Emily does her best to help wrestle me into the dress and after a long time of sucking it in and not breathing, I am crammed in.
"You know you're stuck here Miss Elena," she says to me.
"That's the plan Emily. We didn't do all that hard work so I can bust out of it. I also told you already, you can call me Elena. You aren't my handmaiden, you are your own person. I just needed help in the dress-"
"No Elena. I know you aren't from this time. I am telling you, you can't go back. There won't be another comet until-"
"Until the one I used to jump back here. I know. Why are his memories of us from before now coming back. Do you know?"
"Yes. You and Damon are soulmates. While he may not know you, his soul does. His soul remembers you. Because of that, things that remind his soul, they are remembered up here," she points to her forehead, "the memory to bring back them all, will be the one where he falls for you Elena."
"You're saying, if I can trigger a memory that is the specific moment where he fell for me, that will be the one to bring them all back and I will have my Damon back?"
"Yes. But even still, you both are stuck here. And everything you do now, will change everything in the future. If Damon and Stefan don't become vampires, all the lives they saved will be lost."
"But all the ones they took will be saved."
"That is also correct. It's all about choices Elena. Your brother will be a single child. Your friends will grow up not knowing you. There won't be any vampires in Mystic Falls."
"Maybe it's better that all of my family lives without me. If it weren't for me, my parents wouldn't have died. Jer wouldn't be an orphan. Bonnie wouldn't have died. Caroline would never have become a vampire. Tyler wouldn't have triggered his curse. Maybe it is better this way."
"Maybe, but there's no going back now," she says pushing a curl to frame my face. I'm looking at myself in the mirror and I look like a princess. I feel like a princess.
"What if Damon remembers everything and he wants to turn?" I ask her.
"What if because he remembers, and he chooses not to?"
I pick up my dress as I walk down the stairs. Damon got caught up in helping his father with some things so I told him I would just meet him there. I get there and Meg is wearing the red dress we picked out for her and she looks absolutely stunning.
"Elena! You're here! Wow you look beautiful."
"Not as beautiful as you Meg."
"I was thinking, we should go in to town sometime next week. See if we can find anything new."
"It is a date," I'm smiling.
"So Elena, who is your escort tonight," she asks me wiggling her eyebrows.
"Damon Salvatore," I blushed faintly.
"Ooh, is he courting you?"
"I am not sure, he hasn't asked me. Though, I wouldn't be opposed. He took me and my cousin Katherine in because our family burned in the Georgia fires."
"I'm sorry Elena, I didn't mean to pry. It must be so hard. Soon enough the war will be over and it will be nothing but a distant memory."
Damon enters and he looks so handsome. He's smiling and laughing while chatting with the Lockwoods. His eyes meet mine and he gives me the slightest smirk before Meg pulls me up the stairs to get ready for the founder's dance. My name is called and Damon is waiting for me at the end of the stairs, looking at me as he holds his breath just as he did the first time. He purses his lips as his hand touches the small of my back. His icy blue eyes lock with mine as we dance in circles. My heart is pounding. I feel like I am falling in love with him all over again. All these little things we do remind me and it almost is cathartic. He closes his eyes and his grip on me is tighter.
"Damon," I whisper urgently, "you're hurting me."
He doesn't hear me. Instead he grits his teeth and keeps his eyes closed shut. Something is wrong.
"Damon?"
"We need to get out of here," he said in a low voice. He grimaces while he leads us away from the rest of the party. Once we are outside, he collapses on the nearest bench and he's clutching his hair and pulling.
"Damon? What's the matter? What is going on?"
"They're coming back Elena, they are all coming back," he groans.
"Eggplant dinner, kisses in the rain, breaking up, Jeremy's school, getting back together. All of it. I died Elena. I remember driving into the grill. How is this happening?"
"Emily said we are soulmates. She says your soul remembers me. She told me the memory that would bring them all back, would be the one that you fell for me in. You fell for me at the ball, Damon?"
"Yes, apparently. Elena I am so confused. Where are we?"
"1864 Damon."
"Elena!" Meg hollers hiking up her dress and skipping to us, "are you leaving so soon?"
"Yes, Damon isn't feeling well. I think he must have eaten some spoiled food. I'm taking him home to care for him."
"I'm so sorry to hear that. I hope you feel better Mr. Salvatore. Did you want me to send you a telegram Tuesday for our date?"
"Yes, that sounds great. I will keep in touch, Bye Meg."
"Goodbye Elena. Mr. Salvatore," she nods.
We get in the carriage and Damon doesn't say anything to me. He holds my hand but he keeps his eyes trained on the window. We make our way into his room where he loosens his tie and begins to unbutton his shirt. He rolls his sleeves up to his elbows and sits down silently.
"Okay, so how are you feeling?" I asked him eventually breaking the silence.
"What are you Elena? My therapist?" He smirks. It's him. It's really him.
"I feel like I have come back to life, but during an acid trip. What is going on?"
"You don't remember the past two weeks?"
"I do, but I don't know if it's a dream, if I am dreaming or?"
"Well you're not. You didn't make it back from the other side in time. So I got Luke to do some magic to send me back in time. I was trying to go back to that night. Knock you out. Go into the explosion by myself. That way you never died. But, I came back here. Now I am stuck. Emily said I triggered your memories just by being here. She said your soul remembers me so you would eventually too. It's all real Damon."
He sighs and he looks at me. Then before I know it he's grasped my face and is crushing his lips to mine.
"Elena," he whispers.
I can't take it anymore. I unbutton the rest of the buttons and push his shirt off. He wrestles my dress and corset off of me. Before we know it, he's picked me up and we are naked falling on the bed. He's kissing down my stomach, and he trails it back up towards my face. His lips graze my neck and then he's nipping my ear. I can't help but sigh as he enters me. My legs wrapped around him and we drown in each other. I don't think, I just relish every touch of his that sends tingles all over my body.
"I love you Elena," he mumbled against my lips.
"I love you Damon," I muttered against his.
I have no perception of the time that was spent rolling around in the sheets with Damon, but by the end of it, we are laying in each other's arms gleefully.
"I'm hungry," he says after a while, "wait, I'm hungry. I'm not a vampire? I'm not a vampire."
I can't tell if he's upset or happy about this revelation but I offer to make him a sandwich. When I get up, he pulls me back down and gets on top of me laying kisses all over me.
"Don't leave yet Elena," he's smiling at me. A genuine smile. God I missed him. That hole in my chest doesn't even feel there anymore. For once, I feel okay. Happy. Like that first summer we had together.
"So Damon, the question of the hour, do you want to turn into a vampire again?"
"No, I have had my time as a vampire."
"I mean, if you did, we could always turn back. We could go to Nova Scotia, get the cure after we've lived a long life."
"No Elena, let's just finish it here. Grow old with me."
"And what about Stefan? What if Katherine turns him?"
"He made his choices, and as you said, the cure will still be there."
"So it's settled then, we will stay humans."
"And we will live a long, and simple human life."