AN: I hope you all had a great Christmas – I know I did. Thanks for the reviews on the last chapter, you guys really are amazing. And, as always, a big hug to my wonderful beta, sunshine2006578! OK, don't have anything more to say right now, so we'll get on with the next chapter.

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

The first half of November had been unseasonably sunny and warm for Mystic Falls, but in the middle of the month, the temperature dropped drastically and refused to rise above forty degrees. After a week of this, Elena surrendered and reluctantly got her winter coat out.

"This is supposed to be the South," she grumbled one evening at the end of the month when she and Damon were watching a movie at her house. "Doesn't that mean it should be warm? Or at least warmer than this!" She got a blanket from the back of the couch and wrapped it around herself before leaning against him again.

"I think that term has more to do with culture and history than geography and climate," he pointed out. "We are one of the northern states of the South, after all. And it could be a lot worse; it snowed in upstate New York yesterday."

"Don't talk about snow! I hate snow." A shiver ran through her at the mere thought. "I still have nightmares about the blizzard back in 96 sometimes."

"And you were how old back then?" he questioned.

"I was three, and it was very traumatic. My dad took me outside to make a snowman, and the snow came up over my head! I thought I was gonna get buried in it and freeze to death!"

Damon laughed, earning an elbow to the ribs. "You do realize that you probably just remember your parents telling you about that, right?"

"It was still traumatic," she said, pulling away from him and crossing her arms over her chest. "And you should be nicer to me, or I won't go with you tomorrow night."

The next day was Thanksgiving and Carol Lockwood had decided to throw a Debutante Thanksgiving Ball that was going to be held at the Lockwood Mansion in the evening.

"Do you really want me to go by myself?" He raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "All those young women, dressed up to attract the attention of the single men at the party …"

Her eyes narrowed. "Are you trying to tell me that I should be worried about leaving you alone with other girls?"

OK, he had stepped right into that one. "No, of course not. You know I only have eyes for you." He winked at her. "But these events are so boring. If there was any way to get out of it I would, but I have to go, and your company will be the only thing that makes it even endurable."

"You're just full of compliments today, aren't you?" she said a little sarcastically. "But I'll go, don't worry. I already bought a dress and it would be a shame to waste it."

"Remind me why you aren't one of the debutantes?"

"You have to be eighteen," she replied. "And, since I'm not, I won't get to be paraded around in front of the whole town. Oh, wait, I already did that at the Miss Mystic Falls pageant last spring and then again at the Founder's Day parade." Her voice made it perfectly clear what she thought about the debutante idea.

"I thought you entered into the Miss Mystic Falls thing because you wanted to," he pointed out.

"I did," she agreed. "I've done stuff like that for years. It was always something I did with my mom, and I've come to realize that it was more for her sake, because it made her happy, than because I actually wanted to. So don't get your hopes up for a debutante ball next year; not gonna happen if I have anything to say about it."

"Well, the whole debutante thing is really just a way to show eligible bachelors that a young lady is old enough to be married off," he said. "Not really thrilled about the idea of a bunch of guys lining up to ask you out."

"Jealous?"

"Insanely," he told her, leaning in for a kiss, which soon turned into more of a make-out session.

"OK, let's keep the PDA to a minimum."

They broke apart to find Jeremy and Anna entering the room.

"Jenna might not be home, but there are minors present," Jeremy pointed out. "I'll tell her you corrupted our innocent minds."

"And maybe I'll let it slip that Anna here spends the night with you on a regular basis," Damon countered.

"Right, like you don't sneak in through Elena's window as soon as Jenna's asleep."

"OK, guys, let's stop with the attempted blackmail," Elena interjected.

"Yeah, enough with the testosterone filled man-fight," Anna agreed. "It's not nearly as hot as it looks on TV. We just wanted to watch a movie, but we can go do something else."

"No, that's fine," Elena told her, poking Damon with her elbow to get him to move over a little on the couch to make room. "We were just going to start a new one, join us." She heard Damon sigh next to her, but ignored him. He would survive one night with Jeremy and Anna.

"I'm gonna get some popcorn," Jeremy announced, disappearing into the kitchen.

"So, are you going to the ball tomorrow?" Elena asked Anna.

"Yeah, we'll be there," she replied, sitting down next to Elena on the couch. "It'll be nice to get a little dressed up; with the clothes kids wear these days, I kind of miss it sometimes."

Damon snorted. "Right, because corsets and petticoats were so very comfortable."

"OK, maybe not all the time," Anna admitted. "And it's not like you ever had to wear them, so what are you complaining about?"

"Were you a debutante back …" Elena started, but trailed off, not knowing how to finish the sentence. 'Before you were turned'? 'When you were alive'? Both seemed a little rude.

"No, I was just fifteen when I was turned," Anna replied, understanding what Elena was getting at. "So I never had that. I was going to be in the Miss Mystic Falls pageant back in 1864 though, but then the whole vampire hunt happened and, before I knew it, I was on the run."

"How did you survive all alone for so long?" Elena asked. "I mean, I know that you're a vampire and perfectly capable of taking care of yourself, but still. It must have been hard."

"Emily helped me out," Anna replied. "She was probably the closest thing I had to a friend for a long time, even if she never completely relaxed around me. But I probably can't blame her for that. She was there for me, at least, and I'll always be grateful for that."

"That's good." Elena nodded.

"Of course, even before we met Emily, my mother had taught me how to take care of myself," Anna continued. "She always wanted me to be independent, not rely on anyone else. With the rings that Emily spelled for us, it was even easier."

Elena was curious about Anna's life. How old was she? When had she been turned, and who had turned her? Had it been her mother? Had Pearl even been her real mother, or was she just her 'creator' or whatever word was used in the vampire world for the person who turned someone? But she didn't ask; she didn't want to be rude, not knowing what the vampire etiquette was when it came to things like this. Maybe she could ask Damon later, he probably knew at least more about the younger girl than she did.

Jeremy came back into the room at that moment, popcorn bowl in hand. He sat down next to Anna, putting an arm around the girl's shoulders, and Elena started the movie. It was nice, she thought, hanging out with Jeremy and Anna. Sure, she and Jeremy had gotten closer again since their falling out last spring and their relationships was pretty much back to the way it had been before their parents died, but he had been spending so much time with Anna lately that she hadn't seen him much. OK, so maybe she wasn't exactly around that much either, being over at the boarding house with Damon a lot, but she made herself a promise to try to spend more time with Jeremy in the future.

Elena understood what Anna meant about it being nice to dress up every now and then the next afternoon when she and Jenna were getting ready for the ball together.

At the Founder's Day celebration she had been too preoccupied with trying to breathe to be able to appreciate just how beautiful the dress she had on was. And at Homecoming the whole thing with Damon getting shot with vervain had sort of put a damper on the situation, and she never did get to actually go to the dance. Now, she didn't have to worry about a corset constricting her lungs or anything else, but could enjoy feeling like a princess.

Since she wasn't a debutante, she wasn't expected to wear a white dress, but the dress code for the other guests was still formal. She and Jenna had gone shopping in Richmond the previous weekend and both found amazing dresses.

Flattening the fabric a little, Elena looked at herself in the mirror, a smile spreading on her face. The dress was a beautiful shade of purple with beadings at the hip and on the one shoulder strap, which was shaped like small flowers. It had a rouched hour glass bodice and flared skirt and reached the floor. The back was cut pretty low; the flowery shoulder strap went all the way down to the middle of her back before meeting the dress again. Elena loved the feeling of the material against her skin; the soft silk felt almost like water.

She turned to give Jenna an evaluative look. Her aunt's dress was a dark green color, strapless and with a high, beaded waistline.

"We look great," Jenna concluded.

"I couldn't have said it better myself," Elena agreed. "Did you want to borrow that necklace we were talking about the other day? It'll look amazing with that dress."

"Yeah, that would be great."

Elena left her aunt's bedroom and went into her own, opening her jewelry box. She hadn't used the necklace Jenna was going to borrow for a while, so she had to move some things around to find it. When she picked the necklace up, another piece of jewelry caught her eye: the vervain necklace that Stefan had given her, over a year ago now.

With a slightly wistful smile, she touched the silver pendant. She still thought about him on a somewhat regular basis, even missed him sometimes, the way you miss a close friend that you haven't seen in a long time. She knew that he would always have a special place in her heart, and she wanted to know that he would be OK.

Over the past month or so, Damon hadn't heard much from Henry, the vampire that Stefan was staying with. All he knew was that they were still in Canada, for reasons Elena couldn't completely understand. It had been six months since that horrible night, surely Stefan would have gotten back in control of his thirst by now? Maybe he was worried about coming back, about what people might think, what she might think. Or maybe he knew that she was with Damon now and didn't want to come back and see them together. But that was a little presumptuous, wasn't it, to think that he was still in love with her after all these months? She hadn't specifically asked Damon not to say anything about their relationship to Henry, and she didn't think that he would have told the other vampire anything without talking to her about it first. If it had been last spring, she would have wondered if he might have said something to get to Stefan, hurt his brother's feelings, but she was convinced that he wouldn't do anything like that now.

Pushing the thoughts about Stefan aside, she left her room again.

"Wow, you look great."

At Jeremy's voice, Elena turned towards his open door. "Thank you," she replied with a smile, giving her brother the once over. "You don't look too bad yourself." He was in the middle of putting on his tie and was already wearing black pants and a white shirt. The suit jacket was still on its hanger.

"Do you mind giving me a hand with this?" he asked, giving up on getting the tie right.

"Sure." Elena went into the room and put the necklace down on Jeremy's desk before fixing his tie. "What would you do without me?" she wondered with a smile when she was done.

"Never wear a tie again," he quickly concluded. "Which, you know, I could totally live with."

Elena laughed. "I know that there have been a lot of these formal events this year, but it'll be over soon."

Jeremy shrugged. "It's not really a big deal."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, you do look great in a suit," she told him.

"Thanks."

Elena gave Jeremy one last smile before leaving the room and going back into Jenna's.

"Is Jeremy almost ready?" Jenna asked.

"Yeah, I helped him with his tie, so he's pretty much done," Elena confirmed, handing her aunt the necklace.

"Guys don't know how easy they have it," Jenna complained, putting the piece of jewelry on. "Just throw on a suit and a tie and they're ready to go. We have to get the perfect dress for each occasion, not to mention make-up and hair and shoes and accessories."

"Well, yeah, but wouldn't it be boring to always wear the same thing?" Elena actually liked picking out what to wear to events like these.

"I guess," Jenna agreed.

"So …" Elena started, biting her lip. "Would it be OK if I stayed at Damon's place tonight?"

Jenna gave her a quick look. "Yeah, sure."

"But …?" Elena said, feeling a 'but' coming.

"OK, I do not want to do this, considering the fiasco that my 'talk' with Jeremy turned into, but … you're being careful, right?"

Elena blushed and looked away. "Of course, you don't have to worry about that."

"Good." Jenna looked reassured. "I know that you're responsible, I just wanted to make sure."

To Elena's relief, the doorbell rang at that moment.

"I'll get it," she said quickly. "I'm done anyway."

She descended the stairs as fast as her dress would allow and opened the door to reveal Damon.

"Excellent timing," she told him before giving him a hello kiss.

"Really?"

She closed the door behind him and led the way into the living room.

"Jenna was doing the 'safe sex' routine, and I'm not sure who was more embarrassed," she explained.

He chuckled a little. "Sorry I missed it." Elena gave him an evil look. "You look amazing, by the way."

"Not your greatest save, but I'll let it pass just this once," she told him. "I'm just gonna grab my things, and then we can get going."

"So what brought on the 'safe sex' speech?" Damon asked a few minutes later when they were in the car. "I mean, what does she think we did in New York, play chess? We've been together for over a month now, isn't it a little late for The Talk?"

"I guess." Elena shrugged. "I just asked if I could stay at your place tonight, I think that's why."

"So that's the reason for the big bag in the trunk," he concluded. "I was thinking that it didn't really match your dress, but I didn't want to say anything in case I offended you or something."

"Funny." She elbowed him lightly in the ribs. "I thought we could do with some real alone time, you know. An empty house." She put emphasis on the last sentence, hoping that he would make the connection to their conversation two weeks ago. If he didn't, she wasn't sure how to bring the subject up.

"Oh," he said, glancing at her. "You're sure?"

She nodded. "Positive. I've thought about it a lot, and I want to give it a try. I know that you would never do anything that would hurt me, and I have to admit that I'm more than a little curious."

He reached out and took her hand, kissing it before squeezing her fingers. "Thank you for trusting me."

"I would trust you with my life. I do trust you with my life."

She thought she saw some sort of deep emotion in his eyes. "You have no idea how much hearing you say that means to me."

The ball had already started when they got to the Lockwood mansion. Elena immediately spotted Bonnie and pulled Damon along through the crowd.

"Hey, you look amazing!" she greeted her best friend. "The dress is beautiful."

"Thank you, you look great too," Bonnie replied. "Hi Damon."

"Looking lovely, Sabrina," he told her.

"You're never gonna stop calling me that, are you?" she asked. She had pretty much gotten used to his nickname for her by now and didn't even bother getting annoyed with him anymore. Besides, knowing Damon, it could have been a lot worse.

"Nope, you're stuck with it," he replied with a smirk.

"So where's Evan?" Elena asked, scanning the crowd. Evan Whitley, another senior, had asked Bonnie to the ball.

"He went to get us drinks," Bonnie said, frowning. "But that was, like, five minutes ago. He probably ran into a friend or something."

"Do you want something to drink?" Damon asked Elena.

"Yeah, sure." She nodded.

"Be right back."

He made his way through the crowd to the table with refreshments, grabbing two glasses and filling them with punch. When he was just about to head back to the girls, someone saying Bonnie's name caught his attention, and he listened more closely.

"So you took my advice," a slightly familiar voice said.

"Yeah, but it better be worth it," another voice, one he hadn't heard before, replied. "I hate these formal events."

"Trust me, you'll be thanking me tomorrow."

"And you're sure she'll put out after the first date?"

The first guy laughed. "Do you think I dated her for the amazing conversations?"

"No, but … didn't you just go out with her for, like, two weeks?"

"Exactly. I got what I wanted and then I moved on."

Damon had heard enough. Checking to make sure that Elena and Bonnie didn't see him, he quickly found the room the voices were coming from.

He recognized one of the guys, Jason. Bonnie had dated him briefly at the start of the fall semester, but he didn't really know much about the kid.

They stopped talking when they spotted him coming into the room, and he closed the door behind him.

"Hey, man, we're having a private conversation here," the guy he didn't recognize said.

"You must be Evan," Damon concluded.

"So what?"

"So I don't think Bonnie would be all that happy with you if I told her what I just overheard."

Evan's eyes widened. "You have no right listening in!" he exclaimed.

"Let's not worry about that little detail," Damon took a step closer to the two boys. "I'm more concerned about what exactly you think you're doing with Bonnie."

He had expected Evan to back away, but instead the kid squared his shoulders and looked Damon right in the eye. "That's none of your business."

"That's where you're wrong," Damon told him, using his most menacing voice, and the boy shrank back a little. "She's a good friend of mine."

"So?"

He hesitated for a moment. He had told Elena that he wasn't going to use compulsion unless it was about protecting himself or her, or people he cared about. But he considered this one of those cases. It might not be life or death, but Bonnie could definitely get hurt. He stared into Evan's eyes.

"You're gonna show Bonnie a good time tonight. Then you'll take her home and tell her that you'll call her, but you won't. You're gonna avoid her at school, and if she confronts you about it, you'll tell her that you just don't think it'll work out between you. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes," Evan replied monotonously.

"Now go and ask Bonnie to dance."

The boy left the room, closing the door behind him.

"Hey, what did you do to him?" the other guy asked.

"And you!" Damon turned his attention to Jason. "You're gonna stop spreading rumors about Bonnie and tell everyone you've already talked to that you were making stuff up."

The boy's eyes went blank. "OK."

"Great." Feeling pleased with his accomplishments, Damon left the room. On his way back to Elena he spotted Bonnie and Evan on the dance floor.

"What took you so long?" Elena asked when he reached her, taking a sip of her punch.

"Line." He downed his own glass quickly. "Wanna dance?"

"I thought you didn't dance?" she pointed out, draining her own glass.

"For you, I'll make an exception," he said, putting both their glasses down on a nearby table before leading her onto the dance floor.

"Tell me about Thanksgiving back in the nineteenth century," she asked when they started moving to the music. "Was it completely different from now?"

He frowned. "We didn't do Thanksgiving in our house," he told her. "Father thought it was … I think 'Puritanic nonsense' was the words he used."

"Really?" Elena was, as always when they talked about his past, fascinated.

"Yeah, he was a bit backwards, like many people in the South back then. Though it actually wasn't until 1863 that Thanksgivig was proclaimed a national holiday by Lincoln. The first time I celebrated it was in the army that year. And, since we were in the middle of a war, it wasn't exactly a lavish dinner with turkey and jams."

"Well, you'll get to experience a real, traditional American Thanksgiving on Saturday."

"Can't wait."

"The party's starting to wind down," Jenna noted later that evening. Damon and Elena had joined her and Alaric at their table a little earlier after having danced for a good part of the night. It was now almost eleven and the large room was starting to empty out.

Elena turned to Damon. "You wanna get going?"

He nodded slowly. "Sure."

"Will I see you tomorrow, or are you going MIA until dinner on Saturday?" Jenna asked. She sounded like she was joking, but the look she gave Elena said otherwise.

"I'll be home tomorrow," Elena told her as she and Damon got to their feet. "Night."

They made their way out of the Lockwood mansion and into Damon's car.

"I'm surprised you didn't want to leave earlier," Elena said as he pulled out of the parking lot.

"Why?"

She looked at him for a moment. "Did you not get why I'm staying at your place tonight?"

"Trust me, I got it."

"Then what's with the whole patient thing?"

He shrugged. "Just didn't want to rush you."

"And if I want to rush?" She demonstrated her point by leaning in closer and kissing the side of his neck.

"Normally, I wouldn't mind at all," he replied. "But there's something we need to talk about before we actually do this."

She pulled away from him. "What?"

"Location."

She raised an eyebrow. "Well, I was thinking bed, but …"

"Not that location," he cut her off. "I was referring to where I'm going to bite you."

"Oh." She hadn't thought about that. "I guess I was just assuming the neck."

"Well, that's the spot that is the easiest to reach," he told her. "Especially in the … heat of the moment. The downside being that the marks are clearly visible. I mean, it is November and you could probably get away with wearing a turtle neck, but …"

"I get what you mean."

"Of course, there is a solution to that," he continued.

"What?"

"You take some of my blood after, and the wounds will heal."

Elena nodded. "OK."

He glanced at her. "OK? Just like that?" He had expected her to object. Humans weren't usually all that thrilled about the idea of drinking someone else's blood.

"Yeah, it's fine, I don't mind."

He couldn't discern any hesitation in her voice, and didn't want to push it, so he let it go.

As soon as they were in the house, his lips descended on hers and he pushed her up against the wall by the front door.

"Just relax," he told her, sliding one hand along her leg through the dress.

"I am relaxed," she replied, unbuttoning his shirt.

"I can hear your heart," he reminded her, caressing the inside of her thigh. "And it's beating a mile a minute."

She laughed a little breathlessly. "And that couldn't have anything to do with what you're doing with your hand right now, could it?" She pushed his shirt off his shoulders and it fell to the floor. "Stop obsessing. I want to do this, I'm not afraid, and I'm not going to change my mind. Now, let's take this somewhere more … comfortable." She pulled away from him and started up the stairs.

It took him a moment to follow her, but then he quickly caught up to her, picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder. She squealed.

"Put me down! You'll ruin my dress!"

"The dress is fine," he replied calmly, continuing up the stairs. "And I'll put you down when I have you where I want you."

She knew it was pointless to try to get him to release her, but she still pounded against his back with her fists, if only for good measure.

It didn't take him long to get into his bedroom, and soon he put her down on the floor.

"Now …" he started, circling her like a lion circles its prey, "… let's see what we can do about that dress."

"No ripping!" she told him sternly. "I really like it."

"I wasn't planning on ripping it," he replied from behind her, and his breath tickled her ear.

"Good," she said, voice a little unsteady.

His fingers grazed her skin as he pulled her hair back, exposing her neck and shoulder. Then he kissed her neck, one arm sneaking around her waist to pull her body against his.

"Mmmm," Elena mumbled, leaning back in his embrace.

He pulled the zipper in her dress down and slipped the one shoulder strap off her shoulder while still keeping his mouth and attention on her neck.

"Did I ever tell you how good you taste?" he asked, kissing her shoulder blades. "Like summer and sunshine and something else, something I can't put into words."

"How do you think my blood will taste?" As she said it, her already rapid heartbeat sped up even more in anticipation.

"Exquisite, no doubt," he murmured against her skin. "I can't wait to find out." He lifted her up, moving her a little to the side so that she was free of the dress, which was now on the floor.

"One of us is still way too overdressed for this," she pointed out, running her hand down his still pants clad thigh and he turned her around so they were face to face.

"What are you going to do about that?" he asked, eyes dark with desire.

Without breaking eye contact, she reached down and undid the button and zipper in his pants, and they fell to the floor. Realizing that he wasn't wearing anything underneath them, she wrapped her hand around him and he closed his eyes, sucking in a ragged breath.

Liking the reaction she got, she moved her hand, slowly, up and down. At the same time, she took a step closer to him and kissed his chest. She could hear his breathing start to get more rapid and moved her hand a little faster. Then, before she could react, he had pinned both her hands behind her back.

"Do you want this to be over before we even get started?" he asked in a tight voice.

She smiled sweetly at him. "Sorry."

"I bet you are," he grumbled before kissing her, hard. He released her hands and she wrapped her arms around his neck and let him lead her backwards, towards the bed, while he undid her bra and threw it aside. When the back of her legs hit the side of the bed, she fell onto the mattress. He paused to pull her underwear off before he joined her on the bed, pushing her knees apart so he could settle himself between her thighs.

"You're absolutely sure you want to do this?" he asked, kissing her nose. "Because it's not too late to change your mind."

"I'm positive," she replied, arching her back to try to pull him inside her.

"OK." He kissed her as he pushed inside her and didn't release her lips as he started moving.

She didn't know why – maybe because she knew what was coming – but the sex was even more intense than usual. His hands roamed her entire body as he thrust into her, harder, deeper, pushing her closer and closer to that precipice inside her mind. Every nerve ending in her body felt like it was raw, exposed to him, and she could feel him everywhere; inside her, surrounding her. Just when she started – in some remote part of her brain – to wonder if he wasn't going to go through with it this time either, his mouth left hers and he trailed kisses down her neck, to her shoulder and back up. Then his fangs pierced her skin, and the entire world exploded around her, again and again and again …

AN: I hope you liked it! I'm trying to sort of merge the sexual aspect of the show with the blood exchange that goes on in the books (for those of you who haven't read them, exchanging blood is pretty much a substitute for sex in the books, since there isn't any actual sex going on) and I hope it worked. Let me know what you thought …

Oh, and a little info on what's going on with Stefan in this chapter - not that there's actually anything going on, but I thought I should put something in there so that you don't think I've completely forgotten about him.

And, as usual, I'll post the links to the dresses on my profile. I think it's working ... anyone feel like letting me know?

Lastly, I wanted to show how far Damon and Bonnie's friendship has come, and also show his protective side, which is why I put the scene with Jason and Evan in there. What did you think?