A/N: As usual I don't own Vampire Diaries or any canon characters.

Hearts and flowers, sadness and more violence… * be advised, definitely have some mature stuff at the end here.

"Hey, it's not your fault you know, you can't be here 24/7." Jeremy pointed out, though why he was trying to make Damon feel better about it was beyond him. He still wasn't happy with the idea of the guy shacking up with his sister. Thank god they hadn't been going at it since Damon had started staying over nights to protect Elena. He didn't think he could handle having to listen to that with his enhanced hearing.

"The hell I can't." Damon snorted. "From now on I'm not letting her out of my sight."

"She's not gonna like that very much." Elena was nothing if not independent.

"Then she don't got to know about it, does she?" Damon gave a mischievous grin

Jeremy returned the smile with a nod. "Don't got to know about what?"

"You'd better get going, text me if you run into any problems."

"Yeah okay." Jeremy nodded, grabbing the keys to Steve's car to go and pull it around the back. He was just reaching the front door when he heard Elena start to come down the stairs. "Oh hey Elena." He said loudly, "Damon's in the kitchen if you're looking for him, I gotta go." It was the best warning he could manage without sticking around long enough for her to see what he was wearing. Hopefully Damon would be able to get rid of the body before she got to the kitchen. Who was he kidding? Damon could probably juggle corpses in his sleep and still charm his sister out of her pants…

Elena walked into the kitchen, watching Damon drink straight out of the orange juice carton, his body aglow with the light from the refrigerator. "Thirsty?" She asked, leaning against the wall.

Replacing the carton in the fridge, Damon approached her with a half shrug. He had plenty of time to ditch the body outside before she got to the kitchen, but just to be safe he steered her away from the rear of the house where Jeremy would be bringing around the car.

"I was wondering if you had gone home or something." She commented, allowing herself to be led into the living room.

"No, I was just thirsty. You guys should really stock up on some scotch. Single malt, preferably older than you are."

"I'll be sure to mention it to Jenna." Elena smirked at the request.

"Nevermind, I'll bring it myself next time." He shrugged it away. "What about you, couldn't sleep?" Damon wrapped an arm around her, holding her close.

"I fell asleep fast enough, but I woke up and you were gone and… I couldn't quite drift off again."

Damon's mouth curled up into a smile. She missed him being there beside her whether she admitted it or not. It was a small victory, but it meant something to him. She'd missed him.

"What are you smiling about?" Elena fixed him with a dubious look.

He couldn't help but share his newfound realization with her, it just made him feel all warm and fuzzy inside to rub her nose in it. "You miss having me here, that's why you couldn't sleep tonight."

"Don't be silly…"

"I've been there with you every night since before you broke up with Stefan." Damon interrupted.

"Since before I broke up with him?" She blinked.

Busted. "I wanted to make sure you were okay…" Though he had rarely done more than watch her sleep, apart from the occasional influencing of her dreams… That reminded him... but for now he had to divert her attention from anything that would land him in the dog house. "That and you make the cutest sounds when you sleep."

"What?" Her voice came out in a squeak.

"Yeah kinda like that, but you have his one sound… it sounds like a chipmunk, well a pair of chipmunks fighting over an acorn…"

"I do not!" Elena smacked him playfully and Damon laughed, letting her chase after him as she giggled too.

"Okay a pair of squirrels then." Damon caught her up in his arms and kissed her senseless until she forgot what he was teasing her about. When he drew back she had a bemused expression on her face, her lips looking flushed and delectable.

On impulse, he asked the question that had been building for some time now. "Maybe you should move in with me? We could get our own place, Stefan wouldn't be invited and I wouldn't have to sleep with one eye open."

Elena's jaw dropped. "Move in with you?" She whispered.

Damon could see the gears spinning in her head and talked fast. "I know, it hardly seems proper during a courtship, but then again, neither is spending every night in your bed with you. But I have been a perfect gentleman, have I not? He pointed out.

"Well… that's true. But I don't think I could do that, I'm not eighteen yet, we would need Jenna's permission and something tells me she's not gonna be too hot on the idea."

"I don't see that as being a problem." Damon shrugged easily.

"No, no compelling." Her finger came up to wag at him.

Damon scowled at that, she was being a real stickler for that but they were running out of options at keeping her aunt from finding out about everything going on under her nose. Then again… "We really should give some thought to telling Jenna about everything, you know? After all, her nephew is a vamp, her niece is in love with one…" He watched her carefully, wondering if she'd contradict him at that last.

Elena's head came up sharply, her expressive face taking him through her range of emotions. "Yes, we should tell her." She said simply.

If he had a heart beat it would be going a mile a minute. "Are you saying that you… love me?" He'd known she wanted him, and she said she had feelings; but it was too much to hope for that she might well and truly love him.

"Yeah, I think I am. I am." She nodded slowly. "You can thank Stefan for helping me realize that by the way."

Damon's eyes closed, not even caring that she'd pushed Stefan's name into the conversation. His jaw worked as he swallowed back the lump in his throat and touched his forehead to hers. "Elena…" He began, searching for the right words. "All kidding aside with this courting business, I don't often say what I'm feeling, really feeling. Chalk it up to years of being alone, of having my heart ripped out of my chest and building a wall around the hole… but I'm not that guy, I don't do declarations of love."

"I think you just did." She said softly, reaching up to cup his cheek.

Gathering her into his arms, Damon held her tight. "Yeah I did." He breathed into her hair. Elena was everything to him and it scared the hell out of him. For a man who liked to be in control of everything this vulnerability was bordering on torturous.

Clearing his throat, Damon focused on the mundane issues at hand, namely how to protect Elena. "We'll talk to Jenna soon. Let her know what's been going down. Figure something out where we don't have to sneak around so much. Unless… you want to sneak around, cause that can be fun too." He grinned.

Elena nodded, pulling back to look at him, her eyes shiny with emotion. "No, I don't want to sneak around. We have nothing to hide, right? But we should talk to Jeremy first, see if he wants us to tell her about him too."

"Why would he care? It'll just make life easier for him. She'll stop ragging on him for being such a slacker and sleeping all day." Damon shrugged.

"Still, he deserves that common courtesy, don't you think?"

Damon could give a crap about showing Jeremy courtesy but he remained silent on the subject, giving her a bland smile. "If you say so."

"I do." Elena smiled. "And I think it would be a good idea for Alaric to be here, for moral support."

"Ric to the rescue… yeah sure, why not. Anyone else you want to drag into it? Matt? We could prop Caroline up in the corner…"

"No, that's it." A laugh left her lips at his expression. "Come on, let's get you up to bed and out of sight before Jenna gets home."

"I won't say no to that." Damon grinned, pulling her into his arms and then rushing them at super speed to her bedroom and depositing her on the bed. She was so beautiful… her hair streaming across the pillow, her lips parted in a surprised laugh at the sudden move. It took all the restraint he possessed not to tumble her onto her back and kiss away all of her inhibitions. "God you're killing me…"

"What?"

"Nevermind." He replied through gritted teeth, stretching out on his side of the bed, his arm going around her automatically where she snuggled into his side. It was amazing how just a few weeks ago he might have been content with just that simple contact. But the closer he got to Elena, the closer he wanted to get to her. Having her right there, warm and clinging to him put all manner of ideas into his head and he worked hard to push them aside and enjoy what he had. She loved him, he couldn't ask for more than that, could he? Still… sleep was a long time in coming.

*** back from commercial ***

Jeremy stood next to the little Ford Fiesta that he'd crashed into the tree. It had been easy enough to prop down the gas pedal with Steve in the driver's seat, only the crash hadn't been spectacular enough for the damage needed. An extra punch was given to the cracked windshield and like art, he'd arranged Steve half hanging outside, his torn neck at the line of jagged glass. A fire would have been better still, but the little car showed little sign of obliging him and Jeremy was wary of helping it along overmuch for fear of contaminating the accident scene even more.

With a growing sickness, he stood and watched the scene, the realization that he was utterly responsible for this loss of life weighing heavily on him. Unable to resist, he reached into Steve's back pocket and withdrew his wallet.

Steve was Steve Nelson and he lived on Market Street. He also was a member of AAA, Blockbuster Video and he liked to shop at Safeway. A sudden impulse to check for cash repulsed him enough to drop the wallet, and a little square of paper fluttered onto the low grass. Turning it over, he saw a picture of a pretty blonde and a little girl waving at the camera with big smiles. Was this his wife and child? A feeling of remorse swept over him, and the next thing he knew, Jeremy was on the ground, his legs folded under him.

There were no tears… his sadness was too profound for that. Again the desire to turn off his feelings seized him but he dismissed it just as quickly. He wanted to feel this pain, needed to… if only to remember the price of his carelessness. This wife and daughter would never see Steve walk in the front door, tired from his crappy job but still glad to see them.

All because of him.

Jeremy picked up the wallet, about to tuck the picture back inside, but instead he shoved it into his own pocket before replacing the wallet in Steve's pants. He didn't look back as he walked away from the car, shoulders bowed, hands in the pockets of his hoodie.

*** back from commercial ***

It was near dawn when Stefan stumbled to the front steps of the boarding house. Running on fumes, only stubborn determination had kept him going, doggedly placing one foot in front of the other.

At the sound of his step on the porch, Bonnie threw the door open, a cry of alarm leaving her lips at taking in his state. "Stefan! Oh god what happened to you?" Tears sprang to her eyes as she went to his side, an arm already moving to shore him up against her when she spotted the stake and gasped.

"Pull… out…" Stefan croaked, crashing in a heap to the ground, no longer able to take another step.

Bonnie wrapped her hand around the piece of wood and pulled, dismayed to find how deeply it was embedded into his shoulder. Using her other hand, she tried again, pulling with all of her strength until the stake came free with a sickening sound and it clattered to the porch from her nerveless fingers. "Who did this to you?"

"Elena…"

The word barely reached her ears, and Bonnie's eyes widened in response. She'd expected him to say Damon or even Alaric or some council member who'd been at the wrong place at the wrong time but Elena? A terrible darkness began to spread within her, eyes narrowing to slits. Elena would regret trying to take Stefan from her…

Stefan looked pale, so very pale… "Stefan, you have to feed." Already pulling her hair back from her neck, she pulled at the bandage there from their tryst the night before. "Stefan?"

Stefan merely laid there, for all appearances a corpse.

Nails raked at the healing skin, drawing blood and Bonnie leaned close, droplets of blood from her newly reopened wound dripping onto Stefan's mouth. "Come on Stefan… come on…" She murmured, waiting for his instincts to kick in.

With a sudden growl, Stefan's mouth fastened above her wound, teeth piercing her skin with a savage ferocity. Bonnie screamed in response, the pain blotting out the normal rush of pleasure she felt when he fed from her. But she hung onto him, knowing that he needed this, needed her.

On and on he drank, until her vision started to dip and sway. "Stefan…" She called out, pressing her hands to his shoulders weakly. "Too much…"

And still he drank, in the grips of blood lust, her struggles causing him to pin her beneath him, rubbing against her as another kind of desire was fueled. Easily holding both of her wrists with one hand, his other delved deep below, tearing delicate cloth and working to free himself. In one powerful surge he took her, and Stefan rutted above her in a haze of blood and power, oblivious to her weakening sobs of protest. When at last he was sated, Stefan rolled off to his side, his breathing ragged as he came down from the high.

A roll of the shoulders proved the stabbing wound sore but not life threatening, and he had Bonnie to thank for that. Feeling pleasantly drowsy now, he pressed a kiss to Bonnie's shoulder. "Thank you." He said softly, brows drawing together as she didn't turn to face him. "Bonnie?" Gently, he reached for her chin, coming face to face with her sightless eyes. Oh god… what had he done?

A/N: So yeah, Stefan's gone way out of control. Aw poor Bonnie… you guys can tell I don't particularly like her either, right? Lol. All I could think about while writing this end was… holy crap, that could have been Elena! Good thing she dumped him when she had the chance! But don't worry, Bonnie's not quite out of the picture just yet…

Feedback is love people