Chapter Eleven

It had been a week since the Founder's Ball. Damon had been letting other things get in the way, but today he was finally going to ask Elena if he could court her. It was strange—as much as he'd loved Katherine, a proper courtship wasn't something he'd ever considered pursuing with her. On the other hand, he'd barely known Elena a month—most of which he'd spent sulking over Katherine constantly preferring Stefan's company to his—and he already couldn't imagine going forward any other way.

"Would you like me to wrap that up for you, Mr. Salvatore?" said John Anderson, a boy of about Stefan's age who was the clerk of Mystic Falls' small bookshop.

"Yes, thank you, John," said Damon. He watched as the handsome dark leather disappeared beneath the thick brown wrapping paper. After tying the package off with string, John passed it over the counter.

"It'll be $3."


Damon took the package and handed over three dollar bills.

"There," said Elena, holding up her finished product with no small amount of pride. "How did I do?"

Katherine looked up from her own knitting to stare appraisingly at Elena's scarf. "Well, it won't win any awards, but it'll do for your first piece," she said, her eyes back on the cap she was knitting as part of a matching set that would be Emily's son's birthday present the following week.

"Katherine," said Elena in aggravation. "I've been working on it all week! You're supposed to say 'It's perfect, Elena! Damon will love it!'"

"Why?" said Katherine. "It wasn't even your idea to give it to Damon, it was mine."

"It was still a good idea, even if you only said it to embarrass me in front of everyone."

"Oh, come on. If you want to keep a low profile in Mystic Falls after those attacks, then it's best to give the other ladies something harmless to speculate about. As long as they're preoccupied with a love story, they won't feel the need to make you more interesting by suggesting you might be the monster Mrs. Lockwood believes is out there."

Why did Katherine have to have such reasonable justifications for teasing her? "I'm going to go for a walk," she said, bundling up her scarf and leaving the room before Katherine could offer to join her.

Despite the teasing, she felt like skipping once she was outside. Right now, it seemed like everything was perfect. She missed her life in the present, of course, but that would all be waiting for her when she got back—as well as all the drama that went with it. Here, on the other hand, it was beginning to be wonderfully simple.

She hadn't been walking beside the road leading into town for long when a rider came into view. Her face split in a wide smile and her heartbeat immediately sped up. Damon. An idea striking her, she quickly hid the scarf behind her back and waited for him to approach. Since he didn't have vampire eyesight, it took him a few seconds longer to recognize her. When he did, his whole face lit up and he sat up a little straighter on his horse and nudged him into a trot.

"I was just coming to find you," he said when he pulled up level with her.

"Were you?" she asked. He dismounted, giving her the opportunity to check him out, which she didn't waste.

"Indeed I was," he said, gathering the reins in one hand and leading the horse to the nearest tree. Once he had tied the ends around a branch, he turned and strode up to her, taking off his black hat. She held out the hand that wasn't hiding the scarf for him to kiss, which he did.

"I have something for you," he said when he released her hand. He was smirking, but there seemed to be something nervous about it. "Two things, actually, one of which is a question."

"What a coincidence," said Elena, her smile widening, "because I have two things for you as well."

His look of stunned delight made her laugh, but he quickly turned it into a smirk. "And what would they be?"

With a flourish, she whipped out the scarf, and, holding onto both ends, threw it over his head and used it to pull him into a kiss. There was a soft thump of his hat falling into the grass at their feet as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer, deepening the kiss. She definitely didn't regret carrying out her plan to pull the same scarf trick present-day Damon had done to her.

"Well," said Damon hoarsely when they broke apart, his hands still on her waist, "I'm much more confident about how you'll answer my question now." He looked down at the navy, maroon, and gray striped scarf. "Did you knit this?"

"I finished it less than an hour ago," she admitted, feeling rather shy all of a sudden as she recalled Katherine's reaction to the scarf. She glanced up at his face. "Do you like it?"

"I love it," he said. "And now," he caught her hands and spun her around. "It's my turn. Wait here."

Elena pursed her lips and glared in a feeble attempt to hide how much his charm was working on her. He smirked again and walked back over to his horse, removed a square rectangular package from the saddlebag, and returned to her side, then swept into a bow as he presented it to her.

"Thank you," she said as she took it.

"Open it," he urged her.

She pulled the string and peeled back the brown paper to reveal the most beautiful journal she'd ever seen. It was bound in rich leather, embossed with Celtic knot designs, and held shut by a silver clasp. "Damon," she said. She felt tears welling up.

"I remembered what you said about losing your old journal," he said, "so I looked at what the bookshop in town had to offer."

"It's wonderful," said Elena, running her fingers over the designs. She was going to have to find some way to make sure this lasted untouched until 2010. She held it to her chest. "What was your question?"

He bent down to retrieve the hat he'd dropped and fidgeted with the brim. "I, uh, I was hoping you'd be agreeable if—that is, would you like to—I want to court you."

Elena's mouth fell slightly open. She stared at him with wide eyes.

"I suppose that wasn't a question," he said, his cheeks reddening.

"Yes," she said.

"What?"

"Yes, Damon, I would be very agreeable if you wanted to court me."

It took a moment for her words to sink in, and then his anxiety subsided into a soft, contented smile. He reached out and took one of her hands in his. "I'll have to tell Father this afternoon."

Elena gripped his hand tightly. "We can tell him together, can't we?" She didn't like the idea of Damon and Giuseppe potentially having another shouting match, but Giuseppe was always on his best behavior in front of one or both of the Pierce sisters.

"I don't think—"

"Please, Damon? I want to be there when you tell him. He is Katherine's and my guardian as long as we're staying in your home."

He looked reluctant, but nodded. "Very well."

They were walking back to the Salvatore mansion arm in arm when Elena's happiness drained away. Damon might know how much she loved to write and how much she missed her family, but there was so much she hadn't told him. She couldn't tell him about where she'd really come from, or Emily would take away all of his memories of her anyway. But she at least owed him the truth about what she was. Her stomach writhed with dread. He liked her enough to court her now, but what if he hated her when he found out? What if he was terrified of her? Katherine had never needed to compel him about any of it, but he might not react the same with her.


Damon rapped the knuckles of the hand not intertwined with Elena's against the door of Giuseppe's study. "Father?"

"What is it?" came the gruff reply.

Damon looked down at Elena, and she recognized that he was offering her one last chance to change her mind about going in there with him, but she only shook her head and squeezed his hand. "Miss Elena and I would like a word, if you aren't too busy."

"Very well. Come in."

Elena squeezed Damon's hand again, then released it and took a step to the side so they would be a respectable distance apart when Giuseppe saw them. Damon pushed the door open and allowed her to enter the study ahead of him, then came the rest of the way inside and closed the door behind them. Giuseppe stood when they entered, walked around his desk, and went to pour himself a drink from the bar. "What's this about?" he said once he had a glass of brandy in his hand.

"Father, Miss Elena has granted me permission to court her," said Damon. He was so stiff that it was all Elena could do to stop herself from reaching for his hand again.

"Has she now," said Giuseppe. He spoke softly, but with such a note of cold skepticism that Damon flinched slightly and Elena's anger began to stir like a lion rousing from a deep sleep.

"Yes," she said. "I have."

Giuseppe raised his eyebrows. "A girl as young and pretty and you surely isn't willing to settle. I hope nothing has happened to make you feel that you have no choice."

The insinuation was clear, and it set Elena's blood boiling. Did he really believe Damon would have forced himself on her in order to get her to agree to a courtship out of fear for her reputation? First the sire bond and now this. Why was it so hard for people to believe that she just wanted to be with Damon of her own free will? "Of course not," she said.

"Miss Elena and I are very fond of each other," said Damon through clenched teeth. "Nothing improper has occurred."

"A month ago, you were 'very fond' of Miss Pierce. You never asked to court her."

"And I'm not asking to court Miss Elena. I'm four-and-twenty, Father. I don't need your permission. I was merely informing you as a courtesy."

Giuseppe glared at Damon, a muscle twitching in his jaw. "Would you excuse us, Miss Elena?"

Elena had no intention of leaving the room, but Damon caught her eye and nodded. She stepped outside, but remained in the hall to listen.

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised you'd go for Miss Elena once Miss Pierce set her sights higher," Giuseppe said the second the door closed behind Elena. She could hear the sneer in his tone. "All the other girls in town have fathers, uncles, or brothers living, and they never would have handed them over to such a shameless, spineless coward."

"Are you finished now," said Damon, "or is this going to take a while?"

"You're a deserter, Damon," said Giuseppe, his voice rising, "you aren't fit to be courting anyone. Who's going to do business with you? Who's going to employ you? You'll never be able to provide a comfortable life for that girl, so if you really are fond of her, you wouldn't want her to be tied down to someone like you."

Damon didn't reply. A second later, he came bursting out of the study. His expression was livid, and he didn't even seem to see Elena as he stormed down the hall towards the rear of the house. Giuseppe appeared in the doorway after a moment, staring in the direction Damon had gone with his fists clenched.

"How can you say such awful things to him?" Elena demanded. "You're the only parent he has left!" Without giving Giuseppe a chance to respond, she picked up her skirts and hurried after Damon.


"Damon!" Elena called as soon as she was out the back door. As quickly as she had moved to follow him, he was already nearly beyond the back garden by the time she was outside, and he didn't turn around at the sound of her voice. "Damon, wait!" He was hard to keep up with when he didn't want anyone to follow him, even as a human.

He stormed past the statue Katherine and Stefan often liked to play tag around and disappeared into the woods. Elena cursed the dress she was wearing. Damn hoop skirt. It kept trying to drag on the ground, and even though she was getting better at going vamp-speed in these dresses, she couldn't exactly do that when Damon didn't know she was a vampire. Yet. For the moment, Elena pushed the worries associated with that thought aside. There would be a time for him to learn what she was. She just had to figure out how to tell him.

When she finally caught up to Damon, he was bracing himself against a tree. She barely had a second to register that it was the same tree he had kissed her against that first day when he'd thought she was Katherine before he suddenly punched the rough bark in temper.

"Damon," she said, moving closer automatically and reaching out a hand to steady him like she had done so often in 2010. But then she saw the torn skin of his knuckles and smelled the blood seeping out. It was like the knitting group all over again, but this time there was no Katherine to bail her out. She felt the veins thicken under her eyes as her vision went red, and that aching pressure of her canines lengthening into fangs. His blood was right there for the taking. She remembered drinking from him in the restroom at the Grill, how good his blood had tasted and how erotic it had been even though she ultimately hadn't been able to keep it down. Would it be different now, when he was human? She was dying to find out. Just one taste wouldn't hurt him. Maybe more than that.

"No!" she whispered, turning away and hiding her face in her hands just as he was turning to look at her. She loved him! She couldn't do this to him. And even if she did manage to stop, she'd have to compel him again, because this couldn't possibly be the way for him to find out the truth and not hate her for it.

"Elena?" he said, and she heard him move closer.

She didn't respond, desperately trying to focus on breathing slowly and evenly and forcing her vampire features to recede, but it wasn't working.

"If…if you've changed your mind about wanting me to court you, I'll understand."

Just like that, the bloodlust was gone—completely replaced by incredulous anger. She rounded on him, her face entirely human again, her hands on her hips. "You don't honestly believe I'd let him influence my opinion of you, do you?"

"He's right, though!" Damon burst out. "You shouldn't have to settle."

"Being with you is not settling," she said firmly. "It's what I want."

"But not what you deserve," he said bitterly. "Maybe Father was right about why Katherine prefers Stefan now too."

"Excuse me?" said Elena. "I don't believe Katherine has anything to do with this. Unless you think you might be the one who's settling."

"No!" said Damon, alarmed. "No, of course not."

Elena stared up at him, feeling frustratingly close to the verge of tears again. His expression softened as he looked at her, and one of his hands came up to stroke her cheek. "It's strange," he muttered. "I deserted for Katherine, but now…"

Her breath caught in her throat. Once again, she was completely captivated by his eyes. He leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back. It was much slower and sweeter than their kiss when she'd used the scarf to pull him to her. When they broke apart, she rested her forehead against his. "She wasn't the only reason, was she?"

"No," Damon said, pulling away completely and leaning against the tree.

"You can talk to me about it," Elena said. "No matter what it is."

He sighed, but it was still nearly a minute before he spoke. "I had a friend in the war…David Moore. He was my age, but he'd left behind a wife and a daughter when he enlisted. For plenty of the men, that would have been enough of an excuse to leave, but not David. He was going to stick it out to the very end." Damon swallowed. "He was standing right next to me when a bullet struck him right between the eyes."

Elena gasped. "I'm so sorry."

Damon took a shuddering breath. "That wasn't the worst of it. Virginia is a border state. There are plenty of men who have family fighting on the Union side. I've watched cousins fighting cousins. Brothers fighting brothers. And for what? What cause could possibly be worth that? Sometimes, I'd see Stefan's face whenever the Union soldiers charged us. I couldn't do it anymore."

Elena pulled him into a hug. "It's okay," she said, trying not to think about how the history of her time dictated that Damon would soon want nothing more than to make Stefan suffer. "You don't have to."

"Are you sure you don't want me to?" he said.

Elena pulled back so that she could look at him. "Want you to what?"

"Return to war," he said.

"What?! No! Why would you say that?"

He chuckled and played with the stray curl hanging by her cheek. "You make me want to be the sort of man who does his duty to God and country."

"You don't have to go to war to impress me, Damon. Particularly not a war you don't even believe in. I like you much better safely by my side. I…I couldn't bear it if something happened to you." The tears that had been threatening for various reasons lately finally escaped. She buried her face in his chest and wrapped her arms around her waist. For all Emily had said about her not being able to change the past, she feared that she might have changed Damon in ways that could get him killed for good. "Please don't go back. If you hadn't deserted, we wouldn't have met. Stay, and we can face the town and your father's scorn together."

He hugged her back and kissed the top of her head. "I'm not going anywhere, Elena," he finally said.

Elena sniffed. "Good. I wouldn't let you." She wiped away some of her tears. "You'd have to fight me over it, and you wouldn't win."

Damon chuckled. "You're probably right about that."

Elena realized that she could still smell the blood on his hand when they broke apart. She grimaced. "You shouldn't have hit that tree," she said.

"It's nothing," said Damon dismissively.

"It isn't nothing!" Before he could protest, she bent down and tore a strip of cloth from the hem of one of her petticoats, then caught his hand and began to wrap it up. The renewed stirrings of bloodlust faded once the wound was completely covered. "There."


They walked out of the forest hand-in-hand a few minutes later. Damon knew he had made the right decision in asking to court Elena. He remembered when he had first enlisted at the end of May. Katherine had shed no tears at the idea of him going to battle. She had laughed and told him what a handsome soldier he made. When he compared that to Elena's reaction, he had to wonder if Katherine had ever cared about him at all.

"Stefan, I bet you can't catch me!" came a familiar giggle.

Damon and Elena looked at each other. She rolled her eyes at the antics of their respective siblings, and he grinned. In the past few days, Stefan and Katherine had gotten much closer than they had been. Certainly closer than a week ago, if the moans Damon had heard coming from Stefan's room the other night were any indication. He'd been surprised to find that overhearing them had barely hurt at all. He was moving on for good, and with Elena by his side, he was happier than he'd been in a long time.

"I feel a bit tired, Katherine," Stefan said. Damon frowned at his brother as he and Elena approached. It was the middle of the day; Stefan shouldn't be tired. His skin was pale and there were dark shadows under his eyes. He was also for some reason still wearing his collar and necktie even though he usually dispensed with them when playing with Katherine in the garden. "You'd better watch yourself, I'll still catch you."

"Damon, Elena!" Katherine squealed in delight. "Would you like to play tag with us?" She turned toward Stefan. "There, two more targets for you. You're not allowed to quit until you've caught one of us."

Damon grinned and started forward, but Elena stayed where she was, her hand no longer in his. "Actually, Katherine, could I have a word with you?" she said. There was something strange about her tone. Damon looked around at her and was surprised to see that her eyes flashed with anger.

"If you insist," said Katherine carelessly.

"I do," said Elena, striding forward and catching Katherine by the arm and practically dragging her out of earshot of Damon and Stefan.

"What on earth is that about?" said Damon, mystified.

"No idea," said Stefan. The exhaustion in his voice brought Damon's attention back to him.

"Are you ill, brother?" he said.

"No," said Stefan, waving a hand. "I'm fine."

"You don't look fine," Damon scoffed, reaching out to lay his hand on Stefan's shoulder.

"I'm fine, Damon," said Stefan, jerking away sharply.

The movement briefly bared an inch or two of Stefan's neck, and Damon caught a brief glimpse of a small, brilliantly red wound there. "What the hell happened to your neck?"

"Nothing!" said Stefan angrily. "Leave it alone."


Taaroko: Sorry for the delay, you guys. We would have had it up sooner, but school just started for me and I've been extra busy filling out my grad school applications. Hopefully once I'm done with all of those, we'll be able to update a little faster. Anyway, I really love this chapter. I've been looking forward to Damon and Elena's discussion about why he deserted, and the scene when he asks to court her is just so cute. I hope you all enjoyed it. By the way, you should definitely go check out "The Light that Fades" by LottieFarrell. It's not very far along yet, but it's an excellent "Elena met Damon first" fic with an awesome twist to it, and it has far fewer reviews than it deserves.

Black_Dove: I'm sorry for the delay, too. I wanted to have this up sooner, but I've been working 40 hours again and had a date earlier. I'm stuffed from chicken and shrimp fajitas now and I'm a bitttt tipsy from those strawberry margaritas I had with my dinner.

I want to give a shout out to someone who is writing an awesome fic: Go read The Interim by Reilly Black. It's an awesome story, it's updated frequently.