The Letter

(Damon's POV)

I knew that one of these days, Elena would be getting the letter that would only further her educational aspirations. It wasn't anything that was new to me, and it wasn't like I didn't want her to move off to college and experience the kinds of thing she would never get to have as a human, but it was just the slightest bit disconcerting to realize that she would be so far away from me and home, when any number of things could happen that would force us apart.

Stefan being one of those concerns, and her friends being another. Stefan had mostly stayed out of our relationship, for which I was surprisingly grateful, but that didn't mean that Caroline (and even Bonnie) wouldn't do something to make her change her mind.

It was hard to believe that this girl had done everything to prove her love for me, and I was still questioning it because of my natural-born insecurities that had always been shoved in my face when Stefan had been the top pick over me.

Regardless of my own fears, I knew I would have to shut up before I said something that put a dent in our relationship. It wasn't fair to pit all that on her, and that was what I tried to remember as I walked into our bedroom, and saw her seated on the edge of the bed, a letter clasped tightly in her hand as she glanced up at the sound of my approach.

"What are you reading?" I asked, as I walked over and sat down beside her.

"I got a letter from Whitmore."

"College?" I ventured.

It was the day I had both been dreading and anticipating with equal measure.

"Yeah. I got in."

"Did you?" I said, trying to keep the smile firmly planted on my face so she wouldn't see how freaked out I was starting to become about the whole idea of her leaving.

"Yeah, I did," she said, shaking her head in disbelief, as though it honestly surprised her that she was smart enough to get into a great school like that, and the school that her entire family had gone to and graduated from.

"Well, that doesn't surprise me. You being so freakishly intelligent," I said.

"Stop it," she said, giving me a friendly shove.

"What? I mean it."

"I know you do," she said, leaning foreword to give me a gentle kiss on the lips.

She went to pull away, but I continued the kiss as my hand traveled seemingly of its own free will, up to cradle the side of her beautiful face. Moaning in sheer delight, she leaned toward me even further as I gently guided her to lay back down against the soft pillows on our bed.

"Damon," she gasped.

"I love you," I whispered, as I tucked some of her hair behind her ears.

"I...I love you, too," she said, shaking her head in disbelief.

"You doubted it before?" I teased, as I ran my finger along her bottom lip which was jutting out adorably.

"Not for one second," she breathed, as she returned my kisses with a passionate fervor that I was completely unaccustomed coming from her.

"Good."

Giggling, she pulled me closer toward her as she pulled the blanket up and over us. It was moments like this that I loved spending with her, because that meant we were free from whatever problems the earth had that revolved around us, and we actually had time to just be for once.

"It's going to be hard to spend time like this once I go away," she mused quietly, a quick flash of concern flitting across her face.

"Yes," I said, as I touched my lips to hers. "It will be, but we can always make adjustments when we need to."

If need be, I would find it in my schedule to steal time away from Mystic Falls and go see her like the pathetic boyfriend I was, but more than likely, I would have to wait for her to come back on the designated days she had off from classes.

"That's very true."

I don't know how long we laid in that position, but we were both exhausted from the morning already, and wanted to escape from the world that demanded our constant attention. Unfortunately, the people in this town, or Jeremy, wouldn't allow that. It was past noon, I think, by the time he rudely barged into our bedroom.

"Jeremy," Elena gasped, making sure every single part of her exposed body was covered by the blanket. "What are you doing in here?"

"I...I thought that I was off restriction today," he said, referencing the incident that had gotten him a severe grounding from both Elena and me.

"You were," I said, fixing him with the kind of glare that momentarily had him backing up from the room.

"Damon," Elena said, rolling her eyes at me as though I was being unreasonable. "It's fine, Jeremy-"

"But seriously, learn to knock next time," I said.

"Yeah, I will. Now that I know that you two-"

"Okay!" Elena said, holding up her hands. "We'll be down in a few minutes-"

"Or hours."

"Damon!"

"Kidding," I said.

Only partially, though. I would have loved to have had more time to spend with her when it was just us, but I knew that after Jeremy had walked in on us, that would be an impossibility.