A/N: This is not the epiloque. It's the last chapter. The chapter before this was going to be the last but I came up with this and thought it was better. The next chapter will be the epiloque. This is by far my favorite chapter and I hope you guys like it too. Enjoy:)

Elena hesitantly pushed the door to the Grill open and slowly stepped inside the crowded restaurant, eyes searching for Caroline's blonde head or Bonnie's black one. The bar buzzed with people, product of the high school's game and it being Saturday night. The sound of thick, pumping heartbeats and blood flowing through veins surrounded Elena, and her mouth watered. For the first time in weeks, bloodlust overwhelmed her and she found herself struggling to keep her eyes from changing and veins protruding.

"There she is." Bonnie pointed out Elena from where her and Caroline sat in the back. Instead of immediately calling her over, Caroline rolled her eyes at Elena's facial expression.

"She is so mopey lately." Caroline said, and Bonnie turned to look.

"Cue the Damon-withdrawals." Bonnie noted, swirling her margarita with a straw.

Caroline scoffed, "Duh." she paused when Elena finally spotted them and started over. "It took me forever to convince her to come out tonight. All she wanted to do was lay in her bed and sleep."

Elena pulled back a chair and sat down gracefully, shooting her friends a small smile, which really came out as a grimace. Bonnie and Caroline exchanged a glance and Caroline started up a conversation about a high school football game years back. Elena tried to listen at first, but after a moment it became apparent that it was impossible to pay attention and she let her eyes wander around, stopping abrubtly when she spotted Alaric sitting at the bar, grading papers and drinking scotch. She took a deep breath and looked away, eyes coming in contact with somebody sitting at the other end of the bar and her dead heart skipped a beat. With only the view of him from behind, she saw that he had dark hair; dark as night which contrasted with pale, flawless skin and was wearing a black leather jacket with black jeans. Could it be...?

Suddenly, somebody seemed to catch his attention from behind and he turned around. Elena immediately deflated and pure, strong dissapointment coursed through her and she saw him for what he really was. His hair wasn't pure black; but dark brown. His skin had a slight tan to it and his leather jacket looked fake. He was skinnier and he was smiling; not smirking. He raised his hand to take a drink of a martini, something she knew that Damon would never order. Of course he's not Damon, what were you thinking?

"-and Tyler wanted to bring those brownies that his cousin made, but Mr. Tanner wouldn't let him." Caroline was saying when Elena forced herself to listen.

Bonnie groaned, "Ugh. Mr. Tanner was such an asshole. But I guess nobody has to worry about him anymore." she scoffed, and Elena froze for about half a second before Bonnie realized her mistake.

"Elena, I'm sorry-"

"Don't worry about it." Elena said shortly, looking away and grinding her teeth together. Caroline and Bonnie exchanged another look before Caroline opened her mouth hesitantly.

"So, speaking of. Have you heard from Damon?" she asked boldly.

"Caroline." Bonnie warned.

"She needs to talk about it." Caroline started. She turned to speak to Elena, "Last time, you refused to talk about it with anyone and I think it made it harder for you to move on."

"No. I haven't heard from him. He won't answer his phone." Elena interrupted lowly. "Last time-" Deep breath. "last time he disconnected his phone. I'm afraid he'll do it again."

Caroline sighed sympathetically before lighting up, as if a lightbulb had turned on over her head and she reached into her purse for her iPhone. "He won't answer for you, but maybe he will for me." she said while scrolling through her contacts and eventually holding it to her ear.

"Caroline-" Elena started warily, but her friend shushed her and they waited, only Elena and Caroline able to hear the ringing.

Just when she thought it was going to go to voicemail, Damon's all too familiar voice picked up and Elena immediately perked up.

"What?" came his voice, smooth and bored and all at once. Elena wanted to close her eyes at the sound of his voice, annoyed as it may sound.

"Hey Damon!" Caroline greeted, surprise evident in her voice that he answered.

He was quiet for a moment before responding blandly, "Hey."

Caroline held Elena's eyes while she replied, "What's up?" she asked hesitantly.

"Is there a reason you called, Blondie?"

"No particular reason, I just wanted to see what's up. Where are you?" she asked casually while Elena listened intently to his answer.

"Let me guess. Elena asked you to call me and she's currently sitting right next to you."

Caroline didn't respond at first, only stared at Elena sympathetically before opening her mouth. "No, she didn't ask me. But she is sitting next to me. Do you want to talk to her?"

Elena immediately started to shake her head, but Caroline shushed her with a look and waited for his reply.

"If I had any desire to talk to her, then I'd answer my phone." he said shortly, blankly. Elena flinched at the respond and looked away. Judging by Caroline's face expression, she was about to reply with something bitchy, but didn't get the chance because something sounded in the backround on Damon's line. A female's voice, lilting and accented, and very familiar.

Elena's feet acted on their own accord and she stood up, almost knocking the stool back in her haste to leave. Bonnie called her name but she didn't stop until she was outside, standing on the side of the building and she sagged against it, breathing heavily.

Was this how it was always going to be? Hearing from Damon through others but never speaking to him herself? He had obviously moved on; hell, he was probably partying in some huge town, binging on alcohol and blood with Rebekah. He was out experiencing foreign countries and different cultures and she was still stuck in Mystic Falls, without him. The few short weeks he had been here, she had felt whole again; alive. He had made her smile and have fun and had reminded her what it was like to be Damon Salvatore's friend. And now he was gone, leaving without barely a goodbye.

She imaged the next decade with vivid clarity. Her and Stefan, with their easy and comfortable compatibilaty, staying in Mystic Falls for a few more years. Maybe they'd leave eventually and go to school somewhere, maybe in Colorado or Kansas. They'd settle down in some town for a few years, get jobs that they didn't really need but filled some time in their forever. Then in another few years, they'd go back to Mystic Falls. They'd see Damon again, he'd be with Rebekah or Katherine or some other vampire that he enjoys company with. Then maybe her and Damon would finally be able to be friends with no attraction or feelings or unresolved pasts. Things would be how they were meant to be when she supposedly chose Stefan four years previous.

But she didn't want it. She didn't want predictable. And she certainly didn't want an easy friendship with Damon. She just wanted...

"Hey, are you okay?" someone asked, causing Elena to jump up. She turned to see the guy at the bar, the one she had briefly mistaken for Damon. He was standing a few feet away, looking at her with a concerned expression.

"I saw you come out here, and you looked upset." he said, walking closer so that Elena got a better view of his face and noticed that his eyes were a midnight blue color, but nowhere near the hue she craved. Her eyes wondered down him, looking for other traits until she stopped at the pulse in his neck.

"What's your name?" she asked slowly, stepping away from the wall to close the distance between them. She looked at him straightly and let a small wave of compulsion hit him, causing his eyes to glaze over slightly.

"Daniel." he said blankly.

Elena sighed at the irony and leaned in, "This is only gonna hurt for a moment, Daniel." she murmured, and let her face change. She bit roughly down on his neck, sighing when the sweet blood flowed easily into her mouth. In the backround of her cloudly haze, she could feel him struggling slightly and gasping. She ignored it and kept drinking, getting lost in the taste. There was no one to stop her; no one standing behind her with a patient hand on her shoulder or proud words to give her when she stopped successfully. So she kept drinking.

"Elena! Stop!" a familiar voice yelled, and someone started pulling her back. She struggled for a moment but was pushed back onto the cement wall. Caroline's face appeared in front of her, surprised and wary. "What did you do?" she asked, voice taking on a horrified tone. Elena's face changed back to normal as she looked past her, and she gasped. Daniel was laying on the ground, chest barely moving as the gash in his neck bled profusely, and he seemed to be choking.

"I- I was just..." Elena trailed off, unable to find words to justify her actions. Caroline's eyes narrowed at her, before she turned around and knelt next to the bleeding man. She bit into her wrist and held it over his mouth, laying it their for a moment before cursing.

"He's dead." she said shortly, and turned to look at Elena. She gaped at the blonde and stuttered, tears finding their way to her eyes as the reality of what she had just done struck her. Before she knew it, she was sobbing and holding her hands over her mouth, the tears blurring her vision. Caroline stood up and hesitantly made her way over to her, wrapping her thin arms around Elena's frame as she shook violently.

"I didn't mean to- I just.. was thinking and he appeared and he- he..." Elena blubbered the words she could not speak and sunk into Caroline's embrace.

"Shhh." Caroline said soothingly. She looked over Elena's shoulder and studied the boy's face, contemplating what made him seem so familiar. Her eyes ran over his dark jeans and jacket, to his almost black hair and attractive features before sighing knowingly.

"Damon." she said quietly, so lowly that a human wouldn't have heard it. Elena, hearing exactly what she had expected, nodded.

"Why do you keep doing this to yourself, Elena?" Caroline asked softly.

Elena pulled away from her and swiped her cheeks, as if able to stop the flow of tears that still fell and shook her head. "I don't know what you mean."

"Damon was here. You could have made things right with him, and now's he's gone again and you act like you don't know why he left." She said, studying her friend's tight expression for continuing. "I know you love Stefan, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't want you to be with him. But... I think you have to look at what you wanted then and what you want now. What do you want, Elena?"

Elena shook her head slowly, looking past Caroline. What did she want? She knew that she wanted, no, needed Damon in her life one way or the other. But there was only one way Damon would be in her life and it was the one thing she had always been terrified of. But she also knew that Damon was long gone by now; he wouldn't answer his phone and she had no clue as to where he was.

She also knew she didn't want to stay in Mystic Falls forever. She felt as if the town was suffocating her insidiously, and the one thing that made it feel right by being there was probably halfway around the world by now.

She knew that she loved Stefan. But the love she had felt for him five years ago and the love she felt for him now was different. No, it wasn't in a brotherly or unromantic way, but it seemed so much different compared to her love for his elder brother. In a way, she wishes that he had never left with Klaus, if it hadn't of been completely necessary. The few months they were apart had as might as well been a few years; a few years she had spent seeing different sides of Damon and unknowingly and unwantingly falling in love with him. If Stefan had never left, she would have never gotten to know Damon so much more than she thought she did.

She thought of Damon, really thought about him in the way she had only ever done deep into the night, when everybody was sleeping and she could get away with it. She thought of his perfect face and his perfect body. She thought of the way a piece of errant hair always curled around his left ear in a way she thought nobody noticed but her. She thought of the infuriating and sarcastic fronte he put on in front of everybody to protect himself, and the way she always saw through it. She thought of his alcoholic tendencies and how she had once discovered his love for Harry Potter. She thought about his compassion and consuming love that he felt for only few people. She thought of the dimples that appeared on his face when he rarely genuinely smiled. She thought of his eyes that sparkled ominisously when he wore all black, and how they seemed to turn silver when he was angry.

"I want-" him. The word was on the tip of her tongue but she was sorely interrupted when Bonnie entered her line of sight, Stefan on her heels. Two pairs of eyes looked in unison to the dead body laying on the ground to Caroline's tragedy-stricken face and Elena' tear-stained one. Stefan walked forward, eyes trained on Elena.

"What's going on?" he asked. Elena blinked her tears away and wiped her blood-coated mouth off with her sleeve. She smiled gratefully at Caroline and squeezed her hand before walking over to the body and kneeling down. I'm so sorry, she thought, thinking of his family and friends and goals that were now ruined because of her need for someone who was gone. She reached out and closed his eyes with two fingers before standing up and walking. Elena shrugged off Stefan's hand and headed to her car, attempting to remember where she had last stowed her suitcase.

~0~

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