Disclaimer: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, I just like playing with the characters a little :P

Chapter Nine: Don't Ever Leave Me

Elena lost track of how many times she had kissed Damon by now. But all she knew when she pulled away from him smiling and staring into those ice blue eyes that she loved so much, she knew she was truly in love with Damon and always would be.

"Don't ever leave me" Damon said to her as he kissed her on the cheek

"Never ever" Elena smiled and kissed Damon back on the cheek

Damon smiled back at her and before he could kiss her again, Elena pulled away from him. Damon looked at her confused but she just smiled back at him.

"What are you up to now?" Damon asked

"Well, you never really asked me anything, I just kinda pounced on you and started kissing you" Elena laughed

"True" Damon smiled "Okay…Elena, I love you. And I will love you for the rest of eternity and nothing can ever change that. And those two weeks I spent away from you being locked up in a cellar, barely alive, I realized how much I really do love you and…I can't go another day without being able to call you Mrs. Salvatore" Damon said and Elena smiled and laughed a little "So, Elena Gilbert, will you marry me?"

"Yes" Elena smiled and ran back into Damon's arms and hugged him and kissed him

Stefan looked at the Boarding House one last time while loading up his things into his car. He would always remember everything good and bad that happened here in the past year. It was a hell of a year. Falling in love and being with Elena was the highlight of his time here. Remembering how he used to make her smile still made him smile to this day, even if it was just a memory now, it was a memory he would cherish. He closed the trunk on his car and just stared at the Boarding House for a minute. One year Stefan, only one year you have to stay away. Then you can come back and see Elena's smile again, even if it is because of Damon; Stefan thought to himself.

He turned away from the Boarding House and got into his car and drove off. This would be the last time he'd be in Mystic Falls for a whole year. But he would be back, maybe not to take Elena away from Damon, but he'd be back, just to see her smile, even if it was for someone else.

Elena and Damon were finally coming back to the Boarding House. The first thing Elena noticed was that Stefan's car was out of the driveway now, she knew he was gone for good now, at least for a year. Elena looked down at her ring finger and then over at Damon and she smiled. She knew she chose the right brother, she knew from the beginning that Damon was never evil like Stefan always told her he was, but he was just lost and misunderstood. But Elena understood Damon…at least sometimes she understood Damon. Damon got out of the car and before Elena could open her door, Damon was there and holding the door open. Elena smiled and once she was out of the car she wrapped her arms around Damon and kissed him.

"I love you" Elena smiled

"I love you too" Damon said back with a smile and scooped Elena up and before Elena could even blink, they were inside the house and Damon was gently setting Elena down on her feet

Once Elena was balanced, she started walking around the house, expecting to see some big difference in Stefan's absence. There were a few books gone that sat on the shelves in the living room, a few pictures too, but other than that, it was the same. Damon watched Elena look around, he knew she was looking for some change in Stefan being gone, but she wasn't going to find it. Even if half the stuff was Stefan's in the house, vampires in general don't drag half a house around with them, they just leave it there, but Damon didn't really have the heart to say that to Elena, he just let her wander around in silence, looking around for change that wasn't going to be there. Elena stopped looking in the kitchen, when she saw that everything was the same. In a way, she liked how everything was the same, but also, it made her feel like that if Stefan can just get up and leave without a thing changing in the house, who's to say that Damon can't do the same thing and just leave her here one day. Weather she was human or vampire, he could just get up and leave and she wouldn't know for a while.

Elena ran back into the living room, trying to erase that from her mind, she didn't want to think about Damon just getting up and leaving her, especially since they just got engaged not even a half hour ago. She plopped down on the couch next to him and snuggled up next to him, she didn't want to let go of him ever. Even though she made her choice and she was going to be with Damon for all eternity, she couldn't help but feel her heart break just a little, even after all Stefan did, making her believe that Damon was truly dead when he was sitting in a cell in the basement with Isobel slowly turning into a living corpse. Stefan still held a piece of her heart, even after that, and she knew that he always would. But it was different from how Damon had her heart. If it was Stefan that died, Elena knew she would cry and miss Stefan, but she'd get over that. But when she thought Damon was dead, though she tried not to show it to worry everyone, she was seriously contemplating ways to die. She couldn't live without Damon, her life without Damon made her feel empty inside, like she was already dead on the inside, but just existing on the outside. Going through the motions of acting like a grieving person on the outside while on the inside she was thinking of ways to join Damon in death, true death. Elena squeezed Damon next to her tighter as she tried to shake that feeling, feeling like this now with Damon here just felt to weird, true death was the last thing she wanted to think about with Damon still here with her.

"You okay?" Damon asked looking at Elena confused

"I'm fine" Elena sighed "Just thinking"

"…About what?" Damon asked and Elena just looked away from him "Come on Elena, I'm not a mind reader, tell me"

"I was just thinking about when I thought you were really gone" Elena said and looked at Damon now "With you gone…I wanted to die. But, you're here, and I don't want you to ever leave me"

"Never ever" Damon smiled and kissed Elena

Damon turned towards Elena and wrapped his arms around her and kept kissing her. He wanted Elena to know how much he really did love her, but then her cell phone rang and Damon sighed and pulled away to let her answer. Elena pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and saw 'Jeremy' lit up on the Caller ID.

"What's up Jer?" Elena answered

"Where's Damon?" Damon heard Jeremy ask over the phone

"Right here…why? Did he try to kill you again?" Elena asked and cast a death glare towards Damon

"No," Jeremy laughed "It's just me and Ric found out something he might want to know"

"Oh, okay, here, I'll put him on" Elena said and handed the phone to Damon

"What is it?" Damon asked

"Stefan left town today, right?" Jeremy asked

"Yes, why?" Damon asked confused

"Do you know, where he went?" Jeremy asked

"Florence" Damon said "Why so curious Jeremy?"

"Stefan went to Florence to go be with Katherine" Jeremy said

"…How do you know this?" Damon asked

"He called and told Ric, no idea why though, and he didn't want you to know, but I figured, why not?" Jeremy said

"…Thanks for letting me know" Damon sighed "At least we don't have to worry about her for a while now"

"Yeah, I guess not" Jeremy said

"You wanna talk to Elena?" Damon asked

"No, I'm good" Jeremy sighed "See ya Damon"

"Bye" Damon said and hung up Elena's phone and handed it back to her "Stefan went to Florence with Katherine"

"Oh…" Elena said "At least we don't have to worry about Katherine now, right?" Elena asked

"Right" Damon said and smiled at Elena and kissed her on the cheek.

Damon and Elena ended up staying up late and watching a movie where Elena fell asleep in the middle of it. Damon couldn't help but smile at her, he loved watching her sleep, she looked so…peaceful and angelic when she slept. He turned off the movie and carried Elena up to his bed and covered her with the blankets after getting her shoes and jacket off of her. Once Elena was settled, Damon got in bed next to her and watched her sleep for a few minutes before he fell asleep himself right next to her.

Elena's eyes fluttered open to find herself in Damon's bedroom with Damon asleep right next to her. She smiled and kissed him on the forehead but he was knocked out, nothing would wake him up right now. And that was when Elena decided to get up and walk around the house a little bit.

A/N: Okay, so I hope you guys like this chapter, next chapter is the epilogue which is the ending of this wonderful story :] And because I love you guys so so much and you keep giving me wonderful reviews to read that make me smile, I'm giving you guys a preview of the last chapter:

Epilogue: Stefan's Letter

Elena walked into Stefan's room. All of his furniture was still there, it was just the most of his belongings were gone now. Elena walked over to Stefan's bed and sat down there, just looking around the room, seeing the differences. It looked like someone left, like someone wasn't living here anymore, and that was what Elena was looking for all over the house, the sign of someone gone. A little wave of relief passed over her, she knew now that Damon couldn't just get up and leave her one day, not without her noticing at least. She looked at Stefan's pillow and saw that there was a letter on his pillow with 'Elena' written on it in perfect cursive. Elena picked up the letter and opened it up and started to read what Stefan wrote.

Sorry it's so short, but I don't want to spoil the letter for you guys that Stefan left for Elena :]

I hope you guys like the ending :] I loved writing this story, it was fun :] and more short stories to come soon probably since this one is done, or will be done once the next chapter is up :P

I love you guys, your awesome and amazing! xoxo, Avril