Gravity

Disclaimer: I don't own anything or anyone from The Vampire Diaries.

September 29th 2013

Sunday 9:00am

Portland, Oregon

He's gone.

"She's hasn't said a single word."

I hear the unfamiliar voices talking about me like I'm not even in the room. I don't bother to acknowledge their presence as they hover in the doorway. I'm sitting in one of the interview rooms; I have been in here for most of the night.

Question after question has been fired at me but I haven't made a single effort to answer any of them.

I can't stop thinking about Damon.

Where is he? Is he ok? Why did he do this?

How could he do this to me?

"Is he here yet?"

"He called about an hour ago to say he had just landed. He should be here any minute."

I look down at the engagement ring on my finger and hold back my tears. I slide it off and slip it into my jeans pockets.

I don't think I'll be needing this anymore.

"Are you sure we are allowed to just release her to him?"

"Officially? Probably not. However I feel for the guy…she would have to go back at some point anyway, the warrant for her arrest isn't in this jurisdiction. We're just helping out a fellow cop."

"Poor guy, he must have been worried out of his mind."

"Elena!"

My heart stops.

I look up, my eyes immediately watering the second I see him rush into the room.

"Daddy." My voice shakes and he is in front of me in a second, pulling me up onto my feet and wrapping his arms around me tightly in a hug.

"Oh Elena, sweetheart." He sounds upset. He clings to me so tightly that it hurts but I don't attempt to pull away.

"Dad." I can't help the tears that fall down my cheeks. Despite everything that has happened, he's still my father and I have missed him.

My body is taken over in relief and for the first time in what feels like hours I let myself just feel.

"Daddy," I pull back, tears streaming down my cheeks. "He's gone!" a sob falls from my lips uncontrollably and I can't stop my body from shaking.

He looks at me sympathetically as he pushes my damp hair from my face. "I know sweetie." He pulls me back against his chest. "God I have missed you so much!" he peppers kisses to the top of my head. "You have no idea honey, no idea how much I love you."

I don't answer; instead I continue to cry in his arms feeling the safety and comfort a girl can only feel from her father.

"Come on sweetheart, it's time to come home."

"Salvatore!"

I look up from dirty ground in my cell at the sound of my name. The door slowly opens and I squint from the sudden brightness.

"You have a visitor, come on!" I am ordered coldly and my heart starts to pound hard against my chest.

"Who?"

The guy ignores me as he grabs my arms and cuffs me before escorting me out.

I pray it's not Elena but I hope that it is at the same time.

I need to see her, I want to see her but I know that I can't. I did this. I did this for her. It was time to give this all up for her. She needed to go back to a real life, a life that she deserves. She needed to go back to her family, her friends. She needed to go back to school. I have messed up her life so much and after everything that has happened with Megan I just knew that I couldn't hold her down any longer.

She deserves so much more than me. She deserves the entire world.

I don't know if I feel disappointment or relief when I walk into the visitor's room to see Klaus sitting on the other side of the glass panel.

He smirks as I approach him, the guard roughly uncuffing my hands.

"Orange suits you." He chuckles as I pick up the black phone.

"I hear jumpsuits are in right now." I shrug, happy for just a second of normally.

Klaus smirks for a second before it slowly fades. "Why did you do it, Damon? Elena told me you turned yourself in."

My heart pounds at her name. "You've seen her?"

"Yeah." He sighs and runs his hand through his messy hair. "She's not good man; she's taken this really hard."

"She'll get over it." I try my best to sound strong, to pretend that I don't feel like my heart is being roughly ripped from my chest over and over again.

Klaus shakes his head but bites his tongue. I swallow the lump in my throat.

"She's ok though, right? I mean…she's not in custody or anything?"

He shakes his head and my body sinks in relief. "No. I mean…she did get arrested at first, she's probably going to face some criminal charges for running with you but when the cops found out her Dad was a detective they went easy on her."

I sigh and nod my head with a small smile. "Good."

"She's probably already back in Mystic Falls as we speak."

"Jesus." I blink shocked. "Already?"

"Well, it's been two days Damon."

I frown confused. "It has?" I ask a little stunned by this fact.

"Yeah…" Klaus stares at me for a long moment. "You look tired, brother. Have you been sleeping okay?"

I shrug. "I guess." Truthfully, I don't think I have slept a single minute since I turned myself in.

"So…what happens now?" Klaus asks curiously, his voice hesitant and wary. "You think you'll get transferred back to Virginia? You'll need to go to trial, right?"

I nod. I briefly remember the lawyer my Dad got for me yesterday running through the process of what will happen to me but honestly I barely listened to a word.

My mind was somewhere else. My mind was on someone else.

"Lawyer says my trial probably won't be for another few months." I reply quietly. "As for Virginia, who knows? My Dad is working on it, apparently."

"Is he coming up here?"

I shake my head. "I told him not to bother."

"Damon-"

"What can he do here? I turned myself in. I asked for this. I need to face up to what I've done, Klaus."

"But Damon, you didn't kill Vaughn!" Klaus snaps at me in annoyance. "You're acting insane right now, you know that right?"

I shake my head, clutching the phone tighter in my hand. I picture Megan's limp and lifeless body lying on the cold concrete floor.

"I've done some terrible things that I need to pay for."

Klaus looks at me like I've completely lost it. "There's a big difference in your crimes to murder, Damon! You're out of your mind!" he hisses at me, trying to keep his voice down. "What about Elena, huh?"

I shake my head. "She doesn't deserve me."

"You know she's going to wait for you, right? I heard her telling Caroline. She's not giving up on you despite you stupidly giving up on her!"

"No Klaus!" I snap back. "You need to tell her not to wait for me! You need to tell her to move on!"

"No." Klaus fires back angrily. "You didn't see her face, Damon! You didn't see it! So why don't you tell her your damn self, you coward." He slams the phone down and stands up, pushing his chair back furiously against the concrete ground and I cringe at the screeching sound.

I stare after him stunned as he leaves me alone.

I suppose I better get used to that.

"We've left your room the exact same we you left it in." My Mom clutches my hand tightly as she leads me into my bedroom.

It was an emotional return. I feel like I haven't stopped crying. I was greeted at the door by my Mom and brother and I feel like they've never let me go since.

We spent hours crying. My body feels drained from all emotion but coming back into my old my room sends a shiver through my spine. The last time I was in here, I was in a mad rush to pack my things to run away with Damon.

I didn't think I would be back here without him. Not like this.

"Elena?"

I look up at her to see she is looking at me nervously, a small smile on her lips. "It's going to be okay, honey. I promise."

I nod silently but I know better. It's never going to be okay.

"Do you uh…want me to leave you alone?" she asks hesitantly but I can hear the fear in her voice. She's probably scared that I'll sneak out of my bedroom window and never come back again.

She's wrong, but only because I have nowhere to run to.

I have nowhere to go.

"It's getting late and you must be tired from your flight. I know it has been a rough couple of days."

Understatement.

I nod slowly and she reluctantly lets go of my hand. I look down to see her hand shaking.

I did this. I turned my own mother into a nervous wreck. She never used to be like this.

"Okay, well…I'll just be downstairs if you need anything, okay?" Again I nod silently. She leans forward and presses a slow loving kiss to my forehead. "I love you honey."

I swallow the lump in my throat. "I love you too, Mom." I see her fight back the tears as she kisses me again before leaving.

I feel my shoulders deflate as I look around my bedroom. I slowly walk towards the window and stare down at the wooden trellis Damon used to sneak up to climb through my bedroom window.

I hold back a sob as I lock the window and close the curtains.

He won't be visiting me tonight.

He probably won't be visiting me ever again.

I close my eyes and start to cry.

After months and months of waking up on hard motel beds, uncomfortable car seats and deflated sleeping bags you would think that waking up in a soft comfortable warm bed would feel like bliss. Instead I feel the worst I have probably ever felt in my entire life.

I blink the sleep out of my eyes and slowly sit up. There is a nervous pit in my stomach that hasn't left me since I saw Megan lying dead in Enzo's arms.

God, Megan. My eyes sting with tears as I think about her. She's dead. She's gone.

I hold back a cry as I wonder what has happened to Enzo. The two of us never really got along but I had no question in the love he had for his girlfriend. He must be devastated.

Damon may be gone from my life but at least he's not a cold body buried in the ground.

At least he's still alive.

It's surreal going through my usual morning routine like the past six months never happened. Like I have been here, living my usual boring life all along.

I stare the photos placed around my mirror and I don't even recognize the girl smiling back at me. That girl is laughing with her friends and that girl is smiling in her cheerleading uniform at school.

That girl isn't me.

I hear raised voices from downstairs and I cringe.

I know that they are probably arguing about me.

I hesitantly and nervously leave the sanctuary of my bedroom and head down the stairs, the voices are getting louder but they are still muffled by the kitchen door.

I open it slowly and the voices stop, all turning in my direction.

"Elena!"

My heart speeds up as my Aunt Jenna turns around to face me, a watery smile on her lips as tears fall from her eyes at the sight of me. She is in front of me in seconds, her arms wrapped tightly around me and I feel my body sink in relief at the sight of her.

She is one of the people I have missed the most.

"God it is so good to see you." She pulls back and brushes my hair from my face. "Don't you ever do this again, you hear me!" she scolds me and I can't help the smile that creeps onto my lips. "You scared the hell out of me! You owe me six months' worth of sleep, missy!"

"Sorry," I smile meekly and I realize that this is probably the first time I've smiled since Megan died. "What were you guys arguing about?" I ask once Jenna finally lets me go. She shifts awkwardly and glances to my Dad. My Mom looks away and takes a sip from her tea silently.

"We weren't arguing, honey." He offers me with a smile and I roll my eyes. "I have some good news." He changes the subject immediately. "I managed to pull in a few old favors and all charges against you have been dropped."

My eyes widen. "What?"

"You won't be getting into any more trouble, Elena. No criminal charges, nothing."

I frown. "Thanks…I guess."

He looks at me confused. "I thought you would be happy."

"I am…" I reply but my body betrays me. "I just…what about Damon?"

The tension in the room escalates quickly.

"Elena…" My Mom warns me.

I look back at her unflinchingly. "What? Are we just going to go back to pretending that he doesn't exist?" I hear the snappiness in my voice. Apparently my Dad heard it too.

"That's exactly what you're going to do, Elena. You've got a second chance. I spoke to your principle at school; he's willing to give you another chance. You'll need to attend some after-school classes to catch up on everything that you've missed and complete your junior year final exams but he's been kind enough to let you back into your class. You can go back to school and graduate. You can live a normal life and have a future."

"A future without Damon, right?" I hiss coldly.

He clenches his jaw. "Elena…I've just got you back, please let's not turn this into an argument."

"Are you even doing anything to help him?"

"Help him?!" his voices raises.

"Grayson please-" my Mom tries to calm him down but he cuts her off, ignoring her completely.

"You want me to help him? That bastard took my daughter from me! He's a criminal, Elena! I'm not going to help him!"

"He's innocent!" I scream back, my voice loud and shaky and the room falls silent. "He didn't kill Vaughn and if you actually did your job, you would know that!"

"Elena please," My Mom pleads with me but I shake my head.

"How can you just expect me to move on and pretend like nothing happened? I love him." A sob falls from my lips. "Every time I let myself think that I may never be able to see him again, I feel like I'm going to die."

"Elena…"

"No." I cut off the voice, not sure if it was my Mom or Jenna. My eyes are blurred with tears. "You don't understand. You will probably never understand. He was my life…I…I thought we were going to spend the rest of our lives together. Maybe I was naive, maybe I was delusional to believe that could ever happen but that's how I felt and now he's gone. I need you to help him, Daddy. I need you to bring him back to me. Please."

My Dad looks at me for a long moment and I let out a shaky breath.

"I'm sorry; Elena, but I can't do that." He looks down at the floor almost like he is ashamed.

He should be.

I feel tears escape from my eyes. I feel more broken and lost than ever.

I turn on my heels and run without looking back, ignoring their calls for me to come back. I open the front door and run faster than I have ever ran before.

All I want to do is crawl into my bed and sleep.

I've spent the last 40 hours driving through traffic, blazing heat, tiredness, and more traffic. I thought doing the trip there with Caroline was bad, but doing it by myself was even worse. I thought I was going to commit with boredom. I only stopped for power naps at the side of the road; I wanted to get back to Mystic Falls as quickly as possible so no motel stops were allowed.

All I want to do is crawl into my nice warm bed and sleep for five days.

So when I pull up outside my voice, I groan when I see a head of blonde hair waiting for me on my doorstep.

"I'm tired, Caroline." I open the trunk and pull out my overnight bag. I slam the trunk shut. "It's late…I've been driving for nearly two days."

"I know, and I'm sorry for coming here so late." She walks down the porch steps to meet me. "But I need your help."

I sigh loudly and wait for her to continue.

"Elena is missing."

I know exactly where to find her but I don't tell Caroline.

Instead I say that I will have a drive around to see if I can find her. She offers to come with me but I pretend that it would be better if she looked separately so we would have more chance of finding her.

Mostly it was because I knew Elena probably didn't want to be found.

So I drive to the bar where she and Damon first met and I'm not surprised to see her sitting alone with a glass of bourbon in her hands.

She has her back to me and I head straight towards the bar and order two more bourbons. "How long as she been there for?" I ask the familiar barmaid, motioning over to Elena.

She stares at her for a long moment before looking back at me. "Since we opened this morning, she hasn't moved since, not even to order another drink. Usually we would have to ask her to order something or kick her out but I couldn't bring myself to do it. She looks a bit lost."

I nod slowly and down the bourbon in one go. "She is lost." I sigh and take a step back. "Here goes," I take a deep breath and head towards her.

I pull out the chair across from her and sit down, her head rises to look at me, her eyes widening at the sight of me.

She looks broken.

She looks deflated.

She looks exactly how Damon looked back in that visiting room in Portland.

"You have a search party looking for you." I say to her casually.

She shrugs and clutches the glass of bourbon tightly in her hands. "Nothing new there, huh?"

I smirk, glad to see at least she still has her sense of humor. "You sure know how to waste police resources."

"What resources? They are useless. They don't even know how to do their jobs properly."

"Cheers to that," I tap my glass against hers. "You going to drink that? The pretty bar-lady told me you've been staring at it all day."

"The pretty bar-lady should mind her own business." Elena snaps back harshly.

I chuckle. "Oh don't be like that…she's a nice girl. In fact," I try to test the waters. "I think Damon slept with her once."

She looks up at me in disbelief. "Are you trying to make me feel better? Because it's not working."

I smirk. "Figured it would get a reaction. I went to see him, you know? In Portland, after you left."

She freezes. "How is he?"

"Not good. He's completely given up."

She deflates. "You're telling me."

"What happened, Elena?" I ask her seriously but she stays silent. "I'm not stupid, I know that something must have happened between the two of you for him to turn himself in like that."

"What did he tell you?" she looks up at me, her eyes cold. "When he asked you to come and collect me." Her voice is harsh and I can tell that she's mad. "What did he tell you?"

I feel a tad uncomfortable from her glare but answer anyway. "He told me that he didn't want to ruin your life any more than he had already."

She scoffs and shakes her head. "Oh that's Damon, always the martyr."

"You sound bitter."

"I am bitter." She snaps back coldly. She digs around in her pocket before throwing something across the table towards me.

My eyes widen when I see what it is. It's a ring. A diamond ring at that.

"Is that?" I look at her shocked and she nods her head.

"He proposed to me, technically he proposed to me twice, but he told me that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. He promised me forever. He lied."

"Jesus," I run my hand down my tired face. This is more complicated and messed up than I first thought. "What happened, Elena?" I ask her seriously.

"He killed someone." She answers bluntly and my eyes widen in shock. "Not directly…not intentionally but he killed someone."

"Fuck."

"It was an accident." She continued. "She probably would have died anyway, she was a drug addict. She had a serious problem and she didn't try to hide from it either. In fact, she owned it. None of that mattered to Damon though, I think it was all just too much. The guilt, you know?" she swallows and takes a deep breath. "I just wish that…" she trails off, her eyes watering. "I miss him."

"I know." I reach across and take her hand in mine. "I miss him too."

"I don't think I'll ever be able to move on, Klaus." She lets out a cry and I keep a hold of her hand as I move to her side by the table and wrap my arms around her in a hug. "I love him so much, I don't think I'll ever be able to stop."

"It's okay," I whisper soothingly into her ear. "Everything will be okay."

We both know that the words are a lie.

We stay here for another hour before I eventually convince her to let me take her home. Her family are there waiting, quickly ushering her into the house, disapproving looks sent in my direction.

I sigh and head back to my car but not before a voice pulls me back.

"Klaus!" I turn back around to see her Aunt Jenna call out to me from the porch. "Thank you for bringing her home."

I nod silently and get back in the car.

It's not me she should be thanking.

I stand outside my Dad's office silently, trying to avoid being seen. He is shouting orders down to the lawyer he hired to defend Damon in Portland.

Apparently it's not going so well.

All I want is my brother back.

I want all of this to be over.

I sigh and push away from the wall as I hear the doorbell ring, I grunt in annoyance, wondering who it's going to be.

I hope it's not going to be another damn reporter wanting to ask some more questions about Damon's arrest. I don't think I would be able to control my anger if it was. They are vultures.

I swing open the door and freeze when I see who is standing on the other end. My body tenses with anger.

I hate this man.

"What the hell do you want?"

Detective Gilbert doesn't look his usual arrogant self. In fact, he actually looks a little nervous.

I don't like it.

It's off-putting.

"My Dad is busy." I snap at him when he doesn't answer my original question. "So whatever it is, you're going to have to come back another time. Or don't actually, we don't want you here." I go to slam the door in his face but he clutches it tightly in his hand to stop me. I look up at him angrily.

"Actually, it was you I came to speak to."

I frown confused, trying to rake through my brain to think I have done anything illegal lately.

"I need you to tell me everything you know about your Uncle Zach."

"Oh you have some nerve!" I hiss at him angrily and go to close the door again.

"No Stefan wait!" he stops me again and pushes the door back open. "I'm here to help."

"Help?" I look at him in disbelief.

"Yes." He answers confidently. "You're going to need my help if you ever want to see your brother out from behind bars again."

I freeze. "What?"

"I have a brokenhearted daughter who is convinced that Damon Salvatore is innocent…well…at least innocent of one of the crimes he has been arrested for. I owe it to her to at least try and find out more about what happened that night. I'm not saying that I believe that he is innocent." He glances around before stepping closer, his voice lowering. "But I do have a suspicion that there is more to what happened that night that even know about and I have reason to believe that your uncle Zach may be involved in it."

I stare at him stunned.

"So?" he asks impatiently. "Are you going to accept my help or not?"

This chapter was a bit of a challenge for me writing from both Damon's and Elena's POV. I wanted to get some of their thoughts and feelings across but from a detached view. I hope it came across okay!

Please review and let me know what you thought, I really appreciate your comments and feedback! It really is motivation to help keep this story going.

Thanks again and thanks for reading! Until next time!