Elena didn't think things between her and Stefan could get any worse. He pretty much hated her for choosing his brother over him, he flat out told her that he liked her better when she was a human, and he didn't bother to hide his feelings about her and Damon, opting to tell her to her face how bad of a decision he thought it was.
She didn't think he could get any lower.
Until now.
She was at the Grill with Matt when Klaus showed up. It had been a few days since Kol compelled Damon, so she hadn't been able to spend any time with him. When she had woken up the next morning in the basement that night, she had a brief conversation with a remorseful Damon who assured her that it was better that he was locked up. She went to leave shortly after, only to run into Stefan again who threatened her once more not to come visit Damon again until he was no longer compelled.
Stefan was like the prison guard from hell, and took Damon's phone too so he couldn't 'call Jeremy and try something' as if he even could. Jeremy wasn't able to be compelled now that he was a Hunter. Elena hadn't spoken to Damon in days, and she respected Stefan just enough not to show off her relationship with his brother in their own home.
Then Klaus decided the drop the bombshell that Stefan slept with Rebekah. Stefan claimed he no longer loved her and had moved on, but Elena knew that was anything but the truth. If it was, then he wouldn't have felt the need to have revenge sex.
And she supposed Rebekah really was the perfect person for it. She hated Elena more than anyone and wanted her dead. She probably would have killed her already had Klaus not stopped her.
It was then that Elena knew she couldn't trust Stefan. If he could have sex with the person that wanted her dead the most, then there was no limit to what he'd do.
She had yet to have a word with him on the topic, but she was sure it was coming.
Having lost her desire to talk, Elena said goodbye to Matt and went home. A long hot shower and a bottle of Jack Daniels sounded good to her. Nothing like binge drinking alone since her two friends were busy. Caroline was with Tyler, expectedly given the circumstances, and Bonnie was recently put on a lockdown by her parents. Her mom had showed up for the sole purpose of locking Bonnie in the house to physically keep her away from Shane and expression. It seemed like they really had no trust in their daughter, which was unfortunate considering Bonnie was one of the most loyal people of all.
After spending a good hour under the scalding hot water, she decided to get out only because it was starting to get cold. She towel dried her hair then wrapped the towel around her body and flopped down face first on her bed. Her body felt heavy with stress, and even the hot water couldn't relieve her tight muscles.
She wanted Damon. One night with him and she'd be as good as new, but she couldn't risk him getting out again and she currently had no desire to face Stefan. Begrudgingly, she put on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt then went downstairs to grab a bite to eat. She got the feeling that the house wasn't safe when she spotted the crossbow on the table, and she reminded herself that it wasn't.
Yesterday had been a bust. They tried to put in action a plan to kill Kol so Jeremy's mark could be completed. He blindsided them and demanded to be invited in, which Jeremy had done with the intent of using the white oak stake on him. However, a good opportunity never surfaced and he left. There was no telling when he would attack next, and all they could do was be prepared.
Tonight would have been the decade dance, themed as the 80's, but it was cancelled by Bonnie's dad in attempt to punish her for whatever reason. Stefan was supposed to be getting the dagger from Rebekah to use it on her, but Elena highly doubted that was going to happen at this point. Jeremy was currently at Bonnie's house trying to convince her parents to let her leave, so Elena supposed they'd have to wait and see how that turned out.
It was already late, the sun having set, and just when Elena was starting to get worried, Jeremy walked through the door, noticeably without Bonnie.
"No luck?" Elena asked, crossing her arms.
"Her parents seriously have her on lockdown. It's like Alcatraz over there, but Bonnie told me she'd figure out a way to come over. If we have any hope of subduing Kol long enough then we need her." Jeremy explained, grabbing some leftovers from the fridge.
Elena leaned against the table as she watched her brother inhale the pasta salad straight from the container. All of the real food in the house was his now, so she often found some pretty strange things in the fridge. She claimed the bottom bin for her blood bags as well as one shelf in the freezer while he got all of the other space.
He finished that food quickly then pulled open the closet beneath the stairs to retrieve some stakes and a gun loaded with wooden bullets. She tucked a couple stakes in her waistband just as the doorbell rang and Jeremy said, "That must be Bonnie. She was right behind me."
Elena answered the door, only to come face to face with Kol. She mentally cursed and immediately slammed the door in his face, but he just laughed and said, "Too late, I've already been invited in!" He kicked in the door and stormed inside, "Jeremy, perhaps you and I should go for another round in the batting cages in Denver before I chop off that arm yours?"
While Jeremy aimed the loaded gun at him, Elena threw both of her stakes at him, but he easily caught them both. Jeremy shot him with the entire round of wooden bullets but all it did was slow him down. They ran into the kitchen, but Kol surged forward and drove one of the stakes into Elena's stomach, causing her to groan in pain and drop to the floor.
Using his speed and strength, Kol had Jeremy's arms bound around his back and he laid him on the kitchen island, a butcher knife in his hand. "Now, off with that arm, but don't worry mate, I wouldn't want that Hunter's curse so I'll give you my blood and heal you right up."
Elena finally was able to wrench the stake from her stomach just in time to tackle Kol away from her brother and drive the knife into his shoulder instead. While the two of them were fighting, Jeremy ripped the ties around his wrists with his Hunter's strength and bolted for the sink. He turned on the vervained water, courtesy of Bonnie's dad, and aimed the sprayer at the two of them. Elena, knowing what he was going to do, backed out of the way and Jeremy shot the water at him.
His skin immediately started singing and blistering as he cried out in pain, but it didn't last long. He lunged for Jeremy, and as they were struggling to fight each other off, Elena retrieved the white oak stake from the flour jar where it had been hidden.
"Jeremy!" She yelled as she threw it, and he caught it right out of the air and thrust it into Kol's chest before he could stop them.
Instantly he lit up in flames as he screamed, flailing around the kitchen for a moment before dropping to his knees and falling over next to the table. Their chests heaving, Elena and Jeremy shared a look as his body slowly burned and the flames simmered down to smoke.
They did it. Jeremy killed Kol. His mark would be finished before the end of the night, and they'd be able to go find Silas using Shane.
The two of them watched in silence until Kol's body became unrecognizable and stopped smoking. Jeremy silently retrieved a sheet from the closet and laid it out over him after pulling the untarnished stake from his ashen corpse.
Elena blew out a laugh, "I never thought I'd say this, but good job killing him, Jeremy."
He gave his own laugh, "We did a pretty damn good job. I'm going to call Bonnie and have her meet us at the boarding house. Stefan was getting Silas's headstone for Bonnie's spell, right?"
She nodded, "That's what he said. If everything went to plan, then we'll be traveling to Silas by morning."
Elena, Jeremy, and Bonnie were all waiting in the boarding house for the mark to finish appearing. Jeremy was anxious for it to happen, and everyone could tell.
"What if it doesn't work?" He asked, inspecting the design on his hand and wrist.
"It will." Elena assured him from her seat next to Bonnie on the couch. Jeremy was too anxious to sit down; he was pacing back and forth in front of the fireplace. "It took time for Finn's line to die off. We just have to be patient."
A quick phone call to Bonnie earlier confirmed that she escaped her parents and Elena told her to go to the boarding house instead. They were still waiting on Stefan's return, and Bonnie had released Damon earlier since she got to the house first and filled him in. He had gone upstairs to shower before anyone else arrived.
Jeremy ran a hand through his hair, "But what if it doesn't?"
"Where's that Gilbert optimism?" Damon quipped, sauntering into the room. Elena immediately got to her feet and hurried into his awaiting arms. His muscular arms enveloped her, pulling her against his hard chest. She molded perfectly to his body, her arms going around his waist and her fingers gripping his back. She had waited far too long for this moment.
"I missed you." She murmured into his shoulder.
He ran his fingers through her hair and whispered back, "I missed you too."
Elena closed her eyes a breathed him in one last time before separating, and as soon as they did the front door swung open and Stefan strolled inside carrying the headstone which was really nothing more than a rock.
He dropped his gaze to the floor at the sight of them so close to each other and said, "I got the headstone."
She tried her best not to inject judgment into her tone; she really did, but as she said the words they couldn't have sounded more icy. "So did you dagger Rebekah like we all planned?"
Her tone not even fazing him, he said, "No, I didn't need to. She's on our side."
Damon scoffed, "Oh yeah, sure, just like Klaus is on our side."
Elena cut in, "Oh Damon, did he forget to tell you? The only 'side' Rebekah is on is the other side of Stefan's bed."
He blew out a laugh, "Well done, brother. But just to humor us, tell me, why is Rebekah interested in helping us kill Silas?"
"Because Klaus wants to find some object to gain all of his powers and psychic abilities. He would be even more unstoppable than he is now, and not even his siblings want that to happen." Stefan explained easily.
Damon ground out, "We had a plan to stop Klaus, Stefan! And with Rebekah now snooping around, we're screwed! Or were you too preoccupied bleeding me dry to remember that she's a bitch that can't be trusted!?"
"You bled him dry!?" Elena yelled angrily, her fiery eyes dripping with rage.
Completely ignoring Elena, Stefan said to his brother, "At the least the women I choose to keep in my bed aren't there out of pity."
Without a second's hesitation, Damon's fist flew across his face and Stefan stumbled to the ground. Thankfully, before anything else could happen, Jeremy cried out in pain and they turned to watch as his tattoo slowly crept up his arm and beneath his shirt. He pulled his shirt over his head so they could see the rest of it appear. It sprawled across both sides of his chest before finally, the ink stopped moving and everyone stood there in stunned silence.
They were ready to leave, and after agreeing to wait until the morning, everyone dispersed to their own homes. Well, everyone except for Bonnie. She was staying with Jeremy and Elena so she wouldn't have to worry about her parents doing something drastic to keep her in their house again.
Just as the three of them got inside and closed the door, they heard someone angrily yell from outside, "Where is my brother!?"
Klaus.
Suddenly glass was flying everywhere as Klaus threw a fence post into the window, narrowly missing Elena's head. They all hit the floor as more things flew in the house, breaking the front windows while Klaus screamed at the top of his lungs to let him inside. No matter that it was the middle of the night and the neighbors would be woken up.
Bonnie suddenly said, "Jeremy, invite him in, I have a plan."
She crawled into the safety of the kitchen and the two siblings shared a look before Elena flashed to the door and pulled it open. Klaus paused mid-throw in their front yard and walked up the porch, glaring daggers at her. Jeremy appeared at her side, glancing anxiously back at the kitchen before saying, "Come in."
Blinded by rage, Klaus didn't stop to wonder why they had invited him in. Instead, he stormed into the house as they fled, intent on killing whoever was responsible, until he spotted Kol's body covered by a sheet at the foot of the kitchen table. He slowly approached, unable to see anything else, until Bonnie shouted, "Get him in the living room!"
Elena sped towards Klaus, shoving him as hard as he could until he stumbled into the living room. She immediately retreated to her spot next to Bonnie where Jeremy was on her other side, and as Klaus tried to get near them, he was stopped by an invisible barrier.
"What is this!?" He screamed, pounding against it as hard as he could.
Bonnie confidently crossed her arms, "Don't bother. I put up a barrier spell bound on the new moon. You'll be stuck here for three days at least."
So it looked like the three of them were going to be crashing at the boarding house after all…not that Elena had a problem with that. If it meant cuddling with Damon all night, she'd gladly spend the night there. And there were plenty of spare rooms for Bonnie and Jeremy, but something about the glances they kept sharing made Elena wonder if they were going to need two rooms or one.
Besides, it would probably be better if they were there to make sure the brothers didn't kill each other.
Not listening to a word that Klaus shouted at them, they gathered everything they'd need for tomorrow before piling into the car and driving back to the boarding house. Elena sent a quick text to Damon to let him know and Caroline to fill her in on everything that was happening. She was going to stay in Mystic Falls to keep an eye on things with Tyler, so they could make sure Klaus was still contained as well.
Stefan was nowhere to be seen when they arrived, but Damon was there to greet them at the door. Nobody had the balls to ask where Stefan had gone, and Elena just didn't care. His words still rung out in her mind.
At least the women I choose to keep in my bed aren't there out of pity.
He had no right to say that when he knew Elena was in love with Damon. But it made her wonder if that's what everyone else thought. It felt kind of like she had told everyone but Damon that she was in love with him, but without him knowing, it almost seemed to cheapen their relationship. The lack of love confessions diminished what they had, and Elena decided that there was no more holding off for a so-called 'perfect moment.' Damon needed to know how she felt, now more than ever, because he might even believe what Stefan said was true.
She'd never forgive herself if she didn't straighten out things with him and he lived believing that she was only with him because she felt sorry for him.
Damon said, "Well, make yourself at home, I guess, as if you don't already. Not much people food in the kitchen, but you might get lucky and find something."
Bonnie smiled tightly and Jeremy said, "I think I'm just going to head to bed. Any guest bedroom is fine?"
Damon nodded and Jeremy went upstairs with Bonnie following. Alone for the first time in days, Damon wrapped his arm around Elena's waist while he held a glass of bourbon in his free hand. She pressed her hips into his and ran her hands down his chest, smirking, "Hm, now that I've got you all to myself I seem to be drawing a blank on what to do with our limited time."
"Oh, are you now?" He smirked as her hands lifted his shirt to graze the skin right above the waistband of his jeans.
Trailing her fingertips into his happy trail, she played innocent, "Well…there was one thing I had in mind, but…you probably wouldn't be interested."
As her fingers dipped below his jeans, following the dark hair down until she was barely an inch from his straining erection, he swallowed thickly, "Try me."
She smiled sweetly and removed her hand, wrapping her arms around his neck. She placed a kiss just below his ear then whispered, "Make love to me."
The sound of his glass being set down on a nearby table reverberated through the room. His now free hand tangled into her hair, gently nudging her face out of his neck so he could look at her.
"Gladly," he whispered back before slowly lowering his mouth to cover hers.
He kissed her slowly, taking his time exploring her mouth with his tongue while pouring his feelings for her into his every touch. Her soft skin felt like silk against his hands as they slipped beneath her shirt. Her mouth tasted like cherries and vanilla, intoxicating in every sense of the word. Her needy hands twisting around in his hair, urging him closer, made him pull her body tightly against his.
They kissed deeply and passionately as the fire slowly crackled out in the background, a stark contrast to the fire in their hearts that only seemed to burn brighter. Damon moved his hands down her hips and curled them around her thighs, lifting her into his arms. He began walking towards the stairs to go to his room as she distracted him with her complete and utter devotion.
Sometimes he still couldn't believe that he had gotten the girl. That she actually chose him. That it wasn't some sort of dream conjured up by his masochistic subconscious. That Elena really was in his arms, kissing him like she could never get enough of him.
He loved her so damn much. Maybe she hadn't said the words he longed to hear more than anything yet, but he trusted that her heart was in the right place when she chose to be with him. It wasn't because of pity as his brother had so lamely taunted. Elena was too good of a person to ever lead someone on if her own emotions weren't real. That's why she chose him, not Stefan.
When he finally got to the bedroom, Damon kicked the door closed behind him before slowly lowering Elena onto the bed. He ground his hips into hers, her mouth falling open in a silent moan as her eyes fluttered before closing. He buried his face in her neck, nipping, sucking, and kissing at her sweet spot until her back arched off the bed and she bucked her hips up into his.
He pulled back to look in her face, the tip of his nose brushing hers, and she surprised him by saying the last thing he ever expected.
Her hands in his hair, keeping his face right in front of hers and his eyes locked onto her own, she said, "I love you, Damon."
She watched the emotions pass through his eyes like a beautiful movie. Surprise because the last time he heard some say that and mean it was when his mother was alive. Confusion, briefly, because he still had a hard time believing that it could be true. Happiness as he saw the sincerity in her eyes and realized that she meant every syllable of it. And finally, reverence when he knew that he was never going to be able to let her go.
He opened his mouth against hers once again, showing her with his body how much he loved her rather than repeat the words she's heard from him more often than he cared to admit. With a new sense of pure need, he ripped her shirt open right down the center and her bra met a similar fate until her upper half was devoid of any clothing. She ripped the buttons right off his own shirt and he shrugged out of it, throwing it down to the floor with her ruined clothes. He kissed down her chest between her breasts, stopping briefly to suckle on each nipple before moving further south towards her jeans. He ripped them down her longs right along with her panties, leaving her completely naked for his viewing pleasure.
The curves of her waist and hips, her flushed cheeks and neck as the blood pumped through her veins, her heaving chest, breasts raising along with every breath she took—it was enough to make a man go mad, and it was all his. He quickly rid himself of his pants and boxers and Elena spread her legs to accommodate his hips.
Not wanting to draw this out any longer than it had to be, Damon lined himself up at her glistening wet entrance and bit his lower lip as he slid home. Elena whimpered in appreciation until he stilled inside of her, his entire length engulfed by her heat. He dropped his forehead to hers and braced his elbows on either side of her shoulders, his hands fisting in the sheets as he began a slow, powerful rhythm. Elena gripped his shoulder blades as she held his body close to hers, her legs already trembling from the raw emotion flowing between them.
She was his in every way possible, and he was hers. There was no more Damon and Elena, rather, they were one person, unable to distinguish where they had once been separate. Never before had they felt a connection so intensely deep and beautiful with anyone else.
Elena squeezed her eyes shut, the pleasure quickly working through her body and tingling every last fiber of her being. She breathed in front of his mouth, their foreheads still touching, "I love you," thrust, "I love you," thrust.
Damon let out a shaky breath, his own crystal blue eyes slipping shut as his heart latched onto the words to the point where if she ever took them back, he'd be shattered. Putting more strength into his movements, he surged forward with more force than before as if pounding the words out of her. She continued to pant them, and he basked in them until his heart was so swollen with love that he was sure it would never be the same again. And he didn't want to ever go back to how it had been before.
Elena lifted her hips to meet his every thrust, her release on the horizon as Damon shamelessly chased his own. He felt everything tighten when her walls quivered around him, and a few thrusts later they both tumbled over the edge together, their cries of pleasure blending together into one sound.
Clutching his limp body to hers, Elena slowly caressed his back until she felt him press his lips against her neck and roll off of her. Damon pulled the covers over their sweaty, tired bodies and Elena snuggled into his chest, both of them lying on their sides. Elena's arms were around his waist and she used his bicep as a pillow with her forehead and nose touching his warm chest. His one arm was wrapped around her shoulders while the other was around her waist. Their legs were tangled together, and Elena's heavy eyes were quickly falling shut.
"I love you, Damon…" She murmured sleepily one last time.
Damon smiled and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, "I love you too." She let out a soft little yawn resembling an adorable little kitten, and Damon whispered, "Get some sleep, kitten. Tomorrow's gonna be a long day."
She nodded into his chest and he listened to her breathing and soft heartbeat until they evened out and she fell asleep. He was glad that she was one of those vampires that breathes in her sleep. Stefan rarely breathed in his sleep, and frankly, it was pretty creepy. A little annoying too when Damon didn't know if he was home because he had to go physically look to see if he was just sleeping.
Tonight, his wildest dreams came true.
He had a feeling it was going to take a while to sink in. He'd never gotten what he wanted, and to finally have Elena was going to take some getting used to. It wasn't so bad getting used to having the woman he loved in his arms though, so he had no complaints.
His own eyes drooping shut from the tiring emotions of the day, he pressed one last kiss to Elena's head before allowing himself to fall asleep.