So this is my favorite chapter so far, I think you'll find out why ;o) Anyway, I hope everyone likes it, thanks for reading!

Elena was putting some books back on the shelf in the living room when Stefan came into the room. It was the Fourth of July weekend and he had come to spend it at home. Everyone was at the boarding house for the day, they had all had a cook out and their own fireworks show. Now everyone was gone and it was just the three of them since Stefan had decided to say for the weekend.

Stefan grabbed a couple of books off the table and helped to put them away "What's with the books?" he asked. Elena smiled and shrugged "I never put them away when I'm done with them, and Damon told me he wasn't going to anymore, that I got them out I could put them away. I was just going to leave them here until he broke, but I broke first when I realized that he had started to leave them out as well." She shrugged again "So here we are." Stefan chuckled and picked up another book from the table.

It was as Elena reached down to place a book on the shelf, that Stefan saw the ring on the chain around her neck "Is that the ring Damon gave you?" Elena instinctively reached a hand up to touch the ring and nodded "Yeah." Stefan took a step closer "I've never actually seen it." Elena held it out a little and he leaned closer "It's really nice." Elena nodded and let the ring drop back to rest against her chest. Stefan let the subject drop as well.

A little while later, Damon was sitting in the parlor when Stefan came in and sat in the chair across from him. Damon had a drink in his hand, and Stefan couldn't help but notice how relaxed and contented his brother looked. Stefan cocked his head to the side and Damon raised a brow "Well brother, what's on your mind this fine evening?" Stefan shrugged a little, a small smile on his face "I was helping Elena put away some books earlier." Damon smirked "I knew she would break." Stefan nodded, still smiling slightly "I also happened to see her ring." Damon nodded "And? You knew I was going to give it to her, that was more than a year ago." Stefan nodded "I know, and I know it's none of my business, but I was wondering if you had talked about what that ring means."

Damon was quiet for a moment "Not really, no. when I gave it to her, I told her we would talk about it when she was ready. I don't want her to feel like I'm trying to push her into something that she doesn't want." Damon narrowed his eyes slightly "Why?" Stefan raised his hands slightly in a gesture of innocence "I don't want you to take this the wrong way. I'm not trying to warn you away from her or scare you off or anything of the sort. Alright?" Damon nodded and motioned with his hand for Stefan to continue.

Stefan cleared his throat "When everything first started with Klaus, Katherine offered Elena her blood, if Elena wanted to turn. Elena turned her down." Damon nodded, wondering why Stefan felt the need to bring this up now. Stefan leaned forward in his chair "We talked about it later on, and for reasons that aren't mine to talk about, she said she didn't want to be a vampire. That she never had wanted that." Stefan shrugged "I just wanted to tell you this, so that if her feelings about it haven't changed, I didn't want you to be blindsided. I thought you should know."

Damon downed the rest of his drink and stood. He sat his glass down and nodded to Stefan before walking out of the room in the direction on the room he shares with Elena.

Damon stood leaning against the doorframe to his bedroom and watched as Elena walked out of the bathroom drying her hair with a towel as she walked to the bed. There wasn't many women that could make flannel pants look sexy, but she could do it. He loved the way she looked in the black sleep pants and white tank top she wore. He smirked when he noticed her socks. They were a gift from Caroline, black with little white vampire fangs all over. Yes, Elena Gilbert, he decided, looked great in or out of anything.

He was still standing there when Elena looked up and saw him. She smiled and watched him saunter into the room. God she loves it when he does that. He walked over to her and leaned forward to kiss her forehead. She loves that as well. "I'm going to take a quick shower." He informs her. Elena nodded and watched him walk away. She smirked to herself, how did the saying go? Hate to see him go but love to watch him leave? Oh yeah.

A few minutes later Damon walked out in a pair of his own black sleep pants, and got into the bed beside her. Elena snuggled in close to him and wrapped an arm around his middle. Damon, still thinking of what Stefan had told him, reached his hand up and hooked his pinky through the ring that lay on her chest, and pulled out as far as the chain would allow. Elena looked at him and raised a brow "What are you thinking about?" Damon shook his head a little "Nothing." Elena scoffed playfully "Not likely, there's always something going on up here." She said, lightly tapping his forehead.

Damon sighed to himself "I was talking to Stefan." He said before falling quiet. Elena nodded "Ok, about what?" Damon tugged slightly on the chain "This." He pulled away from her so that he could look into her face "We've never talked about it, about what it could mean." Elena leaned back a little also "Do you want to talk about it now?" Damon nodded "Yeah, I think I do." he said, knowing that if she still felt the same, he wanted to know.

Elena sat up in the bed and turned to face him sitting Indian style. Damon did the same. Once they were face to face Elena started the conversation "What all did Stefan tell you?" she asked, wanting to know where she should begin. "Just that for reasons he wouldn't go into, you had never wanted to be a vampire." Damon told her. Elena nodded "That's right, I told him that I wanted the option of having babies and growing old." She said, as she reached forward and laid her hand on his where it rested on his bent knee.

Damon nodded and looked down at their hands but said nothing. Elena gave his hand a squeeze "And that's exactly what I wanted when I told him that. But things change." Damon looked up at her then "Really?" Elena nodded. She hated that he felt insecure and vulnerable, but she still loved that he let her see it "What I felt for Stefan, it was real, but it wasn't forever, I couldn't see myself with him ten years from now, much less a hundred. At that time I thought that having a family and growing old was what I wanted." She shook her head and smiled a little "But what's the point in growing old without you?" Elena shrugged "You're the only one I would want to grow old with, and if you can't, I don't want to either."

Damon cleared his throat before speaking "Are you sure that's what you really want? You'd have to die, and drink blood, and fight the urge to kill your friends. That part gets easier, but it takes practice, and it's always there, in the back of your mind." Elena nodded "I know, but that's what you would be for. You'll be there to make sure that I'll come back when I die, and to make sure that I don't kill anyone until I can make sure of that on my own. And I know about the blood, but that's just a small price to pay to get you forever." Elena scooted closer "I don't just want you for now, and I don't just want you for one lifetime. I want you for all of them."

Damon smiled "You've put a lot of thought into this haven't you?" Elena rolled her eyes "No, my boyfriend basically tells me he wants to spend eternity with me, and I didn't give it a single thought." She chuckled "Yes, I've thought about it every day since you gave me this ring." Damon didn't know what to say, other than "When?" Elena smiled "I thought that I would wait until I was a little closer to your age." Damon raised a brow and Elena laughed "I mean, to what you were when you turned. I was thinking around twenty-three or twenty-four." Damon nodded "That sounds like a great plan."

Elena smiled "I love you." Damon smiled, the one just for her "I love you too, forever."

The next day Damon told Stefan "We talked." He said as a start to the conversation. Stefan nodded and waited for Damon to continue. Damon furrowed his brow "I'm not sure how to say this…I don't know how you're going to feel about this." Stefan smiled slightly "She wants to change doesn't she?" Damon nodded "Yeah." Stefan nodded "It's ok, I'm happy for you." He shook his head "I don't want you to think that you can't be happy about this, just because she didn't want to turn when she was with me." Stefan placed a hand on his brothers shoulder "Like I've told you before, I'm happy for you both. I'm glad you found each other." He shrugged "You bring out the best in one another, and I'm glad you're going to get to be together."

Damon looked at his brother "Thank you." Stefan cocked his head slightly "For what?" Damon looked at him very seriously as he said "For letting her go." Stefan smiled "Believe me big brother; she was never mine to begin with."

I hope I did it justice.

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