A/N: I just wanted to say how awed, and touched I am, that so many of you have relayed your personal experience to me, because of this fic. Thanks for sharing your stories. Thanks for all the love, the reviews, the alerts, the favorites, and most importantly, for reading. I don't know many of you by name, but I appreciate every one of you.

Massive, massive, massive thanks to to aj81writing, for reading through, and for her suggestions, to Daisy, also for reading through, and her advice, and constant encouragement, and to all my twitter pals, who put up with my strange tweets, and eccentricities.

Chapter Ten

A Point to Prove

"We could try it. Be my lover. Can we have this week?"

Elena heard Damon's words run together in her head, and felt her knees go weak at the thought of what he was offering her; a week of them being together; a week to explore his newfound feelings for her – a week of being able to explore him. The image of what that would involve made her feel very, very hot. Even in the cool morning air blowing off the water, she could feel her cheeks suddenly burning. It was hard to suppress the excitement that was fighting to take hold of her. The word yes teetered on the edge of her tongue.

"You have to say yes, Elena."

The anxiety she heard in his voice made her pause, reminding her of how much there was at stake; of how much pain and hurt there had been between them recently. She didn't want any more pain. She didn't want to hurt anymore. She'd hurt for so long that the ache she felt from loving him was almost part of her being. Almost. She wanted this week with him, but what would it do to her, or to both of them, if she said yes and it didn't work out? Then again, would the week end any less painfully if her answer was no? Somehow she didn't think so.

He wasn't going to give up on them. He'd made that clear. He believed he was in love with her. Be it in ten years, or now, he was going to keep pushing her until she gave them; or rather, him, a chance. It may as well be now. Her heart did a somersault as she realized there was no other answer to give him but yes. Yes. Her answer had to be yes. Yes, she would spend the next week giving in to the dreams she'd held in her heart for so long. Yes, she would risk having her heart broken. All her fears might be realized this week, but if Damon was going to break her heart wasn't it better to know now rather than later?

The excitement which had been brewing inside her since he posed the question to her now held her completely in its grasp. Along with the excitement, she felt nerves, and she felt lust; lust stronger than anything she'd ever experienced in her life. She'd put so much energy into controlling, regulating, and hiding the sexual desire she'd felt for him for the last ten years, it was like her body was ready to explode now that she didn't have to suppress it any longer. If they were going to do this, she would take what he was offering, and more. He'd been her fantasy for ten years, and she was going to let herself enjoy every minute while she could.

Her eyes swept over him now, devouring him hungrily. His hair was slightly messy after being blown about by the wind. His jaw was dusted with dark stubble, because he hadn't shaved before he'd stormed out of their room this morning. The black t-shirt he was wearing was so tight she could see the outline of his biceps and his pecs. Her gaze dropped even lower, to his shorts, and she found herself biting her lip as she remembered exactly how big he was, and how he'd moved last night when he was inside of her. She reluctantly drew her eyes back to his face. Between the stubble, his black t-shirt, and his raven colored hair, he looked like a dark prince who was capable of doing the most sinfully wicked things to her. The look on his face was intense, and she realized she still had to give him her answer.

"Okay then," she said to him breathlessly. "Yes."

Damon would have breathed easy; would have reveled in the relief he felt in the moment, if it wasn't for the way he noticed her eyes were now dark beyond recognition. All the blood left his head and traveled south so fast he felt dizzy. Then he remembered he had the green light. More than the green light, the situation called for him to never hold back again. He'd been incapable of ignoring the surge of attraction he'd had since he picked her up on the way to the airport. Now he surrendered to it with joy.

He pulled her into his arms and kissed her immediately. She responded with so much fire and passion as she melted into him, and he was again reminded of how much time they'd lost. He didn't ever want to let her go, and he had so much to prove to her this week. He couldn't let himself be daunted by it. He knew how he felt. All he had to do was act on it. She was sitting in his lap now, and he turned her around to face him, the skirt she was wearing now fanned out around her, providing excellent coverage as she straddled him. He pulled her closer to him, so that she was right against him, chest to chest; his erection pressing against her through the thin material of her panties. She moaned at the contact, and moved her hips, clearly trying to get off on him, which resulted in even more blood being pumped south.

Elena had spent the last ten years holding back. Ever since she'd seen him leave the Summer Breeze dance with someone else, she'd wished he wanted her the way he wanted her now. She was going to take this week by the horns, she decided, and jump him every chance she had. Forget about breakfast. Forget about the rest of the day. She'd waited too long for him to wait another moment. Elena rubbed her tongue against his; her hands roaming his chest. Her fingers grazed over his nipples through the t-shirt he was wearing, before she moved them under his shirt to stroke his stomach. The grunt of approval he made had her so hot she thought she might combust.

With one thing in mind her hands went to the ties knotted at the top of his shorts. All she could think about was getting him inside her as quickly as possible.

"Here?" he asked against her lips.

His voice was so rough, and obviously affected by lust, that she felt her panties grow even damper than they were. She couldn't wait to get back to the room. She couldn't wait until tonight. She didn't care that anyone could walk past, or see what they were doing if they walked to the farthest end of the patio at the house. She needed him now. She pulled away and looked at him. This morning she'd woken up ready to suppress her deepest desires in the hopes of maintaining their friendship, and protecting his happiness, but seeing the hungry way he was looking at her now made her think that this was definitely the better choice. He cupped her face and brought it back to his, so he could kiss her again.

"Here," she confirmed breathlessly between kisses. "I need you now."

She worked to free him from the confines of his short and boxers, and Damon felt his heart rate double as she began to stroke him. Her touch was magic, and Damon thought there was something to say about getting a hand job from the person who knew you better than anyone else in the entire world. He reached under her skirt to touch her. Her panties were soaking wet, and when he slipped his finger inside the elastic, to touch her slick, heated flesh, he just about lost it.

She arched her back so he had a better angle to touch her and he couldn't resist sliding his index finger into her. His cock was throbbing so hard between the feel of her pulsating around him and what she was doing to him. She collected the pre-cum which was spilling over the side, before massaging it into him so she could stroke him better. Their kisses grew more and more frantic as he slid yet another finger into her. Anymore of this mutual touching and he wasn't going to last much longer. She must have sensed it herself because she moved so that she was kneeling over him. He felt the brush of her hand against him as she pulled her underwear to the side, and then he could feel her honeyed heat against the tip of his cock.

Elena didn't think she'd ever been more turned on than she was right now. She was so acutely aware of everything, from the grains of sand pressing into her knee, to the sound of the waves lapping at the shore, and the smell of the sea. Her nipples were taught peaks pressed against his chest. Her thighs were trembling from the effort of not sinking straight down on to his length. They were both breathing hard, and their eyes were locked as their foreheads rested against each other. She wouldn't ever forget this moment. She was torn between wanting it to last forever, and sliding onto him to ride him into oblivion and beyond. In the end he made the decision for her when he grasped her hips, urging her to move onto his thick cock.

"Elena."

She'd never heard him say her name like that; filled with so much raw need and desire, and lust. The rush of power she experienced from it was heady, and dizzying. She bit her lip as she gave them what they both wanted and she started to lower herself onto him, her right hand moving up to curl around one of his magnificent biceps as she slid further onto his length. The noise he made in the back of his throat, once she'd taken him the whole way inside her, caused her to clamp down on him.

"Fuck. Elena."

Damon palmed her breasts as Elena began to roll her hips softly. She leaned forwards, and kissed him, slipping her tongue between his teeth as he opened his mouth to her. Kissing became more difficult, however, as she picked up speed. Keeping one hand on her breast, Damon used his other to slide the hair off her shoulder, and push her t-shirt down her arm so he could kiss her bare shoulder. Thank god they'd come here, Damon thought. He couldn't imagine that he might not have discovered how she felt about him, or how he felt about her; that he might not have had the chance to be with her like this. The last two days had been so full of hurt and pain, but the love and the connection they shared right now was more powerful than anything else he'd ever been part of. She was riding him freely with abandon now. One of his hands skimmed down her side to settle on her hips as the other slipped under her skirt to rub circles over her clit.

"Come for me, Elena."

Her eyes locked with his for one short moment, and Damon felt his temperature rise even further, before she held fast to his shoulders, threw her head back, and screamed his name. He spilled himself inside her immediately.

They stayed as they were for a long time afterward. Elena's legs felt like jelly, and Damon held her against him, her head resting on his shoulder until she could find the strength to move off, and sit beside him. Once Damon had tied up the front of his shorts, he put his arm around her and she leaned into him. She was so lost in the beauty of the ocean, and the warmth of the man next to her; her skin still heated from his touch, and her body still sated from the moment they'd shared, that she didn't see them until they were right in front of her.

"Well, isn't this cosy?"

Elena looked up so fast she felt dizzy. There they were; Stefan and Katherine. Because obviously running into one of them at a time was too much to ask for. Damon's arm tightened around her.

"It was," Damon said, letting his annoyance show.

Seeing Stefan made Damon remember the events of yesterday far too well. He'd lost Elena, and their friendship for a moment, and Stefan had been prowling around ready to wedge himself between them, and make sure she forgot about him quick enough. Well, that wasn't going to happen today. He had no intention of ever letting Elena get over him, but what if he failed to convince her of how he felt? He suddenly felt wracked with nerves as he remembered how much losing her for that short time had hurt. What if she didn't believe him by the time they had to leave? What if seeing Katherine every day, and being reminded of his feelings of the other woman undid all of his efforts?

"I came to your room. Came looking for you," Stefan said to Elena. "But you weren't there."

"Obviously. Since she's here with me," Damon said, in a way that implied Stefan was beyond stupid.

Elena could practically hear the eye roll.

"I told you she'd be with him," Katherine said rudely, as if she and Damon weren't there.

"You're a genius," Damon said. "Now, why don't you hurry up and figure out that neither of us want you here, and get lost."

Stefan ignored him. "Elena, can I talk to you?"

Damon wrapped his other hand around her wrist so she couldn't move. There was no way he was letting her walk off with Stefan. He couldn't risk Stefan saying anything that might upset her or make her question things between them again.

"Whatever you want to say, just say it. Then leave," Damon told him.

"What happened to the two of you not being friends anymore?" Stefan asked Elena.

Damon tried not to feel annoyed that Elena had told Stefan about the 'end' of their friendship. Was it so much to ask for that it stay between the two of them? To be fair, she had been very angry with him yesterday. He'd hurt her badly; and that was all the more reason to make sure Stefan and Katherine left immediately. He didn't want her to have to question his feelings for her ever again, and he knew seeing the two of them would cause her to do that. Unfortunately, the fact that Stefan knew so much meant he wasn't going to give up easily. In fact, judging by the determined expression on his face, he wasn't going to stop until he'd caused as much trouble as he could.

"I changed my mind," Elena said.

"She's with me," Damon said. "We're together. Let it be."

"I thought you wanted to get over him," Stefan said to Elena.

"My relationship with Damon isn't really any of your business, Stefan."

"She'll never get over him," Katherine said. "It's pathetic."

"You're pathetic, Katherine," Damon said. "And if I didn't make it clear last night, you disgust me."

"You're the one who came here intent on making me jealous."

"That was a mistake," Damon told her. "One I'm extremely sorry for."

"Damon wants what he can't have," Stefan said. "Now that he can have you, he doesn't want you anymore."

"I know what I want," Damon said. "I have what I want," he said, lowering his voice a little, as he relaxed his grip on Elena's wrist so he could take her hand in his.

"For now," Stefan said. "Yesterday it was a different tune you were singing."

"I was an idiot, and in denial yesterday."

Damon didn't care to justify himself to Stefan; would never bother to give the other man an explanation if things were different, but considering the circumstances he thought it was important for Elena to hear him explain it. He'd explain it again, and again, if he needed to.

"Wow," Stefan said to Elena. "I don't believe you're actually buying this."

Elena glared at Stefan. Yes, she'd said she'd spend the week with him, but she didn't owe him anything, and it wasn't Stefan's place to act the way he was – as if he knew and understood the situation better than she did. He didn't know Damon. He didn't know her, and he certainly didn't know the complexities of their friendship.

"This isn't about me buying anything, Stefan. I'm with Damon because I want to be."

Stefan's laugh lacked humor, and he shook his head at her. "It's a mistake, Elena. He told me himself he doesn't see you that way."

"He told me the same thing," Katherine told her. "More than once."

"Because you were a jealous bitch," Damon said.

"Or because it was the truth. Who knows with you, Damon," Stefan said.

Stefan turned back to Elena. "You know yesterday, before we got on the boat, Damon and I bumped into each other. When I told him Katherine and I were over, he was ecstatic. Then when I mentioned I was interested in you, he told me he was going to forget Katherine and make you his girlfriend. He was boasting about how you were in love with him."

Damon had never given a second thought to that conversation until now. He wanted to kill Stefan; not only for bringing it up, but for his lies and exaggeration of the truth. But should he have expected any less? Stefan had far too much insight into their friendship; and he was using Elena's insecurities to make her doubt what was between them, just as he had yesterday. Now Damon was sure that not even his heated encounter with Elena from minutes ago was going to be enough to make sure she didn't give Stefan's comments more than a passing thought; not when she was so skittish already.

The dream she'd relayed to him earlier revealed exactly how frightened and scared she was about whether his feelings for her were genuine or not. He felt sick at the implications of Stefan's comments. Would he never catch a break here? And just what could Damon say to either Stefan or Katherine that they both wouldn't jump all over? Everything would sound false. Yesterday he'd been chasing Katherine, convinced he was in love with her. Today he knew he was in love with Elena.

Damon had so much adrenaline pumping through him now that he was seriously considering ramming his fist into Stefan's face. The only thing that stopped him from doing that was what Elena said next.

"I don't believe you," she said. "Damon wouldn't do that."

"No?" Stefan asked.

"No."

"You're a fool. Damon doesn't know what he wants. Everything is a game. All he knows is that he wants you because I wanted you."

Damon was up in the blink of an eye, and without thinking about it, Elena stood up too, immediately putting her hand on his arm to calm him.

"Forget it," Elena told Damon, looking at Stefan. "He's not worth it."

"We could have had something," Stefan told Elena. "Don't come to me when he loses interest in you. And he will."

"You'll regret this," Katherine said to Damon, before she looked at Elena. "Both of you will. He'll be begging me to take him back within the week. Where will your precious friendship be then?"

Stefan and Katherine gave them one last look, before they began to walk away. Damon turned to Elena immediately, cupping her face between his hands.

"Tell me you don't believe them."

Elena swallowed. She didn't know which part of the conversation he was referring to. She didn't believe that Damon would have been boasting about the fact that she had feelings for him, or Stefan's implication that she was a game. When it came to everything else, however, she was a little less sure. She simply couldn't be certain that Damon wouldn't lose interest in her after a while, or that this might ruin their friendship, or that Damon wouldn't decide he wanted Katherine back at some point, but it didn't change the way she felt about this week.

"I don't believe you said those things."

Damon nodded. "You know me better than that."

"I do," she told him.

He brushed his lips over her, before pulling away to look at her. "I was so scared," he told her. "Scared they were going to make you change your mind."

It was Elena's turn to shake her head. She'd been right to give in to him. They were here. They needed to act like they were together. She'd wanted this for so long, and she was going to take this week, and love him like she'd always wanted to.

"I told you my answer was yes. I want to have this week with you."

He frowned at her. "We'll have more than this week, Elena. We'll have as long as you give me."

She nodded, but Damon was suddenly worried she had the idea that this was a weeklong thing, and that was all. It was all he'd asked for, but what if it wasn't enough? What if he failed in his mission to make her see she was the only woman he would want for the rest of his life? He had to stop this, he thought, or he was going to go crazy. He was in love with her, and everything he did over the next few days would show her that. How could it not? He felt it to the very depths of his soul.

She needed to see that he was different with her than he was with every other woman he'd been with. Even Katherine. Especially Katherine. And that meant he was going to have to do the one thing he'd never done before in his life; the one thing he'd made it his rule to avoid – he was going to have to wear his heart on his sleeve, and let himself be open and vulnerable with someone. With her. Even now, the thought didn't sit easy with him, but he had to learn, and he had to learn quickly. He needed to be completely transparent when it came to everything he felt for her. Easier said than done. For the better part of his life he'd never let anyone the whole way in. Not even Elena. But he had to start now.

"Come on," he said to her.

"Where are we going?"

"We've had enough angst to last us for the rest of our lives. It's time to have fun."

When they landed on Heaven's Isle he'd suggested it was the perfect place for her to get over her mystery man. Now, however, he couldn't help but think that Heaven's Isle was the perfect place for her mystery man to show her just how much he loved her back.

Two days later, Damon was holding Elena in his arms after several hours spent getting to know his best friend in the most intimate way possible. The last two days had been incredible. Aside from the fact that they hadn't been able to spend every available minute in bed together, and aside from the fact that they'd had to attend some odd group bonding exercises, they were having the holiday of their lives. Elena wasn't holding back with him at all, and he was finding it far too easy to slide from the role of best friend, to lover. Far too easy.

Even as she looked up and kissed him softly, he felt lust stir through him for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. His hand now rested on her hip, and he found himself caressing her stomach with his thumb when Elena suddenly pulled away from him, sat up, and then raced into the bathroom.

"You okay, Lena?" he called.

"Mmphmm."

Damon got up out of bed quickly, thinking Elena was about to be sick, but when he got to the bathroom door, he found her putting something back in her make-up purse.

"What was that?"

"Umm, the pill. I should have taken it two hours ago, but-"

"We were busy," Damon said with a smirk.

"Yes, we were," Elena said, smirking back at him.

It was a shock to Damon that he had completely forgotten about contraceptives. They hadn't even registered on his radar, and considering the amount of sex they'd been having, he supposed they should have. It reminded him of the dream he'd had their first night here; where he'd been looking through the window into the house with Elena, her mystery man, and their children. A sense of longing swept through him, surprising him with its intensity. He hadn't ever given too much thought to having children, but the idea was quickly becoming appealing.

Even now he was unable to keep from admiring the curves of her body and picturing her belly swollen with his child. The thought was all too arousing, and as she went to walk past him, he trapped her against the doorway of the bathroom. She moaned when she felt just how aroused he was. He buried his face in her neck, before pulling back to look at her.

"You know," he said softly, "if you end up pregnant while we're here, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, Elena."