A/N: So, I really should be sleeping right now, since it's 230AM and I have to work at 8AM. But I'm super wired from the trip back from the MMVA's in Toronto, where I saw Ian Somerhalder, Nina Dobrev and Kat Graham in the flesh. Good God they're beautiful!

Random bit of off-topic: I'm considering breaking down and joining Twitter. Is anyone out here on Twitter? What do you use it for primarily? Is it worth the trouble of opening the account? PM me with info, if you please.

I've been waiting for forever for this chapter, and up until this very moment, I'm still pretty iffy about the ending, so please review and let me know what you think of that. :)

The story is set after The Sacrifice, but still containing canon elements as much as possible.

Please review and let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries. Made for fun, not for profit!

So I'm 'bout to make my way down to the floor 'cause I don't think I can hold it back no more. 'Cause you're just mind blowing, hypnotizing, head down to your toes. The way your hair's flowing down your back, watch that body go. It's electric! You're so electric!

Electric by Shawn Desman

Three nights later, Elijah remained in his usual spot, watching Elena as she slept. She had confessed to him the true nature of Damon's excursion, and while at first he had felt a dull sense of betrayal, as he replayed in his mind the voicemail that she had left with her vampire lover, that sentiment was replaced by something softer and warmer.

He remembered her assuring him that, if the situation were different, he would be on her list of people that she cared about enough to save. It wasn't saying much, he told himself; the girl had a heart larger than the state of Texas, and tended to care about every person (or other being) that she came into contact with. Hell, even Katerina had made her list. But no one had ever bothered to protect him; he had never needed it. And even though it was a moot point, it made him feel elated to know that someone somewhere wanted to keep him safe.

She knew that he could pose a danger to her, and in spite of that knowledge, she had left instructions to have his only weakness hidden, left locked away so no one could use it against him.

How beautiful.

At that moment, his musings were interrupted as the girl turned in her sleep, legs tangling with the sheets, and a soft sigh escaped her lips. He stood and made his way over to crouch next to her bed. In the beginning, before she even knew that he periodically checked in on her as she slept, she never bore the look of peace that is generally connected to sleep. She had nightmares, and her body was always tense from fear.

Tonight, her face was free of frown lines. Tonight, she felt safe. And tonight, Elijah realized in a melancholic way that he could have loved her, once upon a time.

When Elena woke up the day of the dance, it was to a surprising feeling of excitement. She tried not to analyse it too much, glad for once that she could enjoy just being a teenage girl. Elijah was gone before she opened her eyes, and she went about her morning routine in the usual way.

After she'd showered and dressed, she made her way downstairs for breakfast and smiled at Jeremy, who paused in his inhalation of his cereal to grin maliciously at his sister.

"So, for the record, I was going to tell you about me and Bonnie last weekend."

She had her head in the refrigerator when she answered. "I thought she wanted to be the one to tell me."

"Well yeah," he shrugged, "But I figured it would be payback since I had to listen to you and Damon get it on when he snuck in…"

A clattering noise echoed throughout the kitchen as Elena bumped her head on one of the shelves, and spun on her heel to glare at the boy.

"What are you – I didn't –" She continued spluttering, determined as she was to say something, even though she didn't know what that something was.

Jeremy laughed. "Yeah right. Don't worry, I didn't tell Ric or Jenna. But, y'know, the fact that he followed you down the stairs when they got home made it pretty clear if you ask me."

He got up and made to leave the room, but was blocked off by the newly-arrived John. Both teenagers groaned in unison.

"Don't you knock?" Elena snapped, but the typical bitterness was not evident in her tone.

The elder man didn't move from the entrance, choosing instead to simply lean against the wall. "I seem to recall Grayson and Miranda teaching you manners. I'm not rude to you, and I would appreciate the same courtesy."

Elena flinched at his words, realising that, for once, he was right.

Jeremy looked from his uncle to his sister. "Right, well I'm gonna head to school. See you later 'Lena." He opened the kitchen and turned around. "And, uh, see you around Uncle John."

And then there were two.

"I have school soon," Elena stated in a flat voice.

"I know. I just wanted to stop in, say hi."

He moved into the room proper, and sat at the island. Elena nodded, and turned away to finally finish compiling her breakfast.

"No threats today? No grand scheme? Because," she slid over to sit across from him, "I'm in a really good mood, and it would be nice to have one decent day every once in a while."

John put his arms in the air in a 'surrender' motion. "I have nothing up my sleeve. I've just… been doing some thinking, that's all."

"About?" Elena mumbled, her mouth full of cereal.

"What your Original said. And Stefan. Speaking of, have you heard from Damon in a while?"

She slowly shook her head, frowning. "Why?"

"Because Isobel cut me off, and wanted to know how they were doing."

"Well," she began, moving her now empty bowl into the sink, "They were in town last week, and that was the last I heard from them."

"They were in town?"

Elena snorted. "I guess someone's been burning bridges all over the place. They came, they saw, they left again. But it shouldn't be much longer…" She thought of the voicemail that she'd left for Damon, and tried to quell the panic rising in her gut at the fact that she hadn't heard from him in almost a week.

"It's better off for you. Look," their eyes met, and he stared hard at her, "I don't want you involved with vampires. That's not going to change. I don't approve of many of the decisions that you made in the past year, and I'm going to work hard to keep you safe, whether you like it or not. And no, I do not have a problem seeing the Salvatore's good and dead."

"But, you were right about some things. The way that I've gone about dealing with you isn't very productive, and Isobel probably shouldn't be involved at all. It was her decision to give you up, even if it killed her to do it, and she kept her distance and moved on with her life. She has no right to start trying to make your decisions for you, no matter what her reasoning may be."

Elena opened her mouth to answer, but was interrupted by the unexpected arrival of Stefan Salvatore, who glanced warily between the two before landing a concerned gaze on his ex-girlfriend.

"We okay here?"

She cocked her head to the side. "Does no one knock anymore? Seriously!" Stefan's eyebrows shot up, and she grinned. "I think we're fine." She looked over at John. "But I'm pretty sure he threatened you and Damon though."

Stefan sighed loudly, but his jovial expression cancelled out the effect. "Anyways, I just came by to check the colour of your dress. I need to match my tie."

"Oh, right. Well, it's hung up in the bathroom upstairs if you wanted to go take a look."

He nodded and left the room, leaving John with a confused expression.

"I thought that…" The older man shook his head. "Never mind. Do you want a ride to school?"

Elena's eyes drifted up to where she guessed Stefan was, and then back down to meet her father's. After a moment of reflection, she nodded, and his answering smile made the nervous feeling in her stomach worth it.

Three days. Three days that Damon had spent in his car. Three days since he had fled from a god-forsaken cave in South America. Three days since he had lost his cell phone in his haste to get gone. Three days since he had received a voicemail from Elena, telling him to get the hell out, and to get the hell home.

It had probably been a very comical scene. He had stood in the cave (and he still had no idea how he had gotten cell reception in there when he couldn't get it on the damned highway), blinking between his phone and the Original-killing dagger in his hand.

A wiser person would have held onto the dagger. A more logical person would have done the same. But he could never be accused of being wise or logical, simply impulsive. And in that moment, he had received a direct order in a pleading tone from the woman that he loved, and all of the wisdom and logic in the world could not have convinced him to act otherwise. He threw the dagger back at the guardian, told him to hide it or destroy it, but keep it out of his, Damon's, hands, and he had run, blurring out of the cave before Isobel could even utter a protesting syllable.

In retrospect, he probably should have waited a moment. Isobel was unpredictable and dangerous, and he had lost his damned phone, so he couldn't even call Elena to tell her not to worry. But he didn't want to stop more than he had to, and he only had to when the police pulled him over for driving 50 mph over the posted speed limit. Some light compulsion generally took care of that problem, but he still resented the extra minute that it took. A minute dealing with a police officer was a minute longer that he would have to wait before gluing himself to Elena's side and never ever moving again.

Three days, and he had finally driven past the 'Welcome to Mystic Falls' sign. He couldn't help but smile; a genuine smile that very few had ever been privy to. He debated between stopping at his house and bathing, or going straight to Elena's.

That was a joke. There was no question; straight to Elena's.

As he was driving through town, he couldn't help but worry that he would have to track her down. What day was it now, in this time zone? Friday, right? Wouldn't she be out with friends? Or maybe Elijah had put her under house arrest (for her own protection of course).

He drove past the high school, and the sheer amount of cars caught his eye. No football… It was late enough on a Friday night, unless they were having a dance or someth-

He slammed the brakes and spun the car, grateful yet again for vampire reflexes that allowed him to avoid whiplash or any similar inconvenience due to his often reckless driving. He slid into the lot, skidded to halt on the sidewalk in front of the main entrance, and was out of the car before the engine had even shut off.

Once inside the school, the pulsing beat of hormone-entrancing music permeated his consciousness, and he knew that this was where he was supposed to be. Or would Elena even be here? Of course she would; her friends would drag her, kicking and screaming. What if she had a date? Stefan had intimated that there were quite a few people interested in asking her out. And why wouldn't they? She was perfect.

Before he could truly ponder these particular dilemmas, he found himself in the gym, scoping out the crowd. He spotted Ric before anyone else, so he hurried over to his friend.

"Whoa," Alaric exclaimed at Damon's sudden appearance, "What the hell are you doing here? Are you back for good this time? What the hell were you doing?"

The vampire wasn't paying any attention, his eyes skimming the throbbing group of sweating teenagers in front of him.

"Is Elena here?"

The teacher frowned. "Yeah, she came with Stefan, but –"

He never finished his sentence as Damon finally spotted his target, and had begun skirting his way through to crowd to get to her. Alaric tried valiantly to follow, but due to his lack of supernatural grace, he found his progress stunted.

Elena was on the dance floor, looking absolutely breathtaking in a strapless burgundy gown that laced up the back. She was dancing freely with a boy; a tall boy, Damon noted with irritation, who appeared to fill out his suit rather nicely. He focused more on Elena, trying to quell the jealousy stirring up in his gut.

There was an electric current running through Damon's body, he was sure of it, and it felt like everything had slowed down for him. His skin was tingling, his heart was beating fast, and his hands were shaking! Elena moved on the dance floor with a grace that belied her age, her hair running loose and wavy down her back, only a few pins holding it out of her face. Sweat was dripping down her back from the exertion of jumping along with the music, and Damon wanted nothing more in that moment than to hold her to him, and to move with her, forever.

The moment he could distinguish her scent among the many, time sped up again, and he slid between her and her partner silently. It took her a few seconds of blinking confusedly before her jaw dropped, and Damon turned to glare at her companion before looking back down at her.

"Oh my God! Damon!" she yelled over the sound system. "You're here!"

He smiled at her, a small smile, before glancing back at the boy again.

"Oh!" she mouthed, understanding his unspoken question. She leaned close to his ear to answer. "He's a friend. And, for the record, he's probably more interested in you than me, if you know what I mean."

Right on cue, the boy edged back around to stand next to couple now locked in a stare.

"Oh… My gawd!" Boy said, "Is this your boyfriend? Gawd he's hot!"

Elena simply giggled in response before sobering and staring hard at Damon.

"You're back?" she asked.

"I'm back."

"For good?"

"For good."

Without warning, she threw her arms around his neck and pulled his lips down to meet hers, hardly waiting a moment to run her tongue along his bottom lip and slide it into his mouth, meeting his in a heated dance of their own. Damon was idly aware of Alaric's murmured, "Holy crap!" before he wrapped his arms around Elena's waist and lifted her slightly.

When they pulled back, she smiled a glowing smile.

"Do you have your car?" He nodded, and she grabbed his hand tightly. "Let's go."

Ignoring everyone else, the whispers of the general populace, Alaric's shocked exclamations, Caroline, Bonnie and Stefan's open stares, the two were gone.

Isobel wasn't stupid, and she wasn't heartless. She never had been, and she never would be. She was a researcher who prided herself on knowing exactly what she was getting into before she got into it. And so finding herself in a tomb underneath the ruins of Fell's Church in Mystic Falls, Virginia, poised to strike at the heart of the man (Original vampire or no) who dared pose a threat to her daughter, Isobel knew what was to become of her.

She would either miss, and Elijah would end her, no questions asked. Or she would strike true, as he was distracted by Katherine. She would pierce his heart, and as the life was sucked from his immortal body, her life would be sucked from hers.

Either way, she wasn't getting out alive, and she knew it.

"I love you Elena," she thought in her final moments, "Even if you'll never know it."