A/N: Not going to delay. Have at it ;)

-Enjoy

A man sat crying beside his wife. She was still and had been for at least an hour now. It had only taken three days since the fever had hit her, and now she was gone.

The doctors didn't have an answer for him; they said sometimes these things just happened. But this was his wife, a woman who hadn't been sick a day in their thirty year marriage; and here she was, dead.

"Is there someone you want to call? Any family you need to notify?" the nurse asked, entering the room.

"No," he sniffed, "she didn't have any other family, other than me. The rest are gone already…"

"Okay," she conceded gently. "I'll leave you a minute to say goodbye, and then we need to move her, okay? Take all the time you need…"

"I know you're in there; you can't hide from me forever. Just please open the door Elena…"

She had made sure to lock every window and secure every bolt on the door. There was no way he was getting in that house unless he went down the chimney like he was fucking Santa Claus. But she didn't put anything past him, so she had built a fire just to be safe. Screw him.

He had eventually shown up about an hour after she had found the bracelet, but that had given her plenty of time to lock him out. She had sat at the table and listened smugly as he had tried to find a way in. He didn't have a key to the front door and must have been confused when he first found it locked; he had tried it twice before she heard him tapping against her bedroom window. Then her phone had started ringing.

Six missed calls and she still wasn't answering. She knew that he was well aware that she was in the house, because he could probably hear her damn heartbeat. But she wasn't going to acknowledge him.

"Elena, I will break down this god-damned door if I have to!"

He was getting mad. Good. The man obviously couldn't take a hint so she would shove one down his fucking throat if she had to.

She seriously considered shooting him through the mail slot with one of the projectile stakes she had retrieved from the hall closet, and which was now resting next to her drink on the table, but she didn't. Instead, she threw the bracelet through it and went back to her seat, waiting for him to leave.

The crash came from somewhere above her, and she had barely enough time to get the crossbow off as he blurred down the stairs. It missed him by a good three feet, lodging itself in the wall next to him and breaking a picture that had hung where it had landed; but it had done its job.

He had halted immediately at the bottom of the stairwell looking shocked when he stopped to gawk at the stake that had he had narrowly avoided; he was apparently completely dumbfounded that she had actually shot at him.

The next thing she could register was the feeling of the crossbow being ripped from her hands and the sound it made as it crashed and slid across the floor somewhere in the living room.

"Are you insane?! You could have killed me!" he screamed at her, well past enraged.

"Get out of my house!" she bellowed back at him.

"So that's where we're at? You're not even going to hit me anymore? Now you're going to fucking stake me?!"

"I said get out!"

"No! Do you even realize what you just did?"

"I don't care!" she yelled, stomping away from him. "I can't believe you broke my window…"

He had a hold of her before she could take another step. "You gave me no choice; I warned you. And you tried to kill me!"

"I didn't try to kill you," she sneered at him.

"Could have fucking fooled me…"

"I was trying to send a message!"

"And what message is that, Elena? 'Dear Damon, I hope you die!'"

She pulled away from him and continued to make her way up the stairs as she yelled, "To stay the hell out of my house!"

"You crossed the line Elena…" he said as he followed her up.

"No, you crossed the line!" she screamed, turning on him. Beginning to finally cry, she whispered, "How could you do this?"

His anger fading as he watched her crumble, he quietly said, "It's not what you think Elena…"

He didn't know who was hurting more at that moment; her, from her feeling of betrayal, or him from knowing he had broken her heart with his careless act. He hated knowing that he had caused the look of pain and desperation on her face.

"You know what, I don't care," she yelled again as she slammed her bedroom door in his face and locked it.

She ran to the door that connected her and Jeremy's room to their common bathroom, somehow managing to lock it before he got there. She then retreated to her bed, curling up and sobbing under the weight of the fight. Rolling over away from the door, away from where she knew he was standing just feet away from her, she realized it wasn't her window that was broken. She would deal with it later…

"Elena," he said softly from the other side of the door, "please let me in."

"Go away."

"I've already broken Jeremy's window, and I don't want to break your door but I will if I have to…"

"You wouldn't dare…"

She heard her door resist and then pop; and when she turned to look at it to confirm he had done as threatened, he was already sitting on the edge of her bed with her hands firmly in his grasp.

"What are you doing? Let go of me!" she yelled as she struggled against him.

He let her go immediately, explaining, "I had to make sure you weren't holding another weapon Elena."

"You broke my door!" She screamed, completely irrational as she sat up to stare him down.

"I'll fix it tomorrow, I promise…" he said quietly.

"What part of 'leave' do you not understand?"

"All of it…"

"I'm serious Damon; I'll change the deed on the house if I have to!"

"That's not funny," he told her seriously. "And you can't change it tonight anyways, so I'm not leaving until we talk about this."

He had tried to lightly lay his hand on her shoulder, but she jerked away from him like he burned her, rolling back over to her side with her back to him.

"Damn it Elena, look at me!"

"No."

"Elena…this is ridiculous."

"I don't care. Go away."

"Why won't you look at me?"

"Why should I?" She yelled again, sitting up to glare at him like he wanted. "I don't want to see you!"

He looked at her with confusion for a second, studying her carefully and leaning his head forward the slightest little bit.

"What?!"

"Did you drink vervain?"

"Damn straight I did! There's no way you're compelling your way out of this…fail you already?" She spat at him.

"I can smell it Elena," he explained, still maddeningly calm despite the fact that she was hysterical. "How much did you take?"

"More than enough."

"Glad to see you trust me..."

"You lost my trust when I found Katherine's bracelet in the laundry!"

"Will you please stop screaming at me so I can try to explain this?"

"I'm not interested in your explanations!"

"You know what; have it your way. I'll be downstairs when you're ready to talk about this like an adult," he said and left the room.

He had just taken his first step down the stairs when he heard her say it…

"It's always going to be Katherine…" she whimpered.

Fuck. He was back at her side in a second; kneeling in front of her as she was still lying on her bed.

"Elena, no…"

"It is, just admit it. For you, for Stefan; she will always come first." She had finally stopped yelling, but had traded volume for tears.

"No, not for me; not anymore…" he said as he caressed her hair; he was so thankful that she didn't pull away from him this time.

"Why does everyone love her more?" she sobbed. "Is it the hair; do you want me to change my clothes? What is it that you want Damon?"

"Sweetheart, I want you. Your hair and your clothes don't matter..."

"Do you want me to be a bitch and to seduce you and try to make you jealous? Is that what it is?"

"No Elena, of course not…"

"Then what is it? Why do you still love her more than me?"

"I don't! I'm done with her, have been done with her. I promise; I only want you…"

"That's bullshit," she said angrily, rolling over on her other side away from him. "I'm just some sick substitute, some kind of replacement for you and Stefan," she mumbled.

"Elena, look at me," he said seriously. He had moved quickly to sit on the side of the bed she was now facing so she couldn't avoid him anymore. "You are not Katherine; and believe me, I know that. That is one of the many reasons why I love you…"

"Then what is it doing here?!" She yelled at him.

"I'm sorry…"

"You're sorry?" She asked fiercely, sitting up again.

"More sorry than you'll ever know…"

"You know what," she said sharply, "I'm sorry too; for thinking I could deal with this… I can't handle looking at you and wondering who you're seeing when you look at me. I won't do it again; once was enough."

"Elena, please don't do this…" he pleaded with her.

"Then why did you have it?"

Damon just stared at her.

"You need to go. I don't want you here."

The finality in her voice terrified him.

"I made her a promise," he conceded. "I told her I'd protect our family…"

"What do you mean 'our' family?"

"I don't know; that's just what she said. She said 'promise me you'll protect our family' so I said I would."

"And you have no idea what she meant?" she asked, completely skeptical.

"No; I mean she was always twisted about the three of us, but she never referred to us as family before," he told her honestly, praying she believed him.

Elena didn't respond, continuing to glare at him.

"But, the way I see it, you're her family and Stefan's mine, and I'll always do everything I can to protect you both. So, it doesn't mean anything…"

"Why did you have her bracelet, Damon?"

"To remind me…not to kill Stefan."

"You needed a bracelet to remind you of that?" She said sarcastically, clearly not believing a thing he said.

He didn't say a word.

"Go ahead Damon, keep lying. See where that gets you…"

"Okay, you're right; that's not why I had it…"

"You can tell me the truth right now or you can leave."

Beginning with a heavy sigh, like telling her this literally caused him pain, he began, "I brought it with me, so I would remember… So I would never forget that at any moment I could lose you, and to not take a single second of this for granted….because one day, you'd go back to him; you'd choose him again. Everyone always does, always has…

"But this was my mistake," he continued with conviction, "I should have trusted you; and after we talked about Stefan and I knew you weren't going to run, I actually forgot I even had it here…

"And I'm so sorry Elena," he said with total sincerity, "I never meant for you to find it like that…and, I know I shouldn't have had it in the first place…

"I know I don't deserve your forgiveness for making you feel any less than what you are to me, for making you question my love for you; but I need your forgiveness Elena. I really need it."

She was quiet for a minute while she weighed his words, and she didn't know what he was thinking about at that moment, but it was clear from his face that he had finally been honest with her about this. She also knew he was dying for an answer to his plea; this wasn't the first time he had said those words to her.

Trying to redirect her fury she said loudly, "I swear to God, if she wasn't already dead I would kill her myself. She's still messing with your head, and she's not even here!"

He couldn't help but muster a small, sad smile at the familiar words; and he knew that by her anger towards Katherine on his behalf that he hadn't lost her, not yet.

"What could possibly be funny?"

"It's just…when I left today; I went to her grave and yelled at her for the exact same thing."

"You yelled at her grave?" She had stopped crying somewhere between his explanation and her renewed rage at Katherine and was now wiping at her face.

"Yeah, pretty much. I told her I hated her for destroying my family, for warping me, and mostly for hurting you. And I told her I hoped she was burning in hell."

"I hope she heard you."

"I think she might have…"

Elena stared at him like he was crazy.

"I'll explain later, I promise." When she rolled her eyes at him he added, "I'm not going to hide or keep anything from you ever again. No matter how much I don't want to tell you, or think I'm protecting you, I know it's not worth hurting you over."

"I appreciate that."

"I'm so sorry Elena."

"Damon," she sighed exasperated, "you have to trust me… I will always choose you. And I know I made mistakes in the past and I'm paying for those, but have I given you any reason to doubt me since things have changed?"

"No, you haven't. But you're going up against 150 years' worth of mind games Elena; I'm going to need you to be a little patient with me. I'm not used to this…to be being the one that gets chosen."

"Then I'll remind you. Every day," she said with determination, "even when you don't need me to remind you anymore; okay?"

He nodded. "Elena," he said nervously, "I need you to tell me we're going to be okay…that I haven't messed this up…"

She couldn't believe he was asking her that; had she really made him think that they were over? He was always the one that was so sure about them, had always been so convinced. How were their roles suddenly reversed; and him suddenly the one who was worried? The fight was bad, but all their fights were bad; that was just their nature. But she had scared him; he had thought he had lost her over this.

"Of course Damon; we're going to be fine," she smiled at him reassuringly.

After a minute he asked quietly "Did you mean what you said today?"

"When? A lot of things have been said today…"

"You told him…'if you turn for me'…"

"Yes, I meant that. But do you really want to talk about this now?"

She was exhausted; fighting with Stefan, Damon walking out, then finding the bracelet, and now this fight, and all the time she had spent crying that day… she was sure she was going to collapse any second from the emotional drain from it all. And she didn't want to argue with him about this now; she didn't have the energy and she couldn't stand another battle. She didn't have the strength left it would take to win that one; she was tapped.

"We may as well while we're being honest," he smiled at her. "Elena, you know I don't expect that, and I would never ask you to do that, don't you?"

"I do…but it doesn't mean that I can't decide that's what I want."

"Is that what you want?"

She couldn't deny how nervous he looked as he asked her; and it was not the nervous-excited way she had thought it would be when they finally talked about this. He looked afraid.

"I'm…considering it," she said. She didn't want to hurt his feelings, but more than anything she wanted to be honest. "I thought you'd be happy?"

"Elena, I want you with me forever, and I want you to have everything you want. But…as hard as it is for me to say, there are some things I can't give you. And…I don't necessarily want this life for you."

"Damon, let me make something perfectly clear. I will never be a mother whether I stay human or not. And, I'm sorry, but that has nothing to do with you. It's just too dangerous. I'm the doppelganger and there is always going to be someone coming after me for something; I know it."

"You don't know that," he said gently, incredibly saddened and conflicted by her decision to knowingly forgo having children.

He had always known that she would make the most wonderful mother, and that any child would be undeniably lucky to have her for his or her mom. He had never wanted to be a father, not after everything his own father had been to him.

But he wanted to give her the world and would do anything to get it for her; it killed him that there was undeniably something that he would never be able to give her, no matter what he did. It hurt even more when he realized that as much as he didn't want to lose her, he knew he would let her go if that's what it took to make her happy.

"I do know that Damon; and it's all right. I've said good bye to that dream, but I'm not ready to give up on others; not yet at least. But no one is making any decisions tonight; we have lots of time to fight about this," she smiled softly at him.

"All right," he said with a breath and moved on to the next thing he needed to talk to her about. "Speaking of fighting, I need you to promise me something. I'm going to say this as carefully as I can, and I'm not trying to hurt you, but I need you to listen to me."

"Okay…"

"Do not ever shoot a stake at me again. I mean it Elena.I know you were angry and you weren't trying to actually kill me, but you could have. And some things…some things you can't take back."

"I'm sorry Damon…"

"It's all right, but just this once. I love you, and I need you to try to remember that, even when you hate me."

"I'll try," she promised.

"Thank you." Unable to resist, he asked, "I have to know: did you really build a fire downstairs?"

"Umm, yeah…"

"Why?"

"You're going to laugh at me," she blushed.

"Now I'm really curious."

"I didn't want you to come in through the chimney."

"You're not serious…"

"Don't laugh!" She said, even though she was the one now lightly chuckling.

She couldn't believe she was laughing; twenty minutes ago she had shot at him and tried to kick him out of the house. Their relationship was insane.

"I'm going to have to remember that the next time you try to lock me out," he smiled with her.

"You owe me a window," she scowled at him, though they both knew that she was just teasing.

It had felt a little uncomfortable to try to joke with him now; the tension from everything hadn't left. All their words and hateful actions were still hanging in the air above them, pressing down on them with a crushing weight and deafening them with silent echoes. But she knew the only way to get through this was to try to focus on the little, lighter things; everything else was just too heavy to take on all at once.

"I know," he said, tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear.

She leaned in to his touch and he could finally breathe again. The whole time they had been talking they had been separated by the largest six inch gap he had ever known, and it had been nearly impossible not to reach out for her, even just to take her hand. But he had resisted; she had needed her space, and they hadn't touched each other once, not until know.

"Will you come downstairs with me?"

"Why?"

"There's something we need to do."

She followed him downstairs as he had asked and stood with him hand in hand, finding comfort in their solidarity in front of the fire. She watched him as he pulled Katherine's bracelet from his pocket, and after showing it to her, flung it into the fire. They both watched as it twisted and disappeared into the flames, and it felt like they had both finally let her go; like they were promising they wouldn't let her hurt them again.

"I love you Elena," he said, turning to her.

"I love you too, Damon," she said as he leaned down to kiss her.

"Damn it!" He hissed as soon as their lips touched.

"What?"

"Vervain…"

"Oh God, Damon I'm sorry," she couldn't help but giggle as she ran her fingers over his burned and healing lips, "I forgot."

"It's fine," he smiled at her, acting slightly annoyed, though they both knew he didn't care. He'd kiss her again in a second, even if it singed his entire mouth off in the process. "Are there any other booby traps I should know about?"

He was breathing easier every minute; they were finding their way. He hadn't been sure in the room; it was all too fresh and raw in there. But in front of the fire where they had both turned their back on the woman who was still threatening to destroy them, it had felt like a weight had been lifted. He knew that if they could just get through the night without actually killing each other, everything would be better in the morning. She was smiling, she was laughing, and she was still there, with him.

"You might want to kick the Bourbon for a bit, or at least get a new bottle," she said with a guilty grin.

"You didn't…"

"You pissed me off!"

"I swear…do you have any idea how much that stuff costs?" He played along with her; he didn't give a crap about the Bourbon, only in trying to get them through this horrible day and even worse night. One smile at a time…

"Since when do you care? I've seen you go through a bottle a day before, easy."

"So not the point! At least those I drank; you just wasted that one and I just opened it…"

"Stop pouting; at least I warned you."

"Only because I asked; would you have even told me? Or were you counting the minutes 'til I poured a glass?" he smiled, curious and mildly impressed by her attempts to sabotage his drinking.

"I'll let you know when I decide."

"Elena!"

"What? Hell hath no fury…"

"You're not kidding; well, I'm sorry for scorning you," he said, happily wrapping her in his arms where he knew she belonged. She had always fit there, even before she was his.

"Yeah, well, you love my wrath; don't think I haven't noticed," she smirked up at him.

"Not even going to deny it," he smiled. "I am sorry though…"

"No more apologies," she said and kissed him again.

"Ow, damn it!"

"Oops," she giggled.

"Upstairs. Bathroom and mouth wash. Now."

A/N: So, this chapter proved a little more difficult to write than I initially thought it would; I just couldn't get the pacing to feel right. Hope it sits well with you guys, love to hear your thoughts on "ze battle".

As an insight, in my mind Elena is every bit the 18 years young she is supposed to be. She is, more often than not, irrational, overly hormonal, completely ruled by her emotions (especially her anger), in short just all out CRAY CRAY. And I love writing her like that; it makes me miss the days when I could throw things and scream because I was almost young enough to get away with it.

As always, your endless support never ceases to blow me away. Please r/r, can't wait to hear what you think!

-Goldnox