AN: Wow, I got great feedback on the last chapter – 20 reviews, I think that might be a new record for this story, and it brings the total to almost 200. Thank you guys so much, you're the best! I'm so glad you liked my take on Elena changing and Stefan's part in it – especially Kat, who was so skeptical beforehand: I'm really glad you liked it! Not really noticing Stefan's presence was pretty much what I was going for. And I'm glad you guys seemed to like worried-Damon, I really don't think he'd be able to be totally cool about it. clashcityrocker083: I know what you mean about the scene where we get to see Stefan and Damon changing, and it seemed to take longer, but then Vickie's change didn't take very long at all. I chose to believe that it's different for everyone. Plus, I didn't want to put Damon through waiting for hours before he'd know that Elena was OK, so I went with the quicker version! And the fact that Elena was aware of what was going on was really because I didn't want it to be just from Damon's point of view. OK, that's all about the last chapter. Now for some practical details: I know I said that I was trying to get back to my usual updating schedule, but that doesn't seem to be happening any time soon. Tomorrow morning, I'm going to Amsterdam on a holiday with my mom and sister, so I won't be able to update until the weekend at the earliest. Sorry! And, finally, I have to comment on the season finale. I don't want to say too much in case someone hasn't seen the episode yet, but oh, the possibilities for us Delena lovers … definitely looking forward to the next season, which I'm guessing won't start airing until September at the earliest, which sucks! And season two won't be released on DVD until the end of August, so that won't be any help either. I'll probably have to keep this story going or start on another sequel just to be able to deal with the withdrawal during the summer. OK, now I'm done with my ranting. As always, thanks to my wonderful beta, sunshine2006578, for her help!

Disclaimer: The characters of The Vampire Diaries are the property of L.J. Smith and the people at The CW. I'm just borrowing.

Chapter twenty

Damon wasn't sure how much longer he would be able to just sit there without doing something. He didn't think it should take this long, Elena should already have woken up. What if something had gone wrong, despite his precautions? Sure, his perception of time wasn't completely normal at the moment, but still ...

But, before he had the chance to completely panic, he heard her draw in a breath, saw her chest rise as the now unneeded air filled her lungs and then fall as it left them.

"Elena?" he said tentatively, not wanting to scare her, and touched her cheek. He had a vague memory of how overwhelming it had been, waking up. Over the past couple of weeks, he had tried to remember more, what had come between the time when their father shot him and Stefan and the time when he woke up again, to be able to tell Elena what to expect, but he hadn't been able to. No sounds, no light, nothing like that. Maybe there wasn't anything to remember, maybe it all just went black and then he woke up. He did have a vague memory of being aware, at least, even if there hadn't really been anything to be aware of, but that was about it.

She didn't respond to his voice, but he was positive that she could hear him. "OK, now you're just faking it," he tried a joke. "Come on, open your eyes."

He was sure that it had worked, that she was OK, but he still needed to see her open her eyes, smile at him. Tell him that she was fine and how silly he had been, worrying like that.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she took another breath and opened her eyes. Relief immediately washed over him.

"Hey there," he said with a smile. "How're you feeling?"

She frowned, as if needing to think about his question for a moment. "I don't know," she finally replied. "Not as different as I was expecting."

She moved a little, and he let her get out of his lap and sit down on the couch next to him. All the while, she was looking around the room curiously. She raised one hand, as if to run through her hair, but froze in mid-air and turned it this way and that, a concentrated look on her face as she watched it.

"Haven't we all tried to tell you that it's not that big a deal?" Damon wondered with an attempt at his usual smirk. He didn't think he quite succeeded, though: the relief that Elena was OK was still too overwhelming.

"Yeah, but …" She slowly turned her head this way and that, pausing to stare hard at the bookcase across the room. "I thought I'd have all these new and improved super senses, you know? I can't even read the book titles from here, and my hearing's still the same and there are no new smells, as far as I can tell. It's a bit of a letdown, honestly. I mean, why should I be the only one who didn't get all that?"

"That's because the change isn't complete yet," he told her, getting up from the couch. "You can't expect all the vampire benefits without really being one, you know, and you haven't passed the final examination yet."

"Right!" she exclaimed, understanding what the problem was. The last stage of the transformation process: blood.

"Be right back." He left the living room and went into the kitchen, opening the fridge.

At the sound, Elena felt her stomach rumble. "Hurry up, I'm starving," she called after him, impatiently tapping her fingers against the coffee table. She knew that it was her body craving the only sustenance it would really need from now on – blood – but still she scanned the room in search of something, anything, edible.

A moment later, he came back into the room, a mug in his hands. "I didn't think you'd be able to wait until I warmed it up for you," he said, handing her the mug.

She took it from him impatiently, but then ended up just staring into the dark red liquid in it.

Damon sat down next to her on the couch again. "You OK?" he asked after a moment, when she still hadn't made any move to drink the blood. "You know you're gonna have to do a little more than just look at it, right?"

"I know, and I'm fine," she replied, though not completely truthfully. She'd had blood before – just a little while ago, even – but this … it just wasn't the same. It had always been Damon's blood, a connection between the two of them, something private, intimate. This was the blood of some stranger, a person she didn't know and would, most likely, never meet.

"It's not as disgusting as it looks," Damon tried to encourage her, but Elena shook her head.

"It's not that, it actually looks really good." As she said it, she realized it was the truth, and her mouth started to water. Involuntarily, she licked her lips.

"Then what's the problem?" he wondered.

"I just … it feels weird," she offered as an explanation. "I mean, you're the only one I've ever had blood from … this is …"

He took the mug from her and put it down on the table, getting up from the couch and kneeling in front of her. "I get it, OK?" he said, taking her hands in his. "It's new, weird. And if it were possible, you could definitely have my blood to complete the change. But it doesn't work like that, it has to be human blood, you know that. So you're going to have to learn how to separate the two." He picked up the mug again and held it up in front of her. "From now on, this is what you'll need to survive. This is your main food source. We'll still exchange blood when we want to, that's not going to change, but that's not the same thing as this. I never saw you as meal when I drank your blood before, OK? Do you understand what I'm trying to tell you?"

Elena nodded. She thought she did. And she had known that before too, really. She had never even entertained the thought that he might consider her as a food source – she knew that him drinking from her was something completely different, something sexual. Tentatively, she took the mug again, raising it to her lips before she could change her mind.

The blood didn't taste exactly like it used to. It was more … appetizing, there was something else to it than the salty and metallic taste which was the most prominent thing she remembered about it. It made her want more, and she greedily took another deep gulp.

She could feel Damon's eyes on her as she finished every drop of blood in the mug. When she was done, she licked her lips and looked up at him. The smile on his face made her entire body warm.

"Feeling better?" he asked, taking the mug from her.

She nodded: she did feel better, less hungry. But still not completely full. "Can I have some more?" she asked tentatively, and he laughed.

"You can have as much as you want," he told her, again getting up and going into the kitchen. She heard the fridge door open and close, then the sound of him ripping the bag open and, a moment later, how he put the mug in the microwave: the low but unmistakable sound of the ceramic mug hitting the glass plate. Maybe her senses were starting to sharpen a little …

A minute later, Damon came back into the room and gave her the mug again. "Not quite ninety-eight-point-six, but I think it'll do," he said as she brought the mug to her lips again.

It was better like this, warm, she thought as she drained the mug. She could taste something else in the blood this time, something … a little spicy, almost. "Did you put something in this?" she asked Damon when she had emptied the mug.

He shook his head. "That'll be version two-point-oh of your sense of taste," he explained. "Most vampires can tell the difference between the blood types, some even have preferences since they don't actually taste exactly the same. This is A positive, it was the kind they had the most of at the blood bank last time I was there. I try to avoid taking the ones they don't have that much of, and never O, since that's still, at least in emergencies, considered to be the universal donor."

Elena listened curiously, never having guessed that he put so much thought into the whole thing. "Blood bank robbing one-oh-one," she then said. "For some reason they didn't offer that at Duke, so thanks."

He laughed, a little relieved that she was feeling well enough to be able to joke about it. "Yeah, you'll have to take that up with the Dean. Don't graduates get to fill out some sort of evaluation of their four years at the school? That would be perfect."

"Because they wouldn't think I was crazy at all." She put the mug down on the table and inhaled deeply. Immediately, a scent that was anything but pleasant filled her nostrils and she wrinkled her nose. "What's that smell?" She looked around her, trying to identify the source.

"What smell?" Damon asked.

"It's too sweet, sickly, and way too artificial."

He thought for a moment, drawing in a deep breath himself to be able to pinpoint what it might be that was unpleasant to her, then picked up one of the scented candles from the table. Black cherry. Elena carefully sniffed the candle, and then shied away from it. "Yeah, that's it. How have you been able to stand that smell?"

He shrugged. "It'll get better in a couple of weeks, I think. Maybe months, I'm not sure. Your senses are extremely sensitive just after the change. Are the other candles OK?"

She leaned over the table and took a careful whiff of each remaining candle – fresh cotton and warm apple pie. The fresh cotton one smelled fine, and the apple pie one better than anything she had ever experienced before. She picked up the candle and leaned back on the couch with it, taking another deep breath filled with the delicious scent.

"I take it that's a favorite," Damon assumed with a laugh.

"Mmmm," she agreed, closing her eyes and letting the scent wash over her. She found that she had no problem shutting the other smells in the room out, which was a relief. After a moment, her stomach started to growl in response to the wonderful aroma from the candle.

"On it," Damon said before she had a chance to ask for more blood, and took the cherry candle with him to the kitchen to throw away. She realized that her body probably wouldn't want anything other than blood at the moment, even if it had been the smell of apple pie that had made her mouth water. She'd have time to explore her sense of taste later, when her body had gotten used to the change.

Curious about her new sense of smell, Elena put the candle down on the table and tried to pick up the smell of blood in the kitchen as Damon poured it into her mug. She found that she could – it smelled almost exactly like it tasted, a little spicy – and she also found another scent she liked. She couldn't place it: it was exhilarating, tempting and also mysterious and – she thought it sounded ridiculous, but couldn't find another label for it – a little dark, dangerous.

As Damon came back into the living room, the scent came with him, and Elena realized it was coming from him. It wasn't the perfume he was wearing but came from him, beneath the smell of the cologne.

"Here you go." He handed her the mug with blood, but she immediately put it down on the table, leaning in closer to be able to smell him better. "Or we could do that. Which is what exactly?"

She didn't respond right away, but buried her face against his neck, her entire body getting overwhelmed by the new, exciting smell of him. This was so much better than the smell of the apple pie candle, or even the smell of blood. She felt like she could just sit there, drinking it in, for hours. "You smell …" she finally said, reluctantly pulling away. "I don't know how to describe it."

He laughed. "Yeah, I know what you mean. We pick up a whole other range of scents, somehow underneath all the artificial perfumes and whatnot. I guess that's what the scientists call pheromones. The essence of a person, sort of."

Elena liked that, how she was a part of the we now, no longer an outsider looking in. "How do I smell to you?" she asked curiously.

"You smell warm, like a summer day, fresh, like the ocean, and just a little bit adventurous," he replied, running a finger down the side of her face.

Automatically, her eyes slid shut and she leaned into his touch. She knew that, had her heart still been pumping her blood around her body, it would have first skipped a beat and then picked up its pace.

The feel of his finger against her skin was almost electric, so intensified she could barely remember what it had been like when he touched her before. It couldn't have been anything like this: she was pretty sure her human body wouldn't have been able to handle it.

She expected him to continue his explorations down her neck, but, to her disappointment, he pulled away from her instead. Her eyes popped open and she frowned at him.

He smiled, a little too smugly in her opinion. "Aren't you hungry?" he wondered.

She smiled and licked her lips suggestively. "Sure I am."

Shaking his head amusedly, he held up the mug with blood in front of her. "I was referring to this, gutter brain."

Elena's eyes narrowed and she bit her lip, torn. Part of her wanted to grab the mug and gulp down the content while the other part wanted to knock it out of his hand and, if necessary, drag him into the bedroom so she could have her way with him …

"Just this one," he coaxed, probably sensing her inner turmoil. "Just finish this blood, and then we can do whatever you want."

She raised her eyebrows at him. "Whatever I want?"

Damon laughed. "Whatever you want."

Impatiently, she took the mug from him, intent on finishing off the blood so that they could move on to more … interesting activities. But, mug halfway to her mouth, something occurred to her, and she paused.

"What?" he wondered, frowning at her.

"Shouldn't I … I mean, shouldn't my teeth … you know?"

He laughed. "In the beginning, that part's pretty much automatic, you can't really control it, that comes with time and practice. But, yeah, I would have thought that the blood would do it for you. Maybe your brain hasn't completely made the connection between blood and food yet, or maybe it's the fact that it's from a bag and not straight from the source, I don't know. But don't worry, you'll get it."

Focusing back on the mug in her hand, Elena took a long drink, letting the flavor wash over her. The blood was delicious, there was no doubt about that, and it was surprisingly easy not to think about the fact that it had come from an actual living, breathing human being, even now, when Damon had mentioned it.

When the mug was empty once again, she put it down on the table and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, opening up her senses completely, trying to extend them as far as she could.

The smell of Damon next to her, the scented candles on the table, the table itself, the wood in it, the leather of the couch. And more distant smells: her shampoo and conditioner and the soap in the bathroom, the air freshener in the hallway, the flowers in the kitchen, the fresh scent of the newly cut lawn and the trees outside, someone making coffee in an apartment on the second floor … she could keep going through the different smells for hours, but didn't have the patience for it, so she moved on to the sounds instead. Damon's breathing, slow and even, beside her, the clock on the wall ticking away the seconds of her new life, the hum of the air conditioner … a buzzing sound, probably from a fly or something, just outside the living room window, cars passing on the street, music from the floor below theirs. Opening her eyes, she again tried to read the titles on the books in the bookcase, twenty feet away. No problem this time. She glanced around the room quickly, but since the windows were covered there wasn't really anything else she could test her eyesight out on at the moment. And the lights were on, so no way to know how well she could see in the dark.

"Having fun?" Damon asked next to her, and her eyes snapped to his face.

"Just … evaluating my new senses," she replied.

He flashed her that quick smile she loved so much. "How about we do a little exploration after the sun sets?" he suggested. "You can try out your new and improved night vision, and if we head out into the countryside, we won't have to worry about being seen, so I could beat you in a race or something."

"Aren't you sure of yourself," Elena noted, though she knew that he was probably right. Like he had said earlier – was it just an hour ago? It felt much longer – he would always be stronger than her, since older equaled stronger in the vampire world. "Besides …" she leaned in closer, eyes intent on his face, "… I thought we had decided to … stay inside for a couple of days."

For a split second, his eyes widened infinitesimally, something she knew she wouldn't have been able to catch before. "Well … if that's what you want …" he tried to sound casual, but she could hear a hint of desire in his voice.

"What I want right now …" she started, reaching out to run a finger along his bottom lip, the need to touch him getting the better of her, "… is you."

Again, there was that electricity between them. It felt sort of like the small shock she sometimes got when touching the car after getting out of the driver's seat, static electricity, but … arousing in a completely new way.

Damon pulled her finger into his mouth, biting it gently, and she sucked in a sharp breath. He released her finger and, eyes burning into hers, leaned in to kiss her, just once, very lightly. The electricity that had already been humming between them exploded, and Elena instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck, trying to keep him there. In response, his arms snuck around her waist, pulling her flush against his body. The tentative kiss turned into something much more, and he tugged on her top, unable to get it off without either tearing it, which he knew she wouldn't like, or pulling away from her to slip it over her head, which really wasn't an option at the moment. So he settled for sliding his hands in underneath the fabric and up her sides, making her skin burn everywhere he touched her.

Despite not actually needing the oxygen, Elena found herself gasping for breath after a couple of minutes, and reluctantly tore her lips from his. He took the opportunity to get rid of her annoying top, throwing it across the room. While he was at it, he unhooked her bra and let it join the top, before pushing her down on the couch.

"I thought I was the one in charge," she complained, half-heartedly and breathlessly. He liked that he could still take her breath away, despite the fact that she didn't have to breathe anymore. "That we were going to do whatever I wanted."

He leaned over her, pinning her hands over her head with one of his – she didn't struggle to get free, which she probably could – and slid his other hand up her side. "Tell me to stop, and I will," he told her, flicking her nipple with his thumb. Her eyes slid closed and her back arched against him and, with a smile, he leaned down to pull her other nipple into his mouth, getting a low groan in return.

His thumb against her nipple sent a wave of lust through Elena's entire body, and when his mouth covered her other nipple, she thought she could actually feel the desire course through her, from the spot where their bodies touched to every single part of her, head, fingers, toes … she felt the skin around her eyes tighten and then an odd feeling in her mouth. It wasn't uncomfortable, not at all, just … very different. She drew in a breath, her eyes snapped open and she pulled her hand free to touch one of her new fangs with her finger. It was sharp and easily pierced her skin, leaving one small drop of blood on her fingertip.

Damon had pushed himself up and was watching her. "There we go," he mumbled. "Thought that might do the trick."

An image flickered through Elena's head: Stefan's face changing like this the first time they … but, no, she definitely wasn't going to think about him right now. She easily pushed the thought away and focused on Damon above her.

"Sexual tension," he said as explanation, probably realizing she was about to ask.

"But you don't …" she started. He didn't change unless he was going to bite her.

"I've had time to learn how to control it," he replied, his tongue darting out to lick up the tiny drop of blood that was the only remnant of the small cut on her fingertip. She drew in a breath of pleasure. "You'll get there too. But I have to say I like I like it … knowing that I can make you lose control like that." As if to demonstrate his point, he trailed one hand along the inside of her unfortunately still denim-covered thigh, making her moan.

"Like you didn't already know that," she gasped when he kissed a spot behind her ear.

"Still nice to get confirmation," he mumbled against her skin, continuing down her neck and shoulders towards her chest and stomach.

She hummed a little incoherently, relaxing back against the couch cushions and just letting herself feel it – feel him touching her, kissing her, loving her. But when he reached her jeans and unbuttoned them, she made an effort to raise herself up on one elbow.

"One of us is still way too overdressed for this," she pointed out, eyeing his shirt and jeans, which were still very much in place.

Without hesitating, Damon ripped the buttons open on his shirt and tossed it across the room, her jeans and underwear soon following it. He reached for the button in his jeans, but she grabbed his hands.

"Let me," she suggested, pushing him down on the couch.

He leaned back. "By all means."

She moved up his body slowly, letting her hair trail over his chest, something she knew that he loved. Sure enough, she heard him draw in a ragged breath before she leaned down to kiss him. As their tongues battled, she fumbled to get his pants undone, finally succeeding in getting the zipper down. She couldn't get his pants off, though, so she sat up to let him do that part himself.

When the jeans were out of the way, he reached for her. "Come here."

She slipped out of his grasp and got up from the couch. "Catch me first," she replied with a smile and took off towards the hallway and bedroom.

It barely felt like her feet were touching the floor, she was moving so fast. Still, he caught up with her before she even got out of the living room. She shrieked when he wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her up, carrying her in front of him towards the bedroom. The door was half-closed, and she kicked it open.

The door banged against the wall and then slammed shut.

"Oops." She giggled.

"Seems like you don't quite know your own strength yet," Damon said amusedly, putting her down on the floor.

"I guess not." She opened the door more gently and they both went into the room.

Where the door had slammed against the wall, there was a dent the size and shape of a doorknob.

"I guess we're not getting that safety deposit back," he noted with a shrug.

Elena rolled her eyes and turned around to face him, taking a step closer. "Are you trying to ruin the mood?"

He raised his hands in a surrendering motion. "You're the one who kicked a hole in the wall."

"Not intentionally!"

"Maybe I'd better keep an eye on you, make sure you don't break the furniture or something."

Her eyes narrowed. "Do you want me to use my strength on you instead?"

Experimentally – she honestly didn't expect it to work – she tried to push him down on the bed. To her astonishment, he fell backwards with a slightly surprised look on his face.

"See?" she said smugly, moving on top of him. "I can take you."

In an instant, he flipped them around. "You caught me off guard," he defended himself, pinning her hands above her head and kissing her neck.

"Oh yeah?"

"Uh-huh."

Tentatively, Elena tried to move her hands, something that, only a few hours ago, would have been impossible. She could still feel that he was stronger than her, but she thought she could get free if she really wanted to. But testing her new strength wasn't what she was interested in at the moment, and soon, the thought was pushed to the back of her mind as Damon's hand travelled down her body, making her forget everything else. Everywhere he touched her felt like it had been lit on fire, in a good way that she had never experienced before and couldn't quite explain. All she knew was that she never wanted it to stop.

She squirmed a little underneath him on the bed, getting her legs out from under his and pushing herself against him, trying to show him that she wanted more, needed more. The feeling in her body was so intense it almost overwhelmed her: it was like every inch of her craved him, that intimacy and togetherness that only existed between them when they were really together, in every sense of the word.

He abandoned the path down her chest he had been exploring with his mouth and pushed himself up on one elbow, his other hand sliding along her thigh and pulling her leg around his waist. Then, eyes intent on hers – as if he wanted to watch her, see her reaction – he pushed into her.

It was so much more, so much deeper, than anything she had ever experienced before. Not only the physical contact – which was, of course, intensified because of her new, heightened sense of touch – but the emotional connection, too. As he started moving inside her, Elena was sure that she could feel their souls, their very essences, touching and mingling somewhere inside them.

The word 'soul mate' suddenly had a new, and much more real, meaning to her.

OK: So exploring her new senses a little … what did you think? There will be more exploration in the next couple of chapters, Elena testing out her new strength and speed, but this is it for now. I promise to update as soon as I can and, until then, please let me know what you thought!