Elena's phone rang and she glanced at the display. Damon. That was weird. He was supposed to be with the guys, knee-deep in bourbon and strippers, drinking to Alaric's last night as a bachelor.
She excused herself from the table and answered the call.
"Can you sneak outside?" Damon asked without a greeting.
"You're here? Why?"
"I need to talk to you."
"Right now?"
"Kind of. Before I chicken out."
Chicken out? Now Elena was intrigued. "Uh, okay. Let me sneak out for a moment. I'll be there in a minute."
"Actually," Damon said, "can you put me on speaker?"
Elena blinked a few times in confusion but did as he asked.
"Good evening, ladies. I hope you're enjoying your party. And I know this is highly unorthodox, but I have to whisk away my lovely girlfriend. My apologies."
"Ugh, Damon," Bonnie exclaimed. "Your dick can wait until later."
Jo cackled in the background.
"My dick probably could, but I can't," Damon's tinny voice replied from the speaker.
Elena made her excuses after that and grabbed a tray of fries before stepping outside. Damon had told her to meet him at the clock tower so she headed that way. She was confused when she couldn't see him but then he told her to look up. She smiled and met him at the top.
Without words, Damon pulled out the little box and held it up to Elena. She knew what was inside; what she didn't know was why he was bringing it up again right now. Ever since her talk with Stefan and then Bonnie, she had been looking for a good time to talk to Damon about it. But she had decided to wait until after Alaric and Jo's wedding. It seemed, Damon had beat her to it. Elena took the box but didn't open it.
"I want you to take the cure," Damon said.
"We've been over this," Elena replied. She would stand by what she said weeks before – she was not taking it without him and she was not letting him give up the life that he loved just to please her.
"No, you never let me finish or try and distract me before I can say what I want to say."
"Okay, I'm listening." She crossed the arms in front of her, prepared for his lecture and bracing herself to turn him down. Again. Despite every fiber in her body wanting to down the damn cure and return to being human.
"I want to be human with you, Elena. I may not have meant it the first time I said it. I admit it just came out in the heat of the moment. But I've thought about it. And I want to take it."
She wanted so badly to believe it, but, "Because you know that that's what I want."
"Okay, yes," Damon admitted, not seeing any point in denying it. "That's part of it. Because I want to give you everything you want. A love that consumes you, passion, adventure. I would give you the world if I could. But this… this is the only thing I thought I'd never be able to give you. Now I can."
"You are the love that consumes me," Elena implored. "And our lives are one never-ending adventure. I don't need the world if I can have the forever with you. Not getting to grow old is a ridiculously small price to pay for that."
"It's not the only thing you'd be sacrificing though, is it? You want a family. And we can have one. Together."
Elena rubbed her face with both hands, hope and want warring with her rational mind. She laughed hysterically. "Jo was right," she said. "She called it the vampire version of a proposal."
"That was not a proposal," Damon scoffed. "When I propose to you, it's going to be epic."
"When? Not if?" She looked at him coyly.
"Come on, Elena," Damon rolled his eyes, "we both know we're headed that way. I'm actually looking forward to being your trophy husband."
"Why do you get to be the trophy husband? What if I want to be the trophy wife?" she teased back, grateful for a little reprieve.
"Come on, be serious. Only one of us is studying to be a doctor. Someone has to take care of the house and kids. And, try as I might to imagine it, but even in my wildest fantasies, you, my love, can't cook. You can help the kids with homework while I prepare dinner."
"You don't cook either," she protested.
"A-ha," he triumphantly exclaimed. "There's the difference. Just because I don't, doesn't mean I can't."
"You're ridiculous."
"That may be, but I have never set a kitchen on fire. Unlike some of us." Damon wiggled his brows, making Elena laugh.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, pushing her fingers in his hair. "Do you really want this?" she asked, voice quiet.
"I do."
"Even if it means you won't ever be able to go back to being a vampire? Even though you'd be giving up something that you love?"
Damon took her face in his hands. "Why is it okay for you to sacrifice the life you want for me, but it's not okay if I want to do the same for you?"
"Because I'm afraid," she admitted.
"Of what?"
"I don't want you to resent me."
"Now you're just being stupid," Damon said.
"Excuse me?" Elena took a step back to stare at him.
"Well, you are. How could I ever resent you? I get to share a life with you."
"But it is only one life."
"That's all I ask. That's all I want. One life with you."
Elena chewed her lip, so tempted to believe it. She had one last card to play. "I have one condition."
Damon looked at her with suspicion in his eyes and motioned for her to continue.
"You need to tell Stefan."
"Why?" Damon whined.
"Because deep inside you know he has the power to talk you out of it. And as long as you haven't listened to what Stefan has to say about it, you can't be one hundred percent certain."
"I am one hundred percent certain."
"Then it shouldn't be a problem telling your brother, right?"
"Okay, I will," Damon agreed. "He can try his worst. And what if he can't change my mind?"
Elena thought for a minute. "You said you wanted to give me the world? I'll let you."
Damon looked at her, not understanding.
"Show me the world. You wanted to take me to Europe last summer. This is your chance. Let's go. Let's leave Mystic Falls and do all the crazy stupid things we probably shouldn't be doing as humans. You love being a vampire. We'll take that sabbatical, have one last hurrah, and then come back and settle down and be human together."
"Stefan would be relieved," Damon mused, "not having to run into us or listen to us all the time."
Damon smiled and offered his hand for a handshake. "Deal."
Elena surveyed the big hall one last time. Everything seemed in order and guests had already started to arrive. She didn't want to admit it, but she was a little nervous about whether Damon would make it back in time for the ceremony. Stefan had assured her that Damon would be there, but considering that Stefan had tried his worst to convince Damon what a stupid idea it was to become human, one could never be too sure. Elena's eyes subconsciously sought out Stefan's and he nodded at her, assuring her again without words that things were okay. She just had to be patient and trust Damon.
Elena took a deep breath and, seeing as she wasn't needed here right now, decided to return to Jo's dressing room to make sure the bride wasn't going to get a panic attack before the vows could be exchanged. Before she could do so, her body stiffened in surprise as warm lips pressed against her naked neck. A heartbeat later she relaxed and leaned back against the firm body she knew so well. Damon's arms came around her.
"Isn't it against the rules to look more stunning than the bride?" he spoke, warm breath ghosting over her exposed neck.
Elena's eyes closed and she smiled. "You haven't even seen the bride yet."
"Don't have to because you're a vision."
"Speaking of visions…" Elena began.
"Ugh," Damon groaned.
Elena turned around in his arms and slung hers around his neck. She pierced him with a firm stare. "Tell me," she demanded.
"What country would you like to visit first?" Damon asked instead of an answer.
Elena stared at him in disbelief. "You're really going to do this for me?"
"Not for you. For us."
"Are you sure? Really, really sure?" Elena asked, not able to keep the elation out of her voice.
Damon leaned in and whispered close to her ear, "I'm going to tell you a secret. Something I have never told anyone before. Well," he amended, "no one that counted, at least."
Elena pulled back to look at him with a questioning gaze, wordlessly asking him to continue.
Lips almost brushing against the shell of her ear, he whispered, "I miss being human. I miss it so much."
"But—" Elena began, but stopped, not knowing how to finish. She blinked a few times. "You said you couldn't think of anything more miserable—"
"I did," Damon interrupted. "But that's because most people are miserable."
"Then why do you—"
Again, he didn't let her finish, "Because that's not gonna be us."
"How do you know?"
"I don't. But—" He struggled to think of a way to explain it to her. "Elena," he tried, "remember when I came back and you didn't remember us but you placed all your cards on that faint glimmer of hope that there should be something more? Now I'm doing the same. A chance, no matter how tiny, at a happy human life with you is all I need."
Elena's heart skipped a beat. The tiny insecure voice inside her head wanted to scream warnings at her, but the other, louder voice reminded her that Damon loved her, every part of her. She was free to change, grow, evolve and still he would love her. Even if their lives changed, their love for each other wouldn't. She decided to trust that together they could weather anything.
Elena surged up and pressed her lips against Damon's, almost throwing him off-balance. He wrapped his arms tightly around her and pulled her closer, kissing back.
"This isn't really a dress that goes well with wearing the hair down, but… oh, well." Elena tried to straighten her hair into some semblance of acceptable style, her previous artful updo unsalvageable after their roll in the literal hay. Damon just grinned at her comment and reached out to remove some straw from her hair. Elena met his eyes.
She stared at him long enough that he finally said, "I'm not going to change my mind. You and I are taking the cure and that's it."
"When?" Elena asked the question that was on both their minds.
"Whenever you're ready."
"What if I said tonight?" Elena asked.
"Then I guess we'll have one last drink and toast as vampires before it's bye-bye superpowers, hello real life."
Elena looked at him dubiously. "Okay, I don't actually want to take the cure today," Elena admitted. "I actually meant it when I said I wanted to travel the world with you. I guess this was one last test. Sorry."
"Elena, I'm with you on this. Just say when."
"Okay," Elena said and thought for a moment. "Five years."
"What?!"
"Let's give it five more years. Five years as vampires, to do all the things we want. To travel not just Europe, but the world, to finish med school, to go skydiving, to drink without getting drunk… well, too much anyway. To take advantage of all the incredible things we can do as vampires."
"Why?" Damon sounded genuinely confused.
"This is my condition. Five years."
"Five months," Damon countered.
"What? No! This is not a negotiation."
"Looks to me like it is."
Elena rolled her eyes. "You said it is my decision. I get to say when."
"Yeah, I just remembered that you make the worst decisions. So, I'm taking it back."
"I chose you," Elena returned as evidence that not all of her decisions were bad.
"Not sure this argument is helping your case," Damon replied.
"Damon," Elena pleaded, half amused, half annoyed. He seemed to bring out those particular feelings in her a lot.
"Fine. We can talk about it. But make a realistic offer."
Before they could get into it further, Elena's phone dinged with a message from Caroline, as well as several missed calls.