Hey! Hope you like the chapter, please leave me a review :)

Thanks a lot to everyone reading this and to Lorena for being my beta.

Love,

Sam

"If you're looking for the word that means caring about someone beyond all rationality and wanting them to have everything they want no matter how much it destroys you, it's love. And when you love someone you just, you…you don't stop, ever. Even when people roll their eyes, and call you crazy. Even then. Especially then. You just– you don't give up. Because if I could just give up…if I could just, you know, take the whole world's advice and– and move on and find someone else, that wouldn't be love. That would be… that would be some other disposable thing that is not worth fighting for"

-How I met your mother-

.

She put on her sunglasses and started the engine of the car, her brother was once again too busy touring around town with his fiancée, so she was going alone to the cake tasting since her friends weren't in shape after a long night in the bar. In fact, they were so sick with a hangover that they forgot to inquire her about her night with Damon. Her mother had been calling her since yesterday but she refused to take her calls, she didn't want her parents ruining her mood.

The wind was blowing her hair in every direction and a huge smile was plastered on her face. She felt so liberated, free, young and happy. She and Damon had parted this morning with the promise of meeting each other again at night. For the first time in a long long time Elena Gilbert felt truly happy.

She parked in front of the little bakery and took a deep breath before leaving the car, things between her and Damon were definitely getting better but there were other things she needed to work out, the most important was her best friend. Elena was determined to win Caroline back, after a few days in Mystic Falls she had realized how much she missed everything, who she used to be, how simple life was back then. In the back of her mind was a nagging little voice telling her she had a life waiting for her in San Francisco, but for the time being she decided to ignore it.

Elena entered the shop, the little bell in the door alerted the owner of the presence of a new client, her white heels resounded in the linoleum floors and Elena smiled when she heard the soft hum of "Moon River" playing in the background. Caroline smiled slightly and gestured for her to follow her to the back.

"I thought Jeremy and his fiancée were coming with you" Caroline said once Elena was next to her. They entered what she assumed was the kitchen, it was a big place with white walls and big windows. It was cute and very much Caroline.

"No, he's been showing Anna his favorite places and stuff like that" Elena said while taking a seat in a high silver chair "So he left it up to me"

"Wow, if I was his girlfriend I would want to be a part of every little detail. But I guess the point of having a wedding planner is being able to relax" The blonde girl said while taking out little containers from the fridge. Other four people were working around them and Elena felt so happy at seeing how far her friend had come.

"Yeah I know, but Anna's actually kind of weird," Elena said and laughed, her heart filling with hope when Caroline laughed alongside her. "I guess she didn't want the stress and all, they did gIve me very specific instructions but they would rather spend their time here doing other things than to be stressing about wedding preparations."

"Yeah I guess that makes sense" Caroline said before putting five different containers in front of her "Okay, I made five different combinations based on the information you gave me so, here we go" She handed her a spoon and looked at her eagerly as she tried each one.

Elena felt a pang of nostalgia hit her in the chest, this could have been them, planning their weddings together. She would have been Caroline's bridesmaid and she would have been hers. She didn't stop feeling amazed at how much it could hurt to think of all the things she lost in the last few years.

Among pastries, merengue, cookie dough and coffee things got a little easier between them, they worked for almost an hour in a design that left both parties satisfied. Elena could see that Caroline was very talented in her work when she showed her pictures of previous cakes she had worked on. And in the end they decided to have two cakes, one would be coconut and raspberry and the second one would be chocolate and mint. Elena was completely positive that Jeremy and Anna were going to be delighted with their wedding cakes.

"Okay so don't worry about anything else, we will deliver straight to the place the party is being held at, and I'm confident there won't be any issues" Caroline gave her a professional smile as she crossed her hands on top of her barely there baby bump.

"You're going? Jeremy told me she invited you and Stefan…and the other guys too" Elena asked, she hadn't been surprised at Jeremy's choice but she did wonder how their parents were going to react, they never liked their friends very much.

"Yeah I think we are" She smiled slightly "In fact, Stefan is really excited" Elena smiled back at her and grabbed her keys and sunglasses, she wanted to talk to her but after seeing the chaos around the kitchen she figured it probably wasn't the best time.

"Well I'll better get going, seems like you have a lot of work to do"

"Yeah it's been a crazy week" Caroline answered and they both just stared at each other for a moment "Uhmm Stefan said you might be spending the rest of your time here in the old farm"

"Yeah, I had no idea that the property still belonged to my family" Elena said while crossing her feet nervously "But now that I do, I don't see why we shouldn't stay there"

"I think it's a great idea, that place's been lonely for a very long time"

Elena looked at her and wanted to say a millions things "Caroline I-"

"It's okay Elena, really we don't need to do this" Caroline busied herself with something else and avoided looking her in the eye. That's how Elena knew that their conversation was over.

"I'll see you later. Thank you for everything" She took her things and exited the kitchen. She should feel bad because things weren't okay between them yet but somehow she felt more positive, there was still a long way to go but she felt like things would work out between them in the end.

Elena was about to leave the shop when a cold hand on her arm stopped her "You really think you're better than all of us here" A female voice said and she turned around to see the girl from the bar, Rose.

"Excuse me?" Elena asked while moving the woman's hand from her arm

"You, walking around this town with your fancy clothes thinking you're better than everyone else" Elena stared at her open mouthed, not really knowing what to say "You think you can come back like the queen of this town and suddenly everything is going to fall at your feet?"

"I don't really know why you're saying all of these things but you really need to back off" Elena was starting to get mad and could see people staring at them

"You may have him now but he won't stay forever" Elena's heart got stuck in her throat when those words left the woman's mouth "He's infatuated with you right now, because you are a novelty in some way but you don't know him not really, once he gets bored he's going to toss you aside, just like he did with me" Elena's hands were starting to shake and wanted nothing more than get the hell away from this woman.

"You know nothing, nothing about me and Damon" She told her, her mind was getting confused. She wanted to believe her words, wanted to believe things were different between them. But what if this woman was right, what if she didn't know Damon anymore?

"Oh really, I think I know a lot more than you do" Rose spat at her "Because I was there all of the times you weren't, you little bitch"

"Okay that's enough" Caroline's voice resounded in the place "Get the hell away from my shop Rose and don't ever come back, you're no longer welcome"

"You know what? Fine by me, I never really liked you blondie" Caroline rolled her eyes as the brunette woman left the shop not before giving Elena a nasty glare though. Elena closed her eyes and her face almost burst into flames when she noticed that everyone around her was looking.

"Great" She muttered and exited the shop as well. The last thing she needed was people starting to gossip around her more than they already were.

"Elena, wait" Caroline walked behind her "Don't listen to her, she has no idea what she's talking about"

"Yeah well, neither do I" She answered honestly.

"Don't let her get in the way Elena" Her friend's blue eyes looked at her with sympathy. "She's not worth it" Caroline squeezed her arm before going back to the shop.

Elena cursed mentally and headed towards her car. All the happiness from this morning starting to evaporate from her.

Elena arrived at her grandparents' house and almost sighed with relief when she noticed none of her friends were still here, it wasn't rare since they were pretty much comatose when she left in the morning. The last thing she needed right now was to be surrounded with questions, she was very confused and didn't even know where to start with all the things swirling inside her head.

She left the car and approached the house, she would have to be quick if she didn't want Annie to see her and realize there was something wrong with her. As she walked towards the porch her phone started ringing and when she saw it was Damon calling her a pressure started to grow in her chest.

Elena had been so sure about these feelings this morning, what they shared together was amazing, she felt so connected to the world in that moment, so part of everything around her in a way she hadn't been able to do since everything ended between them but now she was full of doubts, was it possible that she was in love with the idea of Damon? With that young boy she used to love… but was he still that boy? Or maybe he was someone else entirely, someone she didn't know therefore, someone she couldn't possibly love.

"Come on tell me what's wrong" Elena jumped at the sound of her brother's voice and fixed her eyes on him. He was sitting in one of the rocking chairs on the porch and was looking at her with a worried expression.

"Uhmm I'm sorry, I didn't see you" She answered

"I know, you were too busy burning holes into your phone" He told her and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees "Come on Lena tell me what's wrong"

Elena huffed and dropped herself in the chair next to his "Everything's wrong"

"When I talked to you on the phone today you seemed so happy and now you look like someone killed your puppy" Elena laughed slightly and started to rock herself in the chair

"Do you ever wonder what our lives would be like if we never left Mystic Falls?" She asked as she fixed her eyes on the green land before them

"Not really, don't get me wrong I loved this place, I don't think there's many places like this in the world but there was nothing that kept me tied to this place" He started rocking in the chair as well and looked at her "But it's always been different for you"

"How so?" She asked absently

"Well you left your heart here" He answered softly. The air got stuck in her throat and she turned her head to look at him. "I know that you're like this because of Damon, tell me what's on your head sis"

"I'm not sure that my love for him is real" She answered honestly

"What are you talking about? Why do you say that?" He asked with true curiosity

"I mean I loved him before, I truly did. But how can I love him today if I don't even know who he is?"

"Of course you know, he's Damon"

"But he's not the same man he was back then"

"Well everyone changes sister, you're not the same either"

"Exactly! How can we be so sure that we love each other if we don't even know who the other truly is? You can fall in love with someone within minutes"

"Okay I'm going to stop you right there because you're starting to sound like mom and dad" He stopped the motions of the chair and placed his hand on top of hers, forcing her to stop as well "And risking to sound like grams I'm going to ask you something… when did you know you loved Damon?"

"What?" Elena asked confused

"It's an easy question, when did you know you loved him"

Flashes of moments together started to appear in her head, millions of times together, all of them stopping in one of the most important moments of her life. She had been a little girl, sitting in the playground at school and looking with tear stained eyes at her sandwich laying on the ground. Some kid had pushed her and dropped her food all over the grass, she didn't know what to do, she was so hungry and didn't know who to ask for help, Miss Casey was a mean old lady and since it was her first day in this school she had no friends. And then it happened, a blue eyed boy sat next to her and after taking one look at her expression he handed over his own food to her, she had cut the sandwich in half and handed a part to him and they ate in silence while looking at each other once in a while, since that moment he became her savior. She had loved him there, in spite of being just a kid she felt the most pure form of love in that one moment, and fate was sealed, everything after that was just the path until they could fulfill their destiny. "Since the first moment I saw him" She answered her brother's question.

"And you know when I realized that I loved Anna? After the first time we spoke at the university library" His expression softened and he squeezed her hand "You can't measure love Elena, love is that thing no one can explain. It can be born in a moment and last for a life time. Can you tell me with all honesty that you're sure in the depths of your soul that what you feel for Damon isn't love?"

Elena looked at her brother and felt a tear fall from her eye "But what if I'm wrong Jeremy?"

"Then you are and that's it. You can't spend your life trying to escape pain Elena, you need to start living again, take a chance and risk it all, there's no gain if you don't take a risk"

Elena took a deep breath and tried to steady her heart, could it be? Could things between her and Damon actually work out? She didn't know what scared her the most: taking that leap of fate and have her heart broken again or not taking it and living her entire life wondering what could have happened. What could hurt more? saying the things you felt or not saying them at all?

"Just think about it Lena" Jeremy said and then heard Anna calling him "Ugh I better go see that, we just came to drop some things off and were heading to the falls" Elena smiled slightly at him, he stood up and kissed her forehead "You'll do the right thing sis" he told her before entering the house and leaving her alone with her thoughts.

Elena started rocking herself in the chair again as the humid summer air kissed her face, she dropped her shoes and wiggled her toes as she extended her feet in the air, just like she used to do when she was a little girl. She could hear everything here, the birds chirping, the leaves rustling, a lonely car passing in the distance, there was nothing like this in San Francisco. After a few moments she heard Annie fighting with her old cassette player in the distance and smiled. No matter how many times they told her that was useless she refused to throw it away.

A familiar tune started to sound once Annie was able to beat the old device. Elena felt a warm sensation spread through her body at the first words on the song. Damon loved this song, he was a die hard Cash fan. It seemed that since she got back everything around her reminded her of him.

The taste of love is sweet
When hearts like ours meet.
I fell for you like a child,
Oh, but the fire went wild

Well, Johnny and June didn't have it easy either and yet she managed to find in her heart the strength to trust in him again. Could she do that, could she put her trust in him again? Handing her heart over to him with the knowledge that he could crush it anytime he wanted. As if on cue her phone starting ringing again, she looked at the name on the screen and felt her heart squeezing in her chest, the words echoing in the background.

I went down, down, down as the flames went higher
And it burns, burns, burns,
The ring of fire, the ring of fire.

And it burns indeed. With a deep breath she pressed the green button on her phone and pressed the phone into her ear. "Hello?"