Hello, lovies!

I'm finally back with a new chapter!

I want to let you guys know that my fic turned one recently! I can't believe it's been a year since I first posted this story. So this way I just want to thank you all for reading. I love and appreciate every single one of you (just in case you didn't know that!).

Seriously, all the support I'm getting from you is amazing.

Enough of ranting, I hope you enjoy this chapter and please review, let me know what you think!

„Hey, Stefan, what's up?"

„Elena, hi! Um, I'm sorry to bother you, I know that you're probably working, but I just wanted to say thank you."

„For what?" Elena asked, puzzled.

„For whatever you did to Damon. It worked. He called me this morning and said that he wants to meet up with me this afternoon to talk. He sounded really genuine, like he really wants to talk. So I figured you've pay him a visit."

A smile on Elena's face grew wider as Stefan talked. „Wow, I'm glad to hear that. Yeah, I went to see him and we talked a lot and I really hope he's going to be okay. I'm worried about him, you know how he is…"

„Oh, trust me, I know", Stefan said, sighing. „Really, Elena, thank you so much. You have no idea how happy I am that he has you. You're such a great influence and you make him a better person."

Elena's heart warmed when she heard his words. „Oh, Stefan, thank you. I hope you're right. And I hope your talk with him goes well and that you two can sort out everything that needs to be sorted out. And if it doesn't, don't worry, he'll come around. Good luck."

„Okay. Thanks, Elena. It was nice talking to you. Bye."

„You too, Stefan. Bye."

When Elena hung up, she felt relieved. If Damon wants to talk to Stefan, then he clearly thought about everything she's said to him. He's going to be there for his brother, like his mother would want. He should be okay. Everything's going to be okay.

Elena got home from work much later than usual. Three days of work was a lot more to catch up than she thought. She wanted to pay a visit to Damon after work, but it was too late now and she was extremely exhausted so she just decided to call him. She opened the door of her apartment, took her shoes off and threw her bag on the floor.

Jeremy sat on the couch, eating pizza and watching some lame cartoon on the TV. A grin spread across his face when he saw his sister.

"Hey, Elena", he said, chewing on what appeared to be his fourth slice. "I got some pizza on my way home from work. Figured you'd be hungry when you come home. Get over here, it's still hot", he tapped the empty space on the couch next to him.

"Aw, thanks. I am hungry. Starving, actually", Elena laughed and sat next to him, grabbing a slice and taking a large bite. "So, how was work?" she asked her brother.

"It was okay", Jeremy said, staring at the TV, refusing to make an eye contact with her.

"Jer… What's wrong?" Elena stopped chewing and concern appeared in her eyes. He was acting strange. She could read him like a book.

"Nothing's wrong. Why would you think something's wrong?" he shrugged.

Elena raised her eyebrows at him. "Because you're all weird, giving me short answers and refusing to look at me. So you either did something stupid or you're hiding something from me. Or both."

Jeremy rolled his eyes. "Fine. There's something I want to talk to you about. I didn't want to just blurt this out, but you're so annoying and you're giving me no choice", he turned to look at her. "I want to go back to college."

When he realized Elena's not going to say anything, Jeremy started explaining. "Look, I know you're not too happy about it, but I really feel like I'm ready. I'm okay, Elena. The meetings with my support group have really been helping me and I'm so much better than I was when I got here in the first place. I've talked to mom and dad and they said they're okay with it as long as you are since you're the one who's been living with me and watching me closely for the past months. If you say I'm good to go, I can go."

Elena let out a sigh. "Oh, Jer… I don't know. I have to admit you've made a huge progress and I'm really proud of you", she smiled. "But… Are you sure you're ready? I mean, it's only been a few months…"

"Yeah, I'm ready!" he grinned. "I'm going to keep going to support groups, don't worry about that. There are some near my university, I've checked."

"Okay…" Elena said. "If you promise to do that and to check in with me at least once a week… Then I guess you're good to go back," she breathed, sad look in her eyes.

She thought that Jeremy's going to get up and jump up and down from happiness, that's how excited he looked. But fortunately, he didn't do that. He just hugged her tightly. "Thank you, thank you, thank you so much!"

"Wow, you're so happy that you're leaving me. Great," Elena made a pouty face.

"No, Lena, I'm sad that I'm leaving you. But I miss Bonnie and my friends and…"

"I know, I know, I'm just messing with you," she cut him off, smirking. "It's just that I don't want you to leave. It's been great having you here. Now I got used to it and I'm going to be super lonely when you leave."

"I loved living with you, too," Jeremy grinned. "It reminded me of the old times, when we were kids. But it's time to go back to the real world now. Besides, you have Damon now, you won't be lonely."

Elena shot him a glare. "That's true, but you're my brother and I love you. I'm going to miss you," she swallowed, trying to shake away the tears. "And I'll worry about you when you're away."

"Oh, Elena, please don't cry", Jeremy pleaded. "I promise I'll call you every single day if you want and visit on regular basis. Okay? And I'll go to the meetings and never do drugs ever again. I'm so sorry that I caused you so many problems and that you've had to worry about me so much. I'm so, so sorry, I'll never do that again."

Even though he said his sister not to cry, tears stung in the back of his throat. "And thank you. Thank you for taking care of me and not giving up on me when I was at my worst," he added, taking Elena's hand and squeezing it tightly.

Elena sniffed and squeezed back. "Don't' thank me, it was no problem taking care of you. You're my little brother. I'll always worry about you. That feeling will never go away. And I'm glad I helped you, but you should give yourself some credit, too. You got better because you wanted to and because you worked hard to achieve that. It's all you, really. I just gave you a little nudge, that's all."

"Hey, you", Damon answered the phone almost immediately.

"Hey, you", Elena smiled at the sound of his voice. Even though she saw him this morning, she felt like it was so long ago and she missed him very much. She waited all day to talk to him and now she finally had some time. She was lying in bed, in her favorite flannel pajamas, exhausted and ready for sleep. But before she dozes of, she had to talk to Damon.

"Finally found some time for your boyfriend?"

Her smile faded. She suddenly felt really guilty for not calling him sooner. "Oh, Damon, I am so sorry, I wanted to drop by after work, I really did, but I was really busy and didn't really caught some time to call you and…" she started muttering apologies really fast, but he cut her off.

"Elena, stop, I'm just messing with you", she could almost hear his smirk over the phone. "I'm not mad at you, silly."

Elena let out a sigh of relief. "Good. How was your day?" she asked, wondering if he'd tell her about his talk with Stefan.

"It was okay. Busy. Jenna kept smothering me and asking me if I needed something. She probably felt sorry for me so I told her to stop because I got pretty annoyed. And I met up with Stefan for lunch…"

"Really?" Elena pretended to be surprised. "How did it go?"

"I think it went well. We've talked about our mom and our dad and we've sorted some things out. So yeah, I'm glad that we talked", Damon said quietly.

Elena realized that's all he's going to say about that subject. And she was okay with that, she didn't want to push him too hard. She knew how hard it was for him to open up, especially about sensitive things like that.

"Tell me about your day", he said after a couple of moments of silence.

"Umm, as I've already said, it's been hectic in the office. And Caroline kept interrupting, wanting to talk so she slowed me down a little bit… Nothing particularly interesting happened. Oh, right, Jeremy's leaving me."

"Really?"

"Yeah, he just came to me today with this idea, which I found incredibly stupid, but he's a grown man, he knows what's best for him", Elena said with a trace of anger in her voice.

Damon let out a laugh. "Wow, you're finally getting rid of the little brat and you don't seem so keen on him leaving. Why is that? I mean, he's ready, he's been clean for months now."

"Yeah, I know", Elena sighed. "It's just that I'll feel so lonely when he leaves."

"For God's sake, Elena, you have me!" Damon said. "Now I'm offended", he pouted.

"You know, that's exactly what Jeremy said. I know I have you and that's awesome, but I got used to taking care of him and…"

"You really like taking care of people, don't you?" he asked, even though he knew the answer.

"Yeah, I do. It makes me feel needed."

"Well, don't worry about that feeling going away because I need you. All the time", his voice was serious now and Elena knew he wasn't joking.

Even though she already knew that, it was nice to actually hear it from him. "Well, you'll have my full attention now that Jeremy doesn't need me anymore. That's probably why you're so thrilled that he's leaving."

"Oh no, I'm busted", he said flatly in a tone that made Elena laugh.

"I just realized I didn't ask you if you were okay", she said, her mood changing rapidly.

Damon let out an exasperated breath. "Seriously, Elena, you too?" he asked bitterly.

"Yeah, Damon, me too. I really want to know."

"Look, I'm fine. Especially now that I've heard your voice. Stop worrying so much, okay? And go to sleep, you sound tired."

"Okay," Elena said, yawning. "And, Damon?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you", she could not believe that she's just said that. It was actually the first time that she said it. She was sure he knew that she loved him already, just like she knew he loved her, too. But they never actually said it to each other.

Elena held her breath, waiting for his reaction.

"I love you, too", he finally whispered after what seemed like an eternity of silence.

"Good", she smiled, feeling like a teenager with butterflies in her stomach.

Even though she couldn't see him, she pictured a smirk on his face. "Goodnight", he said gently.

"Goodnight, Damon", Elena finished their conversation with a stupid grin spread across her face. She buried her face in her pillow, knowing that, after what just happened, she would sleep like a baby and dream of unicorns and rainbows.

So, I'm actually pretty happy about how this chapter turned out, especially the ending. :D

I hope you liked it, too. Don't forget to review!

P.S. I know that my Jeremy plotline kind of interwined with the one in the show, but I swear I didn't steal it, I wrote the first part of this chapter before the newest episode came out! Oh well, I just wanted you to know that.

Love you all xo