OH MY GOODNESS FINALLY! I won't talk until the end so you can finally read this chapter.
"I'm so tired," Elena whined, feeling exhausted. They had been walking around trying to find Stefan for what seemed like hours and hours. It was started to get dark outside and she had long ago tightened her grip on Damon so that she would feel somewhat safer looking out into the woods.
"Why are you tired?" Damon asked her incredulously, rolling his eyes. "I've been carrying you for the last three hours."
"Watching you work is just so tiring though," Elena sighed, resting her head on Damon's shoulder. "I think I'm working up a sweat just from watching."
"Yeah right," Damon scoffed,
"Can I just take a nap for a few minutes?" Elena asked Damon softly, yawning as she snuggled her head into Damon's shoulder. She breathed in his delicious scent, while closing her eyes.
"Sure baby," Damon chuckled, "I'm going to sit down for a second anyways."
Damon manoeuvred her around his body until she was wrapped around the front of his body instead of the back of it. Elena wrapped her arms and legs around him again while simultaneously burying her face into his neck. She felt him sit down careful not to drop her on what she assumed was some sort of log.
Her butt after so long of being supported by Damon's hands felt great relief when she was set down on his legs. His arms came up to wrap around her back as he buried his face in her chocolate locks. She smelled like heaven even after parading around in the woods all day.
Elena lifted her head up from his neck and rested it carefully against his. They both closed their eyes as if savouring one another's touch.
Finally breaking the silence,
"Hi," Elena whispered, giving him a small smile.
"Hi," Damon mumbled, lifting his head up to place a kiss on her forehead.
Elena giggled before putting her face back into his neck out of embarrassment for her complete girl moment. Sometimes she just realized how lucky she was that she had successfully gotten him.
Damon lips quirked up in amusement. "What's got you giggling?"
"You," Elena smiled against his neck.
"And may I ask why you are giggling at me, Miss Gilbert?" Damon amused voice sounded right by her ear, causing her to make a little jump in his lap.
"Nothing," Elena murmured into his neck, placing a tender kiss on his neck, before bringing her head up to get a good look of his face. Oh, he was pouting. How cute. "Don't pout, it's unattractive on a man of your age."
"You wound me, Miss Gilbert," Damon said, turning away from her when she tried to kiss him. "You don't get any affection from me until your apologize for that horrible comment against my outrageously sexy body."
"Babe..." Elena coaxed, placing her hand on his cheek and tried to turn his face towards her. He resisted at first before giving in and turning his head to face her. "I'm sorry for saying such mean things to insult you. I shouldn't have done that."
Damon rolled his eyes, and turned his head away from her again. Elena huffed before placing her head in his neck, placing kisses all over his neck. She placed them all along the column of his throat, and she felt him visibly relax at her ministrations.
Elena continued to go back and forth between his jaw and his neck. Once she thought she had relaxed him enough to forgive her, she went past his jaw up to his cheek. She kissed him all over his face before finally settled on his lips. He gave into her almost immediately, responding to her soft kiss against his lips.
They kissed for a few moments, her hands tangled into his hair, massaging his scalp gently. The action caused him to let out a contented purr into her mouth.
Elena pulled her mouth away from his slowly so that they were just a breath away. Their lips still touching by a fraction. They could feel each other's breaths mingling into one another's mouths.
"I'm sorry, baby," Elena murmured into his mouth.
"I forgive you," Damon whispered back, kissing her on the lips once more before placing his head back into her neck. "You're still my girl."
"I love you," Elena whispered into his ear, and she heard the strangled gasp that came from Damon at her words. This was the moment. This was what everything had been leading up too. The moment that she finally was able to tell Damon that she loved him. She only hoped that he would say it back even though she didn't expect him too.
"Elena -" Damon started,
Elena lifted her head up placing a finger gently over his lips to halt him in whatever he had been about to say that could have potentially ruined the moment.
"You don't have to say anything," Elena said, locking her eyes with his. "I just needed to get it out. You just needed to know how I feel."
Damon removed her finger from his mouth, clasping it in his hand, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles carefully. He leaned his forehead against hers before speaking.
"I love you too," Damon whispered,
"You do?"
"Yes, you and all your giggling girly qualities," Damon said, tapping her nose with his finger, causing her to let out the giggle that he had hoped for. "And there's my girl."
"Yours," Elena whispered, giving him a big kiss on the mouth before dutifully climbing off his lap. She held out her hand and he slapped his into it, allowing himself to be pulled up from where he sat on the makeshift chair of a log.
"Let's get back to finding Stefan," Damon said, tangling his fingers with hers as he pulled her along through the woods. "Then we can go home and I can ravish you properly."
They walked through the woods for another hour before they had finally found something. What they found wasn't pleasant. Coming through a particular rough patch, but only for Elena. Damon had mastered the woods with ease, probably due to his vampirism. She could tell that he felt comfortable roaming in the dark, but he held onto her hand tightly guiding her hand through the maze of trees.
"Well, hello Damon," The sounds of a menacing voice sounded off in the distance, but Damon seemed to stiffen at the sound of it. It was obviously somebody that he knew.
They made it through a clearing and then she came face to face with her doppelganger. Elena let out a small gasp that had Damon releasing her hand and putting his arm around her, tugging her to him gently.
"Oh, I see you brought my little doppelganger along for company on this suicide mission," Katherine drawled, stalking towards them slowly.
"I should have known it was you," Damon sneered at her, his tone was harsh. A tone that Elena had never heard from Damon before and she felt the need to reach under his jacket and shirt and stroke the skin there. It seemed to calm him down slightly as he stole a glance in her direction.
"Ugh, vomit," Katherine put her finger in her mouth, mimicking noises of puking. "I don't know what you and Stefan see in her. She's just a poor imitation of me. The one you really want."
"You've got that completely wrong, Katherine," Damon stepped away from her and towards Katherine. Elena let her hand drop down to her side as she watched their interaction. "Nobody wants you. And you want to know why? Because you are a total bitch who doesn't know what it means to truly love someone."
"You seem to forget that you were in love with me," Katherine countered back,
"Oh no, I wasn't. I realize that now that I've got something better than what I ever had with you. All I ever had to you was a physical attraction that I had mistaken for love. But, you know what? I don't even feel sorry for myself anymore for being played by you, because now most of all I just pity you because you aren't capable of feeling what it's like to be in love."
Damon had raised his voice as he got closer to her. He was practically spitting in her face now he was so close to her. This had Elena worried for Damon's safety, she could catch him off guard at any time. He had to have some sort of plan or he wouldn't be doing this with her here.
"Oh Damon, how sweet that you really believe that love exists," Katherine sneered, pushing him back up from her. "You were only used for my sick amusement, don't tell me you're that stupid to think that Elena isn't doing the same thing to you."
Damon turned his body around to face her almost as if remembering that she was there with him while having his little spat with Katherine. Elena hugged herself while mouthing the words 'I love you' to Damon, which had him giving her a small smile in return.
"Oh you two are pathetic with all your lovey dovey crap," Katherine blabbed on, waving her hand dramatically. "Let's just get this over with."
Before either Damon or Elena could even blink Katherine had flashed before their eyes and was now standing behind Elena, her elbow positioned at her windpipe, crushing her air flow. She was gasping for a breath as Damon growled at Katherine.
"Let her go," Damon growled, stepping cautiously closer to them.
"How cute," A pleased grin played on Katherine's facial expression, "You really think I'm going to listen to you and let her go."
"Katherine, please, if you care about my happiness even one tiny bit will you please let her go," Damon begged; Elena had never seen so much sadness in his eyes before and it touched her heart.
"Let me think about that, uh no."
And with that she had speeded into a little tunnel in the ground that he had failed to notice before. Damon was hot on her heels, searching all the little rooms in there until he found the one where Stefan and Elena were located. Stefan looked as though he was pumped full of vervain and had taken a few stakes to different areas of his body.
He let out a breath as he realized that Elena was still conscious but she had already been shackled to the wall preventing her from moving. Elena looked up at him with wide eyes and that's when he felt the forceful blow come to the back of his head and the last thing he saw was Elena's face before all he saw was black.
Damon woke up and all he felt was an annoying pounding in his head. He opened his eyes and lifted his head but found that he was very weak. He recognized the signs of vervain in his body. He tried to pull his arms free of the shackles that were bound to his wrist but with no luck. He hung his head in defeat, turning his head slightly to his right side to see that Elena was located right next to him.
Elena's eyes were focused on him but her eyelids were droopy. Her skin was so pale, meaning that she hadn't been fed in a number of hours and was slowly starting to lose her energy. He could see the bloody red marks on her wrist where she had probably been pulling on in order to get free.
"Are you okay?" Damon croaked, his voice sounded incredibly strained.
Elena only nodded her head in response.
"I love you," Damon whispered, trying his best to give her an encouraging smile.
"I love you too," Elena whispered back, and he saw the tears start to escape from her eyes before she could help it. Damn, she hated crying in front of him.
"Baby, don't cry," Damon pleaded, and she closed her eyes tightly before turning her head away from him. He really wished that she hadn't done that. He needed to hear her voice and see her face because it would be the only thing keeping him together. "Oh, I wish I could touch you right now."
"Damon..." Elena whimpered, turning her face back towards him. He could see the trail of tears that were falling down her cheeks. "So much pain..."
It was then that Damon took a survey of her body and saw that on her right leg the bottom half of her jeans had been ripped off and there was a gash in her leg that was still bleeding out. Damon sucked in a breath, as he looked back at her face.
"Oh, baby, what happened?" Damon asked her softly,
"When I yelled at Katherine for attacking you she punished me by taking a knife and slicing part of my leg open," Elena explained, half-heartedly, with a tiny shrug.
Damon got so mad after learning what Katherine had did to her that he pulled so hard on his restraints causing them to come out of the wall. Elena let out a tiny gasp as she witnessed it. Before she even realized he was right in front of her and there was a bleeding wrist pressed up to her mouth.
"Drink, it will heal you," Damon said urgently, pressing his wrist more insistently against her mouth. He relaxed when she accepted his wrist, and started gulping down the blood. He turned his head to the wound on her leg and saw that it was healing in front of his eyes. He pulled his wrist away from her mouth not wanting to give her too much. "Pain gone?"
Elena nodded, "I don't know what I'd do without you."
"Ditto babe," Damon agreed, before going limp beside her, putting his hand on her thigh, rubbing soothing circles.
"Aren't you going to get us out of here?" Elena asked,
"I used all my energy ripping the chains off me and then feeding you blood, I can't do anymore," Damon said, rubbing soothing circles into her thigh. This action seemed to calm her. "I need a break."
"Katherine could be back any minute," Elena pointed out, yawning in exhaustion. "She moved Stefan to another room, she said that she wanted to play with him a bit. She is so twisted."
"You have no idea,"
"I'm so tired," Elena whispered, her eyes closing despite her best efforts to keep them open.
"Go to sleep, I'm right here," Damon said, leaning over to give her a soft kiss. He felt how dry her lips had become from her exhaustion. He really needed to get her out of here. "I won't leave you."
Elena started to nod, as she fell into a deep sleep. Leaving Damon to stare at her face as she slept. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever laid eyes on even when she was all bruised and battered. All her flaws made her more beautiful in his eyes. He would spend his whole undead life trying to make it up to her once they got themselves out of this mess.
Elena woke up to the sound of somebody in a great deal of pain. Her eyes popped open and they immediately tried to find Damon. He was currently having a stake shoved repeatedly into his stomach. She heard another scream of pain come from Damon and the tears flowed down her cheeks again as a silent scream came out of her mouth at seeing Damon in any kind of pain.
Finally, Katherine stopped her cruel torture on his body. When she exited the room she finally realized that she had been let free of her chains. She rushed over to Damon, leaning over his body as she surveyed his injuries. She quickly took the stake out of his stomach and threw it away before going to his head.
His eyes were closed tightly as she kneeled by his head. She placed his hands on either side of his face and tried to coax him out of his unconscious state. He opened his eyes weakly, and mumbled something that she couldn't make out.
"What, baby? What do you need?" Elena asked soothingly, smoothing back his hair from his face.
"Lena..." Damon breathed out,
"I'm here," Elena whispered softly, running her hands all through his hair and then onto his face.
"Remember..." Damon chocked out, lifting his hand up with much struggle, and she helped him out by grabbing onto it tightly in between both of hers. "Remember that I - that I love you."
"Damon, what are you saying?" Elena asked hurriedly, gripping his hand tightly. This was starting to sound a lot like a goodbye. "You're not leaving me..."
"I can't..." Damon whispered brokenly, his eyes drifting closed again before popping back open. "There's too much pain..."
"Here, take my blood," Elena insisted, pushing her wrist next to his mouth, but he shook his head against her wrist. He found the strength to turn his head away from her insistent wrist. "Damon, don't argue with me... I can't lose you so let me fix you."
Damon looked into her eyes for any signs of uncertainty in her gaze but found none so he let his vampire visage to come out as his fangs extended. He bit carefully into her wrist, and started taking big pulls from her bloodstream. The feeling was extraordinary for both of them. Elena was on the verge of letting out a loud moan, but before it could happen he pulled away from her wrist.
Elena curled up on the floor next to him, holding his hand as he attempted to recover beside her. She had just hoped that he blood would be enough for him. She watched as the hole in his stomach where the stake used to be closed up until it was completely healed. The color soon came back to Damon's skin and he no longer looked like death.
"Elena," Damon whispered sharply, sitting up beside her and pulling her up with him. "We need to find Stefan and get out of here. We can worry about Katherine later, right now our main priority is getting Stefan out of here. Then, we can go home and pretend that this never even happened."
"Okay," Elena agreed, nodding along to his plan. "Lead the way."
Damon held out his hand for her to take and she placed it in his, allowing him to pull her out of their temporary prison. They walked cautiously down the hall and checked in various rooms down the dark and dingy hallway. Elena gripped tighter onto Damon's hand as they reached the last door at the end of the hall.
When they finally worked up the nerve to open the door, they were faced with a pretty surprising sight. There was Stefan and Katherine, and they were caught in a very comprising position. They were both in varying states of undress. They looked up at them in surprise, obviously not expecting to be caught.
"Oh, glad you could finally join us," Katherine's seductive voice was the only thing heard besides Stefan and Katherine heavy breaths. "Want to make it a four-way? For old time's sake?"
As much as Damon wanted to humor her and play along he couldn't force himself to especially with Elena with him.
"Sorry, Kat, but I think we'll skip this one," Damon smirked, but through his seemingly cool exterior he was shaking inside and wanted nothing more than to get out of this place and never come back. "Stefan, time to go."
"I'm not coming with you, Damon," Stefan said from his position underneath Katherine. "We worked out all our issues and we're actually going to try to be together this time. You don't have to worry about me anymore Damon, I'm going to get the bloodlust thing under control and she's going to help me with all that."
"You're wrong to believe her Stefan -" Elena cut in, but immediately knew it was the wrong thing to say as Damon tightened his grip on her hand to the point that it was hurting. "Ow, Damon -"
Stefan was the one to interrupt her. "You can't tell me who I can and cannot date especially when you didn't take my advice about dating Damon."
Elena opened her mouth as if she was about to speak, but Damon shot her a warning look that clearly said that saying anything would be the worst possible thing she could do.
"Elena, let's just go," Damon said, turning on his heel and dragging her along with him as he led her through the creepy underground walls. It felt like she was being surrounded by death, and the feeling just washed over her. While Damon was appearing to be cool and collected, she felt like cowering in a corner.
"Damon -" Elena whined, pulling on his hand to get him to slow down. She could barely keep up with him, and was tripping over her feet in order to do so. "Can you please slow down?"
"Oh, yeah sure baby," Damon said offhandedly, but he only slowed down a bit, just enough to be noticeable. "Whatever you want."
The way he had brushed her off hurt at first but then they finally reached the clearing where they had been just earlier that day. This was when Damon slowed down enough so that she was now walking beside him. He turned around to face her suddenly before wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her roughly against his chest. The action startled her but she had gotten quite used to Damon and his quick reflexes.
She stared up at him with a questioning gaze, while slipping her arms underneath his and wrapping her arms around his waist in return.
"You," Damon started, "Are an amazing woman, did you know that?"
"No, I didn't," Elena replied shyly, "But I won't object to you telling me so."
"I'll be telling you everyday then, along with how much I love you."
"You better," Elena grinned at him, watching as he reciprocated with an answering grin of his own.
He leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on her lips, pouring all the sweetness that he could muster up into one kiss. He removed his hands from around her waist to cup her face. He stroked the sides of her cheeks as he kissed her softly, as if memorizing the way it felt beneath his fingertips. Elena was the first to break apart from their slowly heating up kiss to rest her forehead against his, their labored breaths mingling in the brisk night air.
Elena shivered slightly and pressed herself more tightly against him, trying desperately to soak up all the warmth that he could give to her. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders, pulling her against his chest. She took the opportunity to bury her head in his chest, and slipped her hands up underneath his jacket to feel the skin that was there. She loved to be skin on skin with her man. But, right now all she wanted to do was go home and curl up in bed and sleep until they could forget about all the nonsense that had happened today.
"Let's go home," Elena whispered,
"I'll go anywhere with you," Damon whispered back.
The end. Yes this is the last chapter, I just really needed to end this story. There will be an epilogue. Hopefully you won't have to wait too long for it but you never know, I am horrible with updating.