This idea has been stuck in my head pretty much since the last episode. I had notes on my phone about it and whenever I had a chance, I would write little snippets. Finally, I just decided to go for it. This will probably be about five or six chapters. The title comes from a song by Ed Sheeran (I'm pretty much in love with his album and it's perfect to write to for me) Anyway, here it goes. Please let me know what you think about it!

You will never know just how beautiful you are to me

But maybe I'm just in love when you wake me up

-"Wake Me Up" by Ed Sheeran

Elena shut her eyes tight, fighting the urge to bury her face in her hands and cry. She could feel Bonnie's worried glances every so often but Bonnie hadn't said anything yet. The ride had been painfully silent as each mile pulled them further from where they both wanted to be. At least Bonnie knew where she stood with Jeremy, at least Bonnie had hope. Elena just knew that she was further than ever from the man that she wanted, needed, to be with and it sucked.

Still, Elena couldn't bring herself to begrudge Bonnie her little bit of happiness. Bonnie had suffered as much as any of them and if there was anything that Elena had learned, it was that you had to hold on to the people close to you and make each moment count. She was undeniably jealous though, Elena could feel the jealousy in her very bones. How could it be that just two days ago, she was deliriously happy and so sure of what she wanted and now everything was up in the air because of the sire bond? Contrary to what Damon had said, she knew he wasn't happy about sending her away and she was absolutely miserable.

In some ways, she was grateful that Damon had invoked the sire bond. Now she was conscious of that it felt like to be controlled but the bond and that meant that she could try and fight it. She had already managed a small victory with their goodbye kiss. Every cell in her body had been screaming at her for her to get in the car and go but she'd still managed to kiss him goodbye. That was progress in her book and at this point, she'd take anything she could get. She couldn't lie, things were looking pretty grim right now but they were Damon and Elena. They survived, they always survived. This time though, Elena wasn't content with just surviving: she wanted them to thrive.

"Elena, do you want to stop and get something to eat?" Bonnie asked, her voice tentative.

Elena shook her head, opening her eyes to meet her best friend's inquiring gaze. Food still tasted slightly off to her. Her vampire taste buds hadn't quite adjusted yet and the only thing that really tasted good these days was blood. She would feed when she got home; the boarding house had plenty of blood bags. Tears threatened to fall again when she realized that she would be all alone once more. No Damon beside her in bed, no Jeremy in the next room over, not even Stefan down the hall since he'd been avoiding the boarding house lately. Elena turned her head to stare out the window, sighing as she saw the familiar "Welcome to Mystic Falls" sign that signaled their entrance into town.

On their way back from the lake house as kids, Elena and Jeremy had always been sad to see that sign because it meant their vacation was over. It was one of the few things they'd agreed on because when they were younger, they fought constantly. It drove their parents crazy but it wasn't until Elena was about eleven that they actually got along. Before then, he'd just been her dopey, slightly dorky baby brother and she'd been his overbearing older sister. Oddly enough, Elena attributed a lot of the change in their relationship to Harry Potter. Jeremy had received the first three books from their father, hoping that it would encourage Jer to read more. Of course, Elena had been the one to read them but Jeremy had gotten interested too and they began to read the books together. It was funny to think how enthralled they'd been with magic back then considering now she was a vampire and she was sitting in a car with her witch best friend. Elena had always been fascinated with the charms and spells, thinking about how easy magic could make life. She didn't see the complications like Jer did. He'd always point out how there was almost a downside and how dark magic could be. Like the Imperius curse….being completely at the will of whoever cast the spell. Now she was under her very own Imperius curse with no real prospects of being freed except to stay away from Damon. It wasn't as thrilling as it had been when it was just a story in a book.

Elena snorted, shaking her head slightly as she realized that she was actually comparing her life to Harry Potter. Still, it did give her an idea…

"Bonnie, do you have to go home right away?" Elena asked, facing Bonnie once more.

Bonnie looked slightly surprised that Elena had actually spoken but answered quickly. "No, my dad's out of town. Why?"

"Can you help me with something? I have something I want to try but I need your help."

"Anything," Bonnie promised with a nod of her head.

Elena felt the urge to hug her friend tight but Bonnie was driving so she settled for a faint smile. If all went according to plan, she could be free from the sire bond which meant she could be back with Damon.

He'd done it. He'd actually sent her away. Damon had been standing in the driveway for hours after Elena left with Bonnie, staring out into the darkness where he'd watched their taillights disappear into the night. He could still feel the softness of her lips against his from when she'd kissed him. He had officially turned into one of those whiny, lovestruck idiots that he literally used to eat for breakfast and all he could think was how much he wanted her in his arms.

He'd always wanted it to be real between them, that's all he ever wanted. This damn sire bond was literally ruining his undead life. See, he'd finally had Elena, the girl he loved, mind, body, and soul. Only it turned out he had more of her mind than he originally thought…

"Damon."

He turned around at the sound of his name and saw Jeremy in the doorway. Damon eyed him warily, checking for any signs of weapons. Now that Bonnie was gone, Damon wasn't quite sure how strong Jeremy's hold on his hunter stuff was and Elena's brother or not, he wasn't going to be Jeremy's next victim.

"I made dinner." Jeremy said, sounding slightly sheepish.

For a moment, it was easy to imagine that he was just Little Gilbert again, the teenage boy who just weeks ago had proclaimed he could be a badass too. But that boy was gone forever and in his place was a young man whose sole purpose was to kill vampires. Damon wasn't a poet but even he could appreciate the tragic circumstances of the boy who couldn't control the urge to kill his sister and her kind. Jeremy was trying though and that was the sole reason that Damon walked toward the house.

Jeremy had made hot dogs and fries, something that Damon was appalled by. He hadn't eaten hot dogs since at least the 70's. Obviously, Jeremy didn't know what was in hot dogs. Damon ate the fries and opted to grill chicken instead. They ate together in comfortable silence; well, as comfortable as it could be considering the circumstances.

"Tomorrow we'll start working on really getting your homicidal urges under control." Damon said, elbow deep in dishwater.

"You have a lot of experience with that, huh?"

Damon merely smirked and shrugged his shoulders. All he could think was just how wrong all of this was. Jeremy wasn't supposed to be a hunter, Damon wasn't supposed to be at the lakehouse helping Jeremy try not to kill his sister, and Elena wasn't supposed to be sired. It was all wrong but then again, when did things ever go right for Damon? He hadn't even been able to get his one perfect, selfish day with Elena before it'd all been blown to hell.

They passed the rest of the evening quietly. Jeremy tried to fix the tree, Damon dusted and cleaned, and they tried to make small talk but neither was in the mood really. Damon found Grayson's liquor cabinet and proceeded to pour himself a drink. It helped take the edge of the gnawing hunger he was beginning to feel. He was going to have to go into town tomorrow to feed, a fact he would have to hide from Jeremy because there was no telling how that would set off his inner hunter.

"Well, I'm gonna head to bed." Jeremy said finally, feigning a yawn.

Jeremy went to his room and shut the door, leaving Damon alone. He hadn't even thought about sleeping arrangements. The lakehouse wasn't that big. His options consisted of sleeping in Elena's room, the Gilbert parents old bedroom, or the couch. He opted for Elena's room. Last night he went to bed in his room with Elena. Today he was going to sleep in Elena's room with no Elena and no hope of having her with him in the near future. Funny how life could change so much in 24 hours. All he could hope was that things could look better when he woke up.