* Second half of the two shot and it still belongs to Lisa Jane Smith, but I'm fine with that. She's one hell of a writer!
January 1st, 1958
The day after the party was blissfully free of experiments, but they were still provided with their blood rations. Damon had kept his eyes trained on Elena the entire night as she slept. For the first time since she had been brought to the basement, she seemed to sleep without nightmares and Damon couldn't help but hope that it had something to do with him.
Enzo, for the most part, had kept quiet about what had happened in the cage when nobody was looking. However, Damon would have been blind to not notice the smirk that he sent the older vampire every time he looked away from Elena.
"Like I said, you can find love in the strangest places, mate."
He didn't say anything at first. He knew that Enzo was right. That he and Elena were right for each other, just not right then. First, they had to get out of there.
"We need a plan," Damon said, leaving no room for argument. "Looking to the future is fine, but we need to get out of here."
Enzo was silent for a while as he stared at his glass of blood in contemplation. "Well, the thing about our daily ration of blood is that it's barely enough for one vampire to survive on. But, if one vampire were to drink two rations every day for the next year, he'd be able to build up his strength so by the time New Year's Eve comes around again, that one vampire will be ready to fight."
Damon's brow creased as he sat beside the small barred window between his cell and Enzo's. "Are you sure that will work?"
"I'm sure I can only try with your help."
"I'll help, too." The two vampires looked over to see Elena, no longer asleep and sitting as close to Enzo's cell as she could manage. Her hands cradling her glass of blood. "One of you will take two rations and I'll split mine with the other so he won't be too weak to fight when the time comes. And then on New Year's Eve, before the party when they put us in that cage again, I'll share my blood, like I did last night to make sure he has enough strength."
"Elena, no."
"I don't want to be here," she cut Damon off before he could protest, tears shining in her dark brown eyes. "I don't want any of us to be here any longer than we have to. I haven't even been here a year and it feels like I'm barely hanging on to my sanity. I think the only reason I can even function is because you two are helping me through this. Let. Me. Help."
If there was ever a time when Damon had been able to draw a clear line between Katherine and Elena, this was it. Sure, Katherine might have been beautiful, sexy, and seductive as hell. But Elena was all those things without being complicated and selfish; and she was kind. She was willing to give up half of her blood to one of them and let the other feed on her to give all of them a chance at escaping. If it had been Katherine in these cells with them, she would have insisted on both Damon and Enzo giving up their blood rations to her, and then on the night of their escape, probably would have run out on them without looking back. But not his Elena. She would fight and sacrifice everything to get the three of them out alive.
Enzo gave a nod, more than impressed by the young vampire than any other person he had met during his entire life. "In that case, we've just got to choose between us." Damon nodded as he set down his glass. "Alright, Damon. We're gonna play scissors, paper, stone to decide." Enzo said turning his body so he was reaching through the bars with one hand, blocking Elena's view.
She could hear their fists lightly hitting the concrete floor. One round. Two rounds. On the third round, there was a pause. One of them had won, but she couldn't see who.
In Damon's cell, he was staring down at their hands. His in a fist while Enzo's laid flat on the floor. "Paper covers rock."
Pulling his hand back, Enzo picked up his glass of blood. "Alright then, a win's a win. You'll lead the way." Damon, stunned by what just happened, watched silently as his friend passed his glass of blood between the bars. "Here's my ration. Now we've got 364 days to get you ready for the party."
At the other side of Enzo's cell, Elena had drank half of her blood ration before reaching to pass her glass over to Enzo. "Cheers." She smiled at him as he took the glass from her hand.
"Cheers," he replied with a kind smile before sipping the rest of her blood.
Damon could barely mutter out his "cheers" as he looked through the bars at the two of them, still trying to figure out what happened. He'd lost, it should be Enzo leading this fight, but he had passed it on to him. It took him a moment to figure out exactly why, and it all had to do with Elena. She was adamant about sharing her blood with whoever was going to be fighting at the next party, despite knowing and recently feeling exactly how personal it is. Which was why Enzo was acting like he had lost, so when the time came, she would share her blood with Damon again. He was putting his trust in him, and he'd be damned all over again if he was about to let them down.
The decision made and his resolve set, Damon drank down his and Enzo's rations. Already feeling better than he had in years.
June 8th, 1958
It had been another hard day for the three of them. All of them had been taken out for the experiments that day. Enzo had lost one of his kidneys and his lung had been collapsed multiple times. Damon had gotten a bit too cocky for Dr. Whitmore's tastes and had his vocal cords cut and fused back together dozens of times so he could watch how they did it at the accelerated rate. For Elena, her father was absent that day, so Dr. Whitmore got his chance to take his scalpel to both of her eyes. When he was done with her, she was blind while being led back to her cell. Her hand instinctively reached for Damon as she was pushed past, and she barely felt his fingers touch hers, but it was enough to keep her going until she could see again.
As Elena sat in her cell, waiting for her eyes to regenerate, she couldn't help but be a little more scared than normal. Every time, she was usually left with at least one eye to see, but this was total darkness and she didn't like it. She wanted to cry, but already knew that the salt from her tears would just irritate the injuries.
So instead, she focused on what the senses she still had. She could smell her ration of blood a couple of feet to her right. She could hear Enzo's labored breathing a few feet farther right and forward. And then there was Damon as he tried to speak, his voice a harsh croak from the abuse he had taken.
Then she heard something else. The radio that was turned so far down that she had to strain her ears to hear what was playing. Louis Armstrong and his amazing trumpet were bringing La Vie En Rose to life. She didn't even realize that she was singing along to the lyrics at first, and when she did, she kept singing. She used to love singing along with the radio when she was in her room at home, why not do it here.
As the song came to an end, she felt the shift in the room. Opening her eyes, she was relieved to find that her eyesight had begun to return. Everything was still blurry, but she could see well enough to tell that Enzo and Damon were both staring at her from their cells.
"You have a beautiful voice," Damon was barely able to get out as he smiled at her.
"You really do, darling." Enzo smiled at her as well, their features coming more into focus by the second.
"Thank you," she said, returning their smiles as she reached to pick up her glass of blood, no longer worried about accidentally knocking it over and wasting it for herself and Enzo. She sipped her half of the blood before moving to pass him the other half. "I haven't done that in a long time."
"Well, I wish you would do it more often. A bit of light in all this pain and darkness," Enzo said as he accepted the glass.
"If it makes you happy to sing, we're more than happy to listen." Damon told her as he continued to smile at her.
Elena could tell that their plan was working. He was getting stronger. And even though Elena and Enzo were a little weaker than before, she was sure that they would survive this. They were already past the halfway point with less than six months to go before the New Year's Eve Party, and then Elena would do her part and they would all be free.
However, she was scared of what it would mean to be out of this place. She had nowhere to go, no idea how to survive in the outside world as a vampire. Best she would be able to do is find some abandoned building before the sun came up so she wouldn't burn to death. Still, whatever was out there had to be better than being trapped in this place for the next 100 years.
Turning her ears back to the radio, she heard Kitty Kallen's It's Been a Long, Long Time and started singing with the music. Worries about the outside world could wait until she got there. For now, they had to get through today, and if her singing with the radio helped her friends make it through, then she would sing every song she knew.
September 19th, 1958
Dr. Whitmore seemed to be a little more focused today, as he only took Enzo with him. This left Damon and Elena alone in their cells, eyes trained on one another as they tried to drown out their friend's screams.
"How different is the world when you're a vampire?" She asked him suddenly, without meaning to.
Damon's lips quirked for a second as he stared at her. "It's better and it's worse. You get to see and experience everything you could ever hope to do, whether you want to see the world or take up painting. You might eventually get bored with something, but times are always changing so you can try something new. You have no limits and you can do everything your heart desires. All it takes is time, interest, and sometimes some compulsion."
"I don't know if I can do that," she told him, hugging her legs a little tighter to her chest when Enzo gave a particularly harsh yell. "Everyone here is on or wearing vervain, so I never had the chance to learn how to compel someone. I don't even know if I'll be able to feed properly when we get out of this place."
"I'll teach you," Damon told her, his blue eyes boring into her as though he had decided that ages ago.
"Really? You… don't have someone waiting on you out there? Someone who misses you?"
Damon shrugged, his blood stained shirt flaking slightly from the movement. "My brother Stefan, he's like us, will probably be glad to see me and thrilled to meet you, but he's not exactly waiting on me. I haven't seen him since New Orleans in 1943. And there was a girl at one time, Katherine."
"I remember you mentioning her before, she's the vampire that turned you, right?"
"That's her. And I've got to say, the first time I saw you, I thought you were her for a minute. But I was wrong." Just as her shoulders began to fall, he gave her a heart melting smile that brought her back along with his next words. "You've become so much more than she ever could be. I'm not going to lie, Elena, I did love her. But you have shown me so much more love and light in this dark place, anyone else would be a cheap imitation."
Tears pricked her eyes as she stared at him, feeling like there would be hope for herself after they escaped this place. "Do you really mean that? It's not just because I look like her?"
Moving towards the corner of his cell that was closest to her, he stretched his arm in her direction. "Every word. God, I wish I could hold you right now. Once we get out of here, you'll never be rid of me."
Not bothering to wipe away her tears, Elena laid down on the floor in a similar way to Damon and reached her arm out to him. "Promise me. Promise me this will be forever."
"I promise." His smile looked strained this time as they heard Enzo's horrifying scream that made both of them flinch. Despite their promises to each other, that would only happen if they escaped this place. They had to survive another 103 days.
December 31st, 1958
It was finally time. Rinsed down and dressed in new clothes; Damon, Enzo, and Elena were taken up stairs and placed in the vervain coated cage. Elena had barely made it inside when Damon had his arms around her and was pressing his lips to her forehead. He wanted to give her a real kiss, but they had agreed to wait until they were free. Enzo was playing lookout while they waited for their opportunity, Damon was already in position with his lips pressed against her neck, anyone looking on might only think that they were holding each other.
The moment Enzo gave the signal, two taps on Damon's arm, his fangs descended and he bit Elena's neck. She barely suppressed her slight gasp, but he heard it and loved that she got pleasure from his bite. His arms pulled her tight against him, hoping that she would feel his body quiver with hers and how much he meant it when he'd said that he wanted to be with her.
He took one more mouthful than he had the year before, knowing that he was not about to take a risk on their freedom and that she would have wanted him to take more. Which he was right about, she attempted to bring him back to her throat but he held back, knowing that she would need her strength when the time came. But like the year before, he lapped up the blood that escaped her skin before the wound could close so as not to draw attention.
It took barely a second for Damon to feel stronger than he had in years. He would get them out of here, they would be free, even if he had to kill every single person in the building and drag the cage outside while he burned everything to the ground.
Another two taps to his arm and they knew that they weren't alone anymore. Damon placed his chin on top of her head as she tucked hers against his chest. Now, he just had to hide the fact that he had his strength back for the next few hours, let himself get picked to give blood again, and keep an eye on whoever had the keys for their cage.
The party was just as terrible as the year before. Elena's parents, he found out their names were Isobel and John, were in attendance again and her mother seemed to be making it her mission this year to make Elena feel as inadequate as possible. From the amount of makeup the woman was wearing, she was probably jealous of the fact that her daughter was now immortal while she continued to age every year. Damon wanted to comfort her so badly, almost as much as he wanted to rip that woman's heart out of her chest and present it to Elena as a gift. But he had to keep a few inches of distance this year. Enzo had his arms around her since the guests had started to arrive, making it seem like Damon was the obvious choice to be brought out for his blood.
When midnight rolled around, that's exactly what happened. Enzo and Elena had moved themselves to the far corner of the cage, allowing Damon to stand between them on his own. Dr. Whitmore didn't even bother to think anything might be wrong as he opened the cage. He didn't notice Damon breaking his hand so he could slide one of the manticals over his knuckles while locking the cage and putting the keys back in his pocket. He only came to notice something was wrong when he was about to take Damon's arm to bleed him.
Damon grinned like a madman for a moment as he wiggled the healed fingers of his left hand beside his face. "Now you see it." And then he had shoved his thumbs into Dr. Whitmore's eyes. Given all the times that the man had carved pieces out of their own eyes, it felt more than fair before he took his fill from the doctor's throat.
"Damon! The keys!"
Even in the throws of bloodlust, he heard her voice. Part of his mind even registered that one of the party guests had knocked over a candlestick and caught the rug on fire. As quickly as the fresh blood in his system would allow, Damon had wrenched the keys from the dead doctor's pocket and unlocked the cage to set his friends free. Then, he grabbed their wrists and broke the chains apart. He wanted them to be mobile so they could get their fill before the building burned down.
Enzo was running the second the chain broke, snatching and draining the first person he could get his hands on. Followed by another and another.
Elena, having never been around this kind of chaos and blood before, was having difficulty focusing on what to do. The veins appeared beneath her eyes as the fangs dropped in her mouth. She heard a familiar voice to her left, past the growing flames, and her eyes quickly locked on her terrified mother. Before Damon could even direct her on what to do, Elena had vaulted over the flames and landed on her mother's prone form. She bit hard on the woman's neck, giving a harsh ripping bite as she drained the blood from a person she once loved.
He watched as she threw her head back from her first kill. Blood dripped down her chin, soaking into her dark purple shirt, as her fangs showed in the raging candlelight. Damon had never seen anything more beautiful and alluring in his entire life.
When a gunshot suddenly rang out and Elena yelped as the bullet hit her arm, he saw red. The other doctor, her father, had returned to try and kill his daughter. Damon had flashed beside him, broken his wrist, and had the gun out of his hand before the man could blink. Then Elena was there, her arm shoved into the man's chest, practically up to the elbow as she held his heart in her hand.
"Elena… Elena, please. Don't… I'm your… father." If it wasn't for their vampire hearing, they might not have heard him begging over the sounds of the fire and the screams of, most likely, Enzo's victims.
"Elena? I'm Elena to you now? For almost two years, I've only been Subject number 23723. And you have only been the man who took pleasure in torturing me in the name of science." Damon watched in satisfaction and a bit of pride when she ripped her arm back with her father's heart still gripped in her fingers. "Be glad that I loved you once and that I'm in a rush, or else I would have made your death a lot worse."
Dropping the heart to the floor like it was a piece of trash, Elena shared a short grateful look with Damon before they both flashed towards the buildings entrance. They were able to catch a few more party guests on their way out, draining them as they gained more strength. Enzo met them there, drenched in blood but looking more alive than either of them had ever seen him.
"Follow me, I know a place we can go for the day." Damon told them, adding a little volume to his voice as the fire got more and more out of control. Taking Elena's hand so they wouldn't get separated, the three vampires flashed away from the burning building in the direction of Mystic Falls.
January 1st, 1959
Damon was relieved that they were easily able to get into the Boarding House. He quickly directed Enzo to one of the spare rooms that had a good shower and clothes while he took Elena to his room. She'd been quiet since they left the burning house, not that he could blame her. The blood lust was subsiding and what had happened was probably catching up to her. As soon as he got her in his room and shut the door behind them, he had her in his arms and his lips on hers. He had been thinking about kissing her for over a year now and he didn't want to wait a second longer.
Their first kiss was hard, needy and bloody, and that suited him just fine. She moaned against his mouth as her tongue pushed its way past his lips and to massage his own. This was everything he could have wanted. He was just so thrilled to be free, have her in his arms, while somehow having his humanity still intact after over five years of torture.
Breaking the kiss, she barely panted out the word "shower" before earning a nod from him as they stumbled to his en suite bathroom. He broke away from her long enough to turn on the taps before they began ripping off each other's clothes in a fury of need. Stepping under the spray, the water turned pink as it sent rivets down their bodies, washing the reminder of their kills literally down the drain.
Damon couldn't keep his hands off of her. All those nights, unable to touch her or kiss her, it had been the doctors' unknown torture. Hearing her cry out while she slept because of her nightmares, he would never let that happen again. He would be there to hold her and let her know that they were safe and everything would be alright. But more than anything, they would protect each other so nothing like that would ever happen to them again.
Once she deemed them clean enough, Elena took a firm grip on his arms and flashed them over to the bed with her landing on top of him. Her lips quickly found his again as he touched and caressed every inch of her skin that he could reach. Her body was that of his own personal goddess and he planned on worshiping her for the rest of his existence.
When she hesitated, seeming unsure of how to proceed, he flipped her onto her back while he hovered overtop of her and continued to tease her skin with his lips. The scent of her arousal filled the room, making his head spin as one of his hands reached down to spread her lips apart. He groaned, at the feel of how wet she was for him, giving a few light strokes with his fingers before pressing them inside. Her body bucked under the attention but he didn't slow down, and she didn't seem to want him to either. His fingers pressed into her more insistanly until he had prepped her enough and she was panting in need beneath him.
Just as he was about to enter her, she cupped his face between her hands. A feather light touch that made him pause as her eyes met his. "Promise me this is forever."
"I promise." This time giving her the smile he wished he had been able to give her all those months ago, one that she was able to return with a force that made her body shutter. The kiss he gave her as he entered her was soft and affectionate. It was the promise that he would love her forever.
As he started to move, she broke the kiss to moan his name. Her nails gripping his arms with the kind of desperation that made him think that no one had ever properly worshipped her body. Not any more, he would make sure that she always knew how beautiful, sexy, and alluring she was to him. Gaining speed in his thrusts, she started moving her hips to meet him, causing him to moan in response. He changed his angle slightly so his pubic bone would rub against her clit, and she was so close already that the barest stimulation to that bundle of nerves had her tumbling over the edge.
Elena's inner walls squeezed him the most delicious way, practically sending him back into his frenzied state as he pulled her off the mattress and into his lap while he continued to thrust into her. But he wanted more, he needed that extra connection that they had done twice but never in the right situation. After giving her another hungry kiss, he guided her mouth to his neck with a clear intention of what he wanted.
There was the barest of hesitation when he felt her fangs lightly play against his skin before she bite down in a firm bite. He moaned her name as the ecstasy of finally being able to share his blood with her shut out everything else in the room, the house, and the entire state. With one hand cradling her head and the other gripping her hip, Damon thrust up into her as fast and hard as he could. He lost his rhythm as he felt her come apart around him for the second time and lost himself inside her, giving him a sense of peace that he hadn't felt since he became a vampire.
When Elena pulled her head away from his neck, he couldn't help but stare at the creature he held in his arms as his own blood painted her lips a beautiful, movie star red. His hand gently moved her hair behind her ear as he leaned forward for a gentle kiss that she eagerly returned. They sat there for a long while, her on his lap while he remained inside her, before he carefully laid her back on the mattress and continued to hold her in his arms.
"What happens now?" Her quiet voice asked, eventually breaking the silence. "I've spent so long focused on the three of us getting out of that place, I'm not sure what to do next."
Damon smiled against her skin of her shoulder before kissing his way up to her lips. "For now, we're going to rest here for the day until the sun goes down again. Then you and I are heading to New Orleans. I know some witches there and I want to get you a daylight ring sooner rather than later."
"Daylight ring?" Her dark eyes trailed over to the signet ring that he'd always worn. "You mean, I could-"
He cut her off with a lingering kiss that made her smile. "I'm not going to let you be trapped indoors for half of your life. I've already got plans for us. Breakfasts at cafes in Paris, driving through the mountains at sunset, seeing you in a swimsuit on a private beach that I can't wait to get you out of. I'm going to show you the best parts about being a vampire with all the time in the world."
Raising one of her hands to brush her fingertips against his cheek, she couldn't help but stare at him. "I love you, Damon."
Another lingering kiss. "I love you too, Elena."
AN: For this part of the story, I wanted to show a bit more of the connection that formed between Damon and Elena. Whether it was gaining strength from the moment their fingers touched or Enzo and Damon listening to her sing (really beautiful songs by the way, you should really give them a listen), I wanted to establish that they really had fallen for each other. And if this had been how the two of them met and fell in love, I really do think that Damon would have been planning on where to get her a daylight ring right away.
And although I had originally planned on this being a two-shot, I'm adding an epiloge. I decided that I wanted to show Damon and Elena a few years down the road, maybe have Stefan show up and meet her. Should be posting the last part soon, until then, Warm-Fuzzies and please review!