Today

Damon

"Give me one day to just be with you, the way we could be if our lives were different. It's all I want," Elena pleaded. His eyes bore into hers as he realized what she was asking for. She was covered in flour still, though she'd effectively cleaned her face off on his shirt, she still looked hilarious standing in front of him. Her arms, which were still wound around his torso, constricted a bit, maybe trying to unfreeze Damon as all he could do was stare.

"Please?" She whispered for good measure. Damon reached up a hesitant hand and tucked some stray hairs behind her ear, she almost trembled at the movement. Damon realized in that moment that she was scared. Had he not rejected her once before already? He imagined that was all she was thinking about as she laid her heart out for him to take.

Damon's brows pulled down low over his eyes. It wasn't that Damon didn't want what she wanted. He did. He wanted it more than almost anything, but the consequences of this desire were more than she could even comprehend, and he wasn't sure he could handle what she was asking for now. He was already scared that he would not survive her death as things were now, if he allowed her in further, if he closed the space between them, went on this pretend journey with her, could he ever let her go again? Would he still be able to save his brother?

The pain of losing her was already so immense though, Damon thought, and he was still choosing Stefan. The question flitted across his brain for one split second whether the physical proximity of her would have any bearing now on how much this would hurt, because she was already in his heart, and there was no getting closer than that. And that one second of doubt was all it took to throw the door open in his mind and allow him to bask in all of the possibilities of what she was asking for. The wonder of finally releasing himself from the rigid control he'd kept all of these years, allowing himself to touch her without care, to hold her hand, run his fingers through her long brown hair. All the things he could do with her with just one day. Just one, blissful, fearless day…

Then he was kissing her. He tangled his fingers in her still damp and flour matted hair and pulled her face against his hard. His kiss was unyielding and untethered, exactly opposite of what it was the night before. Elena made an audible sigh into his mouth and he worried for a second that he had hurt her, but she was kissing him back just as ferociously. She wasn't hurt, she was relieved. As he was. How long had she been working to stay aloof? To not give in to temptation just like him? He turned her and pushed her up against the counter as gently as he could in his desperate state of mind. She gasped with surprise but no pain when her back made contact with the counter. Her hands explored the plains of his back, her fingers dipping into the lines between his muscles and then finally under the hem of his shirt. Gooseflesh raised on his skin when her cold fingers contacted his warm flesh. He made a hissing noise between wild kisses.

Damon untangled his fingers from her hair and cupped the tops of her arms, effectively lifting her from the ground onto the counter top. She yielded to his every touch, his every whim. She sat eagerly and then opened her legs so he could step forward and continue their kiss. Her calves wrapped around his waist and her hands came up to tangle in his hair now. She used her tongue to ask for entrance into his mouth. He granted it but took the reins quickly, wanting her to experience what a kiss this deep is really like with Damon Salvatore. As he explored her mouth, and battled her tongue for dominance, Elena moaned and pushed her chest against his, arching her back, granting him even more access to her than he already had. Damon wanted nothing more than to rip her clothes off right here in the kitchen and give her all of him on the counter where they had worn breakfast instead of eating it, but instead he pulled away. Much to young Elena's disappointment, Damon untangled every inch of their bodies and stepped one step out of her reach. She was panting from the moment, a crimson flush peppered her cheeks in excitement. The flour made the contrast between red and white even more appealing. Damon thought there was nothing funny about the way she looked now, she looked absolutely ravishing. He was also taking in gulps of air, trying to calm himself.

"I'm sorry," she said. Damon's brow furrowed. He couldn't understand the apology, what could she possibly be sorry for? But when he looked into her eyes and saw the phantom of the rejection he gave her last night, he knew that it was him who should be apologizing. He stepped back into her embrace, which she granted him with no hesitation. Although her legs did not wrap around him again, they were open enough for Damon to place his body between again. He cradled her face and warmly smiled down into her eyes.

"You should be sorry," he said. Her wounded eyes grew wider and she dropped her hands to her side, the pain already changing her body into a crumpled version of itself. Damon wrapped his hands around her wrists and pulled her arms up to place them around his neck again. He lightly touched her nose with his own in an encouraging gesture.

"Because you keep talking as if the fight is over Lena," he murmured. "Stefan and I have not given up on trying to find a way. We have some options."

"None that you are willing to do, and that are safe for you and Stef," she said. Damon kissed her lightly to silence her argument. She kissed him back with surprised hesitancy.

"One day?" Damon asked, his lips still so close to hers that he could feel her breath. She nodded hesitantly.

"Okay," he whispered. "But when I save you, I'd like you to return the favor. Promise me one day, to show you what life is all about." Elena leaned forward and closed the small distance between them. Her kiss was sweet, grateful even. Damon matched her mood and kissed her back just as sweetly. When he broke away from the kiss she tucked her head into the crook of his neck shyly.

"If you save me," she mumbled. "You can have all of my days."

A wide smile spread across Damon's face. He hugged her tightly against his chest.

"One day at a time," he told her. Because he could, he kissed the top of her head lightly, reveling in the easy way she leaned into his embrace. Then he stepped away from her and lifted her off the counter to place her back on to her feet. Elena took a deep breath and let it out slowly, then her eyes scanned the room.

"You know, you made a real mess in here," she said. Damon's eyes widened.

"I made a mess in here?" He gasped.

"Look at this place!" She exclaimed. "There is flour everywhere, the pancakes fell onto the counter, this is ridiculous. You could have just warmed me up some spaghetti," she couldn't help but to laugh by the end of her scolding. Damon pursed his lips and nodded. He took her hand and led her back around the counter to the bar stool and pushed her into the seat mumbling about it not being all his fault. Her giggles made his stomach do somersaults.

"Well if someone hadn't thrown themselves at me, you'd be sitting here in a nice clean kitchen, eating a proper breakfast," he said. Elena's mouth popped open in a shocked expression. He ambled over to the refrigerator and took out the bowl of spaghetti from the night before.

"But now you're going to have to settle for leftover dinner at five in the morning, on a flour covered countertop," he said in a disappointed tone. He popped the bowl into the microwave. "And that's on you."

"Well," she said, turning her nose up. "It just so happens I like having pasta in the morning."

"Oh?" He asked. She nodded once as he took the newly warmed pasta out of the microwave and put some on two plates. He pushed one over to her and placed one in front of himself.

They ate on the messy counter, slurping up noodles, and bashfully admitting all of the times they'd longed for each other and never said anything. Damon told Elena about the agony he'd felt being away from her when he'd gone to New Orleans all those years ago, and how he hadn't understood then, why it was he was hurting so bad. Elena told him that she was beginning to understand, around that same time, that he meant something more to her, but that she was afraid to even let herself think it. They grew somber when they spoke of all the time they missed, and all the time they didn't have. But that line of conversation didn't last long, Damon wouldn't allow it. Mostly they laughed, and picked flour off of eachother, just happy to be sitting in the moment, knowing what they did now, allowing themselves to feel what they did outloud for the first time in so many years.

Damon would have loved to have the freedom to take her on a real first date, to show her a good time out on the town somewhere and watch her eyes light up at the stars as he walked her back to his car, but even in the pretend world where their lives were different, there were still rules he couldn't break. It was a bleak reminder of their hopeless love, on what Damon hoped would be a triumphant and blissful day. As far as first dates go though, Damon wasn't particularly displeased. It didn't matter to him so much where they were or what they were doing, it was enough for him that he could even sit with her and be open for the first time in eight years. It was untraditional, he had to admit, they got to skip the awkward get to know you questions, and all of the typical shyness. There was none of that between them, because they already knew each other so well. They were already perfectly in sync, and that suited Damon just fine. When they were done eating, and conversation had died off, they began cleaning in comfortable silence. Elena began to clean the dishes, as Damon got to work on the flour explosion. When Elena had loaded all of the dishes into the dishwasher she began helping him with the flour, which led to another mini flour fight, and another round of cleaning. By the time all of the flour was picked up the sun was peeking up over the trees.

Damon paused for a moment, watching Elena look at the filtered light coming in above the curtains. He wondered if she longed to watch the sunrise, which of course wasn't possible in this house, not with him there. He was struck for a moment by the realization that there was indeed a separation between them he would never be able to close. He wondered if she longed to enjoy the sun, and if she longed to do it with him. If, in another life where she doesn't die in four days, if the inability to share the daylight would come between them. Was there actually any version of reality where they got to be together happily? While he was lost in thought, she had wandered over to his side and wrapped her arms around him. The gesture was small, but she did it so smoothly, so comfortably that it shook Damon right out of his thoughts. He'd longed for the kind of physical relationship that Elena and Stefan had shared for so long, one of ease and tenderness and love. He thought it would never be possible, and yet here she was, arms wrapped loosely around him, smiling brighter than the light outside as she looked up at him. He was committed to giving her this one day without any of the complications of their actual life, so he tucked away any thoughts about doomed love and he wrapped his arms around her lightly. Again he pressed a kiss to the top of her head, which was still covered in flour, because it was so delightful that he actually could.

"I'm going to need another shower," she said absent-mindedly. Damon made an appreciative noise.

"Me too," he murmured.

"Let's go shower," she said. And they began to walk up the stairs, each of them still with an arm around each other.

Stefan

Stefan sat in an old leather desk chair in front of a large open window. The sun was filtering through the large glass, warming his face and hands that were resting atop a large oak desk. His white t-shirt clung to his body in a familiar and comfortable way. Stefan hadn't felt the sun on his skin in so long, he thought he should be basking in it, but his mind was racing. It had been almost twelve hours since he left the boarding house. He had only reached Caroline's place an hour or so ago. She had left the door unlocked for him and was merely sleeping in the bed across the room. Caroline had told him that he could wake her up when she got there, that she wouldn't mind, so when he walked into the bedroom to do just that he was shocked to walk in and find her asleep in a splash of sunlight coming through her window. His panic almost made him whoosh over to her and scoop her up to run her to safety, but then he noticed how peaceful she looked, how the sun had no effect on her skin. Then a new wave of panic washed over him as he began to wonder about the curse and whether or not Elena was still alive, but he quickly shook himself out of that fear. This was Caroline's house, if she would have had any reason to worry about the sun she wouldn't have left the window so exposed. Stefan had padded silently into the room, hesitantly working his way toward the light. He tensed for the pain he knew the sun would cause him, but when he walked into the light he was surprised to find that it caused him no harm.

For the next hour he simply sat at the old wooden desk and watched the sun play in the air around him. He tried to busy his mind with noticing the way it bounced off of the wooden surfaces around him, off of his phone, his skin. He knew he should wake Caroline, he wanted to hold her, wanted to feel her skin against his own, lose himself in her so he could stop the turning in his head about what to do about Elena and Damon, but he wasn't quite ready to truly face her yet. In truth, he hadn't physically seen Caroline in over ten years, though he had been in contact with her a lot throughout the time Elena had lived with him and Damon, he was painfully nervous about what she would say and feel when she actually laid eyes on him again. What if she simply didn't feel the same way about him as she used to? What if she had found someone else? He wasn't exactly here on lovers terms, though Damon believed that's what it was. Stefan knew that with his life on the line Damon would never do what was necessary to save Elena. Damon would never put anyone's life ahead of Stefan's, not Elena's and certainly not his own. So Stefan had to take matters into his own hands, but he couldn't do it alone. So he had called Caroline and told her the whole story from beginning to end. He told her about Damon loving Elena, and about him loving Elena too. Stefan told her about Damon's reluctance to turn Elena, despite the fact that Elena was willing, and Stefan theorized that that had something to do with his father's threat now. It never had made much sense to Stefan why Damon was so against that route, but knowing what he did now about Damon's feelings and his father's threat, it made more sense than it had. Him and Caroline were cooking up a plan to avoid all of that, but it was a last resort that Stefan hadn't entirely ruled out. He stood, still washed in the bright early morning sun. He stepped around the desk and walked right up to the window to place a hand on it's glass surface. He had so many questions.

As Stefan was turning these thoughts over in his head he felt two dainty hands slide around his midsection and come to rest on his chest. Caroline rested her head on his broad shoulder and then pressed the rest of her body against him. She sighed quietly. Stefan stiffened and stopped breathing altogether.

"You were supposed to wake me up," she murmured. At the sound of her voice, Stefan thawed just a bit. He put his hands over hers and held them tightly.

"I haven't been here long," he said. He turned around in her embrace and enveloped her in his arms. He held her tightly and ran his hands through her familiar blonde hair. Then he cupped her face and tilted her head up so he could look into her eyes for the first time in a decade. They were impossibly blue, and full of unshed tears, but still undoubtedly overflowing with love for him.

"Caroline," he whispered, then he pulled her in to kiss her. The kiss was hesitant and slow. She was a little reluctant to open up to him, and he was holding back, not wanting to overwhelm her. But then all of the pressure, pain, and fear from the last decade was front and center in his brain and he couldn't hold back the desperate way he needed her. He couldn't hide the need he felt to just be free of all the nuances of his life, all the evil, and just let himself be in love with this wonderful girl who had never let him go in all of these years of no contact from him. His kiss grew hungry, it begged her to let him in, and she didn't fight it for long. Her arms snaked up around his neck and her fingers knotted into his brown hair. She held him tightly against her, pulling her body flush against his. Stefan let out a small whimper of pleasure and just raw emotion as she delicately explored the inside of his mouth with her tongue. When he finally released her mouth they were both panting. Stefan rested his forehead on hers as he tried to catch his breath. Suddenly, her brow furrowed. She gently touched his cheeks with both of her hands and Stefan was surprised to realize that she was wiping away tears.

"Stefan," she whispered. "What's wrong?" Stefan started shaking his head. He wanted to tell her that nothing was wrong. He wanted to say that he had missed her so much it was painful and that this moment, holding her again, in the sun, was more perfect than anything he had ever dreamed of. He wanted to say anything but in that moment he was overwhelmed by his emotions, and the tears wouldn't stop coming, and the more he tried to talk around them, the more out of control he grew. Caroline led him over to her bed and sat him down. She kneeled in front of him and kept wiping desperately at the tears on his face. Stefan became aware of a strange noise and started to look Caroline over frantically thinking she was crying too, but then he realized that the strange noise was just sobs clawing their way out of his chest.

"Stefan, shhh," Caroline cooed. She wrapped him in her arms and held him as he cried. The sobs continued for over an hour and Caroline just held him. He could offer her no explanation, nor could he quiet the noises. He didn't really know the explanation himself. He was feeling all things. Intense and pure happiness to be there with her, to still feel so loved by her. Heart crushing fear and anxiety about Damon's future and Elena's life. Hopelessness and agony over his inability to save Damon the way Damon had always saved him. It was all just too much.

Eventually his sobs did quiet though. Caroline kept running her finger through his hair, and whispering words of comfort every now and then, but for the most part she took the outburst silently until finally Stefan was able to calm himself down completely. They sat in silence for a while, like neither one of them trusted that it was truly over. But then something occurred to Stefan.

"How are we not dead?" he asked quietly. Caroline jerked away from him, releasing him from her embrace for the first time since she woke up, and looked at him like he was crazy. Stefan looked back at her with serious, bloodshot eyes.

"What?" she asked when she realized he meant for her to answer. He used his eyes and head to indicate the sunlight shining through the window. Caroline followed his gaze and then started to laugh.

"I should have warned you about that, it's double paned, UV rays can't penetrate it," she explained. His face remained expressionless as he stared at the window and then her. He nodded, acknowledging her answer. Made sense, he thought with a shrug.

"Scared the shit out of me," he said flatly. Caroline looked at Stefan skeptically and when his tired eyes met hers again she began to laugh. Her laugh tinkled through the room, quietly at first, but then it grew, and then they both were laughing. Stefan pulled her back into his arms, pulling her fully into his lap so she was straddling him and they both laughed for a long time. When they sobered, Stefan stole another kiss, and then another.

"I'm sorry about all of that," he finally said, sounding more like himself. She just shook her head and kissed his forehead.

"Don't be," she said. "I know you've been dealing with a lot lately. And Damon…" she trailed off. Stefan sighed.

"Damon's going to give up everything to save me," Stefan murmured.

"Hey," Caroline said. "No he's not. We are going to figure this out. We'll save her. We will save them both." Looking into her eyes in that moment, Stefan could feel some of his usual optimism return. This time, he was going to be the one to protect Damon, and there was nothing Damon could do to stop him.