A/N: I'm having so much fun writing this, and I'm loving the reviews. Keep 'em coming! And don't worry, the smuts coming. Hang in there with me.

Chapter 3

Damon couldn't believe what he'd just heard. His eyes caught Elena's for half a second before she cast her eyes down to her lap. He knew what she must have seen in his: wonder and mystification, but above all that, elation.

Love. She loved him. He fought the urge to vamp her up the stairs, push her up against a wall, and kiss her senseless. She couldn't deny her feelings anymore. Not after this. The truth was written right there for both of them to see. The truth was written all over his poor sheets from that insanely hot vision he'd had of her – with her? - last night. Now he knew why it was so hot. It was literally magic. Still, having these visions at night was one thing, but having them in the middle of the day when he was trying to get stuff done was going to be uncomfortable. Just in the last five minutes, he had already had several. Thank God they hadn't been as full blown as last nights had been. Instead, they had consisted of quick flashes pulled from last night's vision. And the one where she caressed my face right here on the couch. That one was totally different, he conceded.

Damon looked over at Stefan and knew right away that he couldn't admit that the visions were already taking place. Elena would hate him, for one. But mostly, it wasn't anyone else's God damn business. He had to get rid of everyone else so he could talk to Bonnie and Elena alone.

"Let's just say, for the sake of argument," Caroline delicately began, "that the spell works. What can you do to break the spell?"

Bonnie looked uncomfortable again. Why did you call everyone here for this? Why didn't you just ask to talk to me and Elena? Damon chided her in his head. Bonnie finally relented, "You can't break the spell."

Stefan didn't miss a beat. "There's always an out, Bonnie."

"Now, I didn't say there wasn't an out, Stefan. The out is actually built into the spell. You just can't break the spell any other way."

Understanding dawned on Damon. He knew exactly what was about to come out of her mouth.

"The couple has to consummate their relationship in order to break the spell." She said too quickly, looking away into the empty fireplace.

Damon spared a sideways glance at Elena, noticing immediately that she was obviously flustered. He couldn't help it. He knew he should rip his eyes away, say something to the group, distract them, disperse them, but he just couldn't. Instead, Damon found himself envisioning rubbing his thumb over her crimson cheek and kissing her jawline until…

Elena squirmed next to him. The motion didn't do anything to help dissipate the fantasy beginning in his head. On the contrary, it only fueled him on. He imagined grabbing her by her hips, pulling her over to straddle him, having her wiggle on top of him instead of…

Elena's breath hitched next to him and she began unconsciously rubbing her neck with one hand as she gripped the couch cushion with the other.

Bonnie's eyes narrowed at Damon and Elena. Something was up, she was sure. Damon, usually confident and bossy, was suddenly very quiet. And Elena hadn't said a word in quite some time. In fact, she looked dazed. Maybe that was to be expected though, considering everything she'd just told them. Still…"Ok, everyone. There's not much we can do about this now. We don't even know if this ridiculous spell will work. No use worrying about it at the moment. I like Damon's original plan. Let's find out what Klaus has up his sleeve and do something about it. Caroline, let us know as soon as you have any information. In the meantime, let's all just do our best to act like everything is normal. We'll all talk soon."

With that, everyone began to disperse. Matt and Jeremy left for work. Tyler walked out with Caroline, heatedly discussing just how much she should flirt with Klaus in order to get the goods. Stefan sighed and walked up to Bonnie. "Hey. Do you mind if we head back to your place. I thought maybe we could go through all the grimoires. Maybe we can find a loophole to this spell that you haven't thought of."

Gently, Bonnie touched Stefan's arm while waiting for him to look at her. Once she had his attention, she whispered, "Stefan, there isn't another way. I promise you."

"I know you think that, and maybe you're right. Just give me this. Please, Bonnie," he implored, pleading with her. "Just until Caroline finds something out and we can get a real plan together.

"Ok, Stefan. Sure. I'll meet you there in five minutes. I just want to talk to Damon and Elena real fast," Bonnie said, dismissing Stefan from the room. He walked out without even looking at Damon or Elena.

With everyone leaving, Elena took the opportunity to spring to her feet and move as far away from Damon as humanly possible without seeming obvious. Ok, it has probably been pretty obvious. But her love for him had all but been exposed in the last five minutes. She had been trying her hardest to push the feelings away for so long that now they were laid bare, she didn't know what to do. She had never really even admitted her feelings to herself, much less to all her friends. And Damon himself, of course. Ugh. And Stefan! And to top it all off, she was horny as fuck. She'd just been having one of the visions. She was straddling him, right there on the couch, grinding her hips into his erection. The vision had dissipated as quickly as it had come, but she had to admit she wanted more.

When the room had officially emptied, Bonnie started to speak, but Damon held up a hand to stop her. He counted down silently on his hand from five, waiting for all the vampires to be far enough away that the next part of their conversation would not be overheard.

When Damon gave the all clear, Bonnie didn't miss a beat, "So when did the visions start?"

Elena's cheeks flared red once again.

"Last night," they both answer in unison.

"Ok," Bonnie said calmly, casting a sympathetic look at her best friend, "from what I understand, the visions progress through stages. I'm not sure how each stage differs, but I do know that each vision is shared between the two of you and each one is, well…is intimate." She cringed at the last part of her statement before moving on. "The only other thing I know is that the visions won't stop until you stop them." She glanced at Elena, hesitating only slightly before making her next suggestion. "Maybe you guys could just go ahead and get it over with, then we can get back to focusing on what's important."

"Fuck yea," Damon said immediately. He had foreseen where Bonnie was going with her little therapy session, but he also knew that Elena would never go for it. Not that easily anyway. That wouldn't stop him from having a little fun with the idea though. In fact, now that Bonnie had brought up the idea, he couldn't get it out of his head.

Damon glanced over at Elena. She still wasn't meeting his eye. Great sign. She didn't even know how hot she was, standing there all vulnerable and unsure. He wanted to throw her down on the couch and bury himself in her neck. He wanted to run his hands up and down her sides until she sighed with pleasure. He wanted to unzip her skinny jeans and peal them off her, spread her legs wide, and taste her with his tongue.

Damon vaguely noticed Elena's heart rate had increased and her breath had shorted, but he was too busy thinking about what they could do to concentrate on what was actually going on. Then Bonnie's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Elena, are you having a vision now?" she asked, concern plastered all over her face.

"No," Damon started to say, but then he noticed Elena nodding yes as her breathing began to return to normal. "I was," she admitted sheepishly. "It's over now, I guess."

"But I wasn't…" Damon trailed off. He wasn't having an unbidden erotic vision like he'd had the night before, but he was most certainly having a fantasy of Elena. One of his very own creation. A thought struck him. "Elena," he snapped, authority coating his voice. He knew it was the only way she would listen. "Fantasize about me," he smoldered.

"What?!" She was definitely looking at him now, face aghast, eyes blazing. "Damon, we don't have time for your games. I think we have enough erotic dreams floating around without me purposefully-"

"Elena, you don't understand," He pleaded, wanting to stand up and grab her hand, but not wanting to remove the pillow covering his hard on. "I wasn't having a vision just now. I was just fantasizing about what Bonnie had said. I was imagining you under me on this couch. I was picturing licking your-

"Ok, we get the picture, Damon," Bonnie scolded.

But Elena's face went ghost white in an instant. The lustful moments he had depicted were the exact ones she'd been experiencing just a few moments ago. "So what you're suggesting is, whenever one of us fantasizes about the other, it becomes-"

"It becomes a shared fantasy," Damon finished.

"Fuck," Elena didn't curse much, but right now it was pretty warranted. Damon would know every time she accidently let her mind wander to thoughts of him. And she wouldn't be able to escape whenever he let himself think of her. Her eyes widened in horror as she realized she had been thinking of him in compromising positions just minutes before. And he knows I was. Oh, God!

"No, no, this is good," Bonnie said excitedly.

"How on earth is this good, Bonnie?" Elena's voice rose an octave as she tried and mostly failed to hold off the hysteria rising within her.

"Don't you see? You guys can control it. If you are the ones initiating the shared visions, then you don't have to have any at all. Just don't think about the other person in that way, and you'll be fine," She assured.

"Yea. Fine." Elena said in a small voice, sounding nothing close to fine.

"I've gotta go, Elena. Stefan's waiting for me. Do you want me to tell him any of this?" Bonnie asked Elena.

Instead, Damon answered caustically, "No, Bon-Bon. What, were you seriously born yesterday? You absolutely cannot tell my baby brother any of this. He's been through enough, don't you think? Just go over there, placate him with smiles and reassurances. Pretend to look through a few spell books, and Elena and me will handle the rest. Got it?"

"Fine." Bonnie reluctantly hugged Elena goodbye and walked out the door.

And just like that, they were alone. Elena sighed and ran both hands through her hair as she paced in front of the fireplace. Fucking Damon, Elena thought angrily as she noticed that Damon still hadn't moved from his spot on the couch. How the hell is he staying so calm, she wondered. She was a wreck. Ok, Elena. You're an adult. Well, basically an adult….Ugh! The man you're in love with just found out how you feel about him. What are you going to do?

Elena's thoughts were racing. She clearly hadn't been ready for this confession, yet she didn't want to screw things up between them now that it was out in the open. She stopped pacing and turned to look at Damon head on. He was deep in thought, gazing off into the distance, but when he noticed Elena still across from him, he returned his attention to her.

Coming to sit next to him again on the couch, she cleared her throat in preparation for a speech, but he held a finger in front of her mouth.

"Elena," his soft voice sent shivers down her spine, "you don't have to say anything."

She grabbed his finger from her mouth and briefly thought about licking it. Damon smirked and Elena flushed as she realized he had experienced that thought right along with her. She ignored it, though, and clasped his hand in hers instead. "I want to," she said simply. Then she took a deep breath and confessed. "Damon, I think I've been in love with you for a very long time. It's just never that easy, is it?"

He shook his head but didn't interrupt her.

Elena continued, "You told me once that we were right together, just the timing wasn't right. I think you were spot on, Damon. I know you don't want to hear this. I know you're sick of Stefan getting in your way, but-"

"Elena, you're wrong," Damon whispered, giving her hands a reassuring squeeze.

"About which part?" She asked genuinely.

"About Stefan. He's my brother, Elena. I know we can't do this to him right now. Not with where his heads at. We could lose him. I don't want that either." He brought his other hand away to cup her face.

Elena felt relief flood through her body. She was so sure he'd be hurt or even angry. A part of her had been worried about what he would do. Elena couldn't help but remember Jeremy's lifeless body sprawled across her floor not too long ago after a similar conversation. But Damon was changing. And this conversation was wholly different in the fact that Elena returned his love, even if she refused to act on it just yet. He had become her best friend, and in that moment, despite everything going on around her, she felt happy.

Elena smiled over at him, "So what do we do?"

"Well, for starters," Damon began as he leaned in to kiss her forehead, "you've got to stop fantasizing about me when I'm in a room full of people." And with that, he pulled the pillow off his lap. Elena burst into laughter.