"Damon, I think it's time for us to go home."

In a blink, I adjusted her dream again. We were standing at the front door of the boarding house. She looked relieved to be home and so tired. It was getting harder to control her pain as the werewolf venom coursed through her veins. Determined to give her peace right until the very end, I dove deeper into her mind, erasing every ounce of pain she felt.

With a knowing smirk, I opened the front door and motioned for her to enter before me.

"SURPRISE!"

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

I chuckled as she jumped, startled by the sudden appearance of all our friends. She turned back to look at me, shock on her face.

"Really, Damon, a surprise party? I thought we already had plans for my birthday."

I was saved from answering by Bonnie and Caroline, who had rushed forward to pull Elena into the parlor. I held back, leaning against the wall, watching as the girls made their way through the crowded room, stopping to talk to guests along the way.

I knew the instant that Caroline saw the ring on Elena's finger. The squeal that followed alerted everyone else in the room. Bonnie grabbed Elena's hand and must have deemed the ring worthy, because she shot a big smile in my direction. Across the room, Stefan caught my eye. He raised his glass to me and tipped his head, his way of giving us his blessing.

The few times Elena tried to pull me into the fun, I resisted. I was having fun as I watched her talk, laugh, drink and dance. This was the party she should have had, to celebrate her birthday, to say goodbye to her friends before we left for Europe. Instead, I was trying to make up for the goodbyes she didn't get to say, to all of those we had lost suddenly, now and in the past.

With every goodbye, I could feel her giving in just a little more. The end was coming, sooner than I wanted to admit. Before long, she caught my eye from across the room. She was ready for her final goodbye. As I walked across the room to her, our friends and family faded away, until it was just the two of us left. She smiled up at me when I reached her, brushing her thumbs across my cheeks, wiping away the tears that I didn't realize were falling. I had managed to hold myself together until that point, but faced with the reality of saying goodbye, I broke.

"Damon, I love you. I will always love you. Always only you. You are the best thing that has EVER happened to me. This isn't the eternity that I thought we would have together, but I have truly lived more in the time we have had together than I could have in a normal human life without you. Thank you for loving me."

Twining her fingers in my hair, she pulled me into another salty kiss, our tears mingling on our lips.

In that shabby motel room, tears rolled down my face, unchecked. While we kissed in her dream, I picked up the stake lying on the bed and drove it through her heart, ending her suffering and her life.

I don't know how long I sat there, cradling her against my chest as I cried. When I finally looked at my phone, I realized it had been two days since Lockwood called me. It was Elena's birthday. Without realizing it, I had given her a party on her birthday. Elena's eternity had ended at the age of twenty-five.

In the past forty-eight hours, my reality had completely shifted. My girl was lying dead in my arms. There was only one thing that mattered to me at that point – taking Elena home.

I ran out to my Camaro and pulled a blanket from the trunk. She had left it there after our last picnic at the Falls. Returning to her, I gently wrapped her in it and carried her out to the car. After laying her across the backseat, I got in and drove straight through to Mystic Falls, only stopping to fill the Camaro when necessary.

When I arrived in Mystic Falls, I drove straight to the boarding house. As soon as I settled Elena on our bed, I made a call to the town's funeral home. Honestly, with the death rate in this town, how is there only one funeral home? Maybe that's a business I should have invested in. Anyway, after some persuasion on my part, Mr. Franklin, the owner, agreed to deliver a casket to the boarding house.

With that piece of business taken care of, I turned my attention back to Elena. I knew exactly which dress I wanted to bury in, the one she had bought for the party, a strappy, short, red number that she had modeled for me when she brought it home. I dressed her, brushed her hair until it was silky smooth, put her mother's bracelet on her wrist before carrying her back downstairs.

Mr. Franklin had followed my instructions to the letter, a mahogany casket waited in the parlor. Putting her in that casket was the hardest thing I've done, right behind staking her. After I finished arranging her, she almost looked like she was sleeping. If it hadn't been for the gray pallor of her skin and the visible veins, I could have convinced myself of it. I kissed her for the last time before closing the lid, my grip tight as my hands shook, almost to the point of splintering the wood.

As much as I wanted to fall apart, I couldn't. I owed it to her to see her properly buried. Under different circumstances, I'm sure there would have been an uprising among her friends when they learned of my plans for Elena. I almost missed that, the whole gang against me, telling me that I couldn't possible know what was best for Elena. I imagined their arguments and dismissed them, just as if they were standing in front of me. I knew what I had to do.

I parked the Camaro in the garage, trading it for the SUV I bought a few years ago. As the garage door went down on the Camaro, I wondered if I would ever be able to drive it again. There were too many memories of us attached to that car, her scent was too strong in it, too much for me to overcome.

After I put her casket in the back of the SUV, I drove to the cemetery, apparently on autopilot, because I don't remember the drive at all. Night had fallen and the cemetery was deserted. I drove the SUV right up to the door of the crypt, not caring about all of the graves I was driving over, only careful to avoid headstones.

We may not have made it official, but Elena was a Salvatore in every way that mattered. I was sure her friends would have wanted her buried with the rest of the Gilberts, but that's a battle they would have lost. I laid her to rest in the Salvatore family crypt. She was mine and that's where she belonged.

I stayed in the crypt as long as I could, unwilling to leave her side. Hours later, I felt as if I was suffocating. My pain, my grief, my love, even the air was pressing down on me, constricting my lungs, until I had to get out of there. I stumbled out the door, sucking in gulps of air that I didn't really need, but I couldn't have stopped if I wanted to. It wasn't until I calmed down that I realized I had experienced a panic attack. Who knew? I would have thought that vampires were immune, but obviously not. The very thought of going on without her was more than I could bear.

With a last look at the crypt, I climbed into the SUV and drove home, determined to drink myself stupid or blind or better yet, unconscious. Two bottles of my favorite bourbon later, I didn't even flinch when my phone buzzed, even though it had been eerily silent for days. I couldn't muster enough energy to care one way or another as I looked at the text message from Klaus, a photo of a very beheaded Tyler Lockwood. Instead, I turn my phone off, hugged Elena's pillow to my chest and passed out in our bed.

A/N - *passes out boxes of Kleenex* I know you were all warned, but it doesn't make it easier to read (or write). Thanks again for sticking with this story. Thanks to those who have left comments. I appreciate them all. Three chapters to go and maybe a little sunshine at the end of this very dark tunnel. See that little box? You know what to do. Thanks again ~ craftyjhawk