Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the book or television series The Vampire Diaries. I am merely borrowing the characters and allowing my imagination to do whatever it pleases.

A/N: Thanks again for your patience, it is very much appreciated, as are your reviews of course. I hope this chapter will suffice, since, I have to admit that I am no longer in the crazed obsession stage for this particular series. However, I am going to try and do my best to not let you down and finish this story. Also, I have also become very interested in Smallville and the Clark/Lois (Clois) pairing, so I am trying my hand at that. The story is found Like Another Night. So, if you also have an affinity with that show and/or pairing, please check it you? Now, on with this story and pairing. :)

Battle Scars

"What if I could give you something bigger?"

Elena wasn't released from the hospital until the next morning, after the doctor had reassured Jenna that only rest was needed for Elena to recover fully. The wounds had healed almost entirely, but Elena kept the bandages on them when she around her aunt and brother. The ironic thing was that, once she got back home, she couldn't sleep. She had gotten plenty of that while she had been lying in the hospital bed, with nothing to entertain her but her thoughts. Thoughts that had focused on last night's events and had occasionally strayed to Stefan and his inapproachability; he had only looked at her when he had no other choice, and even then he seemed to do so only to make sure that she was still alive. Despite his cold shoulder, her thoughts hadn't lingered and, instead, focused on Damon.

He hadn't been there waiting for her, but she kept her window wide open as she went about her daily routine, just in case.

She had called Bonnie to make sure that she was okay, but her best friend couldn't shed too much light on who had flung the stake through Xavier's heart. It hadn't been Bonnie or Sheila, since they had been on their way out of the clearing before it all took place. Bonnie did admit to screaming, but that was her reaction to Damon giving Elena his blood to drink. She hadn't witnessed the rest.

Elena decided to take a shower, putting a temporary hold on the turmoil that rooted through her mind. She lit scented candles and turned up the radio, leaving the bathroom door open, since Jeremy wasn't around and it was only her and Jenna in the house. It was a good feeling, being by herself and doing something that was no normal but so underrated. Showering was her way of purging herself of whatever had left a bad taste in her mouth, although this morning it was quite literal as the blood had left a bad and unsettling aftertaste.

When she got out of the shower, she put on her underwear before wrapping herself in a towel. She wiped the fog from the mirror and tilted her head to the side so she could take a good look at the bite mark in her neck. She ran her fingers across it: it no longer stung and the throbbing had subdued. It was like a supernatural hickey, one that could kill if the one biting and sucking had that as their intention. The gothic horror story she had stumbled into willingly had always been one with risks tied to the romance, but it hadn't been as real as now, when she was the one with the bite marks. Battle wounds that would fade, but she would always know that they had been there.

She turned and headed back into her bedroom, taken aback a little, but not shocked at the sight of Damon standing near the open window. She clasped the towel tighter to her body and closed the bathroom door a little louder than usual. He smirked to himself before turning around, not as overwhelmed by her presence in the towel; he had expected it since she had been in the bathroom, off in her own little world from what he had caught of it.

"I knocked," he explained quickly, gesturing towards her bedroom door, which he had left open to a creak. "Your aunt let me in."

She threw him an incredulous look, obviously not believing him as she went to the door and stuck her head out of her room. "Jenna!"

"Yeah?" was the response from downstairs.

"Did you let Damon in the house?"

"Yep! … Why, didn't you want him in here?"

"No, I was just checking! Thanks Aunt Jenna!"

She retreated back into her room and closed the door, resting all of her weight against it for a few seconds. Just when she thought she had him pegged, he did the most unexpected thing ever. She heard him chuckle and she remembered what had happened in the hospital when she had turned her back to him. Crossing her arms in front of her chest, she faced him.

They caught each others' eyes and from the twinkle in his, she knew that he just had the same flashback as her. Still, she refused to blush and held his confident stare with one of her own. She was waiting for him to start off the conversation.

"So…" He swung his arms from behind his back and clapped his hands together. "It's later."

Elena nodded, but when she didn't add anything he let out a frustrated sigh. "You're not going to make it easy on me, are you?" he asked, running a hand through his hair. She was going to say something this time, but he didn't give her the chance to when he lifted his finger, a silencing gesture. "Because, personally, I feel that I do deserve to be given some slack, considering that I saved your life." He dropped his hand. "And last time I checked, that was worth something… to your family, your friends… to Stefan…" His fixed on her intently.

She shook her head. "Damon…"

"Just tell me we'll get to that."

Elena nodded as did he. "Or nod, that's good enough." He put his hands behind his back. "How are you feeling?"

She shrugged. "I'm alive. And these," she paused, holding up her hands and dropping her head to the side so he got a glimpse of the marks on her, "will fade."

"My blood is out of your system," he remarked.

"Good." She watched him as he sat down on the windowsill before mimicking his action and lowering herself on her bed.

"Tell me, where do you want to start?"

Elena shook the hair from her face, hand in her lap. "I want to know what happened to Xavier, who killed him?"

Damon raised one of his hands the way a student would do when asked a question in class. "That would be me."

Her eyes widened. "But, you weren't even near him. I mean, he was thrown into a tree by you or Stefan…" She waited.

"Me," he answered. "And the branch through the heart was also me. I figured he deserved a dramatic death due to his flair for the theatrical." A gratifying smile spread across his face slowly.

"But you weren't even near him. Unless you… threw it at him and had perfect aim?"

Damon chuckled at her ridiculous suggestion. "While I am talented, I'm not quite that good."

"Then how?"

He shrugged and looked away, his hands tense as they pulled at his jeans.

"Damon, how?"

"I think you'll have trouble believing me."

"I think we surpassed the disbelief factor as soon as I got into a relationship with a vampire." She was somewhat shocked at how those words left her mouth; she couldn't believe that she was talking about her and Stefan's past relationship so callously. It had meant so much to her at one point, but she was only human and had changed her mind, finding the slightly more unpredictable brother more intriguing.

She always had, but she never knew if he also possessed the qualities that would be needed to maintain her interest and possibly a relationship. She bit her lip as she was deep in thought and Damon didn't interrupt her, simply watching her. She was irresistible as ever to him dressed in a towel.

He noticed that she was constantly rubbing her fingers over the bite marks on her wrists, signaling once again her discomfort with the whole undead issue. Yes, she may have accepted them being like that, but she would never consider becoming like them. And that was okay: he liked the color in her cheeks, the life in her eyes, and listening to her breathing and heartbeat for an indication of how she was feeling. Little did he know that he had the same reactions to her, even though his kind reacted a little slower than was the norm.

"I don't know what happened exactly," he gently roused her from her thoughts. "…And I probably can't do it again on command, to prove it to you—"

"You don't have to prove anything to me, Damon," she interjected. "You have saved my life countable times. That's all the proof I need."

"You're going to simply take my word on it then?" He raised an eyebrow.

She nodded. "Yeah, but that also means that I am trusting you not to lie to me. So, tell me, how did you kill Xavier?"

"I did what he was doing all of that time, triggered a new power."

She looked at him, question marks in her eyes.

"I can move objects with my mind, well, I was able to move that particular object with my mind. Since it's a new power, I have no clue if or how I could call upon it again," he ended on a dramatic note with his word choice.

"You'll probably be able to do it again when you realize what triggered it," Elena offered, her eyes seeking out his, a knowing glint in them.

Damon bowed his head, ran a finger over his bottom lip, and smiled. "Perhaps, but that's a worry for tomorrow, or whenever we get attacked by again by some vampire who holds a grudge against me. It happens more than you know."

"It's amazing how you ever managed to love someone else, to love Katherine, when you're already so full of yourself."

Elena lowered her head, a smile playing on her hips, giving him the confidence to get up from where he was sitting and move closer to the bed. "I'm very capable of love, if my brother is, then why is it so absurd to think that I can be devoted to someone?"

She frowned. "A human someone?"

Damon licked his lips with a nod in her direction. "True, that has been a rare occurrence with me, but sometime has to be the first time right?"

"I don't know if I can… if I can trust you with something other than my life," she admitted to him, still looking at her hands.

"He's on your mind, isn't he?" He sat down next to her, their knees touching as he attempted to give her a sign of affection that wasn't sexual.

She shook her head in denial and he chuckled. "It's okay; it's not the first time I've been in competition with my brother, believe it or not."

Elena bit her lip and caught the resentment as it altered his features for a second or two. "You're not in competition. I refuse to be like Katherine, indecisive." She shook her head again. "Us breaking up was a long time coming, maybe even inevitable." She clasped her hands together in her lap. "I'm mortal and he, you're, immortal."

"You're skipping a few chapters, aren't you? Talking about forever when you haven't even lived in the moment. I know my brother's heavy hearted like that, but I don't live in a storybook and am very aware of the reality of the situation."

"So why even bother?" she asked.

"Because you're young and you're allowed to live in the moment." He shrugged. "Why cross that bridge now when it's still being built?"

That made Elena smile and bump her knee against his. "You really do have the wisdom of the ages, huh?"

"Among other things."

Elena blushed, very aware of the fact that she was still in her towel and of the sensation that was burning her underneath that and her underwear.

"Need another shower, do we?"

She looked at him, amazed and highly embarrassed at the same time.

"Heightened senses," he answered before she could ask it.

She looked away, the flush spreading throughout her face and neck. "You know, you don't have to go out of your way to make me uncomfortable."

"I like to see you squirm," he admitted. "Women of my kind don't tend to squirm, drinking blood and killing people kind of kills that instinct, I guess."

Elena made a face. "So much for that moment," she mumbled to herself, though he heard.

She went to get up from the bed, but his hand was around her elbow in a flash. "Take off the towel and I'll give you one hell of a moment." He pulled her back onto the bed, the towel unraveling in the process, though he knew she would have underwear on underneath. He pulled her legs onto his lap, one hand moving up her leg while the other still held her by the arm.

"Damon—"

"Shhh," he silenced her. "I know you don't think that I posses certain qualities…" He moved his hand from her leg to her arm and trailed his fingers upwards. "But I do posses others, ones that will definitely compensate for what I might or might not lack."

"I don't want you to change," she told him, shivering beneath his touch.

He grinned. "Good." His fingers now brushed intimately against her shoulder. "Because I wasn't planning on reliving my high school years."

"Damon," she said his name, her hands against his chest as she leaned back ever so slightly, hoping to get his undivided attention before he was too far gone to listen to her. He rolled his eyes and his hands remained static. "Fine, go and ruin the moment…" He dropped his hand onto her thigh and winked at her. She held back a smile. "What is it that you want, Elena?"

She shook the loose strands from her face and lifted her head. "A say. I want a say in certain aspects of your life." She looked away, doubtful at her own demands; he wouldn't go for it. "I want respect, for my life and for those of my friends and family. A promise that you won't put Stefan through hell because he's been good to me, and we're the ones that hurt him." She met his eyes. "And I want a guarantee that you will be there and that this isn't one of your obsessions. You know, once the newness disappears—"

"You want a lot of things, don't you?" he cut her off and chuckled.

She shot him a look, one that revealed to him how fearful she was of getting hurt. "I know it's hard for you to believe, but I do remember how to be a gentleman and what the proper steps are for courting a woman." He pushed her legs off his lap and got up.

"Courting?" she repeated, settling her feet back on the floor.

He ignored her amusement. "I'm really the romantic at heart."

Elena bit back a smile and pointed out, "Damon, you have me in my underwear, and the power of compulsion," she added as somewhat of a joke and as a reminder that her necklace was still in the bathroom.

His expression instantly changed, reflecting the thoughtlessness and harshness of her words. She got up from the bed quickly. "Damon I—"

He stopped her, though her remorse and compassion radiated. For some reason people always thought that they could treat him differently than his brother, assuming that he could take more and wasn't as sensitive to hurtful remarks. And normally he wasn't, though it all depended on who was hitting him below the belt. And since he didn't allow a lot of people into his life, she should have known that her words would have an effect. "No, you make a good point; vampires and romantic notions shouldn't go together—"

"I didn't—"

"And I suppose I have lost some of my edge," he cut her off again. He revealed his fangs to her and she stopped approaching him. Instead, she reached for the towel and wrapped it around her tightly. "I don't know why you're doing this, but—"

"It's my nature, Elena," he answered, an evil smile in place.

She nodded and retreated back into her stone tower, uncomfortable at how easily he had fallen back into his old routine. "Can you go? I've had my dose of threats, more than I can swallow actually."

He nodded, already regretting his outburst and his inability to understand where she was coming from. It had been a while since he had been human, or had been close to a human. He headed for the door, but she beat him to it. "I don't… Could you take the window instead?" She felt incredibly bad as she asked that of him and he acknowledged that she didn't trust him to pass her aunt and leave her unharmed in his anger. He clicked his tongue a couple of times. "I save your life and this is the 'thank you' I get? It's making me rethink my decision, Elena," he chided her in singsong voice.

It hit her hard, knocked the wind out of her, the way her words had done to him. Yet, both were too stubborn to admit that they hadn't meant their words and wanted to take them back, but instead they let the moment pass right in front of them. He flew out the window in his raven form and she went to get dressed, though she didn't touch the vervain necklace.

Please review? So... what did you think? I think it was a pretty decent chapter, although I could always do better, of course. I know that the lack of "action" might have disappointed some, but I thought that having them get their mack on so soon after Elena and Stefan's break-up would be incredibly insensitive and out of character, to their characters and how I chose to portray them in my story anyway. But it will happen in time, I promise. Please, review, and if you have enough time on your hands, check out my first attempt at writing a Clark/Lois story. The story can be found on my profile page. Thanks for reading!