A/N: F to the YI, I know I'm awesome ;) I just couldn't leave you guys hanging like that. Also, I passed on your appreciation to my bball players about the coffee thing, told them they sort of have an international fanclub. They responded by asking if they could read my stories. And that would be a resounding 'Hellz No Children!'

Also, your reviews are just... ah! I can't even start! You are all so amazing for taking the time to leave me these long messages. I love it so much! And now I've got this BlackBerry app that reads my emails out loud, so this is going to be a helluva funny day at work.

Anyways, enjoy!

Shameless self-promotion: Twitter - SweetWillowTree

Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries.

"... My God, Elena!" Damon exclaimed when she paused.

It wasn't until then that she noticed she'd been pacing, and so she stopped, planting her feet and facing him.

"I don't really remember anything after that," she continued. "The nurses told me that I had apparently dialled 911 and told them my address before falling off the counter and passing out. They said that I barely survived, and it was so very strange that someone would impale themselves on a knife while cooking."

She let out a soft laugh at the thought before moving on.

"When I woke up, really woke up, Elijah was there. No one would have stopped him, of course, because he was my boyfriend and why wouldn't he be concerned? I just," her voice broke, and she felt tears pooling behind her eyes again. "God, I was so scared. I just sat there and stared, and when I reached for the 'Call' button, he grabbed my hand and pinned it down. He squeezed it so hard that I thought it would break. I asked him what he was doing there, and he told me that, since I had had the good fortune to not die, then I may as well pay back Jeremy's debt, or else he would go after Jenna next."

She heaved a sigh and shook her head softly. It was the first time that she had recounted the full tale to anyone, and she was terrified about how Damon would take it.

"Well, that's it. My whole sordid past. It's why I moved in with you in the first place, and why I've been worried about Jer, and -"

"You should have told me," he said bitterly, frowning at her.

"I – I know. When Jeremy moved in, I should have told you everything, because it was so dangerous and -"

She hadn't been too sure about what to expect from Damon; maybe he would yell at her, or just leave her there, or something to that effect. What she most certainly hadn't expected was for him to take a few determined steps towards her, and drop to his knees at her feet.

"Damon, what are you -?"

He ignored her, choosing instead to pull her blouse out of her skirt and unbutton the bottom.

"Damon, this really isn't the time to -"

Still without meeting her eyes, he opened the blouse to reveal her toned stomach. She gulped as she watched him scan the long pink scar that ran the width of her midsection. Slowly, he ran his thumb along it, and the lightness of his touch made her shiver. And then he leaned forward and placed kisses along the mark from end to end.

Elena was outright crying now, watching him treat her with such tenderness after she'd kept such a dangerous secret for so long. When he was finished, he buttoned her up again and then looked up at her.

"You should have told me," he began softly, "Because I can help you."

And for the first time in as long as Elena could remember, she broke down entirely. She had had her moments here and there when it felt like the world was ending, and there was nothing she could do about it. But not since her parents had died had she been completely paralysed with emotion.

She covered her mouth with her hand just as the sobs began. Through blurry eyes, she watched Damon stand and scoop her up, carrying her back into the car.

In college, Damon had studied a whole host of mental illnesses. He was quite well-versed in the specifics of things like split-personality disorders and schizophrenia. He also knew from experience that everyone talks to themselves every so often, and generally has a near-constant internal monologue running.

None of that knowledge did anything to prepare him for the amount of voices shouting at him in his head.

"SHE LOVES ME!"

"She's dangerous..."

"SHE LOVES ME!"

"... So so fragile..."

"SHE LOVES ME!"

"I can fix this!"

"SHE LOVES ME!"

"Well, you'll have to be honest with her too now, if you want to build anything..."

The last voice sounded way too much like Rose for him to be comfortable with.

Listening to Elena's story was an awful experience. She had disappeared while telling it, become lost in memories almost too painful to bear. And every emotion, every instant of fear and terror, had played across her face, making it almost impossible for him to stand calmly before her, for him to not rush over to her and hold her and tell her that everything would be okay.

When the sobs had started, he knew what to do; knew what she needed him to do, but it had still been a shock to see her, normally so strong and stubborn, completely broken like that. For most of the ride home she had remained practically motionless, her fingers twisted into the lapels of his suit jacket, her face pressed against his neck. He could feel her tears running down into the collar of his shirt, and only held her tighter.

Eventually, she had calmed down a little, and slid away from him, across the seat, her hands folded in her lap, hiccoughing every so often.

"I know some people in the DA's office. I'll make a few calls later," he told her quietly.

She frowned in confusion, as though she couldn't understand why he could possibly want to do such a thing.

"Why?" she croaked.

"Well, it'll take some time to build up a sure case, but I figure that if we go after Elijah first -"

Of anything she could have done, he had not anticipated that she dart her hands out and grab his arm, pulling on it. Hard.

"Ow," he complained.

"You can't!" she exclaimed shrilly. Her eyes were wide with panic. "You can't do that! It doesn't work; the system doesn't work, and then they'll just go after you too! They could kill you Damon! Do you understand that?"

"Okay," he conceded softly, although he had already decided that this was not the end of the discussion. "Well then, how much money do you owe them? I can call the bank, and I'll go in tomorrow, and we can just -"

"You can't do that either," she replied, although her voice was much calmer, and she'd released his arm.

"I think you'll find that I can," he retorted. Their eyes met in a silent battle until he sighed. "Fine, look at it this way: I'm buying your debt. You can pay me back instead of them, and I promise not to stab you or roll your brother under any dumpsters. Okay?"

For a moment, she just pursed her lips and watched him suspiciously. Then, slowly, she nodded, slid back to her spot across the seat, and stared at her hands again.

They were quiet for a few minutes while Damon entertained himself with thoughts of how irritated she would be when he refused to accept her money. Then he remembered something, and he almost slapped himself for not addressing it first.

"Are you sure?" he whispered, resolutely staring at the floor of the car.

Elena didn't even ask what he was referring to. She simply turned towards him and nodded.

"You're in love with me?"

Again she nodded, and they were silent for another few minutes.

"That day," he said suddenly, causing Elena to towards him again. "The day of the reunion... What happened with Jessica?"

Her shoulders relaxed and she almost smiled. "She likes playing with people's hair; she says it's relaxing. So she was doing my hair and a bird hit my window, and she rolled under the bed. It was weird. But then -" She stopped abruptly, her face reddening. "Um, when I'd first moved in, I saw you two, through a crack in her door. I saw what you did to get her out, just open the window and talk to her quietly. That's what I did, and she came out. She was fine the rest of the afternoon, if that's what you're wondering."

Damon nodded. "There's, um... Well, there's something I have to show you back home, but I just wanted to know about the Jessica thing. She – She hasn't ever come out for anyone but me, so it was a little strange."

Elena frowned, clearly completely confused as to what that had to do with anything, but she didn't say anything more, and they both fell back into silence.

When they arrived back home, Damon placed a hand on Elena's lower back and guided her up the stairs and to the left, toward his bedroom. Once he shut the door, he motioned to the bed, and she sat down obediently. Her continuously passive behaviour was slightly off-putting, he found, but he chalked it up to exhaustion. A years worth of drama had happened over the past two hours, and he wouldn't fault her if she decided to curl up and sleep for the next three weeks.

But she couldn't do that, he decided. There was still something he had to say.

He walked over to his bookshelf, and reached to the top. He pulled down a white and gold photo album, blew the dust off, and made his way back over to the bed.

"So," he began, chewing on his bottom lip, "You know that I was married, right?" She nodded. "Okay, well," he flipped the album open, turned a few pages and then handed it to her. She looked at the picture and he could have sworn she almost smirked.

"Damon..." she began, but he cut her off.

On the page that he'd flipped to was a picture of just three people.

"That's me, obviously." He pointed to the figure on the left, himself, at the age of twenty five, smiling like it was the happiest day of his life, which it had been.

"This is Stefan, my brother." His finger dropped onto the person on the right, a handsome young man with light brown hair and green eyes.

"And this," he pointed at the woman between the brothers, "Is Katherine, my ex-wife."

He waited for her reaction. The image of the woman in the photograph was identical to the woman sitting on his bed, with the same olive skin, dark hair and doe eyes.

For a moment, Elena simply stared at the image. Then she slid the album onto the bed, rose, and walked out of the room.

After all of the stress of the day, Elena was stuck fighting the mad urge to giggle as she made her way to her room, opened a drawer in her desk, removed a file labelled, 'SALVATORE', and then retraced her steps back to Damon's bedroom. She stopped at the top of the stairs, cocked her head to the side, and changed direction, heading for the kitchen instead. She stooped under the sink and pulled out a little first aid kit, and then took some frozen peas from the freezer.

When she finally got back up to Damon's bedroom, the man himself was sitting on the bed, scowling at the wedding album. When she entered the room, he shot to his feet.

"Look, I know I should have said something before, but I just didn't want you to think -"

"Sit down," she ordered. He did, and she handed him the file. "Open it up." Again, he obeyed her.

She snapped open the first aid kit, and began to dab at his eyebrow with an alcohol swab, made all the more difficult by the fact that his was brow furrowing as he examined its contents of the folder.

"I'm good at what I do, Damon. The day you met me I was writing an article about you. I did some research, and then followed it up when I first moved in."

"You knew?" he whispered.

Elena shrugged, flattening out the butterfly bandage over his eye while he fidgeted away from her hands.

"I figured it would keep me safe. You couldn't possibly want me if I look so much like your ex-wife. Look."

She pointed at one page, taking advantage of his distraction to slap the bag of peas over his swollen eye.

"I've got the announcement of your birth. And, for the record, Michelangelo is such a pretentious middle name. Anyways, here's some stuff from when you partied too much in your early twenties, and then your wedding announcement. Here's a picture of your family and Katherine. And that's where it gets a little weird."

She stopped, but he was still flipping through the pages, the peas abandoned next to him. She reached over and held them to his face, rolling her eyes at his stubbornness.

"Out of nowhere, less than a year later, there's an article about your dad passing away, a whole thing about what's going to happen with the firm, and you and Ric taking over. They mention who Ric's dating, but no one says a word about Katherine. A few months later, the girlfriend's started up, but still no Katherine. There's a record with the city of the two of you divorcing, but no one ever mentioned it publicly."

By then, Damon had flipped the folder shut, and looked up at her, finally holding the frozen bag to his own eye.

"Back then," he began, "Katherine and I were a perfect fit, or so I thought. We were both young and selfish and stupid. But..." He paused, seemingly unsure of where to go from there. "Turns out, she and Stefan were in love, or something. I don't even know if either of them could... Anyways, she had only married me because I was older, and when Father passed away, I would inherit the firm, so I was the safer bet. They kept up their secret relationship while she and I were dating, engaged, and married."

Damon smiled bitterly and huffed out a painful laugh. "She'd had a gambling problem. I hadn't known how bad it was until it was too late. Apparently, she had borrowed money from the wrong guy, and he sent some thug to collect it while she was out with Stefan. They killed him, in self-defence they said, but... So then they came up with a plan, and when the loan shark sent two more guys after her, they killed them both as well."

Elena's jaw had dropped at this point. How was it that both of their lives seemed like something out of an episode of Criminal Minds?

"The police figured it out, and when they were arrested, of course, they came to me to bail them out. But I just -" He broke off, and Elena stepped forward, taking his hand. "I couldn't do it; I couldn't help them. There was no one that I loved or trusted more in this world than them, and – The things they hid from me, the things that they did..."

"The DA got a gag order, because of how badly it would reflect on me personally that my wife and brother were involved in this kind of thing. No media outlet could report on it, and when Katherine went to prison, we got a divorce. Rose moved in, and Andie graduated from college and she moved in too. There were a few in between, but then Jessica came in last year, and Caroline right after that. And now there's you."

He looked up at her expectantly, as though awaiting her judgement, but she stayed quiet, staring back at him.

"Jessica," he began in a much different tone, "is my weakness. There's something about her that makes me so protective."

He dropped the peas onto the floor. His eyes narrowed then, and he paled. In fact, he almost looked like he was pain, which was odd, because it seemed as though the most painful revelations of the day were over with.

"And when she got scared, and came out for you... I just couldn't hide from it anymore."

"Hide from what?" Elena breathed, not entirely sure she wanted to know the answer. Had he been in love with Jessica all this time?

He tugged her hand, and she moved closer, standing between his legs. "The fact that even when you aren't trying, when no one's looking, you are everything that I need. The fact that I would do anything to keep you with me. The fact that I would happily pay any amount of money to any slimy crime lord if it means that you're safe." He somehow managed to pull her even closer, so that she could still make out the blue of his eyes as her own filled, yet again, with tears. "The fact that I'm in love with you."

Elena knew she shouldn't do it. She knew that there were still things to be discussed, aired out. Plans to be set, and information to share. But none of that mattered in the face of what Damon had said.

She cupped his face in both of her hands and leaned forward to kiss him. Their lips met, tongues already probing and exploring. Damon's hands moved to grip her hips, and no matter how many kisses they had shared before, Elena was quite certain that nothing could possibly compare to this.

All too soon, however, her brain switched back on, and she was already kicking herself even before the words had come out of her mouth.

She pulled back and pressed her forehead against his, her breathing ragged. "So, where do we go from here?"

He waggled his eyebrows, and she could feel the bandage move against her skin. "Well, I definitely have a few ideas..." He let that sit, while skimming his fingertips up and down her thigh.

"And I think I'm entirely on board with that," she responded, pulling at his tie.

"Wait!" She stopped, suddenly scared again. "'Entirely'?" he echoed. "Do you mean -"

"Mm hmm," she hummed against his lips, moving on now to slide his blazer from his shoulders.

His hands moved under her blouse, caressing the skin of her waist. And somehow, someway, her typical resistance had been replaced by the overwhelming need to just be with him, in him, on him. She wanted to be the air that he breathed, so she could run rampant through his system and love every atom that made him.

Her fingers pulled at the buttons of his dress shirt, but she stopped, frustrated, when she passed his collarbone. Her eyes opened and she leaned back, eyeing him. He looked back at her, confused, his lips swollen both from her kisses and from the cut.

"You know, for someone who apparently wants to have sex with me oh-so-badly, you sure are making this difficult." She twisted a finger into his undershirt, and pulled a little. "And why the hell are you wearing suspenders and a belt? Is there a chastity belt under there too?"

"They're my lucky suspenders," he teased, grabbing her wrists in one hand and tickling her with the other, smiling when she laughed. "And what are you getting all worked up about? We were doing this earlier, and you had no complaints."

"Yeah, well, you had very kindly already removed anything that needed removing. I didn't have to work for it!"

He leaned back, propping himself up on his elbows. "Okay then, let's see you get undressed faster."

She smirked and took a few steps back. "I think you just want to see me strip."

"Well duh!"

She rolled her eyes, and flicked the first button on her top. His eyes never leaving her, Damon sat up properly and followed suit. Slowly, she made her way down her shirt, and allowed the garment to fall from her tiny frame. His eyes darkened as he drank her in, and she did the same, appreciated the way that the undershirt stretched over his abs. She bit her lip and unzipped her skirt, bending over to pull it down her legs. Then she stepped out of it, and her shoes, standing before him in nothing but her matching white lacy lingerie.

"I win," she said huskily, pointing at the pants that he was still wearing.

"Oh, I think I'm definitely winning," he responded in a low voice.

Elena laughed and moved forward, straddling him and gripping his hair, kissing him hard. Again, their mouths opened to each other as though either wanted to crawl inside of the other. Damon reached down to unbuckle his belt and then flopped back, shimmying his pants the rest of the way off. Elena leaned forward, her hair falling in a curtain around them both, and began to kiss down his neck. She could feel him hardening against the core, and nearly moaned at the contact.

They rolled, Damon looming over her, their eyes meeting. They froze for a moment, and he spoke.

"I'm going to hate myself for saying th-Mmmm."

She cut him off by pulling him in for another searing kiss, and she could feel him smile against her lips. Soon enough, he reached behind her, practised fingers finding the clasp of her bra and undoing it, tugging the item from her chest. He gazed at her for another long moment, and then leaned down to pepper her breasts with kisses.

When he took a nipple into his mouth, flicking it with his tongue, she gasped, arching up and holding his head closer.

"Damon," she rasped, her breath hitching when he switched breasts, "I love you."

At that he stopped, pulling back to smile at her.

"I love you," he said back to her. "I want you. I adore you. And right now, I want to worship you."

Her eyebrows rose at the intensity of his statement and his gaze, and she swallowed thickly, watching him with wide eyes as he hooked his fingers inside of her panties and slid them down her legs, throwing them over his shoulder.

She was laying completely bare before him, and suddenly felt self-conscious. Instinctively, she moved to cover her scar, but he grabbed her hand first, intertwining their fingers and looking, really looking, at her, from her head down to her toes.

"You're perfect," he breathed, sounding almost surprised. "Please tell me that someone has told you that before."

She didn't say anything, muted by the passion with which he gazed upon her. He leaned forward and ran his tongue along her scar, making her whimper. Then he went even lower, kissing every inch of skin until he got to her sex. He bent her knees to spread her open wider, and with one long swipe, licked from her entrance to her clit, sucking on it a little.

"Damon," she moaned, but he didn't answer, just kept working her with his mouth. "Damon, not – not now – I just want – Ah!"

She grabbed him by the hair and pulled him all the way back up, widening her eyes into a pleading expression.

"I just really want you inside of me, okay?"

He smiled and kissed her. "Definitely okay."

"Um... You have -?" she whispered awkwardly, but he nodded in understanding.

"Of course."

He rolled onto his back to reach into his nightstand drawer for a condom while she took the opportunity to rid him of his boxers, repaying him the favour by scanning his entire body appreciatively.

"You've seen me naked often enough. No need to ogle."

"I can't help it," she smirked, brushing her lips to his. "I love the view every time."

"You would," he retorted, laying her back down and situating himself between her legs. "Ready?"

She could feel him at her entrance, but she still glared at him. "Stop doing that: Stop checking in with me to make sure I'm okay. I want this; I want you; all of you. So just... Give me all of you already!"

He chuckled a little and without another word, pressed into her. She let out a soft cry and they stared at each other for a long moment before meeting for a languid kiss. Slowly, he pulled back and then thrust back in, filling her perfectly every time. But something was a little off.

Suddenly, she flattened her hands on his chest and pushed until they rolled, so that she was on top, lacing their fingers together and pinning his hands above his head.

"Stop acting like I'm going to break," she whispered, "I'm not going to break."

She rolled her hips, and he hissed, his eyes closing, pressing his head back into the pillow. Releasing one of his hands, she weaved her fingers into his hair and kissed him, while he moved to grip her hips and thrust up into her.

"Yeah," she moaned, moving her hips in time with his.

She pressed her hands to his chest, nails digging in with every thrust. He felt perfect inside of her, like they'd been made to match their entire lives. He sat up suddenly, arms wrapped around her, fingers splayed over her shoulder blades, and kissed along her neck and shoulders, her collarbone, her breasts. She held him close, still moving on him, bouncing faster and faster.

"Damon," she whimpered, "Damon, I'm so – Ah! I'm so -"

She had her head thrown back, her fingers gripping his shoulders and neck so she wouldn't just fall of the face of the planet. He licked along her shoulder up to her ear, and murmured, "I love you," and with an irrepressible shout, she was gone.

It took a few minutes before Elena could peel herself off of Damon and tuck herself in under his arm. He swung the comforter over both of them, and Elena couldn't imagine ever wanting to leave the bed. He was laying on his side, pressing his lips to her arm, his fingers dancing over her stomach.

"I've made a lifestyle decision," he announced to her.

"Oh yeah?" She turned her head to face him. "And that would be...?"

He grinned at her. "I'm never going to stop kissing you. We're just going to have to drift through life attached at the hip so that I can keep kissing you forever."

She giggled and looked back up at the ceiling, bringing her hand to join Damon's over her midsection. "What if I have to pee, or something equally private?"

He shrugged. "I can deal with that. What could you possibly have to -whoa my GOD JEREMY!"

Elena stiffened and looked over at him, frowning. "Please tell me that you weren't thinking of my brother while you were making love to me. Because really, that might ruin the whole -"

"He's at the hospital!" Damon blurted, eyes wide. "He's there unprotected! What if Elijah -"

With a small smile, she stroked the side of his face with her knuckles. "He's fine, Damon."

"Well, forgive my concern, but not an hour and a half ago you were having a nervous breakdown in my car about it."

"Look," Elena began matter-of-factly, "The nurses in these hospitals are like freaking ninjas or something. When I was in the hospital, Jenna came to bring me a book, and they wouldn't let her through unless it was visiting hours. So Jeremy is safe for another," she squinted over him at his alarm clock, "Almost four hours."

Damon's eyes narrowed. "You're sure?"

With a sigh, she rolled onto her side so they were nose to nose. "Do you really think that I would sacrifice my brother's safety just to lounge in bed with you?"

"Well," he began with a wink, "You wouldn't be the first." She slapped him on the arm, and his expression changed. "But you aren't like anyone I've ever known before, so I guess the rules are different for you."

He leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. "I love you," he whispered, kissing her again.

She smiled and rolled onto her back once more. "What do we do now?"

"Round two?" Damon suggested.

"Okay," Elena laughed, "But I meant after that."

"Round three?"

"Seriously."

Damon rolled onto his back as well and pulled her closer, so that her head was resting on his chest. "What do normal people do?"

"Well," she drawled, tracing patterns on his abs with her fingers, "They meet, fall in love, move in together, get married, have babies, etc. Although I think the order's a little different based on geographic location."

"Hm... So no extra girlfriends?"

"Not normally, no."

"And no mob hit-men?"

"Nope."

"No criminal ex-wives and brothers?"

"Sometimes, maybe. But it's rare."

"Then I think," he pushed her onto her back and hovered over her, "That we should just go with round two, and figure out the rest later."

Elena smiled. "Agreed."

AN2: Go to the Peoples Choice website and nominate Nina Dobrev and Paul Wesley for fave actress/actor - Drama. They were sadly overlooked. And while you're there, vote for Ian Somerhalder :) You know you wannnnnna ;) (Good Lord, am I ever obnoxious today!)