groan and it wasn't in pleasure and I pulled back.

"I'm so sorry Damon. I didn't mean to hurt you. I know you said your ribs were still so sore." He was already shaking his head at me but I could see in his eyes that he was just trying to be strong.

"Lets just... press pause here and let me take care of you," I said sitting up more and pulling the blanket off me to wrap around his shoulders.

I noticed a growth of some kind of moss or greenery further back from the edge of the pool and I took his hands and walked him over to it. It was soft and would make a great place to sleep. I laid the blanket under him and wrapped it back around him. Then I shook out our jeans and his shirt and Ric's jacket to lay them on the rock, hopeful they would dry by morning.

He let me guide him there before he argued back to me. "Elena I'm fine. Its just been a hell of a day, but I'm fine. We were talking about you."

"I can wait. Let me take care of you, please." I pouted at him when he shook his head again looking sternly back at me like this was some kind of competition. I ignored his stubbornness, focusing more on how I could help the man I loved. "Where does it hurt?" I asked him as I moved myself to sit more behind him.

"You don't want to know Beauty. It hurts everywhere." He stuck out his lip back at me giving me such an adorable puppy dog face in the dim light. He did not protest more as I sat cross legged and tugged him down to my lap and started massaging his head that was resting on my legs.

"Mmm, don't stop," he moaned softly, his eyes closing instantly and I grinned that I could help him feel better. I just stared down at his angelic face, his plump lips, swollen from our kisses, his long dark lashes just brushing against the skin under his eyes. His lips parted in a soft tender smile as my hands tangled into his wet locks, tugging gently on his head.

He had helped me so much already, on the plane as I felt so panicked as we took off, kissing me so softly saying he didn't regret it when I was thrown in his lap and he could have been beaten for looking like he was taking advantage of me. He kept me safe as the plane crashed by shielding me with his whole body, protecting me from Kai and his goons getting us out of the plane before we drowned, and he nearly died having all the cons chase him so they didn't find me.

I kept massaging his head, his face and his neck slowly and firmly as my mind kept drifting. This man had been hurt just for looking at me when I arrived on the plane, beaten even worse when he thought Kai was hurting me and he took Matt hostage to get to the front of the plane.

Everything he did for me. I was in awe of him and his strength and bravery to protect me and I wanted so badly to show him how much I loved him.

Having him say he would wait for me made me want him even more.

I drew in a deep breath seeing his eyes still closed and I allowed myself the freedom for my own eyes to roam over his body for the first time since that night in the hospital. He had no idea I had been there then and how close we had been. He had been in a medically induced coma because of the severity of the third degree burns on his back. He had been delirious when he kissed me against the shower wall too and I knew after he woke up that he had no memory of anything that happened between us. Despite my fear of my first time with him or anyone, I did not know that if we hadn't been interrupted that I would not have let take me against that wall right then in that shower. My feelings were so strong for him then already.

I looked back up at his face to see his blue eyes wide and intense on me. "What are you thinking Elena?" he whispered.

His hair was sticking up all over in such a cute little mess from my massaging his head before my hands dug down underneath his neck to get to his back between his shoulders. I knew the skin was not tender there anymore from the burn. It had healed so much since then despite still feeling the skin bumpy and jagged under my fingers.

I sighed deeply looking down into his ocean blue eyes. "I was thinking about that night Damon. When you got burned." My eyes fell away from his. The scalding hot pipes had permanently damaged his soft skin right where I was rubbing and I wished the violence had never gone that far under my watch. I should have seen it coming; that the cons would not stop after he was nearly killed by the rat poison. I wished he had trusted me with the truth weeks ago and maybe then I could have done something else to protect him.

His lips curled into a smile. "Good thoughts or bad thoughts baby?" I nearly jumped when I felt his arms that had been at his sides sneak up over his head and caress by bare legs.

"Bad," I mumbled distantly, hardly feeling his caresses as the memories of him so damaged flooded through me.

I saw him frowning at me, realizing I had never seen that look before. "None of that was your fault Elena. Kai was the asshole. Everything is on him. And I'm okay I promise you. I'm not even flinching. It doesn't hurt anymore. If anything the skin there is numb from the nerves burning away."

I nodded to him agreeing, the doctor in me thinking of the medical side of things. I knew the skin there would never be the same. He would not feel touch like I was giving him right now, like he would have if it had never been so badly damaged.

Damon lifted up the back of his neck allowing me to rub lower down the center of his back and he let out a moan when my fingers passed the area that was numb to any touch.

"See baby, I can still feel your fingers anywhere else. Its fine I promise." He closed his eyes again and I rubbed down his spine as far as I could reach with his head still in my lap. Fingers that were not mine were slowly caressing my legs as I did what I could to help him relax.

Suddenly his body jerked away from my touch and he let out a groan. I pulled back knowing I had hurt him. He grabbed my hands quickly and brought them to his lips, kissing each knuckle before bringing my hands to his shoulders. "Sorry, still a bit tender where Donovan kicked me before. Maybe stay up here."

I nodded and proceeded to rub big circles around his broad shoulders and pulled the blanket I had wrapped around him more apart to reach them.

His eyes closed again. "Mmm much better."

I smiled at his throaty response as my eyes perused his naked chest that was now not covered by the blanket. I could not stop staring at the smooth lines of his muscles, his pebbled nipples chilled from the cold air and the line of his public bone dipping deeper below where I could not see. I swallowed the growing lump in my throat, pulling my eyes back up his body.

"Having fun ogling me?" My eyes found his to see the teasing smirk on his face. "See anything you like?"

I laughed as I moved my hands back to his neck molding the skin between my fingers. "You know I do Damon. I love all of you."

He grinned back up at me as I regarded him upside down as I stuck out my tongue at him. "Mmm. You haven't even seen all of me baby. We can arrange a tour...like a wine tasting, all different flavors as you explore the whole vineyard, tasting all the different types of wine."

"Damon!"

I almost choked at the images in my head.

"First of all I don't think I have ever heard of a guys hot body compared to a vineyard. A girl yes...but not a guy and never by the guy himself! And secondly, said vineyard looks like it has been through a hell of a storm and you groaned when I hugged you before and thirdly...I thought we were pressing pause? I mean you said..."

He laughed before I could say any more, his grin a mile wide. "You think I'm hot?"

I giggled and threw my head back. "That is all you got from what I just said?!" I looked at him in mock shock, running my tongue over my top lip.

"Don't tease me Doctor Gilbert. That tongue better stay in your mouth unless you are planning to use it." Damon had a daring look in his eyes and he sat up, leveling his gaze at me.

"I'll do whatever I want with my tongue Salvatore!" I snapped back at him and stuck it out of my mouth, running it all the way around the outside of my lips. I even winked at him, just loving the easy going banter between us.

I was not ready for him to dive toward me that fast, and before my tongue even made it back in my mouth and he had pinned me to the ground, his whole body on top of me as his lips covered mine, delving his own tongue deep into my mouth. The kiss was hard and rough and deeply passionate and left my whole body thrumming with need. What the hell were we even talking about? I wondered.

His hands curled around my wrists pinning them down on both sides of my head as he stared down at me under him. The blanket was not between us, barely any clothes were either and I felt my curves just molded to his body.

"Give it up Gilbert. That tongue is mine."

He was inches from my face, his eyes locked on mine, his teeth gleaming in the moonlight as he growled playfully at me, waggling his eyebrows. It felt so good to have fun, to smile. I could not remember the last time I had really truly been happy.

Being with Damon brought me to a place I had not dared to visit in so long and I had missed laughing and being silly with anyone. Ian could readily attest to how boring my social life was.

"Come and get it, baby," I teased, sticking my tongue out and he dove the last few inches to chase it back in my mouth, plundering my lips with his, with a breathless moan of my name. His hands came up to cradle my head, releasing my wrists and I did the only thing I could think of to get away and I tickled him!

His body jerked instantly reacting to my teasing fingers at the sides of his waist.

"Oh no you don't!" he yelled out and squirmed as fast as he could away from my fingers. He sat up more to tickle me back and it was all out war.

Who knows who would have won if I had not wriggled out from under him and thrown myself on top of him pinning him down. But his groan of pain as my elbow collided with his ribs stopped me cold and my hand flew to my mouth.

"I'm so sorry Damon. Damn it I just keep hurting you!"

He winced and gritted his teeth and I knew he was trying to show I had not just be responsible for pain ripping through him. "I'm fine Elena." He nodded to me, pulling me back down on his lap and I saw him wince again at what that action must have done to him.

"No you are not. Stop trying to be tough with me. I didn't even bring my medical kit along and cant give you any pain pills."

Damon gazed in my eyes, as he smoothed my hair from my face. "I don't need drugs baby. Just you. And yeah about before with the tasting my wine, you are right. I feel like my body has been through the wringer this last day. Hell I even jumped off the damn waterfall to escape Kai."

I shuttered at the thought of that monster anywhere near my Damon and curled up in his arms.

"And I was just kidding about all that. I love seeing you smile and it was totally worth it to see that look of shock on your face! I'm not even sure where that all came from. I was immensely enjoying watching you stare down at me when you thought I wasn't looking. I can't remember the last time a woman ogled me. I've been in prison and before that undercover for the CIA so I loved that you were looking at me like that."

I smiled and kissed the tip of his nose. "I do understand Damon, I do. But please lets just go back to me relaxing you. I don't want you to hurt anymore. Please," I begged him, pouting.

He sucked my bottom lip in his mouth and I moaned before pulling away.

"Just lay back down and let me finish my massage."

He smiled, nodding and moved to lay back on the blanket and I curled my legs under his head again.

"Now just close you eyes. No more talking." I brushed my hand over his face closing his eyes and he kept them closed. My hands dug into the hair behind his ears as I massaged his head more.

His eyes opened again.

"Wake me when you are done so I can relax you too," he said softly. I nodded at him that I would. I brushed my hand over his face again closing his eyes again.

Another second later one eye peeked open and I glared down at him.

"Damon," I scolded.

"I love you Beauty," he whispered and closed his eye right away like a cute obedient child that didn't want to get in more trouble.

I bent down to kiss his forehead. "I love you too."

He was quiet then and I rubbed my fingers down his angular cheekbones, and around his chin and up and over his forehead. The black eye that he had gotten from Matt was getting darker blue as it settled in around his left eye. My fingers avoided the gauze under which his stitches still lay. More damage on his beautiful face.

I hated any blemishes on his skin. I wished I could make them all go away. His chest and abs had multiple bruises of various colors and I could see scars and the faint outline of the bullet wound just above his hipbone from where he almost died on his mission. I wondered how many other wounds and scars he had that I hadn't seen yet. How many stories of his suffering each wound told.

I wanted to kiss them all away. Make every injury 'all better' like my mother used to kiss any scrape or cut claiming she had magic kisses and I would be able to feel the magic in her healing touch.

I wanted to be that for him; his healing and for Damon to never get hurt again.

I lifted his hand up from where he had it curled up on his chest and I rubbed down his arm, careful for any bruises. I rubbed the inside of his palm and up and down each finger as his breathing was getting slower as he settled deeper into sleep.

Placing his right hand back down at his side I lifted his left and rubbed all down his bicep and down his arm, molding the muscles to my touch. I squeezed each finger gently and when I came to his empty ring finger I just ran my fingers up and down it...imagining a ring there. A symbol that could always be with him, showing the world that he was mine.

I jerked myself out of my thoughts and realized I was daydreaming about marrying the man that lay sleeping in my lap. Wow where did that come from? I looked back to his peaceful face and knew I was falling hard for him.

He was it for me. Forever.

I didn't even know if we could make it off this island or what awaited Damon with his mission and the enemies he was after. I didn't know if we would get rescued by his brother, another agent or if he could even beat the charges against him for the terrorism in Bulgaria. He had begged me to wait for him when we were still on the plane.

Wait for how long?

I wanted to be a mother as scary as that sounded since I had lost mine when she was barely middle age. But I had seen marriage modeled so beautifully by my parents and even in the relationship and the kindness and caring my brother showed his girlfriend.

Jeremy stepping up to be a father and when he admitted to us he was so scared and not ready for that was inspiring to me. Dad had been so proud of him for doing the right thing and taking the responsibility for his and Anna's choices.

I wanted what they had. I did. I knew it even then when I would see Anna stroke and cradle her belly or see my baby brother bend down and press a kiss to her swollen stomach and talk to his child. They would have been amazing parents.

Back then I didn't know who I wanted all that with but now, looking down on Damon's peaceful, gorgeous face...I knew I wanted everything with him.

His head had moved to the side, his body curled up more closer to me as I had rubbed his hand. I wanted a ring there. I wanted every woman in the world to know he was taken. I stroked his hair from his eyes so I could see his handsome face and I just watched him sleep, his nose almost nuzzled in against my bare thigh.

Damon said for me to wake him so he could relax me too, but he looked so perfect and I didn't dare want to disturb him, even to have his hands on me. I carefully moved his head from my lap, scooted lower and curled my body up beside him. I lifted the blanket up over both of us and was surprised that I wasn't cold at all with the damp cool air around us. The blanket was under us and there was still enough to mostly have it over us as well. I felt Damon roll over more on his back and I moved closer to curl up with his arm cradling me to his side.

"Mmm, night Beauty," he mumbled and I kissed him sweetly on the lips.

"Night Damon." I closed my eyes, feeling the warmth of his skin against mine, the heat of our bodies sending another rush of feelings through me. But I was exhausted and just so glad we were safe and together. We would face whatever problems came our way tomorrow.

Tonight I just knew I would sleep better than I had in months, years maybe. No longer being alone, shivering in an unfamiliar apartment, with no one to keep me warm and loved and protected.

My last thought before I let my dreams take me away was that I hoped Kelly was remembering to feed Ian…

I awoke to the sound of falling water and I squinted at the brighter light around me. Where was I? I felt a body pressed tight to my nearly bare back. I was in the cave by the waterfall. Damon had brought me here last night. We were safe here and we had slept here snuggled up all night. I heard my name; the softest moan from behind me.

Damon…

I felt his head nuzzled at the back of my neck, his lips warming my skin there, his nose buried in my hair. I felt something warm squeeze my breast and felt my pulse racing in my veins. I blinked, adjusting my eyes to the brighter light in the cave and looked down to see a palm, his palm curled over the swell of my one breast on top of my bra. I shook my head as I heard a weak moan from him as he moved his hips and could feel how awake part of him was!

My breath caught in my throat as I gently pried each finger from my breast and tucked his hand down back by my stomach. He seems blissfully unaware of his wandering hand while we had slept as well as his morning hardness pressing against my lace covered bottom I felt a blush come over my skin and I was glad he wasn't awake to see how I felt.

I pulled myself up and turned around just watching him sleep. His head moved more forward like he was looking for me even in sleep. His very brave hand slid over my waist from where it had fallen and curled around my stomach to pull me in closer to him. I wondered if he was actually awake and just asking for me to get upset as the boldness of his actions.

I was so glad I told him about being a virgin. He had been so understanding and I knew I had done the right thing explaining it now. I just wished we could be far away from this place, this island and all the danger surrounding us before we took more steps in our relationship. I mean I was already fantasizing about marrying him and having his children and we had barely known each other a month. I needed to slow down and take a breath. Didn't I?

I untangled myself from him and moved to slip on the shirt he had on last night buttoning up the middle two buttons. I was surprised how dry it was from being soaked from us swimming.

Damon rolled over, putting his arms under his head as a makeshift pillow and I tiptoed back over to lie back down, still watching him breathing so deeply. Was he still asleep? He sure moved around a lot. We would have to get a king size bed so there would be enough room for both of us.

Damn it there is was again! Planning the future I didn't even know we could have.

I traced my fingers along his shoulder blade on his back and saw the damaged skin of the burn again. Every time I saw it, it just had me seethe with rage at Kai and what he had done to him.

I pulled my eyes away and sat up more looking closer at his one and only tattoo.

Well at least the only one I knew he had. I had seen it that night in the hospital for the first time and yet I had not taken the time to fully take it in till now.

It was a Celtic knot of some type, that much I knew. It was a twisted up sort of triangle, that almost looked like a stained glass window. The wider edges to the bottom, the top just on the top of his left shoulder blade on his back. It had been untouched by the burn but another inch and it would have been just as marred as the skin beside it.

I traced the iron colored knot with my finger and saw wrapped around the knot was a vine in light green ink. But it wasn't just a vine, it was covered in thorns and actual drops of blood were dripping from the vines. I leaned forward looking closer, part of his back was hidden in the shadows and thought I saw letters too on either side of the bottoms of the knot. The fancy calligraphy written letters were D. S.

Backing up, I saw he was starting to wake up.

Damon Salvatore? That seemed strange to have a tattoo with your own initials on it. Usually even in prison I saw men with a woman's initials or a mother even. But his own? That was different.

His eyes opened and squinted up at me and I decided I loved his sleepy half lidded look. I stroked my hand down his cheek. "Morning sexy."

Damon's lips curled into a smile. "Morning yourself Beauty. Did you sleep well?" I leaned back down curling up beside him as his arms pulled me in closer to him, crinkling the shirt between us. "Ugh too many clothes," he grumbled as he nuzzled his nose by my throat between the fabric of his shirt till he found my skin and he smiled. "Much better."

"Yes, better than I think I've slept in so long. You?" I said ignoring how much his last comments made me shiver.

He leaned back up to kiss the tip of my nose. "Mmm hmm. You here beside me, all night long beats any place I've slept in months. I can't even remember the last time I actually slept in my own bed in my apartment."

I blinked realizing I had no idea where he even called home. "Where do you live? What is home to you Damon?" I tugged the blanket closer over us and tangled my legs with his and felt his hand slip under the shirt and up my thigh.

"Well nowhere has really felt like home for a long time. I have an apartment in Washington so I can be close to the office but its not home. Home I haven't felt in years anywhere. Not till now."

He surprised me with those last three words. I was home? Had he felt some of the forever thoughts that I already had about us?

"Wow Damon, what do you mean by that?" I gasped out.

He looked down at me through those sexy dark lashes. "I think you know. You make me feel like this little cave with the starlit ceiling and the water falling down and soft moss under us is more home than I have been in so long Elena." He molded the skin of my hip between his fingers as he gazed into my eyes.

He must of sensed my nervousness at calling me home and he cleared his throat and sat up and walked over to slip on his jeans. I didn't stop him, feeling everything was already so sexually charged and I needed to cool off.

"I felt you tracing my tattoo as I was waking up baby. Had you never seen it before? I mean you are my doctor and took care of the bandages on my burn for weeks after." He zipped up the jeans and buttoned them up and then slid back down beside me again.

I sat up too and wrapped part of the blanket on my shoulders. "No I had seen it Damon. I just hadn't really looked at it closely till now." I took a deep breath. He had just called me home to him and we had almost made love last night if I hadn't gotten all nervous about my lack of experience, but I wanted to ask him about his tattoo. "What does it mean? If I'm allowed to ask," I added quickly.

He scoffed at me. "Of course you can ask Elena. I don't want any secrets between us. I want to tell you everything and know everything about you too."

My hand went up to stroke his cheek again. "I want that too," I breathed out.

I knew I needed to tell him about my family and why I was so scared of flying. He had been so raw and real with me about things he was not supposed to tell me at all. Things about national security.

I opened my mouth to just say it. Once it was out, I knew I would feel better telling him. I had never told anyone about my hidden pain. No one from work, not a soul and I needed to…to heal.

"It's about my brother," Damon said before I screwed up the courage to spit out my own secrets. What was about his brother? My mind raced trying to figure out what we had just been talking about. Oh right, the tattoo.

"I got it after one of my missions. The mission that destroyed us as brothers." His head was down as he spoke but I let him take his time in telling me what he wanted to. He reached for my hand and I tangled my fingers with his. He smiled as I squeezed his hand and he lifted our hands up to his chest. "Sorry my heart is racing. I haven't shared this with anyone. Not even Enzo knows everything."

That took me by surprise that his best friend did not know what he was about to tell me.

"The knot is the Celtic symbol for brotherhood." I leaned back over his shoulder as he explained, still keeping my hand in his, while tracing his skin with my other hand. "The thorns are what's choking the life out of what we once were to each other. We were inseparable. Sure we fought as kids and competed and got each other in trouble. Hell we taught each other how to fight and he could take me down on my best day. He was so fast and strong."

I listened and stroked Damon's hair by his ear as he continued.

"The blood dripping is Stefan's fiance's. She died because of me."

My eyes widened. I remembered him crying out for a woman's life and then transferring that fear to me in the shower that night at the prison, screaming that they stop hurting me. Was this who he was talking about?

"The writing..." I said staring at the tattoo. "The D and S is you and Stefan."

It wasn't a question. I knew that was what the letters meant and in conformation he nodded.

"It's a reminder that somehow in this life I need to fix things with Stefan. I need him and I know he needs me too."

The light from the cave dimmed fast and I saw little droplets all over the pool. It must be raining now outside and the mood seemed to darken as fast as the sky.

"It was all my fault Elena. She would be alive if it wasn't for me."

I saw his chin quiver and I climbed into his lap as his arms came around me and his head fell to my shoulder.

"We were both on an undercover mission to stop a Serbian arms dealer from selling weapons to Muslim extremists. My brother oversaw the mission and planned its every detail. Stefan writes everything down and is such a detail Nazi. There was no way we could fail, but somehow we did."

"Lexi and I went to the marketplace to surveil the meet between the Serbs and the terrorists. The boss sent his own brother Ivan to the meet. All we were supposed to do was find out where the exchange was happening and report back and then later intercept the weapons and arrest them red handed. But someone must have tipped them off and they got suspicious and bailed on the meet before the extremists even got there. Lexi and I headed to the extraction point and yet when I got there the brother Ivan had her by the throat, with a gun to her head."

I felt Damon's heart pounding harder as he just lay on my shoulder still, his head down, his eyes focused on the ground. His eyes closed and his arms curled tighter around me. "It's okay Damon. I'm right here." I had no idea what else to say and I was terrified hearing what he had walked into.

I heard him swallow hard and he lifted his head. "I know you are. Holding you is the only thing giving me strength to get through this. It was bad Elena, so bad."

I felt tears in my eyes at his tone and kissed him tenderly on the lips before pulling back to see his eyes teary, looking back at me.

"Whatever it is, you aren't there anymore. You are here with me safe in this little cave Damon. We are okay."

He nodded in agreement and sniffled. "I know baby. You are right. But I feel sick just thinking about everything. Anyway I pulled my gun and the Ivan guy told me to drop it or he would kill her. I remember being so calm even though inside I was screaming at the image of the love of my brother's life with a gun to her head. But we were partners long before they fell in love and I knew we had been in worse situations. My hand was steady, and just as it looked like I was going drop my gun I raised it fast and shot his gun hand and his weapon fell to the ground as I went in for the kill shot. He was dead before he hit the ground and Lexi was okay."

I breathed out a huge sigh of relief being so taken in by his story but also realizing that the woman had died, he said. So there was more…

Damon looked lost in his memories as he kept speaking and was looking at me but seemed like he was staring right through me.

"She fell shaking in my arms and we turned to run out the door when there was a huge explosion. The next thing I remembered was waking up in the dark. Endless dark and it felt like it went on for days. When I thought I couldn't take any more suddenly the door opened and I was blindfolded and led into another room. A bright light was put in my face as the blindfold was yanked off. I begged to know if Lexi was okay."

"We didn't use our real names in that mission but they had found information about our aliases but it did not lead back to the agency. We never told them anything about who we were working for. I didn't even know if she was alive for weeks that they held me and just asked me over and over who I worked for and what I was doing there. They told me that they had killed her, describing it in the most gruesome ways. But I knew how strong she was and that she would not cave. We had the same training and resistance to torture and sensory deprivation and starvation."

"I overheard a conversation once when they thought I was unconscious after being electrocuted and heard one person asking what was taking so long. The other voice said to be patient and once we broke they would get their chance. The voice told him it wasn't good enough and that he would be sorry if he stood in the way much longer. I could barely make out the voices but I knew what I had heard."

"Most of the torture was hidden and didn't leave marks on us. I was electrocuted over and over till they thought it could damage my mind and the information the wanted from me. Every day was the same, barely any food, some kind of torture that left no marks, in case they were investigated I assumed and more darkness."

I buried myself deeper in his arms as I held him. "Oh my God Damon I am so sorry."

He nodded at me and saw more tears at his lashes. "I didn't see her for I think over a month and when I did I didn't even recognize her, she was so thin and weak. My God Elena, Stefan would have died to see his fiance like that. I never told him how bad it got. They only had us together the one time other than when she was killed in front of me."

"They drugged us to get us to talk. In one arm they used adrenaline and the other something that made our hearts nearly stop and it jolted our system one way or the other. I thought I would die. I thought we would both die. She just kept saying to stay firm and be strong and not give up. I had never found love like Stefan had with her and yet it seemed she was stronger than I was then knowing what she was losing never seeing him again. I ached for her and.." A sob broke through as he looked at me his eyes flooded with pain, regret, guilt maybe. " I was never even able to hold her to comfort her," he sobbed and I just held him as close as I could, trying to be everything he needed me to be.

He sniffled back more tears as he continued, his precious voice shaking. "I think they just gave up on us. The men left, the guards, the hired guns were gone from the room that day when she died. I woke up strapped to a chair and she was across from me tied up the same way. Someone walked in wearing a mask and said they had waited for such a long time for this day. We would finally pay for what we did. I had no idea what they were talking about and I just remember begging them to hurt me and to leave her alone."

Damon was trembling like the memories had brought him right back to reliving everything of that day. I pressed myself against him, the warmth of my body on his, my fingers seeking his skin and any way to comfort him. He passed me shaky smile through his tears.

"I only remember that day in bits and pieces. One moment I was screaming for them to let her go and the next flash I have was Lexi crying out as she was thrown to the floor and they stood over her and stabbed her once, and then twice in the stomach and again and again. Soon she got so weak from the blood loss she could not even lift her arms to fight back. "He shook more in my arms and just held onto him, whispering that I loved him and that he was okay over and over.

His expression was wrought with pain, desperation and helplessness and I wished I could do anything to relieve what he was feeling.

I watched him take a shuddering breath as his tears slid to his lips. "I couldn't do anything to stop it! I just fucking watched, wanting to turn away. But I felt like I needed to give her my face to focus on, that the last thing she saw before she left this earth was a friend who would have died for her. I had never felt more helpless in my life."

I saw the tears just streaming down his cheeks as he gritted his teeth. "Damn it! I should have been able to save her!" He saw me looking so sadly back at him, my own tears hot and wet down my face, just aching for the pain they both suffered.

Damon nodded at me. "I know Elena. I know, but you are right I need to get through this. Lex begged me tell him she loved him, Stefan. I knew she was saying goodbye. She cried to me to turn around and let her go, but I kept shaking my head at her. I wanted to rip the ropes apart that were trapping me to the chair, like the Hulk and tear that killer apart and save her before it was too late."

His voice fell to barely a whisper. "The bastard was silent, dead fucking silent as they stabbed her and she just bled out with nowhere to go. No one to save her. And I wanted to die." He was trembling more now as I had my arms around him and I just held him tighter, scared I was hurting his bruised ribs but he never reacted if he was in pain. I had no idea what else to do for him.

"I would have died with her because the monster stood up and walked slowly over to me as I saw Lexi's eyes fall shut and they grabbed me by my hair and tilted my head up. He was going to slit my throat and I just closed my eyes and let it happen."

I felt like I was going to be sick. I jumped up from his arms and ran over to the corner and knelt down to gag and puke what little I had in my stomach. I felt Damon by my side instantly pulling my hair back from my face and I looked up at him, my eyes pools of sadness for his pain and what Lexi suffered.

"I'm sorry Elena. It was too much. I shouldn't have put you through that." I wiped my mouth on the sleeve of his shirt and he pulled me into his arms and ran his hands down my hair over and over. "I'm so sorry."

I sniffled and wiped my face. "I wanted to be here for you Damon. And you needed to get this out. It will stop haunting you then. Or at least we can face it together and I can hold you through your nightmares."

He kissed my hair and I curled my arms around him just standing in the back corner of the cave. "I could hardly believe I didn't have any nightmares last night. Almost every night in the prison I can see her face as she died."

I realized that I had witnessed one such night, early that morning after Damon was poisoned. I remembered him having nightmares and calling out about a woman. Now it all made sense. I had soothed him back to sleep in the infirmary when he was tossing and turning in his sleep.

I looked up in his eyes, and smoothed the hair from his cheek to tuck behind his ear. "How did you get away?" I asked not really knowing if I could take any more. My Damon was here in my arms right now, not dead with his beautiful throat slit, not rotting away in a Middle Eastern prison, but just the thought of what he faced terrified me, knowing that another prison was possibly where he was headed if our plane had not crashed.

"Actually that was all Stefan too. He had been working night and day since we had been taken and managed to negotiate a trade. Us for men in the CIA's black sites prisons. Comrades of the Serbian arms dealer we tried to stop. How it came so close or that the damn call could not have come just a few minutes earlier and she could have still been alive. Or maybe the masked man wasn't supposed to kill me too I have no idea. But as I awaited the slice of the knife, a door slammed open and men flooded into the room and yelled and fought with the masked man and untied and brought me away."

"The next thing I remember I was on a plane back to the States and I saw Stefan just running from the car to meet the plane. I had not said a word to him about anything, wanting to tell him face to face. But his expression when he saw me exit that plane alone...brought him to his knees. Nothing I could say or do helped him in his grief."

"We all knew there was more to the arms deals, a bigger fish, bigger plan with the Serbs but we could not figure out any connections. But from the night my brother put his fiance in the ground he worked and never to my knowledge even went home to the condo they shared. He lived and breathed work to take out the men who killed her. This tech that we are chasing is somehow connected to them but we have no idea how. It like a fucking bottomless pit with no answers."

Everything sounded so unreal. I walked back over to the pool of water and scooped some water in my mouth swishing away the bad taste of bile in my throat. If this was just one of his missions, how could I ever live with him and just wait for him to come home?

Damon was silent following me and I had no idea what to say to everything I just heard. He pulled me back in his arms and sat back down wrapping the blanket around both of us. "Elena that was the worst of the worst that I have ever been through. Please tell me what you are thinking." I straddled his lap again and wrapped my arms around his neck.

"I'm thinking that I can't live like that Damon. I can't be home like Stefan and go crazy not knowing where you are for days or weeks or months. I can't do it." I felt my chin quivering and more tears slipping down my face.

"Be home?" I heard him say and I realized I was projecting my fantasized future again.

"I mean…" But he put his finger to my lips.

"You...would be home...waiting for me?" His voice cracked with emotion as he spoke, his blue eyes deeply seeking mine.

I opened my mouth again to reply.

"What if I left the CIA...for good? For you...for us? So that you can be home...my home and you could know that every night I was coming back to you? No danger, ever again." His expression was pleading, aching and desperate. "I need you Elena. I don't love lightly and I want it be forever."

My mouth just fell open in shock of what he said.

Forever.

It felt like he was asking me to marry him! Oh my God.

I grabbed his head in my hands, my fingers tucking in and out of the black silky strands. "Damon what are you saying?" I felt like I couldn't breath, like all the air had been sucked out of the large cave. My thoughts were spinning like I was on a super speed carousel.

"We don't even know what will happen tomorrow. How can we think of forever?" I gasped out.

"No one knows what will happen tomorrow Elena. None of us do," he argued back.

I was in shock at where this conversation had gone. "We don't know how to get off the island, or if you will be granted immunity, or if the guys you are chasing that crashed us here will ever be gone. I want you, I do so much Damon. But this sounds crazy!"

"What is crazy? That I love you? That I want to be yours forever? That I am trying to ask you to marry me, no matter what shit is right ahead of us to face? That I want to have a family with you and little brunette and brown eyed beauties and dark handsome black haired, blue eyed boys running around? That is what I want Elena!" He had grabbed me by my arms and almost shook me in his insistence.

"I'm pretty sure you can't pick which child gets your hair or mine or your amazing eyes or any of that."

He rolled his eyes at me and I knew that I was just avoiding his question. He had just asked a bunch of questions and the future was so unsure but I knew what he wanted.

"I don't care if our children have yellow eyes and rainbow colored hair," he said exasperated and I could not help giggling.

"I want that with you. Do you want forever with me?" Those blue eyes were wide, waiting like I held his very life in the palm of my hand. That I could alter his whole reality in this moment.

There is was. Holy crap! Shy little Elena Gilbert who lost her whole family just got a marriage proposal from one of the world's most wanted men, that was undercover for the CIA! You can't make this stuff up!

"Damn it Elena!" He was glaring now and he was so fricking cute when he was mad.

"Yes! Damon, I will marry you!" I threw myself in his arms and hugged him fiercely. I heard him suck in a breath and I tried to pull back knowing I was hurting him.

"No way Beauty. I don't care how much it hurts, I am never letting you go again." He was adamant and I lifted my head and gazed deeply in his eyes. He slid his hands up to my neck, crashing his lips to mine.

"Never." More kisses. "Letting." More kisses. "You." More kisses. "Go."

I got lost in his kisses, just disappearing away from all the fear and danger and just stayed right here with him right now.. His hands were cradling my face as his mouth delved deeper into mine. I could feel the joy just flowing from him at my answer.

It all felt so crazy. But when had doing things slowly and doing things carefully worked for me? It had led me to watch my fiance die in the fiery plane crash with my family. That was what slow and careful Elena had gotten.

This Elena was wildly and madly in love with the man holding her so tight in his arms.

The moment was perfect. Romantic setting, soft lighting, rushing waterfall, and sparkling glistening pretend stars above our heads.

But reality came creeping back in shattering perfection by the way of my stomach rumbling loudly! I wanted to curl up and disappear I was so embarrassed. I had not even realized I was hungry, especially after throwing up before.

"Oh shoot Elena, I am so sorry." He moved to get up and opened the bag he brought again and pulled out two oranges and passed me one. "I've been a horrible boyfriend...I mean fiance. Oh my God. It feels like I am dreaming." And he forgot the rest of what he was saying.

"Um, Ric said Caroline picked small oranges and these weird little mini bananas." He made a face at me and I just loved how he was taking care of me. "And these look edible too but I'm not sure what they are. They look like little pineapples. Maybe we will find really short people living on this island with all the tiny fruit! And we really should eat and go because I promised Ric we would hike up through the valley today to see if we can get the satt phone to work. You can come. We should hurry."

He was rambling and I could not contain my grin it was so cute. I never pictured such a strong man being all tongue tied from proposing to me. He was positively glowing.

I laughed and caught the pieces of fruit as he tossed them to me; the pineapples were the size of a baseball, the bananas in cute little bunches and the oranges looked almost like tangerines.

Damon walked back over after and handed me a bottle of water. We ate in comfortable silence and I was glad for something to fill my stomach that was damn full of butterflies both from just getting engaged and my anxiety about the future. I had been so nervous about flying too that I had barely eaten anything the whole day before the flight too. The fruit was delicious and so so sweet just like my Damon that I saw was beaming at me right now.

"And for the lady...I know women can never have enough chocolate." He smiled at me and pulled out two chocolate covered granola bars. "I snagged these from the plane when Donovan was offering me food before the crash and they are all yours."

"Thank you Damon. This is perfect." I climbed into his lap, my favorite way to be close to him and he leaned back against the large rock wall as he slurped up the last of the pineapple from the rind he had managed to break apart. His lips were covered in the sweet pineapple juice and I dove in to suck the juice off him. "Mmm even better."

He grinned at me, his blue eyes gleaming in the reflected water of the dark pool beside us and popped the last bite of pineapple in his mouth and stuck it back out at me. "Share?" he mumbled and I saw the juice from the piece of fruit start dripping down his chin.

I nodded, my tongue flat against his chin lapping up the juice before I bit the piece in half. He was beaming happily and let out a little moan as I devoured his mouth, my hands cupping his face and holding him tight to me as we kissed and slurped up the sweet pineapple.

More juice was dripping from my mouth and Damon's eyes twinkled at the path the shiny yellow liquid was heading right down off my chin to fall to the swell of my breasts. I gasped audibly as I felt his fingers gently part the fabric of his shirt I had on before his mouth was hot on the skin of my chest, sucking the liquid between his lips.

"Best breakfast ever," he murmured against my skin and I could not contain the moan as my hands dug into his hair. I pulled his head back up to my lips and kissed him deeply, just reveling in all the feelings.

Yes it was. And now it was time to leave our little hideaway and figure out a way off this island and to our future. I was engaged and I could hardly believe how happy I was.

Everything felt so perfect.

Perfect scared me.

Perfect wasn't real or could it be?

Yeah! I hope you loved it. Sorry about the darkness and drama. There is lots of passion, adventure and a little danger ahead. Maybe more than a little.

Can't wait to hear your thoughts on this emotional chapter.

Next time: We go hiking in on the Island with Ric and I will get back into flashbacks and we will pick up again where Elena left of being at the hospital desperate to see him after his surgery.

Let me know what other types of flashbacks or scenes you would like. They will be together really soon. They just had some issues to work through first…

Thanks so much for all the reviews, follows and favorites. Delena fandom is the best!

Be sure to check out more amazing writers on here. Scarlett2112, zaewrites, MariahAprilMay, LittleMissVixen, deepwater1978, SalvatoreQuinn, Foreverfirstloves and I'm sure I'm forgetting more, its late. These ladies are very talented!

Till next time!