Gravity

Disclaimer: I don't own anything or anyone from The Vampire Diaries.

Sorry again for the delay!

Not my best this one, but I'm feeling more confident in the direction of where this story is going now! Sorry for any mistakes, grammar or otherwise, I haven't had time to read over and I am currently abroad with limited WiFi!

I hope you all like it...

August 20th 2013

Tuesday 11:30pm

Long Beach, California

Enzo found Megan and she was just as messed up as I thought she would be.

You want to know what's more messed up? How much she and Elena immediately hit it off and became fast friends.

I watch with interest as Elena and Megan stand by the bar and order another round of shots. They both down them quickly with giggles, Megan's arm looped through Elena's as they lean into each other.

Enzo's words from the other day creep back into my mind.

"Here's your cut."

I take the envelope from Enzo and ignore the burning pit in my stomach that has been building since I accepted his offer over a week ago.

I used the rest of the money that Elena and I had managed to scrape together and save since leaving Mystic Falls and spent it all to buy her the perfect engagement ring.

It's the last thing that I bought that wasn't paid for by drug money.

I pocket the cash and push back the guilt. I'm doing this for Elena, to give her a better life, to treat her how she deserves to be treated.

"Come on, Damon." Enzo shakes his head at me. "Smile!"

I roll my eyes. "There's nothing to smile about here."

"You can do a lot with that money and trust me, there's plenty more where that came from."

"No." I shake my head. "I told you that I would get rid of the original batch but that's it. I'm not going to be a drug dealer."

Enzo laughs. "You already are one." He pats me on the back. "Trust me; this is the easiest money you will ever make. That heavy envelope in your pocket is proof of that."

"If I do this again, I'll need to tell Elena. If I tell Elena about this, she'll kick my ass. Trust me Enzo, we've been through something similar like this before," I think back to Austin with everything that happened with Marcel. Elena was dead set against me dealing and those were just little party drugs compared to what I'm doing now. "She was dead set against it. There's no way in hell she'll be ok with this, no matter how good the money is."

"So don't tell her." He replies simply.

"That's not an option." I glare at him angrily. "I'm not going to start lying to her."

"You technically already have been and deep down she knows it. She's not stupid, Damon, she must wonder somewhere inside of her where you somehow managed to just buy her an expensive engagement ring out of thin air and yet still manage to pay your motel charges and eat three meals a day. She knows that we're up to something, but she just doesn't want to know about it because she is quite happily reaping the benefits with no repercussions. You know what they say; ignorance is bliss and all that."

"No." I shake my head immediately. "She asked me, I told her that I had the money saved up since we left our hometown."

Enzo laughs, he actually laughs and I feel my fists clench tightly together. "If you want to believe that she bought that story, then fine, you do that." He smirks, "but deep down Elena is more like you and I than what she appears and claims to be." He slides a full glass of bourbon across the table towards me. "And I think you already knew that."

I know that Enzo is right.

Elena is complex. I've known this from the first time we slept together over a year ago. She doesn't see the world as black or white, she doesn't see things through the eyes of a regular Gilbert and I guess that is probably one of the reasons why I fell in love with her in the first place.

I know she was sceptical about Megan, how could she not be? We were both expecting to find a lost junkie with no sense of reality, someone who cared only about getting her next hit and nothing else.

Instead we found a happy go lucky girl who seemed to look like she was having the time of her life.

I smile and approach the two girls with a smile, my arm instantly wrapping around Elena's waist and bringing her against me.

"You two got shots without me?" I question amused as Elena looks up at me with a drunken smile, her eyes glistening and it's the happiest she has looked in a few days.

"Sorry baby," she pouts jokingly and wraps both of her arms round my neck. "It was girls only." She presses her lips against mine briefly.

"Where's Enzo?" Megan asks curiously.

Enzo is currently in the back room selling heroin to the owner of this bar we are standing in.

"He left his wallet back at the motel, went back to get it." The lie falls from my lips easily.

Megan looks at me for a moment before nodding her head, seemingly accepting my answer. She turns back to the bar and orders us all another round of shots and part of me wonders if this is all leading up to her wanting her next hit.

Judging from the size of her eyeballs last night, she's definitely not clean off the drugs.

Tonight however seems to be a different story.

I down the shot quickly and bring Elena closer against me when I notice the barman eying her with hungry eyes. He looks at me and I glare back, my hand falling to Elena's ass. He frowns and turns away, a smirk on my lips as Elena moans softly into my ear and presses a kiss to my neck.

"Stop, you'll make me horny." She whispers drunkenly into my ear and I smirk, moving my hand away from her ass slowly.

"You two are sickly." Megan interrupts us and I sigh when Elena pushes herself out of my arms. "Come on," she grabs Elena's hand. "Let's go dance!" she pulls her away from me and I raise my eyebrows in disbelief. Elena giggles, winks at me and follows Megan towards the crowded dance floor.

"So, how long have you and Damon to be together?" Megan pulls me into the girls bathroom, pushing out some of her damp sweaty hair from the humidity of the club we have found ourselves in, out of her face.

"Officially or unofficially?"

She looks at me amused, a smirk creeping unto her lips. "Unofficially."

"Unofficially, we have been together for over a year." I smile slightly, knowing that the way we started our relationship was wrong but I wouldn't change it for the world.

"So it's serious then?"

I nod. "Of course it's serious. He's the love of my life."

Megan stares at me for a moment. "That's a bold statement to make from someone who is so young."

I frown slightly. "I may be young, but I know how I feel."

"And does Damon feel the same way?"

"Yes he does." I answer confidently because that is one of the only sure things that have held us together since this whole mess started. I hold up my left hand, reminding her of the sparkling ring shining on my finger.

Megan smiles and nods approvingly and I continue. "Well, what about you and Enzo? Is he the one?" I nudge her shoulder teasingly as she starts to redo her mascara in the mirror.

I'm surprised however when Megan shrugs casually. "I don't know. Maybe, maybe not." She pauses for a second. "Probably the latter."

I press my eyebrows together in confusion. "Does Enzo know this?"

"I think me cheating on him with my former drug dealer and leaving town without so much as a goodbye might have been a big clue." I'm surprised to see the smirk on her lips.

"Yeah but…" I trail off unsure of what to say, honestly, I'm shocked by how blasé she is being about this. "He came looking for you…he spent months, he left his home, his job to come and find you."

"What? To save me?" she laughs amused and holds out her hands. "Look at me, Elena, do I look lost and unhappy to you? I'm completely fine."

I don't know what to say and I never ever thought that I would end up feeling sorry for Enzo in all of this but I do.

I doubt he has any idea that Megan feels this way.

I watch as she digs into her purse and I blink shocked when she pulls out a see through white packed. I don't know why I'm so surprised, this is who I thought she would be before we found her. I knew she was into drugs, it was never a secret and Megan has never claimed anything different.

"Want some?" she asks me casually. I shake my head.

"No thanks."

She shrugs casually. "Ok. More for me then." She pulls out a note, rolls up and shoots it up.

This is the officially the longest time we have ever spent in one place since this whole thing started.

I don't like it.

Sure, the familiarity of the place is nice. It's comforting to know where you are and knowing the environment that you're living in but with that familiarity comes us becoming familiar and that is just no good.

People are starting to recognize us now, people are remembering our faces. The nice lady in this coffee shop I'm currently sitting in this morning remembered my exact order and asked me where my boyfriend was.

I was taken aback but remained composed as I smiled politely and told her that he would be joining me soon. She asked if he also wanted his usual and I slowly nodded my head, deciding in that moment that this would be the last time we'll ever eat here.

"Hi sexy," Damon pulls out a chair beside me and presses a quick kiss to my cheek. "Oh hey, you ordered for me." He smiles noticing his usual breakfast waiting for a plate in front of him.

"I didn't have too. She knew what you wanted already." I mumble, glancing briefly at the lady at the counter who is chatting animatedly with some locals.

Is that what we are now?

Damon shrugs casually as he digs in; completely unaware of my worries of why something this simple is bad news.

I take a sip of my coffee, glancing briefly at the sparkling ring on my finger with a smile. Ever since he proposed to me again four days ago I haven't been able to stop staring at it. It's beautiful, and it's perfect.

"So, what do you want to do today?" Damon breaks me out of my internal gushing and I look up at him with a small smile.

"Do you want my real answer?" I question and he nods. "I want us to pack our things, get in the car and drive."

Damon's smile fades slightly. "We will soon."

"Soon?" I raise my eyebrows. "How soon? We've been here for weeks. People are starting to recognize us, Damon. Do you know how dangerous that is? We're not supposed to be attached to anything. We're nomads."

He runs his hand through his hair and I can see the dilemma on his face. "I know," he reaches across the table and takes my hand in his. "I'm working on it."

"Are you? Or are you just doing whatever Enzo tells you too?" the sentence comes out before I can stop myself and Damon clenches his jaw.

"Elena, let's not do this here."

"Fine." I pull my hand away from his, pushing back the guilt of ruining what was becoming a pleasurable morning.

"Elena," he sighs. "Please, just trust me on this."

"I trust you, Damon. It's Enzo I don't trust. Why are we still helping him? He's found Megan, he's got what he wanted."

I push the memory of the bathroom chat I had with Megan a couple of days ago to the back of my mind.

Damon shakes his head. "He's struggling with her; I'd feel bad if we just ditched him now."

"It's not our problem." I point out.

Damon bites his tongue and shakes his head. "I don't want to argue with you about this again, Elena."

"Fine." I put my fork down and slide my chair back.

"Elena," Damon sighs loudly when he notices me ready to leave. "Come on, don't be like that."

"No, Damon, I'm going back to the motel." I stand up and go to walk past him but quickly wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me onto his lap forcefully. "Damon!" I try to shimmy out of his grasp but he's too strong, his muscular arms clenched around me tightly keeping me firmly in place. "Let go of me."

"Elena," he nuzzles his face into my neck. "Please don't be mad at me. I hate it when you're mad at me." He squeezes me tighter and I groan in annoyance, feeling myself unconsciously start to relax in his arms as he presses kisses along my neck. "I'm sorry," he murmurs against my skin and I sigh, finally letting myself be still.

"You're so annoying." I tell him despite my arms making my way around his neck, my fingers playing with the bottom of his hair.

"I know," I can practically hear the smirk in his voice. "I'm sorry for that too."

He's not, and we both know it but I love him anyway. I press a kiss to his forehead, relaxing into his lap as his arms loosen and he picks up his coffee to take a drink.

"I promise we won't stay here for much longer,"

I nod, accepting his answer for now but knowing that our plans never go quite the way we want them too.

Enzo was right. The money was too hard to give up; I couldn't go back to having one tiny meal a day and sleeping in the back of our hot stuffy truck.

"Thanks," I mutter as I pocket the money from another deal. I watch as the guy I've just sold too walks away from the back lane and I shake my head, take a deep breath and head back inside the bar.

I find Elena and Megan sat giggling in the corner, I'm curious to see what they are laughing at and follow their eyes to see two young men giving them flirtatious looks.

My fists clench and I march right over there. "Ladies," I hiss through greeted teeth, pulling out the chair next to Elena loudly as the legs scrape against the old dusty wooden floor.

"Hi baby," Elena grins at me and presses a quick kiss to my lips. "Where did you go?"

"Oh you noticed I was gone, did you?" I motion to the two guys across the bar who don't look as happy by my appearance.

Elena rolls her eyes. "We were just playing." She places her hand on my leg.

"Where's Enzo?" I direct the question to Megan who finally pulls her stare away and brings her attention to the table.

She shrugs. "How should I know?"

"He's your boyfriend, right?" I snap.

Megan stares at me for a moment. "Right." She tilts her head sarcastically, "because all of us women are defined only by the men in our lives."

It's my turn to roll my eyes but Megan continues.

"Does Elena always know where you are?" she raises her eyebrow at me and gives me a look that I immediately don't like. I see her expanded pupils and I immediately know she is on something. "Does she know where you go? Who you talk to? Who you meet in say…the alleyway of bars and clubs we go too at night when you think nobody is watching."

I clench my jaw.

Elena looks at me confused. "What does that mean?"

"Nothing." I snap in annoyance.

"Nothing? Yet…you marched over here in a mood because your girlfriend shared a smile with another guy. You were the one to leave her alone, where did you go, Damon?"

"None of your damn business."

"Do you want to know where Enzo is?" she leans forward across the table, her addict eyes glistening in amusement. "He's probably gone to deal whatever it is you have been selling for the last couple of weeks." She stands up without another word and heads towards the two creepy guys by the bar.

I look at Elena speechless, unsure of how to play this. She looks at me with a mixture of hurt and anger.

"Elena-"

She hold out her hand to silence me and shakes her head while standing up and leaving without another word.

"Elena!"

"Go back inside, Damon!"

I keep walking, aware of the tears running freely down my face and the puzzled and concerned looks I am getting from passersby on this busy strip.

"Elena please!"

I hold my arms in front of me and keep walking.

"Elena!" his voice is closer but I keep walking. Eventually I feel his grip on my arm but I immediately snatch it away.

"Leave me alone!" I hiss at him, trying not to cause a scene.

"Elena, baby please."

"She doesn't want to talk to you asshole!" I hear someone call out but I don't see their face from the blurred tears clouding my vision.

Damon however ignores them and keeps walking after me.

"Just let me explain…"

"Not here." I snap furiously, my whole body shaking with rage.

I will not do this here. I will not do this with an audience.

Damon seems to take the hint and shuts up, but I still feel him one step behind me as he follows me through the crowded streets heading back to our motel.

I wish the motel was futher away because we soon make it back and I storm inside, Damon meekly closing the door behind him.

"Elena, please just hear me out-"

"No!" I cut him off, finally turning around to look at him and I'm slightly taken aback by the look of desperation on his face. "You lied to me!"

"I…" he stutters, unsure of what to say as he runs his hand through his hair. "I didn't want to. I…I did this for us."

"For us?!" I ask him in disbelief. "Damon, we have been through this before! We have had this fight before!" I wail, hating myself for crying. "You know the consequences! What would happen if you got caught!"

"I know," he lets out a shaky breath. "But we needed the money and I was willing to take the risk to make you happy."

I freeze, my left hand suddenly feeling ten times heavier. I lift it up with shaking hands. "Was this-"

"No!" Damon immediately cuts me off, obviously knowing what I was about to asks him. "I swear Elena, I bought that with clean money."

I believe him, which probably makes me more stupid than ever since apparently he has spent the last couple of weeks lying to me, again.

"You promised that Austin would be the last time."

"I know but…Elena…I had to think about the money. I know it's stupid, and I didn't want to do it but I had to. We can't live the rest of our lives scraping by on the little money that we had left."

"No." I shake my head. "This," I motion around the tiny but clean motel room that I now know why we could afford to stay in. "Isn't our forever! You're innocent, or at least you were innocent! What's going to happen if you get caught huh? It wouldn't matter if you were exonerated for murder if you are then facing another 10 years for dealing and possession of a Class A drug!"

"Is that what you think? That this won't be forever? That miraculously I would be cleared of all crimes and allowed back home? With zero consequences? Please tell me that you don't truly believe that, Elena!"

I shake my head furiously. "Don't turn this around on me! This is about you dealing freaking heroin! Heroin, Damon! If you get caught…"

"If I get caught what?" he takes an angry step forward. "I'd get 10 years added to my already life sentence!" his voice raises and I feel the tears falling from my eyes. "I'm on the run for murder Elena! If I get caught, dealing will be the last of my worries! A cop walking down the street could recognise my face and that would be that, game over!"

"Don't" I let out a sob but Damon continues.

"That's all it would take, Elena! That's it! So I'm not going to apologize for trying to make what time we have more special, more comfortable…more fun!"

I feel like my heart has shattered. "What time we have?" I ask in a shaky voice.

Damon at least has the decency to look guilty.

I feel sick.

"Why did you propose if you didn't believe this to be forever? You promised me, Damon, you promised me this would be forever." I'm crying now and I hate myself for it.

"And it could be!" he closes the gap between us and takes a hold of my hands. "I'm sorry, that came out wrong." He clutches my hands tightly. "What I meant is that we can't predict where this is going. I could get caught at any day. Maybe you're right, maybe I could be exonerated. I don't know…but what I do know is that I love you, Elena. I would do anything for you. I would die for you. Please…please don't hate me for this."

I stay silent and let out a pathetic sniffle. "I could never hate you, Damon."

"I'm sorry," he contradicts himself from his earlier statement of refusing to apologize but I let the comment pass as he wraps his arms around me and pulls me into a tight hug. "Please forgive me."

I hug him back, one arm wrapping around his waist while the other slowly lands on the back of his head.

"Please," he whispers into my ear.

"Ok." I breathe out and when his body relaxes in my arms I realize how easy it was for him to believe me.

So, Damon got let off easy didn't he? Or did he?

Sorry if this chapter seemed a little rushed, I'm just excited/impatient to start the newest direction I want to take this story in. I hope you enjoyed it and please drop me a review to let me know your thoughts or if there is anyone out there still reading!

Thanks again and until next time!