Hello my dear reader chums. The last chapter! Some of you have begged me not to end it but I just think it's time for this story to reach it's end. Don't worry though. I do have an idea for a possible sequel if I choose to go down that route. But for now, enjoy the last chapter and thank you to every single person who has read, reviewed, followed and favourited this story.

I love you all so much and don't forget to let me know what you think :) xxx

The midnight sky turned to a shade of peachy pink as the sun began to rise. Damon had been driving non-stop for hours; never paying attention to where he was going but only hoping to put as much distance between himself and Mystic Falls as was humanely possible.

Even with his humanity and emotions turned off, it did little to dampen the pain of the memories he held of Jessica. The sheer agony he felt at losing Jessica was just too much for him to handle. In the centuries that he had been living, he had never experienced such heartache. Not with Katherine. Not with Elena. In his moments of stillness, Damon often marvelled at how such a human girl had managed to effect not only his life, but his soul too.

Ignoring the speed limit, Damon pressed his foot further against the accelerator and revelled in the sense of freedom he felt, as Mystic Falls became nothing but a bad memory.

"I cannot believe you, Caroline! Have you lost your bloody mind?!" Jessica hissed, batting away her sister's hands as they stood alone in the kitchen of their family home.

"I'm sorry. I had no other choice."

"Yes you did."

"What other choice did I have?"

"You could have let me stay dead!"

Stunned, for a moment, Caroline stood in silence. Her entire life for months have been centred around one thing - bringing her sister back to life. To have finally gotten her back only for Jessica to declare that she would rather have stayed dead, rocked Caroline to the core.

Seeing her sister's eyes begin to water, Jessica felt remorse course through her body. She knew that she would never be able to imagine the grief her sister, mother and friends had felt because of her death, but a life being sacrificed so that she could unnaturally live was morally wrong.

"I couldn't." Caroline stated simply.

With a heavy sigh, Jessica ran her fingers through her hair. With the rest of the group in the living room, now joined by a very happy and surprised looking Matt, Jessica knew that she and Caroline had been gone too long. Their heated debate had taken them away and someone was sure to start investigating their disappearance soon.

"Care, you traded Bonnie's life for mine!"

"Bonnie's alive!"

"And what about her baby, huh?"

"I- I never thought about that." admitted Caroline, with guilt.

"Exactly… I'm grateful for what you did but it isn't fair to let someone else die so I can live. How would you have been able to live with yourself if Bonnie had died? How would I have been able to live with myself?"

"I'm sorry." cried Caroline, her tears now coming hard and fast.

Wrapping her arms around her older sister, Jessica pulled the woman in to her. Despite her anger at her sister's moronic actions, she couldn't deny that she was glad to be alive; glad to be able to once again hug her only sister. A trivial act but one she now knew she had been taken for granted her entire life.

"I'm sorry too."

"Are you sure you're okay?" Jeremy asked Bonnie.

"I'm fine." Bonnie replied with a tired smile.

The spell had taken a lot of energy out of her. She felt like her entire life source had been drained from her, but it was more than worth it. That much she was absolutely certain off. Her friend was alive. It had been a risk of unknown proportions yet she had succeeded and she held no regrets.

Grazing her hand over the small bump that was the child growing inside of her, Bonnie smiled once again and let her eyes close for a moment; savouring the joyous aura of the occasion before it inevitably ended.

"Where's Damon?"

Matt's voice suddenly cut through the low murmur of the group's conversations and everyone fell silent.

Grimacing, Stefan frowned. Once he had made sure that Jessica was fine and that both Bonnie and her baby were safe, his immediate thoughts and energy had been directed towards contacting his missing brother. Despite all of his efforts though, he had, had no luck.

"Yeah, shouldn't he be here?" Tyler added.

"He's not answering his phone."

"Does he even know she's alive?" questioned Matt.

Although Matt could hardly describe Damon as a friend, he was one hundred percent certain that the vampire adored Jessica, and he knew that Jessica would only be truly happy once Damon had returned.

"No."

"What? Somehow has to tell him."

"Don't you think I've tried? He isn't answering his phone and I have no idea where he is. I even phoned Alaric and he hasn't seen Damon since yesterday morning."

"Well, we have to find him. How are we supposed to tell Jessica that Damon isn't coming home?"

"Damon isn't coming home?"

Jessica's sudden appearance startled everyone.

"Where is he?"

"We don't know." stated Elena.

"What do you mean, you don't know? Stefan? Where the hell is Damon?"

Walking towards Jessica, Stefan stopped just inches away from her and placed his two hands on her shoulders. He could sense that she was beginning to become hysterical, and he knew he would need her to calm down before he would be able to speak of Damon's actions any further.

"Hey, we'll find him, okay? You just need to calm down first."

"Find him?! Why don't you know where he is? He's your brother."

"He left town the day you died. Jess, your death destroyed him. He couldn't cope with losing you so he turned off his emotions."

"I don't understand."

A million thoughts were racing through her mind. Where was Damon? Why hadn't he come back to Mystic Falls now that she was alive? What had happened to him during the months that she had been dead?

"He switched off his emotions. He can't feel anything. Damon has no remorse. Not guilt."

"So?"

"While you were dead he… Damon went off the rails. He wasn't himself."

A feeling of dread, as thick as black tar, flowed through Jessica's newly revived body.

"What happened to him? What did he do? Tell me, Stefan. Please."

With a gulp, Stefan reluctantly began explaining the events of the recent months with the help of Caroline and Elena. He watched with great regret as Jessica's face paled with every single word he said; as he explained his spiralling behaviour, his murdering of innocent women, his desire to cut himself off from everyone he had ever known… all because she had died.

When Stefan had finally finished, Jessica found herself standing in stunned silence. Her heart ached painfully for the vampire that she loved. Someway, somehow, she needed to get to Damon.

"Find Damon. For Stefan's sake, find him. Bring him home."

A strange sensation overcame Jessica. Where had those words come from? A nagging feeling began to form in the pit of her stomach but she quickly dismissed it, as the sound of Stefan calling her name invaded through the fog in her mind.

"Jessica?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you okay?"

"I've just come back from the dead and my vampire boyfriend has gone a.w.o.l and is murdering women left, right and centre. Give me a minute to take in how crazy my life is."

Running her fingers through her long, blonde hair, Jessica tried to buy herself just a short amount of time. She needed time to think; to figure out what her next move would be. Her mother had been ecstatic when she had found her alive just a few hours before, but now Jessica's priority wasn't her mother or sister. It was Damon. Damon needed to be back where he belonged.

"We need to find Damon."

"We've tried." Jeremy argued, concerned for his friend.

Jessica did not doubt for a single second that her friends had tried to contact Damon; especially since her sudden resurrection. It was clear that Damon had no desire to speak to anyone. Was he too far gone to bring back?

It was as if a light bulb had gone off inside of her head. Damon did not want to make any sort of contact with his brother or friends… but surely he would speak to her.

"Where's my phone?"

"Your phone?" Caroline repeated; confused by the strange question her sister had directed towards her.

"Yes! Where is it?"

"It's in your room. Mom hasn't cleared it out yet. She couldn't -"

Running from the living room, Jessica raced up the stairs and into her bedroom. A thin layer of dust covered some of her belongings but it looked exactly the same as it the did the day she had died. Nothing had changed and it provided her with a strange comfort.

Finding her phone in the draw of her bedside cabinet, Jessica's eyes filled with joyful tears when she realised that her phone network was still active. Scrolling through to Damon's number, Jessica hit the dial button and tapped her feet impatiently as it began to ring.

On a deserted highway, Damon sat on the hood of his beloved blue Camero. He sat staring at the blue sky and the bright yellow sun that was rising high in the sky as the minutes passed.

His thoughts were empty. He thought nothing of Jessica or the many phone calls he declined from Stefan, Elena and Caroline. Whatever they needed him for, they would just have to forget about it.

A shrill ringing cut through his peaceful haze and loudly cursing his brother, Damon pulled the phone from his jacket pocket. His thumb was already hovering over the 'reject' button when he suddenly stopped short in his intentions to decline the call. His eyes must have been playing tricks on him. There was absolutely no way it could be happening. She was dead.

Hesitantly, Damon accepted the call and pressed the phone to his ear. He did not provide a greeting.

A rush of emotions battered Damon as the sound of Jessica's voice filled his ears.

"Damon?"

It was joy unbound. Damon was coming home.

"Jess?"

Only an hour had passed since Jessica had managed to make contact with Damon and explain to him what had happened. Without a single moment of indecision, Damon had announced that he was returning to Mystic Falls but that it would take him most of the day to get there.

With a dazzling grin on her face, Jessica turned to face her mother who had returned only minutes before. Her smile, however, faltered, when she saw the concerned expressions of the face of her mother, Caroline and Stefan.

"Mom?"

"We need to talk, sweetheart."

Sitting next to her daughter, Liz gently stroked the girl's cheek. The happiness she felt at her daughter being alive once more was like nothing she had ever in her life felt before. The fact that she now had to lose her once again, when she had only just gotten her back, was heartbreaking.

"What's wrong?"

"Jessica, you've been dead for two months. Everyone in town knows that you died. If you were the just suddenly appear, alive and well…"

As her mother's sentence trailed off, the cogs in Jessica's brain ticked over. It took her only seconds to realise what her mother was telling her.

"I have to leave."

The words wouldn't come. All Liz could do was nod and let the tears finally fall. Clutching at her youngest daughter, Liz whispered her love and uttered her goodbyes. She knew that if she held on any longer, she would never be able to let go.

Staring out of the window, Jessica watched in silence as the world passed her by. Far too soon, she had been forced to say goodbye to her friends and family. Against her sister's wishes, Jessica travelled only with Stefan as her companion as she left behind the only home she had ever known.

Pacing the ground furiously in front of his car, Damon waited anxiously for Jessica and Stefan to arrive. Finally, after months of numbness, he would be reunited with the girl that he loved more than life itself.

It was a miracle that she was alive and Damon was determined to never lose her again. He would do anything it took to keep her safe.

In the distance, he spotted the familiar sight of his brother's car and his heart jumped with joy. With every single second that ticked by, the car came closer and closer until the car finally slowed to a halt only a few feet away.

Almost instantly, Jessica was out of the car and running towards Damon; closing the distance that stood between them in just mere seconds. The very instant her body met his it was like an explosion of love, happiness and longing.

"Damon!"

Damon clung to Jessica with the same ferocity that a dying man clung to his last breaths of oxygen.

"Baby Forbes"

In the background, Stefan stood and looked on as his brother and Jessica shared their tender, private moment. He knew that once Jessica eventually found out that Bonnie had miscarried her baby just an hour ago, she would be devastated; suspecting it to be a side-effect of the spell to return her life. For now, though, Stefan refused to divulge the news.

After the journey the couple had endured to be together, they deserved some peace and happiness.

"I missed you." breathed Damon. "Don't ever leave again."

"I promise I never will."

Turning, momentarily, to his brother, Damon offered Stefan a grateful smile.

"Thank you, brother."

"Just take care of yourself Damon… and take care of her."

With a nod, Stefan turned around and headed back to his car. With a sadness in her heart, Jessica watched Stefan drive away until she could no longer see the car. Feeling

Damon's hand stroke her hair softly, Jessica pushed her feelings of worry and heartache to one side and graced the man she loved with a warming smile.

"What now?" she asked him, bowled over by the sheer immensity of love in his dark eyes.

Moving his hand, Damon wrapped his arms around Jessica's waist and placed a chaste kiss on her pink, pump lips.

"Now, I take you home, Baby Forbes."

He would create a home for her. What the future would hold, he did not know. But Damon knew that never again would he run and hide from any trouble that came their way.