With Ric and Isobel safely in FBI custody, Damon feels a little safer walking the streets. After leaving Elena's hospital room, he went straight to his office to write up the story detailing the crimes going on in the Richmond City Hall. His co-workers have joked that he'll get a Pulitzer but he doubts it. Having Elena back is more than he could have hoped for. Richard Lockwood resigned almost immediately after his arrest. His deputy, Tobias Fell was quickly sworn in as Richmond's new mayor.
With the threat eliminated, Elena was released from the hospital that same day. Despite her parent's wishes for her to stay with them for a few days, she chose to go back to her place. He tried there first but she didn't answer so he pulls out his phone to text her.
It takes several minutes but finally he hears his phone ping.
'I'm at Macy's."
He texts her back. "Why are you at Macy's?"
"Shopping duh!"
*Eyeroll emoji* Stay there, I'm coming to get you."
She texts back an emoji with its tongue sticking out.
Damon laughs, drops his phone in the center counsel and pulls into the flow of traffic...
Walking through the store, Damon catches a patch of chestnut hair. After taking a look to make sure no one is watching, he slips into the dressing room with her and drops his mouth to her neck.
She plasters a smile on her face. "Damon," she breathes.
"I couldn't resist," he nips at the soft spot between her neck and shoulder. She answers his ministrations with a moan.
The saleswoman interrupts to ask if Elena if the pair of jeans is to her liking.
"They're great, thanks," Elena calls back. She peers up at Damon. "How did it go with your editor?" she whispers softly, wrapping her arms around his neck to kiss his mouth.
"They're putting out a special edition. The FBI gave me an exclusive interview," he lowers his head and drops his mouth to hers while running his hands under her shirt, over her bare skin which causes her to shiver and smile against his lips.
"That's fantastic, Damon," she puts a small amount of distance between them as she fumbles with one of the buttons on his shirt. Once it's open she slides her hand in and over his chest, teasing the muscles under her fingers.
As much as he doesn't want it to stop, Damon somehow seizes enough self-control to do so.
"You're no fun," she pouts and closes the button.
"I'm lots of fun..."
"I'll be out shortly," she swipes her tongue slowly across her lips in a tease.
"You do that, I'll wait outside," he kisses her forehead and slips out of her changing room, much to the shock of the saleswoman whose mouth drops considerably.
"Sorry, I thought it was the men's," he shrugs his shoulders and walks away...
Having arrived home before Damon, Elena takes a nice long bath. Hearing the snap of the bedroom door, she removes the stopper. When the last of the water is gone, she steps out of the tub, bracing herself against the shower wall for support and covers herself in the robe she'd left on the sink counter. She looks at herself in the mirror and throws her hair up in a messy bun before turning and entering the bedroom.
Damon is sitting on the edge of the bed with a towel cinched around his waist watching her intently.
She moves to stand between his legs and threads her fingers in his hair. When he doesn't react, she leans down to kiss the crown of his head before turning to throw some clothes on.
His hand shoots out, grabbing her wrist and turning her back to him, his eyes locking with hers.
"You weren't wrong, Elena."
"About what?" she asks, her eyes meeting his.
"My indifference when we were together before. I'm sorry, I never meant for you to feel less than you are. I love you, Elena," his lips press a tender kiss into her palm.
Before she can form a coherent reply, she's laying on the mattress beneath him, their bodies pressing together intimately, his lips devouring hers. She responds without hesitation, kissing him back with all the pent-up tension of the past several days. Laughter inexplicably bubbles up from inside her. He laughs with her between kisses, his thumbs gently wiping away the tears of joy that stream down her face and into her now-loosened hair.
Laughter quickly gives way to inarticulate sounds of pleasure when he unties her robe and begins to run his hands across her naked body. She arches her back, pressing one breast into his greedy palm while he works the nipple of the other with his tongue and teeth, teasing it into a painfully pleasurable state. He runs his other hand down her side, over her bottom, giving it a firm squeeze before drifting lower to hitch her thigh up and around his waist. She drapes her other leg around him, digging her heels into his ass and rocking their hips together. The towel still wrapped around his waist delivers a jolt of delicious friction against her already hypersensitive clit'
"Damon," she moans, tugging him up by his hair to meet her lips again, their tongues slipping against each other's as their hands continue to reacquaint themselves with the dips and curves. She uses her feet around his waist to toe off his towel, the both of them groaning into each other's mouths when his erection comes into contact with her hot wet center, and she wrangles a strangled hiss from between his teeth when she skirts a hand between their bodies to take his length in her firm grip and guide him to where she needs him.
He thrusts into her slowly at first, and then at a steadier pace once they find their rhythm together again. Letting her head fall back as he kisses and nips his way down her neck, she closes her eyes and revels in the feeling of having him wrapped around her, inside her - the heat between them chasing the chill of loneliness from her veins.
As their movements become more frantic, she clutches his ass and then this shoulders, meeting him thrust for thrust, while he snakes one hand behind her back, pulling her chest tight against his, and the other tangles in her hair, bringing her head up from the mattress edge and level with his again.
When she re-opens her eyes and meets his clear bright blue ones, they are burning with the love and conviction. With one last passionate kiss, she brings them both to the edge of ecstasy, and they fall over it together.
After several minutes of silence lying in each other's arms as they come down from their release, he lifts his head, propping his chin up on her breastbone. He's wearing that lazy smile...he's happy. Her heart swells, and she's helpless to stop the smile that is surely threatening to break her own face in two.
He kisses her nose then gets up to use the bathroom. When he returns, he throws the comforter over them and settles back against her side, draping one leg over hers and pulling her mostly back underneath him, a possessive arm wrapping tightly around her middle. He uses his other hand to brush back her hair, intent on nuzzling into the side of her neck.
"This is nice," she sighs happily, snuggling close against him and weaving her fingers through his hair once more. Elena's back home where she belongs, nestled in his arms...
"Morning," Damon pads into the kitchen and kisses her cheek.
"How'd you sleep?" she turns to face him.
"Heavenly," he waggles his brows at their extracurricular activities from the night before.
Elena squeezes her legs together. "Have some breakfast, I'm going to shower then we have someplace to go," she winks, swaying her hips as she leaves the kitchen.
"Where we going?" Damon glances over at Elena as she pulls to a stop when the light turns red.
She checks her watch, "I've still got two hours to get you to jail, looks like I'm going to get that check."
Damon's eyes go wide. Just as he releases his seat belt and grabs the door latch, the light turns and Elena pulls forward into the flow of traffic. When she's forced to slow down because of congestion, the door flies open and he bolts.
"You've got to be kidding me," she grips the steering wheel tighter, looks into the rear-view mirror, backs up slightly and makes a hard-right turn, following in pursuit. It doesn't take long. When she sees him, she quickly parks and takes off after him. Damon stumbles with Elena at his heels. She lunges at him, brings him down and snaps on a pair of flex cuffs.
"I'm not going without a fight. "
"Well that's not obvious," she rolls her eyes, pulls him to his feet and leads him back to the car, where she gives him a shove to get in.
Once they arrive at the police station, she walks Damon up to the clerk, both of them looking a mess after their scuffle.
"10 am. Easy-peasy," she nudges Damon.
He ignores her and looks up at the clerk. "I'd like to turn myself in."
"Stop talking."
"I shouldn't have been arrested in the first place," Damon gives her a smug look.
To shut him up, Elena grabs his shirt and kisses him. Time stops for a moment when he kisses her back. When they part, she hands him over to the clerk.
"See ya, Damon," she winks as he's led away.
With a smile on her face, Elena exits the station, passing some cops on their way inside.
"You're Gilbert's new bounty hunter, aren't you?"
"What's it to you?" she narrows her eyes in on him then starts down the stairs.
"All of you are low life's," he gives her a scornful glare.
Elena stops in her tracks, silently mulling the pros and cons. "Ah, what the hell," she turns around and walks back to the one named Maxfield. Curling her hand into a fist, she rears back and smashes him in the face.
Damon's trying to find a clean place to sit down when Elena is thrown in the cell next to his.
"What happened?" he looks at her incredulously.
"Well it's like this, I couldn't let you spend our first day back together alone. Besides, I didn't really have any plans other than collecting my check and having a nice glass of wine."
"I'm touched that you'd give that up for me," Damon can't stop the smile from forming on his face.
"That's just the kind of girl I am. Now get over here," she crooks her index finger in a come-hither motion.
When he's in front of her, she pushes her hands through the bars and pulls his mouth to hers.
Whatever he was going to say next vanishes from his mind the instant her lips slam against his. All that exists, all that matters, is Elena. His mouth moves insistently, ardently in time with hers.
Despite their circumstances, his kisses are consuming her like wildfire. So much so that she doesn't hear the key being inserted into the lock or the creak of the hinges as the cell door opens.
"Okay that's enough. You're free to go."
"How?" Damon looks at him flummoxed.
"Apparently you have friends in high places. Now get before I change my mind," Chief Jordan commands.
"Yes, sir," Damon salutes the man, grabs Elena's wrist and they hurry out of the building...
Several months later:
"I made a cool $2500. today," Elena recounts a particularly satisfying capture of an FTA.
They're laying comfortably on a blanket outside on their deck, watching the night sky. Damon happily listens to her tell him about it while running his palm the silky soft skin of her flat tummy.
"It's bedtime, Miss Gilbert aka my favorite bounty hunter," he moves to hover over her.
"Mrs. Salvatore you mean," Elena corrects him.
He trails his mouth along the side of her face, ghosting his lips over her cheek.
"I thought you wanted to keep your professional name?" he raises an eyebrow in a tease.
She doesn't answer, and he doesn't press. Sometimes, words are both insufficient and superfluous. Instead, he covers her mouth with his, and for one long moment, they melt together. Their breaths becoming one.
Damon grins to himself when he presses a kiss to Elena's hairline, the deck light flickers, but stays steady, an echo of what his own heart is doing inside his chest...
THE END.
Thank you all for your support. You're all amazing.
Chapter title: 'Jailhouse Rock' by Elvis Presley.
Coming soon 'Waiting For A Star to Fall' for DE holiday 2020: He was a force of nature that she wasn't ready for. He was gravity and she was caught in the pull- His was a world she was desperate to escape. They say you never forget your first love. She remembers the way he whispered her name when he touched her, and the taste of him on her lips. She remembers everything.
Have a wonderful day and thank you again.