Hello! This is a little different. This is not a Mortal Instruments story, which is a first for me.

So, hi TVD fandom! I'm a little late to the party, but DeathCabForMari convinced me to check out the Vampire Diaries, and I fell in love with Delena from the very start. So…I decided to write about it.

Huge thanks for my very best friend, DeathCabForMari, for getting me to watch TVD, and brainstorming with me, listening to me fangirl, and most of all…for not ever spoiling anything. You're the WGG, and I consent to your existence.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, or the song used for the intro.

"As a child you would wait and watch from far away. But you always knew that you'd be the one that worked while they all play." –Warriors, by Imagine Dragons.

Age 9

I was 9 years old the first time they sent me away. I sat in the back of a dark yellow taxi cab while my father gave an address to a man who smelled strongly of cigarette smoke, and too much cheap cologne. The driver gave my father a concerned look when he muttered the words "Behemoth Institution," but pulled out of the driveway anyways.

My parents turned their heads away in shame as I waved at them through the back window of the cab. I had only a 6 year-old Jeremy to acknowledge my departure. He chased after the car, my half-filled diary waving above his tussled brown hair.

"Elena!" I heard him call through my opened window, but it was too late. Father took the small boy by both of his thin arms as we rounded the corner, leaving my most loved possession and my dear little brother behind.

My insides ached. How would I survive without either?

The driver glanced at me in the rear view mirror. "Why is a nice little girl like you headed to Behemoth?

My thin shoulders slumped. "They don't like me anymore. They haven't since the vampires came."

"Vampires?"

I nodded, and we fell silent.

We pulled up to a building that had bars on the windows, and an overly cheerful woman lead me through the corridor, into a room where she searched through my bag for anything I wasn't allowed to have.

My hands absently picked at the hem of my red, flowy dress. "Why don't my mom and dad want me anymore?" I asked.

She smiled warmly at me. "They want you, honey, but they also want you to get better."

My eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. "Better than what?"

"We're going to help you, sweetheart," she told me. I was growing tired of the pet names, but I was too polite to say so. "Soon you'll be able to tell the difference between real friends and imaginary ones. Then the vampire won't bother you anymore."

How did she even know about him?

I looked down at my black flats, then at the large, smudge free window behind her. Damon was there, smiling reassuringly at me. He was there—as he'd always been—watching, waiting, ready to protect me at any moment if the need arose. His cold eyes warmed my heart, offering a sense of comfort like no one else could.

"Damon is real," I boldly declared. "And he's no bothering me, he's protecting me. He's my friend."

That night, in the darkness of my too-white room, my heart beat a little faster every time something went bump in the night. I could hear careless footsteps coming down the hall. They stopped in front of my door, and I crouched further under my blanket. Keys jingled, and the handle turned.

"Damon?" I whispered. "Is that you?"

The smile in his voice was audible when he said: "You didn't think I would leave you in here alone, did you?"

I got out of my bed, reaching blindly for him through the darkness, taking his large hand in both of mine. Damon was my best friend. He swore to protect me from my biggest fear: Katherine. She reached for me from my reflection every chance she got. She looked just like me, aside from the hatred in her eyes. She was trapped behind the glass, but if she could grab hold of me…then she would be able to pull me in, and she could get out.

That's why I had Damon. He was there to scare her away, every time.

"How did you get in here?" I asked. "They said no one could get past security."

Damon squeezed my hands softly. "I have this amazing way of making people do whatever I want them to do. I'll tell you about it one day. I can always get to you, Leney. I promised to keep you safe."

I squeezed his hand back, smiling at his nickname for me. "I'm glad you came in." After a moment of hesitation, I asked him: "Why does everyone keep telling me you aren't real? My mom, my dad, Aunt Jenna, the lady who brought me here, and even Jeremy says you're imaginary. Why doesn't anyone believe me, Damon? You are real, aren't you?"

He chuckled in a way that gave me butterflies. "I'm real."

"Good. I don't want them to make you go away. They said they can make you go away."

"They could," Damon muttered. "If I weren't real, they could make you stop seeing me. But I am real, and I'm stronger than they are. The only way I'll go away forever is if you ask me to."

I smiled. "Then I'll never ask you to."

"Oh!" he exclaimed. "I brought you something."

"What is it?"

The light flipped on and I saw my beloved diary in his free hand. "You forgot this. I thought you would want to have it with you."

I sprung toward him, throwing my arms around his leather jacket-clad chest. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Any time, Elena."

Dear Diary,

Mommy and Daddy weren't just threatening when they said they were going to send me away. I'm really here, stuck in the Behemoth Institute.

I can't believe this is happening.

They said this would be good for me, but I don't think that's why they wanted to get rid of me. They think I'm crazy. They think that Damon is all in my head, but I know he's real. I see him, and feel him, and I can hear his soft breathing as I write this.

I'm not crazy. Damon is real. He's here. He told me he would be here for as long as I need him to be, which is good because Katherine told me she would never go away.

I miss my home. I miss my bed, and I miss Jeremy. I don't think I'll ever stop missing Jeremy. I miss the colors in my room, the music coming from dad's stereo, and even mom's bad cooking.

And unlocked doors.

I especially miss unlocked doors.

I hope you all enjoyed that. Leave a review, maybe? I don't know. Live your life.

I'm always open to suggestions for future plot points. I try to be accommodating to what readers want to see.

-IWriteNaked