School starts tomorrow for me, so I won't be able to post as often. No more 24 hour updates, but I will do the best I can to post new chapters as frequently as possible. Here is chapter 11.

Elena's POV

Rose and I stand in front of the door to Damon's room. I am about to open the door when Rose puts her hand on my shoulder. I turn around and see her quietly crying.

"What is it?" I ask, but suddenly know the answer. I grab her hand and open the door to the room.

Xxxxxxxxxx

Damon lies on the bed with Rose dying in his arms. Perspiration forms on her forehead although she shivers slightly.

"Who'd have thought you'd be a nice guy," the living version of Rose says.

"I'm not nice, I'm mean. I like it," Damon's voice is quiet, but his wit is still there.

"You lie."

"Sssshhhh. Just sleep."

The ghost of Rose puts her palm on my forehead and it transports us to a field; her dream, but in the back of my mind, I can see Damon still holding Rose.

It is autumn; the trees are multi-colored, horses graze out in the open and the sun beats down brightly. The human version of Rose comes prancing through the field, stopping to stroke the nose of one of the horses before running down to meet Damon sitting on the side of the hill. Her hair is long and wavy. Her long blue dress frames her body perfectly.

"This was my favorite place to come as a girl," Rose says, sitting down next to Damon. "How did you know?"

"Word gets around." He smiles that sweet smile of his and Rose just looks at him. "You told Elena."

"Am I dreaming?"

He just shrugs, trying to make the experience as real as possible.

"The sun is so warm. I miss this. I miss being human." Rose's voice is calm, but I can hear the sadness behind it.

"Humanity is not all it's cracked up to be."

"I had friends. I had a family. I mattered."

"You still do."

"No," she shakes her head, accepting her own words, "but you do. You've built a life whether you want to admit it or not. I spent 500 years just existing."

Damon shakes his head. "You didn't have a choice. You were running from Klaus."

"No, there's always a choice."

Damon struggles for words, but changes the subject. "You know, you are ruining our perfect day with your strange philosophical babbling."

Rose laughs and leans into him, letting him take her into his arms.

"I'd like to enjoy the fresh air; will you enjoy it with me?"

"For a while," Damon says, nodding his head. Rose leans up against him and he wraps his arms around her once more, intertwining his fingers with hers.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"The pain is gone."

"I'm glad."

"Will I see them again, my family?"

"I think you will see whoever you want to see."

"That would be nice," Rose smiles, "maybe I'll see Trevor too. I'm not afraid anymore." Rose unwraps herself from Damon's embrace and Damon's face displays relief, but also grief and pain.

My mind sees Damon in his room, still holding Rose. He removes his hand from hers and reaches for a stake and places it on her sternum.

Back in the dream, Rose gets up. "I'll race you to the trees."

"Well, you'll lose." Damon says confidently.

"I'm older and faster."

"Oh, you think," Damon say, while getting up. "Well, I'm controlling this dream, maybe I'll cheat."

"On the count of three."

My mind flashes from the dream sequence back to Damon getting ready to take the pain away from Rose permanently.

"One….two…" she counts and right before three the dream disappears and Damon stops Rose's heart with the stake. His expression is heartbreaking and tears fall down his cheeks as her body goes still. He swallows hard, trying to stifle his tears and then rests his chin on her head. I remember back to when I came to comfort him after he buried her and he claimed to not have cared about her, but eventually I made him crack. He felt guilty because it was supposed to be him, but that wasn't the only reason he felt bad. He felt bad because she was his friend and she understood him the way nobody else did.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Rose takes my arm and we appear on the side of the road late that night. Damon lies in the middle of the road as a car drives up and stops in front of him.

The woman hurries over to him. "Sir, are you ok?" Damon just groans. "What happened?" she asks.

"I'm lost," Damon mutters, obviously drunk.

"You're laying in the middle of the road?" she sounds suddenly suspicious.

Damon sits up "Not that kind of lost, metaphorically; existentially."

"Do you need help?"

Damon pulls out his flask. "Yes I do. Can you help me?" He says taking a drink.

"You're drunk."

"No," he stammers, "Yes, a little, maybe." She starts walking away hastily. "No, please don't leave. I really do need help." He gets up and quickly blocks the path between her and her car.

"Don't move," he compels her.

"I don't want any trouble," her voice shakes.

"Neither do I," he breaths, "but that's all I got, is trouble."

"Why can't I move?"

Damon takes another swig of his flask. "What's your name?" his voice is bitter and dark.

"Jessica."

"Jessica, I have a secret. I have a big one, but I've never said it out loud. I mean, what's the point. It's not going to change anything. It's not going to make me good; make me adopt a puppy." I remember Rose telling me before we went on this little journey that she would show me some of Damon's darkest moments; now I know that this is one of them.

Jessica is silent, her cheeks wet with tears.

"I can't be what other people want me to be; what she wants me to be." I cringe, realizing that by 'she', he is referring to me. "This who I am Jessica," his voice is cold, but so broken.

"Are you going to hurt me?" she finally mutters.

"I'm not sure because you are my existential crisis. Do I kill you? Do I not kill you?"

"Please don't," the girl cries.

"But I have to, Jessica because I'm not human and I miss it. I miss it more than anything in the world," Damon cries out, "that is my secret. But there is only so much hurt a man can take." I realize that just a few hours earlier, Damon was telling Rose that being human isn't 'all it's cracked up to be.'

"Please don't," Jessica pleads.

"Ok, you're free to go." Damon releases her from compulsion and she runs, but Damon changes his mind. He pushes her up against the car, sinking his teeth into her neck while she screams. He quickly drains her of blood and her lifeless body slumps to the ground.

I can't help but gasp at the sight. I knew Damon had done some shady things, but it is still hard to watch. This is what happens when the walls come crashing down because of too much emotional stress; being forced to turn into a vampire by his own brother, Rose dying, the countless times he has been rejected; by Katherine and myself. I am a source of his heartache and it hurts me to know that. I now understand that Rose has been trying to get me to realize the connection that I have with Damon this whole time. She wants me to recognize that I have a bond with Damon that is unexplainable to anybody but us; that when he has pain, so do I. That is why he is perfect for nobody, but me.

That was kind of a darker chapter, but I thought it was important for Elena to see Damon's breaking point. Stay Awesome everybody! Hopefully I will have another chapter up soon, but be patient with me.