a/n: :) this is the chapter you've all been waiting for :) ...well, sorta. It's pretty much all D/E :)

TWELVE

A week had passed since Elena's conversation with Bonnie. She had avoided Damon at all costs and even limited her time with Stefan. He had come over after he hung out with the guys, telling her how nice it felt to have a group of friends again. He had spent the night and when then parted ways in the morning. Elena hadn't seen him since.

As she entered her room after her shower, her phone started to ring. A little bit of panic began to rise within her as she made her way towards it. It was how she had been feeling every time the phone rang. A sigh of relief escaped her lips at the sight of Matt's name on the display. "Hey."

"Oh good, you're up."

"And so are you," she said, stating the obvious.

"Look, I know you said you wouldn't come to lunch with my mom and me, but she asked if I would invite you. She wants to see you and apologize for that night. Please? It would mean a lot to me."

Elena sighed again. "I guess that would be okay. What time?"

"Oh thank God," he breathed over the phone. "Thank you, Elena. Um, does one o'clock at the Grill work?"

"I will be there. Hey, how are things going with the two of you?"

"Pretty good. So far she's been on her best behavior. When I got home yesterday, she was dumping out all the liquor that was in the house. I told her that if she was serious about this, then she would start with being sober. Turns out she really is serious about being a real parent this time around."

"Awe great. I'm so happy for you."

"Thanks. Too bad Vicki isn't around to see this. She could have used the parental influence," he said sadly and then cleared his throat. "Anyway, I'll see you at the Grill."

"Bye Matt," she replied and hung up. The moment she placed the phone on the nightstand, it started ringing again. This time, panic settled in for a good reason. It was Damon. "H-hello?" she asked, answering it just before it went to voicemail.

"Oh good, you're still alive."

Elena rolled her eyes. "Look, I don't really have time to talk right now."

"Well we have to talk some time."

"No we don't."

He muttered something in a foreign language before switching back to English. "It's been a week since I last saw you and I know you're avoiding me because of what happened, but I need to see you."

"Damon-"

"I won't take no for an answer Elena."

"I don't think it's such a good idea."

It was silent for awhile. Just as Elena thought he had hung up, he broke the silence. "Please, Elena, I just... I need to see you."

The tone of his voice caught her by surprise. It was somewhere between desperate and hopeful. It made her feel a little guilty for avoiding him. "I'm meeting Matt for lunch at the Grill. I'll call you after that, okay?"

"Can't I just meet you there? We can play pool."

Elena bit her lip to keep from smiling. "Are we actually going to play this time?"

"Yes."

"Alright, I'll try to be done around two-thirty."

"I'll be there," he said and hung up without waiting to see if she had anything else to say.

Elena stood by the side of her bed, staring at the phone in her hand. A strange feeling washed over her at the prospect of seeing him later that day. The only good thing was that since her talk with Bonnie, she hadn't had another dream or any other visions of the two of them together. While Elena supposed it was a good thing, she missed the ghost of his lips against hers; the way his body felt pressed up against hers.

The sound of the phone crashing to the floor pulled her from her thoughts. Elena cleared her throat and ran a shaky hand through her wet hair. After she picked up the phone, she dialed Bonnie's number. "Hey, did you find anything?"

"Not yet. I found something that might be relative to what we're looking for, but it's not very detailed. I was going to look through my family tree and see if there's someone I can contact. Have you found anything on the vervain?"

"No," Elena groaned as she sat down on the edge of her bed. "I've been putting it in almost everything I drink, but nothing's happened."

"Look, I have to go, but I'll call you when I find something okay?"

"Okay. Thanks, Bon," Elena returned hung up. With the phone clutched in her hand, Elena groaned loudly in frustration and leaned back, falling roughly onto the bed. She just knew that today was going to be very, very long day.


Damon let out a breath of relief after Elena hung up. He had expected her to turn him down. He had even been prepared to go over there and demand that they talk. The past week had been a long and difficult one. Not only had he visited her every night in the hopes of hearing her have another dream about him, but he went home disappointed and more frustrated than ever before. He wanted her. What made her even more desirable was the fact that she wasn't so unobtainable anymore. He had had her once, he was determine to have her again. Only this time, he would never let her go.

Glancing at the clock, he swore at the time. He had hours to kill before meeting Elena at the Grill. He knew that if he showed up and waited for her at the bar, she would think of him as a stalker. Instead, he went downstairs, deciding to drink his own liquor. He stopped at the bottom of the stairs, surprised by the sound of the Gilbert boy's voice. "What are you doing here?" he asked, entering the parlor.

Jeremy whirled around and gave him a cheeky grin. "I'm waiting for Stefan."

Damon's head cocked upwards so that he could hear better. After a few seconds he was able to hear Stefan moving about his room. "And what are the two of you going to do today?"

"We are going to Tyler's. His father's car needs some work done and Matt said Stefan's great with cars. Especially vintage ones."

Damon nodded, his lips pressed into a thin line.

"We would invite you, but I didn't think you would want to hang out with a bunch of teenagers," Stefan said as he came down, patting Damon's shoulder as he passed his elder brother.

"That's alright, I have better things to do anyway," Damon replied, giving his brother a cocky grin. He knew rubbing the fact that he was going to be spending time with Elena in Stefan's face was probably a bad idea, but he couldn't stop himself.

"Such as?"

"Hanging out with your girlfriend."

Stefan stopped in his tracks and the humor that had been on his face vanished as his eyes locked with Damon's. "She didn't say anything about that."

"I just got off the phone with her."

"Damon-"

"Don't worry, Little Brother, we're just going to play some pool."

Stefan glanced nervously at Jeremy who was watching the exchange with interest. "Are you guys going to vamp out and start breaking things?"

Damon chuckled and moved to the drink cart. "Not today. Sorry, Kid."

"Jeremy, can you wait for me in the garage?" Stefan asked.

"Sure," he said, knowing it was best not to argue with the vampire.

Once he was gone, Stefan turned to his brother again. "I-"

"You forget that Elena and I are friends. I asked if she wanted to hang out and she said that would be fine. You're the one who told me to stop showing up at her house to ask. Just relax, I'm not going to make a pass at her," he assured him before downing his shot. After he placed the tumbler back on the cart, he started moving towards the door. "Unless she wants me too," he whispered in Stefan's ear and disappeared before Stefan could react.


All through lunch, Elena tried to listen to Kelly's stories, but her mind was solely focused on Damon and what would happen when she saw him. A week ago, she would have slapped him for kissing her, but she wasn't sure anymore. Especially after that dream. That being said, Elena thought she was dreaming as her eyes slid past Kelly's shoulder to lock with familiar piercing blue ones. Elena blinked a few times. Once she realized he was really there, sitting at the bar, patiently waiting for her, she cleared her throat and focused on the mother and son at her table.

"Elena, I'm so glad you agreed to have lunch with us," Kelly said as she reached across the table to take the younger girl's hands.

"Thanks for inviting me," she replied and slid out of the booth at the same time Kelly did.

"I may not be the best mother on the planet, but if you need anything, you feel free to come over, okay? I owe it to your parents to help you and your brother in any way that I can," she said, cupping Elena's cheeks.

At the mention of her late parents, Elena's vision blurred with tears. She stepped back and nodded. "Thanks again."

"Do you want a ride home?" Matt asked, knowing she had walked.

"No, I'm actually meeting someone."

"Who?" Matt asked in surprise. He knew Stefan was at Tyler's because that's where he was headed after the Grill. His eyes lifted to the bar and he saw Damon. "Elena-"

"He's my friend, Matt. I'll see you guys later," she said, indicating the end of the conversation. She gave both of them a hug and then headed to the bar to greet Damon. "Thank you for not coming over," she said, standing in front of where he sat.

He noticed how glossy her eyes were and he looked at her with concern. "Are you okay?"

She nodded and shifted her weight. "I'm fine."

"Elena-"

"Please, just let it go," she demanded. "Why don't you get a table and I'll find you," she suggested and took off for the bathroom before he could say anything.

She stared at her reflection in the mirror, watching as a single tear rolled down her cheek. She had finally got the point where it didn't hurt to think about her parents or talk about them with Jenna and Jeremy, but when other people mentioned them, the wound seemed to reopen. She gave herself a few minutes before dabbing a piece of paper towel at her eyes, straightening her clothes, and heading back out into the restaurant.

"Feeling better?" Damon asked as he handed her a cue stick once she found him at a table.

"Yes," she answered and placed her purse on the chair closest to them. "Will you break?"

"Sure," he replied.

They were both surprised about how casual things seemed. Nothing was awkward. It felt right. They played the first game in companionable silence, neither of them wanting to bring up the kiss, but knowing it had to be brought up sooner rather than later. As they started setting up for another game, Damon took her stick and leaned against the table as he looked at her. She stared up at him, knowing what he was going to say.

"I want to apologize for kissing you last week."

She inclined her head. "It wasn't all your fault," she said quietly.

His brow rose and his head tilted to the side. "What does that mean?"

Elena swallowed hard and decided to just get it over with. "I'm not going to pretend that I didn't kiss you back. It was mutual and I know that if I hadn't gotten a phone call, we might not have stopped when we did." She paused and shifted her weight. "I wanted to see if the kisses I kept imagining were in my head or if they were memories."

"Why would they be memories?" he asked, trying not to get his hopes up.

"I don't know," she started, crossing her arms over her chest. "You tell me."

The sudden hardness of her tone made Damon's breath catch. It was almost as if she knew something. Almost.

Just as he started to believe she had remembered, she shook her head and laughed to herself. "It's just something Bonnie said. Never mind, of course it's all in my head. It doesn't mean anything though. I never said you weren't attractive," she said and stopped a waitress to order a drink.

Damon wanted nothing more than to correct her, but knew he couldn't. "So let's get this straight. You think I'm attractive and you keep imagining us kissing."

She gave him a look he couldn't read. "Like I said, it doesn't mean anything. I'm allowed to think people are attractive without acting on it. I have a boyfriend."

Damon smirked at the sound of the last sentence. It sounded as though she were trying to reassure herself more than remind him of her status. "Yes, I am painfully aware of your boyfriend."

"Look, if you're going to keep discussing feelings, I'm going to leave. I said I would be your friend, but I don't want to talk about this anymore."

"Fair enough," he said and pushed himself away from the table. "It's your turn to break."


After an hour of playing pool and talking about random topics, they both had had their fill of the game. Damon had been sneaking drinks to her when no one was looking. As he offered her another shot, she waved her hand to decline it. "No thanks. I've already had enough."

"There's no such thing as enough," he teased as he took their sticks back to the rack on the wall.

When Elena reached the table where her things were, she heard her ring tone. As she lifted it out of her purse, she saw Stefan's name on the display. "Hello," she said, picking it up just before it went to voicemail.

Damon came back and nodded towards her phone. "Who's that?"

"It's Bonnie. I'm going to take this outside," she said and grabbed her purse before leaving the restaurant. "Hey, what's up?" she asked once she was in the alley on the side of the building.

"I think I found a spell."

"Really?"

"Want to come over later?"

"Of course. After dinner?"

"Yeah, that would be best. I'm going to see what I need and I'll call you when I'm ready."

"Great. Thank you," Elena said and hung up. After returning her phone to her pocket, she turned to leave the alley only to bump into Damon. "Good God, you really need to stop doing that," she said as she shoved him playfully.

"But it's so much fun," he teased.

She smiled up at him as they fell into an awkward silence. "Um, I should probably head home. Thanks for hanging out with me today."

"No, thank you," he said.

She smiled up at him for a bit longer and then tried to pass him. Instead, he blocked her. "Damon-"

"I lied earlier. I'm not sorry for kissing you. Every time I look at you I want to kiss you," he said, stepping forward until she was caught between him and the wall, his hands on either side of her head. He heard her breath quicken and her heart rate increase. "And I know you think about more than just kissing me."

"I-" she started, feeling her cheeks beginning to heat up. The rest of her words died in her throat.

He leaned in, watching as her eyes fluttered, but remaining in place. He took the fact that she didn't move away or fight him as a good sign. "I need you to remember," he breathed before lowering his lips to hers.

Elena heard his voice, but wasn't sure what he said. All thoughts went away as their lips met. Once again, it felt right when it should have felt wrong. This time, Elena parted her lips without hesitation. Her heart hammered away in her chest cavity as his tongue caressed hers ever so lightly. His hands slowly dropped from the wall to her shoulders then slid down her arms before moving them to her hips. Elena placed her hands on his chest, her fingers clutching his shirt.

The kiss was full of passion and desire, fueled by mutual need. Elena melted into his embrace, reveling in the familiarity of his kiss. Just another sign that it was indeed memories she experienced instead of her imagination running wild. As his hands slid up her sides, a moan escaped her lips, causing him to push his body closer to hers. When his hands cupped the sides of her breasts, the reality of the situation settled in and Elena shoved him away from her. Without saying anything, she adjusted her purse and left a stunned Damon alone in the alley.

Elena had her fingers lying over her lips the entire walk home. She was still in shock over what had just happened. It was surreal and her mind was still reeling from the passion that had consumed her. By the time she reached her house, her entire body was trembling. She was surprised when she was able to put the key in the lock and let herself in. Once she was inside, she slammed the door and leaned her back against it, slowly sliding down to the floor.

She sat there for some time, reliving the kiss over and over again. The longer she kept her eyes closed, the clearer the visions got. She could feel Damon pressed up against her; bare skin to bare skin. Her body tingled with the promise of release as he continued to move against her. It was then that she felt another pair of hands on her and a second pair of lips on her neck. Elena turned her head to the side and saw Katherine smirking at her.

Elena's eyes flew open and she scrambled to her feet. That's new, she thought and shook her head. Instead of dwelling on it, Elena made her way up to her room. She flopped down on the foot of the bed and stared at the ceiling. Hopefully Bonnie would call her soon and she could figure out what was going on. Something wasn't right and she was determined to figure out what it was.