I take off for the forest, stumbling but pushing my feet to keep moving. I run faster than I thought possible, ignoring the absolute screaming pain in my ribs. Pushing past the jolt that travels through my body and the way my hand feels like it's going to fall off every time my feet hit the ground.

Every step brings threatens to bring me to my knees and tears are silently streaming down my face, but I can't stop myself from moving. I have no idea how long the witch can hold Klaus. I've seen Bonnie incapacitate vampires but never for very long. Guilt shoots through me, and I can only pray that the witch isn't killed for her involvement in my escape. And Stefan. Oh God, Stefan. What if Klaus finds out that he warned me, how he helped me? No, I can't think about that, I just have to run.

I keep going until I think I might faint from the pain. My head feels like it could literally split wide open, and I wonder if I'm actually going to die alone and cold in this unfamiliar forest. My vision starts to blur, and I slow down as much as my fear allows me to. After a few more yards, I just have to stop.

My right arm is wrapped across my stomach, trying to hold in the pain and keep my wrist from moving. My left hand stretches out to rest on the rough bark of a tree, and I can't help but focus on the way it feels under my fingertips. How this might be the last touch of the earth I ever get. I bend over and squeeze my eyes shut, trying to gather the strength to keep moving.

When I straighten up, I'm afraid that I'm hallucinating. Because suddenly I smell something all too familiar and safe.

I smell Damon.

I know it can't be real, but at least if I'm about to die here, he'll be the last thing to cross my mind.

I'm still too terrified to make much noise, but I have to know if I'm hallucinating. I have to know if I'll see him again before I die. If I'll get to touch his skin and hold him one more time.

I have to take that chance. I literally have nothing else to lose. So I call out as softly as I can.

"Damon?" Tears flood my eyes just at the mention of his name. I need him here so badly. I try again, a little stronger, "Damon, are you here?"

Without warning, I'm lifted off my feet. I can feel air rushing all around me, caressing my broken skin, but I know there was no breeze just a minute ago. Then, with a rush of emotion that threatens to throw me into unconsciousness, the relief I've been waiting for soaks into me. His smell envelops me, covers me like the softest, warmest blanket. I breathe in deeply, wincing when my ribs object to the movement. And when I hear his smooth voice in my ear, all I can do is sob.

"I'm here, Elena," he whispers, and I bury my face in his neck, wanting to sink into him and hide forever. "I'm here and I've got you and we're going to be ok." I finally realize that he's holding me, carrying me while he runs with all of his vampire speed and strength. I don't know where we're going and I don't care. My fists capture his shirt and I cry out all of my pain and grief and shock into his skin as he grips me tighter, carrying all of my weight and all of my burdens.

I wake and sleep, drifting in and out of consciousness while wrapped in his arms, repeating a painful, delirious cycle. When I'm dreaming, I know I need to open my eyes and tell him that I have a concussion and he shouldn't let me sleep, but when I wake up I can't form coherent thoughts or words. All I can do is cling to him and try to shut out the pain rattling in my skull.

At some point, I wake up and realize his arms aren't around me anymore, and the fear that rips through my chest is debilitating. Before I can react or even open my eyes, I hear his voice in my ear again, "Shh, you're ok. You're in a wheelchair. We're getting on a plane. I need you to stay calm." He must have heard my heart slam into my chest. I'm so confused by his words, but the pain is too much and I fade away again.

When I wake again, it takes me a good five minutes to figure out what's happening. My head is so clouded and my eyelids feel like they're glued shut. I'm slumped into a pseudo-comfortable first class seat on a plane. My back is to the window, and Damon is sitting beside me, his whole body angled towards me and his hands holding mine gently in my lap. I glance around, and strangely, there's no one else in the plane and no flight attendants that I can see.

I look up and meet Damon's eyes and find him staring at me. He looks terrified, and I want to reach out and comfort him. I lift my hand so that I can stretch out and touch his face, but I have to stop when tears start pouring from my eyes and my breath catches painfully in my chest. It's too much, my whole body aching for relief that won't come while I'm still alive. And now I can't even reach out and touch him. I let my hand drop in defeat and just stare up at him.

"Elena," he whispers. "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry it took me so long to get you back. I had to..." he pauses and anger flashes across his face, but he pushes past it, "I had to take care of some things first." The look on his face breaks me, his pain and guilt written all over. "We're going to get you to a hospital, and you're going to get better. I promise." He bends his whole body to lean down and kiss my broken hand, and I can feel a tear slip down my finger and pool in my palm. I suck in a quick breath, his pain on top of my own is more than I can take.

"Damon," I manage to choke out. He sits up and looks at me. I want to shake my head, but I know the pain would rip me in two. "No. I'm not going to make it there." I have to pause to catch my breath. He needs to know the full extent. "Klaus...he hit my head, broke so many bones. I can't…" More tears are slipping down my cheeks.

Somehow he looks even more broken. "No, you just have to hold on." He lifts his hands like he wants to hold me or touch my cheek, anything to comfort me. But we both know there's no place on my body left unbroken, nothing that won't hurt. "You can do this. You're strong enough. Just hold on." He runs his hands up through his hair, exasperation written in his features. He lifts his eyes to mine again and hope flashes through them, "Let me heal you. Take my blood." His words are hopeful but we both know the truth. No amount of vampire blood can heal what my body has gone through. I give him the smallest smile, "No. It's not enough." It's too much, really. Because if it came down to it, Damon would absolutely drain himself dry if he thought it might save me, and I'm just not sure it will this time.

There's only one option. "Damon," my voice is getting weaker, and I wonder if he can hear my heart stuttering in my chest. I can't believe the words that are about to come out of my mouth, but God, I'm so tired. All I want to do is sleep, but I can't without one very important thing. One thing that he needs to give me. Quietly, because I don't want to surprise him with my voice any more than my words are about to, I whisper. "I want to turn. I want you to turn me."

I never take my eyes off his. I need him to believe me, and I need to see his reaction. As the words fall, I can almost feel his blood run cold, and what little color he has drains from his cheeks. He looks at me like I just killed someone he loves. And I guess I'm really asking him to kill someone he loves. He looks so sad. "No," he whispers. "You don't want this. You never wanted this." Tears seep from the corners of his eyes, and I cry with him. A weak apology for making him do this. "I can't do that to you, Elena." He's begging now, "Please don't ask me to do that." His sad eyes dart around my face and body like he might discover some secret cure written into my skin.

I let my eyes drift closed. I can't bear to look at his pain anymore. I make my voice strong, "I do want this, Damon. And I am going to die on this plane one way or another." I push through even when I hear him stifle a sob, "But I want this to happen, with your blood, with your help, with you by my side. You know it's the only way." I open my eyes again and lock them with his, willing him to understand. My injuries are too deep, too many things broken inside of me. "I'm sorry that I'm asking you to kill me, but it's the only way I can be with you, the only way you'll be able to see me live again." I lean forward as much as I can, and he meets me where I fail, resting his forehead gently against mine.

We sit like this for a moment, and I realize I can't let him kill me without letting him see all of the reasons why it's a good thing. I reach out my with good hand and grip his as tightly as I can, keeping our heads together.

"Damon," I whisper. "Test me. Look for yourself and see. It's all I can think about, all I've been dreaming about. Just...look," I breathe out. All of my muscles contract painfully and my heart skips a beat. I'm too close to the edge of death, but I need him to be at peace with this.

I hear him breathe in, and somehow I feel it when his mind slips inside of mine. And relief floods through me. Because I know he can see the thoughts that have been running wild in my head and can experience them for himself:

My human body waking up as a vampire. Stronger, faster, healthy and whole. My fangs dipping into a warm neck and drawing from my new life source, Damon always by my side, always helping me and teaching me. Running free with his hand in mine, running fast and with no destination. Wrapping my arms around him and stretching to press my lips to his. All of these things I've wanted for longer than I cared to admit, and now he knows. He won't be able to say no anymore.

It happens in a moment, and he pulls back with a gasp and looks into my eyes. I give him a small smile, and he knows it's all the truth. I can see his body release the tension he's been holding, and I know it's time.

Even though it's going to save me, I still know I'm asking him to do the most difficult thing of all. But first, I need one more selfish thing from him. "Damon?" I whisper. "Before you do it, will you do me a favor?"

"Anything, Elena. Anything."

"Kiss me."

His eyebrows shoot up in shock. He opens his mouth to speak, but I cut him off before he starts, mustering all of my remaining strength to make this little speech, "I am ready...to be a vampire with you. To run and feed and play...and fight and love with you." I swallow hard. My mouth is so dry, and I just need to get this out before my body gives up on me. "When I thought you weren't coming back for me, it broke my heart and made me realize how much I need you...And what I need you to do now is kiss me and then turn me. Right here on this plane. Hold my hand until I wake up, and let's start this new life together. Ok?"

He swallows thickly and nods, never dropping my gaze. He lifts his hand and gently grazes the back of it against my cheek. His touch warms my skin, and I hadn't realized how cold I was or how good his skin could feel on mine. I wish I had known. I wish I had touched him more as a human because now it will never be the same.

I close my eyes and let him close the distance between us. When his lips gently come to press against mine, I feel like everything in my world is suddenly right again. His touch pushes past all the pain in my body, past my family and friends, past other people's expectations, past my own fear, and makes its home inside my heart. Even though the answer is death, I know I'm making the right choice. It's the sweetest thing.

He lingers for a moment before pulling away. I offer the smallest smile that doesn't even begin to capture how much I am at peace with what's about to happen. "Hey," I tease him. "Maybe one day we can share a kiss when one of the two of us isn't on our deathbed, huh?"

He smirks, though his eyes don't lose the sadness they carry. "Yeah, we will," he says, so softly it breaks my heart.

"Are you ready?" I ask.

He nods once and lets the vampire part of him take over. His eyes go blood red and veins trickle down and protrude at his cheeks. His fangs drop down, and here I see him. He is a killing machine. He is animal, open, vulnerable, raw, and he is mine. And nothing in the world could make me regret the step I'm about to take with him.

He lifts his palm to his mouth and tears a smooth line across the skin. He turns it so that I can drink from him comfortably, and I gulp twice before pulling away and kissing the already healing wound. His blood goes through me like radiant sunshine, touching each of my injuries the tiniest bit but not healing anything. I can taste little hints of him on my tongue. Mint, bourbon, a richness I can't put my finger on. It's everything that comforts me, and I'm forever thankful it's his blood that's changing me.

I make my mental goodbyes to the life I'm about to leave. There's no time for regrets and I don't have any to speak of, but I mourn a little inside at the thought of certain things I'll never experience again. But that life is gone, and it's time to step into something new. New skin, new blood, a new heart, and a new love. And with that, I look up at him with as much trust and love in my eyes as I can muster and say the two words he deserves to hear every day, over and over, "Thank you."