Chapter Thirteen: A Grand Gesture

"By now you'd know that I'd come for you
No one but you, yes I'd come for you
But only if you told me to." –Nickelback

Rachel rested her long slender frame against the side of the wall just on the edge of the ballroom. After the uncomfortable conversation at dinner and then having to deal with the obnoxious wife of the charity director, she found solace in having a quiet moment to herself. She stared out over the ballroom and watched as her eldest son led Elena gracefully out onto the dance floor. She smiled as she watched the nervous expression on Elena's face as Damon pulled her into his arms and tight against his body. The fact that the two of them assumed they were hiding anything from anyone reminded Rachel of just how young they truly were. The look in their eyes alone as they locked their gaze on each other spoke louder than any words possibly could.

"I seem to remember a time about ten years ago when I found you watching them just like this." Giuseppe's voice said softly from behind Rachel. Rachel smiled as she felt her husband's arm slide slowly around her waist.

"Yes, I remember. Damon was teaching Elena how to dance for her very first homecoming. That poor boy could barely move her a few inches without having to catch her before she fell." Rachel said with a smile as she relaxed back into Giuseppe's arms. He nodded as he smiled.

"I will never forget when he finally just told her to step up on his feet and after that, she never fell again." He said with softness in his voice.

"He has always taken care of her. Even when he was away, he called and asked me about her nearly every day. Since he was ten years old, he's never wanted anything more than to make sure that she was happy." Rachel said as she pushed one of her onyx curls back into her bun. Giuseppe smiled and leaned closer to her ear.

"You suppose that his brother minds the fact that he is dancing so closely with his girl?" He asked in a whisper. Rachel smiled and sighed.

"Giuseppe, you and I both know that isn't Stefan's girl. That girl has always been Damon's. Stefan has simply just been borrowing her until Damon came back for her. And from the look in his eyes tonight, well I would say he has finally come back for what is his." She said softly. Giuseppe smiled and ran his fingers through his salt and peppered hair.

"Elena didn't go to Chicago last weekend, did she?" He asked in a slightly amused tone. Rachel shook her head.

"No she didn't sweetheart. I happen to know that because the editor of the Chicago Tribune is married to a woman who is on the charity's council and he has been out of town now for nearly two weeks now." Rachel said as she tried to hide her laugh. Giuseppe nodded and smiled as well.

"I didn't think so. Do you think she will tell Stefan?" He asked. Rachel smiled and turned back to her husband.

"You and I both know that Stefan will find out soon enough. Damon has never been one to share something that he loves and he has always loved Elena. Time will bring out the truth and then maybe finally they will stop running away from the one thing they have needed to run toward their entire lives." She said as she smiled softly. Giuseppe reached down and touched his wife's cheek gently.

"You still look pale, Rachel. Are you feeling alright?" He asked softly as he studied her face. Rachel put on the best smile she could.

"I am perfect honey, let's just enjoy the party and give those two a little privacy." She said with a smile as she moved away from the wall. Giuseppe nodded and then followed his wife back across the room and toward their table.

As they moved to the center of the dance floor, Damon slowly pulled Elena into his arms. He pulled her tight against his body and slid his arm around her small waist. Elena tried to avoid looking in his eyes as she fixed her gaze at his shoulder. Damon smiled as he slid his fingers under her chin and turned her head until her eyes met his.

"You look so beautiful tonight." He said softly as he ran his fingers across her jaw. Elena smiled as a blush moved over her cheeks.

"Thank you, you look very handsome as well." She said as she tried to move her gaze from his, but the magnetic pull of his eyes was far too powerful tonight for her to ignore.

"Your mother is really something, you know?" He said with a smirk. Elena sighed and smiled.

"Yeah, she always has been. Ever since we moved here and her divorce was final with my Dad I swear she has gotten worse every year. I don't understand how the woman that I remember tucking me in at night is the same woman that just practically threw herself at you because she found out you were worth…a lot." She said as she stumbled on her last few words. Damon smiled as he studied her face.

"Your mother is just choosing an easier path for herself. She loved your father and he really hurt her. The men she is with now, well she loves their money and their status. If they leave her all she loses are material things, she doesn't lose anything that will truly matter to her. She just simply picked a lesser evil." He said as moved them slowly across the dance floor. Elena shook her head.

"I just don't understand it. I know that my Dad hurt her, but she can't possibly be happy with Klaus. That man hasn't even said two words since he got here and looked uninterested in everything she said. How does money make up for that?" She asked as she felt Damon's grip on her tighten and her heart begin to speed up slightly. Damon shrugged.

"Elena happiness means different things to different people. You would be surprised how easy it is to convince yourself you are happy, when you are able to go in and pay cash for your own house." He said as pulled her closer to him. Elena looked up at him. His blue eyes shone so brightly under the lights of the dance floor that she couldn't understand how everyone in the room was not staring at him.

"Are you happy in New York, Damon? Everything that I saw last weekend, does that make you happy?" She asked softly as she tried to decipher his expression. Damon let out a long sigh.

"I am happy with my career, yes. I have worked very hard and come a long way from the guy that almost got kicked out of school because he started a fire in his dorm room during a party. It is nice to come home and know that my bills are paid and I can afford to do things that most people would have to save years for. But, that is just a part of my life." He said as he looked off into the distance. Elena looked down.

"And the other parts?" She asked softly. Damon smiled as he met her eyes once again.

"Elena, I was happier last weekend with you, than I was the day I won my first case. All the money in the world cannot buy what I feel when I am with you, and this last week has been torture. It was only one week yet everyday felt like an eternity. I would have done anything to get to you sooner, yet the only thing that I could think about was that even after everything that happened, you were laying somewhere in his arms." He said as he gritted his teeth. Elena looked down at the floor.

"Damon, you aren't exactly alone yourself. You brought Andi here didn't you?" She asked as she almost threw up at the sound of Andi's name. Damon smiled and looked down at her as he sensed her jealousy.

"Elena, I invited Andi to this benefit months ago and with her father's standing, she probably would have come even if it wouldn't have been with me. But, the main reason I brought her here was because I knew that I couldn't bring who I really wanted and I couldn't bring her because she was already coming with…my brother." He said as he moved his fingers back to her face. He traced her features softly and fought the urge to pull her even closer to him.

"I guess things are just, complicated." She said softly. Damon watched her face.

"Not really, Elena. This whole thing is actually quite simple. You tell my brother that things just aren't working out and that you don't want to see him anymore. Then I put you in my car and we go back to my hotel and celebrate your bravery." He said with a wink. Elena laughed slightly, but then shook her head.

"Funny Damon, but it's not that easy. And what about Andi? What are you going to do about her?" She asked as she stared up at him.

"Easy, I am going to walk over to our table, tell her that it's over and then send her back to New York. She's a tough girl; she'll bounce back just fine." He said as he turned them and backed them to the center of the dance floor. Elena let out a breath.

"Damon, I think that maybe we should think about this a little bit before we jump in head first. I mean you just came back into my life a few weeks ago. Now all of a sudden you want to dump your girlfriend, you want me to dump your brother and then what; we ride off in the sunset together?" She asked sarcastically. Damon slowed their movements.

"What is there to think about Elena? I might have just come back into your life a few weeks ago, but you have been on my mind for the past seven years! I don't want to miss you anymore, and I definitely am not going to share you with my brother!" He said as his voice rose slightly and anger began to fill his eyes. Elena's heart began to beat even faster in her chest.

"Damon, I just think that maybe you should take some time to think about this. You don't need to turn your entire world upside down just because of one weekend with me. You have a great life in New York, I just, I don't fit into that world." She said as she dropped her eyes from his. She couldn't believe she was trying to talk Damon out of wanting to be with her after she had spent the past seven years waiting for him, but as she looked around the room tonight she knew that they weren't the same people they had been before. Suddenly, she looked up at Damon as she noticed they had stopped moving.

"Is that what this is about? You don't think that you are good enough to be with me?" He asked in a shocked tone. Elena looked at the floor but didn't speak. Slowly, Damon moved his hand back up her neck and lifted her chin to meet his eyes once again.

"Elena, not everything is about money. Yes, I have money, who the fuck cares? If you want me to, I will burn it all the second I get back to New York. I don't need all that money if it means that I can't have you. I don't want more time to think about if we should be together because frankly I have had seven years to figure that out and the answer is yes. This past week has been pure hell for me. Every single second you were on my mind. I didn't wash my sheets because I didn't want to lose your smell. I haven't even kissed Andi since you left. You want to know why that is?" Damon asked as emotion flooded his voice. Elena stared up into his eyes as her heart pounded in her chest.

"Why?" Was all she managed to say. Damon smiled and ran his fingers over her lips.

"Because even though I have been with Andi for over a year and haven't seen you in over seven, the thought of kissing anyone after I kissed you felt wrong. I felt like I would be cheating on you and I couldn't do that and I didn't want to." He said softly as he moved his lips closer to hers. Elena stared into his electric blue eyes.

"Damon, I…" She didn't know what to say. She had spent the whole week putting off Stefan, lying to her friends, avoiding her family all because she didn't want anyone to see that she was falling head over feet for someone that she didn't think she could truly have. Now he was standing in front of her, telling her that all he wanted in the world was to be with her and yet she was completely speechless. How was she supposed to just turn her world upside down and hurt people that she cared about just so she could be with Damon? How could she be that selfish?

"Elena, I will not share you. I am in love with you and I will not run my hands over skin that my brother has just touched. Last weekend changed my entire life. Being with you and having you in my arms and against my body gave me something that none of my money could ever buy. It gave me real happiness. I will not hide in the shadows and be the man that calls you at night when your boyfriend isn't home just to hear you say my name. I want to be the man that is lying next to you hearing you say my name as I touch you. I want you to myself and until then, we can only be friends." He said sternly, but with passion dripping from his voice. Elena stared up at him. Her eyes filled with tears as she took in the words he had just said to her.

"Damon." She breathed as she felt him slowly stepping away from her. Damon smiled, but she could see pain in his eyes.

"Thank you for the dance, Elena." He said softly and then turned and began to move away from her and toward their table.

Elena's heart pounded in her chest. She watched as Damon began to slip further and further from her view. Suddenly her mind swirled as the past seven years slammed down on top of her. She remembered the night that Damon had made love to her for the first time because she was too afraid to do it with anyone else. She remembered prom night and the look on his face after he had pulled Matt off of her and nearly killed him just because he had hurt her. She remembered being in his car later that night and wanting to tell him so badly how she felt about him, but being too scared to say the words. And she remembered how just last week he had pulled her into his arms at the airport and told her it wasn't over when she had almost walked away. Damon had rescued and put his heart on the line for her time and time again since she had met him nearly seventeen years before and not once had she been brave enough to do the same for him. She had been in love with him since she was a teenager, but yet at twenty-three she was still clinging to a fear that was now pushing him farther away from her.

Elena blinked her eyes as she felt tears begin to roll down her cheeks. She took in a deep breath and for the first time in her entire life, she was not afraid. She was in love. She was in love with a man that was walking away from her and if she didn't do something soon, she knew she would lose him forever.

"Damon!" Elena yelled across the dance floor as loud as she could. Damon stopped walking as he hit the edge of the dance floor and turned slowly around to look at her. His beautiful blue eyes shimmered as he waited for whatever she needed to say. But, Elena had no idea what she needed to say. She searched for words, but soon realized that they were beyond them.

Before Elena realized what she was doing she was halfway across the room. She ran as fast as she could across the dance floor and nearly knocked over an elderly couple as she went. Finally, she reached the edge of the dance floor, but instead of stopping she ran straight into Damon's arms and wrapped herself around him. Damon stared at her in surprise, but before he could say anything Elena crushed her lips against his as hard as she could. She pressed her body against his and pretended as if they were the only people in the room.

Damon moaned and wrapped his arms around Elena as he took in the power of her kiss. He kissed her as if he had never tasted her lips before and might never again. Elena ran her fingers through his soft black hair and breathed heavy as she slowly found the strength to pull away. Damon stared back at her, his eyes were on fire, his lips were red and his breath came out in ragged pants.

"I'm so sorry Damon." Elena said as she stayed as close to him as possible. Damon blinked and reached up and touched her face gently.

"For what?" He asked still trying to catch his breath. Elena smiled.

"For not doing that sooner. Damon, I am in…" She began as she moved closer to his lips, but suddenly the reality of where they were crashed down around them.

"What the fuck is going on over here?" Andi's voice screamed from behind Damon. Elena slowly pulled herself out of Damon's arms and watched as Damon's girlfriend pushed her way through the crowd of people. She suddenly remembered the reasons why she had initially thought they should think things through more.

"Umm….Andi, I'm really sorry, I…" Elena started, but then Damon stepped forward and raised his hand between the two women.

"No, she's not sorry. Andi, we are through. We've been through for quite a while now; I just frankly have been putting it off for too long. There is a room at the Hilton for you and then tomorrow you can go back to New York…alone." He said quickly. Andi stared at him and her face went red with rage.

"Who the fuck do you think you are, Damon? You can't tell me what to do? Maybe I don't want to go to the Hilton or maybe I don't want to go back to New York tomorrow! I can't believe you! You are leaving me for some redneck from Virginia? What the hell is wrong with you?" She screamed. Elena felt her blood begin to boil as she listened to Andi's words.

"Who do I think I am Andi? I am first and foremost your boss. I don't give a shit where you stay, that hotel room is just a courtesy for you to be honest. But, as far as New York is concerned, if you aren't back there on time and you do anything to jeopardize my firm, your ass will be out of there in a heartbeat. You are a good lawyer, but you aren't great. I will replace you in a second, so don't you even think for a second that you can talk to me that way!" Damon yelled as he moved closer to her. Elena bit back a smile. She knew that Damon was being mean, but since she hated Andi with a passion, she actually found this quite funny. Andi stared at Damon as her rage shifted to pain and Elena could tell she was fighting back tears. Elena wanted desperately to say something but before she could, Andi swung back her hand and then hit Damon square in the jaw.

"You bastard!" Andi screamed through her tears. Damon rubbed his jaw and as Elena saw the red mark move across his cheek, she lost it. She quickly moved toward Andi as she prepared for a repeat of a few weeks before, but just before she reached her she realized she had more important problems to deal with.

"Elena, what the hell is going on?" Stefan's voice came from beside them, as the other guests began to move away from the dance floor and gawk at the scene before them. Elena took in a breath and turned toward him.

"Listen Stefan, I can explain. Why don't we just go outside for a minute and talk?" She asked calmly. Stefan shook his head.

"No, we have nothing to talk about. Me and him, well that is a different fucking story." Stefan yelled as he started to move closer to his brother. Elena moved quickly and wedged herself between the two men.

"Stefan, no. You don't have to do this. Let's just go outside and talk." Elena said as she tried to calm him down. Stefan glared over Elena's shoulder into Damon's eyes as his breathing increased.

"Elena move, now!" Stefan yelled loudly as he continued to stare at Damon. Elena shook her head.

"No Stefan I am not moving. Now, let's just go outside and talk about this." She soothed as she reached out and tried to touch his arm. Stefan jerked his arm away and clenched his jaw.

"Damon! Move your whore now, or I will!" Stefan screamed and then suddenly everything spun out of control.

Before Elena could stop him, Damon pushed past her side. He grabbed his brother's shirt by the collar with one hand and punched him hard in the face with the other. Stefan groaned, but then grabbed his brother and dragged him down to the floor with him. Elena moved closer to them, but before she could say anything Giuseppe quickly moved in front of her.

"Damon! Stefan! Get up this instant!" Giuseppe roared as he stepped closer to them. Neither Damon nor Stefan seemed to care about the anger that was coming from their father; they just continued to move roughly on the floor.

"Somebody get security!" A man from behind Elena yelled as he began to move to the other side of the room quickly. But, seconds later, security was no longer really needed.

"Boys! Stop this now!" Rachel's voice rang through the air and suddenly both men's movements slowed as they turned toward the sound of their mother's voice.

Rachel stood beside the dance floor and stared at her sons that were slowly making their way back up to their feet. Both men were now covered in bruises and blood and trying desperately to catch their breath. Rachel stared at both of them and let out a deep sigh.

"I want you two…." She slowed and Elena saw Rachel close her eyes and let out another breath. She watched Rachel's movements and suddenly her heart sank into her stomach. Something was wrong.

"I want you two, out…." But, before Rachel could finish her sentence, her eyes rolled back and closed as her voice trailed off.

The next few minutes seemed to last an eternity as suddenly Elena's emotion filled evening faded into the background. Elena watched as Rachel's eyes closed and suddenly her body went limp as she fell to the floor. Elena heard screams, but could only watch as Giuseppe ran to his wife's side and picked her up into his arms from the floor.

"Rachel! Rachel! Can you hear me Rachel?" Giuseppe yelled as he shook her in his arms. Damon and Stefan both moved quickly and were suddenly across the room and next to their mother.

"Mom, Mom are you OK?" Damon yelled as he turned his mother's face toward him and tried to get her to open her eyes.

Quickly, Elena pulled herself back to reality. She ran across the dance floor and kneeled next to Damon and grabbed Rachel's delicate hand in hers. She squeezed it tightly and searched for any sign of life on Rachel's beautiful face.

"Rachel?" Elena asked softly as tears began to roll down her face.

"Rachel, its Elena. Can you hear me?" She asked as tears continued to flow down her face. Rachel did not move, but Elena refused to let go of her.

Only a few moments later the paramedics arrived. Rachel was lifted onto a gurney and then placed into the back of an ambulance. Elena followed the three Salvatore men as they climbed in after their mother and watched as the paramedics tried to resuscitate the woman that had been the closest thing to a real mother that Elena had for the past seventeen years.

Once at the hospital, time seemed to go by in a slow and painful blur of motion. Rachel, remained eerily still for the next few hours as doctors flooded in and out of the room. After a while, the blur of motion began to slow. No one was rushing around Rachel anymore and all of the machines had been turned off. After a few moments, Elena was pulled from the room as the doctors took Damon, Stefan and Giuseppe to the side of Rachel's bed. Elena felt her heart tighten in her chest as she watched the doctor's expression as he looked down at the floor before he spoke.

The last thing that Elena saw before the hospital door closed behind her, was the look on Damon's face as the doctors words filled the air. In all the seventeen years that she had known Damon, Elena had never seen him cry. But in that moment as the hospital door closed between them she saw tears begin to run down his beautiful face as he closed his eyes.

Please read and review and let me know what you think of this chapter. This was an emotional chapter for me so let me know if you all liked or didn't like it. I hope that you are liking the fic so far, I am trying to not drag it out too much but still give story line. Yes it will be around twenty chapters and yes there will be an epilogue so that the prologue won't just be left hanging out there. Let me know what you all think, thank you for all your amazing reviews and comments. Love ya all! XOXOXO-Nikki